Word: torpid
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...problem of craftsmanship," he wrote to Breton in 1922. The gulf between the early work and De Chirico's St. George Killing the Dragon, 1940, can only be explained in terms of this problem. St. George, with its glutinous, worried paint, its muddily incoherent color and its torpid drawing, would hardly pass as a student academy piece; it is recognizable, though only just, as a mock Titian. But behind it one can sense manic obstinacy, as though De Chirico were trying to root himself in the past and abolish the present. Significantly, it bears a Latin inscription: "De Chirico...
...stereotypes if a white playwright dared to suggest their existence. Inevitably, there are quite a few moments of truth, a quite poignant one when a country boy (Ralph Wilcox) finds out that his sister (Barbara Alston) who fled to the city has become a prostitute. But the book is torpid, the music is undistinguished and the words are undistinguishable, thanks to a faulty sound system and a resolutely amateurish cast...
...style and substance, La Collectionneuse is distinctly inferior to both Maud and Claire. Except for Haydée Politoff's sensual gamine, the acting is monotonously low-keyed. Rohmer's direction, never vivacious, is torpid even for him. Still, the masterful symmetry of the plot, the nuanced yet aphoristic clarity of the dialogue and the unobtrusive evocation of what D.H. Lawrence called "the spirit of place," explain in part why Rohmer has lately become something of a film fan's cult figure. John T. Elson
Central's costs soaring, while Government rate regulation kept a lid on fares and freight charges. (Last week the torpid Interstate Commerce Commission finally approved a 5% increase in freight rates that Saunders bagan begging for last winter.) In two years, the cost of a new freight car rose 37% and the payroll went up by 18%. Despite revenues of $1.8 billion, the railroad lost $56.3 million in 1969. The company fared even worse in this year's first quarter. Staggered by severe winter weather, rising local taxes, declining factory output, and strikes in coal and other industries...