PAGE TWO

THEII MICHIGAN DAILY

SUNDAY OCTOBER 16. 1966




FILMS
Morgan?: High, Low Comedy
With a Revolutionary Flair

Student Grade Point
Averages Improving

I

I I}

THE

UNIVERSITY

OF

Continued from Page 1
ever, he noted, "there is an enorm-

By PAUL SAWYER
When the blond, gangly Bohe-
mian type with a bulbous nose
clambers through a London house
and lays a skeleton out on the
bed, it looks as though one is in
for an evening of Richard Lester
euphoria.
But then we learn that the
man's wife, whom .he loves, has
just divorced him and is beginning
an affair with a conceited prig..
To the tune of an opera air he
sings, "Morgan is sad today, sadder
than yesterday."
It is then that we see that Karel
Reiz's new film is no closer to the
Beatles than to the angry young
men.
Instead Reiz deliberately uses
comic conventions - slapstick, a
lovably inept hero, a freewheeling
style of editing, and strong re-
minders of "The Knack"-to coat
what is yin essence a tragic story.
His film is by turns playful, ir-
reverent, poignant, and desperate;
an ambiguous, absorbing, often
brilliant chronicle of the frustra-
tions of a "born idiot."
The trouble is that Morgan is

sick; beyond that he is hard to
categorize. For example, even
though his little old mother is a
Communist, and he likes to com-
pare himself with Trotsky, "in
exile waiting for the icepick," he
is no more at odds with society
as such than the Beatles are. In
the scene by Marx's grave he reads
the epitaph: "Philosophers have
tried to understand the world; we
try to change it." The irony is that
Morgan understands absolutely
nothing about the world, and
wouldn't dream of trying to.
change it.
His problem is that he is out of
order with everything, not just
society; he "has been born into
the wrong species." Consequently
he fantasizes about animals all
the time and often seems To be-
lieve he is a gorilla. In his futile
efforts to win back his wife, he
cries, "I'm loving! I'm on the side
of flowers and children and ani-
mals. Isn't that enough?" Actually
no. Morgan is infinitely lovable
and infinitely sad. But he is also
impossible, and a little child; and
he does not understanad.

ous category of the grade B into
The film is extremely subjective, which many levels of course per-
in that everything appears from formance fall. The letters we now
Morgan's point of view. Much have at our disposal are unrealis-
therefore remains unexplained tic. Many students get B's, but
some are doing a lot of work, while
why Morgan is the way he is, for,"r

why averages increase not only
from the freshman to senior level,
but also from year to year.
There does not seem to be a
clear-cut satisfactory explanation.
Manning summarized, "The rise in
averages is a normal, expected

example, or what the actual char-
acter of the wife is.
This unclearness, perhaps not a
fault in itself, leads to the two
essential weaknesses in the film.
The first is that as the episodes
continue and Morgan does wilder
and wilder things, nothing is add-
ed to our knowledge of the char-
acters. In several episodes, the
only new feature is the specific
low comedy situation; but low:
humor is niether the film's most
important nor most interesting
feature. Second, since we never
know why Morgan is the way he
is, we cannot make any conclu-
sions about him. Through the act-
ing of David Warner, he is a
superb creation; but there is still
the sense that we have only been
told half the story. Once Morgan
lands in the asylum, we wonder
what the point of it all has been.
Is the film no more than a series
of impressions of a man disinte-
grating?
If so, then David Mercer's com-
mendable screenplay does not real-
ly succeed.
But Reisz directs with sophis-
tication and style, giving "Mor-
gan!" a number of exquisite mo-!
ments. It is a strange and effect-
ing film that should not be passed
by.

otners are barey above C. trend. Today, about 50 per cent of
The 3.01 average, around which the adolescent community goes to
senior grade points now cluster, is college.
an almost perfect median B. Mc- "In the last 20-30 years, the col-
Namara favors finer distinctions "ntels 03 ertecl
inmheradingrstermd.stin lege education base had broadened
in the grading system. with the multiplication of com-
Shaw does not view the rise or munity and junior colleges. There-
fall of averages as highly signifi- fore, an older college with a repu-
cant, and feels this has little, if tation like of the University would
any, affect on counselling. "The attract the kind of young person
rise implies that the norms against whose sights are set on academic
which juniors and seniors are excellence. Consequently, the at-
graded are different: not easier, titude on the part of both the
but higher. More is expected of the faculty and students about what
students and more is received from should go on at the University
them," he said. tends to make the averages go
I ihrhp,. Ave2razes up.

MICHIGAN
JAZZe
INCNCERT
WITH GUEST ARTIST
JACK BROKENSHA
INTERNATIONALLY-FAMOUS JAZZ VIBRAPHONIST
Formerly with the Australian Jazz Quintet
FRIDAY, 8:30 P.M.
HILL AUDITORIUM
Tickets at DISCOUNT RECORDS
or Friday Night at 'the Door
ADMISSION ONLY $1.00

A

LSA Honors Program Adds
N ew Courses for Next Year

"Junior and senior averages tend
to be higher because these stu-
dents are more experienced at stu-
dying. They are in their fields of
interest and bring more to their
studies," he continued.
"Also," Shaw explained. "I sus-
pect that professors have a B-'
norm in mind for juniors and sen-
iors because the graduate school
B-norm creeps into their thinking,
especially since there are both
grads and undergrads in the 400-
level courses."
"In the English and chemistry
departments, for example, almostE
all professors teach both graduate
and undergraduate courses."
This does not explain, however,'

(Continued from Page I
A by-product of all this, he
added, is that the study of such
a successful civilization as the
Chinese can prove to be "a dis-
tortion mirror for us to see what
we are not," and thus to better
understand ourselves.
Professor Meisel said he will
teach a" socio-political approach to
the understanding of revolutions..
However, some history will have to
be included in the course material.
The class will be, divided into
teams which provide panel reports.
This will not be a course where
the instructor lectures and the
class sits back placidly. The class

must actively participate, he says.
Prerequisites to the course, he said,
will be interest and understand-
ing, besides membership in the
honors program..
Meisel has written a book
"Counter-Revolutions", which will
be published soon.
Hucker has taught at the Uni-
versity of Chicago, the University
of Arizona, and Oakland Univer-
sity before coming here two years
ago. He was Consultant to the
International Training Program of
the Ford Foundation, 1962-63, and
has been a Consultant on Oriental
studies with the United States Of-
fice of Education since 1960.


Phone 482-2056
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LATPERFORMANCES

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ORGANIZATION NOTICES7

USE OF THIS COLUMN FOR AN-
NOUNCEMENTS is available to officially
recognized and registered student or-
ganizations only. Foims are available
in Room 1011 SAB.
Graduate Outing Club, Canoeing and
bicycle trip, Sun., Oct. 16, 2 p.m., Rack-
ham Bldg., Huron St. entrance.
Graduate Student Council, Business
meeting, Mon., Oct. 17, 7:30 pm., West
Conference Room. Rackham Bldg.
* * *
Baptist. Student Union, Devotional,
Oct. 18, :4:30 p.m., Michigan League,
Room No. 1.
* * *
Sociedad Hispanica, Tertulia, Mon.,
Oct. 17, 3-5 p.m., 3050 Frieze Bldg.

Spanish conversation in an Hispanic
atmosphere.
Guild House, Monday noon luncheon,
Father James S. Torrens: "The Great
Society" (a series), Oct. 17, 12-1 p.m.,
Guild House, 802 Monroe.
Guild House, Series of six seminars
on "The New Left," Oct. 18, 7 p.m.,
Guild House, 802 Monroe.
* * *
Gamma Delta, Supper at 6 p.m. fol-
lowed by 6:45 p.m. program: David
Wulff of the psychology department
speaking on the interplay between re-
ligion and psychology, Oct. 16, 1511
Washtenaw, University Lutheran, Chap-
el.

.A

STARRING Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien,
Donald Pleasence, Arthur O'Connell, William Redfield
and Arthur Kennedy, Color by DeLuxe-
F R I DAY
"THE BLUE MAX"


GUILD HOUSE
802 Monroe
Monday, Oct. 17, Noon Lunch, 25c
Fr. James S. Torrens, S.J.
(Dept:.of English)
"The Great Society"
(A Series)

4

r

7dm

i

READ AND USE DAILY CLASSIFIED ADS
"HOWLINGLY FUNNY"
-Iukmtetw w & eaw

"BRILLIANT"
-Bendiw,1i. Thrwrk } rk.
MORGA N

checky young
American defies
the deadly Mr. Dominion
to save kinky London ingenue!
thrillerYBI,
YOR


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