The List: 3 Oct 1986 (12/56)

-..EILM..L_IS.T

i 1

SEVEN DECADES 0F GERMAN CINEMA

Screening at both the Edinburgh Filmhouse and Glasgow Film Theatre

in the near luture is an excellent programme to movies entitled German

Cinema: Seven Decades, Seven Films which has been put together by the Goethe Institut and celebrates the seventy year history oi one of the

: world’s most lertlle cinematic

territories, by selecting one representative lilm irom each oi those decades.

The short season illustrates not only

the creativity at German cinema, but

also how its tortunes seem to be very much dependent on the political tortunes oi the nation as a whole. The three early tllms, Ernst Lubitch‘s The Oyster Princess from 1919 (Glasgow 22 Oct, Edinburgh 5 Oct) , F.W.Murnau's The Last Laugh irom 1924 (same dates) and Fritz lang's powertul M from 1931

(Glasgow 29 Oct, Edinburgh 9 Oct),

each display a major lilm-maker working in a style very much his own and which, in all three cases, was to take him to Hollywood and lurther

success.

The selections irom the 40s and 50s,

: on the other hand, show how = grieviouslythe Fascist period, the war, : and its aftermath aliected the country's

cinema, with most 01 the top talents leaving iorthe US in the 30s, and the

with an agreeable lightness of touch.

this is a near perfect screen version of the Forster novel with some dandy

? acting. Civilised entertainment at its

' best. Edinburgh; Dominion

0 Satyrlcon (18) (Federico Fellini.

. Italy-France. 1969) Martin Potter.

Hiram Keller, Capucine. 110 mins. Fellini in ancient Rome as the

idiosyncratic dreamer serves up a

' gaudy, bawdy pageant of the

colourful and the bizarre when he

recounts the homosexual

relationship between Encolpius and Ascyltus. Visually ravishing.

' glorously self-indulglent surrealism

that will either appeal or appal. Watch out for the atrocious dubbing. (NB some prints run 129 mins) Edinburgh; Filmhouse O The Searchers (PG) (John Ford. US, 1956) John Wayne. Natalie Wood. Jeffrey Hunter. 119 mins. Confederate veteran Wayne undertakes a dogged, unrelenting quest for the Indians who murdered his brother and abducted his neice. Splendid, sober western classic;

much imitated but seldom rivalled. Edinburgh; Filmhouse

o The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball (18) (Julien Temple, UK, 1982) 99 mins. More ideologically sound giggles with the unexpurgated 1981 Amnesty International Gala. Glasgow; GET

0 Subway ( 15) (Luc Besson. France. 1985) Christopher Lambers. Isabelle Adjani, Michel Galabru. 102 mins. A smooth, stylish thriller likened to Diva but with a drive energy and exuberance ofits own. Strathclyde; Haldance Film Society

0 Sweet Dreams ( 15) (Karel Reisz. US. 1985) Jessica Lange. Ed Harris.

LAnn Wedgeworth. 115 mins. The

10 The List 3 — lo ( )ctober

remaining lilm-makers choosing to work tor the Nazis or treading a path of evasiveness, like Helmut Kautner, who shot Underlhe Bridges, a love story, in Berlin in early 1945, yet contrived to avoid any evidence of the war (Glasgow 29 Oct, Edinburgh 19 Oct). Right up until the early 60s, iilms tended to continue this sort oi niity political iootwork with works like Kurt Hotiman's Aren’tWe Wonderful (Glasgow 5 Nov, Edinburgh 23 Oct),

which lollows the lives oi two men irom .

their boyhood in the twenties right

through to the post-war years, adeptly side-stepping the major issues raised by the Nazi years.

However, the 60s and 70s brought artistic as well as economic recovery. Films such as Alexander Kluge’s Yesterday's Girl (Glasgow 5 Nov, Edinburgh 29 Oct) laid the roots for New German Cinema and the iilms oi Herzog, Fassbiner and Wenders, whose momentous, elegaic Kings oi the Road (Glasgow 12 Nov, Edinburgh 30 Oct) closes an intriguing series at iilms (Trevor Johnston).

story of country and western star Patsy Cline. concentrating on the see-saw of tensions between her career aspirations and a tubulent marriage to the beer-guzzling Charlie Dick. Highly praiseworthy. Oscar-nominated. unsentimental biopic Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 Sweet Liberty (PG) (Alan Alda, US, 1985) Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Bob I-Ioskins. 107 mins. Small town history professor Alda juggles domestic disharmony and professional problems during a summer visit from a Hollywood film unit intent on turning his serious tome of the American Revolution into a work of‘popular appeal‘. Nothing revolutionary here. just an acceptably pleasant comedy-drama that affectionately lampoons the movie business and updates Alda‘s running commentary on the self-deceptive foibles of human relationships. Edinburgh; Dominion. Glasgow; ABC Sauchiehall Street 0 TO Our Loves (A Nos Amours) (Maurice Pialat. France. 1983) Sandrine Bonnaire, Dominique Besnehard. 102 mins. A 15 year-old. in her desire to break free from parental constraints and find some elusive emotional contact. descends into a life ofpromiscuity and family conflict. Glasgow; French Cine-Club 0 Top Gun (15) r? (Tony Scott. US. 1986) Tom Cruise. Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer. 110 mins. See Caption Glasgow; ABC Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh; ABC. Lothian; ABC. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock, ABC Kilmarnock. La Scala. Odeon Ayr 0 Tracks ( 15) (Henry Jaglom. US. 1976) Dennis Hopper. 90mins. A group ofdesperate characters fall

together by chance on a train crossing America and much mayhem ensues from their shady schemes. More serious fare than we now come to expect from the master of utterly off-the-wall comedy. Henry Jaglom. but the tart barbs of perverse wit still occasionally arise. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society 0 Videodrome ( 18) (David Cronenbcrg. Canada. 1983) James Woods. Debbie Harry. 88 mins. Woods is a programmer for a pirate cable station who becomes intrigued and then obsessed with a bizarre. untraceable channel that triggers hallucinogenic fantasies. Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 Yellow Earth (PG) (Chen Kaigc. China. 1984) Xue Bai. Wang chui. 89 mins. The most acclaimed Chinese film ever made and winner ofthe1985 British Film Institute Award. Chen Kaige‘s extraordinary debut feature centres on the clash between the traditional values and rituals ofa remote mountain tribe and the new-fangled ideologies of a Communist soldier sent in 1939 by the Party to study peasant culture. What marks the film apart from other Chinese works on the same themes is the aesthetic daring with which it takes the profoundly curious and hauntingly beautiful images of the Shaanxi and their art and transforms them into a cinematic experience ofextravagant colour and movement which has few peers in contemporary film-making. Highly recommended. Glasgow; GET 0 Young Frankenstein (15) (Mel Brooks, US. 1974) Gene Wilder. Gene Hackman. 108 mins. A

I splendidly accurate pastiche of

Thirties horror movies chock full of

Pyriamid oi Fear(PG)(Barry

and Watson combat the worst that a

V — ‘

USTINGSE

memorable one-liners and crazee situations. Glasgow; Grosvenor 0 Young Sherlock Holmes and the

Levinson. US. 1985) Nicholas Rowe. 109 mins. Schoolboys Homes

bizarre Egyptian cult and the animatronics department of 1 Industrial Light and Magic can throw ‘ at them. A sort of teenage Conan Doyle meets Indiana Jones tailored to a tried and tested formula. Glasgow: ABC (‘larkston Road

This section gives details 01 programmes showing at cinemas in central Scotland over the next week. Readers are advised that programmes ‘ may be subject to late change at any time.

Cinemas operating a tamin discount scheme allow an adult accompanying a 1 child to ‘U’ and ‘PG‘ certilicate programmes to gain admission torthe same price as the child up to 6pm.

LISTINGS WEEK 1 Friday 3—Thursday 1O

GLASGOW ClNEMAS _

0 ABC (,‘larkston Road. Muirend. 637 2641. £2.00()AP £1. Family discount scheme operates.

1. Heavenly Pursuits ( 15) 5.55pm. 8.55pm. Sat also 2.55pm.

2. Hannah and Her Sisters ( 15) 5.40pm. 8.40pm. Sat also 2.40pm.

3. Pretty in Pink ( 15) 5.35pm. 8.35pm. Sat also 2.35pm.

0 ABC SauchiehallStreet.3321592. £2.30child£1.100AP£1. 1.TopGun(l5)1.45pm,4.45pm. 8.25pm.

2. Poltergeist II -The Other Side ( 15) 1.15pm. 3.30pm. 5.45pm. 8.40pm. 3. Highlander(15) 1.30pm.4.3()pm, 8.10pm.

4. Heavenly Pursuits ( 15) 1.15pm. 3.30pm.5.45pm.8.40p 1.

5. Sweet Liberty ( PG) 1.311pm. 4.30pm. 8.25pm.

0 CANNON GRAND 18 Jamaica Street, 248 4620. £2 (£1).

Secrets oi a Superstud ( 18) and Diary ola Space Virgin ( 18)

Continuous from 11.30am.

0 CINEMA Southgate. East Kilbride. (135 52 31020. [D] cinema l.£2 Child/UBJO/OAPL‘1.

1. The Karate Kid Part II (PG)

2. Backto the Future (PG)

0 GROSVENOH Ashton Lane.

I Iillhead. 339 «1298. [D] with prior notification. £2 Child/UB40/Student.’OAP£1.20.

1. Heavenly Pursuits ( 15) 2.45pm. 6pm. 9pm. Sun 9pm.

2. The Color Purple ( 15) 2.45pm. 7.55pm. Sat 4.50pm. 7.55pm. Sun 7.55pm.

The List: 3 Oct 1986 (Issue 26)