PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FRIDAY. OCTOR tr 99, 1 k
PAGETWOTHEMICHGANDAy
}. VA f I WIlf1D~h IQ9 1Z0
Footlight Parade' Provides
Light View of D epression
FEW GOOD CHILLS:
Fu Manchu' Inspires Yawns, Smiles,
Indifference; Fails To Create Terror
Have YOU gotten your date yet?
Lyohov
MICHIGAN UNION
NOV. 12-8:30
By DAVE KNOKE
At The Cinema .Guild
"Footlight Parade" is the sort
of vintage film which, when view-
ed thirty-five years later, con-
vinces nostalgic old folks and im-
pressionable young folks that the
Great Depression was really all
fun and games. The movie is an
outstanding specimen of a now-,
defunct cinematic genre-the mo-
vie musical about the making of
movie musicals.
The thinly veneered plot gives
the composer-choreographer Bus-
by 'Berkeley an opportunity to
show off some of the gaudiest
routines to splash across the 1930
screen.k
James Cagney is Chester Kent,
big-time producer of musical
'"prologues," struggling to pre-
vent the medium from falling prey
to the inroads 'the talkies", are
making upon the mass enter-
tainment market.
The cliches unroll in a sequence
that makes imnortal camp to-
day. The'characters are familiar:
a harassed work-horse stage di-
rector, a hill-billy youdler (Dick
Powell) who actually can sing and
finds true love with a birdy sec-
retary who becomes a stunning
beauty by removing her glasses;
the ne'er-do-well company lawyer
owing his position to the nepotism
of his great aunt.V
The story line is predictable.
The two other partners bilk Cag-
ney of his just profits by juggling
the books. A doxie traps him into
a marriage proposal and runs out
when wife number one refuses a
divorce. The faithful secretary,
platinum Joan Blondell, pines un-
requited for Cagney, plays sleuth
to save his career, and inevitably
wins him in the end.
* The dance company is hard
pressed to compete with the movie
theaters offering instant, dreams
for a small fee. Cagney must
think up new skits for the weekly
prologue dance routines, but na-
turally there is a leak and a rival
producer beats him to production
every .time.
Then comes the chance to stage
three extravaganzas in one night
before a film magnate who just
might put them on the screen if
the rival doesn't steal them first
or the magnate's indigestion does
not put him out of humor. There-
by hangs a tale, a tenuous one to
be sure, k but excuse enough for
Bubsy' Berkeley to go the full
route-alley cats, water sprites,
Shanghai saloon.
All of which adds up to pro-
duction that is thankfully free of
any moral overtones, psychologi-
cal undertones and eventually
even musical tones.
The viewer can let his mind go
blank, let his eyes wander over
hundreds of pulchritudinous chor-
us girls romping, slithering or
swimming across Cecil B. de
Millish sets, then get up from
his seat and leave the theater
without nagging questions about
Deeper Significances plaguing the
mind.
By ALAN J. GLUECKMAN
At The State Theater
"He's cruel, callous . . . and
brilliant. He's the most evil man
the world has ever known. His
name is Fu Manchu," and he's
the most tedious villain of all
time.
Resurrected from the Sax Roh-
mer dime novels of the Thirties
and splashed across the Techni-
colored, wide, wide screen of the
State theatre, "The Face of Fu
Manchu" inspires not the, hoped-
for terror in the hearts of men,
but yawns.
One expects evil incarnate from
Christopher Lee's Fu Manchu, but
except for a; few marvelous ,mo-
ments of malevolence, you find
yourself smiling, or even worse,
indifferent. Lee, who was superb-
ly chilling as Dracula a few years
back, has not been allowed by the
confines of the script to do more
than glower on several occasions.
There is no evidence of the hyp-
notic power, the dread, the sug-
gestion of evils past and yet to
be committed, that one associates
with Rohmer's Fu Manchu.
Indeed, when this supposed mas-
ter of menace announces his plan
to rule the world over the radio,
he sounds like George Fenniman
selling Lipton Tea, and about half
as convincing.
The few really good chills in the
film came from Ling Tang, Fu
Manchu's daughter, smoothly
played by Chinese actress Tsai
Chin. A stunning Oriental beauty,
Ling Tang carries out her father's
nasty orders with an obvious relish,
revelling in their evilness render-
ed all the more menacing by her
delicate grace.
The film is unpleasant,= and
leaves you with a blahafeeling,
because the murders and the evil
deeds just aren't any fun. This
is a serious defect in most films
of this kind. To be successful,
murders, however nasty and
shocking, must be entertaining.
People must be dispatched with
style, like the ganster in "Gold-
finger" or Janet Leigh in "Phy-
cho." Otherwise it becomes tedious
and tasteless.
My advice is: Don't fool with
numerous fight scenes that popu-
late this film. While there are a
few inventive moments, most of
the slugging, strangling and grap-
ling is photographed in long shots
which remove the action from the
audience. Won't some director
somewhere film a scene close up,
with the audience pulled into
every shot? The impact would be
stunning.
One cannot review this film
without saying a few words about
the hero, and Fu Manchu's foil,
Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard.
He is utterly boring, humorless
and uninteresting. If the hero's
not heroic and the villain's not
villainous, then 'you haven't got
much of a picture, right? Right!
My advice is :Don't fool with
Fu Manchu. Wait for "Bunny
Lake" or "Repulsion" for your
thrills. Better yet, wait until the
Cinema Guild shows the Boris
Karloff 1930's film versions of Fu
Manchu. Now that was real evil!
If you do decide to see this
show, by all means do not miss the
10 minute 'preview of the "War
Lord," the new Charlton Heston
opus that threatens to be coming
soon. This is the funniest short
subject since that musical travel-
ogue about Dallas.
One last word: at the end of
"Fu Manchu," as the hero and
heroine ride out into the sunset
(they really do) after supposedly
blowing up the evil Oriental with
nitroglycerine, there is super-
imposed on the screen the face
of Eu Manchu, uttering these fate-
fuil words: "The world will hear
again from Fu Manchu." Let's
hope not.
School Time
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CHOICE SEATS
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SPTR4IPMHOF NIX
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Across Campus
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HELD
OVER
DIAL
5-6290
FRIDAY, OCT.29
Noon-William Delhey, Wash-
tenaw County prosecutor, and Pe-
ter Darrow, attorney for the 39
demonstrators arrested in the
draft board sit-in, will discuss
"The Student and the Law" at
Guild House.
4:15 p.m.-Floyd Mann of the
psychology department will speak
on "Effectiveness in Scientific
Work Groups" in Aud. B.
4:15 p.m-Prof. Jerzy Kurylo-
wicz of Harvard University will
lecture on "What is Morphonol-
ogy" in the Rackham Amphithea-
tre. i
4:15 p.m.-Prof. Floyd Mann of
the psychology department will
speak on "Effectiveness in Scien-
tific Work Groups" as pat of the
Psychology Departmenrt Colloqu-
ium in Aud. B Angell Hall.
7 and 9 p.m.-Cinema Guild will
present "Footlight Parade" at the
Architecture Aud.
°.30 p.m.-University Registrar
Edward Groesbeck will be speak-
ing on the topic, "Personal Iden-
DAILY OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
The Daily Official Bulletin is an
official publication of the Univer-
sity of Michigan, for which The
Michigan Daily assumes no editor-
iiA responsibility. Notices should be
sent in TYPEWRITTEN form to
Room 3519 Administration Bldg. be-
fore 2 p.m. of the day preceding
publication, and by 2 p.m. Friday
for Saturday and Sunday. General
Notices may be published a maxi-
mum of two times on request; Day
Calendar items appear once only.
Student organiation notices are not
accepted for pubica tion.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29
Day Calendar
Dept. of Linguistics Lecture - Jerzy
Kurylowicz, Harvard University, "What
Is Morphonology": Rackham Amphi-
theatre, 4:15 p.m.
C.inema Guild-"Footlight .Parade":
Architecture Aud.,'7 and 9 p.m.
Pr ofessional Theatre Program Per-
forinance-APA Company in Archibald
acLeish's "Herakles": Lydia Mendels-
schn Theatre, 8 p.m.'
Musical Society' Concert-The Czech
Philharmonic, Karel Ancerl, conductor:
Hill Aud., 8:30 p.m.
General Notices
Woodrow Wilson Fellowships: Mem-
bers of the faculty are reminded that
the deadline for nomination is Oct.
31. Letters postmarked. Oct. 31 will be
accepted. They should include the field
of study agd the local addresses and
phone numbers of the students nomi-
nated, and should be sent to Prof. Otto
Oraf, ;Department of German, 1679
'Frieze Bldg., Campus.
(Continued on Page 10)
ICE CREAM
Caramel Corn Castle
Libert at hompson
2:3-11P.M.
Closed Sunday
ROASTED CHESTNUTS
tity in the Multiversity" in the
UGLI Multipurpose Room. The
lecture-discussion is sponsored by
the Michigan Christian Fellow-
ship.
8 p.m.-The Professional Thea-
tre Program will present the APA'
in "Herakles" at Lydia Mendels-
sohn Theatre.
8:30 p.m.-The Czech Philhar-
monic conducted by Karel Ancerl
will give a concert at Hill Aud.
SATURDAY, OCT.30
2:30 and 8 p.m.-The Profes-
sional Theatre Program will pre-
sent the APA in "Herakles" at
the Mendelssohn Theatre.
4:15 p.m.-William Whitehead
of the music 'school will give an
organ recital at Hill Aud.
6:-30 p.m.-The India Students
Association Banquet will be held
at the Michigan Union Ballroom.
7 and 9 p.m.-Cinema Guild will
present "Rififi" at the Architec-
ture Aud.
7 and 9:30 ji.m.-The University
of Michigan Men's 'Glee Club, di-
rected by Philip A. Duey, and the
New York University Men's Glee
Club, direpted by Alfred Greefield,
will give a concert at Hill Aud.
DIAL 8-6416
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THINKING MAN'S 'GOLOFINGER'
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hewakles
The Pulitzer Prize playwright's provocative new play
byARCHIBALD 'MAC LEISH
Directed by Alan .Schneider
Set Designer: James Tilton
AL;S'O: Costume Designer: Nancy Potts
KRAPP'S LAST TAPE THE COMPANY.
Joseph Bird - claribal Baird
by SAMUEL BECKETT Patricia Conoly " Clayton Corzatte
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