The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 22, 1982, Page Page 3, Image 3
Feature Friday
G^Mrrork' eriTeRTdiNMeNT^
Film Reviews:
'D : r 1
t clinics r roui i
uvnmirDPM what Pennies From Heaven
l?i UUUli nCiLL . ^ - ? r A ?
is aiming for. As fantasy, it
~ A silly idea makes a sillied is. Predictable and.
film. In Pennies From unimaginative As a period
Heaven, Steve Martin is a fie?e- " ? as fraudulent as
starving songwriter stuck in f Year s Under The |
the Great Depression with As " musical, it is |
an unwilling wife and many a ,u"'ess >,ou enJoy 1
unfulfilled dreams. But watch|l,g 1982 actors hp- j
? when the going gets tough, synching ^2 recordmgs. As
all he has to do -is wish P ... ... ... . himself
into a big splashy storytelling it is trite and
1930s production number and unsatisfying. \
S'n^j *unC* (*ance cares A brief synopsis: Martin,
(and the plot) away. frustrated by his failures at
A great deal of fuss has home and'on the job, hits the
been made over Martin's road to find his fortune. He
Hohl 11 in a nnn /mm i r? r\r r?lrr? Iit% o r?
uvuui in u iiuii-vuiuiv. v/i up cl iniv^11-|i irvv^i , a
"straight" role. This is black accordian player (who
surprising, considering that bursts into the title song one
he plays it exactly as he did rainy night in a cafe.)Upon
The Jerk a couple of years Catching a glimpse of prim
aeo? with an identical self- srhoolmarm Rernadette
pitying whine. Peters, Martin falls
It is hard to discern just hopelessly, foolishly in love
Australian
BY DOUG BELL
fErn CritK
* Over the past five years, the Australians have produced a
number of very remarkable films ? the best of which include
Breaker Morant, Newsfront, The Chant of Jimmie
Blacksmith and Picnic at Hanging Rock (all of which played
at your friendly neighborhood Nickelodeon theater, if I may
offer a plug) and most recently, Gallipoli, which is playing
now at Bush River Mall.
Not only does each film excel on its own individual merits,,
hut rollectivelv. the films exDress a common vision based on
intense nationalistic feeling. All are period films that usually
deal with somesignificant event in Australia's history, either
as subject (as in Breaker Morant, a true account of a Boer
War episode) or as backdrop (as in Newsfront, a drama set
'Ghost Story' B:
jK|^:^t j mSBSIii :~
;B^BHRB3MH91 aXN^HHK . : : : - >: jffiSMl / HBBK?:::v
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Fred Astaire
are two lifelong members of the Chowder
Society with a haunting secret.
\
\
"* a n aa
tteaven suiter!
' Steve Martin just dances his car^away.
turn Conn
against the declining newsreel industry).
One feature of the new Australian cinema is its vigoroi
visual splendor. Their film-makers take pains to capture tt
country's mysterious natural grandeur, thus trapping c
celluloid an ambience as distinct and strangely powerful, wil
almost as much mythic lure, as the American West.
Another attribute of the Australian films is their pail
staking attention to detail. Nothing is overlooked? hair i
trimmed and greased according to period, ihecostum*
always look believably worn and the sets convincingly live
in. This perfection, this victory over artificiality in physic;
details accounts in part for the beguiling power of thes
films. Breaker Morant is solidly convincing in a way th?
Reds (a good film) could never be.
Visual bravura, national pride, historical authenticity
nances oimigi
BY DOUG BELL As with all mysteries, tJ
film Cntic particular locale plays e
The premise is active role in the tale. Gho
irresistable. A quartet of the story excels here: tt
most sparkling leading men snowy, sleepy New Englar
in the history of American landscape, the richly dar
cinema united in a stylish firelit drawing rooms, tl
mystery. The final turn, dilapidated Victoria
however, is highly resistable mansion are presented wi
on some counts, and mildly a Currier & Ives crispne:
enjoyable on others. via Jack Cardiff
From the best-seller by cinematography.
Peter Straub, Ghost Story Of course, the big a
concerns a small fraternity traction is the cast? foi
of aged New England gen- grand old men of the cinen
tlemen (Fred Astaire, united for the first (and las
. . > ^ <\rx,rvl
meivyn uougias, uougias wii?=. nmugu ywu ito
Fairbanks Jr. and John sense of historic occasi<
Houseman) whose mutual when watching them, the
sin, committed in the 1920s, ensemble playing definite
returns to haunt (and in ?s not as colorful as 01
most cases destroy) them. might have hoped.
As Ghost' Story is a Houseman, as stern ai
mystery, it would be un- verbally em-PHAT-ic ;
forgivable to reveal too ever, is the leader of tli
many of its secrets. Suffice it foursome known as tl
to say that a woman? quite Chowder Society. The cli
a Hoiwtnhio nnp at thnf meets weeklv to excham
(Alice Krige) ? is at the ghost stories, which, co
source of the horror. **? ghost, m
s From Silliness
I with her. After ruining her extravaganzas. The
life, he returns to his wife for characters' dreams, like the
a time, full of resolutions. He production numbers in
takes up again with Peters, which they are presented,
i by now a contended slut, and are silly, gaudy, and
m is convicted of murdering a depressingly empty.
^ blind girl (falsely? the
accordian player did it). But Directed by Herbert Ross
* he is saved from the noose by (The Goodbye Girl, The
H some unexplainable flourish Turning Point.) Pennies
of musical ecstasy. From Heaven does have
: 1 beautiful production
;1 ' Interspersed with this values? photography, sets,
J dotty tale are show-stopping costumes. The dancing (and
| (literally) songs and Martin is an adequate tap
gigantic dance routines dancer) is amusing if not
meant to reflect a charac- exhilarating. But the overall
ter's innermost hopes and film seems no more than an
desires. The songs are indulgent excuse to serve up
simply old recordings of some old, once-loved popular
Betty Boop and the like, and songs. It treats the '30s? the
the dances are inspired by decade of Gershwin, Garbo,
(or more correctly, rip-offs and Woody Guthrie? with a
of) old movie musicals, decorous simplicity thatparticularly
the Fred seems insulting and
Astaire-Ginger Rogers thoughtless in retrospect.
nues Trend
add to these top-notch scripting and intense acting and you
is will have an idea as to the merits of the Australian cinema.
ie But go see Gallipoli and you can see it in full bloom.
>n Directed by the dean of Australian film-makers, Peter
tn weir (The Last Wave, Picnic at Hanging Rock), uallipoli
traces the adventures of two young runners, Archy (Mark
i- Lee) and Frank (Mel Gibson), whose frienship finally leads
is them to the terrible battle at Gallipoli in World War I.
is Gallipoli is not so much a blistering anti-war statement as
;d a hymn to youthful camaraderie marking the end of the age
al of innocence. The opening sequences show Archy being
?e relentlessly but lovingly drilled by his uncle for an important
at track meet. Archy is the last representative of nineteenthcentury
honor; his acts stem from a deeply instilled code of
see NEW, page 6
"H ?177 1
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^e John Houseman and Melvyn Douglas
in. comprise half of the elite Chowder Society
,s in a small New England town.