The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 30

Pogt 1971 g- Debut lN Ghostly Film Makin I fl ELLIOTT COULD, as an American archeologist, has an affair with Bibi Andersson, a Swedish housewife, in "The Touch." Unlike Any i ja f' S-nr Previous Bergman Movie Remember John Hancock who ran the Actor's Workshop before it folded? He's now making films and his first feature is a foul little booby trap, "Let's Scare Jessica to Death," which opened yesterday at the Fox-Warfield. JTe's failed completely with a treacherous genre the psychological ghost story, which is the single most difficult stunt to bring off effectively on the screen. It requires the utmost fi-nesse and imagination. Otherwise, it tends to plunge into sheer ridiculousness. Hancock's film is gross, labored and just plain laughable, like so many grade-B horror flicks turned out for strictly commercial reasons.

The main problem is the bloody awful script by Nor-man Jonas and Ralph Rose, who've scarcely bothered to develop their contemporary variation on a Poe-like gothic theme. We're in rural Connecticut, where a haunted Victorian farmhouse serves as a catalyst for ectoplasmic shock, violence and madness. But the shoddy and shadowy story is too ineptly handled to be the least bit frightening or involving. Zohra Lampert plays Jessica, a young women recovering from a mental breakdown. Her husband, Barton Heyman, is a musician who's sunk his savings BARTON HEYMAN AND ZOHRA LAMPERT A haunted farmhouse unnerves a city couple IfciiUKiia wluch is stilted, banal and really awful.

"I wanted peace at last," Gould exclaims to the ever attentive Miss Andersson. "I was to be spared more feelings, tears and pain." Gould, moreover, has no resources as an actor. Obviously over-awed to be in a Bergman film, he treats every line like a string of pearls. I lis performance is embarrassingly bad. Bergman reportedly picked him alter seeing "Getting Straight," in which Gould was so terrible I should think any director would shrink from him.

And when he's acting opposite two such experts as von Sydow and Miss An JF 1 ST. ca and the others fail to realize this. The plot's transparency Is as annoying as the defective exposition, which takes forever to establish anyone's identity. Much of the film seems improvised and nothing could be worse for this (ONLY 6 MORE DAYS!) -THE ANDERSON! ANY TAPES" I SUNDAY" ktnuns New Low Pnoerf AOjtttMC Chcn49C CHR0W in tin a NflSt: Veil lus! "THE HARD RIDE 'GENEVA DRIVE-IN NcvtoCowP4aD a'W'tit 5i7-24 Vaator rSOULTOSOUL" with IKE a TINA TURNfcR PLUS! "Gimme Shelter" rSPRUHF 9 -Brott 1 DRIVE-IN otSatan" I PL-0N wt war un wvuaMH fnSit 1 3un.o5 I UpenDaty I at 11:00 I man dersson, liis inadequacy is like a blowtorch. Miss Andersson's strikingly fine performance compensates to some extent for the implausibility of her role.

She's superb in a hospital scene, where she arrives just minutes after her mother's death and stands alone and dazed over the body. Her scenes with von Sydow the confrontation, for example, that follows his discovery of the affair are also beautifully played. But these few moments and Sven Nykvist's grabbingly imaginative color photography are the only rewards in an unfortunately defective film. um 24,25, 26 ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS PLEASANTON I tJ' SCAHI JESSICA TP DEATH," Paramount Pirtijiins t-Irami proilui.nrt CIim Mo-. Jr i (liritLlett hV Julm Hnn-cock; I'V Norinnil Joiim nd Rrtlph Hine.

With ultra Lm-port, Bdrtoti Hnvman, Kevin Co l-tior. Mriclir ConIbMo. for qudll-tied Kanoral uUiMtes (lit1). FoK-Wartiald, kind of structured suspense thriller. Hancock's direction i ruinously disjointed and inconsistent.

Nobody in th cast not even the ordinarily impressive Mis Lampert stands chance and they're all terrible. Bob Baldwin's occasionally arresting photography is spoiled by an excessive use of close-ups, which zero in so close, they become ludicrous. In short, it's an all-out dud of a film, from which Hancock has hopefully learned what not to do the next time. Stanley Eichelbaum EJ Jiott Qoulcl Ingmar Bergrnan The Touch SHOWS AT 7:25 i and Adjacent tree parking ilUr and all day Sunday r-our i racK Stereophonic Sound "GIMME f.HFI TFB Open They ride to They ride to kill! tM(Ptr( Piodoced bf loi M.cfiielt THE DETECTIVE" OPEN TODAY 12 Noon VHt i ii VV; JOHN FOWLES "THE JUtiaay Qmna, Michael Cma 921-293J a TO SfolUIIL LJ I af 4 i li-aJTJ I I a- i FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY iw- jam jpm-jam iru SEPTEMBER WaBit BIG BAVARIAN BAND (0 ENTERTAINMENT. BAR-B-O AL FASSLER'S SWISS BAND Vii4ltoi.il ji GRIMLY DISTURBING AND I ULTIMATELY DEVASTATING.

UNQUESTIONABLY SINCERE' wlielhaum, F. Chronicle 1 ii iai-a-EvctowvB Ptanbern ttntprntt fQfntnt i Daily At 1:25,4:05,6:45,9:25 i Tit lillli In Ikiatri. J3 Pacific. Saa Fuieisca MBHBMBBBanMHain Flail II HJI I Mil II II II COLUMBIA MCTURIS tri HLMWAY Mill 3FlaHLXtI5.01ZHrin By Stanley Eichelbaum Ingmar Bergman's first film in English, "The Touch" (at the North-point), is a very disappointing work from the Swedish master, who seems to have made it for purely commercial reasons. It comes off like a potboiler and can't be compared to anything he's done before, since it's a trite, straight-out account of a romantic triangle involving a rootless American archeologist (Elliott Gould) in an affair with a Swedish woman (Bibi Andersson) who's comfortably married to a physician (Max von Sydow).

Virtually none of Bergman's prescience for interior drama is to be found in the astonishingly superficial and sudsy story, which even neglects to come to terms with the essential question of why an attractive, apparently happy wife would want to take up with a neurotic, obnoxious slob like Gould. His role is unappealing and he makes it worse. The setting is a small Swedish coastal city. Miss Andersson and von Sydow (who speak English throughout) invite the American to dinner after the doctor has pulled him through a suicide attempt. When von Sydow's back is turned, Gould tells his hostess whom he's only seen once before that he's in love with her.

On the dubious strength of this provocation, she becomes Gould's mistress her husband and children be damned. The affair appears to bring her little satisfaction. Two-Man Show In Meiilo Park The New Theater, the two man company of Paul E. Richards and Gerald Hiken, are playing their show, "Go Back, You Are Going the Wrong Way," Saturdays and Sundays at 8:30 p.m. through Oct.

10 at the Burgess Theater, Laurel Drive and Ravens-wood, Menlo Park. The program includes a new play by Richards called "Bolyavski Lives," about the experience in America of a Polish immigrant actor. "Howling Success!" KnickerbockerChronicle Klie(3ommiffcc TNf AU. NTW MMOWIID UfMtCAL MVUC 622 Broadway, S.F.332-0807 Student DiscountMinors Nightly Except Sun. Mon.

Improvisations 11:00 Saturday 8:30. 10:30 12:30. Associates MASONIC AUD SF SUM. OCT. 3-8pra 5 "1 MATS HOW! Sherman Clay if Oofc (IX 7 0717 A HI 4 8575) plut all 13 Mri from 3 SO up! US "THE TOUCH." Cinerama release of a lilm in English produced, directed and written by Inumar Bergman; cinematography by iiven Nykvist.

With Elliott Gould, Bibi Anderson, Max von Sydow. For restricted audience (R). At tha NorthPoint. Gould is close to a mental case. He erupts in violent rages, strikes Miss Andersson repeatedly and walks out on her twice to pursue his problems elsewhere in Europe.

But she won't give him up. His torment, we learn, stems from the upheaval of his German Jewish family during the Nazi era. Most of his relatives, he tells his forbearing mistress, perished in the ovens. Bergman endeavors time to time to lighten the film with comedy. But he has no feeling for humor and it falls flat, like Miss Andersson's little domestic scenes with her children, which are insipidly underscored with a jivey scat tune sung by TV-like vocalists.

More distressing is Bergman's English dialog, Moonlight rile Tonight at 830 ThewonderfuLNY. bound comedy hit. Starring Wendell Burton and Marge Eliot "A good comedy both blacks whites can laugh at together." Variety Tues-Fri 830Sat 730 Student RushS3.00 -Tickets at box office.Ticketion.afldMacys GROUP SALES-781-85fJS ON BROADWAY THEATRE 435Broddway 433-6363 FRIENDS AND RELATIONS 660 GREAT HIGHWAY TICKETS: $3.50 STUDENT RUSH $2.50 FOR INFORMATION CALL 386 9591 -T--r-fmfii-tiiiJ THIS WEEKEND PUN TO OO" DON'T MISJ llllll It Kl 0 tin tt Iff CHIHI (Hull MUNICIPAl AUDITORIUM Son iost FRI OCT. 1 I 00 WO -401 24t 11U TICKETS Si Im 0ltice-P(ijsii 01.. Meali P.

MitJ'i MASONIC AUDITORIUM San roncivco SAT. OCT. 2-8 30 iwftiaijins un VCtm In SMlct Shirnifl C'lf. Olh Fimissta In (.. PRICES 50 50 S4 50 CAUUIM iUii UIU it INt law; uXim A MARTIN PANSOHOI-F-LESLIE UNDER PRODUCTION into buying the farm for Jessica's peace of mind.

Kevin O'Connor is their best friend, whose presence leads nowhere but to stock lines like, "You'll see everything will be all right." Too obviously, it's going to be hell for Jessica. The stairs creak. The attic reeks of mystery. And the lake nearby is alive with poltergeists. Then there's Mariclare Costello, a red-haired dropout who stays for dinner and is clearly up to no good.

Incredulously, Jessi- Something is after Jessica. Something very cold, very wet. and very dead. Pumnunt Pictutts Picsents A Chailes 6 MossJi Piotfutl-on "Let'sScare Jessica Norniin Jonas md fiatph U. AnkfMktChiiici Host.

Jr toKiMiiJohn Hancock (jp Coiat A Pitlud "No Way To Treat A Lady" JO-CD-'t Lcvtnc OrCSCnlR4 Mike Nichols. Carnal Knowledge An Avco mbJrty nelcj'jtf Tn SHOWS AT 6:00, 8:10, 10:20 US Verna Bloom RABBIT THOSE IRANCISC0 i ft nun hnr Tirkctl Call ET TTi Tnf Continuoul "Th.y It I Vy I S5 6 Performances Only! mm mm tffpr NEW POLICY" STARTS TOMORROW! 3 GREAT CLASSICS ONLY $2.00 FEDERICQ'FELUNI-LOUIS MALLE-ROGER VADIM ALAIN DELON fGAR ALLAN POE'S JANE FONDA Yv GRFJT TI alPi CP Hi rf i i im ill 15 ii i'. i I fa i i 1 Wmiit 1 1 I.lfiJr 'TI nd 10:20 I r-4 I -if- Vmtor" fef I'lt dnf'I fllfgiln Mltf I Ma I 'TT4 MP fM-y. Opin Sun. ThuTI.

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jf GOOD SEATS NOW! Downtown Center Box Offic, Moci, I Peter Iojdit wuh.umu, Jon jost dox vnicai, raininaula Box II AM) i r. TXLES 0F BEATRIX POTTER SOUNO TRACK AVAILABLE ON ANCtt RLC0RD5 PtRJORMED BY DSCtRS Of THE ROYSL BALLET STARTS TONITE GALA PR KM I ERE BENEFIT Rnal Weeks! MARINES' MFMORIAL THIATftf SAN p.ii 41 Phone r.73-6440 STUDINT RUSH tS minutr before urlain II tor Croup OiHOunlt all IHf AMIHICAN tOSSIVAt()I IMIIl Getry Theatre Box Olfiie, 415 Geary -w Surf Irving at 46th 664-6300 Regular perls, tomorrow at 7, 9 11 p.m. IGCOD SEATS NOW!.