FILM 67/68

Filmophiles note: herewith the first anthology of reviews, essays and commentary by the National Society of Film Critics, comprised of the most provocative see-it-alls in the country. Included: Hollis Alpert, Brad Darrach, Brendan Gill, Philip A. Hartung, Pauline Kael, Stanley Kauffmann, Arthur Knight, Joseph Morgenstern, Andrew Sarris, Richard Schickel, Wilfrid Sheed and John Simon. One can play favorites by noting the different approaches, the diffidently insular and varying points of view that come across. Recorded are Joseph Morgenstern's historic change of pace in his two reviews of Bonnie & Clyde; all of the year's most controversial and commercial efforts with generally two summaries; a breakdown of the balloting accorded to Best Film, etc. in the National Society's Awards and finally an interesting symposium in which each critic responds to. questions about film's relevance to art in toto; projections of new techniques, motifs, influences, the continuance of the commercialized factory products and the saturation point of sex and violence. A nicely balanced and stimulating start in what should be a continuing, successful series.