Word: muni
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...Muni, by Patrick Leigh Fermor. A memorable portrait of the enduring people who inhabit Greece's Peloponnesus, a sort of mythical rock garden of the gods...
Died. Maurice Schwartz, 69, founder, director and leading actor of New York's Yiddish Art Theater, which from 1919 to 1950 produced about 150 plays-from Shakespeare to Sholom Aleichem-and such alumni as Paul Muni and Stella Adler; of a heart attack; in Petah Tikva, Israel...
...finest motion picture effects with many of the worst. Scenes of sheer poetry are juxtaposed with others of outrageous banality; splendid camera work is sometimes ruined by the most needless background music; several beautifully delivered speeches are muted by close-ups on the wrong faces. Only Paul Muni's performance as Dr. Samuel Abelman--the title figure--is consistently good...
...Abelman, though, as Muni portrays him, is magnificent. A sort of lower Flatbush Thoreau, he has spent most of his 68 years fighting the 'galoots' ("people who take, and give nothing in return"), and proving that he, at least, is uncorrupted by the 20th century mania for money. Played by an ordinary actor, Dr. Abelman might have appeared a caricature of some wistful or long dead ideal. But Muni in perfect; he never wastes a gesture or an expression, the timbre of his voice is always exactly appropriate to the speech he is delivering...
When director Daniel Mann works with experienced actors, such as Muni and Luther Adler (Abelman's closest friend, Dr. Max Vogel) his touch is sure and often imaginative; but the rest of the cast seems unable to carry out his suggestions. The worst of the group is Betsy Palmer (Woody Thrasher's wife) who is about as inspired as a deep sea diver in the Charles River...