The Devil's Eye. Don Juan, as resuscitated by Sweden's Director Ingmar Bergman, comes up from Hell on a mission of seduction and falls calamitously in love with an average 20th century girl. A laboriously symbolized comedy that flashes intermittently with brilliant insights into the heights and depths of life.
Come September. A pleasantly wacky new twist to the ancient game of belling the wolf, with Rock Hudson as an American millionaire who once a year visits his Italian mistress (Gina Lollobrigida) at his palatial villa on the Italian Riviera.
A Thunder of Drums, the best western so far in 1961, is three kinds of a durn good show: 1) a flawed but earnest attempt to portray the making of a man and a soldier; 2) a carefully untheatrical, affectionately vernacular attempt to revive the daily life of a frontier fort in the 1870s; 3) a masterly attempt to show what fighting Indians was really like.
Ada. Despite an overly cute central idea and the flim-flamboyance of Star Susan Hayward, competent script and direction make this a pleasant political comedy about the road from bawdyhouse to Governor's mansion.
Blood and Roses. Filmed at the Emperor Hadrian's villa outside Rome under the direction of Roger Vadim (And God Created Woman), this eerie tale of a lady vampire is the most subtle, careful and beautiful of the current crop of chillers.
Homicidal. Made in imitation of Hitchcock's Psycho, it surpasses its model in structure, suspense and sheer nervous drive.
The Honeymoon Machine. It is really the Hollywood machine, in a rare moment of felicitous clank, turning out the slick, quick, funny film for which it was designed—in this case, about three young people who use a computer to assault the casino in Venice.
The Parent Trap. The delightful story of teen-age twins who try to kid their divorced parents into remarrying—both twins played by Hayley Mills, biggest child star since Temple and a better actress than Shirley was.
The Sand Castle. In a charming but not cloyingly sweet story, a little boy builds a castle of sand so stunning that it merits inclusion in Sir Bannister Fletcher's History of Architecture, while the camera roams in satiric asides among the flesh castles strewn on the beach.
TELEVISION
Wed., Sept. 27
Steve Allen Show (ABC, 7:30-8:30 p.m.).* PREMIÈRE. New season, new network, old company.
Victor Borge Special (CBS, 9-10 p.m.). A special program hails the 20th anniversary of the Danish funnyman's discovery of America. Hermione Gingold (with her cello) and Concert Pianist Leonid Hambro are guests.
Carnegie Hall Salutes Jack Benny (CBS, 10-11 p.m.). A tribute to the eminent violinist, taped last April. With Isaac Stern, Van Cliburn, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Benny Goodman and his sextet, and Roberta Peters.
Thurs., Sept 28
J.F.K. Report (NBC, 7:30-8:30 p.m.). The New Frontier, discussed by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, Senators Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen, Representatives John McCormack and Charles Halleck and news commentators.
Hazel (NBC, 9:30-10 p.m.). PREMIÈRE. Situation comedy with Shirley Booth as a lovably obstreperous domestic.
Fri., Sept. 29
Bell Telephone Hour (NBC, 9:30-10:30 p.m.). SEASON PREMIÈRE. Guests: Harry Belafonte and Rosemary Clooney. Color.