Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Wednesday, ,April 19, 1972

Cnema
HELD OVER AGAIN-3RD B
Be ore the modern miracle of Belvedere ACADEMY A

G WEEK
WARD

A'

By BRUCE SHLAIN
Perhaps more than any of
Shakespeare's plays, Macbeth
has most readily lent itself to
"modern interpretation." After
all, with its main character a
murderous powermonger, the
play is a dyed-in-the-wool nat-
ural as an allegory for bigtime
politics. Hence the play Mac
bird and a host of other sa-
tiric take-offs that certainly
might occasion The Bard him-
self to revolve a few times in
his grave. Otherwise no harm is
done, for these updated excur-
sions into the play do not alter
the conception of the original.
They have merely used the
Shakespearean play as a skele-
ton for their own specific dra-
matic intentions.
Roman Polanski's film version
is greatly stylized and colorfully

innovative, in many ways a rad-
ically different approach to
Shakespeare. Yet it is not so
outlandish that he loses sight
of the original Macbeth. For the
concessions made to interpreta-
tion are consistant as well'as in-
telligent. From the first, the
myth of the stately luxury usual-
ly associated with royalty is
blown to smithereens. Remem-
ber, it was 1040 A.D. - long be-
fore the modern miracle of Mr.
Belvedere's formica wizardry.
Even kings in those days had
to walk amid the geese and
straw, and if their clothing was
lavish and ornate, their flow-
ing capes still occasionally had
to drag unceremoniously in the
mud. The omnipresent filth sur-
rounding the household of a les-
ser nobleman was so accurately
recreated by Polanski that artis-

tic advisor Kenneth Tynan was
able to analyze Macbeth's am-
bition to grab the crown as a
"desire to move out of the low-
rent district." Previous to this
only a few movies, like Beck-
ett (which showed the unking-
ly discomforts of Peter O'Toole's
winter morning ablutions with
cold water), made any attempt
to capture this unluxurious re-
ality.
But Polanski has more to work
with - the whole cosmology of
Shakespeare. He brings the su-
pernatural world as well down
to a corporeal, real level, reveal-
ing the same skill in dealing
with' the macabre as he dem-
onstrated in Rosemary's Baby
and the morbidly comic Cul-de-
sac. Only now he has more Ruth
Gordons to work with. The
witches in Macbeth are not de--

picted as transient, airy, now-
you - see - them - now - you
don't spirits wielding broom-
sticks. The close-ups of their
warty, leprous faces prove that
they are indeed real. And their
latent sexuality has been strong-
ly converted into blatancy-one
even lifts her dress in Macbeth's
startled face, cackling in bawdy
joy. Later, when Macbeth visits
their steaming cave in search of
answers, he encounters a score
of them crowded naked around
their bubbling cauldron.
The violent aspects of the
play have also been brought to
the forefront. At the very begin-
ning the tone is set; while two
sergeants talk about the latest
battle, a group of prisoners hang
matter-of-factly in the slightly
unfocused background. While
the murders themselves have not
been glorified in choreographed
slow-motion with symphonic
backgrounds as in Clockwork
Orange, certainly none of the
bloodshed occurs "offstage." Po-
lanski, in an interview, justified
his approach to screen violence
by charging that while the de-
piction of neat, clean, killings
represents true immorality, por-
traying murder as "horrible and
agonising," as he does, brings
people to be totally repulsed and
consequently refrain from en-
gaging in that type of activity.
When Macbeth slays King Dun-
can with repeated, frenzied
stabs, one can see that Macbeth
is frightened; which is why he
must be so physical. The scene

lends a gory "humanization" to
the murder, since it can be
clearly seen that Macbeth was
unable to go about the deed it-
self with any real efficiency.
While injecting a great deal of
spilt blood and overt sexuality,
as well as the muddy squalor of
medieval times, Polanski has
still endeavored to avoid rele-
gating Shakespeare to some
meagre billing below the direc-
tor, cinematographer, and make-
up man. In that ambitious at-
tempt, he has entered a rela-
tively virgin area. For none of
the Shakespearean renditions
that have hitherto made it to
the screen have tried to combine
a great deal of picturesque in-
terpretation with the nuances of
the original play.
So far the attempts at cine-
matizing Shakespeare have fallen
into two camps. There are the
strict, straight-forward, no-non-
sense versions that are nearly
exact replicas of the stage play,
except for an occasional close-
up or angle change. Even the
best of these movies have a cur-
ious tendency to remind the
viewer of a time when a solilo-
quy or two had been thrust
down his bored gullet -- some-
how they lack the vitality of the
"live" performance. An extreme
example of this type is the
Othello of Laurence Olivier,
which was actually shot on a
stage. While the film penetrat-
ed with dynamic virtuosity the
anguished heart of the black
See MACBETH, Page 7

4

Comic books in our culture...

By MARTIN STERN
About 5,000 strong, armed
with several tattered Super-
man comics in one hand, a wad
of cash in the other, and a pen-
cil behind the ear, they repre-
sent a growing cultural force in
this country.
They? The true comic book
fans.
The true fan doesn't just read
comics; anyone can read comics.
True fans read comics, talk
comics, and then maybe even
create their own comics.
Comic fans are readers who
take their reading material ser-
iously. One fan in particular is
Allan Milgrom, an art major
who taught a two-credit course
on comic book history last se-
mester. Milgrom did not receive
credit for teaching the course,
nor did he get paid. It was just
something he felt like doing; "a
labor of love:"
Some of the more affluent fans
publish fan magazines, called
fanzines, which feature ama-
teur artists and writers. John
Onoda, another local comic fan,
feels that these publications are
important for aspiring young
talents, for they often serve as
a stepping stone to enter the
professional comic market. Mil-
grum has had artwork published
in some of these, and he hopes
for a professional job soon.
Mark Feldman, of Silver
Spring, Maryland, is a young
publisher of a high quality art
fanzine called I'll Be Damnned.
Many of the early contributors
to his 'zine, such as Bernie
Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, and
Frank Brunner. have already
gone on, to become professional
artists.
Feldman states that good
fanzines only last a few issues
at the most, as costs are so
high. Circulation for a fanzine
is rarely over 2,000, and consid-
ering printing costs and pay-
ments to name artists for ex-
clusive material, profits are
rarely realized. He believes that
fanzines are published merely
'a

as a hobby, for they surely
aren't published for profit.
The late Edwin April Jr, of
5272 Liberty Rd, was a publish-
er of several professional qual-
ity publications for fans. They
featured certain reprinted news-
paper comic strips from the
twenties through the sixties.-
Another publisher of reprint-
ed strips recently ran into
trouble. George Henderson, of
Toronto, Canada, published a
monthly reprint 'zine called
Captain George Presents. He
hadn't received copyright per-
mission to do so, however, and
was hit with a large lawsuit by
King Features. He had to pay
several thousand dollars penal-
ty and as a result, discontinued
his 'zine.
There are several fan publi-
cations containing mostly ad-
vertisements for comics, called
adzines, which circulate nation-
ally among thousands of fans.
The maiorder comic business is
a booming and profitable enter-
prise. Prices of old comics have
been on the rise for over six
years now, and there appears to
Aill
®I k-$2.00 2

be no end to this trend. Even
the President's price freeze
couldn't affect the market. Fur-
thermore, profits from old comic
sales are tax-free.
Currently, the Entertaining
Comics Group (EC) are the hot-
test items on the market. A few
years back, there was little in-
terest in them; they sold at 50
to 75 cents each. Nowadays,
they are grabbed up by eager
fans at $6.00 or more per is-
sue.
The most expensive comic
book is Batman No. 1. Some fans
are willing to pay $300 for a
well preserved copy of this is-
sue.
Comic-fandom, as a hobby,
seems to have its merits. It
brings out talent in some peo-
ple, and it encourages socializ-
ation among its members. But
perhaps most important, it
keeps one's piggy bank full.
-VI--,
TUESDAY and
WEDNESDAY
THE
MARX
BROS.
IN
LOVE
HAPPY,
Dir. David Miller, 1949
THE BROTHERS
CUT LOOSE!
Plus a short by
HARRY LANGDON
ARCHITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
7 and 9 P.M. 75c



I

SATURDAY NIGHT, APRIL 22-9:00 P.M.
Bursley Hall Enterprizes Presents:
GEORGE C. SCOTT and SUE (Lolita) LYON in
THE FLIM-FLAM MAN
25c Popcorn charge (at door)
FOR ALL THE POPCORN YOU CAN EAT!
ADMISSION COMPLIMENTARY
BURSLEY HALL WEST CAFETERIA


FRIDAY, MAY 8th, 8:30 P.M.
MASONIC AUDITORIUM-DETROIT
PETE SEEGER SINGS
Tickets: $5.00, $4.00, $3.00, $2.00
Available at Masonic Temple Box Office and J. L.
Hudson Stores ($1.00 student discount at Masonic
Box Office only).
AUSPICES: AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

A-

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OPEN 12:45
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Mon.-Sat. $1.50 until 4:30
Mon.-Thurs. eve. $2.00
Fri. and Sat,. eve. $2.50
All Day Sunday $2.50
603 E. Libert
DIAL 665-6290
Program Information 8-6416
1214 S. UNIVERSITY
BEST PICTURE
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the ann arbor film cooperative
presents a feature length compilation of JAY WARD'S
ROCKY and BULLWINKLE
& FRACTURED FAIRY TALES
TOMORROW NIGHT-Thurs., April 20th ONLY

POR~TER (~arey.y

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:ddier, F01"es, Cabart,
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4ex(t Time 1 'U Si'on O
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7, 8:45, & 10 p.m.
still only 75c

SUN.-
Chris
Smilhers

THE BEACH BOYS
at Central Michigan University
MT. PLEASANT, MICH.

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TONIGHT-
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50c

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