ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Wedndsday, February 16, 1983
Page 5
World
'S
largest party
The other
side of
W(
The films included
Interiors, Manhatt
Memories-mark
from his more absui
Sleeper and Love an
on the comedy<
everyday life. The
fear of being knownj
more importantly, a
Woody Allen - 'Four
Films of Woody Allen'
(Random House, 387 pp.)
$y Tom Bowden
T HOUGH ANNIE Hall won an Oscar comedy cannot hone
for best picture in 1977, it barely basic human probler
managed to break even at the. box of- As such, these fi
fice. So you might wonder how Random pivotal of his care(
house plans to make money publishing more recent and c
the screenplays for Annie Hall and Midsummer Night',
three other Woody Allen movies. not been included.
Maybe they won't make much To make these sc
money-but it's a book that deserves to own, to translate
be published. Less cerebral fans can without the bene
use Four Films of Woody Allen as a cinematography,
useful compendium for glossing over dication of Allen's
favorite lines. More serious students of strate his writing at
film, though, will find that the book of- new interpretation
fers the material for detailed structural (especially the misu
analysis of these films: the collection Memories).
0marks the sharpest changes in Allen's The most imme
attitudes toward film making from his feature of the script
"early funny movies." proximation to cor
Many filmgoers overlook how scripts turing all its inflect
fare out of their screen element and pauses, mid-senten(
what they reveal of the author's use of and overlapping die
language. As an aid to maintain the ce, this exchange f
balance between the films themselves Ike quits his televisi
and their translations into print, the
publisher of this volume has kindly ad- IKE : ... You kn(
ded "passages that describe the ac- in front of their
0 tion." gamma rays eat
Records-
'Peter Csaba-Violin 'In the style of .. .
Fritz Kreisler' (Hungaraton SPLX)
'In too many a listener's opinion the music of Fritz Kreisler
has the meager calling of an after dinner mint: to refresh,
but by no means to be taken seriously. So here's a complete
disc of Kreisler and, for shame, to be sampled in one sitting.
"Isn't that like gobbling down a box of cloned sweets ad
nauseum?" (I can hear Twelfth Night's Orsino crying,
"Play on, play on!)
Some clarification: Kreisler wrote original compositions
(and their transcriptions), stylistic studies (in the manners
of other composers), paraphrases (transpositions), and
transcriptions (adaptations), the variety of which is astoun-
ding. There is no doubt that every violinist has a reserved
place in both his-heart and repertoire for the music of Fritz
'Kreisler.
Admittedly, much of his music has been seen oozing from
D Violin f-holes like sap from a sugar maple. But the burden of
such mistreatment lies on the violinist, not Kreisler.
On this recording of original compostitions, transcriptions,
and stylistic studies, violinist Peter Csaba (with pianist
'Zoltan Kocsis) handles Kreisler's music with care and
respect. The portamento-to-harmonic finishes resound with
Kreislerian grace but Csaba takes relatively few liberties in
tempo and occasionally is not loose enough for Vienese licen-
se. Nevertheless the liberty he does allow is comparatively
more meaningful and does not run the risk of distasteful
~repe tition.
rIn "Variations on a theme of Corelli" Csaba well portrays
0 the conflation of Corelli's bent for melody, Tartini's crisp and
16olorful scoring, and Kreisler's collaborative insight. The
transcription of Gluck's "Melody," from the Dance of the
:Blessed Spirits, is played sensitively with controlled passion
d here-Annie Hall,
:tan, and Stardust
Allen's departure
rdist films-such as
d Death-to a focus
and neuroses of
change relects his
just as a comic and,
afear that somehow
estly deal with real,
!ms.
ilms are the most
per. Note that the
onventional film, A
s Sex Comedy has
ripts stand on their
them into print
fit of sound and
is surely an in-
;sdesire to demon-
bilities and to allow
ns of these films
understood Stardust
ediately noticeable
s are their close ap-
mmon speech, cap-
ions: the uhs, ums,
ce subject changes,
ilogue. For instan-
from Manhattan as
on writing job:
ow, these guys sit
sets and the-the
the white cells of
rAllen
their brains out. Uh, you know,
um, ya, I'm-I quit.
DICK: All right. Just relax. Take
a 'lude. Take a 'lude.
IKE (Overlapping): No, no, no, no,
no, I quit. I can't write this
anymore. I can't . ..I don't want
a 'lude. . . . All you guys do is-is,
uh, drop 'ludes and then-then take
Percodans and angel dust.
Naturally, it seems funny.
DICK: You know, just relax,
relax.
IKE (Gesturing): Anything would
if you're-if you're ... You know,
we, y-y-you should abandon the
show and open a pharmeceutical
house.
Film dialogue allows Allen to
replicate conversation better than in
his short stories. Moviescript format
allows for this, but in story writing
having intrusive notations every few
lines-"their dialogue overlapped"-is
awkward and the reader would
question its value. In print this slows
the story down; acting speeds it up.
Scripts without film are still scripts
without film, and about the only advan-
tages they gain by themselves, other
than allowing furtherbstructural
analysis as noted above, are
clarifications and illuminations of bits
of conversations and jokes that were
otherwise lost to background noises,
overlapping conversations, and visual
distractions.
A trivial but interesting example is
that throughout Annie Hall both Alvy
and Rob always call each other "Max".
Lost, however, are the parallel
sequences in Annie Hall: the two times
we see Annie singing in a bar, and when
Alvy boils lobster once with and once
without Annie. These little sequences
gain much power at the film's end when
Alvy reminisces over his and Annie' s
love affair.
Lost are the tense, brooding
photography of Interiors that invoke,
create, and reinforce the ugly, hurtful
relationship of the family members
toward each other.
Lost are the.Gershwin and the
beautifully photographed montages of
Manhattan that reinforce for Ike the
town's many moods and qualities,
manifested through the people, stores,
and restaurants.
The inherent nature of Stardust
Memories, this film of a film of a film-
maker who sees the world filmically,
cannot be effectively separated from
the script, so closely does it interplay
with the visuals.
Nonetheless, Four Films is a
valuable volume for both current ad-
mirers of his work and for those who
would like to become more familiar
with it. The book is a showcase for his
subtle, artful, and insightful views on
what it means to be human.
NEW ORLEANS (UPI)-More than a
million Mardi Gras revelers dressed in
gaily colored costumes and painted
faces thronged parade routes yester-
day, scrambling for cheap trinkets and
enjoying a final day of celebration
before Lent.
Fat Tuesday festivities began with an
odd assortment of walking musicians,
led by jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain's
"Half-Fast Marching Club."
Police said more than a million
people crowded into a few square
r ARMY
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blocks of the city for this year's Mardi
Gras, billed the World's Largest Pary.
"I've lived all over the United States,
but this is the wildest party I've ever
been to," said Fred Novak, 43, of Ann
Arbor. "I might just have to move
here. I don't even mind this," he said,
pointing to a cast on his arm. He said
his wrist was broken when he reached
for a traditional coin that was rolling on
the ground and his hand was stomped
by another anxious partyer.
15% OFF
ALL MERCHANDISE
(Except Sale Items)
Expires Tuesday Feb. 22, 1983
U -
OLD TIMES
by Harold Pinter
Directed by
Richard Burgwin
January 26-30
February 16-19
February 20
8 p.m.
8 p.m.
2 p.m.
New Trueblood Arena
Frieze building
Ann Arbor
Tickets:
, PTP ticket office
Michigan League
764-0450
Michigan Ensemble Theatre
IIII~t
IA . a b
"WONDEI
'SMASH
ENDS
THURS.
WED -
12:50, 2:40, 4:30,!
THURS - 6:25, 8:1
TUESDAY
All Shows
RFUL"
N.Y. TIMES
PALACE'
6:25, 8:10, 9:55
0, 9:55
Tonight there's
something special brewing
OLYMPIA
S/s/
PITCHER
AFTER 9 P.M.'
PIZZA BY THE SLICE- $1 .00
'?ItiEAIA
DAILY 11:30-2 a.m. FROZEN AND CARRY-
1321 S. UNIVERSITY OUT AVAILABLE
ANN ARBOR 769-1894
restaurant and bar
that tells a definitive, plaintive story. The list of eightcen
tunes (if I dare term them so) ends appropriately with "The
Old Refrain." Though played as a rather formal adieu,
without the bittersweet touch it needs, it is indicative of
Csaba's general reserve.
From Rameau to Grainger, Kreisler shows his extraor-
dinary ability to assimilate, understand, and convey; and
this recording provides a good sampling of his shorter works
(none exceed four minutes). There is something elusive in
Kreisler's art, where the sweet never leaves the sorrowful. It
is as if he kept seriousness at a bow's length. Though some of
his original music is sentimental it is not maudlin, and there
is a time for sentimentality. There is a place for Kreisler's
often subtle beauty; all we need do is recognize, appreciate,
and enjoy it. -Lauris Kaldjian
GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER
MERYL STREEP
- BEST ACTRESS
KEVIN KLINE
SOPH IE'S
CHOICE
(R)
WED - 1:00, 3:50, 6:45, 9:30
THURS - 6:45, 9:30
Internationalfestival given for youths
By Julie Winokur
STTNGA KLARA, the Swedish
Children's Theater Ensemble, will
make a special appearance tomorrow
night with two Ann Arbor children's
theater groups at East Quad.
The three ensembles will perform as
part of the Festival of Youth Theater,
beginning with a series of lectures and
-demonstrations by Unga Klara concer-
ning the world of children in relation to
adults.
Scandinavian playwright Per
Lysander and Ronny Ambjornsson will
open the festival with a seminar on the
changing conditions of modern
childhood. "The first part of the
festival is almost a university type
thing," said Blake Radcliffe, "It's
geared more towards the study of
children's theater by adults."
Following Lysander and Ambjor-
nsson will be the Young People's
Theater Repertory Company. The
company will perform Merlin, a slap-
stick adaptation of the Arthurian
legends.
"Children's theater is truthfully quality
theater," said Elise Bryant, Artistic
Director of Common Ground theater.
Bryant is enthusiastic about this
weekend's festival she said because "I
feel like its a good time for the univer-
sity community and the children's
theater community to come together."
Common Ground will perform at 9
p.m., followed by Wild Swan Theater's
10-minute playlet for the hearing im-
paired. The Good Time Players close
the evening with a series of sketches for
the deaf.
Tickets available at East Quad half-
hour before the show, $5-7.
MAJOR EVENTS PRESENTS:
PHOEBE SNOW 77
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