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Show ISddq "1 stGYWY- PageBl Thursday, January 7, 1982 Hick Itroiieh i"". " . , , "tv . . '""Ssr" 2 IVWS. ill i I I' irfi J I If " 1 If SWJ j f f The Chowder Society (old pros Douglas Fairbanks, John Houseman, Fred Astaire, and Melvyn Douglas) toast their life-long friendship unaware that death knells will soon be breaking up that old gang. 'Ghost Story' , Star aucaus mixed with rotting flesh A Classic Recommended Good double-feature double-feature material Time-killer For masochists only y2 Ghost Story "Ghost Story" relies on two gimmicks. One is the use of four venerable old actors in the starring roles. The second is a wickedly captivating capti-vating spook (played by Alice Krige) who can change from a ghostly young woman to a slimy rotting corpse faster than you can say "Get the air freshener!" Unfortunately, Unfor-tunately, neither device works quite well enough to make the picture good second-string material. The movie, adapted from the novel by Peter Straub, is about the four members of the Chowder Society played play-ed by Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Melvyn Douglas, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and the volatile, mysterious mysteri-ous young woman they romanced, and then accidentally acci-dentally killed, 50 years ago. These four gray eminences are the respected leaders in their New England township, but bad dreams plague them and the guilt vibes are so strong, that they revive the ghoul-lady, who begins by preying on the heirs of those who killed her. She murders one of Fairbanks' sons, flirts with the other (Craig Wasson plays both brothers), and haunts the oldsters to death one by one. Alice Krige made a brief appearance in "Chariots of Fire" (as the fiance of Harold Abrahams) but makes a stronger impression in "Ghost Story" where she is, in effect, the star of the film. She's an apple-cheeked beauty with a vampiric gleam in her eye, and it gives her scenes a sense of danger. When she asks one boyfriend, boy-friend, "What if I take a bite out of you?", she looks like she could do it, and that is the source of the movie's lurking fear, not the big horror moments when she turns into a dribbling corpse. The four legendary actors provide an interesting range. The most neglected actor of the group, Doug Fairbanks, has the most interesting part, and he acquits himself well. Fairbanks, as Ned Wanderley, is the only one in the group who actually slept with the girl, and he precipitates precipi-tates the ugly scene that led to her death. His convincing, well-bred anguish is an interesting revelation for those of us who only remember, remem-ber, in a dim way, his swashbuckling roles of 30 years ago. The late Melvyn Douglas in his last film role, is the medical man whose misdiagnosis misdiag-nosis played a crucial part in the tragedy 50 years back. And John Houseman as Sears James is the icy, unofficial leader of the Chowder Society. Both actors act-ors pull on their roles like a pair of old gloves. Fred Astaire as Ricky Hawthorne ("Call me Ricky. Everyone else does.") has practically nothing to his character, except a nervous ability, but he makes Ricky the most appealing person in the film by drawing on our affection based on 50 years of Bijou memories. (Patricia Neal, as Ricky's wife, is wasted in her brief appearances.) appear-ances.) The movie falters when it goes into the past of the four men, because it fails to make us believe that the young actors we see will really grow up into Fairbanks, Astaire, etc. Physically, they don't match. The actor who looks like a young Astaire (Mark Chamberlin) turns out to be the young Melvyn Douglas. The person who is supposed to be Ricky Hawthorne Haw-thorne as a young man (Tim Choate) is a rat-faced little court jester hardly the picture pic-ture of Fred Astaire. The younger Sears James is almost a robust character you can't understand why the girl sneers at him as a "toad" the description would certainly apply to Houseman, but not his younger self. The movie also suffers from a few unexplained or illogical elements. The four old men gather each week to tell each other ghost stories, but you don't know why. Is this just an irrelevant habit, or are the members of the Chowder Society using these fictional horrors to shut out the real ghosts that haunt them? Have they been tormented tor-mented by the guilty dreams all their lives, and if so, why haven't they gone bonkers a long time ago? How is it that Astaire survives a nasty car rollover with barely a scratch? Craig Wasson is a straightforward straight-forward hero in an uninteresting uninter-esting role. And director John Irvin succeeds in wringing suspense out of a few sequences, especially the scenes taking place in the required old abandoned house. But "Ghost Story" is fundamentally a cross between be-tween a class production (with its high-powered cast,) and grisly shock effects. And the failure to make this mixture work leaves it low on the goosebump meter. Ed Maryon exhibit to open January 10 Utah and California landscapesmountain land-scapesmountain scenes and canyon streams will be the focus of the Ed Maryon Watercolor Exhibit opening Jan. 10 in the Kimball Art Center's main gallery. The exhibit will include 60 watercolors completed during dur-ing the last two years. According to the artist, "Some of,, the more recent paintings deal with Utah mountain and canyon stream subjects and carry a greater interest in detail and textural qualities than my previous work." For over (wo decades, educator, edu-cator, administrator, artist Edward Maryon has been a major figure in the Utah arts community. From 1958 to the present, Professor Maryon has held a number of academic positions at the University of Utah. In addition addi-tion to his regular teaching responsibilities, he served as chairman of the Art Department Depart-ment from 1962 to 1966, was acting dean of the College of Fine Arts from 1964 to 1966, and dean of the College of Fine Arts from 1966 to 1981. He has also been actively involved with the American Research Institute for the Arts, Fine Arts Commission, Utah State Division of Fine Arts, and the International Council of Fine Arts Deans, among other organizations. Throughout his academic career, the Salt Lake native and University of Utah graduate (BFA 1952, MFA 1956) has maintained his stature as one of the area's most respected watercolor-ists. watercolor-ists. His work has been shown throughout the inter-mountain inter-mountain area, and he has had recent one-man exhibits at Salt Lake's Phillips Gallery Gal-lery and the Bountiful Art Center. There will be a free, public reception honoring the artist Sunday, January 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Center's main gallery. The exhibit will run through February 4. JJ'' " TT 11 'J 1 1 - PRESTIGE HOMES REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PRICE GROUP Park Meadows Plaza Box 701, Park City, Utah 84060 649-8575 PARK CITY 01 Dinner Served Nightly from 5:30 Best Steak and Ribs in the West. Entertainment Nightly this Thursday, Friday and Saturday Iron House (Jubel Jan. 11th thru 16th Harvest Jan. 19th Michael Murphy Open Sunday afternoon for football play offs 2C9 Main St. -1MB Ed Maryon's "Mountain Stream", one of 60 works to be exhibited at Kimball Art Center, from one of Utah's most prominent artists. 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