(the Amphibian Man)
The Age
Thursday June 24, 1993
The Amphibian Man (1961) (Tonight, 9.30pm, SBS).
Russian fables are not all spectacularly hypnotic works like `Andrei Rublev' or `Ivan The Terrible'. The science fiction genre thrived in the former USSR but few of these films were exported and many of them were influenced by decadent Western culture, and low-brow at that.
This low-tech example is a curio about a demented scientist who transforms his son into an amphibious man able to breath underwater and equipped with gills, and nicknamed the Sea Devil by the locals.
After saving a pearl merchant's wife from a shark he falls in love with her and predictable complications arise.
Directed by Gennadi Kazansky and Vladimir Chebotaryov.
Andrei Rublev (1966) (Daily, 1pm, 8pm, Sunday 5.30pm, Panorama).
This mesmerising three-hour epic depicts the life of Russia's greatest icon painter. Set in the 15th Century, a period notable for its brutality, Rublev (Anatoly Solonitsyn) is the artist-monk plagued by spiritual doubts which he attempts to resolve through his murals and frescoes while Tartar hordes ravage the countryside and civil war rages. Andrei Tarkovsky's finest work, co-written with Andrei Konchalovsky, and with its long missing footage restored, is a moving affirmation of the human spirit in the face of adversity, told through eight imaginary episodes.
The casting of the bell sequence is exhilarating, as is the climactic segue into color as Rublev's actual frescoes come to life.
Cronos (1993) (Tonight, Nova 7.15pm, Saturday, Midnight, Nova).
Advance word on this modern vampire tale, which I have not been able to see, is highly favorable. It's a first feature from Mexican writer- director Guillermo del Toro about a device that grants eternal life.
The film screens as part of a special season showcasing the International Critics' Week from last month's Cannes Festival. Seven features and shorts by first-time directors will screen in the next week.
The Best Of Short Poppies (Saturday, 7pm, Sunday, 3pm, State Film Theatre).
Short Poppies, a national festival of student shorts and video productions, opened as a festival in Sydney earlier this month and has been exported to Melbourne with a selection of 10 award-winning films.
The two-hour program, which screens twice, features a range of student productions in documentary, animation, narrative and experimental categories. Admission is $7 (concession $5). For further details contact James Edge on (03)3473187.
The Great Garrick (1937) (Monday, 2.25am, Channel 10) Brian Aherne, in a rare leading role in an A vehicle, manages to be arrogantly obnoxious and unbearably unctuous as the real-life 18th Century British stage actor who is invited to act as guest star at the Comedie Francaise and becomes the victim of an elaborate and well- deserved theatrical hoax that is intended to bring the prat down a peg or two.
Although he is best remembered as the director of `Frankenstein' and `The Bride Of Frankenstein', English expatriate James Whale deserves some recognition for his work here in the field of romantic comedy. So does Ernest Vajda whose witty parodies of theatrical life merit favorable comparison with Lubitsch's `To Be Or Not To Be'. With a 21- year-old Olivia de Havilland, romantically linked to Aherne at the time, Lionel Atwill and Lana Turner in period costume, and Edward Everett Horton fussing about as Garrick's manservant, try not to miss it.
Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992) (Daily 3.45pm, 7.30pm, 9.15pm, Panorama) The career of Hollywood's quintessential embodiment of American manhood is analysed through a series of cleverly selected clips taken off television with a voiceover narration from beyond the grave.
Director Mark Rappaport pays afan's homage but simultaneously makes a trenchant criticism of the commercial mainstream and its repressive ideologies, which are in turn subverted by an unusually effective artistic strategy. Using old footage and video technology, the bland romanticism that was central to the Hudson persona is seen as the mere masking for all manner of unambiguous innuendos and sexual come-ons.
Salo (1975) (Monday, 7pm, State Film Theatre) The first Melbourne screening of Pasolini's long-banned final film will be followed by a panel discussion of the director's career, with special reference to Salo and his place in contemporary Italian culture. Participants include Rolando Caputo (Cinema Studies, La Trobe University) and Professor John Gatt-Rutter (Vaccari Professor of Italian Studies, La Trobe University). For further information contact the Australian Film Institute on (03)6961844.
One Minute To Zero (1952) (Thursday, 1am, Channel 10) The red-baiting owner of RKO studios, Howard Hughes, commissioned this Cold War thriller as a propaganda effort to support the involvement of American combat forces in Korea and hired efficient veteran Tay Garnett to direct.
Hawkish Army colonel Robert Mitchum is initially hostile to UN functionary Ann Blyth, whom he sees as a liberal pinko and ignorant civilian, but before the fade-out she has learnt the true values and fallen for the big lug.
Although it had only been seven years since the end of World World II, Hollywood filmmakers had already equated the Asian Commies on a par with the Nazi and Jap villains of World War II movies. Two decades later Vietnam would change all that. But at the time, patriotic fervor and macho values were being pushed even as Sam Fuller was starting to put doubts into this dubious scenario in his Korean war films (`Fixed Bayonets', `The Steel Helmet').
Mildura Film Festival (Saturday, Sunday, Cinema Deakin, Mildura).
The two-day festival kicks off tomorrow at 9am with `Mountains Of The Moon' (1990) with Patrick Bergin in his pre-psycho period as explorer Sir Richard Burton _ highly impressive to watch in a large-screen presentation.
Other titles include `Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter' (1991, `House Of Angels' (1992) and `Egon Schiele Excesses' (1981).
Festival inquiries should be directed to (050)237064 or (03)5318016.
In conjunction with the festival, a special archival screening will take place at the Mildura Secondary College Library on Saturday at 8pm with a program of shorts and a George Wallace Cinesound comedy from the Thirties, `Gone To The Dogs', directed by the ubiquitous Ken G.
Hall.
Made in USA (1966) Wednesday, 7.40pm, State Film Theatre).
``Walt Disney plus blood!" Godard's despairing farewell to traditional Hollywood cinema goes down fighting. The cast includes Anna Karina as Alice in Wonderland, David Goodis, Mizoguchi, Widmark and Siegel (two cops), and Marianne Faithfull. Godard fragments the narrative at every opportunity and gives his cast sufficient scope to blend into the comic strip visuals, supplied by Raoul Coutard.
Screens with, at 9.15pm, Godard's `Wind From The East' (1970), a ``Nixon-Paramount Western" with Gian Maria Volonte.
Film Buff's Forecast can be heard on 3-RRR (102.7FM) each Saturday from noon till 2pm. This week's guests include Jean Roy, convenor of International Critics' Week, Cannes Film Festival, and Rolando Caputo who will discuss the career of Pier Pasolini, director of `Salo'.
© 1993 The Age