Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—July 5, 1973
NEW VATICAN MUSEUM
Religion and Art Allies
VATICAN CITY (NC) --
Breath-taking -- that really is the only
way to describe the new Vatican
museum of contemporary art.
The museum was opened June 23 in
connection with Pope Paul’s 10
anniversary of election as the successor
of Pope John XXIII in 1963.
Fifty-five rooms have been separated
from an assortment of odd spaces in the
ancient halls and winding corridors of
the Vatican palace.
In these rooms, including the famous
Borgia rooms decorated with frescoes of
the Renaissance painter Pinterrucchio,
more than 600 modem works of
painting and sculpture are on display.
They will not be open to the public,
however, until October.
Every work was donated to the
Vatican. Not all of them are equal in
value or artistic merit, but there is no
doubt that the new collection, brought
together in a relatively short period of
time, is an important event in the
history of modem art.
Many famous names are represented
among the more than 250 artists:
Picasso, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall,
Salvador Dell, Max Ernst, Paul Gauguin,
Paul Klee, Jacques Lipchitz.
The artists represented include
Australians, Americans, Mexican,
Japanese and Europeans.
Perhaps, as some critics have already
Public
Funds
WASHINGTON (NC) - The
Communication Committee of the U.S.
Catholic Conference (USCC) has given
its support to a bill which would
authorize funds for Public Broadcasting
for two years.
Bishop John L. May of Mobile, Ala.,
chairman of the committee said, “The
promise that public broadcasting holds
for the American public is very much
dependent upon adequate and long-term
financing that not only allows for the
planning so essential to public
broadcasting but also removes public
broadcasting itself from undue influence
upon it.”
pointed out, the very best works of
major artists are not present in the
collection. Nevertheless, it is a
stimulating, vibrant and challenging
collection and there is probably no
single collection in the world that is so
Catholic, universal, in taste.
Among the pictures are some that
perhaps 10 years ago the Vatican would
never had considered hanging. For
instance, a Brazilian painter has a
devastating portrait of a portly
red-robed bishop walking through a
rather dream-like landscape, entitled:
“On the Way to the (Second Vatican)
Council.”
Another painting shows three monks
climbing the staircase of their
monastery, while below party streamers
and all the signs of carnival litter the
floor. The title is “The Beginning of
Lent.”
Almost all the works of art on
display have a religious theme. Most of
the paintings, tapestries and sculptures
are representational, but abstract art is
also represented.
In some ways, the museum itself is
more beautiful and impressive than the
objects displayed in it. The rooms are
relatively small, most of them dating
from the Renaissance or before.
Carefully restored, the rooms and the
occasional views from windows across
Vatican courtyards and gardens of art
but also of reaching across time to
touch a world in which Michaelangelo,
and Pope Julius II discussed the
drawings of the Last Judgment in the
Sistine Chapel.
The two-year funding authorized by
the bill “is, in our estimation, the
minimum funding that Congress can
responsibly authorize at this time,”
Bishop May said.
The bishop said his committee hopes
future legislation “will provide
additional funding for the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, and over a
much longer period of time.”
CPB is an independent nonprofit
organization which develops programs
for use on public broadcasting stations.
Broadcasting
Are Supported
“CRUCIFIXION” AND “ISAAC” -- Franklin Watkins’ “Crucifixion,”
an oil painting, and Leonard Baskin’s “Isaac,” a six-foot bronze sculpture,
are among the 21 works by famous American artists donated to the
Vatican museum of 20th century art which opened June 23. When
completed, the Vatican’s is expected to have the best collection of
American art in Europe. (NC Photo courtesy Kennedy Galleries)
EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE (Fox)
— Robert Aldrich is perhaps America’s most
“macho” film director. Films such as THE
DIRTY DOZEN, FLIGHT OF THE
PHOENIX, and, more recently, ULZANA’S
RAID are studies in manly strength applied
for animal survival; and works including
women in major roles, e.g., WHATEVER
HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, HUSH, HUSH,
SWEET CHARLOTTE, and THE KILLING
OF SISTER GEORGE, usually cast those
women as either murderously demented,
more than slightly “butch”, or both. In
Aldrich’s latest film, THE EMPEROR OF
THE NORTH POLE, the director sets up the
ultimate male confrontation: a contest to the
death between worthy, larger-than-life
antagonists. Interestingly enough, the struggle
between the Depression-era hobo named
“A-No. 1” (Lee Marvin), and the trainman
named “Shack” (Ernest Borgnine) has no true
protagonist, although Marvin is the more
winning personality of the two. It is as if, in
the headlong race toward their ultimate clash,
Altman has removed them from an
environment where anything other than brute
strength and cunning has value, particularly
social value. Rather, he has plopped them
down on a freight train rolling across Oregon
-- a train no “’bo” has ridden and lived to tell
about it, but which A-No.1 vows to ride all
the way into Portland. Thus, within minutes
of beginning the film, Aldrich has set its
course and determined its outcome. And from
that early point, despite the intrusion of little
inconveniences and distractions along the
way, Aldrich keeps his eye fixed on that
cataclysm as on the proverbial light at the end
of the tunnel.
Granted, there is the magnificent scenery
of the great Northwest to enhance the rough
physicality of the conflict. Moreover, both
A-No.1 and Shack have their respective foil
characters in attendance, thereby lending
symmetry and balance to the contest and
allowing each of the big guys to emphasize his
might. But the effect is to create a virtually
one-set, four-character piece, on a moving
stage and with other figures floating in and
out of the action as fleetingly and
anonymously as the telegraph poles flashing
by.
Within this very limited framework, Marvin
and Borgnine work with considerable vigor
and heightened effect. Marvin’s characteristic
gestures, facial twitches and double-takes, in
fact, at times are a joy to watch, even when
we know they are being used speciously in
Cw\\\W lli 11/ ////
OOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Film Classifications
A. — Section I — Morally Unobjectionable for General Patronage
A - Section II — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults, Adolescents
A — Section III — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults
A — Section IV — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults, Reservations
B — Morally Objectionable in Part for All
C — Condemned
oooooooooooooooooo
i a LIFE IN MUSIC
By The Dameans
ONE OF A KIND (LOVE AFFAIR)
One of a kind love affair is
The kind of love that you read about in a fairy tale
Like the sun that shines on a rainy day
It’s a cloud of love
One of a kind love affair is
When your down is up, when your up is down
When love stays around
And when you know you’re right
But you got to make a little sacrifice
You make it for love
I never thought about the day would come
When she would leave without goodbye, yessir
She wrote a line or two up on the wall
Said I’m leaving you
You know I love you too I can’t stay with you
And til this very day I can never say
This girl isn’t worth cause I love you
One of a kind love affair is
When you hate to say girl I told you so
But you gotta go
There wouldn’t be a fight cause your love is right
But your leaving wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong
One of a kind love affair is
When you treat her nice
But you finally have to pay the price
And though you know you’re right
But you got to make a little sacrifice
You make it for love
You make it for love
“One of a Kind Love Affair” is a bright offering from the Spinners and
arranger-producer Thom Bell. The song fills you with the feeling of celebration.
It makes you want to believe in the magic of love, to sell all your castles to make
this one your own.
Men always seem to want to own or be a part of “one of a kind.” They search
out collector’s items, compete for the finest paintings, desire to climb the
highest mountains. They ever seek out a greater and more unique inspiration.
When a man discovers a “one of a kind” love, however, he has found the
source of inspiration. For such a fortunate man, “the sun shines on a rainy day.”
All of life is transformed by this love. Even sacrifice is a joy when he makes it
for love.
For us “One of a Kind Love Affair” conjures up the memory of all the great
and special loves that have made us what we are. And it also reminds us of the
greater love that ever moved mankind, the most memorable of the “one of a
kind” loves-Jesus.
The celebration, the belief, the willingness to sacrifice, all could have been
written about Jesus. In fact, the song sounds as if it is from a musical like
“Superstar.” Mary Magdalene could have sung it. “One of a kind love affair is
the kind of love that you read about in a fairy tale . . . when you know you’re
right but you got to make a little sacrifice; you make it for love . . . (he) wrote a
line or two up on the wall, said I’m leaving you.”
You might take a moment to re-read the song substituting a few words such
as “Lord” for “girl.” In looking again at the song you begin to experience some
of the inspriation that must have been a part of knowing Jesus, a joy that we
sometimes miss in being removed from the happening by two thousand years.
One of a kind love affair is
Make you want to love her
You must got to love her
One of a kind affair is
Makes a lame man walk
Makes a blind man talk about seeing again
One of a kind love affair is
Makes me want to be around you
Girl I’m glad to be around you
One of a kind love affair is
Every day is sunshine
Girl you’re on my mind
One of a kind love affair is
Makes me want to
Want to be with you
by Joseph Jefferson
(c 1973 Atlantic (BMI))
You feel the sense of celebration that could make a man leave father and
mother for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. You feel with special force the
conviction that is right. More than anything you believe in this one of a kind
person.
The way Jesus must have affected people is captured so well by the song. The
healing he brought was not so much in the physical signs he offered as in the
deeper healing he gave.
Jesus could make people want to live life; he could make them see that life
was worth choosing. He forgave their shortcomings and depressions and gave
them a life vision. “One of a kind love affair makes a lame man walk, makes a
blind man talk about seeing again.”
“One of a Kind Love Affair” rings true to those who have dared to search for
love. And for many of us the words go: “One of a kind love affair .. . Lord, I’m
glad I found you.”
(All correspondence should be directed to: The Dameans, St. Joseph’s Church, 216 Patton
Ave., P.O. Box 5188, Shreveport, La. 71105)
order to create an illusion of depth in a
one-dimensional character. As for
Borgnine,his grimaces and popped eyes, which
seem to be the full extent of his acting
abilities, are ideally suited to the vicious brute
he is playing. As the foils, Keith Carradine is
ail cocky grin and sneer as Cigaret, the
apprentice “’bo” who ultimately lacks the
class, as Marvin puts it, to ever become
Emperor of the North Pole (a designation in
hobo parlance signifying the pinnacle of
hobodum's loose corporate hierarchy).
Almost unnoticed in the role of Crackers, the
caboose tender who keeps a dim eye over
Borginine’s train, is Charles Tyner, an
excellent character actor whose strength is in
his skill at vanishing completely into his
movie characters.
Aldrich proves once again that, given a
simple narrative line to follow, he is a
competent assembler of action movies. As
long as he, like Shack’s train, has a set track
to run along toward a fixed destination, he is
quite effective. His films, however, operate
too much in a vacuum, and in EMPEROR we
are swept along by the swift story but are
constantly mindful of larger, more interesting
and important things going on in the little
towns and hobo camps whizzing by during
that ride deep in the Great Depression.
A more severe problem in this particular
case is the director’s use of violence, which
has already marred many of his earlier films.
Here, of course, the great fight at the climax
is the entire film’s RAISON D’ETRE, and
when it comes it is stupendous indeed, but it
is also so exaggerated as to be utterly lacking
in credibility and therefore bothersome rather
than disturbing or shocking. What does shock,
however, is a pre-credit sequence which
establishes Shack’s brutal nature. In this
instance, a hobo makes the mistake of
boarding Shack’s train, is discovered and
bashed with a sledgehammer and rolled under
the highballing freight cars -- all lovingly
depicted for our eyes. It’s depicted, as a
matter of fact, for ALL eyes, owing to an
inexplicalble PG rating on the film. Coming as
it does at a time when the MPAA’s Code and
Rating mechanism has shown a much more
finely-tuned operation with regard to violent
films, the PG for EMPEROR is a virtual
contradiction of other recent ratings, such as
the Rs for CHARLIE ONE-EYE and the
fantastic FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH.
EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE is clearly
adult material, in its theme concerning the
male mystique and, particularly, in its
depiction of violence and brutality. (A-IV)
I AM A DANCER (Cinevision) may be just
a dance film masquerading as a biography, but
it does offer balletomanes an opportunity to
study a perfectionist at close range. Most
critics today hail Russia’s Rudolf Nureyev as
the world's greatest classical dancer. This
documentary by Pierre Jourdan watches
Nureyev as he disciplines himself with
exhaustive rehearsals here, catches him as he
filches time to work with promising novices
there. Three-quarters of the picture is given
over to performances onstage: Nureyev
interpreting the romantic “La Sylphide”
(with Carla Fracci), Nureyev essaying the
movements of modern dance in Tetley’s
“Field Figures” (with Deanne Bergsma),
Nureyev dancing the literary ballet of
“Marguerite and Armand” (with Dame
Margot Fonteyn), Nureyev doing a grand PAS
DE DEUX from "The Sleeping Beauty” (with
Lynn Seymour). Director Jourdan
occasionally yields to the arty devices of
photographing through gauze or prisms, but
he knows how to keep his camera at a
distance, both to minimize his star’s egotism
and to preserve rapport between two dancers
when they are in motion. Sparkling with crisp
narration, glorious music and exceptional
dancing, I AM A DANCER cannot fail to
delight its intended audience. (A-l)
DEEP THRUST -- THE HAND OF
DEATH (Hallmark/AlP) — Tiny but tough
Angela Mao seeks revenge on the man who
seduced her sister. Brutish but bruised Chang
Yi seeks revenge on the bullies who battered
him on the beach. Lovely but lonely June Wu
nurses Chang back to fighting health and
pleads his cause with Ms. Mao, who recognizes
him as the object of her deadly quest. This
mindless story, directed by Heang Feng, plods
through innumerable rounds of
kung-fu-karate-judo heroics punctuated by
sound effects which can’t quite keep pace
with the visual mayhem. Fun? Forget it. The
gut-crunching, stomach-puncturing,
skull-cracking tricks of the performers in tnis
English-dubbed import last long into the
sunset and will prove nauseating to serious
viewers while fueling the unhealthy fantasies
of the immature. Explicit physical violence
for its own sake cannot be condoned, even in
quick-buck entertainments from Hong Kong.
(C)
THE SOUL OF NIGGER CHARLEY
(Paramount) — Fred Williamson and D’Urville
Martin repeat their rotes in this sequel to THE
LEGEND OF NIGGER CHARLEY, which
finds the two ex-slaves leading a group of
blacks and mercenary Mexicans against a fort
south of the border in which some post-Civil
War Confederate aristocrats are attempting to
maintain the good old days complete with the
black slave trade. The outcome is a foregone
conclusion, the themes and dialogue
anachronistic and at best inane and, in the
recent tradition of black films, the
whites(except some Quakers who befriend the
wandering Negroes) are cruel and sadistic
while the blacks are sensitive, idealistic and
self-righteous. Once again, however,
producer-director Larry Spangler places the
emphasis squarely on the action sequences
(lots of powder charges to simulate the
impact of bullets) with one unintentinally
comic romantic interlude by a waterfall
between Williamson and pretty Denise
Nicholas that is an innocuous as it is silly.
(A-l II)
A WARM DECEMBER (National General)
— Though the market for black-oriented films
has survived unbelievably meretricious soul
versions of just about every Hollywood genre,
even the most indulgent viewer may draw the
line at a black LOVE STORY. Super-doctor
Sidney Poitier, having picked up a dozen
more degrees since comming to dinner, is
racing motorcycles on a vacation in England
when he runs across the gorgeous niece of an
African ambassador. We Quickly smell the
sickening truth behind all the melodramatics,
and, sure enough, she's dying of sickle cell
anemia. Esther Anderson is absolutely
winning and Poitier’s romantic scenes with
her and his paternal moments with his
enchanting daughter, Yvette Curtis, have a
warmth and charm which amply demonstrates
the charisma which made Poitier the first
black superstar. But he is also the director this
time around, and the irrelevant melodrama is
laid on with a sledge hammer to the tune of
the most obtrusive musical score since the B
soapers of the Forties. (A-l11)
COFFY (AIP) — is not our cup of tea,
being a low-grade sex-and blaxploitation film
that masks its crass commercial intent behind
a transparent attempt at social import and
heavy moralism, “situation ethics style.” The
argument is that since Coffy’s little sister has
been ruined by drugs (the lass is shown only
once, languishing vegetable-like in a hospital
bed), Coffy (Pam Grier) has every right to
blast the drug dealers and pimps and the
crooked politicians who work with them to
kingdom come. Her weapons range from
sawed-off shotguns to her full-blown figure,
which lets the sex and violence crowd have it
both ways. Oddly enough, the catalystic
racism often present in this type of film is
mild, but there are plenty of righteous plugs
for anarchy, which the movie justifies by
showing the law and its agents to be,
respectively, totally uneffective and
completely corrupt. (C)
RECENT FILM CLASSIFICATIONS
The Hireling (Columbia) - A-liI
The Emperor of the North Pole (Fox) --
A-IV
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (MGM) — B