With “The Lady and the Dale,” a four-part documentary beginning Sunday, HBO has itself an I-can’t-believe-I-haven’t-heard-of-this story in the “Tiger King” or “McMillions” category.
The most newsworthy events in the astonishing life of Elizabeth Carmichael — serial con artist, fugitive from the law and, for a brief moment, celebrated automotive entrepreneur — took place just long enough ago and just far enough under the pre-internet national radar that they’re fresh for the telling.
And the film’s directors, Zackary Drucker (a producer on “Transparent” and “This Is Me”) and Nick Cammilleri, have packaged a complex and contradiction-laden tale adroitly and with remarkable legibility.