Word: wittedly
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...lady men to admire her. This topsy-turvey world works an instant transformation on Clara. The haggard lines painted on her face disappear overnight and with them the shabby working-class hausfrau; in her place stands an elegant fashion plate who abandons her peasant taciturnity for sparkling wit and high spirits, reads Anna Karenina and 1 Prontessi Spossi, swoons to romantic violin concerti and discovers that she has no desire ever to return to her coarse proletarian family...
Cross's Simple (Stephen Cooke) is a funny, friendly man, but he lacks the brilliant wit of the Simple of Hughes's stories. He remains the thread that unites the disparate characters of the play, but pales beside the vitality of some of the other roles. Something of Simple's peculiar brand of militancy and tolerance, obstinate pride and humorous self-depreciation, is missing in this show. Cooke handles his part well, especially in the second act when more of the show centers on him, but Cross's script sacrifices some of the folk hero in her attempt to show...
Which is not to say that this is a bad production. The actors seem to relate to each other superbly, and the performance moves quickly and comically with no lulls. That Arms and the Man withstands such a shallow rendering is quite a testimony to Shaw's wit. For even if the production does not broach the significant themes of war and romance that exist in the play, it does execute a nice variation on the old country mouse/city mouse story. Bluntschli, you see, is the unscrupulous and urbane businessman (in the course of the play, he inherits the proprietorship...
Meanwhile the U.S., deeply moved by China's suffering under the Japanese onslaught, came to idolize Chiang and especially his wife. An enrapt Wendell Willkie spoke of her combination of "brains, persuasiveness and moral force ... with wit and charm, a generous and understanding heart, a gracious and beautiful manner, and a burning conviction." Others resented her imperious will and her attempts to influence U.S. wartime strategy on Chiang's behalf. At that time the generalissimo wanted the U.S. to place less emphasis on the war against Germany and more on the fight against Japan; he sought more arms...
This is exactly the point, of course. Movies like The Land That Time Forgot are made in proud defiance of rationality, but require both technical facility and a little wit. Director Kevin Connor and his collaborators have all these qualities, and apply them with high spirits...