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~ KntertairiTneriT 11 M m m m m m m Hear Window Hitchcock movii By Doug Bell The long-awaited re-release of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" furnishes a very special occasion for movie-goers. The film, along with "Vertigo" and two other Hitchcock movies, has been tied up in legal affairs for two decades, completely inaccessible. During the years of its cruel confinement, "Rear Window" was touted bv critics (and the oublic who rememhered it"! as a sterling masterpiece, a central, pivotal film in the Hitchcock canon, ranking up there with "Notorious," "Psycho" and "The Birds." I am probably speaking for a generation of young movie enthusiasts when I say that I would have given two years of my life, my first born son and my mother's jewelry for a single screening of "Rear Window." MY REVENOUS appetite was finally appeased last night at ^oiumoia Mail cinema, ana 1 can nonestiy report tnat it was worth the anticipatory agony. "Rear Window" is beyond reviewing. It is the very definition of masterpiece in cinema. Every shot, every moment is informed by the expressive personality of the director. Only in a handful of truly great films, Bunuel's "Discreet Charm," Bergman's "Persona" and Ford's "The Searchers," have I been made to sense the pervasive, almost tyrannical presence Rronnor'c riohnt rnmarli VJI UIIIIUI U UUUUl UUEI8UU y shows refined brand of By Maria Baens congratulatory j He was a tough Philadelphia kid in a entertaining arr; rough-beaten neighborhood. He was elected Included in tl placc nrflclrlonf ? 1 T r v.i.jo Hivoiu<,m auu cumcuian. ne pear are Mis pa: graduated with honors from Temple Univer- must have had i sity with a communications degree. tical jokes. He made several award-winning documen- Brenner reca taries for Westinghouse Broadcasting prioi one. He hook to his career in comedy. He is now a well- father's radio tl known comedian, a frequent guest-host for tion, hides in tVi Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" and as his father's Joan Rivers' good friend. Imitating static To his beloved father, he is Kingy. voice, David c Together they nurtured the bright sense of Lou, had won humor that would eventually cause belly The conseqi laughs from audiences all over America. which he got $ Now, will the real David Brenner please torious father stand up? And he just might. love that was < ESPECIALLY WHEN sitting on a development, newspaper on the subway and accosted by a man who asks, "Excuse me, are vou readine 111 i/r,i/ that paper?" He might say "Yes," stand up, La Morgia brot turn the page, and sit down again. to make the yo This, in fact, is the name of his debut com- porch." Miss edy album: "Excuse me, are you reading that mistaken with paper?," a phrase that embodies his sense of Abromowitz), 1 irony and knack for parody. This album is recalled fondly enjoyable, containing excerpts from live con- him to "chann< cert nerformanrcs anH HramatiicH on~ ''1? L , www M.lIMVlCVVa UA&VV'ltVSWa ailU UC 5UU1CU from his successful 1983 book of autobiographical reflections, "Soft Pretzels R with Mustard." It is quick-paced and fairly ^t0 long (about 60 minutes). It is also self- ana tnat ne got ? v ' light many face Plays offer audien In Tho Crucifor of Blood/ Captain St. Clair (Bill Canaday) and Major Ross (Perry Tannenbaum) ar stolen. 9 re-released for or r?f an pynprf spntnnpH nrtict ctrnnolv nc I Ho in "Rear Window." The film is about an ace photo-journalist (James Stewart) who, due to an accident that left his leg in a cast, is confined to a wheelchair in his tiny Greenwich Village apartment. While convalescing, Stewart spends his time casually observing the inhabitants of a low-rent apartment building across the alley. The scenes within the windows of the opposite apartment house form a social microcosm: There is a lonely spinster, contemplating suicide; a frustrated composer, a newlywed couple and a blond ballet dancer. GRADUALLY, STEWART'S attention is captured by the strange events in the apartment of a dour salesman (Raymond Burr) and his nagging wife. He becomes convinced that a murder has taken place and resolves to unravel the mystery, with the aid of his Park Avenue girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and his middle-aged nurse (Thelma Ritter). "Rear Window" is a classic Hitchcock film, employing many of the director's favorite personal themes and idiosyncrasies. Above all, there is the "gimmick" of the set. Every foot of "Rear Window" was filmed on a single, gigantic, intricate set. Hitchcock enjoyed the technical challenge of transcending certain self-imposed limitations. "Rope," for example, was filmed in a single "shot." ^ album ind touchingly thankful to an le list of characters who ap-( ' rents, Lou and Estelle, who to put up with a lot of pracills a particularly poignant s up a microphone to his can shut off the radio sta- jHBj^Bre le cellar and cxectues his plan is favorite program comes on. w " : and the announcer's deep \ ?\M onvinces his father that he, pp jences of this mischief for ^ 5 f h" "1 crucial to Brenner's comedic ^^3^ ^ wmmmmmmmm i , JL?; ALSO are the dreaded nine ' I - -1- , hers whose sizes were enough und Brenner "afraid of their Li r Abromowitz (not to be Joan Rivers' dubious Heidi 'Excuse Me, Are You Reedin Brenner's biology teacher, is David Brenner's debut comedy a as the one who had directed 5l all that energy and talent" for his parents, his adventuroi ody." his fascination with New York enviable talent in embroiling inn gnizes where he came from his humorous maze. out of it. The alburn brings to_ His delivery is brisk and hi: ;ts of his personality: his love alwavs instantaneous, an instinr ices choice of styl From Staff Reports A classic oldie and a clever m now on stage at two local thea 0% Columbia audiences a choice o "THE CRUCIFER of Blood9 vHI^Vhb /1 n i /^ uy raw uiovanni, oased^ up^oi suspense elements with Holi i 11UU1VJ1 . gue over the treasure they have JOHN WRISLEY, a familiar Columbians as a former tclevis le week only The film includes most of the elements we've come to expect from Hitchcock: the masterly, methodical camerawork; the icy blond female lead; the hypnotic, slightly kinky romance; searing suspense suffused with moral ambiguity and a brief comical appearance by Hitchcock himself. BUT THE reason "Rear Window" is considered such an exceptionally distinctive Hitchcock movie is that it crystallizes a concept that he was obsessed with throughout his career: the affinity between voyeurism and the experience of watching a movie. Some experts have alleged all great art is self-referential. A clear analogy links Stewart's obsessive, secret spying through his neighbors' windows and viewers (us) watching a movie in the dark. Thus, "Rear Window" provides a disturbing commentary on the film medium itself. It's impossible to find fault with so perfect a movie. Any criticisms would have to be directed against the ultimate moral value of Hitchcock's artistic vision, and I'm not up to the task. A violent critical battle has been raging for years on that issue. Some feel that Hitchcock was simply a fastidious, clever technician who took sadistic pleasure in manipulating au diences and that he lacked that depth of feeling reserved for true artists. -I I ^^^^^-^^aPTHffiolsoBISEsBBK^MMrF'' ^B^Bhbb^B^BSBHI ?v* r ~x ,,, .v...^ 1-.->j.t.i. *? JHfc :-^-SMn [ j: -. H ? i5?S - * ^ Iforr' uji# *-jrfj|H|:: 9 B That Paper?' ilbum reveals many aspects of his intriguing personality, is childhood, kid's way out of an abrasive world. <^ity and his Though Brenner's is a refined brand of ocent lives in comedy, it is not without its share of cynicism and raunchiness. Essentially, 5 rebound is however, it is sweetly introspective or sharply :t honed as a satirical. es, time periods chorman, portrays Holmes in this producew model are tion, while A1 McNeely plays Watson. ters, offering Wrisley and McNeely were featured two f -t _ _ i siyies. years ago as Professor Henry Higgins and le inimitable Col. Pickering in Town Theatre's "My Fair atre presents Lady." The pairing in "Crucifer" has placed the men in a similar leader-and-sidekick setrary comedy, up. >n playing at Supporting the principals are Rebecca Meeks as Irene St. Clair, Bill Canaday as her father, Capt. Neville St. Clair, Perry Tan' was written nenbaum as Maj. Alistair Ross, Doug 1 the adven- Calvert as Jonathan Small and Kim Bevier as a Sir Arthur Inspector Lestrade. PVio cJt..-. <- Perffirmanrps ar<> at 11 n m \x/*?/-ia - u. V ui u IJ.Ill . n v,uncsuays I IIV- Ol&ll UI ' through Saturdays, with 3 p.m. Sunday i Dr John matinees. For ticket information, call the investigate a Town Theatre box office at 799-2510. r and murder theft of the "MASS APPEAL" foicuses on an older and a younger priest faced with some touchy though the decisions couched in comic dialogue. The irlier by two play ran successfully on Broadway and is betiny in India. ing made into a film with Jack Lemmon. s, the show is Act I's production is directed hv lim leplay blends Quick, and the two-man cast features Quick nes' laconic and Larry Webster. Performances are at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, with 3 p.m. Sunday face to many matinees. For ticket information, call the Act I ion news an- I box office at 79fi-7ssn