FILM LIST
them after a sleazy dwarf hands them a mysterious box ofchocs.
The stupid character names like Susannah York‘sfemmefarale Lauren Bacardi give some indication ofthe juvenile level of the humour. adapted but retitled from the novel The Falcon '5 Malteser. For indulgent children only. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street.
I Lady And The Tramp (U) (Hamilton Luske. US. 1955) With the voices of Peggy Lee and Bill Thompson. 75 mins. Disney’s first animated feature in cinemascope has mongrel Tramp helping pedigree pooch Lady out of a sticky situation and fallingin lurve along the way. Richly drawn with hummable tunes and endearing characterisations. this is the classic Disney mix as before. Lovelyspaghetti-eating sequence. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Grosvenor. ()deon. Edinburgh: ()deon. Central: Allanpark. Caledonian. Cannon. Regal. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank ll). Cannon. Kelburne. La Scala. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. Rialto. WMR Film Centre.
I The Last Emperor ( l 5) ( Bernardo Bertolucci. Italy China. 1987) John Lone. Peter O'Toole. Joan Chen. 162 mins. Peking. 1908. a three year-old boy ascends the Imperial Throne to become the ‘Lord ofTen Thousand Years‘. A mere 59 years later. however. he dies a humble gardener in a China that is now the Maoist People's Republic.
Intelligent epic following the self-delusion and re-cducation ofa man shaped by a superceded power structure. A little cold perhaps. but the production and cinematography are ofsuch exquisiteness that one only wishes the film were longer. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Last Temptation OfChrist(18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1988) Willem Dafoe. Harvey Keitel. Barbara Ilershey. Harry Dean Stanton. 163 mins. Controversial though hardly blasphemous Scorsese adaptation of the Kazantzakis novel has Christ tempted on the cross by the possibility of living out his life as an ordinary man. an avenue which serves only for him to realise the full significance ofhis divinity.
The central thesis aside. this is a fairly straightforward though rather overlong treatment of the ministry with Willem Dafoe making a rather conventional looking Christ. The reverent tone can seem a little numbing at times. with the result that the film lacks the edge ofthe director‘s earlier work on the mean streets of New York. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne(15) (Jack Clayton. UK. 1988) Maggie Smith. Bob I Ioskins. Marie Kean. Ian McNeice. 104 mins. Judith llearne is a middle-aged Dubliner of modest means. whose dreams of a secure marriage she believes are about to be answered in the shape of James Madden (Hoskins). her landlady’s brother recently returned from the hotel trade in New York. However. their relationship is actually founded on a mutual misunderstanding. and the realisation that her loneliness is going to continue drives Judith into an alcohol-fuelled spiral of spiritual doubt.
Generally adequate screen version of Brian Moore‘s wonderful first novel. with the sterling efforts of Smith and Hoskins splendidly offset by an engaging group of boarding house grotesques. Glasgow: GFT.
I A Love Bewitched (PG) (Carlos Saura. Spain. 1985) Antonio Gades. Cristina Hoyos. Laura del Sol. 98 mins. Culmination of the Saura/Gades trilogy has the choreographer and Hoyos as a couple pledged in marriage by their fathers as children. but who grow up tofall in love elsewhere with disastrous consequences. Famous music by Manuel de Falla and dcliriously stylised settings compete with the dance for the viewer‘s interest. Glasgow: GF'T.
I Love Letters ( 18) (Amy Jones. US. 1983) Jamie Lee Curtis. James Keach. Amy
14 The List 24 March—6 April 1989
THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (PG) (Terry Gilliam. US, 1988). John Neville, Sarah Polley. Eric Idle. Charles McKeown. Winston Dennis. 126 mins. Terry Gilliam possesses arguably the most vividly imaginative visual sense of anyone currently working in mainstream film. and it is that acute awareness which ultimately sustains the otherwise hit-and-miss Baron Munchausen through its two hours of manic lunacy. Before it ever reached the screen, the film was already notorious for the astonishing travails suffered in actually making the movie, and its massive budget overspend which has allegedly left it as currently the second most expensive film ever made (then again. as Billy Wilder once sager observed. no one ever said ‘I must see that picture—l hear it came in under budget‘). Munchausen is based on the eighteenth century tall tales (attributed to Rudolph Erich Raspe) of the adventures of the good Baron. brought to alarmingly vivid life by Gilliam and a cast of thousands. The film opens in a city besieged by the Turks; undaunted. a company of players led by one Henry Salt (Bill Paterson) continue to perform The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in the crumbling theatre. Mid-way
Madigan. 98 mins. Acceptable drama stars a fine Jamie Lee Curtis as a young woman who discovers her mother‘s infidelity while sifting through a batch of old letters. but who is soon to embark on an adultery with a married man herself. Director Jones handles it all with great sensitivity. but something more European was obviously intended. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Love Streams ( 15) (John Cassavetes. US. 1984) John Cassavetes. Gena Rowlands. Diane Abbot. 141 mins. Cassavetes‘ last film as director won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. and he stars with spouse Gena Rowlands as a couple whose deep emotional bond remains intact despite the vagaries oftime and fortune. Overlong. but with moments of great emotional insight in the improvisatory performances. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Madame Sousatzka (PG) a (John Schlesinger. UK. 1988) Shirley MacLaine. Navin Chowdry. Peggy Ashcroft.Twiggy. 122 mins. Madame Sousatzka (MacLaine). an eccentric London piano teacher of Russian lineage. takes on a new pupil. Manek (Chowdry). a fourteen year-old Asian boy whom she begins to mould into her latest protege’. While the property developers home in on her decaying flat and the boy‘s mother (Shabana Azmi) begins to resent Sousatzka‘s domination of her son. the teacher propels her charge towards an appearance at a prestigious music festival. Old-fashioned star melodrama. with a completely hammy star (our deforce from the unbearable MacLaine. The boy's background is handled with considerably more credibility. but can‘t save this overlong film from being another unfortunate reminder of the recent downturn in a once sparkling directorial career. Edinburgh: Dominion. I Manhunter(18) A (Michael Mann. US. 1987) William L. Petersen. Tom Noonan. Brian Cox. Kim Griest. 119 mins. Superb modern thriller by Michael Mann has specialist FBI agent Petersen brought back from psychiatric treatment to face
through their play. a man claiming to be the real Baron disrupts the performance. and proceeds to give a ‘genuine' account of his adventures. which quickly turns into a plan to raise the siege and save the city. aided by his three faithful retainers and young Sally Salt.
The film advocates the virtues of imagination and fantasy against the follies of rigorously applied reason (represented by the city official Horatio Jackson. played with an outrageous Anthony Blanche-style accent by Jonathon Pryce). and Gilliam allows his to run riot. The spectacular
another case. the reason for all the tension being that he tracks down serial killers by trying to recreate their train of thought. Convincineg plotted adult material which remains a disturbing exercise in deviant psychology for both protagonist and audience. Effortlessly stylish use ofthe wide screen. and stringent control ofthe colour palette throughout are evidence of a master film-maker at work. Glasgow: GFT.
I Manon Des Sources (PG) (Claude Berri. France/Italy. 1986) Yves Montand. Daniel Auteuil. Emmanuelle Beart. 114 mins. Ten years after the demise ochan De Florette. the Soubeyrans now run a prosperous carnation farm. However. Jean‘s daughter has now grown into an alluring young woman and. through the twists of unpredictable fate. is able to wreak her revenge.
Steering this epic rural saga towards the realms of Greek tragedy. Manon is a full and satisfying second half that explores the suffering of the guilty as they pay a crippling penance for man‘s greed and envy. A stirring achievement. Glasgow: Grosvcnor.
I The Man With Two Brains ( 15) (Carl Reiner. US. 1983) Steve Martin. Kathleen Turner. David Warner. 93 mins. Zany Martin-Reincr romp in which the great man plays a brilliant brain surgeon driven to the depths of despair when he weds Turner. a man-hungry murderess with a penchant for driving elderly husbands to early graves and pocketing their legacies. Deliriously delightful. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Modems (15) {5' (Allan Rudolph. US. 1988) Keith Carradine. Linda Fiorentino. John Lone. Genevieve Bujold. 126 mins. See panel. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Moonwalker (U) (Jerry Kramer & Colin Chilvers. US. 1988) Michael Jackson. Sean Lennon. Kellie Parker. Joe Pesci. 100 mins. The Jacko plan for complete world domination continues apace with this ragbag of bits and pieces masquerading as a feature film. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank If). Odeon
set-piece scenes take the Baron and his cohorts to the Moon. where Robin Williams is a crazed King with a detachable head (Cartesian dualism gone mad): into a volcano (with Oliver Reed in fine form as Vulcan) and down to the centre of the earth; and into the belly of a sea-monster: some of it works. some doesn‘t. The film lacks the cutting edge of his brilliant Brazil. but there is so much to look at— and enough genuine laughs—that itseems possibleto forgive Gilliam almostany excess in his relentless campaign against mediocre convention. (Kenny Mathiesonl
Ayr. ()deon Ilamilton. I My Girlfriend's Boylriend(l’(i)(13ne Rohmer. France. 1987) Emmanuelle Chaulet. Sophie Renoir. Iiric Viellard. 102 mins. The sixth and final offering in Rohmer’s series of Comedies And Proverbs focuses on the relationship between computer programmer Renoir and shy civil servant Chaulet as their search for love results in a seriesof embarrassing romantic entanglements.
Typically perceptive and self-assured work from the Gallic master. Central: Regal. I The Naked Gun ( 15) (David Zucker. US. 1988) Leslie Nielsen. Priscilla Presley. Ricardo Montalban. 85 mins. Nielsen gets a crack at a leading comic role as Frank Drebin. a disaster prone LA cop assigned to find the men who shot his colleague ina drugs bust. and protect our dear Queen at the same time. while also finding room for romance with secretary Presley.
The makers of Airplane here operate on a similar principle: keep it fast. keepit marvellously dumb. and the comic dividends will eventually flow. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Dominion. Central: Caledonian. Regal. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank ll). Kelburne. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. I One Deadly Summer ( 18) (Jean Becker. France. 1983) Isabelle Adjani. Alain Souchon.JennyCleve. 133 mins. Adjani is the sexually provocative young woman newly arrived in a small Provencal village who soon traps a local lad into marriage with the purpose of avenging her mother's rape many years ago. Potboiling and interminable screen version of a French bestseller. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I A Passage To India (PG) (David Lean. L'K. 1984) Peggy Ashcroft. Judy Davis. Victor Bannerjee. James Fox. 163 mins. Mcticulous adaptation of EM. Forster has Australian Judy Davis cast as the young woman travelling through the sub-continent with her fiance's stuffy mother (Ashcroft).
()vcrlong and over-rated. for all its attention to detail. this numbingly slow