VEL'D

(vt The Veldt)

   Film (1987). Uzbekfilm. Dir Nazim Tulyakhodzhaev, starring Igor Beliayev, Nelly Pshonnaya, Georgy Gegechkori. Screenplay Tulyakhodzhaev, based on stories by Ray BRADBURY. 90 mins. Colour.

   The second attempt by a talented Uzbek director to transfer the mood of Bradbury's GOTHIC prose onto the screen proved not so successful as thefirst, the short animated movie There Will Come Soft Rains (1982), had done. This full-length feature is a poetic adaptation of several Bradbury stories, such as "The Garbage Collector" (1953),"Hail and Farewell" (1953) and "The Dragon" (1956), along with some episodes from Dandelion Wine (1957), all combined into a single, if rather dissolving, plot, for whichthe title story, "The Veldt" (1950), serves as a bar or pivot. The baroque atmosphere evoked by the unique Bradbury mixture of horror, pathos and sentimentality is well maintained, and visually some episodes are excellent. But the director's lack of feeling for narrative or plot means that he does not create a main focus for the film; it is as if he has forgotten what he wished to say. However, it still stands as a good example of the new Soviet horror film.

   VG

   See also: RUSSIA.