Friday, Dec. 04, 1964

Mischief for Misfits

Malamondo pretends to investigate contemporary youth in Europe, following the guidelines laid down by such through-the-keyhole documentaries as Mondo Cane and Women of the World.

The pseudo-sociology begins soberly enough with Philosopher Bertrand Rusell interviewing a band of clean-shaven war babies "who don't want to belong to any mass society; they want to be different." Different they are. In Italy, mindless young things don their party best and spark the fun at a swank resort by butchering a pig. "Will they do it again?" asks the narrator with elaborate seriousness. "If so, then the pig died in vain." In Switzerland, mixed nude skiing ap pears to be the latest kick. France has orgiastic "happenings," a homosexual nightclub, and parachutists with a marked proclivity for drunkenness and rape. German and Dutch students pre fer sadism. England's youth, except for a bully gang of Glasgow girls picketing against free love, apparently derives thrills from its Mods and Rockers, heavy petting, and a corps of pimply-faced boys at the Royal Ballet School.

"These dancers don't cultivate violence," the narrator leers. In Sweden, Mala-mondo attends an interracial wedding to spew racist innuendoes about "the appeal of the African lover," then jobs off to visit a Scandinavian miss who clearly wants photographers at hand while she contemplates suicide.

Most of Malamondo is so patently contrived and tasteless that even thrill seekers will find it boring. Its net effect is to make an audience stop wondering about today's youth and start wondering about the grown men who make such movies. Perhaps this entry will be the last. If not, the pig died in vain.

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