Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 13. June 11 1979

[Introduction]

[ unclear: Irne] city at the moment you've got a [ unclear: ha] of four remakes Warren Beatty [ unclear: nd Baven] Can Wait, Don Sharp's The [ unclear: Thire] Nine Steps, Philip Raul man's [ unclear: In asio] of the Body Snatchers, and (not [ unclear: o h] a remake as yet another reteling) raco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth.

[ unclear: Bore] discussing Invasion of the Body [ unclear: naters], the most interesting (though not [ unclear: hi] of these new versions, here's a quick [ unclear: consner] guide to the others:

[ unclear: ven] Can Wait — sweet, substanceless, [ unclear: mild] amusing but tends to be soggy in [ unclear: pa-ches] Refreshing in its innocence, but not to ruffle the complacent calm of [ unclear: cy-e] me, Dyan Cannon is funny, Julie [ unclear: e] and Warren Beatty are good, James [ unclear: masc] is boring.

[ unclear: D] Thirty-Nine Steps — better than I expect but stil not as exciting as the 1935 [ unclear: ock] version. Nonetheless, the [ unclear: narra-tive] handled with assurance and the story [ unclear: word] well even without Hitch's handcuff [ unclear: etism]. Robert Powell, makes a [ unclear: dogged-y mpathetic] hero and looks Strikingly but place in the 1914 setting.

[ unclear: Jeas] of Nazareth — not only does [ unclear: Wei] get a shorter version than Auckland [ unclear: wh] of course didn't see this [ unclear: made-for-tele] epic in its entirety in the first [ unclear: p-ace] we get (as usual) a lousy print — scratches, rough cuts, damaged soundtrack, the works. But that aside, Zeffirelli does quite well by the hallowed and oft-attemp-ted tale. He creates a canvas that looks like all the Sunday School illustrations you've ever seen, come to life; but contributes enough original details and identifiably human episodes to make the film satisfying for even the non-believer. The Nativity seems ridiculous and contrived, but after that the film slowly picks up, and by the time we get to Gethsemane things are really moving. Rod Steiger (Pontius Pilate) and Anne Bancroft (Mary Magdalene) are particularly good, Robert Powell is just divine as Christ himself, a: d Michael York (John the Baptist) is, of course, awful.

And so to: