Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 11, 1992 TAG: 9203100215
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
They can still be found in the video stores, though. Note these four, three new releases and one older favorite:
In 1963, "Tom Jones" won Oscars for best picture, best director for Tony Richardson, best score for John Addison and best script for John Osborne. All were well deserved. Almost 30 years later, it's still as bawdy and funny and full of life as it was then.
It's been unavailable on cassette for some time. HBO Video has done a splendid job of transferring the film to tape. This edition is slightly letterboxed, with narrow strips of black at the top and bottom of the screen, to capture most of the wide-screen action. And the soundtrack has been remastered, highlighting Addison's witty music.
Most viewers are probably familiar with this story of an illegitimate 18th-century ne'er-do-well (Albert Finney) whose life is a series of adventures, amorous and otherwise, but whose heart belongs to Sophie Western (Susannah York). The large cast of supporting characters couldn't be better, with Hugh Griffith stealing the show.
The big scenes - the long hunt, the athletic sword fights and the notorious eating scene - have lost none of their luster. What many viewers may have forgotten is the sheer inventiveness of Richardson's approach.
The early '60s were a time of cinematic experimentation. Writers and directors took more chances than they do now, and Richardson was audacious. From the opening scene, played as a silent movie, to characters who speak directly to the audience, to speeded-up movement, the film uses every cinematic device and cliche in the director's bag of tricks.
It's certainly not the kind of treatment that one expects for a classic of English literature, but it's exactly what most classics deserve.
In 1974, Richard Lester took a similar approach to "The Three Musketeers," and the results were almost as much fun. Again, a superb cast led by Michael York, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee, Raquel Welch and Faye Dunaway had a fine time with venerable material.
Much of the credit goes to George MacDonald Fraser's script, which brings the same irreverence to Dumas' original as his Flashman novels bring to history. He gave director Lester a sense of reality to work with that's seldom seen in period pieces. The result is pure swashbuckling fun.
\ "Close My Eyes" is a new video original from England that tries to deal with a difficult subject - incest - and is probably about as successful as any popular entertainment could be.
As children, Natalie (Saskia Reeves) and her brother Richard (Clive Owen) weren't close, and they see each other only occasionally as adults. But that changes after she marries Sinclair (Alan Rickman), and Richard takes a job nearby.
To his credit, writer/director Stephen Poliakoff handles the material seriously. He's interested in the emotional side of the characters and their situation. The film is uncomfortable, not exploitative. It's also a bit slow. At first, the pace is languid; the siblings seem little more than fuzzy, self-absorbed characters.
When Rickman shows up, sparks fly.
He turns in the same kind of winning performance that made him so successful in "Die Hard" and "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves," though here he's completely sympathetic. He generates the most interest in this romantic triangle, and for a time, the uncertain relationship among the three is interesting and suspenseful. Then, right in the middle, the plot takes a huge illogical turn - the kind that makes you laugh at the characters for being so foolish - and the film never completely recovers.
In tone and setting, "Close My Eyes" is close to "Twenty-One." It's another tale of contemporary English youth, one that's meant to be the "frank" confessional story of a promiscuous girl, Kate (Patsy Kensit), and her lovers. Those include a heroin addict and a married man, and the whole lot of them are the most irritating, useless and uninteresting bunch you're ever likely to meet in a movie.
Kate spends much of her time talking to the audience, recalling "Alfie" (a fine British film with Michael Caine), but there's no resemblance, and none to "Tom Jones" either. Where Alfie was flawed, likable and moving, Kate is shallow, self-centered and too glamorous to be believed.
New releases this week:
Child's Play 3 *: Stars Justin Whalin, Jeremy Sylvers. Rated R for gore content, violence, language. 90 minutes. MCA/Universal.
Chucky's back and who cares? Story of a diabolical doll possessed by the soul of a serial killer is excruciatingly inept movie-making. Not for children.
Ricochet : Stars John Lithgow and Denzel Washington. Rated R for violence. Warner
Action thriller has Lithgow as a murderous psychopath facing off against good-guy Washington.
by CNB