Cinema Papers July-August 1981

Registered for posting as a Publication — Category B.

incorporating television

mmmm

“ Film allows you +

movie they generally see the expected.

It’s my aim to enable them to see things they normally wouldn’t see in real life.

A view that is possible only through a camera. A nd then on film.

To create these shots you have to achieve the impossible-to shoot when all your experience tells you it’s impossible.

Your ability to do this is very much related to your understanding of how a particular stock will act in a particular situation.

A nd you not only have to understand it but you have to keep up with the improvements. Over the last 60 years these improvements have given us the potential to make truly great pictures.

With all the features I’ve shot, I’ve calculated that 554 kilometres of film has gone before my eye.

A nd the majority of that film has been 35 mm Eastman Color Negative film. I think that says something for my attitude to the stock.”

Don McAlpine.

Cinematographer.

Kodak Motion Picture Film KODAK (Australasia) PTY. LTD.

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L es M cK enzie has been in the film industry for more than 25 years andyouve never seen athing hes done.

Les, what led you into the sound side of what is, after all, a visual medium?

In fact I did start in the visual side of the business - as an assistant projectionist at the Hoyts 6 Ways Theatre, Bondi!

Very glamorous. And I guess, just by sitting through so many movies I was intrigued by the realism of the tracks; how the director used sound to create the illusion and build the right atmosphere, and I wanted to find out more.

So where did you start?

Supreme Studios, Merv Murphys place. I think almost everybody who worked in this industry through the 50s and 60s worked at Supreme. It was our Film and TV school in those days, our studio system.

And I was lucky enough to train for four years under the finest technician this country has produced, Arthur Smith - A.C. Smith. From there I went to “Skippy” for three years. I did every episode - 91 of them and one feature. Then to the States for a while: then back to Aust­ ralia as sound supervisor at APA. So what does it take to be a good sound man?

I don’t know, I'm still learning.

Still, there must be some things you listen for, that you expect to hear on a track?

Well, you know I really believe that the good tracks are the ones where everything is put together so well that it becomes almost subliminal. I’m not against shock action tracks by any means, but I do like it all to go together as one entity.

W hat do film makers tend to overlook about sound?

They seem to think you can always phone it in later. And you can. But I feel that the performance the artist gives on the floor is so important you should do your best to get it on the day. It also saves the producer money. A couple of minutes on the set getting the right atmosphere, effects and

performance can save days lost in post production trying to re-create them.

I know you’ve worked on many features, but what is the film you’re most proud of, as far as your own contribution is concerned?

Oh, I think ‘Tim’ which was shot in 1978, just after I came to Colorfilm in fact. I’m very proud o f‘Tim’ because there is not one looped line in the picture. We had locations in the surf, at Mascot Airport, in and out of cars, and it’s all original material on the day.

I was also sound supervisor, supervised the music score and made the optical neg when it was all over.

Any others?

Yes. I really think my best achievement in the optical transfer side of the business is the very first neg that I made on a picture called “Picnic at Hanging Rock.” I don’t know if it’s common knowledge, but “Picnic” was nominated for a British Academy Award for sound.

Is there one movie you can think of that particularly impressed you because of its sound?

When I was at Universal they were dubbing the movie ‘Earthquake,’ and I enjoyed going over to the theatre and sitting with Ronny Pierce when they were doing the earthquake sequences. There were 59 cut elements in those sequences - a cut element is one complete reel with elements on it - but there were 59 effects reels in those sequences. And to sit there and see the Sensurround system working, it was one of the most spectacular things I can remember. It stands out.

I understand Colorfilm did all the release prints for ‘Elephant M an’ in this country, didn’t that involve some rather special sound expertise?

Yes. ‘Elephant Man’ carried a Dolby variable area sound track, the first that has been

printed in this country. So we had to do the research on the configuration of the negative as far as density, fog levels, cross cancellation and that sort of thing. Then print it and process it and hold it to the control parameters we’d set.

D o you expect to do more of these?

Yes I do. I don’t really see us in the near future producing Dolby stereo negs in this country, but we’ll certainly print more from overseas. At the moment there are only three Dolby cameras in the world: one in Los Angeles, one in London and one in Munich.

The one in Munich is I understand producing Dolby Stereo Porn movies. I’d dearly love to go and see that!

What can you offer the film maker here at Colorfilm that he won’t get anywhere else in Australia?

Our optical transfer system.

I believe it’s the finest mono­ optical system m the world.

And so do RCA in America.

W hy is that?

Because the cameras were hand fitted by the man who created the system in the first place - Art Blayney. When I first went to APA I had the opportunity to train with Art for 6 months. He’s 80 years old now and he really is the doyen of optical recording. In fact, he’s just been awarded the SMPTE Samuel L. Warner Award for outstanding achievement and contribution to sound in motion pictures. I asked Art to put those cameras together for me in Los Angeles. It took him 16 weeks, and when those cameras arrived here they were so well set up I just put them together and started running track. I did not have to do a thing. And now RCA are using our parameters for the cameras they’re making today.

And what does that mean to the film maker?

It means we can produce a track for him at least as good as any hed get anywhere else in the world. We tend to look upon

Hollywood and London as being the centre of the industry, but our negatives out of here print as well as any of them.

You must be really busy now, what’s currently happening at Colorfilm?

‘Gallipoli’ is ready for printing now, and coming up we’ve got: ‘The Best of Friends’ ‘Partners’ ‘Heat Wave’ and ‘Angel Street’ to name just a few. My personal aim here at Colorfilm is to build the best sound department in the southern hemisphere. I think our sound negs are fine, were supplying magnetic xfers of dailies to producers, and I’m currently building up a very elaborate sound effects library.

Plus, of course, our new preview room which will be ready in November. It has suspended walls and ceilings, big screen 35mm and 16mm projection, full stereo sound - the lot.

Now Les, you’ve worked in the States, at Universal.

Yes. For Disney’s, United Artists, Allied Artists.

Yes. You’ve had offers to go and live and work in America, what’s stopped you?

Because I’m a fifth generation Australian and proud of it. Look, I don’t want to work anywhere else. The Australian film industry is as old and respected as any in the world.

And today it’s producing some of the best films in the world.

A nd Colorfilm?

Well, of course, the people make this company. My sound crew is the finest I’ve ever had and you don’t often get the chance to work with technicians like Arthur Cambridge, Maggie Cardin, Bill Gooley and Roger Cowland. We’re a team.

We respect each other, and we love this industry. It’s as simple as that.

colorfilm Leo Burnett 4 2 84 7 L

M iÉ^

LaoBometl 4.2847 R

Agfa-Gevaert have just released a new color negative camera film, available in 16mm and 35mm, that will positively enhance the creation of any masterpiece.

New Gevacolor 682 negative camera film.

This film passes even the toughest of tests with flying colours (if you’ll forgive the pun), reproducing skin tones to perfection.

And it doesn’t just offer a wide latitude that compensates for even the m ost severe exposure variations, but delivers such a fine grain that every frame can be appreciated as a work of art in itself.

B etter still, this new film can be processed without any of the problems created by climatic conditions. And it’s compatible with the process employed by most major

Australian laboratories.

So in summary, all we can say is that if you’ve got the creative know-how, and the will, w e’ve got the way. New Gevacolor Type 682.

A G F A -G E V A E R T L IM IT E D

Head Office, P.O. Box 48, Nunawading, VIC. 3131.

Melbourne 8788000, Sydney 8881444, Brisbane 3916833, Adelaide 425703, Perth 3615399.

Articles and Interviews John Duigan: Interview

Scott Murray

226

Government and the Film Industry

Margot Pinkus

230

The New Tax Concessions

Ian Baillieu

232

Chris Noonan: Interview

Barbara Alysen

238

Collections Testify

Barrie Pattison

242

Robert Altman: Interview

Dennis Altman

244

Alienation and De-alienation

Tomas Gutierrez Alea

248

Octavio Cortazar: Interview

Martha Ansara

John Duigan Interviewed: 226

250

Edward Fox 252

Brian McFarlane Some Aspects of Australia

Rod Bishop

Gallipoli Reviewed: 285

255

Features The Quarter Letters Cannes Film Festival 1981

220 224

Scott Murray

234 254

Film Censorship Listings New Products and Processes

Fred Harden

272 277 293

Production Survey Box-office Grosses

Television News Broadcasting and Regulation

259

Nick Herd

Edward Fox Interviewed: 252

262

The Liberation of Skopje

Eric Fullilove Production Survey The Film and Television Interface

264 267 268

Cannes Festival 1981 Reviewed: 234

Reviews Gallipoli

Brian McFarlane

285

Grendel, Grendel, Grendel

Geoff Mayer

286

The Long Good Friday

Steve Garton

287

Roadgames

Brian McFarlane

288

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Geoff Mayer

291

Books Laurence Olivier: Theatre and Cinema Errol Flynn: The Untold Story

Robert Altman Interview: 244

Brian McFarlane Recent Releases

Mervyn Binns

Managing Editor: Scott Murray. Associate Editor: Peter Beilby. Contributing Editors: Tom Ryan, Ian Baillieu, Brian McFarlane, Fred Harden. Editorial Consultant: Maurice Perera. Proof-reading: Arthur Salton. Design and Layout: Keith Robertson, Meredith Parslow, Andrew Pecze. Business Consultant: Robert Le Tet. Office Administration: Nimity James. Secretary: Anne Sinclair.

Office Assistant: Jackie Town. Correspondents: David Teitelbaum (Los Angeles), Mike Nicolaidi (Wellington), Erica Short (Auckland).

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Recommended price only.

a 294

Stepping Out Director interviewed: 238

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 two months by Cinema Papers Pty Ltd, Head Office, 644 Victoria St, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3051. Telephone: (03) 329 5983. © Copyright Cinema Papers Pty Ltd, No. 33, July-August, 1981.

Front cover: Robert Grubb, Mel Gibson, Mark Lee and David Argue in Peter Weir’s Gallipoli.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 219

Top Film Changes It was only a few years ago that inserters of film advertising in trade periodicals started adding in small type “These credits are not deemed to be contractual.” This arose out of litiga­ tions over cast members being re­ placed between the ads being printed and the films starting production.

In Australia today, production lists issued during shooting could well do with a similar proviso. The two recent examples are Wall to Wall and We of the Never Never.

Keith Salvat, director of Private Col­ lection in 1972. was announced as the director of Wall to Wall, for which he wrote a screenplay. Salvat did in fact begin directing the film, but early in the shoot Mark Egerton took over as director. Neither Salvat nor producer Errol Sullivan have issued statements.

We of the Never Never, the first feature of Adams Packer Films, started shooting with John B. Murray as pro­ ducer. Murray was then chief of pro­ duction at Adams Packer. Not long into the shooting, Murray left the film and resigned from Adams Packer. His position as producer was taken by Greg Tepper. formerly of the Experi­ mental Film Fund and the Victorian Film Corporation and now general manager at Adams Packer. Brian Rosen was also brought in as associate producer.

The $2.5 m illion film has only recently completed shooting, and executive producer Phillip Adams has claimed it has the lushness of Gone . With The Wind, though adding wryly it is Australia's Heaven’s Gate, the film allegedly had its budget lifted to $3 million.

S ince leaving Adam s Packer, Murray has started Paul Cox’s Close to the Heart, which he is producing inde­ pendently for Adams Packer.

become an important factor on the world film scene,” Leiterman said.

“Australian producers and directors have already established a reputation for skill, integrity and dedication to their craft.”

Leiterman, who has been a producer for 20 years, said producers here are to be congratulated on avoiding mistakes being made in other countries of turning out cheap, carbon-copies of Hollywood fprmula films. Leiterman said Motion Picture Guarantors Inc. has e s ta b lis h e d an A u s tra lia n corporation and is in negotiation with a number of Australian and New Zealand producers to provide com pletion bonds. “We are very service-oriented,” Leiterm an said. “ We believe the interests of the producer and his guarantor are identical, and we pull all stops to help him come in on-time and on-budget.”

Part of Motion Picture Guarantors’ service is to provide, at its own expense, a guarantor’s representative to closely monitor each film. “ Pro­ ducers have found this a great help in spotting difficulties before they become problems,” Hinkson said.

Motion Picture Guarantors Motion Picture Guarantors Inc., one of the major international companies providing completion guarantees, has expanded its operations to include Australia and New Zealand. Company chairman Douglas Leiterman, and legal counsel William Hinkson, came to Aus­ tralia in June to meet local producers. “ We believe Australia is about to

220 — Cinema Papers, July-August

Associated R & R Films has an­ nounced that its first feature, Gallipoli, has been taken up for distribution by Paramount Pictures. This will be the first time an American major has dis­ tributed an Australian feature.

MIFED Announces Dates The following dates have been set for the 1981 Milan 44th Session of MIFED: 1. Indian Summer — October 19-25 2. E a s t-W e s t F ilm M a rk e t — October 25-30 3. Traditional MIFED — October 25­ 30 MIFED is a concentrated market­ place for buyers and sellers of feature films and television programs. Applica­ tion forms will be available from the marketing and distribution branch of the Australian Film Commission when they are received from Milan.

Cannes Winners All-time Aussie Champs In the May 6 issue of Variety there is a listing of the “ All-time Aussie Rental Champs” , as of January 1, 1981. The Top 10 gross film rental earners are: 1. Star Wars $6,200,000 2. Grease $5,100,000 3. Jaws $4,620,000 4. The Sound of Music $4,437,000 5. The Sting $4,327,000 6. The Towering Inferno $4,017,000 7. Gone With the Wind $3,426,000 8. Superman $3,323,000 9. Kramer vs Kramer $2,746,000 10. Monty Python’s Life of Brian $2,587,000 The top Australian films in the list are: 28. Picnic at Hanging Rock $1,767.000 34. Alvin Purple $1,643,000 56. Breaker Morant $1,216,000 70. Mad Max $1,083,000 79. My Brilliant Career $972,000 85. Storm Boy $909,000 86. Caddie $906,000 94. They’re a Weird Mob S846.000 137. Alvin Rides Again $655,000 157. Eliza Fraser $575.000 162. Stone $550,000

State Film Moves

Igor Amins ’ We of the Never Never. recently subject to a change o f top personnel.

Gallipoli

The Victorian state government has announced it will amalgamate the Vic­ torian Film Corporation, the State Film Centre and the audio-visual branch of the Education Department. In explain­ ing the move, the Minister of Educa­ tional Services, Mr Lacy, said, “ The South Australian Film Corpora­ tion provides much more effectively through one organization the ser­ vices that we provide through three.”

The biggest upshot of the announce­ ment was the threatened strike by some staff who are protesting that their Public Service status will change. This is because the new body will be out­ side the Service. Monty Burgess, assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, said, “We recognize the need for people to be able to come in from Channel Nine or Hollywood and assist. We are saying they don’t need to take the whole lot out of the Public Service.”

Union representatives are continu­ ing to have talks with the Minister in the hope of avoiding a strike. Meanwhile, the larger issue of whether amalgama­ tion will benefit film production and film culture in Victoria is still to be debated.

But such a debate rests on the legis­ lation. which will be introduced in the spring session.

The 1981 Cannes Film Festival prizes were: Palme d’or Man of Iron (Wajda) Jury Prize Light Years Away (Tanner) Best Actress Isabelle Adjani (Possession and Quartet) Best Actor s _ Ugo Tognazzi (Tragedy of a Ridicul­ ous Man) ~ Best Screenplay Istvan Szabo and Peter Dobai (Mephisto) Special Jury Tribute Passione d’amore (Scola) Prize for Artistic Contribution Excalibur (Boorman) Award for Contemporary Cinema Looks and Smiles (Loach) and Neige (Berto and Roger) Best Supporting Actress Elena Solovei (The Fact) Camera d’or Desperado City (Glowna) Critics' Award: (Competition) Mephisto (Divers) Malou (Meerapfel) Ecumenical Jury Prize Man of Iron The ju ry was J a c q u e s D eray (president), Ellen Burstyn (madame), Jean-Claude Carriere, Robert Chazal, Franco Cristaldi, Christian Defaye, Carlos Diegues, Antonio Gala, Andrei P e tro v and D o u g la s S lo c o m b e (messieurs).

Ettore Scola's Passione d ’amore, winner o f thè Special Jury Tribute.

United Artists Sold United Artists, a subsidiary of the Transamerica Corporation, has been sold to the MGM Film Company for $380 million, of which $250 million was paid in cash.

The Q uarter

MGM president, Frank E. Rosenfelt, has done a lot to revitalize his com­ pany and he sees the acquisition of United Artists as a natural expansion.

Not only does MGM acquire a film library valued at $300 million (in­ cluding the James Bond and Woody Allen films), it gains a functioning dis­ tribution unit as well.

According to Rosenfelt, United Artists and MGM will operate as separate production companies, but all films will be distributed by MGM.

Greater Union Awards The 1981 Greater Union Awards were announced at the 1981 Sydney Film Festival. The winners are: Rouben Mamouiian Award Public Enemy Number One (David Bradbury) Documentary Waterloo (Tom Zubrycki) • Fiction Meatheads (Wayne Moor) General Groping (Alexander Proyas and Salik Silverstein)

Tom Zubrycki’s Waterloo, winner o f the Documentary section at the Greater Union Awards.

Comedy Week in Melbourne Well-known British humorist and stage, screen and radio writer Barry Took will be visiting Melbourne for the Open Program of the Australian Film and Television School.

In a round-A ustra lia series of “ pressure-cooker” screen-w riting seminars, Took will hold a five-night workshop in Melbourne during August.

Took started with radio in the 1960s, when he wrote for the celebrated “Take it From Here” series, and for television with The Army Game and its sequel, Bootsie and Snudge. In the mid-1960s he teamed with Marty Feldman and scripted many top-rating films, radio and television shows.

After serving as comedy consultant for commercial stations and the BBC, including work on shows such as Father Dear Father, Laugh In and Monty Python’s Flying Circus, he joined the BBC in an advisory capacity on literacy projects.

1981AFUAustralian Film Awards The Australian Film Institute has announced that the 24th annual presentation of the AFI/Australian Film Awards will take place at the Regent Theatre, Sydney, on September 16, 1981.

The Australian Film Awards, estab­ lished by the AFI in 1958, are designed “to provide a stimulus to all Aus­ tralian filmmakers and to draw attention to outstanding achieve­ ments by individuals and teams involved in the production of Aus­ tralian films” .

The Awards presentation is funded

by a grant from the Australian Film Commission, which also sponsors the award for Best Feature Film.

Television viewers throughout Aus­ tralia will be able to see the presenta­ tion of the 1981 awards via an exclusive live telecast of the event by the national network (156 stations) of the ABC. The executive producer will be Ric Birch, and Jacqui Culliton will be directing the show. A compere for the presentation will be announced at a later date.

Screenings, for voting in the feature film section, are being conducted in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane during June and July.

Final nominees in all categories will be announced in late August. *

Melbourne Film Festival The 1981 Melbourne Film Festival prizes for short films were announced on the closing night, June 20, by Festival director, Geoffrey Gardner.

The principal winners are: Grand Prix New York Story (Jackie Raynal) Second Prize Amy (Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen) Third Prize Act of God (Peter Greenaway) Erwin Rado Prize Mallacoota Stampede (Peter Tammer) Special Awards The Cat (Timor Hernadi) Groping (Alexander Proyas and Salik Silverstein) House of F lam e (K a w a m o to Kihachiro) New Jersey Nights (Veronika Soul) Public Enemy Number One (David Bradbury) Sydney = Bush (Paul Winkler) Plastic Arts Award Chance, History, Art . . . (James Scott) Animation Award Down and Out (David Sproxton and Peter Lord)

Overseas Interest in Restoration of Australian Films According to Ray Edmondson, director of the National Library of Aus­ tralia’s film section, there is consider­ able interest overseas in Australia’s film restoration work, particularly on the 1927 silent epic For the Term of His Natural Life. Edmondson claimed this on his return from the 1981 Confer­ ence of the International Federation of Film Archives in Rapallo, Italy.

Edmondson said film archivists from every nation represented at the con­ ference knew of the restoration of For the Term and of the work being done by the National Library to find, restore and preserve early Australian films.

The restoration of the film, he said, caught their imagination because not only was the film the longest, most ex­ pensive and one of the most success­ ful made in Australia in the silent days, it was also the biggest film restoration project undertaken in this country.

The restoration was in part financed by the Australian Film Commission.

Edmondson said, “ The AFC’s investment of $68,030 enabled the Library to tint and tone various sequences in the film as they were originally, and to add . . . a soundtrack . . .

“The AFC funds are not a grant, but definitely an investment. Our view is that the investment was made because the AFC believes the work of the Library’s National Film Archive is im p o r ta n t and s h o u ld be supported. We are hopeful that the AFC will recoup its investm ent through commercial screenings in the capital cities and on television.”

Dominic Case, who with Glenn Eley was responsible for preparing the new print at Colorfilm Film Laboratories, reports on how it was done: Many stages of editorial and labora­ tory work were involved in the recon­ struction of For the Term of His Natural Life, beginning with the duplication of nitrate prints onto safety stock, and ending with a color release print with optical soundtrack.

The incomplete Australian copy of the film was supplemented by some re e ls of a re c e n tly -d is c o v e re d American version, stills and out-takes from other collections. Dupe negatives were made from this material, using a contact printer specially suited to the shrunken nitrate film. Curious discrep­ ancies were found between the two versions of the film: variations in story­ line, as well as changed names in the cast and titles.

Nevertheless, historian and film editor Graham Shirley was able to draw one complete film from the various elements. In some instances, opticals were shot to extend missing frames, stills replaced missing scenes and a number of new titles were inserted to clarify the densely-woven story-line.

Generally the frame-speed was accept­ able, but in some scenes stretch-print­ ing brought the action down to a more natural speed.

Black and white fine-grain positives of the two basic versions were cut into one, and a dupe negative was made from this. Here, a slight optical reduc­ tion had to be made, to fit the full-width silent frame image into academy frame.

With various sections of the film shrunk by different amounts, framing each scene correctly was far from straight­ forward.

The tinting and toning in the original print had, by this time, been lost in black and white duplication stages. The original system — printing on dyed stocks and processing through special chemical toning baths — is no longer practicable, and so at Colorfilm I developed an alternative system using normal color positive stock. In this, the stock was pre-fiashed to simulate the effect of various base tints, while normal color grading methods were used to put sepia, neutral or blue tones into the black and white image.

The color scheme in the original print seemed to be rather arbitrary and, for the reconstructed version, it was used only as a rough guide. Selection of color was motivated by mood or emo­ tions (red for anger or confrontation); by situations (green in the bush, sepia for interior) or to aid continuity (rapid cutting in a mutiny sequence is clari­ fied by sepia toning in the officers’ mess, a red tint as the mutineers seize the captain’s wife, and blue tinting for the fighting above decks at night).

Music was arranged by the Palm Court Orchestra from film scores of the period. After a live, fully-synchronized perform ance at the Sydney Film Festival, a track was recorded, a color dupe negative made to preserve the

tints and tones, and a composite print was finally made in time for the closing night of the Melbourne Film Festival.

Australian Film Commission Betty Archer Betty Archer, who for the past three years has worked as European story editor for Warner Bros in London, has been employed as a consultant by the Australian Film Commission to assist in advising w riters and film m akers d e v e lo p in g s c r ip ts fo r fu tu r e productions.

Before working at Warner Bros, Archer was story editor and personal assistant to the European head of production with United Artists (1972­ 77), assistant story editor with Romulus Film (1971), story analyst and personal assistant to the managing director with Avco Embassy Pictures (UK) Limited (1970), and story analyst and personal assistant to the European head of production with Twentieth Century-Fox Productions (1965-70).

Archer, who has taken up residence in Australia to join her family, will be available to the industry in general, but is specifically contracted to the AFC as an adviser.

David Charles Field The general manager of the AFC, Joseph Skrzynski, has announced the appointment of David Charles Field as director — marketing and distribution.

An Australian, Field was managing director of Collier Macmillan Pty Ltd, Cassell Australia Ltd, and has had considerable experience, nationally and internationally, in the field of marketing and distribution. Previously, he spent five years overseas and served, among others, as marketing director (Far East) for McGraw-Hill Publishers.

Skrzynski said the AFC and the industry looked forward to benefiting, not only from Field's international marketing experience but also from his depth of knowledge of the related field of publishing rights, franchising, development of story properties and copyright.

Field took up his appointment on June 29, 1981.

Michael O'Connell Joins OCP Michael O’Connell, a producerdirector from Ireland, joins OCP Ltd as film and television producer next month.

O’Connell worked with Radio Telefis Eireann, the Irish state-run television organization, for eight years and his experience includes a weekly arts magazine, a comprehensive range of documentary productions and current affairs programs, as well as live music and drama production.

Former executive producer of OCP, Bob Weis, has left to produce Women of the Sun, a series of films about Aboriginal women.

Hoyts

For the Term of His Natural Life, which has been restored by the National Library o f A ustralia’s film section.

Terry Jackman, managing director of Hoyts Theatres Lim ited, recently announced the appointment of Tony Malone as general sales and market­ ing manager of Hoyts Distribution.

Malone has had extensive experi­ ence in all aspects of the film business.

He joined Columbia Pictures in 1956 and progressed through bookings and sales to become director of advertising and publicity.

In 1977, Malone moved to United Artists as NSW sales manager, was appointed geieral sales manager in 1979 and general manager in 1980. ★

Cinema Papers, July-August — 221

AUSTRALIAN

MOTION PICTURE YEARBOOK

1981/82 Edited by Peter Beilby

Gallipoli

Cinema Papers

AUSTRALIAN

MOTION PICTURE YEARBOOK

1981/82

Edited by Peter Beilby

Cinema Papers is pleased to announce that the 1981/82 edition of the Australian Motion Picture Yearbook can now be ordered.

The enlarged, updated 1981/82 edition contains many new features, including: • Comprehensive filmographies of feature film scriptwriters, directors of photography, composers, designers, editors and sound recordists • Monographs on the work of director Bruce Beresford, producer Matt Carroll and scriptwriter David Williamson • A round-up of films in production in 1981 • Actor's, technicians and casting agencies

For further details see tear-out order form.

Colored Opinions

Director o f A Town Like Alice, David Stevens, left, during location filming.

Director o f photography, Russell Boyd, is at right.

Poor Man’s Cinema Dear Sir, It is hard to im agine how any program, no matter how well or ineptly executed, which deals with humanism and Christianity, coming down firmly on the side of the former but allowing a place for the latter, can be so airily dismissed as “soap opera” ; and it is simply impertinence to claim, with such absolute authority, exclusive insight into the late Nevll Shute’s motives for writing the original novel.

The review of this program read like a sounding board for the prejudices and preconceptions of the reviewer about television in general, rather than this program in particular, and ended up as a vicious and unjustified attack on the producer [Henry Crawford], a man who has done more to improve the standards of television drama in this country than your elitist reviewer will ever begin to comprehend.

Nor can I accept the argument that you do not exercise editorial control over your reviewers, since I recall you would not print Bert Deling’s review of Newsfront because it did not conform to your editorial policy.

Eventually, I suppose, the day must come when you begin to understand that television drama is a medium in its own right, with its own traditions, con­ ventions and structures, and that it is not some form of poor man’s cinema.

Until that day does come, however, you cannot reasonably expect any future co-operation from me, nor privileged access to information about any production with which I am in­ volved.

David Stevens Director, A Town Like Alice

Jill Kitson replies: If it is elitist to assess television drama for its integrity, originality and credibility, rather than for its Christian or humanist sentiments, then 1 am clearly elitist. And it was elitist of me to praise these qualities in A Town Like Alice.

Of course, In a m edium that measures success in terms of a mass audience, “ elitism” is a dreaded slur.

But to avoid It, programmers tend to fall into another trap — that of trying con­ stantly to please the mass audience with the blandly predictable. This essentially patronizing approach is, I suspect, responsible for many missed opportunities.

In particular, it seems to have been responsible for some of the weak­ nesses of A Town Like Alice, though

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Cinema Papers, July-August

not the chief weakness which, as I argued in my review, sprang from the structure of Nevil Shute’s novel.

I agree that television drama is not “ poor man’s cinema” . The point I was making was that series and serials are different forms of television drama, with their own “traditions, conventions and structure” (aside from the common structure imposed by tw o-m inute advertising breaks at seven-minute intervals in commercial television).

I am sad, but not surprised, that David Stevens doesn’t see this distinc­ tion too.

The Editor replies: As David Stevens implies a lack of editorial control in printing Jill Kltson’s review of A Town Like Alice as written, several points need be made.

Kitson was asked to review Water Under The Bridge, The Last Outlaw and A Town Like Alice in October 1980, long before she or anyone at Cinema Papers had seen the pro­ grams. She could hardly, therefore, have been chosen to reflect the Editor’s view.

Kitson was also asked to make com­ ments about television mini-series in general, on the basis of the three pro­ grams under discussion.

Once the review was completed, it went through the usual sub-editorial process. This did not alter Kltson’s views. In fact, an observant reader may well have noticed that Kitson and I dis­ agree over Jack’s motivations in up­ holding the status quo in Willstown, at Jean’s expense. (See interview with Henry Crawford, Cinema Papers, No. 31, p. 49.)

As to Stevens’ allegation that Kitson's review “ended up as a vicious and unjustified attack on the pro­ ducer” . I can find no passage even remotely supporting of such a view.

Kitson's opinions are considered and, I suggest, well argued.

Stevens also claims that Kitson, and Cinema Papers, sees television as “ some form of poor man’s cinema” .

Firstly, a careful reading shows Kitson maintains no such thing. Secondly, Kitson’s views are not necessarily those of the Editor.

Stevens ends by making a plea for intelligent debate on television. I can think of no publication in Australia that has so regularly and conscientiously pursued that aim.

As to Bert Deling’s piece on News­ front, it was not printed because it was more in the form of a production report than the review we required. Deling was given the opportunity to rewrite it, but declined. Keith Connolly was then com­ missioned. His review was as favor­ able as Deling’s piece.

Dear Sir, In his desire to be recognized as the seer he sees himself to be, Bob Ellis, in his article “The Medium of the Future” (Cinema Papers, No. 32, p. 115), des­ cends to the level of schoolboy debate: presenting one side only of a somewhat pointless polemic.

He even seems to subscribe to that archaic fallacy that ‘serious’ films are made in black and white, while color is used for ‘trivia’. Is this the age-old argu­ ment of ‘art’ versus ‘entertainment’?

Can Ellis really be serious about color making the difference between L’Avventura and Zabriskie Point? As for Bergman, when he uses color it is for obvious reasons: to be symbolic, as in Cries and Whispers, or ‘clinical’, as in Autumn Sonata or Scenes from a Marriage (made for television, by the way).

The inspired lunacy of Bringing up Baby would work better in color than the insipid imitation of Bogdanovich in black and white. Anyway, if this supremely eclectic filmmaker — a not inconsiderable critic-historian — had deemed black and white a necessary element of the screwball comedy, he would have used it, as he did in his Fordian/Hawksian dramas.

By the way, there was one Road film in color, and it was at least as good as the others — and streets ahead (roads ahead?) of the later black and white at­ tempt to re-live past glories.

Martin Scorsese has admitted that a prime factor in his decision not to film Raging Bull in color was the spate of boxing pictures at the time. “We just wanted to be different, to have a dif­ ferent look” , he has said. Scorsese is involved in a move by American film­ makers to preserve old color films.

With all but one of his films in color, Scorsese — definitely one of the most important of contemporary directors — must believe you can make good films in that medium. So must Altman and Coppola and Lucas and . . .

Mike Nichols’ preference for long takes would be there in black and white one feels sure. This is a question of style, not cinematography. Soggy senti­ ments and some implausible argu­ ments seep from Ellis’ monochrome pen, in his attempts to plead his case.

Plummeting cinema attendances in the 1960s can hardly be attributed to a smaller screen and a black and white image. Rather, it was the fact that it was cheaper and more comfortable in one's own living room. In any case, the Americans were receiving color televi­ sion in the 1960s.

As for A Man and a Woman, it hardly qualifies as a black and white film. Nor does If, into which they inserted such sequences only because they couldn’t get enough light to film the abbey in co lo r. And you ca n ’t re a lly call Newsfront black and white either — even if its best sequences were in black and white.

Would Ellis honestly countenance the loss of the Yellow Brick Road magic of The Wizard of Oz (or does he count that as a black and white film because of the opening and closing bits)? Would he deny us the “sunless remembered look of a surrealist painting” (as Farber has it) of The Quiet Man? Does he truly prefer the portentousness of High Noon to the epic grandeur of The Searchers?

Would An American in Paris be the same without the color, or Singin’ in the Rain? (About silent films, they were as seldom in black and white as they were completely ‘silent’.) What about the colorful childlike fun of The Crimson Pirate or Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood; the comic-strip texture in Flash Gordon, Superman or Popeye; the exquisite beauty of Dersu Uzala (and so much of Japanese cinema); the restrained Impressionist charm of the French cinema; the sensual exciting heart of

L etters

Yank flicks like American Graffiti and Taxi Driver; and . . . the list is con­ siderable.

Surely what matters about a film is how well the cinematography serves the script? Ellis, of all people, should subscribe to that. It is good that we are being freed from commercial con­ straints, but let us not fali into the trap of supposing something superior to something else by virtue of one ele­ ment alone. Are oils ‘better’ than watercolors?

I look forward to further articles from Ellis in Cinema Papers, but I hope he is more cautious with his enthusiasm in the future.

Denny Lawrence Ellis replies: I detect in this letter from my old antagonist, collaborator and creditor Denny Lawrence an honest difference of opinion. He has correctly pointed out some of the several exceptions to my contention that, as a rule,, black and white is a better narrative, dramatic, tr a g ic , e x p o s ito r y , c o m ic and fa n ta s tic a l m e d iu m th a n c o lo r, because, in Satyajit Ray’s words (to me), “ I do not need all that informa­ tion.” The contention I was arguing against, however, is the prevailing one: to wit, color is always the better medium, and that, ergo, Citizen Kane, Wild Strawberries and Casablanca would have been better films in color.

I grant him the comic strip films (Flash Gordon, Popeye, Superman, The Crimson Pirate, Robin Hood and The Wizard of Oz). It is certainly an arguable contention that children, and adults remembering childhood, prefer to do it in the vivid and joyful colors of the original comics and storybooks. I grant him two bob each way on the musicals (which appeal to the same childhood sense of joy), three to two on the women’s films, like A Man and a Woman, Gone With the Wind, An Un­ married Woman, Maybe This Time and so on, because costumes and interior decoration are very im portant to women.

I think that on the statistics, how­ ever, comedy has always been more successful in black and white — most especially bad comedy (Abbott and Costello, The Three Stooges, Martin and Lewis, etc.). Tragedy however, and epic, and those films most involved with death, and the hugeness of life (Casa­ blanca, Wild Strawberries, Rashomon, Jules and Jim, Citizen Kane, Julius Caesar, the Russian Hamlet, the Russian King Lear, and so on) look so exactly right in black and white that it is impossible to imagine them in any other way. Unknowingly, Lawrence is supporting with his examples my central contention that color trivializes what black and white makes noble.

There are, of course, honourable ex­ ceptions to every rule, and honourable hybrids of every rule and its opposite (like If, and Newsfront, and The Wizard of Oz). But the prevailing rule of the cinema that color is a must for every subject and black and white has no place in the cinema at all is demon­ strably destructive of the cinema, which is now so like its trivial, free-lunch cousin color television as to be on the point of expiring altogether. Cinema has to be again the special experience it used to be or it has no future. Part of that experience, what we call the silver screen, is what people in their thou­ sands seek out nightly, in all the retro­ spective cinemas in the cities of the world. And they are not disappointed.

Bob Ellis Dear Sir, Congratulations to Bob Ellis on a fine article (“ Perspective” , No. 32, p. 115) about color as against black and white cinema. I have not read anything until now on why it should be what one by intuition feels is the case.

From my experience, though, most people I know (outside of “ cinemato­ graphic circles” ) would not agree with either Bob Ell's or myself on this topic. I am wondering i- Bob might consider whethe. it is also a cultural thing, of a somewhat “elitist” nature, by which people, like he and I, are “ afflicted” ?

I found his explanations very con­ vincing, They have given me some con­ crete ideas, which before were, for me, hazy and unformulated.

This issue is most impressive alto­ gether - content, format and layout.

I don’t always read Cinema Papers, but I think I will from now on if this stan­ dard continues.

Thank you for some entertaining and informative writing.

Adrian Hann

his involvement with the University of Adelaide and geological studies in the Flinders Ranges; his wedding to Paquita Deiprat in 1914; his death in 1958 and his State funeral.

Would anybody with any information or material please contact Jenny Gibson, ABV 2, Gordon St, Elsternwlck, 3185 or telephone (03)524 2239 (reverse charges).

Jenny Gibson Asst Film Librarian

Back Issues Dear Sir, We are trying to complete our library of back issues of Cinema Papers. We are missing issues 4, 6, 7 and 8 and are willing to pay $15 per issue. Please ring Morry Schwartz (03)419 8644 if you can help.

Schwartz Publishing (Victoria)

Still Knocking i

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Dear Sir, Rod Bishop’s letter (Cinema Papers, No. 31, p, 10) is a load of absolute gar­ bage!

Is Bishop asking for reform of the C reative D evelopm ent B ra n c h ’s method of allocating funds for specific projects? Or is he perhaps looking for a public venue to “ hard knock” those who, in his opinion, are the Celluloid Gods (my expression) of the industry we see developing before us?

Bishop obviously does not under­ stand the process by which funds are allocated, nor does he understand the responsibility, on both sides of the fence, for making available/receiving this finance. It is obviously back to play school and building blocks for him!

While the success of Don McLen­ nan’s Hard Knocks is admirable, the end result by no means is justification for the methods. In the light of what happened, perhaps McLennan should have sought his original finance elsewhere.

To set the record straight about Donald Crombie, I believe I was the one who financed two of his early films (no Creative Branch in those days) and, if I remember correctly, Davis Cup and Solvol Makes You Beautiful were both very successful (1958).

My suggestion to Bishop, as Don McLennan’s mentor, is this: “ He ob­ viously knows his ABC, so now take him aside and teach him the rest of the alphabet.”

Perhaps you might like to work on my latest scripts: The Bermuda Circle and 47 Interesting Things to Make With Ear Wax? I did indeed finance two of Don’s earliest films by buying his first projec­ tor. It is, incidentally, still in first-class working order.

Andrew Rowan

‘Cinema Papers’, No. 29. Not included?

Sexist Scenes Dear Sir, .

I am moved to write so as to make you aware of a feeling of disgust felt by myself and others studying drama at the University of New South Wales.

The past three issues of Cinema Papers have all used cheap, sexist and myth-perpetuating cover photographs.

Since the public’s taxes assist you to print such photographs (through the Australian Film Commission’s con­ tributions), I feel justified in demanding that a stop be put to this spate of sickeningly sexist covers. Surely your marketing ingenuity Is not as low as the gutter press. We believe you can cor­ rect the present trend of your covers because past covers have been ad­ mirable.

Cinema Papers and the AFC evince a desire to produce a magazine which can be a medium for a continuing national film culture. The effect of your decisions to print the photographs in Issues 30, 31 and 32 is to imply that you define our film culture as being as sex­ ist and myth-orientated as Hollywood’s.

Well, often this is indeed the case. But I believe, on your past record that you, as editor, are capable of taking a path different from merely perpetuating sex­ ism, the myths of perfect screen idols and cinema as superficial sensual arousal.

Noric Dilanchian

An Alternative View

The Making of Mamón Dear Sir, We are making a documentary on Sir Douglas Mawson and hope one of your readers may be able to help with archival material.

We know of the Frank Hurley Ant­ arctic material in the National Film Archive, Canberra, but are keen to get hold of other material, particularly film, on his life and work: his Antarctic expeditions in 1907, 1910-15, 1928-32;

In Cinema Papers No. 32 (pp. 183, 185 and 211), Lesley Stern reviewed Paul Eddey’s tele-feature, The Alter­ native. The review was written in November 1978, after the film was first broadcast. An addenda, “ A Dissenting View/Viewing Reviewing” , was added

by Stern in April 1981 to coincide with a repeat te le v is io n scre e n in g and Cinema Papers’ desire to review the film, albeit somewhat tardily. This ad­ denda raised questions about the preceding review and ended by inviting

readers of Cinema Papers to give their opinions about the process of review­ ing films.

Dear Sir, In response to “A Dissenting View/ Viewing Reviewing” (Cinema Papers, Issue 32). “ Do I detect a stern tone of moral righteousness? Why do I feel that this article is setting up a discourse in which only one view (that of the author) can be expressed?” Perhaps it is precisely because the article asks questions “ about how to write a review” that can be answered only if one accepts such notions as: the existence of ‘scientific objectivity’; the negativity of authorita­ tive writing and the possibility of demarcation into clearly separate areas, “the particularity of an Individual film ” and “ general considerations about the cinematic apparatus” , with regard to the theory.

To ask definitive questions “about how to write a review” is to presuppose the existence of some equally definitive and universally accepted concept of the function of the act of review. Cer­ tainly this article blithely steamrolls its way over Lesley Stern’s review of The Alternative, seemingly unaware that the function of review might differ from writer to writer, let alone reader to reader.

By ignoring the question of ‘function’, the article is then free to criticize the review for such ‘sins’ as effacing the personal identity of the reviewer and minimizing the power of the viewer.

It is interesting to note that one of the prime criticisms levelled at this review is that of pedagogy. This stems from a distaste for authoritative writing which abounds in Australia and seems to have its roots In the notion that to be authoritative is to ‘teach’, and that ‘to be taught’ is to be put in a position where the ‘pupil’ is stripped of ‘individuality’, enabled to act only in a fashion accept­ able to the teacher, In other words to be oppressed.

If this is the case, why is The Alter­ native review so repugnant? For this review is directed toward showing how much such a film ‘puts Into place’ and directs the position from which the viewer can perceive and respond, in accord with the ‘dominant ideology’.

The review, also, makes no pretense about formulating an illusory ‘open ended’ discourse, yet The Alternative apparently does.

C ertainly there is one M arxist theory, that states the ‘function’ of criticism/revlew is, “to show the text [film] as it cannot know itself, to manifest those conditions of its making about which it is necessarily silent” .1 Given that ‘function’, The Alter­ native review is valid insomuch as that is precisely what it does: ‘shows the text as it cannot know itself. To ask a review to examine how a film works, “ in the context of television drama or in the context of contemporary Australian Cinema” , is assuredly to ask questions of style and/or approach, but to posit such approaches as preferable to others without first defining function would seem to be faintly ludicrous. For there is no reason to prefer these ap­ proaches above others, other than within a totally personal/subjective value system that affords no access and brooks no argument because of its intensely private and closed nature. “ But rather than turn this into an alternative review, a debate between two writers, it might be more productive to turn the broader questions of ‘func­ tion’ over to the readers . .

There is one further point that ex­ cites my curiosity: why was a three year-old review about a three year-old film published and used to initiate this argument?

M. Sarfaty 1. T. Eagleton, Criticism and Ideology, London, New Left Books, 1976, p. 43

Cinema Papers, July-August

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225

J oHn D uIGANuiuI

•------------------------------------------------

Winter of our D reams The award-winning director o f M outh to M outh talks to Scott Murray about the disappointments o f Dimboolaand the anticipated success o f his latest project, W inter o f our Dreams, starring Judy Davis and Bryan Brown.

Audience reaction was extremely radically different, you would do positive during the screenings of the well to air the film at overseas film before its release. The festivals to try and amass a good distributor, GUO, was optimistic critical response before releasing the film here. This would then point In retrospect, how do you feel about about its chances. some of the critics in the right “Dimboola”?

Did the critics, therefore, influence direction. Also, the public is undoubtedly impressed by over­ Dimboola confirmed in me the an audience? seas acclaim. desire to work on projects that I It is a matter of degree. Certain write, or over which I have ultimate script control. A major problem films from overseas are given such Apart from a resolve to do your own with the film was that Jack huge publicity build-ups that they screenplays in the future, what else Hibberd, the scriptwriter, and I had succeed irrespective of how the did you tak e away from different concepts. It would have critics react. Most Australian films, “Dimboola”? been better if someone had either on the other hand, are much more come in and taken over the influenced by the critical reaction.

When you make a film that fails, direction and stuck more to Jack’s Australian films which have got concept, or if Jack had released good critical receptions overseas, you need to try and separate your­ control and I had done it more to for example, have almost in­ self as a person from the failure of the film as a whole. As the film’s mine. Understandably, as author of variably done very well here. director, I rightfully received much the original play, he was loath to do so and we ended up making How difficult is it for Australian of the blame. Certainly, I made a number of mistakes and misjudgfilmmakers to experiment? compromises. ments which contributed to its However, I don’t share some of If you are doing something failure. On the other hand, you the critics’ reservations about the film. I feel they approached it with inbuilt expectations and didn’t allow themselves to accept the con v en tio n s under which it operated. For example, it was widely criticised for its theatri­ cality. Certainly, it was larger than life, in the same way performances are often larger than life in over­ seas films, like those by Federico Fellini. But it was necessitated by Jack’s writing.

If you have lines like, “Australia resembles two geriatric buttocks, is the ancient under-rump of the world, so to speak — hence the Australian passion for steak” , you can’t have them delivered naturalistically. I was asking for a height­ ened performance level from the cast to match the screenplay — the actors weren’t to blame for any excess. In fact, 1 thought there was a number of excellent perfor­ mances.

Dim boola

Do you think this critical mis­ perception was shared by the audience?

can’t take a critical drubbing too personally, otherwise you’ll become embittered and paranoid fairly quickly.

Why has it taken three years to do a film after “Dimboola”?

1 tried a number of projects, some of which I had been preparing before I was approached to do Dimboola. I submitted some scripts after Dimboola was finished, but I guess that film was damaging to their reception.

Generally, the scripts were about political subjects. One of them was about the ethics of violence as a political weapon in advanced Western democracies. It told the story of a woman who had been involved with a group like the Red Army Fraction in Germany, and who had come to Australia on a false passport after her lover was killed when a bomb he had been planting exploded prematurely.

The woman was someone who no longer believed in the usefulness or ethical validity of that sort of tactic in the particular circumstance of an affluent Western democracy. Thus, she was burdened by having partici­ pated in an action she now regarded as immoral, yet which had resulted in the death of someone she loved.

However, despite this, she was still searching for an alternative form of political expression.

That was a project for which I was unable to get money. I submitted it to a number of film bodies and did a great swag of drafts.

Is there a resistance to making films about political issues?

Yes. Usually, though, this reticence by government bodies is expressed in terms of saying the film is not “commercially viable” .

But I had tailor-made the budget on Cinema Papers, July-August — 227

John Duigan

the Mouth to Mouth scale. With sales in Europe and a moderate release and television sale in Australia, I would have got the money back. So, I didn’t accept that argument as legitimate.

I had another script dealing with a communal household fighting a local council which wanted to knock down a building in their street. The building was being used as a meeting place by a group of pensioners and by the youth in the area as a dance hall. That was another low-budget film and also unsuccessful in finding funds.

Then there was a screenplay about uranium which was a more overtly political film. That was also unsuccessful. There was a period

I think there will be a tendency to beginning of the film and that her different to Lou, just in terms of the centralize in Sydney. In most presence, or rather her death, is the type of person she is. countries there is probably only one trigger for events that then take In the screenplay of “Winter of our large filmmaking centre. In the place.

Dreams”, the social, political and U.S., most of it is in Los Angeles, though there is a certain amount There seems to be continuity of economic forces have less influence done in New York. characterization in your work. on the characters than in your other Some people, for example, will view films. You seem more concerned Lou in “Winter of our Dreams” as with personal interaction . . .

W inter o f our D ream s having a lot of similarities with Political comment in films and Carrie in “Mouth to Mouth”. Is this books can take a variety of forms.

What is “Winter of our Dreams” continuity intentional?

The script I wrote about the about?

They are both outsiders living on terrorist was obviously quite overt the edge of society, but otherwise in its political approach. This film I It is about the relationship of a the similarity between them is see as no less political, though it prostitute and the owner of a solely in terms of how they earn a operates in a different way.

What I am in part doing here is specialist bookshop, whose lives are living. Carrie was starting to work brought together by the suicide of in massage parlors in Mouth to attempting to examine representa­ Lisa, a mutual friend. The book­ Mouth — though that was a small tives of a generation who were once

Above: The bride (Natalie Bate) and bridegroom (Bruce Spence) at their wedding reception.

John Duigan’s Dimboola. Right: Lou on the streets o f Kings Cross. Winter of our Dreams.

when I was developing and rewriting a number of scripts. In all, I put up about 20 applications to various bodies before I got The Winter of our Dreams accepted.

During this period, you left Melbourne for Sydney. Why the move?

I felt I had been living in Melbourne long enough. I wanted a change and thought of Sydney because I like the beach. There are additional benefits, of course, like the fact that the laboratories and most of the equipment-hiring services are in Sydney. The locations are also varied and Sydney is a much more photogenic city than Melbourne.

You didn’t feel any pressure as a filmmaker to move to Sydney because it is more the centre of the industry . . .

Yes, I probably did. The Australian film Commission is up here, and the New South Wales film Corporation has a much larger budget than the Victorian film Corporation. Those things make a difference. There are also a lot more actors and technicians up here.

228 — Cinema Papers, July-August

shop owner, Rob (Bryan Brown), was a radical student leader in the late 1960s and Lisa was his girl­ friend during those days.

At the start of the film, Rob hears that Lisa has committed suicide and he wonders about the direction her life took in the past 10 years. During his investigations, he m eets Lou, a Kings C ross prostitute, played by Judy Davis.

Lou had been sort of adopted by Lisa in the last year of her life, Lisa seeing in Lou someone who was following in her footsteps.

The film then follows Rob and Lou’s relationship and contrasts their lifestyles. Lou has the diary that Lisa kept on her relationship with Rob 10 years before. The more Lou reads it, the more she identifies with Lisa and the more her relationship with Rob begins to parallel the earlier relationship.

Rob is thus confronted indirectly by the memories of Lisa and the sort of person he was 10 years ago.

Winter of our Dreams actually derived from some of those earlier scripts. The male character, for example, is indirectly related to one of the characters in the script about terrorism. The whole thing came as a breakthrough in another script I was writing. I decided that the main female character should die at the

part of the film’s canvas — and Lou is a prostitute. So, there is that occupational connection.

But in terms of their characters, I think they are quite different.

Carrie had a much stronger sense of s e lf-p re se rv a tio n and s e lf­ orientation. Lou is more a mosaic of bits and pieces of behaviour she has observed in people who have impressed her. She welds these elements into an amorphous and fluctuating whole. Carrie is more consistent and more directed by her ambitions. She would end up very

allegedly radical, or who once paid lip-service to radical ideas, and to see where they have gone. In part, it is an indictment of educated middle-class people. Because of their various advantages, they have the greatest potential for generating social change. So, while the ap­ proach is more indirect, it is no less political.

There is a lot of discussion today as to whether the radicals of the 1960s “sold out” or realized that much of their energies had been misplaced,

John Duigan

.. ”.*■* ’«* ** f*' •. •*f*

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Gretel and Rob have independent is confronted by those elements of affaires and are open about it. And, his personality he has put in cold except for a moment of dialogue, storage. this situation isn’t questioned. How There is a scene that seems to me to do you see their relationship?

Towards the end, after Rob has sum up the tone of the script, and backed out of his lunch with Lou, that is when the 18 year-old girl is I wanted to depict two people Rob says to Gretel, “I think it’s reading an expensive art book in who were making this choice of life­ good she didn’t get too close.” I Rob’s bookshop and she complains style work reasonably successfully. interpreted that as much as a about the price in the hope that he It has become, in a sense, a pre­ comment about the dangers of might reduce it; he doesn’t. Ten occupation of theirs; it is, for Gretel and Rob’s relationship — years ago, however, had he been in example, a more important part of i.e., of cutting oneself off from that girl’s position, he would have their mental life than anything others — as much as it was about probably thrown the book at the political. Elements of jealousy and Rob shutting a door on an uneasy bookshop owner . . . unease still remain, however. past . . .

The big difference between Rob I am hoping, in the way and Gretel is that Gretel is some­ It is both. Rob is very much characters have been drawn and the one whose life is fairly successful making a choice to opt for a way they are played, the irony of and goal-oriented. She is working continuation of his present life­ this kind of behaviour will be as an academic and she likes her style, and to opt for a drier way of evident to the audience without it job; she has ambitions which are relating to the world. But, he is being too heavily pointed out. being realized. Rob, on the other obviously hit in the guts by seeing Likewise, the behaviour of Rob and hand, has no such rewarding job. Lou disintegrating in front of him.

Gretel is full of ironies.

He d o e s n ’t a p p e a r to be One could equally speculate that he There are many films that have particularly interested or excited by might, after these events, choose to been rather unsuccessful in making running this bookshop. go somewhere quite different. really telling criticisms of the At the same time, Rob’s rela­ middle class. It is very easy to send tionship with Lou revives the The disintegration of Lou is so up the middle class and make it memories of the sort of direction strong that one continually expects look ridiculous, but I think one is that he could have taken had he her end to be the same as Lisa’s . . . more likely to touch people if you made different choices when he was can have them identifying with involved with Lisa. Rob has now Well, it may be. The departing sympathetic characters who exhibit opted for a different lifestyle, with image of the film ties the general some of the contradictions and its cerebal and rational approach to and particular elements of a major ironies that we live. An audience the world. But this rests rather part of the film's theme. Lou is seen has far more room for personal uneasily with the more emotional, allied, or together at any rate, with examination if you allow it to intuitive person he can still remem­ this small group of people demon­ engage itself with characters it ber from university days, and can strating against uranium. She has likes. At the same time, it can also still feel inside. And the more Lou discover weaknesses. identifies with Lisa, the more Rob Concluded on p. 299

Rob and Gretel (Cathy Downes), two people who are making their independent-style relationship work “reasonably successfully”. Winter of our Dreams..

either ideologically or pragmat­ ically. Your script does not appear to take a strong line . . .

It is too easy to simply say the people who attended the morator­ iums have sold out. The kind of momentum that a society like ours has is very difficult for people within it to assess accurately. It is hard to detach oneself long enough to take stock of what one is doing with one’s life. In a way, the events of the film cause Rob to do just this: he is briefly dislocated from the mainstream of his life and glimpses its direction. There is a great diversity of pressures involved, and it would be too simple to condemn him out of hand.

With Rob and Gretel, I have attempted to draw people who reflect some of the diversity of influences and pressures that have occurred in the past 10 years. It is very important that the audience likes them and is aware that these people are complex, sensitive and committed in their own way. It is just that their commitment has, in a sense, become displaced.

If the film functions properly, there should be a gradual change in the audience’s sympathies towards Lou. But if it’s too great, the rest of the film will collapse.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 229

ince the Gorton Liberal Government first decided to fund a commercial Australian film industry in 1970, federal governments have been look­ ing for an elusive formula to foster a profitable national film industry.

Government preoccupation with subsidizing an arts industry stems, in no small way, from the relatively non-elitist character of film culture.

Films are also, of course, potential domestic and export income earners. The preoccupation has spawned the recommendations of the 1972 Tariff Board Enquiry, the creation of govern­ ment film bodies to administer government grants and investment, the Peat Marwick Mitchell Report in 1979, and private invest­ ment incentives through the Income Tax Assess­ ment Act. Through all these measures — mooted, promised, implemented or shelved — the Government has attempted to saddle the prob­ lems of a high-risk industry, involving continu­ ally increasing film budgets, in a country of small and dispersed population and with foreigndominated distribution/exhibition chains.

Income tax incentives have recently been hailed as the panacea to the industry’s prob­ lems. But even more recently, controversy over legislation to implement the federal election promises in 1980 of increased incentives has also shaken out simmering discontent over the tax deduction as a method of assistance.

On September 30, 1980, the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, promised in his election policy speech a one-year, 150 per cent income tax write-off for investment in Australian films. He also promised tax exemption of up to 50 per cent of the original investment. The write-off was to be allowed in the first year of expenditure. It was estimated that the concessions would cost the Federal Government $2 million a year.

In December, the Federal Treasurer, Mr Howard, and the then Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Ellicott, issued a joint statement expanding on the Fraser election promise. They reiterated that investors would “be eligible for the write-off in the first year of expenditure” . As if to allay fears about the risk of investing on the strength of an election promise, the ministers said, “ It is hoped that these details will provide a sound base for investment decisions by prospective investors . . . pending the enact­ ment of the necessary legislation . . .”

So, it was not surprising that the industry — primed for the faithful implementation of the original proposal, but increasingly jittery about reports that estimated costs of the incentives had escalated to $130 million — should react so bitterly to the actual legislation which was intro­ duced in federal parliament on May 27, 1981.

that some investors would now have to borrow money to pay their taxes. It also prompted some intensive lobbying by the Australian Film and Television Production Association.

A compromise did appear to have been reached on June 3, 1981. The original proposal would now continue to apply to investors who made an agreement with film producers between October 1, 1980, and May 27, 1981.

This amendment-to-the-amendment-to-thepromise will apparently restore the original con­ cessions to investors in 52 films, involving a total budget of $45 million.

But the question of whether it is appropriate for government to support the industry by giving high income earners its blessing to minimize their tax is now being viewed more critically than ever before. In fact, the surprisingly generous new tax incentives — which it seems are now viewed as overly generous by the Government — might have been unnecessary if the Government had been more responsive to industry lobbying when it introduced its first tax concessions to the film industry in .1978.

Despite industry pressure at the time for a 100 per cent write-off over a 12-month period, the 1978 tax concessions introduced a two-year write-off. This was an insufficient drawcard in itself, but it did draw attention to other tax schemes for film investment which did not have the government seal of approval. Such schemes enabled investors to lever their investment to get a deduction greater than the amount actually expended. In some schemes, the investment was artificially inflated to 10 times its original amount.

It became pretty well acknowledged that to attract private investment it was necessary to employ the more dubious tax schemes. At the time, one tax lawyer commented that, “As things stand, the only way to make film meaty for investors is to abuse it slightly.” 1 A trickle of such tax money found its way to “ legitimate” films, but the “ meaty” schemes also resulted in a proliferation of “ Barrier Reef box brownies” .

If genuine money was a little tight, Mr H ow ard’s announcem ents in June and September, 1980, relating to such schemes put an effective clamp on almost any private money finding its way into film production. The Treasurer’s subsequent attempts to reassure potential investors that “genuine” investment would not be affected did little to clarify the situation.

Shortly afterwards, the Federal Government was facing an election. Add to this the increasingly high media profile given the industry, the unfavorable reaction by the industry to Howard’s clampdown and an extremely vocal lobbying group in the AFTPA, it was not surprising that the AFTPA’s sugges­ tions were slipped into Fraser’s election policy speech.

In view of the Treasury’s $2 million cost estimate of the original proposals, it seems that

he legislation departed from the original promise by stating that the owners of the copyright would be eligible for the 150 per cent write-off in the year in which the film was marketed. This about-face produced an industry !. Andrew Martin, as quoted

by Jenny Byrne, May 10, outcry about breach of faith and it was suggested

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in The Age, “ Home Movies” , 1980.

the proposal was hastily adopted without serious introduced to encourage a national industry and wealth constitutional powers which might be consideration. When the estimate escalated from yet large proportions of budgets may be spent in useful for such regulation.

Presumably, a Labor Government of the $2 million to $130 million and Treasury procuring imported talent to ensure profitable reportedly received 170 applications for the con­ overseas sales and so secure the tax-exempt 1980s would have been more prepared to take on the distribution majors than its predecessor cessions, the stage was set for some amendment profits. to the original proposal. which shelved the more controversial recom­ In justifying the change, Mr Howard said the ther issues are raised by the new tax mendations. Labor’s former Minister for the generosity of the concessions had led to their incentives. They provide high income Media, Senator McClelland, recommended to “exploitation” in “unacceptable ways” . Of earners with the Government’s cabinet at the time that there be neither a divest­ major concern was that the concessions would be virtual blessing to minimize their tax ment scheme nor a single purchasing agency. used for tax deferral: an investor could commit and it is questionable whether this Instead, it was suggested that the Government funds at the end of a financial year so that if the gels with the much-vaunted intention of rely catching on the Trade Practices Act to break down film in which he invested was not made, he tax avoiders with a draconian replacement to the the distribution/exhibition tie-up. But the Trade would have effectively deferred paying tax. tax act’s section 260. It is also debatable whether Practices Act has proved pretty much a tooth­ lower income earners should subsidize the higher less tiger in this respect, apart from the Trade learly, the Government’s reneging on income bracket’s tax problems to the extent of Practices Commission’s refusal in 1976 to grant its original promise — although not as $130 million a year. the Motion Picture Distributors Association drastic as first believed — shows that Such questions aside, if there is a need for clearance for a standard form film hire contract its promise was ill-considered. It is taxation incentives in the short term to stimulate between distributors and exhibitors.2 also doubtful whether tax incentives in private investment in the industry, the 150 per the future will be as effective as the original he reasons supporting divestiture of cent write-off is presumably a good com­ proposals in drumming up private capital, due to promise between the ineffective two-year write­ major theatres from chains and shaken confidence in government promises. divorcing exhibitors from distribu­ off and the more outrageous schemes with which But the compromise reached on June 3, 1981, sections of the film industry had been associated. tors is attractive. While it might not was clearly a coup for the film industry and the lead in practice to an overwhelming But presumably the industry would prefer to preference for the Australian product, such fi legislation, as it stands, will not drastically alter sever its ties with tax money in the long term. the situation for most investors attracted by the The Federal Treasurer’s recent comments to could at least be given an equal chance on their parliament, that he regarded the new incentives merits before Australian audiences. The original proposals.

In most cases, the high income earners as particularly generous, suggest that, in any pressure to sell the local product on overseas attracted to the concessions will be provisional case, the incentives in their new form may be markets could then be alleviated to some extent. rather than PAYE taxpayers; as such, they shortlived. It was also suggested, before the Accordingly, the need for big budgets and im­ would not have been able to claim the deduction October 1980 elections, by the Labor Party’s ported talent would be reduced and so would the before March 1982 in any case, under the Shadow Arts Minister, Senator Susan Ryan, need for financial assistance from the Govern­ original proposal allowing the write-off in the that tax incentives may be necessary in the short ment. year of expenditure. Neither will it affect term, but “in the long term, the restructuring of However, it has been suggested that reducing investors in television and film documentaries, the distribution/exhibition system in Australia the bargaining power of the exhibition majors nor in other productions that can be completed may obviate the need for such measures . . .” may disproportionately strengthen the market Senator Ryan’s suggestions hark back to the power of the distributors. They could achieve in one year.

The year-of-m arketing write-off will, Tariff Board’s Report in 1973 on Motion this situation through manipulation of film print however, affect films which take more than two Picture Films and Television Programs. The supply according to their own assessment of an years to reach release. In this respect, the Board’s principal recommendations were for: outlet’s revenue.'

AFTPA’s complaint that the amendment will 1. The establishment of an independent statu­ Perhaps the solution is for either governmentdiscourage the making of quality films rings tory body to administer grants and other subsidized exhibition outlets with specific true. So, to an extent, does the converse argu­ financial assistance, and to operate a dis­ national cultural objectives or subsidy of local ment that the year of marketing deduction will tribution network in competition with films at the box-office. It has been argued before existing networks; encourage “quickie” films of dubious merit. that the alternative — tax-deductible private But the fact remains that the film industry is 2. A scheme to reduce concentration of investment — is unlikely to have much appeal to now the most heavily-subsidized local industry. control by the Hoyts and Greater profit-conscious investors.4 The legislation for Union/Roadshow exhibition chains by 150 per cent tax write-off plus tax exempt profits The 150 per cent write-off and the tax exemption forcing them to sell a proportion of their for film investment recently introduced to on profits offer far more protection than that of the clothing, footwear and motor vehicle cinemas and to remove vertically-inte­ federal parliament makes this argument largely grated distribution and exhibition through redundant, as shown by the amount of tax industries. The concessions are certainly the most generous under the Income Tax Act. divestiture of shareholding; and money now available to the film industry. But in It is the very generosity of the incentives — so 3.

A single television program buying agency. terms of policy, the box-office subsidy may be it is argued — that could kill the industry with The theory behind such recommendations was preferable to the new tax incentives because they kindness. Except in such cases as Squizzy — in that by breaking down the foreign-dominated would not discriminate between different classes which the Victorian Film Corporation’s backing distribution/exhibition system, Australian films of taxpayers — they would not enable the pro­ was desired as a matter of policy — there is now would be given an equal chance at the box-office. fessional tax bracket to minimize their tax prob­ little need for producers to seek financial Resurrecting this reasoning, Senator Ryan lems. assistance from the government film bodies. argued that the distribution/exhibition nexus An appropriate forum where alternative Thus a significant quality control on produc­ had also led to restrictive trade practices such as methods of government assistance to the film tions, through the involvement of the Austra­ block booking. This not only lowered the industry could be evaluated would have been a lian Film Commission and the state film standard of films shown, she said, but it also put Australian films — usually excluded from the corporations, has been lost.

Concluded on p. 305 Presumably some sort of control will exist in package — at a disadvantage.

2. June 29. 1976. Decision by Dr Venturing To solve this problem, Senator Ryan sug­ 3. Cinema Papers, January. 1974: “ A view of the Tariff the determination of films that qualify for the Board Report on Motion Picture Films” , Barrett tax concessions, but by whom in Home Affairs it gested that the states could co-operate in a strategy for regulation of distribution/exhibi­ 4. Hodson. is not clear.

Cinema Papers. April. 1977: ”The Case For Subsidy” , It is an irony of the incentives that they were tion. She also pointed to various common­ Tom Stacey.

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Ian B aillieu years, even though the Government has not foreign earnings.) It is a pity that the Govern­ t has become fashionable to describe the responded to requests to assist the film industry ment did not agree to revoke or clarify Section new film industry tax concessions as by rectifying certain uncertainties and anomalies 124Z. No change has been made to the eligibility of generous, and the Treasurer, Mr Howard, in Division 10B. films for certification as Australian films under has done so publicly on several occasions.

Division 10B, nor to the procedure and criteria However, the concessions as originally Division 10B for such certification. proposed have been subjected to so many limita­ tions, conditions and uncertainties that the It appears that certification under Division overall result is not nearly so generous as the 10B is separate from any certification for the Treasurer would have the public suppose. purpose of the new tax concessions, and must be Following the election campaign announce­ he latest amendments have left separately applied for. ment of the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, of the The certification provisions of Division 10B largely untouched the scheme of proposed concessions on September 30, 1980, Division 10B, which permits the are rudimentary and contain some illogicalities. and the joint announcement of the Treasurer and capital cost of acquiring an interest For instance, the Division clearly contemplates the Minister for Home Affairs and Environ­ in the copyright in a certified Aus­ that a certificate may be issued in relation to a ment, Mr Ellicott, on December 18, 1980, out­ tralian film to be written off as a tax deduction future production, yet the Minister is directed to lining the details, it took the Government until at the rate of 50 per cent per year, commencing have regard to some matters — e.g., the owner­ May 27, 1981, to prepare and introduce the when the film has been completed (so that the ship of the copyright in the film, which may not necessary legislation. With some last-minute copyright has come into subsistence) and the be known until the film has been made. amendments this became law on June 24, 1981. copyright interest has been used for the produc­ The former Minister for Home Affairs, Mr About a rponth earlier, in response to tion of assessable income.

Ellicott, overcame such difficulties with a blend enquiries by producers and investors who were The amendments to Division 10B (some of liberality, commonsense and a sympathetic becoming increasingly nervous at the Govern­ additions to Section 124K, and the insertion of attitude towards the practical needs of film pro­ ment’s tardiness, the Treasurer explained that new Sections 124KA and 124WA) are technical ducers. It remains to be seen whether the current the matter was complex and that care was being provisions designed to ensure that, particularly Minister, Mr Wilson, will be as constructive. taken to frame the concessions so that they in the case of investing partnerships, where a Despite these uncertainties and the modest would not be used for tax avoidance. “Tax deduction is taken under the new concessions it rate of write-off that it offers, Division 10B has avoidance” has become an emotive political is not also taken under Division 10B. some attractions for investors. There is no pro­ term, frequently parroted by commentators who It remains uncertain (because of the require­ vision in Division 10B for a certificate to be do not stop to analyze its meaning, nor indeed ment in Division 10B that the taxpayer must be revoked. So if, as in the past, such a certificate whether it has any agreed, objective meaning. the one who uses his copyright interest to can be obtained before a film is made, the It is worth pointing out that every tax deduc­ produce assessable income) whether a unit trust investors at least know where they stand. tion allowed by the Income Tax Assessment Act is an appropriate form of organization for Division 10B is not subject to many of the enables the taxpayer to avoid tax that would investors wishing to obtain deductions under limitations and conditions attached to the new otherwise have been payable on the income off­ Division 10B. Since a trust, with the production concessions. Thus, there is no restriction on who set by the deduction. Yet no one would argue company acting as trustee of the film for the may apply for a Division 10B certificate; that all allowable deductions should be investors, is (apart from tax considerations) Division 10B is not limited to certain categories scrapped. The issue surely is whether the clearly the most convenient and efficient method of films, nor is it limited to first owners of copy­ allowance of any particular deduction is con­ of organization, it is a pity that the Government right; taxpayers obtaining deductions in respect sistent with the scheme of the Act or with equity has not demonstrated its sincerity towards the of capital expenditure under Division 10B are film industry by amending Division 10B to make not specially restricted in carrying forward their or with Government policy.

So one did not have to be a cynic to interpret it clear that trusts may be used. losses or deducting their revenue expenses, nor It also remains uncertain to what extent the are they denied tax exemption under Section the Treasurer’s explanation to mean that, while going through the motions of fulfilling its Commissioner may, under Section 124Z, reduce 23(q) and 23(r) in respect of foreign source promises, the Government was seeking ways to the allowable deduction under Division 10B income; and capital expenditure for the purpose where the taxpayer is obtaining from his copy­ of Division 10B does not have to be “at risk” or discourage reliance on the new concessions.

In this writer’s opinion, the Government has right interest a benefit outside Australia — e.g., expended “directly” in producing a film in order achieved that objective to such an extent that where the film is generating foreign income. (It to qualify for deductibility. some investors may prefer to rely on the conces­ is fear of this section, not any wish to avoid tax­ Investors wishing to rely on Division 10B sions still available under Division 10B of the able income, that explains why Australian film should however be aware of the amendments to Act, with which Australian film investors have investment contracts have commonly excluded Division 3 which also became law on June 24, become familiar over the past two and a half investors from receiving any share of a film’s 1981, and which (with retroactive effect) applied

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the expenditure recoupment provisions of Division 3 to capital expenditure that would otherwise be allowable as a deduction under Division 10B. These amendments were particularly aimed to restrict film investors from obtaining leverage for the purpose of Division 10B by financing their investments with non-recourse or limitedrecourse loans.

To the extent that the investor is unlikely to be called upon to repay such a loan, the Commis­ sioner may treat the investor as having obtained an “ additional benefit” . If the sum of such additional benefit and the tax that would be saved by allowance of the deductions exceeds the amount invested (i.e., in the case of an investor who is in the 60 per cent tax bracket, if more than 40 per cent of the investment is financed by non-repayable loan moneys), the investor is not allowed a deduction in respect of any part of the investment. There is provision for the Commis­ sioner to amend the investor’s assessment so as to allow the deduction if the Commissioner later becomes satisfied that the investor will in fact be called upon to repay the relevant loan moneys.

Investors wishing to rely on Division 10B should also be aware of the new Section 124ZAE, which provides for a taxpayer to elect that the new concessions shall not apply. It appears from the new Section 124K(2)(b) that an investor intending to claim deductions under Division 10B must take the precaution of making such an election, even where no applica­ tion has been made to certify the film for the purpose of the new concessions, because the investor has no means of preventing such a certificate from being applied for and issuing later, in which case the certificate will have retrospective application pursuant to Section 124ZAB(9) or Section 124ZAC(4) and may operate to exclude Division 10B unless the election has been made. The election should be made in writing lodged with the Commissioner on or before the date the investor lodges his tax return for the year for which a Division 10B deduction is first available.

qualifying Australian film — but it appears that a separate application must be made for a final certificate, and as there will inevitably be further facts for the Minister to consider (e.g., the manner in which the production moneys have actually been spent, as distinct from how they were budgeted), what assurance does an investor have that a final certificate will issue as a matter of course whenever the Minister has granted (and not revoked) a provisional certificate?

Although the matters that the Minister is directed to take into account in determining, for the purpose of certification, whether a film has or will have significant Australian content are (save for the addition of “details of the produc­ tion expenditure incurred . . . or . . . budgeted in respect of the film”) substantially the same under Division 10BA as under Division 10B, only certain kinds of film are eligible for cer­ tification for the purpose of the new tax con­ cessions.

Excluded is any film that is wholly or to a sub­ stantial extent (a) a film for exhibition as an advertising program or a commercial; (b) a film for exhibition as a discussion pro­ gram, a panel program, a variety pro­ gram or a program of like nature; (c) a film of a public event (which includes a sporting activity, a theatrical per­ formance, an artistic performance or any other activity, performance or event, to which the public is normally admitted — whether free of charge or on payment of a charge); (d) a film forming part of a drama program series that is, or is intended to be, of a con­ tinuing nature; or (e) a training film.

Subject to those exclusions, to be eligible the film must be “a film produced wholly or prin­ cipally for exhibition to the public in cinemas or by way of television broadcasting, being a feature film or a film of like nature produced for exhibition by way of television broadcasting, a documentary or a mini-series of television drama” . (Section 123ZAA[4].) “Television broadcasting” includes transmission by cable.

The N ew Concessions Note that a film produced principally for dis­ tribution in the form of videocassettes would not be eligible.

Will the Minister interpret “the public” in he general scheme of the new tax Section 124ZAA(4) as including the public out­ concessions has received wide side Australia? If not, certification will be con­ publicity: a 150 per cent deduction fined to films produced wholly or principally for (under a new Division 10BA) for the Australian market.

What is meant by a mini-series of television capital invested in the production of drama? How many episodes may a series have, a certified Australian film, plus tax exemption andtostill on the investor’s income from the film up an be “ mini”?

Will a certificate be obtainable for a pilot film amount equal to 50 per cent of such investment.

The limitations on these concessions have not made for the purpose of obtaining a production order for a continuing drama series? If so, will been so well publicized.

How severe the limitations will prove in the certificate (if provisional) be revoked if the practice cannot yet be judged. Answers are still pilot is incorporated in the series?

Does the exclusion of a “drama program needed to the questions raised below.

Under Division 10BA, an irrevocable certi­ series . . . of a continuing nature” disqualify a ficate for a film — i.e., a final certificate under continuing documentary series? It appears not.

The conditions on which the new 150 per cent Section 124ZAC — cannot be obtained until deduction for film investment is available are set after the film is made.

In the meantime, a provisional certificate can out in Section 124ZAF. The first condition is that the taxpayer has, be obtained for the reassurance of investors.

However, a provisional certificate may be under a contract entered into on or after October revoked at any time if the Minister is no longer 1, 1980, “expended capital moneys in pro­ satisfied that the film is or will be a qualifying ducing, or by way of contribution to the cost of Australian film. What protection does an producing” a certified film.

Section 124ZAA(6) provides that a reference investor have against the Minister simply changing his mind or his policy, and deciding in Division 10BA to moneys expended in pro­ ducing a film is a reference to moneys expended that he is no longer satisfied?

The same question arises in relation to the “to the extent to which those moneys are availability of a final certificate. The pre­ expended directly in producing a film” .

What is meant by “directly”? The Treasurer’s condition of obtaining a final certificate is the same as that for a provisional certificate — i.e., explanatory memorandum says that this word is the Minister has to be satisfied that the film is a intended to exclude “ moneys such as brokerage

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fees for arranging that a group of people join together to produce a film” . But there is no logical distinction between the cost to a pro­ ducer of assembling the finance needed for a film and the cost of assembling the men and the materials. Would the Treasurer argue that the costs of transporting cameras and crew to a location are not direct costs? A practice state­ ment is needed from the Commissioner to make it clear to what extent the following categories of costs will be regarded as direct costs of produc­ tion: • The Costs of acquiring underlying rights; • The script development costs; • Other pre-production costs, such as in­ curred on research, location surveys and budget preparation; • Producers’ fees; • Executive producers’ fees; • Film producer’s indemnity and negative risks insurance; • Errors and omissions insurance; • Completion guarantee fees; and • Legal fees.

If the Commissioner takes a hard line on such costs, it is clear that a substantial percentage of the typical film budget will be excluded from the new concessions.

A further question concerns the common practice of a film producer getting a production underway by financing the costs until the investors have been signed up. Will the Com­ missioner contend that the investors’ re­ imbursement of such costs does not constitute direct expenditure in producing the film?

Another worrying provision is Section 124ZAH(1) which provides as follows: “Where — (a) a taxpayer has expended capital moneys by way of contribution to the cost of pro­ ducing a film; and (b) an amount of moneys has been expended in producing the film out of moneys that include the moneys expended by the tax­ payer, then, for the purposes of this Division (10BA), so much of the moneys expended by the tax­ payer as the Commissioner determines shall be taken to be included in the amount referred to in paragraph (b) that has been expended in producing the film.”

The Treasurer’s explanatory memorandum says that this provision is to enable the Com­ missioner, in circumstances where taxpayers have contributed towards the production of a film,' to attribute actual expenditure out of the production account to the contributions of a par­ ticular taxpayer. It is not explained why such a power is needed. The wording of the section, however, goes far beyond that intention. On its face, it empowers the Commissioner to reduce the deduction available to an investor under Division 10BA whenever the investor has invested by means of contribution to a produc­ tion account from which the film production expenses are to be paid (the normal case). What use will the Commissioner make of Section 123ZAH? Section 124ZAJ empowers the Commis­ sioner, in a case where a producer pays for goods or services supplied by someone with whom the producer is not dealing at arm’s length a higher price than the producer would have paid in an arm’s length dealing, to recognize as expended only such portion of the payment as the Com­ missioner regards as reasonable. A similar pro­ vision is in Division 10B. For all its uncertainty (there is, surprisingly, scarcely any authority on what is meant by “at arm’s length”), this power does not appear to have caused practical diffi­ culties for producers and investors.

Concluded on p. 297 Cinema Papers, July-August — 233

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 1981

Unquestionably the major talking point at this year’s Cannes Festival was whether the Los Angeles Film Market would, if not kill off Cannes, at least damage its prestige seriously. Founded

by Americans reportedly discontent with the confusions and expenses of Cannes, the L.A. Market premiered this year in A pril. A ttracting mostly American producers and distributors, it proved a considerable success — so much so that it looked as if many of its delegates would bypass Cannes. If this happened, Cannes would inevitably have to take third spot behind L.A. and Mifed as an in­ ternational marketplace.

As a result, the usual Cannes ap­ prehension about the changeable Mediterranean weather was this year replaced by concern about the size and importance of the crowd on the Carlton terrace, a favored meeting place. As the Festival opened quietly, many did wonder if the crowds would ever appear.

They didn’t. Fortunately, among those that did turn up were the U.S. majors, as well as many of the bigger foreign buyers.

Summarizing the Festival, market director, Robert Chabert, pointed out that the number of films shown in the market was 326 — the same as in 1980.

Scott Murray

And while the number of registered buyers and sellers was down from 2548 to 2100, the amount of business done seemed comparable with recent years.

It is worth remembering, also, that Cannes is still a very large festival. This year, for example, the daily attendance at screenings in the Palais theatre averaged 8300. Included in that is 3000 odd critics and journalists. No other festival comes remotely close to so dense a concentra­ tion of world press. A successful main event screening can result in extraordinarily-wide media coverage. The French have long known the value of this, opening many of the major Festival films throughout France, during or immediate­ ly after the Festival. Overseas distribu­ tors tend to let a lot of this publicity dissipate with long lead-ups, but this is often inevitable as many films are only seen for the first time at Cannes.

Another oft overlooked point is that Cannes is primarily a festival, and only secondarily a market. This year, with a lower market profile, the critical func­ tions of the Festival gained a renewed prominence. So while L.A. may under­ mine Cannes’ value as a market, its posi­ tion as the world's major film event looks unlikely to be seriously challenged.

The inhabitants and township o f Sweetwater, Wyoming, in Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate.

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The Films As there are up to 30 films screening at any one time, selecting what to see is the m a jo r d ile m m a c o n fro n tin g the reviewer/journalist. And if one comes away from the Festival liking only five or so out of 48 seen, as I did this year, one inevitably wonders whether one’s selec­ tion process was at fault or whether the range of films was just poor.

A. Competition Michael Cimino’s epic account of the Johnson County wars,. Heaven’s Gate, is clearly a mess. Brutally cut from 219 to 149 minutes, what remains is a shambles of a reconstruction. Despite that, parts are brilliant and the film still ranks as a major American film of recent years.

Cimino is nothing if not a brilliantlytalented, visceral filmmaker. Even put­ ting aside his themes — and he is one of few Americans to discuss their society with any vigour or individuality — he is a consummate technician. The opening

three shots of The Deer Hunter, for ex­ ample, with the truck sweeping into town, under the bridge that stands as a metaphorical curtain between the values and ideals of an isolated American perspective and those of an outside world, are riveting. And if Cimino does, like his fellow Italian-Americans Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, slip too easily into the overwrought, at least he is prepared to confront or arouse emotions.

Equally, Cimino is not attracted by the clearly delineated — his characters can be on the ‘wrong’ and ‘right’ sides sim u lta n e o u s ly — and he resists caricature, even when dealing in a codified genre, like a Western. The ob­ vious examples in Heaven’s Gate are Averill (Kris Kristofferson), the Flarvard graduate-come-backwater sheriff, and Irvine (John Hurt), Kristofferson’s class­ mate who has taken the path of least resistance, siding with his class against the immigrant settlers; Best of all, though, is Champion (Christopher Walken), the killer paid by the landowners to track down and eliminate cattle thieves, invariably poor settlers. He sees himself as being clearly in the right, but as the landowners press claim for the settled land, he finds himself unintentionally sided with the op­ pressors.

The ambiguity of his position, and of the times, is reflected in his resignation to a changing moral code that will engulf him. And in the film’s best scene, he in­ vites the local brothel madame, Ella (Isabelle Huppert), to lunch with a couple of local hunters at his modest timber hut.

The complexities of the scene — Cham­ pion’s tentativeness in expressing his fe e lin g s fo r E lla; the q u ie t th a t frighteningly pre-figures a carnage; the simple purity of the life of the hunters compared to prostitution of sex by Ella and killing by Champion — are beautiful­ ly conveyed in hushed tones and silence.

Inexpressibly touching, it is not the least sentimental or contrived. Few film ­ makers could do as well.

But there are many other excellent scenes: the final battle, with its echoes of all battles ever fought; the roller-skating dance; the waltz between Averill and Ella; the dance at Yale.

Equally, there are many unsatisfactory moments (Ella’s charge into the battle; the overly-pointed scenes of the land­ owners' fiendish scheming) and the casting is not always appropriate. Hup­ pert is largely unconvincing as the madame, and Kristofferson is, at times, at odds with his role. But it is hard to know how much has been unbalanced by the cutting.

John Hurt, for one, gets second billing on the credits but is rarely seen, and at one point (the Harvard graduation) is cut short just as he is about to deliver a long oratory. Given the quotes listed on the end credits, this speech was clearly vital in verbally enunciating the ideals of the wealthy, educated Americans, ideals that would decay into the alcoholism of the conscious-pained Irvine or the racial, class-m otivated sadism of Canton (brilliantly played by Sam Waterson).

Cannes Festival Report

as that between people of any age; it is not the seduction of a minor.

Moralists have continually attacked the a ttra c tio n fe lt by co u p les w idely separated in years (one need only notice how many American and British feminist writers have decried the 13 year gap be­ tween Prince Charles and Lady Di). Blier, who has confronted moralists in all his films, again shows directorial integrity by being as explicit as his story demands (and that is emotional rather than visual), but not the ounce more that commer­ cialism may crave. His boldness high­ lights a sexual issue that too many wish never existed, but unquestionably always will.

Andrzej Wajda’s L’homme de fer (Man of Iron), predictable winner of the Palme d’Or, is a disappointing film. Like several Polish filmmakers, including Krzysztof Zanussi, Wajda has seemingly sub­ jugated aesthetic considerations for political expediency.

What is most disappointing, however, is W ajda’s unashamed support of Solidarity. History may, as they say, forgive him, but a total lack of objectivity makes for a toneless film. This is doubly surprising as Wajda is one filmmaker who has seen the contradictions behind the ideals of the noble, and highlighted the virtues of the damned. This lack of balance has also led to the film having a slightly out of date look, like that of a sixmonth old Nationwide. Although only completed two days before its Cannes screening, history has overtaken it, with Solidarity already adopting techniques of its opposition (like suppressing alternate trade unionism) — just the sort of savage irony Wajda has delighted in showing up in films like The Promised Land.

James Ivory’s Quartet, from the Jean Rhys novel, though not without the oc­ casional charms, is a disappointment.

Casting is the major problem, unbalanc-

Above: Joseph Cotton, as the Reverend Doctor, during the Harvard graduation ceremony.

Heaven’s Gate. Top right: Willie Nelson and James Caan in Michael M ann’s Bressonian Violent Streets (Thief). Below right: step-daughter (Ariel Bresse) and her guardian (Patrick Dewaere) in Betrand B Her’s Beau pere.

Like Luchino Visconti’s butchered Ludwig, Heaven’s Gate is a film in tatters. It is no small achievement, then, that no director at Cannes could match this film’s intermittent brilliance.

Another fine Am erican film was Michael Mann’s Violent Streets (Thief in some countries). A film noir, it is about the journey one man (James Caan) makes through the crime world, as he tears away the veneer of those profiting from it. Almost Bressonian in its stark­ ness, the film is a triumph of technique.

Ignoring the “ neo-realistic” conven­ tions of the genre (as Mann put it), he has concentrated on those aspects that, when highly formalized, give voice to the psychological state of his character.

Visually, this sparsity works weil, the camera making much out of neon lights reflected on greasy road surfaces or run­ ning along the distorting curves of a chrome fender. Aurally, Mann relies on an electronic score by Tangerine Dream, which helps unify the totality as well as heighten the concentration on the par­ ticular, such as Mann’s extraordinarily detailed depiction of a safe robbery.

Another excellent film is Bertrand Blier’s Beau pere, the story of sexual attraction between a thirtyish man and his 14 year-old step-daughter.

The film opens with Remi (Patrick Dewaere] playing the piano in some soulless nightclub. Abruptly, he turns to the camera and recounts his story. His live-in companion (“We sailed together in the same boat for eight years without anyone parachuting provisions down to

us” 1) is killed in a car accident. He is thus left to look after her daughter, Marion (Ariel Besse). By law she should return to live with her separated father (Maurice Ronet), but returns to live with Remi.

There, a drama of illicit desire begins: “ She was 14. That’s the age when a mirror never stops sending back im­ ages of the most bewitching, dazzling and amazing sort. She had decided to use my eyes as her mirror. She had decided that a step-father, after all, is still a man, like any other, and there was nothing to stop her from seducing him. She had decided to make me melt and then to rule over my downfall. “ Personally, I never had the luck to be born a hero. I’ve always been riddled with fine little cracks and the least jolt makes me cave in. “ So, think of me what you like. Yes, it’s true, I caved in.”

Clearly, a difficult and delicate subject.

Blier handles it with ferocious honesty and clarity. Marion’s desire to seduce is matched by Remi’s to succumb. It is a romantic, sensual and, in a sense, in­ evitable attraction. When their moment of first sexual contact comes, a delicate kiss after an agonizing build-up so masterfully prolonged by Blier, it is a triumphant moment of sensuality. Rarely, if ever, have I experienced so erotic a se­ quence in cinema.

Remi and Marion’s subsequent affaire is the consummation of a desire as valid 1 All quotes written by Blier, from Remi’s point of view, and printed in the Beau pere press book.

. Taking up the threads of his earlier Man of Marble, Wajda tells of many Poles affected by the birth of Solidarity, from dock workers at Gdansk to jour­ nalists and filmmakers searching for the values of the new movement and the political corruption that necessitated its growth. But instead of devising a narrative where action determines not only character but raises theoretical is­ sues, Wajda has (lazily, l believe) opted for little more than a Four Corners-style reportage. Endlessly, he shows people discussing the problems of Poland and the possible solutions. It is fictionalized documentary interviewing, and rather uninvolving in its one remove from ac­ tuality.

ing what is in essence a fragile tale about the games played between the powerful and the subjugated. As Isabelle Adjani is particularly unconvincing as the victim, never looking down on her luck or in dire need of support, her knowing accep­ tance of social and sexual tyranny, in return for financial security, is un­ believable. ivory, as in almost all his films, shows us, as he puts it, the “ moral shading" of characters. He criticizes aspects of per­ sonalities but never damns outright, challenging an audience’s predilection for quick judgments. In particular, Maggie Smith’s Lois Heidler, wife of the boorish “ H.J.” (Alan Bates), is particular­ ly sympathetic, one recognizing much of Cinema Papers, July-August — Ì35

Cannes Festival Report

forth. It is as if Bertolucci wants to shoot with utter simplicity but doesn’t quite have the nerve to do so. The result is highly irritating.

Dusan Makavejev’s Montenegro or Pigs and Pearls is a virtual re-make of his preceding Sweet Movie. Again it is the story of a girl/woman who drifts acci­ dentally into a counter-cultural under­ world, and who, by experiencing its varied horrors and delights, is forced to re-evaluate her beliefs before returning to her previous life, albeit changed.

Instead of a hippie theatre group in Amsterdam, in Montenegro it is a Stockholm nightclub for immigrant Yugoslavians. Through confrontation with their different cultural, let alone sex­ ual and culinary, habits, Marilyn Jordan (Susan Anspach) finds life Is more than her boring, married life has let her experience. So great is the shock, that she returns home an anarchist, poison­ ing her family and her husband’s psy­ chiatrist — as if they were her problems.

The film ends with a statement that the story was based on actual events, as if this somehow validates the badly mis­ judged satire of the preceding 97 minutes. Makavejev’s films have often been saved by his sense of outrage and the absurd; here, his presentation is as flaccid as his narrative is repetitious of earlier, better works.

Isabelle Adjani in James Ivory’s film adaptation o f Jean Rhys’ Quartet.

oneself and others in her pathetic at­ tempts to preserve her position through childish game-playing of the type H.P. demands.

Unfortunately, Smith’s nicely-stated performance is not matched by Bates, who is particularly mannered, let alone ill-suited, in the role (based, one is told, on Ford Maddox Ford). H.J.’s downright unpleasantness and A d ja n i’s inap­ propriateness as the girl, Marya, counter all Ivory’s attempts to liven this drama.

And as is the habit in most period films (this is set among the chic foreigners of 1930s Paris), the set and costume designers seem determined to swamp the action in gratuitous demonstrations of their crafts.

Bernardo Bertolucci’s La tragedia di un uomo ridicoio (Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man) is, in the director’s words, the first film of his “ mature period".

Returning to the much-used Po valley, B ertolucci tells of a peasant (Ugo Tognazzi) who has become a wealthy cheese manufacturer and owner of a hideous villa which apes the local architecture. One day, he sees his son being kidnapped (laboriously set up with Tognazzi scanning the horizon, ostens­ ibly to test out his new binoculars — given to him by his son, of course). But, the kidnapping is not all it seems: did, for example, the son plan it?

While frantically trying to regain his son (who shares those Italian cinematic characteristics of being affected, un­ likeable and ungrateful; a son who rebels against bourgeois values as much out of boredom as anything else), he also wonders if he can trick the kidnappers.

This way he might be able to bolster his ailing factory.

There are several predictable twists (Instead of being ahead of his audiences, 236 — Cinema Papers, July-August

Bertolucci now trails them), before everything is ‘resolved’ in a spate of Borges-like ambiguities of the kind that hampered The Spiker’s Strategy.

All this n a rra tiv e m isju d g m e n t wouldn’t matter as much if the film had

the visual boldness of his best films. But one product of this “ mature period” is a strangely hesitant camera. Instead of his usually spectacular cranes and tracking shots, there are jerky and meaningless one metre tilts, or short pans back and

Istvan Gaal’s Cserepek (Quarantine) Is yet another Hungarian tale of middle-life crisis. Here, the central character has stagnated; his feeling for life lost. He drifts, seemingly irreconcilably, into despair. The various solutions — advice from friends; professional help by doc­ tors and psychiatrists; even an encounter with a dying man (often a spiritual salve) — do nothing to avert his malaise.

This dreary film plods through its catalogue of failed exterior solutions before hitting on the supposedly reveal­ ing one: only by himself can man correct his state. This Gaal shows by having his protagonist help an old lady bring her pot plants out from inside her home into the rain. The ironic corollary that seems to have eluded Gaal is: Can

Marina Lindhal, Per Oscarsson (psychiatrist) and Erland Josephson (husband) in Dusan Makavejev’s Montenegro or Pigs and Pearls.

Cannes Festiva IReport

Isabelle Happen as Alphonsine Plessis, and Fernando Rey as her suitor. Mauro Bolignini’s La

Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill in Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession

this man (or all men) only find himself (themselves) by helping/impinging on others, thus depriving them of their right to act individually?

literal and dramatic coloring.

dame aux camélias.

B. Divers Mauro B o lognini’s La dame aux camelias, already a critical and financial failure in Europe, is a minor but pleasant work from the Italian director.

The film is based on the novel by Alex­ andre Dumas jun. as well as Dumas’ ac­ tual fascination fo r the courtesan, Alphonsine Plessis, on whom he based his heroine. The resultant narrative, which is set in parenthetical codas of the beginning and closing of Dumas’ play, works rather well, particularly in the cut from the death of Alphonsine to its representation on stage.

The major problem with the film, and it near ruins it, is the casting of Isabelle Huppert as Alphonsine. Huppert, an actress who rose to acclaim with her brilliant portrayal as Claude Goretta's selfless, retiring lacemaker, is quite un­ able to suggest Alphonsine’s beguiling sexuality. This is a major handicap as Bolognini has Alphonsine using this sex­ ual power to subjugate men, in her drive to rise out of the poverty in which she was born.

Despite this weakness, the film is memorable for the exquisiteness of Piero Tosi’s costum es and the excellent photography by Ennio Guarnieri. These, with the odd breathtaking sequence, such as the harrowing scene where a priest finds himself unable to control his desire and commits suicide, make the film an interesting addition to Bolognini’s fine career.

Walerian Borowczyk’s Docteur Jekyll et les femmes is his best film in years.

The subject of a rave critique by French novelist Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues, it may well restore Borowczyk’s battered reputation.

In this umpteenth adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, Borowczyk has naturally concentrated on those aspects suited to his particular eye. He is clearly at home among the medical brica-brac of the era, and the sets, again designed by himself, make good use of period styles while also creating a dark labyrinth of unknown chambers that mirrors the human mind.

The transform ation scenes, as Dr Jekyll (Udo Kier) assumes the per­ sonification of Mr Hyde, are cleverly

done. After pouring the magic potion into a large bath, Jekyll lowers himself into it, still clothed. As the charmed water takes its effect, Jekyll writhes uncontrollably, the water splashing about violently and the light playing on its discordant surface contrasting with the blank dimness of the surrounding room. After a prolonged submergence, Hyde emerges, aflare with his demonic passion.

Eroticism plays a lesser part than in almost all Borowczyk’s other films — despite the presence of Marina Pierro, seen in his Heroines of Evil. The film’s tone is also less off-hand than many, reminding one most of Story of Sin in its

Jacques Doillon’s La fille prodigue is an incisive look at a 30 year-old woman’s collapse, signalled by her abrupt leave­ taking of her husband and retreat to the family home. There, she regresses into a second childhood, seeing in her love for her father the possibility of a new, truer kind of relationship with men.

Unfortunately, the film is a little too measured and intense to be dramatically satisfying, and though Jane Birkin and Michel Piccoli do much with their demanding roles, they remain Birkin and Piccoii. Doillon has not really worked

with known actors before and he seems unsure about how to handle them — and, most importantly, how to submerge their off-screen personas.

Incest is also the theme of Christian Braad Thomsen’s documentary, The One You Love, which looks at the sexual feelings between parents and their small children. Thomsen argues that suppres­ sion of this natural desire leads to fascist aggression. The proposition is fascinating, but Thomsen brushes over it too quickly for one to be convinced.

Luc Berard’s Plein sud is a mildly amusing French comedy, though hardly the film Berard’s reputation would lead one to expect.

Patrick Dewaere is Serge, a university lecturer who goes to Barcelona to give several classes at the university. Bored by marriage and the stifling nature of academia, he turns a chance meeting at a station into an escape. But the escape proves its own trap, a penniless and sexually-spent Serge finding himself enmeshed in a criminal complicity he fails to comprehend. Abandoning the rationality by which he made his career, he opts for adventure, for the unknown.

The film is a little long but Dewaere is most engaging when Serge loses grip of his senses. And Clio Goldsmith, as the girl he meets, shows fine comic flair and enough vitality to carry the story through its lesser moments.

David Hamilton’s Tendres cousins is the least interesting of his three features — despite a screenplay by Pascale Laine, who wrote The Lacemaker.

Going beyond his publicized fascina­ tion with adolescent sexuality, particular­ ly of girls, Hamilton has attempted to make a provincial French farce in the style of Clochemerle. But the result is resolutely unfunny, a tedious parade of m istim ed s la p s tic k and crude characterization. Only in the last part, when the film focuses on a 14 year-old boy s sexual initiation, does the film merit attention.

O ther film s seen in clu d e S huji Terayama s The Fruits of Passion, an adaptation of Pauline Reage’s Return to the Chateau, Eric Rohmer’s delightful but seem ingly frivolous La femme de I’aviateur, Herbert Vesely’s disjointed Egon Schiele, Volker Schlondorff’s sur­ prisingly uninventive The Moral of Ruth Halbfass, Shohei Imamura’s disap­ pointing Eijanaika. John Boorman’s e rra tic a lly m agical Excalibur and Andrzej Zulawski’s crazed, hysterical but unarguably memorable Possession.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 237

O f the present crop o f Australian documentaries, few have grabbed as much attention as Stepping Out. Made for $55,000 from diverse sources, it demands attention because this is the International Year o f Disabled Persons and the film is about the mentally retarded. It also has the power to make an audience feel elated, while at the same time questioning just how people come to be tagged mentally handicapped and what happens to them as a result.

The groundwork for Stepping Out was laid more than two years before any film was shot. A Ido Gennaro — a Chilean therapist/teacher/theatre director — was employed by the Lorna Hodgkinson Sunshine Home in Sydney to run its Activity Therapy Centre. Gennaro had also set up a nightly drama workshop, and out o f those workshops came “Life — Images and Reflections”, a season o f mime and dance performances staged at the Sydney Opera House in November 1979.

Stepping Out is a record o f that theatrical event. It is also a glimpse o f the lives and aspirations o f the people who took part.

One o f the things that emerges most clearly from the film is that the residents love Gennaro and their expressions o f affection for him are some o f the most moving scenes in the film. Seven months after the Opera House performances, and shortly after some board members saw an early cut o f Stepping Out, Gennaro was dismissed. No official reason was given.

Two Sunshine residents feature in Stepping Out: Chris Dobbin, who is 31 years old and an extraordinarily expressive dancer; and Romayne Grace, 21 years old, who provides the film ’s commentary.

Stepping Out was produced and directed by Chris Noonan — his first independent film after seven years as a director at Film Australia.

that, because they had never performed for a mass audience, it would probably be good to accustom them to lights and all the paraphernalia of a shoot. That way they would not be awed by the stage.

Was it Gennaro’s decision to let you film?

Aldo’s decision was necessary first, then I had to go before the board of the home and get their permission. It took a lot of convincing.

Did you have any problems working with mentally-retarded people?

I think every member of the crew had a problem coming to terms with spending time with the residents. Most people who see themselves as “normal” are afraid of coming in contact with the mentally handicapped; we were no exception.

When we started shooting, there were all sorts of barriers between us and them, but they are such warm and em otional people they unconsciously challenged the barriers we put up. We all had a very hard time until we surrendered to the experience. Everything became a total high after that. It involved conquering something in ourselves, and that was one of the m ajor rewards of the whole exercise.

Were there technical problems in filming the residents? In “Best Boy”, for example, all Philly wants to do is look at the camera?

Did you have a project ready when you left Film Australia?

to the home a number of times and had always refused. Finally, I accepted an invitation to a There was only the possibility of Christmas play the residents were making Stepping Out. but it was by staging. The performer-viewer role no means certain. 1 had to raise the seemed distant enough for me to money first. The idea came to me cope with. because I had a friend who was 1 saw Chris Dobbin dance at that working with Aldo, and knew the performance and he really got me play would be performed at the interested in the residents as the Opera House. I had been invited up subject for a film.

238 — Cinema Papers, July-August

At the beginning, the camera caused quite a stir and we did have problems with a couple of people when we set up the lights. One girl in particular became terribly upset by the effect of the light on her eyes and thought it was affecting her health. But that was overcome after a few days.

The main shoot was three weeks, but before that we had come in one day a week for three successive Director Chris Noonan (right) talks with weeks, set up the lights and did a bit Chris Dobbin. of filming. This was to capture some of the early rehearsals, and Was Aldo Gennaro receptive to the also to get the cast used to the performance being filmed? equipment.

Another problem we ran against To a certain extent he was non­ at the start was when we tried using committal. He was worried about radio mics to capture candid what the presence of the crew would conversations, particularly between do to the event and to the our two main characters, Chris and performers. But on balance he felt Romayne. They hated the mics.

feeling they were an invasion of t h e i r p r iv a c y .

R om ayne particularly resented the intrusion and it put a great distance between her and us until we realized what was happening and discarded the mics.

Why did you select Romayne Grace as narrator?

She suggested herself: she was the most articulate of the residents I met. When I first went to the home, I was interested mainly in Chris, since it was he who had really affected me during the Christmas play. But coming in contact with Chris meant meeting Romayne, because even then their relationship was quite close.

Grace seems much too articulate to have ever been classified “mentally retarded” .. .

Exactly. There are a number of people I felt should not have been in the home. They are there only because they have been deprived of the normal training we receive, which enables us to live in the outside world.

Did you want people to come away from the film feeling that some people in the home should not be there?

That is one of a number of themes which are implicit in the film. But Stepping Out is really about how these people are delightful human beings. I am sure th at most people would not a c k n o w le d g e m e n ta lly handicapped people as human beings, even though they would never say it. It is a commonlyshared feeling that the value of a mentally-handicapped person is one of a living thing, but not of a human being.

Gennaro was sacked after the Opera House performance, yet you didn’t mention this in the film. Did it happen after the film was completed?

No, it happened while we were editing so we could have mentioned it. But we didn’t, because my approach to the film was a non­ intellectual one and I had decided against a commentary. I wanted the audience to experience the players’ reality, rath er than have it translated into a digestible form.

To have inserted the information

Above: A Ido Gennaro (centre) supervises a rehearsal at the Hodgkinson Sunshine Home.

Stepping Out. Left: from the performance o f “Life — Images and Reflections”. Stepping

Out.

about Aldo would have created an intellectual focus at the end of the film. The film leaves the audience on a very high emotional level and to have then put up an institutional issue would have directed the audience’s positive energy towards that issue.

To what extent were you cashing in on the International Year of Disabled Persons in making the film?

To the extent that it became a commercial possibility to make a film about a taboo subject. The film w ould n o t have had m uch commercial potential otherwise.

Did you find it hard to raise the budget?

Incredibly hard, except for the initial contribution from the Department of Social Security. It put in $30,000 and for that has the right to an unlimited number of prints at cost price and full non­ commercial rights. There were different deals for the other contributors.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 239

Chris Noonan

Presumably the companies that contributed money — Boots, Unilever and GMH — did not want rights to the film . . .

No. Those companies donated after a lot of hassling. I approached 70 companies with a* two-page typed letter. Those three were the only successes, and they put in about $1000 each.

The feedback I have had from people in the film has been very positive. From the parents, I’ve had a mixed reaction. Romayne’s parents, for example, were very disappointed with the film. I think

they reject a lot of things she says.

Certainly, some members of the home’s administration felt the thoughts Romayne presents in the film were- not really her own. in discussing it, they referred to her

words as “the script” , with the assumption that I had written what she had to say and asked her to read it, which was not true.

On the other hand, Chris’ parents think it is a wonderful film.

Did any of the financial contributors want to see a script?

I gave them a very erudite proposal explaining that there was no possibility of having a script in advance, because it was an event and we could not predict what was going to happen. I agreed to show all sponsors, including the board of the home, the film just before we approved it for printing.

Naturally, I could not give anyone editorial control, but I guaranteed to listen to their comments and to consider them before making the final cut. That turned out to be acceptable.

Did they try to influence you?

The sponsors tried very little; the home tried quite a lot.

On what issues?

The board of the home was very worried about the amount of affection shown among residents, and between the residents and Aldo. One of the board members commented that the relationship shown between Aldo and the residents was an unnatural one.

Essentially, I think, it embar­ rassed them and they put a lot of pressure on me to delete those scenes.

Some of the board’s comments were incorporated in the final cut, but only because we had to cut 10 minutes out of the film.

How do audiences react to the film?

1 have only seen it in two cinema screenings, both overseas. But it gets an extraordinary response.

People are very moved by the film.

Apparently at the Sydney Opera House, the film had standing ovations. It is really a dream response.

To what extent is the film likely to change people’s attitudes to institutionalization?

You might think your film is going to revolutionize the world while you are making it, but you come down to a much more realistic assessment of its influence once it is finished. From the feedback I’ve had, I think the film has changed a lot of people’s perceptions of the m entally handicapped.

Have you had much reaction to the film from parents and residents?

240

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Cinema Papers, July-August

Gennaro and residents during rehearsals. Stepping Out.

In many ways, Chris Noonan — now in his late twenties — has had a classic progression as a filmmaker. He made his first film at school, on 16mm and in black and white. Called Could it Happen Here?, it portrays the school as a prison camp from which several inmates attempt an escape.

Back in 1970 the film became quite a curiosity. It was screened on television, and its makers were interviewed for television and written up in newspapers. The Sunday Telegraph, for one, reflected: “It is a sad commentary on the Australian film industry that half a dozen schoolboys, using an old-fashioned borrowed camera and a budget o f $187.35 can pick up third prize at the Sydney Film Festival. ” The success o f Could it Happen Here? turned Noonan’s aspirations towards film as a career.

He had planned to become an art teacher but, at the suggestion o f producer Joan Long, he applied for, and got, a job at Film Australia as a production assistant. During two years at Film Australia, Noonan also started work on another film, Garbo, financed by the old Experimental Film Fund, then administered by the Arts Council.

In 1973, Noonan became one o f the first intake at the Australian Film and Television School, joining Phil Noyce, Gill Armstrong and Graham Shirley, among others, fo r the one-year “interim ” course.

Chris Noonan

What was the AFTS looking for in that First year?

For people with at least limited experience in directing who had shown they were som ehow committed to film.

And what were you looking for?

Confidence, essentially, and that is exactly what it provided. I was quite scared of direction, because I didn’t have enough experience to know whether the decision I had made off the top of my head, to work in film, was going to turn out to be the right one.

But the course was excellent, in that it was a very intense year, with each of us making three films and a number of studio, video programs.

If you had been offered the threeyear full-time course, would you still have been interested?

No. At the time I thought one year was a long time to spend outside the mainstream of the industry. As it turned out it was excellent, because I never would have had the opportunity to make three films anywhere else. But if the course had involved three years of commitment, I am sure I would not have been interested. On the other hand, the film school is looking for different types of people now, with less em phasis on w ould-be directors.

How did Film Australia react when you said you were going to the AFTS?

Tracy. The day after the cyclone hit, Film Australia flew me and a cameraman up to Darwin. We had two days in which to shoot a cinema short, and that had to be released by the end of the week. In an extraordinary show of efficiency at Film Australia, that schedule was observed. Tony Buckley cut it and I recorded a personal commentary for it.

The film was very successful. It was screened all over the world within a couple of weeks of release, mainly because Film Australia gave it away to everyone.

You also made one of the TCN-9 Film Australia co-productions, “Cass”. How did that go?

That was the only drama I made at Film Australia, and it received very mixed crits. It has a lot of fans and I still have people saying how much they liked it, but a lot of the reviews were bad.

I have been quite affected by the mixed reaction to Cass as most of my films have had very good press reaction and I was not used to being Cass, the only dramatic film Noonan made at Film Australia. criticized. I still feel-a certain nervousness about the film, even though I really liked it at the time. But after Cass I became involved in in every week. By contrast, I could a number of projects in the not see myself making a decent Why did you finally leave Film developmental stage which fell living out of independent pro­ Australia? through. Slowly, far too slowly, I duction; the precedents were not realized that Cass was as far as I good.

I was very lucky at Film would go at Film Australia.

But I was in a situation of being Australia and I owe the place a It was a very hard decision. 1 had frustrated and not making films — great deal. Up until I made Cass, spent most of my life working in and the films I could have been every project was a new challenge institutions and it was a very secure making were not exciting to me. So and further extended my abilities. existence, with the money coming I just had to get out and trust fate.

I was very fortunate, in that when I put in my resignation the producer-in-chief at Film Australia said he would prefer me to take one year’s leave without pay. They also offered me a project to direct once I graduated from the school. It wasn’t as exciting as I had imagined — it was a series on secondary school libraries — but I threw myself into it and convinced the sp o n so rs th a t they w anted something totally different from what they thought they wanted.

Looking back, I am surprised the sponsors, the Schools Commission, gave me the respect they did. I had really long hair and must have made a strange impression. It was a bit of a surprise to be treated as someone who knew what he was talking about, when I was really only guessing at what I felt was the best approach.

At any rate, while we were shooting part of the library series at Sunshine North Tech I had the Chris Noonan (left) directs Michele Fawdon and John Waters in Cass. chance to make another film at the same time [The School is not an Stepping Out has been sold extensively overseas, mostly to television. Its success in the Island]. It’s about three girls from the school who try to set up a coffee marketplace has been helped by the fact that it won the competition for “Best TV Program in the shop in the area.

Spirit o f International Year o f Disabled Persons ” at MIFED last year, a bronze award at the New

York International Film and Television Festival, First Prize in the 6th Annual Dance Film

What other films stand out of those Festival o f New York and a Jury Prize at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival Germany. you directed at Film Australia?

At the time o f this interview, the film looked like returning a small profit, some o f which will go ★

There was one about Cyclone to the Foma Hodgkinson Sunshine Home.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 241

TESTIFY Barrie Pattison When color television came in to Australia, many considered it would make redundant the vintage black and white Hollywood features that had been bought as television packages in their hundreds in the 1950s. The films of MGM and Warner Brothers were thus returned to the parent companies and made available as hire copies on the Australian 16 mm market.

At this point, however, a number of things happened which are revealing of the Australian film scene. Most of the famous titles and the work of celebrity stars were found to be lost, worn-out or diverted. The 1930s horror films, the Jeanette MacDonald musicals and the Oscar winners were missing from the list. The last of the Greta Garbo films went off to New Zealand at the start of this year. That meant that what was left was not the material circulated by even the more intrepid repertory cinemas and film societies. In particular, several hundred of.these were the program films of the pre-1935 period which are virtually unknown for a variety of reasons.

Film scholarship tends to dismiss these films as stage-bound and clumsy by comparison to the better known silent classics which precede them, or the films of the so-called Golden -Years of Hollywood which follow. Season programming, to which film museums devote themselves so wholeheartedly, also encourages this neglect.

The stars and major filmmakers of this period are not known and no programmer will play to empty seats a season of the work of, say, Lee Tracy or Sam Hardy, or of a director like George Hill or Wesley Ruggles.

The result of all this was that when Neil Mac­ Donald and I approached Amalgamated Distributors in the Hoyts Centre, which now holds the two collections, they were on the point of destroying the copies to make space. Several hundred had not had a booking in the years they had been on offer.

Now, assuming the duplicating materials are still available and in as good condition as they had been 20 years ago when many of the copies were made, it would cost more than $1000 to order, print, ship and acquire a new copy of one of these vintage titles. Such material would never return that amount in the commercial market in Australia. That means, if these prints are destroyed, one of, if not, the largest collec­ tions of this rare material outside the U.S. would go and such material would never again be available in Australia.

The management of Amalgamated treated us sympathetically —- not only because they could see that it seemed bad business to turn a few hundred thousand dollars worth of film into $42 242

—

Cinema Papers, July-August

An ecstatic Ramon No varrò in

Laughing Boy.

worth of silver, but also from a genuine interest imthe past of the film industry. We were allowed to look at anything we wanted and the destruc­ tion order was cancelled — temporarily at least.

Noel Cislawski, of the NSW Education Department, took the project seriously and found us a corner in which to screen. We then began publicizing our activities among the peo­ ple who one might have expected to be in­ terested. Some of the reactions were amazing, including astonishment that anyone was in­ terested in American films which didn’t expose the infamies of the CIA. A repeated response was that we should tell them when we were running Public Enemy and Camille. Only a handful were able to appreciate that these Films were a different and possibly more important part of the jigsaw to the known and respected titles. Certainly one of the things which makes these films interesting is that they provide an insight into the way Hollywood retained its grip on world markets in a transition period.

So, on the copies went — sometimes five and six a day for two months — more films than the National Film Theatre gets through a year. The faint-hearted fell away and the determined sat there muttering, “Not Franchot Tone and Madge Evans again!” The survivors had the uni­ que experience of seeing a substantial cross­ section of the program films of the early years of sound, in quantity, not unlike the way the habitual filmgoers of the period first saw them and many of the same reactions were noticed.

One of the most fascinating opportunities was the discovery of the voices of many people thought of as silent film stars. Erich von Stroheim regular Dale Fuller does an “ Indispen­ sable Lisa” secretary in the remarkably modern Office Wife (Lloyd Bacon, 1930). Betty Compson, star of many of her husband, James Cruze’s films like Pony Express, provides a nice line in self-satire in On With the Show (Alan Crosland. 1929). Back stage, Sam Hardy notices her provocatively exposed leg and growls, “Cover that thing up.” Ernest Torrence from Tolable David and The Covered Wagon proves to have a ringing delivery in The Great Lover

(Harry Beaumont, 1931) or the curious Somerset Maugham adaptation Strictly Un­ conventional (David Burton, 1929). Charles Farrel romances Bette Davis in The Big Shakedown (John Francis Dillon, 1933) as he had Janet Gaynor in Seventh Heaven.

The discovery is Ramon Novarro, star of the 1926 Ben Hur and usually heard only as the weak romantic interest in the Garbo Marta Hari. A remarkably full collection of his work remains, including his first talkie, Devil May Care (Sidney Franklin, 1929), where they pass off his Speedy Gonzales accent as “Gascon” .

The film challenges the limits of the studio’s sound technique, recording speech and music at the same time and running two cameras on some scenes.

More impressive are Huddle (Sam Wood, 1931), where Novarro is an Italian coalminer playing quarterback for Yale; Daybreak (Jac­ ques Feyder, 1931), an unexpectedly faithful Schnitzler adaptation flawed only in an evasive ending; and The Barbarian (Wood, 1933), with remarkably torrid scenes with Myrna Loy. Ver­ satile and personable enough to impress in all these characters, Novarro is clearly a major, neglected talent.

Even more interesting are two legendary casualties of the early sound period who emerge in a new perspective. John Gilbert was said to have a voice unsuitable for sound film. However, in Wood’s 1929 Way for a Sailor, he is victim more of awful material written, in part, by Gilbert’s regular collaborator Laurence Stall­ ings (Big Parade, What Price Glory). By Gentleman’s Fate (1930), an exceptional film which strikingly pre-figures The Godfather, Gilbert’s voice can be seen to be the element needed to turn a matinee idol into a major screen actor.

Director Mervyn Le Roy, who did Little Caesar the same year, has given Gentleman’s Fate the look and much of the pace of the best of the Warner films he was then doing. It also has the Italian-American setting, the sleazy hotel decors and mannerisms like the two-shot with the profile at frame edge. Gilbert and Louis Wolheim make their scenes together gripping

and, even with its unnecessarily moralizing ending, the film remains a considerable dis­ covery.

It is also possible to see the last of Buster Keaton’s work as a star in the MGM sound films and it is true that these are only a shadow of his great silents. A few of the old routines are restaged on a smaller scale in What, No Beer (Edward Sedgwick, 1933). However, here, as in The Passionate Plumber (Sedgwick, 1932), he gets less laughs than talented straight actors like Gilbert Roland and John Miljan. The story that he was undermined in favor of the studio’s new comic, Jimmy Durante, seems unlikely with Durante called on to play an equally unfunny stooge role in both films.

Keaton’s delivery and agility have the qualities needed to make him a successful sound film comic. The other films available suggest another plausible reason for his decline. These titles include the extraordinarily rare The Chief (Charles Reisner, 1933), an attempt to put on film the then famous radio star, Ed Wynne. This film seems to have had no showing since its dis­ astrous first release. There is also an extensive selection of the work of round-faced, wise-guy comedian William Haines, now forgotten, though he was star of the studio’s first talkie.

All these films, like the Keaton comedies, are in an unappealing, clumsy style despite good production values and talented collaborators.

This house style is a long way from that of Paramount which served so well at that studio in the contemporary films of the Marx Brothers, Mae West, W.C. Fields or Maurice Chevalier.

Their films are still admired and widely cir­ culated. One team did manage to springboard a career out of the cycle where Keaton faltered — the Three Stooges.

Also available is the 1935 Baby Face Harrington, made by Raoul Walsh, where the beginning of a faster, more modern style is becoming evident. This was to develop in the Red Skelton and, later, Marx Brothers comedies.

The work of the directors is similarly intrigu­ ing. Few celebrity filmmakers are represented in the collection. There are no films by John Ford or Alfred Hitchcock, and only one inferior Cecil B. De Mille: his re-made cowboy, mother-love weepy The Squaw Man (1931).

William Wellman, however, is revealed in six virtually unknown films which give a new perspective on the range of the programmers with which he spaced his major works. Purchase Price (1932), with Barbara Stanwyck, recalls The Wind. Other Men’s Women (Steel Highway, 1931) is better dealing with trains than with its triangle plot. Midnight Mary (1933) is a faster prototype of the MGM woman’s film. College Coach (1933) surprisingly extends the Warner social cycle into an attack on football in educa­ tion. Heroes For Sale (1933), though occasional­ ly misjudged, has some amazing scenes, like “The Red Squad” dragging left-wingers from the dinner table and running them out of town.

And, of course, Public Enemy has survived.

Warner staffers, notably Michael Curtiz, Mervyn Fe Roy and William Dieterle, are represented by the lively, earlier co-features and also by the major works by which they are remembered, like Dieterle’s Emile Zola and Curtiz’ Sea Wolf.

However, the discoveries of the batch are by two little known and misrepresented film­ makers. One is George Hill. Despite his brilliant The Big House (with All Quiet . . . the out­ standing film of the era), he has not become a celebrity.

In the collection are two other remarkable films which he made. The Secret Six (1931) has Big House star Wallace Beery as a gangster, Concluded on p. 305

Sand Castles Apparently there have been distri­ bution problems with “Health”, which is why it was shown at the Melbourne Film Festival . . .

I am surprised the Melbourne Film Festival even got a print of it: I am in a fight with Fox over distribution. They found the film hard to sell. They didn’t think it would be commercial and they just refuse to distribute it. I’ve had to take my print and I will show it in England next week.

I understand they showed it in one cinema in Los Angeles and they have refused to show it so far in New York. Yet my feeling from having seen it is that it would be much more commercial than a number of films that have been released recently . . .

Most people are of that opinion, including ourselves. When I made the film, Norman Levy was at Columbia. Then, when I was off making Popeye, Fox had a whole management change. He came in as

Robert Altman has made 17 film s in the past 13 years and has developed a cult following rivalled by few modern directors. But since his smash success with M*A*S*H, Altman s films have mostly proved to be the bane o f the major production and distribution companies which have supported his work. Even films such as Nashville, which have drawn uniform critical praise, have generally failed to measure up at the box-office.

As a result o f wariness about the commercial prospects o f two o f his most recent film s, the decision was made not to release them publicly in Australia. The film s, Health and Quintet have had their only Australian screenings at the 1981 Melbourne Film Festival.

In view o f this situation ‘Cinema Papers' arranged fo r Robert Altman to be interviewed

by Australian writer Dennis Altman.

,

The above interview was first published in the Melbourne Film Festival Program.

Paul Newman, Bibi Andersson and Nina van Pallandt in Altman’s Quintet.

244 — Cinema Papers, July-August

Robert Altman directs Nina van Pallandt on the set o f The

Long Goodbye.

head of distribution and he simply said he didn’t think the film was going to work and it was his judgment not to release it.

Do you think it's political? Are they objecting to the film’s view of American politics?

I think it’s political within the company. The same man, when he was at Columbia, did the same thing to a film I produced called Remember My Nam e. The executive who had okayed the film was fired; Norman Levy had moved up and he said, “ I don’t like this film, and we are not going to release it.” Then, wham, I ran into him two years later at Fox — the same thing. So it really is personal.

Did Frank Barhydt come to you with a full screenplay for “Health” No, he came to me with an idea, a full treatment, but it had more to do with the background elements.

None of the internal story was there. Prior to that, he had edited a health food magazine, so that’s where his information came from. I

Robin Williams as the lead in Altman’s latest film, Popeye.

Robert Altman

became fascinated with the idea and then we started making the political parallels.

This is the second time you have done that. It reminded me of the campaign in “Nashville” . . .

It’s like that, although Nashville involves a presidential candidate, and that was a campaign as the public sees it. In Health, we p a ro d ie d the two p o litic al conventions and the way our system is run. The idea was that the film would be released in 1980, when the political conventions were on. I felt that would have been a good time for it, but they didn’t agree with me.

While you were developing “Quintet”, you reportedly invented the

There is a point in the film, right at the end, when Grigor says: “Life can only be felt when death is near.”

Is this what you are really saying in that fdm?

That is the basis of the film. I think it ties in with gambling and game-playing. You have to put yourself in jeopardy, or else you just become like those people in the film the dogs ate; they just sat down and died.

the same. The next film I did, A Perfect Couple, was released, again

by Fox, within two or three months of Quintet, and it had no names in it. It was a perfectly lovely, accessible, delightful film, but it didn’t do business in the first four days, and they pulled it out.

Health was next, and I think it was on the basis of the failure of Quintet and A Perfect Couple that when it came along they were just glad to get rid of me. There will be no future films with Fox. That’s mutual; I am sure they don’t want me.

Given that you create a totally artificial world in “Quintet”, why do you go to all the trouble of filming on location, with the extraordinary climatic problems You grew up in Kansas City and in you had in Canada at that time? your films it’s almost as if you are portraying American society quite We went to Canada to attain differently from the impressions one those climatic problems. It would gets from the media, which are

Feiffer’s script, certainly not mine.

But it’s collaborative and tends to become incestuous, and you keep feeding back and forth to each other. But I produced all the films and had control of them.

You are known as a director actors like to work with, so that often the same people reappear in a number of your films . . .

That’s true, and it’s not by design or contract or anything else. I get to know what the actor’s full range is, and I can see how he can move into other areas.

Are there subjects you would like to make films about that you haven’t touched on yet?

I don’t have any big dream. I

Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall in Three Women.

Alien Garfield and Ron nee Blakley in Nashville.

game of the same name. There are have cost us a fortune to go on actually rules and one can play it stages and do that. This set — the ruins of Expo ’67 — was already there; so was the weather. It was Oh yes, it’s quite a good game. always below zero, so we just froze There are quintet clubs in the U.S. everything in sight and created our a n d th e y a r e now h a v in g own Ice Age. tournaments.

H ave there been distribution problems with “Quintet”?

What came first — the idea for the game or the idea for the film?

No, it was released rather broadly. Fox promoted it, mainly The film first, but I always had on the basis of Paul Newman, and the idea that there was a game of the film was not accepted by the the culture, like backgammon, public or the critics at all. There chess, mahjong, dominoes. I were very few critics who liked it, wanted a game that represented the although those who did really liked culture and that eventually became it. Most of the public found it tire­ the end of the culture. The game some and dreary; it would have survived longer than the culture. been better to release it and let it build its own reputation.

What do you see as the American game?

You tried very hard to do that by preventing too much advance I d o n ’t think there is an discussion of the film . . .

American game. It’s too diverse; there are too many cultures.

Yes. But they treat all the films

basically concentrated on the two coasts . . .

I have spent most of my adult life in Los Angeles or New York, but I think there is no question that you take your roots with you, and they certainly form your opinions and your view of things. I am definitely a midwestern person, although I haven’t actually lived in that area since World War 2.

For the past 12 years, when you have been making films, you have been involved as producer, director and writer on almost all of them. I don’t know of any films you have made since “M*A*S*H”, in which you weren’t involved in the writing . . .

I am always in the credits. I didn’t have a writing credit on California Split, and on Nashville I think Joan Tewksbury had the sole screen credit, but a film is so collaborative that everybody crosses over. Popeye was Jules

have no idea of being like John Boorman who carried the Arthur legend until he finally got to make Excalibur.

What attracts you to a project? I have been looking for a common ingredient in your films and I think it’s stretching things to find one . . .

1 have a very broad spectrum.

Something will interest me — it has to be something I don’t know immediately how to do. It has to present that kind of challenge. I do two kinds of films: what I call essay films, which Health, Nashville and A Wedding are; and what I call interior films — Three Women, Images and, in a way, Quintet.

Except “Quintet” is an allegory; so is “Popeye” . . .

It’s a little more than an allegory.

Quintet, McCabe and Mrs Miller and Popeye would fall in the same category. The films fall into those Cinema Papers, July-August — 245

Robert Altman

two general categories, but I. can’t find a common keystone.

small, than I am in a mass audience. I don’t think I’d be very pleased if I had a film that went out When you start a film, do you know like Grease and made $200 million, how it’s going to turn out? and yet everybody I ran into said, “That’s the worst film I’ve ever Yes, but I never know that I seen.” I think that would depress know. The usual procedure is that I me more. start a film and I have a vague idea The experience I have with most of how it’s going to be. Then we do of my films is that commercially the screenplay and we start and, I they are not very successful, but I think, God, this is entirely differ­ can always find a little pocket of ent. So, I make an entirely differ­ cult people who seem to like them. ent film than the one I started with.

Then it’s finished and I look at the Does lack of commercial success end results. I realize that this is the make it difficult to make films? film we started out to make.

It certainly does. George Lucas Do you have any favorite films? can do just about anything he wants. He doesn’t even have to go 1 like all my films and, like to a banker any more; he can do it children, you tend to favor your himself. If you have all that leeway least successful. But they are all you can do anything you please, but

Julie Christie and Warren Beatty in McCabe and Mrs Miller.

Fernando Rey and Vittorio Gassman in Quintet.

different and they are all total in themselves. There is nothing I want to do again about them. If there are flaws, that is part of their nature.

Quintet is now starting to surface in revival areas more, and I think it’ll probably follow the same pattern as McCabe and Mrs Miller.

That was also highly unsuccessful when it was first released and now everybody talks about it like it was a great big hit. Even the critics who really crucified it when it came out now refer to it as a masterpiece; they have short memories.

Most of my films seem to do that, which pleases me more than having a big commercial hit. People rediscover them, and they seem, eventually, to find an audience.

the distribution mainstream, being able to survive?

I don’t know if I would do it. I don’t know how viable my work would be. I think there has to be a certain amount of struggle in it to keep you awake, to keep the adrenalin going. You are fighting for your life all the time, your artistic life.

You are playing quite a major role now as a producer, not only for your own films but for other people’s as well. Is that a role you see yourself continuing?

I will if I can; I like it. There are a lot of films, and there are a lot of filmmakers, a lot of material I see that I think should work. Mainly it’s the artist, and if I can help that Does it worry you if the critics pan a happen, it’s helping the whole industry; plus, it’s acceptance for film? my films.

It depresses me, but I can’t do much about it. I am more Do you see people like yourself, who interested in an appreciative and work outside the major studios and responsive audience, no matter how put together films that are outside 246 — Cinema Papers, July-August

Well, I am surviving and I think it’s difficult. It’s bad on your ulcer, but not only will we survive, we are really the basis of what eventually becomes the e s tab lish m en t.

Without us there wouldn’t be much seasoning in the films that came out. The examples are your Australian films that come here now; they are so good, as everybody is discovering. They are different from the films made by the majors here, which are just pure pap, directed to the lowest common denominator. The films I make and the ones made by most independent filmmakers aren’t that way. They ultimately become the most successful films.

Do you watch a lot of films?

No. The obvious question, I suppose, is

who are your favorite directors?

My favorite answer, which I am afraid 1 have learned so that it’ll sound like a bad performance, is I don’t know. When I was a youngster, I’d go to films as often as I could, and I thought those things just happened. I didn’t know there was a director; I don’t even know the names of the ones who really influenced me.

What would you do if you weren’t making films?

I think I’d be in theatre, or paint, or write. I would certainly be in an artistic arena, because that’s where I have the most fun.

Do you have plans for other films?

I am about to do a film in Canada called An Easter Egg Hunt, which is set in England in 1915, in a girls’ finishing school. We are going to start shooting in September.

Robert Altman

This will be my fifth film in think the lowest it could have been Canada. They have good tech­ brought in for would have been nicians up there and, I think, they about $16 million. We had an really know a lot about film. enormous amount of people to move halfway around the world.

Have you ever considered shooting a The set alone was $2 million to build. We took a long time, we were film in Australia? at sea and we had boats; everything was just expensive.

We talked about shooting Popeye in Australia, but the Going back to “Health” and its production designer, Wolf Kruger, parodying of American politics, do who had worked in Australia for a you think of yourself as a political long time, felt we were logistically director, or of your films as better off in Malta. I hadn’t been in political?

Australia, except during the War, although I had a big love affair with No, but I certainly have the right Australia — when I was 13 or 14 I to use my political opinions or decided I was going to migrate o b serv atio n s; especially my there. observations. All I am doing when I

supposed to be subtle in any way.

One of the complaints about Health was that there was so much going on all the time. These very complicated soundtracks are marvellous in a good cinema, but you put them in a place where the sound system or the acoustics aren’t very good, and it’ll drive people crazy.

In a number of your films, particularly “Nashville”, the music is more than something that’s just added at the end . . .

It always is. One of the first things I try to determine is where I am going to place music. Music to me is different from words, sound

into the studios because there is an armed guard. And there is just a whole world of buskers and street performers out there. We found clowns and mimes and jugglers and f ir e - e a t e r s , and they were m a r v e llo u s . Why no t ta k e advantage of those people? I am not interested in doing a film where everybody looks like a cheerleader or a Hollywood starlet.

That is one of the most striking things about your films compared with mainstream Hollywood films — the lack of pretty people in the conventional sense . . .

Casting is what it is all about.

The actors are the artists; they are the people you see. They are the ones that ultimately put the thing together and deliver the message or emotion or whatever it is, and I consider that most of my creative work is finished by the time I finish casting.

What would you like your films to be remembered for?

Just what they are. I don’t think any of them are important, and I think it’s minor art, if it is art. I don’t think any of them will mean much in 2 0 years.

Do you think that’s the nature of film?

It’s a pity for the Australian film industry that you didn’t . . .

I’d probably be running a shoerepair shop.

■ One of the things that hits someone coming from Australia is the sheer expense of making American films.

“Popeye” cost about $20 million, and in a country where feature films are being made for about SI million each, that seems an awful lot of money. Is there some way of breaking out of that and making good films?

In the first place you have the unions and in the second place you have the basic cost. It’s escalating everywhere in the world and it will in Australia, too. The more films you make, the more expensive they are going to be; it’s a shame.

Films don’t have to cost that much and most of my films don’t. I really didn’t have control of the purse strings on Popeye, although I

make a film is trying to show my view of a certain subject or genre. I try to express my view of politics a n d , by p o l i t i c s I m ean government, our social laws, structures, the moral attitude of the culture that I live in.

effects and noise. It attacks a different sense. So even if I am going to do a conventional score like in Quintet, where we had a symphonic score, I have to decide beforehand what that’s going to be.

I always keep it in mind so that the film is shot with the idea of the kind Watching “Quintet” and “Health”, of rhythms going to accompany it.

In the case of A Perfect Couple it struck me you have moved away from the technique a lot of people and Nashville, where we used music associate with you, where you have a that was performed during the film, large number of overlapping it is part of a plot. It is part of the conversations and a soundtrack that behaviour of the characters. It is is very complex. That doesn’t seem part of what the film is about, and yet it also calls for an additional to be the case in these two . . . emotional response from the Health is quite complicated, but audience. not Quintet. Quintet to me was like a fairytale and it was very stylized Where did you find the Steinettes in its language. All the actors had a for “Health”? different base language. Fernando I found them busking on the Rey is Spanish, Vittorio Gassmann is Italian, Bibi Andersson is streets of New York. It’s very Swedish, Nina von Pallandt is exciting to see somebody that Danish, David Langdon is English, everybody overlooks. Most of the Paul Newman is American. We casting offices in Hollywood are purposely did that; it wasn’t closed doors; you can’t even get

Our technology is such that J don’t think they will last. Art has a life to it. If you look at our classics, the great artists like Rembrandt, we are talking about techniques and things that we admire, but we really admire them for different reasons today than they were admired for at the time, and even so that’s a short period of time. We are talking about 400 or 500 years. I think it’s more like — and 1 am satisfied with this — it’s like building sand castles. You go down to the beach and get a lot of friends and you build a sand castle.

You know that eventually the tide is going to take it away, so you try and finish it. Then you remember it, and you re m e m b e r the experiences you had with the people who helped you build it. That’s the real reward or wealth of filmmak­ ing. ★

Filmography 1955 1957 1968 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1979 1980 1980

The Delinquents The James Dean Story Countdown I hat Cold Dav in the Park M*A*S*H Brewster McCloud McCabe and Mrs Miller Images the Long Goodbye Thieves Like Ls California Split Nashville Buffalo Bill and the Indians Three Women A Wedding Quintet A Perfect Couple Health Popeye Cinema Papers, July-August — 247

ALIENATION AND DE-ALIENATION IN EISENSTEIN AND BRECHT (Translated by Patricia McClanahan and Julianne Burton) Sergei Eisenstein and Bertolt Brecht, born in 1898 — Eisenstein in Riga on January 23 and Brecht in Augsberg on February 10—were con­ temporaries living in two worlds which were to become irreconcilably opposed. Both became known during the 1920s with two early works: Battleship Potemkin (1926) and T h e T h r e e ­ P e n n y O p era (1928). These marked decisive mo­ ments of immediate resonance because they formed part of the impetuous advance of a revolution that was to rock the foundations of bourgeois conceptions of film and theatre.

What mattered to both was the advancement of an audience armed with reason, so they each pursued an immediate goal: to contribute through their works to the transformation of mankind, accelerating its development. To meet this objective, they strived for the greatest ef­ ficacy in their respective arts and confronted aesthetic problems with a commitment to scien­ tific rigor and militancy.

They were nourished by some common sources, extracting from them all that could enrich their creative attitudes, all that could con­ tribute to new means of expression, all that could be assimilated. Thus, they ranged from Meyerhold to Joyce, through Chinese and Japanese theatre, the circus, the music-hall, Freud and Einstein.

But above all — or, better yet, underlying it all as a foundation and a guide — was Karl Marx. Both, rooted their search for new aesthetics in dialectical materialism; their goals, like their discoveries, were nourished by a com­ mon worldview.

However, Eisenstein on the one hand main­ tains that,

“ It is necessary to transform the theatre entirely. ical base in common, they each travelled These changes must not reach only the text, actor, along separate and in some senses divergent and the whole staged representation, but the spec­ paths. All this would seem to indicate that tator must also enter into the process. His attitude there is no compromise between them. must be modified.”6 At first glance, we find that while one exalts Brecht appeals more to the viewers’ reason passion, the other chooses the path of reason; while one wants the audience to s u r r e n d e r than to their feelings and calls attention to the emotionally to the spectacle, the other wants fact that “the spectator should not identify with them to remain s e p a r a te , distant, analytical, the characters but argue about them.” 7 To . achieve this, he proposes a mechanism of aliena­ rational. tion in the relationship between the viewer and According to Eisenstein, “Pathos shows its effect when the spectator is com­ the character, but in the opposite sense of what pelled to jump from his seat. When he is compelled Eisenstein proposed with his “pathetic struc­ to collapse where he stands. When he is compelled ture” . Through distancing devices, Brecht at­ to applaud, to cry out. When his eyes are compelled tempts to estrange, separate and alienate the to shine with delight, before gushing tears of delight viewers, not from themselves, but from the . . . In brief, when the spectator is forced to go ‘out character (or, in a broader sense, from the whole of himself. dramatic development unfolding before them: “To use a prettier term, we might say that the effect the scenario, the fantasy . . .). of a work of pathos consists in whatever ‘sends’ the The viewer, says Brecht, spectator into ecstasy. Actually, there is nothing to be added to such a formulation, for the symptoms above say exactly this: ec-stasis, literally ‘standing out of oneself which is to say ‘going out of himself or ‘departing from his ordinary condition’.”3

“ Must not be yanked from his world in order to be transported to the world of art. There is no need to abduct him. Rather, he must be inserted into his own real world with his senses alert.”8

Of course, this “emotional surrender” (a state which one attains through id e n tific a tio n with the character represented in the spectacle), this “dif­ ferent mode of being” , also implies a s e p a r a tio n from oneself. If, in one sense, it determines a “different” way of seeing daily reality, then it also represents an a lte r a tio n or an a lie n a tio n from the self. Eisenstein is hasty to justify such a “magical” operation.

Brecht appeals to the viewers’ reason: the idea is to trigger their critical attitude so that this dis­ tancing, more than an alienation device, could be seen as a form of genuine de-alienation, since it attempts to bring the viewers back into the reality of their own world (with a new perspec­ tive) and, ultimately, to return them to themselves.

“ ‘To go out of oneself is not to go into nothing. To go out of oneself inevitably implies a transition to something else, to something different in quality, to something opposite to what was (immobility into movement; silence into noise; etc.).”4

6 . Brecht, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 57.

7. Ibid., p. 37.

8 . Ibid., p. 153.

This “transition to something different” is thus nothing other than a m o m e n t in the process “ In wishing to get a maximum departure from of transformation of the viewer, a negative mo­ oneself in the spectator, we are obliged in the work ment which has no reason to extend beyond its to suggest to him a corresponding ‘guide’. Follow­ own limits; the limits of the spectacle itself. For ing this guide, he will enter into the desired condi­ Eisenstein, that moment when the viewers tion.” become alienated from themselves, and cease to He proceeds to state, even more precisely, that, be themselves to live in the o th e r — in the “ the simplest ‘prototype’ of such imitative character — was invested with particular in­ behaviour will be, of course, that of a. person ec­ terest inasmuch as it constitutes the premise of a statically following, on the screen, a personage grip­ ped by pathos, a personage who, in one way or desired change. And this change, for Eisenstein, is produced — or at least originates — in the another, ‘goes out of himself. realm of feelings and emotions. In a state of ec­ Brecht, on the other hand, declares almost by stasy. way of involuntary reply that, “ We understand a moment of culmination to mean “This magical operation must be combated. It is necessary to renounce anything that represents an attempt to hypnotize, anything that tries to provoke an ecstatic state or a clouding of vision.”2

It thus becomes evident that in spite of not merely incidental points of contact but an entire philosoph-

those points in a process, those instants in which water becomes a new substance — steam or icewater — or pig-iron becomes steel. Here we see the same going out of oneself, moving from one condi­ tion, and passing from quality to quality — ec­ stasy!’”

Brecht also wants to produce a transforma­ tion within the viewer, a change which will lead to a greater understanding of him or herself and the surrounding social environment and, conse­ quently, to effective dominion over self and sur­ roundings. He says,

1. Sergei Eisenstein, Film Form: Essays in Film Theory, translated

by Jay Jeyda, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York, 1949, p. 168.

2. Bertolt Brecht. Escritos sobre teatro, ed. Nueva 3. Eisenstein, op. cit., p. 166.

Vision, Buenos Aires, 4. Ibid., p. 167.

973, Vol. 1, p. 91. 5. Ibid., p. 173.

Sergei Eisenstein.

Alienation and De-alienation

If both artists share the same philosophical points of departure and the same revolutionary stance, how can they offer two such diametrical­ ly opposed solutions to the same problem? To what degree can their respective positions be considered antagonistic and irreconcilable?

Obviously, we are dealing with two different, even unique personalities. Dialogue between them must not have been easy. After finishing The Old and the New, Eisenstein travelled wide­ ly, working on various film projects — the Mex­ ican film being the best known and most dramatically frustrated among them.* Earlier, towards the end of 1929, he had been in Berlin where he surely had occasion to meet Brecht.

Marie Seton’s testimony of this point is elo­ quent enough: “Equally curious and even a bit repulsive was the dry and bloodless energy that one felt in Bertolt Brecht, whose cutting lines and satiric pieces bit coldly into the heart of social hypocrisy. Sergei Mijailovich thought of Brecht as a tenacious professor armed with an air-powered political drill to bore away at the rock wall of consciousness that couldn’t be melted by the sheer heat of his passion.’’9 Aside from their personal idiosyncracies, it is important to remember that they expressed themselves through two media — film and theatre — which, while sharing many common elements, also have particular characteristics.

Eisenstein began working in theatre but, ac­ cording to his own account, 10 while directing plays, he was already thinking of film. In 1928, when’ he staged Ostrovsky’s Wisemen Are Too Simple, he included a short comic film in his staging plan. From that point on, film filled his life, not merely as a means of artistic expression, but as an object of intense theoretical pursuit as well.

Brecht, on the other hand, was wholly a man of the theatre. If on occasion he approached film, it cannot be said that he had much success * Que viva Mexico!, produced and subsequently blocked by Upton Sinclair. See Jay Leyda, “ Eisenstein’s Mexican Tragedy” , Sight and Sound, Vol. 27, No. 6 , pp. 305-308.

(Translator’s note.)

9. Marie Seton, Sergei M. Eisenstein, A. A. Wyn, New York, p. 132.

10. “ My inclinations toward film being three years earlier with the mise en scene of The Mexican (1920).” Eisens­ tein, ICAIC, Havana, 1967, p. 149.

Bertolt Brecht.

with that medium, which he eventually came to reject bitterly." Because he failed to consider the specificity of cinematic language, because he was unaware of the unique devices which film of­ fered. he saw in film only a technical means to simplify the reproduction of a work. Thus Brecht ran up against narrow limits of expres­ sion which prevented him from fully realizing the possibilities of an “epic” cinema (in the sense in which he used the term) — a non-Aristotelian cinema, a kind which, in short, is not a dream, a substitute for reality, but one that mobilizes the consciousness of the viewer.

In the theatre, the actor’s interpretation of the role is the most effective distancing device; hence Brecht’s insistence on that aspect. Cinema, in contrast, offers other possibilities. We could refer in general terms to “composition” , as Eisenstein understood it, made up of different elements (framing, narration, music — in a phrase, audiovisual montage). Its effectiveness is based on the manner in which these elements are structured.

However, Eisenstein, following this method, came up against obstacles which led him to dis­ perse his energies in the search for forms. It would be unjust, however, simply to classify him as a formalist without bearing in mind the historical necessity of such a search — the logical consequence of the process of creating a new language, a new means of expression with rules and syntax that could only flourish as the result of sustained practical research and atten­ tion basically centred on the more formal aspects. Unlike theatre, which when Brecht entered the scene had already evolved and for­ mally consolidated itself, allowing him to focus primarily on problems of content, cinema was then in its infancy.

Theatre and film make use of multiple expres­ sive devices — image, word, music — and in both media these elements can be combined in different manners and measures. Often, one speaks of “theatrical” films or of “cinematic” theatre, which only serves to indicate that both forms may exchange influences, devices, achievements, attitudes.

But, at least as a general tendency, there is one specific trait that differentiates film from theatre and helps us to understand the contradictory positions assumed by Brecht and Eisenstein: film manifests itself primarily as visual language, while in theatre the spoken word bears more weight. The image particularizes, restricting meaning to the concrete determination of the ob­ ject; the word permits generalization, the expres­ sion of ideas, concepts, abstractions outside the realm of concrete objects or images.

Images in the immediacy of their cinematic representation and based on the interplay of relations that further artistic pursuit, can be very suggestive and even moving, in that they appeal directly to the senses and register most comfor­ tably on an emotional plane. But it is undeniable that they present narrow limits when it comes to communication on a conceptual, abstract and rational plane.

Thus, all of Eisenstein’s efforts to express con­ cepts through the clash of images (intellectual montage) did not allow him to achieve his desired goals without the assistance of the word.

It must be said, however, that his efforts have subsequently borne fruit, producing a much wider range of expressive possibilities in film.

Even more significant than personalities, or the medium through which each expresses himself, is the social milieu from which each arose. Eisenstein was 19 when the Bolsheviks 11. “ En traitant avec l’industrie cinématographique, nous avons agi comme quelqu’un qui, apres avoir donne son linge a laver dans une flaque de boue, se plaindrait en­ suite qu’il est abime.” Brecht, Sur le cinéma, L’Arche, Paris, p. 165.

took power and initiated one of the most farreaching transformations in modern history. His formative years as an artist were spent, then, in the midst of the effervescence of the early stages of the revolution, the years of the Prolekult and other “enormities” . During that time, he paid close attention to all the artistic vanguard move­ ments that developed throughout the world — futurism, constructivism, “ kino eye” , Meyerhold. Mayakovsky, Malevich, Tatlin, the demystification of “art”, the consecration of “ life” , experimentation, propaganda — move­ ments which, in the Soviet Union, would acquire new physiognomies.

But film is the medium which can best express a revolution during those years (“collective art par excellence destined for the masses” ). Lenin was not being capricious when on a certain occa­ sion he referred to film as the most important of the arts. Russian films had great impact due to their affinity with the times, their authenticity and revitalizing energy which derived from the reality which gave them life.

Those same years passed for Brecht in a very different manner: the failure of the German revolution, inflation, the sharpening of class an­ tagonisms, misery, unemployment — and the consequent rise of fascism. In 1933, Brecht took the route of exile: Vienna, Paris, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and finally the U.S. His works were banned and burned by the Nazis. It wasn’t until 1948, the year of Eisenstein’s death, that Brecht returned to Germany, established himself in Berlin (GDR) and dedicated most of his time to staging his own works.

It is obvious that, generally speaking, Eisen­ stein lived during a period of exaltation, of nas­ cent strength, of triumph and affirmation, of emotional identification. Brecht, in contrast, lived during “sombre times” , full of decadence, defeat, barbarity, rejection and condemnation: times of rational separation which demanded an extraordinary lucidity and a solid critical perspective. It is, therefore, understandable that Eisenstein should place emphasis on emotional surrender as a premise for transformation within the viewer, while Brecht should reject that ap­ peal and put all his emphasis on reason, distanc­ ing and a critical outlook — concepts which, for him, held an “ active, effective, positive” meaning. 12 The followers of each (above all, those of Brecht, whose impact was less explosive but more long-lasting) struck out — some with true fanaticism — for one path or the other in uni­ lateral fashion; they did not notice the breadth of these paths or perceive the points where both converge.

In Eisenstein, one can discern a theoretical line of development that leads him from the primitive “ montage of attractions” 13 derived Continued on p. 301 12. “To criticize the course of a river means, in this case, to improve it. correct it. Criticism of society is revolution.

That is an efficacious complete criticism.” Brecht.

Escritos sobre teatro. op. cit., p. 198.

13. “The basic elements of the theatre arise from the viewer himself and from what we might direct to the viewer in a given sense . . . The attraction (in our diagnosis of the theatre) is every aggressive moment it holds, every ele­ ment w'hich awakens in the viewer those senses or that psychology which influences his sensations, every ele­ ment which might be verified and mathematically calculated to produce certain emotional clashes of an ap­ propriate order within the whole: the only means through which one can make the final ideological con­ clusion perceptible.” S. M. Eisenstein, El.sentido del cine, Lautaro. Buenos Aires, 1941, p. 218.

Obviously, this theory of the “ montage of attrac­ tions” , or of “ artistic stimuli” as he called it another time, has a valid basis. But it is not the only possibility.

We would go further and say that the hypertrophy of this attitude (or of this method) leads to authoritarianism because the director has such expressive resources within his reach that he could emotionally condition the viewep (Continued on p. 301) Cinema Papers, July-August

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249

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FILM DIRECTOR What was the state of the Cuban film industry before you joined the ICAIC? In what we call the “pre-history” of Cuban cinema, our film industry produced one film a year, mainly with American or Mexican artists and capital, and using the Cuban landscape, tourist sights and folklore. There was a very small number of technical personnel then.

For instance, the make-up man, when he was not working on a Film, was a barber.

At that time 1 was 18 years-old, and seeing the prospects offered by the cinema, I decided to work in publicity as a way of breaking into television. I then did a short course at SRT, a television school in New York, learning the general manage­ ment of television.

Returning to Cuba, 1 started earning a very good salary on Channel 7, the local channel in Havana. The enterprise was a very big monopoly, as the magnate who owned Channel 7 also owned Channels 6 and 4, and several radio stations.

Even before working in tele­ vision, I had always been interested in cinema as a basic form of expression. I w'anted to go to Europe, to Rome especially, but the trip was very expensive and I re­ mained in television. From the beginning, however, I rejected its commercial aspects and was very lucky to be in charge of the channel’s cultural program. This allowed me, if not to make films, at least to w'ork on programs with some cultural significance.

Within this context of com­ mercial television, there was a small group of young people opposed to the commercial aspects, and searching for more artistic and culturally-meaningful paths — people like Santiago Alvarez (founder of the ICAIC’s Latin American Newsreel), Jorge Fraga (now' head of production) and Rogelio Paris (an ICAIC dir­ ector). We were a group with a lot in common. We re­ spected each other and all rejected the system.

When the rev­ olution triumphed and the ICAIC was created in March 1959,

Octavio Cortazar visited Sydney, in January, where two o f his documentaries, Por primera vez (For the First Time) and Sobre un prim er combats (On a First Combat), and his first feature, E l brigadista (The Literacy Teacher), were shown as part o f the Cuban Film Week.

The enormous popularity o f film s (his most recent was seen by one million Cubans in the first month o f release) testifies to his understanding o f the Cuban national character.

In this interview by Martha Ansara, Corta­ zar expresses forcibly the distinctive Cuban spirit o f militancy fo r which the nation and its filmmaking is famous.

were immediately transferred. I entered the ICAIC in October, when I was 23 years-old. It was very interesting because ICAIC started with very little money. The revolutionary government gave us only $5 million, with which we had to start Filming and employing per­ sonnel; there was very little money for wages.

At Channel 7, I used to earn 3000 pesos ($3200), which was a lot of money then, especially for a 23year-old. At the ICAIC, I was offered the only job available — production assistant — which earned 167 pesos. But I took the job as it was the only chance I had to make Films. Besides, I wanted to integrate myself directly into the revolution.

How did people feel about the revolution at that time?

Class contradictions became very strong and Cuba came under threat. Havana had been bombed by counter-revolutionaries, which led Fidel Castro to create the popu­ lar militia. As media workers, we were all in the same militia. So, it was a moment of very acute political confrontation when the spontaneity and full co-operation from all sectors had passed. It was a time for definitions.

What was your attitude before, as a person with a good position and a big salary in television?

I supported the revolution and had very sharp discussions with my friends who didn’t. But I didn’t have as high a degree of political awareness as I do now.

When I entered the ICAIC, it was not a time of effervescence but of struggle. Luckily, the ICAIC was a small Film centre formed by a small group of very political people, and the political and cultural at­ mosphere helped my development enormously.

It was also then that I started to read Marxist literature. As well, we had at least two cinema debates a week, with visitors like Joris Ivens, Chris Marker, Georges Sadoul, Maya Deren and Agnes Varda. I consider that period to have been very rich.

What were the conditions like when ICAIC started to make Films, as compared to now?

Octavio Cortazar

We had new equipment (al­ though we had some old equip­ ment that had been nationalized) but very little experience; now we have old equipment, but lots of experience.

In the beginning, everybody was learning how to make films. I learned to edit with the newsreels, although I was a producer.

Santiago Alvarez would ask me to go off to a certain factory and make an item about it. I would go off with the cameraman, come back and we would edit the film.

Santiago would then include it in the reel.

It was a beautiful time, a great process in which we all got formed.

We tried to do our best to reflect the reality of living the political life of the country — filming on one hand and doing guard duty with the militia on the other.

For example, I finished work at 5 p.m. and then at 8 p.m. we would go to guard our workplace, spend­ ing the night there until starting work again at 8 a.m. Some nights, for one reason or another, we wouldn’t get any sleep at all.

The atmosphere was of great revolutionary militancy. And this reality was reflected in the cinema.

The revolution has now gone through many processes, including its institutionalization, beginning in 1975. What effect did this have within the ICAIC? As you say, we now have a state organism which has been institution­ alized. The ICAIC is trying also to be institutionalized. But we have always taken into account the artistic parameters as well as the economic ones. In this way, the ICAIC has built up and main­ tained its high prestige.

Since 1973, the ICAIC has tried to organize production more from the economic point of view. This means strict budgeting, not over­ shooting and keeping to schedule.

These I consider very basic aspects of production, but for many years they were not taken into account.

One also wonders whether the early spirit of a place has been lost during a rational reorganization . . .

The spirit is maintained because ICAIC was created by a group of people with a very strong cinema­ tographic vocation. They were all film artists. Tomas Alea, for example, was telling me that after seeing Newsfront the other night, he felt he really wanted to make another film. Of course he wants to make a film! The spirit is there; he is going to die wanting to make another film. And we are all the same.

But, of course, I must add that it is not as comfortable making a film according to a budget and a schedule as when you have a totally free hand. But we realize it is now necessary to work this way.

On a First Combat Your first film, “ On a First Combat” , is very interesting, especially for a documentary, with its mixture of newsreel and re­ enacted material . . .

The initial purpose in making the film was to warn imperialism about its aggressions against our country.

During the past 20 years, Cubans have lived under different degrees of tension. Now, for instance, we have President Reagan threatening aggression against Cuba and Nicaragua. And, in the 1970s, when I thought of making the film, we were living through a very tense time when it seemed as if the U.S. would attack Cuba. That is why I examined a very important case history: the first direct aggression of imperialism against Cuba — the explosion of the French arms ship Le Coubre — and what effect this aggression had on the Cuban pop­ ulation.

I interviewed a large group of those who had been wounded in the explosion, from dock workers to the general population. Clearly, the imperialists’ intention had been

to have those attacked without arms, and also to frighten them.

However, the exact opposite had been achieved: nobody in Cuba was frightened. In fact, everybody went to the port to help the victims and pick up the remaining armaments.

The whole of Havana became a blue city as everybody wore their militia shirts.

The emotional support of the common citizen towards the revolution turned into a real one to the extent that we could give our lives to defend our beliefs. The conscious support was trans­ formed into an armed support as people realized that what they were enjoying had to be defended. It meant a qualitative jump in the consciousness of the people.

I remember Castro’s speech when we buried the victims. He said that previously we had said, “ Freedom or Death!” but from now on we would say, “ Homeland or Death!” I thought all this had to be said to those who were contem­ plating new aggressions towards Cuba. So, I made the film.

Film Form In 1971, the popularity with which the audience received our first films had begun to decline and turn into scepticism. Then, thanks to the newsreel and to The Twelve Chairs and Death of a Bureaucrat

by Tomas Alea, the public began to regain interest in the Cuban cinema. Now, of course, Cuban films are very well received by the audience, and not just out of a sense of solidarity, but because they enjoy them.

In 1971, along with the fact that the population was used to fiction films, the documentary had a dis­ advantage in that it was shown between features. And, during that time, people would go out to smoke a cigarette or go to the toilet. For this reason, the documentary in Cuba had to capture the attention of the audience from the very beginning.

All these problems were in my

mind and I went to the cinemas to study the situation. I then recalled the structures of some of the Warner Bros films of the later 1940s — like House on 92nd Street — which told a story by sending you back and forth between past and present.

I started my documentary like that, with a scene in which you couldn’t really tell what was happening. People are seen taking boxes out of a ship, emphasized by music and tension (I used dode­ caphonic music), until they pick up a box from which is hanging a piece of rope. The music reaches a climax and you are sent to another scene where two children, who have nothing to do with the first scene, are playing a strange game of war.

They say, “ I declare war on such and such a country.”

Up to that moment — and I am sure because I proved it myself — no one in the audience has gone out to the toilet or to have a smoke.

Then the credits come down and the children keep on playing. The music of tension begins again and lasts until the last movement of the game, in which one child says, hitting the hand of the other child, “ I declare war on Cuba!” The bomb explodes and I s ta r t immediately with the best archive material I could find. From then on, people sit there and watch the documentary. They receive a message.

A documentary is not a book which can be read a second or a third time to be understood; you have to give the public enough information that can be easily assimilated on the first reading, it has to be done in an attractive way.

Anyway, why should I reject re­ construction if dramatization will help me achieve my objectives?

In Australia, it is usually felt that a documentary should consist mainly of actuality filming . . .

For me a documentary is a weapon of combat, an instrument Concluded on p. 307

Two scenes from Octavio Cortazar’s El brigadista (The Literacy Teacher)..

Cinema Papers, July-August — 251

The performance of yours I admire most is as Lord Trimingham in Joseph Losey’s “The Go-Between”.

It seems to me so important to the film’s texture . . .

It was a wonderful film to do and a lovely part. It was my best film­ making experience ever and offered enormous opportunity for an actor.

Many people, and all the tech­ nicians, turned down work waiting for the moment when this would be made — and it was on and off until the last moment. They all went to work with such a will and devotion to Joe, and to the subject.

Looking back on it now — and I think I felt the same at the time — it was a great privilege to have been part of that film. Really, it was the last time we had a cinema industry in Britain.

them. If you are right off the track he will gently put you back on it, but if you are within your inter­ pretation and you want to use wideish bounds — I will put it in that loose way — he allows you to get on with things as you would wish.

Does this bring film acting some­ where nearer to stage acting?, Much nearer.

You are much more in control of the whole performance . . .

Much more.

Have you worked with directors who you feel have not given adequate rein to actors?

Edward Fox in Fred Zinnemann’s The Day of the Jackal.

Fortunately I never have, but I must say I would find it extremely difficult to accept — unless, of course, their point of view is un­ arguably righter than one’s own.

The older one gets, the more sure­ ness one faces in one’s own conception.

“Sunday Bloody Sunday” came out at almost the same time and one wondered if this was the beginning of a new British film industry. Of course, it didn’t materialize . . .

It is very nice that is should be remembered, particularly in such an encouraging light.

In “The Go-Between”, it is im­ mensely important that the whole view of the English aristocracy be so well done. To be less generously and accurately played would have upset the balance of the film. It seemed to me important that Trimingham be at least as attractive and interesting as the Alan Bates character . . .

The levels of society were important: Trimingham definitely was an aristocrat, and Margaret Leighton’s and Michael Gough’s characters were more of the nouveau riche than of the landed gentry.

You played in two other Losey films, “The Doll’s House” and “Galileo”. Was this a pleasure?

Yes. indeed it was. Anything that Joe offered I would do because he is a master, as we know.

How do you find Losey in his hand­ ling of actors?

Well, Joe is very generous to his actors. He allows them their own imagination without confining 252 — Cinema Papers, July-August

What about Fred Zinnemann? How did you find him to work with on “The Day of the Jackal”?

During the past decade, few British actors have managed to build and sustain a reputation in films. Whereas Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt have succeeded by making most o f their films in the U.S. or fo r American companies, Edward Fox has remained that rarity a British film star.

Perhaps best known for his performance as Lord Trimingham in Joseph Losey’s The GoBetween, Fox’s major roles include those in The Day o f the Jackal, The DolTs House, Galileo, A Bridge Too Far, Edward and M rs Simpson (for television) and the recent The M irror Crack’d.

Here, Fox talks to Brian McFarlane.

It was a wonderful experience working with Fred. He teaches everyone who is on the unit — actors, technicians alike. He is really very like the general who doesn’t sit at HQ, but who is out there doing the bravest deeds with the soldiers. And, of course, his overall conception of how to do something, and his demand upon you within a short space of time with very little material to show many things so quickly, is very exacting but extremely exhilarat­ ing.

—

Would you regard Losey and Zinne­ mann as perhaps the two most stimulating directors you have worked with?

I would say that they are both master directors.

What about Ridley Scott? “The Duellists” is a remarkable film which has never had, in this country, anything like the success or even the distribution it deserved. Do you think highly of him as a director?

Much admired. But I don’t think

Edward Fox

he is, in any sense at the moment — and he’s a much younger man — in the class of Zinnemann or Losey.

Maybe one day.

I think Scott is very much hoist on the petard of a style of commer­ cial filmmaking which relies very heavily on extreme assault on its audience, rather than perhaps on more artistic appeal.

vision from the top.

Do you get it from someone like Lord Lew Grade?

No, absolutely not. I think most in the business would agree that Lord Lew Grade and Bernard Delafont are admirable in their way, but quite unable to fill the role of the entrepreneur with flair. They do not have the instinctive know­ ledge of what the public wants, which is so necessary to a thriving industry.

Which is another thing that makes “The Go-Between” a remarkable film for 1970 . . .

Yes, because it blows just as hard a punch in a much quieter way. And somehow the punch works for longer.

Is there any hope for British films to establish themselves as a real alter­ native to Hollywood?

“The Mirror Crack’d” is your third film for Guy Hamilton. You have said he is a “traditional director”.

In what ways, as far as actors are concerned, would this make itself felt?

If we can make films inexpen­ sively enough and aim to please the rest of the world outside the U.S. and build up that market — if one can give it a vulgar word — then I think there is a chance. Certainly our television products have proved this. If we could do that and secure a market, a fairly stable one, then I think the U.S., whom 1 have always considered to be a mar­ vellous buyer — a better buyer than seller — would accept this.

But as things are now, where if you are to succeed you must succeed in the U.S. market, it doesn’t work very happily. The U.S. is so stocked with plentiful trees, it doesn’t need the influence from outside. They have, or they feel they have, all the originality produced within their shores for their market.

The films I have done with Guy are what you would call actionadventure. This one isn’t so much action-adventure, but it is of a particular kind. It is certainly not The Go-Between. It is a very closeknit, well-wrought, well-thought out, well-planned way of film­ making and it doesn’t try to pretend to be what it isn’t. If it is an action adventure, it is just an action adventure.

But Guy is very appreciative of an actor being able to supply a little more than maybe the part gives on paper.

Is this one of the charms of the Agatha Christie films, in that in the books there is not a single character who stays in the mind much, yet those films that have been made — like “Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile” — are very attractive largely because of the way actors seem to take the role by the throat and do something with it?

Is it mainly an economic problem?

I think economics always take a secondary place. Money never drives anything, really. Economics can be changed the minute you have a fine product, so it is a matter of persuading people that you have a fine product.

Again, it goes back to the entre­ preneur who will not pay actors 5 million pounds each, who will see that the unions don’t ask for enormous overtime wages and who will stabilize the logistics, as well as having the vision to supply pleasure to a public demand.

Yes, I would agree with you entirely. I think it’s like having a lovely souffle for your pudding.

You love it at the time, but you don’t go home saying, “Oh, that souffle, that souffle!” You don’t remember it that much; you just enjoy it on the moment. And these films do offer actors entertaining opportunities for personality acting.

Have industrial problems created great difficulties in British film­ making?

The trouble, of course, is that you can make some films with a unit of 15 or 20 people, while some films require a unit of 250. The union legislation, as it is now, requires that the former had an over-complement of staff, which is an enormous burden on production.

I think actors probably demand too much money anyway.

What do you think is the future of British films? Would you agree that it has been a very lean decade?

Tremendously lean.

There seems to be little released in Australia, other than films like “ C onfessions of a Window Cleaner” . . .

Pathetic. Personally, I know very little about the industry, but I meet a lot of people who are intent on making jobs. What it really needs, I am sure, is the entrepreneurial

Cynthia Harris as Wallis Simpson and Edward Fox as Edward, Prince o f Wales, at their wedding in Edward and Mrs. Simpson.

“ A Bridge Too Far”, I suppose, is a case in point, with stories of an immense sum being paid to at least one actor for a very small part. Such Concluded on p. 307 Cinema Papers, July-August — 253

FILM CENSORSHIP LISTINGS March 1 981

Films examined in terms of the Customs (Cinematograph Films) Regulations and States’ film censorship legislation are listed below.

An explanatory key to reasons for classifying non-“ G” films appears hereunder: Frequency

Registered Without Eliminations For General Exhibition (G) Chaban tat el sefer (16mm): Baraka. Egypt. 1316.4m.

F. M. Fares Conquest of the Earth: Freilich/Lupo/Winter, U.S., 2677.25m, Cinema Int'l Corp.

The Incredible Shrinking Woman: Lija Productions, U.S.. 2299.21m. Cinema Int'l Corp.

Laughing Times: Cinema City Films Co.. Hong Kong, 2468m. Golden Reel Films

Not Recommended for Children (NRC) Brother Peng's Revenge: A. Wong. Hong Kong.

2552m, Golden Reel Films. V ( f - l - j) Dirty Ho: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong. 2816.69m. Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. V ( t - l - j) Emperor Chien Lung and The Beauty. Shaw Bros.

Hong Kong, 2867.07m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co.. V ( i - m - j ) Encore: Not shown, Hong Kong. 2482.03m. Golden Reel Films. 0 ( a d u lt t h e m e s ) J-M en Forever: Secret W orld War Prods, U.S..

1980.05m. Valhalla Films. L ( i- l- j) , O ( d r u g r e fe r e n c e s ) Katigoro tin zoe: T. Silias. Greece. 2300m, Lyra Films.

0 ( a d u lt t h e m e ) La cage aux folles II: United Artists, France/ltaly, 2705.14m. United Artists (A'sia). V ( i - l- j) The Last Metro: F. Truffaut, France. 3597.55m, Roadshow Dist.. O ( s e x u a l In n u e n d o ) Loophole: Brent Walker. Britain. 2816.69m, Hoyts Dist.. O ( e m o t io n a l s t r e s s ) My Native Land: Cathay Organization. Taiwan. 3055m.

Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. O ( e m o t io n a l s tr e s s ) Tess: Renn/Burrill. Britain/France, 4713.07m. Fox Columbia Film Dist.. O ( s e x u a l in n u e n d o ) The Warrant of Assassination: Feng Huant. Hong Kong. 2600m, Golden Reel Films. 1/ ( i - l- j )

For Mature Audiences (M) Diary of Forbidden Dreams: Carlo Ponti. France/ltaly, 2509.92m. Valhalla Films. S ( i - m - j) , L ( i - m - j ) Exodus kindinou: Greka/Lefakis. Greece. 3439m.

Apollon Films. V ( f - m - j) Hot T-Shirts: The Cannon Group. U.S.. 2342.59m.

Seven Keys Films. O ( a d u lt th e m e ) Incoming Freshmen: E. Lewald/G. Morgan. U.S..

2245.74m. Seven Keys Films. O ( n u d ity ) The Informer: R. Shaw/M. Fong. Hong Kong, 2705m.

Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. V ( f - m - g ) Innocence: Great Wall Movies, China. 2760.91m.

Golden Reel Films. V ( i - m - j ) My Love My Sorrow: Chen Ah Film Co.. Hong Kong.

2550m. Comfort Film Enterprises, O ( a d u lt c o n c e p ts ) The Prodigal Son: Goldig Films (HK). Hong Kong.

2760m. Comfort Film Enterprises. O ( a d u lt c o n c e p ts ) Soylelin anama aglamasin: M. Karahafiz/H. Cakir.

Turkey. 2000m, K. Kavurma. V ( i - m - j) The Story of a Refugee: Goldig Films, Hong Kong.

2502m. Comfort Film Enterprises. O ( a d u lt c o m e d y )

For Restricted Exhibition (R) Caligula (modified version) (a): Penthouse Int’l Corp./Feliz Cinematografica. Italy. 4073.50m, Road­ show Dist.. S ( f - m - g ) . V ( f- m - g ) Haunted Tales: R. Shaw/M. Fong. Hong Kong.

2705.14m. Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. S ( i- l- g ) . V ( i- m - g ) . O ( n u d it y )

He or She: Goldig Films (HK), Hong Kong, 2593.6m.

Comfort Film Enterprises, S ( i- m - j) , O ( t r a n s e x u a l th e m e )

The House of 1000 Delights: T. Roter and Assoc.. U.S..

2063.71m. Cinerama Films. S ( f- m - g ) 1 Remember Love (videotape): Lone Star Piets Inter­ national. U S . /Hong Kong. 88 mins. Stephen Nicholson. S ( f - m - g ) The Man Who Came at Dinner (16mm): Fleetan Films.

U.S.. 603.35m. 14th Mandolin. S ( f- m - g ) Mission Over the Eagle Castle: CM PC. Hong Kong.

2770m. Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. V ( f - m - g ) Mondo Erotico (videotape): Hokushin/Jay Jay. Britain, 68 mins. Focus Video. S ( f - m - g ) Mr Stone's Thing (videotape) (b): Not shown. U.S.. 75 mins. 14th Mandolin. S ( f - m - g ) Naked Teenager: Saphlr Films. West Germ any.

2379.41m. Filmways A'sian Dist.. S ( f - m - g ) Sensations (p re-ce nso r cut version): L. Brown.

Netherlands. 1737.77m. A.Z. Assoc. Film Dist.. S (f-m -g )

Teenage Tramp: Excellum Pictures Corp.. U.S..

2063.71m. Chester Film Distribution, S ( i- m - g ) . 1/ ( i - l- g ) . O ( d r u g s )

(a) Registered subject to the special condition that all advertising clearly indicates that this film is a "modified version ": previously shown on March 1980 list. (bi Previously shown on June 1977 list.

Special condition: That the film will be exhibited only at the S yd n e y/M e lb o u rn e / B risb a n e / P e rth and/or Adelaide film festivals and then exported.

Agee (16mm): James Agee Film Project. U.S., 1100m.

Melbourne Film Festival The Children of N.67: Road Movies Filmproduktion, West Germany. 2814m. Melbourne Film Festival The Contract: Tor Film Unit. Poland. 3085m. Mel­ bourne Film Festival The 5:48 (16mm): W N ET-Channel 13, U.S., 780m.

Melbourne Film Festival Free Voice of Labour: Pacific Street. U.S.. 780m. Mel­ bourne Film Festival Jewish Anarchists (16mm): Film Projects Inc. Grand Opera (16mm): J. Benning. U.S., 850m. Mel­ bourne Film Festival The Handyman: Corporation Image. Canada. 2694m.

Melbourne Film Festival Jane Austen in Manhattan: Merchant Ivory Prod.. U.S..

3135m. Melbourne Film Festival A Kingdom for a House (1 6 m m ): Tilt Films.

Netherlands. 845m. Melbourne Film Festival

254 — Cinema Papers, July-August

Explicitness/lntensity

Purpose

Infrequent

Frequent

Low

Medium

High

Justified

Gratuitous

S (Sexj .......... ..................

/

.................. .................. ..................

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i i

f f f f

m m m m

h h h h

i

9

V ( V i o l e n c e ) __ L ( L a n g u a g e ) ..

O ( O t h e r ) .........

/

Liar's Dice (16mm): Lebam Prods, U.S., 1063m, Mel­ bourne Film Festival The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (16mm): Clarity Educ. Prods, U.S.. 780m, Melbourne Film Festival Permanent Vacation (16mm): Cinesthesia Inc., U.S., 800m. Melbourne Film Festival Woman’s Greatest Value is Her Silence (16mm): G. Pinkus/Filmkollektiv Zurich, Switzerland, 1100m, Mel­ bourne Film Festival Special condition: That the film be shown only to its members by the National Film Theatre of Australia in its 1981 " Independent Cinema in Britain" season.

At the Fountainhead (16mm): British Film Institute. Bri­ tain. 987m, National Film Theatre of Australia Faust (16mm): Triple Action Films. Britain. 823m, National Film Theatre of Australia Penthesilea (16mm): L. Mulvey/P. Wollen, Britain, 1086m. National Film Theatre of Australia Telling Tales (16mm): Yorkshire Arts Assoc.. Britain, 1020m. National Film Theatre of Australia Special condition: That the film be shown only to its members by the National Film Theatre of Australia in its 1981 "Images of Italian Cinema of the Seventies" season.

The Expedition: Not shown. Italy, 2277m. National Film Theatre of Australia A Simple Heart: Not shown. Italy, 2551m. National Film ' Theatre of Australia Stream Line: Not shown, Italy, 2770.43m, National Film Theatre of Australia Special condition: That the film be shown only to its members by the National Film Theatre of Australia in its 1981 "Recent Hungarian Cinema" season.

A Commonplace Story: Studio Budapest. Hungary.

2762m. National Film Theatre of Australia Film Novel-Three Sisters: Studio Budapest. Hungary, 7406m. National Film Theatre of Australia A Happy New Year: Studio Budapest. Hungary, 2304m. National Film Theatre of Australia The Nice Neighbour: Studio Budapest. Hungary.

2688m. National Film Theatre of Australia On the Move: Studio Budapest. Hungary, 2853m, National Film Theatre of Australia A Quite Ordinary Life: Pro Vobis Film. Hungary, 2057m. National Film Theatre of Australia A Very Moral Night: Studio Budapest. Hungary, 2762m. National Film Theatre of Australia

Registered With Eliminations For Restricted Exhibition (R) Harvey (16mm): G. Daniels. U.S.. 329.1m, 14th Man­ dolin. S ( i- m - g ) Deletions: 1.7m (19 secs) Reason for deletions: S ( i- h - g ) Sweet Diane (16mm): Venus International. U.S..

647.23m, 14th Mandolin. S ( f - m - g ) Deletions: 8.5m (46 secs) Reason for deletions: S ( i- h - g ) A Ton of Action (16mm): Not shown. U.S.. 647.23m.

14th Mandolin. S ( f - m - g ) Deletions: 8.9m (49 secs) Reason for deletions: S ( i- h - g )

Films Refused Registration All in the Sex Family (16mm): D. Masergale, U.S..

671.5m. 14th Mandolin. S ( f - h - g ) The Ecstasy Girls (pre-censor cut version): H. Lime.

U.S.. 2076.6m. A.Z. Assoc. Film Dist., S ( i- h - g ) Journal of Love (16mm): I. Grozny. U.S.. 638.5m, 14th Mandolin, S ( i- h - g ) Lolita Goes to College (16mm): Not shown, U.S., 643.10m. 14th Mandolin. S ( f - h - g ) Love’s Vicious Circle (16mm): O. de la Croche. U.S..

606.6m. 14th Mandolin. S ( f - h - g ) Women in Peril (16mm) (a): Not shown. U.S.. 669.7m.

14th Mandolin. S ( f- h - g ) . V ( f - h - g ) (a) Previously shown on November 1976 list as Pretty Wet Lips (reconstructed version).

April 1 981

Films Registered Without Eliminations For General Exhibition (G) El ruisenor de las cumbres (16mm): Suevia/P.C. Argos S.L., Spain. 1042.1m. Spanish Films Grendel, G rendel, Grendel: P. Adam s. A. Stitt.

Australia. 2482.03m. Hoyts Distribution Legend of the Wild: Taft Int'l. U.S.. 2677.25m. Sunn Classic Prods Popeye (reduced version) (a): Paramount/Disney.

U S.. 2660m. G U O Film Dist.

The President Must Die: C. Sellier. U.S.. 2593.58m.

Sunn Classic Prods Space Firebird. Toko Leo, Japan. 3290.78m. House of Dare

■/

1 1

Supersnooper: Trans Cinema TV , U.S., 2900.34m, Fox Columbia Film Dist. (a) Reduced by producer's cuts from 3095.57m (January 1981 list).

Not Recommended for Children (NRC) The Burning Train: B. Chopra, India, 5113m, SKD Film Dist.. V ( i- i- j) , O ( d is a s t e r s c e n e s ) Chantaje a un torero (16mm): M. de la Fuante, Spain.

1344m. Spanish Films. V ( i - l- j ) The Chosen: The Chosen Film Co., U.S., 3039.79m, Sunn Classic Prods. O ( e m o t io n a l c o n f lic t ) Home Sweet Home: H. Kung. Taiwan, 2956.13m, Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. O ( a d u lt r e la t io n s h ip s ) The Hostage Tower: Jerry Leider Prods, U.S., 2621.47m, Filmways A'sian Dist., V ( i - m - j ) ( i - m - j)

The Human Factor: O. Preminger, U.K., 3188m, G U O Film Dist., L ( i - m - j) , O ( s e x u a l a llu s io n s ) Incident at Blood Pass: Mifunis Prod., Japan, 2593.29m, Golden Reel Films, V ( i - l- j) Le coup de tete (Berserk): Gaumont/SFP, France, 2379.4m, Newhart Diffusion, V ( i - l- j ) Love and Bullets: P. Kohner. Britain, 2788.8m. Hoyts Distribution, V ( f - l - j) Mon oncle d’Amerique: Andrea Films/TFI, France, 3458.11m, Roadshow Dist.. O ( a d u lt c o n c e p ts ) Mountains Beyond Sunset: Elegent Films, Hong Kong.

2571m. Lilond. O ( e m o t io n a l s tr e s s ) My Life’s on the Line: Chen Tai-An, Hong Kong.

2584m. Golden Reel Films. V ( f - l - j) My Lovely Neighbour: CM PC, Taiwan, 2603m, Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. O ( e m o t io n a l s tr e s s ) My Way Home (16m m ): BFI. Britain, 855.66m.

Australian Film Institute. L ( i- l- j) , O ( e m o t io n a l s tr e s s ) Roller Boogie: B. Curtis. U.S.. 2816.7m, Filmways A'sian Dist., O ( s e x u a l in n u e n d o ) Tiao Chan (16mm): Central Motion Picture Corp..

Hong Kong. 1130m. E. Seeto, V ( i - l- j) Trader Horn (16mm) (a): MGM. U.S.. 1305.43m. Twen­ tieth Century-Fox Films. V ( i- m - g ) Virus: H. Kadokawa, Japan. 3262.9m, California Con­ nection. V ( i- m - j) Waqt: B. Chopna, India. 4600m. SKD Film Dist., O ( e m o t io n a l s t r e s s )

(a) Previously registered with "G " classification in 1931.

For Mature Audiences (M) The Battle of Broken Hill (videotape): Sagittarius Film and TV Prods.-Australia, 51 mins, Sagittarius Film and TV Prods, V ( f- m - g ) The Beauty Escort: Yu Fun H.K. Film Co., Hong Kong, 2673.5m, Joe Siu Int'l Film Co., V ( f - m - g ) The Daring Age: Cheung Yui Film Co., Hong Kong.

2501m. Golden Reel Films. V ( i- m - j) , S ( i- l- j) Eyewitness: P. Yates, U.S.. 2788.8m, Fox Columbia Film Dist.. V ( i- m - j) . L ( i - m - j ) The Hearse: Marimark Pictures, U.S., 2705.2m, GU O Film Dist.. S ( i- m - g ) , V ( i- m - g ) . O ( s u s p e n s e ) Inside Moves: Goodmark Prod., U.S., 3039.79m, Hoyts Distribution. V ( i- l- j) , L ( i- m - j) , O ( d r u g s ) Justine (de sade) (16mm): BFI. Britain, 976.33m, National Film Theatre of Australia. V ( i- l- j) , O ( a d u lt th e m e s )

King of the Mountain: Polygram Pic, U.S., 2482.03m, Roadshow Dist.. V ( f - m - j) The Lathe of Heaven (16m m ): W N E T -T V , U.S., 1173.79m. Cinecon/Fantasy Film Society. O ( s e x u a l in ­ nuendo)

Lion of the Desert: Falcon Int'l Prod.. Britain/Libya, 4304.33m, G U O Film Dist.. V ( f - m - j) The Loot: Goodyear L Movie Co., Hong Kong, 2507m, Golden Reel Films, V ( f - m - j) Muqaddar ka sikandar: Prakasit Mehra Prod., India.

5177m, SKD Film Dist.. V ( f - m - j) Natascha (videotape): Transworld. W. Germany, 90 mins. 14th Mandolin, V ( f - m - g ) O Anthropos me to Garifallo: N. Tzimas, Greece.

3200m. Lyra Films, V ( i- m - j) The Orientation: L. Yuan-Jian/C. Pay-Cheung, Taiwan, 2707m, Joe Siu Int'l, V ( f - m - j) , O ( e m o t io n a l s tr e s s ) The Rebellious Reign: Lo Wai. Hong Kong. 2476m, Golden Reel Films. V ( i- m - g ) Shot 6 o’clock in the Morning: C. Feng/M. Hua. Taiwan. 2565.7m. Golden Reel Films, V ( i- m - g ) Skinflicker (16mm): BFI. Britain. 526m, National Film Theatre of Australia. V ( i- m - j) , L ( i- m - j) Struggle to Survive: Eternal Film Co.. Hong Kong, 3074.52m. Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. V ( i- l- j) , O ( a b o r t io n ) To Forget Venice: R izzo li-A ctio n Film s. Italy.

2900.35m. Valhalla Films, S ( i- l- j) . O ( a d u lt t h e m e s ) The Way to Hell: Not shown, Hong Kong. 2750.91m.

Joe Siu Int'l Film Co.. V ( f- m - g ) The Young Avenger: Fai Tan Film (H.K.). Hong Kong.

2486.35m. Golden Reel Films. S ( i- m - g ) , V ( f- m - g )

For Restricted Exhibition (R) Danish Escort Girls. Palladium. Denmark. 2705.14m.

Blake Films. S ( f- m - g ) The Daughter of Emanuelle: D. Randall. France/ltaly.

2406.15m, A.Z. Assoc. Theatres. S ( i- m - g ) Fugitive Girls: A. C. Stephens. U .S .. 2245.74m.

Filmways A'sian Dist.. S ( i- m - g ) . V ( f - m - g ) Harvey Swings (16mm): G. Daniels, U.S.. 647.23m.

14th Mandolin. S ( f - m - g )

The Hottest Show in Town (reconstructed pre-censor cut version) (a): Cirkus Kronhausen, Denmark, 2231.04m. The House of Dare, S ( f - m - g ) Lulu: P arafrance Film s, Fra nce/W . G e rm a n y, 2370.48m. Valhalla Films. S ( i - m - j ) , V ( i- m - g ) Naughty Scandals: Golden Film Co.. Hong Kong, 2780.44m, Joe Siu Int'l Film Co., S ( f - m - g ) , V ( f - m - g ) Night Games: ITC/Golden Harvest/Pan Pacific, U.S., 2928.24m, Filmways A ’sian Dist., S ( f - m - j ) Savage Weekend (reduced version) (videotape): Kirby and Paulsen. U.S.. 74 mins, Focus Video, V ( f - m - g ) Scanners: C. Heroux, Canada. 3374.45m. Roadshow Dist., V ( f - m - g ) Sex Diary (videotape): E. Amati, Italy. 94 mins, Focus Video, S ( f - l - g ) Swedish Nympho Slaves: E. Dietrich, Switzerland, 2370m. Filmways A'sian Dist., S ( f - m - g ) Symphony of Love: D. Randall, Italy, 2649.36m, A.Z. Assoc. Theatres, S ( f - l - g ) (a) Previously shown on September 1979 list.

Special condition: That the film will be exhibited only at the S yd n e y/M e lb o u rn e /B risb a n e /P e rth and/or Adelaide film festivals and then exported.

Alexander The Great: T. Angelopoulos and Co..

Greece. 6000m. Melbourne Film Festival The Black Hand: Incine S.A., Spain, 2900m, Sydney Film Festival Brothers and Sisters: British Film Institute, Britain, 3000m. Melbourne Film Festival City Farm (16m m ): Smith/Davies Films. Britain.

1076m, Sydney Film Festival Criminal Conversation (16mm): B.A.C. Films, Ireland, 669m, Melbourne Film Festival Demon Lover Diary (16mm): J. Demott, U.S., 1005m, Sydney/Melbourne film festivals Dreamland: Inter-American Prods, U.S., 2640m, Mel­ bourne Film Festival The Enemy: Guney-Film, Turkey, 3292m. Sydney Film Festival Exterior Night: Jacques Bral, France. 3018m, Sydney Film Festival The Falls (16mm): British Film Institute. Britain, 2080m, Melbourne Film Festivai Faster Faster: E. Querejeta, Spain, 2713m, Sydney Film Festival The Fiancee: Defa, East Germany. 2980m, Sydney Film Festival Forever Young (16mm): Opus Films. U.S., 702m, Sydney/Melbourne film festivals Gary Cooper Who Art In Heaven: Incine S.A., Spain, 2911m. Sydney Film Festival Hazal: A. Keskiner. Turkey, 2400m, Sydney Film Festival Hide and Seek: D. Wolman/J. Justin, Israel, 2304m.

Sydney Film Festival Image Before My Eyes (16mm): Yivo Institute for Jewish Research. U.S., 991m, Melbourne Film Festival Justocoeur (16mm): Pawaganak Communications, France/Canada, 1100m. Melbourne Film Festival Land and Sons: J. Hermannsson. Iceland, 2578m, Sydney Film Festival L.A.X. (16mm): F. Ziolkowski/L. McCarroll, U.S., 900m.

Melbourne Film Festival Light in the West (16mm): M. Blackwood, U.S., 633m, Sydney Film Festival Lightning Over Water: Road Movies, West Germany, 2506m, Melbourne Film Festival Love Between the Raindrops: Filmove Studio Barrandov. Czechoslovakia, 3600m. Melbourne Film Festival The Lovers’ Exile: Marty Gross Film Productions Inc., Canada/Japan, 2925m. Melbourne Film Festival Mama Turns 100: E. Querejeta. Spain, 2600m, Sydney/Melbourne film festivals Maravillas: Arándano, S.A.. Spain, 2565m. Melbourne Film Festival Mater Amatisima: C. Jover. Spain, 2900m, Sydney Film Festival Men and Non-Men: Rai-Radio Tele-visione Italiana, Italy, 2800m. Melbourne Film Festival A Nineteen Year Old’s Plan: Production Gunro. Japan, 3091m. Melbourne Film Festival The Patriot (Die patriotin): Kairos-Film Alexander Kluge. West Germany. 3339m. Melbourne Film Festival Picasso — A Painter’s Diary (16mm): WNET/13, U.S., 979m. Melbourne Film Festival Prairie in the Sky (16mm): Bullywood Prods. U.S., 642m. Melbourne Film Festival Priceless Day: Mafilm. Hungary. 2380m, Sydney Film Festival Rapture (Arrebato): N. Astiarraga, P.S., Spain, 2970m.

Melbourne Film Festival The Red Sweater: M. Drach. France, 3292m. Sydney Film Festival Slow Attack: E. Junkersdorf, West Germany, 3080m, Sydney Film Festival Solo Sunny: Defa. East Germany. 2854m. Sydney Film Festival ' The Song of Leonard Cohen (16mm): Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Canada. 964m. Meibou .ie Film Festival

Concluded on p. 307

Russel Farrance, Franca Majoor and Garry Patterson.

od Bishop looks at a new 10-hour, Super 8 d o c u m e n t a r y on Australia, and talks to one of the filmmakers, Garry Patterson.

R

son relentlessly presents his fractured and uring 1979, filmmakers Garry Pat­ fatalistic view of Australian history. His narra­ terson, Franca Majoor and Russel tion is intercut with a chronological travel diary, Farrance drove a beat-up Kombi­ interview material and social observations that wagen around Australia. They could not be included in the neat categories that covered 2 0 , 0 0 0 km and carried only divide the First half of the film.

The offinal section of Some Aspects of Aus­ one Beaulieu 5008 Super 8 camera. Two years research and a “shoot and run” approach to tralia is a 55-minute postscript on the logistics of their material has produced something most information. “ Banking and the Fiscal Crisis” is the pivotal filmmakers would consider impossible on the . home movie format — a powerful 10 -hour docu­ episode to the first section and the most obvious mentary they have self-effacingly titled Some political statement in the 10 hours. It consists of a 55-minute illustrated interview with an Aspects of Australia.

The film is structured in 11 parts, each of 55 “anonymous commentator” who carefully docu­ minutes duration. The first five sections are ments the case against the new international presented without narration, and deal with five economic order. The thesis is one of totalitarian major subjects: “The Kanakas of North Queens­ control of banking Finance, headed by the land”, “ Land Rights and Self-determination” , Bilderbergers and involving the major inter­ “ Banking and the Fiscal Crisis” , “ Mining, Utah national financing corporations of Rockefeller, and Ranger” , and “ Nimbin (The Politics of Rothschild, Kuhn-Loeb, Morgan and others.

The interview sheds light on “the poor little rich Food)” .

Some of the stronger sequences from this sec­ country” , unable to digest its own resources or tion include: racist exploitation of Aboriginal come to terms with its own wealth, let alone culture by the tourist industry and ice cream profit from them. companies in Surfers Paradise; dispossessed Banking conspiracies and international deals young blacks in the outback ramming their over resource development are beyond the stolen car into another packed with bigoted comprehension of most Australians. Yet, it is whites; long, aching interviews with islanders precisely these Australians who lie at the heart who reveal the forgotten history of the Kanakas; of this mammoth film. They are the “underside” an old man from an urban skid row drifts into a of Australian history, people seldom, if ever, painful sleep on a park bench to the strains of asked to tell their story in any medium. We meet “ Waltzing Matilda”; tourist boats negotiate the them at the Utah and Ranger mines, we see the Katherine Gorge; and whites gape at the work of casualties of race (Kanakas) and land (Aborigi­ Aboriginal cave painters, whose children die nals), and explore the white middle-class alternative of the New Settlers. from trachoma.

The next five parts constitute the “ Narrator Some Aspects of Australia is clearly no series” . This delivers a personal account of sanitized work of “balance” and a proper Australian history, from the arrival of European examination of the content contained in its 10 Man on this continent to the formal constitu­ hours is still to be attempted. But its technical tion of Federation in 1900. Throughout this achievements are obvious. With their own series, Garry Patterson plays a parody of the finances and S3000 from the Australian Film television correspondent: a dishevelled, un­ Commission, Patterson, Majoor and Farrance shaven, slightly crazed historian who reads, at a shot a 10-hour film on a 2:1 ratio. With another fierce pace, his alternative history of Australia $9000 loan they edited the material on single from a scrappy, dog-eared clipboard. strip original and finally dubbed it onto video for distribution.

Some Aspects of Australia is essentially a film hether he is striding through the about people and politics. With an instinctive bush, stalking some tropical commitment that shows little fear of disturbing tourist resort, squatting in front the individual political persuasions of its of Uluru or sitting disconsolate­ audience, the film may well be a frontier ly in the middle of the outback achievement for the aesthetic and commercial with the dismantled Volkswagen engine, Patter­ prospects of the Super 8 medium in this country.

D

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Cinema Papers, July-August — 255

Some Aspects o f A astraila

^5?

RESEARCH

Ihe last film you made was a 16mm autobio­ graphical feature called “How Willingly You Sing” . In 1976 you shared a prize at the Australian Film Institute Awards, Why have you now chosen to work on 8mm and produce this 10-hour film?

The Creative Development Award was an encouragement to go onto bigger and better things, which I tried to do. I worked on half a dozen scripts, and submitted three or four to various funding bodies.

They were all eventually rejected, one way or the other.

The South Australian Film Corporation refused an idea that we wanted to do in Whyalla. They said they weren't interested in any­ thing political. I also wrote a circus film for the Australian Film Com­ mission and they called me a liar and a plagiarist.

But I don’t want to get into a long list of sour grapes. I enjoy shooting film; I enjoy editing film. I believe the medium is important; it’s a battleground. I had to work on Super 8 simply because nothing else was available to me.

Did you consciously set out to make a 10-hour film?

No. But the more we shot, the longer it got. The history of Australia was pretty fat, and we underestimated how keen people would be to tell their story. People only have access to media by invita­ tion and there is a lot of frustration because of this. We generally talked to them for an hour or so, then asked: “ What’s your name, what’s your job and what d’ya reckon?”

People spoke directly at the camera. Their information is not sieved through an interviewer.

But you did choose to visit certain parts of Australia . . .

We decided to go anti-clock­ 256 — Cinema Papers, July-August

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wise. Our research had isolated the major issues: Nimbin, mining, Utah, Ranger, land rights in North Queensland and Kakadu, Pine Gap and so on. That roughly mapped out the trip for us. People passed us on from one active group to another. Franca’s brother, Bart, then joined us in Northern Queens­ land and stayed with us until the end.

We wanted to go to the Kimberleys and Wittenoom and the West Coast, but ran out of money in Darwin. We wrote to the AFC from Charters Towers, and sent the 10 hours of Film we had already shot for their $3000. Murray Brown was very nice, but the AFC refused on the grounds that it would be sup­ plementary funding.

You shot the film on single system and, as most Super 8 filmmakers know, you have the inbuilt problem of the 18-frame delay. Yet you managed to do a fairly rough, threetrack mix on various parts of the film . . .

The 18-frame delay is not a problem if you allow one second at the head and tail of the shot. The Beaulieu is a terrific camera, but any camera will do. We had a cas­ sette recorder and a good micro­ phone with a split lead. All the interviews went onto the cassettes and the sync sound went onto the stripe. There was no slating of shots. Non-sync material can be dubbed onto wild shots.

1 worked with original film, and edited on a $150 S 8 editor with a little sound reader. I originally screened the films and mixed the music live. But this stretched the tape splices and they wouldn’t go through the telecine. So we re­ spliced them, and worked on video dubs, either mixing the music while we dubbed, or mixing it later, trans­ ferring from track 1 to track 2 .

I have finally mastered the con­ trol knobs on the back of the Elmo.

It’s not fine quality; it’s rough. But

the basic information is there. I figure it is pretty good value for money.

What film stock did you use?

Kodachrome 40 for outdoors, and 7244 for interviews — that is until Alice Springs, when we were down to $ 1 0 0 worth of silent film bought with a Bankcard from a chemist.

You didn’t use Ektachrome 160?

No, it rubs off on your fingers — too soft.

Will distribution be on video?

The big problem at the moment is that the makers of video programs, and the people who watch them, are obliged to wait un­ til the large manufacturers (their banking backers, their supporting governments, their protective military, and God knows who else) get their act together and divide the market satisfactorily among them­ selves. Then, they might - let us know whether we are dealing with 3/4 -inch, U-inch, VHS or Betacord.

One video dealer told me that Sony and Sanyo have lost out on their Betacord system and may be turning to VHS. I am very sus­ picious of the U-inch standard. If you shoot on Super 8 , it is lighter, more flexible and probably cheaper than shooting on videotape. You can get broadcastable information.

But if you shoot on a U-inch home video, which is what the companies are encouraging people to buy, then problems arise. I don’t know if fl­ inch is broadcastable. You don’t have access to an audience; you are trapped.

What have you learnt from the ex­ perience of making a 10-hour film on 8mm?

That the information we get on television is not that upon which the 2 0 0 0 executives who run this country base their decisions. I don’t know what is going on there, and that is an obsession. The second obsession is the possibility that tele­ vision determines language and, ul­ timately, reality. Can I read this? ' “The thesis is that no one has benefited more from the French Revolution than the international

EDITING nr r m

, ,

,

? ilB iW OF INFORMATION (4fi0 RE£LS) b ¡(FOliy CATALOGUED*/ CATALOGUE 1*2L.OH(.(£©/1

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Some Aspects o f A ustra lia

One o f the original landowners watches the Ranger opening ceremony without evident enthusiasm. Some Aspects of Australia.

Some Aspects o f Australia A film by Garry Patterson, Franca Majoor and Russel Farrance. Edited by Garry Patterson. Production assistants: Ed Batt and Gail Hannah. Filmed in Super 8mm (Kodachrome 40 and 7244SM). Post-production: Media Vision (Australia). Distribution on U-matic and other formats. In 11 parts, each of 55 mins. Total running time: 605 mins.

Produced by Shopfront Films, 1981.

banking houses, parasitic organiza­ tions which grew in the festering capitalism of post-feudal France and emerging America. “ By 1900 and following World War 1, the family names that gave an international face to the monetary manipulations going on in the bowels of the banks (Morgan, Rothschild, Kuhn-Loeb, Wauberg, Rockefeller, etc.) were dominating international shipping, commerce and politics. They still do to this day.

“The conspiracy was, and has remained, the propagation of the myth that global progress and human endeavor are synonymous with capital growth and material expansion. This has been pushed (with international media networks coming under the same control) to the exclusion of any alternative measurement of collective happi­ ness. We must be careful not to c o n fu s e h o m o g e n e ity with equality.”

The other thing I have learnt is that cinema language, Film lan­ guage, television language, is still in its infancy. We have only just begun to appreciate how shots work, how to tell a story, how to get away from the proscenium theatre, how to hide a cut, how to pace. Also, how symbols, however fleeting, determine understanding — sym­ bols that are universally relevant, and not limited to a particular medium. How certain symbols, visual symbols, are continually re­ inforced on television — to what ends, in whose interest?

Will you continue to work on 8mm or has the distribution experience been so difficult that you want to work on 16mm and 35mm formats?

The information boom is hap­ pening in video cassettes. Even Ox­ ford University Press is looking at “publishing” video tapes. But there is little chance that network tele­ vision will accept Super 8 . So what is left? Cable television. Subscrip­ tion television. Pay television.

Satellite television. Who is going to own all this? And for what reason?

1 think it is important that people who work in Film and video support community television. But a onehour print on Super 8 costs about $650; a one-hour video, anything from $80 to $175. But it is essential to diversify, especially as the development in the Australian Film industry is one of increasing central control. That may mean a lot of work for a lot of people, but it may mean the complete emasculation of cinema so that filmmakers, like entertainers, become mere sales­ men.

Filmography 1971 Retreat . . . Retreat, 35 mins, 16mm 1975 How Willingly You Sing, 90 mins,

16mm

1975 Papua New Guinea Independent Cele­ brations 1975, with Rubin Mow ' I976r Here’s to You Mr Robinson, with Peter Tammer, 16mm 1976 Freeway F19, 60 mins, 8 mm 1977 Circus Oz, with the Pram Factory, 60 mins, 8 mm 1977 Circus Royale, 30 mins, 8 mm 1977 Contest Bredbo, with Down to Earth Movement, 120 mins, 8 mm 1978 Builders’ Labourers Mural, with Preston Institute of Technology, 60 mins, 8 mm 1978 Chile Lucha/Chile Fights, with the Free Chile Committee, 60 mins, 8 mm 1981 Some Aspects of Australia, with Franca Majoor and Russel Farrance, 605 mins, 8 mm All available from Shopfront Films, 16 Bage St, Diamond Creek, Vic., 3089. (03) 438 2054. ★

Part Part Part Part Part Part

One: Two: Three: Four: Five: Six:

Nimbin and the Politics of Food.

Kanakas and East Coast Racism.

Banking and the New International Economic Order.

Mining and Utah.

Aboriginal Struggle. Self Determination and Land Rights.

Narrator 1 (BC: Before Cook-1791). “ Farming: Mel­ bourne to NSW north coast. May Day, Melbourne, 1977.

Australia Day” .

Part Seven: Narrator 2 (1791-1806). “ Tourism: Brunswick Heads to Gladstone” .

Part Eight: Narrator 3 (1804-1831). “ North Queensland: Duaringa to Cairns” .

Part Nine: Narrator 4 (1834-1856). “ Outback: Tinaroo Falls Dam to Dunmarra” .

Part Ten: Narrator 5 (1854-1901). “ The Centre: Stuart Memorial to the 12 Apostles” .

Part Eleven: Postscript: The Logistics of Information.

$ THE ADAIR INSURANCE BROKING GROUP The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith ike. I The Picture Show Man 1 tn Picture Show M, Eliza Fraser The Devil’s Playground Alvin Purple The Night The Prowler Puberty Blues My Brilliant Career J The Odd Angry Shot Petersen End Play Palm Beach I Taxi Child Cathy’s Pacific Banana Final Cut Falcon Island J kc Afu A Town Like Alice \ >wn 1 Nightmares Hoodwink The Winter of Our Dreams ^ > Heatwave *art.ners Partners Dead Easy

NEED WE SAY MORE? SPECIALISING IN THE NEEDS OF FEATURE FILM PRODUCTIONS. CONTACT OUR SPECIALISTS: SYDNEY Neil McEwin Tom Laskas James C Ailardice

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ABC Inquiry After an 18-month inquiry which in­ cluded 61 hearings, 2260 submissions and 5500 pages of testimony, the Government-appointed Dix probe into the operations of the Australian Broad­ casting C om m ission has recom ­ mended sweeping changes to the ABC. Among the recommendations of the inquiry headed by marketing veteran Alex Dix were: • Reconstruction of the ABC into a new N a tio n a l B r o a d c a s tin g Organization, but stili to be identi­ fied on air as the ABC. • A governing board of directors of seven members and a 20-man con­ sultative council representing com­ munity interests.

• Integration of ABC music and con­ cert departments into a separate body: Music Australia.

• Introduction of modern business methods.

• More accountability to parliament.

The Dix Report said: “ The ABC has become slowmoving, overgrown, complacent and uncertain of the direction in which it is heading. “ Despite the efforts of many talented and dedicated people work­ ing for i t . . . it [the ABC] has not only slipped from the forefront of change but threatens to be eclipsed by it.

“Australian society, itself under­ going rapid change, expects no less from its institutions. Organizations which are being financed by govern­ ment are being asked to justify them­ selves publicly and give cogent reasons why their traditional activi­ ties should continue.”

In the light of Razor Gang cuts to ABC funding of three per cent, along with abolition of the usual inflation ad­ justment of 10 per cent, an effective 13 per cent cut in its budget, the ABC must tighten its financial belt.

The Dix Report said the ABC would have to seek finance elsewhere as the p o s s ib ility of the G o v e rn m e n t increasing its funding now or in the immediate future was small.

One suggested means of raising money was corporate underwriting of ABC programs — but not paid adver­ tising — a recommendation which has brought howls of conservative protest from within and outside the ABC. The Report also recommended a long-term plan to merge the ABC’s news and public affairs departments to improve co-operation and cut down overlapping. Total cost of the recom­ mendations — the majority of it spent over a five-year period — would be $158 million.

Communications Minister, Mr Sin­ clair, has promised to put the Dix Report before parliament in the autumn session next year.

A Town Like Alice A Town Like Alice, the $1.25 million joint production between the BBC, the Seven Network, the Australian Film Commission and the Victorian Film Corporation, has been a resounding success.

Filmed in Australia, Malaysia and London, the six-hour dramatization of Nevil Shute's novel was recently seen by about 15 million people in Britain.

Local reaction has been justifiably enthusiastic for the work of the cast, Helen Morse, Bryan Brown, Gordon Ja ckso n , Anne H addy and Yuki

Helen Morse and Bryan Brown in A Town Like Alice.

Shimoda, the scripts of Rosemary Sisson and Tom Hegarty, the direction of David Stevens and production of Henry Crawford.

New SCOOP Producer Former television commercial pro­ ducer John Blackett-Smith has won the contract from Channel 0/28 to provide Melbourne coverage for the station’s SCOOP news-magazine program .

Former television newsman turned documentary filmmaker, Phil de Montignie, previously held the contract.

De Montignie was last heard of trek­ king through the Simpson Desert in the Northern Territory filming the re­ creation of the first scientific crossing of the desert in 1939.

The $100,000 documentary, The Madigan Line, will follow a team of sur­ veyors, scientists and botanists as they make the crossing by camel. Mining corporation CRA has backed the pro­ gram and De Montignie is confident of international sales. His DNM Produc­ tions recently sold a documentary on the Le Mans car classic in Europe, the U.S. and New Zealand.

TVW Takeover Sir Robert Holmes a’Court has taken control of TVW Enterprises in Perth, which controls TVW-7, radio 6IX, a major interest in SAS-10 Adelaide, City Theatres and Entertainment Centre operations.

The Perth-based tycoon, who heads the Bell group of companies, takes over as chairman of TVW from Sir James Cruthers, who has been with TVW-7 for 23 years.

7 Goes for

1984 Olympics

The Seven Network, despite the set­ back on the Moscow Olympics, are negotiating for rights to cover the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Already Seven has won over the Nine Network in gaining rights to the Winter Olympics to be held in Yugoslavia in 1984. Final negotiations for rights to the summer Olympics will take place later this year.

The Federal G ove rn m e n t has approved changes to the Broadcast­ ing and Television Act. The changes are a revised version of controversial changes — dubbed “ the Murdoch amendments” — first suggested earlier this year by Communications Minister, Mr Sinclair.

U n d e r p re s s u r e fro m b a c k ­ benchers, plans to make the Com­ munications Minister responsible for determining public interest in licence hearings were dropped, and a clause was inserted denying appeal against licence application refusal by the Aus­ tralian Broadcasting Tribunal.

Changes approved include strict guidelines for determ ining public interest, share dealings involving radio and television interests no longer subject to ABT approval before being allowed to go ahead, and a company will be allowed to hold 10 per cent in a television station before being deemed to have a “ prescribed” or significant interest. The figure previously was five per cent.

Mr Sinclair had also proposed that licence applicants could have their case heard under either the new or old law, but this was also deleted. The amendment would have meant the appeal by Murdoch’s News group before the Administrative Appeals Tri­ bunal against last year’s ABT decision on ATV-10 could be decided based on the new law. However, the appeal must now continue on the basis of the old laws.

After lengthy hearings in M el­ bourne, the AAT hearing was ad­ journed to mid-August.

While a lot of media coverage has concerned Murdoch’s assertions that he has little or no control personally over the programming of his television interests, the crucial question is whether networking is in the public interest. If the AAT upholds the ABT view that networking is not in the public interest, not only could Murdoch lose his ATV-10 licence, but it could mean trouble for the Nine Network when its licence comes up for renewal in March next year.

Sensing the danger, TCN-9 and GTV-9 applied to be included as parties to the proceedings before the AAT. Mr Justice Morling granted the application.

Bruce Gyngell, former head of the ABT, supports Murdoch’s ownership of ATV-10 because he believes in strong networking as important to competi­ tion and thus to the benefit of the public. He told the annual meeting of the Public Relations Institute in Can­ berra (June 16) that: “The fine nitpicking of ownership indeed begged the question of its [television’s] marvellous and enor­ mous ability to communicate ideas and exchange thoughts between people.”

The Government, while notifying the AAT of its amendments to the Broad­ casting and Television Act, has also given the ABT its favorable view of net­ working.

The increasing cost of drama and general television production — serials such as Cop Shop and Prisoner cost about $75,000 an hour — means that production of such shows requires strong commitment from more than one source, something networking can achieve.

(See also Nick Herd’s report on pp.

262, 263 of this issue.)

Quiz Bandwagon There are no prizes for guessing what prompted the rash of game and quiz shows tempting viewers and con­ testants. The continued success of Sale of the Century — which in one recent program rated an incredible 50 points — has inspired others.

Apart from Sale, Reg Grundy Pro­ ductions is responsible for The New Cinema Papers, July-August — 259

Or dusty docos, cracked commercials, sparkled specials.

All caused by hair, dust or dirt landing on the neg.

Our new Telecine Glean Room sees to that.

We filter the air before it goes into the room.

W e filter the air circulating

over the film during video transfer.

We keep the air pressure slightly higher inside the room so no dust can blow in.

We even ionically filter the air to equalise the ions produced by air conditioning that can cause magnetic attraction o f dust onto the film surface.

We built our Glean Room because we know that once its on the neg, its on for good.

And that means a poorer result for you. Gome and see for yourself: the dust never settles at

V‘deolab VIDEOLAB A division of the Colorfilm group of companies.

Leo Burnett 4.2877

“It contains ju s t about everything the A ustralian film industry one could ever wish to know f

National Times

“Everything one could possibly want to kn o w about the Australian film industry seem s to be contained in the Australian M otor Picture Yearbook 1 9 8 0 . . . a reference book no one seeking inform ation about the film industry Down Under can a ffo rd to be without. ”

“A m ust fo r anyone interested in the local film industry. ”

Australian Playboy

Screen International Cinema Papers

MOTION PICTURE YEARBOOK Edited by Peter Beilby Cinema Papers is pleased to announce that the 1981/82 edition of the Australian Motion Picture Yearbook can now be ordered.

T h e enlarged, updated 1981/82 edition contains many new features, including: • Comprehensive filmographies of feature film scriptwriters, directors of photography, composers, designers, editors and sound recordists • Monographs on the work of director Bruce Beresford, producer Matt Carroll and scriptwriter D avid Williamson A round-up of films in production in 1981 Actors, technicians and casting agencies A n expanded list of services and facilities, including equipment suppliers and marketing services

Contents

PART 2: Feature Rims 1 9 8 0 and 1981

PART 1 : Australian Film Industry Round-up

PART 3: Profiles Bruce Beresford, Matt Carroll and David Williamson.

Local Production; Distribution and Exhibition; Government and the Film Industry; Film Organizations; Festivals; Awards and Competitions; Visitors; Television; Censorship; Technology; The Media.

Overseas Introduction; Sales and Releases; Festivals, Awards and Competitions; Overseas Media.

PART 4: Feature Film Personnel Producers. Directors, Screenwriters.

Directors of Photography, Editors, Production Designers and Art Directors, Composers, Sound Recordists.

PART 5: Directory

PART 6: Media

Organizations Services and Facilities

Print. Radio, Television. Overseas Media Representatives, Film Bookshops and Record Shops.

Film Stock, Sound Stock, Equipment Suppliers, Equipment Rental. Lighting Rental. Actorsand Actresses' Agencies. Technicians' Agencies.

Casting Consultants, Laboratories, Film Studios and Sound Stages, Editing and Post-Production Facilities, Preview Theatres, Recording and Mixing Studios, Animation, Titles and Graphics, Special Effects, Negative Matching, Edge-numbering, Film Production and Re-dimension, Publicists, Marketing Services.

Caterers, Insurance, Customs and Shipping Agents, Car and Truck Rental, Media Research.

Production Companies Distributors and Exhibitors

PART 7: Reference Film and Television Awards Film Festivals Legislation Tax, Copyright, Export Incentives.

Censorship.

Statistics Bibliography Feature Film Checklist: 1 9 7 0 ­ 1980 Capital City Maps Advertisers’ Index

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BACK ISSUES SALE Take advan tage o f our special offer and catch up on yo u r missing issues. M u ltip le copies less than half-price!

P apeU

Number 1 January 1974

Number 2 April 1974

D avid W illia m s o n .

Ray H a r r y h a u s e n . P e t e r W e ir .

G ill ia n A r m s t r o n g . Ke n G. Hall. T a r if f B o a r d R e p o rt .

A n t o n y I. G in n a n e . The

V io l e n c e

Cars That Ate Paris

Wars

in

the

C in e m a .

Alvin Purple. F r a n k M o o r house. S an d y H arbutt.

F ilm U n d e r A lle n d e .

N ic h o la s R oeg . Between

Number 3 July 1974

Number 5 March-April 1975

Number 9 June-July 1976

John P a p a d o p o lo u s .

W il lis O 'B r ie n . T h e M c D o n a g h S is t e r s . R ic h a rd B re n n a n . L uis B u ñ u e l.

J e n n in g s Lang. B yron Ha s k in . S u r f Fi lm s. B ri a n P r o b y n Sunday Too Far Away. C h a r le s C h a u v e l.

M ilo s F orm an.

M iklos J a n c s o . L u c h i n o V is c o n t i.

R o b y n S p r y. Oz. Mad Dog M organ. J o a n L on g.

The True Story of Eskimo Nell.

Index: V olum e 1

Index: Volum e 2

Number 10 September-October 1976 N a g i s a O s h i m a . P h i ll ip p e Mora. Gay C inem a. John H e ye r . K r z y s z t o f Z a n u s s i.

M arco F e rre ri.

M a rco B e l lo c c h io .

Number 11 January 1977 E m ile d e A n t o n i o . A u s ­ t ra li a n Fil m C e n s o r s h i p .

Sam A rk o ff.

Roman P o l a n s k i . T h e P ic tu re

Show Man Storm Boy.

Don’s Party.

JU x.

XI

Number 12 April 1977

Number 13 July 1977

Number 14 October 1977

Number 15 January 1978

Number 16 April-June 1978

K e n n e t h L o a c h . T o m H a yd o n . B e r t D e lin g . P ie ro Tosi. J o h n S cott. J o h n D a n k w o r t h . The Getting

L o u is e M a lle . P aul Co x.

J o h n P o w e r. P e t e r S yk e s .

B e r n a r d o B e r t o lu c c i. F.J.

Phil N o y ce . Er ic R o h m e r .

J o h n H u s t o n . Blue Fire

Tom C o w a n, F ra n cois T r u f f a u t . D e l p h i n e S e y r ig .

Lady

H o ld e n In S e a rc h Anna Index: Volum e 3

C h i n e s e C in e m a .

The irishman. The Chant of Jim m ie Blacksm ith. Sri L a n k a n C i n e m a . The Last Wave

Patrick. S w e d i s h C in e m a .

John D u ig a n .

S te ve n S p i e lb e r g . Dawn! Mouth to Mouth. Film P e r i o d ­ icals.

o f W is d o m J o u rn e y Among W om en

of

S u m m e r f ie ld

Number 17 August-September 1978

Number 18 October-November 1978

Bill

J o h n L a m o n d . Dim booia.

In d ia n C in e m a .

S o n ia B o rg . A la in T a nn e r.

B ai n.

I s a b e ll e

Hup­

per t. P o li s h C i n e m a . The Night the Prowler. P ie rr e Riss ie nt . Newsfront. Film S tu d y Resources.

Cathy's Child. The Last Tasm anian

Index: V olum e 4

Number 19 January-February 1979 A n to n y I. G i n n a n e J e r e m y T h o m a s . Blue Fin. A n d r e w S a r ris . A s ia n C in e m a .

S po n sore d Docum entaries.

Number 20 March-April 1979

Number 21 May-June 1979

Number 22 July-August 1979

Ken C a m e ro n . F rench C in e m a . J im S h a rm a n .

My Brilliant Career. Film S t u d y R e s o u r c e s . The

M ad Max V i e t n a m on Grendel, G rendel, G r e n d e l. D a v i d H e m m i n g s . The Odd Angry Shot B o x - O f f i c e G ro s s e s .

Snapshot.

B r u c e Petty. A l b i e T h o m s .

F ilm S tu d y R e so u rce s.

Kostas.

Money Movers. T h e A u s ­ tra lia n Film a n d T e le ­ v is io n S c h o o l.

Night the Prowler

Fil m.

N e w s fro n t.

Index: Volum e 5

Number 23 September-October 1979

Number 24 December 1979 January 1980

A u s tra lia n

B ri a n

T e le v is io n .

Last of the Knucklem en W omen F ilm m a k e rs .

J a p a n e s e C i n e m a . My

B r illia n t C a re e r T im .

Thirst. T i m B u r s ta ll.

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FILM EXPO ’80 SEMINAR PAPERS In November the Film and Television Pro­ duction Association of Australia and the New South Wales Film Corporation brought together 15 international experts to discuss 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 suc­ cess.

Tape recordings made of the proceedings have been transcribed and edited by Cinema Papers, and published as the Film Expo ’80 Seminar Papers.

Copies can be ordered now for $25 each.

In this first m ajor w ork on the A ustralian film in d u stry ’s dram atic reb irth , 12 leading film w riters com bine to provide a lively and entertaining critique. Illustrated w ith 2 6 $ stills, including $$ in full color, this book is an invaluable record for all those interested in the N e w A ustralian C inem a.

208 pps, 28 cm x 20 .5cm ( 11 " x 8 ”) The chapters: The Past (Andrew Pike), Social Realism (Keith Connolly), Comedy (Geoff Mayer), Horror and Suspense (Brian McFarlane), Action and Adventure (Susan Dermody), Fantasy (Adrian Martin), Historical Films (Tom Ryan), Personal Relationships and Sexuality (Meaghan Morris), Loneliness and Alienation (Rod Bishop and Fiona Mackie), Children’s Films (Virginia Duigan), Avant-garde (Sam Rohdie).

Contents

Contributors

Theatrical Production. The Package: Two Perspectives Theatrical Production. Business and Legal Aspects Distribution in the United States Producer/Distributor Relationships Distribution Outside the United States Television Production and Distribution Financing of Theatrical Films: Major Studios Financing of Theatrical Films: Independent Studios Presale of Rights Presale by Territory Multi-National and Other Co­ Productions

Arthur Abeles Chairman, Filmmarketeers Ltd. (U.S.) Barbara D. Boyle Executive Vice-President, and Chief Operating Officer, New World Pictures (U.S.) Mark Damon President. Producers Sales Organization (U.S.) Michael Fuchs Senior Vice-President, Programming, Home Box Office (U.S.) Samuel W. Gelfman Independent Producer (U.S.) Klaus Hellwig President, Janus Film Und Fernsehen (Germany) Lois Luger Vice-President, Television Sales, Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation (U.S.) Professor Avv. Massimo Ferrara-Santamaria Lawyer (Italy) Mike Medavoy Executive Vice-President, Orion Pictures (U.S.) Simon O. Olswang Solicitor, Breckerand Company (Britain) Rudy Petersdorf President and Chief Operating Officer, Australian Films Office Inc. (U.S.) Barry Spikings Chairman and Chief Executive, EMI Film and Theatre Corporation (Britain) Eric Weissmann Partner, Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz and Selvin Harry Ufland President, The Ufland Agency (U.S,

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Television News

Price is Right (Seven Network), Ford Superquiz (Nine Network) and Wheel of Fortune (Seven Network).

Channel 10 has so far failed to jump on the bandwagon, but not through lack of interest. It is still looking for a format.

Ten is still trying to boost its ratings.

The most recent survey again puts the network third behind Nine and Seven.

Its newest programs — Michael Parkin­ son’s Saturday night show, the Grundy cops and robbers show Bellamy (an unashamed take-off of Britain’s The Sw eeney and s ta rrin g a m ore deserving John Stanton) and Craw­ ford Productions’ Holiday Island — have all failed to attract better than satisfactory ratings.

Ten’s comedy show, Ratbags, pro­ duced by Hal McElroy and John East­ way and starring Rod Quantock, Mary Kenneally, Joanne Samuels, John Derum and others, is also in danger of being axed.

Network in -fig h tin g is believed responsible for Melbourne’s Channel 10 declining to take the Sydneyproduced show, though the wisdom of their decision is borne out by the Sydney ratings. ' Ten’s problems are no doubt com­ plicated by the ongoing appeal by Mur­ doch’s News group against the ABT’s decision to block the takeover of ATV10. Murdoch admitted the stations didn’t work together and that he had acted “very slowly and with some shy­ n e s s b e c a u s e o f th e s e [th e Administrative Appeals Tribunal] pro­ ceedings to rectify the problems’’.

Hector Crawford Retires Hector Crawford has retired as managing director of Crawford Pro­ ductions. He will remain as chairman of the Crawfords’ business interests.

Hector’s nephew, Ian Crawford, has assumed responsibility for running Crawford Productions.

New Grundy’s PR Head Thomas Greer, form er publicity director for Channel 10 Sydney, has been a p p o in te d v ic e -p re s id e n t, p u b licity, advertising and public r e la t io n s o f th e Reg G r u n d y Organization.

Grundy’s productions include Sale of the Century, The Restless Years, The Young Doctors, The New Price Is Right, Bellamy and Ford Superquiz.

Felicity Goscombe continues as Grundy’s television publicity manager.

Inquiry into Television Violence The Senate Standing Committee on education and the arts has called for a public inquiry into television violence. It said television program standards in the Broadcasting and Television Act were “obsolete, difficult to follow and wide open to interpretation” .

The Committee called on the ABT to form guidelines aimed at reducing tele­ vision violence. It said research had shown the existence of a relationship between violence on television and in society, and that an inquiry should be held to review the existing program standards.

The Committee’s comments were contained in a review tabled in parlia­ ment of a 1978 report on the impact of television on the development and learning behaviour of children, which strongly criticized program standards.

Parliament will consider the Commit­ tee’s recommendations.

In the U.S., the television industry has been shocked by the withdrawal of a major advertiser from the sponsor­ ship of 50 programs.

Procter and Gamble, American tele­ vision’s largest advertiser, withdrew on the basis of detailed standards which assess the socially-redeeming features of a show — whether it is likely to encourage anti-social behaviour and w h e th e r sex and v io le n c e are gratuitous.

The move came shortly before C o a litio n fo r B e tte r T e le v is io n announced a boycott on the sponsors of shows it thought most offensive.

Details of the boycott were not avail­ able at the time of writing.

New SAFC Television Sales Agent

Steven Grives and Chantal Contouri in Holiday Island.

New Crawfords Series Network 10 premiered in June its most ambitious television series since the ill-fated Arcade of 1979 — Holiday Island.

Produced by Crawford Productions at Ten’s Melbourne studios, the series cost more than $300,000 for the sets alone, which include a “ pre-fab para­ dise” on Ten’s backlot.

Heading the cast are Nick Tate, best known for his roles in the ABC’s series Dynasty, Space 1999 and his Austra­ lian Film Institute award-winning per­ formance in The Devil’s Playground, and British actor Steven Grives, who starred in Yorkshire Television’s The Flambards.

Grives came to A ustralia on a holiday, landed a role in the South Aus­ tralian Film Corporation’s mini-series Sara Dane, and has stayed on in Mel­ bourne for Holiday Island.

The supporting cast includes Caz Lederman, Tom Oliver, Alyson Best, Marilyn Mayo, Tracy Mann (in early episodes), Patricia Kennedy and Frank Wilson.

The South Australian Film Corpora­ tion is close to finalizing the appoint­ ment of an international distributor for its television productions, heralding the start of a new era for the Corporation.

SAFC director, John Morris, follow­ ing his visit to the MiP/TV Festival in Cannes, believes there is plenty of scope for expansion in the SAFC’s tele­ vision production arm. Morris has already had discussions with organiza­ tions in Britain, the U.S. and Europe regarding future SAFC productions.

Among future projects is a four-part series based on the Colin Thiele book, Fire in the Stone, set in the South Aus­ tralian opal fields at Coober Pedy and Andamooka. Production is expected to start iate next year. The book will be adapted for television by Adelaide writer Dave Allen.

The SAFC has also announced plans for a major new series, based on the Rolf Boldrewood book Robbery Under Arms.

The classic story, first published in 1888, relates the adventures of bush­ ranger Captain Starlight as recorded by bushranger Dick Marston while wait­ ing to be hanged.

The SAFC has co m m issio n e d Michael Jenkins to script the series.

Some filming is expected to take place in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, starting mid-’82, although many details are still to be finalized. ironically, the chairman of the SAFC, Jack Lee, was involved in the 1957

feature based on Robbery Under Arms.

Executive producer Jock Blair says the connection is coincidental but that Lee will assist in an advisory capacity.

Meanwhile, the ABC is also believed to be planning a series based on Boldrewood’s book.

Cable Inquiry Extended The A u s tra lia n B ro a d c a s tin g Tribunal has extended its terms of reference in the Cable and Subscrip­ tion Television Services inquiry. It will now include a more detailed con­ sideration of radiated subscription ser­ vices and pay television.

The change in terms of reference has delayed start of the inquiry until midSeptember, Persons or organizations who have already lodged submissions can lodge supplementary submissions, and new submissions are invited. The closing date is August 28, 1981.

Before the revised term s were announced, the ABT had received almost 170 submissions on cable tele­ vision from groups as diverse as a con­ sortium of Christian businessmen, sporting bodies, and newly-formed cable television companies whose directors represent radio, theatre, mining and television interests.

Recent information suggests that the form of subscription television bestsuited to Australia would be radiated or satellite-relayed pay-television, where a scrambled signal is broadcast by traditional methods and decoded by a “ black box” . Consumers pay either a flat fee for receiving programs or a fee calculated on how much they watch.

A recent visitor to Australia, Robert Block (president of the U.S. firm Telease), said his firm is developing a device which can deliver information via broadcast to television, teleprinter or home computer, and can deliver five separate audio signals with a tele­ vision picture and in stereo.

Future of Children’s Television Foundation in Doubt Talks aimed at determining the future of the Australian Children’s Tele­ vision Foundation were expected to take place in July, between the Vic­ torian Minister for the Arts, Mr Lacy, Federal Education Minister, Mr Fife, and Home Affairs Minister, Mr Wilson.

The ACTF, set up in 1981 to encourage production of children’s programs, needs $600,000 to match money promised by all states, except Queensland. The Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts recently recommended Government support for the ACTF. Dr Patricia Edgar, director of a task force setting up the foundation, said it could not go ahead without Common­ wealth support.

New FACTS Codefor Children’s Television The Federation of Australian Com­ mercial Television Stations (FACTS) has implemented a new code for advertising during children’s programs.

From August, advertising will be cut from eight to five minutes an hour.

The scheme will operate for a twoyear trial period and was introduced as a result of pressure on FACTS over the volume and effects of advertising on children.

The code re stricts the type of products advertised, the repetition of commercials and has guidelines for content.

New SBS Board Former Lord Mayor of Sydney, Sir N ic h o la s S h e h a d ie , has been appointed chairman of the expanded

Special Broadcasting Services Board, which oversees administration of multi­ cultural television Channel 0/28.

The Communications Minister, Mr Sinclair, also announced that Mel­ bourne barrister Frank Galbally had been invited to chair a new advisory council to the service.

The SBS board has been increased from four members to seven, with appointments for terms of up to three years.

The new board comprises Grigorij Sklovsky, chairman of the SBS since 1 977, G a rvin R u th e rfo rd , c h ie f executive of the 2SM broadcasting group, Tony Bonnici, vice-chairman of the Ethnic Communities Council of Vic­ toria, James Saimón, chairman of the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW, Fiorenza Jones, an Italian community social worker from Brisbane, and Frank Galbally, chairman of the Institute of Multicultural Affairs.

The new advisory council, the membership of which has yet to be finalized, will replace the existing con­ sultative committee, which comprises representatives of the Victorian and NSW Ethnic Broadcasting Advisory Committees and the National Ethnic Broadcasting Advisory Council.

Announcement of the new SBS board has drawn protest from some q u a rte rs. The Ita lia n A ssistance Association, Australia’s largest Italian welfare organization, said the re­ vamped board denied representation to 400,000 Italians in Melbourne and Sydney. The only Italian on the new board is Jones, from Brisbane, which has an Italian population of 20,000 — and doesn’t receive Channel 0/28.

At the same time, public broad­ casters are critical of the new board.

The Public Broadcasting Association of Australia says the board failed to in­ clude anyone with experience of public broadcasting.

The SBS has already agreed to screen test television transmissions for public broadcasters for eight hours over two weekends in October. How­ ever, legislation permitting the SBS to share its channel with the public broad­ casters has not yet been passed and public broadcasters are still waiting to be issued licences.

Brian Walsh, spokesman for the PBA and chairman of Melbourne’s Open Channel co-operative, told the Mel­ bourne Age. “ They’re stalling. Unless some decisions are made by Cabinet over the next few weeks then people will be rig h t to say w e ’ve g ot a reactionary Government which is just responding to commercial pres­ sure.”

Meanwhi l e, C o mmu n i c a t i o n s Minister, Mr Sinclair, says a decision has yet to be made about formal estab­ lishment of the Independent Multi­ cultural Broadcasting Corporation as a statutory body. With the expansion of the SBS board, it appears this decision could be indefinitely delayed.

New Robb Series Jill Robb, former Victorian Film Cor­ poration chief executive, has started production on a television series destined for screening in the U.S. on pay-television.

The series, The Alcheringa Stone, is an adventure about a cattle baron and a mining magnate. It is being financed by the VFC, the Queensland Film Corporation, private investors and the t e l e v i s i o n s u b s i d i a r y of The Washington Post.

American actor Robert Vaughn, best known for his role in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., has been imported to star. Former In Melbourne Tonight host Graham Kennedy also has a leading role.

The five one-hour episodes are being shot on location at Mt Isa in Queensland. Co-producer with Jill Robb is Damien Parer. ★ Cinema Papers, July-August

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261

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ATION Nick Herd reports on the role o f government in regulating broadcasting. In particular, he examines the recent amendments to the Broadcasting Act.

nant commercial broadcasting interests. It now for direct political intervention. he argument for regulation of broad­ seems that the Government is prepared to allow Accordingly, the ABT was established in casting by the state is based upon the the regulatory initiative to pass from it to the in­ December 1976, but it was not until November concept that since the airwaves are a dustry. This is at a time when the Australian 1977 that it was given the powers previously held scarce and public resource they Broadcasting Tribunal had demonstrated that it by the Minister. Introducing the amendments, should be used in such a manner that had the confidence to devise an effective system Eric Robinson, then Minister for Posts and best accords with the public interest.ofItregulation is a in the public interest.

Telecommunications, said: concept that finds legal legitimacy in the Con­ Britain, the U.S. and Canada, the countries “The principle of a broadcasting system not stitution, which is the basis of broadcasting upon which Australia has often modelled its subject to political interference is one of the legislation and which successive governments, broadcasting system, have long had independent basic aims of the changes proposed . . . The Royal Commissions and inquiries have statutory authorities vested with the respon­ major element of the changes aimed at reiterated. sibility of regulating broadcasting in the public depoliticizing the broadcasting system is the Private interest, it is always said, cannot be interest. Their purpose has been to protect the transfer of the licensing power from the assumed to accord with public interest, no broadcasting system from private monopoliza­ Minister to the Australian Broadcasting matter how public-spirited it might be. There­ tion and political interference.

Tribunal.” fore, the state must use all its powers to ensure It is only recently, however, that Australia has The amendments gave the ABT the power to that the structural priorities of the broadcasting really had an equivalent to these bodies, the Aus­ grant, renew, suspend, revoke and approve system reflect this concept. tralian Broadcasting Tribunal. Its precursor, the changes in the ownership of licences as well as to Commercial broadcasters, in putting a case Australian Broadcasting Control Board, had an monitor and maintain program standards.' It for self-regulation, have often seemed to present essentially advisory role. The power to grant, also gave the Tribunal substantial discretionary regulation as relating primarily to questions of renew, suspend and approve changes in owner­ powers to act in the public interest outside of a program standards and local content. They are ship and control rested with the Minister. Even literal interpretation of the Act. At the time, important issues, ones which many public in the areas of program standards and the however, nobody seems to have been aware of interest groups have focused on to the exclusion allocation of frequencies the ABCB was subject just how wide the Tribunal’s discretionary of any other. However, regulation has to be seen to ministerial oversight. powers were. as going beyond this to include the issues of During the Labor Government’s term of The first public inquiry of the ABT examined ownership and control, as well as the intro­ office, the idea of establishing an equivalent to the question of self-regulation for broadcasters. duction of new technologies. the British Independent Broadcasting Auth­ The result of that inquiry was a reiteration of the It is only in recent years that ownership and ority, charged with regulating commercial concept of public regulation. The Tribunal control has become a major public issue. broadcasting, was floated a number of times. stated: Previously, it was assumed that the structure of However, no effort was made to reduce the dis­ “ We believe that the industry, either on a commercial broadcasting was more or less cretionary power of the Minister. Despite the collective or an individual basis, should be stable. While there were occasional misgivings, sound and fury, and the change of name to regularly and directly confronted with the publicly (particularly under the Labor Govern­ Media Minister, Labor did nothing to change views of those whom it serves. The Tribunal ment), about the concentration of media the regulatory system. contends that regular, public inquiries on interests, it was generally assumed that the The Fraser Government abolished the Media licence applications and renewals will achieve government could prevent major changes in the Ministry and established a departmental inquiry this aim. The philosophy of direct public status quo. However, the shakeup of com­ into the structure of broadcasting — the Green accountability is the basis of our approach to mercial broadcasting, occasioned by the inquiry. Its report recommended that, among the regulation of broadcasting.” activities of Rupert Murdoch, have put that other things, the Australian Broadcasting This statement indicated the philosophical basis assumption to the test.

Tribunal should replace the ABCB and be upon which the ABT approached the sub­ The result of that testing seems to be the invested with all the powers of the Minister. sequent public hearings into licence renewals demonstration by the present Government of a They recommended that the licensing process and share transactions. lack of resolve in regard to broadcasting should be a public one and that, as much as The licence renewal hearings in Adelaide, regulation. The amendments to the Act, pushed possible, the public should be able to confront Sydney and Melbourne failed to demonstrate through the autumn session of parliament by the broadcasters on their performance. Public how wide the powers of the ABT were. In fact, Minister for Communication, Mr Sinclair, interest groups were obviously eager for a more to many it seemed that the ABT was' being would seem to indicate an unwillingness on the open system. But broadcasters were also ready hobbled before it had really begun to move. The part of the Government to challenge the domi­ to welcome a system that reduced the potential broadcasters came to the Sydney hearings deter-

T

262 — Cinema Papers, July-August

Broadcasting and Regulation

mined to give the ABT a run for its money. It was not just that this was the first time the ABT was looking at the major media interests in the strongholds of their power. It was also that the industry had seen demonstrated in Adelaide that the ABT took its regulatory role seriously. espite the ABT’s intention to have jopen and informal hearings, the [Sydney hearings quickly bogged down in legal argument. The major issue became the procedure to be adopted by the ABT at such hearings, rather than the performance of the applicants for renewal. At that stage, the ABT had no lawyers among its members and appeared to rely too heavily upon the rather conservative inter­ pretation of the Act by the Attorney-General’s Department. This, combined with the head-on assault by the applicants’ heavyweight lawyers, turned the ABT’s procedure away from open hearings to a more adversary-type situation. The way in which the ABT excluded so many parties that wanted to participate convinced many people that the public interest had lost out to the power of the broadcasters.

The chaotic nature of the ABT’s performance at these hearings led to the Government in­ itiating an inquiry by the Administrative Review Council into the procedures to be adopted by the ABT at hearings. It also, no doubt, contributed to the appointment of lawyers as members of the ABT — in particular, to appoint David Jones as chairman after Bruce Gyngell resigned.

Ownership and control became public issues when, in 1979, Rupert Murdoch restructured his Australian media interests. Of the major media interests, Murdoch’s was the only one-that did not have substantial interests in Sydney and Melbourne television stations. Murdoch had long wanted a Sydney station. He had been the unsuccessful applicant for TEN-10 in 1964. He subsequently bought into WIN-4, Wollongong, with ambitions to strengthen its signal to reach Sydney. For a time also he had significant in­ terests in TCN-9, until “ Sir Frank Packer ran us out in the late 1960s” . But Murdoch must also have realized that with the approach of satellite broadcasting he could be left out in the cold. For not only would ownership of stations in Sydney and Melbourne mean control of the third com­ mercial network, they would also be the base for national satellite broadcasting.

When Murdoch gained control of ATV-10, through buying into Ansett, it seemed fairly evi­ dent that he and his advisers were confident of subsequent ABT approval. They had told the ABT of their intentions and were presenting them with a fait accompli. The ABT had not ob­ jected to the previous acquisition of TEN-10 and Murdoch was going to divest himself of such television interests that would bring him within the limits of prescribed interest. What was more, he liked to portray the move as an attempt to bring more competition into the Australian tele­ vision industry.

Despite the confidence of Murdoch and his advisers, there was a question raised as to whether the ABT should approve the trans­ action. The Act therefore obliged the ABT to hold an inquiry before it could refuse to grant approval. However, the terms of reference of the inquiry and the procedures undertaken by the ABT became an issue for debate when the in­ quiry first opened. In this debate, the key section of the Act was 92F(4A) which obliged the ABT not to refuse approval unless it “(a) is of the opinion that the transaction has resulted or would result in a contraven­ tion by the person concerned . . .; or (b) considers it necessary to do so in order to maintain such ownership and control,

D

which it gives to the Tribunal in connection with these matters, we infer that it is the pur­ pose of the Act to ensure that commercial broadcasting is conducted in the interests of the public.”

By the end of 1980, the ABT, with the support of the High Court, had established itself firmly as the body charged with the regulation of broad­ casting in Australia. The only way that this could be changed was for parliament to re-write the Act. That is exactly what the Government set about doing after the last election. The new Minister announced that the Government would inquire into some of the issues surrounding the ATV-10 case as they related to the Act. The inquiry was conducted by officers of the department and, although theoretically open to submissions from the public, it was conducted in such a manner that there was little opportunity for public com­ ment or scrutiny of proposed changes.

The foreshadowed amendments came to be known as the “ Murdoch amendments” because it was widely believed that the Government would legislate what the ABT had refused to ap­ prove. Certainly, Mr Sinclair made it known that the Government did not consider the ex­ istence of three major metropolitan networks as against the public interest. He also intimated that he wanted the discretion of determining what was in the public interest to belong to the Minister. It was also widely rumored that the Government would include some kind of retro­ spective legislation to ensure that the Adminis­ trative Appeals Tribunal, hearing the ATV-10 appeal, would have no option but to reverse the ABT decision. It is clear now that some of the proposals so obviously partial to the Murdoch interests were deleted as a result of pressure from Fiberal backbenchers. They were not, however, successful in protecting the power of the ABT. The amendments to the Act remove the dis­ cretionary power of the ABT to decide what is in the public interest. Instead of the ABT being able to decide, as it sees fit, what is and what is not in the public interest, this is now limited to the following guidelines: 1. Whether the applicant is fit and proper to hold a licence; 2. Whether the applicant will provide ade­ quate program services and encourage Australian production; 3. The commercial, financial, technical and management capabilities of the applicant; and 4. The degree of concentration of ownership and control, but only outside of the six ma­ jor metropolitan areas.

The amendments also make the process of takeovers and share market raids much smoother, by allowing for unconditional take­ overs and for approval of a transaction to be given by the ABT before it takes place. The amendments do nothing to prevent the use of friendly companies to “warehouse” shares as a means of getting around the ownership and con­ trol provisions. As Mark Armstrong has said, t was not the first time the ABT had relied the amendments “ . . . give a gorilla of average upon its discretionary power to make a intelligence a fair chance of circumventing the decision in the public interest. It had Act” . previously refused approval of the Mr Sinclair has also pointed out that Mur­ purchase of Radio 2HD, Newcastle, by doch can still get ATV-10. despite the absence of NBN-3, Newcastle, because it was not in the retrospective provisions, by the simple expedient public interest for one group to own a monopoly of selling the shares to a nominee company and of broadcasting in one city. That case had gone making a fresh application under the new rules. to the High Court too, where the decision of the Once that occurs, competition in broadcasting Tribunal was upheld, the Court stating: will be between three large and dominant “ From the elaborate provisions made by the groups, whose position is protected by the Act. Act in relation to the grant, renewal, revoca­ It is they who will determine a large part of the tion and suspension of licences, the limitation future development of Australian broadcasting, on ownership of shares, the determination of not the ABT or the public. Parliament has thus program standards and the extensive role moved to protect private against public interest.

whether direct or indirect, of the company holding the licence as, in the opinion of the Tribunal, best accord with the public interest.”

The movement of shares that had resulted in the change of ownership of ATV-10 did involve a rather complicated series of transactions between companies, the result of which was that the applicant before the ABT was a subsidiary of News Corporation, Control Investments.

Counsel for Control urged that the authority of the ABT was limited to considering a contra­ vention by Control and not to any other person party to the transaction. The major challenger to approval, the AFP, argued that scope of the in­ quiry was much wider than that and that they wished to pursue the question of whether contra­ ventions by persons other than Control had taken place.

The AFP did not have any primary evidence to support this case, but argued that the ABT should allow them by means of cross-examina­ tion to explore a range of matters relevant to the transaction. The ABT ruled, however, that un­ less the AFP could produce “ admissible evidence” it would not be allowed to so call and cross-examine witnesses. As a result, the AFP withdrew, went to the High Court and obtained an order halting the inquiry.

The High Court, in May 1980, ordered the ABT to re-open and reconstitute the inquiry. It reminded the ABT that it had quite extensive discretionary powers to examine all aspects of the transaction, even as it affected those who were not party to the application for approval. It said that the ABT had a statutory responsibility to examine all matters relevant to the inquiry irrespective of whether a contravention was be­ ing alleged before it or not. The ABT, it said, was not a court of law, was not bound by the rules of evidence and could inform itself on any matter it thought fit.

The importance of this ruling is that it gave support to the view that the function of the ABT was not to act as the impartial arbiter of disputes brought before it. The Act specifically charged the ABT with the responsibility not only to en­ sure that the Act was not contravened, but to regulate broadcasting in the public interest.

The reconvened inquiry, after hearing evidence that a contravention of the Act had taken place, did not refuse approval on these grounds. Instead it relied upon its discretionary power “ . . . to maintain such ownership and con­ trol, whether direct or indirect, of the company holding the licence as . . . best accord with the public interest” . What they felt to be not in the public interest was the control over the third commercial network that the transaction gave to Murdoch. They did not say that networking agreements in themselves were not in the public interest. What they felt not to be in the public in­ terest was the manner in which one or two sta­ tions could dominate a network to the extent that they determined the programming stan­ dards of the entire network.

I

Cinema Papers, July-August — 263

n January this year, th e Zagreb T h eatre C om pany appeared in an open-air p ro ­ d u c tio n o f th e play The Liberation o f Skopje at t h e ' old D a rlin g h u rs t G ao l (now E ast Sydney T echnical C ollege). In betw een this sh o rt season and one held in M elb o u rn e, F e rry ­ m a n T e le v is io n P r o d u c tio n s , Sydney, booked th e com pany for a w eek and film ed an adaptation for television.

Producer Eric Fullilove reports on the production of this harrow ­ ing story of the psychological dam age of war on a child’s mind.

I

,

1. O b ta in in g th e R ig h ts U nions an d A sso c ia te d Problems

As executive producer nominally responsible for drama for the experimental programs on the fledgling Channel 0/28, early last year I ap­ proached several entrepreneurs likely to import theatrical productions of note to Australia. The object was to consider “deals” for rights to televise such productions for Australian audiences.

Anthony Steel, artistic director of the Cladan Cultural Exchange Institute of Australia (CLADAN), enthused about the Zagreb Theatre's (Yugoslavian) production of The Liberation of Skopje, which CLADAN intended to bring to Australia in January 1981. He sent me a resume and review of the play, which made

Rade Serbedzija as Georgij, who is unable to talk after being tortured. The Liberation of

Skopje.

Yugoslavian playwright Dusan Jovanovic (left), television producer Eric Fullilove and artistic director Anthony Steel.

me as enthusiastic as he was, particularly as Australia has such large Yugoslavian com­ munities in Sydney and Melbourne (served by Channel 0/28).

As New Zealand had opted out of their proposed importation of the play, we were given the chance to buy the Australian rights to televise the production, and have the services of the Zagreb Theatre Company for one week, between other engagements. Channel 0/28 ex­ ecutives Bruce Gyngell, Ron Fowell and John Martin approved the deal, and agreement was reached with CLADAN. Actors Equity then opposed the whole proposition (because no Australian actors were to be involved in this, a production spoken in Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, German and Romany!) and protracted negotiations failed to reach a solution. It is to the credit of Channel 0/28 that they agreed to underwrite the costs of the Zagreb Theatre Company for that week, even if the teleplay could not be mounted.

Eventually, Equity came to an amicable arrangement with CLADAN and, with about two weeks notice before the arrival of the Zagreb Theatre Company, Ferryman Television Productions started urgent pre-production processes.

2. Pre-production and Censorship I was not able to get either an English or Serbo-Croatian version of the play until the Company arrived and I then rushed the play for translation into English. I found that the text was littered with four-letter words. We subse­ quently discovered that many of the actors were also ad-libbing more profanities into their roles, during dramatic moments of the play. It should be pointed out that swear words are in common use in family life among the working class in Yugoslavia and that swearing is permitted dur­ ing adult programs on television there.

As we were then adapting the play for tele­ vision, I approached the author of the play (who fortunately accompanied the Company to Australia), and the stage director from Zagreb, with a request for changes. They refused and Channel 0/28 ignored my appeals that (i) it could be screened at a late time spot, or (ii) to

Top left; members o f the Hungarian secret police in a street scene. Above: filming at the old Darlinghurst Gaol.

change the text would be the same as censoring one of Shakespeare’s works.

Not only would Channel 0/28 not allow cer­ tain words (“ fuck” and “cunt” were among them) to appear on the sub-titles, they would not allow the words to be spoken by the actors in the original languages.

Dusan Jovanovic and Ljubisa Ristic finally agreed to a compromise (“crotch” for “cunt” , for example), when I pointed out that, if we did not censor the text, the scenes would be cut later or the offending words “ bleeped” . In the event, the Final result was satisfactory from all points of view, although I was forced to have a SerboCroatian speaker on set with me during shooting.

I appointed a talented video-director, William Fitzwater, to direct the play. The stage play was set in two separate locations in the old gaol, and the audience was moved by the players within the areas. But after Fitzwater and I had seen the play, we decided it would not do it justice to have this static situation for television, so we adapted the play for television and eventually recorded the teleplay in 36 different locations.

3. Production As the original budget had been based on photographing a stage play in two locations, and not recording in so many different locales, in­ cluding interiors, Fitzwater and I planned the production tightly to make the best use of the O/B facilities arranged for the production. We had booked (from the excellent NBN-3 New­ castle station) an O/B van with four cameras for two days/nights and one camera (for pick-ups) for one day/night. As the teleplay contained day and night scenes, we made our crew calls be­ tween midday and 10 p.m. each day.

Fitzwater had planned to use only two cameras on many scenes so we “leap-frogged" the other two cameras to other locations, and the reserve camera crews set up the next scenes.

NBN-3 set up their van in the centre of the old gaol complex so that the cables could radiate out into whatever direction we should choose to shoot.

There were other complications in the plan­ ning and execution of the production. One of the attractions of the play for me was that the cast included six children, two white horses, a dog and two dozen pigeons. Our agreement with Child Welfare meant that we were only permit­ ted to work limited hours daily with the children and not later than 10 p.m. (“curtains” for the play) at night. So we had to schedule around the children.

Once we started shooting, it also started to rain. We quickly used our wet-weather cover and were forced to shoot some scenes in rain. After two days/nights, even with overtime, we were way behind schedule, so I gave the director a two-camera O/B for the last day/night’s shoot.

On the last day we started operations at 10 a.m. and Fnished at 4 a.m. the next day. (Uusually these sorts of hours are only worked on 30second commercials!)

At one stage of the shooting, two of the three cameras available packed up — technical problems caused by rain — and I admired the way that Fitzwater adapted to this nightmarish situation, the bane of video directors.

The cast were marvellous throughout. They knew the play well, of course, but they were also skilled television actors in their own country, and performed for the cameras with great skill.

4. Post-production Video tape editing was done at NBN-3 New­ castle. Because of the many shifts in location, and inserts tapes contained in so many rolls of tape, editing took 40 hours instead of the scheduled 10. We were also not able to “ off­ line” as much as we had hoped. Audio sweeten­ ing. which took place in the audio suite of Chan­ nel 0/28, also took many long hours because of the complex soundtracks. In the end, our mix was more like one on a feature film than a “sweetening” .

The teleplav was then screened on Channel 0/28 in April. The audience and critical reaction was very positive, and the channel is planning to repeat the show soon. ★ Cinema Papers, July-August — 265

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Casting ....................................... Sue Manger.

Prod, supervisor ....................Geoff Pollock Mary-Ann Willis Prod, co-ordinator . . . . Katrina Parkinson Clapper/loader ....................... Tracy Kubler Prod, manager .................. Ray Hennessy Camera assistant .............. Jerem y Robins Unit manager ...................... .. . .Ross Porter Key grip .................................Brett McDonell Prod, secretary ......................... Debbie Cox Gaffer .......................................... Craig Bryant Prod, accountant ......................... Ron Sinni Boom operator .........................Dean Gawin 1st asst director ................ Kevin Crawford Make-up .................................Michelle Lowe Continuity ............................ Andrea Jordon.

Hairdresser .............. . ..........Michelle Lowe Doreen Ritchie Wardrobe ......................... Heather McLaren Casting ................................. Judy Whitehead THE ALCHERINGA STONE Standby wardrobe ............... Rosalea Hood Camera operator ................ Joe Battaglia Prod, company ..................... AAV-Australia Props buyer ........................ Alethea Deane Lighting directors ................ Harry Meyers.

Productions Standby props .................... Nick McCallum Keith Ferguson Dist. company ................. D. L. Taffner Ltd Set dresser ........................ Harvey Mawson Gaffer ........................................... Rod Harper P ro d u c e r........................................... Jill Robb Set construction ....................Phil Worth, Art director ...........................Robbie Perkins D ire c to r.....................................Howard Rubie Hans Thiele Make-up ................................. Deryk Denese S crip tw riter.................................................. Ted Roberts Dubbing editor .................... John Hollands Wardrobe .......................... Debbie Cooper Based on a novel by .......... Osmar White Music editor ........................ Garry Hardman Ward, assistant .......... Lucinda McGuigan Sound R e cord ist...................Don Connolly Best boy .................................... Peter Moyes Props .................................... Peter O ’Conner E d it o r ....................................... Tony Paterson Runners ...................................Mike Faranda.

Special effects .......................... Clive Jones C o m p o s e r......................................... Ray Cook Steve Otton Still photography ...........................Ray Hand Assoc, p ro d u c e r ............ Spyros Sideratos Catering ...............................Fillum Catering Dialogue coach ...................... Brian James Prod, co-ordinator ...................... Chris Herd Mixed at ............................................. Videolab Publicity ................................ George Wilson Prod, manager ............................ Irene Korol Laboratories ................. Colorfilm, Videolab Studios ..................................................ATV -1 0 Unit m a n a g e r.................................. Bill'Austin Lab. liaison ............................ Peter Bowlay Length .........................................2 x 48 mins Prod, secretary ............ Rosslyn Abernethy Length ...............................................60 mins Gauge .................................... 2" Video Tape Prod, accountant ..................Connie Dellios Gauge ........ 16mm and 2 inch videotape Progress ....................................... Production 1st asst director ...................... John Warren Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Scheduled release ...................... July, 1981 2nd asst directo r............................Les Currie Progress ....................................... Production Cast: Nick Tate (Neil Scott), Steven Grives 3rd asst d ire c to r..........................Gerry Elder Cast: John Stanton (Bellamy), Tim Elston (Jason Scott). Caz Lederm an (Angela Continuity ................................... Sian Hughes (Mitchell), Jam es Condon (Daley). Adam Scott), Frank Wilson (Banjo). Tom Oliver C a stin g ........................... Mitch Consultancy Garnett (Ginger).

(Wally), Alyson Best (Lisa). Marilyn Mayo Casting consultants ...M itc h Consultancy, Synopsis: A hard-hitting police action (Dusty). Tracy Mann (Wendy). Patricia Ken­ Aboriginal Artists Agency series about the toughest cop in town, with nedy (Mrs, Muldoon), Peter Mochrie (Zack).

Lighting cameraman ..................Ernie Clark the toughest job in town.

Synopsis: On Holiday Island, one explores Focus p u lle r.............................. Martin Turner every shade of the human condition. The Clapper/loader ........................ Geoff Tanner loves, the fights, the fun. the terrors, the Key g r ip ...............................Lester C. Bishop tricks, the traumas. A continuing and everFATTY AND GEORGE Asst grip .............................Andrew Douglas changing stream of plots and personalities G a ffe r.............................................................Ted Williams that ebbs and flows with the Pacific.

Prod, company ..................Tasmanian Film Boom operator ............ Graham McKinney Corporation Art d ire cto r................................................ John Roberts Dist. company ....................Tasmanian Film Asst art director ...........................Brian Keys Corporation TH E S A T U R D A Y S H O W Make-up ........................ Margaret Llngham Producer/director.................... John Honey Wardrobe .....................................Anna Jakab S criptw riters.............................. John Honey, Prod, company .......................... Australian Ward, assistan t.............................Gail Mayes John Patterson, Broadcasting Commission Props b u y e r .............................................. John Watson Louise Sanders Exec, producer .......... Michael Shrimpton Standby p ro p s .......................Peter Burgess Based on the original idea Producer ....................................

Frank Ward Special effects.............. Conrad Rothmann b y ................................... Eddie Moses and Directors .................................... Grant Rule.

Set construction ..................... Barry Hughes Ron Saunders Ted Emery Asst editors ...................... Norvale Watson, Photography......................... Gert Kirchener Scriptwriter .............................. Peter Walsh Jenny Patterson Sound recordist ............ John Schlefelbein Based on the original Neg. m a tc h in g .............................. Ricky Main E d ito r ...........................................Kerry Regan Stunts co-ordinator ........ Peter Armstrong idea by .................. Michael Shrimpton.

Prod, designe r.......................... Jon Bowling S tu n ts.............................Samm y Armstrong, Frank Ward C o m p o s e r............................ Peter McKinley Andy Clarke Exec, producer .................... Malcolm Smith Designer ....................................Des White Laboratory ...........................................Cinevex Prod, manager ..................... Damian Brown Arrangers .......................... Kevin Hocking.

Lab. lia ison .................................Allen James Geoff Hales, Prod, secretary .......................... Pat Caspers B u d g e t..........................................$1.8 million Jack Westmore.

1st asst director and Le ngthy........................................5 x 47 mins Peter Martin. floor m a n a g e r.................... Jack Zalkalns Gauge ...................................................... 16mm Peter Devisser 2nd asst director.......................Gaye Arnold Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Prod, manager ........................ Bob Storey 3rd asst d ire c to r........................ Peter Cass Scheduled release .............. February 1982 Prod, secretary .......................Sue Fratczak Continuity .............................. Daphne Paris Cast: Robert Vaughn (Steve Sinclair), Helen 1st asst director .................... Peter Walsh Camera operator ............ Russell Galloway Morse (Antonia Russell), Graham Kennedy 2nd asst director ..................

John Slattery Focus p u lle r..................... John Jasiulowicz (C h a s s e r Fitzp a tric k ), Leon ard Tea le Producer's assistants .......... Lee Hemings.

Clapper/loader .............. Gerald Thompson (Hamilton Wrightson), Ilona Rogers (Patti Julie Phillips Key g r ip ...................................................... Gary Clements Mountford), John Howard (Peter Mount­ Electronic lighting director ........ Clive Sell Boom operator ....................... David Creagh ford), Tom m y Lewis (Ben Burnie), Tony Electronic sine Art d ire cto r.............................Jon Bowling Blackett (David Carlin), Kuku Kaa (Huskiscamera operator ..........Roger McAlpIne Make-up ............................Felicity Newman, son), Robin Ramsay (Father Bridges).

Costume designer ............ Carole Harvey Pauline Buckby S ynopsis: M ulti-m illionaire industrialist Make-up ................................Paddy Opwald Wardrobe ............ ................Pauline Buckby Hamilton Wrightson is enraged by the ran­ Wardrobe .................................. Betty Jacks P r o p s ...................................Katherine Grace dom, seemingly unwarranted attacks taking Ward, assistant .......................... Mary Rolfe Set construction .............. Richard Rogers, place, with increasing frequency, through­ Choreography .......................... Joe Latone, David Joyce out his various enterprises by unknown, un­ Coral Deague Asst editor ............................ Debbie Regan detectable saboteurs. He hires e x-C IA Musical director .................. Kevin Hocking Music performed by ........ Peter McKinley agent. Steve Sinclair, to uncover the identity Scheduled release .................. June. 1981.

Sound editor ........................ Peter McKinley of the attackers. With the assistance of AB C National Television Mixer .......................................Peter McKinley Wrlghtson’s beautiful assistant. Toni Rus­ Cast: Darryl Stewart. Louetta Farrar, Still photography............. Jacquie Gardener sell, Sinclair relentlessly pursues his quarry Michael Cole. Jane Seal!, Bartholomew Tech, a d v is e r...................Peter Richardson across some of Australia’s harshest land­ John. Bill Newman. Tikki Taylor. Ronnie Stud io s.......... Tasmanian Film Corporation scape. .

Shand. June Salter, Maurie Fields. Val Mixed at . . . .Tasmanian Film Corporation Jellay.

Length ................................... 10 x 25 mins Synopsis: A musical series featuring Gauge .....................................................Video highlights from some of the great musicals Shooting sto ck .............................. Videotape BELLAMY of the century. .

Progress .........................................In release First released . . .

March 3, 1981 (A B C -T V ) Prod, company . . . . Grundy Organization Cast: Scott Finloch (Fatty). Lisa Douglas Dist. company ...........................10 Network (George), Matthew Excell (Izzy). Pamela Exec, producer ...........................Don Battye Archer (Nancy), Barry Pierce (Phil), Noreen In charge of production .......... David Lee, S E C R E T VA LLE Y LeMottee (Auntie Kath). Fred Frampton Jan Bladier Prod, company . . . Grundy Organizations (Bert). Michael Chapman (Slasher), Shaun Directors .................................Pino Amenta, Dist. company ....................................Telecip Cocker (Jonesy), Michael Aitken (Maggot).

Colin Eggleston Producer .............................. Roger Mirams Synopsis: Fatty and George's father, Scriptwriters ......................... Ron McLean, Director ................................ Howard Rubie Edward Lockley. disappears while trying to Rick Maier Scriptwriter ............................ David Phillips create a time machine. With their friend Izzy Based on the original Photography .......................... Rory O ’Shey they rescue the time crystal from Phil and idea by ................................Ron McLean Nancy, the villains.

Slasher and his gang of Sound recordist ................. Lloyd Coleman Photography .................................Kevin Lind bullies are also on their trail. Can they Prod, designer .................... Michael Ralph Sound recordist ...........................Phil Judd rescue their father?

Prod, supervisor ...................... Peter Pinne Editor .........................................Frayne Dyke Prod, manager .................... Carol Williams Art director .........................Owen Patterson Length ...................................... 26 x 30 mins Prod, supervisor ...................... Peter Pinne HOLIDAY ISLAND Gauge .................................................... 16mm Prod, co-ordinator ....................Dale Arthur Shooting stock ........................Eastmancolor Unit managers .................... Mike Faranda, Prod, company . . . Crawford Productions Progress ........................................Production Steve Otton Dist. company . . . . Crawford Productions Ca s t : Mi c h a e l M c G l i n c h e y . Mi l es 1st asst directors .................... Mark Piper, Producer .............................. Gwenda Marsh Buchanan, Helen Haskas. Kelly Dingwell.

Graham Murray Director .................................... Colin Budds Marianne Howard. Tom Farley.

Continuity .......................Catherine Sauter, Scriptwriters ...................... Terry Stapleton.

Synopsis: A group of country children ac­ Roz Berrystone Luis Bayonas tivate an old mining town as an adventure Sound recordist .................. Greg Gurney campsite for city children.

Prod, designer ............................ Brad Ross Exec, producers .................. Ian Crawford.

Terry Stapleton Assistant producers . . . . Paul Clydesdale.

Howard Neil.

John Vomero

S E R IE S

Music performed by .......... Polly Miller.

All Mungatop and family Sound editors .................. Sandra Holmes.

Janine Chialvo Editing assistant ................Amanda Hoimes Mixer ................

Sandra Holmes Narrator ....................................... Tim Elliott Still photography ................. Sandra Holmes Opticals ..................... Optics and Graphics Title d e sig n e r............ Optics and Graphics 1S T A U S T R A L IA N S C U L P T U R E P ublicity................................... Sandra Holmes T R IE N N IA L Unit publicist ........................ Sandra Holmes S tudios..................................................... Colour Film.

Prod, com panies..............................ABC and United Sound The University of Sydney Mixed a t .................. ................United Sound Television Service Laboratory ........................ ..

Andrew Vials Dist. com panies................................A B C and B u d g e t................

S20.000 The University of Sydney L e n g t h ............................................................. 22mins Television Service Gauge . .................................................. 16mm P ro d u c e r.................................Robert Newton Progress ........................................... In release Director ...............................................Jim Dale Scheduled release’ ..................................June 1981 Photography...........................Alan Kidstone (Channel 0/28) Sound recordists ......................... Ian Armet.

Cast: Elanor Brooks. Agnes Tungatalem.

Malcolm Devenish Mungamoota Tungatalem . Tim Elliott.

E d it o r....................................

Jim Dale Amber Mae Cecil.

C o m p o s e r...............................Ian Fredericks Synopsis. The film about the myth of Exec, producer ........................ Brian Adams Pukamam. A dreamtime goddess com ­ Prod, assistants..................................... Shane Hayton. mitted adultery with the Moon Man and this Mark Newton caused the death of Jinaini. baby son of the Musical director .................. Ian Fredericks goddess. The grieving father made the first Editing assistant ......................... Mike Jacob mortuary ceremony, for the first death. The Mixer ..............................................Peter Miller story of Pukamani is told by the old Tiwi Title d e sig n e r........................................... PeterElliott sculptures of the gods and heroes, that Technician .................................John Phillips we re used in the ceremonies long ago and Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm placed around the graves. These ancient Length .................................................. 25 mins sculptures, with the appropriate Tiwi ritual Gauge ...................................................... 16mm songs, were collected by Sandra Holmes Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor over a period of 24 years and filmed to tell Progress ........................................... In release the story of Pukamani.

First released ...................... June 21. 1981 (A B C. S u n d a y S p e c t r u m ) Synopsis: A documentation of the 1st Aus­ tralian Sculpture Triennial held on the campus of La Trobe University and the Preston Institute of Technology in March this year. Includes the 3 - 3 Art Exchange program between Australia and Canada.

D O C U M EN TA R IES

FEATURES

TO F IG H T TH E W ILD

TH E L IB E R A T IO N OF S K O P JE

P ro d , c o m p a n y .........................F e rry m a n TV Prod, company .......... Richard Oxenburgh P ro d u c tio n s Productions D ist. c o m p a n y ........... .............C h a n n e l 0 /2 3 Dist. company ......................... Richard Price P ro d u c e r ...................................... E ric F u llilo v e Television Associates D ir e c t o r .......................................... B ill F itz w a te r P ro d u c e r.......................Richard Oxenburgh S c r ip t w r it e r .......................... D u san J o v a n o v ic Directors ................................... Rachel Percy.

B a se d on th e p la y by . . D u san J o v a n o v ic Richard Oxenburgh T h e a tre d ire c to r .................... L ju b is a R istic Scriptv/riter.............................................RachelPercy S o u n d ........................................... D a v o r R o cco Photography..............................................KeithLoone.

E xec, p ro d u c e r ................... D a vid L e o n a rd Paul Tate P ro d , s u p e rv is o r .................. J im W ils o n Jan Kenny P ro d , m a n a g e r ..............M ic h a e l B o u rc h ie r Sound recordist .............. Roland McManis D ire c to r's a s s is ta n t .................. B re n d a P am E d ito r ...........................................Bill McCrow A s s is ta n t d ire c to r . . . . . . . .N a d a K o k o to v ic C o m p o s e rs ................... Robert Lagette and T e c h n ic a l d ire c to r .............. C h ris D e n t Norman Wilkinson F lo o r m a n a g e r . ................W a rre n C a n te llo Exec, producer .......... Richard Oxenburgh L ig h tin g d i r e c t o r ................ B o b M c D o n n e ll Prod, manager .................... Jackie Ireland L ig h t s ...............................

D a m ir K ru h a k Unit m a n a g e r.........................................RachelPercy C a m e ra o p e ra to rs .....................T e rry B u sch .

Prod, secretary ........................ Peggy Limb G a ry W rig h t.

Asst editor .............................. Chris Benaud P e te r S c a n la n .

Neg. m a tc h in g .................................. Colorfilm G re g B osv/e ll No. of shots .............................................. 569 V isio n m ix e r ........... .D e n n is B u sch Musical director .................. Robert Lagette A u d io m ix e r .............................

J o e P a lm e r Music performed by . Session musicians V is io n c o n tro l .....................P au l O 'D o n o g h u e Mixer .........................................Phil Hey wood K ey g rip . ................ N o el M e n zie s N a rrato r......................... Richard Oxenburgh A s s is ta n t g rip .............

R a lp h C la rk Still photography.................. Joanne Ansell G a ffe r ........................ ..

F ra n k H e ffe rn a n Jan Kenny B o o m o p e ra to rs .................. . S te v e n A lfre d , Publicity . Richard Oxenburgh Productions M a rk H u s b a n d Mixed at .................................. Atlab. Sydney M a k e -u p .............................

S te ve S h a w Laboratory .........................................Colorfilm W a rd ro b e ................................D u rd ic a G u lija Lab. liaison........................ ..

Bill Gooley S et d re s s e r ................................. M a rtin O 'N e ill B u d g e t.................................................S140.000 S till p h o to g ra p h y .................. ..

B ria n B ird Length .................................................92 mins B est b o y . ..................... .... R ick M c M u lle n Gauge ...................................................... 16mm C a te rin g ......................................... C h ris S m ith Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor A n im a l tra in e r .................... G h a m W a re Progress .........................................in release F irst r e le a s e d .................. M a y 1981 First released........ ........................May 1980.

C a st. S asa S ta n o je v ic (Z o ra n ). P e ric a M a rChannel 7. Perth h n o v ic iL ic a j. Ing e A p e it (L e n c e ). R ade Cast: Rod Ansell (as himself). Luke McCall S e r b e d z ija ( G e o r g ig . B ra n k o N o v k o v ic (as himself). Raphael Thardim (as himself).

(D u sa n ). A n to n ija C u tic (A n a ). A tif A b a z o v Rupert Wandidj (as himself). Joanne Van (B e ll). T in a P ub a Jo (L u d a ). Iva P u h a lo Os (as herself).

(R e n a ta ). D raze n K a ra p a n d z a (O s k a r).

Synopsis: A true recreation of a man's sur­ S y n o p s is . T e le v is io n a d a p ta tio n o f D u san vival on the remote Fitzmaurice River in J o v a n o v ic s fa m o u s play.

northern Australia. Only the actual people involved in the event appear in the film v/hich was shot at the exact locations.

TH E G O D D E S S A N D TH E M O O N M AN Prod, company ...................... Morning Star Productions Dist. company ........................ Morning Star Productions Producer/director................Sandra Holmes Scriptv/riter............................Sandra Holmes Photography . : ........................ Mike Atkinson Sound recordist _________Sandra Holmes E d ito rs .....................................................Janine Chialvo.

Sandra Holmes.

Amanda Holmes Prod, desig ne r.................... Sandra Holmes C o m p o s e r........................ Tiwi Tribal Elders Asst editor ..........................Amanda Holmes Neg. m a tc h in g .......................... Chris Rowell No. of shots ...............................................400

Cinema Papers, July-August — 267

The Film and T e l e v i s i o n A technical series prepared by Kodak* in association with Cinema Papers

Part

4a:Film production on Videotape Editing Alternatives Many different methods can be used in assembling a film program on videotape. A typical filmmaker would prefer to first make a workprint. The original camera footage would then be cut and spliced (Fig. 1) to match the edited workprint, and a print made from the edited originals would then be transferred to tape.

Edited camera originals could also be — and often are — transferred directly to videotape.

Electronically-oriented production people with con­ siderable television experience, on the other hand, are likely to assemble a film program on tape by transferring the original camera footage to tape from telecine and then electronically editing the transfers (Fig. 2) to produce a master program tape.

Many variations of these two basic approaches are being used in film post-production with elements of film editing and electronic editing being combined in a number of ways to give producers a great choice of program assembly alternatives.

Making a transfer from film to videotape is a fairly simple procedure. A reel containing the film to be transferred is placed on a telecine projector or film scanner. Video and audio cables carry the telecine output signals to a videotape machine loaded with blank tape and set up ready for recording. On cue, both machines are started and the signals are recorded in the form of magnetic traces or tracks on the tape.

The 2-inch quadruplex videotape recorder was used years ago for professional television program produc­ tion. This recorder has a high-speed rotating head that lays down video tracks directly across the width of the tape. High-quality helical scan recorders also are used extensively in several formats. These machines carry the tape in a helical path around a rotating drum with one or more heads tracing out the long slanted tracks on the tape. With both quadruplex and helical * Compiled bv the Motion Pictures Division of Kodak Australasia (Pty Ltd).

Fig. 2. Editor assembles master program tape from various tape sources.

recordings, program audio is recorded in a continuous track along one edge of the tape. Space must also be provided on the tape for control and cue tracks.

When a videotape recorder is being set up for a film transfer, a test tape is used to optimize the recording system. A short section of color bars — electronicallygenerated vertical color bands — is then recorded at the head end of the tape on which the film transfer is to be made. The color bars serve later on as a means of optimizing the videotape machine used to play back the program. These procedures ensure that the pic­ tures at the input to the recording machine will be reproduced without significant alteration or degrada­ tion at the output of the playback machine.

Television practice requires that any changes needed in signal levels or picture color balance must be made at the sending end; in making a film transfer, this is the telecine control console. When the transfer is being made from a print, only relatively small video adjustments should be needed, since the film timer has already compensated in the printing process for sceneto-scene density and color variations in the camera originals. But in the transfer of original color reversal films or color negatives, sudden and sometimes quite large variations may be encountered, calling for cor­ rections that cannot be made unobtrusively while the film is running.

There are now facilities which make the task of the telecine video operator much easier. Many post­ production companies already have equipment that enables corrections to be determined by cycling the film back and forth over a scene; these corrections are then stored in a computer memory and applied automatically at the start of each scene as the film is being transferred to tape in an uninterrupted run.

Some Considerations

Fig. 1. Editor matches film originals to final workprint.

268 — Cinema Papers, July-August

When film is being transferred to videotape, the purpose of the transfer and the way in which the transfer is made should be given careful considera­ tion. If, for example, one plans to assemble the program by electronic editing, it is best (at least for now) to use a 2-inch quadruplex machine for the transfer. Editing capabilities for this format are par­ ticularly extensive and versatile. Besides, with a properly adjusted 2-inch quadruplex machine, picture quality can be maintained through several generations of re-recording.

On the other hand, if all or most of the editing is to take place on the film before transfer, any convenient videotape format can be chosen for the transfer, depending on the end use of the program master tape.

If the program is being produced for on-air television release, the transfer probably should be made on 2inch quadruplex equipment. Some television broad­ casters, however, are now using 1-inch helical scan recorders that are available in two (broadcast quality) formats, designated B and C. Outside these two broadcast formats, a great number of different types of helical scan recorders are in everyday operation in industry, commerce and education. Transfers can be made directly from film to any of these formats, but interchange among machines may not be feasible, or even possible. But a transfer from film to a 2-inch quadruplex tape can always be dubbed onto any helical scan format as the need arises. In most cases, this is preferable to making additional transfers directly from the edited camera originals.

The relative merits of assembling programs on videotape by film editing, or by electronic editing, should also be carefully considered. Although it may appear much easier to transfer film footage to tape and then assemble the program by electronic editing, the availability of adequate editing facilities, including at least three videotape recorders and a video switcher/mixer, must be assured. Also, the high capital cost of all this equipment (dictating a high hourly usage fee), tied up for long periods while editing decisions are being made, must be kept in mind.

Off-line editing equipment and methods, devised to ease the difficulties of gaining access to broadcastquality recording equipment for television program production on videotape, allow an editor to make time-consuming editing decisions in a quieter working area, away from the stress and strain — and noise — of the main videotape recording and playback centre.

But for these gains, a penalty must be paid; off-line editing forces the editor to deal with numbers representing real scenes and production elements. As the video pictures are being reviewed on a monitor, each frame is identified by a coded number (SMPTE time code [Fig. 3] in hours, minutes, seconds, and television frames) that is keyed into the pictures. An edit list (Fig. 4) is prepared using these numbers and other necessary information to show where cuts or ef­ fects are to appear in the final master tape. The edit list is then used to generate a punched paper tape or floppy disc for auto assembly of the program.

In contrast, the film editor works entirely with ac­ tual pictures and sound as programs are being built, scene-by-scene, on an editing table. However, the final product of the editing process, including effects, can be seen only by making and projecting a print. And

Film and Television Interface

has been hailed by American Cinematographer as a revolutionary new approach to time marking on film. Gunther Bevier of the Steenbeck Company describes an editing table they were developing in a paper in the August 1975, SM PTE Journal. And K. H. Trissl of IRT (Institut fur Rundfunktechnik GmbH) shows how this type of editing table can be used to automatically synchronize sound tracks with picture film by simply pressing a button (BKSTS Journal. November 1977). Film time coding has been used mainly in multicamera productions for syn­ chronization of film cameras with the sound recorder (usually three cameras with one sound recorder).

In film editing, there is less pressure to save time by speeding up the work, mainly because film is edited in sequence on simple and relatively inexpensive equip­ ment. Also, since the action within a sequence often suggests or even dictates the way scenes should be as­ sembled, editors can attain their creative objectives more easily working directly with film pictures and sound as compared with the electronic methods.

To be able to take advantage of the most favorable features of film and electronic editing methods — even to decide whether a program should be as­ sembled in one way or another — the program producer needs to know' how to organize these dif­ ferent operations in the most efficient manner. It is not unusual for flms to be prepared for transfer by personnel isolated from those engaged in assembling programs on videotape.

At a videotape centre, the production team may be advised to bring in all the available film footage so that the program can be assembled by electronic editing, only to find afterwards that the costs might have been substantially reduced by arranging with a Him editor to prepare the film footage for"transfer in the most economical way. The editor, in general, needs to know how Him is handled in making transfers from telecine to videotape, so that in assembling the camera originals into A&B rolls, for example, a suc­ cessful transfer can be made. once a print has been made, it cannot be changed.

At this stage, there may be a strong inducement to transfer the edited film to videotape, adding effects such as fades, dissolves, and superimposed lettering electronically. At the same time, electronic adjust­ ments can be made at the telecine control console to modify picture appearance in any desired manner. If for any reason the transfer from film is found to be unacceptable, the tape can be erased and a new transfer made, with the desired changes incorporated in it.

Film Video System Comparison A frequently stated objective in the development of the highly-sophisticated off-line videotape editing Fig. 5. Sony 2860A off-line video cassette recorder for Fig. 6a. A&B roll editing: simultaneous sound and facilities now available is to give editors and program post-production editing. picture editing on flat-bed editing console. producers a degree of flexibility comparable with film editing. The 3/4-inch helical scan cassette recorders used in off-line editing (Fig. 5) have the capability of that is recorded in the camera (in the soundtrack area) reproducing the pictures in slow motion down to still by tiny light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The specifica­ Common Practice frame, in a manner similar to a film editing table. But tions for the time-code are given in EBU recommen­ the resemblance ends there. The individual picture im­ dation Tech 3096. The Arriflex 16SR camera can be A&B roll editing (Figs 6a and 6b) has been a most ages in film frames can be seen with the eye over an il­ supplied with such a time-coding system as an acces­ useful and frequently employed method in 16mm film luminated panel in the editing table, and the equip­ sory. Jean-Pierre Beauviala has been actively engaged printing operations for many years. With this method, ment needed to recreate picture movement consists of for several years in developing time coding on film as effects such as fades, dissolves, and superimposed a very simple mechanical apparatus and a light an economic reality, and the Aaton No. 7LTR titles and credits can be added by printing, first the A source, superimposing successive film frames at any camera shown at BKSTS-sponsored “ Film 79“ in roll and then the B roll, from common start marks, desired rate on a small rear projection screen.

London incorporates lime marking. Aaton also has a frame synchronization being maintained by the film Producing a video picture for viewing is a much 16mm magnetic stock printer and a Pilotone- perforations. In modern film laboratories, printers are more complex process. First, the video signals must compatible coder for '/4-inch sound recorders. The controlled by a punched paper tape or a microproces­ be recovered from the recorded tracks on the tape by a clear numeral marking system developed at Aaton sor that counts the number of perforations (hence the moving magnetic head. Then the video signals have to be displayed on a television picture monitor by a scan­ ning electron beam to recreate the picture images.

A ROLL Electronic editing has been greatly simplified by the ' S SMPTE OPAQUE OPAQUE { SCENE 1 use of coded frame identification that enables any SCENE 3 ) LEADER LEADER LEADER j scene in a large roll of recordings to be located automatically by entering the corresponding numbers in the machine control panel. Film editing, on the other hand, is usually carried out by breaking down B ROLL the camera originals into individual scenes and hang­ ) SMPTE OPAQUE OPAQUE ing these short lengths of film on pegs in an editing SCENE 2 ' SCENE 4 ^ / LEADER LEADER LEADER _________ ______ L bin, each one identified by a tab showing the scene number.

Some work has been done to develop a time-coding system for film, but, so far, most of this effort has Fig. 6b. A&B roll editing: scene-to-scene cuts (scenes / and 2); fade or dissolve (scenes 3 and 4). been confined to Europe. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) adopted a 4-bit per frame code format Cinema Papers, July-August — 269

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Film and Television Interface

frames). It would be advantageous to be able to utilize these same methods in making videotape transfers from film. An added advantage would be that films prepared in A&B rolls for transfer to tape could also be used to make prints for direct screen projection.

What is needed here is an interface that would enable the printer control or microprocessor to operate the telecine film transport, the video levels and color balance controls, and the television switcher/mixer the same way that adjustments are made in a film <printer.

Videotape is basically a single-system sound­ recording method; that is, the audio is recorded on the same tape as the video signals. There is a great deal of interest in devising a method of double-system sound video-recording to gain the advantages that a separate soundtrack can offer.

Color reversal film is available with a magnetic stripe in the soundtrack area to make single-system camera originals. This method is used extensively in the production of 16mm films (particularly for news gathering and low-budget documentaries). But most professional film producers record double-system sound on 1/4-inch magnetic audio tape. Synchroniz­ ing pulses recorded on the 1/4-inch tape, along with the sound, enable a full-coat perforated magnetic film copy to be made from the original tapes; the magnetic sound film can then be run in lip sync with the picture film using interlocked film transports. Double-system film sound gives the program producer significant creative advantages over any other recording method and enables the film editor to turn out a finished product of unparalleled quality.

Electronic Editing o f Film Programs Electronic editing avoids any cutting and splicing of the original videotape recordings or transfers from film. Portions of recordings can be dubbed (recorded) electronically onto a program master tape, leaving the originals intact.

Two videotape machines are needed to make a simple edit. A reel containing the original recordings or film transfers is placed on one machine (A), and a blank roll to become the master program tape is loaded on the other machine (B). The A machine plays back the original recordings while the B machine records the scenes being dubbed onto the program master tape.

At the beginning of a program assembly operation, the first scene must be located in the roll of recordings on the A machine. The B machine is switched to the record mode. When the two machines are set in mo­ tion, by the operator depressing a combined start but­ ton, this scene is recorded onto the.program master tape. A search is then started for the second scene in

Audio 3 lower edge Audio 3 upper edge Sync track lower edge Control track lower th e Control track upper ed< Video track lower edge Video track upper edge Audio 1 lower edge Audio 1 upper edge Audio 2 lower edge Audio 2 upper edge Video offset Video track length Control track head ■ Vertical phase even field Sync track length Vertical phase odd sync field Vertical phase even sync-field Vertical head offset Horizontal head offset Track angle

0.00000 0.00787 0.03051 0.04035 0.05453 0.05689 0.10551 0.10787 0.11299 0.12323 0.13504 0.14843 0.15197 0.15433 0.88012 0.88484 0.89370 0.90157 0.92421 0.93406 0.95571 0.96555 0.98819 0.99606 0.00492 0.00531 0.16012 reí 0.007177 ref 16.17181 ref 4.0000 4.0315 0.04803 0.07992 0.07992 0.11220 1.00866 1.04016 0.88031 0.91220 0.91220 0 94409 0.06020 nom 1.39173 nom

or in a subsequent viewing session, editing notes and a recording log should be prepared, essentially the same as camera reports used in film production. The recording log should also show the time-code address for each scene. The start of scene 23, for example, might be identified with the scene descriptor “ Harry opens door and yells” , and the time-code address as — 10 43 18 16 — that is, the 16th frame in the 18th se­ cond (at 25 television frames per second) after 10:43 a.m.

When the time comes to locate this scene in a roll of recordings, the time-code address is dialled or entered in a keyboard on the control panel of the playback machine. Then, on depressing the play button, the machine will automatically search for that address; and after it has been located, cue up that particular frame at the playback head, or at some predetermined number of frames ahead of the first frame, to allow for machine run-up time.

The control function of the SMPTE time and con­ trol code is an invaluable aid in editing and assemb­ ling programs on videotape. By entering the outgoing and ingoing frame addresses for the splice point between two scenes, the machines will make the splice automatically on these frames. Of course, the machines used for editing must be equipped with the necessary search and control facilities for use of the codes recorded in the cue tracks of the tapes.

Fig. 8. 1-inch helical scan (typeC) videotape.

the reel of recordings. After this scene has been located, the ingoing edit point in the second scene (on the A machine) and the outgoing edit point in the first scene (on the B machine) must be selected and iden­ tified by cue marks. These could be actual marks made with a felt-tip pen on the back of the tapes, but more often the cues consist of beep tones recorded in the cue tracks of the videotape.

Again the two machines are started, with the B machine in the playback mode reproducing the tail end of the first scene previously recorded. At the cue, the B machine is switched to the record mode, either manually by the operator or automatically by the beep tones in the cue track. When the switchover is made on the B machine, erase heads clear the remain­ ing video and audio tracks after the outgoing edit point of the first scene and new video and audio from the second scene are laid down on the tape, continuing to the end of the second scene. This procedure is repeated, scene-by-scene, until the program has been assembled.

A properly-made electronic splice appears as a straight cut between the two scenes. If necessary, the sound can be laid down on the master tape separately from the picture by making a “sound only” edit. This is the basic electronic editing procedure. In practice, an experienced program production team can make an edit in less time, but the task of searching for wanted scenes in the reel of recordings (often several reels in some programs) and locating the in and out edit points in successive scenes before the splices can be made, usually takes more time and effort.

The second part of this article, to be printed next issue, will cover on- and off-line editing, edit lists for program assembly, double-system videotape editing, editing films before transfer to videotape, adding effects, the need for sync, post-production facilities, double-system alternatives, untouchable negatives and double-system sound. ★

Simplicity is Complex To simplify and speed up the process of program assembly, highly-sophisticated editing facilities have been developed. One of the most important videotape editing aids developed in the past few years is the SMPTE time and control code (Fig. 9).

All videotape recording formats allow space for a continuous longitudinal cue track (Audio 2) on one edge of the tape. Beep tones or pulses recorded on this cue track can provide for semi-automatic machine operation.

The SMPTE time and control code consists of a stream of pulses recorded in the cue track. Each television frame is identified by an ‘address’ consisting of a series of coded pulses. The code can be recorded on the tape in elapsed time from the start of a recording or in time of day from a clock. Coded infor­ mation recovered from the cue track in playback can be displayed in the form of the corresponding numbers on an electronic counter panel, or keyed into the pictures being recorded on another tape.

It is customary to record the time and control code on the videotape at the time the original recordings or transfers from film are being made. At the same time,

Fig. 9. SMPTE time code display.

Fred Harden

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Television commercial production has provided the basis o f training and livelihood for most o f the Aus­ tralian feature film industry technicians and artists.

It is also a source o f innovative and complex tech­ nology to service the need for startling images that communicate quickly and with impact.

Ian Baker is a Melbourne director-cameraman noted for his feature work as director o f photography on “The Devil's Playground” and “The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith”, and for a number o f award­ winning commercials. Recently, he used the Louma crane for the first time in Australia, in the production o f commercials for the launch o f the Datsun Bluebird.

Ia n Baker When did you first consider using the Louma for the commercials?

While I was in the initial meetings with the agency. I was tap-dancing as I described these incredible shots around a moving car that only the Louma could *Fred Harden is a film and television producer for the advertising agency John Ciemenger Pty Ltd Melbourne.

272 — Cinema Papers, July-August

With the Louma: Tony Sprague (left), Ian Baker, Jean-Marie Lavalou, Clive Duncan and Noel Mudie. time. How did you arrange it so quickly for this production?

Through them we contacted the French co-designer of the Louma, Jean­ Marie Lavalou, and arranged to have him bring the crane out.

What did it cost?

do. So, when everyone loved the idea, we were really committed to use that piece of equipment. Then there was a time when I pulled back from the idea because I didn’t want to attempt the shoot if I couldn’t have the production back-up to do it properly. That was solved when we got together with AAV. Samuelsons have been talking about the imminent arrival of the Louma for some

Mega-bucks! Out of respect for the clients, I can only say that the equipment and operator alone cost more than the total budget of the usual 30-second com­ mercial. We offered the crane to a few production companies for a share of the freight costs, but had no takers.

The main cost was the freight. They freighted every counter-weight, which was ridiculous because we didn’t know what came with it and we didn’t have time to say, “ Don’t send weights, we’ll use sandbags.” We did use the weights because they were so well designed: they

moved along a rail and you could counter-balance it instantly. That’s what cost the money, freighting tons of lead out here, plus the man and his accommodation, expenses and salary for two weeks.

One thing I worried about was the pub talk. I could hear the grips saying, “ It could have been done with an Elemack at a fraction of the cost.” But happily when everyone saw the equipment in use they were stunned. I would describe it as strapping the camera to a bumble bee and letting it loose. It is such an amazing piece of equipment that, in itself, that becomes a problem. One has to use it in a restrained way and not for the effect alone.

What was Lavalon like to work with?

Great. Whenever I explained what shot I wanted, he said, “ Fantastic.” He was impressed with the way we used its

New Products and Processes

Adjusting the balance weights.

movements to fit the mood of the com­ mercial. As we worked, if I suggested some adaption or improvement to the gear he was very receptive. They are still developing the crane and seem to a p p r e c i a t e t h e f e e d b a c k a nd suggestions.

Jean-Marie got the crane through Customs. It took a day to uncrate it and for Samuelsons to set it up. Jean-Marie then spent a day with the grips. There were three grips to operate it — two to push the dolly and one to crane it. in fact, there were times when we had two people on the crane to stop it because, after moving at one point, we had so much inertia to stabilize.

Detail o f the camera mounting with the Ikegami video camera.

Does it come with a standard dolly?

It is so beautifully designed, it can go on anything or be adapted to anything, and to any camera with a video split. The video feed is needed because the operator isn’t out there. He has his control box in a corner with a video screen and the wheels of a standard geared head. You can gear it to different weights and put tension on it, so it feels like you are actually moving a heavy camera to whatever degree you are used to. It is exactly the same in operation except that you aren’t being thrown around and should be able to do a better job than actually being on a crane.

It will go onto an Elemack on wheels or on tracks. Its own dolly is like a grander Elemack, higher because it will pitch down much lower from its fulcrum. We used it on and off its mounting. Tony Sprague at AAV has the complete set of its operating statistics but, for instance, on the dashboard shot we used a prism and went from a 2 inch (5 cm) lens height up to a possible 17 ft (5.2 m).

The biggest move we did was an arc of about 300 degrees around the car which involved a 30 ft (9.2 m) doily, moving from a 2-inch lens height to about a 13 ft (4 m) lens height. That shot lasts for about 30 seconds and that is quite grand when you are on a false floor and trying to work up through a tight row of elec­ tronics. Also, we were on a stage and you know how hard it is to light a car and make it look good.

The fact that the crane moves through such a wide area must cause unique lighting problems . . .

Sure. For lighting we had holes in the black floor with mini-brutes underneath projecting onto a huge overhead bounce board suspended from the roof about 2 ft (0.6 m) from the top of the car. So, in fact, we were dollying through shafts of light.

When you look horizontally at the car you could only sae blacl* through the holes.

Unless there was dust in the air, you couldn’t see the shafts of light.

Many people might criticize my use of the Louma but, with due respect, you

have to understand how difficult it is to light a car and do such a movement.

Remember you are looking first in one side of the car then the other. So, using the crane meant we had lights on either side of the lady in the back, both on rheo­ stats. When we moved from one side to the other, we would fade one up and the other down, with the lady throwing a piece of black velvet over the light that was in shot. We had people walking behind the camera putting masks over the camera to stop the reflections in the car. Then, whenever we crossed through one of the shafts of light, it would often cast a shadow of the crane onto the bounce board which you could see in the car. So, we had people lying on the floor with black cutters shuttering the lightshaft as the crane was about to cross it and someone uncovering another one to get the exposure.

In that shot we had about 18 people performing some highly-timed function, including the talent in the car turning the headlights up and down as we moved to the front. It is hard to appreciate the technical nature of what the machine did for us and what its use required. The total staging of the shoot took about two weeks and we shot seven spots in six days, most of which were pullouts from the 90 sec.

Was there a particular reason you shot on videotape?

We had so many things going on that I

Cinema Papers, July-August — 273

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New Products and Processes

Clive Duncan at the control wheels and monitor (Ian Baker seated at his left).

The Louma in operation.

felt we needed to see not just a video split, which is not a very satisfactory image, but what we were really getting. I couldn’t wait for the following day to find the guy didn’t shutter the light at the right time.

The machine obviously impressed you.

Do you see yourself using it again?

It is a great machine. The next time I do a feature, the first piece of equipment I would consider using would be the Louma. 1 could easily justify it to any producer. The amount of production value you would get out of the use of the crane, plus the saving in time in being able to move quickly around any interior or from interior to exterior or on exterior moves, would easily justify it.

The great thing about Jean-Marie as a co-designer is that whatever you wanted to do, you would put the problem to him and, even if they went away for six months and totally redesigned the thing, he would make sure you could do the move.

The machinery is as refined as, say, open-heart surgery. There is no noise and it is beautifully made. You would have to see it to appreciate my remark about strapping it to a bumble bee. The greatest fears I had about justifying the cost in bringing it out here were resolved on the first day when all the clients came to see this wonderful machine. Jean­ Marie just got on to the wheels and made the camera do loop-the-loops in the air.

That was enough. They didn’t want to see it shoot; they knew they had spent their money wisely. So did I! I think it is the sort of machine that could be easily misused. You should start out with the idea and then realize it with the machine. It would also be invaluable where danger is involved. For instance, you can crane over a cliff or into a heat area, or where there is going to be flying glass or a crashing car. You could have it right down In front of the car. Okay, if it gets hit it is an expensive hit. But you certainly don’t have an operator, focus puller and director out there. They are all sitting in safety looking at the monitor.

Tony Sprague (AAV) How is the pan and tilt head tensioned?

Was it difficult to swing or tilt the arm?

The speed ratios are controlled by the buttons on top of the control box. The pressure on the wheels is constant. So, if you set it so that the head goes twice as fast as you turn, you don’t have the same feeling as a geared head. There Is no weight relationship at all.

The strain of concentrating that Clive Duncan, the operator, went through must have been great. Unfortunately, by the time we finished the commercial and he had the knack of it, the Louma had to go back. It would take a while for an operator to get used to not having the weight of the camera against him or his eye to the viewfinder.

No, it was all counter-balanced, it was literally only a finger that was needed to move It. You didn’t have to heave at all.

Sometimes, however, an operator was needed to slow it down at the end of a move because it had built up inertia. Noel Moodie was at the front end of the arm guiding It and he was dancing like a ballerina as he dodged in and out of bounce boards and lights.

How long did it take to unpack and set up the crane?

When we first set it up at Samuelsons, there was Jean-Marie, myself and a couple of the young guys from Sammies, and it took us an hour. That was with Jean-Marie saying, “That bit in that box goes there.” None of us had a clue which bit went where.

Could you strike it as quickly?

With a trained crew you could set it up or strike it in half an hour. It would be slightly longer to set up the video split.

The length of the arm makes a difference to the speed of set up because after you extend it beyond 17 ft (5.2 m) you have to add bracing pieces to strengthen it. But it’s all beautifully made; there Is a yoke on the end to attach guy ropes to and there is a handle that tightens it quickly.

Is there some motorized extension of the arm possible or is it all mechanical?

No, the boom is fixed. It Is made up of sections and if you want to change the length there is a special trolley that you put under the camera head to support it.

You drop it down, take the weights off, unscrew the end section and insert another piece. It only takes a few minutes. The weights have nylon centres and are on a cam so that they slide easily yet lock into place with the flick of a lever.

They weigh about 15 kg a piece.

What is the function of the semi-circular white gears at the post and on the head?

They are linked with a rod that goes through the centre of the tube and act together to keep the camera level when the arm is raised or lowered. The operator doesn’t have to tilt the camera to keep it horizontal to the floor. That is done for him and he only tilts relative to that.

Do the camera cables also go through the tube?

No, they run along it. We had the camera cables, including the zoom and focus controls that Ian operated in some of the shots, plus the leads of the lights mounted on the end. There is provision for headsets to plug into the end so that the crane operator and the two dolly operators had headsets. Clive had a headset and Ian had a spare set that were hooked into a cassette player so they could all hear the music and word cues.

What was the dolly like?

The dolly that came with it was a heavy duty dolly like a Rolls running on Elemack tracks or wheels. The centre section we used was about 3.5 ft (1.1 m), but you can go to a 5 ft (1.5 m) one. There are adjustable stays that brace it solidly.

Did Jean-Marie do any of the operating?

No, but he was a tremendous help.

There were moves that we had planned the way we would with a normal Elemack and a jib arm. But he was able to say, “ In­ stead of doing that, why not set the tracks this way?” He saved us a lot of time. ★ Cinema Papers, July-August — 275

Will your next T V or movie music score win an award?

The composers listed here are available to the film, TV and advertising industries. Their diverse talents cover the musical spectrum through classical, jazz to contemporary music.

Kevin Peak

Kevin Peak, after receiving a classical musical education in Adelaide, went to the U.K. to pursue his musical studies at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music. He became one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Europe with such names as Manfred Mann, Tom )ones, Olivia Newton-john, Mary Hopkin, Shirley Bassey and Mel Torme.

He has made his name internationally as a classical solo guitarist on the concert platform but of late he has turned more and more to composition. Some of his film and TV work includes Animal Olympics (BBC); Tales of the Unexpected (Anglia), (sold in 45 countries); and The Long Good Friday (feature), in conjunction with Francis Monkman.

As a member of the famous "Sky" group he has also composed and arranged many of their most successful hits.

Kevin is now intending to spend much of his time in Australia with his family.

John VaHins

john Vallins hails from a musical Melbourne family. In 1 965, at the age of 15, he became a professional bass player and had his first chart success the same year with the Melbourne band "Kinetics". He toured Australia with rock and roll bands until 1971 when he left for the U.K. to join Steve Kipner and Steve Groves in the band "Tin Tin" under the management of Robert Stigwood.

Whilst touring the USA with the Bee Gees, "Tin Tin's" single Toast and Marmalade for Tea reached the top of the American charts.

During 1973-79 John was back in the U.K. writing in partnership with Nat Kipner for such a

For further details of dates, times and availability of the above artists please do not hesitate to contact:

wide variety of performers as Acker Bilk to the Pedlars. He returned to Australia in 1978 and shortly afterwards received international acclaim tor the song he wrote with Nat Kipner, Too Much Too Little Too Late for Johnny Mathis and Denise Williams (No. 1 world-wide with millions of record sales). In 1 980 he was awarded the B.M.I. Music Writing Award (USA).

At present he is under contract to Alberts and is specifically working with Russell Dunlop and Bruce Brown in composing music for record release and advertising purposes.

Ron Goodwin

where he is regarded with the highest esteem for his work in the field of composing/arranging for TV, films and documentaries.

His talent for producing some of the most recognizable signature tunes and incidental music may be heard in the following list of credits: ■ M oonstrike (1 960); Lorna Doone; Kidnapped; The Last of the Mohicans; The Expert; The Man Outside (1970); The Long Chase; The Ascent of Man; The Brothers; M adam e Bovary; The Tom orrow People; North & South; Katy; Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm; Target; The Nixon/Frost Interview; The Lost Boys (Ian Holme BAFTA Award 1980); Sense & Sensibility (1980); Hamlet; The W inter's Tale.

A new score for Marguerite & Armand (Liszt) for the Covent Garden Orchestra.

Currently working on "Storky & Co" (Kipling) and on the film Flame from the Forest.

Countless episodes of Dr. W ho Countless episodes of Blake's Seven (18,000 singles of orch. playing the main theme sold to date).

Ron Goodwin, with more than 70 film scores to his credit, is an undisputed master of his craft.

His music ranges from jazz to classical treatments.

He is a perfectionist with an enormous sense of fun, which has earned him the deep regard of his colleagues throughout show business. He broadcasts, records, composes film music and appears on the concert platform.

As a result of touring Australia and New Zealand as guest conductor with the major symphony orchestras, he has formed a very special relationship and fondness for the industry here and the Antipodean landscape.

The following are just a few of his outstanding credits: 1958-60 Village of the Damned, I'm All Right Jack 1960 Trials of Oscar W ild e (Warwick Films) 1962 Day of the Triffids 1963 633 Squadron 1964 O f Human Bondage 1965 Those M agnificent Men in Their Flying Machines 1966 That Riviera Touch 1968 W here Eagles Dare 1969 Battle of Britain 1972 Frenzy 1973 The Little M erm aid (Cartoon feature) 1974 The Happy Prince (Cartoon feature) 1977 Candleshoe (Disney) 1978 Force Ten from Navarone

Dudley Simpson Dudley Simpson was born and educated in Melbourne. He is currently living in the U.K.

Chris Neal Chris Neal has a background of classical study of piano, general music (included in arts degree course at Sydney University) and professional football ! In the early stages it was a toss-up between these two diverse spheres.

However, music won out with this talented and intelligent musician. His career has proceeded with highly acclaimed successes as a performer, composer and songwriter, record producer, sound engineer and expert in the field of computer synthesis.

He is currently working on the sound/ music for W all to W all (Feature), A Load of O ld Rubbish (short feature) and his second solo album.

A partial list of film, TV and audio visual soundtracks is:

Composition and Production — Age of Consent; Wilderness; M etropolis (1926); M utiny on the W estern Front; Ballooning; The Last Great Rally; The W atnut River.

Features (Synthesiser Work) — Lost Island; Is Anybody There?; Dot and the Kangaroo; Auntie Jack; Norman Gunston; Little Boy Lost.

Partial Discography — "Man-Child" 1972 (Cast LP) LP; "Winds of Isis" 1974 (Solo LP) LP; "Newcastle Song" 1974 (Bob Hudson) LP; "Rak O ff Normie" 1 975 (Maureen Elkner) Single; "The Word Was Gough" 1975 (Peter Luck/'Mike Carlton) LP; "Picnic at Hanging Rock" 1976 (Nolan/Buddle Quartet) Single.

M IC H A E L W IL SO N & A SSO C IA TES 4/123 Macquarie Street, Sydney, N.S.W. 2000. Telephone: (02) 27 5880

FEATURES P R E -P R O D U C T IO N

Assoc, producer ................ Peter Campbell Synopsis: A film following the events of a lonely, young school teacher in a small North Queensland town. Her loneliness leads her into having an affair with an older man.

-

GOODBYE PARADISE

Photography.............................. Darren Boyce Sound recordists .................... Simon More Darren Boyce E d ito r.......................................... Darren Boyce 1st asst, d ire cto r............................Kim Taylor Script assistant .................... Michal Bladen C a stin g ........................................ Darren Boyce Camera operator ................... Darren Boyce Special fx photography........ Darren Boyce Electrician.................................. Simon More Make-up ..................................... Kim Taylor Opticals ...................................... Darren Boyce B u d g e t.....................................................S3000 Length .................................................60 mins Cast: Sally Minter (Marni), Kim Torres (Mark), Mandy Smith (Bitch), Kim Taylor (Doctor).

Synopsis: A psychic horror story.

Sound recordist .............. Ken Hammond E d ito r ................................................John Scott Prod, designe r............................................ NeilAngwin Exec, producer ....................... Phillip Adams Assoc, p ro d u c e r...........................Erwin Rado Asst producer .......................Fran Haarsma Prod, manager .................. Jane Ballantyne Financial a d v ise r......................................John Foster 1st asst director ................... Bernard Eddy Focus p u lle r.............................Nino Martinetti Clapper/loader ............................. Chris Cain G a ffe r.......................................................... John Engeler Boom operator ..........................Grant Stuart Make-up ..................................... Viv Mepham To ensure the accuracy of your H airdresser................................................... Viv Mephamentry, please contact the editor of this Wardrobe ............................... Frankie Hogan colum n and ask for copies of our Pro­ Props buyer .............................. Phillip Eagles duction Survey blank, on which the Best boy .............................Michael Madigan details of your production can be Runner .......................................Tom Bacskai entered. All details m ust be typed in Catering ...................................... Kerry Byrne u p p e r and low er case Laboratory .......................................... Cinevex The cast entry should be no more Length ................................................ 100 mins than the 10 main actors/actresses — Gauge ......................................................35mm their names and character names. The Shooting sto ck ......................... Eastmoncolor length of the synopsis should not Cast: Wendy Hughes (Patricia), Norman exceed 50 words.

Kaye (Peter).

Entries m ade separately should be Synopsis: A tragi-comic love story be­ ty ped in u p p e r and low er case, tween Peter Thompson, a middle-aged following the style used in C in e m a bachelor, and Patricia Curnow. a 30 yearP a p e rs. old spinster.

C om pleted forms should be sent to:

PRODUCERS, DIRECTORS AND PRODUCTION COMPANIES

Prod, company .......... Petersham Pictures P ro d u c e r.........................................Jane Scott D ire c to r.......................................Carl Schultz DOT AND SANTA CLAUS Scriptwriters ..................................... Bob Ellis, (Further Adventures of Dot and the Denny Lawrence Kangaroo) Based on original idea P ro d , c o m p a n y ......................... Y o ra m G ro s s by .....................................Denny Lawrence Sound recordist................. Syd Butterworth F ilm S tu d io E d it o r ...................... Richard Francis-Bruce D ist. c o m p a n y . . . S a to ri P ro d u c tio n s Inc., Prod, desig ne r.........................George Liddle N e w Y o rk C o m p o s e r..................................................PeterBest P r o d u c e r / d ir e c t o r ...................Y o ra m G ro s s Prod, co-ordinator .................. Fiona Gosse S c r ip t w r it e r s .............................. J o h n P a lm e r, THE PERFECT FAMILY MAN Prod, manager ........................ Jill Nicholas Y o ra m G ro s s Prod, s e c re ta ry.......................................... Lyn Galbraith B ase d o n th e Producer ................................ Natalie Miller Prod, accountant ................Richard Harper o rig in a l id e a b y ..................... Y o ra m G ro s s Director ...................... Malcolm Robertson Bookkeeper................................ Karen Volich P h o t o g r a p h y ........... B o b E vans (a n im a tio n ), Scriptwriter .......................... Alan Hopgood Location m a na ge r..................Janene Knight C h ris A s h b ro o k (liv e a c tio n ) Photography .................. Malcolm Richards 1st Asst d ire c to r....................................... NeillVine-Miller S o u n d re c o rd is t fo r Editor .....................................Robert Gibson 2nd Asst director .................. Peter Willesee c h a ra c te r v o ic e s ......... J u lia n E llin g w o rth Assoc, producer ....................Carlie Deans 3rd Asst d ire cto r..................................... PeterKearney C h a ra c te r d e s ig n .................... Ray N o w la n d Prod, co-ordinator .................... Tessie Hill Continuity ....................................... Pam Willis C o m p o s e r .................................. M e rv y n D ra k e Prod, manager .................. Robert Kewley Ca stin g.......................................Michael Lynch A ss o c , p ro d u c e r .......................S a n d ra G ro s s Synopsis: The film charts the fortunes of Casting consultants .. Forcast Consultants P ro d , m a n a g e r ......................... V irg in ia K e lly Gerald Percival, a 38 year-old business ex­ Production Survey, Lighting cameraman ................. John Seale P ro d , s e c re ta rie s / ecutive who is married with two young Cinema Papers Pty Ltd, MAD MAX II Camera operator .......... Danny Batterham A d m in is t r a t io n .......................... M eg R o w e d, children, as he embarks on his search for 644 Victoria St, Focus p u lle r.............................................Steve Mason M a rg a re t L ove ll self-realization.

Prod c o m p a n y.......................Kennedy Miller North Melbourne, Vic., 3051 Clapper/loader .................... Russell Bacon P ro d , a c c o u n ta n t .................. W illia m H a u e r Entertainment Key g r ip ......................... Graeme Litchfield P ro d u c e r's a s s is t a n t ..................K e lly D u n ca n Telephone: (03) 329 5983 Dist. company ...............................Roadshow G a ffe r.............................. Graham Rutherford C a s t in g ............................. In te rn a tio n a l C a s tin g For details on Billy West see previous issue.

P ro d u c e r.............................. Byron Kennedy Boom operator ............................Noel Quinn S e rv ic e s D ire c to r.....................................George Miller Art d ire cto r................................John Carroll C a m e ra o p e ra to r ............................B o b E vans Scriptw riters.............................Terry Hayes, Art dept c le rk .................................. Geraldine Royds C a m e ra a s s is ta n t ...........L y n e tte H e n n e ssy George Miller, Producer’s assistant...................Linda Bates Make-up ..................Leslie Lamond-Fisher A rt d ir e c t o r .................................. Ray N o w la n d Brian Hannant Bookkeeper ................ Jennifer Lee Lewes S c e n ic a r t i s t ............................................... A m b e r E llisH airdresser.................................Jenny Brown Photography............................... Dean Semler Sydney office liaison ...................Dixie Betts P R O D U C T IO N Wardrobe ....................................... Kate Duffy N e g. m a t c h i n g ........... ..

M a rg a re t C a rd in Sound recordist ..................... Lloyd Carrick Telephonist............................................. Sandy Laidlaw Ward, assistant .................Leslie McLennan C h ie f a n im a t o r ........................... Ray N o w la n d E d ito r...................................Michael Chirgwin Documentary Props a ssistant.............................. Igor Nay A n i m a t o r s ..................................P au l M c A d a m , Prod, manager .................... Patrick Clayton photography.................................... Andrew Lesnie Props b u y e r .................................... Ian Allen A n d re w S ze m e n y e i, Location m a n g e r.......... ... .Steve Knapman Helicoptor P ilo t ........................................ John Hurrel Standby p ro p s ..........................Igor Lazareff A th o l H e nry, Prod.

Gyro copter pilot................ Gerry Goodwin BREAKFAST IN PARIS Special effects........................ Chris Murray C y n th ia L e e ch, secretary........ Rosanne Andrews-Baxter Transport manager ...................Ralph Clark Special effects asst .............. David Hardie N ic h o la s H a rd in g Pre-production co-ordinator .. .Jenny Day Unit d rive rs................................................ John Brand, ........................Ross Coleman A s s t a n im a t o r ....................................................K ay W a Choreography tts Prod, accountant .......... Catherine Barber Jack Skyver Prod, company ......................

John Lamond B a c k g ro u n d a r t i s t ....................................A m b e r E llisCarpenter .............................. Robin Warner 1st asst director .................. Brian Hannant Security Guards ..................... Hugh Gooley, Motion Picture Enterprises 2nd asst director.................. Toivo Lember Set construction manager ..Denis Donelly P a in t e r s ...................................... R u th E d e lm a n , David Jeffery Dist. company ..............................

Roadshow Asst editor .................................. Mark Darcy K im M a rd e n , 3rd asst d ire c to r........................................ PhilHurst Truck mechanic .....................Arthur Henley Producer/director.................. John Lamond No. of s h o t s .............................................Linda Wilson • S te ve H u n te r, 4th asst director ......................Andrew Plain Motorcycle mechanics . . . . Barry Bransen, Scriptw riter.............................. Morris Dalton Sound editor ...................... Andrew Stewart N e rissa M a rtin , Continuity ...................................... Linda Ray Guy Norris Sound recordist ...................... John Rowley Editing assistants ............ Ashley Grenville M a rg a re t B u tle r, Ca stin g............................ Mitch Consultancy Chief car mechanic ............... Dave Thomas E d ito r ...................................................Jill Rice Stunts/animal h a n d le r................ Denis Hunt K im C ra s te Camera operator .................... Dean Semler Mechanics team ..........................

Allan Mills, C o m p o s e r.......................................Brian May Still photography......................Jim Townley In b e tw e e n e rs .......................V ic k i R o b in s o n , Focus p u lle r.................. Richard Merryman George Bischoff, Exec, producer .......... Cinema Enterprises Best boy ................................ Jack Kendrick A s trid B re n n a n , Clapper/loader ................ Andrew McLean Bill Anderson.

Assoc, p ro d u c e r................................ MichaelHirsh R u n n e r..................................... Peter Lawless B re n d a M cK ie , Key g r ip .................................. Graham Mardell Gordon Parr, Prod, su p e rviso r........................ John Chase Publicity.......... Brooks White Organization P au l M a ro n Asst grip ................................... Garry Carden Marshall Read, Prod, secretary ..........................

Ann Mudie Unit publicist ............................

David White A n im a tio n a s s is t a n t ......... R o b e rt M a lh e rb e G a ffe r............................................John Morton Stuart Johnson.

Prod, accountant ................Graeme Wright C a tering ...................................John Faithfull C h e c k e rs a n d c le a n e rs . . .A n im a tio n A id s, Boom operator .................. Chris Goldsmith John Murch, 1st asst director ................... Ross Hamilton S tud io s...................................... Artransa B ru c e W a rn e r, Art d ire cto r............................Graham Walker Clive Smith 2nd asst director....................................... BillyBaxter Mixed at ................................... United Sound Ja n C a rru th e rs Art department Additional unit director . . . Byron Kennedy 3rd asst d ire c to r....................................StuartWood Laboratory ...................................... Colorfilm L a b o ra to ry .............................................C o lo rfilm assistant ............................ Pauline Walker Additional unit 1st asst Continuity ...................................... Julie Bates Lab. liaison....................................................BillGooley L e n g th ...................................................... 80 m in s Make-up ........................ Lesley Vanderwalt d ire c to r................................ Mark Thomas Producer's assistant.......... Michele Wiener Length .................................................110 min G a u g e ............................................................3 5 m m Make-up assistant ................ Karla O ’Keefe Additional unit Director’s assistant..........Denise Patience Gauge ......................................................35mm S h o o tin g s t o c k ............................ E a s tm a n c o lo r Costume designer . . . . . . Norma Moriceau photography.........................................GeoffSimpson Lighting cameraman ........

Ross Berryman Shooting stock . . . .

Eastmancolor negative P ro g re s s .....................................P re -p ro d u c tio n Wardrobe m a s te r.................... Roger Monk Additional unit Focus p u lle r.....................................Ian Jones Progress .........................................Production S c h e d u le d re le a s e .................... M a rc h , 1982 Pre-production camera assistant .................. John Brock Clapper/loader ......................

David Stevens Scheduled release ........................ Mid 1982 Cast: D re w F o rs y th e (S a n ta C la u s).

Additional unit grip ..........Graham Carter Key g r ip ....................................................... NoelMudiewardrobe m istress..........Shelley Lodge Character Voices: B a rb a ra F ra w le y (D ot), Cast: Ray Barrett (Mike Stacey), Robyn Wardrobe machinists.............................. Pam Maling, Main unit second Asst g r i p ................................................... BarryBrown Nevin (Kate), Janet Scrivener, Kate Fitz­ R o ss H ig g in s .

Terry Lamera, camera opera tor..................................... BillGrimmond G a ffe r.........................................Lindsay Foote Synopsis: T h e c o n tin u in g a d v e n tu re s o f D ot patrick, Lex Marinos, John Clayton, Guy Margaret Thomas Main unit second Boom operators .................Steven Hagerty, Doleman, Paul Chubb. a n d h e r s e a rc h fo r th e m is s in g jo e y . D ot Special props camera assistant ........ Peter Lipscombe Andrew Ramage Synopsis: Cathy was all any old fool could m e e ts w ith a h o b o in h e r o u tb a c k h o m e designer/maker ............ Melinda Brown Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm Art d ire cto r.......................... Stephen Walsh ask for — a beautiful masochist with an to w n , th e h o b o b e c o m e s S a n ta C la u s, Props b u y e r .................................................

Ian McGrath Lab. liaison...................................Bill Gooley Asst art director .....................Eric Gradman Electra complex. She knew her life was a a n d ta k e s D o t on a w o n d e rfu l a d v e n tu re Art department runner . . . . Peter Dastaldi Color g ra d in g ......................................... Arthur Cambridge Costume designer great pre-destined adventure, and, if it w itn e s s in g v a rio u s C h ris tm a s c e re m o n ie s Standby p ro p s ..........................................John Danieil Optical effects ......................

Roger Cowland for Ms Parkins ...................... Prue Acton ended like Bonnie and Clyde, so be it. It was a ro u n d th e w o rld .

Special effects ch ie f............Jeffrey Clifford Neg. cutter .......................... Margaret Cardin Make-up ........................................ Jose Perez girls like this that old fools like Agamemnon Special effects team ........ Monte Fieguth.

Length .................................................go mins H airdresser..................................... Jose Perez died for.

David Hardy, Gauge ......................................................35mm Wardrobe c o -o rd in a to r.............Jane Howat THE DUNERA BOYS Steve Courtley Shooting sto ck........................ Eastmancolor Standby p ro p s .................. Helen Kavanagh Special effects ru n n e r............Mark Clayton Cast: Mel Gibson (Max), Bruce Spence KANGAROO Special effects......................................... BrianPearce Prod, company .................. Adams Packer Special effects w e ld e rs........ Brian Hunter, (Gyro Captain), Mike Preston (Pappagallo), Carpenters ............................... Hugh Bateup, Productions Greg Mulhearn Producer ...................................... David Roe V e rn W e lls ( W e z ) , K je ll N ils s o n Robert Hern, Director ......................................... Ben Lewin Prosthetic make-up ............ Bob McCarron Director .......................................Tim Burstall (Humungus), Emil Minty (Feral Child), Max Peter Hern, Scriptwriter ...................................Ben Lewin Construction managers . . . . Dennis Smith, Scriptwriter ................................ Evan Jones P h ip p s (T o a d ie ), S yd H eyle n ( C u r ­ Steven Poole Synopsis: After the Nazis smash shops and Kerrin Stevens Based on the novel by . . . D. H. Lawrence mudgeon), Virginia Hey (Warrior Woman), Set construction ............................... Ian Doig burn synagogues in Vienna, the leading Construction team ..........Fredrick Santos, Photography .............................Brian Probyn Steve J. Spears (Mechanic).

Still photography................. Graeme Webber character escapes to London joining 2500 George Zukiwskyj, Sound recordist ......................... Des Bone Synopsis: The sequel to the box-office hit Best boy ....................................Gary Scholes Jews in detention as "enemy aliens” . To George Tsoutas, Editor ................ Edward McQueen Mason Mad Max. Publicity.............. Taking Care Of Business avoid growing political embarrassment, Michael Lehmann, Prod, designer ....................Wendy Dickson Unit publicists ............................Judy Green, Churchill exports them to Australia on the Assoc, producer ...................... Pom Oliver Peter De Bono, Peter Murphy hell-ship Dunera. Enjoying better relations MONKEY GRIP Philip Henderson-Wilson, Prod, manager ..................Michael Falloon C a tering ...................... Kerry Byrne Catering with their Australian gaolers they recreate a Prod, secretary ....................... Cara Barnes Derek Wyness S tudios................. Port Melbourne Studio semblance of Viennese cafe society in the 1st asst director ....................Mark Egerton Asst editor ................................

Les Fiddess Laboratory .......................................... Cinevex treeless desert — until tragedy strikes.

Prod, company .......................Pavilion Films Editing assistant .....................Alison Pickup Continuity .................................. Jo Weekes Lab. liaison.................................................Alan James P ro d u c e r.................................Patricia Lovell Dubbing editor ................... Bruce Lamshed Art director .............................. Greg Brown Length .................................................. 90 mins D ire c to r....................................Ken Cameron Mixer .........................................Roger Savage Synopsis: The story of an English couple Gauge ......................................................35mm FORTRESS Scriptw riter..............................Ken Cameron Post-production sound . . . . AAV Australia who travel to Australia with the intention of Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Based on the novel b y ........ Helen Garner Stunt co-ordinator .......................Max Aspin possibly settling here. They form a close Prod, company .......... Associated R and R Scheduled release .......... November, 1981 Photography............................David Gribble Stunt team .......................Gerry Gauslaa, friendship with an Australian couple, and Films Cast: Barbara Parkins, Rod Mullinar.

E d ito r .......................................David Huggett Glen Boswell, through them meet the leader of a Director ............................. Bruce Beresford Synopsis: Th e rom ance that develops Prod, d esigner.............................Ross Major Kim Noyce, clandestine fascist organization made up Based on the novel by . . . . Gabrielle Lord between a successful dress designer and a Composer . . .Bruce Smeaton (and others) largely of returned servicemen from World Guy Norris, Exec, producer ........................ Hilary Heath photographer. Set against the backdrop of Cast: Noni Hazelhurst (Nora), Colin Frielf Bradley Patterson War 1. This leader, a strange charismatic Photography.............................Floss Nichols romantic Paris, it traces the resolution of (Ja vo ). Alice Garner (G ra cie ). Harold Acrobatic stunts ......................Vern Dietrich character called Kangaroo, aims to estab­ Sound recordist ...................... Gary Wilkins their conflicts and their final union.

Hopkins (Willy).

Truck precision driver . . . .Dennis Williams lish a fascist dictatorship in Australia.

E d it o r ................................. William Anderson Synopsis: Nora's addiction is romantic love: Music c o m p o s e r..........................

Brian May Kangaroo is attracted to the Englishman, Synopsis: A country school teacher and her Javo's is hard drugs. They are trapped in a Still photographer..................Carolyn Johns urging the fascist cause. After a series of pupils are kidnapped. After recovering from desperate relationship. The harder they pull Animal handler/trainer ............

Dale Aspin events culminating in a political riot, the CLOSE TO THE HEART the initial shock, they set about organizing away, the tighter the monkey grip.

Best B o y ......................................Paul Moyes writer decides he cannot support Kangaroo their escape. The plan leads to revenge Prod, company ...................Adams Packer Asst electrician ........................

Dean Bryan and leaves Australia. against those who have violated the es­ Film Productions R u n n e r..........................................Kevin Cross tablished pattern of their lives.

SOMETHING WICKED Producer ............................ John B. Murray Traffic S up ervisors................... Ian Mitchell, Director ...........................................Paul Cox MARNI Dean Keenan Scriptwriters .........................John Clarke, GIRL WITH A MONKEY Unit n u rs e s ...................... Angelika Wyness, Prod, com pa n ie s.................. David Hannay Producer/director.................... Darren Boyce Paul Cox Athnea Willcocks Productions P ro d u c e r................ .................... David Perry S criptw riter.................................Darren Boyce Based on an original idea Ca te re r.......................................... Ray Fowler and O.B. Productions S criptw riter...............................Frank Harvey Based on the original by .................................................Paul Cox Asst caterer .............................. Peter Moyes Marketing c o m p a n y .................... Film Force Based on the novel by ............ Thea Astley idea by ................................. Darren Boyce Photography ................................ Yuri Sokol Producer's secretary . . . Catherine Phillips (Colin James)

Cinema Papers, July-August — 277

P ro d u c e r................................................ David Hannay Mixed at .................................. United Sound E d it o r ...............................................Alan Lake C o -p ro d u c e r.................................Geoff Brown Laboratory .......................................... Cinevex Prod, designe r...................... Bernard Hides Director ................................... Brian McDuffie Lab. liaison................ Stanley Lopuszamskl Cast: Steven Railsback (Paul Anders), S crip tw riter............................................... Terry O'Connor B u d g e t.....................................................SI.7m O liv ia H u s se y (C h r is ), Noel F e rrie r Based on the Length .............................................. 105 mins (Mallory). Michael Craig (Thatcher). original idea b y ................................... Terry O'Connor Gauge ......................................................35mm Synopsis: The year is 1995, and the world is Photography.................................David Eggby Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor carefully run by a strict regime. If you step Sound recordist ......................... Mark Lewis Cast: David Atkins (Squizzy Taylor), Jackie out of line, you are labelled a “Turkey”.

E d it o r ................................................ Tim Street W eaver (Dolly Grey), Kim Lewis (Ida Further failure to conform means you are a Prod, designe r.......................... Bob Hilditch Pender), Robert Hughes (Harvey), Steve candidate for the "Turkey Shoot”.

C o m p o s e r.................................. Mike Harvey Blsley (Cutmore), Cul Cullen (Stokes), Alan Exec, producer .................................(Filmco) Cassell (Brophy), Michael Long (Piggott), John Fitzpatrick WALL TO WALL Tony Rickard (Dutch), Simon Thorpe (Pad­ Prod, manager ........................Julia Overton dy).

Prod, secretary .....................Belinda Mason Synopsis: A film based on the life of the Prod, company ........................ Wall to Wall Prod, accountant .......... Howard Wheatley notorious Melbourne gangster of the 1920s, 1st asst director ............... Andrew Williams P ro d u c e r.................................................... ErrolSullivan “Squizzy" Taylor.

D ire c to r......................................................MarkEgerton 2nd asst director.......... Michael Bourchier 3rd asst d ire c to r.................. Annie Peacock Photography.........................................VincentMonton STARSTRUCK Continuity ............ Margaret Rose Stringer Sound recordist .................... John Phillips Camera operator ................ David Connell E d ito r ...........................................Colin Waddy Focus p u lle r.................................. Erika Addis Prod, d esigner................... Larry Eastwood Prod, company ........Palm Beach Pictures Clapper/loader ........................... Erika Addis C o m p o s e r........................................ Chris Neil Dist. company .............. Hoyts' Distribution Camera assistant ...............Salik Silverstein Exec, producer .................. Ross Matthews P ro d u c e rs .................................. David Elflck, Key g r ip ............................ Merv McLaughlin Prod, manager ........................ Julie Monton Richard Brennan G a ffe r............................................Roger Wood Unit m a n a ge r..............................Tony Winley Director ........................... Gillian Armstrong Prod, secretary ........................ Cara Fames Electrician..................................... Peter Wood Scriptw riter..................... Stephen MacLean Boom operator ........................ Steve Miller Prod, accountant ........................ Penny Carl Based on the Art d ire cto r..................................................Bob Hilditch 1st asst director ................ Steve Andrews original idea b y ...........Stephen MacLean 2nd asst director........................................ PhilRich Asst art director ......................Robert Jones P hotography............................ Russell Boyd Length ................................................ 95 mins Continuity ........................................ Jo Weeks Make-up ..................................Rina Hofmanis HEATWAVE Sound recordist ............................

Phil Judd Gauge .................................................... 35mm H airdresser.................................................Rina Hofmanis Ca stin g.............................. Mitch Consultancy E d ito r .............................. Nicholas Beauman Shooting sto ck........................ Eastmancolor Camera operator .......... David Williamson Wardrobe ...................................... Bob Lloyd Prod c o m p a n y.....................Heatwave Films Prod, d esigner.................... Brian Thomson Cast: Angela Punch-M cGregor (Melanie), Focus p u lle r ............................................ Steve Dobson Props b u y e r ...................................Tony Hunt P ro d u c e r...............................Hilary Linstead Asst to prod, designer . . Andrew Sanders Graeme Blundell (Tom ), Ruth Cracknell Clapper/loader ..................Robyn Peterson Standby p ro p s .............................. Tony Hunt Director ........................................ Phil Noyce Assoc, p ro d u c e r.............Stephen MacLean (Iris). Henri Szeps (Lilo), Sonja Tallis (Pam Key g r ip ................................................ Geordie Dryden Asst editor ............................ Cathy Sheehan Scriptw riters................................ Mark Stiles Prod, manager ..................... Barbara Gibbs mie), Moya O'Sullivan (Mrs Malone), Les Asst grip .................................. Terry Jacklin Neg. m a tc h in g .......................... Gordon Peck Marc Rosenberg Unit m a n a g e r.......................................RichardUssher Foxcroft (M r Malone), Graham Rouse G a ffe r............................................. Pav Gov nd Sound editor .................. ............Klaus Jaritz Phillip Noyce Prod, secretary ........................ Lynn Gailey (Father James), Serge Lazareff (Colin), Alan Boom operator ...........................Ray Phillips Editing assistants .................. Terry Mooney Photography........................ Vincent Monton Prod, accountant ................ Digby Duncan Becher (Jim ), Mark Lee (Bruce).

Make-up .......................................... Liz Michie Mixer .................................................Phil Judd Sound recordist ....................

Lloyd Carrick Prod, assistant............... Vicki Montgomery Synopsis: Melanie and Tom have been the H airdresser...................................... Liz Michie Stunts co-ordinator ........ Peter Armstrong E d ito r.............................................John Scott 1st asst director .................... Mark Turnbull best of friends since pre-school. Thirty Wardrobe .................................... Jenny Miles Still photography.......................Chic Stringer Prod designer ............................

Ross Major 2nd asst director.......... . . . Chris Maudson years later they become lovers. Will they Ward, assistant..................................Miranda Skinner Title d esig n e r.............................................Fred Simms C o -p ro d u ce r........................ Ross Matthews 3rd asst d ire c to r.................. Colin Fletcher ever live happily ever after?

Props b u y e r .............................................DavidBowden (Broadway Graphics) Assistant locations Continuity ............................. Adrienne Read Standby p ro p s ................ Karan Monkhouse R u n n e r.................................. Vanessa Brown m a n a g e r................................ Mark Thomas Casting............................................................ LizMulllnar A BURNING MAN Special effects........................................... IvanDurrant Publicity................................. Carlie Deans Prod m a n a g e r........................................ Lynn Gailey Casting consultants ............ M & L Casting Asst editor ............................ Christine Spry Unit publicist .................. Maggie McPhiilips Unit m a n a g e r............................ Peta Lawson Extras casting Prod c o m p a n y........ McElroy and McElroy Sound editor ........................ Vicki Ambrose C a tering ....................................................... PaulSargent Location m a na ge r.................... Peta Lawson co -o rd ina to r.................................. Christine Woodruff Still photography......................... Bliss Swift P ro d u c e r.................................................James McElroy Mixed at ................................... United Sound Prod secretary.......................... Fiona Gosse Camera operator ....................Nixon Binney D ire c to r.............................. Quentin Masters Best boy ........................................ Andy Reid Laboratory ............................................ Atlab S o lic ito r...........................................Lloyd Hart Focus p u lle r..............................................John Swaffield Scriptwriters ........................ David Ambrose R u n n e r.................................... Mark Lamprell Lab. liaison.................................................. Jim Parsons Prod accoun tan t.................. Penelope Carl Clapper/loader ..................... Geoff Wharton Quentin Masters Catering . ...........................Cecil B. de Meals Length ...............................................100 mins Accounts asst ............................. Alan Marco Key g r ip ........................................................ RayBrown Gauge .........................................Wide Screen on Wheels Based on the 1 st asst director ................ Steve Andrews Asst grip .................................. Stuart Green original idea b y ........................ Kit Denton Shooting sto ck...................................... 35mm Studios................................................ Mort Bay 2nd asst director................ Chris Maudson G a ffe r......................................................... Brian Bansgrove Cast: Gary Day (Ed Ballinger), Penny Dow- Photography............................ Peter Hannan Cast: Diana McLean (Val), Jon Blake 3rd asst d ire c to r........................................ PhilHurst Electrician......................................Colin Chase nie (Cindy), Kim Deacon (Jane), John Ewart Sound recordist ..................... Don Connolly (Peter), Daniel Cummerford (Joey), Jan Continuity ............................Therese O ’Leary Boom operator .............................. Pat Fiske, E d ito r.........................................Richard Clark (Mr Stollier), Jill Forster (Mrs Stollier), Peter Kingsbury (Peg), David Franklin (David), Casting...................................... M & L Casting Jack Friedman Prod, designer ...................... Bob Hilditch Collingwood (M r Hollister).

Joanne Samuel (Chris), Kit Taylor (Paul), Extras casting Art d ire cto r.................................................. KimHilder Asst designer ........................ Robert Jones Guy Doleman (Mike Hayes). c o -ord ina tor.................... Jenny Goddard Asst to art d ire cto r.................... Robert Dein Prod, co-ordinator .............. Terry Fogarty Synopsis: A suburban community is bliss­ Camera operator .......................Louis Irving Costume designer ............ Luciana Arrlghi Prod, manager ...................

Peter Appleton fully unaware that a killer stalks the streets.

Focus p u lle r............................. David Brostoff Make-up .................................. Elaine Carew Prod, accountant ............ Elaine Crowther A mother and her two sons survive In a dis­ Clapper/loader .................. Andrew McLean Hairdresser...........................Cheryl Williams 1st asst director ........................David Finlay integrating relationship. These two ele­ P O S T -P R O D U C T IO N Key g r ip ...........................................Ray Brown Wardrobe (costumes) ................Terry Ryan 2nd asst director........................ John Rooke ments coming together form the basis of Asst grlp/s .............................. Stuart Green Wardrobe supervisor............Antony Jones 3rd asst d ire c to r................ ..........Ian Kenny this mystery/thriller.

G a ffe r..........................................................Brian Bansgrove On-set w ard ro b e .................Sue Armstrong Continuity .............................. Roz Berrystone Electrician..................................................Colin Chase Props b u y e r s .......................Sally Campbell, Prod, assistant....................................... Wilma Schinella Gene o p e ra to r..........................................Colin Chase Llssa Coote Casting..........................................................RaeDavidson SQUIZZY TAYLOR THE BEST OF FRIENDS Boom operator .................. Chris Goldsmith Set d ressers.........................Sally Campbell, Camera operator ....................Keith Woods Art department manager ........ David Searl Prod, company . . . . Simpson Le Mesurier Lissa Coote Prod, company ........................ The Friendly Focus p u lle r..............................Steve Mason Costume designer ...................... Terry Ryan Standby p ro p s ......................................... Clark Munro Films Film Com pany Clapper/loader ..........................Stuart Quin Make-up .................................... Sally Gordon Asst to art d e p t....................... Scott Roberts Dist. company ................................ Filmways Dist. c o m p a n y .................... Hoyts Theatres Key g r ip ........................................................DonAndrews Make-up assistant ............... Edwina Archer P ro d u c e r........................ Roger Le Mesurier Art dept ru n n e r............................ Peter Hart P ro d u c e r.............................. Tom M. Jeffrey Asst grip ....................................Phil Shapiera Hairdresser............................ Melissa Jaffer Choreography .......................... David Atkins D ire c to r.................................. Kevin Dobson Electrician................................................DerekJones D ire c to r...........................Michael Robertson Wardrobe ............................. Jillian Mahoney Asst to choreographer ........Andris Toppe S criptw riter........................... Roger Simpson Scriptw riter.....................Donald Macdonald Boom operator ............ Graeme McKinney Ward assistant.....................Anthony Jones Scenic a rtist............ Elizabeth Leszczynskl Based on the Based on the original Costume designer ............ Marta Statescu Standby wardrobe ...................... Jan Hurley Carpenters ........................

RoryForrest, idea by ...................... Donald Macdonald original idea b y ............... Roger Simpson Make-up ........................................Jose Perez Props b u y e r .........................Robert Flaherty Chris Jones, P hotography................................ Dan Burstall Photography............................ David Gribble Hairdresser................................................ Jose Perez Standby p ro p s ..........................................John Daniell Guy Miller Sound recordist ........................ Phil Sterling Sound recordist ............................ Tim Lloyd Ward assistant...................................Catriona Brown Special effects Set construction ...................... Alan Fleming E d it o r ...................................... David Pulbrook E d ito r........................................ Ron Williams Props b u y e r .................................... Ian Allen consultants.......................Reece Robinson Asst editor ..............................Duncan Taylor Prod, designe r...................... Logan Brewer C o m p o s e r.......................................Brian King Standby p ro p s ...........................................PaulJones Bob McCarrow Supervising sound editor . . . .Dean Gawen C o m p o s e r..............................Bruce Smeaton Script consultant...................... Betty Archer Special effects......................... Brian Olesen Special effects assistant . . . . Alan Maxwell Exec, producer ....................Roger Simpson Editing assistants .................... Frank Lipson Prod, manager ..................Su Armstrong Alan Maxwell Choreography ...................... Christine Koltai Prod, su p e rviso r............ Brian D. Burgess Edge n u m b e re r.......................................Lindy Trost Unit m a n a ge r.................... Tony Wellington Carpenters ............................ Robert Shearer Model consultant ...................... David Muir Prod, manager ........................Christine Suli Stunts co-ordinator ............ .. .Max Aspln Prod, secretary .................... Julie Kennedy Trevor Fidock Set d re ss e r............................. Sally Campbell Location m a na ge r................ Warwick Ross S tun ts............................................................Bob Hicks Prod, accountant .......... Howard Wheatley Mike Osbourne Asst set dresser .......................... Peter Hart Prod, secretary ......................... Ann O'Leary Still photography...................................... BlissSwift 1st asst director ...................Eddie Pyrllnski Set construction ...................... John Parker Architectural consultants . . Paul Pholeros Prod, accountant ........................ Patti Scott Rigger and a erialist..................Tim Coldwell 2nd asst director..................................... Colin Fletcher Stunts co-ordinator .....................Max Aspin Steve Lesiuk Prod, assistant.......................... Wendy Miller W ra n g le r...................................... Dale Aspin 3rd asst d ire c to r...................... Tony Winley Still photography. . . . Geoffrey McGeachin Construction m a n a ge r.............Danie Daems A FTV S attachment .. Stephanie Zverlnova 1st asst director ............ Philip Hearnshaw Continuity ............................ Adrienne Read Best boy .................................... Matt Slattery Asst editor .................... Frans Vandenburg Best boy .................................... Paul Gantner Producer’s secretary . . . . Elizabeth Barton 2nd asst director.................... Paul Healey R u n n e r................................................ Richard Hobbs 2nd asst editor ...............................Sue Scott R u n n e r....................................................... PeterPage 3rd asst d ire c to r.................Marcus Skipper Casting............................................ Dee Neville Unit publicist .......................... Babette Smith Cutting rooms and Unit publicist ...............................Fran Moore Continuity ............................... Anne McCleod Camera operator ....................Nixon Binney Catering..............................Christina Norman Catering ............................ Cecil B. De Meals sound rushes.................. Studio Clip Joint Lighting cameraman ................Dan Burstall Focus p u lle r................ Peter Menzies, jun.

Scheduled release ........ December, 1981 Rushes scre e n in g ....................United Sound on Wheels Camera operator ......................Dan Burstall Clapper/loader ............... Geoffrey Wharton Cast: Tom Skerritt (Howard Anderson), Ian Dubbing editor .............................. Greg Bell Focus p u lle r .......................... Barry Halloran S tudios.................................................Art-ansa Key g r ip ................................Paul Thompson Gilmour (Steve Adams), James Mason Asst dubbing e d ito r.............. Helen Brown Laboratory ............................................... Atlab Clapper/loader .................... Warwick Field Asst grip .............................Brendon Shanley (George Engels), Wendy Hughes (Sophie Safety co-ordinator .................... Max Aspin Lab. liaisons............................ Greg Doherty, Key g r ip .................................. Paul Ammitzbol G a ffe r........................................Miles Moulson McCann), Kim Deacon (Maggie Anderson), Fight choreographer .................. Max Aspin Asst grip ..................................Peter Kershaw.

Cheryl Rodgers Electrician.............................................RichardOldfield Ray Barrett (Webster), Norman Kaye (Percy Still photography.......................

David Parker Gauge ......................................................35mm Boom operator .....................Jack Friedman Farley), Guy Doleman (Julian Fane), Martin G a ffe r........................................... Brian Adams Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Boom operator ...................... Geoff Wilson Art d ire cto r................................................John Carroll Robert McFarlane Harris (Curly Chester), Michael Petrovitch Voice consultant................................. George Ogilvie Art d ire cto r...............................Logan Brewer C a s t : J o K e n n e d y (J a c k i e ) , R oss Asst art director ..................... Simon Qualfe (Joe Lallniei).

O'Donovan (Angus), Margo Lee (Pearl), Best boy .................................... Paul Gantner Asst art director ....................... Frank Jakab Make-up .......................................... Liz Michie Synopsis: A film covering the events of Max Cullen (Reg), Pat Evison (Nana). Ned R u n n e r.................................... Richard Ussher Costume designer ................... Jane Hyland H airdresser....................................................LizMichie bushfires in Sydney's Blue Mountains, dur­ Lander (Robbie), John O 'M ay (Te rry).

C a tering ...................................................... KeithHeygate Wardrobe ..................................... Carol Berry ing a hot Christmas summer.

Make-up ................................. Lois Hohenfeis Melissa Jaffer (Mrs Booth). Dennis Miller Ward, assistant................ Lesley McLennan Cecil B. de Meals on Wheels H airdresser............................................... Suzie Clements (Lou), The Swingers (Favorite Band).

Catering assistant...................... Ken Taylor Props b u y e r ................................................Sue Hoyle Wardrobe ....................................Jane Hyland FREEDOM Synopsis: A rock musical comedy about a Laboratory ...................................... Colorfilm Ward, a ssistan t....................Margot Lindsay Standby p ro p s .......................................... AnniBrowning young barmaid.

Lab. liaison.................................. Bill Gooley Asst editor .....................Catherine Sheehan P ro d u c e r.................................... Matt Carroll P r o p s .................. Nicholas van Roosendael Cast: Judy Davis (Kate Dean), Richard Moir Neg. m a tc h in g ....................Margaret Cardin '©irector ........................................ Scott Hicks Props buyer . . . . Nicholas van Roosendael (Steven W est), Chris Haywood (Peter Musical director ..........................

Brian King Standby p ro p s ...................................... Harry Zettel Scriptw riter................................

John Emery TURKEY SHOOT Houseman), Anna Jemison (Victoria West), Music orchestrations ...G e o rg e Brodbeck Photography.......................... Ron Johanson Special effects................. Konrad Rothman Bill Hunter (Robert Duncan), John Gregg Set decorator . ..................... Patrick Reardon Sound editor ............................ Paul Maxwell Sound recordist ........................ Tim Lloyd (P hilip La w son ), Dennis M iller (M ick Set construction .......................Rowan Flude Prod, company . Second FGH Consortium Asst sound e d ito r................................ Anne Breslin E d ito r ............................................ Phillip Reid Davies), Carole Skinner (Mary Ford), Gillian Mixer ........................................ Peter Fenton Production designer............ Herbert Pinter Asst editor ........................... Brett Southwick P ro d u c e rs...................... Antony I. Ginnane, Jones (Barbie Lee Taylor), John Meillon Asst m ix er................................. Gethlin Creag Cast: John Blake (Ron), Candy Raymond Sound editor ....................... Louise Johnson William Fayman (Freddy Dwyer).

Editing assistant ................... Ann Beresford Still photography..................................... BrianMorris Director .................. Brian Trenchard Smith (Annie). Charles “Bud" Tlngwell (Cassidy), Still photography....................... Susy Woods Title d e sig n e r........................................ XTO ?

Scriptw riters............................Jon George, Chris Haywood (Phil), Kati Edwards (Ron’s Best b o y .................................. Gary Plunkett Best boy ......................................Gordon Nutt mother).

Neil Hicks R u n n e r.................................... Jake Atkinson R u n n e r.................................David Trethewey Synopsis: Ron is a 22 year-old loser. He Based on the Publicity.......................................David White Publicity............................ Lynette Thorburn original idea b y .......... George Scherick. survives on his dream of a world where he THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER Ca tering..................................................... Jems Catering C a te rin g ............................ Ann Dechalneaux Robert Williams, at least has a chance. The dream comes S tud io s.......................................................AAV, Mixed at ................................... United Sound true briefly, before it shatters when he is and David Lawrence Prod, com panies................ Michael Edgley Laboratory .......................................Colorfilm Open Channel, P hotography............................ John McLean used again. He steals a Porsche 930 Turbo International and Lab. liaison....................................................BillGooley Port Melbourne Studios Sound recordist .......................... Paul Clark and turns his dream into reality.

Cambridge Film Productions

Freedom

278 — Cinema Papers, July-August

THE KILLING OF ANGEL STREET Exec, producer ....................... Phillip Adams Lab. liaison.................................. Bill Gooley Assoc, p ro d u c e r........................ Brian Rosen Length .................................................90 mins.

Prod company ............ Forest Home Films Prod, co-ordinator ................ Janet Mclver Gauge . .................................................35mm Dist. company ....................................

GUO Unit m a n a g e r................................Paul Arnott Shooting sto ck.........................Eastmancolor P ro d u c e r.............................................. Anthony Buckley Prod, secretary ........................ Toni Barnard Scheduled release .......... Christmas. 1981 Director .................................Donald Crom bie Prod, accountant .................... John Foster Cast: Bert Newton (M r Cody), Pamela S criptw riters.......................... Michael Craig.

Prod, assistant.................Michael Bourchier Stephenson (Ms Wave), Graeme Blundell Cecil Holmes.

Transport manager ............ Gary Reberger (Mr X). Andrew McFarlane (Milligan). June Evan Jones Construction m a n a g e r.............. Ray Pattison Salter (Mrs Cliquot), Drew Forsythe (Katz), P hotography...............................Peter James Asst construction Richard Meikle (President), Miguel Lopez Sound recordist . . . : ............ John Phillips manager .......................... Danny Corloran (Dr Juan Peron). Mary Anne Davidson E d ito r.......................................... Tim Wellburn 1st asst director ...................... Tim Higgins (Isobel Gold), Terry Bader (M r Gleeson).

Prod, d esig ne r....................... David Copping 2nd assist d ire c to r.......... Brendan Lavelle Synopsis: The loves, the lives, the dreams Prod manager ............ Jacqueline Ireland 3rd asst d ire c to r.......................................Jess Tapper and the fears of the incredibly young doc­ Unit m a n a g e r.......................... Richard Cole Continuity .............................. Christine Lipari tors and nurses. But, in this adaptation of Location M a n ag er.................. Richard Cole Camera operator .................... Gary Hansen the oft-told story, the doctors and nurses Prod, secretary .......................... Dixie Betts Focus p u lle r.................... Peter Van Santen are played by children, the patients by Prod, accountant ...................Digby Duncan Camera operator ........................Peter Moss Prod, company ...................... Yoram Gross Clapper/loader ..............................Phil Cross adults.

1st Asst d ire c to r.................................Andrew Williams Focus p u lle r............................................. David Burr Film Studio Key g r ip .................................. Noel McDonald 2nd Asst director .................. Peter Jacobs Costume designer ...................... Terry Ryan Dist. company ........................ Yoram Gross Asst grips ...........................Wayne Marshall,.

3rd Asst d ire cto r.................... Simon Dibbs Horse trainer ...................... Denzil Cameron Film Studio John Jasiukowicz DOUBLE DEAL Continuity .......................................Linda Ray Wrangler ................ : ..................John Baird Producer/director...................Yoram Gross G a ffe r...........................................................MickMorris Casting.............................Mitch Consultancy P ublicity........ Michael Edgley International S criptw riters.............................Yoram Gross, Gene o p e ra to r...........................................Tom Robinson Prod, company ................Rychemond Film Camera operator .......... Danny Batterham Unit publicist .............................Suzie Howie Elizabeth Kata Boom operators ....................... Greg Steele, Productions Focus p u lle r ..........................

Andre Fleuren Stud io s.....................................Starch Factory Based on the Dist. company ................................(overseas) Malcolm Cromie Clapper/loader .................... Andrew Lesnie Gauge .....................................................35mm original idea b y ...................Yoram Gross Asst art director ..........Graeme Duesbury Hemdale Leisure Corp.

Key g r ip ............................

Graham Litchfield Shooting sto ck........................ Eastmancolor Photography.............................Jenny Osche, Costume designer ........ Camilla Rountree P ro d u c e rs .......................... Brian Kavanagh, Asst grip .................................Richard Walsh Synopsis: An epic action adventure story Bob Evans (animation), Make-up .................................... Sally Gordon Lynn Barker Gaffer .....................................Warren Mearns based on Banjo Paterson’s classic poem, Lloyd Freidus Make-up assistant ........ Robern Pickering D ire c to r..................................................... BrianKavanagh Boom operator ...................... Geoff Wilson "The Man From Snowy River”. (live action — New York) H airdresser.................................Willi Kenrick S criptw riter............................................... BrianKavanagh Art d ire cto r...........................Lindsay Hewson Sound recordist .......................... Gary Rich Seamstress 1 .............................................RuthTickle Based on the Asst art director ..................Robyn Coombs (live action — New York) Seamstress 2 ..............................Ruth Munroe original idea b y ................................... BrianKavanagh Costume designer .........Judith Dorsman E d ito rs ....................................................... Moya Wood, Wardrobe assistant ............ Fiona Nicholls Photography.......................... Ross Berryman Make-up .........................................Jill Porter John Palmer MYSTERY AT CASTLE HOUSE Stand-by p r o p s .............................. Ro Bruen Sound recordist .................... John Phillips H airdresser............................................... WillieKenrick Character design ...................... Athol Henry Stand-by props assistant . .. .Greg Nelson E d it o r................................................ Tim Lewis Prod, company ........................ Independent Ward, a ssistant....................

Katrina Brown Assoc, p ro d u c e r ................................. Sandra Gross Special effects........................................ReeceRobinson C o m p o s e r............................ Bruce Smeaton Props b u y e r .......................... Neville Duguid Productions Prod, managers .......... David B. Appleton Asst special effects ................... Peter Gloss Exec, producer ............................ John Daly Asst editor ............................

Vicki Ambrose P ro d u c e r.............................Brendon Lunney (New York), Art department assistant . Steve Fullerton Assoc, p ro d u c e r.................... Carlie Deans Best boy .................................Alleyn Mearns Director ...................................Peter Maxwell Virginia Kelly (animation) Art department animals ............ Earl Gano Prod, s u p e rviso r..........................John Chase R u n n e r......................................

Janene Knight S criptw riters...........................Stuart Glover, Unit m a n a ge rs....................................... Yoram Gross Horse m a s te r.......................... Ray Winslade Prod.

C a tering ......................................John Faithfull Michael Hohensee (animation), Asst editor ................................ Karen Whiter co-ordinator . . . Carolynne Cunningham Laboratory ........................................

Colorfilm Based on the original idea David B. Appleton Still photography................ Penny Tweedie Prod, accountant ......................Lynn Barker Lab. liaison................................................. BillGooley b y ............................................... Geoff Beak (New York) W ra n g le rs ............................ Jim Willoughby, Prod, assistant.............................................LynDevine Length .............................................

100 mins.

P hotography.....................................Phil Pike Prod, secretaries................ Margaret Lovell, Barry Groves 1st Asst d ire c to r.................. Ross Hamilton Sound recordist .......... Rowland McManls Gauge ......................................................35mm Meg Rowed Wranglers’ assistant................. Jan Mitchell 2nd Asst director ......................... Bill Baster Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor E d it o r ...........................................Bob Cogger A dm inistration.................................. MargaretLovell Best boy .................................. Richard Curtis 2nd unit d ire cto r..................................... BrianKavanagh Exec, producer ...........................Gene Scott C a s t : E liz a b e t h A l e x a n d e r . J o h n Meg Rowed Unit ru n n e rs ....................Antony Shepherd, Continuity ............................... Shirley Ballard Assoc, p ro d u c e r .....................Russell Hurley Hargreaves. Reg Lye. Prod, accountant .................. William Hauer Ian Billing Producer's assistant........Helen Kavanagh Prod, co-ordinator ................... Peter Abbott Synopsis: A tale not just of corruption, but Prod, assistant...................................Jeanette TomUnit s n u rs e .................................................. SallyWalker Lighting cameraman ........Ross Berryman Prod, manager ........ Christopher Gardiner of c o ura ge , d eterm ination and self­ 1st asst director .......... David B. Appleton Aboriginal adviser.................. Vikki Christie Focus p u lle r..................................... Ian Jones Prod, secretary .............. Wendy Chapman realization. A film about a woman who at­ (New York) D riv e r.......................................... Peter Bourne Clapper/loader ..............................Phil Cross Prod, assistant.......................................... Sean McLoury tempts something that an ordinary in­ Producer's assistant................................KellyDuncan Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm Special fx .......................... Conrad Rothman 1st asst director . . . .Christopher Gardiner dividual would never think herself capable Casting................ June Cann Management, Lab. liaison....................................................BillGooley G a ffe r...................................... Lindsay Foote 2nd asst director....................................... PaulCallaghan of achieving — a woman who sets an Shanahan Management Length ................................................ 90 mins Boom operator .......................... Ray Phillips Continuity ........................... Catherine Sauter example to the rest of us in taking on Casting consultants . . . Mitch Consultancy Art d ire cto r..................................... Jill Eden Gauge ......................................................35mm Ca stin g.............................Mitch Consultancy authority.

Camera assistant .......... Lynette Hennessy Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Asst art director .......................... Phil Eagles Camera assistant ......................Keith Bryant Key g r ip .............. Bob Shulman (New York) Cast: Angela Punch McGregor (Jeannie Make-up ............................. Deryck De Niese Key g r ip .............................Merv McLaughlin Electricians................................ Raffi Ferucl, Gunn), Arthur Dlgnam (Aeneas Gunn), Tony H airdresser.............................................. PietraRobins PUBERTY BLUES 2nd unit photography ................ Phil Dority, Tom Drake (New York) Barry (Mac), Martin Vaughan (Dan), Lewis Wardrobe ..............................

Anna Jakab Garry Maunder Make-up ............ David Forrest (New York) Fitz-Gerald (Jack), John Jarratt (Dandy), Props b u y e r ...........................Nick Hepworth Prod, company . . . . Limelight Productions G a ffe r...................................................Ray Ang Hairdresser . . . . .David Forrest (New York) Cecil Parkes (C h e on ), Danny Adcock Standby p ro p s ............................................KenHazelwood Dist. company ................................Roadshow Boom operator ........................ Jan McHarg Wardrobe . . . . Marsha Pattern (New York) (Brown), Tom m y Lewis (Jackaroo), Donald Special effects.................. Conrad Rothman P ro d u c e rs .................................................. Joan Long, Art d ire cto r................................Jakob Horvat Scenic a rtis t................ ................Am ber Ellis Blitner (Goggle Eye).

Construction.................... Geoff Richardson.

Margaret Kelly Wardrobe ................................. Fiona Spence (animation) Synopsis: A story of the hardship faced by Ian Doig Director ................................ Bruce Beresford P r o p s ...................................... Brian Edmonds Backgrounds ............................ ..A m b e r Ellis newly-married Jeannie Gunn which recalls Asst editor ................................ Ken Sallows S criptw riter........................................ MargaretKelly Asst editor ........................Mickey O ’Sullivan Neg. m a tc h in g .................. Margaret Cardin the courage, vitality and humor of early Still photography.......................... Suzy Wood Based on the novel Neg. m a tc h in g ............................ Chris Rowell Music performed by ............ Gior Feidman Best boy .................................. Gary Scholes cattlemen and Aboriginal stockmen in a by ....................................... Kathy Lette and Still photography.....................................FionaSpence, N a rrato r.......................................... Mia Farrow R u n n e r........................................Stuart Wood harsh, but memorable Northern Territory Gabrielle Carey Garry Maunder Chief a nim ator......................................... AtholHenry Publicity......................................Carlie Deans environment.

P hotography............................. Don McAlpine Publicity...................................................Wendy Chambers A n im a to rs ........................ Nicholas Harding, Unit publicist .......................... Peter Murphy Sound recordist ..................... Garry Wilkins Laboratory ................Cine Film Laboratory Cynthia Leech, Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm E d ito r................................ William Anderson Lab. lia ison ....................................................CalGardiner Andrew Szemenyei, Lab. liaison....................................................BillGooley C o m p o s e rs ...................................................LesGock, Length ................................................. 85 mins Ray Nowland,' B u d g e t............................................................. $1 million Tim Finn Gauge ...................................................... 16mm Kevin Roper, Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor A W A ITIN G R E L E A S E Prod, manager ....................Greg Ricketson Shooting sto ck ..........................Eastmancolor T y Bosco Cast: Angela Punch McGregor (Christina Location m anagers.................................... PhilRich, Cast: Aileen Britton (Miss Markham), Henri Animation assistants ........ Jeanette Toms, Stirling). Louis Jourdan (Peter Stirling), Sue Parker S zeps (M r W ilberforce), John Cobley Robert Malherbe, Diane Craig (Jun e Stevens), Warwick Prod, secretary .......................... Helen Watts (M orris), Ray Meagher (Stakovich), Simone Lynette Hennessy Com ber (young man), Bruce Spence (Doug Prod, accountant ........................

Penny Carl DOCTORS & NURSES Buchanan (Kate), Scott Nicholas (Ben), Asst anim ator............................................Kaye Watts Prod, assistant...................... Renata Wilson Mitchell). Peter Cummins (Detective Mills).

Jerem y Shadlow (Spider), Robert Geammel In betweeners .....................Vicki Robinson, Patty Crocker (Christina's mother).

Kerry 1st asst director ................... Mark Egerton Prod, company .............................. Universal (Rocco), Tony Lee (Ah Leong).

Astrid Brennan, Walker (Sibyl Anderson), Danee Lindsay 2nd asst director................ Marshall Crosby Entertainment Corporation Synopsis: When three children cross the Brenda McKie, (ju n io r s e c re ta ry ). Ju n e J a g o (M rs Producer/director.............. Maurice Murphy 3rd asst d ire c to r.................................. RenataWilson harbor to explore Castle House — a Paul Maron Coolidge). .

Scriptw riters........................................... Morris Gleitzman, Continuity .................................... Moya Iceton strange, unoccupied mansion — they en­ P a in te rs...................................Ruth Edelman, Synopsis: A psychological thriller, its plot is Producer's assistant........ Cynthia Blanche Doug Edwards, counter sinister baddies, a kidnapping and Kim Craste, a mystery of manipulation and double­ Robyn Moase, Ca stin g......................................Alison Barrett a hilarious, eccentric lady. Excitement, Kim Marden, dealing centering around elegant, beautiful Tony Sheldon Camera operator ................ Don McAlpine mystery and non-stop action and roll-inSteve Hunter, Christina Stirling, her urbane, successful Based on the Focus p u lle r ............................................. David Burr the-aisle comedy for children.

Nerissa Martin, m a n -o f-th e -w o rld h usband. Peter, a original idea b y ..............Maurice Murphy Clapper/loader ............................ Derry Field Margaret Butler daunting, sensuous young man and Peter’s P hotography.................................John Seale Key g r ip ............................ Merv McLaughlin Checkers and cleaners . . .Animation Aids, efficient, devoted secretary.

Sound recordist .........................Tim Lloyd Asst grip ................................. Peter Masden PARTNERS Bruce Warner, E d ito r .......................................................... Greg Ropert Jan Carruthers C o m p o s e r.................................................. Mike Harvey Dist. company .......................................... G U O Title d esig n e r.............................. Tony Ablen Prod, secretary ............ Harriet Ayre-Smith P ro d u c e rs .................................Tom Burstall.

Mixed at ............................ Atlab (Australia), Prod, accountant .............. Richard Harper Tim Burstall Magno Sound (New York) Management D ire c to r....................................................... Tom Burstall Laboratories.............. Colorfilm (Australia), 1st Asst d ire c to r........ Charles Rotherham Photography.......... -...................Dan Burstall Movielab (New York) 2nd Asst director .......................Pam Brown Sound recordist ........................ Phil Stirling Length .................................................80 mins Continuity ........................... Caroline Stanton E d it o r .................. Edward McQueen-Mason Gauge ............ .-......................................

35mm Focus p u lle r....................Richard Merryman Art d ire cto r...............................Herbert Pinter Shooting sto ck........................ Eastmancolor Clapper/loader .............. Geoffrey Wharton C o m p o s e r.................................Peter Sullivan Cast: Mia Farrow (Sarah).

Key grip .......................... Graham Litchfield Assoc, producer .................... Christine Suli Character voices: Joan Bruce (mother and Gaffer ..........................................Reg Garside Prod, co-ordinator .................. Helen Liston g r a n d m o th e r ), Shane P o rte o u s Electrician...................................................Sam Bienstock Prod, secretary ......................... Helen Liston (blacksmith, partisan, soldier), Ron HadBoom operator .....................Jack Friedman Prod, accountant ........................ Patti Scott drick (father, partisan, soldier).

Art d ire cto r........................................ Bob Hill 1st Asst d ire c to r.....................Jam es Parker Synopsis: The poignant story of a young Costume designer ............ Judith Dorsman 2nd Asst director .................... Stuart Beatty child, orphaned by war, and her struggle to Make-up ................................... .V IvM ep h am 3rd Asst d ire cto rs............ Marcus Skipper, survive. It is representative of the plight of H airdresser...............................................Gayle Edmonds Duncan Macarthur children in war-torn countries and acts as Wardrobe .................... Robyn Schuurmans Continuity ................................. Carmen Hugo the voice of all children against the suffering Props b u y e r ........................Sandy Wingrove Clapper/loader ........................ Phillip Cross and hardships imposed'by all wars.

Standby p ro p s .....................................Richard Walsh Camera assistant .......... Peter Van Santen Asst editor ..........................Micky O ’Sullivan Key g r ip ..................................................... David Cassar Musical director ........................Mike Harvey Asst grip ..................................Peter Kershaw WE OF THE NEVER NEVER Mixer .......................................... Peter Fenton G a ffe r.......................................................... BrianAdams Prod, company .....................Adams Packer Still photography.................. Mike Giddens Boom operator ........................... Ray Phillips Dialogue coach .............................Dina Mann Productions Make-up ................................. Lois Hohenfels P ro d u c e r.................................................... Greg Tepper Tech, a d v is o r..............................Nerida Trick H airdresser........................................Ndumsky Salon D ire c to r.........................................Igor Auzins R u n n e r.............................. David Oxenbould Wardrobe .................................... Jane Hyland S criptw riter.............................Peter Schreck Publicity.................................... Lyn Thorburn Props b u y e r .........................Patrick Reardon Photograph.................................................Gary Hansen Catering .......................... Cecil B De Meals Standby p ro p s .......................................... John Powditch Sound recordist .............. Laurie Robinson On Wheels Set decorator . . Nicholas Van Roosendaei E d it o r .............................................Cliff Hayes Mixed at .................................. United Sound Still photography........................ Suzy Wood Prod, d esigner................................Josephine FordLaboratory ...................................... Colorfilm Best boy ....................................Gary Plunkett P ro d u c e r...............................Geoff Burrowes C a tering ........Mobile Movie Meal Machine D ire c to r..................................................George Miller Length ...............................................100 mins S criptw riters...................... Fred Cul Cullen.

Gauge ...................................................35 mm John Dixon Shooting sto ck ........................ Eastmancolor Based on the Cast: Mike Preston (Ray), Gary Day (Terry), poem b y ...........................Banjo Paterson Wendy Hughes (Barbara), Dianne Cilento Photography..........................Don McAlpine (Margot). Michael Pate (Giesman), Vanessa Sound recordist .......................Gary Wilkins Leigh (Dianne), Warwick Com ber (Brian E d it o r ............................................. Adrian Carr Ingersoll). Rod Mullinar /Overland), Claire Prod, d e sig n e r............................................. LesBinns Binney (Jacki Nesbitt), Sigrid Thornton Exec, producers ................ Michael Edgley.

(Caroline).

Simon Wincer Synopsis: A contemporary film.

Prod, s u p e rvis o r.................................MichaelLake Prod, co-ordinator ...................... Trish Foley Prod, secretary ...............................Jan Stott SARAH Financial controller.............. Jim Cranfield (Th e Seventh Match) Casting consultants . . . Mitch Consultancy

Puberty Blues

Cinema Papers, July-August — 279

m

Casting....................................................... MitchMathews Synopsis: A story about survival. Dorian is Assist photography .......... Rob McCubbin Lighting cameraman ................ Tom Cowan an attractive man and has always got by on Sound recordists ................ David Hughes, Camera operator ....................Nixon Binney his looks and charm. He lives in Frances' Bob Martin, Focus p u lle r ................................................Kim Batterham house, along with her three children but Louise Jonas, Clapper/loader .......................... Paul Elliott stops contributing to either her emotional or Rob McCubbin Key g r ip ........................................................ RayBrown financial well-being. Frances is running out E d it o r .............................................Bob Martin G a ffe r......................................................Warren Mearns of patience, and D o ria n ’s looks are Exec, producer .................. Ross Campbell Boom operator .................. Chris Goldsmith fading . . .

Sound editors ........................ Louise Jonas, Art d ire cto r.................................................. LeeWhitmore Rob McCubbin, Asst art director ....................... Edie Kurzer Bob Martin Make-up ...........................................Jill Porter Mixer .........................................................

V.F.L. REVENGE H airdresser.................................................... JillPorter Title designe rs.......................... Alex Milsky, Wardrobe .................................... Edie Kurzer Prod, company ...........................Fame Films Des Bunyon Ward assistant...................................... Sabina Wynn Mixed at ...................................................... VFL Producer/director ...R a ym o n d K. Bartram Standby p ro p s ........................................ Edie Kurzer Laboratory .................................................. VFL S criptw riter.................. Raymond K. Bartram Standby props asst ................Sabina Wynn Based on the original idea Length ................................................. 30 mins Location resea rch............................... Janene Knight Gauge ...................................................... 16mm b y ...............................Raymond K. Bartram Asst editor .................................... David Rae Shooting sto ck.........................Eastmancolor P hotography............................ Ernest Clark Neg matching .................................. Colorfilm Sound recordist ...................... Peter Barker Progress ............................... Post-production Still photography............. Robert McFarlane E d it o r ................................... Timothy Sullivan Release date ...........................August, 1981 R u n n e r.................................. Gabrielle Mason C o m p o s e r...............................................RobertParker (State Film Centre) Catering . . . Jem s Catering (Frank Manley) Prod, s u p e rviso r.................... Gerard Elder Synopsis: Intimate observations of arboreal Mixed at ................................................... Atlab Prod, s e c re ta ry.................. Debra Meredith animals including feeding, grooming and Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm Continuity ................................ Betje Wiffers caring for their young, with emphasis on Lab liaison .....................................Bill Gooley Lighting cameraman .............. Ernest Clark their adaptations to the trees they inhabit. If Length ...................................................90 min their natural forest habitat is destroyed, Camera operator .................... Ernest Clark Gauge ......................................................35mm Camera assistant ............ Robert Campbell then the animals will be faced with extinc­ Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Boom operator ................... Michael Clarke tion.

Cast: Judy Davis, Bryan Brown, Cathy P r o p s .......................................................... Gary Thomas Downes, Mark Luhrman, Peter Mochrie, Neg. m a tch in g .................................. Colorfilm Mervyn Drake, Zoe Lake, Kim Deacon, Mer­ Mixer .........................................James Currie cia Deane-Johns, Marion Johns.

Title d esig ne r.......................... George Zikas Synopsis: A contem porary love story Mixed at ...................................................S AFC triggered by the coming together of two Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm people from different worlds.

Lab. liaison......................... Warren Keevers B u d g e t...................................................$25,000 Length .................................................38 mins SH O R TS Gauge ......................................................16mm Shooting sto ck ........................ Eastmancolor Progress ............................ Awaiting release Scheduled release ................ August, 1981 Cast: Tom Burlinson (John), Don Barker THE ACTRESS AND THE FEMINIST (Jack), John Dick (Mike), Les Dayman (Constable).

Producer/director............................. Kay Self Synopsis: Three reclusive opal miners FESTIVAL CLUB S criptw riter......................................... Kay Self strike a fortune, and it becomes the catalyst P hotography........................ Martha Ansara, Prod, c o m p a n y ........ CM Film Productions for arousing old differences between them.

Matt Butler They wrestle with feelings of greed, fear and Dist. company .......... CM Film Productions Production consultants .. .Susan Lambert, finally revenge!

P ro d u c e r................. Carmelo Nunzio Musca Sarah Gibson D ire c to r........................ Christopher Bartlett K inescopes...................................Matt Butler S criptw riter.................. Christopher Bartlett B u d g e t.................................................$13,440 THE RIFT P hotography.............................. Carlo Barelli, Length .................... ............................ 20 mins Carmelo Musca Prod, company ...........Mobius Productions Gauge ..................................................16mm Assoc, p ro d u c e r........ Christopher Bartlett Dist. company .................................. Fotofilm Progress ......................................... Production Prod, supervisor . . . . Stephanie Madgwlck P ro d u c e r......................................................Rob McCubbin Scheduled release ...................... Early 1982 Prod, manager .............. Janelle Jamieson D ire cto rs......................................................Rob McCubbin, Synopsis: An experimental/complication Prod, accountant ................ Hans Moonen Gaytana Adorna film which explores the impact of feminism Sound recordists .................... Beletta Hall, S criptw riter..........................................Gaytana Adorna on the actress and filmmaker.

Peter Morris Based on the original idea E d ito r ...................................................Jeff Hall by .........................................Rob McCubbin Prod, assistants.......................Albert Musca, P hotography................................................Rob McCubbin Janelle Jamieson THE BASKING SHARK Sound recordists ........ Rodney McCubbin, Dialogue transcribed . Margaret Moynihan Gabriella Batchelor Prod, company ........ Seawest Productions Gaffer ....................................... Perry Sandow E d it o r ............................................................Rob McCubbin Producer/director................................. WalterDeas Art d ire cto r............................. Phil Moynihan C o m p o s e r................................ John Crowley Based on the original Asst editor ........................................... Eugene ■Prod, secretary ........................ Sandra Potts idea by ...................................Walter Deas Laboratory .....................................Film Lab 7 Lighting cameraman............. Rob McCubbin Photography........................................... WalterDeas, Length .................... ............................30 mins P r o p s ....................................................Gaytana Adorna, Rick Swanborough Gauge ......................................................16mm Helen Harris Exec, producer ....................... Larry Freels Shooting sto ck ......................... Eastmancolor Neg. m a tch in g ........................ The Negroom Assoc, p ro d u c e r .................... Monty Priede Progress ...........................................In release Music performed by ............ John Crowley Prod, s u p e rviso r...................................... Jean Deas First released.............................. April, 1981 Sound editor .........................Rob McCubbin Prod, accountant ...................... Doug Harris Synopsis: A film about the the festival of Editing assistant ................ Gaytana Adorna Producer’s assistant................................ Jean Deas Perth. It looks at the actors and people in­ Mixer ............................................. Wally Shaw 2nd unit photography ................Jean Deas, volved and their m otivation for p a r­ Title d e sig n e r.......................... John Crowley Crawford Grier ticipating.

Mixed at ......................................................VFL Length ...................................................56 mins Laboratory ..................................................VFL Gauge ...................................................... 16mm B u d g e t...................................................... $2500 A MOST ATTRACTIVE MAN Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Length .................................................22 mins Progress ......................................... Production Prod, company .............. A Most Attractive Gauge ......................................................16mm Scheduled release .......... November, 1981 Man Productions Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Synopsis: The Basking Shark of the west P ro d u c e r.....................................Gillian Coote Progress .............................. Awaiting release coasts of Scotland and Ireland is the se­ D ire c to r..................................Rivka Hartman Scheduled release ............ February, 1982 cond largest fish in the world. It is unique, S criptw riter.........................Christine Stanten.

(Melbourne) gentle and abundant. The documentary Sound recordist ............................ Pat Fiske First released.................................. June 1981, examines the sharks, observes their life­ E d ito r .................................... Denise Haslem Melbourne Film Festival styles, works with the scientist who knows Prod, manager ...................... Jo Horsburgh Cast: John Crowley (Albert), Sandra Potts them, and interviews the people who de­ Prod, accountant ................ Digby Duncan (The Girl). pend on them for their livelihood.

1st asst director .................... Sabina Wynn Synopsis: An am biguous story about 2nd asst director.................. Ross Gillespie Albert's change of attitude after he finds his 3rd asst d ire cto rs................Greg Stevens, true love.

A CHRONICLE OF CHANGE: Sally Eccleston, LILYDALE Peter Wasson THE SHEEP FARMER AND THE Prod, company ..................................... AVRB Continuity ........................... Caroline Stanton Lighting ........................................ Erika Addis, Dist. company ....................................... AVRB SHEARER Paul Tait Producer/director ................ Barbara Boyd Camera operator ....................... Erika Addis Prod, company ......................... Audio-Visual Anderson Education Branch Camera assistant ................ Renee Romeril Scriptwriters . . . Barbara Boyd Anderson, P ro d u c e r...................................Bob Rodgers G a ffe r.........................................................Tania Millen Maree Teychenne Boom operator ........................... Jacqui Fine D ire c to r............................................................AiKemp History consultant............ Warren Thomas S criptw riter..................................................... AlKemp Art d ire cto r.................................................. JeffBruer P hotography............................................Sandy Ross Photography.............................. David Budd Asst art director .................. Jinks Dulhunty Sound Sound recordist ........................ David Nolan Wardrobe .............................. Jinks Dulhunty recordists . . . . Barbara Boyd Anderson, E d ito r ..................................... Ross Hutchens P r o p s .............. : ................ Peter Rasmussen David Hughes Set construction ......................... Tony Coote Continuity ............................. Carolyn Crabb E d it o r .....................Barbara Boyd Anderson Camera operator .................... David Budd Asst editor .............................. Joel Petersen Exec, producer .................... Ross Campbell Mixed at .....................................A B C (Perth) Sound editor ...................... Denise Haslem Prod, manager .............. Maree Teychenne Mixer .......................................... Palm Studios Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm Prod, secretary .........................Marion Wroe Length .................................................13 mins Still p h o tog rap h y... .............Mark Jackson Ca stin g...................Barbara Boyd Anderson Gauge ...................................................... 16mm C a tering .................................... Wendy Doyle, Lighting cameraman ........ Kevin Anderson Shooting sto ck ........................ Eastmancolor Susan Warburton Camera assistant .................Rob McCubbin Progress .......................................Production Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm Art director ........ Barbara Boyd Anderson Scheduled release ........ September, 1981 Lab. liaison................................................. PaulWhite P r o p s ................ Lilydale Historical Society Neg. m a tc h in g ...................... The Neg Room B u d g e t...................................................$50,176 Synopsis: A film depicting interaction between the shearer and the sheep farmer.

Length ............................................... 47 mins Music performed by .......... Thomas Peart, Gauge ...................................................... 16mm Nellie Melba Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Sound editor ....................... Kevin Anderson A ZOO IN THE TREES Progress ......................................... Production Sound m ontage....................................... KevinAnderson Prod, company ..................AVRB Film Unit Cast: Carole Skinner (Frances), Grigor Mixer ..................................... Kevin Anderson P ro d u c e r.............................. Rob McCubbin Taylor (Dorian). Anna Volska (Vija), Julie O p tic a ls ........................................................ VFL McGregor (Judy), Dennis Miller (Mick), D ire c to r.....................................Louise Jonas Mixed at ...................................................... VFL Cathy Downes (M erryl), Anne Tenney S criptw riter...................... Maree Teychenne Laboratory ................................................Atlab (Geraldine), Morgan Lewis (Billy), Jane R esea rch ...................................Louise Jonas Length ...................................................45 mins Weir (Jane), Bradley Miller (Toby).

Photography................................. Frank Few Gauge ...................................................... 16mm

D O C U M E N T A R IE S

A Most Attractive Man G a ffe r............................................ Rob Young Mixers .................................. Peter McKinley, Electrician............................ Sam Bienstock John Schiefelbein Boom operator .................. Mark Wasiutuk Stunts co-ordinator ...................Martin King Art d ire cto r............................David Copping S tun ts............................................Martin King, Costume designer ............ Sue Armstrong Greg Brooks Make-up .......................................Judy Lovell Still photography...............Jacquie Gardner H airdresser.................................. Judy Lovell O p tic a ls ..................................................... Atlab Studios.......... Tasmanian Film Corporation Ward, a ssistan t.......................Cathy James Mixed at . . . .Tasmanian Film Corporation P r o p s .................................. Derryck Chetwyn Laboratory ............................................... Atlab Props b u y e r .............................Wendy Sugar Lab. liaisons.......................Greg Doughtery, Standby p ro p s .................. Derryck Chetwin Hedley Crumplin Asst props ............................Dennis Manson Length .................................................. 80 mins Asst editor .........................Jeannine Chialvo Gauge ......................................................16mm Sound editor .................. William Anderson Editing assistants .................... Mark D'Arcy, Cast: Wallas Eaton (Trotter), John Ewart (Uncle Harry), Desmond Tester (Captain Denise Haslem Playfair), Bill Kerr (Engineer MacDuff), John Mixer .................................... Douglas Turner Cobley (Menial), Miranda Cartledge (Jo), Asst m ix e r.........................Julian Ellingworth Robert Clarkson (Specs), Matthew Excell S tun ts.............................................Grant Page Still photography...................................... Mike Roll(Ben), Kim Clifford (Gina), John Stone (Mr Christian).

Title d esig ne r...............................Fran Burke Best boy ............................. Colin Williams Synopsis: A comedy about an old ferry, an old grouch and the youthful enthusiasm of a R u n n e rs................................ Mardi Kennedy, group of children. Will the Transport Com ­ Richard Hobbs Publicity............................................Roadshow andmission ever be the same or can the children throw a spanner in the works?

Limelight Productions Catering ...................................................... John and Susan Faithfull SWEET DREAMERS Mixed at ....................................................Atlab Laboratory ................................................Atlab Prod, company .............. T.C . Productions Length .................................................. 90 mins Producer ................................. Lesley Tucker Gauge ......................................................35mm Director .......................................Tom Cowan Shooting sto ck................. Eastmancolor Scriptwriters ............................ Tom Cowan, Scheduled release .......... December, 1981 Lesley Tucker Cast: Nell Schofield, Jad Lapelja, Geoff Based on the original idea Rhoe, Tony Nogaes, Jay Hackett, Ned by ........................ ..................Tom Cowan, Lander, Sandy Paul, Leanda Brett, Charles Lesley Tucker Tingwell, Kirrilly Nolan.

Photography .............................Brian Probyn Sound recordist ................ Paul Schneller Editor ...........................................Tom Cowan SAVE THE LADY Art director ............................. Lesley Tucker Com poser ........................ Ralph Schneider Prod, company ................... Tasmanian Film Corporation Sound editor .................. Peter Somerville Mixer .............................Alistair MacFarlane Dist. company ........ Young Australia Films P ro d u c e r................................................... Barry Pierce Length ...............................................96 mins Gauge ...................................................16mm D ire c to r.................................................... Leon Thau Scheduled release .............. August, 1981 Scriptw riters...........................................Yoram Gross, John Palmer (Dendy Martin Plaza) Cast: Richard Mcir (Will Daniels), Sue Based on the story b y ...........................................Yoram Gross Smithers (Josephine Russell), Adam Bowen (Stuart), Frankie Raymond (Landlady), Photography............................ Gert Kirchner Richard Tipping (Busker), Maisie Turner Sound recordist ............ John Schiefelbein (Young actress), Gabriel (Waitress).

E d it o r .................................Mike Woolveridge Synopsis: Tw o young Australians meet In C o m p o s e r..........................Peter McKinley London and inspired by their dreams of Exec, producer .......................... John Honey making films in Australia fall In love and Prod, manager .................... Damian Brown celebrate.

Prod, secretary .........................Pat Caspers Prod, accountant .....................Robert Gunn 1st asst director .................... Jack Zalkalns 2nd asst director..........................................IanBerwick THE WINTER OF OUR DREAMS 3rd asst d ire c to r..................................... Gaye Arnold Continuity ..................................Daphne Paris Prod company . . . . Vega Film Productions Focus p u lle r.....................John Jasiukowicz Dist company .........................................G U O Clapper/loader .......................... Jan Dallas P ro d u c e r.................................Richard Mason Key g r ip ...................................................... Gary Clements D ire c to r........................................ John Duigan Boom operator ....................... David Creagh S criptw riter.................................. John Duigan Art d ire cto r.................................................. Jon Bowling Based on the- original Make-up ............................ Felicity Newman, idea by ................................... John Duigan Margaret Pierce, Photography................................. Tom Cowan Patty Ageridis Sound recordist ......................Lloyd Carrick Wardrobe ...........................................Kay Alty E d it o r ........................................ Henry Dangar P r o p s .....................................Katherine Grace Prod designer ...................... Lee Whitmore Props b u y e r .............................................. NigelSaunders Prod supervisor...................... Julie Overton Set construction .........................Peter Cass, Prod co -o rd ina to r........................Susi Parker Richard Rogers, Prod m a n a g e r........................ Julie Overton Lindsay Arnold Prod secretary..............................Susi Parker Asst editor .............................. Megan Purcell Prod a cc oun tan t...................... Roger Wylie Neg. m a tc h in g .................................... Maralyn Delaney 1st asst director ................ Stuart Freeman Sound editor .................. Mike Woolveridge 2nd asst director....................Belinda Mason Editing assistant .................. Megan Purcell Continuity .........................................Jo Weeks

280 — Cinema Papers, July-August

S H O R TS

Shooting sto ck........................ Eastmancolor Scheduled release ........ September, 1981 Cast: Tom Mitchell (The Narrator), Louise Jonas (The Mother), Rob McCubbin (The Father), Perry Lane (Th e Child), Ross Campbell (The Baron), Bruce English (The Guest), Bruce Brown (The Groom ), Maree Teychenne (Lady of the Manor), Alyce Platt (Young Guest), Allan Goedecke (Young Guest), Louise Merryweather (Guest).

Synopsis: A short film which charts the dramatic changes of lifestyle and environ­ ment that have occurred in the country town of Lilydale in the last century.

Animation camera ............ Dennis Tupicoff O p tic a ls .............................................. Colorfilm Mixed at ..........................................Crawfords Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm Lab. liaison.....................................Bill Gooley Length ................................................ 35 mins Gauge ..................

16mm Shooting sto ck..........................Eastitiancolor Progress .......................................... In release First released............................ June 4, 1981 Cast: The parents, staff and students of Ferntree Gully Primary School.

Synopsis: A documentary for teachers showing what they can be doing to put the philosophy of education for a multi-cultural society into practice. The film concentrates on the experience of Ferntree Gully Primary School.

P hotography............................ Brian Probyn Sound recordist .......................... Noel Quinn Camera operator ................ Steve Newman Camera assistants ...................... Con Slack, Jason Holland Key g r ip ..........................................Terry Vogt G a ffe r............................................. Tony Mandl S tun ts............................................................MaxAspin, David Bracks.

Dale Aspin RADIO — THE VARIETY YEARS Presenter............................ Peter Thompson Laboratory ....................................... Colorfilm Producer/director...................................... Eric Halliday Length .................................................10 mins Sound recordist .............. Barry Fernandes Gauge .............................. ......................16mm Assoc, p ro d u c e r................Chris Nicholson Progress ...........................................In release Camera operators .............. Keith Watson, Cast: David Bracks, Virginia Rudenno.

George Petrykowski, Synopsis: Part eight in the “Lessons in John Agapitos NED KELLY Visual Language” series, distributed by the Technical director......................................Bob Forster A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AUSTRALIA Australian Film and Television School.

P ro d u c e r................................. .Eric Halliday Interviewer .............................. Bryon Quigley Gauge .............. ........................% " videotape Prod, company ...................... Kestrel Films D ire c to r.............................. ’ .. Ron Anderson Progress .............................. Post-production Dist. company .............................. Dltla Films Scriptw riter................................ Ina Bertrand Synopsis: Vaudevillian, Harry Griffiths, dis­ P ro d u c e rs ................................................... RickSmolan, Sound recordist ..................Robert Judson cusses the “Golden Age of Radio".

Andy Park, Assoc, p ro d u c e r..................................... Chris Nicholson VISUAL LANGUAGE SERIES — Lyne Helms Prod, assistant..................................... Maddie Whitwork RHYTHM D ire c to r.....................................David Morgan Camera operators .. George Petrykowski, THE ROLE OF CONTINUITY IN Photography............................................... AlexMcPhee, P ro d u c e r.....................................Eric Halliday Craig Watkins, Kevin Anderson, D ire c to r...............................Peter Thompson FILMMAKING Neil Maloney Terry Carlyon, S criptw riter.........................Peter Thompson Boom operator .......................... Larry Price Lester Wlsbrod, Prod, assistant.................. Nancy Wahlquist Make-up ................................ Amanda Beech P ro d u c e r.................................... Eric Hallday D ire c to r...............................Peter Thompson THE ANIMATION GAME Hans Heidrich, Presenter.............................Peter Thompson Technical directors.................................... Jim Tumeth, George Komonesky, Progress .............................. Pre-production Rod Bower S criptw riter.........................Caroline Stanton Prod, company .......... Australian Film and P hotography............................................ SteveNewman David Olney Synopsis: Part nine of the "Lessons in Vision S w itc h e r.................... John Agapitos Television School V is u a l L a n g u a g e ” s e r ie s , w h ic h Sound recordists ................ Ian Jenklnson, Floor m a n a ge r.................... John Luscombe Sound recordist .................. Relly McManus P ro d u c e r.......................................Eric Halliday Michael Minter, demonstrates rhythms in filmmaking.

Videotape ................................ Guy Campbell Production designer............ Dennis Gentle D ire c to r....................................David Johnson Prod, manager .................... Terrie Vincent Laurie Robinson, Presenter................................. Ina Bertrand S criptw riter..............................David Johnson John Rowley, Gauge ........................................% " videotape Prod, assistant...................Nancy Wahlquist Photography.............................. John Winbolt Continuity ............................ Daphne Crooks Ian Ryan, Progress ...................................... Production Sound recordist ................................ Bill Pitt Ralph Steele Synopsis: Videocrit, looking at the history of Camera operator .................Steve Newman E d it o r ............................................................ Ted Otten Camera assistant ............... Robert Trendall E d it o r ...........................................David Greig bushranging films.

Prod, assistant.................. Nancy Wahlquist Key g r ip .......................................... Terry Vogt Assoc, p ro d u c e r............. John Richardson Camera operator .................Steve Newman G a ffe r............................................Rex Polletti Prod, manager .......................... Mark Ruse Camera assistant ......................

Tim Segulin Presenter............................................. Caroline Stanton Prod, secretary ....................... Jan Tourrier G a ffe r.............................................. Rex Polletti Gauge ......................................................16mm PICTURES AND WORDS Prod, assistant........................ Greg Stevens A n im a to r..................................David Johnson Progress .........................................Production Asst directors .......................... David Greig, P ro d u c e r.................................. Eric Halliday Animation assistant ...................Paul Pattie Cast: Noeline Brown, Donald Crombie.

ANIMATION Mark Ruse D ire c to r....................................

Anton Bowler Laboratory .......................................Colorfilm Te rry Donovan. To n y Sheldon, W endy Length .................................................50 mins Prod, company ...................... Film Australia Scriptw riter............................................... Anne Stone Length .................................................15 mins Strahlow.

Gauge ...................................................... 16mm Dist. company ........................ Film Australia P hotography..................................Peter Levy Gauge .....................................................16mm Synopsis: An explanation of the importance Shooting sto ck ..........................Eastmancolor P ro d u c e r................................ Robin Hughes Sound recordist .................Paul Schneller Progress ...........................................In release of continuity in film.

Progress ............................... Post-production Director .....................Antoinette Starkiewicz Character v o ic e s :..................Katrina Foster, E d ito r ....................................

Wayne Le Clos Synopsis: On March 6 , 1981,100 leading in­ S criptw riter...............Antoinette Starkiewicz Prod, assistant..................Nancy Wahlquist Lance Curtis, ternational photographers were stationed SCRIPT TO SCREEN Photography.............................Jenny Osche Camera assistant ............... Robert Trendall Geoff Kelso, all over Australia to capture the country and Assist p ro d u ce rs..................... Alex Ezard, G a ffe r............................................................RexPolletti Chris Nicholson the people for a photographic book to be Producer/director.....................Eric Halliday Laboratory ........................................

Colorfilm Macek Rubetzki C a s t :.....................................................

Geoffrey Rush, called A D a y in th e L if e o f A u s t r a lia .

Assoc, p ro d u c e r................ Chris Nicholson Unit m a na ge rs................ Pamela Williams.

Length ................................................ 25 mins David Johnson Camera operator .....................Steve Isaacs Gauge ......................................................16mm Alison Gentle Synopsis:Laugh and learn about animation.

Gauge ...................................... % " videotape Animation .............. Antoinette Starkiewicz.

Shooting stock..........................Eastmancolor Progress .............................. Post-production DEADLY HARVEST Progress ...........................................In release Don Ezard Asst anim ation.............................. Peter Will.

Cast: Anne Stone, Ken Goodlet (voice­ Synopsis: This short film follows the transi­ DESIGN tion of stage plays to the television screen, Prod, company .......... Cinevideo Australia overs).

Philip Pepper Dist. company ............ Cinevideo Australia P ro d u c e r.................................. Eric Halliday Synopsis: A film which examines the with Brian Bell directing.

M u s ic .................................... Sharon Calcraft P ro d u c e r.................................. John McLean Scriptw riters.......................... Dennis Gentle Length .............................................10 mins relationship of narration to visuals, and the Director .......................................Chris Hooke Gauge ...................................... % " videotape Gauge .....................................................35mm techniques of writing documentary narra­ Photography...............................Chris Hooke SUPER EIGHT — EDITING Progress .............................. Pre-production tion.

Shooting sto ck ........................ Eastmancolor Sound recordist ...................... Peter Callas Synopsis: A three-part investigation of Progress .............................Awaiting release P ro d u c e r...................................................... Eric Halliday E d ito r ........................................... Peter Callas design in the studio and on location.

Scheduled release .......................July. 1981 Director ......................................Anton Bowler POST-SYNCHING TECHNIQUES C o m p o s e r.................................Kevin Sheehan Synopsis: A short animated film about the Scriptw riter.............................. Richard Dibbs Still photography............ John Everlngham history of music from the beginning of time P ro d u c e r...................................................... Eric Halliday Sound recordist .................. Robert Judson Publicity........ Berry's Creative Partnership to punk rock. Made for secondary school THE ENG REVOLUTION D ire c to r.......................................................Gilly Coote Production .......................... Chris Nicholson Mixed at .................................. Palm Studios children and general audience release.

Scriptw riters..............................................Sara Bennett, Prod, assistant...................... Judith Phillips Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm P ro d u c e r....................................... Eric Halliday Keith Thompson Floor m a n a ge r.................... Murray Graham D ire c to r................................. David Brogden B u d g e t...................................................$70,000 Prod, assistant..................Nancy Wahlquist Camera operators ............Keith Watson, AUSTRALIA IN THE ’80s Length .................................................50 mins S criptw riters.........................David Brogden, Progress .............................. Pre-production Peter Scott, Jeff Morgan Gauge ......................................

16mm Prod, company ...................... Film Australia Synopsis: A film explaining techniques of John Bott Shooting sto ck........................ Eastmancolor Sound recordist ................... Robert Judson P ro d u c e rs.................................. Don Harley, post-synching and dialogue replacement in lechnical d ire cto r..................................... Bob Forster Progress ............................... Post-production Camera operator ....................Keith Watson Peter Johnson film production.

Vision switcher .................... Robin Downey Technical d ire cto r...............John Saunders Scheduled release ................ August, 1981 Director ........................................John Leake Gauge .....................................% " videotape Length .................................................32 mins Synopsis: A documentary based on the Scriptw riter................................................ John Edwards Progress ...............................

Post-production Gauge .......................................% ” videotape harvest of opium in the Golden Triangle.

P hotography.......................Mick Borneman RADIO — THE LAW AND THE Cast: Jackie Rees, Tony Rees.

Progress ...........................................In release Sound recordist .................. Rod Simmons BROADCASTER Synopsis: A documentary on hardware and Synopsis: An introduction to the hardware E d ito r................................John Mandelberg techniques of editing Super 8 films. and techniques of Electronic News Gather­ Producer/director.....................Eric Halliday Asst producers ................... Rosemary Gow, KAMPUCHEA ing.

Sound recordist ...................... Jan McHarg Colleen Clarke Assoc, p ro d u c e r................ Chris Nicholson SUPER EIGHT — ADDING A Unit m a n a g e r................ Corrie Soeterboek Prod, company .......... Australian Freedom Camera operators ..

George Petrykowski, Camera assistant ......................Rod Hinds From Hunger Campaign SIMPLE SOUNDTRACK EXPOSURE FACTORS Robert Trendall, Length ................ 24 mins and 5 x 10 mins P ro d u c e r...................................Mary Leggatt P ro d u c e r......................................................

Eric Halliday Neil Maloney Gauge ......................................................

16mm D ire c to r.........................................Mark Stiles P ro d u c e r.....................................................IrmaWhitford D ire c to r.................................................... Anton Bowler Technical director.................... Bob Forster Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor P hotography............................ Simon Smith S criptw riter................................ Stewart Fist Vision switcher ....................

John Agapitos S criptw riter..............................

Richard Dibbs Progress .........................................

Production Sound recordist .............. Laurie Fitzgerald P hotography.............................. Brian Probyn Sound recordist ........................ Larry Price Interviewer .............................Bryon Quigley Scheduled release ........ September, 1981 Prod, manager .................... John Cruthers Sound recordist ........................ Mark Lewis Prod, assistant.............. Maddie Whitworth Gauge ...................................... % " videotape Synopsis: A review of activities throughout Laboratory ........................................ Colorfilm E d ito r .......................................... Sara Bennett Floor m a n a ge r.......... ..............Toby Phillips Progress .............................. Post-production the nation during the 1980s.

Length .................................................50 mins Prod, assistants.................. Robert Trendall, Synopsis: Solicitor Paul Marx talks about Camera operators ..................Ian Peterson, Gauge ...................................................... 16mm Nancy Wahlquist Craig Watkins, defamation, the Broadcasting and Televi­ Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Camera operators ................... Tom Cowan, AUSTRALIAN MYTHOLOGIES Neil Maloney sion Act and the Trade Practices Act, as Progress .......................................Production Bill Constable, Technical director...................................... Jim Tumeth they affect the broadcaster.

Scheduled release .................... June, 1982 Prod, company .................. Martin Williams Steve Newman M u s ic ...................................

Chris Nicholson Synopsis: A study of the aid effort in battle­ Productions Camera assistants ...............Jason Holland, Make-up ............................ Michelle Antrum scarred Kampuchea.

Dist. company ......................... Film Australia Car Slack Presenter................ Stewart Fist Presenter.................................. Richard Dibbs RADIO — THE PRODUCER P ro d u c e r................... Peter Johnson Length .................................................. 30mins Gauge ........................................% ” videotape D ire c to r............................... Jonathon Dawson Gauge .................................................. 16mm Producer/director................. Eric Halliday Progress ............................... Post-production S criptw riter......................... Jonathon Dawson Progress ................ : ............Post-production YOU’VE GOT TO START Sound recordist ..................

Robert Judson Synopsis: A short film on the basic methods P hotography.......................... Ron Johanson Synopsis: A teaching film explaining ex­ Assoc, p ro d u c e r................Chris Nicholson of adding music and narration to Super 8 SOMEWHERE Asst producer .....................Rosemary Gow posure factors.

Camera operators .............. Keith Watson, films.

Unit m a n a g e r............................................John Stainton Prod, company ...........................Trout Films George Petrykowski, i °nQtfi .................................................. 5 0 mins Dist. company ............................ Curriculum John Agapitos G au9e ...................................................... 16mm , THE THIRD DIMENSION HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN Development Centre Technical director......................................Bob Forster Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor P ro d u c e rs ...............................Chris Warner, CINEMA THE PERSONAL CINEMA Interviewer .............................. Bryon Quigley P ro d u c e r...................................................... EricHalliday Progress ...........................................|n release Maureen McCarthy Gauge ........................................% ” videotape OF CHARLES CHAUVEL D ire c to r.............................................. Ian Bone First released...........................................June,1981 D ire c to r......................................................Chris Warner Progress .............................. Post-production Scriptw riter........................................ Ian Bone Synopsis: A film on the prolongation of the P ro d u c e r.................................... Eric Halliday S criptw riters.......................... Chris Warner, Synopsis: Veteran producer, Jack Keniry Scriptw riter........................................ Ian Bone Great Australian Mythologies i.e., the sunS criptw riter........................................ Bill Routt Maureen MCarthy discusses his role in broadcasting.

Gauge ........................................ % ” videotape bronzed Anzac etc., through advertising Presenter............................................ Bill Routt Sound recordist ........................... Ian Wilson Progress .......................................Production campaigns.

Gauge .......................................% ” videotape E d it o r ..........................................................Chris Warner Synopsis: Music and effects — their use to Progress .............................. Pre-production Prod, manager ........................ Chris Oliver RADIO — THE PRODUCTION add a further dimension to film.

Synopsis: A study of the work of this Prod, assistant............ Maryanne Smrchek BARRA BUOY STUDIO famous Australian director.

Lighting cameraman ............ James Grant Prod, company ....................... Film Australia P ro d u c e r...................................................... Eric Halliday Camera assistant ................... Natalie Green VISUAL LANGUAGE SERIES — Dist. company ......................... Film Australia D ire c to r.................................. Ron Anderson Key g r ip ................................................. MichaelHoran EDITING P ro d u c e r....................................................PeterJohnson Sound recordist .................. Robert Judson Boom operator ......................Michael Horan MOUNTING A TELEVISION D ire c to r.......................... Michael Robertson Asst director.............................................

Chris Nicholson Asst editor .............................. Alison Tilson P ro d u c e r.....................................Eric Halliday OUTSIDE BROADCAST S criptw riter.................... Michael Robertson Camera operator ....................Keith Watson D ire c to r.............................. Peter Thompson Neg. m a tc h in g .......................................Miriam Cortez Photography..............................................

John Hosking P ro d u c e r.....................................Eric Halliday Technical d irection.............. John Saunders Scriptw riter........................ Peter Thompson Mixer .......................................David Harrison Sound recordist ...................... Howard Spry D ire c to r.................................... Keith Watson Scriptw riters.......................... Keith Watson, Anne Stone Sound recordist .................. Robert Judson Prod, assistant.................. Nancy Wahlquist Camera operator ....................Keith Watson Technical direction............ David Brodgen Narrator . ..................................... Paul Griffith Length .................................................30 mins Gauge ........................................ 1" videotape Progress ...........................................In release Synopsis: A teaching film designed to show the preparation and transmission of a television outside broadcast.

Presenter.............................. John Simmons Length .................................................16 mins Gauge ......................................... % ’Videotape Progress .........................................In release Synopsis: An introduction to the role and function of the production studios within a radio station.

A U S TR A LIA N FILM AND T E L E V IS IO N SCHOOL

FILM A U S TR A LIA

Cinema Papers, July-August

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Producer Wayne Groom on Super 16 661chose AHab for m y laboratory because they have complete liquid gate Super 16 facilities.

The wide screen blow -up was exceptional, yet Super 16 cost me no more than regular 16mm.

Atlab have really perfected the art of Super 16 technology.

Producer Wayne Groom talks with A tlabâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jim Parsons.

W h e n it comes to Super 16, AHab leads the way.

R710

Television Centre Epping, NSW 2121, Australia Telephone: (02) 858 7500 Telex: AA 70917 Cables: Telecentre, Sydney

E d i t o r .....................................S tu a rt A rm s tro n g A s s t p ro d u c e r ....................... R o s e m a ry G o w U n it m a n a g e r ...........................J a m e s P a rk e r l_e n g th ....................................................... 20 m in s G a u g e ......................... ..................................1 6m m S h o o tin g s t o c k ........................... E a s tm a n c o lo r P ro g re s s .............................................. In re le a s e F irs t r e le a s e d .................................. A p r il, 1981 Synopsis: A film p r o m o tin g an A u s tra lia n in v e n tio n in u n d e rs e a w a rfa re .

Directors ....................................... Bill Stacey.

S crip tw riter.................................................John Bushelle CRIME DETECTION P hotography.....................................Volk Mol P hotograp h y................................................. PhilPike Terry Ohlsson Sound recordist .........................Geof White Scrip tw riter.................................... Geoff Pike Prod, company .......................Victorian Film E d it o r ........................................................... John Bushelle Exec, producer .................. Kent Chadwick Asst producer .......................Rosemary Gow Sound recordist ....................... Jon Marsh Corporation Director's Length ................................................... 26 mins Scrip tw riter.....................................Lyn Ogilvy E d it o r .............................................. Bill Stacey assistant ............ Rhonda Bark-Shannon Asst producer .................... Rosemary Gow Exec, producer .................. Kent Chadwick Gauge ...............................16mm and 35mm Camera a ss is ta n t.....................Rob Murray Shooting sto ck .........................Eastmancolor N a rra to r..................................... Paul Ricketts Length ................................................. 25 mins Length ................................................. 20 mins Length .................................................

20 mins Progress ........................................In release Gauge ..................................................... 16mm Gauge .........................16mm and videotape First relea se d ...............................June, 1981 Gauge ...............................16mm and 35mm Progress .......................................Production Progress ....................................... Production Progress ............................... Post-production Synopsis: The story of Ronald Sharpe and Synopsis: A training film, on the techniques Scheduled release .......................July. 1981 the organ in the Sydney Opera House. of crime detection, for the Victoria Police.

Scheduled release .......................July. 1981 Synopsis: A short film about the film in­ Synopsis: A film to show the reason 1982 COMMONWEALTH GAMES dustry In Victoria.

Australia needsa Navy and the Royal DRAMA MEETINGS P ro d , c o m p a n y .......................... F ilm A u s tra lia Australian Navy in action.

D ist. c o m p a n y ............................ F ilm A u s tra lia Prod, com pany ..........................Trade Union Prod, company ...................... Victorian Film P r o d u c e r ..........................................................P e te r J o h n s o n Corporation Training Authority THE STATE OF THE ARTS SPONSOR PRODUCER D i r e c t o r ......................................... N ic k T o rre n s Dist. company .........................Film Australia D ire c to r............................. Vincent O'Donnell RELATIONSHIP P h o t o g r a p h y ................................. A n d y F ra s e r Prod, company .......................Victorian Film Exec, producer ...............Kent Chadwick P ro d u c e r...............................Elisabeth Knight A s s t p ro d u c e r .......................... C o lle e n C la rk e Corporation Director ............................................ Keith Gow Length ................................................. 20 mins Prod, company ...................... Film Australia L e n g th ......................................................... 90 m in s S criptw riter...............................Jerem y Press Asst producer .................... Macek Rubetskl Gauge ..................................................... 16mm Dist. company ........................ Film Australia G a u g e ............................................................. 1 6 m m Exec, producer .................Kent Chadwick Length ................................................... 15 mins Progress .......................................Production P ro d u c e r.........................................Don Harley S h o o tin g s t o c k ............................. E a s tm a n c o lo r Gauge .......................................................16mm Length ................................................. 15 mins Synopsis: A short film on the teaching of Director ................................. Malcolm Smith P ro g re s s .................................. P re -p ro d u c tio n Gauge ..................................................... 16mm drama techniques. Produced for the Educa­ Shooting sto ck ..........................Eastmancolor Scrip tw riter...........................Malcolm Smith S c h e d u le d re le a s e ...................J a n u a ry , 1983 Progress ............................... Pre-production tion Department.

Progress ...............................Awaiting release P hotography........................ Mick Borneman Synopsis: A film c o v e rin g th e b a c k g ro u n d Scheduled release .......................July, 1981 Scheduled release .......... November, 1981 Sound recordist ....................

Howard Spry a n d le a d -u p to th e 1982 C o m m o n w e a lth Synopsis: A short film about the arts in Vic­ Synopsis: A training film for trade union E d it o r .....................................Wayne Le Clos G a m e s a s w e ll as th e g a m e s to b e h e ld in FIND OUT — TALK ABOUT toria. Made for the Ministry for the Arts. delegates.

Asst producers ........................... Gerry Letts, B ris b a n e in S e p te m b e r, 1982.

Colleen Clarke Prod, com pa n ie s....................Victorian Film Unit m a n a g e r...................... Daro Gunsberg STREET KIDS Corporation and MEGALO MEDIA ELECTORAL PROCEDURES Gauge ...................................................... 16mm Ukiyo Film Productions Prod, company .......................Victorian Film Shooting s to ck ..........................Eastmancolor Prod, company .......................Film Australia Dist. company .Victorian Film Corporation P ro d , c o m p a n y .......................... F ilm A u s tra lia Corporation Progress ......................................... In release Dist. com pany .........................Film Australia Director .................................Don McLennan D ist. c o m p a n y .............................F ilm A u s tra lia Dist. company ........................

Victorian Film First relea se d ...........................................June.

1981 P ro d u c e r................................... Robin Hughes Scriptwriters ...................... Venetia Wright, P r o d u c e r .......................................................... P e te r J o hDnire s o nc to r..................................................... Bruce Petty Corporation Synopsis: A film for prospective sponsors, Terence McMahon D i r e c t o r ............................................ M a rtin C o h e n S criptw riters.............................Adrian Tame. setting out their responsibilities when mak­ Scrip tw riter...............................................Bruce Petty Photography.......................... Peter Friedrich S c r ip t w r it e r ..................................... M a rtin C o h e n Kent Chadwick ing a film, videotape or audiovisual presen­ P hotography.............................Bruce Hillyard Exec, producer .’. ................Kent Chadwick P h o t o g r a p h y ..................................... A n d y F ra z e r Exec, producer .................Kent Chadwick tation and defining the ideal relationship Sound recordist .................. Rod Simmons Prod, manager ...................... Sonny Naidu S o u n d re c o rd is t .............................B ru c e N ih ill Length ................................................. 48 mins with the producer.

E d it o r ............................................................Tom Foley Camera assistant ............ ............Phil Cross E d i t o r ................................................. M a rtin C o h e n Gauge .......................................................16mm Asst producers ............................Alex Ezard, Length ................................................. 24 mins A s s t p ro d u c e r ....................... R o s e m a ry G o w Shooting sto ck ..........................Eastmancolor Macek Rubetzki Gauge ..................................................... 16mm STAYING UP FRONT U n it m a n a g e r ......................... D a ro G u n z b e rg Progress ............................... Pre-production Unit m a n a g e rs...................Robyn Peterson, Shooting sto ck ........................ Eastmancolor C a m e ra a s s is ta n t ........................J a m e s W a rd Scheduled release ...................................1981 Mark Piper Prod, company ................ Dept of Industry Progress .............................Awaiting release L e n g th .........................................................25 m in s Synopsis: A feature documentary of the Cam era assistant ......................... Jan Kenny and Com m erce Scheduled release .......................July. 1981 G a u g e ............................................................. 1 6 m m urban streetlife of homeless children.

N a rra to r........................................................ MaxGillies Dist. company ........................ Film Australia Synopsis: A film about migrant children o h o o tin g s t o c k ............................. E a s tm a n c o lo r Length ......................................... 3 x 10 mins P ro d u c e r.............................Elisabeth Knight forming friendships across cultural boun­ P ro g re s s ................................................ In re le a s e Gauge ...................................................... 35mm D ire c to r...................................................... KeithGow daries. The beginnings of the development THE 1934 LONDON TO F irs t r e le a s e d ................................................ J u n e , 1981 Shooting s to ck ..........................Eastmancolor S crip tw riter................................................ KeithGow of a multicultural society breaking down of MELBOURNE AIR RACE Synopsis: A s h o r t film o n th e F e d e ra l E le c ­ Progress ......................................... In release P hotography...............................Kerry Brown prejudices through language. Made for the tio n a n d th e v o tin g p ro c e d u r e s e n ta ile d in First re lea se d .................................May, 1981 Asst producer .................. Macek Rubetski Prod, company ....................... Victorian Film Department of Immigration and Ethnic Af­ th e e le c tio n o f M e m b e rs o f P a rlia m e n t a n d Synopsis: A short series primarily designed fairs.

Unit m a n a g e r........................ Colleen Clarke ■ Corporation S e n a to rs . to introduce secondary students to the Length ...................................................20 mins S criptw riter............................................Jerem y Press study of the media. It traces the history of Gauge ..................................................... 16mm Exec, producer .....................Kent Chadwick MELBOURNE media and com m unication,, in a light­ Shooting sto ck .........................Eastmancolor Length ..................................................30 mins FOURTEEN WAS GOOD BUT hearted way, from the beginning of time to Prod, com pa n ie s.............. *.. Victorian Film Progress ......................................... In release Gauge .......................................................16mm EIGHTEEN’S BETTER the present day.

Corporation and First relea se d ...........................................June,1981 P r o g r e s s ..........................................Production ■ Cam bridge Film Productions Synopsis: A short film to encourage ownerSynopsis: A documentary about the classic Prod, c o m pa n ie s.......... Film Australia and Director ....................................... John Dixon drivers in the road haulage industry to un­ air race produced for Victoria's coming The Big Picture Com pany S criptw riters.........................Kent Chadwick, dertake business management training.

150th anniversary celebrations. Being P ro d u c e r................................... Tim othy Read THE NEVER NEVER LAND John Dixon filmed in London and Australia. Made for D ire c to r............................. Gillian Armstrong Prod, company . . . . Kingcroft Productions Photography.....................Keith Wagstaff. the Department of the Premier.

S crip tw riter....................... Gillian Armstrong Mark Haywood Dist. company .......................Film Australia P hotograp hy............................... Kerry Brown STOWAGE, CARE AND USE OF Sound recordist ...................... Gary Wilkins P ro d u c e r................................. Peter Johnson Sound recordist ..............Laurie Fitzgerald LIFESAVING EQUIPMENT. SMALL E d it o r ...........................................David Milner WESTERNPORT CATCHMENT Directors ......................................Harry Booth.

E d it o r ............................................Sara Bennet BOAT ENGINE MAINTENANCE AREA Exec, producer .................. Kent Chadwick Terry Ohlsson Asst producer .............................Alex Ezard AND SAFETY Prod, manager ........ ..............Ewan Burnett S crip tw riter.................................Harry Booth Unit m a n a g e r................................. Jenny Day Prod, com pa n ie s....................Victorian Film Camera assistant ..................... Chris Caine Sound recordist ....................... Jon Marsh Camera assistant ................... Martin Turner Prod, c o m p a n y .......... John Blackett Smith Corporation Neg. m a tc h in g .................. Warwick Driscoll E d it o r ..................................................... Liz Irwin Length ................................................. 50 mins Productions for Film Australia and the AB C Laboratory ............................................. Atlab Asst producer .......................Rosemary Gow Gauge ......................................................16mm Dist company Victorian Film Corporation Dist. company .......... : ............Film Australia Unit m a n a g e r........................................PatriciaBlunt Length .................................................20 mins Shooting s to ck .........................Eastmancolor D ire c to r.....................................................HarrisSmart P ro d u c e r.................................Peter Johnson Gauge ......................................................35mm Length ...................................................25 mins Progress ......................................... In release S criptw riter...............................................Harris Smart D ire c to r........................

John Blackett Smith Shooting sto ck..........................Eastmancolor Gauge ...............................16mm and 35mm First re lea se d .................................May, 1981 Exec, producer .....................Kent Chadwick S criptw riter.................. John Blackett Smith Shooting sto ck .......................... Eastmancolor Progress ............................... Post-production Synopsis: Four years ago Gillian Armstrong Length . . .....................................

3 x 30 mins E d it o r .....................................David Pullbrook Scheduled release .................................. 1981 Progress ............................. Awaiting release made a film called Smokes and Lollies — Gauge ..................................................... 16mm Asst producer ...................... Rosemary Gow Scheduled release ........................July, 1981 Synopsis: A feature documentary about about the lives of three 14 year-old South Shooting stock . . . . . . . . . Eastmancolor Synopsis: A montage of Australia and its Length ............................................. 2 x 5 mins Melbourne for international release. Made Australian girls. This film revisits them and Gauge ..................................................... 16mm Progress ......................................... In release lifestyle, using the words of Henry Lawson for the Melbourne Tourism Authority and reviews their present lifestyles and the Shooting sto ck ........................ Eastmancolor Synopsis: A series of three documentaries to describe this unique continent. the Victorian Government Tourist Authority. changes in their attitudes and aspirations. on the effects of industrialization on a new Progress .........................................In release community. Co-produced by the Victorian First relea se d .................................. April. 1981 NOISE 4 MUSIC FILMS Film Corporation and the Australian Broad­ Synopsis: Two films on small boat safety LIFE AT SEA procedures. casting Commission for the Department of Prod, company .......................Victorian Film Prod, company ................ Dept of Science the Premier.

Prod, company ....................... Film Australia Corporation and Technology Dist. company ..........................Film Australia Exec, producer .....................Kent Chadwick Dist. company ......................... Film Australia P ro d u c e r.................................................... PeterJohnson THE WET FLYMAN'S DREAM Animation ......................... Graham Jackson.

P ro d u c e r................................................... Tom Manefield Director ....................................Brian McDuffie D ire c to r.........................................Karl McPhee David Atkinson S crip tw riter................................................ Brian McDuffie P ro d c o m p a n ie s ........... V ic to ria n F ilm S crip tw riter................................

Karl McPhee A d vise r.....................................Lorraine Milne E d it o r ..................................... Peter Whitmore C o rp o ra tio n P hotography...............................John Hosking L e n g t h ...............................................4 x 4 mins Length ................................................... 15 mins a n d T h e F ilm H o u se Asst producer .................... Macek Rubetski Gauge ...................................................... 16mm Gauge .......................................................16mm D ire c to r . ........... G o rd o n G le n n Length ...................................................

10 mins Progress .............................

Pre-production Shooting sto ck ..........................Eastmancolor S c r ip t w r it e r ............ ..

R u sse ll P o rte r G a u g e ....................................................... 35mm Synopsis: A series of animated films about Progress ............................. Awaiting release P h o to g ra p h y E lle ry Ryan Shooting sto ck ..........................Eastmancolor music for educational use. Made for the Scheduled release ........................ July, 1981 S o u n d re c o rd is t . .Ian W ils o n Progress ............................... Pre-production Education Department.

Synopsis: A recruiting film for the Royal E d ito r . .

G ra e m e P re s to n ALCOHOLISM Scheduled release .................. August. 1981 Australian Navy.

E xec, p ro d u c e r . . K e n t C h a d w ic k Synopsis: An emotional short film about Prod, company .......................Victorian Film A SPECIAL FREEDOM C a m e ra a s s is ta n t . .

J a m e s G ra n t deafness. The impact of this film is made Corporation N eg m a tc h in g . . . V ic to ria n Neg THE LITTLE WORLD OF DIETMAR stronger by the lack of dialogue.

S crip tw riter...............................Russell Porter Prod, com panies...............................VictorianFilm C u ttin g S e rv ic e s Corporation and E x e c .p ro d u c e r...................... Kent Chadwick S o u n d m ix e r .. .

Prod, company ......................Film Australia D a vid H a rris o n The Moving Picture Company A d vis e r.......................................Dr Jan Frailon ORIGINS L a b o r a t o r y ...........

Dist. company ..........................Film Australia . .

V FL Director ..........................................Ivan Hexter Length ...................................................20 mins L e n g th ....................

P ro d u c e r.......................................Don Harley ........... 20 m in s Prod, company ....................... Film Australia Gauge .......................................................16mm S criptw riter............................................ Wendy Jackson G auge ....................

Director ...............................Stephen Ramsay ..

16 m m Dist. company ......................... Film Australia Progress ............................... Pre-production P hotography......................................Alan Cole S h o o tin g s to c k . . .

S crip tw riter.........................Stephen Ramsay . E a s tm a n c o lo r P ro d u c e r.................................... Tom Manfield Scheduled release ...................................1981 Sound recordist ....................... John Rowley P ro g re s s ..................

P h otog rap hy................................ Kerry Brown . . In re le a s e D ire c to r......................................... Stan Dalby Synopsis: A short film about early detection E d it o r ......................................................... David Pulbrook S c h e d u le d re le a s e Asst producer .............................Gerry Letts J u ly 1981 S criptw riter...................................Stan Dalby Kent Chadwick of alcohol abuse Produced for the Health Exec, p ro d u c e r ............

S y n o p s is : A d o c u m e n ta ry on th e n a tive Camera assistant .......................Dietmar Fill P hotography...............................Kerry Brown Camera assistant ....................

Murray Ware Commission, Length ................................................... 24 mins fis h in g re s o u rc e s of V ic to ria s riv e rs a n d th e Sound recordist .....................Rod Simmons Neg. m a tc h in g ............................................ VFL Gauge ....................................................... 16mm n e e d to c o n s e rv e th e m . P ro d u c e d fo r th e E d it o r ............................................ Lyn Williams Animation ..................................... RayStrong M in is try fo r C o n s e rv a tio n (F is h e rie s a n d Shooting sto ck .......................... Eastmancolor AWARD Asst producer .................. Macek Rubetski Graphic designer ........................ Ray Strong W ild life D ivisio n ).

Progress ............................... Post-production N a rra to r......................................... John Ewart 17 mins Prod, com pa n ie s...............................Victorian FilmLength .............................................

Scheduled release .......................July, 1981 Length ............................................

10 mins Corporation Gauge ...................................................... 16mm S y n o p s i s : T h e w o r ld a n d w o rk of THE UNSUSPECTING CONSUMER Gauge ................................ % " color tape Shooting stock ........................Eastmancolor internationally-famous micro-photographer and Vincent O'Donnell Progress ......................................... In release P r o g r e s s .......................................................... Inrelease Dietmar Fill. Dietmar has won honors from P ro d u c e r...........................Vincent O'Donnell P ro d , c o m p a n y ..........................V ic to ria n Film First relea se d ...............................April. 1981 Synopsis: A documentary about therapy S criptw riter............................... John Sullivan the Australian Cinematographers' Society C o rp o ra tio n S yn o p s is : A vid e otap e for the C o m ­ care for mentally-handicapped children, set P hotography............................................... Alan Cole for the past four years, for his exceptional D ist c o m p a n y .V ic to ria n F ilm C o rp o ra tio n m onw ealth D e p a rtm e n t of Education in Kew C o tta g e s C h ild r e n 's C e n tre Additional p hotography.......... Leigh Tilson work in this highly-specialized field. The D ire c to r .........................................p e te r G re en designed to encourage the use of a kit for Melbourne.

Made for the Health Com m is­ Sound recordist ...............................Ian Ryan technique combines the challenging use of S c r ip t w r it e r ........... .......................... P e te r G re e n non-English speaking secondary school E d it o r ........................................... Robert Martin sion. camera and microscope simultaneously.

E xec p r o d u c e r .................... K e n t C h a d w ic k children, dealing with Australia's history.

Exec, producer .....................Kent Chadwick

V IC T O R IA N F IL M C O R P O R A T IO N

A MAN AND AN ORGAN

SEAWATCH

Prod, company ...................... John Bushelle Productions Prod, company ...................... Kingcroft and Film Australia Dist. company ......................... Film Australia Dist. company ......................... Film Australia P ro d u c e r................................................. PeterJohnson P ro d u c e r................................... Peter Johnson D ire c to r....................................................... John Bushelle

Length ................................................... 17 mins Gauge .........................................

16mm Progress ......................................... Production Scheduled release .................. August. 1981 Synopsis: The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Made for the Department of Youth Sport and Recreation.

STARRING VICTORIA

L e n g th . . . . ....................................... 1 0 m in s G auge . . ...................................................1 6 m m

Prod, com panies...............................Victorian FilmS h o o tin g s t o c k ......................... E a s tm a n c o lo r Corporation P r o g r e s s .............................................. P ro d u c tio n and AAV Australia S c h e d u le d r e le a s e ......... S e p te m b e r. 1981 P ro d u c e r...........................................Jill Levett S y n o p s is : A n a n im a te d film on th e p itfa lls of D ire c to r.......................................Peter Purvis th e m a rk e tp la c e . M a d e f o r th e D e p a rtm e n t S criptw riter............................................Jerem y Press o f C o n s u m e r A ffa irs .

Cinema Papers, July-August — 283

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Gallipoli Brian McFarlane The opening image of the film is that of a boy doing loosening and breathing exercises to commands rapped out by an old man. At dawn, in an empty West Australian landscape in May, 1915, the boy practises his sprint as his uncle times him. “ What are your legs?” “ Steel springs”. “ How fast can you run?”

“Like a leopard”. “ How fast are you going to run?” “Like a leopard”. The boy has his answers by rote as the old man drills him. The incantation comes back to him just before the final scene as he climbs out of the trench at Gallipoli, stepping over the dead and wounded, to run madly into the line of the Turkish artillery. And the film’s last frozen frame holds the boy in the heroic posture of the runner, now streaked with blood.

Between the opening and closing im­ ages, Peter Weir has considerably ex­ tended his range, thematically and aesthetically. In his earlier feature films, he seemed chiefly preoccupied with the extraordinary lurking at the edges of the mundane, with rational man confronted by matters in which his rationality no longer serves him. In Gallipoli, his concerns are at once less metaphysical and more sociological, less an illustration of a pre-determined thesis and more an exploration of at­ titudes. In spite of its title, the film is not a war epic; in fact, it deliberately refuses invitations to be so. Its first and last shots are of an individual and this proves to be more than mere artistic tidiness.

Gallipoli is not, then, a “war film” so much as a film about war; about the kinds of attitudes Australians and par­ ticular individuals took towards it in 1915; about, in a broader sense, what it felt like to be Australian then — and perhaps still does feel like. The second half of the film’s length is taken up with scenes of war (in Egypt and later at Gallipoli). The earlier half has to do with Archy Hamilton’s (Mark Lee) career as a sprinter, his meeting with Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson), whom

Archy defeats at an athletic meeting, and their “joining up”, Archy in the Light Horse, Frank in the Infantry.

The two halves of the film fit together because there are continuing ideas which Weir explores in an un­ hurried, unemphatic way and which gain in cogency through being pursued in different milieux. I mean ideas like competitiveness and mateship and sporting spirit as aspects of our national myth. As well, the earlier half of the film reinforces the idea of Australia’s isolation from the rest of the world and the second half dramatizes the enforced surrender of that sense of isolation.

Archy’s being a sprinter is a way of stressing the individual competitive aspect of the Australian character; its solitariness is created in Russell Boyd’s glowing images of the austere blankness of the landscape. Stronger than the competitive urge, though, is the feeling for mateship: the friendship between rural Archy and urban, know­ ing Frank which develops after Archy has beaten Frank.

This relationship is developed in a long sequence in the first half of the film, in which the two head for Perth where Archy plans to join up: Stranded in the desert at a railway siding, they are told there will be a two weeks wait for the next Perth train, “unless you’re game enough to cross the lake”. Ac­ cepting this challenge they set off across the lake’s dry bed, the Aboriginal railway worker warning them, “ If the snakes don’t get ya, the black fellas will”, and two incongruous figures set off in a dry, empty landscape of shim­ mering heat.

This landscape will have a visual echo in the desolate crags of Gallipoli, but a more important aural echo is also set up. Frank’s joking reference to Burke and Wills pre-figures another doomed enterprise — the Gallipoli landing — which has also passed into the national mythology.

During their trek to Perth, Archy and Frank achieve a friendship that sur­ mounts their different attitudes to the war. “It’s not our bloody war — it’s an English war,” Frank claims, and Archy counters with, “ You’re a bloody coward.” But Archy’s patriotism is a mindless affair. When they meet an old

Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) and Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson) at Gallipoli. Peter Weir's Gallipoli.

man with a camel in the desert, the old man hasn’t heard of the war (he has never been to Perth either, but he once knew a German), and Archy tries un­ successfully to explain to him what the war is about.

This brief scene is rich in resonance: it encapsulates Australian isolation from world affairs (and underlines this by the very nature of the terrain), mud­ dled patriotism to an undefined cause (and this notion gets its supreme ex­ pression at Gallipoli itself), and casual indifference to another country’s quarrels. There is further an element of preposterousness in the very notion of this discussion taking place in a vast stretch of desert.

The two men finally reach Perth, are recruited and then separated until, months later, they meet in a field exer­ cise in Egypt — an exercise in which Light Horse and Infantry get rid of their mutual animosity by acting as enemy to each other. An officer breaks up their friendly reunion with “This is supposed to be warfare”, so they lie down as if wounded. Major Barton (Bill Hunter), influenced by their running prowess, permits a transfer which allows them to go to Gallipoli. They want to be part of the action; in time they get their chance, with inevitable results.

If narrative were merely a matter of plot, the film would be thin and episodic enough. It would be a more or less interesting, even touching, account of a friendship casually begun and ar­ bitrarily ended. However, the film's texture is persistently richer than such an account would suggest.

Gallipoli is not a polemical film: it is not essentially a “war film”; equally, it resists the label of “anti-war film”. I don't mean that it celebrates war or that it approves of World War I and Australia’s participation in it, but, rather, that its interest is in the way people react to and in war. This kind of interest leads Weir to admire the feeling that grows between Archy and Frank, between Frank and his former failwayganger mates, between Archy and his Cinema Papers, July-August — 285

Grendel, Grendel, Grendel

old tormentor Les (Harold Hopkins) the Light Horse” , it is not incongruous who turns up briefly in the Gallipoli for another poster to proclaim, “The trenches.

Empire needs you.”

Weir is interested in why these men Isolated or not, Australians are go to war, why Australians, so cut off reading about Gallipoli. The connec­ from world events, should involve tion between Archy and Frank is first themselves in Britain’s military and established by their reading of news­ political problems, and what happens to paper accounts of the war: Archy’s them when they do commit themselves cutting about Gallipoli is kept, to the war. That the film is concerned significantly, in Every Boy’s Book of with individuals in war is affirmed by Sport and Pastimes', Frank is reading a the striking emphasis on close-ups as op­ newspaper at the railway camp in the posed to the sweeping panoramic shot. next shot. People are responding to the (In the mock battle between the In­ “baptism of fire on the rocky slopes of fantry and the Light Horse, there are Gallipoli” , even if they are not sure some stunning long shots of serried where those slopes are. ranks, and it occurred to me that this In the marvellously-lit scene of night was the last of the CinemaScope wars, farewell as the troopship leaves Perth, but this is not where Weir’s interest the soundtrack has snatches of “ For lies.)

England, home and beauty” as well as in his exploration of why these “ Australia will be there” . The men may Australians go to war, Weir suggests be marching to different drums, but one that the competitive urge (races, bets on of them is clearly the drum of empire. races — on anything) is part of the This is not to say that Weir and David Australian consciousness, that it’s no Williamson (who wrote the screenplay) more to be resisted than the sex and are taking a nostalgic or reactionary booze the soldiers are warned about in line: they are just implying that motives Egypt. for going to this war were mixed — and The first half of the film is full of peo­ muddled. ple challenging each other and of others In Egypt, men from the youngest betting on the outcome. The challenge country in the world are seen playing of a war, however dimly its causes are football at the base of the pyramids and understood, takes its place in a context the camera offers a close-up of the of competition. Archy's first reference Sphinx, no doubt bemused by this dis­ to joining up is cut short by his uncle’s play of colonial competitiveness. reply, “ You’re under age” , but Archy Against this ancient backdrop, Frank counters this by talking of his uncle’s claims that he’s not interested in youthful escapades, competition, history, but in beating the Victorians at sporting spirit, enterprise: war offers a football. The competitive spirit, further wider opportunity for their display. seen in the Australians’ haggling over Also, for all Frank’s cynicism about Egyptian tourist junk, is finally seen as its being England’s bloody war, the ties inappropriate to Gallipoli. It has taken of empire are still there, strongly, if not them there, but cannot help them there articulately, felt. In one charming where they are wholly at the service of domestic episode. Uncle Jack reads to the British.

Archy’s younger brothers and sisters The anti-British feeling glimpsed in and, while the Australian wind whistles the Australian scenes is intensified with round their isolated farmhouse, the the Australians’ contact with the children listen rapt — to Kipling. The British Light Horse in Cairo where point is unobtrusively made that Kip­ Frank and his mates are dismissed by ling is as much part of this scene as the British officers as “ undisciplined” . kerosene lamp. When a soldier with a And, at Gallipoli itself, it is clear that drum is led on to the sportsground on a they are to draw the Turks out of the wooden horse, bearing the legend “Join way so as to protect the British. Of­

ficer/men resentment (hinted at as the soldiers watch Major Barton drink champagne as he listens to his gramophone) falls before the stronger resentment against the British when Barton is commanded by the British Colonel (John Morris) to order his men to advance, with bayonets at the ready but no bullets, in spite of the Turks hav­ ing dug in. They are cut to pieces and the camera pans slowly over the dead and dying.

The men who are left know that the next order will send them to death, and medals, watches, rings and other mementos are left in the Australian trench when they climb out into “the valley of the shadow of death” as the 23rd Psalm is read on the soundtrack.

For a change, a freeze-frame ending means something: the final frame leaves us with a clear sense of lives cut short in utter futility.

Near the start of this review, I suggested that this film shows Weir ex­ tending his range and changing direc­ tion. In doing so, I suspect he has made his most successful film to date, and also that David W illia m s o n ’s screenplay has been a major asset and influence. Williamson is not the kind of writer likely to embrace the sorts of concepts Weir explored in Picnic at Hanging Rock or The Last Wave. Nor has he ever been as tidy in his structures as The Cars that Ate Paris and The Plumber were.

Gallipoli is more loosely inclusive than the latter two, less determinedly enigmatic than the former two. It knows where it is going, without being in any particular hurry about it or without spelling out its themes. It manages to be a humane and moving reconstruction of times past without succumbing to nostalgia; those who wish to may see in it a critique of subse­ quent Australian involvement in world events, but this will not be crucial to a reading of the film.

G allipoli: Directed by: Peter W eir. Producer: P a tric ia L o v e ll. E xecutive producer: Francis O ’ Brien. Screenplay: David W illiam son. Based on

an orig ina l idea by Peter W eir. D ire cto r o f photo­ graphy: Russell Boyd. Editor: B ill Anderson.

Music: Brian M ay. Design consultant: Wendy W eir. Sound: Don C onnolly. Cast: M el Gibson (Frank), M a rk Lee (A rc h y ), B ill H unter (B arton), Robert Grubb (B illy ), David Argue (Snowy), T im M cKenzie (Barney), H arold H opkins (M cC ann), B ill K err (U ncle), Ron Graham (W allace), Robin Galwey (M a ry ). Production company: Associated R & R Film s. D is trib u to r: Roadshow. 35mm. 105 min. A ustra lia . 1981.

Grendel, Grendel, Grendel Geoff Mayer The epic poem Beowulf appeared in its final form in the first half of the Eighth Century and it described, in its first part, the activities of King Hrothgar of the Danes who built a great castle, Mead-Hall, as a meeting place for all his subjects. However, the hall is regularly terrorized by Grendel, a monstrous representation of the savage world outside the hall, a world populated by creatures who are not the “children of men” . Grendel, a man­ eating monster bearing the mark of Cain, is eventually confronted by Beowulf, the hero from the land of the Geats in Sweden, who kills the monster.

Although Beowulf goes on to kill Grendel’s mother and then rule as king until his death in a fight with a dragon, American medieval scholar and novelist John Gardner utilizes only the first part of the epic for his 1971 novel Grendel. This, in turn, forms the basis of Grendel, Grendel, Grendel, an animated feature written and directed

by Melbourne animator Alexander Stitt, of the Christian Television Association commercials and the ubiquitous Norm of the Life. Be In It campaign.

Gardner’s reworking of the Beowulf epic consists largely of writing the events from Grendel’s point of view.

Thus, instead of a parable about the role of kingship, political respon­ sibility and the evolution of a culture, there is a contemporary, ironic view of the stupidity of mankind, the illogical superstitious development of religion and the ego-building role assigned to folktales spun out by the Shaper, although they had little or no basis in fact: “ He spoke of how God had been kind to the Scyldings, sending so rich a harvest. The people sat beaming, bleary-eyed and fat, nodding their approval of God. He spoke of God’s great generosity in sending them so wise a king. They raised their cups to God and Hrothgar, and Hrothgar smiled, bits of food in his beard.”

One can easily see the appeal of such a story for the film’s producer, Phillip Adams, who in his other vocation is an advertising executive, a contemporary Shaper.

Stitt’s Grendel, Grendel, Grendel remains faithful to the sardonic tone of the novel while injecting the film with a good deal more humor, some of it quite broad, such as Unferth’s warning to the king that he would have his royal marbles if he betrayed him.

Also, Stitt creates a different person­ ality for the selection of Hrothgar’s idiotic Viking warriors and assemb­ lage, and then provides them with an English, notably Yorkshire, accent delivered by Bobby Bright, Ernie Left: Frank and Archy in Perth, before going to war. Gallipoli.

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Cinema Papers, July-August

The Long Good Friday

A plea for understanding and tolerance: Alex­ ander Stitt’s Grendel, Grendel, Grendel.

Bourne, Ric Stone and Ed Rosser.

Keith Michell provides the voice of Shaper, the balladeer, Arthur Dignam for the Dragon and Peter Ustinov for Grendel.

The film begins on Tuesday 515 AD, with Julie McKenna singing a rather haunting theme song which establishes the fact that Grendel’s mother loves her 12 ft 4 in (3.75 m) spotty green son — particularly since he provides her dietary staples of humans and frogs.

For the rest of the film, Grendel is a rather passive protagonist, content to watch the foibles, brutality and deceit of mankind, although he occasionally rushes into Mead-Hall to fulfil his function by biting off the heads of a few unlucky humans.

Initially, Grendel is moved by the Shaper’s ballads concerning the achievements of the community and the developing communal spirit. This cul­ minates in GrendePs plaintive cry for inclusion into their society (“Why couldn’t they understand that we could all live together?”).

In an attempt to understand his place in their world, Grendel visits the all­ knowing dragon and this sequence, as in Gardner’s novel, crystallizes the dominant motif running throughout the film. The dragon explains, in terms remarkably similar to Saussure’s dictum, that symbols are diacritical — that is, concepts are defined negatively by their relations with other terms of the system. Their most precise characteristic is in being what others are not. Thus, the dragon explains, for everything good there must be something evil, for everything positive there must be a negative side. Grendel exists to go bump in the night, whereby humans are forced to develop poetry and religion to explain his existence.

Thereafter, Grendel watches humans in their attempt to deal with his existence and he begins to realize that they are an inferior species driven by an irrational need to appease God by sacrifices. He even notes one observer complaining that they used to do it properly in the past when they

sacrificed a couple of live virgins instead of a deer.

Grendel decides to give them something to worry about, so, in front of everybody at Mead-Hall, he bites WiglafPs head off — his only regret being that he didn’t take the soldier’s helmet off as he had damaged a tooth.

Powerless, Hrothgar welcomes Beowulf to destroy Grendel, as Unferth, his resident hero, had earlier been humiliated by Grendel. However, instead of a battle between a godlike hero and a vicious monster, as in the original epic poem, Gardner and Stitt’s film transform Beowulf into an insane figure who leaps upon and destroys a vulnerable Grendel.

Grendel, Grendel, Grendel is a clever, intelligent film incorporating a subtle plea for understanding and tolerance, although it may have trouble finding an audience. Except for the sporadic attempts by Ralph Bakshi, the animated feature film has largely been relegated by the public to the restricted field of children’s entertainment. The reasons for this are complex, although the importance placed on considera­ tions such as realism and verisimili­ tude by popular audiences are obviously important factors.

It is to be hoped that Grendel, Grendel, Grendel goes some way towards breaking down such consider­ ations by generating an understanding of the animated film as a legitimate form of adult entertainment.

Certainly Stitt’s film deserves serious consideration as an important land­ mark in the Australian film industry and as a development of that form of animation pioneered by UPA in the U.S. in the 1950s, a tradition breaking away from the strongly naturalistic style which had dominated commercial animation up to that point.

Perhaps Phillip Adams’ prologue to the film was ill-advised. His attempt to provide a context to the film by arguing that monsters in the horror film are a logical expression of a culture’s dark or repressed side, and his speculations regarding the motivation of such monsters (e.g., Dracula viewed as the manifestation of a “ blood-sucking aristocracy”) are interesting. Yet these comments add little to an under­ standing of the film, as such senti­ ments are best left to the dragon’s

concise explanation to Grendel regarding the function of a monster in the human cosmos.

Overall, Stitt and his small produc­ tion team, who had been working on the project since 1975, deserve recog­ nition for a rather remarkable achievement. * Grendel, Grendel, Grendel: Directed by: Alexander S titt. Producers: P h illip Adams, Alexander S titt.

Screenplay: A lexander S titt. Based on the novel by John Gardner. M usic: Bruce Smeaton. Designer: A le x a n d e r S titt. A n im a tio n d ire c to r: Frank Holland. P rincipal anim ators: David A tkinson, Gus M cLaren, Ralph Peverill. Voices: Peter U stinov. Keith M iche ll. A rth u r Dignam, Ed Rosser, Bobby B right, Ric Stone. Julie M cKenna.

Production company: A n im a tio n A ustra lia . Dis­ trib u to r: H oyts. 35mm. 90 min. A u stra lia . 1981.

The Long Good Friday Stephen Garton The Long Good Friday begins as an action thriller and ends as a study of a man incapable of adapting to a new set of historical circumstances. The central character, Harold Shand (Bob Hos­ kins), is a contemporary London crime boss. The film sets out to present a meticulous sociological portrait of him and his situation.

Things have been good for Harold in the past few years. He has emerged from a series of gang wars, a decade ago, as the dominant force in the London underworld. Since then he has consolidated his position as the con­ troller of the local grog, gambling and prostitution trades. As an “honorable man”, he refuses to deal in drugs.

Through his “corporation”, he oversees a range of smaller crime bosses who have been delegated their “manors”. ' The film shows Harold basking in the fruits of this arrangment. He has his yacht, mistress (Helen Mirren), casino, penthouse apartment and cars, and his religious ‘mum’ can be chauffeured to church in a Rolls, presumably to atone for Harold’s sins. He has a range of other trappings of the successful crime boss — city councillors and police superintendents in his pay and a number of establishment business con­ tacts through whom he undoubtedly launders his profits.

It is made clear, however, that Harold is a classic example of British post-war social mobility. He is basical­ ly a working-class boy who, with a bit of luck and a lot of thuggery, has made good. He is depicted as crass and un­ sophisticated despite his wealth. On top of this, he has the appropriate beliefs in individual effort and empire loyalty.

In many ways, this is the familiar stereotype of the British underworld figure. Hoskins, however, gives the role an invigorating freshness. The interest of the film lies in its development of a context in which Harold is forced to act.

The film opens with a shot of an isolated farmhouse where three men ap­ pear to be waiting inside. The film then cuts to another scene of a man arriving at an airport with a suitcase and getting into a taxi. He dismantles the false bot­ tom of the case, revealing a hoard of British currency, and helps himself to some of it. Then he hands the case to another man. The same man is seen in a bar chatting up two younger men. An arrangement is made and the younger men go outside while he pays for the drinks. The two men are immediately grabbed, bundled into a car, shot and dumped by a roadside. The next scene cuts back to the farmhouse. A suitcase arrives for the three men, but before they open it they are held up at gun­ point by another group of unknown men.

This series of short scenes builds con­ siderable dramatic tension. There are no clues as to the meanings of these events. This technique narrows the dis­ tance between the narrative and the audience. The importance of such a technique is revealed when Harold becomes the centre of a new sequence of mysterious incidents. It makes the confusions of the characters, like Harold, those of the viewer as well. In this way, the meaning of events is cir­ cumscribed by Harold’s own attempts to discover their significance.

The next series of incidents begins with the explosion of a bomb in Harold’s Rolls-Royce, while his mother is inside the church. Then the person originally involved in handing over the suitcase is stabbed to death at a public pool. Soon after, a bomb is found in one of Harold’s casinos. By a stroke of luck the wires have come loose and it fails to explode.

Harold is worried by these events because they threaten to sabotage his deal with the two Mafia representatives who have come to finalize some finan­ cial arrangements. As a final blow, another bomb explodes in one of Harold’s restaurants. His Mafia plans are on the verge of being ruined.

Harold has to act. In doing so he returns to the tried-and-true methods of the street thug. Strong-arm tactics are what got Harold to the top and they are his resort in this time of crisis. The “ex­ ecutives” of his corporation are given instructions to ferret out the persons behind these events. In one scene they collect all the minor crime bosses in London in an amusing parody of a Western cattle round-up. Harold himself goes back to the streets. He might travel from place to place in a Jaguar, but on arrival it is fists, knives and guns that are going to get him the information he needs.

The central analysis of the film con­ cerns the impotence of Harold’s methods in confrontation with this new set of circumstances. An interesting contrast is drawn between Harold and the Mafia. The latter is depicted as a group of essentially middle-class Cinema Papers, July-August — 287

The Long Good Friday

business executives, more at home in a world of boardrooms and corporate deals. They are smooth, unflappable and the youngest is a product of the Harvard Law School. This serves to highlight Harold’s working-class origins and his inability to deal with a new force in the London underworld.

He naively believes that the old ways will win out. Events prove him wrong.

The Long Good Friday has all the ele­ ments of a good action thriller. The early sequences are engrossing and Hoskins gives a skilful portrayal of Harold. The film, however, creates a dilemma of purpose for itself, between developing the complexities of the historical context, within which Harold is situated, and focusing more narrowly on a deeper psychological portrait of this central character. The film opts for the latter course of action.

Unfortunately, this narrowing of focus away from the dynamics of events towards the psychology of Harold en­ tails a number of sacrifices. Other potentially interesting characters as a consequence remain undeveloped.

Harold's mistress is initially depicted as a person of considerable intelligence and strength, and not the standard sup­ port for the male ego. Harold, in fact, relies on her to help negotiate some of his deals. The film resolves the problem of what to do with such a character, not by developing her complexities but by rendering her traditionally feminine and vulnerable.

Another problem is that the film tries to engage the audience’s sympathy with Harold’s plight. There are elements of a romanticization of this character. As a consequence, when the new disruptive force on the streets is revealed as a political organization, the film can only depict it as a bunch of fanatical killers

with no legitimate reasons for struggle.

Importantly, for the structure of the film, the emphasis on individual psy­ chology disrupts the pace of narrative developments. Instead of continuing with greater intricacies of plot, Harold and his mental anguish become the centrepieces. This results in a number of superfluous scenes that do little but let Hoskins parade some of his un­ doubted acting talents. Two notable examples are his soliloquy on “ mateship” , when the man stabbed at the pool turns out to be his best friend, and a longer shower sequence after Harold has killed someone.

The Long Good Friday has preten­ sions to being more than just a thriller.

In the last analysis, the casting of Hoskins creates problems for the film.

He is so suited to the part that the film fails to develop either narrative context or his in te ra c tio n s with other characters, which may have allowed a more complex picture of Harold and his situation to emerge. The plot becomes thin towards the end. The strategy of focusing on Harold pays dividends in the interesting closing scenes, but by then too much has been sacrificed along the way.

The Long Good Frid ay: D irected by: John McKenzie. Producer: Barry Hanson. Screenplay: Barrie Keeffe. D irector o f photography: Phil Meheux. Editor: M ik e Taylor. M usic: Francis M onkham . A r t director: Vic Symonds. Sound: David John. Cast: Bob Hoskins (H a ro ld ). Helen M irren (V icto ria ). Dave K ing (P arky). Brian Hall (A lan). Eddie Constantine (Charlie). Stephen Davies (Tony). Derek Thompson (Jeff). Bryan M arshall (H arris), P. H. M o ria rty (Razors), Paul Freeman (C olin). Production company : Calendar Productions. D istributor: G U O . 35mm. 105 min.

Britain. 1980.

Roadgames Brian McFarlane A heroine called “ Hitch” for most of Roadgames is just one of the jokes in a film full of them. It points, of course, to the source and kind of joke that makes Richard Franklin’s new film’ such exhilarating fun.

This is not to say that the film is just reach-me-down Hitchcock, but that F ranklin’s obvious (and stated) veneration for the master has helped to shape his own style in a way that is wholly to his advantage. He cuts with a confidence no other Australian director equals and uses it to manipulate his audience between laugh and scream with impudent ease.

In the penultimate scene, the girl, Hitch (Jamie Lee Curtis), lifts her arm and the camera cuts to a ferocious cleaver falling — on to a hunk of meat on a butcher’s counter. A murdered girl's mouth opens for a final scream, but a cheeky aural cut replaces the sound with the din of clattering rubbish bins. These are not mere rhetorical flourishes, but point to a director with a distinctive grasp of narrative tech­ nique. And this technique is at the service of a vision that sees life as a black joke.

In an interview in Cinema Papers (No. 28, pp 243), Franklin showed considerable 5c//-awareness when, talking of his indebtedness to Hitch­ cock, he said: “ But, to me, Hitchcock was the director who could bring all those technical things together and turn them into an emotional experience which was never diminished, but only heightened, by one being aware of

what he was doing technically.”

This is as true of Franklin as it was of Hitchcock, and it is what makes him unique among Australian directors: a thorough-going delight in what Film can do.

It was already clear in Patrick (1978 — and too long ago) that Franklin’s was a talent to reckon with, a viably commercial talent, one that wants to amuse and shock by drawing on the cinema’s resources. If there’s “signifi­ cance” in his Films (that is, Patrick and Roadgames), it is in what he has himself identified: his capacity for securing our emotional/visceral involvement while quite boldly drawing attention to how he has worked on us.

The significance of the film is not an imported one. By that I mean he is not about to turn into Stanley Kramer, or even Peter Weir, by tackling Serious Themes. What is serious about Patrick and the considerably more accomp­ lished Roadgames is that they are films made by a filmmaker who loves what films alone can achieve. He has an instinctive grasp of the way film makes its own meanings, for the way it alters rather than merely represents reality.

In the literal-mindedness and, indeed, high-mindedness of a good deal of Aus­ tralian cinema, Franklin’s exploitative concern for narrative technique and what it can do to our perception of reality is as invigorating as it is rare.

Roadgames is more tightly plotted than Patrick. An admirer of the latter, I would nevertheless acknowledge some n a r ra tiv e sloppiness and some unabsorbed in cre d ib ilitie s. In Roadgames, if we judge some events on a criterion of credibility they will be found wanting (for example, when all the supporting cast turns up in Perth at a crucial moment). The point is that the film is almost insolent in daring us to react with concern for literal realism.

One doesn’t register the recurring presence of an accountant’s florid wife, a motor-cyclist in red, or the goonish boat-owner as an affront to realism, so much as their representing the prota­ gonist’s growing sense of bewilderment and harassment. In Patrick there were some loose ends and some strainings of credulity that drew attention to them­ selves as inadequacies; in Roadgames, Franklin’s control and confidence have markedly increased. If one’s credulity is strained, it is meant to be, and one can see why. And there are no loose ends — and no fat.

The pre-credits sequence, for instance, wastes nothing. The film opens on a line-up of garbage cans, pans to the Car-o-tel entrance, up to the neon sign and down to the truck arriving. The camera confronts the truck head-on and cuts to Pat Quid (Stacy Reach) talking to the unseen “ Boswell” , who turns out to be a dingo.

The truck radio is giving news about a mutilated female corpse found in a garbage dump.

Quid’s fatigue, his taste for clowning (using the truck radio microphone as a razor) and his literary leanings are quickly established, and so is his observer’s capacity. He watches as a green panel van draws up and, as it happens, he thereby loses the last vacant room. As he lies down in the sleeping compartment of the truck and starts to pluck a guitar, the camera cuts to the naked back of a girl in a motel room, also with guitar. The door behind Left: John McKenzie's meticulous study of the London crime world, The Long Good Friday.

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Cinema Papers, July-August

Roadgames

her opens; the killer stands there, garot­ ting wire in hand linked visually with the guitar wire and the girl’s thin metal neckband; and as her mouth opens in a scream, the film cuts to the morning noise of garbage bins being rattled, and Boswell sniffing among the green garbage bags as Quid sees a hand and face appear around the edge of a motel­ window curtain.

This is all fast, dense and resonant.

Everything in it — garbage, Boswell, truck, news broadcast, panel van, wire and, above all, Quid’s weary, playful voyeurism — assumes an unobtrusive narrative significance. Visual and aural signifiers make their points about plot and character — and directorial inten­ tion — with wit and economy.

The cross-Nullarbor journey (its beauty and emptiness stunningly evoked by Vincent Monton’s camera­ work), as Quid transports a trailer-load of refrigerated carcasses to Perth, is the setting for the long central section of a teasing thriller. Its events are given a more than episodic shape by Quid’s gradual surrendering of his observer status as he becomes increasingly certain that the green panel van, with its mysterious ice-box, is linked with the murders broadcast on the radio news.

As Quid begins his journey with “ful devout corage”, invoking Chaucer, Shelley and others as he goes, the tone is casually comic as he plays his favorite road game of inventing little dramas about the other travellers on the roads. In the film’s chief miscal­ culation, he confides these to the dog/dingo and the film teeters on the brink of whimsy. Teeters, but doesn’t quite topple, because he shortly acquires a talking companion. She is Hitch, the pretty girl he is about to pass for the third time before he breaks regulations and picks her up. And the film needs her company at this stage even more than he does.

The film gathers a new tension as Hitch joins Quid in his determination to catch the driver of the green panel van

and a new strand of sexual banter is added to the film’s dramatic texture.

Stacy Reach and Jamie Lee Curtis recall all those Hitchcock duos from Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, through James Stewart and Grace Kelly, to Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris. There is enough good humor and grace in their performances and enough wit in Everett de Roche’s

screenplay to sustain the comparisons.

The Franklin-De Roche collabora­ tion is the happiest in Australian films.

Together, they judge very accurately how far we need to be sympathetically involved with the protagonists, how much they need to be individualized (Hitch is a diplomat’s casually-rebellious daughter with an interest in the killer’s sex life; Quid’s eclectic reading embraces Donne, Hitchcock, The New Yorker, and Grunt, all glimpsed in one brief shot), and how to keep the audience guessing about the other characters they meet on the way.

These latter scarcely need the jokey names they are given — Frita Frugal, Sneezy Rider, Captain Careful, etc. — but they are written and directed for the same sort of enigmatic fun and tension Hitchcock got from assorted nuns in high heels, professors with missing little fingers and gourmet cooks. These characters are each given a scene in which they are thoroughly worked for suspense (at cliff-edge or in roadside toilet) or for laughter (in the roadside wreck of a motor boat), and they all assemble at the Finale of the chase in the narrow back-streets of Perth.

It is in the overall rhythm of the film that Franklin and De Roche really show their skill. They know precisely how to build to a climax — and then deflate it (witness the scene where Quid breaks into the panel van, opens the ice­ box, expecting to find who knows what and finds instead . . .). They understand, too, the superiority of suspense to surprise, so that the film’s impact grows from structured cunning, rather than reliance on moments of shock. The latter are there too, but to sharpen the edge of the suspense rather than to replace it.

Quid among the refrigerated carcasses in his truck. Roadgames.

Pat Quid (Stacy Keach), Boswell and Hitch (Jamie Lee Curtis) on the road. Richard Franklin's Roadgames.

Franklin knows equally well what he wants of his cameraman, and in Monton he has one of Australia’s ablest. The sparse beauty of the Nullarbor, with terrifying cliffs providing a moment of high tension; or the deserted telegraph station in a sandy waste offering a reflective lull for Quid and Hitch before a sudden lightning flash illuminates their quarry; or the mesmerizing effect of the long straight road and the red tail-lights that superimpose themselves on Quid’s tired eyes: an account of the film’s visual style is an account of the director’s concerns and how he has realized these.

It is tempting to go on quoting episodes that offer special delights — the oddly menacing scene in the road­ house where no one will admit to seeing the panel van and where the juke box is turned up to make Quid’s phone call difficult, or the brilliant montage of feet, hands, speedometer and so on that gets Quid’s truck moving — but it is a temptation to resist.

Roadgames is a film to see because it is more exciting, more teasing, more amusing than any other Australian film 1 know. And, above all, it is a pleasure to recommend a film that takes such pleasure in being a film.

Roadgames: Directed by: Richard F ra n klin . Pro­ ducer: Richard F ra n klin . Executive producer: Bernard Schwartz. Screenplay: Everett de Roche.

D irector o f photography: Vincent M o nto n. E ditor: Edward ,M cQueen Mason. M usic: Brian M ay.

Production designer: Jon Dowding. Sound: Paul C la rk. Cast: Stacy Keach (Q uid), Jam ie Lee C urtis (H itc h ). M a rio n Edward (F rita ). G rant Page (S m ith /J o n e s ) , B ill S ta ce y (C a p t C a re fu l), Thaddeus S m ith (A b b o tt), Stephen M illic h a m p (C ostello). C olin Vancao (Frugal). John M u rph y (B enny). P ro d u c tio n com pany: Quest F ilm s.

D istrib u to r: G U O . 35mm. 100 m in. A u stra lia 1981.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 289

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Dennis O'Rourke's brilliant new film about the introduction of American TV (complete with ads for carpet shampoo and Cadillacs) to the small Pacific island of Yap, on the eve of the island's independence. The film is a w itty and disturbing view of cultural imperialism at its most cynical and blatant.

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The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Gardens), Rafelson should have seemingly been one of the leastqualified directors to adapt Cain’s lean narrative style to the screen. However, in place of the self-indulgence, the tor­ Geoff Mayer tured self-anguish, and the preten­ tiousness of those earlier films, Rafelson (and Mamet) have crafted a James M. Cain was once described as superb, tough film where everything is the “20 minute egg of the hard-boiled kept to the essentials. By means of school” . His banned-in-Boston first ellipsis, they frequently plunge the novel, The Postman Always Rings viewer into a sequence which appears to Twice, was first published in 1934. be halfway through and then conclude Since then there have been six (three of­ at an even higher point. This is totally ficial) films drawing on the basic consistent with Cain’s habit of needling storyline. Thankfully, the most recent a story at the least hint of breakdown version, directed by Bob Rafelson, — always striving for what he called the finally captures much of the delirious “ rising coefficient of intensity” . fatalism that characterizes Cain’s Certainly the lengthy murder/acciwork. dent fabrication sequence in the middle Two of the most significant of the film bears this out. The actual characteristics running through Cain’s murder takes place quite early in the se­ most successful novels (The Postman, quence, but this is followed by an at­ Serenade, Double Indemnity, The But­ tempt to make it appear like a car acci­ terfly) are what are known as the dent. However, as Frank hits Cora, she “love-rack” and the “wish-come-true” . becomes aroused and, in a scene which The typical Cain protagonist is found is still as shocking today as it must have leaning over the edge of a cliff for a bet­ been to readers in 1934, Frank makes ter look at the “ wish” (a woman and love to Cora beside the car containing sometimes money as well) and when he the body of her husband. But the se­ gets his wish, he usually falls over the quence continues as Frank, attempting precipice, clutching both. The wish, the to push the car further down the cliff, lure of the forbidden, always invokes becomes trapped inside and suffers the love-rack, the pain that accom­ multiple injuries as Cora screams for panies desire.

Cain’s original title for the novel was The overwhelming passion o f Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) and Cora (Jessica Lange). help from an oncoming car.

Nicholson, receding hair and bags Bar-B-Q, but he changed it to The Bob Rafelson’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. under his eyes, has never been better.

Postman Always Rings Twice after The way the shabby clothes hang on his hearing playwright-friend Vincent Law­ rence tell a story about his nervous­ The hideous innocence of the heart of the film, and it points to the body and the expressions and move­ ness while waiting to hear from a relationship between Frank and Cora, only major weakness in Rafelson’s film; ments — watch the way he runs producer about a play. When Lawrence together with the other relationships in the ending. Certainly the whole world is towards Cora’s body at the end of the said that his local postman would the film (Frank-Nick, Cora-Nick), shattered when one of the lovers is film — convey beautifully the loser and always ring twice, Cain pointed out that generates alternating repulsion and killed, but to leave it like that ignores the “inside-dopester” all rolled into it was an ideal title for his novel as he sympathy for each character who, at the conventions of a melodrama which one. And Jessica Lange, after emoting (viz. fate) rang twice for the hero of the different times throughout the film, is a requires that the ending must be satisfy­ to King Kong, makes a striking debut as a dramatic actress who is able to pro­ novel, Frank Chambers. On the second victim of the relationship. For example, ing to the audience. ring, Frank had to answer.

Nick, the feudal patriarch of the cafe, Rafelson and Mamet have gone to ject Cora as an object of desire, a vic­ Rafelson, and his scriptwriter David unintentionally humiliates Cora on g re a t pains to u n d e rlin e the tim, and a dominating petulant figure.

Mamet, establish this all-pervading various occasions — such as massaging melodramatic basis of the story Similarly, the exteriors, the lighting in sense of fatalism from the outset with her breasts with his feet while she reluc­ throughout the film — particularly in the cafe and its decor match Nicholson the film’s opening shot. Transposing tantly recites Greek words. Cora, on the aftermath of the courtroom scene and Lange in conveying an appropriate day (in the novel) for night, the film the other hand, eagerly betrays Nick, when Frank is wheeled down a corridor forlorn, spoiled quality to a film set in opens with a black screen as the exploits Frank and suggests murder as full of hyperactive reporters and court the middle of the American depression. audience picks out the figure of a man the only viable form of action. officials — yet they deny an ap­ hitching a ride on a lonely country In fact, Rafelson’s film is totally con­ propriate ending for such a melodrama.

Postman Always Rings Twice: Directed by: road. sistent with Cain’s view of the world as Certainly they may have rejected the The Rafelson.

Producers: Charles M u lve rh ill, Bob In the early hours of the morning the a place inhabited by small, selfish peo­ ending in the novel (and MGM’s 1946 Bob Rafelson. Executive producer: Andrew Brauns­ car pulls into a seedy hamburger joint ple — superbly brought out in Mamet’s version) as too sentimental, but it was berg. Associate producer: M ichael Barlow. Screen­ and Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) script by the deal, between the defence certainly an appropriate conclusion for play: David Mam et. Based on a novel by James M .

D irector o f photography: Sven N ykvist. hides in the toilet as the driver eats and lawyer Katz and the insurance rep, to two people who ultimately refused to let Cain.

Editor: Graeme C liffo rd . Music: Michael Small. then leaves the cafe. Chambers rushes save a few thousand dollars regardless anything intrude upon their obsession Production designer: George Jenkins. Costumes: out and tells the Greek proprietor, Nick of the guilt or innocence of Frank and for each other. Rafelson’s ending denies Dorothy Jenkins. Sound mixer: A rt Rochester.

Cast: Jack Nicholson (Frank), Jessica Lange (John Colicos), that the driver stole Cora. In this petty, self-interested Frank’s man-under-th e-sen tence-of- (Cora), John Colicos (N ick), Michael Lerner his money and cons a meal off him. world the only positive quality is the death desire to join Cora, but he refuses (K atz), John P. Ryan (Kennedy), Angelica Huston But the Greek tries to con Frank strength of the relationship between to substitute an alternative form of (Madge), W illia m T ra y lo r (Sackett). Tom H ill (Barlow). Production company: N orthstar Inter­ into taking a job and, as Frank refuses, Frank and Cora, and thus Cain and the reconciliation. national. D istributor: Roadshow. 35mm. 121 min. he notices Cora (Jessica Lange) film are able to manipulate audience Because of his track-record (Five U.S. 1981. ★ bending over in the kitchen. When he sympathy for an otherwise illicit Easy Pieces, Head, The King of Marvin learns that the woman is married to the romance between malevolent lovers. owner, Frank leaves the cafe, but as he Cain’s stated interest in writing The is about to accept a car ride, he looks Postman Always Rings Twice was in back. A point-of-view shot of the cafe is the examination of the lovers after the followed by a shot of Frank pounding a murder. Predictably, as in Double tyre in Nick’s garage. When Nick Indemnity, the romance goes sour.

We are writing a QUALITY sci-fi/adventure/war/ leaves them alone to get a sign repaired, Cora, believing that Frank has betrayed car chase film and being perfectionists and award Frank, ever the opportunist, locks the her at the trial, eagerly attempts to im­ cafe door and, through equal parts of plicate Frank in the murder. Later, an­ winners both (producer + director) wish to leave no pain and sex, establishes a bond noyed at his disinterest in cashing in on stone unturned in our search for anything and anyone between himself and Cora that quickly their notoriety by feeding the inquisitive useful and FANTASTIC (e.g.: props, wardrobe, etc; develops into an erotic obsession. customers at the road house, Cora gives This relationship builds until Nick’s Frank the option to pull his weight or consultants and/or suppliers of weapons, warfare, cars, death appears to be the only way out. move on. Frank, however, is content to heavy vehicles, computer graphics, ELECTRONICS, They attempt to run away, but Cora sit beneath a tree and paint the garden servo motors, locations, etc; acting talent: human, rocks white, a nice comment by David wants financial security as well as sex­ ual excitement, while Frank just wants Mamet on Cora’s bourgeoisie aspira­ animal or other; etc. etc.

Cora. His need for her even overcomes tions. A brief liaison with a female If you think you have anything to contribute, or if the guilt of Nick’s obvious, albeit animal trainer fails to weaken Frank’s you know of anyone who has, please send fullest info need for Cora and he accepts her desire patronizing, affection for him — superbly conveyed in a scene not in the for the trappings of a middle-class ex­ (longhand OK)to Producer,PO Box 333,Bondi Beach, novel, where Nick embraces Frank at a istence although fate intervenes.

NSW 2026.Enclose sase if you want anything returned.

It is the love-rack or the bond welcome home party following the first between Frank and Cora which is at the failed murder attempt.

W anted,&

Position

Cinema Papers, July-August

—

291

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN FILM INDUSTRY DIRECTORY A frame from the RAC.'s Marine Insurance T.V. commercial pro­ duced by Herring B&C for Ogilvy & Mather. The shooting script call­ ed for some dramatic shots of a boat narrowly missing the camera and smashing into a reef. It had to be filmed right first up. There was no room for error, that's why they chose .

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Cinema Papers, July-August Ui

SYD.2 (10**)

(10*)

RS

63,460

59,921

PERIOD 25.1.81 to 28.3.81 Total $

Rank

31,765

267,421

1

32,428

42,886

N/A

1,917,040 1,039,469

859,765

N/A

3,260,391 2,719,200 1,984,845 1,071,897

902,651

9,938,984

Total $

Rank

SYD.

123,381

1

(9*)

(9*)

(7)

(9)

103,946

83,379

48,331

123,381

125,216

N/A

Foreign Total0

4,675,099 3,984,998 2,405,897 1,438,436 1,280,785 13,785,215

3,135,175

N/A

Grand Total

4,738,559 4,044,919 2,405,897 1,438,436 1,280,785 13,908,596

Breaker Morant

VO

Distributor

TITLE

PERIOD 29.4.81 to 13.6.81

Australian Total

63,460

MLB.

59,921

PTH

—

ADL

—

BRI.

—

MLB.

PTH

67,805

ADL.

BRI.

■ft Figures exclude N/A figures.

• Box-office grosses of individual films have been supplied to C in e m a P a p e r s by the Australian Film Commission, o This figure represents the total box-office gross of all foreign films shown during the period in the area specified. ' Continuing into next period NB: Figures in parenthesis above the grosses represent weeks in release. If more than one figure appears, the film has been released in more than one cinema during the period.

(1) Australian theatrical distributor only. RS — Roadshow; G U O - Greater Union Organization Film Distributors; H T S — Hoyts Theatres; FOX - 20th Century Fox; UA - United Artists; CIC - Cinema International Corporation; FW - Filmways Australasian Distributors; 7K - 7 K e ys Film Distributors; C O L - Columbia Pictures; REG - Regent Film Distributors; C C G — Cinema Centre Group; AFC - Australian Film Commission; S A F C — South Australian Film Corporation; M C A — Music Corporation of America; S — Sharmill Films; O T H — Other. (2) Figures are drawn from capital city and Inner suburban first release hardtops only. (3) Split figures Indicate a multiple cinema release.

Laurence Olivier: Theatre and Cinema Robert Daniels A. S. Barnes & Co., U.S., 1980

Errol Flynn: The Untold Story Charles Higham Granada, Britain, 1980

Brian McFarlane Laurence Olivier may well be the greatest stage actor in the world; as a film star he is of considerably less significance, and Robert Daniels’ sycophantic collection of adoring reviews and his own comments does not persuade one otherwise.

The book’s sub-title is “Theatre and Cinema” , which suggests an equal divi­ sion of interest between theatre and films, but this is patently not what the book delivers. In fact, the nine photographs on the cover are all from his film roles, including one with the ex­ quisite Merle Oberon in what is still perhaps his most famous film role, in VVuthering Heights. (Though the latter made Olivier a movie matinee idol, many might echo James Agate who found Geraldine Fitzgerald’s the “one remarkable bit of playing” in the film.)

The rest of the book bears out this emphasis. Nearly 250 pages are devoted to Olivier’s films, for each of which is given cast and chief credits, a synopsis of the film’s plot, and a selec­ tion from the reviews.- The latter are heavily dominated by The New York Times where the egregious Bosley Crowther held sway for what seems an eternity. On Pride and Prejudice, for in­ stance, Daniels Finds it worth quoting Crowther’s gush about “ the most deliciously pert comedy of old manners, the most crisp and crackling satire in costume that we in this corner can remember ever hav­ ing seen on the screen . . . Laurence Olivier is Darcy, that’s all there is to it — the arrogant, sardonic Darcy whose pride went before a most felicitous fall.”

Elsewhere, Daniels relies on such defnitive critical sources as Variety, Time, Newsweek and Judith Crist. The overall effect of numbing adulation makes one yearn for a viperish thrust from John Simon. And, more seriously, these glutinous snippets make clear that, if an actor’s films are worth a book, then they deserve a more enlightened critical approach than they get here.

Olivier has worked with some major film directors — William Wyler (Wuthering Heights, Sister Carrie), Alfred Hitchcock (Rebecca), Joseph Mankiewicz (Sleuth), Otto Preminger (Bunny Lake is Missing) and Stanley Kubrick (Spartacus) — and it would be interesting to know how they influenced one whose training was essentially for the stage. Not for a moment does this book offer any such insights. Films by directors like these are given the same weight as those of more or less compe­ tent journeymen like Guy Hamilton — or worse, like Herbert Ross. Daniels is wholly indiscriminating; so, too, it seems were most reviewers.

The format adopted here is similar to Citadel’s The Films o f . . . series and I can’t imagine who would find it satisfy­ ing. Anyone really interested in Olivier as a film actor will have to look further 294 — Cinema Papers, July-August

than the funeral-baked meats offered here. O l i v i e r ’s g r e a t t r io of Shakespearean films — Henry V, Hamlet, and Richard III — are ripe for careful reappraisal. (I deliberately ex­ clude Othello which, like The Three Sisters and The Dance of Death, is valuable as a record of a notable stage triumph rather than as a film.) His 1970 films, including .“cameos” in all-star trash like Lady Caroline Lamb, and enterprises like The Boys from Brazil and The Betsy, are, I hope, helping “to pay for three children in school, for a family, and their future” . There is cer­ tainly not much else to be said for them.

Not much sense of the actor’s life emerges from this dreary catalogue.

Olivier married three fine actresses — the incisive and under-rated Jill Es­ mond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright — and made films with them all, and he has worked with all the great actors of his day. A good many of them are quoted in this book, but none of them throws much light on his working habits, and this is a pity since the work seems to have been the life.

However, this has all been better done elsewhere. Margaret Morley’s not dissimilar book is a much better buy than this badly-designed $25 volume which has more printing errors than I’ve seen for some time. As well, there is already a thorough, comprehensive biography of Olivier by John Cottrell, and D a n i e l s ’ i n d i s c r i m i n a t e bibliography lists several other works which tell us almost all we need to know about the great acting peer’s life and work.

What is to be said for Charles Higham’s version of the Life and Disgusting Times of Errol Flynn? That it reveals the hitherto suppressed infor­ mation that Flynn, Warner Bros’ war­ winning womanizer, was really a “ treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain”? That he was apparently a Nazi agent; that Tyrone Power and he were lovers (insofar as Flynn was able to love anyone); that his sexual proclivities were nothing if not eclectic, with a strong taste for voyeurism and ex­ hibitionism; that he was an unreliable drunk for much of his acting career; that he was outrageously dishonest and, indeed, wholly corrupt in all his finan­ cial dealings: if this is the kind of dirty linen you want to see washed in public, then this is the book for you.

If you are interested in the pheno­ menon of Flynn’s star career or in the phenomenon of stardom at large, Higham’s account will not be il­ luminating. It is hard to see how this physically glamorous figure, of such dubious morality and with about as much talent as Vera Hruba Ralston, could have dazzled the w orld’s filmgoers for well over a decade. But he did and it would be instructive to be shown how, in the face of his overwhelming limitations, he managed it.

What is particularly irritating about this book is that Higham has, in the past, written perceptively on the Golden Age (as they say) of Hollywood, in books like The Celluloid Muse and Hollywood in the Forties (both with Joel Greenburg). He has presumably seen the Flynn films, but there is precious little sense of how they worked towards creating a star persona. How important, for instance, were the con­ tributions of Michael Curtiz and Raoul Walsh, or the rigors of working with real actors like Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck, Basil Rathbone or Claude Rains?

The films are, in the end, the least of Higham’s concerns. He is more in­ terested in tracing Flynn’s connection with various Nazi agents, especially Dr Hermann Erben, and his indefatigable pursuit of sexual gratification. In the former cause, he has access to previous­ ly classified documents which establish a clear case for Flynn’s fascist sym­ pathies.

In regard to his sexual activities, all sorts of people have been ready to attest to his voracity and the chilling egoism it involved. Higham thanks the three wives — volatile Lili Damita, poor abused Nora Eddington, who seems to have been quite out of her league, and elegant, generous Patrice Wymore — for their assistance. None of them seems to have had any real idea of the darker side of the Flynn character — the trips over the border for Mexican boys,. the treasons worked with and for Erben. At this late stage, it would be hard to care less if it were proved that Flynn was secretly mobilizing an Eskimo invasion of the U.S. or that he was intimate with Nanook of the North.

Overall, it is a repellent story and it is hard to see why Higham thought it worth telling. Certainly, he doesn’t seem to know what he thinks of Flynn.

On p. 363, he speaks of Flynn as “ play­ ing [in The Sun Also Rises] against his natural charm and open-hearted good­ nature” ; on the next page he writes, “ Like many evil men, Errol was drawn to kindness and goodness only as tem­ porary peaceful refuge from the misery of being himself.” The latter statement fits the information given, but the idea of “evil” and “ open-hearted good­ nature” seem to be immiscible.

As actor and man he seems to have had little more to recommend him than athletic endurance. His autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, is probably lies as Higham claims. The truth, as it happens, seems merely redundant.

Recent Releases

Mervyn Binns The colum n lists books which deal w ith the cinema or related topics and released in A u s tra lia between M a y and June 1981. A ll titles are on sale in bookshops.

The publishers and the local d is trib u to rs are listed in each entry. I f no d is trib u to r is indicated, the book is im ported (Im p .). The recommended prices listed are fo r paperbacks, unless otherwise indicated, and are subject to variations between bookshops and states.

The list was com piled by M ervyn R. Binns o f the Space Age Bookstore, M elbourne.

Popular and General Interest A c a d e m y A w a r d s 1980 O sc a r A n n u a l

A r t Sarno

Books

ESE, $11.95 A ll categories o f the Academ y Aw ards examined in depth, w ith black and white and color photo­ graphs.

C a th e d r a ls o f th e M o v i e s

David A tw e ll A rchitectural Press (A rn o ld ), S36.95 (H C ) An entertaining and scholarly book which re­ evaluates a hithe rto neglected part o f the architec­ tural heritage.

L a u r e n c e O liv ie r : T h e a tr e a n d C in e m a

M o v ie s o n T V

R obert L. Daniels Barnes/O ak Tree. $25 (H C ) A comprehensive book w ith cast listings, credits, reviews, synopses and observations o f each o f O livie r's film s.

Stephen H . Scheuer B antam /T ransw orld. $4.95 1980 edition, w ith more than 10.000 film s listed alphabetically.

O liv e r R e e d — " R e e d a ll a b o u t m e ” C oro n e t/H o d d e r, $4.50 An autobiography o f the leading British actor.

S h e l le y

Joy Kuhn V irg in /N e ls o n , S10.95 A behind-the-scenes look at the m aking o f the film .

Shelley W inters G ranada/M ethuen A ust., $17.95 (H C ) Outspoken memoirs o f an earthy and unusually intelligent actress.

F i fty F a m o u s F a c e s in T r a n s itio n

S p a r k s F ly U p w a r d

Burt Berliner, editor F ireside/R uth W alls, SI 1.95 Photographs that chronicle the faces o f person­ alities over the years.

Stew art Granger Granada, $24.95 (H C ) Granger discusses his private life and presents a vivid insider’ s view- o f film m akin g: told w ith hum or and honesty.

T h e E le p h a n t M a n : T h e B o o k o f th e F ilm

F ilm - s ta r P o r tr a it s o f th e '5 0 s

John Kobal D ove r/T ud o r, $9.75 163 glam or photographs o f 1950s film stars.

Sw a n so n on Sw anson

T h e F ilm s o f th e S i x t i e s

Douglas Brode C itad e l/D avis, S25.50 (H C ) M ore than 500 photographs from film s which mark a period o f tra n sitio n — the 1960s.

F o r g o tte n F i lm s to R e m e m b e r

John Springer C itad e l/D avis, S32.95 (H C ) Five decades o f film s are recap ture d , w ith hundreds o f rare stills from private collections.

G re a t A n i m a l s o f th e M o v i e s

Edward Edelson D oubleday/Tudor, $9.55 (H C ) The w orld o f the great anim al stars o f film and television.

The G re a t S c i-fi, F a n ta sy M e m o r a b ilia B o o k

and

H o rro r

M o v ie

Charles Band, editor W izard Prom otions, S20.30 Volume one, w ith nine separate categories o f col­ lectables, all in color.

T h e G re a t S h o w B u s in e s s A n i m a l s

David Rothel Barnes/Oak Tree, S24.95 (H C ) A behind-the-scenes introduction to most o f the greatest anim al stars, w ith more than 180 photo­ graphs.

T h e G r o u c h o L e tt e r s

Groucho M a rx Sphere/Nelson, S4.50 A p op u lar e d itio n , re prin te d Groucho hum or.

again. T y p ic a l

T h e H o lly w o o d R e lia b le s

James R. Parish w ith Gregory W. M ank A rlington House. $39.95 (H C ) The spotlight is on six dependable leading men. with film ographies, critical judgm ents and rare photographs.

H o lly w o o d T r iv ia

David P. Strauss and Fred L. W orth W arn er/G o rd on and G otch, $3.95 The book comprises anecdotes and achievements from the lives o f many favorite stars.

P o p e y e : T h e s t o r y b o o k b a s e d o n th e m o v ie

A rm a d a /W . C ollins, $4.95 The “ new” story o f Popeye taken from the film , with co lo r photographs and text.

S c ie n c e F ic tio n S t u d i e s in F ilm

Frederik Phol and F. Pohl IV A c e /K G M edia, $10.45

G lo ria Swanson M . Joseph/N elson, $25 (H C ) The veteran actress tells the story o f her life: from the early M ack Sennett one-reelers, through her years o f spectacular stardom and several m ar­ riages.

Directors A m e r i c a n F ilm D ir e c to r s

Theodore Gershuny H o lt R in e h a rt and W in s to n /H o lt Saunders, $18.50 (H C ) The anatom y o f an all-star, big budget, m u lti­ m illion d o lla r disaster.

S ta r S h o ts

John Engstead D utton/B ookhouse, $9.95 F ifty years o f pictures and stories by one o f H o lly ­ wood’s greatest photographers. New in paper­ back.

T h e y D id n 't W in th e O s c a r s

Bill L ibby A rlin g to n House, $22.75 (H C ) Focus on the actors and th e ir film s which d id n 't receive Oscars.

.

Filmmaking B a s ic F ilm T e c h n iq u e s

Ken Daley F o ca l/B u tte rw orth, S15.95 A n elementary introduction to the principles and practice o f professional film m akin g.

F ilm T r ic k s

H arold Schechter and David Everitt H a rlin Q u is t/T u d o r, $14.35 A complete behind-the-scenes book dealing with special effects in film s.

O f M ic e a n d M a g ic

Raul de Silva K o d a k /K o d a k , $11.95 The author tells how anim ation is done and traces its historical beginnings. The book also includes sources for equipment and m aterials, and has a helpful glossary o f terms.

K. R. M . Short, editor Croom H elm /C a m brid g e U niversity Press, $28.50 (H C ) The book deals w ith the period 1924-1945, and provides in-depth studies and an introduction on the problem s o f the type o f d ocu m e n ta tion appropriate to the study o f film history.

Television and Media

T h e F ilm I n H is to r y : R e s t a g in g th e P a s t

C o lle c te d T V P la y s /

M a y '6 8 a n d F ilm C u ltu r e

S a tya jit Ray O rient Longman, $4.95 The Indian film m a ke r looks at various aspects o f India's film industry.

History D a v id O . S e l z n i c k 's H o lly w o o d

David M ercer John C a ld e r/L o th ia n . $12.60 Three classics that have changed the course o f tele­ vision: Where the Difference Begins; A Clim ate o f Fear; and The B irth o f a Private M an.

E v e r y d a y T e le v is io n : ‘N a t i o n w i d e ’

C harlotte Brunsdon and David M orley B F I, $5.80 F o u r A r g u m e n t s f o r th e E lim in a ti o n o f T e le v is io n

Jerry M ander H arvester/C am bndge U niversitv Press, $29.50 (H C ) The book questions assumptions about the role o f television and the media in society.

D r e s s e d to K il l

Brian de Palma and Campbell Black A rro w '/H o d de r. $4.95 T h e F in a l C o n flic t

Gordon M c G ill F u tu ra /T u d o r. $3.50 T h e E x te r m in a to r

James Glickenhaus M a n o r/K . G. M edia, $3.20 F la sh G o r d o n

A rth u r Bvron Cover N e l/W . C ollins. $2.95 G o in g S tr a ig h t

Dick Clement and lan La Frenais BBC (C arnation), $2.50 Based on a new series by same name.

H o p - S c o tc h

Brian G arfield P a n /W . C ollins, S3.95 T h e H o w lin g

G ary Brandner H a m lyn /N elso n , $3.75 H u ssy

Rosemary Kingsland Sphere/Nelson. $3.50 L itt le L o r d F a u n lle r o y

Frances Hodgson Burnett P u ffin/P enguin, $2.95 L o v e in a C o ld C lim a te

Nancy M itfo rd Penguin/Penguin. $5.50 N ow adapted as a Thames Television serial.

M in d e r

Leon G riffith s N e l/W . C ollins, $2.75 S tory taken from the British television series.

T h e M ir r o r C r a c k 'd

Manuel A lvarado and Edward Buscombe B F I, $9.65 For students, teachers or anyone interested in tele­ vision programs.

Agatha Christie F o n ta n a/W . C ollins, $2.95

T e le v is io n a n d H is to r y

C olin M c A rth u r B F I, $5.80 The author looks at the possible relationships between historiography, television and ideology.

Media and Education Texts B r o a d c a s tin g a n d A c c o u n t a b i l i t y

Caroline H eller B FI. $5.80 T h e C o m m e r c ia l C o n n e c tio n

John W. W rig ht Delta. $8.95 The author discusses the role o f advertising and the Am erican mass media.

F i fty G r e a t A m e r i c a n S i l e n t F ilm s ( 1 9 1 2 -1 9 2 0 )

H o w to U se th e M e d ia in A u s tr a li a

P a r a m o u n t P ic tu r e s a n d th e P e o p le w h o m a d e T hem

D a m ie n O m e n I I

Joseph Howard F u tu ra /T u d o r. $2.75

H a z e ll: T h e M a k i n g o f a T V S e r ie s

Ronald Haver Seeker and W a rb u rg /W . Heinemann, $75 (H C ) The story o f H ollyw ood and its people from 1925­ 1965. The book has more than 1500 illustrations and rare Technicolor frame enlargements.

Anthony Slide and Edward Wagenknecht D ove r/T ud o r, $9.75 A p ictoria l survey, w ith 210 photographs.

Novels and Other Film Tie-Ins H. de Vere Stacpoole F u tu ra /T u d o r, $3.50

T h e W o r ld o f A n i m a t i o n

Svlvia Harvev B F I. $10.65 A comprehensive guide to developments in film studies.

T h e W o r ld o f M u s ic a l C o m e d y

Stanley Green Barnes/Oak Tree. $24.95 (H C )

T h e B lu e L a g o o n

F e a tu r e F ilm s a s H is to r y

N eil Sinvard and A d ria n Turner BCW , $25.50 (H C ) First full-length critical study o f B illy W ild e r’ s films.

Vivian Stanshall Eel Pie. $12.60 Eccentric saga, successful on radio, stage and record, starring T revor Howard.

Don Dohler Cinema Enterprises, $14.35 A guide to special effects film m aking.

Critical

J o u r n e y D o w n S u n s e t B o u le v a r d

S i r H e n r y a t R a w l in s o n E n d a n d O th e r S p o t s

F ilm M a g ic

S. S. W ilson Barnes/Oak Tree, $14.50 (H C ) The book deals w ith large-scale anim ation in the cinema, explaining techniques o f special effects anim ation.

Forsyth H ardy, editor Fa b e r/O xfo rd U niversity Press, $21.30 (H C ) A collection o f reviews and critical articles on film s and film m akers, entertaining and penetrating.

•

Leonard M a ltin S ignet/M ethuen A ust., $5.95 Revised edition.

P u p p e ts a n d P e o p le

O u r F ilm s , T h e ir F ilm s

S o o n to b e a M a j o r M o t i o n P ic tu r e

T V M o v i e s 1 9 8 1 -1 9 8 2

T h e H o l l y w o o d P r o fe s s io n a ls ( V o l. 7)

G r ie r s o n o n th e M o v i e s

Warren C raig .

Barnes/Oak Tree, $25 (H C ) The author looks at 32 talented composers and lyricists whose songs brightened some o f H o lly ­ wood's most m emorable musicals.

D r Donald Reed and Patrick Pattison ESE. $17.95 (H C ) Com plete record o f science-fiction award winners 1972-1979. Illustrated.

Leonard M a ltin P lum e/M ethuen Aust., $14.95 First comprehensive history o f Am erican animated cartoons. An invaluable reference book.

Pierre Sorlin B la ck we 11/ A u s tr a lia n P u b lis h in g C om pan v, $29.95 (H C ) Using 20 m ajor historical feature film s as “ fic ­ tional documentaries” , S orlin shows how film ­ makers’ attitudes to events in the past and present have altered.

T h e G r e a t S o n g w r ite r s o f H o lly w o o d

S c i e n c e F ic tio n F ilm A w a rd s

Stanley Hochman U n g a r/R u th W alls, $41.95 (H C ) A rem arkable survey o f what film critics have been w ritin g about Am erican directors and their work since the hey-day o f the 1960s.

Leland A . Poague Barnes/O ak Tree, $14.50 (H C ) The focus is on B illy W ilde r and Leo M cC arey and their w ork is examined in detail.

Weidenfeld and N ic o is o n /H o d d e r and Stoughton, $24.95 (H C ) Story o f the first lady o f the musical comedy stage in London and New Y o rk .

M y M u s ic

Steve Race Penguin/Penguin, $3.95 From the radio and television series.

N anny

Jean Bowden G ranada/G ordon and Gotch. S4.95 A m ajor BBC T V series.

‘9 to 5 '

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Jake la M o tta B antam /Transw orld. S2.95

lola Mathews Fonta n a/W . C ollins. $5.95 Invaluable handbook for anyone who wants to use the media's vast resources, sim ply and effectively.

S h o e s tr in g

Paul Ablem an B B C /C arn a tio n, $2.95 New BBC T V series.

T h e M e d ia M a c h in e

S p h in x

1. G. Edmonds and Reiko M im ura Barnes/Oak Tree, $22.50 (H C ) An intim a te and inform a tive history o f one o f the dom inant studios that created H ollyw o o d ’s golden era.

John Downin Pluto Press/Jum books. $14.95 The author confronts the worst threats o f media m anipulation, outlining the way the established media functions and the alternatives.

Paul Brodeur F u tu ra /T u d o r, $4.50

Biographies, Memoirs and Experiences in Filmmaking and Filmographies

Reference

Non-Cinema Associated Titles

F ilm F a c ts

T h e A d m i r a l ’s D a u g h te r

E r r o l F ly n n

M ichael Freedland C oro n e t/H o dd e r and Stoughton, $4.95 The real E rrol Flynn story, told objectively and with the benefit o f extensive new interviews.

Cobbett Steinbere Facts on file, $24.95 (H C ) In fo rm a tio n on the stars, the studios, the awards and the festivals — a wealth o f entertaining and useful inform ation.

K im N o v a k o n C a m e r a

F ilm R e v i e w 1 9 8 0 -1 9 8 1

L arry Leno Barnes/Oak Tree, $24.95 (H C ) In fo rm a l and in form a tive biography Novak.

F. M aurice Speed, editor W. H. A lle n /H u tch in so n , $25.95 (H C ) .

The film s o f the year and the festival awards.

W h a t B e c o m e s a L e g e n d M o s t? T h e B l a c k g l a m a S to r y

Peter Rogers F ireside/R uth W alls, $11.95 Photographs o f famous stars in black fu r coats.

of

K im

T h e L a st H ero : A B io g ra p h y o f G a ry C o o p e r

L arry Swindell R obson/H utchinson, $21.95 (H C ) The book captures the enigm atic essence o f film ­ land’ s favorite cowboy.

I n te r n a t io n a l F ilm G u id e 1981

Peter Cowie, editor Barnes/2nd Back Row Press, $16.95 U nique blend o f reference and criticism , trade news and succinct w ritin g about the latest releases around the world.

V icto ria Fyodorova H am lyn /N elso n , $4.50 The life story o f the successful actress and model.

T h is F a b u lo u s C e n t u r y

Peter Luck Lansdowne Press, $24.95 (H C ) Second edition, with more than 1000 illustrations.

New in bound volume.

Fam e

Brad Benedict N elson/N elson, $19.95 P ortraits o f celebrated people make up this stun­ ning collection.

G e r tr u d e L a w r e n c e

Sheridan M orley

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Robin Cook P a n /W . C ollins, $3.95 T h e S tu n tm a n

T a le s f r o m th e L i t t l e W o r ld o f D o n C a m illo

Giovanni Guareschi Penguin/Penguin, $3.25 W ild T im e s

Brian G arfield P a n /W . C ollins, $5.95 A m ajor television production E llio tt.

starring

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W illie a n d P h il

Joyce Thomson A v o n /T u d o r. $2.95 T h e W o m e n o f D a lla s

Burt H irschfeld C o rg i/T ra n s w o rld , $3.95 Some o f the titles in this list were published in 1980, but have been included here because they were not released until this year.

Jy

Cinema Papers, July-August — 295

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Tax and the Film Industry

The New Tax Concessions Continuedfrom p. 233 Another provision enabling the Commis­ sioner to reduce the amount qualifying for a Division 10BA deduction is Section 124ZAL, which empowers the Commissioner to reduce, by such amount as he considers reasonable, the amount taken to have been expended by the investor in producing, or by way of contribution to the cost of producing a film, if at any time the investor, before the copyright in the film comes into subsistence (i.e., before the Film is com­ pleted), partially assigns or agrees to assign the investor’s interest in the film copyright. The explanatory memorandum does not explain why the power is needed, nor what reduction would be appropriate in the circumstances. Will entry into a film distribution agreement be treated as a partial assignment of copyright? The section seems calculated to deter producers and investors from entering into any marketing agreements prior to completion of the film. If so, the effect will be to retard the commercial development of the industry.

Section 124ZAL should be borne in mind when considering Section 124ZAM. The latter section is intended to limit expenditure qualify­ ing for a Division 10BA deduction to amounts in respect of which the investor is at risk of loss should the film venture fail. The explanatory memorandum says in relation to Section 124ZAM, that income arising from a pre-sale arrangement will not generally be taken to reduce the taxpayer’s risk of loss, but that comment seems quite misleading in the light of Section 124ZAL. Moreover, as is typical of the new legislation, the actual wording of Section 124ZAM goes far beyond the intent referred to in the Treasurer’s memorandum.

Section 124ZAM provides that the investor (the taxpayer) shall be taken to be at risk, by virtue of his investment, in respect of “ an equal amount of the loss that, in the opinion of the Commissioner, would be suffered by the tax­ payer by reason of the expenditure . . . if the relevant taxpayer were not to derive any income, other than excepted income, from the film or from the taxpayer’s interest in the copyright of the film’’. For this purpose, income is “excepted income” if it is derived under an agreement under which moneys were to be paid to the tax­ payer “ or another person” , and if the Commissioner is satisfied that the agreement was entered into for the purpose, or for purposes that included the purpose, of enabling the moneys to be expended by the taxpayer in pro­ ducing, or by way of contribution to the cost of producing, the film.

That description seems wide enough to cover a normal investment agreement, under which moneys are to be paid to a production account controlled by a producer. If so, the Commis­ sioner may take into account all proceeds that appear to him (as at the time of the investor’s ex­ penditure) to be likely to be derived by the investor from his investment in calculating the extent to which the investor is at risk. For instance, the Commissioner could take into account sales forecasts presented to the investors by the producer when soliciting their invest­ ment. How will the Commissioner interpret Section 124ZAM in practice?

The cumulative deterrent effect of the pro­ visions referred to above can be appreciated when it is realized that if a deduction is allowed under Division 10BA for any part of the investor’s capital expenditure, the investor cannot write off under any other part of the Act such part of his capital expenditure in relation to the production of the film as does not qualify for a deduction under Division 10BA. It is not poss­

ible for an investor to take part of his deduction under Division 10BA and the other part under Division 10B. The depreciation provisions of the Act do not apply to investment in films. So an investor bold enough to rely on Division 10BA faces the prospect of some of his capital outlay being entirely non-deductible notwithstanding that it may in practice have to be written off within a few years, after the earning life of a film has substantially come to an end.

Another condition that Section 124ZAF attaches to the obtaining of the Division 10BA deduction is that either — “the taxpayer has used the copyright or the taxpayer’s interest in the copyright, as the case may be, for the purpose of producing assessable income from the exhibition of the film to the public in cinemas or by way of tele­ vision broadcasting or from granting rights to exhibit the film to the public in cinemas or by way of television broadcasting; or . “the taxpayer derived assessable income under an agreement entered into before the copyright came into existence under which the taxpayer agreed, upon the copyright coming into existence, to grant rights to another person to exhibit the film to the public in cinemas or by way of television broad­ casting” .

This provision appears to assume that the investors, as owners of the copyright, deal directly with exhibitors and broadcasters.

Normally, however, investors (or producers on their behalf) deal with distributors, so that the investors’ income is derived under an agreement to grant rights to another person to distribute the film, not under an agreement granting exhibition rights. Will income from a dis­ tribution agreement satisfy the condition?

It is worth noting that in the new Section 26AG, which introduces a code for the assess­ ment of receipts from the use or disposal of film copyright by the taxpayer whose capital expenditure on the film has qualified for any deduction under Division 10BA, such receipts are described without any of the narrow language used to qualify the relevant income under Section 124ZAF. Some other limitations on Division 10BA should be mentioned.

The investor must be an Australian resident at the time the moneys are expended on the production. It is not wholly clear whether, in a case where an investor contributes moneys to a production account, the time referred to is the time of contribution or the time of outlay from the account.

The Commissioner must be satisfied that the investor intended at that time to become the first owner or one of the first owners of the film copy­ right. Unlike Division 10B, it does not appear that equitable ownership (with the legal owner­ ship held by a trustee) may suffice. Particular care needs to be taken w'ith investment con­ tracts to ensure that the investors become first owners in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, and not technically assignees from the producer who actually makes the film.

Where a taxpayer incurs a loss by reason of the allowance of a deduction under Division 10BA, such loss may only be carried forward against income that is assessable under the new Section 26AG. A similar, but more onerous limitation, is applied by Section 124ZAO in relation to revenue expenses associated with a film invest­ ment which has qualified for a deduction under Division 10BA. Perhaps this section was intended to apply simply to revenue expenses such as the interest on moneys borrowed by an investor to finance his investment, however it appears to apply also to revenue-type expenses that are included in a normal film budget, such as publicity costs, the cost of stills, the cost of

making a trailer, and producer’s marketing expenses.

An unfortunate effect of Section 124ZAO will be to deter investors from adopting the sensible practice of authorising producers to invest surplus moneys from time to time held in the production account, and applying the interest earnings towards the revenue expenses in the budget. Such earnings are assessable, but not under Section 26AG; so for tax purposes the revenue expenses in the budget cannot be offset against them.

Why should film investors be penalised in that way?

Another penalty imposed upon investors who rely on Division 10BA is the loss of the benefit of Sections 23(q) and 23(r) in relation to foreign source income derived from the film.

In accordance with Section 23AG(7), Section 23(q), which normally exempts from Australian tax any foreign source income which is subject to tax in the country of source, will only apply to so much of the foreign source income as, in the opinion of the Commissioner, is attributable to the exhibition of the film in the country of source. Obviously this is a severe limitation in a case where the source is deemed to be a single foreign country in which a world-wide distribu­ tion contract is entered into (e.g., the U.S.), since much of the income under such a contract would be attributable to the exhibition of the film in other countries. There is a similar limita­ tion on the application of Section 23(r), which normally exempts the foreign source income of non-residents; however that will be unlikely to affect Australian resident investors.

Instead of the exemptions enjoyed by other taxpayers under Section 23(q) and 23(r) the taxpayer who has relied on Division 10BA and who received foreign source income from his investment is to receive under Section 160AG A only a credit against his Australian tax for the amount of tax actually paid on the foreign source income in the country of source.

It seems that this treatment is regarded by the Government as a quid pro quo for the promised exemption (up to an amount of 50% of the investment that qualified for a Division 10BA deduction) of the income derived by the investor from his film investment. While the Govern­ ment is giving with the one hand it is taking away a substantial and possibly more valuable benefit with the other.

It remains to be seen whether the new tax con­ cessions will in fact act as an encouragement to investors or whether the Government will be faced yet again with lobbying from desperate producers seeking clear, honest and commer­ cially rational incentives to ensure the flourish­ ing of a successful Australian film industry. ★

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I f you have a scrip t, a d ra ft or ju st an idea for a movie write to or ring: ALAN SIMPSON GPO BOX 1411M MELBOURNE VIC 3 0 0 1 T el: (03) 6 1 3 8 1 1 Cinema Papers, July-August — 297

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John Duigan

John Duigan Continued from p. 229 no real understanding of what they are, but the song some of them are singing seems to speak directly to her, although to the demonstrators it is a song about writing and change, and to hard-nosed intellec­ tuals, perhaps, it is expressing some k in d o f n a iv e a m o rp h o u s “ message” .

But the little group of demon­ strators are trying and, however, cynical one might be of their likely effects, the attem pt itself is important. For Lou, there is a sense of personal loss — of Lisa and Rob — but equally, there is the loss of idealism which Lisa felt — she went down to the demonstration the day she committed suicide — and which Rob has recognized in his final scene. As for what will happen to Lou, it is very much on the knife edge, although there is something positive in seeing her with the group.

I also see a sadness in the fact that she is there as part of the group.

Throughout the story, one is hoping for a resolution on a personal relationship level. So, while finding her joining of the group positive, in a way it also signifies a failure on a personal level . . .

little world: getting a plot of land and so on.

Allied with this was a feeling that th in g s had got so big th a t individuals could no longer affect the way things were going. More and more, you hear people talking at dinner parties about the inevit­ ability of a nuclear conflict. That is symptomatic not so much of a cynicism as a feeling that the activities and actions of the 1960s were rather naive in the face of the enormity of the problems, and the machinery that is up there.

There are many references to this sort of thing scattered within the film.

concentration and will turn on sustained perform ances over multiple takes, giving just as much in their off-screen reverses as their on-screen lines — which is great for whoever’s playing opposite them. I think that reveals a lot about their professionalism. Judy, for example, also moved into the Cross and spent a good deal of time going around the area talking to prostitutes and heroin users.

The other main actress is Cathy Downes who plays Gretel. I tested fairly exhaustively for this part and it is Cathy’s first Film appearance.

She is known for her portrait of Kathryn MansField in the play of the same name, which she wrote As these references remain the and performed. She is a really background, is there a danger of effective contrast to Judy. people merely viewing them as scene-setting details and not of Setting up the major relevance?

They are just an atmosphere in which we are living, so they have their appropriate amount of time and focus in the Film. The thrust of the film is simply happening within this framework.

Lou is someone who, by contrast to Rob and Gretel, operates on a very spontaneous and emotionallyvulnerable level. She is really at the mercy of a rationally-operating world which is increasingly reducing the mercy it shows for people who don’t, or can’t, play the game.

So, despite the movements of the 1960s and 1970s, you think it is getting increasingly difficult for people like Lou . . .

The polarity taking place in the West is increasing. On the headline level, it is indicated in the swing to the right, with the election of people like M arg aret T h atch er and Ronald Reagan. There is emerging an unforgiving mood, and a really aggressively self-centred approach Rob, who is caught between echoes of the past by those who have the power and and the securities of his present. Winter of our Dreams. those who are in work.

It is also true that this increasing Why did you cast Judy Davis and self-centredness has led to a Bryan Brown? lessening commitment to others, an unwillingness to compromise for I wanted Judy for Lou after another’s sake in a relationship . . . seeing her in Water Under the Bridge and My Brilliant Career, Yes. One of the things that although Winter of our Dreams is happened in the 1960s was the very very different territory. She has a strong emphasis on the individual great energy level which makes her contributing to social change compelling to watch and she is through group activities. In the extremely versatile. Bryan has been 1970s, people became increasingly involved with a number of good preoccupied by personal issues, Films, and I had for some time been such as health and individual wanting to work with him. sexuality, and the exploration of Judy and Bryan have very esoteric religions. It was the time of different approaches to acting, but going off and making your own both have marvellous levels of

friends of Dick Mason’s, and people like Tom Cowan and Lloyd Carrick I have worked with regularly for years. While the rates of pay we offered were, of course, above union minimum, they were nothing like what will be paid on most other productions this year.

The decision of crew members to work on Winter was an expression of commitment to the project and, I think in particular, to Dick Mason.

The atmosphere generated by the crew and the cast was terribly good on this Film; it was the best I have experienced. I hope to have the opportunity of working with a lot of them again. Most of the crew will be doing one production after another for the rest of this year. But I think they enjoyed the intimacy the small unit size gave us.

Obviously, there are important creative reasons for doing a Film like this with a small crew. It takes Production a little of the pressure away from the actors by producing a quieter, Did you have a producer involved less manic atmosphere in which the when you were writing the actors can perform. On a Film like screenplay?

Winter of our Dreams, which depends so drastically on the No. When I came up to Sydney perform ances, this is vitally towards the end of last year, I had important. just Finished the script and decided to approach the producer. I talked How did the size of crew compare to Richard Brennan about who was with those you have worked with available, as the producers I had before? worked with before were all tied up.

R ichard recom m ended Dick We had four people more than on Mason as he felt we shared similar Mouth to Mouth. There was an interests, particularly in the extra person in the art department, political field. Fortunately, Dick a unit runner, a second assistant liked the script. and a clapper-loader. We had to Dick then got the thing off the shoot fairly quickly, as it was a ground very quickly. He has a very tight schedule for six weeks. But, strong artistic commitment and again, that was a bonus for me, as I contribution to make to the project, did Mouth to Mouth in four weeks, as well as his role as an overall Dimboola in five and The Tres­ administrator, which he does very passers in four. I was able to give well. much more detailed coverage than I had before.

Apparently you started Filming earlier than anticipated . . .

You said in the earlier interview, after you finished shooting “Mouth Yes. We needed to go into to Mouth”, that you didn’t know yet production early for a number of whether it would have been worth reasons. One was the availability of spending an extra $25,000 to do it the cast; they had commitments, on 35mm. How do you feel now?

Judy in particular.

Also, there was the availability of It would have meant an extra crew. We were sensitive to this $25,000 and that was a hell of a lot sudden rush of production, and if of money as far as that budget we had waited we would have been went. With a budget like this struggling to compete with the [$362,000] the difference of $25,000 offers that some of the larger or whatever is fairly small. production films would have been But I don’t think Mouth to able to make to members of our Mouth would have benefited from crew. shooting on 35mm because I liked the additional kind of grain we got When making a low-budget film, with the blow-up. They probably how difficult is it to get together a spend a lot of money on Saturday good crew and cast?

Night Fever to get the same look.

For a film like Winter of our People like Judy and Bryan Dreams, 35mm is much more would always choose to do a project appropriate. The centre part of the they liked and accept the level of film is in Rob and Gretel’s home, pay the production could afford; which is a huge hous e in that is the sort of people they are. Birchgrove, overlooking the Har­ The crew was probably drawn to bour. The shooting style here is the project for a number of reasons. quite different to that used in Lou’s Some were attracted by the script world — graceful, long tracking­ and were perhaps keen to work with shots. It needs the sharp, clean look the leading cast, others were old 35mm can give. ★ Cinema Papers, July-August — 299

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A lie nation and De-alienation

Alienation and De-alienation Continued from p. 249 from the montage of psychic stimuli, influenced by the reflexology of Pavlov — to his theory of “ intellectual montage” in which he proposes to realize a “ rational” cinema, one that reaches the viewers’ intellect, that makes them comprehend intellectually, that goes beyond emotional iden­ tification.

It is significant that Eisenstein, at barely 22 years of age and without having yet produced anything of importance in the artistic realm, arrived at the conviction (as he himself said) that art, in that it created a fictional world in order to relieve dissatisfaction with reality, was not only deceptive, but constituted a real threat to the progress and development of society.

Above all, during the period he lived through, when all energies had to be tensed to participate actively in the revolutionary “leap” to a higher form of social organization, Eisenstein found his own concerns echoed among the members of the Leftist Art Front (LEF) who nourished an “ac­ tive hatred of art” . However, as the young artist matured and gained a better grasp of effective expressive techniques, he concluded that rather than destroy that kind of art completely, it was more practical to utilize it: “The dethroned queen (art) could be useful to the common cause, She didn’t deserve to wear a crown, But why not scrub floors for a while?

To influence minds through art had, after all, a cer­ tain importance, And if the young proletariat State was to fulfil all the urgent task before it, it needed to exercise great influence over hearts and minds.” 14

Although at first he devoted all his energy to directing the viewers’ emotions in a specific direction — political agitation, propaganda — he later proposed that the new cinema should also guide “the entire thought process” .15 Thus we see that Eisenstein, in spite of perhaps over­ emphasizing the dominant role of the director, began, little by little, to branch out toward devices which enabled him to implant “con­ tradictions in the mind of the viewer” .'6 It is clear that he did not intend to address himself to a passive, hypnotized viewer, but to one open to conflicts, one who could be moved and stimulated.

He did not embark on a formalistic search as an end in itself, but as a necessary means to establish more effective rapport with the audience. This was based (quite consciously) not only on aesthetic pleasure, but also on the as­ sumption that it was an act of inevitable ideological repercussions. Thus Eisenstein dis­ covered the screen’s potential to provoke a “new kind of perception” within the viewer — the same goal that Brecht pursued through distanc­ ing devices.

However, Eisenstein did not carry it much beyond this initial discovery. He never delved into those techniques which film could put into practice to achieve this effect. In 1939 he wrote an essay, “The Structure of the Film”, in which he posed “one of the most difficult problems in constructing works of art, touching the most ex­ in a given direction, one which there is no reason to sup­ pose might always be the best . . .

However, it is not possible to disregard this phenomenon; it should be seen as one possible phase in the process of artistic communication, one which might yield revolutionary efficacy if those aggressive or irritating moments we speak of can act to spur the viewer into finding his own answer and consequently into acting on his own reality; that is, as long as a paralyzing solution is not imposed upon him.

14. Eisenstein, op. cit., p. 420. ¡5. S. M. Eisenstein, Film Form-Film Sense, op. cit., p. 62.

16. Ibid., p. 46.

citing part of our work: the problem of portray­ with grimaces and grotesque goblins which in the ing an attitude toward the thing portrayed” .'7 end also — to some degree — served as a source Somewhat further on, he wondered, of exciting entertainment for those bourgeois “ With what methods and what means must the prepared to search outside themselves for power­ filmically portrayed phenomena be handled so that ful emotions. it simultaneously shows not only what the fact is, In the midst of this barely controlled poetic and the character’s attitude towards it, but also how outbreak, once his goal as an artist and a the author related to it, and how the author wishes revolutionary was defined, Brecht began to arm the spectator to receive, sense, and react to the himself theoretically and scientifically, to dis­ portrayed phenomena.” '* cipline himself. At the same time, he viscerally He proceeds to develop some interesting ideas reaffirmed his rejection of “those spectators who on “composition” , conceived of as “a law for the leave their reason in the checkroom along with construction of a portrayal” . As his point of their overcoats” .23 He began to speak then of an departure, he uses human emotional behaviour. epic, narrative theatre that assumes a distance “ If one chooses the structure o f human emotion as from the events it portrays, contrasting it to a a source, he will definitely awaken emotion, he will dramatic theatre that makes the viewer “ex­ inevitably arouse the complex of those very feelings perience” an event through the exacerbation of that gave birth to the composition.” 19 conflictive elements.

Thus, in the case of a portrayal where the Brecht wasn’t alone: others before him had author’s position is in contradiction with the ap­ parent meaning of the portrayed act — that is, blazed that trail in response to an urgent social when a distanced, critical attitude is present on demand, among them Piscator with his political the author’s part — the composition will res­ theatre. But Brecht had the virtue of taking his pond structurally to the emotional state ideas the furthest, not only on the level of generated in the author in response to his theoretical systematization, but also in terms of relationship to the act portrayed. Consequently, artistic achievement.

In 1930, after seeing the opera Rise and Fall this will act to trigger within the viewer a similar of the City of Mahagonny, Brecht drew an out­ critical perspective based on an emotional line showing how the values of dramatic theatre mechanism.20 had been displaced by those of epic theatre. This In other words, Eisenstein defends pathos as the motor of transformation within the viewer. little summary of his views on theatre es­ a guideline which his future works That transformation must function on a rational tablished level as well, necessarily implying a critical as­ were to follow. Brecht himself advises us: “This outline does not show us absolute points of sessment. He said that intellectual cinema has contrast, but merely shifts in emphasis. Thus, before it the task of “ restoring emotional within the communication process, preference can fullness to the intellectual process” .21 Therefore, be given either to what arises through the emotions the operation realized by intellectual cinema or to what persuades through reason.’”4 within the spectacle-viewer relationship can be Brecht does not, therefore, exclude the path of laid out schematically as follows: from image to sentiment in any absolute sense, but he does feeling and from feeling to idea (or thesis). In emphasize the need to work with rational plots, other words, a series of images provokes an ef­ to awaken the viewers’ intellectual process, to fective (emotional) movement which in turn provide knowledge and lead them — by way of awakens a series of ideas (reason). Intellectual the emotions — to a prise de conscience. The montage breaks from narrative montage (epic in scientific rigor he imposed on himself prompted the traditional sense). Film also has as its mis­ him to formulate the need for a new kind of sion the forging of “ accurate intellectual con­ viewer, one capable of understanding the events cepts from the dynamic clash of opposing pas­ developed on stage in all their complexity, in sions” .22 such a way that each is led to examine their own Eisenstein’s goal, in the final analysis, was to conduct, while at no time fully identifying with arrive at reason, at intellectual comprehension. the characters on stage or submitting to the His expressed intention to film Capital is not, vicarious pleasure of living through another’s ex­ then, so surprising. Of course, one must also perience. But to achieve this attitude, the viewer take into consideration the fact that he never did must be shaped as such through study, ex­ so, surely because he still could not find the ap­ perience, etc. propriate resources. The fact that he never fully Although Brecht acknowledges the role that developed this concept of intellectual montage is emotions play in the work of art, he rejects also well known. Eisenstein put forth these ideas character identification as the only mechanism in embryonic form, as the first steps towards the for evoking them. He dedicates himself, synthesis of art and science to which he always therefore, to the task of rationally expressing the aspired. What matters most is that he lived viewers’ interests, which can never be more dedicated to developing the expressive potential legitimate than the constant improvement of of film in such a way that one day, through his human relations (in the sense of social progress, medium, a work like Capital could be realized. development, revolution) in a world whose in­ What trajectory did Brecht follow during habitants are forced to act in “ self-defence” .25 these same years? Born — as was Eisenstein — In 1929, he categorically declared: “Only a in the bosom of the bourgeoisie, his first work new objective will make possible a new art. That (Baal, 1919) depicted an anti-social, conniving, new objective is pedagogy.” 26 With that, he set hedonistic character, contrasted with the out to reach the proletariat first of all. Speaking traditional hero, the bourgeois idol. All his early to them openly, rationally, he attempted to teach output is marked by flashes of lyricism, anarchy, them dialectics, and elevate their consciousness. irony, scepticism and nihilism. In this way, he That is the route he scrupulously pursued in his struck out violently against the values of a didactic plays, where he worked with a mixture bourgeois world, verbally assaulting it, vexing it of rigor and asceticism which markedly reduced his success with a pleasure-seeking public. The 17. Ibid., p. 150. proletariat also prefer to have a good time, to go 18. Ibid. to bed with their mates or simply to go to sleep, 19. Ibid. because people get tired.

20. “The decisive factors of the compositional structure are taken by the author from the basis of his relation to Brecht then began to grasp the complexity of phenomena. This dictates structure and characteristics, dialectics.

After Rise and Fall of the City of through which the portrayal itself is unfolded. Losing none of its reality, the portrayal emerges from this, im­ measurably enriched in both intellectual and emotional qualities.” Ibid., p. 157.

21. Ibid., p. 125.

22. Ibid., p. 46.

23.

24.

25.

26.

Brecht, op. cit.. p. 38.

Ibid., p. 89.

Ibid., p. 83.

Ibid., p. 45.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 301

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A lie n ation a n d D e-alien ation

and especially T h e T h r e e - P e n n y (1928), his works did not achieve the same resonance again until M o t h e r C o u r a g e (1938). With this work, he attained a level of maturity, complexity and efficacy which he was to sustain in his later works, those same works that made him the most important playwright of our time.

Starting with M o t h e r C o u r a g e , Brecht was able to work other, more traditional, theatrical elements into his plays with a masterful sense of proportion. After expressly acknowledging that the most important and noble function of theatre is to “entertain” , to provide pleasure and diver­ sion, and that this function is its own justifica­ tion, he developed in all its complexity his con­ cept of pleasure as a concrete, - historicallyconditioned phenomenon, thereby postulating a type of pleasure determined by the circum­ stances of our times — which he called the “scientific age” . This led to accept certain traditional dramatic devices like the exacerba­ tion of conflict, plot and even character iden­ tification.

Yet he would not let himself be carried away.

Instead, he would make use of them for his own purposes, which in essence continued to be those he had outlined in his youth but now could attain fully. He insisted on the need to transcend the “antinomy between reason and emotion”:27 “The separation of reason and feeling must be attributed to the effects of conventional theatre that persists in nullifying reason.”28 He main­ tained that, “ In Aristotelian theatre, empathy is also mental; non-Aristotelian theatre also resorts to emotional critique.”29 In opposition to the hero defined in an idealist sense, whose acts embody a timeless truth, Brecht placed human beings historically and m aterialistically defined who, w ithout hypocrisy, take upon themselves the concrete truth that “ life involves before everything else eating and drinking, housing, clothing and various other things.”30 Brecht thus situates M ahagonny O p e ra

27. Brecht, Diario de trabajo, Nueva Vision, Buenos Aires, 1977, Vol. 1, March 4, 1941, p. 248.

28. Brecht, Escritos sobre teatro, p. 136.

29. Brecht, Diario de trabajo, Vol. 1, October 17, 1940, p.

192.

30. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, La ideologia alemana, Pueblos Unidos, Montevideo, 1959, p. 27. Collected Works, Vol. V, International Publishers, New York.

1976, p. 41.

Scene from Eisenstein 's Battleship Potemkin.

himself on a level of immediacy which not only favors rational communication but also true emotional comprehension on the part of the viewer.

We have seen that Eisenstein also argued for a synthesis of art and science, and repeatedly had to defend himself against those who insisted on seeing in his work an attempt to separate reason from emotion.31 If, on the one hand, Eisenstein moved “from image to feeling and from feeling to idea” , Brecht went a step further and observed that if feeling can stimulate reason, the latter, in turn, purifies one’s emotions.

Paradoxically, the more-impassioned Eisen­ stein directed his investigative work towards the l o g i c o f e m o t i o n s , while Brecht, apparently colder and in any case the more rigorous of the two, was won over by the e m o t i o n o f l o g i c . It would be erroneous, then, to shelve Brecht under d i s t a n c i n g devices and Eisenstein under p a t h o s without keeping in mind the subtleties which draw the two tendencies closer together and which permit a bridging of the two.

We would also be in error if, carried away by our zeal for integration based on the common principles which support each position, we should attempt to suppress the contradiction which separates them. That contradiction exists and has been seen. It is possible to find objective causes for it in the disparate social contexts from which each artist derived and in the different medium through which each chose to express himself. It is not simply a matter of the different emphasis that one placed on reason and the other on emotion. The fact remains that each one elaborated different devices to arrive at an “emotional understanding” of the spectacle.

And, above all, there are certain mutually ex­ clusive points, particular aspects of each theory which cannot easily be combined: Brecht firmly rejected the state of ecstasy in the viewer, while Eisenstein defended it.

The divergence between them. can only be logically overcome if we consider that Eisensteinian p a t h o s and Brechtian d i s t a n c i a t i o n are but two moments in the same dialectical process (alienation/de-alienation) within which each man isolated and emphasized a different phase.

In the broadest sense, both concepts are part of the same approach to film or theatre and, conse­ quently, to life.

But in a stricter sense, they are contradictory and in opposition to each other. Neither concept alone will suffice to achieve fully the proposed objective. This is only brought about as the result of a process in which both elements in­ teract. Emotion, character identification and ec­ stasy, as well as reason, critical perspective and lucidity, are all necessary moments within that process.

My aim is not to assume an eclectic stance to dilute the position of one artist into the other, but to explain their reason and their passions and, in the last analysis, the consequences of each. They represent opposite poles in a dialec­ tical relationship; they are in opposition, yet they also form part of each other. Their most productive contribution can concretize itself only when based on an attitude which is consis­ tent with the present historical period and the chosen medium of expression.

In socialism as in capitalism, in theatre as in film, it is possible to make room for both posi­ tions only if they are adopted as different mo­ ments of the process in which they are inscribed: dialectics of reason and passion within the 31. “To accuse me of tearing the emotional from the in­ tellectual is without any foundation! Quite the contrary!

I wrote: ‘Dualism in the sphere of feelings and rationale must be completely overcome by this new form of art. It is necessary to give back to the intellectual process its fire and passion, to dunk the abstract thinking process into the boiling material of reality.’ ” M. Seton, op. cit., p. 333.

framework of the relationship between the spec­ tacle and the viewer. Like a wish-fulfilling dream, the erotic ecstasy, amusement, rapture or p a t h o s provoked by the work of art can also constitute productive moments in relationship between human beings and the world around them — but always on the condition that such states be transcended, since people must neces­ sarily return to reality. (We refer here to normal, mature human beings who act according to con­ crete, objective interests, who in a free moment go to the cinema to enjoy a spectacle in the same way they might have a drink or make love.) This state of “separation” or “inebriation” can not only comfort and restore energy, but can actual­ ly generate it as well.

Every normal, mature person lives in reality, suffers its consequences and enjoys it. Their lives are based on reality; however, when they begin to gravitate toward illusion (call it inebriation, fantasy, alienation) it can be said that they are verging on a pathological state. These cases re­ quire special treatment.

We have here two moments in the relationship of spectator to performance: on the one hand, p a t h o s , ecstasy, alienation; on the other, distanc­ ing, awareness of reality, de-alienation. Move­ ment from one state to another can occur at various times in the space of a single perfor­ mance. This movement which transports the viewers from one dialectical extreme to another during the show is similar to that which takes them from everyday reality to the films or the theatre or vice versa. Moreover, this escape from everyday reality, to submerge oneself in a fic­ tional reality, an autonomous world in which the audience will recognize themselves so as to come away enriched by the experience, is an exercise in alienation and de-alienation.

We have seen that Brecht questions, above all, the traditional performance-viewer relationship when the viewers are so moved that they confuse illu s io n with r e a l i t y . This is his great revolutionary contribution to the theatre and, by extension, to all kinds of spectacles that provide us with an im a g e or an i l l u s i o n o f r e a l i t y .

The systematization of distancing devices per­ mits us to opt for a spectacle which acts, not as a substitute for reality, but as an illuminating, penetrating instrument of that reality through f i c t i o n which presents itself as such. It is clear that when one speaks of film or fiction, one speaks of i l l u s i o n — not necessarily in the sense of an error or deception, but as play. It can — and it should — be an illusion that we are aware of such from the beginning.

For an illusion to provide not only aesthetic pleasure but also instruction and stimulus, it must be carried out in such a way that “the painting yields to that which is painted . . . Our images must cede the foreground to the reality they portray: the life of man in society” .32 Within the framework of the process, which takes place in those who momentarily acquire the role of viewer to reintegrate themselves sub­ sequently into their everyday space, the contrast between Brechtian and Eisensteinian points of view helps us understand the process of the spec-, tacles which take place during the viewer-spec­ tacle phase: that is, the fictional moment.

The new rules of the game which give rise to this relationship not only allow for the spiritual enrichment of the viewer and a greater knowledge of reality through a (lived) aesthetic experience, but also favor the development of a critical attitude in those viewers towards the reality in which they themselves are inscribed.

Viewers will cease to be such in relation to reality; they will confront it not as a given but as a process of evolution — an evolution to which they themselves are committed, i t 32. Brecht, Escritos sobre teatro, op. cit., Vol. Il l , p. 141.

Cinema Papers, July-August — 303

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heading a cast that includes Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, and has many of the qualities of director’s best, realistic work. His last film, Clear All Wires (1933), features the brilliant Lee Tracy as an unscrupulous foreign correspondent whose activities get him onto the podium with Stalin in May Day. As in Blessed Event and The Nuisance, Tracy is seen to advantage and the film shows a surprisingly shrewd observation of the interface of terrorism and the media. Hill’s work has elements which were not to surface in the American cinema for another 20 years.

Equally interesting is the early work of W.S. (Woody) Van Dyke, once associate of D.W. Griffith, William Flaherty and Frederick Murnau. Van Dyke’s Trader Horn (1930) is still a uniquely evocative and savage contrast to the usual Hollywood jungle saga. Even less well known is his 1933 Eskimo, virtually a return to silent filmmaking with its inset titles translating the speech of the authentic Eskimo actors. Joe Sauers/Sawer also gives the performance of his career as the mountie. Despite weak process photography and studio inserts, the film has a complex point of view and achieves several powerful scenes.

Equally rem arkable, Van Dyke’s The Prizefighter And The Lady of the same year also manages surprising realism. A sports film, it has striking performances from Myrna Loy, Walter Huston and Otto Kruger, with boxer Max Baer handling the lead.

MGM was not the studio for this macho stuff and Van Dyke found himself guiding Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in operettas and Joan Crawford in weepies. Though vapid beside his earlier work, these are the films most often viewed today.

The collection, of course, continues to the 1950s and, along with more familiar items, it has oddities like the bulk of Jules Dassin’s career as a second-string director at Metro. These include Reunion in France (1942), largely re-shot in a

Collections Testify

glossier style by Van Dyke; Nazi Agent (1941), with Conrad Veidt in a dual role; and the two charming and long forgotten comedies he made with Marsha Hunt, also star of Fred Zinnemann’s first feature, Kid Glove Killer (1941). These films, Affairs of Martha (1942) and Letter for Evie (1945), have considerable appeal and are a world away from his Naked City or Riffifi.

The early films have another intriguing aspect. The early sound period was one of the most intense technical innovations. Not only were such devices as mixing, play-back and post­ synchronization developed, this was when the optical printer, and with it the wipe dissolve, ap­ peared, along with back projection and the short­ lived Dunning process.

Experimentation with these makes the films particularly fascinating, but it also gives them a quality which makes them seem dated to programmers and viewers, by comparison with the post-1935 titles realized in the style of the socalled Hollywood classics.

The earlier films also have their own curious set of taboos — no nudity, bad language or violence — and yet they freely dealt with sub­ jects soon to be forbidden — abortion, dope, communism. This, too, comes as a surprise to the unwary.

Indeed, one film records the process of decay which overtook the filmmaking of the day — Van Dyke’s Laughing Boy with Novarro. Made in 1934, it is set among the Navajo Indians and shot in tribal lands using more genuine Indians than did any other major Hollywood film.

However, these real support players are fronted

by Novarro in an awful wig and Lupe Velez, and the authentic material is broken by unconvincing studio shooting. There is a glimpse of the old Van Dyke in the rough lovemaking of Velez and William Davidson, but more characteristic is Novarro’s song in front of the back projection screen. The actor made only one more film as star and Van Dyke’s own style vanished into a studio gloss indistinguishable from the work of a dozen others after this.

Watching this material in bulk, the same reac­ tion is repeated. The earlier, rougher films have a charm and a conviction which is lost in the

later, factory-finished films though the in­ dividual master works tend to come later. In a uniformly fascinating collection, every so often one film would catch attention — possibly not even the best of the batch, but one with unex­ pected qualities: Office Wife, Gentleman’s Fate, John Adolphi’s Central Park (1932) with Joan Blondell, King Vidor’s The Stranger’s Return (1933) with Stewart Erwin, Curtiz’ Female (1933), Le Roy’s Hi Nellie! (1933), Dieterle’s Lawyer Man, with William Powell (1932), Roy Del Ruth’s Taxi (1932), with James Cagney, Alfred E. Green’s Dark Hazard (1932), with Edward G. Robinson or Lothar Mendes ’ Pay­ ment Deferred (1932), with Laughton.

Also, unlike many 16mm copies of color and wide screen films, these black and white, stan­ dard screen-shape copies accurately represent the originals, apart from a couple made from originals in an early color process and a handful cropped in reduction from the original soundon-disc picture negatives. Some of the copies are virtually mint and appear never to have been on air or screened publicly.

We ran that collection for months and came nowhere near touching bottom, and yet the pleasure of this was undermined by the knowledge that these were films without an audience. The same factors which meant that many had little television use will keep them out of the local screening situations. The National Film Theatre did do seasons of a half dozen of the films of each studio, but appears unequipped for anything more ambitious.

The W e e k e n d A u s t r a l i a n ran an interview with Neil MacDonald and reported that, as a result of their intervention, the copies had been saved. I wish I shared their optimism.

The Australian Film Institute has reacted favorably to the suggestion that they might wish to mount a touring exhibition of the material with introductions which would make possible the use of titles which .are not immediately ap­ proachable. This would fit with the plans to cir­ culate a display of their vintage cinema equip­ ment. Without action on this scale, the films will remain lost in an Australian context. ★

Government and Film

t recommended that the AFC seek to fund judgments about films any more success­ films with international, commercial fully than it has done in the past? and further Tariff Board Enquiry in 1977 as potential. It specified that such films 4. To what extent would gearing films solely should be budgeted to earn 60 per cent of proposed by the board in its 1972 Enquiry. The for the international market have on the their earnings from international sales. development of an identifiable, national Board’s recommendation was that — after five PMM also recommended structural changes film culture? The report gives relatively years — it should conduct another inquiry to within the AFC to give it greater independence scant consideration to this aspect of the assess the viability of the industry and the film industry. impact of its recommendations. As with its more and a greater semblance of a commercial opera­ controversial recommendations, this proposal tion. Such recommendations gave the AFC the The Federal Government’s offering of a authority to approve projects of $250,000 generous tax incentive to stimulate private was shelved.

Perhaps the Peat Marwick Mitchell Report in without ministerial intervention and involved the investment in the film industry will no doubt 1979 was commissioned in lieu of the second removal of AFC employees from the Common­ ensure an abundance of productions — at least Tariff Board Enquiry.5 PMM’s brief was to wealth Public Service Act, the appointment of a until the new perks are withdrawn. Otherwise investigate the effectiveness of the Australian general manager and the abolition of full-time the Government has demonstrated little effort to Film Commission’s policies and operations, to commissioners. Unlike the ill-fated 1972 Tariff come to grips with the industry’s problems — inquire on various aspects of the industry and to Board Report, PMM’s recommendations were even the cost of the tax incentives does not explore the options for industry development, adopted by federal parliament, in early 1980. appear to have been thought through at the time The impact of these measures (if any) has they were promised. The problems of foreignparticularly: been overshadowed by the tax incentives saga, dominated distribution and exhibition, high­ 1. tax amendments; but the PMM report on face value gives rise to a lighted in the 1972 Tariff Board Enquiry, have 2. the state film corporations; number of questions: 3. alternative methods of development; and been ignored by successive governments, as have 1. How sincere was the Federal Govern­ the particular funding needs of an industry that 4. what, if any, further support would be ment’s gesture of holding this inquiry if it is part art and part commerce, and have been justified. allowed the PMM report to be conducted glossed over by the PMM report. The result of PMM concluded that “the Australian market under the auspices of the AFC rather than the flurry of film activity will reveal whether the does not have the capacity to absorb the current an independent board? output and cover its costs.” maligned and heralded tax incentives kill the 2. How far will restructuring of the AFC go industry with kindness or bestow the towards solving inherent problems in the desperately-needed Midas touch.★ 5. Towards a More Effective Commission: The AFC in the Australian film industry?

1980s, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Management Consul­ 3. Will the AFC be able to make commercial tants.

C o n tin u e d f r o m

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I

Cinema Papers, July-August

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305

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Edward Fox

Octavio Cortazar

Cortazar

This is something that the Cuban finds difficult and tends to think is due to a low cultural development, since he speaks very differently to the proper Castilian Spanish. But that’s not true. The particular conditions of the nation meant that the sons of the immigrants didn’t speak as their fathers did. And the language was shaped as a condition of national integrity. It became a very important cultural factor.

Something similar happens in Australia, where there is a very particular way of speaking, and which you have to defend as a factor of national identity.

P eg g y N ic h o lls: M elb ou rn e 8 30 1 0 9 7 Our culture in Cuba is very young and facing enorm ous or 3 2 9 5983 danger. We have, in front of us, the most aggressive imperialism of this Deletions: 88.4m (3 mins 3 secs) modern earth, with 250 million Film Censorship Listings Reason for deletions: O ( r a p e ) inhabitants to our 10 million. At Untamed Sex: W. Dietrich, Switzerland, 2482.03m, Filmways A ’sian Dist., S ( f - m - g ) any moment there could be direct C o n t i n u e d f r o m p . 2 5 4 Deletions: 38.5m (1 min. 24 secs) Reason for deletions: S ( i - h - g ) aggression. I don’t believe there will To Woody Allen, From Europe With Love: P. (a) Previously shown on October 1980 list.

Drouot/D. Van, Belgium, 2468m, Sydney Film Festival be, but if there were we would The (b) Previously shown on October 1980 list.

Trials of Alger Hiss (16mm): History on Film C om ­ Films Refused Registration resist. pany, U.S., 1814m, Melbourne Film Festival Actresses: Shanghai Film Studio, China, 3182m, Beast of Pleasure (Bete a plaisir): Makifilms, France, It could happen that they would Two Melbourne Film Festival 2084.9m, Blake Films, S ( f - h - g ) Lions in the Sun: Basta Film/FR3, France, 2810m, Don't Answer the Phone: Crown Int’l, U.S., 2593.6m, win, so it is necessary that our Two G U O Film Dist., V ( f - h - g ) population, which could be under Melbourne Film Festival The Girl Hunters (16mm): Not shown, U.S., 593.4m, 14th Mandolin, S ( f - h - g ) the power of this invading country, Films Registered With Eliminations Momma’s Little Girl (16mm): J. Milne, U.S., 668.2m, For Restricted Exhibition (R) 14th Mandolin, S ( f - h - g ) have deeply internalized cultural Desires Within Young Girls (reconstructed version) Peggy (16mm): Not shown. U.S., 660.1m, 14th Man­ values. Only this way can it resist (a): H. Lime, U.S., 2119.49m, A.Z. Assoc. Theatres, S dolin, S ( i - h - g ) f-m -g ) Super Vixens (original version) (a): R. Meyer, U.S., the imposition of another culture. (Deletions: 56.3m (2 mins 3 secs) 2868.5m, Regent Trading Enterprises, V ( i - h - g ) Reason for deletions: S ( i- h - g ) And, after 10 or 20 years, we will be Sensual X-Rated Loves (16mm): California Classics, U.S., Encounters of Every Kind (s e c o n d 14th Mandolin, S ( f - h - g ) able to liberate ourselves — as the reconstructed version) (b): U.S., 1478.06m, Filmways 612.8m, (a) Rejected (August 1976 list); reconstructed version A ’sian Dist., S ( f - m - g ) classified “R" with cuts (September 1976 list), i r Vietnamese people did — and still retain our national identity. ulation which hadn’t had a chance ments of the “pseudo” republic. to learn.

So, that is what The Literacy The L iteracy Teacher In the 59 years before the Teacher is all about. It is an effort revolution, Cubans were not to explain to the population that The Literacy Teacher is nothing conscious of their own values. But they really have heroic people but a chronicle of an epoch in which with the revolution, they have seen among them, courageous and a whole section of the population their possibilities as a Cuban without self-interest; to show them which left behind its comforts to people, and regained the patriotic their r e a l national values. It is a go to the countryside, to live in un­ feeling which had been lost with the song to make the national values comfortable conditions, without first American invasion and all the rain forth on a very young nation in pay, and teach that part of the pop­ subsequent neo-colonialist govern­ danger. ★

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of knowledge. You have to remember that Grierson and others used to say: “ You can use a docu­ mentary as a mirror or as a hammer.” I don’t want to use it as a mirror; I always use it as a hammer.

You saw “Newsfront” recently.

What was your response?

It is a beautiful film, and important precisely because it reveals to me an Australia which has an ethic, and real cultural values, expressed through its people. It also shows the way foreign penetration has become inserted into the life and culture of the nation.

Australia is not just a population of isolated people where selfishness prevails, but one which has many values of which it is not very aware.^ It is important to realize that its [white] culture and population has a short history and is in formation.

That is why it is important to deal with the problems of national identity.

Newsfront is also a very welldirected film, and I really like the freshness with which the film passes from black and white to color, from past to present, from newsreel to “reality” .

We have a similar problem to Australia in being a nation with a nationality still in formation, and a culture which is about 100 years old. It is important to recognize our cultural values, the Cuban idiosyncracies and history, its language.

The Cuban language is a very special way of speaking Spanish.

Edward Fox C o n tin u e d f r o m

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suppose it does in a sense, because he has gone on to produce again and again.

identified as the epitome of English Last year, you played in Eliot’s aristocracy. Do you find this a ‘The Family Reunion’ on stage. constraint on your choice of roles? Did you enjoy the change?

I don’t really feel restricted. One Every time it sounds like an indi­ thinking must be at odds with the vidual enterprise; not like the old is, in a sense, automatically bound notion of getting an industry going, days of MGM or even London to a degree by one’s nature. In a way, Trim ingham and King Films . . . at least on a smallish scale . . .

Edward VIII are certainly in a class structure, and Lord Warburton in I think it is all a bit defused. The the BBC’s Portrait of a Lady is Joe Levine [producer of A Bridge Too Far] did argue that those general purpose is being “cohesed” definitely. But if one came to film actors would normally be on a a bit more. the plays of Ibsen, say T h e M a s t e r percentage of the film, which he B u i l d e r , one would play those more didn’t allow them. So, he paid them I wonder if the maligned studio or less from within one’s self, a very high salary because of the system really had more going for it ironing out anything that suggested sim ple, good, old-fashioned than was commonly supposed? an aristocratic approach. Indeed, American idea that they would with something like Galileo, supply that much money at the box­ I am sure it had. although I played the Inquisitor as office and, therefore, be worth it. a cruel wicked man, there was not You see, a producer like Joe Is there such a thing as a regularly really an overtone of aristocracy. would probably be recouping his functioning English film studio?

I wondered if it exercised any kind production costs in other ways, I don’t think there is now, of constraint on the sort of parts you through television markets or what­ ever, and taking a fair-sized profit because the Twickenham Studio, are offered? himself. He would argue that since which is probably the most used I don’t really feel so, although it he chooses to take that risk, he after Shepperton, is owned by should also be entitled to the profit, Arabs. Shepperton is half-owned may be the case. Those who know if there is one. And it is a perfectly by a “pop” group, I think. No, one’s range know it anyway, and there are many who have not seen fair way of seeing things. But it there is no mogul. other things that one’s done, doesn’t actually add up to a system or general product — though I To many people, you have become probably mostly on the stage.

Oh yes. It is a play I am very fond of and had done with the same director and a lot of the same company in 1973. We wanted very much to do it again. A very important play, actually, but I think it is too difficult for most companies.

Would you prefer to concentrate on stage, screen or television?

I like flitting between the three. I think one is very helpful, in the sense of the practice of one’s craft, to the other.

Is one more demanding than the other?

The stage is always more demanding because you have to present a coherent performance every night — no matter how you feel — and sustain it for two hours.

As I have said before, the stage is really the actor’s medium.★ Cinema Papers, July-August — 307

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