Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Friday, June 16, 1972

Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, June 16, 1972

e
cinema

Nicholas and A lexa
overlong and point
By RICHARD GLATZER might have thought previously,
William Friedkin, in reaction the movie was intended as an
to a decidely weird analysis of anti-war tract. Make of it what
The French Connection, has you will; if there's a point of
said, "Interpretations of The view expressed, few people
French Connection have -varied. seemed able to agree on just
I think this is the success of what it was. ,
the picture, in its attempt to And now Schaffner has at-
present reality and let the au- tempted to tackle the job of
dience decide." Just give the treating Nicholas II, another
audience the raw material to controversial figure who un-
which they can bring their indi- leashes a huge barrage of issues
vidual perspectives and let them which, once again, Schaffner
distinguish whatever themes ducks. It's not as though
they feel like seeing. I'm lazy. Schaffner and James Goldman,
I feel that's the filmmaker's his scriptwriter, were unaware
job, not mine. This viewpoint- of the possible themes surround-
less, ambivalent attitude to- ing this man of colossal histori-
wards art simply makes chaos cal impor tance. The film
out of chaos when what we need abounds with pithy phrases. Ni-
is order, cholas talks about the People's
Director Franklin Schaffner need for authority. Lenin talks
is no stranger to ambivalence, of his liking for, "terror and
Patton is as ambiguous and un power," Count Witte predicts
committed as a film can be. the disorder that will result
Mild liberals lauded it. Presi- from a loss of the world's aris-
dent Nixon cheered it. And tocracy. Nicholas' executioner
Edmond North (the film's muses about the danger of giv-
scriptwriter), while accepting ing one man too much respon-
an Academy Award, happily sibility.
told us that, in spite of what we But these themes never coa-
lesce. In fact, they are often
contradictory. The film drifts
off in infinite directions. No
MCAT-DAT-GR point, no driving force, no rea-
son for the movies' existence
LSAT Tother than that, like Connec-
tion and Patton, these things
really happened. Most class-
room history texts have a more
unique and pointed perspective.
f Preparation for tests required for Consequently, Nicholas and
admission to graduate and pro- Alexandra become neither sym-
fessonal schools-
* Six and twelve session groups
* Small groups 603 east liberty
" Voluminous material for home
study prepared by experts in M ICHI GAN
each field
* Lesson schedule con be tailored Theatre Phone 6654290
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SHOWS AT 1-3-5-7-9
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,ndra: An
ess movie
pathetic nor villainous but rath-
er simply dull. Nicky is a nice
guy, sure. Yet all those peas-
ants are suffering. And the Czar
certainly seems immoral in as-
serting his power the way he
does. Yet he definitely seems
to love his wife. And he does
lift up a kneeling soldier and
hug him, a gesture supposedly
to show his humaneness.
Alexandra is a religious fana-
tic. And she does seem domi-
neering. Yet she obviously loves
her husband and her son. And
she doesn't consciously hurt any-
one.
Competent acting might have
made us care for the royal
couple in spite of their faults.
Michael Jayston looks like a
noble little schnauzer. His thes-
pian's bag of tricks consists of
three facial expressions-an in-
credulous stare, a "warm," lov-
ing gaze, a shrewd diplomat's
smile. All three are unimpres-
sive and become slightly tedious
after two hours and 45 minutes
of viewing time. Janet Suzman
is slightly more credible. Yet
she too proves herself to be an
uninteresting performer here.
And both Jayston and Suzman
have to fight a poor script all
the way. James Goldman is at
his worst, which is really say-
ing something. His overblown,
trivial, very middle class view
of aristocracy has never rung
more false than here. And the
episodes he has depicted seem to
have been chosen entirely arbi-
trarily. The Port Arthur affair
is developed for a while. then
abruptly dropped completely. An
attempt made on Stolypin's life
is depicted, yet we never find
out whether the prime minister
actually died. Minor characters
are wedged into the scenery for
no purpose, scenes are squashed
in where they really shouldn't
be. Historical existence has been
deemed sufficient reason for
filmic existence. This isn't com- ,
plexity; it's sheer muddle-head-
edness.
With no real reason for one
scene to follow another, the
m o v i e d r a g s tremendously.
Searching out familiar faces be-
hind those beards and costumes
kept me occupied for a while,
but the last 45 minutes seemed _
interminable. Moral: if you've
got to make a pointless movie,
keep it short.
The Campus Theater's ads for
The Butcher call the movie a
suspense film. Weekend movie-
goers might want to know that
The Butcher, in addition, is a
detailed study of life in a French
provincial town, a slightly biz-
zarre but thoroughly human
drama, and a fine, moving film.
Review forthcoming after the
weekend.
The Michigan Daily, edited and man-
aged by students at the University of
Michigan. News phone: 764-0562. Secnd
Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich-
igan. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor
Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues-
day through Sunday morning Univer-
sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by
carrier, $11 hy mal.
Summer Session published Tuesday
through Saturday morning. Subscrip-
tion rates: $5.50 by carrier (campusi
area); $6.50 local mail (in Mich. or
Wh); $7.50 non-local mail (other states
and foreign)
0Iiig

from THE PEOPLE'S R
in color (Engli
Tuesday, June 2
3rd floor Multipur
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Weekend whirlwind
If you have suggestions for future columns - travel ideas, bloek
parties, music, fun and games - please send them to Rose Sue Berstei,
c/o The Daily, 420 Maynard St., by wednesday each week. Happy weekef&
Movies
Campus-Le Boucher
Michigan-Fuzz
State-Nicholas and Alexandra
Fox Village-Cabaret
Fifth Forum-Modern Times
Cinema II-Jailhouse Rock (Fri. and Sat. 7); T.A.M.I
(Rolling Stones) (Fri. and Sat. 9:30)
Cinema Guild-Benefor Feminist House, Three Lives
(Kate Millett) (Fri. and Sat. 7:00); Rachel, Rachel
(Fri. and Sat., 9:05)
Music
The Ark-Parrish and Gurvitz (Fri., Sat., Sun. 8:30,
$1.50)
Golden Falcon-Grant Green (Fri. and Sat.)
Lums-RFD Boys
Bimbos-Gaslighters (Fri., Sat., Sun.)
Pretzel Bell-Buddies in the Saddle (Fri.), Silver Wings
(Sat.) and Chuck Johnson (Sun.)
Mr. Flood's Party-Washboard Willy (Fri. and Sat.)
The Del Rio-Jazz band every Sunday
Village Inn-Meadowmuffin (Fri. and Sat.)
Blind Pig-Boogie Brothers (Fri.); Icarus (Sun.)
Open Air Music
Music on the Diag-recorded and live classical music
12-12 Sat.
Rock Concert-next to Huron High-Shadow Fax, Proud
Flesh, RPM and Honky Tonk Angels (Sun. after-
noon)
Other Events
LOCAL
Benefit Vegetarian Dinner for Bangladesh-(Fri. 6:30,
Ecumenical Campus Center)
John Fahey, with Ed Holstein and Virginia Klemens
(Sat. 8:00, Power Center, $3.50)
Marat/Sade-Fri., Sat. and Sun., East Quad Aud., $1)
Farmers Market open Saturday 8-3
Community organic garden at North Campus open daily
Graduate Outing Club-outside Rackham Hall, Sunday,
1:30 p.m.
Rive Gauche party, Madelon Pound House, 9-12 Fri. &
Sat,
Canoe Rental-4325 Jackson Rd.
NOT TOO FAR
Black Expo '72-(Fri., Sat. & Sun.) Detroit, Michigan
State (Fairgrounds) featuring Motown revue Fri.
night; All Star Revue, Sat. night, and M. L. King
tribute Sun. 4:00 featuring-Angela Davis, Coretta
King, and Ralph Abernathy
Orchard Ridge Art Fair-Oakland Community College,
south of I-96 (Fri. & Sat.)
Roberta Flack-Fisher Theatre, Detroit (Mon.-Sat.)
Toledo Museum of Art-Toulouse-Lautrec Exhibition
(9-5 Tues.-Sat., 1-5 Sunday and Mon.)

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* Stop by, call, or write Peter Allen, 763-6796 or 769-2606.
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Res. College group
shows Marat Sade
The Residential College sum-
mer theatre program continues
its production of Marat Sade to-
night and tomorrow. The per-
formances run each night at the
Residential College Aud. in East
Quadrangle.
Because the Daily's reviewer
was unable to attend an earlier
performance, a review will ap-
pear in tomorrow's edition.
EPUBLIC OF CHINA
OF TIEN-SHAN"
sh dubbed)
0-7:30 p.m.
'pose Rm. UGLI
FISSION
NA STUDY CLUB

Cuts, in college
spending seen
WASHINGTON (P) - The Car-
negie Commission on Higher, Ed-
ucation said yesterday the na-
tion's colleges and universities
must reduce the present rate of
spending by $10 billion annually
by the year 1980 or face a c:i-
tical money problem.
If they don't heed the advics,
the commission warned, higher
education will end up with three
million more students on campus
than now and a $26 billion gip
between the $25 billion now spent
and the $51 billion that will be
needed in 1980.
Even if the goals outlined in
the commission's r e p o r t are
reached, the commission said,
there would be a need of abort
$16.5 billion in new money,
largely because of the growth in
enrollment and the cumulative
increase in the cost of educating
a student.
The commission said it be-
lieves expenses can he cut 10
per cent by reducing the total
number of years a student is us
school and another 10 per cent
in a variety of other ways.
In achieving the econoiy
goals, the commission said, the
most promising approach is pro-
posed changes in degree strue-
ture including incorporation of
the final year of high school into
college, a three year instead of
a four-year bachelor's degrc e,
examination for credit for out-
side work, and integration of
bachelor's and master's pro-
grams.



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