Mincing a Dead Horse

During the 3 1/2 years that William K. Zinsser reviewed films for the New York Herald Tribune, he habitually criticizedt the movies with a boldness commendable but rare in his breed. If Zinsser thought a movie was poor, he said so. A Farewell to Arms was, in his view, "vulgar to the point of nausea." He found South Pacific to be "arty and distracting." Ten days after this last comment ran in the Herald Tribune, the disrespectful Zinsser was no longer reviewing movies; he was writing editorials.

In his new book, Seen Any Good Movies Lately? (Doubleday; $3-75), ex-Critic Zinsser takes up in general terms the question that has had New York newsmen buzzing for weeks: Was Bill Zinsser kicked upstairs because of pressure from advertisers? "It is generally assumed in New York motion picture circles." Zinsser writes, "that a movie studio can soften an adverse review--in advance--by bringing pressure on a newspaper. Unhappily, there is some truth in this belief." He insists that no such pressure dislodged him, says that he asked to be relieved. But he notes that his removal coincided with a new Herald Tribune policy of leniency towards Hollywood, and the installation of a crew of Zinsser successors of such benevolence that their critical hearts tend to melt at the movies.

Jelly & Gee Whiz. Zinssers is not the only discerning voice that has been diverted in New York, once considered a reviewer's citadel impregnable to siege. Justin Gilbert of the Mirror has been under tacit order since 1956 to pull his punches, a mandate he finds painful to obey. Last August, after a mildly unfavorable Gilbert review of The Hunters, a story of jet bomber crews, 20th Century-Fox Vice President Charles Einfeld fired off a cable to Mirror Publisher Charles McCabe, who was vacationing in Rome. In it he expressed "shocked regret shabby dismissal of our very important ambitious costly above all sincerely patriotic film" --a sentiment which, Einfeld pointedly went on to say, took no regard of "extensive advertising campaign in Mirror including two full three-quarter pages over and above regular space." McCabe did not answer the cable.

Outside New York, many newspapers have long since been softened to critical jelly by such threats and/or reprisals from producers and exhibitors. The tone of a review in the trade papers bears a remarkable relationship to advertising volume. Among the daily Los Angeles press, only the loftily independent Times Reviewer Philip K. Scheuer bucks a tendency among movie reviewers to play the role of "gee whiz" movie fans rather than movie judges.

"Submerged Pressure." Even when no pressure is applied, the reviewer senses it. "There is a submerged pressure," says one Texas movie reviewer. Says another in Denver: "Everyone who writes reviews knows what has happened to other reviewers. There is always an implied threat."

Ironically, Hollywood may be mincing a dead horse. As a journalistic form, the movie review has descended to the level of the pressagent's blurb--a blurb commonly reprinted by newspapers too idle or strapped to staff a reviewer. A few perceptive, readable critics are still at critical work. But many papers leave the job to worn-out deskmen, middle-aged ladies (the New York Daily News has three) or unqualified cubs, or else, like the Des Moines Tribune, spread it through the city room, at $3 a review.

In tireless pursuit of mediocrity and unreadability, the nation's run-of-the-film movie critics have transformed themselves into a group dispensary of tasteless, colorless and odorless critical treacle, ignored on a wholesale basis by the moviegoer, sampled only by the movie industry itself, which is merely vigilant for any sign of recalcitrant tartness. The New York Film Critics met recently to wring hands over the cases of Zinsser and Gilbert, deplored industry pressure for two hours, and adjourned. "Nothing was done by the critics," wrote New York Post Critic Archer Winsten with some bitterness, "and nothing will be done."

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