FILM REVIEWS

In the third year of the Foreign-Language Oscar category, the five nominees were: “Mon Oncle” (“My Uncle”) from France, which won, “Arms and the Man” from the Federal Republic of Germany, “”The Road a Year Long” from Yugoslavia, “The Usual Unidentified Thieves” (aka “Big Deal on Madonna Street”) from Italy, and “La Venganza” from Spain.

Based on George Bernard Shaw's famous play, “Arms and the Man,” director Franz Peter Wirth's screen version tries to open up the stage work but to no avail.  Set mostly indoors, the dialogue-driven drama depicts the escape of one mercenary soldier, hiding in the bedroom of a woman whose fiance' is the very officer pursuing him.