Karel Reisz (1926–2002) was a Czech-born British film and stage director. A pioneer of the Free Cinema movement in the 50s and 60s’ Britain, he made many hard-hitting and realistic dramas and comedies.
Born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, Reisz came to Britain on a “Kinder-transport” as an orphan when he was 11 after his parents were taken to die in a concentration camp. He later fought with the RAF as a Czech pilot during World War II and studied natural sciences at Cambridge. Reisz worked on the film journal Sequence, authored a book on film editing, and made documentaries on working-class life, including We Are the Lambeth Boys (1958.)
Reisz made only 11 movies during his career, but he is considered one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. His first feature was Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960;) this jaded young factory worker’s story brought fame to Reisz and his star, Albert Finney. Reisz’s Hollywood ventures included The Gambler (1974,) The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981; starring Meryl Streep,) and Everybody Wins (1990; screenplay by Arthur Miller.)
In the 1990s, Reisz turned to the stage, collaborating with Harold Pinter and winning critical praise for his rendition of Terence Rattigan’s drama The Deep Blue Sea (1994.)
Reisz wrote the standard textbook The Technique of Film Editing (1953.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Karel Reisz
A style is not a matter of camera angles or fancy footwork, it’s an expression, an accurate expression of your particular opinion.
—Karel Reisz
Heroism in a bad cause.
—Karel Reisz
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