Cinema Papers No.66 November 1987

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MELBOURNE

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AGFAXT125&XT320 A G F A ,4f BRISBANE 352 5522 - ADELAIDE 42 5703 A N D PERTH 277 9266

AGFA] FILM X T 125 COLOR NEGATIVE FILM

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A medium speed color negative film for interior and exterior cinematography under a w ide range o f lighting conditions.

Outstanding color rendition and natural skin tones. Fine grain and excellen t sharpness. 35m m -400' & 1000'. I6m m -100' & 400'. a

t

AGFA F IL M 1 X T 320 COLOR NEGATIVE FILM

A high speed color negative film w ith a high speed index and w ide exposure latitude. Suitable for low light illum ination. Ideal for studio, location, night-tim e, underwater and industrial cinematography.

35m m -400' & 1000*. l6m m -100' & 400'.

PEM 468 A mastertape for exacting studio operation. High output level control.

Excellent Dynamics over the entire frequency range. 600', 1200', 2400' &

3280'.

PER 368 Perfect for use w ith Nagra recorders. Low noise & high print-through ratio.

Easy editing and rapid rewinding capabilities 14" x 5" reels.

MFC PE A m agnetic film for synchronised sound/im age recording. Polyester base and coated to fu ll w idth. 16mm, 17.5mm & 35m m -1000'-3000' lengths.

Print Film, Orthochromatic Sound Film, Panchromatic Negative Film, Reversal Film, Black & W hite Print Film, Black & W hite Super Contrast Film, Black & W hite Duplicating Positive Film, Black & W hite Duplicating Reversal Film & Leader Filin.

Melbourne 875 0222, Sydney 8881444, Brisbane 352 5522, Ad*,*

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W Editor V i::''

Philippa Hawker

Publisher

C IN E M A A N D C H IN A

Patricia Am ad 7'

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Assistant Editor Kathy Bail

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Art Director

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M ick Earls

Editorial Assistant/Subscriptions Hj

1 0 A N N H UI: T h e w om an from H ong K ong 1 3 X A N A D U : Film A ustralia goes to C hina 1 6 C H IN A TO W N : Jackie C han rules O K

Sue Illingw orth '

Proofreader ^

4 D IN O U P D A T E : W h at’s happening at D E L 6 BR AV E N E W W O R LD : R ichard St John gets shirty about A ustralian film 8 C O L O U R VALUES: T h e colourisation debate

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1 9 SH O R T S C IR C U IT : H om e movies, subtitles and nice coloured girls 2 0 JA M E S B O N D A G E : P inning down 007 2 6 T H E M A L T E SE F O R D FA LCO N: Film noir, M elbourne style

A rthur Salton

Office Cat Sylvester.

Consulting Editors Fred Harden • Brian McFarlane

V ID E O M A T T E R S 2 8 OVERVIEW : To m arket, to m arket 3 1 O N VIEW: T h e latest video releases 3 3 C L O SE -U P: T h e m elt movie

Founding Publishers Peter Beilby Scott M urray Typesetting by B-P Typesetting Pty. Ltd. Printed by York Press Ltd. D istribution by Network D istribution Company. 54 Park Street. Sydney. NSW 2000.

Signed articles represent the views of their author, and not necessarily those of the editor. W hile every care is taken with m anuscripts and m aterials supplied to the magazine, neither the editor nor the pub­ lishers can accept liability for any loss or damage which may arise. This magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express perm ission of the copyright owner. is published every tw o m onths by MTV ' Publishing Ltd. 43 Charles St. Abbotsford.

Victoria. Australia 3067. Telephone: (03) 429 5511. T ele x:-A A 30625 Reference ME 230 "

Cinema Papers

© C opyright MTV Publishing Lim ited.

No 66. Novem ber 1987

‘ Recommended price only.

Cover: M adonna, from

Who's That Girl

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3 4 S U P E R 8: W h at’s new 3 6 B L E A C H O F P R O M ISE : W ho’s that blonde?

3 8 REVIEW S: A m azing Stories, Caravaggio, Down B y Law, Hope A n d Glory, The Lighthorsemen, Running From The Guns, She’s Gotta H ave It, Summer, The Untouchables

T H E W R IT E S T U F F 5 0 N O V E L A P P R O A C H E S : T h e question o f high fidelity 5 3 PA SO LINI: O n the script 5 4 S C R E E N PLO Y S: Screenw riters have their say 58 59 62 66 79 80

N EW Z E A L A N D R E P O R T : The Navigator finds its way PU B L IC A T IO N S: Stuffing considered T E C H N IC A L IT IE S: T C P is A O K P R O D U C T IO N SU R V EY : W ho’s m aking w hat C E N SO R S H IP : T h e July and A ugust decisions BA C K PA G E: N ovem ber and D ecem ber film b u ff’s diary

CHINESE CINEMA: Scene from Jet Lee’s Shaolin Temple Part 2

1987 AUSTRALIAN FILM IN STITU TE AWARDS ^ % FEATURES • Best film : T he Year M y Voice B ro k e • Best achievem ent in d irection: J o h n D uigan, The Year M y Voice B ro k e • Best original screenplay: J o h n D uig an , The Year M y Voice B ro k e • Best screenplay a d a p te d fro m a n o th e r source: D avid W illiam son, Travelling N o rth • Best acto r: L eo M cK ern, Travelling N o rth • Best actress: Ju d y D avis, H igh Tide • Best su p p o rtin g acto r: Ben M endelsohn, The Year M y Voice B ro k e • Best su p p o rtin g actress: J a n A dele, H igh Tide • Best costum e design: Jen n ie T ate, The U m brella W om an • Best cin em ato g rap h y : Steve D o b so n , G ro u n d Zero • Best editing: D avid P u lb ro o k , G ro u n d Z ero • Best original m usic score: P a u l Schutze, The Tale O f R u b y R o se • Best p ro d u c tio n design: B rian T h o m so n , G ro u n d Z ero • Best so u n d : G ary W ilkins, M ark W asiu tak , C raig C arter, R oger S avage, Livia R uzic, G ro u n d Zero

NON-FEATURES • • • • • • • • •

Best d o cu m en tary : P a in tin g The T ow n Best sh o rt fiction: F eathers Best experim ental film : P alisade Best an im ated film : C rust Best d irection: C h ristin a W ilcox, The N ig h ts B elong To T he N o v e list Best screenplay: Jeffrey B ruer, Sue C astriq u e, B arb a ra C h o b o ck y , W itch H u n t Best cin em ato g rap hy : L au rie M cln n es, Palisade Best editing: N u b a r G h a z a ria n , K ic k Start B est so u n d : D avid F an sh aw e, A lasd air M acfarlane, G ary O ’G rad y , The M u sica l M ariner (Part One)

TELEVISION Best telefeatu re: 2 F riends Best direction in a telefeatu re: Jan e C am p io n , 2 F riends Best original screenplay: H elen G arn er, 2 Friends Best acto r: Steven Ja c o b s, A Single L ife Best actress: M ichele F aw d o n , T he Fish A r e S a fe Best m iniseries: T h e G reat B o o k ie R o b b e ry Best d irection in a m iniseries: M arcus C ole, M ark Jo ffe, T he G reat B o o k ie R o b b e ry • Best original screenplay: S hane B rennan and M aureen M cC arth y , In B etw een • Best actress: N icole K idm an, Vietnam • Best acto r: N icholas E ad ie, Vietnam • • • • • • •

• B yron K ennedy M em orial A w ard: M a rth a A n sara • R aym o n d L o n g fo rd A w ard: P au l R iom falvy

COMPETITION RESULTS We asked entrants to name Fassbinder’s last three films. According to the biography by Robert Katz and Peter Berling, his last three films were Querelle (1982), Veronika Voss (1981) and his only documentary, Theatre In Trance (1981). Lola (1981) preceded Theatre In Trance, and this was the third film most entrants named. Our winners, who will each receive a copy of the Katz/Berling biography, Love Is Colder Than Death, courtesy of Australasian Publishing Company, are: Krystyna Pindral, Michael Vorchheimer, H.W. Davidson, Martin Bender and Maya Frankel.

WARREN BEATTY COMPETITION We have six copies of David Thomson’s new book on Warren Beatty to give away, courtesy of Heinemann. Thomson’s book bends traditional notions of biography considerably — to win a copy of this intriguing work, all you have to do is tell us the name of the film in which Beatty appeared with Jean Seberg. Mark your entry ‘Beatty competition’, and send it to Cinema Papers, 43 Charles Street, Abbotsford, Victoria 3067.

4 - NOVEMBER CINEM A PAPERS

DEL DELAYS

Has Dino De Laurentiis’ Australian film company, DEL, been affected by the problems

plaguing

its

parent company in the US? What has happened to its distribution and pro­ duction schedule? JANE HUTCHINSON reports.

DEL managing director Terry Jackm an

W H E N D in o D e L a u re n tiis sw e p t in to A u s tr a lia 13 m o n th s a g o to a n n o u n c e th e o p e n in g o f a m a jo r film s tu d io in th e la n d o f C ro c o d ile D u n d e e , film in d u s tr y p u n d its a n d m o v ie - lo v e r s a lik e w e re th rille d . H e re w as a g e n u in e m o v ie m o g u l, a c in e m a tic liv in g le g e n d , p u ttin g h is fa ith a n d h is m o n e y b e h in d o u r lo c a l in d u s try .

S u re , D e L a u re n tiis h a d h a d m ix e d f o r tu n e s in re c e n t y e a rs — w ith e x tr a v a g a n t b o x o ffic e lo se rs lik e th e $50 m illio n D u n e — b u t h e h a d c o n s id e r­ a b le r e p u ta tio n a n d c lo u t.

S to c k m a r k e t in v e s to rs th o u g h t th e f lo a t o f h is A u s ­ tr a li a n film com pany, De L a u re n tiis E n te r ta in m e n t L td (D E L ), c o u ld n o t fa il. D e L a u r e n tiis ’ s u b s ta n tia l U S film e m p ire , D e L a u re n tiis E n te r ­ ta in m e n t G r o u p (D E G ), h a d g u a ra n te e d to c o v e r th e n e g a ­ tiv e c o st o f e v ery film m a d e b y D E L , to d is trib u te th e film s th r o u g h its v a st w o rld -w id e n e tw o rk a n d to sp lit th e p r o f its w ith th e A u s tr a lia n s u b s id ia ry .

• T h is a g re e m e n t w o u ld s u b ­ s ta n tia lly m in im is e th e n e g a ­ tiv e c o st risk s n o rm a lly a s s o c i­ a te d w ith film p r o d u c tio n a n d p ro v id e , f o r th e firs t tim e , a n A u s tr a lia n film com pany access to o n g o in g d is tr ib u tio n in th e U S a n d o th e r o v e rs e a s m a r k e ts . In r e t u r n , D E L w o u ld a c q u ir e th e rig h ts to d is trib u te D E G ’s n e w p r o d u c ­ tio n s a n d film s as p a r t o f its 2 5 0 -s tro n g lib ra ry th r o u g h o u t A u s tr a lia a n d N e w Z e a la n d .

D E G (w h ic h o w n s 47 p e r c e n t o f D E L ) w a s, if y o u lik e , a s a fe ty n e t w h ic h a s s u re d in v e s to rs t h a t D E L w o u ld s u r ­ v ive in a c o u n tr y w h e re .th e sm a ll lo c a l m a r k e t m e a n t v e ry few film s r e tu r n e d a p r o f it. A s su c h , th e c o n tr a c ts b e tw e e n

D E L an d D E G have been v a lu e d o n th e c o m p a n y ’s b o o k s a t $20 m illio n .

B u t to d a y , b o th th e film in d u s try a n d s t o c k m a r k e t h a v e tu r n e d o n D E L . T h e in itia l c o n fid e n c e th a t th e U S -b a s e d D E G w as g o in g to p o w e r th e A u s tr a lia n in d u s try a n d s u p ­ p o r t D E L h a s tu r n e d s o u r .

Iro n ic a lly , D E G n o w seem s to b e a m ills to n e a r o u n d D E L ’s neck.

D E G a p p e a r s to b e in f i n a n ­ cial s tra its w ith la rg e d e b ts , film re le a se d e la y s , a n d b o x o ffic e flo p s a b o u n d in g . A f te r a $ 1 5 .5 m illio n lo ss f o r th e q u a r te r e n d in g 31 M a y , D E G w as a n tic ip a tin g a n o th e r lo ss fo r th e A u g u s t q u a r te r .

D e L a u re n tiis is b e lie v e d to b e s e a rc h in g f o r a n e q u ity p a r tn e r to h e lp h im p u ll D E G o u t o f th e re d . S o f a r h e is r e p o r te d to h a v e h a d d is c u s ­ s io n s w ith D is n e y , 2 0 th C e n tu ry F o x a n d G uber P e te rs . T h e m o v ie m o g u l h a s a lso b r o u g h t in tw o in v e s tm e n t b a n k in g firm s to h e lp m a n o e u v r e h is c o m p a n y o u t o f its d iffic u ltie s . T h e o p e r a tio n h a s ta k e n o n a n a ir o f u rg e n c y sin ce it w as re v e a le d th a t D E G ’s fin a n c ia l b a c k e rs c o u ld re q u ire th e sale o f th e c o m ­ p a n y ’s v a lu a b le film lib ra ry b y th e e n d o f th e y e a r u n le s s it in ­ c re a s e d its n ew w o rth b y $20 m illio n b y 15 N o v e m b e r.

A s g lo o m y r e p o r ts o f th e U S o p e r a tio n filte r b a c k to A u s ­ tr a lia , D E L s h a r e h o ld e rs a n d in d u s try o b se rv e rs have b e c o m e in c re a s in g ly n e rv o u s a b o u t th e lo c a l c o m p a n y ’s p ro s p e c ts — e v en b e f o r e it h a s s ta rte d p r o d u c tio n o f its firs t film . D E G w as s u p p o s e d to b e a fa ils a fe f o r D E L b u t it is its e lf n o w h a n g in g p e rilo u s ly o v e r th e in s o lv e n c y c liff. W h a t w o u ld b e c o m e o f D E L if its

p ro te c tiv e p a r e n t w e re to g o u n d e r?

T h e in c re a sin g ly b le a k new s c o m in g fr o m L o s A n g e le s a lso fu e lle d ru m o u rs a b o u t th e lo c a l o p e r a tio n . D e la y s a n d c h a n g e s w h ic h m a y h a v e o th e r ­ w ise b e e n a c c e p te d as p a r fo r th e c o u rs e in a fic k le in d u s try s u d d e n ly b e c a m e o b je c ts o f g re a t c o n c e rn .

W h y h a d D E L sw itc h e d its f i r s t s c h e d u le d p r o d u c t io n fr o m E n d O f The L ine to Total Recall ? W h y w as th e c o n s tru c ­ tio n o f th e $10 m illio n s tu d io in th e G o ld C o a s t’s h in te rla n d r u n n in g fo u r m o n th s b e h in d th e p ro s p e c tu s ta rg e t? W h y h a d p ro d u c tio n o f D E L ’s first fe a tu re film b e e n p o s tp o n e d to F e b ru a r y ?

W hy had D EL fa ile d to m eet its film rele a se sc h e d u le o f 22 film s in 1987?

W a s D E L p ro p p in g u p D E G ?

D E L ’s m a n a g in g d ire c to r, T e rry J a c k m a n d e sc rib e s th e sto rie s o f D E L fu n d in g D E G as “ a b s o lu te n o n s e n s e ” . H e says n o m o n e y h a s g o n e o u t o f D E L to its p a re n t c o m p a n y a n d th a t th e first film d is trib u ­ tio n rig h ts p a y m e n ts h a v e n o t b e e n m a d e y et. “ T h a t ’s ju s t ty p ic a l in d u s try b la h b l a h ,” h e says v e h e m ­ e n tly . “ O n e o f th e re a s o n s th a t film in d u s try c o m p a n ie s d o g et k n o c k e d d o w n o n th e sto c k m a r k e t is b e c a u se th is in d u s try h a s th e w o n d e rfu l h a b it o f d o in g its very b e st to te a r itse lf to p ie c e s .”

T h e s to c k m a rk e t h a s, in d e e d , b e e n h a rs h o n D E L .

T h e 5 0 -cen t sh a re s s h o t to $1 s o o n a f te r listin g as th e sh a re c o w b o y s w ere sw ep t u p in D E L ’s b u o y a n t p ro m ise s . B u t b y m id -y e a r, w h en th e e x te n t o f D E G ’s p ro b le m s c a m e to lig h t, th e y w ere tr a d in g a t 36 c e n ts — 14 c e n ts b e lo w issu e p ric e . A lo w e r sh a re p ric e m a k e s th in g s ju s t th a t m u c h m o re d iffic u lt fo r c o m p a n ie s th a t w a n t to ra ise a d d itio n a l c a p ita l th r o u g h th e sto c k m a r k e t.

J a c k m a n says th e in v e s t­ m e n t in d u s try d o es n o t fu lly a p p re c ia te w h a t D E G is d o in g . “ T h e fin a n c ia l m a rk e ts d o n ’t u n d e r s ta n d th e k in d o f le a d tim e s in v o lv e d a n d all o f th a t.

A lo t o f in v e s to rs to o k th e ir p r o f its e a rly o n a n d said ‘W e c a n alw a y s g et b a c k in to th is b u sin e ss la te r o n ’ a n d th e y so ld o u t.”

H e c o n c e d e s th a t D E G ’s p ro b le m s in th e U S h a v e n o t e n h a n c e d D E L ’s sto c k m a r k e t p e r f o r m a n c e . A f te r e a rlie r a s s u r a n c e s th a t th e U S o r g a n is a tio n ’s m a la ise w o u ld in n o w ay a ff e c t h is c o m p a n y , J a c k m a n n o w a g rees it c o u ld h a v e so m e im p a c t. “ V ery sim p ly , if D E G ’s p ro b le m s

b e c a m e w o rse , th e n w e m a y h a v e to fin d s o m e o n e else to p ic k u p o u r p ro d u c tio n s . “ T h a t c o u ld m e a n y o u w o u ld n ’t h a v e o n e p la c e to go w ith y o u r film s, w h ic h w e h a v e a t th e m o m e n t. W e w o u ld h a v e to g o to a n u m b e r o f p la c e s .”

T h e p ro s p e c t o f fin d in g b u y e rs f o r D E L ’s film s d o e s n ’t d a u n t J a c k m a n . “ I ’m c o n ­ fid e n t th a t D E G w ill c o m e o u t o f th e se p ro b le m s . B u t if th e y d id n ’t fo r so m e re a s o n , I ’ve b e e n sellin g p ic tu re s a ro u n d th e w o rld fo r a lo n g , lo n g tim e a n d w e w ill m a k e th e s o rt o f film s th a t w o u ld h a v e so m e o v e rse a s m a r k e t. I a m to ta lly c o n fid e n t w e w o u ld b e a b le to d o th a t w ith o u t a n y d if f i­ c u lty .”

J a c k m a n ’s s tr a te g y of m a k in g re la tiv e ly lo w -b u d g e t film s w ith w id e A m e ric a n appeal — rather than p a ro c h ia l A u s tr a lia n e x tra v a ­ g a n z a s — is a im e d a t a ssu rin g th e c o m p a n y c a n p ro f ita b ly sell all its film s, even w ith o u t b ig b r o th e r D E G . H e says: “ I f y o u go o u t a n d m a k e a $10 m illio n A u s tr a lia n epic — o n ly o n e in 10 o f th o s e w ill w o rk .

B u t if y o u go a n d m a k e a $4 m illio n film th a t y o u k n o w y o u c a n sell to w o rld -w id e v id eo n e tw o rk s o r c a b le te le v isio n as a d o w n sid e, y o u ’re in a b e tte r p o s itio n .”

N o tw ith s ta n d in g J a c k m a n ’s c o n fid e n c e , th e m a in a tt r a c ­ tio n o f D E L fo r m a n y w as its “ f a ils a f e ” a g re e m e n ts w ith D E G . W ith th e U S c o m p a n y u n d e rta k in g to re tu rn th e full c o st o f e ach p ro d u c tio n to D E L , re g a rd le ss o f a c tu a l b o x o ffic e re c e ip ts, it w as h a r d to see h o w th e A u s tr a lia n c o m ­ p a n y c o u ld lo se. It is less likely th a t a U S film d is trib u to r m a k in g a n a r m ’s le n g th c o m ­ m e rc ia l d e a l w ith D E L w o u ld b e p re p a r e d to o ffe r q u ite su ch w a te rtig h t g u a ra n te e s .

J a c k m a n say s: “ I h a v e n ’t ev en trie d to re p la c e th e m (D E G ) w ith s o m e b o d y else.

B u t a ss u m in g w e w ere a b le to d o a d e a l w ith s o m e b o d y b a se d o n o ff e rin g a c h e a p e r n e g a tiv e c o st th a n th e y c o u ld g e t in A m e ric a , w e m a y b e a b le to g et a fa ils a fe s itu a tio n . B u t I c a n ’t re a lly a n sw e r t h a t q u e s tio n u n til I k n o w w h e re D E G is g o in g .”

D E G ’s p ro b le m s a re a f f e c t­ in g D E L in a n o th e r w a y to o .

D E L a im s to e a rn th e li o n ’s s h a re o f its p r o f its fr o m d is tri­ b u tio n o f in te r n a tio n a l film s (b o th D E G ’s a n d th o s e fro m o th e r p r o d u c e r s ). Its p r o ­ sp e c tu s ta r g e te d th e re le a se o f 22 film s p r io r to 31 D e c e m b e r 1987, 18 o f w h ic h w ere to c o m e fr o m D E G . T h e se d is tri­ b u tio n s w ere e x p e c te d to e a rn

D E L $ 1 3 .5 m illio n in its first 10 m o n th s . T h e D E L p r o ­ sp e c tu s its e lf s ta te s t h a t p r o f it f o r e c a s ts “ a r e p a r t ic u la r ly sen sitiv e to th e n u m b e r a n d th e q u a lity o f film s a c q u ire d b y D E G .”

B u t D E L is w ell b e h in d th is film re le a se s c h e d u le a n d J a c k m a n says th e re a s o n is D E G . “ W e d id n ’t h a v e th e d e liv e ry fr o m D E G b e c a u se th e y ’ve g o t a b o u t a d o z e n film s b e in g h e ld u p f o r v a rio u s re a s o n s o f b e in g re - c u t, m a r k e tin g p ro b le m s a n d so o n . ” H e is c o n fid e n t, th o u g h , th a t th e re le a se s c h e d u le o f 35 film s in 1988 a n d 39 th e fo llo w in g y e a r w ill b e m e t. B u t a g a in , a n y d e te r io r a tio n o f D E G ’s f i n a n c i a l s i t u a t i o n w o u ld m a k e th is m o re d if fi­ c u lt.

M e a n w h ile J a c k m a n seem s h a p p ie r to ta lk a b o u t th e p r o ­ gress o f D E L ’s $10 m illio n s tu d io c o m p le x (75 p e r c e n t fin a n c e d b y th e Q u e e n s la n d S ta te G o v e rn m e n t w ith lo w in te re s t lo a n s ) a n d its 1988 p r o d u c tio n sc h e d u le . D e sp ite p ro s p e c tu s p ro je c tio n s th a t th e C a d e s C o u n ty s tu d io w o u ld b e c o m p le te d a n d fu lly o p e r a ­ tio n a l b y N o v e m b e r 1987, J a c k m a n say s: “ T h e s tu d io is m a k in g g ia n t ste p s a n d w ill be fin ish e d o n sc h e d u le a n d o n b u d g e t a n d w ill o p e n in F e b r u a r y .”

J a c k m a n is p la n n in g fiv e o r six film s n e x t y e a r, in c lu d in g tw o b ig b u d g e t p r o d u c tio n s — B r u c e B e r e s f o r d ’s s c ie n c e fic tio n th r ille r, Total Recall a n d th e b lo c k b u s te r m in ise rie s, Fatal Shore. T o g e th e r, th e se tw o p ro je c ts a re e x p e c te d to c o st a b o u t $40 m illio n (w ell a b o v e th e a v e ra g e $5 to $10 m illio n c o sts fo re s h a d o w e d in th e p ro s p e c tu s ) a n d ta k e u p m o s t o f th e s t u d io ’s sp a c e in 1988. T h e re m a in in g sm a lle r film s p la n n e d fo r n e x t y e a r sh o u ld c o st a b o u t $6 to $8 m illio n e a c h .

O b se rv e rs b e c a m e n e rv o u s a b o u t D E L ’s a p p a r e n t la c k o f p ro g re ss w h e n it w as a n ­ n o u n c e d th a t th e c o m p a n y ’s firs t p r o d u c tio n w o u ld be Total Recall c o m m e n c in g p r o ­ d u c tio n in F e b ru a r y 1988 — n o t as o rig in a lly a n n o u n c e d , E n d O f The Line, c o m m e n c in g in N o v e m b e r 1987. B u t J a c k m a n says th e re a s o n f o r th e sw itc h w as p u re ly th a t film d ir e c to r B ru c e B e re s fo rd , w h o is o n th e D E L b o a r d , w as e n th u s ia s tic a b o u t d ire c tin g Total Recall h im s e lf w h e n g iv en th e s c rip t to re a d in his c a p a c ity as a b o a r d m e m b e r. “ W h e n a g u y lik e B ru c e B e re s­ f o r d says h e ’ll d ire c t a p ic tu re fo r y o u , y o u j u m p , ” says Jack m an .

CONTRIBUTORS P aul A slan is is a freelance writer.

R affaele C aputo is a freelance writer on film.

R olando C apu to tutors in cinema studies at La Trobe University and is a freelance writer on film.

B rian C o u rtis is television writer at

The Herald.

A nne -M arie C ra w fo rd is a filmmaker and writer based in Melbourne.

;

‘

M ichael Freedm an is publisher of

New Theatre: Australia.

Jo h n H anrahan is Australian editor of and film writer and critic at

Hollywood Reporter The Sun.

Fred H arden runs a production company in Sydney called Picture Start which specialises in special effects.

M elinda H ouston is a bookkeeper and closet writer.

Jane H u tc h in s o n is a finance journalist at

The Age.

Lin d a J a iv in was formerly Hong Kong and China correspondent for , and is now a freelance writer based in Canberra.

Asia Week

B rian J e ffre y is a freelance writer based in Canberra.

P aul K a lin a is a freelance film writer based in Melbourne.

P eter K em p is a freelance writer on film.

■.

B rian M cF artane is a lecturer in English at the Chisholm Institute and author of

Australian Cinema

1970-1985.

S c o tt M u rray is a film director, writer and former editor of

Cinema Papers.

Joanna M u rray-S m ith is a Melbourne writer and playwright.

M ike N ic o la id i is a freelance writer and contributor to

Variety.

A ndrew P re sto n is a freelance film writer based in Sydney.

V ik k i R ile y is a freelance writer on film.

Sam R ohdie is a senior lecturer in cinema studies at La Trobe University.

B ill an d D iane R o u tt are a couple of Melbourne academics.

Joh n S favin is a critic.

T e ck Tan is a final year student at the Australian Rim, Television and Radio School.

R alph T ra v ia to — a guy who’s around.

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 5

W h a t’s the future for Australian film m aking? N ew W o rld ’s R ichard St Jo h n told a recent m otion picture e x h ib ito rs ’ co n ve n tio n that it had a lot to do w ith selling shirts. J O H N H A N R A H A N reports.

RICHARD ST JOHN, managing director of New W orld Australia, slammed Australian film unions and attacked the local film industry as "non-commercial" in the most pro­ vocative speech at this year's motion picture exhibitors' convention.

He compared the Australian film industry to a small band of trendy shirtmakers whose product has been, and will continue to be, largely unsaleable to the worldwide mass market. He called the commer­ cial failures the industry has pro­ duced in recent years "id io t children".

St John, a former entertainment industry lawyer and MGM in­ dependent producer, joined New W orld last year to establish its Aus­ tralian arm, capitalised through public offer and New W orld contri­ butions to $52 million. So far the company has not selected any pro­ ject for production in Australia, but has provided 25 per cent of produc­ tion costs to a number of films pro­ duced by its US parent company.

He told the convention that the Australian industry should be divided into two. There is "a private sector which is blatantly commer­ cial, they make movies to make money. They make movies like Kramer Vs Kramer and The Sound O f Music, and there is absolutely no dialogue about where the people who make them come from, about their cultural heritage or about their ethnic authenticity or any of the dialogue that I hear going on here," he said. "That's not to say that we in the United States and in England, Canada and other film centres don't have educational organisations, public broadcasting, film institutes, that pay for those clearly uncom­ mercial films. But if you try to bury cultural heritage in commercial filmmaking you will produce idiot children.

"And I think you have an example of that in the last few years. Australia is less than one per cent of the world film market. And less than five per cent of that one per cent is currently going to Australian-made movies, even in Australia. It's a frightening statistic. In 1983, 1984 and 1985 less than five per cent of the Australian box office was taken by Australian films. That's a shame, because there are many brilliant and talented Aus­ tralian filmmakers and they should be given the chance to compete in the world market from here. They should not have to go to Hollywood or London."

6 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

His comments provoked a retalia­ tion from the Australian Film Com­ mission's chief executive, Kim Williams. "I certainly don't want to think that I put myself in the role of father, uncle, brother, friend or confidant to a whole lot of idiot children, or that all the colleagues I have in the industry see me that way," he said, describing St John's comments as unfair and not repre­ sentative of the creative community and film industry here.

"It was not representative in terms of box office results, audience research or creative or business activity in the Australian film industry." He said that exhibitors present would be able to think of "at least 20 Australian films" that were huge business successes, including Picnic At Hanging Rock, the Mad Max films, We O f The Never Never,

Puberty Blues, The Man From Snowy River and Phar Lap.

He pointed out that only 180 features had been made since the industry revival in 1970. "O f those films, 35 per cent have got their money back and paid real returns to the investors involved, both govern­ ment and private — and that's a better ratio than America.

"O ne of the things Dick neglected to mention was that American films, en masse, in aggregate in America, are as unsuccessful as all of the films from all of the other countries in the w orld."

St John had earlier told the con­ vention that before his arrival here he had expected that the future of the Australian film industry would be the same as everywhere else: timeless, universal screen magic, created by the combination of story, Richard St John

direction and acting. "The film industry is a world-wide enterprise, and the people in it make up an international com m unity," he ex­ plained. "But since I arrived here, I find people keep asking me if we're going to make 'Australian films'.

This has caused me some puzzle­ ment, because the industry is inter­ national. Just what is meant by an Australian film? I'm beginning to divine a small group that I think defines it as films that don't make money.

"To put it another way, had I arrived to set up a shirt factory, would I have been asked if I had planned to make Australian shirts?

Would it mean Australian made, emblazoned with kangaroos instead of polo players or crocodiles? Would it mean shirts made in Australia designed to compete on the inter­ national market, or for that matter on the mass market in Australia, with shirts made anywhere else in the world?

"Let us say for instance that a small but vocal and very trendy cross-section of Australians insisted on elbow length sleeves and collars of kangaroo skin for their shirts." St John said the trendy shirts may do well in the small trendy market and get a great deal of media approval, even win some awards. "But I would probably go broke, unless of course I could get the government to subsidise the making of Australian shirts," he added. And, he told the convention, if the shirts did not sell it was no good saying it was bad taste on behalf of the mass market.

"The mass market knows what it wants and it will put its money where its wants are satisfied. It cer­

tainly will not, or at least it never has, paid out good money to see movies that might be considered by a minority to be better than the movies of the market's choice," St John said.

He warned that some elements in Australia were in danger of denying the market place the kind of films that they would want to see. "The Australian film community has a wonderful opportunity, one that I feel very privileged to come here to share. The skills and the talents to forge ahead on the international market are here, in place, they've been paid fo r," he continued.

"W hen I say international, I'm in­ cluding the Australian mass market.

I believe it is time for the Australian film industry to stop cringing. It is time for the Australian industry to exploit the world market. Not to be exploited by the world market. Not to sit at home whinging about being exploited. I think we have to go to work and I think we have to do films that are marketable on the world market."

St John noted Actors' Equity's decision to deny approval to Ameri­ can actress Ann B. Davis to take up a continuing role in the Australianmade Christian Broadcasting Net­ work financed and programmed Butterfly Island. "This and many other cases like it must truly be a classic instance of shooting yourself in the foot," he said.

"For some time I have been examining my own thought process and trying to explain them as Ameri­ can. But they are not. Gillian Arm­ strong, who is certainly one of the more Australian of the world class filmmakers, has been quoted as saying she felt a real loyalty to work­ ing here, she says, 'l feel I should just make the films I want to make and not have a conscience about where I work.' What changed an Australian filmmaker's attitude? A strike. The only way an industry is going to sur­ vive anywhere is to keep its talented people home and working.

"You can't do it by driving the Gillian Armstrongs out of the country, the Bruce Beresfords or the Peter W eirs."

Asked after his speech what sort of films New World Australia planned to make here he answered glibly: "Good films." And when did he think production on any one of them might commence-: "W hen we find them ." He said the company was presently looking at more than 50 projects.

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The Colourisation of MONEY/

We might not see Jean Harlow as a brunette, but the recent development known as colourisation will be showing us movies as we’ve never seen them before. PAUL KALINA reports on the controversy it has provoked. question of creative control, the integrity of works that belong to an historic and cultural heritage and the rights, in this case, of a computer company to tamper with, and then profit from, another’s “As a marketing man you ask creative work. The late John yourself, ‘How can I take a Huston, whose film The Maltese library that has basically been Falcon is scheduled to be grinding out the same bucks colourised, called it “ as great an each year and make it hot, impertinence as for someone to make it sexy?’ You put a wash flesh tones on a Da Vinci marketing coat o f paint on it. drawing” . Asks Fred Zinnemann, That’s how we view colouring honorary president of the Directors movies” — Charles Powell, Guild of Great Britain: “ Can you executive vice president Color conceive seeing Sunset Boulevard Systems Technology. or Stagecoach or The Best Years eware. The copy of Frank Of Our Lives in colour, bastardised Capra’s 1946 It’s A Wonderful by people intent on squeezing the Life that you pick off the shelf last possible penny out of of your video library is what many marketing these pictures?” would consider a counterfeit. Sure, Color Systems Technology has it’s the sweet, loving film of a an estimated $20 million of washed-up family man (played by projects that include Ted Turner’s Jimmy Stewart) whose faith is collection of more than 3000 films restored by a dizzy guardian angel from the old MGM, Warner Bros named Clarence — only this time and RKO libraries. The other player it’s in vivid colour. The same goes is Colorization Inc., a company for Roger Corman’s 1961, two-day partly owned by Hal Roach wonder film The Little Shop Of Studios, whose schedule includes Horrors, as well as the Fred Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, MacMurray-starring The AbsentThey Drive By Night, Laurel and Minded Professor and Night Of The Hardy and Shirley Temple films.

Living Dead.

There’s also a wild, wild trump It’s A Wonderful Life is one of card that hinges on Roach Studio’s the films that has figured ability to copyright colourised prominently in the furore over the versions of films drawn from the colourisation issue in America — public domain — where there are partly, perhaps, because of its an estimated 17,000 old black and place In popular and film culture, white films. The question is as well as the comments of its whether the Copyright Office of the leading actor Jimmy Stewart, who Library of Congress deems the has admitted that he could not sit process of colourisation itself an through the whole of the original work of authorship and colourised version. “ The faces are therefore copyrightable. Without orange-yellow, and the shadows copyright protection, it seems are not there, except for great, big most unlikely that the large amount shadows which are blacker than of money ($US2000 to $3000 per black,” he said. minute, $250,000 per feature) will Stewart’s comments, however, be invested in the process. would have us believe that it’s the CEL distributes the colourised quality of the process that he finds versions of It’s A Wonderful Life objectionable. The real opposition and Night Of The Living Dead, and to colourisation concerns the has an option on some of the films

B

8 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

currently undergoing a paint job at Hal Roach Studios. Meran Kidd is product manager of CEL’s sellthrough division and believes that colourisation opens doors to people who, quite simply, would rather watch films in colour than in black and white. She cites overseas sales figures (according to an article in American Film, the colourised It’s A Wonderful Life sold 55,000-75,000 copies, as opposed to 10,000 copies of the black and white original in 1985 and 1986) and adds that the “ intrigue” of the new process will provoke curiosity. Interestingly, the only evidence to support the oftmade claim that the video-renting public doesn’t like black and white films is CEL’s finding that they do not work as well in the rental market as in sell-through (ie sold directly to the public as collectibles) where they work “ astronomically well” .

Whilst acknowledging the artistic value of a film like The Elephant Man and others “ made in black and white for a purpose” , Kidd believes that many of the films being colourised would have been made in colour if the stock and technology had been readily available. The proponents of colourisation have argued that the process does actually enhance certain films, and have also pointed out that the original versions will still be available.

How well the original and colourised versions can co-exist is hypothetical, especially given the imminence of television broadcasting. Channel Ten has indicated that it plans to transmit colourised films and, according to a station publicist, under the flag of ‘Mr Movies’ Bill Collins. Channel Seven is closely linked to the very heart of colourisation with its owner Universal Telecasters also having a 35 per cent share of Hal Roach Studios {B & T reports that

© WASP white True blue © Red-blooded American red © Zane grey

this share will increase to 58 per cent next March). According to Channel Seven, the process is being closely monitored, and it is too early to tell whether colourised films will be shown.

Thus far, the Directors Guild of America, the American Film Institute, the Writers Guild of America West, the American Society of Cinematographers, as well as directors such as Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese have actively lobbied a mounting opposition to colourisation. Allegedly prompted

by Woody Allen’s comments against the process in a New York Times article, Senator Moynihan is considering offering legislation in the US Senate similar to that proposed in the House of Representatives, which would require the “ artistic creators” of a film to grant their consent before alterations, like colourisation, could be made. Meanwhile, the Directors Guild in Britain has successfully negotiated with the BBC not to broadcast colourised versions from the list of 100 films that the guild seeks to protect, and has convinced Channel Four not to air any colourised films whatsoever.

Suddenly it feels like Wim Wenders’ black and white Kings Of The Road, as much a homage to the American cinema as it is about the death of cinema, is a bleak premonition. As George Stevens Jr, chairman of the American Film Institute puts' it, “ A generation from now no viewer will have a sure sense of how the world has been seen through the eyes of John Ford, Willy Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, or any of the great figures who did so much to define American filmmaking.”

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THE WOMAN FROM HONG KONG A n n H u i is o n e o f H o n g K o n g ’s b est k n o w n a n d le a st p red ic ta b le film m a k e r s. L I N D A J A I V I N e x a m in e s a career th a t h a s sp a n n ed k u n g f u , m u rd er, g h o s ts a n d th e lib e ra tio n of D a N ang.

ro u b le a t th e Six H a rm o n ie s P a g o d a . T his an cien t to w e r in th e s o u th e rn C h in ese to w n o f H a n g z h o u h ad been s u rro u n d e d b y h u n d re d s o f a rch ers a n d lancers.

In sid e, th e e m p e ro r, th e S o n o f H e av en h im self, w as being held cap tiv e. A b it silly o f th e O c c u p a n t o f th e D ra g o n T h ro n e to h av e fallen fo r th e b e a u tifu lco u rte sa n -in -th e-e m p lo y -o f-re b e ls tric k , o f co u rse — o ldest o n e in th e b o o k . A keen eye m ig h t have discerned a distin ctly u n m a rtia l a tm o sp h e re a m o n g th e tro o p s , w h o , w hile w aitin g fo r fu rth e r o rd e rs, sw a tte d at each o th e r p la y fu lly w ith th e ir lo n g q u eu es.

N ow , e v e ry o n e ’s a tte n tio n w as riv eted b y a c o m m a n d sh o u te d fro m a n u p p e r sto rey o f th e to w e r. It cam e fro m th e o n ly p e rso n w h o c o u ld m a k e b o th loyalists a n d rebels sit up a n d ta k e n o tic e : A n n H u i, o n e o f H o n g K o n g ’s b est k n o w n , least p re d ic ta b le a n d m o st a d v e n tu ro u s film m ak e rs. H a v in g b een o n e o f th e g ro u p o f p io n eerin g y o u n g d ire c to rs to le a d H o n g K o n g cin em a aw ay fro m th e k u n g fu cliché in th e la te seventies, H u i decided it w as tim e to try h e r h a n d a t th is m o st ste re o ty p ic a l genre o f C h inese cin em a. T h e resu lt o f th re e y ears o f p re p a ra ­ tio n a n d h a rd w o rk , h e r m a rtia l a rts epic, T h e B o o k A n d

T

10 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

i

T h e S w o r d h a d its w o rld p rem iere in H o n g K ong in A u g u st, w here it w as an o u ts ta n d in g critical success. T h e tw o -p a rt film w as screen ed a t th e T o ro n to F ilm Festival in S ep tem b er.

T h e B o o k A n d T h e S w o r d is b ased o n o n e o f th e m o st fa m o u s novels by Jin Y o n g , c o n sid ered th e m o d e rn m a ste r o f “ k u n g fu lite ra tu re ” . H u i confesses th a t sh e ’s been a Jin Y ong a d d ic t since h er sch o o l days.

A lw ays a v o ra c io u s re a d e r, she stu d ied c o m p a ra tiv e lite ra tu re a n d E n g lish a t H o n g K ong U n iv ersity , d o in g a m a s te r’s thesis o n A la in R o b b e -G rille t in 1972. T his w as fo llo w ed by a stin t at th e L o n d o n F ilm S ch o o l. W h en she re tu rn e d to H o n g K ong in 1975, she w o rk e d b riefly as a n o ffic e a ssista n t to th e d ire c to r K ing H u (A T o u ch O f Z en ). M o v in g o n to telev isio n , H u i d irected som e 20 episodes fo r v a rio u s te le -d ra m a series a n d 20 h a lf-h o u r d o c u m e n ta rie s .

H e r first th e a tric a l fe a tu re film , T h e Secret, cam e o u t in 1979. L arg e p o rtio n s o f th e film w ere sh o t in H o n g K o n g is la n d ’s W e ste rn D istric t, w here old-style b u ild ­ ings, cro w d e d te n e m e n ts a n d n a rro w “ la d d e r stre e ts” len t th e a re a a special c h a ra c te r lo n g a fte r o th e r p a rts o f th e te rrito ry h a d been ta k e n o ver by m u lti-sto rey ed o ffice b u ild in g s, to w e rin g a p a rtm e n t blo ck s a n d glitzy d e p a rtm e n t sto res. T h e S ecret is a cleverly c o n stru c te d m u rd e r m y stery , w ith a stro n g a n d sinister sense o f locale. W ell received at th e L o n d o n a n d E d in b u rg h F ilm F estivals, it esta b lish e d H u i as a n im p o rta n t new ta le n t.

It also gave h e r a p lace in th e v a n g u a rd o f a new tre n d to w a rd s cin em a v erite in H o n g K o n g cin em a w hich to o k film o u t o f th e stu d io s a n d o n to th e streets. “ I d id n ’t co n scio u sly d ecide to be in n o v a tiv e ,” H u i says. “ M a n y o f us sim ply b ro u g h t o u r T V sto c k -in -tra d e w ith us in to th e cin em a. I w as ju s t d o in g th in g s as I knew how .” A s fo r b ein g o n e o f th e first w o m en to b re a k in to w h a t h a d tra d itio n a lly b een th e d o m in a n tly m ale p re ­ serve o f H o n g K o n g film m a k in g , she says th a t “ W h en w o rk in g , I ’m n o t co n scio u s o f b ein g a w o m a n .”

H u i’s u n u s u a l u p b rin g in g m a y h av e so m eth in g to d o w ith h e r eclectic, n o n -c a te g o risin g (o r c ateg o risab le) > ICE-CAPADES: Ann Hui on the set of

The Book And The Sword

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 11

CINEMA AND CUNA < a p p ro a c h to film m a k in g . B o rn in n o r th C h in a to a C h in ese fa th e r a n d J a p a n e s e m o th e r in 1947, H u i w as o n ly tw o m o n th s o ld w h e n th e fa m ily m o v e d to P o r tu ­ g u ese -a d m in iste red M a c a u . S in o -Ja p a n e se h o stilities h a d on ly e n d e d tw o y ears b e fo re , a n d h e r m o th e r w as f o r ­ b id d e n to sp e a k h e r n a tiv e la n g u a g e a t h o m e . W h e n H u i w as five, th e fa m ily settled in H o n g K o n g . N o t u n til th e age o f 15, h o w e v e r, w as H u i to ld h e r m o th e r w as Ja p a n e se ; she la te r to ld a n in terv iew er th a t she h a d g ro w n u p th in k in g h e r m o th e r stra n g e ly in a rtic u la te .

In h e r se c o n d film , T h e S p o o k y B u n c h , H u i tu rn e d h e r a tte n tio n to th e w o rld o f C a n to n e se o p e ra . R eleased in 1980, it w as a c o m e d y in v o lv in g g h o sts, fo lk lo re a n d th e u n d e rw o rld . In o n e h ila rio u s scene, a girl possessed b y a sp irit su d d e n ly gets th e u rg e to w atch television.

T ra d itio n a l C h in ese p ra c tic e is to b u rn p a p e r effigies a n d m o n e y fo r th e d e a d in th e b e lie f th a t w h a t is b u rn t is th u s tra n s m itte d to th e “ o th e r sid e ” : c o n te m p o ra ry H o n g K o n g fu n e ra ry g o o d s sto re s o ffe r a ra n g e o f c o m b u stib le am en ities fro m sw im m in g p o o ls to P o rsc h e s. So a p a p e r televisio n is b u r n t fo r th e girl, a n d she w atch es, literally e n tra n c e d , as im ag es fro m a n E n g lish la n g u a g e -teach in g p ro g ra m rise u p fro m th e flam es. “ F o r k ,” says th e tele­ vision in s tru c to r. “ F u k ,” re p e a ts th e girl.

T u rn in g to yet a n o th e r g en re, H u i th e n m a d e T h e S to r y O f W o o V iet (1981), a v io le n c e -rid d en sto ry o f tw o V ietn am ese refu g ees w h o get c a u g h t u p in th e M a n ila u n d e rw o rld w hile try in g to re a c h A m e ric a u n d e r false p a ssp o rts . A te n se th rille r, it re tu rn e d to a th e m e H u i h a d first ex p lo re d in th e T V film B o y F ro m V ietn a m .

H u i’s b est k n o w n “ V ie tn a m film ” , h o w ev er, w as h er n ex t p ro je c t, th e a m b itio u s a n d hig h ly c o n tro v ersial B o a t P e o p le (1982). B ased lo o sely o n a Ja p a n e se novel, it tells th e sto ry o f a J a p a n e s e p h o to -jo u rn a lis t w h o w it­ nessed th e c o m m u n ist “ lib e ra tio n ” o f D a N an g a n d re tu rn s to V ie tn a m several y ears la te r. H e sta rts o u t sy m ­ p a th e tic to th e reg im e, o r ra th e r th e im ag e o f it p resen ted to him b y his o ffic ia l “ h a n d le rs ” . B u t a c h an ce m eeting w ith a n a d o le sc e n t girl a n d h e r y o u n g e r b ro th e r op en s his eyes to a d iffe re n t a n d te rrify in g reality . A t th e so u n d o f g u n fire , fo r e x am p le, th e c h ild re n cry “ T h e ch icken fa r m ! ” H e fo llo w s th e m as th e y ru n to w h a t tu rn s o u t to be a n e x e c u tio n g ro u n d , w h ere th e y strip th e fresh corpses o f w atch es a n d false te e th . E v e n tu a lly , n o lo n g er able to p la y th e n e u tra l o b se rv e r, h e sells his cam e ra eq u ip m e n t o n th e b la c k m a rk e t to fin a n c e th e ir escape o n a p a c k e d fish in g b o a t. H e lp in g th e m to fre e d o m , h o w ev er, co sts h im his life.

F o r B o a t P e o p le H u i in sisted o n re -e n a ctin g th e lib era­ tio n o f D a N a n g , c o m p le te w ith h u g e c ro w d scenes an d ta n k s ru m b lin g d o w n th e stre e t. O n e o f th e m o st e x tra ­ o rd in a ry a n d d ra m a tic scenes in th e film , how ever, is th a t w h ich ta k e s p la c e o n a m in e fie ld le ft o v er fro m th e w ar. In a ten se a tm o s p h e re c o m p a ra b le in h o rro r to

TAKING FIVE: An extra from

The Book And The Sword

12 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

at rest

The Story Of Woo Viet scenes in T h e K illin g F ield s, p riso n e rs a n d o th e r co n ­ scrip ts are fo rc e d to belly craw l a c ro ss th e field picking o u t th e m ines w ith stick s.

B o a t P e o p le w as s h o t o n H a in a n , a tro p ic a l island w h ich is p a r t o f C h in a ’s G u a n g d o n g P ro v in c e , is close to V ie tn a m a n d sh ares m u c h o f th a t c o u n tr y ’s lan d scap e a n d a rc h ite c tu re . H u i h a d th e fu ll c o -o p e ra tio n o f the C h in ese a u th o ritie s , w h o p ro v id e d h e r w ith ta n k s, tro o p s , cro w d c o n tro l a n d a s u p p o rtin g cast. R elations betw een C h in a a n d V ie tn a m w ere a lre a d y te n se , a n d the C h in ese a u th o ritie s lik ed th e id e a o f an ti-V ietn am ese p ro p a g a n d a fo r w h ich th e y w o u ld h a v e to ta k e n o direct re sp o n sib ility .

T h ey d id n o t a n tic ip a te th a t as s o o n as th e film p re m ie re d in H o n g K o n g , critics im m e d ia te ly in te rp re te d it as a disg u ised a tta c k o n C h in e se c o m m u n ism itself: “ V ie tn a m ’s to d a y , H o n g K o n g ’s to m o r r o w ” w as a ty p ical c o m m e n t. O n e o ffic ia l w h o ’d v e tte d th e script lo st his p o s t, b u t th e re n ev er w as a n y o ffic ia l statem en t o r p ro te s t, th e C h in ese a u th o ritie s clearly h a v in g decided th a t d isc re tio n w as th e b e tte r p a r t o f face-sav in g . It was left to th e E u ro p e a n critics to fu lm in a te a g a in st the film ’s “ id eo lo g ical u n s o u n d n e s s ” w h e n B o a t P e o p le was screen ed a t C a n n e s.

H o n g K o n g au d ie n c e s, m e a n w h ile , flo c k e d to see the film in d ro v es. T h is w as su rp risin g a n d w h o lly u n p re d ic t­ ab le, fo r u n til th e n p o litics o f a n y k in d h a d b een con­ sid ered b o x o ffic e p o is o n b y a n in d u s try w h ich h ad alw ays relied o n escap ism a n d e n te rta in m e n t to keep its rice b o w l filled. B o a t P e o p le b e c a m e o n e o f th e te n to p ­ g ro ssin g film s in H o n g K o n g c in e m a h isto ry , w ith ta k in g s o f m o re th a n $3 m illio n .

Poster

for The Secret

W h e n th e a n ti-c o m m u n is t g o v e rn m e n t o n T a iw a n first h e a rd th a t H u i w as film in g in th e m a in la n d , it o rd ered h er film s b a n n e d in T a iw a n . L a te r, H u i says, as a c o n d i­ tio n fo r o v e rtu rn in g th e b a n , she w as ask e d to d ra ft a sta te m e n t “ to th e e ffe c t th a t I d e lib e ra te ly w ent [to C hina] to s h o o t a n a n ti-c o m m u n is t film as a n ac t o f oneu p m a n sh ip a g a in s t c o m m u n is m . I to ld th e m I c o u ld n o t do th is b e c a u se a) it w a s n ’t tru e a n d b) it w o u ld cause a lo t o f tro u b le to o th e r p e o p le .” T h e b a n stay ed . “ I d o n ’t care. So lo n g as I c a n c o n tin u e m a k in g m ovies I ’m h a p p y .”

L o v e In A F allen C ity , a love sto ry set ag ain st the o c c u p a tio n o f H o n g K o n g b y th e J a p a n e s e in W o rld W a r II, w as b a se d o n a sto ry b y th e p o p u la r w rite r E ileen C h an g . U n f o r tu n a te ly , th e film w as n e ith e r a critical n o r c o m m ercial success. H u i b e g a n p re p a rin g fo r T h e B o o k A n d T h e S w o rd .

T h e film in g o f T h e B o o k A n d T h e S w o r d w as a n epic in itself. A c o -p ro d u c tio n b e tw e e n T ia n jin F ilm S tudio an d a H o n g K o n g p ro d u c e r, it re q u ire d lo c a tio n sh o o t­ ing all o v er C h in a , fro m th e a n c ie n t cities o f S u z h o u an d H a n g z h o u in th e s o u th to th e fo rm e r im p erial h u n tin g reso rt C h e n g d e , n o r th o f th e G re a t W all; fro m the villages o f th e Y ellow R iv er b a sin to th e T a k la m a k a n desert in n o rth -w e s te rn X in jia n g (C h in ese T u rk e sta n ).

A n a tiv e C a n to n e s e s p e a k e r w ith excellent E nglish, H u i h a d to sp e a k w ith h e r crew a n d o th e r m a in la n d e rs in M a n d a rin . S he cites c o m m u n ic a tio n a n d p hysical h a rd ­ ship as th e m o s t d iffic u lt asp ects o f sh o o tin g in C h in a, b u t says th e se w ere o ffs e t b y “ in s p irin g ” lo catio n s.

B esides, she say s, “ S o m e tim e s th e d ifficu lties them selves becom e ex citin g . A n d th e w ay th e [m ain lan d ] C hinese p ay a t least lip service to th e fa c t th a t film is a cultu ral th in g . . . is q u ite a re lie f fro m th e to ta lly m oneyo rien ted a tm o s p h e re o f w o rk in H o n g K o n g .”

C h inese p ro d u c e rs m a y p re se n t th e film m a k e r w ith o th e r so rts o f p ro b le m s . T h e m a y o r o f T ia n jin , Li R u ih u a n , d e m a n d e d to see th e film b e fo re th e negative was released to H u i fo r fin a l p o s t-p ro d u c tio n w o rk . H e w asn ’t th rille d . A c c o rd in g to H u i, w h o flew to T ia n jin w ith th e p ro d u c e rs fo r th e m a y o ra l screen in g , “ he h ad som e re se rv a tio n s a b o u t th e c h a ra c te ris a tio n s — m ainly th a t [the re b e l chief] w as ‘n o t h e ro ic e n o u g h ’ a n d the Q ian lo n g e m p e ro r ‘to o g la m o ro u s ’. ” S till, he co nceded th a t th e film c o u ld b e re le a se d in H o n g K o n g first, an d H u i ag reed th a t th e T ia n jin stu d io c o u ld ed it it ac c o rd in g to th e ir o w n a e sth e tic a n d p o litic a l need s fo r release in C h in a itself.

A n n H u i tu rn s 41 n e x t y ear. A c c o rd in g to h er fo rtu n e teller — like m a n y o th e r o th erw ise “ W e ste rn ised ” C hinese in H o n g K o n g , she o c c a sio n a lly tu rn s to so o th ­ sayers fo r p re d ic tio n s a n d ad v ice — h e r lu c k will ta k e a tu rn fo r th e b e tte r o n ce she re a c h e s 41. N o t th a t it seems to hav e b een all th a t b a d so fa r.

TH E ROADS TO XANADU F ilm A u s tr a lia ’s fo u r -p a r t serie s, Roads To Xanadu , e x a m in e s th e p a th s ta k en b y E u r o p e , C h in a a n d J a p a n in th e q u est fo r an id ea l so c ie ty . T E C K T A N ta lk ed to p r o ­ d u cer a n d p resen ter J o h n M e r so n a b o u t th e p r e p a ra tio n fo r th e p r o g r a m .

XANADU: Porcelain worker with face mask In X a n a d u d i d K u b la K h an A s ta te ly p le a s u r e -d o m e decree: W h ere A lp h , th e s a c r e d river, ran T hrou gh ca vern s m ea su reless to m an D o w n to a su n less sea.

hus did th e E n glish p o e t C o leridge, u n d e r th e in flu en ce o f o p iu m , describe his vision o f his p arad ise X a n a d u , lo o k in g to th e E a st fo r relief fro m th e b leakness o f th e In d u stria l R e v o lu tio n . A p arad ise it certain ly w a sn ’t, especially u n d e r th e B ritish -im p o sed o p iu m tra d e o f th e 19th c en tu ry . W h en E ast m et W est u n d e r th e g u n -b o a t d ip lo m acy o f th e O p iu m W ars in C h in a it w as very m u ch a o n e-sided a ffa ir. H o w w as it th a t a c u ltu re 2000 years o ld, once th e m o st p o w erfu l k in g d o m in th e w o rld , o ne th a t h a d d eveloped g u n ­ p o w d er, p rin tin g a n d cu rren cy w hen E u ro p e w as still in th e M iddle A ges, co u ld be so h u m iliated 300 years later by th e new E u ro p e a n pow ers?

T h is will b e o n e o f th e m a n y q u estio n s p o sed by R o a d s T o X a n a d u , a fo u r-p a rt television series c u rren tly in p ro d u c tio n a t F ilm A u stra lia . J o h n M erso n , u n iv ersity acad em ic, a u th o r, ex-A B C R ad io p resen ter a n d d escen d an t o f G eo rg e M o rriso n , th e A u stra lia n jo u rn a lis t privileged to b e o n e o f few W estern w itnesses >

T

Ann Hui

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 13

exam ines, am o n g st o th e rs, th e ro le o f C o n fu c ia n id eo lo g y , th e C h in ese Im p e ria l system a n d p o st-M ao eco n o m ic p ra g m a tism in C h in ese social p ro g ress, is being m ad e in A u stra lia . T h e m o re p e rtin e n t q u estio n p e rh a p s is w hy n o t. C o n v e n tio n a l w isd o m h as A u stra lia lo o k in g to E u ro p e fo r a c u ltu ra l id e n tity . Y et relatio n s w ith o u r closer n e ig h b o u rs em p h asise th a t A u stra lia is g eo g rap h ically a n d p o litically situ a te d in A sia. E very hiccup in In d o n e sia n p o litics h as its rep ercu ssio n s in C a n b e rra , J a p a n a n d p o te n tia lly C h in a are o u r m a jo r tra d in g p a rtn e rs, a n d o u r m ig ra tio n m a k e -u p has ch an g ed in th e last d ecad e to reflect m o re a ccu rately o u r reg io n al aw areness.

A p p ro p ria te ly , th is $1.8 m illio n series is jo in tly u n d e r­ w ritten by S u n sh in e A u s tra lia L td , w h o se fo u n d e r is Lee M ing T ee. H e is a C h inese M ala y sia n , n o w a n A u stra lia n citizen, w ho is a m em b e r o f A u s tra lia ’s new e n tre ­ p re n e u ria l class fro m th e E a st. T h e series has h ad a fairly sm o o th p a th to p ro d u c tio n , co n sid erin g th e m an y fin an cial p ro b le m s th a t can p lag u e a p ro je c t.

T h e id ea sta rte d w h en M erso n w as a lectu rer in H isto ry an d P h ilo so p h y o f Science a t th e U n iversity o f N ew S o u th W ales a n d w as su b se q u e n tly p resen ted as a series on A B C R ad io Science. T h e n cam e an A u stra lia n F ilm C o m m issio n g ra n t in S ep tem b er 1985 en ab lin g him to research th e television series fu rth e r in C h in a and Ja p a n . H is p rev io u s w o rk in g re la tio n sh ip s a t th e A B C w ith R o b in H u g h es, no w th e g en eral m a n a g e r o f Film A u stra lia , a n d w ith D av id R o b e rts, th e d ire c to r o f this series, led h im to a p p ro a c h F ilm A u stra lia , w ho agreed to th e lo n g -term p ro je c t c o m m itm e n t o f th re e years.

T h e series alread y has a pre-sale to th e A B C , BBC an d an A m erican -b ased P B S s ta tio n . T h e crew , hav in g co m ­ p leted lo c a tio n sh o o tin g in E u ro p e a n d A m erica, are cu rren tly in C h in a a n d J a p a n . T elevision b ro a d c a st is aim ed at late 1988. It seem s to be o ne o f th o se p ro jects th a t can easily sell itself o n its ow n m erits. A n d w hy n o t w hen th e q u estio n s it raises are reco g n isab ly relev an t an d sig n ifican t. A lre a d y S o u th -E a st A sian co u n tries are a d o p tin g a “ lo o k E a s t” policy in resp o n se to J a p a n ’s econom ic a d v an cem en ts. C o u ld it be th a t th e rest o f th e w o rld will follow a n d seek, as C o lerid g e d id , “ a stately p le a su re -d o m e ” in f a r-o ff X a n a d u ?

XANADU: Step kiln in porcelain tile factory, the same as the 14th century design

< o f th e B oxer R eb ellio n in C h in a , is th e p ro d u c e r, w riter an d n a rr a to r o f this series. H e c o n tra sts th e d iffe re n t b u t in te rre la te d p a th s ta k e n by E u ro p e , C h in a a n d J a p a n in th e q uest fo r a n ideal society. T h e In d u stria l R ev o lu tio n , C o n fu c ia n ism a n d th e M eiji R e fo rm a tio n are juggled a b o u t w ith th e c o n fid e n t skill o f a w ell-versed an alyst.

M erso n has th e obsessive in terest in his su b je c t m a tte r th a t will n o d o u b t in fect his au d ien ce, as h a p p e n ed w ith B ronow sk i in his eq u ally a m b itio u s T h e A s c e n t O f M a n fo r th e B B C m a n y years ago.

T h e series is n o t in te n d e d to be an e la b o ra te h isto ry lesson n o r a d ry a c c o u n t o f th e rise o f tech n o lo g y . By co m p arin g asp ects o f E a st a n d W est — th e P a p a c y an d C o n fu c ia n ism , th e V en etian m ercan tile class a n d th e C hinese ag ric u ltu re -b ase d society, th e E n lig h ten m en t a n d th e classical C h in ese e x a m in a tio n system , th e E u ro ­ p e a n rev o lu tio n s a n d th e e te rn a l D ra g o n T h ro n e — M erso n h o p es to sh o w th e p h ilo so p h ic a l fo u n d a tio n s th a t driv e a society to in n o v a te a n d ad v an ce. T h e last tw o p a rts o f th e series b rin g us u p to th e p re sen t an d fu tu re; h ow J a p a n b ecam e th e eco n o m ic a n d m ilitary p o w er it w as a t th e b eg in n in g o f th is ce n tu ry a n d how C h in a is still g ra p p lin g w ith th e p ro b le m o f m o d ern isin g w ith o u t W estern isin g , a p ro b le m th a t if solved co u ld well p ro p e l th e d o rm a n t g ia n t in to tech n o lo g ical su p e rio rity in th e n ex t cen tu ry .

O ne m ay well ask w h y it is th a t a series w hich

14 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

XANADU: Model of a water frame used in the textile industry

Due to the ever increasing demands of the entertainment industry, we have been forced to expand into larger and more modem premises.

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“a move in the right direction” O ur new address 3rd Floor, 441 St K ilda Rd,

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M elbourne, V ictoria, 3004, A ustralia

D o m e s t i c Air Travel.

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CINEMA AND CHINA

THE MOVIES OF CHINATOWN D im Sum a n d Yellow Earth m ig h t h a v e b e e n th e h its o n th e a r t h o u s e c ir c u it — b u t w h a t a b o u t M y Cousin The Ghost a n d Jet Lee's Shaolin Temple Part ID K A T H Y B A I L r e p o r ts o n th e o t h e r f a c e o f C h in e s e c in e m a in A u s t r a lia . o n tro lle d by tw o co m p a n ie s w ith firm ties to business in H o n g K o n g a n d v irtu ally n o co n n ectio n s to th e A u s tra lia n film in d u stry , M e lb o u rn e ’s “ C h in a to w n ” cin em as a ttra c t y o u n g audien ces m o re in tim a te w ith th e k u n g fu fa n ta sy fo rm u la th a n th e politics b e h in d th e C h in ese ‘a rth o u s e ’ film s celeb rated

by A u s tra lia n critics.

T h e C h in a to w n C in e m a a n d th e B ro a d w a y c o n stitu te on e o f th e sm aller o u tsid e m a rk e ts b o o stin g th e p ro fits o f th e H o n g K o n g film in d u stry . H o n g K o n g -m ad e film s are e stim a te d to p u ll in a b o u t $100 m illio n a year on th e fo reig n circu it. H ig h tu rn o v e r a n d highlyv en erate d sta rs a re th e key to th e c in e m a s’ success.

So it w as u n u su a l w h en W ay n e W a n g ’s fe a tu re a b o u t a C h in e se -A m e ric an fam ily , D im S u m , h a d a season at th e B ro a d w a y . It d id n ’t q u ite m a tc h th e b o x o ffice h it, F la m in g B ro th e rs, b u t it ra n fo r a w eek, fo llo w ing a six-w eek seaso n at th e L o n g fo rd , a cin em a few C hinese w o u ld n o rm a lly c o n sid e r fo r a S a tu rd a y n ig h t o u t.

K .T . M o k , d is trib u to r a n d m a n a g e r o f th e B ro ad w ay , rarely has to deal w ith “ o u ts id e rs ” : h a n d lin g D im S u m , he says, w as h a rd ly w o rth his w hile. H is b u siness (an d

C

16 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

he firm ly co n sid ers film “ p u rely b u sin e ss” , like m an y o f his colleagues in th e H o n g K o n g in d u stry ), alo n g sid e th e m ain C h in ese d is trib u to r a n d ex h ib ito r in A u stra lia , C h in a to w n C in e m a P ty L td , is u su ally q u ite se p a ra te fro m th e film in d u stry here: th e ir links are w ith H o n g K o n g , a n d b ecau se th ey ac t as d is trib u to rs an d ex h ib ito rs th ey h av e th is se c to r o f th e m a rk e t tied u p .

C h in a to w n C in e m a acq u ires p ro d u c t fo r its six cinem as th ro u g h th e ag en t J o e Sui In te rn a tio n a l F ilm w ho rep resen ts m a jo r H o n g K ong c o m p an ies like G o ld en H a rv e st a n d S haw B ro th e rs. M o k h as his ow n office in H o n g K o n g a n d bu y s directly fro m th ese co m p an ies a n d o th e r in d e p e n d e n ts. So w h a t’s p o p u la r in th e te rrito ry ends u p o n th e screen here; acco rd in g to M o k , th e re is n o th in g specific a b o u t th is m a rk e t: p o p u la r m a rtia l a rts h e ro a n d B ru ce L e e ’s film ic heir, Jack ie C h a n , can d ra w a full h o u se in a n y C hinese cinem a.

K now ing w hich C h in e s e /H o n g K ong film s are “ g o o d ” is a m a tte r o f b eing o n th e inside: it ’s w o rd o f m o u th . Y o u w o n ’t fin d P e k in g O pera B lu e s , O rders F ro m F o rb id d e n C ity , T h e B o d y Is W illing, o r M y C ousin T h e G h o st ad v ertised in th e daily p a p e rs, b u t th ere will be leaflets in C h in ese g ro cery sh o p s a n d re sta u ra n ts a n d fa n ta stic a lly designed p o sters in th e cinem a foyers.

B ac k g ro u n d in fo rm a tio n a b o u t th e film s can be g leaned fro m m ag azin es im p o rte d fro m H o n g K o n g an d even if you fin d a tra n s la to r, y o u ’re m o re likely to get gossip on th e stars th a n a “ rev iew ” , a fo rm o f criticism th a t seem s stran g ely o u t o f p lace. T h e lo v e /h a te rela tio n sh ip th a t u su ally exists betw een film critics an d d istrib u to rs is n o n -e x iste n t fo r th e C h in ese cin em a p ro p rie to rs. N o t o nly w o u ld th e film h av e fin ish ed its season by th e tim e a review a p p e a re d (the p ro g ra m generally changes once a w eek; a film th a t gets a “ long r u n ” is a ro u n d fo r tw o w eeks) b u t n o critic co u ld d isru p t a system o f p o p u la r e n te rta in m e n t b ased o n star po w er o r p o p u la r genres like k u n g fu.

M ost o f th e film s screened in th e C h inese cinem as in A u stra lia are in C a n to n e se , a n d th o u g h o n e w o u ld never guess fro m th e p o ste rs, all o f th e m h av e E nglish su b -titles. T his m ay be reassu rin g b u t m a n y o f th e H o n g K ong film s o p e ra te largely on v erb al h u m o u r, an d if y o u are on e o f th e o ne p er cent o f n o n -C h in ese in th e a u d ien ce, y o u can o fte n m iss th e jo k e .

Screenings are c o n tin u o u s; o n w eek en d s y o u can catch a s u p p o rt a n d m ain fe a tu re betw een 2 p m a n d

2 am , a n d d u rin g th e w eek fro m 7 p m to 2 .3 0 a m .

M o n d a y n ig h t is p o p u la r b e c a u se m o s t o f th e C h in ese re s ta u ra n ts a re clo se d . It is, h o w e v e r, th e y o u n g e r C h inese w h o g o to m o v ies re g u la rly . Says E s th e r W o o , C h inese p ro g ra m c o - o r d in a to r a t 3 E A : “ I t ’s b ecau se th ey g en e ra lly w o rk in th e city a n d i t ’s h a n d y . S om e have b o y frie n d s a n d g irlfrie n d s a n d th e y are h a p p y to go to g e th e r . . . in th e tr a d itio n a l w ay. F o r th e elderly peo p le tr a n s p o r t is v ery d iffic u lt, a n d in re c e n t years th ey h av e h a d v id eo w h ich th e y c a n h ire v ery easily, so they d o n ’t g o to th e c in e m a v ery o f t e n .”

She says t h a t th e c in e m a u sed to be a v ery p o p u la r p astim e b e fo re th e C h in e se v id eo o u tle ts o p e n e d . “ E v e ry o n e u sed to go to th e cin em a! O r w hen c o m m u n itie s w a n te d to raise m o n e y th e y w o u ld h ire a C h inese film a n d screen it in a h a ll. C a n y o u im agine th a t s itu a tio n ! P e o p le h a p p y to b u y a tic k e t a n d go to a m ovie. N o w th e s itu a tio n h as c h a n g e d . P e o p le d o n ’t talk a b o u t w h a t’s o n a t th e c in e m a v ery m u c h . In c o n v e rsa tio n it h a rd ly co m es u p , n o t like in H o n g K ong or C h in a . “ C h in e se fam ilies p re fe r to h ire a v id e o , even invite a few o f th e ir relativ es a r o u n d . I t ’s a g e t-to g e th e r — they have d in n e r a n d w a tc h a film , in s te a d o f d riv in g th e car, esp ecially C h in e se fa m ilie s, h o w m a n y n u m b e rs, so m etim es y o u n e e d th re e c a r s ! ” T h e b r o a d e r ra n g e o f film s a v a ila b le o n vid eo m ay also c o n trib u te to its p o p u la rity . F o r th o s e w a n tin g film s in M a n d a rin , o r even T a iw a n e se film s, v id eo is really th e o n ly a lte rn a tiv e . C h in a to w n d o es pick up these k in d s o f film s b u t th e b u lk o f its p ro d u c t is in C a n to n e se . T h e re is also ev ery lik e lih o o d th a t a film is av ailab le o n v id eo b e fo re it is re le a se d th e a tric a lly . “ It is very h a r d to c o n tro l th e m a rk e t fo r v id e o s ,” says M o k . “ T h e c o n tro l o f rig h ts is less s trin g e n t h ere th a n A m erica. T h e re is a lo t a v a ila b le .”

B ut a c c o rd in g to D a v id T ie n , m a n a g e r o f th e C h in a to w n C in e m a , m o s t y o u n g p e o p le still w a n t to go to th e c in e m a . H e says his c in e m a o p e n s film s alm o st s im u lta n e o u sly w ith H o n g K o n g . A u d ie n ces have p ro b a b ly re a d a b o u t th e la te s t J a c k ie C h a n o r C h o w Y o n g F o n g in th e H o n g K o n g p a p e rs (w hich d ev o te a t least tw o p ag es every d a y to m ovie s ta r s ’ lives) a n d it “ m u st be se e n ” .

A c tio n a n d k u n g fu film s, c o n te m p o ra ry issue film s (o r “ e d u c a tio n a l” film s as

th e y are g en erically k n o w n in H o n g K ong) o r co m ed y fe a tu re s are C h in a to w n ’s sta p le ; o n ce in th e d o o r, you m a y as well be in H o n g K o n g .

E sth e r W o o is critical o f th e d o m in a n c e o f H o n g K o n g c in em a a n d says th e C h in ese film s th a t are im p o rte d , like Y ello w E a r th , are u su a lly d istrib u te d in a rth o u s e cin em as a n d c a te r m o re fo r A u s tra lia n > a u d ien ces, a n d th o se film s th a t a re selected fo r th e

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 17

Police Story < festival circu it w o u ld be seen b y very few C hinese.

F o r W o o , n o t even SBS is a sav in g grace: “ I have ask ed SBS w hy th e y alw ays sh o w th e sam e film s. N o t o nly are th e y o u t o f d a te , b u t it m ak es m e u p set becau se th e y show p e o p le th e w ro n g w ay o f life.

A ud ien ces will th in k C h in ese p e o p le alw ays w a n t to kill, b lo o d ev eryw here. T h a t ’s w ro n g . T h ey are o n ly th e really aw fu l H o n g K o n g -p ro d u c e d film s. T h e g o o d film s are nev er sh o w n b ecau se th e y d o bu sin ess w ith th e sam e p e o p le .”

A p a rt fro m v id eo , SBS is w here m o st p eo p le view C hinese o r H o n g K o n g film s. T h e C a n to n e se d ra m a series E m p re ss W u h as h a d au d ien ces glued to th e television screen fo r w eeks. P e te r B a rre tt fro m the p ro g ra m m in g d e p a rtm e n t a t SBS claim s th e re is no rigid fo rm u la fo r selectio n , th o u g h c e rta in p a ra m e te rs are ta k e n fro m census statistics. In 1985/86, 2.6 p e r cent o f to ta l p ro g ra m tim e w as d e v o te d to C hinese lan guage film s, th a t is 82 h o u rs , 34 o f w h ich w ere in C a n to n ese an d 48 in M a n d a rin .

M a re n a M a n z o u fa f, h e a d o f a c q u isitio n a t SBS, says m o st o f th e T V p ro d u c t com es fro m H o n g K o ng, while fe a tu re film s are g en erally b o u g h t th ro u g h th e C h in a F ilm E x p o rt a n d Im p o rt C o rp o ra tio n . She, how ever, disagrees w ith E s th e r W o o a n d feels th e y d o p resen t a g o o d ra n g e o f film s. “ In 1 9 8 0 /8 1 , we b o u g h t som e fea tu re s fro m H o n g K o n g b u t th e p ro b le m w as th a t

Private Life 18 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

m o st o f th e p ro d u c t w as to o v io len t: it w as e ith e r cops a n d ro b b e rs o r k u n g fu , a n d th e y w ere m a in ly large co m m ercial p ro d u c tio n s . W e s ta rte d g ettin g film s fro m C h in a w hich w ere a lo t m o re serio u s a n d th o u g h tfu l th a n th e H o n g K o n g p ro d u c t. “ W e trie d to get m o re film s th ro u g h o n e larg e c o m p a n y in H o n g K o n g b u t th e y w ere re lu c ta n t to sell b ecause o f video p ira c y . P e o p le get a n o ff-a ir reco rd in g th e n re -m a rk e t th e m .”

(SBS pays a fla t ra te o f $5000 fo r a film w hich gives th e sta tio n licence to screen it th re e tim es o v er seven y ears. A fte r m a k in g th e in itia l o ffe r, it u su ally tak es six m o n th s to get th e film a n d six m o n th s to p ro cess it. T he su b -titlin g is d o n e a t SBS. “ S om e co m p a n ie s are re lu c ta n t to m a k e a T V sale u n til th e y h av e ex p lo ited th e cinem a re le a s e ,” says M a n z o u fa f. “ So som etim es th ey are a little o u t- o f - d a te .” ) SBS h as recen tly a c q u ire d th e rig h ts to A S u m m e r A t G randpas, O n e A n d E ig h t, B la c k C a n n o n In c id e n t (to be released th e a tric a lly th ro u g h R o n in F ilm s), T aipei S to ry , S u n s e t S to r y , B u b b lin g S p rin g , a n d , in M a n d a rin , N e ig h b o u rs. d m u n d A lliso n , o w n er o f th e in d e p e n d e n t d istrib u tio n co m p a n y , Q u a lity F ilm s, w as th e first “ o u ts id e r” to b rin g a C h in ese film to A u stra lia . H e im p o rte d T he W h ite -H a ire d G irl in 1953, b u t no w has m o re in terest in J a p a n e se a n d S oviet cin em a. “ I h a v e n ’t seen m a n y o f th e recen t film s, b u t th e C h inese film s I used to h av e w ere never really co m m ercially v ia b le ,” he says.

Since th e n , A n d re w P ik e o f R o n in F ilm s, is on e o f th e few w h o has d a re d v e n tu re in to w h a t is u n k n o w n te rrito ry fo r m o st A u s tra lia n d is trib u to rs . Y ello w E a rth , w hich be b o u g h t last y ear, h as a lre a d y screened in Sydney a n d M e lb o u rn e , a n d m ay even fin d its w ay in to th e C hinese cin em as. R o n in h as also a c q u ire d th e satirical co m ed y B la c k C a n n o n In c id e n t th ro u g h th e C h in a F ilm C o rp o ra tio n a n d is n e g o tia tin g to b u y S w a n S o n g , d irected by Z h a n g Z em in g , w hich w as seen a t th e 1986 H o n g K o n g F ilm F estival.

P ik e has fo u n d th e c o rp o ra tio n “ q u ick a n d efficien t on th e titles th e y w a n t to sell” . Y ello w E a rth a n d B la c k C a n n o n In c id e n t w ere “ m o d e ra te ly expensive to b u y ,” he says. “ C h in a h as c ertain ly b eco m e m o re aggressive in th e m a rk e tin g o f th e ir film p ro d u c t. J u s t g ettin g th e p rin t can be expensive. In d ig e n o u s film sto ck is p o o r q u a lity a n d th ey w o n ’t use it fo r e x p o rt so special sto ck is im p o rte d w hich increases th e costs. “ A lso , w ith Y ello w E a rth , th e su b -titlin g w as very p o o r a n d h a d to be d o n e a g ain . W e sh a re d th e costs w ith th e B ritish d is trib u to rs .”

B ut it has been w h en he has a tte m p te d to deal w ith th e A u stra lia n -b a se d d is trib u to rs o f H o n g K o n g p ro d u c t th a t he h as ru n in to real p ro b le m s a n d expenses. “ I have fo u n d J o e S u i’s c o m p a n y d iffic u lt to deal w ith ,” he says. “ T h e film s are very expensive a n d I th in k he is d o in g a disservice to p ro d u c e rs in H o n g K o n g becau se he o nly does b u siness w ith th e C h in ese cin em as. H e is n o t aw are th e re is bu sin ess b e y o n d th a t m a rk e t. “ I h av e b o u g h t tw o Ja c k ie C h a n film s fro m Jo e Sui, P o lice S to r y a n d Y o u n g M a ste r, w h ich ra n in C a n b e rra , b u t th e y d id n ’t go very w ell. I h a d to p a y a h ig h price fo r th e m w ith little re tu rn . In fa c t, we lo st m o n e y d o in g it. I ’d love to ru n a Ja c k ie C h a n festiv al, b u t th e biggest stu m b lin g b lo ck is th e d is trib u to rs !”

U n til th e n , b u y so m e su n flo w e r seeds a n d q u eu e u p fo r a session o f k u n g fu a t a C h in ese cin em a. W a tc h Ja c k ie C h a n fly b a c k w a rd s to ta k e revenge, w o n d e r a t th e riv alry a n d in trig u e , a n d w a tc h o u t fo r g h o sts.

E

With special thanks to VINCENT TAN for translations, interpretations and research.

Home movies, Italian families and nice coloured girls: VIKKI RILEY takes a look at some recent short films

Song O f Air,

by Merilee Bennett, is a film almost entirely constructed of old home-movie footage shot by the filmmaker's father, a Methodist lawyer whose obsessions were his family, the cultivation of roses and meticulous documentation. The footage used in this film is remarkable for several reasons. It is amazingly scratch free, it is a reminder of just how good Brisbane looked in the 1950s and it is tinged everywhere with the values of that era: Mum hanging out washing, children playing together and growing into healthy, mature university students and, above all, displaying a confidence in the life of the home which seems now to have receded into a kind of myth.

The film begins with a homemovie drama based on a ghost story. It is full of self-taught animation tricks and superimpositions, but the main thrust of the story involves each member of the family expressing fear in the face of the terrible ghost who wishes to divide and disrupt the happy family evening; its finale shows the family huddled together unified and rid of the evil spirit.

As Song O f Air unfolds, Bennett tells of her intense relationship with a father who could not physically touch his daughters for fear of implied sensuality, and the home movies are revealed as complete artifice. The children's lives are filmed, and every detail of their development is shaped by the father's vision, his assumption that his children's adult lives would follow a similar pattern, fundamental Christianity disguising fundamental sexism and control over an individual's destiny.

There are many similarities in Song O f Air to Corinne Cantrill's In This Life's Body; they are both autobiographies narrated through photographs and film, and told at a particular point in their makers' lives, and a junction in their filmmaking career. (This is Bennett's first film and In This Life's Body is Cantrill's first 'narrative' film to include any hint of a lived life.)

Both films too lie somewhere next to, or within, a tradition of oral history, but the history these films are representing is once again not their own creation, but the apparatus of another:

There is a recurring metaphor of death and renewal in the companionship between the grandfather and the grandson, a sense of inheritance and continuity in the last scene where the boy buries the old man in a routine fashion that rivals any scene from Kaos, concluding the film on a folkloric note, somewhere in Altona. racey Moffatt's Nice Coloured says just as much about white (ie European/Anglo Saxon) Australian males as it does about its subject, young Aboriginal girls in Sydney who spend nights on the town â&#x20AC;&#x201D; drinking, dining and dancing, courtesy of intoxicated would-be hustlers, whom they finally strip of cash before cabbing home, saying, "It's been a good night out."

It carefully manoeuvres itself around the obvious historical space of black exploitation (ie the past 200 years) and instead opts for an intersection between the first fleet arrivals and the presentday realities of assimilation. The former is recreated via the colonists' diary entries: women are clamouring on board the ships at night to sleep with the 'captains' while the diary entries reflect a fascination with the exotic that is decidedly paternal . . . "I am shocked at the brutal violence with which the natives treat their wom en", while at the same time marvelling at their perfect breasts. These exotic beauties soon learn' to wear clothes, and they bear children which they attempt to 'blacken'

T Cirls

A Song Of Air standards of photography, framing, conventions of beauty, posture and representation and, more so, the whole question of the person behind the camera.

Spaventapasseri,

by Luigi Acquisto, is simply a knockout, a Swinburne student film without any trace of industry mimickry, which represents a very Australian instance of crosscultural filmmaking. It is in Italian, with subtitles, set in the sixties but without any traces of nostalgia. Its basic themes are the push and pull of family life, transplanted from Italy to Australia, and the sense of loss that that implies, as well as the value of the family bond.

The grandfather still obsessively tends his pigs, the family still upholds the supremacy of work as an indicator of honour, the homosexual son is frowned upon and, when he is called up, it is a chilling joke that this is a result of his eagerness to be an Australian citizen.

by holding them over the smoke.

The representation of the colonists is a sensitive, albeit a critical one, conveying a romantic dialogue between black and white long disappeared.

Cut to King's Cross, 1987. The tributes of beads and button necklaces have been replaced with the great Australian egalitarian gesture of offering the woman a smoke. This is where the film jumps the gun on the Aboriginal-European debate and becomes suggestive of a wider malaise. The myth of the white seducer is revealed in all its ugliness and impotence as the kind of desire that drives men to search out mail-order Filipino brides. Roles are reversed, and as the exploited greets the exploiter, the girls take these men for a ride, playing a sophisticated game with not only the dynamics of prostitution, but also with a long­ standing tradition of white girls flocking to the Cross to 'entertain' foreign sailors. Viewed from a white perspective, Nice Coloured Cirls leaves you ultimately with the uncomfortable feeling that black Australia has concealed a great deal of pity and sympathy for our aggressive culture. As a white woman I wait for the day when we can project with confidence an image of woman like the one we see in Moffatt's film, standing on the beach, her hair blowing in the wind, an eternal mother and lover, unchanging and uncompromising. Sadly, the white mother would have to be filmed on beaches other than these.

Spaventapasseri CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER -

19

1987 brings us a new 007 (Timothy Dalton), a new Bond movie { The Living Daylights) and a spate of books to add to any Bond-loverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bookshelf.

SCO TT MURRAY takes a look at some of the recent writing about 007, and is shaken and stirred by what he reads.

n January 1952, at “ Goldeneye” on the island of Orcabessa, Jamaica, Ian Lancaster Fleming, Old Etonian and successful journalist, began work on a novel, partially he claimed as a distraction from his up-coming marriage to Anne Charteris.

I

I had the idea that one could write a thriller with half one’s mind, and I simply wrote 2,000 words a day to show myself I could.'

Published in March 1953, Casino Royale was the first public appearance of James Bond, secret agent2. The novel, according to Fleming’s close friend Ivar Bryce, was well received, but not extravagantly, and, though it sold better than most first books are wont to do, gave little notice to the publishing world of the torrential rain of gold gathering strength over the horizon.3

Fleming soon settled into a ritual of one book a year, written while on holiday in Jamaica over the winter. Most were written on a golden typewriter he had had specially made in New York.

In all, 11 novels and two collections of short stories followed.4 Fleming did, at times, become tired of his Bond obligations, but his output was fairly consistent, save for the last novel, which was written when he was ill.

Bond became a film creation in 1962 with the release of Dr. No. Anne Fleming wrote to Evelyn Waugh about the film on 2 August 1962: When we arrived very late at the private cinema our personal guests . . . were very restive, and I feared Mrs Crickmere [the Flemings’ cook] might give notice and no more coconut soup; luckily she found the film ‘quite gripping’. I wish I had, for our fortunes depend upon it. There were howls of laughter when the tarantula walks up James Bond’s body .'. . The heroine could not be eaten by crabs, for though they imported huge land crabs from Guernsey they died the minute they were placed on the heroine’s body.5

Apparently, Ian Fleming felt quite out of place at the screening, so it was not an auspicious occasion for the Flemings. But fortunes were to be made.

Seventeen Bond films have now been made6 and most have been massively popular. The

Bond books have continued to sell, despite their author’s death in 1964. And to keep up with the demand for new adventures, both Kingsley Amis and John Gardner have written authorised Bond novels.7 As well, there has been the burgeoning collection of critical and fan works, ranging from Amis’ The James Bond Dossier to The Bond Affair£, edited by Oreste del Buono & Umberto Eco, from Peter Haining’s James Bond: A Celebration to Bond And Beyond: The Political Career Of A Popular Hero9, by Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott. Even a book of Bond film posters has just been published.10 The original brief of this two-part article was to review Bennett and Woollacott’s book.

Certainly the early press reviews were favourable, including a laudatory one from Professor Stephen Knight". But I found the book a major disappointment, its other reviewers seemingly not as annoyed as I by its innumerable errors'2 and, to me, often quite unconvincing arguments. As a result, the scope of this article has been widened to include other books and ideas. If much space is still devoted to Bond And Beyond, it is because it should not go unchallenged.

POPULAR HERO Bennett and Woollacott write: Whereas popular heroes . . . usually have their origins in a particular work or body of fiction, they break free from the originating textual conditions of their existence to achieve a semi-independent existence . . . Robinson Crusoe and Sherlock Holmes, for example, although initially merely fictional characters . .. [ , ] have since acquired a cultural life that is all their own . . . The figure of Bond has assumed a similar significance . . . (pl4)

Two questions the authors pose are: Why has Bond become so popular? and How has Bond changed in the process?

The traditional explanation for Bond’s popularity is that his exploits gratify the reader’s repressed desires and give a vicarious thrill. As Hugh Gaitskell wrote to Fleming: The combination of sex, violence, alcohol and — at intervals — good food and nice clothes is, to one who lives such a circumscribed a life as I do, irresistible.13

Amis goes even further when he claims, “We want to be Bond.” (p38) He continues, The notion has grown up that wish-fulfilment is somehow immature and therefore suspect. I can’t see this myself. I think wish-fulfilment is a common and normal activity. I find self-advertised maturity, pride in maturity, at least equally suspect.

No adult ought to feel adult all the time. (pp44-45)

Amis then remarks that “the works of Homer are a far more compendious compensationmanual than those of Mr Fleming” .

Taking a varying view, Bennett and Woollacott suggest that Bond’s popularity in England is due to his “ability to co-ordinate . . . a series of ideological and cultural concerns that have been enduringly important in Britain since the 1950s” (pi8). These concerns can be summarised as representations of: 1. “ relations between West and East, . . . between capitalist and communist economic and political systems” ; 2. “ relations between the sexes, particularly with regard to the construction of images of masculinity and femininity” ; and 3. “ nation and nationhood” , (pi8)

There is no fixed analysis of any of these points of discussion because Bond is a “moving sign of the times” (p 19). He has also gone through major transformations from one medium to another. In other words, there is no one James Bond; there are many.

THE NOVELS Fleming saw himself as writing literary divertissements for “an ‘A’ readership” '4, a rather English approach. Many of Britain’s finest crime writers are significant literary or academic figures who wrote with a sophisticated audience in mind, while perhaps hoping for a broader one in sales. Notable examples are Nicholas Blake and Michael Innes.

Fleming enjoyed the admiration of several peers: Somerset Maugham, Raymond Chandler, Georges Simenon'5 and Kingsley Amis. Chandler has said: Ian Fleming’s writing is hard, racy, direct, vivid stuff. A form of writing most suitable for translation into strip form. I often wish that I had Ian’s virtues.16

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 21

< Chandler also praised Fleming for his journalistic mind, for his ability to get the background details correct. The plots of the Bond novels may be improbable, but the accuracy and believability of the settings make them seem less so.

Fleming was also a witty, referential writer, who assumed a degree of sophistication on the part of his reader. There are many allusions to literary works, as well as to current events.

Bennett and Woollacott argue that Fleming’s publisher, Jonathan Cape, targeted his books at this knowledgeable “A” reader. This is evident from the jacket designs they commissioned. Such designs constitute one of the primary means whereby literary texts are inserted into available aesthetic and marketing categories . . . The jacket designs for the first hardback editions of the early Bond novels . . . consisted of a collection of objects associated with either espionage or luxurious living, or both, and connoted the category of superior quality, ‘literary’ spy fiction. (pp22-23)

Fascinating and convincing — that is, until one looks at the books.

As one can see, Bennett and Woollacott are incorrect. And, unfortunately, this inaccuracy of analysis (or research) is typical of the book.

Their description of the first Pan paperback editions is just as incorrect (p59).

But whatever one’s view of the cover designs (and I find them rather indeterminately targeted), the early Flemings were well received in the daily press and literary journals. Bennett and Woollacott argue that,

007’S COVER: These first hardback covers don’t exactly match Bennett and Woollacott’s description

Such reviews both addressed and sought to produce a ‘knowing reader’ who, in being familiar with or informed, by the reviewer, of the series of literary and mythic allusions deployed in the novels!,] would be able to read and appreciate them as flirtatious, culturally knowing parodies of the spythriller genre. They thus functioned as ‘critical legitimators’, making the Bond novels permissibly readable in discounting their evident chauvinism, racism and sexism. (p23)

How bizarre to imagine a pool of likely Bond readers out there waiting for a book to get an elephant stamp of cultural approval before they felt free to read and enjoy its morally unsavoury contents. Such a view, I suggest, is not only insupportable but unpleasantly ‘superior’ in tone.

What is clear is that as Bond became more widely discussed his readership broadened and changed. Publication in paperback of Casino Royale (1955) was obviously a major factor, as was the beginning of the novel serialisations in the Daily Express (1957).17 Bennett and Woollacott hypothesise that the Bond

PAPERBACK BOND: The 1985 Pan edition of Casino Royale

readership was by now predominantly lowermiddle class (p25).

Much of Bond’s appeal to this class in Britain, they posit, was the notion of a “ pre­ eminently English [actually Scottish18] hero, single-handedly saving the Western World from threatening catastrophe” (p28). In the 1950s novels, the villain is usually Russian or in the employ of SMERSH. This, Bennett and Woollacott suggest, was because Bond . . . functioned first and foremost, although not exclusively, as a Cold War hero, an exemplary representative of the virtues of Western capitalism triumphing over the evils of Eastern communism. (p25)

But the tone of the 1950s novels is not antiSoviet, nor do they pander to those excited by a potential West-East conflict. That some of the villains are Russian is secondary. They are comic in design and effect, just as are the numerous non-Russian villains in the other books. As Eco writes about From Russia, With Love, the “ Soviet men are so monstrous, so improbably evil that it seems impossible to take them seriously” .'9 A fuller discussion can be found in Romano Calisi’s article, “ Myths and History in the Epic of James Bond” , published in The Bond Affair. He writes: it is evident that the West and the Soviet are used as “ real” pretexts for a universal unhistorical dialectic between Good and Evil. Both one and the other are so little characterised as to compel the reader not to take sides for these as representing Western or Soviet. Unlike a certain sector of “ thriller” American literature, here the “ propagandist” representation of the Soviet (or, rather, of Soviet espionage: and it is an ulterior distinction not to be overlooked) does not annoy anyone. (p78)

In summary, the West-East aspects may have attracted or appealed to some readers. But given the comic tone of the novels and the ways the villains are described20, I seriously doubt that Cold War connotations were a major factor in the books’ popularity.

TH E FILMS As seen above, the Bond cycle of films began with Dr. No in 1962. By comparison with the modest sales of the early novels, the films took off well and have (mostly) continued to be extremely profitable. Premiere (US) reports that the total attendances for the Bond films now exceeds 1.5 billion2', and the films are still to be seen in China and the USSR. An immediate effect of the films’ popularity was the dramatic boost in sales of the Fleming novels22, giving him the wealth and notoriety of which he had dreamed. A more gradual effect was the transformation of his Bond into a new, ever-changing popular hero. In the process, creator and creation became separated.

This separation is mirrored in the changing main titles of the films. They begin with “ Ian Fleming’s’’ overlapping the film’s title (“Dr. No”, etc.). But with the arrival of Roger Moore in the role of Bond (Live And Let Die), the titles change to “Roger Moore as James Bond 007 in Ian Fleming’s . . .” . Later the wording became, “ Roger Moore as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 in . . .” . Fleming has been progressively separated from the title of his novel or short story. And as for the phrase “ James Bond 007” , that is now owned by the producer.

In part, the changing titles reflect the fact that the films no longer follow the plots of the original creations. More important, Fleming is no longer seen as a principal ingredient; he has been pushed into the background. Producers Albert R. Broccoli and, for a while, Harry Saltzman came to call the shots, and Bond only became what they allowed him to be.

An immediate change was to replace much of Bond’s cold-hearted amorality with a lighter, more sardonic style. Partly this was due to Sean Connery, who found Bond rather humourless: Fleming was a terrific guy, quite shy, very intelligent, highly original and most curious. But he had a snobbishness that he wrote into Bond in the novels. It was the lack of humour about himself and his situation which I didn’t like about the character . . . As to Bond the man, one must always use the humanity of his character.23

It is intriguing that Connery should want to change what I suspect many readers liked about the novels: the non-moralistic representation of Bond’s toughness. The books are never hagiographie towards Bond, unlike the films, and that is part of their intrigue.24 The films’ producers also opted for SPECTRE as Bond’s arch enemy, rather than the Soviet SMERSH. Broccoli has said that, in the period of détente in the early 1960s, he wanted to de-nationalise the films’ villain so as to maximise commercially their “legs worldwide” .25 Interestingly, Bennett and Woollacott see Fleming’s exclusive use of SPECTRE, after he

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L IC E N S E D T O C O M M IT H O M IC ID E : S e a n C o n n e ry

had introduced it in Thunderball (1961), as evidence of how the films affected his writing.

That Fleming continued to write to this [SPECTRE] formula is, of course, attributable to the fact that, after the success of the film of Dr No, he wrote with a different public in mind and in anticipation that his novels would ultimately be transformed into films. (p34)

Yet Fleming contradicts this view in an interview with Peter Haining: ^s you know I worked for Reuters in Moscow in the thirties and I became fascinated by the Russian secret police who were everywhere. It was through my interest that I learned about SMERSH [which] had been set up by Stalin to do his dirty work.

They were OK as villains for a while until Khruschev closed them down, but always a bit restricting because being the real thing there was only so far I could go with them in a fictional sense. So I invented SPECTRE to give me the freedom of invention I needed for my more recent novels.

I see no reason not to trust the author on this.

Another change was the introduction of gadgets, enormous sets and high-tech effects, which soon began to crowd the films (the rocket suit at the start of Thunderball, which gives Bond almost no practical advantage, was the precursor of much silliness ahead). Always concerned about audience reaction, Broccoli reacted to the avalanche of complaints about the effects overkill in Moonraker and returned to basics, albeit briefly, with For Your Eyes Only.

However, there is little doubt that the sheer size of the sets and the currency of their designs are an integral part of the films’ success. Production designer Ken Adam is even awarded a separate chapter in the Haining book.26 But while agreeing that Adam’s early sets are excellent (Fort Knox, for example), they became increasingly flimsy in look. And as they became more fantastical in scope they began to move Bond’s world from the comic to the absurd. When Amis complained that the parodying and joking elements of the films

destroyed the real mythic power of the Bond figure as displayed in the books27, it is arguable that the production design should be held accountable as well.

It is interesting, too, that after Moonraker Adam was replaced by Peter Lamont who, with director of photography Alan Hume, contrived a lush, clean look. Where possible, they have used existing buildings and locations (the French stables in A View To A Kill, for example). Their work, and its effect on the transformation on Bond to film, is best seen in For Your Eyes Only.

Casting also had an important effect on how Bond’s world was transformed to film.

Connery is almost everyone’s favourite screen Bond, and he is certainly a more physical and sexual presence than Moore. He is also a much more convincing actor, reaching a seemingly effortless peak in Goldfinger and parts of Thunderball. Connery and his characterisation of Bond became inseparable. This is something poor George Lazenby quite singularly failed to achieve, though he is not helped by the absurd dubbing during his Sir Hilary Bray scenes.

Bennett and Woollacott also see a change in the relationship of Bond and M when put on film, with Bond being increasingly distinguished from and constructed in opposition to the films’ portrayal of M as a fuddy-duddy Establishment figure. (p34)

This, they argue, reflects the freeing up of attitudes in the ‘swinging’ 1960s. But the bantering between Bond and M suggests this “ opposition” is relatively superficial. As well, their relationship is often portrayed sentimentally, as when Bond puts in his resignation in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Miss Moneypenny has the sense to alter it to a request for leave. M looks like a puppy relieved to find his owner isn’t going away after all. The relationship in the book is much tougher.

Finally, there is perhaps the most discussed 'y

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 23

FOOTNOTES 1. Quoted in John Pearson, The Life Of Ian Fleming, Jonathan Cape, London, 1966, p206.

2. Bond is a secret agent, not a spy as many writers claim. See discussion in Kingsley Amis, The James Bond Dossier, Jonathan Cape, London, 1965, pp11-12.

3. Ivar Bryce, You Only Live Once: Memories Of Ian Fleming, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1975, p103.

4. The novels which followed are: Live And Let Die, 1954, Moonraker, 1955, Diamonds Are Forever, 1956, From Russia, With Love, 1957, Dr No, 1958, Goldfinger, 1959, Thunderball, 1961, The Spy Who Loved Me, 1962, On Fler Majesty’s Secret Service, 1963, You Only Live Twice, 1964, The Man With The Golden Gun, 1965; all Jonathan Cape, London. The short story collections are: For Your Eyes Only, 1960, Octopussy And The Living Daylights, 1966; both Jonathan Cape.

5. Mark Amory (Ed.), The Letters Of Anne Fleming, Collins Harvill, London, 1985, p315.

6. Almost all the reviews of and promotional articles on (19) refer to it as the fifteenth Bond film, thus ignoring the two Bond films not produced by Albert R. Broccoli: (1967) and (1983). And then there is the television film of Casino Royale, made by the Columbia Broadcasting Company in 1954. See Peter Haining, James Bond: A Celebration, Planet, London, 1987, pp18-88, for a fascinating account. Barry Nelson played Bond.

7. Robert Markham (pseudonym for Amis), Colonel Sun, 1968; John Gardner, Licence Renewed, 1981, For Special Services, 1982, Icebreaker, 1983, Role Of Honour, 1984, Nobody Lives Forever, 1986, and No Deals, Mr. Bond, 1987; all Jonathan Cape, London.

8. Oreste del Buono & Umberto Eco, The Bond Affair, Macdonald, London, 1966. Originally, II Caso Bond, Casa Ed. Valentino Bompiani, Milan, 1965.

9. Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott, Bond And

The Living Daylights

Royale

B O N D ’ S C R E A T O R : Ian F le m in g (a b o ve ). B u t is it a R o le x O y s te r h e ’s w e a rin g ? B O N D O N B O N D : R o g e r M o o re a n d S e a n C o n n e ry (rig h t). B A R R Y U .S . B O N D : B a rry N e lso n (b e lo w ) a p p e a re d in an A m e ric a n T V v e rs io n o f Casino Royale

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element in the transformation of Bond onto film: his sexuality and his relationship with the ‘Bond girl’. Bennett and Woollacott write: Bond and ‘the Bond girl’ embodied a modernisation of sexuality, representatives of norms of masculinity and femininity that were ‘swinging free’ from the constraints of the past . . .

The image of ‘the Bond girl’ . . . constituted a model of adjustment, a condensation of the attributes of femininity appropriate to the requirements of the new norms of male sexuality represented by Bond (p35)

But before examining the ‘Bond girl’ in some detail (see next issue), it is worth referring here to Bennett and Woollacott’s chapter on the transformation of Goldfinger to the screen28. In examining the results of the process, they compare the film and novel in terms of character, plot and narrative organisation.

Unfortunately, they don’t get off to a good start. On ppl48-l50, they list and discuss the 34 shots of the pre-credits sequence. The problem is there are 74 shots in the sequence.

The first five shots, for example, they reduce to two. It certainly is a new approach to structuralist criticism; one hopes it doesn’t catch on.

Their reading of the action is, as well, often superficial or confused. They write that “ Bond’s sexual attractiveness is registered with a number o f . . . women — with the girl of the pre-credits sequence . . .” (pl58). But the woman (Nadja Reigen) is a villain who is keeping Bond distracted, by kissing him, while an assailant approaches from behind. There is no evidence that she is sexually attracted to Bond.

What the filmmakers have done is make one

24 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

suspect Bond has gone into the dancer’s room with sexual intent (“ unfinished business” , he tells a colleague), only to neatly subvert that expectation when one realises, through watching Bond’s reactions, that she is up to no good. Her being deflected into the path of the blow meant for Bond, therefore, is Bond’s way of rewarding her treachery (and not sheer callousness as Penelope Houston seems to imply29). Bond’s actions in turn force one to re­ interpret that earlier “unfinished business” .

The Bond films may only very rarely be true to a purist’s reading of Fleming, or even reach a similar level of intellectual complexity, but they do have their special pleasures. What they deserve are critics capable of uncovering and responding to their own form of textual richness.

Casino Never Say Never Again

Beyond: The Political Career Of A Popular Hero,

10.

11.

12.

Macmillan Education, Basingstoke, 1987. The book is part of the “ Communications and Culture" series (Executive editors: Stuart Hall and Paul Weston).

Sally Hibbin, The Official James Bond 007 Movie Poster Book, Hamlyn, Twickenham, 1987. The book does not include posters of the two films made without Broccoli's involvement.

Stephen Knight, “ James Bond is the hero of the dollar” , The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 July 1987, p47.

The innumerable inaccuracies range from dates (eg, the authors have Fleming establish Glidrose Prductions in 1964; it was 1957) and production credits (eg, they list Woody Allen as director of to character names and titles.

Worse, they have a habit of reproducing quoted passages incorrectly. In the chapter on Goldfinger, for instance, they make 10 errors in the eight short quotes from the book; in one quote from Amis, they make seven mistakes. The result is that they make fine prose stylists such as Fleming look sloppy. No doubt, some would argue that these ‘slips', while irritating, do not detract from the book’s central sweep. But a central argument must be supported by reliable details, and too many here are wrong.

Cited in Pearson, p304.

Cited in Pearson, p299.

See "The Thriller Business: a verbal exchange between Simenon and Fleming refereed by Frederick Sands” , Sheldon Lane (Ed.), For Bo Lovers Only, Panther, London, 1965, pp115. “ Iced Water and Cool Customers — with Raymond Chandler", interview by Donald Garnery, For Bond Lovers Only.

See Bennett and Woollacott, pp24-8, for a fuller discussion.

Casino Royale)

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18. Bond's father, Andrew Bond, was a Scot; his mother, Monique Delacroix, was Swiss. See On

Her Majesty's Secret Service.

19. Umberto Eco, “ The Narrative Structure in Fleming” , The Bond Affair, p60.

20. See Eco, The Bond Affair, for a fascinating analysis.

21. Premiere (US), July-August 1987, p28.

22. See analysis in Bennett and Woollacott, pp31-32, and the fascinating sales chart on pp26-27.

23. Quoted in Haining, p140-141.

24. As Adrian Turner points out about the only time the film Bond shows human fallibility is when he fails to w oik out how to de-fuse Goldfinger's atomic bomb. See the National Film Theatre programme for January 1980.

25. Cited in The Hollywood Reporter, 31 December 1971, and in Bennett and Woollacott, p34.

26. “ The Wizard of Bond: Ken Adam — Production Designer” , Haining, pp128-134.

27. Amis is quoted in “ The Bond Phenomenon” , Newsweek, 19 April 1965, but the wording used above is taken from Bennett and Woollacott, p144.

28. Chapter 5, “ The Transformations of James Bond” , Bennett and Woollacott, pp143-174.

29. “ Casually he gets her out of the way by flinging her in the path of the villain.” From a public address by Houston and cited in Bennett and Woollacott, p145.

In the next issue, Scott Murray looks at the Bond women

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CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 25

James Clayden’s film, With Time To Kill, takes a journey down the mean often have the strong desire to see a person in their absolute opposite image.

Ju st a flash of visual licence. Like Jo a n Collins in a boiler suit. I would like to see Jam es C layden in a gold lurex suit and white patent leather slip-ons, cruising in a white M ercedes sports.

If there were a general type to which filmmakers conform ed, I would say that Jam es C layden is not your average filmmaker. Actor, thinker, director, painter — C layden’s creativity has been manifested in an experim ental history. I get the feeling he has been searching for the perfect expression and that he will never be satisfied with w hat he turns up — he enjoys the search too m uch to relinquish it.

I spend the first half h our of the interview waiting for him to complete a sentence. J u s t one itsy-bitsy complete quote. But C layden’s talk forms a labyrinth of ideas. N ever pretentious — ju st explorative. Like his films.

After watching his latest film , With Time To Kill, which he wrote, produced, directed and perform ed in, I expect to meet a m ean kind of guy who throws his head back and laughs m aniacally — a sort of Brunswick Street Scorsese.

But Clayden is a gentle m an, a contrast to the visual and atm ospheric anxiety of his semi-spoofy, semi-serious film-noirish thriller. T he punchy weirdness of the film is only hinted at in his m anner. H e does not pum p the air with ideas the way his characters pum p bullets. H e talks as if he is painting abstracts.

In With Time To Kill, Clayden plays Detective M ax C lem ents, the side-kick to L ieutenant Nick Yates — magnetically played by Ian Scott. T h eir mission is to “ rid the town of its hum an garbage’’ and its ring-leader the ‘lau n d ry m an ’ (Peter G reen), an evil-doer referred to as “ the phantom spin-dryer” .

Big on action, short on intellectual debate, the pair wade knee-deep through a town of hoods (Falcon and hum an), back streets and rain: M elbourne.

Film and city share the same fringe celebrities: actors and writers like Barry Dickins, Jo e Dolce, D aniel Keene, Neill Gladwin and Je n n y K em p play a rag-bag of hard-bitten and hard-done-by. In a movie of claustrophobic dim ensions, even the cast list seems an elaborate in-joke. I ask Clayden if all his friends ju st happen to be famous but he assures m e they ju st happen to like w orking with him.

Clayden plays with topography. All the elements of M elbourne are there, but they are out of order. I t’s a bit like playing that kid’s game with a tray of objects.

Somebody takes the tray away and you

I

have to rem em ber what was on it. I watch the film and know the city, but nothing is quite right.

T he West Gate Bridge spans the docks — “ the sort of place you could vanish into another dim ension’’, a character eats chips at the dogs and the Coke sign flickers at dusk. T he journey through slime is tem pered by a peculiarly M elbourne self-mockery. Ian Scott wonders aloud, “ W hat is singer Ja n e t Golding reading . . . probably K afka.”

After a night of slaughter, Detective Yates groans: “ Christ. N ow the su n ’s come out.”

A sense of dislocation is pervasive in C layden’s work. Ian Scott’s Chandleresque stream of consciousness which m anages to both confirm and complicate the seediness is a well-worn device of a well-worn but not yet w orn-out genre.

Yet Clayden creates new effects by balancing a tightrope between objective irony and extravagant celebration of the genre.

T he nostalgic cliches are inverted. T he audience is set up with fam iliar expectations but those expectations are m anipulated, twisted, slapped in the face.

Well-known ‘real life’ personalities play unknow n low-life roles. T here are lots of m urders, but no blood.

T he protagonists shoot their prey the way Paul N ew m an shoots pool in The Hustler, but Scott’s n arration, delivered in a dead-pan m onotone like Sam Spade on valium , creates tragi-com ic weirdness.

I t ’s like w atching an old movie through a prism: Bogart in R aybans w orkshopping how to get back the M altese falcon.

Clayden describes the effect as “ a lightness which is deadly serious” .

H aving multiple deaths but no blood imposes an ironical edge “ about the whole power and psychology of suggestion” . ‘‘Things are tragic one m inute, then

Streets of Melbourne. JO AN NA MURRAY-SMITH goes along for the ride. the character is thinking about the toast burning. T here is a balance operating within a character’s chem istry.”

Clayden is interested in the peculiar weave of the h um an m ind. H is previous films include Corpse (1982), The Ventriloquist {1987) about a traum atised m an who can speak only through his dummy, and the television d ram a The Hour Before M y Brother Dies (1986) based on Daniel K eene’s play.

These are films which, one way or another, deal with the im balances of hum an m inds and the precariousness of hum an life. The Hour, which won the prestigious C anadian B anff aw ard for television d ram a this year, dealt with the final m eeting in jail betw een a brother and sister before the brother is put to death.

Clayden adm ired K een e’s play, but felt

it needed “ a shift in reality’’ to transpose it to the screen. T he claustrophobic intensity was well captured on film and according to Clay den “ perhaps better than in the play” .

By heavily editing the play, and through takes of up to 10 m inutes in length, Clayden caught the highly charged emotion of the dram a. ‘ ‘T he play was very m oving but there is a real strangeness in watching it on stage, as if it’s a twilight zone, not actually in a prison. O n film you feel that the characters physically exist in a world which is never fully realised in the play.’’

In both preoccupation and style, The Hour Before M y Brother Dies is no barrel of laughs. By contrast, With Time To Kill seems almost visually drunk. It is never sloppy, but Clayden clearly relishes the freedom of his own script, his own visual whims.

Filmed in Super 8 (later blown up), the effect is a carefully controlled impression of haphazard m ovem ent and thought.

Clayden com m ents that “ the way things are made has to become part of the style and the feeling” . T he use of Super 8 was ‘‘a deliberate reflection of the psychological implications of the film ” .

As producer, writer, director and actor, Clayden regards taking multiple roles as “ a m ethod of control ’’.

D epending on Laurie M clnnes as director of photography to capture his cinematic intentions, Clayden was determ ined “ to get exactly what I w anted without having to consult anybody” .

H e took a part in the film, initially to

cover for an actor who dropped out of the project, and found the experience illuminating: “ T h e re ’s a feeling of space around you, it’s very strange. Physically being inside the frame is interesting in itself.”

The stylised characterisations in With Time To Kill reflect C layden’s preference for a “ surface type of perform ance’’, which he considers allows you “ to get into people m ore deeply” because an artificial emotionalism does not interfere between the character and the audience.

Although his film is fast and sumptuously sinister, C layden’s films are not celluloid fast-food. Designed for the video m arket and almost certain to be available on the same shelf as Rambo by Christm as, With Time To Kill sits uneasily with commercial schlock.

Clayden declares he has “ no real interest in experimental film m aking’’, but his own wit and complexity seem to get in the way of his commercial pretentions. H e admits that “ some people would see what I do as experim ental’’, but m aintains that his am bition is “ to m ake popular films that might be shown in any cinem a” . “ I haven’t got anything against arthouses, but I want to m ake films for the general public, which d on’t exclude anyone at all.”

But C layden’s own qualifications speak for themselves: ‘‘I ’m still concerned with being visually viable. You have to battle with what you’re doing and why you’re doing it if you have any integrity at all.”

This is probably not a philosophy which dominates the creators of Beverly Hills Cop II. Clayden m ay not w ant to ‘‘exclude anyone at all’’ but the fact is you can’t please all of the cinema-goers all of the time.

It will be interesting to see how Clayden extends his style in the sequel to With Time To Kill, tentatively titled Kill M e Lots. Co-written with Steve Cum m ings and to be shot in 35mm around St Kilda, the sequel will still retain similarly stylised cam era work.

If Clayden continues to explore his own sensibility and give it the visual adrenalin of his latest film, he will not be churning out blockbusters. But he will be m aking waves. M aybe not M alibu waves, but Port Phillip Bay waves or A ustralian waves which say m ore in a small way than could ever be said in a big one.

Looking at the West Gate Bridge through the rain, one of the characters in With Time To Kill reflects: “ I t’s as ifit’s got a life of its own, as ifit’s w aiting for the right m om ent.’ ’ T he same m ight be said of Clayden.

CRUMPLED CRIMEBUSTERS: James Clayden and Ian Scott

Video business is big business. PAUL KALINA takes a close look at the market, marketing and the companies that bring i everything from South Pacific to / Spit Or Your Grave.

STEP INTO any one of the new-style video supermarkets that are sprouting around the place and it’s evident that access to films is only part of the story. Shelves are stacked from top to bottom with hundreds upon hundreds of films in plastic boxes, everything from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Sesame Street, but posters, life-size figures and paraphernalia also abound — anything from severed hands to toys and furry dolls. Some places have drink and food vending machines, candy bars and, ready for it, a model train with television screens set in front of the wooden benches the kids sit on. Some have walls of television monitors reminiscent of The Man Who

P A U L H O G A N : C ro c o f g o ld

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caters to a very broad range of filmgoers’’ preferences — from the Hollywood blockbuster to the ‘art house’ film, from family type viewing to exploitation. In principle and practice Crocodile Dundee shares equal space in video shops with a host of totally different types of film.

Notwithstanding the limitations of small-screen technology and ‘casualties’ such as foreign language films that are usually dubbed rather than subtitled, and the handful of black and white films that have now been ‘coloured-in’ for video release, the underlying tenet of the video industry is that there’s room for almost everything.

Ideally, the marketing swipe begins well before the film hits Fell To Earth. the video store. In the case of Many might immediately a film that had a theatrical recognise this as the outing there will already be heartland of an elaborate some awareness. It is in part marketing campaign — one for this reason that it is better that simultaneously addresses for a film to have played technology, entertainment, cinemas first; there is an lifestyle and community — unfortunate and often and they would not be unwarranted stigma attached wrong. For, ultimately, it to films not considered ‘good’ is the marketing of films enough to be seen on the big in packages that keeps screen. The acquisition of the industry alive, and these rights is a muchclearly some things, coveted pursuit. Whilst often like packaging designs this Is prescribed by ongoing and posters, work contractual agreements — better than others. especially in the case of major Especially, it seems, international film producers — when exploitable and rights are negotiated in the sensational aspects wheeling and dealing of a film can be competitive market place of highlighted in the various international markets dustjacket design, and festivals. even if it is at the It has already been widely expense of accuracy suggested that video has or originality. taken on the role of the driveAccording to the in and suburban cinema as an cover of Dogs In exhibition outlet. Recently, a Space, this is “ the film British industry observer went they tried to have so far as to write: “ Video is banned” . Evil Senses, now the main source of meantime, featured a income for the film industry.” design copied straight from His finding is based on a another film, shamelessly survey by marketing pronouncing its lineage with consultants Touche Ross, that the proclamation “ 91/2 Times places home video presales More Sensuous” ! as the provider of 40 per cent Yet a consequence of this of a ‘‘typical studio produced” business in which the public film budget in the UK, 70 per is prepared to spend millions cent in the US and 30 per of dollars each year is that it cent in the rest of the world.

The survey also reveals that the average film is in US theatrical release for sevenand-a-half months. Within a month it then goes to video worldwide, where it remains available to customers, and earning revenue for its producers, for another seven years.

Video came to Australia less than a decade ago, but we now have one of the highest rates of video penetration in the world. Of Australia’s 5.2 million households, 98.7 per cent have television sets, and between 46 and 53 per cent of television households also have VCRs. There are an estimated 2,800 video libraries, not including convenience and general ‘mixed business’ stores.

Despite a belief that the boom would come to an end, this is the third year that the market has “ levelled out” , according to Tony Wells, managing director of Warner Home Video, who also says that every VCR household rents on average 57 films per year.

So diverse and voracious is this market that about 1000 films are released each year.

Furthermore, there’s an increasing number of these films that will have bypassed the cinema screen to debut on video. In recent times, even films with box-office drawcards — such as Crossroads (Ralph Macchio),

As well, there’s the score of films made specifically for the video and television market.

The hard-core of this tradition is the exploitation film, a market which Charles Band saw for such cult/trash films as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and / Spit On Your Grave when he established Media Home Entertainment in 1979. Many of the films now produced and financed by Band’s Empire Films, like

Troll, Eliminators, Crawlspace

and TerrorVision have primarily been video releases, as have the Dario Argentoproduced horror films Demons and World Of Horror. In America, Lorimar has been steadily producing well-crafted telefeatures such as Blood

Under The Cherry Moon

(Prince), Love Letters (Jamie Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach and Amy Madigan) and Dream Lover (Kristy McNichol under the direction of Alan Pakula) — have all gone straight to video release (Crossroads had played briefly in an Adelaide cinema). While this decision to bypass the cinema circuit may be partly based on poor overseas box-office and unfavourable audience reaction, video is also providing a venue for independent distributors who ordinarily might have problems booking films into cinemas. Interestingly, there’s also been a couple of films that have defied the normal practice of being released on video after playing the cinemas. Video patrons have been hip to Pee Wee's Big Adventure long before cinemagoers.

PRINCE: Cherry bomb

And Orchids and Second Serve (based on the life of

tennis player and transsexual Renee Richards). These are designed for both TV and video, but available in Australia on video first.

Similarly, many of the British Film Four productions that were originally intended for both cinema and television release are locally available on video, and, ironically, might yet escape their intended exhibition avenues.

The distributors are geared toward monthly release packages. Invariably, a ‘headline’ title will be accompanied by anywhere from three to 10 other films.

Whilst the headline film is generally drawn from the

mainstream, it is not uncommon to find elsewhere in the package films that will have the cineaste and buff salivating. If you’ve wanted to know what’s happened to Penelope Spheeris’ The Boys Next Door (aka No Apparent Motive), Martha Coolidge’s The City Girl, two 1984 Larry Cohen films Special Effects and Blind Alley, or Richard Marquand’s Until September, the answer is they’ve sneaked into video shops.

The distributors are also cautiously exploring the numerous possibilities of video sell-through. They envisage that the public will buy and collect recorded videos if they are priced accordingly, as is done with books, records and CDs. The films available on sell-through are priced between $20 and $40. One company at the fore of sell-through, CEL, has released some of its collection of MGM films, whilst Warner has just made a number of films from the 1940s and 1950s available. Roadshow’s foray into collectibles has included films of such recent vintage as The Terminator and Mad Max, as well as Chaplin films such as Modern Times and The Great Dictator.

According to Joanna Simpson, chief executive of the Video Industry Distributors’ Association, the industry is currently “ alive and well” . The association is closely monitoring a Joint Parliamentary Select Committee that is, among other things, looking at video censorship. It is widely believed the committee could recommend tougher restrictions on violence.

Censorship is an issue of some concern to the industry.

Following the debacle of 1984 — when a backlash against the voluntary system of self­ censorship forced the Government to introduce a system of compulsory censorship — the industry, according to Simpson, “ abides by the current law and is very conscious of acting responsibly” . She says that the association wants to see the present system and level of censorship maintained, as well as national uniformity. Though all the states have handed their jurisdiction to the >

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 29

Commonwealth Film Censorship Board, the Queensland censorship board still reviews the material it receives, and has had films such as Hail, Mary, Silent Night, Deadly Night and the trash/horror film Igor And The Lunatics banned from the state.

The association has undertaken a campaign aimed at telling the public that it must take responsibility for censorship. According to Simpson, censorship classifications should only serve as a guide. She believes that the industry has received a lot of flak from various media campaigns, in which it has been alleged that video is exposing children to unsuitable material. She is sceptical about the unquantified, yet oft-quoted, instances of children watching such material ‘at a friend’s place’, and aware that such claims have been used previously as catch phrases of lobby groups.

Whilst there is no doubt about video’s unique capacity to offer the public affordable access to the widest possible range of films, the comments of Jonathan Rosenbaum in Sight & Sound are helpful in determining just what ought to be made of the phenomenon. “ And we stockpile films on cassette the way that countries stockpile weapons or computers stockpile information, what does this do to the word-of-mouth communication we associate with public forms like theatre and cinema? The unique capacity of video is to make the work mortal and immortal at the same time, a form of survival through mutation — or death through embalmment.”

WHO’S WHO IN THE VIDEO — a g u id e to the CBS-Fox Video

CIC-Taft

CIC is the worldwide marketing CBS-Fox Video is a joint arm of Paramount Pictures and international venture between MCA/Universal Studios. CIC20th Century Fox Film Taft Video is a joint venture Corporation and CBS. It has exclusive rights to 20th Century between CIC, the James Hardie Group and Taft Fox films, CBS Productions, Broadcasting of the US. The and also acquires product company continues to release through Tristar, Lucas, many a Paramount Medusa, Manson and several blockbuster, such as the overseas and local Beverly Hills Cop films, Top independent distributors. The Gun, Witness and the Indiana company has also taken on Jones films. distribution for the current De CIC-Taft is not involved in Laurentiis entertainment sell-through though “ this venture. market is being constantly Among locally-produced evaluated’’. films CBS-Fox distributes the Winners series and has acquired the two new series Crystal Screen from the Australian Children’s Entertainment Television Foundation, Over the past 18 months a Kaboodle and Touch The Sun. turnstile of owners has passed As a result of the deal that through the doors of Crystal gave 20th Century Fox foreign Screen Entertainment, which theatrical rights to Crocodile was originally known as Thorn Dundee, excluding the North EMI Screen Entertainment. The American rights held by company was bought last year Paramount Pictures, the

by Alan Bond, who sold it after company has just released the only a few weeks to the film, speculating that it might Cannon Group, reportedly become the most profitable pocketing £50 million profit for video release in Australia yet. the brief affair. Cannon, it is generally believed, was far CEL more interested in the CEL distributes films theatrically purchase of Elstree Studios and to video and has diverse and British cinema screens interests in tape duplication than in the video company it (The Duplication Centre), film had also acquired down under. and video production and post­ Around the middle of 1987, production (Video Channel, Cannon sold the company, VTC). Last year, the company which by that stage had no acquired NZ News which product to release, as Cannon includes Vid-Com, New had sold off part of its Zealand’s largest commercial catalogue to relieve its growing post-production facility. financial woes.

CEL is a company at the fore With an eye to ongoing of sell-through, much of which distribution contracts, the is sourced from its catalogue of company now releases a MGM films, to which it has variety of product from New exclusive rights. It has an ‘all World Pictures, ABC Motion rights’ distribution agreement Pictures, Empire Studios and is with Britain’s Handmade Films very interested in independent (Shanghai Surprise, Withnail local and New Zealand & /) and distributes new productions. releases of MGM/UA

(Poltergeist 2, Running Scared), Embassy releases and Palace

a number of films stemming from Britain’s Zenith, whose productions include

Insignificance, Prick Up Your Ears, Slam Dance and Sid And Nancy.

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Palace Home Video is owned

by Tony Zeccola, who also runs AZ Film Distributors. The company releases independent productions, including actionoriented films (Rage Of

Honour, The Retaliator), horror (Demons, Silent Night, Deadly Night) and genuine 'sleepers’ such as Can She Bake A Cherry Pie?, A Flash Of Green and The Brother From Another Planet. Palace also films

has an extensive collection of early Merchant/lvory films and owns the Australian and New Zealand licence to Playboy Video.

RCA-Columbia-Hoyts RCA-Columbia Pictures-Hoyts Video probably has the longest release schedule, and certainly the longest name, in the Australian video industry. It releases product of Columbia Pictures, Hoyts Distribution and, as from the beginning of 1988, Tri-Star, Orion, New Line, Cannon and other independents. According to the company, this represents 30 per cent of the total output of the Hollywood studios.

The company is deeply committed to its ‘Silver Screen’ collection which includes many films from the Columbia library.

It is also involved in sellthrough, as well as music video.

Seven Keys Now owned by the Parry Corporation, Seven Keys releases films theatrically and to video. It releases independent films, as well as most Kings Road and Samuel Goldwyn films.

On the forthcoming schedule is The Big Easy, the Jim McBride directed New Orleans cop film with Dennis Quaid, and Ellen Barkin, and the controversial Prayer For The Dying with Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins and Alan Bates.

Roadshow Roadshow Home Video is a division of the Village Roadshow Corporation, and operates under three main labels: Roadshow, Premiere and Walt Disney/Touchstone.

The group release a diverse range of films drawn from Disney, Touchstone, Lorimar, New World, Goldcrest and

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numerous independents.

The Premiere arm releases two films each month, often ones that are considered to need ‘specialised’ handling, such as Paris, Texas, Blood Simple, Smooth Talk and Letter To Brezhnev. The company is very active in sell-through in the areas of feature film, ‘how­ to’ tapes, cartoon compilations and the ever-popular Jane Fonda Workout tapes.

Vestron A variety of independent product — covering the action, horror, drama, children’s and music genres — is handled by Vestron Video, a division of Vestron Video Inc. which operates offices in 13 countries and is actively involved in film production in the US. Amongst the company’s most successful films are sleepers such as Re-

Animator, To Live And Die In L.A., as well as The Company Of Wolves, Teen Wolf and Conan The Destroyer.

Vestron has entered an agreement to distribute Filmpac product, which includes a number of locally-made films such as Kangaroo, High Tide and Slate, Wyn & Me.

Warner Warner Home Video distributes on video Warner, UA and some Cannon films.

Theatrically, the Warner Bros films are released through Village Roadshow. Over the next months and possibly years, Warner will release The

Living Daylights, The Witches Of Eastwick, Empire Of The Sun (Steven Spielberg), Lethal Weapon, Full Metal Jacket and Hanoi Hilton.

The company has just released a number of Warner films from the 1940s and 50s to sell-through, about which the company is “ cautiously optimistic” .

In the past, Police Academy 1 and 2, Rocky IV, Cobra and Gremlins have provided the company's most successful titles.

CREEPSHOW 2: The Great Savini at work

To keep up with the bulk and diversity of films released onto the video market — some 1000 films are released each year — P A U L K A L IN A selects a few films that have just arrived in video libraries, and that are likely to be overshadowed on the shelves behind such better known newcomers as Stand By

M e, R uthless P eople, S id A n d Nancy, M alcolm , S om ething W ild, C ro cod ile D undee, ’R ound M id n ig h t, C rim es O f The H eart, The Nam e O f The Rose and many, many more . . .

For much the same reason that it’s nice to have one’s favourite books lining the shelves — and to not have to break into the library at midnight to check what so-and-so said — it is now possible to start your own video collection. At prices designed to make them collectibles (from $24.95 to $39.95), you can now add to the booty American films of the 1940s and 1950s, such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, A Star Is Born . (restored), Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder, 42nd Street, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Grand Hotel, Intermezzo, Babes In Arms and Vincente Minnelli’s The Band Wagon. Of a more recent vintage there’s The Pink Panther, The Naked Civil Servant and Santa

Claus The Movie.

TOM SAVINI needs no introduction for aficionados of contemporary horror films or readers of Fangoria, a magazine devoted to cinematic violence and gore.

Hailed in Variety for “ trailblazing in low-budget mayhem” , Savini’s special effects and make-up work has been distinguished by being banned from Australian video releases. The scalping scene from Maniac and the flesh­ eating zombies in Day Of The Dead, for example, did not escape the censor’s scissors.

Both the man and his art can be sampled in new releases Creepshow 2 and Schizo. He did the special effects and also stars, appropriately, as The Creep in Creepshow 2, the sequel to the 1982 Creepshow, which was devised by George Romero as a homage to 1950s E.C. Comics. This second instalment is directed

by Michael Gornick from stories by Stephen King, who also appears in the film as The Truck-driver.

Schizo, written and directed

by Romano Scavolini, showcases Savini’s special effects in a gore-fest that begins with a graphic nightmare of the axe-murders of a love-making couple.

Before we get to see the remake of Back To The Beach, which has been released in cinemas in America, take a trip back to the Pepsodent smiles of perennial nerds Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman with ‘king of the Bs’ director Norman Taurog in three milestones of 1960s youth culture: How To Stuff A Wild

Bikini, Dr Goldfoot & The Bikini Machine and Sergeant Deadhead.

See where it all began; in the laboratory of Dr Goldfoot (Vincent Price), who invents blond-haired beauty queens dressed in gold bikinis to lure the wealthy magnates he learned about in a financial magazine. Alas, his reincarnated drop-kick assistant Igor mistakenly produces a leather clad, female judo expert.

In the sixth outing of the Beach Party Gang, How To Stuff A Wild Bikini, Frankie is joined by Annette Funicello, Mickey Rooney and a mystery girl who turns out to be a manifestation of a witch >

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 31

doctor played by Buster Keaton. By this stage of his career he was sadly relegated to movies like this and

Sergeant Deadhead.

Playwright and scriptwriter David Hare’s directorial debut Wetherby (which had limited theatrical exposure) is a complex and elliptical narrative. It hinges on the bizarre and cruel act of a lugubrious stranger, who inexplicably commits suicide

in the cottage of a reposed school teacher, Jean Travers (Vanessa Redgrave). In solving the mystery of John Morgan’s suicide, the film plots key moments of Travers’ life — her love affair decades earlier with a World War II pilot, her relationship with her students, her friendship with her peers — which are interspersed with their brief and ambiguous encounter.

Typical of Hare’s work, the

narrative serves as a vivid illustration of the woes of contemporary Britain, a gloomy vision of unemployment and middleclass apathy. Hare’s direction elicits some excellent performances from the cast, which includes Joely Richardson, the real-life daughter of Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, whose role as the young Jean Travers is haunting and mesmeric.

The Australian production Initiation seems to have bypassed the theatrical circuit to debut on video. This light­ weight adventure film centres on an American teenager (Rodney Harvey) who comes to Australia to visit his estranged father (Bruno Lawrence) and then embarks on a series of adventures that a local Aborigine, Kulu (Bobby Smith), predicts will have fatal consequences. From the contrived storylines, one­ dimensional characterisations and flat dialogue to the cutaway shots of wildlife and spectacular landscapes, there is little to allay the suspicion that the film was callously designed to reach the socalled ‘international audience’.

But who knows, maybe they’ll love it in Texas?

Another locally-made film due to hit video stores is Slate, Wyn & Me, which recently enjoyed a brief theatrical outing. It features Simon Burke, Martin Sacks and Sigrid Thornton under the direction of Don McLennan (who also did the screenplay adaptation) and was reviewed in the last issue of Cinema

Papers.

EMPIRE STATE: Elizabeth Hickling

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If you subscribe to the view posited in a recent Cinema Papers review that there are three kinds of movies, the Dreadful, the Fun and the Interesting, Empire State would sit quite comfortably in the latter category. This recent British offering (co­ produced by Film Four International and hitherto unreleased in this country) is a contemporary thriller set in the sleazy and corrupt docklands of London’s Eastend.

Described in Monthly Film Bulletin as “ Not so much a side swipe at Thatcher’s Britain as a last-gasp lunge at the throat” , it presents a group of nervous and troubled

ciphers — the hapless journalist, the opportunistic ‘rent boy’, the heartless yuppies, the shrewd American property developer — caught in the whirlwind of a plan to gentrify the depressed, though valuable, docklands. From its classic 1940s film noir opening to its dizzy climax, its episodic, sporadic denouements hover, before being submerged in the sequences inside the Empire State. This stylish, neon-lit nightclub, where the local oldtime wheeler-dealer bets with the fledgling yuppy his every possession in a no-holdsbarred slug-fest, boasts a vivid mural of the Manhattan skyline which seems to contain every metaphor the film strives for.

When it comes to compiling a bibliography of films about the world of newspapers, the 1942 Joseph Mankiewicz production Woman Of The Year should not be over­ looked. Set in that ‘dark age’ of journalism, only three years after Cary Grant declared to Rosalind Russell, “ You’re a newspaper man, Hildy” in His

Girl Friday, Woman Of The Year cast Katharine Hepburn

as a savvy, politically-aware international columnist and Spencer Tracy as a happily myopic sportswriter, who are forced to question their expectations of each other and their careers after they marry.

George Stevens’ measured, restrained direction is a boon to Hepburn’s incandescent performance. Ironically, given that this was the first film to team Hepburn and Tracy, the script by Ring Lardner Jr and Michael Kanin digs deeply into the couple’s emotional rifts with, in the case of a sub­ plot involving a refugee child, somewhat tragic resonances.

THROW AWAY your hockey masks! Sell your chain saws!

A new chapter of the horror genre has begun. Street Trash, billed as the ultimate and only melt movie, has arrived in our video outlets.

For the past year the film has not been able to find wide cinematic release in the United States. It doesn’t fall into any particular horror film category. Pubescent teenagers’ bodies are not violated by sharp objects; the dead do not walk the earth; people just melt. Set in the ugly environment of Lower Manhattan’s derelict slums, the film depicts a group of winos, bums, and other assorted “ street trash” . A local liquor store owner discovers a case of 60-yearold “ Viper” , and decides to make a quick buck.

In the first few minutes of the film the consequences of drinking “ Viper” become obvious as an unsuspecting wino dissolves noisily down a toilet. All that remains of him is a slime-covered bony hand hanging onto the toilet chain.

A pathetic symbol of one man’s struggles against circumstance? No, just an example of the delightfully low-brow humour in this low budget horror epic.

The lives of these “ street trash” are further threatened

by Bronson (Vic Noto), a psychotic Vietnam veteran and overlord of the local junkyard where they all live.

He is more than just a parody of Rambo, he is the quintessential warrior: homicidal and pea-brained.

He carries a knife carved from a human femur, a trick he picked up back in ’Nam. He dreams of Viet Cong vampires eating him alive, not of rescuing MIAs. While other winos stop passing motorists to wash their windscreens, Bronson stops passing motorists to smash their heads through their windscreens.

Freddie (Mike Lackey) is probably the film’s good guy, if a filthy, wise-ass, no-hoper can be a good guy. He shares an old car in the junkyard with his innocent younger brother Kevin (Mike Sferrazza). They blame their lot on their father, who was of course never quite the same since returning from Vietnam. This idea of the Vietnam war being somehow

The Wizard Of O z , The Incredible Melting Man

and Raiders Of The Lost Ark have dabbled in it — only Street Trash has dared to go the whole way. PAUL ASLANIS looks ait the latest in the cult video genre — the melt movie. responsible for the pathological behaviour of virtually a whole generation is seen again in the character of Bill (Bill Chepil), a Vietnam vet policeman.

Bill is a tough cop sent to investigate the growing number of strange melting deaths. In one scene, after beating a Mafia hit man into unconsciousness, he further humiliates his opponent by throwing up on him. A cruel but fair man, in the great tradition of Eastwood.

In addition to this trashy plot is a teen romance, a Mafia restaurateur, a perverted junkyard owner and his perverted dog, and possibly the silliest scene ever filmed, as Bronson in a light­ hearted moment castrates a bit player. Something for everyone.

The special effects by Jennifer Aspinall (of Toxic Avenger fame) are spectacular. Combined with Jim Muro’s imaginative direction, and a script which largely consists of a relentless barrage of expletives, Street Trash should become the next cult horror classic.

But perhaps “ horror” is an inadequate classification of

Street Trash.

The characters are horrible, not horrifying, as are their messy deaths. This is what distinguishes Street Trash from all other horror films.

For the past 10 years, horror films have followed tiresome formulas which, for the most part have ensured their enormous success.

Firstly there are the “ Slasher” films. Friday The 13th (now part 6), and A Nightmare On Elm Street (now part 3) are two recent examples of the dozens of films of this type available on video. The best of these attempt to recreate the tension and terror from the legendary shower scene in Psycho. Most fail to rise above a level of misogyny at its most brutal. But the victims in Street Trash are not vulnerable teenagers or terrified families: they are wretched, forgettable, and

therefore disposable.

Watching them melt does not make you squirm or wince — it makes you say “ yeuch” .

Secondly, there have been films of the alien/zombie variety, such as Evil Dead, Reanimator, etc. All of these films rely heavily on their special effects to revolt, and therefore entertain the audience. Gallons of blood, decapitations, and disembowelments are the real stars of these films.

Xenophobic, reprehensible, and just plain stupid, zombie/alien films have glorified the mutilation of the human form in every conceivable manner. Street Trash, however, offers little in realism as far as melting is concerned: anatomical reality has been disregarded in favour of abstract expressionism in latex.

Reworkings of old themes make up the bulk of the rest of the horror genre. Vampires, demons, werewolves and malevolent spirits abound.

Some new special effects, but the same old story of good versus evil in one form or another. No such eternal conflict exists in Street Trash — only scum versus scum in the moral vacuum of this nauseating extravaganza. It is a unique exploitation film, hilariously trashy and original.

STREET TRASH: Melting moments

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 33

Congratulations Gazellehead “ Who's interested in 'conventional' cinema these days? Everyone seems so obsessed with the limit cases' of classical mainstream cinema, the striking subversions, the mind-boggling mutations."’

It would be foolish to think that another 'essay' on Super 8 would suffice to unravel the Infinite mutations Super 8 films present.

Such an approach has made it impossible for worthwhile critical work to emerge: after years of talk, the variously posited 'genres' have never stuck around beyond the end of individual reviews, leaving each new writer as bogged down in 'hyper-eclectic' mess as the one before.

Instead, we take our cue from two recent articles by Ross Harley,2 both advocating a kind of return to more conventional, although not conservative, notions of film criticism, ones that take into account "particular films and their relation to the histories of their form ", and the current, very tangible, forces which inform such criticism — cinephilia, popular culture, obsessions with the personal. We want to make it clear that we intend to steer away from the 'post modernist' artisan stance and unashamedly devote ourselves to a completely purist approach, one which embraces, modestly we hope, an auteurist line3 in order to demystify the secrets of narrative film, and expose and trace such old-fashioned virtues as originality, authorship and cinematic tradition.

This seems a good strategy now, as Super 8's ongoing strength is

34 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

largely due to the proliferation of auteurist filmmakers, and at least half of the Australian films in this festival were from established or emerging Super 8 auteurs.

The films of Bill Mousoulis are, for many of his critics, a little too local — suburban, very conscious about their social commentary, their 'stars' excessively ordinary people who lead routine, banal lives totally based around the idea of the family home — and not particularly dynamic on a socio­ cultural level. In other words there are no hybrids at work here which may place the films in the Lynch basket. Faith, his latest and to date his best, is the last in a trilogy (following Back To Nature — about adolescent dreaming; and Physical World — about young romance) which thematically fablises what you could call ordinary experience — love, memory, destiny and its metaphysical counterparts in the 'external' world. Faith more or less follows logically as a very 'straight' story about family, marriage and responsibility, but there is no sure­ fire way of defining the characters' relationships by the narrative which the film sets up. Instead, Faith could be read by its gestures, glances and slight shifts in positioning, not to mention its eloquent ellipses in time — the couple together in front of the TV, the wife later alone on the same couch. The film manages to maintain this in typical Mousoulis style, with an almost complete absence of dialogue. The

characters, in the style of true Bressonian tragedy, follow pre­ ordained destinies, actions and responses, but their divine path is not marked out so clearly, and every mundane activity — baking cakes, watching TV, going to work, caring for the baby — defines a wider view, that life revolves around futile, small things which accumulate, eventually implode and produce change. Like AnneMarie Mieville's short Faire La Fete (screened at the Sydney and Melbourne film festivals), Faith is part of this very small cinema of eternal digression. Mieville's film too hinges on a superlative play of emotive gestures, schizophrenic moments of happiness, sorrow, maternalism, childlikeness, which shift precisely as action rises and falls. In Mieville's film, a woman stands at a window watching a parade, but her eyes rest on a young migrant child and his mother in the window of a flat across the street. She is pulled inside by her lover, who persists in his demands for a child to fulfil their relationship. Ironically, but not illogically, she resists. The same polarity of desire exists in Faith ; between that which we externalise as the ideal and that which, through human frailty and social obligation, makes us prisoner of our own personal obsessions.

Another film that puts itself out on a limb in its precarious narrative concerns is Nobody's Home, by Denise Lloyd and Richard Pedriau.

In this episodic narrative, three homeless teenagers are united by a mutual loss or rejection of immediate family and a general disillusionment with life. They form a family unit of their own which is ultimately broken down by outside forces. Using some beautifully emotive close-ups of the characters' faces, the film follows the group through back alleys and squats in their search for 'a better place'. Particularly poignant is a long scene on a wintry beach where, to the tune of the Eurogliders' Heaven (in any other film you'd laugh), the three frolic in a very temporary, joyful freedom. It is a short-lived happiness, however, as one of the characters is subsequently arrested for car theft, and the other two finally just wander away down a lane. Despite a few rough edges,

Nobody's Home

is extremely engaging in its honesty and simplicity. Based on the real life experiences of its writer/codirector, it has an authenticity in script and performance that is rarely achieved in Super 8 narratives.

We doubt if anyone working in Super 8 or otherwise could match the ingenuity of Chris W indmill's Congratulations Gazellehead. Once again, a straight subject, ordinary people (girls working in a suburban fashion boutique) and technically no tricks with story or representations — everything is perfectly believable. However, suddenly and fairly magically (supernaturally speaking) very strange things happen. A woman spends all day in the dressing room continually changing outfits and doing the 'dead ant dance' of high school fame — lie on your back and wriggle your arms and legs in the air. The boutique girls become rather unnerved — one wets her pants and goes blind in one eye.

Gazellehead (our heroine) then rings her boyfriend 'Foxhead' (whose only concern is for the beach and his mates) for help. It's eventually revealed that the woman in the dressing room is a cook to an aristocratic lady, who often goes on spending sprees at her employer's expense. In the end

Auto-portrait

RILEY look at the work pres? ited at the Melbourne Super 8 Festival. all is resolved. But schematically nothing is really resolved, rather the film leaps head first into extremities in which there is little rhyme or reason — the terms surreal and absurd do no justice to the sophistication of W indmill's style. (And this is not the wildest of his films: that honour is reserved for Mystery Love, in which a woman who lives in a toilet block falls in love with the man next door, who turns out to be the Pope.) The dialogue too contorts itself in and out of various well known dramatic moulds —

Prisoner, Neighbours, The Young Doctors are all at home here in his

!:

scenarios.

To return to a more generic line, connections with avant-garde film traditions (structuralism in particular), could be seen in many of the films. The Super 8 descendants of this type of work have in most cases discarded the earlier purism and reactive political connotations of 'avant-garde' to become immersed in aesthetics, and the evocation of subjective moods and feelings. Whilst Joanne Hampton's Cold , Green, Black, for instance, consists almost entirely of re-filmed images, the emphasis on the film's grain and flicker seems here to have more to do with evoking a womb-like state of memory than exposing the medium's materiality. Similarly in Le Corps Image, Stephen Cummins has re-filmed images projected onto the naked bodies of dancers.

Whilst the film is very aware of its formal properties, its prime effect would seem to be an intoxicating celebration of sensuality: the sensuality of flesh, of light, and of film itself.

Another avant-garde genre that goes back (at least) to the sixties in Australia is the diary film. This type of autobiographical work has been enjoying something of a comeback recently among some of the older 16mm avant-gardists — In This Life's Body by Corinne Cantrill, David Perry's Love And Work, and Dirk De Bruyn's nearly completed Homecomings are examples.

Super 8's home-movie history gives it a special relationship to this type of work, and some of the best films in the festival were of this genre.

In Fiona Trigg's Robin's Mouth, a strange case of mistaken identity prompts the filmmaker to re­

examine a particular period in her past and make comparisons and contrasts with her current situation.

The soul-searching comes to an abrupt halt, however, when she realises her mistake and, feeling foolish, abandons her new obsessions to return to a prior preoccupation — observing the household insects. Although the film refers lightly to the illusory nature of memory and perception, its most interesting aspect is its refreshingly quirky obsession with incidents that (not unlike the movements of insects), seem to have no important significance, but which make up a good part of the fabric of life.

Auto-Portrait by Simon Cooper is another film through which its maker attempts to construct a personal history. Displaying a parallel concern with ways of creating stories and meaning, the film moves along a variety of lines from formal narrative through 'straight' autobiography (old stills, bits of old films) to the antiaesthetic realism of the filmmaker's visions of the surrounding landscape. Its approach to autobiography is deliberately openended. As the quote in its synopsis says, "Time . . . w on't take you anywhere. You have to get a map and search." Showing little faith in the power or 'truth' of overly determined 'original' images, this filmmaker goes with footage he has accumulated randomly (fatefully?) over time, looking for meaning after the filming rather than before, and attempting to allow the film to create its own portrait of him.

This is not the comprehensive overview we might have arrived at using another approach. We've had to pass over a lot of work we would have liked to talk about. But for the sake of more considered views of individual films and filmmakers, that will all just have to wait for another time and place, another festival.

FOOTNOTES 1. Adrian Martin, “ The Legend of Billy Jean” , Filmnews, August 1987.

2. “ The Write Stuff", Cinema Papers, September 1987 and “ Fine Young Cannibals and Others” , Filmnews, May 1987.

3. Simon Cooper also recently posited Super 8 as an auteurist medium in his review of “ Gulfstream" (the Super 8 program at the Sydney Film Festival), published in FUmviews, Spring 1987.

Le Corps Image CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 35

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aym ond D urgnat m akes distinct four main stream s of screen acting in his E ros In The Cinem a: the expressionistic, the theatrical, the realistic, and the persona style — or, w h a t he also term s the “ strictly Brand X ”. We do not really need to hazard too m uch of a guess to claim M adonna as Brand X m aterial. But having said this, I feel w e m ay be ca ug h t in som e sort of double dilem m a. On the one hand, in the face of M adonna’s m ost recent screen appearances, th e re ’s the vague and desperate feeling that som ething has been closed off. On the other hand, w e m ay well ask, does it not seem presum ptuous to attem pt an appraisal of M adonna’s screen presence on the strength (or w eakness) of only three com m ercial films?

M aybe not. A t this point, I am rem inded of Ja m e s Dean, who acquired the X quality only after his death and in the space of tw o films or less. Brand X appears to be that som ething w hich grabs the public’s attention regardless of output. And yet w e canno t claim the benefit of hindsight for M adonna as w e could for Dean; understanding as w ell that the m ystique that is Dean w ould probably not loom so large w e re it not for an early death.

Th e re are tw o things to consider here. Th e first is som e definition of the anonym ity, X. Elsew here, Durgnat, along w ith Jo h n K obal, elaborates on the peculiar X quality as “ alw ays som e flashpoint of em otional affinity, som e resonance w ith the longings and experience of the audience”. Like Roberta’s penchant for the w ord “desperate” in D esp era te ly Seeking Susan, I’ve taken a liking to the w ord “flashpoint”. It m eans that a m ere gesture, a close-up, a line delivered in a peculiar m anner — in no m ore than a few seconds of screen tim e — is all that is necessary for an avalanche of em otions to overw helm a spectator, and it’s an experience w hich will persist after the fact. T h e second thing to consider is that M adonna is a figure w hose creation and w hose artistic province is not one set out

S he’s been a hustler, a m issionary and now, in Who's That Girl?, she’s a dizzy blonde w ho’s done time for a m urder she d id n ’t commit. RAFFAELE CAPUTO looks at M adonna’s screen career.

¿ exclusively w ithin a given num ber of films, t h e significance of the latter is not to be taken lightly: the extent to w hich it is understood will determ ine the succe ss or failure of her screen appearances.

Let us rew ind to som ew here in 1986. Essentially, it’s w ha t I see as more or less the m id -w a y point betw een her ascension to fam e (the Boy To y period) and the place w here she is situated to day (the classic, m ature w om an). In recapping, it can be characterised as the calm after the storm . T h e w hirlw ind of publicity which m et her m arriage to Sean Penn — w hich included reports of Penn’s attacks on the press and the m uch sensationalised nude pics in Penthouse and P la y b o y — had abated som ew hat. Her second feature, Shanghai Surprise, w ith Penn alongside, w as to prove m ore of a thud than the anticipated thunderstorm . But the release of a new album , Tru e Blue, w as pre­ em inent. And w ith it som ething happened.

Earlier in the year, taking her m arriage as a crucial m arker, the words “ M adonna Louise Veronica C iccone entered a n e w phase of life this sum m er”, opened the introduction to Harry Dean Stan to n ’s interview for Interview. I m ention this only because it anticipates som ething, w hich is now, but w hich also goes w ith the old Madonna. Th e re ’s certainly som ething indeterm inate about Stanton’s interview ; the phase isn’t com plete.

By Ju n e , how ever, Rolling Stone carried M adonna on the co ve r w ith the headline, “T h e N e w M adonna”, and not only does it announce som ething new, it show s som ething new. Gone are the long w a ve s of hair, the unm istakable crucifixes, the glitter of bracelets, belts and chains, the Boy To y a ccou tre m e n ts, and w ith them supposedly had gone the virgin/whore label that has beco m e her epitaph. No doubt, th e re ’s a new femininity discovered. Soon after, Vanity Fa ir celebrates the sam e w ith “ Lady M adonna: A C ha n g e of Face ”.

What separates the old from the new M adonna is that the old draw s

m ore to w ard w hat w e could call a significance of selling and buying the ‘philosophy’ than anything else; w hile jacket on the grounds that it belongs the new is m ore of a look, com parable to som eone fam ous, Elvis or Jim to that of the classic m ovie idol. Her Hendrix), and eventually becom ing beauty and her physique have becom e her. central to w ho M adonna is. She has W hat’s w rong w ith W ho’s Th a t G irl? been com pared to the likes of M onroe, It’s obvious that W ho’s Th a t G irl? is Carole Lom bard and G race Kelly, and posing a question to do as m uch w ith only lately to Katharine H epburn. If Madonna as it had to do w ith her the latter com parison seem s w eird, it character, Nikki Finn. We can cloak is also easily understandable given her character in sim ilar te rm s to that Shanghai Surprise has been those of Susan — streetw ise but noted for its sim ilarity to The African adorable, rebellious but w ith good Queen, w hile her latest film, W ho’s intentions. A m erica n Film describes Th a t Girl?, is a sour rem ake of her character sim ply as, “ Nikki’s bad, Bringing U p Baby. but not that bad”. No doubt, w e are But it’s around this point that a back w ith the good/bad girl, problem arises as regards her virgin/whore label. T h e problem w ith persona in relation to films w hich Who’s Th a t G irl? is that it’s not follow D esperately Seeking Susan, for dealing w ith M adonna as X m aterial, this concern w ith her beauty and her but w ith Madonna as a type w hich physique is one w hich is at variance doesn’t resonate anyw here else. A t w ith her later film s. A s Leo Braudry tw o rem oves from D esperately (quoted by Richard Dyer in Stars) Seeking Susan, it’s constantly points out: “W ithout an aw areness of replaying the notion of the good/bad the aesthetic w eight of a film sta r’s girl type; it’s overcalculated and it’s accum ulated im age, a director can replaying M adonna as a caricature of easily m ake m istakes that destroy the Madonna, w hich w orks to w a sh aw ay unity of his film.” Braudry could easily the instances of the X personality, and have been m aking this point w ith leave very little for the im agination. .

W ho’s Th a t G irl? in m ind. But W ho’s Th e title as question perform s a Th a t G irl? does not really m ake a decidedly disingenuous m istake in B raudry’s sense, it’s not ingenuousness. exactly a m iscalculation of M adonna’s I w a n t to return to the Ju n e 1986 im age th a t’s really at issue here, for, cover of Rolling Stone. M adonna’s hair indeed, w hat w e do see is an aspect is short, blonde and A vant-style. Her of her persona played out. Instead, it attire isn’t any longer a com posite of w ould be m ore precise to say that the - different pieces, but a sim ple black film has overcalculated. dress, off the shoulder. H er right hand In D esperately Seeking Susan grapes her shoulder and draw s our M adonna fits her character Susan like attention to a flow er th a t’s placed in a glove, not because the film is her cleavage. I’ve seen th a t dress and creating a star but because it know s that flower som ew here before. It an already discovered one: the belonged to K im N ovak in a film called Madonna of the m usic industry, the B o ys ’ N ig h t Out. It’s a sym bol — in the Boy To y, the good/bad, virgin/whore film — of N ovak’s purity in the face of personality. It seem s to be understood certain com prom ising situations. So that M adonna should do no m ore than w h a t’s M adonna doing w ith it? It’s ; linger through the film w ith that / easy. H er change in 1986 w a s b e r new indefinite X quality of a m ovie idol. purity, a new innocence all the m ore T h e rest is up to som eone else. Th u s , •'> innocent. She is forever a virgin. I the undeniable and pervasive sense - think this is w ha t h a s been sadly that the film is dealing w ith a missed by Who’s T h a t G irl? Recall spectator’s extraordinary fixation on a M adonna: “W hen I say virgin, like in m ovie star: trailing her, to uching the m y song, I ’m not thinking of sexual virgin. I m ean new ness.” things she to uches, buying h e r black and gold jack e t (hence the

C IN E M A P APER S NOVEMBER — 3 7

• • • • • • • • •

Amazing Stories Caravaggio Down By Law Hope And Glory The Lighthorsemen Running From The Guns She’s Gotta Have It Summer The Untouchables

• HOPE AND GLORY 1987 has proved a very good year for cinem atic nostalgia. N ot only has there been a lot of it b u t the quality has been superior. In their disparate ways films such as 84 Charing Cross Road, Peggie Sue Got Married, The Tin Men, Hoosiers and Radio Days have all engaged in the rem em brance of things past and, in one way or other, achieved an intelligent purchase on their m aterial. A nd now Hope And Glory, a surprising d eparture for director J o h n B oorm an, joins their ranks.

Like all the films above, Hope And Glory has the look and sound of its period and place — E ngland in W orld W a r II — superbly right. Like Radio Days, it offers essentially a child’s-eye-view of a vanished w orld, b ringing us to the verge of nostalgic indulgence tim e and again, then at the crucial m om ent u n d ercu ttin g this tendency w ith com edy or a severer truth.

T h e film is m arvellously evocative of tim e and place, im m aculate in its observation of the outbreak of w ar, of L ondon in the blitz, of evacuee trains, of beaches fenced off w ith coils of barbed wire, the well-known voices of political leaders and stam m ering king on the radio. All of this has, of course, been done before, b u t not often with such wit and dem ystifying seriousness. A nd a good deal of its effect is due to its use of Bill R o han (Sebastian R ice-E dw ards), the sharp-eyed, im aginative child who stands in for the young J o h n B oorm an.

W ar is the greatest fun for young Bill who protests to his m other against evacuation with “ I ’m gonna miss the w ar and it’s all your fa u lt.” H e do esn ’t, how ever, and he and his gang prowl the rubble of bom bed suburbia, nightm arishly lit to recall the waste land of Paul N a sh ’s “ T h e M enin R o a d ” , acting out w ar-tim e cliches ( “ W e have ways of m aking you talk ” ) and learning about sex (an orderly inspection of what is concealed by the bloom ers of a girl called Pauline) and death (P au lin e’s m um is killed one night).

So, it is not a w ar film b u t a film about coping with w ar. For Bill and his friends, indeed for everyone, there is a heightened excitem ent that goes along with the anxieties, a sense of ceaseless activity and m ovem ent that has shaken up the low er-m iddle-class suburb. But w hat accounts for so m uch of the film ’s pleasure is not so m uch the careful re­ construction of the period as the u n ­ expectedness of some of its observation.

B ill’s m other, G race (Sarah M iles), finds that, w hen h er husb an d goes off ( “ typing for victory” in a clerical jo b , as

he says), she likes being on h er own.

H e r friend M ollie (Susan W ooldridge, D aphne in Jewel In The Crown) goes off with a Polish pilot, leaving the husb an d who confesses to hav in g loved G race but has been too poor in the D epression to think of m arry in g . Bill’s teenage sister D aw n (S am m i D avis) m eets a young C an ad ian corporal (Jean -M arc B arr) b u t, instead of falling lyrically in love with him , finds she w ants him with sexual urgency. T h e solem nity of the K in g ’s Speech on C h ristm as D ay is u n d ercu t by B ill’s d ru n k en G ra n d p a (Ian B annen) reeling off a list of floozies he has know n.

All this is given coherence by B ill’s watchful attem pts to m ake sense of adult sexual behaviour. Even his frien d s’ games are touched w ith this as they “ to rtu re ” an in tru d er, claim ed to be a Y ank: “ T each him a lesson. T h in k they can come over here and take our w om en” . Less com plex th an sex and death, cricket, w ith the arcane m ysteries of the googly passed on to Bill by his father at the outbreak of w ar “ in case anything happens to m e ” , is a source of continuing solace in the b o y ’s w orld so lovingly and unsentim entally recreated in the film.

W hen the R o h an house is hit and the family is forced to m ove in w ith G ra c e ’s parents in the T ham es V alley, the film assum es the look of childhood idyll.

W hile the ridiculous old G ra n d p a com ­ plains of “ T oo m any w om en in m y family, all hens and no cocks” , Bill and his younger sister explore a w onderland of river and sum m er green. B ut even this idyll is laced w ith farce and tensions.

As C hurchill announces “ the end of the b eg in n in g ” on the radio, the riv er­ side greenery is ju st touched w ith au tum nal gold. Ah, one thinks, a ritesof-passage m ovie, b u t the nostalgia for childhood itself is recognised for w hat it is. C hildhood is seen as a tim e of incom ­ plete u n d erstan d in g and the film is w ry and tough enough to see th at adults mostly botch things as well.

Hope And Glory resonates w ith echoes of other films. O ne recalls those H olly­ wood E ngland films of the 1940s in which B ritain was seen as m oving tow ards a cross-class consensus, a com ­ m unity spirit replacing old divisions.

T h ere is an air-raid shelter sequence which recalls Mrs Miniver w here the little ones had Alice In Wonderland read to them : here, the shelter is so dankly re p u l­ sive no one can b ear to go into it. T h ere is even a G erm an pilot ro u n d ed up in a su b u rb an allotm ent by an incom petent policem an to ‘place’ com ically M rs M in iv e r’s heroic beh av io u r in sim ilar circum stances. A nd there are echoes of

J o h n Schlesinger’s Yanks in young D a w n ’s succum bing to the C a n ad ian , and of m any o ther B ritish or H ollyw ood accounts of em battled B ritain.

But Hope And Glory is both fu n n ier and m ore affecting th an any of these, largely because (for the m ost part) it keeps Bill at its. centre, and because of its tonal delicacy. “ In all m y life no th in g has ever m atched the pure jo y of that m o m e n t” , says the m atu re B ill’s voice on the soundtrack. T his trem ulous p ro ­ nouncem ent is not the result of some deep spiritual experience: it is the child’s heartfelt response to the bom bing of his school. “ T h an k you, A dolph” , shouts one of the little boys on this occasion in which the tone of the film is so b eau ti­ fully epitom ised. N ostalgia is not often so m uch fun.

Brian McFarlane HOPE AND GLORY: Directed, produced and written by John Boorman. Co-producer: Michael Dryhurst. Direc­ tor of photography: Philippe Rousselot. Editor: Ian Crafford. Production designer: Anthony Pratt. Music: Peter Martin. Cast: Sarah Miles (Grace Rohan), David Hayman (Clive Rohan), Derrick O ’Connor (Mac), Susan Wooldridge (Mollie), Sammi Davis (Dawn Rohan), Ian Bannen (Grandfather), Sebastian Rice-Edwards (Bill Rohan), Sara Langton (Pauline). Production company: Goldcrest. Distributor: Village Roadshow. 35mm. 112 minutes. Great Britain. 1987.

R ohm er, at 65 and surely reaching the end of his film m aking career, has decided to retu rn to the origins of his cinem atic aesthetic.

W hat appealed to R o hm er and his colleagues in the New W ave, and what was ultim ately to liberate a whole generation of directors from the stifling E uropean tradition of “ quality ” , was the N eorealist spontaneity of approach.

Born of economic and political necessity, it produced a freshness which was evident from the first fram e, as is the case with this m agnificent film.

Shooting fast, in natural light on 16mm film, with no script (90 per cent of the dialogue was im provised by the actors themselves) and no precise loca­ tions worked out in advance, R o h m e r’s fluid yet probing cam era is given the full freedom of flight. R o hm er describes it as a “ film de vacances” and with a crew of only three (all wom en u nder 25) along with his protagonist, D elphine (M arie

Riviere) he sets off in search of the green ray.

An archetypal R ohm erian heroine — young, attractive and vulnerable — D elphine is at a loose end for her sum m er holidays. H er fiance Jean Pierre has left her and a planned trip to Greece has been cancelled at the last m inute. D espite invitations from her family to a cam ping trip in Scotland and encouragem ent from her friends to jo in a group, she decides, against her better judgem ent, to go it alone — first to C herbourg, then back to Paris, then on to the Swiss Alps and finally to B iarritz on the A tlantic coast. I t ’s here that she overhears a conversation about V e rn e ’s novel and the existence of the green ray, and it’s this which drives the film to its conclusion. A ccording to V erne, if one closely observes the sun setting over the ocean, one m ay be lucky enough to w it­ ness a curious m eteorological pheno­ m enon. Ju st as the top of the sun sinks

•SUMMER Eric R o h m e r’s Summer is a journey. Not only for the film ’s protagonist b u t for the film m aker him self — a voyage back, a retu rn to the earliest influences on his now inim itable style.

O riginally titled Le Rayon Vert, literally T h e G reen Ray, Summer is loosely based on, and takes for its prem ise, Ju le s V e rn e ’s novel of the same nam e. It opens, however, not as one m ight expect with a quote from the novel, but with a single line from the 19th century French poet R im b au d — “ A h, for the days that set our hearts ablaze” ; it’s this th at provides a key to und erstan d in g the form al and stylistic aspects of the film. T h e hearts surely belong to the F rench New W ave m ove­ m ent of the sixties (of which R o h m er was a principal founder) and the days m ust be those of Italian N eorealism : the Rossellini of Stromboli and Viaggio In Italia; the De Sica of Bicycle Thieves; and am ong R o h m e r’s own films, his very first feature Le Signe Du Lion m ade in 1959.

T h a t a film m aker considered by m any to be at the forefront of his art should retu rn for in spiration to his roots m ay seem a p aradox, but then R o h m er the classicist has always believed th at the only way to advance in art is to m aintain close ties w ith the past. It is as if

ROHMER WITH A VIEW: Marie Riviere and Rosette in

Summer CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 39

< below the horizon there is a b urst of green light and, to those who see it, their innerm ost thoughts and those of others around them are m agically revealed.

I t ’s a perfect prem ise for R ohm er, who always believed the cam era, or m ore precisely the cinem a, to be capable of near magical revelations. In Summer, as in all his films, the actors never give the im pression of perform ing in front of the cam era — it is simply there, almost unwittingly, in front of the actors. It waits patiently (w ithout the trickery of complex editing) passively observing the action until, in a flash of recognition, true characters are revealed.

But in this film there is no real action to speak of, nothing really happens; it’s the anticipation which interests R ohm er and w hat distinguishes his films from 90 per cent of current alternatives is his interest in w hat people feel and think rather than what they do. His characters have real not ju st celluloid souls and, finally, the courage of their convictions.

D elphine’s behaviour is not im posed on her by the necessities of plot or dram atic developm ent. R ather, she regains the power, as we do in life, to shape h er own destiny. T he narrative, when viewed as a whole, seems to contain its own internal logic rather than one im posed on it by the dictates of conventional dram atic structure.

If R ohm er is a classicist, he is also a realist. I t ’s the complex interrelation­ ships between tim e, place and sound which anchor films that otherwise m ight have the lightness of a fairytale. W e feel

40 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

the approaching chill of late afternoon and we hear the sounds of sum m er holi­ days. T he wind rustles the leaves, an aeroplane takes off in the distance and dialogue is interrupted by children play­ ing on the beach. It is the perfect balance of the oppositional forces of fiction and docum entary which gives this film its power.

Summer, which won the G olden Lion at the 1986 Venice Festival, is the fifth in R o h m er’s series of “ Com edies and P roverbs” but it m arks a significant shift in direction and m ay be the most revealing of his concerns. A ccording to R ohm er it was the success of Full Moon In Paris which drove him back to the m ore purposefully am ateur techniques of Summer. “ Success” , he believes, is an “ obstruction to creativity” . It is only by rem aining outside the m ainstream , by m aking low budget films (Summer cost less than $1 million) which d o n ’t rely on mass appeal for financial viability, that he believes he can rem ain free to make in te re s tin g an d in n o v a tiv e film s.

H aving seen Summer we are inclined to believe him.

Michael Freedman SUMMER: Directed by Eric Rohmer. Producer: Mar­ garet Menegoz. Screenplay: Eric Rohmer. Director of photography: Sophie Maintigneux. Music: Jean-Louis Valero. Editor: Maria-Luisa Garcia. Cast: Marie Riviere (Delphine), Lisa Heredia (Manuella), Beatrice Romand (Beatrice), Rosette (Francoise), Eric Hamm (Edouard), Vanessa Leleu (Young girl), Irene Skobline (Irene), Carita (Lena), Joel Comarlot (Joel), Marc Vivas (Pierrot), Vincent Gauthier (Jacques). Production company: Les Films du Losange with the co-operation of the French Ministry of Culture and P.T.T. Distributor: Filmpac.

16mm/35mm. 98 minutes France. 1986.

• TH E LIGHTHORSEMEN So m uch has gone into The Lighthorsemen that you feel a little guilty in asking about a plot. All those horses, you can hear them saying, all those uniform s, $10.5 million w orth of m agnificent equestrian charges, a Beersheba and a wilderness carved from the Bush . . . and y o u ’re not happy with the story?

Well, of course, there is a story. T he broad, sweeping story of w hat becam e the last great cavalry charge in the history of m odern w arfare. It was towards the end of W orld W ar I. Eight hundred young A ustralian L ighthorse­ m en were ordered to m ake a seemingly suicidal charge on T u rkish positions, com m anded to charge across five kilo­ m etres or so of open desert into a town guarded by m achinegun em placem ents, artillery, and aircraft. T hey accom ­ plished their task w ith honour and rem arkably few casualties.

For such m agnificent m om ents, we need a D avid L ean. T he picture is grand and the canvas wide. A Lean can swirl the cinem atic brush around and still delve in to paint a detail, capture a small em otion. D irector Sim on W incer and screenw riter Ian Jo n es, tenaciously honest in his approach to research, cer­ tainly deliver that bigger landscape. It is when we look at the people in close-up that their work tends to blur, their characters and their storyline run to cliches, superficiality and predictability.

T he failings of The Lighthorsemen leave

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Back issues of Cinema Papers are vital reading for anyone interested in film. For your convenience we have put together a list of some of the areas that Cinema Papers has covered over the years. It’s only a sample of the range of topics the magazine has dealt with. Other back issues are also available (see below).

BACK ISSUES; A GUIDE TO W HATS AVAILABLE (AUSTRALIAN) WOMEN AND FILM — INTERVIEWS ANSARA, Martha

Changing the Needle: Martha Ansara and Mavis Robertson

By Barbara Alysen CP Mar 1983 No. 42

ARMSTRONG, Gillian

Gillian Armstrong Interview

By Scott Murray CPJan1974No. 1 Career Woman: Gillian Armstrong

INTERVIEWS

JESSOP, Clytie

See HARTMAN, Rivka

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CP July 1985 No. 52 Gillian Armstrong Returns M B f to Eden

By Anna Grieve CP May 1987 No. 63 SW

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ARRIGHI, Luciana

Luciana Arrighi Interview

By Sue Adler CPJuly-Aug1979No.22

BERT DELING

On Guard: an interview with Susan Lambert

By Victoria Treole CP Mar-April 1984 No. 44-45 and see GIBSON, Sarah

ALBIE THOMS

MORRIS, Judy

SUBJECTS

Changes: Jill Robb, Robyn Nevin and Judy Morris

By Debi Enker CP Mar 1986 No. 56

CPOct-Nov1978No. 18

FILM AND TELEVISION

By Adrian Martin

By John O’Hara

MORSE, Helen

OTHER CINEMA

MUELLER, Kathy

By James Ricketson

Women in Drama: Meg Stewart, Rivka Hartman and Clytie Jessop

By Mark Stiles CP April 1982 No. 37 HAZLEHURST, Noni

Communications Breakdown: Noni Hazlehurst

By Dorre Koeser CP May 1985 No. 51 HOFFMAN, Sonia

Women in Drama: Briann Kearney and Sonia Hoffman

By Mark Stiles CP Feb 1982 No. 36

Wendy Hughes Interview

By Richard Brennan CP Oct 1982 No. 40

CP Dec 1984 No. 49

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CP April-June 1978 No. 16

STRAUB/HUILLET: THE POLITICS OF FILM PRACTICE

NEVIN, Robyn

By Susan Dermody

PUNCH-McGREGOR, Angela

AMERICAN DIRECTORS INTERVIEWED PLUS

CP Dec 1984 No. 49

HARTMAN, Rivka

HUGHES, Wendy

CPApril-June 1978 No. 16

By Sam Rohdie

Angela Punch-McGregor Interview ByJimSchembri CP Dec 1984 No. 49

The Body in Question: Susan Lambert and Sarah Gibson Interview

By Susan Dermody CP May 1987 No. 63

Rocking the Boat at Film Australia: Robin Hughes

By Mary Colbert CP Jan 1987 No. 61

CPOct-Nov1978No.18

BySamRohdie

See MORRIS, Judy

GIBSON, Sarah

HUGHES, Robin

CPFeb-Mar1985No.50

OTHER CINEMA

Helen Morse Interview (with Richard Mason)

By George Tosi CPAug1982No.39 Kathy Mueller Interview

By Helen Greenwood

CPFeb-Mar1980No.25

THE FILMS OF IAN PRINGLE

CP Jan 1986 No. 55

CAMPION, Jane

Jane Campion Interview

By Mark Stiles

IAN PRINGLE

POOR CINEMA

BYRNE, Debbie

Debbie Byrne Interview

By Debi Enker

t

EMILE DE ANTONIO

See HOFFMAN, Sonia

BORG, Sonia

Sonia Borg Interview

By Paul Davies

CPAug-Sept1980No.28 !

CP Jan 1977 No. 11 CP April 1977 No. 12 CP March 1983 No. 42 CP July-Aug 1979 No. 22

TIM BURNS

KEARNEY, Briann

LAMBERT, Susan

j|gf%

ALTERNATIVE CINEMA

WOODY ALLEN

ROBB, Jill

Jill Robb Interview

By Terry Plane and see MORRIS, Judy

CP Jan 1977 No. 11

ROBERT ALTMAN BRIAN DE PALMA WILLIAM FRIEDKIN

ROBERTSON, Mavis

COLIN HIGGINS

See ANSARA, Martha

ARTHUR HILLER

SEAWELL, Jeanine

Jeanine Seawell Interview

By Antony I. Ginnane CP July 1977 No. 13 Selling Out: Jeanine Seawell

By Nick Roddick CP May 1985 No. 51

ALFRED HITCHCOCK JOHN HUSTON DAVID LYNCH ALAN J. PAKULA

STEWART, Meg

See HARTMAN, Rivka

ROMAN POLANSKI

STRICKLAND, Janet

Janet Strickland Interview

By Scott Murray CPFeb-Mar1980No.25

SYDNEY POLLACK

TASS, Nadia

PAUL SCHRADER

Cinema In The Round: Nadia Tass

By Kathy Bail CP Nov 1986 No. 60 WEAVER, Jacki

Jacki Weaver Interview

By Tom Ryan

CP Sept-Oct 1976 No. 10

MICHAEL RITCHIE

STEVEN SPIELBERG OLIVER STONE JOHN WATERS

CP April 1982 No. 37

ORSON WELLES

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CP July 1986 No. 58 CP Sept 1986 No. 59 CP Feb 1982 No. 36 CP July 1974 No. 3 CP Dec 1982 No. 41 Dec 1979-Jan 1980 No. 24 CP June-July 1980 No. 27 CP Oct 1977 No. 14 CP March 1987 No. 62 CP July 1984 No. 46 CP Jan 1977 No. 11 CP Jan 1987 No. 61 CPMay-June1983 No. 43 CP Oct 1982 No. 40 CP Dec 1982 No. 41 CP April-June 1978 No. 16 CP Nov 1986 No. 60 CP March 1983 No. 42 CP July 1986 No. 58

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one feeling genuinely disappointed, because in alm ost every fram e one can sense the potential th at lies in this film.

If only . . . if only. If only as m uch tim e h ad been spent in creating principal characters who m a tte r, who have families and are a fam ily, as has obvi­ ously been spent on the historic m in utiae, then p erh ap s th at final charge could not have been sim ply a w onderful spectacle.

First, a little b ack g ro u nd er. T h e A us­ tralian Light H orse o f the 1st A IF was form ed in 1914. Easily identified by their em u-p lu m ed hats, the Lighthorsem en rode horses called ‘w alers’ (short for ‘New South W a le rs’), which were faster and could travel fu rth er th an the heavier English breeds. In the w ar, they becam e p a rt of the British arm y that defended the Suez C an al, eventually helping drive the T u rk s back across the Sinai desert into P alestine. T he film focuses on th eir tim e u n d e r the new com m ander-in-chief, ‘B ull’ Allenby, and, ultim ately, the risky plan to chal­ lenge the desert and sm ash thro u g h the T u rk ish defences to win the precious wells of B eersheba.

T h e re ’s a lot m ore to it th an th at, of course, which, for Jo n e s in w riting the screenplay, m ust have provided some very special problem s. N ot all his au d i­ ence would be students of m ilitary affairs. A nd the attack on B eersheba cam e after a com plex series of battles and decision-m aking. Som ehow this has to be explained in the m ovie. G enerally, such exposition is infiltrated inconspicu­ ously, b ut there are a couple of glaringly clum sy m om ents. O n e uses a sunset to explain G allipoli; an o th er has the P ad re (B renton W hittle) and B ourchier (T ony B onner) ed u catin g the audience on Beersheba, “ the well of A b ra h a m ” , in a m ost unlikely conversation.

The Lighthorsemen begins w ith a h e a rt­ stirring chase. W ild horses, pou n d in g hooves, a ro u n d -u p . It is brilliantly filmed by D ean Sem ler and superbly edited — an excellent m ood-setter.

T h en w e’re ab o ard a tra in w hich has on its w agons a b a n n e r with the slogan, “ T hese horses are doing th eir bit for A ustralia: w hat abo u t y o u ?” A chal­ lenging cry to the y o ung m en of A us­ tralia.

W e jo in four young m en who have responded to th at cry — four Aussie m ates. T h e re ’s F ran k (G ary Sweet), foolhardy and eager for action; T as (John W alton), who is blu n t and u n ­ com plicated; the loyal b u t not-too-bright C hiller (T im M cK enzie); and the selfconfident, form idable Irish m an called Scotty (Jon Blake). All four actors p e r­ form expertly w ith the som ew hat in ­ adequate m aterial th at th e y ’re presented with.

W hen F ran k rides into a Bedouin am bush, and later dies in hospital after receiving a “ D ear J o h n ” letter from his girl back in A ustralia, the audience does suffer a real sense of loss. T h e n in comes D ave (P eter Phelps), a raw recru it who hopes to replace him in the group. So

disapproving are the three other horse­ m en th at we know that before too long o u r m an will surely prove him self and becom e one of T he F our M usketeers.

A nd he does.

A nd th a t’s one of the m ost irritatin g aspects of this film — its predictability.

A p art from F ra n k ’s death, and the short-circuiting of a bar-room braw l by a B ritish h u rrah for the Aussies, there is little that surprises us.

D ialogue is also woeful in parts.

B onner, sucking on his now wellgum m ed A nzac officer’s pipe and m using, “ I t ’s a bugger of a way to spend a w ar!” , ju st about sum s it up.

B ut, over in the enem y cam p, a n o n ­ sensical G erm an general, straight out of Hogan’s Heroes casting, plays him for a break w ith a stiff-lipped, “ T h e re ’s little joy in the defeat of an unw orthy o p p o n e n t” .

T h e p h o to g rap h y is exceptional th roughout, from the Light H o rse ’s tented city at dusk to the am bush of T urk ish troops. T h e cam era, how ever, does linger so long on B eersheba that you start to w onder w hether it is not simply the pride-and-joy of the setm akers, but a model that y o u ’re looking at.

T h e soundtrack relentlessly grinds out M ario M illo’s orchestral m usic, which is lush and appropriate to m uch of the film, but eventually becom es a pain in the ear. O th er annoyances are m inor: A rab children who look like the film crew ’s w ell-scrubbed, well-fed nippers; a bizarre bit of espionage business betw een N urse A nne (Sigrid T h o rn to n ) and M e in e rtz h a g e n (A nthony A ndrew s); and the unlikely, unm ilitary b earing of Serge L azareff as the officer R ankin.

N evertheless, after all the Zulu-style posing at the tops of ridges, the Light H orse do m ake a splendid final charge.

T h a t gallop to glory, if nothing else, m akes The Lighthorsemen m em orable.

Brian Courtis THE LIGHTHORSEMEN: Directed by Simon Wincer.

Producers: Ian Jones and Simon Wincer. Executive pro­ ducer: Antony I. Ginnane. Screenplay: Ian Jones. Direc­ tor of photography: Dean Semler. Production designer: Bernard Hides. Editor: Adrian Carr. Music: Mario Millo.

Cast: Peter Phelps (Dave), Gary Sweet (Frank), John Walton (Tas), Tim McKenzie (Chiller), Jon Blake (Scotty), Sigrid Thornton (Anne), Anthony Andrews (Meinertz­ hagen), Bill Kerr (Chauvel), Tony Bonner (Bourchier), Anthony Hawkins (Allenby), Gerard Kennedy (Ismet Bey), Serge Lazareff (Rankin). Production company: Picture Show/RKO Pictures. Distributor: Hoyts. 35mm.

131 minutes. Australia. 1987.

• RUNNING FROM THE GUNS Division Four lives, in this action-packed, car-chase-filled item of holiday fare.

D efinitely in the best (or worst) tradition of A ustralian police d ram a, Running From The Guns has half-heartedly tra n s­ posed a well-worn seventies television form ula into eighties cinem a.

T h e villains are big business and

nouveau riche. T h e police have been dow ngraded from heroes to a ru n n in g joke, the real heroes are a w orking class boy D ave (Jon Blake), and his V ietnam vet sidekick Pete (M ark H em brow ).

O u r heroine is beautiful, clever and feisty, fighting evil w herever it m ay lurk via the State C rim e C om m ission. H ow ­ ever, she is not quite feisty enough to o u tru n a pair of hoods in a panel van (despite the fact that she is driving a black turbo Porsche), or clever enough to repel our m acho heroes once they effect a dram atic rescue.

T he film never really moves into the glossy, fantasy world of full-blown cops’n ’robbers, fast m oney or vigilante movies. T h e one excursion into high society serves only to expose it as ridiculous and fundam entally ineffec­ tual, and the em blem of T h e E stablish­ m ent, Sir Ju lia n , is (intentionally or not) a bizarre caricature. U n fo rtunately, the possibility of social statem ent is utterly un d erm in ed by firm ly establishing D ave and Pete as struggling capitalists, and the heroine as a d au g h ter of the estab­ lishm ent herself.

O f course, cliche, im probability and form ula plot do not necessarily doom a film — often quite the contrary. T his one has attem pted to include rom ance, action, intrigue, com edy, and m uch gratuitous violence. So w hat w ent wrong? Perhaps it is the all-pervasive flavour of am orality. R ight and w rong seem to be red u n d an t concepts, all action being m otivated by avarice or revenge, w here even the greed is on a petty scale. T h ere is no persecution to outrage us, high ideals to inspire us, or large sums of m oney to m ake us drool.

In fact, there is little here to arouse sym pathy or excite interest. T h e pair of protagonists are too obviously nice boys to be anti-heroes, too corrupt to be the genuine article. T h ro u g h o u t their m is­ adventures, nothing seems to be gained except m ayhem on a m ajor scale, and a small am ount of cash in the closing scenes. T here is an alm ost overw helm ­ ing sense of pointlessness. Prolonged chase sequences defeat rath er than aid any attem pt to create tension, and the fam iliar cast is continually struggling to overcom e a long heritage of soap opera, and rarely succeeding.

T he keynote of the film is the com pre­ hensive n atu re of corruption. O u r heroes are corrupt, but nice guys. T ra d e unions are corrupt, b ut useful. T he u pper classes are co rrupt and useless; big business is corrupt and dangerous. If Running From The Guns has an aim ap art from the display of wholesale violence and a sm attering of kinky sex, it is this.

Melinda Houston RUNNING FROM THE GUNS: Directed and written by John Dixon. Producer: Geoff Burrowes. Executive pro­ ducer: Dennis Wright. Director of photography: Keith Wagstaff. Production designer: Les Bmns. Music: Bruce Rowland.Editor: Ray Daley. Cast: Jon Blake (Dave), Mark Hembrow (Pete), Nikki Coghill (Jill), Terry Dono­ van (Bangles), Warwick Sims (Martin), Gerard Kennedy (Big Jim), Tom Lamond (Mum), Bill Kerr (Gilman), Barry Hill (Sir Julian), Patrick Ward (Mulcahy). Production company: B & D Productions. Distributor: Hoyts. 35mm.

100 minutes. Australia. 1986.

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 41

T II E Take two images. The first, the design of the film ’s title in the credit sequence. The le tte rs w h ich f or m th e title The Untouchables are bold, also sculptural, as if made from a metallic gold and suffused in a golden yellowish light. There is also something architectural in the design of the alphabetical letters, like columns, an image of solidity and perm anence. If one were to ascribe a value to them one would be tempted to say that there is a sense of ‘integrity’ about them. The second image involves a story element. Oscar Wallace (Charles M artin Smith), the most comic and therefore most vulnerable of Eliot Ness’s Federal agents, is escorting a member of A1 Capone’s gang turned police inform ant down an elevator. Frank N itti (Billy Drago), Capone’s key trigger man, disguised as policeman and elevator attendant shoots them both point blank through the head. When Ness (Kevin Costner) peers through the elevator doors, director Brian De Palm a moves from the sight of the bloodied bodies in a slow, lingering pan shot which reveals the word ‘Touchable’ w ritten in blood across the elevator walls.

What fascinates about this scene is not so much its exquisite narrativity, nor its brutality, nor the way in which it mocks the Press’s nam ing of Ness’s Federal agents as “ untouchables” , nor even the profound moral outrage it provokes from Ness (after all it leads to Ness’s hysterical face-to-face confrontation with Capone, the first of only two such confrontations).

No. What rather fascinates is those slant­ ing, angular, bloodied graffiti-like letters,

IJ N T O

which in their very difference both mimic and mock the title credit and all the connotational meanings one ascribes to their design. Like an echo chamber one title calls forth its counter-title. Title credits are often like signatures — for the studio, the director, the production designer — and more often than not they carry meanings relating to the film ’s mood, intention and vision. To extend the metaphor, and run the risk of sounding absurd, is it not possible that those bloodied letters are another title, another signature for the film, made by a different hand with differing intentions?

Such idle speculation would be silly indeed, if it were not for De Palm a’s com­ ments on the film. In certain statements De Palm a goes to some length to claim artistic autonomy — a difference of tem­ peram ent, sensibility, vision — from David M am et’s screenplay. Of this he has said: “ I look upon it more clinically, as a piece of m aterial that has to be shaped, with certain scenes here or there. But as for the moral dimension, th a t’s more or less the conception of the script, I just implemented it with my skills — which are well developed. “ I t ’s good to walk in somebody else’s shoes for a while. You get out of your own obsessions; you are in the service of some­ body else’s vision, and th a t’s a great discipline for a director.”

De Palma is drawing on a distinction between the auteur and the metteur en scene, a distinction well known from traditional film criticism. As is evident from his comments De Palma positions his

COWBOY OUTFIT: Andy Garcia, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith and Kevin Costner

42 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

direction of The Untouchables on the side of the m etteur en scene and not the auteur — in other words he brings to the film his considerable skills at mise en scene and poetic stylistics, but does not infuse it with his own obsessional motifs, thematics and vision. In an age of ram pant auteurism, and De P alm a’s own self-pro­ fessed auteurism , his comments are thought-provoking.

Added to this are a num ber of other sus­ picions. It would be true to say (in general at least) that this is the first De Palm a film in some time which has met w ith a more or less positive critical consensus. In recent times his films are more often than not met with aesthetic and moral outrage.

Just to take two examples, think of Body Double or Scarface, swept up in accusations of excessive violence, misogyny, porno­ graphy, of moral irresponsibility. As an aside, it is worth m entioning that when the character Ness says in a pensive moment towards the end of the film, “ So much violence!’’you could cut the irony in the air with a knife. W hen our diligent reviewers on The Movie Show give The Un­ touchables th e ir u n q ualified seal of approval this critic, at least, sees cause for concern. To put it in colloquial terms, one suspects that this is the De Palm a film one endorses when one really isn’t endorsing a ‘De P alm a’ film.

I would like to think that The Untouch­ ables is two films in one. This first is per­ fectly in tune w ith M am et’s screenplay: a screenplay which is a near perfect model of classic narrative, in which the forces, tensions, polarities are clearly delineated (Ness/Capone, good/evil, and so forth); where optimism and idealism pervade the overall moral tone of the film. De Palma has called it a “ traditional Americana picture . . . with a tremendous am ount of integrity in the characters” . Now, not in opposition to, but in contrast, one could seek an undercurrent to the film in which a darker, bleaker vision would arise; an undercurrent in which the hand of De Palma would be more clearly visible.

Speaking of literature, Nabokov once talked about the nerves, the secret points, the subliminal co-ordinates of a novel, points where the signature of the author are more evident. In this other scenario it would not be the character of Eliot Ness (in as far as characters also embody the vision of a film, but not exclusively) who is the focus, but that of Frank N itti. More than Robert De N iro’s Capone, Drago’s dark angel of death is the real pulse of this film, a truly De Palm ian character who embodies that noir vision which is in essence closer to De Palm a’s view of things than Ness’s puritanism . W hat De Palma seems to be doing w ith N itti is using the character as a way of m odulating and manoeuvring his vision through a screen­ play whose moral and ethical vision is in essence far removed from his own.

One could then argue that the real nerve points, the subliminal co-ordinates of the film ’s plot are the sequences dealing w ith

O P E R A L O V E R : A l C a p o n e (R o b e rt De N iro) m ix e s b u s in e s s w ith P a g lia c c i

the N itti character. Each of N itti’s actions causes moral outrage — the detonating briefcase left on a barstool and innocently picked up by a young girl (“ M ister you forgot your bag!” ); the aforementioned elevator slaughter; the machine gunning to death of Jim m y M alone (Sean Connery), and finally that breathtaking roof-top confrontation w ith Ness. If at first it seemed that the paradigm of good/evil was played out along the Ness/Capone axis, it becomes quite clear in the roof-top confrontation that it has been the Ness/Nitti com bination which has been at play.

Nitti stands in relation to Capone as Ness does in relation to Malone (repeat the names and you’ll notice the rhyme).

This is a film with a fair dose of oedipal drama, but it is not to be taken too seri­ ously as De Palma well knows; he makes it spin around the film but never grounds it in a symbolic subtext of any real conse­ quence. Malone is the good father figure who must teach (“ Here endeth the lesson!” ) the innocent hero the ways of a corrupt world (the Chicago way). The father dies for the new-born hero and the new and better world which is born with

him. Capone and N itti must m irror that double in their difference. For every good father figure there is a bad and Capone surely represents that figure. Like Ness who follows the knowledge of Malone and acts in accordance, Nitti is at the service of Capone. In as much as history (though history can be twisted into legend) decrees that a showdown between Ness and Capone be a non-event, the dramatic con­ frontation between the forces of good and evil is displaced onto the roof-top sequence between Ness and N itti. The subsequent courtroom scenes are almost completely anti-climactic in comparison.

Ness’s victory over Capone represents nothing more than the fall of a corrupt philosophy of illegal corporate capitalism.

His traits are those of the traditional gangster figure — crime, capital and celebrity. He is, as he says, a business man who feeds off a twisted world, a figure tolerable enough in a world less per­ fect than that imagined by Ness. In a world of moral absolutes Ness’s struggle is with N itti, who represents the ecstasy of evil. Though his deeds are at the service of Capone, one has the feeling that they may as well have been independent of motiva-

tion. (“ The abyss of evil is attractive independently of the profit to be gained by wicked actions . . . ” — Bataille.)

N itti is therefore closer to De Palm a’s vision of evil — it may initially spring from some identifiable motivation, but is soon lost in its own machinations. I think also for De Palma, evil is profoundly exhibitionist: embodied in his mise en scene, his insistence on metaphors of vision, but also in his actors’ perform­ ances, Al Pacino as Scarface being the supreme example.

A hero like Ness is antithetical to his vision. As De Palma puts it: “ W hat’s different about The Untouchables is that there’s a man of principle and honour trium phing over the evil system. That usually doesn’t happen in my world, because I don’t see it that way. I see the system as going on, crushing individuality and idealism; people who believe in some­ thing are usually ground up in i t.”

To insist upon that difference that De Palma speaks of one should see The Un­ touchables in the light of De Palm a’s two other gangster films made in the eighties.

So dark is Scarface that it could be sub­ titled ‘The Tragic Sense of Life’, and Wise >

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 43

•CARAVAGGIO

A N G E L O F D E A T H : K e v in C o s tn e r an d B illy D ra g o

< Guys is a bleak, ironic gangster comedy of hum iliation starring Danny De Vito, which should be subtitled, ‘Little M an, What Now?’. Both in their own ways are profoundly pessimistic. By comparison The Untouchables seems like ‘innocence re­ visited’.

It is in many ways a futile and, one should add, outmoded exercise to try to draw the line between De Palm a the auteur and the m etteur en scene. In the case of The Untouchables, I do so only in response to what I see as a certain mis­ guided praise for the film amongst certain critics. But it should be added that even if this film doesn’t exactly find a place w ithin the centre of De P alm a’s oeuvre, it still may be a very good film in its own right. After all, its production design and cinematography are amongst the finest to be seen in recent American cinema, and the presence of Robert De Niro, M orricone’s score and Giorgio A rm ani’s costumes make for side delights. But there are also things that irritate, such as the W estern interlude at the C anadian border. If it’s meant to be a homage to John Ford, then I ’m sure the grand master would not be pleased. The ‘retake’ of the Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin is a much more successful, brilliant visual execution (though I ’m sure that Eisenstein would turn in his grave to know that his sequence of revolu­ tionary montage cinema has so completely and successfully been transform ed into American action drama). Finally, I think The Untouchables is a film of brilliant visual strokes but, as a whole, I have my doubts.

Rolando Caputo THE UNTOUCHABLES: Directed by Brian De Palma.

Producer: Art Linson. Screenplay: David Mamet. Direc­ tor of photography: Stephen H. Burum. Editor: Jerry Greenberg. Art director: William A. Elliott. Music: Ennio Morricone. Cast: Kevin Costner (Elliot Ness), Sean Connery (Jim Malone), Charles Martin Smith (Oscar Wallace), Andy Garcia (George Stone), Robert De Niro (Al Capone), Billy Drago (Frank Nitti), Richard Bradford (Mike). Production company: Paramount. Distributor: UIP. 35mm. 119 minutes. USA. 1987.

44 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

T h e p a in te r M ich elan g elo M erisi (1571-1610), called after his birthplace, C aravaggio, is distinguished by two achievements: he was the creator of some of the most profound religious paintings in the history of western art, and he was a m urderer.

D erek J a r m a n ’s Film c a n ’t however be approached as an historical biography.

I t ’s a very personal view of the a rtist’s life, a project which Ja rm a n has been in ­ volved with for seven years. Its fatal flaw as a film is that the d irector’s conception of the n ature of creativity is based on a form of channelled sexuality which resists analysis.

Film lives of artists are notorious for producing classics of kitsch, the aesthetic elevation of the banal. T he problem seems to be that if you scrupulously follow the historical record you will fail to explain that intensely intellectual m om ent when the artist produces art.

T he m ore intense the expression repro­ duced on film, the m ore banal appears the subordinate life. T he banality inevit­ ably invades the significance of the paintings.

A nother approach is to concentrate on the act of creation and to ask w hat elem ents of the a rtist’s consciousness, w hether psychological, social or his­ torical, went into the m aking of the paintings to attem pt to explain creation itself. T his is the alternative attem pted

by J a rm a n and in a m uch m ore restricted sense by Paul C o x ’s recent film on V an Gogh. T here are certain interesting parallels between the two films.

Both assum e a great deal of art history knowledge. I would challenge anyone who d id n ’t know these details to explain the subject m atter and social circum ­ stance of the commission for The Martyr­ dom O f Saint Matthew in the Ja rm a n film and the slashing of V an G ogh’s ear in Vincent. This biographical negligence, this refusal to distance from the subject perm its the director to escape the criticism that his portrait isn ’t historic­ ally accurate. In Paul C o x ’s case the interesting com plexity called V an Gogh is ironed out beyond recognition, all reference to such nasty m atters as sex and m oney, extracted from the voice­ over reading of V in cen t’s letters until we begin to w onder w hether Cox shouldn’t have called his film Saint Vincent.

Both films declare themselves pri­ m arily to be literary works rather than works for the cinem a. T hey employ voiceover com m entaries to give us access to the artists’ innerm ost thoughts as though only by this m eans can the directors guarantee any progress in giving cohesion to the ahistorical frag­ m ents presented on screen.

T h e life of each artist is interpreted in the light of a rom antic pathos. Both artists are depicted w orking com pul­ sively, trying to capture on canvas vaguely inspirational ideas which they

believe lie close to the centre of exist­ ence. Both are in terpreted as rebelling against certain conventional m odes of behaviour for which both are punished by social ostracism . C aravaggio (Nigel T erry) dies rejecting a crucifix offered by a m onk — highly unlikely given the period and the religious belief depicted in his paintings. Instead he clings grimly to the dagger with which he has cut R anuccio’s throat. O n its blade is stam ped the apocryphal L atin tag: ‘N either hope nor fear’. T he em phasis throughout J a r m a n ’s film is on the wilful independence of the artist yet we are intended to see the pain ter as a m artyr of art. W e are asked to m ake the crossing from rebellion to pathos.

T he biographical b u t unhistorical fact which fuses C arav ag g io ’s life w ith his art is the m enage a trois he enjoys with the doom ed R anuccio (Sean Bean) and L ena the prostitute (T ilda Sw inton).

A ccording to J a rm a n , the danger of bi­ sexual love in 16th century R om e equals the painterly risks C aravaggio takes with his com m issions. Yet the m otive for the m u rd er of R anuccio is a dram atic absurdity given the strong hom o-erotic em phasis of the film and the fact that Lena is a tw o-dim ensional character who only achieves a presence w hen she’s dead. T he killing of R anuccio is quite arbitrary since now C aravaggio has achieved his objective of possessing him exclusively, but it is them atically neces­ sary to em phasise the self-m utilation, the suffering for art, the them e of creative pathos.

A list of films which attem pt to reveal the m ysterious connection betw een the artist’s life and his aesthetic expression doesn’t add up to one of the great genres of the cinem a. Perhaps only Peter W atkins’ film on E dvard M unch and T arkovsky’s about A ndrei R ublev bear close critical scrutiny. J a rm a n , like m any before him , believes that the inner m eaning of an a rtist’s life can be equated with the a rtist’s output. T he paintings becom e the unm ediated tru th about the hu m an being who produced them.

T here are m ajor problem s involved in such an essentially Philistine approach.

No artist, even the m ost iconoclastic, works in a social vacuum . T h e art his­ torian A rth u r C . D ante put it succinctly in a recent article in the Times Literary Supplement: “ Such is the practice of art in the W est th at consciousness of participating in a history of a certain sort is a condition for participating in that h isto ry .” F ar from being the V an Gogh of the Late R enaissance, C a ra ­ vaggio in his w ork consciously returned to the great tradition of L eonardo and M ichelangelo and interpreted it in a new way. T here is no sense of this intel­ lectual adventure in J a r m a n ’s film because for him creativity excludes selfknowledge.

Instead he m akes up a contem porary slur on C aravaggio’s w ork by his first biographer Baglione (Jonathon H yde) that C aravaggio lacked im agination and

could only p aint w ith the m odels posed in the required arran g em en t before him .

W hat are we to m ake of these tableaux vivants or of the fact th at they are re p ro ­ duced with m uch m ore reference to the originals th an the dreadful Ju lia n

Schnabel-like messes of canvases that C a r a v a g g io d e m o n ic a lly sp la sh e s around in.

In m any ways they are the culm ina­ tion of the fallacy that A rt m ay be in ter­ preted as configured autobiography.

These groups of unnaturally frozen figures exist on the m argins between action (the cinem a image) and concept (the paintings). T hey are the desperate attem pt to bring into focus the co n tra­ dictory elem ents of a chaotic life which supposedly finds significance only in the authenticity of the creative act. T hey exemplify, in their stillness, their cine­ m atic unnaturalness, em blem s of death am id the complexities of life.

It is curious that almost none of the m ajor religious works are reproduced in this way — the inclusions significantly are two paintings depicting death, The Death Of The Virgin and The Entombment of Christ. Instead the tableaux recreate the paintings about ‘the fruits’, the boys who in a later developm ent were dis­ guised as St Jo h n s and sold to rich con­ noisseurs who could pass off illicit desire as sanctity. T he intention of the direc­ tor, in other words, is to reproduce C aravaggio’s painterly interest in flesh.

T he cinem a cannot reproduce the seduc­ tiveness of the brush stroke. T he p ain ter’s intention is to activate the su r­ face of the canvas but instead of this kinetic quality what J a r m a n ’s film offers is active life pretending to be frozen in time. T he m ovem ent from arrangem ent to freeze frame is in exact reverse of the artist’s painterly intention. T his repro­ duction which is also incorporated by Paul Cox in Vincent exudes the m is­ judged kitsch of a waxwork.

J a rm a n ’s film no m ore comes to grips with these aesthetic problem s than it does with C aravaggio’s inner life. N or does he give us any sense of C a ra ­ vaggio’s creative achievem ent. As a painter he was a superlative psycho­ logist, a conscious pursuer of the internalised dram a of hum an m ortality and the illum ination of various forms of redem ption from T im e. C ontingency, sexuality, violence were all blended in his artistic quest to expose the spiritual behind the world of appearances. T he paintings are devalued by the film, finished off and passed across the counter to the avidly w aiting aristocratic purchasers like so m any dud cheques.

W hat we are left with is J a r m a n ’s restricted personal response to the artist which, w andering between the assaults of K en Russell and the eccentric mise en scene of Fellini, comes dangerously close to recreating nothing m ore exciting than a gay party in arty Soho.

C aravaggio’s creative achievem ent was m uch greater, his life m ore darkly tragic, than this effete nonsense gives an audience access to.

J o h n Slavin

E N T O M B M E N T O F C H R IS T : T h e p a in tin g b ro u g h t to life

CARAVAGGIO: Directed by Derek Jarman. Producer: Sarah Radclyffe. Executive producer: Colin McCabe.

Screenplay: Derek Jarman. Director of photography: Gabriel Beristain. Editor: George Akers. Production designer: Christopher Hobbs. Music: Simon Fisher Turner. Cast: Nigel Terry (Caravaggio), Sean Bean (Ranuccio), Garry Cooper (Davide), Dexter Fletcher (Young Caravaggio), Spencer Leigh (Jerusaleme), Tilda Swinton (Lena), Nigel Davenport (Giustiani), Robbie Coltrane (Scipione Borghese), Jonathon Hyde (B aglione). P roduction com pany: BFI/Channel 4/Nicholas Ward-Jackson. Distributor: Ronin. 35mm. 93 minutes. Great Britain. 1987.

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 45

We don’t even know whether Amazing Stories is still being published. It was never mi much chop as a magazine after all.

Its salad days were in the twenties and thirties, Under the editorship of its founder, Hugo Gerrisback, Amazing was 6) the first science-fiction maga(in 1926; zine, and its stories were naive but pedesmixtures of popular mechanics and trian mb ripping yarns, not half as good as the covers b Frank R. Paul. By the late thirties, Gernsback gone, its staple had become space opera — bug-eyed monsters _ (BEMs) and the like. Then and in later years a succession of editors were wont to rt insist on as much beefcake action and \ cheesecake erotica as they could get in order to keep whatever sales the mag still commanded. Not a great set of credentials for a good time, all in all.

Still, as Steven Spielberg realised, ■ . Amazing Stories is a great title, much juicier than The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction or even Astounding Science | v Fiction, the industry leaders when s-f was ;s-f in the fifties and sixties. So perhaps it Sis no wonder that an American television : series under Spielberg’s banner and intended to rival the resurrected Twilight . Zone would have been given that name instead of say, Weird Tales, which is the magazine it actually seems to represent.

The TV series wasn’t a great h i t ..

Maybe there wasn’t enough audience for two fantasy series, or something. Cer­ tainly the quality of what went on the screen -was not at fault — at least from what one of us managed to see of it in the •US last year, and from the standard of the three episodes gathered together in this eponymous compilation film. Boss tele­ vision, no doubt about it. . ; (Footnote for pedants: the publicity - people told us that this film was created solely for the Australian market. That is, J it is. a film which does not exist outside v Australia, even though it is an ‘American’ \ ’ film. ; Nos,- wonder film historians act ûæË strange.) * We are going to have to make some fine distinctions, i f i f ’s all right with you. You will remember that the television Amazing Stories was different from the magazine - Amazing Stories. Now pay attention: the •" television Amazing Stories was different 'from the television Twilight Zone (both Î front the original and the retread) in that llplf it was a director’s, not a writer’s, show: - In this, the television Amazing Stories was . following the lead of the movie Twilight Zone (still with us? there’ll be a test on this material on Tuesday). What was memor­ able in that movie wasf of course, George Miller’s dynamite final episode and Joe Dante’s.fun with cartoons, not the cutesy stories upon which they were based.

Well, the movie Amazing Stories is still a J,; “ .director’sp ictu re, albeit a B version of f Twilight Zone’s bravado. By this we mean SfV^thaÇwhàt is, most interesting in this rather -film is the way the the stories '^lîiVi-sidÆitfhër-way The

46

Equalizer is, not the way Rumpole is. And, ''let it be said right away, maybe “ direc­ tor’s picture” is not a strictly accurate way of putting it. Rick Carter is credited as the production designer on all three episodes (presumably he was for the whole series), and the look of the episodes, even their noticeably high ‘production value’, is probably due more to him than to anyone else. So, although Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and William Dear are credited as the directors, others (including the writers) may well be responsible for the way these stories are. told. “ Director’s picture” is just a holdover from the bad old days of auteurism, and we should be spanked for using it. (Not by you, dear reader, not by you.)

mm ---- ------ fin

■ aH a 1 2 ü

'Is/fÈN^IMY^DEAQpST: The complicated ' viewing experience of Amazing Stories

The clearest example of what we mean is Rnbert Zemeckis’ episode, the last one.

Along with a hoary Grand Guignol slap­ stick story about teenagers putting a curse on their English teacher, there are a set of images and incidents about feminine power, as Cynthia (Mary Stuart Masterson) outthinks and outperforms her dupepartner in crime, Peter (Scott Coffey) every fog-filled inch of the way. This gives the rather routine story development just énough tingle to sustain interest. You keep on asking, “ what is this wacko person going to do to that poor nerd next?” when you know all too well what has to happen next for the story to keep going.

Then there is the level of technical

R I E S interest. It is our contention that one of the central pleasures of watching fantasy and science-fiction films is watching special effects — magic tricks. Part way through the Zemeckis episode someone loses his/her head (we aren’t giving away anything in these stories, are we?), and from there on part of one’s interest in what is going on is purely technical. “ How will they do it? Will I see the trick?” That sort of thing. Rick Carter, who apparently was in charge of special effects design too, does not let one down.

His solutions are ingenious, ^probably cheap, and good enough for jazz (or tele­ vision).

The second episode, which concerns a mummy, or mummies, on the loose is actually about this sort of technical interest. Of the three, it generates the most complicated viewing experience, because we know the mummy is not a mummy yet most of the gags are about how absurd it is for a mummy to be in such and such a situation, so our laughter is being elicited by suspending belief twice, as it were. And, speaking of twice, two actors are credited with playing the (false) mummy at different places in the press kit: Brian Badley and Tom Harrison. Since we never see anything but a mummy suit, this confusion is perfectly in keeping with what is, as we said, a complicated viewing experience anyway.

Now, the episode we are supposed to write about is Spielberg’s episode, but what is there to say? It is soft Spielberg — Frank Capra plus Paranormal Pheno­ mena. If you feel constricted as you are watching it, you are supposed to (Rick Carter designed it that way, which also happens to work for small screen tele­ vision design in general). We usually feel constricted watching Spielberg films, even when we are not supposed to, so maybe we shouldn’t say much more. There is no doubt that the guy knows his craft, but then, so does Paul McCartney.

So, if you like this sort of thing, you’ll like this sort of thing. It’s okay. Rut it ain’t George Miller.

•DOWN BY LAW In one of the m any capricious declara­ tions that the late A ndy W arhol taught us both to love and ignore, he said that he always knew a painting was good if it m ade him w ant to change his hairstyle.

Some people, it would seem, took him to his w ord and J im Jarm u sch , on the evidence of this film, is probably one of them . His Down By Law seems to be little m ore than the tired product of the union of w hat has been called ‘Im age C u ltu re ’ and its too-close-for-kissing cousin ‘Style’ — those areas of produc­ tion whose entire reason for being and value is contained by the thoughtretard in g phrase “ it looks good” . T here are some glim m ers of intelligence in the film — a nod to the sitcom, to screwball, the desire to m ake comedy in general — but not enough to redeem it. In any case, if Jarm u sch were to pursue any of these threads seriously he m ight end up m aking a popular film — and where would that get him at Venice or Cannes?

Visually the film has a m onum ental, granite-like stiffness, so m uch so that for most of the time we m ight as well be w atching stills. Zack (Tom W aits), kicked out of his apartm ent by his girl­ friend, sits on an oil drum outside a petrol station at night. H e does nothing, just sits there as a part of a construction that we recognise as being m eant to convey dejection. But this is secondary, for in the background there are some really interesting shadows happening and W aits’ chrom e-toed boots are holding down a considerable part of the scene too. I t ’s an “ interesting im age” ,

the fodder of video clips, th a t’s the beginning and the end of it. T h at it m ight be some kind of existentialist aesthetic ploy, intentionally dull and em pty, does not, unfortunately, stop it from being, in fact, dull and em pty.

W hen considering the involvem ent of the two m ain actors, T om W aits and John Lurie, it is impossible to think of them as anything other than u n d er­ ground pop stars. T h eir characterisation as two heavy, street-wise dudes is flimsy to say the least. T h at could be O K if play were m ade of that gap in believ; ability, a touch of cam p perhaps, but sadly th ey ’re trying to do it for real and the results are pretty painful.

Lurie plays Jack , a slick, black-style pim p. Early in the film he is invited up to a hotel room to see a potential new girl. H e gives her a big spiel about how he is going to look after h er well. I t ’s all cool, sleazy jive talk. T here are shots of the flashy rings on his fingers. His m anner is slightly edgy. All the signs are there but it doesn’t add up to the in ten d ed p ictu re. I t ’s as though Jarm usch is completely satisfied by the image, the ‘look’, alone. Ironically, the sum effect of the scene is som ething close to sensory deprivation, the com bination of o b v iousness and L u r ie ’s selfreflecting cool.

After a few lame and long-winded plot developm ents W aits and Lurie meet in prison. They do not get along and there is tension between them — well, we recognise that there is m eant to be, anyway. Occasionally they come to blows but, funnily, because Ja rm u sc h ’s cam era seems capable only of poring over his characters with the same dum b, >

Bill and Diane Routt AMAZING STORIES: "The Mission": Directed by Steven Spielberg. Producer: David Vogel. Supervising producers: Joshua Brand and John Falsey. Screenplay: Menno Meyjes. Director of photography: John Mc­ Pherson. Production designer: Rick Carter. Music: John Williams. Editor: Steven Kemper. Cast: Casey Siemaszko (Jonathan), Kevin Costner (the Captain), Kiefer Sutherland (Static). "Mum m y. Daddy” . Directed

by William Dear; Producer: David Vogel. Supervising producers: Joshua Brand and John Falsey. Screenplay: Earl Pomerantz. from a story by Steven Spielberg.

Director of photography: Robert Stevens. Production designer: Rick Carter. Music: Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek, John Williams (theme). Editor: Joe Ann Fogle.

Cast: Tom Flarrison/Brian Bradley (the Mummy), Bronson Pinchot (the director). "G 6 To th e Head Of The Class ’: Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Producer: David Vogel. Executive producer: Steven Spielberg.

Screenplay: Mick Garris, Tom McLoughlin and Bob Gale, from a story by Mick Garris. Director of photo­ graphy: John McPherson. Production designer: Rick Carter. Music: Alan Silvestri, John Williams (theme).

Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont. Cast: Christopher Lloyd (Mr Beaner),' Scott Coffey (Peter Brand), Mary .

Stuart Masterson (Cynthia). Production company: Amblin Entertainment. Distributor: UIP. 35rhm. 110 minutes. USA: 1987. ; .; .,'L i , v

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 47

< voyeuristic fascination, the build-ups to these fights always look as if they should be leading up to love scenes. You expect them to kiss, not hit each other.

In the prison cell they are joined by the very gifted, very funny Italian com edian R oberto Benigni. H e does not speak English but, arm ed with a book of phrases, he m anages to com m unicate while m aking all the expected but n one­ theless enjoyable mistakes. T here are some good laughs and when he arrives on the scene there is a sense of relief, perhaps the film proper is going to start.

H e does not, however, tu rn out to be the energising catalyst we m ight have hoped for. Not that he does a bad jo b , but everything around him is too, too dead.

T he Benigni character, like m any of the plot moves and situations, draws on the tradition of the screwball and the sitcom. It is a tradition that is still alive and popular. W itness the m any teen movies that have worked with those same conventions in recent years, like The Sure Thing and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and have done it well. Ja rm u sc h ’s appropriations, by contrast, are selfconscious, half-baked and truly ham m y, and they are at their worst when the film goes for an ensemble gag as, for example, when Benigni leads the others into absurd song while they are in prison. T he good feeling and good hum our that emerges is ju st fake and em barrassing. W aits and Lurie look about as com fortable as two teenage

boys forced to dance with their hom ely cousins at a wedding. It rem inded me of the awful attem pts at h um our in Dogs In Space, a film which operates in a sim ilar sphere.

T he problem seems to be an am bi­ valence or lack of resolve towards popu­ lar comedy, its figures and its cliches.

T he film is probably not against them but it definitely isn’t with them either.

Instead it plays a game of conspicuous alignm ent. “ I t’s hip to dig trash ” seems to be the underlying attitude. But, of course, to you and me, who attend and enjoy the popular cinem a old and new, it’s not trash is it? H ere Ja rm u sc h ’s arm s-length handling of the m aterial shows us where h e’s really at. I t ’s as though he can ’t really stomach the step down into the m uck of popular comedy for fear that his film m ight be m istaken for one itself (if only!). At the same tim e not “ digging trash ” m ight throw it out of the cool zone in the other direction, towards highbrow.

M aybe I ’m being too black and white about it. Perhaps I should be consider­ ing its awkward, fruitless mix as som e­ thing new in itself, but I can ’t. T he bottom line is that the film gives very little and, personally and artistically, you feel it d id n ’t cost Jarm u sch m uch.

Like a middle-class kid in his or her first O p Shop outfit, it’s too pleased with itself too easily.

R alph Traviato DOWN BY LAW: Directed by Jim Jarmusch. Producer: Alan Kleinberg. Co-producers: Tom Rothman and Jim Stark. Executive producers: Otto Grokenberger, Cary Brokaw and Russell Schwartz. Screenplay: Jim Jarmusch. Director of photography: Robby Muller. Pro­ duction designer: Roger Knight. Music: John Lurie.

Editor: Melody London. Cast: Tom Waits (Zack), John Lurie (Jack), Roberto Benigni (Roberto), Nicoletta Braschi (Nicoletta). Ellen Barkin (Laurette), Billie Neal (Bobbie), Rockets Redglare (Gig). Production company: Black Snake/Grokenberger Films. Distributor: Newvision. 35mm. 106 minutes. USA. 1986.

•SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT

W H ATEVER N O LA W AN TS, N O LA GETS: T racy C a m ila J o h n s an d T o m m y R e d m o n d H icks

48 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

Any film that includes the come-on line, “ Nola. Nola. Nola. J u st let me smell it.

Please, baby, please!” can ’t be all bad.

A nd Spike L ee’s She’s Gotta Have It posi­ tively radiates with the natural light, touch and taste of sensuous ardour. A low-budget A m erican comedy popu­ lated by Brooklyn blacks, the movie em ­ braces the sweaty flesh and itchy spirit of se x u a l p lay as p e rfo rm e d from num erous narrative viewpoints around the central co-ordinate of a young m odern black w om an, Nola D arling (T racy C am ila Johns).

Structurally, w e’re in the hear-itfrom-all-sides realm of K urosaw a’s Rashomon, which director Lee is reported to have seen ju st prior to w riting the script for She’s Gotta Have It. However, the m atter up for m ulti-prism atic inspection here is not the single crim inal event of the K urosaw a film b ut the expansive libidinal and am atory nature of the principal female protagonist.

T his anchoring of the film ’s nom inal

concerns w ithin contem porary fem inine experience is signalled from the start when w e’re treated to a poetic pre­ credits q u o tatio n for Z o ra N eale H u rsto n ’s book, Their Eyes Were Watch­ ing God. T he passage describes som e­ thing of a recent gender shift in fantasy fulfilment. “ Now w om en forget all those things they d o n ’t wish to rem em ber and rem em ber all those things they d o n ’t wish to forget. T he dream is the tr u th .”

T he im pact of assertive selectivity “ n o w ” a v a ila b le to th e fem ale im aginary is further punctuated by the film ’s first and final shots of Nola, enter­ ing and leaving the narrative by em erging from and retu rn in g to her bedcovers in lyrical slow m otion. These stately bookends, which m ight be bracketing a privately orchestrated reverie (as if in a truthful dream ), ulti­ mately resem ble personalised closure joints on a variously panelled screen which grants as m uch space and weight to N ola’s associates, especially a trio of male lovers, as to the titular “ she” . T he notion of who is dream ing whose truths could become a m ore complex issue in the film than the H u rsto n manifesto m ay imply.

Stylistically, the m ode often appears to be a black and white streetwise docu­ m entary with each fictional participant in tro d u ced ad d ressing the cam era directly, preceded by a full nam e title.

Such devices, coupled with the film ’s cityspeak h u m o u r , mi ght have p ro m p te d som e c o m m e n ta to rs to trum pet the arrival of “ a black W oody A llen” , especially the Allen of Take The Money And Run and Broadway Danny Rose.

Yet , a g a in s t W o o d y ’s c u ltiv a te d neuroses and hilariously obsessive anxieties, the tone of She’s Gotta Have It sounds m ore open, spontaneous, u n ­ adorned, rhythm ically slangy; so m uch so that during a gam e of Scrabble when it is suggested that “ g onna” be a per­ missible word, the idea doesn’t seem at all unnatural.

Q uestions of naturalness and accept­ ability fuel a m ajor them atic m otor of She’s Gotta Have It in that a polygam ous female appetite can be seen as utterly reasonable — utterly problem atic as well — but by no m eans sick or freakish.

N ola’s opening declaration is: “ I wish to clear my nam e. I consider myself natural, w hatever that m eans . . . ” and the scenario proceeds to chart how num erous people, particularly three of N ola’s boyfriends, work around N ola’s peculiar norm ality.

T h e re ’s solid, steady Ja m ie O verstreet (Tom m y R edm ond Hicks), who is prepared to give his all to N ola ( “ W h a t­ ever you w anna do, I ’ll do, w herever you w anna go, I ’ll take y o u ” ). T h e re ’s vain, body-building male m odel G reer Childs (John C an ad a T errell), a black yuppie (“ H oney, my career is really taking off and I w ant you by my side” ).

A nd th ere’s M ars Blackmon (played by the film ’s director-w riter-editor, Spike Lee), a jivey, unem ployed street rapper who peppers his talk with persistent

rep e titio n s, n o tab ly th e infectious invocation, “ Please baby, baby, baby please.”

In counterp o in t to this m ale h etero ­ sexual triad , N ola is also offered a lesbian option from O pal G ilstrap (R aye D ow ell), w ho, in p ro m o tin g th e advantages of Sapphic love asserts, “ I ’ll tell you w hat, it’s not some m usty m ale pounding ro u n d inside of you at a mile a m in u te ” — to which N o la ’s candid response is, “ W h a t’s w rong w ith th a t? ” All these portraits, and other cam eos that stud N o la’s life, have a comic p re ­ cision and distinct flavour. E rnest D ick erso n ’s superb cin em ato g rap h y illum inates the film ’s surfaces and, aside from an overly am bitious song and dance insert in colour, the m usic score by the d ire c to r’s father Bill Lee adds a resonant jazzy texture of saxy variations and wistful refrains.

T h e lovem aking scenes, in th e m ­ selves, are sensational, yielding graphic glimpses of body action and suggestive detail: a single trail of perspiration half­ way down J a m ie ’s u p p er back; the bobbing tilt of N o la’s sm iling face, riding in pleasure; the generous bulk of G re e r’s jockette-clad appendage; M a rs ’ m outh descending to cup N o la’s nipple; N o la’s fingers in delicate auto-erotic play across each of h er breasts.

All very nice, and niftily executed by w hat was basically a hom e m ovie crew of family and friends on tight funds (a $23,000 shoot plus $150,000 processing

costs). Sex, sass and cinem atic skill — who could ask for anything more?

W ell, m aybe N ola could have. Som e­ how the film is so scrupulously ad am ant about m aking her position norm al, nononsense and even-tem pered that she’s less a beating heart and m ore a soft centre around which the other charac­ ters, in p articular that rom antic triu m ­ virate, can revolve and evolve. Spike Lee has m ade N ola such an agreeable antithesis to the crazy nym pho stereo­ type that he has w ound up with a blandly liberated w om an — all sex and no passion.

I t ’s certainly not N ola — neatly dis­ pensing lines about not being “ in love but in like” and tidily fending off em otional threats with a clipped, “ I d o n ’t believe in regrets” — who stays with us after the movie. A udiences will tend to rem em ber J a m ie ’s heartfelt, im ­ perilled chauvinism , G re e r’s strutting braggadocio, M a rs’ m osquitoid buzz . . . A ccident or Design? A good or a bad thing when w e’ve ju st enjoyed such an inventive, funny film?

Peter K em p SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT!: Directed, written and edited

by Spike Lee. Producer: Shelton J. Lee. Associate pro­ ducer: Pamm Jackson. Director of photography: Ernest Dickerson. Production designer: Wynn Thomas. Music: Bill Lee. Cast: Tracy Camila Johns (Nola Darling), Tommy Redmond Hicks (Jamie Overstreet), John Canada Terrell (Greer Childs), Spike Lee (Mars Black­ mon), Raye Dowell (Opal Gilstrap), Joie Lee (Clorinda Bradford), Epatha Merkinson (Dr Jamison), Bill Lee (Sonny Darling). Production company: Island/Porty Acres/Mule Filmworks. Distributor: Greater Union.

35mm. 84 minutes. USA. 1986.

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October: No W ay O u t (Village Roadshow ) Full M etal Jack et (Village Roadshow) M y Sweet Little Village (H oyts) N adine (Fox C olum bia) Jo sh u a T hen & Now (Seven Keys) T he Y ear M y Voice Broke (H oyts) Hell R aiser (Village Roadshow ) T he Boss’ Wife (Fox C olum bia) Good M o rn in g Babylon (C EL) Je a n De Florette (G reater U nion/V illage R oadshow ) T he Big Easy (Seven Keys) H otel Colonial (Film pac)

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CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 49

Is it faithful? Is it true to the book? Does it matter? In the final part of his examination of theories of literary adaptation, BRIAN McFARLANE looks at notions of fidelity. s it really “ Jam esian” ? Is it “ tru e to L aw rence” ? Does it “ capture the spirit o f D ickens” ? At every level from new spaper reviews to longer essays in critical anthologies, the offering o f fidelity to the original novel as a major criterion for judging the film adaptation is pervasive.

N o critical line is in greater need o f re-exam ination — and devaluation.

O n B ein g F aith fu l D iscussion o f adaptation has been bedevilled by the fidelity issue, no doubt ascribable in part to the novel’s com ing first, in part to the ingrained sense o f literatu re’s greater respec­ tability in traditional critical circles. As long ago as the m id-1940s Jam es Agee used to com plain o f a debilitating reverence even in such superior transpositions to the screen as D avid L ean ’s Great Expectations. It seemed to him that the really serious-m inded film goer’s idea o f art w ould be “ a good faithful adaptation o f A dam Bede in sepia, w ith the entire text read offscreen by H erb ert M arshall” .1 However, voices such as A gee’s, querulously insisting that the cinema make its own art and to hell w ith tasteful allegiance, have generally cried in the w ilderness.

Fidelity criticism depends on a notion o f the text as having, and rendering u p to the (intelligent) reader, a single, correct “ m eaning” w hich the film m aker has either adhered to or in some sense violated or tam pered w ith. T h ere will often be a distinction betw een being faithful to the letter, w hich the m ore sophisticated w riter may suggest is no way to ensure a “ successful” adaptation, and to the “ sp irit” or “ essence” o f the work. T h e latter is o f course very m uch more difficult to determ ine since it involves not merely a parallelism betw een novel and film b u t betw een two or more readings o f any given novel, since, despite the stress on fidelity, it is really able only to aim at reproducing his reading o f the original and to hope that it will coincide w ith that o f m any other readers/view ers. Since such a coincidence is unlikely the fidelity approach seems a doom ed enterprise and fidelity criticism unillum inating. T h a t is, the critic who quibbles at failures o f fidelity is really saying no m ore than: “ T h is rendering o f the original does not tally w ith m ine in these and these w ays” .

Few w riters on adaptation have specifically questioned the possibility o f fidelity; though some have claimed not to em brace it, they still regard it as a viable choice for the film ­ m aker and a criterion for the critic. M o rris Beja is one exception. In asking w hether there are “ guiding p rinciples” for film m akers adapting literature, he asks: “ W hat relation­ ship should a film have to the original source? Should it be ‘faithful’? C an it be? T o w hat?” 2 W hen Beja asks “ T o w h at” should a film m aker be faithful in adapting a novel, one is led to recall those efforts at

50 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

fidelity to tim es and places rem ote from present-day life. In “ period” film s, one often senses exhaustive attem pts to create an im pression o f fidelity to, say, D ickens’ L ondon or to Jane A usten’s village life, the result o f w hich, so far from ensuring fidelity to the text, is to produce a distracting quaintness. W hat was a contem porary w ork for the author, who could take a good deal relating to tim e and place for granted, as requiring little or no scene-setting for his readers, has becom e a period piece for the filmmaker. As early as 1928, M . W illson D isher picked up the scent o f this false fidelity in w riting about a version o f Robinson Crusoe: “ M r W etherell [the director] w ent all the way to Tobago to shoot the right kinds o f creeks and caves, b ut he should have travelled not w estw ards, b u t backw ards, to reach ‘the island’, and then he w ould have arrived w ith the right sort o f luggage” .3 D isher is not speaking against fidelity to the original as such b u t against a m isconstrued notion o f how it m ight be achieved. A m ore recent exam ple is Peter Bogdan­ ovich’s use o f the m edicinal baths sequence in his film of

D R E A M C H IL D : A re fle c tio n on th e w o rk th a t in s p ire d it

Daisy Miller-. “ T h e m ixed b athing is authentically o f the period” , he claim s in an interview w ith Jan D aw son.4 A uthentically o f the period, perhaps, but not so o f H enry James, so th at it is only a tangential, potentially distracting, and possibly irrelevant fidelity that is arrived at. T h e issue of fidelity is a com plex one b u t it is not too gross a sim plification to suggest th at critics have encouraged film ­ makers to see it as a desirable goal in the adaptation of literary works.

O b scu rin g O th er Issu es T he insistence on fidelity has led to a suppression o f potentially m ore rew arding approaches to the phenom enon of adaptation. Such an insistence tends to ignore the idea of adaptation as an exam ple o f convergence am ong the arts, perhaps a desirable, even an inevitable, process in a rich culture; it fails to take into serious account w hat may be transferred from novel to film as distinct from w hat will require m ore com plex processes o f adaptation; and it

marginalises those production determ inants w hich have nothing to do w ith the novel but may be pow erfully influential upon the film. Awareness o f such issues w ould be more useful than those m any accounts o f how films “ reduce” great novels.

M odern critical notions o f intertextuality represent a more sophisticated approach, in relation to adaptation, to the idea o f the original novel as a “ resource” . As C hristopher O rr remarks: “ W ithin this critical context [ie o f intertextuality], the issue is not w hether the adapted film is faithful to its source, but rather how the choice o f a specific source and how the approach to the source serve the film ’s ideology.” 5 W hen, for instance, M -G -M filmed James H ilto n ’s 1941 bestseller, Random H arvest, in the following year, its images o f an unchanging E ngland have as m uch to do w ith Hollywood anti-isolationism w ith regard to W orld W ar II as w ith finding visual equivalents for anything in H ilton. T h e film belongs in a rich context created by notions of H ollyw ood’s E ngland, by M -G -M ’s reputation for prestigious literary adaptation and for its glossy “ house style” , by the genre o f rom antic m elodram a (cf. Rebecca, This Above AH), and by the idea o f the star vehicle. H ilto n ’s popular but, in tru th , undistinguished rom ance is b ut one elem ent o f the film ’s intertextuality. For audiences (and ' Random Harvest was the second biggest box-office hit in war-time Britain), the draw card was far m ore likely to have been G reer G arson than James H ilton: it was a star vehicle, first, an adaptation only second (if that) for m any in its vast audiences.

Some w riters have proposed strategies potentially more rew arding than the fidelity test for considering adaptations, strategies w hich seek to categorise adaptations so that fidelity to the original loses some o f its privileged position.

Geoffrey W agner suggests three possible categories w hich are open to the film m aker and to the critic assessing his adaptation: he calls these (a) transposition “ in w hich a novel is given directly on the screen w ith a m inim um o f apparent interference” ;6 (b) commentary “ where an original is taken and either purposely or inadvertently altered in some respect . . . w hen there has been a different intention on the part o f the filmmaker, rather than infidelity or outright violation” ;7 and (c) “ analogy w hich m ust represent a fairly considerable departure for the sake o f making another work o f art” .8 T h e critic, he im plies, will need to understand w hich kind o f adaptation he is dealing w ith if his com m entary on an individual film is to be valuable. D udley A ndrew also reduces the modes o f relation betw een the film and its source novel to three, w hich correspond roughly (but in reverse order o f adherence to the original) to W agner’s categories: “ Borrow ing, intersection, and fidelity o f trans­ form ation” .9 A nd there is a th ird com parable classification system put forw ard by M ichael K lein and G illian Parker: first, “ fidelity to the m ain th ru st o f the narrative” ; second, the approach w hich “ retains the core o f the structure o f the narrative w hile significantly reinterpreting or, in some cases, deconstructing the source tex t” ; and, third, regarding “ the source m erely as raw m aterial, as sim ply the occasion for an original w ork” .10 T h e parallel w ith W agner’s categories is clear.

T h ere is nothing definitive about these attem pts at classification b ut at least they represent some heartening >

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 51

challenges to the p rim acy o f fidelity as a critical criterion.

F u rth er, they im ply th a t, unless th e k in d o f adaptation is identified, critical evaluation m ay w ell be w ide o f the m ark.

T h e faithful adaptatio n (eg, D aisy M iller, or Jam es Ivory’s A Room W ith A View) can certainly be intelligent and attractive, b u t is not necessarily to be preferred to the film w hich sees th e original as “ raw m aterial” to be re-w orked as H itchcock so p ersisten tly did, from say, Sabotage to The Birds. W ho, indeed, ever thin k s o f H itchcock as prim arily an adaptor o f o th er p eo p le’s fictions? A t a fu rth e r extrem e, it is possible to th in k o f a film as p ro v id in g a com m entary on a literary text, as W elles does on th ree Shakespearean plays in Chimes A t M idnight or, as G avin M illar does, in a film w hich is not really an ad ap tatio n in th e usual sense o f the w ord, in Dreamchild, a reflection on L ew is C arro ll’s Alice in Wonderland — and th e Alice w ho insp ired it. T h e re are m any kinds o f relations w hich m ay exist betw een film and literatu re, and fidelity is only one — and rarely the m ost exciting.

T r y in g A g a in In establishing th e kin d o f relation a film m ight bear to the novel it draw s on, it is w o rth d istin g u ish in g betw een that w hich can be tran sferred from one m edium to another (essentially, narrative) and th at w hich, being d ependent on d ifferen t signifying system s, cannot be transferred (essentially, enunciation). T h e distin ctio n is not as boldly sim ple as th e previous sentence m akes it sound, b u t it is sim ple enough to m ake one w on d er w hy it has not been p u rsu e d in studies o f adaptation.

N arrativ e is still th e best place to start in dealing w ith adaptation since those events, m ore or less causally connected, w hich prop el n arrative are b o th (a) susceptible to objective statem ents about th em (“ T h e convict seizes P ip ” ) and (b) not in tran sig en tly tied to one or other signifying system to establish th e ir im portance. R oland B arthes’ 1966 essay, “ In tro d u c tio n to th e S tru ctu ral A nalysis o f N arra­ tives” , 11 w ith its classification o f narrative functions into

“ d istrib u tio n al” and “ in teg ratio n al” , offers a valuable starting p o in t for sifting th e transferable from th e non-transferable. H is “ card in al” fu n ctio n s12, those actions capable o f alternative outcom es and linked consequentially as well as chronologically, repay first exam ination in any study o f w here a film stands in relation to a p recu rso r novel.

It is n o t usually at this level th at a film m aker w ill m ost notably p art com pany from th e novel, and it is com par­ atively straight-forw ard to stu d y how far a film has sought to transfer key narrative elem ents. T h e film version o f a novel m ay retain all the m ajor cardinal functions o f a novel, all its ch ief character functions, its m ost im p o rtan t psychological p atterns, and yet, at b o th m icro- and m acro-levels o f articulation, set u p in th e view er acquainted w ith th e novel quite different responses. T h e extent to w hich this is so can be determ ined by how far th e film m aker has sought to create his ow n w ork in these areas w here transfer is not possible.

H e can, o f course, p u t his ow n stam p on th e w ork by om itting or re-ordering those narrative elem ents w hich are transferable or by in v en tin g new ones o f his own: m y point is th at, even i f he has chosen to adhere to th e novel in these respects, he can still m ake a film th a t offers a m arkedly different affective and/or intellectual experience. It is the “ integrational fu n ctio n s” or “ indices” , w hich include notations o f character, atm osphere, and narrational tone and w hich denote states o f being rath er th a n operations, that lead to a consideration o f th e m ore com plex relations betw een a film and th e novel it is based on: th at is, at the level o f enunciation.

H ere, the full force o f th e distinctions betw een two different signifying system s w ill be felt. T h e novel draw s on a w holly verbal sign system , th e film variously, and som etim es sim ultaneously, on visual, aural and verbal signifiers. In th e study o f adaptation, a rigorous exam ination o f th e ways in w hich the cinem atic codes (eg, those to do w ith editing, w ith cam era angle, distance an d m ovem ent) and those extra-cinem atic codes in teg rated in th e mise-enscene (eg, costum e, setting, cultu ral codes generally) and on the soundtrack are deployed m ay provide insight into how far and by w hat m eans th e film m aker has sought equivalents for th e novel’s p u rely verbal signs. A nd, m ore im portantly, such com parison m ay p o in t to ways in w hich he has sought, in H itch co ck ’s phrase, “ to create cinem a” .13 W h eth er he has aim ed at fidelity or analogy or com m entary, it is here — in the realm o f cinem a itse lf — th at th e film m aker’s achievem ent as an ad ap to r is to be gauged.

NOTES

SABOTAGE: Using an original as “ raw material’

52 — NOVEMBER CINEM A PAPERS

1. Agee On Film , M c D o w ell, O blon sky, N ew Y ork, 1958, p 2 1 6 .

2. M o rris B e ja , Film A n d L iteratu re, L o n g m a n , N ew Y ork, 1979, p80.

3. M . W illson D ish e r, “ C la ssic s into F ilm s ” , The Fortnightly Review , V ol 124 (N ew Series), D e c 1928, p 7 8 9 .

4. Ja n D aw son , “ A n In terview w ith P eter B o g d a n o v ic h ” , Sight A n d Sound, V ol 4 3 , N o 1, W inter, 1973/74, p l 4 .

5. C h risto p h er O rr, “ T h e D isco u rse on A d ap tatio n ” , Wide Angle, V ol 6, N o 2, 1984, p 72.

6. G eo ffrey W agner, The N o v e l A n d The C inem a, F a irle ig h D ickinson U n iv ersity P ress, N ew Je rse y , 1975, p 2 2 2 .

7. Ibid., p 2 2 4 .

8. Ibid., p226.

9. D u d ley A ndrew , “ T h e W ell-W orn M u se : A d ap tation in F ilm H isto ry and T h e o ry ” in S y n d y C o n g er an d Ja n ic e R . W elsch (eds.), N a rra tiv e Strategies, W est Illin ois U n iv ersity , 1980, plO .

10. M ic h ael K le in an d G illian P ark er (ed s.), The English N o vel an d the M ovies, F red erick U n g a r P u b lish in g C o ., N e w Y ork, 1981, pp9-10.

11. R o lan d B arth es, Im age-M usic Text, C o llin s, 1977.

12. cf. Sey m o u r C h atm an ’s term “ k ern els” in S to ry A n d Discourse, C orn ell U n iv ersity P ress, Ith aca, 1978.

13. In F ran co is T r u ffa u t H itchcock, S im o n an d S ch u ster, N ew York 1966, p49.

THE WRI TE S T UF F In the last issue, SAM ROHDIE wrote about the debate in Italian cinema on the tyranny of the script. Here, he looks at Pasolini’s theoretical work on the nature of the screenplay.

I asolini’s theoretical w ritings on the cinem a are rela­ tively extensive. F o r some, like Gilles D eleuze recently, Pasolini is an im portant theorist. T hese w ritings, how ever, have an odd quality: they are intensely personal, at tim es alm ost autobiographical. But th en all his w ritings, and especially his film s, are like this; Pasolini him ­ self rem arked on it. O n the o ther hand, his life reads like a novel about pain and th e flesh. “ In the w inter o f 1949 I fled w ith m y m other to R om e, as if in a novel. T h e period in F riuli was o v er.”

H is death was u tte rly literary, and a scandal. H e picked up a young boy late at night at the R om e Stazione T erm in i, as he did m ost nights. H e b o ught him some food then took him to the R om an sub-proletarian periphery o f Ostia to make love. T h e place was deserted, squalid. Pasolini was viciously beaten th en ru n over by his ow n Alfa. It was like a chapter from Una Vita Violenta >or R ag a zzi D i Vita, or a scene from Accattone w ith th e peculiar m ix o f the corrupt and the sacred, th e m ost m iserable death redeem ed by sacrifice. T o some it seem ed as if he had w illed it.

Pasolini w rote a short essay on the film script in 1965: La sceneggiatura come “struttura che vuol essere altra struttura” (T he script as “ stru ctu re th at w ants to be another struc­ tu re ” ). T h e essay concerns th e m edian role o f the script facing in two directions, tow ards literature, tow ard film, tow ard the w ord, tow ard th e image. B ut the w riting has a peculiar quality o f longing and desire even beyond the precise shift in P asolini’s ow n work/life from poetry and the novel to th e cinem a, from one language to another. It is the intensity o f the w riting rather m ore th an the content o f the th o ught th at arrests the attention. In fact, the th o u g h t is not especially interesting, and it is even banal. F or Pasolini the fascinating aspect o f the script was its in-betw een, neither here nor there quality w hich gave it a m ovem ent to become other than it was, to lose one language, to acquire another. It is at this po in t, o f m ovem ent, th at the w riting becomes exciting.

In Jun e, 1965, aro u n d the tim e the script article was w ritten, P asolini gave a pap er on ‘T h e cinem a o f p oetry’ at an im portan t cinem a and sem iotics conference at the Pesaro F ilm Festival, along w ith R oland B arthes, U m berto Eco, and C hristian M etz. F ilm sem iotics in part was involved in distinguishing w hat was specific to film; it used models derived from linguistics and sought thereby to delineate the particular ‘language’ o f film .

P asolini’s sem iotic/linguistic interests were not at all ‘scientific’, b u t rath er polem ical and political. T h e w ritten and spoken language, th e language o f graphem es, m onemes and phonem es was highly coded, institutionalised and, to stretch a point, rationalist and m ale. O n the other hand, for

P

P A S O L IN I: H is d e a th w a s like a s c e n e fro m A c c a tto n e

Pasolini the cinem a had no language, no ‘codes’ in the sense that language proper did, or if it did, that language was m ade up directly from the ‘real’; its appeal was to som ething less rational, m ore prim itive than language — the gestural, the corporeal, the regressive, the flesh. T h e basis o f the cinem a rested in the irrational, the pre-conscious — qualities Pasolini rem arked as decadent. T h e move tow ard the cinem a was tow ard the less coded, the m ore sensuous, but also tow ard the m aternal — the m other w hom he fled w ith to Rom e as in a novel, as in a dream . T h e ‘m ovem ent’ o f the script from language to images, from the coded to the stylistic, the institutional to the personal, was a move away from w hat was know n and authoritative (“ m y father . . . broken, violent, tyrannical b u t w ithout power, made crazy by cheap wine, ever m ore in love w ith m y m other who never loved him . . .” ) into a realm in w hich language itself was challenged, b ut by an irrationalism , a scandal o f images opening up at the heart o f the word.

In his paper on the cinem a o f poetry at Pesaro, one o f the film m akers he praised was A ntonioni. T on in o G uerra, who was scriptw riter for m ost o f A ntonioni’s films, described the scripting process for A ntonioni as a falling away of language. At first the script was filled w ith language: every­ thing was described, everything said, all thought dialogised.

As the weeks passed, very slowly, w ord by w ord, the language came away; the final script was practically em ptied o f language, a m ere sketch, giving the im pression, if read, G uerra noted, o f bareness and squalor.

In this period o f the early to m id-1960s the m ain pro­ tagonists o f A ntonioni’s films, and those for w hom he had m ost sym pathy, were w om en w ith neither pow er o f position nor the pow er o f intellectual profession and possession.

T h e ir strength was not rationalism , b u t rather good sense and honesty or, later, a neurotic sensitivity. Less anxious to seize upon things, they could m ore readily adjust to uncer­ tainties, to change, to the unknow n — they were at home w ith the fluctuating and the tenuous. A nd they had another quality too that the m en seem ed to lack: they liked very m uch to look at things.

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 53

• MOYA WOOD M y instinctive response to, “ W hy do you w rite?” , is to ask an o th er q uestion, “ Is th a t a criticism ?” . O r perh ap s I have m isunderstood. In th is in d u stry , choosing to be a w riter is often perceived to be th e lesser alternative. A nd in a very varied career th ere w ere oth er o p p o rtu n ities, b u t starin g into space is n o t an activity th a t w ill advance the w ork, or th e fortunes of, say, a p ro d u cer, or p ro d u c e r’s assistant. D irecto rs and technicians have to rise at daw n, m ore often th a n not. W ritin g for film and television allows m e to sleep late, and to dream and reflect, and to call it produ ctiv e.

A nd to read — too m uch.

W ritin g in all its form s, an d the w orking m ethods and th e lives o f w riters, have been a lifetim e interest. T h e n th e re ’s th e story teller on th e bus seat. In spare and sim ple language, the events and the p articip an ts are revealed, w ith o u t elaboration or explanation. T h e role o f th e w riter for film , p articu larly , and for television is, to m e, to be such a story teller.

I was su rp rised to hear Steven S pielberg at a recent A cadem y A w ards p resen tatio n urge film m akers to reconsider th e role o f the w riter, and the im p o rtan ce o f concept. B ut I was grateful, especially as th e film s th a t he directs are so profitable — and w hich, paradoxically, given his O scar nig h t sen tim en ts, all carry the possessory credit, ‘A film by . . .’. H is speech was a great relief too, since th e latest w isdom from H ollyw ood on th e subject o f stories and scripts is snatch ed at so h u n g rily by so m any local in d u stry people and regu rg ita ted at w riters. W h en th e excellent and inform ative book, A dventures In The Screen Trade, by W illiam G oldm an was first released here, I w atched w ith absolute dism ay as the w ord “ s tru c tu re ” raced th ro u g h the in d u stry like w ildfire. S uddenly, everyone w ho w asn ’t a professional w riter had discovered this new m agic ingredient th a t had been a p a rt o f the language o f w riters and editors for as long as I can rem em ber. All over the co u n try there was a rash o f w orkshops, conferences, sem inars and ‘sitin s’ devoted exclusively to this single elem ent o f a com plex craft.

P roducers lectu red stern ly at bew ildered professional w riters, and at least one channel executive, in an atte m p t to give an im pression o f his specialised

54 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

an d su p erio r know ledge o f screen w ritin g , w ou ld actually quo te, as his ow n w o rd s, exact sentences from th e G o ld m an book.

By com parison, S p ielb erg ’s speech seem ed a gian t and sophisticated leap, an d very tim ely. It is no accident th a t the stu d en ts in visual com m u n icatio n s courses w ho d em o n strate th e ir expertise in creating dazzling im ages w h ich cease to have an im p act once they leave th e screen, also confess th a t they d o n ’t read or w rite — anything. C o n seq u en tly , th e reflective process eludes th em , and th erefo re also, th e ab ility to devise concepts th at com m unicate som ething. T h e age o f th e sh o rt co n cen tratio n span, and of, ‘say it in 10 w ords or less’, m akes th e story teller on th e bus seat seem like a national treasure.

I d o n ’t th in k it is th e role o f the screenw riter th a t needs changing as m u ch as the attitu d e to w ritin g . E ven w h ilst th ere are m any w ho d o n ’t dism iss w riters as a ‘necessary evil’, and w ho d o n ’t assum e th a t screen w ritin g is m erely a m atter o f kno w in g th e tricks o f th e craft, a m ore th o u g h tfu l, and less superficial u n d ersta n d in g o f th e conceptual process w ould be beneficial to the w ork, and th e role o f everyone.

F o r m ost w riters, eq uality o f ego is really no t th e point!

Credits include: The More Things Change (1985); Spit MacPhee (series,

in

production).

• TONY MORPHETT

T h e p relu d e to m any a finelyh oned analysis o f w here the screenw riter w ent w rong are the m agic w ords, “ T h e re are m any fine th in g s in this script. B ut . . .” So m ay I begin by saying th a t th ere are m any fine things about th e role o f th e screenw riter in th is in d u stry . B ut . . .

H o w w o u ld I like to see th e role o f th e screenw riter changed?

L e t’s start w ith th e idea th at w ritin g is easy. W e all learned to do it at school. W e all learned to kick a ball and cu t u p frogs at school too, b u t w e d o n ’t all play for H a w th o rn or do b rain surgery.

Since w ritin g seem s easy, rew ritin g seem s even easier, and th e tem p tatio n for everyone to mess w ith th e scrip t is alm ost irresistible. M essing w ith a script is a lot easier (and m u ch m ore fun) th a n m essing w ith 100 blank pieces o f A4.

A scrip t is th e resu lt o f m o n th s, som etim es years o f w ork.

M essin g w ith it at th e last m o m en t is unlik ely to im p ro v e it.

D o in g so w ill m assage y o u r ego an d allow you to tell all yo u r friends how m u ch you had to do to get th e script rig h t, b u t m ay n o t im prove th e film .

C hanges sh o u ld always be discussed w ith th e screenw riter because s/he has sp en t m u ch m ore tim e w ith th e scrip t th an you have an d s/he m ay actually know m ore about it th a n you do.

So a little m ore respect for the w ork, please, and for th e p erson w ho actually begins th e process.

W e ’ve been in th rall now for abo u t 20 years to th e nonsense o f th e a u te u r d irecto r th eo ry , and even quite know ledgeable people still refer to film s as “ Jo h n D ire c to r’s H a m let” or “ Jane A u te u r’s W ar A n d P eace'\ A nyone w ho actually w orks in th e business know s th a t these are b u llsh it credits.

In d u strially , from a d ire c to r’s trade u n io n p o in t o f view , th e a u teu r d irecto r credit is a b rillian t achievem ent, an d gives th e d irecto r a lot o f leverage, b u t it bears no relation to th e tru th . It degrades everyone’s role (including th e d ire c to r’s) in w hat is essentially a collaborative process.

So how do I w ant the sc reen w riter’s role changed? T h e w ay I w ant everyone’s role changed. I w ant respect for it, and for th a t respect to be reflected in th e titles, and in the p u b lic ’s m ind.

C redits include: The Last Wave (1977); Robbery Under Arms (1984); Land Of Hope (miniseries, co-writer, 1985); My Brother Tom (miniseries, 1986); The Shiralee (miniseries, 1986).

• JAN SARDI I love m ovies and I always have.

As a kid, I co u ld n ’t get enough o f going to th e ‘p ic tu re s’. I was just fascinated by seeing all those ‘o th er w o rld s’ u p on th e screen.

T h e n o tio n th a t it was all just ‘m ake b elieve’ m ade it all th e m ore m agical. A nd it’s th a t m agic, th a t pow er th a t grabs you w hile y o u ’re sittin g th ere in th e dark an d shakes you, kicks you in th e guts, m akes you laugh, cry an d takes you on a roller coaster ride th ro u g h th e range o f your em otions th at appeals to m e as a w riter. T h a t’s one reason I w rite, th e m ain reason I th in k . It has to do w ith h o ld in g an audience captive for a h u n d re d m inutes.

T h a t’s also w hy I m u c h prefer to w ork in feature film .

E v ery th in g in television by its very n atu re w orks against th e

n o tio n o f th e captive audience.

I also like being p a rt o f a creative team and the collaborative processes involved in th e m aking o f a film .

C ertain ly , m y involvem ent in a p ro ject d o esn ’t end w ith the h a n d in g in o f th e shooting script.

G round Zero began by M ac G u d g eo n (co-w riter), M ichael P a ttin so n (producer/co-director) an d m e sittin g a ro u n d talking about w h at sort o f film w e’d like to do n ext — a contem p o rary p olitical th rille r. T h e collaboration process began th a t early; as w riters, M ac and I w ere involved rig h t u p u n til th e final m ix in a consultative capacity; an d sim ilarly, th e script w as a b e tte r scrip t an d so too was the film , because o f th e early involv em en t o f M ich ael and B ruce M yles (co-director).

I f a n y th in g , I ’d like to see m ore film s m ade like this. A recu rrin g criticism o f th e A ustralian film in d u stry is th a t th e re ’s a d earth o f good w riters. T h a t’s nonsense! I th in k th e p ro b lem lay m ore in the han d s o f too m any producers lau n ch in g in to projects w ith u n d er-d ev elo p ed scripts. “ F irst d r a f t. . . second d r a f t. . . polish . . . g o .” I t ’s all packaged u p . . . and th e m o n ey ’s raised an d the scrip t d o esn ’t m atter anym ore, if it ever d id in th e first place. A nd in th e en d , w h en the film doesn ’t w ork, th e w rite r cops th e blam e.

I t ’s been often said th a t good scripts a re n ’t w ritte n , th e y ’re re­ w ritte n , over an d over again. W e have th e w riters here, th e re ’s no d o u b t ab o u t it. T h e th in g is to keep th e m busy w ritin g and rew ritin g , d raft after draft u p and in to p ro d u ctio n ; to give th em th e ir correct place and, it goes w ith o u t saying, to pay th em m ore m oney.

C redits include: Moving Out (1982); Street Hero (1983); Just Friends (telemovie, 1984); Ground Zero (1987).

• GEOFFREY ATHERDEN A ll w riters are insecure. E ven m an y o f th e best w riters say yes to w ork th ey d o n ’t really w ant because a) i f th ey say no, th ey m ay nev er be asked again, b) how do th ey know all th e ir o th er projects w o n ’t collapse n ex t week an d c) h o w do th e y know th e w hole in d u s try w o n ’t collapse n ext w eek, especially w h en th ere is n ev er a sh o rtage o f people saying it w ill.

A ll w rite rs have p et ideas th e y ’d like to develop an d in any g ath erin g o f th e p rofession, at

I Why write? How would you change your role in the industry? Cinema Papers asked these 1 questions of a cross-section of Australia’s screenwriters. These are the answers we received. least one conversation starts, “ I ’ve got this idea an d I ’ve been m eaning to do so m eth in g w ith it for years” . W h y d o n ’t they? I th in k it’s because o f a fear th a t if you m ore or less d ro p out o f th e in d u stry for a w hile to w ork on som ething o f y o u r ow n, w hile y o u ’re not looking som eone w ill take the in d u stry away.

W h at w riters need is the m axim um diversity o f o p p o rtu n ity . T h e m ore pro d u cers th ere are looking for scripts, th e m ore chance th ere is o f fin d in g a p ro d u c e r w ho w ants this scrip t. W h a t p ro d u cers need is a large en o u g h film and television m arket to sell th e ir p ro d u ct to. T h e n th e re ’ll be lots o f pro d u cers looking for lots o f ideas.

W e all need stab ility and co n tin u ity in th e in d u stry . In A ustralia, I th in k w h at this com es dow n to is effective regulation o f local co n ten t on television (to create th e m arket) and financial su p p o rt for th e film in d u stry (to provide o p p o rtu n ity and guarantee co ntinuity ).

T h e n I th in k w riters w ill be free, or at least freer, to develop the ideas th a t everyone says th e in d u stry needs. A n d all those little p roblem s and frictions betw een w riters an d prod u cers and actors and directors? A t least w e’ll have th e chance to solve them .

Credits include: (series, 1983-85).

Mother And Son

• MAC GUDGEON I ’m alw ays w ary w h en people ask me: “ In 300 w ords, tell us w hy you w rite?” . I t ’s like a zen m aster setting th e koan, “ W h at do you think o f zen?” . T h e answ er is suprem ely sim ple, com plicated by m ystery an d obviously contradictory. In th e final analysis, like a koan, th e q u estio n can only be answ ered by th e experience o f th e act o f w ritin g itself.

T h e sim ple answ ers are: m y im agination dem ands to be exercised, w ritin g is a political act, I love a good story, I can w ork at hom e, I can w ork alone, I can collaborate, i t ’s an act o f exorcism , p eople pay m e to do som ething I enjoy an d I ’m p art W alter M itty . B ut m ostly, som ething m akes m e do it.

I suspect seeking to discover w hat th a t ‘so m e th in g ’ is, is akin to try in g to discover th e id en tity o f Santa C laus — as soon as you start asking questio n s, th e presents d ry u p . I can only describe it b y saying so m eth in g

nudges, nags, bullies an d cajoles.

I t ’s never satisfied, it dem ands th e im possible an d m akes m e b o th m iserable and ecstatic.

W h en it’s ro llin g I w eep w ith joy and w h en it’s n o t I w eep w ith fru stratio n .

As to th e role o f th e screen w riter in th e A u stralian film an d television in d u stry , it m u st change. O u r fate is in o u r hands. W e m u st em pow er ourselves. W e m u st get m ore involved in th e process o f film an d television p ro d u ctio n . W e m u st educate th e dodos w ho freq u en t th e pro g ram -b u y in g co rrid o rs o f television netw orks in th e ways o f in n o v atio n and q uality. W e m u st encourage th e p ro d u c tio n o f w rite rs’ ideas as m u ch as p ro d u c e rs’ ‘m arket resp o n se’ ideas. W e m u st be co n stru ctiv e critics o f society in general an d o u r in d u stry in p articu lar. I t’s o u r heritage — ratbaggery, agitation, sedition and in sp iratio n . I f we d o n ’t do it, w ho will?

C redits include: Waterfront (minisenes, 1983); The Petrov Affair (miniseries, co­ writer, 1986); Ground Zero (1987).

• DENNY LAWRENCE It is 20 years since B illy W ild er said: “ O ffer a d irecto r today the choice b etw een a good scrip t and a zoom lens an d h e ’ll take th e zoom le n s.” T h e m o d ern cinem a has freq u en tly been a triu m p h o f form over co n ten t and A u stralian critics have slavishly ado p ted the “ a u te u rist” ap p ro ach o f th e ir overseas co u n terp arts.

A t th e sam e tim e, the scrip t is often blam ed for th e failure o f a film , yet seldom acknow ledged if it succeeds. W h at th e critics — and th e p u b lic — generally d o n ’t seem to u n d e rsta n d is th a t “ th e sc rip t” is n o t th e original b lu e p rin t, b u t th e outcom e o f a collaboration.

(C ollaboration, as som eone said, is w h at you are p aid for in th e film in d u stry and shot for in w ar-tim e.)

F re q u e n t d isg ru n tle d letters to th e editors o f film journals in dicate w h at w riters th in k is th e ir status w ith in th e m ovie business. M o st clearly feel excluded alm ost from th e in d u stry itself.

P erh ap s these com p lain ts w o u ld d im in ish i f screenw riters w ere m ore fully involved in th e en tire process. C e rtain ly if they w ere, few er o f th e m w o u ld feel th e need to get b e h in d th e cam era or to leap in to vitriolic p rin t after th e event.

T h is is n o t to claim th a t m ost

screenplays w ere m asterpieces u n til b u tch ered by directors, actors or executive pro d u cers.

N o r can it be denied th a t som e w riters are u n w illin g to co n tin u e doing re-w rites, m any o f w h ich are occasioned by th e pecu liar logistics and p ragm atic necessities o f film m aking.

H ow ever, it is safe to say th a t th e m ajority o f A u stralian film s shoot th e schedule and n o t the script. T h e only w ay to overcom e this — in a b usiness in capacitated by tax incentive deadlines and low budgets — is by everyone w orking to g eth er in an egalitarian spirit.

It takes a lot o f people to m ake a film and it belongs u ltim ately to no one — unless it is to th e paying public. So, o f course p ro d u cers sh o u ld be co ncerned w ith box office — b u t they m u st be m ore concerned w ith artistic integ rity .

I f they can be good m arriage brokers, th e w riter-d irecto r relationship w ill be a healthy and p roductive one.

Instead o f fighting over the possessive a p o stro p h e aw arded by critics, w e m u st all realise our responsibility to th a t w h ich we jointly create: th e script.

C redits include: Goodbye Paradise (co-writer, 1981); Bodyline (miniseries, co-writer, 1984); Palace Of Dreams (miniseries, co-writer, 1984); Army Wives (director, 1986); Letters (director, in production).

• ELEANOR WITCOMBE W hy do I write? I f y o u ’re b o rn a “ co m m u n icato r” you have to find your p articu lar m edium .

A p art from the supposed riches in film , I liked th e idea o f film as th is c e n tu ry ’s art form an d the m ost exciting and allencom passing m ed iu m o f selfexpression and fulfilm ent open to any w ould-be w riter — w hich just shows how young I once was.

H ow would I like to see the role o f the screenwriter change in the A ustralian film and T V industry?

T h e fam ous screenw riter C esare Z avattini once said “ C inem a is th a t p h en o m en o n o f collaboration w here each tries to erase all th e traces o f th e w ork o f th e o th e rs.” W illiam G o ld m an in A dventures In The Screen Trade nam es th e five collaborative creators o f a m ovie — the p ro d u cer, th e screenw riter, the d irector, th e cin em atographer, th e ed ito r and (collectively) the actor. W ell, these days th e “ co llab o rato r” in danger o f being “ erased” is u n d o u b ted ly the screenw riter.

S creenw riting as a

trad e/craft/art is being seen as re d u n d an t — except as an ancillary talen t o f the director.

T h e “ a u te u r” idea is becom ing entren ch ed . E ven w hen there is a screenw riter, he/she is subject to th e dictates o f th e director. It now seems to be accepted th at the directo r can do an ything he/she likes w ith a scrip t w ith o u t reference to th e w riter w ho has no rig h t o f appeal, even to the producer.

A n o th er attack on the screenw riter is in the local idea, m ostly confined to television, th an k heaven, o f “ w o rk sh o p p in g ” — not to be confused w ith good, old fashioned rehearsing w hich allows in p u t by the cast and is usually very useful to th e w riter.

B ut “ w o rk sh o p p in g ” seem s to m ean open-slather on the script.

W riters usually m ake lousy actors: actors usually m ake lousy w riters.

A screenplay is not sim ply c u t­ u p dialogue: it’s a personal visualisation, a psychologically in tricate weave o f vision and so u n d w h ich can unravel if som eone pulls the w rong th read . . . even if it’s only a few lines o f dialogue. T h e screenw riter is supposed to be the expert on this, not th e cast, th e crew or assorted visiting firem en.

O nce u p o n a tim e, how ever b u m p y and passionate the collaboration, if a d irector knew his/h er business and respected you as know ing yours, it could be a stim u latin g and com forting experience. It m eant the loneliness was over, and now you could bounce y our uncertainties o ff som eone you could tru st.

T h o se o f us w ho have been lucky enough to have had this sort o f relationship find it difficult to accept tod ay ’s dem otion to w hat is called “ th e d irecto r’s ty p e w rite r” .

T o an extent the high profile o f th e directo r is th e fault o f the m edia. I t ’s cheaper, w ord-w ise, to attrib u te th e film to one person, rath er th an a confusing seven or so, and directors, unlike w riters, are usually good copy, bein g by n atu re self-projecting an d articulate. Besides, unlike th e w riter, he/she is always aro u n d w hen th e publicity gets going.

M aybe all this w o u ld n ’t m atter a d am n if it d id n ’t m ean the elim ination o f the screenw riter as creative artist. B ut w ith his/her d em otion to hack, this is inevitable. “ E n te rta in m e n t” is “ com ­ m u n ic a tio n ” . S creenw riters >

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER

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< co m m u n icate in sym bols. In all th e p e rm u ta tio n s and co m b in atio n s o f so u n d an d vision., th ey try to fin d the “ co m m o n sy m b o l” , th a t w h ich co m m u n icates w ith all h u m a n ity .

T h is is a d ifficu lt b u sin ess, to p u t it m ildly. T h e good, experien ced screen w riter believes in th e co m m o n ality o f h is/h e r sym bols.

H e/sh e agonises over th e ir in teg rity . T h a t is w hy it is so p ain fu l w h en th ey are to rn ap a rt by anyone else.

O ne single rig h t set o f sym bols is a w ork o f genius. G en iu ses are extrem ely th in on th e g ro u n d .

H o lly w o o d has discovered it is not w o rth w astin g $44 m illio n an d th e fate o f a w hole stu d io on th e claim ed gen iu s o f one h u m a n b eing, in spite o f a couple o f O scars. It sh o u ld be rem e m b e re d also th a t th e tru e “ a u te u rs ” , such as B erg m an an d Z effirelli et om ., rarely, if ever, m ade th e so rt o f m oney w ith th e ir film s th a t w o u ld on to d a y ’s b ig b u d g e ts p u t th e m in to p ro fit.

T h is is w h y th e specialist creative screen w riter is, I believe, essential to th e h ealth o f th e in d u stry . It needs th e in p u t o f th e vision, th e creativ ity , an d th e in te g rity o f th e profession al w rite r — as w ell as th e directo r.

T re a t th e screen w riter sim p ly as a hack, and th a t is all y o u ’ll get: som eone w ho is certain ly n o t going to sw eat b lood an d tears over h is/h er sym bols w hen anybody and everybody is going to have a go at th em . H e/sh e w ill shave d o w n a “ s tru c tu re ” a n d let som eone else do th e rest. A n d o f course everyone can blam e th e w rite r w h en i t ’s a flop.

I believe th a t “ serio u s” creative w riters, in these days o f g ran ts an d p u b lic sp o n so rsh ip , w ill not be attra c te d to w ritin g for film s — u n less, like D av id W illiam son, th e y have pro v ed th em selves in a n o th e r m e d iu m , an d have acq u ired en o u g h clo u t to keep th e id e n tity an d in te g rity o f th e ir original w ork.

I believe th a t screen w riters today are only as b ad or good as th e w ay th e y are treated . I believe o u r d esp erate need is for in tellig en t, stro n g , astu te p ro d u cers w ho can sort ou t p rio rities an d ego clashes, have th e rare ability to k now a good idea w h e n th ey see it an d give su p p o rt w h ere it is m erite d . W e have barely b e g u n to explore th e p ossibilities o f th e m ed iu m an d o u r ow n capacities. In th is c o u n try w e are all relatively in ex p erien ced . B u t w e have som e p o ten tially great d irecto rs. W e also have som e p o ten tially great screen w riters — i f th e p oo r beggars are given a chance.

C redits in c lu d e : The Getting Of Wisdom (1977); My Brilliant Career (1978); Water Under The Bridge (miniseries, 1979); Harp In The South (miniseries, 1985).

56 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

• PETER YELDHAM B eing a sc re e n w rite r in A u stralia has n ev er b een easy. In th e fifties, w ritin g radio th rille rs, I was c o n stan tly b ein g asked th e old c h e stn u t, “ B u t w h at do y o u do for a liv in g ?” It is n o t as b a d as th a t in A u stralia to d ay , b u t it still is n ’t easy. A n d a lot o f th a t is to do w ith lack o f reco g n itio n . N o t fam e. N o t a blaze o f p u b licity .

Ju st th e sim ple a ck n o w led g em en t th a t each scrip t has an a u th o r, an d th e a u th o r has a nam e.

In B rita in a n d p a rtic u la rly E u ro p e , a sc re e n w rite r is an in teg ral p a rt o f a team , an d tre a te d as su ch . H is cred it ap p ears in n ew sp ap ers an d m agazines as a m a tte r o f course.

A ny review o f a film or T V p ro g ra m a u to m atically accords th e w rite r th e resp ect o f a creative credit.

H e re , w ith n o tab le exceptions, an d clearly Cinem a Papers is one o f th e m , th e reverse is often tru e .

T h e daily press can devote several co lu m n s to rev iew in g a film , telefilm or m in iseries,

w ith o u t ever re c o g n isin g th a t it w as w ritte n by som eo n e. T h e y can even, at tim es, p raise a sc rip t w ith o u t b o th e rin g to n am e th e w rite r o f it. T h e se are jo u rn alists, fellow w o rd sm ith s w ho a u to m atically receive a by-line, b u t w h o are a p p a re n tly in cap a b le o f ack n o w led g in g th a t a w rite r has d ev o ted som e w eeks, m o n th s, even years, w ritin g several d rafts, a tte n d in g reh earsals, carin g . It is d ev astatin g to fin d th is c o n trib u tio n can be to tally ig n o red , d esp ite co n tin u a l rep re se n ta tio n s fro m th e W rite rs G u ild to th e jo u rn alists co n cern ed .

T h e re w as, o f co u rse, th e in fam o u s in c id e n t o f th e A u stra lia n F ilm C o m m issio n . In 1979 th ey p u b lish e d a glossy b ro c h u re e n title d “ F ifty F ilm s ” .

M u c h fanfare a n d p ro m o tio n , listin g th e p ic tu re s m ad e in th e p ast five years, giv in g th e credits o f all co n cern ed : p ro d u c e rs, d irecto rs, co m p o sers, actors, desig n ers, p h o to g ra p h e rs etc.

G u ess w h o th ey m issed out? In a list o f 50 film s, th e y left o u t th e nam es o f th e scree n w rite rs. W ith

• ANDREW KNIGHT

W h y do I w rite?

I th in k the answer to this is probably historical. I got 33 out o f 150 fo r M athem atics in fo u rth fo rm , a n d a provisional pass in Biology, fr o m a teacher who fe lt a f a i l m ight destroy m y confidence. M y parents therefore became convinced o f some, as y e t undeveloped creative bent, and this was p re tty m uch confirm ed fo r them when I received 51 fo r English Expression.

That, I guess, was the in itia l m otivation behind m y early writing; th a t and the fa c t y o u got to wear jeans to work. A s to w hy I continue to write — I have no idea, especially given the now more liberal dress code.

I can only say i t ’s because I h a ven 't thought o f anything better to do.

I try to work only on things th a t really interest me, although the cost o f being supported by m y wife occasionally compels me to write the sort o f s tu ff th a t gives children hives. I f i n d P m less interested in the super­ cop who has to “bust a ss” in order to save the life o f a beautiful ex­ ju n kie — and more interested in the w om an that runs the laundry where he leaves his shirts.

When I write I try to focus on the tru ly demeaning, em pty, nihilistic drabness o f earth-bound suburban life, because I passionately believe that the best w riting is not autobiographical.

W h at changes w o u ld I like to see in th e A u stralian film and television in d u stry ?

1. Foremost I w ould like to see a revolt, quite possibly armed, against the program m ing policy m akers o f the A B C . I t ’s hard enough being a w riter in th is country w ithout someone deciding to program first release A u stra lia n dram as a t 3.00am on alternate Shrove Tuesdays.

2. P d like to see more encouragement and gentle nurturing o f new Writers. I th in k there is a tendency in this country to rush young writers into a one-off large scale disaster instead o f building slowly towards it.

A s the A B C appears to be out to lunch fo r the next fe w years, P m afra id such development w ill necessarily devolve fr o m the fu n d in g bodies.

3. The compulsory a m p u ta tio n o f lim bs o f unproduced and unproduceable writers fo u n d using the nam e ‘W illiam son' in a pejorative sense.

4. M ore innovation on the p a r t o f writers. There appears to be a real lack o f adventure in this country, not only fr o m producers and networks, but fr o m writers as well. P d like to see more o f a ‘dare to f a i l ' attitude, in preference to the current pretence th a t we know w hat we are doing.

5. Less discussion o f ‘deals' a n d more discussion o f ‘ideas'.

6. I w ould like to see the w inner o f T h e K ry p to n F acto r flogged.

C redits in c lu d e : The D-Generation (series, script executive, 1986); 1986-87); Heart Over Head (in development).

Lane (series,

The Fast

a c e rta in a m o u n t o f e m b a rra ssm e n t, th e y ad m itte d th e y forg o t. T h a t alm o st seem s w o rse th a n d e lib erately leaving us o u t. B ein g able to forget th a t th e re w ere w riters in v o lv ed in 50 d ifferen t film s really takes som e d o in g . . . a n d th ese w ere th e p eo p le w h o k e p t saying you c o u ld n ’t m ake a d ecen t film w ith o u t a g ood scrip t.

B u t th a t is ju st one o f o u r p ro b lem s. T h e re are o th ers, too m an y to list h ere. W o rk b ein g re w ritte n w ith o u t co n su lta tio n b y ce rta in d ire cto rs. A n in flu x o f new e x p erts on scrip ts: law yers a n d m e rc h a n t ban k ers, co u rtesy o f sectio n 10BA o f th e tax act, w h o have su d d e n ly becom e in sta n t p ro d u c e rs. T itle s b ein g ch an g ed . M y m in iseries, once called The W in d A n d The Stars, has b een ch an g ed , e n tirely ag ain st m y w ishes, to C aptain Ja m e s Cook.

B illy W ild e r once said th a t b e in g a sc re e n w rite r w as like b ein g a h o te l m aid w h o m akes th e b ed ; so m eo n e else gets in a n d has all th e fu n . O n ly p a rtly tru e.

Q u ite o ften i t ’s th e w rite r, w ho p u t th e clean sheets in to th e ty p e w rite r w ith su ch o p tim ism , w h o gets w ell a n d tru ly shafted.

O th e r tim es, like any good love affair, i t ’s a real co llab o ratio n .

T h o se are th e tim es, a n d I ’ve b een luck y an d h a d several, w h ic h k e p t us in th is insane b u sin ess. A p a rt fro m w h ich , I ’ve n ev er b e e n able to fig u re o u t any o th e r w ay to m ake a living.

C redits in clu d e : The Far Country (minisenes, 1986); The Lancaster Miller Affair (minisenes, 1986); Captain James Cook (miniseries, 1987); The Alien Years (miniseries, in production); Boundaries Of The Heart (in production).

• TED ROBERTS I d id n ’t w rite m y first novel till I w as nearly eight.

W h e n I read it to th e class n ext day, a n d receiv ed a sm a tte rin g o f ap p lau se, largely, I su sp ect, because o f its th ree-p ag e b rev ity , I w as h ooked. T h e sm ell o f th e leath er b in d in g , th e ro ar o f th e presses. I w as a w riter.

T h a t’s h o w I started . W h y I ’ve c o n tin u e d is n o t so clear, except th a t I ’m o n ly h a p p y w h e n I ’m h u n c h e d over m y Sony P C feed in g it p lastic b iscu its a n d g ettin g back scrip ts. I f I d o n ’t get o u t m y five or m aybe 10 pages a day, I sta rt to get w ith d raw al sy m p to m s. H o lid ay s are tak en w ith re lu ctan ce, an d in te rru p tio n s sn arled at. I w rite b ecause I like w ritin g , a n d I like b ein g a w rite r. T h e y ’re nicer, m ore in te re stin g people.

W ell, som e o f u s are.

I ’d like to see A u stralian sc reen w riters take a b ig g er p a rt in film a n d television p ro d u c tio n .

I t ’s an am azin g th in g , b u t th o u g h w e p ro u d ly b o ast th a t “ In th e

b e g in n in g w as th e w o rd ” , w h en it com es to film a n d television p rojects, “ In th e b eg in n in g is very seldom th e sc re e n w rite r” .

P ro d u cers seldom com e from th e w ritin g ranks, an d n etw o rk executives never, b u t m ost film s an d television series, plays or serials, b egin w ith an idea th a t com es from a p ro d u c e r or executive.

I th in k this is one reason w h y th e failure rate in th e in d u s try is so h ig h . N o t th a t th e p ro d u cers or executives are dills, b u t because th e ir ‘id eas’ are usu ally h a tch e d for th e w ro n g reasons.

T o fill.a certain tim e slot,, to co m pete against a certain p ro g ram , to follow an ap p a re n t tre n d , or w hatever. A n d I ’m still o p tim istic en o u g h to believe th a t th e success rate w o u ld be h ig h er, m u ch h ig h er, i f m ore o f those show s o rig in ated from w riters.

F ro m those d ifferen t, fresh ch aracters an d plots th a t we com e u p w ith every now an d again, and w h ich b u rn to get u p th ere on th e big or little screen.

I ’d like to see m ore w riters becom e p ro d u cers. It w o u ld be good for th e in d u stry . I ’d like to see lots o f w riters get h y p h en ate d .

C redits in clu d e : The Settlement (1982); Bush Christmas (1984); Body Business (miniseries, 1985); Cyclone Tracy (miniseries, 1986); Willing And Abel (series, 1986).

• CLIFF GREEN

I w ork as a screen w riter because I enjoy tellin g a story in sounds an d im ages; creatin g characters th a t w alk an d talk, love an d hate, live and die u p on th a t screen.

T h a t is m y first an d last d elig h t. I h a rb o u r no secret am b itio n s. I am n o t a fru stra te d d irecto r or closet p ro d u cer y earn in g to b u rs t out.

S creen w ritin g in A u stralia has reached a w atersh ed . W e w riters are usu ally blam ed for th e failures, seldom praised for the successes. Y et th e fact rem ains: every good A u stralian film has a good scrip t. A n d th ere have been lots o f good film s. O therw ise w e’d have given th e gam e away.

It is m u c h m ore difficult now th an it w as w h en I began, alm ost 20 years ago. Y ou learn ed yo u r trad e on th e old C raw fo rd T V series, po lish ed y o u r craft in to an art w ritin g one-shot plays fo r th e A B C , th e n w en t on, w ritin g screenplays in those heady years o f th e renaissance o f A u stralian film .

Y oung w riters now usu ally sta rt w ritin g serials, stories w ith o u t b eg in n in g or end, no fit tra in in g for th e rig o u rs o f w ritin g T V m iniseries an d featu re film s.

Y et th e challenge is so m u ch g reater.

In creasin g ly , o u r film s and television p ro g ram s are b eing

ju d g ed aro u n d th e w o rld ; in a variety o f c u ltu re s, by disp arate audiences, in m ark ets th a t m ake a b ew ild erin g ran g e o f d em ands.

As w riters we m u st rise to th is challenge. As c o m m u n icato rs, en terta in e rs, sto ry tellers. N o t by falsely concocting som e so rt o f ‘in te rn a tio n a le se ’, som e sort o f hom o g en ised p ap , som e so rt o f cinem atic esp eran to . B u t sim ply by bein g ourselves. By c o n tin u in g to tell o u r stories, th e stories only we can tell, in ways th a t are u n d e rsto o d everyw here.

O u r ideas are un iv ersal, o u r accent is w elcom ed. As w riters we m u st ex p lo it a n d celebrate th is reality w ith all th e skill o u r w ords can m u ste r. N o one else can do it. A fter all, w e ’re su p p o sed to be th e w riters.

C redits include: Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975); Mud, Bloody Mud (telefeature, 1985); The Petrov Affair (miniseries, co-writer, 1986); The Steam

Driven Adventures Of Riverboat Bill

(1986).

• SONIA BORG W ritin g to m e is h a rd w ork w hich — c o n trary to expectations — does n o t get any easier as th e years go on. A good tim e o f m y life is sp en t on it, and therefore I am keen to w rite ab o u t th in g s I consider w o rth w h ile. It is, to m e, a form o f co m m u n icatin g w ith people. W e are, after all, basically subject to th e sam e anxieties, fears, joys, hates — w hoever we are, an d w herever we are. I like to m ake th e audience realise that: I like to share som e k ind o f discovery I have m ade ab o u t o u r existence in this crazy w orld. T h e challenge, th e n , is to m ake this piece o f w ritin g as e n tertain in g an d as g rip p in g as possible, and to create characters w ith w hom th e audience can identify. W h en ad ap tin g novels for th e screen, I try to pick books w hose a u th o r has a sim ilar outlook to m ine. I believe th a t T V and cinem a b o th are very pow erful m edia, an d I c an ’t h elp th in k in g th a t those w ho w ork for it have a good deal o f resp o n sib ility as w ell as a great o p p o rtu n ity to influence people.

W h at w o u ld I like to see changed? I th in k it is a p ity th at w riters very often feel th a t th e ir w ork has been vandalised by th e d irecto r. It w o u ld be good i f th ere w ere greater co-operation and u n d e rsta n d in g on b o th sides as to th e p ro b lem s each o f th e m faces.

T h is w o u ld m ean , o f course, th at th e w rite r w o u ld be w illing and able to sp en d tim e w ith the p ro d u c tio n team once th e film ing and ed itin g is in progress. A n d by th e n he/she could w ell be already stru g g lin g w ith an o th er scrip t a n d c o u ld n ’t be bothered!

Storm Boy (1976); Women Of The Sun (miniseries, co­ writer, 1981); Rush (series, 1982); Colour In The Creek (miniseries, 1985); Dark Age (1986).

C redits include:

• KEITH THOMPSON U ltimately, screenwriters m ust try to come to terms with the fa c t that w e’re one o f life’s hard-luck stories. We thought we had chosen a glamorous a n d globe-trotting profession. We were wrong. Everybody else gets to trot the globe. Writers barely get out o f the house. The im portant question, then, is not how we write, or w hy we write, but w hy d o n ’t screenwriters get more o f the fu n ?

O f course, people are alw ays polite enough about asking the writer to come along to the shoot. “A n y tim e at all!” they say. “A n open in v ita tio n .” T h e y ’re lying through their teeth.

I t ’s a bit like being the priest at a wedding. Y o u ’ve perform ed a v ita l i f tedious p a rt o f the ceremony but y o u ’re a p a in in the neck once the p a rty starts. N o one ever know s w hat to do with you, or to say to you.

Writers, like priests, represent some drab, abstemious m orality whose presence is enough to stop everybody else fro m enjoying themselves.

N o wonder then, i f w e’ve got a n y sense, we sim ply wish the p a rty well, claim some prior com m itm ent a n d m ake an early departure.

Leaving the music a n d the laughter — a ll o f th a t fu n / — to rage on, unhindered by our sim ple-m inded censoriousness.

In one sense, o f course, there is n ’t a nything fo r writers to do on a shoot other than trip over cables an d be fir s t in line a t the lunch queues.

B u t in another sense — because a screenplay is only a blue-print not an answer-print — there is everything to do. D uring the course o f a shoot, a screenplay w ill need to be amended, on average, about once every 15 minutes. B u t is it really worth the problems o f having the writer on set?

O bviously not. Perhaps the follow ing m a y help to explain why.

The world m a y thin k otherwise, but every writer know s that the screen w ill never be sullied by the very worst o f our work. The worst o f our work lies at our fe e t in screwed up wads o f A 4 . B u t when the cast and crew are actually shooting the script, everybody gets to see everybody else’s worst efforts. I t ’s called rehearsal. Everybody gets to witness the actors’ inexplicable insecurities about a particular line, or a word, or a gesture. Insecurities create tensions a n d tensions need release. A n d the safety-valve, generally, is the script.

When the crew are up to their necks in mud, or the actors are stark naked in fr o n t o f a room ful o f strangers, someone (or something) has to be fo u n d to cop the blame. W hen i t ’s the middle o f the night in Woop Woop and i t ’spouring with rain, the call is alw ays the same. “So who wrote this garbage, a n yw a y? ” The shit gets kicked out o f the script fo r a moment, tensions are released and everybody feels better. N obody was actually calling fo r the w riter’s blood. They ju s t needed a punch bag to beat out their frustrations. Which is precisely the m om ent when i t ’s best fo r the writer to be a hundred miles away. N o t fo r reasons o f personal safety, but so that the abuse and the screaming can continue, uninhibited, fo r as long as is necessary to resolve the tensions.

Because i t ’s not you, the writer, w ho’s been screamed at. I t ’s not your feelings th a t need to be protected. For the m ost part, the screams are about the actors ’ difficulties in coming to terms with whatever your text has asked them to discover a n d reveal about themselves.

In order to be able to stand up to their necks in m u d or be naked in fr o n t o f roomfuls o f strangers, actors need to become born-again converts o f a sort. They need to believe th a t the script a n d their character resonate with worlds o f riches an d levels o f meaning that could f l y them to the moon a n d back i f they can only m ake the right connections. Their acting is an expression o f their fa ith . The script is the rock they cling to because somewhere inside its pages, a ll the answers are to be found. I t ’s the bible.

I believe th a t the physical presence o f the writer actually serves to dim inish the creative possibilities inherent in the script. The actor w ants to soar with the birds whereas the writer w ants only to apologise fo r his or her inadequacies — “I ’m sorry, but I never could m ake this scene w ork!” A ctors w ant to hear about w riters’fallibilities as much as the Pope w ants to hear God apologise. H ow can they be expected to m ake leaps o f fa ith when the creator h im self thinks that he m ight have botched the job?

The presence o f the w riter reduces the script fro m the poetic to the prosaic. H ow can it be poetry, when y o u know th a t i t ’s the product o f that drab little person sm iling apologetically in the corner. The writer is ju s t too real, too ordinary a n d too approachable.

I f cast a n d crew are to have fa ith in the script, then writers, like God, need to m ove in m ysterious ways. W riters m a y like to think o f themselves as Im m ortal, E tern a l a n d A ll-W ise — but more than anything else they need to be Invisible.

C redits include: Please To Remember The series, 1985); Five Mile Creek (series, 1984); in development).

Fifth Of November (ABC 'Shorts’ Temporary Residence (miniseries,

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 57

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NEW ZEALAND

BY MIKE NI COLAI DI

The Navigator

finds its way P r o d u c e r J o h n M a y n a r d ’s p ilo tin g o f V in cen t W a r d ’s T h e N a v ig a to r ow es s o m e th in g to th e G re e k leg en d o f T h e P h o e n ix .

E ig h te e n m o n th s a g o , w ith n o success in ra isin g th e n ecessary u n d e rw ritin g in N ew Z e a la n d , he a n n o u n c e d a b a n d o n m e n t o f th e p ro je c t in a h ighly p u b licised o u tb u r s t. ~ T h e new s cam e w h en th e fe a tu re film in d u s try w as g o in g th r o u g h its d a rk e s t tim e . A n In la n d R ev en u e d e p a rtm e n t in v e s tig a tio n o f p a s t film fin a n c in g te c h n iq u e s w as tu r n ­ ing o f f p ro s p e c tiv e in v e sto rs a n d th e g o v e rn m e n t w as n o t a b o u t to be c o erced in to a d d i­ tio n a l a ssistan ce.

O f all th e new a n d e s ta b ­ lish ed film c o m p a n ie s, o n ly P a c ific F ilm s ’ v e te ra n b a ttle r J o h n O ’S h ea w as a b le to g et a p ro d u c tio n o f f th e g ro u n d d u rin g 1986 — B a rry B a rc la y ’s N g a ti.

B u t M a y n a rd , A u s tra lia n b o rn th o u g h d o m ic ile d in N ew Z e a la n d fo r a lm o st 20 y ea rs, h as risen w ith new life, like th a t fa b u lo u s b ird .

H e m a d e his n e st o f spices, s a n g a m e l o d i o u s d ir g e , b u rn e d th e pile to ash e s, a n d th e n c ro ssed th e T a s m a n d e te r­ m in ed to raise th e m o n e y t h e r e . T h e r e s u l t is a $4 ,3 0 0 ,0 0 0 c o -p ro d u c tio n b e ­ tw een th e A u s tra lia n a n d N ew Z e a la n d F ilm C o m m issio n s, s h o t in N ew Z e a la n d b etw e e n Ju ly a n d S e p te m b e r, a n d c u r­ re n tly in p o s t-p ro d u c tio n in S ydney.

T h e J .C . W illia m so n G ro u p h o ld s a ll-m e d ia rig h ts to th e film a n d b e g a n d ru m m in g u p in te re st a t C a n n e s th is y e a r.

D elivery is d u e M a rc h n ex t y ear w ith th e e x p e c ta tio n th a t W a r d ’s sec o n d fe a tu re w ill be u n v eiled a t C a n n e s ’88. H is p re v io u s film , Vigil, w as in m a in c o m p e titio n in 1984.

T h e M a y n a r d -W a rd p a r t­ n e rs h ip , w h ich b e g a n w ith Vigil, is a p ro d u c e r-a u te u r w o rk in g re la tio n s h ip p ro b a b ly u n iq u e in e ith e r c o u n try .

W a rd is a slig h t, d a rk ly in te n se , c o n c e n tra te d fig u re .

H is r e p u ta tio n , g re a te r o v e r­ seas th a n in his h o m e la n d , h as b een a ch ie v ed w ith V igil a n d tw o s h o rt film s, A S ta te O f S iege, a d a p te d fro m a n o v e l by J a n e t F ra m e , a n d In S p rin g O n e P la n ts A lo n e , a d o c u ­ m e n ta ry c e n trin g o n a n 82-

58 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

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y e a r-o ld M a o ri w o m a n ’s life in is o la tio n .

T h ese th re e film s h a v e w o n h im m a jo r p rizes a t fe stiv als in E u ro p e a n d N o rth A m e ric a .

M a y n a rd p re d ic ts T h e N a v i­ g a to r will be accessib le to a w id er a u d ie n c e .

W a rd b e g a n w o rk o n his o rig in a l sc rip t fo r T h e N a v i­ g a to r in 1984 w ith s u b s e q u e n t a ssista n c e fro m N o rth A m e ri­ c an K ely L y o n s a n d N ew Z e a la n d w rite r G e o ff C h a p p ie .

T h e sto ry b eg in s in 14th c e n tu ry E n g la n d , in a m ed iev al m in in g village th re a te n e d by th e B lack D e a th . T o save th e village fro m th e p la g u e , five m in e rs fo llo w th e v isio n o f a n in e -y e a r-o ld b o y o n a n aiv e a n d fa n ta s tic jo u r n e y in to th e 2 0 th c e n tu ry . T h e q u e st lead s th e m th ro u g h th e c e n tre o f th e e a rth to a s tra n g e new city in c o n te m p o ra ry N ew Z e a la n d .

S u rro u n d e d by m o d e rn ech o es o f th e e x tin c tio n o f M ed iev al E n g la n d , th e y p u rs u e th e ir d o g g e d g o al — to m a k e a n o ffe rin g a t th e c a th e d ra l a t th e e n d o f th e w o rld . B u t th e v isio n a ry b o y h a s a chilling p re m o n itio n . O n e o f th e m m u s t die fo r th e village to be sp a re d th e p la g u e .

T o realise th is sto ry w ith d e ta ile d a u th e n tic ity , M a y ­ n a r d ’s p ro d u c tio n c o m p a n y to o k o v er a c o m p lex o f larg ely a b a n d o n e d M in istry o f W o rk s sh ed s in S o u th A u c k la n d . E x ­ ten siv e sp ecial e ffects w o rk in g a re a s a n d stu d io -ty p e facilities w ere set u p . In n u m e ra b le 14th c e n tu ry a rtifa c ts w e re re c re a te d , a lo n g w ith m ed iev al c o stu m e s a n d b u ild in g s.

O n e o f th e sh ed s h a rb o u re d a ta n k , c ra d lin g a m o d el n u c le a r s u b m a rin e , a n d a fullsc a le sid e s e c tio n o f th e i n t e r i o r o f a m in e w ith m ed iev al tu n n e llin g p a r a p h e r ­ n a lia . A 15-m etre m in e sh a ft

A S O L D IE R ’S T A L E : G a b rie l B yrn e

w as b u ilt fo r o n ly 20 se c o n d s o f screen tim e.

T h e film crew w as a m ix o f N ew Z e a la n d e rs a n d A u s tr a ­ lian s w ith A u s tra lia n s o c c u p y ­ in g five key p o sitio n s, in c lu d ­ in g G e o f f r e y S im p s o n as d ire c to r o f p h o to g ra p h y .

T h e c a st in clu d es A u s tr a ­ lian s C h ris H a y w o o d a n d P a u l L iv in g sto n , N ew Z e a la n d e rs M a rsh a ll N a p ie r, N o e l A p p le ­ by, S a ra h P ie rse a n d H a m ish M c F a rla n e (th e v isio n a ry b o y , G r if f in ) , a n d N e w Y o rk d o m ic ile d C a n a d ia n a c to r B ru ce L y o n s.

T h e e d ito r is J o h n S c o tt, w h o m o s t re c e n tly w o rk e d o n F re d S c h e p isi’s R o x a n n e .

M a y n a rd , w h o o ffic ia lly is d e sig n a te d “ A u s tra lia n p r o ­ d u c e r” o f th e film ( “ N ew Z e a la n d p r o d u c e r ” is G a ry H a n n a m , ex ecu tiv e p ro d u c e r o n Vigil), d escrib es T h e N a v i­ g a to r as a N ew Z e a la n d film th a t th e A u s tra lia n in d u s try h as a llo w ed to be m a d e .

A s a re su lt o f his ex p erien ce in p u ttin g T h e N a v ig a to r to g e th e r, M a y n a rd w ill n o w w o rk o u t o f A u c k la n d a n d S y d n ey .

A S O L D IE R ’S T A L E : M a ria n n e B a s le r

H e h a s n o p la n s f o r fu tu re c o -p ro d u c tio n s . H e h a s tw o p ro je c ts in A u s tr a lia w ith N ew Z e a la n d - b o rn d ire c to r J a n e C a m p io n — a fe a tu re title d S w e e tie , w ritte n b y C a m p io n , d u e to reel e arly n ex t y e a r, a n d a n a m b itio u s te le v isio n m in i­ series b a se d o n th e th re e v o lu m e a u t o b i o g r a p h y o f J a n e t F ra m e .

M a y n a r d a lso is fin a lisin g a N ew Z e a la n d -b a s e d fe a tu re , T h e R iv e r , b a se d o n a J a n e M a n d e r n o v e l.

T h e d iv e rse a c tiv ity n o w ta k in g p la c e w ith in a n d a ro u n d th e N ew Z e a la n d film in d u s try is as h e a rte n in g as M a y n a r d ’s new life, g iv en th e n e e d , w ith su ch a sm a ll d o m e s tic m a r k e t, fo r th e u tm o s t im a g in a tio n a n d e n te rp rise .

In n o r th e r n F ra n c e d u rin g S e p te m b e r/O c to b e r, L a rry P a r r w as s h o o tin g A S o ld ie r ’s T ale, b a se d o n th e w a r n o v el o f M .K . J o s e p h , w ith G a b rie l B y rn e a n d M a r ia n n e B asler s ta rrin g . It is th e first tim e th a t P a r r , n o rm a lly a p ro d u c e r , h a s d ire c te d a fe a tu re fo r his A u c k la n d -b a s e d M ira g e E n te r ­ ta in m e n t C o rp . T h e p r o je c t is a c o -p r o d u c tio n w ith a L o s A n g e le s c o m p a n y , A tla n tic E n te rta in m e n t C o rp .

M ira g e , in a c o -p r o d u c tio n w ith A tla n tic R ele a sin g , also m a y h o s t th e lo c a tio n s h o o tin g h e re n e x t y e a r o f th e film v e r­ sio n o f th e B ro a d w a y p la y , K .2 .

M o re o b v io u s ly in d ig e n o u s p ro d u c tio n s s c h e d u le d to reel o v e r th e su m m e r m o n th s in ­ c lu d e : a n a s - y e t - u n t i t l e d th rille r, w ritte n a n d d ire c te d b y G e o ff M u r p h y ( T h e Q u ie t E a r th , U tu , G o o d b y e P o r k P ie ), a n d a th r e e -h a n d e d com edy, S e n d A G o rilla , w ritte n b y R o se m a ry M c L e o d a n d d ire c te d b y M e la n ie R e a d ( T ria l R u n ).

T h e la tte r w ill h a v e as ex ecu ­ tiv e p ro d u c e r D o ro th e e P in ­ fo ld , w h o re c e n tly set u p as a n in d e p e n d e n t p ro d u c tio n h o u se — P in flic k s. P in f o ld also h a s o n h e r b o o k s , B o d y P o litic , w ritte n a n d d ire c te d b y J o h n L a in g (D a n g e r o u s O rp h a n s, O th e r H a lv e s, B e y o n d R e a s o n ­ a b le D o u b t).

A f u r th e r s tro n g p o ss ib ility is th e firs t film o f a f o u r fe a tu re p a c k a g e u n d e r th e aegis o f th e n ew J o h n B a rn e tt/L lo y d P h illip s /R o b W h ite h o u se g ro u p in g , E n d e a v o u r E n te rta in m e n t C o rp .

T h is film is th e firs t fe a tu re to b e d ire c te d b y L ee T a m a h o ri a n d h a s th e sig n ific a n t title — to ta lly a p p lic a b le to all th o s e in v o lv e d in th e in d u s try here — N o Game For B e g in n e r s .

BOOK

REVIEW

S T U F F IN G , FILM : G E N R E Edited by Philip Brophy, Raffaele Caputo and Adrian Martin.

(A Stuff Publication, PO Box 222, Northcote, Victoria 3070, ISSN 084 9011, $8.00.)

S tu ffin g , F ilm : G e n re is m a d e b y a n d is th e first in a series. It c o m p rise s a n e d ito ria l a n d six a rtic le s by w rite rs w h o h a v e all c o n tr ib u te d to C in e m a P a p e rs o v e r th e y e a rs, so m e a g re a t d e a l, o th e r s less. It is a th e o re tic a l te x t b u t it a lso re v eals a g re a t lo v e f o r th e s u b je c t m a tte r . T h is m e a n s p a rtly , as B a rb a ra C re e d p u ts it, “ th e g o o d o ld ‘G ee! W h iz! W o w ! ’ a p p ro a c h to th e c in e m a ” . (C in e m a P a p e r s , M a rc h 1987, p39) B u t stra n g e ly e n o u g h , th e s e tw o a p p ro a c h e s d o n ’t seem to b e m u tu a lly exclu siv e.

G e n re is a ttra c tiv e to th o s e w h o fin d v a lu e in th e c lassica l, th e u n p re te n tio u s , th e m o d e s t. A s o n e p a r t o f th e e d ito ria l sta te s, g e n re s tu d y m a y w ell b e a n in h e re n tly c o n se rv a tiv e o c c u p a tio n .

T o c o n tin u e in sp ite o f th is, e sp e c ia lly w ith a d e g re e o f p a ss io n , c a n b e seen as a s tu b b o r n o r ev en p e rv e rse q u e s t, even in th e se d ay s o f d is illu s io n m e n t w ith a v a n t- g a rd e stra te g ie s. B u t it is n o t n e c e ssa ry to p riv ile g e g e n re a t th e e x p e n se o f all o th e r k in d s o f film s, a n d e q u a lly th e r e a re a m u ltip lic ity o f w ays in w h ich g e n re c a n b e u n d e r s to o d to o p e ra te : in film s n o t n o rm a lly th o u g h t o f as g e n e ric , a n d o fte n in w ay s a t la rg e v a ria n c e fro m th e “ c la ssic a l” — a te n d e n c y re fle c tiv e o f th a t sa m e a v a n t-g a rd e crisis, b u t also a c tu a lly in h e r e n t in g e n re itse lf. E v e n g e n re c ritic ism c a n be re a d as e x h ib itin g g e n e ric p ra c tic e s . M a n y o f th e w rite rs in S tu f fi n g d e m o n s tra te th e s e fa c ts q u ite c o n v in c in g ly .

W e a re f o r tu n a te th is y e a r to h a v e seen a g re a t g e n re film in B ria n D e P a lm a ’s T h e U n to u c h a b le s a n d a v ery fin e o n e in W a lte r H ill’s E x tr e m e P r e ju d ic e . In te re stin g ly , b o th film s m ix th e c rim e a n d w e ste rn g e n re s , in q u ite d if fe re n t w ays, a n d in so d o in g s tre tc h even f u r th e r th e (c o n s id e ra b le ) e la b o ra tio n s o f th e essays by P h ilip B ro p h y a n d A d ria n M a r tin . T h is is as it sh o u ld b e, a n d p ro v e s th a t in 1987 m a in s tre a m A m e ric a n c in e m a still h a s th e c a p a c ity to w o rk w ith in tr a d itio n s a n d s im u lta n e o u sly p u s h th e m fu r th e r .

T h e h ig h lig h t o f S tu f fi n g is Bill R o u t t ’s e x tra o rd in a ry piece, ‘C r e a tu r e ’. R o u tt k n o w s his m o v ies a n d his th e o ry a n d lo v es a n d h a te s b o th e q u a lly . H e w rite s lik e a c ro ss b etw e e n R o b e rt W a rs h o w a n d N ie tz s c h e . R o u t t ’s a rtic le c o n c e rn s th e re c e n t d e v e lo p m e n t o f th e c o n c e p t o f th e b a d m o v ie ; n o t ‘b a d ’ m e a n in g ‘g o o d ’, b u t b a d m e a n in g b a d — w ith o u t in v e rte d c o m m a s. H e sees th is te n d e n c y as a re fle c tio n o f a s u p e rio rity c o m p le x o n th e p a r t o f th e v iew er: a n in a b ility to re c o g n ise th e v a lu e — a n d ev en , o c c a sio n a lly , th e b e a u ty a n d tr u th —- o f d e b a se d fo rm s o f c u ltu re , a n d o u r o w n c o m p lic ity in th e ir p ro d u c tio n .

T h e d o ss ie r is q u ite v a rie d in th e a p p ro a c h e s th e w rite rs h a v e c h o se n . P r o b a b ly th e m o s t d if fe re n t to R o u tt’s p iece is P h ilip B ro p h y ’s v e rita b le p o s tm o d e rn D ew ey D e c im a l S y stem o f re c e n t w e ste rn s, ‘R e w ritte n W e ste rn s: R e w ire d W e s te rn s ’. It is im p o ssib le to a c c o u n t fo r th e e x tr a o rd in a ry d e ta il o f B ro p h y ’s a n a ly sis in th is s h o r t rev ie w , esp e c ia lly sin ce I ’ve seen less th a n h a lf th e film s h e d isc u sse s, b u t o n e in te re s tin g a re a h e d o e s n ’t c o v e r is th e “ e n d o f th e w e s t” . B ro p h y s ta te s a t th e b e g in n in g o f th e a rtic le th a t h e is n o t c o n c e rn e d w ith so c ia l o r h is to ric a l fa c to rs , b u t th e d e a th o f th e o ld w est as a n h is to ric a l fa c t h a s a d ire c t re le v a n c e to so m e o f h is id e a s . T h is d e a th m a y o r m a y n o t, in p a r tic u la r film s, b e tie d to th e se lf-c o n s c io u s d e a th o f th e W e ste rn . O n e so c ia l s y m p to m d ire c tly re le v a n t is T h e T ra v e llin g W ild W e st S h o w , p e rh a p s a m u ta n t o f th e g e n re o f re a l life o r h is to ry , th e w e s t’s o w n h y p e rre a l. M o n t e W a lsh (1980), in B ro p h y ’s te rm s , is q u ite c le a rly a H y p e rre a l W e s te rn , c o n ta in in g

a n u m b e r o f c o m m o n e le m e n ts , b u t w h a t is in te re stin g a b o u t it is th e L ee M a rv in c h a ra c te r, seem in g ly a relic fr o m a lo st e ra (like h is ‘b a d g u y ’ p a r t in a n o th e r , m o re classic, e n d o f w est W e ste rn T h e M a n W h o S h o t L ib e r ty V a la n ce (1962), a n d c ro s s-b re d fro m his c rim e film s, T h e K ille rs (1964) a n d P o in t B la n k (1967)). T h e W ild W e st S h o w is a n o p tio n fo r M a rv in in M o n te W alsh in d e c id in g ‘W h a t h e w ill n o w d o w ith h is life ’, a n d in C a t B a llo u (1965), o n e o f th e firs t c o m e d y w e ste rn s, o n e h a lf o f his ro le , th e g o o d g u y , h a d in fa c t w o rk e d o n su c h a sh o w b e fo re b ein g given a n ew lease o n life a n d th e w est (a n d , in d e e d , th e W e ste rn ). In a m o re m o d e r n s e ttin g , E a s tw o o d ’s B r o n c o B illy (1980) ‘D isn e y fie s’ th e W ild W e st S h o w s, a lb e it in a v ery c h a rm in g w ay, a n d m a k e s th e m a n e m b le m o f A m e ric a itse lf.

R a ffa e le C a p u to ’s a rtic le o n w o m e n in p ris o n film s raises so m e in te re stin g id e a s a b o u t th e h u m o u r c o n ta in e d in g e n re film s.

P o p u la r film s — in c lu d in g ‘o ld ’ H o lly w o o d — a re still tre a te d c o n d e sc e n d in g ly , a n d th e te n d e n c y is still to la u g h “ a t ” ra th e r th a n “ w ith ” . C a p u to re fle c ts th a t in a g e n re as in te rn a lly lim ited as c a g e d w o m e n m o v ie s, it is n o t th e (o fte n h ig h ly se lf-co n scio u s) m a k e rs a n d fa n s w h o ta k e th e m se rio u sly , b u t ra th e r th e u n s y m p a th e tic ‘o u ts id e rs ’. T h is a lso ties in w ith so m e o f R o u tt’s c o m m e n ts o n b o o k s lik e T h e 50 W o r st M o v ie s O f A l l T im e.

T h is p u b lic a tio n re q u ire s a m u c h m o re in -d e p th a n aly sis th a n I c a n p ro v id e h e re . A d ria n M a r tin ’s essay o n g a n g ste r film s c o n tin u e s his fa s c in a tin g w o rk o n th e h e ro in A m e ric a n m o v ies.

R o d B is h o p ’s d e sc rip tiv e a c c o u n t o f th e h is to ry o f th e ro a d m o v ie is in te re s tin g , b u t s u ffe rs in c o m p a ris o n to so m e o f th e m o re s u b s ta n tia l pieces.

T h e b ia s in v irtu a lly all o f th e a rtic le s is v ery m u c h a g a in s t th e id e a o f “ a u th o r s h ip ” . T h is is u n d e rs ta n d a b le in a m a g a z in e d e v o te d to g e n re , b u t p e rh a p s it b e c o m e s a n easy w ay o u t.

A u th o ria l stu d ie s a re still u se fu l if o n ly as te s t cases, a tte m p ts to d isc o v e r th e lim ita tio n s o f th e ir o w n te rm s . A s J o h n F o a m p o in ts o u t in his piece o n th e p ro d u c tio n C lu b V id eo , th e in te r­ re la tio n b e tw e e n g e n re a n d a u te u ris m is a c o m p le x o n e , as c o m p le x in d e e d as th e c h ic k e n a n d th e egg.

T h e re is m u c h ric h n e ss to b e sa m p le d in S tu ffin g , a re fre sh in g c o lle c tio n o f th e p ro v o c a tiv e , th e p e rc e p tiv e a n d th e fu n n y .

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READINGS — SOUTH YARRA 153 Toorak Road — 267 1885 (Books, LPs, CDs, Cass.) & 73/75 Davis Avenue — 266 5877 (Secondhand LPs & Cass.)

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W e a re a lw a y s in te re s te d in p u rc h a s in g c o lle c tio n s o f re c o rd in g s .

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 59

r w s ii LEAD ER UNIVERSAL LEAD ER

We couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have put it better ourselves.

Once again this year, well be first with the equipment others copy and the people others want to steal.

V ID E O L A B

4-14 Dickson Ave, Artarmon 2064. Ph: 439 5922.

VL22/P,â&#x20AC;&#x17E;C,

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Technicalities writer FRED HARDEN fearlessly tackles yet another acronym. This time it’s TCP, and the initials stand for an important advance in the process of transferring film to tape.

THE COMPUTER industry uses the term “ vapourware” for hyped-up software that attracts publicity, even orders; it can be roughly demonstrated and is promised “ Real Soon Now’’ but vapourises before reaching the market. The joint Colorfilm/Videolab press announcement of a new advance in the transfer of film to tape seemed to have the same elements when I first heard it. There was nothing to grasp and no one was talking about the fine details of how it was done, yet claiming great improvements. But because I knew the people behind it I accepted the invitation to attend the demonstration.

Roger Bunch, operations manager at Videolab, and Dominic Case, who is in charge of technical services at Colorfilm, began by reminding me of the discussions at last year’s Agfa Gevaert/Cinema Papers seminar on film-totape transfers. We agreed that the session had been stimulating but had a distinct lack of resolve at the end of it.

From the concern expressed by everyone involved we knew something had to change: but was it to be the cinematographers of the made-for-TV jobs who were going to change their styles and light for the reduced contrast range of television?

Or was it thrown back to the labs and telecine operators to

62 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

pull off some magic? After all, it was their problem wasn’t it?

And then there was the problem of transferring a movie shot for theatrical release where the contrast range is already determined for projection?

Something had to happen and the problems seemed to be growing with the spate of miniseries made for television in the last two years. The answer was presented to me with due ceremony in the boardroom of Videolab . . .

TCP. TCP sounds like another of those environmental chemicals that will someday make headlines as a carcinogen. Besides being the name of Dominic Case’s favourite imported English mouthwash it must be high on both the Colorfilm and Videolab list of favourite initials. Coined by someone with an ear for an ad slogan it stands for Telecine Controlled Print. And I’ll forgive you if your level of scepticism is rising.

Dominic Case did not want to go into too much detail and pre-empt his forthcoming talk to the annual Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) conference in Los Angeles.

He wasn’t ready to broadcast it before then and Roger Bunch compounded the secrecy by insisting that there was nothing really special

T H E C A S E FO R T C P : D o m in ic C a se o f C o lo rfilm

about what they did at the telecine. While I was still feeling set-up for something laudable but nebulous about how for the first time the film laboratory was talking to the tape house, on a monitor I saw a split screen demonstration which showed results that were quite remarkable. And dramatic enough to warrant announcing it here when I can only make some guesses at how the process actually works.

THE HARD FACTS TCP is a real improvement over a standard low-contrast print in stretching the detail that is possible to transfer on telecines. It was a surprise to me how bad the low-con looked, almost as if it had been graded badly, and I was shown actual jobs that had been graded for the best result possible and had even gone to air but, when compared with TCP transfers, looked awful. And you could imagine what the standard print would have looked like.

This is not just a little bit of an improvement, it’s a big improvement!

Henno Orro, the telecine grader at Videolab who had been responsible for many of the experiments, assured me that what I was seeing was a technical improvement as well. The waveform monitor told the story that it was not just a matter of lifting the black levels. There really is a lot more detail there.

Convinced, I sat down and asked about the process.

WHY TCP? Roger Bunch talked first about the experience of the Agfa/Cinema Papers seminar. “ If you remember, Brian Bailey from Channel 10 was yelled down at that session, but he made his point and so did the cinematographers. So what was there left?

Somebody had to do something about it and we had the experience from finishing a string of television series like The Last Frontier and Gallagher’s Travels. We

knew something had to be done with both the lab and the transfer to increase the horseshoe effect that film onto tape has; to increase the handling of the contrast ratio without affecting the qualities that the cinematographer has achieved. And with the TCP we have finally achieved something special. From what we have seen, the people who are going to gain the most benefit are the program makers.” “ Why this has come about,” Dominic Case added, “ is that many of the shows that Roger mentioned are very Australian-looking shows with very contrasty material. Last Frontier and Crocodile Dundee are two obvious examples where you had that very harsh lighting which the cinematographer has used to tell the story. Now if you try and put that onto the TV screen you end up seeing nothing. Now I’ve seen attempts to try and compromise, but then you end up with something that is an

can have your subject matter fairly dark and still be comfortable looking at it. Now when they reduce the contrast range for television they still tend to place their subject matter a little bit darker in the tonal range than would be ideal. You can still keep a good contrast range but put a little bit more light on what you’re looking at. “ Part of the thrust that I have to present in Los Angeles is the general consideration about the communication and visualisation problem of our Australian lighting and style. “ An example was the Crocodile Dundee print. For Australian transfer it was done successfully off a TCP print fairly early in our development but there was some controversy when we had to do a transfer for Europe. The disagreement was based more on their expectations of what the Australian lighting was like. “ I came across this years ago when I learnt from Kodak that although they tried to follow a world standard for manufacturing stock they found that different countries had different expectations about how to reproduce images. They tried to cater for everybody, which meant that the Americans were sitting on one edge of the tolerance and the French were sitting on the other. (Which is a comment about the French as much as anything.)’’

Antipodean Europe — it doesn’t have the look we have become used to. It’s not Ayers Rock but a plaster version set somewhere in West Germany. “ Roger compares our filmmakers to Hans Heysen and Tom Roberts, and the painting analogy is worth pursuing because it was the early Victorian period painters who saw the landscape through their European eyes and even put Greek temples in the background, and strange-shaped mountains.

Then there was the revolution when people said ‘That’s not what it looks like!’ And they began to paint the light and landscape as it really was. “ That fits in with the way we feel about the plaster of Paris Ayers Rock look.

Cinematographers very often try and pitch their subject matter slightly lower down the tonal range than they need to for best television results. It’s all a little bit too dark. It’s fine when you have got a cinema screen where it can handle 80 to 1 or 100 to 1, when you

BEHIND THE TCP PROCESS Dominic Case explained, “ Process is the word for it, and your point is right that a lot of it is that someone finally cares about it. Just to have a roll of film that is marked a Telecine Compatible Print is not going to automatically be the answer to your problems.

It’s not a new stock, but we have tuned the printing process and the telecine so that we can make a print that we know is not going to be looked at on projection but on the telecine. If you do screen it in a cinema down town or at theatre 7 down the back of Colorfilm you’d freak out. “ We are providing a print that is different from a normal low-contrast print; a large part of it is what we do in the lab but it is not retiming it. In a lot of cases we are looking at features that have an approved grade locked away.

The cinematographer has seen it and we are at the stage of making the telecine

transfer print. To re-grade just opens up the basket of how you grade each sequence when there has already been a lot of work put into it. “ We tell the cinematographer that we will preserve the grade within the limitations of the way that television can handle it. We have found that with a normal low-con print that you still need to trim or grade each scene slightly on transfer, the TCP print seems to fit a lot better which must mean that it will be closer to the approved grade.”

Apparently the process does not eliminate scene-forscene grading as director Phil Noyce explains later, but the time saving may be an important cost factor considering the print does not cost any more than a standard low-con.

Dominic continued, “ We’ve made a print that we think is tuned in to the best possible requirements of a telecine that has itself to be a known quantity. Roger’s people are setting up their telecines to make the most of that print.

Without the continual monitoring of the telecine you don’t have a hope in hell of getting an advantage.”

THE DIRECTOR’S TESTIMONIAL The Australian feature

Shadows Of The Peacock had

problems in getting onto videotape, as director Phil Noyce explained. “ It was shot on the new Agfa stocks, using very low light conditions, candlelight, and a lot of night exteriors. One sequence that was totally candlelit was a ceremony in a huge Buddhist temple in a cave. We found that using conventional methods we couldn’t get the right transfer; the print was OK but we found that we couldn’t get the detail without lifting the black up to unrealistic proportions. It just looked ugly with no subtlety. “ So Colorfilm said that they would fix it up with a special print and they did. Scenes that I never thought we would be able to transfer came up looking like they did in the cinema. “ We made that particular videotape master, the master for the whole world and the distributors and sub­ distributors kept dubbing from that, because I could see people trying to make copies from the cinema prints and getting the results that we rejected. “ I don’t know what happens >

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 63

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< technically. Over the years I’ve found when Dominic starts talking I switch off until he gets to the end and I know it will work. He’s always found a solution to our problems over the years. There was some talk about how it works, about blowing it out and certainly the print looks terrible when you look at it.

There may be a slight increase in grain from a normal print but there seemed to be a bigger increase when the low-con print was brought up to a level that was anywhere near acceptable, because that would inevitably bring up the grain. “ Of course for most films if they are photographed reasonably well-exposed with exterior scenes, then you just order a low-con print and you have no trouble. We still had to grade scene for scene but there just seemed to be more latitude. I had tried twice to grade a video master and had to abandon the attempts both times, because we seemed to be fighting a losing battle. 1 thought, ‘How come I’ve got a film that can’t be transferred to video?’ I thought it must have been the stock but Out Of Africa was shot on Agfa and it transferred well to tape.

It came down to how Peter James was shooting wide open for scene after scene, night exteriors, night interiors.

When there were candles in the scene that was really all that was lighting it. On the cinema screen it looks magnificent but on the TV it looked like a huge mistake or you couldn’t see it at all! “ At a recent exhibitors’ conference in Surfers 64 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

Paradise Greg Coote pointed out that hundreds of times more people now see a film on video than see it in the cinema. Not as much as when it’s initially released but certainly over its lifetime. So it is something that you have to consider.”

Phil Noyce continued, “ I only consider my job finished when the video master is made, because you have always got to do things like reframe even if you haven’t shot it anamorphic. Even in 1:1.85 you get a lot of room above their heads and inevitably you have to blow-up and reposition. If you have taken a lot of care over every shot you don’t want just anyone taking a guess on what looks good to re-interpret the framing of the film. You have to do it yourself.”

hardware. Videolab is soon to take delivery of the enhanced Rank Mark 3C telecine, and have placed their order for a digital, 4:2:2 Mark 3 telecine which is an improvement over the enhanced model. “ The enhanced model basically gives you a 1000:1 contrast ratio on the telecine, but the 4:2:2 gives you that, plus better signal to noise and also greater resolution than the enhanced one. You’ll remember when the first Digiscan Rank came out that in comparison with the analog it didn’t have as much resolution. They had to put it back with vertical and horizontal aperture correction but now they have all that resolution back because of the advantages of the 4:2:2 processing.”

At that stage we will be in the position of having to apologise about the quality of the one-inch master for release because the transfer will be so good. All this assures film an ongoing role in the television process, as even the best video cameras cannot match the brightness range that film can. As Dominic Case said, nobody can sit in a film laboratory nowadays and increase the flow-through of the product for television, just as no one can sit in the video house and mutter about the print unless they go and talk to the lab. It

will not be long before the other labs and tape houses have to look carefully at the process.

The SMPTE paper will ensure that the sharing of information on an international level benefits everyone.

Kodak, of course, are also interested and it seems certain that they will spread the TCP knowledge wider.

The last words from Dominic Case were, “ TCP is not just a can of film, it’s a communication process right from the cinematographers through to the channels. I think one thing that Australian cinematographers can do excellently is capture the Australian light for the big screen. I really think that they have mastered that and what I think we have been trying pretty hard to do, with some success, is to prevent it looking like mud in Birmingham or like Neighbours when it gets onto television.”

And from Roger Bunch: “ We are learning all the time, it’s evolving, there is not a package that I’ll sell you today that doesn’t change somewhere down the track.”

Well, I believe it.

See Cinema Papers 57 May 1986 fo r a re p o rt on the A gfa Gevaert/Cinem a Papers sem inar on film -to-tape tra n sfe rs. For fu rth e r d e tails on the telecine see Cinema Papers 58 Ju ly 1986, pp 69-71.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS TCP is not a cure-all for mistakes made in shooting.

According to Roger Bunch: “ We had a commercial job in recently and they had ordered a TCP print themselves but because the contrast range was so extreme the TCP didn’t help. There was no detail in the blacks to start with. But it seems as if the cameramen are now aware that for the jobs where they are shooting in low light they order a TCP print as a matter of course. In other words if they see the workprint and it is a little dense then they automatically order a TCP.” The process seems sure to be developed further by Colorfilm, but the next step may well come from improvements in the video

T H E N E X T S T E P : T h e R a n k M a rk 3 C te le c in e

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CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 65

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Asst props buyer......................................... LukeHobbs Based on the original idea Producer....................................................FrankHowson b y .............................................Warwick Hind Set decorator..............................................Judy Kelly Director........................................................PinoAmenta Photography..............................................ElleryRyan Scriptwriter............................................... FrankHowson Scenic a rtist............................................. ShaneForest Sound recordist.................... Andrew Ramage Set construction........................................... RobRicketson Based on an original idea Editor.....................................Mark Van Buuren Labourers............................................ChristianTrinder, by........................................................... FrankHowson Prod, designer.................................Roger Ford Philip Carroll Photography..............................................DavidConnell Exec, producers................. Antony I. Ginnane, Sound/post-production............................RogerSavage, Sound recordist..................................... AndrewRamage Errol Sullivan Soundfirm Editor..................................................Phil Reid BLIND FAITH Assoc, producer.........................................Julie Monton Editing assistants.................................... DannyCooper, Prod, designer............................................... TelStolfo Prod, company................................... ...BrilliantFilmsProd, manager........................................... Julie Forster Stephen Hayes Composer................................................... John Capek Producer.....................................Brian Douglas Unit manager.............................................HughJohnston Exec, producer.......................................... PeterBoyleDubbing editor........................................... Nicky Roller Director.......................................Brian Douglas Location finder........................................... RuthCatlinAssoc, producer.........................................BarbiTaylor Stunts co-ordinator..................................... GlenRuehland Scriptwriter.................................Robert Taylor (Stagewright Pty Ltd) Prod, co-ordinator.................................. SimoneDoleStill photography............................. Tony Nolan Based on the original idea Prod, secretary..................................... RowenaTalacko Unit manager............................................. JohnSuhrWrangler......................................................DaleAspin by......................................................... RobertTaylor Prod, accountant........................................... JillCoverdale Best bo y ......................................................GregAllan Location manager....................................... PaulHealey Editor............................................................KenSallows Asst accountant.........................Donna Mitchell Mechanic.................................................. MartinShields Prod, accountant................................... BelindaWilliams Producer’s assistant.............. Bob Stevenson 1st asst director......................................... EuanKeddie Prod, assistant........................................... LynnHowson Nurse.......................................................WendyBoon Length..............................................90 minutes 2nd asst director.......................................JamieCrooks 1st asst director.......................John Powditch Publicity.....................................................LionelMidford Gauge...................................................... 35mm 3rd asst director....................................... SarahLewis2nd asst director................... Michael McIntyre Catering......................... Maree Manifold, MMK Cast: Bill Hunter.

Continuity................................................... PamWillis3rd asst director.....................Cameron Barnett Laboratory.......................................... Colorfilm Synopsis: Rivalry between two parish Casting.......................................Michael Lynch Continuity................................................. JennyTosi Lab. liaison......................... Richard Piorkowski churches escalates Into a media event of Casting consultants......... Forcast Consultants Script editor...................................Alister Webb Budget......................................................... $1.2million astronomic proportion — leaving Father Extras’ casting................. Virginia Everingham Casting....................................................... GregAppsLength..........................................100 minutes Brannigan attempting to undo what the miracle Camera operator................... David Williamson Casting consultant......................................... LizMullinar Gauge....................................................... 35mm he needed has given him!

Focus puller..................................Tracy Kubler Focus p uller............................................... GregRyanSynopsis: A young man sets off on a journey Clapper/loader..............................................PhilMurphy Clapper/loader...........................................TerryHowell to find his origins and discovers not only his DOT IN SPACE Key g rip ..................................................... BarryHansen Key g rip ..............................................Geoff Full past but the murderers of his father and grand­ Asst grip......................... Rourke Crawford-Flett father.

Prod, company........................................ YoramGross Gaffer........................................................... RobYoung Gaffer...............................................Simon Lee Film Studio Pty Ltd Art director..........................Bernadette Wynack Producer................................................. YoramGrossElectrician..................................................PeterBushby Make-up........................... Amanda Rowbottom CANDY CLAUS Boom operator......................... Scott Rawlings Director............................

YoramGross Wardrobe................................ Cheryl McCloud Art director.................................... Laurie Faen Scriptwriter................................................. JohnPalmer Props buyers..............................................DarylMills,Prod, company.........................................YoramGross Art dept runner.............................. Luke Parata Film Studio Pty Ltd Associate producer................................SandraGross Brian Dusting Wardrobe supervisor............Louise Wakefield Animation director..................................... AtholHenry Standby props............................................BrianLangDist. company ...INI (International Network Inc.) M usic.......................................................... GuyCrossMake-up...............................Wendy Sainsbury Set decorator..............................................TrishKeating Producer..................................................YoramGross Prod, supervisor.................................. JeanetteTomsHairdresser..........................Jonathan Malone Director....................................................YoramGross Still photography........................................ GregNoakes Standby wardrobe.........................Peter Bevan Prod, manager.......................Jacki Goodridge Scriptwriter................................................. JohnPalmer Best b o y .....................................................PeterMoloney Props buyers/set dressers......... Donna Brown, Asst editor............................................ StephenHayes Publicity.................................................... LionelMidford Assoc, producer..................................... SandraGross Eugene Intas Publicity.....................................................UshaHarris Laboratory............. Victorian Film Laboratories Music performed b y ......................... Guy Gross Standby props........................................... ColinGibson Length............................................................80minutes Lab. liaison............................................... BruceBraun Animation director....................... Ray Nowland Asst editor......................................Jenny Hicks Budget........................................................ $1.9million Gauge.......................................................35mm Length.............................................................25minutes Dubbing editor........................ Karin Wittington Synopsis: Dot finds her way into an American Length......................................................95-100minutes Gauge....................................................... 35mm Dubbing assistant......................... Phil Dickson spaceship which lands her on a war torn planet Gauge...................................................... 35mm Synopsis: Santa and Mrs Claus receive a gift 2nd dubbing asst............................... Rick Lisle Shooting stock............................ Eastmancolor of Rounds and Squares. for Christmas . . . a walking talking little doll Still photography................. Robert McFarlane Cast: John Waters (Tom Garfield), Penelope called Candy Claus.

Best boy........................................ Pat O’Farrell Stewart (Helen Garfield), Kim Gyngell (lan EMERALD CITY Runner..................................... Lyn Henderson McKenzie), Nicki Pauli (Suzy Daniels), Kevin Prod, company.............. Limelight Productions Catering........................................ Janene Luff Miles (Geoff Bormann).

CONTACT Pty Ltd in association with the Mixed a t............................... Soundfirm Pty Ltd Synopsis: A contemporary drama set in NSW Film Corporation Prod, company............. Tru-Vu Pictures Pty Ltd Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm Melbourne, Los Angeles and New York.

It tells Producer............................................Joan Long Dist. company........................ Ronin Films/ABC Lab. liaison.............................. Denise Wolfson the story of the fictional character Tom Director....................................Michael Jenkins Producer.....................................................ChrisOliver Budget.............................................$3,400,000 Garfield, Australia’s most successful writer, Scriptwriter............................ David Williamson Director....................................

Mary Callaghan Gauge...................................................... 35mm who returns to his homeland after 10 years of Based on the play by............. David Williamson Scriptwriter...............................Mary Callaghan Shooting stock........Kodak Eastmancolor Broadway and Hollywood acclaim.

Casting consultant.......................Alison Barrett Photography......................................Ray Argali S ynopsis: A thriller dealing with the Budget............................................ $2,831,738 Soundrecordist............................................ PatFiske murderous pursuit of obsessive love.

Gauge.......................................................35mm Editor..........................................................TonyStevens Synopsis: A scriptwriter and his publisher wife Prod, designer......................................... KerrieBrown BREAKING LOOSE THE BODYCOUNTERS struggle with the temptations of wealth, power Composer..............................................GrahamBidstrup Prod, company........................................AvalonFilmsProd, manager...........................................AnnaGrieve Prod, company................ CM Film Productions and harbour frontages. A comedy about moral Producer................................................... PhillipAvalon Dist. company........... Arinya Film Distributors, dilemmas.

Location manager.....................Peter Warman Director........................................................ RodHay Prod, secretary..............................................PipBrown Cinema Enterprises Scriptwriter...................................................

RodHay Prod, accountant............... Kathy Montgomery, Producer...................................Carmelo Musca SOMETHING GREAT Photography.......................... Richard Michalak Director...................................... Barrie Pattison Wearne &Co. Sound recordist............................ Bob Clayton Prod, company...................................BoulevardFilmsScriptwriter................................. Barrie Pattison 1st asst director............................................. lanPage Editor............................................................TedOttonFocus puller.............................. Mandy Walker Photography................................. Alex McPhee Producer....................................................FrankHowson Exec, producers........................James Vernon, Sound recordist...........................Hugh Cleverly Scriptwriter............................................... FrankHowson Key g rip .....................................Peter Ledgway Eric Jury, Editor.......................................Thai Tang Tieng Exec, producer...............................Peter Boyle G affer........................................Mark Gilfedder Gordon Walker Prod, manager.........................Frances Walker Publicity.................................................... LionelMidford Art director.................................. Kerrie Brown Unit manager.............................................DougSmithAssoc, producer............................................KipPorteous Budget............................................. $5,980,000 Asst art director........................... Amanda Hunt Prod, co-ordinator..................................MichaelDavisStoryboard artist.......................Kate Broadbent Prod, secretary............. Carolien van der Gaag Length............................................120 minutes Prod, manager....................................... AndrewMorse 1st asst director.............................Gerard Letts Synopsis: The true story of the trials and Hair/make-up............................Annette Adams Unit manager....................Stephen Macagnan Continuity..................................... Jan Piantoni triumphs of Australia’s golden boy of boxing Standby wardrobe.................................... KathyMoyes Location manager........................ Bevan Childs Casting consultant......................... Geoff Gibbs who fell from grace as a result of World War I’s Standby props/construction ....Mathias Goeber Prod, secretary.......................................... ClareGaleAsst editor.............................Jacqueline Munro Focus puller...............................................StevePeddle conscription hysteria and was resurrected as a Prod, accountant................................... MichaelBoonStill photography.....................................JamesHealey Key g rip ..................................................... LeighSandow hero, when he died in Memphis, lonely, Prod, assistant........................................... John BlackPublicity....................................................... KimLewis, Gaffer........................................................DarrylBinnings bewildered and reviled at the age of 21.

Art director........................................... JulianneMills 1st asst director..........Carolynne Cunningham Andrew Pike 2nd asst director.......................Mark Chambers Make-up.................................................... LiddyReynolds Catering................................................. FestivalCatering 3rd asst director........................ Theresa Parker Wardrobe................................................ DeniseNapier Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm Continuity..................................................... SueWileyLength.............................................. 90 minutes Best boy....................................................... KimHarwood Script editor............................................... DenisWhitburn Runner.................................................. MichaelJesser Gauge.......................................................35mm Casting.....................Faith Martin & Associates Laboratory........................................... Movielab Cast: Jo Kennedy (Mitch), Nique Needles Camera operator.........................................John Brock I ah liaison...............................................KelvinCrumplln (Rex), Robert Menzies (Yawn).

Focus puller............................................... MarkSullivan Budget................................................ $855,000 Synopsis: Contact is a low-rent, pop-cult love Clapper/loader............................................ PaulSullivan Length............................................................90minutes story.

Key grip..................................................GrahamYoung Gauge.......................................................35mm Asst g rip ................................................... DannyLockett Cast: Geoff Gibbs (Mayor Ransom), John Pell BODILY HARM CROSSING Gaffer........................................................ GeoffMaine (Jimmy).

Prod, company............................. Smiley Films Boom operator........................................... ChrisRowland Synopsis: Grotesque events occur in an Aus­ Prod, company........................... Serpent Films Pty Limited for Art director.............................................AndrewPaul Producers............................. Hector Malacaria, tralian outback town when an ill-considered International Film Management Limited Art dept co-ordinator............ Alanah O’Sullivan development turns the area's war-dead into Evan Shapiro Dist. company.........Hemdale Film Corporation Make-up technician..........Brenda MacKenzie blood-crazed monsters.

Directors............................... Hector Malacaria, (The World excluding Australasia), Make-up/hair asst.....................................NicoleSorby Evan Shapiro Hemdale-Ginnane Australia Limited Wardrobe supervisor............................... JennyCampbell Scriptwriters.........................Hector Malacaria, BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS (Australasia) Wardrobe asst.......................... Sandra Eastern Evan Shapiro Producer................................ Richard Brennan Prod, company.................................. BoulevardFilmsStandby wardrobe......................................... PiaKryger Sound recordist.............................Michael Hart Standby props........................................ MarcusErasmus Director.............................................Mark Joffe Dist. company.....................Bravo International Editors.................................. Hector Malacaria, Scriptwriter................................. Warwick Hind Distributors/Hoyts Props buyer............................................. RowanMcKenzie Evan Shapiro

FEATURES

PRE-PRODUCTION

FEATURES

P R O D U C T I O N

66 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

C T I O N R V E Y

A full listing of the features* telemovies, documentaries and shorts now in pre-production, production or post-production in Australia.

Composer................................................ SimonShapiro Synopsis: The terror of confined mayhem con­ Accounts asst......................... Anne Tweedale, Still photography................................I. Bartók Prod, manager......................................... GlennWatson fronts five teenage uni students in a depart­ Catch 1-2-3 Tech, adviser.....................................Ron Sims Location manager............... Julie Cunningham ment store with a psychotic policeman.

1st asst director........................................ SteveAndrews Publicity.....................................Glenda Cocks, Prod, assistant........................................ TraceySteele 2nd asst directors........................................PhilPatterson, P. Szanto 1st asst director....................................VanessaWilliams Toby Pease Studios............MTV Light Entertainment Dept, THE DREAMING 2nd asst director......................... Denise Jones 3rd asst director......................................JanineSchepisi IPV, Script assistant................................... Ro Hume Prod, company........................... Genesis Films Continuity.................................................. LindaRay ABC, Casting.................................................... HectorMalacaria, Pty Limited for Producer’s assistant................................ HilaryMay Hollo-Laszlo Studio Hungaroton International Film Management Limited Evan Shapiro Director’s assistant.........................Jakki Mann Mixed a t........................ ABC/MTV-Hungaroton Camera operator.......................................PeterMcDonald Dist. company...........Goldfarb Distributors Inc. Casting.............. Forcast and Rhonda Schepisi Laboratory.........Hungarian Film Lab Company Key g rip .................................................... AdamShapiro (The World excluding Australasia Extras’ casting.................................Sue Parker Budget............................................$2.2 million &The Philippines), Gaffer....................................................... AdamShapiro Camera operator.......................................... IanJonesLength............................................ 90 minutes Hemdale Ginnane Australia Limited Costume designer.........................Jacquie Chu Focus puller........................... Leigh McKenzie Gauge...................................................... 35mm (Australasia), Make-up........................................ Sue Straass Clapper/loader.......................................... PeterWhiteShooting stock.............................Eastmancolor Eastern Film Management Corporation Props............................................Meredith Hall 2nd camera asst/Steadicam.................... GeoffHall Synopsis: Linda Safari is a story of intrigue, (The Philippines) Still photography.................... Sergio Malacaria Key grip...............................Graham Litchfield action, adventure, mystery and romance, com­ Producers......................................Craig Lahiff, Animation...................................................PeterMcDonald Gaffer.........................................................MickMorrisbining humour and heroism, with rock ’n’ roll Wayne Groom Length............................................................ 80minutes Best boy.......................................... Chris Fleet music for audiences of all ages. The heroine is Gauge....................................................... Super16mmDirector............................... Mario Andreacchio Boom operator.......................................... MarkWasiutak Linda, a policewoman with “ Interpol” , well Scriptwriters................................................ RobGeorge, Cast: Neil Grant (Adam), Scott Williams Art directors............................................... DaleDuguid, known for her “ Tae Kwon Do” and linguistic (Steven), Zoe Williams (Trudi), Mark Fisher Stephanie McCarthy, Brian Edmonds skills. Several stories operate simultaneously John Emery (Michael), Brian Vicary (Mr Coal), Vanessa Asst art directors................. John Pryce-Jones, and the protagonist always wins against great Based on an original idea b y .........Craig Lahiff, Williams (Science teacher), Ross Williams Phil Drake odds, without guns, in her fight against organ­ Terry Jennings (Steven’s mother), Leone Sperling (Adam’s Costume designer.................. Bruce Finlayson ised international crime and terrorism. mother), Ari Sperling (Bradley).

Photography............................................. DavidForeman Make-up.................................. Noriko Spencer Sound recordist...........................................RobCutcher Synopsis: A story of friendship. This film looks Art dept co-ordinator...............Wendy Huxford Editor............................................Suresh Ayyar THE MAN WHO LOST HIS HEAD into the minds of two students in their last days Wardrobe supervisor/standby........Julie Barton Prod, designer............................Michael Ralph at high school. Adam and Steven perceive their Costume maker..................................... SandraCichello Prod, company.............................. Chair Films Exec, producer.....................Antony I. Ginnane place in the system in a very esoteric way.

Props standby................................Chris James Dist. company................................ Ronin Films Prod, co-ordinator......................... Diane Stuart Props buyers/dressers.................................VivWilson, Producer................................................. JamesClayden Prod, manager.............................................RonStigwood Jill Eden, Director................................................... JamesClayden Unit manager...........................................MasonCurtis DANGEROUS GAME Michael Rumpf Based on the original idea Location manager................ Christopher Pope Asst buyer/dresser..................Ashley Schepisi by........................................................ JamesClayden Prod, company.....................Virgo Productions Prod, accountant...................................... DavidBarnes Art dept vehicle co-ordinator........ Jamie Legge Editor.........................................................GaryHillberg Dist. company...................... International Film Accounts assistant................................ SharonJackson Draughtspersons................ Phillip Schemnitz, Music performed by.........................Ollie Olsen Marketing (LA) 1st asst director..............................Gus Howard Jeff Thorp Mixer............................................ Steve Burges Producers...................................... Judith West, 2nd asst director......................... Lindsay Smith Construction manager............................WayneAllan Publicity............................................ Kim Lewis Basil Appleby 3rd asst director......................................... JeanMoyes Leading hand.......................... Brendan Mullen Mixed at............................................ Soundfirm Director..................................... Steve Hopkins Continuity...............................Kristin Witcombe Model maker..........................................HamishHicksLength........................................................... 90minutes Scriptwriter...................................... Peter West Focus puller......................................Jo Murphy Carpenters......................................Alan Good, Cast: Phil Motherwell (Walter Hey), Marie Hoy Based on an original idea Clapper/loader....................... Liddy Van Guyen Ian Baxter, (Ruby How), Valerie Kirwan (Fats Wall), Jan by............................................Michael Ralph Ray Taylor, Friedel (Will Here), Peter Green (Bench Root), Photography.............................................. PeterLevy Key grip......................................................BrianBosisto Asst grip................................................ GeorgioLiveri Glen Christensen, John Murphy (Mickey Did), Louise Hearman Sound recordist...........................Phillip Keros Gaffer....................................................GraemeShelton Barry Muir (Rose Near), Tom Echersley (Toe Near).

Editor........................................... Tim Wellburn Boom operator.............................................DesKennealy Scenic artist.....................................Ian Richter Synopsis: Every time Walter's photographic Prod, designer..................................... Igor Nay Art director....................................... Ian Grade Set finishers.................................Tony Piliotis, excursions into the outside world merge with Exec, producer....................................... RobertMercieca Art Gus Lobb, his imaginings of the photographic past, his Prod, manager.......................................... CathyFlannerydept co-ordinator................................... ToniForsyth Costume designer.......................... Ruth Munro Adam Smiyielski head falls off. And fish swim through it.

Asst producer................ Andrew Martin-Weber Props buyer............................................... VickiNiehus Asst editor............................... James Manche Unit manager.........................................RoxaneDelbarre Asst props buyer........................................KeithBradford Sound editor............................Bruce Lamshed MULLAWAY Location manager........................................ KimAnning Standby props...........................................PeterDavies Researchers.......................................Sue Ellis, Prod, secretary..................... Juliette van Heyst Prod, company....... Ukiyo Films (International) lllustrator/runner..................................... DanielBurns Christina Norman Prod, accountants....................... Michele Day, Pty Limited for Special effects............................................. JonArmstrong Travel service................. Entertainment Travel Jane Corden International Film Management Limited Set construction........................................ChrisBudrys Still photography.............................Vivian Zink 1st asst director......................... Keith Heygate Dist. company........

Hemdale Film Corporation Dubbing editor.........................................GlennMartin Dog wrangler.............................. Ray Winslade 2nd asst director........................................ PeterVoeten (The World excluding Australasia), Dubbing asst...................... Yvonne Van Guyen Runner.......................................Ifca Dragicevic Continuity....................................................... JoWeeks Hemdale-Ginnane Australia Limited Stunts co-ordinator..................................... GlenBoswell Publicity................. The Rea Francis Company Script editor................................David Groom (Australasia) Still photography........................................GregLamey Unit publicist................................ Marion Page Camera operator....................... Bill Hammond Producer.............................

D. Howard Grigsby Nurse..........................................Monica Pearce Studios.........................Australian Film Studios Focus p uller............................... Conrad Slack Director................................... Don McLennan Best boy..................................................... KeithJohnson Length.......................................... 120 minutes Clapper/loader.......................................RichardBradshaw Scriptwriter................................ Jon Stephens Runner................................................. StephenBurns Gauge......................................................35mm Camera attachment................... Kate Prindiville Based on the novel by................Bron Nicholls Catering...........................................

Keith Fish Cast: Meryl Streep (Lindy Chamberlain), Sam Key grip.................................. Nobby Szaf ranek Photography....................................... ZbigniewFriedrich Studios...................................................HendonStudios Neill (Michael Chamberlain).

Asst grip......................................Kerry Jackson Sound recordist......................... Lloyd Carrick Budget............................................$2,200,000 Gaffer..........................................Rick McMullin Editor.................................. Zbigniew Friedrich Length............................................................92 minutes 3rd electrician.................... Darren McLaughlin Prod, designer.........................Patrick Reardon Gauge...................................................... 35mm LINDA SAFARI Boom operator.......................................... DavidLee Shooting stock................. Kodak Eastmancolor Exec, producer.....................Antony I. Ginnane Art director.................................................... IanAllanSynopsis: A contemporary thriller set on a Prod, company............................. Soundstage Prod, co-ordinator............. Christine Gallagher Costume designer..................Collette Dinnigan Australia Limited, Prod, manager......................Andrew Wiseman remote island off the southern coast of Make-up................................................ MicheleCochran MTV Hungary Unit manager............................. Steve Ewings Australia.

Hairdresser............................................MicheleCochran Producer...................................Tibor Meszaros Location manager.......................Steve Ewings Co-producer................................... Gyorgy Gat Wardrobe co-ordinator............ Shauna Flenady Prod, secretary.................. Fran O’Donoghue Scriptwriters.......................................A. Coper, Wardrobe standby.................................... FionaNicholls Prod, accountant............... Robert Threadgold EVIL ANGELS Props buyers................................................ LonLucini, Gy Gat, 1st asst director.......................Bob Donaldson Miv Brewer Prod, company..........Evil Angels Films Pty Ltd R. Rozgonyi Continuity..................................Christine Lipari Producer...................................................VerityLambert Animator...................................................JanosKatona Set construction........................................ HughBateup, Casting....................................................... GregApps Director........................................Fred Schepisi Walter Sperl Script editor...........................................HannahDownie Casting consultants....................... Liz Mullinar Scriptwriter............................................. RobertCaswell Based on the novel................................... LindaSzafari Asst editor..................................Janine Chialvo Casting Consultants Based on the book b y ................................John Bryson Merchandising co-ordinator...... Maurie Strong Photography..................................Jozse Pojak Focus puller.............................................. ChrisCain Photography.................................... Ian Baker Sound recordist..................................Kim Lord Sound editor................................................. LesFiddess Clapper/loader............................ Andrew Scott Sound recordist......................................... GaryWilkins Editing assistant................ Jenny Hutchinson Editor......................................Marianna Miklos Key grip..................................... Peter Kershaw Editor.............................................................JillBilcock Composers..................................... R. Szikora, Stunts co-ordinators.......................Peter West, Gaffer....................................................... DavidParkinson Prod, designers.......................Wendy Dickson, Jim Richards C.S. Bogda'n, Costume designer................................ JeannieCameron George Liddle Stunts........................................ Joe Schwaiger G. Berkes.

Asst editor.................................. Annette Kelly Composer.................................................BruceSmeaton M. Fenyo, Still photography...........................................JimTownley Still photography....................... Virginia Rouse Best boy.....................................................SeanConway Exec, producers.................................MenahemGolan, A. Bodna’r, Dialogue coach.........................Jon Stephens Yoram Globus Runner.................................. Sasha Rodriguez G. Szentmihalyi Best boy.................................... Daryl Pearson Production executive.................................. RoyStevens Unit publicists............... Andrew Martin-Weber, Exec, producer........................Robert A. Cocks Runner........................................... Jack White Shelley Neller Prod, co-ordinator............................ Sue Jarvis Assoc, producer...................................... EndreFlorian Studios........................Australian Film Studios Prod, supervisor...................................P. Koltai Catering.......................MMK Catering Services Prod, manager...........................................CarolHughes Laboratory.............................................Cinevex Unit managers......................Michael Batchelor Prod, managers....................................... DavidDownie, Studios..........................................Raleigh Park Lab. liaison..................................Ian Anderson (Melbourne), Endre Sik Mixed a t............................................... Colorfilm Budget............................................ $3,000,000 Tic Carroll 1st asst directors...................... Margaret Prior, Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm Length............................................ 94 minutes (Northern Territory) Budget............................................ $4.7 million Z. Bonta Gauge...................................................... 35mm Location managers....Tony Leach (Melbourne), Length.............................................95 minutes Casting ...Watermelon Valley Productions (WA) Shooting stock................. Kodak Eastmancolor Robin Clifton (NT) Special effects.................. Hungarian Film Lab Gauge....................................................... 35mm Synopsis: A witty and compassionate story of Prod, secretary....................................... SerenaGattuso Musical director.............................................. T.Koesa’k Cast: Miles Buchanan (David Forest), Marcus a teenage girl coming to terms with her family Prod, accountant.....................................JennyVerdon, Sound editor...................................................S.Kalman Graham (A.J. Hayward), Steven Grives (Patrick and herself when she learns that her mother is Catch 1-2-3 Mixer.............................................................. S.Kalman Murphy). critically ill.

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 67

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SOUNDSTAGE AUSTRALIA HAS OPENED * P erth s Largest Sound Stage ™ —■Quality Low Cost Production«-

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Script editor................................................PauliKarkienen 3rd asst director............................ John Gaudry Runner........................................................ LisaHarrison OUTBACK Lighting cameraperson............. Richard Bladel Asst directors’ attachment.... Donna Shepherd Catering............................... Marika Janavicius Prod, company........................................... JohnSexton Camera operator............................Gary Phillips Continuity.................................................. ChrisO’Connell Catering asst......................................Lou Hock Productions Pty Limited for Camera assistant................................... Atlanta Francis Continuity attachment.................................

Lise Buckridge Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm The Burrowes Film Group Boom operator...................Malcolm Robertson Producers’ attachment.............................. John Beaton Lab. liaison.............................................DeniseWolfson Pty Limited and Music performed by............... Just A Drummer, Camera operator...................

David Sanderson Budget.............................................$7,300,000 International Film Management Limited John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong, Focus puller....................................Derry Field Length............................................................95 minutes Dist. company.........Hemdale Film Corporation Craven Fops, Clapper/loader............................... Mark Zagar Gauge.......................................................35mm (The World excluding Australasia), Dave Baby Key grip................................... George Tsoutas Shooting stock.................

Kodak Eastmancolor Hemdale-Ginnane Australia Limited Publicity.................................................Amanda Falconer Asst grip.........................................................

Jo Johansen Cast: Jeff Fahey (Creed), Tushka Bergen (Australasia) Catering....................................................... AnnShearman Gaffer.............................................Jamie Egan (Alice), Steven Vidler (Donaghue), Fred Producer....................................................JohnSexton Length............................................................83 minutes 3rd electrix..................................................Brett Remati Parslow (R ichards), C ornelia Frances Director.............................................. Ian Barry Gauge.................................................. 1" video Brute operator........................................... CraigBryant (Caroline), Michael Winchester (Rupert), Scriptwriter................................................ JohnSexton Cast: Julie Mitchell (Sally), Lisa-Jane Stockwell Boom operator.....................Graham McKinney Richard Moir (Thompson), Shane Briant Photography.............................Ross Berryman Art director............................................ StephenMellor(Margaret), Cathv Jukes (Liz), Toby Zoates (Allenby), Drew Forsythe (Iverson), Sandy Gore Sound recordist............................... Ben Osmo (Kika), James Scanlon (Burgher Meister), The Costume designer.................................. MelodyCooper (Maude).

Editor........................................................HenryDangar Mutant Mob (Craven Fops), Michael Salmon Make-up.....................................................KarlaO’Keefe Synopsis: Two men of opposing viewpoints fall Prod, designer......................... Owen Paterson (Jeff), John Kennedy (Jack), Kathleen Phillips Asst make-up........................................

Deanna Girling in love with the same woman in this historical Exec, producers...................Antony I. Ginnane, (Ruby), Tony Biggs (Slob), Mark Bracken Wardrobe standby..................................... JaneBoalch saga set in the Australian outback at the turn of Kent Lovell Props buyer..........................

Dimity Huntington (Wally). the century.

Line producer.................................................SuArmstrong Synopsis: Sci-fi-horror-comedy-thriller that Standby props......................................Tim Hall Prod, co-ordinator..................................... VickiPopplewell follows the havoc when two young brain Art dept attachment...................... Sue Vivien SONS OF STEEL Prod, manager.................................. Grant Hill researchers discover a video effect that stimu­ Set decorator........................ Dimity Huntington Unit manager......................................... NevilleMason Prod, company.................Jet Film Productions lates opioid peptides, and both the Mob and Set dresser’s asst/ Unit assistant.................................Jane Richter Producer.......................James Michael Vernon the CIA want it. art dept runner.......................................AnnaBorghese Location manager.....................David Malacari Director............................................Gary Keady Painter/finisher......................................MichaelWilkinson 2nd unit location manager........ Mike McLean Scriptwriter..................................... Gary Keady Carpenters................................................. MikeVivien, CLAIM NO. Z 84 Prod, secretary........................Amanda Selling Photography.............................. Joe Pickering Steve Volich, Prod, company......................... Sunrise Picture Prod, accountant............Gemma Rawsthorne, Sound recordist..........................Paul Radcliffe Andy Maddern Company Pty Ltd Money Penny Prod, designer....................................GrahameWalker Set construction..................... David Boardman Producer.................................................... NigelBuesst Asst accountant............................... Jill Steele Assoc, producer............................. Penny Wall Asst editors..............................................AdrianWard, Director...................................................... NigelBuesst 1st asst director................................John Wild Prod, manager....................................... BrigitteZeisig Annie Breslin Scriptwriter.......................................Abe Pogos 2nd asst director...................... Brett Popplewell Unit manager............................................FrankManlyDubbing editor........................................... PennRobinson Photography.........................Vladimir Osherov 3rd asst director...............................Terry King Location manager.....................................ArnieCustoSafety officer................................ Paul Buckley Sound recordist........................................... RayBosely Continuity....................................................AnnWalton Prod, secretary................................. Fiona Hile Still photography......................Brian McKenzie, Editor..................................... NubarGhazarian Casting.................................................. MichaelLynch, Prod, accountant.......................... Lea Collins Caroline Johns Prod, designer............................................ Fimo Rae Davidson Accounts assistant....................... Tracey Hyde Machinist........................Lucy Rose Dominello Assoc producer.................... Matthew Lovering Casting consultants..............................Forcast 1st asst director........................................ PeterFitzgerald Electrician...................................................NoelMcKay Prod, manager........................................ Jo Bell Extras’ casting.............................................SueEdwards 2nd asst director............................ Nicky Long Gardener...................................................... PhilStanley Prod, secretary....................................... DianneReece Camera operator......................Ross Berryman 3rd asst director............................. Arnie Custo Mechanic................................ Peter Ortmueller Camera assistant...................................... TerryHowells Focus puller............................. Brian Breheney Focus puller................................... Conrad Mill Best boy..................................................... GregFitzgerald Gaffer...............................................Peter Scott Clapper/loader........................................... GlenCogan Clapper/loader...............................Mark Zager Runner.........................................................TimMcCathie Boom operator.....................

Clayton Jacobson Camera dept attachment................. Peter Stott Key grip.................................... George Tsoutas Publicity............................The Write On Group Catering.................................................. RoslynWalker Key grip............................................. Tony Hall Asst grip....................................... Jo Johanson Unit publicist.............................................. KateJennings Laboratory....................................................VFL Asst g rip .....................................................GregTuohy Gaffer........................................... Craig Bryant Catering................................................... GriffinCaterers Length............................................................ 75minutes Gaffer................................ ......... Lindsay Foote Boom operator.............................................JoeSpinelli Nurse.....................................................Pat Lee Gauge.......................................................Super16mm 3rd electrics..............................Simon Stewart Make-up......................................................BritaKingsbury Mixed a t...............................................Colorfilm Shooting sto ck........................................... 7291 Boom operator.........................Jack Friedman Hairdresser................................................ BritaKingsbury Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm Cast: Jeremy Stanford (Paul), Elizabeth Art director............................................ StewartWayWardrobe................................................ JennyMiles Budget.............................................$3,500,000 Crockett (Gina), David Ravenswood (David), Asst art director...................................... JamesLynnPublicity....................................................LionelMidford Length............................................................94minutes Chris Barry (Carlo), Rowan Woods (Tom), Art dept co-ordinator................................... SueOugham Catering....................................................FionaAngelGauge...................................................... 35mm Peter Hosking (Vince), Leo Regan (Eddie).

Costume designer.................................... TerryRyanLaboratory.......................................... Colorfilm Shooting stock................. Kodak Eastmancolor Synopsis: A dry comedy set in the offices of Make-up.................................. Felicity Bowring Length............................................90 minutes Cast: Wendy Hughes (Stella), John Har­ Hairdresser...............................................Ziggy the Workers Compensation Board.

Gauge...................................................... 35mm greaves (Andy), Norman Kaye (Bill), Max Wardrobe supervisor..................Kerri Barnett Shooting stock............................... 5294, 5297 Cullen (Blanco), Julie Nihill (June), John Standby wardrobe..................................... KateGreen Cast: Robert Hartley (Black Alice), Ros Walzon Clayton (Riley), Michael Silberry (Arthur Wardrobe asst.............................Andrew Short (Hope), Wayne Schnell (EX).

DOT IN GOOD OLD HOLLYWOOD Pearson), Robert Faggater (Ted Mason), Machinists.......................................... KatherineJohnston, Synopsis: A futuristic adventure set to power­ Vivienne Garrett (Freda), Beverley Shaw Prod, company.........................................YoramGross Ann Veitch ful heavy metal rock’n’roll music. Fantasy and Film Studio Pty Ltd (Millie).

Props buyers...............................................SueMaybury, science fiction are bound together by a band of Synopsis: A drama set in a small, outbackProducer................................................. YoramGross Jock McLachlan likeable, old-fashioned heroes. town where a series of events is triggered by a Director....................................................YoramGross Standby props......................... Leanne Cornish school teacher forced to spend a few days in Scriptwriter..................................................JohnPalmer Special effects..........................Neville Maxwell town when his car breaks down.

Editor................................................... Rod Hay Storyboard artist.............................Steve Lyons Assoc, producer..................................... SandraGross Set decorator............................Alethea Deane Music performed b y ......................... Guy Gross BRAINBLAST Set finisher...............................Frank Falconer Animation director......................... Athol Henry Prod, company................................. Toadshow Brush hand.................................................. NickWalker Length............................................................ 75minutes Producer.............................................. StephenStockwell Foreman..............................Jonathon Enemark Gauge.......................................................35mm Director............................................. Andy Nehl Carpenters............................................... SteveHuxtable, Synopsis: Dot goes to Hollywood to take part Scriptwriter........................................... StephenStockwell Robert Paton, in a talent contest and raise money for her sick Frank Phipps Photography............................................ DebraBeattie koala friend, Gumley. There she meets some BOUNDARIES OF THE HEART Sound recordist.......................Sally Geschmay Set construction................................ Phil Worth of the Hollywood greats and performs with Prod, company......................... Tra La La Films Prod, co-ordinator........................... Mim Weger Construction runner...................... David Atkins them.

Limited for Prod, manager....................................... FelicityJenning Art dept runner.................................... GeoffreyGuiffre Prod, secretary....................................ChristineAnastassi Asst carpenter......................................... RobertPodhajsky International Film Management Limited GHOSTS Prod, assistants.......................................JudithJabour, Asst editors............................................. EmmaHay, Dist. company........ Hemdale Film Corporation (Working title) (The World excluding Australasia), Paul Scott Alan Dungey Hemdale Ginnane Australia Limited Safety co-ordinator/ Prod, company...............................CorrectionalServices (Australasia) safety supervisor.................................. RockyMcDonald (Film Productions) Inc. Producer....................................... Patric Juillet Horse stunt co-ordinator.......................... HeathHarris Dist. company..................................... Hemdale Director......................................... Lex Marinos Horse masters..........................................HeathHarris, Producer.....................................................EvanEnglish Scriptwriter............................................... PeterYeldham Allen Fitzsimmons Director....................................................... JohnHillcoat Based on the original idea Asst to horse masters............................ KristineShugg Scriptwriters..................................... Nick Cave, Strapper................................................. LeanneBruce by........................................................... PeterYeldham Gene Conkie, Photography.......................... David Sanderson Wranglers.............................................. LindsayFelton, Evan English, Help us make this produc­ John Rodney, Sound recordist........................................... KenHammond John Hillcoat, Editor.............................................Philip Howe Barry Christopherson, tion survey as complete as Hugo Race Prod, designer.......................... Melody Cooper Gary Amos (Driver), Based on the original idea possible.

If you have some­ Composer...............................................SharonCalcraft John Rodney, by.............................................................JohnHillcoat thing which is about to go Exec, producer..................... Antony I. Ginnane Casey Turner, Photography............................................... PaulGoldman Bruce Kuhner, Assoc, producers....................................WendyHughes,into pre-production, let us Sound recordist.................................... BronwynMurphy Norman Kaye Greg Bennett (Casual) Editor..................................................... StewartYoung know ana we will make sure Line producer.....................................Tim Read Wrangler attachment............................... MickoO’Byrne Prod, designer........................................... ChrisKennedy it is included. Cali Kathy Bail Prod, co-ordinator....................... Simone North Wagon master............................... Max Mitchell Asst to prod, designer........................... Victoria Hobday Prod, manager...................................... MichaelFuller on (03) 429 5511, or write to Stills photographer.......................................JimSheldon Exec, producer.......................................... EvanEnglish Unit manager............................. Frank Manley Nurse....................................... Nicola Johnston Assoc, producer..................................... MichaelHopkins her at Cinema Papers, 43 Armourer....................................................... BillColbyLocation manager.......................... Liz Kirkham Prod, manager........................................ DenisePatience Drivers..................................................... AlisonCoop,Prod, secretary.......................................RachelSymes Charles Street, Abbotsford, Prod, cc-ordinator.............................. Mick Bell Graeme Hayes, Prod, accountant....................................DianneBrown Victoria 3067.

Prod, secretary.................................... CarmellaByrne Andrew Mola 1st asst director.........................Robert Kewley Prod, accountants................................... JennyDavies, 2nd asst director........................... Trish Carney Best boy.................................................... PeterMaloney Michael Colcheedas

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68 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

Prod, assistant........................Nikki Vuillermin inmates, in particular, of seven major charac­ Dist. company.......Hemdale Ginnane Australia Budget............................................. $2,500,000 1st asst director..................................Phil Jones ters and of the events that lead up to 25 Limitea (Australasia), Length...............................................90 minutes 2nd asst director..........................Lucy McLaren October — the day of the lockdown.

Hemdale Film Corporation G auge.................................................. Super 35 Continuity........................................Tara Ferrier (The World excluding Australasia) Shooting stock..................Kodak Eastmancolor Casting........................................................ LucyMcLaren, Producers.............................. Marc Rosenberg, Cast: Steven Vidler (Rod Cleary), Celine Griffin HUNGRY HEART Polly Borland, Rolf de Heer (Rachel Cleary), Ritchie Singer (Richard Prod, company............. Lions Den Productions Steve Hardman Director.......................................... Rolf de Heer Cleary), Vince Gil (Skinner), Saturday Brander for Chancom Acting rehearsal director............... Ian Watson Scriptwriters.......................... Marc Rosenberg, (Annie), Max Cullen (Taylor), Terry Camilleri Lighting designer.................................. GraemeWoodDist. company....................Octopus Worldwide Rolf de Heer (Hemmings).

Media Enterprises Focus puller............................ Steve McDonald Adapted from an original screenplay Synopsis: Sci-fi action thriller set in the Austra­ Clapper/loader.......................................... SoniaLeberProducers................................. Rosa Coiosimo, by.......................................James M. Vernon lian wheatfields.

Reg McLean Key g rip ................................................ Mick Bell Photography..........................Richard Michalak Gaffer..................................................... GraemeWoodDirector........................................................ LuigiAcquisto Sound recordist............................ Bob Cutcher LETTERS Scriptwriters................................................Josie Arnold, Boom operator........................................... Steve Vaughan Editor............................................ Suresh Ayyar Angelo Salamanca, (Working title) Set design/construction.........Macgregor Knox, Prod, designer.......................................... JudithRussell Rosa Coiosimo Shane Aumont Composers..................................... Tar Music — Prod, company..........................Seidell Pty Ltd Based on the original idea Make-up................................. Vic Macgillicuddy Graham Tardif, Producer...................................Andrena Finlay by..............................................................RosaCoiosimo Prosthetics..................................... Nik Doming Roman de Cronenburg Director..................................................... DennyLawrence Photography............................................JaemsGrantExec, producer..................... Antony I. Ginnane Hairdresser............................................. GeorgeHuxley Scriptwriter................................................... PaulCockburn Sound recordist..........................................MarkTarpey Wardrobe.......................................Karen Everett Prod, co-ordinator................................. BarbaraRing Based on the original idea Editor.................................................... CourtneyPage Prod, manager........................................ RonaldStigwood Standby wardrobe.................................. Beverly Jasper b y.............................................................. PaulCockburn Composer.................................................. DavidBridieUnit/location manager.............................. FrankManley Set dresser.................................................. HughMarchant Photography.................................Steve Arnold Exec, producer.......................................... KevinMooreProd, office attachment................. Toni Forsyth Standby prop s............................................ DeanSullivan Sound recordist...............................Bob Clayton Prod, manager............................................RosaCoiosimo Standby w alls........................... Damien Salmon Prod, accountant................................. ElizabethAnderson Editor........................................ Richard Hlndley Unit manager...............................................DinoNlcolosi Carpenters............................................. DamienSalmon, 1st asst director..........Carolynne Cunningham Prod, designer...............................Jane Norris Location manager....................................... DinoNlcolosi Rusty Chillcott 2nd asst director.....................Henry Osborne Composer................................................... ChrisNeal Set construction...................................... Alistair Knox,Prod, secretaries....................................... MariaStratford, 3rd asst director........................................... PaulPhllpott Exec, producer................................... GrahameJennings Carmel Coscia Dean Sullivan Continuity.............................................. HeatherOxenham Prod, manager.................................Sue Seeary Asst editor...........................................RosemaryJonesProd, accountant..........................................RegMcLean Camera operator....................................AndrewLesnie Unit manager...................Stephen Maccagnan 1st asst director........................................... KathHayden Musical director................................. Nick Cave Focus puller.....................................................JoMurphy Location manager......... Rebel Penfold Russell Music performed b y .....................................NickCave,Continuity..................................Salli Englender Clapper/loader............................................. RodBolton Prod, secretary....................................... DebbieSamuels Camera assistant...................Christopher Cain Mick Harvie, Key grip.......................................................BrianBoslsto Prod, accountant........................................... PruDonovan Key g rip .................................................. MichaelMadigan Blixa Bargeld Asst g rip s...............................................GeorgioLiveri,1st asst director...........................Jake Atkinson Gaffer........................................................... RoryTimoney Sound e dito r.................................. Dean Gawen Paul Reinhardt 2nd assistant director..................Stephan Elliot Art director.............................................. MichaelKourriGaffer...................................... Graeme Shelton Editing assistants......................... Peter Clancy, 3rd asst director............ Tom Churchill-Brown Make-up............................ Jorgla van den Berg Rex Watts Boom operator..............................................DesKenneally Continuity.............................................. LarraineQuinnell, Hairdresser.......................Jorgia van den Berg M ixer......................................................... RogerSavage Costume designer.................................Clarissa Patterson Susan Wiley Wardrobe...................................Anita Fioravanti Stunts co-ordinator........................ Bill Stacey Make-up/hair..............................................EgonDahmProducer’s assistant................................ AlisonHenville Still photography...................... Stephen Gower Still photography......................................... PollyBorland, Wardrobe standby......................................Anita Seiler Casting....................................................... ChrisKing Runner.............................................. Peter Zlras Peter Milne Props buyer/set dresser...Christopher Webster Focus p ulle r..............................................StuartQuin Catering.....................................................HilaryNeylon Animation........................................Rob Howard Standby props.............................. Mark Abbott Clapper/loader............................. Adrien Seffrln Laboratory.............................................. Cinevex Dialogue coach.............................................. IanWatson Special effects.............................................. JonArmstrong, Key grip........................................ Don Andrews Lab. liaison..................................................... IanAnderson Video adviser..............................................SteveMariner Sue Richter Asst grip................................. Damon Merriman Budget................................................. $785,000 Best boy..................................................Andrew Marron Armourer/wind & Gaffer.......................................... Richard Curtis Length.............................................. 96 minutes Publicity.................................................MirandaBrown, smoke effects..........................................BrianBosisto Boom operator.............................. Chris Roland Gauge........................................................ 16mm Capa Productions Art dept co-ordinator.................Fiona Paterson Asst art director.........................Jennifer Kernke Shooting stock..........................................Kodak Catering.................................... Simone & Cathy Art dept runner............................ Patrick Mahon Cast: Nick Carrafa (Sal Bono), Dascha Blahova Laboratory.....................................................VFL Set construction............................ Chris Budrys (Mrs Bono), Norman Kaye (Mr O’Ryan), John Lab. liaison.....................................Bruce Braun Asst editor..................................... Tania Nehme Standby props.............................. Dallas Wilson Flaus (Mr Maloney), Sheila Florance (Grandma Budget............................................ $1,680,000 Sound editor...........................................AndrewPlainArt dept asst.....................................John Martin Mai), Carmelina cfi Guglielmo (Connie Bono), Length.............................................100 minutes Stunts co-ordinator........................................ VicWilson Asst editor.................................... Stella Savvas Osualdo Maidne (Vito Bono), Lisa Schouw Gauge........................................................ 35mm Sound editor..................................Kathy Fenton Special effects.............................. Daniel Burns (Jane), Greg Caves (Brad).

Shooting stock................................Kodak 5297 Still photography..................................... RobertVerkerk Still photography..............................Vivian Zink Synopsis: A contemporary romance with Cast: Dave Mason (Lilly), Chris De Rose Best boy........................................................ KirkBromage Wrangler....................................Bill Willoughby strong comic and absurd elements. Sal, a (Greschner), Mike Bishop (Hale), Nick Cave Runner.............................................Nick Hodge Best boy...................................................... KeithJohnson younq doctor, and Kate, a wool classer, fall in (Maynard), Bogdan Koca (Waychek), Kevin Publicity...................................... Shelley Nellor, Runner............................................ Jean Moyes love.

Mackey (Glover), Ian Mortimer (Jack), Dave Write-On Group Nurse...........................................Monica Pearce Field (Wenzil).

Catering........................................ Out To Lunch Catering..............................The Shooting Party Synopsis: Ghosts Is the story of Central Indus­ Laboratory....................................... ......Atlab Studios...................................... Hendon Studios INCIDENT A T RAVEN’S GATE trial Prison — the most modern design in maxi­ Lab. liaison.................................................. GaryKeir Mixed a t................................................. HendonStudios mum security technology. A “ New Genera­ Length.............................................. 95 minutes Prod, company..........Acquabay Pty Limited for Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm tion” facility. It is the story of the lives of the Gauge.......................................................35mm International Film Management Limited Lab. liaison..............................................DeniseWolfson

ASS0TECNICA Scorpion Mini Dolly

ALUMINIUM DOLLY TRACK

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CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 69

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Wardrobe................................................. CathyHerreen based on material shot by the filmmaker’s aunt NATURE OF A U STR ALIA Props buyer..................................Cath Cantlon in the fifties with a standard 8 film camera.

(Working title) Further material will be gathered on three Standby props..............................Peter Davies Prod, company..........ABC Natural History Unit separate trips to Baradine, a timber village in Asst editor.....................................Cary Hamlin Co-producers............................................. BBC, central NSW. The film will explore the land­ Sound editor......................... Yvonne van Gyen Australian Heritage Commission scape, history and mythology of the area.

Sound asst........................Sara Jane van Gyen Producers..................................Dione Gilmour, Safety officer...................................Mike Read David Parer Action vehicle THE BRISBANE LINE Directors.................................... Dione Gilmour, co-ordinator.................Laurence Humphries RIKKY AND PETE Prod, company..........Cast Films for Channel 7 David Parer Runner...............................................Alex Pyne and Queensland Film Corp.

Scriptwriter........................... John Vandenbeld Prod, company.......................... Cascade Films Still photography..........................Greg Lamey Dist. company.....................Sarah Frank / BBC, Photography.................................. David Parer, Australia Pty Ltd Best boy..................................................... KeithJohnson New York (USA); Keith Taylor, Producers................................... David Parker, Mixed a t................................................ HendonStudios Charles and Simon Neil Rettig, Nadia Tass Laboratory.................................................Atlab Target Ltd (UK) Bruce Reitherman, Director........................................... Nadia Tass Lab. liaison......................................... Gary Keir Producers................................ Charles Target, George Murahidy, Scriptwriter................................. David Parker Length............................................. 90 minutes Simon Target Rory McGuinness, Based on the original idea Gauge................................................ Super 16 Director.................................................... SimonTarget Mantis Wildlife Films, by............................................... David Parker Shooting stock................ Kodak Eastmancoloi Scriptwriter...............................Peter Charlton Glenn Carruthers Photography................................. David Parker Cast: Elizabeth Alexander (Jenny Thornbury), Photography............................Zsolt Varkonyi, Sound recordists................. Christopher West, Sound recordist............................Lloyd Carrick Robert Coleby (Peter Thornbury), Alex Andrew Lake Elizabeth Parer-Cook Editor.............................................. Ken Sallows Bainbridge (Sebastian), Jeremy Angerson Sound recordists..........................................PhilLipman, Editors....................................... David Luffman, Prod, designer.......................... Josephine Ford (Sparrow), Vince Gil (Mick), Peter Crossley Roger Gladdin Peter Vile, Composers......................................Phil Judd, (Red).

Jeremy Hogarth Editor.......................................................... RossWilson Eddie Raynor Synopsis: The story of two teenagers, a rich Composers................................................

John Keane, Prod, designer...................................

Dale Mark Exec, producer......................................... BryceMenzies kid and a street kid, living in adjoining suburbs John Cowell Composer....................................Kevin Hocking Assoc, producer.........................Timothy White but worlds apart — until their lives cross over.

Assoc, producer................................Rosemary Cameron Exec, producer.....................John Vandenbeld Prod, co-ordinator...................... Sue Stephens 1st asst director..............Sophie de Montaigne Prod, manager......................Richard Campbell Prod, manager............................ Lynda House TWO BROTHERS RUNNING Research........................Nick Harding (USA), Research.................................... Martin Stone, Production assts................................... EleanorBilston, Prod, company.........................................PhillipEmanuel Angela Maguire (Australia) Elizabeth Parer-Cook Jody Lawrance Productions Limited Sound editor.............................................

Maria Janssen Narrator.....................................Robyn Williams Location manager............... Leigh Ammitzboll Dist. company..................... Overview Films Ltd Rostrum work....................................... DominicHarrison, Length......................................... 6 x 55 minutes Unit asst (Melbourne)...............................RogerSelleck Producers................................................ PhillipEmanuel, Jumbuck Productions Gauge.......................................................16mm Location asst (Broken H ill)......... Dianna Ferry Martin Cohen Graphics..................................Chloe Diamantis Shooting stock............................ Eastman neg.

Prod, accountant.................................... MandyCarter, Director........................................................Ted Robinson Laboratory................................................Atlab, Jumbuck Synopsis: The evolution of the Australian con­ Moneypenny Services Scriptwriter.....................................Morris Lurie Length............................................................50minutes tinent — animals and plants.

Accountant.................................. Monika Gehrt Based on the original idea by.........Morris Lurie Gauge......................................................

16mm 1st asst director......................................... TonyMahood Photography..................................Dan Burstall Synopsis: The story of what happened to Aus­ 2nd asst director................ Hamish McSporran PAR FOR THE COURSE Sound recordist........................................LaurieRobinson tralia during WWII. In 1941 Brisbane became 3rd asst director.................................... AndrewMerrifield Editor....................................... Robert Gibson the headquarters for the command of all Allied Prod, company............... Ministry of Education, Continuity............................ Karinda Parkinson Prod, designer...............................

Leslie Binns forces in the SW Pacific and Australia’s front­ Victoria Producer’s assistant.............................. MaggieBrowne Assoc, producer...........................................TedRobinson line. Two million American servicemen came to Producer.....................................................TonyPaice Casting............................................Nadia Tass Line producer.............................................John Hipwell Director...................................................... TonyPaice stay and when they’d gone, Australia was Camera operator......................... David Parker Prod, co-ordinator........................................ JanStott never to be the same again.

Scriptwriter................................................ TonyPaice Focus puller................................ Rex Nicholson Unit manager........................... Ross Newman Photography................................ Stephen Skok Clapper/loader......................................... KathyChambers Location manager.......................... Neil McCart Sound recordist...........................David Hughes Camera attachment............................... CorrineWatson Prod, secretary............................. Reita Wilson Editor......................................................... TonyPaice DREAM MERCHANTS OF ASIA Key grip.................................................BrendanShanley Prod, accountant....................................... FranLanigan, Assoc, producers..........................................PatDuigan, Asst grip.................................................. NevilleCameron Prod, company.......................................NomadFilms Moneypenny Services Pty Ltd Mac McPherson Gaffer............................................................ IanDewhurst International Pty Ltd 1st asst director......................................... BrianGiddens Producer’s assistant.................................... LilySteiner Best boy..........................................Nick Payne Dist. company.................................... KingswayFilm 2nd asst director......................... James Leslie Gaffer...........................................................RobMcCubbin Generator operator..................................... TimMorrison Distributors Pty Ltd 3rd asst director.............................................Jo Freisen Make-up................................................... JayneCatterina Boom operator........................................... ChrisGoldsmith Producer.....................................Kate Faulkner Continuity................................. Christine Lipari Mixed at....................................................... VTC Art director (Broken H ill)..... Graeme Duesbury Director................................... Douglas Stanley Asst to Mr C onti............................. Daryl Porter Budget...................................................$22,000 Art dept co-ordinator................................... RikeKullack Casting....................................................... GregAppsScriptwriters........................... Douglas Stanley, Length............................................................ 18minutes Costume designer........................................PhilEagles Fred Folkard Casting consultants.......... Liz Mullinar Casting Gauge.............................................................

1"video Make-up................................. Rosalina da Silva Based on the original idea Focus puller............................. Harry Glynatsis Cast: Tim Bell, Jim Howes, Ruth Yaffe, Marita Hairdresser................................................. WilliKenrick Clapper/loader.......................................... RosieCass by....................................................... DouglasStanley Wilcox, Myrtle Woods, Laura Christie, Wendy Wardrobe asst......................................AmandaRamage Photography.............................................DavidOlney Key grip..................................................... DavidCassar Meddings, Bernadette Doyle, Lily Steiner, Art dept asst (Melbourne)............... Darren Hart Sound recordist.........................................SeanMeltzer Asst grip................................................. MarcusMcLeod Annie Fiume, Bradley Lindsey, Ian Sprake, Props buyer........................................... AndreaJohnston Editor......................................... Tang Thien Tai Gaffer........................................................

Brian Adams Shane Lee, Simon Mills, Nick Brennan.

Standby props................................ John Stabb Composer.................................

Frank Strangio Electrician.......................................... Brett Hull Synopsis: Grant Norman, the school principal, Special effects.........................................VisualEffects Exec, producer......................................DouglasStanley Boom operator.............................. Craig Beggs has a few tricky decisions to make when con­ SPFX co-ordinator.....................................PeterStubbs Prod. co-ordinators....Josephine Tsai (Taiwan), Art director................................................ PeterKendall fronted with some moral problems. The results Rigs construction manager...............Ian McLay C.B. Chugani (India), Asst art director........................................ StuartMenzies aren’t always what he had hoped for.

Construction asst..................................... AaronBeaucaire Atsushi Takahashi (Japan), Costume designer................................ MicheleLeonard Asst editor............................................. Virginia Murray Tony Leung (Hong Kong) Make-up.................................................. KirstenVeysey Music co-ordinator.................................... ChrisGough, Hairdresser......................................... RochelleFord Prod, secretary.....................Carolyn Reynolds Studio Management Services Location director........................................RossTinney RESERVED Wardrobe..................................

Sue Armstrong Sound editors........................................... FrankLipson, Titles director...........................................RogerBliss Prod, company.............Ipso-Facto Enterprises Wardrobe asst............................... Fiona Owen Craig Carter Research...................................Leone Bawden Props........................................

Barry Kennedy Dist. company...............Ipso-Facto Enterprises Stunts co-ordinator...................................GlennRuehland Sound editors............................ David Fosdick, Special effects.......................................... BrianPearce, Producers............................................... WayneColes-Jane Stunts.......................... New Generation Stunts Tang Thien Tai Visual Effects B.J. Price Runner (Melbourne).....................Kris Koslovic Mixer...................................................

Kim Lord Asst editors..........................................

Jennifer Hortin, Directors.................................................

WayneColes-Jane Publicity........................................Suzie Howie Narrator................................................ DouglasStanley April Ward B.J. Price Catering....................................................SweetSeduction/ Title designer...........................................Roger Bliss Neg. matching.....................................

Colorfilm Scriptwriters...........................................

Wayne Coles-Jane Timbale (Melbourne), Sound editors............................................ GregBell, Laboratory..........................................Movielab,Perth B.J. Price Steve & Margot’s (Broken Hill) Length..........................................................120minutes Helen Brown Editor...............................Wayne Coles-Janess Mobile production facilities........... Kevin Bryant Gauge...................................................... 16mm Mixer............................................ Peter Fenton Length............................................................ 48minutes Laboratory........................... Colorfilm/Cinevex Shooting stock.............................................Fuji8521 Still photography............................ Vivian Zink, Gauge....................................................... 16mm Budget................................................$4 million Synopsis: A two-hour special for the Seven Josef Demian Shooting stock.................................7291,7294 Length...........................................95 minutes Network on the film industries in India, Hong Runner.............................. Christian Robinson Synopsis: A documentary which seeks to Shooting stock............................ Eastmancolor Kong, Japan and Taiwan. We feature the top Publicity.......................................... Lyn Quayle dispel mythical conceptions of the Army Cast: Stephen Kearney, Nina Landis, Tetchie film stars and directors from these countries Catering..........................................

Bande Aide Reserve and its members through neo-realist Agbayani, Bill Hunter, Bruno Lawrence, Bruce and include film clips from their latest Mixed a t...............................................Colorfilm cinematography. It provides a depth of insight Spence. productions.

Laboratories........................................

Cinevex, into the Australian Army Reserve hitherto con­ Synopsis: Rikky And Pete is the story of a Colorfilm cealed in myth. brother and sister living in chaos in Melbourne Lab. liaison...................................

Grant Miller, due to overbearing parents, romantic entangle­ Ian Anderson, ments and Pete’s urge to provoke the police.

THE TOP HALF IMAGES OF AUSTR ALIA Richard Piorkowski When things get too hot, they head for an out­ (Working title) (Working title) Budget.............................................$2,330,000 back mining town where they embark on a Prod, company........................................... ABC Length............................................. 90 minutes Prod, company..........................................ABC zany but lucrative venture.

Dist. company............................................. ABC Gauge.......................................................35mm Dist. company............................................ ABC Shooting stock................................ 5294, 5297 Exec, producer...............Andrew Lloyd James Producer....................................................ChrisMcCullough Cast: Tom Conti (Moses Bornstein), Ritchie Director......................................................ChrisMcCullough Series producer........................................ DavidLeonard SEBASTIAN AND THE SPARROW Singer (Ben Bornstein), Elizabeth Alexander Scriptwriter.............................Russell Braddon Producer.............................................Tim Clark Prod, company............... The Kino Film Co. Ltd (Barbara Bornstein), Asher Keddie (Ruthie Photography............................. Pieter de Vries, Directors...........................................Tim Clark, Dist. company............................................. J.C.Williamson Bornstein), Martin Lewis (Silas Bornstein), Mike Twemlow David Leonard, Rim Distributors (Overseas territories) Dorothy Alison (Mrs Widmore), John Gregg Sound recordist............................ Peter Steege David Tunnell Producer..........................................Scott Hicks (Nelson), Deborra Lee Furness (Silver’s Secre­ Editor..............................................Chris Spurr 1st asst directors........................................ScottFeeney, Director............................................Scott Hicks tary), Rachel Levita (The Aunt), Mark Zandle Composer..................................Ann Carr-Boyd David Tunnell Scriptwriter...................................... Scott Hicks (The Uncle).

Exec, producer.................................Peter Reid Research.............................Jennifer Cummins Photography............................ David Foreman Synopsis: A Jewish comedy about Moses Prod, manager............................... Anita Atkins Prod, manager..............................Anne Chivas Sound recordist......................................... ToivoLember Bornstein and his brother Ben. Producer’s assistant........Julie Cottrell-Dormer Photography................................. Marc Spicer, Editor.............................................................PipKarmel Camera assistants.................Lorraine Stacey, Helen Barrow Prod, designer........................... Anni Browning Camera assts................................... Ron Foley, David Maguire Exec, producer................ Terry Ohlsson (JCW) Asst editor................................................JamesTsatsaronis Brett Joyce Assoc, producer....................................... DarrylSheen Narrator...................................Russell Braddon Sound recordists.............................Geoff Krix, Prod, co-ordinator................................... Jennie Crowley Title designer............................. David Webster Mario Pellegrino Unit manager...........................................MasonCurtis Length....................................... 4 x 50 minutes Editors......................................................... PaulCantwell, Prod, attachment....................Rhonda Gardner Gauge...................................................... 16mm John Pleffer Prod, accountant.............................Chris Hunn Shooting stock...........................Eastman neg.

Length...................................... 10 x 30 minutes Accountant.............................. Michael Maiolo Synopsis: An impressionistic portrait of Aus­ Synopsis: A series of overland expeditions 1st asst director........................................... GusHoward tralia, past and present, to commemorate the across Northern Australia with bush food and BARADINE 2nd asst director................................... LindsaySmith 1988 Bicentenary. survival expert Les Hiddins.

Prod, company...................Arcana Productions Continuity............................Heather Oxenham Producer................................................ MichaelBuckley Casting........................................................ S.A.Casting WORKING IT OUT INDEPENDENT COMPANY Casting consultant...................................... JanKillenDirector................................................. MichaelBuckley Scriptwriter............................................ MichaelBuckley Lighting cameraperson........... David Foreman Prod, company............................Brilliant Films Prod, company................. Media World Pty Ltd Focus puller................................................John Foster Sound recordist........................................... SueMcCauley Producer.................................................... BrianDouglas Producers.................................................. ColinSouth, Clapper/loader.......................................MichaelBambacus Editor...................................................... MichaelBuckley Director...................................................... BrianDouglas JohnTatoulis Key grip..................................................... RobinMorgan Music performed by.................................Arf Art Director...................................................... ColinSouth Scriptwriter................................................. BrianDouglas Asst g rip ............................... Robert van Amstel Laboratory....................................................VFL Scriptwriter...............................................Phillip Dalkin Photography................................... Chris Read Gaffer.................................................... GrahamShelton Budget.................................................. $27,000 Based on the novel Editor.....................................................MichaelChurch Boom operator........................................... ScottHeysen Length..............................................30 minutes Departmental producer.............. Brian Dorizzi by........................................... Bernard Callinan Make-up.....................................................EgonDahmGauge....................................................... 16mm Prod, co-ordinator...........................Fiona King Synopsis: The story of the Australian forces Hairdresser................................................ EgonDahm Synopsis: The content of this film will be who fought in Timor from 1941-1943.

Make-up..............................Barbara Harrington Shooting stock........................................ Kodak Cast: Nique Needles (Male), Rosey Jones (Female).

Synopsis: Two kids steal a mailbag for the cheques but are forever affected by the letters it contains.

DOCUMENTARIES

70 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

Wardrobe............................ Barbara Harrington Length........................................ ...... 20 minutes G auge........................................................Video Cast: Jenny Young.

Synopsis: A video produced for the Common­ wealth Schools Commission, the Confedera­ tion of Australian Industry, the ACTU and the Department of Industrial Relations.

S H O R T S CELEBRATION OF A NATION

Music performed by..........................Andre Leu, Paul Bambury Still photography.........................Michel Brouet, Sandi Wrightson Animation.......................................Geoff Clifton Mixed at.............................. Palmer Lane Studio Laboratory............................................Colorfilm Lab. liaison..............................................WarrenKeevers Budget................................................... $16,000 Length............................................................. 18minutes Gauge........................................................ 16mm Shooting stock..................................7291,7292 Cast: Lisa Rayson, Ian Houston-Shadwell, Kay Roffey.

Synopsis: An expressionistic animated and live-action work. God is murdered by dissatis­ fied spirits who demand a more democratic heavenly reign.

Prod, com pany.......................... Nomad Films International Pty Ltd HOME SCENARIO Dist. company............................ Kingsway Film Prod, company........................................ PaisanFilms Distributors Pty Ltd Producers.................................................. DavidThomas, Producer...................................................... KateFaulkner Arthur D’Aprano Director................................................... DouglasStanley Director......................................................EttoreSiracusa Scriptwriter..........................................FrederickFolkard Scriptwriter................................................ EttoreSiracusa Photography..........................................Various Photography..............................................LeighTilson Sound recordist..................................... Various Sound recordist......................................... DavidThomas Editor.......................................................... DavidFosdick Editor.......................................................... TonyPatterson Exec, producer.......................................DouglasStanley Laboratory.................................................... VFL Assoc, producer........................................... KateFaulkner Budget................................................... $46,000 Research...................................................LeoneBawden Length............................................................. 30minutes Prod, secretary..................... Carolyn Reynolds Gauge........................................................

16mm Studios...........................On Line Studios, Perth Cast: Santo Cilauro.

Length..............................................................15minutes Synopsis: A photographer takes a look at the Gauge.............................. Video and library film house of Italian immigrants.

Synopsis: A short film commissioned by Cathay Pacific to show in flight on their inter­ JAC K THE RABBIT national air routes to celebrate Australia’s Producer.................................................... PeterSotirakis Bicentennial Year.

Director...................................................... PeterSotirakis Scriptwriter................................................. PeterSotirakis Photography............................................ AdrianMiles C ELLULOID SCREAMS Sound recordist............................................ JanLucas Prod, com pany..................... Shot Productions Editor..........................................................PeterSotirakis Producer................................Shaun Farrington Casting........................................................Peter Sotirakis Director.........................................Scott Bradley Camera operator....................................... GarryRichards Scriptwriter................................... Scott Bradley Boom operator.........................................Darren Boltin Photography............................................. MartinMcGrath Runners................................................. PhilippaNihill, Sound recordist......................... Patricia Waites Susan Camilleri Editors.......................................Scott Bradley, Laboratory.............................................Filmplus Shaun Farrington Budget...................................................... $5000 Composer.................................................. Julian Knowles Length............................................................. 20minutes Prod, manager......................Shaun Farrington Gauge........................................................ 16mm 1st asst director.....................Shaun Farrington Shooting s to ck............................................7278 Lighting cameraman.................................MartinMcGrath Cast: Steve Ahern (Mickey ‘Mike’ Juliette), Camera operator.................. Callum McFarlane Daniel Voronoff (Jack the Rabbit), Laura Hayes Camera assistant.................................... MirianaMarusic (Diane Veil), Roslyn Dobellsky (Amy), Simone Art director.....................................Colin Gibson Livingston (Opal), John Flaus (Hawaiian Fats), Make-up....................................... Nicky Gooley Ross Hamilton (Johnny Rubin).

Wardrobe......................................Phillipa Eyers Synopsis: “ Baby I’m going to corner this rat, Standby props..............................Charlie Revai but I ain’t wasting no arsehole for your lips Special effects......................... Norman Yeend, sugar.

He’ll be a dead rabbit when I'm through Grahame Binding with him. You lick me where it counts and I’ll Music performed by.................................. Julian Knowles give you that pleasure, might even end up in Tech, adviser..................................... Tex Clarke some B-grade flick if you play your cards Catering..........................................Fiona Power right.”

Budget....................................................$43,530 Length............................................................. 20minutes Gauge........................................................ 16mm THE MAGIC PORTAL Shooting s to c k .....................

Kodak Cast: Serge Lazareff (Peter), Ralph Cotterill Producer................................................ LindsayFleay (Dr Louma).

Director.................................................. LindsayFleay Synopsis: A film editor viewing an old B-grade Scriptwriter.............................................LindsayFleay horror film finds horrors of his own.

Photography.......................................... LindsayFleay Prod, supervisor............. George Borzyskowski Animation...............................................LindsayFleay COURAGE Budget..................................................... $7,800 Prod, company..................................... DT Films Length............................................................. 17minutes Dist. company...................................... DT Films Gauge........................................................16mm Producer................................................DeborahTaylorShooting sto ck ........................................... 7291 Director..................................................DeborahTaylorSynopsis: Three Lego characters in a Lego Scriptwriter............................................ DeborahTaylorspaceship discover the Magic Portal, which Photography...................................Tristan Hast, can transport them to other animated realms.

Davide Michelin However, as the film progresses, it transports Sound recordists........................... Tristan Hast, them to reality and also into the animation set Davide Michelin they are being filmed in. Film and real world Editors............................................Tristan Hast, collide with interesting results.

Davide Michelin Prod, manager............................... Tristan Hast MIDDRIFFINI Continuity....................................... Tristan Hast, Davide Michelin Producer................................................ SabrinaSchmid Director..................................................

SabrinaSchmid Casting..................................................DeborahTaylor Scriptwriters............................ Sabrina Schmid, Music performed by...................................... JoeJackson Gregory Pryor Sound editors.................................Tristan Hast, Davide Michelin Based on the original idea Narrator.................................................DeborahTaylor b y ....................................................... SabrinaSchmid SFX, atmos..............................Jon McCormack Still photography........................... Tristan Hast, Editor..................................................... SabrinaSchmid Deborah Taylor Composer..............................................Ian Cox Studios.........................................Open Channel Animation/rostrum Mixed at...................................................... OpenChannel camera operator.................................SabrinaSchmid Budget...................................................... $5000 Neg matching.......................................WarwickDriscoll Length............................................................. 20minutes Music performed b y .............................. Ian Cox Gauge............................................Video/16mm Sound editors........................ Sabrina Schmid, Cast: Claudia de la Rose (The girl), Jasmine de David Atkinson la Rose (The young girl).

Character voices........................ Gregory Pryor, Synopsis: Courage (n). bravery, boldness, Merryn Gates (take, pluck up, lose, courage); take one’s life Animation................................. Sabrina Schmid in botn hands, nerve oneself to a venture of Title designer......................................... SabrinaSchmid one’s convictions., courage to act up to what Sound recording one believes. (ME f. OF courage, f, Rom. studios..................Film Soundtrack Australia 'coraticum f. L cor heart; see AGE).

Mixed a t............................................ Soundfilm Laboratory..............................................Cinevex THE DEATH OF GOD Budget................................................... $30,965 Length.............................................. 16 minutes Prod, com pany..................Geoff Clifton Films Gauge........................................................16mm Producer....................................................GeoffClifton Shooting stock.................................. 7291 ECN Director...................................................... GeoffClifton Synopsis: “ Hmmm . . . when you close your Scriptwriter.................................................GeoffClifton eyes . . ..’ ’speculates Nobody-Else, thus Photoqraphy...................* ..... Sarah Borsellino, evoking a dream in Rebecca's mind, where Geoff Clifton unfolds the story of Grosmond, supposedly a Editor..........................................................GeoffClifton bunyip, and his whacking tail and many teeth.

Composers....................................... Andre Leu, Grosmond laments the loss of Middriffini, the Paul Bambury cause of his greatest toothache. Middriffini’s Drama tutor............................... Margaret Kemp mysterious identity is eventually revealed, and Make-up................................ Patricia Besseling her spectacular return delights Grosmond. An Special effects........................................... GeoffClifton animated tragicomedy.

Neg. matching................... Clodagh Ashburner

F IL M M U S IC K eyboard, V ocal & In str u m e n ta l C o m p o sitio n & A r r a n g e m e n t W ide K n o w led g e o f F ilm Theory & P ro d u ctio n T e c h n iq u e s E x c e lle n t S tu d io F a c ilitie s

I nagra service major repairs, calibrationadjustment, orcomplete |f^%eihaul of all Nagra equipment. ^ ^ i^ s e rv ic e manager has 20 years experience worldJ@f| & wide, including 12 years in development, production and i ^ after sgles service with Nagra in Switzerland.

R Interstate pick-up and delivery through our brcnch offices. ¡81 ^ 5^afe transit in specially designed packing cases. information, contact Hugo Rudaz at Sydn^ head office; ® ^0^ 02) 427O666; or bne of the branches below.

Melbourne .Adelaide Orubane :

Auckland

3002366 {09)396282

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Marketing & Continuity................................................. AngusAlgieExec, producer....................... Geoffrey Barnes AN ORDINARY WOMAN promotions officer..........Jennifer Henderson Prod, manager........................Virginia Pridham Casting consultant..................... Robert Chuter Producers.................................................... SueBrooks, Prod, accountant.......................... John Russell Prod, secretary....................................Margaret Crewes Lighting................................... Stephen Karney, Alison Tilson Editor/director.................................Sharon Bell Peter Cooley Prod, accountant....................................... John Russell Director.........................................................SueBrooks Budget................................ $180,000 (approx.)

Camera operator...................................... SoniaLeber Marketing & Scriptwriter............................................... AlisonTilson Length........................................ 2 x 50 minutes promotions officer................ Francesca Muir Focus puller............................Luke McGowan Photography........................Nicolette Freeman Synopsis: A clan leader invites Film Australia Boom operator............................. Paul Gleeson Special fx photography......................... Axolotyl Length............................................................ 30minutes to record the first ceremony to be held at his Art directors.............................. Dominic Owen, Studios........................................

Film Australia Gauge.......................................................16mm new clan homeland settlement in northeast Richard Stringer Length............................................................ 15minutes Synopsis: Through the examination of the life Arnhem Land. The films show the organisation Make-up................................................... JayneBurnes, Synopsis: An animation programme commis­ of an absolutely ordinary woman, this film and performance of a ceremony in a contem­ Michelle Halgrin sioned by A.D.A.B. to show Australians, in an seeks to raise questions about truth and per­ porary setting and explore the significance of entertaining manner, how, where and why Aus­ Wardrobe.................................................. JayneBurnes, ception in relation to identity. the clan homeland movement.

Michelle Halgrin tralia has a development assistance pro­ Make-up/wardrobe asst............................. SeanDwyer gramme.

Editing assistant..................................... JosephDonghia THE PHOTOGRAPHER EUROPEAN TRADE MARKETS Still photography.......................................

Marc Phee, Prod, company...........................Barooma Films Sophie Barry Prod, company............................Film Australia AIRPORT COMPILATION Producer.................................................... LarryO’Shea Runners......................................Sean Condon, Dist. company.............................Film Australia Director...................................................... LarryO’Shea Prod, company............................ Film Australia Susan Baker Producer.......................................................DonMurray Photography..........................Tom Cavdarovski Dist. company............................. Film Australia Catering....................................................... KimJaffers, Director................................................. Bob Hill Sound recordist...................................... RobertLudwig Producer.....................................

Geoff Barnes Abdul Jaffers, Scriptwriter............................................

Bob Hill Editors............................................. Viv Scanu, Director............................................Stan Dalby Kate Regan Photography.....................Richard Baillie-Mace Tom Cavdarovski Scriptwriter..................................... Stan Dalby Laboratory............................................. Cinevex Sound recordist...........................George Craig Prod, manager...........................................KerryHurley Editor............................................... Stan Dalby Length............................................................ 30minutes Editor............................................ Robin Archer 1st asst director......................................FergusGorrie Exec, producer............................Geoff Barnes Gauge...................................................... 16mm Exec.producer...........................................GeoffBarnes Continuity................................................. KarenWright Prod, manager.............................Ron Hannam Shooting s to ck........................................... 7294 Prod, manager............................................. AnnFolland Camera operator..........................................VivScanu Prod, secretary......................Margaret Crewes Cast: Daniel Pollock (Felix), Sam Sejavka Prod, secretary...................... Margaret Crewes Sound assistants................................... SharonTabak, Prod, accountant.......................... Neil Cousins (John), John Flaus (Clerk Ken), Jeff Kovski Prod, accountant........................................JohnRussell Ian Kitney Asst editor..................................

Clare Williams (James), Robert Chuter (Benny), Di Emery Marketing & Post-production sound........................... RobertLudwig Length.............................................30 minutes (Adelaide), Effie James (Jill), Don Munro promotions officer................ Francesca Muir Length............................................. 20 minutes Gauge...................................................... 16mm (Eddie).

Length.................

2 x 30 minutes/2 x 7 minutes Gauge...................................................... Video Synopsis: A program produced for the Depart­ Synopsis: Tax tells the story of a young man’s Synopsis: This program will profile the prob­ Cast: Paul Fisher, Sue Hunter, Beverly Hoff­ ment of Housing and Construction for general experiences in the Taxation Department.

Felix lems facing the Australian business person mann, Ian Thompson, Ted Simpson. departmental and client use compiled from is befriended by a co-worker, Adelaide, and when exporting to European markets. The Synopsis: A story about a small country town existing material and featuring the new Bris­ they rise together to the heights of mediocrity. series is a key part of the Austrade strategy to photographer who stumbles on a mystery bane international airport. develop an export conscious culture in the surrounding a country farmer and his wife. The Australian business community. farmer’s wife has not been seen by the towns­ THE AUSTRALIAN TRADE UNION folk for over 20 years but the photographer is MOVEMENT TREVOR ISLAND curious to find out why she has not aged and is FAMILY COURT Prod, company.............................Film Australia as beautiful as she was in the 1920s when she Producer.....................................................JohnTaylor Dist. company.............................. Film Australia Prod, company............................................ FilmAustralia was an Australian film actress. She never Director.......................................................JohnTaylor Producer...........................................Janet Bell Dist. company............................................. FilmAustralia speaks to him but instead comes alive in front Scriptwriter................................................ John Taylor Director........................................ Tom Zubrycki Director.......................................... Ian Munro of his camera and with his direction. The photo­ Photography.............................................. JohnTaylor Scriptwriter.................................. Tom Zubrycki Script development...................................AnnaGrieve, grapher confronts her husband about her but Narration recorded by.............. Gary Constable Ann Charlton Exec, producer................................. Janet Bell she disappears and the old farmer denies her Editor.......................................................... JohnTaylor Prod, manager............................................. NeilCousins Photography................................................JoelPeterson existence.

Prod, designer........................................... JohnTaylor Prod, secretary................ Amanda Etherington Sound recordist...........................................RobStadler Composers............................................... DavidCrosbie, Synopsis: Based on interviews with trade Editor...................................................... DeniseHaslem John Taylor THE RAT RACE unionists who played a part in creating the Exec, producer..................................... TristramMiall Musical director..........................................JohnTaylor (Working title) history of the movement or who are involved in Assoc, producer........................................ AnnaGrieve Music performed b y ................................. DavidCrosbie, issues of crucial relevance to unions today.

Prod, supervisor........................................ AnnaGrieve John Taylor, Prod, company..............................Dollar Signs The film is being made for the ACTU and Prod, co-ordinator....................................Kristin Sanderson for Eyes Productions Philip Layion, funded by the Australian Bicentennial Prod, manager.................................. Ian Adkins Dist. company............. Australian Film Institute Alan Fowler Authority.

Prod, accountant......................................

Albert Wong Producers............................................SuzanneNussey, Sound editor.............................................. JohnTaylor Jenni-bop Zipporah Animation.................................................. JohnTaylor Prod, accountant......................................DavidTrestrail Studios................................................. ‘Qwiklik’Studios Directors.............................................. SuzanneNussey, 1st asst director......................................... AnnaGrieve THE BIG GIG Jenni-bop Zipporah Mixed at.............................................Soundfirm 2nd asst director......................................KristinSanderson Prod, company............................Film Australia Scriptwriter......................... Dirk Doppelgänger Laboratory................................................... VFL Casting consultants............................... Forcast Dist. company............................. Film Australia Photography........................................SuzanneNussey, Budget..................................................$31,284 Camera assistant............................. Mike Kelly Producer...................................................... DonMurray Jenni-bop Zipporah Length............................................................12minutes 2nd unit photography.................................AndyFraser Director........................................................ KarlZwicky Sound recordists.................................SuzanneNussey, Wardrobe buyer............................ Kerry Brown Gauge.......................................................16mm Scriptwriter................................................SteveJohnson Jenni-bop Zipporah Asst editor.................................................... ErinSinclair Shooting stock...........................................7291 Exec, producer............................ Tristram Miall Editors................................................. SuzanneNussey, Voice characterisations: Richard Healy (The Still photography..........................................RozSharpe Prod, manager.......................................Virginia Pridham Jenni-bop Zipporah Man), Jane Lewis (The Lady), Danny Nash Legal consultant......................................... AnnCharlton Prod, designers................................... SuzanneNussey, (The Pilot/A Seagull), David Crosbie (A Sea­ Prod, accountant......................................AlbertWongMarketing & Jenni-bop Zipporah Marketing & promotions gfficer.......... Jennifer Henderson gull).

Neg. matching............................... Ursula Jung Synopsis: Trevor and his owners parachute promotions officer..........Jennifer Henderson Laboratory............................................ Cinefilm Tech, adviser............................David Atkinson onto a deserted island where the Man decides Lab. liaison................................................KevinAckroyd Studios........................................ Film Australia Mixed a t............................ Soundstage, Fitzroy to run a carpark, the Lady an airport, and Budget................................................ $295,000 Mixed at.......................................Film Australia Laboratory....................................................VFL Length............................................................ 96minutes Trevor, to subjugate the local seagulls. All is Budget............................................... $235,000 Budget...................................................$27,294 quiet until a plane carrying a load of cars is Gauge.......................................................

16mm Length............................................................20minutes Length............................................................ 15minutes Shooting stock............................................ ECN forced to land.

Gauge...................................................... Video Gauge....................................................... 16mm Cast: Peter Browne (Andrew Byrne), Jude Synopsis: A stylistic parody of youthShooting sto ck...........................................7291 Stratford (Christine Byrne), Michael Cudlin orientated B-grade science fiction movies, Synopsis: A humorous look at rodent psycho­ (Justin Byrne), Sheridan Murphy (Kathy dealing with driving skills of young drivers. It social experimentation using puppet and cut­ Byrne), Susan Leith (Margaret Reeve), Mary covers a night’s activities of a group of young out animation. Dr Umpteen and his assistant, Acres (Mary Duncan), Kim Knuckey (Rod friends on their way to the Big Gig. Visiting Campbell).

Ron, become rather too zealous in their pursuit aliens observe them, commenting on their pro­ of knowledge.

Synopsis: Using the ‘Real Life’ documentary gress and are finally forced to intervene. style, this drama observes two years in the life of the Byrne family as they become involved in THE STRANGER CANE TOADS the complicated legal path that leads to a fully Prod, company.............. Taylor Entertainments (Working title) defended custody hearing in the Family Court.

Producers...................................................NealTaylor, Prod, company...........................

Film Australia Anthony McKenna Dist. company.............................Film Australia Director........................................... Neal Taylor ABORIGINAL EDUCATION Director............................................ Mark Lewis Scriptwriter..................................... Neal Taylor Scriptwriter.......................................Mark Lewis Photography.................................. Daryl Rosin FILM A U S T R A L IA ’S A U S T R A L IA Prod, company............................................ FilmAustralia Based Editor.............................................. Neal Taylor Dist. company............................................. FilmAustralia on the original idea by.......... Mark Lewis Film Australia’s Australia is a series of 12 video Photography.................................................JimFrazier Asst director................................... Daryl Rosin Producer................................................... AvivaZiegler programmes with supporting discussion notes.

Sound recordist.....................Rodney Simmons Clapper/loader......................... Craig Simpson Director......................................................AvivaZiegler Editor........................................ Lindsay Frazier ECOLOGY Additional crew..........................................ScottTaylor, Researcher................................................ChrisPeacock Exec, producer..................................... TristramMiall Prod, company............................Film Australia Joseph Eiby, Photography..............................................John Hosking Prod, manager.............................................. IanAdkins Andrew Vass, Sound recordist........................ Jack Friedman Dist. company.............................Film Australia Prod, accountant......................................AlbertWongProducer...........................................Jan Punch Anthony McKenna Editor...........................................Ross Flaherty Tech, adviser............................................ PeterMullins Exec, producer.....................................TristramMiall 1st asst director.......................... Debbie Sidore Director................................... Judith Adamson Camera assistant.......................

Wayne Taylor Length............................................ 25 minutes Prod, manager.............................................. IanAdkins Scriptwriter.............................Judith Adamson Asst editor........................................ Rhyl Yates Gauge...................................................Super 8 Prod, accountant......................................AlbertWong Exec, producer...........................Geoff Barnes Marketing & Shooting stock................................ Tri-x, Pan-x Prod, assistant.......................................... MerylJackson Prod, manager............................Ron Hannam Cast: Gary Scott-Holland (Jorden Wieshart), Camera assistant........................................ CarlFisher promotions officer..........Jennifer Henderson Unit manager.............................................PeterBrown Studios....................................... Film Australia Doug Taylor (Doctor), Neal Taylor (Andre Asst editor............................. Claire Williamson Prod, secretary..................... Margaret Crewes Mixed at...................................... Film Australia Marketing & Walker).

Prod, accountant.......................... John Russell Budget................................................ $199,347 Synopsis: Jorden Wieshart has re-occurring promotions officer......... Jennifer Henderson Marketing & Length............................................................ 50minutespromotions officer......................... FrancescaMuir nightmares about gloved hands reaching for Studios........................................................FilmAustralia Gauge....................................................... 16mm his throat, a woman’s throat being slit, a bare Mixed at....................................................... FilmAustralia Length............................................................ 60minutes Shooting stock............................................ ECN swinging light bulb that explodes. He dreams Budget.................................................. $90,000 Synopsis: Ecology is the companion program Synopsis: A stylised, off-beat documentary about his past and when he decides to go in Length............................................................28minutes to the Natural Environment program and deals showing a social history of the Cane Toad search of it he encounters violent murders of with human interaction with the environment, Gauge.......................................................16mm through the people who have contact with those who talk to him and eventually the land use, land abuse, industry, cities, and Shooting stock............................................ ECN them. Informative and entertaining with a Stranger from his past. pollution.

Synopsis: A film to encourage Aboriginal and unique blend of absurd fact and serious Torres Strait Islanders to stay in education, anecdote. using examples of people who have stayed and TAX are achieving. It makes them aware of the LEARNING support system available through the educa­ Producer....................................................... JeffJaffers DJUNGGUWAN AT GURKA’WUY Prod, company............................Film Australia tion system.

Director......................................................... JeffJaffers Dist. company.............................Film Australia (PART I & PART II) Scriptwriters.................................... Jeff Jaffers, Producer...........................................Jan Punch Damian Broomhead Prod, company............................................ FilmAustralia A .D .A .B .

Photography.......................... Vladimir Osherov Dist. company..............................................FilmAustralia (Working title) Sound recordist............................Alona Hunter Producer........................................................IanDunlop Editor............................................................ JeffJaffers Prod, comoany............................................ FilmAustralia Director..........................................................IanDunlop Dist. company............................................. FilmAustralia Exec, producer.......................................... ChrisMcGill Photography.............................................. DeanSemler Director......................................Bob Kingsbury Please help us keep this survey Prod, co-ordinator....................................RobertChuter Sound recordist..................................... RodneySimmons Scriptwriter................................ Bob Kingsbury Prod, manager...............................Lyndal Barry Editors.............................................Ian Dunlop, accurate. Phone Kathy Bail on Photography..........................................Axolotyl Location manager..................................MelanieBrellis Sharon Bell (03) 429 5511 with any errors or Sound recordist.................................... Axolotyl Exec, producer............................ Tristram Miall 1st asst director..............................Melinda Tuz Editor.................................................... Axolotyl Prod, manager...............................................IanAdkinsomissions.

2nd asst director....................................MelanieBrellis

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Director................................... ....Greg Reading realisation of Tim McCartney-Snape’s boyhood ORDAIN TA LL SHIPS Scriptwriters.................................... Jan Punch, dream to climb Gasherbrum 1V, a beautiful yet Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia Prod, company............................Film Australia Greg Reading terrifying peak in the Karakoram mountains of Dist. company.............................Film Australia Producer.......................................................... R.McCauley Exec, producer............................ Geoff Barnes north-east Pakistan.

Producer........................................... Janet Bell Researcher................................................. JudyMenczel Prod, manager............................. Ron Hannam Exec, producer......................................TristramMiall Director.........................................

Gillian Coote Prod, secretary.................................... MargaretCrewes HELLFIRE PASS Scriptwriter...................................Gillian Coote Prod, manager.................................. Ian Adkins Prod, accountant..........................................NeilCousins Prod, company.............................Film Australia Prod, secretary................

Beverley Conradsen Photography...............................

Joel Petersen Length............................................................. 60minutes Dist. company...........................ABC (Pre-sale) Sound recordist......................Bronwyn Murphy Prod, accountant.......................................AlbertWong Gauge....................................................... 16mm Producer....................................................... TimReadExec, producer..................................Janet Bell Marketing & Synopsis: The eighth program in the Film Aus­ Director................................................. GrahamChase promotions officer.........Jennifer Henderson Prod, manager....................... Virginia Pascoe tralia’s Australia series co-produced with the Photography..............................................KerryBrown Budget................................................ $270,704 Prod, secretary.................Amanda Etherington Australian Bicentennial Association. It deals Sound recordist.....................Rodney Simmons Prod, accountant.........................Neil Cousins Length.............................................................55minutes with the social environment and learning about Editor.....................................................GrahamChase Camera assistants.......................Anne Benzie, Synopsis: A documentary about three young life, for example, socialisation, celebration, the Exec, producer......................................Tristram Miall Australians sailing out in two magnificent Mandy Walker family, childhood training, formal education.

Assoc, producer............................ Calvin Miller boats, the “ Dar Mlodziezy” from Poland and Synopsis: The struggle for the ordination of Existing Film Australia programs are used.

Prod, manager.................................. Ian Adkins the “ Eagle” from the USA, to Australia. Sail women in the Anglican Church.

Prod, accountant........................... Albert Wong training and the Tall Ships Event has been run­ Prod, assistant...........................Meryl Jackson ning in the Northern Hemisphere for many Still photography..................Robert McFarlane years; our Australian event marks the first time PARLIAMENT HOUSE/ Marketing & an event of this magnitude has been staged in promotions officer......... Jennifer Henderson THE BUILDERS the Southern Hemisphere.

FOR PARENTS Budget............................................... $180,000 Prod, company.............................Film Australia Length.............................................. 50 minutes Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia Producer..................................... Ron Saunders Gauge....................................................... 16mm Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia Director.............................................Ian Walker UNITED KINGDOM TRADE MARKETS Shooting stock.............................................ECN 7292 Producer.................................................... AvivaZiegler Scriptwriter....................................... Ian Walker Prod, company............................ Film Australia Synopsis: The events that occurred at Hellfire Director.................................. Stephen Ramsay Photography..................................... Ross King, Dist. company............................. Film Australia Pass on the Thai Burma railroad during WWII Scriptwriters......................................... StephenRamsay, Kerry Brown Producer..........................................Don Murray are being finally recognised in this docu­ Judy Menczel Sound recordists......................... Howard Spry, Director.................................................

Bob Hill Photography.............................................. KerryBrownmentary. Featuring Sir Edward (‘Weary’) Rodney Simmons Scriptwriter........................................... Bob Hill Dunlop, and shot in Thailand and Australia, the Sound recordist......................................RodneySimmons Exec, producer........................... Ron Saunders Photography.....................Richard Baillie-Mace Exec, producer......................................Tristram Miall film is a tribute to the spirit and ingenuity of the Prod, manager..................................Gerry Letts Sound recordist...........................George Craig men who lived and died there.

Prod, manager.................................. Ian Adkins Prod, secretary............................ Robyn Briais Editor...........................................Robin Archer Prod, accountant........................Geoff Appleby Prod, accountant.......................................AlbertWong Exec, producer..........................................GeoffBarnes JUST AU STRALIAN AEROPLANES Synopsis: A study of the design and building Asst director................................ Debbie Sidore Prod, manager..............................................AnnFolland of the new Parliament House in Canberra Camera assistant...............................Jim Ward Prod, company............................ Film Australia Prod, secretary.......................Margaret Crewes which is to be completed for the Bicentenary Gaffer............................................................. IanBosman Dist. company..............................Film Australia Prod, accountant........................................ JohnRussell Narrator....................................................... MikeWillesee celebrations.

Producer................................. Dick Collingridge Marketing & Marketing & Photography............................... John Hosking promotions officer................ Francesca Muir promotions officer..........Jennifer Henderson Sound recordist......................................HowardSpry Length................. 2 x 30 minutes/2 x 7 minutes Studios......................................................... FilmAustralia Exec, producer......................................TristramMiall Synopsis: This program will profile the prob­ POWER OF THE LIGHTNING Mixed a t........................................................ FilmAustralia Prod, manager............................................... IanAdkins lems facing the Australian business person BROTHERS Budget................................................. $181,195 when exporting to the United Kingdom Prod, accountant...................................... AlbertWong Length............................................................. 48minutes Prod, company............................Film Australia Marketing & markets. The series is a key part of the Aus­ Gauge........................................................16mm Dist. company.............................Film Australia promotions officer..........Jennifer Henderson trade strategy to develop an export conscious Shooting stock.............................................ECN Producer...................................................

Janet Bell culture in the Australian business community.

Studios.........................................Film Australia Synopsis: This film is designed to alleviate Director........................................David Roberts Mixed at....................................... Film Australia parental fears about teenagers and drugs. By Scriptwriters...........................Michael Balsom, Budget...................................................$52,305 looking at three families, Mike Willesee David Lourie Length.............................................. 90 minutes examines the myth that we are powerless over WINNING WOMEN Photography...........................................AndrewFraser Gauge....................................................... Video drugs and alcohol, and a parent awareness Sound recordist...........................Howard Spry Prod, company............................Film Australia Synopsis: Successor to Just Australian Trains', course looks at family strategies for fostering Editors.........................................

David Lourie, Dist. company.............................

Film Australia compiled from 2-3 hours of Film Australia responses to life that are independent rather Ray Thomas Producer................................................... JanetBell archival footage shot on Australian aeroplanes, than dependent.

Composer..................................

Gondwanaland Director.....................................................Susan Lambert including first release dramatic war footage. It Exec, producer......................................... JanetBell Scriptwriter............................................... SusanLambert features stories on Flying Boats. F111s.

Prod, manager......................... Virginia Pascoe Photography............................................. LaurieMclnnes gliding, the history of the RAAF, the Flying GOING STRONG Prod, secretary................ Amanda Etherington Sound recordists................................ Pat Fiske, Doctor Service and other classic aircraft.

Prod, accountant......................................... NeilCousins Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia Bronwyn Murphy Camera assistant................................... RodneyHindsEditor................................................................ DiPriest Producer.....................................Jebby Phillips Music performed b y .................. Gondwanaland Exec, producer..........................................JanetBell Director.......................................... Mai Tennant MEETING THE CHALLENGE Director of post-production..... Michael Balsom Unit manager................................. Anna Grieve Editor..................................... Martha Babineau Prod, company............................ Film Australia Mixer.......................................................... GeoffStitt Prod, secretary................ Amanda Etherington Exec, producer............................Ron Saunders Dist. company............................. Film Australia Narrator.......................................... Ernie Dingo Prod, accountant..........................................NeilCousins Assoc, producer..............................Helen Steel Producer..................................... Geoff Barnes Length............................................ 8.5 minutes Marketing & Prod, manager..........................................MargoPulsford Director...........................................................IanHost Synopsis: A short exploring the magnificent promotions officer................ Francesca Muir Producer’s assistant............ Jenny Middlemiss Photography............................................... RossKing rock paintings associated with the mythology Length.............................................................50minutes Research........................ Donna Norton-Lodge, Sound recordists.........................Howard Spry, of the Lightning Brothers, north of Katherine in Synopsis: A documentary for television, made Rosalind Gillespie, Rod Simmons the Northern Territory. Ceremonies relating to for the Australian Bicentennial Authority, about Juliet Phillips Editor.............................................................. IanHost these paintings, which have not been per­ the Australian women’s cricket team and their Publicity...................................................... Judy Barnsley Exec, producer........................... Geoff Barnes formed for forty years, have been recorded, attempt to win the Ashes at Lords. As well, Marketing & Prod, manager.............................Ron Hannam with an original Dolby soundtrack from Gond­ some of the stars of women’s cricket from the promotions officer......... Jennifer Henderson Prod, secretary.................................... MargaretCrewes wanaland featuring didgeridoo player, Charlie 30s recall the great moments from their golden Funding....................................Francesca Muir Prod, accountant......................... Neil Cousins McMahon. era of the sport.

Length...............................................30 minutes Prod, assistant..............................Frank Haines Cast: Roger Climpson, Hazel Phillips, Tanya Narrator......................................................David Flatman Halesworth, Red Harrison, Chin Yu Williams, Laboratory............................................ Cinefilm James Dibble.

Length............................................................. 14minutes Synopsis: A weekly magazine show aimed at WOMEN ’88 ROADS TO XANADU G auge........................................... l6mm/video the Australian over-50 age group.

Prod, company............................ Film Australia Prod, company............................ Film Australia Synopsis: A videotape program produced for Dist. company..............................Film Australia Dist. company..............................Film Australia Austrade to be screened to business persons Producer...................................... Jo Horsburgh Producer....................................... John Merson showing achievements and what can be HARDER THAN EVEREST Directors................................ Christina Wilcox, Director........................................ David Roberts achieved in exporting products overseas.

(Working title) Ruth Cullen, Scriptwriters.................................John Merson, Prod, company............................. Film Australia Tracey Moffatt, David Roberts Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia Anna Grieve, Based on the original idea Producer............................................... GeoffreyBarnes NEW HOUSING TECHNOLOGY Jinks Dulhunty, by...............................................John Merson Director......................... Tim McCartney-Snape Prod, company............................ Film Australia Liz Stroud, Exec, producer............................ Geoff Barnes Based on the original idea Dist. company............................. Film Australia Mary Callaghan Prod, manager..............................Ron Hannam b y ..............................Tim McCartney-Snape, Producer........................................... Janet Bell Photography.............................. Sally Bongers, Prod, secretary......................Margaret Crewes Phil Balsdon Director...................................... Paul Humfress Jane Castle, Prod, accountant..........................

John Russell Photography................................................. PhilBalsdon Exec, producer................................. Janet Bell Bronwyn Nicholas, Marketing & Editor........................................................ DeniseHunter Prod, manager........................Virginia Pridham Sally Eccleston, promotions officer................ Francesca Muir Exec, producer......................................GeoffreyBarnes Prod, secretary.................Amanda Etherington Lisa Sharkey, Synopsis: A four-part series for television that Prod, manager..............................................RonHannam Prod, accountant.......................... Neil Cousins Andy Fraser, takes a new look at the dynamic interchange Prod, secretary.......................Margaret Crewes Marketing & Mick Bomemann between Asia and Europe in the modern world.

Prod, accountant........................................ JohnRussellpromotions officer................ Francesca Muir Sound recordists....................... Nadia Kaspar, The conventional views about the relationship Marketing & Synopsis: A fresh look at new housing tech­ K. Gunn, between science, technology and society, promotions officer......................... Francesca Muir nology made for television and commissioned S. Best, which continue to shape our perceptions of by the Department of Housing and Construc­ Length............................................................. 60minutes Graham Tardif, progress, are scrutinized and re-evaluated. tion.

Synopsis: This documentary is about the Howard Spry

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Dist. company........................ Fries Distribution teaching strategy; the advantages and dis­ Editors.................................................Di Priest, Company, Inc./ advantages of small-group teaching; spelling; Dominique Fusy, International Film Management Ltd non-native speaker learning; different teaching Melissa Sandford, (The World excluding Australasia), strategies that work for the individual teacher.

Ray Thomas, Anro Productions Pty Limited Produced for the NSW Department of Tech­ S. Ayyar, (Australasia) nical and Further Education.

Noel Wright Producers....................................................

AnnChapman Composers............................................JoannaPiggott, Ross Matthews J. Fielding, THE COMMITTEE Director.............................................Gil Brealey Felicity Foxx Prod, company........................................ QuestFilms THE G’ DAY SHOW WITH DOT AND Scriptwriters................................................ FtobChapman, Exec, producer..................................Janet Bell THE KANGAROO Producer................................................... DavidPerry Ann Chapman Prod, manager......................... Nigel Saunders Director.......................................Mark Wallage Prod, company........................................ YoramGross Photography...................................Geoff Burton Prod, secretary............... Amanda Etherlngton Scriptwriter................................. Mark Wallage Filmstudio Pty Ltd Soundrecordist.........................................

RossLinton Prod, accountant.........................................NellCousins Editor.............................................Colin Grieve Producer................................................. YoramGrossEditor......................................... Wayne Le Clos Camera assistants.................................JoanneErskine, Camera operator...................................... DavidPerryDirector................................................... YoramGrossProd, designer................................Neil Angwin Alison Pickup, Laboratory...............................................Atlab Scriptwriter.............................. Marcia Hatfield Exec, producers........................ Rob Chapman, Sally Eccleston, Length...........................................14 minutes Assoc, producer.....................................SandraGross Antony I. Glnnane Marianna Marusic, Gauge...................................................... 16mm Length..................................... 13 x 30 minutes Prod, co-ordinator........................ Lizzie Hagan Robyn Petersen Synopsis: Produced for the NSW Department Gauge............................................................

1" video Prod, manager............................................Sally Ayre-Smit Asst editors..................................Lindy Kruger, of Industrial Relations, this film is a resource to Synopsis: Pilot for a 13-part television series Unit manager....................... Christopher Jones Stephanie Flack, be used as a trigger for discussion in courses featuring a combination of animation and liveLocation manager...................................

Maude Heath Helen Martin, conducted by the Department. It demonstrates action.

Prod, secretary....................... Sam Thompson Penelope Mulligan the v/rong way to conduct a meeting: how lack Prod, accountant...................................Micheled'Arcey, Publicity.......................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen of discipline by the chairperson allows dis­ JUNGLE BOOK Catch 1-2-3 Marketing & cussion to wander off-target and essential 1st asst director..................................... MichaelBourchier Prod, company..........Yoram Gross Film Studio promotions officer................ Francesca Muir points to remain unresolved.

2nd asst director........................ Peter Kearney Producer..................................... Yoram Gross Length..........................................7 x 5 minutes 3rd asst director............. Toby Churchill-Brown Director....................................... Yoram Gross Synopsis: A series for television celebrating CONFIDENTIALLY SPEAKING Continuity................................ Alison Goodwin Scriptwriter.................................. John Palmer Australian women during the last 20 years, Story consultant.......................Geoffrey Dutton Prod, company............................... City Studio Based on the novel b y............ Rudyard Kipling made for release in the bicentennial year.

Producer’s secretary.................. Angelina Sifis Producer.........................................Rick Raftos Composer.................................................... GuyGross Casting...........................................Liz Mullinar Director.................................... Briann Kearney Assoc, producer.....................................SandraGross Casting Consultants Scriptwriter..................................... Marion Ord Prod, co-ordinator................................JeanetteToms Extras' casting.......................... Judith Cruden Editor......................................... John Swaffield Prod, manager........................Jacki Goodridge Focus puller............................... Darrin Keough Camera operator............................... John Katt Asst editor............................................StephenHayes Clapper/loader...........................Kathryn Milliss Length.......................................... 12V2 minutes Animation director........................Ray Nowland Key grip..................................................... BruceBarber Gauge..................................................Betacam Publicity.................................................... UshaHarris Asst grip...................................................... GaryShearsmit Synopsis: Produced for the State Rail Gauge......................................................35mm Gaffer..............................................................IanPlummer Authority and Urban Transit Authority of New Synopsis: A modern day teenage version of 3rd electrics/ South Wales, this video shows through several Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book in which the gene operator........................................SteveHarris dramatised vignettes how employees can be animals are hip and Mowgli drives a convert­ Boom operator........................ Catherine Gross helped to sort personal problems affecting their ible. Pilot for a television series.

Art director..................................... Robert Deln work performance by consulting the Employee Art dept co-ordinator....................................... DiHenry Assistance Program (EAP) counsellors. The TOUCH THE SUN — DEVIL’S HILL Art dept assistant........................ Simon Dobbin video is part of the staff training program.

Costume designer................... Graham Purcell GREEN ENGINEERING Series prod, company..........ACTF Productions Costume supervisor.............................. HeatherMcLaren Prod, company................ Syme Entertainment HOW CAN I HELP YOU? Prod, company.................. South Pacific Video Art dept runner.......................................... PeterLitton Pty Ltd Director...................................Stephen Cozens Prod, company...... Paradise Picture Company Make-up........................................................ VivMepham Producer............................................. Jill Robb Scriptwriter...................................................lainMcKay Producer......................................Mike Conway Hairdresser................................................. JoanPetch Director.........................................

Esben Storm Sound recordist........................Paul Harrington (Cadillac Productions) Standby wardrobe.................. Devina Maxwell Scriptwriter................................. David Phillips Editor..........................................Wendy Clarke Director....................................... Rodney Long Model maker............................................ JewellGreen Prod, manager.......................

Elizabeth Symes Exec, producer...........................Russell Porter Scriptwriter.................................. Rodney Long Props buyers........................................

BlossomFlint, Synopsis: Sam comes from the city, but when Prod, co-ordinator...................... Wendy Clarke Editor...........................................Mike Conway Annette Reid his mother is ill and his father away working he Narrator..................................................... DougMurray Camera operator........................ Peter Davies Standby props........................

George Zammitt is sent to stay with his cousin Badge's family Length............................................................10minutes Laboratory...................................................CFL Carpenters............................................ MichaelRout, on their remote farm in Tasmania’s rugged Gauge.........................................BVU Betacam Length......................................... 131/2 minutes Jeffrey Broadfield, south-west. Badge can’t stand his cousin's Synopsis: A video concerning the control of Gauge................................ 16mm film/1" video Con Mustard, disdain for the bush, but the glorified tales of erosion on building and construction sites, Synopsis: Part of a training package for staff, Geoffrey Hinsby city life make him wonder if he should spend along roadways and in other areas where the this film addresses the problems disabled Set construction.......................................DannyBurnett his life in the wilderness.

When the two boys natural compaction and contour of the soil has persons have in using the rail system. It is an Editing assistant..........................Wayne Hayes have to go and look for a missing heifer in the been altered by man's endeavours. awareness-raising film to encourage station Dubbing editor............................................ZsoltKollanyi bush, they become separated from the others staff to be more helpful when dealing with the Wrangler............................................... GrahamWare and find they have to work together if they are disabled. Produced for the State Rail Authority SALINITY Best boy.....................................................GrantAtkinson to retrieve the heifer and get back to the farm of New South Wales.

Prod, company...........York Street Productions Runner................................... John McDonald safely.

Producer............................................. Rob Scott Catering......................................................JohnFaithfull NEW SOUTH WALES — Director.............................................. Rob Scott Budget............................................ $5,589,567 A GUIDED TOUR Editor................................................. Rob Scott Length...................................... 2 x 120 minutes Exec, producer........................... Russell Porter Gauge.......................................................35mm Prod, company.................. Luthien Pty Limited Camera operator........................... Leigh Tilson Shooting stock................. Kodak Eastmancolor Producer................................. Michael Gissing Mixed a t............................................. Labsonics Synopsis: Based on the story of Emma Eliza Director.......................................David O’Brien Laboratory.............................................Clnevex Coe, an American-Samoan woman who set up Music..................................... Michael Atherton Length............. 1 x 30 seconds, 1 x 60 seconds a huge trading empire in the South Pacific last Editor.....................................Derek Wenderski Gauge......................................16mm, 1" video century.

Camera operator..........................Peter Davies Synopsis: Two community service announce­ Laboratory......................................... CineFilm AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS ments aimed at urban audiences to alert them Length.......................................... 27 minutes Prod, company........................... Burbank Films to the dimension of the threat of salinity, and its THE FLYING DOCTORS Gauge.................................................Betacam Producer......................................... Roz Phillips potential impact on the quality of life in our Synopsis: This film, for the New South Wales Prod, company.......... .... Crawford Productions Scriptwriter....................................Leonard Lee towns and cities.

Tourism Commission, highlights the variety of (Series) Pty Ltd Based on the novel b y .................. Jules Verne tourist attractions available, and their accessi­ Producer.................... ............ Oscar Whitbread Editors......................................Peter Jennings, SKI LEGS bility. It is unique in that there is no dialogue: ............. Brendan Maher, Directors....................

Caroline Neave the original music ‘tells the story’ as we travel Chris Langman, Prod, company.................................. RosemaryKendall Exec, producer........................................... TomStacey along the coastline, to the Blue Mountains and Colin Budds, & Company Prod, co-ordinator........................................ JoyCraste into the outback regions of the state.

A Paul Moloney, Producer............................................RosemaryKendall Prod, manager................................ Roddy Lee bicentennial project, this film is being released Catherine Miller, Director......................................................ChrisAdshead Prod, accountant...................................AndrewYoung worldwide.

Mark Defriest Scriptwriter..........................Garrie Hutchinson Casting......................................................... JoyCraste Scriptwriters............. .............. Denise Morgan, Photography..............................................BarryWilson Camera operators...........................Gary Page, Shane Brennan, Editor...................................................Ray Daly NO EXCUSES Tanya Viskitch Tony Morphett, Exec, producer...........................................SallySemmens Prod, company.................... Vector Production Storyboard...................................Steve Lumley Leon Saunders, Prod, assistant..............................Beth Whelan Pty Limited Timing...............................................Jean Tych Luis Bayonas, Camera operator...................................... BarryWilson Producer............................. Jonathan Clemens Length.............................................50 minutes Peter Kinloch, Neg. matching..................................... WarwickDriscoll Director..................................... Roger Hudson Gauge......................................................16mm Peter Hepworth, M ixer........................................................ DavidHarrison Scriptwriter................................ Roger Hudson Shooting stock....................................... 7291 Michael Joshua Length............................................................10minutes Editor......................................Peter Somerville Synopsis: The classic tale of Philias Fogg ..............

Brett Anderson, Photography.............

Gauge...................................................... 16mm Camera operator........................ Graeme Ross whose bet took him and his reluctant servant Barry Helleren Synopsis: A cross-country skiing promotional Length............................................. 30 minutes Passepartout around the world in 80 days.

Sound recordists...... ................ Malcolm Rose, film pointing out the need for safety in the Gauge..................................................Betacam John McKerrow snow.

Synopsis: Mandatory notification of child BLACK ARROW Editors...................................... Lindsay Parker, sexual assault is being phased in by the New Prod, company.......................... Burbank Films Bill Murphy South Wales Government. This video, pro­ Producer.......................................Roz Phillips Exec, producers........ ............Hector Crawford, duced for the New South Wales Child Protec­ Scriptwriter................................... Paul Leadon Ian Crawford, tion Council, deals with the range of profes­ Terry Stapleton Based on the novel sional attitudes inhibiting reporting; the noti­ b y ............................Robert Louis Stevenson Prod, supervisor........ .....................Vince Smits fication process; the ‘myths’ surrounding this Editors......................................Peter Jennings, .......................

Gina Black Prod, co-ordinator.... subject; and the issue of intervention.

Caroline Neave Prod, manager.................................Chris Page Exec, producer...............................Tom Stacey Unit managers.......... ................ Andrew Oliver, Prod, co-ordinator........................................ JoyCraste Robert Visser THE STEAM REVOLUTION Prod, manager.................................Roddy Lee Location manager.... .................Maurice Burns Prod, company................................Jollification Prod, accountant...................................AndrewYoungProd, secretary......... ............... Carol Matthews Producer...................................... Russell Tagg Casting......................................................... JoyCraste Prod, accountant..... ....................Jeff Shenker Director....................................... Russell Tagg Camera operators......................................GaryPage,1st asst directors....... .......Richard Clendinnen, Editor........................................... Russell Tagg Tanya Viskitch Stewart Wright, Camera operator......................... Russell Tagg Storyboard................................................. GlenLovett Michael McIntyre ADULT LITERACY Laboratory................................................. Atlab Timing...............................................Jean Tych 2nd asst directors.... .............. Aurelia Ginevra, Length.......................................4 x 30 seconds Prod, company.................... Summer Hill Films Length.............................................50 minutes Peter Nathan Gauge................................... 35mm to 1" video Producer...................................... Tony Wickert Gauge......................................................16mm Continuity................. ................ Lesley Forsyth, Synopsis: The cycles of four types of engines Director....................................... Tony Wickert Shooting stock.......................................... 7291 Carmel Torcasio are shown in animation: the Newcomen Editor.....................................John Mandelberg Synopsis: Set in the time of the War of the Casting..................... .....................Jan Pontifex engine, the Boutlon and Watt Rotative engine, Camera operator............................Ron Hurrell Roses our hero Dick Shelton discovers the real Focus pullers.............................. Craig Barden, the Reaction Turbine engine and the Single Laboratory......................................Visualeyes identity of the Black Arrow.

Kattina Bowell and Tandem Compound High Pressure Length............................................ 50 minutes Clapper/loaders....... ............. Garry Bottomley, engine. Each will be shown on a monitor next Gauge............................ %-inch Lo-band video Ian Phillips EMMA to the relevant engine in the Power House Synopsis: These six trigger videos are to be Key grips................... ..................Craig Dusting, Museum'sre-creation of the 19th century used as resources in the teaching of adult Prod, company......................Anro Productions Kerry Boyle engine-house at its exhibition commencing in literacy. The subjects covered are: overcoming Pty Limited for Asst grip s................. .......................Leigh Tate, 1988. self-doubt; the language experience as a Multi Films Investments Limited Wayne Mitchell

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74 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

Business affairs...............................Kim Vecera Gaffers................................................Bill Jones, Photography....................................Jan Kenny, Gary Plunkett Martin McGrath, Boom operator............................................ColinSwan Andrew Fraser Art d irector............................................. Andrew Reese Sound recordist............................. Noel Quinn, Asst art director.......................................... LeighEichler Tim Lloyd Costume designer..................................... ClareGriffin Editors........................................... Kerry Regan, Make-up.................................. Viv Rushbrooke, David Jaeger (The Editing Machine) Brad Smith Prod, designer................................ Ross Major Hairdressers................................................. LisaJones, Composers.................................... Bill Motzing, Sue Kelly Mario Millo, Wardrobe supervisor........................ Keely Ellis Chris Neal, Wardrobe standby..................................... AnnaBaulch, Peter Best, Rachel Nott Simon Walker Props buyer....................................Rolland Pike Exec, producers............................ Greg Coote, Standby props....................................Paul Kiely Matt Carroll, Set decorators............................Souli Livaditis, Robin Hughes, Darren Jones, Michael Willesee Clive Jones, Prod, supervisor........................Adrienne Read Darcy Chene, Prod, co-ordinators................. Vanessa Brown, Brad King Annette Patterson, Set construction...........................Gordon White Kate Delin Sound editor........................................ Geoff Hill Prod, managers.................................. Sue Wild, Editing assistant.................Catherine Angelico Lynda Wilkinson, M ixer........................................ Andrew Jobson Gerry Letts Best boys.....................................Con Mancuso, Unit managers............................John Brousek, Peter Ryan Steve Moran Runner............................................ Andrew Bull Location manager.......................Patricia Blunt Catering................................ Sweet Seductions Prod, accountant........................Paul Hopkins, Studios......................................GTV Channel 9 Catch 1-2-3 Mixed a t............. Crawford Productions Pty Ltd 1st asst directors................ Adrian Pickersgill, Laboratory.............................................. Cinevex Corrie Soeterboek Length...................................... 24 x 47 minutes 2nd asst directors............................Ken Moffat, Gauge.........................................

16mm Vicki Sugars Shooting s to c k ............................................7291 3rd asst directors...................... Adam Spencer, Cast: Robert Grubb (Dr Geoffrey Standish), Liz Sarah Lewis Burch (Dr Chris Randall), Lenore Smith (Kate Continuity...................................Sian Fatouros, Wellings), Bruce Barry (George Baxter), Pat Kristen Voumard, Evison (Violet Carnegie), Rebecca Gibney Tracy Padula (Emma Plimpton), Maurie Fields (Vic Buckley), Producer’s assistant.............Caroline Bonham Val Jellay (Nancy Buckley), Peter O’Brien Casting........................ Maizels and Associates (Sam Patterson), George Kakiniaris (D.J.).

Focus pullers.......................Calum McFarlane, Synopsis: A Royal Flying Doctor service is Jim Ward located in the outback town of Coopers Clapper/loaders........................ Katrina Crook, Crossing. The two doctors, Geoff Standish and Alison Maxwell Chris Randall, not only contend with the Key grip s..................................Brett McDowell, medical challenges, but also with the small Mitch Logan community in which they live.

Asst g rip s....................................................John Tate, Joe Bruneteau Gaffers...................................................... DerekJones, HEY DAD Brett Jarman (Series III) Best boys........................................................IanBosman, Grant Atkinson Prod, company............ Gary Reilly Productions Boom operators........................................ VictorGentile, Dist. com pany............ Pre-sale Seven Network Mark Van Kool Producer............................................Gary Reilly Director....................................................... SallyBradyArt director.................................................... KimDarby Scriptwriters................................................GaryReilly,Asst art director............................. Jane Murphy Art dept co-ordinator................................ CathyCouper John Flanagan Asst art dept co-ord................................KrystinePorter Based on an original idea b y ............Gary Reilly Photography.............................................. SteveBrackArt dept runner........................................... DekeDvrece Costume designer...................................... RossMajor Sound recordist.............................................Jim Astley Editor......................................................... GarryBurnsMake-up................................... Lesley Rouvray, Sherry Hubbard, Composer....................................................MikePerjanik Adele Wilcox Exec, in charge of Hairdressers........................Michelle Johnson, production..............................Alan Bateman Yvonne Savage Director’s asst............................................. Julie Hannah Asst make-up/hair....................................

HelenBarnes Producer’s asst................................ Kathy Lang Wardrobe supervisor..................................JeanTurnbull Lighting...................................................RussellPhegan Wardrobe assts.......Andrea Hood (asst/buyer), Floor manager.......................................... Jamie Stevens Rosalea Hood, Vision switcher...........................Tanya Djamin Paula Ryan, Technical director......................................... PatBarter Courtney Gibson (Jnr) Make-up........................................................ SueLeonard Standby wardrobe.......................................Julie Middleton, Wardrobe.................................Therese Rendle Andrea Burns Set decorator............................. Gordon Brown Cutters.................................. Sheryl Pilkington, Set designer.............................. Ken Goodman Laura Jocic, Publicity.................................................RhondaDawson Helen Mather Studios..................................... ATN Channel 7 Props master.......................................Bill Booth Length......................................19 x 30 minutes Props buyers............................................DanielMorphett, Gauge....................................................... Video Max Bartlett, Synopsis: Robert Hughes (Martin Kelly), Julie Peta Lawson McGregor (Betty Wilson), Paul Smith (Simon Standby props......................................... RobertMoxham, Kelly), Simone Buchanan (Debbie Kelly), Sarah Peter Moyes Monahan (Jenny Kelly), Christopher Truswell Asst standby props................. Robert Slingsby (Nudge).

Special effects......................... Steve Courtney Synopsis: A situation comedy based on a Scenic a rtist.................................. Peter Collias widowed father trying to raise his three children Brush hand............................................... AdamBromhead with the help of the family’s crazy cousin.

Carpenters.................................................. RudiSudmeyer, Darren Phillips, Barry Child, Gerry Marr, MICHAEL W ILLESEE’S Deryck Titherley, AUSTR ALIAN S Tony Read, Prod, company.................... Roadshow Coote & Danie Daems, Carroll Pty Ltd, Phil Gibbs TransMedia Productions Pty Ltd Construction manager.................. John Moore Dist. company.............................Film Australia, Leading hand................................. Kevin Kilday Roadshow Coote & Carroll Pty Ltd, Construction runner..................Cameron Grant TransMedia Productions Pty Ltd Sound supervisor....................................... MikeThomas Series producers.................. Pamela Vanneck, Effects editor..................Christopher Schweers Ron Saunders Stunts co-ordinator/safety........Bernard Ledger Directors.......................................... Flod Hardy, Presenter................................................MichaelWillesee Kevin Dobson, Wranglers............................................. GrahamWare, Henri Safran, Evanna Brand Gil Brealey, Runners............................................. Ross Bell, John Power, Tracey Harbutt Ian Gilmour, Publicity...................................Channel 9 (TCN) Mark Callan, Catering.....................................................FeastCatering, Ben Lewin, MMK Catering Michael Carson, Studios......................................................... MaxStudios Chris Thomson, Laboratory.................................................. Atlab George Whaley, Tape post-prod, house.........................Omnicon Cathy Mueller Budget..................................................... $9,215million Scriptwriters.............................. Tony Morphett, Length.......................................13 x 60 minutes Anne Whitehead, Gauge..................................I6mm/1" tape edit Roger McDonald, Shooting stock................................. 7291,7292 John Upton, Cast: John Ewart (John Norton), Rachel Ward Anne Brooksbank, (Vivian Bullwinkel), Lorna Lesley (Mary Robert Caswell, Mackillop), Linda Cropper (Lola Montez), Bob Ellis, Robert Willox (Jack Simpson), Peter Phelps Stephen Ramsay, (Les Darcy).

John Misto, Synopsis: Michael Willesee's Australians is a Peter Schreck, drama series of monumental events, unsung Geoffrey Atherden, heroes and buried surprises of history from Denise Morgan, Australia’s penal beginnings to the present Warwick Hind day.

Executive script editor...................Sue Masters

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✓ CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 75

P R ODUC T I ON U R V Y

Lighting asst.............................Anthony Tulloch Cast: Sir John Mills (Fyfe MacPhee), Phillip NEIGHBOURS RICHMOND HILL Hancock (Spit MacPhee), Elspeth Ballantyne Camera operator...............................Phil Cross Prod, company.....................Grundy Television Prod, company.....................Grundy Television (Grace Tree), John Bach (Jack Tree), Linda Camera assistant............................... LawrenceBalmer Pty Ltd Pty Ltd Key grips.................................................... BarryBrown, Cropper (Betty Arbuckle), Ray Meagher (Frank Producer...................................... Marie Trevor Producer.......................................... Philip East Ken Connor, Arbuckle), C hristopher Pearman (Ben Directors.......................................Tony Osicka, Directors....................................Garry Conway, Tony Hall Arbuckle).

Andrew Friedman, Russell Webb, Synopsis: The story of Spit MacPhee centres Asst grips........................... Arthur Manousakis, Steve Mann, Rod Hardy, Ian Porter, on the moral and religious attitudes of the Aus­ Kendal Flanagan Alister Smart, Greg Tuohy tralian country town of St Helens in the 1930s.

Mark Piper Scriptwriters.......................................... Various The town is polarised by various factions who Gaffer..........................................................TonyReade Based on the original idea Scriptwriters.......................................... Various Generator operator.................................. BruceTowers seek to become young Spit’s benefactors by............................................. Reg Watson Script editors...................................Rick Maier, when he becomes an orphan, an issue which is Make-up......................................Patricia Payne Sound recordists......................... Keith Harper, Mary Dagmer Davies, finally resolved in court.

Wardrobe....................................................RoseChong Peter Say. Dave Worthington Wardrobe supervisor............... Jessie Fountain Grant Vogler, Based on the original idea Props.............................................. Adele Flere Bruce Findlay by............................................... Reg Watson STRINGER Asst designer.......................Michael Anderson Prod, designer.......................................... SteveKellerEditor............................... The Editing Machine Prod, company...... ABC/McCann International Sound asst....................................................RayPhillips Composer (theme).....................................TonyHatchProd, designer........................................RobbiePerkins Dist. company ........ABC/McCann International Tutor.................................... Robert Muddyman Exec, producer..............................Reg Watson Exec, producer............................................ RegWatson Producer.....................................................JohnEdwards Still photography...................... Tibor Hegedis Prod, co-ordinator....................................RobynMcKay Assoc, producer............................ Peter Askew Directors................................................... KathyMueller, Tech, adviser.............................................. JohnParker Prod, co-ordinator...................... Jayne Russell Prod, manager..................................... EmanuelMatsos Chris Thomson, Length...................................... 20 x 30 minutes Prod, manager............................................ DaleArthur 1st asst director........................ Ross Hamilton Ken Cameron Gauge.................................................. Betacam Directors' assts.................................. MarianneGray,Continuity.............................. Judy Whitehead, Scriptwriters.............. Billy Marshall-Stoneking, Synopsis: The series tells the story of two Linda Wilson.

Pip Spilsbury, Steve Wright, young girls coming to a large country town to Marcus Georgiades Caitlin Kirkpatrick Christopher Lee continue their education. Set in the 1920s, Script supervisor.........................................RayKolle Casting.........................................Sue Manger Photography................................... Jeff Malouf each episode will pertain to their adventures Script editors....................................... YsabelleDean.Sound supervisor.....................Stephen Smith Sound recordist.............................. Guntis Sics and misadventures told in a humorous and Wayne Doyle Casting asst..............................Kirstin Truskett Editors................................................... MichaelHoney, active manner. The concept of the venture Casting......................................................... JanRuss Lighting supervisor.........................Gary Moore Bill Russo gives us the opportunity for fun and entertain­ Casting asst............................................... JaneDaniels Art director.....................Stephen Jones-Evans Prod, designers..................... Murray Picknett, ment built around a cast of delightful Camera operators......................Joe Battaglia, Costume designer.......................Ron Williams Janet Patterson characters.

Ken Muiholland.

Make-up...................................... Peggy Arnold Composer................................. Martin Armiger Hairdressers..................... Warren Hanneman, Ross Crabtree, Prod, manager.......................... Carol Chirlian Jeff Biggs.

Gail Edmonds TOUCH THE SUN — THE GIFT Unit managers...............................Clint White, Mark Collins.

Wardrobe...................................... Pip Haines Terry Bayliff Series prod, company..........ACTF Productions Mark Allen Runner...................................... Janelle Grace Prod, secretary..............................Jane Pepper Prod, company..................... Illumination Films Floor managers........................................... RayLindsay.

Publicity....................................... Network Ten Costing clerk..........................................AnnetteGover Dist. company.................Australian Children’s Bob Villinger, Catering..................................... Taste Buddies 1st asst directors......................... Wayne Barry, Television Foundation Peter Hinde, Studios........................................... Channel 10 Gary Stephens Producer......................... Tony Llewellyn-Jones Alan Williamson Cast: Robert Alexander (Frank Hackett), Paula 2nd asst directors.......................Lance Mellor, Director................................................ Paul Cox Duncan (Janet Bryant), Tim Elston (Warren Lighting supervisors.............. Stuart De Young, Karin Kreicers Scriptwriters....................................... Paul Cox, Lyden Matheson, Bryant), Marc Gray (Andrew Ryan), Ross Continuity.............................. Rhonda McAvoy, Jeff Peck Rod Harbour Higgins (Dan Costello), Maggie Kirkpatrick (Ivy Anthea Dean Photography.............................. Nino Martinetti Hackett), Amanda Muggleton (Connie Ryan), Hairdressers......................... David Henderson, Casting....................................... Jennifer Allen Sound recordist........................ Russell Hurley Dina Panozzo (Jill Webster), Ashley Paske David Vawser Casting asst............................................... IreneGaskell Editor.........................................Russell Hurley (Marty Bryant), Gwen Plumb (‘Mum’ Foote), Wardrobe............................... Mandy Sedewie, Lighting cameraperson....................Jeff Malouf Prod, designer........................ Paul Ammitzboll Felicity Soper (Susan Miller). Emily Symons Julianne Jonas Focus puller.................................. Gary Russell Exec, producer.......................... Patricia Edgar (Anne Costello).

Props buyer..................................Mark Grivas Clapper/loader.................. Andrew McClymont Assoc, producer........................Geoff Daniels Synopsis: This new Australian serial bares the Standby props.................. Richard Williamson.

2nd unit photography................................. PaulCostello Prod, supervisor.................

Santhana K. Naidu private lives of the residents of an outer-city Sue Birjac 2nd unit camera assistant............ Paul Doney Prod, manager........................Susie Campbell Music editor........................................... WarrenPearson area and involves people from every walk of Asst g rips................................................... AlanTrevena.

Prod, secretary............................

Kerry Hurley life. They all have secrets — romantic and Off-line editing................. The Editing Machine Paul Lawrence Prod, accountant...................Antony Shepherd dramatic. Richmond Hill tells the stories of a Vision switcher......................................... JennyWilliams Gaffer....................................................... MartinPerrott 1st asst director............................

Fiona Eagger Technical directors................................HowardSimons, community.

Electricians.............................................. PierreDrion, Continuity.......................................................JoMcLenna Peter Merino, Tim Harris Camera operator........................................Nino Martinetti Barry Shaw, Generator operator....................... John Clarke SISTERLY LOVE Focus puller............................... Roman Baska Peter Coe Boom operator...............................Scott Taylor Clapper/loader......................

Kathy Chambers Prod, company ...Australian Screen Associates Catering....................................... Helen Louers Asst designer....................................Cathy Film Key grip............................................ KenConnor Producer..................................... Peter du Cane Post-production.................. ATV-10 Melbourne Design asst................................... Karen Land 2nd unit photography............... Brendan Lavelle Director........................................Mark de Friest Cast: Anne Charleston (Madge Mitchell), Kylie Costume designer...................................LouiseDanning Gaffer................................................Mike Mato Scriptwriters...........................................Jeremy Higgins, Minogue (Charlene Mitchell). Jason Donovan Make-up....................................................SuzieStewart Boom operator............................ Robert Ludwig Ray Harding (Scott Robinson), Alan Dale (Jim Robinson), Wardrobe...................................................ElsieRushton, Make-up....................................... Jayne Burns Photography................................... Ian Pugsley Anne Haddy (Helen Daniels), Stefan Dennis Barry Lumley Wardrobe...............................

Michele Leonard Exec, producer..................................... CarmeloMusca (Paul Robinson), Elaine Smith (Daphne Wardrobe assts.....................................SuzanaCiko,Publicity.......................... Suzie Howie Publicity Assoc, producer....................................... KevinHume Clarke), Paul Keane (Des Clarke), Guy Pearce Susan Palmer Catering..................................Sweet Seduction Script editor...............................................HelenSteele (Mike Young), Annie Jones (Jane Harris).

Props........................................................... RoyEagleton, Mixed a t................................................. HendonStudios Length............................................................72minutes Synopsis: Love 'em or hate ’em, but every­ Peter Moroney, Laboratory.............................................

Cinevex Cast: Joan Sydney, Maggie King. one's got ’em: neighbours. Ramsay S treet. . .

Russell Burton Lab. liaison.................................................... IanAnderson Synopsis: A light drama about two sisters who the stage for an exciting drama serial. . . draw­ Props buyers.............................................Colin Bailey, Length..............................................96 minutes had lived apart for about 20 years and come ing back the curtain to reveal the intrigue and Ian Andrewartha Gauge....................................................... 16mm together again. passions of Australian families . . . and their Set decorator.................................Julie Puglisi Shooting stock.........................................

Kodak neighbours.

Asst set decorator............................... Tim Tu Ik Synopsis: Nikos and Sophia live in Melbourne.

SPIT MacPHEE Sound editors............................................ Julia Wright, They win a block of land in Western Australia.

Erika Moss, They are excited. Their parents are not as con­ Prod, company......Revcom Production Pty Ltd Des Horne vinced that wealth and happiness are Dist. company......... Revcom Television Pty Ltd RAFFERTY’S RULES imminent. The children travel to Perth to Producer..................................................... NoelPriceEditing assistants.................Margaret Benson, (Series IV) Heide Kenessy assess the situation. They devise an ingenious Director.................................................. MarcusCole Sound editing assts................................... PaulHayes, scheme to re-allocate ‘the gift’.

Prod, company......................... ATN Channel 7 Scriptwriter................................................MoyaWood Jonathan Champ, Dist. company............................ATN Channel 7 Based on the novel by.............................JamesAldridge Stuart Miller Producer...................................... Posie Jacobs Photography............................................JulianPenney THE TRUE BELIEVERS Mixer.............................................

Steve Hope Directors...............................................GrahamThorburn, Sound recordist........................................... PhilTipene Stunts Prod, company...... Roadshow Coote & Carroll/ Mike Smith.

Editor........................................................ KerryReagan co-ordinator.......Douglas ‘Rocky’ McDonald ABC TV Drama Kevin Dobson Prod, designer.......................................... DavidCopping Stunts...................................The Stunt Agency Dist. company........ Roadshow Coote & Carroll Scriptwriters...................................David Allen.

Exec, producer..........................................GeoffDaniels Still photography......................................

Martin Webby Director.............................................

Peter Fisk John Upton.

Assoc, producer................. Sandra Alexander Graphics......................................................AnnConnor Scriptwriters......................................Bob Ellis, Tim Gooding.

Prod, manager......................................... PaulaBennett Publicity.....................................Geòrgie Brown Stephen Ramsey David Marsh.

Prod, co-ordinator.................................. EdwinaNicolls Catering.......................The Katering Company Prod, designer........................... Geoff Wedlock Nicholas Langton.

Unit manager.......Christiaan Hoppenbrouwers Studios.......................................ABC, Gore Hill Exec, producers..........................................Matt Carroll, Chris Roache, Location manager.....................................ChrisWilliams Laboratory.......................................... Colorfilm Sandra Levy John Misto.

Prod, secretary.............................Ann: Gruner Length.......................................

8 x 50 minutes Line producer......................Stephen O’Rourke Sue Castrique, Prod, accountant......................... Therese Tran Gauge...................................................... 16mm Prod. exec, for RCC..............................BernardTerry Chris Peacock, Prod, assistant..................................... KatrionaButler Cast: Derrick O’Connor (Frank “ Stringer” Prod, manager........................................... JudyMurphy Ken Ross.

1st asst director........................................StuartWood Unit manager.......................................... AdrianCannon Justin Fleming 2nd asst director.........................................JohnTitleyBuchanan), Nicholas Papademetriou (Yannis), Susan Lyons (Laura), Lynette Curran (Valerie).

Prod, secretary............ Francoise Fombertaux Based on the original idea b y ........... Ben Lewin Continuity.................................................... KayHennessy Synopsis: Burnt out war correspondent comes Prod, accountant........................................JudyMurphy, Prod, designer...................................... BernardHidesCasting.............................. Liz Mullinar Casting to Sydney seeking a simple life, but becomes Catch 1-2-3 Lighting cameraperson............................JulianPenney Composer...................................................MikePerjanik caught up with a young Greek taxi driver/would Prod, assistant.................................... ElizabethSteptoe Exec, producer...........................Alan Bateman Focus puller................................................SallyEccleston be rock star/would be anything there’s a dollar 1st asst director................

Scott Hartford-Davis Prod, co-ordinator...Natalie Wentworth-Shields Clapper/loader.......................................DuncanTaylor 2nd asst directors................................... WendyGray, Prod, manager.......................................... NeneMorgan Key g rip ........................................Geoffrey Full Tony Tilse Asst grip.................................................AndrewGlasser Prod, accountant...........................Paul Parker 2nd unit director.......................................... KateWoods Gaffer.................................................... GrahamMulder Prod, assistant.............................. Cathy Finley SUGAR AND SPICE Script editor.................................................

SueMasters Boom operator...........................................DavidWhite 1st asst directors...................................... SorenJensen, Casting................................................. JenniferAllen, Prod, company................... LJ Productions Ltd Nick Reynolds Art director..............................................DerrickChetwyn Dist. company...................

Revcom Television/ Kate Woods Costume designer.................................... AnnieBenjamin 2nd asst director....................................... CathyRoden LJ Merchandising Casting asst................................................IreneGaskell Make-up........................................Trish Glover Continuity............................................... DanutaMorrisey Producers.................................................FrankBrown, Hairdresser................................................. PaulWilliams Ecript editors.......................................... LouiseHome, John Gauci, Denny Lawrence Wardrobe............................ Lucinda McGuigan Louise Hail Standby wardrobe...................................BarbraZussino Casting.......................................... Helen Salter Director...................................................... John Gauci Art director..................................Judith Harvey Seamstress.................................. RandaSaada Scriptwriters..................................Mary Wright, Make-up........................................................JoeStevens Asst art director/ Allan Hopgood, props buyer........................................... HelenMacaskill Hairdresser..............................................JamesMatamis Help us make th is p ro d u c­ John Wood, Asst props buyer.................................... MurrayGosson Wardrobe......................................................LynLondon, Brian Wright tion survey as com plete as Madeline Cullen Standby props..................................James Cox Photography....................................... Clive Sell Set construction...........................John Parker Props buyer.................................................LiamLiddle possible. If you have som e­ Sound recordist........................................ PhillipStirling Construction..........................Andrew Gardiner Publicity................................... Lindy Anderson thin g w hich is ab out to go Editor...................................................... StevenColyer Stunts co-ordinator................................ ClaudeLambert Catering...................................Douglas Beale, into p re-produ ctio n, let us Prod, designer......................................... CaroleHarvey Marika s Catering Best boy........................................Richard Burr know and we w ill make sure Prod, supervisor.......................................FrankBrown Runner.........................................Nick Atkinson Studios..............................................Channel 7 it is included. Call K athy Bail Prod, co-ordinator....................Tracee McCabe Publicity...............................................Write-OnPublicity Gauge.................................................. 1" video on (03) 429 5511, o r w rite to Prod, accountants............. Dianne Denneman, Catering..................................................... KaosCatering Cast: John Wood (Michael Rafferty), Catherine McLean Patterson Wilkin (Paulyne), Simon Chilvers (Flicker), Arky Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm her at Cinema Papers, 43 1st asst director............................................ SigEimutis Charles S treet, A b b o tsfo rd , Lab. liaison............................................. DeniseWolfson Michael (Fulvio).

2nd asst director...................... Andrew Mitchell Synopsis: The trials and tribulations of stipen­ Length........................................ 8 x 30 minutes V ictoria 3067.

3rd asst director.................................... RuebanThomas diary court magistrate Michael Aloysius Gauge....................................................... 16mm Continuity.................................................... SalliEnglender Shooting stock................................. 7291,7292 Rafferty.

76 - NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

Technical producer...................... Bruce Liebau Camera operators............................Gary Page, Lighting director............................Peter Knevitt Tanya Viskitch Cameras................................................. RichardBond,Storyboard.................................... Steve Lyons Peter Robinson, Tim ing............................................... Jean Tych Murray Tonkins, Length.............................................................50minutes Tony Conolly Gauge.......................................................16mm Videotape e dito r......................... Graham Tickle Shooting sto ck........................................... 7291 Asst editor.................................................. CathyFoster Synopsis: Amyas sails the high seas to rescue Sound....................................................... WayneKealybeautiful Rose from the evil clutches of Don Vision mixer.................................. Bruce Wilson Guzman.

Mixer.............................................Glenn Heaton Sound effe cts............................................. TonyPopie WIND IN THE W ILLOWS Research................................. DanaChrastina, Prod, company......................................BurbankFilms Kristen Dunphy Producer.......................................................

RozPhillips Film research............................. Wendy Benson Scriptwriter....................................Leonard Lee Designers................................ Gregor McLean, Based on the novel b y ........

Kenneth Grahame Julie Bell Editors............................................P. Jennings, Asst designers....................................... AndrewHarris, Caroline Neave Lisa Elvy Exec, producer............................................TomStacey Costume designer.................... Jolante Nejman Prod, co-ordinator............................Joy Craste Asst costume designer...........Annie Marshall Make-up................................................ ChristineEhlertProd, manager................................. Roddy Lee Prod, accountant................................... AndrewYoung Wardrobe co-ordinator.................................RonDutton Casting.......................................................... JoyCraste Wardrobe a ssts...................... Lindy Ainsworth, Camera operators............................Gary Page, Mani Wichman Tanya Viskitch Props buyers.............................................PaddyMacDonald, Storyboard................................... Steve Lumley Susan Glavich Timing.......................................

Gairden Cooke Standby prop s..............................................DonPage, Length..............................................50 minutes Chris Rymill, Gauge......................................................

16mm Alan Willis Shooting sto ck...........................................7291 Set dresser.......................... Sandra Carrington Synopsis: The classic tale of Toad and his Still photography........................... Barry Gaunt adventures with his friends Ratty and Mole.

Title designer......................................Bill Sykes Publicity..................... Georgie Brown, ABC Length..........................................8 x 55 minutes G auge....................................................1" video Cast: Ed Devereaux (Ben Chifley), Simon Chilvers (Herbert Evatt), John Bonney (Robert Menzies).

Synopsis:A miniseries which chronicles, through the personalities and issues of the time, the near destruction of the Federal Labor Party led by Chifley and Evatt. Beginning in 1945 with the party in power it ends in 1955 with the party split and Liberal leader Menzies THE ALIEN YEARS as Prime Minister.

Prod, company................ ABC/Resolution Film Pty Ltd A W ALTZ THROUGH THE HILLS Dist. company....................................... RevcomAustralia Prod, com pany........................Barron Films Ltd Producer...................................................... RayAlehin Dlst. company.......................... Barron Films Ltd Director.....................................Donald Crombie Producers................................... Paul D. Barron, Scriptwriter................................................PeterYeldham Roz Berrystone Photography.................................Peter Hendry Director.......................................... Frank Arnold Sound recordist............................Peter Barber Scriptwriter..................................................John Goldsmith Editors.................................... Tony Kavanagh, Based on the novel by............... Gerald Glaskin Lyn Solly Photography..............................John McLean Prod, designer.......................................QuentinHole Sound recordist............................................ BobHayes Composer................................................. BruceSmeaton Editor.................................................. Geoff Hall Exec, producers..................................... SandraLevy, Prod, designer........................................ HerbertPinter Geoffrey Daniels Composers................................................ GarryMcDonald, Assoc, producer........................................ PeterYeldham Laurie Stone Prod, supervisor...................................... DennisKiely Prod, co-ordinator....................................... ToniLushUnit location manager...................................ValWindon Prod, manager.............................. Deb Copland Prod, secretary....................Kerrie Wainwaring Unit m anager............................Simon Hawkins Budget officer........................................ CynthiaKelly Location manager...................................... RoseWise1st asst director......................................RussellWhiteoak Prod, secretary.......................................SharrynScott2nd asst director........................................SteveStannard Prod, accountant.................................... RichardSpear Continuity..................................... Emma Peach 1st asst director...................... Stuart Freeman Casting.........................................Jennifer Allen 2nd asst director........................................ ChrisLynch Casting asst.........................Maureen Charlton 3rd asst director.................. Peter J. Armstrong Camera operator......................... Roger Lanser Continuity.............................. Larraine Quinnell Focus puller.................................Robert Foster Focus puller.......................... Marc Edgecombe Clapper/loader.................... Chantal Abouchar Clapper/loader................................. Nic Sadler Key grip................................ John Huntingford Key grip................................... Karel Akkerman Gaffer...................................Tim Murray-Jones Asst grip..................................................... DavidCross Electricians............................................RichardGrant, G affer......................................................... PhilipGolombick Ken Pettigrew Lighting technician....................................... TimDuffyBoom operator........................................... MarkBowyer Asst lighting technician............ Josef Mercurio Costume designer....................... Wendy Chuck Boom operator.................................. David Sell Make-up........................................................ JiriPavlin, Art director.............................. Matthew Nelson Jenni Boehm Art dept runner........................Aldis Bernsteins Wardrobe..................................Miranda Brock, Costume designer.......................... Noel Howell Wendy Falconer Make-up.......................................... Karen Sims Props......................................... Peter Branch, Nicole Mitchell, Wardrobe asst..............................................LisaGalea Peter Fitzgerald Props buyer............................................... HeinzBoeck Standby prop s........................................... PeterMarlow Props buyers...............................Mervin Asher, Set construction........................ Charlie Staples Tony Cronin Special effects/armourer..............Peter Leggett Asst editor....................................................Julie Grant Still photography......................................... SkipWatkins Designers...............................................MarcusNorth, Dialogue coach...........................................John Rapsey Col Rudder Safety officer.................................................. ArtThompson Neg. matching.............................Pamela Toose Nurse....................................Ziggy Edgecombe Sound editors.......................Lawrie Silverstrin, Runner............................................... Julie Sims Sandi Eyles Catering...................................Griffin Caterers Mixer........................................................... MarkWalker Laboratory...............................Movielab Stunts co-ordinators............ Rocky McDonald, Lab. liaison.............................. Kelvin Crumplin Guy Norris Budget......................................... $1.825 million Still photography........................ Gary Johnston Length........................................................... 113minutes Horsemaster................................Graham Ware Gauge........................................................ 16mm Publicity..................................... Georgie Brown Shooting s to ck..........................................Kodak Catering..................................... A & B Catering Cast: Ernie Dingo (Frank Smith), Richard Studios.............................. ABC Forest Studios Farnsworth (Tom Caseley), Andre Jansen Mixed a t............................. ABC Forest Studios (Andy Dean), Tina Kemp (Sammy Dean).

Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm Budget............................................. $5,800,000 Synopsis: The story is set in 1954; Andy and Sammy (two young children) live in a small Length.........................................6 x 50 minutes country town. They become orphaned and dis­ Gauge....................................................... 35mm cover they will be placed in separate orphan­ Shooting stock............................. Eastmancolor ages. To avoid this, they decide to run away to Cast: John Hargreaves (William), Victoria England to join their grandparents. On the way, Longley (Elizabeth), Jane Harders (Edith), Kim they are befriended by a young Aboriginal man Krejus (Martha), Christoph Waltz (Stefan), Tom — Frank — who helps them to reach their goal.

Jennings (Harry), Nick Tate (North), Jonathan Sweet (McVeigh), John Allen (Lucas), Alfred Bell (Harpur), Klaus Schulz (Gerhardt).

Synopsis: Set at the turn of the century, this WESTWARD HO series is about the daughter of a Sydney poli­ Prod, company........................... Burbank Films tician who elopes with a young German Producer........................................ Roz Phillips migrant to the Barossa Valley to start a vine­ Scriptwriter.................................... Paul Leadon yard.

Based on the novel by............ Charles Kingsley Editors.......................................Peter Jennings, Caroline Neave GREATER UNION Exec, producer............................................TomStacey AU STRALIA . . . TAKE A BOW Prod, company...................... Soundsense Film Prod, co-ordinator............................ Joy Craste \^88& 91 HINDLEY 515961 Prod, manager..................................Roddy Lee Productions Pty Ltd Producer........................................ Brian Morris Prod, accountant................................... Andrew Young Assisted by the Australian Director...........................................Erian Morris Casting.......................................................... Joy Craste

FI LM

FOR

SALE

16mm & 35mm 1920s to 1987

Further details ring George on 534 5628 or write to Wesper Pty Ltd, 150A Barkly St, St Kilda 3182

TELEVISION

TO ADVERTISE IN

POST-PRODUCTION

C IN E M A R in g

Patricia Amad: Melbourne 429 5511

Presented by the SA M edia Resource Centre

1988

FESTIVAL OF AUSTRALIAN FILM AND VIDE

1 8 - 2 5 MARCH 1988

ADELAIDE

ENTER YOUR FILM OR VIDEO INTO AUSTRALIA'S LEADING INDEPENDENT FESTIVAL FOR FURTHER INFORMATION & ENTRY FORM CONTACT: Mark Patterson FRAMES Festival PO Box 33 Rundle Mall SA 5000 Ph: (08) 223 1500, 223 1600

ENTRY FORM DEADLINE: N O V E M B E R ^ T ^ ?

HINDLEY CINEMAS

Ansett.

Film Commission & SA Dept for the Arts

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER - 77

PRODUCTI ON S

U

R

V

E

Y

Photography.............................. Jeffrey Darling Based on the original idea Scriptwriter.................................................TonyWager Based on the novel by....................Steele Rudd Sound recordist............................................PhilKeros by............................................... Brian Morris Photography..............................................ChrisMurray Composer....................................................GuyGross Editor...................................................... DeniseHaratzis Photography..................................Paul Warren Sound recordist.............................. Randal Eve Assoc, producer.....................................SandraGross Prod, designer.......................................... FionaReilly Sound recordist.....................................MichaelGissing Prod, supervisor.................................. JeanetteTomsEditor..................................... Marea Markwell Composer..................................................

ChrisNeal Editor.................................................Tim Street Exec, producer........................................... TomHugall Prod, manager........................Jacki Goodridge Prod, manager..............................Fiona Aaron Prod, supervisor....................................PamelaBorainExec, producer......................Dr Patricia Edgar Asst editor............................................ StephenHayes Prod, manager.....................

Susan Pemberton Prod, co-ordinator...................................... AlexTinley Prod, secretary..........................................LindaHopkins Director of animation.................. Paul McAdam Unit manager.......................Roxanne Delbarre Asst editor................................................. LindaGoddard Unit manager................................John Rapsey Publicity.................................................... UshaHarris Location managers................ George Mannix, Prod, accountant.....................Jacquie Stanley Sound editor.......................................... MichaelGissing Gauge...................................................... 35mm Henry Osborne 1st asst director...................................Grahame Murray Synopsis: Pilot for a 13-part television series Mixer......................................................MichaelGissing Prod, secretary........................... Penny Attfield 2nd asst director....................................... DavidMurray featuring the outback adventures of Dad and Still photography..........Wildlight Photo Agency Prod, accountant.................... Robina Osborne Continuity.........................Lindsay Van Niekerk Dave and the rest of the Rudd clan in Publicity............................ The Write On Group 1st asst director.............................. Chris Webb Casting....................................Frog Promotions animation.

Unit publicist.............................. Sherry Stumm 2nd asst director...................................... HenryOsborne Camera operator......................... Paul Bennett Laboratory................................................. Atlab 3rd asst director................................. CatherineBishop Clapper/loader........................Tracey Hawkins Lab. liaison............................ Bruce Williamson HILLS END Continuity.......................................................JoWeeks Key grip...................................Karel Akkerman Budget................................................ $922,500 Prod, company............... Revcom Productions Script editor.................................................SueSmith Asst grip.................................................... DavidCross Length....................................... 7 x 28 minutes Pty Ltd Casting................ Hilary Linstead & Associates Gaffer.....................................Philip Golombick Gauge.......................................................16mm Dist. company................ Revcom Productions Lighting cameraperson............. Jeffrey Darling Boom operator................................ David Sell Shooting stock................. Agfa XT125, XT320 Pty Ltd Focus puller................................. Garry Phillips Art director............................................... KelvinSexton Synopsis: A contemporary look at life in each Producer........................................... Noel Price Clapper/loader........................................

TraceyGriffiths Asst art director...........................................SueVivian Australian state and territory. Pictures, music Director.................................................Di Drew Make-up..................................................MarilynSmitsKey g rip ........................................Simon Quaife and sound effects will tell the story — there will Scriptwriter................................................. NoelRobinson Asst grip.........................................Gary Lincoln Wardrobe................................................ DeniseNapier be no dialogue or narration. The series is Based on the novel by.................. Ivan Southall Gaffer.....................................................MichaelAdcock Still photography...................................... DavidParker endorsed as a Bicentennial project and is Photography........................ Danny Batterham Title designer............................................... LouMasonElectrician........................Darren McLaughlan sponsored by IBM Australia.

Souna recordist........................Sid Butterworth Boom operator...................................David Lee Catering..................................Griffen Caterers Editor........................................................PippaAnderson Costume designer........................Anna French Studios............... Visual Image Productions Ltd Prod, designer.......................................... BrianThomson Designer’s asst.......................................... DixieBetts THE BOARDROOM Mixed a t....................................................... VIP Exec, producer............................Geoff Daniels Make-up.................................... Debbie Lancer Length..........................................100 minutes (Working title) Assoc, producer.................................... SandraAlexander Hairdresser......................

Katherine Parkinson Gauge.......................................... 1" videotape Prod, company....................................... FalconFilmsProd, manager.............................Anne Bruning Wardrobe.................................................. FionaNicholls Cast: Vincent Ball (Harry Romano), Peter Pty Ltd Prod, co-ordinator........................ Ffion Murphy Wardrobe asst...............................

Lucy Moran Sumner (Joe Carpenter), Shaunna O’Grady Producer.................................... Pamela Borain Unit manager.................. Richard Montgomery Standby props......................Karan Monkhouse (Carrie James), Robert Faggetter (Detective Director..................................................... BrianPhillisProd, secretary........................... Anni Gruner Asst editor...................................

Simon James Spinks), Linda Ross (Abigail Fisher), Bowen Scriptwriter..................................... Tony Wager Prod, accountant......................................... JonGoldsmith, Sound editor................................Andrew Plain Llewellyn (Frank Andrews), Matthew QuarterPhotographer................................Chris Murray Catch 1-2-3 Editing assistant..........................Simon James maine (Jumbo Wallace), Rick Hearder (Com­ Sound recordist.............................. Randal Eve Prod, assistant..................................... KatrionaButler Sound assts............................ Sally Fitzpatrick, mander Cook), James Beattie (Leo), Annie Neil Editor......................................................... CliveJenkins 1st asst director.....................................MichaelFaranda Erin Sinclair (Roberta).

Exec, producer................................Tom Hugall 2nd asst director.......................... Robin Newell M ixers....................................................... PeterPenton, Synopsis: Hot Ice is a classic ’gumshoe’ saga Prod, supervisor........................ Pamela Borain 3rd asst director.......................... Naomi Enfield Phil Heywood of gangsters, dangerous women, a lovestruck Prod, co-ordinator...................................... AlexTinley Continuity...................................... Nikki Moors Runner.......................................Tim Callaghan hit-man and a beautiful widow.

Unit manager............................................. JohnRapsey Casting consultants.......................Liz Mullinar Art dept runner.......................... Robert Bayliss Prod, accountant..................................Jacquie Stanley Camera operator.....................................DannyBatterham Publicist......................................... Suzie Howie 1st asst director......................Grahame Murray Focus puller........................... Christopher Cole Catering.........................................Robert Jang PRISONER OF ZENDA 2nd asst director....................................... DavidWarne Clapper/loader........................... David Scandol Nurse................................... Jan Louise Fowler Continuity.........................Lindsay Van Niekerk Prod, company..................................... BurbankFilmsMixed a t............................................... Colorfilm Key grip....................................... Dave Nicholls Casting........................................................FrogPromotions Producer...................................................... RozPhillips Asst grip...................................... Toby Copping Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm Camera operator........................................ PaulBennett Scriptwriter................................... Leonard Lee Gaffer............................................... Pat Hagen Lab. liaison............................................. DeniseWolfson Clapper/loader.........................Tracey Hawkins Based on the novel by.......................... AnthonyHopeBudget............................................. $1,105,855 Boom operator.....................................Sue Kerr Key grip................................... Karel Akkerman Editors......................................Peter Jennings, Art director...........................................NicholasMcCallum Length............................................................96minutes Caroline Neave Asst grip....................................................DavidCrossCostume designer......................... Jennie Tate Gauge.......................................................16mm Gaffer....................................................... PhilipGolombick Exec, producer........................................... TomStacey Make-up................................................... AnnieHeathcote Shooting stock.........................................Kodak Electrician.................................... Joe Mercurio Prod, co-ordinator........................... Joy Craste Hairdresser.............................................. AnnieHeathcote Cast: Justine Clarke (Kate), Lyndel Rowe Boom operator................................ David Sell Prod, manager................................. Roddy Lee Wardrobe standby...................... Margo Wilson (Anne M cLelland), Alan Cassell (Bob Art director................................... Kelvin Sexton Prod, accountant...................... Andrew Young Wardrobe asst............................ Tony Assness McLelland), Myra Noblet (Gran), Shane Asst art director.......................................... SueVivianProps buyers...............................Lisa Atkinson, Casting............................................. Joy Craste Tickner (Robbie), Lorna Lesley (Glenys), Greg Make-up................................................. MarilynSmits Camera operators.........................Gary Page, Mark Dawson, Mathieson (Martin Sacks), Rebekah ElmaTanya Viskitch Wardrobe................................................DeniseNapier David McKay, loglou (May Mathieson), Mouche Phillips Still photography...................................... DavidParker Storyboard.................................................GlenLovett, Sandra Marshall (Sarah), Claudia Karvan (Amanda).

Alex Nicholas Title designer............................................... LouMason Standby props..................................Grant Lee Synopsis: Kate McLelland lives a privileged Catering....................................Griffin Caterers Timing............................................. Jean Tych Special effects.......................................... SteveCourtney life in the eastern suburbs until the day she dis­ Studios............... Visual Image Productions Ltd Length............................................................50minutes Set dresser.................................................GlenJohnson covers that she is adopted. Princess Kate is the Mixed a t....................................................... VIP Gauge......................................................16mm Scenic artist...............................David Tuckwell story of her search for her real mother and the Length..........................................................100minutes Construction manager..............................GeoffHoweShooting stock........................................7291 relationship she develops as a result of her Gauge.......................................... 1" videotape Asst editor......................................... StephanieFlackVoices: David Whitney, Phillip Hinton, Robert new knowledge.

Cast: Vincent Ball (Jonathan Hutt), Tony Coleby, Frank Violi, John Fitzgerald, Christie Sound editor...........................................AshleyGrenville Wager (James Cavill-Brown), Colin McEwan Awor, Claire Crowther, Walter Sullivan.

Stunts co-ordinator..................... Bernie Ledger TOUCH THE SUN — TOP-ENDERS (DonaldMalone), Leslie Wright (Wilhelm Synopsis: Two men, one a king and under Stunts......................................... Bernie Ledger Series prod, company........ACTF Productions Shreik), Ian Toyne(Bernard Hyams), Shaunna threat from his brother, the other an English­ Still photography..........................................JimTownley, Prod, company................ Syme Entertainment O’Grady (Alice Prime), Leith Taylor (Judith man who works for the government, swap Brian McKenzie Producer....................................................... JillRobb Hutt), Rick Hearder (Rudolph Stiltskin), Wrangler.....................................................DaleAspinplaces to thwart a plot to take the throne.

Director................................. Jackie McKimmie Kathryn Rowe (Juliet Hutt), Matthew QuarterBest boy.................................................... CraigSykes Scriptwriter...........................Jackie McKimmie maine (Hatchett).

Runner............................................... SebastianThaw TAKEOVER Photography........................................... JamesDoolan Synopsis: The Boardroom takes a satirical Art dept runner......................................... DavidJoyce Sound recordist...........................................Paul Brincat look at the world of big business, with the chair­ Prod, company.........................................Phillip Emanuel Art dept attachment................................AngusTattle Editor........................Edward McQueen-Mason man of Climax Holdings, a diverse company Productions Ltd Draughtsmen.............................. Peter Bartlett, Prod, designer......................... Sally Shepherd conglomerate, his fellow board members and Producer.................................................. PhillipEmanuel Ian Empson Exec, producer...................................... PatriciaEdgar their wives and lovers. We learn what goes on Director........................................................RobMarchand Mural artist..................................Ross Wallace Prod, co-ordinator....... Bernadette O’Mahoney in the corridors and sometimes in the broom Scriptwriter.....................................Peter Moon Greens..................................................... GreggThomas Prod, manager.....................................ElizabethSymes cupboards of power!

Photography...................................Bob Kohler Painters..................................................... PeterMcGregor, Melbourne liaison.........................Kim Tyshing Sound recordist....................Stephen Haggerty Andrea Overall, Location manager........................ Murray Boyd Editor......................................................MurrayFerguson Martin Bruveris CROCODILES — THE DEADLY Prod, accountant......................................... RonSinni Prod, co-ordinator......................................Trish Carney Construction runner....................Ches Halicky SURVIVORS 1st asst director.................Charles Rotherham Assoc, producer....................................... DavidClarke Carpenters............................................... DavidStenning, 2nd asst director........................................ChrisOdgers Prod, company...................................... NomadFilms Unit manager.......................................

Stephen Shelley Roger Biggs, 3rd asst director.........................................JohnConnolly International Pty Ltd Prod, secretary............................. Jan Gazzard David Robson, 2nd unit director............................. Julie Bates Dist. company.................................... KingswayFilm Prod, accountant............Jennifer Deschamps, Gary Cameron, Producer’s assistant..................Judith Hughes Distributors Pty Ltd Moneypenny Services Tim Higgins, Focus puller............................... David Stevens Producer.....................................................KateFaulkner 1st asst director...........................................Bob Donaldson Peter Miller, Clapper/loader...........................Laurie Balmer Director................................. Douglas Stanley 2nd asst director........................................... IanKenny Danny Rollston, Key grip......................................Rob Hansford Scriptwriter...........................Frederick Folkard 3rd asst director.................. Brendan Campbell Paul Whitter Asst g rip ................................................... StuartCrombie Photography.............................................DavidOlney Continuity............................Joanne McLennan Nurse..................................... Sandie Strudwick Gaffer......................................David Parkinson Sound recordists......................Max Alexander, Casting consultant.......................................

Lee Larner Tutors.............................................................JoKennedy, Generator operator...................... Eric Chalada Hugh Cleverley, Focus puller......................................Paul Tilley Karen Sanders Boom operator............................. Paul Gleeson Gary Giles Clapper/loader................................. Peter Falk Security........................................Luke Hobbs, Asst art director............................ Simon Carter Editor......................................... Tang Thien Tai Key grip........................................................KenConnor Tasi Svega Art dept asst...............................Jim McKeown Composer.................................................FrankStrangio Asst g rip ........................................... Ian Porter Safety officers........................................ClaudeLambert, Make-up.................................................CarolynNott Exec, producer......................................DouglasStanley Gaffer............................................DickTummel Ric Anderson Hairdresser............................................

CarolynNott Assoc, producer..........................................KateFaulkner Boom operator........................................... JohnWilkinson Publicity................................. Write-On Group Wardrobe supervisor............Margot McCartney Prod, secretary.................... Carolyn Reynolds Art director..............................................PatrickReardon Unit publicist.............................. Sherry Stumm Wardrobe bus...........................................Alison Coop, Research................................................. LeoneBawden Make-up....................................................AnnaKarpinski Catering........................Kevin Varnes Catering Mobile Prod Facilities Underwater cameraman............................. VanWorley Hairdresser................................................AnnaKarpinski Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm Props buyer................................................Colin Best Assistant cameraman........................Jodi Mohr Wardrobe................................................... RoseChong Lab. liaison.............................. Denise Wolfson Standby props........................................ DianneBennett Props............................................ Rod Browton Standby wardrobe................................... JessieFountain Budget.............................................$2,600,000 Standby wardrobe.......................... Rachel Nott Neg. matching........................... Tang Thien Tai Props buyer............................... Marita Mussett Length......................................6 x 3 0 minutes Tutor/chaperone..........................Lynette Moss Musical director........................................ FrankStrangio Standby props...........................Tim Browning Gauge...................................................... 16mm Stunts...................................... Chris Anderson Sound editors........................................... DavidFosdick, Best boy........................................................JonLeaver Shooting stock.........................................Kodak Still photography.................. Amanda Le Guay, Tang Thien Tai Runner...................................Reuben Thomas Cast: Madge Ryan (Miss Godwin), John Noble Bliss Swift Mixer...................................................Kim Lord Catering.................................Sweet Seduction (Mr Ben Fiddler), Maree D'Arcy (Mrs Fiddler), Best boy....................................................DarrylPearson Narrator................................................ DouglasStanley Length............................................. 90 minutes Clayton Williamson (Adrian Fiddler), Jason Runner......................................

Dianne Young Laboratory...............................Movielab, Perth Gauge.......................................................16mm Degiorgio (Paul Mace), Emma Fowler (Gussie Catering......................................... Ken Ainsley Length............................................................60minutes Shooting stock.........................................Kodak Mace), Katherine Cullen (Frances McDonald), Laboratory............................................

Cine vex Gauge.......................................................16mm Cast: Barry Otto, Anne Tenney, Wayne Cull, Caitlin Procter (Maisie Johnson), Haydon Lab. liaison.................................. Ian Anderson Shooting stock.............................................Fuji Paul Chubb, Alexander Kemp.

Samuels (Harvey Collins), Keith Eisenhuth Gauge......................................................

16mm Synopsis: A television program about one of Synopsis: A high-technology comedy about (Butch Buchanan).

Synopsis: Alice, who lives with her mother, the world’s most efficient and deadly conflict between a man and his computer.

Synopsis: An action adventure story in which a Sue, in Darwin, is growing up tough and predators, the Australian saltwater crocodile. storm isolates a group of children from their independent. She is not too happy when her Filmed in Western Australia, the Northern families and devastates the small town of Hills TOUCH THE SUN — father, after one of his many absences, turns Territory, and Queensland.

End. The children are forced to face adversity PRINCESS KATE up to rejoin the family yet again. When her and hardship and confront the problem of Series prod, company.........ACTF Productions father disappoints her again she resolves to survival.

Prod, company......................... Unthank Films DAD AND DAVE run away and her friend Frank, a full-blood Dist. company.................... Revcom Television Aborigine decides to join her. The pair set off Prod, company............................. Yoram Gross HOT ICE Producer.................................Antonia Barnard through the Kakadu National Parklands in Film Studio Director.....................................George Ogilvie search of Frank’s tribe. Frank’s knowledge of Prod, company................. Falcon Films Pty Ltd Producer......................................Yoram Gross Scriptwriters....................... Kristin Williamson, Producer................................... Pamela Borain the desert is not as good as he thought and Director........................................ Yoram Gross David Williamson they soon become lost.

Director.......................................... Brian Phillis Scriptwriter....................................John Palmer

78 — NOVEMBER CINEMA PAPERS

Hope And Glory: J. Boorman, UK, 3099.59m, Village Roadshow, Lfi-m-j) Ofsexual allusions) Jaws The Revenge: J. Sargent, USA, 2468.70m, United International Pictures,

Films examined in terms of the Customs (Cinematograph Films) Regulations as States’ film censorship legislation are listed below.

Vfi-m-g)

An explanatory key to reasons for classifying non-“ G ” films appears hereunder: _________________________________ Frequency Frequent

Low

Medium

i

f t t t

I t I I

m m m m

Title

/

Producer

J U L Y

Country

1 9 8 7

Films Registered Without Deletions • G (For General Exhibition) 28 Up (16mm): M. Apted, UK, 1513.86m, R.A. Becker and Co. Glass Menagerie, The: B. Harris, USA, 3593.33m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors Journey, The (16mm): P. Watkins, Sweden, 9576.81m, Watkins Australian Film Foundation

• PG (Parental Guidance) Goofy Gang, The (said to be main title not shown in English): J. Sham, Hong Kong, 2578.42m, Chinatown Cinema, V(i-m-j) Ofadult

Submitted length (m)

P & B: Svenski Film Industri/Svenski Ord, Sweden, 2989.87m, Australian Film Institute,

Ofadult concepts)

Quiet Cool: R. Shaye/G. 2221.83m, Seven Keys Films,

Ofdrug use)

Olson,

USA,

Vff-m-g) Lfi-m-g)

Reincarnation (said to be main title not shown in English): B. Chan, Hong Kong, 2441.27m, Golden Reel Films, Vfi-m-j) Sfi-m-j) Square Dance: D. Petrie, USA, 3072.16m, Village Roadshow, Sfi-m-j) Steele Justice: J. Strong, USA, 2660.71m, Filmpac Holdings, Vff-m-g) Street Smart (b): M. Golan/Y. Globus, USA, 2605.85m, Hoyts Distribution, * * ' Terminus: A. Francois, France/Germany, 2276.69m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors,

Vfi-m-g) Ofadult concepts)

horror) V(f-l-j)

Witches Of Eastwick, The: Canton/Guber/ Peters, USA, 3209.31m, Village Roadshow,

concepts)

Jean De Florette: P. Grunstein, France, 3236.74m, Greater Union Film Distributors,

L(i-l-j) Ofadult concepts)

Moon Rainbow: Mosfilm Studios, USSR, 2358.98m, Trade Representative of USSR,

Ofadult concepts)

Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home (a): S. Friedman, USA, 2523.56m, Seven Keys Films,

L(i-l-g) Ofsexual allusions)

Nadine: A. Donovan, USA, 2249.00m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors, V(i-m-j) L(i-l-g) Rosa Luxemburg: E. Junkersdorf, West Germany, 3236.00m, Filmpac Holdings,

Ofadult themes)

Roxanne: M. Rachmil/D. Melnick, USA, 2852.72m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors,

Ofsexual innuendo) L(i-l-g)

To The Stars By Hard Ways: Maxim Gorky Central Film Studios, USSR, 3867.63m, Trade Representative of USSR, V(i-l-j) (a) Change of title: Previously shown as Home Front.

• M (For Mature Audience) American Way, The: L. Keller/P. Cowan, USA, 2852.72m, Hoyts Distribution, L(f-m-g) Ofdrug

use, adult concepts)

Believers, The: J. Schlesinger/M. Childers/B. Camhe, USA, 3099.59m, Village Roadshow,

Vfi-m-j) L(i-m-j) 0(occult themes)

Born To Gamble: Not shown, Hong Kong, 2743.00m, Chinatown Cinema, S(i-m-g) Burglar: K. McCormick/J. Hirsh, USA, 2797.86m, Village Roadshow, L(f-m-j) Ofsexual

allusions)

Captive: D. Boyd, UK/France, 2688.14m, Seven Keys Films, Lfi-m-g) Sfi-m-g) Vfi-m-j) Castaway: R. McCallum, UK, 3209.31m, Hoyts Distribution, Sfi-m-j) Lfi-m-j) Ofadult concepts) Down By Law: A. Kleinberg, USA, 2907.58m, Newvision Film Distributors, Lff-m-j) Ofadult

concepts)

D ra g n e t: D. Perm ut/R . W eiss, USA, 2907.58m, United International Pictures,

h h

/ /

g g

Predator: L. Gordon/J. Silver/J. Davis, USA, 2880.15m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors,

Applicant

concepts)

Invisible Man, The (main title not shown in English): Mosfilm Studios, USSR, 2331.55m, Trade Representative of USSR, V(i-l-j) 0(adult

Gratuitous

Purpose

h h

T u rn a ro u n d : S. Lyons, N orway/USA, 2468.70m, Seven Keys Films, Lfi-m-g) Vfi-m-g) Under Cover: M. Golan/Y. Globus, USA, 2578.42m, Hoyts Distribution, Ofdrug use)

House II The Second Story: S. Cunningham, USA, 2386.41m, Village Roadshow, Ofmild

Justified

Explicitness/lntensity

Infrequent S (Sex)......................................

V (Violence)...............................

L (Language)...........................

O (Other)...................................

High

Lost B oys, The: H. Bernhard, USA, 2660.71m, Village Roadshow, Vfi-m-j) Ofhorror) Loyalties: W. Johnson/R. Lillie, Canada, 2688.00m , Film pac H old in gs, Ofadult

Vfi-m-g) Lfi-m-g)

Lfi-m-g) Ofhorror, sexual allusions)

Witness In The War Zone: E. Wolters, Israel/Germany, 2715.57m, Seven Keys Films,

Vfi-m-g) Lfi-m-g)

Women’s Club, The: F. Weintraub, USA, 2386.41m, AZ Film Distributors, Ofadult con­

cepts) Sfi-m-g) Lfi-m-g)

Wraith, The (b): J. Kemeny, USA, 2468.70m, AZ Film Distributors, * '* (b) See also under Films Board of Review and Films Registered Without Deletions — R — For Restricted Exhibition.

• R (For Restricted Exhibition) Eastern Condors: Paragon/Golden Harvest/ Bo Ho Films, Hong Kong, 2688.14m, China­ town Cinema, Vfi-m-g) Inamorata: Okura Films, Japan, 1810.38m, Yu Enterprises, Sff-m-g) Killer’s Nocturne: C. Lam, Hong Kong, 2523.56m, Chinatown Cinema, Vff-m-g) Madam Yanai (edited version): Not shown, Japan, 1398.93m, Yu Enterprises, Sff-m-g) Matador: A.V. Gomez, Spain, 2907.58m, Hoyts Distribution, Sfi-m-j) Ofadult concepts) Rich And Famous: Not shown in English, Hong Kong, 2825.29m, Chinatown Cinema,

Vff-m-g)

Street Smart (c): M. Golan/Y. Globus, USA, 2605.85m, Hoyts Distribution, Vfi-m-g) Working Girls: L. Borden, USA, 2550.00m, Hoyts Distribution, Sff-m-j) Ofadult theme) Wraith, The (c): J. Kemeny, USA, 2468.70m, AZ Film Distributors, Vfi-m-g) Ofanti-social

concepts, drug abuse)

(c) See also under Films Board of Review and Films Registered Without Deletions — M — For Mature Audiences.

Films Registered With Deletions Nil.

Films Refused Registration

Ofadult concepts, sexual allusions) Sweet Hearts (edited version): Not shown in Gate, The: J. Kemeny, Canada, 2276.69m, AZ English, Japan, 1559.00m, Yu Enterprises, Film Distributors, Vfi-m-j) Ofhorror) Ofgratuitous sexual violence) Les Fugitifs: J.J. Richer, France, 2441.27m, Filmpac Holdings, Vfi-m-j) Lfi-m-j) Films Board of Review Magic Toyshop, The: S. Morrison, UK, 2935.01m, R.A. Becker and Co., Ofadult concepts) Street Smart (d): M. Golan/Y. Globus, USA, Magnificent Warriors: J. Sham, Hong Kong, 2605.85m, Hoyts Distribution, • * ' 2386.00m, Chinatown Cinema, Vfi-m-g) Decision reviewed: Classified R by Film Lfi-m-g) Censorship Board.

Malone: L. Fuchs, USA, 2496.13m, Village Decision of the Board: Direct Film Censorship Roadshow, Vff-m-g) Lfi-m-g) Board to classify M. No Surrender: M. Hassan, UK, 2797.00m, Wraith, The (d): J. Kemeny, USA, 2468.70m, Hoyts Distribution, Lff-m-j) Vfi-m-g) AZ Film Distributors, * * '

i i

9 9

Reason fo r Decision

Decision reviewed: Classified R by Film Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Film Censorship Board to classify M. (d) See also under Films Registered Without Deletions — M — For Mature Audiences and Films Registered Without Deletions — R — For Restricted Exhibition.

Note: The title The Untouchables which appeared in Cinema Papers September 1987 list under M classification as having reason code Vff-m-g) should have appeared with reason code V(f-m-j) Lfi-m-j).

AUGUST

1987

Films Registered Without Deletions • G (For General Exhibition) Asterix In Britain: Y. Piel, France, 2166.97m, Filmpac Holdings Black Cannon Incident: Xi’An Film Studio, China, 2715.57m, Ronin Films Home Of The Brave: P. Mazur, USA, 2468.70m, Valhalla Holdings Sister Cupid: G. Lai, Hong Kong, 2660.00m, Chinatown Cinema

• PG (Parental Guidance) Good Morning Babylon: G. De Negri, Italy/ France/USA, 3209.31m, Communications and Entertainment, Ofadult concepts) Lighthorsemen, The: Not shown, Australia, 3586.00m, Hoyts Distribution, L(f-l-j) Vfi-m-j) Living Daylights, The: A. Broccoli/M. Wilson, UK, 3565.90m, United International Pictures,

Vff-l-j)

Professor Dowell’s Testament: Lensfilm Studio, USSR, 2386.00m, Trade Representa­ tive of USSR, Ofadult concepts) Romancing Star (said to be main title not shown in English): Not shown, Hong Kong, 2770.43m, Australian Twin Cinema, Lff-l-g)

Ofadult concepts) Vfi-l-g)

Thirty Million Rush, The: Cinema City, Hong Kong, 2550.99m, Chinatown Cinema, Vff-l-g)

Ofsexual allusions)

Twist Again A Moscou (Twist Again In Moscow): Gaumont Int'l/Renn Prods, France, 2770.43m, Hoyts Distribution, Lfi-l-j) Vfi-l-j) V incent: T. Llewellyn-Jones, Australia, 2715.57m, Village Roadshow, Ofadult con­

cepts)

Wrong Couples, The: J. Sham, Hong Kong, 2523.56m, Chinatown Cinema, Ofadult con­

cepts)

• M (For Mature Audience) 4 Robbers: Wah Luen Film Co., Hong Kong, 2468.70m, Golden Reel Films, Vff-m-g) Burnin’ Love: M. Gruskoff, USA, 2386.41m, Filmpac Holdings, Ofsexual allusions) Cassandra: T. Lucas, Australia, 2550.99m, Parrallel Films, Vfi-m-g) Comrades: S. Relph, Hong Kong, 4855.11m, Hoyts Distribution, Sfi-m-j) Day Of Wrath: Gorky Film Studios, USSR, 2249.26m, Trade Representative of USSR,

Vfi-m-j)

Deadly Friend (a): R. Sherman, USA, 2468.70m, Village Roadshow, ’ ** Flodder: L. Geels/D. Maas, The Netherlands, 2962.44m, United International Pictures,

Ofadult concepts, drug use) Sfi-m-g)

Friends And Enemies (16mm): T. Zubrycki, Australia, 976.00m, Ronin Films, L(i-m-j) Goodbye My Love: F. Chan, Hong Kong, 2825.00m, Chinatown Cinema, Ofadult con­

cepts) Vfi-m-g)

Good Father, The: A. Scott, UK, 2386.41m, New Vision Film Distributors, Ofadult concepts)

Lfi-m-j)

concepts) Lfi-m-g) Vfi-m-j) Vff-m-g) Lfi-m-g)

Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise: Field/Cort/Bart, USA, 2441.27m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors, Ofdrug use, sexual allusions) Spirits Of The Air: Gremlins Of The Clouds (16mm): A. McPhail/A. Proyas, Australia, 1009.24m, Meaningful Eye Contact, Lfi-m-g) Squeeze, The: R. Hitzig/M. Tannen, USA, 2797.86m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors,

Vfi-m-g) Lfi-m-g) Ofsexual allusions)

S takeout: J. Kouf/C. Summers, USA, 3209.31m, Greater Union Film Distributors,

Lff-m-g) Sfi-m-g) Vfi-m-j)

Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde, The: Mosfilm Studios, USSR, 2496.13m, Trade Representative of USSR, Sfi-m-j) Streetwise: C. McCall, USA, 2413.00m, Valhalla Holdings, Ofadult concepts) Lff-m-j) Summer School: G. Shapiro/H. West, USA, 2660.71m, United International Pictures,

Lfi-m-g) Vfi-m-j)

Those Dear Departed: P. Emanuel, Australia, 2523.56m, Village Roadshow, Lfi-m-g) Ofadult

concepts)

Those Dear Departed (edited version): P. Emanuel, Australia, 2397.00m, Village Road­ show, Lfi-m-g) Ofadult concepts) Untitled (said to be After The Rehearsal aka Efter Repetitionen: J. Donner, Sweden, 1947.53m, Australian Film Institute, Ofadult

concepts) Lfi-m-j)

Vampire’s Breakfast: Dennis Yu Film Prod.

Co., Hong Kong, 2331.85m, Chinatown Cinema, Vfi-m-g) Sfi-m-g) Ofmild horror) (a) See also under Films Board of Review and Films Registered Without Deletions — R — For Restricted Exhibition.

• R (For Restricted Exhibition) Deadly Friend (b): R. Sherman, USA, 2468.70m, Village Roadshow, Ofhorror)

Vfi-m-g)

Heartbeat 100: R. Wong, Hong Kong, 2523.00m, Chinatown Cinema, Vfi-m-g)

Sfi-m-g)

Sapporo Story: J. Sham/W. Wah Kay, Hong Kong, 2441.27m, Chinatown Cinema, Vfi-m-g) Vamp (edited version): Not shown, Japan, 1873.17m, Yu Enterprises, Sff-m-g) (b) See also under Films Board of Review and Films Registered Without Deletions — M — For Mature Audiences.

Films Registered With Deletions • PG (Parental Guidance) Spaceballs: M. Brooks, USA, 2633.28m, Hoyts Distribution, Lff-l-g) Ofsexual allusions) Reason for deletion: Lfi-m-g)

Films Refused Registration Sexy Spirit: Not shown, Japan, 1505.00m, Yu Enterprises, Sfi-h-g)

Films Board of Review Deadly Friend (c): R. Sherman, USA, 2468.70m, Village Roadshow Decision reviewed: Classify R by Film Censor­ ship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Films Censorship Board to classify M. (c) See also under Films Registered Without Deletions — M For Mature Audiences and Films Registered Without Deletions — R For Restricted Audiences.

Special Conditions That the film be exhibited only on 5 September 1987 to bona fide delegates at the International Institute of Communications Conference in Sydney and then be delivered into the custody of Hoyts Distribution.

Julia And Julia: Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana, Italy, 2688.14m, Hoyts Distribution Note: The title which appeared as Sweet­ hearts under Refused Registration May 1987 should have appeared as Sweet Hearts.

CINEMA PAPERS NOVEMBER — 79

BRIAN JEFFREY presents our indispensable

FILM B U FF’S DIARY N

O

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K

H 1 9 8 2 : K in g V id o r, d ire c to r, I dies, P aso R obles, C a lifo rn ia 0 Z

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1 9 7 6 : Pier P aolo P asolini, Italian d ire c to r m u rd e re d hy a y o u th to w h o m , a lle g e d ly , he h a d m a d e h o m o s e x u a l a d v a n c e s , n e a r R om e 1 9 24. T h o m a s C o n ro y , p rod u c t io n s u p e r v is o r w ith C in e ra m a Inc. a n d d e v e lo p e r of th e sin g le lens C in e ra m a w id e -s c re e n pro c e s s , bo rn , C a m d e n , N e w J e rs e y

I 1 9 1 8 : A c to r A rt C a rn e y T 1 ( A r th u r W illia m M a tth e w C a rn e y ) bo rn, M o u n t V e rn o n , N e w Y o rk C v

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-1 0 1 9 60: C la rk G a b le die s less I D th a n a fo rtn ig h t a fte r com p le tin g The M is fits , Los A n g e le s H " i 1 9 7 2 : D e e p Throat, h u g e ly I / su cce ssfu l h a rd -c o re p o rn m o v ie sta rrin g L in d a Lovelace, o p e n s on S a n ta M o n ic a B o u le v a rd . Los A n g e le s H Q 1 9 28: M ic k e y M o u se is h e a rd I 0 on s c re e n fo r th e first tim e w h e n S te a m b o a t Willie o p e n s at C o lo n y Th eatre, N e w Y o rk - IQ lu

1 9 8 2 : J a c q u e s Tati (J a c q u e s T a tis c h e ff), a c to r, s c re e n w rite r a n d d ire c to r, dies,

1 9 24: T h o m a s Ince, influential A m e ric a n film p ion eer, dies in m y s te rio u s c ircu m s ta n c e s a b o a r d W illia m R a n d o lp h H e a rs t s ya c h t.

Th e official ca u se of d e ath w as he a rt failure, b u t ru m o u rs p e rs is t th a t H e a r s t h a d

F ans

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1 9 62: W illis O 'B rie n , sp e c ia l effe c ts te c h n ic ia n io n K in o

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Kong,1 9 33; M ig h ty Y o u n g , 1 9 49), d ie s A n g e le s

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Joe Los

1 9 31: P re m ie re of C i n e s o u n d 0 ( 1 R eview , first re g u la r a n d fu lly ZU A u s tra lia n ne w sreel

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1 9 5 3 : R e g in a ld “ S now y” R a kp r p in n e e r A u s tra lia n a c to r ( The E n e m y W ithin, 1 9 1 8 \ The M a n F ro m K a n g a roo, 1920) a n d c h a m p io n allro u n d sp o rtsm a n , dies, Lo s A n g e le s 19 11. N in o Rota, c o m p o s e r o f n u m e ro u s film s c o re s ine lu d in g fo r The G lass M o u n tain (1948), La S tra d a (1954), The G o d fa th e r (1 972) a n d D e a th On The N ile (1 978), bo rn, M ilan

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Q H 1 9 2 5 : Lo ttie Lyell (L o ttie E dith Z 1 C o x ), p io n e e r A u s tra lia n actress, w rite r a n d co -p ro d u c e r (w ith R a y m o n d L o n g fo rd ), dies, fro m tu b e rc u lo s is , S ydney

c

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6

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a n lT e m o “ la te d d u rin a la te a a u n n g ca re e r

97 7: Ivy C ra n e W ilson. A u stra lia n -b o rn e d ito r o f H ollyw o o d A lb u m , p o p u la r film a n n u a l of th e 1950s, dies,

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1 0 f,lm

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Sa c c u m u 6 2 -v e a r oz year

J <o s e P h> A d h u r ,R a n k ' w h o at o n e i " P's r a r e e r o w n e d th a n h a lf of, B rita in s

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1 9 7 7 : K evin D o b s o n ’s The M a n g o Tree ha s its w o rld p re m ie re in B u n d a b e rg , Q ld -------------------------------------------------------H I 1 9 1 4 : M a c k S en n e tt re leases P u n c tu re d R o m a n c e , th e w o rld ’s first fe a tu re -le n g th c o m e d y film

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1 9 3 9 : A ctre ss Liv U llm a n n b o rn , T o kyo , J a p a n (w h e re he r N o rw e g ia n fa th e r w as s ta tio n e d as an e n g in e e r)

H"I 1/

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A TL/812/A K & A

Your Fine Work isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Complete until the L ab h as Done its Job Well.

W hen it's all said, shot and done, your footage deserves to be processed by a laboratory that recognizes the talent, skill and hard w ork in each shot; a laboratory that regards your film as more than just a roll o f emulsion, more likely, exposed emotions.

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We Understand.

Television Centre, Epping, N.S.W. 2121. Telephone (02) 858 7500. Facsimile (02) 858 7888. Telex AA70917.

Images through Innovation.

E. J. CARROLL PRESENTS

T h e S en tim en ta l B lo k e ” A

SCREEN CLASSIC IN

EIGHT

ACTS

Adapted from the W orld-fam ous Verses of C. J. D ennis for THE SOUTHERN CROSS FEATURE FILM CO. Ltd. Producer: Raymond Longford

Cinematographer: Arthur Higgins

Motion Picture History

found inspiration in literature when Raymond Longford directed T h e Sentimental Bloke’ in 1918. Shot on the streets of Woolloomooloo for around £2,000, it is one of the four surviving Longford silent films. On its release in 1919, ‘The Bloke’ was widely praised in both Australia and England, and it is now regarded as Australia’s finest screen classic. Today the tradition continues with Eastman’s technological leadership and full service support structure making it the first choice in professional film and tape stock.

Eastman Professional Film and Video ^ products. Making better images through innovation.

Eastm an Classic 1919

This advertisement was prepared with the assistance of the National Film and Sound Archive.

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