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PAGE 4 - N.C. ESSAY Reviews by Byron Tidwell “THEARISTOCATS” Walt Disney Studios production of The Aristocats is purrfectly delightful fun for all ages. The script, the design, and the vocal characterization aU combine for a lovely show. The story begins in Paris of 1910 when Oscar, the butler, overhears his wealthy mistress tell her lawyer that her cats will inherit her fortune when she dies, and after they pass on the money will go to the butler. Greedy as he is, the butler sets about to do away with the cats, a mother and her three kittens. The film follows the cats through their adventures and ends happily (For the cats, that is) in the true Disney tradition. The mother cat’s voice is done by Eva Gabor and her male companion, Thomas O’Malley, is done by Phil Harris. They at least hold their own. The real stars of the show are two dogs, Napoleon and Lafayette, delightfully done by Pat Buttram and George Lind say. Pat Buttran is Napoleon, the bloodhound and a fearless leader- a fact he never lets the poor bassett hound Lafayette forget. These two are closely followed by Monica Evans and Carole Shelly as two meddling geese that insist the world follow in their footsteps- and walking, er, waddling in the same manner. Even though the roles are very reminiscent of the Pigeon sisters in the Odd Couple, Misses Evans and Shelley add a definite vivacity to the film. Fine Supporting “Voices” Up to their usual high stM- dards in the film are Sterling Holloway as a mouse, Nancy Kulp as a horse named Frou- Frou, and Roddy Maude-Roxby as the Butler, Oscar. By their interesting voice alone, these people can always be counted on for a comic performance. The artwork of the film is much above and beyond Disney’s earlier Mickey Mouse shorts and even siupasses his later Jungle Book. The Disney artists have created a set of predominately blue pastel backgrounds to complement the animated characters. Each of the moving figures is precisely appropriate for its character. The artists used animal forms for their design and caricatured them just enough to perk them up. Bravo, Disney Studios. We’ll be looking for your next animated feature. by Jon Thompson Advertised as the first motion picture about pollution, “No Blade of Grass,” can also be ranked as the worst film of the year. In a rollicking hour-and-a- half, it follows a group of “plain old people” as they escape the plague-infested city and rape and murder their way to the safety of the hills, leaving a trail of blood and worthless movie footage behind them. Supposedly it demonstrates how the evil pollution man creates is destroying him. If that is true, we’d all live a little longer without this film. This particular fiasco, with no performers worthy of notice, was made in England by the English. They seem to have reached the same point as Hollywood during the 50’s black-and-white science fiction quickie craze (when “Panic in the Year Zero,” starring Ray Milland, was released). The stories of these two are by A. Marsh The Seraphim Guide to Grand Opera (3 disks - SIC-6062, Seraphim Records) The idea behind this album is rather banal - a “com prehensive” survey of opera to induce the general listener (like the general reader). The set doesn’t accomplish its task very well. Much of the selections are not the best and many operas are overlooked altogether. To represent the great Verdi, we have “Dance of the Moorish Slaves” from AIDA....a sticky little pseudo-exotic bit out of Act Two. Certainly the producers could have chosen more im portant Verdi! For the Wagner section there is only pieces from THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, TANNHAUSER, LOHENGRIN, and the dreadful concert version of “Siegfried’s Funeral March.” Although these are superb works, they are not the apex of Wagner’s art. There are, however, good parts. Anna Moffo’s brilliant vocalizing in a Bellini aria (Yuk!), 3ie famous “Figaro! Figaro!” from THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, Maria Callas’s splendid “Seguedille” from her very similar with “Panic” being the better of the two of them. But in those days, there were fewer visual tricks. Today, color and visual gimmicks u^ carefully can help make a science fiction picture, or destroy it- as it does “No Blade of Grass.” Things like slow motion, solarization, negative color, telephoto per spective, still photos in sequence are all either beaten to death or thrown away in this film. (If I never see another slow motion death sequence, it will be too soon.) However, the film teaches a valuable lesson to all. Never attempt to make a con temporary, full length, dramatic, science fiction shocker, when you don’t know what you want to say. I can only recommend this movie to someone with a strong stomach, a spare 90 minutes, an extra two dollars and a strange sense of humor. This film made me want to go out and clog up a septic tank.' excellent complete recording of CARMEN. But I feel that the intentions of the album are not realized. The limited space on a record (or even three) cannot accomodate an adequate outline of operatic music and those who would want to “know” opera (or any form of art) via the entire-outline-in-one- compact-package approach are usually those that take in culture as if it were a piU. 'Dance' cent, from Page 3 been the case in all previous years’ productions, the house was sold out for every performance. Christmas vacation appeared out of nowhere after the “Nut cracker” tour and the dancers dispersed momentarily. In the lull between their return and the onset of exams, a performance and two lecture-demonstrations were presented for various groups of visitors to the school. There is really very little distinction made between first and second semester in the Dance Department’s schedule and rehearsals are now in progress for the upcoming February performances. by mjf “Performance” - Starring James Fox, Mick Jagger. Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg. “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” - Nietzsche-Tumer. This is one weird film, friends. It grabs you, pulls you into its flow, like no other film I’ve ever seen. “Performance” leaves behind many of the conventions of film-making and, indeed, storytelling. From the beginning, “Performance” is a heavy trip. Chas. (James Fox) is a mean- mother British gangster-type, whose passion for and delight in violence streches far beyond perversity. As a member of a mob who run a protection agency-racket, Chas. keeps employees in line and makes threatening gestures, basking in his power. But he makes a mistake when he kills the wrong man and has to flee from not only the police, but the mob as well. (All this character presen tation and motivation takes up about forty-five minutes Md it’s pretty unreal, including a gruesome beating scene). On the nm, Chas. ends up in a broken down palace occupied by Turner, a retired bisexual pop star (played in truely outrageoiu fashion by Mick Jagger) and his two female friends and bed- mates. Chas. and Turner eat magic mushrooms and from there, “Performance” becomes a ritual of possession, life and death, reality and illusion, and identity and nonidentity. This film has a lot of levels; pay at tention. It is complex because so much of the action takes place l^tween the scenes, beyond the dialogue, beneath the surface. The sul^onscious action is as important as what you see. The relationship between Chas. and Turner is based on evil and desire, an evil that Turner niust piu’ify in order to allow desire. The film’s climax comes when Turner delivers the message to Pias. - in a black magic, hallucinatory life-death satanic ceremony-performance. This isn’t an easy film to follow. The direction by Cammell and Roeg is an absolute stroke of genius. The viewer sees the action from a totally stream-of- conaciousness viewpoint. Scenes flash forward and backward; realities are perceived by alternating characters; diabgue is dkected to the audience, used as cues and voiced as omens and repeated later in the film in other contexts; and eerie and vital musical soundtradc echos un derneath the film; and Turner’s “memo” is sung to Chas. The actual “trip” sequence is brilliant; it delves into the psyche of a hallucinogenic experience. A word about Jagger; his perfwmance is the essence of acting. He is Turner (and Turner is an extension of Jagger). Turner doesn’t appear on the screen until about halfway through the film. By the time he does, the tension is incredible. And from that point, Tumer- Jagger possesses everyone - the viewer most definitely included. It’s his show. “Performance” may seem like nothing more than a Grade B skin flick to some and it has been called “loathesome’’ by the straight press. But this is a major cinematic achievement, the most co^^>elling, gripping and multi- di-mension^ film I’ve seen in a long, long time. A lot goes on here, mudi more than meets the eye. by Cortlandt Jones “The Owl and the Pussycat” is strictly an American movie. Centered in Manhattan, boy meets girl, boy los^ girl, boy gets girl back. In this case, the boy is played by an un derstanding (jieorge l^gal, a book salesman by day and a frustrated writer by night. Completely Jewish is the girl, played by Barbra Streisand. She is an average, everyday hooker, whose language would stop a sailor in his tracks. Segal’s portrayal of the writer demonstrates beautiful con tinuity, which is in constant conflict with the mini-skirted, big-busted Pussycat. His gentte and inquisitive manner leads him to an interest in the Pussycat’s occupation and, in turn, she is drawn to him. Streisand is absolutely hilarious in her first non-musical role, in which she projects an energetic, uneducat^ person. Most reviewers felt that she seemed insecure in the part. I felt that what seemed to be insecurity was good characterization. Buck Henry’s adaptation of Bill Manhoff’s play keeps the viewers laughing in their seats, so much that sometimes good lines go by. From the rainy puddle-filled streets to a heavenly, grassy park, the camera takes you through the world of the Owl as he says to the Pussycat, “Doris, you’re a sexual Disneyland.” by Jon Thompson Henry Fonda has always been very good in westerns. In‘Warner Brothers’ “There Was A Crooked Man, ” he joins Kirk Douglas in one of the best comedy-westems to date. “Crooked Man” is a simple tale told in the most roundabout way possible. It’s not at all original, highly predictable, much too elementary and absolutely beautiful. Douglas is subtle and charming as an imprisoned theif with a desire for the wide open spaces and a small fortune in loot. Fonda is....weU, Fonda in the most typical role of his career. They are backed up by the most outrageously usual collection of freaks and stereotype dummy convicts Hollywood has to offer. The movie co-stars Burgess Meredith as the aging Missouri Kid, Alan Hale as the fat guard, Warren Oates and many more recognized talents in parts made for them (and a hundred actors before them.) The film is reminiscent of “Butch Cassidy and the Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wild Bunch,” jumping from revelation to laughs to exciting action western and ending in a most predictable, but thorou^y enjoyable finish. You’ve seen the whole thing before many times, but never quite this way, and never quite this good. ‘Season’ Continued From Page 2 Honorable Mention: Home - Procol Harum; The Byrds (Untitled); Jesse Winchester; Moondance - Van Morrison; Tom Rush; Sui^ower - Beach Boys; Alone Together - Dave Mason; Ladies Of The Canyon - Joni Mitchell; Beaucoups Of Blues - Ringo Starr; Weasals Ripped My Flesh - Mothers; Stage Fright - The Band; Leon Russell; Shady Grove - Quicksilver; Mad Dogs & Englishmen - Joe Cocker; John Phillips; Mott The Hoople; Tea For The Tillerman - Cat Stevens; Abraxas - Santana; Elton John; Derek & The Dominos; The Who Live At Leeds; John Barleycorn Must Die - Traffic; Otis Redding & Jimi Hendrix At Monterrey; Cosmo’s Factory - Creedence; McCARTNEY: “Lola” Vs. “The Powerman” & “The Moneygoround” - Kinks; Woodstock; Lorca - Tim Buckley; Open Road - Donovan; John B. Sebastian; First Step - Small Faces; Poco. Best Single (s); “Sugar Mountain”-Neil Young; “Lola”- Kinks; “Ohio” - C,S,N & Y. Biggest Shuck; Jesus Christ Superstar Major Disappointments; Deja Vu - C,S,N, & Y; Let It Be - Beatles; Self Portrait - Bob Dylan. Best Track (from Ip); “Memo From Turner” - Mick Jagger (from the soundtrack “Per formance”). Names for ’71; Elton John, Jackson Browne. Sound for ’71; Big, bold heavily produced (i.e. George Harrison’s Ip and the Wagnarian-Spectorian “wall of sound”). So long, It’s Been Good To Ya; Jimi, Janis, Albert Ayler, Booker Ervin, The Beatles. ‘Minutes’ (Cont. From Page 1) 1-6-71 No agenda presented. Poor attendance discussed agin. Also, the drug issue. Richard Kaplan suggested that the SCA meet with people from Together House to receive information regarding counseling. Ecology problem discussed again. Possibility of having Pete Seeger for a spring concert was brought up. Mick Ferguson will send a letter to Seeger to get information. Drop’Add Dates Feb. 10 - end of add time. Feb. 26 - end of drop period. Western ♦ ♦ ♦ Outfitters, Inc.j 331 WAUGHTON ST. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. A Special 15 per cent Discount to All NCSA Students with proper ID From now through January. Go Western! You’ll love it! Men-Ladies Fringed and Plain Leather, Corduroy and Denim Jackets Vests, Ponchos, Boots, Belts, Shirts Jeans, Blouses, Hats, Moccasins, etc. Western Gun ^Its- Custom-Made Everything for the Horseman. Mon-Thurs, 9 A.M. - 7 P.M. Frl-Sat. 9 A.M. - 9 P.M.
N.C. Essay (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 18, 1971, edition 1
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