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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 12, 1994                   TAG: 9402120098
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: It came from the video store
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

NO OSCAR COTTEN, BUT HE WAS A PRO

Joseph Cotten died earlier this week without ever having won an Academy Award. In his long career, the Richmond native wasn't even nominated. But he's still the personification of a pro, an actor who adapted to the realities of the business and was seldom out of work. As a leading man and in supporting roles, he was usually cast as a relaxed, likable character. But in his best role, he was just the opposite.

Cotten made his screen debut in one of the genuinely great films, and\ continued to work with key creative people in high-budget productions. When\ those roles disappeared, he took work in B-movies and on television, and though\ it's been years since I've seen some of those efforts, I don't recall that\ Cotten ever appeared to be slumming in them. He did his job.

His first screen appearance was as critic Jedediah Leland in Orson\ Welles' "Citizen Kane." The relationship between those two began with the\ famous Mercury Theater, and they always seemed to bring out the best in each\ other. Their collaborations include "The Magnificent Ambersons," "Journey Into\ Fear," "Othello," "Touch of Evil" and "The Third Man," where Cotten was western\ novelist Holly Martin to Welles' Harry Lime.

He played more conventional characters in lavish Hollywood productions of "Gaslight," "The Farmer's Daughter," "Portrait of Jenny" and "Duel in the Sun." In the late 1950s and '60s, like so many other actors of his generation, he moved to lower budget genre films - "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte" with Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland - and\ the sleeper favorite "Petulia" with Julie Christie and George C. Scott.

In the 1970s, he turned to camp horror with "Lady Frankenstein," an\ unalloyed guilty pleasure, and Mario Bava's "Torture Chamber of Baron Blood."\ He also co-starred with Vincent Price in the memorable comedy "The Abominable\ Dr. Phibes." By the 1980s, he had turned to television with such light fare\ as "Return to Fantasy Island."

But to many movie fans, Joseph Cotten will always be remembered as the suave\ and lethal Uncle Charlie in Alfred Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt." It was one\ of the few villains Cotten played, and perhaps because he was cast against type\ he was remarkably effective. Uncle Charlie is a complex mixture of good and\ evil, sanity and madness. He's a smooth talker who charms everyone - including\ his namesake niece - while he's really a twisted misogynist who murders wealthy\ widows

There were other good roles, but that one, I think, was Joseph Cotten's best\ - the finest moment in a long and full career.

\ JOSEPH COTTEN VIDEOGRAPHY:\

"The Abominable Dr. Phibes" ('71) LIVE

"Airport '77" ('77) MCA Universal

"Beyond the Forest" ('49) MGM/UA

"The Big Push" ('75) Video Gems

"Brighty of the Grand Canyon" ('67) Active Home Video

"Casino" ('80) Prism

"Churchill and the Generals" ('81) Prism

"Citizen Kane" ('41) RKO

"Delusion" ('84) Sultan

"Duel in the Sun" ('46) FoxVideo

"The Farmer's Daughter" ('47) FoxVideo

"From the Earth to the Moon" ('58) Video Communications Inc.

"Gaslight" ('44) MGM/UA

"The Hearse" ('80) Media

"Heaven's Gate" ('81) MGM/UA

"Hellbenders" ('67) Columbia Tristar

"Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte" ('65) FoxVideo

"Journey Into Fear" ('42) RKO

"Lady Frankenstein" ('72) Sinister Cinema

"The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case" ('76) Columbia Tristar

"Lydia" ('41) Sultan

"The Magnificent Ambersons" ('42) RKO

"Niagra" ('52) FoxVideo

"The Oscar" ('66) Sultan

"Othello" ('52) Academy

"The Passing of Evil" ('70) Warner (a.k.a. "The Grasshopper" and "Passions")

"Perfect Crime" ('78) VidAmerica

"Petulia" ('68) Warner

"Portrait of Jenny" ('48) FoxVideo

"Return to Fantasy Island" ('77) Prism

"Screamers" ('80) Sultan

"September Affair" ('50) Paramount

"Shadow of a Doubt" ('43) MCA Universal

"Since You Went Away" ('44) FoxVideo

"Soylent Green" ('73) MGM/UA

"Survivor" ('80) Lorimar

"The Third Man" ('49) Republic

"Tora! Tora! Tora!" ('70) FoxVideo

"Torture Chamber of Baron Blood" ('72) HBO

"Touch of Evil" ('58) MCA Universal

"Tramplers" ('66) Columbia Tristar

"Twilight's Last Gleaming" ('77) FoxVideo

"Under Capricorn" ('49) Vestron

"Walk Softly, Stranger" ('50) Turner

"White Comanche" ('67) Nostalgia

New releases this week:

The Man Without a Face: ***

Starring Mel Gibson, Nick Stahl. Directed by Gibson. Warner. 112 min. Rated PG for strong language, subject matter.

Mel Gibson's directorial debut is a curious combination of effective storytelling with characters who don't always ring true. Like "Scent of a Woman," it's a good film that finally overcomes its flaws. Gibson plays a disfigured hermit who tutors young Nick Stahl in Latin and life. Recommended.

Meteor Man: **

Starring Robert Townsend, Robert Guillaume, Marla Gibbs. Directed by Townsend. MGM/UA. 96 min. Rated PG for violence, some strong language.

Robert Townsend's slapdash and generally unfunny comedy is a send-up of superhero movies. But the film also attempts to comment on the many problems facing urban black communities. In that regard, it falls short.

Calendar Girl: *

Starring Jason Priestley, Jerry O'Connell, Gabriel Olds. Directed by John Whitesell. Columbia TriStar. 90 min. Rated PG-13 for strong language, brief nudity, subject matter.

This unnecessary little coming-of-age movie is an "American Graffiti" wannabee that never amounts to anything. In 1962 three Nevada teen-agers - one of them TV pretty boy Priestley - dream of Marilyn Monroe and go to Hollywood to meet her. The result is unusually flat and dull.

by CNB