Cinema: May 24, 1963

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Black Fox. Producer-Director Louis Clyde Stoumen has woven in illustrations from Goethe's Reynard the Fox to strike an allegory between the sly Reynard and the scheming Adolf Hitler, and the result is a fresh and trenchant look at Naziism.

The Idiot and Sanjuro. These two films by Japan's Akira Kurosawa are not in a class with his Rashomon or Yojimbo. But Kurosawa's genius can make a miss almost as good as a masterpiece.

Two Daughters. In this gentle and witty two-part film, the camera of India's Satyajit Ray speaks a universal language. The Postmaster tells of the touching relationship between a backwoods postmaster and a ten-year-old girl who is his servant; The Conclusion is a comedy about a reluctant bride, ardent groom and spoiled mother. With minor changes of script, Two Daughters could have been made in rural Louisiana.

The Third Lover. In this chilling story about a self-centered young man whose envy drives him to ruin the happiness of a couple who befriend him, Claude Chabrol, who launched the French New Wave, proves that with honest camera work and well-motivated plot, films may be excitingly nouvelle without being murkily vague.

Landru. Another Chabrol picture, this one with a screenplay by Francoise Sagan, whose cynical scenario is based on the French Bluebeard who murdered ten women during World War I in France. Danielle Darrieux and Michèle Morgan are among Landru's victims.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory Peck's Oscar-winning performance as Atticus Finch is good, but the kids (Mary Badham, Phillip Alford and John Megna) almost steal the show in this pleasant screen version of the Pulitzer-prizewinning novel.

Lazarillo. Based on a 1554 Spanish novel, Lazarillo is a sort of 16th century Huckleberry Finn that details the misadventures of its young hero as he pits wits and wiles against a world of unscrupulous adults.

Mondo Cane. The bite of this documentary of depravity is even worse than its bark: the thesis that the world has gone to the dogs.

TELEVISION

Wednesday, May 22

CBS Reports (7:308 p.m.).* Russian Physicist Igor Evgenievich Tamm, winner of a Nobel Prize in 1958, talks with Marvin Kalb in Moscow.

Perry Como's Music Hall (NBC, 9-10 p.m.). Guests: Jimmy Durante and Jane Powell.

Friday, May 24

Eyewitness (CBS, 10:30-11 p.m.). The top news story of the week.

Saturday, May 25

Exploring (NBC, 12:30-1:30 p.m.). An educational smorgasbord for children, including puppets explaining math and astronomy, a re-creation of the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, a small segment of the life and times of the average porpoise, and Actor Eli Wallach reading The Pied Piper of Hamlin.

Wide World of Sports (ABC, 5-6:30 p.m.). Rodeo in Las Vegas.

Saturday Night at the Movies (NBC, 9-11:45 p.m.). The Egyptian, with Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Gene Tierney, Michael Wilding and Peter Ustinov.

Sunday, May 26

The Catholic Hour (NBC, 1:30-2 p.m.). Fourth of four segments in a history of the Catholic Church and its Ecumenical Councils.

Meet the Press (NBC, 6-6:30 p.m.). Guest: Ole Miss Student James Meredith.

The Twentieth Century (CBS, 6-6:30 p.m.). A survey of U.S. programs aimed at rocketing three men to the moon. Repeat.