ART S
Friday, January 30, 1981
Page 7
Performance guide
New Wave Benefit for the ERA-Three of Ann Arbor's most innovative
bands-Gary Pryka and The Scales, The Flexibles, and Ragnar
Kvaran-will be providing the show for the event-a political fundraiser.
This is a good opportunity to support one of your favorite causes (New Wave)
as well as the ERA. Friday, January 30, at 9:30 p.m. in the Union Ballroom.
Jerry Lee Lewis - Another "undisputed King of Rock 'n Roll" returns for a
swansong, but Lewis has as much claim to the title-and the stage-as
anyone, perhaps a little more. Look forward to an evening of platinum
oldies, piano pyrotechnics and the sort of sweatily orgasmic joy in perfor-
mance not seen much outside of Springsteen these days. Second Chance,
February 2, at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Jack De Johnette-Woops, we goofed! In a preview of the concert in yester-
day's paper, the Daily mistakenly printed that jazz master Jack De Johnet-
te's concert was this Saturday night. The drummer will actually let loose for
his first Ann Arbor concert Friday, January 30 at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. in the
Michigan League Ballroom.
DANCE
Arjuna's Wedding-The University School of Music is giving their annual
concert of Javanese dance drama. Accompanying the dancers will be the
gamelon-the ensemble of Java and Bali, consisting of forty bronze gongs
and xylophones: An Indian epic, 'Arjuna's Wedding' is the story of the hero
Arjuna who saves the gods in Indra's heaven from a seige and his army who
are intent upon abducting a goddess. At Hill Auditorium, January 30, at 8
p.m. Free!
'Mirror'
crack s star
By ELISA ISAACSON
The most frightening thing about the
murder mystery The Mirror Crack'd is
the casting. It's not because the acting
is bad-although at times it's that,
too-but because of the uncanny
parallels between some of the actors
and the characters they portray on
screen. An overweight Elizabeth
Taylor plays Marina Gregg, a fading
American actress who is in England to
film her great comeback, and Kim
Novak, a year Taylor's junior but
looking 15, plays Lola Brewster, her
rival who is given the lesser role in their
new movie.
The story is based on Agatha
Christie's novel of the same name, and
the movie is filmed on location in pret-
tier-than-a-picture Kent, where the
streets are real cobblestones and the
grass is green as Astroturf. Marina
Gregg, who is subject to nervous
breakdowns, is trying to get her life
together by starring in a new produc-
tion of Mary, Queen of Scots, directed
by her husband, Ja'son Rudd (Rock
Hudson).
THE MYSTERY BEGINS as a
woman is poisoned at a party when she
drinks a cocktail apparently meant for
the actress. Jason Rudd spends the film
doggedly trying to protect his wife from
stress, which threatens constantly in
the form of murders and visits from
Lola and nosy police inspectors. Rudd's
true motives are unclear, however,
because we are always wondering
whether he has had, is having, or will
the ann arbor
r(ilm cooperative
have an affair with his adoring personal
secretary, Ella Zielinsky (Geraldine
Chaplin). The murder mystery is even-
tually solved by Christie's lovable old
lady sleuth, Miss Marple (Angela Lan-
sbury), with the help of her nephew, In-
spector Craddock of Scotland Yard
(Edward Fox).
As a mystery, this is relatively in-
nocuous stuff. It seems to have been
chosen primarily as a vehicle for
Taylor and Novak to trade barbs.
(Taylor has spent the last few years.
marrying U.S. Senator John Warner
of Virginia and becoming a Republican,
and Novak has long been a voluntary
Hollywood exile, living a life of com-
parative seclusion in Monterey with her
veterinarian husband. Both seem, for
some reason, to have deemed this cat-
tiness competition ample cause for
screen appearances.)
Marina's frumpy, ruffly dresses are
the very sort that might have earned
Taylor her frequent spot on the worst-
dressed lists. When Lola arrives on the
scene in an outfit just as tacky, but
looking more like something out of the
X-rated Mother Goose than the Ladies'
Auxiliary Club, and coos about how her
co-star has "added so much" to her
lovely figure, the comment is so ac-
curate that we cringe and look away
with discomfiture. Why is Liz Taylor
making this movie, we ask, feeling
sorry for her. Why is she subjecting
herself to these biting gags? All we can
assume is that she's got a great sense of
humor.
ACTUALLY, the rivalry episodes are
so entertaining-Marina and Lola
raging about each other to their respQc-
The Michigan Daily
egos
tine husbands, Marina and Lola glaring
at each other in their brocaded
Elizabethan gowns and red wigs-that
it's a shame the repartee must give way
to the more serious business of solving
murders. Without Liz and Kim around
to make us laugh at each other, what
will keep our attention? Hudson's per-
formance is so bland and aimless the
fact that he's kept his good looks
doesn't capture us. Angela Lansbury
makes a convincing Miss Marple, but
she's kept in the background
throughout most of the film with a
See CRACKS. Page 6
TONIGHT
TONIGHT
PRESENTS
ALIEN
OPENS TONIGHT
Tomorrow at 8p.m. Sun. at 2 p.m.
and 8 p.m.
POWER CENTER
Tickets at PTP M-F 10-1, 2-5
Power Center Box Office opens at 6:00
____________(763-3333)
7:00 & 9:15
MLB 3
Admission: $2
]
'Arjuna's Wedding'
FILMS
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith-The Ann Arbor debut of the film several
critics have called the best of the recent Australian cinema-and given the
flood of intriguing films from Down Under in the last few years, that
statement may count for a lot. Jimmy Blacksmith is about an aborigine
whose attempts to gain success and social standing at the turn of the century
are thwarted by the prejudice of whites, leading to his violent rebellion.
Saturday, January 31, 7 and 9, Aud. A.
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors-This musical-fantasy-tragedy-document
of the peoples of the western Ukraine is about as dazzling and original a
piece of filmmaking as anything that's come from Eastern Europe. Op-
pression and hardship are legion in the area, but as the film shows, the stub-
born freedom of its residents is never crushed. Our thanks to the
Crosscurrents Festival for providing these all too rare screenings of major
Eastern European films-for free, yet. Sunday, February 1, 7:00, MLB 3.
Little Big Man-Arthur Penn's revisionist western may try too hard to com-
pensate for the bigotry against Indians in earlier films-the tribespeople
here are so communal and admirable, the whites so uniformly cruel and
stupid. Dustin Hoffman plays the hip caucasian hero who's captured and
raised by Indians; he moves between the heartless white and increasingly
tragic Indian worlds throughout an anecdotal 110-plus-year life. The movie
oversimplifies and blunders, but it's rarely less than very-affecting. Thur-
sday, 7 and 9:30, Lorch Hall.
THEATRE
The Elephant Man-Bernard Pomerance's play about John Merrick the
celebrated freak and the doctor who rescues him from his life as a side show at-
traction. A first class Broadway import. At the Power Center,,January 30-31
and February 1 at 8 p.m. Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.
No More Masks-For anyone who ever questioned a relationship or ate a
Sara Lee cake one-of-those-days. Featuring the Quiet Revolution Theatre
company, Loren Hecht and Judy Midstein, in a revival of their highly ac-
claimed revue. Slick, yet surprisingly touching and confessional. At the
Residential College Auditorium, East Quad, Friday, January 30 at 8 p.m.
Cinema f11presents
Friday, January 30 7:00 and 9:00 Aud. A. Angell
NO N UKE S(Julian Schlossberg, Danny Goldberg, and
Anthony Palenva, 1980)
One of the decade s great politically motivated rock concerts captured on
film. No Nukes represents the best performances gleaned from six sold-out
days at Madison Square Garden. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN dominates the film and
generates enough electricity to keep you jolting along. Bonnie Raitt and
Jackson Browne work overtiime to make this a real musical meltdown.
(103 min.)
Sat., Jan. 31 7:00 and 9:00 Aud. A, Angell
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Ann Arbor Premiere (Fred Schepisi, 1978)
Based on a true story, this film tells of a half-caste aborigine at the turn of the
century who believes in the Australian dream only to discover that, because
of his color, it will always be out of his reach. His violent rebellion which
follows isn't so much political as a reflection of his sense of frustration and
helplessness. One of the best films to come out of Australia in recent years.
(108 min.)
Vincent Pricle
OS as
Oscar Wilde
qversions
February 5, 8pm
Power Center
Professional Theatre Program
Tickets at the PTP ticket office - Phone -64-0450
Sun., Feb. 1
Aud. A, Angell
Audrey Hepburn/Stanley Donnen Night
TWO FOR THE ROAD- S.tanley Donen, 1967)
Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney star in this sophisticated romantic
comedy-drama. Director Stanley Donen effectively incorporates French "New
Wave" techniques with Hollywood slickness as he portrays the ups and downs
of the Hepburn/Finley love affair and marriage in an entertaining and uncon-
ventional fashion. Screenplay by Frederick Raphael. (112 min.)