
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993                   TAG: 9305010084
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PETER GILSTRAP THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NOW THERE ARE FILM MAGAZINES FOR EVERY TASTE

For some, seeing a film is enough, but for those with a need to go one step further and read about it there are a plethora of magazines. Whatever your taste, from splatter to serious, from early black-and-white to glorious Technicolor, there is a periodical dishing up ink on celluloid.

Some mags treat classic "serious" films with the scholarly reverence they deserve. This is "cinema," friends. Others elevate forgotten B and even C movies to their rightful stature as unintentional camp masterpieces. Still others showcase seemingly worthless pictures with analyses so deep it makes you wonder.

The ratio of a magazine's specialization to the readers' personal taste is the magic equation here; after all, one man's "Citizen Kane" is another man's "Screaming Skull."

The Spy magazine equivalent of movie mags, Film Threat (published by Larry Flynt) is a hilarious batch of on-target pop culture critiquing and skewering with insight that's almost, but not quite, too hip for its own good.

The most recent issue featured loads of page-turning fun highlighted by an examination of "overheated pop tart" Madonna's future acting possibilities. Can she avoid a massive career backlash by "weaving her sexual wiles into a serious acting career"? Writer Dean Lamanna reveals all in "Madonna - The Crack of Yawn."

The second annual "Buyer's Guide to Film Schools" makes for good reading whether you want to attend one or not. A rundown of what 46 institutions have to offer - entry requirements, degrees awarded, equipment available, tuition fees, etc. - the guide goes from Wesleyan University ($22,000 per year) to the always economical School of Life ("No money down").

Film Threat: $11.85 for six issues, P.O. Box 16928, North Hollywood, Calif. 91615.

Taken as cheap, entertaining mind-candy, movies like "The Blob," "Manfish" or "The Day the Earth Stood Still" are harmless ways to pass 90 minutes of your life. Taken as revelatory examples of post-World War II American psycho-social mores, they turn into pretty tough reading.

But that doesn't stop Delirious - The Fantasy Film Magazine from trying, and it's not even from France. Produced entirely by one Steven R. Johnson, Issue No. 2 - "Fifties Deluxe" - has some interesting concepts about some wonderfully smelly movies of the period. The only problem is Johnson's writing.

The man apparently has a psychology degree and a lot of time on his hands - at least enough to come up with articles such as "The Child Is the Father of the Robot" (11 pages on the eye-opening bond between '50s youths and robots, with references from Schopenhauer, Rousseau, the Bible and countless others).

Delirious: No subscriptions sold, but you may reserve the next issue by sending $4.50 to Steven R. Johnson, 1326 Cleveland Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44121.

Filled with equally heady writing - that actually makes sense - is the 46-year-old mag Film Quarterly, where Pauline Kael cut her teeth. This quarter's issue contains "Marcello Mastroianni and the Game of Truth," an absorbing tour through the life and career of the Italian screen legend, told to Gideon Backmann by the man himself.

If you've ever wondered who the "Father of the Woman's Film" was, the answer - according to author Scott Simon - is D.W. Griffith. Simon theorizes that Griffith essentially defined the female character's role in film outside the traditional confines of the male lead, a definition that has transcended the director's silent-era work.

The studious reviews of both films and books are worth the cover price, though at times it seems the writers watch these movies from on high rather than mere theater seats.

Film Quarterly: $19 per year, Journals Department, University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, Calif. 94720.

Classic Images is a monthly trip back in time, though only true archivists will recognize most of the names of the stars and films they're in.

But so what? Somehow, reading warmhearted homages to half-forgotten names like Ken Maynard, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Fatty Arbuckle is a lot more interesting than catching up on the plastic talents Hollywood subjects us to today.

And the advertisements are not to be missed. Whether you are looking for lobby cards for "The Catman in Paris," videotapes of Lash Larue or a signed portrait of Halle Berry, you can find them sold here.

Classic Images: $27.50 for 12 issues. P.O. Box 809, Muscatine, Iowa 52761.

by CNB