Due to advances in multi-track recording nd mixing, aby the mid seventies, The sound levels are much better balanced in Atman's movies from CALIFORNIA SPLIT on. When Fox restored MASH in the last decade they did a pretty good job in bringing the sound up to snuff. I wish Warner's would do the same for McCABE.

FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, like Chen's earlier work, can be appreciated for it's formal discipline. For me its allegorical elements mute the emotional impact it's going for. I I liked CAUGHT IN THE WEB's looser, more improvisational style, merging broad satire with wistful melodrama. It doesn't all work but it isn't…

It's definitely a commercial project but it has some Cassevetes touches running throughout. It's an entertaining genre film but don't expect a harrowing depiction of show biz like KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE or OPENING NIGHT.

Not to mention Richard Conte going out of frame in a way that suggests he's performing cunnilingus on the femme fatale.

Where do you rank "Gay Boys in Bondage"?

Sterling Holloway
Stan Freeberg