April 9, 2004

This oppressively solemn historical-action film marches in the line of such earlier Disney-financed looks at apocalyptic moments as "Pearl Harbor" and "Armageddon." In re-enacting, with a heavy heart and a heavy hand, the actual events surrounding the storied 1836 battle fought by Texas against the Mexican forces of General Santa Anna, the movie is both elegiac and trivial. This is an accomplishment of sorts, generally the sort that no one plans. The director, John Lee Hancock, strains so mightily to bring a human aspect to the material that the movie limps as if it has a pulled muscle. The film can't support the burden of delivering a drama with a mammoth running time, a climactic catastrophe that nearly every American knows, and no women with major speaking roles. — Elvis Mitchell

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column discusses niceties of early-season baseball as well as increasingly prominent and loud trappings of sport's marketing machine (M)

ANGUISH OVER HOSTAGES -- Japan woke up today to televised scenes of the human price of the deployment of its soldiers to Iraq. PAGE A8 ARAB CRITICISM OF U.S. -- Some Arabs expressed the fear that the United States might be incubating extremism in Iraq. PAGE A10

Morgan Stanley executives are reassessing model of their mutual fund business, stung by regulatory pressures and paltry returns in its mutual fund operations; is hoping to de-emphasize further its proprietary funds sold through sprawling network of brokers and to sell more of its Van Kampen funds through other outlets like financial advisers; approach suggests strategic reversal for Morgan Stanley's chief executive Philip J Purcell, who has long espoused synergies in sale by investment bank of subsidiary's funds through its sprawling brokerage network; chart; photo (M)

Mutual fund company Putnam Investments agrees to $110 million settlement with Securities and Exchange Commission and Massachusetts over improper trading in its mutual funds; total value of settlements reached between regulators and Putnam is about $1.8 billion, including penalties, restitution and value of fee reductions; settlement closes case on improper trading; SEC and Massachusetts are investigating other issues at company, which could lead to further penalties; photo (M)

Four private security contractors killed, burned and mutilated in Falluja last week were reportedly lured into carefully planned ambush by men purporting to be friendly members of Iraqi Civil Defense Corps; investigation by Blackwater USA, victims' employer, has not yet determined whether Blackwater employees were led into Falluja by active members of Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, or by imposters wearing defense corps uniforms; Blackwater official notes that imposters or not, incident underscores deepening concern about reliability of Iraqi civil defense forces at time when allied troops are fighting in many parts of Iraq to suppress militant Sunni and Shiite groups; Pentagon says it cannot confirm conclusions of Blackwater investigation and is conducting separate military inquiry; Blackwater's account, if confirmed, could deflect blame for incident from company (M)

Fair Trade Commission raids Japanese office of Intel in probe into whether company unfairly kept computer makers from buying rival chips; investigators are looking into whether Intel violated Japan's antimonopoly law by excessively pressuring computer manufacturers to refrain from using chips in personal computers made by competitors like Advanced Micro Devices; commission officials question people at Toshiba, Sony and other companies that use Intel chips about Intel's sales tactics; none of those companies are suspected of violations (M)

Australia's economy added 66,900 jobs in March, pushing seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down to 5.6 percent (S)9

CLARKE DISAGREES -- Richard A. Clarke said that Condoleezza Rice had a radically different interpretation from his of the events surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks. PAGE A13 SAME HEARING, DIFFERENT VIEWS -- As the nation struggles with the aftermath of Sept. 11, the same words can carry widely different meanings to different people. PAGE A14

Article on Jumbolair Aviation Estates, new fly-in community in Ocala, Fla, which boasts million-dollar homes, compound belonging to John Travolta and longest paved residential airstrip in US; photos; map (M)

Royal Dutch/Shell Group will sell 50 perc

Atlanta Braves defeat New York Mets, 10-8 (M)