The Lighter Side

That film trailer and those advance TV and radio spots might give some the idea that Touchstone’s “Dead Poets Society”--it opened Friday--is a laugh-a-minute Robin Williams comedy. Williams’ one brief bit of comic shtick from the film is broken up for maximum mileage in the spots--which are driven by a charging rock beat hardly in keeping with the picture. With critics rhapsodizing over “Dead Poets” as a serious film of substance--it concerns a dedicated teacher’s attempts to inspire his teen-age pupils to live life fully--why the seemingly incongruous sell job?

Bob Levin, Disney’s president of worldwide marketing, declined to comment on the campaign, other than to say--via a company spokesman--that the studio believes the ads are a fair representation of the movie. Outtakes couldn’t reach director Peter Weir, but his agent, John Ptak, told us from Australia: “You’re trying to create a controversy. There is absolutely no controversy here.”

Tom Schulman, who wrote the script, said that at least initially, “everyone was concerned that the emphasis (in the spots) be on the drama. I think the worst thing to do is to bring people into a film and not give them what they expect.”

He feels the spots “give a pretty fair impression of the positive side of the film.”

To depict “Poets” darker moments, he added, “would give away the plot. I hate trailers that give away the whole story.”