Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 23

-k'x I-lwA 5 t4- mANtf -i SV1NINCI STANDARD THURSDAY MAY 13 1976-23 It magnificently barbaric resonantly poetic Kung-fu boa found its soul c'jvij'y1 i CONDUCT UNBECOMING (Cert 107 mins: Odcon Hay market from May 20) Is a workmanlike (by Michael Anderson version of Barry England's mating hit about the court martial In an out mess on the North-West Frontier JX: p- b' V' very public to know if their Im uncut is enled them a man resile but the appointed Am 7 ati xlilU ZiUll A TOUCH OF ZEN (165 mins: Screen on Islington Green) is to the usual kung-fu film what Royal Ballet is to a street brawl Made by Peking-born director King Hu It was filmed on Formosa rather than in Hongkong and is nearer in looks and feel to the great Japanese epics like Rashomon It folds its violent story of Buddhist priests versus the Ming secret police into a landscape of ultra-poetic refinement where the camera takes as much aesthetic pleas- takes as much aesthetic pleasure in the quiver of a birch leaf as King Hu does in bring ing out the latent values of over matter" philosophy In marvellously choreographed screen fights I relished such shots as the combatants leaping like kangaroos in the bamboo glades the contemptuous gesture of the chief priest catching a downward sweeping blade between finger and thumb the final encounter on a dry plain where the tenacious police chief appears virtually immortal and the wounded holy man bleeds gold not blood The honour of the regiment depends on convicting the unbalanced bounder on convicting bounder accused of sticking his sword into Susannah the widow of the dead VO As Michael York conducts the defence' pooh-pooed for his by a top table of prejudiced officers (Trevor Howard Richard Attenborough Christopher Plummer) it emerges that the lady's not so Eure and the regimental cus-m of pig-sticking lias a lot to answer for The acting is as good as youd expect from Equity's Heavy Brigade Btacky Keach off the Broadway stage Is the surprise as the adjutant hold ing his own (and the English accent) with the best of them THE BIN OF FATHER MOURET (Cert 93 mins: Berkeley) Is a Georges Franju's study (after Zola) of carnality under the cassock in provincial France where a callow new priest falls fctlchistically in love with the Virgin's statue but finds fleshly satisfactions on the more pliatde bosom of a blonde child of nature in the neighbourhood chateau Sin Is pleasurably even luxuriantly committed In the place's overgrown garden a positive paradise of disordered flora amid the stony bigotry of the parish Not being much taken by the spiritual defrocking that so Impresses French Catholics I found myself at a distance but the whole central garden sequence with its sensuous colours has a fantasy appeal that makes It a curiosity worth seeing HOLLYWOOD COWBOY (Cert A 106 mins: Plasa) Jeff Bridges blows into Hollywood in 1931 as a starry-eyed kid anxious to gatecrash Westerns as a screenwriter almost makes stardom as a six-gun- hero finally sees that like the Western streets dreams are only false-front for ruthless commerce a quiet little comedy to it with a backyard look despite stars like Alan Arkln and Donald Pleasence playing studio big-shots and its best touches are the gags in iction out- the small-time produi fits busting their gut to turn out a sagebrush epic every week ssa young artists they will also have to meet the costs of transport mounting and so on But the gallery itself is prepared to meet au the normal running costs of exhibitions Including a share of the necessary publicity Some idea of what the gallery offers can be gauged from the opening show in which 28-year-ola painter Mike Porter who has never before been given a one-man exhibition is able to display no less than 39 works dating from 1973 to the present day The work abstract and employing a variety of materials like paper glass corrugated iron plastic and is not yet mature or Individual enough to sustain such a comprehensive airing It would perhaps have been better to restrict Porter to one floor only concentrating on the strongest and most resolved exhibits like No 2 in or jer to give the other space over to a second artist I warm to Acme's obvious desire to treat the work shown here with the seriousness it deserves and I look forward to following a future programme which promises to embrace film and performance as well as paintings drawings and sculpture (The gallery would lend itself to open discussions and seminars too) This venture deserves a maximum amount of support from everyone who cares about the plight of our art community and artists wishing to apply for exhib itions should contact Shirley iteL 240 Read at the gallery (teL 3047) Lr vf 1 Am fe clothes Moorgate and Worthing! i JUHWP maw BIHWSWS of a gallery that will give a new chance to Jungle may i But the public to from prior ship should nr the laws has openly se I think been inter-one side of debut You bringa the body We gotta the everything for the man-about-Rome (or home) this spring at Homes Come and see plain and cool lighterweight suits classic and casual shirts dramatic knitwear and stunning leisurewear: Clothes to relax in- at prices to relax with never seen a range this varied before! Verna signore and see the 1976 Italian scene inmenswean From now until the end of May One of exhibits: too comprehensive 7 Take it easy in casual outfits like these You'll find more pronounced styling softer fabrics long and short sleevesT -and all easy to care for Knitwear and shirts in smoky pastel tones and stripes alternating with dark shades And all with slacks to match-or contrast The Italian influence in menswear now at hich it trans- I'-SSg to renovate the rere given And ase a total or sJSHS on the two floors above and an office in the top storey Bo far as exhibitions are concerned a pair of spaces each almost 60 feet lc long are now available both overlooking the delightful Japanese Water Garden which represents another pointer to the way Covent sleeping Cjtentlal could be awoken in le future And Acme have sensibly decided that thcT jalj lery policy will be cont by a' changing committee of artists Judging applications on their merit from anyone who is prepared to send in documentation andor be interviewed in: person Success- ful applicants can expect the to take a 15 pef cent on work sold and 43 Shelton Street WC2 signifies the Association's new of the acute short age of exhibition space In London Housing artiste onl constitutes half a victory they cannot find anywhere to show their work and so it was entirely logical for Acme to approach the GLC obtaining after two years of waiting and years of waiting negotiation a handsome old building originally used by the market traders of Oovent Garden Its four floors have been converted with the aid of grants from the Gulbenklan inflation the Greater London Arts Bond and the Arts Council into three main areas: a darkroom in tho basement a' lower and an upper gallery idSl Oxford Street (3 shops) Strand Bishopsgate and and at Brighton Guildford Reading Southend Watford 167 artists Emts SUM kept £4 and a rn-ment drawn themselves neollf11 -m-4 Vv-j if -1 -I TV 1 1 I i.