FILMS Not great, but what the hell! by KENNETH ROBINS "The Sting" (NRC) at the Paramount is a riot. Peopled with Runyonesque characters who never tumble over into caricature, filmed in colour which seems to be brushed on by Cezanne, studded with high comedy, poignancy and irrepressible ebullience, it is the sort of 1 film which has award-winning elements built in. It is really an all-male piece despite the telling vignettes of the female members of the cast and Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw play it for all their worth. No overt reference is made to the tragic social conditions of the period (the mid 1930s), but the opening scenes have some hopeless characters lounging in doorways and one superb shot later in the film switches abruptly from the interior of a train where a poker game is being played for very high stakes to the fires of the bums camped beside the railway tracks. However, whole atmosphere of the film, despite the clothes and the cars, smacks more of the early 1920s; a feeling which is underlined by Scott Joplin rags on the so soundtrack. The story concerns an elaborate series of set-ups designed to destroy a gang boss (Shaw) whose minions have beaten up and murdered a black accomplice of a smalltime con man (Redford). Redford enlists the aid of a legendary manipulator (Newman) who has been "resting" and as the machinery for the set-up goes into action things become more and more hilarious. It would be possible to pick holes in the story line; for example. credit on a large scale must have been forthcoming for a project which was part altruistic; and there was evidence that suppliers of equipment were demanding money on the nail. Admitting that things were dirt cheap in 1936, the magnitude of the project must stil! have run ENTERTAINMENT AND THE ARTS into a pretty penny before the payoff. But what the hell; "The Sting" is heartily, recommended, for it is a film in which superlative technique transcends any logical carping not a great film by a long shot but a superb example of the film-maker's craft which is also top entertainment. "The Way We Were" (G.) at the Embassy is not really a valid title, for so few of us were this way. This reflects little credit on most of us who lived untouched through the agony of Spain and watched a monstrous blight spread over Europe. But, of course, there was the International Brigade and there were a few kids concerned. "The Way We Were" has Barbra Streisand, totally committed to the view that the Left is right, unable to compromise and seeing social issues as superior to personal relationships. This hardly makes her the sort of person who will fit into a sophisticated society, where flippancy is the major defence; and this forms one of the main themes of the film, which has far too many themes, among which the trial of the Hollywood Ten becomes submerged. Having come to the conclusion that the whole thing had misfired despite alchemy of Streisand and Redford, which is considerable, I was conscious that during the final scene I was flanked by, and had my back to, a gaggle of late adolescent girls in floods of tears. MUSIC Warmth, wisdom by ROGER COVELL If any chamber music group from overseas can be said to represent and contain part of the spiritual continuity of Musica Viva Australia, it is surely the Smetana Quartet from Prague. Returning to Sydney for the fourth time in 17 years, it gave an Opera House recital *
