SCARLET AND BLACK

Crinnell Professor Reviews

Student Admissions Film
By Charles G. Cleaver

I write this to atone. No or
three years ago, in reviewing a
film about Grinnell College. I
took the stance that it was in-
tended as comedy, in the tra-
dition of college movies that
lampoon college movies. My
assessment was that it was a
pretty funny job, except that the
flummery ought to have been
served up with a daintier trowel.

That was not candid. I did not
actually believe that comedy was
intended. Now, given the chance

to be straightforward and lauda— ,

tory at the same time, 1 am
obliged to take it. The new film
about Grinnell, by Campbell
Films (Jim Hormel, director, and
Milt Bellows, photographer), is
honestly stated and beautifully
executed.

Honesty: Mr. Terry says that
his first hope is that no student
who might be influenced by the
film to come to Grinnell will be
surprised by what he sees when
he arrives. I doubt that a more
representative slice of our life
could be jammed into twenty
minutes. In fact, the college
might, without violence to truth,
have broadcast a more flattering
image of itself, in certain ways,
than it does on this reel. Sturdily
refusing the travelogue shots
usual to the genre, Mr. Hormel
and Mr. Bellows barely allow us
a glimpse of the S.O.M. buildings
that we might brag about (one
exception is a stunning winter
scene taken in front of Burling.)
The orchestra has never sounded
worse than during the few sec-
onds they are allotted, our actors
never so stilted. No statistics are
recited about how many of our
students do well in decent purr
suits after they leave here. The
only scene that was staged,
shows it: i would bet plenty that
Mr. Graham isn’t ordinarily as
uncomfortable with two coreds
and a plant with variegated
leaves.

Any illusion that Grinnell is ut-
terly unique is dispelled in the
first few frames. when we hear
some guidance counselor
speaking about other liberal arts
colleges, as we watch scenes
from Oberline, Swarthmore, and
Pomona. Then follow pictures of
work and play here, in about their»
actual proportions 7 more of the
former than the latter. The
people who are shbwn doing our
things represent a fair random
sample of styles in facial and
bodily adornment. E. B. King and

the Francesco Trio appear. The
shot of Mr. Zirkle is true in some
quintessential way: a student
asks him, “HOW about the
height?" “There are other
problems first,” he replies,
masking a world of meaning.

We hear the voice of a male
student praising the college for
its curricular flexibility and its
willingness to confer with
students about change; we hear
a female 'voice asserting that
Grinnell is a joyless place. A
black student says that the
college is good academically,
but, for him, wanting socially. A
good deal is made of small
classes and personal contact with
professors; if none of the big
classes that actually exist here
are shown, that appears to be
a function of style rather than
guile. Mr. Bellows did shoot in
a rather large class of Mr. Liber-
man’s, but he chose to focus on
the rapt expressions of individual
students rather than on the whole
scene.

The contradictions that we see
and hear are an important
element in the movie's truth: no
single and simple impression of
Grinnell can be adduced. We
believe the young woman when
she says that it’s a joyless place,
but we also believe our eyes when‘
we see pictures of joy. We believe
another student when he says
that going to college isn't all that
big a deal, after all; but, as his
voice is fading, we see the gaudy
and flamboyant attendants at
last year’s Homecoming, spread-
ing gay autumn leaves before
their handsome hermaphroditic
Queen.

This is the point at which the
film’s statement and its tech-
nique merge: the images 7
sights and sounds ~ jam and
shift and overlap in exciting
ways. One voice picks up before
another has left off; neither
necessarily relates to what we
are seeing in any simple way.
What we are hoping for around
here, surely, is mix and move
ment, a simmering of the in-
tellectual, esthetic and Social
brew. That seems to be just what
the filmmakers found,

Only a few students attended
the two sneak previews I did.
When I asked them, afterwards,
what they thought, they mostly
said, “Like it is." Some of them
said it, though, with a giggle, as
when some certain nerve is
touched. Like that maiden who
was accustomed to brooding over

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the plainness of her countenance;
shown her portrait, she saw that
the flaws were truly represented,
but she saw also that she was
a pretty good looker, at that, and
she was elated. Maybe the last
word comes from the voice in
the film that says, “Flawed, yes,
but compared with what? ”

I don’t think I am being ex-
travagant in my appraisal, but
then I’m not a student here. By
the way, it’s a h-~k of a lot more
fun to write a surly review than
a complimentary one.

M-M-M—M-M-M Good

in m u III

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\ SOUP‘ V

“Hot Dog Bean,” an original
silk screen by Andy Warhol, has
been added to Grinnell College’s
permanent art collection.

The serigraph is a gift from
Clyde Reedy. 5 Swallow Lane,
North Oaks, St. Paul, Minn.

“Hot Dog Bean” is one of a
celebrated series of works
Warhol did in 1968 when the
Campbell Soup Company in-
troduced several new kinds of
soup.

It will be included in an
exhibition of new acquistions to
the permanent art collection to

be held in the Scheaffer
GalleryMaVB-Sl.

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Saturday. January 3|, I970

Drug Symposium at Grinnell
Greg Dunn to be Committee Head

The Grinnell Symposium on
Psychoactive Drugs will be held
on campus February 4 and 5, The
conference is planned by students
to inform members of the college
community about effects of the
use and abuse of drugs.

Plans for the symposium em-
phasize informal sessions in
which students, faculty members
and advisers can meet and talk
with participants. The speakers
are scheduled to join students in
classes, at meals, and in informal
discussions. Each speaker will
also nresent a lecture followed
by a questionranswer session.

Greg Dunn, chairman of the
drug symposium committee, ex-
plained the purpose of the sym-
posium; “We’re trying to provide
a foundation of up-todate, faCr
tual information With this con
ference, but we’d like people who
participate to come away with
more than facts, If the symr
posium can get students, faculty
members, and the college's
administrators together to hear
each other out, well have taken
a big step toward defining the
problems of drug use and meet
ing them. As it is now, for fifteen
weeks of the semester everyone
pretends there are no problems.”

Plans also include several
films including “Speedscene:
The Problem of Amphetamine
Abuse.” “Research Report 7
THC The Chemistry of

Marijuana,” and “The Spring
Grove Experiment,” a C.B.S.
film .which traces patients
treated wtth LSD.

Guest speakers for the syme
posium include nationally
recognized leaders in research
and treatment with psychedelic
drugs, Dr, Samuel Irwin, a
psychopharmacologist at the
University of Oregon Medical
School will be on campus for the
event. His research includes
work on drug addiction, memory,
social behavior, and the predic»
tion of the elfect of drugs on man
on the basis of animal studies.

Dr. Walter N, Pahnke, Director
of Clinical Sciences at the Mary
land Psychiatric Research
Center at Spring Grove State
Hospital, will also speak. l-lis
areas of interest range from the
psychology of religion to the
clinical investigation of psycho
therapy assisted by psychedelic
drugs in alcoholic, neurotic.
narcotic addict, and terminal
cancer patients,

The third participant will
represent the Haigh shbury
Medical Clinic. The CI‘ c is a
volunteer, non-profit medical
facility which serves as a treat
ment and referral center for the
HaighteAshbury district of San
Francisco. Either Dr. David E.
Smith, Medical Director of the
Clinic, or Dr. John Frickman,
Chief of the Drug Treatment
Center, will be present.

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