CINEMA

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Ingrid Bergman brings religion to the heathen Chinee, and the customers get a massive (2 hr. 37 min.) helping of highly flavored but somewhat indigestible missionary stew.

Auntie Mame. Rosalind Russell is terrific as the world's most celebrated auntique, but as far as the script is concerned, it's a bit of a shame about Mame.

He Who Must Die (French). The most powerful religious film of recent years: a Jules Dassin (Rififi) version of The Greek Passion, Novelist Nikos Kazantzakis' attempt to show how the life of Christ coincides with the lives of all men in a condition of continuous Calvary.

Separate Tables. Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, David Niven, Wendy Hiller and Gladys Cooper sit down to eat crow, served up by Playwright Terence Rattigan in a ratty old resort hotel. The actors gnash away in splendid style, though in the end they seem to be left with nothing more than a mouthful of feathers.

The Horse's Mouth. The film version does not quite come straight out of Novelist Joyce Gary's mouth, but Alec Guinness is almost the spitting, boozing, wheezing image of Gary's painter, a magnificently hilarious gutter genius.

Inspector Maigret (French). Jean Gabin keeps on his toes as Georges Simenon's flawless flatfoot, and Director Jean Delannoy's camera is a superb shadow.

My Uncle (French). A wicked satire on mechanized modern living by Jacques (Mr. Hulot's Holiday) Tati, who is probably the funniest funnyman in films, but in this one overdoes his wit by at least 30 minutes.

TELEVISION

Wed., Dec. 31

U.S. Steel Hour (CBS, 10-11 p.m.).* The very fact that this show has survived its title (Goodbye . . . But It Doesn't Go Away) suggests that it is worth a look. An oldie (first produced 31/2 years ago) about an old problem: a traveling salesman trying to figure out why life has not paid him the commission he thinks he deserves.

Thurs., Jan. 1

Tournament of Roses Parade (NBC and ABC, 11:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m.). A behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the big parade, and then the march to the Pasadena Rose Bowl itself. NBC will also take a pregame peek at preparations "for the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Orange & Cotton Bowl Games (CBS, 12:45 p.m. until finish). Oklahoma v. Syracuse at Miami's Orange Bowl. For an added fillip, whatever remains of the Cotton Bowl (Air Force v. T.C.U.) in Dallas.

Sugar Bowl (NBC, 1:45-4:45 p.m.). Clemson v. L.S.U., in New Orleans.

The Rose Bowl (NBC, 4:45-7:30 p.m.). Iowa v. California at Pasadena, Calif.

Playhouse 90 (CBS, 9:30-11 p.m.). Adapted from Pierre (The Bridge over the River Kwai) Boulle's novel, Face of a Hero should at least prove the novelist's versatility as it switches from the Far East to small-town melodrama in the U.S. South. With Jack Lemmon, James Gregory and Rip Torn.

Sun., Jan. 4

Johns Hopkins File 7 (ABC, 11:30 a.m.-12 noon). First of six programs presenting the lives of six men whose intellects have "actually changed the world." For a starter: Dr. Sigmund Freud.

The Big News of '58 (CBS, 3-4 p.m.). A year of front-page stories retold by a capable team of reporters.

Where We Stand (CBS, 4-5 p.m.). One more assessment of the relative power positions of the U.S. and Russia.

The Great Leap Forward (NBC, 4:30-5 p.m.). John Strohm, first reporter to make a State Department approved trip to Red China since the Korean war, has some fascinating movie footage to show how much, and how little, Mao's communes have accomplished.

Mon., Jan. 5

The Danny Thomas Show (CBS, 9-9:30 p.m.). Lucy and Desi desert Desilu Productions to stir up warmhearted domestic comedy at Danny's expense.

THEATER

J.B. Archibald MacLeish's re-enactment and restatement of the Book of Job is a generally impressive, often vibrant verse play in which Job becomes a modern symbol of suffering. Despite shortcomings, the play represents an effort of a sort and size rare in today's U.S. theater.

Flower Drum Song. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Chinese fortune cookie. Nicely acted, opulently staged, routinely smooth, with a couple of delightful Oriental dolls --Miyoshi Umeki and Pat Suzuki.

The Pleasure of His Company. As a prodigal father playing hob with his daughter's wedding plans, Cyril Ritchard is a superb specimen of a middle-aged enfant terrible.

A Touch of the Poet. A garrulous, alcoholic innkeeper, his dream world gone awry, gives Eugene O'Neill an excuse for a little too much talk, but the evening still adds up to fine theater. With Eric Portman, Helen Hayes, Kim Stanley.

The Music Man. New Year's Eve all season long.

My Fair Lady. Approaching its third birthday and as fair as ever.

Two for the Seesaw. Two lonely people in New York's late and early light, too much in love--and a little too neurotic--to say good night.

On Tour

My Fair Lady and Two for the Seesaw in CHICAGO and The Music Man in SAN FRANCISCO are reasonable facsimiles of the Broadway productions (see above).

Sunrise at Campobello. Franklin D. Roosevelt's years of personal ordeal--from the day he contracted polio at Campobello to the day he nominated Al Smith for the presidency. In DETROIT.

Li'l Abner. A lusty animation of Al Capp's comic-strip characters, with some lilting Dogoatch music. In TORONTO.

Romanoff and Juliet. Actor Peter Ustinov does a fine job with Playwright Ustinov's international farce. In CHICAGO.

BOOKS

Best Reading

Manuel the Mexican, by Carlo Coccioli. Against a brilliantly evocative Mexican-Indian backdrop, a Passion play unfolds in which the 21-year-old Manuel symbolizes both Christ and the ancient Aztec God, Tepozteco--proof, perhaps, that God and Dios are one.

The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, by Nikos Kazantzakis, translated by Kimon Friar. With Apollonian clarity and Dionysian passion, Greece's late famed man of letters challenges Homer with a sequel that is a modern epic of adventure, eroticism, and the universal quest for self-knowledge and God.

The Visitors, by Mary McMinnies. A diplomatic cocktail party in an Iron Curtained drawing room, in which canapes of wit and absurdity are washed down with the strong drink of political brutality.

The Prospects Are Pleasing, by Honor Tracy. Home truths about Ireland and the eccentric posturings of the Irish, told with a sly smile by a writer who regards the old sod as nothing sacred.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote. The fictional season's most endearing bad little good girl, Holly Golightly, bewildered and a little afraid, in a lot of beds she never made.

Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery. Monty has discovered a new weapon--ink--and he splashes it on friend and foe.

Leyte, by Samuel Eliot Morison. One of history's decisive naval engagements masterfully recreated.

Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. The book without a country that honors all humanity, by the great Russian poet who won 1958's Nobel Prize but was forced to refuse it by Big Brotherland.

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. A comedy of horrors whose aberrant love theme and brilliant writing make it a kind of fictional black valentine.

Best Sellers

FICTION

1. Doctor Zhivago, Pasternak (1)* 2. Lolita, Nabokov (2) 3. From the Terrace, O'Hara (5) 4. The Ugly American, Lederer and Burdick (4) 5. Around the World with Auntie Maine, Dennis (3) 6. Exodus, Uris (7) 7. Victorine, Keyes (8) 8. Women and Thomas Harrow, Marquand (6) 9. The Best of Everything, Jaffe (10) 10. The Rainbow and the Rose, Shute

NONFICTION

1. Only in America, Golden (1) 2. Aku-Aku, Heyerdahl (2) 3. Wedemeyer Reports! (3) 4. The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery ( 4 ) 5. Beloved Infidel, Graham and Frank (5) 6. 'Twixt Twelve and Twenty, Boone (9) 7. The Proud Possessors, Saarinen 8. On My Own, Roosevelt 9. Brave New World Revisited, Huxley (8) 10. Chicago: A Pictorial History, Kogan and Wendt (6)

* All times E.S.T. * Position on last week's list.

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