Tunes of Glory. Alec Guinness is uncannily lifelike as a roaring extravert of a mustang colonel who becomes both hero and villain in a Scottish garrison tragedy.
Exodus. Although it runs nearly four hours and is full of pro-Zionist tirades, the film version of the bestseller about the birth of Israel is a serious, frightening and 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. An expert, sensitive study of the fateful tie that inevitably binds the strong to the weak, this film may well be the best western of 1960.
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.
The Love Game (inFrench). Jean-Pierre Cassel, playing a ludicrous but lovable mixture of Don Juan and Peter Pan, emerges as the funniest Frenchman since Tati's Hulot.
General della Rovere (in Italian). Back in his top form of the 1940s, Roberto (Open City) Rossellini directs a poignant piece about a trivial swindler—brilliantly played by Vittorio De Sica—who stops impersonating the role of a wartime hero to become one.
TELEVISION
Thurs., Dec. 29
Project Twenty (NBC, 9:30-11 p.m.).* A superb abridgment of the 1952-53 documentary series Victory at Sea, with the excellent original score by Richard Rodgers. .
Years of Crisis (CBS, 10-11 p.m.). Edward R. Murrow once again moderates CBS's year-end roundtable of correspond ents called in from all over the world to discuss the great events of the past year.
Fri., Dec. 30
Projection '61 (NBC, 9-10 p.m.). Same idea as above, but with Huntley-Brinkley and the rest of the squad from the other side of the electronic curtain.
Sat., Dec. 31
The 'Gator Bowl (CBS, starts at 2 p.m.). Florida v. Baylor.
The Nation's Future (NBC, 9:30-10:30 p.m.). This week's debate subject is Amer ican comedy: Mort Sahl v. Steve Allen.
New Year's Eve in New York (NBC, 11:15 p.m.-l a.m.). NBC gives people in Indiana and Iowa a chance to watch those crowds of people from Indiana and Iowa thronging Times Square.
Sun., Jan. 1
The Orange Bowl Regatta (CBS, 1-2 p.m.). All sorts of powerboats tearing wakes in Miami's Biscayne Bay, dodging the artificial islands in the Sid Street Memorial.
The NBC Opera Company (NBC, 3-5 p.m.). First presentation of Leonard Kastle's Deseret, an opera about Brigham Young. Color.
American Football League Championship (ABC, starts at 3:30 p.m.). Houston Oilers v. Los Angeles Chargers.
The Twentieth Century (CBS, 6:30-7 p.m.). First of two parts on American prisoners of war in Korea and the "persuasion" methods used on them by the Communists.
Mon., Jan. 2
Tournament of Roses Parade (ABC, 11:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m.). This year's Pasadena, Calif, splash is called "Ballads in Blossoms"—bands, horses, more than 60 floats.