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64124<br />
Opinions on Current Productions ^EATURi RiVIEWS<br />
while (bSw). For eIo<br />
A DREAM OF PASSIOIS<br />
Greek<br />
English<br />
Drama;<br />
Tillcs<br />
Avco Embassy<br />
110 Minutes<br />
Rel. Sept. '78<br />
"Medea" serves both main story and background<br />
for a liighly-charged drama with some of the best acting<br />
in an import this year. Melina Mercouri and Ellen Burstyn<br />
share honors, although the latter has a much smaller<br />
role as the living embodiment of the ancient legend in<br />
modern Greece. Producer-director-writer Jules Dassin<br />
based his screenplay on two actual cases of women who<br />
mui-dered their children, one an Italian and one an American<br />
living in Greece, and on the personalities of his two<br />
stars. Mercom-i, long associated with Dassin, performs<br />
hor stage character and the role of the actress in English<br />
and Greek, which are used interchangeably. Burstyn<br />
proves again what a fine actress she is, despite the brevity<br />
of her scenes. Her mixture of madness and cunning, innocence<br />
and vengefulness is quite a feat. Andreas Voutsinas<br />
as the director and Despo Diamantidou in a noncomic<br />
part are also extremely impressive. Filmed on location<br />
in Piraeus, the Bren Film/ Melina Film/ Aries Enterprises<br />
offering has English titles and color by CFI. It<br />
should be much discussed. The ending is deliberately less<br />
of an emotional impact than expected, audiences being<br />
left to sort out the meaning for themselves. The R-rating<br />
is<br />
for profanity.<br />
Melina Mercouri, EUen Burstyn, Andreas Voutsinas,<br />
Despo Diamantidou, Dimitris Papamichael.<br />
THE NORSEMAN PG<br />
Action-Advenlu<br />
American Int'l (7810) 90 Minutes Rel. June '78<br />
Lee Majors, of TVs "Six Million Dollar Man," makes<br />
his starring film debut in this swashbuckling adventm-e.<br />
It recounts the saga of a group of Vikings, who landed<br />
on North American shores five hundred years before Columbus,<br />
and their battle with hostile Indians. Charles B.<br />
Pierce, who wrote, directed and produced this action film,<br />
is known for such features as "Tlie Legend of Boggy<br />
Creek," "The Town That Dreaded Sundown," "Winterhawk,"<br />
"The Winds of Autimin" and "Grayeagle." Costar<br />
Cornel Wilde is no stranger to the swashbuckling<br />
genre, having appeared in "Bandit of Sherwood Forest,"<br />
"At Sword's Point" and "Sword of Lancelot." Mel Ferrer<br />
and Jack Elam round out the cast. Newcomer Susie Coelho<br />
plays the female lead, an Indian girl who helps<br />
Majors. Film buffs will spot Kathleen Freeman as the<br />
older Indian woman. The story is partly told through<br />
the eyes of a young boy, played by Chuck Pierce jr. Jess<br />
Pearson narrates the action, and Jaime Mendoza-Nava's<br />
musical score enhances the story. While "The Norseman"<br />
does not achieve the epic statui-e it may have strived for.<br />
it is a straightforward story, told simply. The Charles B.<br />
Pierce Film Pi-oductions. Inc./Fawcett-Majors Productions,<br />
Inc. presentation was filmed in Movielab Color.<br />
Lee Majors, Cornel Wilde, Mel Ferrer, Jack Elam, Susie<br />
Coelho, Christopher Connelly, Kathleen Freeman.<br />
A SLAVE OF LOVE<br />
Cinema 5 94 Minutes Rel. Aug. '78<br />
One of the finest films to emerge from Russia in years<br />
is this tender and touching comedy-drama of the early<br />
days of moviemaking amidst the tm-moil of the Revolution<br />
of 1917. Coming from a talented family of artists,<br />
poets and filmmakers, young director Nikita Mikhalkov<br />
emerges as an important figure on his own. The comedy<br />
is funny, the brutality is never stressed and the love<br />
story, though remaining on a platonic level, is quite<br />
touching. Elena Solovey and Rodion Nakhapetov. as the<br />
lovers who take too long to declare their mutual devotion,<br />
are both charming. As a director in the mold of James<br />
Coco, Alexander Kalyagin is most amusing. The abrupt<br />
change in moods from comedy to tragedy are never jarring,<br />
as the pace is established at the opening with a takeoff<br />
on silent melodrama and a vicious attack on a revolutionary<br />
in rapid sequence. Black and white is used for<br />
all the film-within-a-film scenes and to stress the di'amatic<br />
reaction to actual shots of peasants being executed.<br />
Friednch Gorenstein and Andrie Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky<br />
did the deft screenplay and Eduard Ai-temiev contributed<br />
a wistful and appropriate score. The Sovexport<br />
Films presentation of a Mosfilm production is in color<br />
v/ith English titles.<br />
Elena Solovey, Rodion Nakhapetov, Alexander Kalyagin,<br />
0\eg BasilashiviU, Konstantin Grigoryev.<br />
TINTORERA<br />
u ^''"f„,^;ii:\\^'r'-<br />
United Film 91 Minutes Rel. May '78<br />
From the makers of the surprise hit "Survive!," this<br />
actioner which resembles the "Jaws" features contains<br />
more sex than shark. For most of the film, male leads<br />
Hugo Stiglitz and Andres Garcia
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