The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 47

The Boston Globe Thursday, February 23, 1965 37 'Nothing But a Man9 -T Negro Cast, Universal FREE PARKING JIT BOTH STORES Ka: EfffSyi.lEi. te, jsmtm -reoniarj 24-25-25-2 sold to dealers, whili SWPIY LASTS. Story Make Great Film Nathaniel Benchley New Novel Comic By MARGO MILLER "Nothing But a Man" is a JS I great movie. It has a universal story. It is superbly acted.

It keeps to a point of view, some 2214 suiium smn 11 iUBtfT STITie. lOItQlf the preacher on a new colored school; white trash leave Josie alone. But Josie confesses that most (Negro) men around her are "kinda sad." What attracts Duff to her is his willingness to strike out. He won't knuckle under. On the other hand, he won't go half way to meet the awkward advances of the whites.

A capsule Southern town is in this movie but nothing is black and white. The cast is headed bv the GREEN STAMPS, lis. 1 I.e. tl I M. THIS, ill Ml.

I I UTl)m In hi ll. all 54 USKlNtim SHEET IT HOVE nt. tOICIESTtf West Coast actor Ivan Dixon and the singer Abbey Lincoln who is makine her movie thing rare in American film making. Acclaim for the movie, now at the Paris Cinema, should fasten not entirely on its largely Negro cast but on the fact it was made in this country. In the Italian cinema, of "Mafioso," "The Fiances" and parts of the two "Italian Styles," "Nothing But a Man" would happily be a commonplace.

Like these movies, "Man" finds pictorial richness in unknown faces. Like them, it unashamedly records the variety of society in customs and class distinctions. Best of all, in "Man" the male is chief of the sexes. Hollywood may yet discover men. The plot of "Nothing But a Man" is simple: what happens TENDER BONELESS hungry, and never hums Spanish-American tunes unless he is well rummed.

After meeting Estelle at a circus fire, he married her before learning she had been part of a trained-dog act, and they lived haphazardly ever after until the first yacht sinks. Then, of course, Estelle decamps. She likes money, but not if George is part of the package. George is rich enough to buy the Ritz-Carl-ton in Boston so he can fire desk clerks who hesitate about giving him a suite when he parades through the lobby wearing boots and a dripping yellow sou'wester. In this book, people pursued by specters rush shreiking out of ghost-ridden passages.

Intrepid divers sent down to salvage yachts come up quaking with fear. Sinister developments drive characters to the pub where ghosts are the only topic of conversation, as suspense piles on thrill, all climaxed by a costume ball. Some guests come as pirates debut. Their love story is a marvel to behold. As it unfolds it is funny, sad, horrify COLONIAL MASTER ing, tender.

And it is very sexy. What both Dixon and Miss Lincoln can do with a grin, a look, half a sentence is worth a million times over all the acres of bikini-bare skin in Hollywood. The dialogue of "Man" is fine and sassy, too. The smaller parts are as well done. Gloria Foster, as Duff's fathpr's mistress, is the onlv The) Visitors, by Nathaniel Benchley; McGraw-Hill, New York; S4.9S.

Ordinarily, you can't believe half the lies told about ghosts, but the ones in Nathaniel Benchley's new novel, "The Visitors," are different "This is a work of fiction, and the people in it are fictitious," says the author. "The ghosts are real." Benchley isn't kidding, either, except that his ghosts are actually poltergeists, and if you don't know what a poltergeist is, ask any leprechaun. Haunting a secret tunnel running from a cove to a cellar of a bleak house on a windswept cliff overlooking the Atlantic, they play a supporting role in this amusing yarn that moves too fast to be unraveled. The poltergeists are an old salt named Ebenezer, his gaunt wife who locked him out of her bedroom every night, and a wench who didn't. Since poltergeists make houses hard to rent, and even harder to sell, the realtor didn't mention them when he leased the house to a magazine editor, his wife and their son.

With nobody around to throw them, beer mugs and other unnailed down objects sail through the air. Two yachts owned by Uncle George sink in the cove, without leaving even a trace of ectoplasm. One of many quaint characters, George drinks beer for breakfast only when he is 1 1 1 STEER BEEF SKINLESS to Duff Anderson when this i (choice) i drifter takes it into his head to court, love and marry a mm mm preacher's daughter in the complicated society of a small Face Rump Top Round Bottom Round Southern town near Birming other professional actor. Yet director-producer Michael Roe-mer has worked so well with the amateurs that one is watching an ensemble. Not a one of them appears without ham.

l-lb. Cello Pkg. Duff has family problems. 1 1 or scuba divers, others as poltergeists. Even Uncle George, last seen in a Brooks Brothers (0) nlare for him in the story.

His father is a bitter cripple, no good in the North or South. Duff's father-in-law down on him. Duff himself wonders if marriage isn't the work of Roemer and Rob suit in Guadalupe, makes a brief apparition. This expertly spun yarn, droll and exciting, which ert Young (both Harvard 49). And the big fat eye of Young's smothering: "You're so moves swiftly and harrowing- camera takes in only wnais damned understanding, he ly to the last paragraph, is further proof that the wry necessary.

This movie never etravs. never comDromises. complains to his Josie who is womanly, wise and just a little "NOTHINli BIT A a jiitrmo Benchley humor will endure, outlasting poltergeists, leprechauns and all their cousins. JOHN HENRY CUTLER (Mr. Cutler, a Duxbury editor, it author of "Cancel My Subscription, film in DiacK ana wnue.

upeucu Wednesday at the Paris Cinema Screenplay by Michael Roemer and Hobert Young, photography by Young, edited by Luke Bennett, sound by Bobert Rubin, produced by Young, Roemer and Rubin, directed by Roemer. Running time 92 minutes. The cast: Duff Anderson Ivan Dixon Josie Abbey Lincoln Lee Gloria Foster Will Anderson Julius Harris Driver Martin Priest Frankie Leonard Parker Jocko Yanhet Kotto Rev. Dawson Stanley Greene TENDER BONELESS bit irritating for all that. But each person has to be dealt with according to Duff's emotions and his beliefs.

This is what the title "Nothing But a Man" means in part. Duff is also a Negro. Universal though the plot may be, the landscapes are of black America. Josie, a schoolteacher, and her father are "white men's niggers," Duff says. They enjoy a certain respect in town: the mayor confers with Doris Helen Arrmdell Car Owner Walter wnson Pop Milton Williams Riddick Melvin Stewart TOP ROUND BOTTOM ROUND CUBE TOP SIRLOIN More Talk Than Terror In Tomb of Ligeia' lllllpll naturally this upsets Ligeia, who is or is not in her coffin de Coupon sood Wed.

Thurs. Fri. Feb. 24-H )USDAj 4Kn EXTRA Yd 3 GREEN STAMPSIp Trrp A I 10 POTATOES YO )rJ: pending upon whom you believe as the tale unravels. Rowena has several run-ins with the black cat, who is or is not the animal animus of Ligeia.

There is a fiery climax 'M-ui 'si m- i-" i in which Verden, Ligeia and Lemon-Drop get cindered to ash. By KEVIN KELLY In "The Tomb of Ligeia," at the Center Theater, Vincent Price wears octagonal dark glasses, a permanent scowl on his waxen face, an expression of angst in his murky manner, and the question is: why? The question threads through 80 minutes and is finally answered in the last 10: he was mesmerized by his willful wife on her deathbed and has suffered ever since with acute astigmatism and a bad case of shivers. But the fault with the movie is that Price's shivers remain on screen and never make the trip to us. Although Roger Corman has done a stylish job of producing and directing this Edgar Allan The film is in color, but the "performances are rather color' less. Price looks like a near sighted image of evil, but re cites his role as though it were a monotonous version of "The Raven." Miss Shepherd is all right in the dual role of Ligeia-Rowena, but terror tjatf: tip I 'f never really touches her lovely brow.

Also on the Center program, "Navajo Run," from which I ran. "THE TOMB OF LIGEIA." American Poe story (complete with vast, eerie landscapes; a creepy Gothic castle with cobwebs enough for a world of spiders; and a black cat with lemon-drop eyes and saber-tipped whiskers, the film is slowly paced and oddly remote. It settles for mood more than movement, talk rather than terror. International release of a Rneer Corman production, opened yesterday at the Center Theater. Directed by Corman; screenplay adapted from a short storv by Edcar Allan inir rrtir- r- Mai i ll I Poe by Robert Towne.

In color. Running time, 80 minutes. The cast: Verden Fell Vincent Price Lady Ligeia-Lady Rowena Elizabeth Shepherd Christopher Gough.John Westbrook Kenrirk Oliver Johnston 70MATO. XEW ENGLAIw STYLE PETTI CO-ORDINATE features jacket with low cut revers voile blouse ($10) with foulard tie, and deep pleated tattersall skirt Available in Junior Sportswear, it will be modeled at Jordan'! "London Beat" fashion show. Jordan's Features 'London Beat Lord Trevanion Derek Francis Before the final revelation BEANS Dr.

Vivian Richard Vernon Parson Ronald Adam of the price Price pays for his eperel ivery Boy. Thornton Gllmoie devotion to his long-dead wife, JlJiA he becomes romantically involved with a woman who exhibits much the same spirit as REGULAR Teenage and young adult i fashions with the "London Beat" will be shown Friday REGULAR mWm 2291 11131 be modeled by Marsha Jordan Council members for Seventeen Magazine. They will be presented by Kay Corinth, merchandising director. The "gear" fashions features dots, plaids, delicate pale voiles, ruffles and tucking. The show is open to the public.

Ligeia. The only real difference between the two is a wig. Ligeia was black-haired, the Lady Rowena is a red-head, and Elizabeth Shepherd wears both parts. Price, who bears the wondrous name Verden Fell, falls in love with Rowena. Super- a a.m.

in mc tiuiuan lucuau Seventh Floor Fashion Center. The clothes, inspired by young British designers, will iff nit An New Haven, MBTA Pact Nearly Set is to secure either by pur-the New Haven is willing to discuss the option. chase, lease or joint use the McCormack emphasized rights-of-way of the New Haven commuter lines operating there is no contract, only an GH7GH Joseph V. Aieta has been named to the Leaders Club of the Home Life Insurance Co. of New York for achievements as a field underwriter last year and has been selected Man of the Year by the Life Managers and General Agents Ann.

of Boston. out of Boston. Sine the master transporta agreement of understanding. A subsidy arrangement similar to the one which exists with mm the B. M.

is sought. tion plan has not been completed, McCormack said, it has not been decided definitely what lines will be used. By ROBERT B. IIANRON The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the New Haven Railroad say they have reached agreement on major points of a subsidy contract to continue rail commuter service. So said, Gen.

James McCor-mack, M.B.T.A. chairman, Wednesday, testifying at an ICC hearing on a New Haven petition to discontinue trains on three commuter lines out of Boston. Under the M.B.T.A. the transit agency would He listed the purchase of the Old Colony Line right-of-way as priority. The extension along the Southwest Expressway will 'Z BLAIR'S SAVES YOU reimburse the New Haven for Vv also be needed, he added.

On the Old Colony, he continued, we have got to go "at least to So. Braintree and also protect the right-of-way to the Greenbush line." The M.B.T.A. would like to purchase the option at the salv Pnca 4 lev- Kl all avoidable costs of continuing service on the Black-itone, West Medway and Dcd-ham lines. In return, he said, the railroad will kep this service In operation until July 1. I eloiri Savtt i "i i Blo.riSavei Yeu23' age value of some $1 million set in 1947.

McCormack said The tentative subsidy agree Libby's SWAfJS D0WI1 7 Search Given Up For Space Glider CAPE KENNEDY (UPD- YELLOW CLING ment, however, is subject to two stimulations. A favorable ruling by the Supreme Pudicial Court on whether the state can pledge Its full faith and credit for M.B.TA bond issues without two-thirds vote of the legislature, and Approval of the subsidy SLICED OR HALYES CAKE FLOUR 5c OFF LABEL fr'L The Air Force Wednesday called off a search for a space glider lost In the Atlantic following a 2700-mile experimental flight. Two ships and several planes combed the ocean target area for about 30 hours in an effort to retrieve the craft and its important flight results. ki isreement by U.S. Clrcuite Court Judge Robert P.

An-iernon of New Haven. William P. Kirk, trustee of fhe bankrupt New Haven told Exumlner Lester Conley that the M.B.TA proposal was a "responsible approach to the problem." McCormack said the oblc-Uva of M.B.LA, negotlaUoni The mission was not a failure, however, because the North American Insurance Co. Pres. John Dwinell (right) present! $260,400 check to Robert Goodoak of First Baptist Church, Reading, destroyed Tuesday in general alarm fire.

At left ll Dana Bartlett, company; manager in Reading. dart-like glider radioed back a running record of lis flight kk mm Bm I.