Lily Dale

Don't listen to the idiots. This is good, solid storytelling delivered by a great cast.

I've seen this movie and liked it. Channing plays the part of a mother of two almost grown children, a daughter that is adored by her stepfather and a son that is loathed. The daughter living at home with the parents enjoys a comfortable life, while the son is only visiting the family. The young man is only welcomed by his mother. His sister is protective of her favorite child status, sides with her stepfather to make the visit uncomfortable and awkward. While visiting he becomes very ill. Instead of drawing compassion and help his illness only serves to bring even more of his stepfather's mistreatment. The young man leaves in the throws of a terrible fever knowing that he can never return, nor will he ever see his mother again.

The plot of this story could have been written for many a family where father dies; mother remarries and is beholden in ALL respects to pleasing her new husband (out of necessity) for the period. The story actually parallels that of my own father around WWI. Women were still woefully downtrodden and compelled to "dance" to the "tune" set by a man!

I'm surprised the movie was supposedly geared towards Lily Dale's 'story' when it fact, it had far more to do with the story between her mother and brother. The "ugly" stepfather in a very real way, believing its "his way or the highway" in his thinking on life, due to his own depraved upbringing in having to work for every single gratuity and to sustain.

I thought the acting was very good...Stockard Channing & Sam Sheppard are two favorites for their selection of very good roles that fit them well. It is a reminder to me of how much better women have it in this day and age and the last thing most of us would do? Would be to give up our children for the sake of "protocol" or dictatorship by another.

This is a great look into life in the uptight 1910s in Texas with broken families reuniting under awkward circumstances. The star is really Horace, the son from a prior marriage visiting his mother and sister. Lily Dale, the sister and the character who offers the title of the play, has all the best lines. Horace has no good quotes that I remember, therefore, he is sort of like you and I, the audience, but nonetheless, the star, since it is through him that all drama is triggered. Lily Dale is also from the prior marriage. But mother and sister are now linked to a new father figure, the second husband. Horace is not a part of this new union. Through inaction and sometimes outright comment the sister and the stepfather let Horace know he has no status in this new family unit; he is not welcome. The mother is conflicted. I couldn't help but think of my grandmother's life and what it must have been like for her and her siblings with their mother and stepfather, so this film had some impact for me. Lily Dale is naive, needy and manipulative; and being courted by a fun-loving regular guy who has no real purpose in this drama except to trigger some scary premarital talk between mother and daughter about sex and child birthing. The drama begins and ends with Horace being anxious about never having been baptized. Maybe that could be an issue in the 1910s, but really, who cares today? The script has wonderful contradictions, for example, LD describes the house as gloomy and silent before Horace arrived, yet she still seems to want him to leave. My favorite quote from LD: "look away, I want to ask you something."

Lily Dale was an unimaginative and plotless waste of film. There was no character or plot development. We knew the whole lame story from the first few scenes on the train. If you are thinking of renting or buy Lily Dale I suggest you forget it-don't waste your hard earned money on this flop.