FRAMED

Rip It Up, Issue 55, 1 February 1982, Page 22

FRAMED

Arthur Director: Steve Gordon Yet another attempt to revive the classic 30s wacky comedy genre, and not an unqualified success, by any means. Dudley Moore over-dominates the movie, John Gielgud displays an eloquent line in sneering, and poor Liza Minelli does what she can with the part given to her. Nice soundtrack though, if you want to luxuriate in aural candy floss, and Christopher Cross, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager are only too willing to provide it. An American Werewolf in London Director: John Landis The Animal House clan go gothique. An entertaining piece with a fair degree of success in its mixture of genres, although it is

debatable that anyone ever made a comedy-horror film quite as successfully as Polanski in his Fearless Vampire Killers. Fringe benefits include the effective werewolf trimmings, and a nice turn from Jenny Agutter as Staff Nurse Alex Price, clutching her Mark Twain and sustaining an edgy relationship with the hapless David. The French Lieutenant's Woman Director: Karel Reisz Harold Pinter's beautifully moulded script is the starting point for this film, effortlessly catching the reverberations of John Fowles' original novel, portraying as it does two parallel relationships in the worlds of illusion and reality. Underneath Carl Davis's Brahmsian score, Freddie Francis unfolds some truly lovely images (the wood scenes with Charles pursuing Sarah, the recreation of the

Victorian village) and Meryl Streep gives a poignant performance as the heroine of the film-within-the-film. Flashbacks to real time are handled effectively, and always underline the parallels between the two sets of lovers. Surely this will be one of the very best films of this year. Mommie Dearest Director: Frank Perry An outrageous farrago, but immense fun for all that. The film that coined those immortal lines, "No wire hangers!" and "Don't fuck with me, fellas." Mommie bubbles along at a cracking pace, and Faye Dunaway fairly boils in some scenes as she lashes out at her hapless daughter. Trite ending apart, here is a film with style and dash not only sensationalists, but sensational. William Dart