The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 22, 1976, Page Page 4, Image 4
\ -JHA
Vu Yy<&%'Aatfy?y^5iSy?^?j?#^ajdjSfc^rtwBj|^^^^BMMBBpP^^^ * fl^QU
H^Ex - HQ
IBr*^ ^|p ^i "
Horst Janson, right, duels with William Vampire Hunter, a Paramount Pictures
Hobbs, whom he suspects to be responsible release. The film drama was produced by
for a plague of vampire murders, in Albert Fennel and Brian Clemens.
Hammer Productions' Captain Kronos:
frnR Sunnnffiil
jMjV' x B mm A SM,;'--'
9P "> 'Ji |^as ' " SB ^
Woody Allen and his gang blow a holdup exam breakers In the Russell House
attempt In the hilarious film Take the Theater. This was Allen's first film that he
Money and Run to be shown as one of the both directed and wrote. Coming April 28.
The Gam
En#aei?M!
Cinematic a
exam-brea
By Chuck Cromer
and Sam L. Irvin Jr.
The Russell House University Union
Cinematic Arts Committee brings its spring
semester film program to an end with the
exam breakers.
Always popular as a diversion or escape
from the tediousness of studying, the spring
exam breakers run the gamut from comedy
to costume adventure with representative
works of Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, Woody
Allen arid Federico Fellini being featured.
Beginning the series on April 27 is a
unique little film called Captain Kronos:
Vampire Hunter. Set in a remote area of
Europe in the 1600s, the story details the
quest of one Captain Kronos to destroy a
plague of vampirism.
It is not a typical vampire film by any
means. First and most important, it is a
"whodunit" mystery in the Agatha Christie
tradition.
Kronos is a master swordsman, and
(luring one of his many swashbuckling
scenes, he fights with two swords. It is interesting
to note that the sword fights were
arranged by the same man who did Three
Musketeers.
Brian Clemens not only directed this film,
but wrote and produced it as well. He is
responsible for the famed "Avengers"
television series which is stylishly borrowed
from in this film.
The following night, April 28, Woody
Allen's Take the Money and Hun (1969) is
scheduled. This was the first film Allen
wrote and directed. Although uneven at
times, iokes and sicjht uaoc
, j ?c-.v uuuiiuaill,
making this a must for students of humor.
In Take the Money and Run, Allen portrays
Virgil Starkwell, a convict who is the
product of an unfortunate childhood: broken
glasses, neighborhood "bully," bickering
parents, acute cello-playing and a neurotic
tendency to win a girl by stealing money.
In one hilarious sequence, Virgil tries to
break out of prison using a gun he carved
from soap and coated with shoe polish.
Everything seems to be going perfectly as
he nears the prison gate with his hostages,
j ii ?
ana men it oegins to rain-turning his pistol
into soap suds.
April 29, the film will be Minnie and
Moskowitz directed by John Cassavetes. It
is a brilliant comedy which mixes an undertone
of light drama. Gena Rowlands
stars as a straight-laced conservative lady
who falls in love with a wild hippie-type to
the surprise of all her friends ; a love story of
the oddest of couples.
On April 30, the greatest swashbuckler of
them all, Errol Flynn, stars in Captain
llnnJ < 1 nor \ *1 '
uiuuu une ui ine unest costume
adventures ever made.
Flynn was cast as Dr. Peter Blood, a
physician who, sold into slavery, escaped
from his island prison and led a revolt of his
fellow slaves, turning them into seafaring
pirates. With his bold declaration, "We, the
hunted, will now hunt," Captain Blood
roused his audiences into such excitement
that innumerable thousands became instant
i 1 - i ' ? " "
anu aecncaieti tans ot Klynn.
Captain Blood and Flynn made millions
for Warner Brothers Studios in 1935. With
Flynn, the film starred such greats as Olivia
de Havilland, Basil Rathbone and Lionel
Atwill and was directed by the renowned
Michael Curtiz.
Captain Blood introduces the prototypical
U/hich M/tlO t/l * 11 ? m r* ?# *11
..oivn ttul) ui v.iiuiu.\ every i' lynn
swashbuckler. In one sequence, Flynn
battles Basil Rathbone on the rocky
seashores of Tortuga, the haven for all
pirates, after Rathbone threatens de
Havilland's life.
Even though Flynn was never a great
actor, the public will never forget hiin. As
one biographer wrote, Flynn embodied the
' >
ecoek
gnmegf )
rts to show
ker movies
MimmiMwuH ?.
L;
JK9|V MBm /
' wftff mSM
screen hero too brave, too foolhardy, to
consider the consequences of his actions.
"The bold vigor and gallant chivalry,
laced with wry impudence, that characterized
his most colorful performances is his
testament to succeeding generations of
moviegoers. What a drab world it would be
if there had never been an Errol Flvnn."
On May 2, the screwball comedy Topper
(1937), the film that inspired the "Topper"
TV series that is being rerun on one of our
local television stations, will be shown.
Cary Grant and Constance Bennett star
as a young, carefree couple who die in an
automobile smashup and return as spirits.
Overwhelmed in life, they turn their attentions
to a respectable and henpecked
bank manager (Roland Young) in order to
free him from his humdrum inhibitions.
What follows is an assortment of classic
comic situations as the couple causes panic,
fights, drunken tears and general consternation
as they appear and disappear
whenever they sense a chance to create
mischief among mortals.
Topper is a masterpiece of trick
photography and sound effects as well as an
excellently acted picture. Roland Young
even received an Academy Award
nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his
portrayal of Cosmo Topper.
May 3, will be graced by a film entitled
Kronos: The Ciiant Monster, not to be
confused with the vampire film of similar
title on April 27. Instead of Kronos being a
vampire hunter, this film uses the name for
a giant metal cube that lands on earth to
soak up all the electric and atomic energy.
This wonderfully cliche "giant-monsterthreats-the-world"
yarn is in the tradition of
?n it ... .
a 11 muse wonuerous science fiction horror
films of the 1950s. It makes exams seem less
threatening.
The final exam-breaker film, on May 4, is
Federico Fellini's The White Shiek (1952).
The movie satirizes the "fumetti"--Italian
magazines in which actors pose in serialized
comic strip adventures-its heroes and those
readers who believe them ronl
Considered by some critics to be Kellini's
most humorous film, it contains broad
farce, caricature and the fantastic, circuslike
atmosphere typical of his world.
But as one critii' wrote, "The subject also
gives Fellini an opportunity to deal with a
theme which is central to his more serious
works: the danger of living in a world of
one's illusions."