Czechs Abroad: Karel Reisz

Reisz fled to England shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. He was one of Winton’s children. There he was first given the opportunity of writing film reviews. Later on he co-founded the Free Cinema documentary film movement with Lindsay Anderson. One of the films that brought him public attention was his feature-length film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The Gambler and Who’ll Stop the Rain opened him the door to Hollywood and The French Lieutenant’s Woman with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons was considered one of his best films ever. Reisz was always proud of his Czechoslovak origin and although living in Great Britain he returned regularly, mostly to visit film festivals. That was Karel Reisz – a Czech abroad.