Friday, April 5, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
Fridoy, April 5, 1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
Pick of the week:
Dr. Zhivago
Bursley Hall Enterprises
Bursley West Cafeteria
Fri., Sat., 8
This lengthy (three hours, 17
minutes) but engrossing saga of
the Russian Revolution, told in
terms of an intense love affair
between a traditionalist doctor,
Yuri Zhivago, and Lara, the
estranged wife of a Communist
revolutionary, has its problems,
but still ranks as one of the best
films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ever
produced.
David Lean directed this epic
with his customary wide scope,
easily capturing the image of the
era - yet somehow losing the
spirit of Boris Pasternak's novel
in the transfer to film. Most un-
nerving is his attempt to tell the
story in flashbacks, a nice idea
which simply doesn't work out.
Freddie Young's photography
is, however, stunningly beauti-
ful - as always. Leads Omar
Sharif and Julie Christie are, for
the most part, quite watchable
--a word that, in fact, aptly de-
scribes the film as a whole.
-David Blomquist
Fantastic Planet
Fifth Forum
Fantastic Planet is a beautiful
movie - but that doesn't mean
that you should go see it, be-
cause it's a long way from a
masterpiece.
The story can only be describ-
ed as thin. A race of gigantic
blue creatures called Draags
rule on Fantastic Planet', while
the hunans, called Oms, are sav-
ages. Suddenly the Oms revolt,
And a bloody battle begins.
Not exactly a candidate for the
best story of the year. But, after
all, animated features don't rise
and fall on story line. They ulti-
mately fail orsucceed on the
strength of the drawings, and
Fantastic Planet works well in
this regard.
-Stephen Selbst
Dumbo
Friends of Newsreel, MLB
Walt Disney made Duribo
(1941) right after Fantasia and
just before Bambi. Along with
Snow White, Dgnbo is one of
the nicest feature-length Disney
animation films.
Durmlo is an elephant who
runs away because his ears are
too big. (This may sound ridi-
culoqS, but imagine how whacked
out the writers must have been
to come up with a color motion
picture about this kind of thing.)
The film is a lot of fun, and at
times is pretty funny as well. If
you have kids - or even plan
to have any -- don't miss it. Re-
freshing changes are always a
barrel of laughs.
-Michael Wilson
Cries and Whispers
Campus
This fascinating but haunting
film from Ingmar Bergman de-
tails a young woman's slow and
agonizingly painful death from
cancer while surrounded by her
two sisters and a motherly peas-
ant girl.
The contrasts Bergman draws,
the mood he creates, and per-
phony moments between Anna
and her son, one may do better
to see this movie than to read
the book.
-Louis Meldman
Conrack
Michigan
The main attraction of Conrack
seems to be Jon Voight, and
don't think he -doesn't know it.
Several times during the film
he openly admits how delerious-
ly handsome Jon Voight is. Com-
bine gross vanity like this and a
wretched, sympathetically soapy
script by Irving Ravetch and
Passion of Anna
Cinema II, Aud. A
Sat., 7, 9
The Passion of Anna (1970) is.
a beautifully photographed story
of four people living on a small
Swedish island. Directed by
Ingmar Bergman with a unique
four - sequence exchange be-
tween the principal actors and
Bergman concerning the na-
ture of their individual charac-
ters, Anna is emotionally over-
powering in the gripping story it
tells of sadness, love and mad-
ness. Max Von Sydow and Liv
Days and Nights
in the Forest
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Fri., 7, 9:05
Days and Nights in the Forest
is a delightful filln about four
young friends from Calcutta on
vacation in the Palaman woods.
All is quiet until one gets a little
too friendly with a native girl,
and then all hell breaks loose.
Both photography and subtitles
are excellent in this movie that
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that will grow on you as the film
gets progressively worse and
worse. Sandbox is one hell of an
inconsistent movie; it's as if cer-
tain scenes were purposely bad
so the good ones would seem bet-
ter.
Streisand is a housewife who
has incredible delusions of ab-
surd political/social implication,
ranging from a meeting with Cas-
tro to a visit in Africa (on loca-
tion) to a showdown with a wo-
man she thinks is having an af-
fair with her husband.
--Michael Wilson
Yellow Submarine
Fifth Forum
Fri., Sat., midnight
Erich Segal was one of four
hacks who put together this ani-
mated showpiece for the circa
1968 Beatles.
The slender plot line takes us
to a war in the kingdom of Pep-
perland. The Blue Meanies, Pep-
perland's foes, are found to be
allergic to music - so guess who
is called in to save the day ...
-David Blomquist
The Sting
State
No doubt about it: the team of
Paul Newman, Robert Redford,
and George Roy Hill simply can-
not make a bad movie. If you
liked Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid, you'll squeal with
delight at Sting.
Sting is a story of a big con
artist (Newman) who comes out
of retirement to take on an ap-
prentice (Redford) and make
one final "big con" - one final
"sting". The result is perfect.
-Louis Meldman
The Exorcist
The Movies, Briarwood
Director William Friedkin
(French Connection) has said that
this movie was intended to scare
people. It is the story of how a
little girl (Linda Blair) becomes
possessed by the Devil.
The little girl masturbates with
a crucifix, turns her head all the
way around, and swears a la
Jack Nicholson.
-Louis Meldman
Ser pico
The Movies, friarwood
Serpico is a fine example of
how a film can wrestle with a
controversial subject and come
out on top.
Al Pacino exquisitely portrays
Serpico, a Greenwich Village in-
tellectual who decides to join the
New York City police force. Dis-
gusted by rampant corruption
among patrolmen, he complains
to his superiors, but each time
receives the same blunt answer
-an order to keep his damn
mouth shut.
Easily Sidney Lumet's best
movie, Serpico also happens to
be Dino De Laurentis's first film
since moving his operations from
Rome to New York.
-David Blomquist
haps even his plot itself are high-
ly reminiscent of the relentless,
stunning blows of Checkhovian
drama.
-David Blomquist
Putney Swope
UAC Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. Aud.
Fri., Sat., 7, 9:30
Robert Downey's P u t n e y
Swope (1969) is about a black
Buster Keaton who single-hand-
edly converts a failing Madison
Avenue ad agency into a multi-
million-dollar organization. The
film is positively brilliant, even
though it was made on a shoe-
string budget in a quick ten
weeks with location s c e n e s
filmed at New York's glorious
Chase Manhattan Bank.
Despite technical flaws in the
soundtrack and some rather
careless editing, Swope will slap
you in the face with its abrupt
and sometimes pointlessly ab-
surd militant philosophy.
Arnold Johnson deftly plays
the title character. The movie
is black-and-white withhthecom-
mercials in beautiful color. If
you want 'a good kick in the rear,
go to see Putny Swope.
-Michael Wilson
Anna Karenina
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sat.; 7, 9:05
Greta Garbo plays the title role
in this 1935 film adaptation of
Leo Tolstoy's novel.
Anna's husband, portrayed
here by Basil Rathbone, allows
her to cavort with a virile but
immature army officer (Freder-
ic March). Anna becomes a vic-
tim of love, and is rejected by
first her husband and finally her
lover.
This rendering is the best ever
done on film, and, despite a few
Harriet Frank, and you have
what amounts to the newest los-
er by director - producer Martin
Ritt.
Based thinly on a true story,
Conrack is about a North Caro-
lina humanitarian who taught
for a year on a backwards is-
land off the South Carolina coast
to a somewhat retarded group of
black elementary schoolchildren.
The truly sad thing about Con-
rack is the screenplay writing.
Ravetch and Frank were brilliant
when they were good - in the
sixties that team was responsi-
ble for pictures like Hud and
Hombre. But nowadays all you
need is a box-office super-star
like Voight and some sappy dia-
logue to pass for motion picture
entertainment.
-Michael Wilson
Horse Feathers
Couzens Film Co-op
Couzens Cafeteria
Fri., Sat., 8, 10
Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and
Zeppo take on the educational
world in this hilarious film from
the early years of the Marx Bro-
thers.
Groucho portrays a waylaid
academician who, increduously,
is appointed as a college presi-
dent since he seems to be the
only man who can bring the
school a winning football sea-
son (Groucho as Bo Schembech-
ler?).
The football game that makes
up the last reel is absolutely
classic comedy that makes wait-
ing through the rest of the film
quite worthwhile.
-David Blomquist
Ullman star, with Erland Jo-
sephson as the architect.
Bergman can sometimes get
caught up in his own intellectual
insanity, but Anna is different.
It is somehow strangely human,
with a feel for strong and per-
ceptive characterizations.
--Michael Wilson
fits right in with the arrival of
spring.
-Clif Drumm
Up the Sandbox
Friends of Newsreel, MLB
Fri., Sat., 7, 8:40, 10:20
The nicest thing about Up the
Sandbox (1973) is Barbra Stries-
and - she acts and reacts with
the timing and talent of a real
professional in a performance
MICHAEL COCOYA N N IS 1964
ZORBA THE GREEK
Anthony Quinn, in one of his best roles, presents a picture of man as he might be )
if the world were not so much with us. It is a bold portrayal of a rugged and
weather-worn old Greek of uncertain age and origin, indefinite station and ca-
reer, but of unmistakable self-possession and human authority. Anthony Quinn,
Alan Bates, Irene Pappas.
SAT.: BERGMAN'S "PASSION OF ANNA"
TONIGHT at AUD. A
CINEMA I11TOndGHT3at ANGELL HALL
7 and 9:30 Adm. $1
tickets on safe at 6 p.m.
FAA'
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All It Takes' Is A Little Confidence!
Mime, bells, and incense mix in
Asian dance show at Rackham
By DIANE LEVICK
Bells, incense, and live Indian
music combined Wednesday
night to flavor the University
Musical Society's presentation of
Kathak, classic North Indian
dance, at Rackham.
Fascinating elements a 1 i e n
to Armerican dance forms pro-
vided the enthusiastic audience
with an educational experience,
for lKthak is intricately tied to
Indian religion and myth. The
program began, for instance,
with the "Vandana," a prayer in
dance form.
Kathk makes extensive use of
various forms of mime to re-
count episodes from the ancient
Indian epics, one being the
Mahabharata. The dance move-
ment centered, on the arms,
hands, and feet. Stylized hand
position called mudras were used
extensively, though the symbolic
meaning of many mudras has
been lost through time.
The litheness of arms and
hands was matched by the three
dancers' control of foot stamp-
ing movements. Wearing numer-
ous bells on their ankles, the per-
formers created an interesting
array of sounds and rhythms.
Dancer Maharaj demonstrated
bols, spoken syllables describ-
ing drum sounds, by stamping
out rhythmic patterns that the
drums played. The rhythmic cy-
cles, tala, in Indian music are
frequently quite complicated.
Birju Maharaj also showed
Kathak dancers' traditional com-
mand of facial muscles as he
danced the "Makhan Chori," a
piece which depends heavily up-,
on facial expression. He por-
trayed both the god Krishna as a
mischevious child and the com-
passionate milkmaid whose but-
ter he has spoiled.
With his female assistants,
Kumudini Lakhia and Saswati
Sen, Birju presented more sens-
ual material. As the dancers
combined steps in unison with
movements that complemented
each other, the audience was
made aware of the grace requir-
ed of both sexes in Kathak.
The dancers wore costumes in
the traditional, tasteful style. The
women wore colorful saris alter-
nating with full trousers covered
with gold-trimmed long blouses.
Birju sported the full trousers '
and long coat, both in white.
Three musicians, one of them
also the vocalist, accompanied
the dancers with sitar, tabla
(drum), and pump organ. The
little organ which missionaries
brought into India was talen ov-
er by the native population and
used to play in traditional In-
dian styles. The organ, though,
lent a curiously Western air to
Wednesday's performance.
Summer Vacancy
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1001 S. FOREST
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med ia t r icspresents
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"PUTNEY SWOPE"
The Truth and Soul Movie
'Putney Swope' is a stinging, zinging, swing-
ing sock-it-to-them doozey. It is going to
take off and be one of the most talked about
flicks in recent times. By all means I suggest,
hell,' I damn well insist y o u see 'Putney
Swope' and be prepared for the nuttiest, wild-
est, grooviest shock treatment. Will leave you
helpless with laughter."Westinghouse Radio
Don't Miss This Absolutely Hilarious Movie
Fri. & Sat. Nat. Sci. Aud. 7:00 & 9:30
$1.00
WINNER
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momm"MMONOMMMIN
SATYAJIT RAY'S
DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST
"It adds years to your life," the young man
from Calcutta in Satyajit Ray's "Days and
Nights in the Forest" say of the country quiet,
and it's easy to believe. Ray's images are so
emotionally saturated that they become sus-
pended in time and, in some cased, fixed for-
ever. Satyajit Ray's'films can give rise to a
more complex feeling of happiness in me than
the work of any other director. I think it
must be because our involvement with his
characters is so direct that we are caught up
in a blend of the fully accessible and the in-
explicable, the redolent, the mysterious. We
accept the resolution he effects not merely as
resolutions of the stories but as truths of hu-
man experience. Yet it isn't only a matter of
thinking, yes this is the way it is. What we
assent to is only a component of the pattern
of associations in his films; to tell the stories
does not begin to suggest what the films call
to mind or why they're so moving. There is
always a residue of feeling that isn't resolved.
Two young men sprawled on a porch after a
hot journey, a drunken group doing the Twist
in the dark on a country road, Sharmila Ta-
er, deeper associations impending; we recog-
nize the presence of the mythic in the ordi-
nary. And it's the mythic we're left with after
the ordinary has been temporarily resolved.
When "Days and Nights in the Forest",
which was made in 1969, was shown at the
New York Film Festival in 1970, it received a
standing ovation, and it seemed so obvious
that a film of this quality-and one more im-
mediate in its appeal than many of Ray's
works-would be snapped up by a distributor
that I waited to review it upon its theatre
opening. But distributors are often lazy men
who don't bother much with festivals, least of
all with films that are shown at the dinner
hour (it went on at six-thirty); they wait for
the Times. The review was condescendingly
kindly and brief-a mere five and a half inch-
es, and not by the first-string critic-and
"Days and Nights in the Forest", which is a
major film by a major artist, is finally open-
ing, two and a half years later, for a week's
run at a small theatre. On the surface, it is a
lyrical romantic comedy about four educated
young men from Calcutta driving together
for, s fw ovtriain the. countrv. their interre-.
most dissatisfied with his life and himself-
he feels degraded. He and SanJoy, who is more
polite and reticent, used to slave on a literary
magazine they edited, but they have settled
down. Ashim is much like what Apu might
have turned into if he had been corrupted,
and he is played by Soumitra Chatterjee,
who was Apu in "The World of Apu." On this
holiday in the forest, Ashim and Aparna, play-
ed by the incomparably graceful Sharmila Ta-
gore, (who ten years before, when she was 14
played Aparna, Apu's exquisite bride). In his
fine book on the Apu Triology, Robin wood
wrote that the physical and spiritual beauty
of Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore
seems "the ideal incarnation of Ray's belief
in human potentialities." And I think they
represent that to Ray, and inspire him to
some of his finest work, (he used them also in
"Devi"), because they are modern figures
with overtones of ancient deities. Unlike the
other characters in "Day and Nights in the
Forest", they bridge the past and the future
and-to some degree-India and the West. As
Ray uses them, they embody more than we
OPEN 12:45, SHOWS at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 p.m.
Another Fine Film in the "SOUNDER"
Tradition
Jon Voight as "CONRACK"
' Various people have been
screwing up my name. It's
a swell name. It belonged
to a bartender, a minister,
a classics scholar, and a
burlesque queen. It's
Conroy, not Conrack, but
- - it you want to call me
that, go ahead. I'm
beginning to like the
sound of it."