PAGE TWO

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

1A~E TWO THE MICHIGAN DAILY

7{1A VAllLf1A, U

HEROISM ENDURES:
Ferrer Maintains Tradition,
70 Year Old 'Cyrano' Lives

PUNS ABOUND:
'Cleo' Carries On
With Gross Charms

By ROBERT MOORE

At The Cinema Guild
Edmund Rostand's "Cyrano de
Bergerac" will die only when men
stop wanting more than they have,
one critic said. Statements- like
this usually signify little more
than a critic's first attempt at
profundity or his final contempt
for precision, but in this case, the
claim almost rings true.
"Cyrano" is a great play and a
great movie.. It combines all the
favorites: heroic swordplay, tran-
*
-3
BEER-PIZZA-BANJOS
BIMBO'S

scendent love, and an easy-to-
follow philosophy framed by one
absolutely noble man who suffers.
in an ignoble world.
Yet the play is nearly 70 years
old, and the ideas behind it are
older than that. No modern dram-
atist worth his beard would hope
to get away with a sensitive,
strong-hearted, "elevated" man
with no moral' flaws, as Cyrano
indeed is. No man, the moderns
would argue, is "nobue"; all men
are simply men, and if you want
to discover the "nobility" in man,
it will be more a matter of defi-
nition than discovery.
Nobility, Plume
With Cyrano, however, nobility
is as much a part, of him as the
white plume which always tops
his helmet. Cyrano is poet and
swordsman, officer and philoso-
pher, friend and rebel, the best
his age had to offer. It is like one
of the court pictures of the time:
colorful, fancy, flattering, but un-
fortunately false.
The modern attitude may be
more realistic than Rostand's, but
in this case it is less satisfying.
From old themes about the un-
questionable grandeur of one

STUDENT ZIONIST ORGANIZATION
AT HILLEL
Invites You to a Brunch and Discussion
"The Effect-of the Loss of European
Jewry on the Modern Jew."

strong man, writers have turned
to newer themes about the in-
escapable absurdity of all men. It
is good, however, to go back and
see the old ways of looking at life,
outdated but not outmoded, sim-
ple but not stupid.
The plot of "Cyrano" is well-
known. Cyrano is marred by one
flaw-his ugly nose, as long as a
man's finger, and which, in his
own words, "precedes me by a
quarter - of - an - hour." Cyrano
comes to love the beautiful Rox-
anne. Roxanne enters the con-
vent, and Cyrano is soon murder-
ed. But, in Cyrano's last mo-
ments, Roxanne discovers that he
was actually the man she loved.
At a preview showing of the Cin-
ema Guild performance this week,
however, the film was muddy and
the sound uneven; by tonight's
performance, one hopes both will
be improved.
But the substance is greater
than the medium: "Cyrano" would
be one of the best plays in any
language if it was performed by
puppets. The story of the man
with the long nose is worth see-
ing again; and if you've never seen
it before, it's a "must."
Available
at
MORRI LLS
Swingline
[1 How far
can adog
trun ino
it% the woods?
s(Answers below)
121 A storekeeper
had 17 TOT Staplers.
All but 3 were sold. *
Honwinany did
he have left?
This is the
Swingline
Tot Stapler

At The Michigan Theater
The stately litter is borne
through Roman streets, passes
beneath a balcony, crashes ma-
jestically to the pavement. The
bedraggled figure emerging from
the wreckage is none other than
the imperial Roman emperor,
Julius Caesar. The "Boys from
Syracuse" revamped? Not at all;
it's "Carry On Cleo," a slick bit of
British import beginning a run
at the Michigan Theatre.
Seemingly culled from left-over
notes of the late Will Cuppy, au-
thor of "The Decline and Fall of
Practically Everybody," Talbot
Rothwell's screen play reads like
footnotes to a history that never
was written.
If the picture attempts, in its
irreverence to the Caesar - An-
thony - Cleopatra mythos created
by Shakespeare and Shaw, to be
iconoclastic, it falls short of its
mark. What the plot cannot carry
as effective satire, it drags across
in a stream of semi-lecherous
puns. If on the other hand, the
picture attempts to lambast the
over-stuffed Elizabeth Taylor epic,
it succeeds admirably.
Director Gerald Thomas pre-
sents the film in the tradition of
"Carry On Nurse," broad, British,
and cleverly contrived.
Caesar, Sidney James, is a
Walter Mitty with an Oxonian
accent who finds himself ruler of
the world's greatest empire. He

By DAVID KNOKE

seeks to "cement an alliance"
with the Queen of the Nile, but
friend Anthony contrives behind
his back to do some masonary
work of his own. Amanda Barrie
plays Cleo as a "pop-eyed dumb
broad," and Kenneth Williams is
a hoodlum Anthony.
This trio along with a pair of
escaped Briton slaves, Ken Connor
and Charles Hawtrey, r o m p
through the technicolor from pal-
ace to bath to bedroom in a ten-
uous plot that fixes fact, legend,
and inspiration into an improb-
able burlesque.
When the last centurion trips
(literally) across the screen, when
the last sword is grasped by the
blade, and when Caesar stutters
out "Friends, Romans, country-
hen" for the last time, the viewer
feels relieved that such inanities
won't go on forever. Yet for all
its obvious farce, strained puns,
and contrived gags, "Carry On
Cleo" has a quaint charm inspite
of itself.

BEATLE RINGO STARR ENCOUNTERS an exotic god and his
earthy representative in "Help," currently being presented at the
State Theatre. The movie features reckless chases, daring es-
capes, and scenes of maudlin emotion, spiced by the Beatles'
unique dramatic skills and some creative work by .a lively and
talented British technical crew.
'Help', New Beatle Film,
Recalls Marx Brothers

SERENDIPITY SINGERS'
OCTOBER 1
HILL AUDITORIUM
8:30 P.M.
all seats reserved 1.50, 2.00, 2.50

PH. 483-4680
E cans sCARPENTER ROAD
NOW SHOWING
ELIABEH TYLOR
RICHARD BURTON
EVA MARIE SAINT
NM 14tOTIIN RA ' 4 0S-~S ,QCOJCTI
Pf NAVS+OWlA -O hCOLOO
ADDED--COMEDY HIT
Jane Fonda-Tony Fronciosa
2 CARTOONS AT DUSK
BOX OFFICE OPENS 6:30
4.

By HUGH HOLLAND

SUN., Sept.' 19, 1965
1002 Packard

..1. 1:00 A.M.
Brunch 25c

1' '1
ASSEMBLY-IQC PRESENTS-
"YOUR RESIDENCE HALLS:
CLASSROOMS FOR LIVING"

* GUEST SPEAKER:

MRS. ALICE HADDIX
PERTINENT TOPICS

*
*
*
*

DISCUSSION:

DATE: SEPTEMBER 19
TIME: 2:00 P.M.
PLACE: MICHIGAN LEAGUE
Michigan Room
PANTS: EVERYONE!

At The State Theater
Beatles, buddhas, taboos, tanks
and task forces. Beatles, Beetho-
ven, Wagner, Women and war-
fare. Beatles, Bermuda, skiing,
scares and satire. Beatles, bandits,
scientists, slapstick and success.
"Help!" is here!
The "fab foursome" from Liver-
pool chase through another wild
wacky movie,- this time in color.
Naturally one is forced to com-
pare it with the brilliant "A Hard
Day's Night"; the results are mix-
ed. Both films bear great resem-
blance to the general absurdity of
old Marx Brothers films. "A Hard
Day's Night" was more realistic
in its plots, basing itself on a day
in the life of the Beatles. "Help!"
has a pseudo-science-fiction plot.
If anything, the use of a plot
is the single detrimental factor in
"Help!". It is trite and banal and
gets in the way too often. The
Marx Brothers' plots, just as silly
and senseless, always toook a back
seat to the antics of the goons
themselves. In Help!, the film has
occasional dragging moments
when the plot line is dealt with.
Comic Moments
But enter the Beatles and some
of the greatest comic moments in
contempory films appear. Wheth-
er soaring about the Alps in Vic-
torian capes and hats, or resting
in a house they designed them-
selves for the movie, or just chas-
ing about the Bermudas, The
Beatles can't help but amuse and
delight.
There is Paul, the pretty mis-
chievious one, George the quiet
athletic one, John the impish in-
tellectual one and Ringo the lov-
able pathetic one. All of them full
of disrespect for conventions and
regulations, all of them spiced
with life and humor.
Personality
The Beatles have the personal

ingrediants needed to rival the
success of The Marx Brothers in
this type of film as well as a
sense of personal integrity inten-
tionally missing in Groucho and
Chico. The same endearing qual-
ities of- Harpo can be found in
Ringo, but the other three Beatles
seem a cut above in both re-
spectibility, imagination and plain
old devilishness. All that is needed
is the development of a ploy, a
counter agent to react against
(eg. Margeret Dumont and
Groucho).
The Beatles are Paul McCart-
ney, George Harrison, John Lenin
and Ringo Starr. The group re-
cently toured the United States,
presenting songs from the sound-
track of the movie in concerts
throughout the country.
The movie again is directed by
Richard Lester and displays the
imagination and skill that won
him theCannes Film Festival
award for his third film "The
Knack." Lester allows the per-
sonalities of the Beatles to rule
his direction and, except for the
aforementioned diversions to in-
clude a plot, the decision is a wise
one.
Personal Magnetism
By far the most striking aspect
of the film, aside from the in-
credible personal magnetism of
the Beatles themselves, is the
camera work involved. The credit
for this goes jointly to the British
crew and to Lester.
There can be no question that,
in general, the most exciting visual
techniques in current cinema pro-
duction belong to the British.
Their use of color is breathtaking
and the imagination and excite-
ment of the camera angles and
subsequent editing techniques de-
mand great respect.
Help! may have substituted
slapstick and satire for the so-
phistication of "A. Hard Day's
Night" but it hasn't lost any of
the fun. In spite of its inclusion
of needless other characters, Help!
is a roaring success.

PARTICI

U I
I U
U I
U U
CINEMA 'GUILD
U U
TONIGHT at 7 and 9 P.M. ,
U..
U ..... .3
U U
With JOSE FERRER
Featuring .
"THE GREATEST SWORD
I"
FIGHT IN FILMS"
E
* INTN ARCHITECTURE AUDITORIUM;
r' ADCMISECUN:I TYCERNTRS M
f ..i ......- -..... I-- - - - - - - - -=

(including 1000 staples)
Larger size CUB Desk
Stapler only $1.45
No bigger than a pack of gum-but packs
the- punch of a big deal! Refills available
everywhere. Unconditionally guaranteed.
Made in U.S.A. Get it at any stationery,
variety, book store!
_ P-_INC.
Long Island City, N.Y. 11101
luMo ueanoA tuan ooaps Ol se
-pueqa adarp pud apue Xooqelou
of :Ixau esnaoaq 'Azes a axtlwagl 2uanq
ass sluapnig "saldelg ,01.oi joAejndod
etj; jo £sols aql lnoqe ;snf, s,wqip'pint
IOOI4.Z isp5oom Oeqi jo lo 2u1uunlIst
aq~ 'tlsg4 ally'Au AU° I .1SIJMSNY

F'

Continuous
Today
from 1 p.m.
HELD
OVER!

-- m

a

/M8-64 16L
WILLIAM WYLER'S
the collector'

"A SHOCKER sure to quicken the pulse! TME
"A SHOCKER to rivet you to your seat!'SEN
"* *** ! An electrifying experience!"
AWRD
L1' WINNER!A
C*Bnes Rba Fesival
BSACTESSr


STOP WOIRRYING!0

----------- I ------------ ------- -------------- ---- ---------------------------- -- ---------------


. ... .

Read and Use Daily Classified Ads

IS ON
THE WAY! Li

r



NOW s, , , , r.M
%E.AL tOAEHOW ENAGMNSHOWS AT
$I{CL R*AIk$H'W ENGAGEMENT

The Colorful Adventures of
THE BEATLES
are more Colorful than ever...in COLOR!
rn n a urnui

'a






_I