Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (2024)

Table of Contents
OCR TXT MD

OCR

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (1)“Film and
tape, have achieved the
perfect marr1age3L;<;:.::1e::1:;.i;.Re3

recorder has completed the
film/Video circle. Film conversion to tape has
b[...]ited for a quality tape—to—film conversion.

The major feature of the CTR—3 is the
high resolution three—tube display system with
its associated dichroic optics. This assures the
elimination of the raster line structure without
any sacrifice to resolution. When this is
combined with the quality of Eastmancolor
film from Kodak, the color saturation and
color balance are perfect.

The impact of all this is the coming
together of the film and video laboratories.
Now a job can be shot on film, have all the
optical and titles done on tape and be released
on film.

The potential is unlimited and the time
saving enormous. At Videolab we are proud
to be the first to introduce it to Australia.”

Peter Bowlas;
General Manager, Videolab.
(A Division of the Colorfilm Group)

{ Kodak Motion Picture[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (2)Everybody says
the Victorianfilm industryhasacomplex

. . . You’

.,.I ‘T I iii‘ L_ / A couple of years ago
, -- V I ';-I ' the wctorian Film Corporation opened
the Melbourne Film Studio.
To begin with, it was not[...]But it has already seen
nearly12 million dollars in production pass

through its doors.[...]e, but what a relief to
be able to work free from the weather, flight paths
and the neighbourhood dog.

fime saved.

Money saved.

A[...]Burstall or Geoff Burrowes.

On April ’| 1982, the \/EC. will open Phase 2.
Together with the existing sound stage, it will be
the best plug—in production complex in this oountry.

Dressing rooms, producers offices, wardrobe,
change rooms, stars’ suites, s[...]ully equipped kitchen where your caterer can
have the moming tea scones hot before you've
rolled the first shot.

The Wctorian Film Corporation underwrites this
projec[...]that won't break
your budget. Book early

before the new financial year scramble.
Call the Wctorian Film Corporation on

(03) 329 703[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (3)the
matching bench. '

Meet tomorrow's deadlin[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (4)[...]or negative wide latitude that compensates for So in summaly, 311 we can
camera film, available in 16mm and even the most severe exposure say is that if you’Ve got the Creative
35mm, that will positively enhance variations, but delivers such a fine kh0w-how, and the W111, we’Ve got
the creation of any masterpiece. grain that every frame can be the way New (}eVae010r Type 532

New Gevacolor 682 appreciated as a work of art in itself. AG FAG EVAERT L, M I-I-ED

negative Camer[...]Head Office, P. O. Box 48,
This film passes even the can be processed without any of the Nunawading, VIC. 3131.

toughest of tests with flying colours problems createdrby climatic Melbourne 878 8000,

(if you’ll forgive the pun), conditions. And its compatible with Sydney[...]ne 3916833

reproducing skin tones to perfection. the process employed by most major Adelaide 42[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (5)The New South Wales Film Corporation is devoting incr[...]o script
. and project development.
. We are also in the business of in‘v“e"sting>in*and-arranging.£inanoe.e£ae.m@£isa 2 "
picture production.
' ' gck this up, we offer a full range of marketing services, including a

Viiegiczally-placed office in Los Angeles.

So, if you want to evelop or make a movie, now’s the right time to get in touch

with us.

New South Wales Film Corporation
45 Macq uarie Street. Sydney. Australia 2000
Telephone (02) 27 5575 Telex FILCOR AA23298

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (6)[...]ce Brokers

is proud to have been associated with the production of

NOWY RIVE

' A.

TH

R H Tolley & Gardner Pty Ltd
Insurance Brokers to the Film and Entertainment Industry

Melbourne[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (7)[...]te
Peter_Ustinov: Interview
Brian McFar|ane
Women in Drama:
Meg Stewart
Rivka Hartman
Clytie Jessop
Ma[...]arstruck
Scriptwriter interviewed: 110

Features

The Quarter
Obituary

Fred Harden
Production Survey[...]Reds
Keith Connolly
Starstruck
Debi Enker
Priest of Love
John Tittensor
Duet for Four
Sam Rohdie
Body Heat
Dave Nash
Best of Friends
Jim Murphy

Rich and Famous
Brian McFar|a[...]Book Reviews

Government and Film

Sam Rohdie
Recent Releases
Reds Merv Binns
Review: 164

Managing Editor: Scott Murray. Associate Ed[...]117

131
147

149
153
173
178

163
164

Women in Drama
Meg Stewart: 136

166
167
169
170
171

171

175

175

Heatwave
Review: 163

Cinema Papers is produced with financial assistance from the Australian Film Commission.
Articles represent the views of their authors and not necessarily those of the editors. While every
care is taken with manuscripts and materials supplied for this magazine. neither the Editors nor
the Publishers accept any liability for loss or damage which may arise. This magazine may not be
reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the copyright owner. Cinema Papers is
published every[...]fice, 644 Victoria St, North
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3051. Telephone: (03) 329 5983.

© Copyright Ci[...]April 1982.

Cover): Jo Kennedy as Jackie Mullens in Gillian Armstrong's Starstruck (see review
p.165 .

CINEMA PAPERS April - 107

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (8)[...]IIIIIIIIICIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOII—.OIIIIIIIlIIll

The Australian Writers’ Guild’s 15th
Annual Awgie Awards, sponsored by
Ampol, were announced on March 4 in
Adelaide. Peter Welch reports:

The awards were presented by the
State Minister for the Arts, Murray Hill,
and the guest of honor, Professor
Manning Clark, A.C., to writers in 13
categories, with the winner for an Origi-
nal Work for the Stage. Flon Elisha for
Einstein, also winning the major Awgie
Award for Outstanding Work.

The awards were announced after
the dinner in the opulent Victorian sur-
roundings of Edmund Wright House
with the Musica de Camera Quartet
(harpsichord, two recorders and viola
da gamba) playing baroque music
throughout the evening.

Master of ceremonies was Adelaide
playwright Rob George, whose latest
work, Percy and Rose, centred on the
relationship of Australian composer
Percy Grainger and his mother,
starring Dennis Olsen and Daphne
Grey, was premiered at the 1982
Adelaide Festival of Arts.

Names of the winners in each cate-
gory, together with brief biographical
details and some of their other writing
credits (where known), follow:

Original Work for the Stage and winner
of the major Awgie Award: Ron
Elisha, Einstein.

Einstein is Ron's second produced
play. It was presented by the Mel-
bourne Theatre Company in 1981 and
has just completed a season at the

Category:

Children's Roger Dunn
Adaptation

Doc[...]Himself
Monkey Grip

John Duigan

Seymour Centre in Sydney. Seasons of
Einstein have also been licensed to
Queensland, A.C.T., Western Aus-
tralia, New Zealand and the Lyric
Theatre, London. Faber and Faber
(London) have made an offer to publish
the play.

Ron E|isha’s other produced play
was In Duty Bound, presented by the
Melbourne Theatre Company in two
seasons in 1979-80.

Ron Elisha was born in Israel in 1951
and emigrated to Australia with his
family in 1953. He graduated in medi-
cine from Melbourne University in
1975, completed his residency in
Sydney and is now practising in
Melbourne. His interest in writing dates
from 1967.

Awards Fracas

IIIIIIII[...]IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Major changes to the Australian Film
Awards were recently announced by
the organizing body, the Australian
Film Institute. The industry has not ac-
cepted them quietly. Scott Murray
reports:

The AFI could have had little idea
what shock waves it would send
through the film industry with its
announcement of the rules governing
the 1982 Awards. The controversy
centres on changes to the judging of
feature film entries by the introduction
of a pre-selection jury.

The Issues

In 1976, the then executive director
David Roe abandoned the long-held

So You're Getting a
Divorce

No Names No Pack
Drill

Two Men Running

The Sullivan;
(episodes 907/8)

Winter oi Our
Dreams

jury system in preference for industry
voting. All eligible features were
screened in Melbourne, Sydney and
Adelaide (and in later years in Perth,
Brisbane and Hobart) and accredited
film professionals viewed each film
before voting in the category or cate-
gories of their expertise (e.g.. editing or
sound). They also voted with AF!
members (full and associate) for the
Best Film Award.

Some years later, the procedure was
changed and all voters had to be
members of the AFI, which now has an
open membership.

This year, with no forewarning, the
judging system was changed again.
Due to what the AF! feared would be an
avalanche of entries (35 being the
figure quoted), it decided to pre-select
the features down to a “manageable”
level. The proposal was that a "com-
mittee of eminent film industry profes-
sionals" select four "nominations" in
each of 13 categories. which would
then be voted on by al[...]bers. This raised several queries:
(i) Four films in 13 categories means

that up to 52 different films could
be pre-selected (assuming that
number of films was ever pro-
duced in one year). So, such a
pre-selection procedure does not
in itself mean the final number of
films up for voting will be less than
the number of features entered. Of
course, some films may be of such
a low standard that almost
anybody would pre-select them
out. But what if one of those films
had the best sound editing in
years: the jury would be obliged to
nominate that film for c[...]Has written documentaries for
several years with the
Tasmanian Film Corporation
and Film Australia. Writing Pals,
a children's television series for
the TFC.

Dorothy Hewitt Golden Valley Chapel Perilous. Man from
Mukinupin. Her latest play is in
the Perth Festival.

Bob Herbet

Elizabeth Jolley

Adapted from his stage play
which was produced by the
Sydney Theatre Company in
1980.

A radio writer for many years.
Among her other radio credits
are: Night Fleport, The
Performance. Shepard on the
Roof and Woman in a
Lampshade.

David was co-writer of the
feature film Breaker Moran!
and directed the television
series A Town Like Alice.

Luis Bayonas Bellamy
(episode 26)

Eleanor Witcombe

Writer of screenplays for My
Brilliant Career and The
Getting of Wisdom, plus the
television series Water Under
the Bridge.

Previous writing credits include
Case, a feature for Film
Australia, plus Sporting
Chance and cold Comfort for
televi[...]uited, starring Steve
Speers.

Wrote and directed the feature
film Month to Mouth, directed
Dimboola and has just finished
directing the feature Far East,
starring Bryan Brown.

Monte Miller Award tor an Unproduced Script by an Associate of the Guild: Shared by Julia Britton for her stage play[...]and Christopher Kennedy for his original teleplay The End of the Course.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (9)[...]e unannounced
guideline might be invoked,
whereby the jury would be instruc-
ted to keep the total number of
nominated films below a limit —
say 10. If this is so, thejury may be
forced to ignore the best candi-
date for a specific category and go
for the second or third best. For
example, a certain film A may
have the best sound but is so poor
in all other respects it is not being
considered for[...]ould be a temptation to ignore
film A and put one of the other 10
films in its place (i.e., in the sound
category).

(iii) There is also the problem, seen at
many past Awards, of landsliding
one film at the expense of others.
Because one film is so superior to
the rest in many ways, there is a
tendency among voters — and
critics — to assume it is superior
in all ways. Thus a film like
Breaker Morant (in 1980) or Galil-
poli (in 1981), however deser-
vedly, sweeps the pool. This has
happened in open voting, and it is
conceivable it could happen even
more so in pre-selection —
especially if a limit is set.

(iv) Perhaps most important, how-
ever, is the problem ofthe old film
board argument: if a person is
talented[...]judgments.
Even if a jury can be found, there
is the question of prejudice. Will it
favor mainstream commercial
ci[...]ures?
Would, for instance, last year's
Wrong Side of the Road make it
past a pre-selection jury? If it
didn't, it would be the AFl's —- and
the industry's — loss, to say
nothing of the filmmaker's.

In short, the arguments against a
pre-selection seem overwhelming. The
only argument in its defence is that the
number of films to be screened will be
unmanageable. But it is a false
argument.

The closing date for finished prints
is, as of writing, May 21. This was the
date all producers and industry people
have been working to, and the one on
the application forms.

The number of films eligible for entry
appears to be about 28. Now, at least
five of these will be in release around
screening time, or have had a major
release (three weeks or more). This
means the maximum number of films
needing a screening is 23. In 1977, the
AFI showed 20 films.‘ Screening three
more film[...]geable exercise.

Also, not showing films already in
release, and which are easily viewable,
is a needed change in regulations. At
present, too many AFI members wait
until the Awards screenings before
seeing a film (free). Su[...]bers should be encouraged to see
Australian films in their correct environ-
ment — at a cinema with a paying
audience.

The Furore

When the 1982 application forms
were mailed and news of the changes
reached the industry, there was a
sudden, almost violent, reaction..Three
days later, on March 3, at a meeting of

Continued on p. I 92

1. Two were later withdraw[...]IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The untimely death of assistant
director Chris Maudson, 36, from a
brain tumor saddened the Australian
feature film industry. Chris had worked
on some 12 feature films‘ in the
capacity of assistant director, special-
izing in the difficult area of organizing
actors for their appearance before the
cameras. His special quality was to give
actors the feeling that he cared about
them as people, and t[...]ut them at ease
as they prepared to appear before the
cameras.

Chris was the link between the often
slow progress on the set and the impa-
tient performers psyched up and ready
to do[...]en getting irritable
about waiting. But Chris was the kind of
person with whom it was very difficult to
get irr[...]he brought news
to so many makeshift green rooms of
yet more delays, even the emotional
grandstanders found it hard to vent
their spleen on him and the production
he represented.

Chris was likewise given the often
onerous task of ringing the production
office and giving producers and
production managers the news that the
day’s shooting was going into over-
time. His voice had a slight stammer, a
disarming weapon that brought the
news about the complicated shot that
was just about to be completed and the
couple of quick close-ups to follow up
in no time at all and wrap up the day.
Even when you knew he was talking
about thre[...]as a film buff with an overall
love for all types of films and a particu-
Iar passion for Jean-Luc God[...]nnan's attic,
which houses a legendary collection of
videos, and emerged with films starring
Judy Holl[...]le
Lombard, and went on to give me plot
summaries of the likes of Easy Living
and Born Yesterday.

The last job Chris worked on was
casting for the forthcoming television
series on the Whitlam years. His know-
ledge of actors and cinema gave Chris
the perfect qualifications for the job of
casting, and I believe that had he lived
Chris would have found this to be his
perfect position in the film industry.

About 400 people attended Chris’

1. Chris Maudson‘s credits: The Tres-
passers, Newsfront, A Town Like Alice,
Long[...]k,
Hoodwink, Fighting Back, Touch and Go.
Barney, The Chain Reaction and Stir.

funeral. The line-up included directors
Phil Noyce, Gill Armst[...]illiams and Melody
Cooper.

Bryan Brown delivered the funeral
oration, which began:

"In December 1976, I met Chris
Maudson and Richard Brennan, and
was introduced to 161 Victoria St.
Over the next five years, I partici-
pated in countless discussions,
mostly about film, around a certain
round table in their kitchen. Many
people here today, I know, share a
similar experience.

The hospitality and camaraderie
existing at Chris and[...]ss director
through a bad stretch.

“To walk up the stairs and be
faced by Chris sitting at the table
always beaming and saying ‘Hi’
made you sure there was at least one
person in this world who was glad to
see you and he always was. His
enthusiasm to be around people
never waned."

On the set of Far East, work stopped
and cast and crew stood on the roof of
the ageing Supreme Studios where
associate producer J[...]ce for Chris.

I believe Chris Maudson maintained
the balance between actors and tech-
nicians better than anyone else in the
industry. I appreciate the contribution
that he made to my three features and I
wish so much that we had him on the
next one. Chris is survived by his 10-
year-old daughter Samantha, who has

appeared in many of the films he
""°"‘°d °”~ — David Elfick
Bill Bain

For many, Upstairs, Downstairs and
The Duchess of Duke Street typify
excellence in British television drama.
The leading director for both series was
Bill Bain, an Australian. On February
22, Bain died of cancer in London.

Trained as a school teacher, Bain
soon turned to acting and then direc-
tion at the Australian Broadcasting
Commission, where he handled child-
ren's programs, sheep dog trials and

The Quarter

A R Y

the occasional light drama. in 1962, he
moved to Britain where he was invited
to direct an episode of Harpers W1 for
ATV. This was followed by episodes of
The Avengers, csllan, Public Eye, The
Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Enemy
at the Door.

He had also directed the feature
What Became of Jack and Jill and
several television plays, including The
Importance of Being Earnest, Pretty
Polly, The Listener and Fathsr’s Help.

Bain returned briefly to Australia in
1978 to work at the Australian Film and
Television School. His role was that of
guiding 12 third-year students through
their television projects. In an inter-
view in Cinema Papers‘ he said:

"One of the nice things about the
AFTS is that all the people I know in
the industry would have liked to
come here. We all ha[...]fire and are still pretending we know
more about the technical side than
we do. So I think that the more of us
who can make a contribution to this
place the better.

“Maybe I am idealistic, but I came

out gladly to do this job. I believe in

the potential talent this country has,
though what it[...]lace like this
where people can make mistakes on

the quiet and not have them thrown .

up on the television or film screen for

all of us to think, ‘Jesus, isn't that
awful.’ "

Bill Bain was unquestionably one of
the world's finest television directors.
His episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs
and Callan stand with the best tele-
vision drama ever produced.

One of the pleasures, in fact. of a
series like Upstairs, Downstairs was
picking whether a particular episode
was directed by Bill Bain. If the show
evoked genuine emotion without being
sentimental, if it managed to turn the
simplest linking scenes into magically-
charged moments, then Bain was
probably the director.

“One's concern is always to find the
reality of a script, to sniff out what the
dangers are likely to be. One must
ride very care[...]o go soggy on you . . .
“It is also a caring on the part of the
people who are working on a
program. If you do so[...]if you can
get a caringness going — a love for
the thing itself — then you will trans-
mit some of that feeling."

Bill Bain transmitted that love. His
presence in world filmmaking will be

greatly missed.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (10)Where did you get the idea for
“Starstruck”?

I just started writing down
sketches of characters I knew from
this pub where my mother u[...]most reveal themselves with their
style and form of speech. So I jot
down things people say, and they
lay the seed for the scenes.

Once I have the rough arch-
itecture for a few scenes, I begin to
evolve a plot to accommodate the

Main photograph: Jo Kennedy as Jackie
Mullens[...]cLean and director Gillian Armstrong
make some on-the-spot script alterations.

Scott Murray talks[...]ing a flat with
someone you d0n’t like.

I see the character, then I hear
the character, and what I hear is the
spur to write. Most things are funny
simply because a particular person
says them. Think of Marilyn
Monroe: she walks into a ship’s
cabin in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
and says, “Look — ro[...]ly
funny, but, when she says it, it’s a
scream. In fact, it was so right for
her that Billy Wilder used a varia-
tion of the same gag in Some Like
It Hot.

CINEMA PAPERS April — 111

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (11)Stephen MacLean

Inspiration comes from the
oddest quarters. One night in
London I went to a perfect produc-
tion of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard
at the Riverside and he immed-
iately becamc my favorite[...]losing their cherry
orchard and their entire way of life
reminded me of the real pub people
I knew. They lost their pub, and the
loss of true location left them
ghost-like.

I can remember when the first
Australian films came out in
London, somebody said to me,
The thing about you Australians is
you should stick t[...]generalization, but I
do think there is a strain of Aus-
tralian thinking which leans
towards morbidity. That’s okay,
but it’s often expressed in a preten-
tious, middle-class way — Toorak
‘quality’ culture at one end, Carlton
‘alternative’ at the other.

Perhaps our sense of isolation
gives us a morbid strain, but the
work seldom has the patches of
levity the Russians bring to their
morbid books or plays — you
know, that terrific manic quality.
In our case there has been too much
striving for intellectual superiority,
and it has produced a lot of dull,
boring works — more so in theatre
than in film.

One film that does really hit its
mark on[...]arts, which is bleak and sad, but
funny! That’s the thing: whenever
tragic things are happening in life,
something zany is usually
happening simulta[...]n black
comedy.

Given that many Australian films of
the early 1970s were comedies, why
did they stop being made? “Star-
struck” is the first comic film in a
while, except for “The Club” . . .

Well, to me, Don’s Party is one
of the best Australian films ever. In
that one David Williamson was
funny and serious.

Is comic writing in Australia under-
valued?

Yes, because of the pretensions I
have been banging on about. The
Australian public has a highly
developed sense ofcomedy. We are
the only country which takes it
from all over the world, on tele-
vision. And yet the powers which
run entertainment (and that
includes the government) accord it
the kind of status you would give
junk food.

It happens in every arm of the
media. A great Aussie writer, Ross
Campbell, just died. He labored for
many years doing columns for the
Packer press. He wrote real things,
like the humiliation a father feels
when his kiddie says, “Daddy, why
doesn’t our fridge have a light in it
like everyone else’s?” And, of
course, all those middle-brows

112 -— April CINEMA PAPERS

aspiring to seriousness just don’t
have the brains to attach value to
real talent like that. It doesn’t hide
behind a cause, but has the con-
fidence to be itself; it isn’t phoney.

But comedy will once again gain
prestige, as it had in the 1930s, with
columnists like Dorothy Parker
and Robert Benchley in journal-
ism, and Ben Hecht and Billy
Wilder in film. They were very friv-
olous but they dealt w[...]y regarded — and still
are.

We are getting out of that post-
World War 2 period when comedy,
and it happened here also, became a
very lowly-prized commodity. The
1970s brought back more apprecia-
tion for the craftsman. I’m glad.
Australia has a bit of money in
the kitty, so it tried to buy ‘art’ and
‘culture’, which is a prime example
of a middle class getting culture-
obsessed and gett[...]t is a very rare work. I suppose
Alvin Purple and the early comedies
were sort of awful; there was
some great stuff in the Barry
McKenzie films, but it was more
spot burlesque comedy. And the
public loved them.

I respect the real public, not the
culture vultures, because they dare
to like what they really like, which
is more than you can say for a lot of
critics.

We should value comedy. Our
most rememb[...]t an arts grant
system that fostered him, was it? In
developing talent, the culture

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (12)[...]ing affaires
with Frank Moorhouse, don’t
there? In writing, there is too much
false value placed on[...]bscure pieces, when
those very writers often have the
talent to be encouraged out into the
open, to drop all the references only
they find interesting. In those
circles, you can be frivolous or flip-
pant, but only if you throw in
wooden ‘serious’ stuff.

Australians seem compelled to
act out the role ofthe artist’;
French-style. And the industry
itself hangs naive labels. For
instance,[...]truck? She is far too serious. She
could not have the sense of humor
to do Starstruck.” Can’t you be
serious and have a sense of humor
too — or even a sense of comedy?
People could not comprehend that
a woman (and I emphasise the sex)

O

S wphen Maelean

only $5 for a ticket. People in the
industry are concerned with their
future . . .

I[...]you are still rolling it, so
why be conservative? The basic
principle of rolling it is against that.
And as for being conc[...]al or
heightened quality about it, par-
ticularly in the pub scenes, which are
perhaps closer to most people’s
sense of reality than the pop culture
scenes. Was that the sort of style
you were going for?

Yes. That sub-plot abo[...]bout a dis-
appearing species. I am talking
about the Australians who had a
sniff of the Depression. They have a

,_p

,4)‘: ~.

.
.,- .[...]p right: Robbie and Jackie sing “Body and
Soul" in the Harbour View Hotel. Righr:
Angus, in the schoolroom, sings “Starsrruck".
Above: Jackie leads Angus, disguised as a
kangaroo to hide his youth, to the Lizard
Lounge. Starstruck.

could be serious about her work
and have a sense of humor.

As for myself, I have suffered the
reverse of that; because I might
crack a few gags wherever I[...]n think I’m not serious
about my work. That’s the Aus-
tralian culture climate, love. _

I find the Australian public is far
more adventurous than the people
who develop talent.

But the public has less at risk -

different point of view to anyone
born 10 years later. They are basi-
cally a working people with a
special kind of wit and a theat-
ricality about them which is ver[...]ey
are disappearing; we have been so
colonized by the U.S.

Starstruck is an odd form of
Americana syphoned through the
caustic Australian eye. Star-
struck’s form was created by many
American films before it. It is the
type of film which falls somewhere
between reality and pantomime.

A lot of people go to films
expecting them to represent re[...]her than real life. And Gill
Armstrong has struck the right note
here, whereby the people are
heightened, are leaning towards
caricature, but nevertheless
demand to be taken seriously. The
characters disengage themselves
from their backgrounds.

I relate Edna Everage to this, the
fine line between character and
caricature. Edna started out as a
satirical character within the
dramatic framework of Moonee
Ponds. As the years went by, people
began to think of Edna as a real
person.

This is tied to the sense of reality
Australian women bring to trans-
vestism.[...]ing 20 years for a
basically female audience from the
suburbs, and they go and watch
these guys sort of ridicule
femininity.

Patrick White wrote in his
memoirs that Australian women
are far more interesting than Aus-
tralian men because of this male
element in their make-up. He wrote
that Australian men do not possess
a corresponding feminine element
in their make—up, and are con-
sequently less interesting.

White went on to despair about a
certain type of woman who stifles
that wonderful feminine part to ape
the worst kind of male qualities.
They are often very witty and put
people in their places with their
tongues — women who hav[...]strong and tough, like
Pearl (Margo Lee) who runs the
pub in Starstruck. Edna is an
extreme of that type —— “Aus-
tra1ia’s answer to the Jewish
momma”, as Barry Humphries
billed himself in New York.

Actually, I found Pearl a rather sad,
almost tragic, figure . . .

Sad?

Look at the way she is used by Lou
(Dennis Miller) . . .

I c[...]n given that, she still has to
accept him robbing the safe . . .

Oh, she is not prepared to accept
that at all. That just happened in a
soap opera plot twist —- though I
actually grafted that in from a real-
life memory. I think Australian
women are used to covering for
men, in one way or another.

The heightened realism of the pop
sequences touches on styles used in
pop clips: for example, the ‘I Don’t
Like Mondays’ clip of The Boom-
town Rats. Was that a deliberate
influence?

The Starstruck theme song takes
place in a schoolroom because
Angus (Ross O’Donovan) goes to
school and much of the potential
audience will, too. The schoolroom
as a setting for pop might seem an
overworked location, but it is all
relative to the amount of time kids

- actually have to spend in them.

Is there a risk that an audience will
bring to “Starstruck” the expecta-
tion of being thrilled in the way, say,
a~Devo clip thrills them?

Those thrill[...]ng. You
can use cutting to communicate
rhythm for the length of a clip, but
you have to use it sparingly in a
feature because it’s tiring — which
is what Gill has done. I think she’s
right.

But I think any of those songs
could lift from the film. This is how
I think an audience responds to film
clips of musicals on television.
First, they get to like the song.
Second, they get to like someone in
the clip. They get to thinking about
maybe buying the record. Then
they want to go to Grease or what-
ever so they can see John and Olivia
do the songs bigger and louder than
on television.

So, with “Starstruck”, you have to
get people hooked on the music
first . . .

Absolutely. We have to get that

music out there and expose people
to the clips. Their response to the

CINEMA PAPERS April — I13

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (13)[...]ole will be another
story.

How involved were you in the choice
of musical numbers? Did you include
directives in the script?

Instinct told me where to place
them. When the songs were
obviously necessary to the plot, I
wrote them in first go. But I also
went over the script afterwards and
wrote in “song” in the sections
which would gain energy from the
mere infusion of a song. Even a
dramatic script can be likened to a
popular song in structure: there is
the opening chorus, the bridge, the
melody, the climax. It is the bridge
that most often lets a song down —
and a[...]gh. Some-
body is talking, then they turn to
sing in another voice, which always
worried me and sent me running for
the popcorn. The only one like that
which really works is The Band-
wagon, largely because of the con-
ception of writers Adolf Green and
Betty Comden.

A Star Is Born was the first
musical I believed. Every musical
number ha[...]context. So at first I put Star-
struck’s songs in a strictly realistic
context, such as a band perf[...]“No, let’s
just do what we feel like.” Take the
scene in the bar where Jackie (Jo
Kennedy) just starts singing “It’s
Not Enough”. I had always wanted
a ballad in the bar, because Ijust
loved it when Judy Garland was
jamming with the musos in her
film, and the James Mason charac-
ter comes in and sees her. That was
realistic, whereas Gill has our girl
start singing. I think it works well,
in the end.

Did “A Star Is Born” influence the
structure of the film?

It would be great if Jackie
walked up and[...]Norman Main.” No, I do not think
it influenced the structure, just the
feeling.

I took the advice that writers get:
if you want to write a book, write
the kind of book that you would
want to read. But people are[...]want to look
dumb. I thought I would get down
to the kind of film I really love —
and it was A Star Is Born,[...]ally blew me out. I
reasoned that if I could keep the
magic of that film with me while I
wrote Starstruck it would keep me
going.

So, Jackie became the Judy
Garland character on the way up.
The pub background became the
Norman Main character: the

In A Star Is Born Norman dies
and in Starstruck, which is a much
more simplistic piece, Jackie saves
the pub. That is the pantomime
aspect of it. I think pantomime fits
the form by the very nature of pop
music. I thought Breaking Glass
was a hideous[...]was
serious.

“Starstruck” reminds me greatly of
the pop musicals of the 1960s . . .

We are in the midst of a 1960s
revival, but it is more subtle than
most,[...]rm.

When I first wrote Starstruck, I
was working in London on a Fox
short about the mod revival. So I
set Starstruck in the 1960s mod
style, which was a mistake because
you should always remember
fashion is a wheel and the wheel
turns too quickly for films. David
Elfick [co-producer] then came up
with the shrewd and tough notion
that the period setting might be
seen as a crutch for the film. Aus-
tralians tend to art direct their films
rather than give them a good story.
So David thought the script had to
be made contemporary.

There is a feeling to Starstruck I
connect with British style pieces of
the 1960s: Smashing Time,
Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treat-
ment, Here We Go Round The Mul-
berry Bush.

I had dinner with Diana Melley,
and she mentioned that her
husband George wrote the dread-
ful Smashing Time, “which looked
so old-fashioned when it finally
came out in London.” And I said,
“Oh but we teenagers in Me]-
bourne loved it, because of the
time-gap between us and London.”
We all went and saw those films in
larger numbers than other
countries. They had a sense of
optimism and glossiness which
Australia still feels. Relative to the
rest of the world, we have more to
be optimistic about. Those films
had a kind of screwball fun which
suited the Australian sensibility,
and, even if they maybe weren’t the
greatest films in the world, Aus-
tralians were quick to pick up the
satire.

Look at Can’t Stop The Music.
That film did no business anywhere
in the world whatsoever. It is a
terrible film, but it is pure anarchy
and a big joke on The Gang’s All
Here and all those Twentieth
Century-Fox musicals. Aus-
tralians, apart from the clever sell
that Alan Carr gave it here, got the
joke, whereas the Americans did
not have the sense of humor to get
it. We got the joke about the Here
We Go Round the Mulberry Bush-
type of films better than anybody.

Australians have a highly-
attuned sense of humor. That

Given that at times the film gets into

. . . . . r ‘
alcoholic on the slide down whose comes from being a Comblrlatlon of -—-——————-—-———— a “S where some mum accuse ‘t "1.

time had passed, who was of Scots, Irish and English, who are Top: Jackie and Robbie, leader of The sendmg up mummy groups _e'g"

another era. That pub became a the funniest races of people in exis- /lV"”(’l,b”’}' Abovgflackgifijdjle[...]iiltbafiiildnfilrfgkiodllg
N9” . erry 0 H ' ay, in the pool _
person to me. tence, one way or ano[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (14)I did not write Nana fat. She was
not fat in the script. But Pat Evison
is great; she uses her size to great,
comic effect.

What about the scene where Jackie
is disappointed because her go[...]at?” Given Jackie’s obvious dis-
appointment, the line has the ring of
trying to play fair . . .

Almost every woman, ho[...]ted, instinctively does not
like finding out that the man of
her affections is gay. That person
being gay cuts her out on the sexual
level, which is a very large level to
be cut out on.

That is why J ackie’s line seems out
of character . . .

Yes. I might have failed there;[...]re-written and changed into a

pool party instead of a leather bar,
as I had originally written it, be[...]already been done. But I did not
quite keep track of the re-writes,
and the actor playing the part, John
O’May, who had seen an earlier
draft[...]part and a
chance to say something. Now they
kind of dump on him when they
find out he is gay.”

I n[...]ation.

Actually, I don’t think her line is
out of character. Angus says, “He
can’t be gayl”,[...]can’t he?” — meaning, “Look
around, a lot of people are.”

It was one of those situations
where I did the re-write to accom-
modate a different situation. When
it was a period script, the kids went
to The Purple Onion, which was a
famous club in Sydney, and they
met this fantastic drag queen, who
looks exactly like Pearl.

There is a scene in the dressing room

of a television station where Jackie
tells her band[...]own life, etc. It is a bit like a
Sybylla speech in “My Brilliant
Career”. But the disaster of the
show teaches her the importance of
other people in her life. Were you
commenting on the problems of per-
sonal independence?

Starstruck is just mean[...]d girls and boys
are usually pretty selfish.

But the structure does lead people to
assume she has been[...]was ‘right’ for
her character as presented to the
public.

Performers rarely know what is

Stephen MafLean

good for them. Mae West is one of
the few in the history of show-
business who knew everything
about what she[...]me
capacity for that. That is why there
are a lot of brilliantly-talented
people around about whom eve[...]ented.” ‘But they do
not have that conception of iden-
tity which is what being a star is.
And Jackie did not have it for
herself; she just had the ambition.

You will find that relationship
through the history of show-
business from time immemorial,
and it is al[...]ser, Judy Garland has her
thug.

Basically, I saw the script as a
love story between Angus and
Jackie, a kind of Les enfants
terribles. The way the film played is
different, because, quite naturally,
it took on a life of its own. Now, it
is not Angus’ story —— it[...]with which to hang on to her.

Gill came up with the idea that
Angus should mature at the end
and find his own girl; he is about to
go off on his own tangent of
maturity. I can remember going,
“Oohhhl”, because I thought of
Saturday Night Fever, the story of
which I loathed. John Travolta
treats all the girls like slobs, then
we are supposed to believe he has
opted for ‘maturity’ at the end
because he aspires to a half-assed,
middle-cl[...]social implications — and it
works.

You wrote in ‘Penthouse" that Gill
wanted to be sure it was[...]Brennan’s . . .

Directors are very suspicious of
writers and expect the worst from
them. But I am not by nature a
writer — in that sense. Having gone
through that whole showbi[...]every point you
win you lose one.

Gill came into the piece quite
late, but she hardly changed the
script. She did fix a hole, however,
and add the finishing touch of
Angus meeting the gum—chewing
girl.

l. Australian Pent[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (15)[...]You
have to hold on to whatever
attracted you to the project.
Richard Brennan said to me, “You
make the film when you write it,
then somebody takes it a[...]that is what happens. If I
had known that somehow the film
would come out being Jackie’s
story more than Angus’, I would
have been in a quandary. I would
not have thought it could wor[...]about a girl who
wants to be a star. But because of
the emotional qualities Gill
invested in the film, Starstruck
works. But there was no way I
co[...]at was your role as associate
producer?

“I was the only person who’d
associate with the producers.”
Sorry it’s an old gag.

Initially[...]usic break-
downs, had lunch with publishers,
put the net out. I’d talk to the Art

116 — April CINEMA PAPERS

Above: Jackie and The Wombats steal the
show at the New Year’s Eve concert. Right.’
Jackie goes t[...]heroes Angus

might paste to his walls, that type
of thing. I also did a few quick
fiddles during sho[...]have liked to, because I
would have altered some of Angus’
dialogue. I wrote his stuff in short,
staccato sentences — the Jewish
kind of talking. Ross O’Donovan
naturally speaks in long, rambling
sentences with a nasal accent. It
was his first part; I would have
liked to have adapted the lines to
him.

But when you hit upon a director,[...]take. And
it was no mistake with Gill.

What sort of audience did you have
in mind?

From nine to 18. If the film
takes, it may then wash into the
broader audience that in the old
days used to trot along and see My
Fair Lady.[...]-
nize and appreciate, and maybe get
a giggle out of.[...]w.

What projects are you working on?

I am doing The Lee Gordon
Story about the eccentric Amer-
ican promoter who sort of colon-
ized Australia during the 1950s.
But that is tough; I haven’t for-
mulate[...]writing a script I call
“Eddie and Katoots”. The two
leads are a kid, because I like
writing about them, and an over-
the-hill model who suddenly has to
do something with her life because
the beauty ideal has changed to 16-
year-olds like Brooke Shields. She
is 32 and never had to do a thing in
her life; now she has to.

Then there is a book I[...]onnected to, Intermission, by
Anne Baxter. She is the actress who
won a few Oscars, then went “B”.
It is basically a love story, about
her four years spent in the Austra-
lian bush. Harry M. Miller now
owns the rights to it.

I saw Anne Baxter in New York
and talked to her about it. I think it
could be one of the few genuine
opportunities one has to show Aus-
tralia to the American perspective.
Our tie with the U.S. on every level,
intrigues and disturb[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (16)Nora (Noni Hazlehurst), 33, a single mother living in a large,
loosely-constructed commune, wants a love with “no fade from
distance in it”. What she gets is Java (Colin Friels), a
23- year-old actor, whose life is “a messy holiday of living ofi‘ his
frie ”. He is a junkie, but[...]is addicted, Smack
habit, love habit — what’s the diflerence; they can both kill you.

Monkey Grip[...]on, for producer Patricia Lovell, and is based
on the no vel by Helen Garner.

Noni Hazlehurst as Nora in Ken Cameron '5 Monkey Grip.

CINEMA PAPERS[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (17)[...]rmer, you have had
extensive experience on stage, in
film and on television. When you
began your career did you envisage
that kind of breadth?

In 1962, when I was still at
school, my foremost amb[...]evision, and I started to learn
about cameras. At the same time, I
was doing children’s plays in school
holidays and that kept me in there
as far as stage work went.

The thing that was the turning
point in my life, that brought it all
together, happened in 1965. I had
just left high school, and was about
to go on to university, when the
ABC offered me a part in a tele-
vision serial that was going to be
shot o[...]cted by
Ken Hannam, for whom I had
already worked in a television play.
I was only 18, and to go away[...]part series
for children, which was later sold to
the BBC, which repeated it a couple
of years ago. As a result, I am now
getting love-letters from 18-year-
old boys.

Did the opera provide you with the
inspiration to go on to “Band-
stand”?

I did not actually sing in the

opera. The ABC used to do operas
with actors miming opera singers’
voices. It was Hansel and Gretel.
the full Humperdinck opera.
Marilyn Richardson was my[...]ecause you used to sing to
pre-recorded tapes — of your own
voice, of course.

I always wanted to be a singer,
but I di[...]on-
ately, but singing was still good fun.
I sang in a pantomime which led to
me being offered a recording
contract at the same time as Billy
Thorpe. He recorded Poison Ivy[...]ning for actors?

I am all for it. I did not have the
regulation two years at the
National Institute of Dramatic
Artists (NIDA), but I probably had
as much tuition as any of my con-
temporaries who went there — like
Helen[...]itzpatrick and
Judy Morris. I fluked some work at
the Old Tote and found myself with
the same actors and workshops and
classes that they had, for in those
days the NIDA students used to be
understudies for all the produc-
tions at the Old Tote.

Kate Fitzpatrick always reminds
me that the first time she went on
stage she was my understudy. I had
lost my voice when I was doing
Peter Pan in the daytime, and The

Interviewed by Tom Ryan

School Mistress at n[...]didn’t you just mime her voice?

Because it was the same day that
a broken rope made me fall five
metres to the floor. That was awful,
but it gave me one of my better ad
libs. I dragged myself to my feet
and told the world, “Even fairy dust
isn’t foolproof.”

Do you have a preference for stage
work over the other areas of
performance?

No, because film is still a com-
parative novelty for me. I have only
done a handful of films, whereas I
have done dozens of plays. But I
would hate to think I was never
goin[...]again. There is
something fantastic about playing
in front of an audience. I sang for
25,000 people at the Myer Music
Bowl earlier this year — it was
wonderful. You don’t often get
that, but the 1700 at Her Majesty’s
for They're Playing Our S[...]udiences that responses
vary so much, even though the
performance remains constant. I
think that is a c[...]are sometimes
giving and sometimes not.

Yes, but in theatre they, generally
anyway, observe a decorum that one
does not get in cinemas. How do
they communicate to you?

You can hear every gasp and sigh
— you can feel the tensions. Don’t
tell me I am imagining it.

No.[...]g to find out what it is
like. Is it like sitting in a living
room, relating to one person and
trying[...]I feel just like
a radar.

As one primarily bred in theatre,
how important for you is the limita-
tion on rehearsal time in television?

Trial by Marriage is unusual, in
that it was done with a live audience
and in a very regimented way. We
started rehearsals on the Monday,
and went through to Saturday from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. On the
Saturday we rehearsed all day, and
then the audience came in and we
recorded it that night.

It is true that for a Crawfords
kind of production conditions are
more rushed, and that y[...]a certain facility for
coping. Having done dozens of
Homicides, Division 4s and
Matlocks in the early stages of my
career, I have developed a certain
facility for that kind of thing. I

CINEMA PAPERS April — 121

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (18)[...]laide Tonight, publicizing Stork; Weaver as
Masha in the Nimrod's production ofThe Seagull ;
Jack Alien, Sean Scully, Weaver and Gordon Glen-
wright in the ABC 3 Be Our Guest{,' Weaver and Little
Pattie sing “Let’s Get Together on Bandstand m
1966; Weaver in One and One Makes Two; Weaver
interviews Burt Lancaster for Wtllesee; Weaver and
Peter Sumner in Trial By Marriage.

imagine people who have only had
the luxury of working on film, or in
subsidized theatre, would find it
fairly frustrating. But, in a way, it is
a good training ground.‘

I haven’t done a soapie like The
Restless Years or The Young
Doctors, but I have heard that they
can be[...]than Crawfords, for whom I
must say I have a lot of admiration.
Crawfords have done so much.
They have trained some of our best
people technically: cameramen and
direct[...]te to put soapies down.
because I have such a lot of respect
for the people who work behind the
scenes on them. But that 15 not
the kind of work I want to go into
now.

Can you identify any particular
sources of inspiration or models that
have influenced you as an actress?

When you are heavily involved in
your own work, you are, to a large
extent, cut off from what you can
learn from others. That kind of
learning seems to occur between
heavy jobs. But one of the biggest
influences on me was Judi Dench,
who is just about my favorite
actress, playing Perdita in The
Winter's Tale. It was in 1970. in a
performance by the Royal Shake-
speare Company, for whom she had
also played Viola in Twelfth Night.
Despite the fact that I had been an
actress for eight years,[...]sible.

I had always tried to hide my
personality in a part, submerge it
completely, like Alec Guinness
does. But the example that Judi
Dench set provided a great turn[...]yourself
copying someb0dy’s mannerisms or
style of performance?

Ifl could, I am sure I would, but
t[...]most accents, if
I work hard at them and do a lot of
research, but, when it comes to
imitating other p[...]out.

Do you have preferences for
different types of characters or
roles?

No. I never want to either,
because to me one of the best things
about my work is doing as many
differ[...]ular, because you can do
six different characters in a year,
rather than being stuck in the one.

Your ability to take and make a

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (19)[...]How do you go about preparing a
character?

It is the usual obvious things that
you learn at drama scho[...]g; I am very ordered
that way.

How important are the lines as they
have been written?

I would rather[...]lines than clumsy,
banal lines. But I think a lot of
actors use that as a cop-out. I think
most actors[...]ne sound good. I see
a bad script as a challenge. The
script is something you can get
around, I think, if you have a lot of
truth.

What does having “truth” mean?

I mea[...]und a
script if you can act.

Do you ever dislike the characters
you play, or do you always have to
fi[...]g them very
much. And that comes naturally. A
lot of drama teachers say you
should try to like the person you’re
playing. That is often difficult,[...]be fairly
easy to summarize your persona as
that of a girl every mother would
like to have as a daughter, forever
cheerful and able to perk others up
in a crisis . . .

I don’t know about the tuck-shop
mothers. A tuck-shop mother at
school u[...]to say, “That one, she’s as
cute as a hatful of razor blades.”

Outside the tuck-shop and your
pram, though, I think my first[...]o think it is more com-
plicated. There is a kind of neurosis
that seems to hover around many of
the characters you play, like Joan in
“Trial by Marriage” . . .

I think with Joan it is more a
psychosis. But the character I have

been playing for two years Il0W,§ play, or heard of you playing, a

Sonya in They're Playing Our
Song, is definitely neurotic.[...]I bring to every charac-
ter. Someone like Josie in Caddie
isn’t at all neurotic. She is very well
balanced. She falls in love with a
sailor who makes her pregnant; it is
the 1930s and the poor girl has to
get an abortion. She has such an[...]she keeps going. I
think Josie has great strength of
character; no neurosis there. I only
wish I were[...]ed.

Perhaps then she belongs to another
category of characters you seem to
play: that of the victim. Like the
wives in “Do I Have to Kill My
Child?” and “Petersen” .

You are right, I think. There is
an aspect of me, a kind of vulner-
ability, I cannot help bringing to
nearly[...]y to hold it down. What I
was urged to give Diane in Do I
Have to Kill My Child? was that
vulnerable g[...]p people to identify with
her, to sympathize with the kind of
hostility a woman (or a man, too)
can feel toward[...]to a baby. It was
a great ordeal.

I really love the wife in Petersen.
I styled her on someone very close
to m[...]character rang very true to
me. Yet, I still have the occasional
woman coming up and saying I
have done a great damage to the
cause of feminism by playing a
woman who is downtrodden like
that. I think that is very stupid.

Are you conscious of being used in
particular roles because you have
certain charact[...]appropriate to those roles?

Probably, yes —— the “vulner-
able‘, lovable thing”. I think I a[...]that too. They
wanted people to like her but, if the
woman had been a bit less sym-
pathetic, the character balance
would have been off. If she had[...]ll; I am just
sitting down.

I think that is what the appeal
was. I know that the scene in the
first series in the restaurant where I
beat up the waiter is very funny:
suddenly two grown men who are
more than six feet tall are terrified
of me. That is pretty funny.

I don’t think I have[...]ona seems too aggressive for
that, too strong for the malw you
would have to play opposite?

Really’? That’s great! I am told
that one of the most appealing
things about me is that I am so
boyish. A lot of people laugh at
that, but, when I think about it,[...]sn’t it? And I have always
wanted to play Viola in Twelfth
Night, which of course is the one
where she is disguised as a boy.

I guess I h[...]hing vivacious and brilliant,
and I am not that.

The press is not all that bad, but I
still get idiot reporters saying,
“Don’t you get sick of playing
dumb blondes?” I don’t play dumb
blon[...]eat not to

care whether people like you. That
is the best way to deal with the
press when you are an actor, I
think, because then it will never get
in the way of your work.

But the press has been, in one sense,
very kind to you . . .

It has been ju[...]s
kind. I can remember every nasty,
unjust or bad review I have had,
every time I have been misquoted.

But the articles that were written
about you while you were in Mel-
bourne were all positive . . .

Yes, but they were all deserved.
Of course . . .

But there is a terrible thing to
co[...]ink
maybe he is brighter than you’d
thought. On the other hand, more
soberingly, comes the thought that
perhaps he is wrong, after all.

The advertising industry generally
seems to find your[...]exploitable. Do you ever feel that it
has got out of your control?

Not altogether. I always have the
power to say no, and I do knock
back a couple of television
advertisements a week. But if some-
thing seems interesting to me, I will

do it — like the Mad Max 2
advertisement. I think they asked
me to do that because they believed
that a lot of young women (my
age!) would think, “There’s a
normal, sane, cheerful, pleasant-
natured mother of one who likes a
film I thought was just a ruffia[...]”

I generally avoid television
advertisements. In fact, I hate
them. But I don’t think the Mad
Max 2 one will do me any harm. I
defy anyone to take me to the
Trade Practices people and claim
that what I said was misleading.

So, it is the product that controls
your choice here . . .

Yes. I have turned down offers
that would have meant a lot of
money. In Melbourne Cup Week
last year, I was offered unbou[...]peal to me at all, so I said no. I
hate that kind of exposure. Money
matters to me, but it does not
ma[...]evision advertisements,
though.

But you do a lot of voice-overs, and
one is forever hearing you on ra[...]ount voice-overs because
there is now an industry in my
voice. God knows why. I think I
have a terrible bloody voice. There
are two girls in Melbourne and a
girl in Sydney who sound more like
me than I do. I listen[...]o, it’s not you. It’s so and so?’

A couple of years ago, I went
into a radio studio to do a job[...]Weaver voice)”.
I said, “Why did you put this in the
script?” and they said, “We
thought you wouldn’t be available.
We were told at the last minute you
were, and that was the script we
were going to use.”

We had just started recording,
when they stopped the tape and
said, “No, no, no! That’s not it.”[...]you mean —
that’s not it? This is it. This is the
Jacki Weaver voice.” We got by,
but what they w[...]’t what they got.

I have also done quite a lot of
putting voices to models, though I
changed my voice a little bit, made
it deeper. I used to do a lot of child-
ren’s voices, too, and quite a few
chara[...]t it is not imitative.

You must come under a lot of pres-
sure to promote the film you are
in . . .

Yes. It is really hard work —

harder than making the actual film.
You really have to be pleasan[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (20)Jacki Weaver

the time. You press a button and
then you become a charming,
interesting person. That is the best
sort of publicity the film can get,
and you want the film to do well
because it means more work for
yo[...]l it when
you have been connected with it,
unless of course you are just com-
pletely incapable of doing so.

On the other hand, the press
often uses situations like that to get
at y[...]I
really have given up caring. There
are a couple of days every so often
when I want to get under the
blankets and just stay there, but
generally speaking I can cope. I
fend them off.

I had 14 interviews in one day
recently and every one of them
broached the subject of my
personal life. If you are in a suffi-
ciently anaesthetized frame of
mind, you can cope with that. But I
have been an interviewer myself.
For a year I worked on the Wil-
lesee program, and learned a lot
from that a[...]Caddie {Helen Morse) and Josie (Jacki
Weaver) in Donald Cr0mbie's Caddie.

less of how good an interviewer you
might have been, you[...]e they thought I
would be a good interviewer, but
the only way they could have
known that was because I had once
been interviewed by Willesee in

connection with Caddie. ‘After-
wards they sai[...]eally good inter-
views, I think. But I got a lot of flak
from the press for that too, because

a lot of them jealously guard their
domain. They like to c[...]t is
entirely false, because most people

writing in newspapers nowadays
are practically illiterate; they are
terrible.

What kind of strategy did you use
for interviews?

I knew that I had to be light and,
because most of the people I inter-
viewed were charming, pleasant
and agreeable and I was giving
them the same sort of feedback, it
made for an interesting sort of

parlor discussion. There were areas

Dolly (Jacki Weaver), the brothel madame,
and Piggatt (Michael Long), the puritan cop.
Squizzy Taylor, directed by Kevin Do[...]been good for Cinema Papers, but
for television, in prime time,
nobody wanted to know. They cut it
all out.

Do you find any problems being a
woman in what is still essentially a
male industry?

No. I[...]lay men’s parts. IfI
were, say, a businesswoman in
advertising, my being a woman
might well hold me back. But in my
particular work, I haven’t been
conscious of it as a problem.

In your experience in film, have
there been any particular working
env[...]ence, even though it
appears that I did so little in it. I
did lots more than the release print
shows.

A lot of my stuff hit the floor,
and Peter Weir, who is such a kind
soul, said to me, “The reason your
stuff isn’t there is not because it[...]ot matter to me
because I got six fantastic weeks of
watching Peter work and being in
Clare, which is a wonderful place.
That is a film I most enjoyed just
for the atmosphere, just for being in
It.

I like working with Tim Bur-
stall. There wa[...]s
good, too. I have a favorite story
connected to the opening scene in
Petersen, which people who have
only seen it on t[...]wn my arm and then on to
my stomach to a close-up of my
caesarian scar, and then there is a
cut to an[...]ed to lay music over it.
He was calling down from the
camera encouraging me: “All right
darling, c’mon darling, give him a
hug, c’mon! Let’s see some of that
old suburban ecstasy. C’mon sweet-
heart.[...]ked working with Kevin Dobson
who gives you a lot of freedom.

Concluded on p. 185

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (21)[...]NS
()NE HUNDRED

Susan Tate

arlos Saura was born in Huesca,

Spain, in 1932. Seven years later,

iGeneral Franco’s Falangist army

defeated the Republican armies,

ending the Spanish Civil War and
beginning nearly 40 years of repressive, military
government in Spain and entirely changing its
cultural life. Spain has always had a history of
repressive government, with the establishment of
the infamous tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition
in 1480, a body which functioned spasmodically
into the 1800s, after its initial burst of purges,
eliminating religious heretics and generally
seeing to the morals of the country.

Likewise, the Junta Superior de Censura
Cinematografica (Supreme Board of Film
Censorship), which was established in 1937 by
rebel troops even before Franco came to power,
served after the victory as a way of supervising
the morals and attitudes of the country. It recog-
nized the potential power of the nascent film
industry and set to work to use it as a vehicle to
consolidate the victory by producing national-
istic, reactionary and propagandist cinema.
Typical of films produced at the time was Raza
(Race), made in 1940, directed by Jose Luis
Saenz de Heredia (who was to become the chief
director for the Franquist regime) and written by
Franco under a p[...]this period, many intellectuals and
artists fled the country, rather than stay and try
to work under its repressive laws. Saura was one
of those who grew up under them. The years of
the Republic from 1931-1936 had seen the rapid
growth of the Spanish film inclustrv. with the

-at

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (22)[...]Rflfaela Apamw

Turns One H“"d"ed'

H creation of the first film studios, and the pro-

duction of the first talkies.
Censorship laws and other prohibit[...]nmental bodies under

Franco were responsible for the cessation of this
growth, the stagnation of any creativity and
guaranteed empty cinemas. Not[...]ilm-
makers obliged to make films that glorified the
Franquist state, but, as Germany had strong
commercial interests in Spain and many theatres

- were German-controlled, in the early years after
the Fascist victory they could not afford to be
critical of the Fuhrer either.

A typically repressive government move was
the blacklist drawn up in 1940, which listed
North American actors who had openly
supported the Republic during the war. Their
names could not be used or mentioned publicly.
Ironically, included on the list was Charles
Chaplin, to whom Saura was later[...]l-
dine Chaplin, was to become his ‘muse’ and the
leading actress inthe script had to be

shown by the filmmaker to a board of

censors which could refuse permis-
sion to make the film on the basis of it, or carve
large chunks out of it. Filmmakers virtually
became hirelings of the state.

The first films produced in Allied countries
were not allowed into Spain until 1943. These
were then dubbed in Spanish. (For linguistic uni-
formity, all Spanish and foreign films were
dubbed in Castilian; other national languages
such as Basque were not allowed.) The plots of
foreign films were subject to dramatic changes.
The married couple in John Ford’s Mo ambo
was given a brother and sister relations ip to
excuse the wife’s illicit affaire with another man.

Comme[...]bbing
licences were given to Spanish producers on the

126 — April CINEMA PAPERS

F
er, Fernando {[...]' ’ Mama
Carlos Saura 5
man Gomez).

basis of the quality of their own films, meaning
those which most gratified the regime. Not to be
left out, in 1950 the Catholic Church created its
own National Board of Classification of Spec-
tacles, which introduced a notorious color[...]white.
Red was accorded to those that would place the
viewer in danger of mortal sin.

It was not until the Spanish government
recognized the importance of creating a more
internationally credible cinema t[...]ere given more financial assistance and free-
dom in their work. Spain received its firstjolt to
its esteem in the eyes of the rest of the world
when it was refused admission to the United
Nations in 1946. However, films whose produc-
tion was encouraged by the Government, with a
view to overseas release and its attendant pres-
tige, were often not released in Spain and only
found overseas markets.

Spain saw the establishment of its first official
school for film studies in 1947: the IIEC (Insti-
tuto Investigaciones y Experimentaciones
Cinematografica), which became in 1962 the
EOC (Escuela Oficial de Cinematografica). Its
existence meant that for the first time students
of film could be exposed to foreign films. It was
at the Italian Cinema Week, held in Madrid in
1949. that they had their first taste of neo-
realism, via the Italian films shown there.

arlos Saura graduated from the IIEC
six years after its establishment, in
1952. His filmmaking owes
something to his exposure to neo-
realism at the college. A year before,
three films appeared which also showed the
influence of neo-realism in Spanish film, as
introduced at the college. They were Surcos
(Furrows) by J. A. Niev[...]Amo. Surcos is significant as it was
his approval of it which had the relatively
progressive Garcia Escudero removed fr[...]ion as Under-Secretary for Cinema.

His return to the position from 1963-67 saw a

new liberalism creep back into the film industry,
when he created a new category for subsidy, that
of “special interest” which replaced the old cate-
gory of “national interest”. He also formed the
experimental art cinemas where such films could
be shown. Before that, in 1952, films were class-
ified from 1A to 3. A film’s position on the scale
usually reflected its “national” interest and
would be financed or refused release in Madrid
and Barcelona according to it.

Saura’s first feature film, Los golfos (The

Hooligans), made in 1959 and generally con-
sidered to be the first of the New Wave of
Spanish Cinema, thus beginning Saura’s career
as one of the first Spanish auteur directors, was
originally cl[...]Escudero resumed his position as Under-
Secretary in 1963 that the film could be released.

The film concerns a group of young delin-
quents and their nefarious attempts to get
money. It is typical of films of the period in its
use of youth as a way of expressing ideas that

otherwise would not have got past the censors. *
This was the first of many feature films Saura

was to make, after a period of experimenting
with documentaries, that used filmm[...]e Mama cumple dios anos
(Mama Turns One Hundred), in 1979. It also
dealt with themes that interested Saura on a per-
sonal level: those of childhood and the oneiric

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (23)Saura, Spain and Mama

world in which it is encompassed in later adult
life, concerns which are still present in Mama. It
is typical of the way in which he uses his subject
matter as political symbols and as reflections of
his individual interests, as is also evident in
Mama.

ama Turns One Hundred was

Saura’s entry in the 1979 San

Sebastian Film Festival in

Spain. It was also a highly-

acclaimed entrant in the 1981

Melbourne and Sydney film festivals. The film

was made four years after Franco’s death and

many filmmakers were enjoying the new

freedom that the change of leadership allowed,

making politically-explicit films such as El

deputao (The Congressman) by Eloy de la

.Iglesias, which deals with the persecution

A suffered by a member of the Socialist-Marxist

‘ party from Fascist party members because of his
, homosexuality.

Saura, however, continues t[...]r Fran-
quismo, and because his films are a blend of

ideas not entirely political, which are best
exp[...]debt to Luis Bunuel.

Saura talked about his aims in making Mama
to a reporter at the San Sebastian Festival and
stated that after maki[...]rger,
something that could be geared more towards
the outside”.' He decided to pick up the charac-
ters of a previous film Anna y los lobos (Anna
and the Wolves, 1972) and “see what had
happened to them”? In it he worked with the
same producer, Elias Querejeta,_photographer
Teo[...]plin
and Norman Briskl, whom he has always used.

In these terms, as well as in thematic ones,
there is a continuity and interwea[...]oncerned with making a political
allegory through the characters as in dealing

1. Program of 1979 San Sebastian Film Festival.
2. Ibid.

with the characters as individuals with separate
and private worlds. Anna (Geraldine Chaplin),
of Anna and the Wolves, was the British
governess for the children of a once—wealthy
Spanish family which lives fractiously in a large,
rambling country house in Spain. She returns to
that family with her husband on the occasion of
the Mama’s (Rafaela Aparicio) 100th birthday.

Through setting up this situation, Saura pro-
vides for the occurrence of the elements of
memory and reminiscence in the film, partic-
ularly through Anna, for whom the occasion is
very sentimental, and the Mama, for whom life
in general is laced with sentiment. Anna fondly
remembers the young women as children, for
whom she was governess, and responds to them
accordingly. She also remembers the now
deceased Jose and his military museum,
crammed with uniforms and guns, a more
external reference to the passing of Franco’s
military regime. The reality is that Natalia
(Amparo Munoz) has become a beautiful
seductress, who lasciviously accepts the joint
offered her by Anna’s husband Antonio
(Norman Briski), when, soon after his arrival, he
contemplates the strangeness of the situation he
has walked into.

olitically, Natalia represents the new

liberalism of Spain and greater ’

sexual freedom created by changes in

divorce laws after Franco’s death. 2
On an ind[...]she becomes a A

vehicle for escape and fantasy, the importance of

which, during childhood and in adulthood, is one . .
of Saura’s fascinations. Natalia seduces Antonio F‘
in her fantastic bedroom, a virtual sultan’s tent V

of silks and hashish. Anna’s other ward has
grown[...]her mother, Luchi (Charo Soriano), plots

against the Mama and anticipates her death with
relish. She blatantly asks the Mama at dinner

what she plans to do with the house and the "

estate after her death. Already she and Luchi are
mentally subdividing the land with an eye to
selling it to developers.

A scene which highlights the natures of the
two revolves around the family’s “memory “
box”, a trunk where old clothes and bric-a-brac ;

have been stored. Natalia dips in and finds a
transparent black dress which she wears and
parades in front of Antonio, consolidating the

effect of his seduction the night before. Her 5»
sister instead struts in a military outfit, tapping a

swagger stick in a feisty manner.

Juan (Jose Vivo), one of the Mama’s sons and
Luchi’s husband, has left the household since the

time of Anna and the Wolves, with Amelia the E
cook. His departure is also reflective of the

loosening of marital ties after Franco’s death
and the rush to the divorce courts which ensued.
His affaire with Amelia, especially as she is not
introduced in the film, is another reference to
adult fantasy worlds and the outlet they provide
from domesticity. Antonio’s[...]ne it
when he cannot sleep and Anna keeps pulling the
blankets away from him, grunting contentedly in ,
her sleep. This scene accentuates the eroticism V,

and exotic element of the scene which follows.

With Juan’s departure, and loses death, there
is only one son at home: the pathetic Fernando if
(Fernando Fernan Gomez), who lives in a world 9

of unrealized fantasy. Anna’s return to the house
evokes that period of time for Fernando and the
two eras fuse together in his mind. He recalls his
love for her and is asha[...]trated that he cannot express it. Man’s

dreams of flying are always used to represent a
yearning for the impossible and it is Fernando 3,
who, in some of the most humorous scenes in 7

Concluded on p. 18] if
CINEMA PAPERS Ap[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (24)Is there anything you have not yet
done in the arts that you would like
to do?

No, I don’t th[...],
I only do things because I am asked
to do them. In fact, I have to turn
things down.

Human nature being what it is,
people have it in their minds that I
can do all sorts of things, which I
very often cannot. Once I

. conducted a children’s perfor-

mance of thethe Minneapolis
Symphony Orchestra asked me to
conduct a whole season. I thought

The awqrd-winning_ actor-writer-director talks about[...]m that I loved music too
much for that.

However, in parenthesis, I did
conduct the Philharmonia Orches-
tra in a film, and the first violin
Peter Usrinov as Hercule Poir[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (25)[...]ov

“I have always felt that art, if it is of suf-

ficient quality and is national enough,

wi[...]nducted by many worse”, which I
thought was one of the most flat-
tering things ever said to me.

The first violin’s comment is a
guarded compliment,[...]than writing; I enjoy it very
much. It is a sort of tactical excite-
ment; it does not give you the strat-
egic pleasure of writing something
which is accepted.

I have never regarded myself as a
professional director, in the sense
that I know how to deal with
actors. I know[...], but I
do not have a very developed visual
sense in the case of moving
pictures. I know what can be done,
but I have to stimulate myself in
that sort of way.

I don’t think you can be in two
places at once. You always betray
where you came from and the film
director is rather like a cabinet
minister:[...]may
have grown to directing, but they
never lose the traces of where they
have come from.

I suppose my path has been a
more literary one and therefore, in
the last analysis, I trust a verbal
imagination more[...]hat
can be done.

So, I have never really thought of
myself as a professional director
who is waiting for material. It is a
matter of getting something which
really fires my enthusiasm and I am
capable of doing.

Billy Budd is probably my most
successful[...]emely rigorous because we
were all on board ship. The role of a
captain of a ship and that of a
director of a film are practically
interchangeable. So, when[...]here are we
going now?”, they were asking me
as the skipper as much as the
director. Also, their visual imagina-
tion was automatically stunted by
the narrow possibilities which were
imposed by the fact that we were on
the ship. In other words, if Bach
were suddenly given a romant[...]d not
know where to begin because he did
not live in the same time as Tchai-
kovsky. But if he were reduce[...]have more to contribute as an actor
because I am the type of which
ihere is not a tremendous amount
about. It[...]tly because
people have a more conventional
sense of casting. Poirot has been
very helpful to me becau[...]ough I do other things. And I
would hate to spend the rest of my
time doing nothing but Poirot. At
the same time, I hope I have a
wider range than that. I have
played King Lear twice in the last
two years with some success.

As for writing, I am always
drawn towards the theatre or to
pure literature, more than to films
for roughly the same reasons,
although I have written screen-
pla[...]re important than
he is given credit for, just as the
teacher is much more important in
society than he is given credit for. A
teacher is[...]ted your first film,
“School for Secrets”, at the age of
25, and in a film industry that must
be one of the most precarious in the
world. I am interested in how, at 25,
you got to be directing Ralph Rich-
a[...]r late to ask me. I felt I had
practically missed the bus when 24
arrived and nothing happened.

School for Secrets really hap-
pened because of Felippo del
Giudice, an Italian who had played
an important part in the British
film industry. He was an ebullient

man who was a kind of Sancho
Panza to J. Arthur Rank’s Don
Quixote. T[...]School for Secrets, which was
a big success, for the Air Ministry
really. They wanted to have some-
thing about radar which was on the
same lines as In Which We Serve
or The Way Ahead.

They were such extraordinary
days tha[...]stopped shooting for a
day to allow me to get out of the
army. I had to go to Olympia and
get a nasty suit[...]eant, which was my compensa-
tion for having been in there for
four-and-a-half years and now
facing civvy street. I had to have a
medical and all the things you do
when you get out of the army. And
they actually stopped shooting for a
day which cost us a lot of money.
They were forced to; there was no
way round it because I had started

Peter Ustinov in uniform for Private
Angelo, which he co-directed[...]on temporary leave.

I had to do all my research in
uniform at RAF stations, often get-
ting rooms wh[...]ivate. It was a
very peculiar situation, but then the
military is very odd. I hated every
minute of it, but I never regretted it
because it taught me a great deal. I
knew it would be hysterically funny
in retrospect, even if atrocious at
the time.

It is surprising you have not direc-
ted more films. The three films you
did direct in the 19405, “School for
Secrets”, “Vice Versa”[...]nt that British films
could have made a lot more of. Why
did you limit yourself in this way?

Because I felt the British film
industry was barking up the wrong
tree. They were trying to get advice
from the U.S. — or from Ameri-
cans — on how to break into the
American market. This meant they
got hold of some very third-rate
American advisers to[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (26)[...]nts so we could be
understood. This was precisely the
wrong way of going about it.

I opposed the tendency of trying
to enter the American market with
an amorphous, hybrid product[...]leave
Rome. Stanley Kubrick’: Spartacus. Right:
The Ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) and Lola
Montes (Martine Carole) in Max Ophuls’

have always felt that art, if it is of L0“ M””’“'

sufficient quality and is n[...]le
if everybody had been trying to
speak American in order for the
people in Peoria to understand. The
Beatles proved that when they
broke into the U.S. market. They
did not make any compromise on[...]Quo Vadis and suddenly there
was no looking back in that line.

In fact, you worked in three more or

less ‘sandal and toga’ films in the
1960s: “Quo Vadis” for Mervyn

130 — April CINEMA PAPERS

9

LeRoy, “The Egyptian’ for
Michael Curtiz, and “Spartacus”
for Stanley Kubrick . . .

I think the Americans are the
only people who can do ancient
Roman films for the simple reason
they are like the ancient Romans. If
you go into the Chase National
Bank to get a loan you are taken
into a room with columns of gor-
gonzola and, in the middle of all
this, a furled flag and an eagle
behind him, his feet on the table,
the bank manager is saying, “Why
don’t we go home and continue this
conversation by the atrium and
kick this idea around.” It is the
mixture of extreme relaxation and
formality and majesty whic[...]ibly well. Everybody
got riled when Robert Taylor in

Quo Vadis said: “Why don’t you
bring Priscilla and the kids over for
the weekend?”, but that is pre-
cisely what a Roman of those times
would have said.

What differences di[...]ck I cannot really speak
about because it was one of his first
films. Hehad done two brilliant
films b[...]le and he was sud-
denly launched into this world of
super productions. So he was rather
subdued.

I said in my book that at that
moment he had none of the virtues
but also none of the vices of youth.
One did not know how old he was.
He was an[...]very
much.

As for LeRoy, I was able to tell
him the other day that the French
had just had a retrospective of his
films at the Cinematheque in Paris
and that several eminent French
critics had praised him for his style.
He took his cigar out of his mouth
and said, “What style, for Christ
sak[...]ost an insult to have
himself loaded with style.

The crowning film of your career,
and indeed almost the crowning
experience of films in its decade,
was Max Ophuls’ “Lola Montes”.
What can you say about working
with Ophuls?

The first night of the film was an
absolute disaster: the film broke
twice. But Ophuls rather enjoyed it.
H[...]e it

seemed almost too good to be true.

I wrote the obituary for The
Guardian on Ophuls and in it I said
he was a man of such perversity
that he was capable of making the
smallest wristwatch in the world
and then hanging it on a cathedral
so that passers-by could see the
time. He was a mischievous and
delightful man. I[...]with him.

Ophuls had Cinemascope
imposed on him in that film and he
did not like it because he loved the
incredible intimacy — I mean
almost embarrassing intimacy ——
of the screen. He said to me with a
mischievous look, “Peter, I have
found a way of defeating Cinema-
scope today.” I thought, my G[...]reat deal.

On Lola Montes, I had to do my
scenes in French, German and
English. People forget Lola Montes
was done in three separate ver-
sions, one after the other, so there
was no possibility of only doing one
take; there had to be a minimum of
three. It was ridiculous, because
Martine Carrol[...]ehind my head. I had to
move my head according to the
direction of her eyes so she could
see the board. I asked her to make a
slight gesture when[...]ished
talking because I could not recog-
nize it [the way she spoke].

One day, Ophuls had me do a
four-and-a-half minute take. I was
the ringmaster and had to shout as
all sorts of horses and things and a
dwarf moved past. In the middle of
one of the many takes I suddenly

got hoarse, and I sent the dwarf for
a glass of water. He was surprised
as it was not in text, but he went
away and got it. At the end, Ophuls
came to me with a slightly res[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (27)l ' ‘I

The glittering occasion of the London
Film Festival's 25th jubilee brought a
singular honor to the Australian cinema:
Gallipoli was chosen for the gala open-
ing, in the presence of the Prince and
Princess of Wales, five weeks before the
film was to open in London's West End.

British critics, predictably bemused by
the sprinting sequences, keep compar-
ing Gallipoli to Hugh Hudson’s Chariots
of Fire, but it is closer to All Quiet on the
Western Front. Of course, the script
takes the easy (though historically ac-
curate) option of blaming the British
commander for the battle‘s tragedy; had
he been less stupid, the Anzacs may
have survived, and won. The ethics of
winning — that is, the ethics of war — are
never even questioned.

With the period setting, the attitudes of
the period dominate the film's emotional
world. But Gallipoii leaves a memory of
Russell Boyd's fine camerawork flatter-
ing the handsome horses and men,
flashing smiles and sunny skies; and of
one heart-rending moment as the
soldiers festoon the sandbags along their
trench with personal possessions which,
at the sound of the attack, sldnly _ rn into
treasured mementoes of the dead.

Peter Weir's London Film Festival
triumph[...]s: John Duigan’s nostalgic
yet quizzical Winter of Our Dreams;
Michael B|akemore’s disarmingly candid
Personal History of the Australian Surf,
where he establishes himself as the
perennial “straight poofter”; Gillian
Armstro[...]etter,
which was paired off with my favorite film
of the year, David Bradbury’s Public
Enemy Number One[...]t, Cinema Papers, No. 32,
p. 142).

Gratifyingly, the best of the films New
Zealand showed at Cannes, smash
Palace[...]nd all who caught its
single screening liked it.

In common with every other festival,
the London Film Festival receives agreat
deal of criticism from various quarters.
With apparent an[...]rectify everything that
could possibly be faulted in connection
with their programming. Too many big-[...]stablished directors’? Well,
there is a section of the Festival devoted
to New Directors. Too many films which
reflect the taste of the middle-class,
middle-aged Establishment? Answer:[...]ough avant-garde works? Well, try
to separate all the British and all the
American films into mainstream and in-
dependent cinema, and keep one‘s
fingers crossed that enough of the in-
dependents should turn out to be avant-
garde as well.

Above all, never let it be said that the
Festival neglects the Third World. This
year it had six films from Africa — of
these, Trances, directed by Ahmed El
Maanouni, was the most praised — and
12 from Asia. After all, they make more
films in Asia than in the rest of the world
put together, and with two new films by

LO[...]il Taylor

“iii

Ian McKeIIar as D. H. Lawrence in C /rrislopher Miles’/ilm of the writer's life, Priest of Love.

Mrinal Sen, a Lester Peries from Sri
La[...]were six
films from Latin America — never mind
the quality, just feel the revolutionary fer-
vor.

Of course, the Controversy section
consists of films difficult to classify, and
easy to misconstrue. It may be a practical
way of labelling, like the “Miscellaneous"
drawer of any filing clerk. And yet, how
can such disparate[...]do with atom
bombs is necessarily controversial: The
Day After Trinity, by John Else, about the
work of J. Robert Oppenheimer and his
team, is history by now. But then, Shuji
Terayama’s The Fruits of Passion,
perhaps because a semi-Western cast
incl[...]under
Controversy. To accommodate such

films as The Fruits of Passion, Mauro
Bolognini‘s The Lady of the Camellias,
Bertrand Blier’s Beau pere or Frank
Perry’s Mommie Dearest, the London
Film Festival will need to invent yet
anot[...]ould be,
simply, Moneyspinnersl

British — Best of. . . ?

When the London Film Festival began,
its avowed aim was to bring the best
foreign films, particularly winners from
international festivals, to London. But
when the British cinema Iurched from
crisis to crisis, the Festival has increas-
ingly accepted the provision of a show-
case for new British films as its duty and
included them in the program, whether
they reached the highest international
standards or not.

Some British productions can of
course stand up to any comparison, and
cannot be[...]h have broken
through international barriers; but the
only feature film of this class had already
been seen at Cannes: Ken Loach’s
Looks and Smiles. But neither the critical
esteem it achieved in Cannes, nor its

success in London, has achieved cinema
distribution for it.[...]vision — Adrina, directed
by Bill Forsyth, with the supernatural
element so dear to BBC-Scotland, and[...]eenplay — Looks and Smiles too is
going back on the shelf, awaiting its
television broadcast.

Two fi[...]Burning an illusion, had been shown at
Edinburgh in August. They were aided by
the BFI Production Board, whose
finances are on a much smaller scale
than the Australian Film Commission's;
the result is that their films look as if they
were made to order for the “alternative
festival circuit" of Edinburgh, Mannheim,
Rotterdam and so on, and ten[...]complicated time-
structure to avoid that bugbear ofthe
bourgeois cinema", plain linear
narrative. Noneth[...]finer
points, even apart from its worthy
ideology of drawing parallels between
Irish rule in Ulster and the male domina-
tion endured by lrish women.

There are some excellent scenes,
mostly location shooting (in more than
one sense of the word) in Belfast, and,
towards the end, the family relationships
emerge with increasing sensitivity. But it
has many faults as well, which all stem
from the script. The photography is more
than competent throughout, and some of
the acting catches the-mood, as well as
the intonation, of militantly lrish speech
patterns.

By contrast, B[...]director, contrives to present a
radical subject in a conventional, almost
soap-opera format. The heroine, a
British-born colored girl, starts with the
morality and expectations of middle-
class British society, only to find that
these attitudes and aspirations are not
shared by the young men of her world.
Firstly, circumstances force her to look
for her roots in African culture and racial
consciousness, which develops her
dignity and strength.

In spite of slight faults, Burning an illu-
sion brings out the relevant emotional
and social issues without overt comment
or proselytizing.

The British premiere given special
prominence, by being chosen to close
the Festival, was Priest of Love, directed
by Christopher Miles from Alan Plater's
screenplay, based in turn on Harry T.
Moore's biography of D. H. Lawrence. As
with so many British productions, the
cast of established theatrical stars (Ian
McKellen, Janet Suzman, Penelope
Keith) do their utmost, but the script has
a numbing banality, in spite of the juicy
literary scandals of Lawrence's life, and
the direction has all the verve of a
metronome.

As shown in Ken Russell's Women in
Love, Lawrence is the one writer whose
works can sustain an imag[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (28)[...]ell could have handled his life as
well. instead, the passions of Lawrence's
life and the tragedy of his death, at the
age of 45, are all presented in the golden
glow of an aperitif commercial.

The documentaries, however, were of
a remarkably high standard. Even
though it may have been better suited
under the heading of Controversy, The
Animals Fllm, written and directed by
Victor Schonfeld, is outstanding in every
way. It covers one of the most debated is-
sues in Britain: the treatment accorded
by people to the other animals. The film
first shows the misuse of animals as pets.
then their abuse in factory farming, their
torture in laboratory experiments, and
the deliberate encouragement of cruelty
in such traditional sports as foxhunting,
deer shoot[...]sing. Well-
structured and thoroughly researched,
the film is as good as its footage, some of
it shot in secret, possibly allows. While it
may help the Animal Liberation Front,
whose campaign the film supports, it is
also good cinema.

Another documentary. So That You
Can Live, made by the Cinema Action
collective, follows the life of a Welsh
family through five years of economic
and political change. Another dimension
is added by linking the family’s attitudes
to those of the 19th Century Welsh work-
ing class, and the Evening institute and
Worker's Library movement which
characterized the previous generations.
In spite of occasionally confusing
flashbacks, and its rather random inter-
cutting of the general with the intimate,
So That You Can Live is a remarkable
experiment, testing to the limit the
honesty possible in a documentary, and
accepting the process of filmmaking as a
factor of change in the family's life.

A last-minute addition came from Lutz
Becker, whose The Double-headed
Eagle, shown in 1973, established him as
one of the major figures in the historic
documentary. (Becker had also co-
operated with Philippe Mora on
Swastika.) His latest film, Lion of Judah,
also took several years to research,
collage, edit and provide with a commen-

The history of a Welsh family through five years of economic and political change: So That You Can Li[...]PAPERS

tary. Becker’s basic technique is still the
same: he uses the original, contem-
porary newsreels and propaganda films
to show events; but junking the original
soundtracks. Instead, he adds commen-
tary in which he is not ashamed to show
hindsight, as well as music, to deepen
the meaning of his images.

In Lion of Judah, he uses the
recordings that an anthropologist friend
made of Ethiopian folk music in the
1960s. Musso|ini's campaign to annex
Ethiopia in 1936 is shown as an at-
tempted genocide of unmitigated cruelty.
The newsreels showing the Italian ad-
vance are actually seen from the point of
view of their victims, and fascinating
footage which seems to come from Haile
Selassie's private records illustrates the
Emperor’s brave but doomed resistance.

The most moving moment of the dis-
cussion, and possibly of the entire
Festival, came when a member of the
audience thanked Lutz Becker for the
compassion and dignity his film dis-
played towards the people of Ethiopia.

Even apart from Becker's co-
production, German films appeared to
advantage in each Festival section.
Volker Sch|ondorff’s The Forgery,
another last-minute addition, aroused
the most interest: it examines a German
journalist's confusion in the civil war of
Lebanon —— it hardly matters whether a
few years ago, or in the present.

Among the New Directors section,
Percy Adlon’s Celeste, w[...]y Sohrab Shahid Saless, came on video
only. It is the most visually ambitious of
Saless’ films so far, and as he has
already collected a solid corps of British
admirers, a large-screen showing would
ha[...]Reinhard Hauff‘s Endstatlon lrelhelt lost
even the pun of the title in the translation
(in English, it is called Slow Attack) and
the sub-titles lack the subtlety of
dialogue which, in German, establishes
the complex characters. The London

.*‘t“

One of the finds of Cannes I 981: Percy AIdon’s Celeste.

audience was left with an above-average
popular thriller, without the philosophical
undertones.

The Controversy section also included
Frank Ripploh's[...]rte (No Mercy No Future) by Helma
Sanders-Brahms: the latter won the BFI
Film Award for 1981 as “the most original
and imaginative film introduced by the
National Film Theatre during the year”.
This is the first time since the Award’s in-
auguration that it was won by a woman.
The jury described Die beruhrte as

“a daring, imaginative and moving

portrait of a schizophrenic woman,

which questions society's definitions of
madness and exposes its intolerance

towards those beyond its under-
standing".

Multiple Choices

In keeping with the London Film
Festival tradition, most foreign film[...]be happier to
choose more than one film, but, all the
same, it adds a pleasant, personal note
to be res[...]efore,
during and after its screening — and for
the director, should he choose to come.

Had I seen Miklos Jancso‘s The
Tyrant’s Heart, I may have chosen it, if
only b[...]eals,
and this is his most complex and
emblematic in a long time. However, my
nominee, Duty Fre[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (29)[...]bout visas and regulations about
citizenship blur the borderline between
right and wrong for their vict[...]can handle
serious subjects lightly.

Apart From The Films

All in all, the Festival should not be
criticized for any of its programming, as It
would only result in 20 more films being
added to an already overcrowd[...]ism should be (or
must be) directed at its venue. The
National Film Theatre is far too small for
a festival for the 10 million inhabitants of
London: not only its auditoria, but the
foyers, bars and other facilities all
become squalid half-way through the
day.

The present system of a few (eight, to
be precise) forays into Leicester Square
on Sunday mornings, or up the stairs to
the Queen Elizabeth Hall, may relieve the
congestion a little, but without adding
giamor. A[...]itional publicity to
justify some investment from the film
industry or the distributors; a larger
theatre would make it- possible to
accommodate the larger public which is
frustrated by the present system of
preferential booking for British Film
institute members.

Then, there may be room in the NFT —
even if only in the smaller NFT-2 — for
press conferences. Now, dir[...]nd that their only contact with
their audience or the press is limited to a
discussion after the screening. This is
sometimes cut to 10 or even fi[...]saying: "We must leave now,
but you can continue the discussion in
the foyer” - that is, in the middle of
hundreds trying to get in or out, queue-
ing at three box-offices and four toilets.
Any discussion in such a place creates a
traffic jam rather than a more subtle
understanding of a director’s work. A
skilled journalist can alw[...]t an
audience reaction to a new work. So,
even if the idea of moving to the heart of
London continues to meet resistance, it

should be possible to make time for
proper press conferences in London, as
at any other proper festival.

Even if two hours were set aside each
day, in the smaller of the two theatres, it
would only mean a reduction of 19 films.
Out of more than 130, this does not seem
to be an irredeemable loss; and perhaps
the Festival would be less like a factory

with films[...]on day and night shifts.
Mari Kuttna

Animation

The Festival's Animation section
continued its tradition of cramming into
two programs an admirable and
numerically limited selection of "the best
of" world and British output. Forty films
were screened, ranging in length from 13
30-second British commercials to t[...]tful and deceptively
simple Canadian film History of the
World in Three Minutes Flat — proving
that it is breathl[...]winner at Ottawa 1980, Mills‘ mad-cap
rush from the Beginning to the End was
warmly received by the audience
attending the gala opening of Peter
Weir’s Gailipoli.

At the 1980 Zagreb Festival the inter-
national Association of Animated Film-
makers (ASIFA) agreed on a redefinition
of “animation" — from the old “frame-by-
frame" to “the creation of moving images
through the manipulation of all varieties
of techniques apart from live-action
methods”. Thi[...]date such new techniques as com-
puter animation. The 11 films in the world
program, selected from entries in the
1981 Annecy Festival, included a Polish
film which offended animation purists
and inspired the Annecy Jury to award it
the Grand Prix: Zbigniew Rybczynski‘s
eight-minute Tango. it pushes ASlFA's
definition to the limits.

Flybczynski uses individual photo-
graph[...]to create pixiliated, but
not quite, live-action. The film opens on a
room. A ball bounces through the
window and a boy climbs through to
retrieve it. A woman enters cradling a
baby, then sits at the table and nurses it.
As she stands and leaves, a[...]side door carrying a package. While
he is placing the package on top of the
wardrobe, the bail bounces through the
window and the boy climbs through to
retrieve it. When the man leaves by
another door, a thief lurking at the
window steals the package. As he is
leaving, the woman cradling the baby
returns until some 36 characters
crowd into the room, wordiessiy perform
some private motion, then leave — only
to return almost immediately and repeat
the same action exactly: a naked woman
dressing; a ma[...]ts and
flexes his muscles; a couple makes love
on the bed; a baby's nappy is changed;
an old woman rest[...]A rhythmic tango melody by Janusz
Hajduk provides the metre for this
superb, surreal dance of everyday life.
The State-room scene in A Night at the
Opera is similar; but Tango is not played
for laughs.

At the Zagreb Festival, the emerging
Josko Marusic, from the Zagreb Film
Studio, won second prize for Fisheye.[...]and hyperactive
cartoon recounts yet another day of life
in a tower block. Little figures scurry
about the cross-section of the building —
the main communication channels being
the lift and the sewer.

The activities are depressingiy routine
and occasionally repetitive, like the
naked girl lying on the bed waiting for a
man who peels away layer upon layer of
clothing. Some are blissfully ironic, like
the man who deviously conceals his
money in an open wail-safe behind a
painting, only to have a gaggle of
chortling thieves pitter-patter away with
the painting. And some are tinged with
despair: a tenant who fails to wake up is
rushed away in a coffin by the squad; a
character paces in a room and bleeds
into the toilet; a man threatens to jump
and does so; a child searches for its
mother. Toward evening the workers

return and pack into the lift. At night, all
except one sit isolated in their rooms
watching the same television program.
The loner locks himself in the lift’ and

screams.
Two films touched upon the subject of

I 981 London Film Festival

the aged. The first, from The
Netherlands, was Paul Driessen‘s dis-
passionate and fataiistic Het treinhuisje
(Home on the Rails), a black comedy
about two pensioners taking tea in a
room. Every hour, when the cuckoo
strikes, their routine is interrupted by a
frantic thumping on the door. The
woman opens it and a squirrel leaps in
and flattens itself against the wall. When
the opposite door is opened, a train roars
through the house. Driessen‘s finely-
lined figures, cool pastel colors and wry
humor are contrasted with the lumpy
characters, some running gags with the
cuckoo clock and a mute tragedy when
the old man lies across the rails after his
sackfui of gold has been stolen by claim-
jumpers.

The second film, Birgitta Jansson’s
Semesterhemmet (The Summer Camp),
won public and critics’ prizes at Annecy
and was the Festival program’s sole clay
animation film. it[...]son’s eye for character is
sensitively realized in the figurines‘
modelling, movement and gesture, and
is charmingly enhanced by the idea of
providing her characters with actual
voices recorded at a Swedish summer
camp in 1980.

Although the Festival was not provided
with a subtitled print, the documentary
technique is sufficiently atmospheric to
raise the issue of verisimiiitude — an
issue which is succinctly and plausibly
resolved.

Ferenc Rofusz’s A legy (The Fly), from
Hungary's renowned Pannonia Film
Studi[...]as a
masterpiece. Told subjectively and
drenched in golden monochrome, the
artwork effectively simulating wide-angle
distortion, it is about a fly which senses
the approach of autumn and, seeking
refuge, buzzes into a farmhou[...]ly an irritated and unseen
human pursuer launches the fly on a
frantic bid for escape and survival.

The film excited spontaneous
applause and won the Best Film Award at
Ottawa 1980, then went on to win the
Oscar for the Best Animated Short Film
of 1981. While these are early days for its
inclusion in an Animation Pantheon, A
Iegy is nevertheless tec[...]and engagingiy
witty.

Compared with these films, the six
selections from North America were
mostly parochial and nostalgic. in
George Griffin's Flying Fur, a strike by
the mice at ACME Film Productions

Simulated wide-angle distortion: Ferenc Rofuszk The Fly.

CINEMA PAPERS April — 133

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (30)[...]m Festival

provokes a chase by their colleagues, the
cats. The film unintentionally captures
the drift of the North American entries
since, as a homage, it uses the
soundtrack of the 1944 Hanna-Barbera
cartoon for MGM Putting on the Dog.
The other American entry, Barrie Nel-
son's Opens Wedneedey, wasn't any
more promising. it turns on the idea of a
theatre producer rehearsing his cast of
shapes and characters to a colorful floral
finale[...]ed by such lines as,
“Excuse me. have you heard of Stanis-
lavsi<y or Woody Allen?” from the
theatre's interfering cleaning lady.

Opens Wednesday was awarded the
jury prize at Ottawa '80 and the Grand
Prix at the 1981 ASlFA Festival in New
York.

The four Canadian entries were better.
Winning a Special Jury Prize at Annecy,
Frederic Back's Crac is the story of a
handcrafted rocking chair from the
moment the carpenter fells a tree (hence
the onomatopoeic title) in a small
farming community in 19th Century
Quebec, through succeeding generat-[...]fields
and lifestyles. to its last resting place in
the city's Museum of Modern Art where it
is used by one of the attendants. The set-
piece rural wedding reception, where the
blue-shadowed revellers swirl to
Quebecoise folk music. is joyfully
repeated in the darkened museum. The
rocking chair is once again the centre of
attraction and it whirls the sterile
abstracts back to a richer, more un-
equi[...]ast Sing, from
international Ftocketship Ltd, won the
prize for a Film for Children at Annecy.
Burrowed away behind the razor-sharp
lines and flat color areas of conventional
cartooning is a surreal behind-the-
scenes look at showbusiness. Toledo
Mung Beast, half-man half-cephalopod.
lazily performs the laid-back Willie
Mabon blues number, "|'m Mad", on a
baby grand for Vern and his pet cactus.
In an adjacent, modishly-furnished
loungeroom, a chicken roasts a chicken
over a candle, Black Ear the Dog sits
frozen with his scotch and a poodle leaps
about blowing a cool sax. When Toledo
finishes and tosses the question, “What
do you think'?", the room does a Dali by
obligingly melting.

Crac and Sing Beast Sing
demonstrate the Capabilities of Canada's
emerging independent animation
industry, though the National Film Board
continued to reinforce its so[...]with two superbly-crafted films. Sheldon
Cohen's The Sweater, from a story by
Roch Carrier, is a charming reminisc-
ence about how, in the winter of 1946 in
the small Quebec community of Ste
Justine, a 10-year-old boy faces his life's[...]ite and blue French
Canadian hockey sweater, with the
famous Number 9 on the back, becomes
threadbare and his mother buys a new
one by mail-order. When the sweater
arrives, the boy finds it is not the familiar
French Canadian Number 9, but the blue
of the rival Toronto Maple Leaf team. He
throws a tantrum, to little avail. The boy is
doomed to go down to the village rink in
his new Toronto Maple Leaf sweater and
be rejected by all his friends wearing the
French Canadian Number 9. The village
curate pronounces him a rebel and
sends him to church to repent. “I asked
God", recalls the older and wiser
narrator, "to send a hundred mill[...]o eat up my Toronto Maple Leaf
sweater."

Clearly the best of the North American
entries, however, was Clorinda War[...]after her sudden death by two fellow
animators at the NFB, Lina Gagnon and
Suzanne Gervais. it is a film of simple.
mutable beauty. Lines like vapor trails,
pulsating with a life of their own, swirl in
constant flux against a background of
pastel shades to momentarily suggest an
image — a landscape at sunrise, a man
and a woman, the birth of a child —
before dissolving in a melange of
rippling line and soft hues, thus unfolding
the idea of perpetual creation. Merging
with these transitory[...]t Annecy and, together with
Tango and A legy, was the highlight of
London's World Program.

The influence of the peace movement
and the concern of the Committee for
Nuclear Disarmament were evident in the
Festival's British Program. Ofthe 15 films
and 13 advertisements screened to an
audience composed largely of members
of the local industry, four films were
pessimistic about the present, while
another four dealt specifically with the
coming holocaust. And. while British
animation co[...]resourceful and
competent work by newcomers. For the
first time for two years, however, the
work of Bob Godfrey (Dream Doll in 1979
and Instant Sex in 1980) was sadly
absent.

Russell J. Brooke's The Comic Story
is an oblique and light-hearted frame
story set in that vague land where reality
and fantasy converg[...]alks home through a
graveyard where an assortment of
ghouls scheme to distract him with a few
transmogrification tricks. The boy is

oblivious to their antics (including a
di[...]: "Lines like vapor trails, pulsating with a life of their own

I34 — April CINEMA PAPERS

A Treb[...]Ian Moo- Young.

change into a bat, succeeding the
second time only after colliding with a
tombstone wicket) because the comic
characters are more horrifically
compelling[...]ch was first.

Sheila Graber's Face to Face takes the
idea of metamorphosis into more familiar
territory. Using the simple technique of
animating a paint and crayon sketch, she
ages a c[...]er James’ After Beardsley, with
artwork ghosted in the artist's style
suggesting how he would have postered
the modern world, including The Bomb.
if he hadn't died of consumption at the
age of 25, and the Brothers Quaij's Ein
brudermord (A Fratricide), a[...]wed as two insects, would have won
pens down.

As the opening titles came up for the
latter film, one scornful member of the
suddenly restless audience cried out,
"What is a German film doing in a British
Animation Festival?''

The four films which presented a
nuclear Armageddon a[...]gence was regrettable. They were
introduced with the well-known "The
Babel Fish” episode from Douglas
Adams’ Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy, animated by Rod Lord, for the
BBC. it was followed by Pretend You'll
Survive, a[...]r
removed from World War I propaganda
films about the ravaging Hun, it achieved
image overkill as it fo[...]television screen. “It could
happen today", but the day passes
uneventfully: "lt didn't happen today.[...]ity
prevails. Then it happens. After a long
night of street cries and civil unrest, she
emerges from the ruins of her home to
find the landscape devastated, her
body ravaged by radiation and the air
swarming with bloated flies. "Don‘t
Pretend to Protest" warns the grim end-
title.

Robin Whiteman's sequential and
pessimistic The Way of the Fool
presented, but hardly developed, a novel
idea: Tarot cards for the nuclear age.
Moving from Creator/inventor —

through such opposites as The
Cycle/The Wheel, Revelation/Explosion
and The Star/The Blast — to Whole-
ness/Extinction, each card depicted a
rapid, multicolored pattern of images:
from the sea and the land, to missiles
and The Bomb.

The best of the peace films, however,
was John Hales’ Dilemma,[...]with a pessimism about man's
destiny bordering on the grotesque,
Dilemma is a grand parade of familiar
and cherished icons fragmenting to reveal
tableaux of apocalyptic potential. The
mask of Tutankhamun becomes an
Egyptian war chariot, Greek and Roman
busts of philosophers easily change into
phalanxes and legions, an Aztec idol
becomes an army — as does the bene-
ficent image of the Buddha, and
Leonardo da Vinci's contribution
included designs for military machines.

Although the intent behind succeeding
civilizations’ resort[...]eir development
rather than sinisterly bellicose, the game
was always up. But now the development
of microchip technology provides
improved missile de[...]ships become larger, swallowing
smaller versions, in a cosmic and
technological version of the survival of
the fittest. Frequently these images
revert to the bland. changeless icon of
man. lmpassive throughout history,
blinded by today's media, ignorant about
the consequences of conventional and
nuclear armament, man is about as
secure as a light globe target for a rifle.

The remaining films were a jumble of
varying styles and particular interests.
They included Nick Lever’s orthodox
John Barleycorn, the song with pictures;
Stuart Wynn Jones‘ elaborately supple
experimental film Organic Canonic Icon,
in which tubular shapes flourish
luxuriantly around an onrushing
vanishing point to the soothing strains of
Pachelbel's “Canon"; Neil Thomson's
suspenseful extrapolation of a Max
Klinger etching entitled In Fiagrenti; Alex
Brychta's Flora Dance, where wild-
flowers are used as convenient
instruments in a live-action day-
dreaming youth's ‘brass’ band — the
notes being cleverly improvized by
Vivian Fisher'[...]xed; John J.
Miller's accomplished cartoon Act V, the
Graveyard Scene from Hamlet,
characterized[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (31)[...]Timothy Forder's sympathetic little
cartoon about the platonic love-life of an
ugly little man, with a heart of gold,
named Marun Buchstansangur, who
lives alone in a crack between the
kitchen floor and the cupboard.

Overall, the 13 commercials demon-
strated the British industry's search for a
narrative format[...]irtation with musical interpretations.
And, while the work of Richard Taylor
and Vera Linnecar was absent, Geof[...]their
successes at Ottawa '80. Dunbar was
awarded the Grand Prix for Ubu and
Vestor received a Special[...]ovided
two more commercials for Alka Seltzer,
and the prolific lan Moo-Young
presented his Magoo-like Norman
Normal character in a gaudy and fluent
ad for Trebor’s 'Dandies‘.[...]s by Eric Goldberg.
Nairn Arena Cushion Floor and the anti-
smoking Nick-0-Teen, and the lyrical
Tempest ad for Shell by Russell Hall.

The final film on the British program.
Richard Wolff's Still Life, is a bright and
ingeniously-scripted satire on the life and
aesthetics of the egocentric Scottish
artist Lawrence Angus MacConI,
renowned for his dining and vehicle
pictures. Lawrence, the narrator Gary
Bond tells us, tried most schools of
painting -— Cubist, Surrealist (witness his
“[...]nce
stated that his paintings could be
understood in one second, his bio-
graphers take him at his wor[...]'s work. With a script as
taut and witty as this, the visuals become
complementary: "ln one moment he
became older. One moment. Older." The
moments in this intelligent and hilarious
spoof of the art world and films on art are
rich and many.

Jazz

The Jazz Program consisted of shorts
and feature-length documentaries,
mostly from the U.S. The Festival
audience was touched, not only by the
music and the cloying sense of nostalgia,
but also with gratitude for the concern of
sympathetic filmmakers who managed to
retrieve some moments and memories of
past musicians which would otherwise
have been lo[...]-
becke's gin-soaked latter years, before
he died of pneumonia in New York on
August 6, 1931, that many people
remember. The drink —- and his music.
The tone he achieved was difficult for his
contempora[...]in' else". As Louis
Armstrong was to say later on in -the
1930s, "Ain't none of them play like him

at."
y Armstrong's comment still stands and
forms the subtitle to Bix, a labor of love by
CBC-TV producer Brigitte Berman. For
four years, in her spare time, she criss-
crossed theof time, had
not been able to forget him after 50
years.”

in this comprehensive film biography,
narrated by Ri[...]and Edward Hopper paintings
(no film exists today of Bix playing),
Berman has assembled as rounded a
portrait as we will possibly ever have of
the jazz musician who, along with
Armstrong, was the heart of jazz in
the 1920s. She has also collated an
enviable collection of Bix’s work: “Jazz
Me Blues”, "Royal Garden Blues",
“Riverboat Shuffle" and “Tiger Rag” by
The Wolverines; “Davenport Blues" by
Bix and his Rh[...]he provides some
cool and lingering seascapes for the
recording of Bix playing his piano
composition "In a Mist", it is a reminder
of the theme throughout — that Bix
Beiderbecke was a p[...]explains.
talked through his music "straight from
the heart and told you what he was
thinking”.

Berm[...]athetic film is
enjoyable and timely, and it sets in high
relief the realization that Bix Beider-
becke, the “born genius” who opened up
new avenues of harmony and melody for
jazz, died at the age of 28.

Fortunately for the audience at Sun
Ra: A Joyful Noise, frozen aghast like
their compatriots in The Producers,
director Robert Mugge surfaced to give[...]ctive. “Sun Ra”, Magge explained,
“was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in

1915 and not, as he claims, on Saturn.” it
nee[...]nal
philosophy is accessible to just a few.
Here, in 60 kaleidoscopic minutes,
Mugge provides the gaudy, robe-
apparelied Sun Ra every opportunity[...]th an
audience he couldn't care is there or not.

The experience is not altogether
incomprehensible, at least in the short
term. As a jazz iconoclast this key-
boardi[...]y
advanced") and drummer James Jacson
(“Sun Ra, of course, showed me a whole
— another idea about[...]ntally, Sun
Ra’s communal family. Sun Ra revels in
his role as a visionary, linking Egyptian
mytholo[...]ystery."

Mugge has assembled a liberal
selection of Sun Ra’s music, interviews
with band members and Sun Ra's
lectures straight into the camera: “One
day a voice from another dimension[...]may as well practise
and be prepared for it", “in my music I
speak of unknown things", “They say that
history repeats[...]ition
because they don't know what they're
doing. The people who do know what
they're doing haven't pro[...]ay a reality”, '‘I want people to become
part of the magic myth and the magic
touch of the mythocracy — not
theocracy, or any of your other
‘ocracies’ and “They say that h[...]not my story. What's your
story?” Sun Ra lives in Philadelphia.

What Michelle Parkerson's “... But
Then, She’s Betty Carter" lacks in
technique is saved by its subject's
enthusiasm. The bebop singer's commit-
ment to her music and her zest for life is
infectious. Parkerson began her film in
1976, but only managed to complete it
shortly before the Festival: two of those
intervening years were spent searching
for[...]ing
conversation with Carter with material
filmed in a concert at the Cranston
Auditorium.

Betty Carter reveals hersel[...]to “My Favourite Things", or
when she discusses the album she
recorded with Ray Charles to “The
Trolley Song". Gladly the cuts are
relatively unobtrusive, allowing Betty to
seat offstage about a variety of subjects:
her scorn for black musicians who
abandoned jazz "to make a million
dollars” but of Motown and Soul, her
concern that black educators should be
helping black children learn from the
black singers of the '20s and '30s, and
the pride she has in her career —
"Today, it you’re a man, you've[...]If you're a woman you're
‘independent’ . . . in the old days it was
just ‘working hard'."

Her reminiscences of the early days of
bebop in Detroit, hanging out with
Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John
Coltrane, experimenting with the flatted
fifth and the scat, are as lively and as
anecdotal as if they w[...]ollowed up with
him appearing onstage with her at the
Cranston, tinkering on treble.

But Parkerson's film is clearly not a
biography, nor does it unravel the
"mysteries and innuendoes" about Betty
Carter whi[...]ed Parkerson to
her subject. it is a relaxed view of a
modest singer who, after a quarter of a
century of being in the vanguard of
bebop, can still say, ''I think i am a jazz
singe[...]icago's Maxwell
St market, for more than 60 years the
venue for sidewalk blues musicians. The
color and sound of the musicians
emerges from black-and-white
photographs of the area when it was
established as a market by Russian and
Polish immigrants in the early 1900s.
Then, with film clips from the '50s, stills
and a roving camera, the film gradually
charts the change from the time when the
only music heard was the cash register to
today when Jim Brewer, Playboy
V[...]Little Pat
Rushing, Floyd Jones, Carrie Robinson,
The Clarksdale Blues Band and many
more can be found.

Much of the flavor of the '20s and the
years since is recalled by the crusty
raconteur and blues musician Blind
Arvella Gray (who had his eyes shot out
in 1930 in an argument over a woman)
remembering how Charlie[...]aters among others have all
played on Maxwell St. The filmmakers
have also used clips from Gray's home
movies, taken on Maxwell St in the '50s,
and dedicated the film to him. Blind

Continued on p. 188

C[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (32)1/

1. /' E
loved

/' the the-

atre as a
child. We
had an English

teacher who, in-
stead of our English
lessons, allowed us to
produce whatever Shake-
speare play we were doing
at the moment. I used to
direct those.

Then I did my Arts degree,
majoring in drama and English.
When I finished, I just though[...]had done acting
lessons at university and gone to the
Independent, but I found the
theatre more and more
claustrophobic and interior, so the
idea of making documentary films
became very exciting.

I was quite naive going into it, in
a way. Even little news clips on
television seemed so interesting,
because it was much wider, out in
the open, and not that theatre
experience of going into musty
theatres in the daytime to rehearse,

Where did you start making[...]re was a place
that made documentary films
called the Commonwealth Film
Unit, and that I might get a jo[...]hey had
an arrangement about a certain
percentage of women —— like about
two girls to 10 boys — and a girl
had just left, so I got the job.

It doesn’t seem acceptable now,
but when I first started doing it I
liked the adventurous life. It
seemed great, constantly fin[...]ituations that you
normally wouldn’t get into.

The other thing that appealed to
me about film was the combination
of visual and intellectual elements.
My mother is an[...]have
something to do with that as well. I
thought the theatre was wonderful
and I always really liked w[...]vision. I can watch television or
go to films all the time.

136 — April CINEMA PAPERS

xws

tr “xx[...]Your first films were all docu-
mentaries. . .

The trap with documentaries is
that when you find a good story you
want to make reality fit the story:
you try to rearrange reality,
consciously[...]rific to
make a film about. You then try
and make the people be what the
idea is, which is unfair to the
people. But it is also unfair to the
good story if you can’t do itjustice.
It seems[...]to.

Documentary really works when
you have a lot of freedom and a lot
of footage, and you go in to find the
truth. But then the same thing
happens, because you get a.lot of
footage and start making up the
story in the editing. On the two
films I most enjoyed making, She’s

Meg Stewart.

W

My Sister and Slipway Dreaming. I
arranged the material to my own

vision. But you can't arrange[...]rst, it
inconveniences them a lot because
you are in their house for more than
they had ever realized,[...]maybe three
people’s experiences — yours and
the two actors’ — and then create
something more than just the
script. It is not using people.

I don’t think all documentaries
do that, but that’s one of the
reasons I wanted to work in drama.

When did production start on
“Happy Endings”?

We started rehearsals in the last
week in October and shooting in
November. My plan was to have it
finished by the end of last year, but
obviously we are a bit over that
now. I felt that if I didn’t shoot it
before the end of the year I wasn’t
going to make it. It has been going
on so long it would have been silly.
I have lots of other things to do.

Where did the idea for the film come
from?

It sort of started as a joke and
just expanded. I wrote the scene in
the middle to begin with, and then
wrote out from it. The scene is in a
motel room where two people
are watching Jean-L[...]once
done that myself. It is a great
combination of images. There is
something about a motel room and[...]working outwards, which I often
do when editing. In fact, I quite
often don’t start at the beginning.
As soon as I start using scisso[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (33)John Hargreaves and Perme Hackforrh-Jones in the motel bedroom. Meg Stewart's Happy

Endings.

How do you feel about directing a
drama for the first time?

The work I did as a continuity
girl was useful because I worked on
a lot of dramas in one capacity or
another. So the actual form of it is
not too terrifying. The good thing is
you can get actors to do it again,
which you can’t in documentaries.
You coax actors in the same way
you coax people to give a good
interview[...]e able to communicate
with actors.

I found doing the test scenes with
the actors very stimulating and
demanding. When we we[...]What
does this line mean?” And I didn’t
write the script going into great
explanations ofof how you can shift the
balance. Stephen would come out
on top in the dialogue in one scene,
but, if you added one more line of

‘dialogue, Angela would come out

on top. Then it can change with the
performers — the intonation or the
strength of the actors changes it
again. The thing I was conscious of
in the script was trying to get that
balance between them.

The next thing I would want to
do as far as drama goes is write a
feature script, rather than direct
one. The difficult thing about
drama and films is that I don’t need
to be the general in feature
filmmaking. This means that I am
not as dedicated as a lot of male

film directors appear to be. I am
not interested in having to control
vast amounts of people. I can’t even
bear the notion of being a
ringmaster.

anything, and also money — but
the thing about directing that is
hard is I would want to be very
confident about my knowledge of
the script. I don’t think I would be
able to direct an episode of Cop
Shop at the moment, though if I
were shut in a room and told to
direct Cop Shop I suppose I
probably could. I guess I could tell
the criminals how they should be
interpreting the role. I’d feel uneasy
about directing the action se-
quences or choreographing fights,
but I guess I would get someone in
to choreograph the fight for me. I
guess it would depend on whether I
liked the script and how confident I
felt about the characters.

Ifl had an ideal, if I were going
to[...]mercial
but werejust slightly more true to a
sort of artistic intent. I think Bob
Rafelson is a good d[...]hn
Huston’s Fat City was my favorite

I can see the fascination of film.And then there areeven funny

saying, “Let’s shoot the procession
and let’s have three crews and a
helicopter” and all that stuff, but I
feel the good thing about drama is
that you can have a fir[...]eople. I have no
desire to shout at people and if the
first assistant is really good, he/she
can do all that. Then I can devote
my time to the actors and the
cameraperson.

But the responsibility always
comes back to the director, because
everybody wants to know, and yo[...]ike that means your whole life
is taken over, and the end product
may not be as you wanted it to be.

I[...]to be directing one feature film
after another. The other thing is, in
everything I have done, in radio
programs and in the sort of writing
that I would like to do, I draw on
living experiences. And if you are
working all the time, you can’t
have any living experiences. I
suppose you do [while making
films], but that gets back to the
unreality of theatre.

Do you see yourself directing scripts
w[...]do
— I would always consider

films like I Walk the Line, with
Tuesday Weld and Gregory Peck,
films that have something differ-
ent.

Lots of small films can be really
good. I do like the extravaganza
things, straight adventure if you
wa[...]an’s World’s Just
It and a Bit

1978 Not Just the Object
Joining the Mouse Race

1979 The Thompsons

1982 Happy Endings

But a lot of films that are _success-
ful seem quite small in terms of
actors and controllability.

I am not that obsessed with
drama. I can be really interested in
whatever project I am doing.
Veronica Soul stayed with me for a
couple of days and I got really
inspired by her. I wanted to make a
film using the sorts of things she
did; a documentary, but using
animatio[...]mething I would want to keep
doing. Perhaps it is the ultimate
sort of media exposure, which I
don’t even think about[...]Perme Hackforth-Jones and John Hargreaves: shades of Jean-Luc Godard. Happy Endings.

CINEMA[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (34)[...].

From 1969 to 1974,
I was an actress at La
Mama in Carlton. I was
lucky to be a part ofthat scene.
While the actors at the Melbourne
Theatre Company were still speak-
ing w[...]we were
hypercritically and overtly Aus-
tralian. The first plays ofjack Hib-
berd, John Romeril, Alex[...]Williamson were performed
at La Mama, and I acted in the
original productions of Dimboola
and The Coming of Stork.

During this time I started direct-
ing pl[...]"1fth—year medicine, I ran
drama workshops with the inmates
of Larundel Psychiatric Hospital. I
had the courage to try anything. By
8 a.m. I had to be in the operating
theatre assisting the anaesthetist.
My lunchtimes were spent per-
forming at schools and factories
with the Portable Players. At night,
I directed rehearsals[...]an active, if undirected, time.

How did you make the transition
from acting to writing?

I was always[...]natural
candidate.

Improvization was a big part of
our rehearsals and street theatre,
and we were encouraged to write
our own dialogue and this de-
mystified the written word for me.

This was the time you wrote ‘Dream
Girl’ . . . ?

Dream Gi[...]y child-
hood and adolescence came tumb-
ling out of me with amazingly
accurate recall. It is a funny,[...]21 and now I have an
active dislike for this kind of
chaotic, emotional archaeology. It
was workshopped successfully at
the National Playwrights’ Confer-
ence in 1977.

How did you get into film?

My only experience in film up
until 1974 was small roles in local
productions like Brakefluid. I cut
my firs[...]por-
trayed a woman’s thoughts by a
succession of jump cuts and
increasing close—ups. It worked well

though, even though I didn’t think
of moving the camera. The effect
was like one of those cartoon book-
lets which, when you flip the pages,
create a continuous movement.

Why did you go into film after medi-
cine, rather than the theatre?

I always loved film, but it was a
matter of not having the oppor-
tunity. Although I acted in several
films and made one short comedy,
it wasn[...]first scriptwriting job.

How would you describe the kinds of
films you have made and the sort of
things you want to make?

Rivka Hartman and actors in Hartman '5 Consolation Prize.

Consolation Prize is a slapstick
comedy which I made as a vehicle
to act in. There was only one other
professional actor in the entire cast
of hundreds. On A Most Attractive
Man, I worked with[...]one
else’s script. I am particularly
interested in comedy, but I feel
open to any sort of film.

Is there comedy in “A Most
Attractive Man”?

Yes, it is a witty black comedy.

How did you find the script for it?

Through a chance meeting with

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (35)M-‘ _>_$7‘V gf ‘fr ' _~_. ; H

the writer in Darling St, Balmain.

Did your theatre background help in

At least two other people had tried film directing?

to get funding for the project, but it
was the team of Gilly Coote and
myselfwhich finally got the film off
the ground.

Would you a ain direct another
_ B
person’s script?

Yes. I am looking for scripts at
the moment. On A Most Attractive
Man, I enjoyed inter[...]ou approach a
subject from someone else’s point
of view.

Inin the writing
process. It would be ideal to work
on a d[...]When you say two or three writers,
do you mean on the same project?

Yes. Writing is the first stage in
filmmaking, which is a collabora-
tive process. W[...]as easy as
writing alone. This is especially true
of comedy.

What about the integrity of the
writer?

The work of the writer and
director overlap to some extent. It
is best for the integrity of the film
when director and writer have a
good understanding; but at some
stage the director takes over.

Directing film is totally d[...]der them-
selves filmmakers and be familiar
with the camera and understand the
reason for each shot. Dialogue in
film is more naturalistic than in
theatre where conventions allow
you to use poetic speech or even
didactic argument. Theatricality in
film is strange and usually doesn’t
work.

Perh[...]think my acting and
writing and everything I did in
theatre has been valuable exper-
ience. Consolati[...]A
Most Attractive Man is much more
advanced.

Who influences you?

My mother and grandmother
were devoted film buffs, and my
brother and I were regulars at the
local Saturday matinees. I thrived
on a diet of serials and B-grade
films on television. My grand[...]ntal trash and we would
always have a good sob at the
romantic parts. Now I love Fed-
erico Fellini’s La strada, Marcel
Carne’s Les enfants du paradis and
the Marx Brothers.

When I made Consolation Prize,
I studied the early silent comedies
of people like Buster Keaton and

experience in vaudeville which gave
them immaculate timing and a
great knowledge of how to make
people laugh. It is a pity that
Mabel Normand, who taught them
both about film, never achieved the
fame or the opportunity to direct.
They were total filmmakers[...]like Mae West, Jacques Tati
and Woody Allen, all of whom have
influenced me. Billy Wilder is a
director with the greatest sense of

humor. His films like Some Like It
Hot and One Two Three are the
funniest of all.

Have you met any resistance as a
woman working in film?

Film is dominated by men, like
the rest of society. I have had
assessors patronize me and lab
technicians treat me like an
imbecile. In each case it happened
because I am a woman. In general,
women are better to work with.
Their conditioning has trained
them to consider others, and that’s
the basis of working on a film.

Would you employ women on a film
in preference to men?

I have never been put in that
position. I think I’d treat each case
as it comes.

Was it accidental that most of the
crew for “A Most Attractive Man”
were women?

Yes; we simply chose the best
people for the job. It’s true that
these turned out to be mostly

Charlie Chaplin. They had years of women, and I think the shoot bene-

Rivka Hartman

Rivka Hartman Filmography

[975 Fantasy Sequence

I978 The Battle of Mice and Frogs
1979 Consolation Prize

l98l A Most Attractive Man

fited from this. However, the
person who did our lighting, Paul
Tate, is fantas[...]director is a man, too.

What do you think about the films
Australians are making at the
moment?

I think it’s an exciting time for
Aust[...]e
more contemporary stories about
real people set in the city — films
like Love Letters From Teralba
Road, Mouth To Mouth and Pure
S . . .. I love the Italian neo-realist
films like Bicycle Thieves, because
they are simple, emotional stories
of people in the city. I’d love to
make an Australian Midnight
Cowboy.

What sort of films would you
consider directing?

It is a deli[...]don’t much like neurotic films. I
am interested in stories about
survival.

If you were asked to dir[...]x 3”, what would you say?

I’d say I’d read the script. *

Carole Skinner, Grigor Taylor and Julie McGreg0r during a break in filming of Hartman 3 A Dorian (Grigor Taylor) and Fra[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (36)I
think

women
directors
have a dif-
ferent way of
depicting charac-
ters and scenes in a
film. Even with a gutsy
director like Gillian Arm-
strong one can still tell the
film has been directed by a
woman. They seem to bring more
intimacy to scenes — maybe it’s
just a way of handling sensory
things. Certain male directors h[...]en
seem to have it more.

Also, female characters in their
films come across stronger. Many
male write[...]usually all
right when it comes to old women,
but the young ones are very often
stereotypes. Even Dosto[...]t nothings,
aren’t they?

How do you feel about the por-
trayal of women in Australian films?

I don’t think many contem-
porary roles have shown women in
any depth. Very often the actresses
have nothing to get their teeth into.
I[...]e scripts written
by women. I think this could be the
answer. We could do some really
good things.

There seem to be more roles for
women in theatre . . .

Even then there are very few
reall[...]ng part to
achieve this.

Is there a common theme in your
work?

The subjects very much dictate
what I do. Until now, the docu-
mentaries I have done have been on
artists. I am totally influenced by
the artists I try to represent. In a
sense, this feature film I am doing
[Emma’s War] will be the same. It’s
dictated by the characters and

by the time they live in. There
is a certain mood I want to
the 19403, the war. I don’t want it
to be a heavy psychological drama.
I want it to be a film that portrays
the period and gives you some
insight into the characters of the
woman and her two children, and
what the war does to them.

You have written the script. Will
you direct it?

Yes. I wrote it with my husband,
Peter Smalley, and at the moment
it looks as though I will be pro-
ducing it, too. The producers I have
approached here have all been to[...]out four years ago, and I took
what I had written in to Peter’s
editor at Andre Deutsch, who
thought it would make a good film.
We came home to Australia [from
Britain] and I sent an outline to the
Australian Film Commission.
Steve Wallace and the other
assessors said they liked the idea
and gave me a little bit of money —
I think $300 — to develop the treat-
ment. I thought that was very
encouraging![...]w did you go about writing it?

When we discussed the project, I
had talked about the idea of using
improvizations with the actors. But
when I started the treatment, I real-
ized I was never really going to get
a script together if the whole thing
were only going to be set out as
guid[...]so I started.

A few months later I went back
to the AFC and the assessors (a
different lot, of course) thought the
script was lousy, more like a novel
than a script[...]ve much to do with it,
because it’s not my sort of thing —
it’s all about women and adoles-
cent[...]started to edit it and
began to see possibilities in it which
he hadn’t observed before. Then we
decided to work on it together.

get, of

Last year I took the third draft to
London with me and showed it to
Alan Seymour and asked him what
he thought of it. He wrote me a
two—page criticism which was[...]nger,
without losing its integrity. I also
showed the draft to Sandy Lieber-
son who said he thought it[...]still with Warner
Bros?

Yes, but he is now with the Ladd
Company. He liked it, but he didn’t
think[...]eached an audience
anywhere, really.

I then took the draft to Greg
Coote at Roadshow and he said
much the same sort of thing: it was
too gentle, not dramatic enough for[...]At one point I thought, “God, we
are changing the whole concept of
the script and I will end up with this
psychological[...]to
do a Margarethe von Trotta—type
drama about the psychological dis-
turbances of two sisters. It’s meant
to be a film about the celebration of
life as seen by an adolescent, a film
which will try to point out, in a
subtle way, the stupidity of war.

Actually, I was able to take some
of the suggestions people made and
develop them without changing my
feeling for the script. We devel-
oped a sensory scene for the mother
which will give the actors a chance
to do interesting things. So I di[...]t’s become
much stronger.

Who have you thought of casting in
it?

I gave the script to Michele Faw-
don, who’s reading it. I want her to
play the part of the mother; it’s a
lovely part for her. She has to be a
lush and still retain the audience’s
sympathy. She is a warm, sensual
woman, very protective of her

children, very lonely — so she
drinks too[...]year? . . .
Yes, we hope so.

Does this depend on the money
arriving in time?

Yes. I have people who will put
money in providing the AFC come
to the party. I’ll know in the next
couple of weeks where I stand
there.

It appears you will be using a small
crew . . .

A very small crew; the absolute
minimum. I think that is going to
be bet[...]king with children,

and getting performances out of
them.

How confident are you about
directing acto[...]el-
lous directors. I worked with Jack
Clayton on The Innocents; I played
the part of Miss Jessel, the ghost.
One of the things he did when we
had a difficult scene — where he
had to do a close-up of me crying
— was to clear the set. There were
only Jack and Freddie Francis, the
lighting cameraman, and about
eight people instead of 80.

I think a lot of directors and
actors would work better that way.[...]ended being cut,
anyway. Truman Capote, who
wrote the script along with John
Mortimer and Jack, thought all the
close-ups of the ghost were too

~ ».".‘i§

Michele Fawdon ( in Cathy ‘.9 Child): to star
in Emma ’s War.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (37)[...]rthy, so out they went.

I had very good training in New
York at.the Theatre Studio with
Curt Conway and Lonnie Chap-[...]n things
that are going to worry me — keep-
ing the camera fluid and so on —
but once I start the first scene and
am into it, anything that looks
w[...]u have someone to handle
production things during the shoot?

Yes, I am going to have a very
good produ[...]ll be
directing, but I’ll have a lot to do
with the art direction, too. I have a
definite idea about the look of the
film. I.’ll have a design co-ordinator
working with me and looking for
props and everything, but the
overall decisions about the look of
the film will be mine. Brian Probyn
will be doing some tests
“and then we will decide which of
two very different kinds of period
look we will go for — either a soft,
warm, velvety look, or a strong
decorative look where the patterns
the shadows make will be

emphasized.

How long will the shoot be?

Four weeks, with four weeks’
pre-pro[...]camera, and we will also have to do
a fair amount of hiking up and
down mountains —— a lot of it is
being shot in a valley in the Blue
Mountains — so we don’t want to
carry heavy equipment anyway.

What will you do with the film when
it is finished?

The script at the moment is with
Roadshow, but I really see it more
as an art-house type film, maybe
showing somewhere like the Dendy
in Sydney. I don’t see with that
kind of budget it is going to be the
sort of film that Warners would be
interested in distributing. It
depends . . . if the acting really
takes off and it moves people, then[...]me why I haven’t
done a short film first. Well, the
answer is that it is so difficult to get
them shown and it seems an awful
waste of time, money and hard
work to do a film that is pr[...]g a feature length, one
can at least have a go on the market
place.

How did the 85-minute length
arrive?

Well, I was aiming at 90. It’s a
fairly spare sort of script and it

might take another five minutes
either way, depending on how much
time we devote to filming the land-
scape, which is an important part of
the film. It was originally con-
ceived as an hour—long film, but I
couldn’t achieve the slow kind of
dramatic build-up I wanted at that
length; it see[...]ends
on a high note, which is good:
Armistice Day in Martin Place. It
will be news footage because of our
low budget.

Do you think we should be making[...]udget films?

Yes. I feel that quite strongly. I

The fashion parade in L”/ylie Jessop 's Flamingo Park.

Filmography : C lytie Jessop

1970 The Stolen Child

1977 David Boyd: Return to Sfumato[...]1801-1878
1979 Flamingo Park

1982 Emma’s War (in preparation)

have always felt that budgets for
films are ridiculously high. It is just
a shocking waste of money. Even
with marvellous directors like Jack
Clayton, I was always aware of the
horrible waste of money; it just
didn’t seem necessary.

I think it is quite good to try and
stick to low budgets. A lot of the
world’s greatest directors made
their best films on low budgets. The
flops usually occur when they have
too much mone[...]it alarming to hear
people discussing their films in
terms of millions instead of con-
tent. And in certain areas one isn’t
taken seriously if one[...]phic —
Panavision, Steadicam, Dolby
sound . . . the works — then I
would love to have a go at some-[...]ve to do a
really expensive thriller —- not for
the money, but just to be able to use
this marvellous[...]t about “Flam-
ingo Park”, particularly about the
way you have sold it?

Columbia-EMI-Warner paid
3000 pounds ($5100) for the rights
for three years. That was just for
the British rights, but compared to
what Roadshow pai[...]lian rights —
it seemed very good for a short.

The AFC had loaned me the
money for the 35mm blow-up and
Roadshow and Columbia-EMI-
Warner used the 35mm negative.
Columbia-EMI-Warner must have
spent four times as much as I spent
making the film on the 100 prints
they had done. I wanted the film to
be seen by as wide an audience as
possible, so I was pleased with both
those sales, although in retrospect I
don’t think the money paid was
adequate. It has also been sold to
WNET-TV in New York for
$5000. Apparently it’s a good
stat[...]all a “high-
class station”! l’ve had a lot of
print sales locally: the National
Gallery in Canberra, the Art Gal-
lery of New South Wales and the
State film libraries have all bought
it. i[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (38)some Reactions

to the second
3 Edition

". . . an invaluable reference for anyone
with an interest — vested or altruistic —
in the continuing film renaissance down
under . . .”

VARIETY

The most useful reference book for me
in the past year . . .”
Flay Stanley SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

The Australian Motion Picture Yearbook
is a great asset to the film industry in
this country. We at Kodak find it
invaluable as a reference aid for the
i"dU5"Y-” David Wells
Manager
Motion Picture an[...]arkets Division
KODAK

“. . . one has to admire the detail and
effort which has gone into the yearbook.
It covers almost every conceivable facet
of the film industry and the publisher's
claim that it is ‘the only comprehensive
yellow page guide to the film industry’ is
irrefutable.”

THE AUSTRALIAN

“Anyone interested in Australian films,
whether in the industry or who just
enjoys watching them, will find plenty to
interest him in this book.”

THE SUN-HERALD (Sydney)

“This significant publicat[...]ot only to professionals but everyone

interested in Australian film.”
THE HERALD (Melbourne)

“May I congratulate you on[...]ul publication to us, and
I'm sure to most people in, and outside,
the business.”

Mike Walsh HAYDEN PRICE
PRODUCTIONS

The 1981 version of the Australian
Motion Picture Yearbook is not only
bigger, it’s better — as glossy on the
outside as too many Australian films try
to be an[...]ent as
many more Australian films ought to be

M

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

“l have been receiving the Cinema
Papers Motion Picture Yearbook for the
past two years, and always find it to be
full of interesting and useful information
and facts. It is easy to read and the
format is set out in such a way that
information is easy to find. I consider the
Yearbook to be an asset to the office.”
Bill Gooley
COLORFILM

". . . another good effort from the Cinema
Papers team, and essential as a desk-top
reference for anybody interested in our

feature film industry.”
THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER

“An indispensable reference for anyone
working in or dealing with the Australian
film industry.”
David White
BROOKS W[...]carefully researched and
comprehensive directory of show-biz
Australian style, the Motion Picture
Yearbook is an indispensable guide — an
encyclopaedia of one of the most
progressive and exciting film industries

to emerge this century."
CLEO

The Third (1985) Edition

The Third Edition of the Motion Picture Yearbook will be totally revised
and updated.

As in the past, all entrants will be contacted to check the accuracy of
entries, and many new categories will be added to the Yellow Pages

directory and film personnel checklists.

The Yearbook will again take a detailed look at what’s been happening in all
sections of the Australian film scene over the past year, including financing,
distribution and[...]vals, media, censorship and
awards.

A new series of profiles is also underway and will highlight the careers of
director Peter Weir, composer Brian May, distribu[...]Anderson and actor Mel Gibson.

A new attraction in the 1983 edition will be an extensive editorial section
comprising three feature articles on aspects of Australian and international
cinema, including film financing, special effects, and a survey of the impact
our films are having in the U.S.

specifications

Size 85 (240 x 180mm) Design Extensively illustrated For release in September 1982.
Extent 430 PP (BPPTOX-) editorial text in mono, 2 and Deadlines for advertising material on[...]Detailed section
identification on tops and
sides of pages.

$19.95 lapprox.)

board. laminated[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (39)DESIGN 0N T RIAI

the State of

the TI

ue to its visual nature and its roots,
one has to face the fact that cinema
is a contemporary artform. What is
more, it is a popular artform: like
all artforms of today, for the first
time in the history of western man, it belongs
to the people rather than being the sole prop-

erty of the monk, recluse, dilettante, idiot king
or the church.

rt was never of great interest to the
masses, and certainly wasn’t enter-
taining when it was a tool to present
them with icons for worship in the
golden age of Christianity, or when
paintings were commissioned to inflate the
importance of officialdom through portraiture.
Before the 18005, art had only been the property
of the people when artists made personal state-
ments or observations, which seemed to be the
privilege of the Dutch painters from Hierony-
mous Bosch through B[...]d within religious or
monarchic requirements: for the glorification of
man in the eyes of man, or man in the eyes ofhis
gods. The social/political illustrators of the 17th
and 18th centuries in Britain prove an exception
to this general rule (Hogarth, Rowlandson,
Gillray), but art was not freed from the hold of
the cogniscenti until the mid—l9th Century.

Conversely, art cannot exist in a world of its
own; it must be broadcast, shared and discussed.
The man sitting alone in a room of his house,
giggling uncontrollably, is not a come[...]made public. Consequently, it is worth a look at
the state of the arts in general — at a few
prevalent attitudes to it, and its relationship with
the rest of the outside world. It seems to be
pretty difficult for film to be accepted as an art-
form — the subject is badly taught at schools,
and only considered from the point of view of
criticism (after the event), or as a potential
trade. Peter Wollen makes this point in his book
Signs and Meanings in the Cinema (1969):

“. .. universities still continue to parade a
phantom of aesthetics, robbed of immediacy
and failing in energy, paralysed by the
enormity of the challenge that has been
thrown down (at the feet of aesthetics by
cinema).”

Yet it remains as simp[...]e messages that people leave behind
when they go. The theoretical study of film is no
more complicated than the study of painting or
music — the premises are the same as they
always have been —— and, as the photographer

CINEMA PAPERS April — 143

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (40)[...]painter Man Ray observed, “There is no
progress in art any more than there is in love-
making.”

All the arts in the 20th Century are open
slather for anyone. Every aspect of mainstream
work that has developed since World War 2 has
been the result of innovation, experimentation,
writing and discussi[...]s to
principles and strictures that are as old as the
hills that some of the earliest western pictures
were carved into.

The creative world is richer and busier than
ever. Dozens of objects are tossed into orbit
around the earth each year. There are people
walking about with synthetic organs inside them,
but the artist acts like a gourmet standing in an
exotic delicatessen at a loss for what to buy for
his supper; whereas, in fact, we now have the
entire history of mankind, and his leftovers (or
“art”, if you like), as our palette and visual
vocabulary, to be used in any combination to
express whatever we feel in painting, music, film
or sculpture. What a splendid opportunity. Why,
then, do we live in such a creatively-sterile
climate? Some established artworks are as
popular as ever: deliver a bundle of Blue Boy re-
productions to a supermarket, and they will be
out the door as fast as electric drills in the week
before Father’s Day. The image is well
established —— very obviously, a picture of a
young man dressed in New Romantic style -
and it is uncontroversial. Why?

ut how about the commissioning,
designing and erection of that bright
yellow sculpture for the city square in
Melbourne? The piece is actually
called Vault, referring to the curved,
leaping pieces and the enclosed vault below
them. The piece was commissioned (by the city
council that was uprooted only shortly before
the sculpture was uprooted) to grace the bare
floor of the new city square. The reaction by the

press and public was strikingly similar to that of

a pack of hyenas, accustomed to having the vast
wastes of a desert to itself, coming across
an archaeology expedition encamped for the
night, setting upon them and eating every last
soul. Melbourne’s citizens ate all the more
ravenously when that “moral whore” and
champion of free thought and speech, the press,
disclosed the price that had been paid for the
sculpture.

The piece in question had to suffer the
indignity of being used as a graffiti board and to
wear its popular and bigoted title of the “yellow
peril”, before being moved to a small park by
the Yarra.

The council which ordered the piece from
Donald Swan must surely have approved the
design and costing of this inanimate object on
which so many people have vented their
aggression against the Asians and asserted their
determination not to look at anything that exists
without apparent function; yet the council did
not defend its democratic decision to com-
mission the work. Despite the fact that Vault is
by modern standards a conserva[...]cclaim for it
until he is safely dead and buried, the rarity of
the piece then increasing its value out of all pro-
portion to its worth.

I saw the commissioning, erection, dis-
mantling and resiting of Vault as one extended
“happening”, an almost perfect example of that
artform. I recognized the concept of collective
artworks (as a filmmaker must), and that the
function and duty of the artist is to reflect and
demonstrate the state of society of the time. I

144 — April CINEMA PAPERS

had not realized that Melbourne was capable of categorized, and attempts are made to

this kind of genius.

The poet Paul Eluard had something to say on
this subject when he described the work of the
Marquis de Sade:

“Written almost entirely in prison, the work

seems to be for ever in disgrace and banned.

The price that must be paid for its appearance

in the light of day is the disappearance of a

world where stupidity and cowardice bring

with them all of our misery.”

In a world where anything goes, we still try to
arra[...]. , v.

Above: Blue Boy — supermarket sales by the hundred. Below:
Vault, now in its new home of Batman Park.

rationalize the new as being a progression of its
precursor. However, it is impossible to think in
this linear manner without severe cerebral
hemorrhage, because man, and his creations,
exist in a continuum, not in separate, sequential
time capsules, like an eveni[...]ogramming.

e live with an ongoing de-

velopment of past ideas, helped

and hindered as we go by

genuinely new inventions or

discoveries, while the issues
under discussion remain the same: how can I
ensure eternal life?; thein
peace?; what is reality?; and when do we get
paid?, etc.

This continuum of previous ideas being
constantly re-developed lead[...]abels that
have derived from innovative movements of the
past are easily recognized when directly referred
to graphically, but the concepts encapsulated
within those images have al[...]ive consciousness. This is clearly
illustrated by the work of the surrealist
movement, whose main body of work under that
group heading was done between theof its normal
context (but not necessarily stating anything as a
result). In other words, the contemporary view
of surrealist ideas is linked with the paintings,
objects and photographs by the group — the
images they created —— rather than with the
poetry, writing and films which show clearly that
it was a movement of ideas and thoughts and
jokes rather than a visual movement, such as the
Post Impressionist school had been. However,
these ideas were expressed articulately in a

visual way, giving yet another frame of

reference.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (41)Above: The bridge “illuminated by night like a fairground[...]e Now. Right.’ Vincente
Minnelli is An American in Paris with its painted backdrops.

But are we tau[...]so, although their physical
expression may not be in the particular styles
with which we are familiar. A painting does not
need to have drooping watches in it to belong to
this school of thought. In film, the absurdities
and horror of a ghastly wartime situation were
expressed as a surrealist notion by Francis
Coppola in Apocalypse Now at the point where
Willard comes across the bridge illuminated by
night like a fairground, the attendant soldiers
stoned off their faces as if they were at Mardi
Gras. Thejuxtaposition of these two concepts (21
battle and a street party) is, in essence, a
surrealist device to heighten what is a watershed
incident that leaves Willard alone for the
remainder of his journey up the river to Kurtz’
camp. The imagery cannot be found in the art
history books, but the notion can.

ast styles of art, and references to
them, are familiar to many film-
makers, but to quote from the past
makes no sense unless the essential
meaning of the original image is
conveyed. Quotation is a kind of shorthand
method of expressing a whole idea by showing
an image that[...]olizes, that

idea.
I have seen mentioned about a recent

Australian film that such and such a scene was
based on the work of painters Rupert Bunny and
Hans Heysen, say, and the final outcome of that
scene may well have been a photographic inter-
pretation of something that either of those two
artists once created. But unless this use of their
work imparted something extra to the
atmosphere of the period, or unless the whole
film had been constructed around their images,
little has been gained. _
Judging from my experience of “borrowing”
from painters, and it is always h[...]visual media, I would suggest that
to mention it in the first place was a mistake, as
visual research usually only serves to provide
inspiration to help the approach to mood or
lighting, for instance. On the other hand, an
entire sequence that was based on the work of
painters from the Impressionist school (e.g., the
final ballet in Vincente Minnelli’s An American In
Paris), works because it combines the visions of
10 artists, who had been working in Paris early

in the century, with the film’s ability to move the
dancers in and out of tableaux and scenes,
making the painted images even more expressive
by bringing them to life. That sounds rather
distasteful, but the effect is pure magic.

Designed by Irene Scharaff[...]riginally made from isolated,
deep-frozen moments in real life, but we are
allowed to enjoy the chorus girls kicking their
legs, and the customers frolicking in a
reconstruction of one of Toulouse-Lautrec’s
haunts, that shows both the life of the cafe and
the artists’ interpretations at once.

This is, per[...]familiar
with cafe society, but understandable to the most
naive of audiences once explained on film. In
this way, even the most abstract notions can be
communicated to vast sections of the public; by
integrating various familiar images and activi-
ties, in this case the atmosphere that generated
the original paintings is recreated, thereby also
promoting a better understanding of the work of
art itself.

This perhaps illustrates an earlier point about
advancing the cause of art and thought by use of
well-designed film images. Film is one ofthe few
forums available to the artist to promote new
concepts —— not to a select few peers or to the
academic world, but to almost the whole
English-speaking world. Take for example
mu[...]and musical notes that,
were they to be performed in a concert hall,
would cause most of the audience to walk out,
denouncing the music as modern garbage,
having no form and meaning nothing. The critics
would label it as avant—garde, daring, modern
jazz, or concrete music, using these tags to
discuss the work, instead of listening to it and
enjoying its free flight.

However, in the context of the film for which
the piece was composed, the music may have the
most extraordinary effect of raising the

Film Production Design/Part Two

audience’s emotions of fear, sorrow, suspense or
laughter because the music is as much illustrated
by the accompanying images on the screen as
those images are substantiated by the music. The
film has been strengthened by the sounds, and
the sounds made understandable. The sounds
which would have caused so much distress in a
concert have been accepted, and it is quite
possible that many people will buy a recording
of the music to play at home, being able to
visualize the images from the film as they listen
to it again.

he ability of most people to conceive

ideas visually is amazingly restricted,

unless it is done for them, despite the

fact that anyone can be taught to

draw, or play music, or fix a motor
car. It is just a matter of being shown how the
process is done with the tools, and (more
importantly) the principles of the concepts
behind these activities. Yet, there is an innate fear
of new ideas, as though they are conceived to
throw over old or established concepts: the
“stupidity and cowardice” of which Paul Eluard
spoke. Bringing an awareness of ideas, and
giving them visual form, is the role and duty of
the artist in society.

The artist looks at himself and his sur-
roundings in a critical manner, seeing the
ironies, injustices, shames and joys of life with
mixed feelings of scepticism, anger, laughter and
happiness, and then has to be bold enough to
present a visual image of this in public. This
relatively harmless member of society has tradi-
tionally been given a hard time by those who pull
strings and have any clout with the established
order. There is an awful fear that the people will
be upset by innovation. If, however, the joy of
the creator were shared by the patron of his art,
then that spirit would be automatically passed
on to the public. This obviously relates to the
fine arts as much as to film production.

It is often said of history that it is after the
event and not at the time that historians can look
back and see[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (42)Film Production Dest;gnfl’art Two

,“What will the historians say about us in 50

years?” is not an unusual query, an assumption
that by being too close to an event one cannot
put it in a proper perspective, which is true to an
extent. I see the on—the-spot historian of all ages
to be the artist in all his different guises,
reflecting and showing the state of society of the
time; and sometimes even prophesying events to
co[...]d that he is thought to differ from his own
image of himself, and is quickly distressed by
such a suggestion. Modernism of all ages has
been consistently abused, misunderst[...]y; and we can
now enjoy laughing at examples from the past.
The music of Mozart was abused because it was
seen to be too busy — there were thought to be
far too many notes in each piece. But we now see
Mozart as one of the fathers of latter-day
musical form. The Impressionist painters were
shouted down, because, ironically at the time of
the advent of photography, their work was not
truly a photographic representation of nature.
They were painting light, not reproducing past
modes of seeing the world. My grandfather had
the opportunity at the beginning of the century
to buy works of Paul Cezanne at very reasonable
prices when he visited Paris, but declined

because he considered the paintings incomplete.
While that conservatism mak[...]s it happening right under our noses,
right row?

The Impressionists’ simple but beautiful
paintings are now an important part of our
visual language. The work of Pablo Picasso has
enabled us to recognize a few brisk pencil lines
as a poetic rendering of a dove in flight, giving us
yet more shorthand devices, including the
everyday understanding of forms such as the
newspaper cartoon drawing, in all its different
characters. The attention by these artists of the
early 20th Century to the art of other more
primitive cultures has given us an understanding
of images from all over the world. Perhaps their
appreciation of New Guinea carvings triggers
our primordial instincts, reminding us how
simple life really is.

But this is the late 20th Century; there will be
more to follow after us. There will always be a
continuum of creativity and invention. There
may be fewer people around on the planet, but
the people calling themselves artists will con-
tinue to turn their elders and more reactionary
peers apoplectic in the attempt to understand life
rather than force a meaning upon it. Maybe
there will eventually be some progress in love-
making, who knows?

the

can distinctly remember, as a child in

Britain — perhaps about 10 years old ——

s[...]. Against a rough interior wall [it by one
splash of weak light, showing the gaunt face with
its tousle of short hair, sat a forlorn but
determined character wearing a pair of wire-
rimmed sunglasses and a dark collarless sweater,
speaking in a low, hoarse voice. _He said
something to the effect that Australia is “no
place for a thinking person or artist;'the people
there have no appreciation of anything . . . it’s
hell.”

In the eight years I have lived here now, I have
often wondered about this chap: had he ever
returned to Australia? Perhaps he is one of our
celebrated expatriates, or perhaps he was thrown
to the sharks by his own despair, or that of his
public. In many ways what he said was wrong:

146 — April CINEMA PAPERS

realest

stand

Australia is really a wonderful place for artists
and think[...]to realize those dreams
without too much trouble. Australia has become
an adult member of the western world during the
past 20 years; we share our mutual achievements
with other countries through the excellent
communications systems that we all take for
granted. People are taking notice of us: what we
have to export in the arts is quite acceptable.
But that hoarse black and white prophet was
also quite right in his own way: there is so little
conviction that anything but the tried and tested
concepts are worthy of consideration. Where is
the adventure that gave rise to the country’s
growth in the first place? What has happened in
the arts, and particularly in filmmaking, is that
we are producing a stylistic facsimile of the
outside world’s product in the very same way
that the civilization of Australia has emulated
and reproduced the comforts and safety of
western civilization. I do not intend to belittle[...];:
ii‘ w£:7"i"l

I.--n-5 ~uv'~

A sketch of a giant crossbow by Leonardo da Vinci, an artist[...]p
moving on — straight ahead.

After many years of hard work by some
dedicated men and women, Australia now has a
healthy young film industry. We have ma[...]for
days on end without sleep to make up for lack of
funds and to get things done within ridiculously-
tight shooting schedules. The technical quality of
our work in most areas is of world standard, but
it seems that too few filmmak[...]at to do with this wonderful facility; that
often the initiators and producers are not up to
the standard of their technical crew. .

Until recently the subject matter of films
made in Australia was safely devoted to
period pieces — ideas safely ensconced in the
past — where stories perhaps more relevant to
the present day had their edges softened and
their messages tempered and lost in the froth of
bygone periods and their lush trappings, giving
the distinct impression that these filmmakers did
not want to be seen to be saying anything of
consequence in the first place. There is also a
school of thought that to gain acceptance on the
international market we must lose our identity in
copying customs, accents and traits of the
customer countries. Are the Americans going to
respect us any more for pretending that we drive
on the right-hand side of the road, or for trying
to make Sydney look like New[...]eling
that if production companies are to
promote the development of artists
and film form in this country, then
they must be prepared to accept the
consequent financial losses. If this is a real fear
——-— I have seen a similar phrase in print several
times — then it only serves to show that the
producers in question are not intimately familiar
with the true nature of their professed medium.
It smacks of the medieval attitudes I mentioned
earlier. The answer to anyone who wants to sell
something new is that it should be packaged in a
fresh, compelling manner that reinforces and
underscores the idea; and there are people in the
film industry — creative people within Australia

Concluded on p. 183

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (43)[...]Without Ellmlnations

For General Exhibition (G)

The Contract: R. Chow, Hong Kong, 2605m, P. Chan

Har[...]J. Waietzky, U.S.,
987m, Sharmill Films

Kings oi the Square Ring (videotape): Y. Kawan,
Japan, 102 min[...]dder than Mad (16mm): Not shown, Greece,
95'.30m. The Castellorizian Club

On Any Sunday II: R. Riddeli[...]Job: F. Chis, Hong Kong, 2550m, M. Louey
Poverty, The Hustler (16mm): Pergamis Film, Greece,
987m, The Castellorizian Club

Vanuatu — Struggle to Freedom: Film Australia,
Australia, 828m, Film Australia

Not Recommended tor Children (NRC)
continental D[...]m, Joe Siu
lnt’l Film Co., O(emoiloneI stress)

The Foreign Student: First Films, Hong Kong, 2414m,
Comfort Film Enterprises, 0(adu/t concepts)

The Great Cheat: Hwa Llang Movie Co., Hong Kong,
2475[...]ts
(A'sIa), V(I—I-I). L(I-I-I)

Love Comes from the Sea: C. Ling, Hong Kong,
2797m, Joe Siu lnt’l F[...]4200m,
SKD Film Dist., O(adulf concepts)

My cape of Many Dreams: Not shown, Hong Kong,
2935m, Joe Siu[...]Joe Siu Int'l Film Co., O(emofioneI stress)

The Prince Love story: First Films, Hong Kong, 2610m,

Comfort Film Enterprises, V(i-I-j)

The Private Eyes (b): R. Chow, Hong Kong, 257Bm, P.
Chan, V(l-/-/)

Race to the Yankee Zephyr: Hemdale, New Zeaiand,
2962.44m, GU[...](I-m-i)

Return from Matopo (16mm): Greece, 987m, The
Castellorlzian Club, V(i-I-/)

crbot Monster: P. Tucker, U.S., 1673m, Valhalla Films,

i-I-i)

Spring in Autumn: C. Lin, Hong Kong, 2285m, doe Siu
Int'l Film Co., O(aduIt theme)

The Story of the Green House: Elegant Films Co.,
Hong Kong, 2602m,[...]Eyes (June 1981 list).

For Mature Audiences (M)

The Boxer from the Temple: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong,
2642m, Joe Siu lnt’l Film Co., V(f-m-g)

The Convict Killer: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong, 2726.97m.
Joe Siu lnt’l Film Co., V(f-m-i)

The Dev|l’a Men (16mm): Getty Picture Corp.,
Britai[...]: Not shown, Hong Kong, 2989m,
P. Chan, V(f-m-g)

The King and the Eunuch: T. Lung, Hong Kong,
2454.14m, Comfort Film Enterprises, V(l-m-g)
Legend of Fang I-ieui: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong. 2610m,
Joe Siu[...]m,
Sharmill Films, O(adult theme) _

Love Between the Raindrops: Fiimove Studio Barran-
dov, Czechoslovakia, 3458m, Roadshow Dist., S(I-m-/)
Mission for the Dragon: Asso Asia Film, Hong Kong,
2219m, Eupo Film Co., V(f-m-g)

The Mortal storm: Golden Harvest, Hong Kong,
2605.85m, Dynasty Film Dist., V(l-m-g)

The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia: Avco Em-
bassy, U.S., 2989.87m, Hoyts Di[...], 2496.13m,
Cinema lnt‘l Corp., O(adulf theme)

The Patriot Game (16mm): lskra, France, 1020m,
Australian Film institute. WI-m-i)

Prince of the City: B. Harris. U.S., 4418m, Warner Bros
(Aust.)[...]lumbia Film Dist., S(i-l—i). O(aduIt concepts)

The Bhaolin Invlncibleez Elegant Films Co., Hong
Kong, 2545m, Lilond, V(f-m-g)

The Snake Man: Dararoath Film, Hong Kong, 2743m,
Lilo[...]-m-9) ,
Thunderground (16mm): Barry Cross_ Prods, Australia,
B33.B7m, Barry Cross Prods, L(I-m-g), Ofsexual
i[...]Kong, 2428.B9m,
Lilond, V(f-m-g)

Films examined in terms of the Customs (Cinematograph Films) Regulations and Sta[...]tuitous

For Restricted Exhibition (R)

Behind the Green Door (modified British version)
(videotape)[...]via, 8101.26m, Valhalla Films,

I- -1

Occupation In 26 Pictures: Jadran-Croatia Film,
Yugoslavia, 310[...]31.55m,

resslve Training

Seven Keys, S(i'-m-g)

The Professional Killer: Prog Co.,
Hong Kong, 2478m,[...]mins, Electric Blue (A‘asia), S(f-m-g)

Return of the Deadly Blade: New Century Film, Hong
Kong, 2668m,[...]U.S., 290Dm,
GUO Film Dist., V(i-m-i), L(I-m-i)

The Stewerdeeses (original SD version) (a): Louis K.
Sher Prods, U.S., 2522.B2m, G.L. Film Enterprises
S(f-m-g)

The Thorn: Framemorgen Prods, U.S., 1978.39m, G.L.
Fi[...]ce, 2413m,
Apollon Films, S(i-m-i)

Two Champions of Shaolin: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong,
2886.28m, Joe Siu lnt’l Film Co., V(f-m-g)

A Very Small Case of Rape (pre-censor cu1verslon): T.
Rotor, U.S., 205[...]Eliminetlons

For Restricted Exhibition (R)

City of the Living Dead (pre-censor cut version): G.
Maslni,[...]ns: 8m (44 secs)

Reason for deletions: S(/-h-g)

The Young Hitchhikers (pre-censor cut version)
(16mm)[...],
2057.50m, A.Z. Associated Theatres, S(i—h-g)

The Other side ot Julia (videotape) (b): C. Gifford,[...], 2476.20m,
Roadshow Dist., O(sexua/ exploitation of minor)

3 A.M. (videotape) (c): R. Mccallum, U.S.[...]iously shown on September 1978 list.

Films Board of Review

smokey Bites the Dust (a): New World Pictures, U.S.,
2352m, Roadshow Dist.

Decision reviewed: Classify “R" by the Film Censorship
Board.

Decision of the Board: Uphold the decision of the Film
Censorship Board.

(a) Previously shown on September 1981 list.

Note: Length oi the film Body Heat shown as 2770.43m
(September 1981 list) should read 3095.57m.
Length of the film Full Moon shown as 2286.82m
(July 1981 list) should read 2523.56m.

Title of film shown as Partners (September 1981
list) has[...]without Eiiminations

For General Exhibition (G)

The Cheat (16mm): Paramount, U.S., 1593m, National
Library of Australia

gance craze: Chrysalis, Britain, 2379.41m, Rock Film

lst.

Doctors and Nurses: Universal Entertainment,
Australia, 2454.14m, Universal Entertainment

The Headless Horseman (16mm): Paul Kllliem Film
Classics, U.S., 943m, National Library of Australia
Little Adventures (16mm): Y. Yuukl/T. Nishlguchi,[...]wn. Hong Kong, 2676m, Com-
fort Fiim Enterprises

The Tinder Box (16mm): Advance Films, Denmark,
735m,[...]l-m-g)

14‘a Good 18': Better (videotape): Film Australia,
Australia, 50 mins, Film Australia, Ofadolescent theme)
St Helena: Davis/Panzer Prod[...]: Grove Press, Hungary, 867.45m,
National Library of Australia, V(I-I-/). O(nudity)

(a) Reduced by producer's c[...]August 1981 list).

For Mature Audiences (M)

All the Wrong ciuae (For the Right solution): Cinema
City and Films, Hong Kong, 2739m, Golden Reel Films,
Sf!‘-m-9). V(i-m-9)

The Amateur: Michael Drabinsky Prod./Pan Canadian
Fil[...]2523.56m, Reid &
Puskar, V(f-m-g)

Die variable (The Fiancee): Dela, E. Germany,
2984.02n1, Quality Fi[...]Casselman/McMuilan Prod., U.S./Greece,
2221.83m, The House of Dare, O(nudify)

Flag of iron: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong, 3146m, Joe Siu
lnt‘l Film Co., V(f-m-g)

Galaxy of Terror: R. Corman, Britain, 2231.04m, United
Artists (A‘asia), V(f-m-g)

The Ghostly Face: S. Tan, Hong Kong/Indonesia,
2536m,[...]., 2565.70m, Warner Bros
(Aust.), V(l-m-g) _

Man of iron: Film Polski, Poland, 3922.49m, Contai,
O(ad[...]nt‘l,
S{i—l-i), L(i-m—i)

3456.18m,

Rlvele of the Silver Fox: Asso Asia Film, Hong Kong,
2352.68m, Eupo Film Co., i/(f-m-i)

A Rumour of War: D. Manson, U.S., 2860.64m, F.G.
Film Prods,[...].S., 3151.34m,
Roadshow Dist., O(aduIt concepts)

The Tigress of Shaoiln: R. Shaw, Hong Kong,
2717.36m, Joe Siu ln[...]Kong,
2806m, Comfort Film Enterprises, V(f-m-g)

The Captives (VI fangnl) (reconstructed version) (a):[...]ven, Denmark, 1561.73m. Cinerama Films,
S(f-m-g)

The confession of a N nlec: A. Brummer, W.
Germany, 2245m, A.Z. Ass[...]d version) (c): Trlnacra Films.
France, 2580.20m, The House of Dare, S(f-m-g)
Evllepeair (reduced version) (d): Warner Bros, U.S.,
2509.92m, Warner Bros (Aust.), V(f-m-g)

The Happiest Moment: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong,
2592.40m,[...]Hong
3122.87m,-Joe Siu lnt’l Film Co., V(f-m-g)
The Losers (16mm): Fan Fare Films, U.S., 1053.38m,
Blake Films Vic., V(f-m-g)

The Midnight Jogger (16mm): Fieetan Films, U.S.,
592.38m, 14th Mandolin, S(f-m-g)

The New Adventures of Snow White (videotape): J.
Cross W. Germany, 72 m[...], 2468.B8m,
Blake Films Vic., S(i-m-9). V(f-m-g)

The Worst of the Los Angelee Erotic Film Festival
(16mm): P. Grego[...]deletions: V(i-h-g), O(imitab/e gunmaking)
Night of the Warlock (16mm) (pre-censor cut version)
(a): Sata[...]ril 1981 list.

Films Refused Registration

Alice in Wonderland (videotape) (a): W. Osco, U.S., 76
mins, Video Classics, S(i—h-g)

Alice in Wonderland (videotape) (a): W. Osco, U.S.,[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (44)TElEV|S|
PACKAGE l|K
NO ONE ELSE

H E 00 0 Australia's only specialist film and television
art, design[...]ervice.

E E 9 0 0 clients include cinema Papers, The Australian Motion
Picture Yearbook, channels W-Video Magazine, the Australian Music Direc-
tory, the Victorian Film Corporation, the Australian Film Commission, FGH Film
Consortium, The Age Good Food Guide and the Melbourne Film Festival.

E E G O G will join you[...]eate, explore and realize your design needs under the direction of
award-winning designer Keith Robertson.

E009 specializes in 0 sales and promotional brochures
0 design and paste-up of ads for trade and consumer press I station[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (45)Publications from
a CI EMA PAPERS

SOON FOR RELEASE

The Documentary

Documentary films occupy a special
place in the history and development of
Australian filmmaking. From the pioneering
efforts of Baldwin Spencer to Damien
Parer's Academy Award w[...]'s Stepping
Out and David Bradbury’s Frontline,
Australia's documentary filmmakers have
been acclaimed world-wide.

The documentary film is also the
mainstay of the Australian film industry.
More time, more money and more effort
goes into making documentaries in this
country than any other film form —
features, shorts or animation.

In this, the first comprehensive
publication on Australian doc[...]authors and filmmakers
have combined to.examine the evolution of
documentary filmmaking in Australia, and

the state of the art today.

ntents

The History of the Documentary:

A World View
International landmarks,.key figures, major movements.

The Development of the Documentary
in Australia

A general history of the evolution of the documentary
film in Australia, highlighting key films, personalities and
events.

in
Australia

Documentary Producers

An examination. of the various types of documentaries
made in Australia, and who produces them. A study of
government and independent production. The aims
behind the production of documentaries, and the various
film forms adopted to achieve the desired ends. This part
surveys the sources of finance for documentary film here
and abroad.

The Marketplace

The market for Australian documentary films, here and[...]nces and ratings.

Making a Documentary

A series of case studies examining the making of
documentaries. Examples include large budget
docu[...]ries.

ORDER NOW

Film

Each case study examines, in detail, the steps in-the
production of the documentary, and features interviews

with the key production, creative and technical personnel
involved.

The Australian Documentary: Themes
and Concerns

An examination of the themes, precccupations and film
forms used by Aus[...]rectors.

Repositories and Preservation

A survey of the practices surrounding the storage and
preservation of documentary films in Australia.
Comparisons of procedures here and abroad.

The Future

A look at the future for documentary films. The impact
of new technology as it affects production, distribution

and marketing. A forward look at the marketplace and

the changing role of the documentary.

Prbducers and Directors Checklist

A checklist of documentary producers and directors
currently working in Australia.

Useful Information

Reference information for those dealing with, or
interested in, the documentary film. This section will
include listings of documentary buyers, distributors,
libraries, festivals, etc.

Published by Cinema Papers in association with the
Victorian Film Corporation.

ORDER FORM

f"W
Please send me |__l copies of The Documentary Film in Australia @ $9.95.

Cheques, money orders dr Bankcar[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (46)[...]“It contains just about.
A " "' A , everything the Australian
""'mW~""“’ ' . = ' film industry o[...]tional Times

“A must for anyone . H
interested in the local film industry.

A ustralian Playboy

“Everything one could possibly want to

know about the Australian film industry

seems to be contained in the

Australian Motion Picture Yearbook. . . a
reference book no one seeking information about
the film industry Down Under can afford to be

w"h0m'[...]981/82

Cinema Papers is pleased to armounce that the 1981/ 82 edition of the

Australian Motion Picture Yearbook can now be ordered.
The enlarged, updated 198 1/ 82 edition contains many new features, including:

0 Comprehensive filmographies of feature film scriptwriters, directors of photography, composers,
designers, editors and sound recordists

0 Monographs on the work of director Bruce Beresford, producer Matt Carroll and scriptwriter
David \Wil1iamson

0 A round-up of films in production in 1981

0 Actors, technicians and casting agencies .

0 An expanded list of services and facilities, including equipment supp[...]FeSflV3|S n war S i
ll

Exhibition; Governmentand the Film r . . - -
Industry; Film Organizations; Fest[...]t(a:iis‘ng';\JeF€i}ler‘tiIve Censorship’

The Me‘“3- Directors of Photography, Editors, Production and Re-dimension[...]xhibitors yer 'sers " ex

Fill out order form for the 1980 and 1981/82 Editions on page 8 of this
special insert.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (47)CINEMA PAPERS

in association with Thomas Nelson

AUSTRALIAN TII The first 25 years

records, year by year, all the important television
events. Over 600 photographs, some in full color,
recall forgotten images and preserve memories
of programmes long since wiped from the tapes.

The book covers every facet of television
programming — light entertainment, q[...]van Hutchinson.

AUSTRALIAN TII takes you back to the time

when television for most Australians was a
curiosity — a shadowy, often soundless, picture in
the window of the local electricity store. The
quality of the early programmes was at best
unpredictable, but still people would gather to
watch the Melbourne Olympics, Chuck Faulkner
reading the news, or even the test pattern!

At first imported series were the order of the
day. Only Graham Kennedy and Bob Dyer could
challenge the ratings of theThe Mavis Bramston Show. With
the popularity of that rude and irreverent show,
Australian television came into its own.
Programmes like Number 96, The Box, Against
the Wind, Sale of the Century have achieved
ratings that are by world s[...]an entertainment, a

delight, and a commemoration of a lively, fast-
growing industry.

Fill out order form forAustralian- TV on page 8 of this special insert.

’ l

I .

‘I .
n[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (48)The first comprehensive book on the
Australian film revival

UUUE lllfilll

208 pps, 28cm x 20. 5cm (II" x 8")

s -In this major work on the Australian film industry’s
dramatic rebirth, 1[...]tique. Illustrated with 265 stills,
including 5 5 in full color, this book is an invaluable record

for all those interested in the New Australian Cinema

The chapters: The Past (Andrew Pike), Social Realism (Keith Connoll[...]de (Sam Rohdie).

$14.95

Fill out order form for The NewAustralian Cinema on page 8 of this special
insert.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (49)[...]M IKE . .
WUIE II A cotpprehensive guide

Behind the screen

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (50)THE SENSATIONAL
INTERVISION VIDEO MOVIES

WE’VE GOT[...]— ADULT — MUSIC.

Trade Enquiries:

The first name in Video,
the last word in Entertainment

MOVIES ON VIDEO

If you want to know more about our full range of titles contact your

local Video store or[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (51)The stars up iront need
solid support

It your needs[...]sorting, or even
direct mailing, feel secure with the knowledge that, with
hundreds of installations behind us, our team of professionals

will train your staff on easy to use programs and leave you to
concentrate on matters of a higher nature.

G Cromemco
INFORMATIVE S[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (52)News 5

Mike Walsh Leo James 8

The Video Censorship Mess: What You Should Know Damie[...]and materials supplied for this
magazine, neither the Editors nor the
Publishers accept any liability for loss or

damage which may arise. This magazine
may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the permission of the copyright

owner. Channels is published by Cinema[...].

Editors: Peter Beilby, John Pruzanski.

The editors would like to thank the follow-
ing ior their help and co-operation: Road-
show Distributors (the stills from Alvin
Purple); Australian Film instit[...]nt; and Canberra
Times (for permission to reprint the photo
of Gough Whitlaml.

© Copyright Cinema Pa[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (53)AUSTRALIAN TV The first 25 years
records, year by year, all the important television
events. Over 600 photographs, some in full color, .
recall forgotten images and preserve memories
of programmes long since wiped from the tapes.

The book covers every facet of television
programming — light entertainment, q[...]Ivan Hutchinson.

AUSTRALIAN TV takes you back to the time
when television for most Australians was a
curiosity — a shadowy, often soundless, picture in
the window of the local electricity store. The
quality of the early programmes was at best
unpredictable, but still people would gather to
watch the Melbourne Olympics, Chuck Faulkner
reading the news, or even the test pattern!

At first imported series were the order of the
day. Only Graham Kennedy and Bob Dyer could
;challenge the ratings of the westerns and
situation comedies from America and Britain.

Then came The Mavis Bramston Show. With
the popularity of that rude and irreverent show,
Australian television Came into its own.
Programmes like Number 96, The Box, Against
the Wind, Sale of the Century have achieved
ratings that are by world s[...]an entertainment, a
delight, and a commemoration of a lively, fast-
growing industry.

go get a copy 0_/‘Australian TV, fill our the order form in the centre pages of Cinema
apers.

Metro Television, gearing up for _ _ _ .
th eberve? tlua|_ ir_1tro_du gtign of Eé’d‘é’,€’n;2,°%!‘,S?,‘}',§;§’n"t',-,',‘,',"'°"
pu ic e evision in y ney, ' ' ex

offers its facilities for v[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (54)[...]edly sold on video
cassette.

Jolly Roger Lowered
in Newcastle

An illegal video-cassette racket
was broken by Federal police in New-
castle, New South Wales, in January.
It was alleged that the organizers
were operating a legitimate video
cassette club through which they
rented and sold pirated copies of
films not yet released on video
cassette. Titles seized were reported
to include Dr Zhivago, Gone with the
Wind, Picnic at Hanging Rock and
Breaker Morant, with a retail value of
up to $100,000.

In February, police struck again in
the West Australian mining town of
Port Hedland.

Hopefully, the incidence of video
piracy will be curtailed with the
announcement of stiffer penalties.
The previous fines were $10 a
cassette, up to a maximum of $200,
while present legislation provides a
fine of $1500 for first offenders and
up to $10,000 or si[...]or
both for second offences.

Aunty Roars

“ABC Australia is probably the
second most active television pro-
ducer in the world", says Wynn
Nathan, the president of Lionheart
Television International, now exclu-
sive distributors of ABC programs in
the US, Canada and South America.
The ABC's previous distributor, Don
Taffner, was also distributor for the
Canadian Broadcasting System and
Thames Televisio[...]as more time to promote ABC
programs effectively. The Alvin
Purple series is a natural for
rated cable[...]oadcasting.

Lionheart is also a co-producer
with the ABC, the first production
being the seven-hour mini-series,
1915.

The Betamax case

Universal and Disney Studios have
won the latest round in the ‘Betamax’
case in the U.S. in 1979, Universal,
together with Walt Disney Studios.
sued for damages over breach of
copyright. The defendants were an
individual owner of a Betamax video-
cassette recorder and the Sony
Corporation of the U.S.

The case centred on the right of the
individual to record programs for his
own use. Sony won the first round
and the video industry heaved a sigh
of relief. But the judgment was later
overturned by a Federal Appeals
Court in California.

Universal, however, modified its
ori[...]m
selling any more video—cassette
recorders — in favor of a “fair and
reasonable royalty" from manu-
facturers. After winning the court
decision, MCA (Universais parent
company) t[...]against every known manufacturer
and distributor of video recorders in
the US.

Sony now has two courses open to
it: to wait until the Supreme Court can
hear the case, or to call for Federal
legalization of home—taping. In
working for the latter, Sony has spent
$2 million in newspaper advertise-
ments urging the public to let their
legislators know how they feel about
the Appeals Court decision. In the
advertisements, Sony claims the VCR
is only a device to beat the
constraints of time.

The decision in the U.S. has no
bearing on Australian copyright law,
which has not yet been tested in rela-
tion to videotaping, but could easily
influence the outcome here. The Aus-
tralian Audio—Video Tape Association
belie[...]deo—cassettes if proposals from
representatives of the Australian
Copyright Council get government
appro[...]ettled last June when a U.S. District
Court found in favor of Paramount
Pictures in an alleged infringement
over episodes of the successful tele-
vision series Star Trek. The cult
status of the series made it a major
seller in video; pirated copies of
episodes were being marketed
openly. Paramount Pictures failed to
put copyright notices on the films, but
the court has decreed that copyright
applied nonethel[...]SI
Fox?

When oil billionaire Marvin Davis
bought the Twentieth Century-Fox
Corporation, it was rumored that he
wanted to sell part of the Fox lot to
raise capital. The precedent had been
set when the highly-priced luxury
suburb, Century City, was carved out
of the original back lot.

it now seems Davis will sell all Fox
property in Westwood. Davis has vir-
tually signed a deal to buy a 50 per
cent interest in Studio Center from
the US. broadcasting giant CBS. The
Studio Center lot in the San Fernando
Valley section of Los Angeles houses
CBS, Mary Tyler Moore Enterpri[...]lease their product on CED
videodiscs.

Then came the announcement of
Twentieth Century-Fox Video and
CBS Video Enterpr[...]eo
products. This new agreement throws
into doubt the old agreement CBS
had with MGM. CBS has also resur-
rected CBS theatrical films and has
many productions in various stages
of development.

Record Fee For Rights

The Los Angeles Olympic Com-
mittee accepted a $9.2 million bid for
the exclusive Australian rights to tele-
vise the 1984 Summer Olympic
Games. The winner was, unexpec-
tedly, the Ten Network. To put this
figure into perspective, the European
Broadcasting Union, an association
of European national broadcasters, is
reported to be[...]r those same rights.

Commercial-free
Television

The much—publicized Dix Report on
funding of the ABC suggested that
the Commission should use some of
the revenue-raising methods of the
Public Broadcasting System in the
U.S. This commercial—free network
raises money[...]s, private donations and cor-
porate underwriting of programs.

Contributing corporations get only
a credit at the beginning and end of
programs. Defenders of the Dix
Report consistently denied that
corporate und[...]ks, but it
now seems that 10 P88 network
stations in the U.S. are preparing to
broadcast commercials. Meanwhile,
the ABC will seek to save another
$1.7 million as it has run out of money
for this financial year.

EMANUEL! A[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (55)Win and Place Only

After six years of rating the ‘best’
and ‘worst’ shows on television, the
National Parents and Teachers
Association in the U.S. has aban-
doned the practice.

The NPTA, still unhappy with the
quality of programming, has adopted
the approach of positive reinforce-
ment, through publicity and a[...]its judging panel
believes have proper ‘quality of life’
values. high artistic and technical
qualities, and the absence of grat-
uitous sex and violence. Programs
that do not meet with the organiza-
tion's approval will not be publicized.
Under the old system, it seems, the
list of ‘worst’ programs received most
of the publicity.

Shortage Within Boom

As the extent of the video market in
the PAL format hits home, the blank-
tape suppliers are finding it difficult to
meet the demand. This shortfall is
due to an under-estimate of the size
of the market as the suppliers geared
for production two years ago. It
seems in Britain and Europe demand
is running 50 per cent over supply.

Another factor is the impact of the
demand for pre-recorded material on
the blank—cassette market, with dis-
tributors clamoring for quality blank

Bruce Gyngell, the G from GC Produc-
tions.

New Talent Show

Undaunted by the recent failure of
ATV—10’s Search For a Star, the Ten
Network is still trying to beat the
highly-successful New Faces on
Nine. It commissio[...]ted by Tim Webster. There will be
cash prizes and the chance to win a
two—week engagement at the MGM
Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

Actors Settle

After a two-year dispute, an agree-
ment between Actors Equity and the
Film and Television Production
Association has been signed. The
agreement guarantees actors
employed in serials, mini—series and
telelilms a larger slice of the pro-
ceeds from international sales. The
agreement is valid for two years.

6 -- CHANNELS April 1982

The RCA Capacitance Electronic Disc-
Seiectavision, w[...]e retail discounts.

Fluctuating Fortunes
at RCA

in 1980, Thornton Bradshaw was
appointed RCA‘s fourth chairman in
six years. The New York—based
corporation — which manufactur[...]designs and owns satel-
lites, and owns and runs the NBC
television network — lost U.S.$109.3
million in the first three quarters of
1981.

Bradshaw, however, has instilled
new confidence into the corporation.
He dismissed Fred Silverman as head
of NBC-TV and appointed Grant
Tinker of Mary Tyler Moore Enter-
prises. acknowledged as producing
the highest-quality products on U.S.
television.

Bra[...]nagement style honed during 17
years as president of the _Los
Angeles-based Atlantic Richfield Oil
Company[...]ortant deci-
sions facing him. After poor results of
the first year's sales of RCA’s
Selectavision videodisc — and dis-
missing 400 of its 4000 workers —
the whole future of videodisc. where
RCA has large sums invested, is
clouded.

The Press and The
Third World

An under-reported major news
story, and one whose outcome could
affect all the news read and seen on
television, concerns the efforts of the
Third World to sponsor a “new world
information[...]countries claim they
are being misrepresented by the wes-
tern media and are demanding “posi-
tive" coverage and help in expanding
their communications facilities.
Wester[...]for
control, and believe that no matter
how valid the criticisms of their
coverage, government control of the
media is not the answer.

At a conference in Tallories,
France, in May, where represen-
tatives of the leading western news
organizations gathered. UNESCO
director—general Amandou M'Bow
angrily denied charges of Soviet
manipulation in the debate, but it was
noted by the eminent defender of the
free press. Leonard Sussman, that
most of UNESCO's 150—member
governments believed in and prac-
tised control of the press by
government.

Up, Up and Away

Sales figures show that for the first
time more than a million VCRs were
sold last year in the US. According to
the Electronic Industries Associa-
tion's Consumer Electronics Group,
this represents an increase in sales
of 69.1 per cent over the previous
year. There are more than 3 million
VCRs in use in the US.

Meanwhile, according to the Elec-

tronics Industries Association of

Japan, VCR production and export
doubled for the second year in a row.
Output shot up 114 per cent to 9.5
million[...]Sauter, group vice-
president and general manager of
RCA, predicted, at the Consumer
Electronics Show, that the sales of
video hardware and software would
grow to $10 bil[...]television has
failed to find a program to match the
success of ABC's Countdown. The
Ten Network and Michael Gudinski,
of Mushroom Records. are set to
change all that. Wir[...]nski, has been com-
missioned to produce a number of
pop/rock programs for national airing.
There are three initial programs, all
produced out of Melbourne. Radio
simulcasts play an important role in
all three.

Wrok (pronounced rock) is a five
nights a week halt-hour program pro-
bably set in the 5 p.m.—7 p.m. time-
slot. It will be simulcast with Top—4O
stations around the country (3><Y in
Melbourne and 2SM in Sydney).

Nightmoves has been resurrected
with fo[...]pt
called Stereo Home Box Office will
be aired on the last Wednesday of
every month. it will feature a local or
overseas artist, produced in stereo
and also simulcast in stereo on FM
stations.

Michael Gudinski of Mushroom Records
has formed Wired Producti[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (56)Opening Up

In February, Melbourne and
Sydney had their first taste of Public
Broadcasting, when Open Channel, a
communi[...]l's
programming ranged from first—hand
accounts of what it is like to be an
Aboriginal in white Australia, to
explorations in the arts,

Open Channel would like public
television to be part of any pay tele-
vision service that eventuates from
the Australian Broadcasting Tri-
buna|‘s inquiry into pay television’s
introduction into Australia.

Jim Waley (left) and Steve Leibman.

News is Big

Spearheaded by Sixty Minutes, the
Australian version of the US. program
of the same name, the national Nine
Network has become the premier
news and current affairs network in
Australia.

Making use of 24-hours-a-day
satellite links with the U.S., and rights
to the news services of the American
ABC and CBS television networks as
well as United Press International
Television News and the British
News At Ten the Nine Network now
has three other news and current[...]r news services.

Sunday is an Australian version of
the CBS Sunday edition of their
morning news programs, and is
designed as a[...]cover stories, features and regular
departments.

The World Tonight, hosted by
Sunday's Jim Waley, is based on the
American ABC network's World
News Tonight and Nightline The
new format program, broadcast in a
late-night timeslot, has been
welcomed by those interested in
increased international content, and
by viewers who cannot catch the
early evening news broadcast.

The much—awaited morning news
program The National Today Show,
quietly slipped into Nine‘s schedule in
late February. It began as an hour-
long hard new[...]hen Sue Kellaway joins
Steve Leibman as co-host.

The credit for all this activity must
be partly inspired by the increased
international content of Channel 0/28
news and current affairs programs.

Viewers Complain

Statistics recently released by the
Australian Broadcasting Tribunal
suggest that either Australians are
becoming blase about the quality of
their television, or that the channels
are getting closer to an ideal pro-
gramming formula,

The ABT’s 1980-81 annual report
includes a three-year comparison of
written complaints covering television
advertisin[...]ogram-
ming totalled 291 last year, down
from 320 in 1979-80 and 371 in
1978-79. Allegations of bad taste
(sex, violence and lapses of moral
standards) in entertainment and
news programs continue to be the
main cause for complaint. The next
most common reasons are specific
allegations of sex, indecency or
violence.

Other concerns come and go.
In 1978-79, for example, 64
correspondents complained about
the televising of R-rated films. Last
year, by comparison, only eight
people were moved to make the same
complaint.

The number of repeats and poor
programs drew 46 complaints in
1979-80, but only 21 last year.

More surprising is that of the
291 complaints about general pro-
gramming last year 31 concerned a
single episode of The Don Lane
Show. The viewers put pen to paper
alter Lane interviewed J[...]s.
including Doris Stokes.) Twenty-eight
wrote to the Tribunal objecting to
Lane’s attitude in the interview. Three
expressed support for Lane.

Television advertising drew 157
written complaints in 1980-81 com-
pared to 278 the year, before. Most
writers were concerned about the
number of advertisements on their
screens, the taste and safety aspects
of some commercials or the adver-
tisement of intimate products. Last
year, for the first time, a few people
also wrote in complaining about
sexism in advertising.

But the largest number of com-
plaints about any single issue was
when 116 people wrote to the ABT
during 1979-80 to question the high
sound level of advertisements — an
issue that barely drew comment any
other year.

Last year, the ABT’s mail contained
37 complaints about the use of
children's and family television time.
Once again there were fewer com-
plaints than in years past, but major
concerns remain the unsuitability of
some programs and the promotion of
adult shows during children's viewing
time.

-3%[...]_.M "m1.m.iIiitwAi.
I'ru.v—n- T

One episode of The Don Lane Show at-
tracted over 10 per cent of all the com-
plaints about general programming last
yeah

The ABT report says that 20 per
cent of complaints received during
1980-81 involved a possible breach
of the ABT’s standards; however, only
11 per cent of all complaints were
found to be justified.

The report also notes that since
July 1980 stations h[...]dule programs
classified "C" for children between
the hours 4-5 p.m., Monday to Friday
(although they a[...]hese programs to accom-
modate sports telecastsi. In 1980-81,
Flipper was the most popular
program in this timeslot, drawing an
audience of 142,000 five- to 12-year-
olds in Sydney and Melbourne.

The next four most popular after-
noon programs among the pre-teens
were Mouse Factory, Shir|'s Neigh-
bour[...]nder World (although their
ratings varied between the two state
capitals).

But the most popular show among
five- to 12-year-olds was not shown
in "C“ program time. Sale of the
Century, aired at 7 p.m., pulled in
301,000 pre-teen viewers in Sydney
and Melbourne lastyear (out of a total
audience in those two cities of close
to two million). Ford Superquiz ran a
close second-choice among the
children.

The same breakdown shows that
more under-12—year—olds were glued
to re—runs of the 1960s U.S. sit-com, I
Dream of Jeannie, or stayed up to
watch That's Incredible, The Dukes
of Hazzard, CHiPS and Prisoner,
than tuned in to any of the
classification programs.‘

Elsewhere in its 250 pages, the
report also contains the good news
that Australian content on Australian
television has been steadily
increasing. In the five years surveyed,
the percentage of Australian pro-
grams has increased from 39.5 per
cent in 1976-77 to 49.9 per cent in
1980-81.

The bad news is that the
profitability of the Australian com-
mercial networks dropped 1O per
cent in the 1979-80 financial year.
Even though political advertising
for the 1979 elections added
$2,214,043 to the stations’ revenues,
after tax, the net profit dropped from
$46,838,956 to $42,114,857. The
15 metropolitan stations earned
$28,687,805 or 68 per cent of the
total profit, while the 35 country
stations earned $13,427,052 or 32
per cent of the total. I

1. Figures for Sydney and Melbou[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (57)‘relevision management, says Mike
Walsh, looks in the wrong places for
personalities and producers. som[...]entertaining
over dinner.

Walsh, 45, genial host of Austra-
lian television's most penetrating
(124 c[...]is medium
with a iaundiced eye. His involve-
ment in television and theatre pro-
duction, his ownership of cinemas in
Richmond and Penrith, New South
Wales, and his intention to become a
producer of feature films one day,
make him a fascinating per[...]s
him equally at home as performer or
executive.

In this interview, during the
christmas break, he took time to
reflect on his w[...]LEO JAMES

Your production company, Hayden
Price, in which you are partnered by
David Price, joined forces with
Channel 10 in Melbourne to produce
“Together Tonight”. was that a
significant step towards your greater
involvement in the executive area of
television?

Not particularly for me, apart from
seeing the tapes, passing comment
on them and talking about[...]at oneto David and I took more
responsibility for The Mike Walsh
Show. David and I liaise on things, bu[...]would you see Hayden Price
becoming more involved in pro-
ductlon...

Yes, definitely.

is there any c[...]should, however
indirectly, have any involvement in
the programming of 10 or any other
network?

No, they have bought Mi[...]ne it before!
when is your contract up with Nine?
The end of this year.
Do you feel any personal conflict over
the dual roles of personality and

executive . . .

No, I lo[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (58)hats. I am wearing a farmer hat at the
moment, and I have been wearing
property developer and cinema hats
for the past few months, as well as
The Mike Walsh Show hat.

is what is good for the growth of the
production company necessarily
best for Mike Walsh the performer?
can you separate the two?

Obviously I look after Mike Walsh
the performer because he has been a
good product for[...]ooking after my own talent and being
protected by the people around me. I
think talent handling is anot[...]at we are pretty good at. We
have developed a lot of people, such
as Jade Hurley, Jeanne Little, Dr
Ja[...]with television go?

My first television show was in
1965, a thing called Ten on the Town
on TEN-10. It was nominally a
teenage progra[...]ew pop
stars and a ballet. We used to record
half of it at the studio and the other
half on location.

Do you remember what you[...]iastic.

Why did you go into radio first,
Instead of going straight for tele-
vision?

I was highly available for television;
it was just that the demand was less
than enthusiastic. I thought I would go
into the production side of television,
and I wanted, desperately. to be a
ca[...]o go down and
haunt Bert Newton when he was
doing The Late Show at HSV-7.

Philip Brady, who is another[...]a booth announcer at GTV-9, and
Pete Smith was at the ABC. Sol knew
a lot of people around; I just didn't
know any direct way of getting in.
Then I thought, if I went to radio and
made a na[...]and how to hold a
program together. I always knew the
type of program I wanted to do, which
is basically the one I do now. It was
only later I realized that variety in a
solid talk format was really my best
bag.

when you were doing “Ten on the
Town", and later “66 And All That”
for TEN-10, did you give up radio?

No, I stayed at 2SM all the way
through. But 2SM went through a few
format ch[...]to go for
talk-back radio, which no one had
done in this country, officially. There
had been some exp[...]manager that I should give up
radio as I would be In television

FHSCUDCIV. I FOIIDWBU HIS UUIIICE and
IVES DUI‘ Of Wflfk FD!‘ three

flIOll£'hS. "

but this was the real thing, with the
legal seven-second delay. 80 in 1967
I became the first talk-back radio
announcer on air.

In the meantime, Jack Neary from
NLT and Bill Harmon had asked me to
help out with Don Lane on the
interviews on The Tonight Show at
TCN-9 — somewhere between the job
of announcer and assistant
interviewer. And there are still some
marvellously embarrassing kine-
scopes of those days of myself and
Don Lane.

Then. when Don was off air
because of the alleged marijuana
charge, I compared two Tonight[...]manager that I should give up radio
as I would be in television instantly. I
followed his advice and was out of

work for three months.

Eventually, I rang Nigel Dick at
GTV-9 in Melbourne and said I was
coming down to see him.[...]Nine were using assorted

people for one-offs on In Melbourne
Tonight; so. I did one. It mustn‘t ha[...]d
nothing. But when they decided to go
ahead with the Today program, at the
beginning of 1968, I got that.

Had you heard they were planni[...]No. I had done about four games
show pilots, none of which went to air,
and then I was offered Today.[...],
but I agreed and did it for 12 months.
That was the real turning point. After

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (59)[...]and our
ratings weren‘t too good. So, they put
in Tony Charlton. The ratings went
from a nine to a one, and later to an
asterisk.

To my mind, the mistake was
putting it under the news depart-
ment. I had Bobo Faulkner, who was a[...]hearted. That’s where
it started to fall apart. The first six
months were great fun; the last six
months were a bit horrific.

A month bef[...]see Nigel Dick and said,
“l’m not happy with thein Sydney to change the
nature of the program and make it
more respectable. My approach to
anything is to package meat in the
middle of entertainment so that
people will take notice of it. Pack pure
information to anyone, and they can't
cope with too much of it, especially at
that time of morning. So, I walked out
of his office without a job. That was in
1969.

Having left GTV-9, I was contacted
immediately by Kevin Lewis, who said

I had a chance of getting a Tonight-
type show on HSV-7. Then there was
about a six-week period, during
which The .Today Show got into
terrible trouble, and GTV—[...]nks, I have been
through that.” HSV—7 gave me the
Thursday night, Mike Walsh Show.

Which did very well . . .

The first three months weren’t too
good, but, as the irony of the business
would have it, Nigel Dick came over
from GTV-9 to HSV-7 to start the
Seven Revolution. He started it,
despite claims to the contrary by
other people.

Nigel backed me tremen[...]It had Frank Rich, Mary Hardy
and Sue Donovan as the basic
comedy team, John-Michael Howson
as comedy[...]grapher.

Kevin Lewis’ Jardine Productions
lost the show, and it became a
domestic HSV-7 production. It
eventually knocked off the Thursday
night In Melbourne Tonight, which
had been an institution in Melbourne.
GTV-9 threw everyone in — Jimmy
Hannan, Bert Newton — everyone
except Graham. And we won the year.

At the end of that year, Nigel had

Far left: Walsh poses for a publicity shot
with his then secretary Pam Peters in
1970, the year of the Mike
Walsh Show on HS V-7 in Melbourne.
Left: Cornpere of 66 and All That, an early
TEN-10 comedy revue sho[...]n and decided he didn’t want a
variety show out of Melbourne. He
wanted a cheaper show. So, I was
turned into a sort of clipboard, carry-
ing David Frost for the beginning of
1971; that lasted about six months.
Ironically, by the time we came off,
we were rating up in the 17s and 185,
which was starting to get respectable.

What about the gap between that
show finishing during 1971 and the
start of the new “Mike Walsh Show”
on Channel 10?

I stayed around Australia until the
end of 1972 and then went to Britain
for about 10 months, where I free-
Ianced, doing interviews for the BBC
and television commercials.

who were the people you inter--
viewed?

Obviously my most impressive
interview — it is the only one in the
BBC archives — was the one with
Malcolm Muggeridge. Apparently it is
— not wishing the man any ill-health
in his obituary report on standby at
the BBC.

I also did Peter Sellers, and
interesting off-beat people like Miklos
Rozsa, the film composer. Then there
were some interminably boring
interviews, such as with the
Wedgwood china people.

Did TEN-10 bring you back from
London for the afternoon show?

Screen Gems had put up a pro-
position to TEN-10 for a talk-variety
show in the middle of the day. It had
nothing to do with what we are doing
now. Ian Holmes, who was the boss of
10, had been at Nine during my Today
Show days an[...], if you can get Mike Walsh, you
have a chance at the format. Screen
Gems had thrown up all sorts of
names because everyone in the world
thinks they can do a talk-variety show.
They had interviewed a whole lot of
dunderheads. It's a wonderful list,
some of whom now have trendy little
food columns and occasionally have
a great blast at me, in which I take a
wry interest. They piddle along wi[...]I never looked
better because I had been pounding
the streets of London doing
interviews and living on mince meat.
So I came back to do the show for
three months only, as things had
started to pick up for me in London,
and I looked like I would have a
c[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (60)[...]ion
commercials can be very lucrative
over there. The last one I did before
leaving was for BOAC; that was worth
£10,000. So. you didn't need to get
too many of those commercials to be
living well in London in 1972.

You came back just for three months
and then "shut the door" . . .

Yes, although there were a lot of
changes before the show hit a
workable format. Some of the original
run-downs were hilarious. They
would hav[...]and I was supposed to fill an
hour and a half out of that. You would
ask them if they liked diabetic p[...]one would pop up and
cook their favorite dish — the sort of
rubbish that would never rate here.
American talk shows are full of that.

I knew that wouldn't work for the
Australian public, which has a short
attention th[...]or interviews and that caused a
ruckus.

I called in David Price, who was
running a service station. David had
had the same feeling about the state
of the industry. He came in to direct
the program and immediately
recognized the problems we had. I
said. “Thank God there's som[...]o?" “Well," he said,
“Number 96 is being shot in the
studio next door. There are some
interesting people in that. We will
drag them in and do interviews with
them."

We went back to management and
told them that was the new way the
show was going. And they said, “But
aren't you going to interview the
singers?" And I said, “They are there
to sing, aren't they?”

At the beginning we were taping six
shows over three days — two a

morning. And we were taping so far
ahead that the audiences hadn't even
heard of our show. They had no idea
what the program was about.

Did you have much opposition[...]was three orfour years
before Melbourne was live. In fact.

Melbourne wasn't live until we took
the show to Nine; which was one of
the reasons for moving. We had been
two days behind in Melbourne.

You established a success in
daytime, which had not been a very
productive area. Larry Nixon had
done “Lady for a Day” in Melbourne,
and Tommy HanIon’s “It Could Be
Yo[...]was only half an
hour a day. .

There were a lot of half-hour shows
that worked, and Tony Barber had[...]en
successful. but it was pure formula
quiz show. In fact, Tony Barber said to
me the first night he went to the
Logies. “I wish you luck. but you
haven't a hop[...]s patronized
it, and there is still a fair amount of
patronizing today. I still have to cop
the “King of Daytime TV“ and “Darling
of the Blue Rinse Set" and all that
rubbish.

I knew our[...]p opera or yet another mindless
quiz show or took the approach of the
compere who says, “Now Mums . .

Our program has always been
aimed at people, and one of the first
nice things that came our way — and
this was in the day of all that activist

o.-stair, ‘

39- .- *1-. .

thing — was when the Women's
Electoral Lobby praised our program
and said it was the first program that
had treated women intelligentl[...]occasionally write a really
good ‘crit' on some of that rubbish
that is put on air, on some of the so-
called ‘personalities’ who are given a
go on television.

Management looks in the wrong
places for personalities; they look in
the wrong area for producers, too.
Sometimes. they gi[...]bs
because they have all gone out for a
meal with the new general manager
or someone, and they were so[...]an you would
believe. I could rattle off a series of
names that immediately come to
mind, but I wont.[...]love to
sit down and do a complete
devastation on the stupidity. from
managerial level down, of that sort of
concept.

Part of the problem could be put
down to the ease with which lame
came in the 19603 — and I suppose I
can put myself down the[...]and an awful lot
who rode on their backs because the
1960s demanded so many
personalities. The word “star" lost its
meaning then. By 1963, eve[...]rough them all.

Andy Warhol said it would get to
the stage where everyone would be
famous for 20 secon[...]e stage.

when did your involvement as a
producer in live theatre start?

The first one was Barry Humphries.

Then you did ‘The Kingfisher’ and
you brought Chris Langham out
h[...]l’ll only say that we

have presented a number of
successful attractions.

And there has been some talk of an
original Australian musical . . .

Left[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (61)[...]t is put on air. "

Well, that is a fair way down the
line. The concept looks very good,
and we have had very goo[...]people we have spoken to about
it. It may get off the ground next year.
I don't want to rush it though,[...]responsible as
producers and this is another one. In
such projects you have to tread
carefully because you don't have the
luxury of out-of-town tryouts in this
country.

Your cinema interest began in your
youth . . .

Yes — all my interests began in my
youth. I really haven't changed at all; I
have[...]wasn't showing
films to people.

When you bought the Regent in
Richmond, NSW, was that initially a
sort of indulgence by someone who
had always wanted to run a theatre?

No, never. I just had at the back of
my mind that. if television died for me,
I could always run the local picture
theatre and have a farm. I thought

And you are involved in the day-to-
day operation of the Regent?

Yes. I have a general manager for
the company now because it has
grown considerably. Bu[...]ren't
hamstrung with a boss who jumps on
them all the time. There are often
times when I would like to[...]a little more, but I find that if you
do that all the time you stifle people’s
creativity. 80, John Chapman is
basically the creative force on The
Mike Walsh Show these days, and
Paul Dravet looks after the theatres. I
am in it every step of the way, but as
chairman of the board rather than
operations manager.

I have my own concept of
something and I set the house style
and employ the people who can work
that way. I'll back them to the hilt, but,
obviously, I keep a close inspection
on it. I don't just employ people and
say let me know what the profit or loss
is at the end of the year. I initiate the
projects and they work on the basis I
want them to work on. I expect the
style to be followed and if it gets off

the rails, well, I'll interfere. But,
otherwise, I’I| just let them fire in their
own way.

The real ambition is to get a
conglomerate together w[...]ld like to get all my activities and
companies to the level where I can
move people from one to another[...]o something else, such as a film
or a stage show. The whole
philosophy of what I have been doing
is to get a bunch of creative people
together and give them room to
mo[...]ross-pollinate to stop them
getting bored.

About the only pie in which you don’t
have a finger is producing feat[...]n
interest you?

Oh, very much. But I want to see
the dust settle. I am a bit bored with
all the used car salesmen and shonky
doctors and everybody else putting in
their tax money. This does give
money to the industry, but it has also
meant a tremendous rush[...]st want to see
some rationale, as I am sure a lot of
people do, before I get in there.

Are there any particular types of film
in which you would like to be
involved‘?

No, not[...]think everything should be
money-making. I think the moment
you get away from the commercial
yardstick or box-office yardstick or
rating yardstick is the moment you
get into wanking. and I don't really
believe that anyone has a right to do
that in a big way. It should be done in
a theatre that seats about a hundred

people. -

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (62)Damien Mcclelland

THE VIDEO

CENSORSHIP MESS

what you should know

tra[...]ot its start with pornography.

Pirated cassettes of banned films began to find
their way into Australia and one no longer had to join
the “raincoat brigade” to see them. One could als[...]ne's taste for particular scenes or sequences
via the freeze—frames, the fast and slow motion and the
repeated viewings that cassettes offered —— options not
available in often sleazy "adult" cinemas.

Now the triple X-rated video-cassette — the voyeur’s
dream — has been joined in the market by mainstream
films. It is out of this development that a whole new set
of problems has arisen.

Puzzlingly, the video-cassette revolution has been
allowed to gro[...]legislative responses at
federal or state levels. The industry itself — importers,
suppliers and distributors —— seems for the present
content to operate according to a gentlem[...]utmoded and inappropriate legislation.
At present the industry is — in theory at least — regu-
lated by the Film Censorship Board. This raises the
question of whether a government body has the right to
censor what people do in their own homes; and there is
no doubt that the home market is the one cassettes are
aimed at.

The problem is, in part, historical. The Common-
wealth Film Censorship Board was setup in 1917, but

Advertising material for triple X-r[...]booming business.

I2. ,-\d‘»¢rli..

.ium the control u| the \u
Customs until ll h.i.\’ heen i.i.. '

.....u[...]er shalt not be passed. under this Purl "r' N
il. in Ihropinlun ullhe Ba-.ird ‘ "‘

lul lhc iiiiii[...]s blttsphemous. indecent or it
obscene:

(hi the tilnt or .id\-crtising mallet l\ likel} to he inj[...]i\'¢rlisIng mallet is like!) to he ofiensive to the
people or it rflcfldi) nzllllln or To the people of u purl oi’ the
Queen ~donitnions. or

(it) the film or adtcrlising mutter depicts .In_\ i1t:tllL'r liw uhihitiun
oivthicii is undesirable in the puh|i( inldrhl

(2) Where application is mode to the Bozird of Review under regur
Iation 39 of these Regulations to rertcvt ‘.1 decision of the Censorship
Board in relation to ‘.l lilnt or advertising mutter. the film shall not be
registered, or the advertising matter shall not be it. under this Furl it

_Uie “Qnrd of Review confirms. un Ih: gr-u ' ' '—~t or advertising
Krlid referred la in our. ::f(hg I;Ԥ[
--i

An extract from the Customs Act, through which Com-
monwealth Censorship is exercised.

_
it was not until 1949 that the states began, one by one,

to go along with its decisions. The Board's role,
however, remains a purely advisory one: it has no
actual control over the states in matters of film and
videotape censorship. “The states guard their legis-
lation very, very jealo[...]othing more.”

There is a further complication, in that the Board
registers and classifies films and videotap[...]tion; and each state has its own legislative view
of what constitutes a public or private showing. in New
South Wales, for example, the Theatre and Public Halls
Act provides a fairly cl[...]ian
legislation is not even remotely equivalent.

The interstate legislative jumble has made for some
strange situations. In Victoria, it is an offence to sell -
but not to a[...]triple X-rated material. Queens-
land and Western Australia seem to follow Censorship
Board decisions only when it suits them, and Western
Australia even has separate classifications for different
parts of the state — what goes in the fertile south is too
strong for the dry north. There is also the Sydney
phenomenon of “adult" cinemas showing unregistered
and unclassified films, in open breach of Common-
wealth and State laws.

he burgeoning of the video-cassette market

caught the Classification Board off its guard. In

last year's report — the first such report in the
Board's history — Strickland acknowledged the strain
on staff and resources caused by the ever—increasing
use of videotape.

“Looking ahead,” she says, “one can foresee video-
tape possibly displacing celluloid as the predominant

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (63)[...], but on
giant video panels. Once picture quality in this format
has improved, the practice will undoubtedly spread.

The widespread domestic application of video-
tape poses an even greater threat to the continued
viability of the cinema as we know it. One symptom of
the threat is the recently—initiated practice of some
major motion picture companies of simultaneously
releasing their new product in videotape and
standard celluloid formats.

“A major concern for film censorship is the ease
with which films and videotapes can be duplicated.
This will be a continuing problem, despite the fact
that some commercial videotapes have encoded[...]deletions to
videotapes creates difficulties, as the Board lacks
the necessary equipment. it is thus obliged to rely on
the importers written confirmation that the deletions
have been made.

"Videodiscs will prese[...]ms, as it is
not presently possible to delete any of the informa-
tion contained in their grooves. Their importation will
necessitate the purchase of additional equipment by
the Board, the training of staff in its use and appropri-
ate legislative amendments.[...]All I can do Is propose and nothing
more. ”

The Board's classification is designed to tell the
public what sort of film is up for display, and Strickland
says the Board aims at reflecting the plurality of com-
munity standards in Australia today.

“Within the limits of the legislation, the Board tries
to implement a censorship policy based on the
philosophy that adults have the right to make their
own decision regarding the material read, heard or
seen; but that people gen[...]exposure to material that may be offensive — or
in the case of children, harmful —— to them.”

at the censorship debacle boils down to for
wthe video—cassette industry. says Douglas
Long, then spokesman of the Australian Video
Association, is “tremendous problems for the distribu-
tors, the retailers and possibly the people who are
buying.”

Many of the distributors do not seem to care. They
simply meet thethe censor decides,
but this attitude is open to being influenced by the
axiom that sex sells: of the two versions, M and R, of
Saturday Night Fever, Rigby offers the R for video-
cassettes.

Top: John Travolta in RigbyCIC’s Ft-rated Version of Saturday
Nighf FGVEL Above: Video Classics’ Wal[...]Video Classics’ Walter Lehne says: “We accept the
same classification for company products as the
theatre. Of course, there has been talk of a separate
censorship for video and we would welcome it.”

Video Classics, in common with most other distribu-
tors, is careful to cover itself by displaying the Board’s
rating on all its cassette boxes, altho[...]es, Strickland told
Channels she had tried to get the states to formulate
some sort of unified legislation regarding the video-
cassette industry last August. Her proposal was "put in
the too—hard basket,” she says, but she expects the
states to reconsider it later this year. She sees the
censorship arrangement for literature as a[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (64)the gory and violent
sequences. Flight: Tinto Brass’ Caligula was out by the distributor
after being banned by the censor.

The fate of Tim Burstall’s film
highlights the inconsistencies
of censorship decisions made
for broadcast television. The
theatrically-released version
was heavily cut for commercial
television, while the Alvin Pur-
ple television series on the ABC
showed much more.

From lelt to right: Debbie Nankervis in
the uncut theatrical version. The same
scene at the point where commercial
television decided to cut. This shot of
Debbie Nankervis and Graeme B/undell
was cut lrom the version released on
commercial television. This shot with
Peta Peters was allowed in the ABC
series.

16 -- CHANNELS April 1982

Thousands of films have suffered at the hands of
the Film Censorship Board since its formation in
1917. The Censor’s demands have ranged from
small deletions to outright bannings. The following
stills have been taken from films affec[...]een uncut at a commercial
screening. Nobody knows in what versions these
films will ultimately be rele[...]ssettes.
One can be sure, however, it will not be the film-
maker’s. Clearly the right of people to view uncen-
sored films — and the use of home video cir-

cumvents the social problems — has still not been
met.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (65)Above left: Michelangelo Antonionl’s Blow Up had parts of this
sequence cut. Above right: Lewis Gilbert's The Adventurers had
deletions made due to sex[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (66)nother major area of dissatisfaction among

distributors is that of the delays experienced

while a film or videotape made its way through
the Board's administrative machinery. Not many
distributors will go on the record about this. but Walter
Lehne is openly cri[...], has
some 80 films awaiting classification, some of which
have been at the Board's Sydney headquarters for
three months. "The video industry is a whole new
industry in this country,” he says. “and the Board just
does not seem capable of doing the job.”

And then there is the continuing saga of Electric
Blue. A sort of British audio-visual rendition of Club
International and Playboy, the Electric Blue video-
tapes are distributed by Peter Southwell out of Mel-
bourne.

He has managed to put out seven edi[...]but 006 went back and forth to Sydney three
times in three-and-a-half months before passing
muster. He claims it cost him $20,000 in lost revenue.

When Electric Blue 007 fronted the censors on
December 17, 1981 , it was cleared by[...]eye, 007 was “much hotter than
006. But that is the thing. If the Board gives you a hard
time on one, they go easy on the next." Ironically, a clip
from the film Straw Dogs which ran unabashedly in
Australia's cinemas, was deemed unsuitable when
included in Electric Blue.

The size of the video—cassette industry is difficult to
ascertain. The move by the big media groups into the
area is an indication that there is a lot of money to be
made from cassettes, but just how muc[...]es and rentals totalled U.S.$1 billion last
year. Australia is not in that league, but if American
estimates of market shares correlate here, video
pornography claimed between 20 and 50 per cent of
the market last year.

The article quoted Screw magazine publisher Al
Goldst[...]erestimating sales by focusing on hardcore films. in
the past, X-rated films were seen and judged almost

Left: Peter Southwell of Electric Blue. Below: Susan George and
Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs: cut by the censors lorrelease on

Electric Blue.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (67)Top: Al Goldstein, publisher of Screw magazine: the public
wants "real films with sex”. Above: Malcolm McDowell and

Adrienne Corri in A Clockwork Orange: different versions for
different markets.

exclusively by men. “The product is changing today
because more couples ar[...]ong is adamant that no realistic figure
exists on Australia's video—cassette consumption. “His-
torically[...]simple as that. But how much is anyone‘s
guess. The whole area is further complicated by the
fact that much of the Triple X stuff is pirated anyhow.”

eanwhlle consumers seem unaware of how
vulnerable the uncontrolled growth of the
video—cassette market has left them. Con-
sumer affairs bureaus in Melbourne and Sydney report

few complaints; but purchasers of pornography are
unlikely to express their dissati[...]obligation on distributors to state which version of a
film is being offered for sale. Clockwork Orange, for
example, was made in a number of different versions
for different territories; The Godfather was made in dif-
ferent versions for cinema and television; Woodstock
is reported to have had 40 minutes of sexual and drug-
related activity excised from the American version
before release in Australia and the gap plugged with
more music; nobody seems to know which version will
eventually appear on cassette, but the version used on
television here is the Australian one.

Most distributors are content to offer product that
was screened locally in a Board-classified version and
in Strickland’s view this more than meets consumer[...]ns a grey area as far as censorship
is concerned. The Australian Broadcasting Tribunal
and the Australian Broadcasting Commission allow the
Board to examine and classify imported programs.
Thus the Government and commercial stations come
under the Boards umbrella.

Interestingly, commercial television seems to
welcome the Boards embrace. When the Government
tried to sever the connection last year, the Federation
of Australian Commercial Television Stations said no,
claiming the Board was in a better position to draw a
“fine line” between the demands of vocal minority
groups.

In addition, the commercial stations seem to have a
higher sense of propriety: when the ABC—produced
Alvin Purple series made its channel crossing to the
Seven Network, much was missing.

The Special Broadcasting Service, on the other hand,
is not obliged to observe the ABT's program standards.
Most weeks, SBS programm[...]explicit language, though sometimes SBS gestures in
the Board's direction by running a questionable
program after prime time.

Perhaps the main point about censorship in 1982 is
that it has lost much of its status as an issue. A glance
through the censorship file in any newspaper office
reveals the decline: the fat files of the early 1970s
shrink steadily as the years go by. Society seems to
have become less anxious about individual behaviour
in private; and because of the video cassette, filmed
material that would have been unthinkable in Aus-
tralian living rooms a decade ago is now hardly out of
the ordinary. I

Woodstock: the Australian record album had songs excis-
ed. The versions released theatrically and on tele[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (68)[...]Julie Stone

he sweeping changes now underway at the
Disney studios represent a radical departure

from the conservative image fostered by Disney
for so many years. Due for release in the middle of this
year, Tron, with its spectacular effects and state—of
the—art techniques, is aimed at capturing the imagina-
tion of children and adults today as surely as those
earl[...]ms did years ago.

A feature—|ength combination of animation and live
action, Tron heralds a new age of computer—generated
film and video graphics. The[...]-year-old
Tom Wilhite and his assistants, a group of young
animators who are about to reshape drastically the
tradition of cute hand-animation that has been the

Donald Duck, one of the many popular characters created by Walt
Disney, the pioneer 0/ high quality single-frame animation.[...]S
DISNEYLAND

Disney hallmark. Gone with Tron are the days of fairy
dust, Jiminy Cricket and lisping ducks.

Computer animation from Disney might seem to go
against the handcrafted sensibility of the studio, yet
Disney's moral and political conservatism always
disguised a creative liberalism bordering on the revolu-
tionary. The early Disney animated films broke new
ground in color, believability and story development.
and set the standards for everyone else in those early
days.

Disney himself had a basic ins[...]w tools that would help him provide
entertainment the public would welcome. In the same
spirit, Wilhite is banking $13.5 million on being able to
combine the Disney tradition of the well-told story with
live action and animated characters co—existing in a
computer—generated landscape.

He is doing this in collaboration with a few old—school
animators and a gaggle of whiz-kids recently out of Cal
Arts (California Institute of Art; Valencia), the animation
and film school set up by Disney. Since[...]-breed animators have been honing their
skills at the Disney studio on the corner of Dopey Drive
and Mickey Avenue; and now those skil[...]among
hundreds.

computer games house real people in another
dimension which is controlled by a single
malevolent program. The protagonist, Flynn (Jeff
Bridges), who begins as[...], is
blasted into electronic particles and awakes in a
fourth—dimensional world whose overlord is the evil
Dillinger (David Warner).
The saga is played out in a setting where the life
force is electricity, where computer programs are the
alter egos of the programmers and where electronic

T he action of Tron centres on the premise that

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (69)[...]ladiators do battle. Flynn is sentenced to die on the
video game grid, where the amusements found in
arcades become life and death realities.

Tron represents the most extensive use yet of
computer—generated video animation, with resultant
massive reductions in the amount of time needed and
the production costs that make conventional animation
so prohibitively expensive now. The bulk of the film's
graphics are being generated by Magi, of New York
State, and Information international, of California. Their
computers create a picture by delivering messages to
individual points of light, called "pixels", on a video
monitor, with[...]pixel. “lt’s a bit like putting a
picture on the big billboard in Times Square," a
graphics expert explains; except that where the Times
Square billboard has 8000 light bulbs, a computer
image has millions of pixels, each of which must be
programmed for each frame of film.

CHANNEL! April 1982 — 21

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (70)create one frame of computer animation.

Multiply that by the 1,240 frames needed to
make one minute of film and the immensity of the task
is apparent.

An additional group of computers is used to control
exposure and camera[...]provide a weekly
“Pert" (Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
readout indicating where the film stands in relation to
its post—production schedule.

All this cuts out a lot of jobs. No longer, for example, is
it necessary to have model makers construct three-
dimensional figures that the animators can touch and
turn as they strive for an exact rendering; now the com-
puter does this, on screen. Gone too are the hundreds
of inbetweeners, those custodians of the art who so
carefully made the transitional drawings connecting
one pose to the next.

In addition, any single scene, or “ceI" can be rec[...]lable for use
any later scenes or for adaptation in subsequent
ims.

What has to be remembered, though, is that it was
the humanity of the Disney animated films — not the
technology behind them — that gave them their near-
universal appeal. Whether the new computer tech-
niques can match the original films in terms of story,
character development, tension, conflict a[...]g their best to maximize that involvement: Bally. the
largest maker of video games in the U.S., is creating the
Tron video game for its nationwide chain of arcades
and for installation in theatres a month before the film is
released. It's hard to see Tron no[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (71)[...]ll Nllllllllllllllrl

International

Iolanthe

The Gilbert and Sullivan Operas

Production company A[...]ghtoperas.

Format Wdeotape

Progress Production

The Jewel in the Crown
Production company Granada Television

Prod[...]d on Paul Scott’s award—winning novels —
The Raj Quartet", the story is set in the last days
ol the Fla] in lndia.

Length 14 hours

Format Film

Progress Pr[...]Redgrave, John
Gielgud, Joan Plowright

Synopsis The life of the controversia|19th Century
German composer, Richar[...]uction

Scheduled release February 1983

Winds of War — Ralph Bellamy and Howard Lang.

24 — cunurvsns April 1982

Winds of War

Production company ParamountPictures

Produc[...]aw. Jan»Michael

Vincent, John Houseman
Synopsis The story of the events that befall the Henry
family at the beginning of World War 2.

Length 16x1 hour

Format Film

Prog[...]ty. Jose Ferrer, Jack
Thompson

Synopsis Based on the biography of the former Prime
Minister of Israel, Golda Meir.

Length 4x 1 hour

Format Fil[...]Stapleton

Cast Lorraine Bayly

Synopsis Based on the lite ol a female barrister and her

familyin the 1 9205.

Length 52 x 1 hour — proposed

Format Integrated film and videotape

Progress Pre-production

For the Term of His Natural Life
Productioncompany Mintonlnvestme[...]d Mullinar,
Robert Coleby

Synopsis An adaptation of Marcus Clarke's classic novel
of the same name,

Length 6 hours

Format Film

P[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (72)[...]ts their values, ideals and ambitions.

Set among the residents of a community welfare
home.

22 x ‘/2 hour

Integ[...]s
Mike Preston, Peta Toppano, Barry Quin
Based on the exploits of the Missing Persons
Special Investigation Branch.

10[...]ckie Woodburne, Lorraine Bayly, Bill Hunter
Story of two young men who grow up in rural
NSW and go off to World War 1.

7 x 1 hour

Film

Production

Mid~1982

November 11, 1975 — The Whitlam government's dismissal.

November 1 1[...]n, Bill
Hunter, John Hargreaves. Stewart Faichney
The events leading up to and including the
dismissal of the Whitlam government.

6 x1 hour

Film

Production

Return to Eden

Hanna Barbera (Australia)/McElroy and McElroy
Hal McElroy

Michael Laurence

A story of passion, intrigue, murder, vengeance
and the obsession of two women for the same
man.

6 x 1 hour

Pre—production

Runaw[...]//, Miles Buchanan, Simone
Buchanan and John Hamb/in.

Runaway Island

Production company Grundy Or[...]han

Miles Buchanan, Simone Buchanan, Julie Tyler
The children of a wealthy landowner try to get
evidenceof a corrupt governor's guilt. Set in the
1830s.

1 x 2 hour and 8 x ‘/2 hour

Film

Post[...]ila Kennelly, Tom Farley, Miles
Buchanan

A group of children turn an old ghost town into a
profitable[...],Tina Bursill, Briony
Behets

A series portraying the lives of the people behind
an Australian corporation fa[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (73)[...]release July 1982, Channel 0/28

Synopsis: Women of the Sun is an ambitious production,
consisting of four self-contained episodes. Each part is set
in a different period and recounts the events which occurred
in the lives of four Aboriginal women, their immediate families
a[...]81.

,--_/

Episode One: 1824-1830. Alinta (The Flame)

The lives of the Nyari people are completely disrupted
when they find two escaped white convicts washed up on
the beach of their tribal lands, an event that will change the[...]ft inset opposite).

Episode Two: 18905. Maydina (The Shadow)

Separated from her daughter, Ma ydina (M[...]plates her alien clothes and identity,
and thinks of escape from the church mission station.
(Background opposite).

Episode Three: 1939. Nerida Anderson.

Based on the Cummeragunga Walkout of 1939, in which
600 Aboriginal people walked off a Victorian mission station,
Nerida Anderson (Jus tine Saunders), the leader of the
dissidents, and her grandmother (Minnie Patton) f[...]ving she is Polynesian and adopted, is haunted by the
first misgivings about her real Aboriginal[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (74)[...].

14.

UUJHUUUU

CHANNELS is pleased to announce the formation of Australia ’s first library of quality films

on videotape.

Drawing on the best of international cinema, the CHANNELS VIDEO LIBRARY will offer
movie lovers an outstanding collection highlighting the work of the world’s best filmmakers.

To enable collectors[...]ANNELS will also offer special
prices on packages of films by outstanding directors. The first in this series will highlight the work

of Alfred Hitchcock.
CHANNELS II
1.

Allegro non[...]ackers
US. 1930. Dir. Victor Heerman. Star-
ring: The Marx Brothers. $59.95

Battleship Potemkin

Sovie[...]chcock.
Starring: Anny Ondra. $49.95

Blue Angel, The

Germany. 1930. Dir. Joseph Von
Sternberg. Starri[...]onuts
U.S. 1929. Dir. Joseph Stanley. Star-
ring: The Marx Brothers. $59.95

. Deer Hunter, The

U.S 1978. Dir. Michael Cimino. Star-
ring : Robe[...]nald Sutherland, Julie
Christie. $79.95

General, The
U.S. 1927. Dir. Buster Keaton. Star-
ring: Buster Keaton. $59.95

Godfather, The

U.S. 1972. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola.
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino.
$79.95

Gofdrush, The

U.S. 1925. Dir. Charlie Chaplin. Star-
ring: Cha[...]ring: Carol Kane, Steven Keats.
$69.95

Any three of the following films

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

can be ordered for 10% off

the recommended retail prices.

See order form for de[...]ms by Alfred

HICCIICOCK

4. Blackmail $49.95
18. The Lodger $59.95
26. Psycho $79.95
29. Sabotage $59.[...]Thirty Nine Steps $59.95

IDEO LIBRAR

15.

Kid, The

U.S. 1921. Dir. Charlie Chaplin. Star-
ring: Cha[...]an C. Cooper. Star-
ring: Fay Wray. $59.95

Knife in the Water

Poland. 1962. Dir. Roman Polanski.
Starring: Leon Nienczyk. $59.95

Lodger, The

Britain. 1926. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring:[...]tten, Anne Baxter. $59.95

Man Who Fell to Earth, The
U.S. 1976. Dir. Nicolas Roeg. Starring:
David Bowie. $79.95

Marriage of Maria Braun, The
W. Germany. 1979. Dir. Rainer Werner

Fassbinder.[...]ck. Star-
ring: Cary Grant. $69.95

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest

U.S. 1975. Dir. Milos Forman. St[...]vice

U.S. 1938. Dir. William Seiter. Star-
ring: The Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball.
$59.95

Sabotage
Bri[...]r-
ring: John Gielguld, Peter Lowe.
$59.95

Shoot the Piano Player

France. 1962. Dir. Francois Truffau[...]Bergman, Gregory Peck.
$69.95

Spiral Staircase, The

U.S. 1946. Dir. Robert Siodmak. Star-

ring: Dor[...]ng: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine.
$59.95

Third Man, The

U.S. 1949. Dir. Carol Reed. Starring:
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten. $69.96
Thirty Nine Steps, The

Britain. 1935. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring:[...]Mikayo. $69.95

Address

Postcode

Please send me the following films from the Channels Video Library

Film number Price Films from the Alfred Hitchcock
(see catalogue) package[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (75)VIDEOTAPE

John Pruzanski

The Decline of the Studios and the
ltise of Television

In the 1950s, television really arrived as a mass
medium in the US. and the Hollywood major studios
watched in horror as their patrons and profits deserted
them[...]ave those sur-
vivors been able to wrest a degree of market control
back from television.

When television came to Australia in 1956 the local
film industry was dead and buried, with film distribution
completely in the hands of U.S. and — to a lesser extent
— British interests. The development of television here
thus fell — in the commercial area —— to the giant press
interests, who had already invested substantially in
radio. The American experience, given the size and
influence of the film industry there when television
began to asse[...]was very different.

Hollywood's near-fatal error of judgment occurred in
the early 1930s when General David Sarnoff, head of
The Radio Corporation of America, decided to begin
manufacturing televisio[...]eiving
equipment. Subsequently, disenchanted with the
programs available from the few independent stations
around the country, he set out to increase sales of
receivers by creating quality programs, and his
N[...]d into tele-
vision production and distribution.

The film studios failed to grasp the implications of
this new development. Louis B. Mayer turned down the
offer of a share in NBC and even forbade his
employees to watch TV, the attitude being that if it was
ignored this upstart innovation would go away. Such
was not to be the case. After peaking in 1946, cinema
attendances began a steady decline and, in 1951,
when there were 12.5 million TV receivers in use in the

Left: RCA 's David Sarnoff. Centre: Louis 8. Meyer turned down the offer of a share in RCA.
Right: The logo oi the RKO corporation. The company's inventory was sold to the General-Tire
and Rubber company, and the studio complex to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez.

US, the writing was clearly on the wall. Film attend-
ances plummeted in cities with TV and theatres began
to close.

Itegrouning and Rethinking

At first, the film studios scrambled to repel the
invader by offering innovations that television could not
match: 3D, Odorama, a variety of widescreen pro-
cesses, enhanced sound quality and an increased use
of color. But all that was to no avail.

So, the studios regrouped and rethought. Television
had already made extensive and profitable use of film
titles whose copyright had lapsed, or which had been
bought up by farsighted middlemen. Many of these
films were old and of poor quality, but their success
with viewers was undeniable. So, in 1956, the studios
bowed to the inevitable and began to sell their product
to television.

A major factor in this decision had been the popular-
ity of the New York program Million Dollar Movie: the
General Tire and Rubber Company had bought RKO,
one of the Hollywood major studios, and was using the
studio's product to provide programming for TV
stations the company owned in the major markets.
Alive now to the income that TV sales could generate,
the cash-poor studios gave in; but they were clever
enough to come up with a sc[...]d give them enduring control
over their product.

The name of the game was packages. A package
comprised a few soug[...]ght be shown. (This is a practice now widely used in
Australia by local film distributors and U.S.—based
packa[...]al title was
assigned a value which was reflected in its
programming and publicity; thus the major cinema
success was assured of its aura and television ratings
to match — a si[...]television and its audiences today.

Hollywood on the Television
Payroll

This arrangement did not signify the signing of a
peace treaty; it was more in the nature of an accommo-
dation that injected some badly-neede[...]udio coffers. But a second breakthrough had begun
in 1954 when the Walt Disney Studios signed a deal for
the Disneyland series with the fledgling American
Broadcasting Company.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (76)[...]ctice today. Right: Francis Ford Coppola reedited The Godfather, integrating it with The Godfather, Part Two and unused footage to create[...]for television
as Disney was not regarded as one of the majors —
even though time has shown Disney to be the most
consistent and financially sound of all the Hollywood
corporations. it did, however, alert Jack Warner of
Warner Brothers ~ the man who frowned on any
appearance of a television set in a home scene in a
Warner feature — to the profit potential of providing
original material for television, and Warner signed a
deal with ABC to produce films for the 1955-56
season.

To defuse any theatre-owned animosity to these
dealings with the enemy, Warner stipulated that in each
one-hour film, a 10-minute segment, called Behind the
Cameras, must be included. These segments depicted
work on feature films soon to be released in theatres; in
other words, they were free commercials for Warners’
features.

Thus, with television productions of Casablanca,
King’s Row and Cheyenne, all broadcast under the
umbrella title "Warner Brothers Presents“, the first sig-
natory to the truce opened the floodgates. The other
majors soon followed and this innovation saved many
of them. Feature film attendances continued to decli[...]mming. A symbiotic relationship
developed between the studios and the networks. The
networks began dropping the live dramatic presenta-
tions that spawned a new generation of actors and
directors, and concentrated on telefilm programs.

The changing Tide

The studios were reasonably happy, with profits
increasing as a steady new market of young patrons
began to boost cinema attendances in the 19605.

30 — cm.-mm.=r.s April 1932

Feature films were taking up a smaller percentage of
air time on television, but the major features were

becoming more important for the ratings and, during
the 1960s, the networks balked at paying what they
thought were[...]ial
roles. They provided some tremendous hits for the net-
works, ratings-wise, but also had the effect of increas-
ing the aura surrounding the ‘special event’, major
feature film on television.

This relationship continued up to the 19705. A Holly-
wood major studio release was premiered in the major
cities, showcased around the country, then perhaps re-
issued a year or so later. Only then was it considered
for television release. The studios judged the drawing
power of a film in the theatres and when they thought
few people would pay to see the film again, television
would have its chance. This process could take any-
thing from two years up to, in the case of Gone With
the Wind (1939), almost 40 years.

Again, in the mid-19‘/Os, the networks were openly
dissatisfied with the prices they had to pay. Sometimes
a network pre-b[...]t was
theatrically released. Networks were paying in the low
millions for these sales. rather than the US$15 million
they paid for Jaws. Sometimes they[...]per’ (Rocky), sometimes they bought a
disaster (The Sorcerer — known as Wages of Fear in

Left: Casablanca, the Warners' classic, was one of the first features to be used as the basis for a television series. Centre-

Gone With the Wind waited for 40 years to be shown on televisio[...]for Jaws, which will pro-
bably only be beaten by the television sale of Star Wars.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (77)[...]Left: Satellite-delivered Home Box Office is the most successful cable program distributor. Centre[...]tre right: M1 '8'}! and Patton
are two films from the first package of Hollywood features to be released on video cassette. Right: Superman, The Movie was instrumental in

reversing the video-cassette release policies of the major Hollywood studios.

Australia). Now, as before, the networks have begun to
tinker with the idea of producing their own material for
theatrical relea[...]systems.

cable

Cable television had been around in the U.S. from the
early 1950s, when Community Access Television was[...]or cable company set up a large
receiving station in a poor-reception area and wired up
individual homes to this aerial. Then, in 1975, Theta
Cable in Los Angeles asked a crucial market research
quest[...]l-free theatrical feature films into their
homes? The answer dictated that they should try and
Z-Channe[...]any cable operator — or individual
— who had the necessary receiving equipment. Cable
operators charged each consumer and then reim-
bursed the program originator.

These companies disrupted the studio releasing pat-
terns. Again, it took time for the majors to release their
latest films to cable, but they eventually came to the
party after returns increased. The new pattern
squeezed a cable release between the theatrical and
television releases. That eventually began to affect the
television networks who had initially believed that
cable release, with only a small percentage of the
population wired up, would actually improve a film's
aura and help the ratings. That was probably true until
the proportion of homes wired grew to a point where
television ratings were adversely affected. The net-

9 to 5 was one of the first Twentieth Century-Fox films to have
simulta[...]ed to respond by offering bigger money
for films, in an effort to outbid cable.

What the future holds for network policy on theatrical
fea[...]now produces
its own programming for a multitude of different net-
work types, and thethe studios and again
disrupts the releasing patterns of films is the video
cassette. in 1975, the first successful ha|f—inch video-
cassette recorder, the Sony Betamax. hit the U.S.
market. The VH8 system entered soon after, but the
studios again were very wary of entering this market.

In 1976, a company called Magnetic Video secured
the rights to release a package of early Twentieth Cen-
tury—Fox titles on video c[...]so successful that Twentieth Century-
Fox bought the company in 1979 and released more
films on cassette. Other companies sprang up, buying
the rights to foreign films and packaging films whose
rights had lapsed. The other studios were still reluctant
to sell their[...]home consumers and, for a
time, pornography ruled the shelves of home video
stores. The video cassette seemed the perfect means
of distribution for sex.

Hollywood Dashes In

The proliferation of video—cassette recorders and the
ease of duplicating tapes created a major piracy prob-
lem. in 1978, it was possible to find pirated copies of
Superman, The Movie in video retailer stores before
the film had been released theatrically in the U.S. The
stations took note of consumer demand for their pro-
duct and, to minim[...]hey slowly
began to release their titles; now all the major studios
distribute some of their product on cassette and video-
disc.

The relevant strategies — number of titles released,
timing of release and sale versus rental policies — vary[...]ly
announced that theatrical and cassette release of
many of their films will in future be simultaneous. They
reason that w[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (78)On the other hand, Paramount Pictures announced
that the[...]. They aim to keep a
respectable distance between the theatrical release
and home video release. The other studios fall some-
where in between. There are now more than 3000
feature film titles released on cassette in the U.S., some
so recent that they have not yet been released theatric-
ally in Australia.

The studios are in a strong enough position to vary
release patterns[...]own purposes. To show
their dissatisfaction with the cable companies’ poor
payments, Fox sold Breaki[...]ette before it was released to
cable television.

In Australia, the traditional pattern of distribution has
not yet been markedly affected. We have no form of
pay television and even though video-cassette recor-
ders have been on the market for some six years, the
feature film software has only been generally released
within the last three years. Outside of pornography and
R—rafed material, mainstream feature film distribution
was initiated by Walter Lehne of Video Classics in
1979, although the market did not start moving until
Magnetic Video (South Pacific) started in 1981.

The other major studios followed. Cinema Inter-
natio[...]l
Pictures, Paramount Pictures and others) joined the
Rigby Publishing group to form Rigby—CiC. Publishing
and Broadcasting, the Kerry Packer group of com-
panies, set up Star Video in 1980. They have no major
studio ties and pick up[...]ome
Video began late last year and is operated by the
Warner subsidiary, Warner Elektra Asylum Records.[...]d from ADT adult
published information concerning the ADV 3dYe““”e
theatrical versions of the films. Therefore, :g'r:‘ead":d

all listings of film lengths are approximate DOC documemaw
only, owing to variations in the length of DRA mama
distributed theatrical versions. The censor— FAM family

ship ratings listed are onl[...]ings._All films §;R fh°r'fi,';fe '°"°”
are in color unless otherwise indicated. WAR wa,
Sample Entry WST western
African Queen, The 1951/John Huston t Dishvibutors

Humphrey Bogart.[...](NRC) DRA MV $69 00 H“ GL Video

African Queen, The title INT

. I ' '
1951 year of theatrical KC £‘;,:é'E'c:/rhea
distribution - -
/John Huston director KV Kmg ofinin Britain and exclusively marketed the
United Artists library, which it lost in 1981 when United
Artists changed hands and the library was bought by
Magnetic Video. in Australia, lntervision is actively
hunting for its own titles.

The situation in Australia has yet to be sorted out.
Other independent distributors (listed in the Distributor
Key of the following Checklist) have bought the rights
to various feature films and other program[...]sion programs,
sports and ‘how to‘ cassettes. The next instalment of
the Program Checklist will include further video-
cassette categories.

Consumer acceptance of video has expanded the
market to unforeseen proportions and also made it far
more complex. In the old days —— which were not so
long ago — fi[...]present, feature
films make up a major proportion of video-cassette and
videodisc programming, and wil[...]ers open up, quite liter-
ally, a whole new world of television; the screens we
use for entertainment already have other applications
in business, information and security.

As for distribution patterns of feature films, news,
sport, newspapers, magazines[...]have already been big changes with more to
come. In all of this video is going to play a major part.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois 1939/John Cromwell 1:
Raymond Massey. Ge[...]er,
Robert Lansing. (R) DOC VC $59.95

Adventures of a Private Eye ‘A Suzy Kendall,
Harry H. Corbett. 90m (RI COM VC $69.95

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The 1939/
Richard Thorpe 1 Mickey Rooney. Walter
Connolly. 90m (G) bw FAM VC $69.95

Ad ventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter
Brother, The 1975/Gene Wilder 1: Gene Wilder.
Madeline Khan. 87m (NRC) COM MV $69.00

African Queen, The 1951 /John Huston it
Humphrey Bogart. Katharine H[...]n
Mitchell, Glynis Johns. 102m DRA VV $59.95

All in a Night's Work 1961/Joseph Anthony «A-
Dean Martin, Shirley Maclaine. 91m (NRC) COM
MV $69.00

All in the Sex Family (Ft) ADT KV $69.95

All That Jazz 1979[...]no Bozzetto. (NRC) ANM
$69.95

Amazing Dobermans, The 1976/David and Byron
Chudnow at Fred Astaire, Barbara Eden. 94m
(NRC) FAM VC $69.95

Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena, The 9:
Raymond Burr. 92m DOCO VC $69.95

American Nlt[...]9.95

Applause, Kitty Darling HH $59.95

AP!-3'9. The /Menahem Golan 9: Catherine Mary
Stewart.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (79)[...]omedy about Broadway
backstage doings remains one of the
brightest films of its period. Released in
1950, the film gathered together a top-
line cast and gave[...]o have improved
with age.

All About Eve concerns the effect an
ambitious young actress has on those
ar[...]dicated playwright
and his non-professional wife, the way
is wide open for bitchy fun and games,
and. M[...]tion and first-class sound makes this a
must for the collector.

Ivan Hutchinson

All that Jazz

Direc[...]or. Released by Twentieth Century-Fox
video.

One of the most successful attempts
at musical biography eve[...]is for Joe Gideon, and
if so, he is more critical of his own fail-
ings than most of us.

The musical has sequences that
shook. dazzle. stimulate, but rarely
bore. The spectacularly staged and
edited open-heart surgery sequence
becomes a song and dance routine full
of mordant wit. There are splendid per-
formances fr[...]fair,
sound first-class.

Ivan Hutchinson

Around the World with Fanny Hill 101m (R) ADT
VC $69.95

Assassination of Trotsky, The 1972/Joseph
Losey tr Richard Burton, Alain Delon[...]ood. Carol
Lynley. 85m (NRC) ACT VC $69.95

Bait, The 1973/Leonard Horn 1 Donna Mills.
Michael Constant[...]Lanchesler 80m (G) bw KV
$69.95

Beast Must lie, The 1974/Paul Anneit t Peter
Cushing. Calvin Lockhart 93m (M) HOR VC
$69.95

Bedspread. The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Behind Convent Walls Wallerian[...]ors 4: Joyce Denner. 80m (R)
DRA $8 $69.95

Below the Belt it John Tull. Buck F|ower.90m (R)
DRA KC $69.95

Beneath the Planet of the Apes 1970/Ted Post it
James Franciscus, Charlton[...]Carlson. 78rn bw DRA VV $59.95

Bermuda Triangle, The t John Huston. 1 25m (M)
ACT KC $69.95

Bermuda Triangle, The /Richard Friedenberg.
95m DOC VC $69.95

Best of Walt Disney's True Life Adventures (G)
FAM WD $R.[...]Beyond Death‘a Door 90m DOG VC $69.95

Beyond the Door # 2 90m (R) HOR KC $69.95

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure 1979/Irwin
Allen t Michael Caine. Sally Field. 122m WH
$R.O.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls 1970/Russ Meyer
t Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers. 109m MV $69.00

Bible, The 1966/John Huston tr George C. Scott.
Richard Harr[...]0

Big Bad Wolf 60rn (G) ANM VC $69.95

Big Land, The 1957/Gordon Douglas t Alan
Ladd. Virginia Mayo. 92m WST VV $59.95

Biggest Battle, The t Henry Fonda, Samantha
Eggar. 97m (AO) WAR KC $6[...]Arbanville, Mona
Kristensen. 96m SV $79.95

Billy the Kid Returns (G) WST KV $6995

Birds of Prey 1973/William Graham -1: David
Janssen. 74m (NRC) ACT VC $69.95

Birthday Party, The 1968/William Friedkin 1:
Robert Shaw, Dandy Nicho[...]Black Deep Throat (R) ADT KV $69.95

Black Hole, The 1979/Gary Nelson tr Maximilian
Schell. Anthony Pe[...]eavon
Little. Gene Wilder. 93m COM WH $R.O.

Blob,The 1958/Irvin Yeaworth in Steve McQueen.
Anita Corseaut. 85m (G) HOR KV $69[...]a Darnell. 123m ACT MV
$69.00

Blood BeastTerror, The tr Peter Cushing. Robert
Fleming. HOR VR $59.95[...]odthlrsty Butchers (M) HOR VC $59.95

Blue Angel, The 1930/Jose Van Sternberg er
Marlene Dietrich, Emil Janning. 90m bw DRA HH
$59.95

Blue Belle in Annie Belle. 86m (R) DRA KC
$69.95

Blue Fire Lad[...]Angela Lansbury. 97m (G) MUS MV
$69.00

Blue Max, The 1966/John Guillerman 1 George
Peppard. 149m (NRC) ACT MV $69.00

Blues Brothers, The 1980/John Landis 1' John
Belushi, Dan Aykroyd. 13[...]Capuclne. 104m (A0)
COM KC $69.95

Bobble Jo and the 0utIaw1976/Mark L. Lester it
Lynda Carter. Marjoe Gortner. 85m (R) DRA KC
$69.95

Body, The /Roy Battersby. 108m DOC TE $69.95

Boob Tube, The tr John Alderman. 98m (R) COM
KC $69.95

Boston Strangler, The 1968/Richard Fleischer 4:
Tony Curtis. Henry Fond[...]rd Basehart. 73m WST SV $79.95

Boys from Brazil, The 1978/Franklin Shaeflner air
Gregory Peck. James Mason. 119m (M)DRA MV
$69.00

Brain of Blood in Kent Taylor. 82m (M) HOR KC
$69.95

Breaking Away[...]Celia Johnson. 86m (G) bw DRA SC
$59.95

Brighty of the Grand Canyon 1967/Norman
Foster t Joseph Cotlen,[...](G)
FAM KC $69.95

Brubaker 1980/Stuart Rosenberg in Robert
Redford. Yaphei Kolto. 130m (M) DRA MV $R.[...]ngers /Joseph Kong tr Bruce Lee. Chan
Wai Man. 91 in ACT INT $69.95

Brute, The /Gerry O'Hara at Sarah Douglas, Julian
Glover. 90m (R) HOR vc $69.95

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 1979/Daniel
Haller tr Gil Gerard, Pa[...]89m SF
CIC $79.95

Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, The 1979/
Chuck Jones tr Bugs Bunny. Road Runner, 92m[...]Connie Strickland.
87m (R) DRA KC $69.95

Bundle of Joy 1956/Norman Taurog «tr Debbie
Reynolds, Eddie Fisher. 98m COM VV $59.95

Butch and Sundance — The Early Years 1979/
Richard Lester 1: William Katt Tom Berringer.
(G) WST MV $69.00

Butch Cassldy and The Sundance Kid 1969/
George Roy Hill in Paul Newman. Robert
Redford. 106m (NRC) WST MV $6[...]nnelli, Michael
York. 123m MUS SV $79.95

Cabinet of Dr Caligari, The 1919/Robert Wiene
av Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt[...]ey Maclaine. 126m (G) MUS MV $69.00

Can’t Stop the Music 1980/Nancy Walker i
Village People, Valerie[...]th
Connor, Shirley Eaton. 84m COM TE $49.95

Case of the Smiling Stiffs 1: Harry Reems 72rn
(R) COM VC $69[...]arris, Sophia Loren.
127m ACT MV $R.O.

Castaways of l.he General Grant 75rn (NRC) ACT
VC $59.95

Cat[...]. Vincent Price. 99m bw DRA VV $59.95

Chaperone, The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Charleston it Bud Spenc[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (80)[...]bertson.
Claire Bloom. 106m DRA SV $79.95

Child. The 83m (R) HOR KC $69.95

Chisurn 1970/Andrew V. McL[...]Richard Burton. 176m (NRC)
DRA MV $69.00

Clones, The 1973/Paul Hunt Lamar Card ~k
Michael Greene. Greg[...]e-Name: Rawhide (R) ADT KV $69.95

Colditz Story, The 1957/Guy Hamilton 1 John
Mills. Eric Portmsn. 93m[...]ee Van Cleei. 89m (A0) WAR KC $69.95

Contesslons of a Young Housewife or Jenniler
Welles. 80m (R) COM 53 $69.95

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A
50m (G) ANM SV $49.95

Con[...]t tan Mccuiloch. 96m (R) HOR
SB $69 95

Contract, The t Bruno Pradal. 85111 (M) DRA KC
$69.95

Convoy 1[...]aul
gsvéman, George Kennedy. 126m DRA WH

Count. The immigrant. The (G) KV $69.95

Countess [led ot Lauuiter fir Ter[...]it Terrence Hill. WST VR
$59.95

Creeping Flash. The 1973/Freddie Francis it
Christopher Lee. Peter Cu[...]ocodile /Sampole Sands. 83m HOR INT $69.95

Cross of Iron 1976/Sam Peckinpah in James
Coburn. Maximilian Schell. 128m ACT TE
$69.95

Cruel sea, The 1953/Charles Frend rr Jack
Hawkins. Stanley Baker[...]anne Fisher. 65m (R) ADT
VC $69.95 KV $69.95

Cry in the Night. A 1956/Frank Tuttle ir Natalie
Wood. Edmun[...]HOR KC $69.95

Cry Uncle (R) ADT KV $69.95

Cure. The Adventurer, The (G) KV $69.95

Curly Top 1935/Irving Commings 1 Shirley
Temple. John Boles. 75m (G) bw FAM MV
$69.00

Curse of the Crknson Altar. The 196i-3Nernon
Sewell 9 Boris Kariotl. Christopher[...]roll Baker. 106m
(R) DRA KC $69.95

Darn Busters, The 1954/Michael Anderson at
Richard Todd. Michael Re[...]h. 117m (G) FAM
MV $69 00

Davy Crockett, King or the Wild Frontier 1955/
Norman Foster 1 Fess Parker. Buddy Ebsen. (G)
FAM WD $R.O.

Day It Came To Earth, The 1977 84m (M) SF VC
$69.95

Day of the Dolphin 1973/Mike Nichols vr George
C. Scott. Trish Van Devere. 10-Sm (G) DRA MV
$69.00

Day of Watch Cari Dreyer. HOR HH $59.95

Day the Earth Moved, The 1974/Robert Michael
Lewis 1 Jackie Cooper. Stella[...]Jim Kelly. Aldo
Ray. 90m ACT INT $69.95

Death on the Nile 1978/John Guillermin a Peter
Ustinov. Angela Lansbury. 135m DRA TE $79.95

Deathhead Virgin, The 1: Jock Gaynor. Larry
Ward. 90m (M) DRA KC $69.95

Deep Six, The 1958/Rudolph Mate -0: Alan Ladd,
William Bendix. 105m DRA VV $59.95

34 — cmuvueu April 1982

Deer Hunter, The 1978/Michael Cimino 1: Robert
De Niro. John Cazal[...]son, Jessica Tandy. 88m WAR MV $69.00

Detective, The 1968/Gordon Douglas 1» Frank
Sinatra. Jack Klugm[...]evil Rider 74m (M) ACT VC $69.95

Devil's Garden, The 76m (R) ADT VC $69.95 KV
$69.95

Devils of Darkness 9 William Sylvester. 90m (M)
HOR KC $69.95

Devils Wanton, The 1962/Ingmar Bergman t
Doris Svenlund. Birger Malmstem. 72m bw HOR
HH $59.95

Diary of Anne Frank 1959/George Stevens 9:
Joseph Schildkr[...]l
Pacino. John Cazale. 130m WH $R.O.

Doll Squad. The 9: Michael Ansara. 102m (M)
ACT VC $69.95

Domino Principle, The 1977/Stanley Kramer up
Gene Hackman. Mickey Roone[...]nt73 t Chesty Morgan.90m (R) ADT
VC $69.95

Dove, The 1974/Charles Jarrott t Joseph
Bottoms. Deborah Ra[...]dd.
Marisa Pavan. 111m WST VV $59.95

Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, The 1976/Melvin
Frank i George Sega). Goldie Hawn. 10[...]00

Dynamite (R) ADT KV $69.95

Eagle Has Landed, The 1977/John Sturgess 1:
Michael Caine. Donald Sutherland. 119m (NRC)
ACT MV $69.00

East of Eden 1955/Elia Kazan 9: Julie Harris
James Dean. 115m DRA WH $R.O.

Electric Horseman. The 1980/Sydney Pollack or
Robert Redford. Jane Fonda[...]ounter With Disaster 93m DOC VC $69.95

Enforcer, The 1976/James Fargo tr Clint
Eastwood. Harry Guardin[...]inch. Michael York. 104m (M) DRA VC $69.95

Enter the Dragon 1973/Robert Clause 1: Bruce
Lee, John Saxo[...]R) DRA
KC $69.95

Erotic Adventures oi Pinocchio, The i Alex
Roman. Jyanne Thorne. 80m (R) COM KC
$69.95

Erotic Adventures of Superknight, The 100m (R)
COM KC $69.95

Erotic Adventures of Zorro, The 2 Robyn
Whitting. 93m (R) COM KC $69.95

Escapade in Japan 1957/Arthur Lubin at Teresa
Wright. Jon Provost. 92m DRA VV $59.95

Escape To The Sun 1979/Menahem Golan tr
Lawrence Harvey. Jack H[...];R%int Eastwood. Sondra Locke. 1 19m ACT WH

Evil in the Deep a Stephen Boyd. (NRC) ACT VC
$69 95

Executive's Wives. The 734-n (R) ADT VC $69.95
KV $69.95

Exorcist, The 1973/William Friedkln i Ellen
Burstyn. Jason Miller. 121m HOR WH $R.O.

Exotic Dreams of Casanova 1 Johnny Roco.
Janet Louise. 90m (R) COM[...]n. Kate Woodville. 78m DRA KC $69.95

Eyes Behind the Stars /Roy Garret rt Robert
Hoitman. Nathalie Delon. 90m SF INT $69.95

Eyes Behind the Stars 9: Martin Balsam. 88m
(AO) SF KC $69.95

Ey[...]urt.
DRA MV $R.O.

Fabulous Bastart from Chicago, The 86m (R)
DRA KC $69.95

Face of Fu lihnchu, The 1965/Don Sharp t
Christopher Lee. Nigel Green. 94m DRA TE
$69 95

Fairytales 80m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Fall of the House of Usher, The (NRC) HOR VC
$69.95

Fantasm 1976/Richard Frankli[...]Boyd. Raquel Welch. 96m (G) SF MV
$69.00

Fantasy in Blue (R) ADT KV $69.95

Farewell My Lovely 1975/D[...]Chauvlnists 89m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Flendlsh Plot of Dr Fu Manchu 1980/Piers
glsgogard it Peter Sellers. Helen Mirren, WH

Fireman. Caught in Cabaret, The (G) KV $69.95

First Time, The (R) ADT KV $69.95

FirstTravelilng Saleslady /Art[...]ogers. Carol Channing. 92m WST VV $59.95

Fistful of 44's. A (R) ADT KV $69.95

5 Desperate Women 1971[...]d. Anjanette Comer. 73m DRA 5V $79.95

Five Weeks in a Balloon 1978. 48m (G) ANM CIC
$59.95

Flash Gor[...]nderson. 115m SF VC $69.95

Flesh and Blood Show, The DRA KC $69.95

Fleeh Gordon Howard Ziehm. 91m (R) SF VC
$6995

Floorwalker, The Rink, The (G) KV $69.95

Florida Connection, The it Dan Pastorini. June
Wilkinson. 102m ACT INT $6[...]John
Wayne. Robert Ryan. 102m WAR NM $59.95

Fog, The 1: Janet Leigh. John Houseman. MV
$69.00

For the Love or ivy 1968 -1: Sidney Poitier. Abbey
Lincoln. 100m DRA SV $79.95

Forgotten Man. The 1971/Walter Grauman *
Dennis Weaver. Ann Francis.[...]. 125m bw WST NM $59.95

Forty Graves tor 40 Guns in Rita Rogers. Robert
Padilla. 85m (R) WST KC $69.9[...]e Merriwether. 85m (G) SF KV
$69.95

Four Deuces, The 1975/William Bushnell Jr sir
Jack Palance. Carol[...]to Love 92m (R) ADT KC $69.95

French Connection. The 1971/William Friedkin 1'
Gene Hackman. Roy Scheider. 100m (M) ACT
MV $69.00

From the Earth to the Moon 1958/Bryon Haskin
at Joseph Cotten. George Sanders. 100m SF VV
$59.95

Fugitives. The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Fun in Acapulco 1963/Richard Thorpe 1 Elvis
Presley. Ursula Andress. 93m (G) MUS MV
$69.00

Funniest Man in the world, The * Douglas
Fairbanks Jr. 90m bw DOC INT $69.95 VC
$69.95

Fury, The 1978/Brian De Palma it Kirk Douglas.
John[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (81)Gauntlet. The 1977/Clint Eastwood 1 Clint East-
wood, Sondra Locke. 109m ACT WH $R.O.

Gay Divorcee, The 1934/Mark Sandrich 1 Fred
Astaire. Ginger Rogers, 107m bw MUS NM
$59.95

General. The 1927/Buster Keaton 1 Buster
Keaton. 108m bw COM H[...]e, Jane Russell. 88m (NRC)
DRA MV $69.00

Getting of Wisdom, The 197 7/Bruce Bereslord 1
Susannah Fowle, Barry Hum[...]Daniels,
Gwen Brisco, 107m MUS INT $69.95

Ghoul, The Freddie Frances 1 Peter Cushing,
John Hurt. 88m ([...]owell, 96m COM VV $59.95

Girl Who Knew Too Much, The 1969/Francis D.
Lyon 1 Adam West. Nancy Kwan. 96m (NRC)
ACT KC $69.95

Girls at the Gynaecologist 1 Monica Dahlberg.
90m (R) ADT VC $[...]ey, Stella Stevens. 102m (G) MUS MV
$69.00

Girls in the Streets 80m (R) DRA KC $69.95

Glorlfylng the American Girl HH $59.95

Glory 1956/David Butler[...]Jack Palance. 93m (NRC) WST VC $69.95

Godfather, The 1972/Francis Ford Coppola 1
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino. 164m DRA CIC
$79 95

Godsend, The 93m (M) HOR VC $69.95

Godson. The 1 Jason Yukon, Lois Mitchell, 86m
(R) DRA SB $69.[...]ris, Ann Turkei. 102m (M) ACT SC
$59.95

Goldmsh. The 1925/Charlie Chaplin 1 Charlie
Chaplin. 100m bw C[...]Schever. 84m (R) COM VC $69.95

Grand Sensuallst, The 90m (R) ADT VC $69,95

Grease 1978A=landal Kleise[...]via Newton—John. 110m MUS CIC $79.95

Great Day in the Momlng 1956/Jacques Tournier
1 Robert Stack, Ruth[...]ae Clarke. 75m (G) DRA KV $69.95

Great Houdlnis, The 1976/Melville Shaveison 1
Paul Michael Glaser, Sally Struthers. 108m DRA
SV $79.95

Great Monkey Rip-Off, The /Tom Stobart 1 Alan
Hale. 87m FAM INT $69.95 VC $69.95

Great Muppet Caper, The 1981/Jim Hensen 1
gilaigpets. Charles Grodln. 97m (G) COM MV

Great McGonagalI, The /Joseph Mcerath 1
Spike Miliigan, Peter Sellers, 89m COM VR
$69.95

Great Race, The 1965/Blake Edwards 1 Jack
Lemmon. Tony Curtis. 150m COM WH $R.O.

Greatest Heroes of the Bible Vol 1 David and
Goliath, Samson and Delilah[...], Hugh O'Brien (G) FAM VC
$69.95

Greatest Heroes of the Bible Vol. 2 The Deluge,
Joshua at Jericho /James L. Conway 1 Lew
Ayers, Robert Culp. (G) FAM VC $69.95

Greatest Heroes of the Bible Vol. 3 Moses,
Solomon /James L. Conway 1 Ll[...]avid Carradine. (G) FAM VC $6995

Greatest Heroes of the Bible Vol. 4 Daniel,
Joseph /James L Conway 1 Rob[...]Jill Clayburgh. 94m DRA SV $79.95

Grissom Gang, The 1971/Robert Aldrich 1 Kim
Darby, Scott Wilson. 12[...]pie Girl (R) ADT VC $69.95

Guess What We Learned in School Today 96m
(R) ADT VC $69.95

Guess Who's Sleeping in My Bad 1973/Theodore
Flicker 1 Dean Jones. Barbar[...]l and Gretel 60m (G) FAM VC $69.95

Happy Hooker, The 1975/Nick Sgarro 1 Lynn
Redgrave. 87:-n (R) COM VC $69.95

Happy Hooker Goes to Hollywood, The 1
Martine Beswicke, Phil Silvers, 85m (R) ADT VC
$69.95

Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, The 1 Joey
Heatherton, George Hamilton ADT VC $69 95

Hard Heads, The 1 Scott Mackenzie. 90rn (M)
ACT KC $69 95

Hard K[...]ACT VC $69.95

Harvey (R) ADT KV $69.95

Healers, The DOC VR $59.95

Heaven Can Wait 1978/Warren Beatty[...]add. Edward G. Robinson. 98rn DRA VV $59.95

Hell In the Pacific 1968/John Boorman 1 Lee
Marvin, 103m WAR[...]bert Gribbin. 85m (R) DRA
SB $69.95

Hitchhikers. The 1 Misty Rowe. 92m (R) DRA KC
$69.95

Hollywood Hi[...]KV $69.95

Hot Lunch (R) ADT KV $69.95

Hot Rock, The 1972/Peter Yates 1 Robert
Redford, George Sega) 9[...]tephanie Lawlor.
86m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Hothouse, The (R) ADT KV $69.95

House of Exorcism 1975/Mario Bava 1 Telly
Savaias, Elke Sommer, 88m (R) HOR VC $69.95

House of the l.iving Dead Philip N. Krasne 1
Mark Burns. Shirley Anne Field. 85m HOR INT
$69 95

House of Wax 1953/Andre De Toth 1 Vincent
Price, Frank Lovejoy. 88m HOR WH $R.O.

House That Wouldn't Die, The 1970/John
Llewellyn Moxey 1 Barbara Stanwyck, Ric[...]Donny Most, 78rn (G) FAM SV $79.95

Human Factor, The 1980/Otto Preminger 1
Richard Attenborough, John Geiigud. 115m (R)
DRA SC $59.95

Hunchback of Notre Dame, The 1939/Jean
Delannoy 1 Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara.
112m bw DRA NM $5995

Hungry Pets,The 1 Rene Bond. 95m (R) COM KC
$6995

Hunter, The 1979/Buzz Kuiik 1 Steve McQueen,
Eli Wallach. 97m[...], Frances Dee 69m Dw HOR NM
559 95

I Wish I Were In Dixie (R) ADT KV $69.95

I'm All Right Jack 1960/[...]k 1 Lise
Danvers, Fabrice Luchini. (R) SV $79.95

In Broad Daylight 1971/Robert Day 1 Richard
Boone. Suzanne Pieshette. 73m DRA SV $79.95

In Search of Anna 1979/Esben Storm 1 Richard
Moir. Judy Morris. 91m (M) DRA SC $59.95

In Search of Historic Jesus 90m DOC VC $69.95

In Search of Noah’: Ark 1976/James L Conway
1 Brad Crandaii.[...].95

Incoming Freshman (R) ADT VC $69.95

Inferno in Paradise 1 Jim Davis. Richard Young.
9lm (PG) ACT[...]amson. 89m (AO) WAR KC $69.95

Inspector General, The 1949/Henry Koster it
Danny Kaye, Waiter Slezak. 1[...], and his fall from critical
favor was as fast as the exit from Eden.

The film that caused the trouble was
Contes immoraux (immoral Tales), a
collection of four erotic shorts, each
complete in itself. (A fifth was actually
shot, but held over to become the
dream sequence of a later film, The
Beast.)

As one who has admired Borow—
czyk’s exploration of sexuality, from the
melodramatic Story of a Sin, through
the sinister Heroines of Evil, to his witty
Dr Jeckyl st Ies femmes, i can only
disagree with those who see sex as a
lesser topic of critical debate.

immoral Tales is an entertaining,
shrewd and visually splendid look at
aspects of sexuality, done with a
masterly wit and lightness of touch. in
no other film has a major filmmaker
been so rewardingiy obsessed with the
nude female form, commented on its
power or divor[...]from a
moralistic viewpoint.

Borowczyk is about the only serious
filmmaker singlemindedly pursuing a
cinematic examination of sexuality (he
is about to do the Marquis de Sade's
Justine). Some view any portrayal of
sex on the screen as, if not unneces-
sary, at least unpleasant. Borowczyk
argues the fascinations and joys of sex-
uality should be brought into the open. I
see no reason, on the strength oi his
work, to disagree.

But if the release of any Borowczyk
on video is to be applauded, it is[...]e Star Video should release a
dubbed tape instead of a sub-tilled
one. Sub-titles are easy to read on tele-
vision (of Channel 0/28), and it is hard
to see how sales could have been badly
affected. The dubbing on this tape is, in
fact, so appallingly awful (and flagrantly
wayward from the original delicacy and
innuendo) that I cannot, in the end,
recommend this tape to anyone.

Scott Murray[...]95

intimate Games (R) ADT VR $59.95

Intruders, The 1969/Lee Robinson 1 Ed
Devereaux, Tony Bonner. 100m (G) ADV KC
$69.95

invasion of X From Outer Space, The 87m (G) SF
KC $69 95

invincible, The t Bruce Li. 90m (M) ACT VC
$69 95

involuntary Bird (R) ADT KV $69,95

lpcress Hie, The 1965/Sidney J Furie 1 Michael
Caine. Nigel[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (82)Island At The Top of the Wond 1974/Robert
Stevenson tr David Hartman. Donald Sinden.
93m (G) FAM WD $FI.O.

Island of Flshmen t Joseph Cotten. Barbara
Bach. 98m (R) HOR SB $69.95

Island of Terror 1967/Terence Fisher wk Peter
Cushing. Edwa[...]ider.
Richard Dreyluss. 124m HOR CIC $79.95

Jaws of the Dragon (NRC) ACT KV $69.95

Jazz Singer, The 1927/Alan Crosland at Al
Jolson. 89m bw MUS HH $5[...]Donald Sutherland. (M) DRA
VC $69.95

Journey Out of Darkness 1» Ed Devereaux.
Kamahl. VR $59.95

Joy of Flying 98m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Joys of Georgette. The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Julia 1979/Fred Zinnemann t Ja[...]Tom Ligon. 90m (NRC)
ACT KC $69.95

Jungle Book, The 1942/Zoltan Korda tr Sabu.
Joseph Calleia. 108m F[...]9 95

Justine De Sade 90m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Kid, The 1921/Charlie Chaplin 0: Charlie Chaplin.
Jackie C[...]n. Leslie Ann
Rivers. 72rn (R) THR $3 $69.95
Kill the Shogun (NRC) ACT KV $69.95
Klller Elephants HOR KV $69.95
Killing of Sister George.The 1968/Robert Aldrich
-Ar Beryl Reid. Susannah York. 138m DRA SV
$79.95
King and l, The 1956/Walter Lang ir Deborah
Kerr. Yul Brynner. 12[...]el Keith. James Yagi. 90m
NRC) ACT KC $69.95
King of Kong Island /Bert Morris 1: Brad Harris.
Marc Law[...]allum, Patrick Macnee. 84m ACT (NT
$69.95
Kingdom of the Spiders 1977/John Cardos t
William Shatner. Tiffany Bolling. 91m SF INT
$69.95
Kings of the Hill Michael Dymtryk it Jim Bohan.
Jason Sommers.[...]tthau.
Deborah Winters. 114m DRA SV $79.95

Knife In the Water 1962/Roman Polanski t Leon
Niemczyk. Jolant[...]. 93m (NRC) ACT VC $69.95

Land That Time Forgot, The 1975/Kevin
O'Connor 1: Doug McClure, John McEnery. 86m
ACT TE $69.95

Language of Love 103m (RI DOC VC $69.95

Lasertvlast 1978/Mic[...]n's Lipstick created
quite a furore when released in 1976.
Concerning a violent rapist who is freed
by the courts only to rape again. then
be murdered by the original victim, it
came at a time when thefeminist move-
ment was wont to use the term “rape”
as a description of many actions by
men toward women. What critical
r[...]— it would be hard
for anyone present to forget the sight of
20—odd people standing and cheering
when the rapist is shot in the groin.

Seen six years later, Lipstick seems
a mu[...]still appears overly melodramatic and
sensational in some scenes (the rapist
walking naked through his flat while
tormenting his victim by phone), while
in others it is admirably controlled (the
first rape is horrific without being un-
necessarily explicit).

The key scene is the first trial, where
the rapist is acquitted. At the end of the
film, the prosecutor—turned-defence-

v lawyer (it is unclear) argues that her
client is innocent of murder because
she was righting a wrong: i.e., the law
had failed and citizens have the right, in
such cases. to seek justice. But given
the two explanations of the rape. by vic-
tim and attacker. and given the un-
equivocal right of a defendant to the
benefit of the doubt, it is difficult to see
how the first trial jury could have
decided otherwise. The law was correct
(it had no option if the defendant's
rights were to be preserved). but justice
failed (the rapist was freed).

Given this reading (i.e., the argument
advanced at the end of the film is not
necessarily the ‘message’ of the
narrative). Lipstick takeson all sorts of
nuances. It certainly deserves a second
viewing.

Technically. the sound and image
quality are excellent.

Scott Murray

Last of the Mohicans 1976. 48m (G) ANM CIC
$59.95

Last Train[...]hony Ouinn. 91m (NRC) WST
MV $69.00

Last Valley, The 1971/James Clavell ‘K’ Michael
Caine. Omar Sh[...]Andrews. 88m bw DRA MV $69.00

Lavender Hill Mob, The 1950/Charles Crichton tr
Alec Guinness. Stanley Holloway. 78m bw COM
TE $49.95

League of Gentlemen, The 1960/Basil Dearden
0 Jack Hawkins, Richard Altenborough. 112m
(G) bw COM SC $59.95

Legend of Hillbilly John, The (NRC) HOR KV
$69.95

Legend of the Werewolf 1 Peter Cushing. 90m
(M) HOR VC $69.95[...].
Graham Chapman. 89m COM TE $79.95

Likely Lads, The /Michael Tuchner it: James
Bolan. Rodney Bewes. 86m COM TE $69.95

Lincoln Conspiracy, The i Bradford Dillman.
87m DOC VC $69.95

Linda Love[...]ident at Linda Lovelace.
(R) COM KC $69.95

|_ion in Winter, The 1968/Anthony Harvey at Peter
O'Toole. Katharine H[...]83rn (R) ADT VC $69.95

Little Laura and Big John in Fabian Forte. Karen
Black. ACT VV $59.95

Little[...]Smith. 98m ((3)
bw FAM KV $69.95

Uttle Mermaid. The 66m FAM INT $69.95

Little Princess, The 1939/Walter Lang t Shirley
Temple. Richard Greene. 91m FAM HH $59.95

Lodger. The /Alfred Hitchcock. bw DRA HH
$59.95

Longest Day, The 1962/Ken Annakin * John
Wayne. Robert Mitchum. 169m (G) bw WAR MV
$69.00

Long Weekend, The 1978/Colin Eggleston -k
John Hargreaves. Briony B[...]ry.
Bessie Love. 60m bw HOR HH $59.95

Love Among the Ruins 1975/George Cukor t
Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier. 1 1 2m DRA
SV $79.95

Love and Death In A Women’s Prison i Anita
Strindberg 100m (R) DRA KC $69.95

Love and The Midnight Auto Supply 90m (NRC)
ACT VC $69.95

Love Box, The (R) ADT VC $69.95

Love Camp 7 tr Robert Cresse.[...]n
O'Neal. Lesley Warren. 72rn DRA SV $79.95

Love of a Nympho (R) ADT KV $69.95

Love Story 1971/Arthu[...]Young. Cloris Leachman. 106m DRA SV
$79.95

Loves of Cynthia 90m (R) DRA KC $69.95

Love’s Vicious C[...]Ellen Widmann.
99m bw HOR HH $59.95

Mad Bomber. The 1972/Bert I. Gordon t Vince K
Edwards. Chuck Conn[...]ADT SV $79.95

Mag Wheels 81m (M) ACT VC $69.95

The Magic Christian 1970/James McGrath 9:
Peter Sellers. Ringo Starr. 92m (NRC) COM KC
$69.95

Magic Sword, The 1982/Ben I. Gordon ‘k Basil
Rathbone. Estelle W[...]tt. Michael
Forest. 103m (A0) ACT KC $69.95

Maid in Sweden /F. Johnson as Kristins Landberg.
Monika Erman. 90m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Maids. The 86m (R) ADT VC $69.95 KV $69.95

Man From Button Willow, The 1965/David
Betiege t Dale Robertson. Edgar Buchanan.
79m (G) ANM INT $69.95 VC $69.95

Man From Utah. The 1: John Wayne, George
Hayes. bw HH $49.95

Man In the White Suit. The 1952/Alexander
Mackendrick « Alex Guinness. Joan
Greenwood. 82m bw COM TE $49.95

Man Who Came To Dinner. The (R) ADT KV
$69.95

Man Who Fell To Earth 1976/Nic[...]y. 134m (R) DRA TE
$79.95

Man Who Knew Too Much. The 1934/Alfred
Hitchcock tr Leslie Banks. Peter Lorre. 84m bw
DRA HH $59.95

Man Who skied Down Everest, The tr Yuichiro
Miura. 100m (G) DOC VC $89.95

Man with the Golden Arm 1955/Otto Preminger
gsgiggk Sin[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (83)‘ _

5749-?

The Man Who Fell To Earth

Director: Nicolas Roeg. St[...]e,
Buck Henry, Candy Clark. Produced by
British L/Of), 7976. 134 mins. Color. Released
by Thorn EM/.[...]to its
ultimate meaning. wide open to any
number of learned interpretations.
Basically, its plot is s[...]and
not altogether riveting sci—ti either, But
the manner of its telling is fascinating.

David Bowie is perfectly cast as the
ethereal Visitor from a drought-ridden
planet who[...]s own dying world. Fragmentary and
hallucinatory. The Man Who Fell To
Earth haunts the mind with a sense of
sadness, and its visual images stay with
one.

Th[...]ion as this
country has seen, being equivalent to
the “R" version seen in cinemas.
Happily, this is a cassette that does
almost total justice to the co|or—camera
work of Anthony Richmond. Sound
quality also excellent.[...]rt. Steve Vincent
79m (R) DRA KC $69.95

Marriage of Maria Braun, The 1979/Rainer
Werner Fassbinder tr Hanna SchY9U”3- 120"‘
(M) DRA VC $69.95

Mars Attacks the World 1: Buster Crabbe. bw SF
HH $59.95

Mary ot[...]Elliot Gould. 111m (NRC) WAR MV $69.00

Massacre in Rome 1973/George Pan Cosmatos
«Av Richard Burton[...]Mostel,
Keiko Kishi. 131m COM SV $79.95

Masters,The 1 James Mason. Franco Nero 109m
(AO) DRA KC $69.9[...]0m ACT INT
$69 95

Meet John Doe 1941/Frank Capra in Gary
Cooper. Barbara Stanwyck. (G) bw DRA KV
$69 95

Meet Sweet Myra (R) ADT KV $69.95

Memory of Us 1974/H, Kaye Dyal -1: Ellen Geer.
Jon Cypher.[...](G) COM
KC S69 95

Mr Sycamore 1974/Pancho Kohner in Jason
Robards. Lee Remick 85m SF INT S69 95

Mrs[...]one’s Thing (R) ADT KV $69 95

Mrs Thompson and the Convict King 50rn FAM
VC $59.95

Moments /Moshe M[...]A VC $69 95

Monique (R) ADT VR $59.95

Monitors, The 1969/Jack Shea 1 Guy Stockwell
Susan Oliver. 94m (NRC) COM KC $69.95

Moon is Blue, The 1953/Otto Preminger 1 David
Niven. Maggie McNamara 95m ADT MV $69.00

More Language of Love 100m (R) DOC VC
$69 95

Mother Knows Best ([...]. Kim Krejus 90m (M) DRA VC $69 95

Muppet Movie, The 1979/James Frawley 1: The
Mupoets. 92m (G) FAM MV $69 00

Murder By Decree 1979/Bobclark in Christopher
Plummer. James Mason 121m DRA MV $69 00

Murder on the Orient Express 1974/Sidney
Lumet w Albert Finney.[...]bkin. 90m (G) DOC VC $69 95

Mysterious Monsters, The /Robert Guinette tr
Peter Graves. 90m DOC VC S69 95

Naked Came the Stranger t Derby Lloyd Rains
75m (R) COM KC $69.95

Naked and the Dead, The 1958/Raoul Walsh it
Clilt Robertson, Aldo Ray. 131m DRA VV $59.95

Natasha, The Deadly Drop (M) HOR KV $69.95

National Lampoon's[...]Hackman, Jennifer Warren. 95m DRA wH SR 0

Night of the Big Heat 4- Christopher Lee, Peter
Cushing 50m (NRC) THR KC $69 95

Night of the Living Dead 1968/George A Romero
it Judith O'Dea, Russell Streiner. 90m bw HOR
HH $59.95

Night of the Sorcerers 87m (R) HOR KC $69.95

Night is My Futu[...]pher Plummer. 101 m (NRC)
DRA SC $59.95

None But the Lonely Heart 1944/Clillord Odets
1: Carey Grant,[...]113m DRA MV $R,O,

Northville Cemetery Massacre, The 1: David
Hyry, Jan Sisk. 85m (R) ACT KC $69.95 VC[...]gman. 101m bw DRA SV $79.95

Notorious Cleopatra, The iv Sonora. 68m (R)
COM SB $69.95

Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill, The 70m (R)
COM KC $69.95

Now It's Cindy (R) ADT KV[...]land, 9im ACT INT S69 95

Old Man who Cried Wolf, The 1970/Walter
Grauman 1 Edward G Robinson, Martin
Balsam. 73m DRA SV $79.95

Omen. The 1976/Richard Donner ir Gregory
Peck, Lee Remick 111m (R) HOR MV $69.00

On the Game (R) COM VC $69.95

one Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975/Milos
Forman is Jack Nicholson[...]lch John Richardson 96m ACT TE
$69.95

one on Top of the Other ‘I Jean Sorel. Elsa
Martinelli (M) DRA VC $69 95

Orgy Box, The t Evan Stelle. Ann Myers. 89m (R)
DRA KC $69 95[...]as,
Francois Perier 86m bw DRA HH $59.95

Outlaw, The 1943/Howard Hughes 1- Jane
Russell, Jack Buetel.[...]-Ar Bryan Brown.
(M) DRA VC $69.95

Panic City 92in ACT INT $69.95

Panic in Needle Park 1971 rJerry Schatzberg 1: Al
Pacino,[...].95

Parity Party (R) ADT KV $69.95

Paper Chase, The 1973/James Bridges t
Timothy Bottoms, John Housem[...]nt. Irene Dunne 125m bw DRA HH $59.95

Perishers. The 80m (G) ANM KC $69.95

Permissive (R) ADT VR $59.[...]Candy Rialson. 102m (R) DRA
_i<c $69.95

Phantom of the Opera, The 1925/D. Rupert Julian
1: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin. 79m bw HOR HH
$59.95

Pied Piper of Hamelin, The 1957/Bretaigne
Windust it Van Johnson. Jim Backus. 89m (G)
FAM $3 $69.95

Pig Keeper‘: Daughter, The at Terry Gibson,
Patty Smith. 93m (R) COM SB $69.95

Pilot. The t Clilt Robertson. Gordon MacRae.
90m (M) DRA VC[...]: Zooey Hall. 88m
(Fl) DRA $3 $69.95

Pornography in Hollywood (R) ADT KV $69.95

Poseidon Adventure, The 1972/Ronald Neame i
Gene Hackman. Ernest Borgnine. 113m (NRC)
ACT MV $69.00

Prince and the Pauper, The 50rn (G) ANM SV
$49.95

Prisoner of Second Avenue, The 1975/Melvin
Frank it Jack Lemmon. Anne Bancroft. 105m
DRA WH $R.O

Private Life of Henry the Eighth KV $69.95

Producers, The 1968/Mel Brooks t Zero Mostel,
Gene Wilder 98m COM MV SR.O.

Professionals. The (R) ADT KV $89.95

Prophecy 1979/John Frankenheim[...]worth. 102m (M) DRA CIC
$79.95

Proud and Damned, The 1973/Ferde Grote Jr 1
Chuck Connors, Jose[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (84)[...]kins. Janet Leigh. 108m bw HORCIC $79.95

Racket. The 1951/John Cromwell 1 Robert
Mitchum. Robert Ryan. 88m bw DRA NM $59.95

Railway Children, The 1972/Lionel Jeffries -1:
Jenny Agutter. Dinah Sheridan. 104m DRA TE
$69.95

Raise the Titanic 1979/Jerry Jameson t Jason
Robards. Richard Jordan. 114m (G) ACT MV
$R.O.

Ramrodder, The ‘I Jim Gentry. 92m (R) DRA KC
$69.95

Rancho No[...]ers 9: Sam Chew. 83m (M) HOR KC $69.95

Reach For the Sky 1956/Lewis Gilbert ‘R Kenneth
More. Muriel Pavlow. 135m (G) bw DRA SC
$59.95

Real Bruce Lee. The 1- Bruce Lee. 120m ACT
INT $69.95

Reason To Live[...]Joan Fontaine.130m bw DRA SV $79.95

Refinements of Live (R) ADT KV $69.95

Reluctant Heroes 1971/Robert Day it Ken Berry.
73m COM SV $79.95

Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, The 1 971 /Bob
Wynn i Angie Dickinson. Bradford Dlllman.
100m DRA VV $59.95

Return of the Pink Panther, The 1975/Blake
Edwards 9: Peter Sellers. Christopher[...]ers.
Bradford Dillman. 73m DRA SV $79.95

Revenge of Trinity tr Terence Hill. 92rn (A0)
WST KC $69.95

Ribald Tales of Robin Hood. The -k Ralph
Jerkins. 88m (R) COM KC $69.95

Ring of Bright Water 1969/Jack Coulfer Av Bill
Travers. V[...]C $69.95

Riverboat Mama (R) ADT KV $69.95

Robe, The 1953/Henry Koster it Richard Burton.
Jean Simmons[...]rx Bros.
Lucille Ball 78m bw COM NM $59.95

Rose. The 1979/Mark Rydell 1: Bette Midler. Alan
Bates. 125[...].
Barbara Stanwyck. 97m (G) MUS MV $69.00

Rover. The 1967/Terrence Young 9: Anthony
Quinn. Rita Haywor[...]Franco Nero. 96m (AO) ACT KC
$69 95

Sales Girls. The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Saludos Amigos (G) FAM WD $R.O.

Sand Pebbles. The 1966/Robert Wise 1 Steve
McQueen. Richard Atlenborough. 179m ACT MV
$R.O. #

Santa and the Three Bears 64m (G) KC $69.95

Santa Fe Trail 194[...]FAM VC $69.95

Schlock (G) HOR KV $69.95

School of Hard Knocks. The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Schoolgirl Hitchhikers at Gild[...]Lorre. 93m (G) bw DRA HH
$59.95 KV $69.95

Secret of Dorian Gray. The i Helmet Berger.
95m (R) DRA KC $69.95

38 — CHANNELS April 1982

Secret Policeman's Ball. The tr John Cleese.
Peter Cook. VR $69.95

Secret Sex Uves of Romeo and Juliet. The 1:
Stuart Lancaster. Antionette Maynard. 96m (R)[...]t.
Robert Powell. 115m (M) DRA VC $69.95

Secrets of sweet Sixteen 80m (R) COM KC
$69.95

seven From H[...]alance. 87m (NRC) ACT VC $69.95

Seven Year itch, The 1955/Billy Wilder at Marilyn
Monroe. Tom Ewell. 1[...]dflow To Use Them 30m (R) DOC VC
$49 95

Sex and the Other Woman 86m (R) COM VC
$89 95

Sex Connection. The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Sex Thief, The (R) ADT VR $59.95

Sex world 80m (R) COM KC $69.95

Sexcapades of Celestine. The 1» Pamela
Stafford. 96m (R) COM KC $69.95

Sexual Freedom U.S.A. 96m (R) DOC KC $69.95

Sexy Dozen. The (R) ADT KV $69.95

Shadow of Chikara. The ~k Joe Don Baker.
Sondra Locke. 96m (M) ACT KC $6[...]Alan Ladd. Jean
Arthur 117m WST CIC $79.95

Shape of Things to Come. The 1979/George
McGowan «Ar Jack Palance. Carol Lynl[...]-1: Anne M. Kuster. 87m
(M) DRA KC $69.95

Shoot the Piano Player 1962/Francois Truflaut at
Charles Az[...]ler. John Hudson. 99m (NRC) WAR KC
$69.95

Sinbad the Sailor 1947/Richard Wallace 4:
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Maureen'O'Hara. 117m
ACT NH $59 95

Sisters of Death 87m HOR INT $69.95

Sixteen 93m (R) ADT VC[...], Debra Winger. 89m (R) COM VC $69.95

Smokey and the Bandit 1977/Hal Needham t
Burt Reynolds. Sally Field. 96m ACT CIC $79.95

Smokey and the Hot Wire Gang KV $69.95

Snapshot 1979/Simon Wlnc[...]n. Peter Strauss. 110m (M) WST MV
$69.00

Soldier of Fortune 1955/Edward Dmytryk -at Clark
Gable. Susa[...]mes Cagney. Evelyn Dow.
84m (G) bw KV $69.95

Son of Blob 1972/Larry Hagman vr Robert
Walker. Richard Stahl. 88m HOR KV $69.95

Son of Kong 1933/Ernest B. Schoedsack or
Robert Armstrong. Helen Mack. 70m bw ACT NM
$59.95

Song of Norway 1970/Robert Aldrich * Toralv
Maurstad, Flo[...]anssen.
Cloris Leachman. 98m ACT TE $69.95

Sound of Music. The 1965/Robert Wise at Julie
Andrews. Christopher Pl[...]Vlfllliam Ross. 80m (NRC) SF KC
$69.95

Spanker. The 90m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Spellbound 1945/Alfred Hit[...]ry Peck. 111m bw DRA SV
$79.95

Spiral Staircase. The 1946/Robert Siodmak it
gorothy McGuire. Kent Smit[...]Essex.
Adam Faith. 108rn MUS TE $69.95

Starlet. The 80m (R) ADT KC $69.95

Step Lively 1944/Tim Whela[...]l.
Harry H. Corbett. 93m COM TE $69.95

Stick Up. The 1979/Jeffrey Bloom t David Soul.
103m (M) ACT VC[...]Cord. Britt Ekland. 96m (M) DRA
MV $69.00

Sting. The 1973/George Roy Hill it Paul Newman.
Robert Rediord. 129m COM CIC $79.95

Story of O, The 1975/Just Jaekin 1 Corinne
Clery. Udo Kier. 94m ADT SV $79.95

Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. The 1939/
H. C. Potter t Fred Astaire. Ginger Rogers.[...], 1931. 76 min. Black and
white. Released by King of Video.

With the introduction of “ta|kies" in
1927. The Jazz Singer by Warner
Brothers. the art of filmmaking
changed. The days of silent films
cranked on location gave way to tons of
equipment firmly locked to studio
floors. Sound a[...]sion
and finesse. Hollywood cinema went
back into the studios and reverted to its
dramatic beginnings — the theatre.
Until technology invented lighter and
mo[...]designers gallantly sculptured exterior
locations in huge sound stages. but to
the eyes of a viewer weaned on modern
location fiiming and sp[...]more real than
reality. Svengali looks poor. But the
camerawork and direction of Wilkie
Cooper and Archie Mayo are early ex-
amples of innovative technical work.
designed to punctuate mood and plot.
Mayo‘-5 use of sharp angles. whether
provided by shadows, buildings or
skewed framing. adds to the fore-
boding atmosphere initiated by the fine
scripting of J. Grubb Alexander and the
brilliant and menacing portrayal of
John Barrymore.

Based on the novel Tri/by by George
du Maurier. Svengali is set in Paris in
the 18903. The title character is a
musician—cum—hypnotist who turns
Trilby (Marion Marsh). the object of his
unreciprocated love. into an opera star.
The folly turns sour as true love begins
to unbind the spell and separate the
maestro from his mistress. The film
ends with the reunification of Svengali
with his ingenue in death. The lighting
and special effects are state of the art
for the era and an interesting example
of early sound iilmmaking. The picture
and sound quality are not to the stan-
dards one expects from films today. but
taking into account the age of the film
one could not expect much better.

Jo[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (85)Stranger, The 1946/Orson Welles 1: Edward
G.Robinson. Loretta Y[...]Hoffman, Susan George, 118m ACT SV $79.95

Stud, The 1978/Quentin Masters t Joan Collins.
Oliver Tobia[...]loway. 80m FAM INT $69.95

Superbug, Craziest Car in the World 96m (G)
FAM VC $69.95

Superstar Goofy (G) ANM WD $R.O,

Superman The Movie 1978/Richard Donner 1:
Christopher Reeve, M[...]DRA KV $69.95

Swallows and Amazons Claude Watham in
Virginia McKenna. Ronald Fraser. 88m FAM TE
$69.9[...]karova. Anthony Dowel), 125m MUS TE
$69.95

Swap, The 1969/Jordan Leondopoulos t Robert
De Niro. Jennifer Warren. 90rn (M) DRA VC
$69.95

Swarm, The 1978/lrwin Allen 1 Michael Caine.
Katherine Ross.[...]Stephanie.Powers, 73m HOR SV $79.95

Sweet Taste of Jay (R) ADT Kv $69.95

Swing Time 1935/George Ste[...]rs. 103m bw MUS NM
$59.95

Swinging Cheerleaders, The -0: Jo Johnston.
94m (R) COM SB $69.95

Swinging Ski Gris (R) ADT VC $69.95

Switchblade Sisters, The 1: Robbie Lee. 90m (R)
ACT SB $69.95 KV $69.95

Take the Money and Run 1969/woody Allen ar
Woody Allen. Janet Margolin. 85m COM SV
$79.95

Tale of the Dean’: Wile, The 1: Christine Murray.
76m (R) ADT SB $69.95

Tales of Beatrix Potter /Reginald Mills 1 Dancers
of the Royal Ballet. 86m (G) FAM TE $86.95

Tales of Mystery and Imaginations t Jane
Fonda. Peter Fonda. 122m (M) MYS KC $69.95

Tales of Washington Irving 50m (G) ANM SV
$49.95

Tall in the Saddle 1944/Edwin L. Marin t John
Wayne, Ella Rai[...]ws. Omar Sharil. 119m (M) DRA MV
$69.00

Tapestry of Passion (R) ADT KV $69.95

Target Harry or Vic Morrow, Suzanne Pleshette.
83m ACT SV $79.95

Taste of Evil, A 1971/John Llewellyn Moxey t
Barbara Parkins. Barbara Stanwyck, 73m DRA
SV $7995

Teasers, The 83m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Teenage Jail Bait (R) ADT[...]e. Julie
Andrews 122m COM WH $R.O.

That Cold Day in the Park 1969/Robert Altman it
Michael Burns. Sandy D[...]Nancy Kwan. 88m
(NRC) DRA KC $69.95

That’)! Be The Day 1974/Claude Watham it David
Essex, Ringo Star[...]ung 120m ACT
SV $79.95

Thief Who Came To Dinner, The 1973/Bud
Yorkin -t Ryan O’Neal. Jacqueline Bisset. 105m
COM wi-I $R.O.

Thing. The 1951/Christian Nyby t Kenneth
Tobey, Margaret Sheriden. 80m bw SF NM
$59.95

Third Man, The 1949/Carol Reed 1: Orson Welles.
Joseph Cotten. 9[...]Phipps. 90m (M) HOR VC $69.95

Thirty Nine Steps, The 1935/Alfred Hitchcock 1:
Robert Donat. Madeleine[...]r I-Ire (R) ADT KV $69.95

Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines
1965/Ken Annakin 2 Sarah Mi[...]ee Way Split (R) ADT KV $69.95

300 Year Weekend, The t William Devane,
Michael Tolan. 80m DRA SV $79.95

Tiger By The Tail 1966/R. G. Springsteen 1:
Christopher George[...]ey, Ann
Margret. 108m (M) MUS SC $59.95

Too Late The Hero 1970/Robert Aldrich 1:
Michael Caine, Cliil[...]Cassidy, Jeremy Brooks. (M) HOR VC $59.95

Touch, The 1971/lngmar Bergman 1 ElliotGou|d,
Bibi Andersson. 112m DRA SV $79.95

Touch of Satan it Michael Berry. 67m (PG) THR
SB $69.95

Touchables, The 1 Claire Brennan. 66m (M)
COM KC $69.95

Toys Are Not For Children 80m (R) DRA KC
$69.95

Trackers, The 1971 /Earl Bellamy it Ernest
Borgnine. Julie Adam[...]n Alderman. 80m (R) ADT
KC $69.95

Train Robbers, The 1973/Burt Kennedy at John
Wayne. Ann Margret. 92m[...]on Pick Up 95m (R) ADT VC $69.95

Trapped Beneath the Sea 1974/William
A. Graham t Lee J.Cobb. Martin B[...]Turned on Girl (R) ADT KV $69.95

Turning Point, The 1977/Herbert Ross t Anne
Bancroft Shirley MacIain[...]athrene
Conti. 80m (R) COM KC $69.95

Undefeated, The 1969/Andrew McLagIen 1 John
Wayne, Rock Hudson. 1[...]y Evans, Liz Frazer, 83m
(R) COM VC $69.95

Under the Table You Must Go 60m (NRC) DOC
KC $69.95

Unholy[...]e Howerd,
Patrick Cargill. 86m COM TE $69.95

Use the Back Door (R) ADT KV $69.95

Valley ot the Dolls 1967/Mark Robson 1: Barbara
Perkins, Patty[...]ra, Trevor Howard. 112m (G) WAR MV
$69.00

Voyage of the Damned 1976/Sam Wanamaker 1)
Faye Dunaway, Max Von Sydow. 134m (M) DRA
MV $69.00

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 1961/Irwin
Allen i Walter Pidgeon. Joan Fonta[...]hn, Maria
Schneider. (M) DRA VC $69.95

Warriors, The 1979/Walter Hill it Michael Beck,
James Remar. 90[...]s. Joan Crawford. 132m
COM WH $R.O.

who Has Seen the Wind 1976 at Brian
Painchaud, Gordon Pinsett. 100[...]lvia Miles. 90m (M)
DRA VC $69.95

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966/Mike
Nichols at Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton.
129m DRA WH $R.O.

Wicker Man, The 1973/Robin Hardy at Edward
Woodward. Britt Ekland. 83m DRA TE $69.95

Wife Swappers, The (R) ADT VD $69.95

Wilbur and the Baby Factory 91m (R) COM KC
$69.95

Wild Gypsies[...]ura Welcome.
85m (Fl) DRA KC $69.95

Wild Rebels, The at Steve Alaimo. Willie Pastrano.
ACT VV $59.95[...]Francis, 73m WST SV $79.95

Willie NeIson’s 4th of July Picnic «oz Willie
Nelson. 88m (NRC) MUS $3[...]Eagle /Rex Fleming. 64m DOC INT
$69.95

Winners, The (NRC) DRA VC $69.95

Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (G) ANM
WD $R.O.

Witchmaker, The 1969/William 0. Brown t
Anthony Eisley, John Lodg[...]ie
Langlord. 96m (G) FAM SC $59.95

Wooden Horse, The 1950/Jack Lee at Leo Genn.
David Tomlinson. 98m b[...]n-Michael Vincent 93m (G)
FAM WD $R.O.

Wrestler, The as Ed Asner. 105m (NRC) ACT KC
$69.95

Wright Brothers, The 57m DOC VC $69.95

Xanadu 1979/Robert Greenwald t[...]95

X-Rated Lovers (R) ADT KV $69.95

Yellow Rose of Texas, The 1 Roy Rogers, Dale
Evans. bw HH $49.95

Yeti t Ji[...]C)
bw DRA SC $59.95 HH $59.95

Young Cycle Girls, The 62m (R) ADV VC $69.95

Young Lions, The 1958/Edward Dmytryk 4:
Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift. 167m bw DRA
MV $69 00

Younger the Better. The 80rn (R) COM KC $69.95

Yuma 1970/Ted Post an Cli[...]George England. 93m MUS SV
$79 95

Zebra Killer, The 90m (M) DRA KC $69.95

Zeta One (R) ADT VR[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (86)[...]cts and Processes
column aims to give an overview of
new concepts and product develop-
ments that will[...]For future issues. manufacturers and
distributors of new releases in the
home video, educational, industrial
and broadcast[...],
North Melbourne, 3051.

Electronic
Photography

in as little as 18 months. a home
screen could be di[...]camera
Slightly larger than a standard 35mm
SLR, the prototype demonstrated
records the images on a 4.5 cm (1 ‘/4-
inch) diameter disc,[...]s 50 pictures and is
reusable. After photography, the
discs are removed from the camera,
placed in a playback unit and viewed
on a standard television.

The Mavica demonstrated a 350-
lines horizontal resolution — better
than that of home VCRs. yet
considerably short of the results from
35mm film.

The Mavica can also be used to
take continuous motion[...]es, pictures made this way cost
only a few cents (the Mavipak was
announced as costing about $2.50)
and the system is another indication
of how electronics may provide an
alternative to the growing cost of
silver used in conventional film

The price quoted for the camera
was U.S.$66O and the player
US$220. Sony also announced a
hard—copy plain paper color printer to
go with the Mavica.
-T
Sony's new Mavica electronic still
ca[...]orage disc.

40 — CHANNELS April 1982

Formats

Australia is waiting for the
promised release of the laser/optical
videodisc lSanyo, and the inventors
of the format, Philips and Pioneer,
have already demonstrated PAL
models). in the US, the various
systems are fighting a price war. The
Capacitance Electronic Disk system
lS selling for well below the US$500
suggested as the list price by RCA
which developed the CED system.

There has been industry comment
that high development costs.
especially for the Philips laser
system, will mean that all the disc
systems must soon show improved
sales to close the gap made by

Projection

The easiest way to get a large tele-
vision image is to use a video pro-
Jector. The pioneer of video projec-
tion. Henry Kloss, demonstrated his
Novabeam Model Two at the recent
Consumer Electronic Show in Las
Vegas.

With three projection tubes and
fast plastic lenses. the system
weighs only 32 kg, and is about the
size of a large portable television. It is
bright enough to dispense with the
usual large curved screen and
projects a 1 x 1.2[...]icture
on to any suitable surface from a
distance of 1.2 m. it is compact, light-
weight and portable and planned for
an August release in the U.S. priced
at $2000.

Above: The Pioneer /aser/optical
videocl/sci VP-1000. Left: The slim new
Sony portable Beta recorder/player.

gro[...]at will help to decide
which system we see here.

The economics of video—cassette
hire as against videodisc purchase
will also play a significant role. The
economics involved in tape libraries‘
holding VHS and Beta formats may
also decide the battle of the rival
‘./2-inch formats. In the US, VHS leads
in a booming hire market. Indications
are that the local market will show the
same trend as Australia approaches
a projected 200,000 VCR units in use
locally.

Sony was quick to point out, with
the U.S. release of its new Beta
portable, that the VHS camp could not
build a portable unit as narrow owing
to the wider VHS cassette. The VH8
reply is a smaller cassette with
correspondin[...]special’ holder for
replay on VHS home units.

The V4-inch systems from Cannon
and Funai/Technicolor have
improved their chances in the market,
with the announcement of a 2‘/2-hour
cassette. With the weight of '/4-inch
portables half that of the lightest ‘/2-
inch systems, and resolution that[...]needs an industry
consensus on standards to push the
‘/4-inch format to the forefront.

Large Screen

The Sony 30-inch monitor,
released in limited quantities last
year, demonstrated the problems that
came with what was a dramatic
increase in screen size. The set
weighed about 124 kg, much of which
was attributable to the extra thick
glass needed to prevent the large
picture tube from imploding. The
development of any larger sizes
seems improbable, although Sony,[...]ens using electron beams travel-
ling parallel to the surface then being
deflected at right angles onto the
screen's phosphors.

Liquid crystal displays have[...]a. Low contrast and restricted
viewing angles are the main dis-
advantages of LCDs.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (87)cameras

Although the press handout that
accompanied the Eastman Kodak-
owned company Spin Physics‘
release of a high-speed video-motion
analysis system states that it is com-

mercially impractical at the consumer
level, the device is an impressive first
entry into the video marketplace‘

The heart of the system is a new
solid state image sensor developed
by Kodak research laboratories. TheIn‘ November 1980, Kodak
disclosed a method of tu|l—color
recording from sensors similar to
those used in the Spin Physics
system. Patent watchers have been
pr[...]e time and this release brings
it a step closer.

The use of solid-state image
sensors has enabled camera manu-
facturers to reduce the size of video
cameras; this has led to the release
of prototype-integrated camera and
VCR units from So[...]S cassettes, that
run at faster speeds and record the

Top: The broadcast quality Matsushita
one-piece VHS cameralrecorder. Above:
The self-contained cameralrecorder from
Hitachi. A st[...]s currently under discussion.

signal information in a different
format from home VCRs. RCA claims
tha[...]a “three-to-
one improvement over 3/4-inch tape in
terms of chrominance resolution, dis-
tortion and noise".[...]TV came closer to
realization with demonstrations in the
US. last year. in an effort to convince
Federal legislators that HD[...]on satellites and cable
systems, lkegami provided the
camera, Matsushita the monitors and
large screen video projectors, and
Sony the digital video recorders
needed to handle the wide band-
widths of the 1125 scanning line
system. This is almost twice the
number of lines of the PAL system
used in Australia, and the new system
was presented in a widescreen
format of 1:13. HDTV may see its first
use as a feature fil[...]er—director Francis
Coppola, fresh from his use of video
techniques in One From the Heart,
saw the demonstration and resolved
to use HDTV for his next feature. The
transfer of HD video to film should
give almost the same resolution as
35mm.

Roger Corman, president of New
World Pictures, announced a start,
early this year, for the tape to film pro-
duction Sector 13. lmage Transform
of Los Angeles, which has provided
high-quality tape to film transfers for
some years, has now, in partnership
with Compact Video, developed a
syste[...]ffects, Corman hopes to save
“GO to 70 per cent of normal
production costs? I

Top: Francis Ford Coppola — investigating
the possibility of shooting his next feature
film on video ta[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (88)FREE 20 MOVIES

of your choice from our special Video Movie Package[...]DEO RECORDER & CAMERA

2» A.

AFTER TRADE IN

ALL BRANDS STOCKEDV
‘we will give you a trade-in of up to $700 on your old Video Recorder

me 699 119[...]St.)
Open Thurs. till 7 p.m., Sat. till 3 p.m.

$THE EXORCIST CAN "I' STOP THE MUSIC - THE GODFATHER
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST

NOSTALGIA and
FAMILY VIEWING

E[...]BAIT (R)
SCHOOLDAYS — FREDDIE > - ’ ‘ ALL IN THE sEx FAMILY (R)
BARTHOLOMEW ‘ . ' LIP SERVICE ([...]ACK DEEPTHROAT (R)

GREAT Guy _ ,. I ' V I. LOVE OF A NYMPHO (R)

MES I
:?\REwIscLAI.GTNoE‘/:nMs — h lolthe’

GARY COOPER
GULL|VER’S TRAVELS (G)

THE BLOB (G) ' ’ -W
Plus STAR TREK NOTE: A - ;..\K
KING OF VIDEO i"L‘.'£.’§"..'2.i‘;‘.‘f‘.”'[...]DA 3132 (via) ALL CASSETTES SOLD BY ' - , .

KING OF VIDEO INCLUDE

PHONE (03) 534 5623 mm mama[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (89)[...]andy equipment guide will be included and updated in each issue of ‘Channels’ . All the
relevant information included is that supplied by the manufacturers. The prices listed are the
Australian distributors’ recommended retail pri[...]rative prices only, as
much discounting occurs at the distributor and retailer level. The VCR guide contains Beta and
VHS models onl[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (90)[...]10.000 Hz 55 watts 16.4 kg 5999
B : SL-C5 7 days (in black and white) functions (L500) 40 dB 485x168x3[...]atts 15.8 kg Auto rewind. plays
3 : SL-T7 7 days (in black and white) functions (L-500) 40 dB 485xl68x[...]d Dual zoom
VC-90E 1.95 kg f1.4 motorized BuiIt—in/electronic 2/3 inch Vidicon uto[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (91)[...]issus ®

sTop PRESS ,‘ALISON'S BIRTHDAY‘ NOW IN RELEASE.
CUY OUT AND OWARD COUPIN I '
OUR NEW CAT[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .POST CODE . . . . . . .

The World’s Most Experienced
International TV Distr[...]td)

Suite 3, 2A Waters Road
Neutral Bay NSW 2089
AUSTRALIA

Phone: (02) 908 2600
Telex: AA 25914

NEW[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (92)[...]TVC-200 t1.6 motorized Built-in/electronic 2/3 inch FIGS 4 position white Telesco[...]back

HITACHI

C-600E 1.9 kg 11.6 motorized Built-in/electronic 2/3 inch Variable white 75 lux Telesco[...]wfinder

$P.O.A.

JVC

GXBSE l1.4 motorized Built-in/electronic 2/3 inch Vidicon Auto with manual Inte[...]denser

NATIONAL

wV—303DN t1,4 motorized Built-in/electronic 2/3 inch Stripe 2 position color Handl[...]sator

NORDMENDE

C-225 2 kg l1.4 motorized Built-in/electronic 2/3 inch Vidicon Auto I 00 lux 8.5 wat[...]r

$P.O.A.

SANYO

VCC-545P 3.5 kg t2 zoom/ Built-in/electronic 2/3 inch Vidicon Manual color 100 Iux[...]899

SHARP _ _

XC-34 2.7 kg 11.4 motorized Built-in/electronic 2/3 inch Saticon Auto Wu Iux 12 watts[...]ONY ’ _ _

HVC-2000PE 2.9 kg Canon 11.8 Built—in/electronic 2/3 inch MF 4 position white 70 Iux at[...]100,000 Iux 45 dB light, 3 position electret fade in/out.
motorized 300 lines conversion lllter[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (93)IN YFRNA TI ONAL TVPR OGRAMMING

R. A. BECKER 59’ CO. PTY LTD

Suite 3, 2A Waters Road
Neutral Bay NS W/2089
Australia

Phone: (02) 908 2600
Telex: AA 25914

Postal add[...]...

0 ACTING FOR TELEVISION

O STUDIO TECHNIQUES
the services we offer Vid Australia members. 2 CALL SyDNEy (02) 356 1820

Finding movies you want isjust one of

Well save you up to 25% off regular
recommended retail prices. Or rent you the
best movies from just $6.90 per week.

You can choose from over 450 video
movies in our current catalogue. Including

gems like Joan[...]on Troppo".

FOR WORKSHOP DETAILS

David Bowie inThe Man who Fen To Earth", FREEMAN: (Creative consultant) “Channel 0/28
and “Citizen Kane". one of the best ever. has been a most rewarding and stimulating two years of
vid Australia membership is just $10 per my life. It's n[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (94)A";‘

FOR YOUR 00 7EYES ONLY

ELECTRIC BLUE MOVES
INTO THE BOND-AGE
WITH 007.

Featuring:

Ursula Andress, one of five
Bond Beauties.

Peter Cooke and Dudley
Moore as the filthy

”Derek and Clive"

and much,

mu[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (95)W@M E ~r%‘1: SUN

WOMEN OF THE SUN, a drama series in four
self-contained episodes, has given one of the world’s
most oppressed minorities a first-time opportunity to
tell a part of their history in their owl:-i words, through %
their own experiences. For more than fifty thousand I '
years, the Aboriginal people have inhabited Australia,
but with the arrival of the white Australian, the erosion
of their vast and unique culture began, and has
continued until the present day.

WOMEN OF THE SUN takes up the story of
these extraordinary people in the 1820’s and follows it,
with impeccable and powe[...]nia Borg

H yllus Maris

.1.

DRAMATIC HISTORY IN THE MAKING.
A 1982 Australian Production

Soon[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (96)In November last the Film and Television Production Association of Australia and
the New South Wales Film Corporation brought together[...]scuss film financing, marketing, and distribution of Australian films in the 1980s
with producers involved in the film and television industry.

The symposium was a resounding success.

Tape recordings made of the proceedings have been transcribed and edited by
CinemaiPapers, and published as the Film Expo Seminar Report.

Copies can be ordered[...]n, Berkowitz
and Selvin

Harry Ufland

President. The Ufland Agency (US)

Contents

Theatrical Production
The Package: Two Perspectives

Perspective I: As Seen by the Buyer

(i) Partial versus complete packaging, or[...]pikings; Mike Medavoy

Perspective ll: As Seen by the Seller
The role of the agent in packaging.
Speaker: Harry Ufland

Theatrical Production
Business and Legal Aspects

(i) Sources of materials (published, original
screenplays. etc.).

(ii) Forms of acquisition agreements and/or
writer's agreements[...]s (“pay or play" defer-
ments. “going rates". approvals).

(iv) Insurance.

(V) Guild and union requireme[...]singetc. .

Speaker: Eric Weissmann

Distribution in the United States

(I) Mapping the distribution sales campaign
When and where to open. How to allocate
advertising budgets. Number of theatres.
70mm and stereo. Reissues. Ancillary
ma[...]xhibition terms. Advances and guaran-
tees; split of box-office (90-10 with "floor"
“house-nut". etc[...]ve.

Speaker: Barbara Boyle

Distribution Outside the United States

Distribution terms. Relationship and terms with
sub—distributors and exhibitors. Recoupment of
expenses. Cross-collateralizing territories.
Dubb[...]lic broadcasting.

Speaker: Lois Luger

Financing of Theatrical Films
Major Studios

Control. approvals. overhead. over-budget provi-
sions. total or par[...]ve pick-u p.

Speaker: Rudy Petersdorf

Financing of Theatrical Films
Independent Studios

Rise of independent financing. Tax motivated
and otherwise. Completion financing.

Speaker: Sam Gelfman

Presale of Rights

Separating rights by media. Pay televisio[...]roblems. Interim and comple-
tion financing. Term of distribution rights.

Speaker: Mark Damon

Multi-National and
Other Co-Productions

Availability of subsidies. Treaties. Tax incentives.
Government i[...]Speaker: Simon Olswang

Fill out order form for the Film Expo Seminar Report on page 8 of this
special insert.

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (97)[...]G.
Hall. Tarifl Board Report.
Antony i. Ginnane. The
care That Ate Perle.

BACK ISSUES

Take advantage of our special ofler and catch up on your missing i[...]s than half-price!

Number 2
April 1974

Violence in the Cinema.
Alvin Purple. Frank Moor-
house. Sandy Ha[...]t Deiing. Piero
Tosi. John Scott. John
Dankworth. The Getting
at Wisdom. Journey
Among Women.

Number 1[...]r. Peter Sykes.-
Bernardo Bertoiucci F.J.
Holden. In Search of
Anna.

Index: Volume 3

CINFMQ

Number 3
July 1974

John Papadopoious.
Willis O'Brien. The Mc-
Donagh Sisters. Richard
Brennan. Luis Bunuel.
The True story at Eskimo
Nell.

Number 5
March-April[...]lian Film Censorship.
Sam Arkolt. Roman
Polanski. The Picture
Show Men. Don't Party.
storm Boy.

Num[...]Tom Cowan, Francois
Truflaut. Delphine Seyrig.
The Irishman. The Chant
ot Jimmie Blacksmith. Sri
Lankan Cinema. The Last
Wave.

Number 16
April-June 1978

Patrick. S[...]79

Bill Bain. Isabelle Hup-
pert. Polish Cinema. The
Night the Prowler. Pierre
Ftissient. Newetront. Film
Study[...]inema. Sonia
Borg. Alain Tanner. E
Cathy's Child. The Laat
.Taamanlan.

Number 19

January-February[...]ed
Documentaries

I

i

Number 26
April-May 1980

The Films oi Peter Weir.
Charles Jolie. Harlequin.
Nationalism in Australian
Cinema. The Little Con-
efl.

&a: Vobnae 0

Number 37
Mar[...]on
sterstruck. Jacki Weaver.
Peter Ustinov, Women in
Drama, node, Heatwave.

Number 20
March-April 197[...]erman.
My Brilliant Career. Film
Study Resources. The
Night the Prowler.

Number 27
June-July 1960

The New Zeaiand Film
Industry. The 2 Men.
Peter Yeiciham. Maybe
This Time. Donald Ri[...]ilm. Grendel, Grendel,
Grendel, David Hem-
mings. The Odd Angry
shot. Box-Oftice Grosses.
Snapshot.

Number 28
August-September
1980

The Films oi Bruce Bares-
iord. Stir. Melbourne and
S[...]ront. Film Study
Resources. Koetae.
Money Movers. The Aus-
tralian Film and Tele-
vision School.

Index[...]Ellis. Actors Equity
Debate. Uri Windt.
Cruising. The Last
Outlaw. Philippine Cin-
ema. The Club.

Note: issues number 4, 6, 7, 8, 30, 31,
34[...]tember-October
1979,

Australian Television.

Lat of the Knuclrlemen.
Women Filmmakers.

Japanese CIn’em[...]umber 33
July-August
1 981

John Duigan on Winter of
Our Dreams. Government
and the Film industry. Tax
and Film. Chris Noonan
Fiobert[...]ary-February
1 982

Kevin Dobson, Blow Out,
Women in Drama,
Michael Rubbo, Mad Max
2, Puberty Bluea.

Fill out order form for Cinema Papers back issues on page 8
of this special insert. ‘ '

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (98)use the lumen of Ieisur , -
me and subscribe in »+ 5

cm MA

1 year ( 6issues)$18

2 years (1[...]e purchase
price

Overseas Rates (All remittances in Australian dollars only)

Bo[...]tions Volumes Ezibinders Back Issues
6 12 1 8 (to the price of each
Zone issue: issues issues (each) (each) copy, add the following)

1. New Zealand $25.20 $46.40 $67.70 $[...]B (21-24) are still available.

Hundsomely bound in black
with gold embossed lettering

Volume 7 contains Sl2
lavishly-illustrated pages of
0 Exclusive interviews with

Fill out order form[...]ok reviews.
0 Production surveys and
reports from the sets of local
und international production.

0 Box—olTi[...]d to announce that an

Ezibinder is now available in black with gold

STRICTLY
LIMITED EDITIONS

l’l[...]nbound
copies. individual numbers can be added to the

binder independently, or detached ifdesir[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (99)[...]6) D

Please start D renew U my subscription with the next issue. If a renewal,
please state Record No.[...]make a subscription to Cinema Papersa gift, cross the box below and we will send a card
on your behalf with the first issue.

D Gift subscription from (name of sender) .........................................[...].20 per copy)

To order your copies place a cross in the box next to your missing issues, and fill out the form below.
If you would like multiple copies of any one issue, indicate the number you require in the appropriate
box.

DDEIDCIDDEIDDDDEJDDUDDDEIU
1235[...]30, 31, 34 and 35
26 27 28 29 32 33 36 37 are out of print.

Bound volumes Please send me bound volumes of D 3 (issues 9-12) B 4 (issues 13-16) D 5 (issues[...]volume.

Ezllbllflders Please send me E) copies of Cinema Papers’ Ezibinder at $1 5 a binder. -

2[...]urface; $40 airmail).
(b) Please send me D copies of the 1980 Yearbook at $1 9.95 a copy (Foreign: $30 surface; $40 airmail).

3. Australian TV, The First 25 Years

Please send me D copies of Australian TV at $1 4.95 a copy (Foreign: $17 surface; $26 airmail).

4. The New Australian Cinema

Please send me D copies of The New Australian Cinema at $1 4.95 a copy (Foreign:[...]Film Expo Seminar Report

Please send me D copies of the l-'Ilm Expo Seminar Report at $25 a copy (Foreign[...]anied by bank drafm only. All quoted figures are in Australian dollars.

NB.’ Please make al[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (100)[...]David Samuelson, technical author’ and partner in
the worldwide equipment rental company Samuel-
sons, was in Australia late last year to introduce his
development of a new front projection system’. Fred
Harden tal[...]t and

about his other projects.

I was born into the industry in the silent
days and started as a boy in the project-
ion room. I then went to the cutting room,
became a cameraman and finally found
myself in the equipment business. But
until this day, I am a working filmmaker.
Last July, I did some filming of the
Royal Wedding in St Paul’s Cathedral.

was that as a conscious effort to keep
your hand in?

Yes. Movietone, where i worked for 19
years, was making a film version of the
wedding. They needed cameramen
experienced in 35mm and in the old
manners of newsreel cameramen that
Australia knows well. They felt it was
better to take an oldie out of retirement,
who may have been rusty using a camer[...]s still a
demand for a film newsreel-style record
of an event that had had worldwide live
television coverage . . .

There are a number of countries which
don't have television, or didn't take all of
the coverage, so there is still a need for
film newsreeis. And the Central Office of
information still supplies film to a
number of overseas countries, particu-
iarly South America. India and South
Africa.

In the future, our recorded history will be
on videotape, instead of film. This will
mean future study and use will be of
essentially low-resolution images. It was
pointed out, for example, that at the
attempted assassination of Ronald
Reagan all the news crews were
Electronic News Gathering (ENG) tele-
vision crews. And by the time the stop
motion frames reached Australia by
satellite, and were recorded and
replayed, the information content,
although dramatic, was iust a blur. The
only images that were sharp were the
still press and magazine photos. This, I
feel, will leave a great gap in our visual
history . . .

Not only that, but a great deal of
history is not covered in depth. News-
reel cameramen today take maybe three
shots and are lucky if two of them are
used. How often on television today do[...]pher magazine and has written two
excellent books in the Focal Press Media Manuals
series on the equipment and techniques of Motion
Picture Cameras and Lighting.

2. The Samclne Front Projection System is available
thro[...]a three-minute segment.
You get maybe two minutes of what is
happening, rather than someone talking
about it.

The other worrying thing is how long
videotape is going to last; how long is the
gum going to keep the metal oxide stuck
to the backing. And once that gum has
perished, you end up with a can of metal
filings. it depends on how it is stored, as[...]equipment rental
company. How are you approaching the
growing use of videotape?

The more videotape there is, the more
videodisc and cassettes, the more direct
broadcast satellites and cables, the more
outlets, then the more demand there is
for material. in its wake, the greater
demand there is for film.

As an originating source?

Yes. And, of course, at the top end of
the market there is still the cinema.
Although more and more films will be
made with the television outlet in mind,
they really have to use the cinema outlet
because that is where they get thei[...]s on for a few weeks or
months, and is written up in papers, it
gets big word-of-mouth publicity. People
know about Gone with the Wind,
Raiders of the Lost Ark or Superman,
but name me a five-year-old[...]sed first on cable?

This is obviously a concern. The
publicity of a film release carries on over
into the time when it is a cable program
or a cassette. if you were to make Gone
With the Wind for television, would any-
body have ever heard of it two weeks
later?

i am sure the companies are looking at
this aspect with, for example, the simul-
taneous release of “9 to 5” in theatres
and on cassette, where the publicity can
have a dual role and reach differen[...].

Here we have an interesting situation,
because of all the plays recently to make
an impact on British television, A Town
Like Alice made the greatest. Partly, this
was because it ran for fou[...]hing A Town Like Alice?" it got
an unusual amount of word-of-mouth.
But it has been shown once and it is
gone.[...]e interesting to see if a
program like that, with the word-of-
mouth and good publicity it got, could
carry over into another type of outlet. But
very little television gets the fame cinema
product does, and so you can afford to
put money into cinema that you couldn't
in television. You know that film is going
to live f[...]have plans to widen Samuel-
cons’ lllm bus into the video area?

David Samuelson beside his Samcine F[...]anning to move into video.
We are feeling our way in London, in that
we are trying something new, which is
dry hi[...]TFls — without a technician. it is des-
patched in rigidized silver boxes in the
same way as film equipment. Of course,
all the ancillary equipment is the same,
such as doiiies, etc.

The next step, for Panavision and our-
selves, will be a video camera that
accepts standard film facilities: the Pana-
cam. That is a likely trend for people
such as commercial makers who like to
operate with the focus-pulling tech-
niques they are used to. the same way of
working with an operator and assistant
that they do on film. That is one of the
ways we see things going, particularly for
commercials. One day they will ring up
and order a Panafiex and the next day
the same crew will order the Panacam.

We won't be getting into trucks and
broadcast vans because we think that
will go with the new equipment. The
whole business of truckloads of gear
being unnecessary was the same thing
that happened to sound recording when
the Nagra came in. i remember when if
you shot sound on location, a[...]nt up
walls and across roofs and into windows
and the soundman ruled the roost and
actually switched the film camera on and
off.

All that disappeared with the coming
of the Nagra. The small VPFi units will
have the same impact. The_only use for
the large vans would be for an outside
broadcast, and certainly not for a
commercial.

I wonder at the value of imitating film
equipment when the design of the ENG
video equipment is so advanced. is it a
way of encouraging greater use of video-
tape with crews which are reluctant to
use[...]s or which are used
to feature film work? What is the balance
of commercial hire as against feature
work?

They are both important to us; the
same people do both. Top cameramen,
such as Fredd[...]commercials when they
are not doing features — the same as
your people do here. You get top talent
working on the same equipment, and it is
checked out with the same love and care.
And the charges are the same.

The ratio of commercials to features
varies all the time. Nearly all the big
special effects films from all over the
world were made in Britain last year.
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman II,
Empire Strikes Back, Clash of the
Titans, Outland, Excalibur — all were
made at roughly the same time, so you
tend very much to feature hire for that
period.

in 1981, you got a balance because
there was hardly anything going and the
commercials were very important. The
threatened strike of directors in the U.S.
really killed that year for fiimmaking, and
we are just beginning to get over it. in
early 1982, we see ourselves busy again
with the new James Bond film, there is
Superman III, the new Star Wars and
another big special effects film called
Dragons of Krull — all running at more or
less the same time.

CINEMA PAPERS April — 149

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (101)[...]Yes. I have a running battle with
people who say the British film industry is
dead. I say, "Well, Superman and
Superman II left 20 million pounds in
Britain on below-the-line costs. How
many Carry On Up the Khybers do you
have to make to earn that sort of
money?”

"Ah, but it doesn't show British life,"
they say. Well, The Deer Hunter was a
100 per cent British-financed f[...]is Samuelsons with new
product development, like the Louma’
and the new front projection rig?

That is my side of the business. I am
an inveterate inventor and a very lucky
person because I have the facilities to do
that sort of thing, and an outlet for the
devices I come up with. It has always
been my dre[...]s pro-
jector and I wasn't prepared to spend
tens of thousands of pounds on an old
Mitchell process projector and then
make something of it. Then one night I
had an idea of how to turn an obsolete
camera Into a process projector. Having
made that up. the development of the rig
was straightforward.

The Louma started when a couple of
young French guys came to Samuel-
sons with the basic idea. They had put a
camera on the end of what could only be
described as an outslzed microphone
boom; it was originated to make a film In
a submarine. I suggested putting a tale-
vision viewfinder on the camera with a
remote control, as we had already d[...]’s Daughter. So, we developed it,
and all three of us received a technical
Academy Award for our contributions.

Now i am busy in London on 3D.
Comin' at Ya’ is a big success in the U.S.
and I read in Variety, a couple of weeks
ago, that there were 10 3D films in pro-
duction — and that didn't include the one
Roman Polanski may direct, for the
producer of Being There.

Will your system require polarized
glasses?

Yes. That's not new; it is how you link
the two cameras and how you project it.
This is my ne[...]ne has to keep up-to-date, and it is a
philosophy of our company that we like
to innovate. That is the way we keep
ahead of everyone else and how the
industry keeps ahead of television. You
have to give cinemagoars somethin[...]m being good enter-
tainment, it was a fine piece of crafts-
manship.

I was reading in ‘clnefx’ a description
of the front projection system that was
used for “Outland” . . .

Yes, the system is called Introvision. it
is a complicated[...]ailable, there should be an immediate
application in commercial work. . .

3, The rig was recently used for the first time in
Australia by Melbourne commercials director, Peter
Corbett[...]o. 33. DP 272-75).

150 —- April CINEMA PAPERS

The Samcine From Projection System.

We hope it will be a lot less expensive
than chroma key. The ability to film edit
should be cheaper also.

The man who developed the lntrovision
system commented that if he really
hated somebody he would give them a
simple description of how his system
worked and let them go away and te[...]tion . . .

Yes, there is a lot not written about the
amount of anguish expended sorting it
out, and we don't wan[...]protecting them is another
matter.

We have a lot of innovative ideas in our
system, but primarily we are trying to be
the opposite end of the market to
systems like lntrovision. We are trying to
take the bullshit out of front projection.

Front projection has been arou[...]that it is a very special matte box
that fits on the camera that puts back-

grounds in. You can use your ordinary
dolly and ordinary geared head, and you
can shoot in a room like this. With a piece
of 3M screen material behind me, you
could "film" this interview in New York.
You should be able to go from normal
shots to process in 20 minutes, just like
changing from an Elemack to[...]nd backgrounds, people will
use it simply to fill in windows and door-
ways, to transpose a location.

There is a company in London called
World Backgrounds which has a library
of stock shots of everywhere in the world.
If you wanted to have a Bangkok or
Rocky M[...]. You just
say to these people, "Send me 100 feet of
the Rocky Mountains", and it should be
on the next plane. They have a remark-
able collection a[...]together to supply their materials,
because part of the idea is to have
available backgrounds. I look upon it as
a background machine.

Who Said The Home Film
Market Was Dead?

At a time when much of the
photographic trade is seeing a veritable
tide of activity in household video
equipment, one distributor, J. Osawa
and Co Ltd, Japan, believes the home
film market is far from dead. in the face
of the VTR versus 8mm film controversy,
the company has designed, manu-
factured and launched an entirely new
range of 8mm cameras.

Two of the film cameras have already
won major Japanese design awards, and,
the release of the range has been backed
by an aggressive marketing campaign.

Being marketed under the Bell and
Howell name, the new range includes
models T10XL, T20XL, T30XL, and
T50XL. They are distributed nationally by
Australia's newest photographic
equipment distributor, J. Osawa (Aus-
tralia) Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tokyo-
based international trading concern. g

The Bell and Howell T1 OXL and T30XL
received the 1981 Good Design Award,
or "G-Mark", granted by Japan's Ministry
of Trade and industry. The award is given
to products judged superior on the basis
of design, function, quality and appear-
ance. its closest Australian equivalent
would be the Australian Design Award.

Backing the release of the new camera
range is a campaign which promotes the
advantages of the 8mm film gear over
VTR. While conceding that VTFI[...]uite costly, 8mm
film gear has actually come down in
price, while including more and more
capabilities.

All four cameras in Osawa’s Bell and
Howell line-up are in the medium- to low-
end of the film camera market.

The award-winning Bell and Howell
T10XL is a highly c[...]that
allows filming under law-light conditions.

The Bell and Howell TIOXL 8mm camera.

The Bell and Howell T30XL is another
model with low-l[...]dition signal and battery test, with a film
speed of 18 fps or single frame control.

Models T2[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (102)[...]s standard.

Details are available from J. Osawa
(Australia) Pty Ltd, 13 Chard Rd, Brook-
vale, NSW 2100. Tel[...]I TV Standards

Converter

Pics Australasia is the sole Australian
agent for the OK] TV Standards Con-
verter. The OKl converts the American
NTSC signals to the Australian PAL D
and back the other way. It will also
convert to and from Secam.

Until the introduction of the OKI, the
equipment to convert broadcast signals
was restricted to television stations. The
OKI by comparison weighs 40 kg and
measures 266 x[...]tion house. installed an OKI. Ross
Webb, co-owner of Colorburst, is using
the OKI in conjunction with a joystick
color corrector.

Sin[...]s with
frequent overseas contact:

‘‘I bought the OKI in preference to

another converter because I found[...]It seems to maintain a better picture

stability. The best way to see this is

with the American football games.

When the camera does a fast pan to

follow the ball, the background jerks.

With the OKI, it still jerks but not nearly

as much."

Webb is using the OKl’s digital
enhancer and an analogue image
enhancer to improve the converted
picture quality.

For more information,[...]AL D, and vice-versa.

Photokina Cologne 1982

The 1982 Cologne Photokina is to be
held from October[...]10).
Agreement on this timing has been
reached by the organizers: the German
Photographic Industry Association (Ver-
band der Deutschen Photographischen
lndustrie) and the Cologne Trade Fair
Company. This change in dates will meet
the wishes of manufacturers and also of
German and foreign dealers who are in
favor of having the fair open on a
Monday, and having it run for seven

days, as in the past.

Two New Releases From GEC National

National Panasonic has announced
the release of the NV-8050, the first
readily-available, time-lapse, video-
cassette recorder. Using 1/2-inch VHS
cassettes, the NV-8050 provides an
easy-to-use monochrome animation
system with its one shot mode, or a
broad range of applications in its other
time-lapse modes. The picture quality for
all speed operations is high, with a
horizontal resolution of 310 lines.

An optional plug-in unit allows day/
month/ year/ hour/ minute/ second data
to be displayed.

The U-matic format (3/4-inch) cassette
has been given a new lease of life with
the introduction of the National
Panasonic Series 9000 high
performance system. Not just a revised
model, the system promises high quality
video performance with a signal-to—noise
ratio of 46 dB, color and horizontal
resolution of 260 lines color, and 330

lines monochrome.

The editing system includes the NV-
9240 recorder, which is used as a source,
the NV-A960 editing controller and the
NV-9600 high performance editing
recorder. The NV-A960 editing controller
is a micro-processor b[...]rch
dials for source and editing decks.
Search is in forward and reverse at
various speeds, and there[...]oints selected for an individual edit
anywhere on the tape.

For further details, contact the local
offices of GEC National.

The National Panasonic N V-8050 time-lapse
video-cassette recorder.

The National Panasonic ediling syslem.

John Barry Group Sets Up New Singapore Company

The well-known Australian film and
television supply and rental company,
the John Barry Group, is setting up an
independent company in Singapore to
be known as Barry and Warta Trading
Pty Ltd. John Barry is managing director
of the John Barry Group, and Horst
Warta the Group's former general
manager.

Warta is to take up residence in Singa-
pore and will be the company's
managing director.

Barry and Warta, Si[...]Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan,

Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines, Sri
Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.

Horst Warta is well known on the Asian
film and television scene, having been
export manager for the John Barry
Group for some years before his
appoin[...]manager. He
has travelled extensively throughout the
region and is familiar with local market
requirements.

The new Singapore company will
follow the pattern set by the John Barry
Group, Australia, in that it will specialize
in marketing and servicing quality film
and televisi[...]ses

Warranty On Daymax

HMI Lamps

Developed by the same company that
lights Amerlca’s space vehicl[...]to
guarantee their long life. A pro-rata
warranty of up to 400 hours is given on
some lamps and, if a light fails in less
than 50 hours, it is general practice for
Pi[...]not had to replace any
Daymax lamps.

Produced by the Californian company,
ILC Technology, Daymax owes its reli-
ability and design to the lighting used in
manned and unmanned space vehicles
and satellites[...]lighting systems were most recently used
to light the interior and exterior of the
Columbia space shuttle.

Daymax HMI lamps’ long[...]h
performance is achieved through a com-
bination of plasma physics, unique high
temperature seals, ad[...]a dry, very pure argon atmosphere
is maintained.

The lamps are processed with an all
metal vacuum system before and after
being charged with metal halide in
the dry box, while a turbo molecular
pump prevents hy[...]ne:
(02)2641981.

Take Pride

David and Tod Pride of Pride Studios
have just completed work on the first of
three computer-controlled special
effects systems. It is a camera mount
with seven computer-controlled axes of
motion. Fitted with a Fries reflex con-
verted 35mm Mitchell with video-assist
viewfinder, the system also has nodal
head-point movement.

For f[...]hat allows student-paced
individualized learning. The entire
system is made up of four components:
VRS-100 video responder, VRP-100[...]g positions also
require a player and a monitor.

The VRS-100 enables the student to

respond to the videotape. The optional
VRP-100 printer provides printouts of
students’ answers as well as a printer
record of programming.
_ The VRC-100 encodes new or exist-
ing video-tapes and the VRD-100 facil-
itates new programming of pre-recorded
tapes.

This unique learning system[...]student to advance, at his or her
own pace, while the printer allows the
instructor to monitor the progress.

The Responder system is compatible
with progra[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (103)[...]e deals on first class air tickets to people

in the film industry. 0‘

0
With our Celebrity Travel[...]can sleep

your way to Cannes, or anywhere around the
world forwlittle rrpre than Economy fare. .

Talk to us and discover out-of-this-world deals
at down-to-earth prices.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (104)[...]cal consultant . . . . ..Manning Clark

Synopsis: The drama of the ill-fated
expedition of 1860-61.

FOR LOVE ALONE
Prod. company . . . . ..[...]. . . . . . . . . . .77. . .. Fay Weldon
Based on the novel

by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Christina Stead

Synopsis: The story of Teresa Hawkins,
high-minded, passionate and independent,
and her attempts to fulfil her ideals of love,
first with her teacher, the self—seeking
Jonathon Crow, who shows her worlds
other than the prosaic one she's known, and
later, after bitter struggles, in London, with
the American businessman, James Quick.

HOSTAGE

Exec[...]Alexander Hopkins
No further details supplied.

THE SUNBEAM SHAFT
Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . .[...]ed release . . . . . .. February. 1983

Synopsis: in 1936, the miners in the small
South Glppsland town of Korumburra
barricaded themselves in the main shaft of
the Sunbeam Colliery, demanding better
pay and working conditions. Their story is
that of the Australian Labour Movement in
the 1930s.

TlME’S RAGING ‘
Prod. company Limeli[...]. . .Frank Moorhouse,

Sophia Turkiewicz
Based on the short stories
from Futility and Other

Animals by[...]ter . . . . . . . . . . .. .Terry Bourke
Based on the novel by . ..Roger Ward
Photography . . . . . . .[...]d. managers . . . . . . . . . . . ..Ken Metcaife
(The Philippines),

Judith West (New Zealand)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Tim Higgins
(Australia)

. . . . . ..Mitch Griffin
. .Ross Lane
oy Harri[...]. . . ..Peter Kearney
Continuity Jenny Ouigley (The Phi|.),

June Henman (N.Z. and Aust.)
Director's[...]. . . . . . . .. Sachiko Bourke,
Mario Metcaife (The Phil.);

David Williams (NZ. and Aust.)

Mixed at[...]. . . . . . .. United Sound
Laboratory .. Atlab Australia
Gauge . . . . . .. 35mm 1:165 ratio

Shooting st[...]y), Barryv«DonnelIy
(Jack Lambert).

THE CLINIC

Prod. company . . . . . . . . ..The Film Housel
Generation Films
Producers . . . . .[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. Greg Millen

Based on the original idea
by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..The Film House
Casting consultants ....M 8. L Consult[...]riptwriter .. . . . . . .. Jan Sardi

Based on the original idea by ..Jan Sardi,
Michael Pattinson[...]itkins).
Synopsis: Two turbulent adolescent weeks
in the life of a teenage migrant ltalian boy
living in Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Forthis
fortnight two families live in the one
crowded terrace: the recently arrived family
from Italy who will take over the house, the
current family who are preparing to leave.
Gino m[...]cept his Italian
background, and start a new kind of life,
hopefully one more step towards maturity.[...]. . . . . . . . . . . .. Richard Cassidy
Based on the novel
by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]Tim Burns (Kent), Henri Szeps
(York).

Synopsis: The story of a stylish Sydney
boutique 'owner and her husband.[...]who has not as yet
achieved financial success. On the surface,
they appear to have a perfect relationship.
However, their marriage is shattered when
he is accused of rape after a casual indis-
cretion one afternoon[...]ggle to prove, and for her to continue to
believe in, his innocence.

ON THE RUN

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . ..Pigelu P[...]field, Rod Taylor, Beau Cox,
Ray Meagher.

PLAINS OF HEAVEN

Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]Cast: Richard Moir.
No further details supplied.

THE YEAR OF LIVING

DANGEROUSLY

Pro[...]. . . . . . . . . . .. David Williamson
Based on the novel

by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]RS,
DIRECTORS
AND
PRODUCTION
COMPANIES

To ensure the accurac of your
entry, please Contact the itor or this
column and ask for copies of our Pro-
duction Survey blank, on which the
details of'y6ur production can be
entered. All details must be typed in
upper and lower case.

The cast entry should be no more
than the 10 main actors/actresses -
their names and character names. The
length of the synopsis should not
exceed 50 words.

Editofis n[...]pers cannot, therefore, accept
responsibility for the correctness of
any entry.

Key grip . . . . . . . .[...]stralian
Broadcasting Service journalist, arrives in
Jakarta during a time ofthe
politics of the country and with Jill Bryant,
an English Embassy[...]. . . ..David Ambrose,

Quentin Masters
Based on the novel by . . . . . ..Kit Denton

Photograp[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (105)[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . “Sonia Borg
Based on the novel

by . . . . . . . . .. ..Frank Dalby Daviso[...]assistant Jan Tourrier
1st asst director ...C0|in Fletcher

Prod. designer ...[...]wards (Mrs Muspratt),
Will Kerr (Jim).

Synopsis: The story of a sheepdog in the
Australian outback, based on the classic
novel by Frank Dalby Davison.

FAR EAS[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . “John Duigan
Based on the original

idea by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]ot).
Synopsis: A political thriller which exposes
the violent and exploitative realities of multi—
national companies in a South-East Asian
country. Against this backgrou[...]. . . . . . .. Michael Cove,
Tom Jeffrey
Based on the novel by “..John Embling

Director of
photography . . . . . . . . . . . . .. John Seale[...]en
off as a delinquent by most adults until
John, the teacher. fights against all odds to
straighten ou[...]. . . . . . . . . . . “Michael Latimer
Based on the cartoon strip

by . . . . . . . .. .. Jim Bancks[...]able
Brady). Marie Loud (Miss Sharpe).

KITTY AND THE BAGMAN

Prod. company Forest Home Films for
Adam[...]. . . “ Phillip Cornford.

John Burnie
Director of photography “.Dean Semmler
Sound recordist . .[...]'Rourke), Val
Lehman (Lil Delaney), John Stanton (The
Bagman), Gerard McGuire (Cyril Vikkers),
Collette[...]d Hepple (Sam), Danny Adcock
(Thomas), John Ewan (The Train Driver).
Synopsis: A period comedy drama set in
Sydney about two crime queens, Kitty
O'Rourke and[...]laney. Together,
these two remarkable women ruled the
underworld of sly-grog shops, gambling
houses, prostitution and hold-up merchants
in the rip-roaring 1920s. playing, laughing
and lighting with a gusto the city has never
known since.

MIDNITE SPARES[...].....Caroi Devine
Wardrobe . . . . . .. . Ruth do in Lands
Ward. assistant . . . . . . . . . .[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (106)[...]om), Jonathan Coleman
(Wayne), John Godden (Chris the Rat).
Synopsis: The story of young people, their
Sunshine City car ‘culture’, the motor
speedway and the criminal world of car-part
stealing.

NEXT OF KIN
Prod. companies . . . . . . . .. The Film House,
S.l.S. Productions

Dist. company . .[...]. . . . ..Michae| Heath,
Tony Williams

Based on the original idea
by . . . . . . ..Timothy White, Mic[...]), Debra Lawrence (Carol), Tommy
Dysart (Harry).

THE PIRATE MOVIE

Prod. company . . . . . . . . .JHl[...]opsis: Loosely based on Gilbert and
Sullivan's “The Pirates of Penzance". Film
includes five Gilbert and Sulliva[...]inning and end; most is a
long fantasy sequence.

THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN

INVINCIBLE
Producer . . . . . . . .[...]. . . . . .Andrew Gaty,

Steven de Souza
Based on the original
idea by ..
Photography . . ..
Sound reco[...]nopsis: A madcap, musical comedy-
adventure where the flying super hero
crushes Nazis, threatens bootleggers, helps
boy scouts and battles Moscow.

The Return of Captain invincible

HUNNIN’ ON EMPTY
(working title)

Prod. company . . . . . . . . Film Corporation

of Western Australia

Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Porn Ol[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. Barry Tomblin
Based on the original idea

by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]eacock
Catering Ray Fowler

Laboratory . . Atlab Australia
Lab. liaison .. .Greg Doherty
Length . . . . . ..[...]ssion.with cars and someone
else‘s girl, Julie. The film follows Mike's

struggle to win Julie and survive the
challenge of her vicious boyfriend to a
series of illegal street races.

THE SEVENTH MATCH

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . .[...]. . . . ..Yoram Gross.

Elizabeth Kata

Based on the original idea
by . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (107)[...]uit each
Cannes de|egate's travel requirements by THE travel
consultants to the Australian film industry.

A variety of extremely competitive first, business,
and economy class airfares to Nice or Europe or
“Round—The-World" are still available. We offer
accommodation in self-contained studios and pool-
side apartments[...]r our clients.

Ring Michael Rudny or Maude Heath in Sydney.
(02) 920 1 385 or (02) 436 3981

We've do[...]When you edit with l-(EM,
you're editing with the best
of them‘ From 16mm to
Super—1 o to 35mm—even
v[...]MPTE and EBU—
Code processing. With KEM
as part of your editing team.
sophisticated German
engineeri[...]Film Production suite 155, Raffles Hoiei
Western Australia (5000 international Pty. Ltd Services. 1~3[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (108)Asst animator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Kaye Watts
In betweeners . . . . . . . . . . .. Vicki Robinson,[...]Mixed at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..At|ab (Australia),
Magno Sound (New York)

Laboratories . . . . . . . ..Co|orfilm (Australia)
Movielab (New York)

Length . . . . . . . . . .[...]Haddrick
(father, partisan, soldier).

Synopsis: The poignant story of a young
child, orphaned by war, and her struggle to
survive. it is representative of the plight of
children in war—torn countries and acts as
the voice of all children against the suffer-
ing and hardships imposed by all wars.

A SLICE OF LIFE

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . ..John La[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Roadshow
Distributors Australia

Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Lamo[...]eoft Kelso.

Lance Curtis.
Robert Gibson
Based on the original idea

by . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]s Creek ski resort, where
they create havoc among the other skiers
during a carnival weekend.

SOUTHERN[...]Mrs Sto||ier),
Peter Collingwood (Mr Hollister).

THE DARK ROOM

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]oper (Patricia).
Synopsis‘ A contemporary story of sexual
rivalry and obsession; of lost youth and
false mahhood. A triangle which le[...]Combes.

DOT AND SANTA CLAUS
(Further Adventures of Dot and the

Kangaroo)

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . ..Y[...]. . . . . . . ..John Palmer,
Yoram Gross
Based on the
original idea by . . . . . . . . .. Yoram Gross
P[...],

Nerissa Martin,

Margaret Butler,

Kim Craste

In betweeners . . . . . . . . . ..Vicki Robinson,
As[...]: Barbara Frawley (Dot).
Ross Higgins.

Synopsis: The continuing adventures of Dot
and her search for the missing joey. Dot
meets with a hobo in her outback home
town, the hobo becomes Santa Claus.
and takes Dot on a wond[...]re
witnessing various Christmas ceremonies
around the world.

DOUBLE DEAL[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . ..Brian Kavanagh
Based on the

original idea by . . . . . . ..Brian Kavanagh

P[...]: A psychological thriller, its plot is
a mystery of manipulation and double-
dealing about the elegant, beautiful
Christina Stirling, her urbane, successful
man-of-the-world husband, Peter, a
daunting, sensuous young[...]. . . . . . . ..United Sound
Laboratory ...Atlab Australia
Lab. liaison .. . .. . James Parsons
Length . . .[...]nity is bliss-
fully unaware that a killer stalks the streets.
A mother and her two sons survive in a dis-
integrating relationship. These two ele-
ments come together to form the basis of
this mystery-thriller,

GOODBYE PARADISE[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (109)[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Terry Bourke
Based on the original idea
by . . . . . . . , . . , . . , . .[...]way on loca-
tion. ls unaware that her sister and the care-
taker have been murdered. The murderer
returns to kill the woman, and so begins a
battle of wits.

LONELY HEARTS

Prod. company , . . . . . .[...]. . . . . . . . ..John Clarke,
Paul Cox

Based on the original
idea by . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . .[...]ary Wilkins

Post-production fficllltles. : . .. The Joinery
Mixed at . . . . . . . . ..United Sound S[...]ptwriter . . . . . . , . . . . . . ..Ken Cameron.
in association with
Helen Garner
Based on the novel by .....Helen Garner
Photography . . . . .[...]Rock music
performed by . . . . . . . . . . . ..The Divinyls
Sound editors . . . . . . . . ..Ashiey G[...]ita).

Synopsis: Nora. 33. a single mother living in
a large, loosely constructed commune,
wants a love with "no fade from distance in
it". what she gets is Javo. a 23 year—old
actor. whose life is “a messy holiday ofthe difference, they can both
kill you."

MYSTERY[...]. . . . Stuart Glover,

Michael Hohensee
Based on the original idea[...](Ah Leong).

Synopsis: When three children cross the
harbor to explore Castle House — a
strange, uno[...]Excitement.
mystery and non-stop action and roll-in-
the-aisle comedy for children.

NORMAN LOVES ROSE

Pr[...]r .. .. Geraldine Catchpool
Publicity . . . . . . The Rea Francis Company
Trainee... . . . . . . . , .[...]13 year-old preparing for his
Bar Mitzvah. Sister-in~Law Rose, the object
of his passion, becomes pregnant to the
great surprise of husband Michael (for

years unable to satisfy her desire for
children), to the delight of parents-in-law
who at East can bask in the many
exclamations of “Mazeitovl”, but Norman's
response raises a preposterous question —
who is the father?

RUN REBECCA. RUN![...]. . . . . . . . . . . . ..Char|es Stamp
Based on the original
idea by . . , . . . , . . . , . . . .. G[...]Peter Sumner (Mr
Dimitros), Ron Haddrick (Speaker of Parlia-
ment), John Ewart (Minister for Immigra-[...]hdown).
Synopsis: A young girl taking photographs
of her pet cockatoo is prevented from
leaving a lone[...]r a
widespread search, she manages to escape
with the help of a boy scout. Sympathetic to
the immigrant's problems, she pleads his
cause in Parliament.

SQUIZZY TAYLOR

Prod. company ....Si[...]. . , , , . . . . . . , .. Roger Simpson
Based on the original idea
by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]mon Thorpe
(Paddy). _ .
Synopsis: A film based on the life of the
notorious Melbourne gangster of the 19205,
"Squizzy” Taylor.

TURKEY SHOOT

Prod. c[...]John
Ley (Dodge), Bill Young (Griff).

synopsis: The year 1995 — the world is run
by a strict regime. if you step out of line you
are labelled a “Turkey". Further failure to
conform means you are a candidate for the
"Turkey Shoot".

WE OF THE NEVER NEVER

Prod._ companies . . . . . . . . . Adams Packer
Productions,

Film Corp. of WA.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (110)[...], Donald
Blitner (Goggle Eye).

Synopsis: A story of the hardship faced by
newly-married Jeannie Gunn which recalls
the courage, vitality and humor of early
cattlemen and Aboriginal stockmen in a
harsh, but memorable Northern Territory
environment.

IN RELEASE

Please see previous issue for details of:

The Beat of Friends
Breakfast in Perl:
Freedom

Duet tor Four

Heatwave

The Man from Snowy River
Save the Lady

Staretruck

Sweet Dreamers

/——T \[...]iter .. . . . . . . . . . .. Sue Woolfe

Based on the original idea
by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Sue Woolfe
Dir. of photography . . . . . . . . . .. Philip Betts
Sou[...]16mm
Shooting stock Eastmancolor 7242
Progress in release
Release date January 1982

First release[...]that she
can't remember, and always between them
the bed, the knife and the door to freedom.

DESIDEFIATA
Producer . . . .[...]. . . . . . . . . .. Robert Wallace

Strand
No.1

IN ENTERTAINMENT LIGHTING

watt DYR lamp.

the E.N.C. kits.

e For further details call the ’ Strazndman ’ at Rank Electronic
or Authoris[...]reet,
Pymble NSW2073.

Phone: [02)449 5666

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 101-105 Mooringe Avenue,

Camden Park SA 5038.
Phone: [08)295 0211

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 19 Md3onald Street,

Osborne Park WA 6016.

KPhon[...]e: (08) 212 2033

Phone: [CD3] 31 8935

Pulsar is the latest in the
range of focusable floodlights
from Quartzcolor. Pulsar is[...]lder. Accessories include
barndoors, plus a range of
gaffer grips, stands etc.

Pulsar is also available in a 3
light kit and together with
Mizar (the new 300/500 watt
fresnel ) forms the basis of

LAUNCESTON K.W. McCu|loch Pty. Ltd,
44 Canning S[...]her; Elizabeth
was master; alone, she is victim.

THE MARY QUANT MASOUE OF

DEATH
Prod. company Somnambulist Prod[...]ss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. in release

First released . . . . . . . . . ..Longf[...]eir (Jane),
Bradley Miller (Toby).

Synopsis: Set in the cockroach belt,
Frances and Dorian live through the last few
weeks of a lopsided relationship; Frances.
raising her three children on the pension,
provides Dorian with bed and board
becau[...]rsley
(Nurse).

synopalnz A silent film depicting the life of a
boy growing into manhood and his undying
love f[...]st: Andrew (T m).

Syr1opIlI:A young man is shown the details
of his own death.

THE PERMANENT BOOKING
Dist. company . . . . . . . . .[...]r . . . . . . . . . . . ..Anthony Bowman
Based on the original idea

by . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .Ant[...]. . . . . ..April 1982

Synopsis: A comedy about "the social
sport".

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

FOR FILM PR[...]SONNEL

CUTTING

CONTACTS

A BRAND NEW SERVICE
TO THE FILM INDUSTRY

A service to Producers dnd Film Editing Personnel.
Comprehensive lists are being compiled of the
locations and schedules of Editing Personnel.
One phone coll will Tel[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (111)For those interested in attending

AUSTRALIAN I

CANNES FILM FESTIVA[...]pover options.

Participants are guaranteed the option to cancel
on the eleventh hour (whether for unmet
contractual obligations or the tender of new
contracts).

MONAHAN
INTE[...]AVE., CAMMERAY. PH.: 904 735

producers of fine tv programs and films

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (112)Angels of War

DOCUMENTARIES

SHORTS

AMERICA WEST[...]Woody Strode ( imseif).
Synopsis: America West is the Buffalo Bill
heritage of U.S. alive and well in 1982.
Today's cowboys drive pickup vans with
shotguns displayed hanging in the back
window.

A lot of the film was shot at 3000m
elevation in the Colorado Rockies.

ANGELS OF WAR

Prod. company ...Robin Film[...]psis: A documentary film about tl'i'e
experiences of the people of Papua New
Guinea during World War 2.

CHANGING THE NEEDLE:
A study of drug rehabilitation in
Vietnam

Prod. company .. . . . .[...]s
Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Co|in Waddy
Prod. co-ordinator Mavis Robertson
Music p[...]. . ..Lee Whitmore
Mixed at . . . . . .. ...Fiim Australia
Laboratory . . . . . ..Co|orfi|m
Lab. liaison ..[...]. . . . .. Awaiting release

Synopsis: Conditions of post-war Vietnam
are revealed through a study of one of the
most serious consequences of the war:
drug addiction. The cure of drug addiction
relies on traditional medicine, in[...]ercise and herbal extracts,
and on a total change in social environ-
ment. In the face of material scarcity, the
emphasis is on self-reliance.

TALES OF THREE CITIES

Prod. company . . . . . . .[...]. . . . . ..John Hallows,

Fran Hernon

Based on the original idea
by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]Current affairs documentary
dealing with aspects of three cities — Hong
Kong, Singapore and Bangkok — includ-
ing the bicentennial celebrations in
Bangkok.

AUSTRALIAN FILM

COMMISSION

Bad Animals —— The Greenboe Corporation
(Ian Barry); cinema feature; 2nd draft
funding — S4000

Ball — From the Mountain to the See —
Tarnan Productions (John Darling): tele-[...]feature: script development funding
— $15,000

The Blood Opal — James Murray; cinema
feature; 1st[...]feature; script development funding
-— $12,000

The Leaf Tango With Rudolph Valentino —
Hilary Lins[...]ma feature; script
development funding — $5500

The Man in the Mountain — T.C. Produc-
tions (Tom Cowan); cinema feature; script
development funding — $2500

Needles in Haystack: —— Bob Huber, David
Hall; televisio[...]ini-series; script
development funding — $4000

The Passionate Years — Merlin Produc-
tions (Anne W[...]; cinema
feature; 2nd draft funding —— $8250

The Real Thing — Talking Picture Company
(Max Oldfi[...]ins); cinema feature; 1st draftfunding -
$31,860

The Umbrella Woman — Margaret Kelly
Productions; ci[...]ding and project development funding
— $48,087

The Unscrambled Egg — Ken Hayles;
cinema feature; 2[...]revised production budget
— $15,222

Loana

To the North — Malcolm Douglas Films;
bridging loan fo[...]/Baliantyne Film
Productions; additional increase in limited
guarantee facilities — $3214

AUSTRALIAN FILM
AND TELEVISION
SCHOOL

THE ACTOR-DIRECTOR
RELATIONSHIP

Producer . . . . . .[...]. . . ..Pre-production
Synopsis: A film examining the actor-
director relationship from the audition,
through rehearsal to the shoot.

THE ACTOR-DIRECTOR
RELATIONSHIP
(within the production of
November Eleventh, 1975)

Producer[...]e . . .1-inch videotape
Synopsis: An observation of the

development of the characters with the five
directors and their different methods

AUSTR[...]tion
Synopsis: Describes and explains this
aspect ofof
design, in the studio and on location.

RADIO — COPYWRITING[...]opsis: Trai on writing for

commercial radio.

THE STRUCTURE OF TELEVISION

IN BRITAIN
Producer Eric Haliiday
Director .Anton[...]n

Synopsis: Describes and explains these
aspects of British commercial television.

T.V. JOURNALISM
1. THE REPORTER;
2. THE NEWSROOM

Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]uction

VIDEOCRIT: APPROACHES TO
AUSTRALIAN FILMS
THE BUSH MYTH IN AUSTRALIAN

FILMS
Producer . . . . . .[...]. . . . . ,.Pre-production
Synopsis: investigates the "bush myth" as
expressed in Australian films.

VIDEOCRIT: THE LIFE AND ART OF
CHARLIE CHAPLIN

Producer . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]ss . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . _ . . . . . . . .. In release

Synopsis: Prof. Geduld is interview[...]actor, composer
and director, to his death, with the use of
excerpts from his films and stills.

FILM AUSTRALIA

ANZCAN CABLE

Dist. company . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Producer .. Peter Johnson
Length’ . . . . . .[...]. . . . . . . . . . . ..1985

Synopsis: A film on the cable to be laid
between Australia, New Zeaiand, Norfolk
island. Fiji, Hawaii and Canada.

AT THE CANOE CAMP

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Dist. company Film Australia
Producer . . . . . . ..lan Dunlop
Director . . .[...]ritjin Maymunu makes a
traditional dugout canoe.

AUSTRALIA DAY

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Dist. company .....Film Australia
Producer . . . . . .. .. Elizabeth Knight

Direct[...]1982

synopsis: A film to encourage participation
in Australia Day celebrations. For the
National Australia Day Committee.

AUSTRALIA IN THE '80!

(Spin Offs)

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. MDA
Dist. company ...Fi|m Australia
Producer ..... .. .. Peter Johnson
Director . . .[...]ix films dealing with specific
subjects mentioned in the major film: i.e.,
mining, agriculture, science, commerce,
recreation and politics.

THE AUSTRALIAN EYE

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Dist. company Film Australia
Producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Macek Rub[...]ss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. In release

Synopsis: Four films in a continuing series
on Australian painters.

AVIATION AUSTRALIA

. . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
...Don Murray
. Michael Fallson
.. . Michael Fall[...]ydney, and a light aircraft from Dubbo
to Sydney, the film studies the control over
Australian airspace.

Continu[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (113)the ' . _ “The most thrilling film event
film event of the year. One 7' ' I ~ A ' ., in many years. It is an
realizes that there once was a ' ‘_ 1 ‘ A. , explosion of creativity by a
film that justified all the . ‘ T man on fire.”
adjectives that have ‘ 'i

subsequently been debased. I . I Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
Napoleon sweeps, it takes the ‘ *‘j*“'j_‘

breath aria)’. it dazzles.[...]be missed n We come away from Napoleon

exulting in his extraordinary
Judith Cris, inventiveness, spirit and zingy
M. virtuousity. You applaud, you
The most exhilarating and cheer, it makes you gasp wi[...]-,,e,,,.,,,~c mm ma.

“A silent epic that puts the . _ truthfully be Called historic. I
talkies to shame. A visual can’t imagine anything more
experience of such grandeur completely enthralling or
that it staggers the mind.” unique.”

Music composed by Reconstruc[...]EPIC FILM —

OR A SYMPHONY CONCERT

BUT A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT!

To be presented LIVE wi[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (114)[...]e’s subject is a grandiose
property development in Sydney which
threatens to disrupt the lives of the
mainly old and poor living in the homes
which have to be demolished for the
project. The drama focuses on archi-
tect Stephen West (Richard Moir) who
is designing the project and an anar-
chist/terrorist/murderer Kate Dean
(Judy Davis) at the forefront of those
trying to stop it. The architect con-
cedes that the project will only be
affordable for the well-off. It will,
however, serve as a model for future
well planned low—cost housing.

The film opens abruptly with an act
of public violence perpetrated by thug-
gish agents of wealth. Squatters are
cleared from a building as other agents
of wealth in Australia, the police and
the television reporters, stand around
watching. A heavy mallet is smashed
through a door in slow motion.

The televising of the event and the
subsequent coverage of later happen-
ings by radio is the device by which the
audience is kept involved with the back-
ground of the film: political and busi-
ness manipulation and exploitation.
The device is common to a lot of films
and probably owes its popularity to
Robert Altman. In Australia, it has
been used to best advantage in Sunday
Too Far Away and, for a slightly differ-
ent purpose, in Palm Beach.

In Heatwave, its counterpoint
between the official view of events and
what is happening on screen produces a
subversive view of the use and abuse of
power and influence outside the law.

The irregular use of slow motion to
emphasize certain actors throughout
the film is continued and is apparently
conceived as[...]ly interpolate
meaning and one senses that often, in-
stead of achieving the desired distanc-
ing effect, it enables the audience to

luxuriate in certain moments of
violence.

Heatwave is an overtly-political film
which traces certain patterns of power
and authority in Australian society.
These patterns do not relate to govern-
ment or the legal system except insofar
as two peripheral cha[...]ffectual and corrupt policemen,
finally seen out of focus fleeing from
the scene of a violent crime.

The viewpoint from which the narra-
tive is entered is that of Kate Dean, the
anarchist, whose actions against the
developer range from trivia (spilling
food on him[...]d
one assumes she has murdered a
lawyer). Because of its absence of refer-
ence to over-riding legal or political
structures, a common but rather sim-
plisticjudgment of the film is to lump it
in the category/genre of paranoia films
typified by such excessively boring
works as The Parallax View, The
Domino Principle and Flight of the Con-
dor. That branch of filmmaking ex-
cludes any real notion of realistic detail
from intruding into the surface of the
work.

Heatwave’s surface of plot and event
has the meticulous attention to accur-
ately-constructed detail one finds in
work like Sidney Lumet’s New York
police thrillers. In particular, quite
elaborate amounts of information are
given about financial, architect[...]ch areas than
ever presented previously.

Beneath the constant action that oc-
curs in the film are two points of
character. Kate Dean’s remains fixed;
she reve[...]ce as and when she
pleases. Stephen West, despite the stan-
dard monotone playing now familiar
from Ric[...]West is a character new to Aus-
tralian films, the supercilious poor boy
made good, a model of the new right-
winger of today, an example of those

who make it by their own efforts and,
therefore, believe that it is only lack of
effort and hard work which prevents
others doing[...]ts to see social forces and mach-
inery unleashed of which he was un-
aware.

My first reaction to the film was to
believe that it was ‘about’ Stephen’s
development of political conscious-
ness, the slow and unsteady realization
that he was being manipulated by the
darkest face of capitalism.

Watching the film again I am not at
all sure that such a ‘m[...]re
interesting takes place with this charac-
ter. The Christmas party scenes of
family reunion indicate his working-
class background that he has shed, an
environment in which he is now self-
conscious.

His initial con[...]dents are antagonistic and
mostly uncomprehending of their prin-
ciples. He has an armor against the real
world made up of sarcasm and petu-
lance. This brilliant boy is no[...]c
and employment humiliations, and a
bashing.

By the end, it is hard to believe he has
learnt much: i.e., it is difficult to believe
that he yet understands the exploit-
ative and manipulative social forces on
whose behalf he has worked. Thus,
though the audience understands what
has taken place, Stephe[...]ted to his own self—centred-
ness. This concept of character and
politics has parallels with Rainer
Werner Fassbinder’s work, in its ideo-
logy of exploitation and in its method
of expression via a straightforward and
quite simple narrative.

West’s only hope of salvation seems

Anarchisl Kare Dean (Judy[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (115)[...](Bill Hunter) and Victoria West (Anna Jemison) at the

New Year's Eve Party, before the violence. Heanmve.

to lie in his emotions about the trans-
fixing and charismatic Kate Dean. It’s
easy to believe in anything that eman-
ates from that luminous Judy[...]is drawn and them that lead him to be
present at the final shootout. He is not

ikely to come over to the side of the
angels, a side which is also heavily com-
promised by its resort to murder as a
political weapon.

The political reference points in
Heatwave posit no smooth or ordered
solution to c[...]Whether
that might constitute paranoia is rather
in the eye of the beholder.

There are flaws in Heatwave; most of
them spring from scripting ideas that
do not work and might have been aban-
doned. The silliest aspect is the attempt
to record and incorporate aspects of
certain union battles into the narrative.
There are obvious attempts to parallel[...]ils down to an abrupt and
unconvincing scene with the unionist
marching in to a meeting of Capitula-
tron.

Capitulation is proper, it happens all
the time, but its lack of any dramatic
conviction or ring of probability is quite
another matter.

In a similar vein, there is a suspicion
that the desire of the script to get West
and Dean into bed suffers from[...]t be rather
crasser motives than operate for much
of the rest of the film. Their sexual
involvement is part of the explanation
of West’s developing awareness.

Dramatically, it[...]s fascina-
tion more than sexual satisfaction (if
the latter has in fact occurred all
round).

Heatwave is finally an uplifting and
inspiring work. The fact that it tackles
such themes in a fully commercial pro-
ject (and not just in some token 16mm
Creative Development Fund ghetto[...]y, wartish social practice and cor-
ruption among the pillars of society is
to be totally applauded.

It was rare[...]expose those that do wrong,
those who manipulate the law, those

164 — April CINEMA PAPERS

whose gr[...]s is a remarkable and much
desired transformation of Australian
production practice. Phillip Noyce and[...]mm feature, Newsfront,
that also broke new ground in an imag-
inative and clever way.

One hopes that Heatwave will allow
all those involved to make more of its
kind, for it is as skilled a piece of film-
making as anything made by Martin
Scorsese, whose expressionistic
methods in films like Taxi Driver are
echoed here.

One hopes that others will take the
lead, not drop the ball, and that Heat-
wave’s joke about Howard Rorke stays
just that and the film does not remain a
single lonely fountainhead with its
prophetic self-reflection nestled in it.

Heatwave: Directed by: Phillip Noyce. Produc[...]screenplay by Mark Stiles, Tim
Gooding. Director of photography: Vincent
Monton. Editor: John Scott.[...]wave Films. Distributor:
Roadshow. 35mm. 93 mins. Australia. 1982.

Reds
Keith Connolly

Warren Beatty plays the end against
the middle in Reds. His epic (200
minutes) biopic of John Reed, the most
attractive figure in the far-left wing of
the U.S. pantheon, is couched in a style
thoroughly familiar to the middlebrow
audience — romantic-adventure.

Thus, though the f'1lm’s long-dead
characters (Reed shares the spotlight
with his wife, the radical writer and
feminist Louise Bryant) would be as
unacceptable to the Reagan establish-
ment as they were to Wilson’s, the
modern filmgoer is not asked to
identify with the sympathetically-
presented couple, played by Beat[...]uching love story played out
against a background of cataclysmic
events. It is a formula that has work[...], and there is no

reason it should not do so for the real-
life John and Louise.

Beatty does not play[...]nd he does not
distort known facts, as do biopics of
other left-wing heroes of the Americas
(Elia Kazan’s Viva Zapatal, Richard
Fleischer’s Che!) or stop short of the
‘difficult’ parts (Hal Ashby’s Bound for
Gl[...]iewer can tell — I
make no claim to be any kind of an
expert, but have read widely on the
subject -— the f1lm’s account of Reed’s
hectic last five years (I915-1920) —
during which he reported and suppor-
ted the Bolshevik Revolution in the
Soviet Union, co-founded the U.S.
Communist Party, died of typhus and
was buried in the wall ofthe Kremlin —
is reasonably faithful to the historical
record and the ideological milieu.
Perhaps inevitably, there is the occa-
sional anachronism or inconsistency of
speech — as when Emma Goldman, the
celebrated anarchist, complains in 1919
Russia that “the system” isn’t working
— but no serious departures from fact.
Some of Reed’s contemporaries, such
as the legendary IWW leader Big Bill
Haywood, are compre[...]ish playwright Trevor
Griffiths.

But Beatty gets the im ortant things
right. He portrays Re as an ideal-
istic, impulsive, romantic of the Left,
an ally of the working class who hailed
from an upper-class family, saw what
he wanted to see in the Bolshevik
Revolution and, absurdly, adopted it as
a facile model for achieving socialism in
the U.S.

Reed wasn’t alone in this, of course,
in the U.S. or elsewhere.~What made
him so special in the U.S. was his com-
bination of a vividly-persuasive tongue
and pen, charismatic[...]and patrician origins (he
wasjust five years out of Harvard when
the film begins).

Other elements that ring true are the
intellectual ferment of New York’s
Greenwich Village in those years, the
heyday of the so-called ‘Lyrical Left’,
euphoric scenes in Petrograd, 1917, and
the characteristic sectarian in-fighting
surrounding the founding of the
imitative U.S. Communist Party.

Nevertheless, most of this, and a
good deal more of a political and ideo-
logical nature, is backgrou[...]ive and responsible, but
background for all that. In essence,
Reds is the love story of two caught up
(and, in Reed’s case, consumed) by the
apocalypse of their age.

In no way is that assessment intended
to be disparag[...]ficant people from
undeserved obscurity, and that in itself
is a worthwhile enterprise. Ifhe chooses
to do so in the filmmaking style he
knows best — and can best sell to the
computers that do Hollywood’s
thinking these days — good on him.

His choice of title is not unimpor-
tant in this context, inferring that even
adherents of the most un-American of
heresies can aspire to, and achieve, the
best of American qualities, like love,
honor and the pursuit of happiness —
all the things, in fact, that the Holly-
wood epic asks of its heroes. “They
were a couple.” observes one of the 33
aged real—life eye-witnesses whose

varied and contradictory testimonies
punctuate the film.

Indeed, Beatty could have laid on the
romantics far more thickly and stayed
within the bounds ofveracity. Reed was
an inveterate seeker after the ideal
woman, and was forever announcing
that he had found her. When, at the age
of 28, he met Louise, then a 27-year-old
would-be writer and photographer, he
issued yet another declaration of dis-
covery and the Village salons chortled
knowingly. But this really was “it” for
both of them, though by all accounts
they practised what a later age would
call “open marriage”.

The most affecting and incisive
moments in the film are precisely those
which indicate the deepening inter-
dependence of the relationship. At first,
Louise lives almost entirely in the
shadow of Reed’s fame and magnetic
personality. Painfully, she develops
talents and perceptions of her own
(from the little I have seen ofin this instance, the 1916 U.S. presi-
dential campaign. Later, after the
couple has married, split and made up,
she expresses -— in a moving interlude
during the Russian Revolution — her
gratitude at being drawn into the
maelstrom of world events.

Beatty and Griffiths deftly relate the
strengths and the difficulties of the rela-
tionship to the political and polemical
battle in which Reed is engaged, such as
separation arising[...]union struggles and other poli-
tical missions.

The l'1lm’s theme may be viewed as a
running discourse on commitment,‘
private and public, and the interaction
of one to the other. In fact, what I like
most about Reds is this unempha[...]ed be neither distinction
nor discrepancy between the personal
love of individuals and their devotion to
ideas and cause[...]. A naive notion no oubt,
requiring a high degree of honesty and
tolerance, and easier to appreciate on
the screen than in real life. Here Beatty
not only invests a Hollywood-style
romance with the verisimilitude of
recent history, he transcends the
romantic conventions.

This be ins with the lovers’ first
meeting, w en Reed visits his family in
Portland, Oregon, in l9l5 after
returning from covering the Mexican
Revolution (of course, he was with the
rebels) and World War 1.

Aspiring photographer a[...]uise leaves her dentist husband to
live with Reed in the radical bohemia of
Greenwich Village, at an arty colony at
Provincetown (where she meets
O’Neill) and, after their marriage, in a
semi-rural retreat at Croton, on the
Hudson. Most of the changes in their
steadily-deepening relationship are
revealed at these three abodes. From
there, the Revolution steadily takes
over their lives and, w[...]and long,
enforced separations.

Reunited behind the French lines on
the Western Front, after Louise had
stamped off on a war correspondent
assignment as a result of the row over
O'Neill, the couple travel to Russia,
where the Tsar has recently been
toppled. They arrivejust in time for the

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (116)Reds

main event of the era, the seizure of
power by Lenin’s Bolsheviks in
November 1917 (it was still October
under the old Julian calendar to which
the Russians then adhered).

Reed, now a convinced Leninist (his
Marxism remained shaky), returns to
the U.S. to write his electrifying
account of the Bolshevik Revolution,
Ten Days That Shook the World, and
help found a U.S. Communist Party
after failing to persuade the then quite
large and influential Socialist Party[...]ime, two contending
Communist Parties — to seek the
imprimatur of the Communist Inter-
national, he is interned in Finland,
inveigled into a propaganda trip to
Baku and stricken with typhus. Louise
turns up just in time for a death-bed
scene that is sentimental yet gently
distanced.

Although Reds at times resembles, in
scope and style, such heroic epics of the
1960s as David Lean’s Lawrence of

Arabia and Dr Zhivago, Beatty never
allows the spectacle to overwhelm the

characters. For one thing, most of the
-

depicts, address bewildered Russian
workers in English, speed around
Petrograd in a truck passing out Rus-
sian-language leaflets he couldn’t read
and participate in the storming of the
Winter Palace.‘

If memory serves, the Winter Palace
sequence is modelled on Sergei Eise[...]er,
itselfbased upon Reed’s Ten Days That
Shook the World. .

Among the many graces of a
thoughtfully-produced film is its
casting. Beatty and Keaton may be too
tarred with the film-star brush for one
to accept them unreservedly as the pair
they are supposed to be, but by all
accounts Reed, though not as hand-
some as Beatty, was a man of extra-
ordinary charisma, while Louise Bryant
has[...]mercifully, a
restrained O'Neill; Edward Herrman,
in a few fragmented minutes, is suitably
lofty as Max Eastman, another for-
gotten genius of an earlier American
Left; and author Jerzy Kosinski makes

the outstanding female radical thinker
and activist of her time, and emanates
the brusquely uncompromising brass-
tacks fundamentalism that led her so
quickly into conflict with the Bol-
sheviks. Goldman is, therefore, the
most convenient vehicle for the doubts
and disillusion that many idealistic
overseas supporters of the Revolution
soon began to experience. Thus, as
men[...]n, phrases are put into her
mouth, but as a whole the depiction
seems a valid one.

Certainly, she is correctly seen as
insisting that questions of women’s
rights should not be submerged in the
day-to-day exigencies of the political
struggle, while her disavowal of B01-
shevism in practice — or, more pre-
cisely, the compromises Lenin was
forced to make — is well documented.

In this connection, Reed also is seen
to exhibit the beginnings of disillusion,
although he defensively rebuts Gold-[...]Reds.

big action set-pieces are confined to the a convincing screen debut in the role of

second, and shorter, part. More impor-
tantly, canny plotting and editing keep
the principals in the forefront of events.
Strict-interpretationists may be irked
by[...], as when a
translated Reed speech appears to set
the workers marching towards the
Winter Palace, or the couple’s sexual
reunion is montaged into the Bolshevik
rising.

But it is a matter of historical record
that Reed did do some of the things that
I have heard people question after
seeing the film. He did, as Beatty

Comintern leader Grigori Zinoviev.
(The last, incidentally, in depicting
Zinoviev as a dissembling, self-satis-
fied pooh-bah, is the one really unfair
portrait in the whole film — but that is
Beatty’s doing, not Kosinski’s.)

The big gun of the supporting cast,
however, is Maureen Stapleton as the
legendary Emma Goldman. With the
help of the wardrobe and make-up
departments, she strikingly resembles

I. John P. Diggins, The American Left in
the Twentieth Century, Harcourt, Bruce,
Jovanovich, New York, 1973.

about to break with Communism at the
time of his death:

“Disillusionment there was, deeply[...]early
to give it up without another
struggle?”

The weariness Beatty portrays in
Reed towards the end is presumably
intended to be due not only to[...]t also doubt and
indecision.

2. Theodore Draper, The Roots of Amer-
ican Communism, Viking, New York,

1963.

However, while Beatty quite prop-
erly presents the misgivin s expressed
by some leading lights oft e[...]rs ago (and it should also be
noted that at first the Bolshevik Revo-
lution was greeted with rapture by a
majority ofthe world’s Leftists of every
tendency), at no stage does he turn the
film over to neo—McCarthyite tarra-
diddle, as he might have been prompted
to do in the age of Ronald Reagan. Theof Russian Bolshevism is an
inverted Roman Catholicism.

Almost every production decision
taken by Beatty in this massive project
is_either successful or, at[...]iable. But one I find difficult to
account for is the failure to identify the
33 real-life witnesses who pop up
throughout the film like soloists from a
nonagenarian Greek chor[...]ay, confusing
some people. I recognized a handful of
them: novelists Henry Miller and
Rebecca West, Lady Dora Russell (a
fellow-delegate with Reed to the
Comintern), film journalist Adela
Rogers St John[...]iberties stal-
wart Roger Baldwin.

Other members of a motley crew
include sociologist Scott Nearing, phil-
osopher Will Durant, Oleg Kerensky,
son of the provisional government
Russian leader the Bolsheviks threw
out (he plays his father in the film),
veteran Communist journalist Art
Shields, one-time party comrades of
Reed’s like Will Weinstone and, so help
me, comedian George Jessel.

What some of them have to do with
the subject is not altogether clear,
though others pr[...]insights. Presumably, Beatty left their
names off the testimony because such
ticketed talking-heads are a standard
part of most historical television docu-
mentary. If so,[...]s as much like television
documentary as Lawrence of Arabia is
propaganda for the PLO.

That it also rises head and shoulders
above other big-budget spectacles of
recent times is equally apparent, and
for the best possible reasons: to wit, the
application of intelligence and
humanity to all the essential film-
making skills (among which Richar[...]gjust who
is going to see this film and what many
of them make of it. Like the young
woman who asked after a preview:
“Was tha[...]?” She seemed a bit
miffed to learn that it was the work ofa
couple of nobodies named Pottier and
Degeyter and that it was called “The
Internationale”j I suspect that to her
the events she had just witnessed
occurred not only in another time, but
in a distant galaxy.

Reds: Directed by: Warren B[...]enplay: Warren Beatty.
Trevor Griffiths. Director of photography: Vittorio
Storaro. Editors: De[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (117)Starstruck

Starstruck
Debi Enker

Australia’s first “comedy musical” is
concerned with the themes and rela-
tionships that its director, Gillian Arm-
strong, has proved to be familiar with,
and adept in portraying: a woman’s
dreams and aspirations; her efforts to
realize them in a personal sense and
through her relationships; and the con-
trasting environments that her quest for
recognition creates.

As in My Brilliant Career and 14’s
Good, 18’s Better, the heroine is caught
between two stages of her life, rep-
resented by two radically different
environments. Her progress towards
the materialization of her ambition, her
struggle for independence, coup[...]her family, and her
methods and her pitfalls form the
narrative core of the film, in this case
supplemented by a series of musical
numbers.

The story is set in Sydney, where
Jackie Mullens (Jo Kennedy), daughter
of Pearl (Margo Lee) who runs a
working-class, harbo[...]iable father,
Lou (Dennis Miller), has dumped him
in Pearl’s care while he pursues greener
pastures. Together they enlist a back-
up band, The Wombats, led by Robbie
(Ned Lander), and set out to assault the
entrenched music industry, personified
by Terry Lambert (John O’May), the
host of a Countdown-style music
program called Wow. Their[...]to appear at Wow’s New Year’s
Eve concert at the Opera House, thus
securing recognition as musicians, and
to win the $25,000 prizemoney to save
the Harbour View Hotel, which has
been threatened with closure by the
brewery.

It is a conventional story, tracing
Jac[...]rough any means that Angus dreams
up, and setting the homely pub back-
ground against the glossy clubs and
studios of Sydney. Undeniably optim-
istic, often simplistic[...]o a well-
observed and finely-detailed caricature
of Australian society at its kitschest
and dazzling best.

Starstruck has no pretensions to
depth of social, political or historical
content; it is satisfied to present a
lovable, idiosyncratic group of charac-
ters, gently explore some of their
values, beliefs and problems, and allow
them to be simply and happily resolved.

While many of its contemporary
musical counterparts are concerned
with the ultimately unsolvable prob-
lems of poverty, racial tension and class
conflicts, as in Breaking Glass and
West Side Story, the validity of war in
Hair, or chronicle and reinterpret
history in Jesus Christ Superstar,
Cabaret and Singing in the Rain, Star-
struck pursues its course in the vein of
The Monkees and the first films of The
Beatles, accepting success as its des-
tination and jauntily detailing all of the
pranks and pitfalls that litter the path.

The narrative concludes with the first
real taste of this success and, thereby,
differs from the musicals that question
the motivations and the methods of
illustrious celebrities in All That Jazz,
Phantom of the Paradise and Nashville,
and avoids the roblem of examining
the price of star om against the quality
of life, as in A Star is Born and Satur-
day Night Fever.

As in My Brilliant Career, the narra-

I66 — April CINEMA PAPERS

'3"

--

./z[...]\l-I /7’Tlt'HSt"\ her //wilrc‘/71' ur:/Amt’ In /12;’ bar or 1/it‘ /Ia/bum llt‘H Hula’/.[...]rt:/rt)//_L; '3 Smrsrruck.

tive develops through the depiction of
conflicting environments. The world
that Angus and Jackie aspire tojoin —
the musical world — is fast and glossy.
One of the first musical numbers,
Jackie’s debut at the Lizard Lounge, is
visually stunning as the camera sweeps
into the Lounge and glides purpose-
fully behind the action, absorbing the
pink, aqua and yellow neons, the pul-
sating beat and the gyrating audience.
It captures a darkened but qui[...]c both
dominates and unites. Characters
rotate to the beat in unison, distin-
guishing themselves from the mass only
by their mode of dress and hairstyles.
Dialogue is superfluous in this world;
its language is music and its allure lies
within the energy, tempo and enthus-
iasm with which it is presented.
Jackie’s performance of “Temper
Temper” is her key to this world, and
she quickly monopolizes all the atten-
tion from her captive audience in the
Lounge, and the cinema, and gains the
interest of the initially apathetic Wom-
bats. The performance confirms Angus’
faith in her and shows the audience that
she does have “that little bit ex[...]hat My Bril-
liant Career’s “visual style is the

chief source of the film’s coherence”'.

The colors are rich and expressive.
The rhythm of the music is visually
established and heightened by the tight
editing techni ues that are so effec-
tively employ in pop music clips, and
Luciana Arrighi’s playfull[...]coupled with Russell
Boyd’s fluid camera, lift the film
beyond its hackneyed narrative and in-
evitable resolutions.

Where the dialogue is loaded with
familiar Australian banalities and occa-
sional witticisms — and the film prefers
caricature to character development[...]e enhances Star-
struck beyond its limited plot.

In the style of her predecessors,
Breaking Glass’s Kate and Cab[...]ndividual-
istic, occasionally outlandish choices of
hairstyle, clothing and make-up that
visually separate her from her other
world: the pub. The pub does not ap-
pear for 20 minutes into the film; when
it does, its loving, carefully-construc-
ted combination of Australian kitsch
and mundane lino and laminex de-
lineates the scene for Jackie’s conflict.

The Harbour View is populated with
an assortment of weird and wonderful
types: Reg (Max Cullen) and h[...]4-565.

Booth (Melissa Jaffer) with a mena-
gerie of cats in tow; and a bevy of beer-
gutted, vocal regulars.

The fastidious attention to detail
within the pub gives it an immediately
recognizable. cosiness, while its con-
trast to the Lizard Lounge defines its
parameters as the bastion of working-
class Australian norms and values. As
in My Brilliant Career, Armstrong’s at-
tention to detail and sense of atmo-
sphere go beyond a backdrop for the
action; they define it.

Despite Starstruck’s narrative
parallels in films like A Star is Born and
Breaking Glass, its presentation of a
heroine is quite different. Jackie’s
developm[...]ger and her per-
sonal maturation are framed from the
outset by the fact that the audience’s
introduction to her takes place after she
has prepared to goon stage at the
Lizard Lounge.

One first sees her emerging from the
hairdresser with carrot-red hair blazing
like a traffic light on her head. For the
audience at the Lounge and in the
cinema, Jackie has no childhood and no
past as ei[...]aid.
From her introduction, one views her
through the stage persona that she is
endeavouring to create. When she is
finally seen pulling beers in her little
blue uniform, the image is not, and can-
not be, of a barmaid, but rather of a
performer playing a less—exacting role.

Jackie does not exist for the audience
beyond her chosen role as star. All of
her future actions relate to that image,
and her[...]fessional trials
and tribulations are seen purely in
terms of the realization of her ambi-
tions.

The social and political overtones of
Cabaret, West Side Story and Breaking
Glass, and the pressures they impose on
their leading characters[...]alien-
ated by her aspirations. Her develop-
ment in the film, therefore, is often one-
dimensional.

She is resolute and enthusiastic in the
pursuit of her dream, and she quickly
learns the ropes. In a very funny,
beautifully-judged scene, where Ang[...]tes her zealous determination for
recognition and the star quality that
distinguishes her from the ogling, awe-
struck hordes below, which are excit[...]ring, yet totally bewildered by
her motivations.

The inevitable assertion of her inde-
pendence comes with her television
debut on the Wow show, compered by
the facile Terry Lambert, to whom she
is strongly att[...]verride her honesty to herself
and her loyalty to the band, when she is
persuaded to appear without The
Wombats. Her untimely, superficially-
convinced, yet unconvincing declara-
tion of independence leads to disaster.
Her persona is neutralized by an army
of make-up people, back-up vocalists
and cameras, as she laments, “I believe
in my belief in you,” belatedly realizing
that it was misplaced. She has taken the
right stand, but unlike My Brilliant
Career’s Sybylla, it is at the wrong time
and for the wrong reasons.

Angus and the band watch her per-
formance from the pub, and hum

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (118)Starstruck

“Who’s Sorry Now?”, once again pit-
ting the false glamor of the studio
against the homely sincerity of the pub.
Adding insult to injury, Jackie’s unfor-
tunate trust in Terry, largely a product
of her attraction to him, is thrown back
in her face when she finds that he is
homosexual, in a lavishly-staged pool
party scene that juxtaposes Sydney’s
skyline and the emblems of its lifestyle
— brawny lifesavers — with the glitter,
choreography, and humor of Busby
Berkeley’s Hollywood.

Jackie has learnt about the neces-
sary balance between independence and
interdependence. From this point
onwards, the relationships between
Jackie and her family and friends take
on a different meaning, coinciding with
the celebration of Christmas at the pub.

Circumstances are bleak for Pearl.
Not only is her pub threatened and her
position as the embodiment of middle-
class standards under continual assault
from her family, but Lou, the man to
whom she has given her body and her
money, enjoys both and then vanishes,
robbing the pub’s safe as a parting
gesture. Pearl quietly[...]e for you. They trample
all over your dreams.”

In a brief and gentle scene, Pearl and
Jackie display a genuine love and rap-
port for the first time, when Pearl gives
Jackie her favorite blue dress. It is at
once a sad declaration of her redun-
dancy and a display of implicit support
for Jackie. She is now actively con-
tributing to Jackie’s pursuit of stardom.

It is an emotional and narrative turn-
ing point in the film. Christmas unites
the extended family and Angus pre-
empts his plan to sabotage the Opera
House concert and ensure that Jackie
and The Wombats appear, win the
$25,000 and secure their future.

The two concluding musical numbers
unite Jackie’s worlds. As she rouses the
Opera House audience, the image cuts
to the pub where the television cover-
age of the concert has everyone singing
and dancing with her. Her music has
bridged the gap between the two
worlds.

The performance visually and musi-
cally details the interdependence that
the film has supported, while accum-
ulating much of its style and image.
With stuffed replicas ofWally the cock-
atoo on their shoulders and yellow caps
liberated from the Wow show tech-
nicians, The Wombats herald Jackie’s
precarious entrance from the ceiling,
clad in Pearl’s blue dress.

As the fireworks explode over the
Opera House and the pub regulars spill
out into the street singing, Angus
begins his own romantic lif[...]share an ice-cream and then
roll blissfully away in a blaze of gold
and purple hues. The film leaves him to
pursue interests other than his ori-
ginally stated ambition of “helping
people be what they should be”.

While the film chronicles Jackie’s
rise to stardom, it i[...]worldly, off-
beat approach to life, reminiscent of
The Monkees television show and The
Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night and
Help!, that really encapsulate the es-
sence of Starstruck. His voice is the
first one heard in the film and he is
clearly its mouthpiece.

Although[...]sexual yearnings often alienate him
from Jackie, the band and his family,
his optimism and eagerness to employ
any available ploys to secure his goals
are what the film, in itself, depicts and

advocates. His complete, nai[...]t them to, and his tireless energy
and innovation in their pursuit, is the
basis of the film's approach to life. It
overcomes the obstacles of parental dis-
approval, the hype of the music in-
dustry, the absence of alternatives for
adolescents and, finally, the burden of
financial obligations as simplistically
and as e[...]ts
carefully detailed and contrasted
observations of Australian life com-
bine harmoniously, declaring to the
wishful, receptive viewer that the

enthusiasm and the resourcefulness of
the Mullenses and their friends can

quickly, and quite painlessly, triumph
over the most insurmountable odds.
In the audience, one is placed in the
position of the crowd ogling Jackie’s
tightrope walk, relishing[...]stume and its
energy, but remaining unquestioning of
its motivations. We want to believe in
its geniality and simplicity. But, ulti-
mately, it just isn’t enough to carry the
narrative that relies too heavily on
observation at the expense of any tan-

gible statement beyond optimism, and
to[...]about a girl who wants to
be a star. But because of the emotional
qualities that Gill invested in the film,
Starstruck works.”

However, the really special, really
effective musicals don’t only leave an
audience with a feast of well-choreo-
graphed, stylish images, and songs that
linger and conjure pleasurable
memories long after the film has ended.
Their narratives become coded repre-
sentations of the social and sexual prob-
lems of the real world.

In that league, Starstruck is like
sherbet: it looks[...]en MacLean. Screenplay:
Stephen MacLean. Director of photography: Rus-
sell Boyd. Editor: Nicholas Beauman. Production
designer: Brian Thomson. Music: The Swingers,
Tim Finn, Jo Kennedy. Sound recordist:[...]ach Pictures. Distributor: Hoyts.
35mm. 105 mins. Australia. 1982.

Priest of Love
John Tittensor

In the case of D. H. Lawrence,”
writes Harry T. Moore in the book on
which this film purports to be based,
“biography is more important for an
understanding of his work than for the
majority of authors . . . if only because
he lived more inten[...]s
experience more directly.”

There is implicit in this warning a
demand for intellectual rigorousne[...]pher Miles and
writer Alan Plater have seen fit, in their
cinematic wisdom, to ignore; the result
is a film that is insensitive, superfici[...]ey should have known better: their

2. See p. ll6 of this issue.

D. H. Lawrence (Ian McKellen),[...]awrence (Jane!
Suzmari). Christopher Miles'Priest of Love.

earlier Lawrence collaboration, The
Virgin and thein a definite direc-
tion, they have no idea of where to go.
Plater’s choice of an elaborately—impres-
sionistic approach seems merely per-
verse, a gesture towards a complexity
Priest of Love never looks like
achieving: what emerges out ofa welter
of incident and ill-controlled flashback
is a bitty, undeveloped and sometimes
incoherent narrative, a portrait of the
artist as a doomed man that only illus-
trates, yet again, the inability of com-
mercial cinema to accept the fact that
creativity cannot be made into a visible
process.

Visibility is what Priest of Love is all
about: Ian McKellen looks very like D[...]Janet Suzman very like
Frieda von Richthofen, who in 1912
abandoned her English scholar-
husband and three children to remain
with the writer until his death in 1930;
other characters, notably the gangling,
myopic Aldous Huxley (James Faulk-
ner)[...]e
physical exactness. '

This is all very well at the ‘Diana
Ross is Billie Holliday’ level, but, as a
method of illuminating the personality
and career of a creative artist, it has its
shortcomings.

Abou[...]sionally violent — although this
last only when the insensitivity of the
rest ofthe world drove him to it. Frieda
is uncon[...]you’re a
crazy man!” she exclaims delightedly in
between a lot of frowning and grim-
acing), just as passionate as[...]u’ll die when I tell
you and not before”). If the style
sounds familiar, it’s only because it’s
been used in so many other similarly
bad films.

But this reliance on stereotypes
vitiates Priest of Love in more than just
the obvious way.

In its naive concern to portray its
subject as a ‘great writer’ hounded by a
narrow, vengeful society, the film
denies his real complexity by sup-
pressing those aspects of the man that
do not chime with the hero-as-victim
cliche. Much is made of his democratic
temperament, but nothing of the

unattractive gratification he drew from
Frieda’s aristocratic background, nor
of his nasty flashes of anti-semitism;
because he must be seen as fiercely
loyal there can be no mention of the
savagery with which, in his life and his
books, he could turn on those who be-
friended and supported him; and the
sermons on love he hurls so batheti-
cally from the steps of Zapotec Indian
temples cannot be tainted by his belief
in the fundamentally-secondary role of
women in emotional and sexual
relationships.

Other charac[...]ated: John Middleton Murry (Mike
Gwilym), husband of Katherine Mans-
field and himself a writer and literary
authority ofno mean standing, is made
capable of mistaking Shelley’s To a
Skylark for one of Lawrence’s own,
rather lame lyrics (with Lawrence, baff-
lingly, registering not the slightest
surprise at this blunder); and by way of
providing the film with a running joke,
Penelope Keith’s Dor[...], valued this
woman’s friendship for 15 years.

In a particularly repellent scene,
Lawrence goes to[...]ost at once. “You’re all
wrong”, he mutters in tones of cosmic
condescension as the script begs for a
laugh at the expense of someone who
does not share the hero’s implicitly-
limitless sexual talents. The truth of
this matter is rather more disturbin to
those who would prefer, as the film
does, to worship without qualification
at[...]rence did go to
bed with Dorothy Brett — twice, in
fact, in 1926 — and on each occasion
her willingness was confronted with the
impotence that was plaguing Lawrence
at the time. More scrupulous screen-
writers will find the necessary details in
Harry T. Moore’s The Priest of Love.

Elsewhere, the film is notable for a
curious indecisiveness for which the
director must take the blame. Aldous
Huxley climbs up and down a ladder[...]eem unsure as to
whether there are parts for them in this
particular film; and as Angelo Ravag[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (119)[...]lm Corporation,

1-3 Bowen oa , Moonah, Tasmania, Australia 7009
e ephone (002) 30 3531
Telegrams. Tasfulm Ho[...]84 7199
Decibel Manufacturing Pty. Ltd.

KITTY 8: THE BAGMAN

LIDDY CLARK
COLETIE MANN

DAVID BR[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (120)[...]nt prospect, even as Frieda
removes his clothes.

The overall slackness of the editing is
invaluable in maximizing these def-
iciencies, with a good deal of super-
fluous assistance from a corny and
intrusive score.

There is plenty more to whinge about
the funny Italians, the repressed
Englishmen, the fascistic Germans, for
example — but little to[...]:
his agony is over and so is ours —
almost. At the end, Frieda and a band
of friends tootle off into a grotesque
New Mexico sunset and, for a moment,
it seems they have lost the urn con-
taining Lawrence’s ashes. They find it
again, of course, but by then it doesn’t
matter — his spirit has been cast to the
winds some 125 minutes earlier.

Priest of Love: Directed by: Christopher Miles.
Producers:[...]y: Alan Plater, from a book by Harry T.
Moore and the writings of D. H. Lawrence. Direc-
tor of photography: Ted Moore. Editor: Paul
Davis. Produ[...]5 mins. Britain. 198].

Duet for Four
Sam Rohdie

The central character of Duet for
Four, Ray (Mike Preston), is con-
structed by means of his relations to
others, relations in which he repeatedly
errs — to wife (Diane Cilen[...]tary (Clare Binney),
business partner (Gary Day). The
errors are those of incompleteness, a
certain moral inadequacy but ne[...]t is always ‘other’ relations
that compromise the relations that
directly engage him: his relation[...]lives, is punc-
tuated by distressed phone calls in the
middle of the night from his wife, to
whom he returns, but half-heartedly,
enraging the woman he lives with, not
satisfying the wife who calls to him.
When the mistress asks for marriage,
he dissembles; when h[...]uite large enough; he
panders to a representative of a giant
American firm interested in a partner-
ship/takeover but he uses his mistress
to help win the contract (against her
will, who is bored and irritated by the
imposition, and morally outrages the
American) and his secretary, who is,
and is not, to set up by Ray to be a
weekend business screw for the
American. _

This nowhere aspect of Ray’s dis-
satisfaction is the figuration of the film:
even his toy business is half-hearted (he
w[...]daughter,
he is simultaneously generous (presents
of money) and harsh (unsympathetic to
her pregnancy[...]succeed suicide (truly
her father’s daughter).

In the end, Ray is decisive: he will
marry his mistress,[...]ered-from-
suicide-attempt daughter, and gives up
the toy business to manage steam trains
(before surrendering the business, he
doubly triumphs over the American by
forming an all-Australian toy manu-
facturing combine against the Amer-
ican bid for takeover).

It would be incorrect to see the
irresoluteness, ‘conflict’ and duplicity
of the central character as a ‘human’ or
psychologic[...]t it seems principally to
be: a narrative device. The ‘thematic’ of
split, division, moral indecisiveness is
not only confined to Ray (everyone
shares the quality in their relations to
Ray and in the conduct of their own
lives from the attempted-suicide
daughter to the unselfconfident
partner, career-or-housewife mistress
and unsure-about-her—place/age wife),
but forms the central meaning of
irresolution and imbalance of the
narrative as if such unsettlement were
but a pretext for the conclusion-
resolution of the film in which every-
thing is clarified and firmly put into
place.

The device, in its repetition, its
emphatic frequency, its everywhere-
ness, is a device for unifying the narra-
tive so that wherever one gazes, to
whatever one attends, it takes one to
everywhere else in the narrative: the
split person of Ray’s business partner
recalls Ray; the split person of Ray
recalls his daughter (her problem in life
is her indecisiveness); the split person of
his daughter recalls her l-can‘t-make-
up-my-mind-which- of- you- to- love
lover; and so on, enmeshing, enfol[...]each distinctness and differ-
ence and separation in the fiction to this
oneness of its theme. (An entire school
of criticism which calls itself ‘theory’
and the[...]sailability is outraged at such
narrative devices of unification and
coherence which it sees as an ideo-
logical operation which provides the
spectator a secure but false sense of
his/her unity in the mirrored unity of
the narrative; such theory, in fact, un-
ifies itself in a staggering, compulsive
repetitiveness and a monstrous writing
which makes the narratives they
‘reveal’ and ‘unravel’ sh[...]her purposes/functions
to this process ofdoubling in the narra-
tive beyond the play of imbalances and
asymmetries which are finally resolved.
These, while in part particular to the
films of Tim Burstall, are in other
terms as general as daplpelgangers and
Jekyll and Hyde, name y the constitu-
tion of the opposition between desire
(individual, often anti[...]e, explos-
ive, anti—social (and entertaining). The
play with this difference can be various;
the Burstall game (and perhaps the
most common) involves the ultimate
defeat of duty (social rules, morality)
by the force of desire (the contrast in-
volving the division, social repression
versus individual liberation).

If Duet for Four is internally
coherent in the way described, by its
play upon repetitions, the film also
repeats aspects of other Burstall films,
though in a somewhat different
arrangement. Burstall films have
always stressed the libidinal —- desire,
activity, sexuality — ag[...]nd morality. (He
has a delightful, vicious hatred ofthe classic-
realist text’; for their inactivity; f[...]iting and
especially when they attempt to imitate
the truly seductive writing of French
Fathers who lure them and trick them
into[...]ul serio.)

Stork, Alvin Purple, Eliza Fraser and
The Last of the Knucklemen have had,
in their various ways, central charac-
ters who are[...]s; to applaud
them is to share their distaste for the
rules and yet . . . their behaviour is truly
mons[...]I would say, subjectively,
‘brilliantly’), is the monstrous creation
of others, the sexual food preyed upon
by others (who are all fa[...]ocritical, dishonest) so that
Alvin is their sign of a repressed and
vulgar sexuality beneath exteriors of
psychologism or suburbanism or
academicism. The division of identities
within the films are divisions of iden-
tifications for a viewer — the moral,
social world is condemned, but in its
place are monsters.

Ray, in Duet for Four, included in
himself what had been exclusive to the
central characters of most Burstall
films; in Duet for Four morality (and,
what accompanies it, pretension) is no
longer in the social world outside the
character (which Alvin or Stork or
Pansy enrage and batter themselves
against) but is inside the character, is
part of Ray, so that he is not monster
(and thereby surre[...]zed’, ‘made complex’,
made realistic.

Ray, of all other Burstall protagon-
ists, is perhaps closest to Petersen, but
unlike him he is located from the start
of the narrative as within the conven-
tional social world (“trendy” said on[...]e
tame, less crazed, more ‘compromised’
(from the outset) than Petersen. The
‘problem’, therefore, of the film (it is in
many ways a ‘problem’ film with
resemblances to forms of the soap
opera) is not how to tame Stork or

C[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (121)[...]tranquillize Alvin, but how can Ray
sneak out of all these complications and
compromises, how to accept the world
as it is and yet at the same time opt out
of it, how, in effect, undramatically and
therefore decently, to[...](including Duet for Four)
and believe them to be the most intelli-
gent, the most interesting, the most
comic and the least pat and formulaic
of all contemporary Australian films
(the consistencies within them are less
formulas than restlessnesses). The
delight of his films is for me in their
structural outrage to a middle—class-
ness, in their creating monstrous,
vulgar, wild, untamed pure libidinal
signs of desire and energy as weapons
not simply against all that represses
them, but as signs for the revelation of
that repression, signs which uncover the
joylessness of duty, of rules, of conven-

tions, of their vulgarity, their
monstrosity, their dishone[...]t for Four is different from other
Burstall films in having a central
character who is not monster and in
which the differences — social/indivi-
dual, repression/liberty — are less
stark, so that escapes from the one by
the assertion of the other are more
mild, more subdued, more canny tha[...]I am not anxious to conclude from
this difference in relation to other films
(which may in fact be here exag-
gerated), still less to conclude from this
or from past films some social or other
kind of message. But I do wish to
remark on the ‘ending’ -— somewhat
easy, flaccid, a seemingly too neat
resolution of things. The ending in fact
is perfectly false in any ‘human’ or
‘realistic’ terms, but eminently intelli-
gent in narrative ones. It is happily an
unashamed ‘false’ ending, the impos-
sible happy end, utterly artificial, an
ending clearly marked, a tying up by a
piece of string, or, better, by a red rib-
bon, whose sincerity it would be false to
believe in.

Duet For Four: Directed by: Tim Burstall.
Produ[...]tine Suli. Screenplay: David
Williamson. Director of photography: Dan Bur-
stall. Editor: Edward McQue[...]and Associates.
Distributor: GUO. 35mm. I00 mins. Australia.
1982. '

Body Heat
Dave Nash

Only lack of motivation and an in-
adequate perception of the world
around him keep small-time lawyer
Ned Racine (William Hurt) from being
a shyster. This is the most interesting
thing about the hero (read: patsy)
of scriptwriter Lawrence Kasdan’s
directing debut, Body Heat, a work in
the school of Jim Thompson, David
Goodis and James M. Cain (these
specialists in plotting American
sexuality through crime. decay and
locale are having a good year, what
with the genuine Cain articles, The
Postman Always Rings Twice and
Butterfly, and Cla[...]Thompson’s Pop. 1280).

We make our way through the film
following Ned, linked to situations by

170[...]ty Walker (Kathleen Turner),
young and bored wife of a middle-aged
real-estate tycoon. By the middle ofthe
film, they have burned the husband for
his money. The pressure of the sub-
sequent investigation produces distrust.
Ned[...]A. Preston), feed him clues until he
begins to do the basic addition, by
which time he has taken the fall. He
puts the events and absences of the
narrative together in the pen — too
late. By then, Matty is tanning on a
banana republic beach out of Dark
Passage or The Long Goodbye. It is
straightforward narrative: no enfolded
flashbacks, no multiple or simul-
taneous lines of action.

The film, its advertising (see Cinema
Papers’ last cover — not a scene from
the film, but a promotion shot), and its
critical reception all present the film as
a steamy, modernfilm noir. As the film
itself is so insistent on this, one ought to
ask in what ways it is and in what ways
it isn’t. Thinking through the film, the
sense that there is something missing
grows. What is missing and why?

Let’s start with the film’s stipulated
imagery: sweltering heat (and to get out
of the way the usual question about
Body Heat, no this is not a[...]ng,
middle and end are marked off by great
blasts of flame; the filling between is a
doomed love affaire in the subtropical
summer of a Florida backwater where
people talk about the heat a lot. It is
iconographic, indexed carefully
through the film by symmetrical spinal
and underarm splotches on shirts, and
by the even more systematic interest the
film takes — and this isn’t a film which
is interested in too many things — in
the narrative rhythm and placement of
the hero’s outfit: whether he begins a
scene with j[...]y, and whether he makes additions
or subtractions in the course of the
scene (this is not a sarcasm).

Sweat in this film is like blood in a
Jean-Luc Godard film — formal, not
mimetic: there is no homage to the
great, noir sweaters of earlier Holly-
wood cinema (Elisha Cook jun., for[...]at one
is worried about fidelity to real life: so
the people in Body Heat don’t look or
behave like people trapped in a heat-
wave. This leaves the function of heat
as even more clearly a metaphor for
moral and sexual situations.

Body Heat is one of the American
films of the past decade which directs
attention to its film n[...]r plot, noir imagery and
a very noir fatal woman. The film
shows her destroying a greedy chump
and tel[...]and
hence dangerous; it involves a double, a
swap of identities with a schoolmate
for fraudulent purposes, as well as a
plainness not in harmony with her new
lifestyle. The last shot, the image
which puts the seal on the film,
is a close camera move around her face
behind sunglasses on the beach below
the mountains. If the shot says
anything, it is that she is a glacial
e[...]uman, weak,
conflicted, contradictory or a victim of
her own passions (as we are variously in

Out of the Past, Detour, and Lady From
Shanghai); we must supply that impulse
from our memories of noir films.

So what is Body Heat doing with film
noir? It doesn’t retain the imagery but
fractures the narrative form, as Alain
Robbe-Grillet does. It doesn’t turn the
form inside out for revisionist purposes,
as Robert Altman and his goofy Philip
Marlowe do in The Long Goodbye. It
offers a critique of American society,
but seemingly by rote, because that,
too, is part of the old noir form.

What is it doing with noir stylistics?
Kasdan keeps his film solidly within thethe initiation of scenes, and
lots of slow camera movements. The
use of locale is neither as specific nor as
integrated a[...]ant.
Some are used for alienating effect,
such as the Walker mansion (an
impersonal sign, material but not a part
of living); others are well lived-in by the
characters, particularly the cafe where
Ned and his friends lunch. But none of
the places is energized by action or by
that precise noir strategy. the mapping
of interior geography in terms of
second-by-second potential. In other
words, Body Heat is not interested in
Anthony Mann.

This is not to deny the quality of the
mise en scene, which is often striking,

Matty Walker ( Kathleen Turner) and Ned Racine ( William Hurt): the destroyer and the patsy.
Lawrence Kasdan 3 Body Heat.

like the initial fire image, with Ned
watching a part of his childhood burn
down in the distance (an initial noir
gesture: a hero whose past has burnt
out and whose present is negligible). At
the film’s climax there is an excellent
shot-reverse shot, pivoting around Ned
(nearest the camera), in which the
woman he takes to be his obsession —
in white on a black field — is sub-
stituted by his other nemesis, his old
friend the detective, also white on
black, as the two poles of his personal
life come together to crush him.

The final absence, the missing thing
which separates Body Heat from old[...]o or three
snappy dialogue lines which remind one
of the old form, but the film is not
powered by them, not awash with them.
It is not obsessed by the poetic ver-
nacular, the virtuosity, the condensed
power of noir dialogue, one of the pin-
nacles of Hollywood scriptwriting.
Body Heat has no: “You[...],
Canino”; “Nobody’s all bad, but she
comes the closest”; “Lady, I don’t have
time”; “We’re sisters under the mink”;
“Your future is all used up.”

Body Heat also avoids the energy of
characterization. Its people don't
perceive and respond to their world
through the knowledge of their doom,
or the awareness that they can’t win so
they might as well do it big. This par-
ticular heritage of romanticism to film
noir is missing. The film is about losing,
but it is not about[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (122)Best of Friends

Rich and Famous

not, as even the coldest and most arbi-
trary noir-related films (Alfred Hitch-
cock’s) do, invite the audience to be
close to its characters, no matter[...]ld may be.

These things are not necessarily true
of all the American genre nostal-
gia/pastiche/remake films of recent
years. There is a separate strain of films
which intersect with them, but which
have a rather different purpose. In the
case of Body Heat, the purpose is to
maintain the genre structure, the narra-
tive form, the mise en scene style, the
references, the worldview/ideology,
while at the same time making sub-
tractions, removing elements, referring
one back so that we supply (and in
doing so, note the omissions and the
strategy) the expected material. Such
films hollow out types. They leave the
static signs of a style, but they remove
perhaps its most attractive aspect:
energy.

Body Heat is an excellent example of
this. Finally, something is missing,
leached out[...]ft is ritual, a reflexive rela-
tionship between the viewer and the
object, which like post-modernist art
depends on our simultaneously
supplying absences and considering the
entire process.

It is like slicing open a fruit to find
everything in its proper place inside —
seeds, pulp — but dry as dust. It is not
like the hot wet kiss at the end of a
hollownose slub. That is the point of
Body Heat.

Body Heat: Directed by: Lawrence Kasd[...]d T. Gallo. Screenplay: Lawrence
Kasdan. Director of photography: Richard H.
Kline. Editor: Carole Lit[...]istributor: Roadshow. 35mm. ll3
mins. U.S. I981.

The Best of Friends
Jim Murphy

“A Friendly Film” proclaims the
main title, which is a nice welcome; this
must be[...]ed to see you. No
doubt they arejust that. But as the film
churns on its way, it puts a strain on the
friendship. A dozey dog is friendly, but
who wants to spend 97 minutes in the
dark with one?

The Friendly Film Company’s pro-
duction The Best of Friends is an
attempt by scriptwriter Donald Mac-[...]contemporary light
comedy-romance which examines the
age-old battle of the sexes in terms
recognizable to today’s Australian
audien[...]to sentiment, and
there are at least three scenes in which
Opera House, Sydney Harbour and
Harbour Bri[...]ngela Punch McGregor)
is a television personality of some
unspecified talent and Tom (Graeme
Blundell) is an accountant. At the f1lm’s
opening, he is calling at her trendy two[...]ears
since they met at school, and they have
been the best of friends ever since. Tom
is the fellow who makes Melanie laugh,
with whom she fee[...]thus far.

However, since she has just been
given the brush-off by a lover and he
has been stood up by[...]dinner, get drunk and end up sleep-
ing together. The romantic quotient of
this one-night stand is created with the
line, “I wonder what it would be like; it
might do us both good”, which unfor-
tunately is the tone of much of the
dialogue.

Next morning, Melanie can’t
remember much, but decides that
repeat performances are not in order.
She loves him too much (a subtle dis-

tinction from being “in love”) to spoil
the perfect friendship. And that might
have been that, but for her forgetful-
ness in omitting to take her Pill on the
fateful night. Presto, she’s pregnant!
This development enables Tom to per-
suade her to let him move in under the
same roof. But, No! She won’t marry
him, a tick[...]and Melanie
do an “odd couple” routine about the
trials of living together (he’s tidy, she’s
not; he cooks the meals and has a tan-
trum when she’s late home from work),
the audience is roused to apathy over
the big question: will Tom get her to the
altar?

Such a plot might be made to work,
but only with vastly more wit and style
than assembled by the creators of this
bland and inconsequential concoction. I
found the central characters quite unin-
teresting for a start, and this is a severe
handicap in any type of film, let alone a
light comedy when the audience is
supposed to chuckle indulgently at the
foibles of the characters.

Director Michael Robertson’s
insistence on low-key, naturalistic
delivery of dialogue results merely in
limp performances. Angela Punch
McGregor, in a couple of argumen-
tative scenes, manages to get out of the
rut momentarily, but Graeme Blundell
is humdrum throughout. There isn’t
one comfortable performance in the
film, let alone a genuinely comic one.
“Bit” contributions are either over-
acted or feeble, and the extras who pop-
ulate scenes in a hotel and department
store might just as well h[...]additional proof
that they were being paid to be in the
background. In short, the film lacks
strong, pacy direction that can animate
the scenes in tune with a comic spirit.

The script, too, must carry some of
the blame for the leaden pace because it
is heavy with pointless sm[...]Didn’t think it was just a boy”) which

Under the influence of Veuve Clicquoi, friends become lovers: Tom (Graem[...]e (Angela Punch McGregor). Malcolm

R oberison 's The Best of Friends.

could have been eliminated to great
advantage. While the actors manage to
avoid making such exchanges acut[...]hem
sounding like ponderous padding which
retards the momentum of the film.

Director of photography David
Gribble has given the film such a pris-
tine look that it resembles the unreal
world of the television commercial
(which, on reflection, isn’t entirely out
of character with the performances). In
one shot, Melanie inside a closed car is
lit with such unlikely evenness that you
wonder whether they took the roof off
the vehicle to let the sun stream in.
Shadows can be seen in an interior of St
Mary’s Cathedral, but don’t seem to
exist anywhere else.

If the film looks like a television
commercial, the characters are not
much more believable than thos[...]smear dirt on
your tennis dress before washing it in

lue gunk, or who drop from heli-
copters into supermarket carparks to
inquire of remarkably unfazed shop-
pers what they think abo[...]doesn‘t
excuse him writing a film about them.

The Best of Friends: Directed by Michael
Robertson. Producer: Tom Jeffrey. Screenplay by
Donald Macdonald. Director of photography:
David Gribble. Editor: Ron Williams.[...]orah Gray). Mark Lee (Bruce). Production
company: The Friendly Film Company.
Distributor: Hoyts. 35mm. 97 mins. Australia.
1982.

Rich and Famous

Brian McFarlane

You can[...]directed by an old man because, unlike
most films in recent memory, it
presents New York as a beautiful city.
Apart from that, the fact that George
Cukor is 82 is irrelevant — except
perhaps for the way experience shows in
the film’s narrative fluency, its superb
handling ofdialogue, and the way it sets
up opportunities for two gifted
actre[...]ts and work together wittily and
sympathetically. In matters like these,
Cukor has had plenty of time to
prepare himself.‘

Concluded on p. I 93[...]given to Cukor’s age. but that is no
excuse for the extraordinary patronage
(and emptiness) of the review in The Age
(January 29, 1982). The reviewer speaks
of the film as “totter[ing] along in a
rather geriatrically-wayward fashion”
and fin[...]praise and beneath
contempt — or should that be the other
way round”. Does he know what he
means to[...]oying a film which may prove un-
fashionable with the now people. he
hedges his bets by describing it as,

“an enjoyable, superbly sappy piece of
entertainment that is saved from com-
plete ludic[...]realist and
an almost subliminally pervasive tone
of self-mockery".
My italics are intended to draw attention
to. respectively, the condescension and
muddle-headedness that permeate the
review.
It is not my habit or aim to have at

CIN[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (123)We try harder . . . because . . .

We are not the largest, but we are proud to be one of the major international completion
guarantors in the world. Motion Picture Guarantors lnc., together with its associated companies, has
guaranteed completion of more than 200 films since 1970, including feature length movies with total

budgets in excess of $35,000,000.

Our policy is to assist the producer in every possible way with counsel and expertise. We
conceive our job as helping the Production Team maintain its objectives: MOVIE FI[...].

Frequently producers have told us that we were of material help in spotting difficulties early

and assisting in their solution.

We are able to offer bonding for the largest-budget films as well as smaller, at strictly competitive

rates. Our no4:Iaim bonus is the most attractive in the industry.

We will be pleased to consider bonding[...]e enquiries by telex or

telephone (collect).

ln Australia: In New Zealandz

SYDNEY: Film Services (02) 2901588.[...]erly
If it's going to be a

SUCCESS.

And success in the -
movie business
means business at
the box office.
So how do you go
about publicising
the fact you've got
a tenific new
movie? . I

Enter[...]& Company. So, if you want your movie to be shown in

We specialise in promoting new films and the best light, contact Diane Worland or
have been involved in the successful Omar Sehic at D. Worland & Company.
launch of many fine Australian productions. They'll give y[...]& co.
including television and radio commercials, The Basement, 418 St. Kilda Road,
posters and[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (124)[...]s journey he is
accompanied by a woman, his image of her
increasingly erotic . . .

Freedom is directe[...]Haywood.

Top: Ron (Jon Blake) is refused ajob at the cement works. Right: Ron and Sally
(Jad C apel/a) and the Porsche. Below: Annie ( Candy Raymond) and[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (125)/ \
SWANSON ON

SWANSON

The Hollywood story for all time!

“Quite simply, the best film-s tar autobiography ever
written.’ ’ The Times

SALLY IAIYLE, FILMOIEWS F[...]f
INTERCINE
FOR SA LE

ONLY 4 YEARS YOUNG AND IN
GREAT CONDITION E

ALSO, A 16mm 4 PLATE

INTERCI[...]78-80 Stanley Street, Collingwood
Victoria, 3066. Australia.

MARTA MESZAROS

French dialogue with
English sub-titles

ISABELLE HUPPERT

l N E THE SPEC|AL|ST ' - ; _ ~ : , ~ -LILI MONORI -[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (126)Government and Film in
Australia

Ina Bertrand and Diane Collins
Currency Press, S[...]lt to place Bertrand and
Collins’ ‘history’ of the relations of the
Australian state to the Australian film
industry. On the one hand, it narrowly
focuses on the industry, but aggres-
sively delimits itself to not considering
the few films the industry produced
(Australian) or the majority of films it
imported (Hollywood), so that any
argume[...]eened — one mightjust as well have
been writing of automobiles or pencils:

“This historical narra[...]h Australian films as texts

or objects, but with the place of film

in Australian society . .

(The book begins with this declara-
tion of seeking to find the place of
something which it does not try to
understand.)

On the other hand, the consideration
of the industry is inadequate for the
lack of any theory or concepts of the
capitalist state (and colonial) which is
liberalized as “governments”, a serious
lack in a work concerned with the rela-
tions of the state to a major capitalist
industry. The state becomes a series of
successive governments pressured by
groups to which it does or does not
respond, a testament variously to the
strengths/weaknesses of groups or
weaknesses/strengths of governments
— thus the b0ok’s notion of “Aus-
tralian society”, social democracy
made benign and banal. No knowledge
is offered of the economic and ideo-
logical and social structures of the Aus-
tralian state, and little knowledge is
evident of historical factors beyond
dates and lists of names and person-
alities and committees and commis-
sions, so that much if not all of the
richness and conceptual interest of the
subject is reduced to a thin line of a
form of narrativity which proceeds:

“At 9:45 pm on 28 November 1962,

the Senate appointed a Select Com-

mittee to investigate means of
encouraging Australian productions

for television . .

The narrative explicative framework
is causative at the lowest possible level:
no intervening structures of the state, of
class, of ideological forms, of political
practice are allowed to interrupt
the this-happened-then-that-happened
history:

“But[...]ud-

ing Australian) films, and its corol-

lary of discrimination against Amer-
ican films, were outcomes of the
increasing dominance of Hollywood
over the international film market
from the end of the First World War.

To take such action implied critic-

ism of the United States, an increas-

ingly important ally of Australia,
particularly after the Second World

War: it could not be taken lightly.”

The chain of logic is linked by a
series ofof
continuity concluding in the simplicity
“it could not be taken lightly”. What
are excluded by these means are the col-
lapse of the international market after
1930, the attempts at economic self-suf-
ficiency within the capitalist world con-

sequent on the Depression (Australia
was within the imperial market), the
power of American capital in Aus-
-tralia generally and within the film
industry in particular, the inadequate
market of Australia to support film
production without state subsidies not
forthcoming for the liberal economic
ideology of the Australian state, and
the fact that Australian capital was
more than content to serve and admin-
ister the interests of American capital.

Essentially, the story the book tells is
of an Australian state (and states) at
first giving[...]us-
tralian film industry (though state
policies in the l920s and ’30s resulted in
considerable banking and industrial
concentration; the various film dis-
tribution/exhibition monopolies
formed were part of this general econ-
omic development), and then giving
support until by the mid-’70s it actively
began to subsidize a national industry.

So, it is the story of progress (the
emergence of an Australian film), of
enlightenment (a state taking a hand in
culture), and of tasks yet to be done (a
future). (The middle section of the
book, concerned with ‘Film as Educa-
tion’ though peripheral to the
industry/state relation, essentially
retells the same story of progress and of
an ever-brightening dawn.)

The progress of the story occurs by
means of two mechanisms: pure even-
tuality (“By the end of the ‘30s the total
failure of the quota legislation was
depressingly apparent: by March 1937
Cinesound was the only company left in
production”), and an interpretative
framework provided by the comings
and goings 0 pressure groups which are
na[...]or are they related
to economic structures except in a
certain technical division of labor).

Moralists. loyalists and producers
come together to pressure the state to
intervene either to establish an Aus-
tr[...]into a few large
monopoly formations dependent on the
import and distribution of American
films, have a more ‘liberal’ notion of
the state, do not want it to intervene in
the industry and are not concerned with
an Australian film production, for the
capital risks involved and for the more
certain profits of American film
imports. For the most part, the big
monopoly companies aligned to banks
and foreign capital prevail, but in the
end (the past 10 years) contrary pres-
sures have been asserted and with these
have emerged Australia and an Aus-
tralian film.

There is something in that story, but
for it to make sense the role of capital
needs to be understood, particularly for
its economic and social control over the
state, and, equally, the structures of
films made in the past decade — what
was and can be financed (it[...]“loyalists”
on state committees).

Certainly, the slightly chauvinist pro-
gressive idyll of Australian cultural
advance is false and the same capital
interests that were concerned not to[...]found it to their benefit to do
so and have used the Australian state
successfully to that end.

The aggressive avoidance of the book
in understanding the very Australian

film whose presence now on the screen
it celebrates is unfortunate; had the
writers been less aggressive they could
have demonstrated how the debate
about Australian film from the 1920s
onwards, concerned with the construc-
tion of an Australian film (modest,
realist, serious) as opposed to the domi-
nant Hollywood film related to an
economic[...]ralian independence and film
production as such.

The small producer groups were
intent upon defining a[...]t
Australian anti-Hollywood product and
something of that survives in the films
of the early ’70s, particularly the crazy
comedies of Bruce Beresford and Tim
Burstall. The exhibitor/distributor
interests tied to American[...]rage an Australian
production, but conceptualized the
cinema in relation to the narrative
models of Hollywood, models which an
Australian neo-realism[...]ly, sought to contest. 1

If social positions and the role of the
state have somewhat shifted, ideologi-
cal differ[...]alian film remain. By concluding their
history as the realization simply of an
Australian production, the formation
of an industry, without placing these
within a wider context of the develop-
ments of the state and of capital, or in
relation to the forms of the films made
and shown in Australia, is to conclude
that debate with a pedestrian ease
inadequate to the past and to the
present, and to be genuinely care-less in
the guise of academic care (dates and
boards forever sitting) of the com-
plexity and interest of Australian film
industry.

Recent Releases
Mervyn Binns

This column lists books released in Australia. as
at January l982. which deal with the cinema or
related topics. All titles are on sale in bookshops.

The publishers and the local distributors are
listed below the author in each entry. If no
distributor is indicated, the book is imported
(lmp.). The recommended prices listed are for
paperbacks, unl[...]ject to variations between bookshops and
states.

The list was compiled by Mervyn R. Binns ofthe
Space Age Bookstore, Melbourne.

Popular and General Interest

The Art of Heavy Metal Animation for the
Eighties

Text by Carl Macek

Heavy Metal/New York Zoetrope/‘Gaumont,
$11.95

The adult comic strip art of Heavy Metal
magazine is featured in animated form in the film
Heavy Metal. This book is about the artists and the
mzltking of the film. Numerous illustrations in
co or.

Cluck!

Jon-Stephen Spink

Virgin/Nelson Ausl.., $10.95

An amazing tongue-in-cheek survey of the chicken
in films, when they have appeared or even been
refe[...]ent Aust., $24.95 (HC)

Full-page color portraits of Hollywood stars from
the late 1930s through to the ‘$05. A great
nostalgia collection.

In A Glamorour Fashion

Robert La Vine

and Unwin/Allen and Unwin Aust.. $29.95
The great years of Hollywood costume. All the
famous designers are dealt with in detail, with a
foreword by Cecil Beaton.

James Bond in the Cinema

John Brosnan, 2nd edition
Barnes/Tantivy/Oaktree Press, $17.95 (HC)

An entertaining and in-depth assessment of the
world’s most popular and durable literar[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (127)[...]RINTS.

I_'.'INE FILM
LABORATORY

NIGHT RECEPTION
IN
CURRY LANE

Control
Cal Gardiner —[...]957

SERVICES PROVIDED

For enquiries contact one of our
experienced directors:

Jack Gardiner — Qua[...]99; NAPOLEON $10.99; MARJORIE
MORNINGSTAR $12.99; THE FRENCH LIEU-
TENANT’S WOMAN $11.99; THE SEA WOLVES
$13.99; VALENTINO $9.99; DRACULA $9.99; OUO

VADIS $11.99; JAWS $9.99; THE EUROPEANS
$10.99; CROSS OF IRON $13.99; MARRY ME A

LITTLE (ORIGINAL CAST, S[...]backs.
Free movie poster with every purchase.
FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL ONLY!

Write now for a free current Iist ofOF FEATURE AND

DOCUMENTARY FILMS WHO

REQUIR[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (128)Book Reviews

The inside story of te1evision’s most popular show,
with a foreword by Alan Alda.

Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part 1
Mel Brooks and Jeff Smith, $6.95

an illustrated story of the hilarious Mel Brooks
1 m.

Punch at the Cinema

Presented by Dilys Powell

Robson/Hutchinson Group Aust., $17.95 (HC)
A collection of articles, cartoons and caricatures

from Punch ma[...]ing classic films and
famous stars.

Saddle Aces of the Movies

Buck Rainey

Barnes/Tantivy/Oaktree Press, $27.50 (HC)

A comprehensive coverage of the Hollywood
cowboys, with more than 200 illustrations and one
of the most complete filmographies compiled.

Together[...]in Kanin

Doubleday/Doubleday Aust., $29.95 (HC)

The stories of the great Hollywood teams, from
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to Woody Allen

and Diane Keaton, plus the Marx Brothers and
many more. Illustrated.

The Warner Brothers Cartoons

Will Friewald and Jerry[...]Press/James Bennett, $18.95 (HC)

A filmography of the animated shorts produced by
Warner Bros and a tribute to the people who
created them. Not illustrated.

Biographies and Fllmographlos

The Films ofAlan Ladd

M. Henry and R. De Sourdis

Citadel/Davis Publications, $25.50 (HC)

A new addition to the range of “Films of . . .”
books with a complete coverage ofall Ala[...]st details, story and stills.

Barbra A Biography of Barbra Streisand
Donald Zec and Anthony Fowles

N[...]ishing
Co., $19.95 (HC)

An illustrated biography of the very popular
vocalist and screen star.

Before I[...]es Mason

Hamish Hamilton/Thomas Nelson, $25 (HC)
The autobiography of one of Britain’s leading
screen stars. The story of a very successful career.

Elvis

Albert Goldman

Allen Lane/Penguin. $19.95 (HC)

The unvarnished story of the pop music and film

star idol, and the extravagances that led to his
death.

Diana Coope[...]r

Hamish Hamilton/Thomas Nelson Aust., $25
(HC)

The life and times of one of the best-loved British
actresses.

Gregory Peck

Mich[...]with numerous
illustrations, including those from the star’s private
album. now in paperback.

Ingrid Bergman — My Story

Ingrid Bergman and Alan Burgess
Sphere/Thomas Nelson, $5.95

The best-selling autobiography of a screen super-
star, now in paperback.

James Wong Howe: Cinematographer

Tod[...]antivy/Oaktree Press, $23.95

A camera—eye view of motion picture history
focused on the life and art of the most celebrated
cinematographer.

Jane Fonda

Fred Lawrence Guiles

Michael Joseph/Thomas Nelson, $25 (HC)

The life and career of a very successful but
controversial actress, who has triumphed over
personal tragedy in her early life.

Joyce

Joyce Grenfell herself an[...]st., $4.50 _

A biography/autobiography edited by the late
British actress’ husband. Reggie Grenfell, and
Richard Garnett. Now in paperback.

Mae West

Fergus Cashin

W. H. Allen/Hutchinson Group, $19.95 (HC)
The first complete biography of Ho1lywood‘s most
irreverent comedienne and Amer[...]ghton/Hodder and Stoughton,
$12.95

A new edition of this illustrated appreciation of the
career of the famous film actress.

Marilyn Lives

Joel Op nhe[...]al homage, with a brief but illuminating
text. to the life and career of the Hollywood legend.

McQueen

Tim Satchell

Sid wic[...]mat, well-illustrated biography and
career survey of the late screen actor Steve

McQueen.

The Movie Greats

Barry Norman

BBC/Hodder and Stoughton, $24.95 (HC)

A new collection following the author’s The Holly-
wood Greats, based on the BBC television series,
covering Marilyn Monroe, P[...]d and Nicolson/Hodder and Stoughton,
$16.95 (HC)

The authorized and probably definitive biography
of Sellers, by a leading film chronicler and critic[...]Collins Aust., $15.95
(H

A personal insight into the life of Peter Sellers by
his son.

Raising Caine

William[...]hinson Group, $16.95
HC)

An authorized biography of British actor Michael
Caine, the Cockney-born star “who beat the
system”.

Richard Burton

Paul Ferris

Weidenfe[...]odder and Stoughton,
$24.95 (HC)

A new biography of Richard Burton, who has
come in for more than his share of media coverage
over the years, but one which endeavors to
generate more r[...]d and Nicolson/Hodder and Stoughton,
$27.95 (HC)

The autobiography of Chaim Topol, the Israeli
actor who starred in the film of Fiddler on the Roof
and many other films, including For Your Ey[...]dfors

Simon and Schuster/Ruth Walls, $20.95 (HC)
The autobiography of the Swedish actress which
highlights the problems of being an actress and, at
the same time, trying to remain oneself.

The Whole World in His Hands

S. Robeson

Citadel/Davis Publications, $25.50 (HC)

A pictorial biography of the famous Negro singer
and actor, Paul Robeson, covering his work for his
people and his career on the stage, film and radio.

Directors

Close Up: The Contemporary Director

Edited by Jan Tuska

Scarecrow Press/James Bennett, $27.95 (HC)
The third and last in the series. The previous two
titles covered The Contract Director and The
Hollywood Director.

The Films of Carl-Theodor Dreyer

David Bordwell

California U.P./Australia and New Zealand Book
Co., $32.95 (HC)

The most extensive book published on the work of
Dreyer, which highlights the challenge his work
offers to the dominant filmmaking styles.

Francois Truflaut[...]acMil1an Co. Aust., $6.95

An authoritative study of the work of Francois
Truffaut and a loving tribute to the man.

Images at the Horizon

Werner Herzog

New York Zoetrope/Gaumont[...]op with Werner Herzog conducted by
Roger Ebert at the Facets and Multimedia Centre,
Chicago, U.S., April 17, 1979.

Crltlcal

The Celluloid Closet Homosexuality in the Movies
Vito Russo

Harper and Row/Book and Film, $20.95 (HC)
A chronological and thematic history of the por-
trayal of homosexuality and lesbianism in films.

The Feature Film as History

Edited by K. Short

Croom Helm/Cambridge U.P., $21.90 (HC)

A consideration of feature films showing their
potential as histori[...]even
essays by various film historians.

Film on the Left

William Alexander

Princeton U.P./Australian and New Zealand
Book Co., $17.50

A survey of documentary films in the U.S., from
1931 to 1942.

French Cinema of the Occupation and Resistance
Andre Bazin

Ungar/Ruth Walls, $18.50 (HC)

The Birth of a Critical Esthetic — Foreword by
Francois Truffaut

A collection of articles and reviews which show the
critical development of the man who was largely
responsible for the growth of today’s French
cinema.

Hemingway and Film
Gene D. Philips
Ungar/Ruth Walls, $8.50

A survey of the films that have been made based on
Ernest Hemingway’s novels, and the difficulty the
scriptwriters have had in translating them into
film.

Hollywood in the Seventies

Les Kayser

Barnes/Tantivy/Oaktree Press, $8.50

A comprehensive overview of the major trends and
new directions of Hollywood filmmakers and
producers.

The Hollywood, Social Problem Films

Peter Roffman and Jim Purdy

University of Indiana Press/Imp.

A survey of Hollywood films on madness, despair
and politics, from the Depression to the 1950s.

Hollywood's Vietnam

Gilbert Adair

Proteus/Doubleday Aust., $19.95 (HC)

A survey of all the films that covered the war in
Vietnam, from The Ugly American to Apocalypse
Now.

Ideology and the Cinema: Social Representation in
the Cinema and other Media

Bill Nicholla

Indiana U.[...]detailed discussion ofthe aesthetics and ideology
in films, using as examples Blonde Venus and The
Birds, plus various documentary films.

Loser Take All: The Comic Art of Woody Allen
Maurice Yacowar

Ungar/Ruth Walls, $9.95

A new edition, now in paperback, on the work of
filmmaker and actor.

Overexposuress The Crisis in American Film-
making

David Thompson

Morrow/Quill lmp., $11.20

A collection 0 articles/film reviews by the author
of A Biographical Dictionary of Film.

Film Hlolory

Classic Australian Film Stills

Photographica, $6.95

Twelve postcards in a plastic clip, featuring scenes
from famous Australian films from 1900 to 1940.

Film and Fiction The Dynamics of Exchange
Keith Cohen

Yale U.P./Book and Film. $20.95 (HC)

An overview of the dynamics of artistic change and
exchange in the late 19th Century and early 20th
Century.

The Kindergarten of the Movies: A History ofthe
Fine Arts Co.

Anthony Slide

Scarecrow/James Bennett, $16.95 (HC)

A chronicle of the activities of the Fine Arts Film
Company, its films, directors and stars.

The Magician and the Camera

Erik Barbow

Oxford U.P./Oxford U.P., $19.50 (HC)

The role of the magician in the development ofthe
cinema — as inventor, exhibitor and producer. The
special effects wizards of today owe the
development of their craft to the magicians of the
silent days.

Screening of the Past

Lary May

Oxford U.P./Oxford U.P., $29.95 (HC)

An exploration ofhow the film industry has shaped
society from the Victorian to modern times.

A Short History of the Hungarian Cinema

New York Zoetrope/Gaumont, $6.95

A paperback booklet printed in English in
Hungary, giving an illustrated survey of Hungarian
filmmaking.

Reference

American Famil[...]Scarecrow/James Bennett, $29.95 (HC)

A listing of films (16mm) that illustrate American
family life, past and present.

The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons Series
Jeff Lenberg

Arlington[...]d Cartoons and Television
Cartoons.

Encyclopedia of M usicol Film

Stanley Green

Oxford U.P./Oxford[...]k with more than
1600 entries, answering hundreds of questions
about musical films and their stars.

The English Novel and the Movies

Edited by Michael Klein and Gillian Parke[...]novels and answer such questions as “Are works of
literature superior to their movie versions?"

Fi[...]mes Bennett, $33.75 (HC)

An alphabetical listing of films giving an outline of
the content of each, plus a directory of film sources
and filmmakers, and a bibliography.

Reference Guide to the American Film Noir 1940-
1958

Robert Ottoson

Sc[...]$18.95 (HC)

A descriptive filmography on films in the
American film noir category, with a

comprehensive bibliography.

The Screen Image of Youth: Movies About
Children and Adolescents

Rut[...]row/James Bennett, $26.95 (HC)

An extensive list of films, with an outline of the
content of each, plus index and source details.

Scrlpts

The Blue Angel The Novel by Heinrich Mann and
the Script by Josef Von Sternberg

Ungar/Ruth Walls, $8.50

A book combining the novel and the script of the
film, for instant reference and comparison.

Tim[...]erry Gilliam
Hutchinson/Hutchinson Group, $10.95

The illustrated screenplay of the fantasy comedy
film from the Monty Python people.

Television

Australian TV — The First 25 Years

Edited by Peter Beilby

Nelson/Thomas Nelson, $14.95

A nostalgic year-by-year survey of Australian tele-
vision, with all the funny, embarrassing and
historic moments remembered. Illustrated
throughout.

The American Vein

Christopher Wicking and Tise Vahim[...]t a new book but previously overlooked. A
look at the films made especially for television in
the U.S.

Those Fabulous TV Years

Brian Davies

Cassell Aust./Methuen Aust., $14.95

An illustrated history of Australian television: the
personalities, the highs and the lows. A nostalgic
feast.

Visions Before M idnigh[...]Pan-Picador/William Collins, $5.95

A collection of television criticisms from The
London Observer, 1972-76.

Filmmaking

The Craft of the Screenwriter

John Brady

Simon and Schuster/Ruth[...]sky, Goldman, Lehman, Schrader, Simon and
Towne.

The Master Handbook ofSti'll and Movie Titling
for A[...]NZ Book Co., $22.50 (HC)

A comprehensive text on the subject.

Stop Motion Animation

Don Dohler

Dohl[...]Focal Press/Butterworth, $32.95 (HC)

A text on the important aspect of animated film-
making: timing.

The Way to Write for Television

Eric Paice

Elmtrce/Nelson Aust., $13.95

The complex art ofwriting for television is covered
in this book, which aims to guide the student
through the pitfalls.

Non-cinema Associated Titles

Australian Melodrama: Eighty Years of Popular
Theatre

Eric Irvin

Hale and Ironmonger/Wild and Woolley, $19.95
(HC)

An illustrated history of early Australian theatre.

Australian Music Direc[...]Kingfisher Books, $14.95

A comprehensive survey of the whole music scene
in Australia, plus reference sections on everything
associated with the industry.

Rock Lens

Rock Photography by Bob Kin[...]Cassell Aust./Methuen Aust., $14.95

A collection of photographs of rock music artists
— local and overseas visitors. A local example of
the flood of books now available on rock and
popular music.

N[...]as come out with a novel
based on his experiences in Hollywood.

Puberty Blues

Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey

McPhee Gribble/Kingfisher, $4.95

A new edition of this novel about two teenage girls
growing up. No[...]Carl Ruhen.

Q.B. Books/Gordon and Gotch, $3.95

The book of the sensational sequel to Mad Max,
starring Me[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (129)[...]d for your next
cinema commercial
without leaving the
country.

Colorfilm has taken
delivery of a Dolby Stereo
Optical Sound Camera.

Its the first in the
Southern Hemisphere, the
third of its kind and only
the sixth Dolby camera in
the world.

The Dolby System is a
remarkable combination
of full optical stereo
sound, with frequency
respons[...]on system.

\?\/hat that means to
you is sound on the screen
as good as the sound
you get at home from your
hi—fi.

The same sound
system used in ‘Star Wars:
‘Apocalypse Now’,
‘Quadrophen[...]film.

35 I\/Iissenden Road,
Camperdown NSW 2050.
Australia.

Telephone (02) 5161066

Leo Burnelt 4 3700

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (130)[...]ion
Dist. company . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Fllm Australia
Producer . . . . . . .. ....Don Murray
Director[...]. . . . . . . . . .Post-production

Synopola: One in a series of technical films
on the construction of Brisbane Airport.

DEFENSIVE DRIVING

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .,Fi|m Australia
Dist. company .. ..Fi|m Australia

Producer . . . . . . .. Elizabet[...]Synopslo A film on defensive driving
sponsored by the Department of Transport
for use in high schools and driving schools.

FROGS

Prod. company
Dist. company
Producer ..

...Fi|m Australia
.Film Australia
..John Shaw[...]Progress . Production
Scheduled re . August 1982
THE GAMES
Prod. company .. .Film Australia
Dist. company Film Australia
Producer Peter Johnson
Director .Nick Torrens
S[...]. . . . . . . . . . . ..Pre-production

Synopsis: The official film for the XXII
Commonwealth Games to be held in
Brisbane in 1982.

IMPACT OF MINING:
MEASURE OF CARE

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . ..Film Australia
Producer . . . . . . .. ..Don Murray
Director ..[...]aiting release

Synopsis: Two television films on the work
of scientists In the Kakadu National Park
where Australia's largest uranium mines
have been found.

IT STANDS TO REASON

Prod. company ........... .. Film Australia
Sponsor . . . . . . . ..Army Training Command
Pro[...]ogram designed to generate
a greater appreciation of the Army Training
System.

KIRIBATI AID
(Working title)

. Film Australia

Prod. company ..
....Don Murray

Producer , . .[...]82
Synopsis: Three animated films‘ for release

in Kiribati (Gilbert islands) to instruct the
inhabitants in the use of a newly-installed
sewerage plant.

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

Dist. company . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Don Mu[...]s: Three films dealing with sex
education for use in the classroom. 1: Male
and Female. 2: Birth day. 3: P[...]T SEA
Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Dist. company Film Australia
Producer . . . . . .. .. Peter Johnson
Director .[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..16mm

Synopsis. A day in the life of a seaman in
the Royal Australian Navy.

MY COUNTRY, DJARRAKPI

Prod. company .. ..Fllm Australia

Dist. company .Film Australia
Producer .. ..lan Dunlop
Director ..lan Dunlop
S[...]unlop
Length .. .550 ft
Gauge. 6mm
Synopol . 1 ws the

Y
relationship between one of his bark
paintings and an important site on his
M[...]Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Dist. company .. .. Film Australia
Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Peter J[...]. . . . . . ..1983

Synopsis: A film to show how the Natural
Disasters Organization is helping to
establish and support the various State
Emergency Services.

NARRITJIN AT D[...]Prod. company . . . . . . , . . . . ..Fi|m Australia
Dist. company .. .. Film Australia
Producer . . . . . . . . . . . ..lan Dunlop
Direc[...]tock . . . . . . . . .. Ektachrome 7252
synopsis: The life of Manggalili clan leader
Narritjin Maymuru and his family in Arnhem
Land.

NARRITJIN IN CANBERRA

Prod. company . ....Film Australia

Dist. company Film Australia
Producer... ...|an Dunlop
Director .. Ian Dunlop[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Ektachrome
Synopsis: The work of Narritjin Maymuru
and his son Banapana as visiting artists-ln-
residence at the Australian National
University. Canberra.

1 982[...]Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Dist. company .....F||m Australia
Producer . . . . . .. .. Elizabeth Knight
Directo[...]s about energy
and one each about science, sport. the arts.
film, agriculture and architecture. For the
Australian pavilion at the 1982 Knoxville
World's Fair.

ON YOUR MARK

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . ..Fi|m Australia
Dist. company Film Australia
Producer .. Peter Johnson
Photography . . . . . .[...]Post-production

Synopalaz A promotional film for the 1982
Commonwealth Games.

OPERATION OELLULOID[...]. . . . . ..Kingcroft Prods
Dist. company Film Australia
Producer . . . . . .. .. Peter Johnson
Director .[...]. . ..1983

Synopsis: A public relations film for the
Australian Army, depicting a full exercise
and the need for this type of training.

PARASITES

Film Australia
. Film Australia

Prod. company . . . . . ..
Dist. company[...]ed release . .. August 1982

Synopsis: Episode in the series of biological
science films.

REPRODUCTION

Film Australia
Fllm Australia

Prod. company
Dist. company[...]Synopsis: All living creatures have seven
things in common — one is reproduction.

RIGHT HERE AND N[...]m to encourage school
leavers to consider joining the Army as an
apprentice. For the Department of Defence.

SANDRINGHAM PROJECT

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . ..Film Australia
Dist. company . Film Australia
Producer , Elizabeth Knight
Director .. ...Greg R[...]Post-production

Synopsis: A documentary about the traffic
modifications and community consultation
in Sandringham; tor the Department of
Transport.

SOLOMON ISLANDS

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Don Murray
Di[...]. . . . . . . . . . . ..1982

Synoptic; A series of 10 films ranging from
8 minutes to an hour, recording the cultures
of the Solomon islands at the time of
Independence.

STAYING UP FRONT

Film Australia
. Film Australia

Prod. company ..
Dist. company[...]release
Synopsis: entary designed to

increase the awareness among owner-
drivers of the business side of the long-
distance trucking industry.

THE WEEKLY’S WAR

Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . .. Film Australia
Dist. company .. Film Australia
Producer . . . . . . .. .. Suzanne Baker
Director[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..1983

synopsis: The story of Australia in the
19405. as seen through the eyes of some of
the journalists who worked on The Aus-
tralian Women's Weekly.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN
FI[...]: A film designed to impart a basic
understanding of architecture and the
general principles of urban design.

DAN[...]. Eastmancolor

Synopsis: A dramatized account of the
correct procedures and dangers associated
with the use of detonating cord. and
demonstrating various applic[...]signed to
promote an understanding and acceptance
of an increasing program of replenishing
Adelaide's beaches. A "1940s" detective
wanders through Adelaide trying to
discover who stole the beach.

A TASTE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIAthe Japanese market.

VICTORIAN FILM
CORPORATION

CRI[...]e . ...November 1982
synopsis: A training film on the techniques
of crime detection. Made for the Victoria
Police.

A GOOD SCHEME

Prod. companies[...]ss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. in release

Synopsis: A documentary on the involve-
ment of four young people in the Duke of
Edinburgh's Award Scheme in Australia.
Made by the Department of Youth, Sport
and Recreation.

HAIR OF THE DOG
(Working title Alcohol Abuse)

Prod. company[...]982
synopsis: A short film about early detection

of alcohol abuse. Produced for the Health
Commission.

IF YOU'RE MISSING ART

Prod.[...]. . . .. Production

Synopsis: A short film about the arts in Vic-
toria. Made for the Ministry for the Arts.

MUSIC FILMS

Prod. company . . . . . . . .[...]. . . _ . . . . . Production

Synopsis: A series of animated films about
music for educational distribution. Made for
the Victorian Education Department.

Concluded[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (131)Already many in
use in Australia
by TV Stations,
Production
Houses and
Government[...]hines available today

BUT: Only SCHMID can offer the following facilities in

what is the best value package available in Australia
today.

04, 6, and 8 plate designs.

OSuper 8, 16[...]Mix facilities.

These features release you from the frustrations and

delays you have experienced and[...]Rosco
products

Lighting and dimmer controls

for the small television studio

R D S We stock RDS Cat-kits

the world’s most compact

lighting system for on-location

video. Lsc FOCAL 1

=="l"

TV and theatre lighting

The widest range of exceptional
quality luminaries

We have large stocks of lamps, gaffer tape and
dulling spray. Everything[...]ice: 109 YORK STREET, SOUTH MELBOURNE, VIC., 3205 AUSTRALIA
TELEPHONE: (03) 690 1022

Without doubt
the highest
quality, lowest
cost editing
machine
avai[...]from

$6,500 Model
M.D.1

6 Plate from
D.3

total in-house control over your Sound and Editing
functions.

There is an extensive range of models and options to
suit every need.

Call us for further information.

FILMTRONICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
33 HIGGINBOTHAM ROAD,
GLADESVILLE, N.S.W.

PHONE: (02) 807 1444. TLX: AA25629

FILMING
IN

SUPER 16?

We’ve got Australia’s first Cooke

Vario Kinetal Super 16mm zoom lens,

and the latest Super 16 Aaton LTR 7
— all for hire.

Le[...]es and Aspheron

converters, Angenieux zooms from the Superfast Tl.3 1644 to the
12-240mm zoom, filters, camera and suction[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (132)[...]rt Two

Continued from p. 146

— who specialize in doing precisely that. They
are collectively known as Art Departments. In
film history these people, in conjunction with
imaginative directors, were responsible for
earning for Hollywood, and hence, by proxy, the
entire world film industry, the name of the
Dream Factory. The images of cinema and the
form of cinema have become part of our
collective consciousness through this essentially
visual medium. This facility exists within
Australia as well, believe it or not.

Art direction in this rebirth of Australian
films has certainly helped to sell our films
abroad, but is largely confined to the
reproduction of past or present reality, and is
generally executed without the overall design of
the film in mind. The recreation of reality for

film is so easily achieved with money and
recourse to the right photographs or magazines
for reference, but this sort of approach rarely
tells an audience anything it doe[...]or a past setting that takes some
liberties with the accuracy of the period, can be

pure magic.

The great period pieces of British and
American cinema would opt for the visually
impressive over historical accuracy ever[...]not given rise to any pedantic
complaints, since the designs would have been
based on fact, and their[...]surpass itself.

Film Production Design/Part Two

The production design concept is a tool that is
available to Australian filmmakers to further
unify their work. The production designer is not
just an art director,[...]ustification but as an exhortation
to filmmakers in this country to continue to

dream and grasp for[...]that which is easily within
reach, hiding behind theof
Circus 02 and Mommas Little Horror Show
and the success of the Mad Max films. “That
which gives dreams their[...]0 mins, L & M Imports, S(i-h-g)
Erotic Adventures of candy (reconstructed version)
(o): G. Palmer, U.S[...]ersion) (a): A. Garron/W.
Lustig, U.S., 2370.10m, The House of Dare, V(l—h—g)
Paul. Lin and Caroline (pre—[...]alakoff, U.S., 2332.4om, Cinerama Films, Srl-h-g)
The Private Atternoone of Pamela Mann (f): L. Sultana,
U.S., 2280.60m, Blak[...]0.6tJm, Sunn
Classic Prods, O(sexual exploitation of a I17ll'IOI)

The senator's Daughter (videotape): Joyeeux
Prod./Cal[...]o., Hong Kong.
2593.29m, Golden Reel Films

Kings of the Square Ring (16mm): Y. Kawan, Japan,
1129.91m, Landmark Films

The Lieutenant and I: Progressive Trading, Hong
Kong,[...]r: C. Carajopoulos, Greece,
2800m. Apollon Films

The Terror of Tiny Town (16mm): Astor Picture Corp.,
U.S., 603m[...]: Blau Films, Spain, 2468m, Spanish Films
Wizards of the Water (16mm): A. Rich, Australia,
1031m, Alan Rich

The Women Soldiers: Golden Gate Film Co., Taiwan.
205[...]ox Columbia Film Dist., O(aduIt theme)

Attack ot the Killer Tomatoes: Four Square Prods,
U.S., 2370.48m, G.L. Film Enterprises, L(i-I-g)
Daughter of Devil Flah: Not shown, Thailand, 2575m,
Lilond, V(l-I-/)

Evll Under the Sun: Brabourne 8. Goodwin, Britain,
3179m, Guo Fi[...].
Italy, 2373m, Cinema ltalia, O(aduIt concepts)

The Man From Snowy River: G. Burrowes, Australia,
2908m, Hoyts Dist., V(l-I-j)

O koteoa exo apo t[...]O(adult concepts)
Staratruclt: Elfick & Brennan, Australia, 2880.15m,
Hoyts Dist., L(i-l—i), O(nudity)

Fo[...]Kastner, U.S., 2398.37m. Cinema Int'l,
V(i-m-g)

The Deacendant of wing chun: Sunrise Film Trading
Co., Hong Kong, 2[...]rod.,
2539.B0m, Dynasty Film Dist., V(i-m-i)
From the Life oi the Marionettee: Personatilm, W.
Germany. 2852.72m, V[...]t Film Enterprises, V(i-m-
Heatwave: H. Linstead, Australia, 2509.92m,
Roadshow Dist., V(l-m-/), L(l-m-i)

In[...]: Everybody‘: Allowed to Cry (16mm): L.
Bugden, Australia, 504.71m, Sydney Filmmakers Co-
op., O(emol'ional stress, adult theme)

The Kid with the Golden Arm: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong,
2347m, Joe Siu lnt’l Film Co., V(i-m—g)

The Leet Duel: Not shown, Taiwan. 2475m, Golden
Reel Films, V(l—m—g)

Love In Flrat Clan: Italian International Film,
Italy/France, 2537.81m, N.S. Prods, O(sexualallusion)
The Love Suicide: at sonezakl (16-mm): Kodosha—
Kim[...]tructed version) (a): Kennedy Miller
Enterprises, Australia, 2565.70m, Warner Bros (Aust.)
Martial club: Shaw[...]e Siu
lnt'l Film Co., V(l-m-g)

Mr Kwong Tung and the Robber (16mm): Wang
Cheung Enterprises, China, 10[...]nson lnt'l, U.S., 2743m, Reid &
Puskar, V(l-l-g)

The Phantom Killer: Raymond Chow Prod., Hong
Kong, 2593.5Bm, Dynasty Film Dist., V(l-m-g)

The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper: M. Taylor Prods, U.S.,
2733.0‘rm, Roadshow Dist., S(i—I-I). L(f-m-/')

Hong Kong,

The Security: New Force Films, Hong Kong, 3214m,
Lilo[...]Vista Video, U.S., 82 mins,
Videolink, S(i-h-g)

The Burning (pre—censor cut version): Mlramax Prods,
U.S., 24B2m, Fllmways A'esian Dist., V(i-m—g)

The Centerfold Glrla (videotape): Dimension Pictures,[...]deo Prods, U.S., 61 mins, R. O'Neill,
Olbondage)

The Golden Lady (videotape): K. Careie/P. Cowan,
Britain, 89 mins, Videolink, S(i—m-g), V(i-m-i)

The Great Eecape From Women’e Prleon (videotape):
O[...]ong, 95 mins, J 8. P
Video Tape Hire, V(i-m—g)

The Joy ot Fooling Around (videotape): J—C Ramon,
G[...]-m-I), Olnudify)

(a) See also under "Fllms Board of Review".

(b) Previously shown in an English-language version

as King, Queen, Knav[...]Love Me Deadly: Cinema National, U.S., 2565.70m,
The House of Dare, O(necrophilia theme)

Mad Max 2 (a): Kennedy Miller Enterprises, Australia,
2593.5Bm, Warner Bros (Aust.), V(l-m-g)

Mad Max 2 (reconstructed version) (b): Kennedy Miller
Enterprises, Australia, 2565.70m, Warner Bros (Aust.),
V(l-m-g)

Perla K[...]U.S., 77B.87rn,
Valhalla Films, S(I-m-I)

Slaves In Cagee (reconstructed version) (d): B.
Kobenhaven, Denmark, 1645.80m, Cinerama Films.
Sll-m-9)

The Stud and the Nympho: R. Show, Hong Kong,
2844.58 rn, Joe Siu I[...]s Vic., S(l-m-g)

(a) See also under "Films Board of Review".

(b) See also under “Films Board of Review".

(c) Previously passed “M" with deletions (Ma[...]with Eiimlnetlone

For Reetrlcted Exhibition (R)

The Beat of the New York Erotic Film Feetlvel (a):
Saliva Films,[...]l-m-g)

Reason for deletions: S(i-h-g), L(l-h-g)

The First Time (reconstructed pre-censor cut version)[...]ember 1981 list.

Films Refused Registration

All the Loving Neighbor: (16mm) (pre-censor cut
\éersion): Cine Cal Prods, U.S., 555m, 14th Mandolin,
((47-9)

4 In A Bed (16mm): Jack Films, U.S., 628.50m, 14th
Man[...]): S. Norman, U.S., 72 mins,
Videolink, S(l-h-g)

The Poaaeaalon (16mm): Not shown, U.S., 658.60m,
14th[...]., 1983.30m, Cinerama Films, S(i-h-g)

sweets For the suite (16mm): Cine Cal Prods, U.S.,
678m, 14th Ma[...]ociated Theatres, O(sexual
violence)

Films Board of Review

Mad Max 2 (a): Kennedy Miller Enterprises, Australia,
2593.58m, Warner Bros (Aust.)

Decision reviewed: Classify “R" bythe Film Censorship
Board.

Decision of the Board: Uphold the decision of the Film
Censorship Board.

Mad Max 2 (reconstructed version) (b): Kennedy Miller
Enterprises, Australia, 2565.70m, Warner Bros (Ausi.)
Decision reviewed: Classify “R" by the Film Censorship
Board.

Decision of the Board: Classify

Private Leaaona (c): R. Ben Efr[...]Prods.

Decision reviewed: Refusal to register by the Film
Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Uphoid the decision of the Film
Censorship Board.

(a) See also under "For R[...]an

Film Corporation,

Synopele: A documentary on the urban
street life of homeless children In Mel-
bourne. Made for television release.[...]wick synomk An ammat m on 6 pl a 5 O

the marketplace. Made for the Department[...]G GLASS — A Director .. .. . . . . ..John Dixon of Consumer Affairs
ON To DI5'- C°”‘P3"Y - A -[...]LM ABOUT DRAMA Length . . . . . . . . ..38 mins '
THE 1934 LOND ii" °YP0i3|°l'| _ _ _ Gau e . . . . .[...]torian 3r,o§,r,,9 srock H _ _ _ , “Fuji A SHOE OFIn release Set designer .......... .. Geoff Richards[...]Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. in release THE UNSUSPECTING CONSUMER Synopaiuz A madcap, musical[...]pany > _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ H Victorian advemure Wham the flying super hero

Length . . . . . . . . . . .[...]. . . .. 48 mins Research adviser Alex McDonald the elements of drama. Made for the rm corporarion returns to crush the evil Mr Midnight, who

Gauge . . . . . . . . . .[...]any H _ _ _ _ _ ._ Vicmrian plans to rid New York of its immigrants.

Progress . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]o MELBOURNE Director mupmer Green - 9955

about the classic air race, being filmed In Shooting stock . . . . . . ..Fu)l Scrimwmer _ _F,e,e,. Green

Australia and England for Victoria's 150th Progress[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (133)[...]a gaino One VU meter monitors input/output level. The other
continuously monitors crystal pilot tone on[...]l-lz mains or external sync pulses. 0 Wide lock—in range.

0 Manual mode to allow salvage of tapes made with near flat batteries, etc.

rgcosrigieple automatic operation. 0 Contains in—built 24OVac power supply to operate
THAN COST!

"l have been making documentary films for a number of years and I have always been

amazed that most so[...]eel—tcHeel tape
recorders.

After making a film in Antartica lastyear, where I found myself riding o[...]rystal locking‘. Recorder: 5
This conversion of the Sony TC—D5Pl?O is the result.

For the documentary film industry, especially out on loca[...]N
DICK SMITH ELECTRONICS PHONE: l02I 888 3200

THE OPEN PROGRAM EARTHWEEK82

SIR WILLIAM MCKELL
MEDIA AWARD

The Annual Award for
Excellence in

Australian Film
and Television School

FREE!

Environmental Reporting

For the writer, director or originator of a printed, broadcast or

_ televised feature on the environment.
Information on our shortterm, specialized courses conducted

throughout Australia for film, television and radio professionals PRIZES: $500 and plaque in each category

Catalogues for our training materials available in print and on $1000 0Ve1'311C01IlIl1eIldati0n

film and video tape

Get in for your chop now. Drop us a line or call us at:[...]ion,
Box 4036,
G.P.O., Sydney 2001
(02) 266 0661

The Open Program, Australian Film and Televisi[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (134)[...]t he
wants, I suppose because he has
worked a lot in a television frame-

: work.

But a lot of us can’t handle free-
dom. I mean, I can someti[...]not. Every job I start on,
I feel as though it is the first job I
am doing. There is a lot of instinc-
tive things now after 20 years that I
kn[...]and
things, but every job is like a new
one, and the way a director creates
a working situation for the cast is
very important.

You have done a lot of comedy, the
Australian brand of which might
best be described as “grotesque”,
not so much in reference to your
parts, but certainly to the tone of the
work. Do you feel more comfor-
table inside that or inside the more
refined wit-sharpening of some-
thing like ‘They’re Playing Our
Song’[...]il Simon does and I would like to
see him do more of that sort of
comedy. Yet, comedy is so hard to
do. I remember some of the funny
bits in The Removalists just not
being there in the film, even though
it was the same actors doing them.
Tony Buckley is a good ed[...]harder than
drama.

I have just finished reading the
Jack Lemmon biography. He tells a
wonderful story about the old man
on his death-bed saying, “I’m
dying.[...]Peter Cummins, Kate Fitzpatrick and Jacki

Weaver in Tom Jeffrey’: The Removalists.

leaned over and said, “What’s
t[...]m having a slight love
affaire with Neil Simon at the
moment, after two years of doing
his play. If I ever meet him, you
know, it[...]cause I have been
saying his words all this time. The
same if I ever meet Carol Bayer
Sager because I h[...]it looks primitive

John Waters and Jacki Weaver in ‘They ’re Playing Our Song’.

now, I felt very much at home in
Stork. We worked hard on that —
and I really have a soft spot for it.

But I am not as fond of Alvin,
and I hated Alvin Rides Again, even
though I accepted a part in the tele-
vision series. I don’t think Tim’s
ever forgiven me for doing The
Seagull at the Nimrod, instead of
Alvin Rides Again.

A lot of Australian comedy is based
on caricature rather t[...]only to describe it, not
to say it’s had. A lot of American
comedy, Neil Simon in particular,
works more at establishing charac-
ter, even if it finally doesn’t go all
the way . . .

That is true. It does rely on cari-
ca[...]k is great, and I must admit
that there are parts of Trial By
Marriage that really make me
laugh. But it is that kind of broad
thing you were saying, and I would
love us to get into those other areas.
It is essentially a matter of direc-
tion, I think. What we lack most
are direc[...]ed naturally, it would have
been a lot better for the program.

I have also gone offhaving a live
audie[...]to leave laughter
space. But I was talking to one of
the actors from Barney Miller,
which I think is a terrific series, and
he said there were audiences for the
first couple of series, as for
Welcome Back Kotter, but after a
while, when cults grew around some
of the characters, the audiences
used to go off their faces and it
becam[...]w why it didn’t.

I certainly don’t think any of the
so-called critics who write for news-
papers know[...]I
wish they would shut their traps,
because most of them haven’t the
first idea about making comedy. It
is no longer g[...]er, and therefore I have every
right to write for the normal
viewer.” If you are going to write
about something to which people
have given many months of great
thought and care, you have to know
what you are talking about and not
simply sit at a typewriter and, in a
couple of minutes with a few ill-
chosen words, demolish. If you do,
the public unfortunately will still
say, “Oh, it di[...]her help-
lessly, I’ll say, “Yes, but look at the
idiot who did the write-up.”

The kind of thing that happens is
illustrated by the case of Blow Out,
which is a terrific film. John
Waters,[...]w better, said to me, “I didn’t
read one good review of that, so I
didn’t bother with it.” And we had
to say to each other, “Yes, but look
at the fools who wrote the reviews.”
I think it is a lack in this country.
Newspapers seem to care so much
about the level of sports writing,
but when it comes to the arts . . .

Of course, that is not to say that
there aren’t so[...]em you feel that because they
know and care about the subject, it
is fair enough. H. G. Kippax of The
Sydney Morning Herald is one of
those I respect enormously, though
he ofte[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (135)[...]AATON FROM FILMWEST...

We’ye‘stopped-dom1’ the
askrn pree on 4 current
mode AATON’s!

\ You know about cameras. So you know AATON. Because it's the
‘ ” best. And you've heard too many who use o[...]our stocks. it's a great
opportunity to get into the best and quietest Super-‘I6 on the
market today (23db:’ldb).

There are many reaso[...]icture Services Suite 185. Raffles Hotel.
Western Australiaof
AATON cameras Ihrou hout Australia, New Zealand,
Singapore and Malays a.

ADELAIDE F[...]gh Sth. 3767 (03) 570 4407

Features: Mad Max, We of the Never .
Never A&J Castmg Agency
TV Series[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (136)Wanted

investors in documentary on life and works
of Aboriginal artist, Yirawaia MBE.
Would consider c[...]439,
Potts Point, NSW 2011
Phone: (02) 357 4194

THE STATE OF THE ART LOCATION RECORDING

Pty.

Cine Service Ltd[...]AN AGENTS FOR TUSCAN REELS & CANS

DON’T IS THE BUS!

CHARLES CRAIG has a range of vintage buses
FOR HIRE!

£3

/~

. . . covering the 1930s,Z
'40s, '50s, '60S and '70s.

Charle[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (137)[...]endary,/azz gul/arisr Talmage Farlu w — subject of Lorenzo dv Stefano’: Talmage Farlow.

1981 London Film Festival
Continued from p. 135

Arveiia Gray died in September 1981. As
he says about his music, “The blues -
that’s where we came from. Music can
change, but you don't forget the blues."

The film might be a little loose around
the edges, but its charm is as easy as a
stroll along the sidewalk.

Reminiscences have a way of
crystallizing something about an elusive
personality, but Lorenzo de Stefano in
his first major documentary as director
trusts his camera. In Talmage Farlow he
allows one digression about the
legendary jazz guitarist. Pianist Jimmy
Lyon describes how he was playing in
Greensboro, North Carolina, during
World War 2 when the door opened and
in comes this tall drip of water" carrying
a guitar. Tal Farlow played a few[...]anding.
I wondered what a guy like this was doing
in Greensboro, North Carolina. He said
he was a sign-painter."

Tal Farlow went on to become “The
Worlds Greatest Jazz Guitarist” as he
was billed in the 1950s. Then he
disappeared, shunned fame and devoted
himself to a quiet life in a seaside retreat
with his wife and his music. De Stefano
delivers the photographs, the record
covers and the clippings quickly: it is of
marginal concern. This is not a film about
why a great musician gave up the bright
lights, nor is it a scalpel job — trying[...]ast himself. as well
as being assistant editor on The Black
Marble and The Blue Lagoon, De
Stefano met Tai Farlow in 1978 and
found him “one of the most fascinating
and genuine persons l have ever met -
gifted to the point of genius, quiet in the
manner of an artisan". These are the
qualities that shine through this superb
film. As George Benson says at the
beginning, “Tai Farlow means harmony
and a humble person."

This blend of the man and his music is
the Holy Grail of documentaries on
famous musicians. That Lorenzo d[...]subject.

I88 — April CINEMA PAPERS

interested inthe creative way”, he
brought Farlow together with[...]“Jazz musicians play for each other
rather than the people out front", says
Farlow. “They talk to e[...]Edward Thomas’ precisely-framed
camera catches the moments when the
eyes glint and we hear something which
Farlow dis[...]loosen up and you
can do what you want to do.” The snap is
there too when The Tai Farlow Trio, with
Tommy Flanagan on piano and Red
Mitchell on bass, are rehearsing for the
sell-out concert which forms the final
scenes of the film.

There are scenes of Farlow at home
and sign-painting “Fat Chance" o[...]ennese wife Tina, but these arise as
naturally as the frequent image of the
lanky North Carolinian coaxing a melody
from his[...]Franklin Stettner have
achieved clean recordings of
“Fascinating Rhythm”, “Cherokee”,
"Flamingo”, “Longhorn Blues”, “Autumn
in New York" and “Jordu”, to name a few.
These j[...]have achieved a
rare creative communion — with the
music as sole entry point. As the guitarist
comments before he is about to take
the trio on stage for the New York
concert, “With a jazz trio there's pro[...]alk’ going on on stage
than there ever could be in the
audience."

Before Bob Dylan, The Weavers were
the conscience of a generation. For a
moment in 1980, in Carnegie Hall, they
were together for their last concert. They
are older, of course, and the voices
which carried the message of political
folk music in the 1950s found the strain a
bit too much at times. But they were
greeted as old friends by an exhilarated
audience, some of whom weren't around
when the group was blacklisted by
the House Un-American Activities
Committee — they knew such songs as
"Tzena Tzena”, “The Hammer Song",
“Wimoweh" and “Goodnight irene" from
the recordings of others like The
Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, and
Trini Lopez. ‘‘I know this concert will be
our last'', says the feisty Lee Hays from
his wheelchair, and it was.[...]but not before James B.
Brown completed shooting The

.‘._’,_.:’-2 .
- ‘.",_a ‘3 '_

The Weavers. from James B. Brown's Thein fact, ‘two’ films: the film
Brown intended to make about the group
and their times, supplemented with
footage taken of them playing at a pre-
arranged private picnic; and the film of
the phoenix which arose at that picnic
and went on to prepare and give its last
sell—out concert. At first the two appear
mismatched. Like a time machine gone
c[...]t entwine and
disorientation is final. Or is it?

in addition to The Weavers and Brown,
this film needs an.audience. i[...]ave been an
interesting compilation about a group of
people, cherished only by folk musicians
and agei[...]we, have.

Archive

If there were any doubt that the
activities of cinema preservationists
rated a poor third, if the fossils rated at
all, the 1981 Festival demonstrated all
too clearly that cinema history, at least in
some of its forms, has become decidely
up—market. in popular terms, television
can assume some of the credit. Thames‘
Hollywood and Granada’s Camera, both
aimed at recreating as closely as
practicable the original intentions of the
filmmakers, spurred a widening interest
in early films in general and such
particular matters as early color
processes and the correct speed. The
spin-offs have gone in all directions.

At the 1980 Festival, Martin Scorsese
lectured about his[...]negative and
positive stocks that will not fade, the BBC
produced a documentary on the work of
the National Film Archive and, flowing
directly from the Hollywood series, there
is the collaboration between the BFI and
Themes TV to present four ‘silen[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (138)Sea Vultures, the previously-lost smuggling drama b_v Victor Sjosrr[...]Ihe Swedish Film Institute.

special screenings. The first of these was
Abel Gance’s Napoleon. Falthfully rec[...]low and with a
new score by Carl Davis conducting the
Wren Orchestra, it was screened at the
1980 London Festival. Subsequent
screenings have made it a cult-film in
Britain and in the U.S. The second film,
King Vidor‘s 1928 “lntimate epic" The
Crowd, also scored by Carl Davis
conducting the Wren Orchestra, was the
piece de resistance at the 1981 Festival.

in line with the happy coincidence of
renewed interest in the silents and the
London Festival's 25th Anniversary, a
number of special events were
organized. Running concurrently with the
main program were: a retrospective of 60
films, an exhibition of past cinema
equipment — including a Kaiee Model[...]and a Technicolor 3-Strip
camera — presented by the Projected
Theatre Trust of Berkhamsted, the
launching of the BFl's Museum of the
Moving Image project for the South
Bank, and the NFA’s display of stills and
designs from past London festivals along
with a special program of archive
treasures. All received more than casual
interest.

In 1975, one of the most remarkable
private collections of early cinema was
discovered in Switzerland. Assembled
during the first decades of cinema in a
Jesuit seminary by its Abbe, Josef Joye,
it numbers some 2500 films. Most of the
collection has survived and, with the
approval of Cinematheque Suisse. was
acquired by the NFA. The Archive has
since been racing against time to copy
the fragile treasure, but stock and labor
costs have hampered the project. So far
only about 200 films have been
duplicated. From these the Archive's
Elaine Burrows, Don Swift and Clyde
Jea[...]presenting
every genre from all leading countries of
production. There is a ‘wide variety.
Lucian No[...]ion for
Pathe is a fllnchingiy palpable tableaux

of torture as a Cardinal wanders from
one tormented heretlc to another, while
The Clown and his Donkey (1910) is a
rare example of the work of an early
British animator, Charles Armstrong,
using white-on-black silhouettes.

The collection includes two films
Sidney Olcott directed for Kalem. The
first, The Lad From Old Ireland (1910),
was described in Bioscope as “A
romance of the Emerald isle . . . the first
production ever made on two continents"
and[...]'t forget Aileen.
When she writes. describing how the
bailiffs are due, Terry sails home
immediately. A

Although the end scenes are missing,
Terry and Aileen presumably marry and
return to the U.S. Olcott managed to film
on location in Ireland and New York so
that some of the footage (rural Ireland
and Terry as a construction worker in
New York) has documentary value. There
is also some fascinating trick
photography on the liner to Ireland when
Terry imagines Aileen in his arms.

The second. The Railroad Raiders of
’62 (1911), is the story (later filmed by
Buster Keaton) of the Civil War raid led
by Captain Andrews in April 1862 when
Unionist spies attempted to capture “The
General”, a Confederate locomotive.
Olcott's dramatic construction of the
chase is highlighted by some crisp cross-
cutting, perspective compositions and
location filming. The print is In excellent
condition.

Three films detailed turn-of-the-
century industrial processes. The
Making of a Modern Newspaper is a
valuable little promotion film by the Lubin
Co in 1907 and follows the production of
the Philadelphia Record from the front
desk to home delivery. The Edison Co
made Expert Glass Blowing in 1909 and,
although contemporary reviews des-
crib[...]ng his
skill at making novelty glass objects. And
the motor car production line was evi-
dently reaching Germany in 1911 when
Bllck in elne automobllfabrlk (A Glimpse
Inside a Motor Ca[...]e
as an optimistic promotion film for Opel
cars.

The extracts were a brisk runaround of
some of the features in the collection.
The storm scene from William V. Ranous'
1909 production of King Lear, for
Vitagraph, was screened presumably to
show early special effects — in this case
the storm was created by direct
scratching of the emulsion.

The St Bartholomew Night Massacre
scenes from Le Huguenot (1909) for
Gaumont is a swashbuckling example of
the work of Louis Feuillade in his
formative years. The collision scene in
Mime Misu‘s dramatization of the Titanic
disaster for Continental-Kunstfilm in
1912, In nacht und eis (in Night and ice),
is memorable for some rather obvious
use of models and hysterical acting by
the doomed officers. And an extract from
one of the series of adventure subaitern
films for Clarendon directed by Percy
Stow, Lieutenant Rose and the Chinese
Pirates (1910), was notable less for the
daring antics of Rose (P.G. Norgate) than
for the inventive special effects
employing explosives and back-
projection as the pirates are destroyed in
their lair.

By far the most impressive find to date
is a superb print of a previously lost
smuggling drama, Havsgamar (Sea[...]ctor Sjostrom
directed for Svenska Biogralteatern in
1916. The Swedish Film Institute co-
operated with the NFA in providing the
original inter-titles for the restoration.

Havsgamar is about how the unsolved
murder of a Customs officer continues to
haunt a small community when, 15 years
later, his lookalike son succeeds to the
job. It is a mature and accomplished film,
notabl[...]hard Lund and
Nils Elvfors.

Recently restored by the NFA from a
print found in the Beamish Museum, Co

Durham, Charles Brabin’s Tw[...]26) is a charming, albeit sadly-dated,
adaptation of Thomas Burke's 1917 story
Twinkietoes: A Tale of Chinatown.
Monica “Twink|etoes” Minasi (Colleen
Moore) is a Cinderella-type innocent in a
back-street world where vice and crime
have snared most. She dances in a
music-hall and dreams first of emulating
her late mother’s earlier music-hail[...]own to his
daughter, become a sometime thief, and
the jealous and spiteful Cissie (Gladys
Brockwell) who resents Twinkietoes for
her youthful innocence and for the cruel
fact that she has unintentionally cap-
tivated Cissie's husband, the champion
boxer Chuck Lightfoot (Kenneth Harlan).

Gradually they become a web which
smothers the vivacious dancer.
Although she achieves momentary
acclaim at the Limelight music hall, her
self-respect is shattered when the
vengeful Cissie turns Dad Minasi into the
hawk-faced inspector Territon (William
McDonald) of Scotland Yard. Her hopes
a memory, Twinkietoes sadly tells the
kindly and ubiquitous wino, Hank (Lucien
Llttlefield), that she is going far away.

In a letter to the Festival organizers,
Colleen Moore explained how she
insisted on two endings: the Burke
version where Twinkietoes drowns, and
Twink[...]has finally
divorced Cissie. She left exhibitors the
choice as to which ending should be
used. invariably they chose the latter.
and it is this version which survives in the
Beamish print.

The restoration is admirable, pre-
serving James C. V[...]dulated
photography and compositions which
mirror the narrative, changing from
bright sunny opening sce[...]-enshrouded streets at night.
Some shots, such as the one of Twinkle-
toes, back-lit, talking to a draught horse
near a street-market, are rivetting. The
dream sequences, where Twinkietoes
imagines herself as a famous ballerina
arising from the arrangement of tea-
leaves in a cup, anticipate Busby
Berkeley’s polished ens[...]s spiked her drink, to her
rapturous reception at the Limelight,
where she is seen dancing in the pupils
of Chuck's eyes.

These technical flourishes, howeve[...]essentially pedestrian and
melodramatic plot, and the film remains
a mere vehicle for the mischievous and
effervescent talent of Colleen Moore.

Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B.
Sc[...]ncidentally, a 35mm di-
acetate safety print with the original
tinted scenes was found in the Natural
History Museum in London. it was this
print that was screened at the Festival
although, as Kevin Brownlow reassured
the audience, this sort of thing will be
done with it "not too many times”.

Chang was the result of Schoedsack
and Cooper’s opinion that documentar[...]wherebythey could film
on location, but dress up the production
using Hollywood dramatic values.
Despite problems on location in northern

CINEMA PAPERS April — I89

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (139)[...]ses

35mm €5’I6mm Neg'atiw Cutting, beginning in Maw}, 1983

CHRIS HOWELL PRODUCTIONS

Three-year diploma course

Training in
Penshurst Street’ Camera Sound Editing
wllloug[...]ants for both courses must be . . . .

0 resident in Australia
0 able to submit a portfolio of work with their application
0 mature, dedicated, knowledgeable and creative.

The AFTS is a statutory authority funded by the Federal government.
Full time AFTS students are p[...]es where applicable.

All applications must be on the appropriate official application form,
ava[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (140)Siam, they brought in a film about a
Siamese family pioneering a new patch
of jungle. The father, Kru, captures a
baby chang (elephant) and keeps it. The
tormented mother chang rescues her
baby, precipitating the return of the
Great Herd — unslghted since the youth
of the wise men in the nearby village.

The drama-documentary approach
spotlights cross—currents which are
never entirely resolved. The stllted
amateur actors, recreating aspects of
their daily lives for the camera, appear
awkward and misplaced, and it is c[...]t Flaherty’a
films, then directing participants in situ
revealed its own problems.

Their technical attempts to enliven the
action oscillate between momentary
success and di[...]h’s loquacious inter-
titles stretch far beyond the charming: a
shot of a baby bear — “Ma‘m, dear,
please tell me a bear story"; the
elephants In a kraal — "Man’s brain
overcomes the Elephant’s brawn”; and
Kru to his elephant — “Bring me a length
of sugar-cane, 0 very small daughter."

The best moments in chang belie the
overall aim. Kru‘s family packing up for
the night includes touching grab shots of
the rounding up of the pups and piglets,
and the green-tinted jungle shots of
monkeys swinging in the trees and tiger:
in the undergrowth reveal an eye for
unrehearsed action. The set-piece
elephant charge through the village,
filmed in Magnascope, is a com-
mendable montage — cutting from
Schoedsack's camera in a reinforced pit
to Cooper’s in an overhanging tree.‘

Although the film's theoretical basis is
largely bankrupt, it is. nonetheless, a
valuable film, shocking in the
conservation-conscious 1980s, yet a
moment of experimentation from the
men who later got it right with King Kong.

Hollywood celebrated the coming of
sound with "a||-star vaudeville and revue
entertainment” and it wasn't long before
the British cinema provided its own
home-grown pastiche. The NFA has
reassembled Adrian Brunel’s Eistree
Calling, made for British international
Pictures in 1930, from various sources.
That's Entertainment, British-style,

1. The film was almost boiled during
processing and because the scene was
impossible to reshoot, each blank frame[...]osed on a step-printer. it lsior
this reason that the charge scene appears

I'll"! IN Mk!-

Frirz Lang’s House by the River.

1981 London Film Festival

Adrian Brunel’s I930 variety compilation, Elstree Culling, restored by the British National Film Archive.

suffers as much from the lack of a good
press over the past 50 years as from the
fact that the appeal of the music hall in
the 1920s isn't exactly timeless.
Predictably, however, not all of it is
forgettable. Lily Morris sings two cheeky
numbers, “Why Am i Always the
Bridesmaid" and “He's Only A Working
Man", the Three Eddies slide effortlessly
through “Dance Around in Your Bones"
and Teddy Brown (large enough for two[...]a
perform an acceptable “Ain‘t
Misbehavin”. The items are linked by
Tommy Handley doing a routine[...]tely tries to get his homemade
set to work before the show is over.
Some of the comedy sketches have
some exceilent gags: such as the attempt
to inject a some of culture into the show

by reciting the soliloquy from Hamlet
during a magic act, and Donald Calthrop
and Anna May Wong's burlesque of a
scene from The Taming of the Shrew
where he rides round in circles whipping
a motor-cycle while she throws furniture
and custard pies. The film includes four
dance routines in Pathe stencil color and
an interpolated item dire[...]a husband returns
home to his adulterous wife (“Of no
interest whatever”, he told Francois
Truffaut).

Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect
of Elstree Calling is that it lacks the style
of the satirical short with which the
Festival programmers introduced it.

Walter Creighton’s The shaming of
the True (1930), from a deadpan script by
Beverley Ni[...]irbanks and Mary Pickford
were appearing on stage in London in
The Taming of the Shrew.

Until the NFA found a 35mm negative
of Fritz Lang’s House by the River (1950),
it survived as a handful of battered 16mm
prints and was the rarest Lang film still
extant. Now restored to pristine
condition, it was screened to an audience
consisting of a few Lang enthusiasts.
Based on Alan Herbert’s[...]vant girl, dumps her body into a
river, then uses the experience as
material for his next project, the film
echoes such other Lang films as Scarlet
Street in its theme of creativity growing
out of death, as well as pointing forward
to the overlapping appearances of guilt
and innocence in Beyond a Reasonable
Doubt.

The discovery of the negative is
fortuitous in the light of the present re-
evaluation of Lang and the re-thinking, in
an extra-auteurist sense, of the Lang-
text.’ ‘Ar

2. See Stephen Jenkins (ed.), Fritz Lang: The
Image and the Look, BFI, 1981.

Phil Taylor

TO ADVERTISE IN

Ring

Peggy Nicholls: Melbourne 830 I09[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (141)The Quarter

Saura, Spain and Mama
Continued from p.[...]nd fumbles
while trying to fly, against all laws of physics, his
oversized kite.

Despite much amateu[...]s attempts are
doomed to failure. His involvement in such
unpragmatic and unproductive activities receives
dire warnings from the Mama that his allow-
ance will be cut off. Her response is typical of
governmental attitudes towards those who func-
tion in society as dreamers — writers, poets and
painters.

The youngest grand-daughter in the film also
lives in a dream world full of the fears and fan-
tasies of childhood, that runs parallel to those
which have been revealed of the adults in the
film. She experiments with a tale she has heard
which rings of witchcraft and voodoo, and that
involves jamming her finger in her bedroom
door and watching it turn black at sunrise. She
lives peripherally and vicariously around the
adults, picking magpie-like at the scraps of
details of their lives which they leave uncovered
behind the[...]es all these activ-
ities from her bedroom, or at the
times when she is ceremoniously
brought to the dinner table. Her
bedroom is a web of memories, scat-
tered with photographs and infused with her own
reminiscences which she verbalizes to the sym-
pathetic Anna, who she draws to her bosom as
the only non-partisan member of the group.
Her undefined illness, which manifests itself in
recurrent and perilous fits, eased only by medi-
cine, is the subject of individual pathos in its
concern with the frailty of old age, but is also
symbolic of the weakness of the state, that which
the Mama most ultimately represents, when
beset by self-interested groups in the
community.
In the capacity of her relationship with the

Mama, Anna represents Foreign Aid, as it is to
Anna that the Mama looks for protection
against her family’s[...]le
as foreign aid is highlighted by her return to the
use of English at specific moments of the film.
On the personal level of their relationship, it is
the Mama who steps in, in her psychic form, to
aid Anna as she weeps in a cave after realizing
her husband’s infidelity, dispensing wisdom on
the nature of love and marriage. Their relation-
ship and its operation on two different levels is
typical of the blend in this film of political and
individual concerns.

The friction between members of the family,
the family and the Mama, and between Anna
and her now contrite husband, culminates in the
final scene: the anticipated day of the Mama’s
100th birthday. In another of the psychic scenes
of the film, Juan has returned, willed by Fer-
nando to appease the distressed Mama who
pines for her son’s presence on her birthday.
Luchi lays siege in trying to make him return to
her. Natalia dances a heady flamingo in her
bewitching dress in front of a boggle-eyed
Antonio. Fernando tries to realize his affection
for Anna by acting out the words of advice the
Mama has given him. Anna reassumes her
maternal role with Natalia when she offers her a
cup of hot chocolate, which Natalia scornfully
refuses. And eventually the Mama has the fit
which the family has been greedily awaiting.
Despite Anna’s attempts to give her medicine,
the Mama appears to die.

But there is an unexplained gust of wind,
curtains flap and the Mama comes back to life.
She casts out those who have plotted against her,
including the weak and feeble-minded Fer-
nando, as would any leader after an attempted
coup. The state is stronger for having dealt with
those who worked against it. The film leaves its
interior setting and returns to the outside world,
the camera looks back reflectively on the house
where the events have taken place.

Most characters in the film, in keeping with
its concerns, have a certain childlike quality to
them: Anna in her failure to see the realities of
the situation she has stepped back into; Antonio
in his willing seduction by Natalia and nail-

Saura[...]husband to stay and not return to
his lover. And the Mama, though having adult
realization of the schemings of her family and
dealing mature advice to Anna and Fernando, is

happiest when dwelling in the world of her
childhood.

11 her birthday she is thrilled to be
lowered from the ceiling in a
garland-bedecked chair as she was
when she was[...]s her food as a child with lip-
smacking delight. The shabby and shambling
Fernando has never lived in an adult world.
Ironically, the ruthless girls with their scheming
ways display no childish attributes. It is in them
that Anna most expects to find those traits.
The images in the film are rich and potent: the
stark landscape on which the memorial scene for
Jose is held beside his tombstone, and from
which the pink and cream house juts out incon-
gruously. The scene of the birthday party stands
out in its sumptuousness. The film is sprinkled
with Spanish elements such as the flamenco
dancing and the religious pictures which feature
in the house and particularly in the«Mama’s
bedroom. These particulars give credenc[...]e by Argentinian Norman
Brinski, that not only is the work of Saura
imbued with his own personal interests in indivi-
duals, and his life under Franco, but with the
whole Hispanic, including Latin-American,
culture[...]ez, and artists like Goya, who
bring a world rich in imagination to Western
culture. *

References

Program of San Sebastian Film Festival 1979.

Marsha Kinder, “Carlos Saura: The Political Development
of Individual Consciousness”, Film Quarterly (Spri[...]1980, pp. l3-17).

Vicente Molina-Fox, New Cinema in Spain, B.F.I.
publication.

during the AFl screening schedule)

example,

if eight AFI

members paid-up members would be allowed to

The Quarter
Continued from p. I 09

the Features Division of the Film and
Television Production of Australia in
Sydney, the changes were debated by
concerned producers. Kathleen Norris,
executive director of the AFI, attended
to present the AFl’s case, explaining
the logistical and cost problems of
screening so many films.

Despite lengthy and oft[...]estion out his ear?
— no agreement was reached. The
FTPAA did, however, appoint a sub-
committee of Sue Milliken (producer
and FTPAA Features Divisio[...]), David Roe (producer and ex-
executive director of the AFI) and
Henry Crawford (producer and AFC
commissioner) to examine the issues
and report back.

An extraordinary meeting was then
called for March 11 in Sydney. A
motion was then passed that:

The FTPAA strongly urges the AFI

to reconsider the introduction of a

pre-selection process in this year’s

Awards and that the AFI rationalize

its screening schedule to maximize

industry voting by increasing the
number of screenings of eligible
films to four in Sydney and Mel-
bourne (except that this number b[...]ilms that have had a sub-
stantial release or are in release

2. The National Times, March 7.

192 — April CINEMA PAPERS

and that the AFI screen all eligible

films once in other capital city

venues.”

The next day a discussion was held
with FTPAA members in Melbourne.
The attitude there, according to Sue
Milliken, was slightly different to that of
their Sydney colleagues. Most were not
overly concerned about the pre-selec-
tion process, but were most worried
about the small number of working
voters.

Norris says the changes were made
only after getting near-unanimo[...]e contacted,
many informally over lunch, and some
of those consulted subsequently voted
along with the FTPAA motion. Had a
serious survey been undertaken, the
number consulted would have been 10
times as larg[...]and film people (par-
ticularly those not living in Sydney) that
they were ignored.

As of March 19, Norris said the AFI
had still not come to any agreement
with the relevant guilds and
associations, but stressed the AFI was
“sensitive” to the opinions expressed.

One compromise solution the AFI
and the FTPAA are considering is a
kind of expanded pre-selection
process. Namely, the AFI will appoint
four jurors for each of the 13 cate-
gories, and hold screenings of all films
in Melbourne and Sydney. if other AFl
members wish to see all the films, they
can and their vote will be counted. For

accredited to vote for the editing Award
see all the films, the total number of
votes cast in the editing pre-selection is
12. Naturally, if no AFI member makes
it through all the screenings, the jury
pre-selection will stand. Voting will be
by secret ballot.

Once a decision is reached on the
pre-selected films, those films will be
again screened in the capital cities for
AFl members to vote on.

In theory, this is an acceptable com-
promise, as both systems can be tested
against each other. Unfortunately, the
scheme may be rendered useless if the
date of print closure is changed, as is
unfairly being urged by the AFI, to June
30. This would mean the number of
eligible films would leap from 28 to
perhaps 42. The number needing pre-
selection screenings would increase
likewise.

Only one producer at the second
FTPAA meeting was known to support
the change of date; his film won’t be
ready by May 21.

Obvio[...]have already been raised and, if
inflamed again, the threatened boycott
of the Awards by some producers and
organizations could happen.

if the AFI awards are boycotted, who
would run any substitute awards? The
FTPAA could step in, or an association
of guilds formed specially to manage
them. Neither,[...]er body or bodies can
claim to be as objective as the AFI.

if the guilds ran the Awards, for
instance, it is conceivable that only

vote in their relevant categories (e.g.,
only ACS members[...]ith suffi-
cient experience can vote at present).
The AFl has been intransigent on this
point and shoul[...]lowed to
exclude other, equally-qualified
people, the fairness of the system is
open to abuse.

Equally, if the FTPAA, say, or Actors’
Equity. had a controllin[...]certain categories — if not barred
altogether. The AFI may have well
demonstrated the difficulty of pro-
viding a legally-crisp definition of an
“Australian film”, but a loose definition[...]strictive one.

One could also raise doubts about
the ability of any group or groups to co-
ordinate the Awards on at least a three-
state basis.

No, the AFI is the body which can
best run the Awards. It is not entirely
free of outside pressures (the AFC’s
keenness to have the 1978 Awards in
Perth is one example), but it is freer of
vested interests than comparable
bodies.

Holding the Awards is also impor-
tant for the AFI if it is to maintain a sig-
nificant industry profile. The AFI oper-
ates many of its activities outside the
industry at large; this is one of its

Concluded on p. I 94

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (142)Rich and Famous

Film Reviews

Continued from p. I 71

In some ways, Rich and Famous is
the film Cukor has always been want-
ing to make: that is, one in which the
women are not only more sympathetic
and intelligent than the men, but are
ultimately allowed by ‘the script to be
so. As Gary Carey says in his essay on
Cukor in Cinema.‘ A Critical Dic-
tionary’ (and he is[...]ly to Katharine Hepburn):

. . more and more, as the decade
[the 19305] progressed, the heroine
was given her come-uppance. Having
had he[...]rtheless, Carey rightly claims,
“no matter what the script may say,
the women in Cukor’s films are
always superior to the men in their
intelligence, their sensibility and the
sheer vibrancy of their presence.”
With the two women in Rich and

Famous, Cukor no longer needs even a

t[...]ging them to

(male) heel.

I cannot predict what the radical
feminists will make of Liz (Jacqueline
Bisset) and Merry (Candice Bergen[...]y Gerald Ayres’
screenplay, has brought them to the
ultimate realization that they are the
best things in each other’s lives.

As everyone must by now know, the
film is a re-make of the 1943 Warners’
film Old Acquaintance in which Bette
Davis and Miriam Hopkins played the
Bisset and Bergen roles. This film was
in turn based on John van Druten’s play
of the same name, and, whatever is to
be said for the Davis-Hopkins duo,
there is not much to be said for van
Druten. The play is a pedestrian
matinee piece, schematic in its treat-
ment of the career woman and the
housewife-novelist, and it is only the
intelligence and wit of the Warners’
ladies that lifts the film clear of cliche.

Rich and Famous does not, of course,
always avoid cliche, but it fills in the
contours of its women’s lives with more
entertaining detail, and is more truly
interested in their feelings. Liz and
Merry are old college friends and the
film focuses on four occasions in 20-
odd years of their lives.

The first is 1959 when, in a stun-
ningly-lit and romantically-scored night[...]Liz urging them to “have a wonderful
life”.

The second is 1969, UCLA, where
Liz is being introduc[...]ed
with feminist politics, as Merry comes
rushing in with her daughter. This is
perhaps the most richly-textured of the
four main sections, as Liz and Merry
size up each[...]hairstyle, so that Liz’s rest-
lessness within the success which Merry

another reviewer, but I mean to express
dissatisfaction with a review ofa film by a
major filmmaker, one that never b[...]I980, p. 239.

Liz Hamilton (Jacqueline Bisset), the
successfully-serious novelist, and Merry
(Candice Bergen), a secretive writer of trash.
George Cukor’s Rich and Famous.

admires her for and Merry’s not—quite-
satisfaction in her Malibu house and
apparently happy marriage play against
each other in a lively tension. Merry
has written a boxful of trashy novels in
her spare time and this section of the
film ends with Liz, back in New York,
persuading her publisher to read it.
Be[...]ion and we
watch her watching herself. Everything
in the decor of her new house, in her
costume, in the lighting of the scene
points to her fabulous success as a best-
s[...]nted by Liz’s
continuing edginess with her kind of
success. It is the kind that wins
academic respect — and a cramped
apartment — and the film (i.e., Cukor
and his production designer, J[...]utely knowing about what mise
en scene can reveal of character.
Doug, Merry’s husband who loves (?)[...]friend”. All these scenes are very per-
ceptive in their emotional coloring:
nothing in the feeling between married
Doug and Merry or between divorcing

Doug and Liz enerates the same kind
of response as o the enduring ups and
downs of friendship between the two
women.

The 1981 New York se uence finds
Liz a propriately ensconce at the nice,
dow y Algonquin and Merry, also
appropriately, at the plushy Waldorf
Astoria. Merry has at last written a
“real book” and Liz is on the panel to
judge the Book of the Year. Having got
over Doug’s departure, Merry is, as she
says, now “a woman of proven talents
sitting by the fire playing the piano”,
while Liz, her reputation high enough
to get her on to the panel, is bedding

young men who quote Lawrence and

Eliot in bed.

Inevitably the friendship is pushed
towards breaking point and there is a
fight that recalls — and obliterates —
the slanging match in The Turning
Point. (Cukor makes the moment.of
physical violence inevitable and
important; Herbe[...]ue, or describing camera set—ups
that reinforce the complementary
natures of Liz and Merry, or indexing
the way the feeling between them varies
and grows, it is hard not to sound
arbitrary when I say that the final scene
is earnl. It ought to be merely senti-
mental (“My oldest friend — what else
have we got in life.”) and of course in
part it is, but it is still saved by its wit
(“[...]“They’re
beginning to look alike.”) and by the
film’s sense of lives that have “achieved
a helluva lot”. Mer[...]Eve party to join Liz at her
country hearth, and the film closes on a
long-held shot of the two Women flank-
ing the screen, the glow of the fire and
the gleam of glasses between them.

It is, as I recall, an almost exact copy
of the end of Vincent Sherman’s 1943
film, and a very good ending it is. Like
the whole film, it has real warmth and,
for the 1980s, makes a quite audacious
appeal to audience feeling.

Like last year’s highly successful The
Four Seasons, Rich and Famous is at
least partly a hymn to friendship. Like
the earlier film, it acknowledges the
potential for irritation and jealousy in
any close relationship; it also applauds
the hard-won durability of the feeling
that keeps these disparate women
together.

Cukor is a great director of women
(he is also a great director of men —
vide James Mason in A Star is Born,
Cary Grant and Lew Ayres in Holiday,
Aldo Ray in The Marrying Kind) and
he has achieved from Bisset and
Bergen the best perfonnances of their
careers. For a while into the film, one
wonders if they can possibly transmute
the basically novelettish outline of the
story as Davis and Hopkins did. They
don’t come to their roles with the reson-
ance of a long line of star successes and
the confidence of established screen
personage that their predecessors did.
At first I wondered if it was a matter of
their age, but though Hopkins was six
years older in 1943 than Bergen in
1981, Davis was two years younger
than Bisset. Th[...]probably had less
to do with their ages than with the sorts
of knowledge of them the audience
brought to its perception of them.

As it is, Cukor has a harder job than
Sherman in creating two full—throttled

star performances, but he brings it off.
Bergen, in the easier role, is marvel-
lously funny and touching[...]exual questing is never really explained
or built in. There is an element ofcliche
in the assumption that the intellectual
woman should be sexually unfulfilled
and therefore prone (to use the term
loosely) to_ cramped coitus in an aero-
plane loo or a pushover for an 18-year
old Don Juan of the streets.

Bisset works away intelligently to
fill out the role, and under Cukor’s
direction, with its eye for the externals
that reflect what is going on inside, s[...]incingly as any two actresses I
remember.

As for the others, if John Loder and
Gig Young hardly mattered in 1943,
David Selby and Hart Bochner are
practically invisible in 1982 as Merry’s
husband and Liz’s latest bed-mate. In a
way, the final declaration of faith in the
women’s friendship might have been
more strikin[...]Nobody else matters, though there
are nice little in-jokes in having
scenarist Fay Kanin as the college
professor welcoming Liz to UCLA, and
in some of the party guests (e.g.,
Marsha Hunt, Christopher Isher-
wood). As to actors, the film is a duet
and the instrument has been tuned by a
master.

Cukor is back in familiar territory —
the area between private and public
selves, the persistence of a relationship
in the teeth of competition and jealousy
— and he is back with[...]-
tainment, a pervasively intelligent
refiection of contemporary mores.

Rich and Famous: Directed[...]s, based on a play by John van Druten. Direc-
tor of photography: Don Peterman. Editor: John
F.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (143)40

IF YOU NEED
CONTACT

10 YEAR
IN THE BUSINESS OF
SHORT FILM PRODUCTION

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

PROD[...]wishes to purchase
1974 book titled

Allan Dwan: The Last Pioneer
by Peter Bogdonovich

Contact: Warre[...]inders Lane,
Melbourne 3000
Phone: [03] 652 4244

The Quarter

Continued from p. I 92

strengths. But i[...]onal
seminars and open meetings are
insufficient. The Awards, with its high
degree of industry co-operation and
feedback (the fracas this year being a
perfect example), gives the AFI that
vital contact. it is now up to the AFI to
balance its desire to change the
Awards against the reality of being part
of an industry. It is a test by which the
AFI will be judged.

Ulla Ryghe

uIIIlllnlllluIIIInnIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllll

Ulla Ryghe, editor of nine of Ingmar
Bergman's films, including The
Silence, Persona and Hour of the Wolf,
has joined The Australian Film and
Television School as acting head of the
Editing Workshop.

Ryghe has taught at the Swedish
Film Institute, McGill University, The
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation and
in Swiss Television. She has edited for
the Canadian National Film Board and
been a freelance documentary director
in Montreal and Toronto. She came to
Australia from Paris where she had
been working on International Co-pro-
ductions for the Swedish Film Institute.

AFC Changes

The Minister for Home Affairs, lan
Wilson, has announced the appoint-
ment of Sir James Cruthers as part-
time chairman of the Australian Film
Commission. The appointment is for a
three-year term.

Cruthers has had a long career in the

194 — April CINEMA PAPERS

media industry, starting at the Perth
Daily News in 1939. in 1959, he was
appointed general manager of TVW-7
with a brief to set up Perth's first tele-
vision station. He subsequently joined
the board of directors, and, in 1976,
became chairman and managing
director, before retiring in 1981.

Cruthers is also a committee
member of the Children’s Television
Foundation and has recently been
appointed a director of the board of
United Telecasters Sydney.

Ray Beattie has been appointed a
part-time commissioner of the AFC for
a three-year term. Beattie has had a
long involvement with the film industry
and is chief executive of Atlab Australia
and president of the Film and Tele-
vision Production Association of
Australia.

Beattie began his career at Color-
film in 1958, becoming senior manager
in 1960. in 1962, he joined Eric Porter
Studios where he established and
managed the Porter Processing Film
Laboratory. His association with Atlab
began in 1966, as sales manager,
becoming chief executive in 1970.

The retiring part-time commissioner
is David Williams, who was appointed
to the AFC in 1979. Williams, one of the
most active supporters of a local film
industry, is general manager of the
Greater Union Organization.

ATAEA

IIIIIIIIIIDIIIIIII IIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIOIII I IIIIIIIII I III

The Australian Theatrical and
Amusement Employees Association
has recently announced the results of
its management elections. Those
elected were: Lyn[...]78-80 STANLEY STREET, COLLINGWOOD
VICTORIA, 3066. AUSTRALIA.
Telephone: (03) 41 4245 After hours: (03) 850 20[...]Schuberth
— executive. Reportedly, 35 per cent of
ATAEA members (1650) voted.

One of the major issues of the
election was whether Damien Stapleton
would be re[...]rly unfavorable pre-
election press, particularly in the
Sydney film newspaper, Filmnews,
which ran a high[...]nst it, he's running on his record
and a campaign of smear ‘n’ fear",
etc.).

According to Filmnews, Simon
Jenkins defeated Stapleton by 11
votes. But the issue didn’t finish there.
Stapleton called an emergency
meeting of the ATAEA federal council
and challenged the election results,
saying not all members received[...]tion has obviously
raised serious questions about the
ATAEA’s handling of such simple pro-
cedures as a democratic vote. An[...]opments will be viewed with great
interest by all in the film industry.

ATOM

The Australian Teachers of Media
(publisher of Metro) has launched a
new series of study guide publications,
entitled “Australian Feature Films in the
Classroom". The first was released to
coincide with the Australian premiere
of Puberty Blues in Melbourne. (Bruce
Beresford's film was the subject of the
first guide.)

Current resource material is needed
to assist in any study of Australian
feature films. included in the study
guides will be reviews, production
details,[...]ing
used to allow classroom display, and
there is the opportunity to acquire inex-
pensive class sets. Publication of the
study guides will coincide with key
release dates of those films selected as
subject material.

ATOM i[...]y
and tertiary media teachers and institu-
tions, the media industry and people
from the community with a broad in-
terest in the mass media.

For more information regarding the
Australian Teachers of Media and the
“Australian Feature Films in the Class-
room” series, contact: Lee Burton,
Secre[...]after six-and-a-
half years as full-time chairman of the
Australian Film Commission.

watts became chairman of the AFC
in May 1975 after 25 years with the
ABC, during which time he was director
and controller of television programs,
initiating the current affairs program,
This Day Tonight, and fi[...]manager-TV from 1972 to
1975.

Watts represented the ABC and Aus-
tralia at UNESCO conferences, was a
delegate to the European Broad-
casting Union and has been a member
of the Australian Film and Television
School's Council.

Watts recently became the chair-
man of the Australian Children's Tele-
vision Foundation. *

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (144)[...]nd tonal effects are carefully
followed resulting in fine photographic prints for industry, commerce a[...]ber is supplied sales tax will be
added at a rate of 30%.

OVERTIME: Overtime by negotiation.
LIABILITY: Every care is taken with
clients film/order, however in case of

loss CPL liability is limited to the re-
placement of sensitised material only.

PHONE: 240 8408[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (145)[...]ne
and find out!

For further infotmation contact the sole Australian distributor
‘PICS Australasia P[...]2948

FOR STUDIO BOOKINGS, PHONE: Alex Simpson,

In Singapore,
Malaysia, the
Far East,
Indonesia and
Australia . . .
you're in

FILMVVEST COUNTRY

Since 1967 we've been
making[...]sale.

We are fully equipped, fully
staffed with the best
equipment and some of the
most creative people in the

business, capable of handling

everything from scripts to
music, shooting to screening.
Along the way we've won
many awards. So if you'd like
to win an award for your next
film or commercial, call us, in
Perth or Singapore.

We'd like to show you what
w[...]Ltd

75 Bennett Street. East Perth 6000. Western
Australia. Phone 325 ‘I177, 3251423.
Cables “Filmwest"[...]LMWST. Cable Raflotel

importers 8: distributors of
AATON cameras, Sachtier
Tripods, KEM Editing
Mach[...]filters
and gels?

T _ For further Information on the largest
range of lighting filters in the world,

eontact=the'so1e Australian agents for Rosco. V

‘PI[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (146)[...]ed tungsten type color negative film is available in both 16mm and 35mm

Here’s some news that should light up your smile: the world's first high—speed
tungsten type color negative film for motion pictures with an exposure index of

250 is here!

lt‘s Fujicolor A250. . .and it’s the most sensitive motion picture film available today.

Imagine the possibilities. Now you can capture the soft facial features of a
woman in a dim room. Or the misting greys of a gentle rain at dawn. Or even the
kaleidescope of colors lurking in an underwater reef. All in natural light. All without
coarse grain. All on Fujicolor A250.

So the next time you’re faced with a difficult scene, think of Fujicolor A250.
With an exposure index of 250, it’s sure

to brighten your day! X[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (147)[...]. Q
1 0 I . O .
‘ c
.~ Q

,. , '. "v'SnQ'[A1‘ THE HELM % ,'
- :0 AANEW-DIMEN8‘0N \N. %

:FlLM SO[...]tion' and Eiolby Stereo —-- a rievir era fo°_r the film p-roducer
0 .: who is-lookfng to a standard of gound mixing and optical track quality that

'_ w[...]qual5‘§o,an3fth'5ng_offe.I;ed anywhere ,i;_p—the worgd. , '
. . 6 . . 8 '

O

I-
I[...]- 0
Television Centre Epplng,. .
NSW 2121, Australia . ‘
o J 9 Telephone (02) 858 7500 i I _,[...]

TXT

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (148)[...]recorder has completed the[...]The major feature of the CTR-3 is the[...]its associated dichroic optics. This assures the
elimination of the raster line structure without[...]combined with the quality of Eastmancolor
film from Kodak, the color saturation and[...]The impact of all this is the coming
together of the film and video laboratories.[...]Now a job can be shot on film, have all the[...]The potential is unlimited and the time[...]to be the first to introduce it to Australia."[...](A Division of the Colorfilm Group)[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (149) Everybody says

the Victorian film industry ha sa com plex[...]A couple of years ago[...]the Victorian Film Corporation opened[...]the Melbourne Film Studio.[...]nearly 12 million dollars in production pass[...]be able to work free from the weather, flight paths[...]and the neighbourhood dog.[...]On April 1 1982, the V.F.C. will open Phase 2.[...]Together with the existing sound stage, it will be[...]the best plug-in production complex In this country.[...]have the morning tea scones hot before you've[...]rolled the first shot[...]The Victorian Rim Corporation underwrites this[...]before the new financial year scramble.[...]Call the Victorian Film Corporation on[...]Victorian Film Corporation

Office: 4 0 9 K IN G STREET, MELBOURNE
Studio: 117 ROUSE STR[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (150)[...]ude that com pensates for
camera film, available in 16mm and even the m ost severe exposure So in summary, all w e can
35mm, that will positively[...]elivers such a fine say is that if you've got the creative
the creation of any m asterpiece. grain that every frame can be know-how, and the will, w e've got
appreciated as a work of art in itself. the way. New Gevacolor Type 682.
New Geva[...]can be processed without any of the
This film passes even the problems created.by climatic Head Office, EO. Box 48,
toughest of tests with flying colours conditions. And it's c[...]th Nunawading, VIC. 3131.
(if you'll forgive the pun), the process employed by m ost major
reproduci[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (151)The New South Wales Film Corporation is devoting incr[...]and project development.

We are also in the business of investing in and arranging fin a n ce !o r m otion^[...]back this up, we offer a full range of marketing services, including a

^ M i ^ M K ^ B a B i i a t e gicallY-olaced office in Los Angeles.
So, if you want to develop or make a movie, now's the right time to get in touch[...]45 Macquarie Street. Svdnev, Australia 2000
Telephone (02[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (152) is proud to have been associated with the production of
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (153)[...]McFarlane

Women in Drama:
Meg Stewar[...]ture Preview: 117
The Quarter[...]Women in Drama
Interview: 120 Picture Pre[...]Heatwave
Review: 164 Mari Kuttna, Phil Taylor 149 Review: 163
Film Censors[...]175
Priest of Love
John Titt[...]Dave Nash

Best of Friends
Jim Mu[...]Sam Rohdie

Recent Releases
Merv[...]Papers is produced with financial assistance from the Australian Film Commission.
Ian Baillieu, Brian[...]aurice Perera. Proof-reading: Articles represent the views of their authors and not necessarily those of the editors. While every
Arthur Salton. Design and L[...]and materials supplied for this magazine, neither the Editors nor
Administration: Patricia Amad. Secre[...]inclair. Office Assistant: Jackie Town. the Publishers accept any liability for loss or damag[...]reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the copyright owner. Cinema Papers is
Advertising: P[...]pesetting: B-P Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3051. Telephone: (03) 329 5983.
Typesett[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (154)1982 Awgie Awards Seymour Centre in Sydney. Seasons of jury system in preference for industry[...]to voting. All eligible features were
The Australian Writers' Guild's 15th Queensland, A.C.T., Western Aus screened in Melbourne, Sydney and
Annual Awgie Awards, sponsored by tralia, New Zealand and the Lyric Adelaide (and in later years in Perth,
Ampol, were announced on March 4 in Theatre, London. Faber and Faber[...]film
the play. before voting in the category or cate
The awards were presented by the gories of their expertise (e.g., editing or
State Minister for the Arts, Murray Hill, Ron Elisha's other produced play sound). They also voted with AFI
and the guest of honor, Professor was In Duty Bound, presented by the members (full and associate) for the
Manning Clark, A.C., to writers in 13 Melbourne Theatre Company in two Best Film Award.
categories, with the winner for an Origi seasons in 1979-80.
nal Work for the Stage, Ron Elisha for Some years later, the procedure was
Einstein, also winning the major Awgie Ron Elisha was born in Israel in 1951 changed and all voters had to be
Award for Outstanding Work. and emigrated to Australia with his members of the AFI, which now has an
family in 1953. He graduated in medi open membership.
The awards were announced after cine from Melbourne University in
the dinner in the opulent Victorian sur 1975, completed his residency in This year, with no forewarning, the
roundings of Edmund Wright House Sydney and is now practising in judging system was changed again.
with the Musica de Camera Quartet Melbourne. His interest in writing dates Due to what the AFI feared would be an
(harpsichord, two recorde[...]om 1967. avalanche of entries (35 being the
da gamba) playing baroque music[...]ure quoted), it decided to pre-select
throughout the evening. Awards Fracas the features down to a " manageable"[...]level. The proposal was that a "com-
Master of ceremonies was Adelaide M ajor changes to the Australian Film mittee of eminent film industry profes
playwright Rob Geor[...]ed by sionals" select four " nominations" in
work, Percy and Rose, centred on the the organizing body, the Australian each of 13 categories, which would
relationship of Australian composer Film Institute. The industry has not ac then be voted on by all int[...]: (i) Four films in 13 categories means
Grey, was premiered at the 1982
Adelaide Festival of Arts. The AFI could have had little idea that up[...]be pre-selected (assuming that
Names of the winners in each cate through the film industry with its number of films was ever pro
gory, together with brief biographical announcement of the rules governing duced in one year). So, such a
details and some of their other writing the 1982 Awards. The controversy pre-selection procedur[...]known), follow: centres on changes to the judging of in itself mean the final number of
feature film entries by the introduction films up for voting will be less than
Original Work for the Stage and winner of a pre-selection jury. the number of features entered. Of
of the major Awgie Award: Ron course, some films may be of such
Elisha, Einstein. The Issues a low[...]em
Einstein is Ron's second produced In 1976, the then executive director out. But what if one of those films
David Roe abandoned the long-held had the best sound editing in
bourne Theatre Company in 1981 and years: the jury would be obliged to
has just completed a season at the[...]several years with the
Divor[...]and Film Australia. Writing Pals,
Original Works for Dorothy Hewit[...]the TFC.
Elizabeth Jolley[...]Mukinupin. Her latest play is in
Original Work for Two Men Running the Perth Festival.
Radio[...]play
Television Serial David Stevens The Sullivans which was produced by the
Episode Luis Bayonas (epis[...]Sydney Theatre Company in[...]are: Night Report, The[...]Performance, Sheperd on the[...]Roof and Woman in a[...]David was co-writer of the[...]and directed the television[...]Jonah Writer of screenplays for My
Adaptation Laura Jon[...]Brilliant Career and The
Ken Cameron Every Man for Getting of Wisdom, plus the
Original Work for John Duigan Himse[...]the Bridge.[...]Adaptation Winter of Our Cass, a feature f[...]Dreams Australia, plus Sporting
Original Feature[...]Wrote and directed the feature[...]directing the feature Far East,[...]er Award for an Unproduced Script by an Associate of the Guild: Shared by Julia Britton for her stage play[...]and Christopher Kennedy for his original teleplay The End of the Course.
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (155)[...]The Quarter

unreasonable to suppose that n[...]the occasional light drama. In 1962, he
(ii) Given this, one can speculate[...]guideline might be invoked,
whereby the jury would be instruc[...]to direct an episode of Harpers W1 for
ted to keep the total number of
nominated films below a limit --[...]ATV. This was followed by episodes of
say 10. If this is so, the jury may be
forced to ignore the best candi The Avengers, Callan, Public Eye, The
date for a specific category and go
for the second or third best. For[...]Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Enemy
example, a certain film A may
have the best sound but is so poor[...]at the Door.
in all other respects it is not being
consid[...]He had also directed the feature
say, 10 films have already been[...]What Became of Jack and Jill and
could be a temptation to ignore
film A and put one of the other 10[...]several television plays, including The
films in its place (i.e., in the sound
category).[...]Importance of Being Earnest, Pretty

(iii) There is also the problem, seen at[...]Polly, The Listener and Father's Help.
many past Awards, of landsliding
one film at the expense of others.[...]Bain returned briefly to Australia in
Because one film is so superior to
the rest in many ways, there is a[...]1978 to work at the Australian Film and
tendency among voters[...]Television School. His role was that of
in all ways. Thus a film like
Breaker Morant (in 1980) or Galli[...]ding 12 third-year students through
poli (in 1981), however deser
vedly, sweeps the pool. This has[...]their television projects. In an inter
happened in open voting, and it is
conceivable it cou[...]view in Cinema Papers' he said:
more so in pre-selection --
especially if a limit is[...]"One of the nice things about the

(iv) Perhaps most important, how[...]AFTS is that all the people I know in
ever, is the problem of choosing a
jury. Given a very active indu[...]the industry would have liked to
it will be h[...]had a baptism by
a vested interest. It is the old film
board argument: if a person is[...]more about the technical side than
he will be too busy working
himself to make those judgments. The untimely death of assistant we do. So I think that the more of us
Even if a jury can be found, there director Chris Maudson, 36, from a
is the question of prejudice. Will it brain tumor saddened the Australian funeral. The line-up included directors who can make a contr[...]udget features? on some 12 feature film s1 in the place the better.
Would, for instance, last year's capacity of assistant director, special bull, Esben Storm and Stephen Wallace;
Wrong. Side of the Road make it izing in the difficult area of organizing producers Margaret Fink, Richard[...]? If it actors for their appearance before the Brennan, Mike Thornhill, Errol Sullivan
didn't, it would be the AFI's -- and cameras. His special quality was[...]ndy out gladly to do this job. I believe in
the industry's -- loss, to say actors the feeling that he cared about
nothing of the filmmaker's. them as people, and that[...]Hughes, Kris McQuade, Arna-Maria the potential talent this country has,[...]e Winchester, Lorna Leslie, Jo Kennedy,
In short, the arguments against a as they prepared to appear before the John Hargreaves and Bryan Brown; th[...]s focusing and
pre-selection seem overwhelming. The cameras.
only argument in its defence is that the[...]discipline -- also a place like this
number of films to be screened will be Chris was the link between the often Daniell and Jenny Woods; agents
unmanageable. But it is a false slow progress on the set and the impa Hilary Linstead, Jane Cameron and[...]itable Lynn Gailey, Stuart Green, Norma the quiet and not have them thrown
The closing date for finished prints about waiting. But Chris was the kind of
is, as of writing, May 21. This was the person with whom it was very difficult to Moriceau, Cheryl Williams and Melody up on the television or film screen for
date all producers[...]rought news Cooper.
have been working to, and the one on to so many makeshift green rooms of all of us to think, `Jesus, isn't that
the application forms. yet more delays, even the emotional Bryan Brown delivered the funeral[...], which began: awful.' "
The number of films eligible for entry their spleen on him and the production
appears to be about 28. Now, at least[...]Bill Bain was unquestionably one of
five of these will be in release around
screening time, or have had a major Chris was likewise given the often the world's finest television directors.
release (three weeks or more). This onerous task of ringing the production
means the maximum number of films office and giving producers an[...]His episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs
production managers the news that the
needing a screening is 23. In 1977, the day's shooting was going into over[...]and Callan stand with the best tele[...]ing three disarming weapon that brought the[...]f i l ms s e e ms h a r d l y an news about the complicated shot that
unmanageable exercise. was just about to be completed and the One of the pleasures, in fact, of a
couple of quick close-ups to follow up
Also, not showing films already in in no time at all and wrap up the day. " In December 1976, I met Chris series like[...]son and Richard Brennan, and
is a needed change in regulations. At about three hours overtim[...]was introduced to 161 Victoria St.
until the Awards screenings before Over the next five years, I partici was directed by Bill Bain. If the show
seeing a film (free). Surely, AFI Chris was a film buff with an overall pated in countless discussions,
members should be encouraged to see love for all types of films and a particu mostly about film, around a[...]d genuine emotion without being
Australian films in their correct environ lar passion for Jean-Luc Godard. Just a round table in their kitchen. Many
ment -- at a cinema with a[...]share a sentimental, if it managed to turn the
audience. a[...]simplest linking scenes into magically-
The Furore tured spirited female leads. He dived " The hospitality and camaraderie[...]charged moments, then Bain was
When the 1982 application forms which houses a legendary collection of existing at Chris and Richard's
were mailed and news of the changes videos, and emerged with films[...]elped many an unfinancial pro probably the director.
reached the industry, there was a Judy Holliday,[...]job- " One's concern is always to find the
days later, on March 3, at a meeting of summaries of the likes of Easy Living hunting technician, unappreciate[...]reality of a script, to sniff out what the
Continued on p. 192[...]The last job Chris worked on was through a bad[...]re later withdrawn from voting, but casting for the forthcoming television
20 were screened. series on the Whitlam years. His know "To walk up the stairs and be ride very carefully over e[...]ledge of actors and cinema gave Chris
the perfect qualifications for the job of faced by Chris sitting at the table passages if you don't want your[...]perfect position in the film industry. made you sure there was at lea[...]person in this world who was glad to " It is also a caring on the part of the[...]1. Chris M audson's credits: The Tres enthusiasm to be around people[...]Barney, The Chain Reaction and Stir.[...]the thing itself -- then you will trans[...]mit some of that feeling."[...]presence in world filmmaking will be[...]On the set of Far East, work stopped[...]and cast and crew stood on the roof of 1. Cinema Papers, No. 17, p. 79.[...]the ageing Supreme Studios where[...]the balance between actors and tech[...]nicians better than anyone else in the[...]industry. I appreciate the contribution[...]wish so much that we had him on the[...]appeared in many of the films he[...]The Duchess of Duke Street typify[...]excellence in British television drama.[...]The leading director for both series was[...]22, Bain died of cancer in London.[...]tion at the Australian Broadcasting[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (156)[...]w riter

tephcn
Maclean

Where did you get the idea for characters I wish to de[...]to sit with them every day for
sketches of characters I knew from
this pub where my mother[...]most reveal themselves with their
style and form of speech. So I jot I see the character, then I hear
down things people say, and they the character, and what I hear is the
lay the seed for the scenes. spur to write. Most th[...]imply because a particular person
Once I have the rough arch says them. Think of Marilyn
itecture for a few scenes, I begin to[...]walks into a ship's
evolve a plot to accommodate the cabin in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes[...]ander); Jackie; cousin Angus (Ross scream. In fact, it was so right for
O 'D onovan); Jackie;[...]cLean and director Gillian Armstrong tion of the same gag in Some Like
make some on-the-spot script alterations.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (157)Stephen MacLean

Inspiration comes from the aspiring to seriousness just don't
oddest quarters. One night in have the brains to attach value to
London I went to a pe[...]real talent like that. It doesn't hide
tion of Chekhov's Cherry Orchard behind a cause, but has the con
at the Riverside and he immed fidence to be its[...]ll once again gain
orchard and their entire way of life prestige, as it had in the 1930s, with
reminded me of the real pub people columnists like Dorothy Parker
I knew. They lost their pub, and the and Robert Benchley in journal
loss of true location left them ism, and Ben Hecht and Billy
ghost-like. Wilder in film. They were very friv[...]they dealt with serious
I can remember when the first things -- and isn't that black
A ustralian films came out in comedy? And these people were
London,[...]e, very highly regarded -- and still
"The thing about you Australians is are.
you shou[...]azy generalization, but I We are getting out of that post-
do think there is a strain of Aus World War 2 period when comedy,
tralian[...]That's okay, very lowly-prized commodity. The
but it's often expressed in a preten
tious, middle-class way -- Toorak[...]`quality' culture at one end, Carlton tion for the craftsman. I'm glad.
`alternative' at the other. Australia has a bit of money in

Perhaps our sense of isolation the kitty, so it tried to buy `art' and
gives us a morbid strain, but the `culture', which is a prime example
work seldom has the patches of of a middle class getting culture-
levity the Russians bring to their obsessed and getting[...]ality. So I loved Don's Party because it
In our case there has been too much was serious w[...]edly intellectual. But
and it has produced a lot of dull, that is a very rare work. I suppose
boring works -- more so in theatre
than in film. Alvin Purple and the early comedies
were sort of awful; there was
One film that does really hit its some great stuff in the Barry
mark on this score is Paul Cox's Mc[...]ature Lonely spot burlesque comedy. And the
Hearts, which is bleak and sad, but public loved them.
funny! That's the thing: whenever
tragic things are happening in life, I respect the real public, not the
so m eth in g zany is u su ally culture vultures, bec[...]is more than you can say for a lot of
Given that many Australian films of critics.
the early 1970s were comedies, why
did they stop bei[...]We should value comedy. Our
struck" is the first comic film in a
while, except for "The Club" . . . most remembered Australian talen[...]is one phries, and it wasn't an arts grant
of the best Australian films ever. In system that fostered him, was it? In
that one David Williamson was developing talent, the culture
funny and serious.

Is comic writing in Australia under
valued?

Yes, because of the pretensions I
have been banging on about. The
Australian public has a highly
developed sense of comedy. We are
the only country which takes it
from all over the world, on tele
vision. And yet the powers which
run entertainm ent (and that
includes the government) accord it
the kind of status you would give
junk food.

It happens in every arm of the
media. A great Aussie writer, Ross

Campbell, just died. He labored for
many years doing columns for the
Packer press. He wrote real things,
like the humiliation a father feels
when his kiddie says, " Daddy, why
doesn't our fridge have a light in it
like everyone else's?" And, of
course, all those middle-brows

112 - A[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (158)[...]seem to be only $5 for a ticket. People in the every film which tries to represent fo[...]ilm is synthetic. Pearl (Margo Lee) who runs the
a few films about having affaires f[...]pub in Starstruck. Edna is an
with Frank Moorhouse, don[...]Starstruck was written straight extreme of that type -- "Aus
there? In writing, there is too much If you ar[...]a theatrical exper tra lia 's answer to the Jewish
false value placed on well-inten[...]pieces, when why be conservative? The basic ience rather than real life. And Gill billed himself in New York.
those very writers often have the principle of rolling it is against that. Armstrong has struck the right note
talent to be encouraged out into the And as for being concerned about here, whereby the people are Actually, I found Pearl a rather sad,
open, to drop all the references only your future, you don't h[...]icature, but nevertheless
they find interesting. In those demand to be taken seriously. The Sad?
circles, you can be frivolous or[...]disengage themselves
pant, but only if you throw in heightened quality about it, par from their backgrounds. Look at the way she is used by Lou
ticularly in the pub scenes, which are[...]ple's I relate Edna Everage to this, the
sense of reality than the pop culture fine line between character and[...]seem compelled to scenes. Was that the sort of style caricature. Edna started out as a good root and Pearl liked a good
act out the role of `the artist'; you were going for? satirical character within the root.
French-style. And the industry dramatic framework of Moonee
itself hangs naive labels. For Yes. That sub-plot about a pub Ponds. As the years went by, people Even given that, she s[...]people is about a dis began to think of Edna as a real accept him robbing the safe . ..
going, some people said to me,[...]ill Armstrong doing Star- about the Australians who had a[...]uck? She is far too serious. She sniff of the Depression. They have a This is tied to the sense of reality that at all. That just happened in a
could not have the sense of humor[...]actually grafted that in from a real-
serious and have a sense of humor[...]emory. I think Australian
too -- or even a sense of comedy?[...]men, in one way or another.

a woman (and I emphasise the sex)[...]The heightened realism of the pop[...]sequences touches on styles used in[...]pop clips: for example, the `I Don't[...]Like Mondays' clip of The Boom-[...]The Starstruck theme song takes[...]place in a schoolroom because[...]school and much of the potential[...]audience will, too. The schoolroom[...]relative to the amount of time kids[...]actually have to spend in them.[...]bring to "Starstruck" the expecta[...]tion of being thrilled in the way, say,[...]bbie and Jackie sing "Body and different point of view to anyone person. Les Girls at Kings Cross Those thrilling Devo-type clips
S o u l" in the Harbour View Hotel. Right: born 10 years late[...]rely almost wholly on cutting. You
Angus, in the schoolroom, sings "Starstruck". cally a working people with a basically female audience from the can use cutting to communicate
Above: Jackie leads Angus, disguised as a special kind of wit and a theat suburbs, and they go and watch rhythm for the length of a clip, but
kangaroo to hide his youth, to the Lizard ricality about them which is very these guys sort of ridicule you have to use it sparingly in a
Lounge. Starstruck.[...]g; we have been so Patrick White wrote in his right.
and have a sense of humor. colonized by the U.S. memoirs that Australian[...]re interesting than Aus But I think any of those songs
As for myself, I have suffered the Starstruck is an odd form of tralian men because of this male could lift from the film. This is how
reverse of that; because I might Americana syphoned through the element in their make-up. He wrote I think an audience[...]that Australian men do not possess clips of musicals on television.
people often think I'm n[...]feminine element First, they get to like the song.
about my work. That's the Aus American films before it. It is the in their make-up, and are con Second, they get to like someone in
tralian culture climate, love. type of film which falls somewhere sequently less interesting. the clip. They get to thinking about[...]maybe buying the record. Then
I find the Australian public is far[...]nt to go to Grease or what
more adventurous than the people A lot of people go to films certain type of woman who stifles ever so they can see Joh[...]that wonderful feminine part to ape do the songs bigger and louder than[...]life. Well, there is nothing like real the worst kind of male qualities. on television.
But the public has less at risk -- life excep[...]people in their places with their get people hooked on the music[...]to the clips. Their response to the[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (159)Stephen MacLean

film as a whole will be another In A Star Is Born Norman dies
story. and in Starstruck, which is a much[...]listic piece, Jackie saves
How involved were you in the choice the pub. That is the pantomime
of musical numbers? Did you include aspect of it. I think pantomime fits
directives in the script?
the form by the very nature of pop[...]was a hideously bad film, and it was
them . When the songs were serious.
obviously necessary to the plot, I

wrote them in first go. But I also "Starstruck" reminds me greatly of
went over the script afterwards and the pop musicals of the 1960s . . .
wrote in "song" in the sections

which would gain energy from the

mere infusion of a song. Even a We are in the midst of a 1960s
dramatic script can be likened to a revival, but it is more subtle than
popular song in structure: there is most, and pre-hippy. New Wave is
the opening chorus, the bridge, the a pre-hippy 1960s term.
melody, the climax. It is the bridge When I first wrote Starstruck, I
that most often lets a song down -- was working in London on a Fox
and a script, too.
short about the mod revival. So I
For someone who likes musicals, set Starstruck in the 1960s mod
I often find them a laborsome style, w[...]talking, then they turn to fashion is a wheel and the wheel
sing in another voice, which always turns too quickly for[...]me running for Elfick [co-producer] then came up
the popcorn. The only one like that with the shrewd and tough notion
which really works is The Band that the period setting might be
wagon, largely because of the con seen as a crutch for the film. Aus
ception of writers Adolf Green and tralians tend to art dire[...]than give them a good story.
A Star Is Born was the first So Dayid thought the script had to
musical I believed. Every musical[...]rst I put Star- connect with British style pieces of
struck's songs in a strictly realistic th e 1960s: Smashing Time,[...]But Gill said, "No, let's ment, Here We Go Round The Mul
just do what we feel like." Take the berry Bush.

scene in the bar where Jackie (Jo I had dinner with Diana Mell[...]nough" . I had always wanted husband George wrote the dread
a ballad in the bar, because I just ful Smashing Time, "which loo[...]as so old-fashioned when it finally
jamming with the musos in her came out in London." And I said,
film, and the James Mason charac "Oh but we teenagers in Mel
ter comes in and sees her. That was bourne loved it, because of the
realistic, whereas Gill has our girl time-gap be[...]nk it works well, We all went and saw those films in
in the end.
larger[...]countries. They had a sense of
Did "A Star Is Born" influence the optimism and glossiness which
structure of the film?
Australia still feels. Relative to the

rest of the world, we have more to
It would be great if Jack[...]ilms
walked up and said: "This is Mrs had a kind of screwball fun which
Norman Main." No, I do not think suited the Australian sensibility,
it influenced the structure, just the and, even if they maybe weren't the
feeling.
greatest films in the world, Aus
I took the advice that writers get: tralians were quick to pick up the
if you want to write a book, write satire.
the kind of book that you would Look at Can't Stop The Music.
want to read. But people are not That fil[...]ess anywhere
honest about films they really like in the world whatsoever. It is a
because they do not wa[...]umb. I thought I would get down and a big joke on The Gang's All
to the kind of film I really love -- Here and all those Twentiet[...]12 and really blew me out. I tralians, apart from the clever sell
reasoned that if I could keep the that Alan Carr gave it here, got the
magic of that film with me while I joke, whereas the Americans did
wrote Starstruck it would keep me not have the sense of humor to get
going.
it. We got the joke about the Here
So, Jackie became the Judy We Go Round the Mulberry Bush-
Garland character on the way up. type of films better than anybody. Given that at times the film gets into
The pub background became the A ustralians have a highly-[...]areas where some could accuse it of
N orm an Main character: the attuned sense of humor. That[...]sending up minority groups -- e.g.,
alcoholic on the slide down whose[...]ls and fat women -- did
time had passed, who was of comes from being a combination of Top: Jackie and Robbie, leader o f The you feel the need to hold back, to be
another era. That pub b[...]homosexual
the funniest races of people in exis friend, Terry (John O 'M ay), in the pool[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (160)[...]not write Nana fat. She was pool party instead of a leather bar, of a television station where Jackie good for them. Mae West is one of
not fat in the script. But Pat Evison tells her band that she is performing the few in the history of show-
is great; she uses her size to great, as[...]a anyone who is a big star has some
What about the scene where Jackie quite keep track of the re-writes, Sybylla speech in "My Brilliant capacity for that. That is why there
is disappointed because her golden and the actor playing the part, John Career". But the disaster of the are a lot of brilliantly-talented
haired boy is homosexual? W[...]who had seen an earlier show teaches her the importance of people around about whom every
Angus appears[...]ft, said, " I am really disap other people in her life. Were you one says, "Why aren't they[...]ted. This was a good part and a commenting on the problems of per They are so talented." But they do
back[...]ence? not have that conceptfbn of iden
that?" Given Jackie's obvious dis kind of dump on him when they[...]tity which is what being a star is.
appointment, the line has the ring of find out he is gay." Stars[...]nt. That is not to deny herself; she just had the ambition.[...]to be taken terrifically seriously. through the history of show-
like finding out that the man of on location. Sev[...]ost like a pimp/hooker
being gay cuts her out on the sexual Actually, I don't think her line is[...]has a
level, which is a very large level to out of character. Angus says, " He But the structure does lead people to hairdresser, Judy[...]t is why Jackie's line seems out around, a lot of people are." Basically, I saw the script as a
of character . . .[...]It was one of those situations it was that her cousin Angus, who Jackie, a kind of Les enfants
Yes. I might have failed there; it where I did the re-write to accom was also her manager, actually terribles. The way the film played is
is all a bit murky. I got edgy[...]whole gay sequence it was a period script, the kids went better for her, what was `right' for it took on a life of its own. Now, it
was re-written and changed into a to The Purple Onion, which was a her character as presented to the is not Angus' story -- it is Jackie's
famous club in Sydney, and they public.[...]There is a scene in the dressing room[...]Gill came up with the idea that[...]Angus should mature at the end[...]go off on his own tangent of[...]"Oohhh!" , because I thought of[...]Saturday Night Fever, the story of[...]treats all the girls like slobs, then[...]opted for `maturity' at the end[...]You wrote in `Penthouse'1that Gill[...]Directors are very suspicious of[...]writers and expect the worst from[...]writer -- in that sense. Having gone[...]Gill came into the piece quite[...]late, but she hardly changed the[...]and add the finishing touch of[...]Angus meeting the gum-chewing[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (161)Stephen MacLean Above: Jackie and The Wombats steal the But, I am always suspicious when
show at the N ew Year's Eve concert. Right: people tell you[...]about heroes Angus I am doing The Lee Gordon
have to hold on to whatever[...]ste to his walls, that type Story about the eccentric Amer
attracted you to the project. of thing. I also did a few quick ican promoter who sort of colon
Richard Brennan said to me, "You fiddles during shooting. ized Australia during the 1950s.
make the film when you write it,[...]would have altered some of Angus' while, I'm writing a script I[...]happens. If I dialogue. I wrote his stuff in short, " Eddie and Katoots" . The two
had known that somehow the film staccato sentences -- the Jewish leads are a kid, because I like
would come out being Jackie's kind of talking. Ross O'Donovan writing abo[...]re than Angus', I would naturally speaks in long, rambling the-hill model who suddenly has to
have been in a quandary. I would sentences with a nasa[...]was his first part; I would have the beauty ideal has changed to 16-
Every other film is about a girl who liked to have adapted the lines to year-olds like Brooke Shields. She
wants to be a star. But because of him. is 32 and never had to do a thing in
the em otional qualities Gill
invested in the film, Starstruck But when you hit upon[...]e with Gill. Anne Baxter. She is the actress who[...]won a few Oscars, then went " B" .
" I was the only person who'd What sort of audience did you have It is basically a love story, about
associate with the producers." in mind? her four years spent in the Austra
Sorry it's an old gag.[...]From nine to 18. If the film owns the rights to it.
Initially, I did things Tike solicit takes, it may then wash into the
ing songs. I sent out music break broader audience that in the old I saw Anne Baxter in New York
downs, had lunch with publishers,[...]and talked to her about it. I think it
put the net out. I'd talk to the Art Fair Lady. Starstruck has a form could be one of the few genuine[...]nd appreciate, and maybe get tralia to the American perspective.
a giggle out of. Our tie with the U.S. on every level,[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (162)[...]ommune, wants a love with "nofadefrom

distance in it". Whatshe gets is Javo (Colin Friels), a

23[...]s addicted. Sm ack

habit, love habit -- what's the difference; they can both k ill you.

Monkey Gr[...], fo r producer Patricia Lovell, and is based
on the novel by Helen Garner.

N o n i H a z le h u r s t a s N o r a in K e n C a m e r o n 's M o n k e y G rip.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (163)[...]m Ryan

Perhaps, more than any other Aus opera. The ABC used to do operas School Mistress at night, a[...]nd sometimes not.
extensive experience on stage, in voices. It was Hansel and Gretel,
film and on television. When you the full H um perdinck opera. Why didn't you just mime her voice? Yes, but in theatre they, generally
began your career did yo[...]does not get in cinemas. How do
that kind of breadth? It took me a whole term -- an hour Because it was the same day that they communicate to you?[...]l five You can hear every gasp and sigh
In 1962, when I was still at how to mime it properly. This metres to the floor. That was awful, -- you can feel the tensions. Don't
school, my foremost ambition was helped me a lot when I did Band but it gave me one of my better ad tell me I am imagining it.[...]had insisted that I should pre-recorded tapes -- of your own and told the world, " Even fairy dust No. I am trying to fi[...]it is
matriculate, and I was planning to voice, of course. like. Is it like sitting in a living[...]arn to realize that I was a much better work over the other areas of masse thing, it is tricky to describe
about cameras. At the same time, I actress than I was a singer. Acting[...]nnot see their faces;
was doing children's plays in school was what I cared about, passion[...]tell when there is one
holidays and that kept me in there ately, but singing was still good fun. No,[...]nsym
as far as stage work went. I sang in a pantomime which led to parative novelty for me.[...]a radar.
The thing that was the turning me being offered a recording done a handful of films, whereas I
point in my life, that brought it all contract at the same time as Billy have done dozens of plays. But I As one primarily bred in theatre,
together, happened in 1965. I had Thorpe. He recorded Poison Ivy would[...]I was never how important for you is the limita
just left high school, and was about and[...]stage again. There is tion on rehearsal time in television?
to go on to university, when the Something's Got a Hold on You something fantastic about playing
ABC offered me a part in a tele and sold 159![...]Trial by Marriage is unusual, in
in front of an audience. I sang for that it was done with[...]and in a very regimented way. We[...]25,000 people at the Myer Music started rehearsals on the Monday,
shot on film, which was really What is y[...]9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. On the[...]then the audience came in and we
that, but the 1700 at Her Majesty's recorded it that night.[...]m, for whom I had I am all for it. I did not have the for They're Playing Our Song was
already worked in a television play. reg u latio n two y ears at the fair enough, too. It is[...]was only 18, and to go away on National Institute of Dramatic I think you are really missing out kind of production conditions are
location to do somethi[...]too good an opportunity to as much tuition as any of my con before an audience now and again.[...]ing experience. coping. Having done dozens of
were understanding, and I did Helen Morse, Kate[...]at where you are working properly or Matlocks in the early stages of my
for children, which was later sold to the Old Tote and found myself with not just by their response. career, I have developed a certain
the BBC, which repeated it a couple the same actors and workshops and I was brought up to believe that facility for that kind of thing. I
of years ago. As a result, I am now classes that they had, for in those there isn't any such thing as a bad
getting love-letters from 18-year- days the NIDA students used to be audience. And, essential[...]. understudies for all the produc great way for an actor to be trained.

tions at the Old Tote. But I have learned from seeing my

Did the opera provide you with the Kate Fitzpatrick always reminds films several times over with
inspiration to go on to "Band me that the first time she went on different audiences that r[...]as my understudy. I had vary so much, even though the

lost my v[...]ance remains constant. I
I did not actually sing in the Peter Pan in the daytime, and The think that is a certain indication[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (164)[...]the luxury of working on film, or in
Clockwisefrom above: Jacki Weaver and Ernie Sigl[...]ing Stork; Weaver as fairly frustrating. But, in a way, it is
Masha in the Nimrod's production of "The Seagull"; a good training ground.-
Jack Allen, Sean Scully, Weaver and Gordon Glen-
wright in the ABC's Be Our Guest!; Weaver and Little I haven't done a soapie like The
Pattie sing "Let's Get Together" on Bandstand in Restless Years or The Young
1966; Weaver in One and One Makes Two; Weaver Doctors, bu[...]can be incredibly hectic, even more
Peter Sumner in Trial By Marriage. so than Cra[...]must say 1 have a lot of admiration.[...]They have trained some of our best[...]because I have such a lot of respect
for the people who work behind the[...]the kind of work I want to go into[...]sources of inspiration or models that[...]When you are heavily involved in[...]learn from others. That kind of[...]heavy jobs. But one of the biggest[...]actress, playing Perdita in The
Winter's Tale. It was in 1970, in a
performance by the Royal Shake[...]also played Viola in Twelfth Night.
Despite the fact that I had been an[...]personality in a part, submerge it[...]does. But the example that Judi[...]style of performance?[...]I work hard at them and do a lot of[...]different types of characters or[...]because to me one of the best things[...]six different characters in a year,
rather than being stuck in the one.[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (165)[...]e been playing for two years now,% play, or heard of you playing, a do it -- like the Mad Max 2
very easy for you . . .[...]asked
Sonya in They're Playing Our traditional romantic heroine.[...]that a lot of young women (my
Oh no. It's so hard![...]t about it. that, too strong for the males you natured mother of one who likes a[...]ter. Someone like Josie in Caddie Really? That's great! I am told[...]advertisements. In fact, I hate
isn't at all neurotic. She is very well that one of the most appealing them. But I don't think the Mad
It is the usual obvious things that balanced. She falls in love with a things about me is that I am so[...]ailor who makes her pregnant; it is boyish. A lot of people laugh at defy anyone to take me to the
write down who am I, how old am the 1930s and the poor girl has to that, but, when I think about it[...]ngth that she can say to wanted to play Viola in Twelfth So, it is the product that controls[...]er friend, "Well, there's no use Night, which of course is the one your choice here . . .
is a painstaking pr[...]ave been and will that would have meant a lot of[...]money. In Melbourne Cup Week[...]year, I was offered unbounded
How important are the lines as they think Josie has great strength of riches[...]hate that kind of exposure. Money
I would rather be given beauti[...]though.
banal lines. But I think a lot of category of characters you seem to normally go somewhere where
actors use that as a cop-out. I think play: that of the victim. Like the people don't know me, I am fairly But you do a lot of voice-overs, and
most actors can make beautifully- wives in "Do I Have to Kill My quiet. People who do not kn[...]They expect there is now an industry in my
a bad script as a challenge. The an aspect of me, a kind of vulner something vivacious and brilliant,[...]voice. There
around, I think, if you have a lot of nearly every character I play, even The press is not all that bad, but I are two girls in Melbourne and a
truth.[...]at I still get idiot reporters saying, girl in Sydney who sound more like[...]was urged to give Diane in Do I " Don't you get sick of playing say, " I can't remember doing[...]me that is far removed A couple of years ago, I went
script if you can act. her, to sympathize with the kind of from the truth. into a radio studio[...]I said, " Why did you put this in the
Do you ever dislike the characters can feel towards her baby. I found car[...]s have to that part really draining, because I is the best way to deal with the We were told at the last minute you
And something to like about them[...]are an actor, I were, and that was the script we[...]in the way of your work. when they stopped the tape and
much. And that comes naturally. A I really love the wife in Petersen.[...]And I said, "What do you mean --
lot of drama teachers say you I styled her on someone very close But the press has been, in one sense, that's not it? This is it. This is the
should try to like the person you're to me, though I have never told her[...]mpossible. When Sybil Thorn me. Yet, I still have the occasional It has been just as unkind as I have also done quite a lot of[...]it deeper. I used to do a lot of child
she managed to find her sym have done a great damage to the unjust or bad review I have had, ren's voices, too,[...]can sound
pathetic: Lady Macbeth loved her cause of feminism by playing a every time I have been misq[...]You must come under a lot of pres
woman who did that must have that. I think that is very stupid. But the articles that were written sure to promote the film you are[...]in. ..
something right about her. about you while you were in Mel[...]Are you conscious of being used in bourne were all positive . . . harder than making the actual film.[...]are seen Yes, but they were all deserved.

that of a girl every mother would as appropriate to those[...], forever Of course . . .

cheerful and able to perk others up Probably, yes -- the "vulner

in a crisis. . . able', lovable[...]sider here. When a reviewer

I don't know about the tuck-shop times. I believe that is why they whom[...]ar lipstick and wanted people to like her but, if the he is insane, tells you that you are

go out wi[...]Wait till she's 20; she'll be so hard." pathetic, the character balance feelings about him. You think[...]'s as been tougher, it might not have thought. On the other hand, more

cute as a hatful of razor blades." been as entertaining, but because I soberingly, comes the thought that[...]. . . perhaps he is wrong, after all.

Outside the tuck-shop and your Actually I am quite tall; I am[...]irst sitting down. The advertising industry generally

impression isn't altogether false. I think that is what the appeal seems to find your image eminently

But I also think it is more com was. I know that the scene in the exploitable. Do you ever feel that it

plicated. There is a kind of neurosis first series in the restaurant where I has got out of your control?

that seems to hover around many of beat up the waiter is very funny:

the characters you play, like Joan in suddenly two grown men who are Not altogether. I always have the

"Trial by Marriage" . . . more than[...]do knock

of me. That is pretty funny. back a couple of television

I think with Joan it is more a[...]ertisements a week. But if some

psychosis. But the character I have I don't think I have ever[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (166)Jacki Weaver

the time. You press a button and[...]her worst roles were
interesting person. That is the best[...]anyone these things, and I think I
sort of publicity the film can get,[...]an actress."
and you want the film to do well[...]for television, in prim e time,[...]woman in what is still essentially a
you have been connec[...]male industry?

unless of course you are just com[...]That is all they're good for.
pletely incapable of doing so.[...]Anyway, how can it affect me? I
On the other hand, the press[...]were, say, a businesswoman in
often uses situations like that to get[...]might well hold me back. But in my
at you and find out things that you[...]conscious of it as a problem.
do not want to tell about your[...]In your experience in film, have
private life. It is something that ha[...]antastic experience, even though it
are a couple of days every so often[...]appears that I did so little in it. I[...]did lots more than the release print
when I want to get under the[...]a lot of them jealously guard their A lot of my stuff hit the floor,[...]e about it. It is soul, said to me, "The reason your
fend them off.[...]Weaver) in D onald C rom bie's Caddie. writing in newspapers nowadays wasn't good; i[...]" I don't know how true that
I had 14 interviews in one day[...]t it did not matter to me
recently and every one of them What kind of strategy did you use because I got six fantastic weeks of[...]watching Peter work and being in
broached the subject of my less of how good an interviewer you[...]lm I most enjoyed just
personal life. If you are in a suffi might have been, you would not have because most of the people I inter for the atmosphere, just for being in[...]t it.
ciently anaesthetized frame of got that job . . .[...]them the same sort of feedback, it I like working with Ti[...]made for an interesting sort of stall. There was a fantastic camar[...]Dolly (Jacki Weaver), the brothel madame, connected to the opening scene in
For a year I worked on the Wil- me that job because they thought I and Piggott (Michael Long), the puritan cop. Petersen, which people who have[...]Thompson's finger
from that about being an inter the only way they could have[...]my stomach to a close-up of my
viewee. I think I have always been known that[...]s as an interviewee, been interviewed by Willesee in[...]He was calling down from the
how important that is, how it helps wards they s[...]hug, c'mon! Let's see some of that
than against you.[...]n actress. If you views, I think. But I got a lot of flak[...]shoulder."
hadn't been Jacki Weaver, regard from the press for that too, because[...]who gives you a lot of freedom.[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (167)[...]arlos Saura was born in Huesca,[...]Spain, in 1932. Seven years later,[...]defeated the Republican armies,[...]ending the Spanish Civil War and[...]beginning nearly 40 years of repressive, military[...]government in Spain and entirely changing its[...]cultural life. Spain has always had a history of[...]repressive government, with the establishment of
the infamous tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition[...]in 1480, a body which functioned spasmodically[...]into the 1800s, after its initial burst of purges,[...]seeing to the morals of the country.[...]Likewise, the Junta Superior de Censura[...]Cinematografica (Supreme Board of Film[...]Censorship), which was established in 1937 by[...]served after the victory as a way of supervising[...]the morals and attitudes of the country. It recog[...]nized the potential power of the nascent film[...]consolidate the victory by producing national[...]Typical of films produced at the time was Raza[...](Race), made in 1940, directed by Jose Luis[...]Saenz de Heredia (who was to become the chief[...]director for the Franquist regime) and written by[...]artists fled the country, rather than stay and try[...]of those who grew up under them. The years of
the Republic from 1931-1936 had seen the rapid[...]growth of the Spanish film industry, with the[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (168)[...]Carlos Saura's Mama His return to the position from 1963-67 saw a[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (169)[...]Saura, Spain andMama

world in which it is encompassed in later adult ideas not entirely political, which are best with the characters as individuals with separate
life, concerns which are still present in Mama. It expressed by abstract methods. He also incor
is typical of the way in which he uses his subject porates surrealist tou[...],
matter as political symbols and as reflections of a debt to Luis Bu

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (170)[...]et
done in the arts that you would like[...]to do them. In fact, I have to turn[...]people have it in their minds that I
can do all sorts of things, which I[...]r
mance of the New York Sym[...]ductors. Then the Minneapolis[...]conduct a whole season. I thought

The award-winning a cto r-w ri[...]lane.

the joke had gone far enough, and I[...]However, in parenthesis, I did
conduct the Philharmonia Orches
tra in a film, and the first violin[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (171)[...]man who was a kind of Sancho shooting when I was still a[...]on ter I had to do all my research in[...]very peculiar situation, but then the
compromise with it.[...]a big success, for the Air Ministry minute of it, but I never regretted it[...]in retrospect, even if atrocious at[...]thing about radar which was on the the time.

conducted by many worse" , which I were asking me, "Where are we same lines as In Which We Serve It is surprising you have not direc
thought was one of the most flat going now?" , they were asking me or The Way Ahead. ted more films. The three films you
tering things ever said to me. as the skipper as much as the did direct in the 1940s, "School for[...]inary S ecrets" , ``Vice V ersa" and
The first violin's comment is a tion was auto[...]sh films
the narrow possibilities which were today. We stopped shooting for a could have made a lot more of. Why
Well, if you are not used to it, it imposed by the fact that we were on day to allow me to get out of the did you limit yourself in this way?
has an extraordinary compliment the ship. In other words, if Bach army. I had to go to O[...]suit thrown at me by a Because I felt the British film
Mitty dreams.[...]s my compensa industry was barking up the wrong
know where to begin because he did tion for having been in there for tree. They were trying to get advice
You have often made more than one not live in the same time as Tchai four-and-a-half years and now from the U.S. -- or from Ameri
contribution to a film. Wh[...]had to have a cans -- on how to break into the
generally find more satisfying:[...]he would know better what medical and all the things you do got hold of some very third-rate
directing?[...]doing than Tchaikovsky when you get out of the army. And American advisers to tell us[...]day which cost us a lot of money.[...]more to contribute as an actor P eter Ustinov in uniform fo r Private
easier than writing; I enjoy it very because I am the type of which Angelo, which he co-directed with M ichael
much. It is a sort of tactical excite there is not a tremendous amount Anderson.
ment; it does not give you the strat about. It means also that I do not

egic pleasure of writing something work terribly consistently beca[...]tional

I have never regarded myself as a sense of casting. Poirot has been

professional director, in the sense very helpful to me because it has

that I[...]have a very developed visual would hate to spend the rest of my

sense in the case of moving time doing nothing but Poirot. At

pictures. I know what can be done, the same time, I hope I have a

but I have to stimulate myself in wider range than that. I have

that sort of way. played King Lear twice in the last

I don't think you can be in two two years with some success.

places at onc[...]r writing, I am always

where you came from and the film drawn towards the theatre or to

director is rather like a cabine[...]minister: it is a vague profession. for roughly the same reasons,

Anybody who sets out to be a fil[...]recting, but they he is given credit for, just as the

never lose the traces of where they teacher is much more important in

have come from. societ[...]sly important

more literary one and therefore, in and his remuneration is never high

the last analysis, I trust a verbal enough.

imagin[...]ion can tell a story ade "School for Secrets", at the age of

quately until I see somebody else do 25, and in a film industry that must

it brilliantly. Then I realize what be one of the most precarious in the

can be done. world. I am interested in how, at 25,

So, I have never really thought of you got to be directing Ralph Rich

myself as a[...]ial. It is a Richard Attenborough . . .

matter of getting something which

really fires my enthusiasm and I am At 25 I thought they had left it

capable of doing. rather late to ask m[...]Billy Budd is probably my most practically missed the bus when 24
successful film as a director and it[...]for Secrets really hap

were all on board ship. The role of a pened because of Felippo del

captain of a ship and that of a Giudice, an Italian who had played

director of a film are practically an important part in the British

interchangeable. So, when actor[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (172)[...]R o y 's Q uo Vadis. bring Priscilla and the kids over for I wrote the obituary for The
understood. This was precisely the A bove: Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) and the weekend?" , but that is pre
wrong way of going about it. Varinia (Jean Sim m ons) prepare to leave cisely what a Roman of those times Guardian on Ophuls and in it I said[...]ld have said. he was a man of such perversity
I opposed the tendency of trying The Ringm aster (Peter Ustinov) and Lola
to enter the American market with[...]rences did you find that he was capable of making the
an amorphous, hybrid product. I M o n tes (M artine Carole) in M a x O p h u ls' working for LeRoy, Curtiz and smallest wristwatch in the world
have always felt that art, if it is of[...]really speak so that passers-by could see the
You cannot compromise with it. LeRoy, " The Egyptian'' for about because it was one of his first time. He was a mischievous and
Galli[...]films before, but they were on a
speak American in order for the[...]scale and he was sud well with him.
people in Peoria to understand. The I think the Americans are the denly launched into this world of Ophuls had Cinemascope
Beatles proved t[...]super productions. So he was rather
broke into the U.S. market. They Roman films for the simple reason subdued. imposed on him in that film and he
did not make any compromise on they are like the ancient Romans. If did not like it because he loved the
their accents. They were under you go into the Chase National I said in my book that at that incredible intimacy --[...]u are taken moment he had none of the virtues almost embarrassing intimacy --
in[...]clever. into a room with columns of gor- but also none of the vices of youth.
gonzola and, in the middle of all One did not know how old he was. of the screen. He said to me with a
So, I thought it[...]cedure. Then, for behind him, his feet on the table, personality, but self-effacing and found a way of defeating Cinema
some reason my career as an actor the bank manager is saying, "Why d[...]Quo Vadis and suddenly there conversation by the atrium and him quite well and I liked him very
was no looking back in that line. kick this idea around." It is the much.[...]mixture of extreme relaxation and[...]brought them closer together and
In fact, you worked in three more or formality and majesty which Amer[...]I was able to tell
less `sandal and toga' films in the icans do terribly well. Everybody him the other day that the French said: "Two pieces of black welwet!"
1960s: "Quo Vadis" for Mervyn got riled when Robert Taylor in had just had a retrospective of his He was an astonishing fellow and I[...]films at the Cinematheque in Paris liked him a great deal.[...]He took his cigar out of his mouth scenes in French, German and[...]sake?" was done in three separate ver[...]oubt prefers to regard sions, one after the other, so there[...]s just a craftsman . .. was no possibility of only doing one[...]take; there had to be a minimum of[...]The crowning film of your career, move my head according to the[...]and indeed almost the crowning direction of her eyes so she could[...]experience of films in its decade, see the board. I asked her to make a[...]with Ophuls? nize it [the way she spoke].[...]The first night of the film was an One day, Ophuls had me do a[...]absolute disaster: the film broke four-and-a-half minute take. I w[...]twice. But Ophuls rather enjoyed it. the ringmaster and had to shout as[...]He started giggling because it all sorts of horses and things and a[...]dwarf moved past. In the middle of[...]one of the many takes I suddenly[...]got hoarse, and I sent the dwarf for[...]a glass of water. He was surprised[...]as it was not in text, but he went[...]away and got it. At the end, Ophuls[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (173)[...]iiiiiiilllllililimiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The glittering occasion of the London Mrinal Sen, a Lester Peries from Sri films as The Fruits of Passion, Mauro success in London, has achieved cinema
Film Festival's 25th[...]new Shohei Imamura from Bolognini's The Lady of the Camellias, distribution for it. Like two other films
singular honor to the Australian cinema: Japan and Lino Brocka's[...]ion -- Adrina, directed
Gallipoli was chosen for the gala open even sell tickets. Also, there were six Perry's Mommie Dearest, the London by Bill Forsyth, with the supernatural
ing, in the presence of the Prince and films from Latin America -- ne[...]element so dear to BBC-Scotland, and
Princess of Wales, five weeks before the the quality, just feel the revolutionary fer another category. Perhaps it c[...]fter Death, directed by Anthony
film was to open in London's West End.[...]British critics, predictably bemused by Of course, the Controversy section British -- Best o f. . . ? going back on the shelf, awaiting its
the sprinting sequences, keep compar[...]llipoli to Hugh Hudson's Chariots consists of films difficult to classify, and When the London Film Festival began,
of Fire, but it is closer to All Quiet on the easy to misconstrue. It may be a practical its avowed aim was to bring the best Two films by new directors, Maeve and
Western Front. Of course, the script way of labelling, like the " Miscellaneous" foreign films, particularly wi[...]Burning an Illusion, had been shown at
takes the easy (though historically ac drawer of any filing clerk. And yet, how international festivals, to London. But Edinburgh in August. They were aided by
curate) option of blaming the British can such disparate works as Andrzej when the British cinema lurched from the BFI Production Board, whose
commander for the battle's tragedy; had Zuiawski's sex-horror, Possession, be crisis to crisis, the Festival has increas finances are on a much smaller scale
he been less stupid, the Anzacs may lumped together with a tense television ingly accepted the provision of a show than the Australian Film Commission's;
have survived, and won. The ethics of panel discussion by British steel workers case for new British films as its duty and the result is that their films look as if they
winning -- that is, the ethics of war -- are and trade union leaders, called A Ques included them in the program, whether were made to order for the "alternative
never even questioned. tion of Leadership and directed by Ken they reached the highest international festival circuit" of Edinburgh, Mannheim,[...]Rotterdam and so on, and tend to look
With the period setting, the attitudes of[...]shabby against most London Film
the period dominate the film's emotional Also, not everything to[...]ival films.
world. But Gallipoli leaves a memory of bombs is necessarily controversial: The course stand up to any comparison, and
Rus[...]er Day After Trinity, by John Else, about the cannot be overshadowed by big reputa Maeve, by Pat Murphy and John
ing the handsome horses and men, work of J. Robert Oppenheimer and his tions or ta[...]iewpoint, a
flashing smiles and sunny skies; and of team, is history by now. But then, Shuji through international barriers; but the feminist bias and a complicated time-
one heart-rending moment as the Terayama's The Fruits of Passion, only feature film of this class had already structure to avoid that bugbear of "the
soldiers festoon the sandbags along their perhaps because a semi-[...]a French co Looks and Smiles. But neither the critical
trench with personal possessions which,[...]lified it from being listed esteem it achieved in Cannes, nor its narrative. Nonetheless, Maeve has finer
at the sound of the attack, sldvfiy )(|m into as Asian, is also grou[...], even apart from its worthy
treasured mementoes of the dead. Controversy. To accommodate s[...]ideology of drawing parallels between[...]Irish rule in Ulster and the male domina
Peter Weir's London Film Festival[...]are some excellent scenes,
yet quizzical Winter of Our Dreams;[...]mostly location shooting (in more than
Michael Blakemore's disarmingly candid[...]one sense of the word) in Belfast, and,
Personal History of the Australian Surf,[...]towards the end, the family relationships
where he establishes himself as the[...]from the script. The photography is more
which was paired off with my[...]than competent throughout, and some of
of the year, David Bradbury's Public[...]the acting catches the-mood, as well as
Enemy Number One (see Berlin Fi[...]the Intonation, of militantly Irish speech
Festival report, Cinema[...]ntrast, Burning an Illusion, by
Gratifyingly, the best of the films New[...]radical subject in a conventional, almost
Palace by Roger Donaldson[...]soap-opera format. The heroine, a
shown at London, and all who caught i[...]British-born colored girl, starts with the
single screening liked it.[...]morality and expectations of middle-[...]these attitudes and aspirations are not
the London Film Festival receives a great[...]shared by the young men of her world.
deal of criticism from various quarters.[...]for her roots in African culture and racial
Festival director Ken[...]ectify everything that
could possibly be faulted in connection[...]In spite of slight faults, Burning an Illu
with their progra[...]sion brings out the relevant emotional
name, well-established direct[...]issues without overt comment
there is a section of the Festival devoted[...]to New Directors. Too many films which
reflect the taste of the middle-class,[...]The British premiere given special
middle-aged Estab[...]the Festival, was Priest of Love, directed
create a new section called Contr[...]screenplay, based in turn on Harry T.
to separate all the British and all the[...]Moore's biography of D. H. Lawrence. As
American films into mainstream and in[...]with so many British productions, the[...]cast of established theatrical stars (Ian
dependent cine[...]net Suzman, Penelope
fingers crossed that enough of the in[...]Keith) do their utmost, but the script has
dependents should turn out to be avan[...]a numbing banality, in spite of the juicy[...]literary scandals of Lawrence's life, and
garde as well.[...]the direction has all the verve of a
Above all, never let it be said that the[...]metronome.

Festival neglects the Third World. This[...]As shown in Ken Russell's Women in
year it had six films from Africa -- of[...]Love, Lawrence is the one writer whose[...]utrageous, treatment, and probably
Maanouni, was the most praised -- and
12 from Asia. After all, they make more
films in Asia than in the rest of the world
put together, and with two new film[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (174)[...]as tary. Becker's basic technique is still the One o f the fin d s o f Cannes 1981: Percy A ld o n 's Celeste.
well. Instead, the passions of Lawrence's same: he uses the original, contem
life and the tragedy of his death, at the porary newsreels and propaganda films
age of 45, are all presented in the golden to show events; but junking the original
glow of an aperitif commercial. soundtracks[...]tary in which he is not ashamed to show
The documentaries, however, were of
a rem arkably high standard. Even hi[...]en
though it may have been better suited the meaning of his images.
under the heading of Controversy, The
Animals Film, written and directed by In Lion of Judah, he uses the
Victor Schonfeld, is outstanding in every recordings that an anthropologist friend
way. It covers one of the most debated is made of Ethiopian folk music in the
sues in Britain: the treatment accorded 1960s. Mussolini's campaign to annex
by people to the other animals. The film Ethiopia in 1936 is shown as an at
first shows the misuse of animals as pets, tempted genocide of unmitigated cruelty.
then their abuse in factory farming, their The newsreels showing the Italian ad
torture in laboratory experiments, and vance are actually seen from the point of
the deliberate encouragement of cruelty view of their victims, and fascinating
in such traditional sports as foxhunting, footag[...]ll- Selassie's private records illustrates the
structured and thoroughly researched, Emperor's brave but doomed resistance.
the film is as good as its footage, some of
it shot in secret, possibly allows. While it The most moving moment of the dis
may help the Animal Liberation Front, cussion, and possibly of the entire
whose campaign the film supports, it is Festival, came when a member of the
also good cinema. audience thanked Lutz Becker for the
co[...]documentary, So That You played towards the people of Ethiopia.
Can Live, made by the Cinema Action
collective, follows the life of a Welsh Even apart from Becker's co
family through five years of economic production, German films appeare[...]litical change. Another dimension advantage in each Festival section.
is added by linking the family's attitudes Volker S chlondorff's The Forgery,
to those of the 19th Century Welsh work another last-minute addition, aroused
ing class, and the Evening Institute and the most interest: it examines a German
W orker's Library movement which journalist's confusion in the civil war of
characterized the previous generations. Lebanon -- it hardly matters whether a
In spite of occasionally confusing few years ago, or in the present.
flashbacks, and its rather random inter
cutting of the general with the intimate, Among the New Directors section,

So That You Can Live is[...]lon's Celeste, which many
experiment, testing to the limit the critics call their greatest find at Cannes,
honesty possible in a documentary, and continued to receive unstinted praise.
accepting the process of filmmaking as a Unfortunately, Grabbe's Last Summer,
factor of change in the family's life. by Sohrab Shahid Saless, ca[...]only. It is the most visually ambitious of
A last-minute addition came from Lutz Saless' films so far, and as he has
Becker, whose The Double-headed already collected a solid corps of British
Eagle, shown in 1973, established him as admirers, a large-screen showing would
one of the major figures in the historic have generated great interest.
doc[...]regret is that
Swastika.) His latest film, Lion of Judah, Reinhard Hauff's Endstation freiheit lost
also took several years to research, even the pun of the title in the translation
collage, edit and provide with a commen (in English, it is called Slow Attack) and
the sub-titles lack the subtlety of
dialogue which, in German, establishes
the complex characters. The London[...]popular thriller, without the philosophical[...]The Controversy section also included[...]Sanders-Brahms: the latter won the BFI[...]Film Award for 1981 as "the most original[...]and imaginative film introduced by the[...]National Film Theatre during the year" .[...]This is the first time since the Award's in[...]The jury described Die beruhrte as[...]portrait of a schizophrenic woman,[...]which questions society's definitions of[...]M ultiple Choices

The history o f a Welsh fa m ily through fiv e years[...]c and political change: So That You Can Live. In keeping with the London Film[...]choose more than one film, but, all the[...]the director, should he choose to come.[...]Had I seen Miklos Jancso's The[...]emblematic in a long time. However, my[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (175)[...]Rybczynski uses individual photo the aged. The firs t, from The[...]and fatalistic Het treinhuisje
citizenship blur the borderline between proper press conferences in London, as not quite, live-action. The film opens on a
right and wrong for their victim[...]room. A bail bounces through the (Home on the Rails), a black comedy
Zsombolyai Is a director[...]about two pensioners taking tea in a
serious subjects lightly.[...]imbs through to room. Every hour, when the cuckoo
day, in the smaller of the two theatres, it retrieve it. A woman ente[...]kes, their routine is interrupted by a
ApartFrom The Films would only mean a reduction of 19 films. frantic thumping on the door. The
Out of more than 130, this does not seem baby, then sits at the table and nurses it. woman opens it and a squirrel leaps in
All in all, the Festival should not be to be an irredeemable[...], a man enters and flattens itself against the wall. When
criticized for any of its programming, as it the Festival would be less like a factory by a side door carrying a package. While the opposite door is opened, a train roars
would only result in 20 more films being with films processed through like he is placing the package on top of the through the house. Driessen's finely-
added to an already ov[...]n day and night shifts. wardrobe, the ball bounces through the lined figures, cool pastel colors and wry[...]window and the boy climbs through to humor are contrasted with the lumpy
must be) directed at its venue. The[...]characters, some running gags with the
National Film Theatre is far too small for[...]retrieve it. When the man leaves by cuckoo clock and a mute tragedy when
a festival for the 10 million inhabitants of Animation another door, a thief lurking at the the old man lies across the rails after his
London: not only its auditoria, but the[...]sackful of gold has been stolen by claim-
foyers, bars and other facilities all The Festival's Animation section window steals the package. As he is
become squalid half-way through the continued its tradition of cramming into leaving, the woman cradling the baby jumpers.
day.[...]returns . . . until some 36 characters The second film, Birgitta Jansson's[...]numerically limited selection of "the best crowd into the room, wordlessly perform
The present system of a few (eight, to of" world and British output. Forty films s[...]motion, then leave -- only Semesterhemmet (The Summer Camp),
be precise) forays into Leicester Square were screened, ranging in length from 13 to return almost immediately and repeat
on Sunday mornings, or up the stairs to 30-second British commercials to two the same action exactly: a naked woman won public and critics' prizes at Annecy
the Queen Elizabeth Hall, may relieve the 15-minute entries: Christopher James'[...]sing; a man replacing a light globe is and was the Festival program's sole clay
congestion a little[...]On the bed; a baby's nappy is changed; capped gue[...]ye for character is
justify some investment from the film included Stephen French's technical[...]go melody by Janusz sensitively realized in the figurines'
industry or the distributors; a larger accomplished but labored Storm from Hajduk provides the metre for this modelling, movement and[...]is charmingly enhanced by the idea of
accommodate the larger public which is Armstrong's 14's Good, 18's Better; and superb, surreal dance of everyday life. providing her characters with actual
frustrated by the present system of Michael Mills' delightful and deceptively The State-room scene in A Night at the voices recorded at a Swedish summer
prefe[...]ritish Film simple Canadian film History of the Opera is similar; but Tango is not played camp in 1980.
World In Three Minutes Flat -- proving
Institute members.[...]hs. Although the Festival was not provided
Then, there may be room in the NFT -- winner at Ottawa 1980, Mills' mad-cap At the Zagreb Festival, the emerging with a subtitled print, the documentary
rush from the Beginning to the End was[...]ique is sufficiently atmospheric to
even if only in the smaller NFT-2 -- for warmly received by the audience Josko Marusic, from the Zagreb Film
press conferences. Now, directors who attending the gala opening of Peter Studio, won second prize for Fisheye. At raise the issue of verisimilitude -- an
are invited for three days[...]Skyscraper). resolved.
their audience or the press is limited to a At the 1980 Zagreb Festival the Inter
discussion after the screening. This is national Association of Animated Film Marusic's inventive and hyperactive Ferenc Rofusz's A legy (The Fly), from
sometimes cut to 10 or even five minu[...]ition cartoon recounts yet another day of life Hungary's renowned Pannonia Film
which usually ends by Ken Wlaschin or of " animation" -- from the old "frame-by- in a tower block. Little figures scurry Studio[...]ty saying: "We must leave now, frame" to "the creation of moving images about the cross-section of the building -- masterpiece. Told subjectively and
but you can continue the discussion in through the manipulation of all varieties the main communication channels being drenched in golden monochrome, the
the foyer" -- that is, in the middle of of techniques apart from live-action[...]ely simulating wide-angle
hundreds trying to get in or out, queue methods" . This was designed to accom the lift and the sewer. distortion, it is ab[...]te such new techniques as com The activities are depressingly routine the approach of autumn and, seeking
Any discussion in such a place creates a puter animation. The 11 films in the world[...]re subtle program, selected from entries in the and occasionally repetitive, like the immediately an irritated and unseen
understanding of a director's work. A 1981 Annecy Festival, included a Polish naked girl lying on the bed waiting for a human pursuer launches the fly on a
skilled journalist can always detach a[...]man who peels away layer upon layer of frantic bid for escape and survival.
celebrity and shepherd him away for a and inspired the Annecy Jury to award it clothing. Some[...]e
private interview, but that is no substi the Grand Prix: Zbigniew Rybczynski's the man who deviously conceals his The film excited spontaneous
tute for a director who[...]inute Tango. It pushes ASIFA's money in an open wall-safe behind a applause and won the Best Film Award at
audience reaction to a new work. So, definition to the limits. painting, only to have a gaggle of Ottawa 1980, then went on to win the
even if the idea of moving to the heart of[...]ing thieves pitter-patter away with Oscar for the Best Animated Short Film
London continues to mee[...]the painting. And some are tinged with of 1981. While these are early days for its[...]r: a tenant who fails to wake up is inclusion in an Animation Pantheon, A[...]rushed away in a coffin by the squad; a legy is nevertheless technically b[...]character paces in a room and bleeds short (three minutes!)[...]into the toilet; a man threatens to jump witty.[...]mother. Toward evening the workers Compared with these films, the six[...]return and pack into the lift. At night, all mostly parochial and nostalgic. In[...]except one sit isolated in their rooms George Griffin's Flying Fur, a[...]watching the same television program.[...]The loner locks himself in the lift and the mice at ACME Film Productions[...]Two films touched upon the subject of[...]ulated wide-angle distortion: Ferenc R o fu s z's The Fly.[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (176)[...]Festival

provokes a chase by their colleagues, the first crisis. His red, white and blue French[...]Canadian hockey sweater, with the
cats. The film unintentionally captures famous Number 9 on the back, becomes Change into a bat, succeeding the through such o pp osite s as The
the drift of the North American entries threadbare and his m[...]ond time only after colliding with a Cycle/The Wheel, Revelation/Explosion
since, as a homage, it uses the one by mail-order. When the sweater tombstone wicket) because the comic and The Star/The Blast -- to Whole-
soundtrack of the 1944 Hanna-Barbera arrives, the boy finds it is not the familiar characters are more h o rrifi[...]each card depicted a
cartoon for MGM Putting on the Dog. French Canadian Number 9, but the blue compelling. Which comic characters? rapid, multicolored pattern of images:
The other American entry, Barrie Nel[...]ich comic? As with a matryoshka doll, from the sea and the land, to missiles
son's Opens W ednesday, wasn't any of the rival Toronto Maple Leaf team. He it is difficult to determine which was first. and The Bomb.
more promising. It turns on the idea of a throws a tantrum, to little avail. The boy is
theatre producer rehearsing his cast of doomed to go down to the village rink in Sheila Graber's Face to Face takes the The best of the peace films, however,
shapes and characters to a[...]nto Maple Leaf sweater and idea of metamorphosis into more familiar was John H[...]s as, be rejected by all his friends wearing the territory. Using the simple technique of computer-animated film dedicated "to[...]French Canadian Number 9. The village animating a paint and[...]uction" . Fatalistic
" Excuse me, have you heard of Stanis curate pronounces him a rebel and[...]cal about civiliza-
lavsky or Woody Allen?" from the sends him to church to repent. " I a[...]nterfering cleaning lady. God" , recalls the older and wiser[...]there were no prizes for destiny bordering on the grotesque,
Opens W ednesday was awarded the moths to eat up my Toronto Maple Leaf[...]herwise Dilem m a is a grand parade of familiar[...]agmenting to reveal
jury prize at Ottawa '80 and the Grand[...]Christopher James' After Beardsley, with
Prix at the 1981 ASIFA Festival in New Clearly the best of the North American artwork ghosted in the artist's style tableaux of apocalyptic potential. The
York. en[...]ggesting how he would have postered mask of Tutankhamun becomes an[...]the modern world, including The Bomb, Egyptian war chariot, Greek and Roman
The four Canadian entries were better. Prem iers[...]gs), completed if he hadn't died of consumption at the busts of philosophers easily change into
Winning a Specia[...]udden death by two fellow age of 25, and the Brothers Quaij's Ein phalanxes and legions, an Aztec idol
Frederic Back's Crac is the story of a[...]e), a puppet film becomes an army -- as does the bene
handcrafted rocking chair from the animators at the NFB, Lina Gagnon and where Kafka's assassin/assassinated are ficent image of the Buddha, and
moment the carpenter fells a tree (hence Suzanne Gervais. It is a film of simple, viewed as two insects, would have won Leonardo da V inci's contribution
the onomatopoeic title) in a small mutable beauty. Lines like vap[...]designs for military machines.
farming community in 19th Century pulsating with a life of their own, swirl in
Cuebec, through succeeding generat constant flux against a background of As the opening titles came up for the Although the intent behind succeeding[...]latter film, one scornful member of the concomitant with their development
and lifestyles, to its last resting place in and a woman, the birth of a child -- suddenly restless[...]d out, rather than sinisterly bellicose, the game
the city's Museum of Modern Art where it before dissolving in a melange of "What is a German film doing in a British was always up. But now the development
is used by one of the attendants. The set-[...]Animation Festival?" of microchip technology provides
piece rural wedding reception, where the rippling line and soft hues, thus unfolding[...]as
blue-shadow ed revellers swirl to the idea of perpetual creation. Merging The four films which presented a well as f[...]smaller versions, in a cosmic and
repeated in the darkened museum. The melody for piano and violin by Denis[...]far more relevant technological version of the survival of
rocking chair is once again the centre of Larochelle. and poignant -- although their indul the fittest. Frequently these images[...]revert to the bland, changeless icon of
attraction and it whirls the sterile Prem ier jours was awarded a[...]d, together with introduced with the well-known "The blinded by today's media, ignorant abo[...]Babel Fish" episode from Douglas the consequences of conventional and
equivocal, time. Tango and A legy, was the highlight of Adams' H itc h -h ik e r's G uid e to the nuclear armament, man is about as
Mary[...]Galaxy, animated by Rod Lord, for the secure as a light globe target for a rif[...]Pretend You'll
International Rocketship Ltd, won the The influence of the peace movement Survive, a scream for nuclear disarma The remaining films were a jumble of
prize for a Film for Children at Annecy. and the concern of the Committee for[...]s and particular interests.
Burrowed away behind the razor-sharp Nuclear Disarmament were evident in the ment from Leeds Animation Worksh[...]Nick Lever's orthodox
lines and flat color areas of conventional Festival's British Program. Of the 15 films Using shock techniques, not far John Barleycorn, the song with pictures;
cartooning is a surreal behind-the-[...]alf-cephalopod, audience composed largely of members films about the ravaging Hun, it achieved in which tu b u la r shapes flo u rish
lazily performs the laid-back Willie of the local industry, four films were[...]g to live each day as if vanishing point to the soothing strains of
baby grand for Vern and his pet cactus. pessimistic about the present, while[...]Pachelbel's "Canon" ; Neil Thomson's
In an adjacent, modishly-furnished another four dealt specifically with the Hiroshima victims and megatons existed suspenseful extrapolation of a Max
loungeroom, a chicken roasts a chicken[...]screen. " It could Klinger etching entitled In Flagrenti; Alex
over a candle, Black Ear the Dog sits animation continues to maintain high happen today" , but the day passes Brychta's Flora D ance, wh[...]instrum ents in a live-actio n day
finishes and tosses the question, "What competent work by newcomers. For the could happen tomorrow" , but tranquillity dreaming youth's 'brass' band -- the
do you think?" , the room does a Dali by first time for two years, however, the prevails. Then it happens. Afte[...]bligingly melting. work of Bob Godfrey (Dream Doll in 1979 night of street cries and civil unrest, she Vivian Fish[...]emerges from the ruins of her home to Miller's accomplished cartoon Act V, the
C r a c and Si ng B e a s t Si ng and Instant Sex in 1980) was sadly find the landscape devastated, her Graveyard Scene from Hamlet,
demonstrate the capabilities of Canada's absent. body ravaged by radiation and the air characterized by alien, ectomorphic[...]Russell J. Brooke's The Com ic Story swarming with bloated flies. " Don't
industry, though the National Film Board is an oblique and light-hearted frame Pretend to Protest" warns the grim end-
continued to reinforce its solid reputation story set in that vague land where reality
with two superbly-[...]boy buys a title.
Cohen's The Sweater, from a story by horror comic an[...]graveyard where an assortment of
Roch Carrier, is a charming reminisc gh[...]ith a few pessim istic T h e W ay of the Fool
ence about how, in the winter of 1946 in transmogrification tricks. The boy is
the small Quebec community of Ste oblivious to their antics (includ[...]idea: Tarot cards for the nuclear age.
Justine, a 10-year-old boy f[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (177)[...]1915 and not, as he claims, on Saturn." It part of the magic myth and the magic
cartoon about the platonic love-life of an him, if only for a brief period of time, had needed to be said. For although Sun Ra touch of the m ythocracy -- not
ugly little man, with a heart of gold, not been able to forget him after[...]stra have been together theocracy, or any of your other
named Marun Buchstansangur, who[...]cies' " , and "They say that history
lives alone in a crack between the[...]itself. They say that history
kitchen floor and the cupboard. In this comprehensive film biography, philosop[...]rated by Richard Basehart and Here, in 60 kaleidoscopic minutes, itself. But that's not my story. What's your
Overall, the 13 commercials demon illustrated with photographs, period Mugge provides the gaudy, robe- story?" Sun Ra lives in Philadelphia.
strated the British industry's search for a posters and E[...]lowing its two-year (no film exists today of Bix playing), perform, philosophize and de[...]ith an Then, She's Betty Carter" lacks in
And, while the work of Richard Taylor portrait as we will possibly ever have of audience he couldn't care is there or not.[...]and Vera Linnecar was absent, Geoff the jazz musician who, along with enthusiasm. The bebop singer's commit
Dunbar and Paul Vestor returned with Armstrong, was the heart of jazz in The experience is not altogether ment to her[...]three commercials, each following their the 1920s. She has also collated an incomprehensible, at least in the short infectious. Parkerson began her film in
successes at Ottawa '80. Dunbar was enviable collection of Bix's work: "Jazz term. As a jazz iconoclast[...]1976, but only managed to complete it
awarded the Grand Prix for Ubu and Me Blues" , "[...]composer and arranger is shortly before the Festival: two of those
Vestor received a Special Jury Prize for[...]his four-minute Sunbeam. The Wolverines; " Davenport Blues" by such ta[...]vanced" ) and drummer James Jacson filmed in a concert at the Cranston
two more commercials for Alka Seltzer,[...]Bix's composition "Cloudy" from ("Sun Ra, of course, showed me a whole Auditorium.
and the p ro lific Ian M oo-Y oung memory, d[...]rter reveals herself as playful
Normal character in a gaudy and fluent little too lyrical wh[...]ides some Ra's communal family. Sun Ra revels in and impish offstage as she is on, a theme[...]chard cool and lingering seascapes for the his role as a visionary, linking Egyptia[...]Animation returned, fresh from recording of Bix playing his piano mythology with s[...]Clio Award for 1980's composition " In a Mist" , it is a reminder "Some call me Mr Ra,[...]Washington Post: Landscape, with two of the theme throughout -- that Bix call me my[...]when she discusses the album she
Nairn Arena Cushion Floor and the anti who, as Hoagy Carmichael explains,[...]iberal recorded with Ray Charles to " The
smoking Nick-O-Teen, and the lyrical talked through his music "straight from selection of Sun Ra's music, interviews Trolley Song" . Gladly the cuts are
Tempest ad for Shell by Russell Hall. the heart and told you what he was with ba[...]lectures straight into the camera: "One scat offstage about a variety of subjects:
The final film on the British program,[...]ack musicians who
ingeniously-scripted satire on the life and enjoyable and timely, and it sets in high abandoned jazz " to make a million
aesthetics of the egocentric Scottish relief the realization that Bix Beider and be prepared for it" , " In my music I dollars" out of Motown and Soul, her
a rtist Lawrence Angus MacConi, becke, the " born genius" who opened up speak of unknown things" , "They say that concern that[...]or his dining and vehicle new avenues of harmony and melody for history repeats it[...]hat's h/story, helping black children learn from the
pictures. Lawrence, the narrator Gary jazz, died at the age of 28. not my story. Nature never repeats itself. black singers of the '20s and '30s, and
Bond tells us, tried most schools of Why should / repeat myself?" , "What's the pride she has in her career --
painting -- Cubist, Surrealist (witness his Fortunately for the audience at Sun wrong with today's youth i[...]e who have intuition `Independent' . . . In the old days it was
incomprehensible vehicles. He once their compatriots in The Producers, because they don't know what[...]ector Robert Mugge surfaced to give doing. The people who do know what
trying to fly? It makes[...]Her reminiscences of the early days of
also." On his deathbed, after filming his[...]hey're doing haven't proven anything" , bebop in Detroit, hanging out with
last drive along a suburban street, he "was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in " I'm not human. I'm a catalyst. I'm[...]Coltrane, experimenting with the flatted
necessary to invent me" , and with his[...]fifth and the scat, are as lively and as
final breath he misqu[...]her first break, is followed up with
understood in one second, his bio[...]him appearing onstage with her at the
graphers take him at his word and[...]s work. With a script as
taut and witty as this, the visuals become[...]rkerson's film is clearly not a
complementary: " In one moment he[...]biography, nor does it unravel the
became older. One moment. Older." The[...]" mysteries and innuendoes" about Betty
moments in this intelligent and hilarious[...]Carter which first attracted Parkerson to
spoof of the art world and films on art are[...]her subject. It is a relaxed view of a
rich and many.[...]modest singer who, after a quarter of a[...]century of being in the vanguard of
Jazz________________________[...]singer."
The Jazz Program consisted of shorts
and feature-length documentaries,[...]axwell Street Blues, a first film by
mostly from the U.S. The Festival[...]aritsky and co
audience was touched, not only by the[...]produced by Sandra Lieb, is a reverent
music and the cloying sense of nostalgia,[...]ut Chicago's Maxwell
but also with gratitude for the concern of[...]St market, for more than 60 years the
sympathetic filmmakers who managed to[...]venue for sidewalk blues musicians. The
retrieve some moments and memories of[...]color and sound of the musicians
past musicians which would otherwise[...]photographs of the area when it was
It is jazz cornetist Leon Bi[...]Polish immigrants in the early 1900s.
he died of pneumonia in New York on[...]Then, with film clips from the '50s, stills
August 6, 1931, that many people[...]and a roving camera, the film gradually
remember. The drink -- and his music.
The tone he achieved was difficult for his[...]charts the change from the time when the
contemporaries to' describe: "like a girl[...]only music heard was the cash register to
saying yes" , "a mallet hitting[...]The Clarksdale Blues Band and many
Shaw and Hoagy Ca[...]' else" . As Louis
Armstrong was to say later on in the[...]Much of the flavor of the '20s and the
1930s, "Ain't none of them play like him[...]years since is recalled by the crusty
yet."[...]in 1930 in an argument over a woman)
forms the subtitle to Bix, a labor of love by[...]CBC-TV producer Brigitte Berman. For
four years, in her spare time, she criss[...]Muddy Waters among others have all
crossed the U.S. visiting anyone who[...]played on Maxwell St. The filmmakers[...]movies, taken on Maxwell St in the '50s,[...]and dedicated the film to him. Blind[...]
Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (178)[...]mentaries. . . arranged the material to my own that's all right becau[...]want to talk to me
I The trap with documentaries is[...]tne tne- want to make reality fit the story; imposition on people. You knock[...]yourself you have found these you are in their house for more than fascinating working[...]se you really create
teacher who, in people and they would be terrific to sec[...]people's experiences -- yours and
stead of our English make a film about. You then try the two actors' -- and then create[...]orking, say, with an something more than just the
lessons, allowed us to and make the people be what the average Australian family,[...]roduce whatever Shake idea is, which is unfair to the exploitable, and you have t[...]ing or know that do that, but that's one of the
speare play we were doing people. But it is also unfair to the reasons I wanted to work in drama.[...]someone else is going to pick them
at the moment. I used to good story if you can't do it j[...]see themselves as We started rehearsals in the last
Then I did my Arts degree, that you can man[...]being typical. All these things come week in October and shooting in
majoring in drama and English. want to.[...]finished by the end of last year, but
about films. I had done acting you have a lot of freedom and a lot hassle.[...]bit over that
lessons at university and gone to the of footage, and you go in to find the now. I felt that if I didn't shoot it
Independent, but I found the truth. But then the same thing before the end of the year I wasn't
t h e a t r e m o re a n d m o re happens, because you get a.lot of[...]t has been going
claustrophobic and interior, so the footage and start making up the on so long it would have been silly.
idea of making documentary films story in the editing. On the two I have lots of other things to do.[...]Where did the idea for the film come[...]from?
I was quite naive going into it, in[...]It sort of started as a joke and
a way. Even little news cl[...]just expanded. I wrote the scene in[...]the middle to begin with, and then
television seemed[...]wrote out from it. The scene is in a[...]where two people
because it was much wider, out in[...]Contempt on television. I had once
the open, and not that theatre[...]combination of images. There is
experience of going into musty[...]that film Contempt, because it is
theatres in the daytime to rehearse..[...]do when editing. In fact, I quite
called the Commonwealth Film[...]often don't start at the beginning.
Unit, and that I might get a job[...]and making patterns, and working
percentage of women -- like about[...]10 boys -- and a girl

had just left, so I got the job.
It doesn't seem acceptable now,

but when I first started doing it I
liked the adventurous life. It
seemed great, constantly fi[...]tions that you
normally wouldn't get into.

The other thing that appealed to

me about film was the combination
of visual and intellectual elements.
My mother is a[...]ve
something to do with that as well. I
thought the theatre was wonderful
and I always really liked[...]ion. I can watch television or

go to films all the time.

136 - April CINEMA PAPERS

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (179)[...]I

John Hargreaves and Penne Hackforth-Jones in the motel bedroom. Meg Stewart's Happy anything, and[...]the thing about directing that is[...]be. I am confident about my knowledge of 1976 Slipway Dreaming
drama for the first time? not interested in having to control the script. I don't think I would be 1977 Hal[...]vast amounts of people. I can't even able to direct an episode of Cop
The work I did as a continuity bear the notion of being a Shop at the moment, though if I They Recko[...]ster. were shut in a room and told to It and a Bit
a lot of dramas in one capacity or[...]op Shop I suppose I 1978 Not Just the Object
another. So the actual form of it is I can see the fascination of probably could. I guess I could tell Joining the Mouse Race
not too terrifying. The good thing is saying, " Let's shoot the procession the criminals how they should be 1979 The Thompsons
you can get actors to do it again, and let's have three crews and a interpreting the role. I'd feel uneasy 1982 Happy Endings
which you can't in documentaries. helicopter" and all that stuff, but I about directing the action se
You coax actors in the same way feel the good thing about drama is quences or choreographing fights, But a lot of films that are success
you coax people to give a[...]sistant but I guess I would get someone in ful seem quite small in terms of
interview; you start relating to them who can shout at people. I have no to choreograph the fight for me. I actors and controllability.[...]y into them. desire to shout at people and if the
It is almost as though you are first ass[...]n do all that. Then I can devote liked the script and how confident I drama. I can be really interested in
Then it is not such an amazing my time to the actors and the felt about the characters. whatever project I am do[...]If I had an ideal, if I were going couple of days and I got really
But the responsibility always to have a care[...]ired by her. I wanted to make a
I found doing the test scenes with comes back to the director, because style director, it would be to make film using the sorts of things she
the actors very stimulating and everybody want[...]s line mean?" And I didn't is taken over, and the end product sort of artistic intent. I think Bob absorb me as thoroughly as making
write the script going into great may not be as you wa[...]a feature film. But perhaps once I
explanations of every line, I just[...]doing. Perhaps it is the ultimate
that. I became, very careful --[...]Huston's Fat City was my favorite sort of media exposure, which I
because it is very much[...]don't even think about that much.
people -- of how you can shift the film, and it would possibly be good films like I Walk the Line, with To entertain a cinema full of people
balance. Stephen would come out to[...]is probably quite an extraordinary
on top in the dialogue in one scene, to be directing one feature film[...]d it every night
but, if you added one more line of after another. The other thing is, in ent. f[...]gela would come out everything I have done, in radio[...]extraordinary, *
on top. Then it can change with the programs and in the sort of writing Lots of small films can be really
performers -- the intonation or the that I would like to do, I draw on good. I do like the extravaganza
strength of the actors changes it living experiences. And if[...]things, straight adventure if you
again. The thing I was conscious of working all the time, you can't want to get lost on an afternoon.
in the script was trying to get that have any living e[...]Penne Hackforth-Jones and John Hargreaves: shades of Jean-Luc Godard. Happy Endings.
films], but that gets back to the
The next thing I would want to unreality of theatre.
do as far as drama goes is write a
fea[...]t Do you see yourself directing scripts
one. The difficult thing about written by other people?
drama and films is that I don't need
to be the general in feature I would consider something[...]by someone else to do
not as dedicated as a lot of male -- I would always consider[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (180)[...]before you -- not a commercial length. I wrote of moving the camera. The effect comedy which I made as a vehicle[...]t when I was 21 and now I have an was like one of those cartoon book to act in. There was only one other
active dislike for this kind of lets which, when you flip the pages, professional actor in the entire cast
From 1969 to 1974,[...]logy. It create a continuous movement. of hundreds. On A Most Attractive
I was[...]Man, I worked with professional
Mama in Carlton. I was the National Playwrights' Confer Why did you go[...]nd sync-sound on someone
lucky to be a part of that scene. ence in 1977. cine, rather than the theatre? else's script. I am particularly
While the actors at the Melbourne interested in comedy, but I feel
Theatre Company were still sp[...]always loved film, but it was a open to any sort of film.
ing with British accents and calling matter of not having the oppor
each other "darling" , we were My only experience in film up tunity. Although I acted in several Is there comedy in " A M ost
hypercritically and overtly Aus until 1974 was small roles in local films and made one short comedy, Attractive Man"?
tralian. The first plays of Jack Hib- productions like Brakefluid. I cut[...]ft (60 m) film which por
at La Mama, and I acted in the trayed a woman's thoughts by a How would you describe the kinds of How did you find the script for it?
original productions of Dimboola succession of jump cuts and films you have made and the sort of
and The Coming o f Stork. increasing clos[...]fifth-year medicine, I ran
drama workshops with the inmates
of Larundel Psychiatric Hospital. I
had the courage to try anything. By
8 a.m. I had to be in the operating
theatre assisting the anaesthetist.
My lunchtimes were spent per
forming at schools and factories
with the Portable Players. At night,
I directed rehearsal[...]active, if undirected, time.

How did you make the transition
from acting to writing?

I was a[...]al
candidate.

Improvization was a big part of
our rehearsals and street theatre,
and we were[...]to write
our own dialogue and this de
mystified the written word for me.

This was the time you wrote `Dream
Girl' . . . ?

Dream Girl was a play that came Rivka Hartm an and actors in H artm an's Consolation Prize.
directly from my[...]y child
hood and adolescence came tumb
ling out of me with amazingly
accurate recall. It is[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (181)[...]MA

the writer in Darling St, Balmain. Did your theatre background help in experience in vaudeville which gave Rivka Hartman Filmograp[...]them immaculate timing and a
to get funding for the project, but it great knowledge of how to make 1975 Fantasy Sequence
was the team of Gilly Coote and Directing film is tota[...]people laugh. It is a pity that 1978 The Battle of Mice and Frogs
myself which finally got the film off from directing for stage. I think[...]who taught them 1979 Consolation Prize
the ground. film actors s[...]both about film, never achieved the 1981 A Most Attractive Man[...]nd be familiar fame or the opportunity to direct.
Would you again direct another with the camera and understand the They were total filmmakers -- like fited from this. However, the
person's script? reason for each shot. Dialogue in other writer-director-[...]film is more naturalistic than in dians like Mae West, J[...]and Woody Allen, all of whom have art director is a man, too.
the moment. On A Most Attractive you to use po[...]ting some didactic argument. Theatricality in director with the greatest sense of What do you think about the films
one else's work. You always learn fi[...]s like Some Like It Australians are making at the
something when you approach a work.[...]Hot and One Two Three are the moment?
subject from someone else's poi[...]funniest of all.
of view. Perhaps f[...]nce as a Australian films. I admire people
In preference to writing and but it is mo[...]mmunicate woman working in film? like Gill Armstrong, Steve[...]write, but I would writing and everything I did in the rest of society. I have had real people set in the city -- films
like to be involved in the writing theatre has been valuable exper[...]mitive film. A imbecile. In each case it happened S . . . . I love the Italian neo-realist
three writers. Initially, I[...]because I am a woman. In general, films like Bicycle Thieves, because[...]Their conditioning has trained of people in the city. I'd love to[...]the basis of working on a film. Cowboy.
do you mean on the same project? My mother and grandmother[...]Would you employ women on a film What sort of films would you
Yes. Writing is the first stage in brother and I were regulars a t the in preference to men? consider dire[...]tive process. Writing with two on a diet of serials and B-grade I have never been put in that It is a delicate balance between
p[...]don't much like neurotic films. I
of comedy. sentimental[...]am interested in stories about
always have a good sob at the Was it accidental that most of the survival.
What about the integrity of the romantic parts. Now I love Fed[...]Max 3", what would you say?
The work of the writer and the Marx Brothers. Yes; we simply chose the best
director overlap to some extent. It[...]people for the job. It's true that I'd say I'd read the script.
is best for the integrity of the film When I made Consolation Prize,[...]when director and writer have a I studied the early silent comedies women, and I think the shoot bene
good understanding; but at some of people like Buster Keaton and
stage the director takes over. Charlie Chaplin. They had years of

Carole Skinner, Grigor Taylor a n d Julie M cGregor during a break in film in g o f H artm a n 's A Dorian (Grigor Tayl[...]

Cinema Papers no. 37 April 1982 (182) by the time they live in. There Last year I took the third draft to children, very lonely[...]is a certain mood I want to get, of London with me and showed it to[...]ar? . . .
the 1940s, the war. I don't want it Alan Seymour and asked him w[...]to be a heavy psychological drama. he thought of it. He wrote me a
I I wa[...]as very Does this depend on the money[...]arriving in time?
think the period and gives you some constructive and helped[...]l put
women insight into the characters of the about how to make it stronger, money in providing the AFC come[...]to the party. I'll know in the next
directors woman and[...]sing its integrity. I also couple of weeks where I stand
have a dif what the war does to them.[...]there.
ferent way of showed the draft to Sandy Lieber-[...]depicting charac You have written the script. Will well-written, imaginative script, crew . . .
ters and scenes in a you direct it?
film. Even with a gutsy[...]encouraging. A very small crew; the absolute[...]with children,
strong one can still tell the Peter Smalley, and at the moment Bros? and getting performances out of
film has been directed by a it looks[...]Yes, but he is now with the Ladd
intimacy to scenes -- maybe it's ducing it, too. The producers I have Company. He liked it, but he didn't How confident are you about
just a way of handling sensory approached here have all[...]s. I worked with Jack
Also, female characters in their I started writing it as a book anywhere, really. Clayton on The Innocents; I played
films come across stronger.[...]ok the part of Miss Jessel, the ghost.
male writers are not good at depict what I had written in to Peter's I then took the draft to Greg One of the things he did when we
ing women. They are usuall[...]had to do a close-up of me crying
right when it comes to old women, We came home to Australia [from much the same sort of thing: it was -- was to clear the set. There were
but the young ones are very often Britain] and I sent an outline to the too gentle, not dramatic enough for only Jack and Freddie Francis, the
stereotypes. Even Dostoyevsky's A ustralian Film[...]and Shakespeare's heroines are Steve W allace and the other vision. He suggested putting more eight people instead of 80.
mostly insipid, sweet nothings, assessors said they liked the idea sex into it!
aren't they?[...]I think a lot of directors and
and gave me a little bit of money --[...]I think $300 -- to develop the treat What was your reaction to that?[...]wrote the script along with John
How do you feel about the por ment. I thought that was very[...]Mortimer and Jack, thought all the
trayal of women in Australian films? encouraging! Ridiculous, actual[...]point I thought, "God, we close-ups of the ghost were too
but anyway . . . are changing the whole concept of[...]Michele Fawdon (in Cathy's Child): to star
I don't think many contem the script and I will end up with this in Emma's War.[...]ical drama about a
porary roles have shown women in How did you go about writing it? tee[...]Margarethe von Trotta-type
any depth. Very often the actresses
drama about the psychological dis
have nothing to get their teeth into. When we discussed the project, I turbances of two sisters. It's meant[...]to be a film about the celebration of
I'd like to see more scripts written had talked about the idea of using life as seen by an adolescent, a fil[...]which will try to point out, in a
by women. I think this could be the improvizations with the actors. But subtle way, the stupidity of war.

answer. We could do some really when I started the treatment, I real Actually, I was ab[...]of the suggestions people made and
good things.[...]feeling for the script. We devel
a script together if the whole thing oped a sensory scene for the mother
which will give the actors a chance
There seem to be more roles for[...]take their advice and it's much
women in theatre . . . guidelines for impr[...]I went back

admit it or not, most actresses to the AFC and the assessors (a

would like to be great. But they different lot, of course) thought the

really need a very strong part to script was l[...]it. I came home to my

Is there a common theme in your husband, who is a scriptwriter and

work?[...]ist, and because he hated to Who have you tho