Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 36

35 Thuday, August 28, 197S Phila. Daily News Is Palatable Spy lights Fails to Take Parenial Guide- There's nomina offensive In "Night Pttoht from Moscow" no violence. I nudity or sex play. Soma cursing. stars, among them Yul Brynner.

Henry Fonda, Dirk Bogarde, Virna Lisi, Robert Alda, Philippe Noiret, Farley Granger and Michel Bouquet. Director-writer Verneuil Sicilian and "The has attempted to tell his story in a curious jumbled-cum-straightforward style, telling us so much and leaving gaping holes for us to fill in. Unfortunately, tt's more jumbled than straightforward and devoid of all action, making the proceedings seem long and slow. By J3E TJALTAKE "Night Flight from Moscow" is a delayed, unlucky 1973 release (originally titled "The and a humorless attempt on the part of Gallic director Henri Verneuil to produce some old '40s say hokum. It worked better in the MOs.

There's little involvement in this ambitious and ambiguous tale of a mysterious Russian KGB officer's attempts to serve (or infiltrate?) the CIA, Certainly the doings of a my- stery man is the stuff of suspense and drama but here, the mystery is compounded by confused and muddled plotting that adds up to fodder. BOGGING DOWN' things even further and proving detrimental to the vague espionage storytelling is a veritable goulash of international "COONSKIN" IS FUNNY, INGENIOUS, INVENTIVE ENTERTAINING!" $Hnr, NK i In the wake of Tamara Dobson, Pam Grier and their successful "Cleopatra Jones" and "F3xy Brown" concoctions, we're now being spritzed by Lola Falana and something called "Lady Cocoa." Never has black exploitation looked sillier or duller than in this amateurish opus but Lola is something else. DIRECTOR Matt Cimber's focus is on comedy, rather than action, and so he's failed to identify all the right ingredients of the blaxploitation genre; audiences might be disappointed by the film's lack of sex, nudity, beatings and the usual violence. In putting it all together, Cimbar has come up with a flimsy boring situation comedy, with only one redeeming feature Lola Falana, formerly of Germantown. Now at the Fox, the R-rated movie topcasts Ms.

Falana in a showy, jive role which has the actress coming on like gangbusters. Whether strutting, cursing, acting coy or bitchy, batting her long eyelashes or quoting some French philosopher, Ms. Falana i3 funny and funky, always colorful and never garish and, most of all, highly diverting. In fact, she's so diverting that sh8 almost succeeds in camouflaging the improbable and unamusing plotting. SHE PLAYS the mistress of a racketeer who, after mouthing off about her lover's connections in Harlem, finds herself in the pokey.

She makes an agreement with the law to tell about lover boy's dealings in Reno but only if she's freed. While waiting to tell all to the Grand Jury, she's holed up in a Reno hotel, where she gleefully runs from bedroom to casino to dress shop. It's dumb, but Lola makes it palatable. Here the plot; squeeze out of it what credibility you can: BRYNNER PLAYS a Russian colonel who seeks asylum in America, offering the CIA valuable secret information in return. He claims he wants to benefit the U.

his polygraph test says the opposite. According to Brynner, a spy has worked his way into the CIA, serving Russia with secrets that'll weaken NATO. He even provides a list. of possible suspects; each one innocent, incidentally is uniformly exterminated. There are no surprises here.

Pulp and old-movie buffs will probably finger the real culprit and predict the ending within ten minutes after the film kicks off. Viewers easily confused by jumbled camouflage will probably take 15 minutes. The cast does fine, however, with Brynner, Fonda (identified here as HENRY FONDA "Mr. Big" Mr. Big of the CIA) and Bogarde (as "No.

2 man in British turning in workman-like performances. As for the venerable Verneuil, he proves better as a director here than as a writer, but not good enough to overcome his script's absurdities. BY THE BY, while "Night Flight from Moscow" is probably a more commercial title than "The Serpent," it's less accurate a description of the film and also somewhat incorrect It should be "Night Flight to Moscow." Anyway, whichever title you favor, the movie is PG-rated and now at the Stagedoor. 'JAWS' IS I MIVIE WHOSE EVERT SHOCK IS A DEVASTATING SURPRISE." nn-m fin m-ma moimMi MIOCO GIPW SAUS-IO 7-7100 10, 12:10, 2:20, J5, 6:45, 9:00, 11:10 NOW SHOWING AT ALL THEATRES Inductee Sues Army Over Re-Enlistment ERIC W1LLINGB0R0 BUDCO CITY LINE TWIN BUOC0309 DI ti 63 309 Ion-t8 15 PM-17 15 AM WiftnjborO. J.

IflO 7 30 9 40 77tti 1 City lin TONfTp 7 15 9 15 ERIC MacDADE MALL BUDC8 IH70tll.NI TONirfT1510 Morales, 34, charged Sgt. Thomas Malave, a military recruiter from Jersey City, told Morales it was his "obligation" to go into the Army. Morales was sent to "Fort.Dix- for basic training, where he was hospitalized for five days after vomitting blood. ERIC FEASTERVILLE StrMt ltd Kusrivton Pk. 1 00 7 30 9 40 NEWARK, N.J.

(UPI) man, who claims to speak little English, yesterday filed suit charging the Army tricked him into re-enlisting and refused him medical attention for a lung condition. The suit filed on behalf of Eladio 1 00 30-9 40 ERIC TWIN WEST GOSHEN MERBEN fkd bat. Cottmon 00 3 0. 10 20 BUDCO PLYMOUTH ContttohocttM. Pa.

1 00-7 15 9 30 Ri 202 4 Pook Pk. 1 00 7 30 9 40 Joe Baitake BUDCO 61st ST.DI Sfcyl.f ay Jerry's Cor. TONITE ft 15-M Pm ERIC TWIN HORSHAM Hot-thorn, Pa. 1 00 7 25-9 35 STARLITE 01 GJoufeVer N.i. TONITE 8 50.

Jl 05 Parenfal Guide- There's cursing galore In "Lady Cocoa," but little else to offend. No violence, nudity or sex play. U.S. NORTH Bl 01.11 H. II, TONITE 8: 15 4 11.45 CHRIS TINA UNOBllG.

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