Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tuesday, February 1, 1972
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February 1, 1972
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Sugar coating
sours 'Crooks'
Organbooks: Exploring religion
By PETER MUNSING
There are a number of dif-
ferent types of "cops and rob-
bers" flicks - the heist film,
like Topkapi or the Lavender
Hill Mob; the private eye genre,
usually played with a sense of
irony a la Bogart; and its broth-
er the detective film, such as
Bulitt or the French Connec-
tion, where the central charac-
ter is less glib than in heist films
since he doesn't have to be
charming or handsome to be the
hero, he is justice. These films
are fast paced, with a spare plot
and equally simple moral impli-
cations, though there are qx-
ceptions to the latter-Bonnie
and Clyde and Dirty Harry.
Tension and excitement are the
basic functions of the film, us-
ually stemming from a sense of
the inevitable- khe heist, the
chase,. and the shoot-out.
The Crooks lacks this tension
for a number of reasons. The
main problem is the direction
by Claude Lelouch of A Man
and A Woman fame. The en-
tire film is handled with the
same Playboy/Cosmopolitan ac-
tion - romance style. The action
is subordinated to the charac-
ters inasmuch as the plot is
merely an excuse for us to see
how charmant these people are.
They aren't committing the
crime for money but as a dis-
play for us. There is no inner
tension or drive since the ele-
ments of the plot are carried out
as a routine rather than a
drama.
6r'We get initial cues that that
certain inevitable something is
afoot - the crook (Jean Louis
Trintignant) getting his false
identification papers, guns, the
loot from his hiding place, and
bopping across the border as the
police look wherever he isn't.
Then suddenly it's over - he
drops off the money and we see
him back in Paris. Eventually
we work back up to the big ac-
-.tion-a kidnap extortion-but
once that and the requisit chase
-betrayal - revenge sequence
are through we're back in pri-
son where it all started.
The action itself is, overly
complex. Not that complexity Is
Announcing a Conference
on
WOMEN & RELIGION
h'fromu the perspective
of Women's Liberation
Feb. 18-20
Jewish, Block, & Non-Western
Women Participants Needed to
help run Workshops
ALL INVITED-
if interested please call 764-7442
MUCI
by KURT CARPENTER
f and ,$1.00
HELLO OUT THERE
by WILLIAM SAROYAN
Friday, Saturday-Feb. 4, 5
RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE
AUDITORIUM
8 P.M.
Rent your
Roommate with
a Classified Ad
an evil; only when it's unneces-
sary. The Crook lacks the gad-
etry and self-parody of a Bond
film or Topkapi; it's not so
much the perfect crime as the
perfect criminal. You get the
feeling at all this complexity is-
Simon's way of having fun;
but like Bond's gadgets, it gets
tedious whensuperfluous-Mis-
sion Impossible overkill. Busi-
ness - like concentration on the
central action is missing, as
well as a sense of chance-how
can there be failure when the
plan is conceived by the perfect
criminal?
The crook is a lawyer turned
thief, who has had one "bril-
liant" escape from prison by the
beginning of the film, and he
stages another one at the end.
His is called "Simon le Suisse"
because he is "methodical and
works alone." Like the nice guy
he is never hurts anyone-the
bank he extorts money from
receives its value in goodwill;
the kidnapped kid's father is an
accomplice -- there isn"t even
emotional hurt - and the kid
is treated to a sort of holiday
in toyland. As if that weren't
enough, he charms the heck out
of everyone - the lady he or-
iginally threatens shelters him
on numerous occasions, his ex-
girl (though married) gives him
her car, and he even catches the
eye of a nun. Sound hokey? It
is.
The music by Francois Lai
(also of A Man and A Woman)
was so innocuous that as I left
I couldn't remember a single
bar. The photography is com-
petent though gimicky; lots of
shots through windshields and
mirrors, unnecessary close ups
and stilted composition. This
isn"t the most challenging
script; suffice to say that there
was no bad acting. Generally a
nice, sugar coated film that
slides down easy but leaves you
hungry. It's a Walt Disney
gangster movie, down to the last
happy/ironic scene. Feh.
,1
By DONALD SOSIN
Ann Arbor composer and or-
ganist William Albright is re-
presented on two new records
on the CRI and Nonesuch lab-
els.
The CRI disk contains three
works, vast in scope and sound.
.Organbrook, written in 1967,
and awarded the Queen Marie-
Joan Prize in 1968, is a major
work in four movements. Each
movement captures particular
sonorities of the instrument and
organizes the numerous effects
in a controlled, yet spontaneous
sounding manner. This is organ
writing on a grand scale, stem-
ming from the innovations of
Messiaen (one of Albright's
teachers), who saw great pos-
sih>'aes in exploiting the or-
gan s vase range of color. Al-
bright, however, goes beyond
the precise tone modes of Mes-
siaen, and finds new realms of
sound and expressivity in sweep-
ing glissandi, huge punctuating
chords, and subtle harmonic
changes . that all combine to
make fascinating musical struc-
tures.
Juba, Albright's first major
work for the instrument, c o m-
posed in 1965, contains many of
the toccata-like moments to be
found in Organbook, but inter-
rupted here by crashing arpeg-
gios. Trills play an important
role, and give the work variety
and character.
Both works are performed by
Albright on the Frieze Memorial
Organ in Hill Auditorium. The
difficulty of the writing ap-
proaches impossibility every oth-
er page, yet Albright is able to
cope with everything in a sty-
lish, facile way that is really
something to marvel at.
The third piece, Pneuma (1966)
is performed by Marilyn Mason,.
chairman of the organ depart-
mnent in the School of Music. A
leading exponent of contempor-
ary works, she commissioned the
work and brings all her techni-
cal capabilities to bear. Shorter
in length than Organbook or
Juba, Pneuma requires no less
an amount of virtuosity and the
ability to handle a wide variety
of textures at once. The ase of
dynamics, as in the other works,
skillfull and sensitive, and one
sees here the little flirtations
with tonality that Albright has
avoided in Organbook, but has
used to good advantage in var-
ious other compositions, not
counting the piano rags, which
are essentially tonal works.
Albright's latest recorded ef-,
fort is Organbook II, on None-
such. He writes, "In contrast to
the wholesome piety of Organ-
book I ("Benediction," "Reces-
sional"), the current work . . .
is warped in the direction of the
darker, more sinister aspects of
religion - nocturnal rituals, the
devil, mortality."
Marilyn Mason; gave the pre-
miere of the work in Hill Audi-
torium last October. One wonder-
ed at the time whether the
work's great success was not in
some part due to the visual as-
pect: an assistant is needed to
depress notes, and the organist
must constantly shift from man-
ual to manual. Without all this,
nevertheless, the work main-
tains its ability to capitivate the
listener with minute harmonic
changes, and surprise the hell out
of him when the tape enters in
the last movement.
The work was commissioned
by Nonesuch Records, and is
joined on the disc by William
Bolcom's Black Host. Scored for
,organ, tape and percussion (Sid-
ney Hodkinson, U-M composer
performs with Albright here)
the piece plays with our expec-
tations, introduces a number of
styles, including a catchy rag-
time tune in the middle, but is
more concerned with projecting
an ominous undercurrent of
paranoia. It is a work that could
well be played by the Phantom
of the opera, seated at his con-
sole five cellars below the opera
house. alternately laughing hy-
sterically and brooding about his
isolation from humanity.
Both performances are su-
perb, demonstrating Albright's
recognized ability to handle a
wide range of styles while tack-
ling the most formidable techni-
cal problems.
Auditions for
ANTIGONE by Jean Anouilh
dir. by BURNETTE STAEBLER
presented by the ANN ARBOR CIVIC THEATER
7:30-1 0P.M.
January 31, February 1 & 2
at A.AT.C. Bldg.
201 Mulholland Dr., AA
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DIAL 665-6290
"NEVER GIVE A INCH"
was the motto
of the Stampers of Oregon.
and live it they didi
P1 Cl~ntal ERR 0
bEE RE1KK
*icnal samn
Wednesday & Thursday, Feb. 2 & 3
THE DEPT. OF SPEECH STUDENT LABORATORY THEATRE
in cooperation with the DEPT. OF ENGLISH
presents
TWO ORIGINAL ONE-ACT PLAYS
THE REUNION by Janice Bergstrom
AND
MOSAIC by John Angell
Arena Theatre, Frieze Bldg.
FREE ADMISSION Promptly at 4:10 p.m. or
earlier if the theatre is filled
A UnwersalNewma,'Freman Pkture G
TECHNICOLOR"- PANAISIQNb P
i
I
HILLEL FOUNDATION & CENTER FOR RUSSIAN & EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
present
A Series of Public Lectures by
PROF. SHLOMO AVINIER'
Director, Levi Eshkol Institute for Social Research, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem
THURS., FEB. 3: 4 P.M., Residential College Auditorium
"MOSES HESS-ZIONIST, COMMUNIST, INTELLECTUAL"
8:30 P.M., Hillel Foundation, 1429 Hill St.
"THE POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF THE
NON-EUROPEAN IMMIGRANT IN ISRAEL"
FRI., FEB. 4: 3 P.M., Angell Hall, Auditorium C
"MARX'S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY AND THE NON-EUROPEAN WORLD"'
'p
TONIGHT
ONLY
- wm
I
The Boogie
Brothers
(John & Steve)
from Mr. Flood's Party
& 2nd act in Com-
mander Cody Hill Con-
cert
Farewell Performance
TUESDAY NIGHT
Pilot Program
presents
BATTLE
OF
ALGIERS,
"A revolutionary
documentary of
Algerian reaction,
and resistance to
French colonialism"
TOMORROW
NIGHT
7 and 9:30 P.M.
in the
Public Health Aud.
$1.50
K A ~new PRETZEL BELLpoic
ENTERTAINMENT 7 NIGHTS A WEEK
Sunday thru Thursday-starting at 9:30 P.M.
Friday and Saturday-starting at 10:00 P.M.
NO COVER CHARGE
TUESDAY, Jan. 31-The RFD Boys
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, Feb. 1-2-Tom Davis with DanErlewine
and Randy Hillman
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, Feb. 3-4-Three Penny Opera
Pretzel Bell 102 E. Liberty
I
1421 Hill $MET
t Ft'iSt
e
Nassau or Freeport, Bahamas
$119.O-5 DAYS
plus 10% for tax services
TOUR INCLUDES:
* ROUND TRIP AIR FARE
* U.S. DEPARTURE TAX
* FIRST CLASS HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS (QUAD)
. FREE PARKING AT AIRPORT
0 FREE RUM SWIZZLE PARTY ON FLIGHT
BUSTER KEATON
in
Seven Chances
DIR. BUSTER KEATON, 1925
Buster is a young man who must
find a bride within 24 hours in
order to inherit a fortune.
ARCHITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
7:00 and 9:00 P.M.-75c
0
TOMORROW NIGHT:
THE NAVIGATOR
March 3-7
March 7-11
March 11-15
March 15-19
March 19-23
March 23-27
March 27-31
March 31-April 4
April 4-8
I
PAYMENT SCHEDULE: $50.00 deposit due with application.
Balance due 30 days before departure.
TOUR APPLICATION
NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE SCHOOL OR GROUP
Send to AMBASSADOR INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL,
76 W. Adams, Suite 1301, Detroit, Mich. 48226
Phone 1-961-4455; 1-962-5468
MISS
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FINAL
CLOSING OUR "MARILYN'S BROTHER" DEPT.
MARKDOWNS
JEANS and PANTS
$13
to
$5
75c
*Y,'
4
V r
Reg. $6 to $20
SHIRTS and TOPS
'$2
and
$3
Reg. $5 to $15
We Have Gathered Merchandise from Several of Our "Mar-
ilyn's Brother" Departments and Have Them Available in
Ann Arbor at These Extremely Low Prices . .
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