Friday, February 9, 1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Pa9e -Three Friday, February 9, 1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page .Three Capra Festival Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Cinema Guild Fri. Over the years, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) gained a reputation as a classic American political comedy and a thorough- ly impassioned plea for liberty and justice. The movie's indict- ment of crooked national poli- tics had Washington in an up- roar when the film was first re- leased - Joseph Kennedy, then U.S. ambassador to England, even wrote to Harry Cohn (the film's producer) asking that the movie be pulled off the market. It wasn't. And when, in France, the Vichy government placed -a ban on all English language films, theatres across the .c o u n t r y chose to show Mr. Smith the. night before the ban went into effect." The film is a Mr. Deeds on a grander scale, filled with Cap- ra's patriotism, and love of free- dom. Naive Jefferson S m i t h (James Stewart) stumbles into a Senate seat and goes to our Cap- itol only to have-his ideals shat- tered by a head-on clash w i t h the corruption and graft that made Washington what it is to- day. -RICHARD GLATZER * * * Meet John Doe Cinema Guild Sat. To reveal the premise of Meet John Doe (1941) would be to spoil one of the cleverest open- ings of any Capra film. What Capra did here was to study the mass American movements of Huey Long and Father Coughlin, 1 all the while keeping Hitler and Nazi Germany very much in the back of his mind, and to come up with a still timely and frighten- cinema weekend High and Low -Cinema II Fri. Japanese imports frequently surpass their American counter- parts in technical quality. This is especially true of Director Akira Kurosawa's High and Low. Based on the novel King's Ran- som, by Yankee Ed McBain, the suspenseful kidnap yarn is re- located from Manhattan to Yoko- hama, where Kurosawa compos- ing film about the possibility of American fascism: It Could Hap- pen Here. This is Capra's finest treatment of crowds - m o r e stunning than the crowd treat- ments in American Madness (1932) or Mr. Smith. The climac- tic rally, filmed in Wrigley Field, is truly overwhelming. The film suffers from a lack of a con- vincing endigg (Capra realized this himself and filmed f i v e different, unsatisfying denoune- ments). Yet even while the last scene's logic fails, the mise-en- scene - atop a city office build- ing on a quiet, snowy Christmas Eve - is nevertheless quite ef- fective. -RICHARD GLATZER * * * ' It's a Wonderful Life Cinema Guild Sun. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is Capra's favorite film, so it is quite fitting that he appear. after the 7:00 show to discuss the film with the Cinema Guild aud- ience. This is Capra's most ser- ious and reflective 'film, a post- War recollection of an era and the study of a man's spoiled dreams and eventual dissillus- ionment. The movie is at times tremendously powerful, a n d James Stewart's performance (the actor's favorite of all- his roles) includes some of the fin- est acting ever done in Holly- wood. The love scene with Ste- wart, Donna Reed, and a tele- phone, is absolutely classic. -RICHARD GLATZER * * * The Bitter Tea of General Yen Cinema Guild Mon. Very atypical. This 1933 film theatre are always quickto stress the mobility of the cam- era over the limited range of the stage. Whereas the theatre must construct representations of the real world within its walls, the camera is free to roam the world, picking up sights along the way. What happens when the camera decides not to go any- where? In a few cases things work out very well; certain in- tensities can be created between characters enclosed in s m a 11 snaces. However, in The Lower Depths, a story about frustrated friends and neighbors who are unable to overcome their motley lives and living conditions, the feeling of claustrophobia defeats much of the compassion the characters can generate in the viewer. As an adaptation of a Maxim Gorky play, the film is able to hold its own for a good part of its duration. While most of the action takes place in a rather rudimentary two-room dwelling (one room of which we never see), director Akira Kurosawa shifts his angles and viewpoints in an effort to keep the film's physical appearance from drag- ging. The bickering of its inhab- itants - friends, wives, lovers, parents, and children - is off- set by the presence of a tempor- ary lodger, a calm, serene old man who finds their torments somewhat amusing. Still, time pushes on, passions and quarrels are finally drawn out too far, the muddy grays of the photography begin to tire the eyes, and the tight space grows uncomfortable until the end of the film brings relief. The movie tries hard, but it might have benefitted by con- trasting the misery-ridden hutch with those places where the old man found his serenity. Instead he, the only outsider, is made to talk about his experience, and the film remains a play. -DAVID GRUBAR * * * Klute New Morning Films Fri., Sat. Considering Jane Fonda's po- tential for brazen public actions, a lot of people were disappoint- ed when, upon receiving an Os- car for Klute,rshemurmured something like, "There are a lot of things to say - but I'm not. going to say them now." Even more people must be dis- appointed in Klute itself, which also has a few things to say and never gets around. to saying them. Its opening scenes prom- ise a fairly interesting look at a hip, unabashed prostitute. But the film soon befuddles the prom- ise with various weak repeti- tions, including a mysterious, ob- scene tape recording and s o m e overly tellings cuts to discussions with her analyst. Klute is really a so-so suspense story, although it tries to be much more. The free-wheeling tev.e -Daily Photo- by RANDY EDMONDS Noted poet Robert Francis read yesterday in the UGLI Multipurpose Room. Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper in a scene from Frank Capra's "Meet John Doe." Global Books SPECIALIZING-MARXISM- LENINISM-LABOR AND AFRO-AMERICAN HISTORY BOOKS FROM U.S.S.R. & CHINA 4415 SECOND AVE. DETROIT-832-0740 is Capra's try at artiness. Me- gan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) journeys to China to marry her missionary childhood sweetheart, Dr. Strike (Gavin Gordon) - that is until she meets the amor- al, sexy Chinese warlord, Gen- eral Yen (Nils Asther). Bitter Tea is sensual, erotic, lush, von Sternbergian. This is a rare print of the film that Columbia Pic- tures dug up for us out of their vaults. -RICHARD GLATZER * * * Lady for a Day Cinema Guild Mon. Capra is bringing us his own personal print of this 1933 film not ordinarily available for pub- lic viewing. This is the original Pocketful of Miracles, the story of an old poor apple-vendor who passes as an aristocrat. I have not seen the film, but ,it w a s very well received when Capra showed it at Yale and at Co- lumbia. Mr. Capra will discuss the movie after the double fea- ture. --RICHARD GLATZER es what might be termed a meta- physical thriller. Business exective Toshiro Mi- fune receives an ominous phone call from kidnappers demanding a large sum of money for the safe return of his son. Unfor- tunately, for all involved, t h e culprits have mistakenly c a p- tured the chauffeur's boy. Mr. Mifune is confronted with a grave decision concerning personal re- sponsibility in the form of an action melodrama. Should he use his fortune to save the servant's child, or to advance his own ,en- trepreneurship? Kurosawa heigh- tens the conflict with many vis- ual confrontations between Mi- fune and his business associates, police, servant and kidnappers. The directorhas lacedmthe har- rassment of a man's moral char- acter with a compelling sleuth drama, and the result is a siz- zling success. -JEFF EPSTEIN * * * The Lower Depths Cinema II Sat. & Sun. Comparisons between film and female, deep down inside, needs a meaningful relationship. Along comes Klute, a small-town po- liceman who hits the big city zo fin'd a missing friend. With an adequate mystery plot for an excuse, the film goes about the inevitable process of one plus one. Donald Sutherland plunges into the role of Klute like a cement block plunging into water. When the rock of m a 1 e strength begins to tame the live- ly, if unhappy, hooker, the movie spits a bad taste into your mouth that never quite goes away. -LARRY LEMPERT * * * Casablanca UAC-Mediatrics Fri. I have labored long and hard trying to figure out the sexual politics of Casablanca. Is Bo- gart really the tough liberal, ar is he just a Fascist individualist posing as a John Bircher? And if so, why does he insist on smoking menthol cigarettes? Does Ingrid Bergman take the pill? If not, is she anything more than a beautiful, middle-of- the-road housewife with a turn- ed-up nose disguised as a pseudo- starlet? Whatever the answer to these critical questions, she is still very attractive, and should spend more time on her acting instead of directing stupid films like Hour of the Wolf. -JOHNNY SEIMON * * * Sounder Michigan Sounder has been touted by some New York film critics as the Black equivalent of The Grapes of Wrath and one of the finest films about Black life ever made. Who knows? T very well might be a Still, it is all too easy, good ethical intent w excellence; could it be tin Ritt's Depression Black kid growing up been highly lauded be White Liberal heart viously in the rightr ther way, we'll have a see for ourselves when makes its Ann Arborc day. By the way, Cice performance as Rebec has been very highly by both Sounder's adn detractors. * * * The Emigra Campus The Emigrants is a in that it is rare for be successful on the s its sheer physical bec er films have made th but most frequently, l Madigan, there is a lack of anything else b swaying wheatfields. In this film, however is led by Liv Ullman Von Sydow, two memb "Ingmar Bergman tro do not suffer when deta the master. They play erant Swedish farmir left with little altern to set out for America their utter poverty The seasons come a. wistful regularity, an fect is beautifully against the dirty finge runny noses. Phe movie Classics Comix comes the 11- 11 of that. lustrated Historical Documents to confuse Film: Terence -Young's The ith filmic Valachi Papers. I am unfamil- that Mar- iar with the Peter Maas book tale of a upon which the film is based, but poor has if the events depicted in Valachi cause it's actually occurred, they certain- is so ob- ly didn't occur like this. The place? Ei- film is highly unconvincing; how chance to long can you suspend your dis- n the film belief when several 1920's gang- debut Fri- land battles take place against ly Tyson's the backdrop of New York's ca Morgan World Trade Center? acclaimed All of which might be excus- nirers and able were the plot particularly -STAFF exciting. But in its attempt at pious fidelity to fact, Valachi serves us a highly undramatic, ants even, and unsurprising stream of gangster politics and warfare. rare film Which makes The Valachi Pape a film to ers, for all its historically valid auty. 0th- violence, rather dull. e attempt, -FRED 'LITTLE SICILY' ike Elvira MOZZARELLA t frightful esides the Ad Yet Another r, the cast Week Of and Max ers of the The Sword and the Stone - nupe' who State - Take the kiddies, by ched from all means. y the itin- Deliverance - Fox Village - ng couple Okay action film. Warning: ativescaeut there were huge crowds la s t weekend. * * * nd go with d the ef- Not to Mention .. . balanced °rnails and Rebecca, Psycho, and Dial M --STAFF for Murder - at the RC Aud., Fri., Sat. Something Big - Couzens Film apers Co-op - Sat. Bullitt - Bursley Hall Movie -TONIGHT- * * * The Valachi P Fifth Forum In the' tradition of] Illustrated Sat. Announcing a LOGOS SALE Everything drastically reduced! 20%-70% OFF all children's books, posters, jewelry and Bibles 10%-70% OFF all other books, cards, records LOGOS BOOKSTORE 1205 S. University Open until 1 1 :00 p.m., Monday through Saturday 50 Dragnet 8:30 4 Hall of Fame 7 Partridge Family 9 Beachcombers 50 Merv Griffin 56 Off the Record 9:00 2 Movie "A first-rate example of the compassionate thriller, an adult mystery story that doesn't dodge issues or the intelligence of its audience."-Judith Crist "You're a'Big Boy Now" (67) 7 Room 222 9 News 56 A Look at Lincoln 9:3 7 ddCouple 6:00 2 4 7 News 9 Sports Scene 9 Courtship of Eddie's Father 56 The Mime of Marcel Marceau 50 Flintstones1 56 BidgewithJeanCox7 Love, American Style 6:30 2 CBS News 9TmyHne 4 NBC News 50 Boxing ute 7 ABC News50Bxn 9 I Dream of Jeannie 56High School Basketball 50 Gilligan's Island 11:00 2 4 7 News 56 Book Beat 9 CBC News 7:00 2 Truth or Consequences 50 One Step Beyond 4 News 11:20 9 News 7 To Tell the Truth 11:30 2 Movie 9 Beverly Hillbillies "Inside Daisy Clover" (66) 50 1Love Lucy 4 Johnny Carson 56: World Press 7 Jack Paar Tonite 7:30 2 What's My Line? 50 Movie 4 Hollywood Squares "The Searchers" (1956) 7 Wait Till Your Father 12:00 9 Movie Gets Home "Fear No Evil" (69) 9 Lassie 1:00 4 Midnight Special 56 Wall Street Week 7 Movie 50 Hogan's Heroes "Girl on the Run" (58) 8:00 2 Mission:Impossible 1:30 2 Movie 4 Sanford andSon "Dead Eyes of London" 7 Brady Bunch (German, 1961) 9 woods and Wheels 2:30 4 News 56 Washington Week in Review 3:00 2 7 News -TONIGHT- ri CULTURE ,;CALEINDARk DRAMA-PTP presents Sheridan's School for Scandal; at 8 at the Power ,Center; UAC-Michmimers perform Woody Allen's play: Play It Again, Sam at Mendelssohn at 8. DANCE-Int'l Folk Dance at from 8-11 at Barbour Gym. UPCOMING CONCERT TIP-The Blackearth Percussion Group, in residence at the University of Illinois (Ur- bana), will perform -works by two University faculty composers, Sydney Hodkinson and William Albright, and a variety of other electronic, improvisatory and inter- media works Sat. at 8 in Rackham Auditorium. WEEKEND BARS AND MUSIC-Ark, Lou Killen (Fri., Sat.) Admission; Blind Pig, John Nicholas accompanied by Fran and Sara (Fri., Sat.) cover, Classical (Sun.) no cov- er; Del Rio, Jazz Music (Sun.) no cover; Golden Falcon, Phase II (Fri., Sat.) cover; Mr. Flood's Party, Brooklyn Blues Busters (Fri., Sat.) cover, Diesel Smoke and Dan- gerous Curves (Sun.), cover; Odyssey, Locomobile, for- merly Bad Luck and Trouble (Fri., Sat.), cover, Okra (Sun.) cover; Bimbo's on the Hill, Epic (Fri., Sat.) cover; Bimbo's, Gaslighters (Fri., Sat., Sun.), cover; Rubaiyat, Iris Bell Adventure (Fri., Sat., Sun.) no cover; Pretzel Bell, RFD Boys (Fri., Sat.), cover; Mackinac Jack's, Rockets (Fri., Sat., Sun.) cover. UAC-DAYSTAR PRESENTS 2 JAZZ GREATS IN ONE CONCERT herbie hancock and special guest star freddie A ~SAT.,. FEB. 24 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Feb. 8, 9, 10 Mendelssohn Theatre Tickets on sale Jane Fonda emerges as probably the finest screen actress of her generation." -LIFE Modern Languages Auditoriums3'& 4 Washington at Thayer 7:00-8:0079:00-10:00 in the Fishbowl 1T AND AT THE - AU~l i CC rA %~r" I- 1A I