Friday, October 12:, 1 97.3
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
Friday, October 1 2, I ~73 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
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The Palm Beach Story
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sun., 7, 9:05,
The Palm Beach Story stars
Claudette Colbert as a young
married woman who decides that
her h u s b a n d (Joel McCrea)
would probably get along better
without her, so she takes a train
to Florida to obtain a divorce.
On the train she meets and be-
guiles millionaire playboy John
D. Hakensacker 3rd (Rudy Val-
lee).
Her involvement with him and
his hyper, much-married sister
(Mary Astor) provides the plot
basis for a film that, again ac-
cording to the Times,' "should
have been breathless, but only
the actors are breathless-and
that from talking so much."
-WILLIAM MITCHELL
S*
- Umberto D
Cinema II, Aud. A
Fri., 7, 9:30
Umbreto D (1951) is unques-
tionably one of Vittorio Di Sica's
best directing efforts.
The picture is a finely detailed
story about an old man, retired
on his small Italian civil ser-
vant's pension, tryingeto forge
some kind of existence for his
few remaining years. But all his
efforts-ranging from a garage
sale to suicide attempts - con-
sistently end up in failure.
-DAVID BLOMQUIST
.1Isculine-Feminine
Cinema II, Aud. A
Sun., 7, 9:30
If we could take 90 minutes
of film, toss it up into the air,
pick it up, and then splice it to-
gether in any convenient order
-well, we might just have some-
thing that would closely resem-
ble Jean-Luc Godard's Masculine-
Feminine.
The idea would make an inter-
esting documentary, all right-
a circa 1966 study of the mores
of Parisian young people-but
somehow all sorts of absolutely
unconnected footage appears in-
stead (e.g. a rather lengthy in-
terview with, of all people to
interview when studying Parisian
youth, Brigitte Bardot).
-DAVID BLOMQUIST
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid
UAC-Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. Aud.
Fri., Sat., 7, 9:30
If you can stand the thorough-
Iv nauseating "Raindrops Keep
Fallin' On My 1lead" musical
sequence (which star Paul New-
man wanted cut from the film),
this amusing farce surfaces as
a first-rate, sophistic ated
Western.
Along with co-stars Robert
Redford and Katherine Ross,
Newman mugs and clowns his
way through a series of hilarious
bank - and - train holdups taking
place in the 1890's of rural North
and South America.
-MICHAEL WILSON
Cinema
weekedM,&
Tropic of Cancer
Cinema II, Aud. A
Sat., 7, 9
Although there are some in-
credible shots of slovenly, wash-
ed-up prostitutes wasting away
in the Paris whorehouses of the
'30's, Joseph Strick's Tropic of
Cancer (1970) is ultimately a
huge mistake of a movie.
Rip Torn is horribly miscast
as the autobiographical hero of
Henry Miller's acclaimed under-
ground classic, and the film
works its way downhill from
there.
Beware of director Strick: he
has botched m a n y "faithful"
adaptations of famous novels to
the screen, n o t a b 1 y Joyce's
Ulysses (a pathetic celluloid at-
tempt )and Genet's The Balcony.
-/MICHAEL WILSON
Fugitive Kind
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sat., 7, 9:05
Taken from the Tennesse Wil-
liams play Orpheus Descending,
Sidney Lumet's Fugitive Kind
(1959) is an erratic, impressive
and kinky film set in the dra-
matic South, Williams' home ter-
ritory.
Marlon Brando, -who twice re-
fused the part and then accepted
on conditions of a total re-write,
plays with credibility a guitar-
strumming, snakeskin jacketed
shoe salesman who gets involved
with two women.
Besides the very t a l e n t e d
Joanne Woodward, he meets up
with the superb Italian actress
Anna Magnani.
-MICHAEL WILSON
Bergman Festival
M1LB, Aud. 4
Fri., 7, 8:30, 10
In Persona, during a perform-
ance ofrElektra an actress sud-
denly refuses to speak. After-
ward, still completely silent, she
imposes her will so powerfully
on her nurse that the personali-
ties of the two women become
confused and meld into a single
warring intellect.
Persona is a difficult film but
worth seeing more than once.
Sat., 7, 8:30, 10
In Hour of the Wolf an artist
tries to inflict his guilts and
demons on another person, and
again the artist is rejected. Berg-
man reveals some nightmares
which are most easily discerned
in the magic hour before dawn.
Sun., 7:15, 9:15
The best of the Bergman this
weekend, Shame is one of the
least visceral war movies ever
made. It is Bergman's most
strongly worded statement on the
relativity of winning 'and losing
and the necessity for the artist
to make his neuroses part of his
work.
-PHILIP MIROWSKI
Pad~dl
C mpus
Rip Torn gives the perform-
ance of his career-no mean
achievement--in Payday as a
country and western singing star
surrounded by pills, bills and
groupies.
The film digs deep to uncover
the truths of touring on the
road, and we are left with more
than just a portrait of the artist
as a Buck Owens.
-MICHAEL WILSON
Jesus Christ Superstar
State
Director Norman Jewison un-
fortunately feels that he can film
Jesus Christ Superstar in the
the same heavy-handed manner
that he filmed Fiddler on the
Roof. Thus, he has almost buried
Rice and Webber's unpretenti-
ously powerful work under crane
shots, flaming sunsets, an excess
of variety show choreography,
and fighter planes. Almost.
The music (skillfully arranged
by Andre Previn) and the lead
performances rise above the
direction to save the movie. Ted
Neely is particularly good as a
troubled, very human Christ.
-JAMES HYNES
Alsof..
Greetinus at the Fifth Forum:
a fine film, double-billed with
Sisters, not seen at press time.
Romeo and Juliet at the Mich-
igan. A pleasure.
Memories of Underdevelop-
ment, shown Friday, at 8, in
UGLI Mul ipurpose Room by
New World Media. A post-revolu-
tionary Cuban film.
Pioneer film distributor of the
'30's Tom Brandon will show
newsreels a n d documentaries
dealing with the Depression per-
iod, including China Strikes Back
and The Ford Massacre. MLB,
Fri. at 8.
UNIVERSITY PLAYERS Presents
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW'S
October 10-13, 8:00 P.M., Power Center
Ticket Office in Michigan League
Information: 764-6300, 763-3333 (evenings)
"A JOY! STUNNING! BEAUTIFUL!"
-N Y TIMES -3ATUROAY REV!W -PLAYBOY
Paramount Pictures presents the return
of the greatest love story of all time.
A
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2ND PARAMONTPICTURFSp ate
HIT
FRANCO ZEFFIRELu
ROMEO
~JULIET
AGAIN!
BACK TO
TH RILL
YOU
PLEASE NOTE
SHOW TIE
I
TECHNICOLOR
/
10 RAmCi (11W mI( II M WIllIA SIIAI(SPM 's "0ME(0A AIR"
STARRING OLIVIA HUSSEY & LEONARD WHITING
OPEN DAILY AT 12:45 603 eastliberty
SHOWS AT 1 P.M
3:30-6:10 AND 8:45 ,yii G: A N
COMING--James Coburn Is
"HARRY IN YOUR POCKET" __r ______9
L' Players open season with
spirited acting in 'Saint Joan'
.1
Daily Photo by JOHN UPTON
No lack of levity
Pianist Victor Borge mingles humor with serious music last night
as he performs in Hill Aud. Armed with a wide range of jokes,
Borge fashions comic routines out of songs such as "Chopsticks"
and "Happy Birthday."
MUSIC SCHOOL-Laurence Liberson on clarinet, SM Recital
Hall at 8.
MUSIC-University Musical Society presents Gyorgy Sandor,
pianist, at Rackham Aud. at 8:30; The Ark presents
Barry O'Neill singing Irish and British folksongs at 8:30;
King Pleasure jazz club features Charles Lldyd (2333 E.
Stadium).
DRAMA-U' Players presents G. B. Shaw's Saint Joan in
Power Center- at 8.
ART-Union Gallery features openipg reception for Donald
Davidson's exhibition of drawings and images, 7 to 10
p.m.
LECTURE-Bela Bartok, Jr. speaks about his father at Rack-
ham today at 4.
By ALVIN CHARLES KATZ
The University Players open-
ed their new season Wednesday
night at the Power Center with
a handsome and spirited produc-
tion of George Bernard Shaw's
Saint Joan.
Based on the exploits of Joan
of Arc, the play traces our hero-
ine from the time she meets
France's Dauphin (later Char-
les VII) and persuades him to
give her command of his army
through her victory at Orleans
and to find her final burning as
a heretic.
The work reflects Shaw in his
prime, displaying intelligence,
wit, and clarity in doses seldom
seen in modern .!;ama.
Unlike many of his other plays,
Saint Joan has not suffered sig-
nificantly from the passage of
time; with the exception of an
entertaining but rather dated end-
ing, the play has retained all its
vibrance and lucidity.
The character of Joan, an
early protestant, is well suited
to Shawl, a great protestant him-
self. What Shaw gives us is not
history's customary frail, frag-
ile Joan, but an earthy prag-
matic girl with a cocky, reck-
less abandon.
The play is very didactic, full
of dialectical scenes a b o u t
feudalism, the church, and na-
tionalism, but the didacticism is
so well structured and beauti-
fully integrated that is goes down
with no trouble at all. Form is
Shaw's forte, and Saint Joan is
the culmination of his mastery of
form and structure.
Director Nathan Garner has
a wonderful feel for the comic,
and keeps his characters suffic-
iently down to earth. Consequent-
ly, Saint Joan never takes itself
too seriously, which is why this
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production works. as well as it
does.
What is most remarkable about
the production is the depth of the
cast, which turned in fine per-
formances all around.- This is a
play with no weak links, and the
result is an airtight package of
theatrical professionalism the
likes of which is rarely seen on
Ann Arbor stages.
I particularly enjoyed Robert
Chapel as the ineffectual, super-
ficial Dauphin and J a m e s
Slaughter as a chauvinistic Eng-
lich chaplain, whose characteriza-
tions stood out above the gener-
ally excellent performances which
the production featured.
In the title role, Adele Aro-
heim is suitably spunky and erst-
while, yet her performance left
me short of satisfied. While she
conveys the practical, realistic
aspect of the character very ef-
f'ctively, she seems to neglect
the mystic, transcendental qual-
ity of this girl who heard voices,
and thus often seems more a
cheerleader than a divinely in-
spired saint.
We know that the maid has
charisma by the way the other
characters follow her around,
but the lack of a sense of spirit-
uality in Aronheim's characteri-
zation causes something of a
credibility gap.
Still, what her performance
lacks in sensitivity it compen-
sates for in sheer energy, a n d
her portrayal of Saint Joan
works well enough to make the
production a success.
The University Players' pro-
duction of Saint Joan is a strong
and competent reiering of an
exceedingly good play, and a
fine start for the company's cur-
rent season.
KATHARINE HEPBURN
PAUL SCOFlELD
LEE REMJCK
KATE REID
JOSEPH COTTEN
BETSY BLAIR
EDWARD ALBEES
T C
TONY KJ-IRD-O
ZERO MOSTEL
GENE WILDER
AND KAREN BLACK
EUGENE IONESCO'S
4NAP1LM DI MTM 9Y0
TOM OHORGiAN
is EtAY BY
JUUAN BARRY
ALT HATRE
OY4ANY OF ENGLAND
ALAN BATES
LAURENCE OLMER
JOAN PLOWRIGHT
ANTONOI1EKHOV
4AFURCEf '
LAURENCE OU.MER
CYPhL CUSACK
W64iHOLM
MICHAEL JAY'S1ON
VMEN MERCHANT
TERENCE WR,3Y
HAROLD PINTER
LEE MARViN
FREDRIC MARCH
ROBERT RYAN
JEFF BRIDGES
BRADFORD DILLMAN
EUGENE (YNEILLS
Eight.
fantastic
subscription
f licks.
JnA FIMDRECHEDaMER
JOHN FRANKENHEIME R
STACY KAH
RBRT STEPH~$
HUGH GRIFFITH
JOHN OSBORNES
BROCK PETER
RAYMOND SrJAC2ES
KURT WEILL &
MAXWELL ANDERSONS
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RICHARD O'CALLAGHAN
SIMON GRAYS
HAROLD PINTER
amA FiLM IIRECME81t
GUY GREEN
EOwASCRAY BY
EDARD ANHALT
A M N
ANIEL MAYN
5E1IY BY s
ALFRED HAYES
i
,
Great plays transformed into
great new movies by your
kind of writers, directors,
stars.
One Monday and Tuesday
a month, October through
May. Four showings, two
evenings and two matinees,
and that's it.
Starts October 29th and
October 30th at a local
popcorn factory (see theatre
list below).
SPECIAL COLLEGE DISCOUNT
Seats are limited. Get down to
the box office (or Ticketron)
with a check. Eight evenings:
$30. Eight matinees: $16 for
students and faculty, $24 for
everybody else.
THE AMERICAN
FILMTHEATRE
1350 Ave. of the Americas. N.Y.. N.Y.10019
Phone: (212) 489-8820
THE AMERICAN FiL1M THEATRE IS A PRESENT ATIONOP
AMERICAN EXPRESS FILMS, INC.
AND THE ELY LANDAU ORGANIZATION, INC.
IN ASSOCIAITIONWITH CINFVIS N 1LTEE (CANADA)
ri
1
EXHIBITION DATES
HFRF 'S WHFPF Y011 I