The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 23, 1984, Page 10, Image 10
~ 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