FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE MOVIES
Every movie, says David Thomson, is about falling in love—about the danger of losing and the thrill of winning it back. He discusses the classic comedies of remarriage, from Adam’s Rib to The Lady Eve, and takes issue with Stanley Cavell’s book on the subject. A modern fable of marriage, Shoot the Moon, has won high praise; Richard Corliss reviews it.
THE NEW WORLD OF ROGER CORMAN
As a director of B-minus horror movies, Corman made a lasting cult reputation. As boss of his own studio, he helped make the reputations of today’s Hollywood hots. Who is he and what has he done with his power? David Chute, who spoke with many Corman associates, has some provocative answers.
MIDSECTION: DUELING GENRES
Genres used to be dependable. You could go to a musical and get a musical; and the director who used the form imaginatively could get a lot out of it. Now it’s different, and Stephen Schiff explains why. Harlan Kennedy looks at recent horror movies and sees the post-Nixonian id aprowl in the land. Andrew Sarris sings a sagebrush dirge to the western. And Carrie Rickey, watching three new musicals, found herself humming the sets and wondering about their director’s intentions.
WHO PICKS THE OSCARS?
Not Sam Peckinpah or Elia Kazan or Orson Welles. No: Anton Leader and Grace Kelly. There are oddities aplenty in membership and rules of the Motion Picture Academy; Myron Meisel has the story. And eight experts—David Ansen, Lee Beaupre, Stuart Byron, Roger Ebert, Aljean Harmetz, Todd McCarthy, Myron Meisel, and Andrew Sarris—predict this year’s winner.
JOURNALS
Yo ho ho! Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance are roistering to the screen—three times. Harlan Kennedy has the story. And in an English country home, Gilbert Adair watches Christmas movies. It’s enough to drive him to Taxi zum Klo.
PHOTO BY JAMES HAMILTON
As staff photographer for The Village Voice, Hamilton has taken the pictures of many directors—from Hitchcock and Truffaut to Woody Allen and John Carpenter—and turned photojournalism into high-contrast art. Herewith, a Hamilton sampler.
NASTY ‘CAT PEOPLE’
Paul Schrader has remade the old Val Lewton thriller into a meditation on love and death—and Nastassia Kinski into a Hollywood star. Interview by David Thomson.
COSTA-GAVRAS ON ‘MISSING’
The State Department has panned this movie as an unsubstantiated attack on U.S. policy in Chile. Now its director tells Dan Yakir his side.
INDUSTRY
In our seventh annual Grosses Gloss review, Myron Meisel analyzes 1981’s hits and flops. Winners: Superman II, Arthur, and Absence of Malice. Sinners: Reds and Ragtime.
VIDEO
Wendy Clarke talks with Mitch Tuchman about her funny, devastating Love Tapes. A new column.
BOOKS
Elliott Stein reviews six studies of the grand old movie palace. Kathleen Murphy on Joseph McBride’s conversations with Howard Hawks.
TELEVISION
Brideshead Revisited has kept many a televiewer warm this winter. Pierre Greenfield and Lawrence O’Toole tangle over its merits.
BULLETIN BOARD
