FILMS: Not much magic
By KICHARD GEARY
Assistant Arts & Reviews Editor
The most surprising thing about "The Magic Christian" is that it is funny a good deal of the time; sometimes even funny enough to make us forget how sloppy and uncontrolled the whole movie is.
Peter Sellers plays Sir Guy Grand, a British multi-trillionaire, who, with his newly-adopted son, Ringo Starr, enjoys seeing people make fools out of themselves over money. He fixes a boxing match so the fighters will kiss instead of punch; he pays off the Oxford rowing team; he gives a cop 500 pounds to eat a parking ticket; and, in a scene that is probably the all-time low point of screen taste, he sprinkles pound notes into a vat of manure and urine and sits back to watch neatly-suited businessmen bob for their fortunes.
Terry Southern's novel, a biting little comedy of greed and lust, was set immovably in America, which seems to have a corner on the greed and lust markets; the story was transplanted to England probably for the sole purpose of using Sellers and Starr. The less said about Ringo the better, but Sellers does a fairly decent job: he is at home with the Southern dialogue ("Grand's the name and money's the game") and manages to stand as a rock of sanity amid the senseless goings-on around him.
The film-makers seem to want to try everything. What could have been a spare, purposeful little satire is cluttered with various inane jabs at Vietnam, race problems, homosexuals, firearms and what-have-you, and camped-up with cameo appearances of everyone from Raquel Welch to Roman Polanski.
Comedy, more than any other form, needs control and understatement—almost to the point of austerity. You cannot simply throw in every wild idea that pops into your head and hope people will laugh. Chaplin, Keaton and the other silent comedians were careful to keep their fun within strict bounds.
But with such hit-or-miss technique, "Tht Magic Christian" could not help but have a few hits: a riotous art auction, a duck hunt with artillery, a subtly hilarious board meeting, and a surrealistic ocean cruise that rivals Fellini. But when most of the movie's insane episodes begin, we are never sure, as we are in the book, that Grand's money and mischief is behind them and they appear to be merely thrown in.
This film is clearly an attempt to reproduce the anarchic spirit of the Beatles movies, which, in turn, tried to recapture the free-form quality of the Marx Brothers' best work. Though "The Magic Christian" is intermittently funny in a crude sort of way, those involved should have known that it takes more than just a string of laughs to make a memorable comedy.
BOOKS: Paperback fantasy
By MIKE SHEARER
Editorial Page Editor
TELL IT LIKE IT IS, by Chuck Stone (Simon & Schuster paperback, 95 cents)
Chuck Stone is a prophet.
This collection of Stone's columns (from the New York Age, Washington Afro-American and Chicago Defender—three black papers) are angry and fresh even though they were all written before the Black Power movement as we know it. The columns date between 1959 and 1964 and cover everything from why white people like black babies and why white women have prettier legs than black women (Stone Says!!) to the relationship between blacks and Jews and Barry Goldwater's view of government.
And none of Stone's ideas or comments (except possibly his reference, on occasion, to blacks as colored people) is incompatible with the race issue today.
Here are some of Stone's observations on big men:
On Adam Clayton Powell: "Yes, Adam Powell occasionally embarasses us and even irritates us by some of his bewildering actions. But he's still our Adam Clayton Powell, who has built a foundation of militant achievements for colored folks which very, very few whites will ever match."
On Billy Graham: "In an era which nurtures middle-class mediocrity and phony religious values, the Rev. Billy Graham is exactly what we Americans deserve in our present inability to find lasting salvation in the true meaning of brotherhood."
On Roy Wilkins: "Roy Wilkins, in a fit of intemperance and ill choice of language, assailed the Negro 'foul-mouthed punks and hoodlums' responsible for violence who are setting back the civil rights movement (and implicitly undoing all of the noble work of Roy Wilkins). However, I don't recall ever hearing Wilkins talk about the poor white trash that has murdered and tortured Negroes in the South. Wilkins say anything nasty about those four Klansmen who are charged with killing Lieutenant Colonel Penn? Wilkins use any nasty words to describe the white men who tortured poor James Chaney in Philadelphia, Miss., beyond belief?"
NOTES TO THE HURRYING MAN, by Brian Patten (Hill and Wang paperback, $1.50)
The second volume of Patten's poems, Hurrying Man is a sensitive dip into the personal life of a young man.
Though the main concern of Patten is apolitical and amoral, stressing man's relationship to woman and to himself, a very simple and beautiful view of all of life is expressed. And Patten demonstrates a keen perception of the flaws of the masses.
For example, his poem "The Projectionist's Nightmare":
'This is the projectionist's nightmare:/ A bird finds its way into the cinema./ finds the beam, flies down it./ smashes into a screen depicting a garden./ a sunset and two people being nice to each other./ Real blood, real intestines, slither down/ the likeness of a tree./ 'This is no good,' screams the audience./ 'This is not what we came to see.'
Mar. 17
1970 KANSAN 5
Brodie ignores reality
By MARILYN McMULLEN Kansan Staff Writer.
"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" runs Wed. through Fri. in University Theatre. The play has been described by director Jack Brooking, professor of speech and drama, as a character study of Jean Brodie. She is a teacher in a conservative Scottish girls' school who ignores reality and lives only for the beauty to be found in "truth and art."
How can someone who has lost touch with reality find beauty in truth? This seemingly paradoxical situation was discussed by Judy Levitt, San Clemente, Calif. graduate student, who portrays Jean Brodie.
Mrs. Levitt described Jean Brodie's philosophy of life as a constant search for glamour and beauty coupled with a preoccupation with fascism. She said the aspect of the fascist obsession was most difficult for her, as an
"She's a difficult character to identify with," said Mrs. Levitt. "She thoroughly believes in her own philosophy, none of which I personally agree with."
Jean Brodie, played by Judy Levitt, San Clemente, Calif. graduate student, tells her class of her affair with a soldier named Hugh, who fell on Flanders Field. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" runs Wed. through Fri. in University Theatre.
"I think she only looked for the excitement it can offer, such as the great crowds and dynamic speeches," Mrs. Levitt said. "But I don't think she could have faced World War II. That would have been too ugly for her."
actress, to believe in.
Mrs. Levitt said it had been difficult to establish her characterization of Jean Brodie, and that it had been accomplished in gradual steps. To enter Jean Brodie's world, she read books on art history, and reviewed the history of the Spanish Civil War. Once a voice major, Mrs. Levitt said she shared a love of music with Jean Brodie.
"Miss Brodie loved Franco, and sent one of her girls off to fight in his war," Mrs. Levitt explained. "She never realized the girl would not have done it without being influenced by her teacher."
Mrs. Levitt toured with the KU troupe who presented "Kaleidoscope of the American Dream" in eastern Europe last summer. She said her stay in Italy helped her to understand Jean Brodie's passion for the artist, Jiotto.
"Jiotto broke away from a rigid style of painting and developed a very emotional style," she explained. "Jean Brodie also attempted to revolt against the times."
"Jean Brodie attempted to awaken her girls to the beauty she saw in art," said Mrs. Levitt. "She disagreed with the way in which the conservative school was run."
"I have to agree with her there," Mrs. Levitt asserted. "I think that aspect of her character will capture the sympathy of the audience. After all, she is stimulating and creative, and we've all had teachers who were just the opposite."
Speaking of her problems with
character development, Mrs. Levitt said she had to keep in mind that Jean Brodie always worked for the center of attention in any situation. She added that the many facets of the character were impossible to comprehend all at once.
"There is always a contradiction between what the actor knows about the character, and what the character knows about himself," she said. "What must come across to the audience is that which the character knows."
Peter Sellers &
Ringo Starr in
"The Magic Christian"
TECHNICOLOR*
Released by COMMONWEALTH UNITED
"A LYRIC, TRAGIC SONG OF THE ROAD! AN HISTORIC MOVIE!" - RICHARD SCHICKEL, LIFE
PANDO COMPANY in association with RAYBERT PRODUCTIONS presents
easy Rider
restricted
staring
PETER FONDA • DENNIS HOPPER
JACK NICHOLSON • COLOR • Released by COLUMBIA PICTURES
Granada NOW! Adults 1.50 Eve. 7:15 - 9:15 Box Office Opens 5:00
THEATRE...Inphone WI 3-5784
University of Kansas Theatre
presents
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by Jay Allen
Adopted from the novel by Muriel Spark
MARCH 13,14,18,19,20
For Tickets Call UN 4-3982
Current registration card admits to $1.40 seat
University Theatre --- Murphy Hall