Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY i . Friday, Apri17, 1972 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, April 7, 1972 'U 5 To Die in Madrid Cinema II A complete and detailed ac- count of one of the more horrible events of this century-the Span- ish Civil War. Director Frederic Rossif presents only the facts; newsreel footage from Moscow, London, Paris, Berlin and New York unsparingly show both the poverty of the liberal yet inef- ficient reign of Alfonso and Franco's heartless slaughter of his own people. But the narra- tion (by John Gielgud and Irene Worth among others) and the music by Maurice Jarre express a great sorrow and revulsion at the Fascist victory and the grand scale murder that brought it about. (Not viewed at press time.) Friday and Saturday. * * * Maidstone Conspiracy If you've seen Norman Mailer on talk shows you know how he can smother his ideas by his in- sistence on presenting himself, interesting though that self may be. This problem occurs in Maidstone, an expensive home movie made by Mailer with a cast of his friends-Rip Torn, Jose Torres, , and Joy Bang among others--hoping to prove that "One can make a beautiful, tasteful, resonant, touching, evo- cative picture with cinema verite methods in four days. "If we can do it, a lot of people but in Hollywood are going to commit suicide." The original idea was to pre- sent hisassembled minions with the plot and let them improvise. Norman T. Kingsley (Mailer), comes to Long Island to film a parody of Belle du Jour, and in the course of the film-Mailer's, not Kingsley's -Kingsley would be proposed as a presidential candidate, subject to assassina- tion attempts, interviews, wo- men, and personal relations of various shades. Mailer's method was to have as many cameras as practical, so that as much as possible could be captured on film; which meant, despite two years of editing, bad as well as good; apparently the high point of the film is an uintended fight between Mailer and Torn, and the ensuing dialogue by Mailer. As far as I know nobody in Hol- lywood's committed suicide re- cently. (Not seen at time of review.) --Peter Munsing - crnema weekend The Garden of the Findi-Continis Fifth Fortim Whether you think The Garden of the Finzo-Continis is good or bad depends on how you look at it. If you see it as a film about Jews awaiting the Holocaust it's only mildly successful-it doesn't say all that much about why some Jews left and why some waited, or why people in gen- eral react to that type of amor- phous fear in the ways they do. If you look at the Finzi-Continis' garden as a symbol of an olig- archic aristocracy trying to ig- nore a world it no longer controls it also tells you little. I found it most successful as a love story, which is what dom- inates the plot anyway. In this context the film's setting is merely that - not the major theme. The basic story is the unrequited love of Giorgio, a middle class Jewish boy, for Micol Finzi-Contini in an increas- ingly antisemitic Italy, beginning with Elvira Madigan-Love Story theme music and ending with a. Kaddish-type lament. In addition to the music the film's subtlety is marred by "lyric photog- raphy"-lots of soft, out of focus shots of leaves, or hazy vaseline- over-the-lens shots, as well as an over-emphasized hinting at an incestuous brother - sister rela- tionship. However the characterizations are sufficiently complex that the syrupy presentation is only a minor annoyance. The Garden of the Finzin-Continis is directed by Vittorio de Sica, so if it was a nebbish romance it would have to be the greatest directoral de- cline in film history, but it also means that you expect a lot more of it. -Peter Munsing * * * Mingus A Life Well Spent Cinema II Mingus' strong point is also its weakness -it was filmed while Charlie Mingus was waiting to be arrested for non-payment of rent, which means that it has great potential for being heavy. This can be good-heavy, giving some insight into Mingus, or hernia heavy-"The public per- secution and artistic assassina- ion. of a jazz artist as performed by the inmates of the cityof New York." It also meant that the director had only three to four hours of film footage from which to select the final cuts, so interspersed with genuine in- sight is Mingus play-acting for the camera, which may have some insight of itself but not much more than you might get from any random conversation with him. Also on the program is A Life Well Spent, a film about coun- try-blues singer Mance Lipscomb and black country life in gen- eral. If you like Son House or early Mississippi Fred MacDo- well you could probably dig it. (Not seen at time of review). Sunday. -Peter Munsing * * * The Godfather Michigan Director Francis Coppola has magically transformed M a r i o Puzo's The Godfather into more than a three-hour g a n g s t e r movie. Without diluting the vio- lent aspects of the hoodlums, some great acting by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino makes it obvious that, although they are heartless with respect to their "business," they are much more than killers. As an old man we see Brando, playing the God- father, romping in the garden with his grandson. Somehow in the context of the movie the image of the ruthless Mafia chieftain and the doting grand- father are reconciled. When Michael, the Godfather's youngest son, slowly turns from smooth-faced war hero to ice- water-veined Mafioso, links are established between the under- world and the land of American dreams, which Michael had be- longed to. On this level, The Godfather becomes a film about the very nature of the quest for power. -Bruce Shlain The Lady Eve Cinema Guild In the 1940's,Preston Sturges was the best director of "sophis- ticated comedies." In The Lady Eve, his touch for combining romance with pratfall farce is very much in evidence. Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, the story revolves around a con man's daughter and her adventurous attempts to ensnare a millionaire. (Not seen at time of review.) Friday. * * * MacBeth Campus Roman Polanski has made a version of Shakespeare's Mac- Beth, replete with goriness and naked witches. The movie, spon- sored by Hugh Hefner, is Play- boy's first endeavor in the cinema. Predictably, the sexual tensions of the play have been emphasized by the fact that the two leading roles have been given to y o u n g performers, when they have traditionally been played by distinguished, experienced theatre people like Ralph Richardson, Olivier, etc. (Not seen at time of review.) Zabriskie Point Cinema Guild Politics are often confused aesthetics. Take Zabriskie it, for example. Antonioni's ie seems to be well liked znd Ann Arbor; it was shown year and here it is back n. And no wonder; the film s revolutionary as it can be. k (Mark Frechette), wanted a cop killing he did not com- steals a plane and flies to Death Valley. There he ts Daria (Daria Halprin), a, etary driving to her boss' art palace, and the two make in the sand. The pair then their separate ways. Mark gunned down trying to re- the plane, and Daria, in the ,tacular last sequences of the ie, envisions her boss' home g blown apart. retty radical. And very su-, icial. Antonioni is an alien i country he doesn't under- id, and his film depicts only aces: billboards, office build- the desert. A beautiful and oughly empty-headed film, natter how revolutionary its t may be. Saturday and lay. --Richard Glatzer * * * ade For Each Other State Theater ade for Each Other is not a edy. Sure there are a few BOX OFFICE OPEN 6:30 jokes - quiet chuckles, rarely guffaws-but they are almost al- ways secondary to the central drama of two New York neu- rotics who fall in love. Giggy Pinimba (Joseph Bologna) is a guilt-ridden Catholic playboy whoj begins to doubt himself when his most recently jilted ex-girl- friend atempts suicide. Pandora Gold (Renee Taylor) is a con- fused, self-deluding, self-hating Jew who recently found her fiance in bed with other girls. Both are lonely. These two meet in an encounter session; leave together, and We all know that New York is full of unhappy 30 year old sin- gles, yet the Bolognas (the two lead players are married in real life), through their fine script and acting, make Giggy and Panda seem uniquely real. There are faults, though. I don't like the two personal histories inter- woven in the film's first few minutes (here's how Giggy and Pondora got this way). And TRUCKSTOP BECKIE CHAPMAN and KAREN MANN will be singing at Stockwell Friday, April 7, 9:00 p.m. ALSO FEATURED: VAkIETY ACTS (improvisations welcome!) NO ADMISSION CHARGE U OF M FOLKLORE SOCIETY presents Son House, Mance Lipscomb, Robert Pete Williams Stars of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, and possibly three of the greatest blues singers alive today. April 15 Power Center 8:00 P.M. ALL SEATS RESERVED-$3.00 Tickets available today and every day at the Michigan Union ticket office from I1 A.M.-2 P.M. only. FOR~ INFO CALL 761-6945 Don't miss 'A Life Well Spent': "A portrait of the musical route of Mance Lipscombe" Sunday April 9, 9 pm, at Cinema I in Angell Hall. #i See CINEMA, Page 10 STATE AMATEUR BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS 4t Saturday, April 15, 1972 Yost Field House, Ann Arbor ,._ I L 1ltr r r : - - --. .a -- - "SHOWS STARTS AT DUSK PM FLY GIRLS WHO KNOW WHAT TO DO! "Swedish Fly Girls" (R) 2 SHOWINGS NIGHTLY 7:15 & 10:35 -PLUS- A Game Called BACKYARD BINGO! "THE SWAPPERS"-9:10. k1 NOVICE CHAMPIONSHIPS AND SELECTED OPEN SEMI-FINALS 1 :30 P.M., All Seats $2.00. Tickets sold only at door. NOVICE AND OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS 7:30 P.M., Balcony $2.00, Floor Bleachers $3.00, Ringside $5.00 Tickets for the open finals may be purchased at door or the U.M. Athletic Dept. Ticket Office (State and Hoover) Sanctioned by the Michigan Association of the AAU AUD. A, ANGELL HALL, shows at 7 & 9 P.M.; Tickets on sale at 6 FRIDAY & SATURDAY: TO DIE IN MADRID (French) 1965, ROSSIF dir. Frederic Rossif directed this haunting document of the Spanish Civil War, compiling newsreel films of the period. Intercutting intimate close-ups of victimized peasants with panoramic scenes of brutal warfare, Rossif captures the grim brutality of this modern tragedy. Madeleine Chapsal and Maurice Jorre, who also worked on Rossif's THE ANIMALS and THE WITNESSES, have created a memorable script and musical score, respectively. The director has said of the film: "All the footage has its own musical beat, and 6Or each battle I sought the correct rhythm. For me, it is above all a film of remembrance." As a prolonged and tormented memory, TO DIE IN MADRID bears a striking resemblance to Alain Resnais' LA GUERRE EST FINIE. "Starklyand stunningly memoralized . . . it traces the whole bloody business of the rise of the republicans, the overthrow of the king, the gathering of the forces of reaction by the military and the church . . . the intervention of the Italians and the Germans on the Franco side and the Inter- national Brigades and the Russians in support of the republican loyalists . . . a thorough unrelenting resume of what occurred . . . a powerful emotional experience."-Bosley Crowther, New York Times THIS SUNDAY: MINGUS & MANCE LIPSCOMB: A LIFE WELL SPENT. See Saturday's separate ad. NEXT weekend: SATYAJIT RAY'S INDIAN CLASSIC: THE APU TRILOGY FRI: PATHER PANCHALI SAT: APARAJITO SUN: THE WORLD OF APU I A t {[#({([ ! i r Falstaff-A Broadway opera Academy Award Nominee! BEST ACTOR: GEORGE C. SCOTT "The Hospital" (GP) p 2 SHOWINGS NIGHTLY AT 7:15 & 10:50 L JASON ROBARDS BRITT EKLAND U "THE NIGHT THEY S RAIDED MINSKY'S" 4 . By JONATHAN P. MILLER If you seek an adventure in 1 t g h t hysterical opera, the School of Music's production of Falstaff at Power Center ad- mirably fills the bill. The eve- ning passes in a second while Verdi or one should say Shake- speare) expounds the folly of man and his actions. The story's plot jis taken from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the characterization of Falstaff from Henry IV. Its characters are concerned with harmless revenge, and, "living happily ever after. Written in 1893 as the last of Verdi's o p e r a s, one sees a change in the composer's mu- sic, and the work shines as his best plot. Rather than the story being the means towards a grand musical expression, the harmonies of Falstaff serve to complement and enforce the characterizations of its prin- cipals. Personification of char- acters in the music is always evident -- a busy scherzando accompanies the merry wives, the mellowest lyricism surfaces for the lovers, and one awaits Falstaff after the blustering phrase whose sixteenth notes fall to short detached chords. The bassoon signals his sar- casm. Indeed, the music falls so naturally to the ears, that one perceives the opera experi- ence with the casualness usually reserved for a Broadway musi- cal. Gone are the extended vo- cal exaggeration so typical of the bulk of Verdi's works, which although enjoyable, tend to relegate vocal music to the cen- ter of attention rather than that of an enthralling theatrical ex- perience. The plot concerns a portly, good-humored, and debt-ridden Sir John Falstaff, who seeks an amelioration of his fortunes. His method is to falsely woo rich, lovely, and married ladies. He might be successful were it not for worldly coincidence, which provides for a close friendship between two women he is am- bitious enough to "love" at the same time. When they compare love notes, and find them dupli- cates, their mutual revenge be- comes an obsession. As befitting an easily compre- hensible work, acting plays a more important role than usual- ly found in operatic works. The players proved quite equal to the task. Marc Gruett in the title role. proved to be the epi- tome of a character actor. He typified the rowdy robust and yet loveable pre - Elizabethan tavern dweller, whose foremost aim was to live life. His power- ful baritone pushed the lessons taught by negative responses to, "can honor mend a leg, Can honor fill a paunch that is emp- ty"? Patricia Deckert was su- perb in her mocking syncqpa- tion of honor due, as she sang the part of messenger to Fal- staff. Charles Roe created an- guish hysterical to the audience as the jealous husband, as did his wife in her well-defined ma- chinations. The consistently imaginative blocking was especially evident in the final scene, where the en- semble proclaims the folly of man. In a true romantic, chore- ographic and musical fugue, the chorus assembled, to come to- gether for the final proclama- tion of, "all the world's a stage." The orchestra had their mo- ments - the bad ones emanat- ing from the violins who had no pitch, and the excellent from the woodwinds, who put full heart into expression. Overall, they, as was the entire produc- tion, were excellent. --- - Academy Award Winner BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE 1971 "Woodstock" (R) SHOWN NIGHTLY AT 9:00 $2.50 PLUS $2.50 per "NAKED UNDER per carload LEATHER" 7:15 carload fll f ' I I ; ji ! I People's Republic of China Table Tennis Team j] THE WORLD'S BEST, PLAYS FOR THE FIRST TIME AT A U.S. UNIVERSITY _____ TONIGHT Ann Arbor Premiere TON IGHT NORMAN MAILER'S MAID "an astonishing adventure!"-Time.. XSi "Brilliant!"-N.Y. Times !ONE a mystery 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15 CRISLER ARENA Tickets now on sale-First Come, First Served Students $1 General Public $2 ATHLETIC TICKET OFFICE, Hoover and South State Streets 8:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M. DAILY 8:30 A.M. TO NOON SATURDAY { ,Cf ! I with NORMAN MAILER-ULTRA VIOLET-RIP TORN-JOY BANG '1 7:30 & 9:30 conspiracy 330 Maynard $1, free beverage ..1 Markley Hall Council Film Festival Presents A Horror Weekend Fri. and Sit.-April 7 & 8 Dining Room No. 1-7:00 p.m. House of Wax The Mosque of the Red Death Creature From the Black Lagoon Tales of Terror-Morellia Dining Room No. 3-7:00 p.m. -,-I - , r. i - APRIL Photography Workshops BEGINNERS-Learn to use your camera and light meter and then: DEVELOP your own film, make enlargements, crop and mount your finished photograph. FOUR DARK ROOM SESSIONS ADVANCED-Learn to photograph a model under studio lights, push ASA to GOOD, Make Kodalith Drop outs, murals, burning and dodg- ing, etc. CLASSES MEET ONCE A WEEK FOR 5 WEEKS. All supplies furnished by the CENTRE. Workshops are limited in size. CLASSES begin week of April 17. REGISTRATION ends April 12. New Studio Location at Sight & Sound I i