Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 41

(Ontario (Tribune Friday, December 20, 1974 Section 3 Classified Ads in This Section For children da. pa'f8eiojieeey The classic Nutcracker A. if. 4 4 -V 1 I 1 Lynetta MillerTribuna Virtorian nostalgia in Naperville. lars, and colorful marzipans, all resembling the top of an ornate cake.

THE CHILDREN ARE well-disciplined this year by Ruth Low and Clara, played by Jill Wollenberg, shows genuine enthusiasm, fears during the mouse battle, and actions. Borys Hankewych is charming as the Nutcracker-Little Prince. The jealous rascal Fritz Daniel Walker who pounces on Clara's nutcracker, is convincing. Suzanne Longley's mechanical Columbine introduces the world of make-believe that the sinister Herr Drosselmeyer Richard Ellis, godfather of magic, brings. Michael Bjerkness is a superb wooden soldier.

Patricia Klekovic and Heinz Bosl are a graceful Snow Queen and Snow Prince. D'Artagnan Petty's Hot Chocolate is deftly danced. The gold-lame-legged Coffee Mimi Rozak and Richard Arve spellbind the audience with their seemingly contortionist jestures. Michelle Lees is a striking American Beauty Rose. And Violette Verdy and Peter Martins, guest performers from the New York City Ballet, are a brilliant Sugar Plum Fairy and Prince in the grand pas de deux, choreographed by George Balanchine.

They alternate with Dolores Lipinski and Orrin Kayan, Carmen Mathe and Heinz Bosel, and Lydia Abarca and Paul Russell. THE ORCHESTRA blends perfectly with the visual, neither dominating nor dwindling in importance. The two-act ballet is divided into fast-clipped one-hour segments. The magic's not quite over with the final act. Outside the theater are balloons and a display of assorted Christmas trees, decorated by various groups.

One, loaded with attractive home-baked edibles, carried the message: "Do Not Eat." It's surprising, considering sugar prices, the goodies existed at all. They must have been from the Kingdom of the Sweets. Elaine Markoutsas CHRISTMAS TREES and lights. Candy canes. Sleigh bells.

Angels. Reindeer. Santa Claus. It wouldn't be Christmas without them. And it wouldn't be Christmas without "The Nutcracker," which opened Thursday night for 24 performances thru Jan.

4 at the Arie Crown Theater. The classic late I9th century ballet, set to the superb Tschaikovsky score and updated by Ruth Page, has become a tradition in Chicago, -juxtaposed with other important works of art. Some make it an annual addition to their holiday fare. Others, present company included, are dazzled by the event as first-time-first-nighters. It's for everybody, and you don't have to know a thing about ballet or music to enjoy it.

"THE NUTCRACKER" IS a mixture of the real and the imaginary a dress-up party for little boys and girls and their grown-up mothers and fathers: a nutcracker that turns into little Clara's Prince Charming, giant mice waging battles against wooden soldiers, winter wonderlands, visits to faraway places such as Russia, the Orient, Arabia, and Spain. There's a 40-foot beautifully lighted and decorated tree that swivels around to join a snow-covered forest. Snowflakes look as real as the ones outside. There's humor, too. A mouse knits madly while perched in a living room chair.

The dreaded seven-headed "king of the mice" is more funny than terrifying, especially the way its "Weight" jiggles in costume. The two-story Bonbonniere for whom the expression "as big as a house" truly is appropriate watches nonplussed as little children scurry from under her skirts. The Sam Leve sets are magnificent: the elegant living room with its grandfather clock, mum-bedecked mantelpiece with lit candelabra; the Land of the Snow; and the charming Kingdom of the Sweets with ceilings and festoons of satin and miniature lights, swirling candied pil Fun to Do A look at a yule of yore and Mitchell families, both pioneers in Naperville. Special collections at the museum, Aurora Avenue Rte. 65 in Martin Park, Naperville, include Civil War era dolls, toys, costumes, china and silver.

Tours of the home are provided by costumed guides. Regular hours at the museum are 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays. There's a special Christmas open house set for 1:30 'til 4:30 Dec. 26 thru Dec.

31, and from 9:30 'til 7:30 opening night. Pat Colander THE CAROLINE Martin-Mitchell Museum is in a Victorian Christmas mood. The 12-room mansion in Naperville is all dressed up in 1880 yuletide finery and waiting to be admired. The tree is the center of attraction in the formal company parlor, recently redone as part of a continuing restoration program at the museum. Christmas decorations revolve around a Scottish theme, recalling the family of George Martin II who immigrated from Edinburgh to Illinois in 1831.

Period furniture has been donated to the museum by the Martin The mechanical Columbine Suzanne Longley and Harlequin Dorio Perez introduce the world of make-believe in "The Nutcracker." More pictures on the back page. 1 Movies Part IF: Father knew best The DO YOU REMEMBER the final scene of "The The film began with us inside the private office --liiniriwr- i of powerful mobster Don Vito Corleone Marlon Brando. It ended with the door being shut tight on that office, now occupied the don's No. 3 son, struck that each name immediately called forth a face and set of actions. Excellent screenwriting of supporting characters is unusual for any movie, absolutely remarkable for a gangster picture where more time, typically, is spent on orchestrating the car chases than the performances.

The overall dramatic design of the film is clever and well-executed. Coppola and Puzo have built "Godfather II" as a set of interlocking bookends to surround the original film. This sequel segues between two time frames: Michael Al Pacinol. The door was closed specifically on --W- Kay Adams Corleone, Michael's non-Sicilian wife, to whom he had just lied about killing his brother in law. But because the camera was standing right outside that door and looking in, 'the door also was closed on us in, the audi the continuation of Michael's reign as ence.

That was significant, because "The Godfather" drew its tremendous appeal from giving us a prolonged glimpse at what was going on behind. that door. For almost three hours we experienced the excitement of being inside a violent upon young Michael, introduced to us at his sister's wedding when he says to Kay, then his girl friend, about his violent relatives, "That's my family, Kay that's not me." The new sequel to "The Godfather," titled "The Godfather, Part II," per-mits us a second look inside that room, inside that world. At times the vision is as beautiful, as harrowing, and as exciting as the original. In fact, "The Godfather, Part II" may be the second best gangster movie ever made.

But it's not the same. Sequels can never be the same. It's like being forced to go to a funeral a second time the tears just don't flow as easily. WRITER-director Francis Ford Cop pola the bearded fellow who introduced the original "Godfather" on Its recent two-part television screening has said that his intention with "Godfather II" is to evoke memories of he original. The splendid wedding party that opened "The Godfather," for example, is matched in the new film by a lavish communion party for Michael's firstborn son.

And when Michael himself is photographed from behind, as he waves his hand in response to a petitioner's request for a favor, one is reminded of Brando's opening gesture to the baker who pleads for "justice" at the beginning of "The Godfather." That's Coppola's intention, and with these two examples he succeeds in a subtle way! But he often fails. In fact, to the degree we recognize his allusions to the earlier film, in the very instant we recognize those allusions, in that instant we are taken away from the world of the Corleones and into the ego-filled world of the director, who, in effect, is inner sanctum where lives were majes 111 Ntt A tically terminated with a glance from mob chieftain to hitman. "The Godfa ther" put us in the. position of an electronic bug on the mobster's office walls, an attitude that its director explored again this year in "The Conversation," a film about an electronic surveillance expert. Ws ill i' Ki-im ii il imr ri i fcm mri i ai TO BE sure, life inside that room in side the entire world of the Corleone family was romanticized.

After all, how many mobsters, how many any- In "The Godfather, Part II," Al Pacino portrays Michael, the new head of the Corleonex family. Here he confers with mob boss Hyman Roth, portrayed by Lee Strasberg. bodys, have sons that look like Al Paci- no and James Caan? And a wife that can sing like Morgana King? And a the family moves into the Las Vegas rackets, and the early life in Sicily and New York City of Don Vito Corleone, who will grow up to be the Marlon Brando character. The transitions dissolve beautifully into one another. PLAYING THE young Don is Robert DeNiro, the exciting young actor who was so good as the goofy kid in "Mean Streets" and the hayseed, baseball catcher dying in "Bang the Drum Slowly." By keeping his eyes bright and his mouth shut, DeNiro manages to intimate a growing power inside his body of a don-to-be.

The other actors, so many of them recreating their original roles, are similarly fine. Standouts include Pacino, Robert Duvall as counselor-attorney Tom Hagen, and John Cazale in an expanded role as the weak brother Fre-do. They give a memorable portrait of a family wobbling crazily with its head cut off. The other "stars" of the picture are those men and a woman responsible for creating the distinctive "look" of the "Godfather" films, that autumn passing into winter look of muted browns, golds, and black. Director Coppola is matched only by Fellini when it comes to recreating times past and to throwing a party on film.

He is supported ably, and presumably inspired by, production designer Dean Tavoularis who should be competing with himself on Oscar Night 1975 for his production design of this film and for Coppola's "The art director Angelo Graham, set decorator George R. Nelson, and costume designer Theodora Van Runkle, also famous for the clothes of "Bonnie and Clyde." loyal friend that can cook like fat Clemenza? But there was a more insidious ro i manticism. Not once did we-see the rackets that the Corleone family traded in everything, presumably, except narcotics: hooker, loan-sharking, labor- 11 half the cash, dollar for with the Teamsters. And, in a line even a soap-opera writer would reject, says a Corleone wife to her husband: "It wasn't a miscarriage; it was an abortion just like our marriage is a abortion!" SEPARATED FROM their context In the movie, these lines might seem only embarrassing, but not seriously damaging. But in a film such; as this one that treads the line between allusion to an earlier film and unintentional parody of that film mistakes can be very costly.

For example, it's a mistake to have the actor playing the young Brando character, in flashback, talk about John Caiat Tana Shire Lee Stroiberi Michael V. Gana O.D. spraditn Richard Brliltt Gattoa MOKhia. Tom Rosaul Fraicatca deSaeia Frank Sivera FrancoKa desapia Maraana Kint Marianne Hill Laopoldo Trieste Dominic Chianese Tray Oonthua -John Aprea Joe Spinell Fay Spain William Bowers TRIBUNE MINIREVIEW Looks great; sounds terrible GODFATHER, PART Produce tni tirtdtd FraMh Fr Cvppoli, KrMnplay by Coppola in Mario Pun, phototrooho by GorCon Willis, nMK by Nina Rota, productioa dasiaa by Daan Tavaolarit, costfmta by Thtodwa Vaa Rankla, conrodiKaa by Gray Fradarickaoa and FrH Root, a paramoant ralaat at tha Statt Lava, Rinr Oaki, Woodlieia, YOfklown, Marcwry, an4 SifV thaalera. RUH R.

THE CAST Michael Corlton Al Pacino Tom Haaaa Robert Duvall Kay Adams CerleoM Diana Kaaloa Vito corlaona Robert DeNIre Frado Corleone Connio Corleont Hyman Roth Frandio Pentanaeli Senator Pat Geary Al Nerl Don Fanuccl Rocca Lamoono You in Mama Corleone Ganca Youna Mama Corlona Mama Corleone Freoo't arito Deanaa Landlord Roberta Johnny Ola Cennie'o boy friend You in Testio Willi Cicci Mrs. Rom Sonata committee chairman A ifiirn win itwiiti making someone an offer they can't refuse. And it's a mistake to have him imitate Brando's rasping voice. When the cracks open up in a film like this, we begin to notice things that we hadn't noticed before, Things like the Corleone family's ability to penetrate at will enemy family lines and great quantities of government guards. Coppola's secret is to forestall the entry for a few screen minutes and then thrust it upon us with a blaze of gunfire, hoping the explosion knocks the notion of implausibility out of our heads.

It happens twice in "Godfather II." It may have happened many times in the original. But the spell was never broken in "The Godfather," and I didn't notice the trick until now. And as long as we're on the subject of weaknesses, the absence of Brando must be mentioned. Tho he was on screen for less than a third of the original movie, his presence gave it an organizing principle much in the way Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and Charles Bronson are the organizing principles or lightning rods for all of the energy in their films. It was more than a good move to have Brando die slowly in "The Godfather;" it was a strategic necessity.

AS FOR the center of energy In "Godfather II," well, Michael is only a chip off the old man. Al Pacino is a fine actor, but literally and figuratively speaking, that stupid hat they made him wear at the end of the first picture it looked like his dad's hat-was too big for him then, and it's too big for him now. Pacino's Michael is forced to share center stage, in the film's major conflict, with the wizened old gangster who controls those Cuban rackets. The character of mobster ULTIMATELY, IT'S the work of these people that subtly and immediately brings us back into the special world of the Corleone family. Nobody throws a party like the Corleones.

body works with so many lights turned off in their rooms as the Corleones. i More than the gunplay, which is nicely limited this time; more than any gag line about "offers that can't be refused;" more than any amount of physical or emotional, ring-kissing genuflection; indeed, more than any specific physical action, it is the look of "TVia (InAtathar Pnrt TT" thnf nnona nn racketeering, the whole greasy mess. Everything was hidden from us except the family's penchant for violent retribution. And what delicious fantasies they acted out for us "bugs on the You insult my sister I kick you' in the groin and hit you over the head with a garbage can. It was better than any comic book, sand-kicking fantasy that Charles Atlas ever dreamed up.

To hell with Dynamic Tension; go fight my brother Sonny. THE BE-ALL and the end-all for the Corleones is revenge, the one emotion the movies have sanctified and rarely questioned ever since John Wayne first put on his gun belt. But despite these two kinds of romanticism, the sight of the private world of the Corleones frequently was hypnotic. It was intended to have and it had the same hypnotic effect on us as it did pointing directly at himself. Egocentricity of another sort operates in a more damaging way.

The screenwriters Coppola and "Godfather" novel author Mario Puzo frequently, talk dowiMo us. And when a screenwriter talks down to the audience, he's really saying, "You're so stupid I have to have my characters spell it out for you." For example: Says a mobster to a United States senator: "We're part of tha 'same hypocrisy." Says a Corleone wife to her husband: "You told me that in five years the Corleone family would be completely legitimate. That was seven years ago!" Says an allegedly clever mobster who controls the rackets in Cuba to guests at his birthday party guests previously and pedantically identified as corporate officers of "17. T. and "Allied and we're putting up Robert DeNiro as the young Vito Corleone Hyman Roth, reportedly patterned after Meyer Lansky, is played over a wide range by Method Acting teacher Lee' Strasberg.

With more than one man in the spotlight the simplicity of the original film is lost. Of course, that's part of the point of "Godfather II" the watering down of blood from generation to generation Michael, you shouldn't have married Kay and so the absence of Brando is both a minus and a plus. Which brings' us to the plusses, of which there are many. And there are many ways to measure them. As I typed the extraordinarily long cast list that accompanies this review, I was that closed office door, that lets us back into the world of the Corleones, that again plants us like so many bugs on the Corleone family walls and inside in the Corleone family mind.

Gene Siskel Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen.