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Griffith classic coming to Sheldon
By Meg Greene
This weekend's offering from Sheldon Film
Theater's Feature Classics Series is a film that has
made cinema history: Intolerance, written, directed
and produced by D. W. Griffith.
A major figure in the rise of American cinema,
Griffith never wanted to make movies. It is ironic,
because it is thought that in the history of the
American screen, no other director so advanced the
art of American film. Griffith wanted to write plays
and he counted the moments until he'd have enough
money to quit movies and begin to write.
Griffith changed his name when he entered the
movie industry, because of the low status attached to
the screen. Later he retrieved it and his name became
as popular as the word movie itself.
Intolerance was made in 1916 and is called
Griffith's greatest work by many critics. Griffith
explained the film as "a protest against despotism and
injustice in every form."
The film contains four stories: an original story,
"The Mother and the Law," written by Griffith, "The
fall of Babylon," "The Christ legend of Judea" and
"The St. Bartholomew $ Day Massacre of the French
Huguenots." To link the stories Griffith used a
symbol of a mother (actress Lillian Gish) rocking a
cradle. It recurrs throughout the film and is a
continual statement of the theme.
The film opens with a statement of the theme,
then the presentation of the mother rocking the
cradle.
"Today as yesterday, endlessly rocking, ever
bringing the same human passions, the same joys and
sorrows." A book appears on the screen and
introduces the first story, "out of the cradle of the
present." For two hours the audience is transported
through time, picking up the threads of each story as
it occurs.
The four stories finally come together in a plea for
tolerance with Griffith using symbolic double
exposures of angels, children playing, prison walls
dissolving into open fields and a final close shot of
the symbolic image, the mother rocking the cradle of
Humanity.
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Again this week there are good films at Sheldon and on
television, as well as at downtown theaters.
Monday
The Queen of Spades, ETV, 7 p.m. This really doesn't
classify as a film, but it should be mentioned. The Queen of
Spades is the highly acclaimed version of Tchaikovs s
opera based on the original tale by Alexander Pushkin.
Gherman, a poor soldier, is obsessed with learning the
secret of the winning 3-card combination to capture the
heart of Lisa, daughter of nobility.
Tuesday through Thursday
La Salamandre, Sheldon Gallery auditorium, around 7
and 9 p.m., admission by season foreign film ticket. Swiss
filmmaker Alain Tanner directed this offbeat film. It's the
story of a rebellious young working girl who rebels against ,
Thursday
Heat, Hollywood & Vine Theaters. Andy Warhold again,
through Feb. 13. This truly outrageous film features Joe
Dclesandro fnd Salvia Milage.; w, ,vW . i
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war movie focuses on the home front rather than the
battlefield. It shows the sordid as well as the glorious side
of the Russian ordeal in World War II. The story centers on
the emotional development of a young woman who is
unfaithfu! to the soldier she loves.
done wonek
SeA7f Film
Society's
success
fills void
greg lukow
The Lincoln Silent Film Society had Its first showings last
' weejc ana its success tilled a void in the Lincoln film scene.
Silent films in their golden age were more than primitive
fast-moving flickers. They were a legitimate art form, and
working within their soundless limitations, many have not been
equaled. They are rarely shown consistently outside larger cities
and the Lincoln Film society is a welcome addition.
This week's presentation is Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr.
One of his greatest films, it Is hilariously dimaxed by Keaton's
now famous hurricane sequence.
,. In future weeks the society's scheduls calls for olher comedy
classics like Harry Langdon's Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, and Harold
Lloyd's Safety Last, in which Llovd hanos on for Hear I if h
dangles from a skyscraper high above the city streets.
Several foreign classics will be shown, including Carl Dreyer's ,
The Passion of Joan of Arc, a stunnine film shot almost entirely
with close-UDs: Fritz Lana's ftitnrkti Irmtr u &
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mechanized world in Metropolis; and The Lodger, one of Alfred
Hitchcock's best early mystery-thrillers.
Also to be shown are such timeless American classics as The
. Eridr von- StroheimTT3o77s Wives feature piqvlgtje eyC TI
lusting Prussian, one of the roles' that macVhim so famous in the
I L A ill I M M
oiiem Mge as tne man you love to hate.
The society is a nonprofit organization designed to let people
see films that would otherwise be impossible to view. Films are
shown twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at
the Lincoln YWCA.
Friday
Serpico and Fantastic Planet, Plaza IV Theaters. I don't
know anything about these films, except that they are both
supposed to be dynamite, and anytime an allegedly
dynamite film opens in Lincoln, I think it should be
mentioned.
Friday and Saturday
The Getaway, Henzlik Hall auditorium, 7 and 9 p.m.
This is the film that began the Steve McQueen-Ali McGraw
romance. It's an updated Bonnie and Clyde.
Intolerance and Way Down East, Sheldon" Gallery
auditorium, 3, 7 and 9 p.m., admission $1.25. Two classics
by one of the great directors of all time, D. W. Griffith.
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WAY?
CLASS SCHEDULE CONFLICT?
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Many students solve these problems by taking
needed college credit courses through indepen
dent study by correspondence. You may register
at anytime, work at your own pace at the time
and place of your choosing. No class attendance
is required.
IF THE FREEDOM OF INDEPENDENT STUDY
APPEALS TO YOU CONTACT:
University Extensions Division
511 Nebraska Hall
Lincoln, Nebraska 68508
Telephone 472-2171
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monday, february 4, 1974
daily nebraskan
page 7
, A. ., I.