Friday, March 21, 1975
Pick of the week:
Animation Potpourri
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sat., 7, 8:45, 10:30
For most of the prime years
of the Hollywood studios, the
dnnn n i .ai~Ot y t
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Poge Pive
cinema
wveekenc
amiaitL rigus Wliney Pro twist. This time it's 30s France Despite the impressive roster sage" Western, yet it is todayi
educions. Disney films were, in and the subject is a symbolic of accolades it received, The chiefly remembered as one of!
their own way, landmarks - version of the life of the con- Godfather nonetheless under- Robert Redford's early films,
thirownh eth waydmarks -man who almost brought down went considerable dissent for Robert Blake is Willie, an out-
Tech ite par the w fot the Third Republic. i its alleged pandering to audi- cast Paiute Indian who returns
Tchicol, for example -sbut Stavisky's world is shown ence's tastes. Still, Coppola's to the reservation to reclaim
complex often felt constrained with beautifully photographed film is a rare combination of I his woman, rather unconvinc-
by the tight creative restric- precision in whites and cool entertainment value and mean- ingly played by Katharine Ross.
titons imposed upon them. pastels. Everything and every- ingful filmmaking. Forced to flee, they are pursued
The years surrounding World body is elegant and chic - with -Chris Kochmanski by a posse reluctantly organiz-;
War II saw the beginnings of a disturbing perfection. * * * ed by Redford, well-cast as theI
War awmthe eginnins It turns out that everything local sheriff.
major animation efforts inside
the American film industry but isn't so perfect, as director Carnal Knowledge Director Abraham Polonsky's
outside of the Disney opera- Alain Resnais (Last Year at Ann Arbor Film Co-o deliberate construction estab-
tion. In two programs tomor- Marienbad) increases the im- Ann Ao 4 Clishes complex relationships
a ages of death-orchids, ceme- rLB, Aud. 4 between characters, environ-
row, Cinema Guild presents atreadadadaia. fFi,7, 9 evr
capsule history of both the teries, and a dead animal. 'r', ment, and society through ex-
"new wave" (to coin a phrase) Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Carnal Knowledge, directed tensive use of stylized photog-
in American animation and the Stavisky with his customary by Mike Nichols in 1971,is not raphy. An exile himself, victim
classic Disney style. boyish charm - although here on a par with his earlier films. of 50's Hollywood black-listing,
The 7:00 showing concentrates it is a little perverted as he be- Its theme - conflict in male/ Polonsky was intensely concern-
basicall on Dumbo, one of the comes increasingly manic-de- female relationships - remains ed with the hideous destructiveI
pressive. undeveloped simply because nature of prejudice.
Disney Studio's most massive Charles Boyer is efficiently Jules Feifer's screenplay pre-
efforts from the days when lit- CharlesrBoysrhis fiently Jues Fswith stereotypes i- Unfortunately his attemptsI
eraly unred ofarist an Idebonaire as his friend, and Bents us wt troye n
erally hundreds of artists rc Anny Duperey plays Stavisky's stead of full, human characters, to leave a justifiable sense of
ngmevry se. Tyes perly- wife with the same frosty ele- Jack Nicholson appears as the I guilt in the viewer are not so.
screening also contains one of gance that typifies the mood of sexual exploiter of women, and much powerful statements as
theeals (and otfasint ofthe film. Art Garfunkel plays the uptight, they are empty pessimism and
the earliest (and most fascinat- -Melissa Harris perpetual romantic. Ann-Mar- melodrama.
ing) American cartoons-Wind- * * garet is the pathetic, unliberat- -Julie Zuckman l
son McCay'.sGenie the Dino- ed woman, and Cynthia O'Neal* * *
sang. omebodes plas thecastrating crergirl.
The two late shows are made Ho ebodies playsthe in careert cStreetcar Named
up of shorts from all ranges of Michigan have insisted that the film is Desire
American animation: Mr. Ma- If you're like me and can ig- sexist. Nonsense. The shocking;
goo, one of the first creative nore the fact that certain mov- debilitation witnessed in the Ann Arbor Film Co-op
protagonists to abandon the ies are unrealistic, full of character Nicholson plays MLB, Aud. 31
super-realism of DisneyNor- stereotypes, and, even worse, clearly suggests the depressing Fri., 7:15, 9:304
man McLaren's Canon from the preachy, and admire them sole- end to which such a man can Tennessee Williams' A Street-,
National Film Board of Cana- ly for their bravery in running lead himself. car Named Desire had a mon-
da, plus Walter Lantz s immor- so contrary to popular opinion, Nichols and Feifer criticize opoly on drama awards when
tal Woody Woodpecker. you might, as I did, enjoy Lar- both the men and women in an it played Broadway. Subse-
Both schedules should prove r Yust's Homebodies for the attempt to expose their capac- quently, Elia Kazan's 1951 filmi
to be an exciting change of far-fetched murder story that ity for self-delusion and casual version also captured many:
pace evening at the cinemas it is. infliction of pain on others. But prizes.}
s Homebodies concerns six eld- the characters are definitely The film centers around thet
erly tenants forced by the city "types." thus incapable of bear- hopeless struggles of an emo-,
Alice Doesn't Live to leave their condemned build- ing the intended depth. The film tionally troubled Blanche du
ing. They resent being uprooted falls flat. Bois (Vivien Leigh) to hold on
h'ere anymore from their home of 40 or 50 -Nathalie M. Walker to her faded southern gentility.
years, and they're willing to * * * However, she must endlessly
The Movies, Briarwood kill to prevent it. They're not contend with the heartless bad-
Alice Doesn't Live Here Any- cute or lovable; they're desper- Persona gering of her brawling, lusty
mere can accurately be describ- ate. brother-in-law (Marlon Brando
ed as a film which succeeds in Homebodies isn't likely to en- New World, Nat. Sci. Aud. at his finest!).
spite of itself. It tells the saga joy the kind of popularity or ac- Sun., 7, 9 Seething with hate, personal
of a 35-year old New Mexico claim received by Harry and If you're looking for scintil- encounters between the lost
housewife whose life is uproot- Tonto. It's much nicer to think lating conversations and action- lady and the brutish man are
ed when her husband is killed of old people as old only in packed adventure, then yOujfilmed with shrewd manipula-
in a traffic accident. body and not in spirit, than won't find it in Persona. What tion of the close-up. Inner
Packing up bag and baggage, to admit that they might be so you will find, however, is a ments are seldom p tor- 'c
mentsare sldomprojected '
Alice and her 12-year-old son set in their ways that they sensitive, exquisite portrayal of with such sensitivity and clarity
head off for California, where would do anything to prevent human relationships - a pow- on the screen.
she vaguely hopes to resume a a change. erful study of two women and
long - faded singing career. -Paul Schacht their contributions to each oth- .The dialogue maintains poetic
The film chronicles their vari- * * er's moral and psychological richness throughout, and a fine
ous adventures and encounters development supporting cast (including Karl
along the way, much in the style The Godfather I Persona is a unique and in- Malden) clearly does justice to
of other "road" films. tensely personal work from di- the substance and artistry of
The script is pure and often New Would, MLB rector Ingmar Bergman. His:; Williams' play.
weepy soap opera from start to Sat., 6:45, 9:45 films can never be fully inter- -Nathalie M. Walker
man, Sleep traces the private- finished product must serve,
eye escapades of Philip Mar- many different audiences. One'
lowe (Humphrey Bogart). final cut must satisfy both the
Though his cynical and prag- packed New York theater and:
matic self, Bogey adds a dimen- the half-deserted Butte drive-
sion of nonchalance to Mar- in.
lowe's personality. Lauren Ba- Perhaps that's what makes
call co-stars as Vivian Rutledge Mel Brook's Young Franken-
and nicely compliments Bo- stein such a unique film. It can
gart's superior performance. throw almost any movie viewer
For a 1946 production, Sleep into hysteric fits of laughter.
touches upon some exception- Brooks and lead player Gene
ally controversial topics, like Wilder penned a screenplay
pornography, homosexuality around Mary Shelley's novel;
and nymphomania. The film is that is many things at the sameI
masterfully stylized, and mys- time: a satire on the '30s hor-
tery so pervades it that even the ror classic (in fact, the pictureI
title is inexplicable, is in black-and-white to empha-
--Jeff Ferro size the comparison), a collec-
tion of beautiful little slapstick-
ish bits, and some sharp one-
Spectre of the Rose line joke writing.
Cinema Guild, Arch.Aud. Young Frankenstein is a
Sun., 9:5 u funny, funny film. You'll die
Sun.,9:05laughing - and love it.
Suspense drives Spectre of --David Blonquist
the Rose, director Ben Hecht's d B
matic context, is extraordinary,
particularly considering it is
only Fosse's t hind film. But
when one examines the direc-
tor's characters through the
black and white cinematography
of Bruce Surtees, we find only
shallowness; not only n Hoff-
seems a intellectual-plus to have man's interpretation of Lenny,
shared Bruce's liberal ideolo- but in the entire presant-,)ast
gies back in an era of ranking technique that Fosse relies so
conservatism. heavily on.
Thus, the Lenny Bruce phe- Julian B e r r y ' s screenplay
nomenon has snowballed, and strives desperately to become
has of late erupted into some- an active support that makes
what of a cultural explosion. Fosse's film more than eely
The Lenny Bruce "mystic" is a pretentious tribute.
currently presented with text. Unfortunately, the handsome
book clarity with the United craftsmanship of the film and
Artist production of "a Bob Valerie Perrine's superb per-
Fosse film" entitled, si'nply and formance become secondary to
personally, Lenny. the structural faults of Fosse's
The movie has been handled
as one of those rare cinematic
events, a la Last Tango in'
Paris. Employing the Michael
Todd theory of limited access,
the film has opened at "selected
theatres" across the country at
showcase prices.
With all the hype surrounding
the film, it becomes required
viewing for all who claim in-
terest in contemporary cinema.
And to their dismay, it proves:
a dramatic disappointment.
The film, in its stric ly cane-
pg~fg y~fff
-r
1946 satire of the ballet. The
film has its strong points and
weak points as all films do.
However, its greatest weak-
ness comes in the comparison
with Hecht's earlier works.
The film's melodramatic plot
deals with the affairs of several'
people involved in ballet. One
of them, a young ballerina, falls
blindly in love with a depraved
dancer. In the climax of the
film, the maniac Andre plots to'
murder his wife during the
Spectre of the Rose ballet.
Spectre of the Rose lacks the
narrative and unity with which
Hecht excelled in other films
he wrote: Spellbound and No-'
torious. By comparison, Spec-
tre falls short in dramatic im-
pact.
--Joe McMullen
Young Frankenstein
State
Lenny
Fifth Forum
The a t e s tprevailing cult
hero, Lenny Bruce, has cur-}
rently risen to the ultimate;
status of chic. Anyone previous-
ly sharing any relation with the
late comic, however slight, hasE
made it well known, while it
a p p r o a c h. Ultimately, in its
frantic attempt to be taken ser-
iously, the f i I m squanders
where it matters most.
--Jim valk
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2 Readings
TUES. 18th:
ANDREI CODRESCO
This is not an all-day read-
ing. When we know the
exact time, we will announce
it in the store.
FRI. 21st-3 P.M.
SHARON LEITER
{
300 South Harbor Blvd.
Anaheim, Calif. 92805
(714) 956-9620
finish with the performances
tending to follow suit - all of
which should have ensured
Alice'# ranking as an undisput-
ed disaster.
But something strange hap-
pens along the course of this
film. Director Martin Scorsese
lets scene after scene run well
past its normal dramatic cut-
off point, and this seemingly
bad sense of timing turns out4
to be Alice's saving grace,
As Alice, Ellen Brustyn'
strives mightily to suppress
the over-emotiveness which ren-
dered her utterly intolerable in
The Exoreist. Her histrionics
still emerge now and then, but
overall this is the most re-
strained, effective performance
I've seen her give on film.
-Kim Potter
Slavisky
Campus
Stavisky is nostalgia with al
Today, neariy three years preted, but they are invariably
since its release, The Godfather so ruch in texture, so beauti-
inevitably invites comparison fully written, acted, and photo-
with its recent sequel, The God- graphed, that they will be an in-
father, Part II. And despite the comparable experience for the
great amount of criticism and viewer.
comparison written on these The 1967 film features Liv
two monumental films, one Ullman and Bibi Anderson -
must eventually conclude that virtually the only characters-
they in fact comprise one large but they perform superbly.
masterwork. -Melissa Harris
In 1972 a number of high- *
brows accused director Francis
Ford Coppola of sacrificing rea- /illie Boy
lism for a few, cheap shot,
shoot-'em-up thrills. One of New World, MLB
PartIT's functions then has been Sat., 7 ,9
to make stuffed-shirt critics rea- Tell Them Willie Boy Was
lize that Part I was more than Here, a film representative of
the romanticized Hollywood the depths of American self-
whitewashing of the Mafia hatred in the late 60's, never
many of them called it. really took off.
Marlon Brando fully deserv- Based on events which ac-
ed the controversial Best Actor tually occurred in turn-of-the
Oscar he won for Godfather, century California, it was in-
but with Part II now under his tended as a hard-hitting "mes-
belt, Al Pacino's performance ---
as the heir apparent to Brando's
power seems far more chilling.
Jewish Grad and Faculty Group
SQUARE DANCE
Saturday, March 22nd
8:30 P.M. AT
HILLEL-1429 Hill
ADMISSION-$1.00
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED
he i arbor fiSlm cooperative
TONIGHT ONLY !
FRI., MARCH 21, 1975
MIKE NICHOLS'
CARNAL
KNOWLEDGE
with Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel,
Ann-Margret and Candice Bergen
-AND-
MARLON BRANDO in