Exodus. Despite its four-hour duration and pro-Zionist tirade, the film version of the bestseller about the birth of Israel is an expert, inspiring political thriller.

The Sundowners. A lusty slice of life in Australia's sheep-steeped outback, with Robert Mitchum as a bushtown drifter, Deborah Kerr as his worried wife.

The Magnificent Seven. The best western so far this year, this film is an impressive and occasionally profound contemplation of the life of violence.

The Virgin Spring (in Swedish). Ingmar Bergman's beautifully filmed, holy if horrible Gothic myth in which good and evil, Christian and pagan powers collaborate in the continuous nativity of love.

Village of the Damned. In one of the neatest little chillers since Peter Lorre went straight, an English town drops suddenly senseless, wakes to find its womenfolk unaccountably pregnant.

TELEVISION

Tues., Dec. 20

White Paper (NBC, 10-11 p.m.).* Chet Huntley takes a hard look at the Southern sit-in movement.

Wed., Dec. 21

Project 20 (NBC, 8:30-9 p.m.). "The Coming of Christ" depicted in the world's great religious art. Color.

Thurs., Dec. 22

The Du Pont Show with June Allyson (CBS, 10:30-11 p.m.). Harpo Marx, in a rare dramatic role, as a death-dogged deaf-mute in Silent Panic.

Fri., Dec. 23

The Bell Telephone Hour (NBC, 9-10 p.m.). The sound of Christmas, with Rise Stevens, John Raitt and the Columbus Boychoir. Color.

The Twilight Zone (CBS, 10-10:30 p.m.). Night of the Meek, with Art Carney as a department-store Santa Claus.

Sat., Dec. 24

Christmas Eve at Washington Cathedral (NBC, 9:30-11 p.m.). Protestant Episcopal carol and candlelight service.

Pontifical Midnight Mass (NBC, midnight to conclusion). From St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan.

Sun., Dec. 25

Christmas, U.S.A. (CBS, 10-11 a.m.).

A view of the celebration, ranging from a Spanish-American procession in San Diego to a Harlem choral performance.

The NBC Opera Company (NBC, 4-5 p.m.). Gian Carlo Menotti's nine-year-old Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Christmas Startime (CBS, 5-6 p.m.). A rebroadcast of last year's program of Christmas music with Marian Anderson and the New York Philharmonic. Color.

The Twentieth Century (CBS, 6:30-7 p.m.). The story of the opening of the world's last frontier by Admiral Byrd.

The Shirley Temple Show (NBC, 7-8 p.m.). Victor Herbert's Babes in Toy land, revisited by the hostess, Jonathan Winters and Jerry Colonna. Color.

Mon., Dec. 26

CBS Reports (CBS, 8:30-9:30 p.m.). "The Great Holiday Massacre," about a holiday weekend's highway accidents.

THEATER

Camelot. While failing to live up to its extravagant expectations and to the richness of the Arthurian legend, the Lerner-Loewe work has sumptuous sets, a few fine songs, some stylishly medieval choreography and an expert performance by Richard Burton.

All the Way Home. A well-acted adaptation, retaining much of the moving poetry and power of James Agee's Knoxville chronicle, A Death in the Family.

Advise and Consent. The shallow but suspenseful adaptation of the bestselling novel pushes political rooks and pawns about with the greatest gusto.

An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May. In various skits, they leave tooth marks on much that is fatuous, powder burns on a lot that is neurotic or just human.

A Taste of Honey. An unhistrionic evocation of a world of misfits and misfortunes brilliantly played by Joan Plowright.

Irina La Douce. In a pert and piquant Parisian musical, Elizabeth Seal becomes Broadway's yummiest yum-yum girl.

The Hostage. Sprawling, shocking, humane and hilarious, this play is as much a portrait of Playwright Brendan Behan as it is the story of an English soldier held hostage in a Dublin brothel.

BOOKS

Best Reading

For TIME'S selection of the year's best books, see page 58.

Best Sellers

FICTION

1. Advise and Consent, Drury (1)*

2. Hawaii, Michener (2)

3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee (3)

4. The Last of the Just, Schwarz-Bart (4)

5. Decision at Delphi, Maclnnes (5)

6. Mistress of Mellyn, Holt (8)

7. The Leopard, Di Lampedusa (6)

8. The Lovely Ambition, Chase (9)

9. The Dean's Watch, Goudge (7)

10. Sermons and Soda-Water, O'Hara

NONFICTION

1. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Shirer (1)

2. The Waste Makers, Packard (2)

3. The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (5)

4. Baruch: The Public Years (7)

5. The Snake Has All the Lines, Kerr (3)

6. Born Free, Adamson (6)

7. The Politics of Upheaval, Schlesinger (4)

8. Vanity Fair, ed. by Amory and Bradlee

9. Folk Medicine, Jarvis (9)

10. Taken at the Flood, Gunther

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

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