On Broadway: Dec. 3, 1965

(3 of 4)

ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (RCA Victor). Sometimes listening to the album made from a musical is better than sitting through the show—but not this time. Alan Jay Lerner (who wrote the lyrics for the unforgettable My Fair Lady) and Burton Lane (who composed Finian's Rainbow's fine music) miss the Viennese schmaltz of a Hammerstein or a Loewe that would give these songs warmth. Even the soft-sharp voice of Barbara Harris cannot make up for the lack of feeling.

CINEMA

JULIET OF THE SPIRITS. A betrayed wife (Giulietta Masina) lets her mind wander off to a far-out Freudian three-ring circus conjured up by Italy's Federico Fellini (La Dolce Vita, 8½ whose effects are breathtaking to behold.

THE LEATHER BOYS. Rita Tushingham, as a seriocomic British strumpet, nearly loses her teen-aged husband (Colin Campbell) to his motorcycling mate (Dudley Sutton) in Director Sidney J. Furie's slice-of-life drama about an unsavory triangle.

NEVER TOO LATE. Unplanned parenthood creates problems for an older couple. Maureen O'Sullivan and Paul Ford repeat their Broadway roles as if the jokes about middle-aged love-in-bloom were new.

KING RAT. The struggle for survival in a Japanese prison camp spells prosperity for an unscrupulous G.I. con man (George Segal) in Writer-Director Bryan Forbes's brutal drama, based on the novel by James Clavell.

REPULSION. This classic chiller by Writer-Director Roman Polanski (Knife in the Water) gathers images of horror from the shattered psyche of a lissome French manicurist (Catherine Deneuve) whose sexual fantasies drive her to murder.

THE HILL. Sean Connery matches wits with a sadistic sergeant major (Harry Andrews) and forcefully illustrates man's inhumanity to man at a British army stockade during World War II.

THE RAILROAD MAN. Director Pietro Germi (Divorce—Italian Style) plays the title role in his sentimental 1956 drama about a 50-year-old train engineer whose life goes off the track.

TO DIE IN MADRID. Old newsreels recall the tragedy of Spain's disastrous civil war (1936-39) in Producer-Director Frederic Rossif's masterly compilation, narrated most movingly by John Gielgud and Irene Worth.

DARLING. This stabbing satire of a play-girl's progress from obscurity to celebrity owes much to Julie Christie's stunning presence in the leading role.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH. A rigorous but eloquent ritual drama about the short tragic life of a great bullfighter, perceptively played by Spanish Matador Miguel Mateo.

BOOKS

Jest Reading

THE MAIAS, by Eca de Queiroz. A minor language is a cloak of invisibility for the man who writes in it. The greatness of Eca de Queiroz (1845-1900), for example, has been almost completely concealed from the English-reading world by the mere fact that he wrote in Portuguese. Happily, the cloak is now removed by this handsome translation of a massive satire that anatomized Portugal's pathetic aristocracy and stands today, against any standards, as a major 19th century novel.