Bristol Week-End from Bristol, Avon, England • 19

Nineteen WAR FILM THAT HAS HUMAHITY A lot of anti-war films have been made in the last few years But few had the power and voracity of War igriatol Week-End Wednesday June 19 1963 TONY TAKES THE LID OFF SOHO Tony Newfey is undoubtedly the roost indiYidualistic and versatile of our young entertainers Pop records television stage and then films he takes them in his stride and more makes a thoroughly professional job of them STEPHEN CROALL Steve McQueen is the war lover a pilot who exults in killing and whose every effort is directed towards that end And he ironically or perhaps inevitably meets a fate he has forced on others His fellow-pilot Robert Wagner hates the war but knows it must continue So inevitably he ends up with the English rose played with incredible inadequacy by Shirley Ann Field Despite the rather predictable story-line the overall effect is one of humanity i mainly due to the direction of Schaffner and outstanding performance The War Lover is at the Odeon Broadmead next week But whether he is an artist of the genius and stature that is claimed for him 1 could debate Certainly he has originality his Gurney Slade efforts demonstrated that but he also goes in for a lot of corn the was sodden with ancient jokes and cribbed ideas EVER PRESENT But when Newley stars he really stars Which means never leaving the screen or stage throughout the production in icstion In the he insisted on having a spotlight even when our attention was elsewhere He is seldom out of sight in his latest film Small JVorid of Sammy Lee" but perhaps here it is more for-giveable it tells of five hours the life of a slick-talking quick-witted strip-club compere who is threatened with a carving by his thugs unless he can dig up £300 cash to pay off his debts A girl he seduced up North comes down to Soho and ries to help Sammy out of is predicament by getting herself involved in a strip act nd giving him the proceeds But not enough SHADY DEALS Sammy tries to borrow the I sum from his brother Lou but wife refuses to pour the profits of their delicatessen into a pocket The Cockney extrovert becomes desperate He is I obliged to indulge in shady nu-u -i SMvfiniif The doctor's nightmare Perhaps the publicity men for the German film Dr might have been better advised to flog it on the social document angle character is too stereotyped despite a few individualities to mean anything Where the film does succeed is in its documentation of Soho life the very depths of the mire And Sammy Lee as played by Newley is very much a part of it That fine character actor Robert Stephens evokes the repugnance we are supposed to feel for the owner of the strip-club and director Ken Hughes cleverly brings out the violence and sleaziness of the character WELL EXPOSED Newcomer Julia Foster brings to the part of firl all the naivete of her ind Her sweet face contrasts strongly with her well-exposed body in the strip scenes and the effect is rather touching Small World of Sammy is showing at the WhMeladies Clifton Kings Old Market and Rex Redminster aH next week Not the types Albert Finney and Sheila Hancock are currently starring in Night Must based on Emlyn famous stage thriller Karel Reisz is directing the film which also stars Susan Hampshire Mona Washbourne and Michael Medwin In some scenes Albert Finney decorates a room washing down filling in painting Sheila Hancock spends some of her film time in a kitchen washing up cleaning silver cooking Neither can be said to be type cast not the domestic says Finney about the house is drudgery to me been spoiled by Sami tt ibistftrag Rrteit Stephens 'nhioi IMk jfarai mi Julia Foster MtartliKM kill MB SIMlwIpBla SmMsiriwlHat stantial evidence against him is overwhelming He is interrogated over and over again with ruthless intensity until i dreams are continually haunted by the words: "Confess Dr Corda confess Dr Worried pout His family is persecuted by the villagers while all the time the real killer quietly rides about on his bicycle a maniac seeking a new victim The direction is quite impressive in the way it maintains the suspense and Hardy Kruger is just right in the leading role But the whole add up to much more than a well-sustained thriller be dripping all over the Gaumont Baldwin Street next week dramatic story of a miscarriage (or very nearly) of justice the nightmare of every doctor how easy is it in the modern world for an innocent man to be condemned? As it is the film is coupled with a hyper-horrific melo-drivel called of (and blood is red in Technicolor smirk the ad-men) which is designed specifically for sensationalists and those with a death-wish Hardy Kruger stars as Dr Corda whose attractive assistant is murdered in a wood one evening while on her way to a date with him The doctor finds her body but fearing a public scandal (he is a family man) does not tell the police When the victim is eventually found the police arrest Dr Corda as the circum kmu1 AND deals involving whisky and watches and eventually the ultimate degradation I peddling reefers But the deadline mlys mm LUCAS WKTUM RUTLAND CALCULATED RISK a ooo GOO M4 KINGS WHITELADIES REX SPISTOl Te' MONDAY UNE 24 I SUNDAY UNf 23 I SUNDAY UNI 21 for 6 DAYS I for 7 DAYS I for 7 DAYS Men are renounted approaches and he got the money His last act is to get his girl out of the mess In not running away and resolving to take coming to him he gains some I self-respect or perhaps only self-knowledge STEREOTYPED But he still gets coming to him Taken as a straightforward suspense-thriller the film has everything to recommend it But as a study of a man under stress it is rather I shallow You may sympathise I with situation but I not given a chance to sympathise with Sammy the indulgent parents and kind landladies And Miss Hancock? can hardly cook at all never learned For years I lived in furnished rooms too My husband (actor Alec Ross) is just as bad in the house both "In Night Must they both look as if been doing these jobs all their lives but for the benefit of their friends they want it clearly understood: only TOP OF THE POPS from RECORD SERVICE TH4 if Meant fAni stock THIS BO DIDDLY of is a film of great perception and pathos although the plot is perhaps a bit shop-worn Lila is a film failure who never got further than a screen test She sinks to stripping is nearly reclaimed by a young idealist (Richard Beymer) and eventually renounces men and goes out to face the world alone Human relationships are William speciality and his writing draws a performance from Joanne Woodward that ranks with in and Leslie in Shaped of is probably the best film to arrive at the Embassy Clifton this year MID-SUMMER SALE OF SLIGHTLY USED LONG PLAY RECORDS TO SUIT ALL TASTES 12in LP from 126 CLIFTON RECORD SHOP ATLANTIS 1 BOYCES AVENUE BRISTOL 8 Telephone 3-9908 2527 aaOAOMEAD msstol Tony Newley who stars in The Small World of Sammy.