Word: somewhat
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...walking into a roomful of gaping admirers and creating an aura. Some scenes seem structured with this purpose in mind; at one point. Nureyev completely upstages a porcine-looking boor in a fashionable Manhattan night club by sweeping the latter's mistress off her feet. The episode, although somewhat gratuitous, is meant to show Valentino's swashbuckling stride. The desired effect is partly produced, but the strain behind the effort becomes obvious...
...Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming. This film will no longer seem as cathartically satirical as it did when first released in the mid-sixties, when an atmosphere of Cold-War hysteria still hung low, if somewhat less thick than in the 50's, over most of middle-America. But Alan Arkin's comic franticness in this tale about a small New England coastal village thrown into a frenzy when a Russian ship docks in its harbor and the Reds start mixing with the town-folk should still be good for some belly-laughs...
...play treats, in a somewhat idealized fashion, Emma's long standing partnership with Alexander Berkman. Berkman in 1892 fails in an attempt to assasinate Henry Clay Frick, and throughout Berkman's 14 years in federal prison, Emma strengthens her position in the anarchist movement. But we are left with the feeling that when Berkman is finally released, he has lost his usefulness to the movement. In actuality, Emma and Alexander both continued their American leadership until they were deported to their native Russia in 1919 at the behest of U.S. Attorney General Palmer...
...without the vital school "leaving certificate," they will find it almost impossible to get a job in a skilled trade, even as an apprentice. West German authorities have established special schools offering remedial courses, but few of the foreign youngsters attend; to do so invites ridicule from their peers. Somewhat more popular have been the few day nurseries, play centers and youth clubs opened by the Berlin government...
Canal Zone is three hours long and somewhat repetitive, but its temperature rises steadily as it proceeds. At first it seems that Wiseman has made this film only to poke obvious fun at colonialism: he includes some all too pointed shots of the downtrodden Panamanians who perform the Americans' menial labor. By the time Canal Zone reaches its Memorial Day climax, however, it becomes as bitter as Sinclair Lewis' Main Street...