Uncannyfestival begins
By MARK ALAN FARBER ' " see the film that opened the fes-
special to The Daily tival. It was a French film en-
CANNES - I hitchhiked from / titled Lefeu Sacre, directed by
Paris to Niems, and then took a the new Frenth diretor Vladimar
train to Cannes. Hitchhiking or / Forgency. It was a whimsical little
auto-stop, as the Europeans call piece about a teenage girl who
it, is very difficult in Franc must make a choice of lifestyles;
Don't ask me why, but that's what either of the physical gaity of pop
everyone says, and I found it to be culture and dance or the physical
true while patiently waiting for rigor of classical ballet. The di-
rides. The best time to hitch is rector was competent, but the
on weekends when French freaks ' .' camera was always in the wrong
are on holiday. " place during the ballet sequences.
I arrived in Cannes only to find The star, Sonia Petrova, w a s
a modified Miami Beach/Fort stunning in both appearance and
Lauderdale type town. The city is dance.
expensive, modern, and packed The film, however, did cause a
with resorts. If you dig Miami in minor scandal, as many of the
Season this is the place for you. well-known directors in attend-
Bring money, clothes, money, ance were offended that such an
more clothes, and more money, insignificant film would be t h e
The average age seems to be
between 45 and death, but they opener. They were right, for For-
say the crowd gets younger in gency's film, while nice, is not
JTune. Charlie Chaplin a masterpiece.
On to the festival. This year marks the 25th The second day of the festival I took in four
anniversary of the Cannes International F i 1 m movies. The most exciting was City Lights. It
Festival. On opening day there was a film was not my first exposure to the Chaplin master-
clip tribute to such previous award winners as piece, but it was the first time I saw it under
Fellini, Antonini, Bessan, Bunuel, Wyler, Welles, ideal conditions and with Chaplin in attendance.
and Lindsay Anderson, all of whom were present: (The last screening of City Lights I saw was in
There was also a special award presentation to the Architecture Auditorium where the print was
everyone's master of cinema, Charlie Chaplin, minus the musical score which Chaplin h a d
who was also present. composed. Here in Cannes I had the music, a
Unfortunately, first year reviewers are n o t cushioned seat, and room for my legs. However,
permitted entrance into the opening soiree. How- the festival charges $5.00 admission compared
ever, it really didn't matter too much as it was to the Guild $.75.) It was a memorable exper-
a black tie-or-else affair - or else they throw ience to actually applaud the tramp himself, 30
you out on your blue-jeaned ass. I did, however, See REVIEWING, Page 9
Howd Doody
Howdy Doody makes
Detroit benefit revival
It's Howdy Doody time in De-
troit again, as Buffalo Bob re-
turns for a benefit to save Or-
chestra Hall.
The popular children's show of
the 1940's and 50's is being re-
vived, and wherever it goes, it's
breaking attendance records.
HowdyDoody is acconparied
by Buffalo Bob, Phineas T. Blus-
ter, Dilly Dally, Flubadub, Clara-
bell and the other characters that
were with the original show. In-
cluded in the Detroit perform-
ance will be a peanut gallery,
just like on the television show.
The peanut gallery occupants
will have lollypops and balloons,
and Buffalo Bob will lead them in
the show theme: "It's Howdy
Doody Time."
The Howdy Doody revival start-
ed when a University of Peru-
sylvania student contacted Buf-
falo Bob, suggesting that a re-
staging of the Howdy Doody show
might go over big with the col-
lege students who were shs chil-
dren at whom Howdy Doody was
aimed.
In April, the Buffalo Bob How-
dy Doody show made its off
campus debut at the Filmore
Eastand played four perform-
ances to standing-room-only au-
diences.
The original Howdy Doody
show made its television debut in
1947 and was on the air until
1960.
The Howdy Doody show will
be in Detroit June 11 and 12. All
proceeds from ticket sales, and
from sales of related items, sich
as Howdy Doody T-Shirts, will be
turned over to Save Orchesira
Hall, Inc., thesNon-profit organi-
zation that has been spearhead-
ing the drive to save the storiedl
musical concert hall on Wood-
ward Ave. from demolition.
music
Nigt at the opera:* Met flops
By JOHN HARVITH R e a r d o n, whom she mar- centered about its two stars,
Once upon a time (at the turn vied out of a sense of duty to rellia and Elias, and the stage
of the century) American opera her deceased mother. The frus- rector who seemed to regard 1
houses had a flourishing French trated Werther eventually com- mellifluous Massenet oeu
Romantic repertoire featuring mits suicide with a pistol he bor- with its flowing melodies
works of Meyerbeer, Gounod and rows from Albert, but not before transparent orchestration (adi
Massenet. With the diseappear- Charlotte confesses her love to tedly marred by moments
ance of singers like Mary Gar- him as he dies, secure in the empty rhetorical bombast) a
den the de Reszke brothers and knowledge that she is saved from sort of Italian verismo gut-f
Marcel Journet, the French oper- the threat of adulterous sin-a ping vehicle. As a result, E
atic repertory has so atrophied comforting denouement for a emerged looking more like
in the U.S. that about the only Victorian audience. moody forty-ish weight-wat'
::;::::::.:; . : : : than a 19-year bride, with her
...............:.....................c...ssive....vibrato......and...vocal .
Co-
di-
this
xvre
and
ait-
of
ts a
lop-
lhas
a
'her
ex-
his-
TONIGHT ONLY
To a Gypsy Moth... jumping isn't only a
way to live... but a way to die, too!
"It is a . . . tragedy that the production
as a whole failed because it is one of the too
few unstandard repertory items the Met has
has staged in recent years . ."
representative works gracing ma-
jor houses today are Faust, Car-
men and an occasional Manon.
The Metropolitan Opera House
is currently trying to resuscitate
this all-but expired art genre to
active service, beginning its
campaign three years ago with a
revival of Gounod's Romeo et
Juliette, and continuing it this
season with a new production of
Massenet's Werther (1892) which
has been absent from the Met's
boards since the memorable
1909 staging featuring Geraldine
Farrar and Edmond Clement.
Monday the Met offered Wer-
ther in a stellar cast as the open-
ing night presentation of its week-
long Spring Tour engagement at
Detroit's Masonic Temple Audi-
torium. Franco Corelli took the
role of Werther, a young, melan-
& choly Romantic, passionately in
love with the teen-aged newly-
wed Charlotte (Rosalind Elias)
who is intent on staying faithful
to her husband, Albert (John
Next Tuesday-June 1
A' Marion Brando-Eva Marie Saint
n Elio Kazan's
ON-THE WATERFRONT
Winner of 8 Academy Awards
including Best Pictare,
Director, Actor
aud. a-7:00 & 9:30 p.m.
the ann arbor film cooperative
From the cynical moral view-
point of today's audiences, how
ever, this plot, adapted from a
Goethe novel, seems hopelessly
dated. The only way to make it
work is through understatement:
a true feel for the inflections of
the French libretto matched by
silken sustained vocalism and
sensitive acting, as well as en-
semble rapport between the or-
chestra and singers. Sadly
enough, all these essential ele-
ments were missing Monday
night,
The production's major flaws
trionics contributing to the gen-
erally wrong-headed characteri-
zation. She only became touch-
iag and believable in her final
duet with the dying Werther.
There is no doubt Corelli pro-
duces one of the mast glorious
stentorian tenor sounds around
when he sings full throttle, but
sustained piano and pianissimo
shading a la McCormack or Schi-
pa are unfortunately beyond his
command. Where the score calls
for tenderness or reflection,
Corelli's vocal line degenerated
into a tasteless croon or strained
falsetto-ish tone. Moreover, while
he was clearly capable of beau-
tiful, sustained cantabile lines
above piano, Corelli was seldom
content to sing simply, but con-
stantly broke up melodic phrases
with gasps, sobs and chokes-
See REPERTORY, Page 9
TONIGHT!
G 4ALLER Y
is playing
at A
9 P.M. to 1 A.M,
uditrium A-Angel Hall
SHOWN AT 7:00 AND 9:30