GUIDE TO GOOD READING

Fact, fiction clash, but --

it won't always be fantasy

THERE IS many ‘an eminent
scientist who hides from his stu-
dents a terrible secret—that he
writes science fiction.

Inside the magazines with the |

very bright covers lurks a great
deal of genuine scientific know-
ledge, contributed by these dis-
, tinguished men. To judge by the
*’ stories in Possible Worlds of
~ Bicence Fiction, edited by Geoff
Conklin (obtainable hére at the
People’s Cooperative Bookstore,

337 West Pender Street, price :

~ $3.50) the readers expect a high
ard. ‘

“I suppose every schoolboy
‘knows (though Ido not) the
. *@m$wer toa conundrum ltke
. “a

“Tt stays a gas gecause the
a ture of Jupitor fs above
_ the critical point of hydrogen,
"but you just try to figure out

thé pressure that’ ¢an ‘make |

hydrogen gas half as heavy as
" water. You'll be surprised at
_ the number of zeros you'll have
_| to put down.” =~
‘” ¥ should, indeed,
: But as they hurtle from planet
—_ Planet (or from one complete
System to” another as” yet
titer sending messages
“home ‘by piivipor\ke Were’ ‘because

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radio is too slow) what will the
men inside the space ships be
like?

Here the author’s imagina-
tion, fertile when it comes to in-
venting a ship with a transpar-
ent forcefield hull, begine to
flag.

According to Raymond Z. Gal-
lun, the first trip round the moon
will be just another American
military project. And John Ber-
ryman shows space-ship pilots as
those touchy, neurotic American
pilots we’ve met in so many
films, (Their military academy

teaches them to spy on ‘each :

other.)

According to Malcolm Jameson
the colonisation of Venus will be
a squalid business, with mission-
aries recruiting the savage Tom-
boys as slave labor, and ‘incident-
ally destroying their morerh
health.

A. E. Van Vogt Ghows more
originality in a witty and well
written story ‘‘Enchanted Vil-
lage.”

* * *

BUT THE MOST remarkable
story is one which would’ per-
haps never have been published
in the United States if it had not
been disguised as a scientific
fantasy. -

“The Helping Hand,” by Poul
Anderson, tells the story of a
nation —- sorry, solar system —
which saves its culture and
forges ahead in scientific dis-
covery, because it did not take
the stellar equivalent of Marsh-
all Aid. .

This story, like Paul Capon’s
recent books ‘“‘The Other Side of
the Sun” and “The Other Half of
the Planet,’’ shows the import-
ance that scientific romance may
have for the people of the West-
ern countries,

While their rulers genie them
that ‘“‘Western civilisation’ is
the best, indeed the only, system
for them, millions cherish an ob-
stinate conviction that life has

got to be different.

me not how, then some time in
the future. If not here, then on
some other planet. And this be-
lief will not always be a fantasy,
—ALISON MacLEOD

‘completed two symphonies,

WHAT CRITICS MISS

THE RUSSIAN symphony al-
ways followed its own road. In
these days the orthodox often
allege that contemporary Soviet
examples are not symphonies at
all,

“Not one of the movements is
symphonic in the accepted
sense,’ one of them said of Pro-
kofiev’s Fifth.

The Russians were Se con-
cerned primarily with thematic
development; what they liked to
do was to present their themes
in new colors.

They commonly used folksong
as basic material. This does not

lend itself to thematic treatment

so readily as composed melody.

(Beethoven’s themes were in-
vented and then reshaped in
diverse ways till he judged them
ready for development. But
many of their phrases are of a
primitive simplicity. |

Like folk elements these have’

a realism of their own. They
adapt themselves to color and
emotion. ‘

Balakirey learned in folklore
and in the technique of music,
left a most attractive symphony
which sets off the natonal feat-
ures instanced aboye. Yet those
critics who require their sym-
phonies to be like philosophical
theses will bring the biggest
guns to bear on this ones

With him, Borodin and Mous-
sorgsky were also members of
the group of ardent nationalists
known as the “Five.’”’ The first

second of which is everywhere
regarded as a model,

Let it has no real development
in the sense of Brahms or Beet-
hoven.

The Supraphon Company has
issued a recording of Moussorg-
sky’s Intermezzo, a morsel of
abstract music which might well
have been:a movement of a
symphony, Curiously, it ‘has
little of the national character-
istics usually so marked in
Moussorgsky, though; even here
the icomposer’s realism|peeps|out,

As playéd by the USSR Sym-.

phony Orchestra it is a choice
curiosity.
* * *

TCHAIKOVSKY kept himself
aloof from _ the’ nationalist
“Five.” Yet, as we know, he is
recognisably Russian, Symphonic
form’ was something of a trial to
him but the Pathete, because he
felt it so deeply, takes’ on a
masterly form that is highly: in-
dividual. :

Following him closely came

Glazounov, -who moved even
farther ‘from the nationalist
centre. Take his Fourth and
Fifth symphonies. If you wére
not told you might never take
them to be Russian.
“He moves more easily and
firmly through symphonic form
than Tchaikovsky. He is im-
mediately’ assimilable, not so
knotty as Brahms but near to
him in method.

Unfortunately. Supraphon’ s re-
cording of the Leningrad Sym-
phony Orchestra playing the
Fourth is mostly obscured by
scratch, The Fifth, with the
Czech Philharmonic, is not, and
its likable qualities are quite
seductive until presently you be-
gin to find them cloying.

You wish that Glazounov had
pruned more, concentrated more,
even at the price of delivering
one symphony instead of two.
But both have an actuality that
gains attention and affection. °

As a symphonist Rachmaninov
belongs to the Tchaikovsky and
Glazounoy group but he doesn’t

the .

seem to attract recording com-
panies much,
* * *

THERE IS A _ magnificent
long-playing*? Decca of Proko-
fiev’s Sixth symphony. The pho-
nagraph made me realise that it
is far more substantial than ap-
peared then,

On that occasion critics rush-
ed to inform us that Prokofiev
had lost his touch since return-
iny to the USSR. Don’t you be-
lieve it.

CURRENT FILMS

presented in

AMONG THE complaints I
have against Hollywood is that
it has robbed superlatives of all
meaning by its indiscriminate
‘application of them to all its
productions, good and mostly
bad and indifferent. So when
a film deserving of extravagant
prose does come along, the terms
that might be used to describe
it sound trite and unconvincing
to audiences accustomed to hear-
ing every Holloywood movie
hailed as a stupendous spectacle
never to be forgotten (although
fortunately most of them are).

It is impossible to discuss
Moussorgsky, the Soviet film
currently showing at the State
Theatre here, in any but the
most glowing terms, for it is a
magnificient dramatic - musical
experience.

Directed by Grigori Roshal
and photographed in natural So-
viet magicolor, the action of
Moussorgsky opens in 1858 and
concludes in 1874 on the note of
triumph struck by Moussorgsky’s
great opera, Boris Godounov.
The central figures are the “Big
Five,” the revolutionary group
of composers, but (as in the
operas of the ‘‘Five’s’? most
talented member) the major role
in the film is that given to the
Russian people themselves.

In order to cover the huge
panorama of action, including su-
perbly staged scenes from Boris
Godounov, Roshal is obliged to

/use a large number of fadeouts

and abrupt scene changes — a
difficult technique and one that
is not always ‘successful. But,
despite occasional disjointedness,
the tremendous sweep of the peo-
ple expressed in parallel action
in Boris Godounov and in the
world of the ‘Five’ through
their revolutionary artistic ac-
tivity, climbs to a climax of im-
mense power.

Particularly outstanding is the
court room scene in which the
critic Stassov is brought to trial
by the Old Guard for “slander.”
Stassov’ s spirited defense, trans-
forming the trial into an indict-
ment of his persecutors, is in the
finest traditions of the centuries-
old fight for freedom of ideas
finally attained in the socialist
society of the Soviet Union.

The film ends on the words
of Moussorgsky (played. by Alex-
ander Borisov): “The artist be-
lieves in the future because he
lives in it.’—the artist of the
people bringing the power of
his imagination, his vision of
what can be, to.the ‘struggles of
the people from whom he draws
his inspiration and strength.—
N. E. eo erin

This symphony | is mollowenill
more mature, yet more free. The
last movement reverts a little
to the idiom of Peter and the —
Wolf.

Philosophy? No, but thought —
that entertains and holds, A fine —
presentation by the Swiss Ro-
mande under Ansermet. hg

Incidentally, most of this mu- —
sic underlines Zdhanov’s remind-
er that to follow the national
tradition is the best way to be —
international.—H, G. SHAR.

Historical- musical epic
‘Moussorgsky”

Capsule
| Reviews

SCARAMOUCHE

“The great French Revolution
that shook the whole feudal
world of the late 18th century
brought down to the cops-and- —
robbers level. Brisk swordplay
and comic slapstick galore.

LONE STAR :

A perversion of history which —
depicts the| United States’ an-
nexation of Texas and the war
with Mexico as just and popular
acts. Clark Gable and Ava
Gardner,

HAPPY GO LUCKY

“ Inoffensive, unpretentious mu-
sical starring Vera Hllen as an
American singer stranded with
a troupe in Scotland. the flimsy
theme for a lot of high jinks.
Not good. not bad.

STREETCAR NAMED DESIR

Elia Kazan’s strong direction
makes this film version of the
famous Broadway hit an excit-
ing drama. Vivien Leigh and
Marlon Brando,

THE MAN IN THE
WHITE SUIT
* Alec ‘Guinness and a peerless
collection of *charactér “actors
combine excellent ‘satire and
frank comment on the: reaction-
ary tole of big British’ capitalists —
— carefully, blurred . in’ weak
climax. Despite its kneeling t0
the Marshall’ Plan, this remains
one of the year’s most hilarious
comedies. at

A PLACER IN THE SUN

Misses the social implications —
of Theodore Dreiser’s erent :
novel, An American :
from which it is taken, but is .
still worth seeing for generally
good acting, photography and
directing. a

LAVENDER HILL MOB :
A collection of British chat
acter actors turn the theft of #
million pounds worth of t,
bullion from the Bank of Eng

‘land into a pleasant frolic,

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
A slick, elaborately bontivee
Alfred Hitchcock susp

drama about a murder commit: _

ted by a wealthy young, psych
(Robert Walker) and his at-
tempts to involvé a young tennis
player (iFarley| Granger). A lit-
tle bit too’ contrived. nigh

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 25, 1952 — PAGE 8