Cinema: Mar. 9, 1962

The Night. Marriage without love and life without meaning are examined with talent, intelligence and despair by Michelangelo Antonioni (L'Avventura), whose text might be taken from St. Paul: "For as in Adam all die . . ."

Victim. An entertaining but tendentious thriller that illustrates a shocking statistic: in nine out of ten cases of blackmail in Britain, the victim is a homosexual. Not for the kiddies.

Sail a Crooked Ship. The last movie made by the late Ernie Kovacs is a sort of shaggy seadog story in which Comedian Kovacs plays "a unsussessful crinimal" with a big cigar and a tiny brain.

Lover Come Back. Stanley Shapiro, one of Hollywood's more competent make-'em-laugh-till-they-gag men, has served up a grand old turkey of a plot-the mistaken-identity bit-and has stuffed it with plenty of giggles. Dessert: a couple of cream puffs called Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

Light in the Piazza. Question: Should a wealthy American mother (Olivia de Havilland) permit her beautiful daughter (Yvette Mimieux) to marry a charming young Italian (George Hamilton) who does not realize that the daughter is mentally retarded? Answer: Florence in Metrocolor is worth seeing anyway.

Tender Is the Night. Jason Robards Jr. portrays the triple-distilled spirit of the '20s in a competent film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's story about a psychiatrist who lies down on the couch with his favorite patient.

A View from the Bridge. Arthur Miller's attempt to find Greek tragedy in cold-water Flatbush errs in concept but succeeds in details. Raf Vallone is memorable as a stevedore with an offbeat Oedipus complex.

One, Two, Three. Director Billy Wilder's Coca-Colonial comedy of bad manners is set in Berlin and relentlessly maintains the pace that refreshes.

A Midsummer Night's Dream. The best puppet picture ever made: a feature-length version of Shakespeare's play put together by Czechoslovakia's Jiri Trnka.

Murder, She Said. Margaret Rutherford, the British comedienne, comes on strong as a lady gumshoe in this adaptation of an Agatha Christie chiller.

TELEVISION

Wed., March 7

Howard K. Smith—News and Comment (ABC, 7:30-8 p.m.).* report on the week's news.

The Bob Newhart Show (NBC, 10:30 p.m.). Sketches and by a masterly comedian.

Thurs., March 8

CBS Reports (CBS, 10-10:30 The Arizona Senator himself appears "The Phenomenon of Barry Goldwater."

Fri., March 9

Eyewitness to History (CBS, p.m.). The week's top news event.

Chet Huntley Reporting (NBC, 11 p.m.). All about Jacqueline scheduled trip to India and Pakistan. (CBS' Eyewitness and NBC's Huntley Reporting are public service programs, and in the public interest the networks have scheduled them at exactly the same time, apparently on the old combat theory of an eye for an eye, a western for a western, blood for blood, etc.—with the result no viewer can see both.)

Sat., March 10

Thresholds for Tomorrow (NBC, 7:30-8:30 p.m.). Last of three programs on new advances in scientific research.

Sun., March 11

Lamp Unto My Feet (CBS, 10-10:30 a.m.). Britain's Stanley Holloway reads from Poet Laureate John Masefield's The Everlasting Mercy.