Music Review

Bach; Partita in D Minor. Gavin Saunders: Violin

One cannot help having admiration for anybody who attempts one of these unaccompanied Bach works

But with such technical facility as Mr Saunders displayed one should say more.

The performance was classical but merging with the afternoon sundrifts it worked

Even the Weather can be a Chance Element.

Stockhausen Piano Piece No. 9. Margaret Nielsen: Piano

After the power of the performances that Miss Nielsen gave this piece last year this performance was disappointingly lifeless an answer (maybe)? "This Piece is Already 20 Years Old" Sighed Miss Nielsen

Before a Note was Played, and although a little of the contemporary relevance was thus lost the piece still remained the most important event in the concert.

Webern: 8 Early Songs. Gerald Christeller: Baritone. Gillian Bibby: Piano

rather lucid dredgins from the world of Wolf and early Strauss.

before he met his later teutor Schonberg

Posthumously Published

Webern's inherent delicacy and clarity were evident in Mr Christeller's and Miss Bibby's performance

Lunchtime Concert Music Room. Thurs. 28 May: 1.30pm. Reviewed by Allan Marett.

The Night Of The Following Day is a fairly freaky excursion into the realm of implied menace. No specific acts of violence assault the senses until the film's last scenes, and even in the most notable of these, the shooting of Richard Boone on the beach, there is a strange, Daliesque atmosphere about the proceedings which belie intimations of reality. The film's startling final moments, which I would be tempted to label pretentious (in the Bergman sense) if this were a lesser work, imply that the events have been taking place in the mind of a teenage girl, the recipient throughout the film of the unwholesome attention of Mr Boone and his cronies. Whether or not the nightmare is a recurring one, after the style of Evan Hunter's Mr Buddwing. will depend on how one views the several aspects of the girl's association with the other characters. Was Marlon Brando really her father's chauffeur, already known to her and therefore fit subject for her dreams? And so forth. Interpretative gambols aside, it's all rather tremendous, if mildly sickening.

The director, Hubert Cornfield, is known to me only as the director of a socially significant mess called Pressure Point, produced by Stanley Kramer some years ago. In this earlier film a negro psychiatrist (guess who?) is chosen to treat a black-hating, jew-baiting member of the American Nazi Party. Any worthy points about the film are swamped by the stridently artificial polarity between Poitier and his antagonist, excellently played by Bobby Darin. Their numerous exchanges lead to heights of asininity heretofore unseen in cinema. In The Night of the Following Day. Cornfield, removed from Kramer's crushing liberalism, makes the most of a mean script, a talented cast, and Willi Kurant's exceptional photography. Any appearance by Marlon Brando is for me something of a happening, and he does not disappoint in this off-beat, comparatively subdued role. Always, apparently, near boiling point, Brando is nevertheless content to serve the story, rather than dominate it as he is on occasion wont to do. Richard Boone is inscrutably evil, while the rest of the players are equally effective. It is a pity, however, that the excellent young actress Pamela Franklin is called upon to do little more than show a tremulous lower lip at the appropriate moment.

Cornfield inclines to seduce us by using familiar devices of plot and character. The impression that the film is such a compendium reinforces the view that the whole affair is some kind of morbid, adolescent fantasy, if, indeed, this is what it is intended to be. There are numerous striking images and scenes, the foremost of which is the aforementioned episode on the beach, a true anthology piece. Brando sniping from the waves, Boone being dragged out to sea and wallowing there like some bloated monster, framed between his suitcase and upright umbrella in strikingly surrealistic pose. This is undoubtedly the highlight of the film, but the rest of it is not far behind. The kidnapping and deliverance of concomitant lucre .are convincing and suspenseful, the familiarity of such machinations being offset by the nerveless Boone who is, to say the least, grossly obvious in his lurkings. The Night Of The Following Day is not without its flaws in style and content, but the fact that I can be both fascinated and repelled by what is going on is, unless I misjudge, a measure of its considerable achievement.

A word of high praise for Cinerama's latest offering: There are some unfortunate people I know who are so obsessed with their objection to war, militarism, generals in general and Patton in particular, that not even George C. Scott could drag them to see this intelligent, superbly made biography. There is something to be said for the view that their antipathy towards the character would not be so outspoken were Patton a protagonist in a revolutionary situation—on the right side of course. Were Patton Spartacus, his disregard for certain elemental rights and decencies would be regarded as not entirely reprehensible. In any case, one can respect the man as he is portrayed in this film, partly because Scott, in yet another tour the force, is so persuasive, and partly because there is something attractive about his rugged integrity, be he bastard or not. Questions of historical accuracy don't bother me much, and this case is no exception. The character is developed consistently and forcefully, this being sufficient to offset any suspicion that a wee bit of whitewash has been splashed here and there.

Franklin Schaffner, whose previous credits include The War Lord. The Best Man and The Planet Of The Apes, makes the most of the Spanish and North African settings and Scott's apparents limitless talents. The battle scenes are viewed from a distance [unclear: was] seen by the ancient strategists Patton would have as his [unclear: memeber] This approach is decidedly fresh after the cut and thrust cause of the hand to hand fighting so often seen in war films. As is the [unclear: was] in most high class productions of this order the technical [unclear: hand] impeccable, and Fred Koenecamp's sumptuous visuals [unclear: comnb] enormously to the film's total effectiveness. I end this short [unclear: waste] with a plea that the film should be seen on its next appearance, scruples disregarded and doctrinal objections cast aside.

Rex Benson