Beyond and Below

By JAY COCKS

The Hollywood studio system operates like a game of big-stakes roulette. You miss a few, win big on one number and then, as often as not, play it again to disastrous results. Two sequels to successful 20th Century-Fox films demonstrate that from an aesthetic standpoint the whole thing is a sucker's game.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls carries a vehement prologue stating that it is not actually a sequel to the original; indeed, the film makers have used the salable title merely as a point of departure for their own individualistic assault on good taste. The plot defies both credulity and synopsis, but has generally to do with the adventures of an all-girl rock trio called the Carrie Nations as they slither from one bed to another on the road to fame in Hollywood. The direction by Skin Flick Impresario Russ Meyer (TIME, June 13, 1969) is full of sexual innuendo of the kind that might impress a lickerish Boy Scout. The script, by Chicago Film Critic Roger Ebert, will surely tickle those who prefer their dialogue with comic-book balloons around it. The movie is just a lark--a big camp, don't you see--but many people may not see, and those who do will probably not care.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes finds Astronaut James Franciscus searching frantically for Charlton Heston, who, it may be recalled, got hung up in a time warp in the original. Franciscus and Heston's girl friend (Linda Harrison) escape from the same simian world where humans are treated as lower animals and stumble onto an underground civilization of humanoid atom-bomb freaks. These thermonuclear trippers are about to launch civilization's last A-bomb against their ape rivals. Worse, they have Charlton Heston stashed in a cage so he cannot thwart their plan. Franciscus and Heston try to fight their way out, but alas, fate and the scriptwriters conspire against them.

Incredibly, both films appear to be doing a brisk business at the box office, thereby presenting the possibility of still more sequels. Perhaps in the next installment, both formulas could be combined. The Carrie Nations, for example, could tumble through the time warp. Or some of the apes could show up in Hollywood, where executive positions await them at 20th Century-Fox.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.