Take One (Jul-Aug 1971)

OVER LOOKED & UNDER RATED Fright (Dir. Peter Collinson) From Tudor Gates’ well-tailored (if unoriginal) script, Peter Collinson has fashioned the kind of neat, scary thriller you thought had been laid to rest with the demise of the neighborhood theatres. Disbelief is effectively suspended with some eerie camerawork on children’s play-things, and lan Wilson’s dark, dark photography makes the most of the suggestive sets. The cast complements this treatment by playing. the melodramatics _ straight. Fright is the kind of movie that got chased off the film circuit by St. Bernards like The War Between Men and Women; so catch it if you can. ; e Howard Curle The Pursuit of Happiness (Dir. Robert Mulligan) If, out of admiration for The Other, you should feel impelled to catch up on Robert Mulligan, by all means check out The Pursuit of Happiness. Columbia just barely released this one at all (back in February 1971). The problem is that Mulligan works strictly within the Hollywood conventions of the youth protest film; and it will doubtless be a long time before anyone can be objective about this short-lived genre. Another insurmountable: problem — to which | offer no solution — is Barbara Hershey. The story is a lot like Zabriskie Point, but minus all the pretense and the anger, and plus a deep affection for its characters who are variously trapped by the way things are. A real Mulligan theme emerges: the will to make the break to freedom. The film consists mostly of close-up reaction shots of. Michael Sarrazin. passively following his instincts in a world on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It's all very simple and straightforward and uses very common metaphors to Say something ‘quite deep and deeply felt. Among other things of a miraculous nature, it makes New York City look like not .such a bad place to live and restores the Statue of Liberty to its position as a valid symbol of freedom. John H. Dorr (You — dear reader — are cordially invited to submit short discussions of your own favorite unjustly-neglected film(s) for inclusion in future editions of this column. Come on, save a film today.) 38 aa a~@ IN THE WORKS Herewith, as complete and up-to-date as we can make it, a necessarily brief summary of recent Canadian independent feature-film activity. Productions that have (to the best of our knowledge) received assistance from the Canadian Film Development Corporation are indicated by an asterisk. (Assembled with the help of the Cinémathéque Québecoise. ) Despite continuing uncertainty (in the absence of any government policystatement) as to the tax-depreciation aspects of any investment in films, the Canadian feature-film industry seems to be going stronger than ever before. Leading the list are three truly major motion pictures (CFDC involvement in which is_ still contingent on certain conditions being met): Alien Thunder* (an Onyx production, not Carle-Lamy as reported in our last issue) began nine weeks of shooting on location (in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan) in mid-September. The picture stars Donald Sutherland (who has just completed work on The Master in Miami) alongside Chief Dan George, and is being directed by Claude Fournier. The original screenplay (by George Malko and W.O. Mitchell — wellknown author of Who Has Seen the Wind) is based on an actual event that took place in 1895, as described in the archives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: It is the story of Almighty Voice, an Indian who was convicted of shooting a cow, who escaped custody of the Northwest Mounted Police (the RCMP’s predecessors) and was subsequently killed by them. The film is (somehow) intended to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the force now known as the RCMP, and is to be distributed by MGM. September 18th saw the start of shooting in Halifax on The Neptune Factor* (formerly Conquest of the Deeps), starring Walter Pidgeon, Ben Gazzara, Yvette Mimieux and Ernest Borgnine, under the direction of Daniel Petrie (a Nova Scotia native whose credits include Raisin in the Sun — starring Sidney Poitier — and The Bramble Bush — starring Richard Burton). Described as a multi-million dollar venture (the CFDC investment alone is $200,000), it is the largest project of its kind to date in Canada (Producer is Sandy Howard; David Perlmutter of Toronto and _ Harold Greenberg of Montreal are the Executive Producers), and all of the financing, as well as most of the cast and crew, is Canadian. The film is sche duled to be released, by Twentieth Century-Fox, in May of 1973. Shooting has now also begun, this time in Montreal, on The Pyx*, with Harvey Hart directing a cast led by Christopher Plummer, Karen Black and Daniel Pilon. Producer is Maxine Samuels (of the “Seaway” tv series a few years back). The film (based on the novel by Montrealer John Buell) is about a high-class callgirl who is found murdered, and the detective who traces her life. Budgeted at under $1 million, the picture is scheduled to be released by MGM. Elsewhere on the current scene, David Acomba has now completed location shooting of his first feature Out* (given the working title Spring Coolie because the filmmakers thought it unwise to send film to a lab marked “Out’). Produced by James Margellos, the film stars Luke Askew, Patti Oatman and Eli Rill, and is budgeted at $400,000. Distribution of the picture (described as “a mood piece in the fantasy vein’) is to be handled by Cinépix. In another Toronto-based production, Keir Dullea plays a small-town hockey-playing hero in Agincourt Productions’ latest, The Last of the Big Guns*, which was to start shooting September 11th in Delisle, Saskatchewan. Director is Peter Pearson (after Peter Carter — of The Rowdyman* — fell ill), and Producer is John F. Bassett (who just can’t seem to get hockey off his mind, for some reason). Jon Voight had been first choice as lead, but fell out of contention rapidly when he reportedly asked for a $400,000 salary (the film is budgeted around $500,000). Elizabeth Ashley is cast as the female lead. Shooting has now been completed, around Toronto, on the low-budget (around $100,000) feature, The Merry Wives of Tobias Rouke. Produced by Stan Feldman and Samuel Jephcott, the film is being directed by John Board (assistant director on Act of the Heart*, Eliza’s Horoscope’, RipOff*, and — most recently — Wedding in White*), and was written by George Mendeluk and David Slabotsky. Also recently completed shooting was Murray Markowitz’s August and July*. The $200,000 film is about a love affair between two girls, and is to be distributed by Crawley Films. In sadder Toronto news, Allan King Associates — after five years of operation — has gone out of business. The firm pioneered the “actuality drama” with such features as Warrendale and A Married Couple. The decision to shut down came on the heels of a CFDC decision to invest in King’s latest project — The Graham Girls — only if the budget were trimmed substantially. What is going to happen to King’s already-completed but as-yet