_. . FILM. LIST
doubt interesting eccentricity from ‘l the vaults let loose for two rare performances. Knowles was a
brilliant cinematographer whose
photographed and a tribute to Eastwood's multi-faceted talent. Glasgow: GET OParker(l5)€r(JimGoddard.UK. I
Street
0 Mask( 15) (Peter Bogdanovich. US. 1985) Cher. Eric Stolz. Harry Carey Jr. 121) mins. The true story of
o Pennies from Heaven (15) (Herbert [ Ross. US. 1981) Steve Martin. ‘ Bernadette Peters. Jessica Harper.
108 mins. Denis Potter‘s acclaimed ‘
California youth Rocky Dennis. Stricken by a rare bone disease that causes extreme facial disfigurement
he is determined tolivelifetothe full and is aided by the strong support of his unconventional biker mother.
A moving drama. similar to The Elephant Man that tells its story with good grace and a lack ofexeess tearjerking. Cher and Stolz are magnificent. Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 9V2 Weeks ( 18) (Adrian Lyne. US. 1985) Kim Basinger. Mickey 5 Rourke. Margaret Whitton. 113 mins. Divorcee Basinger becomes a slave to love when she succumbs to j thewell-disguisedcharmsofsmug commodities broker Rourke. Such is the extent of her addiction that she
willingly submits to the numerous . ; humiliations and domination games Any SUCCEOSSlhalDVBQWcmld has _ i 3,} t . '= that he deems essential to the “mend '3 ["001 Posmve that You canl i l K
1 development of their relationship. . Lovely to look at. empty-headed i coffee-table soft porn. Edinburgh: ABC. Glasgow; ABC Sauchiehall Street 0 No Surrender( 15) a": (Peter Smith. CK. 1985) Michael Angelis. Bernard Hill. Ray McNally. James Ellis. 104 mins. See Caption Review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Glasgow; GFl’ o Orion's Belt ( 15) a“: (()la Solum. 3 Norway. 1985) Helge .lordal. Sverre ; Anker. Hans ()la Sorlie. 93 mins. 'I‘hree roguish seamen earn a modest crust running tourists on cut-price cruises through the sub-Arctic North Seas. supplementing their incomes with various shady enterprises. Sailing home from the latest endeavour. inclement weather forces them to dock at an isolated island where they discover the early stages of a Soviet spy station . . Adapted from a Norwegian bestseller. this is an efficient. brisk thriller awash with Cold War cliches btit quite an exciting excursion into over-familiar territory. Glasgow; GFl‘ 0 Out Of Africa (PG) (Sydney Pollack. US. 1985) Meryl Streep. Robert Redford. Klaus Maria Brandauer. 161 mins. A carefully measured account of the tragic romantic life of great Dane Karen Blixen. 'l'he awe-inspiring beauty of the location photography mark out the African continent as the film‘s greatest star. Edinburgh; Dominion. Glasgow; Grosvenor. Strathclyde; ()deon Ayr. o The Outcasts(15) (Robert Wync-Simmons. Eire. 1982) Mary Ryan. Mick Lally. 1(14mins. In rural 19th century Ireland a dreamy young girl‘s dalliance with a mysterious itinerant musician leads to accusations of witchcraft. Edinburgh: Filmhouse O Pale Rider ( 15) (Clint Eastwood. US. 1985) Clint Eastwood. Michael Moriarty. Carrie Snodgrass. 116 mins. Back in the saddle for the first time in nine years Clint dispenses rough justice as an avenging angel defending the rights ofa community of prospectors. A classic western. superbly
1984) Bryan Brown. Cherie Lunghi.
Bob Peck. 97 mins. Eleven days after
his disappearance in Munich a British businessman is found. alive and well. wandering through a forest. He claims to have been kidnapped. held hostage and then. just as arbitrarily. released. ()thers judge his tale to be unlikely but his secure. self-possessed world has been violated and he is determined to discover the facts of his ordeal. Unrelenting in his quest for the truth. he jeopardises both his physical and mental well-being. lnterestingly abrasive. well-cast thriller. Glasgow; GFI‘
keep a good film down. Unaided, and apparently unloved, by its financier-distributor, it has received a sheaf of acclamatory reviews and accrued a respectable level of box-office returns.
In Edinburgh last week director Gavin Millar wearily attested to the lack of support for his endeavours. ‘I haven’t really bleated about it to the press, until now.’ he said, ‘but, frankly, I’m appalled. I’m fed up trailing around for a year and having people say, ‘This film is wonderful but why haven’t we heard about it, why isn’t anyone pushing it?‘ I have never received the kind of reviews that the film got in America. They were quite over the top and really over generous yet the company utterly failed to capitalise on them. It has achieved a sort of cult
following. In San Francisco one cinema '
manager said, ‘This is so good I’m going to run it forthree months even if nobody turns up.’ He did just that and had a very successful run with it. It has reopened in New York and is currently going out with Hannah and Her Sisters butthere hasn’t been a penny spent promoting it. There was a great deal of talkthat Coral Browne might be nominated for an Oscar. They wouldn’t even pay for an advert in the trade papers for her-she paid for her own advert in Variety saying the usual ‘For Your Academy Award Consideration'. When she came to Britain forthe opening of the film in January that was at her own expense. It all seems so senseless that here's a film that critics admire, that audiences will enjoy and that EMl have, to all intents and purposes, dumped.’
An original Dennis Potterscript, Oreamchild is set at the time of the Lewis Carroll centenary celebrations. Coral Brown is an imperious old woman who makes her first visit to America to receive an honorary degree. Seventy years earlier she had been the little girl who inspired Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland. Overwhelmed by the brash media of the New World and aware of death’s stealthy approach her mind retreats to the idyllic summer of 1862.
lnterweaving past and present in deft mosaic patterns the film reflects on
BBC series becomes a big-budget ;
spectacular with Steve Martin as a sheet music salesman in Depression-era Chicago searching for sexual and spiritual silver linings Stodgy patches are more than made up for by some breathtaking Thirties-style production numbers although the hard edge of the original is blunted. Glasgow; Grosvenor
o The Perfect Woman (PG) (Bernard Knowles. UK. 1949) Patricia Roe. Stanley Holloway. lrene llandl. 89 mins. Comedy ofrnistaken identity between a real woman and her mechanical double. Another no
directorial aspirations never caught fire. Edinbttrgh1Filmhouse
O Pixote ( 18) (Hector Babenco. Brazil. 1981) Fernando Ramos da Dilva. Jorge Juliano. Gilberto Moura. 127 mins. Babenco's third feature is an uncompromising portrait ofa young Brazilian boy's involvement with the massive juvenile crime problem in that country where drug-dealing and prostitution are an evervday occupation fora youngster surviving life in the streets. Glasgow: GFT
o Prizzi’s Honour ( 15) (John Huston. US. 1985) Jack Nicholson. Kathleen ' Turner. Anjelica Huston. 129 mins.
Alice’s old-age wisdom that allows her eleventh-hour acknowledgement of Carroll’s genuine affection, and also explores Carroll himself. Millarfeels
that the cleric-author represents a familiar Potter character. ‘I thinkthere is a general theme of virtue under stress,‘ he explained. ‘The subject has long fascinated him, the idea of turning vice into virtue is one that appeals. Perhaps, in our crude terms, the Reverend Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was a potential paedophile who was unable to achieve a stable relationship with an adult but he turned that passion for Alice from something potentially sour into something delightful and of lasting charm and beauty.’
Millar has taken great pains not to sentimentalise either Carroll or his work. In this he is helped by some ferocious Jim Henson creatures to depict the March Hare et al, and the performance of Ian Holm. ‘l was determined not to pussyfoot around and show him as some fairy uncle. He was in the grip of a potentially unmanageable obsession. On the other hand one wanted to steer a middle-course and avoid the distasteful. Ian was a terrific ally because of his tact and delicacy. We originally intended to be historically accurate and looked for a 30 year-old to play the part. Then Dennis came round ‘
to the view that he should be a father figure ratherthan a potential lover and we settled on Ian.’
Born in Clydebank, Millar had worked on such programmes as Tonight, Monitor and TW3 before turning critic, both in print (The Listener) and on screen for four seasons of BBC2‘s Iate-lamen ted Arena Cinema. Oreamchild may not have earned the level of success it deserved but it has resulted in a flood of offers.
‘In the period since the film came out I’ve received about four scripts from Britain and forty from America. People who liked the Henson animatronics offer me special effects fantasy films, sort of 20,000 Leagues Under the Future. People who liked the snappy 1930s stuff offer smart, sophisticated comedy and there's also been a lot of dreamy period pieces with doe-eyed youngsters. There are a few things that are very interesting.’
Millar has recently returned to his old stamping ground with an Omnibus programme of Fellini and is currently in pre-productlon on a London Weekend Television production of Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop which should begin filming around September.
Meanwhile, Oreamchild continues at
Edinburgh’s Filmhouse until “June and deserves a prompt return to central , Scotland. (Allan Hunter) ‘
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The List 13— 26 June 21