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Griffin Daily News
Artsy artsy films on the wane
By DICK KLEINER
HOLLYWOOD—(N E A)—
Most directors these days
like to think of themselves
as artists. They have af
fected dress, affected airs
and, generally, affected
films. Which brings us to
Ronald Neame, who affects
none of these.
He’s a distinguished Eng
lish director (“The Prime of
Miss Jean Brodie,” “Gam
bit,” “The Chalk Garden”
among many) who just fin
ished the big adventure yarn
here, “The Poseidon Adven
ture.” But he doesn’t think
of himself as an artist.
“I’m not even sure,” he
says, “whether or not cine
ma is an art form. It’s cer
tainly not in the same class
as music where a composer
takes notes out of the air and
creates in his head a sym
phony which he then writes
down.”
Neame believes that the
director is not, and shouldn’t
be, a star.
“If Maggie Smith wins an
Oscar for a picture I did (as
she did in ‘Jean Brodie’),"
he says, “that is tribute
enough to my work.”
Neame, who learned his
craft at the side of David
Lean, for whom he was light
ing cameraman for some
years, is a director of the
Lorna Lust: A star
is bom, part three
By Ernestine Guglielmo
NEW YORK - (NEA) -
Judy Garland’s “o the r”
daughter, Lorna Lust, was
practically born a profession
al. Part of the Garland clan,
living in Hollywood with
neighbors like Humphrey
Bogart and Lauren Bacall,
Lorna was nursed on back
stage flurry, the high pres
sure and all the publicity
that goes with stardom.
Lorna started her career
Cooked
is better
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (UPI)
—Gov. Ronald Reagan’s annual
encounter with a turkey was a
tame affair this year as he was
presented a cooked carcass
rather than a galloping gobbler
for the first time.
“It has never looked as tasty
before because it’s always had
the feathers on,” the governor
said as he carved the 27-pound
bird donated by the California
Turkey Industry Federation.
In past years, Reagan has
been given live turkeys—with
often disastrous results.
In 1966, a 44-pound bird
slapped the governor in the
head with one of its big wings.
Another year the turkey ran
loose in his suite, eluding aides
and newsmen.
8
old school. He doesn’t like to
think of himself, or others
like him, as “old-fashioned.”
He prefers to use the term
“classic.”
But he doesn’t believe that
too many of the new direc
tors are over-conscious of
themselves and their cam
era.
“I was brought up,” he
says, “in the tradition that
the camera should be unob
trusive. The camera looks
in the window at life. Too
many young men these days
have the camera as part of
the production. It jiggles and
bounces and we’re always
aware of it.”
Neame doesn’t believe a
director is a creator but
rather an interpreter. “The
writer is the creator on the
film,” he says.
He feels that better things
are coming in the film area.
“The pendulum has swung
too far in the direction of
‘trendy’ film s,” he says,
“and the public doesn’t care
for them any more. ‘The
Poseidon Adventure’ is a
film in the classic tradition
and the pendulum is swing
ing back in that direction,
toward real entertainment.”
♦ ♦ ♦
WILDE IN THE CAVES
For the first time in a long
time, Cornel Wilde has
at the Palace. She was only
14 when she sang with her
mother before the black-tie
crowd in 1967.
“I was terrified,” says
Lorna, "but I knew that was
what I wanted to do and I
had to start someplace.”
Lorna, now 20 and singing
at top nightclubs, has two
members of her family to
contend with: her mother
Judy Garland and her half
sister Liza Minnelli.
Audiences, expecting a bit
of the family magic, make
requests for Lorna to do her
mother’s songs and now her
sister’s. “Over the Rain
bow,” “Cabaret” the audi
ence calls. But Lorna just
says, “They’ve been done.”
She explains why she never
sings any of Judy Garland’s
songs: “Nobody can sing
those songs as well as Mama
did, so why even try.”
When Liza came to see her
at her New York appear
ance, they sang “Mama’s
song.” “You Made Me Love
You,” together.
Lorna, a slight 5-4, sat
wrapped in a blanket in her
suite at the St. Regis in New
York. As questions were
raised about her mother, her
sister and her own childhood,
she sank deeper and deeper
into the blankets.
She’s been through the mill
of questioning about her fa
mous mother and famous
sister. “Everybody wants to
know ‘What was your mother
like . . . What’s your sister
like . . . Were you close to
your mother . . . Are you
close with your sister?’ But
what about me?
“I’m not competing with
worked for somebody other
than himself. He did a TV
movie for CBS called “Gar
goyles” (not about a new
kind of mouthwash) which
the network will air Nov. 21.
In the last few years Wilde
has produced, directed and,
generally, starred in his own
films. But this is strictly a
job for hire.
“It came at a good time
for me,” Wilde says. “I was
between pictures of my
own.”
“Gargoyles” was filmed
entirely on location in and
around Carlsbad, N.M., and
it’s about a race of gargoyle
like creatures living in
caves.
Wilde, like most independ
ent filmmakers, is finding it
increasingly difficult to get
financing for his movies. The
big studios, which were al
ways the prime source of
money, are cutting back pro
duction. He and the others
are going outside the indus
try for their dollars.
It’s almost all location
shooting today, too. Wilde
says one young electrician in
the “Gargoyles” company—
“he couldn’t have been much
over 30 or 32”—told him he’d
already worked in 41 coun
tries.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
my mother’s memory or my
sister’s reputation,” explains
Lorna. “It opened a lot of
doors for me, but you have
to have a lot of talent once
the doors are open. People
expect a lot from me.”
And despite the compari
sons, Lorna Lust intends to
show people she has what it
takes as an entertainer.
Lorna is a delicate blend
of youth and nostalgia. The
songs she sings range from
rock and roll to the old clas
sics. She enjoys rock music
and Mick Jagger is her fav
orite in that category.
But mixed with that mod
ern is a nostalgia for
something she never lived
through. Lorna likes old
songs and movies and the
old Broadway and the old
days.
Wearing a white rose
printed dress, slightly remi
niscent of the ’3os, Lorna
talked about those good old
days.
“What happened to the
great movies they used to
make?” asks Lorna. “Mov
ies like ‘Gone With the
Wind,’ the Fred Astaire-Gin
ger Rogers movies and Ma
ma’s movies. Now they’re
making garbage. At least
movies were entertaining
then. Everyone in this kooky
world is talking peace,
peace, peace, but they’re
making only violent movies.
I hate violence.
“I’m so sick of seeing
blood on the screen. That’s
why I loved ‘The Sound of
Music’ and ‘Cabaret.’ They
were like the old ones. It’s
boring seeing people get
shot, and that’s the saddest
part. You’re not shocked
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anymore.”
“It’s the same with televi
sion. Everyone’s getting
their brains blown out. I
don’t even like to listen to
the news. It’s too depressing,
so I cut myself off from it.
I don’t want to hear about
it.”
But the elections have
brought her back to the
news. “I’m going to vote for
McGovern, although I don’t
think he has a chance. Well,
he does have a chance, but
not a very big one. Anyhow,
I’d vote for anybody who’d
Lorna and Mama.
get the war over with.” says
Lorna.
But for now Lorna Lust is
going to take up her private
life. Something she says
she’s never had even as a
child. She’s off to Paris to
visit her fiance, French ac
tor Philippe Lavot.
Then back to work in
clubs across the country. Be
cause Lorna’s goal is “to
make it to the top.” And
she believes that she’ll get
there because “hard work
pays off.”
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)