University of Virginia Library

Film Review

'Looking Glass War:' Cutting Room Special

By Carl Erickson
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Every year there is an
uncountable amount of films which
appear briefly in your local
roadhouse and then vanish, never to
be heard of again, remembered only
by a few scattered cities who were
compelled to review them. Such
films are doomed from the start,
handicapped by the distributor's
"who cares?" publicity campaign,
and withheld from critical appraisal
through bookings in suburban
drive-ins.

Once in a great while a film of
this nature is resurrected, most
often by a discerning critic who
sees a noticeable amount of
originality and talent where the
distributor saw only limited box
office prospects. "Pretty Poison" is
a fairly recent example of a poorly
handled film which only received
the recognition it deserved through
the perceptive appraisal of Rex
"the best movie I've seen in years"
Reed.

Such an occurrence usually
brings with it caustic comments on
the penny-pinching non aesthetic
viewpoints of the cinematic
tycoons sitting on executive chairs
at Paramount, Columbia, United
Artists, and other film companies.
These self-righteous critics delight
in lambasting the commercial
interests of the movie barons,
forgetting that in the first place the
film industry in dependent on
financial concerns and secondly
that thanks to those mercenary
buffoons these same critics are not
exposed to the inordinate amount
of trash which deluges the scene
every year, trash such as "The
Looking Glass War."

Good Point

The only good thing which can
be said about "The Looking Glass
War" is that it is inoffensive to
anyone's political, moral, or social
sense. However, such a lack of
pretentiousness does not excuse the
90 minutes of tedious boredom
which we are subjected to. Even Pia
Degemark's beauty cannot relieve
us for it is perverted by the
ridiculous role she is playing.

Late Nite Pablum

Frank Pierson's style of direction
would be best suited for the
pablum we are served every night
on television. To be more precise,
one may ask whether Mr. Pierson
does indeed have a style. He
invariably takes the easy way out in
whatever he is shooting. The film
may be considered another cutting
room special, in fact. Compared
with a movie such as "Topaz"
which deals with the same subject,
"The Looking Glass War" clearly
shows the difference between a true
director and one who only goes
through the motions. Hitchcock
cares how he shoots a scene; Mr.
Pierson is already editing it.

As for you culturally snobbish
critics, thank Columbia's fair lady
for sparing you. Money is not the
cause of all of filmdom's woes.

(Now at the University.)

Christopher Jones, Pia Degermark

Stars Of "The Looking Glass War"