Cinema Papers No.91 January 1993

R E G I S T E R E D B Y A U S T R A L I A . P O S T P U B L I C A T I O N NO. V B P 2121

C L IN T E A ST W O O D AS R E L U C T A N T G U N F I G H T E R MU N NY IN H I S OWN U N F O R G I V E N

THE DEFINITIVE IN TE R V IE W

T H E C IN E M A O F R A U L R U IZ G E O R G E M IL L E R ’ S ’ G R O S S M IS C O N D U C T D A V ID E L F IC K ’ S ‘ L O V E I N L I M B O ’ ¿ 1 T H E B IR T H O F A U S IL t A L IA N F IL M *N O S T A L G IA : ‘ O N T H E B E A C H ’

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J A N U A R Y 1993 NUMBER 91 I N C O R P O R A T I N G FI LMVI EWS

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C O N T E N T S 3

BRIEFLY

4

GEORGE MILLER’S ’GROSS MISCONDUCT’ PRODUCTION REPORjT BY ANDREW L. URBAN

io

CLINT EASTWOOD: ’UNFORGIVEN’ INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL HENRY WILSON

COVER: MUNNY (C UN T EASTWOOD) IN EASTWOOD'S UNFORGIVEN.

is

’ON THE BEACH’ AT BERWICK

SEE INTERVIEW P. 10.

HISTORICAL REMINISCENCE BY JOYCE AGEE

EDITOR

24

Scott Murray AD MINISTRATIV E

MANAGER

Debra Sharp

LOVE IN LIMBO PRODUCTION REPORT BY ANDREW L. URBAN

30

THE CINEMA OF RAUL RUIZ INTERVIEW BY ADRIAN MARTIN AND CHRISTOPHER TUCKFIELD

TECHNICAL

EDITOR

Fred Harden EDITORIAL

36

AS SISTANT

CHRIS LONG

Raffaele Caputo MTV

BOARD

OF

DIRECTORS

AUSTRALIA’S FIRST FILMS 1894-96: FACTS AND FABLES

45

Chris Stewart [Acting Chairman],

FILM REVIEWS FATAL BOND SCOTT MURRAY

Patricia Amad, Ross Dimsey,

THE FAVOUR, THE WATCH AND THE VERY BIG FISH JAN EPSTEIN

Natalie Miller,

FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST JONATHAN ROPER LEGAL

ADVISER

GUMSHOE JOHN CONOMOS

Dan Pearce Holding Redlich, Solicitors

INDOCHINE KARL QUINN IS A B ELLE EBERHARDT RAYMOND YOUNIS

ADVERTISING

ROMPER STOMPER PAT GILLESPIE

Debra Sharp

STRICTLY BALLROOM PAT GILLESPIE

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Raffaele Caputo FO UNDING

53

JONATHAN HOUSE, RUSSELL EDWARDS, IVAN HUTCHINSON

PUBLISHERS

Peter Beilby, Scott Murray, Philippe Mora

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BOOK REVIEWS NEW AUSTRALIAN CINEMA: SOURCES AND PARALLELS IN AMERICAN AND BRITISH FILM

Ian Robertson DISK

INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVALS

REVIEWED BY STUART CUNNINGHAM BOOKS RECEIVED

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CINEMA PAPERS IS PUBLISHED WITH FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION AND FILM VICTORIA

C O N T R I B U T O R S JOYCE AGEE Is a long-time Berwick resident; JOHN CONOMOS lectures at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW; STUART CUNNINGHAM is a Senior Lecturer in Communications at Queensland University of Technology; RUSSELL EDWARDS is a freelance writer;

© COPYRIGHT 1 99 2 MTV PUBLISHING LIMITED A.C.N. 0 0 6 2 5 8 699 Signed a rtic le s represent the views o f the authors and not n e ce ssarily th a t of the e d ito r and pub lish er.

W hile every care is taken w ith m a n u scrip ts and m a te ria ls su p p lie d to the m agazine, n e ith e r the e d ito r nor the pub lish e r can accep t lia b ility fo r any lo ss or dam age which may arise. This m agazine may not be reproduced in whole or part w ith o u t the express perm issio n of the copyrig ht ow ners. Cinema Papers is pub lish ed (approxim ately) every two m onths by MTV P u blishing Lim ited , 4 3 C harles S treet, A b botsford, V icto ria, A u s tra lia 3 0 6 7 .

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

R eference ME ME 230 .

JAN EPSTEIN is the film reviewer for The Melbourne Report; PAT GILLESPIE Is a freelance writer and publicist; JONATHAN HOUSE contributes to Moving Pictures International; IVAN HUTCHINSON Is the film reviewer for The Herald-Sun and presents movies on Channel 7; CHRIS LONG is a prominent Melbourne film historian; KARL QUINN is a freelance writer on film; JONATHAN ROPER is a freelance writer; ADRIAN MARTIN writes on film for the Business Review Weekly, CHRISTOPHER TUCKFIELD Is a filmmaker and the first winner of the Qantas-Cinema Papers Young Filmmakers Award; ANDREW L. URBAN is the Australian correspondent for Moving Pictures International; MICHAEL HENRY WILSON Is an American writer on film; RAYMOND YOUNIS Is a lecturer at the University of Sydney and a passionate lover of films.

B R I E F L Y L E T T E R

FFC Reorganization Announced

Dear Sir

to analyze the content and ‘text’ of them but the

In your edition for October your freelance writer,

fact is they are in essence a marketing tool. The

executive, John Morris, today announced a reor­

Marcus Breen, reviewed the music video retro­

im portant thing for me that comes from Totally

ganization of the FFC and the relocation of its

spective Totally Clips of which I was the pro-

Clips is that the consistently high standard of

Sydney office to new premises at 130 Elizabeth

ducer/researcher. I appreciate his views but

work should indicate just how im portant clips are

Street at the edge of the central business district.

would like the opportunity to clarify certain points

in the marketing of a band/song/im age w hat­

made by Breen.

ever.

I was comm issioned by the AFI in June to put

Since the retrospective was completed, the

this retrospective together to be included in the

AFI has been successful in generating the distri­

public programme of the Australian Film Festi­

bution of it into the National Library in Canberra

val. My.brief was to select clips:

and State Film Centres, centralized libraries,

a. that showed the marriage between film and music - i.e., videos that incorporate various cine­ matic techniques - be it narrative, animation, etc.; and b. to include clips that were made early in the careers of directors who still work in the filmmak­ ing field in some way. They may continue to make videos, they may make feature films, they may direct television commercials; whatever it is they have the common link of having made music videos.

These points were my outline and I had roughly

including secondary and tertiary, government departm ents, com m unity groups, and more.

There has even been a sniff of interest for a possible screening in Paris early next year. These achievements are thrilling because, if nothing else, they further the cause of filmmakers in this country who, despite what Breen says, have taken risks and broken new ground in the genre over the years.

It disappoints me that someone would prefer to take a negative outlook rather than a positive one on a relatively harmless, be it politically or

90 minutes of time to fill. That breaks down to

artistically, piece of film history. It gains nothing

only 23 videos out of the hundreds that have

for anyone.

been rhade over the years.

In conclusion, I’d just like to point out a couple

With those guidelines in hand, I set about

of technical discrepancies - 1. Paul Goldman

The Australian Film Finance C orporation’s chief

Morris said.

Now that the government has guaranteed four years of funding for the film industry through the FFC, we have the opportunity to make improvements to the organization’s efficiency and develop a supportive working environment for the benefit of our industry clients.

To that end, the Board has decided on a staff restructure which stems from recommendations of the recent government Review of the FFC and the recent discussions we had with producers around Australia.

Late note: Morris announced 19 November 1992 that Garry Maddox has been appointed Policy Officer for the FFC. Maddox, a form er editor of Encore, wrote the recent report, “Independent Film and Television Producers: W ho’s Making What and How They’re Surviving” , for the AFC.

FFC Film Fund

making a list of directors whose work I was

(not Goodman) was the partner of Evan English

The Australian Film Finance Corporation’s Chief

aware of, and then spoke with them to ascertain

in the clip-m aking team called The Rich Kids.

Executive, John Morris, has announced the FFC’s

their own personal bests, which of their own

Their work is represented by Jo Cam illeri’s Walk

Fourth Film Fund.

work they liked the most and was most repre­

on By. Paul Goldman was the director, Evan

Morris said that the FFC was able to continue

sentative of the aforementioned guidelines. Es­

English the producer. 2. Gillian Armstrong made

with the Film Fund as a result of the high level of

sentially I had the final choice but 99 per cent of

a music video in 1982 or 1983 for Pat Wilson,

appropriation secured for the FFC in the 1992-93

the time I went with each director’s decision.

called Bop Girl. 3. I am Shelley Thomas, not

financial year. Morris said that the Film Fund will

(There is a disclaim er at the head of the pro­

Sally Thomas.

comprise up to four projects with budgets up to

gramme to make it apparent that due to the wealth of material available Totally Clips does

Sincerely, S h e lle y T hom as

not claim to be representative of all clip makers.)

$3.5 million. He added that the FFC was keen to ensure that two of the projects would be at the $2.5 million level and advised that producers with proj­

Marcus Breen Replies

ects in this budget category would be advantaged

each of 7 capital cities during the 4-week period

I am pleased to see some explanation for Totally

in the selection process.

of the Australian Film Festival. I attended the

Clips. It was this contextualizing detail that was

Sydney and Melbourne screenings which both

absent from the programme.

The completed project was screened once in

had good attendances: around 200 people came

W hile Shelley Thomas was the research pro­

Morris said that the FFC had consulted widely throughout the industry in relation to the Film Fund and had sought to introduce a number of changes

to an 11 pm mid-week screening in Sydney and

ducer for the programme and appears keen to

in response to industry comments. The most sig­

400 people came to The Lounge in Melbourne.

take responsibility, the real responsibility rests

nificant of these are:

Those numbers, in fact, prove Breen incorrect in

with the AFI [the programme’s producer]. This

• the budgets of the films will be financed inde­

his assumption when he questions how “a string

organization should be more remorseless in its

pendently by the FFC with the result that none of

of arty rock music videos stretching over 90

comm itment to detailing film history and, with

the revenues to the films will be cross-collateralized;

minutes would somehow interest an audience” .

respect to Thomas, perhaps the process of put­

• the producerw ill have approval o ve rth e fin a l cut

Totally Clips was not strung together in a

ting this retrospective programme together should

of the film; and

curatorial vacuum. I have worked on more than

have gone to a film historian, rather than a clip

• the producer will select the Australian theatrical

50 music videos in a 6-year period, they are a

maker or fan.

distributor.

personal love of mine. I have worked with a

This was the basis for my suggestion that the

Morris also announced one further innovation

number of directors, some of whose work is

programme appeared in a curatorial vacuum.

with this Fund, namely that there would be a threshold requirement or pre-condition to applica­

represented in the retrospective. I have pro­

Unfortunately, it appears that Thomas does not

duced a couple, styled many, cast extras in a

understand what a curator should do to provide

tion. He stated that projects would only be eligible

great deal, and personally cared about all my

an audience with an opportunity to have an

tor selection if the producer secured a comm itment

contributions to the genre. I have read about

informed dialogue with works of art.

from an Australian theatrical distributor to release

what people think of them, what they mean to

This is even more im portant with music film

the film prior to submitting the project to the Fund.

people, what list of favourites people have, what

clips, which exist in an awkward space that

Morris stated that a print and advertising com m it­

they don’t like. The fact is it is purely and simply

straddles art and commerce. Then again, it is the

ment or an advance or some other financial com­

a m atter of taste. Clips are clips. Breen may like

dilemma for almost all film criticism.

mitment to the project would be an advantage.

2

• CINEMA

PAPERS

91

1992 AFI AW ARDS 1992 FEATURE FILM AWARDS Best Feature Film Strictly Ballroom. Producer: Tristram Miall; Newvision Films Award for Best Achievement in Direction Baz Luhrmann for Strictly Ballroom; Cinesure Award for Best Screenplay Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce for Strictly Ballroom; Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Because of this new requirement, Morris noted

Rôle Lisa Harrow in The Last Days of Chez Nous; Hoyts Group Award for Best Performance by an Actor in

that it was appropriate to give producers a greater

a Leading Rôle Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Rôle Pat

lead tim e in the preparation of their projects. For

Thomson in Strictly Ballroom; Telecom MobileNet Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting

this reason, applications for the Film Fund will

Rôle Barry Otto in Strictly Ballroom; Samuelson Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography Peter James

open on 1 March and close on 31 March 1993.

for Black Robe; Spectrum Films Award for Best Editing Jill Bilcock for Strictly Ballroom; Best Original Music Score John Clifford White for Romper Stomper, Film Sets Australia Award for Best Achievement in Production Design Catherine Martin, Bill Marron for Strictly Ballroom; Best Achievement in Costume Design

Oh No! Not wrong again

Angus Strathie for Strictly Ballroom; Soundfirm Award for Best Achievement in Sound Steve Burgess, David Lee, Frank Lipson for Romper Stomper

As $oon as the last issue hit the newsstand, pro­ ducer Richard Brennan was on the phone saying there was an Australian film in Cannes before

KODAK NON-FEATURE FILM AWARDS Best Short AnimationS/ie/fL/fe (Andrew Horne); Best Documentary Black Harvest (Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly); Best Short Film Road to Alice (Stavros Efthymiou)

Giorgio Mangiamele.’s Clay in 1965 (as claimed):

1992 AFI SPECIAL AWARDS Laurent-Perrier-AFI Members Award for Best Foreign Film Truly Madly Deeply,

namely, Lee Robinson’s Walk into Paradise in

Byron Kennedy Award Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly; Raymond Longford Award Lee Robinson

1956. And, sure enough, there it is in the official Cannes book, Cannes 1946-1986.

1992 AFI TELEVISION AWARDS

Lemac Award for Best Television Documentary Cop It Sweet (Jenny

Brockie); Atlab Australia Award for Best Television Mini-series or Tele-feature Brides o f Christ (Ken

But does the unrecorded history of Australian participation stop there? No. A thorough checking of the book has revealed that there was even a film before Lee Robinson’s: namely, Charles Chauvel’s Jedda, in 1955.

Cameron). ABC, Roadshow Coote & Carroll. Producer: Sue Masters; Best Episode in a Television Drama Series or Serial Phoenix; “Hard Ball” . ABC. Producer: Bill Hughes; Best Children’s Television Drama Lift Off; “A Load of Rubbish” . Australian Children’s Television Foundation. Producer: Patricia Edgar; Cameraquip Award for Best Achievement in Direction in a Television Drama Ken Cameron for Brides of Christ, Best Screenplay in a Television Drama John Alsop, Sue Smith for Brides of Christ, Best Performance by an Actor

So, here is the full list of the Australian participa­ tion in the Cannes Competition, or Official Selec­

in a Leading Rôle in a Television Drama Gary Sweet in Police Rescue; Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Rôle in a Television Drama Lisa Hensley for Brides o f Christ.

tion. Sincere apologies to Lee Robinson and the late Charles Ghauvel for the errors of the previous

FILM F IN A N C E C O R P O R A T IO N F U N D IN G D E C IS IO N S

issue.

FEATURES

17 September

1955

Jedda (Charles Chauvel)

FEATURES

1956

Walk into Paradise (Lee Robinson)

1965 1970 1978

BUBBY (100 mins) Bubby. Executive producers:

Clay (Giorgio Mangiamele)

Domenico Procacci, Giorgio Draskovic. Producers:

“Wake in F right” (Ted Kotcheff)

Rolf de Heer, Fiona Paterson. Director-writer: Rolf de

The Chant o f Jimmie Blacksmith (Fred

Heer. A man locked in the house by his mother for

Schepisi)

more than 30 years has to find his way in the world.

1979

M y B rilliant Career (Gill Armstrong)

1980

“Breaker” M orant (Bruce Beresford) Jack Thompson won Best Supporting Actor

1983

The Year o f Living D angerously (Peter Weir, co-production)

1985

Bliss (Ray Lawrence) The Coca-Cola K id (Dusan Makavejev)

McKimmle, Geoffrey Bennett. Researcher: Steve Warne. Four television documentaries each telling the story of an Influential Australian artist’s life and work: Robyn Archer, Tim Storrier, Peter Corns and Dorothy Hewett.

15 October

DOCUMENTARIES

FEATURES

DONE BALI (58 mins) Negara Film and Television

EXILE (90 mins) Illumination Films. Executive pro­

Productions. Executive producers: Paul Cox; Tony

ducer: William Marshall. Producers: Paul Cox, Paul

Chapman (SBS). Producer-director-writer: Kerry

Ammitzboll, Santhan Naidu. Director-writer: Paul Cox.

Negara. Historical look at the manufacturing of the

Based on the book, Priest Island, by E. L. Grant

myth of Bali, the cultural paradise.

Watson. In 1860, a young man is exiled for life to an

SAILING THE NULLARBOR (I hour) Sorena. Produc­

uninhabited island. But exile leads to paradise when

ers: John Mabey, Rhonda Mabey. Directors: John

a girl from the mainland joins him.

THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA: QUEEN OF THE

1986

The Fringe Dwellers (Bruce Beresford)

Mabey, Martyn Down. Writer: Dion Boehme. An Aus­

1988

The Navigator: A M edieval Odyssey

tralian and a French team will race for the world

DESERT (95 mins) Latent Image Productions. Execu­

(Vincent Ward, co-production)

record as the fastest wind-powered rail craft.

tive producer: Rebel Penfold-Russell. Producers:

1989 1992

Evil Angels (Fred Schepisi)

THE LAST HUSKY (TV hour) Aspire Films-Extreme

Andrena Finlay, Michael Hamlyn. Director-writer:

Sweetie (Jane Campion)

Images. Producers: Chris Hilton, Jonathan Chester.

Stephan Elliott. Three drag queens journey to out­

Map o f the Human Heart (Vincent

Director: Chris Hilton. Writer: Jonathan Chester.

back Australia to stage their cabaret act.

Ward, “work-in-progress” , co-production)

Husky dogs have played a vital role assisting men in the exploration of Antarctica, but later this year these

SHORTS 1949

much-loved huskies will be repatriated to Minnesota.

The Valley is Ours (John Heyer)

Since the July Board meeting the FFC also entered into contract negotiations with the producers on these projects:

Cane-Cutters (John Heyer) Gold Town (Maslyn W illiams) I960

The Sunshine State (no director listed)

1962

The A ustralian Landscape Painters

SNOWY (13 x 1 TV hour) Simpson Le Mesurier Films.

(Richard Mason) 1976

High Fidelity (Antoinette Starkiewicz)

1978

Letter to a F riend (Sonia Hoffman)

1986

Peel (Jane Campion) won Palme d’Or for shorts

1987

Palisade (Laurie Mclnnes) won Palme d’Or for shorts

1 990 1992

DOCUMENTARIES SUZI’S STORY - THE LEGACY (50 mins) Legacy Pro­

ductions. Executive producer: Michael J. Rivette.

Producers: Michael J. Rivette, Terry Carlyon. Direc­ tor: Terry Carlyon. Writer: Robyn Miller. The story of Suzi Lovegrove, the young Australian mother, and

Producers: Roger Simpson, Roger Le Mesurier. Di­

her battle with AIDS was the subject of a documen­

rector: tba. Writers: Roger Simpson, Tom Hegarty,

tary released in 1987 and seen by millions around the

David Boutland, Vince Gil, Katherine Thomson, David

world. Five years after his mother’s death, seven-

Allen, Mac Gudgeon, Peter Kinloch. A saga of people

year-old Troy Lovegrove, HIV-infected In the womb,

whose lives were caught up in Australia’s post-war

fights a constant battle with the disease.

development; people like Michael Logan, whose

A TASTE OF AFRICA (6 x 30 mins) Africa Pictures

hometown of Cooma is turned upside down by the

Australia. Producer: Julia de Roeper. Director: Andrew

influx of immigrant workers from Europe.

Prowse. Writer: Dorinda Hafner. Presenter Dorinda

CREATIVE SPIRITS II (4 x 1 TV hour) Don Featherstone

Hafner looks behind the headlines about Africa to

N ight Cries: A Rural Tragedy (Tracey

Productions. Producer: Don Featherstone. Directors:

Moffatt)

introduce traditional and modern African cultures

Don Featherstone, Malcolm MacDonald, Jackie

through music, dance and food.

A Passion Play (Tony Twigg)

■

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CINEMA

PAPERS

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Gross Misconduct

Carefully-chosen M elbourne locations - such as M elbourne University, O ld M elbourne Gaol - play their part, together with a thoughtful and creative design con cep t from the brilliant Jon Dowding.

These things, G eorge Miller feels, will provide the atmosphere o f moral repression and m onolithic institutionalism that will play a subconscious role. A nd this is where the film gets interesting.

After considerable massaging, the script finished up with m ore complexity and coherence than either Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction, in that it eventually reveals the reason for the girl’s behaviour. And the reason is unexpected. W ithout giving away too m uch o f the plot, it has to d o with her own feelings o f guilt and her psychological survival. In the words o f Peters, she is attractive, sexy, troubled, a victim - and a predator.

Jennifer Carter is attracted to Professor Justin Thorne, the charismatic, intelligent American philosophy professor, whose happy marriage and blossoming career are shredded as the affaire explodes and gets out o f his control. He tries to battle the establishment to clarify things, but finds him self cornered. T he story climaxes in murder.

Dowding takes great delight in explaining how even the m urder weapon is part o f the design concept: it was to have been a knife, but Dowding felt this was far too pedestrian for a film which has a ‘lo o k ’ . Instead, he located a Gothic-looking, threelegged French lem on squeezer, which stands about 14 cms tall.

With the encouragem ent o f the producers (ofw h om there are several; m ore on them later), Maguire has taken the script out o f the courtroom to a large extent. H e sees in it a classic drama: The story is like a Greek tragedy. Thorne unleashes the wrath o f the Gods. It is like the concept in Presumed Innocent, where he doesn’t kill her but he did do something wrong.

We re-wrote the story and character setting. We have taken the traditional rape defence - her past- and turned it upside down. His past is used against him.

Gross Misconduct, which

the producers are describing with

references to Fatal Attraction, has undergone major script surgery since it was first penned in 1969, and has considerable new material from Gerard Maguire, the Australian actor who reinvented him self as a writer, based in Los Angeles.

T he story was suggested to Peters by a 1955 scandal in Hobart, a place and an era thick with moral repression. Visiting Professor o f Philosophy, Sidney Sparkes Orr, was ousted from his university post on charges o f “gross m isconduct”. It was a political push and shove. He had been agitating against the academic council at the University o f Tasmania, and he had to go. But he challenged the sacking and, during the appeal hearing, it was alleged that he had sexual relations with a female student.

T he student gave evidence against him, and his name was blackened, even though there was no suggestion o f rape. Orr lost his appeal and it was only after his death that his name was cleared. He was officially pardoned and his widow paid some com pensation.

Gross Misconduct, the film that is now in post­ production and stars L.A. Law’sJimmy Smits as the Professor and Naomi Watts as the girl, tells a very different story. It is not meant to replay history and, indeed, has been revised to a contem porary setting - but a G othic one.

6- • C I N E M A

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It is Maguire’s first script that has made it into production; another drama, with strong thriller elements, is waiting to go. He has also been com m issioned to adapt Sydney writer Jennifer M aidern’s Play With Knives by Lyn Barker’s Frame Productions.

But Maguire’ s less visible work is as script assessor for the highly-regarded Sundance Institute, Robert R edford’ s cinematic baby which hosts an annual festival for new talent and runs a year­ long programme o f writer and director developm ent courses.

The jo b is challenging, but rewarding. “I really enjoy this”, says

Maguire, “and it is g o o d to have o n e ’s opinions valued.”

For director G eorge Miller, Gross Misconduct is a giant genre leap. Producer Richard MacClure knows it: It’s casting against type for George. He’s aware of that and he’s put his heart and soul into it. He’s had a lot o f experience, and at first we thought it wasn’t his bag. But why not? He came through the Crawfords school way back and a lot of that still applies.

It is something o f a welcome return to that ‘ o ld ’ style o f filming in his earliest days as a director. Miller: It’s adult and contemporary; I’ve done a lot o f period lately. And I findmyselfworkingdifferendy. I’m using Steadicam quite a lot, and there is a difference in the interpretive style. The film will look sumptuous and rich, but with a very different view o f Australia.

Filming style in this day and age is influenced by rock clips and commercials. Anything cuts with anything. You can tell a life story in 20 or 30 seconds, so people are more visually literate as a result.

More hip and open to accept an avant garde style o f shooting and editing. The pace is moving, gliding and lots of tension as the camera hunts the actors, prowling, intense, terse.

Miller is waiting for a lighting set-up, and sits with his back to a roaring fire in the University dining room . He is as relaxed as if waiting for a haircut, and the crew seems delighted to be working with him; his experience gives them a sense o f comfort.

Speaking o f “adult and contemporary”, his own personal favourite is Les Patterson Saves the World, the critically-dismissed movie that Barry Humphries made with his ex-wife Diane Millstead as producer. The film was universally panned, but for Miller it was tremendous fun to make. “It is a film I can truly say offends everybody and breaks every racial vilification law. I hope it’ll be the first Australian film to be banned.”

Appropriately enough, Miller now lives at Cape Patterson in South Gippsland, but commutes globally.

In the past five years, Miller has made four tele-features and a feature in the U.S., NeverendingStory IIin Germany, as well as two Australian movies. Family and children’s stories predominate, and Gross Misconduct is a radical departure in subject matter - not just in the techniques o f filmmaking.

This is exacdy rightform e: Ifollow g ood stories, wherever. I’ve got a really g o o d team, we are using greatlocations and we have a g o o d cast. It’s not tough. The budget is okay; it’s not big but wisely spent and the film will look good. It’s the sort o f budget we d o well here.

FACING PAGE: DIRECTOR GEORGE MILLER. BELOW LEFT: JENNIFER CARTER IN GROSS MISCONDUCT. BELOW RIGHT: AT THE UNIVERSITY: JENNIFER, TERRY McKNIGHT (BRENDON SUHR) AN D JUSTIN. ABOVE: JUSTIN AN D HIS WIFE LAURA (SARAH CHADW ICK). GRO SS MISCONDUCT.

As soon as he read the script, the pictures leapt o ff the page for Miller.

I immediately saw Melbourne in winter, which is spectacular. It’s the most sophisticated, cultured city in Australia. You see the effects o f immigration, and it has the best examples of Victorian architec­ ture. It’s a treasure house. And I know about the secret Melbourne.

We’ve blended all the locations together with a view to avoid the clichés, die stereotype Australian picture: sand, dust, flies and Sydney Harbour.

It meant finding original locations and took Miller three months to talk his producers into it: “I came down and photo­ graphed the places and showed them.” Apart from M elbourne University, locations include the Melbourne Magistrates Court, the Treasury, St Paul’s Cathedral and Q ueen Victoria Markets.

But Miller’s admiration for the locations is not matched by his esteem for The System: The underlying sleeping giant o f the justice system is straight out ofVictorian England. Just look at the court buildings! I know from my own experience o f defend­ ing myself in a magistrate’s court.

The pictures, he explains, came straight out o f the m ood o f the script, with its Gothic look and sometimes Gothic dialogue. ‘T h e film will be star­ tlingly original, with moments o f darkness”, he says.

Miller’s preparations, apart from finding the perfect locations, involved carefully selecting his shooting team, two o f the key members being cinematographer David Connell and designer Jon Dowding. ‘Jon brings a sense o f the bizarre, some­ thing anachronistic, and Dave is just the best I’ve worked with, constantly challenging and moving forward.”

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Gross Misconduct other milieu, infinitely more complex and sophisticated - and to some degree more interesting.

I have characters in the film who dress as well as Paul Keating and his sepulchral quality provided a great inspiration for me - his demeanour. What lies under the sunny exterior o f people like Keating? Cultured, lethally urbane and well-dressed.

But after all, it is a story which pivots on the sexual act; sex is very m uch the engine that drives the plot, the subject which creates such havoc for the characters and the weapon by which several o f them are badly hurt. Miller is aiming for the erotic: I’m shooting to make the sex look attractive. People do it to enjoy it, so that’s what it should look like. But it, too, will look different, and there will be more o f it than probably in any other Australian movie.

ABOVE: JUSTIN, CENTRE, IS INTERROGATED BY DETECTIVE MATTHEWS (NICHOLAS BELL) A N D DETECTIVE COOTE (FIO N A CORKE). FACING PAGE: KENNETH CARTER (ADRIAN W RIGHT), RIGHT, VISITS HIS DAUGHTER JENNIFER IN HOSPITAL. GROSS MISCONDUCT.

Jon Dowding, a tall, quietly-spoken character with a pensive air, received his first (but not last) AFI nom ination for his work on Mad Max. N oted for his innovative sense o f design, D ow ding’s work was quickly noted byjim m y Smits, who was singing his praises as an international talent.

Dowding read the script and spoke to Miller, and instantly felt that the key to his work would be the use o f light: ‘T h a t’s what film is, really: light and dark. 1 looked at Rembrandt and Caravaggio and how they used light. A lot o f detail disappears into darkness.

It’s a dark story and a dark film .”

Dowding placed a lot o f light sources on the screen - such as the diningroom fire, one o f many fire images in the film - and worked closely with costume designer Aphrodite Kondos, who is not only a regular team-mate but also his wife. Dowding: One aspect o f the story is the clash ofjustin’s newworld and the old academia. We’ve reinforced ‘the establishment’ by the choice o f locations and props, making it look an old, well-established institu­ tion. The architecture dwarfs the people inside it. For example, for a hospital scene we chose a Victorian-built banking chamber. The grandeur dwarfs us. That’s the great thing about doing a location picture: the whole world becomes your palate and you can choose freely to realize what you want to express.

I’m not really interested in simply processing information, but in psychologically underscoring the story. Sometimes it’s almost abstract.

But both Miller and Dowding say the film will display such an unusual view o f M elbourne that it could have been anywhere in Europe. This is especially true o f the jazz club, Apparatchik, a nihilistic environment resonant with Berlin, which is exactly where Miller got the idea, or feel, for it.

For Dowding, it was a question o f finding a match for the rest o f the film ’s dark m ood and its carefully-designed look: ‘T h e real ones never make a statement in terms o f lighting and decor, and we decided it would be grand, decaying, with parts o f the Berlin Wall. The costuming reinforces this.”

But Miller emphasizes that this is not some attempt at ‘inter­ nationalism’ . H e has n o intention o f seeing the film fall between continents, somewhere in the mid-Pacific: What it will reveal is that Australian society is not what it appears.

Beneath our sunny Crocodile Dundee exterior, there is this whole 8

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Gross Misconductwill also be different for other reasons. Itis the first film to be produced by PRO Films in Australia, a subsidiary o f R. A. Becker & Co. The Beckers, father Russell and son Richard, run a com pany that’s been in television for 25 years, mostly distributing programmes.

In 1986, the company setup shop on H ollyw ood’s doorstep in Los Angeles. Producer Representative Organisation Inc (PRO) was created to drive into the U.S. market as an overseas represen­ tative for Australian producers; a sales arm, in effect, working in the belly o f the movie beast. It has handled sales for outside producers, including Slaughterhouse, Shame (the much-acclaimed drama made by Perth-based Barron Films) and Windrider. Says Russell Becker: Australian films were seen as too risky, so we decided to be on the ground in Hollywood. We had an existing relationship with the industry there through sales, and we knew people. We had activity.

Cast and Casting W h en we first spoke about this film in April 1992, George M iller, clearly looking forward to making it, said o f the rôle o f Jennifer Carter: “ It’ll be one o f the m ost demanding fem ale rôles in Australian film history. It’s not nice; it’s confronting.”

Neither he nor any o f the team had any idea at that time who would play the rôle. Indeed, N aom i Watts was only confirm ed in the part fou r days b efore shooting began at the end o f July.

Watts, whose biggest rôle to date was as the co-lead in Brides o f Christ, was very much M iller’s choice. B efore the A B C mini­ series, W atts had a supporting rôle in Flirting, and som e guest appearances on Hom e and Away.

M iller had seen her in Brides o f Christ and thought her a fine actress, but ju st not sexy enough fo r Jennifer. Watts sent him the tape o f a screen test she had done fo r a rôle in a film that had fallen through. “ It was the best screen test I’ d d on e. They’d dolled m e up and I was not wearing a school uniform . I was scrubbed^ up, basically.” Evidently, she “ scrubs u p ” well, fo r Miller showed the producers and they agreed she was the one.

A t 7.00am on Thursday 23 July, N aom i Watts was woken by M iller’s call. She was in W ales, visiting her granny. T he follow ing M onday she walked onto the set in M elbourne. W atts: I read the script on the plane. It was exciting. This was a chance to stretch creatively and that doesn’t come too often, especially in Australia.

As for the rôle, I think Jennifer has very good intentions, but people think she’s a super bitch. She had a traumatic childhood-like most o f us ... Well, she’s never really had a childhood. Her mother died early and she was forced to grow up too quickly. She’s very strong, independent and fascinated by powerful minds.

It was soon evident that it should be developing its own production slate. With offices on West Olympic Boulevard, it is run by the energetic Morrie Eisenman, an experienced and wellknown marketing man in Hollywood. His track record includes consulting for the m ajor studios Columbia, Universal and MGM, on films such as Midnight Express, Being There, Love at First Bite and Animal House.

PRO has been responsible for the feature films Hawks, Bad Influence, Apartment Zero, Scorchers and Only You. Until now, PR O ’s film production has been financed and made, independently o f the big studios, in the U.S. At the end o f July 1992, Becker’s Los Angeles-based PRO Films signed a significant deal with 20th Century Fox to co-produce a movie with Geena Davis’ company, Genial Productions. Davis will star. Richard Becker will be execu­ tive producer. It is a human drama written by U.S. writer Eric Tuchm an, titled Family Bloom.

Gross Misconduct is the first time an Australian production com pany has made a feature film for a major U.S. studio, except for sequels that have been picked up, like “Crocodile ”DundeeIIand Man From Snowy River 2. Although Gross Misconduct is the first, Becker hopes several Australian features will follow.

T he Film Finance Corporation has invested about 65 per cent o f the $4 million-plus budget, but R. A. Becker is signalling its confidence in the film with almost a million dollars o f its own. A further million was raised under the 10BA tax scheme from private investors. But it was producer David Hannay who brought Gross Misconduct to the Beckers’ PRO Film company, after nursing it with Lance Peters over several years.

Peters and Hannay took the script to MacClure at PRO Films m ore than three years ago, and MacClure immediately liked the premise.

Hannay acknowledges M acClure’s devotion: “MacClure has been the driving force at PRO in the developm ent process.” It was

MacClure who brought in Gerard Maguire to work on the script with Peters: Maguire’s version took the script forward tremendously. It moved it up from the 1950s [the time o f the real incident] to a contempo­ rary setting and turned it into a hot piece o f property. It deals with sexual harassment, and all kinds o f relationships at work between men and women.

For Miller, it is a chance to make a film with m uch darker tones than he has ever made before. As he says, “I want to show the very conservative establishment rising up like a lum bering beast to devour this man. I want to show his descent into hell.”

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Watts could picture Jennifer as soon as she read the script. “ I saw

Shakespeare in the professional arena, but I could do them. It gave

a vision o f her on the plane. I knew where I was going with it. She’s

me a boost, and, as it turned out, I did get to do all those things. I was

drawn to Justin and respects him; he’s like a replacement for her

doing a lot o f regional work in New York when the television show

father.” Watts understands that feeling very well. “ I often crave to be

[L.A. Law] happened.

around older m en myself, as I haven’t had a father since I was 4 .”

The rôle, as Miller had predicted, was a big challenge. Watts feels she is very lucky, though: “ Everyone in Australia wanted the rôle, so there is a lot o f responsibility, which is awful. But after the first rushes, I stopped thinking about it.” She became engrossed in the character, with its daily demands for vast emotional reserves.

T o fails o f the show, Smits was ideal as the idealistic Hispanic lawyer, Victor Sif uentes, but he wants to broaden his career. His films to date, like Fires Within and Switch, have not made him a superstar on the big screen; nothing to do with his performances, but the nature o f the films themselves.

In Gross Misconduct, Smits plays a man on the other side o f the law,

It means exposing a lot o f dimensions. Jennifer’s journey is so huge

happily married to Laura, an academic like himself, played by Sarah

and she shows an extraordinary amount o f emotions: vulnerability,

Chadwick.

strength, sexuality, sadness, disturbed, hysteria. She’s volatile and

For the Melbourne actress, it is a feature film debut and a

goes from one extreme to the other. I’ve formed her from instinct,

welcome one. A 1988 NEDA graduate, Chadwick has been busy with

as well as intellect and emotion.

television drama - everything from guest rôles on E Street and A

Watts, grateful that her co-star Jimmy Smits was as concerned for

Country Practice to regular characters on The Flying Doctors and GP.

the entire film as for his own rôle, said he was being generous and supportive.

For Smits, the rôle o f Professor Justin T h o m e, a respected,

I’m very excited to be doing a film; I thought it’d be hard to break out [of television]. In film, you can detail the performance and be very specific.

capable and forward-thinking man, has a certain resonance; he

Laura is a lot smarter than me. She’s got a PhD and is working on

remembers how much influence certain teachers had on his own life

her Masters. She’s emotionally a lot more stable. I’m fairly extreme

and career. “ The genesis o f my becoming an actor was that I wasn’t

and emotionally immature still.

really good at school. But I found I related to acting and I could spend six hours in the library researching for a rôle.”

A drama teacher in his junior high school turned him on to showbiz with her extravagant musicals; another teacher a few years later encouraged his drama studies; and, at university, a professor urged him to tackle the classics.

Laura is very happy with life and marriage: she fell in love with her husband when she was a mature-age student. She has a dry sense o f humour, she’s a good mother and friend - well-balanced.

Ironically, Chadwick plays such “ all-together women” very well; but now she wants to play someone a bit mad and over the edge.

She sees the film as a suspense adult drama, with a strong ending:

That was the key for me, because I got into a graduate programme.

“ The climax shows how the legal system can swamp an individual -

That was very intense and I did a lot o f work, a lot o f classics. I figured

the legal system gets it wrong.”

that I may not get a lot o f opportunities to do Shaw, or Ibsen or

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Whiskey, Wyoming,

a prostitute at the local whorehouse is badly cu t up by Quick lVlike (p a vid IVIucci). The sheriff, “ Little Boy” Daggett; (Gene H ackm an), goes easy on Quicjk C IVIjke and his partner, Davey Bunting (R ob Cam pbell) , only m aking them pay the brothel owner for damage •

to.his “property” The outraged prostitutes, led by Strawberry Alice ( Frances Fisher), place a $ 1 ,0 0 0 bounty on the culprits’ heads.

For William IVIUnny (C lin t Eastw ood), a struggling pig farmer in Kansas, the reward is enough to overcome his bornagain resistance to gunplay and, with the “Schofield Kid” (Jaim z W oolvett) and >

Ned Logan (M organ Freem an), he rides out in pursuit.

C/nfo/gfiVen, Clint Eastwood’s fourth Western as director, has already been acclaimed in.France and the U .S . as his

m asterwork. IVIany have already ca lle d jt the best film of 3L992; others the best W estern in decades. Audiences have agreed and the film ’s box-office success has resoundly returned Eastwood to the list of major, stars.

Eastw ood’s work as a director has been often under-praised, despite the cult interest in P la y M is ty for M e (1 9 7 1 ) and The O utlaw Jo se y IVa/es (1 9 7 6 ), and the Cannes Festival recognition of Pale Hitler (1 9 8 5 ), Bird (1 9 8 8 ) and White H unter B la ck Heart (1 9 9 0 ). When the routinely “studio” The Bookie came out in IL991 to fairly damning response, Eastwood’s

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importance as a director seemed all but forgotten. But, as is so often the cinem atic case, one stunning film has changed all that.

UnforgiVen, a film of.enormous com plexity and moral depth, is easily the best American film of the year.

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Clint Eastwood

H ow did you com e across David W ebb P eoples’ script?

A reader at Warner Bros, called it to my attention when it was under option to Francis Coppola. I liked it so m uch that I decided to contact the writer and ask him to rewrite another project. W hen I called his agent, I found out that C op­ pola’s option had expired two days ear­ lier. So I immediately took an option for a year.

That was around 1982-83. Other projects kept m e busy, but I finally bought it outright and just kept’this litde gem on hold. The years went by and I simply aged into the role.

W as the script revised or touched up during those ten years?

It wasn’t necessary. T he subject was timeless; it hadn’ t aged; it remained just as powerful. I realized that I shouldn’ t fool with it.

Besides, the fable is probably even m ore pertinent today, even m ore timely in these times o f recession, after the Rodney King beating, the riots in Los Angeles, the questioning o f the justice system.

W hat was the m ain draw originally: the relevance o f the fable, the com plexity o f the story, the realism o f the approach or sim ply the rem arkable character o f W illiam Munny?

All o f those! The story, its morality, William Munny, o f course, but all the other Characters, too. It had m ore dramatic conflicts than most Western scripts I’d ever read. And I immediately liked the “revisionist” approach; I always wanted to d o something in that vein. Some o f my favourite Westerns, like The Ox-Bow Incident [William Wellman, 1943], paved the way. I d o n ’t know if it will actually be my last one, but it seemed to be the perfect subject to d o as a kind o f final Western. It really sums up what I feel about the genre.

H ow do you envision the historical context o f the film ? W as this the transitional period between the anarchy o f the Frontier and the advent o f the Law? Y our fou r m ain characters - W illiam Munny, N ed Logan, “ Little Bill” andEnglishBob (Richard H arris) - seem to belong to a vanishing species.

This is W yom ing in 1880, and probably one o f the last enclaves where law and order were not yet firmly implanted. I have to make clear, however, that this picture is not based on historical events or characters. It is all fiction.

What fascinated me was that the denial o f justice triggers the whole story. With his lackadaisical ways, sheriff “Litde Bill” fails to apply law and order. H e may be very strict when it com es to gun control, but h e ’s totally permissive in lots o f other areas. H e fines the cowboys a minimal sentence, which only benefits the guy who owns the place. T he wom en, who are the victims, are treated like second-class citizens.

Lawmen and outlaws behave the sam e way. O n e senses that they share the sam e past, that they are all form er killers.

A nd in the end, they get taken out, even the innocent bystanders.

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T he young deputies are g o o d guys, but they get caught up. W hen they see “Little Bill” kicking English Bob around, they see violence for the first time. They go, “W ow !” T he sheriff represents a generation, a mentality, that they d q n ’t understand.

Fate keeps weaving and intertwining these destinies. T h e innocent young Davey is hunted down on the sam e grounds as his com pan­ ion, Q uick M ike, who is guilty. Later, N ed is captured and tortured to death after he has renounced the bounty. This is a w orld where one becom es automatically guilty by association.

Yes, and it’s one o f the elements that I liked in thé story. The reward sets in m otion a chain o f events that n o one will be able to stop. In the eyes o f Munny and the rest o f the people, young Davey isjust as guilty as his buddy. Same thing for Ned, w h o’s presumed guilty because he holds the evidence: the rifle. Remember, Munny gives it back to N ed when N ed decides to ride back hom e.

There is an undercurrent o f black hum our, an absurdist logic, which contradicts the concept o f poetic justice inherent to the classical W estern.

T o me, the hum our is mostly in the opening. Then the story takes a turn - 1 think this happens when they kill the young Davey - and moves towards tragedy.

What I particularly like is that the hum our doesn ’t com e from the superhuman traits o f the protagonist, but on the contrary from his frailties. He hasn’t ridden in awhile, he has trouble with his restive horse and even blames it on his past cruelty to animals!

He is fragile, physically and mentally.

W illiam M unny is haunted by his past turpitudes. A s in Pale Rider, there is strong Biblical imagery that evokes the original sin.

H e’s like a man com ing out o f rehabilitation. W hen they ask him about his past, he says he was drunk most o f the time. H e reform ed himself, he kept going even after his wife Claudia died, but, when he wants to get the kids out o f the pig farm, this is a man forced to d o the only thing h e’s really g oo d at: shoot som eone. As N ed reminds him, he w ouldn’ t be doing this if Claudia were still alive.

D oes W illiam M unny5s abom inable past refer to the M an with N o N am e, the anti-hero o f the W esterns that you m ade with Sergio Leone?

No, because Munny has m ore soul. H e ’s not as cynical, as de­ tached. Obviously, h e ’s much m ore disturbed, and obsessed by his past, that o f a renegade, who did a lot o f robberies and raised a lot o f hell. H e has n o self-worth. A nd he is constantly rem inded that he is not worthy.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DELILAH (A N N A TH O M S O N ), THE PROSTITUTE CUT UP BY Q UICK M IKE, TENDS W ILLIA M M U N N Y (CLINT EASTWOOD) AFTER HIS H A V IN G BEEN BEATEN UP BY "LITTLE BILL". M U N N Y WATCHES THE (OFF­ SCREEN) ARRIVAL OF THE "SCHOFIELD K ID " AT HIS KANSAS PIG FARM. M U N N Y 'S CHILDREN, W ILL (SHANE MEIER) A N D PENNY (ALINE LEVA5SEUR), STAND IN THE D O O R W AY . SHERIFF "LITTLE BILL" DAGGETT (GENE H A C K M A N ) A N D THE LEADER OF THE PROSTITUTES, STRAWBERRY ALICE (FRANCES FISHER). M U N N Y RE­ ENTERS THE SALO O N OF BIG W HISKEY W ITH KILLING O N HIS M IN D . CLINT EASTW OOD'S UNFORGIVEN.

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Clint Eastwood

Y ou underm ine the baroque iconography lovingly cultivated by

T oday, in m ost action film s, death has no m ore reality than in a

Sergio L eon e, that o f the bounty hunter devoid o f all m orality.

cartoon. In Unforgiven, on the contrary, there is a strong m oral

Munny is n ot great with a gun, just okay. This is n ot on e o f those Westerns where the hero shoots the hats o ff people or shoots the eye o f a bird in flight. It’s m ore like real life, where nothing is right on. These guys are killers only because they have don e it before, n ot because they are a better shot than anyone else.

Y o u show how d ifficu lt it m ust have been to kill som eone in cold b lo o d . Y o u had to be in an inebriated state.

That’s what “Little Bill” tells the journalist; it isn’ t so easy to shoot som eone. A n d he gives a g o o d exam ple when he tells him how English B ob cou ld shoot his op p on en t because the guy had shot his own fo o t by mistake! This was the crazy reality. All these killers that becam e legends were reallyjust guys w ho shot people in the back, n ot standing face to face, in the m iddle o f the street, as they used to d o in the old Westerns!

W as the role o f N ed written fo r a black man?

N o. I thought o f Morgan Freeman because I like his lived-in face and he was the right age. T he fact that he is w hipped to death evoked for m e the era o f slavery. N ed probably escaped from the South and, like many form er slaves set adrift, m oved west, where he en ded up riding with Munny and a bunch o f wild guys.

G ene H ackm an is particularly adept at suggesting the m atter-offactness o f sadism , its “ ordinary” dim ension. W hat inspired you to cast him ?

H e ’ s on e o f our best actors and I n eeded som eone with a lot o f strength for this com plex role. In his own mind, the sheriff is a g o o d guy. H e ’s building a house, hoping he will be able to retire there and take it easy. H e believes he is right in dealing with renegades and setting up an atmosphere o f terror. He also has a certain am ount o f charm and sophistication. That’s what makes the character so interesting!

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perspective. Each death is given a precise narrative and em otional context.

Each time som eone is killed, it has an effect on som ebody. Killing is nothing glamorous. That’ s what m ade the project so appealing - especially at this time in my career. There is so m uch gratuitous killing in movies today; they almost seem to imitate what I was doin g in the 1960s and ’ 70s. At the time, it was new, it was fun, but, ever since, people have been trying to ou td o the last o n e . V iolence has reached such extremes that it is time to take a step back and analyze its morality. I started thinking, ‘Y ou can’ t be d oin g the same old thing. You’ve got to m ove o n .”

W hen I approached Gene Hackman, he immediately warned m e that he turns down violent films systematically, as a matter o f principle. So when I gave him the script, I told him, “Keep in m ind that this is com pletely different. It will be a statement about violence, what it really is and its repercussions.”

Y ou do not indulge either in the pastoral m yths. T h e farm is anything but idyllic. O n e cannot help thinking o f the G reat D epression and the sadness o f your Honkytonk M an (1 9 8 2 ).

The Depression? I d o n ’ t know. But Munny is in desperate straits.

H e has tried to put together a new life; fate was unkind and took his wife; he tried to survive the best he could. But everything goes wrong. And when the “Schofield Kid” com es along, it’s like a temptation o f adventure, and he thinks he may give it a try for a week or so. His going to see N ed is like an attempt to reinforce his resolution.

D oes the title apply to your unredeem ed character solely or to the w hole com m unity?

It has a dual meaning. It is William, but it also refers to the feminist outrage, the relendessness o f the w om en ’s efforts to get retribu­ tion for the crime.

FACING PAGE, LEFT: M U N N Y , LEFT, W IT H FRIEND A N D FELLOW BO UN TY HUNTER, NED LO G A N (M O R G A N FREEMAN).

RIGHT: ENGLISH BOB (RICHARD HARRIS), A SORT OF LEGEND. BELOW: M U N N Y PRACTISES HIS SH O O TING SKILLS AFTER YEARS OF H A V IN G BEEN A "B O R N -A G A IN " PACIFIST. RIGHT: "LITTLE B ILL" DAGGETT A N D W ILLIA M M U N N Y . UNFO RGIVEN .

W hen the young cow boy brings a pony to the victim , D elilah (Anna T h om son ), you cap­ ture on her face the irony o f the situation.

O ne can tell that she could be satisfied with this gesture, but she is caught in the m iddle as her com panions refuse any com prom ise.

Even though she was the victim, she would have wanted to avoid the bloodshed. Later, when the bounty hunters arrive at Big Whiskey, the w om en start questioning what they started and you read a look o f foreboding on their faces: “W here is it going to end u p?”

Through the character o f W . W . Beaucham p and the “ dim e novels” , you show how the reality o f the W est was distorted. T he presence o f the writer actually impacts p eop le’s behaviour. “ Little Bill” , fo r instance, tries to conform to the im age he w ould like to pass on to posterity.

W hat is the prostitutes’ fate after M unny’s departure? Couldn’t the outcasts share a com m on destiny?

What they have in com m on is that they all sold their souls to survive. W e d o n ’t know what happens to the girls. It’s up to the audience’s imagination. I also cut a litde scene where William Munny returned to the farm and the kids. You learned that the “Schofield Kid” has given the reward m oney to the children. The boy asked his father: “Did you kill anybody?” And Munny an­ swered: “N o son, I did n ’ t kill anybody.”

In your W esterns, you always contrast the beauty o f nature and the infam y o f hum an behaviour.

Well, mankind isn’ t always so beautiful! We fou n d the ideal location in Alberta, Canada. It was magnificent country. The town was entirely built there, under Henry Bumstead’s direction. He had worked with me on High Plains Drifter. Munny’s farm and N ed ’s were film ed east o f Calgary, where the open plains evoke Kansas and Nebraska.

With the exception o f the train, which was filmed around Sonora, it was all shot within a hundred miles. And we were even blessed with snow. G od, it was so beautiful up there after two days’ snow!

Again, as you did fo r Pale Rider, you com posed the m ain m usical them e yourself.

I was sitting at the piano in Sun Valley and trying to think about the beginning o f the film. I wrote down some notes for the guitar; something super-simple: Claudia’s theme. Lennie Niehaus or­ chestrated it. Our guitarist, Laurindo Almeida, would have prob­ ably liked to embellish it, but I insisted on something as simple as possible.

Beauchamp embellishes reality to make it m ore interesting. We all put our spin on things. See how the rum our starts and expands, how the details o f the crime becom e m ore and m ore gruesome.

Many o f the stories in which mankind is putting its faith, starting with the Biblical stories, were written by chroniclers who had a very limited or highly personal point o f view. The West is no exception.

O ne o f the best examples o f this distortion is o f course the legend o f Billy the Kid. For my part, I’ve always been interested in the real story o f the West. Over the years, I’ve read tons o f books on the mythology as well as on the reality o f the period. My roots, as you know, go back pretty far in the history o f the Western, all the way back to the 1950s. We were very far from reality, o f course, in Rawhide. The context was real, with the cattle drives and all, but the stories were pure fabrication, without any element o f realism. This is true also o f the films that I made with Sergio Leone, where violence becam e a spectacle and was staged like opera.

W hich were the W esterns that were im portant to you?

I rem em ber mostly those that I grew up with: The Ox-Bow Incident, High Noon [Fred Zinnemann, 1952], Anthony M ann’s Westerns with James Stewart, starting with Winchester ’73 [1950]. I d o n ’t really rem em ber the messages, but I know they were important to me.

In D on Siegel’s The Shootist (1 97 6 ), the old gunfighter died o f cancer. D id that film influence you?

N ot consciously. It was an interesting film at the time becausejohn Wayne himself had a cancer. T o him, it was an important film.

D o you view John Ford as a master?

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Clint Eastwood

RIGHT: M U N N Y SHOOTS AT THE (OFF-SCREEN) Y O U N G DAVEY, W ATCHED BY THE "SCHOFIELD K ÎD " (JA IM Z WOÔLVETT).

BELOW: THE "SCHOFIELD K ID ", LO G AN A N D M U N N Y . UNFORGIVEN.

Ironically, my favourite films o f his are not his Westerns; they are his chronicles o f the Depression era, like The Grapes o f Wrath [1940]. I did like My Darling Clementine [1946] and The Searchers [1956] is still a beautiful film, even if some o f the subplots and sub-characters d o n ’ t hold up today.

W hat does H oward Hawks represent to you?

He was the first film director I ever met! It was the summer o f 1947. I was 16 or 17 years old. I was driving around in a beat-up ’39 Ford, drinking beer and playing the piano and chasing chicks. O ne day I was visiting a friend up in the hills around Sepulveda, above L.A., w hen we' saw thèse horses running free down the street. We stopped them and corralled them. Out o f a remote villa came a distinguished gentleman who thanked us profusely.

Som eone whispered, ‘T h a t’s Howard Hawks, the film director!” We were very impressed. It must have been before Red River.

Can the W estern still reflect today’s Am erica?

The Western is always a mirror. Today, our society has becom e incredibly permissive o f violent behav­ iour; our parents would have never tolerated what we tolerate. We accept violence, at least as long as it’s not happening to us. Unforgiven comments on that, and on the effect o f violence on both the perpetrator and the victim. In most Westerns, in­ cluding mine, the perpetrator never feels any remorse. He killed the bad guys and that was all. Here, my character thinks and has certain feelings.

D oes the W estern bear som e responsibility in our becom ing desensitized to violence?

I d o n ’t think so. The Western hasn’t had that much effect. We all grew up with the Western; it didn ’ t make society m ore violen t. The violence o f the Western has to d o with the historical context. If som eone was guilty, they strung him up. They didn’ t fool around.

This was a society where people had to rely on their own judgm ent and were prone to taking justice in their own hands, a society where everything was m ore cut and dry, where moral values were

clearer, where a lone individual might make a difference. Now, w e’re mired down in a bureaucratic society where the slightest dispute requires lawyers and legal battles. T he simplicity o f those times fascinates us.

In an era when mainstream cinem a, from Batman (Tim Burton, 1989) to The Terminator {James Cam eron, 1984), is dom inated by special effects, you are m ore than ever a m averick.

I appreciate the technological developments brought about by these films, but it’s not a genre I would want to tackle. I’m not interested in special effects. I want to do stories about people.

That’s why I made this film. It is a genre picture, but it is different and unusual. I’ll move on and continue in that direction.

Unforgiven is dedicated to “ Sergio and D on ” .

I hadn’ t seen Sergio L eone in ten years. After the presentation o f Bird at the Cannes Festival, I made a quick trip to Italy. He called me out o f the blue. W e had lunch and it was the first time we had ever sat down together. We had such a g o o d time that we decided to go out to dinner that night, with Lina Wertmuller. Sergio was completely relaxed, and we had a really great time, had a lot o f laughs, a lot o f wine. I’d never seen him that serene. A few months later, he was dead. I almostfeltthatitwas his way o f saying goodbye.

Shortly after, it was D on Siegel’s turn. He had been ill for along time and I watched him deteriorate. D on was a friend. I loved his rebellious, cantankerous spirit. He was always supportive. I think he would have liked to make Unforgiven; he would have loved this story.

Most filmgoers w on’ t even notice or know the difference, but I wanted the dedication. I stuck it in there for myself.

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FILM IN G O N THE BEAC H IN BERW ICK DIRECTOR STANLEY KR AM ER , W IT H HA T A N D ACTORS LOU V E R N O N A N D A V A G ARD NER THE W IL S O N HOUSE IS IN THE B A C K G R O U N D ,

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tories and memorabilia starting pouring forth from Berwick residents, and from individuals from as far away as Bendigo, when a screening o f the film and an exhibition were advertised, as part o f an inaugural Berwick arts festival. On the 5mc/iwas not only film ed on location in Berwick and M elbourne, but in other areas: Canadian Bay, Williamstown, Point Lonsdale, Rockbank, Phillip Island and Frankston. Ironically, the scenes film ed in Berwick, over one sizzling week (with temperatures soaring over 37 degrees), were n ot in the final film.

Berwick locals lined the streets to catch glimpses o f the stars as they drove to and from M elbourne in Rolls Royces: Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins. A photographer and energetic businesswoman in Berwick today, W endy Ward recalls her impressions as a teenager.

It was absolutely incredible. I, like so many other people, didn’t know anything about filmmaking. The crowds outside the Wilson House were quite incredible. They were several deep on our nature strip.

T he original ‘Wilson H ouse’ , located in Berwick and m en­ tioned in the best-selling Nevil Shute novel, u pon which the film 20

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was based, was chosen as a location for filming. In Shute’s novel, the homestead is m oved from Berwick to Harkaway, a neighbour­ ing township. Curiously, the Wilson family had never m et the reclusive author and they didn ’t even know that their h om e was in the book, until its publication. Jane Bray, festival organizer and long-time resident o f Berwick, recalls: I never thought much o f Nevil Shute as a writer. But I did admire him for his prophetic skill. In his novel, No Highway, he predicted the dire consequences o f metal fatigue in airplanes. This was when the ‘Comet’ [airplane] crashed, and airplanes just seemed to be falling out o f the sky for no reason. He always seemed ahead o f his time. He had this mysterious quality as a writer and people at that time were becoming terrified about atomic war.

T he Wilson family had lived in Berwick for m ore than three generations in the same house and were som e o f the earliest settlers in the area. That original family h om e used in the filming has been demolished. In its place is a sprawling suburb with street names paying hom age to the film; today, you can can drive past rows o f ranch-style brick hom es on Kramer Drive or Shute Av­ enue. It’s even rum oured that the submarine used in the film, and called the “Sawfish”, is now beached at Caribbean Gardens.

T he new ‘Wilson H ouse’ built on the top o f a hill has a majestic view o f the countryside with its wide pastures and rolling hills. On the walls o f the m odern house are pictures and illustrations o f the old Wilson homestead used in the film. Mr and Mrs George Wilson are eager to reminiscence and show the On the Beach photographic album with stills and hom e snapshots o f the filming, and their visitors b o o k with all the signatures o f the stars and film crew. George Wilson remembers: There was one lad who wanted to get in. He got a sugar bag and put some horseshoes, a hammer and nails, and a leather apron in it. He came to the gate and said that he had come to shoe the horses and the guard bloke let him in.

But despite the locals apparent naïveté about film production, they were being exposed to a sophisticated and comprehensive marketing campaign for the film. Mobilgas dealers were handing out complimentary autographed photographs o f Ava Gardner describing her rôle in the film, her hom e, height and weight. ‘This green-eyed, dark-haired beauty prefers to live in Europe, and her present h om e is in Rome. 5 ’ 5 1 / 2 ” tall. Weight 118 pounds.”

Local country newspapers revelled in every aspect o f the filming, on e reporter describing the natural hazards encountered

AB O V E , LEFT TO RIGHT: FRED ASTAIRE, W H O PLAYS JU L IA N O SBO R N IN O N THE BEACH .

GREGORY PECK, W H O PLAYS D W IG H T TOWERS. M O IR A D A V ID S O N (A V A G ARDNER) RUNS TO D W IG H T TOWERS IN A SCENE EDITED FROM O N THE BEACH . LOU V E R N O N (D A V ID S O N ) A N D A V A GARDNER.

while filming on a working farm: “Early in the m orning a ‘foot­ loose’ horse, to be used in the background, held up proceedings for some time as it was chased all around a paddock. ” Another article recounted, “It was interesting to see that although there were over 100 behind-the-scenes men, they had to enlist the help o f Mr George Wilson to yoke a pair o f draught horses to put in a mower for one scene. ” The local insect world also featured: ‘T h e whole o f the hedge and garden at ‘Wilson H ouse’ was sprayed with D.D.T. so that no insects would worry the leading stars [...] during shooting in the garden.” Apparently it wasn’t quite that easy, even with the lethal pesticide. George Wilson recalls this same episode, but with a different ending: One of the funniest things, typically American, is that they brought a fly-killing machine. We had a big hawthorn hedge around the old house. They sprayed all this to kill the flies. You can imagine it at that time of the year —Australia is lousy with flies, as you would know.

They had a great thing going to get rid o f the flies. They thought this CINEMA

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On the Beach at Berwick BE LO W : POSTER FOR THE FILM .

F A C IN G PAGE: TICKET FOR THE W O R LD PREMIERE OF O N THE B EAC H . M ELBO U RNE.

was going to last for ever and a day. They were back about five minutes later.

Perhaps, these persistent flies ruined the shoot, and the sequences were unable to be used.

Movie Life's March 1959 colour magazine cover features a “debonair” Gregory Peck wearing a U.S. naval uniform. Today, he appears m ore like the hapless victim o f artificial colourizing technology. The “behind the scenes” article hints that Miss Gardner was not as co-operative as the other stars. It recom m ends Peck, Astaire and Perkins to their readership as they were well-man­ nered and did n ot display any temper tantrums: ‘T h ey might almost have been g o o d Aussies. ’’Astaire was thought to be the only on e really enjoying himself: “H e appears to be deeply interested in us, particularly our horse racing. Astaire owns racehorses him self and he was keen to learn all about the local racing conditions.”

It is difficult now to imagine anyone accepting Ava Gardner’s North Am erican accentwith its slightly breathey, British overtone, or Anthony Perkins’ “half-whispered New York accent” as Austra­ lian natives. Veteran Australian actor, Lou Vernon, played Ava Gardner’ s father, and the star’s stand-ins and extras were Austral­ ian, though the film crew was from the U.S. ‘T h ere were about 120 behind-the-scenes m en and a great many trucks, cars, buses and other equipment. O ne truck was solely for providing the employ­ ees with free Coca-Cola at any time they wanted it.”

But this is a contem porary interpretation. It was considered g o o d business for a H ollyw ood film to be made in Victoria. George Wilson felt he should support the initiative: 22

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The Victoria Promotion Committee, which is now out o f business [...] They were the ones that asked if they could do it. The main reason that I did it was that I thought it would give Victoria some publicity overseas. It was the days when they were trying to promote Victoria, when Henry Bolte was in full flight. We were sending delegations overseas at the time, and if we could get a big film company over here, it would make a bit o f publicity in this part o f the world as far as we were concerned.

Shrewd businessman, star-struck teenager, film extra orjust an amateur filmmaker - hundreds o f people in M elbourne rem em ­ ber that summer. An enthusiastic film fan recorded on 16m m film the stars’ and production crews’ activities working on a beach scene outside o f the city. The film, in misty colour, shows the rigours o f Kramer’s search for perfection, as Peck and Gardner film the same beach scene over and over. These scenes are intercut with some blurred close-ups o f the stars signing auto­ graphs and mixing with the local crowds. T he Hawaiian-style music in the background, and the narrator’s thick, Australian accent, inadvertently create a com ic com bination. Viewed today, the amateur film echoes some o f On theBeach's underlying cultural assumptions, and, at the same time, it also operates as a fascinating and humble counterbalance to the H ollywood mythology.

A catalogue that listed film props and equipm ent auctioned at the conclusion o f the production still survives, and, like the amateur film, was loaned to the Festival exhibition from the Perform ing Arts Museums in M elbourne. H ousehold goods from the stars’ residences came under the hammer. Peck had been accom panied by his family, and the items to be sold read like a checklist from a nursery (a son attended M elbourne Gram m ar).

A m on g his goods to be auctioned were “2 Only Babies’ Cribs and 2 Mattresses, 1 Only Tea Set- 4 Cups & Saucers, 1 Sugar Bowl and 1 Milk Jug” and, in large print to emphasize the significance, “1 only king size bed base and mattress”. Gardner’s list makes m uch m ore intriguing reading: “5 Hi-Ball Glasses (colou red stems), 1 only Venetian Cigarette Box, 2 only Chinese Hangings and a Quantity o f Throw Pillows”.

Two m odel ships used in die film were loaned by the staff o f the White Hills Technical School Library in Bendigo, who responded promptly and excitedly to the Festival request for m em ories and memorabilia. It is not known who made the m odel submarine and destroyer, but the m odel maker did show great ingenuity in the construction, using “mustard tins and knitting needles’* to con ­ struct the detailed replicas. These m odels appear in the back­ ground o f a scene in a conference room set in the Department o f Navy offices.

By another coincidence, writer Lee Harding, presently living in Berwick, was an aspiring photo-journalist in the late 1950s and ’60s; he loaned the exhibition the negatives that he had taken during the filming in M elbourne and Frankston. T he widow o f a man who had organized the stunt work on the film rang and another man called and said that he had worked at the printing house that had produced the calendars used in the production.

(These were printed with the year 1964 on them, but as far as he knew none had survived.)

John Veitch lent the exhibition a set o f photographs and a copy o f an article he had written as a young journalist about his experiences as a film extra in On the Beach. Veitch and nine other extras dressed as American sailors were directed to turn and look appreciatively at Ava as she walked: “Besides the 10 o f us who were being paid to stare, about 1500 others - all sailors from Australian warships in port at Williamstown - were staring as hard at they could, without monetary reward.” Veitch also appeared in scenes as a businessman and, again, as on e o f the Australians queueing for their “death pills”.

W hen discussing the film today, Veitch feels that the impact was far m ore important that is generally realized.

When Stanley Kramer made On the Beach 33 years ago, an all-out nuclear war between East and West was generally regarded as inevitable. The people in power on both sides convinced them­ selves it would not last long. Each side figured that ‘the enemy’ would be knocked out and finished, and the world could then get on with becoming either capitalist or communist - depending on which side ‘won’. On theffeacA helped to change those ideas.

A chilling anecdote is told by director Stanley Kramer in an interview in Stanley Kram er-Film Maker.

I needed an atomic submarine for the film, but the Pentagon told me, ‘No, your story says an atomic war would wipe out the world, and that isn’t so. Only about five hundred million people would be killed.’ I told them that’s the closest I’d like to get to a total wipeout.

So since I wouldn’t change the script, we didn’t get the atomic sub.

This terrifying and m isguided logic did not solely exist in the U.S. at this time. Atom ic tests were carried in strict secrecy from 1952 to 1957 (with smaller scale sequels to 1963) on behalf o f the British governm ent in Western and South Australia and at the now notorious Maralinga where Aborigines were ousted from their land. T he maximum in fallout level was exceeded in several tests and were not m onitored properly. O ne frightening story claims that Sir Arthur Fadden cabled L on don when he was acting Prime Minister asking: “W hat the bloody hell is going on, the cloud is drifting over the mainland?”1 This story, whether real or conjec­ ture, supports On the Beach's attempt to present to the public the very real and present dangers o f atomic proliferation.

On the Beach had 17 simultaneous premieres in cities all over the world including M elbourne, Moscow and New York. O ne o f the most remarkable evenings must have been the screening in D ecem ber 1959 in Russia, where a select group o f foreign guests and Mr and Mrs Peck attended a private screening o f the filming at the Soviet Film Workers U nion. T he film was never released to a general audience in Russia.

T he reviews were mixed. “ On the Beach is a m ediocre m otion picture about the most terrible possibility now confronting man­ kind”, Picturegoer lamented. ‘T his should have been the most controversial, vital and important film o f the decade. Why isn ’ t it? ” T h e review criticized the central characters: “none o f those characters is vitally alive or representative, one cannot becom e deeply con cern ed ”. T he same review also fou n d the ending lacked credibility, “And surely not everyone would prepare to m eet the end quite so nobly or unprotestingly. ” On the Beachwas classified as science fiction and prem iered the same year as the Three Stooges starred in Have Rocket Will Travel and Jules V erne’sJourney to the Centre o f the Earth was made into a film. Cinemagoers also thrilled to Return o f the Fly, and Demons in the Swamp, a tale about giant leeches. In this company, and with the

film ’s theme o f total human annihilation, is it any w onder that the reviewer response to the film was particularly negative. Stanley Kramer defended the picture, “I’ll accept the blame for the boxoffice failure o f On the Beach [...] but I’d also like credit for aiming at quality.”

O ne o f the most fascinating responses to the film came in a letter published in Films in Review quoting Earl Ubell, Science Editor o f The New York Herald Tribune, describing the ways a projected nuclear war would differ from the events presented in On the Beach.

While it is possible to exterminate the human race, it couldn’t reasonably be done as it was in On the Beach. An all-out saturation nuclear war involving the major powers would be far more grisly than the silent affair shown on the screen. Furthermore, the human race’s gritty efforts to cling to civilization after such a big nuclear war would be much higher drama than the quiet sentimentality o f this film.

Needless to say, a large ‘reasonable’ nuclear war o f 4,000 megatons would spell deadi for at least 100,000,000 persons. The ensuing social disorganization may be far more disastrous than the radioactivity, leading to famine [...] A city like Melbourne would turn into a human jungle, rather than remain the quiet, orderly place shown in Mr Kramer’s picture.

At the end o f the letter, a grotesque expression o f racism heightens its gloom y impact on a contem porary reader: The long-term effects o f the radioactivity - the cancers, the birth defects - these could exterminate the human race by attrition over the decades or throw men back to an aboriginal state. To para­ phrase DrJ. Robert Oppenheimer, it would take a great act o f faith to call the remaining creatures human.

That week that H ollywood came to Berwick is now a piece o f local folklore. Itis also interesting to note that On iheBeachxs absent from many texts on Australian film; though accurate factually, it is, in some sense, emotionally and psychologically, an omission.

That one week o f filming in Berwick with the crowds jam m ed on the nature strip; Tony Perkins’ white naval costume hanging in a tree; Mr Wilson retrieving his missing ashtrays from Ava Gardner’s caravan or arguing with the film ’s caterer about the mess in his front lawn - these have becom e the particular property o f a small Australian city and its memories. With time, those m emories have becom e m ore vivid than the film itself. Jane Bray feels now that the film indicated a shift in Australians’ perceptions o f themselves: “ On the Beach was one o f the signals o f Australians com ing o f age - their realization that they were part o f the w orld.”

With increased immigration and expanding international trade markets, Australia began to redefine its cultural traditions and shed its colonial image. That summer, m ore than thirty years ago, seems very distant from our everyday concerns, and the Cold War, we are now told, is officially over, and yet, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island remind us that Kramer’s message is just not cinematic history.

■ PO STSCRIPT:

Jane Bray wrote to Gregory Peck seeking some memory or story to add to the exhi­ bition. Three months after she wrote, she received a reply by surface mail containing a black and white photograph studio por­ trait o f Peck with his autograph. It has been added to her mantelpiece.

1. Geoffrey Bolton, The Oxford History of Aus­ tralia, The Middle Way, 1942-1988, Vol. 5, Ox­ ford University Press, pp. 94-95.

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D a v id E lfic k ’s

could be argued that the era known in the western world as the 1950s was the first stage o f a m odern renaissance, which fully mani­ fested itself in the ’60s. The West exploded out o f its bottled-up emotional, moral, mus­ ical and social containers into a revolution with a signature tune: rock ’n ’ roll.

For many o f us, this was a cataclysmic time, as it coincided with the private revolutions o f adolescence, and n o w onder that it was so vividly memorable. For David Elfick, himself a teenager at this time, when sex was a dirty word, the vivid memories have served to propel his latest film, which cele­ brates the ’50s in its every sense.

Love in Limbo touches on every key reference o f the era, from the generous, evocative rhythm-and-blues material in the soundtrack to the suppressed sexuality, the reshaping fashions and the celebration o f war-free life in the bold use o f primary colours and in the vigorous designs o f consum er items.

What Elfick set out to capture was the look and sound o f the era; not as some clinical exercise to show it can be done, but with the intent o f using it as the framework for his story - and, let’s face it, to satisfy an inner clamouring for the feel o f those times, viewed from a mature vantage point.

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Love

inLimbo

T o understand a bit better what was driving Elfick, it is useful to know that on e o f his first ‘big’ jo b s was editing the rock ’n ’ roll magazine Go Set. This led to writing for Pop Scene Special on ABC Radio and, in 1971, the founding o f the surfing magazine Tracks-which in turn led eventually to his filmmaking debut with Morning o f the Earth (Albert Falzon, 1971), a surfing feature.

But it was his second surfing film, Crystal Voyager (G eorge G renough, 1971), that lifted Elfick’s career internationally, and launched him as a filmmaker to be taken seriously. H e had written and prod u ced a film that com bined rock ’n ’ roll with surfing, and many o f his age group responded to the feelings and images it por­ trayed.

Elfick continued to produce features but switched to directing on the mini-series Fields o f Fire II. He then directed the tele-feature Harbour B eat{ 1991).

This background provides a pretty solid basis for the style, texture and m o o d o f Fove in Fimbo, which Elfick produced and directed, from a script b y jo h n Cundill.

T o Elfick, the look and sound o f the film were as important as the script itself: they were vital elements, and his personal touches are scattered throughout.

For example, Elfick is a great admirer o f some o f the 1950s designs, including the Zippo lighter, the famous Studebaker car (he owns a Silver Hawke m o d e l), and the Lucky Strike cigarette pack - the latter two both designed by French-born industrial designer Raymond Loewy. All these are prom inent items in Love in Limbo.

T he story is set around Ken Riddle (Craig Adam s), 16, to w hom sex is as m uch o f a mystery as a riddle. H e join s his two mates from work on a trip to K algoorlie’s infamous red-light street in a fum bling attempt to collectively lose their virginity. Meanwhile, Ken’ s heart aches for a real rom ance right under his nose.

Coincidentally, his attractive, young, widowed mother, a tal­ ented dress designer, sets out on her own wobblyjourney, to a new rom ance - and a new career - on stiletto heels. Rom ance and laughs and the vibrant images o f a colour-saturated era fuse into a joyou s whole.

Production designer David McKay, himself an accom plished artist, was directed by Elfick to Dutch painter Piet Mondrian as an exam ple o f the stylized use o f colours Elfick had in mind. “The aim ”, says McKay, “was to capture the feel, not to religiously copy or recreate the period. Consciously, we uncluttered things, keep­ ing things graphic.” O f course, sometimes keeping things simple takes the most work.

McKay worked closely with costume designer Clarissa Patter­ son, and, although they never consciously m atched colours, the end result is as cohesive as if co-ordinated. In a sense, o f course, it was. Says Patterson: The hair stylist, production designer, myself, the cinematographer and make-up artist pushed the intensity o f colour to make an overtly colourful film work visually. Being set in the late 1950s gave the film an origin for artistic licence.

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But Patterson avoided the trap o f over-designing, which would have ended up “cartoonesque”, as she puts it.

A healthy liaison with the production designer is important to me as I always work from drawings o f sets, proposed colours and shapes o f props, which provide me with an idea o f where the script action will occur.

Patterson herself designed on e o f the special fabrics, but was able to find the rest in Sydney and Perth shops. “O n e thing that is difficult with a period film ”, she explains, “is the silhouette o f the undergarments.” She fou n d herself ringing the w om en extras to see if they cou ld bring along their suspender belts and pointy bras - that is, if they had them still.

But Patterson was happy to design new items which cou ld not be bought, as it was far m ore satisfying and challenging.

[DOP] Windon’s briefing from Elfick was simple enough; he showed him The Girl Can't Help It, pointed at the screen and said: “That.” They agreed to use the 1956 Frank Tashlin Cinemascope movie ( “Colour by De Luxe”), with platinum blonde Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell and Edmond O’Brien, as a benchmark for the look of Love in Limbo.

For Australian cinem atographer Steve W indon ACS, Love in Limbo is his first feature, but Elfick feels it may well lead to his join in g that select but sizeable group o f fellow Australian cinema­ tographers who have been w elcom ed by Hollywood: John Seale, Dean Semler, Russell Boyd, PeterJames, G eoff Simpson and D on M cAlpine, to name several.

W hat’s m ore, the film business is literally in W in d on ’s blood, as a third-generation filmmaker. His father is a cinematographer and director, and his grandfather was a gaffer, both o f them having started their careers with the famous newsreels o f Austral­ ia’s Cinesound and Movietone. The year young W indon was born, 1959, his grandfather, Freddy, was an electrician on Fred ANTI-CLOCKW ISE FROM IMMEDIATE LEFT: KEN (CRAIG A D A M S ), BARRY A N D ARTHUR (RUSSELL CROWE). LOVE IN U M BO . DIRECTOR DAVID ELFICK, CENTRE, W ITH LITTLE WILLIE LITTFIELD, CAST A N D CREW. G W EN (R H O N D D A FINDLETON) A N D M A X (M ARTIN SACKS). MRS LAVENTIS (FAYE M ETAXAS), BARRY, MRS COSTANIDES (ARIANTHE G A LA N I) A N D KEN. LO VE IN U M BO .

Zinnem ann’s Oscar-nominated picture, The Sundowners, with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr.

(Coincidentally, Elfick has used footage shot by W in d on ’s father, Ron, in his acclaimed 1978 feature, Newsfront [directed by Phil N oyce], which was set in the heady days when newsreels were the hottest m edium.)

Ancestry notwithstanding, W indon was on edge the whole time, he says, but he nevertheless felt he got control o f the technical side o f things. He wanted n ot only g o o d colou r satura­ tion, but a crisp, ‘u p ’ image. It was a technical conflict.

The challenge was to get the saturation on colours, but keep the skin tones natural and warm —suitable for a comedy with romance.

I read all the technical information I could, including some material in American Cinematographer. At the time I was doing a lot o f quite different work, grittier work, like the drama series Police Rescue.

W in don ’s briefing from Elfick was simple enough; he showed him The Girl Can’t Help It, pointed at the screen and said: ‘That. ” They agreed to use the 1956 Frank Tashlin Cinem aScope movie (“C olour by De Luxe”), with platinum blonde Jayne Mansfield, T om Ewell and Edm ond O ’Brien, as a benchm arkfor the look o f Love in Limbo. This, the first big budget rock ’n ’ roll movie o f the ’ 50s, triggered the whole visual concept “with all those colours that ju m p out at you”, says Elfick.

That led naturally to the decisions about stock, filters and lighting, says W indon.

I chose what I know well and feel comfortable with: Kodak 5248 and 5296, both standard tungsten stocks, and more suitable to a warmer look than the daylightstocks. The 5248 is slower, very standard, with low-grain structure, sharpness and colour saturation.

I used the 5296 high speed stock for night exteriors and big set interiors, but I found the filter worked best in daylight, so I didn’t use it for night shoots. There, we had to match the skin tones by using gels and filters on the lamps.

This was still not always enough, and the film gave grader Arthur Cambridge at Sydney’s Atlab plenty to do. “I had to fake some o f it, as is usual, to bring it into line. But it was a pleasure to work on, to help the cinematographer, who put a lot there. I think it all works”, says Cambridge.

O ne sequence, for example, needed techni­ cal work o f the most detailed kind at every stage.

It is one o f the key story points, when the three teenagers, Ken, Barry (Aden Young) and Arthur (Russell C row e), drive ou tfrom Perth in Western Australia, to the infamous brothels o f Kalgoorlie, a mining town nearly 600 kms away in the out­ back. W indon: The brothel scene was complicated because the actors had to walk from the exterior to the lit interior set. I used the filter for the exterior shot, but not for the interior. So we had to somehow match the skin tones, the wardrobe colours, everything.

That same sequence was further com plicated by what Elfick has com e to call a “reality wipe”.

T he script called for a series o f short scenes in CINEMA

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Love iti Limbo

adjacent room s o f the brothel, as two o f the youths b ecom e clients o f the establishment. As written, it would have required a series o f cuts, but Elfick decided to invoke a certain tension for the audience by using the camera in an uninterrupted journey O n e room was painted blue, the other pink, to heighten the visual change, and a set was built so there was a com m on wall, or divider. T h e edge o f this was painted black, and the camera tracked from on e to the other, across the divider, giving the impression o f a wipe. It required “extremely tricky choreogra­ phy”, which was cued by Elfick clicking his fingers.

It took many takes, but Elfick and W indon feel it gave the scene an instinctive tension which helped the com ic elements.

T h e jo b was made a fraction easier by having Marc Spicer as camera operator, a man with vast amounts o f documentary experience, and with w hom W indon had shot m ore than 20 hours o f television. For Elfick, this was a decided advantage, having “an integrated team”.

However, n o am ount o f team integration could help the hideous weather conditions encountered: o f the 40-day shoot, it rained on 38. T o make matters worse, Kalgoorlie is in the red sandy desert o f Australia, which turns to a sticky m ud when wet.

But this was also made to work for the film. Elfick: The hot red earth had the colour enhancer working overtime ... there is a lot o f colour. To me, it was symbolic o f limbo, hades, hot sexuality, the film heating up to a conclusion. It is more stylized here than anywhere else.

T he red earth shared the eye with the dramatic blue o f the Australian sky at dawn, the pink o f the brothel wall, the red mountains in the distance as the yellow sun rose in the east.

W indon and Elfick threw caution to the wind and let the colours take over.

Yet it was a winter shoot, with the sun never m ore than 38 degrees above the horizon. Says W indon ruefully, That was great for the look o f the film, but it also meant shorter shooting days, not counting the rain. The sun would come out for five minutes in the hour, but luckily the cast were so focused that we managed.

Elfick says the weather becam e a com m on enemy which united the cast and crew, generating a terrific sense o f camarade­ rie and team spirit.

O ne o f the most successful sequences (“the best o f its kind I’ve ever seen in an Australian feature in my 28 years as a grader”, according to Arthur Cambridge) was shot in such difficult condi­ tions that it is remarkable that it is in the film at all.

T he sequence takes place in a drive-in, where, in notable tribute, The Girl Can ’tHelpItis playing. Two o f our teenager heroes with dates in the back seat watch the movie, have a dance and encounter a bit o f m acho bravado. T h e sequence was not only a com plex night shoot, but rain kept splattering the collection o f ’50s cars, the wardrobes had to be kept dry, the actors and extras had to be kept focused, and a com plicated picture delivered.

T he com plication came from Elfick’s desire to integrate the dancing and the visuals on the drive-in screen.

W in d on ’ s imagination was in overdrive, and when it came to a front projection shot he improvised. With the aid o f the projec­ tor used for rushes (dailies), he rigged up a half mirror adjusted at 45 degrees and shot through it. ‘T h e half-mirror loses on e stop, but we built up the light level behind it to com pensate.”

Perhaps the most challenging lighting set-up o f all was one in an old warehouse, which was dressed to play the part o f the Bollinger clothing factory. It had treacherously low ceilings for the camera, with old beams stretching its length. W indon: 28

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It was lit with a mixture o f blue fluoros and warmer incandescent 60 watt globes. We lit the whole set with these practical lights. Fluoros were the future then; it was the ’50s embracing new technology.

It meant the actors walking from on e into the other, with dramatic differences in the way they were lit.

W hen W indon walked on the set there were just five o f the fluoros set up by production designer David McKay. W indon ordered another 40.

B om as he was into a ‘film ’ family, W in d on ’ s interest was encouraged and propelled by his father, who took him on set during the school holidays. “My father’s work on camera seem ed important to the whole process”, the young W indon had con ­ cluded, “and it was exciting having to com m unicate with people.

I think maybe that appealed to m e.”

He was second unit director o f photography on Crocodile Dundee, shortly after moving away from ABC Television, where he spent two years as a news cameraman, “back in the days when it was shot on film ”.

He went on to work on some o f the most dem anding projects in television, including two tele-features for Film Australia, six Australian-shot episodes o f Mission Impossible for Paramount, Children o f theD ragom nd The Leaving o f Liverpoolior the BBC/ABC, and two ACS G olden T ripod Award-winning projects for ABC TV, Police Rescue and Come in Spinner.

(Both o f Elfick’ s previous cinematographers were winners o f Australian Film Institute Awards: Ellery Ryan for Spotswood, and G eoff Simpson for The Navigator. Lack o f their availability sent Elfick on a search for new talent and hence to W indon.)

Following Love in Limbo, W indon went on almost immediately to work as cinematographer on Elfick’s next feature film, No Worries, due for com pletion this Decem ber.

W indon, also busy with television drama and commercials, says he feels m ore like an artist about his work than an engineer.

“It’s satisfying as a team effort, but I also recognize my specific role in it all.”

Elfick say he was keen to work with W indon pardy because o f W in don ’s willingness to “give things a g o ”. It is really a willingness to keep an open m ind and experiment, to take calculated risks and to hell with the book: “I’d worked with some fine cinem atog­ raphers, like Ellery Ryan, G eoff Simpson and Russell Boyd. W hen it came to Love in Lirtfbo, I felt it was an enthusiast’s film ... and Steve was gam e.”

With the film ready for release, Elfick was as enthusiastic about W in d on ’s work as he was about his potential. “In commercials, Steve says when he sees a beer can he wants to shoot it so you can taste it. That’s what he does in this film. He makes the reality work on the screen.”

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â&#x20AC;¢lisp*

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S T O L E N P A I N T I N G ).

Raúl Ruiz

o an Australian cinéphile eagerly reading the literature from overseas, Raúl Ruiz (right) can easily seem a mythic figure. In the early 1980s, Jonathan Rosenbaum claimed in Sight and Sound that, like Jean-Luc Godard in the 1960s and Jacques Rivette in the ’ 70s, Ruiz “can simply do no w rong”. A typical rave in Cahiers du Cinémaby Iannis Katsahnias (reviewing Mammame in 1986) began: “There are a thousand good reasons to love the cinema o f Ruiz [...) his ability to tell stories, the magic o f his special effects, his sense o f rhythm”. Katsahnias admits that these are the very qualities that make the American cinema great, but in Ruiz there is something extra: his cinema is “personal, obsessed”.

Ruiz indeed shook up world cinema at the end o f the 1970s, beginning particularly with his made-for-television L ’Hypothèse du tableau volé ( The Hypothesis ofthe Stolen Painting, 1978).

His career in fact began much earlier, in Chile. His first com pleted feature, Los tres triste tigres { Three Sad Tigers), won festival awards in 1968 and was touted by such discerning surrealist critics as Ado Kyrou and Freddy Buache. But it is only after his relocation as an ‘exile’ in Europe that the Ruizian cocktail really comes togethera potent com bination o f art movie, magic realism, irreverent humour, esoteric knowledge and a wild, childlike feel for fantasy and fiction.

But Ruiz has not always been consecrated in the overseas film press. Four years after the special issues o f Cahiers du Cinéma and Positifdevoted to Ruiz in 1983 - the time o f Les Trois Couronnes du Matelot { Three Crowns ofa Sailor) and La Ville despirates ( City of Pirates) - the same French critics were passing over his prolific œuvre in silence; and even Rosenbaum noted the decline o f Ruizian inspira­ tion in films like La Professor Taranne and La Chouette Aveugle (both 1987). In the 1990s, however, the cycle seems to have restarted.

Frédéric Richard writes favourably in Positif about L ’Odl qui Ment {Dark at Noon) - his first ‘above groun d’ commercial film after a period o f obscure (if prolific) low-budget activity - and refers to Ruiz’s “droll, dreamlike, disquieting” art.

Australian fans o f Ruiz have perhaps received his work in exactly the right dosage. Only a small portion o f his filmography has ever filtered through to here, via fleeting Film Festival screenings, 16mm film society prints and an unpublicised broadcast in 1991 o f the three-part children’s series, Manuel à Hie des marueilles {Manuel on the Island of Marvels, 1985), on ABC TV. Finally, however, thanks to the join t effort o f The Australian Film Institute and the Sydney Carnivale, we are being treated to approximately fifteen o f his major films in January 1993 (the final selection unconfirm ed at time o f going to press). Since Ruiz is truly - as David Ehrenstein once suggested - the Edgar G. Ulmer o f art cinema, making films quickly and always moving on to the next project, it is a miracle that certain films (such as Le Territoire [ The Territory, 1981 ] ) exist in any screenable form whatsoever. Ruiz is travelling to Australia with his wife and regular editor, Valeria Sarmiento, director o f the brilliant Notre Mariage ( 1984) and Amelia Lopes O Neill (1991), which will be screened during the season.

The following interview has been put together in a suitably Ruizian fashion. It is a montage o f two separate interviews, one conducted by Christopher Tuckfield in France in November 1989, and the other by myself over the telephone in O ctober 1992. As will be evident, Ruiz has no qualms about talking in great philosophical and intellectual depth about his films, a depth that co-exists in no contradiction whatsoever with their parodie, playful and outrightly silly aspects. Indeed, Ruiz may be one o f the few filmmakers in the

world today who can successfully ‘ translate’ criti­ cal, theoretical concepts into the stuff o f cinema - images, sounds, performances and stories. Per­ haps this is because, for Ruiz, cinema is the space o f a ceaseless translation, transformation and metamorphosis o f all elements, material and im­ material. A. M.

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Part One: Career Path and Working Methods It was 1973, after the coup, you le ft Chile and went to France where you w orked mainly in television and in film s supported by television.

Yes, between television and cinema; not exactly more one or the other. I was also working in theatre and so the work was sometimes between theatre and cinema.

Then, o f course, in 1984 I worked in this very funny monster called the Maison de la Culture in France. I had the idea o f making a sort o f cultural centre where you would not use a cultural centre for what it was made for, but to show films, put on plays, make concerts and help a lot o f artists. At the same time, I tried to unify that and make mainly audio-visual work with both films and theatre.

A t the M aison de la Culture in Le H avre, you m anaged to m ake a very large n um ber o f film s.

No, not so many. I am more prolific when I work alone as a freelancer. The maximum amount o f films I’ve made was between 1983 and 1984 when I made seven feature-length films and maybe four short films. I d o n ’ t remember the exact number.

W a s there som ething special about France that enabled a d ifferen t working style fo r you?

It was not so very different from the work I used to make in Chile; there was only more elements, more money, m ore people inter­ ested in making this kind o f work. In Chile it was a real minority; no more than ten people interested in this kind o f adventure.

Y o u have described you rself as one o f the last film m akers n ot in captivity, m eaning that you are n ot exclusively b ou n d to a particular institution.

This is another problem. Fifteen or twenty years ago, maybe even five years ago, there were many institutions that helped artists to make very particular, very original work. Originality was a value; to make something different was a value; to make prototypes which were impossible to serialize or copy was a value.

N owin France, precisely when the socialists came to power, the rules changed rapidly. The rules became precisely those o f the market and they were about becom ing competitive like the U.S. But it was impossible. At that moment, most o f the explosive filmmakers in France were stifled. Some o f them stopped working, others

“My films are not fiction films but about fiction. Perhaps this is because I have always been interested in the way fiction connects with reality. It's not very easy to capture, and I have been interested precisely in the prob­ lem of how more than one fiction can co-exist in the same moment.”

becam e crazy, and others tried to convert to this half-commercial, half-arty type o f work.

I was never very experimental. My models were people like [Igor] Stravinsky, even people like Nicholas Ray. I was somewhere between original work and working within normal structures o f production. I never moved, but everybody else moved to the other side, becam e m ore commercial or disappeared.

I had this curious feeling o f being at the beginning: I was som ebody who was on the right o f experimental filmmaking and in something like three to four years I was on the extreme left and everyone else was on the other side.

Y ou have m anaged fo r the past ten years to work continuously.

That’s the main idea. I try to work all the time in a very normal way; not very fast. My films are not very expensive. I have been mixing, com bining and working m ore recently between cinema and thea­ tre, and writing, o f course. I have always written. I d o n ’tpublish, but I write. I make between three and seven films a year, and write between two and four plays.

My career is a collage o f many careers really. I d o n ’ t feel com fortable within one particular system o f cultural production.

Instead, I feel very comfortable changing constantly from one context to another.

H ave you worked in television recently?

In France it is very difficult for me. Just today I received my seventeenth refusal from cultural television. B u tl’ve also presented ten other presentations and so maybe one will pass. I hope I’ll be working in French television in a couple o f months.

At the moment, I am making a film for British television for Channel 4. It is called Los Solidados, the name o f a long poem by [D on Luis] G óngora1 [y A rgote]. It has to be made in Chile, using many poetical elements o f Chile.

Chile is seen through the eyes o f a Chinese painter - any traditional Chinese pa in ter-w h o uses the traditional shin too ideas o f painting from the l$th Century. So again I’m making something where evidently two elements shouldn’t go together.

It is n ot immediately evident that something from Chile has anything to d o with Chinese painting. But what happens in the landscape o f my country, the south o f Chile where I was born, the first thing it provokes in me is fear. It is a crazy landscape. But in crazy landscapes you can have very reasonable people talking, and that makes it m ore crazy.

Y ou have written several hundred plays?

O ne hundred, on a bet. [Laughs] O ne hundred precisely, between the ages o f 17 and 20years. Itwas very easy; they were not really plays.

Some o f them were five pages long, others were one hundred pages, but most were very short plays. It was just a bet.

Y ou once said that, after doing som e theatre work in the 1980s, you were told it was in fact installation art.

At this time I am making both. W hen I started doing theatre, JeanPaul Fargier told me there was something called installation which was very close to what I was trying to do in theatre. So I saw some installation work by Bill Viola and other people, and I became interested by this form o f expression. I started doing installation work using elements o f the cinema and theatre. But the work was always a lot m ore theatrical in the sense that they are like sets from mystery films during the night without actors and without lighting.

Now I am making a church and next year I will be making a tower, a real tower, wMch is where Sigismond is imprisoned in Calderon’s play, La Vida es Sueno.

Raúl Ruiz

The problem is what kind o f takes and what is the complexity o f what you do. But I am sure, whether a bad film or a g ood film, it needs the same amount o f effort.

Sometimes a com plex, very difficult film gives you m ore energy, so you are less tired than with a very stupid, flat film. T o make a com plex film is less difficult than making a simple one. Even the communication technicians would agree with that.

And is that true also o f writing?

But you do not need to write to make a film. I make literary films but also other kinds. I could make silent films. It is not particularly different. I simply like to write, but you do not need to write. You shouldn’ t!

In many centres, and in m ore traditional financing and production m odels, the script is the primary elem ent.

It is a real danger. It becom es a contract very easily.

D o you closely supervise the soundtracks o f your film s?

Sure, I am always in this position. Except for the last one [Dark at Noon], where there was so much noise that I went away before the end o f the mix. Normally, I make a score with music from my own record collection. I make a sort o f maquettem odel and then tell the musicians to start with that and change anything they d o n ’t like.

Sometimes there is some sort o f strategy. In La Ville des pirates, it was particularly complicated, with music for almost the whole film. The film is an experiment in continuum, and varieties o f continuum. Everything is connected somewhere. It is like the sea; it is liquid, the spirit o f liquidity.

There was a series o f five themes and the themes were not really like leitmotifs', we tried to use the opposite o f a leitmotif. We put the horror musical theme in one horror situation, but then in another which was not horror. The connection we wanted to make between the scenes was made through music. It was an atmospheric refer­ ence to connect the scenes. It didn’t work completely, but the idea was good.

W hat are your feelings about ‘nationalist’ cultural identity?

ABOVE: TW O STILLS FROM RU IZ'S LA VOCATION SUSPENDUE ( THE SUSPENDED VOCATION).

BELOW: TW O STILLS FROM R U IZ'S L'ILE A U TRÉSOR {TREASURE ISLAND).

What happened after in theatre was that I started working with Italian actors. They are so keen to do improvisations that I began working in another kind o f style, one very different from installa­ tion. This work was closer to the traditional form o f Italian commedia delVarte, even if the text and the style are completely different. I tried to make this commedia delVarte with what was supposed to be old Spanish theatre o f the 16th and 17th centuries.

My work in theatre has been mainly in Italy. There is a centre near Pisa where I worked with Grotowski, the Polish theatre director o f the 1960s and ’70s, at a permanent workshop with people com ing from all over the world. A couple o f months ago I finished Don Giovanni, which I wrote myself. It is a mixture o f many Don Giovannis with elements o f Ladn America. Again, it is a sort o f patchwork, but using all the elements o f the commedia delVarte, so it is not really installation. Don Giovanni does have the aspects o f solemnity, coldness, the mystery o f the installations. For me, instal­ lations are very dark. The theatre is exactly the opposite, trying to make something very happy, comical and with irony, even though installation has some irony.

W hat is the average length o f the shoot for you on a feature-length film ?

Sometimes it is very small; itjust depends. I have my own records o f 100 takes in a day, and 45 minutes. It is not so much on television.

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Any kind o f nationalism is a fiction in the worst sense o f the word.

I believe in some kind o f cultural identity; that is, in the variety o f identities. You do not need only one identity; you need many if you want to becom e yourself.

I can let drop my precautions about the problem o f identity and culture because o f my situation. I am now very distant from any kind o f speculation about cultural identity. O f course, I cannot have one identity because I have been in so many countries and I have

BELOW : STILL FROM R U IZ'S LA VILLE DES PIRATES [CITY OF PIRA TES), A N D , ELLIC (D A V ID W ARNER) A N D FELICIEN (DIDIER BO U R D O N ) IN R U IZ'S L'O EIL QU I M EN T (D A R K A T N O O N ).

w orkedm so many languages. So identityforme, in the best o f cases, can be a sort o f enemy.

D o you consider yourself a European film m aker, a South Am erican film m aker, or som ething else?

A bandalerol A bandit. Well, filmmakers are sometimes inspired by bandits.

Part 2: Influences and Ideas There is a differen t sense o f narrative construction in your work and it is is quite unique to your style.

Yes. My films are not fiction films but about fiction. Perhaps this is because I love fiction and I have always been interested in the way fiction connects with reality. It’s not very easy to capture, and I have been interested precisely in the problem o f how m ore than one fiction can co-exist in the same instant.

H ow do you feel about the description “ philosophical film m aker” ?

I do not know. You may rem em ber [Jean Luis] Borges once said that philosophy was a branch o f fantastic literature. Maybe that can be read the other way around: fantastic literature is part o f philoso­ phy. What is true now is that the new scientific and philosophical speculation needs a lot o f images like the kind o f images the cinema is producing.

I was always very close in a very sportive and funny way to some philosophers, or a kind o f philosophy that is a bit different: people like the English p h ilosop h er A lfred W hitehead, [A rnold] Schopenhauer and, o f course, other smaller philosophers o f the baroque era, who are between philosophy, speculation, political activity - people that today could be called intellectuals and artists at the same time.

Anyway, for me the cinema is a way to connect many kinds o f cultural elements that are usually separate.

Frequendy you have m entioned literary and other sources, usually from very particular areas o f the 18th Century. It is interesting that you rarely m ention cinematic sources.

My references are not very popular: references to the worst o f the ‘B ’ movies because they were the movies I used to see when I was a child; to films by directors like Ford Beebe2and Reginald Le Borg3, and films written by DeWitt B odeen4.1 have just written a chapter for a novel where the main character is DeWitt Bodeen. Other references are to the serials, and o f course to some o f the MetroGoldwyn-Mayer films, which are not exactly ‘B’ films but very popular.

I do not separate that from all my other various activities. W hen I started working with theatre, I m ixed my films with references to Spanish theatre, the classics and so on. For me, the way to start making a film was a way o f connecting two different worlds which were until that m om ent completely separate.

There was, you know, this aspect o f Chilean culture called the “popular’ where, for example, on Sundays you went to the cinema to see all these abject films, and in this m om ent you find yourself with two different cultures, two worlds. It was a world in which any middle-class person in Latin America lived at the same time between a very popular medium and another m edium pretending to be less popular. The cinema for me was away to mix these worlds without destroying any o f the cultures.

A touching point or a bridge between layers?

Bridge - ilp on te- was a very important word in baroque.

Viewing those Am erican popular film s in Chile becam e the touch­ ing points between popular culture and a m ore academ ic, intellec­ tual culture.

We should say “pop culture”, like the Americans, because there was another popular culture which was the national Chilean popular culture, which is curiously very baroque because it started in the

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C H R I S

C O N G

Australia’s First Films: With Australia’s cinema centenary approaching, the published accounts of our industry 9s birth are overdue fo r revision.

Anniversary celebrations and commemorative films are planned. Considerable sums of money will be spent. Yet nobody seems to know the exact circumstances of the Australian genesis of film , and those who claim to know often quote apocryphal sources. Enduring film fables have been accepted as fact by a process of unchallenged repetition.

an

APPEN0/jf

PROFESSOR DOUGLAS ARCHIBALD, < u « « .//u s?ra tta n , Exhibitions wider the direction, of-

MESSRS. MACMAHON. Front cover o f the first Australian publication deal­ ing with sound recording distributed by Professor Douglas Archibald (1890) and published by the Macmahon brothers inM elboum e. This was Edison’s first form al association with demonstrations o f his inventions in Australia, leading eventually to the Australian introduction o f motion-picture film in 1894.

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istorical objectivity is lost when attractive myths surround and obscure real events. Many people wantto believe that Australia produced “the w orld’s firstfeature film ”, or that we had a “film production industry” in the distant past which dom inated the w orld’s market. U nder these circumstances, there can be a real resistance to the truth and very selective usage o f evidence.

Fortunately, 1890s film production data does survive. Newspa­ pers were incredibly numerous, reporting and preserving ephem ­ eral events for future generations. Any public filming or exhibi­ tion o f film got into print. All a m odern researcher has to d o is a thorough, patient literature survey. M odern research aids such as microfilm, X erox and published listings o f library holdings sim­ plify the jo b .

In 1987, Ken Berryman and I initiated the National Film Sc Sound Archive’s historical compilation video series. T o assemble Living Melbourne (1988), Living Ballarat (1990) an d FederationFilms (1991), I first had to gather data on all o f the early film com p o­ nents. Many surviving films and docum ents from the 1890s simply didn’t accord with existing accounts o f film history.

The NFSA supplied some m oney to assist research. Later, Pat Laughren at Griffith University (Brisbane) helped to extend the research into Queensland. A b ook em erging from this aggregate o f data is to be called Australia ’s First Films, but many loose ends need to be tied before we publish. Meanwhile, the im minent centenary makes the publication o f the earliest data imperative.

Robert Francis’ film series, Celluloid Heroes, and these articles in Cinema Papers will be the first avenues o f dissemination.

Let’s look at some key facts, then I’ll provide evidence for them: • Australian film exhibition beefan on 30 N ovem ber 1894, not 1896.

• Sound films were first shown here in September 1895, not 1928.

• Carl Hertz did not bring the first movie projector to Australia.

• Australia’s first film was not o f the 1896 M elbourne Cup. • Australia’s first film producer probably wasn’t Marius Sestier.

I could continue, but the point is clear. Research through the contemporary sources o f the 1890s has been inadequate and a lot o f the accepted myths have been derived from inaccurate secon­ dary sources.

Newspaper research is uncom plicated but expensive. Com ­ prehensive investigation o f Australia’s newspaper holdings in­ volves travelling the breadth o f the continent. Inter-library loans o f historical newspapers are usually not permitted. Even the microfilms o f those newspapers are n ot generally allowed to travel from their source libraries. Finally, there is the problem o f the over-zealous librarian who won ’ t allow access to hardcopy newspa­ pers, even if they’re not transferred to microfilm.

T horough research can only be justified where film produc­ tion or publication offer the chance o f defraying the considerable costs involved. Until that research is don e and comprehensive filmographies are published, n o history o f Australian film will be really adequate in scope or usefulness. I h op e that the myths uncovered by this series o f articles will encourage a m ore sceptical appraisal o f our film folklore.

H

FACTS AND FABLES The Kinetoscope in Australia E volving P erspectives in C inem a H istory Traditional accounts often claim that cinema began with the Lumière brothers’ first com m ercial show in Paris on 28 D ecem ber 1895. That claim was contradicted by Louis Lumière himself, when he said that his movie work was inspired “when the Edison kinetoscope appeared in Paris in 1894”.1 In the 1960s, G ordon Hendricks’ work gave further weight to the Edison kinetoscope’s priority claims. He worked meticulously through masses o f laboratory records at the Edison factory site in Newjersey, subsequently publishing TheEdison Motion Picture Myth (1961) and The Kinetoscope (1966).2 Hendricks’ books trace the day-to-day movements o f Edison’s staff m em ber in charge o f m otion picture development, William K. L. Dickson. Dickson is shown to be the inventor o f sprocketed 35mm movie film in O ctober 1892,3 and via the kinetoscope he introduced com m er­ cial m otion pictures internationally in 1894.4 The British film historian John Barnes further supports the claims for the Edison-Dickson kinetoscope: The cinema as we know it today, began with the kinetograph (camera) and kinetoscope (viewer). These two instru­ ments represent the first practical method o f cinema­ tography [...] The whole procedure thus involved a strip o f photographic film, a perforator, a motion picture camera, printer, and reproducer - all the essential requirements o f the modern cinema. The only modern feature which had not been accom­ plished at this stage was the projection o f pictures

upon a screen. No previous attempts at cinematography had achieved all these requirements [...]5 Barnes also maintains that “it was from the kinetoscope that all subsequent m otion picture invention is derived”.6 Some chroniclers reject the kinetoscope as the genesis o f cinema because it was a direct film viewer, unable to throw images on a screen. That perspective was not shared by those who saw the first public m otion picture projection demonstrations in Mel­ bourne during 1896. Reviews universally refer to them as a developm ent o f the kinetoscope: “What the Kinetoscope does on a few inch scale the cinematographe does with life size figures.” Table Talk (Melbourne), 28 August 1896 “In principle, it is the kinetoscope o f Mr. Edison.” The Herald (Melbourne), 18 August 1896 “It is a combination o f the features o f the kinetoscope with the magic lantern.” Argus (Melbourne), 19 August 1896 “This is an amplification o f Edison’s kinetoscope, or rather a combination o f that photographic miracle with the optical lan­ tern.” Melbourne Punch, 27 August 1896 O ne reviewer even considered projection a backward step: ‘Judging from a private trial given at the Melbourne Opera House the other night, the kinetoscopical views on a sheet are not as clear, or as natural in movement as the peep show pictures produced by Edison’s original apparatus [...]” The Bulletin (Syd­ ney), 29 August 1896 All o f these reviews clearly point to Australian cinematic beginnings well before 1896.

In fact, the first Australian kinetoscope film exhibi­ tion open ed in Sydney on 30 N ovem ber 1894.7 Pa­ trons paid a shilling at the d o o r o f a specialized venue to view a programme o f five films, one in each o f the first five machines im ported.8 Twenty-five thousand patrons rolled up in the first m onth.9 The film pro­ grammes were changed frequently and were adver­ tised in the papers. After the Sydney season concluded, the machines toured all o f the Australian capitals and many o f the provincial cities, right through to the time o f Australia’s first screen projection demonstrations.

This article outlines, for the first time, the events o f the first two years o f Australian film exhibition following the prem iere in 1894.

T he P honograph came first

Above: Professor Douglas Archibald, right, at the Academy o f Music, Launceston, on the 22 or 23 June 1891, with the prototype Edison wax cylinder phonograph he brought from the inventor’s Newjersey laboratory. T his tour was managed by the Macmahons and forges a link between them and Edison which continued through the 1890s, including the fust Australian exhibitions o f Edison’s kinetoscope movie viewer. Note the “ limelight” (slide) projector at left, which was used to give the audience a visual tour o f Edison’s laboratory. The rubber pipes supplied gas to heat the lime block. Photo by courtesy o f the Northern Tasmania Camera Club.

Inset: James Macmahon (1857-1915) travelled to Edison’s laboratory late in 1890, on behalf o f his brothers Charles and Joseph, to arrange an exhibition franchise fo r Edison s inventions in Australia, leading to the first local demonstrations o f m otion pictures in November 1894. Portrait: Weekly Times, 3 August 1889, p. 20.

The kinetoscope was devised “to do for the eye what the p h o n o ­ graph did for the ear”.10 The same theatrical entrepreneurs introduced both devices to the Australian public.

Edison’s Australian connection was forged on 28 May 1890, when the British showman Professor Douglas Archibald arrived in Sydney.11 He brought the latest wax cylinder phonograph direct from the inventor’s N ew jersey laboratory.

A message recording from British Prime Minister Gladstone was played to the New South Wales Governor, L ord Carrington, on 8 June 1890.12 This attracted the attention o f the Australian theatrical entrepreneur, James M acm ahon (1858-1915), and his brother, Charles (1861-1917). They immediately arranged to manage Archibald’s Australasian theatrical exhibitions o f the phonograph.13 The Macmahons are the forgotten founders o f our industry, both short o f stature and both hard-bitten businessmen. They were the most successful o f their Bendigo-born clan o f four CINEMA

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brothers and two sisters. James in particular was well-suited to exploit these American inventions. After two years in theatrical management, at the age o f nineteen he piloted the actress Mrs Scott Siddons on the first o f six outstandingly-successful American theatrical tours. Over the next seven years, this made James a wealthy man. Returning to Australia, he leased several theatres in the colonial capitals.14His American background and his fascina­ tion with technical novelty gave our public its first view o f recorded sound and movies.

Australia’s first public wax cylinder phonograph show was given by Archibald under the M acmahon management at Mel­ b ou rn e’s Athenaeum Theatre on 27 June 1890.15 First came a demonstration o f the m achine’s ability to make an on-the-spot recording o f a m em ber o f the audience. T hen Archibald would give his audience a tour o f Edison’ s laboratory with slide illustra­ tions. Finally, they were spellbound by the recorded voices o f colonial governors, inventor Edison and Gladstone. It drew capac­ ity crowds all over Australasia for the next two years.

Financial returns from the phonograph were so outstanding that James M acm ahon visited Edison’s laboratory at the end o f 1890.16 He returned in January 1891 with automatic coin-slot phonographs, electric weighing machines and other marvels.17 Perhaps m ore important to our saga, he apparently forged some sort o f exhibition franchise arrangement with Edison.

D ickson at E d is o n ’ s L aboratory MAKING M OVIES M ARKETABLE

Meanwhile, m otion-picture developments were reaching a prac­ tical stage. By February 1893, W. K L. Dickson com pleted a movie studio at Edison’s N ewjersey base to provide film subjects for his “kinetoscopes”.18 Popularly known as ‘T h e Black Maria”, it was a w ood-fram ed tarpaper construction on a rotating foundation to catch the sunlight. Inside it was Dickson’ s huge and im m obile camera, the w orld’s sole source o f movie films until the early months o f 1895.19 Subjects were film ed in stark relief against the black tarpaper studio walls, as sunlight streamed in through the studio’s flip-top roof. Everything had to be brought to the im m obile camera for filming. Location work was out o f the question.

Strongman Eugene Sandow, an act prom oted by the youthful Florenz Ziegfeld, travelled out to N ew jersey for filming on 6 March 1894, the film being on e o f the first seen in Australia.20 Another early troupe film ed in September 1894 was Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, including American Indians and the sharp­ shooter Annie Oakley.21 Kinetoscope viewers were stockpiled until a marketable quantity were manufactured. T he first public “kinetoscope parlour” open ed in New York on 14 April 1894.22 T he subsequent scramble for machines by American showmen Exterior and interior views o f the “ Black Maria” studio, where Edison’s films were shot.

delayed exports for many months.

O ne o f the first Australians to see the new novelty was J. C. Williamson, who was on a brief tour o f Am erica in mid-1894. He secured Australian rights to the invention, placing an order for the dispatch o f machines to Sydney on the earliest possible date.23 Edison’s L on don agent, Colonel G eorge Edward Gouraud, bought 100 machines for European distribution, and for a while he may have controlled the British colonial exports to our re­ gion.24As a local reference states that our kinetoscopes were “five o f the first hundred manufactured”,25 the num ber suggests that Gouraud may have been their source. Another possibility is that the Australian kinetoscopes were from Edison’s export agents, Maguire and Baucus, which open ed the first British kinetoscope parlour in L on don on 17 O ctober 1894.26 Whatever their source, we know that the Australian set o f five kinetoscopes were dispatched from L on d on aboard the RMS “Orizaba” on 5 O ctober 1894, a remarkable two weeks before the m achine’s L on don prem iere.27 They arrived in Sydney on 17 N ovem ber,28where the day-to-day exhibition work was assigned to the M acm ahon brothers by Williamson.29

T he A ustralian K inetoscope T our , 1 8 9 4 -9 6 Australians were prim ed for the kinetoscope’s arrival by enthusi­ astic advance publicity, particularly in the photographic industry press. First o ff the rank was Harrington’s Australian Photographic Joumalwith a lengthy, illustrated account o f the invention in May 1894.30 The rival photographic supply house, Baker 8c Rouse, replied with articles in its Photographic Review o f Reviews (Australian edition) during July and August 1894.31 T he big premiere for Sydney was organized byj. C. Williamson and George Musgrove in association with the Macmahons, in a converted shop at 148 Pitt Street.32 A century later, the building still stands, operating as the Sussan clothing outlet in the Pitt Street mall. T he premiere was announced for 29 N ovem ber 1894,33 but “some trouble was fou n d at first in making the electrical connections work smoothly”, so it was delayed until the following day, Friday 30 N ovem ber 1894. It was the birthday o f our industry.

Patrons paid their shilling at the d o o r to file past each o f the five electrically-operated machines. They looked down into a window in the top o f each to view a clear but tiny image. The machines contained a 50-foot loop o f film running at the surpris­ ingly high speed o f about 40 pictures a second and lasting about thirty seconds. In spite o f the brevity o f the loops, on e film at the premiere explored the story-telling potential o f the medium: There is a shop, with the barber in atten­ dance. A man enters, takes off his coat, hangs it on a peg, and seats himself in a chair. The barber immediately adjusts the towel, and commences shaving. While this operation is taking place, a man seated in a chair in the shop rises with a paper in hand, and, walking over to an­ other one, points out a humorous pas­ sage in it, over which they both laugh heartily [...]34 A nother item was the first o f a very few films shot by Dickson just outside the “Black Maria” studio, on 25 July 1894.35 T he sub­ ject, wire walker Juan Caicedo, had appeared at the Princess Theatre, M elbourne, in 1890, and was recognized by the reviewer in The Sydney Morning Herald: [...] the personal idiosyncrasies o f the individual are actually reproduced, and for this reason the management did well to exhibit this example o f the power o f the new invention. Most theatregoers have seen Caicedo, and they will now readily recog­ nise his peculiarly measured way o f doing his difficult feats, the

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H ER A LD , m

X

F R ID A Y ,

N O V EM B ER

z

s k c i n b t o s c o p * t h* W o a isr o f th* A ge, the Mystery * ot the Day, 1« „ N O W O N E X H IB IT IO N at 148 FITT-45TBEET (opposite Strand Arcade)«

3 0 ,' 1894. ,]

s

Th* KIN ETO SCO PE is the* latest f a n n t o of the renowned TH C S. E D ISO N , mad h u onhr recently bean perfected and exhibited in New York and Boston, U .8 .A ., where the excitement and interest attained such propor­ tion that it was found necessary to keep the premises open for 11 b o on d a ily ; and, at the present tim e, enormous crowds hare to wait far hours in order to obtain a glimpse of this mort fascinating sight.

The KINETOSCOPE is not only scientific, instruct!re, end wonderful, but intensely amusing. I t is, in fact, what may be described ae a real lire Phonograph, but, instead of merely producing sounds, ft realises absolute living pictures of scenes in real life, obtained by a marvellous process of instantaneous photography.

The representation is so vivid and realistic that it seems almost impossible to better* that the figures axe not flesh and blood.

IT C AN N O T BE DESCRIBED. IT M U ST BE SEEN .

Open Daily from 11 &.xn. to 11 p.m . Admission, One Shfllitg.

Left: Edison’s Kinetoscope. First m otion picture viewer shown in Australia, 30 November 1894. First Melbourne show 16 March 1895. Right: Unobtrusive but Significant: the first Australian advertisement fo r a film show in The Sydney Morning Herald.

slow and certain method o f his somersault, and the ease with which he swings on the rope.36 A couple o f weeks into the Sydney season it becam e obvious that Australians w ould take fondly to this new medium: The wonderful kinetoscope, now on exhibition in Pitt street, Sydney, under the pilotage o f Mr. C. Macmahon, acts on the public after the fashion o f treacle-paper on flies. During the recent holidays it has been a constant source o f attraction, and every time the pictures were changed there was a fresh rush ofvisitors [...] To any outside observer, the show appears in the light o f a veritable gold mine, and no matter in what form the opinions about it are expressed by those who have seen it, they are all centered in admiration.37 For the next ten months, the original set o f five kinetoscopes toured Australia, introducing the first m otion pictures shown in every place visited. Sixteen films were im ported with the first shipment,38 supplem ented by hew items after the M elbourne prem iere in March 1895. If any o f these should ever be found, they will be recognized by their unique frosted nitrate film base.39 The frosting was to diffuse the light from the light bulb which m om en­ tarily illuminated each frame from behind through a rotating slotted disc shutter. T he film m oved continuously in the viewer. It had n o intermittent film-advancing mechanism, so each frame was illuminated only very briefly to avoid blurring o f the image.

T h e brevity o f illumination also dem anded a high picture repeti­ tion rate, usually m ore than 40 pictures-per-second.

Anybody doubting the impact o f these shows can refer to daily papers covering kinetoscope exhibition in any place on the itinerary below. “W ho dares to say that the age o f miracles is past?”, said M elbourne’s Table Talkon 21 March 1895. “Buffalo Bill moves a living personality before you, and will so move a hundred years hence when he has grown up into daisies and grass!”40

A ustralian K inetoscope V enues and F ilm s TO SEPTEMBER 18 9 5 41 30 N ov 1894 - 29 Jan 1895 - SYDNEY

(148 Pitt Street): Annabelle’s “skirt dance”.

Juan Caicedo Dancing on the H igh Wire (2 5 /7 /9 4 ).

A Cock Fight (March 1894).

A Blacksmith Shoeing A Horse.

Com ical Barbershop Scene.

N ew film s 6 D ec 1894

Annabelle’s “serpentine dance”.

Am erican wresding: Leonard vs. Stephens.

N ew film s 8 D ec 1894

Dance scene: “A Highland Fling” (March 1894).

Eugene Sandow in Muscular Display.

T he Blacksmith’s Forge.

Professor W eston’s Boxing Cats.

Armand Ary, French Soubrette.

N ew film 3 Jan 1895

J. K Emmett and his Wrestling Dog. 5 Feb 1895 - 12 M ar 1895 - HOBART

(Main Hall, Tasmanian Exhibition, Domain.)

16 M ar 1895 - 8 June 1895 - MELBOURNE

(Haunted Swing Premises, Bourke Street East. ) Carmencita, Spanish Dancer (1 1 /3 /9 4 ).

Sioux Indian War Dance (2 4 /9 /9 4 ).

N ew Film 19 M arch 1895

Buffalo Bill N ew film 4 M ay 1895:

Lassoo throwing by North American Indians (2 4 /9 /9 4 ).

N ew film 9 M ay 1895:

A Mexican Duel (knife fight) (6 /1 0 /9 4 ).

N ew film 18 M ay 1895:

French Ballet (6 /1 0 /9 4 ).

N ew film 24 M ay 1895:

The Arabian Pasha ( “as recendy viewed by H er Majesty Q ueen Victoria at W indsor”) .

11 June 1895 - 17 June 1895 - BENDIGO

(Albion Chambers, View Street): N ew film 17 June 1895

Hadgi Hami, Egyptian Acrobat.

19 June 1895 - 26 June 1895 - BALLARAT

(Academy o f Music, Lydiard Street S outh).

28 June 1895 - 2 July 1895 - GEELONG

(Exhibition T heatre).

N ote: a phonograph was also exhibited at this venue. BellTain ter graphophones were exhibited at the Sydney kine­ toscope venue from 22 D ecem ber 1894.

6 July 1895 - 29 July 1895 - SYDNEY

(second run, in “shop premises opposite Lyceum Theatre and next to Tattersall’s in Pitt Street”) .

30 July 1895 - 12 August 1895 - U N KNO W N

(Newcastle and Maidand papers give n o m ention o f kinetoscope.

May have been Tamworth, or Parramatta.)

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Above: Kinetoscope Arcade. Below: Schematic diagram o f the Kinetoscope.

13 August 1895 - 26 A ug. 1895 - BRISBANE

(12 to 16 August at Organ Hall, Bowen Park Exhibition Grounds; 17 to 26 August at Telegraph Chambers, Q ueen Street.)

N ew film 15 A ug. 1895:

T he Indian War Council (2 2 /9 /9 4 ) N ew film 22 A ug. 1895:

T he Arabian Juggler.

2 Sept. 1895 - c6 Sept. 1895 - TOWNSVILLE

(venue unknown - daily papers do not survive; weeklies d o not state the venue.)

S eptember 1895 A ustralia ’ s K inetophones - m ovies with sound Charters Towers in Queensland is the last place you would expect the Australian debut o f a cinematic innovation, but in 1895 it was briefly Queensland’s second largest city, at the peak o f its gold­ m ining b o o m .42 M oney poured into it from European stock exchanges, from mining magnates and miners. There was de­ mand for entertainments.

i /

PEEPHOLE

T he new developm ent was a natural confluence o f two Edison products, the phonograph and the kinetoscope. Edison and Dickson conceived m otion pictures as an adjunct to recorded sound. Through the latter half o f 1894, Dickson experim ented with synchronous sound films, but disappointing trials revealed the problems o f com m ercial exploitation. “Lip sync” efforts were abandoned at the end o f 1894.43 Instead, Dickson produced kinetoscopes with cylinder p h on o­ graph mechanisms internally fitted. T he kinetoscope m otor ro­ tated the phonograph mechanism through a belt drive. This ensured that the two mechanisms would start and stop simultane­ ously, but otherwise the sync was entirely “wild”. Most exhibitions o f this com bination only provided rough musical backing for the films, heard through “ear tubes”.44A playlist published by Edison recom m ended particular standard records to accom pany each film.45 From about April 1895, the new com bination was marketed in Am erica as the “kinetophone”.46Its Australian exhibition reviews strongly suggest that some o f Dickson ’ s original lip-sync films with dialogue were shown here. T he sync deficiencies ensured that the new kinetophone would never achieve the success o f its silent predecessor. M ore than 1,000 silent kinetoscopes were manufac­ tured before 1897, but only 45 sound-equipped kinetophones reached the open market.47 O ne o f the w orld’s three surviving kinetophones is held in a Sydney collection —the oldest surviving item o f film equipm en t in Australia.

After the Townsville kinetoscope season, the original five silent machines were freighted to Charters Towers for exhibition between 6 and 14 September 1895. The films and machines had all been seen elsewhere.

T hen on 16 September 1895, quite unobtrusively, three soundequipped kinetophones were displayed at the same venue, in their earliest known Australian exhibition.48 T he kinetophone films included “songs and dances given true to life”49 and “songs by Albert Chevalier, who has made a speciality o f coster ditties”.50 Further details o f thé kinetophone films were given when the machines were put on display in Rockham pton on 4 O ctober 1895, following a week o f exhibition o f the silent kinetoscopes.

T he sound sync may have been defective, but it was all very wonderful to the reviewer in the Rockhampton Bulletin: In the first (kinetophone) the great music-hall singer, Mr. A. Chevalier sang one o f his inimitable coster songs, “Mrs. ’Enery ’Awkins”. It was really a marvel. Mr. Chevalier is seen exactly as he

40

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appeared on stage. He starts singing, and while every note and indeed every word can be heard with utmost distinctness, the movements and gestures o f the singer are seen as clearly as ever they were witnessed by those in the stalls at the music halls where he appears.

The next subject was Madame Patey singing a verse o f “The Holy City”. The impression was taken in Melbourne when Madame Patey was singing there. It was as perfect as the other. T o watch the singer just as she appeared on the stage, to see her little gestures and movements, note her turning the sheets o f her music, finally rolling it up as she reaches the concluding bars o f her song, and all the time to hear her wonderful voice singing this fine song, fills one with amazement at this supreme triumph over time and distance.51 T h e com m en t about the “im pression” being taken in M elbourne was either a falsification by Charles M acm ahon in his telling the story o f the making o f the item, or the cylinder record (but not the film ) cou ld have been cut in M elbourne to accom pany the film appropriately. But the reviewer’s view o f the last k in etophone subject was even m ore remarkable: It was an American auctioneer selling a m ob o f cattle. He is seen in his rostrum calling the attention o f buyers to the cattle he was about to offer, and he announces that he will put up one animal, but the purchaser will have the right to take as many o f the mob as he chooses at the price at which the one is knocked down. The sale begins with a bid o f twenty dollars, and soon runs up to thirty when there is a slight halt. The auctioneer throws out his hands, knocks on the box, asks if it is possible that is all they mean to bid for such remarkably fine animals, and at length sets his patrons started again, when they run the bid up to thirty-five dollars, at which figure the hammer falls. The scene closes with the auction­ eer asking the purchaser how many he will take, and the reply that he will take the lot.52 During Adelaide and Broken Hill kinetophone exhibitions early in 1896, they were advertised as “p h on oscop es”.53 Adelaide reviews from January 1896 confirm the use o f spoken dialogue in the Am erican A uctioneer .film, listing further examples o f films with attempted lip-sync. T he “Com ical Barbershop Scene” o f 1894 (or a remake o f it) was now presented with spoken dialogue. ‘T h e tonsorial artist”, said the Adelaide Register, “is seen lathering the custom er and during the w hole o f the seance is to be heard

Above and below: The kinetophone, a kinetoscope equipped with a wax cylinder phonograph mechanism to provide unsynchronized musical accompaniment fo r the film loops. First intro­ duced to Australia in Charters Towers, 16 September 1895. Only 45 o f these sound-equipped devices were manufactured by Edison. The record was heard through the stethoscope tubes.

addressing the usual small talk to his victim.”54A nother dialogue film lam p oon ed a Salvation Army Captain, “addressing a m ixed audience and calling on sinners to repent etc.”.55 T he addition o f sound, however primitively it m ight have been synchronized to the film, im proved the narrative potential o f the new visual medium . T he visuals were probably extremely rudi­ mentary, consisting o f about 30 seconds’ worth o f film lo o p e d repetitively against about 2 V 2minutes o f wax cylinder audio. T he records were probably not recorded simultaneously with the film­ ing process, as the direct acoustical recording system o f the 1890s would have im m obilized the perform ers as they shouted down a recording funnel. Nevertheless, the dialogue obviously held the viewer’s attention sufficiently to have h im /h e r follow the develop­ m ent o f a storyline in the presentation. W hen the movies devel­ op ed into a screen-projection m edium in 1896, the weak volum e and tone provided by the early phonographs was inadequate to fill a theatre, and the prom ise o f “talkies” faded away for the next 35 years.56 It should be noted that all o f these narrative films with dialogue were p rod u ced almost a year prior to the Lum ières’ first silent narrative subject, L 'ArroseurArrosé ( Water­ ing the Gardener) , which is usually given priority.57 D

e c l in e o f th e in

-4

A

K

in e to s c o p e

u s tr a l ia

Screen projection naturally overtook the film view­ ers as a means o f presentation late in 1896, but the decline o f the novelty o f the kinetoscope was already obvious at the start o f that year. Th e introduction o f the kinetophone by the M acm ahons late in 1895 was probably intended to boost its failing fortunes.

K inetoscope tours ventured into the rem oter cor­ ners o f Australia and shifted their locale m ore fre­ quently.

After the R ockham pton show in O ctob er 1895, M acm ahon’s kinetoscope and kin etophone show­ ings are difficult to trace. T h e two sets o f machines appear to have travelled separately, on e under Charles M acm ahon’s pilotage, the other m anaged

by M acm ahon’s em ployee, Frank St. Hill.58 Perth exhibitions probably occu rred during an CINEMA

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Blow’s Polytechnic film venue in Sydney during 1897 and 1898.61 In Oldershaw’sju n e 1898 catalogue, kinetoscopes are offered for sale at £30 and kinetophones for £45.62 W hen the Polytechnic closed in 1899, the kinetoscopes rem ained in Baker & R ouse’s sales lists for many months, even at the throw-away price o f £6.63 Finally, a kinetoscope was advertised in Baker 8c R ouse’s Brisbane sales lists in August 1901 for £10.64After that, all is silence until the discovery o f the kinetophone in Sydney.

A ustralian K inetoscope and K inetophone V enues and Films, 1895 - 1896 7 Septem ber 1895 - 21 Septem ber 1895 - CHARTERS TOWERS

(M osman Street, opposite Collins’ Exchange H otel and next to Messrs Alan B. Bright 8c Co.) Kinetoscope was shown throughout this period.

K inetophone shown 1 6 -2 1 September.

N ew kinetophone film s 16 Sept 1895

Albert Chevalier singing a “Coster Ditty”.

A dance film (unspecified).

A song film (unspecified).

27 Septem ber 1895 - 12 O ctob er 1895 ROCKHAM PTON

(East Street, opposite “Argus” O ffice, in shop “lately occu p ied by E.S. Lucas”. ) , K inetoscope shown 27 Septem ber-3 O ctober.

K inetophone shown 4-12 O ctober. “ Comical Barbershop Scene” : the Edison “ Black Maria” film which was among those shown in the first Australian kinetoscope exhibition o f 30 Novem ber 1894. From The Century Magazine, No. 48, 1894.

unexplained gap in the author’ s kinetoscope itinerary between 16 January and 28 February 1896. Perth newspapers coveringjune to D ecem ber 1895 d o not m ention kinetoscopes and later issues were unavailable to me.

In late February 1896, the M acmahons probably sold their kinetoscopes to W. J. N. Oldershaw, w ho op en ed his Edison Electric Parlour at 162 Pitt Street, Sydney, on the 29th o f that m onth.59 Kinetoscopes could be viewed there for the rest o f 1896 as a sideline to Oldershaw’s Edison phonograph sales agency.

Extra kinetoscopes and film subjects were acquired for the venue, including at least two “prize fight kinetoscopes”.60These had triple the norm al film capacity (150 ft) to accom m odate a com plete rou n d o f a fight.

N

ew and

B

etter

F il m s

s h o w n w ith

P

r o je c t io n

T he first film projectors reaching Australia in mid-1896 enlarged the size and spectacle o f the movies. That was a mild technical im provem ent, but the im proved film subjects accom panying the projectors were a m ore significant change.

Edison’s kinetoscope films were studio-bound and synthetic, limited by the immobility o f D ickson’s massive camera. W hen Edison refused to supply films to competitors exploiting film projection, they devised their own movie cameras and shot films “o n location ”.

T h e barbershop and blacksmith’s forge in Edison’s films were studio mock-ups. S oon Edison’ s competitors, such as R. W. Paul and the Lumières, were out shooting rm /forges and barbershops - and every conceivable ou td oor view. These new films had geographical context, realism and greater information content than their synthetic Edison predecessors with their simplistic black studio background. If the occasion warranted, cameramen with the new portable cameras cou ld bring important sporting and news events into the theatre. Australian audiences becam e con dition ed to a film fare o f actuality and news items. It was a rem ote British colon y’s window on the world.

As the kin etoscope’s drawing pow er declined, Oldershaw sold several o f his machines. Two were shown at photographer Mark 42

• CINEMA

PAPE RS 9 1

N ew kinetophone film s 4 O ct 1895

Madame Patey singing ‘T h e H oly City”.

Harry Rickards singing “’E D unno W here ’E A re”.

T he American Auctioneer.

N ew kinetophone film 5 O ctob er 1895

Albert Chevalier singing “Mrs. Enery ’Awkins”.

N ew kinetophone film 11 O ctober 1895

T he Alabama C oon (son g ).

15 O ctob er 1895 - 7 N ovem ber 1895 - U N K N O W N

(possibly en route Rockham pton to Adelaide; may have been a stopover in M elb ou rn e).

8 N ovem ber 1895 - 6 January 1896 - ADELAIDE

(8 Novem ber, atjubilee Hall in connection with YMCA festival; 11 N ovem ber m oved to Hindley street “2 doors from William street”; 3 D ecem ber m oved to shop “opposite Marshall’s in Rundle street”; 28 D ecem ber at Glenelg Town Hall on e day; 29 Decem b er-6 January “opposite Marshall’s in Rundle Street”.)

Kinetoscope exclusively on show - kinetophones absent.

O n 15 November, M acm ahon announced that he now had a library “o f 40 views (films) ”.

N ew film 16 N ovem ber 1895

Le tty Lind, L on d on Danseuse in ‘T h e Artist’s M od el”.

N ew film 23 N ovem ber 1895

Buffalo Bill - clay pigeon shoot.

N ew film 2 D ecem ber 1895

M ademoiselle Rejane, Parisian actress, “rehearsing a scene with her managers”.

N ew film 18 D ecem ber 1895:

French ladies perform ing a “pas de six” u p on the stage o f the Com édie Français.

(NOTE: This is probably the film, shot in the Black Maria, shown earlier as French Ballet. ) 1 0 -c l 6 January 1896 - BALLARAT

(second run, in Alfred Hall, Grenville Street) Kinetoscopes only were shown at this venue - kinetophones absent.

18 January 1896 - 15 February 1896 - ADELAIDE

(second run - first run with kinetophones, in Rundle Street opposite Marshall’s.)

K inetophones only were shown in this venue under the advertised tide o f “ph on oscop es”.

N ew kinetophone film s 18 January 1896

A Tyrolean Yodler singing.

A Skirt Dancer.

10. Edison M otion Picture Caveat 1, U . S. Patent Office, 8 O ctob er 1888.

11.

The Sydney M orning Herald^ 29 M ay 1890, p. 6: shipping arrival: RM S “M ariposa”.

12.

The Perfected Phonograph, booklet, M cm ah o n Bros., M elbourne, 1890, p. 16.

13. Argus, M elbou rn e, 14June 1890, p. 10.

14.

Table Talk, M elbou rn e, 15 A ugust 1890, pps. 5-6.

15. Argus, M elbourne, 28 June 1890: review p. 10; advt. p. 16.

N ew kinetophone film 27 January 1896

16. Mercury, Hobart, 12 June 1891, p. 2.

Salvation Army Captain H eckled at a Meeting.

17. Argus, M elbourne, 20 January 1891, p. 8; 21 January 1891, p. 6.

N ew kinetophone film 1 February 1896

18. Hendricks, G .: The Kinetoscope, p. 21.

19. ibid, p. 3. Earliest 3 5 m m m ovie films shot by another camera, o f which I have

G eorge J. Gaskin, tenor, singing.

a record, were produced by R. W . Paul and Birt Acres in Britain, February 1895.

N ew kinetophone film 7 February 1896

L u m iere’s film m aking started in Lyon at about the same time.

G eorge Williams, Am erican Comedian.

20. Hendricks, G .: The Kinetoscope, pps. 53-54.

N ew kinetophone film 15 February 1896

21. ibid, pps. 80, 82.

Sims Reeves, British concert artist, sings a popular ballad.

22. ibid, p. 56.

23.

The Sydney M orning Herald, 23 N ovem ber 1894, p. 6.

22 February 1896 - c7 M arch 1896 - BROKEN HILL

24. Hendricks, G .: The Kinetoscope, p. 110.

(Argent Street, next to Oriental H otel) T hree kinetophones only were shown - kinetoscopes absent (probably in Sydney at Edison Electric Parlour by this tim e).

25. Australian Photographic Journ al, D ecem ber 1894, p. 136.

26. Daily Graphic, L on d on , 18 O ctob er 1894, p. 8. The Times, L on d on , 18 O ctob er 1894, p. 4.

27.

N ew kinetophone film 24 February 1896

The Sydney M orning Herald, 19 N ovem ber 1894, p. 4: arrival o f RMS “Orizaba”.

22 N ovem ber 1894, p. 2: advert for arrival o f film machines.

T h e French D ancing Girl.

28. ibid, 19 N ovem ber 1894, p. 4.

N ew kinetophone film 4 M arch 1896

29. W illiam son arranged the preliminary dealings, but the M acm ahons exclusively are m entioned as running the kinetoscope venues. See Australian Photographic

T h e Coldstream Guards (with con d u ctor).

Journ al, D ecem ber 1894, p. 136.

29 February 1896 —onwards (perm anent) - SYDNEY

30. Australian PhotographicJournal, M ay 1894.

(Edison Electric Parlour, 162 Pitt Street) Kinetoscopes shown from 29 February 1896.

K inetophones shown from 28 March 1896.

31. Photographic Review o f Reviews (Australian edition) ,July 1894, p. 12; A ugust 1894,

N ew film s 29 February 1896

A Row in a Bar-room.

Sword com bat —Duncan Ross versus Captain Harding.

Burlesque Debate o f American Presidents - Grover Cleveland versus Benjamin Harrison.

A nnabelle’s Butterfly dance.

Boxing: L eonard vs. Cushing (possibly multiple m achines).

Boxing: Corbettvs. Courtney (poss. m ore than one m ach in e).

pps. 235-236.

32.

The Sydney M orning Herald, 2 4 N ovem ber 1894, p. 2.

33. ibid, 28 N ovem ber 1894, p. 2; 29 N ovem ber 1894, p. 2; 30 N ovem ber 1894, p.

6.

34. Photographic Review o f Reviews (Australian ed itio n ), July 1894, p. 12.

35. Hendricks, G .: The Kinetoscope, pps. 76-77.

36.

The Sydney M orning Herald, 30 N ovem ber 1894, p. 6.

37. Photographic Review o f Reviews (Australian edition ), D ecem ber 1894, p. 13.

38.

The Sydney M orning Herald, 24 N ovem ber 1894, p .12.

39. Phillips, Ray: Personal com m unicad on to author, 30 April 1990.

40.

Table Talk, M elbourne, 21 M arch 1895, p. 177.

41. T h e table is assembled from daily papers in each o f the places m entioned.

42. Blainey, G.: TheRush That Never Ended, M elbourne University Press, M elbourne,

In the next instalment o f this series, we will look at the first Australian examples o f film projection, and we will trace the earliest local films, all shown in the landmark year o f 1896. W ere there projectors in this country prior to Carl Hertz’s? W hich film producers were active before Marius Sestier? Stay tuned.

1969, p. 102.

43.

44. ibid, pps. 18-22.

45.

cknow ledgem ents

Phillips, Ray: Personal letter to author, including an Italian translation o f a kinetophone playlist, one o f the few surviving.

46. Hendricks, G .: The Kinetoscope, pps. 123-124.

47.

A

Geduld, H . M .: The Birth o f the Talkies, Indiana University Press, 1975, p. 22.

Geduld, H . M .: The Birth o f the Talkies, Indiana University Press, 1975, p. 22.

48. Northern Miner, Charters Towers, 14 Septem ber 1895; 16 Septem ber 1895.

49. ibid, 16 Septem ber 1895.

T he project was supported by Pat Laughren’s actions at Griffith University, allowing the remaining gaps in the almost com pleted story to be filled in 1992.

O ther help was generously given by: Clive Sowry - Sydney and New Zealand research; Richard Fotheringham - Rockham pton newspaper research; Ray Phillips - currently writing about kine­ toscopes at his California h om e base; Frank Van Straten - p h o n o ­ graph reference material, Perform ing Arts Museum, M elbourne; State Library Newspaper Staff in M elbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane; manuscript revisions by Bob Klepner, Graham Shirley.*1

50.

ibid, 20 Septem ber 1895.

51. Rockhampton M orning Bulletin, 5 O ctob er 1895, p. 5.

52. ibid.

53. Adelaide Register, 18January 1896, p. 6. Barrier Miner, 7 M arch 1896, p. 3.

54. Adelaide Register, 27 January 1896.

55. ibid, 28 January 1896, p. 6.

56.

O th er unsustained attempts at exhibiting talkies in Australia include G aum ont C h ron oph on e Process ( c l9 0 8 ), Edison K inetophone (19 1 3-1 4 version) a n d D e Forest Phonofilm (1 9 2 5 -2 8 ).

57. Rhode. Eric.: A History o f the Cinema, Penguin, L on d on , 1978, p .25.

58. St. Hill was in charge o f Broken Hill kinetophone shows. Charles M acm ahon was probably showing kinetoscopes in Perth simultaneously.

59.

The Sydney M orning Herald, 29 February 1896, p. 2. After the op en in g o f the Edison Electric Parlour, M acm ahon is no longer m entioned in relation to

N o tes 1.

Lum iere, Louis: ‘T h e Lum iere C in em atograph e” in SM PE Jo u rn al, V ol. 27,

2.

Hendricks, G ord on : The Edison M otion Picture Myth and The Kinetoscope were

kinetoscope exhibitions.

60. T h e Leonard-Cushing and Corbett-Courtney fights shown at the Oldershaw venue were shot on 150-foot capacity films: See Hendricks, The Kinetoscope, pps.

D ecem ber 1936.

reprinted together as The O rigins o f theA m ericanFilm , A rn o Press & T h e New York Tim es, New York, 1972.

97-109.

61.

The Sydney M orning Herald, 2 M arch 1897, p. 2. Blow puts two kinetoscopes on show, ibid, 9 M arch 1899, p. 2.: two kinetoscopes for sale from Polytechnic.

62. Edison Electric Parlour Catalogue, Sydney, 1 June 1898, p .18. O nly known copy

3.

Hendricks, G .: The Edison M otion Picture Myth, p. 140.

4.

H endricks, G .: The Kinetoscope, pps. 56-67 and pps. 110-117.

held in T hom as R om e P honograph collection, Perform ing Arts M useum ,

5.

Barnes, Joh n : The B eginnings o f the Cinem a in Great B ritain, David &: Charles,

Victorian Arts Centre, M elbourne.

New ton A bbott, E ngland, 1976, p. 7.

6.

ibid, p. 10.

7.

T he Sydney M o rn in g Herald^ 3 0 N ovem ber 1894, p. 2.

8.

ibid, 30 N ovem ber 1894, p. 6.

9.

ibid, 3 January 1895, p. 2.

63. Australasian Photographic Review, 24 A ugust 1899. Sydney sales lists include “two kinetoscopes - cost £ 3 5 , sell for £ 6 each ”. T hey were still listed for sale in May 1 9 0 1 ’s issue.

64. A ustralasian Photographic Review, 22 A ugust 1901. O n the Brisbane warehouse sales list, a kinetoscope was offered for £10.

■

CINEMA

PAPERS

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• CINEMA

PAPERS

91

1492: Conquest of Paradise ORIGI NAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDI NG A V A I L A B L E ON CD S A N D C A S S E T T E S

A VA I L A B L E THROUGH GOOD MUSI C R E T A I L E R S MARKETED BY EAST W EST RECORDS A DIVISION OF WARNER M4JS+C AUSTRALIA A TIM E WARNER COMPANY

F

IL M

R E V I E W S

F/VTAL B O N D ; T H E F A V O U R , T H E W A T C H A N D T H E V E R Y B IG F I S H ; F E R N G U L L Y : T H E L A S T R A I N F O R E S T ; G U M S H O E ; IN D O C H IN E ; IS A B E L L E E B E R H A R D T ; ROM PER STO M P ER ; S T R IC T L Y BALLROOM .

FA TA L BOND SCOTT

MURRAY

f A u s tra lia has any p ro d u c e r-c u m -

I

auteurs, then P h illip A va lo n is c e rt­

a in ly one. His la te st pro d u ctio n , F a ta l Bond, ow es m uch m ore th e m a tic a lly to his S u m m e r C ity (C h ris F raser, 1977), B re a k in g Loose (R od H ardy, 1988) and The S h e r M o u n ta in K illin g M y s te ry (V ince M artin, 1990) th a n it does to the p re vio u s w o rk of F a ta l B ond’s director, V incent M onton ( W indrider, 1986).

A v a lo n ’s film s are p re o ccu p ie d w ith v io le n ce bu b b lin g to the su rfa ce in a io w e r-m id d le -cla ss so cie ty re pressed

by C hristia n and m a te ria lis t values.

He has a de cid ed a ffin ity fo r the o u t­ sider, fo r th o se w ho refuse to play s o c ie ty ’s gam es and w ho se a n ti-s o ­ cial a ttitu d e s m ay, in fact, co n ce a l a soul w ell attu n e d to life ’s pulses.

In th a t sense, and in its ve ry d a rk ­ ness, F a ta l B o n d fo llo w s th a t stra in of cin e m a m ade richest by S am uel Fuller, R o bert A ld rich and others. T h is is not to argue a s im ila r level of a c h ie v e ­ m ent, but to s u g g e st th a t in A v a lo n ’s w o rk th e re is m ore than ju s t a tjra b fo r th e B -a u d ien ce and quick v id e o sales.

W hen F a ta l B o n d w as re leased re ­ ce n tly in S ydney, it su ffe re d ve ry n e g a ­ tive review s. A nd in the p re vio u s issue of C in ­

and a cro ss la ndscape. He is a lo n e r w ith a

JOE M ARTIN EZ (JEROME EHLERS) A N D LEONIE (LIN D A BLAIR)

em a P apers, it had the d u b iou s d is tin c tio n of

v io le n t te m p e r th a t b ristle s w h e n e v e r he feels

IN VINCENT M O N T O N 'S FATAL BOND.

being the firs t film in the c ritic s ’ poll to ave ra g e

s o cie ty is g rin d in g dow n on him. If a n yo n e e n ­

a zero. (O nly tw o critics had seen it, it sh ould be

cro a ch e s upon his sense of fre e d o m (be he a

ha p p e n e d b etw een he and his brother, even

n oted.)

b o u n c e r or crim ), Joe e xp lo de s - a q u ick h e a d ­

w hy L eonie is an A m erican a d rift in urban A u s ­ tra lia - is, in fact, one of the film ’s stre n g th s. It

W h ile F a ta l B o n d has m any g la rin g flaw s, not

butt fo llo w e d by a fra n tic a tta ck of sw irlin g fists.

th e least som e poor p e rfo rm a n c e s (Jerom e

On one such o cca sio n, he is rescued from

is rare fo r an A u stra lia n film to take on the

E h le rs ’ n o ta b ly e xce p te d ) and ra th e r w o rk m a n ­

a rre st by Leonie (L inda B lair), a h a ird re s s e r

asp e cts of an A m e rica n -style th rille r, ye t avoid all the banal e xp la na tio n of the how s and w hys.

like d ire ctio n , it is n ow h ere n e a r as u n w a tch a b le

w ith an A m e rica n a cce n t and a p o o r love life.

as m any have claim ed. It is c e rta in ly s u p e rio r to

S he is c le a rly a ttra cte d to J o e ’s sexual c h a ­

m any oth e r A ustralian crim e -th rille rs ( The E m p ty

rism a and his a n ti-so cia l nature.

W h e re m any w ill part com p a n y w ith such an a n a lysis is o ve r the ch a ra c te r of A n th o n y Boon

B e ach and G rie vo u s B o d ily H arm , to nam e but

In so m e w a ys, L e o n ie p e rs o n ifie s th o s e

(S te p h e n Leeder), the religious fa th e r of the

tw o), and its s crip t is playing w ith ideas of w orth.

w om en w ho are draw n to u n lo vab le m en, w ho

firs t m u rdered girl. He is the so rt w ho holds a

Joe M artinez (E hlers) is a m an w ith o u t a

find reasons to stay w hen m o st o th e rs w ould

cross and bible in his hands, and seeks to reek

hom e o r a know n past. His only frie n d se e m s to

have fled. T h e ir a b ility to love th e un lo vab le

havoc on th e ungodly.

be the V a lia n t ca r th a t rocke ts him th ro u g h tim e

m akes th e m o b je cts of d e risio n in th e press (as

Such ch a ra cte rs in A u stra lia n cin e m a and

w hen one m a rrie s a m ass m u rd e re r in gaol) and

te le v is io n are often held up fo r ridicule, by critics

Some of the films reviewed in this

a trib u te to lo v e ’s a b ility to c o n q u e r all. M onton

and film m a k e rs: take, fo r instance, the pasting

issue have already had their commercial release. It is not always possible, given the magazine’s deadlines, to have a review appear just as a film goes into release. It is a policy of the magazine, however, to provide a review in this section of every Australian film that gains a release, even if a little late. In some cases, too, such as with Strictly Ballroom, a film has already been discussed at length elsewhere in previ­

and s c rip tw rite r A va lo n d o n ’t a tte m p t to e xp la in

H arold H opkins received fo r his c h a ra c te riz a ­

such a ttra ctio n s, but in the case of L eonie and

tio n of the tro u b le d p rie st in The D irtw a te r D y ­

Joe th e y m ake it to ta lly b e lie va b le . A nd th is is

nasty.

E D ITO R ’S NOTE:

ous issues.

even w hen Leonie ch o o se s to live and have sex

T h e re is a fe e lin g th a t such s te re o typ e c h a r­

w ith a m an w hom she b e lie ve s fo r som e tim e to

a cte rs - in th is case, genre c h a ra cte rs - have

be a m u rd e re r of te e n a g e girls.

no p a rt in the local cinem a, e s p e cia lly if th e y are

T h is re tice n ce by the film m a k e rs to e xp la in -

A m e ric a n -in s p ire d . But m any of th e se sam e

w h y Joe is on the run from the police, w h a t

c ritic s have p raised the ve ry sam e ste re o typ in g CINEMA

PAPERS

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in S tric tly B allroom . W h e re lies th e critical c o n ­ sistency?

T he m a jo r problem w ith the p o rtra ya l of Boon in F a ta l B o n d is th a t at the s ta rt he lessens co n sid era b ly the ten sio n o ve r w h e th e r Joe is the m urderer. T he film m a ke rs try so hard to m ake Joe look guilty th a t one is fo rce d into looking fo r an alte rn a tive , given th is is the sort of film th a t a lw ays has n a rra tive tw ists. Boon is too o b vio usly th a t a lte rn a tiv e choice and the o th e r red herrings the film o ffe rs along the w ay are unconvincing.

A t the sam e tim e, th e re are m om ents during the film w here o n e ’s co n victio n s a b o u t the re so ­ lution are underm ined and the te n sio n holds. A nice tw ist, fo r exam ple, is to have the second girl a p p e a rto be m urdered. T hus, B o o n ’s arrival the day a fte r clears him of th is death and, given our fa scin a tio n fo r serial killers, of the first.

F a ta l B o n d is thus a m ore in te re stin g film than, say, W olfgang P e te rs e n ’s S h a tte re d or Phil J o a n u ’s F in a l A nalysis, w here e v e ryth in g is obvious by the te n -m in u te m ark and nothing alters o n e ’s early ju d g e m e n t in the d re a ry hour-

LOUIS AU B IN A R D (BOB HO SKIN S) A N D SYBIL (N ATASH A RICHARDSON). BEN LEW IN'S THE FAVO U R, THE WATCH AND THE VERY BIG FISH.

a n d -a -ha lve s th a t follow .

N ot th a t the stru ctu re of F a ta l B o n d is not w ith o u t problem s. As scrip tw rite r, A valon errs in

T H E FAVOUR, T H E W A TC H A N D T H E V E R Y BIG FISH

not being s trict enough a b o u t w hat p e rsp e ctive

JAN

EPSTEIN1

the film is taking. For m uch of the film , it reads en L e w in ’s zany The Favour, the W atch

B

cence from the audien ce is a cce p ta b le w ithin

appeal to everybody. But if this is y o u r cup of

this style).

tea, y o u ’ll laugh until you cry.

a n d the V ery B ig F ish is a film w hich d o e s n ’t

But, in the m iddle of th e film , A valon a b a n ­

A man of m any parts, Ben Lew in w as a

dons Joe (and Leonie) and cuts back to A n ­

p ra ctisin g b a rris te r in M e lbourne fo r three years

th o n y Boon and his son. N othing ju s tifie s this

before a sch o la rsh ip aw arded in A u stra lia in

a b ru p t jum p and it ce rta in ly does little fo r the

1971 allow ed him to stu d y film at B rita in ’s N a­

dram a. A valon also intro d u ce s a fe m a le D e te c­

tional Film S chool. Lew in cut his teeth on B ritish

tive -S e rg e a n t w hom he never p ro p e rly d e v e l­

te le visio n before returning to A u stra lia in 1985

ops. (C az Lederm an also seem s g re a tly ill-at-

w hen he e n te rta in e d te le visio n au d ien ce s with

ease w ith her characte r.)

his m in i-se rie s The D unera Boys. T his highly-

W h a t also underm in e s the film is som e poor

id io syn cra tic dra m a tiza tion of an infam ous e p i­

casting and very bad acting, p a rtic u la rly from

sode in A u s tra lia ’s im m ig ra tio n history won him

the one- and tw o-liners. The exce p tio n , as m en­

tw o A u stra lia n Film In stitu te A w ards: B est D i­

tio n e d earlier, is Jerom e Ehlers. His p e rfo rm ­

re cto r and B est S creenplay.

ance is ea sily one of the fin e s t of the A u stra lia n sem i-crim , existe n tia l loner. T h e re is not a trace

G oldblum ), w hich began w ith a w ager over a w atch.

p ro ta g o n ist (even his keeping pro o f of his in n o ­

like J o e ’s first-p e rso n narrative: he is c le a rly the

(N atasha R ichardson), w ho tells him about her strange rom ance w ith a tall, soulful pianist (Jeff

It is hard to d e scrib e w hat m akes som ething funny, but we re cognize it w hen we laugh.

of se n tim e n ta lity and the d a rk grey edge he

Bob H oskins, Je ff G oldblum and N atasha

gives everything is com m anding. E hlers shapes

R ichardson are the stars of L e w in ’s film , w hich

as one of the c o u n try ’s fin e s t film actors.

w as film e d in France and based on a te n -page

And the very big fish? N o tw ithstanding the giant sw o rdfish that Louis brings hom e fo r dinn e ro n e night, it is G o ld b lu m ’s pianist, of course, w ho on release from prison fo r v io le n tly a tta ck­ ing one of S yb il’s lovers finds em ploym ent p o s­ ing as Jesus in N o rb e rt’s shop.

The Favour, the W atch a n d the V ery B ig Fish is not w ith o u t faults. It flags tow ards the end, and the scene in w hich the pianist goes o v e rth e top w ith je a lo u sy and rage is laboured. But the rest is sh e e r delight. Je ff G oldblum m akes a w on d erfu l Jesus, and Lewin show s th a t he has as m uch an eye fo r subtlety and detail as he has fo r the bizarre and surreal. T he film ’s lengthy op e n e r - from w here the nun com es to the door of N o rb e rt’s shop, her s tiff headgear g radually s o fte n in g in the rain until it collapses around her ears, to w here a goat rushes into L o u is’ upstairs stu d io and tries to ravish a surprised ‘St F ra n cis’ - is too h yste rica lly funny fo r w ords.

F a ta l Bond, fin a lly, is not the e m b a rra ssm e n t

s to ry by M a rce l A ym e s c a lle d “ Rue S a in t-

THE FAVOUR, THE W ATCH AND THE VERY BIG

th a t som e w ould have one believe, d e sp ite its

S u lp ic e ” . A y m e s ’ tale is ab o u t a man m aking his

FISH Directed by Ben Lewin. Producer: Michelle de

m any m inor and m ajo r flaw s. In its brave a t­

living posing as Jesus fo r d e vo tio n a l pictures,

Broca. Executive producer: Antoine de Clermont-

te m p ts at a story of ideas, in the e xce lle n t lead

w ho de ve lop s d e lu sio n s th a t he h im se lf is d i­

Tonnerre. Co-producer: Simon Perry. Scriptwriter:

perfo rm a n ce and its at tim e s g rip p in g plot, F a ta l

vine. From this ta n ta liz in g and so m e w h a t fa m il­

Ben Lewin, based on Marcel Aymes’ short story “Rue

B o n d dese rve s som e respect.

ia r prem ise (any s im ila rity to Jeôus o f M o n tré a l

FA TA L BOND Directed by Vincent Monton. Pro­

seen A rc a n d ’s film ), th is m a ste r of the tall tale

ducer: Phillip Avalon. Scriptwriter: Phillip Avalon.

has spun a w hopper.

is stric tly co in cid e n ta l, says Lew in, w ho has not

Director of photography: Ray Henman. Sound re­ cordist: Bob Clayton. Production designer: Keith Holloway. Wardrobe: Lyn Askew. Editor: Ted Otton.

Composer: Art Phillips. Cast: Linda Blair (Leonie), Jerome Ehlers (Joe Martinez), Stephen Leeder (An­ thony Boon), Donal Gibson (Rocky Borgetta), Joe Bugner (Claw Miller), Caz Lederman (Detective Chenko), Teo Gerbert (Shane Boon), Penny Pederson

Bob H oskins plays Louis A u binard, a d e vo ­

Saint-Sulpice”. Director of photography: Bernard Zitzermann. Sound: Edward Tise. Production de­ signer: Carlos Conti. Costume designer: Elizabeth Travernier. Editor: John Grover. Composer: Vladimir Cosma. Cast: Bob Hoskins (Louis Aubinard), Jeff Goldblum (Pianist), Natasha Richardson (Sybil),

tio n a l p h o to g ra p h e r w h o lives a virg in a l, un­

Michel Blanc (Norbert), Jacques Villeret (Charles),

eve n tfu l life w o rkin g fo r N orbert N orm at (M ichel

Angela Pleasence (Elizabeth), Jean-Pierre Cassel

Blanc), the un scru p u lo u s p ro p rie to r of a shop

(Zalman), Samuel Chaimovitch (Grandfather). Films

w ho sells re lig io u s artifacts. H ow ever, e v e ry ­

Ariane-Fildebroc (Paris)/Umbrella Films (London) in

th in g ch a n g e s one day w hen Louis a grees to do

association with Sovereign Pictures. Australian dis­

a fa v o u r fo r his frie n d Z alm an (Je a n -P ie rre

tributor: Roadshow. 35 mm. 87 mins. France-UK. 1991.

(Bree Boon), Roger Ward (Detective Greaves), Ross

C assel), by sta n d in g in fo rth e w o u ld -b e -a c to r at

Newton (Harding). Made with the participation of the

a p o rn o g ra p h ic du b b in g session in a film studio.

FFC. Australian distributor: Hoyts. 35mm. 89 mins.

T here, Louis fa lls h e adlong in love w ith his

1. This review is based on an earlier piece by

Australia. 1991.

fe llo w actor, a lo ve ly young w om an called Sybil

Epstein published in The Melbourne Report.

46

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PAPERS

91

FER NGULLY: T H E L A S T R A IN F O R E S T

M a c a n d Me) as Zak, th e yo u n g lo g g e r w ho

film w o rk v e ry hard at de n ying the v io le n c e at its

s tu m b le s upon C rysta in the ra in fo re st. C h ris ­

core. T ake, fo r exam ple, S a m a n th a M a n th is ’

JONATHAN

tia n S la te r (P um p Up the Volum e, Y oung G uns

co m m e n t: “T he ca rto o n s kids w atch to d a y are

II, H e a th e rs) p lays C ry s ta ’s m u scle b o u n d frie n d

fille d w ith vio le n ce . F e rn G u lly ce le b ra te s life

Pip, G race Z a b ris k ie ( Twin Peaks, D ru g sto re

w h ile te a ch in g us all th a t trees, like people, are

ROPER

eep in the h e a rt of the fo re s t th e re is a place

D

w h e re hum ans e xist o n ly as ch a ra c te rs in

an a lm o st fo rg o tte n fa iry ta le . In th is s e cre t w orld, s te e p e d in m agic and a d ve n tu re , lives a p u b e sce n t fa iry nam ed C rysta and h e r o v e r­ d e ve lop e d frie n d Pip (and la te n t love in te re st), th e row dy B eetle B oys (d e fin ite ly sm all “h” h e ll’s a n gels), M agi the w ise fo re s t m o th e r and a bat n am ed B atty (sic) - as w ell as th e re st of the w o n d erfu l and w acky crew . All is p e a ce fu l until th e loggers m ove in, and then th e fig h t fo r s u rviva l begins.

F e rn G u lly: The L a s t R a in fo re s t is a fe a tu re length a n im a te d m usical fa n ta s y th a t is the p ro d u ct of a c o lla b o ra tio n b etw een A u stra lia n and A m e rica n film m a ke rs and a n im a to rs from around the w orld. T he film ’s to p ica l n a ture (ra in ­ fo re st p ro te ctio n ) and su p e rb re a liza tio n has g e n e ra te d an e n th u sia stic response, in cluding th e unique h o n o u r of being able to p re m ie re w o rld w id e at the U.N. h e a d q u a rte rs in New Y o rk on E arth D ay 1992.

T he film , d irected by Bill K royer, is w itty, fa st paced and packed w ith enough m orals to keep p are n ts h appy fo r days. K royer, n o m in a te d fo r a 1989 A ca d e m y A w ard fo r his sh o rt film T e c h n o ­ lo g ic a l Threat, tra in e d at D isney in cla s s ic handdraw n an im a tio n and has p io n ee re d co m b in in g co m p u te r te c h n o lo g y w ith cla s s ic a n im a tio n .

K ro ye r’s cre d its include a n im a tio n d ire c to r on A n im a ly m p ic s and su p e rv is o r of s to ry b o a rd s and an im a tio n on Tron.

T he A u stra lia n input fo r the film com es not o n ly via our s p e c ta c u la r ra in fo re sts but also th ro u g h W ayne Y oung and P e te r Faim an w ho p ro d u ce d the film (a sso cia te p ro d u c e r and d i­ rector, resp e ctive ly, of C ro to d ile D undee) and D iana Y oung w ho w rote the s to rie s o f F e rn G u lly in 1980; th e se form the basis fo r the film .

A n im a te d film s beg to be discu sse d s ta tis ti­ cally; fig u re s like 150,000 cells, one m illion d raw ings, 44 kilo m e tre s of artw ork, ju s t m ake me sw eat. T h e te ch n ica l re q u ire m e n ts fo r such a film are im m ense and the lead tim e e norm ous.

In fact, F e rn G u lly: The L a s t R a in fo re s t w as se ven ye a rs at co n ce p t sta g e and th re e ye a rs in p re p a ratio n and p roductio n . It w as the w o rk of an in te rn a tio n a l team a sse m b le d v irtu a lly from scra tch and located in Los A n g e le s, T o ro n to , London, C ope nh a g e n and K orea. T he a n im a ­ to rs in cluded exp e rts in both h a n d -d ra w n and co m puter-enhanced anim ation. C om puters were used in F e rn G u lly: The L a s t R a in fo re s t fo r s p e ­ cial effects, such as pe n e tra tin g layers and layers of b ackground, alm o st im p o ssib le using o nly ha n d -d ra w n te ch n iq u e s , and to g e n e ra te th e beg inn in g sta g e s of d ra w in g s w hich w ere th en c o m p le te d by hand.

T he film re a lly does pay e xtra o rd in a ry a tte n ­ tio n to detail. T he co lo u rs and lig h t in fu sin g the fo re s t is m a g n ifice n t. C h a ra cte rs m ove th ro u g h th e fo re s t w ith a natural flo w and g ra ce th a t is e n tra n cin g . T he w o rk has paid off.

C ow boy, B ig Easy) is the voice of M agi Lune,

g ive rs of life .” S uch sta te m e n ts fail in te rm s of

th e w ise fo re s t m o th e r and Tim C u rry ( The

th e ir ow n logic. For if tre e s are like people, then

R o c k y H o rro r P ictu re Show) is th e evil H exxus.

w h a t is the d iffe re n ce betw een se e in g a th o u ­

R obin W illia m s m a n a g e s to ste a l all the best

sand tre e s laid w aste and d ise m b o w e lle d and

la u g hs as th e vo ice of th e s c h iz o p h re n ic B atty

se eing a th o u sa n d peo p le s u ffe r the sam e fate?

Koda, a bat w h o se run-in w ith hu m a n s has left

W ell, I su p p o se it could m ake it a little m ore

him ju s t a little b e w ild e re d and m a la d ju ste d .

d iffic u lt to m arket to the ‘fa m ily ’ audience.

T he u p b e a t nature of the w h o le e n te rp ris e is

Even so, I d o n ’t like to see v io le n ce get a bad

ca rrie d not only by th e su p e rb a n im a tio n but

nam e. U n d e niably, v io le n ce is a vital and p ro ­

also by the m usic. S ongs fe a tu re p ro m in e n tly in

d u ctive e le m e n t at w o rk in this film . In o rd e r to

the film and include p e rfo rm a n ce s by S h eena

see th e triu m p h of life you have to van q u ish evil,

Easton, T one Loc, Elton John and Johnny C legg,

and in o rd e r to deal w ith evil you have to spill a

w ith the m usical score by A lan S ilvestri.

little blood (or sap). Enjoy.

T he film fo llo w s C rysta (the lead fa iry) as she undergoes the som etim es painful tra n sitio n from c h ild h o o d to w o m a n h o o d . S he goes from being fo rge tfu l to th o u g h t-fille d , carefree to concerned, ig n o ra n t to m agical. It is this tra n s itio n , this p ro ce ss of ‘rip e n in g ’, of be co m in g fe rtile , th a t e m p o w e rs her to save F ernG ully.

T h is tra n sitio n is also re fle cte d in Zak, the

FERNG ULLY: THE LAS T RAINFO REST Directed

by Bill Kroyer. Producers: Peter Faiman, Wayne Young. Co-producers: Jim Cox, Brian Rosen, Richard Harper. Executive producers: Ted Field, Robert W. Cort. Co-executive producers: Jeff Dowd, William F. Willett. Line producer: Tom Klein. Scriptwriter: Jim Cox. Based on the stories of F e r n G u lly by Diana Young. Creative consultant: Matthew Perry. Co-ordi­

hum an te e n a g e r, w ho really gets b ro u g h t dow n-

nating art director: Susan Kroyer. Animation produc­

to -siz e (lite ra lly and fig u ra tiv e ly ). Z a k goes from

tion consultant: Charles Leland Richardson. Art di­

being a beach bum fro m Byron Bay to fin a lly

rectors: Ralph Eggleston (colour stylist), Victoria

acce p tin g re s p o n s ib ility and co n fro n tin g h im ­

Jenson (layout design). Animation director: Tony

se lf and his destiny. H ow ever, he w ill never

Fucile. Special effects animation director: Sari Gennis.

b lossom like C rysta, nor gain her pow ers. Zak

Sequence directors: Bret Haaland, Tim Hauser, Dan

can rep e n t of his w ays and do his bit to save the fo re st, but u ltim a te ly he is lim ited due to his hum a n -ne ss. F e rn G u lly: The L a s t R a in fo re s t s u b s c rib e s fu lly to n otions of ‘m o th e r’ earth, and the intim a te /e xp re ssive relation betw een w om en

Jeup, Susan Kroyer. Editor: Gillian Hutshing. Music supervisors: Tim Sexton, Becky Mancuso. Composer: Alan Silvestri. Voices: Tim Curry (Hexxus), Samantha Manthis (Crysta), Christian Slater (Pips), Jonathan Ward (Zak), Robin Williams (Batty Koda), Grace Zabriskie (Magi Lune), Geoffrey Blake (Ralph), Robert

and nature. U ltim a te ly natural w isd o m and n a tu ­

Pastorelli (Tony), Cheech Marin (Stump), Tommy

ral (m agical) p o w e r lie w ith the fem inine.

Chong (Root), Tone-Loc (The Goanna). FAI Films in

The a sso cia tio n of the fe m in in e w ith all th in g s o rg a n ic is b ro u g h t into sharp re lie f w hen its

association with Youngheart Productions. Australian distributor: Hoyts. 35mm. 68 mins. Australia. 1992.

a n tith e sis a rrive s. T he fo re s t is invaded by “T he L e ve le r” , a s u p e r-te ch hybrid of ch a in saw , m o n ste r tra c to r and fa cto ry, w hich is a p ow erful sym bol of the c ru s h ­ ing c a p a b ilitie s of a m ass c u ltu re w hich lite ra lly w ants to ‘le v e l’ e ve ryth in g in its sight. D ire ctin g its fu rio u s a p p e tite fo r tre e s are a co u p le of b u m b lin g hum ans.

U n w ittin g ly, th e y release H exxus, th e d e ­ stro ye r, w ho has been im p riso n e d in a tre e fo r aeons.

T he sce n e is set fo r th e show dow n betw een th e huge, d o m in a tin g , p o llu tio n ­ d rinkin g m a scu lin e s p irit laying th e fo re s t to w a ste and o u r fo re s t frie n d s led by one sm all fa iry C rysta, w h o se fe m in in ity gives her th e key in o rd e r to un lo ck the e n e rg y of life itself. T he b a ttle and d e stru ctio n sce n e s are aw esom e, the fo re s t soon re se m b lin g the b a ttle fie ld s of the S om m e, s m o u ld e rin g and life le ss.

T h e idea of th e a p p ro a ch in g ‘h o rro r’ is vital in ra llyin g all good souls to the fight, and is used as a ce n tra l o rg a n izin g e le ­ m ent fo r the film ’s n a rra tive . H ow ever, the pro m o tio na l m a te ria ls s u rro u n din g the

T he ca st fe a tu re s S a m a n th a M a n th is ( This Is M y Life, P u m p Up the Volum e) as th e v o ic e of

Z A K , CENTRE, ENTERS A M A G IC A L SECRET W ORLD.

C rysta, and Jo n a th a n W a rd ( S te e l M a gnolias,

BILL KROYER'S FERN G U LLY: THE LAST RAIN FO REST.

CINEMA

PAPERS

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• 47

GUM SHOE JOHN

CONOM OS

alcolm M cD o n a ld ’s G um shoe is a h u m o r­ ous d o cu m e n ta ry look at th e cla n d estin e , hard-boiled w orld of the p riva te eye, a breed of people w ho, since the turn of the century, has been stam ped in ou r p o p u la r im a g in a tio n by crim e fictio n , film n o ir and crim e /d e te c tiv e m o v­ ies. T his is cle a rly show n in the case of so m e ­ one like P eter R oyle, a “tw o shots of bourbon fo r b re a kfa st” private eye, w ho becam e seduced by the rom ance of the existe n tia l a n ti-h e ro Sam S pade (as perform ed by H um phrey B ogart) in The M altese F alcon when he w as a te e n a g e r at boarding school.

Let us stick w ith R oyle fo r the m om ent: as the film unfolds, we see him tra ckin g dow n a ru n a ­ w ay te e n a g e r to a beach locale. T his com m onenough narrative event, fo r this review er, had an eerie echo of art im itating life (and vice versa) as we are rem inded of a s im ila r narrative situation taking place in A lbie T h o m s ’ u n d e r­ rated P alm Beach.

Yet, as anyone w ho has a ru d im e n tary kn o w l­ edge of the above film and literary genres knows, the private eye can be seen to be op e ra tin g in a m urky sha d o w y w orld of m oral conduct. T h is is a point th a t law yer C h ris to p h e r M urphy raises in the docum entary. T his is not to su g g e st (as M cD onald skilfu lly m anages to avoid) th a t all private eyes are obje ctio n a b le people trapped in a n o ir ethos of greed and op p o rtu n ism . It is th a t som e of them (like in any o th e r profession) can be rotten apples, m ean “m u th a s” . M urphy is m indful of the fa ct th a t som e p riva te eyes (ex­ cluding th o se w ho do have fo rm e r police e xp e ­ rience) act like m erce n a ry hyenas, devoid of any p rofessional skills, preying “on people w ho are depressed, lonely or m entally d is tu rb e d ” .

PETER ROYLE, A REAL-LIFE PRIVATE DETECTIVE IN MALCOLM MCDONALD'S DOCUMENTARY, G UM SHOE.

T he film ’s ca tch y o pening cre d its of a s ilh o u ­

e n te rta in in g the cu sto m e rs as a belly dancer. It

ette of a c ity ’s skylin e and several flyin g fo xe s

is a B lake E dw ards scenario of sh e e r in co m p e ­

cu ttin g across the fram e, w ith its bouncy, e x ­

tence and stupidity. Les can n o t b elieve his luck

p re ssive so u n d tra ck of bongo m usic, captures

as he tre a ts us to a spasm of la u g hte r and

the right te xtu re s and to n a lity of the g u m s h o e ’s

pro ce e d s to eat his meal w ith se lf-c o n g ra tu la ­

w orld as d e p icte d in cinem a and crim e fiction.

to ry gusto.

As G um shoe unspools fo r its 59 m inutes, we

G u m sh oe’s critica l va lu e as a te le v is io n ­

e n c o u n te r m any b iza rre and hum orous n a rra ­

shaped d o cu m e n ta ry on an intrig u in g sub je ct

tives of the in te rv ie w e e s ’ p revious exploits, and

resides m ainly w ith its inform ative co n te n t about

the sp e c ta to r becom es a p p re cia tive of th e ir

the private e ye ’s w orld of low -life losers, scam

d iffe re n t a sp ira tio n s and p e rso n a litie s. For in­

m erch a n ts and runaw ay daughters. S tylistica lly

stance, th e re is Jam es B atm an, a ch a ra cte r

sp eaking, w hat we e n co u n te r is a fa irly c o n ve n ­

w ho w ould not be out of place in a Paul Bartel or

tio n a l ta lkin g -h e a d constru ctio n of en te rta in in g

John W a te rs m ovie. As a repo man fo r a te le vi-

m aterial th a t sp o tlig hts the com ic and d a rke r

s io n -H iF i-v id e o com pany, we learn th a t he lost

a ttrib u te s of the private e ye ’s w orld. W e are

a leg tryin g to repossess a te le visio n set. It is

never bored as we shadow the film ’s highly-

quite a fu n n y story to hear from a person w ho is

e ngaging subjects doing th e ir w ork, fo r w here

seated in his arm ch a ir and n o n chalantly reaches

M cD onald succeeds as a film m a k e r is to locate

dow n and deta ch e s his leg.

the d o c u m e n ta ry’s conceptual and form al ce n ­

Batm an can see the dark com edy th a t his life

tre of g ra vity w ith his s u b je c ts ’ characters. We

has becom e. He tells us of w om en s c a n tily clad

are c o n s ta n tly seduced by our ow n vo ye u ristic

in th e ir u n d e rw e a r o ffe rin g th e m se lve s instead

im pulses as we becom e p ro g re ssive ly m ore

of the due rent - a sto ck n arrative set-up th a t

in q u isitive about the film ’s diverse characters.

com es stra ig h t out of one of Jim T h o m p s o n ’s

T h a n kfu lly, M cD onald has avoided the use of

novels.

s lic k , hip re fe re n c e s to film n o ir su ch as

Then there is the insurance s u rve illa n ce o p ­

ch ia ro scu ro lighting, o ff-b e a t cam era angles,

erative, Les - w hose anonym ous identity is

e x p re s s io n istic fram ing devices or the tim e ­

underlined by the m any tig h t clo se -u p s of his

w orn, stylized clichés of the a lluring fem m e

m outh and n o s e -w h o w orks inside the cram ped

fatale and n o ir m ale pro ta g o n ist cau g h t in a

in te rio r of his van fitte d out w ith high-tech h a rd ­

nig h tm a rish w orld.

w are. W e see him act out his role as the co n ­

One of the m ore inform ative aspects of the

sum m ate v o y e u r spying on a w om an w ho is

film ’s fo cu s is on the te ch n o lo g ica l hardw are

p e rp e tra tin g a w o rk e r’s co m p e n sa tio n scam .

private eyes have at th e ir disposal. B esides

Les sw ears by his video cam era and m obile

video cam eras, bugging devices and m obile

phone. He is at hom e w ith the panopticon gaze

phones, th ere is co m p u te r te ch n o lo g y like Oz

of m odern te ch n o lo g y. He talks to her by phone

on Disc w h ere anyone can tap into c ro s s -re fe r­

on a cle ve rly-co n trive d p re te xt and, at the sam e

enced in form ation about anyone in this country.

tim e, he is spying on her inside her own hom e.

Then there is a sim ila r te ch n o lo g ica l service

He w aits p atiently fo r the su sp e ct to m ake one

a v a ila b le called E lectronic W hite Pages w hich

false step. A t night, she goes out w ith her

can be updated by the co m p u te r-lite ra te private

husband. Les shadow s th e ir car. He ends up in

eyes on an hourly basis. W ith this kind of critical

a re sta u ra n t w here the su sp e ct is seen to be

in te llig e n ce about th e ir suspects, the private eye has the d istin ct advantage.

M cD onald also underlines the private e ye ’s m o d u s o p e ra n d l and laconic, colourful argot as he (re g re ttably the film does not look at any fem ale exam ples) survives by any possible prag­ m atic m eans in the m ean streets of our cities.

W e e n co u n te r m any hum orous and insightful o b se rva tio ns about ourselves. In a m ajor way, M cD onald has given an effective w o rm ’s eye vie w of the co ntem porary A ustralian psyche.

In con clusion, w hat we have in G um shoe is a h ighly w a tch a b le and stim u la tin g a ccount of w hat m otivates the private eye to con sta n tly jo u rn e y in the co rru p t and sin iste r funhouse w orld of A ustralian corporate and suburban life.

GUMSHOE Directed by Malcolm McDonald. Produc­

ers: Tristram Miall, Malcolm McDonald. Scriptwriter: Malcolm McDonald. Director of photography: Kim Batterham. Sound: Leo Sullivan. Editor: Suresh Ayyar.

Composer: Peter Miller. Featuring: Warren Mallard (Lyonswood Investigations), Peter Boyle (Essex In­ vestigations), Michael Oliver (Oliver’s Security Con­ sultants), Roy Montgomery (Keyhole Investigations), James Batman (ex-repo man), Les (insurance sur­ veillance expert), Christopher Murphy (criminal law­ yer and newspaper columnist)'. M & A Film Productions-Dakota Productions. Australian distributor: M & A Film Productions. 16 mm. 59 mins. Australia. 1992.

48

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PAPERS

91

IN D O C H IN E KARL

T

Q U T NI N

he h isto rica l dram a is a g e n re fra u g h t w ith d ifficu lty. By fo cu sin g on th e d ra m a tic a s­

p e cts of a sto ry (p a rtic u la rly a fic tio n a l one) at th e e xpense of the histo rica l, the film m a k e r risks being a ccused of ‘c h e a p e n in g ’ the su b ­ je ct. By going in the o th e r d ire ctio n - paying s cru p u lo u s a tte n tio n to the histo rica l d e ta ils th e p o s s ib ility arise s th a t a u d ie n ce s w ill fail to be e n g aged e m o tio n a lly. A t firs t g lance, R égis W a rg n ie r’s French prod u ctio n In d o ch in e seem s to have fo u n d ju s t the rig h t b a la nce betw een h isto rica l and em o tio n a l ve ra city.

If W a rg n ie r’s film is at all su cce ssfu l, it is b ecause he has cre a te d a sto ry p eopled by ch a ra cte rs w ho are re p re se n ta tive of the h istory th ey are m e a n tto inhabit. U n lik e s o m any A m e ri­ can a ttem pts at the form , the c h a ra c te rs do not seem to be m odern ones im posed on an h is to ri­ cal tableau (one need th in k o n ly of Al P a cin o ’s N ew Y ork draw l in R evolution)] th e y seem to rise out of th e ir (diegetic) tim e, u n co n scio u sly but u n m ista ka b ly im bued w ith the e sse n ce of th a t historical m om ent. |n Indochine, th a t m om e n t is, in fact, quite a long one; the film opens in 1930, and closes in 1954, th ough the bulk of the action ap p e a rs to

this re la tio n sh ip is unarguable, and c le a rly a r­

CAMILLE (LINH D A N P H AM ) A N D ELIANE DEVRIES (CATHERINE

o ccu r so m e tim e during the late 1930s. S et in

ticu la te d in a scene in w hich E liane w hips one of

DENEUVE) IN REGIS W AR G N IE R'S INDOCHINE.

the F rench colony of In d o ch in a (V ietnm am ,

her pla n ta tio n w o rke rs as p u n ishm e n t fo r som e

Laos), it charts the grow th of the c o u n try ’s first

m isd e m e a n o u r. As she beats him, she te lls him

p o te n tia l fo r three lives to be destroyed (such is

a tte m p t at ind e pe n d e n ce (V ietnam w as granted

th a t she does not en jo y doing so, th a t it is like

the p o w e r of rom antic love), she has he r p o lic e ­

in depe n d e n ce in 1954, th o u g h th e U.S. sp e n t

the sad but in e sca pa b le duty of a m o th e r p u n ­

man friend A sselin pull a few bureaucratic strings

the next tw e n ty years a tte m p tin g to install a

ishing h e rc h ild re n . P ow er has its privile g e s, but

to have the young m an banished to an outer

régim e fa vo u ra b le to its fo re ig n p olicy). N ar­

it c le a rly also e ntails ce rta in m aternal re s p o n s i­

post of E m pire.

rated in v o ice -o ve r by E liane D evries (C atherine

bilities.

H e a rtb ro k en , C a m ille dons p e a s a n t garb

D eneuve) on the b rin k of th a t 1954 de cla ra tio n

But E liane is not m erely a sym bol of the

(sym b o lica lly shedding her privileged lifestyle

of inde pe n d e n ce , it app e a rs from the outse t

co lonial pre se n ce in Indochina. She Is also very

in fa v o u r of the less obvious rew ards of love)

that, as w ell as being history, this is her story.

m uch a ch a ra c te r in her own, personal right,

and sets off in search of her h e a rt’s desire.

H er n a rra tiv e b e g in s in 1930. A w om an

and it is this su cce ssfu l m elding of the sym b o lic

J e a n -B a p tiste is sim ila rly heartbroken, though

dressed in black is holding the hand of a sm all

and the em o tive th a t m akes W a rg n ie r’s film

less on acco unt of his se p a ra tio n from C am ille

V ie tn a m e se girl as th e y are row ed out to sea fo r

w ork. E liane is cle a rly en sla ved by her position

than his d istance from the ideals of im perial

w hat, w e soon realize, is a fu n e ra l. The c e r­

and her life, unable to tra n sg re ss the lim ita tio n s

c o n q u e st th a t o rig in a lly b ro u g h t him to A sia. Far

em ony is in h o n o u r of the g irl’s a ris to c ra t p a r­

of h e r social status and her sex, unable to

from brin g in g the virtues of French cultu re to a

ents, killed w hen th e ir plane cra sh e d into the

indulge in the ple a sure s of a co n g a ie (a native

b ackw ard land, he now fin d s h im self a d m in i­

ocean. T he w om an in black is E liane, o w n e r of

co n cu b in e ) as her fa th e r does. D espite her

ste rin g a sla ve m arket for the d irty m echanism

a large ru b b e r p lantation in Indochina, and she

te llin g C am ille th a t she is like a m ango, she in

of co lo n ia l capitalism .

is a b o u t to becom e the g u a rdian of the young

fa ct se e m s a m uch h a rd e r fruit, sp e n d in g m uch

C a m ille ’s arrival signals a s h ift in te m p o from

girl, C am ille (Linh Dan P ham ).

o f the e arly p a rt of the film w ith a set, e m o tio n ­

the lan g uo rous pace of the co lonial palaces in

A lm o st im m ediately, the sto ry m oves fo rw a rd

less e xp re ssio n . O nly w hen handsom e young

S aigon to the fre n e tic and d a n gerous charge

som e years, so th a t C am ille is now in her late

naval o ffic e r Je a n -B a p tis te Le G uen (V in ce n t

to w a rd s re volution. S ig n ifica n tly - at least in

te ens, a w a itin g the return of her fiancé, Tanh

Perez) a p p e a rs on the scene does she soften.

te rm s of the ideology of W a rg n ie r’s h isto ry - the

(E ric N guyen), from Paris. She q u e stio n s Eliane

And how: from re je ctin g the o ffe r of p rotection

act th a t p ropels C am ille from silly sch o o lgirl to

- w hom she calls m o th e r - a b o u t French girls;

from her w o u ld -b e s u ito r and the P olice C hief,

re vo lu tio n a ry leader is m otivated equ a lly by

she fears th a t Tanh w ill no lo n g e r be interested

G uy A sse lin (Jean Y anne), to crying into Jean-

p e rsonal love and a sense of social injustice.

in her, having seen the fa ir flesh and b e a u tifu l

B a p tis te ’s arm s, “ P rotect me, I need y o u .” The

Inversely, J e a n -B a p tis te ’s d ecision to flee w ith

c lo th e s of the P arisians. E liane responds w ith a

tra n s fo rm a tio n is d iffic u lt to u nderstand, given

C a m ille a fte r she has shot his com m anding

“you are w h a t you e a t” so rt of p arable: apples

the d a sta rd ly b e h a v io u r of Le Guen, exce p t as

o ffic e r in the head seem s as m uch a response

are the only fru it e aten by French girls, w hereas

the cry of a w om an to rtu re d by a se xu a l fru s tra ­

to the b e tra yal of the ideals of co lo n ia lism as to

she (E liane and, by im plica tio n , a lso C am ille)

tion w hich she dare not a rticu la te ; but W a rg n ie r

his b e w ild e red infatuation w ith her.

eats all m a n n e r o f tro p ica l delig h t, and is th e re ­

seem s to w a n t us to b elieve th a t this is true love,

fo re m uch sw eeter. S tra n g e and co n vo lute d

since th a t is w h a t pum ps the n a rra tive along.

W h a te v e r its p la u sib ility (and the film is rid ­ dled w ith im p la u sib ilities), C a m ille ’s action is

re a ssu ra nce it m ay be, but it o ffe rs a w a y into

S h o rtly a fte r E lia n e ’s d a llia n ce w ith her bit of

u n d e rsta n d in g E liane, the n a rrator: she is no

se ag o in g flu ff, C a m ille sees him and fa lls lik e ­

sa ve s it from being ju s t a sickly, biza rre love

lo n g er ju s t F rench, th ou g h c e rta in ly not V ie t­

w ise h o p e le ssly in love. A ll th o u g h ts of m a rrying

tria n g le kind of rom ance, a lb e it set a g a in st a

nam ese. S he is, in a sense, the v e ry e sse n ce of

T a n h are th ro w n out the w indow , w hich is fo rtu ­

p re tty in te re sting period of A sian history. From

th e co lo n ia l.e n te rp rise , c h a n g e d by but alw ays

nate b e ca u se he has be co m e m ore in te re ste d

th is m o m e n t on, the story becom es m ore c o n ­

s u p e rio r to th a t w hich is co lo n ize d .

in the p o litics of re vo lu tio n th a n in girls. W hen

cerned w ith the em e rg e nce of a c u ltu re of re sis­

E liane re a lize s w hat is going on, and sees the

ta n ce to French rule than w ith rom ance.

T h a t th e re is a d e fin ite stru c tu re of p o w e r in

w h a t fin a lly g a lva nize s the film into action, and

CINEMA

PAPERS

91

• 49

U n fo rtu n a te ly, how ever, W a rg n ie r’s d e ta ilin g

Larrieu, Alain Vannier. Scriptwriters: Erik

of the g row ing m ythical sta tu s of C a m ille , Je a n -

Qrsenia, Louis Gardel, Catherine Co­

B aptiste, and th e ir you n g b aby te n d s to raise

hen, Régis Wargnier. Director of pho­

the trio to the sta tu s of d e itie s, and d e n ies the

tography: François Catonne. Sound:

sense o f a g e n u in e ly p o p u la r u p risin g s te m ­

Guillaume Sciama. Design director: Jac­

m ing from a m ass co n s c io u s n e s s of in ju stice and the p o ssib ility of change. It is as if W a rg n ie r is s u g g e stin g th a t th e se th re e in d iv id u a ls w ere s ig n ifica n tly responsib le fo r th e o v e rth ro w of

ques Bunoir. C ostum e designers: G a b rie lla

P escucci,

P ie rre -Y ve s

Gayraud. Editor: Genevieve Winding.

Composer: Patrick Doyle. Cast: Cather­ ine Deneuve (Eliane), Vincent Perez

French co lo n ia lism , in th e sam e w a y th a t John

(J e a n -B a p tis te ),

A v ild s e n ’s The P o w e r o f O ne trie s to co nvince

(Camille), Jean Yanne (Guy), Dominique

Linh

Dan Pham

a u d ien ce s th a t a w h ite boy called P eekay is

Blanc (Yvette), Henri Marteau (Emile),

alm ost the sole m o tiva to r fo r b lack S outh A fri­

Carlo Brandt (Castellani), Gerard Larti-

c a ’s d em ands fo r ju stice . E ith e r w a y - th e pow er

gau (The Admiral), Hubert Saint-Macary

of one o r the pow er of th ree - the de vice sm acks

(Raymond), Andrzej Seweryn (Hebrard),

of an a tte m p t to ra tio n a lize and reduce th e h is ­

Mai Chau (Shen). Paradis Films et La

to ry of po p u la r p o litics to th e cu lt of p e rso n a lity.

Generale D’images-Bac Film s-O rly

T he m ajor failin g of W a rg n ie r’s film is, in fact, to do w ith que stio n s o f h isto ry and its a rtic u la ­ tion: W hose history is spoken, and by w hom ?

E liane D evries is, of course, th e narrator, and she speaks both fo r he rse lf and fo r th e co lonial en te rp rise, a so rt of a French K urtz before the h o rro r sets in. B ut the h isto ry she sp e a ks is not ju s t hers, it is also C a m ille ’s. A nd C am ille, like

Films-Cine Cinq. Australian distributor: Palace. 35mm. 158 mins. France. 1992.

ISABELLE EBERHARDT RAYMOND

O

YOUNIS

f a d ve n tu re rs w ho jo u rn e y to strange lands in search o f d iv ­

e rsion o r fo rg e tfu ln e ss, panacea or

E liane, is as m uch re p re se n ta tive of a nation as

th a t peace w hich is o b livio n , there

she is an in dividual. She is V ie tn a m , o r rather

are m any film s - and of ind ivid u a ls,

Indochina in the process of b ecom ing V ietnam .

o dysseans o r lotus eaters, w ho seek

S he is a child of m o dern ity (h e r p a re n ts die in a

th e ir own im age, eidolon or double.

plane crash), raised betw een tw o cu ltu re s - the

Isabelle E be rh a rd t w as such a se e k e r or a d v e n ­

T he th e m a tic con ce rn s e ncom pass the search

tra d itio n a l V ie tn a m e se and the F rench - n e ith e r

ture r, and m uch else besides. Born of a fa th e r

fo r id e n tity and the cre a tive co n stitu tio n of the

of w hich she can e ve r tru ly be a part. S he is a

w ho had been a m e m b e r of the R ussian O rth o ­

self; the n ature and the rôle of the w rite r in a

hybrid, n e ith e r one nor the o th e r (to a p p ro p ria te

dox church and w h o died an u n happy and

tu m u ltu o u s w orld w here values are co m p ro ­

H om i B habha), at firs t co m p lia n t to th e w ishes

regretful m an, and a m o th e r w ho had been the

m ised or surrendered, w here u nscrupulous or

of h e r c o lo n iz e r (J e a n -B a p tis te /th e F rench

w ife of a ts a ris t g e neral before ta kin g up the

s a d istic o ffice rs are p redom inant; the issue of

E m pire), but gra d u a lly b ecom ing a w are th a t

m uslim faith in A lg e ria , Isa b e lle ’s ba ckg ro u n d is

co m p lic ity in dish o no u ra b le p o litical and m ili­

she m ust bre a k aw ay from the dual binds of

d istin ctive to say th e least. S he too tra ve lle d to

ta ry p ro ce sses and in the b ru ta lity of c o lo n iz a ­

E m pire (cultural and m ilita ry pow er) in search of

A lg e ria in search of one or tw o th in g s w hich

tion; th e p aradox of tribal co n flict am ong the

a new and as yet unknow n identity.

have becom e no less e lu sive o ve r th e past

in d ig e n o u s people; the need fo r love and co m ­

n in e ty-tw o o r so years.

pan ion sh ip ; and the desire fo r o b livion (w hich is

T he very fa ct of C a m ille ’s re la tive v o ic e le s s ­ ness robs the film of m uch of its p o ssib le pow er,

T he film is se t at the turn of th e ce n tu ry w hen

a n o th e r nam e fo rth e death-w ish in a land w here

rendering it as m ore a la s t-d a y s -o f-e m p ire piece

France w as in th e p ro ce ss of exte n d in g its

the d e se rt is often o bliging) under a sky w hich

of n o sta lg ia than a b irth -o f-a -n a tio n fan fa re .

do m in io n in N orth A frica. Isabelle leaves Paris

seem s to be in d iffe re n t to the fa te of such

Large chunks of h isto ry are ska te d over, too,

and G e n e va in se a rch of a m yste rio u s m arquis,

restless and to rm ented w anderers. No place fo r

and th a t te rra in w hich is tra ve rse d is done so in

th o u g h she soon co n vin ce s h e rse lf th a t he has

dream ers, indeed.

such a vague and ske tc h y m a n n e r th a t one is

p e rished in the d e se rt (an o m in o u s m etaphor?).

In th is hodgepodge of a film , m any strands

left w ith the im pression th a t betw een 1930 and

She fo rg e ts him ra th e r q u ickly and fin d s h e rse lf

are e ith e r abandoned (an over-b u rd e n e d d ire c­

1954 there w ere a fe w d istu rb a n ce s to the

in vo lve d in the tu rm o il of A lgiers. S he also trie s

tor?), ob scured (ill-p re p a re d script?) o r fo rg o t­

French a d m in istra tio n w hich co n vin ce d it to

to w rite sh o rt fictio n . W hen she is n o t w riting,

ten (p o o r cu ttin g ? ). C o n se q u e n tly, th e film

g e n tly and w illin g ly hand o ve r p o w e r to the

she se e m s to be su p p o rtin g - a lte rn a te ly, at

lurches from one city to another, one s u b p lot to

V ietnam ese. T he d e fe a t o f th e French in 1940,

tim e s; sim u lta n e o u sly, at o thers - th e A rabs

a nother, w hile the really inte re stin g m aterial is

the Ja p a n e se occu p a tio n until 1945 and the

and th e F rench in th e ir in te rn e cin e co n flict. She

su b m e rg ed fo r s ig n ifica n t periods. A pity, a

in te rn e cin e po litics of the e m e rg e n t nation are

fa lls in love and she also fin d s tim e to search fo r

g re a t pity, because there is som e fascin a tin g

to ta lly abse n t from this h istory.

the “p e a ce ” of her “so u l” , though w h a t th a t m ight

m aterial here.

Y et, Indochine so m e h o w m anages to m ake

m ean w h ile sh e is a live is not at all c le a r (w hat

Not all fails, though. T he cin e m a to g ra p h y

such e lisio n s seem un im p o rtan t, w h ile never

it m ig h t m ean, oné m ig h t add, a fte r death is not

and a rt d irection are often striking. T he tra n s i­

quite su ccu m b in g to the te m p ta tio n to leave its

a jo t cle a re r!). U nfo rtu n a te ly, the search fo r the

tio n s from the darkness and shadow s o f G e ­

n a rra tive co n ce rn s at th e level of rom ance.

m a rq u is is fo rg o tte n - not su rp risin g , given the

neva (and rain), w here Isa b e lle ’s fa th e r dies,

D espite the nagging se n sa tio n th a t W a rg n ie r’s

n u m b e r of d is tra c tio n s here - and w e do not

and Paris to the b rilliant, piercing light of A l­

history is vague, se le ctive and a n ti-p o p u la r,

learn w h e th e r th a t peace w hich sh e had va lu e d

giers, th o u gh fa m ilia r, do provide a d ram atic

Ind o ch in e still im presse s w ith its p o e tic im ­

so highly w as e ve r a tta in e d o r even atta in a b le .

a n a lo g y In relation to Isa b e lle ’s own jo u rn e y

agery, its rendering of the h isto rica l and the

P ro b a b ly not, one infers.

th ro u g h th is w orld. T he desert, and th e s tru c ­

personal as in e xtrica b ly e n tw in ed , and its a t­

The film , it m u st be sa id at th e outset, is

tu re s th a t m en e re ct ag a inst its h arshness, its

te m p ts to exp lo re the d u a l cu ltu ra l a lie n a tio n

d e e p ly d isa p po in tin g , a p ity since it is c le a r th a t

a lien asp e cts and inexo ra b le w inds, are hig h ­

th a t is th e p o st-co lo n ia l e xp e rie n ce .

th e re is n e ith e r a la ck of a m bition nor a lack of

lighted in a n um ber of m em orable scenes. A nd

a b ility here. T he director, it w ould seem , planned

a ra th e r tire d -lo o kin g P eter O ’T oole, p ro fe s­

INDOCHINE Directed by Régis Wargnier. Produc­

ers: Eric Heumann, Jean Labadie. Executive produc­

to m ake a film a b o u t e ve ryth in g , o r ju s t a bout

sional th a t he is, does w h a ih e can w ith dialogue

ers: Alain Belmondo, Gerard Crosnier. Associate

è ve ryth in g , u n d e r the sun o f A lg ie rs (not to

th a t is to o often stilted, banal and pretentious.

producers: Alain Giraud, Pierre Heros, Roger-Andrp

m ention the sh a d o w s of G e n e va and Paris).

A lso, th e re are som e v isio n a ry m om ents and

50

• CINEMA

PAPERi S

9 1

ISABELLE EBERHARDT (MATHILDA MAY), EXPLORER. IAN PRINGLE'S

IS A B E L L E E B E R H A R D T .

s e quences, th o u g h c e rta in ly not enou g h to re­ deem the film .

T he problem s, alas, are legion. On th e q u e s ­ tion of c o lo n iza tio n and its dam a g e , th e film has

d u ring one se q u e n ce in R o m p e rS to m p e rw h e re

w hen H ando fin a lly dum ps her by atta ckin g him

th e p o lice pursue and a tta c k th e skin h e a d gang

on p e e r and p ersonal levels: sn itch in g on the

hiding out in a w a re h o u se . W rig h t sh o o ts the

g a n g ’s w h e re a b o u ts to the p olice and by se d u c­

p o lice chase and fig h t se q u e n ce in s im ila r style

ing D avey, his ally.

to an e a rlie r s e q u e n ce w here the s kin h e ad s

In the d é n o u e m e n t of the film , H ando co n ­

e m b a rk on a death and d e stru ctio n m ission,

fro n ts D avey w ith a dilem m a: loyalty to his m ale

m aim ing and killing several V ie tn a m e se .

buddy, w hom he has know n th ro u g h th ick and

little th a t is new to add. On th e issue of love and

H ow ever, w hile A n th o n y B u rg e s s ’ n ovella

thin, o r loyalty to G abe, w hom he loves dearly.

the co n flictin g need on the p a rt o f the w rite r fo r

ch a rts th e sa rd o n ic ‘re fo rm a tio n ’ of A lex, le a v­

H ando ca jo le s; it is a case of b e tte r the devil you

so litu d e, the film resu rre cts n u m e ro us clichés.

ing no d o u b t in th e re a d e r’s m ind th a t its hero,

know than th e devil you d o n ’t, en tre a tin g Davey,

On the ca p a city of the c re a to r to tra n sfo rm her

d e sp ite his h isto ry of ‘u ltra v io le n c e ’, w ill never

“W e ’re all w e ’ve got left, D a ve y.”

a g onies into n a rra tive s of aesthetic value, into

be m ade to re p e n t his w ays, W rig h t’s R o m p e r

fo rm s w hich are both rich and strange, th e film

S to m p e r leaves the vie w e r th in k in g its key c h a r­

m ents th e in co n gru ity of the skinheads ag a inst

is cu rio u sly tim id and uneng a g in g . On the them e

acters, G abe (J a cq u e lin e M cK enzie) and D avey

the natural b ea u ty of the sea. It is as though

of the quest, the su b je ct m a tte r is to o often

(the late Daniel P ollock), w ill pay h e a vily fo r

D avey and H ando w ill ne ve r fit into the ‘re a l’

m audlin, d e fe a tist o r se lf-p ityin g . A nd on the

th e ir deeds.

w orld; th e y are true m isfits.

T he scene is sh o t on a beach, w hich a u g ­

idea of the cosm os, w hich in th e w o rd s of

W rig h t likens the skin h e ad gang to a s u rro ­

D uring the c o n fro n ta tio n betw een the tw o

P ascal te rrifie s because of th e ete rn a l sile n ce

gate fa m ily w ith H ando (R ussell C row e) as its

m en, G abe scours rock pools fo r signs of life,

of its infinite spaces, Isabelle relies too m uch on

le a d er and ‘fa th e r’ fig u re ; D avey, his clo se st

fa n ta s iz in g ab out h a p p ie r child h o o d days. Like

u n in spire d p o sturing: she does not p re se n t the

m ate, a lte rn a te s rôles of ‘b ro th e r’ and ‘s o n ’; and

th e skin h e ad s, G abe is also a social outcast,

m a terial one w ould e xp e ct from a co g e n t or

a co lle ctio n of m otley b lo w -in s w ho hero w o r­

c a u g h t betw een fobbing off and being attracted

skille d w riter. It seem s so m e w h a t iro n ic th a t the

ship H ando, like P e te r P an’s boys.

to her fa th e r’s pedo p h ile advances, desiring

film should so u n d e rcu t th e fig u re w ho m ost

H ando co m m a n d s respect and instils a sense

love and a cce p ta n ce yet overcom e by su s p i­

re presents the cre a tive in d ivid u a l. M uch is not

of p urpose into the group. T he sk in h e a d s ’ b o n d ­

cion and hatred. G abe is in itia lly a ttracted to

e la b ora te d upon or even cla rifie d .

ing ritual involves boozing, banging th e ir w om en

H a n d o ’s stre n gth, but becom es d isillu sio n e d as

Isabelle E berhardt, at one stage, e xp re sse s

and a ffe c tio n a te ly b ra w lin g a m o n g s t th e m ­

her ‘L o lita ’ ch arm s fail to w oo him. W hen she

h e r de te rm in atio n not to w a ste her life (re m e m ­

selves. T h e ir co m fo rt zone is fra ctu re d w ith the

o ve rh e a rs w h at fa te H ando and D avey are p la n ­

b ering, perhaps, the u n ha p p in e ss and pain of

a rrival of G abe, w ho be co m e s H a n d o ’s lover.

ning, she s p ite fu lly sets the ca r on fire. T he

h e r fa th e r’s life and death). O ne m ig h t say w ith

U nlike o th e r skin h e ad m olls, w ho are p ortrayed

burn in g of the ca r sig n ifie s the end of the trio ’s

good reason th a t her life (in the film ) w as not

in the film as dum b and su b m issive , G abe

flig h t; th e y are forced to co n fro n t th e ir em otions

w asted, at least not entire ly. T he pity is th a t

bunks the o rd e r by un d e rm in in g H a ndo’s p ow er

on the beach.

such a sta te m e n t ca n n o t be m ade of the film .

base. A t firs t she adopts a child d em eanour,

T h ro u g h a necdote, W rig h t evokes sym pathy

S o m ew here in this m ean d e rin g hod g e p o d g e

w ooing him w ith her g irlish n e ss. As th e ir re la ­

fo r the s k in h e a d s’ plight: in m ost scenes, they

th e re is a fa scin a tin g story ab o u t a fa scin a tin g

tio n sh ip d evelops, she ta ke s on a m o th e rly rôle,

a p p e a r like a bunch of aim less larrikins clinging

person th a t d e se rve s to be to ld in m ore c o h e r­

exa m p le d in the scene w here, a fte r breaking

to a cause, in this case neo-nazism . T h is neo-

e n t and co g e n t term s.

into a w are h o u se , G abe cooks fo r the gang,

nazi thread, m ostly visual, is never d e eply e x ­

IS A B E LL E EBER H AR D T Directed by lan Pringle.

m uch to the d isg u st of H ando, w ho rejects her

plored. W rig h t uses it as a sym bol of loyalty,

Producers: Jean Petit, Daniel Scharf. Executive pro­

a tte m p ts at e sta b lish in g a ‘h o m e ly ’ e n v iro n ­

s u p re m a cy and colle ctivism .

ducer: Jacques Le Clere. Scriptwriter: Stephen Sewell.

m ent by tra sh in g her cooking.

R ock v id e o -style editing, fe a tu rin g ‘w obble-

Director of photography: Manuel »Teran. Sound:

U nlike the o th e r m olls w ho sim p ly fle e w hen

ca m ’ and ju m p cuts, te n d s to d istra ct the vie w e r

Bernard Aubouy. Production designers: Bryce Per­

th in g s s ta rt to turn nasty, G abe enacts revenge

from som e of the film ’s m ore intense scenes,

rin, Geoffrey Larcher. Costume designer: Mic Cheminal. Editor: Ken Sallows. Composer: Paul Schutze.

Cast: Mathilda May (Isabelle Eberhardt), Tcheky Karyo (Slimene), Peter O’Toole (Major Lyautey), Arthur Dignam (Captain Cauvet), Claude Villers (Vic­ tor Barracund), Nabil Massad (Brahim), Ben Smail (Hussein), Wolfgang Harnisch (Trophimowsky). Les Films Aramis-Flach Films (Paris)-Seon Films (Mel­ bourne). Australian distributor: Palace. 35mm. 113 mins. Australia. 1991.

R OM PER S TO M P E R PAT

t

GILLESPIE here are m any a rtis tic and n a rra tive p a ra l­ lels betw een S ta n le y K u b ric k ’s fu tu ris tic

a lle g o ry, A C lo ckw o rk O range, and G e o ffre y W rig h t’s R o m p e r S tom per. Both film s fe a tu re a gang of hoodlum s w ho beco m e social outcasts, sp en d in g m o st of th e ir tim e va n d a lizin g , d rin k ­ ing, rooting and “hanging o u t” .

In each film , th e re is a fin e line d ivid in g the b e h a vio u rs o f both the law and the gangs. Both are a llow ed to lite ra lly ‘g et a w ay w ith m u rd e r’. In A C lo ckw o rk O range and R o m p e r S tom per, the law has ca rte b la n che to use v io le n c e a g a inst th e gangs, in a g ra tu ito u s w ay, as w itn e sse d

^ A N D O (RUSSELL CROWE), DAVEY (DANIEL POLLOCK) AND GANG IN GEOFFREY WRIGHT'S

R O M P ER STO M PER.

p a rticu la rly during the film ’s se t piece w hich

tro d u c e v a rio u s c h a ra c te rs in cluding

involves a fig h t betw een the skin h e a d s and the

Mr and M rs H astings (B arry O tto and

V ie tn a m e se . Inte re stin g ly, th e film ’s u g lie st m o ­

the late Pat T h o m so n ), pare n ts of the

m ents do not revolve a ro u n d th e skin h e a d s but

p ro m is in g Pan P a c ific G ra n d P rix

are set in G a b e ’s fa th e r’s sw a n ky house, a

h o p e fu l,

trib u te to the exce sse s of success.

M ercurio), and A u stra lia n D ance F ed­

S c o tt

H a s tin g s

(P a u l

R o m p e r S to m p e r is like p e ering th ro u g h an

e ra tio n P re s id e n t, B a rry F ife (B ill

eye g lass at the som e of the dross in society,

H unter). T h e se ca rica tu re in te rvie w s

iro n ica lly sum m ed up by one skin h e ad c o m ­

lack the d ro lln e ss of th o se in S p in a l

m ent, “W e cam e to w re ck e ve ryth in g and ruin

Tap, and seem su p e rflu o u s to the

yo u r life. God sent us.”

plot. W as Luhrm ann attem pting to lend

ROMPER STOMPER Directed by Geoffrey Wright.

an a ir of a u th e n tic ity to the film by

Producers: Daniel Scharf, Ian Pringle. Associate pro­

using fa ce -to -c a m e ra in terview s? To

ducer: Phil Jones. Scriptwriter: Geoffrey Wright. Di­

w hom are the ch a ra cte rs con fe ssin g ?

rector of photography: Ron Hagan. Sound: David

A nd w hy is the te ch n iq u e d ropped like

Lee. Production designer: Steven Jones-Evans. Cos­

a hot p otato a fte r the b e g inning? It is

tume designer: Anna Borghesi. Editor: Bill Murphy.

one of the m any m e lo d ra m a tic d e v ­

Composer: John Clifford White. Cast: Russell Crowe

ices featured thro u g h o u t the film w hich

(Hando), Daniel Pollock (Davey), Jacqueline McKen­

go now here.

zie (Gabe), Leigh Russell (Sonny Jim), Eric Mueck (Champ), Daniel Wyllie (Cackles), James McKenna (Bubs), Frank Magee (Brett), Christopher McLean (Luke), Alex Scott (Martin). Seon Films-Romper Stom­ per Productions. Australian distributor: Roadshow.

35mm. 94 mins. Australia. 1992.

The plot cram s in a p le th o ra of c lic h é s , ra n g in g fro m

u n a ttra c tiv e

dance novice w ho fa lls fo r hea rtth ro b dancer, a m b itio u s m o th e r w ho w ill go to extre m e lengths to m ake sure her baby w ins, crushed fa th e r w ho real­

S T R IC T L Y B A LLR O O M PAT

GILLESPIE

izes his lost a m b itio n s th ro u g h his son, prom ising male dancer w ho bucks the system by dancing his ow n steps

az Luhrm ann’sS fr/cf/y B allroom w as recently

- the sam e m ale d a n ce r reaches m a tu rity w hen

FRAN (TARA MORICE) EMBRACES Y A YA (A R M O N IA BENEDITO)

la u d ed at th e A FI a w a rd s as th e b e st

he learns from a m e n to r (in this case fla m e n co

IN BA Z LU H R M A N N 'S STRICTLY BALLROOM .

A u stra lia n film of the y e a r and has been e n o r­

te a c h e r and dancer, A n to n io V argas) - to u n a t­

m ously p o p u la r w ith the public. C ritica lly, the

tra ctive girl w ho blossom s into a beautiful w om an

film lacks pizzazz. W hile S trictly B allroom loosely

under the gaze of ‘lu rve ’.

B

pays hom age to 1940s d ance m usicals, the

It is hard to a cce p t this film as a slice of life,

s im ila rity stops w ith the b allgow ns. It d o e s n ’t

w hen e ve ryth in g in it is e xa ggerated and pa ­

have the sheen of any A sta ire and R ogers film ,

rodie: one e ith e r gets m e lo d ra m a tic rantings

nor does it have the e n e rg y of S ta yin g A liv e or

from Mrs H astings, fo ile d in her attem pts to

the rom anticism and charm of Le Bat. Its call to

save her s o n ’s career, sh rie ks and hysteria

fam e is hype - a candid g lim p se into th e tacky,

from Liz H olt (G ia C arides) as she is th w a rte d in

unnatural w orld of ballroom , but w ith o u t insight.

becom ing a dance queen or dark, b ro o d y looks

T he cha ra cte rs are on e -d im e n sio n a l, th e c o m ­

from F ran’s p ro te ctive fa th e r (it’s all th a t S p a n ­

edy is ham -fisted and irrita tin g ly o verdone, and

ish blood, no doubt).

the execution lacks subtlety.

N one of the dancers a p p e a r to have any

Luhrm ann has gone on the record as saying

su b sta n ce , w ith the exce p tio n of S cott, w ho is

the “film is not, s tric tly sp e a king , a b o u t ballroom

sin g le d out as a bit of a fre a k fo r w a nting to

dancing, it’s about all of us” ( C inem a P apers,

explore new dance steps. U nfortunately, S c o tt’s

No. 88). Luhrm ann isla n d s a w an ‘lu rv e ’ story,

cha ra cte r, w hich is the linchpin of the story, is

and spends a good part of the film to yin g s u p e r­

d e cid ed ly glib and he fa ils to steam up the

ficia lly w ith p e o p le ’s bitch in ess, o b se ssion s w ith

screen as F ra n ’s lover.

im age, w inning and pe e r groups. C o m ic re lie f is

T he love sto ry is a lim p b ridging device to

found in the film ’s carica tu re s, and lavish a tte n ­

hold to g e th e r a n u m b e r of clichéd vignettes. In

tion is paid to co stum in g and a rt dire ctio n , w hich

one scene, S co tt is ta u g h t the m acho S panish

ch a n g e s w ithin S cott, preferring to w a llo w in the co sm e tic build-up to the cham pionships.

C h o re o g ra p h y th ro u g h o u t the film is chopped into fra g m ents and edited to fit the film sco re instead of being a llow ed to explore its own visual rhythm . T he déno u e m e n t of the film , the Pan P acific G rand Prix dance cham pionships, is w h e re S cott and his new partner, Fran, sh o w ­ case th e ir talents and get a second cra ck at w in n in g . Ironically, the final dance sequence is so o v e r-e dited that one is left feeling frustrated, not elated, and w anting the ‘m oney s h o t’. The flu rry of cuts creates am bience, not resolution.

O ne gets the im pression th a t S cott h a sn ’t ch a l­ lenged the system s u fficie n tly to m ake change.

H e ’s ju s t m ade a chink in its lacquered arm oury.

T he film ends on the crow d dancing aw ay to “ Love is in the A ir” - like a 1970s E urovision pop co n te s t - yet fa ils to d e live r the prom ise it has offered th roughout: Did Fran and S co tt a ctually w in and w hat happens to them ?

are sm o ke scre e ns fo r a banal s to ry of love,

dance, the p a s o doble, by F ra n ’s fa th e r. In one

desp e ra tio n and fam e. It is d ish e a rte n in g to

sense, the scene sym b o lize s the im p a rtin g of

w atch a film th a t uses m yth and genre in such an

stre n g th and w isdom from the o ld e r bull to the

Producer: Tristram Miall. Executive producer:

e le m e n ta ry w ay.

yo u n g e r, ye t the scene d isin te g ra te s into ye t

A ntoinette A lbert. Line producer: Jane Scott.

STRICTLY BALLR O O M Directed by Baz Luhrmann.

T he opening credits, w hich are b a ckd ro p p e d

a n o th e r clich é : e th n ic fa m ily life and its dow n-

Scriptwriters: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce. Director

a g a in st crim son stage c u rta in s and a c c o m p a ­

to -e a rth va lu e s ve rsu s the ta c k y te c h n ic o lo u r of

of photography: Steve Mason. Sound: Ben Osmo,

nied by a lush film score, are re m in isce n t of the

the A u s tra lia n ba llro o m life. D ram a is an in te ­

Roger Savage, ian McLoughlin, Phil Judd. Produc­

days of sile n t film s show n w ith a m usical a c ­

gral p a rt of S panish life, w h e re a s the A u s tra l­

tion designer: Catherine Martin. Costume designers:

co m panim ent. T he ope n in g is th e s ta rt of a

ians in tro d u ce dram a into th e ir o th e rw ise bland

Angus Strathie, Catherine Martine. Editor: Jill Bilcock.

a rduous big tease, w hich g a th e rs m om entum

lives. It is the cla s s ic u s-and-them scenario.

as the c u rta in s pull back to reveal each of the

S co tt cro sse s the b o u n d a rie s and e ffe c tiv e ly

“p la y e rs ” , co iffu re d and ca rm in e d , c o q u e ttis h ly

is s h u n n e d by his c o lle a g u e s. A fte r S co tt and

parading* clad in fe a th e rs, se q u in s and d ia ­

F ra n ’s fa th e r ‘b o n d ’ on the d ance flo o r, the

m ante, bravado sm ile s th in ly m asking a d e s ­

sce n e cu ts to a lo n g -sh o t sh o w in g th e group

p e ration to w in.

p a rtyin g and a tra in leaving fra m e , su g g e stin g

Composer: David Hirshfelder. Cast: Paul Mercurio (Scott Hastings), Tara Morice (Fran), Bill Hunter (Barry Fife), Pat Thomson (Shirley Hastings), Barry Otto (Doug Hastings), John Hannan (Ken Railings), Sonia Kruger (Tina Sparkle), Gia Carides (Liz Holt), Peter Whitford (Les Kahdali), Antonio Vargas (Rico), Armonia Benedito (Ya Ya).-M,& A Film Corporation.

In the e a rly scenes, th e film uses p s e u d o ­

one jo u rn e y ending and ano th e r beginning. H ow ­

Australian distributor: RonihT35mm. 94 mins. Aus­

d o cu m e n ta ry fa ce -to -c a m e ra in te rvie w s to in ­

ever- th e rest of th e film fa ils to e xp lo re the

tralia. 1992.

52

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IN T E R N A T IO N A L FESTIVAL REPORTS SAN SEBASTIAN 1992 A SHOWCASE FOR INDEPENDENTS JONATHAN

HOUSE

a rticle goes on to applaud the C a ssa ve te s re tro ­ spective, the Open and O pera P rim a sections.

What Barnet tried to do

rom 17-26 S eptem ber, th e San S ebastian

B arnet and Festival d ire c to r Koldo A nasagasti

International Film Festival ce le b ra te d its

w ant to create a niche fo r San S ebastian am ong

40th edition and its second ye a r u nder the d ire c ­

the big E uropean fe stiva ls. A cco rd in g to B arnet,

tion of the B elgian general delegate, Rudi Barnet.

“W e are tryin g to create a m eeting point fo r

The Festival is one of S p a in ’s old e st and the only

in d e pe n d e n t production. O th e r fe stiva ls, such

one belonging to the IFFP A class “A ” .

as C annes and B erlin, d o n ’t give enough space

S et in a city know n as one of the m ost b e a u ­ tifu l of S pain (San S ebastian is a resort on the

to unknow n d ire cto rs and lo w -b u d g e t p ro d u c­ tio n s .”

c o u n try ’s B asque coast), the Festival a ttracted

For B arnet and his team , in d e pe n d e n t p ro ­

som e of the biggest stars and hosted som e of

duction m eans th a t the d ire cto r has control over

th e m ost im portant prem ie re s of w orld cinem a.

his own film . The projects are m ore o riginal, but,

Its C oncha (conch) A w ards are the m ost c o v ­

of course, more d ifficu lt to finance.

eted in S panish C inem a.

M any d ire cto rs m ake th e ir film s in th e ir own

co lle cte d copies of 11 d iffe re n t m ovies from around the w orld and invited several of C a s­ s a v e te s ’ co lla b o ra to rs to attend. “ He w as a pro ­ d u ce r-d ire cto r-a cto r, a true independent, the kind of in d e pendent the Festival seeks to su p ­ p o rt” , says B arnet.

B arnet w as uncom prom ising in choosing the film s fo r the Festival. The selection com m ittee decided, fo r exam ple, th a t only one S panish film w as w o rth y of inclusion in the O fficial S ection.

“The se lection this year has avoided all outside pressure. For exam ple, 16 S panish film s w ere presented and we only to o k one in C om petition. ... S im ilarly, w ith the French film s, I saw more than 40 film s and the ones we have ended up w ith are only nom inally French. The real ta le n t and roots of film s like Tito a n d Me, M o sco w

But although the San S ebastian Festival is

houses to cut costs. T h e y use th e ir fa m ily and

S p a in ’s biggest, in recent years its re la tio n sh ip

frie n d s in the cast. John C assavetes did. A nd so

w ith the press and prom in e n t in d u stry fig u re s

did Je fe ry Levy and S teve Antin, cre a to rs of

How it went

has been m arked by controversy.

In 1990, the Jury of the O fficial S election w alked out of the final d e lib e ra tio n process be ­

P arade and The O ak are from E astern E urope.”

Inside M o n ke y Z e tte rla n d and Ferenc G runw al-

As expected, the Festival film s this ye a r cam e

ski, d ire c to r of G o ld b e rg Variaciok, both w hich

under som e fierce attacks from the national

com peted in this y e a r’s O fficial S ection.

press. T his tim e they w ere m ainly m ovies from

fore choosing a w inner, co m p la in in g of the low

T his ye a r m ost of the film s presented at San

the O fficia l S ection. A bout half received “0” , “ 1” ,

q u a lity of the film s. Last year, w ith the arrival of

S ebastian, both w ithin the O fficial S ection and

or “2” ratings from S panish critics in the “C ritic ’s

Barnet, critics gene ra lly agreed th a t the q u a lity

w ithout, had budgets of under U S $500,000. The

P oll” kept by the F e stiva l’s daily publication.

in C om petition had im proved but th a t the film s in

A m erican film s, w ith a couple of notable e xce p ­

S om e of the victim ize d d irectors c o u ld n ’t believe

the parallel sections w ere w orse than ever.

tions, such as B arbet S ch ro e d e r’s C olum bia-

th a t the m arks w ere really out of ten.

T his year, the Festival got o ff to a b e tte r start.

B arnet, after m aking the last se le ctio ns of 100

produced S ingle W hite Fem ale, d id n ’t receive fin a n cing from m ajor studios.

C arlos Boyero of E l M undo, fo r exam ple, in his review of La Tarea P rohibida (F orbidden H o m e ­

Festivals can help these pro d u ctio n s by g iv ­

work), by M exican dire cto r Jaim e H um berto Her-

d eclared, “ Last year we sow ed the seeds. T his

ing them free p u b licity and g re a te r access to

m osillo, im plored the d ire cto r not to do any more

ye ar and the follow ing we will reap the h a rve st.”

sales and distrib u tio n netw orks. “W e w ant to

hom ew ork. Later in the w eek, the m ordant critic

The local press, tra d itio n a lly am ong the Fes­

prom ote a rt,” says B arnet, “but also co m m e rce .”

d escribed an other film as “alarm ing id io cy” and

tiv a l’s m ost ardent critics, a p peared optim istic

T his year, in a new innovation, the F e stiva l’s

a n o th e r as “full of the w orse clichés and a

film s from an original list of m ore than 600,

as well. D uring the days leading up to the event,

100,000 ECU C oncha de O ro (G olden C onch),

m ost critics refrained from passing ju d g e m e n t

aw arded to the best film in C om petition, m ust be

on the O fficial S election, saying th e y d id n ’t know

spent on in te rn a tio n a l distrib u tio n .

g rotesque lyricism .”

Foreign review ers, on the w hole, reacted d if­ fe re n tly. In the C ritic’s Poll, on average th e ir

enough about the film s chosen. But th e y did

The se lection called O pera Prim a (the phrase

m arks w ere a bout tw ice as high as those of th e ir

ve nture to com m ent on the o rg a n iza tio n of the

m eans the w ork of a first-tim e director) p re ­

dom estic co u nterparts. B arnet pointed out the

o th e r sections.

sented 20 film s by d irectors w ho had never

difference, arguing th a t S panish critics have it in

“The program m e of the second edition under

m ade a fe a tu re -le n g th m ovie. W ith its 150,000

fo r the Festival.

B arnet is very com plete. The o rg a n ize rs have

ECU prize, d ire cto rs can co ve r a good portion of

taken into consideration last y e a r’s c ritic is m s ” ,

the cost of th e ir next movie.

S andy M andelberger, president of Interna­ tional M edia R esources, a public relations com ­

stated Egin, one of the B asque co u n try ’s leading

T he o rg a n ize rs created the section “W elcom e

pany representing A m erican independent p ro ­

new spapers, in an allusion to the bad review s

Mr C a ssa ve te s” to use the fig u re of the A m e ri­

ducers, th in ks that the Festival has done a good

given to the F e stiva l’s parallel sections. The

can d ire c to r as a sym bol fo r the Festival. They

jo b re p re s e n tin g n o n -co m m e rcia l film s from around the w orld. For A m erican independents pa rticu la rly, he says, “S uccess at a E uropean fe stiva l will open doors back hom e. A fte r S teven S o d e rb e rg h ’s Sex, Lies, a n d Videotape w on at C annes, people becam e interested in it back in the S tates. It becam e an international hit.”

And R enzo F egatelli, critic fo r La R epubblica, says, “The level of film s in all the sections here have been really quite im pressive. O pera Prim a, w ith film s like A b ra ca d a b ra and H o ld Me, Thrill Me, K iss Me, is com parable in quality to Un C ertain R egard at C a n n es.”

Some of the films The m ost p o pular film in C om petition and the w in n e r of the G olden C onch w as Un L u g a r en el m u n d o (A P lace in the World) by A rgentinian PEDRO O LE A 'S EL M A E ST R O DE E S G R IM A ( THE FEN C IN G M A S T E R ).

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• 53

d ire cto r A dolfo A ristara in . Fam ous in A rgentina,

that go into filmmaking takes a long time. But I

TORONTO

and in m ost of the S panish -sp e a kin g w orld, fo r

approach each new project with more enthusiasm

17TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS

his m ovies of suspense and intrigue, the d ire cto r

than the last. I’m anxious to continue.

has m ade a different type of m ovie.

Un lu g a r en el m undo explores the d ifficu ltie s

RUSSELL

The state of Spanish cinema

in living by ideals such as honor, dig n ity and

The Festival included tw o oth e r S panish film s: E l

justice. The content seem s to have struck a

M aestro de E sgrim a ( The F encing M aster) by

chord in A rgentina. W ith m ore than 300,000

Pedro Olea, w hich inaugurated the Festival, and

tickets sold so far, it is one of the y e a r’s most

Sublet, the first film by C hus G uitierrez.

The three film s presented at San Sebastian

p opula r m ovies.

And it won a lot of sym pathy in San Sebastian.

are representative of the varied panoram a of

In the C ritic’s Poll, the film got an average score

co n tem porary Spanish cinem a. O lea describes

o f 7 .4 6 ,

M aestro as full of

p u ttin g

it c o m fo rta b ly

ahead of

EDWARDS

t is not surprising th a t m any A ustralians will

Q

rem em ber the 17th A nnual T oronto Film

Festival m ainly fo r S trictly B allroom ’s adding of the T o ro n to P eople’s C hoice A w ard to its se e m ­ ingly endless list of successes. By being chosen as the m ost popular film out of 166 features from around the w orld, S trictly B allroom certainly pulled a coup. But there is m uch, m uch m ore to this ove rw helm ingly huge film Festival than the

G ru n w a lski’s G oldberg Variaciok, a story about

passion and mystery with a historical background

parents coping w ith the suicide of th e ir teenage

of a country in violent political crisis. It is a ‘cos­

The Festival opened w ith Q uebeçois director

son, w ith 6.2.

tume thriller’ full of romance, with a superb central

Jean-C laude Lauzon’s second film , Léolo (to be

figure - the fencing master Don Jaime Astarloa.

distrib u te d by D endy Film s in 1993). A t the

Set in a sm all A rgentinian village, San Luis,

fortu n e s of one A ustralian film .

Un L u g a r tells the story of M ario, a sohool-

Sublet, on the other hand, describes the d iffi­

opening night party after the screening, au d i­

te a ch e r w ho fig h ts to provide the local peasants

culties of a Spanish girl in adapting to life in New

ence reaction was divided about this polished,

w ith a better standard of living. He tangles re­

Y ork. She d o e sn ’t speak E nglish very well and

beautiful and at tim es shocking look at the m ad­

peatedly with A ndrade, a tyra n n ica l landow ner.

she d o e sn ’t understand the people w ho never

ness of a M ontréal fam ily through the eyes of a

A ristarain d ram atica lly opposes the Idealistic

seem to say w hat th e y think. Her n e ig hb o u r­

boy w ho claim s to be the only sane m em ber. The

M ario w ith Hans, an ironic Spanish g eologist

hood, H ell’s K itchen, is not very hospitable. The

m ost u n deniably potent im age had people ta lk ­

producer of the film , F ernando T rueba, said he

ing all through the Festival: a group of teenage

w as attracted to the story of S u b le t because it

boys, w earing leather ja cke ts and sm oking cig a ­

was a “m ixture of auto b io g ra p h y and fable w here

rettes, bribe one of th e ir gang to sodom ize a cat.

im pressions are more im portant than a ctio n ” .

W ith The Rolling S tones’ “You C an’t Alw ays Get

hired by A ndrade to look fo r oil on his lands.

Hans, a form er social a g ita to r him self, regards M ario w ith a m ixture of awe and disdain.

M ario’s plans are, of course, doom ed to fa il­ ure. He him self senses it, but is undaunted. “ If I cannot win the w a r,” he says, “ I can at least have the satisfaction of w inning a b a ttle .”

To make the m ovie, A ristarain m ade a deal w ith the actors and technicians. He started film ­ ing w ith less than half of the $1,200,000 total cost of the m ovie and told the actors and te c h n i­ cians he’d only pay them if ticke t sales passed the 300,000 mark.

The only Spanish film of the O fficial S ection w as La R einaA nonim a ( The A nonym ous Queen) directed by G onzalo Suarez. R eina is his third film , after R em ando a l Viento (R ow ing with the Wind) and D on Juan en los in fie rn o s (Don Juan in Hell), and firm ly establishes S uarez as one of the co u n try’s m ost im portant directors.

The m ovie’s stars are C arm en Maura, fam ous fo r her roles in several Pedro A lm o d o var film s, and

M a ris a

P a re d e s ,

w ho

a p p e a re d

in

A lm o d o var’s H igh Heels, but who is m ost known in Spain as a stage actress.

W hen asked about his new m ovie, S uarez says, “Just after finish in g a m ovie, I ca n ’t talk about it very easily. It takes on its own ch a ra cte r and I need to let tim e pass before I can o b je c­ tive ly evaluate it.”

In the case of Reina, S u a re z’s confusion is e asily understandable. A m ovie w ith “the s tru c ­ tu re o f a va u d e v ille c o m e d y ” , a cco rd in g to Suarez, it is filled w ith strange ch a ra cte rs and even stranger occurrences. In the film , A na Luz (C arm en M aura) is a housew ife w ho lives quietly w ith her husband until “the s tra n g e r” (M arisa Paredes) m ysteriously appears in her life. She introduces h erself to A na Luz as “the neighbour from dow n sta irs” and sets o ff a bizarre chain of events w hich alter A na Luz’s life.

S uarez has m ade all three of his film s in the last fo u r years, a high rate of production in S panish cinem a. He says,

S u rp ris in g ly e n o u g h , R udi B a rn e t’s p ro ­

W hat You W ant” on the soundtrack (as Lauzon

nouncem ent on S panish cinem a w ent unchal­

observed, “m oney is ju st a pretext” ), the m om ent

lenged in the press. But several industry figures,

is a m agnificent blending of music, dialogue and

although they d id n ’t dispute B a rn e t’s opinion,

image.

did qualify it.

P ilar Miro, w ho directed B eltenebros, starring

excised from the version released in the UK and

Terence S tam p, said, “Yes, it has been a bad

there is ta lk that the film m ay be truncated in

year in term s of production. Few er film s were

A ustralia as w ell. Léolo also had, as director

made. Less m oney w as available fo r film s. But

Lauzon w as keen to em phasize at the press

the ta le n t is th e re .”

c o n fe re n ce, m any m om ents o f hum our and

T elevision E spañola (TVE) is the principal

beauty as well.

fin a n c ie r of film s in Spain. But this y e a r’s loss of

T oronto alw ays ensures th a t local product is

advertising revenues caused the collapse of the

given a show case. In addition to opening the

state-run te le visio n sta tio n ’s pre-sale and co ­

Festival w ith a C anadian film , the Festival of

production arrangem ents.

Festivals a nnually presents a program m e called

In addition, m any industry figures find fa u lt in

“ P erspective C anada” . The 22 C anadian fe a ­

the g o v e rn m e n t film fu n d in g system w hich,

tures w ere led this year by G uy M addin’s third

through the C ulture M inistry, provides subsidies

fe a tu re , C areful. R ecently hailed by M artin

on a p ro je ct-b y-p ro je ct basis. The w ay forw ard is

Scorsese as a genius, this director, who em erged

to direct governm ent aid on a corporate basis

from the W innipeg Co-op, w as w arm ly received

into dive rsifie d television and film production

by the T o ronto audience despite his unorthodox

com panies.

D uring the Festival at San Sebastian, the representatives of 19 producers announced the

style. In a question-and-answ er session after the screening, Maddin described his w ork as “a positive view of incest” .

fo rm a tio n of th e fo u n d a tio n , P R O C IN E , to

C areful tells of the inhabitants of a Swiss

strengthen S panish cinem a. Each m em ber of

m ountain village w ho m ust eternally speak in

the group has given $53,750. A ccording to one

w hispers lest they inadvertently cause an ava ­

representative, Elias Q uerejeta, “ For the first tim e an o rganization arises w hich has the means to be e ffe c tiv e .”

A lthough the needs of the 19 m em bers of P RO CINE are diverse, talks w hich ran through the sum m er established certain com m on o b je c­ tives such as encouraging collaboration between te le visio n stations and film producers, e sta b ­ lishing new m eans of fin a n cing and tax in ce n ­ tive s fo r investm ent in the industry, and p rom o­ tion of Spanish cinem a in international m arkets.

H opefully, Spanish cinem a w ill fare better at the rest of the fe stiva ls this year.

54

T his controversial scene has already been

lanche. The strain produced by this atm osphere is a m etaphor fo r the sexual tension later acted out betw een the m others, sons, fathers and daughters of Tolzbad.

Though non-sequiturs, jokey title cards and ju s t plain absurdity are used fo r com ic effect, the film is kept on a nervous edge to puncture any audience security that the film is one big joke.

W ith a d e lib e ra te ly scratchy print, the syntax of a Von Stroheim dram a, strangely pensive per­ fo r m a n c e s

(fro m

Paul

C ox

and

G o s ia

D obrow olska as well as M addin lum inaries like Kyle M cC ulloch and S arah N eville), an a bun­

The more I do, the more I see that I’ve to learn. To

dance of soft focus and â n outrageous use of

develop a good understanding of all the elements

tinted co lo ur (som etim es blue, som etim es yel-

• CINEMA

PAPERS

9 1

p ro d u c e r), T im

R oth, M ich a e l

O f M ice a n d Men, gathered a lot of attention and,

M adsen, Law rence T ie rn e y and

despite the softening of certain chauvinistic a s­

S teve B uscem i (w ho also stars in

pects of the original book, rem ained faithful in

the exce lle n t com edy by A le x ­

spirit. S in ise ’s direction w as e fficie n t but his

andre R ockw ell, In the Soup). A

perform ance as G eorge, the paternally sa rca s­

fin e ensem ble piece, w ith the nar­

tic friend of Lennie (played by John M alkovich),

rative scram bled in such a w ay

proved th a t acting is his d efinite strength. A ny

th a t it is im possible to second

inte rp re ta tio n of the sim ple-m inded Lenny is a

guess w hat is going down, it had

ta rg e t fo r scrutinization, particu la rly in these

the Festival audience on the edge

p o litica lly-co rre ct tim es, but M alko vich ’s por­

of th e ir seats.

trayal of a lum bering giant w ith the mind of an

T he oth e r tw o film s of the Fes­ tival w hich m ade the strongest

insecure e ig h t-ye a r old child proved fascinating in its authenticity.

im p re ssio n on me w ere m uch

One of the m ajor benefits of attending film

q u ie te r in nature, though one co n ­

fe stiva ls is the chance to catch film s that, though

tained an explosion of violence.

e ffective, will nevertheless find distribution a

E xecutive produced by O liver

problem . T o ronto provided at least tw o such

S tone, Z e b ra h e a d is also a first

film s. One w as a very personal docum entary

fe a tu re . D ire c te d by A n th o n y

from , of all people, Frank Perry. The d ire cto r of

Drazan, the film tells the story of

film s like D ia ry o f a M a d H ousew ife (1970) and

an inter-racial rom ance betw een

M om m ie D e a re s t(1981) w as diagnosed as hav­

a loud Jew ish boy and a black girl

ing stom ach cancer, and co nsequently put him ­

in a D etroit high school. It was,

self in fro n t of the cam era to record his efforts to

typ ica lly, com pared to Jungle F e ­

fight, heal and co-exist w ith his disease. On the

M R P IN K (STEVE BUSCEMI) A N D M R W HITE (H AR VE Y KEITEL)

ver, but D razan’s use of young inexperienced

B ridge is a very c onfronting film w hich m anages

IN Q U E N T IN T A R A T IN O 'S R ESER V O IR D O G S.

actors gives the film an im m ediacy and a strong

to present a man doing his utm ost to be honest

feeling of em otional realism w hereas Spike Lee’s

w ith him self, the w orld and ultim ately death.

low, som etim es lavender and o cca sio na lly all

characters are often reduced to spouting ideol­

three!), this film and its m aker are in a category

ogy. A com passionate film , Z e b ra h e a d is d i­

der, directed and w ritten by fo rm e r law yer G ary

all th e ir own.

rected in such a w ay th a t the cam era fram e

Bennett. A science-fiction film set in 2042, R ain

Even m ore pow erful w as R ain W ithout Thun­

Since C annes, it has been open season on

enables us to see how environm ent can o ve r­

W ithout Thunder is based very much in current

David Lynch and cultists have been looking fo r

w helm p e o p le ’s best intentions. The film is also

A m erican reality. In a series of docum entary-

a new d ire cto r to place on a pedestal. M addin

com plem ented by a fabulous soundtrack by Taj

style interview s, the film tells the story of a

belongs there but his w ork is so id iosyncratic

Mahal.

m other and daughter w ho have been ja ile d fo r

and he has strayed so fa r from the path of

The other absolute stand-out was John S ayles’

the crim e of “foetal m urder” . W ith stars like Jeff

know ing hipness that it is doubtful his w orld

la te s t e ffo rt, P a ssio n Fish. R e u n itin g M ary

Daniels, Linda Hunt, F rederic Forrest and Austin

could sustain the idolatry.

M cD onnell and A lfre W oodw ard from Law rence

Pendleton lending a hand, this film may turn up

Knowing hipness is som ething th a t m any pe o ­

K asd a n ’s G rand Canyon, P assion Fish te lls the

som ew here but its subject m atter - a w om an’s

ple brought to R em y B elva u x’s C ’e st arrivé p rè s

story of an em bittered actress (M cD onnell) who,

right to abortion - will m ake it a hot potato.

de chez vous (M an B ites Dog) and then were

after a crippling accident, hits the bottle w ay too

R egardless, it is a calm, intelligent film w ith a lot

forced to choke on as the y laughed. One of the

hard and develops a friendship of sorts w ith her

of savvy, addressing an issue th a t is usually

m ost original film s of the Festival, this Belgian

nursing assista n t (W oodw ard), w ho is hiding out

soaked in em otionalism . O nly a superfluous,

film is funny, appalling and unforgettable.

from the fragm ents of a secret life. A t 138 m in­

M T V -inspired sixty-second dream epilogue mars

utes, this is a long film , but the acting and

the film .

P rofiling a serial killer nam ed B enoit who perform s his trade fo r a film crew (“ I alw ays like

direction is so graceful th a t the tim e spent g e t­

to start the m onth off w ith a p ostm an”), this

ting to know these tw o w om en ju s t flies by.

T o ro n to ’s annual em phasis on Latin A m e ri­ can content also provided som e cinem atic treats.

m ock-um entary w as insidiously intelligent and

At a q u e stio n -a n d -a n sw e r session after the

knew precisely w hen to induce guffaw s and

film , an audience m em ber com m ented th a t he

Chocolate) w as splendid though a trifle overlong

w hen to kick the audience in its co lle ctive guts.

tho u g h t P assion Fish w ould be S a yle s’ first big

at 120 m inutes. Basing his film on one of the

G libly put, it is H enry: P o rtra it o f a S e ria l K ille r

com m ercial hit. S ayles dryly replied that every

best-selling M exican novels of all tim e, director

with laughs. A ppropriate ly enough fo r a film

tim e he m akes a film som eone com es out with

A lfonso Arau fondly relates the story of Tita, who

concerned w ith the seduction of the m edia by

this prediction and no o n e ’s been right yet.

is forbidden to m arry because of an antiquated,

repulsive trends, M an B ites D og won T o ro n to ’s M edia C hoice award.

M an B ites D og pipped my fa vo u rite film of the

Every night of the Festival had at least one

Com o A gua P ara C hocolate (Like W ater fo r

even in 1910, custom w hich obligates the yo u n g ­

G ala S creening. Am ong these w ere Kenneth

est dau g h te r of a fa m ily to look after her m other.

B ranagh’s P e te r’s Friends, Neil J o rd a n ’s The

The film has som e e rotically-charged m om ents,

Festival placing R e se rvo ir D ogs as the m e d ia ’s

C rying Game, R obert R edford’s third directorial

in addition to som e sequences of pleasingly

second choice. Q uentin T a ra n tin o did m anage

effort, A R iv e r Runs Through It, John T u rtu rro ’s

natural surrealism . C om ing in second in the

how ever to collect the FIPR ESC I aw ard fo r best

d irectorial debut, Mac, w hich won the C am éra

People’s C hoice Award, C om o A gua Para Choco­

e ffort from a first-tim e director.

d ’O r at C annes this year, and B illy C rysta l’s

late will do well on the arthouse circuit if picked

d irectorial debut, M y S a tu rd a y N ig h t (w ritten by

up fo r A u stralian release next year.

R e se rvo ir D ogs is so tig h tly scripted and so s trongly driven by T a ra n tin o ’s d irection th a t it is

C rystal w ith th e superb G anz and Mandel w riting

O f tw o oth er M exican entries, one seem ed to

a shock to d iscover th a t it is his first film . Given

team ), all of w hich w ere w ell received. O ther

be inevitable, w hile the other seem ed m ost un­

the pow erful style, how ever, it cam e as no s u r­

G alas, such as Jean -Ja cq u e s A n n a u d ’s in te r­

likely. Jaim e H um berto H e rm isillo ’s follow -up to

prise w hen it w as announced th a t T a ra n tin o will

pretation of M arguerite D uras’ L ’A m ant, w ere

H om ew ork, called Forbidden H om ework, is like

soon be team ing up w ith Hong K ong’s Jam es

e x q u is ite ly dull, w h ile the s c re e n in g of Hal

the previous film a delight, though it explores

W oo (w hose 126-m inute cut of H a rd B o ile d

H artley’s la te s tfilm , S im ple Men, gave attendees

d a rke r te rrito ry. A reversal of the previous film ’s

played here this year.)

yet an o th e r o p p o rtu n ity to m istake intelligence

prem ise, Forbidden H om ew ork m anages to e x­

fo r genius.

ploit its pre decessor w ithout ripping the au d i­

The story of a heist gone w rong, R e s e rv o ir D ogs stars H arvey Keitel (who also acted as

Gary S inise’s treatm ent of the S teinbeck novel,

ence off.

CINEMA

PAPERS

9 1 • 55

One of the rules of film fe s tiv a ls is th a t you ca n ’t see everything, and w ith a fe stiva l as busy as T o ro n to ’s (there were up to eight p a rticipating

VANCOUVER

ances from R obert W uhl, M artin Landau and De

11TH A N N U A L VAN CO UVER FILM FESTIV A L

Niro him self, but suffers because A ltm a n ’s The P la y e r got to this te rrito ry first. M istress w as c o ­

cinem as show ing film s sim u lta n e o u sly), it is

w ritten and directed by acto r B arry Prim us, w ho

inevitable th a t I m issed film s of interest. The

rep o rte d ly spent seven years getting this script

buzz on S tephen G ylle n h a a l’s W aterland, Jacob

om pared to the C anadian Film Festivals

Y o u n g ’s C agem an, C lara Law ’s A u tu m n Moon,

held a nnually in M ontréal and T oronto, the

D avid A tw ood’s W ild W est and R oberto B e nigni’s

V a n co u ve r Festival is a relaxed and relaxing

Jo h n n y S tecchino w as th a t all w ere well w orth

affair. It is g e n e ra lly w ell-o rg a n ize d , both for

attending. A lso very pop u la r w as a d ocum entary

guests and the paying custom ers. As w ith all

on cinem atographers called V isions o f Light.

festivals, som e film s are harder to get a seat at

One o th e rfilm deserves a m ention not only fo r

than others - advanced press coverage of the

its exce lle n t w ord of m outh but the m iracle of its

m ajor film s, published daily, ensures th is - but

existence. E l M a ria ch i w as m ade by R obert

provided you d o n ’t arrive at the last m inute for

R odriguez during a su m m e r break from his

anything a bout w hich there is a bit of a buzz (Baz

classes at the U niversity of T exas. R odriguez

Lu h rm a nn ’s S trictly B allroom , fo r exam ple) there

produced, w rote (with his friend C arlos G allardo,

is never any real problem .

w ho plays the title role), shot, sound recorded,

V a n co u ve r’s Festival is, like its coun te rp a rts

directed and edited his film on a budget of

in M ontréal and Toronto, well supported by the

$ 7 ,0 0 0 .1regretfully m issed this tale of m istaken

city, local m edia, film m a ke rs and private sp o n ­

identity betw een a hitm an and a m usician, but a

sors. It h a sn ’t the prestige of the others and

film w ith th a t much guts ca n ’t stay aw ay forever.

suffers from a lack of su ita b ly co nvenient v e n ­

T he choice of closing night film can often be

ues. N evertheless, public sup p o rt is strong and

as problem atic as that of the opening choice.

the line-up of product, w ith its em phasis on the

How to send people off w ith the feeling th a t the

cinem a of East A sia and C anada, im pressive.

festival (any festival) w as a total success rather

The Festival ran this year from 2-18 O ctober,

than having audiences suspect th a t the w hole

a long haul by any standard. C ountry by country,

thing ran out of steam halfw ay through. Toronto

C anada headed the list as fa r as qu a n tity was

w ent against th e ir trad itio n of exiting w ith a

concerned, but Japan, Hong Kong, the U.S. and

b lockbuster and w ent out w ith a docum entary

the UK w ere also strongly represented.

from C anadian film m aker, Ron Mann (w hose

A u stra lia did w ell w ith five film s, including

C om ic B ook C on fid en tia l played the V alhalla

S tric tly B allroom , G e o ffre y W rig h t’s R o m p e r

circuit a couple of years ago). E veryone fa m ilia r

S to m p e r and Paul C o x’s The N un a n d the B a n ­

w ith the w ork of this T o ro n to p ersonality was

dit, providing contrast as well as quality.

pleased w ith the choice, expecting a good tim e.

The w ork of an A ustralian director, Bruce

And, as anticipated, Tw ist was an inform ative

Beresford, opened the Festival, but the film ,

and fun w ay to halt proceedings. W ith a m yriad

Rich In Love, is A m erican, the story of a g irl’s

of old tele visio n clips (M ann called this “the film

dream of reuniting her broken fam ily.

to the screen. O ne feels a lot of his experiences w ere relived in the often biting and am using m ovie. (O ne could hardly call P rim us a “young A m e rica n ” , by the w ay.)

E asily the m ost confronting, how ever, of this group of film s w as Q uentin T a ra n tin o ’s firs t fe a ­ ture, R e s e rvo ir Dogs, a crim e th rille r of som e­ tim e s fe ro cious unpleasantness w hich should give our local censors a hard tim e when it com es before them . U ndeniably a w ork o f considerable talent, one w onders, nevertheless, w hat sort of audience could possibly enjoy the experience of w atching it.

Kenneth B ranagh’s acting com pany, having su cce ssfu lly brought S hakespeare (H e n ry V) and a th rille r {D e a d A g a in ) under his direction to the screen, had less success with P e te r’s Friends, a patchy mix of sophisticated farce and s e n ti­ ment. A m using at first, the characters w ere hard to take se riously as the m ood darkened.

B e n n y ’s Video m ade its point about alienation in a co ld-blooded fashion. B enny is a youth so d isconnected from reality th a t even the view from his bedroom w indow is m erely a picture on the video e quipm ent around w hich his w hole life is centred. His fascination w ith im ages of death leads to a killing, a scene w hich ow es its staging to a sim ila r sequence in H enry: P o rtra it O f A S e ria l K ille r and w hich is equally hard to take.

Neil Jo rd o n ’s The C rying Gam e is a m ix of th rille r and character study with one of the cheeki­ est and m ost breathtaking plot tw ists since Janet Leigh to o k that show er in Psycho.

that to o k three w eeks to w rite and three years to

T his bea u tifu lly shot (by P eter Jam es), w ell-

ed it”), this docum entary about th a t dance craze

acted ensem ble piece was outclassed as a piece

had people singing and virtu a lly dancing out of

of film m aking by a sm all-b u d g e te d A m erican

the cinem a, fo n d ly rem em bering this y e a r’s F es­

m ovie on the sam e them e, Gas F o o d Lodging, a

tival of Festivals and eagerly aw aiting the arrival

trium ph of convincing o bservation by first-tim e

of the 18th of S eptem ber, 1993.

d ire cto r A lliso n A nders, w ho also w rote the

holds her youngest daughter in thrall. Food

screenplay.

plays an im portant part in this m ovie as the put-

S U ZY A M IS A N D KYLE M A C L A C H LA N IN BRUCE BERESFORD'S

RICH IN LO VE.

A n d e rs’ film was the m ost successful of a g ro u p o f m o v ie s p ro ­

CINEMA

PAPERS

91

as it te lls the story of a pow erful m atriarch who

upon heroine uses it to help her obtain both revenge and erotic satisfaction.

The A rg entinian A P lace in the W orld looks in

neric title “Y oung A m e ri­

fla sh b a ck at the youthful life of its central ch a r­

cans” . O thers included

a cte r w ith parents w ho are political refugees.

such m isfired attem pts

Som e fine acting and a genuine sense of place

at black com edy as M y

and tim e m ade up fo r som e longueurs in the

N e w Gun and H o ld Me,

script, w hile Z anussi’s The S ilent Touch, a PolishD anish-B ritish co-production about an ageing

The q u irky G alaxies

co m p o se r (M ax Von S ydow ) coerced into a last

A re C o llid in g irom w riter-

burst of creative activity by a youthful m usicolo­

d ire cto r John R ym an -

gist (Lothaire Bluteau), proved disappointing.

about a man so upset by

O f m any fine docum entaries show n, the C a­

the state of the planet

nadian F a th e r a n d Son from B ritish C olum bia

th a t he has lost all in te r­

stood out as a personal and revealing e xam ina­

est in norm al pursuits -

tion of som e d ifficu lt relationships. B ro th e r’s

sh ow ed g e n u in e o rig i­

K e e p e ra n d M anufacturing C onsent, both show n

nality, w hile M istress, a

recently on A ustralian te levision, w ere, in th e ir

film

very d iffe re nt w ays, equally fascinating.

fro m

R o b e rt De

n e w ly - fo r m e d

A u s tra lia ’s B la ck H arvest, directed by Robin

T ribeca P roduction co m ­

A nderson and Bob C onnolly, won $1000 as the

pany, a bout a w rite r s e ­

B est F eature-length D ocum entary, w hile S trictly

N ir o ’s

‘

fa scin a tin g w ith its touches of m agical realism

gram m ed under the ge­

T hrill Me, K iss Me.

56

The M exican film , Like W ater F o r C hocolate, based on a popular M exican novel, proved often

duced by the idea of hav­

B a llro o m tied w ith Z hang Y fh o u ’s S to ry o f O u iJ u

ing a scrip t film ed, had

in the voting fo r the A ir C anada A w ard fo r m ost

som e su p e rb p e rfo rm ­

p o p u la r film of the Festival.

■

B O O K

R E V I E W S

NEW AUSTRALIAN CINEMA: SOURCES AND PARALLELS IN AMERICAN AND BRITISH FILM

flo w of influence, from A m e rica and B ritain to

B rian M cF arlane a n d G e o ff M ayer, C am bridge

H ollyw ood cinem a as a tra n s-h isto rica l stylistic

C harles Chauvel exploited the m elodram atic

U n ive rsity Press, C am bridge, 1992, 2 5 9 pp.,

field and then look at certain m om ents in the

m ode m ost fu lly of any film m a ke r in the early

rrp $2 5 pb, $ 5 9 .9 5 hb.

history of B ritish and A u stra lia n cinem a.

STUART

CUNNINGHAM

tion of m elodram a, firs t in H ollyw ood, then in

A u stra lia , although th is is of course p a rtly a

cinem as w id ely separate in size, tim e, and g e ­

fu n ctio n of th e ir choosing to look at the classical

og ra p h y from it.

A u stra lia n cinem a, but th is d id n ’t guarantee his

A lso central, and an appealing fe a tu re of

film m a kin g g re a te r success or g re a te r industrial

this book, is the insistence on the m e lodram atic

c e n tra lity - indeed, it often had quite the o p p o ­

A lth o u g h the s u b title of th is b o o k refers to

m ode as an org a n izin g p rinciple in the a u th o rs ’

site e ffe c t.1 And the A ustralian film s th a t m ost

“sources and p a ra lle ls” in B ritish and A m erican

discussion of in ternational influence and d e riv a ­

fu lly e xp lo it the potential of m elodram atic fu ll­

cinem a of film s from the New A u stra lia n C in ­

tion.

ness in th e c o n te m p o ra ry pe rio d (such as

em a, it is not a reference book. A uthored by tw o

The book, then, has much to com m end it. It

R oadgam es, Patrick, etc.) d o n ’t necessarily w ork

w ell-know n w riters on A u stra lia n cinem a, it is

is an inte re stin g kind of hybrid, partly a te xtb o o k

e ith e r (and it’s not fo r stylistic reasons th a t this is the case).

s tructured at the m ost gen­

p rim e r on stylistic a n a ly­

eral level as an argum e nt

sis, and partly an argum ent

M ost in terestingly, the m elodram atic m ode

a bout the nature of in te r­

has changed sig n ifica n tly in the post-classical

a b out the influence, or more

NEW AUSTRALIAN CINEMA

national influence in three

period (during and since the 1960s) in H olly­

sig n ifica n t cinem as. But I

w ood, and elsew here. Those A ustralian film ­

w a s le ft fe e lin g

d is a p ­

m akers w ho curre n tly seem m ost aw are of the

national cinem a, in Britain

pointed by the end of it.

m e lo d ra m a tic tra d itio n in the sense advanced

in

p e rio d

The te xtb o o k often gets in

by M cF arlane and M ayer are as often as not

(1 9 4 0 s -’50s) and in A u s ­

the w ay of the argum ent,

m akers of sm all innovative m aterial, not higher-

tra lia in the co n te m p o ra ry

and vice versa. The c a t­

budget m ainstream film s. Film s like C am era

period (19 7 0 s -’90s). The s i­

egories - m elodram a, s ty ­

N atura quote the m elodram atic greats or, like

m ultaneous ine vita bility of

lis tic

G h o s ts ... o f the C ivil Dead, render the m e lo d ra ­

the s tylistic influence of the

shunted around like giant

m atic “te x t of m uteness” in new and arresting

A m erican cinem a on these

chess pieces on a board

w ays. Little of this m aterial , how ever, suggests

sm all and derivative national

th a t is tra n s-h isto rica l and

th a t you can or should sim ply reproduce cla s s i­

cinem as, and the sad fa il­

tra n s -s o c ia l. B ritish and

cism and m elodram a in geographical and his­

ure of th a t influence to be

A u stralian cinem a are less

torical circu m stances fa r rem oved from th e ir

p ertin e n tly the lack of it, e x ­ erted by the A m erican cin ­ em a on high m om ents of th e

p o s t- w a r

SOURCES A N D PARALLELS IN A M ER IC AN A N D BRITISH FILM

fu lly em braced, used and allow ed to flo u rish to full e f­

Brian McFarlane and Geoff M ayer

c la s s ic is m

-

a re

su ccessful because they

sources, or that this w ould be a surefire recipe

d o n ’t ad o p t the in te rn a ­

fo r success if you did.

flo re sce n ce , is the a u th o rs’

tio n a l classical style and

The m e lodram atic tra d itio n has not only

basic argum ent th ro u g h o u t

m e lodram atic m ode fu lly

changed in the cinem a, it has m igrated from the

the book.

enough (p.3, 54, 90, 171).

c in e m a -in to tele visio n in the 1980s in A ustralia.

T here is a great deal to applaud about this

W hen th e y do a dopt the m ode, it is a shy,

The m ost achieved renditions of the m ode in

book and the approach it takes. In te rn a tio n a liz­

cautious and scarce adoption (p. 224, 230).

A ustra lia n a udiovisual w ork during th a t period,

ing studies of national cinem as such th a t the

T h e ir literary adap ta tio n s are less gutsy b e ­

and the m ost industrially successful at that, w ere

‘sources and p a ra lle ls ’, or the various strands of

cause they stick clo se r to the print m odels than

the m ini-series, am ong them The D irtw a te r D yn ­

influence, effect and derivation, are foregrounded

the “ruthless stre a m lin in g ” th a t ch a ra cte ristica lly

asty, Shout!, B rides o f Christ, C om e in S pinner,

is a forw a rd step in the literature. H istoricizing

goes on in H ollyw ood (p. 166). And su rp risin g ly

V ietnam .2 And these do not d isplay the fa ilu re to fu lly exp lo it the m ode th a t M cF arlane and M ayer

the study of the ‘new A u stra lia n c in e m a ’, such

and disa p po in tin g ly, there is not much in the way

th a tth e classical H ollyw ood cinem a, dating back

of explanation fo r this central failure: “ For w hat

identify as the defining m ark of the A ustralian

to the 1910s, is taken as its p rim a ry stylistic

m ay w ell be sim ila r reasons, [m elodram a] has

cinem a during the sam e period and earlier. I

p a ram eter or reference point, is also unusual

never had in B ritish or A ustralian film the valued

d o n ’t see w hy we need to continue the artificial

and w elcom e in studies of A u stra lia n cinem a

place it has had in A m erican film ” , (p. 230).

separation of tele visio n from film w hen the in­ du strie s w ere to m ost intents and purposes (that

(although it is an e stablishe d stra te g y in studies

A more substantial discussion of cause and

of A m erican cinem a and o th e r much m ore h eav­

effect, of influence and resistance, of in te rco n ­

is, h ig h er-b u dget audiovisual production) during

ily a c a d e m ic a lly m in e d c in e m a s ). So a la

nections betw een industry and style, is needed

the 1980s tw o sides of the sam e coin, w ith m ost

B ordw ell, S ta ig e r and T hom pson in th e ir m a g ­

here - the e xp o sito ry cla rity of the te xtb o o k gets

of the more interesting innovations and a ch ie ve ­

num opus The C la ssica l H o lly w o o d Cinem a,

in the w ay of the argum ent. H ollyw ood c la s s i­

m ents pertin ent to the a u th o rs’ argum ent o ccu r­

M cF arlane and M ayer com pare the style and

cism is not co te rm in o us w ith m elodram a - the

ring in te le vision.

form of P ossessed, a 6 0-ye a r-o ld Joan C raw ford

la tte r is a m ode seen in a va rie ty of aesthetic

As fo r the thesis th a t A ustralian and B ritish

vehicle, w ith Sex, Lies, a n d Videotape and P re tty

media, w hile the fo rm e r is a form al ensem ble of

cinem a fail to fu lly e xp lo it the richnesses of the

W oman, and then com pare them w ith The S i­

te ch n iq u e s fo r optim um sto ryte llin g in a c o m ­

A m erican tra d itio n , there is no discussion of the

le nce o f D ean M aitland. T his is a useful w ay to

m ercial, te ch n o lo g y-in te n sive m edium . Indeed,

“p ositive u n o rig in a lity” th e sis put fo rw a rd by M eaghan M orris in discussing C rocodile D u n ­

h ighlight the stylistic sim ila ritie s am ong alm ost

fo r m any co m m entators, the full a m plitude of the

any m ainstream com m ercia l fe a tu re film m ade

m e lo d ra m a tic m ode w ill co n flict w ith the n o rm a l­

dee, o r the idea of “syn th e tic rem o d e llin g ” (‘A us-

since the international style (taken to its p in n a ­

izing te n d e n cie s of the classical style. T here is

tra lia n iz in g ’ H ollyw ood genres) advanced by this

cle and exported w ith great p ow er and success

as much ‘fa ilu re ’ to fu lly e xp lo it the m e lo d ra ­

w rite r as a w ay of interpreting som e of the m ost

by H ollyw ood, though not n e ce ssa rily invented

m atic m ode in H ollyw ood as there is in any

in te re stin g cinem a in A u stra lia in the 1980s.3

by it in its entirety) w as e sta b lishe d and a c ­

national cinem a. T his w ould su g g e st th a t the

The notion th a t national cinem as have not gone

cepted in the 1910s.

ce ntra l critical pre scrip tio n of th is book needs

dow n the path m arked out by H ollyw ood, to th e ir

B ecause of this approach, the auth o rs are

co n sid era b ly m ore e xa m in a tio n in o rd e rto e lu c i­

own d e trim ent, has a ven e ra b le h istory - it w as

able to use fu lly point to the stepped nature of the

date the p re co n d itio n s fo r su cce ssfu l e x p lo ita ­

used th ro u g h o u t this century in A u stra lia by CINEMA

PAPERS

91

• 57

industry apologists to ju s tify w hy local p ro d u c­

e xp lo itatio n of m elodram a, national cinem as

Izod is of particular interest on W alkabout,

tion w as not supported w ithin the industry. C rit­

often m ust exp lo it o th e r angles, and should be

R oeg’s b rilliant A ustralian film . His analysis of

ics, w hen they use it, often fo rg e t th a t the rea­

appraised on this basis. W hile M cFarlane and

the A b o rig in e e ’s relationship w ith the girl is par­

sons w hy national cinem as m ust m ark out d iffe r­

M ayer at tim e s dip into the policy and industrial

ticu la rly astute and his com m ents on the ending

ent form s of production have to do as much w ith

issues surrounding the co n tem porary A ustralian

pick up w hat has been m issed by m any: nam ely,

the industrial dom inance of H ollyw ood style and

cinem a, they do not seem to w ant to join the

th a t the ‘m em ory’ the girl has in her high-rise

the resources that support such dom inance (thus,

debate w ith any g reat conviction - a debate th a t

apartm ent (of the three sw im m ing and playing

a decision to com plem e n t through niche p ro d u c­

has been intim ately inform ed by the issues g e r­

naked) is im agined:

tion rather than attem pt quixo tically to com pete

m ane to th e ir book. B ecause of a virtu a lly e xclu ­

Where in actuality she had swum alone, in her

head on) as it is to do w ith an in a b ility or u n w ill­

sive attention to textual and aesthetic form in

vision there exists between her and the black boy

ingness to learn from , appreciate or indeed a ct­

th e ir discussion, q uestions of how film m aking,

an ease in their shining bodies, and a grace in

ively im itate th a t style. The m ore one knows

policy direction and financial support in the A u s­

their shared joy [...]

about the full richness of the m elodram atic tra d i­

tralian cinem a m ight respond to th e ir argum ents

tion, the more one m ight decide to m ark out a

are never addressed.

difference from it that m ight m ake a d ifference in 1. See Stuart Cunningham, F e a tu rin g A u s tra lia : The

recognition and acceptance in o th e r places and

C in e m a o f C h a rle s C h a u v e l,

tim es.

The A ustralian film s th a t ‘broke o u t’ in the 1980s w ere those w hich exploited m elodram a, but overlaid it with confid e n t A u stra lia nism s (the

Allen & Unwin, Sydney,

Som e will find Izod’s readings of the film s rather unusual, e specially if one is not a devotee

1991.

of Jung or his b lack-um brella’d predecessor, but

2. See Stuart Cunningham, “Kennedy Miller: ‘House

this is a stim ulating w ork that one im agines

Style’ in Australian Television”, in Susan Dermody and

Roeg w ould take great interest in.

Elizabeth Jacka (eds), T he Im a g in a ry In d u s try , AFTRS,

Mad Max trilogy, C rocodile Dundee, The M an

The girl’s loss is not of a perfect past - that never happened - but of a possible future.[p. 65]

North Ryde, 1988.

THE INESSENTIAL ELLIS

from S now y River), but the recipe w ould not

3. See Meaghan Morris, “Tooth and Claw: Tales of

Bob Ellis, A ngus & R obertson, Sydney, 1992,

necessarily cook up a storm in the 1990s. M ost

Survival, and C ro c o d ile D u n d e e ", A r t & T e x t No. 25

160 pp., pb, rrp $14.95

of the successful con te m p o ra ry film s (Proof,

June-August 1987; Stuart Cunningham, “Hollywood

A collection of new and old essays by one of

S weetie, S trictly B allroom ) are cla ssic niche

Genres, Australian Movies”, in Albert Moran and Tom

A u stra lia ’s m ost acerbic critics and film m akers.

m arket, arthouse, or retro m aterial. Because of

O’Regan (eds), A n A u s tra lia n F ilm R e a d e r, Currency

the dom inance of H ollyw ood in the cinem atic

Press, Sydney, 1985.

9F9

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE: A PERSPECTIVE ON FILM EDITING W alter M urch, A FTR S, Sydney, 1992, 108 pp.,

B O O K S

R E C E I V E D

pb, $ 1 7 .9 5 (direct sales) W a lte r M urch is one of A m e rica ’s leading film

COMPILED

BY

RAFFAELE

CAPUTO

editors and sound m ixers. He is a regular for Francis Ford C oppola, having w orked on The

BRUCE BERESFORD: INSTINCTS OF THE HEART

FILM - MATTERS OF STYLE (C ontinuum : The A ustralian Journal of M edia

G o d fa th e r film s. M urch’s other credits include

P e te r C olem an, A ngus & R obertson, Sydney,

and C ulture, Vol 5, No 2, 1992)

A m e rica n Graffiti, The U nbearable Lightness o f

1992, 158 pp., pb, rrp $1 6 .9 5

E d ite d b y A d ria n M artin, C entre fo r R esearch

B eing and the recent Zoetrope production, Wind.

in C ulture a n d C om m unication, M urdoch

T his slim publication is a revised version of a

U niversity, WA, 1992, 3 92 pp., pb, rrp $12.50.

lecture Murch delivered at the AFTR S in S ydney

T his com pendium of articles by A ustralian w rit­

in 1988. It is a concise and w ell-presented o ve r­

ers on film arrived too late fo r review in this

view of M urch’s w ork and insights in the art of

issue; one will appear in the next.

editing. In addition to the original lecture is an

The first study in book form of not only Bruce B eresford’s highly successful film ca re e r but also his life.

CASABLANCA: SCRIPT AND LEGEND

C onversation, A pocalypse N ow and all three

afterw ord on com puter-based technologies. It is

H o w a rd Koch, A urum Press, London, 1992,

HOLLYWOOD BABYLON II

27 9 pp., pb, rrp $24.95

K enneth A nger, A rro w Books, London, 1990,

practitioners, and a w orthw hile read for film

323 pp., pb, rrp $ 29.95

critics and scholars as well.

It’s open season on film scripts, and this is one

essential reading for student and professional

of the better p ublications. T his ye a r C asablanca

T his re-issue of H o llyw o o d B abylon //c o in c id e d

celebrates its 50th anniversary and Howard Koch

w ith Kenneth A n g e r’s visit to M elbourne and

takes a look back to the deve lop m e n t of his and

S ydney last June. A nger really surpasses all

Julius and Philip E pstein’s o riginal screenplay.

others in the field of ‘rum ourdom ’ . At tim es the

Follow ing the screenplay are analyses of the

accuracy of his anecdotes may be questionable,

film ’s status as one of the m ost endearing cult

but this is a secondary concern as w hat delights

John P arker’s search beneath the “overcoat of

classics - w riters include R ichard C orliss, J.

is A n g e r’s rem arkable fla ir fo r detail as he un­

gloss and glitz that hides the real Jack Nicholson”

THE JOKER’S WILD: THE BIOGRAPHY OF JACK NICHOLSON John Parker, Pan Books, London-S ydney-A uckland,1991, 28 8 pp., pb, rrp $12.95.

H oberm an and U m berto Eco. O riginal reviews

covers the delicious and dark “ re a litie s” beneath

is rather lam e and uninventive. P arker is not

by H oward B arnes and B osley C row ther are

the g lam our of H ollywood.

gam e enough to explore the w orld betw een the

also reprinted fo r com parison a gainst this now legend of screen history.

B oth H o lly w o o d B a b y lo n and H o lly w o o d

screen, the persona and the life, in the fashion of

B abylon II are as legendary as the lives of the

David T h om son’s book on W arren Beatty, or

stars th e y peek at.

THE FILMS OF NICOLAS ROEG: MYTH AND MIND John Izod, M acm illan, B asingstoke, 1992, 2 94 pp., Ulus., hb John Izod, a se n io r lecturer in Film and Media

58

• CINEMA

PAPERS

91

N ick T o sch e s’ on Dean M artin. The success of the la tte r tw o books relies partly on constructing som ething of an im aginary w orld w hich seeps into the “ real story” . It is a w orld w here actual events m eet with attitudes and w orld view s to shape a personality. The J o k e r’s Wild, how ever, sticks s trictly to actualities and plods along with

S tudies at the U niversity of Sterling, has w ritten

event after event in N icholson’s life. In the end,

an intriguing book of the w ork of N icholas Roeg

there is no m ystique to N icholson’s leery sm ile

from a Jungian persopective. In particular, Izod

o rth e devilish glint in his eyes. Indeed, N icholson

highlights th e use of puzzles and even re pro­

com es across m ore as a man of m oderation than

duces a T ibetan m andela as his firs t illustration.

the “wild card” this biography w ants to reveal.

IVAN HUTCHINSON’S MOVIES ON TV & VIDEO

m uch instead of a d dressing w hy C lift is still an

her naïveté and his passion, a dense m ix [...]

enigm a today. Also, much of the m aterial has

T he S outh P acific m ovie isn’t th a t rich, from

Ivan H utchinson, e d ite d b y M a ggie Pinkney,

a lready been covered in gre a te r detail e ls e ­

the drab opening sequence inside C a b le ’s

The F ive M ile Press, M elbourne, 1992, 350

w here, p a rticu la rly in the 1978 b io graphy by

plane to the perfu n cto rily exotic look of the

pp., pb, rrp $14 .9 5

P atricia Bosw orth.

location shots on Bali H a’i. O ne reason w hy

T h is guide draw s on Ivan H u tch in so n ’s vast

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN

kn ow ledge of m ovies garnered from his ye a rs as

E than M ordden, A bram s, N ew York, 1992,

a film presenter on M e lbou rn e ’s C hannel Seven

224pp, Ulus., hb, rrp $ 79.95

w e never see the place in the show , except fo r the inside of a hut, is th a t Bali H a’i is m ore a con ce p t than a locale. It’s dream land, a place few of us ever get to go. But [film d ire cto r

and a film review er fo r radio and the national p rint m edia. (Ivan is also a co n trib u to r to C inem a P apers.) The em phasis of the guide is on recent features, so it is not a com p re h en sive listing, but rather seeks to provide a sh o rtcu t to Ivan’s selection of the best m ovies on TV and the best m ovies to hire. His ca p su la r review s are e n jo y­ able to read and highly inform ative, m ore so than in m ost oth e r guides w ith th e ir a n noyingly sh ort com m ents.

For one w ho rates The S ou n d o f M u sic (R obert

Jo sh u a ] Logan takes us there, and it looks like

W ise, 1965) as one of the d ire st of all film

yo u r high school w ith coconuts, [p. 124]

e xperiences, a book on the s h o w ’s creators, R ichard R odgers and O scar H am erstein II, is not a high priority. But this w ork by Ethan M ordden is a gem. G lo rio u sly illustrated and w ith a w itty, erudite text, it is a w o rth y ce lebration of one of A m e rica ’s g re a te st B roadw ay team s.

As w ell, th ere is alw ays interesting analysis of a s h o w ’s lyrics, score (with extracts) and plot.

M o rd d e n ’s know ledgeable com m ents on the casts are also rew arding.

This is a joyous book w ritten by an expert a bout a su b ject he loves. It is highly recom ­

The book is divided into discrete chapters on

m ended. S. M.

each of th e ir 11 stage show s, w ith brief co m ­

THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS & TWO FRIENDS

m ents on any film versions. There is no bio­

RESOURCE TOOL HANDBOOK

graphical m aterial about e ither m an’s life, or

R o b e rt E M cC arthy, F ocal Press, B oston-

H elen G arner, M cP hee Gribble, M elbourne,

th e ir separate careers, except fo r a brief e n ca p ­

London, 1992, 82 pp., pb, rrp $65.

1992, 2 2 6 pp., pb

sulation in the O klahom a! chapter. The book

T he original scripts of tw o film s by H elen G arner

presum es, quite reasonably, e ither p rior know l­

(though the latter is a ctu a lly title d 2 Friends).

edge or a desire to continue o n e ’s reading on its

Included is an interesting introduction by G arner

s u b je ct’s lives. There is a succinct bibliography

regarding her experience of w riting fo r film , as

at the end, with som e tre n ch a n t com m ents from

opposed to the experience of w riting a novel.

M ordden.

But, as usual w ith published film scripts, the introduction is all too brief.

A resource tool for production houses and a n y­ one w orking in the special-effects business. It is a d irectory of w here to go fo r equipm ent and m aterials needed fo r special effects co n stru c­ tion. The m ajor portion of the directory consists of org a n iza tio ns and personnel in the U.S.; there

A part from the a forem entioned stills, in g lo ri­ ous colour and crisp black and w hite, it is the

are, however, listings for most m ajor cities around the globe.

pithy te xt th a t delights. Here is a typical extract:

MONTGOMERY CLIFT: BEAUTIFUL LOSER B a rn e y H oskyns, B loom sbury, London, 1991, 192 pp., hb, rrp $39.95.

S outh Pacific’s curtain rises on tw o Polynesian children singing a song (in French) so short that it’s over in literally th irty seconds. The

STRICTLY BALLROOM B az Luhrm ann a n d C raig P earce, C urrency Press, Sydney, 1992, 104 pp., pb, rrp $14.95.

kids leave ju st before a navy nurse and a

P ublishing the script of S trictly B allroom on the

A very elegant-looking book th a t includes p re vi­

French p lanter enter, apparently on a date but

heels of the film ’s enorm ous success is called

ously unpublished photographs. M ontgom ery

also app a re n tly utter strangers. Sm all talk

m erchandizing. T here is no significant appraisal

C lift is an icon of the 1950s in the sam e league

ensues. Songs: w hat she believes in; w hat he

of the script or the film : ju st a few very brief and

as Jam es Dean and M arlon Brando, but still

needs. It’s m ystifying and fa scin a tin g - the

“flu ffy ” com m ents by producer T ristram M iall,

rem ains som ething of a shadow y figure. The te xt

P olynesians and the w hites, the navy and the

and equally brief and “flu ffy ” review s reprinted

by H oskyns tends to eulogize C lift a little too

civilian, the young w om an and the old e r man,

from The F in a n cia l R e view and The A ustralian.

Raúl Ruiz interview:

C O N T I N U E D

m om ent o f the baroque. The poetical improvisation o f the coun­ tryman, the peasant, in Chile comes directly from the 17th Century, around the end o f the 16th Century. The themes they talk about are very 17th Century. There are, for instance, the themes o f “the siesta o f the saints”, “the reversed world”, “the scattered body distributed around the world in pieces”, “the disbursed feast in many places at the same time”, “the feast o f the birds”, “the train which goes from heaven to hell” and “the marriers o f blacks”. This is one kind o f popular culture, and when I was young it was almost unknown until the nationalist movement in the ’60s had taken it up and brought it to the forefront o f culture.

So there was also this different idea o f the popular. When I said “popular” earlier, I meant “p o p ” really, in the sense o f rock ’n ’ roll music or popular dance music at parties. It is described as vulgar sometimes; it is the kind o f culture which gives you a sense o f the same, repeatability.

W hat is your relation to the baroque?

The word “baroque” is m ore or less a la mode now, as it has been a couple o f times in the past twenty years.

I am simply fascinated by my own culture, Latin American culture, which has this particularity that started in the m om ent o f

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the baroque in Spain. It started in the 16th Century, and the 17th Century was the m om ent where the development o f this movement called the baroque was at a maximum.

There are so many different and contradictory things that have some element in com m on as, for instance, wanting to capture simplicity inside the very com plex and arbitrary figures o f style. The most Spanish m om ent in Spain was the 17th Century, and naturally I was interested by this form, the way the monsters o f culture wanted or needed to develop. Abject culture was expressed through monsters, in animal figures.

I re-read some o f the classics, [Pedro] Calderon5 [de la Barca] and Lope de Vega6 and [Miguel de] Cervantes7 [Saavedra]. For instance, o f Cervantes I re-read the short stories in the Novelas Ejemplares [Exemplary Stones], discovering that the second part was the most com plex literary piece ever written. I discovered recently Giambattista M arino’s Adone,s which was edited in Italy. He is one o f the masters o f baroque, and so is Gongora. O f course, they were all fabricators o f monsters.

W hat is your interest in classical rhetoric?

I was simply fascinated by the dramaticity, the dramatic power o f the most formalist aspect o f rhetoric. I was also fascinated by the fact CINEMA

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Raúl Ruiz that rhetoric has so many functions; sometimes it takes the form o f modesty or the sense o f shame. If you are talking about something very personal, you use a rhetorical form; it is a sort o f veil. Rhetoric was a bad thing m ore than a century ago, but then you also have to say it was the most rhetorical century in Italy. And there is the fact that rhetoric was so refused by romantic poets, by m odern poets, by the majority o f artists, undl recent years, like in the ’ 70s. So I was simply fascinated by that, in a very chaotic way because my ideas are not clear about that yet.

In 1987 you rem arked - using a philosophical concept from W hitehead — “ the cinema seem s to m e the m ost perfect expression o f the ‘perfect location fallacy’ ” .

It is the idea that one point for the camera is better than another.

It is not exactly a philosophy; it is sort o f an ideal, or a superstition.

O f course, I think it is the wrong way o f thinking. What is funny with such fallacies is that first they are an accident, and at the same time they are a com plete necessity. Jean-Marie Straub believes there is a point for the camera which is the only one possible and he spends days and days looking for this point.

My objection is not against the idea that, in photographic, three-dimensional, imaginary space there is a point that is evidently the best; my objection is that I d o n ’ t believe this space exists, because o f the mixtures o f different kinds o f space. If you have a room without any furniture, without any windows, there is still a shadowy part and a sunny part, and that means there are at least two spaces co-existing. J d o n ’ t believe in speaking about only one space or point. There is never one space.

In what sense are your film s personal? D o they relate to you and your experiences?

I am trying to change my mind all the time, and I am fascinated by those artists who were able to escape themselves through rhetorical forms in order to appreciate themselves. O f course, you can say that you are going to escape from yourself because it can be your own obsession. But what is interesting is that the way to escape from yourself is to form your obsessions, which are birds. The way to escape from yourself is to follow your own obsession.

Y ou have spoken o f the body separated and m ade into parcels

Such a ghost can be split am ongst a num ber o f people?

Yes, being the same one. Rem em ber T obi in L a Ville des pirates, he is somebody who believes he is many people. Only it is a jo k e because “h e” believes “h e” is from a very formal family.

And, o f course, there is this curious play byjean Cocteau called Les Chevaliers de la table ronde [ The Knights o f the R ound Table\, where there is a dem on who goes ‘inside’ every character, so the dem on is always somewhere and you sometimes recognize him by his acts, by his deeds.

A central them e in your work is the body. Is it the sacred body?

I would say theoretical, not sacred. The bodies are figures, and they provide a way o f connecting elements that are not evidently connected inside the image or frame.

There are com ic elem ents in film s such as Les Trois Couronnes du Matelotand L ’H ypothèse du tableau t'o/ewhich som e viewers seem not to get.

There are always moments when I make a film, pretending to work with extraordinary philosophical things, then I suddenly feel that they are so ridiculous. All the films are potentially very funny.

W hen you start making the rough cut there are always accidents at the end o f a take and sometimes inside a take. That can be very funny, so I try to insist on leaving it. Sometimes I even provoke the accident and play with the audience - mainly with a television audience, because they are convinced that you are making some­ thing quite serious. Then in a m om ent it changes, putting people in a position o f tension. It sort o f becom es a rock concert, a tennis match, a football match.

When you learn the game, it is a g o o d time to change the game.

That always has an effect than can be com ic or simply gives you the jo y o f trying to destroy something. It is like the jo y o f children trying to destroy, or o f Chinese bombs.

Have you ever wanted to do a film o f purely visual gags in the style o f M aurizio Nichetti, Jerry Lewis or Jacques Tati?

Not really. W hen gags happen all the time in a film, they are just ‘extras’ . But I like to work with the m om entjust before the gag; or make it a very, very long joke, so long that it becom es tragic.

which are distributed around space, as part o f a larger classification system o f the body in cinem a. It has often been noted that you are

Part 3: Five Films

very interested in situations where different actors portray the

Both The Suspended Vocation and Hypothesis o f the Stolen Paintingare

same character, or in which the body literally belongs to different

based on the works o f writer-artist Pierre Klossowski.

actors but is doing the sam e work in film s like Petit Manuel d histoire de France (1979) and La Vocation suspendue (1977).

And in my films L e Professeur Taranne and Allegory (1989), where everybody plays every other rôle. I am trying to disconnect or destroy the connection between the character, the history and the appearances o f the bodies: that a particular face cannot necessarily be related to a particular event.

O ne o f the first things that interested me in cinema is some­ thing you cannot show, so o f course that can be the space “out” or “o ff”. But it can be something inside. The “I” that is inside, this sort o f ghost or spy or soul that is there. I find it quite practical to have many characters playing the same rôle, and after a m om ent the rôle is separated from the character. “H e ” is there; this invisibility or ghost is m ore real than the character.

W hen you get older, say after forty years, you can have this sort o f impression when you m eet new people that are so similar to people who are dead, and in some way they are the same people.

I think this is what [Pierre] Klossowski9 is talking about when he talks about the eternal retour. These moments, these intensities, are repeated, and so in some way the same person is there, suggested with the m ovem ent o f a hand, for example.

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Klossowski is not very French, if you know what I mean. O f course, h e’s French because o f his family ancestry; it’s an old Polish family which came to France in the century o f the N apoleonic wars.

Klossowski is deeply connected with French culture but he never felt comfortable in this culture. He was always very interested in Spanish and Italian culture mainly and, o f course, classical culture. But these aspects were more-or-less ignored in France.

Klossowski I discovered really by chance, reading his novel L a Vocation suspendue while waiting for a friend in a library, and then I bought the b ook and thought it was very strange. It has the form o f the proverbes, the proverbes o f a future b ook that never comes.

This b ook talks about all the quarrels inside the church, o f different factions in the Catholic church, and this was not very different from the discussion and quarrels inside the Left move­ ments in Latin America, which is not so strange if you think that this movement was com posed by ex-Catholics. They made a transcrip­ tion o f old Catholic quarrels inside the Left, which is one o f the ways you can read the political movements in Latin America.

I was o f course fascinated by this and, whenJstarted working on this novel, Klossowski was so surprised that I wanted to do it. We talked about how we could d o it and we becam e friends. I wanted

to make something with the whole body o f his work, so I wanted to make a documentary o f sorts. But he was quite shy and timid about it and did not want to work on that.

I was interested in the novel because part o f the work is a com bination o f perversity and theology, mostly to work inside the form o f perversion as a philosophical work. I am much too Catholic to accept that. I prefer to work with the other kind o f perversion, with the Catholic perversions, in the theological nightmares and the institutional nightmares. I was most interested in how institu­ tions work, how an institution is ideology plus bad faith.

W hat does KLossowski think o f the film s you’ve m ade based on his work?

He likes L a Vocation suspendue a lot. He didn’ t like L ’H ypothèse du Tableau volé too much.

Y ou often refer to Klossowski’s idea that the unconscious is som ething that happens between people.

O ne o f the reasons I became interested in Klossowski is because he created one o f the most powerful critiques o f identity, o f personal identity.

The idea you m ention seems to me to be very evident and at the same time very strange. It’s that you are never you; you are always som ebody else with another person. You are not the same person with your wife; your unconscious changes when you are with a friend or when you are buying your newspaper. You are all the time changing identity.

It was crazy, but it was a central element for me to think about working with characters, with the non-existent characters o f the cinema.

Later, Klossowski told me he never said that, that maybe it was a misunderstanding. But I am sure he told me that.

De Grands Evénements et des gens ordinaires {O f Great Events and Ordinary People, 1979) is a collision between documentary and fiction.

A collision and also a mixture. It shows how I like to work on the border, not to go to one side or the other.

What I wanted to do in Chile was to make a film without a theme, without a central subject. I didn’t know how to do that at the time, I did n ’t know if it was possible. What happened was really an accident.

The film was part o f a series o f films about the Left movement at the time o f the elections and which were to be shown in conjunction with the Left’s success. But the Left lost the elections, so there was no reason to go ahead with the film. I decided to play around with other ideas like différence, and the difficulty o f concen­ trating centralized images around a central theme or subject. So what I did was to pass from one to another, to play with a sort o f vagueness, an impression o f in-existence.

At the time I was working with a close friend, Jean Baudrillard.

The text was not written by Baudrillard, but he speaks it. The film is a kind o f anti-documentary, which is still a documentary because there are documentary elements that becom e strange because they are not centralized. I have kept making this kind o f film from time to time. The first was when I went back to Chile after ten years o f exile; and also Inferno, which I finished there.

In La Mémoire des Apparences (1 98 7 ), you com bine a play by Calderón and a story involving som eone rem em bering a list o f resistance workers in Chile, using the play and its link to m ovies from popular culture.

It is a film about the art o f memory, classical memory. I was very fascinated by a b ook o f Frances Yates [ The A rt o f Memory), and I started reading a lot around the idea o f the art o f memory in the

17th Century. Now I have the b ook by Quintiliano [Marcus Fabius Quintilianus], D e Institutione Oratorio1°. I was fascinated because although I have a g ood memory, m emory is still a mystery for me.

I wanted to make a film about the attribute o f m emory and the use o f memory in films, which was going to be called Im ago and the A rt o f Classical Memory. This became L a M ém oire des A pparen cesw h ere you see this building which is an element o f L a Vida es Sueho [L ife is a Dream ] by Calderon, this sort o f ballade sentim entale about a place o f imprisonment. I then used this text which is the names o f resistance workers.

In the art o f memory, you need a place that you know perfectly: it can be your body, your house, your town with your church. Then you need to put a sign there; they need to be signposted, like “we are called imagos”, particular and unforgettable images. The con­ cept entails putting weird images or objects that are very easy to remember, and then connected with the place or the image o f the place you have the order o f the text. The images give you the more technical element, and then you put your text.

Perception and m em ory are som e o f the key points in a critique o f identity.

Sure, you have to remember that you are you if you want to be you.

Can La Mémoire des Apparences be considered an allegory?

I wanted to make a film about what happened in Chile without using Chilean elements. It was a case where allegories infected other systems and made everything else allegorical.

The film is making a connection between at least two allegorical systems: one is the system o f memory and the other is the system allowing L a Vida es Sueno to stand for Latin America. By mixing both, the result is that Chile itself becom es an allegory o f something else.

This connecting aspect o f allegory is one o f the things that fascinated me the most in this moment. You make an allegory and this allegory touches an element o f real life and makes this element becom e an allegory o f something else, o f some distant object, and when this object is touched it becom es another allegory and so on.

I use allegory as an element. And yes, it seems to me that in this moment, especially, most o f the arts have refused this form o f the allegory which was such an important element in the history o f culture. This is why there were so many enorm ous works, not only the [D ivina] Commedia by Dante [Alighieri], but by so many others in England, for example.

I was interested in how it works and discovered it is not so easy to do. And when I started asking how the allegorical Spanish hero could work so well, I started writing allegorical plays.

This is very recent, just over ten years ago, but o f course the interest has com e from a very distant past. W hen I went to Chile six months ago I discovered an auto sacramental, an allegorical play called The Feeling o f the World, written by me at the age o f 15.1started a long time ago.

H ow did John H urt and David W arner relate to your way o f working during the shoot o f Dark at Noon}

The first thing which helped me is the fact that because my English is not very good, especially early in the morning, they instinctively tried to help me. The other thing is that, even though the film is not really a conventional film, the elements inside the film are, in away, conventional - i.e., the com m onplace elements o f horror and fantastic movies - and they are actors who can deal with those types o f images.

The only problem for the actors was to act as though they were playing in many films at the same time. Then I was trying to systematically re-write scenes, put new scenes when we were going good; as was the case for David Warner. I wrote several scenes which CINEMA

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Raúl Ruiz were not in the script at the beginning.

What was m ore difficult was to mix languages. English and French require two very different kinds o f rhythmic acting. The only way to deal with that was to make the difference more evident.

Also, the French actors com e from comedy. They are comedians who eventually got to make ‘serious’ films, but normally they make comedies. And so that’s another element o f difference evident in the film. There is a lot o f patchwork.

Did you start with a com plete script?

It’s difficult to explain. I started with an old script I wanted to make in the ’70s, a normal horror movie with elements from H. P. Lovecraft and the like. Then, at the beginning o f the production, I realized maybe it was easier to make another kind o f film, using the capacity o f the actors. So I started re-writing the script com ­ pletely. It was finally ready one week before shooting, so it was not really different from my other films.

W as this a relatively high-budget film for you?

Point defu ite, L a Ville des pirates ( City o f Pirates) ; L a présence réelle ( The R eal Presence) ; Voyage autour d ’u ne main - short; Lettre d ’un cinéaste ou le retour d ’un amateur de bibliothèque- television short. 1984 M anuel à l île des marveilles (M an u el on the Island o f M arvels) - three-part television series. 1985 L ’E veillé du pont d e l’A lma; Les Destins deM anoel (M a n u el’sD estinies) ; D ans u n M iroir (In a M irror) ; Richard III. 1986 M am m am e; Régime sans pain; L ’I lea u trésor (Treasure Islan d ). 1987 L a M émoire des apparences/ Vie est un songe (L ife is a Dream) ; Le Professeur Taranne, La chouette aveugle. 1988 Brise-Glace (Icebreaker) - co-di­ rected; Tous les nuages sont des horloges — short; P a lla y Talla. 1989 Behind the W all; Allegory; The A ltar o f Friendship; IlP ozzo di Pazzi. 1990 The Golden Boat; L a Telenovela Errante, L ’E xode. 1991 Inferno. 1992 L ’Oeil qui M ent (Dark at N oon) ; L a Fille de la Sortie (E xit Girl) - in

production; Los Solidados - in production.

NOTES 1. Don Luis Góngora y Argote (1561-1627): Spanish poet who introduced a highly-affected style into Spanish drama o f the 16th Century; hence Gongorism.

For me, yes, definitely. Something like between three and six times m ore m oney than what I usually have. But I had a bigger crew, which meant I had to work slower. So, in one way I won; in another way I lost. I lost flexibility and speed.

Y ou’ve said often that you don’t keep proper track o f your career.

Agnès Varda was recently in Australia and she said she worked in the same way for m ost o f her life, but when her husband Jacques Dem y died, and she was in her sixties, she suddenly decided she needed to put all o f her film s together as well as those o f Dem y. She is now going m ad trying to get hold o f the old prints and get control o f the film s. D o you think this will ever happen to you?

I d o n ’ t really know. I hope it is too early for me. [Laughs].

FILMOGRAPHY 1960 L a maleta ( The Suitcase) - not completed. 1967 E l Tango del viudo ( W idower’s T ango)- not completed. 1968 Los tres triste tigres

( Three Sad Tigers) . 1969 M ilitarism o y tortu ra - documentary short; La c a te n a r ia - not completed. 1970 Q u ehacer’? - co-directed. 1971 La colonia penal (T h e P enal Colony); N adie dijo nada (Nobody Said Noth­ in g) ; A hor te vamos a llamar hermano (N ow We W ill Call You Brother) -

short; M apuches - documentary short. 1972 Los minuteros (T he M inute Hands', a.k.a. The Street Photographer) - short. 1973 L a expropriadón ( The Expropriation) - com pleted in Germany; N ueva candón Chilena (N ew Chilean Song) — short; E l realismo sodalista (SodalistR ealism ) ; Palom illa brava (B ad Girl) - short; Palomita blanca (L ittle White Dove) - co-directed; not com pleted due to coup; Abastedm iento (Supply) - short. 1974 D iálogo de exilados (D ialogue o f Exiles) . 1975 E l cuerpo repartido y el m undo al reuéz ( The Scattered Body and the World Turned Upside D ow n ) . 1976 S otelo- documentary short.

1977 L a Vocation suspendue (T h e Suspended Vocation)', Colloque de chiens (D og ’s Dialogue) - short. 1978 L ’H ypothèse du tableau volé (T h e Hypothesis o f the Stolen Painting) ; Les D ivisions de la n a tu re- short. 1979 D e Grands Evénéments et des gens ordinaires (O f Great Events and Ordinary People)', Petit M anuel d ’histoire de France (Short History o f France) ; Images du débat (Im ages o f Debate) ; Jeux ( Games) ; R ue des archives 79. 1980 L ’O r gris (Grey Gold); L a Ville nouvelle (T h e New Town) - short; LeJeu de l ’oie (Snakes and Ladders) - short; Teletestsshort; Pages d ’un catalogue (Pagesfrom a Catalogue) - short; Fahtstrom —short; M usée D a li 1981 L e Territoire (T h e Territory) H et dak van de walvis ( On Top o f the Whale, a.k.a. The W hale’s Roof) ; 4 episodes o f Le Borgne ( The One-Eyed M an) - television serial; Images de sable. 1982 Les Trois Couronnes du M atelot ( Three Crowns o f a Sailor) ; Classification des plantes - short; Les Ombre Chinoise ( Chinese Shadows) - short; Querelle des jard in s (T h e W ar o f the Gardens) - short. 1983 Bérénice, 62

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2. Ford Beebe: American writer-director of low-budget Westerns, second features and serials. His filmography includes F la sh Gordon Goes to M a rs (1937), Riders o f D eath Valley (1941), T h e Invisible M a n ’s R evenge (1944), E n te r A rsén e L u p in (1945) and B om ba the J u n g l e Boy (1949).

3. Reginald Le Borg: Austrian-born director, in Hollywood from 1937. At first he worked as a shorts director then moved onto low-budget, routine features. His filmography includes T h e M u m m y ’s Ghost (1944), C a llin g D r D eath (1944), Jo e Palooka, C ha m p ( 1946), W yom ing M a il (1949), T h e Black Sheep (1956) and T h e D iary o f a M a d m a n (1962).

4. DeWitt Bodeen: American screenwriter best known for his work with producer Val Lewton, T h e Seventh Victim (1943) and T h e C urse o f the Cat People (1944). Other notable low-budget films include T h e E n ch a n ted Cottage (1944), I Rem em ber M a m a (1947) and Billy B u d d (1962).

5. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-81): Spanish dramatist considered to be the successor o f Lope de Vega. L a Vida es Su eñ o is his best known work.

He has written some 120 plays and more than 70 autos, dramatic presentations o f the mystery o f the Holy Eucharist.

6. Lope de Vega (1562-1635): regarded as the founder o f the Spanish drama, author of a great num ber o f plays, poems and romances, which had an influence upon European literature in general, particularly in France.

7. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616): Spanish novelist. D o n Quixote is of course his most famous novel, completed in two parts, in 1604 and 1615. He also wrote a number o f plays, sixteen o f which survive; and also a collection of short stories, N ovelas Ejemplares.

8. Giambattista Marino (1569-1625): Neapolitan poet. A d o n e (1623) is his best-known work, a long poem on the love between Venus and Adonis.

M a rin ism describes an affected poetic style practiced by Marino and his followers.

9. Pierre Klossowski: novelist, essayist and artist. He is known as an astute commentator on the Marquis de Sade, and his pictures are mostly erotic and executed in pencil. He began exhibiting in public as late as 1967; and is brother to the painter Balthus. He appeared in Robert Bresson’s A u hasard, B althazar (1966). A rt & Text 18 (July 1985) is devoted to Klossowski.

10. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. AD35-C.100): Roman rhetorician. His greatest work is D e Institutione Oratoria, the tenth book o f which contains a history o f Greek and Roman literature.

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Back t o Film IN T R O D U C T I O N

W "

M P TE 92 -N E W H O R IZ O N S has long passed

KODAK

by the time you read this and it was co n sid ­ ered a successful sales event, at least by m ost of the bigger video com panies. Its position as a source of up-to-the-

R ichard Krohn, N ational Sales M anager, Motion Picture and Television Im aging, Kodak (Aus­ tralasia), states:

m inute information via the presentation of technical papers may not have been so vital this year, but it serves to bring us a greater depth of information,

I confess that I am not a fortune teller, nor do I own a crystal ball. It is also entirely possible that I am biased towards film. However, what follows

and to share local experiences, that we w ould undeniably be poorer without.

Th e Australian S M P T E sho w s are an event, made more im portant by the absence of rival trade sho w s available to the U.S. industry, such as Show biz

is a brief outline of our best judgem ent about the future of the motion-picture business.

It is a business we know well and one in which we are pleased to play an important part. For all our technical expertise and wizardry, let me

Expo. Because of this, there is responsibility to get it right. I heard a few rum blings about how the electronic media seem s to have hijacked the event

acknowledge that the key essential for success in this business is a good story. With a good story, filmmakers can make good movies.

and how expensive the venue has becom e, forcing out m any people who

Kodak states that today it is on the threshold of an exciting new era w here art and technology

w ould like to have taken part.

are converging. ^This is certainly the decade

Th e re also seemed to be petty but obvio us problem s such as supplying the sort of pow er that w ould have enabled dem onstrations of som e of the bigger

w hen we will see a blending of film , video and com puter technologies.

Boris M itchell, T echnical Sales R epresenta­

lighting gear, while generating plants stood by unable to be run due to regulations and space restrictions. It made people appreciate the flexibility of

tive, Motion Picture and Television Imaging, says: It is already happening in the creation of televi­

the S h o w g ro u n d venue of past years (while I for one appreciated the access

sion programming and commercials. Film is routinely being converted into digital format for

to the hotels and to the Darling Harbour amenities).

the blending of real and synthetic images.

Ta k in g the sho w as an event on the 1992 calendar, we have used the personal contact with m ost of the industry suppliers to catch up and now pass

Karen Eastm ure, T echnical Sales R epresen­ tative, M otion Picture and T elevision Im aging in M elbourne, rem inds us that m usic videos and

on som e recent equipm ent releases. We also feel that S M P T E was useful to review the state of production on film in Australia at this time.

W e have been talking up film as the ultimate quality image m edium for

com m ercials are on the cutting edge of new im aging technology: “They are frequently a m ar­ riage of film origination and digital technology th a t captures and m aintains the aura of fantasy.”

Mitchell agrees: “Original film images are trans­

som e time. Much as I would like to think that we have had an impact on its sw in g back to fashion, the best we can claim is that with our ear to the ground

ferred to the digital dom ain fo r post-production.”

T hat includes electronic com positing of liveaction, co m puter-generated im ages, m iniatures

we have heard the rum blings. No one is calling it a stampede as yet, but there have been positive reports from all the m anufacturers that, with the econom y

and matte paintings.

R ichard Krohn adds: However, features are more of a challenge be­

in its current state, there are reasons to be optim istic. Th e film m anufacturers

cause of the vast amount of visual information

have done a lot to revitalize the market with their continuing com m itm ent to

captured on every frame of film. It takes 40

Research and Developm ent. W e have asked the three m ajor players in the

information on just one frame of 35mm colour

megabytes of binary data to represent the visual film.

local market for a statement in their own w o rd s of how they see the prospect for their film product w orldw ide and at hom e.

64

• CINEMA

PAPERS

91

FRED H A R D E N

Kodak has just opened ^ .te s t site for the Cineon Digital Film System, called Cineslte Inc.

This Electronic Intermediate System is situated

d o c u m e n ta rie s and te le v is io n p ro g ra m m e s.

in Burbank, California. The system incorporates

Richard Krohn sum m ed it up:

CCD film scanner, image computing work sta­ tion and software developed at Kodak (Aus­ tralasia), high-speed data recorders, and a gas laser recorder designed for optimized digital picture-to-film image transfer.

current world recession has impacted independ­ of the world.

Bill Miller, of. K ennedy Miller, A ndrew Mason

While in Hollywood productions dominate many world markets, we should not lose sight of

and Bruce W illiam son frdm Atlab have recently

the fact that low budget independent produc­

visited Ginesite Inc. All had good things to say

tions are the very backbone of this business. It

about this leading-edge technology.

is where filmmakers earn their stripes and rep­

for television, especially H D TV?” R ichard Krohn

The Creative Edge

ent productions both in Australia and in the rest

of M eaningful Eye C ontact, and John Donovan

Cinema P apers asks, “W h a t’s on the horizon

ON FILM

On the horizon, we look for vigorous interna­ tional growth opportunities. Even though the

"Getting the ABCs Bill Russo as editor for the last episode of this current series of Police Rescue was my good fortune."

resents opportunity for many in all parts of the world.

"From my observation, Bill really

answers: As we w ent to press, news was received that In a way HDTV has already done for film what

A u stra lia ’s highest recognition fo r quality m an­

the paperback did for publishing. It offers vast

agem ent, the inaugural A ustralian Q uality Prize,

new markets for film programming. Producers

was presented to Kodak (A ustralia) Pty Ltd.

have become sensitized to the fact that film origination on 35mm, Super 16 or 16mm is the surest way for them to future proof their librar­ ies.

Steve Taysom , T echnical Sales R epresenta­

He was knocked out by the speed and the power to make changes.

My job was to stay in the

The A u stra lia n Q u a lity Prize is th e peak achievem ent fo r A ustralian com panies w ishing

background sorting out any

to be internationally com petitive. It represents a

problems the editor may have had.

standard th a t is com parable w ith the best the w orld has to offer. Full details next issue.

tive, Motion Picture and T elevision Im aging in Melbourne, states: There are few secrets about the current status of HDTV. NHK is programming eight hours a day

took to Frameworks Avid.

G raem e W isken

P m

;

In days, Bill was cutting faster

It!

i t * on Frameworks/Avid than he had » ® on any other system. He's now ■ Ä ÜÜ

1

“

cutting full time on Avid."

•

Stephen Smith

» « *

in HDTV, popular film libraries are being trans­

M anager M otion Picture D ivisio n

ferred to layer disk HDTV format. That’s all good

A g fa -G e va e rt Lim ited

news for filmmakers.

C om petition is obviously a good thing and the

m

w inner is the industry, the gains being things like

tu

im proved product, more research and d e ve lop ­

ft

m ent, and com petitive rates fo r stock.

m about cutting your next longform m

Tim W aygood, Product S pecialist fo r M otion Picture and T elevision Im aging, says: “ R ecently a number of televisio n program m es have been filmed in S uper 16. T his m edium is ideal fo r w ide screen 16:9 TV or H D TV .” W aygood cannot add

W e are still turning out good pictures but A ustralian budgets are getting a lot tighter.

much more other than to say th a t he truly be­

In the case of an average ratio picture shot on

lieves HDTV will be great news fo r television

Agfa, the stock cost saving can be at least

programme producers.

Krohn is so confident about the future of film origination fo r new television system s th a t he states:

$12,000. It’s like doing a deal with the labs or the hire cars, it is m oney that can be used to make it a better picture.

All our stocks, XT 100, X T320 and XTS 400, are $523 per 1,000ft, regardless of the speed.

Kodak continues to invest in a high-perform­ ance HDTV telecine. This telecine utilizes an

and you w ould th in k th a t a product which is dom inant in the m arket place m ust be m anu­

processing software for this HDTV telecine.

Helping to link film and video are Keycode™

of Frameworks

m m

Call me

»

project on Frameworks Avid.

«

m

Explore the creative edge.

m

w m

m

am m

Bill Russo is currently finishing a

W Ê m m

90 minute telemovie for the ABC on Frameworks Avid

m

®t m m

WÊ

K odak’s dearest stock is 5293 at $658 per 1,000ft

array of advanced CCD sensors. We also developed unique optics and signal software,

1 •

Managing Director

factured a lot cheaper than e ither Fuji or Agfa because of the volum e. But obviously it’s not.

No one is going to suggest th a t we have a

numbers. G ary O ’Brien, T echnical S ales R epre­

low er quality product. W e should be more ex­

sentative, Motion Picture andT elevision Imaging,

pensive by rights because we have more silver

is working closely with film labs, neg m atchers

in our stock than the oth e r m anufacturers.

and telecine houses to help better understand

W e have com pared high-speed Kodak 5296,

this enabling technology. Im porters of bar code

o u rX T S 400 and Fuji’s F500 and the grain of our

scanners, and data m anagem ent system s such

stock is defin ite ly fin e r grain and equal in over

as OSC/R have all w orked tow ards m aking this

and under exposure latitude. (I believe the skin

technology w ork fo r local producers of features,

tones and blacks are better, but this gets into

FRAMEWORKS 2 RIDGE STREET NORTH SYDNEY 2060 PHONE (02) 954 0904 FAX (0 2 )9 5 4 9017

CINEMA

PAPERS

91

• 65

ELEGANT

Technicalities: Back to Film

LOWTECH

S M P TE 92 was a hard show to keep in perspective. Th e re was the Quantel stand w here the

m ore subjective judgm ents! It is up to the indi­

dem onstrations for the latest Harry incarnation, called Henry, was attracting crow ds with its

vidual d ire cto r of photography to do tests on

m illion-dollar sm ile and tightly-scripted sleight-of-hand video tricks. Ju s t around the corner,

those things).

you came upon the elegant low -tech on the Cinekinetic stand. I d id n ’t get to meet any of the

T here are too m any people out there w ho stick to one stock and do n ’t even know w hat the

Quantel designers, but I did catch up with Mike Y o un g , w ho is Cinekinetic.

A m on g the range of gear were som e revisions to the M icrojib and the Cinesaddle. Well,

others look like. T hey all have d ifferent qualities

make a better m ousetrap or sandbag and the w orld will beat a path to y o u r door. I c o u ld n ’t

and it is up to the director of photography to

com m ent as a user, so I asked Mike for the name of som eone who had used one and the

choose the qualities that suit his palette. And

follow ing spilled out of the fax m achine from Roger M cAlpine (senior cam eram an, A B C T V

d o n ’t be frightened of m ixing stocks. S teve M a­

M elbourne). Roger says ingenuously that the Cinesaddle is “one of his favourite to o ls” , so

son is shooting T h e C usto d ia n on a m ixture of K odak 5293 fo r interiors and A gfa X TS 400 fo r

the My Favourite To o l space this issue is his by default.

the e xte rio r night scenes, and the colour bal­

Roger McAlpine: I was never good

ance m atches perfectly. The labs aren’t frig h t­

at knot-tying. Shoe laces were okay,

ened of it anym ore and it opens up possibilities

but bow ties, W indsor knots and rope

to people like John S eale w ho shot his last

tricks were out for me. I have survived

picture on a mix of A gfa and K odak stock, ch o o s­

n e ve rth e le s s , a lth o u g h there w ere

ing w h a t’s right fo r the job (and rem em ber he

those occasions w hen I was carrying

shot Th e M osquito C o a s t on Fuji).

tim ber on the roof rack of the car. Th en

I’m ju s t one person as against, w ho knows,

I always seemed to tie at least six silly

maybe seven or eight Kodak sales people around

knots on top of each other in an at­

A ustralia, but being from the production area

tem pt to gain peace of m ind on the w ay

m akes my job a lot easier. I’ve been involved

home from the tim ber yard. I had a

w ith the industry fo r alm ost thirty years now and

secret adm iration for those farmers

having been behind the cam era m yself m akes it

and truck drivers w ho tied their loads

e a sie r to ta lk w ith DOPs.

dow n in a m anner approaching art.

Looking to the future, there is a lot of A gfa

Well now I’ve joined those enlightened ones, become one of the knot-tying brethren. And it’s all thanks to the Cinesaddle. I bought one three years ago, prior to shooting E m b a s s y at the A B C . O u r first two weeks were spent in Fiji shooting scenes with the tropical look. Th e schedule was ve ry tight and it was necessary to keep the equipm ent list to the bare bones.

It seemed like a job for Cinesaddle! Th e day I bought it, I took it home and practised knot-tying.

It was like studying for an exam as I learnt to tie the Bow line and the Tru c k ie ’s hitch. I passed Part A of the exam using a cam era-sized road case m ounted on the bonnet and then on the c a r’s door sill. Part B was done with the real thing and I was relieved and impressed with the

b lack-and-w hite stock being used in the a r­ chives and A gfa print stocks are being used m ore by the labs. W e have also seen an in­ crease in the use of 16mm stocks and in S uper 16mm production, so I am quite confident and aggressive about the future place of A gfa in the A ustralian industry.

Contact: Graeme Wisken

w ay the Cinesaddle held the camera securely to the car.

In Suva, the Cinesaddle was a godsend! In addition to car exterior-m ounted shots, it was

Manager Motion Picture Division

used for all the car interiors. Upon our arrival, we bought a piece of dressed timber, 19 x

Agfa-Gevaert Limited, 2 Byfield Street, North Ryde

300mm, and cut its length to fit across the sills of the rear side doors. Th is became a platform

2113. Phone: (02) 888 1444. Fax: (02) 887 1981

for the camera sitting in the Cinesaddle, and I was able to get shots in every direction. Th e

Mobile: 018 447 949

only snag was with one car in w hich the w indow d id n ’t wind down into the door as you w ould expect. How ever, I solved the problem by cutting a piece of tim ber to fit exactly between the w indow s but still resting on the sills. Th e sound recordist thought this was an excellent solution, so did I w hen it started to rain.

Suva is a city where the main roads are all one w ay. Therefore getting from A to B m ight be sim ple but getting from B to A m ight involve travelling right around the city centre. It took the first assistant director and the production manager a little time to adjust to this

F U J I (HANIMEX) M arc Van A gten Sales M anager, Pro V ideo and M otion P icture Film , Hanim ex

enlightened (? ) traffic m anagem ent system . W e decided that the sim plest w ay to get to many

The past year has been an interesting one fo r

locations was to walk. Th e Cinesaddle became a protective basket for the camera, etc., as we

the A u stralian film industry with the introduction

tram ped the hot and crow ded Suva pavem ents. It also doubled as a w elcom e seat while we

of m any technical innovations, particularly in the

waited for the actors to drive from B to A or a Take 2.

area of post-production.

(In fact, the insulating properties of the Cinesaddle are excellent. Th e D O P was seen on

The industry has taken the first steps in ad o p t­

m ore than one occasion wearing the Cinesaddle on his head in the hot tropical sun. It also

ing the use of the bar coding on 35m m neg.

keeps w ine and is very discreet in such circum stances.)

stock. One instance w as on the recent produc­

I had to resort to underhand m easures w hen m ounting the camera on the bonnet of a new m odel Falcon. Th e slope is so severe that even with a well-tied truckie’s hitch, the camera had

tion of C rim e Brokers, w hich w as edited on the “T o u ch vision” video system .

a tendency to slip dow n the bonnet. Room 147 at the Suva Tra ve lo d ge came to the rescue by donating its nonslip rubber bath mat to the unit. I m ust also add that the stone tray on the

A concern for quality

Falcon is not as rigid as you w ould expect on a car. It did bend a bit as I pulled up m y hitch.

The trend tow ards neg.-to-tape transfers, w ith ­

For those two hectic weeks, the Cinesaddle was m y constant com panion, since then we

out m aking w orkprint, is becom ing increasingly

have bought another and now both A B C grip trucks in M elbourne carry one.

popular given the financial pressures placed on

It w as just as well I learned to becom e proficient with those knots before going to Suva; the first assistant director used to be a farmer and the sound recordist owned a truck!

■

Roger McAlpine has been a camera operator since 1966, most of it with the ABC, and has worked on every major drama production from the Melbourne studios. He went to The Netherlands in 1987 as part of the design team working on the BTS LDK 900 video camera. His camera credits include / C a n J u m p P u d d le s , L u c in d a B ra y fo rd , C o m e M id n ig h t M o n d a y, D e s c a n t fo r G o s s ip s , O n e S u m m e r A g a in , Th e F a s t Lan e, T h is M an T h is W o m a n , S tre e t A n g e ls and E m b a s s y .

Cinekinetic gear is sold and rented by a number of d istribu to rs. Call or fax Michael Young fo r details.

CINEKINETIC 2 Avon Court, Thornlie, Western Australia, 6108. Phone: (09) 459 3690. Fax: (09) 493 2168.

66

• C I N E M A ¿PAPERS

9 1

film budgets. M any A ustralian cinem atographers co n sid er this to be an area of m ajor concern, as th e y can no longer view the one-light print from the previous d a y’s shoot th a t they have used as a standard, and are w atching a tra n sfe r on videotape.

In som e w ays, cinem atographers can lose control of th e ir craft and are in the hands o f the

te le cin e o p e ra to r w ho can m a nipulate the im age

ures are in d ica tive of p roduction trends, placing

d u ring tra n s fe r beyond a n y o n e ’s w ild e s t dream s

the value of co rp o ra te production during 1991-

w ith to d a y ’s h ig h ly-so p h istica te d te le cin es.

92 at $170 m illion co m pared to $114 m illion fo r

New stocks and formats

fe a tu re film s. T he fig u re s show ed a drop last

For Fuji, th is ye a r has seen the in tro d u ctio n of a

y e a r in fe a tu re film production but th is w as not reflected in the nu m b e r of fe a tu re s. It is related

new high-speed 500 A S A sto ck w hich has re­

m ore to the low er costs of production, not only

ceived positive fe edback, giving the A u stralian

th rough e le ctro n ic post coding but also the in ­

cin e m a to g ra p h e r a w id e r choice of stocks, from a low -speed 64 A S A to the new F500.

Fuji is also benefiting from the increase in e le ctro n ic p o st-p ro d u ctio n , being one of the

creasing p o p u la rity of S uper 16 a g a inst 35m m .

The d iffe re n ce in 16m m sto ck costs alone is very sig n ifica n t in m aking this fo rm a t attractive.

A t th is stage w e are o p tim istic fo r production

w o rld ’s largest tape m anufacturers. W e often

in 1993 based on the num ber of recent inquiries

end up supplying not only the film sto ck fo r a

fo r Fuji film stock, both 35 and 16mm.

ON FILM

shoot, but also th e ir vid e o ta p e requirem ents, D AT audio tape and Fuji p h o to g ra p h ic still film ,

C o n ta c t: H an im e x Pty Ltd,

all as a package deal.

108 O ld Pittw ater Road, B ro o k va le N S W 2100

T he A ustralian Film C o m m issio n ’s recent fig-

P h o ne : (02) 938 0400.

The Flexible Edge SMPTE: The Papers

The Digital Optical

S uper 16 and the benefits of A A T O N -T im e C ode

W ith th a t video bias to the show , this ye a r the

to get through for the making of

received a good w orking o v e rfro m John B ow ring

digital m anipulation of film w as a hot enough

"The Sharp End". What Frameworks

of Lem ac w hose A ATO N and S uper 16 e x p e ri­

to p ic to get good coverage.

"We had over 50 hours of material

Avid allowed me to do as editor

ence now reigns suprem e. The co n fe re n ce S u ­

T here w ere papers from Q uantel and som e

per 16 paper w as an update of the Lem ac S uper

e xa m p le s p rojected, m o stly still fra m e s and

16 m anual and, if you are co n te m p la tin g the

b arely-m oving p a in t-anim ated ones th a t cam e

compare each with the Director and

form at, you m ust get a copy: it nam es nam es.

via th e ir D om ino film scanner and system . It

Producer so we could all reach the

Good useful stuff, and tha n ks John fo r keeping

proved th a t 2880 horizontal sam ples X 2048

it up-to-date,

vertical sam ples looked pretty good on screen.

K odak w eighed in w ith som e pieces about

Q uantel is opting fo r storage on D-1 at the rate

S uper 16 su ita b ility fo r H DTV th a t pointed out

of 16 video fra m e s fo r one h ig h -d e fin itio n fram e,

th a t S uper 35m m w ould be better, but S u p e r 16

but to preview a m oving sequence you need

can hack it w ith a bit of tele cin e help. T here was

heaps of hard drives. An 8 G igabyte disc pack

m ore talk about film being “fu tu re pro o f” and,

w ould give you 30 seconds at th a t quality, and it

w ith the p o ssib ility th a t co n ce iva b ly there may

takes about 30 seconds to scan in and output

not be a greem ent on one w orld HDTV standard,

each fram e of about 12 M Bytes.

th a t w ould leave w idescree n film fo rm a ts as a de

K odak has opted fo r a system th a t gives it a lot

fa cto distribution standard. It m akes sense and

m ore headroom and a file of at least 30 M Bytes

in som e th ro w -a w a y snippets of in d u stry new s it

p e rfra m e . W e covered the C ineon system in our

a ppears th a t others agree. A p p a re n tly S w edish

last issue, but this w as the firs t d em onstration I

te le visio n has dropped video fo r a ll th e ir dram a

ca u g h t up with. The softw are interface of the

program m ing because of future q uality concerns.

C ineon w as presented in a show biz style video

was assemble several different versions,

* "It only took minutes to assemble

m

*

m

And it w as pointed out th a t w hen th e y w ere

produced by Tom O lson of A u stralian B usiness

sh ooting G e t S m a rt and / Love L u c y on film , th e y

T heatre in M elbourne at AAV. The 35m m p ro ­

an alternate cut. Stephen Smith ** has a terrific understanding of the •

d id n ’t have any idea that the program m es w ould

je cte d film e xam ples cle a rly show ed the a d va n ­

be m aking m oney th irty years later. It d o e s n ’t

system and his 'shortcuts'

tages of the digital negative over the c o n ve n ­

have to be art to m ake it w o rthw hile. E verything

tio n a l inte rn e g a tive and th a t’s the exciting part.

us the benefits of Frameworks

suggests th a t we can all expect to be shooting m ore 16mm.

tu

made things even faster. For

THE INPUT, THE OUTPUT I believe it is going to

Avid went on the screen.

T here w ere som e interesting a rchival papers.

be the q uality of the I/O process th a t will decide

A p p a re n tly the ANSI group is going to train us to

w hich of the m any system s we use. T here is a

use the term LE (Life E xpectancy) as th is can be

grow ing body of softw are running on com puters

• Call Stephen Smith about cutting

m »

Ted Kortekaas

a rating that relates to certain film under sp e ci­

getting c h e a p e r and fa s te r th a t will give anyone

W9 your next longform project on

fied storage conditions. T here w as also a paper

film resolution retouching and g raphics ca p a b il­

•

Frameworks Avid. Exploit

th a t reassured you th a t yo u r vid e o ta p e p ro ­

ity. The P aradox M atador system caught my

®

the flexible edge.

•

gram m e recorded on any of the m ajor p la y e rs ’

attention. R unning on a S ilicon G raphics, its

D-2 tape should last at least 14 years, but there

fu n ctio n as a paint and keying system looked as

•

FR A M E W O RK S

w as som e doubt about the e a rlie r fo rm u la tio ns

good as the H a rry/P a in tb o x co m bination but at

to go the distance (gasp!). The inform ation points

film resolution. Industrial Light and M agic o b v i­ o u sly like it; it had som ething like ten system s

NORTH SYDNEY 2060

to the cassette shell as th e best th in g to have happened to vid e o ta p e life.

w orking on the sequence th a t tw iste d Meryl

m m m

m m m

PHONE (02) 954 0 9 0 4

•

•

FAX (0 2 )9 5 4 9 0 1 7

m

In o th e r papers, K odak presented inform ation

S tre e p ’s head around fo r D eath B ecom es Her.

a bout Eastm an 5293/7293, its re ce n tly-re le a se d

T he near fu tu re will see us do our retouching

200 A S A sto ck and a len g th y run-dow n on its

and o p tica ls on o u r own m achines and go o ff to

new interm ediate print film , 5244. D om inic C ase

one of the big guys as a bureau fo r th e ir fa st

ran through the strengths of E xca lib u r 2, w hose

sca n n e rs d ig itizin g from o u r negatives, and fo r

screen d isp la y m akes O S C /R look dead dreary.

the fin a l hig h -re so lu tio n outp u t back to film , or

T he video guys took up the rest of the tim e.

som e th in g like the S olitaire.

2 RIDGE STREET

CINEMA

PAPERS

91

• 67

Technicalities

Jonathan Erland

three film m anufacturers (Eastm an

Jonathan Erland (right) is D irector

Kodak, Fuji and A gfa G evaert) are

of R esearch & D evelopm ent with

co-operating in developing a w a ­

A pogee P roductions of Van Nuys,

ter-based cleaning system - both

C alifornia, and has a credit list run­

e nvironm entally sound and m ore

ning back through more than a few

efficient.

of the spe cia l-e ffe cts film s of the

Am ong other projects, the C oun­

past 15 years. He has been in A us­

cil also has a film product advisory

tra lia recently, and stopped over in

group, assessing the dem and and

S ydney to present a se m in a r at the A ustralian

need fo r new stock types w ith particular cha ra c­

Film Television & Radio School.

teristics: for exam ple, for im proved telecine tra n s­

Jon w as part of the original team at G eorge

fer, or fo r film special effects. It is active in the

Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic, brought to g e th e r

fie ld of film preservation and restoration, and is

fo r S ta r W ars in the late 1970s. W hen Lucas

developing an on-line com puter database of

m oved ILM up to San F rancisco, Jon a th a n

te chnical inform ation for the film industry.

Erland, to g e th e r with m any others, stayed in

D iscussions currently under w ay m ay well

Southern C alifornia and form ed A pogee Pro­

lead to an A ustralian Film T echnology C ouncil,

ductions, an integrated fa cility that includes m od­

w ith sim ila r goals. M any technical m atters are

elling, m otion control, pyrotechnics and optical

specific to the local scene, and could w ell be

com positing.

tackled here, given the right forum . In particular,

In a fo u r-h o u r presentation, the audience saw

a w ell-m anaged local database, linked to an

The Solitaire Film Recorder

his m assive personal collection of slides, dem o

international one, could give access to e ve ry­

reels, tapes, sections of technical papers and

thing from relevant technical standards to a local

reels of features. One of E rland’s specialities is

resource directory.

PBS Im ages in S ydney distrib u te s U.S. co m ­

the various m ethods of tra ve llin g m attes, and he

pany M anagem ent G raphics Inc.’s range of film

received the S M PTE jo u rn a l aw ard fo r his paper

recorders. W e fo rg e t som etim es th a t o th e r in­

on the reverse blue-screen m atting m ethod used

dustries require high-resolution film o utput from

fo r C lint E astw ood’s Firefox.

com puters and they have done it fo r years in publishing. M ining com panies are a big m arket

Technology Council

in A ustralia, but corrjpanies like A nim al Logic in

Jonathan Erland has been pursuing a m ission

S ydney are the f i r s t to take advantage of the

fo r several years w hich is now com ing to reality

DOMINIC CASE

If you are in te rested in jo in in g the U.S. Film Tech­ n o lo g y C o un cil, or in the fo u n d a tio n o f an A u stra ­ lian one, give D o m inic Case a call on (02) 858-3840.

you C A N

BEND R EALITY, BUT D O N ’T BEND TH E FILM

latest developm ents incorporated in the S o li­

as the T ech n o lo g y C ouncil of the M otion P icture/

taire Im age R ecorder fo r m otion-picture o utput

T elevision Industry. P erhaps the firs t blessing is

E rla n d a ro u s e d c o n s id e ra b le in te re s t, a n d

(pictured above). W hile we are w aiting fo r the

that TC M P T is a nam e th a t defies all attem pts at

s o m e a la rm , w ith a p re v ie w o f h is p a p e r

K odak system , the S olitaire has been used e x­

cute acronym s.

f o r th e SM PTE c o n fe re n c e in T o ro n to in

te n sive ly in the U.S. to output co m p u te r graphics

The T ech n o lo g y C ouncil, based in the U.S., is

N o v e m b e r. A ra n g e o f te s ts s h o w e d th a t

and com positing on B atm an Returns, T erm ina­

a co -operative council form ed to provide a ce n ­

s to c k s u s in g th e m o d e rn “ T -g ra in ” te c h ­

to r 2, H ook and S ta rT re k VI, and picked up a

tra lize d forum fo r the e ffective d evelopm ent of

n o lo g y a ll s u ffe re d fro m a s ig n ific a n t

S cientific and E ngineering Aw ard from the A ca d ­

new te ch n o lo g y and the exchange of te ch n o ­

flic k e r in th e b lu e -s e n s itiv e la y e r, w h ic h

em y of A rts and S ciences in 1991. IM AX S ys­

logical resources. It has undertaken a num ber of

d id n o t a p p e a r in th e o ld e r c o n v e n tio n a l

tem s C orporation has w orked w ith M anagem ent

projects th a t are beyond the scope of any one

s to c k s . F u ji, A g fa an d E a stm a n s to c k w e re

G raphics to develop co m p a tib ility w ith its tra n s ­

com pany, or will have m ore effect through c o ­

port, and IM A X -quality projection of com puter

operative action. In som e cases, it acts in an

graphics is said to be stunning.

advisory capacity; in others it takes on c o n su lt­

Here in A ustralia, A nim al Logic has d e ve l­ oped a system of increasing a pparent resolution

ants through sp o n so r funding, to pursue specific projects.

of video im ages from its H arry or D-1 m asters,

The list of founding m em bers is an im pressive

and is doing som e pretty im pressive tra n sfe rs

w h o ’s w hom , ranging from W arner Bros, through

fo r cinem a of TVC s, but nothing com pared to the

Panavision, A gfa C orporation and D eLuxe Labs

high-resolution tra n sfe rs from the Silicon G ra p h ­

to the A cadem y of M otion P icture A rts and S ci­

ics 3D anim ation.

ences, and including such individuals as sp e ­

SAMPLE OF THE QUALITY FROM THE SOLITAIRE IMAGE RECORDER,

cia l-e ffe cts guru Linwood Dunn, lens expert Glen

FROM TERMINATOR 2. THE T-1000 (THAT BLOB FORMING IN THE

B erggren and K odak colour sp e cia list and histo­

FOREGROUND) IS COMPLETELY COMPUTER-GENERATED.)

rian Rod Ryan.

IMAGE COURTESY OF CAROLCO/ILM.

E rla n d d e s c rib e d so m e o f th e C o u n c il’s projects already underw ay in the U.S. Perhaps

• CINEMA

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91

im m u n e to th e p ro b le m , o th e rs n o t.

T h o ro u g h te s tin g re v e a le d th a t if a s m a ll r o lle r in M itc h e ll ca m e ra m o v e m e n ts w a s re p la c e d w ith a la rg e r d ia m e te r ro lle r, th e p ro b le m w a s s ig n ific a n tly re d u c e d a n d s o m e tim e s e lim in a te d . It s e e m s lik e ly th a t th e fla t (ta b le t-s h a p e d ) c ry s ta ls in m o d e rn e m u ls io n s s u ffe r a te m p o ra ry d e ­ s e n s it iz in g

e f f e c t if th e e m u ls io n

is

s tre s s e d to o m u c h - s u c h as b y w ra p p in g ro u n d a s m a ll ro lle r.

E r la n d ’ s r e s u lts h a v e le d E a s tm a n K o d a k to m o d ify th e e m u ls io n in its 5296 s to c k , a n d c a m e ra s u p p lie rs h a ve been a b le to re p la c e th e o ffe n d in g r o lle r in

the one th a t illustrates the effectiveness of the

m o s t c a s e s . W as th is , as E rla n d ’s p a p e r

body best is the d evelopm ent of an aqueous film

p ro p o s e d , an u n d is c o v e re d p ro b le m w ith

cleaner. C u rre n tly film is norm ally cleaned using

th e s to c k o r, as a K o d a k re p re s e n ta tiv e

an o rganic solvent, trlch lo ro e tha n e , w hich has

c o m m e n te d , s im p ly th a t c a m e ra d e s ig n

been revealed as an ozone depleter. Legislation

h a d n ’t k e p t u p w ith m o d e rn e m u ls io n s ?

to lim it the use of th is chem ical is ob vio usly not

O r (m y fa v o u rite tr o u b le - s h o o te r ’s fe n c e ­

fa r off, and the m otivation to a m ore environm en-

s ittin g p h ra s e ) s im p ly a p ro d u c t-p ro c e s s

ta lly-frie n d ly cle a n er is obvious, p a rticu la rly in

in te ra c tio n ?

A ustralia. Through the T e ch n o lo g y C ouncil, all

68

a ll a ffe c te d . S o m e c a m e ra s se e m to be

Dominic Case

Nagra Digital S o m ew here betw een S M P TE and press tim e

W e prom ise to ask th e only person w e know

th e re should have been a sto ry on the N agra D,

w ho has b ought one, P hilippe D ecrausaz, M e l­

N a g ra ’s digital reel-to-ree l re co rd e r (pictured

bourne fre e la n ce sound re co rd ist (and w ho has

below ). Yep, w hen everyon e else has rushed of

recorded sound on F /y /'n g D o c fo rs fo rC ra w fo rd s

to cram th e ir D AT ca sse tte s into little plastic

fo r the last three years), how his N agra D is

boxes th a t d o n ’t have tim e code, N agra has

going.

m ade a m ove th a t has really stirre d up the

If you c a n ’t w a it and y o u ’d like som e fu rth e r

co ffe e -tim e conve rsa tio n w ith th e sound guys.

in fo rm a tio n in the m eantim e co n ta ct Ewen or

T his is a beautiful m achine, in cre d ib ly solid like

Ja n e t C oldrey, at dB A udio Junction T errace, 16

all N agras and the result of lots of in d u stry input.

P rincess Street, Kew 3101

But is it too late? T oo expe n sive ?

1070. Fax: (03) 853 5929.

ON FILM

Phone: (03) 853

The Business Edge Q.Is there a cost saving using Avid?

A. Yes. How much depends on the requirements of the project. The savings on work print alone is a major plus for Avid.

Q. Avid resolution is that good?

A. Frameworks offers

5 resolution

levels. Lowest is VHS quality.

B arry M inster and John Leonard, w ho run th e ir

W ith the Lightw orks laying up the 100% audio

L ig htw orks-based no n -lin e a r e d iting co m p a n y

track, it m aintains the sound as digital right

E D IT A D V IS E out of M e lb o u rn e ’s PO ST!, are

through to Post! Film and V id e o ’s AM S A udio

now in p o st-production on w hat prom ises to be

File fo r all the oth e r lay-up and fo le y work.

Q Savings apart from work print?

o u r firs t all-d ig ita l post-prod u ce d feature.

M ichael S later, P o s tl’s audio supervisor, is re­

A. Editing time is faster,

ported to be excited by the project due to be

certainly more efficient. 1 editor,

com ple te d late this year.

1 assistant and myself as full time

D escribed as a post-a d o le sce n ce com edyrom ance, L e x & R o ry is being p roduced by S cott A ndrew s and D ean M urphy of S ounds W rite

(Post! has also been involved in S ydney with

P ro ductions and is prin cip a lly fu n d e d by the

the Beyond In ternational series S u b m a rin e s th a t

citize n s of A lbury-W o d o n g a , w here the six-w e e k

is being cut on the A vid and there is now a lot

sh o ot w as recently w rapped.

tu re -le n g th film -o rig in a te d projects. It is clear

his cut w as only a few days behind the actual

th a t pro d u ce rs m ust look at the n o n -lin e a r e d it­

I am able to sync the DAT audio to the telecined

a Frameworks exclusive!

Q . How much does training cost?

m ore e xp e rie n ce a va ila b le w ith n o n -lin e a r fe a ­

D uring production, e d ito r John Leonard said shoot:

Avid supervisor -

m

m

ing path fo r fu tu re p ro je cts or th e y are going to

A. Absolutely nothing when it's part of any longform project.

Q. Are Frameworks competitive?

be w asting tim e and m oney.)

A. Call me!.

negative in better than real time. This plus the faster cut that the Lightworks makes possible

EDIT ADVISE is at 18 Kavanagh Street,

enables me to get into the fine-cut phase a lot

S outh M elbo urne 3205.

earlier than I would normally.

Phone: (03) 686 8888. Fax: (03) 682 6736.

•

FRAMEWORKS

m

m m m

2 RIDGE STREET N ORTH SYDNEY 20 6 0

m m

PHONE (02) 95 4 0 9 0 4

•

•

m

FAX (0 2 )9 5 4 9 0 1 7

CINEMA

PAPERS

91

. 69

Technicalities

Close to the Edge

e specially bright and flicke r-fre e video assist.

the A FP -2. The beam sp litte r is interchangeable

T here is an e lectronic control system fo r all

w ithout requiring re-adjustm ent, and ranges from

K eyC ode has m ade it e asier fo r the neg. cutter.

fun ctio n s th a t is show n on a large CCD display.

0% to 20/80% fo r black and w hite, 50/50% for

(O r has it? C heck out our p ost-production spe­

An a djustable m irror sh u tte r and a low noise

the colour and 100% fo r S teadicam . The split

cial in the next issue.) But the edges of film are

level of 20 dB(A).

w orks e qually fo r 16 as fo r S uper 16, show ing

CHANGE TO SUPER 16

the w hole fram e, and even w ith the assist a t­

The decision to make the offset lens m ount a pl-

tached the vie w fin d e r can pivot up to 120 deg.

getting kind of crow ded. From Ben V anderlinde at John B arry’s cam e a sw ag of ARRI press releases that we ju st had to fit in som ew here.

Included are d etails of A R R I’s tim e-code and the first pictures of the physical form at. W e still have to see the 535, but the inform ation about its use in the U.S. m akes it appear more like a solid item, less m ythical. There has been tim e for ARRI to com e up with the 535B, described as sm aller and lighter and m odular expandable.

(See caption details w ith 535B photo.) W e are

m ount gives access to a lot of quality optics.

across the cam era body fo r view ing. (W ithout

T here is even a special 41 mm steel bayonet lens

the split, the view finder sw ivels 190 degrees. It

m ount a dapter w hich can rem ain in the cam era

is rotatable by 360 deg. parallel to the cam era

w hen changing lenses.

and can be sw ung aw ay by 25 deg.)

The film gate is universal, w hich m akes the

DISPLAY AND CONTROL PANEL

change of fo rm a ts fa st and leaves the original

On the left side of the cam era, the LCD displays

a djustm ents intact. The ground glasses and

the fram e rates from 5 to 75fps in the standard

fib re -o p tic screens can be rapidly changed and

version (the high-speed version is 10 to 150fps)

then all th a t is required is a djustm ent of vie w fin ­

and the film counter is sw itchable from m etres to

der centre.

feet. There is a display of the opening on the

TIME CODE

m echanically-adjusted m irror shutter, tim e code

ARRI 16 SR3

A R R I’s decision not to adopt the AATO N tim e-

and tim e-code user bits and tim e-code se n sitiv­

The A R R IFLE X 16 SR3 is the cam era ARRI told

code system (unlike M oviecam and Panavision,

ity. There is film -end, battery-voltage and low-

us to w ait fo r rather than rushing off to convert

w hich may be the reason why) sent them back to

w arning indicators, and a display of the asyn­

the e a rlie r SRs (or, m ore likely, buy an AATO N).

the draw ing board. The tim e-code g enerator is

chronous cam era speed. The display is also

W hat the com pany has lost in m om entum in the

incorporated in the cam era body, but the record­

used in service to show analysis and testing

S uper 16 production push will probably be b a l­

ing module is in a new 400 ft coaxial m agazine.

inform ation.

anced by all those staunch ARRI fans, but it will

T his means th a t existing m agazines can be

ADJUSTABLE MIRROR SHUTTER

be interesting to w atch the AATO N vs. ARRI use

used w hen you are not using T/C. A pparently,

T here is an autom atic m irror stop to keep the

in w hat prom ises to be a revival of film p ro d u c­

the tim e code can be set on the m agazine aw ay

vie w fin d e r clear and a quick gate check PHASE

tion fo r HDTV and feature blow -up. W e will have

from the cam era body and the Nagra o rtim e c o d e

key to re-position the mirror. The m irror shutter

to w ait until early 1993 here in A u stra lia fo r the

DAT or Slate is jam -synced to run to g e th e r at the

is m e ch a n ica lly a d justable w ith the cam era

first cam eras, but the sp e cifica tion s look im p re s­

beginning of the shoot. The positioning of the

sw itched off. 90°, 135°, 144°, 172.8° and 180°

sive now.

ARRI code is radically different to the AATO N.

positions are locked and show n on the display.

holding back a bit until we can get a “hands-on” story, so first the S uper 16.

B riefly the reports go as follow s. W eighing in

The ARRI uses a continuous narrow track on the

at 7kg w ith loaded 400 ft mag. and on-board

im age side of the sprockets. A pparently, even

battery, it is capable of fa st conversion from

on S uper 16 fo rm a t the tim e-code inform ation is

norm al 16 to the S uper 16 form at. Integrated

clear of the image and it obviously d o e sn ’t go

tim e-code. T akes PL (or pi as Arri w rites it)

anyw here near the Kodak K eykode num bers.

m ount lenses w hich m akes the com plete range

NEW VIDEO ASSIST

of 35m m lenses available. A new view ing sys­

Two 1/2-inch CCDs are available: a co lo u r and

tem w ith A R R IG LO W fo rm a t m arkings and an

black-and-w hite with an anti-flicker m odule called

ACCESSORIES A long with a lot of new toys, like the heatable eyecup, all of the 53 5 ’s accessory range is available fo r the new SR3. T his m akes the e le c­ tro n ic capabilities of the cam era more like those we expect from video and then som e. See the follow ing 535 story fo r more details.

1. THE ARRIFLEX 16SR3 2. THE ARRIFLEX 535 B : DESIGNED TO BE CO M ­ PATIBLE WITH THE STILL-TO-BE-SEEN IN AU S­ TRALIA ARRIFLEX 5 3 5 , THE 535 B IS SMALLER, LIGHTER AN D EXPANDABLE W ITH MODULES INSTEAD OF THE 5 3 5 BUILT-IN FEATURES. THE WHOLE VIEW IN G SYSTEM CAN BE REPLACED WITHOUT TOOLS USING A QUICK-RELEASE LOCK A N D SLIP-IN FORMAT M ASKS, A N D INTER­ CHANGEABLE VIEWFINDER LENSES ALLOW FOR DE-SQUEEZING AN AM OR PH IC . THE CRYSTALCONTROLLED FRAME RATES ARE N O W VA R I­ ABLE 3FPS TO 60FPS AN D FIXED AT 2 4 , 2 5 , 2 9 .9 7 AN D 30FPS. INTEGRATED IN THE 535B ARE TIME CODE A N D ELECTRONIC SETTING OF FILM SPEEDS, ALL DISPLAYED O N THE LCD PANEL. CONTACT JO H N BARRY GROUP FOR FURTHER DETAILS. 3. THE NEW ARRI VIDEO ASSIST W ORKS O N THE ARRI 3 , THE NEW 16SR3 A N D THE 5 3 5 .

CALLED THE AFP-2, IT HAS A N O PTIONAL AN TI­ FLICKER O PTION, V O M -2 OR AFP-2. CONTACT JO HN BARRY GROUP FOR FURTHER DETAILS. 4 . A COMPLETE REMOTE-CONTROL LENS SYS­ TEM THAT MOUNTS O N THE 19 M M MATTE-BOX RODS, THE ARRI LCS ADDS FOCUS, Z O O M AN D IRIS CONTROL TO MOST LENSES. PERFECT FOR COMPUTER CONTROL V IA RS 2 3 2 OR INTER­ FACING W ITH THE INBUILT MICROPROCESSOR IN THE 5 3 5 CAMERA, THE LCS ADDS M O TIO N CONTROL FEATURES TO A N Y SHOOT. THE IN ­ BUILT MEMORY CAN STORE A N D REPEAT RE­ HEARSED SEQUENCES. CONTACT JO H N BARRY GROUP FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

70

• CINEMA

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91

The German Camera, the Video Split, and the Non-linear Edit

was taking each of the SP tapes and cutting the

W hile we are w aiting to see the Arri 535 here (the

added creative input of w atching how the m ate­

latest schedule says early 1993; and the 16 SR3

rial cuts w hile there is still tim e to do a retake if

spots w ith input from the dire cto r during breaks betw een shots. The savings w ere the traditional ones w ith a video split - being able to check perform ances and cam era m oves - but with the

is alm ost certain to be around by then), there is

there is a better w ay to do it. C lients can be

a tech n o lo g y application story th a t I felt was

consulted about alternatives and show n the re­

tim ely. It revolves around the qu a lity of the 5 3 5 ’s

sults imm ediately. Shooting just what was needed

flicke r-fre e video split.

also resulted in a cost saving.

The Press R elease fo r the new video assist

DOP Jon Fauer was quick to stress the need

gives the follow ing inform ation. The CCD 2-FR

fo r screening rushes and choosing takes for

is a high-speed 1/2-inch video cam era and,

th e ir visual values, colour, contrast, lighting and

w hen com bined w ith the video optic module

focus. W atching a good video split will help

V O M -2 (for the 535) or the AFP -2 (yep, th a t’s

make ju d g em e n ts on content, but will not look

Anti Flicker) fo r the 16 SR3, apparently gives a

like the quality of a telecine transfer. Fauer also

The Cutting Edge

high-quality (460 lines H orizontal R esolution in

w arned th a t w ithout a clear vision of the p roduc­

PAL) video im age with up to 1200 ASA light

tion, having the Avid nearby could mean ag o n iz­

Hollywood alone has 35 Avids

sensitivity. It boasts a w ide contrast range and

ing over creative decisions w hile the production

cutting drama and series:

a utom atic as well as m anual overrides of gain,

m eter was running.

Television Series:

exposure and colour balance. The a n ti-flicke r

The film was processed overnight at Foto-

function uses a video field store and w orks

Kem in Hollywood and returned n e x td a y fo rfilm -

L.A.Law (Stephen Bocho Prod)

above 15fps in PAL, for 24 as well as 25 fps (and

to-tape tra n sfe r on a Bosch FDL60 fitted with the

Civil Wars (Stephen Bocho Prod)

30fps or 60 fields NTSC). H aving a built-in store

ARRI FIS (Film Ident System ) Reader. The gains

in the a nti-flicker m odule m eans th a t an a ccu ­

w ere greater speed and accuracy in finding

rate freeze-fram e can be held fo r com parison, a

selected takes and syncing sound. Then in the

great bonus for effects shoots. The brightness

on-line, the CMX used the A v id ’s EDL to quickly

d ifferences when the cam era is ON or OFF is

assem ble the com m ercials.

com pensated and there is a genlock on the

Crossroads (Lorimar Prod) Silk Stockings (Stu Segall Prod) Renegade (Stu Segall Prod)

Avid T echnology Inc. kept a close eye on the

cam era w ith a standard BNC so that the cam era

p ro je c t a nd

split can be synced to other cam eras (for m ulti­

reconfigure the system fo r location use. The

cam era shoots).

news that Avid and ARRI are having backstage

is in v e s tig a tin g

h ow

b e s t to

Raven(CBS)

$1 **

Television Mini-series:

Äf •

Killer Angels (CBS) The Wild West (Warner Bros)

» •

releases about its FIS system use the Avid name

Ä Ig

&

Charleton Heston presents

•

as a generic term for non-linear editing.

■

^

The Bible (A&E Network)

• »

In the June 22 H ollyw o o d Reporter, there is

discussions doesn’t surprise me. The latest ARRI

a story about cutting costs with film -o rig in a te d series by using the video split recorded off the Arri 535 as video w orkprint. The m ulti-cam era

American Detective (Lorimar Prod)

film shoot is still attractive for lots of reasons

Cinemania

o th e rth a n film quality; international video sta n d ­

V ideoFile M arketing in Sydney has taken on the

ards conversions from NTSC are lousy for a

task of prom oting in A ustralia a M icrosoft CD

start. But costs quoted in the article are savings

ROM called C IN EM AN IA. It com bines standard

of up to U.S. $7,000 per h alf-hour episode.

film text references with the sound, anim ation

The exam ple given in the article used the

and graphics that show the prom ise of CD ROM

tim e-code output from the cam era (that is being

as the next publishing m edium . The trick of

recorded on the film ) being recorded along with

course is that you need a M ultim edia PC to run

the colour signal of the video split. This gives an

it (386SX or higher processor, 2Mb of RAM,

absolute reference that lasts through the video

Hard drive, CD-R O M drive, audio board and

off-line edit and can be m atched at neg. cut or

VGA or better display, all with W indow s 3.1).

Movie of the Week:

■ * 1 hü * g|

Babalon Five (Warner Bros) Danger of Love (CBS) The President's Daughter (CBS)

« » • fü •

* Sunstroke (USA Network) $!§ Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser • m Story (HBO) • Father and Son • m m m

(Kushner-Locke Productions)

m m

Feature Films:

love this package that includes the 1992 Leonard

m ^ost in Yonkers (Columbia Pictures)^ m Needful Things (Stephen King) MR

The R ep o rte r quotes a shoot that was cu t­

M altin M ovie a nd Video Guide, slabs out of The

m

ting the video split on the set so that at the end

M otion P icture G uide and The E ncyclopedia o f

m

of the day the final com m ercial was available for

Film. Fast access to any of the titles, reviews

approval, or fine-tuning reshoot w hile set and

and biographies is one reason fo r the use of a

cast were in place. In the June 1992 In Motion,

database such as this, but im agine clicking on

m 9 9

the background to the story was elaborated.

the a c to r’s name in a film review fo r a photo,

te lecine transfer. And it is this bit that m akes the story more interesting for me.

If all that d oesn't daunt you, then you will

A pparently, the brief to D enver’s Future M e­

film og ra p h y and hearing fam ous lines of his/her

dia P roductions was to produce six 30-second

dialogue. There is a gallery of more than 1000

com m ercials in eight days and the decision was

stills, biographies of actors, directors and p ro ­

m ade to use the new Arri 5 3 5 ’s tim e code to

ducers and 19,000 film reviews dating from 1914

speed up post-production. The DOP they s e ­

to 1991. You can even print out a selected title

lected w as Jon Fauer, w ho ow ns a 535 (and has

list to take to your local video store.

w ritten The 1 6 S R B o o k and The A R R I 35 Book),

Jock O ’Keefe at V ideoFile M arketing is o f­

and he suggested recording and editing the

fering inform ation, hardw are and expertise in

split. It was ju st an extension of this to hire an

C D-R O M use and oth e r film -re la te d titles. C o n ­

AVID 2000 and to record the split onto SP

tact him on (02) 975 2917 or at PO Box 345

Betacam . Set up adjacent to the set, the editor

M anly NSW 2095.

m Call Stephen Smith about

9

cutting your next longform

*

project on Frameworks Avid.

Add yours to the growing list of

m

projects already at the

9

Cutting Edge.

CINEMA

PAPERS

91

•

9 9 9

. 71

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330 King Georges Ave, Singapore 0 8 2 0 Phone: [65] 291 7291 Fax: [65] 293 2141

Technicalities VICTO R IAN A N D TA SM A N IA N CINEM ATOGRAPHY AW ARDS 1992 A fte r try in g fo r a few issues to scrape to g e th e r

CATEGORY 4 : DOCUMENTARY - GENERAL G O LD :

ACS in form ation from all the states, I’ve given

E lle

(John Bowring ACS). HIGHLY CO M M ENDED: A (Elizabeth Torres & David Russell)

up. U nless you send it in, M elbourne Branch

G ra n d O ld L a d y

new s could be all y o u ’ll get. (U nless you read

CATEGORY 5: DOCUMENTARY - EDUCATIONAL

E ncore th a t is, but there you have people who

G O LD :

w ill typ e up anything. A t CP, w e try to spell your

SILVER: P o w e rin g T h e F u tu re

(Brent Crockett ACS).

W h e re d ’ya get it? You have d ecided on yo u r

nam e right. W ho is Ron C opping? M aybe E n­

HIGHLY COM M ENDED: C a t R a p

(Brent Crockett ACS).

stock, now you need a service th a t can d e live r

core m eans Ron C obbing th a t A m erican d ire c ­

CATEGORY 6: DOCUMENTARY - CORPORATE

24 hours a day and not ju st w here th e com pany

to r person. O r perhaps it’s Rob C opping ACS,

G O LD : J u s t J e a n s

d e live ry van goes. S ound and V ision S tock

one of ou r great A u stra lia n cin e m a to g ra p h e rs,

Reed); T o d a y ’s R e s e a rc h - T o m o rro w ’s P o w e r (Barry

S hop M anager A lison P eck exp la in e d th a t th e y

w ho shot early fe a tu re s such as Tim B u rsta ll’s

Woodhouse ACS, John Carter, Brent Crockett ACS).

have been doing ju s t th a t since Ju ly 1990, s e ll­

Stork, 2 0 0 0 W eeks and E liza Fraser. Rob in

SILVER: C u m m in s

ing film , sound and video sto ck a tth e sam e price

p a rtnership w ith D avid B ilcock, w as d ire cto r-

Reed). HIGHLY COM M ENDED: E p w o rth H o s p ita l (Gary

as th e ir sup p lie rs and are also able to o ffe r

cam eram an on hundreds of te le visio n co m ­

Vaughan); T he M a k in g o f A u s tr a lia n A ir lin e s n e w

discounts. The service th e y o ffe r w as to me the

m ercials and, despite attem pts by som eone to

TVC

in te resting part of the story so I asked A lison fo r

change his nam e, continues to w ork, in S in ­

CATEGORY 7: TELE-FEATURES AND FICTIONAL

som e exam ples.

gapore and M elbourne, of course.)

SHORTS G O LD : “S ile n c e o f th e H a m s ” - H e y H e y

Sound and Vision Stockshop

Rob w as one of three judges, along with ALISON PECK: One job happened in Novem­ ber last year. An Italian production company was shooting a chocolate comm ercial in New Zealand. They decided to do an extra day’s shoot on the Sunday, the decision being made late Saturday morning. I travelled with the stock as hand luggage, leaving Sydney at 6.00pm arriving 11.00pm in NZ. I stayed over at the Christchurch airport hotel, getting up at 6.00am to be on a plane to Queenstown at 8.00am. I arrived at Queenstown at 9.00am and called the production manager. She ar­

P ieter de V ries ACS (he’s a high ly-re sp e cte d

(Brent Crockett ACS).

O n ly F iv e M in u te s

(Chris Reed); L a c to s E x p o r t (Chris

(Chris Reed); F o r d C a p ri (Chris

(John Hall & John Carter).

(John Bowring ACS); D riv e (Brendan

T he M o v ie

Lavelle). HIGHLY COM M ENDED: B r e a d (Brent Crockett

S ydney cine m a to g ra p h e r, but w e still know

ACS).

w ho he is in M elbourne) and M ilton Ingerson

CATEGORY 8: WILDLIFE AND NATURE FILMS G O LD:

ACS, w ho is the Federal P resident of the ACS

W o m b a ts - B u lld o z e rs o f th e B u s h

(h e ’s a South A ustralian).

CATEGORY 9: CURRENT AFFAIRS G O LD : M r F ix it

(Roderick Coats).

It is an im portant craft night fo r the local

(David Hudspeth); O a rs o m e F o u rs o m e (Michael

cam era people and esp e cially fo r the very

Morris). SILVER: M ilk C ra te s (Michael Morris). HIGHLY

sm all Tasm anian group, w ho com bine w ith the

CO M M EN DED: A e r o c h u te s

(Rod Pollard); B o x in g

(Michael Morris).

M elbourne group of the ACS each ye a r fo r the

T ro u p e

Aw ards.

CATEGORY 10: NEWS GATHERING G O LD : B u s h

My m em ories of the night as a successful

D em o

(Steve Rossell & Ian McGill). SILVER: S n o w (Michael Brooks & David W hitmore);

and relaxed event have grow n as I’ve fo rg o t­

R e p o rt

ten a few aw kw ard m om ents. All the elem ents

S w a n p o o l C in e m a

of the night ju s t seem ed to click. G one w ere

CATEGORY 11: NEWS FEATURES (TV MAGAZINE)

A nother case was when a production com­

the o ve rly-in tru sive p re-recorded ‘a d s ’ from

G O LD : R o lle r B la d e s

pany based in Sydney paged me late one

the sp o n so rs of the evening. They w ere re­

(Noel Jones). SILVER: T u m u t (John Hall). HIGHLY

Sunday and wanted film stock in Fiji the next

placed by on-screen graphics and live thankyou

COM M ENDED:

rived, handed me the money and I gave her the film. I then got on the return flight to C hrist­ church and back to Sydney.

(Gary Fidelia).

(John Hall); W ild e rn e s s A ir

B a r c e lo n a

Dog

(John Arnold);

(Noel Jones); D iv in g (A u s tra lia n C h a m ­

day. The only flight I found out left at 8.00am.

speeches from w h o e ver had the m icrophone.

B e e c h w o rth

The airport opened at 6.00am, but cargo needed

The K odak piece ended up as an ove r-th e -to p

p io n s h ip s )

to be lodged four hours beforehand. So I took

end o rse m e n t from N ino M artinetti, w ho calls

CATEGORY 12: PROMOTIONAL FILMS AND TV STATION BREAKS G O LD : N e w s C lo s e r "R e fle c tio n s

(Peter Reidy).

a risk and travelled with the stock out to Qantas

him self El P residente and was the butt of lots

Jet Base at 10.30pm. As there had been a

of jo ke s a bout tra n sla tio n and requiring su b ­

o f M e lb o u rn e "

bomb scare, all the chaps were out of the

title s. The casual q u a lity of the night m eant

CATEGORY 13: COMMERCIALS - CINEMA

(Steve Rossell).

No

building, so when I arrived I was the only one

that som e of the com m ents on receipt of the

Entries

with cigarettes to share during the 15 minute

plaques w ere off-hand, honest and revealing.

CATEGORY 14:COMMERCIALS-TV G O LD : “R in n a i”

wait. When we were allowed inside, they very

C om edienne T racy H arvey w as an a lm ost

H o t W a te r S y s te m s

kindly processed the parcel and got it there on

straight com pere, w earing her P u n te rto P unter

M agna

time.

"S p a c e "

(Mark Hayward ACS); M its u b is h i

(Jamie Doolan ACS); T e le c o m

dress w ith horseshoe m otifs, and there was

“ T o s h io ”

One more!! RSA production manager Vickie

even a ce le b rity guest, fo r no real reason oth e r

G ra v e Y a rd

Byers called from a boat off Hamilton Island at

than to add g la m o u r to the evening, w hich

“ U n ta m e d L a n d "

4.00pm requesting stock at the earliest time

C laudia Karvan did beautifully.

COM M ENDED: F itz ro y F o o tb a ll C lu b “B u r ia l"

the next day. We got it to her at 5.30am; crew call was at 6.00am!

Besides those rare em ergencies, we do

It w as an e n joyable night and c o n g ra tu la ­ tio n s to all those people w ho w ere involved.

CATEGORY 1: FEATURE PRODUCTIONS CINEMA

provide and the people who run the company.

G O LD : A W o m a n ’s T a le

I have been in the industry 12 years and realize

VER: E ig h t B a ll

(Nino Martinetti ACS). SIL­

(Mandy Walker); R o m p e r S to m p e r

the importance ofthose things, large and small,

(Ron Hagen ACS). HIG H LY C O M M E N D E D :S e c re ts

and the meaning of a NIGHTMARE OF A JOB!

(David Connell ACS)

Also, we are all trained to sound incredibly

CATEGORY 2: TV DRAMATIZED SERIES B o n y - “A B ir d In T he H a n d "

amazing what bonuses will do nowadays!)

s il v e r :

#290737.

Crockett ACS); V A T C “ T he N e w C a u lfie ld " (Mark

F ly in g D o c to rs

G O LD :

(Nino Martinetti ACS).

- “ W im p ” (Craig Barden).

CATEGORY 1: DOCUMENTARY - DRAMATIZED G O LD : T h e A fte rm a th B e s t P ra c tic e -

Anderson ACS).

Kate Ceberano “Calling You” (Mandy Walker). HIGHLY COM M ENDED:

Deborah Conway “Someday” (Greg

Harrington).

CATEGORY 16: EXPERIMENTAL CINEMATOGRA­ PHY No Winners

happy when we are paged at 2.00am. (It’s

Fax: (02) 906 2617 P ager: 962 9000

(Mark

Hayward ACS); M F B - L o o k , T h in k & A c t (Brett

“Cry” (John Wheeler). SILVER: Andrew Pendlebury &

main basis for our success is the service we

2141

(Jamie Doolan ACS). H IG H LY

CATEGORY 1 5 : VIDEO CLIPS G O LD : Lisa Edwards

for com m ercials, rock clips, etc. I think the

S treet, St Leonards N SW 2065. Phone: (02) 906

(Mark Hayward ACS); M its u b is h i V e ra d a

Hayward ACS).

H ere are the ju d g e s ’ decisions.

provide stock locally and as far away as Perth

Sound and V ision S tock Shop Pty Ltd. 34 A lbany

(Jamie Doolan ACS). SILVER:“ T e le c o m "

(Kevin Anderson ACS). SILVER:

P ic a s s o M a s te rs th e A r t

(Kevin

CATEGORY 17: SPECIALIZED CINEMATOGRAPHY G O LD : M its u b is h i M a g n a “S p a c e ” SILVER: S h a k e s p e a re D a n c e s

CATEGORY 18: STUDENT FILMS FILM: U -T u rn

(Jamie Doolan).

(Philippe Charluet).

BEST S TU D E N T

(Rocco Fasano). HIGHLY COM M ENDED:

S p a s tic S o c ie ty o f V ic to ria

(Chris Turner, Steve

Russell & John Tymms).

CINEMA

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Ron Hagen, D.O.P., Encore “Cinevex were extremely helpful, professional and the quality achieved was to the highest standard I’ve ever seen.”

Daniel Scharf, Producer CINEVEX 15-17

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P R O D U C T I O N

S U R V E Y

I N F O R M A T I O N IS C O R R E C T A N D A D J U D G E D A S O F 19/11/1992

NOTE: Production Survey form s now adhere to a revised format. Cinema Papers regrets it cannot accept information received in a dif­ ferent format, as it does not have the staff to re-process the information.

FEATURES PRE-PRODUCTION Prod, company Dist. company Budget Pre-production Production Post-production Principal Credits Director Producer Scriptwriters Other Credits Casting Prod, supervisor Finance

GINO Filmside Productions Southern Star $2.5 million Nov 1992 ...

Jan 1993 ...

March 1993 ...

Jackie McKimmie Ross Matthews Vince Sorrenti Larry Buttrose Liz Mullinar Sally Ayre-Smith AFC FFC Southern Star Southern Star Victoria Buchan

Inti, sales agent Inti, distributor Publicity Cast: [No details supplied].

Synopsis: A contemporary comedy.

JUSTIFIED ACTION Prod, company Westworld Film Production Budget $2.9 million Pre-production 16/11/92-3/1/93 Production 4/1/93 -15/2/93 Post-production 16/2/93 - 30/4/93 Principal Credits Director Rene Nagy Jnr Producer Rene Nagy Jnr Exec, producer Jack Samardzisa Assoc, producers Summer Nicks Michael J. Knowles Scriptwriter Elliot A. McGarva Based on the story Justified Action Written by Elliot A. McGarva Rene Nagy Jnr Jack Samardzisa DOP Kevan “Loosey” Lind Sound recordist John Shiuoibane Editor Gary Woodyard Art director Wayne Deakin Costume designer Eva Maria Trust Planning and Development Script editor Richard Carter Casting Summer Nicks Extras casting Kelly’s Inc. Shooting schedule by Michael Mercurio Budgeted by Rene Nagy Jnr Ron Stigwood Production Crew Prod, supervisor Michael J. Knowles Prod, manager Ron Stigwood Prod, co-ordinator Karen Anne Mansfield Producer's asst Blonde Location manager David Munro Transport manager Louis Nagy Kathy Thomas Prod, assistant Production runner Phill Toynton Jasman Jade Prod, accountant Jasman Jade Paymaster Base-office liaison Peter Boyer Camera Crew Camera operator Kevan “Loosey” Lind Rob Foster Focus puller Terry Brazier Clapper-loader Arriflex 35BL 4S Camera type Key grip Kerry Jackson Asst grip Gary McNamara Gaffer John Bridon Brown Best boy Vaugn Ottoway Paul Richard Electricians John Klicin

On-set Crew 1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Playback operator Boom operator Make-up Make-up asst Hairdresser Stunts co-ord.

Stunts Still photography

Michael Mercurio Deb Copeland Clinton White Joseph Eiby Chriss Goldsmith Margaret Archman Jackie Deakin Margaret Archman Greg Skippen Paul Hass Ian Withnal Blair Man Nicks P.R. Co. Nadine Cagzell Melissa Cagzell

Unit publicist Runners Art Department Art director Set dresser Standby props Armourer

Wayne Deakin Nick Brewner Dirk Vanden Driesen Ian Skeneton Movie Ordinance

Wardrobe Wardrobe supervisor

Eva Maria Trust Eva Czaran

Animals Horse master Post-production Laboratory

Lorrie Sheridon Cinevex Atlab Kodak

Shooting stock Marketing Publicity Summer Nicks Cast: Donald Swayze (Curtis Carter), Peter Phelps (Eddie Carter), Christina Ongley (Sarah Jordan), Mark Hembrow (Richard Carter), John Samaha(Vinny), Summer Nicks (Wilton Lineker), Richard Carter (Sam), Michael J. Knowles (Bennett), Rene Nagy (Tom Matthews), David Knowles (McDonald).

Synopsis: A head of internal security of a multi­ million dollar corporation and his estranged brother team up to track down and avenge a Japanese underworld businessman, for the murder of their older brother, with a little help from their friends.

SHIMMER Prod, company Avalon Film Corporation Production February 1993 Principal Credits Producer Phillip Avalon Assoc, producer Dennis Kiely Scriptwriter Phillip Avalon DOP Martin McGrath Prod, designer Richard Hobbs Script editor Brian A. Williams Finance Private Gauge Super 35 mm Length 92 mins Cast: [No details supplied] Synopsis: A political thriller set on the Gold Coast.

FEATURES PRODUCTION BEDEVIL Prod, company

Anthony Buckley Productions Southern Star Group

Dist. company Principal Credits Director Tracey Moffatt Producer Anthony Buckley Co-producer Carol Hughes Scriptwriter Tracey Moffatt DOP Geoff Burton Sound recordist David Lee Editor Wayne Le Clos Prod, designer Stephen Curtis Costume designer Rosalea Hood Composer Carl Vine Planning and Development Casting Maizels & Associates Shooting schedule Peter Voeten Budgeted by Carol Hughes

Production Crew Prod, co-ordinator Location manager Unit manager Unit asst Production runner Prod, accountant Insurer Complet, guarantor Legal services Attachments Camera Crew Focus puller Clapper-loader Key grip Asst grip Gaffer Electricians Attachment On-set Crew 1st asst director 2nd asst director Attachment Continuity Boom operator Make-up Make-up asst Special fx co-ord.

Special fx Choreographer Stunts Tutor Still photography Unit publicist Catering

Art Department Art director Asst art director Art dept co-ord.

Set decorator Set dresser Design docu.

Maggie Lake Robin Clifton Wil Milne Dennis Hulm Martin Williams Juanita Parker Steeves Lumley Film Finances Blake Dawson Waldron Donna Ives Maryanne Sam Kathryn Millis Leilani Hannah Simon Quaife David Hansen Ian Plummer Grant Atkinson Robbie Burr Janina Harding Peter Voeten Emma Schofield Kathy Fisher Alison Goodwin Mark Keating Lesley Rouvray Barbie Cope Blair Maxwell Rodney Bourke Stephen Page Danny Baldwin Sharon Rigby Elise Lockwood Victoria Buchan Southern Star Group Kerry Fetzer Victoria Conant Kollage Martin Brown Nicholas Bonham Frances McDonald Glen W. Johnson Alicia Walsh Ken Wilby Kristen Reuter Prisque Salvi Tony Campbell John Osmond James Kalisch

Props buyer/dresser Special props maker Standby props Attachment Wardrobe Wardrobe supervisor Sally Molineaux Standby wardrobe Andrea Hood Construction Dept Scenic artist Eric Todd Construct, manager Bob Paton Set finisher Frank Falconer Greensman Greg Thomas Studios Mentmore & Max Studios Post-production Asst editor Wayne Hayes Edge numberer Simon Martin Sound editors Frank Lipson Peter Burgess Atlab Denise Wolfson Ian Russell Gauge 35 mm Cast: Diana Davidson (Shelley), Jack Charles (Rick), Tracey Moffatt (Ruby, 25 years), Pauline McLeod (Jack), Auriel Andrew (Older Ruby), Cecil Parkee (Bob Malley), Les Foxcroft (Old Micky), Lex Marinos (Dimitri), Dina Panozza (Voula), Luke Roberts (The Artist).

Synopsis: A trilogy of ghost stories.

Laboratory Lab liaisons

BLACK RIVER Prod, company Lucas Produkzions Dist. company Film Australia Production 23/11/92-24/12/1992 Principal Credits Director Kevin Lucas Producers Aanya Whitehead Kevin Lucas

Co-producer Exec, producer Assoc, producer Scriptwriter DOP Editor Art director Costume designer Composer Other Credits Librettist Musical direction

Fiona Paterson Sue Maslin Paul Humpfress Ade Kukoyi Kevin Lucas Kim Batterham Dany Cooper Diaan Wajon Edie Kurzer Andrew Schultz

Julianne Schultz Roland Peelman Sydney Metropolitan Opera Choreography Stephen Page Prod, manager Stephen Jones Prod, co-ordinator Anita Mathews Unit manager Rick Kornaat 1st asst director Bob Donaldson 2nd asst director Rowena Talacko Director’s asst Darrin Ballangarry Runner Nathan Watson Continuity Linda Ray Focus puller Kate Dennis Motion-control camera Matt Butler Grip Brett McDonald Gaffer Richard Curtis Best boy Mark Watson Special fx Neville Maxwell Make-up Lesley Rouvray Prod, accountant John Russell Standby wardrobe Lisa Gallear Standby props James Cox Props buyer Faith Robinson Construct, manager James McKay Extras casting MaryAnn Sam Stills photography Michael Bianchino Equipment Samuelsons Sound stage Film Australia Editing rooms Film Australia Cast: Maroochy Barambah (Miriam), John Pringle, Cindy Pan, Clive Birch, James Bonnefin, The Bangarra Dance Troupe.

Synopsis: Anchored by Aboriginal mezzo-so­ prano Maroochy Barambah (Miriam), BiackRiver is a cinematic adaption of an award-winning contemporary Australian opera. The story tells of three generations of Miriam's family and treats the issue of race relations and Aboriginality with a refreshing blend of music, drama and dance.

BODY MELT Prod, company Body Melt P/L Pre-production July-O ct 1992 Production Oct - Nov 1992 Principal Credits Director Philip Brophy Producers Rod Bishop Daniel Scharf Asst, producer Lars Michalak Scriptwriters Philip Brophy Rod Bishop DOP Ray Argali Sound recordist Gary Wilkins Editor Bill Murphy Prod, designer Maria Kozic Costume designer Anna Borghesi Composer Philip Brophy Planning and Development Script editor Annette Blonski Casting Greg Apps Prototype Extras casting Scott Goodings Bit parts Scott Goodings Storyboard artists Charles Kenway Philip Brophy Production Crew Prod, manager Yvonne Collins Prod, co-ord.

Jo Friesen Location manager Chris Odgers Location security Kevin Morrison Unit managers Michael Batchelor Asst unit manager Production runner Prod, accountant

CINEMA

Kevin Morrison Steve Crockett Megan Spencer Bernadette Breitkreuz

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Insurer Completion guarantor Legal services Chaperon Camera Crew Camera operator Focus puller Clapper-loader Add. camera assts

Steeves Lumley First Australian Completion Bond Co. Holding Redlich Janine Mazzini Jennifer Meaney Kattina Bowell Warwick Lawrence Angelo Sartori Ian Phillips Stuart Crombie Freddo Dirk Travis Walker Rory Timoney Battista Remati Stevie Price

Key grip Asst grips Gaffer Best boy Asst electrics On-set Crew 1st asst director 2nd asst director 3rd asst director Continuity Boom operators

Euan Keddie Tony Gilbert Andy Pappas Kristen Voumard Mark Wasiutak Chris Goldsmith Christine Miller Paul Pattison Christine Miller Paul Pattison Bob McCarron Sonja Smuk Peter Stubbs Chris Peters Wally Dalton Jeff Brook George Vidovic Mark Dundon Keith Fish Tony Sini Food for Film

Make-up Hairdressers Special fx make-up Prosthetics Special fx Stunts co-ordinator Safety officer Unit nurse Mechanic Still photography Catering

Art Department Art director Art dept runner Set dresser Props buyer Standby props Armourers

Peta Lawson Zlatko Kasumovic Denise Goudy Colin Robertson Graham Blackmore John Fox John Backhous

Wardrobe Standby wardrobe Wardrobe asst Wardrobe attach.

Construction Dept Construct, manager Post-production Post-prod, supervisor Asst editor Edge numberer

Rachel Nott Louise McCarthy Leonard Cossari Walter Sperl

Lars Michalak Jane Usher Oliver Streeton Film Sync Sound transfers Eugene Wilson Sound editor Craig Carter Video camera Jack Rath Video graphics Eric Gorton Cinevex Laboratory Lab liaison Ian Anderson Gauge 35 mm Government Agency Investment Production AFC Film Victoria Cast: Gerard Kennedy (Sam Phillips), Andrew Daddo (“Johno" Johnson), Ian Smith (Doctor Carrera), Vince Gil (Pud), Regina Gaigalas (Shann), Maurie Annese (Gino), Nick Polites (Sai), William Mclnnes (Paul Matthews), Brett Climo (Brian Rand), Suzi Dougherty (Kate), Adrian Wright (Thompson Noble), Lisa McCune (Cheryl Rand), Robert Simper (Ryan), Jillian Murray (Angelica Noble), Ben Guerens (Brandon), Amanda Douge (Elouise), Bill Young (Willie), Neil Foley (Bab), Anthea Davis (Slab), Matt Newton (Bab), Tommy Dysart (Sergeant), Rosemary Margan (Bag Lady).

Synopsis: A sensitive and moving portrayal of family life in suburban Australia, centred on the emotional crisis suffered by a defective placenta.

BUBBY Bubby Fandango SRL SAFC 7/9/92 ...

16/11/92 ...

Prod, companies

Pre-production Production

76

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PAPERS

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Post-production Principal Credits Director Producers

1/2/93 ...

Rolf de Heer Rolf de Heer Fiona Paterson Co-producers Domenico Procacci Giorgio Draskovic Exec, producers Domenico Procacci Giorgio Draskovic Scriptwriter Rolf de Heer DOP Ian Jones Sound recordist James Currie Editor Suresh Ayyar Prod, designer Mark Abbott Costume designer Beverley Freeman Composer Graham Tardif Planning and Development Casting Audine Leith Budgeted by David Lightfoot Production Crew Prod, manager Paul Ammitzboll Prod, co-ordinator Gina Ploenges Unit manager Charlie Kiroff Prod, assistant Phil Surry Assembly editor Craig Rowley Prod, accountant Sharon Jackson Insurer Lee Dean Steeves Lumley Completion guarantor Rob Fisher (FACB) Legal services Guilia Bernardi (SAFC) Freight co-ord.

Raymond Lucas Flo-Freight Camera Crew Camera operator Ian Jones Focus puller Harry Glynatsis Clapper-loader Tibor Hegedis Camera type Technovision Key grip Mike Smith Asst grips Keith Johnston Richard Rees Jones On-set Crew 1st asst director Paul Ammitzboll 2nd asst director Fran O’Donoghue Continuity Carmel Torcosi Sound asst Fred Stahl Make-up Beverley Freeman Hairdresser Beverley Freeman Catering Mieke Vandenbos Art Department Asst art director Tim Nicholls Construction Dept Construction super.

Mike Thomas Tim Stanley Carpenters Crispin Joos Studios SAFC Post-production Mixer James Currie Mixed at SAFC Laboratory VFL Mark Freeman Lab liaison Gauge 35 mm 1:2.35 (anamorphic) Screen ratio Shooting stock Kodak Government Agency Investment Development Filmsouth Cast: Nick Hope (Bubby), Claire Benito (Mom), Ralph Cotterill (Pop), Carmel Johnson (Angel).

Synopsis: [No details provided] CRIME BROKER Prod, companies John Sexton Productions Channel Ten Network Portman Entertainment (UK) Sogovision (Japan) Principal Credits Ian Barry Director Producers John Sexton Andrew Warren Kazuo Nakamura Susumu Kondo Exec, producers Hiroyuki Ikeda Chris Brown Victor Glynn Alan Bateman Other Credits Prod, supervisor Sally Ayre-Smith Prod, co-ordinator Fiona King Prod, secretary Silla Childs Prod, assistant Daniel Heather Lyn Jones Prod, accountant Kerin Begaud Accounts asst

Prodcuer's asst Michelle Coutts 1st asst director Chris Webb 2nd asst director Geoffrey Guiffre 3rd asst director Lucy Goodman Location manager Henry Osborne Unit manager Bob Graham Continuity Pam Wills Cast: Jacqueline Bisset (Holly Soames), Masaya Kato (Jin Okazki), John Bach (Frank McPhee), Sally Warwick (Belinda), Justin Lewis (Josh), Gary Day (Goodwin), Barry Quin (Julian Roberts), Victoria Longley (Carver), Gary Sweet (Luke Blair), Richard Roxburgh (Harrison), Gabrielle Hammond (Prosecutor).

[No further details supplied] THE CUSTODIAN Prod, company The Custodian Film Company Principal Credits Director John Dingwall Producers Adrienne Read John Dingwall Co-producer Dimitra Meleti Exec, producers Mikael Borglund Gary Hamilton Scriptwriter John Dingwall Steve Mason DOP Sound recordist Ben Osmo Editor Michael Honey Prod, designer Philip Warner Costume designer Terry Ryan Planning and Research Casting Allison Barrett Kristin Whitfield Production Crew Prod, co-ordinator Lisa Harrison Prod, manager Lynda Wilkinson Prod, secretary Suzanne Johannesen Location manager Trisha Rothkrans Unit manager Tick Carroll Unit assts Wil Milne Simon Lucas Joe Wilkinson Paul Taylor Prod, accountant John May Prod, runner Lyn Henerson Insurer Hammond Jewell Completion guarantor Film Finances Legal services Hart & Co. A*‘.

Camera Crew Focus puller John Platt Clapper-loader Leah Ashenhurst Key grip Paul Thomopson Asst grip Benn Hyde Gaffer Reg Garside Best boy Alan Dunstan 3rd electrics Gary Hill 4th electrics Stephen Gray On-set Crew 1st asst director Adrian Pickersgill 2nd asst director Nikki Long 3rd asst director Tom Read Continuity Pamela Willis Boom operator Gerry Nucifora Sound attachment Ben Cheah Make-up Lesley Vanderbilt Make-up asst.

Cassie Hanlon Hairdresser Lesley Vanderbilt Hair asst Cassie Hanlon Armourer fx John Bowring Asst armourer David Bowring Stunt co-ordinator Danny Baldwin Action vehicles Tim Parry Safety officer George Mannix Still photography Jim Sheldon Catering Camera Cooks Art Department Art director Ian Gracie Set dresser Alky Avramides Props buyer Alky Avramides Asst buyers Jane Murphy Andrew Short Standby props John Osmon Wardrobe Wardrobe supervisor Paula Ryan Standby wardrobe Heather Laurie Wardrobe asst Ali Yeldham Construction Dept Construct, manager Geoff Howe Construct, workshop Dog Pavilion Sydney Showgrounds

Frank Falconer Richard Baldwin Eugene Land Steve Tullock Brad Dunlop

Scenic artist Set finisher Carpenters

Post-production Post-prod, facilities Laboratory Still processing labs

Spectrum Films Atlab Superprint (B&W) Vision Graphics (Colour) Kodak Shooting stock Cast: Anthony Lapaglia (Quinlan), Hugo Weav­ ing (Church), Kelly Dingwall (Reynolds), Barry Otto (Ferguson), Essie Davis (Jilly), Skye Wansey (Claire), Wayne Pigram (Massey), Gosia Dobrowolska (Josie), Tim McKenzie (Beetson), Richard Hill (Hanrahan).

Synopsis: Quinlan, although not aware of the fact, was in a clinical stage of depression. It was 2 o’clock in the morning and the woman on the sofa was spread-eagled with her head over the edge, the back of her hand resting on the floor.

She looked murdered. She was, as usual, dead drunk. She was Helen, his wife. He took a revolver from a shelf in the dressing room, packed clothes in a carry all, walked out and he never came back.

DAWN OF THE DMF’S [See previous issue for details] KEVIN RAMPENBACKER AND THE ELECTRIC KETTLE (formerly Cops and Robbers) Prod, company Total Film & Television Isambard Productions Production 12/10/92 ...

Principal Credits Director Murray Reece Producer Tony Winley Exec, producers Philip Gerlach Tom Parkinson Scriptwriter Timothy Bean DOP Steve Arnold Prod, designer David McKay Prod, manager Brenda Pam Sales New Zealand Film Commission Total Film & Television Cast: Rima Te Wiata, Mark Wright Synopsis: A bankrupt man bungles his suicide attempt and embarks on a career of crime in this action-packed cops and robbers comedy involv­ ing murder, mayhem and marriage.

RED RAIN Prod, company Dist. company Pre-production Production Principal Credits Director Producers

Rosa Colosimo Productions Angelika Films Inti.

May 92 ...

12/10/92 ...

Jim Kaufman Rosa Colosimo Will Spencer Co-producers Ellepi Film SRL Dan Q Inc. Ciné Ciné Canada Inc Line producers Basil Appleby (Aust) Gino Millozza (Italy) Exec, producers Leo Pescarolo Arthur Syin Ron Cohen Scriptwriter Rosa Colosimo DOP Dion Beebe Editor Edward McQueen Mason Planning and Development Casting Maura Faye Shooting schedule Will Spencer Gino Millozza Budgeted by Will Spencer Production Crew Prod, manager Christine Hart Prod, secretaries Vivian Simonelli (Aust) Sabrina Ferilli (Italy) Financial controller John Brousek Completion guarantor MPG Legal services Luigi Ferrara Rosemary Brondolino & Co. Finance FFC Inti, sales agent Angelika Films Cast: [No details supplied] Synopsis: A brilliant young professor and a

beautiful enigmatic woman strike a macabre pact to avenge the deaths of their love partners in this psycho-sexual thriller set against a stylish Italian backdrop.

FEATURES POST-PRODUCTION ALEX [See previous issue for details] BROKEN HIGHWAY [See previous issue for details] LE DENTISTE Oilrag Productions Prod, company Reid & Puskar Dist. company March 1992 ...

Pre-production June - Aug 1992 Production Sept - Dec 1992 Post-production Principal Credits Chris Kennedy Director Patrick Fitzgerald Producer Chris Kennedy Scriptwriter Marc Spicer DOP David Glasser Sound recordist Peter Butt Editor Ruth Bracegirdle Costume designer Mario Grigorov Composer Planning and Research Peter Butt Script editor Chris Kennedy Casting Patrick Fitzgerald Peter Butt Liz Mullinar Casting consultant Peter Butt Shooting schedule Patrick Fitzgerald Budgeted by Production Crew Glenda Carpenter Prod, supervisor Debbie Womack Prod, secretary Patrick Fitzgerald Financial controller Warwick Foy & Assoc.

Prod, accountant FIUA Insurer Film Finances Completion guarantor Robinson Beale & Legal services Assoc.

Annalais De Mol Travel co-ords Ball Tours Camera Crew Marc Spicer Camera operator Susie Stitt Focus puller Frank Flick Clapper-loader Aaton XTR Camera type Pip Shapiera Key grip Andrew Lawrence Asst grip Paul Johnson Gaffer Joe James Best boy On-set Crew Peter Butt 1st asst director Judy Whitehead Continuity Graham McKinney Boom operators Nichole Lazaroff Ruth Bracegirdle Make-up Maurice Tarragand Make-up asst Ruth Bracegirdle Hairdresser Nigel Malone Still photography Mike Lynsky & Assoc.

Unit publicist The Shooting Party Catering Art Department Set dresser Props buyer Standby props Wardrobe Wardrobe supervisor Post-production Post-prod, supervisor Asst editor Edge numberer Sound transfers by Sound editor Music performed by Recording studio Mixer Mixed at Opticals Titles Laboratory Lab liaison Grader Gauge Shooting stock Print stock

Ken Muggleston Ken Muggleston Fiona Wilson

Government Agency Investment Development AFC FFC Production FFC Marketing Marketing Mike Lynskey & Assoc.

Publicity Poster design Cicconione & Malone Cast: Greig Pickhaver (Gordon Fairweather), Alwyn Kurtz (Psychiatrist), Gordon Chater (Pro­ fessor), Dennis Miller (Riley), Jacquie McKensie (Vanessa), Patrick Blackwell (Mr Prescott), Maggie King (Mrs Prescott), Adam Stone (Far­ row), Brian Bird (Technician), Ghandl McIntyre (Indian), Colleen Clifford (Lady Smith).

Synopsis: The story of an Australian dentist, who after being released from a psychiatric hospital sets up a practice in Portsmouth, Eng­ land. Here he reeks havoc on the public and health service before escaping from the police.

Interpol finally catch him in Hong Kong, or do they?

DE VILS’ TAS MANIA [See previous issue for details] FRAUDS [See previous issue for details] GET AWAY GET AWAY Conventry Films Prod, company Winfalz Investments Dist. company Dec 1990 ...

Pre-production Jan 1991 - Aug 1992 Production Sept 1992 ...

Post-production Principal Credits Murray Fahey Director Murray Fahey Producer Murray Fahey Scriptwriter Peter Borosh DOP David Glasser Sound recordist Brian Kavanagh Editor Frank Strangio Composer Production Crew Ewan Campbell Unit manager Mark Drew Asst unit manager Jennifer Akhurst Prod, assistant Winfalz Completion guarantor Investments Camera Crew Peter Borosh Camera operator Geoff Borosh Focus puller Brian Brehany 2nd unit DOP Shaun Walker 2nd unit clapper ARRI Camera type Mick Eady Key grip On-set Crew 1st asst director Boom operator Make-up Make-up asst Still photography Catering Runner Art Department Art director Asst art director Art dept runner Set dresser Propsperson Post-production Post-prod, supervisor Sound editors

Ruth Bracegirdle Peter Butt Jenny Ward Neg Think Oilrag Productions Peter Butt Mario Grigorov Apocalypse Peter Butt Apocalypse Optical & Graphics SOS Movielab Martin Hoyle Kelvin Crumplin Super 16 mm Kodak 7248/7293 Kodak

Music performed by Mixer Mixed at Titles Laboratory Lab liaisons

Ally Henville Joe Splnelli Hilary Pearce April Walker Mark Drew Feral Food Steven Nichols Tim Adlide Janet Irving Danelle Denny Anneka Baughan Mark Drew Brian Kavanagh Craig Carter Livia Ruzlc Frank Strangio Peter Frost Film Soundtrack Aust.

Oliver Streeton Atlab Kerry Jenkin Denise Wolfsen Karen Psaltis Wayne Hopklnson 16 mm 1.85 Kodak Kodak

Neg matching Grader Gauge Screen ratio Shooting stock Print stock Cast: Murray Fahey (Rick Carter), Annie Davies (Suzette), Ewan Campbell (Carltlemouth), Ned Manning (Bennytle), Rodd Hibbard (Darren the Cafe), Stephen Leigh (Bill the Cook), Anthea Dennis (Mayling), Glennen C. L. Fahey (Andrew),

Lisa Peers (Noelene), Penny Pederson (Sharon).

Synopsis: A paranoid bank teller meets a determined French woman, and on the way to Galarganbone they change each others’ lives forever. A quirky road movie about relationships.

GROSS MISCONDUCT [See previous issue for details] THE HEARTBREAK KID View Films Prod, company Roadshow Film Dist. company Distributors 27/7/92 - 4/9/92 Pre-production 7/9/92 -19/10/92 Production 20/10/92 ...

Post-production Principal Credits Director Producer Co-producer Scriptwriters

Michael Jenkins Ben Gannon Barbara Gibbs Richard Barrett Michael Jenkins The Heartbreak Kid Based on the play Richard Barrett Written by Nino Martinetti DOP John Phillips Sound recordist Peter Carrodus Editor Paddy Reardon Prod, designer Lisa Meagher Costume designer John Clifford White Composer Planning and Development Alison Barrett Casting Kristin Whitfield Casting consultant Jo Carmichael Extras casting Production Crew Barbara Gibbs Prod, manager Sue MacKay Prod, co-ordinator Christina Van Der Producer’s asst Heyden Michael McIntyre Location manager Shane Warren Unit manager Colin Forsythe Unit asst Sophie Alstergren Prod, trainee Steph Stewart Production runner Kevin Plummer Prod, accountant Dean Hood Accounts asst Steeves Lumley Insurer Film Finances Completion guarantor Legal services Tress, Cocks & Maddox Greg Helmers Travel co-ord.

T raveltoo Camera Crew Nino Martinetti Camera operator Warwick Field Focus puller Richard Comelissen Clapper-loader ARRI Camera type Peter Kershaw Key grip Alistair Reilly Asst grips Noel Mudie Nick Payne Gaffer Antony Tulloch Best boy Darren Hanson Electrician On-set Crew Ian Kenny 1st asst director Robbie Visser 2nd asst director Sharon Young 3rd asst director Daphne Pahs Continuity Raymond Phillips Boom operator Viv Rushbrook Make-up Doug Glanville Hairdresser Zev Eleftheriou Stunts co-ord.

Zev Eleftheriou Safety officer Pam Kreuger Unit nurse Jennifer Mitchell Still photography Two Can Do Catering Art Department Allison Pye Art dept co-ord.

Simon McCutheon Art dept runner Brian Dusting Set dressers Roland Pike Simon McCutheon Asst set dresser Kate Murray Props buyer Vanessa Thomas Standby props Rob McLeod Action vehicle co-ord.

Wardrobe Christiana Plltzco Wardrobe super.

Delia Spicer Standby wardrobe Post-production Barbara Gibbs Post-prod, supervisor Steve Evans Asst editors Caroline Scott Soundfirm Sound transfers by

Soundfirm Mixed at Cinevex Laboratory Ian Anderson Lab liaison 35 mm Gauge Kodak 5293/5296 Shooting stock Government Agency Investment AFC Development FFC/FV Production Marketing Central Television Inti, sales agent Enterprises (UK) Rhonda Dawson Publicity The Publicity Machine Cast: Claudia Karvan (Christina), Alex Dimitriades (Nick), Steve Bastoni (Dimitri), Nico Lathouris (George), W illiam Mclnnes (Southgate), Doris Younane (Evdokia).

Synopsis: The Heartbreak Kid is a funny, sexy, warm-hearted film about two people discovering each other, themselves, and their future.

NO WORRIES [See previous issue for details] PIANO LESSON [See previous issue for details] RECKLESS KELLY [See previous issue for details] SAY A LITTLE PRAYER (formerly Came Back to Show You I Could Fly) [See previous issue for details] THE SILVER BRUMBY Media World Features Prod, company Village Roadshow Dist. company 20/1/92 - 8/3/92 Pre-production 9/3/92 -13/5/92 Production 13/5/92-17/11/92 Post-production Principal Credits John Tatoulis Director Colin South Producers John Tatoulis Brian Burgess Line producer William T. Marshall Exec, producer Judy Malmgren Assoc, producer John Tatoulis Scriptwriters Jon Stephens Elyne Mitchell The Silver Brumby Based on the novel Elyne Mitchell Written by Mark Gilfedder DOP John Wilkinson Sound recordist Peter Burgess Editor Phil Chambers Production designer Costume designers Margot Lindsay Jane Hyland Tassos loannides Composer Planning and Development Greg Apps Casting Prototype Robyn Gibbes Dialogue coach Stephen Saks Shooting schedule by Yvonne Collins Budgeted by Production Crew Yvonne Collins Prod, manager Jo Friesen Prod, co-ordinators Jenny Barty Frances Shepherdson Prod, secretary Peter Culpan Location manager Peter Culpan Unit manager Emma Jamvold Prod, assistant Ann ‘Pop’ Stoney Production runner Peter Burgess Assembly editor Judy Malmgren Prod, accountant Frances Shepherdson Accounts asst Hammond Jewell Insurer Motion Completion guarantor Pictures Guarantors Marshalls & Dent Legal services Kylie Harding Base-office liaison Camera Crew Camera operator Harry Panagiotidis Peter Falk Focus pullers Bruce Phillips Fran Bosch Clapper loaders Jeff Fleck Tim Thomas Peter Stott Aerial photography Peter Zakharov Peter Zakharov 2nd unit DOP

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2nd unit AD 2nd unit focus 2nd unit grip Camera type Camera equipment Key grip Asst grips Gaffer Best boy Asst electrics Generator operators On-set Crew 1st asst director 2nd asst directors 3rd asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up Special fx supervisor Special fx

Stunts co-ord.

Stunts Safety officer Unit nurse Still photography Unit publicists Catering; Ruhner !

Art Department Art director Set dresser Props buyer Standby props

Christopher Gogos Miriana Marusic Ian Rae Arriflex BL45 Cameraquip Freddo Dirk Paul Holford Danny Cook Johnny Earthmover Andrew Robertson Steve Bain Frank Bourke Brendan Read Darryn Fox Stephen Saks Neville Mason Christopher Gogos Phil Jones Julie Feddersen Greg Nelson Kirsten Veysey Paul Pattison Brian Pearce (Visual Effects) Conrad Rothman Brian Cox Mark Hart Bob Winger Rob Mason Chris Anderson New Generation Stunts Mitch Dean Johnny Raaen Eddie McShortall Jeff Brook David Verrall Jenny Brown Sandy Kaye Dinner Plain Hotel David Stoney Peter Kendall Adelfe Flere Adela Flere Stan Antoniades Ross Newman

Wardrobe Wardrobe supervisor Stan'dby wardrobe Animals Animal trainer Horse master Horse wrangler Construction Dept Carpenters

Margot Lindsay Anna Baulch Evanne Chesson Evanne Chesson Murray Chesson Ian Doig Kerry Boyle Robert Lee

Post-production Asst editor Editing asst Edge numbering Sound editors

Stephen Kent Diana Leach Film Sync Glenn Newham Gavin Myers Peter Burgess Asst sound editors James Harvey Stephen Kent Post-sync supervisor Peter Burgess Musical director Tassos loannides Recording studio Alan Eaton Studios Foley John Simpson Mixer James Currie Music mixer Robin Gray Mixed at Hendon Studios Oliver Streeton Titles Laboratory Vic Film Lab Mark Freeman Lab liaison Meg Koemig Neg matching Meg Koernig Grader 35mm Gauge Super 35 Screen ratio Kodak 5245/5296 Shooting stock AAV Video transfers by The Facility Off-line facilities AAV Video master by Government Agency Investment Film Victoria Development FFC/FV/SAFC Production Marketing Skouras Pictures Inc. Inti, sales agent (LA) Inti, distributor Skouras Pictures Inc.

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91

(LA) Publicity Sandy Kaye Cast: Caroline Goodall (Elyne Mitchell), Russell Crowe (The Man), Ami Daemion (Indi Mitchell), Buddy Tyson (Darcy), Johnny Raaen (Jock).

Synopsis: This is the story of the great wild silver stallion, Thowra. It is a legend both savage and tender, set in the strange and compelling beauty of Australia’s high country. It is the leg­ end of the Silver Brumby whose strength and prowess no man can outwit.

STRANGERS IN CLOSE PROXIMITY [See previous issue for details] RECENTLY COMPLETED See previous issues for details on: BEYOND THE RIM BLINKY BILL COME BY CHANCE EXCHANGE LIFEGUARDS FORTRESS LIVING COLOR

DOCUMENTARIES

Production company Petersen & Dingli Dist. company Petersen & Dingli Community Cable Television Redfern, Sydney Budget $10,000 Pre-production Aug - Sept 1992 Production Oct 1992 Post-production Nov - Dec 1992 Principal Credits Director Shane Petersen Producer P. Nunez DOP Shane Petersen Sound recordist Peter Dingli Editor G.Jack Other Credits Researchers C. Fitzell P. Nunez Budgeted by Petersen & Dingli Camera operators Peter Dingli Shane Petersen Camera type Hitachi JVC Pbst-prod. supervisor Shane Petersen Asst editors Peter Dingli P. Nunez Narrator , C. Fitzell Titles Metro Television Lab liaison Peter Giles Gauge U-matic SP Shooting stock 3M Video transfers by Duplication Centre Off-line facilities Community Cable Television Video master by Metro Television Production AFC Cast: Cheryl Fitzell (Presenter).

Synopsis : A documentary about bi-annual trans­ plant patients’ sports games. It is the story of the participants and their games; making the public aware of their better lives through organ donation.

CITY OF DREAMS Prod, company Petersen & Dingli in association with CTV Pre-production Aug 1992 ...

Production Sept 1992 ...

Post-production Oct - Dec 1992 Principal Credits Director Andrew Windsor Producer Alan Dukes Co-producer Andrew Booth Exec, producer Andrew Windsor Assoc, producer Barry Searle Scriptwriter Graham Pitt DOP Shane Petersen Sound recordist Grant Dennis Editor Graham Jack Art director Deb Strutt Other Credits Budgeted by Petersen & Dingli Productions

Camera operators

Shane Petersen Peter Dingli Clapper-loader Suzi Dee Camera type Hitachi 1st asst director Peter Oysten 2nd asst director Alan Dukes Post-prod, supervisor Shane Petersen Metro Television Mixed at Lab liaison Peter Giles Gauge U-matic SP Fuji Shooting stock Off-line facilities Community Cable Television Metro Television Video master by Cast: Andrew Booth (Rocket Rod), Andrew Wind­ sor (Johnny Vestibule), Alan Dukes (Steve Lagog), Barry Searle (Willy Hughes), Peter Oysten (Ivan Ivanyvich), Graham Pitt (Frank Comet), Linda Gibson (Natasha Vodka), Carol Petulo (Dawn Agen), Suzi Dee (Sharon), Deb Strutt (Lorna Contra), Hyena Panova (Russian Interpreter).

Synopsis: A documentary recording the gradual demise of the first Russian-Australian co-production City of Dreams, an espionage thriller based on the exposure of Australian public fig-

Kerry Negara Scriptwriter Michael Williams DOP Phillip “Jock” Healy Sound recordist Rochelle Oshlack Editor Michael Atkinson Composer Other Credits Mercia Morton Prod, manager Location manager I. B. Sunia Negara Antony Shepherd Prod, accountant Insurer Steeves Lumley Film Finances Completion guarantor Bryce Menzies Legal services Blake Exports Freight co-ord.

Rochelle Oshlack Base-office liaison Michael Williams Camera operator Sue Roberts Camera asst Cinevex Laboratory Gauge 16 mm Kodak Shooting stock Video transfers by Post!

SBS Off-line facilities Government Agency Investment Development FFC Marketing Inti, distributor One World Films Cast: I. G. Agung, I. Putu, I. G. Degung, Dr. A. Vickers.

Festival 1992.

LIVING CANVAS Prod, company Just Relax Films Budget $6,000 Production Jun 1992 Post-production Aug 1992 Principal Credits Director Wayne Turner Producer Wayne Turner Co-producer Michael Maloney Sound recordist Michale Maloney Editor Wayne Turner Other Credits Prod, co-ordinator Pam Green Camera operator Wayne Turner Camera asst Michael Maloney Special fx photog.

Garry Hansen Camera type JVC Still photography Terry Green Catering Fyshwick Tavern Asst editor Michael Maloney Editing asst Les Rica Titles Graphics Bureau Gauge 3/4" Hi Band Video transfers by NRS Cast: [No details supplied] Synopsis: This short documentary attempts to breakdown some misconceptions about people who weartattoos. Meet Pat and Fiona, a likeable couple whose interest in their own body art is intense. We also talk with Nelson, a professional tattooist and see this skin artist at work.

CLEFT LIP AID MISSION TO TIMOR Prod, company Instructional Technology Unit Deakln University Dist. company Singapore International Foundation Budget $15,000 Principal Credits Director Wayne Levy Producer Deakin University Applied Science Faculty Co-producer Singapore International Foundation Scriptwriters Wayne Levy Annette Hagen Editor Tom Holl Other Credits Researchers S. T. Lee Wayne Levy Script editor Annette Hag§n Prod, manager Gil Davidson Prod, secretary Jan Roche Prod, assistant Tom Holl Travel co-ord.

Passport Travel Camera operator Wayne Levy Aerial photography Jeff McDonald Still photography Marlis Blelenstein Post-prod, supervisor Wayne Levy Asst editor Nicholas Levy Sound editor Tom Holl Titles Tom Holl Gauge BVU - SP Video special fx Tom Holl Video master by Tom Holl Jeff McDonald Marketing Inti, distributor Singapore International Foundation Cast: [No details supplied] Synopsis: A medical aid mission to Soe in West Timor to instruct Indonesian surgeons in the techniques of cleft lip repair, especially in young children. The team leader was Mr S. T. Lee, Head of Plastic Surgery from the Singapore General Hospital with Dr. Rachael Pereira, anaesthetist and Dr. Jennifer Shue, orthodontist.

DONE BALI Negara Film & Television Productions Dist. company One World Films Budget $246,500 Pre-production 21/9/92 ...

Production 9/11/92 ...

Post-production 14/12/92 ...

Principal Credits Director Kerry Negara Producer Kerry Negara Exec, producers Paul Cox Tony Chapman Prod, corhpany

MIMI PULKA Prod, company Voice Productions Budget $64,000 Production 8/5/92 - 20/6/92 Principal Credits Directors Ruth Carr Catherine Adams Producers Ruth Carr Catherine Adams Exec, producer Barbara Marriotti (SBS) DOP Joanne Parker Sound recordists Ruth Carr Catherine Adams Researchers Ruth Carr Catherine Adams Other Credits Music performed by Richard Mellick Bob Wright Gauge Betcam SP Funded by The Aids Trust of Australia The Aids Bureau of WA Publicity Louise de Francesco Cast: [No details supplied] Syopsis: Mima Pulka follows the tour of an AIDS education play throughout the Kimberleys, WA. The play is designed to teach Aboriginal people about the risks of HIV/AIDS in a way which is culturally appropriate.

woman on a commuter train, with deadly consequences.

ROLLING CLONES Prod, company Pickled Eye Productions Pre-production Jun - Jul 1992 Production ' Aug-O ct 1992 Post-production Nov - Dec 1992 Principal Credits Director Laura Elkington Producers Laura Elkington Louisa Kors Scriptwriter Laura Elkington Bryan Meakin DOP Sound recordists Louisa Kors Nyree Smith Laura Elkington Editor Other Credits Tony McGrath 2nd camera David Barker Add. lighting Jeff Graham Sound consultant Prod, manager Louisa Kors Nathan Kime Asst, director Gaffer Rowena Mollica Peter Shrimpton Unit runner Karen Johnston Stills photographer Tony De Pasquale Asst editor Louisa Kors Sound editors Nyree Smith Tony McGrath Titles Tony McGrath Graphics Kim O’Goreman Marketing SP BVU Gauge QFDO Finanace Cast: [No details supplied] Synopsis* Tribut© bonds. A homocj© to rock's musical heroes, orsecond rate clones cashing in a easy money? Who are these fabulous nobod­ ies? What drives them to this pretence? And what effect does this have on the already strug­ gling Australian music industry?

For details of the following see previous issue: ONE WAY STREET THE TENTH DANCER

1 1

■

SHORTS

■

DESIRE Prod, company Budget Principal Credits Director Producer Exec, producer Scriptwriter DOP Sound recordist Editors

VCA School of Film & Television $14,000

Costume designer Composer Other Credits Storyboard artist Prod, manager Camera operator Camera assistant Gaffer Best boy 1st asst director Continuity Boom operator Make-up Hairdresser Still photography Catering Art direction

Wardrobe supervisor

Emma-Kate Croghan Luigi Acquisto Jennifer Sabine Emma-Kate Croghan Liz Hughes Nag Vladermersky Melissa Juhanson Kathleen O’Brien Rebekah Farr Ian Eccles-Smlth Mickey Maselli Kath Shelper Liz Hughes Joanne Donahoe Andrew Max Davis Steven Gartner Chloe Kimberley Carmel Torcasio Christine Yong Chloe Peers Gerard Farmer Jaki Gemmell Kurma Dus Iskcon Belinda Griffin Liz Doherty Rebekah Farr Rebekah Farr Cinevex 16mm Kodak 7222

Laboratory Gauge Shooting stock Government Agency Investment AFC Production Cast: Michael Lake (Dylan), Nell Feeney (Lucy/ Beautiful Woman).

Synopsis: A short comic drama made in the film noirtradition. The film follows a lonely, pathetic laboratory worker, Dylan, who becomes obsessed with a parcel left behind by a strange

FONDLE WITH CARE Prod, company Obscure Films Pre-production Aug 1992 Sept 1992 Production Oct 1992 Post-production Principal Credits Alex Chomicz Director Alex Chomicz Producer Alex Chmoicz Scriptwriter Ice Cream Murders Based on the story Damian Wyvill DOP Basil Krivoroutchko Sound recordist Nic Brunner Art director Marg Kewley Costume designer Composer Robert Chomicz Other Credits Paul Thompson Script editor Vera Blffone Shooting schedule Nikki Cavenagh Prod, manager Melaini Lewis Location manager John Wareham Camera operators Geoff Owen Margaret McClymont Focus puller Dan MacArthur Camera asst Geoff Owen Steadlcam Wareham Camera maintenance Film Services Grant Nielsen Key grip Grunt Film Grips Jagon Parry Asst grip Tony Allison Generator operator Wade Savage 1st asst director Vera Biffone 2nd asst director Liz Perry Continuity Robert Chomicz Boom operator Nugget McCabe Make-up Jonathan Leahy Special fx make-up Nic Brunner Horse stunts Ian Grant Dat sound equipment Shane Holzberger Still photography Urszula Kafka-Browne Catering Greg Howell Set dressers Kate Mcllwaine Dirk Vanden-Drlessen Standby props Simon Laws Action vehicle co-ord.

Helen Mains Standby wardrobe Interzone Music Recording studio Atlab Laboratory 16 mm Gauge Kodak 7296 Shooting stock Government Agency Investment Old Writer’s Scheme Development Cast: Mark Hembrow (The Blind Tuba Player), Daniela Mlszkinls (Ice Cream Girl), Peter Kent (The One-armed Man), Val Beattie (Fassbinder's Florist), Derek Raney (Some Young Man).

Synopsis: A girl In an ice cream shop panics when she begins to receive strange phone calls from someone who Is watching her every move.

TRASH IN THE CAN Sept 1992 Pre-production Sept - Oct 1992 Production Oct - Dec 1992 Post-production Principal Credits David Scott Director Mark Forstmann Producers David Scott Peter Macdonald-Hall David Scott Scriptwriter Brendan Shaw DOP Michelle Barta Editor Alex Souvlis Prod, designer Other Credits Mark Forstmann Prod, manager Peter Macdonald-Hall Prod, assistant Brendan Shaw Camera operator Chris Taylor Camera asst Ian Moxon Grips Peter Trewartha Bruce Young Gaffer Stephen Best 1st asst directors Mark Forstmann Nicole Stacey Continuity Nicole Stacey Make-up Bruce Tindale Still photography Alex Souvlis Wardrobe Movielab Laboratory Martin Hoyle Lab liaison

16mm iGauge Cast: Fred Miragliotta, Kristina Nehm.

Synopsis: A messy man cops what he deserves.

... m m i AUSTRALIAN FILM TELEVISION & RADIO SCHOOL See next issue for details SIMPLE SPRING BALL

NSW FILM & TELEVISION OFFICE See next issue for details COURT SECURITY HOMEBUSH WETLANDS MINISTER’S TALK TO STAFF PETER DIMOND ARCHIVAL FILM REGIONAL SEMINARS RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES TRIBUNAL RTA - YOUR ROAD TO THE FUTURE 3 X 3 - YOUR FUEL LEVY AT WORK WORKCOVER PROMO

TELEVISION PRODUCTION mmsMsk CLOWNING AROUND ENCORE! Barron Films (Television) Prod, company ABC International Dist. company 3/8/92 ...

Pre-production 21/9/92- 15/11/92 Production Principal Credits George Whaley Director Julie Monton Producers Paul D. Barron Paul D. Barron Exec, producer John Coulter Scriptwriters Ranald Allan Tony Cavanaugh Clowning Sim Based on the story David Martin Written by Martin McGrath DOP Kim Lord Sound recordist Geoff Hall Editor Herbert Pinter Prod, designer Terri Lamera Costume designer Peter Best Composer Planning and Development David Rapsey Script editor Liz Mullinar Casting Direction West Extras casting Dean Carey Dialogue coach Reg Bolton Clowning advisors Russell Cheek Production Crew Perry Stapleton Prod, manager Kerry Bevan Prod, co-ordinator Harriet Purser Prod, secretary Chris O'Connell Location manager Aubrey Tredget Unit manager Noni Roy Production runner Meredith Watson Asst editor Warwick Driscoll Logging asst Liane Lee Prod, accountant Mark Lucas Insurer Hannan & Co Completion guarantor Film Finances R Garton Smith & Co Legal services Showtravel Travel co-ord.

Tania Chambers Business affairs Camera Crew David Williamson Camera operator Peter Goodall Focus puller Grant Sweetnam Clapper-loader David Cross Key grip Greg McKie Asst grip Craig Bryant Gaffer Steve Johnson Best boys Paul Stewart Greg McKie Generator operator On-set Crew Michael Faranda 1st asst director Dixie Betts 2nd asst director Nisha Weeramanthri 3rd asst director

Continuity Boom operator Make-up Make-up asst Hairdresser Asst hairdresser Safety officer Unit nurse Still photography Unit publicist Catering Art Department Art director Art dept runner Propsperson Props buyers

Jan Piantoni Gary Carr Llddy Reynolds Noreen Wilkie Liddy Reynolds Noreen Wilkie Peter West Gail Goodall Skip Watkins Jan Lippiatt Mustard Caterers Julita Sander Samantha Forrest Alex Dixon Nigel Davenport Chris Norman Alex Dixon

Standby props Wardrobe Terri Lamera Wardrobe supervisor Lisa Galea Standby wardrobe Susan Rigg Wardrobe asst Government Agency Investment WAFC Development FFC Production Marketing Madeleine Warburg Marketing consultant (Emme Prods) Cast: Clayton Williamson (Sim), Frederique Fouche (Eve), Ernie Dingo (Jack), Jean Michel Dagory (Anatole), Heather Mitchell (Sarah), Phil Morris (Doozy), George Shevstov (Fyodor), Margaret Ford (Martha), Bill Kerr (Max),- Nell Feeney (Lilly).

Synopsis: Sim is now well established as a carpet clown with the Winter Circus in Paris. He still has ambitions. Being the world’s greatest clown is not even enough for Sim. He wants to own the world’s greatest circus!

PHOENIX (series II) [See previous issue for details] STARK (series) [See previous issue for details] THE WEB Eco Productions Prod, company Jul 1992 ...

Pre-rpoduction Aug 1992 - Feb 1993 Production Mar 1993-A pr 1993 Post-production Principal Credits Lucinda Clutterbuck Director Fiona Eagger Producer Charlotte Clutterbuck Scriptwriter Lucinda Based on original idea Clutterbuck Lucinda Clutterbuck Animators/directors Sarah Watt Stephen Vaugh Sound recordist Harriet Clutterbuck Editors Ray Argali Paul Schutze Composers Rosemary Pearce David Chesworth Other Credits Anna Kannava Animation assts Rosemary Pearce Michael Agar Prod, accountant Hammond Jewell Insurer Crawfords Mixed at Cinevex Laboratory AFC Finance ABC Children's TV Presale Cast: [No details supplied] Synopsis: The Web Is a series of six by five minute animations on rare and vulnerable ani­ mals. Included In the series are: Peregine Fal­ con, Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Great White Shark, Cheetah, Panda and Rattlesnake.

TELEVISION POST-PRODUCTION See previous issues for details on: HALFWAY ACROSS THE GALAXY AND TURN LEFT (series) KELLY 2 (mini-series) LIFT OFF (series) MASTERPIECE PROFILES (series) THE MIRACULOUS MELLOPS - SEQUEL SEE JACK RUN (tele-feature) |

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Eleven Critics

9

Best and Worst

ELEATIC ELEVEN A PANEL OF ELEVEN FILM REVIEWERS HAS RATED A SELECTION OF THE LATEST RELEASES ON A SCALE OF 0 TO 10, THE LATTER BEING THE OPTIMUM RATING (A DASH MEANS NOT SEEN). THE CRITICS ARE: BILL COLLINS (CHANNEL 10; HARRIS (“EG” (THE AGE);

THE AGE,

3RRR); IVAN HUTCHINSON (SEVEN NETWORK;

ADRIAN MARTIN (BUSINESS

DAVID STRATTON

MELBOURNE);

PAUL HARRIS

IVAN HUTCHINSON

STAN JAMES

NEIL JILLETT

ADRIAN MARTIN

SCOTT MURRAY

TOM RYAN

DAVID STRATTON

EVAN WILLIAMS

AVERAGE

SYDNEY).

-

-

1

-

8

8

5

-

5.5

7

5

-

-

-

3

-

-

-

2

-

4.3

-

-

-

-

5

2

5

-

5

1

-

3.6

10

8

-

-

7

-

3

7

8

8

-

7.3

5

-

-

-

6

6

-

-

7

-

-

6

8

-

-

-

7

4

-

-

7

7

-

6.6

Peter Chelsom

7

6

-

-

-

7

-

-

-

5

-

6.3

Bruce M cDonald

-

-

-

-

6

7

-

6

4

-

5.8

8

8

-

-

7

3

-

7

8

-

6.8

-

3

-

8

-

7

-

-

8

-

6.5

-

6

-

6

5

5

0

-

3

6

-

4.4

-

3

-

5

6

2

-

-

3

6

-

4.2

-

7

-

7

-

2

-

7

8

8

-

6.5

9

-

-

6

6

4

3

8

9

7

-

6.5

-

2

-

4

7

3

-

-

7

4

-

4.5

-

-

-

4

6

2

-

-

6

4

-

4.4

9

10

-

-

-

9

9

-

7

10

-

9

7

-

-

3

3

3

7

-

7

-

4.4

-

7

-

4

6

3

-

4

6

1 *

-

5

9

4

-

4

7

5

8

4

7

6

-

6

9

4

-

-

7

6

-

-

7

7

-

6.7

-

-

-

-

-

5

0

6

2

2

-

3

-

6

-

-

-

-

-

9

7

7

-

7.3

-

5

-

4

6

5

6

-

4

6

-

5.1

-

2

-

2

-

1

-

-

-

7

-

3

9

-

-

4

7

7

6

8

8

'9

-

7.3

Fran Rubel Kazui

(Re-issue) M ichael Curtiz

CASABLANCA

FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST

Bill Kroyer

Ridley Scott

HEAR MY SONG

HUSBANDS AND WIVES THE INDIAN RUNNER

W oody Allen

Sean Penn

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

LIGHT SLEEPER

Paul Schrader

MADAME BOVARY

Claude Chabrol

THE POWER OF ONE Jo hn RADIO FLYER

G. Avildsen

Richard D onner

RAISE THE RED LANTERN RAISING CAIN

Penny Marshall

Richard D onner

LETHAL WEAPON 3

Zhang Yimou

Brian De Palma

ROMPER STOMPER

Geoffrey W right

SINGLE WHITE FEMALE

Barbet Schroeder

Sergio Rubini

A STRANGER AMONG US [Close to Eden] TAXI BLUES

THE SUNDAY AGE,

NEIL JILLETT

-

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

LA STAZIONE

(THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER);

-

[A utobus] Eric Rochant

Syd McCartney

HIGHWAY 61

(THE AUSTRALIAN,

SYDNEY); PAUL

SANDRA HALL

SBS, SYDNEY); AND EVAN WILLIAMS

BULLETIN,

-

AUX YEUX DU MONDE

1492

MELBOURNE); STAN JAMES

MELBOURNE; “SCREEN”, 3RN); SCOTT MURRAY; TOM RYAN (3L0;

Director

THE BRIDGE

HERALD-SUN,

SYDNEY); SANDRA HALL ( THE

BILL COLLINS

FILM TITLE

(VARIETY;

REVIEW WEEKLY,

THE DAILY MIRROR,

Stanley Lum et

Pavel Longuine

UNLAWFUL ENTRY Jonathan

Kaplan

UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD Wim WAGES OF FEAR

W enders

(Re-issue) Henri-G eorges Clouzot

-

-

*David Stratton has d eclin ed to rate this film .

80

• CINEMA

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"B e h in d T h e C u r t a in s M y s t ic F o l d T h e F l o w in g F u t u r e L ie s U n r o l l e d ."

Bret Harte The glowing future of filmmaking is riding the crest of one advance after another.

With the introduction of Eastman EXR films, buzzwords like grainless, sharpness, and latitude\ were redefined.

I v 1 And film m ak ers began impossible.

d oin g th e

Technology from Kodak is driving a new wave in computer manipulation of film images.

The result is mind-bending visual effects.

There could be a significant effect on how long it takes to produce certain movies.

A development like this could also spark a creative renaissance by making it possible to db things which weren't previously considered practical.

Soon, Kodak scanning system s will help reproduce the film look with near perfection for video delivery.

The impact on home television will be stunning.

These advancements are exploding/out of a hundred years of evolution in Eastman film s and tech n ology, propelling the industry into a future where no one can ever say, "It can’t be done."

And we will share filmmakers’ visions in ways we never dreamed of.

M otion Picture Films

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