FILM LIST

J . ,. “V” g 5 m. i.

The Man With Two Brains (15) (Carl Beiner. US. 1983) Steve Martin. Kathleen Turner. David Warner. 93 mins. In Britain. Steve Martin is

criminally underappreciated. Rick

" Moranis. his co-starinthelorthcoming Little Shop of Horrors. was asked by one native extra who else might be appearing in the film? Desperately

1 seeking a name with which the

enquirermightbefamiliarMoranis pounced on that of Steve Martin. ‘Dh yeah‘ came the rejoinder. ‘Is he the one from Rowan and Martin‘s Laugh-ln?‘

In America. Steve Martintook stand-up comedy to new heights of giddy absurdity. His catchphrase of “Well. excuuuuse me‘ and an act of total unpredictability was able to fill concert halls whose capacity intimidated even the most celebrated of rock stars. His cinema career has been patchy. ranging from the box-office smash The Jerk (1979) to the interesting but uncommercial Pennies From Heaven (1981). However, his gloriously inventive performance in All 3 of Me so impressed the NewYork Film ' Critics that they named him the Best Actor of 1984. Previous recipients had included Robert De Niro, Jack & Nicholson. Marlon Brando and Laurence Olivier.

All of Me also prompted this ; particular reviewer to stop and re-assess the comic gifts of a man he had too tightly dismissed as puerile. Catching up on the films of Steve Martin. several of which have only enjoyed a video release in Britain,l . came upon The Man with Two Brains, a

THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS

wacky, silly, madcap and very

/.

entertaining romp. The film has never been shown in British cinemas. Now,

that is about to change with a screening ' atEdinburgh'sFilmhouse

Martin stars as brilliant brain surgeon Dr Michael Hfuhruhurr. Still grieving for his late wile, he busies himself with work, perfecting a system of operation involving cranial screw-tops (with child-proof locks, of course). Then he literally runs into the alluring Kathleen Turner, a man-hungry murderess with a

T penchant for driving elderly husbands

to early graves and pocketing substantial legacies. A frustratingly unconsummated marriage and the prospect of Martin inheriting a fortune are onlythe beginning of their

problemstogether.

The Man With Two Brains isn’t a

1 perfect screen comedy but I’d trade it

? lorthe entire repertoire of Belushi,

1 Chase and Aykroyd mislires. The level 5 of invention is insufficient to sustain a full-length feature but there is a sense 2 of anarchy and sheer lunacy, redolent . of the Marx Brothers at their peak, that E provokes bouts of uninhibited hilarity. g Martin is as manic as ever and the

f wondrous Kathleen Turner is both

j spirited and sexy, funny and fatally

attractive; truly a woman for all genres. One can applaud the decision of the BFI to acquire the theatrical rights to

- this film. Now let‘s see what we can do . about placing Martin's The Lonely Guy

on a big screen. Meanwhile, scurry

7 along to The Man With Two Brains. We

. think you‘ll like it. (Allan Hunter)

? Glasgow: GET

o The Shooting Party( 15) (Alan

5 Bridge, UK. 1984) James Mason,

J Edward Fox, John Gielgud. 96 mins. Langorous evocation of a country weekend in Edwardian England on the eve of the epoch-changing World War. Blandly unoriginal but superbly performed by Mason and a fine ensemble. Edinburgh: EU Filmsoc

0 Sllverado (PG) (Lawrence Kasdan, US, 1985) Kevin Kline, Linda Hunt. 130 mins. Traditional, over-ambitious oater in the Magnificent Seven tradition.

40 The List 2— 15 May

3 Edinburgh: Filmhouse

é o The Slipper and the Bose (U)

(Bryan Forbes, UK, 1976) Gemma Craven, Richard Chamberlain. 128

mins. Overlong sugary musical

version of Cinderella nicely cast with f old pros like Kenneth More, Edith Evans and Margaret Lockwood.

Edinburgh: Filmhouse

0 Sunset Across the Bay (Stephen Frears, UK, 1975) Gabrielle Daye, Harry Markham. 70 mins. Another ofthe Alan Bennett BBC plays in which a Leeds couple dream of retiring to the seaside of Morecambe only to find the reality doesn‘t quite

match the anticipation. Edinburgh: Filmhouse

o The Supergrass (15) a (Peter Richardson. UK. 1985) Adrian Edmondson. Jennifer Saunders. Robbie Coltrane. 107 mins. See paneL

Edinburgh: ABC. Glasgow: ABC Clarkston Road. ABC Sauchiehall Street. Grosvenor. Rio. Lothian: ABC. Regal. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock. ABC Kilmarnock. Kelburne. La Scala. Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton. Rialto.

O Sylvia (PG) (Michael Firth. New Zealand. 1984) Eleanor David. Nigel Terry. 98 mins. The life and hard times ofSyIvia Ashton-Warner in post-war New Zealand as she combats illness and bureaucratic indifference to foster revolutionary new ideas about learning skills. Glasgow: GFT

? 0 Teen Wolf (PG) (Rod Daniel. US.

' 1985) MichaclJ. Fox. 92 mins. Teen ; idol Fox inherits the family trait of

' lycanthropyinthiswaferthin

' juvenile caperthatscarcelyexploits 3 the comic potentialofits central

notion. Strathclyde; Kelburne 0 To Be or Not To Be (PG) (Alan

j Johnson. US. 1983) Anne Bancroft. . Mel Brooks. 107 mins. Enjoyable

, but unnecessary remake of the

wartime Lubitsch classic in which a

plucky band of Polish thespians outwit some nasty Nazis. High production values and a few chuckles. Glasgow; Grosvenor

0 Up in Smoke ( 18) (Lou Adler. US. 1978) Cheech Marin. Tommy Chong. Stacy Keach. 86 mins. Debut feature of the inexplicably popular American comedy team is an episodic ramble as the duo attempt to find some good grass. Glasgow; Grosvenor

o Wages of Fear (PG) (Henri-Georges Clouzot. France, 1953) Yves Montand. Charles Vanel. Peter Van Eyck. 144 mins. In a sleazy South American shanty-town. four equally sleazy dcsperadoes agree to drive. for an incredible sum. two truckloads of nitro-glycerine across the mountains. Bring a sponge to wipe up the sweat: this classic suspense vehicle creates buckets of the stuff. A fine sourpuss vision of man‘s greed : married to film-making of unbearable tension. Edinburgh: Filmhouse

0 Wetherby(15) (David Hare. UK. 1985) Vanessa Redgrave. Ian Holm, ; Judi Dench. 102 mins. A young

3 student. a chance acquaintance of

less than 2-1 hours standing. arrives at _ the farmhouse of Yorkshire

f schoolteacher Redgrave.

The Girl in the Picture (15) (Cary parker, UK, 1985) John Gordon-Sinclair, Irina Brook, Bikki Fulton. 91 mins. The course of true love rarely runs smoothly and you only realise the value of a special relationship once it’s over. These seem to be the conclusions of Cary Parker’s engaging comedy that gently delves into the file marked Love, pain and the whole damnedthing.

John Gordon-Sinclair is a photographer at the Smile Please Studios, coasting along at professional

ease among the engaged couples and baby pictures that are his lot. He is

trying to build up the temerity to end his relationship with live-in lover Irina Brook. She saves him the bother by moving out of their flat and, afterwards, despite a roving eye and disarming little-boy-lost manner, he

OCINEMA TIMES AND DATES PAGE 41/42/43-

THE GIRL IN THE PICTRE

misses her and realises that their mutual misery was, in fact, true love.

The technical expertise on display in

The Girl in the Picture is a mark of the

breadth and depth of talent now at work

in the Scottish film industry. It is a , pleasure to encounter such a sparklineg photographed Glasgow and a soundtrack of great clarity.

l Writer-director Cary Parker shows assurance and some promise with his E first feature which will inevitably provoke unfair comparisons with the films of Bill Forsyth.

The Scottish industry has perhaps overworked a rich seam of whimsical romantic fare. More variety of subject matter would be appreciated by public and critics alike. In the interim The Girl in the Picture is another slight but agreeable addition to the genre.

(Allan Hunter)

I;