page 12
daily nebraskan
friday, april 28, 1978
VII W VAMVM
1W
'The American Friend,9 international intrigue in art
Py J. Marc Mushkin
Have you ever noticed how Dennis Hop
per's name in an article almost always is
followed by "of Easy Ridel" Hopper has
been virtually invisible since that important
role in the late 60s, but he certainly is visi
ble, although elusive, in the new thriller
that opened at the Sheldon Film Theater
last night, The American Friend.
movie
review
Hopper plays the enigmatic Tom Ripley,
an American in a cowboy hat who seems to
be involved with an art forgery ring. The
story brings Ripley together with Jonathan
Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz), a German pic -ture-framer
and art restorer, in a suspense
ful race with organized crime, violent mur
der, and Zimmermann's own imminent
death.
Zimmermann, it seems has a terminal
blood disease, and the cost of treatment is
forcing his wife to work. So the approach
of Raoul Minot (Gerard Blain) with an of
fer of money and special medical treatment
turns this ordinarily peaceful man,
who at first finds the thought of murder in
conceivable, into a hired killer.
The most interesting aspects of the
movie are the effects of Minot 's offer: Zim
mermann's transformation into a hit man
and the development of Ripley and Zim
mermann's friendship.
Zimmermann and Ripley first meet at
an auction (where one of the forgeries Rip
ley deals in is being sold) with Zimmer
man's refusing to shake Ripley's hand say
ing coolly. "I've heard about you." The ice
melts, though, and by the time they are
brought together on a train for Zimmer
mann's second murder a curious friendship
has been forged out of the dancer.
I really shouldn't dwell on the story; I
don't want to take anything away from the
suspense that director and writer Wim Wen
ders generates from Patricia Highsmith's
novel, Ripley's Game. And there is plenty
of suspense. One can't help making com
parisons with Alfred Hitchcock in terms of
narrative development and characteriza
tion. Hopper's Tom Ripley is a gem of a per
formance. Hopper manages to give Ripley
that slightly demonic air of a criminal used
to hopping from difficult situation to situ
ation and from continent to continent.
Wenders moves the plot from New York
to Hamburg to Paris to Munich in grand
style, giving the art forgery and the mur
ders the importance of international in
trigue. In this milieu Zimmerman seems
overwhelmed, and Ganz brings this out in
his fine, understated performance. Zim
mermann basically is a little man, and his
illness has taken more out of him than his
health. Without Ripley's friendship he
would have been lost.
"While Ripley looks just as small (or
even smaller) than Zimmermann, he is
above the anxiety of his occupation. A
great image of this is the scene where he
keeps shooting himself with a Polaroid SX
70 as the prints fall around his shoulders.
Ripley is the force that binds the different
scenes and characters of Wender's plot. He
just seems to be there at the right times -the
train sequence, for instance.
That scene on the train also points out
Wenders' sense for the thriller. Combining
tenseness with humor and danger with
speed, Wenders creates a sequence worthy
of almost anything of Hitchcock's.
The photography and lighting further
contribute to the technical brilliance of the
film. From the New York skyline shots to
Zimmermann's dark apartment, the photo
graphy is detailed and beautiful.
Wenders uses this traditionally Ameri
can style, the action thriller, superbly. The
American Friend is a gripping mystery fea
turing tremendous performances by Hop
per and Ganz and marvelous photography.
The American Friend continues today
and Saturday at 3, 7, and 9:15 p.m. at the
Sheldon Film Theater. Admission is $2.00.
Collegium Musicum to feature
music written before 1700s
The UNL Collegium Musicum, a group
of musicians dedicated to performance of
music written before 1700, will present a
free, public concert at 8 p.m. Sunday in
the Sheldon Art Gallery Auditorium.
The works to be performed include sel
ections from Gregorian Chant (excerpts
from the "Lamentations of Jeremiah"),
two works from the Spanish renaissance
( Torre de la nina by Ponce and Villancico
pues me dicha by Belmonte), Air for six
viols by William Lawes, Madrigal: Non
Havea Febo ancora by Claudio Monterverdi
and Leave now mine eyes and Fyre and
Lighting, two canzonets by Thomas Mor
ley. The program also includes pieces for
lute, bass viol, tenor and recorders.
Most of the program is taken from the
publications of Ottaviano Petrucci, the first
publisher of printed music. His earliest
publication appeared in 1501.
The Collegium Musicum is a group of
students, faculty and persons related to the
UNL School of Music. They feature early
music to promote the awareness of the vast
and little-known treasury of old composi
tions. Members of the group are: Donna Har
ler, Jo Fankhauser and Mally Keelan (sing
ers); Sarah Boslaugh, Sil Parson. Jonathan
Brodie, Laurie Scott, Gay Kohl and Mar
garet Seymour (viols); Dan Bernstein,
Larry Hubbard, Quentin Faulkner, Dulcie
Shoener and Marlin Palasek (recorders);
Wally Gebhard (lute); and Tom Malone
(krumhorn). Guest artists for the Sunday
concert will be singers Mark Johnson and
Charles Smith.
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Photo courtesy of New Yorker Films
Bruno Ganz plays Jonathan Zimmermann, a Hamburg picture-framer, who finds him
self in a case of international intrigue and murder in Wim Wenders' The American
Friend.
Howell's upcoming idea play is a 'circus of the mind'
By Charlie Krig
Travesties by Tom Stoppard is "an idea
play-a circus of the mind," according to
William Morgan, the director of the final
UNL Howell Theater production that opens
tonight.
Morgan, a theater department professor,
said the play concerns Henry Carr, a minor
consulate officer in Zurich, Switzerland.
The play opens with Carr as an old man
but he begins to dream of an encounter he
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Photo by Bob Pearson
Jack Honor (L) and Douglas Anderson in Tom Stoppard 's Travesties.
had with James Joyce in 1917. Carr
imagines what could have happened to
history if their relationship had been differ
ent and if Carr had met other world leaders
in Zurich at that time.
The plot is based on a true event,
Morgan said. Joyce started a theater
company and Carr, a real consulate officer,
starred in the first production, Oscar
Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
Carr was a great hit, Morgan said, which
was "the one big thing in his whole life."
However, Joyce and Carr got in a fight over
the cost of a costume and Morgan said they
sued each other over the "petty" argu
ment. In the play, Carr fantasizes about the
fight and also imagines meeting two revolu
tionaries of that time: Lenin, leader of the
Russian revolution, and Tristan Tzara,
founder of the Dadaist art movement. To
complicate matters further, Carr thinks the
action takes place in a library where two
young librarians bear remarkable similarit
ies to Cecily and Gwendolen, the two
heroines of The Importance of Being
Earnest.
Morgan said the situations that develop
are not absurd but reflect true human
qualities. Stoppard loves to write about
British eccentricities, Morgan explained,
and the playwright even put part of him
self in Henry Carr.
"It's an intensely, intellectually, playful
piece," he said. "It shows the whole future
of our society cooked up in that little
library."
Morgan also described the role of Carr
as "perhaps one of the greatest roles in
modern drama" that could make the play
survive as a classic. He said it "provides a
marvelous tour de force for an actor and
demands things from all the characters."
Morgan said he chose the play because it
fascinated him and offered a challenge for
the cast. "I wanted them to strengthen and
learn their skill. God, have they learned
from this play," he said.
Cast members are Douglas Anderson
(MFA student from Dayton, Ohio) as
Henry Carr. Jack Honor (MFA, New York
City), Jim Ryan (senior, Omaha), as James
Joyce. George Loudon (Ph.D., Syracuse.
NY) as Lenin. Steve Brown (freshman,
Lincoln) as Bennett, Debra Miller (senior,
Overton, NE) as Gwendolen, Judith Rad
cliff (MFA, Omaha) as Cecily and Melissa
Baer (senior, Lincoln) as Nadya. All are
theater majors.
Set designer is Forrest Newlin, costume
designer is Pat Dennis, lighting designer is
Michael Bautista and assistants to the
director are Elizabeth McCord (junior,
Nebraska City) and Deb Oaks (sopho
more, Colorado Springs).
The play runs tonight, Saturday and
Tuesday through Saturday of next week
(May 2-6) with performances at 8 nightly.
Tickets are $3 students, $4 general and are
available at the theater box office, 101
Temple Building, 12th and R streets. Reser
vations can be made by calling 472-2073.