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PAGE 10 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1981 For more than 40 years, the serial, with its ‘*‘cliffhanger‘ ending, was a regular weekly feature at movie theatres. Usually extended over 10,12,13, or 15 weeks, the serials kept audiences coming back to the theatres at least once every week, just to find out how the serial hero possibly could survive the certainâ€"death predicament he inevitably found himself in durâ€" ing the concluding moments of each chapter. Film revives ; . old serials W Television in the midâ€"1950s proved to be the one peril from which none of the serial heros escaped. Some 20 years later two young filmmakers, whose own use of thrillâ€"aâ€"minute action and cliffâ€" hanging predicaments would make them legendary, talked about collaborating on a movie that would resemble the oldâ€"time serial. The two â€" George Lucas, whose Star War pictures are themselves devised as serial chapters, and Steven Spielberg, whose Jaws and Close Enâ€" counters Of The Third Kind display some serialâ€"like characâ€" teristics â€" now have combined their talents to create Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Lucas coâ€"wrote the original storyline and Spielberg has directed the fantasyâ€"adventure film, which borrows something from almost every one of the 500â€"plus Hollywood serials made between 1912 and 1956. Within the first 10 minutes of the picture, the hero escapes death from hundreds of tarantuâ€" las, a skullâ€"encased spear that springs from a wall, poison darts triggered by broken beams of light, a treacherous companion, a bridgeâ€"less chasm, stoneâ€" doors with impaling steel teeth, a collapsing tunnel, a mammoth rolling boulder (straight out of the 1914 Perils of Pauline), dozens of arrowâ€"shooting and spearâ€"throwing natives and danâ€" gling from a takingâ€"off airplane which carries a boa constrictor in the passenger compartment. At this point, our hero â€" whose name of Indiana Jones recalls the likes of Tailspin Tommy, Smilin‘ Jack, Ace Drummond and Trader Tom â€" has yet to become involved in the main adventure which pits good guys against bad guys in the search for the Biblical Ark of the Covenant. Set in 1936, Raiders Of The Lost Ark‘s only tieâ€"in with historical fact is the presence of Nazis, By VICTOR STANTON whose villainous potential was, of course, frequently exploited in serials made during the late ‘30s and early ‘40s. The rest is total fantasy â€" a blend of exaggerated exotic and swashbuckling adventure and the supernatural. The action is virâ€" tually nonâ€"stop, leaving audiâ€" ences with little time to ponder on the illogic or implausibility of it all. Indeed, the perils are so persisâ€" tent that one almost wishes at times for a chapter break to allow for a little secondâ€"guessing as to how Indy will survive this or that one. As Indiana Jones â€" alternately a mildâ€"mannered archeology professor and a whipâ€"wielding treasure hunter (shades here of the Superman and Zorro serials) â€" Harrison Ford gives a very stylish and likeable perforâ€" mance. Ford, who stars as Han Solo in the Star Wars series, also brings a strong undercurrent of tongueâ€" inâ€"cheek humor to the role which adds an extra dimension to the picture for adult viewers. Matched up with a spunky heroine, played with a nice balâ€" ance of liberated assertiveness and traditional femininity by Karen Allen, Ford‘s Indy comes across as a character who is believeably human despite his extraordinary adventures. This, to a considerable degree, keeps the picture from becoming mereâ€" ly preposterous. Indeed, the big differences between Raiders Of The Lost Ark and the oldâ€"time movie serials it so successfully emulates are to be found in the quality of perforâ€" mances and â€" not surprisingly really, considering the filmâ€"makâ€" ing backgrounds of both Lucas and Spielberg â€" in the sophistiâ€" cation of sets, costumes and special effects. Most of the original serials were lowâ€"budget productions with frequently lessâ€"thanâ€"conâ€" vincing performances, and likely would be laughed at by most people seeing them for the first time now. In one area, however, I feel Lucas and Spielberg might have merited more praise by indulging in less ‘"sophistication.‘"‘ For a film aimed to entertain all ages, there is considerable explicitness in acts of violence that goés far beyond what is necessary to be simply "realistic.‘" The majority of movieâ€"goers will, nonetheless, find Raiders Of The Lost Ark thoroughly enterâ€" taining. Original theatre in fourth season SUMWAT is computer language for summer at Waterloo and SUMWAT is the name of the theatre company that each summer appears on the campus of the University of Waterloo and presents an original play. This year, SUMWAT Theatre‘s original producâ€" tion is entitled Hat Trick, and it is a series of three connected oneâ€"act plays, presented each evening at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15 through Saturday, July 18 in the Theatre of the Arts, This is the fourth season for SUMWAT Theatre, and the same experienced crew of writingâ€"editâ€" ingâ€"producing collaborators who scripted the previous successfull productions It‘s Just a Stage He‘s Going Through, The Finishing Touch and Murder Take Two, have come up with this interesting idea. They have carefully crafted a collection of three oneâ€"act plays, each one complete in itself, and reflecting a different mood, from comedy to dark drama. Yet the plays are also connected with each other. They are set in the attic of Russell Loge, a rustic, isolated resort hotel and they trace three generations of two families, their relationship with the Lodge and their conflicts with each other. _ The first play, entitled A Finessed Trick, takes place in 1939 with a conspiracy and dramatic clash of personalities leading to a tragic end. _ The meod lightens considerably 21 years later when the second play A Childish Trick, finds the next generation practising amateur spiritualism under the guidance of an outrageously pretentious medium, Madame Ricotta. The ghost they manage to contact wreaks hilarious havoc by exposing the facts of their secret love affairs. The first and third generations meet in 1981 when the final play, A Trick of the Light, brings together the previous owner of Russell Lodge and the young girl who has just inherited it. Ian Allen, Jim Gardner, Marney Heatley, Ron Dragushan and Steve Hull, familiar names to followers of SUMWAT, are all contributors again this year. HAT TRICK is sponsored by the Creative Arts Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) â€" bullwhip in hand â€" protects Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) in the battle with Nazi agents and their Arab henchmen in the streets of Cairo in ‘"Raiders of the Lost Ark." I Pauley ‘ elected broadcasters‘ | â€" president | Board of the Federation of Students at the University of Waterloo. General admission tickâ€" ets are $3.50 available from the UW Arts Centre Box Office, Humanities Theatre (885â€"4280). Barry Pauley, news director at CHYMâ€" CKGL radio, was elected president of the Radio and Television News Directors Assoâ€" ciation (RTNDA) of Canada at its annual convention in Edmonton June 21. The 400â€"member issociation of news directors from across the nation is designed to upgrade the quality of broadcast journalâ€" ism in Canada and to assist in ensuring the free flow of information through §he elecâ€" tronic media. O iigfiléy will be organizing a series of professional development seminars across the country during his oneâ€"year term. _ The position also makes the veteran broadcaster a member of the RTNDA International and will require him to deal with the CRTC in Ottawa and Federal Communications Commission in Washingâ€" ton. _ ‘"I expect to log about 20,000 air miles" Pawley said. _ _ â€" â€" Pauley, a longâ€"time Waterloo resident, recently retired after 14 years as secretary of the Waterloo Siskins. He lives with his wife, Valerie on James St. and has three sons, Steve, Scott and Craig. _ Pauley has served at CHYMâ€"CKGL radio for 14 years.