Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 28

UkMlti A WNWkH4lkhMClMU LI WMIV Vif Ttfiy-iwwis ifwri it 8 CTOTPiSrflTAWPAI'ff erwMViwffiaiwB tij s' 4 I FILM: The Omen Cert ill mins: Odeon Leicester Square) Director Richard Dormer Stars Gregory Peck Lee Remick David Warner Annenbertfs predecessor In the Job would alam-commoners ficlal Insemination by a demon Ho sooner has the child reached the age when the Devil finds work for his hands than the 'Immediate circle are struck by a holocaust of horrors that will be impses sive even to thosewho lived never mind consternate royalty in short the official residence was being used as a cradle for the Antichrist The child In Question has IF THE QUEEN The Omen (which Is hardly likely) her mind- may well fly back to the day when the last United States Ambassador but pontifical Mr Walter Annenberg replied' In the Embassy residence subject -Of course to some of Uie discomfiture as a result of a need for Uh elements of refurbishing and rehabilitation Her Majesty according to that laconic commentator Gore Vidal looked as if a cfrar -bad Just exploded In her face" Well now we know that His Excellency was understating the case For what happens in The Omen to the U8 Am-1 bassador who was obviously baby herself In children's party Her replacement (Billie Whltelaw) looks as If come from the MiJ- Danvers Employment Agency for A huge dog two was presenting his credential to her and was asked if settled In comfortably In London In a manner worthy of Fields at his most peasant woman in the next bed had obligingly died after producing Well a bit of bahv-swappmg makes a change flora the usual wav evil is vt Into the world In' this sort of movie which is by AID arti- obviously from the mnels to kennels to terrify Peck and Remick every time they tip-toe Into the nursery A mad priest from Rome (Patrick Troujhitaa) besieges the Gras-venor Square offlceB anxious to tell His Excellency that he must commit Infanticide In onto to save the world OCCULT Pn -W MOTHER and Satan Junior: on the This not being part of US official in spite of what the Left-wing believes Peck demurs fatally By the end of -the film not alive to regret It though Satan Jr and well Installed on a rung much higher up the government than at mere ambaasadorteveL Ambassadors Hve Is another matter VS work and and Director: Lewis Gilbert Screenwriter: Christopher Wood Photographer: Henri Deoat star: Michael York the picture of embassy life this movie gf i gives strains credulity at The Omen Is like most films -i ludicrous movie kind a IF THE Queen sees Seven Nights in Japan (which is even less likely than The Omen) she may find a family resemblance between the Prince of Wales and the character Michael York at least what hoping for every point and raiders the story that much less Impressive In spite of the severe fallout of bodies around him the Ambassador has hardly a single security guard He' has not much work either to Judge from the free-and-easy way he takes time from his desk to go i blundering around graveyards in Italy and archeological sites In Mesopotamia In search of the Evil One At home The Excellencies For he too Is heir to the throne though called Prince live In a severely budgeted style young-maxrleds In the that the- telling A holding one viewing It is 'grand given a fashionable If convincing surfaro of occult seriousness luxl dlplo matiC thnpllTwmu It can be read as a politics'! 4be UBA harbour- log evil in its bosom while pur- sinng comity and amity In its' policies But most people be taken in by any of this they will go far -mayhem Without spoiling such fun i can' report that an autopsy-writer would have a field day The deaths caused by the malevolent little Antichrist (flve-year-old Harvey -Stephens) are stand-out bits of bloodcurdling virtuosity by the special effects department in particular the defenestration of Lee Remick and the decapitation of David Warner wno -Plays a news photographer finding the solution to the mys- Home Counties might think had been precipitated by a sudden hike In building society rates No wonder Mr Annenberg found the place in need of refurbishment and rehabilita Oeoige not Prince Charles and got a mother whose sharpish tones over the phone to her subjects end servants are interrupted bv the more piercing baifcs of a breed of dog poGGdUy mot unrelated to Oorgls It Is a film that relies heavily on this kind of nudge-nudge It also works hard to get all the mileage possible out of an idea instilled in commoners by our childhood fairy-tales namely that princes (not to say princesses) of the blood royaTUke nothing better than Setting out of the palace and ndlng out what the simple not to mention a spot of -ation The Prince and Madame Butterfly tery In his developing tank A crif critic however must confess he had less than a good time at The Omen How Satan works his evils to perform is something I know little authoritatively about how folk da It Is you see a very old-fashioned film that doesnt is -1 iil j'i ili yjfo 1 tj 4 -i 'I wra Vi i m- 'a i Tt fV V' if A 4 'VV i i 1 -Vr i 4 FILM Seven Jftghte in Japan (Cert 104 mins: ABC Shaftesbury Avenue) take account of modem developments In the monarchy smart shop window And last night a feature an brain surgery which came over as a rather than an gimmick iwun BBC Tonight programme has returned this week with a revolutionary new look' firestone Atyreformost cars andapriceforevery pocket Forster ONLY FROM BRITAIN'S TYRE SPECIALISTS while stocks last tKnfiyn I Auto SrvfcM96 St MsrS Til: 579 25M Eartaflald lyre Aulo Service Altfenhef Tyre Aulo Service 888 Hiflh 769773 Garrett line Tel: 04734134 street Te: Akiershot 314204 EWiam lyre A Auto Service Pinner Tyre Aulo Service 58 Bridge Street Tbl: 866 0426 PUIttow Tyre a Auto Service 301305 Barking Road Tbl: 476 88134 Richmond Albany Tyre Service 92 Kew Road Tel: 940 82478 BElRomlord Brown Brothers Tyre CA Bridge Close Tel: 70 25585b Staines Tyre a Auto Service On Mondays we are to have Interviews extended interviews as they put it with Ludovie Safe Pair of Hands) Kennedy ploughing through lus questions on Tuesdays the winsome fashionable Melvyn Bragg on Thursdays Robdn Day and by way of further novelty John Tlmpson has transferred his adenoidal bonhomie from early morning radio to late night television nilAthford (MMdk) Albany Tyre Service "143-5 Stamwell Road Tel: U238 701727 Sidcup Road Fivtweyi Comer re TW: 857 00334 Barking Albany fyrea Ripple Road Tel: 594-5723 Erfm TWe Auto Service 73-78 Wert Street till: 42428 19 investigation motivated by real concern And phrases like "Equally as And ancaent ploys like the pretence that ldentlty is disguised by a darkened profile and a voice that must be Instantiy recognisable to anyone who knows IL About some -tilings no quibble Robin Day Is still the best political interrogator in the television business But if I were a young man ambitious to get Intowbat we stupidly now call the media noting that In written Journalism the walls are dosing in I would hardly feel that television is an open shop Or to change metaphors Here we have all the established prhna donnas singing away but tt time somebody hum up with a new opera confined to these neat gardens -of mediocrity I have -detected no humour no dottiness not a touch of inspiration simply a lot of -nloe dull worthy men not Important but rather self-important And 1 questions like this from Ludovie Kennedy to cardinal Hums: "Are you aaylng Cardinal that a man indulges In pre-marital sex he is not an Integrated man And John Tlmpson inter- RpBerklnnide Tyree 132 High St nen Epsom Albany Tyre Service 106108 felt BndBe Street Teh Staines 5123252392 tnbl: 550 0468 iiJsiriKit Tel: Epeom 2412fl EB!" SeMce iO Ugndoe Beckenham TVre I Auto Service Fulham Tyre 8 Auto Service 763 Fulham JSjoed Tel: Staines M242 53345 404 Ctovdon Road Tel: 658 3625 Road Tel: 736 11145 mSydenhem TVre 8 Aulo Service SlBeRleyheath Tyree 216 Broedwiy GuHdferd Brown Newlend Perk TW: 778 7817 Tel: 303 6209 304 0924 Tree Close Tel: Guildtord 31885 South Narrow Albany TVre Service SSaffSKBI Dagoeham Tyre 8 Auto Service Tel: 01634 19 Wheleborve Lena South Tel: 595 AtbSjjge Service London Uwlehent AlbenyTgrjeB 127129 High Street 777 23148 There has been a pervading sense of cautious incurious manning minds carving up our evenings as if organising a pension scheme Iconic in a week when the Donald who once produced a splendid programme called Tonififct-has apparently been sent out to pasture that we ahouU be vtowlng Mtehe Dayan one of the few who must know the Serwce KW Prove 1W: 8W46iaW4 1W: 190 461234 fT Leyton1Vft 8 Auto Rervlte 244346 High nE Road TM: 859 87212 I 12132 forth about the Suez affair without aakhre himaibout It And those spat-level sets Kke 4 4.