U.S. AIRCRAFT LOSSES

Surface-to-air missile in North Vietnam.

_ American military admit-
im Saigon recently that
have lost 4,066 aircraft in
am. since the beginning of
yar. This admission came
24 hours after the High
1and in North Vietnam an-
ed that the U.S. had lost
Planes in the North alone.

U.S. military spokesman
ed losses over North Viet-
were only 858 planes,
another 1,093 had been
‘for other reasons.’ Heli-
r losses totalled 1,841, in-
tg 786 shot down.

lowing this admission of
ry defeat, another US.
‘Sman in Saigon announced
w mission by giant B-52

bombers dropping 30-ton bomb
loads on areas only 15 miles
south-east of Saigon.

Windows rattled and buildings
shook in the South Vietnam ca-
pital as  Stratofortresses  at-
tempted to bomb the rocket-
launching points from which
South Vietnam Liberation forces
have been shelling key military
installations in Saigon.

At the same time, U.S. Navy
planes continued bombing at-
tacks on North Vietnam with
raids on areas about 100 miles
north of the demilitarized zone.

South Vietnamese puppet
troops suffered heavy casualties
in engagements about 40 miles
noth-east of Saigon.

gracious, man

my years ago I wrote an
e for the Clarion, comment-
mn the fact that the people
e Soviet Union had, in one

bought over seven million

Ss of Charles’ Dickens’
S. Without doubt millions
have become ardent Dick-
ans and I do hope for their
that they never see a copy
ie Tribune of June 26.
m McEwen wrote an ar-
for that issue in which he
“ibes Mr. Pickwick’s adven-
| during a local election in
ie England. The article is
lent in comparing the Tru-
-Stanfield election but Tom

commits some grievous blund-
ers which are unforgivable.

Tom, old boy, Mr. Slumkey
was not a bosom companion of
Mr. Pickwick and he certainly
was no stranger to the consti~
tuents of Eastanville. Good gra-
cious, man, he was the candid-~
ate. Tupman, Winkle and Snod-
grass were Pickwick’s compa-
nions.

Do you now realize the earth
shaking blunder that you made?
Do you understand the grinding
torment suffered by all Dickens
fans as they read your article?

D.C.,
Coboconk, Ontaria

~ UKRAINSKA KNYHA

32 BLOOR STREET WEST

® ‘ i
IMPORTERS AND DISTRIBUTORS
e
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TORONTO, ONT.

A ripple at cocktail parties

2001: A Space Odyssey was
to have been Stanley Kubrick’s
piece de resistance, a culmina-
tion of his sense of the ab-
surdity of reality, the pervasive-
ness of doom, his almost erotic
involvement with the machine
age and the fall of man, his
ability to make the viewer feel
poised between laughter and
despair.

The question to ask yourself
after you have recovered from
the dismay of having wasted
$3.00 is not why is this movie
so bad, but why is it appreciated
by anyone? (Apparently it has
made a ripple at cocktail parties
somewhere in Canada). The very
Scattered nature of the movie’s
point of view which is partly
responsible for the sloppy struc-
ture and unsatisfying theme is
what gives 2001 its appeal. Its
obscurity was to have been its
Saving grace; in a way it wasn’t
obscure enough. It was the same
old show.

We are taken first to the
Dawn of Man where some un-
convincing extras in monkey
Suits portray in a tedious se-
quence the innate aggression of
what I suppose are barely pre-
human creatures. The monkeys,
it seems, get the “word” from
what appears to be a fabricated
steel slab which is found stuck
in the sand one morning. In-
spired thereby, the ape leader
thinks for awhile, picks up a
bone, and beats up a rival lead-
er. And this is the beginning of
man’s self-destructive journey.

Which brings us to the 21st
century of interplanetary com-
muters and elaborate and intri-
guing space ships, equipment
compliments of IBM and Bell
Telephone. At the Spaceport we
are reminded except for techno-
logy, society has remained in a
frozen state of monopoly capital
and cold war.

Apparently something has
been found buried on the moon,
something put there by some-
one, way back in time, which if
revealed .too suddenly might put
the human universe in a state of
cultural shock. (Terribly uncon-
vincing).

You guessed it: the slab, fo-

Concerts

By N. E. STORY

Montreal’s 1968 International
Piano Competition awarded the
$10,000 grand prize to 20 year
old U.S. pianist, Garrick Ohls-
son — a splendid pianist but,
in the opinion of many, lacking
that spark of genius apparent
in the playing of $5,000 second
place winner, Peter Roesel, a 23
year old from the German De-
mocratic Republic. Although a
welcome breakthrough — no
other important competition in
the West that has both allowed
and awarded East German en-
trants comes to mind—it is hard
to believe there were not non-

musical calculations by jury
members.

cussed on Jupiter. Symbol of the
somethingness of man (of just
what is never made too clear).
Anyway a special space vehicle
is prepared for an odyseey to
Jupiter, equipped with top
scientists hybernating in coffins,
attended by two astronauts, and
controlled by a computer so
complete that the co-pilots re-
late to him as to a human—a
computer named Hal.

This is the only part of the
movie that is any good, because
Hal is very funny, and is meant
to be. Hal performs a first for
his type of computér: he makes
an error. Realizing the serious-

lieve that something Really Im-
portant is about to happen,
something that will scare us,
or make us think. As for plot,
he really shot his wad with the
five-minutes before intermission,
so that we would not leave. He
should have let us leave, because
the worst was still to come.
What is interesting is that
despite the electronic music and
the attempts at giving us a real
creepy sense of outer space, the
movie isn’t scary. It comes a
little late in the day to make
hay off the terror of the un-
known. Probably this is due to
the very~real achievements in

ness of this, Keir Dullea at-
tempts to dismantle Hal, but not
before Hal has killed everyone
but Keir Dullea, who somehow
gets to’ Jupiter. (His landing is
the psychedelic spectacular we
were promised). Here he ages
quickly in a 17th century master
bedroom and dies, the slab ap-
pearing at the foot of his Louis
Seize bed. Then he just sort
of turns into a foetus (which, I
might add, effectively resembles
Keir Dullea). And so we see, as
we ride off into the sunset, it
is all a cycle, history is a merry-
go-round of suppressed father-
Tapers, etc. What I mean to say
is that is as good an interpreta-
tion as any, the like of which
2001 viewers would jump on so
they won’t have to admit it was
rather a hoax.

Kubrick developed the line of
the movie such that at each sec-
tion we are encouraged to be-

conquering space that have
made the rest of the universe
just an extension of our environ-
ment. To make up for this,
Kubrick attempts to give us a
feeling of mystery by making
his point itself a mystery. The
symbols are scattered around in
such a way that you can read
what you like into the film.
(Again, food for cocktail party

thought — or should I say
snacks).

It’s nothing new that movies
are obscureantist and pessimis-
tic; what is new is that so much
of it is pushed as Hollywood’s
trend toward “art”. 2001 is a
dying gasp of an old kind of
movie, dressed up with three
million dollars worth of special
effects. Think how many neat
reasonably budgeted movies
three million dollars could buy.

—Pamela Mzher

are recommended

The $2,500 third prize went
to 17-year-old Liubov Timofeye-
va (USSR), the youngest com-
petitor and only female winner;
followed by -her countryman,
Alexei Liubimov (24) in 4th
place with a $1,500 prize.

Regardless of Capricious judg-
ing and rather awkward ceremo-
nials, capable organization of
the choice, handling and perfor-
mance environment of the con-
testants plus, if nothing else,
the biggest cash prizes in the in-
ternational competition circuit,
are clearly giving the Montreal
International Competitions an
assured international Status.
Moreover, international concert

velop from among the winners,
can only fortify this in the
future. Not least of the strength
of the competitions has been the
capable and solicitous musician-
ship of Otto-Werner Mueller,
who conducts all orchestral con-
certs.

The 5th Montreal Internation-
al Competitions next year will
again be devoted to violin. All
performances are open to the
general public. Admission to the
first two rounds of judging is free
and the third at Place des Arts

is modestly priced. These con-
certs: are svar warAaktecnncae