The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 19

3 THK CO! UIKR-jm lSA THI RSIUV, JLIA 29, 1976 Movie review Birch Interval' has only tedium to offer ct I m. QgJ. by Robert Anderson it focuses on what should be a mildly dramatic slice of family life. Strange, too, because Robert Radnitz is the producer. He's the one who brought us "Sounder," a family picture of rare sensitivity.

I wonder why Radnitz ever allowed "Birch Interval" to be put in the can. On the drawing board, "Birch Inter- By JEAN DIETRICH Courier-Journal Critic If a visit down on the farm with the folks 'were the restorative it's sometimes touted to be, there might be some excuse for "Birch Interval," an arrival yesterday at Oxmoor. Instead, it offers only tedium to the point of no return. Strange, because Three Funny Funny One Acts Rolled Into One Hilarious Comedy! with Diane Deckard of ANY WEDNESDAY SPECIAL PREVIEW PERFORMANCES, July 29th and 30th $8.40 Tax Incl. Per Person marilyn beck him put away for mental observation.

"Pa" Albert agrees because he thinks it will prove that his son is not crazy as the populace believes. Little Susan is heartbroken because she loves her uncle. And she finds little solace, as "Birch Interval" grinds on to its tear-jerker ending, in her grandfather's oft-repeated homily, "We must all love each other and stick together." Delbert Mann, whose career is not without distinction, hasn't added to his laurels with "Birch." Nor has Torn. Albert's performance has a genuine ring considering. Miss Revere's is quite ludicrous.

And little Brian Part is appealing enough he may have a future. As to Susan McClung, she lacks the ability to bring any depth at all to the pivotal role of a child who is forced to face life's realities. A better actress might have given "Birch" a modicum of emotional punch. Just be glas that Urs. B.

Furrer was on hand. As director of photography he pulled off his assignment admirably with some beautiful scenes of the lovely countryside around Gettysburg. The PG. Critic's comments: bland as Pablum. val," with a screenplay by Joanna Crawford based on her own book, has a poignant potential.

A little girl, Susan McClung, is sent by her mother from New York to the Pennsylvania Amish country to spend the winter with her grandfather, Eddie Albert, and his family. (Mom, lucky girl, is off to Paris for the season.) Albert is a loving old "Pa." His household is fairly lively. There are two young cousins, 9-year-old Brian Part (a cute kid) and 12-year-old Jann Stanley (not at all cute). Their parents are Rip Torn and his bickering wife, Ann Wedgeworth. The bickering would seem to be justified: Torn is a queer one, all right.

He's a loner who spends his time tinkering with watches and nursing an inner rage about modern progress. (The year is 1947.) Another who figures prominently yet briefly is Anne Revere as a crackpot recluse. But in the center ring, as we say, is Torn who finally just wanders off creating great consternation in the community. He's accused of stealing farm products and eventually of burning down Miss Revere's ramshackle house. Irate neighbors sign a petition to have REMEMBER Dinner Theatre Advance reservations means a better FOR RESERVATIONS LOUISVILLE 451-4900 SIMPSONVILLE 722-8836 Why is Dan Curtis so pleased? choice of seats for the date you desire.

some idiot who doesn't know what he's doing will come along and make It had a 'nothing' ending, but I took it and changed it and the movie has turned out terrific." We'll have a chance to see just how "terrific" it is when the United Artists' horror is released next month. But, if we're to take Curtis' word for it, it's a bloody sight better than those old clas 425 1270425 1289 Center HOLLYWOOD Producer Dan Curtis ia convinced that television audiences are hftngry for some' fright-full home entertainment. And that he's the man who can give it to them. Curtis who's established himself as the King of Video Terror with such productions as "Scream of the Wolf," "The Night Stalker," "The Night Strangler," the 1965 daytime series, "Dark Shadows," and TV adaptations of "Dracula" and has just completed a "Doath of Night" series pilot for NBC. And to hear him tell it, it's horror-ably bettor than anything the competition has ever produced.

He puts down the old "Night Gallery" by saying, "It was lousy because they chose lousy material to do. The flply reason people watched it was because they were hoping to catch one of thfl decent segments that would pop up every once in a long while." Thei pugnacious, opinionated filmmaker, concedes that the late Rod Ser-ling's "Twilight Zone" had some merit, but "After a while it ran out of good material something I wouldn't allow.fco happen to one of my shows." also didn't think much of "Burnt Offerings" when the book was offered to him for development as his first major hjg-screen chiller. "Iiread it and said to myself, 'I bet cinemas In the Heart ol Louisvilles LUXURIOUS OXMOOR SHOPPING nunicu mm PARKING I CENTER 0 -EXCLUSIVF SHOWIMCi sic hoiTor tales other filmmakers Tiave brought to the big screen. "The Bela Lugosi version of he says, "was just plain I can't excuse it even if it was made in the '30s. It was based on a bad play.

People would know just how bad those productions were if they ran them back-to-back with the 'Dracula' I made for TV." He does grant that the Jack Clayton "The Innocents" movie, based on "Turn of the Screw," turned out well. So well, in fact, "that I was a little hesitant about basing a two-part ABC production on the same work in 1974." But Curtis, the Fearless, went ahead, "And I did it anyway, and in the end I liked mine better." "Which really says something to me," says Curtis, the Modest, "because usually I'll be down on my own work." Not so that anyone would notice. Marilyn Btck mmm "A n.wwuwn.icaa,,, ovQI1icitp i BKMATR MAY BF UX) INTENSF f'(' HII DKTN I SwiiWIMIWIiBiroifflMMS discovered thf things that make Rich and and hreak the heart. tender." went thm dlttrlbutor or mimrilm will not pmrmlt uo to honor pmimmm during thlo mngogomont. Oxmoor Translux KAIHUtNlAIIIKIU NIV(IRKOAIVNHl 4:15 Raceland4 Westland4 Summer of Im in BIRCH INTERVAL Sec toed theotit hilingi for shorn timet ZJCOOOt 8 NAL2WEEKS June 22 through August 8 The hilarious story of the most BARGAIN MATirZEES: impossible bank robbery ever attempted.

MICHAEL JAMES ELLIOTT CAINE CAAN GOULD DIANE i a rr HAiiiP Music by RICHARD RODGERS Book and Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II STARRING GEORGE LEE ANDREWS "if deservei fo be one of the theatre's biggest hits. William Moofi Courier-Journal Critic (Highest Rating). the audience loved if." Jt C.rro'l Dudley SaOnders 4t i Daily Nra "7 lou. nmei v.rinc Call for Reservations 288-8281 I 3S.11S S1S 11 S25 Marriott Drive rr lit Louisville-Clarksville. Indiana II 11 I Seven Beauties Next to the Marriott Inn 9 ULM1IJV Vf VW TJl pmdumtt 1:40 I rwflmrtf Box Office Open 7 Days S4.

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