Pope Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, April 21, 1972 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, April 21, 1972 : Cabaret Fox Village You've seen it in The Damned and The Conformist, and now the combination of Fascism and perversion makes a return engagement in Cabaret. How- ever, unlike the other two, the real Nazi's - at .least the ones in brown shirts - are disgusted spectators, rnuch like their Com- munist counterparts would be; decadence is a milieu instead.of a cause. Occasionally director Robert Fosse can't resist a cut between a transvestite dance and Nazis defacing a Jew's house, but for the most part pol- itics and perversion are separat- ed. Likewise the music is confined to the stage of the Kit Kat Club, which overcomes some of the ri- slight boredom; not too many pictures can make you feel this way about genocide.-DegSica ac- complishes this dubious feat by giving us little insight into the three nebbish characters that make up the film's eternal tri- angle, and the other characters remain so peripheral that we can't get worked up about the prospect of their imminent ex- termination. Part of the problem is that the film's style is that of Elvira Madigan and Love Story rather than Bicycle Thief, lots bf soft, out-of-focus shots of leaves and gentle piano music, a setting in which it is difficult to feel the great repressive force. The char- acters don't care, why should w ke?I Now take Ivan Denisovich - American dreams, which Mi- chael had belonged to. On this level, The Godfather becomes a film about the very nature of the quest for power. -Bruce Shlain * * * Mr. Snith Goes to Washington Cinema Guild In the thirties and the early forties; Frank Capra was con- sidered one of the two or three best American directors. He won three Oscars for best direction, two for best film, and It Hap- pened One Night is, to this day, the only film to garner all four major Oscars. The fifties and sixties saw the decline of Cap- ra's' career, and only recently has there been a renewal of in- tionally ethical. Disgusted by the immorality around him, Smith, with the help of a world- ly, cynical Washington secre- tary (Jean Arthur), does noth- ing less than take on the entire unethical system. In making Mr. Smith, Frank Capra found himself in as much trouble as his film's hero. The Senators were at first delighted to hear of Capra's plans to make a movie about Washington; they even invited the director to have the premiere for Mr. Smith in the capital city. Capra accepted the invitation. Yet approximate- ly one third of that premiere audience are reported to have walked out on the film, infuria- ed with what they saw. In the face of overwhelming critical porters fumed and swore they Medium Cool Cinema II Haskell Wexler is a fine cine- matographer (In the Heat of the Night, Who's Afraid of Vir- ginia Woolf), and in Medium Cool he shows promise as a di- rector. The film autobiographic- ally follows the career of a T.V. cameraman in and around Chi- cago during the '68 convection. In the process, many McLuhan- esque themes are touched upon, but themes, like characters, are rarely developed. No matter; Medium Cool is so stimulating, innovative, and exciting, flawed though it be, that I would rank it as one of the more interesting American films of the last three years. (Friday and Saturday). -Richard Glatzer 0 QQ Q 1 0 New York Erotic Film Festival "A series of new, highly-,ac- claimed and controversial films which have been praised for their insight - and damned for their directness." KITE FLIGHT The first kites appeared in the Orient some 2,500 years ago, prob- ably inspired by birds, leaves, and winged seeds. So reads a poster about the New York Erotic Film Festival. Further information was un- available at press time. (Satur- day, Sunday, Monday and also April 28 and 29). See CINEMA, Page 8 Got a message that's important. to the public interest? Send the information to the associate man- aging editor at The Daily. We might be able to put it in a filler like this. Come Hear SALMAGUNDI Couzens Hall 9 P.M. Sat.r April 22 75c presents TONIGHT ONLY LES DIABOLIQUES Dir. Henry-Georges Clots- zot, 1955. (Director of Wages of Fear). THE GREATEST CHILLER OF THEM ALL. (Scarier than Hitchcock). No one can beat, the French when it comes to murder ! PLUS A SHORT Edgar Allen Poe's THE TELLTALE HEART ARCH ITECTURE AUDITORIUM 7and 9p.m. 75c diculous aspects of the musical- as-drama where somebody belts out a tune in some of the most incongruous s it ua t i ons. The film's weak points tend to con- gregate around the type of in- sipid subplot musicals liked for their simplicity - the love of a German gigolo for a Jewish heiress, an unwanted pregnancy -that only contribute a few good lines, The main plot concerns Sally Bowles (Liza Minelli), star sing- er at the Kit Kat Club, and her falling in and out of love with English grad student Brian Rob- erts (Michael York). Along the way they both have an affair with a German millionaire, which remains unclear in terms of character because of a lack of exposition, due perhaps to the search for a "GP" rating. How- ever this is well enough inte- grated with the overall tone of sexual ambiguity set by Joel Gray, as the nightclub MC, and the uncertainty of the protagon- onists. As a result of Gray's perform- ance, the night club scenes take on .greater importance than a showcase for Liza Garland. With one exception, they add to the film rather than becoming pauses as do most musical num- bers. Liza Minelli's T-group per- sonality works out well, though I wouldn't have put her on the covers of Time and Newsweek for it. While it's not'the great- est film, it's the best musical as film I've seen;. at least they didn't use Elott Mould and Bar.- bra Streisand. -Peter Munsing The Garden of the Finzi.Continis Fifth Forum If I *-* ""* S Folletts bookstore does so much more for me". ALL-CAMPUS DANCE PRE-MUD-BOWL at MARKLEY in the SNACK BAR on FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1972 AT 8:30 P.M. featuring: MARCUS a black and white band playing black and white music NON-RESIDENT ADMISSION: $1.00 ADDED SPECIAL: W. C. FIELDS SHORTS between sets 4y *,.. ------- SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW ON SALE! 10%-25% DISCOUNTS! HELD OVER AGAIN-3RD BIG WEEK ACADEMY AWARD WINNER "BEST FOREIGN FILM" a 231 S. State Street DIAL 662-6264 FEATURE 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 p.m. ADDED ATTRACTION-"CRUNCH BIRD" Oscar Winnin6 Cartoon ACADEMY AWARD WINNER star School for Wives, Zorba, cmay ThE LAST PEIURE |SOW is "One Of TheYear's -VINCENT CANBY Te or imes -CHARLES CHAMPLIN LsAgles Times -JDT RIST Ne okMagazine -BILL COLLINS -WANDA HALE New York Daily News -STEWART KLEIN WNEW-TV 08SALMAGGI GroupW Radio -NEW YORK HERALD -READER'S DIGEST EDUCATIONAL EDITION -DONALD CRAGIN Boston Herald Traveler -BILL COLLINS Philadelphia Inquirer -,INGENUE MAGAZINE -ARCHER WINSTEN New York Post --JOE ROSEN Morning Telegraph -DAVID GOLDMAN cBs Radio -DAN LEWIS Bell McClure Syndicate -CLIFFORD A. RIDLEY National Observer -PAUL ZIMMERMAN Newsweek --REX REED Syndicated Columnist -JAY COCKS Time agazine -BRUCE COOK National Observer --ROGER GREENSPUN New York Times -WILLIAM WOLF Cue -LEO MISHKIN Moprning Telegraph "THE BEST FILM _IN TOWN! If you see but one film a year, let this be the one. It is a beautiful film,.col- orful and brilliantly photographed." --Alvin A. Kushner Ann Arbor News "DeSica returns "M to greatness" lov -William Wolf of Cue Magazine S dkrected bri OngTER (Narveyi Shiow 011, Privt jC tbe announced tddler, Follies, Cabaret. 1 Schaal fC1oI r Sad th .Hojstage, i1 t'ISnt o wtf m LiU e R ~ 1. E Cp I 4 10 --KEVIN KELLY Boston Globe -LEN HARRIS WCBS*TV -NEWTON NORTH Daily Mirror Sch~ otrScna -GENE SISKEL 'Chicago Tribuno -HARRY MacARTHUR W""hington Sun Star 5, so, i 4 A3 1 -BERNARD DREW Gnnett News Service -ROGER EBERT Chicago Sun.Times Plus 17 other leading U.S. film critics. ay well be the eliest film the year." - '^"lis ler "Reaches artistic and human heights of 'Bicycle Thief.'" ---^cherWi"st" - 1 I11'i . 1 . 1 i _ adAd the SUC. Pt 7:..E -/'Official 11 4% --rnvim rmper[ r rc t Cr rriri5[c r '. -