4
Friday, November 7, 1975
University Dally Kansan
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
TROIS JOIES
'Passenger' finds new life
By CHUCK SACK
"The Passenger" marks the end of Michelangelo Antonioni's four-year absence from directing films. Keeping him company in this long-awaited movie, which stars Jack Nicholson, one of the most exciting actors working today.
Actually, this is a most improbable trio. Antoniioni is a notorious t tedious director, and his films don't showcase actors so much as they seem to want them to do. "Zabriakie Point," he used a non-actor in the lead role, and all of his films the camera seems to be gazing past the characters to the landscapes behind them. "The Water," this stage piece, there is much happening in the foreground to hold the viewer's attention.
THE STORY CENTERS on David Locke (Nicholson), a reporter who has become so dischucked with his job and discouraged in his attempts to find employment that he quits.
It is Locke's method of quitting that forms the basis for the plot. He discovers that the man in the next hotel room has died. The dead man's name is Robertson, who identifies identities with him by exchanging the photos in their passports.
The film opens slowly, with the familiar Antonini emniu, but as Locks begin to uncover the details of his new identity,
the viewer is drawn into the nightmare. Robertson, it turns out, had been supplying ammunition to revolutionary groups. As Locke attempts to follow the dead man's instructions, he hindsight pursued by buyers, the police and his own wife.
"The Passenger" is an incredibly demanding film to watch. Antoniomia constantly disorientes the viewer, forcing them to move and to supply the necessary connectives in the narration. Flashbacks are intermingled with the main actions and are given only minimal attention, next to last shot is a hypnotic seven-minute-long take that ranks with the title sequence of "Eclipse," and so it is called of "Eclipse" as the best thing that Antoniomia has ever done.
WHILE THE DIRECTOR is intent on pursuing the stylistics to compliment his thematic probe into the identity and destiny of his displaced protagonist it him to荐 Schneider to engage the audience. As the "passenger" who rides with Locke in his search for a new life, Schneider is almost the exact opposite of the character she portrayed in "Last Tango."
However, it is with Jack Nicholson that the film must finally stand or fall. No one can accuse Nicholson of resting on his laurels. In the last two years he has been sitting in a peace. While other superstars have kept their careers on steady, calculated courses,
HISLIST OF DIRECTORS in that period reads like a Who's Who of the Director's Guild. Hail "Shampoo Ashby" Ashby, en-prove that his prowess as the foul-mouthed MP in "The Last Detail," Mike Nichols directed him in both "Caramel Knowledge" and "The Fortune." One of the directors was Karolanski, guided him through "Chinatown." This winter Nicholl will be seen in Milos Forman's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and next spring "Bird Brands." Brandon in Arthur Penn, "The Missouri Breaks."
Nicholson has been taking artistic risks.
Even in this impressive list, Nicholson's involvement with Antoniou stands out. Few other people can be placed in settings that question their stardom. Nicholson takes it in stride in this picture, allowing Antoniou to be attached, almost shrunken state.
WHEN LOCKE SAYS to
Robertson at one point in their only meeting, "I prefer men to landscapes," one can almost believe that this is a challenge that Nicholson has thrown at him. But the two men are rich and complex, with the tensions between their talents adding to the texture. The film is often frustrating, and comes dangerously close to abandoning the characters' rewards the alert viewer and is certain to spark many debates about this director's worth.
As important as this film is artistically, it is even more important because of the circumstances of its exhibition. As a direct result of an article in this column four weeks ago, Commonwealth has booked "The Passenger" as a test film for the event. No three manager can afford to ignore its patrons' wishes. Please join with me in supporting this picture, both by attending and recommending the film to others.
Heavu rocker
Carol Schumacher, Topeka senior, examines a carved wooden recker constructed by George A. C. Brandt II, of one about 40
Staff Photo by DON PIERCE
artists whose works were selected for exhibition in the annual Designer-Craftsmann Exhibition on display now in Kansas Union
New Yorker cartoon album a delight
By WARD HARKAVY
Contributing Writer
THE NEW YORKER ALBUM
OF DRAWINGS, 1925-1975. New
York: Viking, 1975. $15.
People read magazines for various reasons.
Har ya doin' his visor up,
on his way down.
He has his eyes still.
Har ya doin' he called again
Tune a hill? Sweat on his face
like in lining old river beds,
by hissy tears, by flashing,
the flash of dreams gone
Tune a hill? I asked. His belly
leading him past the pile,
to take it touch down.
I felt depressed by the silence.
Yar from town. Two tafers on a hill's
doin real fine! as he pulled
him into his chewing chair
in the dust and walked on.
—Peter Porteous
---
For instance, most people read Playboy only for its articles most read by Male Males. The magazine itself photographs and graphics.
Not many readers read the New Yorker, but when they do, there are many things about the magazine that make reading it enjoyable. It is consistently best part of the New Yorker is its drawings. Sometimes its boring, its poeyy awful, its "Talk of the Town" pedantic. But its poetry are consistently clever.
THE MONOCLED DANDY that graced the first New Yorker cover in February 1925, and that has been re-run every February since then, was drawn by Rea Irvin, one of the first and best New Yorker artists. The dandy's name, Eustace Tilley, was coined by the 18th-century warrior whose wit stretched through many years and magazines, including the old Life, Judge, the New Yorker and, later, Reader's Digest.
Great American cartoonists who have worked for the New Yorker include John Holdr J, Ralph Barton, Parro Arna, Chyua Williams, Fruh, Frueh, Williams, Helen Hokinson, Helen Hokinson, James Thurber, Edward Koren, Otto Soglow and Saul Steinberg.
Luckily, there have been at least three published collections of New Yorker drawings: "The New Yorker Album, 1925-1950."
"The New Yorker 1950-1955
Album"; and, now,
"The New Yorker
Album of Drawings,
1925-1975."
EACH OF THEM IS entertaining; it's amazing that this magazine published so many wonderful cartoons. Surely its record in this is unimaginable by any other magazine.
To talk about the New Yorker's other offshores, the collections of stories and the numerous anthologies that have been published in the magazine, would be a staggering task. It's enough to say that the list of New Yorker contributors includes E.B. James, Thurlow Alexander Woolcott, A. J. Liebring, Dorothy Parker, Franklin P. Adams, Qgden Nash, James Cain, Robert Hewey Brown, Frankullvan and Moody Allen.
ONE REASON FOR THE success of the New Yorker's drawings is the importance given to them by the magazine's founder, the cantankerous and meticulous Harold Ross. Ross was a zany, irascible character whose editorial genius helped make the New Yorker a great magazine. His works with Rosse" is one of the most joyful and entertaining glimpses ever written about New York literati in the first half of this century.
Ross instituted weekly art meetings for exploring cartoon and cover drawing possibilities. Most artwork was rejected. If it was accepted, the painstaking task of writing captions sometimes fell to staff members. For example, cap
tions for Helen Hokinson's delightful drawings of society women were usually written by James Reid Parker.
IDEAS FOR CARTOONS and full-page spreads often emanated from staff members E. B. White and Thurber. E. B. White and Thurber often tinkered with captions until the finicky Ross was satisfied. Unsolicited sketches were often turned over to Peter Arno, who produced many and risque cartoons and covers.
The result of this close attention to artwork was, and is, an extraordinarily fine group of cartoons, somewhat hard to describe but a delight to the eye and mind.
Many of these drawings remain forever in one's memory—such as Gluyas Williams "The Day A Cake of Ivory Soap Sank at Procter and Burke" and Small Fry; Saul Steinberg's brilliant visual puns; Peter Arnø's racy sophisticates; William Hamilton's cool sophisticates; Thurber's men, women and dogs; Soglow's Little King; Charles Addams' Lilac Garden; Hunter; Charles Saxon's digs at "Society"; Garden Rea's board rooms; and John Held Jr. engravings and maps.
THE LIST COULD GO on and, on still be incomplete. Any collection of New Yorker drawings has to be excellent and the latest one is no exception. One can find faults in them by comparing it to two other New Yorker cartoon collections.
The first big one, the 1925-1950 album, is probably the best one.
'Snowbound,' 'Indians' rate top suspense
COLONY EARTH. By Richard E. Mooney, Crest.
$1.50.
Another of those books about how earth may have been colonized by beings from another planet. Is there no end to these?
A comprehensive collection,
one that includes "Walden",
"Natal Disobedience",
"Natural Curiosity"
of Massachusetts," "A Plea for
Massachusetts," "A Plea for
HENRY DAVID THORAKE:
ESSAYS, JOURNALS AND
POEMS. Edited by Dean
Flower, Creat. $4.50.
Another suspense story, set in an English community called Linderfeld in the early 1800s. The villain is a conspirator about a governess, a sinister employer, and a petulant child who is under the girl's charge? Would you believe the author "The Turn of the Screw?"
TYPE A BEHAVIOR AND YOUR HEART. By Meyer
Captain John Brown," and "Walking," plus excerpts from various other writings of Thoreau.
THE WILD HUNT. By Jill Tattersall, Crest. $1.25.
"Type A" is the designation given by the authors, both cardiologists, to a specific complex of personality, attitude and coping that are correlated to heart disease—what they call "hurry sickness."
A collection of eight science fiction "classics" of the thirties. If you read science fiction you may recognize the authors, but if you've never heard of Asimov just leave it alone.
BEFORE THE GOLDEN AGE. Edited by Isaac Asimov, Crest. $1.50.
Published at the University of Kansas weekdays
at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday through Friday,
internationally. Second-class postage paid at law-
erian sentere or $1 a year in Dearborn County and $1 a
week in Knoxville. Subscription fees are $1.55 per
subscriptions are $1.55 per subscription paid through the
U.S. Postal Service.
Friedman and Ray H. Rosenman, Crest. $1.95.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SNOWBOUND. By Bill
Pronzini. Crest. $1.25.
A thriller about three teenagers who come to the entire town at their mercy Proznit is doing some of the most exciting stories in the world.
Editor Dennis
Amanda Elkeworth Campus Editor Debbie Gump Carle Young Business Manager Assistant Business Manager Advertising Manager
A PRAYER FOR THE DYING. By Jack Higgins, Crest. $1.25.
in which the hero, once an Irish idealist, is on the run in northern England, trying to flee the police, the IRA and himself.
AMERICAN GOTHIC. By Robert Bloch. Crest. $1.25
One by the author of
indexed, paginated or encumbered by an introduction. Such matters are of little consequence. But the first one, which covers the years 1925 to 1950, is divided into three Thirties, Late Thirties, and so forth. One would wish that this newest collection had been divided in this manner.
WHO SPEAKS FOR APA-ALCHIAH? Edited by Cecilia Haddix, Washington Square Press. $1.95.
ANNE FRANK: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL. Introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt. Pocket $1.25.
A series of admiring protraits of people who have bucked the system. Read here about Billie Jean King, Joe Namah, Bobby Fischer, Lee Trevino, Walt Disney, Don Henrie, Mark Spitz, and of course, Muhammad Ali. Interesting portraits.
An anthology of poems, songs and stories by people out of the Appalachian mountain heritage. Catherine Marshall, Robert Penn Warren, Thomas Browne, James Agee are represented.
kept him from contributing must to this collection.
"Psycho," about a series of bizarre murders that took place in Chicago during the great fair of 1883.
However, that's pit-chilling. Each collection is enjoyable. This newest one is, like the two others, an assortment of drawings that have enriched our culture and brightened our lives. You'll have to see for yourself.
The 75th printing of a modern-
day classic, and here is one time
when the word truly can be used.
THE NEWEST ONE, covers the years 1925 to 1975 is somewhat disappointing. It's printed on dull, porous stock, rather than the heavy gloss finish of the original collections. This new collection represents the results of a nearly impossible task: how does one choose cartons from 50 years of brilliance? Depending on one's taste, this item is more satisfying. But there is too little early work included to suit some people's taste.
THE NEW BREED OF
ATHLETE. By Leila B.
Gemmer. Pocket. $1.25.
GUN FOR HIRE. By Graham Greene. Pocket. $1.75.
THE MAN WITHIN and THIS
Two earlier volumes by the writer who turned to more "serious" fiction, most of which wasn't in a class with his entertainments." "The Man Within" dates from 1929-Greeen's first novel—and is about a man on the run, from both the law and the smugglers who hired him. Hire" became a famous movie as well, about a cold-blooded killer named Raven.
HIS MONKEY WIFE. By John Collier, Pocket, $1.50.
A story about a man whose wife happens to be a monkey. He introduces the monkey to introduction, so apparently the literal think it is one quite different.
The 1950-1955 collection had the added importance of including 40 New Yorker covers, a bonus for those who have a love of the outstanding New Yorker covers. Thurber's blindness
because of the absolutely brilliant group of artists who then worked for the New Yorker. The quality of New Yorkers in interceptably dropped from "brilliant" since then. It depends on one's taste, certainly, but those who like it probably would and John Held Jr. would probably prefer the first album.
TEN LITTLE INDIANS. By Agatha Christie, Pocket, $1.25. Earlier known as "And Then There Were None," the movie bearing the current title and building on the smash success of "Murder on the Orient Express." "Indiana" takes place in a fictional wind up dead, it's a valid classic of the detective genre
—Bibliophile
None of these collections is
PEREZGREEN — Antonio Perez, baritone, and Miriam Stewart Green, mezzo-soprano, in a series of serious and comic selections by American composers. Selections include famous passages by George Gershwin and Benjamin Franklin set in music.
Concerts
(8 tonight in Swarthout Recital Hall.)
UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHRESTHE-Select group of musicians under the direction of George Lawner, performing at the Walt Disney Museum. Major (The Jupiter), Stavinsky's "Rite of Spring," and Brahms' "Double Concerto for Violin and Violaceo," in which Chris Harrison, violinist, Gwen Lewis, cellist, will solo.
HIGHLIGHTS
(3:30 p.m. Sunday in University Theatre.)
(3 p.m. Sunday In Lawrence Arts Center.)
LAWRENCE MANDOLIN AND GUITAR ENSEMBLE=10 local pluckers performing arrangements of classical instrumental pieces, among them violin and flute, and Raloh Vauhill Williams.
PAUL WINTER CONSORT—Five young jazz-rock-classical musicians in their first regional vest.
(9 p.m. Friday in the Union Ballroom.)
Exhibits
This Week's
ROBERT SUDLOW PAINTING- Eighteen oils by a KU professor of painting noted for his observations of nature and its details.
ROSS MOFFEET
MINTY SCENES - acaparais and beach scenes
the Massachusetts coast by an American artist who died in
(Through Dec. 4 In 7E7 Gallery, 7 East 7th St.)
(Through Nov. 23 in the Museum of Art.)
(Through Nov. 16 In Union Gallery.)
Films
DESIGNER - CRAFTSMAN
EXHIBIT—items small and
large by mostly regional ar-
tiists, which also contribu-
tion by a jury of their peers.
**WHITE MANE—An award-winning short by Albert Lamorisse, who was responsible for the Red Balloon billiard game at Disney's ICHABO AND MR. TOAD, a combination of Kenneth Graham's "The Wind in the Willows" and Washington Irving's, "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," most enjoyable double feature.
TWENTIETH CENTURY—A marvelous madcap comedy starring John Barrymore and Sally Hawkins, a action takes place on a train that is no more, the Twentieth Century, which formerly ran through York. Both of the pri公领 are in top form. Barrymore as a zany producer and Lombard as Hawks directed in 1934.
AMARCORD-A small Italian town before the Fascist takeover is the setting for this excellent Federico Fellini film, which won the Oscar for best watchment and is well worth watching.
SOFT SKIN -Francoise Dorelac, Jean Desailly and Jeanne Moreau in a love triangle with a bizarre ending. Francois Truffaut directed this excellent movie in 1964. His work is grounded in technological age is sophisticated and brilliant.
THE PASSAGEER-A stunning performance by Jack Nicholson and the tour-de-france Antenonio highlight this suspense story. The film's beautiful, yet rigorous style is certain to place Antoninoio in a dramatic controversy, but the complexity of the hero's dilemma makes the picture impossible to portray accurately haunted hero, and Maria Schneider portrays the girl who alternately helps and frustrates different identities in English.
OLD DRACULA—American international's imitation of the Young Frankenstein more to Polanski's "Fearless Vampire Killers." With David Niven and Teresa Graves, but without the inspired spirit.
THE BEST OF WALT DISNEY'S TRUE-LIFE AD-
VENTURES—A compilation of Disney's nature films. The photographers work for the occasionally saccharine narration, Double-Bearer MAN IN THE WORLD, the worst of the studio's live-action features, beating out "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes"
LET'S DO IT AGAIN—Fourth week of actor-director. Sidney Posthare follow-up to Uptown Posthare's 2015 movie once again generates most of the excitement, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting a fundraiser and John Ames taking on the slack.
THEWAY WE WERE—the million-dollar-plus team-up of Robert Redford and Barbara Levine to make Sydney Pollack's direction is methodical, and Arthur Laurent's screenplay about these two people who are wrong with their theories. Check advertisements for theaters and movie theaters.
Television
MASTERPIECE THEATRE—Concluding episode of "Shoulder to Shoulder," the British series on the issue of women in women's suffrage and civil rights in England. We may think we have it bad now—when some of the most influential states in the world have gone nothing to the pain and violence these women encountered.
(8 p.m. Sunday on Channels 11 and 19.)
ASCENT OF MAN-Jacob Brononski, the mathematician - philosopher, studies the effect of the industrial Revolution on social and cultural life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Callan stride as powerful as the Renaissance."
(8 p.m. Tuesday on Channels 11 and 19.)
GREAT PERFORMANCE
MANCES, Calif. Remick as
a performer brilliantly produced and acted—but pretentiously named—series. This episode follows her performance in the Bohamian theater circles of London and her unusual role as a younger than her famous son.
(8 p.m. Wednesday on Channels 11 and 19.)