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BYT.FABRE
NEW YORK (NC) - When NBC
broadcast “Jesus of Nazareth” two
years ago in a six-and-a-half-hour
version, its high ratings and critical
praise made a rebroadcast almost a
certainty. This time it will be a longer
version, identical to that presented in
Europe.
This expanded, eight-hour version of
“Jesus of Nazareth” airs Sunday, April
1 (8-10 p.m.); Monday, April 2 (9-11
p.m.); Tuesday, April 3 (9-11 p.m.); and
Palm Sunday, April 8 (8-10 p.m.) on
NBC.
The additional footage does add to
the meaning and scope of the film,
including such scenes as Joseph’s dream
revealing that Mary has been chosen to
be the mother of God, the young Jesus
preaching in the temple, the healing of
the paraplegic, and the encounter with
the rich young man.
“THE SCARLET LETTER”
PBS, APRIL 2-5
In an effort to show that public TV
can produce its own quality
dramatizations of literary classics — and
not just import the British variety — a
four-part series adapted from Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” is
being presented Monday, April 2,
through Thursday, April 5, at 9-10 p.m.
on PBS.
Hawthorne’s 1850 novel of Puritan
America continues to be read and
studied not only for its enduring literary
style but because its complex themes of
sin and retribution, guilt and innocence,
the individual and society are as
universal today as ever.
Based on the first episode, the
WGBH-Boston adaptation is studiously
faithful to the original. A narrator,
speaking in the voice of Hawthorne,
serves to explain the historical
background and passages of time in
what is essentially a story of inner
torment.
The re-creation of 1642 Boston is
that of a rough frontier community
with few inhabitants. The acting is
intense, with pent-up emotions
expressed more in dialogue than by
action, featuring Meg Foster as the stoic
Hester Prynne, Kevin Conway as the
sinister Roger Chillingworth, and John
Heard as the guilt-consumed Arthur
Dimmesdale.
If comparison must be made with
British literary adaptations, this PBS
effort is an ambitious failure as TV
drama. It lacks the British ease and
facility with re-creating the feeling of a
historical period, with restaging the
printed page in dramatic terms, and
with rediscovering literary characters
through the depth of acting in all the
roles, large and small.
“The Scarlet Letter,” however, is no
small achievement in terms of
educational value. National Public
Radio is broadcasting a number of
programs related to this masterpiece of
American literature and a 16-page
“Viewers Guide” is being distributed
through local libraries. Important as are
the cultural enrichment aspects of this
series, there is no reason why public
television cannot equal the best of
world TV dramas. “The Scarlet Letter”
is a step in the right direction.
Blackman’s Land
PBS, April 3-5
Africa still remains an unknown
continent for many Americans who find
past stereotypes and present realities
difficult to reconcile, let alone
understand. Trying to break through
this chain of misconceptions by
focusing on one African country —
Kenya — is the three-part documentary
series, “Black Man’s Land,” airing
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
April 3, 4 and 5, at 10-11 p.m. on PBS.
The first program surveys the
shocking history of European
colonialism when the Imperial British
East Africa Trading Company began
looting Kenya in 1890. It was so
rapacious that the British government
replaced the company with a
protectorate in 1895, intending to turn
Kenya’s fertile lands into a preserve for
settlers on the order of South Africa
and New Zealand.
The African tribes failed to cooperate
with the plan and punitive expeditions
— burning out villages and killing their
inhabitants — became standard practice.
In 1908, Winston Churchill wrote of
one such massacre: “It looks like a
butchery and if the House of Commons
NEW YORK (NC) -- The following
capsule movie reviews and classifications
were prepared through consensus of the
staff of the USCC Department of
Communication’s Office for Film and
Broadcasting.
“ALL THINGS BRIGHT
AND BEAUTIFUL”
(WORLD NORTHAL)
This is a genial family film about a
dedicated and good-natured young
veterinarian (John Alderton) with a
pretty wife (Lisa Harrow), practicing in
the Yorkshire countryside in the years
just before the outbreak of World War
II. The senior veterinarian, whose
partner he eventually becomes (Colin
Blakely), is a crotchety fellow but,
beneath his rough exterior, warm and
affectionate withal — and toward
humans as well as animals.
Not a great deal of moment happens
— one ailment after another, with
sometimes serious but more often
amusing complications — and the
principal charm of “All Things Bright
and Beautiful” is much like that of a
stroll on the first warm day of spring.
You wish that it was better — funnier
and more moving — but, as is its lack of
energy and its indifferent photography
prevent it from being anything more
than passable family entertainment.
Parents should be advised that there is
one scene that graphically depicts the
birth of a calf. (G) A-I - Morally
unobjectionable for adults.
“THE CHINA SYNDROME”
(COLUMBIA)
A TV newswoman (Jane Fonda) and
her cameraman (Michael Douglas)
witness a malfunction at a nuclear
power plant. When they attempt to
circumvent a consequent coverup, they
get unexpected assistance from a
shocked and disillusioned technician
(Jack Lemmon). A first-rate melodrama
done with intelligence and style, “The
China Syndrome” focuses upon the vital
issue of nuclear safety. (PG) A-II —
Morally unobjectionable for adults and
adolescents.
“THE GREAT BANK
HOAX” (WARNERS)
A fine but ill-used cast headed by
Ned Beatty, Burgess Meredith and
Michael Murphy is unable to salvage
anything more than a mild chuckle or
two from this leaden-paced, talky,
awkwardly put-together comedy about
an attempt to cover up an
embezzlement by staging a mock
robbery. The adult nature of some of
the jokes and situations make this
mature viewing fare. (PG) A-III —
Morally unobjectionalbe for adults.
“LOVE AT FIRST
BITE” (AIP)
Thrown out of his ancestral castle by
a communist government bent upon
turning it into a training center for
world-class gymnasts, Count Dracula
(George Hamilton) and his slightly
nauseating servant (Arte Johnson) take
up residence in Manhattan. The count
wins the love of a beautiful model
(Susan St. James) but her jealous
psychiatrist (Richard Benjamin) tries to
separate the happy couple. The script
has a few bright lines, but not enough to
overcome the essentially one-joke
nature of the film, something it shares
with most Dracula spoofs. The almost
unremitting vulgarity of the language,
moreover, and a certain air of moral
sleaziness push the picture across the
line into the objectionable. (PG) B —
Morally objectionable in part for all.
“PHANTASM” (AVCO EMBASSY)
This is a dreadfully amateurish
attempt to crossbreed comedy and
horror. Two brothers look into the
strange goings-on at a local cemetery
and find themselves battling
brown-robed dwarfs and other
unpleasant creatures. The movie has an
air of inept improvisation, and it
exploits nudity, gore and violence. (R)
C — Condemned.
“REMEMBER MY NAME”
(LAGOON)
Geraldine Chaplin plays a disturbed
woman, just out of prison after serving
12 years for manslaughter, who tracks
down and harasses her ex-husband
(Tony Perkins), who is living with a new
wife (Berry Berenson). Miss Chaplin is
good, but the film itself is a dreary,
listless affair, dragged down further by a
very mannered performance by Perkins.
Some of the scenes are adult in nature,
and the language is sometimes rough.
(R) A-III — Morally unobjectionable for
adults.
AT THE MOVIES
Cherry Ordained Deacon
On Saturday, February 17th, at 11:00 A.M., Joseph Anthony
Cherry was ordained to the Order of Deacon for the Diocese of
Savannah by Most Reverend Raymond W. Lessard, D. D.,
Bishop of Savannah, at Blessed Sacrament Church, Savannah.
Chaplains to the Bishop for the ceremony were Rev. J. Kevin
Boland, Pastor of Blessed Sacrament, and Rev. Robert B.
Mattingly, Vocations Director. Assistants to Father Cherry were
Rev. Thomas F. Egan of the Diocese of Worcester,
Massachusetts, and Rev. Michael A. Burke, Associate Pastor of
St. James Parish, Savannah. The readings were read by Mr.
Joseph Cenesi and Mr. Brendan Buchmelter of St. Vincent De
Paul Seminary, Boynton Beach, Florida. Rev. Thomas J.
Peyton, Associate Pastor of Blessed Sacrament, Savannah, read
the Gospel. Master of Ceremonies was Rev. Daniel P. O’Connell
assisted by Rev. John A. Kenneally.
Out of town guests attending the ceremony were Father
Cherry’s parents, the Honorable and Mrs. John A. Cherry, of
DuBois, Pennsylvania; his brothers, John, of St. Marys,
Pennsylvania, and Louis of DuBois; aunts, Misses Josephine and
Grace Cherry of DuBois, and Mrs. Mary Lazzara of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; Rev. Urban Voll, rector of St. Vincent De Paul
Seminary; Mrs. Helen Wiederholt of Erie, Pennsylvania; Mrs.
Lenora Stokes of Wesleyville, Pennsylvania; and Mr. and Mrs. J.
O’Brien of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Upon completion of his studies at St. Vincent De Paul
Seminary, Father Cherry will be assigned to a parish in the
Diocese for his deacon internship.
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
IMPOSITION OF HANDS
PAGE 2—The Southern Cross, March 29,1979
TV FARE -- Robert Preston and Rosemary Harris, seated on wagon, are
featured as Hadley and Minerva Chisholm in “The Chisholms” a four-part
mini-series of a pioneer family’s western trek. The cast also includes
Timothy Oakes, foreground, as David Hayward and Tenaya Torres as
Youngest Daughter. The series begins April 5 on CBS. Aslan, the proud
noble lion (below), sacrificing himself for the sake of the magical land of
Narnia, is comforted by a human visitor named Susan in “The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe,” animated special based on the book of that title
from C.S. Lewis’ classic fantasy tales, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” April 1
and 2 on CBS. (NC Photos)
gets hold of it, our plans will go awry.
Surely it is not necessary to go on
killing these defenseless people on such
an enormous scale.”
For most viewers, the second
program dealing with the Mau Mau
uprising of the 1950s will be a
revelation. Using newsreel excerpts of
the time and recent interviews with
those who had some part with the
events, the program shows that
well-publicized Mau Mau savagery
against whites was a fiction created by
Kenyan settlers in order to justify the
military suppression of all advocates of
independence.
During the state of emergency from
1952 to 1960, Africans killed 32 of
Kenya’s 40,000 white settlers. During
that same time, 15,000 Africans were
killed and hundreds of thousands were
arrested and interned in “rehabilitation”
camps where they were brutalized and
tortured.
When the British Parliament
confirmed reports of what was going on
in the camps, it established an African
government upon which to confer
independence. It was headed by the late
Jomo Kenyatta, whose life is the subject
of the third program. Under Jomo,
Kenya became a model of stability in
the cauldron of African politics.
These documentaries are a
compilation of old photographs,
forgotten newsreels, contemporary
interviews, and exhaustive research
assembled by David Koff and Anthony
Howarth with a passionate commitment
to justice and yet grounded in the
objective detachment of the historical
record.
Implicit in this account is that the
experience of Kenya has relevance for
all black Africa. If one could sum up its
theme in a sentence, it would be that of
a former officer in one of the brutal
“rehabilitation” camps for Africans
suspected of nationalist loyalties: “I
think it is remarkable that they hold no
grudge.”
TV PROGRAMS OF NOTE
Sunday, April 1, 8-9 p.m. (CBS) “The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
C.S. Lewis’s story about four children
and their adventures in the fantasy land
of Narnia is retold in this two-part
animated special, concluding on
Monday, April 2, at 8-9 p.m.
The animated, two-part special
program is a project of the Episcopal
Radio-TV Foundation, which entered
into a production partnership with
Children’s Television Workshop,
producers of “Sesame Street” and “The
Electric Company.”
Sometimes called “a fairy tale for the
whole family,” the story of “The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe” tells of
four children - Peter, Susan, Edmund
and Lucy - who find their way through
the back of a wardrobe into the fantasy
world of Narnia. Here they encounter
the White Witch, who makes it always
winter and never Christmas, a noble lion
called Aslan, and many other creatures.
The children reign as kings and queens
in Narnia until they discover the way
back Home. Rich in allegory and
Christian symbolism, the story, written
in the fifties, has become enormously
popular with adults as well as with
children. Over a million copies of the
book are sold every year in the United
States and England.
C.S. Lewis, lecturer in medieval and
Renaissance literature at Oxford and
Cambridge, inspired many with his
religious works, including “Mere
Christianity,” “The Problem of Pain,”
and the “Screwtape Letters.” He also
wrote a trilogy of space fantasies, “Out
of the Silent Planet,” “Perelandra,” and
“That Hideous Strength.”
Tuesday, April 3, 8-9 p.m. (CBS)
“How Much for the Handicapped?”
Providing facilities to assist the
handicapped to lead normal and
productive lives could cost more than
the public is willing to pay in a time of
inflation and high taxes — a troubling
social issue examined by this
documentary with CBS News
correspondent Marlene Sanders.
Thursday, April 5, 4-4:30 p.m. (CBS)
“Razzmatazz.” This month’s CBS News
program for kids visits an underwater
park in the Virgin Islands, reports on
Junior Firemen in New Jersey, shows
how TV special effects work, and
attends the National Horse Show in
Madison Square Garden, New York.
TV Film Fare
Sunday, April 1, 9 p.m. (ABC) —
“From Russia with Love” (1963) — A
routine James Bond fantasy-thriller,
starring Sean Connery as 007 and
Robert Shaw as a sinister Russian hit
man. As with most of the series, there is
a great deal of violence and sex. B.
Friday, April 6, 9 p.m. (ABC) — “The
Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane”
(1977) — Jodie Foster plays a
mysterious, self-sufficient 13-year-old in
a Maine village who is befriended by a
teen-age boy (Scott Jacoby) and
threatened by an unstable adult (Martin
Sheen) against whom she has difficulty
defending herself because she has
something to hide. A pat, unbelievable
melodrama, the film offends because it
condones teenage promiscuity and
makes a 13-year-old the object of sexual
titillation. C (PG)
PROSTRATION DURING LITANY OF THE SAINTS ACCEPTANCE OF THE BOOK OF GOSPELS
ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARTY at the Savannah Convalescent Center
sponsored by the Blessed Sacrament Council of Catholic Women. “Good
ole Savannah girl” Emma Sewell decked out in her St. Patrick’s green,
enjoying the party and making plans for her annual ride in the St.
Patrick’s Day parade. (Top Left); Father Robert Cushing leading the
singing. (Top right); Father Cushing singing lead while members of the
Blessed Sacrament CCW wait for the chorus to come ‘round. (Lower left)
Blessed Sacrament CCW member Daisy Williams leading the singing and
the hand-clapping, (lower right)
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TV Reviews-Programs Of Note
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CHINESE - AMERICAN FOOD
SUN- THURS
11:30-10 P.M.
CLOSED TUES
FRI - SAT 1 1 :30 A.M.
11 :00 P.M.
DINE-IN OR TAKE-OUTS
927-3733
149 Montgomery Cross Roads - Savannah
THE CHURCH:
TV-MOVIES
Everything for the
Sick Room
Hospital Beds - Wheel Chairs
- Invalid, Walkers - Patient
Lifters. Many other Sickroom
needs.
Prescriptions called For
and Delivered
Wachtel’s
2364271
Physician Supply Co.
Paul H. Ewaldsen
402 BULL STREET
For Wedding
I nv 11at ions
The Acme Press
Phone 232-6397
1201 Lincoln Street
SHEFFIELD GARAGE
Auto Repairs
Transmission Specialists
ENGINE OVERHAUL
23 VRS. EXP. W.QISI
1023 W. VICTORY DR.
SAVANNAH
W. ROBINS ORATORICAL
WINNERS -- Donna Moore, John
Morgan, Don McGraw, First,
Second and Third Place winners in
the City Optimist Oratorical
Contest held recently. From left:
Don, John, Donna.
' THE '
CHURCH:
DIOCESE