February 14, 1977

the other press

 

Gord Isfeld

Peter Finch is dead. The last
thing. the actor did in his long
film career was to portray Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in
_| a soon to be forgotten television
| special. Finch was 61.

Television died long before he
did, it died in infancy.

In Network, director Sidney
Lumet (Serpico, Dog Day After-
noon) has tried to bring us a
sharper picture of the television
world than we ordinarily get on
our own sets at home.

Dissected and examined
closely on the larger-than-life
movie screen, Lumet and writer
_| Paddy Chayefsky want us to see
their interpretation of life--as
adapted for television.

“Television is a business,”’
explains the-head of an inter-
national conglomerate (now in
the process of absorbing the
| fictitious UBS T.V., network.)
‘The whole world is a business.
It has been since Man climbed
out of the slime.”’

The smell still lingers for TV
executive Max Schumacher
(William Holden). It has been
brought down to Schumacher
from the board of directors, that
[long-time friend, Howard Beale
"| (Peter Finch) must be fired from

[his position as newscaster.

Schumacher reluctantly carries
out his duty--Beale spontan-
eously goes out of his mind.

**Since this job is the only
thing in my life,”’ declares Beale
| on television ‘‘I’ve decided to
kill myself.’’ Only he has decid-
ed to do it during his last
broadcast. ‘‘That otta boost the
ratings.”’

And sure enough it does.

Wanting to cash in on his
insantiy, the network turns
Beale into the nightly ‘‘mad
prophet of the airwaves.”’

This take-off, as unreal as
television itself, could only have
been accomplished by someone
like Chayefsky, who's exper-

~ Network-
strictly business

ience in early television drama
has given him the tools to lead
the ‘‘televised minds’’ of today
anywhere he desires.

Where they are taken here, is
to the conclusion that we are
doomed to a world of unreality
and escapism--but some of us
play this ‘‘game’’ more honestly
than others.

William Holden plays it more
honestly than the rest. His ‘‘I
want something that’s real’’
character is the only actual
person in the film,--the rest are
made for T.V.

The late Peter Finch is as
believable as any person could
be playing an unbelievably in-
sane man--‘‘going public.”’

Robert Duvall, as the con-
glomerate’s ‘‘executive middle-
man’’, exemplifies all the para-
noia needed to illustrate a
person constantly looking over
his shoulder in anticipation of
his own axing.

Fay Dunaway as the networks
program director Diana Christ-
enson, the young woman who
steals Schumacher from his
middle-aged wife, is the typical
modern-aged humanoid--lost in

the unreal world of TV scenarios
and ratings. It 1s an empty

character that Dunaway fills

quite well.

The film is memorable if only
for two lines. One being broad-
caster Beale’s on air pronounce-
ment that life is ‘‘bullshit...(and
after all these years on televis-
ion) I just don’t have any
bullshit left’’.

The other line has Holden
once and for all putting women
straight on male sexual perfor-
mance--*‘] quit comparing geni-
tals back inthe — school yard’.

Network succeeds in bringing
into focus most of TV ills--bland
programming, catering to the ad
man--but it may be too late to
help television’s victims. The
viewer has already been engulf-
ed by the opium in the tube.

 

 

Earl Klein as Brother Prozorov in Three Sisters

 

 

 

Three Sisters-ambitious

Gwen Odland
The press release sent out on
Anton Chekhov’s ‘‘Three Sis-
ters’’ described Studio 58’s
production as their most ambit-
ious to date. If the term ambit-
ious was used as the only one
plausible for an in-training ~
company performing Chekhov,
so be it. But it is this writer’s
opinion that the name Chekhov,
of more importantly ‘‘Three
Sisters’’, does not indicate a
greatness in. script which should
have made the students at
Studio 58 question their theatri-
cal abilities. The name Chekhov
need not have frightened them,
but better, encourage them.
And so it must have, for the
term ambitious is better used as
an indication of the study and
work involved by each cast
member. ,
' Chekhov’s story of three sis-
ters; played by Lisa Trudel,
Heidi Archibald and Elizabeth
Bantly; and those closely invol-

ved with their dream of moving
to Moscow from Northern Rus-
sia at the turn of the century, is
not an easy study of Russian
life. There are a great many
subtle character changes and
plot turns as each sister becom-
es involved in their stumbling
block preventing them from

’ fulfilling that dream.

Never the less, each person
was aware of their character
developments and although a
bit anxious, the subtleness
maintained through the play.

It is sometimes an injustice to
point out only part of a product-
ion cast, so it should be under-
stood that the whole company of
‘‘Three Sisters’’ did a very fine
job with a script such as this
one. But I must point to two of
the members who held their
own in a remarkable way
throughout the entire script.
Heidi Archibald, playing the
second sister Masha, and John
Moffat, playing Soliony, are two

very fine Theatre students.

I_ have seen both Heidi and
John in previous plays, and the
rate at which these two are
progressing is incredible (from
an audience members point of
view). Heidi is constantly aware

of how her character reacts to
each thing affecting it, and how |
she as an actress must react to
an audiences’ response to that
character. She simply never
slipped. The same applies to
John Bryden. This man has a
knack for taking full control of
his character and never letting it
go. Much like a chess player
with his Queen.

Again. Studio 58 cannot be
surpassed for their set. The
antiques and costumes were
collected with a good deal of
thought and contribute nicely to
the feel of the play. The only
problem was an unsteady, and
perhaps slow, hand at the
lighting board.

 

I have never met anyone that
admits to liking disco music.

On the other hand, I know
many who hate it with a
passion. What puzzles me,
then, is disco’s popularity.
What makes it popular? Who
Knows? Who cares?

Everybody knows that disco is
dance music and a disco is a
place where you go to dance to
this music. The main character-
istic of the music is the never
changing rhythm track high-
lighted by lush strings and a
simple vocal chant.

One thing that draws people
to disco is the lack of a cover
charge and not having to worry

 

if the band is any good, because
every disco plays the same
music.

The people who complain the
loudest are the very same
people who are responsible for
it’s popularity. The way things
were going, the music produced
by many of the bands was
getting more and more complex,

with tricky time changes and

long, and often boring, solos
that make their music undanc-
ible. Also, the general improve-
ment in musicianship was also
responsible for some pretty
mediocre and ‘‘the-same-old-
thing-again’’ music. ©

So why disco, you ask? Well

-  Disco- it fills aneed

why not? It filled most of the
requirements. Besides, no one
went broke underestimating the
taste of the general public. Not

only that, there is plenty of good _

music around for those that are
willing to look. So stop com-
plaining.

Another thing is, the music-
ians are being put out of work on
a large scale because there are
no places to play anymore. So

what, you say! It just weeds out
the bad musicians, because
good ones can always get a gig.
Maybe. But new talent has no
place to develop, and that’s not
healthy. :

Records Reviewed

Rocket Cottage - Steeleye Span

This is their best album since
Parcel of Rouges in ’72, and it
should get them the long over-
due recognition that they deser-
ve. The pattern remains the
same; powerhouse instrument-
als, a capella tunes, songs of

witches and the like, and songs ©

of murder, and/or seduction.
Though all the material is
traditional, this is not a folk
band. They are closer to. rock
than some one like the Eagles.
Steeleye Span is in fine form as
demonstrated by songs like

Roger Stomperud

Twelve Witches, and Sligo
Maid. This is your last chance.

Dreams, Dreams, Dreams
Chilliwack

Chilliwack is another band
that large scale fame seems to
elude. This, their eighth album
release (counting the Collectors)
and seventh label, finds Chilli-
wack back on the right track
after the disasterous Rocker Box
of last year. It is well produced
and full of good songs suitable
for both A.M. and F.M.. High-
lights are Baby Blues, and an
updated Rain-O.

 

 

 

Fighting for Strangers, The