The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 44

6D TODAY THE SUN FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1987' 'Window': Baltimore as a city of night 'An affectionate respect for the past' HANSON, from ID obscure English novel, the story demanded a smallish, seaport city with a tradition of downtown gentriflca-tion and an active singles nightlife scene, as well as Impressive public buildings. When the movie's original developers, Paramount, decided not to go ahead with the project. Hanson was able to sell the film to the North Carolina-based De Laurentlis Entertainment Croup. But for DEC Seattle was out of the question. Thus.

Baltimore. "Most of what I liked In Seattle was available in Baltimore," says Hanson, "and the challenge was getting as much of It into the film as possible." One of Hanson's Inventions is already creating some comment. Some of the action takes place at a singles bar called "Edgar's," an impressive neon-and-brlck cave festooned with decor derived from the work of Edgar Allan Poe. Several Baltlmoreans already have asked Hanson where the place Is. The answer, of course, is that it's cast of unknowns who were fated to become knowns In a big way, Including Tom Cruise and Shelley Long.

At that point, anxious to concentrate on directing, he was receiving only offers to direct more teen films. "1 resolved to write something that excited me." he says, recalling an obscure English novel whose plot, he felt, could be rearranged Into elements that would make a successful thriller. "The older suspense films Hitchcock's, and the old film nolrs had an element of craftsmanship in regard to their screenplays and story construction that's lacking in today's movies. I wanted that. On the other hand, I did not set out to make a Slodmak or a Dassln film the look of the picture originated with the idea of the story.

The shadows, the wet streets, the camera angles these were simply the best ways to tell the story. I wanted lots of rain In it too, because I like the Idea of people hurrying from one place to another. on the sound stages at DEC "There should be a bar named Edgar's in Baltimore." Hanson says with a laugh, then confesses he meant the whole thing as "a tip of the hat to the father of the American mystery." There's also a structure In the film that may seem familiar to some viewers, but they will be unable to figure out where in the city It Is. Again, It's In Wilmington, and the reason It's familiar Is that It's the same building that was featured prominently In David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" recently. With a laugh, Hanson explains.

"You see, there are really literally only two brick apartment buildings in Wilmington, and I'd already used the unfamiliar one. But I needed two, so I had to use the second one, too." For Hanson, the thriller represents his breakout Into mainstream filmmaking. He'd written several TV films and the theatrical film "The Silent Partner," as well as directing one small and poorly distributed teen picture "Losin' It." with a fabrication. At the same time, the beaten woman (Elizabeth McGovern) understands that he can't have been the witness, because he doesn't know who she is. Then, when he spies a suspect who must be the guy at a police lineup, he follows him in his peregrinations, and proves it to his own satisfaction.

He goes on record with the cops, and settles for assault charges. The resulting trail is the high point of the film, where Its nolr underpinnings are most explicitly exposed. Guttenberg, confident, a bit smug, sails in, convinced he can pull the stunt off. When the defense attorney, played In a brilliant turn by heretofore feckless schlumph Wally Shawn, gets done with him, he's been shredded. There's a sense of the physical world deteriorating, of him falling, sliding away.

And Guttenberg, not exactly an actor of great depth and texture, Is perfect for what the part demands, a mixture of callowness, cupidity and Boy Scout earnestness. He links up with the shnooks and suckers of nolr Edmund O'Brien In "D.O.A.," Fred Mac- WINDOW, from ID stylistlcs right, too: He makes the night a spooky Jungle, a latticework of light and shadow. And through these shadows move disturbing creatures, most notably a geeky, towering redhead who likes to kill women. Alas. It falls to the wife of a prominent developer to see htm pull off one of his Jobs In Mount Vernon Square; interrupted, he flees, leaving a beaten victim, and kills someone later that night.

The beautiful witness (Isabelle Huppert) can identify him, except she won't: the bedroom window she was looking through belongs not to her husband, but to her lover, a young architect played by Steve Guttenberg. Guttenberg may be a nervous cuckolder but he's essentially decent: he decides to go to the police and claim that it was he who'd seen the killer and, in his clumsy way, see Justice be done. Of course what happens Is that Justice is swiftly undone, He can't quite bring it off. and the police begin to see through his i Murray in "Double Indemnity" and William Hurt In "Body Heat," except that it's not lust that's his undoing so much as Innocence. Of course In a true nolr, for his troubles the Indifferent universe would merely crunch poor Guttenberg Into slime and move on, unfeeling.

In the upscale '80s, however, such glimpses of the mechanics of obliteration are not permitted, and If! the film falters, It falters toward the' end. where Hanson has painted his schnook-hero into such a corner, there's no getting out of It In a convincing fashion: the ending has no resonance, being merely the course of least resistance (and least believa-' bllity) out of a confusing situation. The film does an extremely good Job of selling Baltimore as a sophisticated. Intriguing city, too. Still, even though they shouldn't, local audi-' ences will probably laugh at certain' geographical absurdities, such as the moment when Mount Vernon Square turns abruptly Into a prosaic street corner In Wilmington.

N.C., or the traffic hurtling the wrong way down Calvert Street. The moment 1 could not forgive, however, was sub-, tier: Gutenberg pulls out a copy of The Sun, reaches In and removes egad! the Metro section of The Evening Sun. Now that's scary. Rating: Violence, nudity en MAP show excels with in-depth look at two sculptors 8M ART, from ID SAVE EVEN MORE ASK US HOW! ONE-OF-A-KINDS ODDS AND ENDS OVERSTOCKS I two sound like duo-artists who work together. But that's not the case at all: they are quite separate artists.

Paul Daniel Is a sculptor who has received several public art commls-, slons including one for the subway station at the State Office Buildings. The current show traces his devel-; opment from the early and lovely "Aeolian Model" (1975) through what seems to have been a groping and 'a' not terribly successful period In the early 1980s Hand" and "Mermaid Maker," both 1981) to his recent works in metal, almost all In-volving balance and movement. There is a variety of size, color, and form in these works, but mostj -have a more or less vertical element on which is set an arrangement of geometric shapes so delicately bal- anced that they rest on the vertical element at a single tiny point. These are essentially intended to be out-' door pieces, I assume, to move with the currents of air. As they are in- 1 side at MAP It is necessary to touch them to put them In motion, and visitors are allowed to do so but carefully, please, the lightest touch of a finger will set them gently turning, swaying, undulating.

These are geometric works, but occasionally they seem to be reml-. nlscent also of human figures, as In the recent "AG III" and "AG IV" (both 1986) and "Ray" (1985). At other, times they seem to be about geome-try. "Orange Lassl" (1986) Is a study In rounded forms: the arc, the circle, the arch and the sphere. The smaller ones seem more successful than the larger ones In this show, i but that opinion may be a result of seeing them Indoors.

Elegance, how- ever, Is common to all, small ors large. The small beaded sculptures of Joyce Scott are loaded with Jesper Teak Microwave Cart SALE Jesper Teak Music Sideboard SALE NAE Teak Computer Table SALE $109 $159 179 Solid Teak Dining Chairs Ready to assemble, carry out SALE 6 for $399 REG. SALE! REG. SALE! REG. SALE! Piquattro Piper Leather Queen Sleeper, beige or dark beige OCCASIONAL (1,599 $1,308 999 $1,799 (1,839 4 1,199 999 699 999 1,399 249 99 499 199 199 199 99 199 BD102 Becker Lamp Table, black 266 Bornholm Stereo Bench, Teak 245 Jesper Glass Door Stereo Cabinet, Teak BM444 Bornholm Stereo Cabinet, Teak BM444 Bornholm Stereo Cabinet, Rosewood BM449 Bornholm Video Cabinet, Teak BM449 Bornholm Video Cabinet, Rosewood BM443 Bornholm Video Cabinet, Teak SOFA GROUPS Italian leather Sofa, off white Italian Leather Loveseat, white Italian Leather Chair, off white Piano 2-Seat Leather Sofa, blackash Eilereen Arizona Large Sofa, burano Preview Chair, natural Preview Ottoman, natural Point Pleasant Sofa Dynasty Chair, tracy ivory Topaz Chair, dimple chahlis Opal Easy Chair, tarheel opal Opal Ottoman, tarheel opal Ultralure Chair, bone Piquattro Piper Leather Sofa, beige or dark beige Piquattro Piper Leather Loveseat, dark beige Capitol Sofa, silver Capitol Loveseat, silver 349 149 799 249 249 249 199 249 Other Bornholm Home Entertainment Furniture On Sale! )w S1'1 899 599 699 499 599 449 399 299 400 NAE Table, solid Teak and glass 549 399 999 6 9 9 399 NAE Table, solid Teak and glass 449 299 AV-150 Table, Teak 449 399 249 149 BEDROOM 399 279 711 Komfort Double Dresser, Teak (1,099 649 3(9 249 152 Vinde Double Dresser, Teak 349 249 479 239 WBS Axelsen Queen Bed wo drawer, Teak 499 369 999 479 H2 NAE Triple Dresser, Oak (1.199 799 519 239 749 349 329 169 OFFICE D-5 NAE Typing Extension, Teak 135 99 (1,699 9 NAE 3-Drawer Cassette, Teak 79 39 D-iO NAE File Cassette, Teak 89 49 BM1I0 Bornholm Desk, Pine (1,139 449 BMII6 Bornholm Typing Table, Rosewood 449 199 699 449 (1,199 799 (1,649 1,099 LAMPS 899 599 1807 Designs for Living Table Lamp.red 59 47 (1,099 1 799 1881 Designs for Living Table Lamp, black 59 47 948 1 59 9 1890 Designs for Living Table Lamp, white 59 47 499 2 4 9 336 Ledu Architect's Lamp, red 25 19 109 49 T320I Koch and Lowy Desk Lamp, black 119 95 99 49 F4002 Koch and Lowy Halogen Floor Lamp, black 169 135 139 69 F4030 Koch and Lowy Halogen Floor Lamp, solid brass 189 149 149 99 F3O05 Koch and Lowy Footsteps Floor Lamp, solid brass 239 189 249 149 F2277 Koch and Lowy Floor Lamp, polished chrome 159 125 199 1 99 T2270 Koch and Lowy Table Lamp, polished chrome 149 119 39 19 T200 Koch and Lowy Mushroom Lamp, white glass 109 85 49 24 8131 Designs for Living Globe Lamp, Teakwhite 39 29 As early as the 1970s, she was doing presumably autobiographical works, such as the cruciform "CaldwellScott Icon" (1 976).

More recently they have been related to race relations In America and elsewhere, such as "Mulatto in South Africa" (1986), in which women of three colors, white, brown and black, are incorporated with photographs of an interracial family and of a non-white man in front of a whites-only sign. The "Melon" series (1986) is a commentary on traditional stereotypes, as in "Man-Eating Watermelon" with the melon devouring the black man, and "Aunt Jemelon" In which the Aunt Jemima figure has the head of a melon, and she offers a green figure in a bowl her child? These works reward careful scrutiny on a number of levels for content, for virtuosity of execution and for the lovely, shimmering colors of the beads. They may have somber messages to convey, but they are never without their elements of wit and aesthetic delight. There will be a catalog to accompany the exhibit, but It isn't ready. UPHOLSTERED CHAIRS EJ-75 Gammelgaard Rocker, brown or grey 950 Westnova Frontal Chaise, epoxy wred, grey, or black Bruksbo Victoria Corner Cabinet, Rosewood DINING 15 NAE Buffet, Ash 8401 Hundevad Buffet, Teak 8401 Hundevad Buffet, Rosewood 84020 Hundevad Hutch, Teak 8402G Hundevad Hutch, Rosewood Inca Buffet and Hutch, Teak 66 Miller Armchair, RosewoodBulford 20 503 Potocco Chair, black lacquer worange or blue 503 Potocco Chair, burgundy lacquer wbeige 503A Potocco Armchair, burgundy lacquer wbeige 152 Chair, Ash wwhite hide 540 Armchair, black wgrey hide LIS Chair, Teak 330 Chair, white 333 Armchair, white 149 449 59 599 Other Westnova Frontal Styles on Sale! IX Chair and Ottoman, brown, white or black 899 m'-i if 599 599 SLEEP SOFAS Bedford Innerspring Queen Sleeper, natural Lorrent Innerspring Queen Sleeper, pepper Turin Innerspring Queen Sleeper, townsend charcoal 449 449 699 899 MANY MORE ITEMS ON SALE! JZAkl" 4 DAYS Subject to prior sale.

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