Cinema Paper No.77 January 1990

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AGFAXT125 & X T320 COLOUR NEGATIVE FILMS

AGFA AGFA-GEVAERT LTD. AUSTRALIA, 2 BYFIELD STREET, NORTH RYDE NSW2113,TEL. (02) 888 1444 - FAX (02) 887 1981.

INCORPORATING JANUARY

c o

1990

FILMVIEWS NUMBER

n t e

77

n t s

BRIEFLY: NEWS AND VIEWS Venice Festival FFC Annual Report BLOOD OATH Location Report Andrew L. Urban

DENNIS WHITBURN a n d BRIAN WILLIAMS Scripting Blood Oath Interview by Andrew L. Urban

"CROCODILE" DUNDEE OVERSEAS

COVER: DEBORAH UNGER AND JOHN POISON IN

Stephen Crofts

STEPHEN WALLACE'S BLOOD OATH. S EE PAGE 6

p u b l is h e r

Patricia Amad

c o n s u l t i n g e d it o r t e c h n ic a l e d it o r

21

FACES: SOLRUN HOAAS Pat Gillespie

Scott Murray Fred Harden

22

DON MCLENNAN

and

breakaw a y

Interview by Rod Bishop LOS ANGELES CORRESPONDENT

John Baxter MTV BOARD OF DIRECTORS

28

VIDEO RELEASES Reviews and News

John Jost [CHAIRMAN],

Paul Kalina

Patricia Amad, Gil Appleton, Ross Dimsey, Natalie Miller,

32

Chris Stewart LEGAL ADVISER DESIGN

49

s u b s c r ip t i o n s

Paula Amad

f o u n d i n g p u b l is h e r s

56

FACES: DOMINIQUE DERUDDERE Pat Gillespie

On The Ball

Photo Offset Productions

DISTRIBUTION

TECHNICALITIES Fred Harden

Ian Robertson

d is k p r o c e s s in g p r in t i n g

54

Peter Beilby,

Scott Murray, Philippe Mora

FARROW FILMOGRAPHY Compiled by Scott Murray

Patricia Amad

a d v e r t i s in g

t y p e s e t t in g

Scott Murray

Nicholas Pullen

Ian Robertson

JOHN FARROW A Biographical Sketch

Network Distribution

58

DIRTY DOZEN

60

FILM REVIEWS W ords and Silk Michael Epis My Left Foot Brian McFarlane Great Balls of Fire! John Conomos Cappuccino Shelley Kay The Honeymoon Killers Adrian Martin

60 CINEMA PAPERS IS PUBLISHED WITH

BOOK REVIEWS Australian Television Drama Series: 1956-1981

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE AUSTRAUAN

Review by Ken Berryman

FILM COMMISSION AND FILM VICTORIA

AFC Publications and Books Received COPYRIG HT 1989 MTV PUBLISHING LIMITED.

Signed articles represent the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the editor and publisher. W hile every care is taken with manuscripts and materials supplied to the magazine, neither the editor nor the publisher can accept liability for any loss or damage which may arise. This magazine may not be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the copyright owners. Cinema Papers is published every two months by MTV Publishing Limited, 4 3 Charles Street, Abbotsford, V ittoria, Australia 3 0 6 7 .

Telephone (03) 4 2 9 5 5 1 1 . Fax (03) 4 2 7 9 2 5 5 .

Telex A A 3 0 6 2 5 . Reference ME ME 2 3 0 .

67

PRODUCTION SURVEY c o

n t. r i b u t o r

s

ROD BISHOP is a senior lecturer at Phillip Institute of Technology, Melbourne; KEN BERRYMAN is manager of the M elbourne office of the National Film and Sound Archive; JOHN CONOMOS is a Sydney freelance writer on film; STEPHEN CROFTS is convenor of Film and M e dia Studies at Griffith University, Brisbane; MICHAEL EPIS is a journalist at The Sun, Melbourne; GEOFF GARDNER is Director, Theatrical Distribution at Ronin Films, Canberra; PAT GILLESPIE is a Melbourne freelance writer and publicist; FRED HARDEN is a M elbourne film and television producer specializing in special effects; PAUL KALINA is the video critic for The

Sunday Herald, Melbourne; SHELLEY KA Y is a Sydney freelance writer on film; BRIAN MCFARLANE is principal lecturer in Literature and Cinem a Studies at Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melbourne; ADRIAN MARTIN is a Melbourne freelance writer on film; Sydney-based ANDREW L. URBAN writes for several journals on film, Including Screen International.

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GEOFF ITH ALL ITS ADVANTAGES of time (the finest first days of autumn) and location, Venice has some wonderful natural advantages over the other two competitive “A” European fes­ tivals. In the absence of a real marketplace, critics and others alike can afford to take a relaxed attitude to what is on the screen. This is perhaps why people are prepared to stay in the films rather longer than otherwise, and also why Venice al­ most seems to trade on presenting the perversely difficult. Its series of special events (Krzysztof Ki­ eslowski’s entire Dekalog Peter Brook’s Mahabharata, here only in its three-hour theatrical version; a documentary about one of Stalin’s ‘bodyguards’, which allows its subject to spend much time extolling the dictator’s virtues) all be­ spoke much seriousness and earnestness. So, too, did its extensive Jean Cocteau retrospective, presenting in unsubtitled French, Spanish and Italian prints virtually every film that remarkable man had anything to do with.

As well, the Competition seemed to pride itself on the presentation of films which were ex­ ceptionally, shall we say, dogged. Even before the event started, Bertrand Tavernier withdrew his La Vie et Rien d’Autre, when it was relegated to the more populist (and popular) “Venezia Notte” series, alongside films by Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society), Peter Greenaway (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover), Pierre Jolivet (Force Majeure), Paul Bartel (Scenesfrom the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills), and Pupi Avati (Storia di Ragazzi et Ragazze), to name the better ones. Tavernier was appar­ ently miffed that the sole French entry selected for Competition was the Alain Resnais dud I Want to Go Home, a film already passed over by Cannes, so the story went. Tavernier had reason: Resnais’ film, an English-language comedy scripted by

Q/zniaz iJ-^xizz ^Winn.zT± G olden Lio n : H ou Hsiao-hsien’s Beiqing Chengshi (A City of Sadness) J ury’s Special G rand P rize: Otar Ioselliani’s Et la lumiere fu t {And There was Light) Silver Lio n : Joao

Cesar Monteiro’s Recordacoes da casa amarela {Recollections of the Yellow House) and Ken Kumai’s Sen no Rikyu {Death of a Tea Master) V olpi Cup for B est A ctor: Marcello Mastroianni and Massimo Troisi in Ettore Scola’s Che ora e {What Time is It?) V olpi Cup for B est A ctress: Peggy Ashcroft and Gerald­ ine James in Peter Hall’s She’s Been Away OSELLA FOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: YorgOS Arvanitis for Jean-Jacques Andrien’s Australia O sella for S creenplay: Jules Feiffer for Alain Resnais’ I Want to Go Home O sella for M usical T alent: the young cast of Nanni Loy’s Scugnizzi {Street Kids) Special Lifetime A chievement Award: Robert Bresson.

GARDNER

REPORTS

Jules Feiffer, was, at least to English-speaking ears, not very funny.

Resnais was not, however, the only big name to come a thud. There was also little enthusiasm for films by Gabriel Axel (Christian), Paul Cox {Is­ land), Amos Gitai {Berlin-Jerusalem), Mrinal Sen {EkDin Achanak), Alain Tanner {LaFemme deRose Hill) and Lina Wertmuller (On a Moonlit Night).

This is a problem for competitive events. The need to have a selection of new films often means that the films selected to make up the numbers get one of their few public screenings at a com­ petitive “A” festival and then sink into a richly-de­ served obscurity. Such films are apparently “unworthy” of anything but one of the three main European festivals - a strange paradox.

Fortunately, however, there was one genu­ inely fine filmmaker whose work indicated an artist of immense stature. Measured, controlled, and pin-point precise in its observation, framing and narrative, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Beiqing Chengshi {A City of Sadness) stood out like Gulliver among the Lilliputians. The fact that it actually won the Golden Lion should be a relief for all concerned.

Many thought it may prove too long or too ‘diffi­ cult’ to capture the Jury’s vote, but in the end it was apparently unanimous.

Hou’s film makes demands on the spectator.

At two-hours-and-forty minutes and on a subject which, for total appreciation, requires a back­ ground knowledge of modem Taiwanese history, it makes no concessions, nor should it. It is un­ likely to be a film that will catapult Hou into commercial, mainstream success, but then he hardly needs it. What he needs, and one hopes a prize of this nature will provide it, is a secure production environment so that he can turn his hand regularly to such majestic works. If that happens, his output may well come to rival that of Bresson, Dreyer or Ozu in its richness and its reputation.

For the rest, I must admit to enjoying JeanJacques Andrien’s Australiaand Oja Kodar’sJaded, two films about which I was made to feel should be immediately relegated to guilty pleasures, so in­ tense was the scorn. The Andrien film is set for its first third on a sheep property in outback South Australia. Then its protagonist, Edouard Pierson (played by Jeremy Irons in a performance that offers more proof that, no matter the vehicle, he is the greatest English-language actor), responds to a family crisis and heads back for grim and grey Belgium, and a dispiriting and tentative affair with Fanny Ardant. For me, this was watchable; engrossing even. The little family dramas, in amongst the big economic problems, were handled very skilfully and Andrien resisted the temptation to make the family revelations gro­ tesque or nasty. It is a perfectly pitched, nicely judged and superbly played melodrama.

Kodar, best known now as Orson Welles’ last girlfriend, manager and the star of one or two of

his last projects, both finished {F for Fake) and unfinished, has made a film that is as coarse, vulgar and trashy as one could wish to see. It has half-a-dozen characters who regularly have sex, beating and raping each other. In Kodar’s hands it is the stuff of common comedy, if one forgives its alleged lack of taste and discretion. Many seemed offended by the casual, rough-hewn, im­ provised look and speech, even more so by Kodar’s “impertinence” in including a few frames of their beloved Orson in some unfinished version of The Merchant of Venice. Others laughed merrily until the somewhat jaundiced end, and I have to con­ fess I was one. Perhaps Venice just puts some people in a cheerier mood.

■

STAFF CHANGES P hillip Adams has been reappointed chairman of

the Australian Film Commission for a further 12 months on a part-time basis.

The Minister for the Arts, Clyde Holding, said, “Phillip Adams has provided the Commission with strong leadership and great vision over the past six years. I am particularly pleased that his exceptional understanding of the industry will continue to be available to the Commission as it seeks to re-position its services following the re­ cent changes to film assistance.”

Michael Mitchener has been appointed director

of Film Victoria, replacing the retiring Geoffrey Pollock. Mitchener has worked at the Australian Film Institute and for the annual Screenwriters’ Conference, and has been until recently manager of the Queensland Film Development Office.

Mitchener said, “Film Victoria has the reputation for being the most successful and innovative of the state film bodies.”

D avid P ollard, the first chief executive officer of

the Australian Film Finance Corporation, has resigned for “family reasons”. Pollard said, “I leave with regret but in the sure knowledge that the FFC is functioning effectively under the direc­ tion of a committed Board for the support and secure future of the whole industry.” He will stay on until the new appointment is made.

Ross D imsey has completed his contract as senior producer of drama for ABC Melbourne and is resuming his career as an independent producer of film and television. Dimsey took over at a time of near standstill in Melbourne ABC drama, and while there oversaw the mini-series The Magistrate, The Four-Minute Mile, Darlings of the Gods and This Man, This Woman, the tele-feature Becca and the continuing series House Rules and Inside Running.

Dimsey is presently developing a project with the ABC. N O T E Due to having received only one month’s Film Censorship Listings, it has been held over to the next issue.

CINEMA

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F F C A N

NUAL

The Australian Film Finance Corporation has issued its first annual report, for the financial yearl988-89.

FEATURES The FFC received 37 applications, considered 26 of them and approved 17 with a total produc­ tion value of $92,446,326. The FFC committed $51,911,575 (61.95% ofits 1988-89 investments); the remainder was from the private sector.

Following are details of each feature to re­ ceive FFC funding. The title is followed by (i) the production company; (ii) the amount of FFC equity’ investment; and (iii) the pre-sale(s) or other secured by the production company prior to application.

Aya Goshu Films; $908,255; distribution ad­ vance from Bandai for Japanese video rights and Gentosha Productions for Japanese theatri­ cal and television rights, Ronin Films to distrib­ ute in Australia B l o o d O ath Blood O ath Productions; $6,986,602; Village Roadshow to act as sales agent in all territories B reakaway Breakaway Films; $1,130,000; Smart Egg Pictures to distribute in all territories ex­ cept North America and Australia T he Crossing Beyond Productions; $2,167,346; j Beyond International to distribute in all territo­ ries T he D elinquents The Delinquents; $3,976,701; Village Roadshow to act as sales agent in all territories Father Barron Film Productions; $1,672,461; Vestron Pictures to distribute in all territories H arbour B eat Palm Beach Pictures; $1,400,000; presold to Seven Network: Sales Consortium to distribute in all other territories I t ’s N ow or N ever Entertainment Media; $1,653,553; nothing listed T he Magic R iddle Yoram Gross Film Studios; $2,968,800; Beyond International to distribute in all territories except Australia M an o f F ire John Sexton Productions; $5,687,500: Sugar Entertainment to distribute in all territories except North America and Australia R iders on the Storm Dark Horse Pictures; $1,455,000; Beyond International to distribute in all territories Strangers Genesis Films; $800,000; Beyond In­ ternational to distribute in all territories T ill T here Was You McElroy and McElroy; $5,750.000 print and advertising loan War C rimes Platypus Productions; $5,455,357; Sugar Entertainment, all territories exceptNorth America and Australia ( T he Way of the W irinun Entertainment Me[' ilia: S6,000,000; Buena Vista Distribution, from the Disnev Group, to provide a distribution advance for North America W endy C racked a W alnut Classic Films; S 1,800,000; Sugar Entertainment, all territories except North America and Australia, presold to ABC.

TELEVISION DRAMA The FFC received 23 applications, considered 18 of them and approved 13 with a total produc­ tion value of $46,373,477. The FFC committed $24,987,499 (31.08% ofits 1988-89 investments) ; j the remainder was from the private sector.

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RE P O R T

AUSTRALIAN FILM FINANCE CO RPO RATION

All the Rivers R un II (4 x 48 mins) Crawford

Productions; $1,980,000; presold to Seven Net­ work, the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand, Harmony Gold and Channel 4 (UK) 1 Cassidy (4x60 mins) Archive Films; $2,125,000; presold to ABC Elly and J ools (12 x 30 mins) Southern Star Sullivan; $503,963; presold to Nine Network; .

Southern Star (Live Action) to distribute in other territories Flair (4 x 60 mins) Flair Television Produc­ tions; $4,417,471; presold to Seven Network and Pandora T he G irl from T omorrow (12 x 30 mins) Film Australia; $1,695,256; presold to Nine Network and Latin Quarter T he Greatest T une on Earth (4 x 24 mins) Australian Children’s Television Foundation Productions; $452,000; presold to Seven Net­ work; the ACTF to distribute in all territories H aydaze (12 x 30 mins) Barron Film Produc­ tions; $1,195,499; presold to Ten Network and Revcom K atie’s R ainbow (2 x 2 hours) South Ausualian Film Corporation; S1,864,000; presold to Ten Network and BBC; Beyond International to dis­ tribute all other territories [T he P rivate War of ] Lucinda S mith (2 x 2 hours) Resolution Films; $2,075,000; presold to Nine Network and Revcom T he N ewspaper Saga [N ow, The Paper Man] (6

of the

O utback ( 2 x 2

DOCUMENTARIES

D onald F riend: A P rodigal Australian (55

T he Serpents B ridge (100 mins) Polygon Pic­

tures. Producers: Timothy Read, Gil Brealey. A young Australia woman journeys to Italy to find her real father; her search triggers the playing out of an old tragedy.

T he Backstreet General (92 mins) Phillip Avalon.

Producer: Phillip Avalon. An American conscript, missing in action, is found close to death on the Thailand border in the late 1970s. He is repatri­ ated to Australia, but the authorities have by no means finished with him.

Mark Clark Van A rc (90 mins) Cascade Films.

Producers: David Parker, Nadia Tass. Eighteenyear-old Danny buys a Jaguar to impress Joanna, and life in their small town turns upside down.

IMAX Antarctica: T he Last P lace O n Earth Helio­

graph. Producer: John Weiley. [This is the first time the FFC has participated in a production of an Imax-format film.]

TELEVISION DRAMA

DOCUMENTARIES

hours) Beyond Productions; $1,900,000; pre­ sold to Zenith; Beyond International to distrib­ ute in North America.

The FFC received 45 applications, considered 28 of them and approved 21 with a total production value of $10,407,982. The FFC committed $6,146,013 (6.97% of its 1988-89 investments); the remainder was from the private sector.

B eneath Indian Skies (3 x 1 hour) Mediacast; $250,000; presold to Seven Network B eyond El Rocco (5 x 50 mins) Lucas Produkzions [sic]; $320,664; presold to Channel 4 (UK) Castellorizo: T he G reek C onnection (48 mins) Real Images; $126,000; nothing listed Catalyst (6 x 25 mins) Tru Vu Pictures; $164,000; presold to ABC

OCTOBER FEATURES

G olden F iddles ( 2 x 2 hours) South Australian Film Corporation. Producers: Stanley Walsh, Wendy Wacko.

R ose A gainst T he O dds (4 x 60 mins) Onset Productions. Producers: Ross Close, Russell Kennedy.

x 52 mins) Roadshow Coote & Carroll; $3,494,610; presold to ABC and Granada P ugw'all (8 x 60 mins) LJ Productions; $1,237,200; presold to Nine Network Round the T wist (13 x 30 mins) Australian Children’s Television Foundation Productions; $2,047,500; presold to Seven Network; the ACTF to distribute in all territories Sister Kenny - A ngel

FUN DIN G D ECISIO N S: OCTO BER-NO VEM BER

j ]

j j j

No B ugles N o D rums (60 mins) 7 Emus Produc­ tions. Producers: John Burnett, Debra BeattieBurnett.

Authority (60 mins) Lattimore Productions.

Producer: Margaret Lattimore.

Wilderness R egained (50 mins) Australasian Animal Conservation & Environment Films.

Producer: Robert Goodale.

The total value o f investment approved by the FFC board in October was $15.5 million.

NOVEMBER FEATURE D ingo (100 mins) Gevest Australia. Co-produc­

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j

ers: Gevest Australia, AO Productions (Paris), Dedra Productions (Paris). A chance encounter with a legend of jazz begins a life-long dream for a young boy in the outback. Years later, he jour­ neys to Paris to revive the dream.

TELEVISION DRAMA

j

Ring Fo S corpio ( 2 x 2 hour mini-series) I

mins) Beverly Hills Darling Street; $202,000; j presold to ABC .. _ j G iants of T ime (57 mins) Juniper Film; j $180,000; presold to SBS 1 Innovators in A ustralian Music ( 6 . x 1 hour) Don Featherstone Productions; $896,057; pre- j sold to ABC; one episode presold to London Weekend Television; RM to distribute in all other territories ; I n M oral P anic (52 mins) Cinetel Productions; $121,663; presold to ABC.

Southern Star Sullivan. Producer: Errol Sullivan.

The story of three women who avenge a secret from their past: their shared love and then brutal betrayal by one man.

DOCUMENTARY

No L onger A V ictim (60 mins) Alfred Road Films. Producer: Richard Mason The growth of a person against the pain of an abused childhood. A true story.

The November investment totalled more than $7 million, bringing the financial year’s total to more than $39 million.

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GB G9 □ m

PICTURE

PREVIEW

:: T H E

RUSSIA

HOUSE

TITLES AN EDITOR’S DILEMMA T he title of Steven Soderbergh’s firstfeature has

inadvertendy raised the century-old problem of how to record accurately a film’s tide in print. The opening of Soderbergh’s film reads: sex, lies, and videotape. This has led many reviewers to break their usual style and print its title solely in lower case, as if that film were a special case. Yet, count­ less films are released worldwide each year with lower-case titles, and they receive no similar treat­ ment. And as if to prove pedantry isn’t the issue, the second comma in Soderbergh’s title is almost always ignored.

Of course, many films have titles only in upper case; these too are rarely differentiated from the those in upper and lower. And what of titles with special graphics, or varying letter size?

Clearly, a printjoum al should develop a style and maintain it At Cinema Papers, tides are usually printed in upper and lower case, and italicized to delineate them within the text. This is a compro­ mise for the sake of readability; to have a mix of lower-case titles with upper-case ones would be confusing. More important, until one sights a print of a film, one can’t be sure how its title is reproduced on the celluloid. Press material is no help, as it often varies from the film. Take Giuseppe Tom atore’s Nuovo Cinema Paradiso: the title is clearly rendered as that on the film (in neon to boot), but all the Australian press material has it as Cinema Paradiso. Why change the title, and, if it was deemed essential, why was the print’s title not changed as well?

The classic Australian case of a confusing title is David Baker’s film of the Barry Oakley football novel. The film’s title is: THE GREAT MACARTHY. The Oakley novel is A Salute to the Great McCarthy. The first question: Why the irrelevant change? The second: How does one reproduce the film’s tide in upper and lower, if that be one’s want? There is no help within the film, because the only time the footballer’s name is sighted in print it appears capitalized in a newspaper head­ line. To make matters even more difficult, there are no end character-actor credits.

At the time of the film’s production, Cinema Papers was assured the correct rendition was The Great MacArthy, a nice variation indeed. But this view is not supported by the press material or the recently re-released video. The outside slick and trade ads have the video title as The Great Mc­ Carthy, but that doesn’t match the title on the cassette inside the box.

Among the many other intriguing Australian titles are: PeterKenna’s The Umbrella Woman (this is the title on the film, as well as the contractual one, not the abbreviated version usually printed); Careful He Might Hear You (there is no comma, unlike in the novel’s title); Ghosts ... of the Civil Dead with its spooky ellipses; the missing apostro­ phe from Luigis Ladies (and, indeed, from Dead Poets Society) ; Mad Max 2 (not II); and A Personal History of the Australian Surf Being the Confessions of a Straight Poofter (sadly, the witty second half is always dropped).

Recording a title accurately may not seem all that important to many, but to others it is a neverending source of research and intrigue.

■

S

CRIPTED BY British playwright

Tom Stoppard, Fred Schepisi’s The Russia House is a film adapta­ tion of John Le Carre’s best-selling novel of espionage and glasnost. Pro­ duced for the newly formed Pathe Entertainment by Schepisi and Paul Maslansky, the $20 million produc­ tion was filmed in Leningrad, Lon­ don, Lisbon and Vancouver.

Principal actors are Sean Connery as Barley Blair and Michelle Pfeiffer as the Russian Katya. Also starring are Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney, Klaus Maria Brandauer and, in a pivotal cameo role, director Ken Russell. The director of photog­ raphy is Australian Ian Baker and the production designer Richard MacDonald. Shooting wrapped just days before Christmas and the film is scheduled for an (American) Fall 1990 release.

A BO VE: FRED SCHEPISI, DIRECTOR OF THE R U S­ SIA HOUSB, DURING RUSSIAN LOCATION FILM­ IN G . RIGHT: LEAD ACTORS SEAN CONNERY AND MICHELLE PFEIFFER POSE FOR A PUBLICITY SHOT IN PALACE SQ UARE, LENINGRAD. BE­ HIND THEM IS THE FORMER WINTER PALACE. BELOW : SCHEPISI AND CONNERY.

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Shortly after the surprise attack on P earl Harbour, Japanese troops captured the Australian garrison on the little-known Dutch East Indies: island o f Ambon, 650 km north-west o f Darwin. The Japanese established a Prisoner o f War cam p which w ould be th e^ cen o o f atrocities and genocide. Six hundred Australians entered A m bonIsland PŠW camp; three years later, one hundred and twenty w ere barely left alive. A fter the war, the Australian Army held a war-crimes trial on d ie island .

W ood Oath is the story o f that incredible trial, w hich herded together the ninetyO ne.Japanese[officers and m en w hqhadcoipirolled and run the POW camp.

inform ality” ab o u t th e proceedings. “It took several days to w ork that lawyer, C aptain R obert C ooper, But C ooper was n o t his real o u t”, says Brown. “B ut th e n it becam e in te restin g .” (It’s th e fourth nam e: it was C a p ta in jo h n Williams, then a ju n io r army lawyer and film on w hich W allace an d Brown have w orked to g eth er.) now a retiredjudge. Brown, who m et and h ad a long breakfast with Brown was fascinated by w orking w ith th e Jap an e se actors, who Ju d g e Jo h n Williams on the set, says he did n o t attem p t to portray the h ad b een cast in Tokyo. Says Brown: real m an, bu t to create his own vision o f the man: “I saw C ooper as They are trapped by their customs and traditions. They couldn’tjust som ething o f an intellectual, form al an d cerebral. I could relate to say to the director, ‘Hey, Steve....’, as I do. One day, when Stephen w hat he did, and took it from th e re .” and I were just talking away, they told me that they wished they could Brow n’s C aptain C ooper is a quintessential ‘Aussie’: decent, ir­ speak as freely as that. It made me see a bit better why they are as they reverent, tough, sensitive, butch an d clever all at once. It is the m an are. m any A ustralian m ales w ould like to think is their innerm o st h eri­ Both Brown an d W allace have h igh reg a rd fo r th e Japanese tage. actors, n o t only for th e ir professional tal­ It was Ju d g e W illiams' son, Brian, ents b u t fo r th e ir g reat in te rest in the who cam e across the transcripts o f the "THERE ARE NO WAR FILMS SHOWN subject. Says W allace: trial and began the process o f b ringing it IN JAPAN, BECAUSE THEY DON'T to fruition as a film, after team ing with co­ There are no war films shown in Japan, because they don’t believe the characters. w riter D enis W hitburn. Says actor Bryan BELIEVE THE CHARACTERS. THERE IS There is no good news about the war for Brown: NO GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE WAR them: they lost ... Also, there is all this Brian and Denis sent me the script about shame about the treatment of prisoners of FOR THEM: THEY LOST ..." three years ago. We had a few beers and war. That is our sub-theme. We don’t object talked about it. I was very interested in the to how the Japanese fought, we object to subject. Maybe it was the power of history, how they treated the POWs. And the Japa­ of getting close to something that had only been half revealed. That nese have never apologized for it. But, then, they haven’t really dealt meant we could examine a certain time in history that was complex with it themselves. and, at the same time, horrendous. You could see it had potential; But, as W allace p o in ts out, th e film is n o t only ab o u t th e war: “It it is about human beings in extreme situations. is as m u ch ab o u t Ja p an ese society.” W allace is highly en th u sed : N THE FILM, Bryan Brown plays the prosecuting A ustralian Army

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M uch the same can be said ab o u t film ing it. Brown h ad gruelling m onologues th at h ad to be w ord perfect. T h e co u rtro o m itself was a reconstruction inside the W arner Q ueensland Studios, from old p h o to g rap h s o u t o fju d g e W illiams’ files. T h e tropical h ea t h ad to be m anufactured, and d irecto r S tephen W allace w anted “an Aussie 8

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My mother had been very affected by the Second World War and Jfjl had also wanted to make a film dealing with it. I’m glad I’m doing this: it has a dramadc script and touches on the Australian soldiers’ experiences. I need it, and perhaps Australia needs it.

Originally, I got very involved emotionally; it became a part of me. Now, I’m just trying to make the project work.

O PEN IN G PAG ES: THE EXECUTION OF AUSTRALIAN A RM Y PILOTS ON THE JAPANESE-HELD ISLAND OF AMBON DURING W ORLD W A R II. STEPHEN W ALLACE'S BLOOD OATH. LEFT: CAPTAIN COOPER (BRYAN BRO W N ), THE AUSTRALIAN PROSECUTING LAW YER, AND THE JAPAN ESE DEFENDANTS AT THE AMBON W AR-CRIMES TRIAL. BELOW RIGHT: JAPAN ESE PO W S ARE ORDERED TO UNCOVER THE M ASS GRAVE ON AM BON ISLAN D; A N D : FILMING THE M ASS GRAVE SEQUENCE. DIRECTOR STEPHEN WALLACE LINES UP THE SHOT THROUGH THE CAMERA.

T h e co u rtro o m scenes proved th e toughest, challenging Wal­ lace’s inventiveness. W ith som e forty p e r ce n t o f the film sho t in the co u rtro o m , new ideas for angles an d tre a tm e n t were welcome. “We w ent for th e reality”, says W allace. “It was a very delicate balancing act. Som etim es o u r sympathy is w ith the Japanese; at o th e r tim es we hate th e m .”

B ut th e o th e r scenes w ere equally challenging.

‘T h re e h u n d re d an d fifteen A ustralian bodies ... it’s ju s t a figure. Im agine w atching th ree h u n d re d and fifteen soldiers being bayoneted. C a n ’t h elp being affected”, h e says. “We b rin g it down to o ne execution - it’s e n o u g h .”

B ut how does h e direct even o ne execution, with a g ro u p o f actors for w hom it is m erely an idea. “I said, ‘Im agine your w orst n ig h tm are.’”

Curiously, W allace adds, “n o n e o f the victims sc re a m e d ... they simply accepted it, as did m any o f the soldiers.”

O f all the Jap an ese characters, th e re is only one who is n o t g u id ed by bushido, the code o f the Samurai: this is B aron Takahasi, played by G eorge Takei, the A m erican-born Jap an ese actor (D r Sulu o f Star Trek fam e). T akahasi is the co m m an d er o f the cam p, b u t washes his h ands o f th e routine. Takei:

in just one trial. The reason for this was that if the evidence was to come out, you had to get all the people involved in one big net and trust to luck.

Normally, trials are not vehicles to tell narratives over a period of several years.

Yet this is exactly w hat th e transcripts have triggered; it is an exceptional o p p o rtu n ity fo r film m akers, reco n stru ctin g u n to ld aspects o f a war th at ch an g ed th e w orld forever, with th e help o f the m an who was central to this particu lar scenario.

Ju d g e Williams has also k ep t letters he received following the trial, inclu d in g o ne from a Jap an ese soldier who was convicted. H e writes to express his thanks for th e n C aptain W illiams’ efforts to save

Takahasi considers himself above all that. H e’s an aristo­ crat and a dilettante, and affects the fashionable aspect of being an English gentleman who loves medals and costumes and the military. H e’s dependent on the advis­ ers under him. Ultimately, he’s an unattractive charac­ ter.

Bushido is a code th a t still guides m any Japanese.

B ut th e re are signs o f a reaction against w hat m any now see as an age o f a b e rra n t m ilitarism , according to Ju d g e J o h n Williams: “Pretty well the entire Jap anese force o n A m bon h ad n o t b een back hom e to Ja p a n for n ea r o n eig h t years, an extraordinary thing. T hey were expendable. T h a t’s p a rt o f the m ilitarism .”

W ith an MA in history and a special in terest in Ja p an , Ju d g e W illiams cites the works o f writers such as Saburo Ienaga, an academ ic o f som e rep u te, “on the th em e th a tja p a n sees its m ilitarism in perspective. But th e question is w hat is being related th ro u g h the Jap an ese school system? Is the sham e hiding the tru th ?”

Ju d g e W illiams has steadfastly refrain ed from rea d ­ ing th e script, p referrin g to wait a n d see th e finished film. B ut he h elp ed w herever he could, mostly because he believes “it is im p o rta n t th a t som ething be said ab o u t this event. N othing has b een w ritten ab o u t it an d th e re are som e things the public d o n ’t know ab o u t.” F or o n e thing, the A m ericans p u sh ed h a rd to curry favour w ith the anti-C om m unist adm inistration in Tokyo by b ein g overly k een to forgive an d forget. Says Ju d g e Williams, “M ore th an 50 p e r ce n t were acquitted at the m ajor A m bon trial. T h at is staggering.”

W hat is also staggering was th e am bit o f th e trial. Williams: This was not an ordinary trial; it was a means of exposing through the evidence what in fact happened, hidden from the eyes of the whole world. The hurriedly assembled evidence covered the entire length of the war. . There was a secondary issue: 91 soldiers were tried collectively

him from o n e o f two d eath sentences. Says Ju d g e Williams, “You had to have a certain balance, an d realize th e re was m o re to it th an these individuals.” It is a rem ark th at u n d erlin es o n e o f th e crucial elem ents o f th e script: Cooper, an d th ro u g h him the audience, m akes a jo u rn e y th at com pletely by-passes revenge on its way from b lin d ju stice to soaring com passion. Says Brown: The Japanese guys who came over all wanted this film made, but it’s very hard for them. I think it’s also quite confronting for Australians —and the Americans. It’s clearly controversial and we’re all striving to do justice to it, while still making a movie.

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DENIS

WHITBURN

AND

BRIAN

WILLIAMS

Brian Williams is the son of Judge Williams, who was the prosecuting lawyer at the Ambon war-crimes trial. Putting that story to film has been for Williams a personal quest. After working in video and book retailing, Williams became a full-time scriptwriter. He has written several feature, documentary and mini-series projects, and was script consultant on His partner on B l o o d nated play

T h e S ie g e

Oa th of

Va n i s h e d ,

now in production in Yugoslavia.

is Denis Whitburn, a professional writer, whose credits include the Awgie-nomi-

F r a n k S in a t r a

(1980) and the docu-drama

authored and co-produced the mini-series T h e

L a s t B a s t io n

W a r r io r s

of th e

D

eeep

(1984). He co­

(1984) and B o d y s u r f e r , which won Best

Screenplay for a Mini-Series at the 1989 AFl Awards, and T WAS LATE 1965, ju s t after the unilateral

I

wrote the shooting scriptfor thefeature B r e a k i n g

L

o o se

declaratio n o f in d e p e n d e n c e in Zim­ (1988). Recently, he scripted T h e S h e r M o u n t a i n M y s t e r y , babwe. I was dow n playing in th e garage now in production, and B a c k s t r e e t G e n e r a l , which begins I was 12 at th e tim e - w hen I fo u n d a tru n k in January h id d e n at th e back. I o p e n e d it an d inside shooting was a large pile o f1990. transcripts o f w hat a p p e ared to be th e trial o fja p a n e se soldiers after The following interview begins with Williams’ describing how th e war. T h e re w ere also a lo t o f ph o to g rap h s, including som e o f the he first came across his father’s transcripts of the Ambon trial. mass graves at A m bon. T his was a g rea t surprise to m e as my fath er h ad n ever m e n tio n e d his involvem ent to m e. It was p a rt o f the w hole g en e ratio n o f silence th a t we h ad to breach. Eventually, he becam e What m ost fascinated you about the papers and the photographs? m o re fo rthcom ing.

As I grew older, I le a rn t a bit m ore ab o u t w hat h ad h ap p en ed . w il l ia m s : T h e sh eer scale o f violence th a t my fath er was able to e n te r T h a t k in d o f g o t m e g oing an d fo r a long tim e I th o u g h t it should be in to a n d exam ine. It was beyond belief. You read th e transcripts a n d told as a book. It w asn’t until the late ’70s, w hen I becam e involved they gave you th e w orst nightm ares, especially th e statem ents by th e in th e film industry, th a t I d ecid ed th a t th e best way to go was film. prisoners. It was really shocking.

To what extent was your interest bound up with your father’s being involved?

So this project has always been with you from the age o f twelve?

an aspect p rio r to w hen I knew him . I w anted to fin d o u t w hat sort o f m an h e was a n d th e k ind o f involvem ent h e h a d w ith th e trial. A t first sight, his ro le could ap p e ar as p u re vengeance. A t th a t young age, o n e c a n ’t really u n d e rsta n d w hat h a p p e n e d back in th e war.

brings m e to the relationship w ith Denis. W hen I saw The Last Bastion on television in 1 9 84,1 d ecid ed im m ediately to ap p ro a ch th e p eo p le involved. It was the final catalyst fo r m e to g et m oving on th e project. I th en ran in to D enis at a S creenw riters’ C o n feren ce in K atoom ba. I rem e m b er saying, “Look, I th in k I have th e sequel to The Last Bastion."

OPPOSITE: BLOOD OATH SCRIPTWRITERS DENIS WHITBURN AND BRIAN WILLIAMS.

Denis, how did you react to Brian’s com ing to you with the project?

WILLIAMS: O h, very strongly. It was a w hole h id d e n aspect o f his life,

w il l ia m s : Yes, w hich

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WHITBURN: It was n o t only B rian’s com ing to me, itwas my com ing to

the subject m atter.

Back in 1982,1 had been hired to write Warriors of the Deep, a docudram a for television about th e jap a n ese subm arine attack on Sydney H arb o u r d uring W orld W ar II. T hat jo b took me to the N ational Archives in W ashington for a week and also briefly to Japan. T he research only took about a m onth, but I developed a strong interest in the period. Soon I started to develop an idea for a play, alm ost a tw o-hander on the relationship between G eneral Douglas MacA rthur and Jo h n Curtin during the war.

At the end o f ’8 2 ,1 still h a d n ’t p u t it down on p aper w hen David W illiamson and I got together to write a treatm ent for a mini-series ofM aryD urack’s Kings and Grass Castles. It was while we were working on the treatm ent that we began talking about various things in cof­ "THE HIGH POINT OF fee and lunch breaks. Somewtiiere THE YEAR HAPPENED AT along the line up came the subject ofW orld War II and Australia. David THE START OF THE FILM ... had a certain interest in the period WHEN MY FATHER AND I b u t h ad never really delved into it.

WENT BACK TO AMBON I m entioned the M acArthur-Curtin TOGETHER ... THAT idea and wre started getting en­ thused about its dram atic p o ten ­ JOURNEY FOR ME WAS tial. But we had to keep th at e n th u ­ THE ACCOMPLISHMENT ... siasm dowm while wre finished the JUST TO GO WITH HIM BACK Kings and Grass Castles treatm ent.

O nce that wTas com pleted and in THERE, TO BE THERE." the hands of D urack’s agent, we - BRIAN WILLIAMS knocked out a treatm en t for what becam e The Last Bastion. We then took it off to Matt Carroll at Ten, and in a pretty short time we had the funding to develop the six-hour mini-series as writers and producers.

At the time The Last Bastion was about to air in 1984, as Brian said, o u r paths m et at the Screenw riters’ Conference.

When Brian approached you, at what stage was the project?

WHITBURN: Brian had a certain concept in m ind. At that stage, we

were actually looking at doing a three-hour tele-feature; we felt we n eed ed that kind of length to make the story work. We had a couple o f m eetings at the,ABC with M ichael Carson to explore that. M ichael was very keen on the idea.

To what extent did the Blood Oath story present itself, full blown and ready, in the transcripts?

WHITBURN: It wasn’t based on a transcript, it was based on a box full

of transcripts! A d aunting task! It would have b een easy to walk away!

O n the surface, the story we wanted to tell appeared very7simple: namely, that o f an Australian Army lawyer who was sent to A m bon to prosecute Japanese war criminals. H e goes there with certain p re­ conceived notions, such as th at th e ja p a n e se are a brutal race and 12

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ABOVE LEFT: ACTOR AND SUBJECT: BRYAN BROWN AND JUDGE WILLIAMS, WHO WAS THE PROSECUTING LAWYER AT THE ACTUAL AMBON TRIA L RIGHT: HIDEO (NORIAKI SHIOYA), MATSUGAE (SOKYU FUJITA), CAPTAIN COOPER (BRYAN BROWN) AND LIEUTENANT CORBET (RUSSELL CROWE). STEPHEN WALLACE'S BLOOD OATH.

th at the m en were all guilty. But, on arriving there, he discovers that things a re n ’t black an d white. In a sense, it is his jo u rn ey o f discovery; th at is w hat attracted m e to the story.

But faced with a box full o f trial transcripts, th a t sim ple concept started to becom e very com plex. Brian an d I sp en t two years search­ ing th ro u g h the m aterial to find a clear and d ram atic storyline. Only then could we actually begin writing th e treatm ent.

T h a t’s why we b ro u g h t in all the o th e r m aterial: to focus the story on a b ro ad e r context. We h ad my fa th e r’s personal m aterial an d th e jap a n ese lawyer’s own acco u n t o f the trial. Itw as an extraor­ dinary' and brave thing for a m an o f his calibre to go back to Japan and write a book im m ediately after the trial in 1946. Also, th ere was all the political m aterial th at Denis h ad gone into on The Last Bastion, and which I was getting into as well. It was the com plexity o f all this m aterial th at m ean t we took so long en g in eerin g th e dim ensions of w hat we en d ed up with. wit ,i,TAMS:

Were the transcripts a constrictive device in creating a dramatic script?

WHITBURN: Very constrictive; th a t’s why it took so long. We spent two

WHITBURN: W hen we wrote the treatm en t in m id ’87, we always had

years u n d e r the false im pression th a t the answer to the d ram a lay in th e transcripts, w hereas in fact it w asn’t until we p u t them aside th at we actually fo u n d o u r story.

Now, maybe we n eed ed those two years o f delving into th at historical research to be able to then step away from it. But, it was a very frustrating time: every time we th o u g h t we h ad the key, it tu rn ed o ut to be a false lead.

Bryan in m ind for the lead role. We th o u g h t he h ad the character­ istics we were after fo r R obert Cooper. We then got the treatm ent to Ju n e C ann, his agent, who sent it across to Bryan in Africa, w here he was film ing Gorillas in the Mist. He came back very quickly and said he was interested and th at he w anted to m eet us w hen he got back to Sydney. So, he virtually came on board from the treatm en t stage. A nd we kept going back to him with each d raft for his reaction and input.

It was o ne o f those rare occasions w here the original actor th at the writers h ad in m ind resp o n d ed right from the start and stayed with the project right th ro u g h to the end.

O nce you have a particular actor in m ind for a role, you are writing that role to th at acto r’s potential, and, to some extent, his or h e r limitations. Any screenw riter who sits down and says, “I ’m going

Did you intentionally set out to base the dramatic nut o f the script on the prosecuting lawyer, who was, in the transcripts, Brian’s father?

WHITBURN: Originally, B rian’s fath er did p resen t a figure with cer­

tain dram atic characteristics. But it was only as we developed the story from the treatm en t stage, th ro u g h the various drafts, th at the character of R obert C ooper [Bryan Brown] took on his own person­ ality.

It must have been tempting to constantly idealize the character o f Cooper. Do you feel that you have managed to avoid doing that and thus keep him real?

WHITBURN: We were writing the dram a in retrospect. A nd it is very

difficult to p u t yourself in th at unique situation o f saying, “L et’s take ourselves back to 1945-46, forgetting we have experienced anything in th e interim , an d write the character from th a t p o in t o f view.” I d o n ’t think th e re is any w riter in the world who can do that; th ere are so m any psychological pressures an d inputs th at influence you.

We h ad a pretty good know ledge of the political landscape we were dealingw ith: i.e., the ram ifications ofw hat h ap p e n ed at the end of W orld W ar II. In a way, we were looking at good guys and bad guys on b oth sides. Obviously, we w eren ’t talking about A m erican or A ustralian brutalities, b u t the Allies had their prejudices.

We always saw C ooper as a m an in between, trying at all times to keep him self distanced. As strange at it may seem, the image we had for Cooper, and this is the reason he is called C ooper in the film, was Gary C ooper in High Noon.

At what point did Bryan Brown becom e interested in the project?

BELOW: CHRISTIAN IDENTIFICATION IN THE FACE OF W AR: PRIVATE TALBOT (JASON DONOVAN) AND HIDEO. RIGHT: CAPTAIN COOPER AND SISTER L1TTELL (DEBORAH UNGER), BLOOD OATH.

to write this screenplayfor Clint Eastwood”, would have a pretty good floorplan from the start.

Judge Williams’ life is crucial to the story you are telling. Was he involved in writing the script?

WHITBURN: Judge Williams was there if we n eed ed him. H e was like

the Obi Kanobi character in Star Wars. If we found ourselves painted into a corner, n o t knowing w here to go, Brian would go back to his father, who would th en p o in t us in the right direction, em otionally or historically. H e was invaluable in th at respect. But he d id n ’t look over o u r shoulders and say, “D o n ’t do that, you should be doing this. ” Judge Williams’ public attitude to the film is very much one o f wait and see. Brian, can you discern not only what he feels about the project, but what your mother feels about it, in terms o f involving your father’s history? w il l ia m s : Both

o f them feel it is a positive thing, because it has given him a sort o f perspective on his life. At the same time, he d id n ’t want to read the script because it is a dram atic fabrication. It had to be, because you co u ld n ’t make the story work on the original basis; it was too sprawling, chaotic.

T he high p o in t of the year h ap p en ed at th e start of the film, I suppose, when my fath er and I w ent back to A m bon together. We were th ere on Anzac Day with the survivors, in this cem etery w here the P risoner of W ar cam p once was. It is a m agnificent cemetery.

T h at jo u rn ey for m e was the accom plishm ent, really -ju st to go with him back there, to be there.

One o f the historical aspects o f the film is the behaviour o f the Americans.

WHITBURN: T h ro u g h the character o f Beckett [Terry O ’Q u in n ], who

is the Liaison O fficer for the Tokyo trials, we explore the politicking

BELOW : FORMER POW CAMP COMMANDER TAKAHASI (GEORGE TAKEI) AT THE MASS TRIAL. BLOOD OATH. LEFT: COMMANDER TAKAHASI AND THE JAPAN ESE'S DEFENSE LAW YER, M ATSUGAE. FACING PAGE: SISTER LITTELL AND AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER HELP JIM M Y FENTON (JOHN POLSON). BLOOD OATH.

th a t w ent on at the en d o f W orld W ar II. Even before the war was over, by late ’44, the Allies had a pretty good idea th a t they were going to win back E urope. They w eren’t so sure ab o u t Japan, b u t they were w orking on the atom bom b and th at was the ace u p their sleeve. But the question th at was being raised, even before Ja p an was defeated, was: W hat is going to h ap p e n to H irohito? It was a question raised by the royal families of E urope, because H irohito was o f royal blood and it was u n h ea rd of for such a person - even of a defeated nation, who was from all the evidence very heavily involved in th at n a tio n ’s going to war - to be prosecuted.

WILLIAMS: In fact, the com plicating factor was th at the Soviets had a

m an, a KGB agent as it tu rn ed out, advising M acA rthur on who was to be prosecuted. T he Soviets w anted the chief anti-Soviet H irohito circle fellow, Prince Konoye, to be prosecuted and, w hen M acArthur reluctantly agreed, the Prince com m itted suicide. T hat h ad im m edi­ ate ramifications.

WHITBURN: T he o th er concern o f the A m ericans was blocking off the

Com m unists at both the E uropean and Asian ends. In E urope, they achieved th at with the division o f East and West Germany. In Asia, the A m ericans felt the only place w here they could contain the Com m u­ nist th rea t was Japan.

So, these two influences-the royal-family pressures o u t o f E urope an d the political concerns o f having to contain the spread o f C om m unism - led to H iro h ito ’s being given imm unity. T h at im m u­ nity then spread o u t like a ripple effect to his im m ediate circle. And it is basically those people who were p ard o n ed who then becam e the foundation for the political and business rule of Japan. T h at ulti­ mately resulted in all the scandals involving corruption, etc., th at have b een going on for the past couple o f years in Japan. In essence, th e A m ericans set u p the econom ic foundations that have virtually co n tributed towards the serious deterioration of the A m erican financial system.

All this is seen in the film through the characters o f Takahasi [George Takei] and Beckett. Takahasi, who is the cam p com m ander in the story, is p art o f the E m p ero r’s circle and there is no way in the world th at the Americans, represented by Beckett, will let him be prosecuted, because th at would open up a whole can of worms with ram ifications th ro u g h o u t the rest of the trial.

Were you at any time concerned that the script could result in an antiJapanese film?

WHITBURN: We were tackling a subject m atter th at on the surface

could be viewed as Jap-bashing’, b u t it was always o u r in ten tio n that we w ould write a film about reconciliation. We set o u t to write dram a th at ap peared to be one thing, b u t in fact in ten d ed to serve a different purpose. T h at is w hat attracted m e to it, and kep t Brian and

I going th ro u g h th e two years o f writing.

From the beginning, we used the trio o f P u ttn am films - Chariots o f Fire, The Killing Fields and The Mission- as role m odels fo r the kind o f film we w anted to m ake. T hose films involve m en from conflicting cultures b ro u g h t to g eth er o n a high m oral gro u n d . T h a t was the co ncept th at we h ad for Blood Oath.

Blood Oath deals explicitly with Japanese war crimes. Is it correct that the Japanese have really had no opportunity to experience the kind o f catharsis that other countries and societies have experienced through films, such as the Vietnam movies in the U.S. and those on Nazi atrocities in Germany?

WHlTBURN:The aspect o f brutality by th e Jap an ese against th e Allies

has b een basically subm erged th ro u g h o u t Jap anese culture. There has b een only a h andful o f films th a t attem p t to ap p ro ach th e subject; one is The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On, w hich delves into the m atter o f cannibalism by Jap an ese soldiers in New G uinea, on both their own people an d th e Allies. Also, in 1986, th e re was a feature docum entary m ade by N H K in Jap an , at a cost o f $16 US m illion, The Tokyo Trial. It really goes into th e historic perspective o f why Japan w ent to war with C hina, and why Ja p an o p en e d u p th a t war into the Pacific.

But, yes, the Japanese haven’t gone th ro u g h th e same catharsis th at A m erica is experiencing with its post-Vietnam films.

Was that a consideration in writing the script?

Wh it b u r n : N o t really, because we were told by a n u m b e r o f ‘experts’

- and one tends to com e u p against ‘ex p erts’ all th e tim e in this business - th at th ere was no way th a t th e Jap an ese w ould ever contem plate distributing a film like this. We d id n o t agree with them.

But, at the same tim e, we did n o t co n cern ourselves with this issue as it would have h in d e re d the creative d evelopm ent o f th e story.

Do you see filmmaking as a future area o f co-operation between Australia and Japan?

Wh it b u r n : Well, it’s interesting th a t th e th ree Jap an ese actors in the

film - who are, by th e way, quite exceptional - b ro u g h t a com m itm ent an d strength we h ad n o t seen before. T hey are very k een to continue 14

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distribution guarantee, an d we b ro u g h t th e original d irecto r to the project, G eoff M urphy, who unfortunately h ad to d ro p o ut because o f delays in the financing.

So, asjo in t producers with Charles W aterstreet, we have a strong em otional co m m itm ent to Blood Oath.

WILLIAMS: T h e jo u rn ey fo r us w ent beyond the personal story, based

on my father, th ro u g h to a passion for the whole project.

WHITBURN: B rian’s right: it created for us a passion to explore fu rth e r

the dram atic potential of the story.

Do you think that, as a political film and as a dramatic entertainment, it can appeal to a broad audience?

WHITBURN: G etting back to the role m odels of Chariots of Fire an d The

Killing Fields, they were films which treat the audience with respect.

T hey d o n ’t p an d e r to audience expectations by trivializing the m aterial. Bolstered by th eir success, we felt confident th at if we respected the audience, an d d id n ’t trea t people like nongs when p resenting m aterial like this^they would resp o n d in like.

O ne of the m ost encouraging developm ents in film in recen t years has b een the fact th at films like The Last Emperor and My Beautiful Laundrette can get m ade and do find an audience, despite all the ‘ex p erts’ saying they will never work. T h ere is an audience o u t th ere for every type o f film, and the biggest mistake anyone can make in the film industry is to say, ‘T h e r e ’s only one audience, and th a t’s the one th at goes to see Batman, Ghostbusters an d Indiana Jones."

T h ere are dozens o f audiences and the potential in those very sections of audiences continues to surprise even the m ajor distribu­ tors. this relationship betw een Ja p an and A ustralia thro u g h th eir craft.

But, Brian and I d o n ’t really see m uch o f a move being m ade by the Australian creative com m unity, or by the Japanese creative com m u­ nity, to b ring the two industries together. w il l ia m s :

I h eard the same question asked of R oland Joffe, whose film about R obert O p p en h eim er, Fat M an and Little Boy, h ad ju st

w il l ia m s :

David P uttnam is doing it.

Wh i t b u r n : Yes, and th e re are one o r two A m ericans, b u t the whole

th ru st at the m o m en t seems to be Sony buying o u t C olum bia Pic­ tures, o r JVC investing $100 m illion in a p ro d u cer like Larry G ordon.

No one seems to be asking, “W hat are o u r m utual interests? W hat are our conflicts? W here are there parallels betw een ou r cultures, le t’s get into it.” T he only o th e r A ustra­ "WE WERE TACKLING A lian project I know of in the Blood SUBJECT MATTER THAT ON Oath ilk is The Cowra Breakout.

THE SURFACE COULD BE VIEWED AS 'JAP-BASHING', BUT IT WAS ALWAYS OUR

What effect has this film had on your professional careers?

WHITBURN: Brian and I have b een

discussing for some m onths an other project.

It takes place after W orld WRITE A FILM ABOUT W ar II, b u t this tim e it is entirely set RECONCILIATION." in Japan.

You talked earlier about cathar­ - DENIS WHITBURN sis. T h ere are different types o f ca­ tharsis and th e re ’s a catharsis th at the W est has to com e to term s with now, an d th at is th a t it may n o t be the d o m in a n t culture o f the n ex t century.

INTENTION THAT WE WOULD

Blood Oath is an ambitious film from the point o f view o f its relatively large budget [about $10 million] and because it makes a dramatic exploration o f a historical black hole, as the producer Charles Wa­ terstreet describes it. Do you have absolute faith in the project s success?

Wh it b u r n : We have absolute faith in ourvision an d o u r com m itm ent

to the project, because o u r roles w ent way beyond m ere writers. We b ro u g h t Bryan Brown to the project, and Bryan was the key to the financing betw een Village Roadshow an d the Film Finance C orpora­ tion. We played a m ajor role in securing th a t Village Roadshow

been released in America. H e said with absolute conviction, “Yes, my film will find an audience because things th at are of great historical interest, and are well-told stories, even if they are very strongly political, will find an audience because there is an audience now for that. ” In E urope an d jap a n , there is a great historical tradition for the sort o f things we are dealing with in Blood Oath. For exam ple, the great 10-hour epic by Kobayashi, The Human Condition.

We are looking forward to seeing the response o f different audi­ ences. I w ant to be in ja p a n and E urope, b u t m ainlyjapan, to see the response of the audiences. I know it’s going to be fascinating.

WHITBURN: T he Japanese actors told us they h ad n o t com e across a

script like this in Jap an , o ne th at told this type o f story o r revealed these truths. G eorge Takei from the States, who plays Takahasi, said the same: th at he h ad never read a script like this o u t o f America. No o ne is writing this type o f story there. T he only place Blood Oathc ould have b een m ade is in Australia. I think it says som ething for the m aturity o f th e industry h ere, despite the woes suddenly befallng us, th at such a difficult subject has m ade its way to the screen.

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15

REPORT

BY

STEPHEN

CROFTS

1 #■

//^

Crocodile Dundee O v e r s e a s ijf the huge international success of

“C r o c o d i l e ” D

undee

//

*

is common knowledge, it is not so

well known that the world outside Australia sees some fiv e minutes less of the film than are screened in this geopolitical space. The re-editing was required by Paramount, the film ’s U.S. distributor;

*

Twentieth Century Fox, distributor fo r the rest of the world, made no further changes. In the words of the n ew

I

N CITING THIS, I ’m n o t trying to raise

the hackles of the diehard , A ustra­ lian cultural nationalists, m erely to indicate th a t outside A ustralia Hollywood expectations m odified even this little Aussie trium ph. “Crocodile”Dundee h ad to conform to th e stan d ard (i.e., Hollywood) sense o f w hat a feature is.

In o rd e r to contextualize th e re-editing of the film, a few rem arks are necessary.

HOLLYWOOD’S CONTROLLING INTEREST IN AUSTRALIAN FILM DISTRIBUTION AND EXHIBITION

T his is th e basis for the p red o m in an ce o f im p o rte d over A ustralian feature films exhibited in Australia; an d for “im p o rte d ” read “p re­ dom inantly H ollyw ood”. As such, it contextualizes the boldness of “Crocodile”Dundee's conspicuous b u t still tiny reversal o f the p red o m i­ n a n t cultural flow. Hollywood has h a d 70 years’ experien ce o f d o m in ating w orld film distribution.2 Its d o m in a n t interests in fea­ tu re film d istribution in A ustralia - an d hence, given the stru ctu re o f th e industry, o f film exhibition as well - is long-standing. Susan D erm ody an d Elizabeth Jacka estim ate - no precise figures are

Yo r k

t im e s ,

Sidney Ganis, president of marketing for

Paramount, “saw the biggest problem with D

undee

“C r o c o d i l e ”

as ‘convincing an American audience to see an

Australian movie’. Paramount’s solution was to disguise as much as possible the fact that it was an Australian film .,n publicly available - th a t in th e mid-1980s 85 p e r c e n t o f A ustralian theatrical screen tim e was occu p ied by A m erican -p ro d u ced films.3 M eaghan M orris p u ts th e share o f 1985 th eatrical ren tals at 78 p er cent.4 A ustralia has rem a in ed fo r th e U.S. th e eig h th largest source o f revenue in absolute term s, an d th e highest in p e r capita term s.5 EXPORTING AUSTRALIAN FILM TO THE U.S.

A ustralian cultural nationalism tends to exaggerate th e im p act of A ustralian exports on th e o th e r side o f th e globe, w here th e principal m arkets are th e U.S. an d th e UK: witness th e n atio n alist triu m p h al­ ism o f David W h ite’s Australian Movies to the World.6 T h e film ex p o rt drive is no C anute h o ld in g back th e U.S. waves; it m o re resem bles a few rips against th e prevailing tide. T im Burstall, ex p e rien c ed revival film director, describes th e U.S. m ark et as “th e m o st lucrative, b u t ... also in som e way th e m ost insular a n d th e m ost closed”.7 A ustralian films have h a d to co n fro n t n o t only A m erican d istrib u to rs’ an d ex h ib ito rs’ preferen ces fo r films A m erican, b u t also A m erican cul­ tural indifference to non-A m erican p ro d u ct. H ard -fo u g h t forays into the U.S. m ark et established only a few successes p rio r to “Crocodile”Dundee:, on th e arth o u se ex h ib itio n circuit, My Brilliant Career an d Breaker Morant, an d in m ainstream e n te rta in m e n t venues, Gallipoli, M ad M ax 2 (retitled The Road Warrior) a n d The M an from Snowy River.

* During the recent change of editor at Cinema Papers, Stephen Crofts was left with the unfortunate, but understandable, impression that his article had not been accepted. As a result, it was sent to Tom O’Regan at Continuum and published in Vol 2:2 1989.

With few exceptions, Cinema Papershzs only published articles exclusive to the magazine. However, given the above circumstances, and the belief that the readerships o f the two journals do not significantly overlap, Crofts’ article is, with the gracious permission o f O’Regan and Continuum, reprinted here.

16

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A BO VE: MICHAEL J . "CRO CO D ILE" DUNDEE (PAUL HOGAN) IN NEW Y O R K .

FACING PAGE: "CRO CO DILE" DUNDEE AND THE AMERICAN REPORTER, SUE CHARLTON (LINDA KO SLO W SK I). PETER FAIM AN 'S "CRO C O D ILE" DUNDEE.

T h e film e x p o rt drive arose partly from well-known cultural factors - n ational self-esteem, an d concerns to develop foreign trade an d tourism - b u t also from a com plex o f econom ic an d dem o­ graphic factors. T hese com prise assum ptions ab o u t b u d g et size, the size o f th e dom estic m arket an d the ex ten t o f state subsidy of p ro d u ction, factors w hich were sum m ed up in the advice offered in A ustralia by Jo h n H untley, a visitor from the British Film Institute an d au th o r o f Railways in the Cinema. H e o p in e d th a t in o rd e r to be self-supporting an in digenous film industry n e e d e d a popu latio n of 80 m illion p e o p le .8 By this re c k o n in g A ustralia w ould n e e d to exp an d its p o p u la tio n fivefold. It is a reckoning w hich presupposes budgets maybe ch e ap e r than, b u t still com parable with, those o f Hollywood, B ritain o r France: in line with such logic, A ustralian feature b udgets averaged $600,000 in 1979, a n d $3 m illion in 1982.9 (R em inders o f th e possibility o f perfectly respectable featu re p ro ­ duction o n m u ch tin ier budgets are Chan is Missing, m ade in 1982 for a m inuscule U.S. $22,000, an d m ost o f the F rench Nouvelle Vague.)

T h e low -budget o p tio n p ro m o te d byjam es Ricketson an d oth ers was n o t p u rsued, p referen c e bein g given to the m o re com m ercially o rien tated p ro d u ctio n m odel su p p o rted by the Peat, Marwick, M itch­ ell rep o rt, “T ow ards a M ore Effective Com mission: T h e AFC in the 1980s”.10

State subsidy buffered th e A ustralian p ro d u ctio n industry less an d less from such expectations o f self-sufficiency th ro u g h the 1970s, an d th e 10BA tax schem es en acted in May 1981 u rg ed a m o re directly com m ercial o rien tatio n . As th e figures above indicate, p ro d u ctio n costs escalated, suggesting a n ee d to reco u p m o re costs th ro u g h overseas sales at th e same tim e as pre-sales an d distribution g u aran ­ tees increasingly locked A ustralian p ro d u c t into overseas, an d thus particularly U.S., m arkets. T h e 1980-1 U.S. successes o f Breaker Morant, Gallipoli an d The Road Warrior fuelled the growing midPacific o rien tatio n . W itness th e 1982-7 figures o f 143 A ustralian featu re films released in A ustralian cinem as, an d o f 75 released in U.S. cinem as.11 “Crocodile” Dundee is A ustralia’s first major m arketing success in th e U.S. R ight from script co n cep tio n it evinces a boldness lacking in w hat Susan D erm ody has called th e “A m erican Express lim bo cul­ tu re ” o f m ost 10BA film s.12 Setting itself in b o th A ustralia an d New York, an d d u m p in g on n eith er, “Crocodile” Dundee “salvages the cultural assertiveness [of th e cultural nationalist film] an d all the econom ic prag m atism ” o f th e mid-Pacific 10BA film epitom ized by Roadgames, set on the N ullarbor an d “starrin g jam ie Lee Curtis, Stacy Reach and a d in g o ”.13W ith H ogan established as som ething close to an A ustralian n ational institution th ro u g h th e H oges p erso n a o f The Paul Hogan Show, he an d p ro d u ce r Jo h n C ornell were so co n fid en t o f A ustralian an d w orld success th a t they issued th e ir prospectus w ithout pre-sales o r distribution guarantees; an d it was oversub­ scribed. A fter th e A ustralian o p en in g on 26 A pril 1986, they took the film d irect to a Los Angeles film m ark et research com pany before ap p ro ach in g any m ajor studios. N ational R esearch’s test screenings p ro d u ced evidence th a t “audiences loved th e h u m o u r, th e h ero an d th e outback p h o to g rap h y ”, an d gave H ogan a ratin g considerably above stars o f th e o rd e r o f R o b ert R ed fo rd .14

By July 1986, as th e film was on the p o in t o f becom ing the m ost p o p u lar film in Australia, C ornell an d T erry Jack m an , th e film ’s sales representative, h ad signed a co n tract with P aram ount. T h e financial details are a fairly w ell-guarded secret: P aram o u n t paid betw een $5 an d $11 m illion for A m erican (including C anadian) theatrical distribution, television, video an d cable rights, an d sp en t betw een $8 an d $10 m illion advertising th e film in p rin t and, unusually, on television. T h e re-editing was rep o rted n o t at all in th e A ustralian press an d in only th ree papers in th e U.S. ( The New York Times, The LA Times an d The Washington Post). O nce the deal was do n e, H ogan an d P aram o u n t’s p resid en t o f distribution, Barry L o n d o n , w orked in A ustralia on th e alterations detailed below. Publicity p rio r to th e 26 S eptem ber 1986 New York p rem iere o f th e film took two forms. First was H o g an ’s inform al cam paign via television ads in eig h t key cities for the A ustralian T ourist Commission: “P u t a n o th e r shrim p on the b arb ie.” T hese m ade his face, if n o t his nam e, widely known. T h ere followed the P aram o u n t cam paign. A part from th e press an d televi­ sion ads, they staged sneak previews at n o fewer th an 500 cinem as across th e country on 20 S eptem ber, an d h ad H ogan do a 30-day press to u r to accom pany the film ’s release. A fter its New York p rem iere, it was o p en e d at 879 U.S. an d C anadian theatres, increas­ ing to 1485 by 17 N ovem ber (com pared with 75 cinem as in Australia, and, in d eed , 2500 fo r “Crocodile”Dundee II). It was, in S ard s’ words, a “textbook word-of-m outh triu m p h ... I k ep t waiting for th e movie to disappear. Instead, it clo b b ered everything in sight.”13 “Crocodile” Dundeehas becom e th e highest-grossing foreign film ever in the U.S. T his ranks it at 26 in Variety’s 1988 All-Time R ental C ham ps (the closest A ustralian-directed films are Witches of Eastwick at 120 an d Witness at 145).16 RE-EDITING THE FILM

T h e following analysis suggests th a t aesthetic criteria took p rece­ d en ce over considerations o f cultural specificity in th e re-editing o f th e film. T h e tables below set o u t a narrative breakdow n o f th e A ustralian an d w orld versions o f “Crocodile”Dundee, th e g en eral cate­ gories o f th e changes, an d a detailed analysis o f th e 24 alterations.

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17

“CROCODILE” DUNDEE: AUSTRALIAN AND WORLD VERSIONS

Key to Characters

SC R W CD

Sue Charlton, Newsdayjournalist Richard, her boss and lover Wally of Walkabout Creek Tours “Crocodile” Dundee

Australian Version:

World Version: 24 cuts/ changes

Segment Minutes, Number Seconds 1 1'28" SC and R, trans-Pacific lovers/journalists 2 4'27” Credits. SC arrives, 2.1 meets W 2.2

3

6'33"

Pub. SC meets CD

3.1

4

r20"

Night outside pub.

All retire

4.1 4.2 4.3

5

6

2’00"

7

4'09"

8

3’11"

9

2'40"

10

2'13"

11

3T2"

12

0’42"

13

3'08"

14

1'06"

15

0'57"

16

0'52”

17

0’43"

18

0'45"

19 20

0‘27" 2'40"

21 22

3’37" 2'58"

23

18

4’27"

4’43"

24

3'22"

25

2'44"

•

CINEMA

CD, SC, W drive outback

Boat across lake.

W leaves CD, SC CD, SC safari

5.1

6.1 7.1

W stands by his truck W explaining that CD is on cattle muster and forecasting T o p time in the town tonight” Pub atmosphere: a few? shots CD and mates outside pub W: “In the iron shed” CD and croc draped over the truck’s tailgate “Live croc wrestled by Mick" story replaced by dialogue about time (“How old are you?”) from later in segment.

Visuals with watercan dropped.

W: “Lucky7bastard”

77

1'41"

27

r37"

28

4'53"

29

0'58”

30

1'20"

31

1'47"

32

6'50"

33

0'50"

34

1'46"

35

0’51"

36

5'42"

Views ofJabbavvonga and CD saying: ‘T hat’s where the croc got me.”

CD, SC: night camp.

Snake throtded Roo shooters scared off by CD CD, SC in morning: shaving, taping, shooting SC goes walkabout 11.1 Fewer shots of SC’s fear and exhaustion alone SC begins dip. Croc attacks, CD saves her CD, SC: night camp.

Aboriginal Nev passes by Corroborree 14.1 One shot of the men and part of shot of SC’s taking photographs CD, SC: night camp 15.1 “Stickybeak” becomes “busybody” W gets provisions for 16.1 Whole segment return drive CD, SC safari, cook 17.1 Pretty lake shot before baked beans joke by, swim in lake 17.2 “Billabong” becomes “lake” W?picks up CD, SC, advises trip to New York CD, SC on plane journey CD, SC: New York: JFK airport to Plaza Hotel Plaza Hotel suite, bidet CD goes walkabout 22.1 Fewer “gidday”s. in NY No downward angle of CD pushed in wrong direction CD, SC, R begin to order an Italian meal.

CD knocks out R CD to pub, meets cab driver, iiegro, transvestite Outside pub, CD 25.1 “Fucking" becomes meets whores and “screwing” pimp, knocks out pimp

PAPERS

26

97'07"

CD bathes in hotel.

SC flexes leg Views from RCA Building. Hot dog.

St Marks Place hair salon. CD fells purse snatcher Trendy artworld party with dope, cocaine sniffer Walkabout Creek: CD phones pub Muggers rebuffed with big knife, SC kisses CD Newsday offices: SC, R, father discuss CD Father’s welcome home for SC. R proposes to SC. CD leaves with Gus

26.1 “Strewth" 27.1

“Stone the bloody crows.” “Wow”

28.1 Cocaine sniffer’s final reaction shot

32.1 Trimming of some "shots of opulent interior of mansion 32.2 Senator “Bradley” becomes “Manly” 33.1 Cut Times Square and the wistful guitar

Gus drops CD. CD in Times Square, then wanders sadly amidst derelicts Whores, pimp and heavies.

Gus saves CD SC phones CD in 35.1 hotel, unheard CD leaves hotel, SC 36.1 arrives chases him to Columbus Circle Subway. Bush telegraph: “I love you”. Clinch

Long shot of CD in hotel suite Freeze frame final clinch cut by half

Running time, Australian video version

GENERAL CATEGORIES OF CHANGES - KEY

Symbol Category of Alteration

Analysis

NS

Narrative streamlining

For reasons of pacing

AOB AT AM AOV

Australian outback slowness Australian tourist images Australian mateship Australian ocker vulgarity

Heterosexual couple formation takes precedence over Australian atmosphere and tourist images Sound mix enhances this ranking

H

“Heroic” features

ASD AL

Australian self-deprecation Australian language

PSC

US political self-censorship

Promotes the American against the Australian within the couple

ANALYSIS OF CHANGES Segment Category of cut/change Alteration

2.1 2.2 3.1

NS

AOB

4.1 4.3

NS f AOV 1 AM

4.2

NS

ASD

» [

Dealing with the culturally and linguistically unfamiliar

Analysis

Here an Australian outback slowness interrupts the forward narrative drive of US heroine’s (helicopter) search for the “Crocodile” Dundee story. The Australian version contrasts Northern Territory with New York cultures and technologies, whereas the United States version erases the outback slowness and rewrites these scenes in line with the slicker, goal-oriented structure of the journalist-in-foreign-country genre.

Australian mateship and ocker vulgarity are played down in favour of the US heroine, heterosexual couple formation and a presumed more WASPish audience.

The Australian mock heroic mode (already set out in the stuffed crocodile and the progressive deflations of Wally’s lionization/ mythification of Dundee in the pub) is here cut short: as if US viewers are to be exposed to too much anti-heroism, to too much selfdeprecation. Within such a conception, the

5.1 7-1

NS

6.1

(A)H

AL

7.1

NS

AT

11.1

NS

(US)H

14.1 15.1 16.1

NS AL NS

f AOB

j AT

l ASD

AM

AL 17.1 17.2

NS AL

AT

mock-heroic mode should naturalize heroism, not undercut it.

The dropping of dialogue about Dundee’s wresding the live croc and of his ‘T hat’s where the croc got me” eliminates narrative redundancy before he tells his full story later in segment 7. It also diminishes his heroic status. This segment is a good example of the Australian sound mix, with dialogue barely audible over atmospheric noise. The US mix gives more voice presence, and thus more attention to the couple and less to the sound of the environment.

“Bastard” is less literal, and more familiar Australian slang than in American.

The film’s only panoramic views of Kakadu grand views of Jabbawonga - are cut.

The cutting of Charlton’s growing fear and exhaustion makes the croc attack more of a shock, and makes her less a foolish victim.

Narrative economy.

“Stickybeak” is Australian-only slang.

Narratively, the scene supplies nothing but a reminder that Wally will return to Dundee and Charlton.

The Australian outback disappears, and along with it an account of Australian tourism - Wally’s “Miss Charlton’s articles are going to put us on the map. We could have thousands of American tourists. They haven’t got anything like this over there” - which might bite any hand that fed it, both because this village could insult US tourists as a possible tourist destination, and because the US has many similar hick villages. Further­ more the film’s defensive, self-deprecatory humour here may have been judged to be out of kilter with an assertive American confidence.

The Italian’s choric commentary on Dundee’s sexual chances with Charlton is a feature of Australian mateship at odds with the US print’s preferred stress on the heterosexual couple and wholesome family entertainment.

“Half his bloody luck”: “bloody” works better as Australian slang than American.

Narrative economy and pretty outback.

“Billabong” is meaningless outside Australia.

It will be seen from th e p reced in g th a t narrative stream lining accounts for m any cuts, an d th a t this is principally why the A ustralian outback h alf loses m ore than its New York half. In the words o f Barry L o n d o n , “we accelerated the pace to the taste o f the A m erican co n su m er.”*11' T h e w orld p rin t also boosts th e fo rm atio n o f th e D undee-C harlton couple at th e expense o f A ustralian atm osphere.

T his p ro m o tio n o f h u m an over outback is en h a n c e d by th e sound mix. W ithin th e couple, a n u m b e r o f alterations play u p th e A m eri­ can an d play down th e A ustralian. Several cuts excise A ustralian slang an d less-becom ing behaviour in th e interests o f a m o re WASPish audience.

Overall, then, it was an aesthetic ra th e r th an a cultural ag en d a w hich d eterm in ed P aram o u n t an d H o g an ’s cuts. T he aesthetic con­ siderations are those applied to m ainstream en tertain m en t film. As such, these expectations are m ore strin g en t th an those ap p lied to the m ajority o f A ustralian films shown in the U.S., w hich are exhib­ ited in the U.S. as “a rt” films, as b eing differen t from stan d ard Hollywood (or H ollyw ood-m odelled) fare, films distinguished by th eir good taste, respectability, eleg an t mise-en-scene, p ro m o tio n of characterization over p lo t an d so on: all with the special advantage for a U.S. audience o f n o t having to cope with too foreign a language.

If U.S. editing o f such films is unknow n, this is because it is n o t sections o f films which are cut, b u t w hole films w hich are n o t taken up by U.S. distributors. T h e less-acceptable genres have te n d ed to be m ore culturally specific: the ’70s ocker com edy an d the social-realist film {Love Letters from Teralba Road, Hard Knocks, A Street to Die an d m any oth ers). T h e m ost acceptable g en re - the p erio d film - is less culturally specific th an the excluded categories, b u t som ew hat m ore so th an the m ainstream en te rta in m e n t successes o f The Road Warrior, The M an from Snowy River 2n d “Crocodile”Dundee. The Road Warriorand Snowy River co n form ed to the m ainstream generic expectations o f the action film an d th e W alt Disney W estern respectively. A dopting a less fam iliar generic mix, “Crocodile”Dundee was n o t surprisingly tailored for U.S. distribution. In this context, A ustralian cultural specificity o f necessity loses out; aesthetic criteria do have cultural consequences. H ogan at least would see th a t as a tiny price to pay for “Crocodile”D undee's becom ing the highest-grossing foreign film in th e U.S., as well as a m onstrous success in th e UK, in France, an d in countries as u n ex p ected as D enm ark an d Jap an . C ultural n atio n al­ ists may bewail the loss o f true-blue A ustralia from the film. A m ore realistic view w ould recognize prevailing a n d very stro n g in te rn a­ tional film distribution arrangem ents.

My thanks

MewYork 22.1 NS; 1 25.1 26.1 , 27.1 28.1

AL

32.1

NS

32.2 33.1

PSC NS

35.1

NS

36.1

NS

NS

(A)H

H

Narrative streamlining applied in New York section, too.

“Fucking” is more offensive in the US than in Australia. “Strewth” is Australian slang, not American. “Stone the bloody crows” likewise.

The cocaine sniffer’s reaction shot was doubtless judged superfluous.

US viewers could be assumed to be more familiar than Australian with the grandiose Sensitivity of US Senator Tom Bradley.

In the Australian print, Dundee wanders around Times Square to a wistful guitar soundtrack after being, effectively, jilted by Charlton’s engagement to Richard. There are three possible reasons for this cut; hardnosed American notions of heroism; the fact that these shots focus attention on Dundee at the expense of Charlton; and the inappropriateness of Times Square sleaze to the wholesome family audience.

Curiously, of the three shots placing Dundee in his Plaza Hotel suite, the one is cut which best explains - by showing both the television noise and his distance from the phone - why he does not hear Charlton’s phone call.

A lesser sentimentalism, and a concern with a tighter narrative.

to

D avid Stiven

NOTES

1. The New York Times, New York,14 October 1986.

2. See Knstin Thompson, Exporting Entertainment: America In the World Film Market 1907 - 34, British Film Institute, London, 1985.

3. Susan Dermody and Elizabeth Jacka, The Screening of Australia Volume 1, Currency Press, Sydney, 1987, p.158.

4. Meaghan Morris’ magisterial “Tooth and Claw: Tales of Survival and “Crocodile" Dundee", in Art and Text, Melbourne, 21, p. 42.

5. Dermody and Jacka, op. cit., p.110-11.

6. David White, Australian Movies to the World: The International Success of Australian Filins Since 1970, Fontana Australia, Sydney, and Cinema Papers, Melbourne, 1984.

7. Tim Burstall, Twelve Genres of Australian Film”, in Albert Moran and Tom O’Regan (edd.), An Australian Film Reader, Currency Press, Sydney, 1985, p. 217.

8. Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: the First Eighty Years, Angus & Robertson and Currency Press, Sydney, 1983, p. 220.

9. Dermody and Jacka, op. cit., pp. 67 - 68.

10. CfDermody and Jacka, op.cit., chapter 3, and James Ricketson, “Poor Me vies, Rich Movies”, in Moran and O’Regan (edd.), op. cit., 1985.

11. Australian Film Data, Australian Film Commission, Sydney, 1988, pp. 34 - 35.

12. Part of her Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture at the 1985 Sydney Film Festival, which drew on material from volume 2 of Dermody and Jacka, The Screening of Australia, Currency Press, Sydney, 1988.

13. Morris, op. cit., p. 43.

14. The Bulletin, 15 July 1986.

15. Village Voice, 18 November 1986.

16. Variety, 20 January 1988. Apart from specific references cited above, this paragraph draws on the following sources: Variety, 3July 1985 and 5 November 1986, The Washington Post 20 November 1986, The New York Times 14 October 1986 and Paramount Press Release, 17 November 1986.

17. The New York Times, 14 October 1986.

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F

A

C

S o L R U N H o a a s has been working largely unheralded a t her craft fo r many years. Some say she is obsessed with all things Japanese. But that is only one aspect of this intense and often introspective uniterdirector: “I think I have been an appalling dilettante fo r most of my life, in the sense that I have been doing a number of different things and I have changed course on occasions. I t ’s funny: I ’m still being described as a new, up-and-coming film m aker when I ’m in my forties. ” Although bom in Norway, Hoaas spent most o f her form ative years study­ ing, experiencing and alternating be-

S O L R U N

tween Japanese and Norwegian lifesty­ les. H er artistic education has been d i­ verse: watching American film s whilst growing up inJapan, contempo­ rary theatre studies during the Japanese theatre renaissance, newsroom training a t a Norwegian television station and even a spell amongst Canberra academia.

H oaas studied film a t the Swinburne Institute of Technology and has completed several personal documentaries on Japanese ritual events, as well as a short film poem on Judith Wright (O n E d g e ) . She then m ade the applauded G r e e n T e a a n d Ch e r r y R ip e , a documentary drawn from the reminiscences of Japanese w ar brides: “On coming to Australia I was struck by how conscious Australians are of the wartime experience and how obsessed a lot are with the P O W experience. It

E

S

keeps surfacing in the media and being exploited fo r dram atic effect. If one has a dual or a triple cultural background then it seems only natural to want to consolidate the pieces together. ” Hoaas has further developed that interest in her first feature, A y a , currently in production around Melbourne and parts of Hobart. A ya fo ­ cuses on H oaas’real obsession - p eo p le’s strengths, instincts and rela­ tionships - and backdrops it against cultural cross-currents: “I ’m con­ cerned with making a film that com­ municates to a wide audience, rather H O A A S than the sort of specialized film s I made early on. I have probably been influenced less by Hollywood than other filmmakers. I derive more from Japanese theatre and European filmmaking.

“Poetry is another good basis fo r straight-forward dram atic struc­ ture, where you have internal rhymes and rhythms, parallels and motifs. Even though A ya is about a Japanese war bride, it is also an expression of certain feelings of stages in my life, of being on the outer in a number o f cultural situations. ” With a wry smile Hoaas adds, “My one big dream is to be a violinist in a big orchestra. It would be the ultimate happiness to play the same tune as everyone else. It would be very satisfying. ” P R O F I LE : P A T G I L L E S P I E

PHOTO:PONCH

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PHOTO: PONCH HAWKES

Don McLennan has recently finished post-production on his fourth feature.

B

reakaw ay,

a road movie based

on a cbuddie’ relationship between an American prison escapee (Bruce Boxleitner) and a meek Australian businessman (Bruce Myles), is an action-based character story reminiscent o f M cLennan’s 1987feature, W

yn

& M

e

Hemdale,

.

Slate

M ade fo r Antony I. Ginnane’s International Film Group with a distribution guarantee from

Slate W

yn

& M

e

was the first o f two features McLennan made fo r IFG. The second,

M

u ll,

a little-

seen and vastly underrated fam ily drama, won Nadine Garner Best Actress at the 1988 Australian Film Institute Awards. It was the second occasion McLennan had BREAKAWAY s Breakaway an original script?

I

Yes. J a n Sardi w rote it ab o u t five years ago - u n d e r the AFC-PBL script developm ent schem e ju s t after h e an d M ichael P attinson h a d w orked to g e th e r on Street Hero. As I ’d k n o w ja n fo r som e tim e, a n d we h a d often exchanged ideas, h e gave it to m e to read. I liked it very m uch, b u t th o u g h t no m o re ab o u t it because th e rights w ere tied u p w ith AFC-PBL. T h e script w ent to two o r th re e com panies, b u t for various reasons it n ever h a p p e n e d . T h en , w hen I was finishing Mull, Ja n cam e b ack to m e w ith it an d said, “T h e script’s n ow free. A re you still in te reste d ?” I said I was, a n d th a t’s how I becam e involved.

H ow was the film financed?

T h ro u g h a d istrib u tio n deal w ith S m art Egg P ictures in th e UK, u p against E u ro p e an territories. T h e re m a in d e r was p u t u p by th e Film F inance C o rp o ratio n a n d Film V ictoria.

It is interesting that, with an American in the main role and the rest o f the cast Australian, you went for a UK distribution deal.

I n ev er th o u g h t a b o u t that, to be q uite honest. W hen I w ent away last year to p u t th e deal to g e th er, I flew first to L o n d o n a n d spoke to d istrib u tio n com panies th ere. I always perceived th a t it w ould be easier to p u t th e deal to g e th e r w ith a UK d istrib u to r fo r E u ro p ean rights th a n it w ould be w ith a U.S. d istrib u to r fo r N o rth A m erican rights. It also becam e pretty obvious th a t th e FFC an d Film V ictoria w ould be reasonably a t h o m e w ith p u ttin g th e ir m oney u p against N o rth A m erica a n d A ustralasia in th e deal. O f course, o n ce we h ad th e E u ro p e a n d istrib u to r in place, w hich h ad insisted on an overseas

directed an actress to success in this category. (Eight years earlier, Tracy M ann won the award fo r her role in his fir s t feature,

H

ard

K

n o c k s.)

During the fin a l editing stages o f B r e a k a w a y , McLennan spoke about the fo u r features, his experience with IFG and his views on the current state o f the Australian industry. acto r in o n e o f th e lead roles, th e FFC a n d Film V ictoria w ere m ost k een to see an A m erican acto r in th e cast, seeing th e ir m oney was up against N o rth A m erica an d Australasia.

Were you acting in a producing role as well as director?

Yes. I also h a d Ja n e Ballantyne w orking as co-producer. I m ade the ru n n in g o n th e deals, an d she d id th e follow-up a n d paperw ork. She also took on th e line p ro d u cin g role d u rin g p ro d u ctio n .

What do you perceive as the market for Breakaway?

Ja n Sardi, Ja n e an d I always knew th e m ark et w ould be those 15 yearsold th ro u g h to th e ir early forties. It’s certainly n o t a teen ag e movie, an d we d id n ’t pitch it th a t way. If o n e h ad to narro w it dow n fu rth er, I w ould say th e 20s-to-30s age group.

H ow did you com e to choose Bruce Boxleitner for the lead role?

We gave th e script to a casting ag e n t in Los A ngeles, who d id quite a b it o f w ork p u ttin g to g e th e r nam es fo r us. We also cam e u p w ith a list o f o u r own. O u t o f th e p eo p le w ho w ere available a n d we could afford, we chose B ruce.

B ru ce’s b ack g ro u n d is basically in television, alth o u g h h e d id CINEMA

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ABOVE: JO EY MANCINI (BRUCE BOXLEITNER), RIGHT, KIDNAPS REGINALD LANGSBURY (BRUCE MYLES) IN DON MCLENNAN'S BREAKAW AY. RIGHT: JO EY AND REGINALD. BREAKAW AY. BELOW: HILDA (TONI SCANLAN), REGINALD, MARION (DEBORAH UNGER) AND JO EY. BREAKAW AY. AND; DON MCLENNAN, RIGHT, WITH LONG-TIME COLLABORATOR ZBIGNIEW (PETER) FRIEDRICH, WHO SHOOTS AND EDITS THEIR FILMS.

o n e o r two features som e tim e ago. H e was the co-lead in Scarecrow and Mrs King an d has done quite a few tele-movies, including a rem ake o f Red River.

O n e o f the reasons Bruce w anted to com e o u t h ere was th a t it rep rese n ted an opportunity to get into features. W ith Breakaway, he has m ore than shown h e ’s capable o f carrying a feature. I ’m sur­ prised th a t he h a sn ’t d o n e m ore, to be honest.

What about Bruce Myles? His character has to change from being an accountant-type figure into a crazed bankrupt. That is a fairly difficult thing for an actor to pull off, and Myles does it very well.

Bruce is p a rt o f VIP [Victorian In tern atio n al P ictures], w hich also includes M ichael Pattinson, Jam es H ardy, Mac G udgeon an d Jo n Stephens. W hen Ja n cam e to m e with script for Breakaway, h e said, “I ’ve always th o u g h t o f Bruce paying this ro le.” I ’d seen Bruce in several plays at the M elbourne T h eatre Com pany and so on, an d th o u g h t it was a w onderful idea. Physically, he was ju s t rig h t fo r th e role. B ut I also knew we h ad to have a really top actor, given as you say th e jo u rn e y his character has to take. I th o u g h t Bruce w ould be

fantastic fo r it, an d h e was. His p erfo rm an ce is o u tstanding.

Bruce is also a directo r as well as an acto r a n d w riter. H e co­ d irected Ground Zero with M ichael P attinson, an d h e has d irected quite a lo t o f plays fo r th e MTC an d o th e r com panies. His back­ g ro u n d is th eatre, ra th e r th an films, b u t h e ’s b e e n o n th e o th e r side o f the cam era an d h e is aware how to pitch his p erfo rm an ce for cinem a.

What was the rapport like between Boxleitner and Myles?

They h ad a fantastic relationship, off an d on th e set, an d I th in k th a t shows in th e film.

Before we started shooting, th e two Bruces, myself, D eb o rah U n g er a n d T o n i Scanlan w ent th ro u g h th e script, read in g th e lines an d discussing w hat the p o in t o f each scene was. T h a t was th e ex ten t o f o u r rehearsals. I d o n ’t like to do too m u ch reh earsin g before shooting so as to m ain tain freshness an d spontaneity.

D uring film ing, th e two Bruces sp en t q u ite a lo t o f tim e betw een set-ups ru n n in g th ro u g h scenes betw een themselves. O n ce we g o t on th e set, the th ree o f us w ould th e n w ork to g e th er o n th e p erfo rm ­ ances. W hat m ade it w ork so well was the fact they g o t o n well together.

What roles has Zbigniew (Peter) Friedrich taken on the production?

P eter is d irecto r o f p h o to g rap h y an d supervising editor.

W hat we have d o n e o n this film, w hich we h a d n ’t d o n e b efore, is have two editing room s, with two assembly editors w orking u n d e r P e te r’s supervision. P eter an d I look at th e stuff, m ark u p w hat we want, an d th en th e assembly ed ito r goes to w ork o n it while we go to the o th e r ro o m an d start w orking o n th e n e x t reel. It speeds th e process u p enorm ously, cu ttin g down all th a t sitting-around w aiting while th e splices are d o n e an d th e footage is fo und.

You have had a long association with Friedrich.

I m e t P eter ab o u t twenty years ago at Crawfords, w here we becam e m ates. T h a t was in th e days w hen everybody w orked o n each o th e r ’s films an d nobody h ad any m oney. W hen Hard Knocks cam e along, I chose P eter to sh o o t an d cu t it. T h a t w orked o u t very well, so th e relationship co n tin u ed .

I have a lo t o f resp ect fo r P e te r’s ability as a film m aker, a n d I tru st

24

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his o p in io n an d taste o n m any things. I fin d w orking w ith him very easy because I d o n ’t have to discuss things w ith him . For exam ple, w hen we finish sh o o tin g a film, I very rarely g et involved in th e first cut, lettin g P e te r p u t it together. I th e n step in after th e first cu t an d sit dow n w ith h im at the Steenbeck.

As far as shooting on th e set, especially on Breakaway, o u r u n d e r­ stan d in g b ecam e even m o re u n sp o k e n th a n in th e past. I m ig h t have h a d an id ea o f how to do a p articu lar shot, b u t essentially I le t P eter w ork o u t th e cam era angles an d shots. T h a t saved a lo t o f tim e, because I was free to ru n th ro u g h scenes w ith th e actors.

It is also a w onderful exp erien ce having th e D.O.P. cu t th e film fo r you. It saves a lo t o f tim e o n th e floor because you know th e shots are g o in g to cut.

MULL

exactly th e same: p an ts two inches above th e ankles, th e black fu n ctio n al shoes ...

The scene at the ‘b o m again’ Christian Church seem s very realistic.

How did you cast it?

Jo n S tephens h elp ed with that. G reg A pps from Liz M ullinar cast the p ictu re, b u tjo n sat in on all the casting sessions, as h e ’d h ad quite a lo t o f experience.

J o n also devised a way o f au d itio n in g th e kids via w orkshops, w hich I sa tin on. A fter that, it was decid ed th a tjo n sh o u ld h an d le all th e extras casting.

One o f the m ost interesting relationships in the film is the hom osex­ ual attraction between the two adolescent boys, Guido (Juno Roxas) and Steve (Craig Morrison). How much did that reflect the book?

Why was the title changed from “Mullaway” to MulB W h en th e film was ab o u t to b e released, Film pac [the distributor] cam e back an d said it o u g h t to be called Mull, because “Mullaway” so u n d e d like a film ab o u t fish. W hat Film pac d id n ’t realize is th a t “m u ll” is m o d e m slang fo r “having a jo in t”. I d id n ’t m e n tio n th a t to them ; I really d id n ’t have any say in the m atter.

Personally, I th in k they sh o u ld have left it as “Mullaway”. T h e re ’s a section in th e boo k w here P h o eb e is accused o f “m ulling away h e r tim e.” T h a t’s w here th e title cam e from .

"I DON'T WANT How did you becom e interested in TO DO ANOTHER RITEthe project?

OF-PASSAGE YOUTH

O u r com pany, Ukiyo Films, picked u p th e rights to the novel. I was going to write the script myself, b u t DON'T THINK I'LL I was very busy on o th e r things an d felt th a t I should bring in an o th e r BE DOING ANOTHER w riter who h ad a m ore experience ROAD MOVIE FOR in w riting for kids. So, I ap p ro a ch ed J o n S tephens, who I h ad know n for A W HILE, EITHER." quite a while. Jo n h a d n ’t d o n e a featu re at th a t stage, b u t I th o u g h t it w ould be a goo d p ro ject for him .

FILM IN A HURRY, AND I

The father, Frank Mullins (Bill Hunter), has a mind that seem s set in the 1950s, if not the ’40s. This is also reflected in the production design and the St Hilda locations.

T h e re was certainly th a tfeelin g to the novel, in the way peo p le spoke, a n d even in th e ir th o u g h t processes. We did u p d ate som e o f the dialogue, b u t it still says th e sam e things.

T h e ‘d a te d ’ look is to do with showing th a t theirs is a stm ggling family, w ith out a lo t o f m oney. If you look a ro u n d St Hilda, th a t is very m u ch how it still is, with ch eap housing and flats an d a lo t o f 1940s decor.

As for as the costum es, we w ent fo r the sam e vein. I actually snuck along to a Revival m eetin g to observe how peo p le were dressed. It was

TOP: TRACY MANN AS SAM IN DON MCLENNAN'S HARD KNOCKS. ABOVE: NADINE GARNER AS PHOEBE, LEFT, WITH JODIE (KYM ARA STOWERS) IN DON MCLENNAN'S M U LL BOTH MANN AND GARNER W ON AFI FILM AWARDS PRIZES FOR BEST ACTRESS. BELOW LEFT: JODIE, PHOEBE AND MR MULLINS (BILL HUNTER) IN M U LL

It is m uch th e same, th o u g h m ore ex p a n d ed in the novel. O n e o f th e challenges o f ad ap tin g the bo o k was th a t th ere was so m uch to deal with. So we d ecid ed very early on th a t the film w ould be ab o u t th e girl. It w ould be a year o u t o f h e r life, an d all th e social issues teenage hom osexuality, d ru g addiction, the born-again Christianity, th e eth n ic stuff with h e r G reek frien d an d so on - w ould ju s t be b ack g ro u n d to show how she coped with things.

Mull and Hard Knocks are two films about working-class fem ale adolescents who go through rite-of-passage experiences. Breakaway appears m ore like Slate Wyn & Me, a knock-about fantasy action m ovie about criminals on the run. H ow has this doubling com e about?

C oincidence m o re th a n anything else. T h ey w ere ju s t scripts or novels th a t cam e to m e w hich I liked at th e tim e. I d o n ’t w ant to do a n o th e r rite-of-passage youth film in a hurry, an d I d o n ’t th in k I ’ll be d o in g a n o th e r ro ad movie fo r a while, either.

O n th e o n e h an d , I certainly le a rn t a lot from d o in g Hard Knocks th a t I was able to use in M ull an d Breakaway, in term s o f com position CINEMA

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25

RIGHT: SLATE (MARTIN SACKS), W YN (SIMON BURKE) AND BLANCHE (SIGRID THORNTON) IN DON MCLENNAN'S SLATE WYN & ME. FACING PAGE: FILMING MULL ON ST KILDA BEACH. PETER FRIEDRICH IS LOOKING THROUGH THE ARRI CAMERA, WHILE MCLENNAN STANDS SLIGHTLY TO HIS RIGHT.

o f shots, cutting an d pacing - those sort o f things.

But I certainly d id n ’t do Breakaway and M ull be­ cause they w ere sim ilar to Slate Wyn & Me and Hard Knocks.

In Mull and Hard Knocks you have made two films where the lead performers have won Best Actress at the AFI Awards. To what do you attribute that success?

T h e first step was casting the rig h t person. T he myth o f the d irec to r’s being able to get a p erform ­ ance o u t o f an actor th a t nobody else can is w hat it is: a myth. If actors c a n ’t act, you ca n ’t m ake them .

W hat I try to do for all my actors is create an en v ironm ent w hereby they feel com fortable with an d confident in w hat they are doing. They also know they have a fair am o u n t o f latitude to play with it. For exam ple, if the actors are having trouble playing a scene, you know it’s n o t because they c a n ’t do it, b u t for som e o th e r reason. It’s eith er the lines o f dialogue, the m otivation, the way they walk across a r o o m ... whatever. I always look to see w hat the pro b lem is and try to rectify it.

I was certainly very lucky to w ork with b oth Tracy M ann an d N adine G arner, who are great actors. But one thing to rem em b er ab o u t films for which actors win awards is that usually th e actor has the d o m in a n t role. In Hard Knocks, Tracy M ann is in every scene, so, if sh e ’s good, she looks fantastic; the same with N adine in M u ll I ’m n o t taking anything away from Tracy o r N adine, b u t a lot of people looking at those films and ju d g in g perform ances can get taken in by that.

How did you becom e involved with producer Howard Grigsby?

"IF THE INDUSTRY

WERE BASED MORE H ow ard h ad ju st finished working ALONG THE LINES OF on K ubrick’s Full MetalJacketwhen he cam e ou t to work as head of THE W AY IT IS IN L.A., p ro d u ctio n for G innane. P art of WHERE YOU'RE ONLY AS his deal was th at he w ould be al­ lowed to p roduce two films a year GOOD AS YOUR LAST for IFG. PICTURE, THERE WOULD H ow ard is the best p ro d u ce r I have w orked with and one o f the BE A LOT LESS PEOPLE few creative producers in the coun­ IN THIS COUNTRY try. H e is a w riter as well, and has also directed, so he understands MAKING FILMS." th e problem s you have as a direc­ to r an d writer. You can sit down with him an d have an intelligent discussion ab o u t the script, the pacing and rhythm , the structure.

H ow ard d o esn ’t work for G innane any m ore. H e has set him self u p as an in d e p e n d e n t an d he has a couple o f projects he is trying to get off the ground. Hopefully, w e’ll do an o th erfilm together. Itisju st a m atter o f finding the rig h t project.

SLATE

WYN

& ME

Your film makes a significant change to the novel: the schoolgirl, Blanche, has becom e a school teacher.

T h e reason was casting; sim ple as that.

I h ad picked up the rights to the novel an d started developing it with [p roducer] T om Burstall, w hom I ’d known for aw hile. We cam e 26

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u p with several drafts o f the script, w hich Film V ictoria financed. But w hen we showed it a ro u n d town, we c o u ld n ’t g et a bite. As it w asn’t a script th at allowed fo r overseas actors, we co u ld n ’t go th a t route. It had to be an A ustralian picture.

We w ere basically at th e e n d o f th e ro ad w hen T om said, ‘T o n y G innane is back in town doing a few things. Why d o n ’t we talk to him ?” T om was dealing with G in n an e at th a t p o in t on Great Expecta­ tions. So, T om took it over to Tony, w ho read it a n d said he was interested. H e was ab o u t to leave for e ith e r C annes o r MIFED an d he took the script with him . H e cam e back with fo u r offers from overseas com panies w ithin a week.

O ne of the offers was from H em dale, b u t it was co n d itio n al on casting som eone o f stan d in g in Australia. Now, Sigrid T h o rn to n had read the novel an d w anted to play B lanche, b u t we felt th e p a rt was a bit too young for her. But w hen we c o u ld n ’t g et anyw here w ith it, Sigrid cam e back an d said she was still in terested , provided we aged the girl into h e r m id 20s.

T ony an d H em dale were keen on th e idea, so we w ent ah e ad and ad ap ted the script accordingly.

That was a substantial change to make; it m eant you ended up with a very different film.

No q u esu o n ab o u t it w hatsoever. T h a t decision also lim ited the dram atic possibilities. We lost the sexual tension o f a 15-year-old girl’s being stuck with the two guys as they travel aro u n d th e outback.

T hey w ould have m ade for a m o re intense, m o re sensual film.

When the school teacher begins having em otional feelings for the male characters, it feels as if Sigrid Thornton is struggling to find the right way to make her actions believable to an audience. Do you think the script changes led to that confusion?

Yes. I w anted Sigrid to go a lot fu rth e r w ith it th a n she did. For exam ple, th e re is a scene w here h e r h air gets cut. I w ould have liked to have seen h e r h air actually cu t off d u rin g th e sh o t u n til it was only an inch o r so long. B ut Sigrid c o u ld n ’t do that, fo r various reasons.

T h at so rt o f affected everything else.

P art o f th e p ro b lem may have b ee n because I h a d n ’t d o n e a film o f th a t size before. Maybe I d id n ’t feel secure en o u g h to p u sh Sig as h a rd as I could have. Sig d id n ’t tru st m e as m u ch as she w ould have liked to. She looks very m u ch at sea in th e film, because she w asn’t as focused o n th e role as she sh o u ld have. I blam e m yself partly for that.

INDUSTRY

MATTERS

You have been involved with the Australian film industry as an independent filmmaker since the early 1970s, originally being the manager o f the M elbourne Filmmakers Co-operative. What are your impressions o f the changes within the industry?

T here are m any good things ab o u t the A ustralian film industry. It is ju st so d am n difficult getting to m ake films th a t to be allowed to m ake them , no m a tte r th e circum stances, is ju s t fantastic.

W ithout taking anything away from that, if th e re has b een m ajor d isap p o in tm ent in th e industry, from a p ro d u c e r’s p o in t o f view, it is th a t we d id n ’t develop th e ta len t we could have in the 1980s with all th a t 10 BA m oney. T h e re hav en ’t b een , with few exceptions, any substantial talents to em erge from th e industry. I ’m talking ab o u t actors, directors an d w riters. We d id n ’td isc o v e ra n o th e r Mel Gibson, a Bryan Brown o r a Ju d y Davis. A few people have com e up, b u t nobody has h it th a t level. T h e re have b e e n no new P eter W eirs or F red Schepisis.

I d o n ’t agree w ith peo p le who say 10 BA was a waste o f money.

T he m o re m oney we can p u t into the film industry, the better. N or do I agree th a t we should only be m aking so m any films a year. T h a t’s the old boys’ netw ork to me.

W hen th e 10 BA m oney was aro u n d , the unions resisted overseas actors very strongly. You can see th e ir point, bu tw e should have b een brin g in g m ore overseas actors o u t here. T h e films th a t w ere m ade w ould have b ee n m ark eted a lo t b e tte r an d they w ould have ea rn ed considerably m o re m oney back. T h a t was a big mistake.

Actually, I d o n ’t see any fu tu re for th e industry if it stays con­ tain ed w ithin A ustralia. T h e country is n o t big en o u g h to su p p o rt it; we ju s t d o n ’t have th e peo p le h ere who can draw in the crowds at the box-office.

Do you just mean actors?

Actors, directors, writers. T h ere are a lot o f peo p le h ere who g et big fees for m aking films. B ut th e re are very, very few who can justify it.

A ustralian actors get substantial fees to app ear in films, yet in m ost cases th e ir nam es alone c o u ld n ’t gu aran tee getting th e ir salary back at th e box-office, let alone the film ’s budget. T he sam e thin g applies to writers, directors an d producers. If the industry were based m ore along th e lines o f the way it is in L.A., w here you’re only as good as your last picture, th e re w ould be a lo t less people in this country m aking films.

Why did that situation developed here?

T h ere was so m uch 10 BA m oney aro u n d th at pro d u cers could afford to take big fees for p u ttin g deals together. T h e actors, directors an d writers th e n h ea rd w hat th e pro d u cers w ere getting an d d em an d ed big fees too. We are still w earing that. T h e cost o f som e crews here, and the awards th a t they w ork u n d er, are ju s t ridiculous. We are pricing ourselves o u t o f th e m arket.

At th e the h eig h t o f 10 BA, people said they w anted to m ake a film

for, say, $3 m illion. B ut how m any o f these p eo p le seriously th o u g h t ab o u t w h eth er they could g et th a t $3 m illion back? I have b een a bit guilty ab o u t it myself, too. A lot o f film m akers think th a t the m ark etin g an d selling o f a p ictu re is a dirty exercise an d th at som eone else should do it. I fin d th a t even now, especially with the young p eople com ing into th e industry, th a t th e re is an aversion to aspects o f th eir jo b . For exam ple, an actor I know of, who h ad ju st com e o u t o f NIDA, said to the directo r o f h e r first film, “I d o n ’t do publicity.” I m ean th a t’s crazy. Every lead actor should be doing publicity.

You said earlier that overseas elem ents are essential to Australian films. D oes that mean you feel the kind o f deal-generated projects set up by the Film Finance Corporation are the best way to go?

No. T h e FFC has two problem s, w hich I ’m sure it is aware of. First, th e re is a o ne-door policy. I ’d hate to g et on the w rong side o f the FFC, for any reason. Second, everything is deal-driven. T h e FFC d o esn ’t w ant to g et involved in assessing a script, o r w hat sort o f film it is. But I d o n ’t know how you can responsibly p u t m oney into a film an d n o t assess those things.

In a sense, it is probably not that much different to the 10 BA era.

W hat the FFC is trying to do is p u t th a t assessm ent back on the distributors an d m arketing people, w hich is n o t a b ad way to go, I suppose. But th e FFC has its problem s, th e re is no d o u b t ab o u t that, although it has le arn t an awful lot in the past twelve m onths.

I m ust say, tho u g h , th a t th e FFC has b een very good to us. T h e h elp an d assistance it has given us is fantastic. I have no com plaints.

You made two films with Antony I. Ginnane’s International Film Group. How did you find that experience?

You always have an interesting ex perience w orking with G innane. I have a lot o f respect fo r Tony; he is probably o ne o f th e few true p ro d u cers in the country. H e is a g rea t deal m ak er an d it is a pity th at h e ’s n o t d o in g any m o re films in Australia. W h at’s h a p p e n e d to him [feeling p ressured to w ork outside th e FFC set-up and, thus, over­ seas] is n o t right.

O n th e o th e r h an d , you have to be on your toes with Tony. H e takes no prisoners w hen h e does a deal with you, w hich is fair. H e ’s a businessm an, an d th a t’s his business.

T ony never in terfered creatively in any o f the films I did. We have h ad o u r disagreem ents over the en d in g o f Slate Wyn & Me, which were resolved, b u t ap a rt from th a t he d id n ’t intervene.

As fo r the m oney side, we were constantly fighting. But th a t’s all p art o f business.

What was the disagreement over the film ’s ending?

T h e pro b lem is th at th e p rincipal character, Wyn [M artin Sacks], is a guy w h o ’s quite cold-bloodedly killed som eone with an axe. T h ere is no way he is going to be allowed to walk off into the sunset. H e knows he is going to die, b u t he feels he has to com e back to see the girl.

T h e dispute was over how the scene betw een Wyn an d th e girl should be played. H em dale w anted it to be far m o re em o tio n al with “I love you” an d all th a t sort o f teary stuff. I w anted it to be a little h ard er, m o re fu nctional an d pragm atic.

What is your next project?

I d o n ’t know yet; th ere are a couple o f projects I ’m looking at.

I m ig h t go to live in L.A. n ex t year. I figured I m ig h t as well go b roke th e re as here. I ’m now with th e W illiam M orris Agency an d it has expressed in terest in my w orking in Am erica. B ut if som ething good com es u p h ere, I will certainly con sid er it.

T h e funny th in g ab o u t my career is th a t nobody ever really com es to m e with projects. I have only ever b ee n ap p ro a ch ed once with a film w here the m oney was in place an d they w anted m e to direct. I have en g in ee re d an d developed all my projects; I guess I ’ll co n tin u e d o in g that.

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PAUL

KALINA

Today, many Australian films and tele-features are released directly to video. As a result, they are often ignored. To help counter this, Cin e m a P a p e r s zuillpublish in every issue short reviews of a ll Australian, first-release, feature-length videos. Films made inforeign locales, but with sig­ nificant Australian participation, will also be included.

As well, all those Australian films which have been theatrically released, but are now ap­ pearing on video fo r the first time, will be listed with relevant details. Shorts and documenta­ ries of special interest will also be covered.

Filmmakers and distributors whofeel they have videos ofinterestfo r this section should send information to Paul Kalina at Cinema Papers, 43 Charles Street, Abbotsford 3067, orfax it to (03) 427 9255.

re e r in film m aking as a stu n tm an , works som e com ic paro d ies o f television cop serials into this otherw ise stan d ard g en re piece.

D irector Brian T renchard-S m ith keeps the action moving, m aking th e m ost o f P erth locations an d a shoe-string budget, b u t fails to illicit anything m o re th an p erfu n cto ry perform an ces from the actors.

DRIVING FORCE Director: AndrewJ. Prowse. Executive producers: Antony I Ginnane, Marilyn G. Ong. Scriptwriter: Patrick Edgeworth. Directors of photography: Kevin Lind, Richard Michalak. Editor: Tony Pater­ son. Distributor: Filmpac. Cast: Don Swayze, Sam Jones, Catherine Bach.

A BO VE: W ILLIAM ANDERSON (JO HN STANTON), RIGHT, IS HELD CAPTIVE AFTER DISCOVERING AN ILLEGAL HEROIN STASH IN BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH'S D A Y OF THE PANTHER.

DAY OF THE PANTHER Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith. Producer: Damien Parer. Scriptwriter: Peter West. Director of photography: Simon Akkerman. Editors: Kerry Regan, Davidjaeger. Distributor: CIC-Taft. Cast: Edwardjohn Stazak, John Stanton, Jim Richards, Zale Daniel.

Jason Blade (E d w a rd jo h n Stazak), William A nderson (John S tanton) an d A n d erso n ’s d a u g h ter L inda (Zale D an iel), all graduates o f the legendary P an th e r School o f M artial Arts in H ong Kong, in te rcep t a T riad drug ring deal in the course o f their duties as undercover investigators. R eturning to Perth, w here Linda is m u rd ered by drug king Baxter (Jim R ichards), A nderson m asterm inds a plan th at sees Blade infiltrate the crim inal dealings o f a n otorious businessm an to find the ruthless killer.

T h e centre-pieces o f this m arshal artsaction film are the num erous fight sequences, which are staged for m axim um realism by the skilled fighters in the principal roles.

Scriptw riter P eter West, who began his ca­ 28

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Run-of-the-mill road-action g en re film ab o u t a tow-truck driver, Steve (Sam J o n e s ), trying to survive in a not-too-distant fu tu re o n the treachero u s highways. H ere h e finds him self in an ex ten d e d co n fro n tatio n with th e b ar­ baric Black Knights who, in vehicles resem ­ bling th e hot-rod buggies o f M ad M ax 2, control th e tow-truck trade by causing car smashes. Like Max, Steve is the archetypal outsider whose only co n n ectio n with h u ­ m anity is his young d au g h ter until, quite predictably, a love in terest is in tro d u ced w hich enables the family to be reconstituted.

U nin sp ired direction, b land p erfo rm ­ ances an d a form ula-bound script set this ap a rt from its n u m ero u s precursors, such as the spirited M ad Max series, o r the self-con­ sciously satirical Commando (Richard Lester).

M uch o f th e film is taken u p by a dull sub­ p lo t in w hich Steve argues with his tyrannical parents-in-law for custody o f his child. T h e film ’s setting is a w eird am algam o f the Dynasty-Yike settings in which the in-laws live an d the apocalyptic w astelands w here an American-Asian com m unity com m ands the cut-throat trade in car parts. T h e stu n t w ork is by G rant Page (M ad M ax).

derson. Distributor: Roadshow. Cast: P.J. Soles, John Warnock, Susan Stenmark.

Innocent Prey could be reg a rd e d as a virtual en cy clo p ed ia o f th rille r a n d h o rro r-film conventions an d cliches. A fter a series o f harrow ing en co u n ters with h e r psychopathic h u sb an d in Dallas, Texas, th e in n o c e n t prey o f th e film ’s title escapes to th e fatal shores o f Sydney, w here a double-w ham m y o f hairraising adventures await her. N o t only does th e bloodthirsty psycho som ehow m an ag e to m ake his way to h e r d o o r, b u t h e r h o st tu rn s o u t to be a d e m e n te d a n d to rm e n te d N or­ m an Bates-like m an using elab o rate surveil­ lance e q u ip m e n t to w atch h e r every move.

Missing the possibilities o f this pot-pourri, Innocent Prey is m a rred by its bland, w ork­ m anlike d irectio n , an im plausible script an d listless perform ances. It is an in te rn atio n a l ‘n u m b e r p la te ’ film in every sense o f the term . T h ere is a m usic score by Brian May, and b rief ap p earan ces by G rigor Taylor an d a solem n M artin Balsam.

JILTED Director: Bill Bennett. Producer: Bill Bennett.

Scriptwriter: Bill Bennett. Director of photogra­ phy: Geoff Simpson. Editor: Denise Hunter. Dis­ tributor: Home Cinema Group. Cast: Richard

INNOCENT PREY Director: Colin Eggleston. Producer: Colin Eggleston. Scriptwriter: Ron McLean. Director of photography: Vincent Monton. Editor: Pippa An­

A B O V E: RICHARD M OIR AS AL IN BILL BENNETT'S JILTED.

LEFT: FILM MAKER M ARK LEW IS AND A CANE TOAD

CANE TOADS - AN UNNATURAL HISTORY Director: Mark Lewis. Producer: Tristram Miall.

Scriptwriter: Mark Lewis. Director of photogra­ phy: Jim Frazier. Editor: Lindsay Frazier. Distribu­ tor: Hoyts Polygram Video.

A social history o f th e Q u een slan d cane toad w hich imaginatively b len d s fictional an d d o cu m en tary techniques, bizarre fact an d true-life d ram a, light-hearted com edy an d social com m entary. Released for sell-through a t $29.95.

“CROCODILE” DUNDEE II

Moir, Jennifer ClufF, Steve Jacobs, Tina Bursill, Helen Mutkins.

W ashed u p in a holiday re so rt is a h an d fu l o f ch aracters seeking refuge from an uneasy past. T h e te m p e ra m e n ta l cook (R ichard M oir) has b e e n sacked fro m alm ost every o n e o f his previousjobs; th e m a n ag e r (Steve Jacobs) c a n n o t escape a failed m arriage, V ietnam o r th e sham e o f sexual a n d m ana­ gerial im potency; th e acco u n tan t Paula (Tina Bursill) tu rn s to fiction to deal w ith h e r desires a n d inhibitions; an d th e waitress Cindy (H e le n M utkins) co n tin u es to be m istreated by u n ca rin g lovers.

T h e ap p earan ce o f an enigm atic stranger (Jen n ifer Cluff) catalyses various reactions am o n g st th e group. In tim e, each will re­ cover to realize h is /h e r longing fo r h u m a n co n tac t a n d an ability to take charge o f h is / h e r life.

Bill B e n n ett’s fourth feature sticks closely to a script, ra th e r th a n relying on th e improvisational te ch n iq u e o f his previous films.

T h e resu lt is a disarm ingly loose storyline that, n o n etheless, succeeds in u n itin g the disparate quests in a tangled web o f relatio n ­ ships. Film ed on th e ever-shifting sands o f F raser Island, the setting becom es an ideal co m p lem en t to th e film ’s d epiction o f tran ­ sien t a n d fragile relationships.

D esp ite th e to rrid -s o u n d in g su b je c t m atte r, B e n n e tt portrays th e ch a ra c te rs’ behaviour, m annerism s a n d language w ith a playful an d slightly-m ocking tone, finding m u ch co m ed y in the laconic a n d vernacular.

As o n e has le a rn t to ex p e ct from B e n n e tt’s work, th e p erfo rm an ces are fresh an d finelytu n ed .

STRIKE OF THE PANTHER Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith. Producer: Damien Parer. Scriptwriter: Peter West. Director of photography: Simon Akkerman. Editors: Kerry Regan, David Jaeger. Distributor: CIC-Taft. Cast: Edwardjohn Stazak,John Stanton,Jim Richards, Paris Jefferson.

S equel to Day o f the Panther, w hich was shot a t th e sam e tim e as th e original.

M ore bo n e-cru n ch in g action as m artial a rtse x p ertja so n Blade (E d w ard jo h n Stazak) seeks arch-rival B axter (Jim R ich ard s), who has k id n a p p ed his lover, A n d erso n ’s niece, Je m m a (P arisJefferson).

Director: John Cornell. Producers: John Cornell, Jane Scott. Scriptwriters: Paul Hogan, BrettHogan.

Director of photography: Russell Boyd. Editor: David Stiven. Cast: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon. Distributor: CBS-Fox Video.

T h e im m ensely successful sequel to th e boxoffice h it o f 1986. It will now also be rem em ­ b ere d a s jo h n M eillon’s last screen p erfo rm ­ ance.

THE THIRD WAVE Director: Eric Bogle. Producer: Doug Hawkins.

Scriptwriter: Doug Hawkins. Photography: Greg Low. Editor: Andrew Arestides. Distributor: Efex Pty Ltd, Sydney. Cast: Ben Mendelsohn, Gia Carides, Georgina Banks.

D esigned specifically as a high-school discus­ sion starter, this 28-m inute video deals with th e issue o f AIDS am ongst a g ro u p o f h etero ­ sexual teenagers.

THIS FABULOUS TUESDAY Director: Gary Gray. Producer: Bryan Martin.

Scriptwriter: Rhett Kirkwood. Photography: Colin Skyba, Jim Thomson, Kent Smith. Editor: Colin Skyba. Distributor: Virgin Vision.

D etailed an d co m p reh en siv e celeb ratio n (one hesitates to call it a docum entary) o f the M elbourne Cup, p rese n ted by th e horse ra c e ’s m ajo r sp o n so r, F o ster’s L ager. It contains som e in terestin g archival footage, courtesy o f M ovietone News an d the Na­ tional Film a n d S o und Archive, an d u n criti­ cal b ackg ro u n d in fo rm atio n o n m any facets o f the fam ous race. T h e irritatingly sancti­ m onious n arratio n is provided by Bill Col­ lins.

THER

RELEASES

ARIA (Segment 5) Director: Bruce Beresford. Producer: Don Boyd.

Scriptwriter: Bruce Beresford. Director of pho­ tography: Dante Spinotti. Editor: Marie Therese Boiche. Music performed by: Carol Neblett, Rene Kollo, Munich Radio Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf (conductor). Distributor: Roadshow. Cast: Eliza­ beth Hurley, Peter Birch.

Bruce B eresfo rd ’s seg m en t o f this com pila­ tion ‘o p e ra ’ film is based o n th e aria ‘Gluck, das m ir v e rb lie b ’ fro m E rich W olfgang K orngold’s Die Tote Stadt.

AFTRS VIDEOS Thé Australian Film, Télévision and Radio School has released several industry-re­ lated videos, D avid Puttnam r- Industry Seminar was recorded when the promi­ nent producér and former chief execu­ tive officer o f Columbia Pictures visited the AFTRS earlier this year. The “1989 Filmmaker Interviews” series contains interviews with writer Robert Caswell, director o f photographyJohn Seale, play­ wright David Williamson, and directors Vincent Ward, Stephen McLean and Yahoo Serious. The four tapes in the “Writers on Writing” series are designed as audio-visual handbooks on the skills and practices o f writing for film, com­ edy, television and radio. “Shaping Your Sound” is a series o f 80-minute videos on professional recording techniques, pre­ sented by engineer, producer and AFTRS lëcturer Tom Luhin. Also, therë is thé final programme in a series on the forms and functions o f screen music which focusës on the work o f composer Bruce Smeaton.

CRAWFORD CLASSICS Crawford Productions has launched a video label, Crawford Classics, which will distribute select mini-series, tele-features and series made by the Melbourne-based production house. The videos will be sold to the public through Myer depart­ ment shops and direct mail-order. ' The initial release comprises the com­ plete, 4 1/2 hour All The Rivers Rim ($59.95) and three episodes o f The Zooh Family ($29.95, the entire series to be released in three-episode instalments in subsequent months).

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DEAD CALM Director: Philip Noyce. Producers: Terry Hayes, Doug Mitchell, George Miller. Scriptwriter: Terry Hayes, from the novel by Charles Williams. Direc­ tor of photography: Dean Semler. Editor: Richard Francis-Bruce. Distributor: Warner Home Video.

Cast: Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman, Billy Zane.

S uspense th rille r p ro d u c e d by K ennedy M iller an d based o n th e novel by C harles W illiams. Reviewed in Cinema Papers, May 1989.

FIRST CONTACT Directors: Bob Connelly, Robin Anderson. Pro­ ducers: Bob Connelly, Robin Anderson. Direc­ tors of photography: Tony Wilson, Dennis O ’Rourke. Editors: Stewart Young, Martyn Down.

Distributor: Home Cinema Group.

DOWN UNDER VIDEO Canberra-based Down Under Video has recently completed shooting 12 videos designed for the demurely-tided “adult market”, four o f which, True Blue, Phone Sex Girls, The Australian Connection and Aussie Vice, have been released. Execu­ tive producer John Lark believes that, apart from a film made in 1984, these are the first locally-made features o f their kind. . The idea of producing such material locally came to him in 1984, but because o f uncertainty in the legislation Lark put the idea on the back-burner. “Although it’s cheaper to buy just the Australian video rights from other producers, I thought it was an ideal way to earn some:: exports, instead o f us purchasing every­ thing.”

The videos are assembled in both Xand R-rated versions for local release, add to suit the censorship requirements o f the countries to which they will be exported, which already include the U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Scandi­ navia, Korea, Hong Kong and much o f South America.

Although it is illegal to market, dis­ tribute or sell X-rated material outside the ACT and Northern Territory, the material is available in other states mainly through mail-order houses established in the ACT. The X-rated market is said to turnover $25 million annually.

Nonetheless, Lark admits that the fu­ ture o f the X classification is by no means certain. Significantly, a bill currently before the ACT Parliament will see Xrated material subject to a 20 per cent sales tax, a move that will implicitly legiti­ mize the industry and turn it into a poten­ tially lucrative public revenue earner.

As the Dims are entirely financed by Down Under Video and its American partner Parliament Video USA, the pos­ sibility o f raising money under 10 BA tax incentives was never really an issue. But, says Lark, it was discussed with his ac­ countants, who “felt it was not the correct, thing to do, not until the legislation is far more settled”.

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W hile research in g in 1980 a p la n n e d film o n A ustralian colonialism in P ap u a New G uinea, R obin A n d erso n stu m b led u p o n film sh o t in the 1930s rec o rd in g th re e A ustralians’ enco u n terw ith an ‘u n d isco v ered ’ society living in th e highlands. T h a t footage form s th e basis o f this d ocum entary, w hich w on th e G rand Prix o f th e C inem a d u Reel Festival in 1983. A fascinating d o cu m en tary ab o u t co­ lonialism an d colonialist attitudes.

GLEAMING THE CUBE Director: Graeme Clifford. Producers: Lawrence Turman, David Foster. Scriptwriter: Michael Tolkin. Director of photography: Reed Smoot.

Editor: John Wright. Distributor: Filmpac. Cast: Christian Slater, Steve Bauer, Ed Lauter.

A rm ed w ith little m o re th a n his skateboard, B rian (C hristian Slater) sets o u t to investi­ gate the m u rd e r o f his Asian half-brother, team ing u p with a cop w ho is p re p a re d to take th e young boy seriously. D irected by expatriate G raem e C lifford (Burke and Wills, Frances), Gleaming the Cube is a m o d est an d u n s p e c ta c u la r h y b rid o f com in g -o f-ag e d ram a an d thriller-action film b u ilt a ro u n d skateboard riding.

star football player. Today, th e cast is;a hall o f fam e o f sorts o f th e local industry, th e film ’s th e m e a n d tre a tm e n t ideal subject-m atter fo r a study o f th e ‘o ck e r’ tradition.

LUIGIS LADIES Director: Judy Morris. Producer: Patric Juillet.

Scriptwriters: Jennifer Claire,Judy Morris, Wendy Hughes, Ranald Allen. Photography: Steve Ma­ son. Editor: Pamela Bemetta. Distributor: First Release. Cast: Wendy Hughes. Sandy Gore, Anne Tenney.

A lleged com edy dealin g w ith th re e w om en w ho m e e t regularly a t a fashionable restau ­ ra n t to discuss th e p ro b lem s in th e ir lives. It was d irec ted an d co-written by actress Jlid y M orris, an d executive p ro d u c e d by fellow actress W endy H ughes. Reviewed in Cinema Papers, May 1989.

BELOW :CEE (SAN DY G O R E), LUIGI (DAVID RAPPAPO RT), SARA (W EN DY HUGHES) AND JA N E (ANN E TEN NEY) IN JU D Y M O RRIS' LU IG IS LADIES.

MALCOLM

A B O V E: M ARTIN (JO HN W ATERS) AND AIN SLIE (JU D Y M ORRIS)

Director: NadiaTass. Producers: NadiaTass, David Parker. Scriptwriter: David Parker. Photography: David Parker. Editor: Ken Sallows. Distributor: Hoyts Polygram Video. Cast: Colin Friels, John Hargreaves, Lindy Davies.

IN MICHAEL RO BERTSO N 'S G O IN G SANB.

GOING SANE Director: Michael Robertson. Producer: Tom Jeffrey. Scriptwriter: John Sandford. Director of photography: Dean Semler. Editor: Brian Kavanagh. Distributor: Roadshow. Cast: John Waters, Judy Morris, Linda Cropper.

Som ew here in this alleged com edy ab o u t a successful executive’s mid-life crisis is a bleak an d absurdist p o rtra it o f co rp o rate life, a scathing perspective o n th e legacy o f m in in g com panies an d a jolly satire o f middle-class n o tions o f status. B ut these in ten tio n s are b u rie d b en e ath woefully in an e sequences th a t w ould be m o re a t h o m e in a “Carry O n ” film, a feckless an d throwaway attitu d e to­ w ard th e m oral issues to w hich th e film alludes an d a view o f w om en th a t sees each as an object o f ridicule.

THE GREAT MACARTHY Director: David Baker. Producer: David Baker.

Scriptwriter: John Romeril. Based on the novel, A Salute to the Great McCarthy, by Barry Oakley. Direc­ tor of photography: Bruce MacNaughton. Editor: John Scott. Distributor: Filmpac. Cast: John Jarratt, Judy Morris, Barry Humphries.

A 1974 com edy co n c ern in g th e trials an d tribulatio n s o f M acArthy (John J a rra tt), a

G enial com edy in w hich a tim id in v en to r (Colin Friels) jo in s forces w ith a laconic crim inal (John H argreaves) an d his rightm in d e d g irlfrien d (Lindy D avies). R eleased for sell-through at $29.95.

THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER 2 Director: Geoff Burrowes. Producer: Geoff Burrowes. Scriptwriter: John Dixon. Photography: Keith Wagstaff. Editor: Gary Woodyard. Distribu­ tor: Hoyts Polygram Video. Cast: Brian Dennehy, Tom Burlinson, Sigrid Thornton.

Sequel to th e p o p u la r The M an From Snowy River released fo r sell-through a t $29.95.

THE RIGHTHAND MAN Director: Di Drew. Producers: Steven Grives, Tom Oliver, Basil Appleby. Scriptw riter: H elen Hodgman. Based on the novel by Katherine Peyton. Photography: Peter James. Editor: Don Saunders. Cast: Rupert Everett, Hugo Weaving, Catherine McClements, Jennifer Claire. Distribu­ tor: Roadshow.

All th e in g red ien ts are h e re fo r a heady, p o t­ b o ilin g m e lo d ram a : a h a n d s o m e sq u ire (R u p ert Everett) in love w ith a girl (C ath er­ in e M cClem ents) o f low er social standing; a •

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AFTRS Victoria An Introduction to Animation Cinematography Defamation Law for TV and Radio How to Get the Money and Make the Film The Director - Theoretical Workshop Western Australia Commissioning A Corporate Video

APRIL JA N U A R Y New South Wales Music and Television Recording Certificate Course - Stage 2 South Australia Drama Script Analysis and Breakdown Tasmania Radio Journalism

FEBRUARY New South Wales Music and Television Recording Certificate Course - Stage 1 The Producer, The Market, The Audience Research Queensland Producer’s Relationships South Australia Actors Workshop - Working with the Director and the Camera Victoria Script Editing Western Australia Broadcasting Law

MARCH New South Wales Commissioning and Making Corporate Videos Production Accountancy Successful Dealmaking Film Marketing Successful Packaging Queensland The Art Department Video Production Course

New South Wales Production Management Film M u s ic -T h e Final Dimension Television Commercials Production The Pitch AMS Audiofile Queensland Post Production Sound South Australia PCs in Production Tasmania Location Recording Victoria Getting the Most out of Your PC Introduction to Film Equipment and Processing Actor/D¡rector Relationship Western Australia Audio Location

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A

BIOGRAPHICAL

SKETCH

BY

SCOTT

MURRAY

JOHN FARROW 1 9 0 4

A USTRALIAN-BORNJOHN FARROW wrote twenty-four features and

A U T H O R ’S N O T E

This article, written specifically for this issue of Cinema Papers, represents the first known attempt at a comprehensive summary of John Farrow’s life and work.

It is nevertheless a preliminary sketch, based in large part on published sources.

The author intends to follow it up with detailed research and interviews in the U.S. at a later date.

Some of Farrow’s work has not been personally sighted and, where applicable, the published views of others have been used. As a result, and due to space constraints, no critical overview has been attempted, although five of the major features receive slightly more extensive coverage.

Many thanks to Tom Ryan (who wrote one of the featured reviews) for his constructive advice and encouragement.

1 9 6 3

-

/ JL

%

directed forty-three1, among them four of the finest film s noir made in

J L » Hollywood:

W h e r e D a n g e r L iv e s

T h e B ig Cl o c k

(1950) and His

and

K in d

of

N

ig h t

W

om an

Award fo r his work on the screenplay of A r o u n d

the

H

as a

T h o u san d E

yes

(1948);

(1951). He won an Academy W

orld in

80 D a y s (1956), and

he received several prizes fo r direction, including a New York Film Critics’Award (and an Academy Award nomination) fo r

W a k e I slan d

(1942).

Much of Farrow’s work was on low-budget B-films, and it varies somewhat in quality, but at his best he was one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the 1940s and ’50s. To this day, he remains (with George Miller) arguably the finest film m aker bom in Australia. Yet, he has been largely forgotten, his film s ignored by historians and critics. Today, he is probably best known as the father o f M ia Farrow.

It is time to start redressing the balance.

BEGINNINGS FACING PA G E: AUSTRALIAN WRITER-DIRECTOR JO H N FARRO W SITS BESIDE THE CAM ERA DURING THE FILM ING OF HIS LAST FEATURE, JO H N PAUL JO N E S (1 9 5 9 ).

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JO H N NEVILLE VILLIERS FARROW was born on lOFebruary 1904 in Sydney, the son o f Colo­ nel Joseph Rashmere and Lucy (nee Villiers) Farrow.2 He was educated in Australia by private tutors, as well as at Newington College. Later, he went to England and W inchester College, before entering the Royal Naval Academy. After graduating, he took part in several scientific expeditions and later becam e a fellow o f the Royal Geographical and Royal Empire societies.

During his early adulthood, Farrow worked as a first mate on Pacific cargo ships. He spent two years with the U.S. Marine Corps in Latin America, and fought in Nicaragua. H e also began writing short stories and poem s, many o f which were published.

In the late 1920s, Farrow worked his passage to the U.S. According to actor Ray Milland, it was as “a purser on a Matson liner”3. According to scriptwriter and director Tay Garnett, Farrow’s friend and collaborator:

[Farrow] had hit the U.S. beach by jumping ship in San Francisco, having arrived on an Australian windjammer. He played the total ignore for Immigration authorities, an omission he had to correct many years later. [Farrow was arrested in the 1930s for his illegal entry, but was later acquitted.] ...

Johnny was my kind of pefrson]: Of Irish descent, he was a poet of merit, and had been published in all the top literary magazines of the day. Blondly handsome, with unforgettable blue eyes, he could be capsuled as type casting for the Crown Prince.4 Som eone who knew Farrow well, and who would later work with him on Hondo (1953), was actor Michael Pate. He recalls the Farrow o f those early H ollywood years: John Farrow was an enormously wonderful man, and probably one of the toughest sons of a bitch that ever stood on two legs.

When he first came into Hollywood, he was an intimate of a few fairly tough fellows, athletic people likeJohnny Weissmuller. John used to swim with Weissmuller off the coast of Santa Mon­ ica, and they’d think nothing of churning 8, 9, 10 miles up and down that coast. You had to be pretty tough to get out there in winter and swim in that kind of stuff.

John was also a very strong person within himself. But always, I guess, there was that little flaw, where, with all the best endeavour in the world, he didn’t always do things the way he might have wanted to. At his worst, you would probably want to deck him with a chair. But, at his best, he was a gracious, charming person. He would go out of his way to help people without ever letting them know. He would have gifts delivered to people’s doors when they were sick, like a great big copper tureen of soup from Lucy’s. And if somebody needed money, John would give it to them. He was that type of person.5 At som e (undeterm ined) point, Farrow converted to Roman Catholicism and becam e an extremely devout churchgoer. Despite this conversion, he would gain a reputation as a hard drinker and ladies’ man. Pate, however, has a sobering perspective: John loved to drink, but I don’t think he was a serious devotee, like a few I could mention. The Hollywood that Farrow, Ward Bond, John Wayne and a lot of others grew up in is all gone. Their drinking has to be seen in the context of what that time came out of, which was of course the 1920s and the ’30s.

S cripting a r r iv in g in H o l l y w o o d , Farrow put his naval background to use by finding work as a technical and script adviser on films with naval themes. (H e kept up his sailing interests by purchasing a boat, “The Ida”.) His first script credit, for co-authoring the titles on a silentfilm , came in 1927 with White Gold (William K Howard).6 Garnett also worked on that film for DeMille Pictures:

After

THE SHOW DO W N (VICTOR SCHERTZINGER, 1 9 28).

We had first met when [Farrow] was brought to my office ... by a producer who said, ‘The boss wants you should learn Mr. Farrow how to write screen plays.’

We shook hands. Johnny flashed a subtle deadpan wink. I grinned, and it was Instant Friendship.

After the producer had left, John asked, ‘Is it possible for one to teach a tyro to write screen plays?’

‘Notunless he has enough sense to do the job on his own,’ I answered honestly. ‘But possibly I can come up with a few handy do’s and don’ts.’

‘All suggestions will be greatly appreciated,’ grinned Johnny.7 Farrow’s other 1927 credit was for The Wreck o f the Hesperus (Elmer Clifton), which was based on a “story” (i.e., plot outline) he had fashioned from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem.

CLARA BO W , LEFT, IN LADIES OF THE M O B (WILLIAM A . W ELLM AN, 1 9 28).

POLA NEGRI IN THE W O M AN FRO M M O SCO W (LUDW IG BERGER, 19 2 8 ).

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The next year, Farrow worked on two more films at DeMille, Victor Schertzinger’s The Showdown (titles) and Paul Sloane’s The Blue Danube (story). H e then jo in ed Paramount Famous Lasky, where he had “the special assignment o f creating purpose-built dialogue that players who did not speak English too well could handle without difficulty”8.

Farrow worked on William A. W ellman’s Ladies o f the Mob (screenplay), Rowland V. L ee’s The First Kiss (adaptation), Clarence Badger’s Three Week-ends (adaptation) and Ludwig Berger’s ‘sound’ film, The Woman From Moscow (screenplay and titles). During this period, Farrow came into contact with several o f the great names o f American cinema, such as Clara Bow, Fay Wray, Gary Cooper and Pola Negri, all o f whom starred in films he had written.

In 1929, Farrow worked on four projects: W olf Song (Victor F lem ing), A Dangerous Woman (Rowland V. Lee), the classic The Four Feathers (Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack, Lothar Mendes) and The Wheel o f Life (Victor Schertzinger). The next year he scripted Richard Wallace’s Seven Days’Leave and Louis Gasnier’s The Shadow o f the Law. Farrow also had on e o f his published short stories, ‘T h e Bad O n e”, adapted into a film o f the same nam e, starring Dolores Del Rio (George Fitzmaurice, 1930). To coincide with the release, Farrow wrote a novelization illustrated with scenes from the film.

In September o f 1930, Farrow left Paramount Famous Lasky andjoined producer Charles A. Rogers at RKO Productions. His first projects were Inside the Lines (RoyJ. Pommeroy) and The Common Law (Paul L. Stein, 1931). RKO also film ed a play Farrow had written, The Registered Woman, under the screen title, A Woman o f Experience (Harry Joe Brown).

In 1932, Farrow sailed to Tahiti to pursue his greatest love, writing. He began work on a novel and also com piled the world’s first English-French-Tahitian dictionary. That same year, Farrow scripted the British film, Woman in Chains (Basil D ea n ).

Farrow also becam e involved in an unusual project, G. W. Pabst’s Adventures o f Don Quixote (1933). An opera film starring Feodor Chaliapin and several Australian singers, it was made in France in both French and English. Adapted from the Cervantes novel by French p oet Paul Morand, Farrow is credited as “Collaborator for the English Version”.9 T he same year, Farrow’s now-com pleted novel, Laughter Ends, was published in both London and New York. The following year he directed two short films, The Spectacle Maker, from his own screenplay, and War Lord.

In 1935, Farrowjoined MGM and was assigned to The Last o f the Pagans (Richard Thorpe, 1936), which he scripted from Herm an M elville’s Typee. MGM was the studio behind the highly successful Tarzan films and it was on one o f them that Farrow would get his first chance at directing a feature.

MGM had just finished The Capture o f Tarzan but was very concerned that at test screen­ ings it had “terrified the children and brought outraged complaints from irate mothers and w om en ’s organizations”10. The studio decided against releasing it in its present form and, when directorjim McKay refused to bowdlerize it, Farrow took over. Unfortunately, Farrow’s version ran into censorship troubles with the Hays Office and he, too, found him self replaced, this time by Richard Thorpe.

R etided Tarzan Escapes (1936), and with Farrow co-credited for the screenplay, the reworked film had its violence and sexual nuances almost com pletely toned down. Accord­ ing to Gabe Essoe, a historian o f the Tarzan films, “this film marked the third major step in lowering the Tarzan series to the child’s level.”11The m ost controversial lowering o f standards had b een the Hays Office-im posed changes to Jane’s costumes. Originally, her garb, with its waist-high slit, had m atched Tarzan’s brief outfits, and together they had helped give the first films, particularly Tarzan the Ape M an (1932), a rather healthy eroticism. N ow jane was being forced to wear a dress and cut down on her bathing in the river.

The actress who played opposite Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan was Maureen O ’Sullivan.

In many ways, her Jane was on e o f the warmest personifications o f the independent and sexy w om en typical o f 1940s cinema. Born on 17 May 1911 in Boyle, County Roscom m on, Ireland, Maureen Paula O ’Sullivan was the daughter o f a major in the Connaught Rangers. She was educated at the Sacred Heart convent outside London (where a classmate was Vivien Leigh) and later in Paris. She w ent to Los A ngeles in 1930 after having been approached by director Frank Borzage at a dinner dance for the Dublin International Horse Show.12 O ’Sullivan did six films at 20th Century-Fox, including Borzage’s Song O ’My Heart (1930), before moving to MGM. There she found an endearing fame in six Tarzan films.

According to Hollywood mythology, O ’Sullivan and Farrow m et on the set o f Tarzan Escapes and married the n ext year (on 12 September 1936). But according to O ’Sullivan it happened differently:

W OLF SO N G (VICTOR FLEM ING, 19 2 9 ).

THE BAD ONE (GEORGE FITZM AURICE, 1 9 3 0 ), WITH EDMUND LOWE AND DOLORES DEL RIO.

THE COM M ON LA W (PAUL L. STEIN, 19 3 1 ), W ITH JO EL McCRAE AND CONSTANCE BENNETT

I met John when I first came to Fox Studios. He was a writer then, and I was doing a film called Just Imagine [1931], a science-fiction musical set in 1980 ... I met him because I was looking for my director David Butler as I was on early call and wanted to look at something in the rushes and I did not know where his office was, and I wandered into Jo h n ’s office. John always thought I did it on purpose, and that was the beginning of our meeting. Fate. So then we made a date on my birthday ,..13 Like Farrow, O ’Sullivan was a Catholic and together they becam e one o f the m ost famous devout couples in Hollywood. An unnam ed friend o f the Farrows is quoted as saying: They stayed married. They kept having babies. They went to church ... They appeared so straitlaced - it was all very odd in film circles.14 At the time o f theirw edding, Farrow and O ’Sullivan had vowed to have ten children; they had to settle for seven. A Beverly Hills neighbour remembers: The Farrows were a mighty army and they would all march to church [the Church of the Good Shepherd] every Sunday without fail. They were very religious, very devout Catholics.15

HELEN TWELVETREES AND C. HENRY GORDON IN A W O M A N OF EXPERIEN CE (H ARRY JO E BRO W N ).

Farrow’s com m itm ent to Catholicism was further illustrated by his writing a biography of Father Damien, Damien The Leper, which was published in 1937. In a foreword to the book, author H ugh Walpole writes: I consider this book of Mr Farrow’s both true and beautiful... I scarcely know how Mr. Farrow has been able to leave so vivid a picture of Father Damien in the reader’s mind with so few words about him ... Now that I have read this book I feel that I have Damien as a companion for the rest of my days. This is an addition to one’s spiritual experience, and I thank Mr. Farrow for it.16 In another passage, W alpole description o f Farrow’s writing style is, coincidentally, an accurate account o f his directing style at its best: Mr. Farrow is never melodramatic. He does not often build up the character... from the outside, but lets it gradually live of itself through the incidents.17 Later that year, Pope Pius XI m ade Farrow a Knight o f the Grand Cross o f the Order o f LAST O F THE P A G A N S (RICHARD THORPE, 1936) CINEMA

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A BO V E: THE WHOLESOME EROTICISM OF TARZAN AND HIS M ATE (CEDRIC G IBBO N S, 1934) W ITH JA N E (MAUREEN O 'SULLIVAN ) AND TARZAN (JO H N N Y W EISSM ULLER). FAR­ ROW DIRECTED O 'SU LLIVA N 'S THIRD TARZAN FILM, BUT IT RAN INTO CENSORSHIP PROBLEMS AND W A S SHELVED. RIGHT: IRISH-BORN MAUREEN O 'SU LLIVA N , PHOTOGRAPHED IN A COSTUME FOR THE BARRETTS OF W IM PO LE STREET (SIDNEY FR AN KLIN , 1 9 34).

O 'SULLIVAN MARRIED JO H N FARROW IN 1 9 3 6 , AND THEY REMAINED MARRIED UNTIL FARRO W 'S DEATH IN 19 63.

THE FARROW -O'SULLIVAN FAMILY AT THE BAPTISM OF THE SEVENTH CHILD, THERESA (IN LADY'S ARM S). FROM LEFT: JO H N , PRUDENCE, JO H N , JR ., M ARIA, PATRICK, STEPHANIE, MAUREEN AND MICHAEL.

the Holy Sepulchre, Officer o f Stjohn and Chevalier o f Tunis. This later led actor and friend Robert Mitchum to call him “the Count” or “Knight o f Malta”, as well as “the Militant Catholic”. This last description has special m eaning when one considers Farrow’s portrayal o f priests in his films. In Ride, Vaquero! (1953), for example, Father Antonio (Kurt Kasznar) picks up a gun and says, “It is lawful to repel violence with violence.”

Daughter Mia Farrow has said o f her father’s Catholicism: “H e was very friendly with the Jesuits, and the house was always filled with priests; to som e extent he looked down on Hollywood.”18 Farrow also joined the advisory board o f Mount St Mary’s College and was a regent o f Loyola University o f Los Angeles. He was subsequently to write a biography o f St Ignatius Loyola.

However, Farrow’s Catholicism did not stop his many relationships with wom en. Accord­ ing to several French critics19, Farrow was a notorious seducer o f starlets. Michael Pate has a different view: Farrow was certainly very fond of women, and he loved to be around them. But I don’t think you could call him a womanizer, even if he might have felt attached to one or two people in his time.

D irecting

M ARIA DE LOURDES (M IA) VILLIERS FARROW AND HER FATHER.

I n 1937, Farrow received his first feature credit as director with Men in Exile, the first o f seven films made with producer Bryan Foy at First National and Warner Bros.: West o f Shanghai (1937); She Loved a Fireman, The Invisible Menace, Little Miss Thoroughbred, My B illand Broadway Musketeers (all 1938). Surprisingly, n one had a Farrow screenplay. Maureen O ’Sullivan explains why: It is a very rough thing to go from one profession to another. And [John] was a very successful writer, a highly priced writer, and when he wanted to become a director they thought of him only as a writer. Then, after he became a very successful director and he would want to write his own scripts, they would say, ‘But you’re a director, not a writer. ’ They were really very strange.20 Men in Exile is the story o f James Carmody (Dick Purcell), who is exiled on an island with

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a gang o f gun runners. The Motion Picture Guide states: ‘T h ou gh the plot is thin, the action is fast paced and the performances are notable.”21 West of Shanghai is set during the Sino-Japanese War and stars Boris Karloff as “White Tiger”, a Northern Chinese bandit. H e sacrifices his life after a skirmish with som e Americans so that the man who had previously saved his life, Cortez (Gordon Oliver), can be re-united with his lover, Jane (Beverly Roberts). Against the practice o f the time, Farrow cast his film, except for the lead roles, with Chinese actors and extras.

Dick Foran plays a cowboy star-tumed-fireman in She Loved aFireman (the “She” is played

by Ann Sheridan), while Boris Karloff returned in The Invisible Menace as a civilian accused o f murdering an army officer.

T he next three films form a kind o f trilogy. Little Miss Thoroughbred is a tear-jerker, with Janet Chapman as an orphan who believes, m uch to her guardian nuns’ dismay, that her father is still alive. W hen she can’tfin d him, she manages to win over the heart o f the gambler, “N ails” Morgan (John L itel). My Bill, a remake o f Archie Mayo’s Courage (1930), is the tale o f a widowed and ruined m other and her children, only som e o f whom remain loyal to her.

Broadway Musketeers tells o f three girls (Margaret Lindsay, Ann Sheridan and Marie Wilson) who leave their orphanage to take on the outside world, with tragic results.

Farrow’s last film for Warner Bros, was Women in the Wind (1939), the story o f a w om en’s air race, starring Kay Francis. He then moved to RKO to work with producer Robert Sisk on The Saint Strikes Back. The second film in the series, but the first with George Sanders as Simon Templar, it was a major box-office success and greatly helped establish Farrow’s reputation as a commercial, reliable director. That same year, O ’Sullivan gave birth to their first child, Michael Damien.

In keeping with work schedules that seem near impossible today, Farrow directed four m ore features that year: Sorority House, a drama about college snobbishness; Five Came Back, Full Confession-, and Reno, a morality tale about a couple (Ruth Roland and Montagu Love) who go to Reno for a divorce. Two o f these films (Sorority House and Five Came Back) were shot by the great Nicholas Musuraca, who would later work with Farrow on that noir masterwork, Where Danger Lives (1950) The m ost famous o f these films is Five Came Back, an affecting melodrama about those passengers who survive a plane crash in a South Americanjungle. Farrow manages to generate a genuinely m oving finale out o f a highly manufactured and sentimental situation: namely, there is only room for five on the re-built plane and the survivors must choose who stay behind.

Co-written by Dalton Trumbo, it was the second time (Sorority House was the first) Farrow had worked with the famous scriptwriter and later victim o f the Hollywood blacklist.

T he other film o f note that year is Full Confession, the harrowing story o f a man (Barry Fitzgerald) wrongly sentenced to the electric chair. Father Lom a (Joseph Calleia) has heard the confession o f the real killer, McGinnis (Victor M cLaglen), but is prevented by the seal on confession from using that knowledge to save the innocent man. Farrow wrings maximum tension from the priest’s struggle o f conscience, and from his attempts to make McGinnis admit to his crime.

Apart from its wonderful performances and skilful direction, Full Confession is important in being one o f Farrow’s clearest film examinations o f Catholic dogma. Essentially a religious conservative, Farrow supports the seal’s inviolability. But, equally, he seems to argue for a pragmatic, humanistic approach to earthly problems. It is a contradiction o f sorts and seems

RICARDO CORTEZ, RICHARD LOO, BORIS KARLOFF AND DOUGLAS W OOD IN WEST OF S H AN G H A I (FARRO W , 1 9 37).

BORIS KARFLOFF AS JEV R IES, A W RO N GLY ACCUSED MAN IN THE IN VISIBLE MENACE (FARRO W , 1 9 38).

M Y BILL (FARRO W , 1 9 3 8 ), WITH BO BBY JO R D A N , BERNICE PILO T, BO NITA GRANVILLE AND K A Y FRAN CIS.

FARRO W 'S W OMEN IN THE WIND (1 9 3 9 ), WITH VICTOR JO R Y , K A Y FRANCIS AND W ILLIAM G A R G A N .

GEORGE SANDERS IN HIS FIRST SIMON TEMPLAR FILM, THE SAIN T STRIKES BACK (FARRO W , 19 3 9 ).

THE DALTON TRUMBO-SCRIPTED SO R O R ITY HO USE (FARRO W 1 9 3 9 ), W ITH ANNE SH IRLEY, JA M ES ELLISON AND J . M . K ER R IG A N .

FARRO W 'S HARRO W ING TALE OF CONSCIENCE AND CATHOLICISM, FULL CO N FESSIO N (1 9 3 9 ), WITH VICTOR MCLAGLEN A S MURDERER AND JO SEPH CALLEIA AS PRIEST.

FORMER COLLEGE SWEETHEARTS MEET AGAIN IN M ARRIED A N D IN LOVE (FA RRO W , 1 9 4 0 ), WITH ALAN MARSHALL AND HELEN V IN SO N .

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LUCILLE BALL, JO SEPH CALLEIA, THE RECLINING ALLEN JE N K IN S , C. AU BREY SMITH AND CHESTER M ORRIS IN FAR­ R O W 'S EFFECTIVE MELODRAM A, FIVE CAM E BA C K (1 9 3 9 ).

FARRO W 'S A BILL DIVO RCEM ENT (1 9 4 0 ), W ITH MAUREEN O 'H A R A AND ADOLP M EN JO U, A REMAKE OF THE GEO RGE CU KO R FILM.

to mirror an inner struggle others have noticed in Farrow’s work and life. M ichael Pate, for one, talks o f a “kind o f ambivalence in his nature. I d o n ’t think even he fully understood w ho he was. So, it’s very difficult for anyone else to .”

In 1940, two m ore Farrow-directed films were released by RKO: Married and In Love, about two former lovers (Alan Marshall and H elen Vinson) who m eet again when married to others, and A Bill o f Divorcement, a remake o f the George Cukor classic (itself a rem ake), this time starring Maureen O ’Hara and A dolphe Menjou.

World War was now raging in Europe and Farrow, having b een b o m in Australia, was officially a British citizen. As the U.S. did n ot enter the War until late 1941, the main option for U.S.-based ‘British’ volunteers was to cross the northern border into Canada, a fellow m em ber o f the Commonwealth. Farrow jo in ed the Royal Canadian Navy, first in the Information Departm ent and later at sea in the North Adantic. H e served on the extrem ely dangerous Adantic convoys and quickly rose to the rank o f Lt-Commander in both the British and Royal Canadian navies.

In 1941, Farrow was assigned to an anti-submarine vessel, where he caught a severe case o f typhus and nearly died. H e was invalided out and returned to Los Angeles. O ’Sullivan gave up her film career and tended him back to health at their Beverly Hills hom e. Later, he received decorations from Spain, France and Rumania, and was honoured as a Comm ander o f the British Empire.

While recovering, Farrow wrote two books, The History and Development o f the Royal Canadian Navy and Pageant o f the Popes (1942), an overview o f the papacy. Param ount then offered him the chance to return to filmmaking with the war drama, Wake Island (1942). It is the story o f the heroic to-th e-last-man defence o f the American Pacific-island base days after the bom bing o f Pearl Harbour. Farrow won the New York Film Critics’ Awaiu for Best Direction (breakingjohn Ford’s winning run o f the previous three years) and achieved afirst for an Australian: an Academy Award nom ination for Direction. (The Award itself w ent to William Wyler for Mrs Miniver.)

W ake I s l a n d D e s p it e h a v in g b e e n m a d e in the heated atmosphere im mediately following the attack on Pearl Harbour, Wake Island manages to avoid m ost o f the cliches o f its genre. It is startlingly realistic and almost entirely free o f jingoism: there is not on e speech about fighting for the flag or the American way o f life, though there is an understandable call to arms against the Japanese.

The dialogue between the m en on this barren island outpost is nicely underwritten, and the actors catch exactly the right tone. A fine exam ple is the wrenchingly underplayed scene where Lieutenant Cameron (Macdonald Carey) asks Major Caton (Brian Donlevy) permis­ sion to fly what is obviously a suicide m ission (Cam eron’s wife having b een killed at Pearl H arbour). Farrow has wisely realized that Cam eron’s actions speak with sufficient eloquence n ot to n eed false dramatization.

In part, Farrow’s sensitivity in handling the material com es from his obvious affinity with the marines, no doubt stem m ing from his own experiences in the Marine Corps. The relationships between the m en reveal the veracity o f experience rather than a scriptwriter’s

M AN N IN G AN ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN DURING THE JA PA N ESE ATTACK ON W A K E ISLAN D: LIEUTENANT CAMERON (M ACDONALD CAR EY), JO E DOYLE (ROBERT PRESTON) AND M AJO R CATON (BRIAN DO N LEVY). JO H N FA RR O W 'S W A R M ASTERPIECE, W A K E ISLAN D (1 9 4 2 ).

R IG HT: JO H N FARRO W (SITTIN G ON THE GROUND IN FRONT OF THE CAM ERA) DURING THE FILM ING OF W A K E ISLAN D. HIS W O R K ON THE FILM EARNED AN ACADEM Y AW ARD NOM IN ATIO N FOR BEST DIRECTOR.

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artifice. Even the m om ents o f hum our, though clearly derived from a Hollywood tradition, seem predicated by Farrow’s love and respect for these men. (William Bendix is quite superb here.)

Farrow’s direction, which is often brilliant, is best seen in the long sequence where the Japanese ships start bom bing the island. Major Catón has decided not to return fire immediately, hoping to entice the Japanese ships closer to shore. Farrow subtly builds the tension with an almost Bressonian understanding o f mise-en-scene (and this is pre-Bresson).

There is virtually no dialogue, the primary sounds being the boom ing guns and a gunner’s rhythmic calling out o f the ships’ range. T he com positions are austerely precise (and near perfectly shot by Theodor Sparkuhl).

Farrow intercuts between stark images o f detonation and close-ups o f near-expressionless faces as the m en stoically wait out the barrage for their opportunity to return fire. And when that time com es, their charge into activity is supported with predictably stirring music. Yet again, it seems, one will have to endure an overwrought sequence o f American heroics. But almost im mediately the music fades and the resultant battle is matter-of-facdy staged, the camera recording it with almost documentary detachment. And as the time approaches when the m en must face inevitable death, there is no false heroism, just the odd humorous line to help break the unbearable tension.

In its quiedy unassum ing way, Wafe Island is one o f the finest and m ost moving war films ever made.

T hat SAME year, 1942, Farrow m ade for Columbia his second war film, Commandos Strike at Dawn. Starring Paul Muni as a Norwegian resistance leader, the film used locations in British Columbia, and had assistance from the Royal Canadian Navy, in which Farrow had served.

C o m m a n d o s S t r i k e A t D awn h e r e a s Wake Island brilliantly evokes a dusty, sun-bleached island, Commandos Strike at Dawn is a deceptively pastoral recreation o f the effects o f war on a peaceful Norwegian fjord village.

The centre o f the war is far off and many o f the villagers hope to live through it undisturbed. And even when a contingent o f German soldiers com es to oversee the surrounding area, the temptation is to go on as if nothing has happened ( ‘T h e herring will run, Germans or n o Germans”) . But for Erik Toresen (Paul M uni), a quiet, sensitive man, that becom es increasingly difficult. Distressed by the cold acts o f Nazi brutality, he grapples with a m ounting desire to use violence to overthrow their evil. As he says, “I have lived a quiet live.

The Germans have not lived quiet lives. We must learn from them, how to becom e gangsters, thugs ...” That resolve leads to a military victory, but also to his own death.

As with Wafe Island, the story is calmly and effectively told. Though there are some conventional Hollywood aspects to the plotting, Farrow, as usual, neutralizes them with underplaying. What dom inates is Farrow’s interest in the tensions between religious principle and the necessity for (at times) less noble action.

On a technical level, the film is particularly interesting in showcasing what would becom e a Farrow trademark: the sinuous and lengthy tracking shot. Often taking several minutes and covering m uch ground, it seductively draws the audience into the characters’ lives and world.

In Commandos Strike at Dawn, the bravura shot is during a wedding celebration. Roaming backwards and forwards through several rooms, Farrow neatly establishes the relationship o f one villager to another, delineating character and social position in a way that editing alone would make look forced. And despite the shot’s length (six-and-a-half m inutes), Farrow does n ot struggle with the problem that bedevils m ost like-minded directors: that is, having actors take unlikely walking paths or perform needless tasks just to stay in frame.

In Commandos Strike at Dawn, Farrow is still experim enting with technique. By the time o f Where Danger Lives and His Kind of Woman, he will have perfected it to a state o f near genius.

W

FARRO W 'S SECOND W AR FILM, THE QUIETLY EFFECTIVE COM M ANDO S STRIKE A T DAW N (1 9 4 2 ). HERE, ERIK TORESEN (PAUL MUNI) COMFORTS HIS DAUGHTER SO LVEIG IN FRONT OF A TO W N SW O M AN .

W ILLIAM BEN D IX, ALAN LADD, CHINESE EXTRAS AND LORETTA YO U N G IN FARRO W 'S "HARD-HITTING PROPO GANDA W AR FILM ", CHINA (1 9 4 3 ).

n e x t year , and back at Paramount (where he would stay till 1950), Farrow directed only one film. China is regarded as a “hard-hitting propaganda war film ”22 with Alan Ladd as an “unscrupulous trader o f goods without conscience or national loyalty”23. The film also stars Loretta Young and that Farrow regular, William Bendix.

In 1944 came yet another war film, The Hitler Gang, which chronicles H itler’s life from his founding o f the National Socialist Party to his appointm ent as Reichchancellor in 1934.

Producer B. G. DeSylva apparently financed the film to counteract a Nazi documentary he had seen, and at least one critic (in The New York Times) found Robert W atson’s portrayal o f Hitler such that Hitler en d ed up looking less odious than his henchm an.24 That year, Farrow also directed the stark Two Years Before the Mast (not released until 1946).

Alan Ladd plays Charles Stewart, the spoilt son o f a shipowner who is shanghaied by the

T he

FARRO W 'S THIRD W AR FILM, THE HITLER G AN G (1 9 4 4 ), STARRING ROBERT W ATSON AS THE REICHCHANCELLOR. CINEMA

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TO P: THE SADISTIC AM AZEEN (W ILLIAM BENDIX) FLOGS CHARLES STEW ART (ALAN LADD), W ATCHED B Y , HIS ARMS CROSSED, CAPTAIN THOMPSON (HOW ARD DA SILV A ). BE­ LO W : DOOLEY (BARRY FITZGERALD) AND RICHARD DANA (BRIAN DONLEVY) TEND STEW ART'S BA CK. FA RRO W 'S TWO YEA RS BEFORE THE M AST (1 9 4 6 ).

sadistic Captain Thom pson (Howard da Silva) and his first mate (William B endix). O n board, Stewart develops a friendship with Richard Dana (Brian Donlevy) that leads to them overtaking the ship and, later, revealing to Congress the appalling conditions faced by sailors.

Arguably the best o f Farrow’s seafaring films, it was a box-office hit, despite its often depressing depictions o f the cruelties at sea.

Farrowwentfor alightervein in 1945 with You Came Along, a com edy with songs co-written

by Ayn Rand, whose controversial novel The Fountainhead had been published two years before. Lizabeth Scott, in only her second film, stars as a girl in love with a serviceman (Robert Cummings) dying o f leukaemia. O ne critic calls it an “Interesting but odd com bination o f occasional com edy and heavy rom ance”, while another finds it a “weird mishmash o f farce and sentimentality; quite watchable in its way”25On 9 February o f that year, the day before Farrow’s 41st birthday, Maureen O ’Sullivan gave birth to their first daughter and third child, Maria de Lourdes (Mia) Villiers Farrow. (Mia had been preceded by Michael and Patrick, and would be followed by Theresa (Tisa), Stephanie, Prudence and John Charles.) Her godparents were director George Cukor and gossip colum nist Louella Parsons.

The next year, Farrow m ade the Western, California, the first o f four consecutive films with John Seitz, one o f the greatest American directors o f photography, especially o f film noir.

California is about a U nion Army deserter (Ray Milland) who tries his luck on the goldfields. There, with the help o f a gambler (Barbara Stanwyck) and a m iner (Barry Fitzgerald), he takes on a former slave trader with dreams o f taking over the territory. Ray Milland recalls the filming: John was one of those directors who got phobias about people ... he’d deliberately bitch up the scene, because he didn’t like the actors in i t ... Consequendy we had to make up our scenes ourselves, more or less. He had a touch of masochism [sic?] about him.25 Milland describes a tracking shot that ran for 1400 feet, or 15 m inutes. Farrow had special magazines made for the camera to accom modate the unusual am ount o f film. Milland:

"W A SH IN G YO UR DAMNED H AIR, W E'RE TRYIN G TO GET A CUPFUL JUST FOR PEOPLE TO D R IN K !". THE DIALOGUE BEFORE THE 'JA W -B R E A K IN G ' SLAP (SEE TEXT). BARBARA STAN W YCK AS LILY BISHOP AND RAY MILLAND AS JO HN ATHAN TRUMBO IN FARRO W 'S CALIFO RNIA.

W ILLIAM BEN D IX , W ILLIAM HOLDEN, ANN E BAXTER AND SO N N Y TUFTS IN FARRO W 'S BLAZE O F N O O N (1 9 4 7 ): "A S PERFECTLY DIRECTED A FILM AS YO U COULD SE E ".

"M A N W HO TRUST W O M AN W A LK ON DUCKWEED O VER P O N D ": THE M ISO G YN IST NEALE GORDON (ALAN LADD) AND THE DANGEROUS FEMME FATALE, V IR G IN IA MOORE (G AIL RUSSELL). FARRO W 'S CALCUTTA (1 9 4 7 ).

40

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I come into the camp, on a horse, dismount, tell two kids to unsaddle the horse, what to do with him, walk over to Gavin Muir and tell him, ‘You’re not going to get away with this’, or something like that, walk over to Barbara Stanwyck, who is washing her hair in a bowl of water and throw that water away because she’s wasting water. ‘Washing your damned hair, we’re trying to get a cupful just for people to drink!’ and I had to slap her in the face. Well there’s a certain way to slap people which looks better than the real slap. Wasn’t good enough! [Farrow] wanted a real slap. Kept us doing it and doing it.

Finally Barbara said to me, ‘This son of a bitch is not going to be satisfied until you’ve broken myjaw. Go ahead this time - break it. Really belt me. If you knock me out then I’ll be all through for the day.’ I said, ‘Barbara I can’t do it!’ She said, ‘You’ve just got to ... I can’t stand these little slaps.’ So, ... I belted her. She went out cold. He printed it!27 During the late 1940s, Farrow directed nine films, including several o f his classics. The period 1947-51 was the high point o f his career and contains the best evidence for considering him a major Hollywood director. It was also the time when he won the then prestigious, now discontinued, “Champion Director Award” (1946-47) in the annual Champion o f Champions publication.

First up was Eayy Come, Easy Go (1947), with Barry Fitzgerald as an Irish-New York rogue whose passion for gam bling complicates the lives o f those around him. Ostensibly a comedy, Fitzgerald’s rascal is today quite unappealing (no doubt he would have b een less so back th en ), and watching his antics often induces discomfort rather than mirth. But it is efficiently, if unspectacularly, directed, and there is no doubting Fitzgerald’s skills and presence as an actor, even if, as here, they are indulged.

Then came B laze o f Noon (1947), with William H olden and A nne Baxter in a melodram a about stunt fliers. M elbourne film buff John Flaus has said it is “as perfectly directed a film as you could see”28, even if he has reservations about the material.

Farrow’s next film was the well-regarded film noir, Calcutta (1947). Alan Ladd stars as N eale Gordon, a commercial pilot based in India who runs up against a dangerous fem m e fatale in Virginia Moore (Gail R ussell). Intrigue o f the MalteseFalcon-style. abounds, and there is som e prickly (and misogynist) verbal sparring. A famous exchange has M oore’s “But you saidyouw ere crazy about m e” rebuffed by Gordon’s “N o tth a tm u c h ... Man who trust woman walk on duckweed over p on d .” The film was Farrow’s third with Ladd (they would do two m ore together) and was a big success for both.

Farrow’s first film for 1948 is perhaps his best-known, The Big Clock. (The source novel was recently remade as No Way Out by expatriate Australian Roger D onaldson.) Farrow’s version stars Ray Milland and Charles Laughton, and marks the screen reappearance o f Maureen O ’Sullivan, who recalls: I returned to the screen in the Forties because my husband ... wanted me to appear in several of his films. He didn’t have the parts written with me in mind - in fact, with The Big Clock, I had to do a screen test because maybe Paramount might not have wanted me for it and they had the final say.29

GRAPHIC BY PETER LONG

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NUMBER 1 (JANUARY 1974):

David Williamson, Ray Harryhausen, Peter Weir, Antony Ginnane, Gillian Armstrong, Ken G. Hall, The Cars that A te Paris.

NUMBER 2 (APRIL 1974):

Censorship, Frank Moorhouse, Nicolas Roeg, Sandy Harbutt, Film under Allende, Between The Wars. A lvin Purple NUMBER 3 (JULY 1974):

Richard Brennan, John Papadopolous, Willis O’Brien, William Friedkin, The True Story O f Eskimo Nell.

NUMBER 10 (SEPT/OCT 1976)

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NUMBER 11 (JANUARY 1977)

Emile De Antonio, Jill Robb, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Roman Polanski, Saul Bass, The Picture Show Man. NUMBER 12 (APRIL 1977)

Ken Loach, Tom Haydon, Donald Sutherland, Bert Deling, Piero Tosi, John Dankworth, John Scott, Days O f Hope, The Getting O f Wisdom.

NUMBER 13 ( JULY 1977)

Louis Malle, Paul Cox, John Power, Jeanine Seawell, Peter Sykes, Bernardo Bertolucci, In Search O f Anna.

NUMBER 26 (APRIL/MAY 1980)

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NUMBER 59 (SEPTEMBER 1986)

Charles H. Joffe, Jerome Heilman, Malcolm Smith, Australian nationalism, Japanese cinema, Peter Weir, Water Under

Paul Cox, Russell Mulcahy, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Duvall, Jeremy Irons, Eureka

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NUMBER 27 (JUNE-JULY 1980)

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Randal Kleiser, Peter Yeldham, Donald Richie, obituary of Hitchcock, NZ film industry, Grendel Grendel Grendel.

Richard Lowenstein, Wim Wenders, David Bradbury, Sophia Turkiewicz, Hugh Hudson, Robbery Under Arms.

NUMBER 28 (AUG/SEPT 1980)

NUMBER 48 (OCT/NOV 1984)

Bob Godfrey, Diane Kurys, Tim Burns, John O’Shea, Bruce Beresford, Bad

Ken Cameron, Michael Pattinson, Jan Sardi, Yoram Gross, Bodyline, The Slim

NUMBER 14 (OCTOBER 1977)

Timing, Roadgames.

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NUMBER 29 (OCT/NOV 1980)

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Bob Ellis, Uri Windt, Edward Woodward, Lino Brocka, Stephen Wallace, Philippine cinema, Cruising, The Last Outlaw.

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NUMBER 15 (JANUARY 1978)

Tom Cowan, Francois Truffaut, John Faulkner, Stephen Wallace, the Taviani brothers, Sri Lankan cinema, T he Irishman, The Chant O f Jimmie Blacksmith.

NUMBER 36 (FEBRUARY 1982)

NUMBER 50 (FEB/MARCH 1985)

Kevin Dobson, Brian Kearney, Sonia Hofmann, Michael Rubbo, Blow Out,

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Gunnel Lindblom, John Duigan, Steven Spielberg, Tom Jeffrey, The Africa Project, Swedish cinema, Dawn!, Patrick.

Stephen MacLean, Jacki Weaver, Carlos Saura, Peter Ustinov, women in drama,

NUMBER 17 (AUG/SEPT 1978)

Bill Bain, Isabelle Huppert, Brian May, Polish cinema, Newsfront, The Night The Prowler.

Monkey Grip.

NUMBER 38 (JUNE 1982)

Geoff Burrowes, George Miller, James Ivory, Phil Noyce, Joan Fontaine, Tony Williams, law and insurance, Far East.

NUMBER 39 (AUGUST 1982)

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John Lamond, Sonia BOrg, Alain Tanner, Indian cinema, Dimboola, Cathy’s Child.

Helen Morse, Richard Mason, Anja Breien, David Millikan, Derek Granger, Norwegian cinema, National Film Archive, We O f The Never Never.

NUMBER 19 (JAN/FEB 1979) NUMBER 40 (OCTOBER 1982)

NUMBER 51 (MAY 1985)

Lino Brocka, Harrison Ford, Noni Hazlehurst, Dusan Makavejev, Emoh Ruo, Winners, The Naked Country, M ad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Robbery Under Arms.

NUMBER 52 (JULY 1985)

John Schlesinger, Gillian Armstrong, Alan Parker, soap operas, TV News, film advertising, Don’t Call Me Girlie, For Love Alone, Double Sculls.

NUMBER 53 (SEPTEMBER 1985)

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Antony Ginnane, Stanley Hawes, Jeremy Thomas, Andrew Sarris, sponsored documentaries, Blue Fin.

Henri Safran, Michael Ritchie, Pauline Kael, Wendy Hughes, Ray Barrett, My

NUMBER 54 (NOVEMBER 1985)

NUMBER 20 (MARCH-APRIL 1979)

Dinner With Andre, The Return O f Captain Invincible.

Graeme Clifford, Bob Weis, John Boorman, Menahem Golan, rock videos,

NUMBER 41 (DECEMBER 1982)

Wills A n d Burke, The Great Bookie Robbery, The Lancaster Miller Affair.

Ken Cameron, Claude Lelouch, Jim Sharman, French cinema, My Brilliant Career.

NUMBER 22 (JULY/AUG 1979)

Bruce Petty, Luciana Arrighi, Aibie Thoms, Stax, Alison’s Birthday NUMBER 24 (DEC/JAN 1980)

Brian Trenchard-Smith, Ian Holmes, Arthur Hiller, Jerzy Toeplitz, Brazilian cinema, Harlequin.

Igor Auzins, Paul Schrader, Peter Tammer, Liliana Cavani, Colin Higgins, The Tear O f Living Dangerously.

NUMBER 42 (MARCH 1983)

Mel Gibson, John Waters, Ian Pringle, Agnes Varda, copyright, Strikebound, The

Australian Television, Franco Zeffirelli, Nadia Tass, Bill Bennett, Dutch Cinema, Movies By Microchip, Otello.

NUMBER 61 (JANUARY 1987)

Alex Cox, Roman Polanski, Philippe Mora, Martin Armiger, film in South Australia, Dogs In Space, Howling III. NUMBER 62 (MARCH 1987)

Screen Violence, David Lynch, Cary Grant, ASSA conference, production barometer, film finance, The Story O f The Kelly Gang.

NUMBER 63 (MAY 1987)

Gillian Armstrong, Antony Ginnane, Chris Haywood, Elmore Leonard, Troy Kennedy Martin, The Sacrifice, Landslides, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Jilted.

NUMBER 64 (JULY 1987)

Nostalgia, Dennis Hopper, Mel Gibson, Vladimir Osherov, Brian TrenchardSmith, Chartbusters, Insatiable.

NUMBER 65 (SEPTEMBER 1987)

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NUMBER 66 (NOVEMBER 1987)

Australian Screenwriters, Cinema and China, James Bond, James Clayden, Video, De Laurentiis, New World, The Navigator, Who’s That Girl.

NUMBER 67 (JANUARY 1988)

John Duigan, George Miller, Jim Jarmusch, Soviet cinema- Part I, women in film, shooting in 70mm, filmmaking in Ghana, The Tear My Voice Broke, Send A Gorilla.

NUMBER 55 (JANUARY 1986)

NUMBER 68 (MARCH 1988)

James Stewart, Debbie Byrne, Brian Thompson, Paul Verhoeven, Derek Meddings, tie-in marketing, The Right-

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M an From Snowy River.

NUMBER 56 (MARCH 1986)

NUMBER 69 (MAY 1988)

NUMBER 43 (MAY/JUNE 1983)

Fred Schepisi, Dennis O ’Rourke, Brian Trenchard-Smith, John Hargreaves, Dead-

Special Cannes issue, film composers, sex, death and family films, Vincent Ward, Luigi Acquisto, David Parker, production barometer, Ian Bradley, Pleasure Domes.

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NUMBER 25 (FEB/MARCH 1980)

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NUMBER 44-45 (APRIL 1984)

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To Eden.

Movers.

NUMBER 60 (NOVEMBER 1986)

David Stevens, Simon Wncer, Susan Lambert, a personal history of Cinema Papers, Street Kids.

End Drive-In, The More Things Change, Kangaroo, Tracy.

NUMBER 58 (JULY 1986)

NUMBER 70 (NOVEMBER 1988)

Woody Allen, Reinhard Hauff, Orson Welles, the Cinémathèque Française, The

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NUMBER 123 AUTUMN 1985

NUMBER 131 AUTUMN 1987

The 1984 Women’s Film Unit, The Films of Solrun Hoaas, Louise Webb, Scott Hicks, Jan Roberts

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NUMBER 124 WINTER 1985

Films for Workers, Merata Mita, Len Lye, Marleen Gorris, Daniel Petrie, Larry Meltzer

NUMBER 132 WINTER 1987

Censorship in Australia, Rosalind Krauss, Troy Kennedy Martin, New Zealand Cinema, David Chesworth,

NUMBER 125 SPRING 1985

Rod Webb, Marleen Gorris, Ivan Gaal, Red M atildas , Sydney Film Festival NUMBER 126 SUMMER 1985/86

The Victorian Women’s Film Unit, Randelli’s, Laleen Jayamanne, Lounge Room Rock, The Story of Oberhausen NUMBER 127 AUTUMN 1986

AFTRS reviews, Jane Oehr, Jolin Hughes, Melanie Read, Philip Brophy,Gyula Gazdag, Chile: Hasta Cuando?

NUMBER 128 WINTER 1986

Karin Altmann, Tom Cowan, Gillian Coote, Nick Torrens, David Bradbury, Margaret Haselgrove, Karl Steinberg, AFTRS graduate films, Super 8, Pop Movie NUMBER 129 SPRING 1986

Reinhard Hauff, 1986 Sydney Film Festival, Nick Zedd, Tony Rayns, Australian Independent Film, Public Television in Australia, Super 8 NUMBER 130 SUMMER 1986/87

Sogo Ishii, Tom Haydon, Gillian Leahy, Tom Zubrycki, John Hanhardt, Australian Video Festival, Erika Addis, Ross Gibson, Super 8, Camera Natura NUMBER 71 (JANUARY 1989)

Yahoo Serious, Film Finance Corporation, David Cronenberg, Co-productions, The Year in Retrospect, Philip Brophy, Film Sound - the role of the sound track, Young Einstein, Shout, The Last Tempta­ tion o f Christ, Salt Saliva Sperm and Sweat NUMBER 72 (MARCH 1989)

Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit, Australian Science Fiction movies, Survey: The 1988 Mini-Series, Stop Making Scents: Aromarama, Ann Turner’s Celia, Fellini’s La dolce vita, Women and Westerns

NUMBER 133 SPRING 1987

Wim Wenders, Solveig Dommartin, The Films of Wim Wenders, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Michelangelo Antonioni, Wendy Thompson, Michael Lee, Jonathan Dennis, Super 8 NUMBER 134 SUMMER 1987/88

Recent Australian Films, Film Music, Groucho’s Cigar, Jerzy Domaradzki, Hong Kong Cinema, The Films of Chris Marker, David Noakes, The Devil in the Flesh, How the West Was Lost NUMBER 135 AUTUMN 1988

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Film Theory and Architecture, Victor Burgin, Horace Ove, Style Form and History in Australian Mini Series, Blue Velvet, South o f the Border, Cannibal Tours NUMBER 137 SPRING 1988

Hanif Kureishi, Fascist Italy and American Cinema, Gillian Armstrong, Atom Egoyan, Film Theory and Architecture, Shame, Television Mini Series, Korean Cinema, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid ■ Pierson, Australian films at pannes, Production Barometer, Pay TV, Film Finance, Fanzines NUMBER 74 (JULY 1989)

Kylie Minogue’s first film The Delinquents, Australians in Hollywood, Chinese Cinema, Philippe Mora, Yuri Sokol, Twins, True Believers, Ghosts... o f the Civil Dead, Shame screenplay

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Zone 4: USA Canada Middle East

Surface 37.00 Air 65.00

Surface 67.00 Air 125.00

Surface 101.00 Air 187.00

Surface 1.40 Air 6.20

Zone 5: U K /E urope Africa South America

Surface 37.00 Air 71.00

Surface 68.00 Air 136.00

Surface 187.00 Air 205.00

Surface 1.50 Air 7.20

T he B ig C l o c k

A B O V E: PUBLICITY STILL FOR THE BIG CLOCK, WITH ACTORS CHARLES LAUGHTON AND R A Y MILLAND.

G e o r g e S t r o u d (Ray Milland) is the editor o f Crimezvays, one o f the successful stable o f magazines owned by m agnate Earljanoth (Charles L aughton). Only hours before leaving on a second ‘h oneym oon ’ with his long-suffering but independently m inded wife, Georgette (Maureen O ’Sullivan), George is fired byjanoth. H e so consoles him self at his favourite bar w ithjanoth ’s mistress, Pauline York (RitaJohnson), that he misses his train. Thereafter, he becom es involved in a series o f events that leads to Pauline’s murder.

The next day, the Crimezvays staff is sent out byjanoth in search o f the murderer. The clues steadily accumulate and all point towards George. It then becom es a race against time for George to clear his name.

The film ’s opening shot is probably Farrow’s m ost dazzling: the camera tilts across the New York skyline at night, before tracking through space and in a second storey window o f the Janoth building, where it picks up a harried George hiding from the armed guards, then follows him across a hall and up the stairs into the control room o f the title’s big clock, where he sees guards m illing in the foyer below, before pulling back to reveal the face o f the clock.

The image then dissolves to a time 36 hours and 35 minutes earlier and the story o f how George found him self in this life-threatening mess begins.

N ot only is this bravura filmmaking (it even bears comparison with W elles’ opening to Touch of Evil), it neatly establishes several visual themes o f the film: the importance o f time in Janoth’s dehum anized universe; and the various levels and private spaces o f the building, which indicate not only a physical reality but a social stratum, with Janoth at the pinnacle and his m inions below. T h atisw hyjanoth ’s ultimate fate involves plunging down an elevator shaft

to the terra firma below.

Janoth’s entrance into the narrative is superbly handled. Farrow tilts down from a clock to the elevator doors’ opening. Janoth strides straight in to aboard m eeting, caressing his little moustache and remarking that, ‘T h ere are 2 billion, 81 million and 371 thousand seconds to the average m an’s life.”And he is prepared to fire anyone who makes him waste even a few.

In fatt, Janoth is so obsessed with time that when George pleases him with a sales-boosting suggestion, Janoth replies, “You struck 12.”

T he tension, over whether George can locate the real murderer before he finds him self framed and in the hands o f the police, never falters. John Seitz’s lighting, while more mid­ grey than usual in a film noir, is masterly, and the performances brisde with wit. Laughton is wonderfully psychotic and Elsa Lanchester maximizes her small part as an eccentric painter whose works G eorge collects. She greets an art critic who once savaged her work with Come in Mr Klaussm an... 1’ve b een planning to kill you for years , and she fails to hand George over to the police because “I have few enough collectors without sending on e to gaol.

-v ’W ith a lightness o f tone exceptional for film noir, The Big Clock showcases Farrow s inventiveness with genre. Seductively entertaining, it is 1940s Hollywood filmmaking at its finest.

TO P: GEORGE STROUD (R A Y M ILLAND), HIS W IFE GEORGETTE (MAUREEN O 'SU LLIVA N ) AND PAUUNE Y O R K (RITA JO H N SO N ). A N D , BELO W : PUBLISHING M AGNATE EARL JA N O TH (CHARLES LAUGHTO N ), R IG HT, AND HIS M ISTRESS, PAULINE Y O R K , IN FARRO W 'S FILM N O IR CLASSIC, THE BIG CLOCK (1 9 4 8 ).

T he big clock was followed by Beyond Glory (1948), a sombre story about war guilt. Alan Ladd plays a soldier plagued by his m em ories and tortured by others’ insinuations about an incident in the war where h e blacked out and his com m anding officer was killed. Both his life and career seem in a hopeless cul-de-sac until, at his court-martial for skipping West Point, he is finally cleared.

Farrow’s third film that year was another film noir, the classic N ight Has a Thousand Eyes.

John Trinton (Edward G. Robinson) is a man trapped by the visions he has o f other p eo p le’s tragic fates. According to Joan Cohen in Film Noir (it is too long since it was last seen by this author, who recalls being dazzled at the tim e), the film is a

ALAN LADD, AUDIE M URPHY AND DONNA REID IN FARRO W 'S FILM ABO UT W A R GUILT, BEYO ND G LO R Y (1 9 4 8 ).

psychological thriller with its seer hero poised on the brink of doom. It is precisely the feeling of doom throughout the film that separates it from most mysteries ... Farrow’s direction of [Barre] Lyndon and [Jonathan] Latimer’s script [itself based on a Cornell Woolrich novel] is entirely realistic. The audience must believe that such things happen in an otherwise normal world ... In a noir sense, man cannot control or rationalize the future. Life is pathetic for the seer, who is helpless and useless despite his efforts to avoid tragedy. Trinton’s dilemma is epitomized when he tells his best friend’s daughter, ‘I had become a reverse zombie, the world was dead and I was living.’ Night Has a Thousand Eyes depicts the noir universe at its darkest30 In 1949 came Alias Nick Beal, an updated retelling o f the Faust story. Ray Milland is Nick Beal, alias the Devil, who bargains with, and is tricked by, a crusading jud ge (Thomas M itchell). Farrow’s direction has been praised for “fully utiliz [ing] the well-written script and the strange set designs to effect an otherworld feelin g ”31. Ray Milland recalls: I loved that picture. Farrow was a strange man ... He was always writing scripts. He ... was very good for me and very good with me. We got along very well together, though he was the most disliked man on the lot, but a good director.32 Farrow then directed Red, Hot and Blue (1949), his first feature on which he had a screenwriter credit. T he film is a commercially successful cross between musical com edy and crime story. Betty Hutton and Victor Mature star as a dating Broadway actress and director.

It was followed by Copper Canyon (1950), the story o f Jonathan Trumbo (Ray M illand), who hides from his enem ies in the Confederate army during the Civil War. The romantic interest is provided by Lisa Roselle (Hedy Lamarr). The film was shot by the great Charles Lang and is generally considered one o f those Farrow films where the beautifully captured landscapes help paste over the lesser m oments.

Farrow then left Paramount and directed what may well be his m asterpiece, W here Danger Lives (1950), the first o f two films with Robert Mitchum. In his biography o f Mitchum, George Eells writes: Mitchum and director John Farrow met quite by accident and embarked on a marathon drinking match ... During the next four hours, they dreamed up a story, decided on Susan Hayward as the leading woman, and assembled an entire package in their heads. Congratulat­ ing themselves on their accomplishment, they staggered to their cars. Next morning a hungover Farrow called to enquire whether Mitchum was serious about proceeding with their plans.

Mitchum hedged. Eventually, each man revealed that he remembered nothing about the story they had spent the evening fantasizing. Nevertheless, Mitchum eventually spoke to The Phan­ tom [Howard Hughes] and RKO took on WhereDanger Lives, produced and directed by Farrow, with Mitchum, and Hughes’s latest protege, Faith Domergue, in the leads.33

TO P: V IR G IN IA BRUCE, EDWARD G . ROBINSON (AS JO H N TRINTO N, A MAN TROUBLED BY PREM ONITIONS) AND JEROM E CO W AN . BELOW : JEAN COURTLAND (G A IL RUSSELL) AND HER FIAN CE, JO HN TRINTO N. FARRO W 'S N IG H T H AS A THOUSAND EY ES, "THE NOIR UNIVERSE AT ITS DA RKEST".

VICTOR MATURE AND BETTY HUTTON IN FARRO W 'S RED, HOT AN D BLUE (1 9 4 9 ), W HICH ALSO MARKED HIS RETURN TO SCREENW RITING. 42

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Maureen O ’Sullivan plays a small part in the film. She recalls the film ’s enigm atic financier: I have actually seen Howard Hughes. He was never on the lot when we were making WhereDanger Lives at RKO but he used to have dinner with us occasionally. He was a great friend of Jo h n ’s.

I didn’t find him odd - that was before he was odd, I suppose. He was a rather good-looking, shy man, not all that exciting apparently - what I mean is that he was not witty nor did he say anything that I can remember. He was very conservatively dressed and quite nice. People always said how hard it was to get Howard on the phone, but John always got through.34

JO SEPH FOSTER (THOMAS MITCHELL) AND THE 'M A N ' TO W HOM HE HAS SOLD HIS SO U L, N ICK BEAL (R A Y M ILLAND).

THE FAUST STO RY RE-TOLD BY FA RRO W , A LIA S N IC K B E A L

FA RRO W 'S COPPER CA N YO N (1 9 5 0 ), W ITH HARRY CAEY J R ., R A Y MILLAND AND HEDY LAM ARR.

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e f f C a m e r o n (Robert Mitchum) is a kindly, uncom plicated doctor working in a San Francisco public hospital. He casually takes life as it com es, neither pushing for privatepractice wealth nor formalizing his relationship with girlfriend Julie (Maureen O ’Sullivan).

But things change when Margo Lannington (Faith D om ergue) is brought in after a failed suicide attempt. Jeff quickly develops a ‘fatal attraction’ for her, which leads, as sexual obsession so often does in film noir, to murder.

Jeff visits Margo’s darkly opulent hom e, where he is becom es involved in a nasty fight with her husband, Frederick (a m agnificently sinister performance by Claude Rains) .Jeff is able to subdue his op pon en t with a flooring punch, but not before he has been repeatedly struck on the head with an iron poker. Jeff momentarily losing consciousness, and when he finally com es to he is still severely dazed. Mistakenly believing he has killed Frederick, Jeff is easily convinced by Margo into fleeing San Francisco for the Mexican border. On the drive south, his concussion worsens, inexorably m oving towards paralysis and coma. The film ’s dramatic tension derives, in part, from whether Jeff can break free o f her deadly spell before the police or his com a can overtake him.

Contrary to m uch film noir practice, Jeff is saved at film ’s end, though Margo is not. After having failed to shoot him, she is fatally w ounded by a border guard and dies with her fingers reaching through the border’s mesh fence to the freedom o f the other side. Her final words are, “I did it alone. He d id n ’t even have the sense to know ... Nobody pities m e.” (The last remark is an order o f defiance, not self-pity.) Margo dies as she lived: alone. People were only useful to her in helping achieve her whims; the ever-present danger was that they m ight get too em otionally close, as Jeff threatened to do. For her, the only solution at the end is either to kill Jeff or die alone. That is why she confesses to the police, saving him from a death sentence. Where she is going, she wants no company.

In contrasting Margo’s pathological alienation with J e ff s sexual obsession, Farrow and scriptwriter Charles Bennett painfully evoke the ease with which one partner can manipulate the other in an unequal sexual relationship. Margo encouragesjeff to override his reason with desire, and his advancing concussion becom es a brilliant m etaphor for his em otional loss o f control. (M itchum ’s performance here is one o f his finest, using his whole body to frighten­ ingly convey encroaching paralysis. J e ff s fall down the stairs is as much a moral collapse as a physical one.)

Often, films noir have a central character, like a Phillip Marlowe, with the skills and wit to remain ahead o f the shadowy characters trying to ensnare him. In Where Danger Lives, none o f the principal characters has that edge: they are all tragically flawed, one tottering step from the abyss. W hen Margo grabs hold o f Jeff after killing Frederick, she stares directly into the camera. Everyone is im plicated in her act o f sexual manipulation, forced to challenge his or her own failures o f behaviour. Because it so morally unsettles, it is one o f the most chilling m om ents in cinema.

J

A BO VE: M ARGO LANNINGTON (FAITH DOMERGUE) IS HUMILATED BY HER HUSBAND, FREDERICK (CLAUDE RAIN S), IN FRONT OF HER LO VER, JEFF CAMERON (ROBERT MITCHUM). FA RRO W 'S NOIR M ASTERW O RK, W HERE DANGER LIVES (1 9 5 0 ).

TO P: JEFF, ENFEBLED B Y CREEPING P A RA LY SIS, LO O KS ACROSS AT M A RGO , THE FEMME FATALE W HO LEAD HIM INTO MORAL AND PH YSICA L CO LLAPSE. A N D ; M ARGO AND JE F F: PATHELOGICAL ALIENATIO N AND SEXU AL O BSESSIO N .

WHERE DANGER LIVES.

Throughout the filming o f Where Danger Lives, Mitchum and Farrow continued their spirited ways. Tay Garnett recounts: Johnny [Farrow] had missed very litde of life, good or bad, but he suffered no guilt feelings whatsoever. Mitchum said to him one day, ‘Man, you bug me. I’ve known some rough cats in my time, but you’re - without exception —the toughest How can you profess to being a good Catholic? D’ya ever DARE go to Confession?

Johnny said piously, ‘Sure. To one of the oldest churches in California. You know that old Spanish mission on the Plaza in downtown L.A.? I go down there about every week or so and tell everything.

‘Everything?’

‘Everything. Sometimes I’m in the Confessional as long as an hour.’

Mitchum’s chin dropped. ‘My God! What does the priest say?’

Johnny grinned. ‘Nothing. He just gives me absolution. The poor bastard doesn’t under­ stand, or speak, a word of English.’30

AN ON-SCREEN RELATIONSHIP IM ITATING LIFE? HUSBAND (RAY MILLAND) AND W IFE (MAUREEN O 'SULLIVAN ) IN THE B IG CLOCK.

Given Farrow’s reputation, it is tempting to interpret O ’Sullivan’s two roles in her husband’s films as com m enting on their own relationship. In The Big Clock, she plays a devoted but independentiy m inded wife; in Where Danger Lives, a gentle and long-suffering girlfriend.

In both films, O ’Sullivan’s man breaks appointments to spend time with another woman, giving hardly a thought to how his w ife/girlfriend will feel or react. Yet, in each case, she stands by him and forgives, aware o f his flaws but glad he is back. By the film s’ closures, there is the sense o f a relationship renewed, an expectation o f better times ahead, but tem pered with a realization (unusual for Hollywood) that there may still be problems. The image o f husband and wife at the end o f The Big Clock, O ’Sullivan ’s body drawn seductively against his, a wry but loving smile on her lips, is as touching a romantic closure as cinem a has proffered.

After Where Danger Lives, Farrow and Robert Mitchum team ed again to make one o f the great American films o f the 1950s, and unquestionably on e o f the m ost eccentric, His Kind o f Woman (“What kind o f woman would that be?”, Mitchum inquired). Inventively m ixing many film styles, including film noir and comedy, it prefigures such films as Francois Truffaut’s Tirez sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Pianist, 1960). But it so bedazzled the studio it was not released until 1951.

LEFT: DAN MILNER (ROBERT MITCHUM) AND LENORE (JAN E RUSSELL), OR IS IT JUST PLAIN LIZ , IN FA RRO W 'S ENERGETICALLY CHAOTIC H IS KIND OF W O M AN (1 9 5 1 ).

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G r a ced w it h a s p l e n d id SCRIPT by Frank Fenton, a collection o f wonderful performances and Farrow’s sure hand with the right material, His Kind of Woman would have to be one of the most energetically chaotic films to em erge from Hollywood in the 1950s.

It begins like a noirish thriller, with Robert Mitchum classically hard-boiled o f lip and world-weary o f manner as Dan Milner, a man resigned to the fact that the world is there to take advantage o f him. It ends as a madcap adventure with Vincent Price as hunter, actor and would-be hero Mark Cardigan scoffing at the bullet wound in his shoulder (“ ’T isn otso deep as a well, or wide as a church door”) and seizing his chance to save the day.

Along the way, it takes in a memorable bordertown m eeting between Milner and singer and aspiring good-time girl Lenore Brent (Jane Russell) in a sequence that resonates generically in its setting and crackles deliciously in its dialogue. Mitchum’s been in places like this before - m eeting Jane Greer in Out of the Past (1947) and fleeing with Faith Domergue at the end o f Farrow’s Where Danger Lives (1950). Precariously pivoted between two worlds, the bordertown is a state o f the spirit where decisions are made and destinies decided.

For Milner it is a turning-point, and from the m om ent his cheeks start to quiver at the sight o f Lenore and at the sound o f her siren song, his future is decided. Propelled by his passion and armed with an $18 bottle o f champagne bought to impress, he takes a stand and makes his play. His knowing, gently m ocking exchange with Lenore reveals her as a soul-mate.

Suddenly everything matters.

Mitchum and Russell glow together on screen, and you know their fate is sealed just from the way Mitchum lazily raises an approving eyebrow and Russell defiantly curls her admiring

TO P: DAN, WATCHED BY LENORE, TENDS THE WOUNDED CIA AGEN T, BILL LUSK (TIM HOLT), IN H IS KIND OFW OMAN. BELOW : NICK FERRARO (RAYM OND BURR), THE ITALIAN M AFIO SO , THREATENS THE CONCUSSED DAN: "W A K E UP LITTLE B O Y, W A KE UP. I W ANT YOU TO SEE IT [THE BULLET] COM ING, I DON'T LIKE TO SHOOT A CO RPSE." H IS KIND OF W OMAN.

upper lip.

What makes their m eeting even more affecting is the edge o f vulnerability that cuts its way through the wry parry and thrust o f their talk. They have been life’s losers and they aren’t going to let their defences down for a while yet.

This is not the familiar stuff o f film noir. Instead o f casting Milner into the dark web o f a fem m e fatale, His Kind of Woman leads him back into the daylight. In another context, Lenore and the sexuality she exudes might have been depicted as desirable but deadly; in CINEMA

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DAN, LENORE AND JO SE MORRO (PHILIP VA N ZANDT): "S H E'S BEAUTIFUL AS W ELL AS IN TERESTING, ISN'T SH E." H IS KIND OF W O M AN

Farrow’s film she is simply a voyager, like everyone else. Ultimately, she is thrust aside by the plot which, at least to this extent, adheres to the conventions o f the thriller. But never for a m om ent does she com prom ise her integrity or her desire.

Nevertheless, like just about everybody else in the film, she adopts a guise to get by.

Pretending to be Lenore, “a spoiled child o f the rich”, she is in fact Liz, down on her luck and trying to change it. When Milner enters her life, she is “som ebody else’s w om an”, Cardigan seem ing to represent her main chance.

Significantly, she brings out the best in him too, for though h e ’s a cad, married and a philanderer with a history, his devotion to her needs proves to be beyond question. W hen she urges him to help Milner, m aking it clear where her romantic preferences lie, he hesitates only to quote Hamlet and then it’s o ff to the rescue. The screen swashbuckler who thought he was a fake gets a chance to discover that h e ’s not. H e launches him self into the fray with one o f the script’s many wonderful puns: ‘T h e time has com e to act!”

This film is a Hollywood treasure: the performances shine and the dialogue sparkles.

Never for a m om ent does the pace let up, despite Farrow’s constant readjustments o f tone which see the melodramatic and the screwball often separated by no m ore than a frame. If they ask in a hundred years what Hollywood was like, His Kind ofWomanwovAd be a reasonable reply.

T h e SAME year as he made his two Mitchum classics, Farrow came into confrontation with the

McCarthyite forces then purging the film industry o f suspected Leftists. T he Right had gained its greatest victory that year with the jailing o f the Hollywood T en36, who had refused to tell the H ouse Committee on Un-American Activities if they were m em bers o f the Comm unist Party. It was not a time for the faint-hearted to stand against the tide o f reaction, for that could mean blacklisting and the en d o f a career.

Cecil B. DeMille decided to have his own purge o f the industry and established the DeMille Foundation for Americanism to com pile dossiers on all screen directors’ ‘Leftist’ affiliations. O ne o f the people in D eM ille’s sights w asjoseph L. Mankiewicz, then President o f the influential Screen Directors Guild o f America, Inc. DeM ille was only a board m em ber but he saw him self as a kingmaker and was hell-bent on rem oving Mankiewicz. The issue he chose to fight Mankiewicz on what was a loyalty oath DeM ille wanted im posed on all SDG members. Mankiewicz felt such an oath infringed Constitutional freedom s.37 DeMille began to apply the pressure: articles appeared in the press calling Mankiewicz a “pinko ”and a “fellow traveller”, and all his films were secretly screened by D eM ille’s associates to try to find instances o f Communist sympathies (they found n o n e ). DeM ille and select SDG board members then decided to get rid o f Mankiewicz as president by m eans o f a recall m otion. Ballot papers were prepared on anonymous stationery and, in Kafkaesque fashion, had only space to vote “Yes” to the recall m otion. DeM ille insisted they also had to be signed.

H e then scanned the private SDG membership list, and scratched o ff 55 names o f those he felt m ight be sympathetic to Mankiewicz. Motorcycle m essengers then delivered the ballots to the ‘approved’ members that night.38 D eM ille’s plot was working perfectly until a m essenger arrived at the Beverly Hills hom e o f John Farrow. Appalled by what was happening, Farrow tried to reach Joe Mankiewicz, but on failing managed to locate his brother, Herman. In his autobiography, A Life, Elia Kazan quotes Joe Mankiewicz’s version o f events: “I was watching a movie, and my brother, Herman, gets me on the phone and says, ‘What do you and Andrewjackson have in common?’ I said, ‘How drunk are you?’And he said, ‘You are, this instant, being impeached. John Farrow just came over and he gave me a whole bunch of totems and amulets, all blessed by various popes, and John wants you to wear them close to your balls because that’s where they’re going to cut you.’ It seems that George M arshall, one of the old-timers, had shown up at Farrow’s house in the sidecar of a motorcycle and he walked into John ’s house and said, ‘Here. Sign this.’ And John said, ‘I will not sign it.’”39

THE PETITION SIGNED B Y TWENTY-FIVE DIRECTORS, CALLING FOR A REPEAL OF THE DEMILLE MOTION TO RECALL SCREEN DIRECTORS GUILD PRESIDENT, JO SEPH L. M AN KIEW ICZ. FARRO W 'S SIGNATURE IS N O . 2 4 .

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The next day, a hastily-arranged m eeting o f Mankiewicz and his key supporters was held in the back room o f Chasen’s restaurant. They decided to petition the SDG for a special m eeting to consider the proposed recall o f the President. Twenty-five o f the w orld’s greatest directors courageously signed that petition, knowing full well they could be signing away their careers. The 25 included John Huston, Joseph Losey, Nicholas Ray, Billy Wilder and William Wyler. The 24th signature was John Farrow’s.

The special m eeting o f the SDG was held on October 22 in the Crystal R oom o f the Beverly Hills Hotel. Farrow and the other signatories were present, along with som e 500 others. The m ood was explosive, and Mankiewicz was in a particularly shaken state, having asked Elia Kazan to accompany him for moral support, but Kazan had declined.

The m eeting began at 7:30 p.m. and lasted seven-and-a-half hours. Mankiewicz rose and gave a powerful one-hour speech which quickly won over the audience. T hen it was D eM ille’s turn. H e attacked the 25 signatories and claim ed that m ost were affiliated with subversive organizations. His speech was n ot greeted well. T hen that great libertarian, George Stevens, gave a telling speech (“As the subject o f Communism is often the them e, brother, if they can do it better [than D eM ille’s grou p ], they are pretty g o o d .”) and resigned as a Guild member.

Finally, cam e the historic m om ent. There was a man o f 55 sitting up the back who had rem ained silent throughout it all. Slowly he got to his feet; the room w ent quiet: My nam e’s John Ford. I make Westerns. I don’t think there is anyone in this room who knows more about what the American public wants than Cecil B. DeMille - and he certainly knows how to give it to them. In that respect I admire him.40 Ford then turned to look at DeM ille.

But I don’t like you, C.B. I don’t like what you stand for and I don’t like what you’ve been saying here tonight. Joe has been vilified, and I think he needs an apology.

T he was a long silence. DeM ille did n ot move and Ford continued, calling for the resignation o f the board. Farrow then rose to his feet and said that a mass resignation would look as if o n e side had won at the expense o f the other. H e argued that a show o f unity was important, and was backed up by King Vidor. But Ford was adamant about the correct course o f action: I believe there is only one alternative, and I hereby so move: that DeMille and the entire board of directors resign and that we give Joe a vote of confidence - and then let’s all go home and get some sleep. We’ve got some pictures to make tomorrow.

Walter Lang seconded the motion; Ford sat down and lit his pipe. D eM ille’s board re­ signed and Mankiewicz was given an unanim ous vote o f confidence. Kazan sums up: The men who beat De Mille, an extremist of the right, were not from the left. Many were ‘reactionaries’ like John Farrow or Jack Ford. But all were for the way of fairness and decency.

What they were defending was classic Americanism, our basic way of living with each other in this country. And they’d succeeded.41 In the end, Farrow’s stand did n ot harm his career. But at the time he could not have known this. In the face o f intense political pressure, he, like his co-signatories, had taken a courageous and principled stand.

T he n ext year, 1951, Farrow directed Submarine Command, the story o f a subm arine’s executive officer, Com m ander White (William H o ld en ), who has been traumatized by his decision on the last day o f the war to make a sudden dive, thereby drowning his w ounded skipper and quartermaster who were still on deck. The film has echoes o f Farrow’s earlier Beyond Glory, White being plagued by self-doubts and tortured by his torpedom an (William B en d ix). It is only by dint o f courageous action during the Korean War that White regains his self-respect.

Farrow also did som e uncredited direction that year on William D ieterle’s Red M ountain, w hen D ieterle becam e ill. The film is a highly-regarded Western set during the American Civil War, with Alan Ladd, Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy.

In 1953, Farrow made another Western, Ride, Vaquero!. It is not a particularly successful film, having avaguely defined storyline and a choppiness that suggests major post-production cuts. But even allowing for these, it is hard to explain the unusually listless direction or the often w ooden performances. The on e notable exception is Anthony Quinn, who makes his Jose Esqueda one o f the m ost dynamic and engaging Mexican bandits in Vaquero cinema.

O ne particularly obscure relationship is that between Cordelia (Ava Gardner) and that man-with-a-past, Rio (Robert Taylor). W hen she ‘first’ m eets him, Cordelia acts as if they have m et before. But this is n ot som ething ever referred to again and is in fact contradicted by later dialogue. Perhaps the studio rewrote their relationship in post-production out o f what had b een shot.

Sydney film reviewer Bill Collins, however, has suggested an intriguing reading, with the essentially hom osexual Rio responding sexually to a woman for the first time.42 Collins likens it to the relationship between the enigm atic Laura (Gene Tierney) and the gay Waldo (Clifton Webb) in Otto Prem inger’s Laura (1944).

Farrow m ade eight m ore films in the 1950s, for a variety o f studios: Botany Bay, Plunder of the Sun and Hondo (1953); A Bullet is W aiting (1954); The Sea Chase (1955); Back from Eternity (1957), a p o o r remake o f Five Came Back; The Unholy Wife, and fo h n P a u l fones (1959).

Botany Bay is quite forgettable. Set (supposedly) in his native Australia during the early days o f white colonization, the film achieves neither authenticity nor drama. It’s only interest is its kitsch visualization o f Australian flora and fauna, not unlike that seen on the worst o f the A m otts’ biscuit tins.

Plunder o f the Sun, with Glenn Ford and Diana Lynn, is the story o f a group o f treasure hunters looking for gold in the Zapotecan tem ples o f Mexico. Made for John Wayne’s production company, Batjac Pictures, it was a m odest success.

Glenn Ford and Farrow had planned to do m ore films together, but they so failed to get on during the film ing that Ford pulled out o f the next one, Hondo. Wayne, who had planned merely to produce the film, was left without a lead. A great admirer o f the script, he took on the lead role o f the cavalryman himself.

Filmed in 3-D by Robert Burke and Archie Stout, Hondo is a highly-regarded film, often praised for being the first major Western to adequately portray the destruction and loss faced by the American Indians in the face o f white colonization. Michael Pate, who starred as the Indian chief, Cochise, recalls:

TORPEDOMAN C. P. BO YER (W ILLIAM BENDIX) AND COMMANDER W HITE (W ILLIAM HOLDEN) IN FARRO W 'S SU B M A R IN E COM M AND (1 9 5 1 ).

W ILLIAM DIETERLE'S RED M O U N TAIN , W ITH ALAN LADD AND ARTHUR KEN N EDY. FARRO W DIRECTED (UNCREDITED) SEVERAL SCENES W HEN DIETERLE W A S ILL.

RIO (ROBERT TA YLO R ), CORDELIA (A VA GARDN ER) AND JO SE ESQUEDA (AN THO N Y Q U IN N ) IN FARRO W 'S CONFUSED BUT IN TRIG UIN G W ESTERN, RID E, VAQ U ERO I.

BO TAN Y B A Y (1 9 5 3 ), FA RR O W 'S UNSUCCESSFUL RECREATION OF HIS CO U N TRY'S EARLY W HITE H ISTO RY. W ITH ALAN LADD AND JA M ES M ASO N .

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.

47

Wayne and Farrow were very conscious that the film was trying to say something about what had been done to the Indians. It was on everyone’s mind.

Hondo was based on a story by Louis L’Amour, ‘T he Gift of Cochise”, and, as you know, Louis was a very pertinent writer on Indian rights, ideas and stories. And the screenplay was written

by James Edward Grant, who was one of the great screenwriters of all time. It was a really beautiful script; you could read it like a fine novel.

What finished up on screen may be a different matter altogether. Even with the best intentions in the world, you sometimes just can’t get up there.

One writer on Westerns, John Tuska, feels the filmmakers were successful and writes that it is “the closest one can com e to a personal statement from [John Wayne] on precisely how he regarde [d] the struggle with the Indian nations”.43 Director John Ford came and visited Wayne on location in Mexico. Pate recalls: I thoughtjohn [Farrow] did terribly well to hold a lot of the elements together. But towards the end of the picture he was rather impatient to get back to Hollywood and start another project.

So John Ford, who had come down on location to see Wayne, ended up doing all the secondunit work.

I remember Ford arriving towards the end of the filming. We had this wonderful picnic on the banks of the river that ran through the location. Ford sat down and had a particular chat with Philippa [Pate’s wife] because many, many years before he had been besotted with Phil­ ippa’s mother, who was one of his leading ladies, Louise Grenville. He got terribly romantic Irish about the whole thing and ignored me completely.

TO P: THE APPACHE VITTORIO (MICHAEL PATE) WATCHES AS HONDO LANE (JO HN W AYN E) FIGHTS SILVA (RUDOLFO ACO STA). AN D : HONDO AND A N G IE (GERALDINE PAGE) IN FARRO W 'S HONDO (1 9 5 3 ), A FILM NOTABLE FOR ITS PRESENTATION OF AM ERICAN IN DIAN S.

A BO VE: CAPTAIN KARL ERLICH (JO HN W AYN E) AND ELSA KELLER (LANA TURNER) IN FARRO W 'S THE SEA CHASE (1 9 5 5 ). AN D: TURNER IS VISITED BY FARROW AND FOUR OF HIS CHILDREN.

PASSEPARTOUT (CANTIFLAS) AND PHILEAS FOGG (DAVID NIVEN) IN MICHAEL ANDERSO N'S AROUND THE WORLD IN 8 0 D A YS (1 9 5 6 ). FARRO W W O N AN ACADEMY AW ARD FOR BE5T ADAPTED SCREEN PLAY (WITH S. J .

PERELMAN AND JAM ES POE).

48

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Farrow’s next film was A Bullet is Waiting, a “claustrophobic little film ”44 about a criminal (Rory Calhoun) and a sheriff (Stephen McNally) whose plane crashes in the backwoods. They are forced to hole up in a small cabin owned by Cally (Jean Simmons) and her father (Brian A hern e). The Motion Picture Guide considers it “Overlong and very talky”45.

The Sea Chasewas Farrow’s second film with John Wayne. It is a far less successful team ing than Hondo, Wayne unconvincingly playing a German sea captain and Lana Turner a Teutonic spy. It is a curious aspect o f Farrow’s career that the seafaring films o f this former seaman are, with the notable exception o f Two Years Before the Mast, am ong his least successful.

On 1 November 1954, in the m iddle o f shooting, Farrow gave away Pilar Palette, Peru’s leading actress, at her wedding to John Wayne.

In 1956, Farrow co-wrote the screen adaptation o f Jules V erne’s Around the World in 80 Days. He also began as director and did the Spanish sequences. But disagreements with producer Mike Todd led to Farrow’s resignation and subsequent replacem ent by Michael Anderson, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Direction. Farrow did, however, win the Oscar for Best Screenplay with co-writers S. J. Perelman andjam es Poe. It was the first time an Australian had won an Academy Award in what is regarded as a major category.

The Spanish sequences, with the very long bullfight, are stylistically dissimilar to the rest o f the film, having a more documentary feel. Perhaps they reflect Farrow’s long interest in Spanish traditions and history. What is curious is why Anderson and Todd seem to have made so little effort to incorporate these sequences holistically into the rest o f the film. O ne d oesn ’t know how Farrow intended to cut these scenes, but it would be surprising if he were happy with the final result.

That same year, Farrow had published in Cambridge, England,- Seven Poems in Pattern. A limited edition o f only 250 copies was printed.

In 1957, Farrow directed The Unholy Wife (1957), a “provocative crime thriller”46with Rod Steiger, and Diana Dors in her first American film role. The publicity had a provocative (for its time) tag: “H alf Angel, H alf Devil, She Made Him H alf A Man”. The director o f photography was Lucien Ballard: I remember everyone told me how toughjohn Farrow was. The first day on the picture ... I came onto the set and he had the camera all rigged up. I moved the camera twenty feet, and said, ‘Take a look at this, John, I think you might like it better.’ And he did. It was just that no one had ever had the nerve to do anything like that before. He turned out to have an excellent visual sense - he liked anything a camera would like.47 The next year, Farrow and his entire family moved to Spain for the making o ffo h n Paul fones (1959), about America’s first naval hero. Again it was a project to which Farrow was greatly suited, but his direction is flat and it remains one o f his weakest films. Its only real interest is that it marks the screen debut o f two Farrow-O’Sullivan children in the movies: the young John Charles and (the uncredited) Mia, who both had small roles. In m ost senses, it is a sad conclusion to a career marked with touches o f greatness.

On fo h n Paul]ones com pletion, the Farrows moved to England to live, though son Patrick continued at college in Los Angeles. Then came the tragic news that the 19-year-old boy had been killed in a mid-air plane crash over California. The family, with the exception o f Mia, who remained at her convent in Surrey, returned im mediately to Los Angeles. Because o f Farrow’s having served in the U.S. Marines, they form ed a guard o f honour at the funeral.

Two years later, Mia returned to Los Angeles where, after one m ore year’s schooling, she developed an interest in acting. But having seen the down side o f Hollywood ambition, Farrow was deeply opposed to her pursuing acting as a career. Mia was sent back to England and a finishing school there. But after only two m onths, and secretly supported by her m other,

she turned her attention on ce more to acting. H er career proper would begin, after two more small roles, with Joseph Losey’s Secret Ceremony (1968).

Mia was n ot the only Farrow child to venture into acting: Tisa has m ade a few films, de­ buting inJam esToback’sFl'wgm (1978), and Stephanie appeared in To back ’s Exposed (1986).

O ’Sullivan, too, continued to make the occasional film, and co-hosted for several months the Today show in the 1960s. Her m ost recent film role, and one o f her m ost mem orable, is as the m other o f H annah (Mia Farrow) in Woody A llen’s H annah and Her Sisters (1986).

As for Farrow, he did not make another film after Jo hn Paul Jones, though he did direct the occasional episode o f the television Western series, Empire (1962). Mostly, however, he devoted his time to family and religious matters: he and O ’Sullivan were particularly active in Catholic and Jewish charities.

On 28 January 1963, John Neville Villiers Farrow died o f a massive heart attack at his Beverly Hills hom e. H e was survived by his wife and six o f his children. Mia Farrow, who has spoken little about her father in public, has said:

FARRO W 'S THE UNHO LY W IFE (1 9 5 7 ), WITH ROD STEIGER AND DIANA DORS.

[He] was a marvelous man, a paradox. He was remarkably knowledgeable. And tough, very tough. But he was gende. He was many people at once, good and bad. He wanted to be the pope, a poet, and Casanova.48 At his best, Farrow was also an extremely fine scriptwriter and director. Few filmmakers have m ade movies as masterly as Wake Island, The Big Clock, Where Danger Lives or His Kind of Woman. And Australia hasn’t produced so many creative giants that it can afford to ignore som eone as supremely gifted as he. Farrow’s lack o f recognition, especially in his hom e country, is little short o f an outrage.

FARROW ON SET OF JO H N PAUL JO N E S (1 9 5 9 ) WITH MIA AND PA TRICK, W HO HAVE SMALL PARTS IN THE FILM.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Grateful thanks to James Sabine and the Australian Film Institute Research and Information Centre, Melbourne, for use of its invaluable library; to Michael Pate, for his recollections; and to Bill Collins (B. C. Entertainment Services) for his support and for making available sev­ eral stills.

NOTES

1. Some of these films are less then an hour long, but film historians take a more flexible view about what constituted a feature in the cinema’s early days. Today, according to most archivists, a feature must be more than 60 minutes.

2. Some of the biographical details come from the entry on Farrow in Terry Ramsaye (ed.), The International Motion Picture Almanac, Quigley Publishing, New York, various years.

3. Barrie Pattison, “Ray Milland” (Part 2), injohn Howard Reid (ed.), Australian Film Guide, Vol. 1, No. 10, p. xxii.

4. Tay Garnett, with Fredda Dudley Balling, Light Your Torches and Pull Up Your Tights, Arlington House, New Rochelle, New York, 1973, p. 104.

5. As with all Pate quotes, from interview with author, 24 October 1989.

6. Early fdm titles researched in Kenneth W. Munden (exec, ed.), The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 7 volumes, R. R. Bowker Company, New York and Lon­ don, 1971.

7. Garnett, op. at., p. 104.

8. Alexander Walker, The Shattered Silents: How the Talkies Came to Stay, Elm Tree Books-Hamish Hamilton, Lon­ don, 1978, p. 130.

9. Thanks to Pat Gordon for tracking down a copy of this film.

10. Gabe Essoe, Tarzan of the Movies: A Pictorial History Of More Than Fifty Years O f Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Legendary Hero, The Citadel Press, New York, 1968, p. 96.

11. ibid., p. 98.

12. Details from Ephraim Katz, The International Film Encyclopedia, The Macmillan Company, London, 1980,

p. 882; David Ragan, Movie Stars of the ’30s, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1985; and, especially, James Robert Parrish and Ronald L. Bowers, The MGM Stock Company: The Golden Era, Arlington House, New Rochelle, New York, 1973.

13. Kingsley Canham, “Forever Jane: Maureen O ’Sulli­ van”, in Allen Eyles (ed.), Focus on Film, The Tantivy Press, London, No. 18, Summer 1974, p. 55.

14. Quoted in Sam Rubin and Richard Taylor, Mia Farrow: Flower child, Madonna, Muse, St. Martin’s Press and 2M Communications, New York, 1989, p. 9.

15. ibid., p. 9.

16. John Farrow, Damien The Leper, foreword by Hugh Walpole, Burns Oates & Washbourne, London, 1937, pp. xv-xvi.

17. ibid., p. xv.

18. Quoted in David Thomson, A Biographical Dictionary of Film, William Morrow, New York, 1976, p. 89.

19. From discussions between the author, critic Michel Ciment and filmmaker Pierre Rissient, Paris, May 1986.

20. Canham, op. cit., p. 55.

21. Jay Robert Nash and Stanley Ralph Ross (edd.), The Motion Picture Guide 1927 - 1983, Cinebooks, Chicago, 1986, p. 1928.

22. ibid., p. 416.

23. ibid., p. 416.

24. Quoted in Joe Morello, Edward Z. Epstein and John Griggs, The Films of World War II: A Pictorial Treasury of Hollywood’s War Years, The Citadel Press, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1980, p. 185.

25. Steven H. Scheur (ed.), Movies on Television and Videocassette 1988 -89, Bantam, New York, 1988, p. 901; and Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide, Granada, Frogmore, St Albans, 1977, p. 875.

26. Pattison, op. cit., pp. xxii - xxiii.

27. ibid., pp. xxii - xxiii.

28. In discussion with author on “Film Buff s Forecast”, 3RRR, Melbourne, 4 November 1989.

29. Canham, op. cit., p. 55.

30. Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward (edd.), Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide, Bloomsbury, London, 1988 (revised edition), p. 204.

31. Jay Robert Nash and Stanley Ralph Ross (edd.), op.

cit., p. 39.

32. Pattison, op. cit., pp. xxii - xxiii.

33. George Eells, Robert Mitchum: A Biography, Franklin Watts, New York, 1984, p. 150.

34. Canham, op. cit., p. 55.

35. Garnett, op. cit., p. 161.

36. The Hollywood Ten comprised producer-director Herbert Biberman, director Edward Dmytryk, producerwriter Adrian Scott, and screenwriters Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz and Dalton Trumbo. See Katz, op. cit., p. 571.

37. There are numerous accounts of this issue, one of the fullest being in Kenneth L. Geist, Pictures Will Talk: The Life and Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, with Introduc­ tion by Richard Burton, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1978, pp. 173-206.

38. Geist points out in his excellent account that the group’s actions mirrored a sequence in Frank Capra’s MeetJohn Doe (1941), where uniformed cyclists are used to outmanoeuvre the ideologically soundjohn Doe. On this occasion, however, Capra was a member of DeMille’s clique and doing what he had previously and powerfully condemned. He would later resign as a SDG board member.

39. Elia Kazan, A Life, Knopf, New York, 1988, p. 389-90.

40. Geist, op. cit., pp. 202 - 203. The opening sentences, which vary slighdy from Geist’s account, are from Peter Bogdanovich, John Ford, Studio Vista, London, 1967, p. 19.

4L Kazan, op. cit., p. 393.

42. In phone discussion with author, 13 November 1989.

43. Jon Tuska, The Filming of the West, Robert Hale, London, 1978, p. 547.

44. Jay Robert Nash and Stanley Ralph Ross (edd.), op. cit., p. 315.

45. ibid., p. 315.

46. ibid., p. 3633.

47. Leonard Maltin, Behind the Camera: The Cinematogra­ pher’s Art, Signet, New York, 1971, p. 173.

48. Quoted in Sam Rubin and Richard Taylor, op. cit., p. 8.

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• 49

J OHN FARROW: FI LMO GRAPH Y COMPILED The following filmographies represent original research, based on published filmographies, as well as histories of the silent and sound eras. Entries have been crossed checked with several major refer­ ence works, such as The American Film Institute Catalog, Feature Films, and the U.S. Library of Congress’ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures. As such, what fol­ lows is an advance over other filmogra­ phies, such as the brief one in Film Dope, which was previously the most complete.

But there is still much research to be done.

SCRIPTWRITER This film ography covers all functions o f writing for the screen: such as titles in silent m ovies, the original story, adaptation, dialogue and full script­ ing. D ue to a change in the use o f som e terms (a credit for sto ry o n a silen tfilm m ea n tth e plotdng, not that it was based on a short story), som e errors have occurred in other film ographies. H ope­ fully, things are a little m ore correct below.

SILENTS

1927 WHITE GOLD Director: William K. Howard. Supervisor: C. Gard­ ner Sullivan. Titles: Joh n Krafft, John Farrow.

Adaptation: Garrett Fort, Marion Orth, Tay Gar­ nett. Based on the play b y j . Palmer Parsons.

Prod, company: D e M ille Pictures. Dist: Produc­ ers Distributing Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 7 reels.

Released: 2 4 /2 .

Cast: Jetta Goudal (D olores Carson), Kenneth T h om son (Alec Carson), G eorge Bancroft (Sam Randall), G eorge N ichols (Carson Sen.), Robert Perry (Bucky O ’N eil).

TH E WRECK OF THE HESPERUS Director: Elm er Clifton. Screenplay: Harry Carr.

Titles: Joh n Krafft. Story: John Farrow. Based on H enry Wadsworth L on gfellow ’s p oem , “T h e Wreck o f the H esperus”. D.O.P.: John Mescall.

Prod, company: De Mille Pictures. Dist: Pathe Ex­ change. B&W. 35 mm. 7 reels. Released: 3 1 /1 0 .

Cast: Sam D e Grasse (Capt. Slocum ), Virginia Bradford (Gale Slocum ), Francis Ford (John Hazzard), Frank Marion (John Hazzard, Jr.), Alan H ale (SingaporeJack).

N.B.: A Sailor’s Sweetheart. This is som etim es listed in Farrow film ographies but no major ref­ eren ce work on the silent era credits his working on it. As it was a Warner Bros, film, and Farrow was at D e Mille, it seem s highly unlikely that he was involved on it.

1928 TH E SHOW DOW N Director: V ictor Schertzinger. P resen ted by: A dolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky. Adaptation: H ope Loring, Ethel Doherty. Based on the play, Wild­ cat, by H ouston Branch. Titles: John Farrow. Pho­ tography: Victor Milner. Prod, company and Dist.: Param ount Fam ous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 8 reels. Released: 2 5 /2 .

Cast: G eorge Bancroft (Cardan), Evelyn Brent (Sibyl Shelton ), Neil H am ilton (Wilson Shel­ t o n ), Fred K ohler (W in ter), H e le n Lynch (G oldie).

row. D.O.P.: Arthur Miller. Prod, company: De Mille Pictures. Dist: Pathe Exchange. B&W. 35 mm. 7 reels. Released: 1 1/3.

Cast: L e a tr ic e J o y ( M a r g u e r ite ), J o s e p h Schildkraut (Ludwig), Nils Asther (Erich von Statzen), Seena Owen (H elena BourSch), Albert Gran (Herr Boursch).

LADIES O F TH E MOB Director: William A. W ellman. Screen play John Farrow. Titles: G eorge Marion. Adaptation: Ol­ iver H.P. Garrett. Based on the story by Ernest • CINEMA

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SCOTT

MURRAY

Booth. Photog: Henry Gerrard. Prod, com pany

Julian Johnson. Adaptation: John Farrow. Based

Based on the novel, Don Quixote de la M ancha, by

and Dist.: Param ount Famous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 7 reels. Released: 3 0 /6 .

Cast: Clara Bow (Yvonne), Richard Arlen (“Red”) ,

on the story b yjam es Bernard Fagan. Photogra­

M iguel de Cervantes. Collaborator fo r English

phy: Edward Cronjager. Prod, com pany and Dist.: Param ount Fam ous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 6

version: John Farrow. Photography: N icholas Farkas. Music: Jacques Ibert. N elson Films-Van-

reels. Released: 1 5 /6 .

Cast: Richard D ix (Capt. Leslie Yeullat), Esther Ralston (Ruth D angan), O.P. H eggie (Col. John

dor Film. B&W. 35 m m . 73 mins.

Cast: Feodor Chaliapin (D on Q uixote), G eorge Robey (Sancho P anza), Sidney Fox (T he n ie c e ),

D an gan), Arthur Hoyt (G eorge Faraker), Myrtle

Miles M ander (T he D u ke), Oscar Asche (Police Capt.), Dannio (Carrasco).

H elen Lynch (M arie), Mary A lden (“Soft An­ n ie ”), Carl Gerrard (Joe).

TH E FIRST KISS Director: Rowland V. Lee. Presented by: Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky. Titles: Tom Reed. Adapta­ tion: John Farrow. Based on the story, “ Four Brothers”, by Tristram Tupper. Photography:

Stedm an (Mrs Faraker).

1930

1936

SEVEN DAYS LEAVE (U.K. title: Medals)

LAST O F TH E PAGANS D irector: Richard T h orp e. Producer: Philip G oldstone. Script: John Villiers Farrow. B ased on

Released: 2 5 /8 .

D irector: R ichard W allace. S creen p la y and dialogue: Dan T otheroh, John Farrow. Based on the play, The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, a play in

Cast: Fay Wray (Anna L ee), Gary C ooper (Mulli­ gan Talbot), Lane Chandler (William Talbot), Leslie Fenton (Carol Talbot), Paul Fix (Ezra

one act, by Sir Jam es M. Barrie. Titles: Richard H. Digges. Sound: M ovietone. Prod, com pany and Dist.: Param ount Famous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35

Talbot).

mm. 80 mins. Released: 2 5 /1 .

Cast: Gary Cooper (K enneth Dow ey), Beryl Mer­

Alfred Gilks. Prod, com pany and Dist.: Para­ m ount Famous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 6 reels.

THREE WEEK-ENDS Director: Clarence Badger. Screenplay: Louise Long, Percy H eath, Sam Mintz. Titles: Paul Perez, H erm an Mankiewicz. Adaptation: John Farrow.

Story: Elinor Glyn. Photography: H arold Rosson.

Prod, com pany and Dist.: Param ount Famous

cer (Sarah Ann Dow ey). Daisy Belm ore (Emma M ickelham ), N ora C ecil (A m elia Twym ley), T em pe Piggott (Mrs H aggerty).

a story by Farrow, suggested by the novel, Typee,

by H erm an M elville. Photography: Clyde de Vinna. MGM. B&W. 35 m m . 72 m ins.

Cast: Mala (Taro), Lotus L ong (L illeo), T elo A. Tem atua (Native ch ief), A e A. Faaturia (Boy hun ter), RangapoA . Taipoo (Taro’s m other).

TARZAN ESCAPES D irector: R ichard T h o rp e. P roducer: Sam Zimbalist. Script: Cyril H um e, John Farrow, Karl Brown. Based on characters by Edgar Rice Bur­ roughs. Photography: Leonard Sm ith. MGM.

Cast: Clara Bow (Gladys O ’B rien), Neil H am ilton

TH E SHADOW OF TH E LAW Director: Louis Gasnier. Screenplay and dialogue: John Farrow. Based on the novel, “T h e Quarry", b y jo h n A. M orosco, and the play, ‘T h e Quarry”, b y jo h n A M oroso. Photography: Charles Lang.

(James G ordon), Harrison Ford (Turner), Lu­ cille Powers (Miss W itherspoon), William H olden

Sound: M ovietone. Prod, com pany and Dist.: Paramount-Publix Corp. B&W. 35 m m . 9 reels.

Fry), Benita H um e (Rita Parker), William Henry (Eric Parker).

(Carter).

Released: 6 /6 .

Cast: William Powell (John N elson, Jim M ont­ gom ery), Marion Shilling (Edith W entworth),

Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 6 reels. Released: 8 /

12.

SOUND

FILMS

1928 TH E WOMAN FROM M OSCOW Director: Ludwig Berger. Screen play John Far­ row. Based on the play, Fedora, comedie en quatre acts, by Victorien Sardou. Titles: John Farrow.

Photography: Victor Milner. Sound fx and music: M ovietone. Prod, com pany and Dist.: Param ount Famous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 7 reels. Re­ leased: 3 /1 1 .

Cast: PolaNegri (Princess Fedora), Norm an Kerry (Loris Ipanoff), Paul Lukas (Vladimir), Otto M atiesen (Gretch M ilner), Lawrence Grant (The G en eral).

1929

Natalie M oorhead (Ethel Barry), Regis T oom ey (T om ), Paul Hurst (Pete).

INSIDE THE LINES Director: RoyJ. Pomeroy. Producer: William Le Baron. Screenplay: Ewart Adamson. Dialogue: John Farrow. Based o n the play, Behind the Lines,

by Earl Derr Biggers. Photography: Nick Musuraca. Sound: P hotophon e. Prod, com pany and Dist.: RKO Productions. B&W. 35 mm. 8 reels.

Released: 5 /7 .

Cast: Betty C om pson (Jane G ershon), Ralph Forbes (Eric W oodhou se), M ontagu Love (Gov­ ernor o f Gibraltar), Mischa Auer (A m ahdi), Ivan Simpson (Capper).

WOLF SO NG

1931

Director: Victor Fleming. Script: John Farrow, K eene T hom pson. Based o n the story by Harvey Ferguson. Titles: Julian Johnson. Photography:

TH E CO M M ON LAW Director: Paul L. Stein. Producer: Charles R.

Allen Siegler. Sound fx and music: M ovietone.

Prod. co. and Dist.: Param ount Famous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 93 mins. Released: 3 0 /3 .

Cast: Gary C ooper (Sam Lash), Lupe Velez (Lola Salazar), Louis W olheim (G ullion), Constantine R om anoff (Rube Thatcher), M ichael Vavitch (D on Solom on Salazar).

Rogers. Screen story: John Farrow. Dialogue:

TH E FO UR FEATHERS oedsack, Lothar M endes. Assoc, producer: David Selznick. Screenplay: Howard Estabrook. Titles:

liams (Sam ), H edda H opper (Mrs Clare Collis).

A WOMAN O F EXPERIENCE

mins.

Cast: H elen Twelvetrees (Elsa), William Bakewell (Karl), Lew Cody (Capt. Otto von L ichstein), ZaSu Pitts (Katie), H. B. W arner (Maj. Hugh Schm idt).

1932

(M onsieur C asse).

1959 JO H N PAUL JONES See below.

if any, o f Farrow’s screenplay is in Ray’s film.

T here is no screen credit for Farrow.

AS

FILMS DIRECTOR

SHORTS

1934 TH E SPECTACLE MAKER Director:John Farrow. Screenplay: Farrow. Based on a story by Farrow.

FEATURES

man, by “Sapper” (H. C. M cN eile). Photography:

feld (Grace M arwood), Allan Jeayes (John Mar-

TH E WHEEL O F LIFE Director: Victor Schertzinger. Dialogue and titles:

mm (Todd-AO ). 175 mins.

Cast: David Niven (P hileasFogg), Cantinflas (Pas­ separtout) , Shirley M acLaine (Princess A ou d a), Robert N ew ton (Inspector Fix), Charles Boyer

John Farrow, Jo h n Paddy Carstairs, H arold Dearden. Based on the play, The Impassive Foot­

Ernest B. Schoedsack. M usic and sound fx: M ovietone. Prod, com pany and Dist.: Paramount

William Powell (Capt. T rench), Noah Beery (Slave trader).

uncredited, but both nam es appear on sighted print and all three won the Academ y Award.]

Based on the novel byjules Verne. Photography: Lionel Lindon. M ichael Todd-UA. Colour. 35

W ARLO RD

Robert Martin. AssociatedTalkingPictures-RKO/ Harold Auten. B&W. 35 mm. 69 mins.

Cast: Owen Nares (Bryan Daventry), Betty Stock-

leased: 1 2 /6 .

Cast: Richard Arlen (Harry Feversham ), Fay Wray (Ethne E ustace), Clive Brook (Lieut. Durrance),

Todd. Screenplay: S. J. Perelm an, John Farrow, Jam es Poe. [Som e books state Farrow and Poe

W OMAN IN CHAINS (aka W oman in Bondage.

U .K : T h e Impassive Footman) Director: Basil Dean. Producer: Basil Dean. Script:

Julian Johnson, John Farrow. Adaptation: H ope Loring. Based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason.

Photography: Robert Kurrle, Merian C. Cooper.

Famous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 8 reels. Re­

A R O U N D TH E W ORLD IN 80 DAYS Director: M ichael A nderson. Producer: M ichael

But it was cancelled before production and the project was taken up by Ray and film ed in due course as K ing ofKings. It is n ot known how m uch,

Woman, by Farrow. RKO Pathe. B&W. 35 mm. 65

Allerton).

See below.

1956

Cast: Constance Bennett (V alerie),Joel McCrea (N eville), Lew Cody (C ardem on), Robert Wil­

Adaptation: John Farrow. Based on the story, “A W om an W ho N eed ed K illing”, by Margery Law­ rence. Photography: Harry Fischbeck. Prod,

(Frank Gregory), N eil H am ilton (Bobby Gre­ gory) , Clyde Cook (T ubbs), Leslie Fenton (Peter

1949 RED H O T AN D BLUE

NB: King o f Kings (N icholas Ray, 1961). Farrow had written an original screenplay entitled “T h e Sword and the Cross”, which h e was also to direct.

Director: H arryjoe Brown. Producer: Charles R. Rogers. Screenplay and dialogue: John Farrow, Ralph Murphy. Based on the play, The Registered

com pany and Dist.: Param ount Famous Lasky Corp. B&W. 35 mm. 80 m ins. Released: 1 8 /5 .

Cast: Baclanova (Tania Gregory), Clive Brook

B&W. 35 mm. 95 mins.

Cast: Johnny W eissm uller (Tarzan), M aureen O ’Sullivan (Jane Parker), J oh n Buckler (Capt.

H oracejackson. Based on the novel by Robert W. Chambers. Photography: Hal Mohr. RKO Pathe.

B&W. 35 mm. 72 mins.

A DANGEROUS WOMAN Director: RowlandV. Lee. Assoc, producer: Louis D. Lighton. Dialogue: Edward E. Param ore.Jr.

Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Sch-

TH E BLUE DANUBE Director: Paul Sloane. Assoc, producer: Ralph Block. Screenplay: Harry Carr, Paul Sloane. Titles: Edwin Justus Mayer, John Krafft. Story. John Far­

50

BY

w o o d ), G eorge C urzon (S im p so n ), Aubrey Mather (Dr B artlett).

1933 ADVENTURES OF D O N Q UIXO TE [The title is usually cited as Don Q uixote, but a sighted print has above title.]

Director: G. W. Pabst. Producer: N elson Vandor.

Scenario: Paul M orand. [Alexandre A rnoux is also often listed but is not credited on print seen.]

Director: John Farrow.

1937 MEN IN EXILE D irecto rjo h n Farrow. Scriptwriter: Roy Chanslor.

Based on a story by Marie Baumer, H ouston Branch. Photography: ArthurTodd. Editor: Terry Morse. Prod, company: First National. Distribu­ tor: W arner Bros. B&W. 35 mm. 58 mins.

Cast: Dick Purcell (James C arm ody),June Travis (Sally H aines), Alan Baxter (D anny), Margaret Irving (M other H aines), Victor Varconi (Col. G om ez), Olin H owland (Jones), V eda A nn Borg (Rita), Norm an Willis (Rocky C rane), Carlos D e Valdez (Gen. Alcatraz), A lec Harford (Lim ey), John Alexander (W interspoon), D em itris Eman­ uel (G om ez’s aide).

W EST O F SHANGHAI (aka T H E WARLORD) Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Bryan Foy. Scriptwriter: Crane Wilbur. Based on the play,

Cast: George Sanders (Sim on Templar, the Saint), W endy Barrie (Val Travers), Jonathan H ale (In­ spector H enry F em ack ), Jerom e Cowan (Cullis

A BILL O F DIVORCEM ENT (aka: NEVER T O LOVE)

lin. Prod, company: Paramount. B&W. 35 m m . 98

Director: Jo h n Farrow. Producer: Lee Marcus.

Cast: Alan Ladd (Charles Stewart), Brian D on ­

mins.

The B ad M an, by Porter Em erson Browne. Pho­ tography: L. William O ’C onnell. Editor: Frank

Crim inologist), N eil H am ilton (Allan Breck),

Scriptwriter: Dalton Trum bo. Based on the play

levy (Richard H enry D ana), William Bendix

Barry Fitzgerald (Zipper Dyson, Burglar), Robert

by C lem ence Dane. Photography: Nicholas Musu­

Dewar. Prod, company: First N ational. Distribu­ tor: W arner Bros. B&W. 35 m m . 65 mins.

Elliott (C hief Inspector W ebster), Russell H opton (Harry D o n n ell), Edward Gargan (Pinky

raca. Editor: Harry Marker. Prod, company: RKO Radio Pictures. B&W. 35 mm. 70 mins.

(A m azeen), Barry Fitzgerald (D ooley), Howard da .Silva (Capt. Francis T h om pson), Esther Fern­

Cast: Boris Karloff (G en. Wu Yen F ang), Beverley

Budd), Robert Strange (C om m issioner).

Cast: M aureen O ’Hara (Sidney Fairfield), Adol­

W OMEN IN TH E W IND

phe M enjou (Hilary Fairfield), Fay Bain ter (Mar­ g a r e t F a ir fie ld ), H e r b e r t M arsh all (Gray

Roberts (Jane C reed), Ricardo Cortez (Gordon Creed), G ordon Oliver (James H allett), Sheila Brom ley (Lola G alt), Vladim ir Sokoloff (Gen. C hou Fu Shan ), G ordon Hart (Dr Abernathy), Richard Loo (Mr C h en g ), Wy Yen (Fang’s Body­ guard), D ouglas W ood (Myron Galt), Chester Gan (Capt. K ung N ui).

1938 SHE LOVED A FIREMAN Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Bryan Foy. Scriptwriter: Carlton C. Sand, M orton Grant.

Based on the story, “Two Platoons", by Sand.

Photography: Lou O ’Connell. Editor: Thom as Pratt. Music-lyrics: M. K. Jerom e, Jack Scholl.

Prod, com pany: First N ation al. D istributor: W arner Bros. B&W. 35 mm. 57 mins.

Cast: Dick Foran (R ed Tyler), Ann Sheridan (Margie Sh an n on ), Robert Arm strong (Smokey S h a n n on ), E ddie AcufF (Skillet), Veda Ann Borg (Betty), May Beatty (Mrs. M ichaels), Eddie Chan­ dler (Callaban), Lane Chandler (Patton), Ted Oliver (Lt. G rim es), Pat Flaherty (D uggan).

T H E INVISIBLE MENACE Director: Jo h n Farrow. Producer: Bryan Foy. Scriptwriter: Crane Wibur. Based on the play, Without Warning, by Ralph S pencer Zink. Photog­ raphy: L. William O ’Connell. Editor: Harold M cLem on. Prod, company: Warner Bros. B&W. 35 m m. 54 mins.

Director: J o h n Farrow. Producer: Mark H ellinger. Scriptwriters: Lee Katz, Albert DeM ond.

Based on the novel by Francis Walton. Photogra­ phy: Sid H ickox. Editor: T hom as Pratt. Music director: L eo F. Forbstein. Art director: Carljules Weyl. Prod, company: W arner Bros. B&W. 35 mm. 65 mins.

Cast: Kay Francis (Janet S te ele ), William Gargan (A ce B o r e m a n ), V ictor Jory (D o c ), M axie R osenbloom (Stuffy M clnn es), Sheila Bromley (Frieda Borem an), Eve Arden (Kit C am pbell), Eddie Foy,Jr (D enny Carson), Charles Anthony H ughes (Bill S teele), Frankie Burke (Johnnie), J o h n Dilson (Sloan).

SO RO RITY H O U SE (U.K. title: TH AT GIRL FROM COLLEGE) Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Sisk.

Scriptwriter: Dalton Trum bo. Based on the threeact com edy, Chi House, by Mary Coyle Chase.

Photography: N icholas Musuraca. Editor: Harry Marker. Music director: Roy Webb. Prod, com ­ pany: RKO Radio Pictures. B&W. 35 mm. 64 mins.

Cast: A nne Shirley (Alice Fisher), Jam es Ellison (Bill Loom is), Barbara Read (Dotty Spencer), H elen W ood (M adame President) ,J.M. Kerrigan (L ew Fisher),D orisjordan (N evaSim pson),June Storey (N orm a H a n co ck ), Elisabeth Risdon

Cast: Boris Karloff (Jewries), Marie W ilson (Sally),

(M m e. S c o tt), M argaret A rm stro n g (Mrs. Daw son), Selm erJackson (Mr Grant).

Eddie Craven (Eddie Pratt), Eddie A cuff (Cpl. Sanger), Regis T oom ey (Lt. Matthews), Henry Kolker (Col. H ackett), CyK endall (Col. Rogers),

FIVE CAME BACK

Charles Trowbridge (Dr. Brooks), Frank Faylen (Pvt. o f the G uard), W illiam H aade (Pvt. Ferris).

LITTLE MISS T H O R O U G H BR ED Director: Jo h n Farrow. Producer: Bryan Foy. Scriptwriters: Albert D eM ond, G eorge Bricker.

Based on the story, “Little Lady Luck”, by D e­ M ond. Photography: L. William O ’Connell. Edi­ tor: Everett D odd. Prod, company: W arner Bros.

B&W. 35 m m . 65 mins.

Cast:John Litel ( “N ails” M organ), Ann Sheridan (M adge Perry), Frank M cHugh (Todd H arring­ to n ), Janet Chapman (Mary A n n), Eric Stanley (Col. W hitcom b), Robert E. H om ans (Officer O ’Reilly), Charles W ilson (Dutch Fultz), John Ridgely (Slu g),Jean B enedict (Sister M argaret), M aureen Rodin-Ryan (Sister Patricia).

MY BILL Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Bryan Foy. Scriptwriters: V incentSherm an, Robertson White.

Based on the play, Courage, by Tom Barry. Pho­ tography: Sid H ickox. Editor: Frank M agee. Art director: Max Parker. Prod, company: First Na­ tional, W arner Bros. Distributor: Warner Bros.

B&W. 35 m m. 60 mins.

Cast: Kay Francis (Mary Coibrook), Bonita Gran­ ville (Gwen Coibrook), Anita Louise (Muriel

Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Sisk.

Scriptwriters:Jerry Cady, Dalton Trum bo, Natha­ niel West. Adapted from a story by Richard Car-

(J udson E llis ), E lisa b e th R isd o n (M artha

FULL CONFESSIO N Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Sisk.

Scriptwriter: Jerry Cady. Based o n a story by Leo Birinski. Photography:J. Roy H unt. Editor: Harry Marker. Prod, company: RKO Radio Pictures.

B&W. 35 mm. 72 mins.

Cast: Victor M cLaglen (M cG innis), Sally Eilers (M olly), Joseph Calleia (Father L om a), Barry Fitzgerald (M ichael O ’K eefe), Elisabeth Risdon (N orah O ’K eefe), A d ele Pearce (Laura Ma­ h o ney), M alcolm McTaggart (Frank O ’Keefe), John Bliefer (Weaver), William H aade (M oore), G eorge H um bert (M ercantonio).

(Lynn W illard), Elisabeth Risdon (Aunt Caro­ lin e ), H elena Phillips Evans (Mrs Crosby).

Scriptwriter: John Twist. Based on the story by Ellis St. Joseph. Photography: J. Roy H unt. Edi­ tor: Harry Marker. Music director: Roy Webb. Art

Prod, company: Warner Bros. B&W. 35 mm. 63 mins.

Cast: Margaret Lindsay (Isabel D ow ling), Ann Sheridan (Fay R eynolds), Marie Wilson (C onnie T o d d ), J o h n Litel (Stanley D ow lin g), J an et C hapm an (Judy D ow ling), Dick Purcell (Vincent M orrell), AnthonyAverill (N ick ), H orace MacMah o n (Gurk), Dewey R obinson (M ilt), Dorothy Adams (A n n a).

1939 TH E SAINT STRIKES BACK Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Robert Sisk.

Scriptwriters: Joh n Twist. Based on the novel, Angels o f Doom, by Leslie Charteris. Photography: Frank R edm an. Editor: Jack Hively. Music direc­

director: Van N estPolglase. Prod, company: RKO Radio Pictures. B&W. 35 m m. 73 mins.

Based on a story by Boris Ingster. Photography: Ray Rennahan. Music: V ictor Young. Editor: Eda Warren. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Roland An­ derson. Prod, company: Paramount. Colour. 35

Director:John Farrow. P roducenjosep h Sistrom.

Scriptwriters: W. R. Burnett, Frank Butler. Pho­ tography: T h eod or Sparkuhl. Music: David But-

mm. 97 mins.

Cast: Ray Milland (Jonathan Trum bo), Barbara Stanwyck (Lily Bishop), Barry Fitzgerald (Michael

tolph. Editor: LeRoy Stone. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Earl Hedrick. Prod, company: Paramount.

Fabian), G eorge Coulouris (Pharaoh C offin), Albert Dekker (Mr Pike), Anthony Q uinn (Don

B&W. 35 m m . 78 mins.

L u is), Frank Faylen (W hitey), Gavin Muir (Booth Pennock),Jam es Burke (Pokey), Eduardo Ciannelli (Padre).

Cast: Brian Donlevy (Maj. C aton), M acDonald Carey (Lt. Cam eron), Robert Preston (Joe Doyle), W illiam B end ix (Sm acksie R andall), Albert Dekker (Shad McClosky), W alter Abel (Comdr.

Roberts), Mikhail Rasumny (Probenzky), Don Casde (Priv. C u nkel), Rod C am eron (Capt.

Lewis), Bill G oodwin (Sergeant).

TH E COM M ANDOS STRIKE AT DAWN Director: John Farrow. Producer: Lester Cowan.

1947 EASY COME, EASY GO D irector: J o h n Farrow. Producer: K en neth M acgowan. Scriptwriters: Francis Edwards Faragoh, John McNulty, A nne Froelick. Based on Third Avenue Stories by McNulty. Photography: Daniel L. Fapp. Music: Roy Webb. Editor: T h o­

Scriptwriter: Irwin Shaw. Based on a story by C. S. Forester. Photography: William C. Mellor. Music: Louise G ruenberg. Editor: A nne Bauchens. Music

mas Scott. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Haldane Douglas. Prod, company: Paramount. B&W. 35

director: M.W. Stoloff. Art director: Edwardjewell. Prod, co.: Columbia. B&W. 35 mm. 100 mins.

Cast: Paul Muni (Erik T oresen), Anna Lee (Ju­

Cast: Barry Fitzgerald (Martin L. D onovan), Di­ ana Lynn (C onnie Donovan), Sonny Tufts (Kevin O ’C onnor), Dick Foran (Dale W hipple), Frank

dith B ow en), Lillian Gish (Mrs Bergesen), Sir

M cHugh (Carey), Allen Jenkins (N ick), John Litel (Tom C lancy), Arthur Shields (Mike D on o­ van), Frank Faylen (Boss), Jam es Burke (Harry

Cedric Hardwicke (Adm. B ow en), Robert Coote (Robert B ow en), Ray Collins (B ergesen), Rose­ mary DeCam p (Hilm a A m esen ), Richard Derr (G unner Korstad), A lexander Knox (German Captain), Rod Cam eron (Pastor).

Blum enthal. Scriptwriter: Frank Butler. Based on

S pengler), Caseyjohnson (T om m y), Dick Hogan (Larry).

D irecto n jo h n Farrow. Producer: Seton I. Miller.

Scriptwriters: Frank Butler, T h eod ore Strauss.

1942

Pictures. B&W. 35 mm. 75 mins.

Cast: Chester Morris (Bill), Lucille Ball (Peggy), W endy Barrie (Alice M elh o m e),J o h n Carradine (Crim p), Allen Jenkins (Peter), Joseph Calleia (V a sq u ez), C. A u brey Sm ith (P rof. H en ry Spengler), Kent Taylor (Joe), Patric Knowles

man (Sam H o o p er), Roman B ohnen (M acklin).

CALIFORNIA

WAKE ISLAND

1943

RENO Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Sisk.

Scriptwriters: D on Ryan, K enneth Garnet. Pho­ tography: L. William O ’Connell. Editor: Thom as Pratt. Music-lyrics: M. K Jerom e, Jack Scholl.

(Dr A llio t), Ernest Cossart (Dr Pum phrey), Kathryn Collier (Basset), Lauri Beatty (Susan).

roll. Photography: N icholas Musuraca. Music: Roy Webb. Editor: Harry Marker. Art director: Van N est Polglase. Prod, company: RKO Radio

Coibrook), B obbyjordan (Reginald C oibrook), Jo h n Litel (Mr. Rudlin), Dickie M oore (Bill Coi­ brook) , Bernice Pilot (B eu lah ), Maurice Murphy

BROADWAY MUSKETEERS Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Bryan Foy.

M eredith), Dam e May Whitty (H ester Fairfield), Patric Knowles (John Storm ), C. Aubrey Smith

a n d e z (M aria D o m in g u e z ), A lbert D ekk er (Brown), Luis Van Rooten (Foster), Darryl Hick­

CHINA D irector: J o h n Farrow. P roducer: R ichard

mm. 77 mins.

W eston), George Cleveland (G illigan), Ida Moore (Angela O ran ge), Rhys Williams (Priest).

BLAZE O F N O O N Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Fel­ low s. S crip tw riters: F rank W ead , A rth u r Sheekm an. Based on the novel by Ernest K Gann. Photography: William C. M ellor. Music:

Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 78 mins.

A dolph Deutsch. Editor: Sally Forrest. Prod, company: Paramount. B&W. 35 m m . 90 mins.

Cast: A nne Baxter (Lucille Stewart), William

Cast: Loretta Young (Carolyn G rant), Alan Ladd (Mr J o n es), William Bendix (Johnny Sparrow), Philip Ahn (First Brother-Lin C ho), Iris W ong

H o ld en (C olin M cD onald), W illiam Bendix (Porkie), SonnyTufts (Roland M cDonald), Ster­ ling Hayden (Tad M cDonald), Howard DaSilva

(Kwan Su), Victor Sen Yung (Third Brother-Lin W ei),M arianneQ u on (Tan Ying) J e ssie T a iS in g (Student), Richard Loo (Lin Yun), Irene Tso

(Gafferty) J ohnn ySands (Keith M cDonald) Jean Wallace (Poppy), Edith King (Mrs. Murphy),

the play by Archibald Forbes. Photography: Leo Tover. Editor: Eda Warren. Prod. Company:

(“D onald Duck”).

Lloyd Corrigan (Reverend Polly), Dick Hogan (Sydney), Will Wright (Mr T hom as).

1944

CALCUTTA

TH E HITLER GANG

D ir e cto r jo h n Farrow. Producer: Seton I. Miller.

Scriptwriter: Miller. Photography: John Seitz.

Director: John Farrow. Producer: B.G. DeSylva.

Scriptwriters: Francis G oodrich, Albert Hackett.

Photography: Ernest Laszlo. Music: David Buttolph. Editor: Eda Warren. Art directors: Hans

Music: Victor Young. Editor: Archie Marshek. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Franz Bachelin. Prod,

Dreier, Franz Bachelin. Prod, company: Para­ m ount. B&W. 35 mm. 101 mins.

Cast: Robert W atson (A d olf H itler), Roman

Cast: Alan Ladd (N eale G ord on), Gail Russell (Virginia M oore), William Bendix (Pedro Blake), June Duprez (Marina Tanev), Lowell Gilmore

B ohnen (Capt. Ernst R oehm ), Martin Kosleck (Joseph G oebbels), Victor Varconi (Rudolph

(Eric Lasser), Edith King (Mrs. Sm ith), Paul Singh (Mul Raj Malik), Gavin Muir (Inspector

H ess), Luis Van Rooten (H einrich H im m ler),

Kendricks), John W hitney (Bill C unningham ), Benson Fong (Young C hinese Clerk).

A lex a n d er P ope (H erm an n G o er in g ), Ivan Triesault (Pastor N iem oeller), Poldy Dur (Geli Raubal), H elen T him ig (Angela Raubal), Rein­ hold Schunzel (Gen. Ludendorff).

1945

company: Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 83 mins.

1948 TH E BIG CLOCK D irector: J o h n Farrow. P roducer: R ichard Maibaum. Scriptwriter:Jonathan Latimer. Based on the novel by Kenneth Fearing. Photography:

YO U CAME ALONG Director: John Farrow. Producer: Hal B. Wallis.

John Seitz. Music: Victor Young. Editor: G ene

G ardner), Louis Jean Heydt (Judge Howard),

Scriptwriters: Robert Smith, Ayn Rand. Based on the story by Smith. Photography: Daniel L. Fapp.

Music: Victor Young. Editor: Eda Warren. Art

Ruggiero. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Roland Anderson. Prod, company: Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 95 mins.

H obart Cavanaugh (Abe C om pass), Charles H alton (W elsh),AstridAllwyn (FloraM cKenzie),

directors: Hans Dreier, Hal Pereira. Prod. Com ­ pany: Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 103 mins.

Cast: Ray M illand (G eorge Stroud), Charles Laughton (Earl J anoth), M aureen O ’Sullivan

Joyce C om pton (B onnie).

Cast: Robert C um m ings (Maj. Bob C ollins), Liza-

(G eorgette Stroud), G eorge Macready (Steven

1940

beth Scott (Ivy H otchkiss), Don DeFore (Capt.

Shakespeare A n ders), Charles Drake (Handsom e Ja n o sh ek ), Ju lie Bishop (Joyce H ea th ), Kim

H agen ), Rita Johnson (Pauline York), Elsa Lanchester (Louise Patterson), Harold Vermilyea

H unter (Frances H otchkiss), Robert Sully (Bill A llen ), H elen Forrest (H erself), Rhys Williams (C ol.Stubbs),F ranklinPangborn (H otelC lerk).

Henry Morgan (Bill W om ack), Richard Webb

Cast: Richard Dix (Bill Shear), Gail Patrick (Jesse Gibbs), Anita Louise (Mrs Ryder), Paul Cavanagh (John B an ton), Laura H ope Crews (Mrs.

MARRIED AN D IN LOVE Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Sisk.

Scriptwriter: S.K Lauren. Photography: J. Roy H unt. Editor: Harry Marker. Art director: Van N est Polglase. Prod, company: RKO Radio Pic­ tures. B&W. 35 m m . 58 mins.

Cast: Alan Marshal (Leslie Yates), Barbara Read (H elen Yates), Patric Knowles (Paul W ilding), H elen Vinson (Doris W ilding), H attie N oel (Hil-

tor: Roy W ebb. Prod, company: RKO Radio Pic­

d egard), Frank Faylen (Man in Bar), Carol

tures. B&W. 35 m m . 67 mins.

H ughes (W oman in Bar).

(D on Klausmeyer), Dan T obin (Ray Cordette), (Nat Sperling).

BEYOND GLORY

1946

Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Fel­

TWO YEARS BEFORE T H E MAST

lows. Scriptwriters: Jonathan Latimer, Charles Marquis Warren, William Wister Haines. Photog­ raphy: J ohn Seitz. Music: Victor Young. Editor:

D irector:John Farrow. Producer: Seton I. Miller.

Scriptwriters: Miller, G eorge Bruce. Based on the novel by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Photography: Ernest Laszlo. Music: Victor Young. Editor: Eda

Eda Warren. Prod, company: Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 82 mins.

Warren. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Franz Bache­

Cast: Alan Ladd (Rockwell “Rocky” G ilm an), CINEMA

PAPERS

7 7 - 5 1

D onna Reed, (Ann D aniels), G eorge Macready (Maj. Gen. B on d ), G eorge Coulouris (Lew Proc­

director: Albert S. D ’A gostino. Prod, company: RKO Radio Pictures. B&W. 35 mm. 120 mins.

tor) , Harold Vermilyea (Raymond D enm ore, Sr.), Henry Travers (Pop D ew ing), Luis Van Rooten (Dr W hite), T om N eal (Henry D an iels), Conrad

Cast: Robert M itchum (Dan M ilner) J a n e Russell (Lenore B rent), Vincent Price (Mark C ardigan), Tim H o lt (Bill Lusk), Charles McGraw (T h­

Janis (Raym ond D enm ore, Jr.), Margaret Field (M aggie M ahoney).

o m pson), M aijorie Reynolds (H elen Cardigan), Raymond Burr (Nick Ferraro), Leslye Banning

TH E N IG H T HAS A T H O U SA ND EYES D irector:John Farrow. Producer: Endre B ohem .

Scriptwriters: Barre Lyndon, Jonathan Latimer.

Based on the novel by Cornell W oolrich. Photog­ raphy: John F. Seitz. Music: Victor Young. Editor: Eda Warren. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Franz Bachelin. Prod, company: Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 80 mins.

(Jennie S to n e), Jim Backus (Myron W inton), Philip Van Zandt (Jose M orro), John Mylong (Martin Krafft), Carleton G. Young (H obson).

SUBMARINE COMMAND D ir e cto r jo h n Farrow. P ro d u cerjo sep h Sistrom.

Cast: Edward G. Robinson (John Triton), Gail Russell (Jean Courtland), John Lund (Elliott Carson), Virginia Bruce (Jenny), William De-

Scriptw riterjonathan Latimer. Based on a story

by Latimer. Photography: Lionel L indon. Music: David Buttolph. Editor: Eda Warren. Art direc­ tors: Hal Pereira, Hanry Bumstead. Prod, com ­ pany: Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 87 mins.

Cast: William H olden (Cmdr. W hite), Nancy

m arest (Lt. Shawn), Richard W ebb (Peter Vin­ son ), Jerom e Cowan (W hitney Courdand), O n­ slow Stevenson (Dr. Walters), Joh n Alexander

O lson (Carol), William Bendix (C.P. Boyer), D on Taylor (Lt. Cmdr. Peter Morris), Arthur Franz (Lt. C arlson), Darryl H ickm an (Ens.

(Mr G ilm an), Roman Bohnen (M elville W eston, Special Prosecutor), Luis Van Rooten (Mr Myers), Henry Guttman (B uder).

W heelw right), Peggy W ebber (Mrs. Alice Rice), M oroni O lsen (Rear Adm. Joshua Rice), Jack Gregson (Cmdr. Rice),Jack Kelly (Lt. Barton).

1949

1953

ALIAS NICK BEAL (U K . title: TH E CONTACT MAN)

RIDE, VAQUERO! D ir e cto r jo h n Farrow. Producer: Stephen Ames.

Scriptwriter: Frank Fenton. Photography: Robert Surtees. Music: Bronislau Kaper. Editor: Harold

D irector:John Farrow. Producer: Endre B ohem .

Scriptwriter: Jonathan LaUmer. Based on a story

by M indret Lord. Photography: Lionel Lindon.

Music: Franz Waxman. Editor: Eda Warren. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Franz Bachelin. Prod,

F. Kress. Art directors: Cedric G ibbons, Arthur L on ergan. Prod, com pany: M etro-GoldwynMayer. Colour. 35 mm. 90 mins.

company: Paramount. B&W. 35 mm. 92 mins.

Cast: Ray M illand (Nick B eal), Audrey Totter

Cast: Robert Taylor (R io), Ava Gardner (Corde­ lia Cam eron), Howard Keel (King Cam eron),

(D onna A llen ), T hom as M itchell (Joseph Fos­ ter), Geraldine Wall (Martha Foster), G eorge Macready (Rev. Thom as G aylord), H enry O ’Neill

Anthony Q uinn (Jose Esqueda), Kurt Kasznar (Father A n to n io ), Ted DeCorsia (Sheriff Parker), Charlita (Singer),

(Judge Ben H obbs), Daryll H ickm an (Larry Price), Fred Clark (Frankie Faulkner), N estor Paiva (Carl, Bartender), King Donovan (Peter

Jack Elam (B arton), W alter Baldwin (Adam Sm ith), J o e D om inguez (V icente).

W olfe).

RED H O T , AN D BLUE Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Robert Fel­ lows. Scriptwriters: Farrow, Hagar W ilde. Based on a story by Charles Lederer. Photography: D aniel L. Fapp. Editor: Eda Warren. Music direc­

PLUND ER O F TH E SU N Director: John Farrow. Producer: Robert Fel­

Cast: G lenn Ford (A1 Colby), Diana Lynn J u lie Barnes), Patricia M edina (Anna Lu z), Francis L.

BOTANY BAY D ir e cto r jo h n Farrow. P ro d u cerjo sep h Sistrom.

Scriptwriter: Jonathan Latimer. Based on the novel by Charles N ordh off and Jam es Norm an

COPPER CANYON Director: J oh n Farrow. Producer: Mel Epstein.

Scriptwriter: Jonathan Latimer. Based on a story

by Richard English. Photography: CharlesB. Lang, Jr. Editor: Eda Warren. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Franz Bachelin. Music-lyrics:Jay Livingston. Prod,

Hall. Photography': John F. Seitz. Music: Franz Waxman. Editor: Alma Macrorie. Prod, com ­ pany: Paramount. Colour. 35 mm. 93 mins.

company: Paramount. B&W. 35 m m . 83 mins.

Cast: Ray M illand (Johnny Carter), H edy Lamarr (Lisa Roselle), M acdonald Carey (Lane Travis), M ona Freem an (Caroline D esm o n d ), Harry

M atheson (Rev. T h y n n e), Dorothy Patten (N el­ lie G arth),John Hardy (Nat Garth), H ugh Pryse (N ed Inching), M alcolm Lee Beggs (NickSabb), Anita Bolster (Moll Cudlip).

WHERE DANGER LIVES Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Irving Cum­ mings, Jr. Scriptwriter: Charles Bennett. Based on the story by Leo Rosten. Photography: N icho­ las Musuraca. Music: Roy Webb. Editor: Eda

W esser),Jarmes Arness (Schlieter), W ilton Graff (H epke), Richard (Dick) Davalos (Cadet Walter S te m m e ),J o h n Q ualen (C hief Schm idt), Paul Fix (Max H einz).

1956

Cast: Alan Ladd (H ugh Tallant), Jam es Mason (CapL G ilbert), Patricia M edina (Sally M unroe), Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Gov. Phillips), Murray

Scriptwriter: Jonathan Latimer. Based on a story

by Richard Carroll. Photography: William Mel­ lo n Music: Franz W axman. Editor: Eda Warren.

Prod, company: RKO Radio Pictures. B&W. 35 mm. 97 mins.

Cast: Robert Ryan (Bill), Anita Ekberg (Rena), Rod Steiger (Vasquez), Phyllis Kirk (Louise), Keith Andes J o e ) , G ene Barry (Ellis), Fred Clark (C rim p), Beulah Bondi (M artha), Cam eron Prud’H om m e (Henry) J e sse W hite (P ete), Adele Mara (M aria),Jon Provost (Tom m y).

1957 TH E U N H O LY WIFE Director: John Farrow. Producer: Jo h n Farrow.

Scriptwriter: Jonathan Latimer. Based on a story

by William Durkee. Photography: Lucien Bal­ lard. Music: Daniele Amfitheatrof. Editor: Eda Warren. Art directors: Albert D ’A gostino, Franz Bachelin. Prod, company: RKO Radio PicturesTreasure, Universal. Colour. 35 mm. 94 mins.

Cast: Diana Dors (Phyllis H o ch en ), Rod Steiger (Paul H o ck en ),T o m T ry o n (San), Beulah Bondi (Emma H o ch en ), Marie W indsor (Gwen) .Arthur Franz (Rev. Stephen H o ch en ), Luis Van R ooten (Ezra B enton), Argentina Brunetti (Theresa),

1959 Director: John Farrow. Producer: Sam uel Bronston. Scriptwriters: Farrow,Jesse Lasky.Jr. Based on the story, “N o r’wester”, by Clem ents Ripley.

Photography: M ichel Kelber. Music: Max Steiner.

Editor: Eda Warren. Art director: Franz Bache­ lin. Prod, company: W arner Bros. Colour. 35 mm. 126 mins.

Cast: Robert Stack J o h n P a u ljo n e s), Bette Davis (Catherine the Great), Marisa Pavan (Aimee de T elliso n ), Charles Coburn (Benjamin Franklin), Erin O ’Brien (Dorothea Danders), M acdonald Carey (Patrick Henry) J e a n Pierre A um ont (King Louis XVI), David Farrar J o h n W lk e s), Peter Cushing (Capt. P earson), Susana Canales (Marie A ntoinette).

Based on the story, “T he Gift o f Cochise”, by Louis L’Am our. Photography: Robert Burke, Archie Stout. Music: Emil Newman and H ugo Friedhofer. Editor: Ralph Dawson. Art director: A1 Ybarra. Prod, company: W arner Bros. Colour.

35 mm. 84 mins.

Producer: William Sackheim. Executive prod: Frank Parson. Music: Johnny G reen. NBC: 2 5 / 9 /6 2 - 1 7 /9 / 6 3 . ABC: 2 2 / 3 /6 4 - 6 / 9 /6 4 . 32 60m inute episodes.

Cast: Richard Egan J im Redigo), A nne Sey­ m our (Lucia Garrett), Terry M oore (C onnie Garrett), Ryan O ’Neal (Tal Garrett), Charles B ron son (Paul M o r en o ), W arren V anders (Chuck).

Farrow directed several episodes, including “Echo o f a M an” and “End o f an Im age”.

mm. 84 mins.

(Silva), Leo G ordon (Ed Lowe), Tom Irish (Lt. McKay), Lee Aaker J o h n n y ), Paul Fix (Major Sherry), Rayford Barnes (Pete).

F I L M S AS P R O D U C E R

Harry Shannon (Dr M aynard), Philip Van Zandt (Milo D eL ong),Jack Kelly (Dr M ullenbach).

1954 A BULLET IS WAITING D irecto rjo h n Farrow. Producer: Howard Welsch.

Scriptwriter: T ham es W illiamson, Casey Robin­

1951

son. Based on a story by W illiamson. Photogra­ phy: Franz F. Planer. Music: Dmitri Tiom kin.

H IS KIND O F WOMAN

Editor: Otto Ludwig. Prod, company: Columbia.

Director: Joh n Farrow. Producer: Robert Sparks.

Scriptwriters: Frank Fenton,Jack Leonard. Based on the story, Star Sapphire, by Gerald Drayson

Colour. 35 mm. 83 mins.

Cast: Jea n S im m o n s (Cally C a n h a m ), Rory Calhoun (Ed S ton e), Stephen McNally (Sheriff

Adams. Photography: HarryJ. Wild. Music: Leigh

M unson), Brian A hem e (David Canham ).

Harline. Editors: Eda Warren, Frederic Knudtson.

1955

Music director: Constantin Bakaleinikoff. Art

TH E SEA CHASE

52

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For details on the following, see above.

1934 T h e Spectacle Maker

1936

Last o f the Pagans

BOOKS T hese have proved difficult to trace. Principal sources are the various catalogues o f the State Library, Victoria, and the U.S. The National Union

The B ad One, novel, based on Farrow’s story o f same nam e, illustrated with scen es from the U nited Artists’ film , A. L. Burt Company, N ew York, 1930, 266 pp.

Laughter Ends, novel ,J. Long, L ondon, 1933,286 pp. Also as described, Harcourt, Brace and Co, New York, 1933, 306 pp.

Damien The Leper, biography, illustrated with forew ord by H ugh W alpole, Burns O ates & W ashbourne, Publishers to the H oly See, Lon­ don, 1937, 287 pp. [sighted]. Also as described, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1937 (reprinted 1941); and, as described, Image Books, Garden City, New York, 1954; Father Damien, authorized condensation o f Damien 77ieLc^CT‘by Right Rever­ end Victor Day, illustrated with cover painting by Day, O ur Sunday Visitor Press, H untington, Indiana, no date, 39 pp.

Pageant o f the Popes, papal history, with illustra­ tions, index, Sheed and Ward, N ew York, 1942, 420 pp. Also as described, Sheed and Ward, London, 1943 [sighted]; as described and illus­ trated by Jean Chariot, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1946,425 pp.; as described, secon d Chariot edition, 1950, 394 pp.; Pageant o f the Popes: a frank history o f the papacy, Catechetical Guild Educational Society, St Paul, 1955, 464 pp.

The Story o f Thomas More, biography, illustrated, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1954, 242 pp.

Seven Poems in Pattern, Ram pant Lions Press, Cambridge, England, 1955, 25 pp. O nly 250 copies were printed.

The History and Development i f the Royal Canadian Navy, naval history. [Referred to in several Far­ row film ographies but no record has so far been traced.]

St Ignatius Loyola [?], biography. [Referred to in M ia Farrow: Flowerchild, Madonna, Muse, Sam Rubin and Richard Taylor, St. Martin’s Press and 2M Com m unications, New York, 1989, p.7, but no listing so far traced in any bibliographies, such as The National Union Catalog. Perhaps don e for Loyola University, Los A ngeles, where Far­ row was a regent.]

PLAYS T h ese include: T h e Bad O ne T h e R egistered Woman

1962

C a stjo h n Wayne (H ond o L an e), Geraldine Page (A ngie), Ward Bond (Buffalo), M ichael Pate (Vittoro) Ja m es A m ess (L en n ie), Rodolfo Acosta

(Julie), Charles Kemper (Police C hief), Ralph Dum ke (Klauber), Billy H ouse (Mr. Bogardus),

B lanche Frederici (M adame D u ran d), A drienne D ’A m bricourt (M adame Pom pier).

DIRECTOR

Warren. Music director: Constantin Bakaleinikoff.

Art directors: A lberts. D ’A gostino, Ralph Berger.

Prod, company: RKO Radio Pictures. B&W. 35 Cast: Robert M itchum (Jeff C am eron), Faith Dom ergue (Margo L annington), Claude Rains (Frederick L annington), M aureen O ’Sullivan

F la n a g a n ), D o n A lvarado (T h e S p an iard ),

OF T E L E V I S I O N EMPIRE

HONDO Director: Jo h n Farrow. Producers: John Wayne, Robert Fellows. Scriptwriterjam es Edward Grant.

H ugo Riesenfeld. UA. 70 mins.

C ast D olores D elR io (Lita), Edm und Lowe Jerry

Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints.

BACK FROM ETERNITY Director: Jo h n Farrow. Producer: J ohn Farrow.

J O H N PAUL JONES

ferson), Eduardo Noriega (Raul C ornejo),Julio Villareal (U baldo Navarro), Charles Rooner (Capt. Bergm an), Douglas Dumbrille (Carter).

(T heodosius Roberts), Peggy Knudsen (Cora), Jam es Burke (Jeb Bassett).

C a stjo h n Wayne (CapL Karl Erlich), Lana Turner(Elsa Keller), Lyle Bettger (Krichner), David Farrar (Comdr. N apier), Tab H unter (Cadet

Marker. Art director: A1 Ybarra. Music-lyrics: “Sin Ella”, E. Fabregat. Prod, company: W arner Bros.

B&W. 35 mm. 81 mins.

ture (D en n yjam es), William Dem arest (Charlie Baxter), June Havoc (Sandra), Jane Nigh (NoN o ), Frank Loesser (Hair-Do Lem pke), William

Carey, Jr. (Lt. O rd), Frank Faylen (M ullins), H ope Em erson (Ma Tarbet), Taylor H olm es

William Ziegler. Art director: Franz Bachelin.

Prod, company: W arner Bros. Colour. 35 mm.

117 mins.

Tol Avery (Carl Kramer), Jam es Burke (Sheriff W attling).

Sullivan (Thom as Berrien), Sean McClory J e f­

1950

Scriptwriters: Jam es W arner Bellah, Jo h n Twist.

Based on the novel by Andrew Geer. Photogra­ phy: William Clothier. Music: Roy W ebb. Editor:

lows. Scriptwriter: Jonathan Latimer. Based on the novel by David D odge. Photography: Jack Draper. Music: A ntonio D. Conde. Editor: Harry'

tor: Joseph J. Lilley. Art directors: Hans Dreier, Franz Bachelin. Prod, company: Param ount.

B&W. 35 m m . 84 mins.

Cast: Betty H utton (Eleanor C ollier), Victor Ma­

Talm an (Bunny Harris), Art Smith (Laddie Cor­ w in), Raymond W album (Mr Creek), Onslow Stevens (Capt. A llen).

Director: J o h n Farrow. Producer: Jo h n Farrow.

For details on the following, see above: 1951 Where Danger Lives

1955 1956 1958

T h e Sea Chase Back from Eternity T h e Unholy W ife

FILMS FROM FARROW STORIES 1930 TH E BAD O NE Director: G eorge Fitzm aurice. Script: Carey W lso n , Howard Em m et Rogers. Based on a story byjohn Farrow. Photography: Karl Struss. Music:

PRINCIPAL SOURCES Kenneth W. M unden (Exec, ed .), The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 7 volum es, R. R. Bowker Company, N ew York and London, 1971.

Fiction 1876-1983, R. R. Bowker Com pany, New York and London, 1983.

Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures, Li­ brary o f Congress, W hasington.

David Badder and Bob Baker (ed d .), Film Dope, Potters Bar, H ertfordshire, N o. 15.

Jay Robert Nash and Stanley Ralph Ross (e d d .), The Motion Picture Guide 1927-1983,11 volum es, including index, 1986.

C inebooks, 1986, Chicago,

Farley, Miriam-Favaro,Antonio (P ), M ansell, The National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints, Vol. 167, London, 1971, p. 336.

New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, Ead to Foy, McGraw-Hill B ook Company, N ew York, 1967, p.

843.

END

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Somewhere between the previous two issues, Kodak announced a new range of improved (T-grain) filmstocks, an event substantial enough to warrant being covered in detail later. To add importance to the launch worldwide, the company re­ minded us that 100 years ago George Eastman supplied diefirst continuous lengths of motion picture film to Thomas Edison and the American film industry was bom.

Am

e r ic a n c in e m a t o g r a p h e r

ran a special feature to commemorate the event

in itsJuly issue and Kodak has reprinted the articles in a booklet (contact your Kodak Motion Picture Audio Visual rep­ resentative). The significance of die pa rt played by Eastman is properly recognized, and the reprint is valuable fo r some of the accompanying stills alone.

DEVELOPING THE FILM THE CONTRIBUTION OF GEORGE EASTMAN l t h o u g h t h e d e b a t e will continue about who invented the first practical m otion picture camera, Edison was one o f the m ost influential inventors, though more for his application of what has been called the “American m ethod”. This is a process o f collective invention, maintaining and guiding a large and efficient staff to work by trial and error on his projects.

As history records it, however, the role played by George Eastman in providing Edison with raw film material was pivotal. For a supplier o f photographic plates, making the em ulsion was not a problem. His concern, and that o f many o f the early inventors, was in obtaining a flexible substitute for glass plates and som ething stronger than paper. While the developm ent o f the m otion picture camera is widely known, the story o f ‘film ’ is less so.

A

CLEARLY SUPERIOR

Finding such a material had seem ed an insuperable problem. Paper proved unsatisfactory because o f its texture and lack o f clarity.

Celluloid, which had been invented years before, seemed a possible answer, but was not made in strip form and was thick, uneven and insufficiendy clear. Eastman recalled in a letter to F. H. Richardson (18 March 1925) that: About the year 1883 or 1884, in connection with William H. Walker, I engaged in an effort to create a system of film photography. Mr. Walker was a skilled mechanic and had had some experience in manufacturing cameras. I was engaged in the manufacture of dry plates and had had experience in the making and handling of photographic emulsions, as well as some mechanical experience...

Walker and I worked together on the mechanical problems, while I tried to work out the photographic and chemical side of the enter­ prise. The broad idea, of course, was not new. An exposing mecha­ nism, called a ‘roll holder,’ for sensitized paper had been made as early as 1854, the year that I was born.

In 1889 Eastman described those years o f his research on transpar­ ent film: I first conceived the process of making transparent film by coating a support with a solution of nitro cellulose and then coating it with emulsion and afterward stripping it off. Early in 1884 not later than Feb. or Mar. ... I made many experiments in which I used both paper and glass as a temporary support. I used ordinary soluble gun cotton dissolved in concentrated sulphuric ether and grain alcohol equal parts, 10 grains of cotton to the ounce of solvent. I sometimes added a small quantity of castor oil to the solution in order to give it more body. I coated this solution first on glass prepared by rubbing with talc, I then poured on the glass as much of the solution of nitro cellulose as it would hold in a level position and allowed it to dry. I was unable with one coating to get a sufficiently heavy skin or pellicle to serve as a final support for the emulsion so I poured on top of the first coating a solution of rubber and benzine. After drying I poured on another portion of nitro cellulose solution and let that dry. I repeated these successive coatings 8 or 10 times endeavoring to get sufficient body to the pellicle.

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GEORGE EASTMAN AND THOMAS A . EDISON WITH THE FLEXIBLE FILM CAM ERA.

I also made experiments by using paper as a temporary support and coating the cellulose immediately upon the paper, and after­ wards coating it with the emulsion. I had no difficulty in stripping the cellulose from the paper, a reliable final support for the emulsion. I investigated various publications endeavoring to find a method for making a thick enough solution of cellulose in order to get a thicker coating but I was unable to find any directions for obtaining a solution containing more than 10 or 12 grains to the ounce. The experiments that I made produced films upon which I was able to make pictures by leaving the films upon the paper support itself in the plate holder. I also stripped the prepared film off from the paper in long pieces and carried my experiments far enough to satisfy myself that the process was a commercially practi­ cal one, if I could get body enough to my solution. I therefore continued my research for a suitable solution of cellulose and read everything upon the subject that I could find in the hope that I could learn how to make a solution that I wanted.

I continued my search until the month of September, 1888, all the time on the lookout for such a solution. About that time I directed our chemist, Mr. Reichenbach, to make some experiments with a new varnish which had been recommended to us for varnish­ ing film negatives. It seemed to be similar to the nitro cellulose and castor oil that I had used only it gave a thicker pellicle when dried upon glass. Mr. Reichenbach’s experiments continued during October and November. Early in the month of December he came to me and said that he had discovered a method of dissolving 100 grains nitro cellulose to the ounce of solvent. I immediately told him that that was all I wanted to put my process into commercial form

and I immediately gave orders for the construction of the necessary apparatus for turning out my improved films on a commercial scale and since then have been continuously engaged in the manufacture of the film.

Henry W. R eichenbach was an assistant to Dr S. A. Lattimore, Professor o f Chemistry at the University o f Rochester, and had produced a nitro-cellulose solution in wood alcohol, which, when flowed onto glass, gave a sm ooth, clear film. It tore easily, however, and tended to peel from the plate. Adding cam phor to the solution added strength, but it crystallized if n ot heated and dried perfectly.

T he use o f fusel oil and amyl acetate solved the problem, yielding an even drying, flexible, transparent film. A varnish com posed o f wood alcohol and soluble cotton, described by Eastman as “very thick, like separated h oney”, provided the ideal backing.

Eastman patented the form ula in R eichenbach’s name (not an uncom m on practice for the time, recognizing the contribution o f the em ployee and keeping the rights with the com pany). The early years o f American cinem a was littered with patent disputes, since Edison sued as many individuals and enterprises as he could in order to protect his monopoly and his profits, until, in 1908, the Motion Picture Patent Company was formed from the major patent-holding companies precisely to achieve full monopoly control over the market in film in America.

In May 1889, the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company began com m ercial manufacture o f a product that he had been working toward since 1884. A small factory was outfitted quickly. T he solution was spread on glass-covered tables 100 feet long and 3' 6" wide by a m echanism designed to produce a film o f uniform thickness.

VERY BEAUTIFUL, TRANSPARENT AS GLASS

On 30 May, the Edison labs wrote the Eastman Co. for a quote on the discount that would be allowed on a Kodak No. 1 Camera, which listed at $25, and in getting it reloaded (processing, printing and reloading fee was $10 list). Knowing Edison’s reputation, he almost certainly had to buy the camera at list price, and it was used in designing the Kinetoscope.

The person entrusted to Edison’s m otion picture project (it was called at first the K inetophone because Edison was basically trying to add pictures to his already successful phonograph) was William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. It was Dickson who was responsible for recognizing George Eastman’s breakthrough and for applying it to his own experim ents.

T he photographic publication, The Beacon, reported in its issue o f June 1889 that Just as we are about to go to press we have received from ... Eastman ... a sample of the new ‘transparent film’ for roll holders, and some further information ... We are promised, as soon as possible, a roll for experimental purposes, after the use of which we shall go more fully into the immense step in advance that has been made by the introduction of this film, and try to foreshadow some of the conse­ quences thereof, and must, in the meantime, be content with saying that the film is very beautiful, perfectly structureless, transparent as glass, and that 15 square inches weigh only 17 grains. The transpar­ ent film seems to be indeed ‘the missing link.’

MAKING IT STICK

A letter from Dickson received at Eastman Co. on the 21 Novem ber 1889 asks for six cut rolls “o f your Kodac [sic] transparent film 3 / 4 ” wide and as long as possible ... you have spoken o f 54 feet long - tis well, but if you can make it double do so.” Written in the margin is a request for information on a “a good m ethod o f developing the strips”.

The 35mm format had n ot been set and his problem in develop­ ing the strips was to continue, so he went to Rochester, where I met Mr. George Eastman for the first time. After fully explaining to him what we were doing, he entered into the spirit of this great enterprise enthusiastically, and we never let up on the work of trying to get just the right thing ...

We made some headway before Christmas with each sample as produced, I rushed back to Orange [New Jersey], tried it, devel­ oped, hypo fixed - then washed off most of the film ... I returned to Rochester rather glum.

The problem was repeated while they tried different m ethods o f treating the base materials and it appears that Eastman realized the importance o f the project and trusted Dickson fully with his produc­ tion methods. Dickson had the idea that instead o f trying to coat the dry base, to coat it when it was fresh made and slightly tacky.

Returning with a sample Dickson sent Eastman a one-word telegram: “Eureka”.

Shortly after he was to com plain, “The em ulsion used showed plainly on enlargem ent the coarse silver haloids and lack o f su­ persensitiveness so necessary, especially when projecting.” Both these faults Eastman was to overcome, but to Dickson falls the dubious honour o f the first cinematographer to start the process o f criticism and manufacturer response that has affected the artistic results to this day. Dickson went on to photograph most o f the short films used in Edison’s Kinetograph, the peep show device that was first installed in New York on 14 April 1894 (usually lim ited to the fifty-foot lengths supplied and running at forty frames a seco n d ).

THE CHEMICALS INVOLVED

Celluloid (first used as a substitute for ivory in the manufacture o f billiard balls and for primitive false teeth) was invented by English­ man Alexander Parkes in 1855, and given its nam e by Americans John and Isiah Hyatt.

Gun cotton was made by dissolving cotton or other forms o f cellulose with nitric and sulphuric acids, and was a highly explosive substance.

Sulphuric ether was a com m on commercial solvent for resins and fats, and is prepared by the reaction o f sulphuric acid and ethyl alcohol.

Amyl acetate was known as banana oil, a colourless liquid it was used in flavourings and lacquers.

Fusel oil is an acrid, poisonous oil form ed in the uneven distillation o f alcohol. It is usually a mix o f amyl, butyl, propyl and isomyl alcohols.

GAUGES

The film was dem onstrated in September to the New York Camera Club. A fascinated observer was W. K L. Dickson, who saw in the new roll film the possible answer to the problem that had balked the com pletion o f Edison’s m otion picture camera. In a letter o f 10 D ecem ber 1932 to O. N. Solbert o f Eastman Kodak, Dickson recalled the occasion and its aftermath:

The Lum ieres’ format was 35mm wide from the start, Edison began with 34.8 mm and, when Eastman standardized on 35m m and exported the product worldwide, it became the standard. There were a num ber o f 17.5 mm processes, but Kodak decided that any smaller format gauge that would be used by amateurs should n ot be cut down from nitrate stock. The introduction by Kodak o f 16 mm in 1923 was so successful that there was almost no opposition, the 9.5 mm Pathe gauge being closer to 8mm in application.

The lecturer showed his audience a small piece of the product, expatiating on this great discovery ... Before leaving I interviewed the lecturer and begged for a sample to take to Mr. Edison, explaining the work we had in hand and the great necessity for such a product to complete our Kinetograph or moving picture camera, as we were forced [at that date] to use joined up short strips of Blair and the like celluloid.

When shown to Mr. Edison next day he was greatly taken with the sample and told me to ‘get on with it’.

Next issue, due to space restrictions this time round, “Technicalities” will print the paper Dominic Case of Colorfilm prepared on the 100 years of film in Australia for the 131st SMPTE conference in Los Angeles in late October 1989. The emphasis in his account of filmmaking in Australia is one of ingenuity and innovation in the face of overseas monopolies that were extended beyond the more commonly known theatre and distribution constraints into equipment and filmstocks.

NOTE

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Charles Bukowski’s writings were never meant fo r the meek or hypo­ critical. When L .A . ’s king of gutter life met 32-year-old DOMINIQUE D e r u d d e r e , his incendiary introductory words were, “I hate movies and movie makers ... talentless bastards!”

Undaunted, Deruddere imbued Bukowski’s lucid, erotic meanderings with prosaic bleakness and restored the w riter’s fa ith in film land.

C r a z y L o v e , Deruddere’s debut fea ­ ture, has helped raise Belgium’s in­ DOMINI QUE ternational cinema profile. It also so impressed Francis Ford Coppola that he cofrodu ced D eruddere’s second film , W a it U n t il S p r in g , B a n d in i, adapted from John Fante’s novel of the same name.

It is a comedy drama set during the 1920s in Colorado and stars Joe Mantegna, Omella Muti and Faye Dunaway. D eruddere’s infectious w it and rapid working style (13 shots per day on both features) earned him praise from the Zoetrope team. Says Deruddere: “They are organ­ ized in a completely different way from us. They are very strict about things. But towards the end of the first week of shooting, things became

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more relaxed. Some crew members said it was the first time they were not afraid of being fired all the time. The mix between American and European crew members worked very, very well. ” A directorial perfectionist with an interest in taboo, Deruddere is happy to work within the confines of other w riters’ thoughts: “Other people express themselves better on p a p er that I do, so why should I try toforce myself to be better? People like John Fante and Charles DERUDDERE Bukowski express themselves in a way I would were I a writer.

“I ’m very happy to work their m aterial into film . Direction is very natural fo r me. I was brought up with American film s of the 1930s and ’40s, andfilmmakers like Frank Capra, Billy Wilder andJohn Huston.

They are the masters of simple cinema. I would like to master their special style. ” Deruddere is presently immersed in researching his third feature, on Belgium colonization in Africa. He looks beyond the Bukowski experience into a panorama of celluloid dreams, p r o f u e s p a t g i l l e s p i e

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M.RG/S In terest Is Always To M ake T he Deal W o rk .

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W O R S T

BODYWORK

GHOSTBUSTERS II

D avid Caesar

Ivan Reitman

Bill Collins

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THIS ISSUE: W O R D S A N D S I L K , M Y L E FT F O O T , G R E A T B A L L S O F F IR E l, C A P P U C C IN O , AND TH E H O N E Y M O O N K IL L E R S .

WORDS AND SILK M IC H A E L

EPIS

HEN DIRECTOR PHILIP TYNDALL set OUt

W to make Words And Silk, a document­ ary on Australian novelist Gerald Murnane, he gave himself a difficult task. How does one make a 60-minute film on a novelist without dredging out the visual cliches - the tweed-jacketed author in his book-lined study? And what does one do when both the author’s life and his books are remarkable for their uneventfulness?

Tyndall’s answers were to extend the documentary to feature length and to have full confidence in his material: if Murnane’s uneventful books are interesting enough to win a strong and loyal audience, then there is no reason to tart them up for the screen.

The strategy succeeds. The extra halfhour is the additional furlong needed to let Murnane, a writer whose investigation of the 60

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world proceeds by introspection after intro­ spection, fully reveal himself. Not that Murn­ ane is askance to do so. He is great ‘interview material’, as the phrase has it, but time is necessary to do his vision justice. A man who announces, with no visible sign of humour, that he doesn’t travel because he likes to be able to open the morning paper and read the Yarra Glen race results requires a little attention.

Despite the film’s being a profile of one of Australia’s most prominent writers - five books to M urnane’s credit, all still in print Tyndall announces his three major centres of interest without a single word. Against a black screen one hears the sound of gallop­ ing horses fade into the slow click-clack of a type-writer, followed by an Irish air. It is of course Murnane typing, one-fmgered, Murn­ ane playing the air on the violin and Murn­ ane hearing the racing horses. The next 85 minutes are a thorough exploration of these

three focal points, reproducing the extraor­ dinary links between them that form the tissue of M um ane’s imaginary world.

Archival footage of Ireland - the home of those who, though only a minority of Mumane’s ancestors, have bestowed the bulk of his cultural inheritance - is the prelude.

Immediately the audience’s expectations are upset: the first note is comic. The interplay between M um ane’s voice-over and the foot­ age suggests bands of Irishmen migrating to Australia by row-boat so they could find a spot where they could lay down with their girlfriends or wives away from the censoring eye of the Catholic priests. The comedy is refreshing, Tyndall immediately expelling the stuffy air that is the legacy of previous documentaries on authors.

The boldness of opening with corny hum our is a sign of Tyndall’s confidence. He knows his subject - his knowledge of Mum­ ane’s work is sound, and they share a solid affinity, both being Bendigo boys well grounded in literature and deeply rooted in the daily culture of horse racing - so he has no fear that a discordant opening will lose his audience. That points to another of the documentary’s strengths. Tyndall trusts his audience to have an interest in the minutiae of his and Murnane’s perception, a trust no doubt bolstered by reaction to his previous work, Someone Looks at Something, winner of Best Documentary at the 1987 Australian Video Festival.

Part 1 of Words and Silk is subtitled ‘T h e Imaginary and Real World of Gerald Murn­ ane”, Part 2 T h e Real and Imaginary World”, and the balance of emphasis is carefully maintained.

Part 1 enters the author’s literary world byway of his first novel, Tamarisk Row, about a boy growing up in the Bendigo of the 1940s in a Catholic family with a father fascinated by horse-racing. The father’s fascination becomes the boy’s obsession.

Murnane ’s childhood was very similar to the boy’s, but as he says vehemently in Part 2, “I hate the word autobiographical.” Tyndall respects this and the recreations delicately A B O V E: AUTHO R GERALD M URNANE HOLDS UP HIS LILAC AND BROW N R A CIN G COLOURS IN PHILIP TYN D ALL'S W O RDS AN D S IL K .

imply they are recreations from the novel, not representations of the author’s life.

Documentary recreations often floun­ der by being neither fact nor fiction but simulations of fiction, not deserving the suspension of disbelief fiction deserves. Tom from its context, a randomly selected pas­ sage dramatized is often a dead loss on screen.

But Tyndall chooses judiciously - there is usually only one character engaged in a private pursuit and, following the books, there is no dialogue. And the threads are maintained, so that the boy’s game, with marbles (representing horses) rolled across a lounge-room floor, is the recurrent image binding Part 1 together.

In delivering this eminently literary material onto film accompanied by the sound of Mumane ’s reading from his novel, Tyndall maintains fidelity to his subject while also creating something in its own right. He es­ chews the heavy-handed, dexterously match­ ing text to shot. “Number one, Monastery Garden, purple shades, solitudes of green, white sunlight, for the garden Clement Killeaton suspects isjust beyond the tall brick wall of his schoolyard”, runs the voice-over, while on screen the image is M um ane’s secondary school, Catholic.

The marble horse-race dominates Part 1 while Part 2 is dominated by real racing, just as Tamarisk Row is dominated by the running of the imaginary Gold Cup. Tyndall has hit on one aspect of M um ane’s writing that does lend itself to film - colour. M um ane’s m agnificent descriptions of racing silks (more than 3000 of which he drew almost daily for himself from the age of 13 to 43) are faithfully and imaginatively reproduced, along with what birds they represent, what the colours imply in Catholic symbolism, where they occur in the Catholic calendar, and what they correspond to in the Austra­ lian landscape. The culmination is a scene where a boy describes the colour of the blue of the sky north of the Great Divide. On screen there is nothing but the colour blue.

The effect of the two in tandem is entranc­ ing.

After setting the imaginative agenda, Gerald Mumane appears as Mumane the writer for the first time in Part 2. Sitting in a director’s chair in an open studio, backlit by changing fields of colour, Mumane talks of his writing. Tyndall asks no questions (nei­ ther his voice nor face appear); Mumane has scripted what he will say.

In turn hectoring, descriptive, impas­ sioned, insistent and seemingly outraged, Mumane’s ‘performance’is absorbing, aided by skilful editing and pacing, although, sur­ prisingly, the pace is at times too quick, if anything.

M umane is a true obsessive. He says he writes in the early morning and notes, again without visible humour, that horses do too.

He tells of the creative process with a clarity few artists are capable of. He takes one by the

hand to show the inner corridors of his imagination, detailing the headings under which he writes, such as ‘Things that stick out of the ground” - not exactly what they taught in English Lit. And it all comes to a head (or a short half-head) with the running of the Gold Cup, Mumane revealing the cadenced beauty of a race call.

The two parts come together: M umane’s real world is the fertile field for his imaginary world, his imaginary world has its own exis­ tence while being a refraction of his real world.

Words And Silk is a weighty contribution to both the literary and film culture of this country. It is an object lesson in document­ ing a writer, in edifying and entertaining, in creating and recreating. While always letting Mumane have his say, Tyndall never cedes his author’s rights. I suspect this is a docu­ m ent a culture will boast of when Mumane is no longer here to give interviews.

Directed by Philip Tyndall.

Producers: Philip Tyndall, John Cruthers. Screen­ play: Philip Tyndall, Gerald Mumane. Director of photography: Brendan Lavelle. Editors: Heather McDermott, Catherine Birmingham. Sound recordists: Greg Burr, Ray Bosley. Sound editor: Steve Lambeth. Mixer: Dean Gawen. Music: Gerald Mumane, the Moonee Valley Drifters and Crown of Thoms. Funded by the Australian Film Commission Creative Development Fund and Film Victoria’s Creative Initiatives Programme.

16 mm. 85 mins. Australia. 1989.

W ORDS AND S IL K

MY LEFT FOOT BRIAN

M c F A R L A N E

awkwardly (how else?) but successfully place a rec­ ord on a gramophone. This is the opening image in a film full of striking images, images of the intense physical effort which is the constant accompaniment of every act of

T

h e t o e s o n t h e t it u l a r f o o t

Christy Brown. The camera gradually pans up to the tortured face, then cuts between cars making their way to and arriving at a stately home and the foot doing its work.

Both the theme and the film’s structure are announced in this opening sequence.

The theme is to be that of the overcom­ ing of appalling difficulties - congenital cerebral palsy in this case - as a preliminary to a life of valuable achievement - as writer and artist. The film’s structure depends on our knowledge of this achievement. Its inter­ est will not, therefore, lie in creating the suspense of will-he-or-won’t-he-make-it? My Left Foot begins with Christy Brown (Daniel Day Lewis) being wheeled into a charity benefit presided over by Lord Castlewelland (Cyril Cusack), assisted by Dr Eileen Cole (Fiona Shaw). While a string orchestra is playing Schubert, Christy is left in the care of a nurse who is reading his autobiography.

She opens at the Munch-like painting of Christy’s mother (Brenda Flicker) and this ushers in the flashback to Christy’s birth in an austere hospital ward where a nurse tells his father (Ray McAnally) that there have been “some complications”.

The rest of the film is structured in a series of flashbacks between the elegantly arranged benefit and the unsentimentally rendered facts of the Browns’ family life in a drab street of Dublin council houses. Christy’s father is a brutal, inarticulate man but (in McAnally’s great performance) he is also convincingly vulnerable and capable of unbidden accesses of pity and pleasure in his children. There is a similarly remarkable performance from Brenda Flicker as the worn-out working-class m other with an unbreakable belief in her son’s intelligence.

The rest of the numerous brothers and sis­ CHRISTY BROW N (DANIEL DAY LEW IS) IN JIM SH ERIDAN 'S "EX H ILA R A TIN G AND IN SP IR IN G " M Y LEFT FOOT.

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ters, in their tolerance and love of Christy, in taking him for granted and including him in their activities, create with McAnally and Flicker as potent a sense of family life as I recall in any film in years.

The family feeling is not a matter of a cosy domestic glow. This is working-class Dublin with the threat of poverty and an oppressively patriarchal system (“Don’t you question me in front of the children”, blus­ ters the father to his wife when he is laid off); there is gossip and ignorance (Christy is talked of as a “moron”), but there is also accommodation to his situation. He is not hidden, not ignored; his family doesn’t fuss over him nor is it ashamed of him. The film’s flashback episodes fill in very satisfyingly, not only the major steps in Christy’s develop­ ment, but also the richly-textured world of feelings in which it takes place.

There have been plenty of films before about the overcoming of obstacles, physical an d /o r psychological, of a kind that would daunt most of us. One recalls such notable examples asJean Negulesco’sJohnny Belinda and Alexander Mackendrick’s Mandy (both centred on deaf mutes), John Cassavetes’ A Child is Waiting (mentally retarded children), Lewis Gilbert’s Reach for the Sky (Douglas Bader’s tin legs), David Lynch’s TheElephant Man, and the two perhaps most relevant here, Arthur Penn’s The Miracle Worker (the story of Helen Keller) and Gil Brealey’s A n n ie’s Coming Out (a physically disabled child). There is something irresistibly attrac­ tive, as a narrative line, in the idea of reading about or watching the huge normalcy in spite of them. In the case of Bader, Keller and Christy Brown, the achievement goes, of course, far past “normalcy”: that would have been remarkable enough given the nature and extent of their disablement, but what they achieved, distinguished enough in any circumstances, becomes in theirs little short of miraculous.

When the film is based on real-life cases, as several of these are, the narrative interest lies elsewhere than in the outcome. We know that these people have succeeded and this knowledge is in varying degrees awe-inspir­ ing. The best films which have taken such case histories as their subjects are those which give us a palpable sense of the ejfortinvob/ed.

There is obvious and affecting drama in the great moments, the watershed moments when a new level of apprehension is reached: for instance, when Helen Keller (Patty Duke) utters her first word, ‘W ater”, in The Miracle Worker, or when Christy, using the slate floor and a piece of chalk held in his left foot, draws the word “MOTHER”.

This latter moment is marvellously real­ ized by director Jim Sheridan, director of photography Jack Conroy and the actors, and it is followed by a finelyjudged scene in which Mr Brown carries Christy into the pub, telling his beery cronies: “This is my son Christy Brown. H e’s a genius”. All this is 62

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done with an apt feel for the drama of the moment and the film has plenty of these.

One thinks of Christy’s response to Hamlet’s soliloquy, his expression of his love for Eileen, his reaction to news of her engagement, the attempted suicide, and so on. However, it is not these obvious high spots which account chiefly for the film’s power to move and hold its audience. It shares with the best of other films of its kind, and indeed surpasses them, in rendering the relentless, grinding physi­ cal effort that every small step of progress entails.

It is part of the brilliance of Daniel Day Lewis’s performance to make this effort so convincing. Day Lewis clearly knows a good part when he sees one and is willing to efface the charisma of his glamorous star persona; but there is more at stake than “acting” in the conventional sense here. He seems to have subsumed the uncontrollable body and the quick, glancing, tormented mind of the notalways-likable Christy. He makes one feel the effort - not just to admire how it is done by the actor but to feel the unrelenting diffi­ culty for the character.

I heard a resentful radio interview with someone (whose name and affiliations I missed) who complained at the casting of a well-known star in the role of a disabled person, suggesting that it should have been played by a disabled person. As it is, the speaker went on, we’ll all be leftjust thinking how marvellous handsome, famous Daniel Day Lewis is in so disguising himself. I am not sure of the logistic possibilities of a similarly disabled person’s playing the role of Christy Brown, but can report that Day Lewis is doing something very remarkable with the role. It is not just a matter of twitches and make-up but of having felt and thought himself into the pain of the character. Per­ haps, too, his star presence will ensure an audience for Christy Brown’s story that an unknown, disabled actor, cast for whatever laudable reasons, might have denied it.

The film as a whole hardly ever strikes a false note. An Irish film, made entirely on Irish locations, it has the right look of place and period. On a character level, it resists sentimentalizing and simplifying. The issue of Christy’s sexuality is not evaded, though it maybe argued that, in the interests of drama and an upbeat ending, his courtship of the nurse, Mary Carr, is achieved with a film-like rather than life-like speed. As My Left Foot is both a film and a life (and a well-known life), perhaps that matters. Not much though; the general effect is exhilarating and inspiring.

One doesn’t require films to be so, but they are to be valued when they genuinely are.

MY LEFT FOOT Directed by: Jim Sheridan. Pro­ ducer: Noel Pearson. Executive producers: Paul Heller, Steve Morrison. Screenplay: Shane Connaughton, Jim Sheridan. Director of photogra­ phy: Jack Conroy. Editor: J. Patrick Duffner.

Production designer: Austen Spriggs. Composer: Elmer Bernstein. Cast: Daniel Day Lewis (Christy

Brown), Ray McAnally (Mr Brown), Brenda Flicker (Mrs Brown), Ruth McCabe (Mary), Fiona Shaw (Dr Eileen Cole), Eanna McLiam (Older Benny), Alison Whelan (Older Sheila), Declan Croghan (Older Tom), Hugh O ’Conor (Younger Christy), Cyril Cusack (Lord Castlewelland). A Granada Film production. Distributor: Roadshow. 98 mins.

35 mm. UK 1989.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE! J OHN C O N O MO S LEE LEWIS is an American original.

He is as important to the history of pop­ ular music as Elvis Presley,Junior Parker and Muddy Waters. H e’s rock ’n ’ roll. H e’s coun­ try. He ’s gospel. He ’s blues. This country boy from Ferriday, Louisiana, has lived his life like one continuous roadhouse stomp. The Killer is pure high octane energy. Nobody, as the Killer likes to remind us, but nobody cuts the Killer. Lewis is, at the best of times, a de­ mented cocky rocker, a narcissistic punk, a licentious maniac who has been to hell and back a few more times than we can imagine.

Yet Lewis is a God-fearing believer who has been raised on gospel and sees the world in terms of sin and redemption. He is someone whose joyous music - often seen by many in the South of the United States as the Devil’s music - is a highly personal expression of a rockabilly raver tormented by very personal demons of sex, drug and alcohol abuse, and religious faith. Anyone who doubts this view of it has only to read Nick Tosches’ compel­ ling portrait of Lewis’ hell-raising life, appro­ priately named Hellfire (1982), or Grqil Marcus’ classic study of rock ’n ’ roll, Mystery Train (1976), to be convinced.

When we listen to Lewis’ wonderfully controlled and resonant voice, we can visual­ ize the smoky-filled good-times texture and hear the ecstatic rocking sounds of the black juke-joints of the musician’s childhood.

Appropriately enough, in the film’s opening scene, we see the eager, adventurous Lewis as a child (Bert Dedman), with his timid and censorious cousin Jimmy Swaggart (Ryan Rushton), at just such a juke-joint listening to the spontaneous erotic sounds of a music deemed by white folk as un-Christian, lustful and evil.

As a rock pianist, Lewis is in his own class.

His playing, like his personality, seems predi­ cated on the sensation that he is about to explode. It is a style of rock piano full of powerful boogie intricacies and exhilarat­ ing glissando stylistics. Like his singing, it is ultimately intuitive and undisciplined. Any­ one who has watched Lewis perform on stage will understand that this Louisiana rocker is a consummate showman notable for his flamboyant antics and vanity (this includes his famous trademark gesture of using a large comb to run through his hair).

As he plays his beloved piano, he uses his feet, elbows and arse (if need be). There have been many times when Lewis has scrambled all over his piano like a possessed

J

er r y

evangelist (like his cousin), preaching the gospel of rock to his fans, savouring the .lewdness in the lyrics of his numbers. Once, and the basis for a dynamic scene in the film, Lewis even torched his piano after thirty minutes of furious rock.

Jim McBride’s interest in Lewis surfaced well before the release of Great Balls o f Fire! in Breathless (1983), his excellent remake of Jean-Luc Godard’s A Bout de Souffle (1959), in which the nihilistic punk (Richard Gere) flees Las Vegas through the red glow of a nocturnal desert highway to the pumping boogie notes of Lewis’ monumental “Breath­ less”.

It is a great moment in a movie of many fine moments. With Great Balls o f Fire!, McBride’s real interest in Lewis (Dennis Quaid) focuses on a two-year period, 1956-

THE KILLER, JER R Y LEE LEW IS (DENN IS Q U AID ), IN JIM MCBRIDE'S UPLIFTING BIO PIC, G REAT BA LLS O F FIREI.

58, which frames his roller-coaster ride to fame and fortune, and its collapse in scandal when the British press finds out that he was married to his 13-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown (Winona Ryder). As rock ’n ’ roll biopics go, this movie is a fairly uplifting visual and sonic experience. McBride has orchestrated a brilliant work that concen­ trates on Lewis as a rock ’n ’ roll legend during that key passage in his tumultuous life. However, to expect a factually accurate and analytical presentation of Lewis’ rise and his subsequent downfall is to woo disap­ pointment. The same can be said of any ideas that Great Balls ofFire.'is a probing wartsand-all biography of the rocker.

What director-co-writer McBride has done is to emphasize the story told in Myra Lewis’book ( Great Balls ofFire! by Myra Lewis, With Murray Silver), which stresses the love ;stoiy between Lewis and Myra. McBride avoids the romantic rhetoric of the typical Hollywood rock ’n ’ roll biopic and takes

certain liberties in dramatizing events, though he is careful to respect the spirit of the music and the period.

McBride succeeds on the level of narra­ tive action, style, mood, performance and cinematography in establishing the totally redemptive character of Lewis’ joyous mu­ sic. This is McBride’s chief concern as a filmmaker: to give his viewers an overriding sense of the importance that the music has for Lewis, not only as a professional musi­ cian, but, in the fundamental sense, of salva­ tion. His stress on this side of the legendary rock ’n ’ roll artist colours the entire film.

McBride is correct to see Lewis’ life and music in terms of a great conflict between worldly sin and redemption. This conflict is what structures Lewis’ public persona. Nick Tosches understands the either-or world view

of heaven or hell that informs Lewis’ explo­ sive behaviour: The Killer has been a constant inspiration to me, and I’ve always believed that he’s the last man to have been touched by the Holy Ghost of Gnosis. The powers of his music - that loud, unspeakable philosophy of his HorusSnopes soul; the search through the mania and excess for that unknown, unknowable sin without which there can be no redemp­ tion or damnation more thrilling than any re­ demption or damnation known to the gelt rest; the pitting within of good against evil without knowing, maybe even caring to know, or refusing to know, one from the other - are more than rock ’n ’ roll, or whatever you want to call it. They are powers of light and dark, wickedness and strength, and they are powers that can cure and heal and cause miracles.

(Greil Marcus, (ed.), Stranded, 1979, p. 4).

Small wonder Lewis threatened Dennis Quaid’s life when the actor wanted to per­ form the songs himself. The qualities that Tosches ascribes to Lewis’ music are selfevident on the film’s truly exciting and powerful soundtrack, which features the musician’s original attacking style of singing

and piano playing. Co-scriptwriter Jack Baran makes the accurate point that the lyrics of Lewis’ songs are used in a dramatic con­ text advancing the plot in a significant way.

To speak of Great Balls ofFire! dead ignore Quaid’s superlative performance as Lewis would be comparable to discussing a movie like Sweet Smell o/S-uccmwithout bothering to mention Tony Curtis’ memorable kinetic performance as a slimy Broadway publicity agent. Quaid has excelled in capturing Lewis’ cocky walk, his wild-eyed look and phrasing, and creates the overwhelming impression that he embodies an insatiable lust, the kind of lust that’s viewed in the Deep South as downright ungodly. The amount of research that Quaid did for the role, like studying film and video footage of Lewis’ performances of the 1950s and ’60s, is clearly visible in the actor’s ability to register all the expressive details and gestures of Lewis’ lively body language. Quaid comes across through the entire duration of the film like Woody Woodpecker on adrenalin.

McBride has succeeded in creating not only the volatile, sexy and soaring sounds of Lewis’ music, but he has also constructed a vivid and exciting image of the period which the music represents. The fluid camera style is notable for its supple capacity to weave in and around Lewis’ rowdy life, always mind­ ful to keep the protagonist at arm’s length.

This avoids, according to the filmmaker, the pitfall of being forced “into a position where you have to betray your particular vision of the story you are telling”. McBride’s film is able to catch a markedly animated and pleas­ urable sense of the aesthetic, cultural and religious features that shaped rock ’n ’ roll in the 1950s. The conformity, abundance and vitality of the era are indicated in many key scenes and give a particular face to the American dream. One scene has Lewis in his convertible car going along a Memphis road to the catchy, celebratory lyrics of Jackie Benston’s watershed car number, “Rocket 88”. Another finely choreographed se­ quence, one that could have easily belonged to any worthwhile musical of the 1940s or ’50s, unfolds around Myra’s buying goods in a department store, showering the goods and the obliging salespeople with her money like confetti.

Stylistically, Great Balls of Fire! is an exu­ berant, stimulating movie that affirms the positive healing powers of rock ’n ’ roll. Its principal hyperreal look is suggestive of McBride’s endeavour to create a movie that not only characterizes the redemptive na­ ture of the music itself, but also makes a critical statement about the more conven­ tional Hollywood kind of rock biopic. It’s a movie notable for its visual and sonic dyna­ mism. The gymnastic pyrotechnics of the “High School Confidential”sequence, where Lewis goes to pick up Myra at her school, is a central passage in this context; likewise, the similarly kinetic sequence where Lewis is CIN EM A

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seen setting his piano alight with lighter fluid. Another extraordinary sequence, worthwhile for its sensitive modulation of human emotions, is the tender and humor­ ous bedroom encounter between Lewis and Myra, where Lewis teases her (in a playful, caring manner) about her phobia about horror movies. There are several times where Lewis seeks comfort alone or spends some time with Myra beyond the paranoid reach of her father (John Doe). Here in the quiet of a nocturnal river locale, the inner forces responsible for the passion that Lewis exhib­ its in believing in his roots and music are gra­ phically revealed. McBride never fails to signal to his viewers how, for Lewis, rock ’n ’ roll lies at the centre of human experience.

After all, Lewis has to choose between religion and rock ’n ’ roll when Swaggart (Alec Baldwin) challenges him to do so in­ side a Pentecostal church. Leaving the shocked congregation, Lewis walks out the front door of the church in his inimitable swaggering style, calling back to the fire-andbrimstone preacher, and his audience of worshippers, “Well, If I’m going to hell, I’m gonna go playing the piano.” You better believe it. As Marcus once wrote, “If the day ever comes when rock ’n ’ roll is just a mem­ ory, Jerry Lee will still be up on stage, playing it.”

Directed byjim McBride.

Producer: Jim McBride. Executive producers: Michael Grais, Mark Victor. Screenplay: Jack Baran, Jim McBride. Based upon the book by Myra Lewis, with Murray Silver. Director of pho­ tography: Affonso Beato. Editors: Lisa Day, Pembroke Herring, Bert Lovitt. Production de­ signer: David Nichols. Choreographers: Bill and Jacqui Landrum. Cast: Dennis Quaid (Jerry Lee Lewis), Winona Ryder (Myra Gale Lewis), John Doe (J. W. Brown), Stephen Tobolowsky (John Phillips), Trey Wilson (Sam Phillips), Alec Baldwin (Jimmy Swaggart), Steve Allen (Steve Allen), Lisa Blount (Lois Brown), Joshua Sheffield (Rusty Brown), Mojo Nixon (James Van Eaton),Joe Bob Briggs (Dewey Phillips). An Adam Fields Produc­ tion. Distributor: Roadshow. 108 mins. 35 mm.

U.S. 1989.

GREAT B A LLS OF FIR E!

CAPPUCCINO SHELLEY KAY appuccino

attempts something worthy.

C In the press release, the publicist desc­ ribes the film as “a new Australian comedy, as fresh and as light as its title”. That the film intends to be light is a rarity when most independent Australian films tend towards the heavy social docu-drama - films filled with junkies and the unemployed ( Going Down, Dogs in Space, Greetings from Wollon­ gong) and other seedy sorts (Belinda and Tender Hooks).

Cappuccino does aim to take a fresh stand

on urban ‘ultra’ life. Such a change in focus is long overdue and Cappuccino must receive credit for this initiative. It is with real regret, then, that here endeth the praise.

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M AGGIE (JEANIE DRYNAN) AND ROW ENA WALLACE (ANN A) AT THEIR FAVOURITE COFFEE SHOP IN ANTHO NY BO W M AN 'S CAPPUCCINO.

Cappuccino is a feature in which a conflu­ ence of confusing subplots constitutes a scattered and diffused whole. The film be­ gins with the incarcerated figure of Max (John Clayton) doing a personal retrospec­ tive. His interesting face, highlighted against a background of darkness, tells his biogra­ phy with a vaudevillian strine to a, at this point, concealed but vocal audience. We don’t realize until later that Max’s audience is made up of his fellow inmates. They might have been more critical, because what he relates is the script of the film.

The other characters are mainly of the thespian milieu which nervously haunts Sydney’s inner city. Rowena Wallace, Barry Quin and Jeanie Drynan play actors chasing varying degrees of personal and artistic ful­ filment.

Anna (Rowena Wallace) is a successful stage actress who wants more: she wants to be a director. Her friend, Maggie (Jeanie Drynan), would be happyjust to land a role.

Larry (Barry Quin) is a famous soap star who lives with the constant tension of self-justifi­ cation. Celia (Christina Parker) represents flibbertigibbet youth in pursuit of opportu­ nity - any opportunity. She dumps Max for ‘star’ Larry. Max then inadvertently obtains a scandalous video, of the police commis­ sioner in a pornographic performance, from nasty detective Bollinger (Ritchie Singer).

This is stolen by opportunistic Celia, pre­ sumably sensing the likelihood of remu­ neration. This supposedly warrants the per­ nicious pursuit by the bubbling detective Bollinger and his youthful off-sider, Nigel (Simon Mathew).

Suggestive of the milieu and the point at which the characters converge and interact is an unnamed coffee shop. The shop is one of the film’s many competing threads, yet where is the caffeine-inspired metaphor that sparked the film’s title? Moreover, the cafe proprietor, a potentially rich cameo figure, is never exploited: he is as flat as a very flat flatwhite. It is a case of script denial.

Like the people who tend to sit around in

coffee shops all day, Cappuccino lacks direction. Cappuccino is written and directed byAnthony Bowman; he is also a co-producer.

As overburdened with roles as Bowman may be, so too is his script. The inanities of cafe conversation are poured into the film like light frothy milk. It is weighed down with jokeless punch-lines. Wallace and Drynan spend most of the film in a seated position doing bits of conversation. When the film does explode into action, such as the pursuit of Max by Bollinger and Nigel down Oxford Street and into William Street, the director fails to make the chase intoxicating. The chase fizzles out, literally to a dead erid.

The film ends when Bollinger is gratui­ tously blown away by mercenary minx, Celia.

At this zenith of directionlessness the cam­ eras and crew appear on screen to announce that it is a film after all. Such gestures of selfreflexivity are contingent upon the grand filmic conjurors having held us spellbound in their magic. This is not the case here.

The plot is also singularly confusing over the issue of changing levels of success. Larry begins the film as television star and enjoys a greater popularity than his friends. Maggie and Anna get lucky when one of Anna’s numerous boyfriends, a psychiatrist, pro­ duces a play for which their efforts are her­ alded by newspaper critics. Concurrent with this development is Larry’s ousting from the soapie network. A pivotal point is the mo­ ment when thejoyously successful Anna and Maggie take a taxi driven by the incognito Larry. Or is it Larry? This ironic eclipse of fortunes is lost within the vagaries of the script and the uncertainty of the identity of Larry hiding under his tracksuit hood. Ought not this to have some climactic force, if only comical?

The deficiencies of script and direction make it difficult to focus on the various performances. In some instances, this is a case of being let off the hook, but in others one feels a sense of sabotage. While there are doubtless moments of viscerally cringing interaction, one feels an actor is hamstrung ab initio by so patchy and ill-defined a script.

Clayton plays a good sort of an ocker actor; Wallace remains her vintage soapie self; Drynan and Quin follow suit; Singer is an untapped resource confined like everybody by the script. Ernie Dingo is funny as Ernie Dingo is. Others, for various reasons, don’t bear mentioning. One wonders if the actors believed, or indeed could very well believe in their roles, as presented.

T here is so m uch h ap p e n in g in Cappuccino: conversations, love affairs, chases, investigations and intrigues, comedy, state­ ments about the state of Sydney theatre, murder, pornography, prison and coffee. So much happens that nothing really happens.

This film is flawed by its random devitaliza­ tion and a lack of focused energy sympto­ matic of much independent Australian filmmaking.

Directed by Anthony Bowman.

Producers: Anthony Bowman, Sue Wild. Associ­ ate producers: Danny Batterham Jeanie Drynan, Darrell Lass, Rowena Wallace, Barry Quin, John Clayton. Screenplay: Anthony Bowman. Director of photography: Danny Batterham. Editor: Richard Hindley. Producdon designer: Darrell Lass. Composer: William Motzing. Cast: John Clayton (Max), Rowena Wallace (Anna), Jeanie Drynan (Maggie), Barry Quin (Larry), Christina Parker (Celia), Ritchie Singer (Bollinger), Si­ mon Mathew (Nigel), Saviour Sammut (Enzo), Saturday Rosenberg (Lulu), Francois Bocquet (Salvador), Ernie Dingo (Himself). Produced by Archer Films. Distributor: Ronin Films. 85 mins.

35 mm. Australia. 1989.

CA PPU CCIN O

THE HONEYMOON KILLERS ADRIAN

MARTIN

“Amongst gangster films, Inside the Mafia is an example of what edges nearest to the literal.

Nothing in Inside the Mafia (until the last se­ quence) remains unexplained - no volitions, no competencies demand to be inferred, for they are spelled out explicitly, leaving the imagination nowhere to roam. Characters move stolidly without discernible intent through a series of mundane acts, about which the film says absolutely nothing except that they have occurred. Beside this, the films of Andy Warhol seem to seethe with undercur­ rents and connotations, not to say absurd pretenses and refinements. This is paracinema, a film from beyond cinema: raw film which pleases no one, which everyone calls ‘bad’ or ‘boring’, but which, despite that, is one of the few places where our orphan of the nineteenth century actually encounters the period in which it has grown up, one of the

few places where the cinema appears an art of today rather than of yesterday.”

William D. Routt, “T odorov Am ong the Gangsters”, A rt & Text, N o. 34.

T IS ALWAYS A STRANGE SPECTACLE

when a

Ifilm is plucked from the past - even from

the fairly recent past - and arrives, ‘re-re­ leased’, freighted over time with a function and a significance it may not initially have had. I recall an occasion earlier this decade when the Valhalla chain re-released JeanLuc Godard’s Alphaville (1965). Each screeningwas ‘editorially’prefaced, before the cur­ tains opened, with the fanfare from television’s Superman series, thus transform­ ing the film into a rather glib and ‘knowing’ Alex Cox-style parody of the values of “truth, justice and the American way”. Such licence to ‘rewrite’ or inflect films in this way is perhaps permissible (or at least inevitable) in what Jon Savage once called our “age of plunder” - and in the case of Alphaville, perhaps it was even warranted by the film itself. But the process surely becomes a little more questionable when we reach the lucra­ tive exhibition field of so-called ‘golden turkeys’ - apparently ‘bad’ B-films that exist, all of a sudden, only to be laughed at by smugly ‘superior’ filmgoers.

Although I’m sure some of those same filmgoers will find plenty of amusement in The Honeymoon Killers, Leonard Kastle’s only directed film comes to us, 19 years late, with a different, but closely related load of cul­ tural (or should I simply say ‘cult’) baggage.

In a nutshell, it’s not being touted as “the worst film ever made”, but rather, “Francois Truffaut’s favourite American film”.

For me, the headache caused by either kind of hype is of exactly the same order.

The slightest chance for me to approach The Honey­ moon Killers with a fresh or innocent eye has been oblit­ erated by the fact that, over time, it has been thrust onto a certain stage, made to play a principal role in a seem­ ingly unending cultural drama: the relation of ‘cul­ tured’ folk (film intellectu­ als, art house patrons, young hipsters, etc.) to what is re­ garded as the ‘uncultured’ realm of B-cinema. To out­ line briefly this drama is not at all ‘esoteric’ (lately the mainstream press’ favourite word for describing the re­ RAY FERNANDEZ (TONY LOBIANCO) AND MARTHA BECK (SHIRLEY STOLER) IN LEONARD KASTLE'S THE H O NEY­ M O O N KILLERS-. "IN VO LU N TA RY, SPONTANEOUS CREATIVITY, MAD AND SUBLIM E".

view pages of Cinema Papers), for not one single published statement I have read about The Honeymoon Killers does not play out, in a symptomatic and largely unconscious fash­ ion, the clash of cultured viewer with uncul­ tured film.

In the quotation which prefaces this review, William Routt refers to a concept of ‘raw film’, and he might well be alluding to what the artworld calls art brut, meaning raw or rough art, but more particularly ‘naive’ art, the art of children, the clinically mad and ‘primitive’ or unskilled Sunday paint­ ers. ‘Bad’ B-movies have long been associ­ ated with naive art; indeed, for some com­ mentators, it can seem at times that the whole of what is designated ‘popular cul­ ture’ is one vast well of naive artefacts. Of course, as soon as something or someone is formally labelled naive, we know that there is another world from whence this labelling comes: the world of the culturally sophisti­ cated, of those in the know, whose preferred artworks are not ‘raw’ in the slightest, but very smooth and streamlined indeed. That is to say, the high-art patron, when he/she confronts the ‘underworld’ of popular art, can seem very much like a colonizer, figur­ ing out how to relate to the ‘natives’.

The amused regard of ‘kitsch’ - of the kind that greets a Robot Monster at the Val­ halla or a campus film society - is a relatively straightforward, nakedly superior form of this cultural colonialism. More interesting and slippery, however, are those attempts by the educated to ‘claim’ naive popular art in more generous, hopefully ‘genuine’ ways.

Traditionally, the world of popular culture has offered such devotees of art (fans of ‘popular film’ included) a space of ener­ getic ‘vitalism’- a kind of divine release from the effete middle-class hell in which they have been ‘cultured’. Allen S. Weiss once suggested that art brut is that cultural place where “art forgets its very name”, and for critics like me, in search of ‘raw film’, the suggestion is truly intoxicating. Might not Bcinema allow me, at last, to forget, if only for a moment, all the protocols, value judge­ ments and aesthetic standards of my culture, to truly take me outside of myself?

Unquestionably, this is what many con­ noisseurs of B-cinema down the years have sought. Rather than letting art cinema ‘for­ get its very name’ in the process, however, what often happens is that B-cinema is sim­ ply ‘negotiated’ upwards so that it can be, in a sleight-of-hand operation, ‘legitimated’ as film art. The history of critical and adulatory responses to The Honeymoon Killers provides a remarkably clear example of this. I have already mentioned that Truffaut called it his favourite American film. In fact, he talked about the film often, in many interviews, calling it on one occasion “human and very anti-cliche; it is very real and at the same time very strong” (Filmmakers Newsletter, Decem­ ber 1973). Gerald Peary, in the first volume CIN EM A

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of his oft-consulted Cult Films book series, praises the film for its effect of documentary realism, and its expressive cinematic style which he claims rather resembles Truffaut’s own style! Theme-wise, the film is for Kathe Boehringer in Filmnews (November 1989) a classic ‘dark-side-of-the-American-dream’ type of picture (a veritable art-house genre), possessing a “solid sociological core”; for Peary it is also a celebration of good old V'amourfou - bringing it in line with the films the French Surrealists made (like L ’Age d ’Or), and also the American ones they admired (likeJoseph H. Lewis’ Gun Crazy). Christine Cremen in The Australian (11 November 1989) reassuringly adds that, in contrast to those who might assume the film is “im­ moral” (cheap and nasty), it is “actually a very moral movie”. She quotes not only Truffaut but Antonioni to boot: “one of the purest films I’ve ever seen.”

Now, imagine in your mind’s eye this composite movie - realist, humanist, com­ plex, moral, pure, true, stylistic, a strong tonic, like a Chabrol or a Brisseau perhaps and then go see The Honeymoon Killers. Bear in mind the possibility that the B-movie you see will not necessarily correspond to the Amovie you have been primed for. For there are, it seems, a hundred ways of writing the B out of B-movie, and all of them have been performed on this film. But let us not downplay the ‘badness’ of this movie - nei­ ther byjustifying it as ‘realism’, nor by mini­ mizing it as secondary to the film’s ‘intrinsic’ thematic interest. Badness, and ugliness, are at the core of this film - ugly people, cheap sets, bad sound, clunky actions, and a murk­

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tyrannical matriarch (Jennifer Claire) who in another era would have been played by Agnes Moorhead; a fine man debilitated by an inherited disease, unable to produce a heir to the family’s fortune; hence, surrogacy; and two men in love with the same woman.

Unfortunately, this period melodrama is executed with the energy, style and momen­ tum of the snooker tournaments on Pot Black.

The recipe doesn’t even get to simmer with its tedium-inducing pace, histrionic acting style, an overload of hoary cliches and direc­ torial flatness that fails to extract even a flicker of interest from the potentially divert­ ing subject-matter.

SPIRITS OF THE AIR GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS Director: Alex Proyas. Producers: Alex Proyas, Andrew McPhail. Scriptwriters: Alex Proyas, Pe­ ter Smalley. Photography: David Knaus. Editor: Craig Wood. Distributor: Home Cinema Group.

Cast: Michael Lake, Melissa Davis, The Norm.

First feature by Australian Film, Television and Radio School graduate, Alex Proyas, 66

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ily undecidable (and hence truly amoral) narrational ‘point of view’. This very badness - arising from what Routt calls an excess of ‘literalness’- is possibly what is most compel­ ling about the film. This tale - of an oily man and a fat woman who travel about America finding rich widows to marry and then to kill - is also one that leaves the imagination nowhere to roam, and the ‘critical faculty’ no secure intellectual or ideological posi­ tion to take up. The film is a mess - a crazy, confused, hysterical mess. It is on this level that I think it should be valued.

Is The Honeymoon Killers a ‘naive’ film?

Notwithstanding the evidence of Kastle’s occasional aspirations towards ‘culture’ (rather madly manifested by the occasional blast of a few bars of M ahler on the soundtrack; how ‘modernist’ this can sound to us today, after three decades of Godard) and ‘social comment’, the film does seem to possess that essential ingredient which so many true believers of the B-movie have searched for down the years: the quality that the Surrealists valued above all of an involun­ tary, spontaneous creativity, mad and sub­ lime. This is perhaps what separates, ulti­ mately, ‘cultured’ from ‘uncultured’ films.

A filmmaker like Paul Morrissey can exploit (brilliantly) the properties o f‘bad’ acting in films such as Mixed Blood, but his work will always be, to those faithful to the B-cinema impulse, contrived, pretentious, too refined.

Godard might try to emulate the flatness of B-cinema in order to depict the ‘existential banality’ of the everyday world in films like Vivresa Vie, but Roger Corman’s Sorority Girl will always count as the real thing, the literal

which was completed in 1986. Described as a “comedy of the ironic”, the film recounts the story of a crippled man (Michael Lake), who lives in the desert with his religious sister (Melissa Davis), and who dreams of leaving in a flying machine of his own inven­ tion.

WATERFRONT Director: Chris Thomson. Producer: Bob Weis.

Scriptwriter: Mac Gudgeon. Photography: Dan Burstall. Editor: Edward McQueen Mason. Cast: Jack Thompson, Gretta Scachi. Distributor: Home Cinema Group.

This 1985 television mini-series is based on the waterfront crisis of 1928. Against the backdrop of rising unemployment and a world-wide economic recession, the Mel­ bourne waterfront workers strike rather than accept poorer working conditions. The situ­ ation is further complicated by the actions of conservative Prime Minister Bruce, who orders ‘scabs’ to work. Most of the ‘scabs’ are newly arrived immigrants from southern Europe, and are unaware they are being used as political pawns. The complete mini­ series, running approximately 200 minutes, has been released on a single cassette.

embodiment of modern alienation. Truf­ faut was perhaps dead right on this point, when he described The Honeymoon Killers as “unselfconscious”, and hence impossible for a European filmmaker to conceive or make, burdened as he or she is with the histories of ‘culture’. But we are all sad, selfconscious colonialists in this regard, all we intellectuals and posturingly ‘m odern’ filmmakers, vio­ lently distinct from the ‘real’ world, and the real cinema, that we love.

As I have tried to suggest, it is perhaps this very ‘selfconsciousness’ imbued by cul­ ture that some of us hope to lose when we plunge ourselves into the murky pools of Bcinema. What a deadly paradox, then, that the sales pitch for TheHoneymoon Killersmust, inevitably today, proceed via an appeal such as ‘Truffaut says: go see it!”, for could there possibly be a more selfconscious, .more ‘cultured’ instance o f‘art house’ hype imag­ inable? It would be better by far to hang outside any hall which screens this film a sign encouraging patrons: abandon your culture, ye who enter here.

Directed by Leonard Kastle. Producer: Warren Steibel. Screenplay: Leonard Kastle. Director of photography: Oliver Wood. Editors: Stan Wamow, Richard Brophy.

Music; Gustav Mahler. Cast: Shirley Staler (Martha Beck), Tony LoBianco (Ray Fernandez), Mary Jane Higby (Janet Fay), Doris Roberts (Bunny), Kip McArdle (Delphine Downing), Marilyn Chris (Myrde Young), Dortha Duckworth (Mrs Beck), Barbara Cason (Evelyn Long), Ann Harris (Doris), Mary Breen (Rainelle Downing). A Roxanne production. Distributor: Mark Spratt. 115 mins.

35 mm. U.S. 1969.

THE HONEYMOON K IL L E R S

WITH LOVE TO THE PERSON NEXT TO ME Director: Brian McKenzie. Producer: Brian McKenzie. Scriptwriter: Brian McKenzie. Photog­ raphy: Ray Argali. Distributor: Home Cinema Group. Cast: Kim Gyngell, Sally McKenzie, Paul Chubb.

A lonely taxi driver (Paul Chubb) overcomes his isolation when he helps his neighbour (Sally McKenzie) and her live-in boyfriend (Kim Gyngell) with ‘odd jobs’ involving the transport of televisions from warehouses at night. Low-budget feature by the acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Brian McKenzie (Til Be Home for Christmas).

WITH PREJUDICE Director: Esben Storm. Producer: Don Catchlove.

Scriptwriter: Leon Saunders. Photography: Peter Levy. Editor: Michael Noonan. Distributor: Home Cinema Group. Cast: David Slingsby, Scott Bur­ gess, Terry Serio.

Made in 1982, With Prejudice is a dramatized reconstruction of the 1979 trial of three Ananda Marga members charged with con­ spiracy to murder right-wing activist Robert Cameron.

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B R

AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES: 1956 - 1981 Compiled by Albert Moran, Australian Film, Television and Radio School, Sydney, pb, 1989, 222pp., $19.95 (plus $2.00 postage and handling) KEN

BERRYMAN

in recent times to have greeted the arrival of such useful film­ ographies as Nuclear Movies and Signs of Independents (reviewed in early-1989 editions of Cinema Papers). Now another timely refer­ ence publication has appeared: Australian Television Drama Series: 1956-1981. This is a checklist of information painstakingly com­ piled by Griffith University media lecturer, Albert Moran, over a number of years and finally released by the Australian Film, Tele­ vision and Radio School.

Although Australian television enjoys an unseemly amount of press coverage, good reference books on the subject are rare (try obtaining a copy of Cinema Papers own publication Australian Television: The First 25 Years (1981), for example). Albert Moran has already made a sizeable contribution to the subject with his C urrency Press publications M aking a T V Series: the Bellamy Project (1983), Images and Industry: Television Drama Production in Australia (1985) and (withJohnTulloch) A Country Practice: ‘Quality Soap ’(1986). This latest work in fact grew out of his research for the 1985 volume. It is designed, simply, “to promote greater aware­ ness of Australian television drama series”.

Moran justifies the need for this checklist by comparing the output of Australian televi­ sion over the past thirty years to that of the Australian (feature?) film industry since the turn of the century. He points to the ex­ amples of Homicide, Number 96 and A Country Practice, all of which have clocked up more than 500 hours. On a quantitative basis at least, “Australian television deserves all the attention it can get.”

Similarly, a glance at Images and Industry reveals Moran’s leaning towards drama as stemming from the fact that it dwarfs the time and attention viewers pay to any other kind of television. Within this genre, the series has emerged as the dominant form of television drama. Far from being mere es­ capist fare, Moran sees it as the “prototype form of television”. Qualifying serious at­ tempts to document its undulations over the past thirty years, however, has been the lack of easily accessible data about the pro­ grammes themselves. Australian Television Drama Series goes some way towards redress­ ing this problem.

For Moran, it has involved extensive viewing (“blinking my way through dozens

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of golden oldies such as Consider Your Verdict, Whiplash and Divorce Court, with an episode ofj ohnny O ’Keefe ’s Sing Sing Singor a youth­ ful John Laws’ Startime thrown in for des­ sert”) ; interviewing; and locating and sifting through company records. This massive research task commenced as long ago as 1977, by which time “black and white series had disappeared off our screens as quickly and completely as silent films once vanished from cinema after the arrival of talkies.”

Given the attrition rate of much of Aus­ tralian television output and supporting documentation, Moran found particularly useful source material in two perhaps un­ likely places: the programme listings of the (now defunct) TVTim esand in the basement at Grundys where the company’s “immacu­ late files” (if not their programmes) were su­ perior to those at Crawfords. Overall, of course, the amount of information available to Moran varied enormously and this is re­ flected in what has been included in the final checklist.

The individual series entries range ac­ cordingly from less than a third of a page (Flash Nick from Jindavick, et al) to two or three pages (A Country Practice, The Sulli­ vans) . Entries are arranged alphabetically by title, with standard information (where it exists; for each series: a one-line synopsis; number of episodes; length; production company; date of first broadcast; format; and cast and crew details. In terms of chro­ nology, the entries begin with Take That, first broadcast (in Melbourne only) in 1957, and conclude with Sons and Daughters (1982).

The stray 1986 entry for/¿¿¿a and Wally makes more sense when the date is rearranged a little. Moran’s drama net embraces comedy series - such as the short-lived spinoff from My Nam e’s McGooley - W hat’s Yours?, and some children’s programming, despite the frequent tendency to regard these as sepa­ rate categories.

There are 162 entries in all and the book concludes with a 17-page personality index for cast and crew, arranged usefully by role: actors, art directors, editors, and so on. A quick perusal of the index reveals the exten­ sive contribution to Australian television drama made over the years by such individu­ als as Oscar Whitbread, Howard Griffiths, David H arrison, and Ian and H enry Crawford, as well as the durability of actors like Carmen Duncan, Peter Sumner, Rowena Wallace, Harold Hopkins, Ken James, etc. It also provides statistical support for some of the views advanced by Moran in Images and Industry : for example, the Australian Broad­ casting Commission’s sustained commitment to indigenous drama. Of the 162 series listed in Australian Television Drama Series, no less

than 77 have been ABC productions. By comparison, the ‘Big Two’ - Crawfords and Grundys - account for 39 series over the same period, with ATN7 the next best with a total of 10.

The pity is that such a handy publication is confined to drama series only: no listings of one-off dramas - the tele-features or short fictional works; nor reference to the more ‘serious’ fare of news, current affairs, docu­ mentaries, educational programmes - de­ spite Moran’s claims in Images and Industry for the ubiquity of narrative across the whole range of television output. The cut-off date of 1981 is also somewhat of a puzzle, given that Images and Industry provides a title listing of all drama series produced in Australia to the end o f1984 and the annual EncoreDirectory now carries similar information as well.

For any comprehensive study of the dra­ matic form in terms of its presentation on the box, of course, the more recent period (not covered by Australian Television Drama Series) is an important one, coinciding with the full flowering of the mini-series, the advent of new players (Bob Weis, the McElroys, the South Australian Film Corpo­ ration and, particularly, Kennedy Miller), and the gradual transference of subjects concerning national identity and mythmak­ ing from the big to the small screen. The fact that a reference work published in 1989 contains a checklistwhich terminates in 1981 suggests the difficulties involved in prepar­ ing data of this kind.

It also points to the chronic need for publisher (s) to bite the bullet and commis­ sion a text (or series of texts) which provide researchers or media analysts with anno­ tated lists embracing all forms of Australian television production over the past thirty years. One longs for a local equivalent to the three-volume Encyclopaedia o f Television by VincentTerrace (Zoetrope, New York, 1986) which covers all U.S. series, pilots and spe­ cials produced from 1937 to 1984. For the present, we can only commend Albert Moran for undertaking the initial spadework in this formidable research territory and the AFTRS for making it generally accessible.

■ AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION PUBLICATIONS ATTITUDES TO TELEVISION: A S U R V EY OF AD VERTISERS

Gillian Appleton, with assistancefrom Kate Harrison, Communications Law Centre, and Catriona Hughes, Australian Film Commission, 32 pp., June 1989 Looks at how the television advertising industry works, and at how advertisers, agency media buyers and stations relate to one another. It examines in particular advertisers’ attitudes to issues, con­ cerns and practices in the industry.

FILM S FROM AUSTRALIA

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, October 1989 A series of books on “Mini-series/Telemovies” (44 pp.), “Features” (50 pp.) and “Documenta­ ries” (62 pp.), which checklist all productions made or in pre-production since 1985. Includes principal credits, plot synopsis and genre coding.

THE HOME VIDEO INDUSTRY REPORT A Report for th e A ustralian Film Com m ission

Garry Maddox and David Court, in association with Entertainment Business Review, Australian Film Commission, 46 pp., June 1989 Examines the size of the home video market in Australia, and its impact on cinema distribution and exhibition, television broadcasters and the local production of features and television.

The report also looks at whether there are parallels between home video and pay television and, if so, whether these parallels provide some insight into the likely impact of pay television if it is introduced in Australia.

CANAL PLU S: A C A SE STUDY IN PAY TELEVISION

John Tydeman; a report prepared for the Australian Film Commission by E P Marketing, 60pp., September 1989 A report commissioned by the Australian Film Commission on the French pay-television opera­ tion, Canal Plus, which is the only pay-TV service in France. It is privately owned and reaches more than 80 per cent of households and, after only five years’ operation, it is the most profitable such operation in the world. Of particular relevance are Canal Plus’ obligations to support the local film industry. As a result, it has become a major producer and co-producer of French films.

BOOKLETS: FOR FILMMAKERS INTERNATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION MARKETS

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 8 pp., stapled, not dated A guide to the various film and television markets.

These are sometimes held in conjunction with festivals, such as Cannes, or separately, such as MIFED and the American Film Market. Full de­ tails on background, registration requirements, freight and advertising costs, etc.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL GUIDE

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 13 pp., stapled, November 1989

A detailed, annotated listing of world film festi­ vals, with a handy section on “What You Need”.

The booklet clearly states what the festivals spe­ cialize in and short listings of previous Australian entries is a good guide to what they may select in the future.

MARKETING DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMES INTERNATIONALLY

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 8 pp., stapled, October 1989 Lists international sales agents, specialist agents in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia, and UK non-theatrical distributors. All entries have ad­ dresses and contacts.

EUROPEAN CABLE S E R V IC E S : A GUIDE

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 8 pp., stapled, August 1989 A listing of European cable services with ad­ dresses and contacts, as well as a guide to the likely prices paid by each service.

U .S. NON-THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTORS

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 9 pp., stapled, August 1989 A listing of non-theatrical distributors in the U.S., with address details and name of acquisition contact.

USA CABLE S E R V IC E S : A GUIDE

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 4 pp., stapled, August 1989 A listing of U.S. cable sendees, with addresses and information of each service’s special interests.

BOOKLETS: FOR BUYERS INTERNATIONAL AGENTS FOR AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION PROGRAMS

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 10 pp., stapled, October 1989 UK DISTRIBUTORS FOR AUSTRALIAN FEATURE FILMS

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 5 pp., stapled, October 1989 INTERNATIONAL AGENTS FOR AUSTRALIAN FEATURE FILMS

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 12 pp., stapled, October 1989 NORTH AMERICAN DISTRIBUTORS FOR AUSTRALIAN FEATURE FILMS

AFC Marketing and Communications Branch, 10 pp., stapled, October 1989 T o obtain any o f the above publications, contact the nearest o ffice o f the Australian Film Commission or ring

008 22 6615.

BOOKS RECEIVED BETTE DAVIS: AN INTIMATE MEMOIR

Roy Moseley, Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1989, 192 pp., hb, rrp $35 Moseley was a devoted fan of actress Bette Davis and “after a highly remarkable series of events he formed a friendship” with her. This is his account of a friendship that almost led to marriage.

THE CINEMATIC TEXT: METHODS AND APPRO ACH ES

R Robert Palmer (ed.), AMS Press, New York, 1989, hb, 423 pp.

A collection of essays on (i) filmic narrative and the various issues raised by the fact that these films tell stories and (ii) contemporary critical meth­ ods in cinema study. Authors include Robert Stam, David Bordwell, Robert Skar, Janet Staiger and Peter Brunette, and films covered in detail include Straw Dogs, Once Upon a Time in America and The Godfather. Topics cover, amongst others, “American Film Narrative in the 1980s”, “Femi­ nist Film Criticism ”, “Hermeneutics and Cinema”, and “Bakhtinian Translinguistics and Film Criti­ cism: The Dialogical Image?”.

MEDIA REVIEW DIGEST

Lesley O. Regan (ed.), The Pierian Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1989, hb, 915 pp.

Volume 18 covers 1988 and is a complete guide to reviews of non-book media. (Cinema Papers is the only Australian film journal to be indexed in it) It is an invaluable reference, though inevitable errors occur. Here, one finds Marco Bellochio’s film of Deoil in the Flesh confused with the Austra­ lian version.

OLIVIER

Anthony Holden, Sphere Books, London, 1989, pb, 628 pp., rrp $14.95 Paperback re-issue of Holden’s highly lauded biography of the great English actor. Anthony Sher called it “A superb boo k ... witty... spellbind­ ing ... definitive”.

TV SCEN IC DESIGNS HANDBOOK

Gerald Millerson, Focal Press, London and Boston, 1989, illustrated with numerous sketches and photo­ graphs, pb, 249 pp., rrp $65 A revised edition of Basic TV Staging, first pub­ lished in 1974. It is a comprehensive source book summarizing the principles and practices of sce­ nic design, and encompasses the details of design approaches, structures, and staging methods.

ELECTRIC SHADOWS BOOKSHOP Telephone: (062) 488352 Fax: (062) 491640 S p e c ia lis in g In FILM, MEDIA a n d TV

S e r v ic e s ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

d is c o u n t f o r lib r a r ie s in d iv id u a l / o v e r s e a s o r d e r s m all / t e le p h o n e o r d e r s f r e e q u a r t e r ly c a ta lo g u e t h e a t r e a n d m u sic c a ta lo g u e s ...... OPEN 7 D AYS A W E E K .....

UPPER LEV EL BO ULEVARD SHOPPING CEN TRE AKUN A ST. CIVIC A C T. P.O .B ox 1 0 0 5 C iv ic S q u a re 2 6 08

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FILM

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E R

A

Q

EQUIPMENT

U

Ï P

RENTALS

ARRI-ZEISS SACHTLER-CANON COOKE ANGENIEUX

The Australian Film Finance Corporation has been established to provide new impetus for the production of Australian feature films, television dramas and documentaries. In 1989-90 the FFC will aim to underpin production of approximately $100 million.

The FFC has offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Investment executives in each office are available to discuss proposals for funding.

The FFC welcomes funding proposals from the industry. Guidelines and application forms are available at the Sydney and Melbourne offices.

RONFORD- MOTOROLA

SOLEAGENTS VAN DIEMEN FILTERS

TVI

LIGHTING EQUIPMENT RENTALS ■

THE AUSTRALIAN FILM FINANCE CORPORATION PTY. LIMITED

■

(Incorporated in A.C.T.)

SYDNEY • Level 6, 1 Pacific Highway, North Sydney, NSW 2060.

■ 66 TOPE ST.! SOUTH MELBOURNE VICTORIA, 3205 AUSTRALIA PHONE {03) 699 3922

m

Telephone (02) 956 2555. Toll free: (008) 251 061. Fax (02) 954 4253.

MELBOURNE: 1Ich Floor, 432 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004.

I

Telephone (03) 823 4111. Toll free: (008) 333 655. Fax (02) 820 2663.

FAX (03) 696 2564

Art & Technology of Make •.Up...

Incorporating Three Arts make-up Centre Pty Ltd • Film • Television • Theatre W hether fo r • M otion P ic ­ tures • Still P h otograph y • Television • T h eatre ... We h aveS pecial effects M ake-up in these Famous nam es and brands

THEATRICAL ARTS SHOP

Designed for professional use in T .V .

• Theatre • Film • High Fashion • Personal use.

Seven godas of colours, including basic in powder and cream, bright colours and special effects, refills available.

• Make-up brushes • Latex • Baldcap material • Body washes • Blood • Scar material • Crepe hair

* L e ic h n e r * M

ax

F actor

* Joe B

l a sc o e

• Neutral masks for painting, easting or papier mache

* R.C.M.A. * N

at

R

o b b in s

* S WEI DAS

• L e c tu re D e m o n stra tio n All aspects o f make-up for schools, amateur theatre and interested groups.

P rivate appointm ent only: Facial prosth etic and skin cam ouflage: R em edial Tech­ niques; D irect likeness; H ead sculptures created in bron ze, resin and plaste

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D aw n P a le tte

Cnr. Shepherd & Myrtle Streets, Chippendale, NSW 20 0 8 Telephone (02) 698 1070 Congratulations to all our past and present students tcho are continuing with excellence the high standard in Make-up and Special Efecls for our Film, Television, Theatre, High Fashion and ArtlSculplure, plus other related areas o f employ­ ment for make-up artists.

• Masquerade ball masks. Original masks designed to order • Will Andrade’ s selection of plays available for hire

For fu rther inform ation write or telephone Dawn Swane RADA , ASM A, Principal and Founder

Complet, guarantor

Motion Picture Guarantors Legal services Roth, Warren & Menzies

NOTE Production Survey form s from now on w ill adhere to a revised, m ore compart­ m entalized form at (see A ya below ). T his form at was devised after discussions with industry specialists and will b e progres­ sively phased in as new entries appear.

T his set o f listings reflects industry ac­ tivity as o f early D ecem ber 1989.

Camera Crew

Focus puller Clapper-loader Camera type Key grip Asst grip Gaffer Best boy Generator op.

FEATURES. PRE-PRODUCTION

On-set Crew

ALMOST ALIEN

Prod. co.

Entertainment Partners Producer James Michael Vernon Director Rolf de Heer Scriptwriter Peter Lofgren Assoc, producer Penny Wall D.O.P. Martin McGrath 1st asst director Don Cranberry Editor Pippa Anderson Casting Forcast Publicity Lionel Midford Synopsis: A television weather forecaster goes through a mid-life crisis when he discovers, after 18 years of marriage and two children, that his wife is an alien.

Cast: no details supplied.

D IN G O

Prod, company Co-producers

Gevest Australia Gevest Australia AO Prods SARL (Paris) Dedra Prods (Paris) Synopsis: A chance encounter with a legend of jazz begins a life-long dream for a young boy in the outback. Years later, he journeys to Paris to revive the dream.

C ast no details supplied.

SENSAI

Scott Russell Hill Scott Russell Hill Scott Russell Hill S y n op sis/C astN o details supplied Director Producer Scriptwriter

FEATURES PRODUCTION

1

AYA

Goshu Films'• Ronin Films1 $1,800,0001

Prod, company Dist. company Budget Principal Credits

Director Producers Assoc, producer Scriptwriter D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor Prod, designer

Solrun Hoaas; Denise Patience Solrun Hoaas1 Katsuhiro Maeda Solrun Hoaas■ Geoff Burton Ben Osmo' Stewart Young Jennie Tate

P la n n in g and D evelopm ent

Casting consultant Dialogue coach

Darrin Keough Kathryn Milliss ARRI BL IV Ian Benallack Arthur Manoussakis Colin Williams Greg Wilson Roby Hechenberger

Prue’s Zoo1 Julie Forsythe

Production Crew

Prod, coordinator Jo-anne Carmichael Prod, manager Robert Rewley Ros Jewell Prod, secretary Hugh MacLaren Location scout Leigh Ammitzbol Unit manager Tony Gilbert Prod, runner Prod, acc’t.

Simone Higginbottom Steeves Lumley Insurer

1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up Stunts asst Unit publicist Still photography Catering Unit publicist

Euan Keddie Sonya Pemberton Tony Gilbert Victoria Sullivan Gerry Nucifora Kirsten Veysey Glen Rueland Jeremy Thompson (Ronin Films) Jennifer Mitchell Rudi Renz Keith Fish Richard Payton

Art Department

Art director Asst art director Art dept, runners Props buyer Standby props

Kris Kozlovic Merryn K. Trim Paul Macak Matthew Wilson Danae Gunn Chris James

Wardrobe

Costumier Wardrobe sup.

Standby wardrobe

Lynne Heal Margot Lindsay Bronwyn Doughty

Construction

Construction

High Rise Flats

Post-production

Asst editor Sound editor Laboratory Lab liaison Film gauge Shooting stock Length

John Penders Peter Clancy VFL Bruce Braun 35mm Fuji 96 mins

G overnm ent Agency Investm ent

Development Production

Film Victoria Film Victoria FFC Synopsis: A post-war story of love, marriage and friendship, begun during the occupation of Japan, and set in 1950s and ’60s Victoria. Here the cultural shift and new pressures force three people through inevitable change.

Cast: Eri Ishida (Aya), Nicholas Eadie (Frank), Chris Haywood (Mac), Miki Oikawa (Junko), Joh n O’Brien (Kato), Mayumi Hoskin (Nancy), Marion Heathfield (Lorna), Julie Forsythe (Mandy), Tim Robertson (Willy), Tava Straton (Tina).

Casting officer Casting assist Research Film research

Dina Mann Jane Hamilton Robyn Smith Martin Brown Julie Grover

Production Crew

Prod, manager Prod, coordinator Prod, secretaries Prod, typist Prod designer Location manager

Scriptwriter D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor Costume designer

Guy Gross Ray Nowland Jeannette Toms Rod Lee 80 minutes 35 mm

Production FFC C ast Robyn Moore, Keith Scott Synopsis: An enchanting story which borrows characters and events from popu­ lar fairy tales and weaves them into one charming and suspenseful tale of love, mystery and mirth.

Camera Crew

Camera operator Peter Neahros Focus puller Mark Lamble Clapper loader Campbell Miller Boom Chris Coltman Gaffer Andrew Holmes Electrician 1 Rob Pinal Electrician 2 Graham Crawford Key grip Peter DeHaan Grip Tony Woolveridge Lighting console op Nelson Heywood Art Department

Asst designer Designer’s assist Graphics designer Props buyer 1 Props buyer 2 Standby props Props maker Set dresser 1 Set dresser 2

George Raniti Mem Alexander Judy Leech Sue Vaughan Brent MacDonald David Norman Jim Gellately John McCulloch Brent MacDonald

TILL THERE WAS YO U

Prod, company Director Producer Line producer Scriptwriter D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor Prod, designer Costume designers

Casting Extras casting

Construction Department

Camera Crew

Camera operators

Emma Peach Bill Smithett Paul Brooke Aaron Beaucaire Lindsay Hogan

Wardrobe

Phil Costenzo Paul Stevens Rod Beaumont

Post-production

ABC Ken Cameron Rod Allan Errol Sullivan Penny Chapman Ian David Chris Davis Ian Cregan Peter Chua Paul Cleveland

Prod. co.

Yoram Gross Film Studio Dist. co.

Beyond International Group Producer Yoram Gross Director Yoram Gross Scriptwriters Yoram Gross Leonard Lee John Palmer Sandra Gross Assoc, producer

THE MAGIC RIDDLE

Faith Martin Siobhan Hannan

Production Crew

Standby carpenter Staging assistant

Continuity 1st assist, dir.

2nd assist, dir.

Spfx designer Stills photographer

John Seale Jim McElroy Tim Sanders Michael Thomas Geoffrey Simpson GaryWilkins JillBilcock GeorgeLiddle David Rowe MivBrewer

Planning and D evelopm ent

Joyce Imlach Wardrobe coord.

Wardrobe standby Marianne Wakefield Make-up/hair Bill Jackson-Martin Ian Loughnan

On-set Crew

Ayer Prods

Principal Credits

Prod, supervisor Prod, coordinator Producer’s asst Unit manager Location manager Prod, secretary Prod, controller Financial controller Prod, accountant Accounts asst Paymaster Travel coord.

Freight coord.

Base office liaison

Principal Credits

Director Producer Exec, producers

Music Storyboard Prod, supervisor Prod, manager Length Gauge

Government Agency Investm ent

Marion Pearce Trish Carney Lyndal Osborne Sandy Stevens Stephanie Osfield Frank Earley Neil Proud

Supervising editor David Luffman Assist editor Mark Street Supervising sound ed Karen Harvey Sound editor 1 Rosie Jones Assist sound ed 1 Steven Cook Mark Street Assist sound ed 2 Neg cutter 1 Richard Carroll Ruth Weller Neg cutter 2 Transfer op Steven Roach VT editor Wayne Hyett Ian Battersby Senior audio op Peter Henshaw Telecine op.

Tony Stanyer Post-prod, super Marian Page ABC publicist Southern Star pubi.

Erin Jameson Synopsis/C ast: no details supplied.

THE BLACK HAND

Prod, company

Planning and D evelopm ent

Focus puller Key grip 2nd unit D.O.P. Gaffer

Grant Hill Jennie Crowley Lorelle Adamson Tic Carroll Robin Clifton Susan Ryan Kevin Wright Rob Fisher Christine Robson Annette Piggott Gavin Davidson Helen Francis Michael McLean Fiona King Danny Batterham Martin Turner Neil Cervin Paul Thompson David Burr Trevor Toune

On-set Crew

1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Continuity Special fx

Stunts coordinator Stunts asst Unit nurse Still photography Publicity Catering Catering asst

Steve Andrews David Burr Emma Schofield Pam Willis Brian Cox David Hardie David Young Brian Pearce Grant Page Janene Reade Jacquie Ramsay Gary Johnston Victoria Buchan Kathy Trout Tom Robinson

Art Director

Art director Asst art director Art dept coord.

Props maker Art dept runner Armourer

CIN EM A

Ian Allen Michelle McGahey Wendy Huxford John Murch Liam Liddle Brian Burns

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Catering

Wardrobe

Wardrobe super.

Standby wardrobe Wardrobe asst

Kerry Thompson John Shea Heather Laurie

Construction Department

Plane construction Draftsperson Set decorators Set finisher Greensman Carpenters Leading hand Construct, manager Construct, foreman Studios

Walter Van Veemendaal Fiona Scott Marta Statescu Michael Tolerton Peter Collias Peter Hordern Steve Snowden Andy Tickner John Stiles Billy Howe Larry Sandy Max Studios

Post-production

Post-prod. sup.

Gauge

Feast Film Catering

Art Department

Claire O’Brien 35mm

Art director Asst art director Props maker Props buyers

Virginia Bieneman James Kibble Warren Kelly Sue Maybury Paul Dulieu Harry Zettel

Standby props W ardrobe

Wardrobe supervisor Wardrobe standby Wardrobe assts Construction

Scenic artist Ray Pedler Construct, manager Danny Burnett Construct, foreman Phillip Worth Studios Warner Village Roadshow Studios, Queensland Post-production

Sound editors

Karin Whittington Nicholas Breslin David Grusovin Colorfilm 110 mins 35 mm Kodak

Government Agency Investm ent

Production FFC Synopsis: Frank Flynn, an American jazz musician, comes to Vanuata in search of his brother and finds murder, intrigue and romance - it’s a jungle out there.

Cast: Mark Harmon (Frank Flynn) Jeroen Krabbe (Viv), Deborah Unger (Anna), Shane Briant (Rex).

FEATURES POST-PRODUCTION

1 B

BLOOD OATH

Blood Oath Prods

Prod, company Principal Credits

Director Producers

Stephen Wallace Charles Waterstreet; Denis Whitburn and Brian Williams Annie Bleakley Co-producer Line producer Richard Brennan Denis Whitburn Scriptwriters Brian Williams Russell Boyd D.O.P. Sound recordist Ben Osmo Editor Nick Beauman Bernard Hides Prod, designer Roger Kirk Costume designer Planning and D evelopm ent

Casting

Alison Barrett Casting

Prod, coord.

Bernadette O’Mahony Helen Watts Prod, manager Hugh Johnston Unit/loc. manager Chris Gordon Prod, secretary Gill McKinlay Prod, accountant (Moneypenny Sendees) Liane Lee Accounts asst Camera Crew

David Williamson John Platt Richard Bradshaw Ray Brown Ian Bird Warren Grieve Aaron Walker Brian Bansgrove Paul Gantner Colin Chase Grant Atkinson

Camera operator Focus puller Clapper-loader Key grip Asst grips

Gaffer Eleciricians

On-set Crew

1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up Hairdresser Special effects Stunts coordinator Stunts Still photography Runners

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Editing assistant Laboratory Length Gauge Shooting stock

Chris Webb Henry Osborne Maria Phillips Linda Ray Gerry Nucifora Lesley Vanderwalt Cheryl Williams Visual Effects Guy Norris The Stunt Agency Jim Townley Sara Probyn Alan Long Annie Wright

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Projectionist Press book Art director Asst art director Props buyer Standby props Wardrobe mistress Wardrobe master Wardrobe asst

Nick Brunner David Emanuel

Construction Const, asst Post-production

Patrick Stewart Asst editor Synopsis: no details supplied.

Cast: Leon Lissek, Christine Amor, Ian Williams, Helen Thomson.

BREAKAWAY

Prod, company

Breakaway FilmsUkiyo Films Dist. co. Smart Egg-Cinema Enterprises Director Producer Co-producer Exec, producer Scriptwriter D.O.P. Sound recordist Supervising editor Prod, designer Costume designer Casting

Director Producer Exec, producers Assoc, producer D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor

Alec Mills Stanley O’Toole Graham Burke Greg Coote David Munro John Stokes Ian Grant David Halliday

Casting

Elaine Holland

Production Crew

Prod, manager Prod, secretary Unit manager Asst unit manager Prod. asst, sec Prod. asst, runner Prod, cost controller Prod, accountant Village Road, rep

Judy Hamilton Barbara Cronin Steve Brett Robert Inglis Ron Rees Amanda Walton Shawn Kristofer Vincent O’Toole Jenny Kaspar Lynn Paetz Daniel O’Toole

Camera Crew

Camera operator Focus puller Clapper-loader Camera assistant Steadicam 2nd unit D.O.P. Key grip Asst grips Gaffer Electrics

Bradley Shields Geoff Owen Tony Politis Tony Politis Geoff Owen Gene Moller Kurt Olsen Damien Ritchie Mai Evans Ken Moffat Nick Adams Steve Gordon

On-set Crew

1st asst director Bruce Redman 2nd asst director Wade Savage 3rd asst director Lee Faulkner Continuity Carolina Haggstrom Boom operator Nadia Kaspar Make-up April Harvie Stunts coordinator Phil Brock

Art departm ent

Props buyer Decorator Armourer

Marita Mussett Marita Mussett Brian Holmes

Wardrobe

Rachel Nott

Standby wardrobe Construction D epartm ent

Kate Joyce John Rauche

Scenic artists

Don McLennan Don McLennan Jane Ballantyne Les Lithgow Jan Sardi Zbigniew Friedrich Lloyd Carrick Zbigniew Friedrich Paddy Reardon Sally Grigsby

Post-production

Asst editor Music producer Music engineering Laboratory Lab liaison Gauge

Extras casting

Greg Apps (Liz Mullinar) Robbie Gibbes

Production Crew

Euan Keddie Prod, manager Jenny Barty Prod, coordinator Michelle Wild Producers’ asst Prod. sec.

Kimanie Jones-Hameister Location manager Neil McCart Unit manager Leigh Ammitzboll Runners Matthew Baker-Hazell Joseph Donghia Assembly editors Annette Kelly Nicholas Lee Completion guaran Motion Picture Guarantors Accountant Juanita Parker Mary Makris Asst accountant Action vehicle coord. Robert McLeod Colin Forsythe Transport captain Camera Crew

Focus puller Clapper-loader Gaffer Best boy Key grip 2nd grip Electrics

Mandy Walker Peter Stott David Parkinson Michael Hughes Peter Kershaw Michael Madigan Stuart Crombie Daryl Pearson James Perkins Trevor Ripper

On-set Crew

1st asst director Euan Keddie 2nd asst director Paul Ammitzboll 3rd asst director Julie Burton Continuity Ann Beresford Boom operator Chris Goldsmith Make-up Maggie Kolev 2nd make-up Anna Kapinski Casual make-up Vivienne MacGillicudy Special fx coord.

Brian Holmes Stunt coordinator Glen Reuhland Safety officer Arch Roberts Nurse Leanne Shine 1st stills photog.

Kim Baker 2nd stills photog.

Samantha Carter Unit publicist Tony Johnston Driver Antonio Yegles

Lanni Smith Tony Buettel Tony Buettel Cinevex Ian Anderson 35mm

Government Agency Investm ent

FFC Film Victoria Synopsis: When Joey, a prisoner on the run, takes Reginald, an accountant, as his hostage, he gets more than he bargained for.

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Joey), Bruce Myles (Reginald), Deborah Unger (Marion), Toni Scanlan (Hilda), Terry Gill (Hank Stardust).

Production

THE CROSSING

Prod. co. Beyond International Group Hoyts Dist. company Principal Credits

Director Producer Exec, producers

Planning and D evelopm ent

BLO ODM OON

Principal Credits

Helen Mains Phil Eagles Georgia Strachan

Construction

Principal Credits

Michael Fisher Prods Village Roadshow

Phil Warner Johnathan Leahy Alison Davies Bradley Campbell

Christina Frollich Keith Fish

Caterers

W ardobe

Government Agency Investm ent

Prod, company Dist. company

Ken McCleod Steve Rhodes Karl Fehr Ross Hawthorn Hunt Downs

Art D epartm ent

Production FFC Synopsis: The story of an Australian Army Captain who was assigned by the Austra­ lian Army Legal Corps to prosecute the Japanese war criminals in command of the Ambon Island POW camp during World War II. Cast: Bryan Brown (Cooper) Jo h n Clarke (Sheedy), Deborah Unger (Littell), George Takei (Takahashi ), Nicholas Eadie (Keenan)

Planning and D evelopm ent

Production Crew

Unit publicist

Mel Dykes John Shea Andrew Short Julie Frankham

Safety officer Still photography

Assoc, producer Scriptwriter D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor Prod, designer Costume designer

George Ogilvie Sue Seeary A1 Clark Philip Gerlach Jenny Day Ranald Allan Jeff Darling David Lee Henry Dangar Igor Nay Katie Pye

Planning and D evelopm ent

Casting

Faith Martin

Production Crew

Prod, coordinator Location manager Prod, accountant Accounts asst

Debbie Samuels Hugh Johnston Infinity Films Donna Wallace

Camera Crew

Focus puller Clapper-loader Key grip Asst grips Gaffer Electrician Best boy

Gary Phillips Richard Bradshaw Lester Bishop Terry Cook Stephen Gray Reg Garside Gary Hill Allan Dunstan

On-set Crew

1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up Hairdresser Stunts coord.

Still photography Unit publicists

Chris Webb Henry Osborne Maria Phillips Jo Weeks Alex Patton Wendy Freeman Adele Wilcox Glenn Reutland Jim Townley Shelley Neller Annie Wright

Art D epartm ent

Art director Props buyers

Kim Darby Jock McLachlan Jan Hurley

Wardrobe

Wardrobe Wardrobe assts

Susan Bowden Kate Green Kate Ross

Construction

Set construction Scenic artist

Phil Worth Jane Murphy

Post-production

Musical director

Martin Armiger

Runner Publicity Laboratory

Sean Clayton Catherine Lavelle Atlab

Governm ent Agency Investm ent

Production FFC Synopsis: A romantic drama.

C ast Russell Crowe, Robert Mammone, Danielle Spencer.

FATHER

Prod. co.

Transcontinental Films Dist. co.

Left Bank Productions Budget $3.17 million Pre-production 1 8 /9-13/10/89 Production 16/10-24/11/89 Post-production 24/11/89 Principal Credits

Director Producers

John Power Damien Parer and Tony Cavanaugh, Graham Hartley Paul Douglas Barron Exec producer Paul Douglas Barron Original screenplay Tony Cavanaugh Graham Hartley Based on orig. ideai Tony Cavanaugh Graham Hartley Scriptwriters Tony Cavanaugh Graham Hartley D.O.P. Dan Burstall Sound recordist Andrew Ramage Editor Kerry Regan Prod, designer Phil Peters Costume designer Jeanie Cameron Composer Peter Best Planning and D evelopm ent

Standby wardrobe

Sue Armstrong

Construction Departm ent

Construct manager Carpenters

Bob Hearn Dudley Cole Mark Westlake

Film/video gauge Shooting stock

Michael Thomas Cinevex Film Laboratories 35mm Kodak 5297, 5245

Production Crew

Prod, manager Prod, coordinator Prod, secretary Location manager Unit manager Prod, runner Financial controller Prod, accountant Insurer Complet. guaran.

Legal services Travel coord

John Wild Jenny Barty Kathy Moore John Suhr Leigh Ammitzboll Andrew Power Belinda Williams Amanda Kelly Tolley & Gardner Performance Guarantees Aust.

R Garton Smith & Co Showtravel

Camera Crew

Focus puller Clapper-loader Key grip Asst grip Gaffer Best boy Gennie operator

Harry Glynatsis Warwick Field Paul Tilley Ken Connor Stuart Crombie Robbie Young Peter Moloney Roy Pritchett

On-set Crew

1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up Hairdresser Stunts coord.

Safety-supervisOr' Chaperone/ ti^for Driver Still photography Unit publicist Catering

Stuart Wood Chris Odgers Julie Burton Christine Lipari Stephen Vaughan Jose Perez Loli Sanchez Arch Roberts Peter Culpin Maureen Hartley Antonio Yegles Bill Bachman Eileen O’Shea Band Aide Catering

Development

FFC Film Victoria Synopsis: Anne is a happily married young mother. She lives in a pub with her husband, two young children and elderly father, Joe who migrated to Australia from Germany after the war. Their “normal” life is shattered when Iya Zetnick, a middle aged European woman, accuses Joe of being a Nazi war criminal.

Cast: Max Von Sydow (Joe Mueller), Carol Drinkwater (Anne Winton), Julia Blake (Iya Zetnick), Steve Jacobs (Bobby Winton), Simone Robertson (Rebecca Winton), Kahli Sheddon (Amy Winton), Nicholas Bell (Paul Jamieson), Tim Robertson (George Coleman), Bruce Alexander (Burt Racine), Denis Moore (Steve Gabriel).

FLIRTING

Kennedy Miller Prod, company Director John Duigan (See p. 34 of previous issue for details)

Art Director Art dept coord.

PropSperson Props buyer ' Standby props

Bemie Wynack ■Heinz Boeck Daryl Mills Trisha Keating Brian Lang

Wardrobe

Wardrobe sup-

THE GOLDEN BRAID

Prod, company

Illumination Films

Principal Credits

Director Producer

Paul Cox Rumoroso (Paul Cox) Line producer Paul Ammitzboll Exec, producer William Marshall Based on short story “La Chevelure” Written by Guy de Maupassant Scriptwriters Paul Cox Barry Dickins D.O.P. Nino Martinetti Sound recordist James Currie Editor Russell Hurley Prod, designer Neil Angwin Production Crew

Prod, supervisor Santhana K Naidu Prod, manager Paul Ammitzboll Prod, coordinator Fiona Sagger Producer’s asst Joanie Shmith Unit manager Terrie Waddell Production runner Andrew Marshall Assembly editor Russell Hurley Prod, accountant Antony Shepherd Insurer Brian Holland Completion guaran.

M.P.G. Legal services Marshall Marshall & Dent Camera Crew

Camera operator Focus puller Clapper-loader Asst grip

Nino Martinetti Leigh Parker Robbie Rodriguez Peter Kershaw

On-set Crew

Continuity Boom operator Make-up advice Still photography

Sue Harrison David Rawlinson Kirsty Veysey Peter Houghton

Art D epartm ent

Asst art director

Manuel Bachet

W ardrobe

Wardrobe supervisor

Art Departm ent

Marion Boyce

AFC Film Victoria

Synopsis: not supplied.

C ast Chris Haywood (Bernard), Gosia

Dobrowolska (Terese), Paul Chubb (Jo­ seph), Norman Kaye (Psychiatrist).

Gail Mayes

Construction Department

Carpenters

Takis Karan ikolas Frank Drakopoulos

Post-production

Edge numberer Sound transfers Sound editor

Oliver Streeton Eugene Wilson Livia Ruzic

with protection from people in high places.

McBride’s police chief transfers him “down under” to Sydney, where he is partnered with Lance Cooper. Rejecting the dull routine on offer, McBride plunges the two of them into an undercover drug investigation in the harbourside suburbs.

Cast: John Hannah (Neal), Steven Vidler (Lancelot), Gary Day (Walker), Bill Young (Cimino), Emily Simpson (Mason).

A KINK IN THE PICASSO

G overnm ent Agency Investm ent

Researchers

Tony Cavanaugh Graham Hartley Casting Liz Mullinar Consultants Additional casting Greg Apps Extras casting Katrina Mathers

James Currie Ian Anderson 35mm Kodak

G overnm ent Agency Investment

Production

Post-production

Sound editor Laboratory

Mixer Lab liaison Film/video gauge Shooting stock

HARBOUR BEAT

Prod, company

Palm Beach Pictures (Harbour Beat) Producers David Elfick Irene Dobson Director David Elfick Scriptwriter Morris Gleitzman Based on orig. idea David Elfick Ellery Ryan D.O.P. Paul Brincat Sound recordist Stuart Armstrong Editor (Mighty Movies) Prod, designer Michael Bridges Nina Stevenson Assoc, producer Prod, manager Catherine Knapman Prod, coordinator Sharon Miller Unit manager Ian Freeman Asst unit manager Geoffrey Guiffre Location manager Peter Lawless Prod, accountant Jill Steele (Moneypenny Services) Asst accountant Kerrin Begaud Prod, assistant Rebecca Coote 1st asst director Colin Fletcher 2nd asst director Sarah Lewis 3rd asst director Nicholas Cole Producer’s asst Basia Plachecki Casting Christine King David Williamson Camera operator John Platt Focus puller Clapper-loader Barry Idoine Ray Brown Key grip Grips Ian Bird Warren Grieff Gaffer Simon Lee 3rd electrics Greg Allen 4th electrics Vaughan Ottaway Art director Jennifer Carseldine Art dept coord.

Julianne White Costume designer Bruce Finlayson Sandi Chichello Costume super.

Lesley Vanderwalt Make-up Cheryl Williams Hairdresser Julie Barton Standby wardrobe Mark Dawson Props buyers Kristin Reuter John Osmond Standby props Applied Explosives Special effects Peter Cashman Action veh. coord.

Const, manager Bob Paton Scenic artist Bill Undery Carpenters Frank Phipps Alan Armitage Carpenters’ asst Robert Morrison Stage hand 1 Adrian Knowles Stage hand 2 Bob Heath Deborah Reid Asst editor Sue Andrews Unit nurse Make-up driver Paul Naylor Glen Boswell Stunts coord.

Still photography Brian McKenzie Best boy Peter Bushby Prod, runner Lyndie Menken Catering David & Cassie Vaile (Out to Lunch Catering) Soundfirm Sound post-prod.

Colorfilm Laboratory $3.3 million Budget 35mm Gauge Kodak Shooting stock G overment Agency Investm ent

FFC Production Synopsis: The story of two off-beat police­ man. One is Glasgow cop Neal McBride who busts a corrupt Glasgow alderman

Rosa Colosimo Octopus Worldwide Media Enterprises Will Spencer Producer Mark Grade Director Hugh Stuckey Scriptwriter Jaems Grant D.O.P. John Wilkinson Sound recordist Ted McQueen-Mason Editor Rosa Colosimo Exec, producer Veronica Toole Prod, coordinator Mark James Unit manager Reg McLean Prod, accountant Ray Hennessy 1st asst director Maria Hyland 2nd asst director 3rd asst dir./runner Troy Walsh Ann Beresford Continuity Angelo Salamanca Casting director Gayle Hunt Clapper-loader Mandy Walker Camera asst Freddo Dierck Key grip Wayne McPherson Asst grip Peter Scott Gaffer Steve Price Best boy Greg Nelson Boom operator Maria Ferro Art director Make-up Vivienne MacGillicuddy Anita Fioravanti Wardrobe Set dresser Ian Rae Still photography Greg Noakes Publicity Lionel Midford Sweet Seduction Catering Soundfirm Mixed at Cinevex Laboratory Ian Anderson Lab liaison 90 mins Length 35mm Gauge Kodak 5247, 5297 Shooting stocks Synopsis: If Joe hadn’t stolen the Picasso and Wendy hadn’t argued with Bella and Nick hadn’t got himself into debt with Tony and his two gay heavies, then Cyril wouldn’t have got ;a cigarette stuck up his nose.

C ast Jane Menz (Alex), Jane Clifton (Bella), Jon Finlayson (Lionel), Andrew Daddo (Nick), Tiriel Mora (Stan), Peter Farago (Harvey), Michael Bishop (Tony), Femi Taylor (Nadia), Peter Hosking (Minister).

Prod, company Dist. company

LINDA SAFARI

Prod, company Soundstage Australia Tibor Meszaros Producer Animation director Laszlo Ujvari Joan Ambrose Scriptwriters Peter Jeffrey Tibor Meszaros Executive producer Hannah Downie Script editor Joan Ambrose Coper, Gat & Based on novel by Rozgoni Sandor Polyak D.O.P. Sound recordist Ric Curtin Editor Geza Paal Prod, designer Sandor Polyak Composers K Peek R. Szikora C.S. Bogdan G. Berkes M. Fenyo A Bodnar G. Szentmihalyi Prod, supervisors David Downie Ferenc Varsanyi CIN EM A

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73

Prod, manager Prod, secretaries

Laszlo Balia Lee M cIntosh Rosemary Buss Prod, accountants Robert Sharpe Sandor Antalne 1st asst director Miklos Katalin Casting W atermelon Valley Prods Storyboard Janos Katona Laszlo Ujvari Character designer Janos Katonas Kevin Peek Music perform ed by Sound editors Ric Curtin S. Kalman Mixers Ric Curtin S. Kalman A nim ation Animania Film Studio Opticals Hungarian Film Laboratory Studios Soundstage Australia Limited Anim ania Film Studio Tracks Laboratory Hungarian Film Laboratory Length 94 mins Gauge 35mm Eastmancolor Shooting stock Synopsis: A story o f intrigué, adventure, mystery, action and rom ance, com bining hum our and heroism with rock ‘n ’ roll music for all ages. T he heroine is Linda, a police officer with Interpol. She is well known for her Tae Kwon D o and her linguistic skills. Several stories operate simultaneously and the protagonist always wins against great odds, without guns, in her fight against organized international crime and terrorism.

N O CAUSE FOR ALARM Prod, company International Film EntertainmentJadran Film Dist. co.

ITC-Sugar Entertainm ent Producers Antony I. Ginnane Steven Strick Frank Shields Director David Peoples Scriptwriter Richard Michalak D.O.P. Bob Allen Sound recordist Misha Scenecic Art director Paul Lichtman Exec, producers Arnie Fishman Larry Sugar Basil Appleby Line producer Jim Hajicosta Prod, accountant Bob Howard 1st asst director Casting Rosemary W eldon 94 mins (approx) Length 35 mm Gauge Eastmancolor Shooting stock Synopsis: A crazy girl pilot and an investigative reporter jo in forces to crack a governm ent cover-up.

C ast M ichael N ouri (Milker), Darlanne Fleugel (Bird), Charles Durning (Clancy), Maxwell Caulfield (Abbott).

QUIGLEY DOW N U NDER Prod. co.

Quigley Down U nder Prods Stanley O 'T oole Producers Alex Rose

WARDROBE •

Sim on Wincer John Hill IanJones David Eggby Lloyd Carrick Adrian Carr Peter Burgess Ross Major David Munro Pam ela Vanneck David Munro Production manager Stephen Jones Prod, coordinator Barbara Ring Rosemary Marks Producer’s asst T oni Wing Prod, secretary Andrew Ellis Location manager Craig Bolles (Gove) Aboriginal liaison Mark Leonard (Alice Springs) Judy W hitehead Continuity Shane Rooney Prod, runner Bob D onaldson 1st asst director Hamish McSporran 2nd asst director Co-2nd asst dir.

Nikki Long Debbie Atkins 3rd asst director Derry Field Focus puller Clapper-loader Adrien Seffrin Cam. m aintenance Peter Stott Graham Litchfield Grip Ian McAlpine Asst grips Mark Ramsay Ian Dewhurst Gaffer Lex Martin Best boy Tim Morrison Asst electrics Trevor Ripper Darryl Pearson Generator op.

Chris Goldsmith Boom operator Chris Jones U nit manager Ken Moffat Asst unit manager Craig Dillon U nit assts Bob Graham D ennis Hulm Kevin M cDonald Mark Taylor Lon Bentley Make-up Vivienne Rushbrook Make-up asst A nna Karpinski Hairdresser Tony Meredith Asst hairdresser Greg Staines Asst hair/m ake-up D oug Glanville Evanne Chesson Animal trainer Cody Harris Anim al handler Gerald Egan Horsemaster Jim Willoughby Horse wranglers Bill Willoughby M alcolm Pritchard Lloyd Ventry B rendon Egan Nidra Watson Stable girl Bullock master Graham Young Bullock wranglers Happy Bradford Max Scanlon Ken McLeod Safety officer Guy Norris Stunt coordinator Asst stunt coord.

Danny Baldwin Gary Amos Stunts Ken Connley Murray Chesson Lou Horvath Rick Anderson Rocky M cDonald D irector Original screenplay Script editor D.O.P. Sound recordist Supervising editor Editor Prod, designer Associate producer Prod, supervisor

MAKE-UP VANS •

Paul Murtagh Joh n Raaen Greg Stuart Colin Lowe Stunt horse wrang.

Brian Faye Brian B um s Armourer Peter Gronow Asst armourer Steve Courtley Special fx sup.

Conrad Rothm an Special fit coord.

Monty Feiguth Special 6c Chris Murray Paul Gorrie T om Davies Rodney Burke Special fx asst Jean Turnbull Asst cost, design.

Julie M iddleton Wardrobe sup.

Rosalie H ood Wardrobe buyer A ndrea H ood Standby dresser Morag Smart Asst standby Lauryn Forder Wardrobe asst Sheryl Pilkington Cutter Kate Green Seamstresses Laura Jocic Ian G rade Art director Sue Jarvis Art dept coord.

Chris Robson (Syd.) Brian Edm onds Set decorator Brian Dusting Buyers Peta Lawson L enJudd Asst props buyers Peter Forbes Jane Murphy Graphics Glen M cDermot Draughtsman Standby props Robert M oxham Murray Gosson Asst standby props Storyboard artist Graeme Galloway Wayne Allan Construction sup.

Christo Reid Scenic artist Ian D oig C onstruct managers Alan G ood Alan Flem ing Leading hand Carpenters Phil Backler Ian Baxter Andrew Chauvel Joh n Kingston Guy Miller G ordon McIntyre Brandon M ullen Frank Phipps David Robson Jerem y Sparks Mark Schultz Driver Set finishers Gus Lobb Alan Brom head Brush hands A nthony Smith Brendon Cavallari Peter Munro Judith Knapp U nit nurse David Muntz Personal manager H un t Downs American publicist Susie Howie Australian publicist A ntonine Kacala Publicity sec.

Stills photographer Barry Peake Casting consultants M ichael Lynch Rae Davidson (Forcast) Jo Warren Extras casting Chris Smith Caterer Asst caterers Roger Jarrett Rosalind Jarrett

CAMERA TRUCKS • CAST VANS •

PROPS VANS •

Hali G ordon Glen M cDermot Asst editor Sound editor Cost controller Asst accountants

Jam es Harvey Terry Rodm an V incent O ’T oole A ngela Kenny Tunya W illiam son Travel Katie Yeowart Freight Greg Helm ers 2nd unit director Adrian Carr 2nd unit D.O.P. Ross Berryman 2nd unit focus David Stevens 2nd unit clapper Peter White Laboratory C olorfilm Lab liaison D enise W olfson Sim on Wicks Synopsis: Matthew Quigley, a troubleprone cowboy with a fabulous long-range rifle, arrives in colonial Australia to face two problems: Crazy Cora, w ho thinks h e is her husband, and a ruthless landowner w ho wants him to kill Aborigines. Quigley wants nothing to do with either, but ends up involved with both to b ecom e an un­ likely legend.

C ast T om Selleck (Matthew Q uigley), Laura San G iacom o (Crazy Cora), Alan Rickman (Elliot M arston), Tony B onner (D obk in), Chris Haywood (Major Ashley Pitt).

THE SHER M O U NTAIN MYSTERY Director Vince Mardn Producer Phillip Avalon Exec, producer Peter Taylo Scriptwriter D enis W hitburn D.O.P. Ray H enm an Sound Bob Clayton Editor T ed Otten Art director Keith Holloway C om poser Allan Zavod Production manager V eronica Sive Prod, accountant M ichael B oon Make-up Hilary Pierce Gaffer Peter O ’Brien 1st asst Robin Newell Continuity Liz Perry Synopsis: A lex Cordeaux, a successful businessm an, takes tim e out from his hectic schedule to accom pany his handi­ capped brother, Caine, o n a hu nting trip to the Sher M ountains.

Cast: T om Richards (Alex C ordeaux), Phil A valon (C ain e C o r d e a u x ), A bigail (M uriel), Elizabeth Mclvor (D ian n e), Ron Beck (Sole), Joe Bugner (Jake), Jeffrey Rhoe (Davy J o e ), Steven Jacobs (Billy), Ric Carter (C onrad), A m anda Pratt (Secretary), Keith Holloway (W ocka).

STRANGERS Prod, com pany Genesis Films Dist com pany Beyond Distributors B udget $1.2 m illion 4/9 -13/10/89 Pre-production 16/10-24/11/89 Production 26/11 -10/4/90 Post-production Principal Credits Craig Lahiff D irector

UNIT VEHICLES •

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4 Day Revolution Rainbow Warrior Kokoda Crescent A Long Way From Home Australian Break

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77

HI-ACE VANS « 4 X 4 TOYOTA LANDCRUISERS • ACTION VEHICLES • TRAY TOPS • BUSES

Producers Assoc producer Original screenplay Scriptwriter D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor Prod designer

Craig Lahiff Wayne Groom Ron Stigwood John Emery John Emery Steve Arnold Mike Piper Denise Haratzis Derek Mills

Planning and D evelop m ent

Script editor Casting

Stephanie McCarthy Jan Killen

P roduction Crew

Prod manager Ron Stigwood Prod coordinator Diane Stuart Unit manager Gary Buss Production run, Christine McGuinness Prod accountant Sharon Jackson Insurer Willis, Faber, Johnson & Higgins Completion guarant Film Finances Camera Crew

Camera operator Focus puller Clapper-loader Key grip Asst grips Gaffer Best boy Asst electrics

Steve Arnold Robert Agganis Michael Bambacas Jon Goldney Trevor Grantham Graeme Shelton Keith Johnson Scott Brokate

On-set Crew

1st asst director 2nd asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up Make-up asst Stunts coord.

Safety officer Still photography Catering

Soren Jensen Monica Pearce Kristin Witcombe Scott Piper Fiona Reesjones Veronica Bielby Glenn Boswell Zev Eleftheriou Craig “Skeet’ Booth Food for Film

Art Departm ent

Art director

Derek Mills

Art dept runner Standby props

Bruno Scopazzi John Santucci

W ardrobe

Wardrobe super.

Standby wardrobe

Chris Webster Anita Seiler

Animals

Aphid wranger

Ron Stigwood

Post-production

Asst editor Sally Fitzpatrick Laboratory Atlab (Australia) Synopsis: The story of an ambitious young stockbroker who, after meeting an attractive stranger on a plane, finds himself ensnared in an ever-spiralling nightmare web of complications and intrigue which eventually leads to ruin and death.

C a st James Healey (Gary), Anne Looby (Anna), Melissa Docker (Rebecca), Tim Robertson (King), Jim Holt (Graham), Geoff Morrell (Frank), Mary Regan (Joanne), Paul Mason (Sergeant), John Clayton (Agent).

WENDY CRACKED A WALNUT

Prod, company Producer Director Scriptwriter Based on orig. idea D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor Prod, designer Composer Exec, producers Assoc, producer Prod, coordinator Prod, manager Unit manager Location manager Prod, secretaries

Hoyts Prods-ABC John Edwards Michael Pattinson Suzanne Hawley Suzanne Hawley Jeffrey Malouf Nicholas Wood Michael Honey Leigh Tierney Bruce Smeaton Brian Rosen Sandra Levy Ray Brown Sandy Stevens Susan Wild Christopher Jones Maude Heath Jane Symonds Janie Wardman

Budget officer Director’s asst 1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Unit asst Continuity Casting Casting assts

Shuna Burdett Gillian Campbell Scott Hartford-Davis Karen Kreicers Warren Parsonson Ken Moffat Rhonda McAvoy Liz Mullinar Sue Walsh Vanessa Brown Camera operators David Williamson Geoff Wharton Focus puller Garry Phillips Clapper-loader Sean McClory Generator op.

Robert Woods Key grips Warren Grieef David Nicholls Asst grip Mark Abraham Stills Gary Johnston Gaffer Ken Pettigrew Electricians Greg Allen Robert Burr Christopher Nilsen Boom operator Asst designer John Prycejones Design assts Will Soeterboek Eugene Intas Leore Rose Costume designer Helen Hooper Make-up/hair Ron Bassi Cate O’Donoghue Wardrobe coord.

Wendy Falconer Wardrobe asst Pia Kryger Props Don Page Props buyers Adrian Cannon Mervyn Asher Standby props John King Tal Oswin Special effects Brian Cox David Hardie David Young Peter Leggett Choreography Tony Bartuccio Set dressers Richard Kennett

Lean ne Bushby Paul Brocklebank Gerry Seymour Steve Burns Laurie Dom Elizabeth Walshe Antoine Boissonnas Neg matching Pamela Toose Musical director Bruce Smeaton Stunts coord.

Bernie Ledger Still photography Gary Johnston Wrangler Vera’s Animal Agency Runner Jonathan Swain Publicity Read McCarthy Group Catering Out To Lunch (David Marshall) Studios ABC Frenchs Forest Laboratory Colorfilm Length 90 mins Gauge 35mm Scenic artist Standby carpenter Standby painter Set construction Asst editors

Goverm ent A gency Investm ent

Production FFC Synopsis: Wendy works in a shoe factory; her husband, Ronnie, is a confectionery salesman. Their marriage is threatened when Wendy meets Jake, a perfect stranger, at the supermarket Who will Wendy choose: good, hardworking, pre­ dictable Ronnie, or handsome, sauve, romantic Jake?

C ast Rosanna Arquette (Wendy), Bruce Spence (Ronnie), Hugo Weaving (Jake), Kerry Walker (Deidre), Doreen Warburton (Elsie), Desiree Smith (Cynthia), Susan Lyons (Caroline), Barry Jenkins (Pierre), Betty Lucas (Mrs Taggart), Douglas Hedge (Mr Leveredge).

For details of the following see previous issue: BEYOND MY REACH; FLYNN; H U N T IN G

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77 .

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Camera assist Gaffers BOMB SQUAD Prod, company Bomb Squad Prods Budget $42,000 Director Tim Porter Producer Tim Porter Scriptwriter Tim Porter D.O.P. David Forbes Sound recordist Anthony Rose Editor Margaret Sixel Prod, designer Anthony Rose Costume designer Debbie Roache Budgeted by Liz Hagen Prod, manager Tim Porter Camera operator David Forbes Make-up/hair Debbie Roache Art director Anthony Rose Laboratory Colorfilm Lab Liaison Denise Wolfson Gauge 16 mm Shoodng stock 7292 Synopsis: A high-flying cocaine dealer is set up by narcodcs agents. A seducdve woman convinces the man (via telephone) that he is sitting on high explosives. Pos­ ing as bomb squad technicians, the confi­ dent narcs extract vital information. The plan gets out of control when the woman sells out to the Mafia who plant a real bomb.

Cast Peter Mochris (Chris Dixon) .James White (Martello), Richard Riccario (Charlie), Gilda Fergerson (Woman), Marco Cicchianni (Henchman).

ELVIS KILLED MY BROTHER Prod. co.

Taking Care of Business Producer Sion Michel Director Kim Reddin Scriptwriter Kim Reddin D.O.P. Laszlo Baranyai Sound recordist Glenn Martin Editor Kim Dunstan Prod, designer Kelvin Sexton Prod, manager Martha Coleman 1st asst director Martha Coleman Continuity Lis Andrews Camera operator Sion Michel Clapper-loader Danny Featherstone Boom operator Peter Cavanagh Grip Mark Pinesi Standby props Kim Sexton Special fx Bill Dennis Make-up Phaedra Vance Murray Wardrobe Phaedra Vance Murray Catering CC Can’t Say No Neg matching Warwick Driscoll Laboratory Movielab Budget $34,000 Length 12 mins Gauge 16mm Shootig stock Kodak Synopsis: Leon is a paparazzi obsessed with the belief that Elvis is alive. He enlists the help of his Yuppie brother, Chad, to confront the man he believes to be the King. Armed with a video camera and a loaded pistol, Leon and Chad go to a city flophouse to face The Music.

Cast: Peter Hardy (Leon), Jeremy Cal­ laghan (Chad), John Ryan (Elvis).

THE SECRET CODE Prod, company City of Lights Film, Television & VideoProds Dist. company AFC Director Andrew May Producer Robert Eichenberger Prod, manager Julie Raffaele Geoffrey McKell D.O.P. Sound recordist David Clarke Andrew May Editors Robert Eichenberger Production assist Linda Worthington 76

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1st asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up/dresser Art director Wardrobe Art dept assistants

Robert Lawson Guy Bessell-Brown Phil Golombick Elizabeth Thomson Jan Piantoni Robin Zorns Elizabeth Ward Lawrence Wardman Denise Napier Clinton Morgan Alicia Walsh

Lighting assistant Grip Leigh Sandow Location Runner Mark Hall Stills Jim Pipp Assistant Editor Cindy Clarkson Sound mixer Kim Lord Laboratory Movielab Neg matcher Warwick Driscoll Synopsis: An often humorous, half-hour drama about children set in a small, se­ cluded country town in the early 1970s.

Cast: Kane Sheppard (Sid), Kimberley Marks (Janet), Matthew McAloon (Terry), Dickon Oxenburgh (Dick), Anne Ronchi (Jane), Jay Walsh (Bronski), Alinta Carroll (Wong).

For details of the following see previous issue: BETWEEN US; BLOTTO ; N IG H T CRIES; N IG H T O UT; TH E PAINTING.

DOCUMENTARIES AUSTRALIA DANCES Prod, company Cinetel Prods Dist. company De Villier-Donegan Enterprises Budget $306,000 Pre-production September 1989 Production October 1989 Post-production January 1990 Principal Credits Director Frank Heimans Producer Frank Heimans Scriptwriter Frank Heimans D.O.P. Tony Wilson Sound recordists Hugo De Vries Laurie Robinson Editor Frank Heimans Post-production Laboratory Atlab Neg matching Kut the Kaper Government Agency Investment Development NSW Film & Television Office Production FFC ABC-1V Marketing FFC Int. sales agent De Villier-Don Egan Enterprises Int. distributor De Villier-Don Egan Enterprises Synopsis: A documentary on the history and development of Dance in Australia.

THE SILICON IMPERATIVE Prod. co. CSIRO Film & Video Centre Dist. companies CSIRO Seven Network Producer Malcolm Paterson Director David Smith Scriptwriter David Smith D.O.P. Ivan Johnston Sound recordist Robert Kerton Editor Rui de Sosua Exec, producer Nick Alexander Prod, secretary Donna Mann Laboratory VFL Budget $180,000 Length 50 mins Gauge 16 mm Stock Eastmancolor Synopsis: Much gloom and doom sur­ rounds Australia’s environmental crises:

soil degradation, salinity and deforesta­ tion. But thanks to silicon chip technol­ ogy, help is at hand. Computer-based systems have greatly enhanced our ability to understand and manage our rainforests, reefs, deserts and grazing lands.

For details of the following see previous issue:

minutes away from his last breath.

Cast: Tomas Karolyi (Young child), Li­ anne Hughes (Mother), Carolyn Vaughan (Wife), Reverend Don Meadows (Minister/doctor), Tomas Cabot (Old man), Joshua Wodak (Cello boy), Nelson Contador (Soldier), Elizabeth Zaljska (Timpani drummer), Anne Jackson (Nurse), Billy Hannigan (Baby).

AM PUTATION - FROM DIAGNOSIS TO REHABILITATION; BRAIN DEATH - ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSIS; CATALYST; CHILDREN’S WEEK; A G O O D TIME T O NIG HT; PEOPLE W HO STILL U SE MILK BOTTLES; SO M ETH ING CLOSE T O HELL; TAKING AC TIO N TOWARDS SAFER NEEDLE USE; W HAT SH O U LD HAPPEN? INVESTIGAT­ ING COM M UNITY DECISIO N MAKING.

AUSTRALIAN FILM, TELEVISION AND RADIO SCHOOL

JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME Prod, company AFTRS Dist. company AFTRS Budget $29,000 Director Emil Novak Producer Stewart Burchmore Exec, producer Tom Jeffrey Consultant prod.

Elisabeth Knight Original screenplay Emil Novak Scriptwriters Emil Novak and Andrea Dal-Bosco D.O.P. Emil Novak Sound recordist Paul Neeson Editor Helen Martin Prod, designer Sioned Faye Composer Jackie Orszacky Script editor Paul Thompson Casting Emil Novak Shooting schedule Juan Jaramillo Prod, supervisor Stewart Burchmore Prod, manager Sophie Jackson Production runner Tim Pack Assembly editor Helen Martin Prod, accountant Alison Baillache Insurer AFTRS Camera operator Emil Novak Focus puller Frank Vidinha Clapper-loader Linda Ljubicic Camera type Arriflex 35mm 2C Key grips Torn Bosh Michel Logan Asst, grip Nelson Contador Gaffer Steve Grey 1st asst director Juan Jaramillo 2nd asst director Clinton Reynolds Continuity Nicole Cassor Make-up Tina Cowper-Hill Special fx make-up Tina Cowper-Hill Still photography Kate Scott Reece Scannell Catering Matt Whitting Asst art director Sharon Parker Standby props Priscilla Thorley Music performed by Jackie Orszacky Mixer Paul Neeson Mixed at AFTRS Opticals Atlab AFTRS Titles Matt Mawson Laboratory Atlab Lab liaison Peter Willard Neg matching Greg Chapman Negthink Grader Atlab Film gauge 35mm Screen ratio Cinemascope Shooting stock Kodak Print stock Kodak Synopsis: This is a story about the journey of a man’s mind through his life, ten

RTVOLTELIA Prod, company AFTRS Dist. company AFTRS Pre-production 13/10-17/11/89 Production 20/11 -23/11/89 Post-production 24/11 -23/12/89 Producer • Louise Willis Director Juan Jaramillo Scriptwriter Andrew Dal-Bosco Roman Baska D.O.P. Lisa Stennett-Barry Sound recordist Fernandes Editor Juan Jaramillo Composer James D’Arcy Exec, producer William Fitzwater Prod, manager Louise Willis Prod, assistant Ken McSwain 1st asst director Denise Ingham 2nd asst director Angela Meloni Continuity Anna Lang Casting Joy Sargant. Consultant Camera operators PaulKolsky Jonathan Ogilvie Vision switcher KenMcSwa Key grip TonyBos*h Gaffer Tony Mandle Boom operators Michael Glennon Michael Wright Senior stagehands BartGroen Chris Darvall Tech, adviser Ted Reynol Publicity LouiseWillis Juan Jaramillo Mixed at AFTRS Budget $6.650 Length 27 mins Gauge Betacam Synopsis: Rivoltella is a story about the Levini family. The parents immigrated to Australia from Italy with hopes for a better life for their intended family. However, as part of the younger generation, their children try to escape from the restric­ tions of their family life.

Cast Bruno Walter (Pietro Levini), Susan Lewington (Leanne), Kim Miles (Sammy), Soula Pelekis (Rosa), Daniela D’Angelo (Sandra Levini), Dom D’Amato (Michael), Luke Simon (Vince), Maria Venuti (Franca), Daniel Patano (Anto-

See previous issue for details of the following: AC TIO N REPLAY; MYTHS & LEGENDS; TH E PURSUED; SPARKS.

FILM AUSTRALIA

Prod, company FA Dist. company FA Pre-production 10-11/89 Producer Sonia Humphrey Exec, producer Paul Humfress Scriptwriter John Patterson Prod, manager Ron Hannam Prod, secretary Lori Wallace Prod, accountant Elizabeth Clarke Marketing John Swindells Synopsis: The film aims to normalize a RAAF career, showing a lifestyle where you don’t make ‘great sacrifices’, but where you work with an average cross-section of the community.

Studios Film Australia Wardrobe super.

Amanda Hunt the spread of AIDS through intravenous FilmAustralia Post-prod, super.

Kerry Reagan Marketing consult John Swindells drug use.

FilmAustralia The Editing Machine Publicity Jane Glen 27/11 - 29/11/89 Mixer Michael Thomas Synopsis: Light-hearted drama about the For details of the following 30/11/89 Synopsis: A girl from the year 3000 is see previous issue: dangers and opportunities involved in 4 /1 2 -1 5 /1 2 /8 9 A.R.L. BLACKBOX; kidnapped and transported back to 1990. selecting, installing and implementing a PeterMenzies With the help of some new-found friends, ARMY APPRENTICES; new office information system.

Janet Ball she attempts to comprehend 20th Cen­ CHILDREN O F ’39; Cast: Wendy Strehlow (Robyn), Peter Ernie Dingo tury life as she battles to outwit her kid­ HISTORY OF DISEASE; Brown (Terry), Tony Rickards (Kevin), Scriptwriters Ernie Dingo napper and return to her own time.

IF IT WAS Y O U - CARING FO R PEOPLE Martin Vaughn (Binks), Tim McKenzie Richard Walley WITH DEMENTIA; Cast: to be announced.

(Hammerman), Bruce Spence (Software D.O.P. Don Clay KOALAS - TH E BEAR FACTS; supplier), Geoff Kelso (Software engi­ Sound recordist Harry Howes I START O N FRIDAY MASTERS OF TH E H IG H VALLEY; neer), Carmel Mullin (Denise).

Prod, coordinator Sally Ayre-Smith Prod, company FilmAustralia PLAYMAKERS/MUSIC MAKERS; Key grip GeoffPagetDist. company PRE-SCHOOL HEALTH VIDEOS; FilmAustralia MUSICMAKERS: 1st asst director GavinHarrison ILA.N. UNDERGRADUATES; Pre-production 1/8 -1 4/8/89 MICHAEL ATHERTON Make-up asst VeronicaWilliams Production 15/8 -19/8/89 SAVE A N U G G ET END. Prod, company Film Australia Hairdresser VeronicaWilliams Post-production 21/8 -1 7 /1 0 /8 9 Dist. company Film Australia Govt Agency Invest Department Director Paul Hanmon Pre-production 20/11 - 1/12/89 Aboriginal Affairs Producer PamelaWilliams FILM VICTORIA Production 4/12 -1 6 /1 2 /8 9 Marketing consult MichelleWeissExec, producer Janet Bell Post-production January 1990 Publicity Jane Glen Scriptwriter Paul Hanmon Director PipKarmel For details of the following Synopsis: The first in a series of commu­ D.O.P. Jaems Grant Producer Janet Bell see previous issue: nity announcements featuring Ernie Sound recordist Jock Healy Exec, producer Janet Bell CHILD PR O TECTIO N FILM; Dingo. Dingo confronts a know-it-all tour­ Editor Wayne Le Clos Scriptwriter PipKarmel DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & TH E LAW; ist and challenges his ideas, at the same Prod, manager Catriona Macmillan D.O.P. KymVaitiekus ELDERLY CITIZENS SAFETY; time demonstrating some fancy boomer­ Location prod. man.

HilaryMay Researcher MaryColbert RIVER MANAGEMENT; ang throwing.

Prod, secretary Jane Benson Prod, manager Catrina Macmillan VEHICLE OCCU PA NT SAFETY. Prod, accountant Waldemar Prod, secretary Jane Benson THE GIRL FROM TOM ORROW Wawrzyniuk Prod. accountantWaldemar Wawrzyniuk NEW SOUTH W ALES FILM AND Prod, company Film Australia Asst editor HarrietMcKenn Marketing consult MichelleWeiss TELEVISION O FFICE Pre-production 6/11/89 Govt Agency Invest Commonwealth Publicity Jane Glen Production 1 5 /1 -2 0 /4 /9 0 Department Community Synopsis: Michael Atherton and children For details of the following Post-production 22/4 -15 /6 /9 0 Services Health explore the creative processes of music see previous issue: Director KathyMueller Market consult Michelle Weiss making.

INVESTING IN PEOPLE; Producer Noel Price Publicity Jane Glen Cast: Michael Atherton and children.

NATURE’S SENTINELS; Exec, producer Ron Saunders Synopsis: A documentary which looks at WILDLIFE - CORPORATE STRATEGY. Scriptwriters Mark Shirrefs the transition of intellectually disabled PUPPETS persons from the sheltered workshop John Thomson Prod, company Film Australia TELEVISION D.O.P. Jan Kenny environment to open employment.

Dist. company Film Australia PRE-PRODUCTION Sound recordist Tim Lloyd Director Ian Munro Editor Kerry Reagan INNOVATIONS IN LOCAL GOVT Exec, producer RonSaunders SO U T H PACIFIC ADVENTURES Prod, designer Nicholas McCallum Prod, company Film Australia Written by John Patterson Prod, company Grundy Television Costume designer Fiona Spence Dist. company Film Australia Prod, manager KimAnning Scriptwriters David Phillips Composer IanDavidson 1 /1 1 -8 /1 1 /8 9 Pre-production Prod, accountant Jay Jeyalingham Rick Maier Script editor KathyMueller Production 9/11 - 17/11/89 Marketing consult John Swindells Ysabelle Dean 21/11 -15/12/89 Casting Liz Mullinar Casting Post-production Publicity Jane Glen Exec, producer Roger Mirams Martin Daley Storyboard artist SteveLyonsDirector Synopsis: The adventures of Johnson, an 4 x 100 mins Length Martin Daley Scriptwriter Prod, manager AnneBruning elephant, McDuff, an accordion, and Gauge 16mm Prod, coordinator Lynda Wilkinson Edmund Milts D.O.P. Diesel, a truck. Aimed at the pre-school Synopsis: Four family adventure stories: Paul Finlay Unit manager PhilUrquhart Sound recordist audience.

“Wildfire” (in post-production), “Mission Laura Zusters Prod, assist/runner Angela Marchese Editor Top Secret”, “Pirates’ Island” and “The Catriona Macmillan Prod, accountant MarianneFlynnProd manager WORLD AIDS DAY Phantom Horsemen”.

Jane Benson Prod, secretary Moneypenny Services Prod, company Film Australia Sally Price Prod, assist Completion guarant.

Film Finances Dist. company Film Australia TELEVISION Brett McDowell Prod. accountantWaldemar Wawrzyniuk Pre-production Key grip 1/11 -7 /11/89 Marketing consult Michelle Weiss Production Derek Jones Gaffer 8/11 -14/11/89 PRODUCTION Publicity Jane Glen Post-production Dennis Kiely 15/11-28/11/89 1st asst director Jennifer Couston Synopsis: A video which profiles those Director David Caesar 2nd asst director BEYOND TOM ORROW Nikki Moors new schemes and developments initiated Producer Susan Lambert Continuity Prod, company Beyond Productions by local councils which have won awards Mark van Kool Exec producer Janet Bell Boom operator Dist, co.

Beyond International Group Trish Glover for innovation in local government.

Scriptwriter David Caesar Make-up Producer Ron Vandor The Katering Co D.O.P. Ray Carlson Catering Director Geoff Tanner KEYED U P David Joyce Sound recordist Kevin Kearney Art director Exec, producer Peter Abbott Dale Ferguson Prod, company Film Australia Editor Mark Penny Draftsman Kate Coe Assoc, producers Film Australia Melinda McMahon Dist. company Compser Props buyer David Bridie Peta Newbold David Ogilvy Angus Tattle Director Researcher Props maker Emma Gordon Keith Ulrich Terry Jennings Leanne Cornish Producer Prod, supervisor Standby props Catriona Macmillan Jonathan Ward Ron Saunders Lynn London Exec, producer Prod, manager Lilianne Gibbs Standby wardrobe Studio producer Susan Peters Geoff Howe Scriptwriter Steve Johnson Prod, coordinator Julianne Shelton Construct, manager Correspondents Renee Chenault D.O.P. Mike Carroll Julian Penney Leading hand Prod, secretary Jane Benson Dave Marash Sound recordist Walter Bron Phil Keros Prod, assistant Sally Price Carpenters Randy Meier Editor Wayne Le Clos Jody Williams Prod, account. Waldemar Wawrzyniuk Barry Nolan Art director Bill Booth Set finisher Camera assistant John Maruff Prod, manager David Tuckwell Livia Hanich Prod, manager Frank Haines Key grip Mitch Logan Prod, coordinator Cheryl Conway Prod, accountant Gaffer Jay Jeyalingham Prod, secretary Robbie Burr Suzanne Sherman Camera assistant Boom operator Felicity Surtees Graham McKinney Prod, assist Hal Houston • Gary Lincoln Key grip Post-prod, super Brian Hicks Prod, accountants Bernstein, Fox & Gaffer Jonathon Hughes Govt Agency Invest Commonwealth Goldberg F O R I N C L U S I O N IN Chris Rodman Best boy Department of Community Services & Legal Counsel Frederic N. Gaines, Esq. 1st assist director Corrie Soeterboek Health Talent consultants Broadcast Image THE PRODUCTION SURVEY Boom operator Marketing consult Sue Kerr Michelle Weiss Research coord-NSW Ruth Parnell Ruth Bracegirdle Publicity Make-up Jane Glen Research - LA. Grazia Caroselli CONTACT CINEMA PA PERS Catering The Katering Company Synopsis: A short film for television to Amy Levin Kristin Turnbull Runner launch the Federal Government’s cam­ Reaearch - NSW Anita Bezjak ON (03) 429 5511 Art director Bill Booth paign on World AIDS Day, 1 December Mathew Carney Tara Kamath Standby props 1989, to raise community awareness about Niki Reineck BOOM ERANG

Prod, company Dist. company Pre-production Production Post-production Director Producers

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Location photogs

Preston Clothier David Collins Rob Dupear Steve Elkins Hans Heidrich Barry West Sound recordists Steve Foy Bob Harle Martin Harrington Rowland McManis Howard Spry Stephan von Hase Post-prod, super Peter Brichta Editors Steve Lanctot Bob Leader Post-prod coord.

Staci Galutia Post-prod Facilities The Post Group On-line editor Cheryl Campsmith Videotape operator KC. Tessler Audio mixer T amara J ohnson Studio Facility Pacific Rim Video Set decorator Jim Barbaley Lighting designer John Conti Original music Twilight Productions Colin Bayley Kevin Bayley Murray Bums Opening titles Meaningful Eye Contact Publicity Rosemary O’Brien Travel arrangements Travel Shop International Synopsis: no details supplied.

BEYOND 2000

Prod, company Beyond Productions Dist. co.

Beyond International Group Producer Tim Clucas Director Judith John-Story D.O.P.s various Sound recordists various Editors Harley Oliver Robert Davidson Mark Verkerk Composer Twilight Prods Exec, producer Peter Abbott Prod, secretary Therese Hagerty Prod, accountant Ara Sahargian various Camera operator various Boom operator Make-up various Hairdresser Warren Hanrahan Props David King David King Props buyer Custom Video Special effects Freddie Lawrence Set designer Up-Set Set construction Murray Bums Musical directors Colin Bayley Music performed by Twilight Prods Julian Ellingworth Sound editor Julian Ellingworth Mixer various Still photography Charlie Busby Tech adviser Michael Shephard Publicity Georgina Harrop ATN 7 Studios Beyond Facilities Mixed at 1 hour Length Gauge 1" video Synopsis: Beyond 2000 is a one-hour weekly television programme, exploring the progress of science and technology. It features the latest scientific breakthroughs and those ingenious technical innovations which are shaping the world and prepar­ ing one for life beyond the year 2000.

C ast Iain Finlay,Jeff Watson, Chris ArdillGuinness, Amanda Keller, Simon Reeve, Maxine Grey, Bryan Smith (Presenters).

THE FLYING D O CTORS - SERIES VI

Prod. co.

Directors

Crawford Productions Pino Amenta Catherine Millar Viktors Ritelis Ian Gilmour Consult, director Stanley Walsh Producer 78

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Exec, producers

Alan Bateman Terry Ohlsson Scriptwriters Vince Moran Terry Stapleton Anne Lucas Shane Brennan D.O.P.s Ron Hagen Zenow “Butch” Sawko Sound recordist John McKerrow Philippe DeCravsaz Costume designer Clare Griffin Story editor Howard Griffiths Script editors John Lord Matthew Lovering Casting Jan Pontifex Script coordinator Vicki Madden Director of prod.

Barbara Burleigh Prod, supervisor Jeff Shenker Prod, manager Tony Leach Prod, coordinator Susie Wright Asst prod, manager Gina Black Prod, secretary Wendy Walker Location managers Greg Ellis Maurice Bums Transport manager Peter Allen Unit managers John Greene Andrew Moore Prod, runner Paul Rogan Prod, accountant Ron Sinni Accounts asst Dean Hood Focus pullers Gary Bottomley Lewis Puli Clapper-loaders Brett Matthews Kim Jensson Key grips Graig Dusting Coli McLean Asst grips Travis Walker Wayne Mitchell Gaffers Bill Jones Paul O’Neill Best boys Jim Perkins Doug McAndrew Craig Walmsley Boom operators Mai Hughes 1st asst directors Kath Hayden Chris Page John Powditch 2nd asst directors Arnie Custo Christian Robinson Anne Went Continuity Melanie Ruettland Make-up Brad Smith Fiona Reesjones Hairdressers Lisa Jones Zeljka Stanin Stunts New Generation Stunts Gillian Wood Tech, adviser Unit publicist Susan Elizabeth Wood Haybam Catering Catering Fiona Owen Runners Llew Higgins Art director Andrew Reese Asst art directors Leigh Eichler Kate Murray Set dressers Brad King Scott Adcock Souli Livaditis Chris Davenport Simon McCutcheon Props buyers Scott Ingliss Angela Christa Standby props Paul Kiely Stuart Redding Armourer John Fox Aviation consult.

Capt. Lome Cole Wardrobe supervisor Keely Ellis Standby wardrobe Sue Miles Rachel Nott Construct, super Peter McNee Studios Crawfords / GTV-9 Post-prod, super Sue Washington Editors Bill Murphy Scott McLennan Phil Reid Colin Swan Sound editors Michael Carden David Yammonni Post-sync super

Foley

Justin Hughes Stefan Klnka Mixer Peter Palankay Music mixer John Clifford White Mixed at Crawford Productions Laboratory Clinevex Lab liaison Ukant Miller Film gauge 16mm Video transfers by GTV-9 Off-line facilities Crawford Prods Video master GTV-9 Synopsis: The Flying Doctors tells the story of a small community living in the remote outback town of Coopers Crossing: their snuggles and battles; their joys and suecesses.

C ast Andrew McFarlane (Dr Tom Cal­ laghan), Robert Grubb (Dr Geoff Standish), Liz Burch (Dr Chris Randall), Brett Climo (Dr David Ratcliffe), Leonore Smith (Sister Kate Standish), Tammy McIntosh (Nurse Annie Rogers), Alex Papps (Nick Cardaci),Justin Gaffney (Gerry O ’Neill), Maurie Fields (Vic Buckley), Val Jellay (Nancy Buckley).

HOWARD

Prod, company Producer Director Scriptwriters

ABC-TV Geoff Portmann Geoff Portmann Ian Heydon and Doug Edwards Script editor/prod.

John O ’Grady Prod, assistant Philippa Connolly FA.D. Dorothy Baker SA.D. Ross Giannone Prod, manager Coral Packham Prod, secretary Kate McGrath Designer Colin Rudder Props buyer Mervyn Asher Paddy McDonald Wardrobe Penny Clements Dressing Crew Robert Hutchinson Richard Walsh Staging assist.

Tal Oswin Peter Leggett Special fx Technical prod.

Bruce Liebau Lighting director Samuel Chung Lighting console David Ward Lighting assist Darryl Brook Vision connol Alf Samperi Vision mixer Brad Fisher Cameras Glenn Traynor Dick Bond Murray Tonkin Julia Kennedy Peter Staas Andrew Wills Sound Wayne Kealy Joanne Dobbie Gep Bartlett Ian Wilson Ross Wilson Music/fx Belinda Keyte Videotape editor Graham Tickle Writers Doug Edwards Ian Heydon Stunt coordinator Rocky McDonald Stunts Danny Baldwin Publicity Virginia Sargent Synopsis: not supplied.

C ast James Wardlaw (Howard), Rhonda Carling-Rodgers (Kylie), Don Barker (Kevin), Paul Bertram (Alan), Martin Vaughan (Cliche), Michael Watson (Long O n), Doug Scroope (Bank Manager, Father Flanagan, Ellis, & Butler).

THE PAPER MAN

Roadshow Coote & CarrollABC Dist. co. Granada Television Intem at’l Pre-production 7 August 1989 Production 30 October 1989 Post-production 12 March 1990 Delivery 30 July 1990 Type Mini-series

Principal Credits

Peter Fisk Greg Ricketson Sue Masters Exec, producers Matt Carroll (RC&C) Penny Chapman (ABC) Ray Brown Assoc, producer Scriptwriters John Lonie Keith Aberdein Ian Warburton D.O.P. Sound recordist Nicholas Wood Tony Kavanagh Editor Marcus North Prod, designer Annie Marshall Costume designer Chris Neal Composer Director Producers

Planning and D evelopm ent

Script editor Casting Extras casting

Penny Chapman Maura Fay & Assocs Lucy Monge

Production Crew

Fiona McConaghy Rowena Talacko (RC&C) Maureen Charlton (ABC) Prod, secretary Jane Symonds Loca. manager Maude Heath Unit manager John Downie Prod, runner Lucindajane Ashton Prod, controller Howard Parker (ABC) Bus. affairs mgr Kim Vectera (RC&C) Prod, accountant Jennifer des Champs (Moneypenny Services) Rose Keeping Accounts asst Hammonc^Jewell Insurer (Tony Gibbs) Completion guar.

Film Finances (Sue Milliken) Mallesons Stephen Legal services Jaques (David Williams) Invest, execs FFC Prod, manager Prod, coords

Camera Crew

Camera op.

Focus puller Clapper-loader 2nd unit op.

2nd unit focus Key grip Asst grips Gaffer Electrician Asst electrics Gennie op.

Russell Bacon Brendan Shaw Sean McClory Gary Russell Matthew Temple Greg Tuohy Andrew Glasser Tim Murray-Jones Anthony Waldron Pierre Drion Bob Woods

On-set Crew

1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director 1st a.d. attach.

2nd unit director Continuity 2nd unit cont.

Boom operators Make-up

Make-up asst Special fx sup.

Stunts coord.

Safety officer Still photography Unit publicist Catering Catering asst Amenities driver

Michael Bourchier Karin Kreicers Rod Oliver Tony Tilse Paul Faint Liz Steptoe Suzanne Brown Greg Rossitor Chris Nilsen Garry Siutz Ron Bassi Suzie Clemo Chiara Tribodi John Neal Glenn Boswell Richard Boue Virginia Speers Virginia Sargent John Faithfull Marc Ayre-Smith Geoff McDowell

Art D epartm ent

Art director Asst art designers

Prod. co.

Design assts Set dressers

John Prycejones Kerrie Reay Marc Ryan Alison Bogg Brian Nickless Robert Hutchinson Janine Ranford Scott Gray B rent B onheur

Props buyers

Paddy McDonald

Standby props

Wardrobe Wardrobe coords

Adrian Cannon Don Page Chris Ryman Steve Pembroke

Wendy Falconer Suzana Cako Wardrobe asst coord Lorraine Verheyen Wardrobe asst Philippa Wootten Catherine Wallace Costume asst Theo Benton Construction Department Scenic artist Paul Brocklebank Construct, mgr Laurie Dom Standby carpenter Scott Patón Standby set fin.

Steve Bums Post-production Asst editors Fabian Sanjuijo Nicole La Macchia Sound transfers Helen Bucknell Laboratory Atlab Government Agency Investment Production FFC Marketing Intem at’l dist Granada Television Int. Synopsis: A fictional, six-hour, mini-series drama which traces the path of an idealis­ tic young Australian newspaper proprie­ tor, and the repercussions of his personal and professional ambitions.

Cast: John Bach (Phillip Cromwell), Ol­ iver Tobias (Ian Harris), Rebecca Gilling (Virginia Morgan), RobertTaylor (Johnny C oates), Olivia H am n ett (Iren e H a m p d en ), Peta T oppano (Kate Cromwell), James Healey (James Bell), Angie Milliken (Joanna Morgan), Jon­ athan Hyde (Tony Dalton)

Unit manager Tania Petemostro Prod, secretary Frances Shepherdson Prod, assistant Georgia Hewson 1st asst director Sonya Pemberton Camera operator Harry Panagiotis Key grip Freddo Dirk Boom operator Greg Nelson Art director Phil Chambers Wardrobe Lilly Chomy Still photography Billy Chapman Publicity Paul Sime Tutor Judy Malmgren Length 6 x 30 mins Gauge SP Betacam Synopsis: Adventures on Kythera I I is a sixpart series which follows the antics and adventures of five children who, through unusual circumstances, meet up again on the Greek island of Kythera. They embark on a variety of escapades that bring them into contact with new friends, unusual customs and exciting places.

Cast Rebekah Elmaloglou (Tik), Zenton Chomy (Zeonton), Amelia Frid (Moly), Garry Perazzo (Spike), George Lekkas (Johnny), Richard Aspel (Johnny), Tas­ sos Ioannides (Philippas).

COME IN SPINNER Prod, company ABC Dist. company ABC Producer Jan Chapman Director Robert Marchand Scriptwriter Nick Enright Lissa Benyon Based on novel by Dymphna Cusack Florence James D.O.P. Stephen F. Windon Peter Grace Sound recordist SHADOWS OF THE HEART Editors Bill Russo (formerly Katie’s Rainbow) Chris Spurr Prod. co. South Australian Film Corp.

Janet Patterson Prod, designer Producer Jan Mamell Martin Armiger Composer Sandra Levy Director RodHardy Exec, producer Scriptwriter Deborah Cox Prod, consultant Steve Rnapman D.O.P. DavidForeman John Winter Prod, manager Roberta O’Leary Prod, coordinator Prod, designer Tel Stolfo Executive producer Jock Blair Lisa Hawkes Prod, secretary Unit manager Prod, coordinator DianeStuart John Downie Paul Viney Location manager Prod, manager RonStigwood Peter Lawless Unit manager MasonCurtisLocation finder Wayne Henry Location manager MasonCurtisProd, accountant 1st asst director Prod, accountant Sharon Jackson Russell Whiteoak 2nd asst director 1st asst director Eddie Prylinski Clint White 3rd asst director Story editor Peter Gawler Peter Branch 2nd unit asst dirs Casting consult Maura Fay & Assoc.

Steven Stannard Set construction LipsStudio Dave Tunnell Continuity Mixed at Hendon Studios Suzanne Brown Length 2 x 2 hoursCasting coord Irene Gaskell Liz Mullinar Gauge 16mm Casting consultants Paul Costello Synopsis: Summer, 1927: Doctor Kate Camera operator Munro arrives at remote Gannet Island to Focus puller Andrew McClymont take up a practice. The locals resist Kate’s Clapper-loader Matthew Temple Key grip modem medicine as vigorously as they Gary Burdett Asst grip Benn Hyde oppose her stormy romances with the two Paul Pandoulis 2nd unit D.O.P. Hanlon brothers. She must call on all her Gaffer TimJones courage before she wins acceptance and Electricians Pierre Drion finds happiness.

Tim Harris Chris Nielson Boom operator SOUTH PACIFIC ADVENTURES Designer Catherine Silm See entry in Pre-production.

Charlotte Watts Designer asst Karen Land Asst designers POST-PRODUCTION Helen Baumann Costume designer Jim Murray ADVENTURES ON KYTHERA II Make-up/hair Christine Ehlert Prod, company Media World Sandie Foreman Dist. conpany Richard Price David Jennings Television Assocs Wardrobe coord.

Miranda Brock John Tatoulis Producers Michelle Letters Colin South Wardrobe assts Lorraine Verheyen John Tatoulis Director Nina Parsons Deborah Parsons Scriptwriter Props buyers Colin Bailey John Wilkinson Sound recordist Ian Andrawartha Michael Collins Editor Chris Ryman Sen. standby props Tassos Ioannides Composer Anton Cannon Standby props Tassos Ioannides Assoc, producer Steve Pembroke Yvonne Collins Prod, manager

Set dressers

Sandra Carrington Kim Oswin Asst set dressers Robert J. Simon Jason Holman Special & John Neal Choreography John O’Connell Paul Brocklebank Scenic artists James Robertson Standby set maker Lyall Smith Standby set finisher Robert Griffin Set construction Austin Nolan Sen. staging asst Juan Cosgayon Staging assts Mathew Bartley Toby Britton Tony O’Connor Asst editor Martin Connor Linda Gahan Neg matching Pamela Toose Musical director Martin Armiger VinceJones Music performed by Grace Knight Des Horne Sound editors Lionel Bush Dorothy Welch Margaret Goodwin Peter Hall Asst sound editors David Connelly Guy Norris Stunts coordinator Tutor Kath Leahy John O’Connell Choreography Danny Baldwin Horse master Martin Webby Still photography Belinda Bennett Graphics Runner Melissa Woodhams Publicity Virginia Sargent Catering Johnny Faithful Catering asst Mark Smith Amenities driver Geoff McDowell Video grading Chris Stott Sandy Stevens Post-prod, coord.

Gennie ops Bob Woods Manfred Hentschke Andrew Connelly Designer’s asst Atlab Laboratory Ian Russell Lab. liaison 4 x 50 minutes Length Gauge 16mm Kodak Shooting stock Synopsis: Sydney 1944: a garrison town in flux, tested by the social upheavals of war and the convergence of American forces.

In this world of chance three remarkable women, Claire, Deb and Guinea, are plying for the highest stakes: survival, security and love.

Cast: Lisa Harrow (Claire Jeffries), Kerry Armstrong (Deb Forest), Rebecca Gibney (Guinea Malone), Gary Sweet (Jack For­ est), Gary Day (Nigel Carstairs), Rhys McConnochie (Angus McFarlane), Bryan Marshall (Col. Bryron Maddocks), Jay Hackett (Kim Scott), Justine Clarke (Monnie Malone), Susan Lyons (Dallas McIntyre).

JACKAROO Prod, company Crawford Prods Exec, producer Ian Bradley Producer Bill Hughes Director Michael Carson Assoc, producer Vince Smits Prod, supervisor Vince Smits Prod, manager Terrie Vincent Casting Jan Pontifex Publicity Susan Elizabeth Wood Synopsis: Four-hour mini-series, the story of a wild Australian stockman, a partAboriginal jackaroo whose bitter family struggle for power and land erupts'¿n the heat of the West Australian outback.

PRIVATE WAR OF LUCINDA SMITH Prod, company Resolution Films Dist. company Revcom Producers Geoffrey Daniels Ray Alehin Director Ray Alehin

Scriptwriter D.O.P. Sound recordist Editor Art director

PeterYeldham Peter Hendry Tim Lloyd PippaAnderson Tony Raes Financial business affairs manager DanielleTaeger Executive prod.

Peter Yeldham Prod, manager DennisKiely Prod, coordinator Caroline Bonham Prod, secretary Monica Sims Prod, accountant Cynthia Kelly Asst, accountant Caitlyn Stevens Prod, runner Derek Thompson Samoan coord.

UelesePetaia Location manager ValWindon Unit man. (Samoa) PhilUrquhart Unit man. (Aust.)

William Matthews 1st asst director Philip Rich 2nd asst director John Meredith 3rd asst director Jenny Couston Continuity LarraineQuinnell Camera operator RogerLanser Focus puller RobertFoster Clapper-loader Phillip Murphy 2nd camera op.

Danny Ruhlmann Key grip BrettMcDowell Asst grip John Tate Gaffer Peter O ’Brien Best boys SteveCarter John Bryden-Brown Boom operator Mark Van Kool Prod, designer Quentin Hole Asst art director Michelle McGahey Draftsperson Diaan Wajon Props buyers Ian Allen Bill Booth Art dept assistant DavidJoyce Art dept runner Peter Forbes Const manager Laurie Dorn Carpenters Mike Carroll Steve Blatchford Scenic artist Peter Collias Costume designer DouglasSmith Costume supervisor Louise Wakefield Standby wardrobe Caroline SufiBeld Make-up/hair sup.

Lesley Rouvray Make-up/hair artist Debbie Lanser Special fx Chris Murray Brian Cox Armourers BrianBums Kevin Bestt Stunt coordinator GlenBoswell 1st asst editor Julia Gelhard 2nd asst editor Jane McGuire Sound editor Peter Townend Casting Faith Martin & Assoc.

Unit publicist Wendy Day Synopsis: The rivalry between two friends over Lucinda is further complicated when they find themselves on different sides during World War I. Cast Nigel Havers (Edward), Linda Crop­ per (Lucinda), Burt Cooper (Gustav), Andrew Clarke (Lt Andrews), Peter Baaske (Commander Spier), Bill Kerr (Scotty Quinn), Jonathan Biggins (Private Mur­ ray) , Rob Baxter (Sgt Barry), Vincent Ball (Col. Foster), Alfred Bell (Minister), Paul Smith (Private Reed), Werner Stocker (Hans), Anne Haddy (Mrs Spencer Grant), James Condon (Mr Spencer Grant), Tiare Schwalger (Kiri), Karona Schwalger (Native Guide), Uelese Petaia (Chief), Olivier Sidore (Armand), Kath­ erine Thomson (Nurse Hardy), Gonzalo Fernando (Spanish Captain), Jacqy Phil­ lips (Glenda), Edmund Pegge (George Howard), David Whitford (Theatre man­ ager), Ainslie Masterton (Sally),Joe Mar­ tin (Leading Man); Francesca Lawrence, Raquel Suarstzman, Poppy Dupont, Becky Bowles (Glenda’s Girls).

See previous issue for details of: T H E D RUM MACHINE; FLAIR; KABOODLE 2.

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