Cinema Papers February-March 1985

.

D a a ic ta r a / I

.

.

.

publication no. VBP 2121

ONE BOOK TO COVER ALL YOUR PRODUCTION NEEDS ALL OVER THE WORLD

INTERNATIONAL FILM & TELEVISION YEAR B O O K 1984/89

29Th EDITION KEMPS IN TER N ATIO N AL FILM & TELEVISION YEA R B O O K 1984/85

‘

N ot just Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and M iami but also details for all major film producing states and locations in the U SA and the m ost established guide to C A N A D A , G REAT BR ITA IN , A U ST R A L IA , G ER M A N Y , ISRA EL, ITA LY, GREECE and over 50 other countries.

A lm ost 1400 pages o f inform ation on equipment sale and rental, location services, labs, etc. etc.

PUBLISHED ANNUALLY IN MAY, PRICE $45.

COMPANY NAME ADDRESS .............

Tel PLEASE SEND ME ...........COPY/COPIES OF THE KEMPS INTERNATIONAL FILM TELEVISION YEAR BOOK (1984/85) at a cost of UK £22.50, Europe £25.00, USA, Canada & Australia $45.

AIR MAIL ADD $6 I enclose cheque to value o f ...........(payable to Kemps Publishing Group) NAME ........................................SIGNED ......................................... POSITION PLEASE SEND ME DETAILS OF ADVERTISING Kemps International Film & Television Year Book, 1/5 Bath Street, London EC1V 9QA Tel No. 01-253 4761 Telex 848314 Chacom G Attn Kemps

[The real pros... Judge us by the companies we keep Arnold & Richter Arriflex cameras, Arrilite. Zeiss High speed lenses.

Lee Filters. Manfrotto Stands & Tripods. Sachtler Fluidiieads & Tripods. Stronghold Custom-made transit cases. Tiffen Camera filters. Drawmer Audio products. Lexicon Reverberation Units.

Sonifex NAB Cartridge Machines. Tannoy Loudspeakers & Monitors.

Zonal Audio & Magnetic film tape. NTP Stereo phasing monitors.

Kaleidoscope Remote Control Hotheads. Photo Research Spectra Light Meters. Lemo Connectors. Acmade Picture Synchronisers.

Cinema Products Steadicam and Camera prompter. Cine 60 Power Packs. CIR Splicers. Elemack Dollies. Miller Heads & Tripods.

We’re also into the rental business in a big way HOT HEAD - our rental product of the month

Our Rental organisation provides a service to the Film and TV production industry 6 days a week. Our staff are thoroughly trained with handson experience. They have a genuine interest

in ensuring that our equipment is reliable.

Make sure your next production is backed up

by Australia’s most professional Motion Picture/ TV product supplier.

JOHSI IMARy ptyltd Fine-tuned for product excellence in sales, servicing & rentali Rental Division, Head Office: 27 Hotham Parade, Artarmon NSW 2064.

Ph: (02) 439 6955. Telex AA24482

PRESENTS FURTHER SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS FROM

New St 201V Video Reporter

STEENBECK

As Released At Photokima

New St 9601 Compact video sound editing machine for video sound post production, with integrated video recorder in u format.

3 perfo sound tracks for 16-17.5 or 35mm.

Features slippage-free mechanical and electronic lock, between VCR and sound tracks without time code.

This new unit is a time code independent integrated Video Recorder in U format.

Can be interlocked-frame accurate to any 01 series Steenbeck.

Being user friendly, it allows normal film sound practice to be applied to video tape image, without the distracting time code problems.

Other associated options include 2 new time code readers - ST 10261 and ST 610 reading both vision and sound For further information contact your nearest Rank Office or Sydney Office.

R ank Electron ics ptyLtd

STATE OFFICES Sydney

Melbcxim e

16 Suakin S treet Pym bte. NSW 2073 Tel: (02)4495666 Telex: 71289

103-119G ipps S treet U n iti, 139 Sandgate Ftoad CoIRngwood. VIC . 3066 A lbion. OLD. 4010 T ei: ((0)4172333 Tel: (0 7 ) 2628366 Telex: 31904 Telex: 43396

Brisbane

Adelaide 34 King W illiam S treet Kent Town. SA. 5067 T ei: (08) 42 9827 Telex: 89202

U nit 1.106 O xford S treet Leedetville W A 6007 Tel : (09) 328 5122 Telex: 93345

MOTION PICTURE SERVICES SERVICE SPECIALIST • AATON • ARRIFLEX • BELL & HOW ELL • C.P. • ECLAIR • CANON & ZEISS LENSES • • CUSTO M M O DIFICATIONS •

Lens collimation and repair facilities for all film and video lenses.

1 s t FLO O R , 29 C O LLE G E ST G L A D E S V IL L E NSW 2111 PH: (02) 816 3371

In Developm ent

or

SALLY MEIKLEJOHN, CHRISTINE MACKRILL. P.O. BOX 2988. AUCKLAND. N.Z. TEL: 779*033. 793*134.

In Production

The Script Management Service offers you * Drafts transferred to word processor, stored on disk * Professional advice on form atting, term inology etc * Printing of copies arranged at com petitive rates * Portability — your choice of work location * Total confiden tiality of all material * Revision pages during production * Script editing & consultation * Script breakdowns & tim ings

Caroline Stanton Phone: (02) 43 1287

DXX

DWE

Q800

CID

FEX

CP40

Three Arts Services Lamp Sales to the Entertainment Industry Phone*.

(03) 690 1022 109 York St. Sth. Melbourne Victoria 3205

DYR

FBO

HMI

(02) 699 7758 577 Elizabeth St. Redfern N.S.W. 2016

P2/12

FEP

r Specialists in Transportation^

of Film & Advertising Props r Professionally equipped

Pantechnicons & Table Top Trucks r Reliable, Experienced & Helpful Crew r Radio Controlled Fleet

North Sydney-4 3 1122 East Sydney- 331 3314 74 Burton St, Darlinghurst 20KF

F IL M SETS 88 Warrigal Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 31 6 6

■ Studio 75' x 46' w ith 14' to lighting grid.

■

Large three sided paintable fixed eye.

■

Good access to studio fo r cars and trucks.

■

Design and set construction service available.

■

Dressing rooms, wardrobe, and make-up facilities.

FOR STUDIO BOOKINGS, PHONE: Alex Simpson,

(03) 568 0058, (03) 568 2948

Wanted & Positions Vacant For quality 35 mm sci-fi/adventure/war/car action/feature films — to be shot in Australia and other countries (replies from USA, Europe, Asia, etc. welcome, include your phone number).

We are perfectionists and award winners, prepared to go to great lengths to search out (hence this ad) and where necessary develop products and people that are “just right”. We value character (we like quiet, knowledgeable, patient, etc., people) more than experience. Write to us if you see yourself as: assistant, acting talent, line producer, artist, designer, machinist, technician, etc. or consultant/supplier of props, wardrobe, weapons, Techniscope, Kodachrome, warfare, cars and heavy vehicles, computer graphics, electronics, servo motors, locations, etc.

If you think you have anything to contribute, or if you know of anyone who has, please send fullest information, in your own longhand, to Executive Producer, P.O. Box 333, Bondi Beach, N.S.W. 2026, Australia.

We would prefer not to have to return anything; enclose s.a.s.e. if you want anything returned. Angol Holdings Pty Ltd. Tel. (02) 309 2221

The latest and the best from FILMWEST G ___________ '

______

'

_____ :__ :____ :_________ _ _____ :___ ____ :___________ :____________ -___

_____ ___________________ _

AATON LTR WITH CTR ‘end of clapper’ Clear Time Recording w ill save you a lot of time, money and film stock. If you already have an AATON LTR it can easily be fitted w ith CTR.

AATON

AATON 8-35 The sm allest hand held 35mm Camera w ith instant 120mm magazine. When you enquire about the 8-35 you’ ll soon discover for yourself ju st why it really is the latest and the best from AATON.

KEM K800 W ith the versatile K800 you can transfer film to video or lay sound tracks to video from 16mm or 35mm.

Or you can use it as a 16mm or 35mm editing table. All modules are interchangeable.

ITS A CUT ABOVE THE REST

CAMR AIL-The Portable Professional Tracking System

CAMRAIL is sim ple to handle, easy to assemble and despite its light w eight is very tough.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Filmwest Corporation Pty. Ltd.

Percy Jones M otion Picture Services

75 B ennett Street, Perth, W.A. 6000 Tel(09)3251177/3251423 Telex: AA94150

1st Floor, 29 College St. Gladesville. N.S.W. 2111 Telephone: (02)816 3371

CAMRAIL can be put upside down to give new dim ensions to tracking shots.

CONTACT:

Alan Lake Film Production Services Pty. Ltd.

Peter Grbavac Photographic & General Instruments.

102 Chandos Street, Crows Nest.N.S.W. 2065 Telephone: (02)439 3880

203 Rocky Point Rd. Ramsgate, N.S.W. 2217 Telephone: (02)525 6314

John Bowring-Lemac Films (Aust) Pty. Ltd. 279 Highett Street Richmond. Victoria.3121 Tel(03)428 3336/429 2992

Filmwest P te. Ltd. Suite 157 Raffles Hotel 1-3 Beach Road, Singapore 0718 Tel: 337 8041/336 1509 Telex: RS36389

SHARMILL FILMS

and

CINEACTION Vivian Gordon

Natalie Miller

are pleased to announce that as from January 1985 Cineaction will handle bookings and despatch for all titles in

T H E S H A R M IL L C O L L E C T IO N

Suite 8,65 Queens Road, Melbourne, Victoria. 3004, Telephone 529

!

1’595

Soundtrack Albums

For current catalogue and information contact: CIN EA CT IO N P/L P.O. Box 51 Collingwood Vic. 3066 * TEL: (03) 862 2460 TX: AA30625/ME782

MOVIE STUNTS AUSTRALIA We can stunt as far as the imagination can see . . .

New Sound Tracks and Cast Recordings

When you are planning your next production, contact:

FRANK LENNON

DUNE $11.99; C AR M EN $13.99; W AR AND PEACE $14.99; M IS­ U ND ER STO O D $13.99; G R EM LIN S $12.99; TOP SECRET $14 99TAX I DRIVER $15.99; D A Y S OF HEAVEN $13.99.

STUNT CO-ORDINATOR

(02) 922 6748

AVAILABLE

Stunt co-ordinators Safety consultants Stuntmen and women

Mail orders welcome; add $1.50 p o st/packing

---- READINGS RECORDS & BOOKS-----153 T o o ra k R oad, S O U TH Y A R R A . T e le p h o n e (03) 267 1885 We are open 7 days a week

MOTION PICTURES

DIRK BOGARDE

•

TELEVISION •

COMMERCIALS

★ Experienced, hardworking & helpful crews ★ Professionally equipped ★ Radio controlled ★ Film & advertising props transportation ★ Antiques & Fine Arts

3311680

★ Member of the National Furniture Removals Association

P.O. BOX 417, PAD DINGTON 2021

'His virtues as a w riter are precisely those w hich make him the most compelling screen actor of his generation.' The Times Esteemed for his leading roles in such classic films as The Servant' and 'Death in Venice', Dirk Bogarde has established himself as a w riter of rare talent. His third novel. W est o f Sunset, is a shrewd portrait of a group of expatriates living on the fringe of Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard.

Deftly told and tautly written, W est o f Sunset is a memorable novel by a writer at the height of his considerable powers. • S5.95 recommended Penguin Books Australia Limited (Incorporated in Victoria)

MOVIES

then come to HOLLYWOOD AND VINE and see Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart and many others. POSTERS, CARDS, PHOTOS, BOOKS, VHS MOVIE LIBRARY.

Hollywood and Vine 19 Toorak Road (near Punt Road) South Yarra. Phone 267 4541 Open 7 days from 10.30 - 9 p.m.

TITLES

w h at\ next? )

OPTICAL & GRAPHIC [1 9 8 2 ] PTY. LIMITED

EFFECTS for

1 1 0 -1 1 2 W est Street,

MOTION PICTURE

[Corner Hayberry Street]

Crows Nest, NSW , 2 0 6 5 , Australia,

and

AUDIO VISUAL Shooting in —

ANAMORPHIC WIDE SCREEN TELEVISION

course!

Phone : ( 02 ) 922-3144 Telex : AA 2 5 4 6 8 Fax : 4 3 9 -2 7 3 8

and all

A/V FORMATS

Open Program

if Lighting H ire if

Everyone needs professional advice sometimes.

You can t go past the Australian Film and Television School's Open Program fo r courses and training material prepared and delivered by top professionals actively w orking in film and television production.

*-

* Special Lighting Effects 13 Microcomputer Lightboards *■ Single Lanterns ~ Full Rigs

Think about it and do yourself a favour. C ontact us immediately for details on our resources and upcom ing

(AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD.

activities all around Australia: Carmen Coutts

Sydney (02) 887 1666

Jenny Sabine

OR

Melbourne (03) 328 2683

Australian Film and Television School Open Program

Lighting And Staging Equipment Resources 109 York S t Sth. Melbourne Victoria 3205

(03) 690 4879 (02) 699 7758

577 Elizabeth St Redfern N.S.W 2016

WORLD

WORLD

WORLD

SAFARI II

SAFARI II

SAFARI II

The final

The final

The final

adventure

adventure

adventure

THE LAST THING THEY WANTED TO WORRY ABOUT WAS PROCESSING QUALITY That’s why they left it to us A lb y Mangels shot W orld Safari II on 16m m ECN II, then he left the rest to us. We blew it up on 35m m C R I and both 16m m and 35m m prints were released Australia wide.

You can depend on Cinevex fo r service , quality and technical expertise.

CINEVEX FILM LABORATORIES, 15-17 Gordon Street, Elsternwick, Victoria 3185. Phone: (03) 528 6188

■ ............» ..................... .......

Motion Picture Guarantors Inc. SYDNEY AUSTRALIA MLC Centre Level 59 (02) 2 3 5 2 7 3 6 Telex: AA 2 3 9 1 7

MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA 7 5-83 High Street Prahran 3181 (03) 5 1 8 9 0 6 Telex: AA 1 3 6 1 7 6

TORONTO LOS ANGELES 14 Birch Avenue Suite 9 3 0 Toronto, Canada 9 2 5 5 Sunset Blvd (416) 9 6 8 0 5 7 7 Los Angeles 9 0 0 6 9 Telex: CA 0 6 5 -2 4 6 9 7 (213) 8 5 8 0 9 1 9

BEVERLY HILLS (2 1 3 ) 2 7 1 9 8 8 0

is proud to have provided COMPLETION GUARANTEES for th ese m otion pictures in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji

The Slim Dusty Movie Produced by Kent Chadwick Director Rob Stewart Associate Producer Brian Douglas Director of Photography David Eggby

Journey to the Dawning of the Day Produced by Michael Dillon Director Michael Dillon Executive Producers Lindsay Gazel, Judith West, Stanley Sarris Director of Photography Michael Dillon

Annie s Coming Out Produced by Don Murray Director Gil Brealey Executive Producer Don Harley Director of Photography Mick von Bornemann A.C.S

Phar Lap Produced by John Sexton in association with Hoyts Michael Edgley International Director Simon Wincer Executive in Charge of Production Richard Davis Director of Photography Russell Boyd

Savage Islands Produced by Rob Whitehouse and Lloyd Phillips Director Ferdinand Fairfax Production Supervisor Ted Lloyd Director of Photography Toni Imi

The Settlement Produced by Robert Bruning Director Howard Rubie Production Manager Irene Korol Director of Photography Ernie Clark

Ginger Meggs Produced by John Sexton Co-Producer Michael Latimer Director Jonathan Dawson Production Manager Jill Nicholas Director of Photography John Seale

Motion Picture Completion (Australia) Pty. Ltd. Douglas Leiterman

Liz Butterfield

Chairman

Chief Production A uditor

.

Christine Suii

Tessa Reynolds

Melbourne Manager

Sydney Manager

EVERY COMPLETION GUARANTEE BY MOTION PICTURE GUARANTORS INC. IS REINSURED BY LLOYDS OF LONDON

Articles and Interviews

Film Reviews

Stephen W allace: interview

The C oolangatta Gold

Paul Kalina

10

The Film s of Ian Pringle

Brian McFarlane

68

The Cotton Club

John O’Hara

16

W alerian B orow czyk: interview

Philip Brophy and Rolando Caputo

Susan Adler

22

P eter Schreck: interview

Mark Spratt

71

The Moon in the G utter

Jim Schembri

34

The Last Bastion

Andrew Preston

72

Melvin, Son of Alvin

Geoff Mayer Top 10 fo r ’84 Bill Conti: interview

Dave Sargent

38 42

Strangers Kiss

44

The Slim Dusty M ovie

47

Le bal

50

Sugar Cane Alley

73

John Conomos

Dorre Koeser

74

Jim Schembri

Brian May: interview

Ivan Hutchinson

75

Rolando Caputo and Gerard Hayes

Bill Gooley: interview

Fred Harden

Dorre Koeser

Features Th e Q uarter Picture Preview : Bliss Film Nouveau Festival

8 28

Bliss Picture Preview: 28

Book Reviews My Last Breath 77

An Encyclopaedia of Australian Film 30

New Products and Processes

Fred Harden

76 92

Dennis Bowers

Kieran Finnane, Helen Greenwood, Keith Connolly, Dorre Koeser Box-office Grosses Production Survey Film Censorship Listings

69

I’ll Be Hom e For Christm as

Paul Harris

78

O m ni’s Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies

\

57 59 61 80 -

Stephen Wallace Interview: 10

Managing editor: Scott Murray. Contributing editors: Tom Ryan, Ian Baiflieu, Brian McFarlane, Fred Harden. Assistant editor: Helen Greenwood. Proof-reading: Arthur Saiton. Design and layout: Ernie Althoff. Office manager: Patricia Amad. Secretary: Beth Sjogren. ' Advertising: Peggy Nicholls (03) 830 1097 or (03) 329 5983. Printing: York Press, 1-19 Hoddle St, Abbotsford, 3067. Telephone: (03) 419 4855. Typesetting: B-P Typesetting, 7-17 Geddes St, Mulgrave, 3170. Telephone: (03) 561 2111. Distributors: NSW, Vic., Qld, WA, SA: Network Distribution, 54 Park St, Sydney, 2000. Telephone: (02) 264 5011. ACT, Tas.: MTV Publishing Limited. U.S.: T. B. Clarke Overseas Pty Ltd.

Michael Broderick

78

Recent Releases

Mervyn Binns

The Cotton Club Review: 69

79

Film Nouveau Festival: 30

Cinema Papers is produced with financial assistance from the Australian Film Commission and Film Victoria. Articles represent the views of their authors and not necessarily those of the editor.

While every care is taken with manuscripts and materials supplied for this magazine, neither the editor 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 MTV Publishing Limited, Head Office, 644 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3051. Telephone: (03) 329 5983. © Copyright MTV Publishing Limited, No. 50, February-March 1985.

Founding publishers: Peter Beilby, Scott Murray. * Recommended price only.

Front cover: The Vision Splendid (Sarah de Teliga) from Ray Lawrence’s Bliss.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 7

Pacific International Media Market Nick Roddick reports: On the drawing board for what its organ­ izers describe as “ 20 nerve-racking months” and extensively publicized in the world trade press, the Pacific International Media Market (PIMM) opened at Mel­ bourne’s Regent Hotel on Tuesday 22 January, running through the week.

By the time of PIMM’s opening, an estimated 300 participants, buyers and sellers were occupying suites on floors 36 and 37 of the Regent, with three of the bigger ones in magnificent isolation at the top, on the 50th floor.

Access between the two main floors was by lift only, an arrangement which ironically helped provide what was other­ wise rather lacking: a focus for the market, as participants met on the lobbies while waiting for one of the ear-popping lifts.

The doubters were out in force on PIMM’s first day. “ Do you know why it’s, called PIMM’s No. 1 cup?” , queried one local producer. “ Because there’ll never be a second.” And indeed, PIMM seemed very quiet by major market standards: a trickle of people wandered the Regent gal­ leries, indulging in those little, first-dayback-at-school cries of recognition with which regular market-goers greet one another.

Not much business seemed to be done, however, and the characteristically off­ hand speech of the AFC’s chairman, Phillip Adams — “ We fully expect the Regent Hotel to challenge the Carlton, Collins Street to rival the Croisette and the Yarra River to submerge the South of France . . . Anyway, whatever business is done this year will be record business!” — seemed to carry an unintentional irony.

The AFC, of course, had contributed in mid-1984 an extra $50,000 to supple­ ment Film Victoria’s $10,000 feasi­ bility grant, $30,000 of which was intended to subsidize buyers’ accommod­ ation. By the second day, business was fairly brisk in certain areas, notably tele­ vision, with documentaries and mini­ series being sold to France, Sweden and Japan. But, with Australian producers traditionally holding on to all their goodies for Cannes, feature film business was slack and, in the case of those buyers lured to Melbourne by the promise of access to the huge Pacific film and video market, virtually non-existent. Sidney Safir, of London’s Safir Films, who was hoping to sell Careful, He Might Hear You in those territories, had only three people at his screening, two of them journalists. “ I’m only here because the

producers expect it” , he said. “ But where are the buyers from Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong . . .?”

Of the big buyers from Europe, Cath­ erine Lamour and Anat Birnbaum, head of Documentaries and head of Fiction Acquisitions respectively for France’s newly launched Canal Plus, were much in evidence; Larry Coyne of Britain’s Channel 4 put in an appearance; but Gary Dartnall, head of Thorn-EMI, didn’t arrive, having apparently turned back at Sydney.

In the final analysis, those who were most satisfied with PIMM were those who were in Australia already and had the chance to meet a lot of people during a concentrated period in the same place. Those who had flown in from Europe and the U.S. especially for the market were noticeably less enthusiastic.

Whether word of mouth about this year’s first PIMM will help next year’s is the biggest outstanding question, since buyers obviously attend markets on the basis of their reputation and the promise of extensive business. This year’s word of mouth, which could best be summed up as “ rather quieter than expected” , may be a problem. Everyone present seemed to be agreed about the potential of the market, however, given the area it could serve. And, since markets necessarily take a couple of years to establish them­ selves, year one is probably too soon to judge PIMM.

Appointments Scott Murray, who has been the principal editor of Cinema Papers since 1974 and managing editor since 1982, resigned from this position in January. He has been replaced as editor by Nick Roddick.

Murray is to direct his first feature.

Roddick has been, since January 1982, film editor of Stills in Britain. He is a regular contributor to Sight and Sound and the Monthly Film Bulletin, and has also written for The Times Literary Supplement, The Sunday Times, The Observer and the Los Angeles Times.

Roddick is the author of A New Deal in Entertainment: Warner Brothers in the 1930s, published in 1984, and editor with Martyn Auty of British Cinema Now, to be published in May this year.

Annette Blonski has been appointed executive director of the Australian Film Institute as from 11 February 1985.

Blonski, who until taking up this position was a lecturer in film at Monash University, is an assessor and panelist for the Australian Film Commission, a board

Special Cannes Edition The next issue of Cinema Papers —The publication dates of the No 51 — will be a special Cannes remaining 1985 issues of Cinema Film Festival edition. It will be out on Papers will be as follows: 8 May — the first day of this year’s '■ Festival.;.. ' . ' . .. , . ' ' '-’ : ^ . .- .; No. No. No, No.

52 53 54 55

June-July 27 June August-September 28 August October-November 30 October December-January 18 December

8 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

member of Film Victoria and a committee member of the AFC’s Women’s Film Fund. She has made short films and has lectured at the Victorian State College.

Kay Lanceley, who has been acting executive director, is resuming her position in Sydney as awards manager and corporate fund raiser.

The new board of management of the Melbourne Film Festival has announced that Paul Coulter has been appointed as director of the 1985 Melbourne Film Festival.

The Festival will be held for 11 days from 20 to 30 June with venues to be announced at a later date.

Until October 1984, Coulter was the owner of The Carlton Moviehouse in Mel­ bourne. He was formerly Exhibition and Distribution manager of the Australian Film Institute.

St Kilda Film Festival Nigel Buesst reports: While the contribution of most local councils to matters cultural amounts to keeping the local library open and weeding the floral clock, St Kilda has boldly initiated a mini film festival as part of its annual St Kilda Festival.

Inaugurated last year, principally by broadcaster, film buff and one-time councillor Mary-Lou Jelbart, the emphasis was on local short films: an opportunity to catch up on all-those productions one had heard or read about but hadn’t managed to see.

Last year’s line-up included a strong sampling from recent Swinburne produc­ tions and several impressive films from resident St Kilda filmmakers. Attendances were so encouraging the council has decided to make it an annual event running four days, this year from Thurs­ day 21 to Sunday 24 March. The venue is again the National Theatre in Barkly Street which used to screen part of the Melbourne Film Festival.

The importance to independent film­ makers of a well-organized presentation like this cannot be overstated. It helps provide that context without which the independent approach is hard pressed to survive. It gives meaning to their wilful imaginings, those long hours of toil and, of course, the costs involved.

The Australian Film and Television School’s (AFTS) program suggests that the Class of ’83 was probably their strongest year yet. It’s A Living (Laurie Kirkwood) is a day in the life of a Sydney cabby, delightfully scripted and sprinkled with rewarding moments. For moments of another kind, the whimsical Passionless Moments (Jane Campion and Gerard Lee) has the viewer observing fragments of people’s lives which manage to be at once both meaningless yet charged with significance.

Fear of Life (Sally Bongers) expresses the gap between what life is and what it should be in a film that is slow and surreal but in which every frame speaks. Indus­ trial Park (Paul Elliot) is even stronger, with its bleak presentation of the Austra­ lian urban landscape. Two short narra­ tives, Getting Wet (Paul Hogan) and A G irl’s Own Story (Jane Campion), com-

Obituary Dave Sargent, a frequent contributor of reviews and interviews to Cinema Papers, died suddenly in Sydney on 17 January.

He was 32 years-old.

Sargent, whose review of Melvin, Son of Alvin appears in this issue of Cinema Papers and was written shortly before his death, was also a contributor to Filmnews and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Sargent was born in New York and came to Australia in the early 1970s to teach. He was editor of Campaign, co­ editor of Inversions and later a contributor to Outrage.

Since March 1984, Sargent was an administrator at the Sydney Filmakers Co-operative and has been an active worker for independent film production in Australia. He was one of the organizers of Independent Film and Video Action, a group established to promote the wider use of local independent films as part of the National Association of Independent Film and Video Workers. His death was the result of a cardiac arrest and was a shock to many people in the film com­ munity in Sydney and Melbourne.

plete the AFTS program and are both excellent exam ples of low-budget films.

Gary Kildea’s taxing Celso and Cora is a cinéma vérité film about a young family scratching a living in the back streets of Manila. It moves along at a quiet pace, not gathering any real momentum until somewhere near the end. With its unflinching camera and heartfelt com­ passion it makes most other documentary concerns look trivial.

The support to Celso and Cora is one of the most interesting short films to come from New Zealand in recent years. The Little Queen (Peter Wells) is, at face value, a rather slight historical evocation of the early 1950s when a young Queen Elizabeth was touring her Dominions. But, as the film progresses, one is drawn into a strange, dream-like world of memories and fantasy, laced with an almost subver­ sive mockery of conservative provincial values.

From Swinburne comes another batch of films, all remarkable achievements given the traditionally meagre budgets.

Outstanding productions in terms of their wit and style are the wildly up-front Father Keith Nink (Mark Hanlin) which relates the disasters which befall a certain boozy priest, and Tarzan’s South Yarra Adven­ ture (Ray Boseley) wherein the Lord of the Jungle is catapulted through time and space to discover sex, drugs, rock and roll, and the beautiful people of South Yarra.

Space doesn’t allow further descrip­ tions of the filmic delights packed into this four days of festival. Suffice to say it provides an unrepeatable chance to catch up on current filmmaking developments.

Negotiations are afoot to mount a program of Ben (The Dunera Boys) Lewin’s earlier productions, particularly his popular con­ tribution to Channel 0/28’s Migrant Experience series and the bizarre Case o f Cruelty to Prawns. Lewin, of course, is a St Kilda resident and should be

The Quarter

glimpsed in the throng at the National. Änd Phillip Adams, chairman of the Aus­ tralian Film Commission, will officially launch this year’s St Kilda Film Festival.

Prices of tickets to the Festival are: series ticket, $20; day ticket, $10; single session, $5; and concessions are avail­ able. For further information, contact Bob Utber or Virginia Redding, (03) 536 1333.

Contributors Sue Adler is an actress and model working in Rome, doing English trans­ lations of Italian screenplays.

Dennis Bowers is convener of film and media studies at the Ballarat College of Advanced Education.

Michael Broderick is a freelance writer.

Philip Brophy is a writer.

Nigel Buesst is a local filmmaker and occasional writer.

Rolando Caputo lectures in film at Deakin University, and is a writer on film.

Keith Connolly is the film critic for The Herald, Melbourne.

John Conomos is a Sydney-based free­ lance writer.

Kieran Finnane is a freelance writer based in Paris, and presently in Sydney.

Fred Harden is a Melbourne freelance film and television producer, and has a regular column on technical information in The Video Age. Paul Harris is one of the presenters of Film Buffs’ Forecast on 3RRR-FM, Melbourne.

Gerard Hayes is a writer.

Ivan Hutchinson is the presenter of films for Network Seven and a contributor to The Video Age. Paul Kalina is a freelance writer on film.

Dorre Koeser is a Sydney-based free­ lance film editor, and writer on film.

Peter Lawrance is a writer.

Geoff Mayer is a lecturer in film studies at Phillip Institute of Technology.

Brian McFarlane is a lecturer in English at Chisholm Institute.

John O’Hara is a lecturer in film studies at Swinburne Institute of Technology.

Andrew Preston is a freelance writer.

Jim Schembri is a journalist at The Age, Melbourne.

Mark Spratt is a freelance film writer.

Peckinpah’s collected works reveal a vision which is rich in imagery and themes. His films are also minor master­ pieces of shot-structure and editing.

Peckinpah’s career was fraught by factors powerful enough to dissuade the strongest of filmmakers but he never renounced his vision and his love of film. If he were to have answered his critics, he would have surely repeated the ‘classic’ words of the Bo Hopkins character in The Wild Bunch: “ Why don’t you kiss my sister’s black cat’s ass.” It may offend some people, but he would have loved it.

Peter Lawrance Rolando Caputo

Obituary Sam Peckinpah “ When I was a kid I grew up with those people [his family] sitting around with my uncle. Sitting around a dining room table talking about law and order, truth and justice, on a Bible which was very big in our family. I suppose I felt like an outsider, and I started to question them.

I guess I’m still questioning.”

Sam Peckinpah

Sam Peckinpah’s death late last year, at the age of 58, caused little, if any, ripple through the cinema-going public’s con­ sciousness or, for that matter, among much of the critical fraternity. For many, Peckinpah will be remembered as a filmmaker whose penchant for violence and machismo was, at best, distasteful; for others, he is a little known entity, famous because of his film The W ild Bunch. Both views speak of Peckinpah’s tragedy: a generally inane impression of a filmmaker whose body of work was that of an intellectual visionary, sadly never to approach the heights many of his less­ talented contemporaries managed. But, if Peckinpah was so grossly over-looked, it must stand as a tribute to the man that his work was consistent in vision and idea.

Peckinpah's career reveals a threefold progression from theatre to television and to film. Born in Madera, California, Peckinpah studied drama at the Uni­ versity of Southern California which led to work as an actor and director in the theatre. This early experience allowed Peckinpah to move into television work, for which he created the Rifleman and The Westerner series, as well as contri­ buting as writer, director and producer to innumerable other television series. His career began as a dialogue director and he later emerged as a scriptwriter; most notable is his significant contribution to the script rewrite of Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), in which he also appeared as an actor. In 1961, he directed his first film, The Deadly Com­ panions, a Western.

From this point, Peckinpah’s unique artistic temperament found continual expression in the dramatic form of the Western. His second feature, Ride the High Country, in some ways marks the beginnings of the revisionist Western, as the mythology of the genre turns back on itself. Major Dundee might have been Peckinpah’s most ambitious film were it not for cuts made by the studio which Notice reduced it to a tattered epic about national identity in the civil war years in the U.S. The violent confrontations over ‘front­ This is the last issue in which Mervyn office’ interference on Major Dundee Binns’ Recent Releases listing will resulted in virtual studio blacklisting, appear. Cinema Papers would like to which accounts for the four-year gap thank him for his significant contribution between Major Dundee and The Wild over the years.

Bunch. For Peckinpah, The Wild Bunch was to be a triumphant return, a film which remains a seminal work in the American cinema of the 1970s. The Wild Bunch Director arrested confirmed Peckinpah’s savage and grim vision of American popular history; ironic­ Filipino film director Lino Brocka, whose'' ally, it began the myth that Peckinpah was obsessed with violence for violence’s film Bayan Ko (My Country, 1984) was sake, as if his use of violence were not one of the highlights of last year’s Cannes underpinned by a profound thematics, for Film Festival (and recently won the British Film Institute’s 1984 Best Film award), was arrested in Manila at the end of January on charges of sedition. siderable popularity with Filipino audi­ With seven other leading Filipino artists, ences has made him successful in avoid­ Brocka was taking part in a demonstration ing outright confrontations with the in support of striking transport workers. authorities. Instead, he has coded his Charged under Presidential Decree 1834, criticisms into melodramas such as he is currently being held without bail, and Insiang (1978), the only one of his films to The Philippines Embassy in Canberra have been commercially distributed in could give no further information about Australia. As a result, he has been able to when the charges would be heard. Decree function as one of the most effective 1834 carries a penalty of either life critics of the Marcos regime and to take imprisonment or death. advantage of the platforms offered him by Brocka’s high public profile and his con-

Filmography 1961 1962 1965 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1977 1978

1982 1983

The Deadly Companions Ride the High Country Major Dundee The Wild Bunch The Ballad of Cable Hogue Straw Dogs The Getaway Junior Bonner Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia The Killer Elite Cross of Iron Convoy Jinxed (2nd unit director, uncredited) The Osterman Weekend

“ American directors have a gift for the kind of simplicity which brings depth — in a little Western like Ride The High Country — for instance. If one tries to do something like that in France one looks like an intellectual.”

Jean-Luc Godard

Peckinpah’s concern with violence grows out of his understanding of American history, genre conventions and human nature.

The Wild Bunch achieved an enor­ mous popular success which should have made working easier thereafter, but Peckinpah would continue to be plagued by ‘front-office’ difficulties. Despite these, during the second period of his career from 1970 to 1975, Peckinpah directed seven films, among which are some of his major works: Straw Dogs, The Getaway and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. This last film contains, apart from Warren Oates’ definitive performance for the director, Peckinpah’s most sustained statement on the dialectical nature of violence within his work. However, once again, it brought forth from critics accusa­ tions of excessive violence, misogyny and a reactionary politics. This film represents, in many ways, the peak of Peckinpah’s artistic achievements, aesthetically and philosophically.

After this period, there was a noticeable decline in Peckinpah’s output; films such as Cross Of Iron, Convoy and The Osterman Weekend (representing the director’s final works) all suffer more or less from a critical neglect. It is saddening that Peckinpah should finish his career in such critical and artistic disrepute.

It has been said that Peckinpah’s spiritual home was the American-Mexican border; it is little wonder then that his films were all essentially Westerns dressed up in various guises. Peckinpah’s vision of the modern Western was surely equal to John Ford’s vision of the classic Western.

His contribution to the genre will certify a place for Peckinpah within its history.

“ Don Siegel really got me started and taught me the basic steps of how to work . . . but it was Dick Powell who gave me the chance to direct, produce and gave me total freedom.” .

Peckinpah quoted in Crucified Heroes by Terence Butler

“ It seems that most of my work has been concerned one way or another with outsiders, losers, misfits, loners, rounders — individuals looking for something besides security.”

Peckinpah interviewed by Andrew Sarris “ One scene where he cut the guy’s throat: the special-effects department rigged a knife that would cut the guy’s throat.

Fuckin’ blood spurted from here to the fuckin’ street. And for a joke, Sam printed it. Scared the shit out of everybody who saw the dailies. But it was just a mal­ function of the pumping apparatus.”

Warren Oates on The Wild Bunch

“ Sam told me, when he finished the last shot in The Wild Bunch, nobody saw him, be just walked behind the cameras and cried.”

Strother Martin on The Wild Bunch

the many international festivals at which his films have been shown (he was due to come to Sydney with Bayan Ko in June this year).

Recently, however, Brocka has become more outspoken, with the result that Bayan Ko, though widely seen abroad, was banned in The Philippines. He has also participated, with director Mike De Leon, in a Super-8 film, Signos (1984), which dealt with the aftermath of the

murder of Benigno Aquino. The film has, so far, received only private screenings, but its reputation probably made his position increasingly dangerous back home. Brocka’s arrest — for what an Embassy source airily described as his “ highly belligerent attitude” — was probably only a matter of time. But it has already provoked protests abroard, with a Paris-based group’s leading the cam­ paign for his release. ★

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 9

HHPSs Ìé

mm

m m

Interviewed by Paul Kalina

The Boy Who H ad Everything is Stephen Wallace's second feature. It is the story o f John (Jason Connery), an 18-yearold boy whose glamorous looks and social affluence mask a desperate need fo r self-expression and assertion o f his identity. Set against the tyrannical fresher ' system o f a con­ servative university college, a metaphor in itself o f the Menzies Era, J o h n ’s conflict is placed on the threshold o f the far-reaching social changes o f the mid-to-late 1960s.

Before making his first feature, Stir, in 1980, Wallace was probably best known fo r The Love Letters fro m Teralba Road (1977), which he directed and scripted. He has also directed Conman Harry (1979), Captives o f Care, which won the short fiction film category o f the 1981 Australian Film Institute Awards, and an episode o f Women o f the Sun (1983). M ost recently, he directed Mail-Order Bride (1984) fo r the A B C and the yet-to-be-screened Future Quest for.the “Winners” series, produced by the Australian Children's Television Foundation. His current project is as director on For Love A lone fo r producer Margaret Fink.

Though critically acclaimed, Wallace's film s have not enjoyed the wide-ranging acceptance they deserve, partly the result o f the tough and confronting subject-matter his work has encompassed, and a raw, gritty film ic style. It is a situation which he hopes to change with Thè Boy Who Had Everything. A t the same time, he maintains an uncom­ promising desire to work only on projects to which he is personally committed.

Unlike “ Stir” and “ Mail-Order Bride” , “The Boy Who Had Every­ thing” has been scripted by your­ self. How do you prefer to work?

up the prison; in Love Letters, Len tries to break free of the trap he is in. Perhaps there is a need to set up the main conflict early on.

I am quite happy to do both. I developed Stir very much with the writer [Bob Jewson], so I felt very close to that, and I liked the sub­ ject matter of Mail-Order Bride. I wrote The Love Letters From Teralba Road myself and that worked out well.

I have wanted to make The Boy for a long time; in fact, I had to make it. In general, in writing my own film scripts, I am exploring my own experiences; I would like to take that further, but I might need a writer to help me. But I do get excited about other people’s scripts when they seem right for me.

In all your films the characters reach a breaking point . . .

/

Is it coincidental that your films open with the audience’s being thrown head-first into a crisis: bashings in “ Stir” , Len’s (Bryan Brown) violence in “ Love Letters” , bastardization in “ The Boy” . . .

That is something I am not con­ scious of. I am aware, however, that I seem to be drawn to situa­ tions in which people are trying to break free from something. In The Boy, John has to break free from himself; in Stir, they try to break

When people are under stress they are pushed to breaking point.

That seems to me to be the most interesting part of any drama, of anybody’s life: to be under stress and to see how one reacts.

How autobiographical are the situations in “The Boy” ?

The feeling is autobiographical, which is why I wanted to make it, but most of the details aren’t. It conveys a feeling I had, and I know a lot of people had, about being at school and college. I found it difficult to cope, as did the guys around me, and I wanted to explore that. But, unlike John, I never quit college, had divorced parents or excelled as an athlete.

The scenes with John’s parents have some autobiographical basis, but not in specific detail. The prostitute scenes are more autobio­ graphical . . .

The script for The Boy started out being much different, much more austere. It wasn’t set in college and the boy was older — he was about 28 and was looking back

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 11

Stephen Wallace

background, to go to prostitutes, was the most rebellious thing he could do. But he never feels he belongs. It is that Artaud feeling of “ I’m not quite myself” — a schizophrenic feeling, I guess. He can’t say what he feels, be angry or upset. So he just feels alienated.

There is a way in which you frame close-ups which suggests a claustrophobic sense of insularity: the scenes in which John visits the prostitute, and in which he pushes the other boy through the window When you are 18 and have been brought up in a protected way, you don’t know how to handle situa­ tions of confrontation, and it does become claustrophobic. I would say the same of going to prosti­ tutes. It is a strange world of people who seem to know what they are doing and how the world runs. But you have no idea how to cope with them, especially when they get a bit aggressive.

John Kirkland (Jason Connery), right, is confronted by Peter Vandervelt (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), centre, who demands he apologize to Angus McicPhee (Marc Wignall), third from left. Watching are Jock Pollack (Ian Gilmour), left, Kaplan (Michael Gow) and Afferson (Monroe Reimars). Stephen Wallace’s The Boy Who Had Everything.

— but it seemed far too depress­ ing. That was the more autobio­ graphical script. I never could have raised the money to make it.

Why did you set the film in 1965?

Sandra Levy, the script editor, who had a big influence, and I decided that the ‘fresher’ system of today was much less powerful and we couldn’t get the right dramatic force out of it. So to make the drama work, to place John in a conflict other than the real conflict of the film — a decoy conflict as it were — we had to use the fresher system as it was in the past.

Then Dick Mason, one of the co-producers, came up with the idea that the film should be set on the eve of Vietnam, when the 1960s’ hippy revolution was evolving. I don’t know how strongly one senses this in the film, but there are meant to be the ink­ lings of rebellion, in a lot of people, in a lot of things.

There is a sense of the behaviour instituted by the college, and the whole fresher system, as being a model of Australian society . . .

That seemed to be a feeling of the era. There was a sense that you should knuckle under, and that other people knew better; ours was a privileged society and they (the privileged) were the ones running the country. The fresher system represented that. The anti-Vietnam d em onstrations changed the colleges and the fresher system, giving conformity a bad name. .

There is even mention in the film of the fresher system’s producing national leaders . . .

Yes. The lines may sound a bit bald in the film, but they were actually said to me: “ We are the top two-and-a-half percent; we are the leaders of the nation.” I didn’t think that was true, but the senior students at college seemed to think it was.

To what extent are the characters in “ The Boy” the product of a specific social, economic and institutionalized situation?

At the Greater Public School I went to you were pushed around.

There was a sense that you had to. do things even if you didn’t agree with them. You had to play sport, you had to be in the Cadet Corps, and you were persecuted if you didn’t, or if you tried to challenge things. We were all well brought up boys, with parents with money, and we didn’t question the system-.

The hardest problem for me always has been to say what I feel, and a lot of boys growing up in those institutions later find it very hard to say what they feel because they have been trained not to believe that what they feel is authentic.

What I tried to show in the film is what these institutions do to people: for instance, the revering of institutions, as John’s mother (Diane Cilento) does. I was trying to suggest, though I admit it is not very clear, that his mother is work­ ing-class, or had a working-class

12 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

background, and she is pushing him on. While you can understand why she is doing it, in the end it has a price: he loses his spontaneity.

There is a constant sense of move­ ment in John’s plight, and he belongs to none of the various locales in which he is seen . . .

I intended him to be bewildered by the things going on inside him­ self. The only thing he can do to express himself is to pace rest­ lessly, wandering, looking for a way out, looking to see if some experience can change him. To go somewhere totally against his

Through the character of Cummerford (Nique Needles) one gets a sense of the things that are happening in college as being harmless fun, and of it being worthwhile in the long run . . .

Maybe, but Cummerford is an apparent rebel. There was a lot of those at college, who looked like rebels, but, to a certain degree, whose type of rebellion was accepted and tolerated. Some people need college — it can become a substitute for discipline, for fatherly discipline — and they get a lot out of it. Cummerford needs it, he admits it, and he does accept it as harmless fun but John can’t.

John is the real rebel but his rebellion isn’t overt. It isn’t a game for him, it is part of his being.

What is hard for John is that he has to leave; he has to make his

John and Cummerford (Nique Needles) visit John’s mother, Ida (Diane Cilento). The Boy Who Had Everything.

Stephen Wallace

own choice; he has to realize that colleges are not all good or all bad, that he could be making a mistake.

Did you ever consider resolving John’s predicament by having him stay at college and learning to accept the system?

That was a real possibility and is probably what happens in the majority of cases. In fact, that was the ending in some drafts of the script, but it just didn’t work; it was too much of a defeat. I couldn’t find a way of making that ending work; another writer or director might have been able to, but I couldn’t.

John’s sporting career, however, has a less-than-intrinsic value to the film’s narrative . . .

The race sequences were always a problem. In a way, I wanted the final mile race to be unimportant, a minor event in the film, but that was impossible commercially. In any case, the race is important to the ‘image’ of John as a winner. I am not sure how intrinsic it is; it seemed necessary at the time.

Why did you choose Jason Con­ nery and Diane Cilento, who are in real life mother and son, for the leading roles?

We chose Jason because, al­ though there were a number of Australian actors, and one in par­ ticular, who could have acted the part, we couldn’t find anyone who looked the glamorous boy. I always wanted someone who looked like the heroes I had known at school — the image of someone who appeared to have everything: good looks, physical fitness, etc.

— and who could get beneath the surface of that. And Jason looked the part more than anyone I could find here.

Diane is the actress who most

excited me in the role, although she wasn’t exactly how I had pictured the character. She came in eventu­ ally because Jason was in it. But we would have used Jason without her and vice-versa.

The character of the mother is quite unsettling. There is some­ thing very sad but real about her predicament. What does she typify for you?

She represents a schizophrenic attitude and, in a way, society. On the one hand, she is very loving and nurturing; on the other, she is absolutely damning and destruc­

“. . . the race is important to the ‘image’ o f John as a winner.” The Boy Who Had Everything.

tive. And it is all instinctive; she can’t help it. Like society, she is giving her son two messages all the time: “ I love you, but at the same time I hate you because you are like your father . . . ” Our society often sends out the message: “ Be legal and honest but cheat if you get the chance” — a similar con­ flict of messages.

The mother-son relationship is quite confronting. How difficult was it for the actors and yourself?

The mother sees her son not just as a husband substitute, but also as a protector. He wants to please her desperately, which is why he becomes a child: he doesn’t want to confront her. In the end, he tries to confront her and be himself with her because he can no longer be a child if he wants to be himself.

He has to break the bind of being the “ good, successful son” , of being seen only in those terms.

The actors understood this.

Diane always felt it was a problem to m ake th e ir rela tio n sh ip palatable, to make it work. The only thing we could do was to make it strong. To make it more soft, to weaken it, would have for me destroyed the reasons for making the film. I know it is tough, but that is the only way I could personally do it.

All of your films, until this one, have concentrated on characters who have come from poor, work­ ing-class backgrounds. It is a marked difference in “ The Boy” that the characters and situations

stem from the upper echelons of society. Nonetheless, there is a similar sense of constraint and frustration amongst the characters I suppose so. I hadn’t noticed that. I am not at all working class.

I was brought up middle class though my parents came from poor backgrounds. We were always well off, but we never identified with any “ class” . I never thought of that much until I started making films, and I started realizing that, whatever the class, there is an element with which a lot of people are trying to deal in Aus­ tralia, a problem of being restrained and of not letting emotions out. That seemed to be a key to approaching Australian characters. I bélieve.now that it is bad to be so restrained. People need to be more emotional, more honest and open, whatever their background.

There is a poignant reference to that trait in the film, when John’s mother tells him that his father hated outward displays. Through­ out “Mail-Order Bride” , too, there is a sense of embarrassment when either Ampy (Charito Ortez) or Kevin (Ray Meagher) try to show affection publicly ; . .

In Australia, there was a strong work ethic in the 1950s and ’60s. It is a cliché now, but it really was true that men were brought up to be a strong symbol, an image. At the school I went to, and at St Andrew’s College, University of

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 13

Stephen Wallace

goes on a quest with her. We had enormous problems with the weather and I am not sure how the film is going to turn out.

How important is it for you to work for television?

I have a feeling I am drifting more towards splitting my time 50-50 between television and cinema. But I like the idea of people going to cinemas. Somehow features seem to be more signifi­ cant; they create a bigger impact in the end. But a filmmaker today can’t ignore television. It is where a lot of the money is and it is where you get an audience. If one is wanting to explore the life that we are living, maybe television is a better way of doing it than the cinema. But cinema is my first love and where I would prefer to work.

In terms of your career, have there been many slumps between getting projects off the ground?

Yes. It was a difficult period before Stir because I was trying to get that going for two years. After Stir, the offers didn’t exactly pour in, and what came in was mainly for television. In 1982-83, For Love Alone fell through, then The Boy fell through. I basically had nothing to do. I was offered some film scripts I didn’t consider to be very good, and which I am sure would have destroyed me, and them, had I got involved.

You obviously enjoyed that era of filmmaking when it was possible to make short features entirely on AFC funds. How has the economic changes of the past few years affected your career?

Kevin (Ray Meagher) and Am py (Charito Ortez) in Stephen Wallace’s Mail-Order Bride:

Sydney, there was also a strong image of the way you had to grow up, and I believed in that image. It w as t h a t o f t h e s t r o n g , independent male, who knew the world for what it was; who knew about “ women” somehow instan­ taneously; and who was a good fellow: got on with his mates, didn’t make a fuss and didn’t challenge authority.

But it didn’t work because it ignored vast areas of men’s personalities. Softness and gentle emotions in a man were taboo; respect for women was taboo; say­ ing what you felt was taboo. No one supported the idea that you could be a “ man” , be “ mascu­ line” , and yet be gentle.

Men in Australia seem to be changing this image now — wit­ ness Kim Hughes and Bob Hawke.

Mind you, I think Australian men were always emotional, they are just letting it show more.

In “ Mail-Order Bride” , there is a division between the male group and Kevin when it comes to his defence of Ampy. Rather than a source of identity, male mateship is presented as a conflict which paradoxically denies its members a real identity . . .

In the pub, mateship is very conditional, almost threatening. It is a threat if you try to pull out of it, or if you try to be anything they don’t accept. They have to prop each other up. When Kevin gets Ampy pregnant and asserts that he really wants Ampy and wants to build a home, Tommo (Paul Sonkkila) has to break it. He has to do something because the group ‘mateship’ is being undermined.

A lot of people have criticized the character of Kevin, saying that he is unreal. I cannot believe people don’t know that type; he is everywhere. I worked very closely

14 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

. . too raw fo r commercial cinema”.

with Ray Meagher on that; he was adamant about the reality of that character and so was I. Would it have been possible to make “ Mail-Order Bride” outside the ABC? Absolutely not. The film is too raw for commercial cinema. I am glad the ABC is trying to do that sort of thing, because it is the only place it is ever going to be seen.

You are again working on some­ thing for television . . .

Yes, Quest Beyond Time, for the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. It has a very good script by Tony Morphett and is set 400 years in the future. It is totally different to anything I have done, because it is an action-adventure story, about a boy who goes into the future, meets a young girl and

Profoundly. I still made The Boy, but in some ways I made a compromise with it. I tried to make it in a commercial way, which in the old days I wouldn’t have done. I am very conscious of making films which audiences are going to want to see, but still trying to keep honest. I have had to realize that unless people come and see my films I am not going to sur­ vive. But I am conscious also that if I just make any old sort of film, and not care what the content is, I will lose interest. I would rather work in a post office than do that.

I want to make films that are rele­ vant to my life, because if they are relevant to my life they may be relevant to other people’s. But I know I have to make films that are more appealing to general audi­ ences, and there is a dilemma there.

Y How conscious are you of the loca­ tions and design in your films?

More and more so. I am getting very concerned about locations and set design because they are such a powerful part of a film. Art

Stephen Wallace

direction is the look, the feel, that comes across irrespective of the script: it is like an extra story being told, and it has to be accurate and reflective. I have always felt that art direction was my weak point. It has taken a while, but now I feel much more confident.

manner of covering a scene and cutting it together in the editing room . . .

I tried to experiment in Mail­ Order Bride. I don’t want to lapse into what I see a lot of other film­ makers doing, which is the classic way of covering a scene, and Nonetheless, it is an area that some which, I admit, I have done a lot of would say is very strong in your myself. Now I would prefer to go films . . . with my instincts, rather than cover it safely. In the end, it makes Maybe, but I have always felt I for a more dynamic film. But one don’t concentrate on it enough. has to be careful; it can backfire and one can end up with an uncon­ The interiors in “The Boy” have a trolled mess. very British feel. How conscious were you of that?

Were you as adventurous working on “ The Boy” as you might have Those colleges are very British. hoped?

When we shot the film I felt it to be an accurate portrayal of college I wanted to make sure it looked life in Australia. But it does come good — and neither the crew nor out as British. I am not going to the producers in any way inhibited apologize for our Anglo-Saxon me — and I wanted to make sure I got the message across clearly. I background. didn’t worry about being tech­ In terms of camera technique, nically smart. I was a bit like that “ Love Letters” and “ Mail-Order on Love Letters. Watching The Bride” had some elaborately con­ Boy now, I realize I could have structed shots, which allowed you made a stylistically bolder film. to cover scenes in continuous But I am happy enough.

I have this feeling now that I takes, rather than the ‘classic’

“I feel as if I have gone through an ordeal, making a lot o f films that were pretty bloody difficult to make. ” Len (Bryan Brown) and Barbara (Kris McQuade) in Stephen Wallace’s The Love Letters from Teralba Road.

don’t want to get stale as a film­ maker. I would like to become more adventurous cinematically. I am now confident enough to do it, to take more risks, and in For Love Alone I would like to take bigger risks.

So, “ For Love Alone” is finally happening?

Four years in the making! We start pre-production in January, shooting in April through to June.

Is it from your script?

Stephen Wallace’s most recent work in television, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation’s Quest Beyond Time. From left to right: Katrin (Rebecca Rigg), Mike (Daniel Cordeaux) and Woodcat (Marco Colonbani).

Yes. I wrote the script from the novel [by Christina Stead]. It took a long, painful three-and-a-half years. Only Hugo Weaving has been cast so far.

I feel happy about doing the film. I identify with the girl in*the novel, with the way she longs for love, to be able to give herself.

I feel as if I have gone through an ordeal, making a lot of films that were pretty bloody difficult to make. Even the shorts were. Cap­ tives of Care was an ordeal and so was Women of the Sun, although both were rewarding. Stir was the most difficult film to make; I was exh au sted , em otionally and physically, for years afterwards, and so was Bryan Brown.

In a way, I have been going through this trial by fire, making the toughest films I could, during the past four years. I feel as if I am coming out of it, as if I had to go to some sort of depths, and now I can come out. I don’t want to make a film as severe as Stir again.

For Love Alone is a totally dif­ ferent film. But you never know how you are going to develop. I just hope I will never make films that I don’t really care about.

Actually, I don’t think I would even try. ★

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 15

John O’Hara The opening montage of The Plains of Heaven is characteristic of Ian Pringle’s filmmaking: a distant shot of blue mountain ridges, fading to shots of sunrise, clouds creeping like sheep over black ground, fading to a slow panning shot across the mountains. These are blue, jagged, formal; they appear as pieces in a jigsaw. This vista introduces a characteristic focus on land­ scape in Pringle’s films, as remote, foreboding, a place of struggle. It suggests also his concen­ tration on formal qualities of composition, light, color; the development of moods that are reflective, even disturbing, intense and claustrophobic.

His films return to locations in the Australian countryside that are remote and force adapta­ tion in people’s lives: the Bogong High Plains, the Mallee-Wimmera, the mountains of north­ east Victoria and the Gippsland coast. The films look at ways people visit these landscapes, are drawn to them, live there. There is not much action in any of them; everything happens on a reduced scale. Small gestures become more important. The characters exist in these films less as people in drama than as figures in a landscape,, often in exile. They search for meanings that persistently elude them, exist beyond them. The metaphor of a journey occurs in all the films, particularly the most recent, yet-to-be-released Wrong World.

Pringle emphasizes his interest in the diffi­ culty people have communicating with each other: What my films are really about is something it is not possible to show: that is, the unspoken thing between people. We think we communicate but we fool ourselves. We really are just reduced to a confusion of words. There is so little communication between people and that is the greatest irony of all. I would hope that is at the heart of all the films I make.

Ian Pringle has made four films, each a quantum leap on its predecessor. His films 16 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

illustrate in part what the Australian Film Institute describes as the “ New Wave” of Aus­ tralian cinema. Each of these films is distinctive in its look; in the care taken in the composition of images, framing, color, sound; and in the flow of images to suggest an interior process of memory and imagination. The stories are told in unconventional, thoughtful ways that demand and perhaps produce an attentive audience. As a director, Pringle is interesting for his images, his narrative construction, for

the atmosphere and intensity of his stories, and for his way of seeing landscape and city.

This is a filmmaking practice rooted in specific Australian locations. These films are less affected by practices of television pro­ duction, its grasp and representation of the real, but appear to see the world as if nobody had looked through the lens of a camera before. It is like being at the beginning of cinema: an experiment in establishing how things look, what rhythms can be set up by camera shots, especially panning and tracking shots, and by editing, particularly the juxta­ position of interiors and landscapes. This vision is a collaborative effort between Pringle and director of photography and editor Ray Argali.

Each of these films has a pulse of its own which makes them interesting to watch, even in the case of the first, The Cartographer and the Waiter (1977), which tends to be suffocated by atmosphere and deliberate poetic intent. All of them, too, promise more than they deliver.

There is a weakness here in following through a story as a beginning, middle and end (in what­ ever order) rather than assembling a story as a collage of fragments.

Pringle’s filmmaking began after he enrolled as a Media Studies student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Equipment was available to him as well as support from staff and students. Television production lecturer Joe Ford appeared in his early films, as did cinema lecturer Doug Ling who also collaborated with Pringle on the script writing.

His videotape Flights (1977) received “ special recognition for innovative use of the medium” at the Penguin awards. In the same year he made The Cartographer and the Waiter, a 55-minute black and white drama (although the title sounds like a sophisticated European animated short), using amateur actors and set in the country around Mt Hotham in north­ eastern Victoria. It cost some $12,000 of which the Australian Film Commission (AFC) contri­ buted $7000 through the Creative Development

The Films o f Ian Pringle

Barker (Richard Moir) and Cunningham (Reg Evans) take a rest on the high plains. The Plains o f Heaven.

Branch. This was followed two years later by Wronsky, another short feature, this time in color, introducing actor Richard Moir, and that great cameo player, John Flaus. The budget rose to $20,000 of which the AFC contributed $12,000. Wronsky was screened around Aus­ tralia by the National Film Theatre. Pringle’s third film, and the one that brought him to notice, was The Plains of Heaven, which runs 80 minutes and was made for $120,000. The AFC chipped in $55,000, and the film has since been sold in a number of countries to television.

It had what Pringle describes as “ a reasonable run” in Australia and continues to return money. It was shot on the Bogong High Plains, again with Richard Moir (and again with John Flaus). The Plains of Heaven won the Gold Ducat and Interfilm Jury Prize at the Mann­ heim film festival in 1982.

This success was followed by the latest film, Wrong World (which could well be the title for all of Pringle’s films), which, at the time of going to press, was not yet released. It is an ambitious $600,000 feature film, made with a grant of more than $100,000 from Film Victoria and an AFC distribution guarantee.

Pringle says, It is so difficult to get money. Anything that is slightly different stands no chance unless you have other avenues covered such as Film Victoria investment to cover the non­ deductibles, and a distribution guarantee which provides a 25 per cent return to the investor.

In making low-budget films, he sees advantages beyond those of necessity: You can do and say things that otherwise you couldn’t. It is patently clear that you can operate in a way that higher budgets won’t allow you to. And the restrictions, the ' archaic approach to filmmaking in this country, puts you even more at a handicap.

You can tell stories that reflect the ways people are. Low-budget stuff tends to be very auteurish. People have to go out with a par­ ticular vision and make their film, and that is always a reflection of the world around them. And you can have that phenomenon operating in low-budget situations. With a

high budget, when you start to get up into millions of dollars, everything starts to be homogenized unless you have galvanized yourself into a position where you can still maintain your integrity and authority over the project. With the big deals, you have a producer coming in, you get a package together, and you end up with The Man from Snowy River, like frozen peas.

Wrong World is international in scope and treatment, shot in Super 16 mm that looks like 35 mm, glowing with color and extending Pringle’s already characteristic sense of drama, interaction of character and landscape, and pursuit of an interior, perhaps inexpressible goal.

It develops a more coherent plot line, though demanding considerable attentiveness to follow

it, and continues the theme of the journey, the sense that meaning escapes its characters; it still depicts the characters as figures against a land­ scape rather than as fully motivated characters in a drama, and displays that formal patterning which gives structure to all his films in the »composition of images, play of light, editing, recurrence of key sequences, the clear but narrow range of experience taken, and unusual interest in angles and perspectives from which images are seen and established. One might say . the films adopt a perspective rather than a point of view. Reflecting on this aspect of his film­ making Pringle says, I am interested in reflecting our culture today. I am interested in individuals who exist on the periphery of society. I am inter­ ested in the way people communicate with each other; what goes into that communica­ tion. I suppose they are all things to do with what makes us human. Our culture is starting •j to change; I think it is becoming more i American, and I am particularly interested in observing how that is happening. And we are hardly aware that we are quickly becoming a satellite of American culture. It is quite a shift from the 1950s. Our values are changing; things are becoming more expedient, more disposable; there is a loss of ceremony in our lives; and people are becoming more and more alienated and less able to fit into a group or survival unit. It is becoming more disparate and is falling apart.

And that is why you get cases such as this character of Truman [Wrong World]. He has lost his centre of gravity and is culturally and emotionally out of step. He doesn’t come from anywhere any more. That is something I have explored before.

The Cartographer and the Waiter This first film follows out an idea as much as it tells a story. One has the impression that the story arose, almost incidentally, from a certain way of seeing things. The film looks like a film­ maker’s first attempt, impressive enough, to record the landscape, to chart a: journey.

Its first sequence records movement, simply

Truman (Richard Moir) explains to Mary (Jo Kennedy) his reasons fo r going and experiences in La Paz, Bolivia. Wrong World.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 17

The Films o f Ian Pringle

and limpidly, in shots of a young man running across paddocks, by fences, by three horses which turn and run like the wind with him.

Each shot is beautifully set up and followed through with accompanying piano music, rather like a silent film.

A second character appears, and the two continue in intercut shots, one running, the other walking and watching. This-is an essay in image construction; nothing much happens and what does clearly has meaning that is not for the moment apparent. The second character stops and draws a circle and, within it, a triangle. He is the cartographer, played in an amiable and engaging way by Joe Ford.

Sound, and some approach to naturalism, is introduced with a shot of an old Holden driving along a country road. The cartographer comes to a farm house, where he meets the waiter, casually and laconically, and prepares his maps for the attempt to reach a hidden valley. The waiter appears to know something that nobody else does, which is perhaps the reason for his given occupation. There is some discussion about where the real meaning of events lies, in imagination, perhaps in fantasy. An argument about the meaning of shapes is hardly resolved by the declaration that you can make them mean whatever you want. A three-way conversation with a girl, played languidly by Miranda Brown, explores relationships between language and meaning (“ You can’t express exact meanings in an inexact language” , she says).

The three of them go off into the bush to find the valley, and the country becomes increas­ ingly rugged. The shots are limited and lighting flickers, this, too, recalling the beginning of film. These restrictions induce a curious sense that the characters, for all their toiling up the mountain, haven’t really got very far. It is difficult, too, to sympathize with anxiety about being lost in the wilderness when a road is clearly visible in the background.

The film could be seen as a tortuous reflec­ tion on meaning delivered by amateur actors on a Sunday afternoon trek in the hills. But it is more an essay, somewhat overloaded by an obscure sense of significance, on recording movement, the play of light, and a tenuous human presence in a particular landscape.

Wronsky This second film reflects a quiet, elegiac quality as though one can simply enjoy looking at the succession of shots of Melbourne and country­ side. It appears as a collage of images, loosely connected, and mainly shot in Williamstown and on the Gippsland coast. The plot develop­ ment is sketchy, the story always on the verge of disappearing completely into a dreamy, interior, unfinished state. Characters tend not to be identified by name until late in the piece, if at all. The dialogue is patchy, broken, informal, inconclusive. Action tends to be slight, with some key scenes taking place off­ camera. Love-making is suggested by implica­ tion; the return of Wronsky’s stolen wallet is managed by the splendid and energetic Phil Dagg off the set.

Resolutions are not the focal point of the film. The final appearance of a herd of cows swimming in from the sea is an open, even ambiguous image, by no means a conclusion to the story. Wronsky dwells upon places, the appearance of things. It is as though everything is on a small scale, experimental, hopeful; a little naturalism, a bit of Damon Runyon here, folk comedy there, some romantic nostalgia whether for Carlton or the bush.

18 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Top: Bill (Doug Ling) and Wronsky (Ross Thompson) at the look-out. Above: Catherine (Miranda Brown) and Wronsky at the Greek cafe. Wronsky.

The story is slight, even improbable. A young man whose connection to his absent, travelling father consists of a bedroom wall plastered with postcards is intrigued by a reference on one of them to a scene of cows emerging from the water (somewhere around Welshpool), and goes to see for himself.

Along the way he picks up a couple of friends played by Doug Ling and Miranda Brown. The unlikeliness of it all doesn’t matter so much, and is perhaps the point of the film. But it doesn’t give one a material grasp of these people, a sense that they are characters embedded in a life of their own. They haunt the city as vaguely recognizable figures during moments in a pool room, a Carlton coffee house, a Fitzroy terrace. There is something of the impression, intended or not, of Waiting fo r Godot, as though everything is a series of diversions whilst a small performing troupe kills time. Some of the diversions are notable, particularly John Flaus’ imitation of a Spanish peasant with hens, distractingly cheerful and reciting an incomprehensible argot of his own invention. His appearance is followed by a scene with a terse dairy farmer, bucketing his cow yard, also wonderfully played by John Flaus, minus beard, showing considerable versatility, particularly as the two roles almost overlap in the film.

Nothing much comes of these incidents, except that the non-English-speaking peasant threatens, almost literally, to run away with the film. He leads the small company like the Pied Piper up a remote hillside, as the camera pans across windswept fields. Pringle: These characters were after something that doesn’t exist, something you wouldn’t see until you believed it. And that was the aim of having cows come out of the sea. To set up something you wouldn’t believe unless you see it is quite difficult and that is why we chose the shots of the various vistas with nothing in them — the landscape, the grass — to create that sense of looking for some­ thing to come out of it. If you have characters looking for something and, more specifically, for something that doesn’t exist, if you keep going back to the landscape, you are enhancing the chance of seeing it. I would hope there was a sort of hallucinogenic quality to the landscape. It couples in with the cows.

Much of the film has this studied quality: shots of city streets, buildings, coffee houses, churches, factories and bill-boards; studies of trains and trams, and shots from moving vehicles, blurring landscape through windows.

The film exists as a set of patterns, literal reflec­ tions, rather like the collection of postcards on Wronsky’s wall. Some of the technical effects are not quite right, particularly the interior lighting, and there are some awkward cuts and fades. But, generally, the editing sustains the rhythms of these patterns of reflection. Pringle: Formal patterning is a conscious way of telling the story. Cinematically, I am very interested in how people respond to images, what that emotive response is, and learning about it, learning how to create a certain emotion in people by dropping in a shot of a landscape or by putting in a bit of music.

That has to be instinctive on my part, so that is what I am exploring; that emotional response from the audience, to build on what I have already set up. It is not as much breaking as building — that is the way I would see it. So, at the end of Wronsky, when we cut away to the hills, it is building on his emotional state; it is to amplify that.

The film is uneven, lifting at points such as the appearance of Phil Dagg or John Flaus, whose roles appear to have little to do with the story.

Some of the shots are held too long. Several

The Films o f Ian Pringle

The folly of humans, that is what it is about; Their content is not suggested, as though the that is what the landscape is used to display. routines of behaviour can be observed but not their specific meaning. One night he destroys As Pringle suggests, this film is about isolation, the equipment and disappears into the remoteness, stress and madness produced in at mountains. Company men appear, a search least one of two technicians who man a trans­ fails to locate Cunningham, and Barker is mitting post for television signals. Their exist­ supposed to write up a report on the incident.

M y First W ife (1984). ' ence is threadbare, consisting mainly in The love-making is not particularly con­ monitoring the equipment, checking the trans­ His superior is unsympathetically played by vincing, as though intimacy has no part in this missions, eating baked beans, drinking whisky Gerard Kennedy, and the film polarizes con­ picture. But intimacy depends upon some and smoking endless cigarettes. One of them, sideration for the employee against the shared experience and there is not much of that Cunningham, keeps ferrets. He is played by company interests. This confrontation is in any of these films. There are some grabs of Reg Evans, lean and ferretty himself. The brutal, best taken as a surreal continuation of the non-realistic depiction of life on the local color — of Greeks in a cafe, a man Barker, is played by the unremitting mountain. scavenging for butts at a railway station — but other, The film falters as it moves from the wilder­ these, too, are almost out of place, apologetic. Richard Moir. He amuses himself watching television, news of demonstrations and ness to the city, with a curiously speeded-up Some locations are hardly touched, such as the single, momentary shot of drinkers in a local disasters (which must be counted as an oblique sequence of city lights. There are various editorial on the part of the director) and atmospheric shots of lights, skyscrapers, trains pub.

American shows in which contestants and office corridors cut with the sight of street Some of the incidental interchanges are identify popquiz songs and performers. riots on a handy television monitor. Interest rather nice, such as Flaus’ response as the dairy Much of the interest in the film lies in its slow doesn’t really recover until Barker returns to farmer to a question about the name of his dog. rhythms, careful cutting of shots of the the country, to meet John Flaus playing a He replies (it was surely his invention), “ Him? landscape,the the radio towers and huts, the work cranky garage proprietor, like a fixture from Gonna have to shoot him.” The central line in routine, the television and the domestic the Dukes of Hazzard. Barker finally locates the film about a search for cows coming from life, if it can be calledimages, that, between two Cunningham in the wild and rescues him, the water is somewhat tenuous, and difficult to men. There are lyrical shots of the men’sthe setting invest with much mystery or regret. But the off rabbiting into a valley that gives way to although he subsequently dies. As usual, the search is more interesting than the discovery. repeated shots of endless, empty seashores are undercut by some saving irony. “ Did your endless ridges shading off from indigo to blue- About what it means Barker is silent, blazing sunset over rocks; buildings clustered on a away instead with a rifle at the birds wheeling in father write about anything we could grey; peak. of the more philosophical specu­ the sky. recognize?” “ N o.” And as the piano music lation Some is less convincing. During the rabbiting As with the two earlier films, The Plains of might suggest, one is also not meant to recog­ expedition, Barker embarks on a lengthy dis­ Heaven constructs a complete, remote world, nize anything. The final images show cows being herded from the water as George stares at them. cussion about the place of man in the world. He representing characters as figures within a Perhaps they don’t exist. Perhaps he has to begins with the place of rabbits in the scheme of threatening landscape in which they are never at ease, although they can say little about it. conjure up his father as well, who exists in the things: film as a reference, a space, someone just Well it’s right that they should mess up the departed who is still thought well of. balance, because that’s part of the balance too. I mean everything on this earth is here Wrong World naturally, and man is part of that along with everything else. And part of the way man is is Wrong World glows, saturated in deep, intense The Plains o f Heaven to make progress and change things. We are colors. The film’s attractiveness lies in the meant to change things. So if the rabbits are patterning of light and sound, its sequences This is an atmospheric mood piece (with a title here because of man, well, that’s part of the intercut between several locations as the story reminiscent of a line from Wuthering Heights) unfolds in layers, according to Pringle’s uncon­ balance too. See what I mean? set in wild, desolate country in the Bogong High Plains. The slow, panning shots at the Cunningham doesn’t see what he means; he ventional narrative style. This develops from beginning establish a mood of wistful attrac­ hasn’t even heard what Barker has said. his filmmaking practice: tion, perhaps something threatening. They Throughout the film, Cunningham is shown to I just go out and I tell the story the way I see reflect the director’s fascination with the land­ exist in his own world, suffering nightmares. it. I never do storyboards. People always ask, scape, its colors, lines and planes as a central determining force in the drama. Pringle: I tried to make the landscapes as surreal as possible and as unworldly as the world on the television. There I think the twain meet somewhere, the false world of the television and the false world of a place like that. Even though it is so starkly beautiful, the land­ scape transcends normal concepts of nature.

Beautiful and ominous; that’s the way I feel about it.

How do you use the landscape to tell the story?

Well, that character of Cunningham has a community with it. That is one way of explaining Cunningham: his communion with the landscape. Barker doesn’t and that is one way of explaining Barker. And it is the landscape, the elements, which, in the end, have the last say because this notion of man’s going out into the wilderness has been such an important part of our psyche, of Austra­ lians coming here and dominating the land­ scape, though they never will. They may dominate it to a degree but it will always be there and immutable. All we end up doing is putting these silly little contraptions up for a while. And that is a lot of the thoughts behind The Plains of Heaven: these two individuals’ going about quite ridiculous things in the middle of nowhere in this extra­ Left: Barker turns away from the ever-present monitors. Right: Cunningham’s sense o f humor becomes increasingly ordinary environment, which has the last say. bizarre. The Plains o f Heaven.

shots in the city are chosen apparently because of the unusual quality of this building or that bill-board. Pringle is attracted, too, to those romantic shots of the city skyline taken across the water from Williamstown, although I prefer his images to those of Paul Cox’s in his syrupy

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 19

The Films o f Ian Pringle

‘Where is the storyboard? Where is the shotlist?’ And I say, ‘Here it is’, and la m lying. I never have a shot list. I never have a story­ board. I look at the location. I know what has got to happen, and that is it. I can’t explain it any more than that. I know how it has to look. I know how the camera has to work. It is totally instinctive. I love to get into a room and work it out with the actors and the camera. And if you don’t respond to the moment, then all is lost for me. It is the setting up of the moment. That is why I always try to shoot on location.

Does the script exist beforehand?

Yes [doubtfully]. It sort of does and it doesn’t. Your script is really a way of starting the project. Sometimes I stick rigidly to the lines, because they are right; sometimes it doesn’t matter. This is why Richard is so good. He can just come out with things that are right. He thinks about what he is doing.

There is a deal of improvization but I would never go in with the intention of improvizing a film. You have to make the moment, and that is improvizing to a degree, but you have to know what you want to do. You have to have thought it out very, very carefully.

There is too much at stake if you don’t.

What about connections between sequences?

You have to memorize those. You have to be cutting the film as you go. A lot of the subtleties of Wrong World emerged in the cutting. I knew what had to happen in terms of going back to what happened in the past, how that was going to be connected, so there were little things to keep remembering. I basically had a good idea; I knew what it should be. And some things obviously change when you go to a place that you have never been to before and you are going after something. Ray’s very good at that. He is always looking for camera movements that will complement, and compositions that will complement. He is the most gifted person I know working in cinema.

This collapsing together of things introduces one of the themes of the film: the smearing across of a bare existence from South America to New York, and then to Australia. It is as The story follows the failed career of a young though all energies have been exhausted and the doctor, David Truman, played by Richard film is to trace an attempted recovery. The Moir. He has been through medical school with voice-over tells that David has been a doctor in a friend, Robert (Robbie McGregor), who has Bolivia, in some squalor, and distress. “ I ’d stayed in Melbourne, gone into practice and come to tend the sick, but I discovered that I become rich. But David is an idealist, has gone was the one with the disease.” This reference to to South America to a village to work in a Bolivia is little more than a fleeting mention. hospital. He becomes a drug addict, travels Such momentary allusions are key clues to through the U.S. keeping a diary, returns to questions of identity and passage in the film.

Australia and meets in a drug rehabilitation One needs to be alert to grasp their significance. hospital a young girl, Mary (Jo Kennedy), who The opening montage gives way to the title: is an addict and petty criminal. He journeys Wrong World, with its implications about con­ with her to Nhill to her sister’s house, and tells trasts between Western capitalism and Third her his story. These and other characters are World underdevelopm ent, idealism and not introduced by name until well into the film, cynicism, reality and glitter. and almost incidentally. Their communication The film is then made up of intercut is sparse, laconic and abrupt, certainly for the sequences between New York, rural U.S., early part of their association, as though there Bolivia and Australia. After the title, the story is nothing left to be said, or they are not the takes up on a beautiful shot of American ones to say it. rolling fields and a road unwinding to the The film opens with a shot of an aircraft’s horizon, a landscape without people or coming in to land at night although one cannot significance.

David has begun what he describes see the aircraft and has to decipher the shot of a dark screen with pin-pricks of light and a silver- as a search for the U.S., although the U.S. blue, flashing light that resembles a blip on a remains in the film a kind of abstraction: a radar screen. The image cuts to a tracking shot gloss of New York lights, towering buildings, of touch-down, past more lights, then another endless roads and scattered fields; a visual tracking shot from a car past the reflected blue collection of signs and vistas.

David is the film’s subject, narrator and and red splashes of light gleaming along the another object in the American collage. He roadway. This image cuts to a low-level tilt shot doesn’t seem to speak to anyone else in the of David’s standing in front of a Howard U.S., has no life but to sustain this journey Johnson sign, a vast pink and blue neon through the empty countryside. The tone is extravaganza. A voice-over begins: “ New sombre, the movement is slow, the scale of York. If you scratch away the artificial tinsel things reduced.

The sense is of a journey and glitter, you’ll find the real tinsel and glitter without definition, taken up with choices that underneath . . . ” These shots, striking, almost dazzling, intro­ are not real choices. The past overlays and duce the arrival: aircraft, taxi, motel. They oppresses the present, stifling capacity for suggest a disorientation, especially the hand­ decision and action. David exists in a haze of held circling shot of David beneath the neon, a exhaustion: “ The money’s finished. It had to distance between appearance and what matters. run out sometime. Everything does: the blood, His continuing voice-over injects a sense of the passion, the fear.”

The telling of the story becomes an elaborate fatalism, of indifference: jigsaw, collecting and connecting pieces from I didn’t say that. Someone else did. And they three countries. These are slotted or wedged didn’t say it about New York. They said it into place, developing the narrative by simple about someplace else. It doesn’t matter. extension rather than by reflection and implica­ There or here. Me or them. It’s all the same. tion. Transitions are not clearly marked so None of it matters a shit. there is often confusion about where David is, writers. That is the point. We couldn’t write to save ourselves. But we struggle, we keep at it. It took us almost a year to write that.

As this might suggest, Wrong World is, as much as anything else, a film about locations and the significance to be attributed to them.

Pringle: It starts with choosing the location, choosing the right place to do it, because if you have done that you have created half the atmo­ sphere. It is a matter of knowing whom you are using as the actors, and getting there and putting the chemistry together. That chemistry and the collaboration with Ray is very important. We discuss every shot. I love to look through the camera when I can, and know that this is there and that is there. Out of all the processes of making films, it is the shooting that I like, and the most precious of all the moments is when the camera is rolling.

Everything else is irrelevant except for that moment.

Wrong World continues Pringle’s disregard of conventions of establishing character, action and location. It follows a fine line, in conse­ quence, between inventiveness and confusion.

But Pringle intends it to be different from his earlier films: I thought I would try and turn a corner here and tell a story with characters. So I wrote all this stuff between two people in a motel room. The personal history of the guy, Truman, was something I invented. But, once I had worked out his personal history, I went to Doug (Ling), my collaborator, and we worked together on it. We are both not Mary and Truman watch television in a motel room on the way to Mary’s sister’s place. Wrong World.

20 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

The Films o f Ian Pringle

whether the landscape is American or Aus­ tralian. These connections, or disconnections, occur as his recollections are triggered, during journeys, whilst he is waiting at a railway station or lying awake at night. Pringle:

an office with a gold sign saying Medox that has panoramic skyline views, and has every­ thing, as he remarks, from computerized diagnostic facilities to itemized monthly accounts. He has the cool, suave manner con­ What I tried to do was to create this sense of ventionally associated with success and social not ever knowing where you were, like when position; his children are named Joanna, he is in the cubicle with Mary and we cut to Caroline and Meredith. He is a convenient set the bar with him in Denver. He could have of signs. Other minor characters exist in this got up, walked out of the cubicle and gone way, not so much written in as designated. into a bar. So you just don’t know. Then you Therefore, Mary’s sister lives in her small house hear the knock and he is back in Melbourne. in Nhill, is married to a primary school teacher It is trying to bring together the threads of a with children named Tracey and Derryn. She no lines, and is not so much written in as person’s life. I would have liked to have been has able to work more that way. To me memory written off.

Generally, the range of life-styles is depress­ works in that way; it works in unconnected ingly narrow; the successful, middle-class pro­ ways. I can be walking up that hallway there fessional, reduced to the acquisition and and suddenly think of going through an display of wealth; drugged young, living a airport lounge in Sydney. The most obscure desperate, criminalthe existence; the grimly sur­ things come at the strangest times, and what I viving lower middle class of Nhill, with its tried to do with David was to have these threadbare Danish couch and laminex table. weird things recur, for no accountable reason As the film develops and engages the story, at times. which is perhaps surprisingly simple for the There is no particular reason why one recol­ sophistication of its treatment, the momentum lection rather than another should come back falters. The film tends to become too verbal, to me. At the end, when he goes out to the too explanatory, particularly on David and car in the second motel room, he sits in the Mary’s long journey to Nhill, as he tells her car and we think he has driven off; it cuts to about his life. The problem about the the shot of the city, driving into the city. It motivation and dramatizing of characters could have started off with another shot, just comes up, too, in the consistency of their per­ trying to create this emotion of fleeing, a formance. Both of them pass from drugflight reflex. When he talks to the doctor, dependent junkies, shooting up on heroin and that refers to the earlier conversation he had morphine, to reasonably sophisticated con­ with the psychiatrist about the flight reflex: versational partners. She softens, he becomes ‘Animals have a circle around themselves, authoritative. The changes in mood and atten­ and if you encroach upon i t . . .’ And that is tiveness between them are too sharp, too what happened to him. He has this distance unlikely. around himself. As soon as somebody gets Some intimacy develops in these conversa­ close, he goes. And so, in that way, all the tions, and is expressed in the only scene of, images which follow are there to create that physical involvement as they make love on a sense of fleeing, of loneliness. But there motel bed. They have been watching a tele­ could have been another series of shots to vision movie, or pretending to watch as the create that. I think audiences will accept a lot picture has become distorted and Mary, who more than a lot of filmmakers think they has seen it all before, tells him the story. He will. People are receptive if you deal with it remarks that in the U.S. people become who the right way. they pretend to be, pretends to shoot her, she Much of the characterization in the film falls across him and they make love, themselves becomes notational, sketching in appropriate becoming whom they pretended to be. The signs for different life-styles. Robert, for initial embrace is cut rather awkwardly to what instance, the successful doctor, is just that. He looks like a blue screen, a declaration of censor­ is shown to drive a white BMW, practises from ship, but is only the wall above the bed, and the camera pans slowly down to the dark, discreetly covered figures. One feels it would be inappro­ priate to show them making love, a kind of shock to them as much as the audience, as though a certain intensity of feeling cannot be managed within the film.

Several sequences shot in Bolivia tell the story of David’s stay at a village hospital as a resident doctor, but the messages are really carried in the voice-over and reduced to that. A verbal account of a bomb explosion or the death of a child, over shots of a crowded every­ day street in La Paz, registers the facts of death and violence. It is more difficult to be moved by it. At another point, there is a panning shot across the lights of the city. David’s voice-over tells us, “ At every light there was some con­ gealed mass, some spiderweb of pain and suffering and optimism.” Significance is attri­ buted rather than realized. His conclusion, that “ Hell defies comprehension” , is hardly supported by the images of village life. Ten days in South America may have been in­ sufficient for the camera crew to shoot the footage that would have that impact. This problem underscores a lack of material grasp in the film, a preoccupation with vistas as metaphor. One is always at a distance from the grit and intractable circumstances of living. The distance is deliberate, imposed partly through Hustling fo r dope at the railway station. Wrong World.

Truman finds comfort and escape again in morphine.

Wrong World.

the exhaustion and indifference of the narrator (the last shot is of his driving endlessly through the U.S.), partly through the exquisite composi­ tion of each shot, and partly through the way one’s eye is drawn to horizons and the per­ sistent sense that the real meaning of it all exists beyond them all, even beyond the film. The real heart of the film is in the glow, the lights, the distances, the vistas and the music. If the writing can match this eye for movement and composition then Pringle’s filmmaking will be something to watch. It is already striking, although there is a nagging sense, with all four films, that the whole is less than the sum of the parts.

Pringle is a naive artist in film. His pictures reflect the world of the naive painter: selfcontained and self-taught, a delight in the appearance of things, a sense that pure emotions exist like pure colors and can be expressed through color. Time hardly exists, or at least can be collapsed to the present moment.

There are precious few cultural references; instead, there is the sense that everything can be discovered for the first time. Thus, the emphasis on “ chemistry” and “ atmosphere” and the pleasure of looking through the lens.

The problem is to engage this original vision with the requirements of narrative.

Note: The quotes in this article are from an interview conducted by O’Hara with Pringle on 19 January 1985. At the time of writing, Wrong World had been accepted as an entry at the Berlin Film Festival. ★ CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 21

The exuberance with which Polish-born film m aker Walerian dictionnaire du Joachim (Joachim’s Dictionary, 1965), was Borowczyk pursues his muse has, at times, earned him the rejected by the directors o f the Tours Festival in 1966 on the unhappy and inexact epithet o f pornographer. A n d indeed grounds that it was “detrimental to the prestige o f art”.

Borowczyk is unique among European filmm akers. His the key words o f many o f his feature titles Contes immoraux (Immoral Tales, 1974), Dzieje grzechu (Story o f a film s abound with the sort o f content that would seem best Sin, 1975), Les heroines du mal (Heroines o f Evil, 1979) — suited to those brigades o f gentlemen perennially dressed fo r could almost fo rm a lexicon o f transgression. In his case, inclement weather. Yet, the painterly care with which he fills each fram e at once removes him fro m such associations. however, this is more o f a flair than an obsession.

Borowczyk studied art in Cracow and began his film career Functioning on each film as director, director o f p h o to ­ designing posters fo r the major film s showing there at the graphy, editor, scriptwriter and set designer he would seem time. In 1953, he made his first experimental short. In 1957, he to embody a sort o f post-Lumiere version o f the Renaissance began to work in animation and the next year moved to Paris, ideal (the Renaissance being a period o f which he is fo n d where he has lived ever since. Even as a maker o f experimental and has treated on more than one occasion in his film s).

The following interview was conducted in B orow czyk3s animated film s he showed signs o f being an incipient estab­ lishment feather-ruffler when one o f his ‘cartoons3, Le Paris office by Susan Adler.

—

22 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

'~

Walerian Borowczyk

Marina Pierro as the novice in Behind Convent Walls, based on a story by Stendhal.

They evoke a certain emotion in me, like when I saw the open camera in the shop window.

The first things I made with it were shorts, rather like paintings in a way. The fundamental thing for me is that miracle which allows 24 frames a second to give the illusion of movement. This is the truth of cinema.

You met Andrjez Wajda during this period . . .

Left: frontispiece from the press book fo r Walerian Borowcyzk’s La bête (title page o f La pucelle d’Orléans, poëme héroï-comique en dix-huit chants/ Above: religious exercises in Borowcyzk’s Interieur d ’un convent (Behind Convent Walls).

Have you done any formal study of filmmaking?

I didn’t go to film school: I studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. I started making films because I wanted to, playing around with a still camera. Then, when I was 14 years-old, I saw a 16 mm movie camera in a shop window. It was open, revealing all the internal mechanisms. I was spellbound. As you can imagine, such goods were rare in Poland at that time. I bought one and started to experiment with-it. But, as soon as I saw the first images that I had made, all notions of ‘technique’ flew out the window.

Technique is something you can learn very quickly; school isn’t necessary for that. School can serve as a forum, a meeting place for young people — or people in general — who have the same passion. More often than not, the stairways and corridors of schools are the true classrooms and lecture halls, and it is often there that the

f ut ur e of t he a r t - f o r m is determined. I rejected the idea of film school but I don’t deny that it has certain things to offer: tech­ nique, experience with certain structures . . . with the camera.

What was the atmosphere like in Poland at that time?

Artists had liberty, but it was liberty under surveillance. For painters, there was almost total liberty within the framework of socialism. In spite of everything, we were free. For the generation of painters after the war, the style was post-expressionist, abstract and sometimes surrealist.

And for the filmmakers?

At that time I wasn’t involved in cinema. I had bought my camera because I was fascinated by its mechanism, not to use it for pro­ fessional purposes. To this day, I am fascinated by moving pictures: sculptures which are mechanical.

Wajda was at the Academy of Fine Arts with me for two years.

But he chose to follow a different path. He left the Academy and enrolled at the Lodz Film School.

Wajda was a good painter but he preferred the cinema.

I still paint but I don’t make a living from it. I study art and paint for personal satisfaction but I don’t see making films as an extension of painting. And I don’t subscribe to the idea that it is natural for a painter to go on to making films simply because they are both visual arts. Cinema is quite independent from the other visual arts.

My first films were shapes or forms in motion. Sometimes I used actors and sometimes I would relate a little story or make a docu­ mentary or simply show abstract forms moving in a universe of music. I did everything myself and I experimented a great deal; I taught myself how to edit. You don’t have to go to school to learn to edit. All you have to know is that there are 24 frames a second and how to work the camera. Then you start to make images that please you, to develop on your own. That is how I did it anyway.

For me, it is not a question of the

film [stock] and the camera, it is the miracle of how you can recreate and improve or change and deform nature.

It is important to develop by yourself, because when you goof you regret more bitterly what you have lost. The disadvantage of film school, perhaps, is that you don’t acquire the ability to resist, the perseverance to obtain something that belongs to you. There is the tendency to analyze: you spend a lot of time watching other people’s films and develop a theoretical approach that tends to be literary.

A true artist, or true filmmaker, gives very little thought to tech­ nique. For me, it is a basic truth that there isn’t that much dis­ cipline involved in art or in expres­ sion in general. It is only through quite arbitrary circumstances that one chooses a particular technique or form of expression as opposed to another. In this, for me, the cinema is like other art-forms.

But the costs involved somewhat higher . . .

are

Not necessarily. There are instances when one can draw directly onto the film.

You used that technique in some of your early experimental films . . .

Yes. Maybe it is not for everybody. For me, shooting isn’t the most important part: it is the projection, the final effect, which is the most important, and projec­ tion doesn’t necessarily require the prior use of a camera. You can dr aw in the m ovem ent by scratching onto the film or drawing by hand.

Even if one wants to make films

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 23

Walerian Borowczyk

■■■ Blanche (Ligia Branice) in Borowcyzk’s free adaptation o f Mazepa,, by Juliusz Slowacki. Blanche.

in the more conventional sense of feature films, and one wants to be a true filmmaker as well, it is still necessary to almost draw the movements, either by drawing onto the film stock or by the use of decor and actors. Whatever the method, the important thing is to envisage how the movements will come out during the projection of the film because that is the point at which the relationship with the spectator is established. Natural photography — that is, photo­ graphing things as they are — is too easy; the creative process is reduced. Of course, there are photographs and photographs, but even then you deform nature.

If one has decided not to draw directly onto the stock but to photograph from nature, then a new reality has to be created, although composed of naturalistic elements. Here, the biggest diffi­ culty is to avoid literary narration, to avoid illustration or the mech­ anical reproduction of nature.

There has to be something else, and not just temperament, not just characters and writing: as well as, and in spite of all this, there has to be a conception of what film­ making is.

What is your conception of film­ making?

I will tell you quite frankly that I am not free to exercise mine. True art is freedom and sincerity: an

After years in ’exile’, Borowcyzk returned to Poland to make Dzieje grzechu (Story of a Sin).

artist expressing himself by doing what he loves to do most, in total freedom, with absolutely no inter­ ference. But, u n fo rtu n ately , nobody can do this; no filmmaker has this freedom.

To be a filmmaker whose work is seen means that you are obliged to work within the framework of degenerate film d istrib u tio n circuits. I am not talking just about France. The practice of mul­ tiplying prints and circulating them in theatres, where money is the pri­ mary consideration, where the film can no longer be seen as a work of art but as merchandise produced by an industry is very inhibiting and, oPcourse, cannot permit the filmmaker to have true, unbridled liberty. Even the greatest film­ makers have to smuggle their ideas into their films if they want to hold on to any kind of artistic freedom.

I ask myself: What is cinema?

What is my conception of it? Once you have acquired the basic tech­ niques, you don’t think about them any more; you just do it. It is probably the miracle of reliving or, rather, being able to live that which doesn’t exist in real life.

Who are the great filmmakers you are referring to?

It is difficult to say. There are many filmmakers and films which are familiar to me and of which I am fond. Often, there are films I have liked very much, but I can’t

24 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

even remember who made them. don’t feel impelled to keep abreast Sometimes the films I have liked for social reasons — but one is the most are very short, only a few inevitably bombarded by the media in any case. minutes long.

I detest all this naming and judging, even though I am inevit­ Talking of media bombardment, ably a party to it. You have asked you have often been singled out as me a question that has limited my a target by film critics . . . freedom. Do you realize how many filmmakers there may be who are Ah, critics! In general, film true artists, and yet their films critics are very limited people: they haven’t been made or seen? In this don’t seem greatly interested in sense, I don’t have the right to ideas, or particularly equipped to answer that question; it wouldn’t deal with them. They look at films be sincere. I would be like those with an analytical slant that never panels of judges which select films seems to change. A film should be for film festivals. What a moronic viewed without any preconcep­ act! What about the films they tions. Film criticism is like a circus: haven’t seen — films that aren’t a cultural institution in which the yet mixed or are still in script stage same ideas inevitably appear. The or that weren’t shown because of garish is celebrated and everything retrograde or political manoeuv- is keyed to the intelligence of a five year-old. rings?

Films are rarely spoken of as Of the films showing in Paris at the moment, I am almost certain they should be by critics and usu­ that I will like Milos Forman’s ally only those films that are likely Amadeus, just as I have liked his to draw large crowds are talked other films. I like Buster Keaton about. Artistic worth is rarely and Charlie Chaplin very much. I taken into consideration. A good don’t share the enthusiasm that number of different newspapers there seems to be for the American come out every day, each one with school, as they call it. I usually its own film critic. It never ceases don’t like anything associated with to amaze me how critics who see a school because it implies that perhaps two films a day, which there is a lack of originality. Let us makes 700 a year, can analyze and say, I like films in general. write about, say, 365 films all with When I started to make films, I the same emotion. It must mean went to the movies a lot. But now I they don’t believe what they write. don’t go as often because I find that I scatter myself. I am not a That is all part of the apparatus conformist like other people — I that generates more money for

Walerian Borowczyk

dubbed the film. In Italy, they dub all films: it is an incredible viola­ tion of the author’s rights. I have dubbed things myself but only as a last resort and I have more right to do so since I am the author of the film. In any case, I was a victim of this abuse. I don’t think that my films are any more erotic than most other films. Except for documentaries, perhaps: they are very rarely erotic.

Borowcyzk’s favorite actress, Marina Pierro, in his adaptation o f the Robert Louis Steven­ son’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Docteur Jekyll et les femmes.

whether I show a still-life or a man eating an apple or a man and woman during the sexual act.

People have strange problems: they close their eyes if they see a naked person, yet to open up a typewriter is not considered porno­ graphic. And there are certain people who get excited by things that wouldn’t normally excite anybody. For example, there is a case of someone who derailed a train and masturbated in the The term pornography has been woods nearby to the sound of the used, erroneously perhaps, in con­ screams during the crash. Things nection with certain of your like that have actually happened. films . . .

In practically every film in the history of cinema, there is a couple What is pornography? For me, embracing. The opposition of the it doesn’t exist and yet it is every­ sexes is a constant in the cinema. where. Pornography is a legal But where is the limit? You can term, not a critical or artistic one. show a woman’s leg and no one One can’t talk about pornography thinks anything of it; raise the as the curse of society because in frame and it is obscene. What is every country it is expressed as decent and what is indecent is being different in the penal code. relative; in France and in Japan, As for the censorship boards, I the things that are considered have never heard of one of the pornography are very different. judges’ rushing from a screening to rape and kill because he saw it in a Are you aware of having been film, so why on earth should they rather heavily condemned by fem­ suppose that someone else would inists? behave like that?

Feminists? I didn’t think they What is the difference between a exist any more: they have grown home-made porn flick and a film up and married and now they give with erotic content by Borowczyk luncheons.

Joking aside, women occupy key or Nagisa Oshima? roles in my crews, a lot more, I It all depends on the montage1. imagine, than on many of the films For me it is exactly the same that don’t cause the sort of con­ troversy mine seem to. But that is neither here nor there.

Erotico what? Who used that term? I have never made films of 1. Borowczyk has used the word montage that type. in its correct meaning of film editing and Why don’t you go looking for assembly but also in the sense of Your heroines — Erzsebet Bathory eroticism and culture in Walt Dis­ (Paloma Picasso) and Lucrezia mounting as in sexual intercourse.

—SA. ney’s films, where both abound?

Borgia (Florence Bellamy) in Take any film of his you care to Commercial exigencies and box­ think of: for example, Snow White office potential are quite another and the Seven Dwarfs. Why don’t subject, and one that doesn’t you look for eroticism there? interest me in the slightest. The There is always a boy and a girl in most important factor for me is to his films; there are even dogs that impart my vision. If it turns out kiss each other and make vulgar that people say, “ He has made a suggestions — repressed desire that commercial film” , so much the you can feel a mile away. Dis­ gusting: desire that doesn’t dare! I better.

The first priority should be to have never made films of that type.

If anything, I have been a victim make good films and to try to be good filmmakers working with as of this semblance that there is in much freedom as possible. Of my films. There was a court case in course, I know things aren’t like Italy about Docteur Jekyll et les that at all. You spend a lot of time femmes (The Strange Case of Dr playing a com plicated game Jekyll and Miss Osbourne). With a whereby you are busy trying to film, you can change the context of deceive the people who have given everything, except the titles, by you the money to make a film dubbing or by re-cutting it — and while, at the same time, convincing that is what they did with my film them that they are getting what in Italy. It is the same as someone they are paying for. For me, it is an who cuts up paintings and puts endless struggle, sneaking my them back together in different visions — and, maybe, obsessions configurations with different parts — into my films. Obviously, with of bodies from other paintings.

The producers dubbed the film short films there is greater freedom. With features, it is very and in re-cutting it they left out rare that one gets to express certain scenes. The film was oneself freely, but it does happen. released but was taken off by the decision of a court in Rome. It Just the same, erotico-cultural created the precedent that every films such as yours must enable foreign director and actor now has you more freedom than other the right to sue the producer or dis­ The Countess Erzsebet Bathory (Paloma Picasso) amongst her victims, all in the name o f tribution com pany th at has youth. Borowcyzk’s Contes immoraux (Immoral Tales). forms? more films. Surely, the pictures of naked women or the other sugges­ tive images that are used to promote your films have not been chosen for purely aesthetic reasons . . .

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 25

Walerian Borowczyk

“Immoral Tales” , and Margherita Luti (Marina Pierro), Marceline (Gaelle Legrand) and Marie (Pas­ cale Christophe) in “ The Heroines of Evil” , to name a few — don’t have to answer to the society whose rules they transgress. You place them beyond good and evil, in spite of the titles of these films . . .

Deep down, I am on the side of these women. I hope that those people who have seen these films recognize their heroism: that is, the heroic energy they devote to real­ izing their desires, whatever they may be.

Do you spend a lot of time in pre­ production?

No, usually the pre-production period is quite short. But I plan every detail and movement before­ hand.

Andrei Tarkovski has said that he does the same thing, and that for him the shoot is almost an anti­ climax . . .

I don’t feel the same way but I can understand. An imaginary film is, in a way, just as important as one that has been made. It isn’t necessary to film. There are a lot of exceptional artists who have Similar to the heroes in action only conceived an idea for a film, films? and writers of genius who have only written one book, or not even Yes, but, of course, not at all. finished it. After all, what is the making of a piece of sculpture?

Have you ever considered making It is merely the last phase, the least an action film? important. The most important phase is when you have the film Genre films disgust me. Naus­ inside you. eating repetitions of the same old thing — that, for me, is porno­ Nonetheless, you do seem to graphy. Naturally, I have had manage to externalize your con­ offers but I am not interested. ception as you write the screen­ There is always good and evil in plays for all your films. Do you those films and I am against that. I adhere strictly to the script during have my own wdy of seeing things. shooting?

Besides, I have a great aversion I usually invent my films in to being labelled. Once, John Ford stood up at a press conference at a moments of insomnia and then, film festival and said, “ My name is after a certain maturation period, I John Ford; I make Westerns.” very carefully plot a final shooting They want me to stand up and say, script. But, after that, there isn’t a “ Hello, I make erotic films.” He process.

One shouldn’t analyze every­ didn’t distinguish between poli­ tically reactionary Westerns and thing so much; it is useless. If you noble Westerns because Westerns ask me why I made a certain film, I have been accepted by the censors can’t answer you. I don’t know. and the hypocritical society at large. It would be the same as Most of your films are based, to another director saying, “ I’ve some degree, on works of liter­ made a neo-Fascist film” — which ature, and often by authors with of course he wouldn’t; he would notorious reputations, such as say “ Western” or “ detective story” . Frank Wedekind, André Pieyre

de Mandiargues, and others who are less notorious, such as Stend­ hal and Robert Louis Steven­ son . . .

If I do a film based on literature, on an original story by someone else, what does if matter? Cinema isn’t literature; cinema is appear­ ances and, clearly, my way of

Top: Margherita Luti, detta la Fornarina (Marina Pierro). Above: Marceline (Gaelle Legrand) and friends. Borowcyzk’s Les heroines du mal (The Heroines o f Evil).

telling a story isn’t the same as the way a writer tells a story. For me, movement is creation. It is a pity I can’t make films that are com­ pletely abstract: after all, people like to watch fireworks displays and sporting events. It is a pity that films haven’t taken off in that direction as well.

“Ars amandi” (“The Art of Loving”) is certainly literature, but Ovid’s poem doesn’t have a narrative thread . . .

Artistically, I am pleased with the film because it is fascinating to recreate periods of history. That is the magnificent thing about film­ making for me: to relive things that may or may not have existed.

If you want, you can have blue apples or strangely-colored trees.

What is also fascinating is recon­ structing the material culture, objects from an era that is close but at the same time very distant.

This is the magic.

To this extent, then, you are free: for example, in the reconstruction of Rome under Augustus in “The Art of Loving” . . .

Borowcyzk’s most recent film , Ars amandi (The A rt o f Loving), from Ovid.

26 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

But, even though I have always done the things I have wanted to do, I have never been able to do

Walerian Borowczyk

them in total freedom. As I said scene in which a swan makes love before, one can’t be free, because to a tree and the producer thought even if I were to do a film with it was a pity there wasn’t a woman total freedom it would not be involved. They faked letters that were supposed to be from me released.

You have to flatter the taste of giving my permission to add the public but it is not the public certain scenes.

Nonetheless, I am happy with that is at fault. People have faith in things, and they want to see new what I did because I feel that I things, but they aren’t allowed to. have done things I hadn’t been By the time the censors have able to do in other films. Now I finished snipping away a bit here have other projects but I will never and a bit there, one’s film is inevit­ again work with a producer whom I don’t know well. ably disfigured.

The version of The Art of Loving that will be released in Italy What other projects are you will be disfigured. The Italian pro­ doing? ducer and distributors have added I am doing a film in France and scenes that are pornographic because the producer decided to then a co-production in Germany make an erotic film. There is a for German television. I am pre­

Ligia Branice and Pierre Brasseur in Borowcyzk’s acclaimed Goto, Hie d'amour (Goto, Island of Love).

1955 Jesien (Autumn) 1957 Byl sobie raz (Once Upon a Time . • •) Nagrodzone uczucia (Recipro­ cated Feelings) Strip-tease Dni oswiaty (Days of Schooling) Sztandar Mlodych (The Banner of Youth) 1958 Dom (The House) Szkola (School) The private life of another woman: although I don’t share the opinion 1959 Les astronautes (The Astro­ nauts) that you are a pornographer, you Terre inconnue (Unknown certainly seem to be something of a Ground) voyeur . . .

Le magicien (The Magician) La tête (The Head) No more than you or anyone La foule ÇThe Crowd) else. Films and television are all La boîte a musique (The Music Box) enticements to voyeurism. I make the films, but other people watch 1962 Théâtre de Monsieur et Madame Kabal (The Theatre of Mr and them.

Mrs Kabal, one episode: The Concert) 1963 Encyclopédie de grand’maman en 13 volumes (Grandmother’s Filmography 13-volume Encyclopaedia) Holy Smoke Features Renaissance Les stroboscopes/magasins du 1967 Théâtre de Monsieur et Madame X IX e siècle (The stroboKabal (The Theatre of Mr and scopes/19th Century Shops) Mrs Kabal) Les bibliothèques (The Libraries) 1968 Goto, L’île d’amour (Goto, Les écoles (The Schools) Island of Love) La fille sage (The Good Girl) 1971 Blanche L’écriture (Writing) 1974 Contes immoraux (Immoral Gancia Tales) 1964 Les jeux des anges (The Angels’ 1975 Dzieje grzechu (Story of a Sin) Games) La bête (The Beast) Le petit poucet (Tom Thumb) 1976 La marge (The Margin) Le musée (The Museum) 1977 Intérieur d’un couvent (Behind 1965 Le dictionnaire du Joachim Convent Walls) (Joachim’s Dictionary) 1979 Les héroïnes du mal (The Théâtre de Monsieur et Madame Heroines of Evil) Kabal (The Theatre of Mr and 1980 Lulu Mrs Kabal, one episode: A Docteur Jekyll et les femmes Torrid Summer) (The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll 1966 Rosalie and Miss Osbourne) 1984 Ars amandi (The Art of Loving) 1967 Diptyque (Diptych) Gavotte 1969 Le phonographe (The Phono­ Shorts graph) 1973 Une collection particulière (A 1953 Glowa (The Head) Special Collection) 1954 Photographies vivantes (Living 1975 Brief von Paris (Letter from Photographs) Paris) Atelier de Fernand Léger (The 1979 L’armoire (The Cupboard) ^ Studio of Fernand Léger)

paring a film I have dreamt of doing for a long time: an authentic reconstruction of Nefertiti’s story.

There is a plan to make it in five episodes for television but the form doesn’t interest me as much as the idea of reconstructing ancient Egypt.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 27

ÂĄIll IÂŤ

Throughout history many great artists have depicted the tortures o f hell. But never before has anyone dared to suggest that hell is a place where an elephant sits on your motor car.

Bliss is directed by Ray Lawrence, fo r producer Anthony Buckley from a screenplay by Lawrence and Peter Carey, based on the novel by Carey. The director o f photography is Paul Murphy, the sound recordist Gary Wilkins and the editor Wayne Le Clos. It stars Barry Otto, Lynette Curran, Helen Jones, Tim Robertson, Miles Buchanan, Gia Carides, Paul Chubb and Jeff Truman.

Above: Harry Joy (Barry Otto) awakens and sees his Jamily. Below: the Joy family, from left to right, David (Miles Buchanan), Bettina (Lynette Curran) and Lucy (Gia Carides).

:

Top: Honey Barbara (Helen Jones) takes a bath before heading o ff fo r the city. Above: Bettina and Joel (Jeff Truman) ‘make it’ in the middle o f Milano’s restaurant. Below: what does one do when an elephant sits on one’s car?

Top: Harry’s reaction to his operation: “Oh shit, I ’ve died again. ’’Above: Honey Barbara explains the meaning o f karma to Harry. Below: the Vision Splendid (Sarah de Teliga).

1^5 >/s

Film Nouveau: A Festival of Contemporary French Cinema 1982-1984

In November and December 1984, a selection o f French film s was screened in seasons at the Brighton Bay Twin in Melbourne, the Boulevard Twin Canberra and the Academy Twin in Sydney. Entitled (fFilm Nouveau: A Festival o f Contemporary French Cinema, 1982-1984”, the season brought a range o f film s by well-known and unknown (to audiences here) film m akers to the attention o f Australian film-goers and distributors. The festival was organized by DCF Film bistribution.

Kieran Finnane “ Film nouveau” is somewhat of a misnomer for the recent festival grouping together heterogeneous French productions or international co-productions involving French money and stars from the past three years. The term “ film nouveau” suggests, no doubt unintentionally, the emergence of a new, dominant direction in current French cinema, but the festival itself did not provide evidence of this; nor could it, of course, when no such dominant direction exists.

Nouveaux films are what the audiences saw, the products of a relatively healthy industry, represen­ tative of it only in their diversity. The French film year continues to be marked by the outstanding latest films of New Wave auteurs such as Alain Resnais’ L’amour h mort (Love Unto Death, 1984). Eric Rohmer’s Les nuits de la pleine lune (Nights of the Full Moon, 1984), Jean-Luc Godard’s Prénom: Carmen (First Name Carmen, 1983) and Jacques Demy’s Une chambre en ville (A Room in Town, 1982); in the commercial sector by outstanding box-office hits rivalling American productions, such as the latest Belmondo; followed by a cluster of so-called NQF (“nouvelle qualité française” ) films which bear heavily the mark of American productions but do not rival them and of which Bob Swaim’s La balance (1983) is a much lauded example. On the edges of these categories, productions take a variety of directions, some venturing into relatively unexplored territories in their aesthetic or subject matters, others taking well-worn trails, a dispersion quite accurately indicated by the festival.

Of the five festival films that I will review here, Jacques Bral’s Polar (1984) would be closest to the NQF group while, to its merit, playing against it.

NQF favors screenplays adapted from or styled after American hardboiled literature of the 1940s and ’50s.

(Patricia Highsm ith is a great favorite.) Polar (the title is a slang word referring to this literary genre, and the screenplay is adapted from Jean Patrick M anchette’s novel, Morgue pleine) has some of the sty­ listic and narrative elements of such a script but stands them on their head, in a clever, amusing revitalization of the genre. There is no patently clear resolution of the narrative. One listens to the voice-over of an ex-cop, Eugène Tarpon (Jean-François Balmer), forced to resign after killing a demon­ strator, and now somewhat shamefully and unsuccessfully a private eye and eternal mother’s boy. The fatalistic monotone enounces narrative and genre keys only to abandon them a few sentences later (each key is of equal value except for a certain linearity that has to be respected). Alternatively, Eugene may repeat them so that they become self-referential.

The look o f the film , and particularly the editing style, also parries constantly with a classical treatment. Shot-reverse shots are slowed down to allow for dead time and empty space or are abandoned to allow for a certain abstraction of narrative and emotion (the long closeup confession of Charlotte Le Dantec (Sandra Montaigu), Eugene’s and the film’s femme fatale).

Characters do not exist, they are played with and referred to. There is always a distance between them and the spectator, handled with ease by Bral who, while never being slick, gives his film the clean, bland look of

30 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

France in the 1980s. His aesthetic is neither pretentious nor folkloric. In some scenes, he uses a deliberately theatrical setting, which is particularly apparent in the scenes of the gangsters’ headquarters in which the inevitable shoot-out takes place. The interest of playing around with genre is wearing thin, but, with Polar, Bral does not hit the audience over the head with it; instead, he uses it as a strategy to construct a very watchable film.

Frankenstein 90 (1984), directed by Alain Jessua, may also have had NQF ambitions — it is a French update of Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff with enormously popular rock ’n’ roll and screen star Eddy Mitchell in the role of the creature — but is a little too cheap and nasty to make the grade.

Make-up simulating botched surgery gives Mitchell a plebeian ugliness and Jessua makes the mistake of showing an extract of the 1931 James Whale version. The audience is thus reminded of Karloff’s fascinatingly ugly beauty in marvellous black and white which only serves to increase one’s dissatis­ faction with Mitchell and just about everything else.

Special effects are embarrassingly primitive and sex scenes, ranging from titillating to grotesque, plummet the film to new low depths. The worst of the latter deserves a mention and the audience loudly shuddered when it was

sprung upon it: Frank (Eddy Mitchell), hankering for a mate, brings home to Victor Frankenstein (Jean Rochefort) three freshly-strangled, bruised and b lo o d -s p a tte re d d isco d an c ers suspended from meat-hooks in the freezing unit of a butcher’s van. It is hardly an interesting “ twist” that the resultant, ideal feminine play-thing fails to interest Frank who has from the beginning fixed his sights on his creator’s girlfriend Elizabeth (Fiona Gélin). (He rapes her on the occasion of their first encounter.)

A potentially more interesting twist is the futuristic end of the film: Frank, thanks to a facelift from the skilled hands of Elizabeth, now his lover, and to an expansion of his computer program, has become head of a corporation marketing humanoids programmed to perform specific tasks.

He tops this by getting Elizabeth pregnant. Frankenstein can lay claim to total success as Frank’s ex­ playmate, now his own, has also conceived. However, unbeknownst to them all, the hum anoids have discovered the secrets of reproduction.

Is it all going to get out of hand?

Jessua does not manage to exploit the potential of his innovation, and one’s only response is a yawn.

For Claude Sautet’s Garçon! (1984), one would have to knock the “ N” off the rubric. There is nothing nouvelle

Eugene Tarpon (Jean-François Balmer) takes care o f a young punk who has been trailing him. Jacques Bral’s Polar.

Film Nouveau

about Sautet’s film but it is very qualité fran çaise. It is a nostalgia film (nostalgia for between-wars French society and cinema) set in the 1980s made to look like the ’70s, a group portrait in a happy, a-historical world.

Good acting — Yves Montand as Alex, the 60-year-old head-waiter and charmer; Nicole Garcia as Claire, the most alluring of the women who enter and leave his life; and the excellent Jacques Villeret as Gilbert, Alex’s flat­ mate and fellow waiter, lovable and loving, unable to definitively leave his first wife to definitively live with his second, plus all the well-filled minor roles — a well-handled script (within its limits) and expert directing, as evidenced particularly in the brasserie scenes, save Garçon! from being boring. These qualities make it, in fact, gently pleasurable but do not save it from its fundamental irrelevance.

The only question it left is how Philippe Sarde continues to have such success in composing music for films.

His work is stamped with a family entertainment, middle-of-the-road style which bathes accompanying scenes in banality.

Two other films, Caroline Roboh’s Clementine Tango (1982) and Jean Marboeuf’s T’es heureuse? . . . moi, toujours (Are you happy? . . . me, always, 1982), have nothing to do with NQF. Roboh’s is a first film. While it is always fitting to be generous with a first film, in this case one does not have to try very hard. Roboh was clever enough to bring to the screen the extraordinary talents of Arturo Brachetti, cabaret artist and co­ production designer, Josephine Larsen and half-a-dozen fellow cabaret artists and weave around their stunning performances a narrative, not without interest, which leads one through the film and gives it a beginning, a middle and a sort of end (a similar achievement to that of Purple Rain).

Roboh would, however, have had to push her story and characters a bit further to give her film a value quite independent of the cabaret.

Incest is lurking there, in looks and touches, attractions and repulsions.

On the surface of real life, that is so often what incest does, but a film cannot afford to let it lie like that. The

danger is that it becomes a charged ambience with all the interest of stale air in a back room. Some of the psychological and sexual catastrophe could have been explored or dealt with in a more dynamic and sustained, even humorous, way, particularly in the relationship between the bourgeois Charles (Francois Helvey) and the angel-faced, tango-dancing Clemen­ tine (Claire Pascal). More links could have been drawn between Clementine (whom Charles discovers, after his initial attraction, to be his half-sister, their father having had a long-standing affair with her mother, an American cabaret singer) and Charles’ full sister (played by Caroline Roboh).

Roboh as a writer and director obviously wanted to avoid sensational­ ism while exploiting the extra-cinema­ tographic — i.e., theatrical and musical — appeal of her cabaret setting and artists. Unfortunately, the solutions she comes up with are rather tame and leave one wanting more: not more added on, but more from within.

This is much more than can be said of the tedious T’es heureuse? . . . moi, toujours which gives marvellous Dominique Labourier, the Julie of Jacques Rivette’s Celine et Julie va en bateau (Celine and Julie Go Boating, 1977), the thankless role of a suicided filmmaker’s widow. She devotes her life to the exhibition of the defunct’s films, roaming the countryside in a live-in, mobile cine-museum thus taking the cinema back to its original context, that of the travelling fair. The audience joins her in her travels and experiences somewhere south of Lyon,, in the provinces along the Rhone.

(The chance to see some of the beautiful landscapes and villages of this part of France is one consolation offered by the film.)

One never actually sees extracts of the films that have inspired this devotion but, on the occasion of the first projection, the audience hears them and learns that it is Marboeuf’s work and presumably himself at the heart of it all. Such guileless naivete about one’s own adolescent fantasies is a very antipathetic starting-point for a film.

In the same scene, Labourier’s front-of-house character is seen for the first time, travestied in a blond wig, piled-on make-up and a red satin

Alex (Yves Montand) realizes his dream o f running a summer fairground and unwittingly helps his young friend Coline (Dominique Laffin). Claude Sautet’s Garçon!.

Top: “. . . the angel-faced, tango-dancing Clementine (Claire Pascal).” Caroline Roboh’s Clementine Tango. Above: a cabaret scene from Clementine Tango.

CINEMA PAPERS F ebruary-M arch — 31

Film Nouveau

'0MSÌ

The suicided film m aker’s widow (Dominique Labourier) and the pederast clown (Claude Brasseur) cross paths in Jean Marboeuf’s T ’es heureuse. . . moi, toujours.

sheath. In this awful garb or in her everyday jeans and checked shirt, she m akes v a rio u s e m b a rra ssin g ly sentimental speeches about her late husband’s work — “ films about love that touch you here’’ (patting her heart, piping a tear) — and has various encounters with men, one in each village, five in all.

The poor woman does not have much luck: the suicided genius is followed by a doe-eyed teacher, a village idiot, a pederast clown (not surprisingly the most antipathetic of them all. It would not have anything to do with his sexuality, would it?), a flatulent bistro-owner and finally a paranoiac tap-dancer whom she has to certify. She does, however, get to keep his dog and decides to be brave and happy with him — and her faithfully preserved ghost of a husband. I think readers will have got the message: the odiousness of the script quite over­ whelms any other merit of the film.

My only regret on leaving it was that Labourier is not being given more interesting roles in new French productions.

I would, as a final point, like to note that the above-reviewed films do not include the best from the festival and would have to be considered along with the rest of the program before the viewer could obtain a reasonably comprehensive picture of the state of French cinema. From the overall selection one can at least conclude that the situation in France is not stifling, that there is some room for relatively or entirely unknown young directors, such as Roboh and Bral, and that there is some exploration going on with films such as Maurice Pialat’s.

Helen Greenwood The biggest drawcards of the Film Nouveau festival were, without doubt, Carlos Saura’s Antonieta (1982), Andrzej Wajda’s Un amour en Alle­ magne (Love in Germany, 1984) and Maurice Pialat’s A nos amours (To Our Loves, 1983). The films were not, however, necessarily amongst the best of the selection. A nos amours fulfilled expectations with its lingering, hard look at family disintegration and other themes typical of French cinema, while Un amour en Allemagne disappointed in its failure to be a convincing drama, or politically or historically credible.

Un amour en Allemagne goes back to Germany in 1943 through the clumsy device of an unidentified narrator and his son in search of the circumstances surrounding a longburied scandalous affair between a German shopkeeper, Paulina Kropp (Hanna Schygulla), and a Polish prisoner-of-war, Stanislaw Zasada (Piotyr Lysak). Sometimes staring directly into the camera in the style of direct documentary, an incongruous style compared with the historical sections of the film, and sometimes not, the narrator leads the audience into the flashback scenes. These modern scenes, however, are so dis­ jointed and so infrequent that they fail as a narrative thread. Instead, the his­ torical scenes become the dominant mode and one is not sure if it is not flash forwards which are really opera­ ting after all (cf. Antonieta, reviewed below, another historical offering at the season, in which the camerawork and the narrative structure ease the time transitions and give them immediate relevance).

32 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Wiktorczyk (Daniel Olbrychski), the Polish prisoner assigned to hang his fellow Pole.

Andrzej Wajda’s Love in Germany.

Apart from the narrative confusion in Un amour en Allemagne, there are also thematic and moral ambiguities with which the viewer of this film has to cope. Wajda injects familiar themes into the film: individuals struggling against the inevitability of history, moral purity in the face of ideological rigidity, and the anger of people who see their nationality and culture exploited and denigrated. All these reflect much of the current-day dilemma and circumstances of Poland.

In Un amour en Allemagne, these themes are represented by a woman whose purity of love refuses to allow her to deny that the Polish prisoner is her lover and thereby condemns him to death, and a Pole who refuses to become Germanized and thereby seals that fate. The latter is plausible because Stanislaw is a wide-eyed innocent and idealist convincingly played by Lysak; the former is risible because Paulina, in her casting aside of all attempts to extricate her from this mess, and indeed the stupidity of her actions in creating the situation, comes across as a woman too silly to know what she is doing and not as a woman distraught and obsessed by love. Schy­ gulla’s wooden-faced portrayal is to blame for this in large part. One is left wondering how to relate individuals, who not only tempt fate but who also do their best to ensure it is an ill one, to Wajda’s attempt to illustrate modern events.

Furthermore, because Wajda tries to be fair and balanced, one is also left wondering what is the moral position of the filmmaker in a film with such strong moral overtones. Elsbeth (Elizabeth Trissenaar), whose fiancé dies in action, has every reason to betray Paulina but does not; Maria

(played w onderfully by M arie­ Christine Barrault), whose husband returns to satisfy her desires, still covets more and so eventually betrays Paulina. The SS Untersturmfiihrer Mayer (Armin Mueller-Stahl) tries to bend regulations to save Paulina and Piotyr but in the end has to hang Piotyr. The Polish prisoner, Wiktor­ czyk (Daniel Olbrychski), protests and refuses to hang his fellow Pole but escapes a decision by fainting and leaving Mayer to complete the task (an unconvincing scene).

No blame is directed towards indivi­ duals; it is history which overpowers.

But by refusing a moral stance and by making it difficult to see the characters as more than one-dimensional, one is left wondering whether Wajda himself is as yet capable of coming to terms with the complexity of those times.

The only scene in which the characters become credible, people riddled with human weaknesses and strengths, takes place between the two Poles in the truck on their way to the hanging.

Perhaps Wajda, like most people, is best at portraying what he is closest to.

This generalization is equally applic­ able to Maurice Pialat who also explores unknown territory but does so successfully. Although he penetrates the psyche of 15-year-old Suzanne (Sandrine Bonnaire), he maintains his own, determinedly-detached perspec­ tive as a filmmaker, which contrasts ironically with his participation in the film as Suzanne’s father.

Suzanne is afraid that her heart is drying up and that she is no longer able to love. This is not hard to understand as she drifts into the fading innocence of adolescence and witnesses the un­ heralded departure of her beloved father and the breakdown of her

Film Nouveau

hysteria-prone mother (Evelyne Kerr).

Added to this is a brother (Dominique Besnehard) whose frustrated career aspirations and perverse attachment to his mother and sister manifests in his playing one off against the other. The father has, unfortunately, misread the maturity of his children, and they are unable to continue their lives.

Suzanne’s reaction is to float way­ wardly from boy to boy and bed to bed in search of she knows not what, but certainly acquiring a sexual and emotional maturity without satisfac­ tion. Suzanne finally marries, after a revealing encounter with her first boy­ friend Luc (Cyr Boitard), only to have her attempts at normal life disrupted by her father’s visit. She is as unsettled by his presence as she was by his absence and decides to move on again, this time with an old friend and further afield: San Diego in the U.S. (ironic­ ally the site of a major American naval base and a reminder of Suzanne’s first sexual encounter). Still fleeing from his shadow yet searching for a substitute, Suzanne’s departure with her father’s blessing leaves one unsure of what has been resolved. One can only be certain that Suzanne will keep searching.

Pialat exposes the undercurrents of incestual tension and frustrated sexuality that run through this family, almost verging on the distasteful but always pulling back beneath a veneer of ingenuousness. He has an extra­ ordinary perceptiveness of the fears and fantasies of a young girl. This is obviously due in part to the screenplay having been co-written by Pialat’s longtime collaborator Arlette Lang­ mann and it being semi-autobio­ graphical.

Pialat makes use of summer light and sounds in A nos amours to convey a deceptive mood of ease and simplicity which is sharply broken by the harshness of the interiors as Suzanne retreats into herself and away from human comfort. The film also has a spontaneity and rawness that stems from Pialat’s style of directing: “ planned improvization’’ as Bonnaire refers to it. Bonnaire has an innocent voluptuousness that marries perfectly with the tone of the film; her most banal actions, such as stuffing ham into her mouth and chewing vigor­ ously, are at once basic and sensual, dt was satisfying to see that an estab­ lished filmmaker can produce the un­ expected working with traditional themes and narrative.

woman, a former socialite, theatrical dilettante and political activist named Antonieta (Isabelle Adjani), had committed suicide in Notre Dame Cathedral. Anna goes to Mexico to find out more about this young woman and Saura delves back and forth, in familiar fashion, between the related periods (the present and the 1920s) to illustrate what she finds — and to indicate what is unlearnable in rational terms.

The film supplies this background, first through interviews between Schy­ gulla and the Mexicans who had known Antonieta, then with un­ explained flashbacks and, typically of Saura, a rationality-defying leap by Schygulla back to the fateful day of the suicide.

What comes out of it is a teasing,

wispy portrait of a gifted woman in a m acho society trying to make some sense of her life (as in Elisa vida mia) and, more telling, a rare picture of Mexico in the uncertain years after the revolution and civil war of 1910-20.

Some of the film’s shortcomings may well stem from the fact that it is one of the few in which Saura was not in sole command of the screenplay.

His collaborator is French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, who seems to have sobered Saura, an effect he cer­ tainly didn’t have on Luis Bunuel in Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Le fantôme de la liberté or Cet obscur objet du désir. (Saura showed in Mama cumple cien anos that he can be every bit as impish as Bunuel.)

Presumably, Antonieta is intended to reveal the sexist flaws in a Latin

Dorre Koeser

Keith Connolly Antonieta is a typical Carlos Saura mixture of real and surreal, fact and fantasy, plausible and incredible. It should be among his best works, but isn’t. The parts — and it is a very episodic film — are considerably better than the whole.

The first film Saura has made out­ side his native Spain, Antonieta is an internationally-cast, French-MexicanSpanish co-production in the Citizen Kane tradition, a present-day charac­ ter investigating the life of a figure of the recent past. In this case, Hanna Schygulla plays Anna, a French writer preparing a book on spectacular female suicides (one was a cooking demonstrator who did herself in on camera).

Fifty years before, a young Mexican

American society that is so m acho that everything within it becomes an exten­ sion of the male ego — from conserva­ tive to revolutionary politics, from the arts .to religion.

The only time Antonieta really establishes herself as a personality on equal terms with men, able to play a part in the political processes of her country, is as the secretary-mistress of a would-be leader, the real-life writer and educator Jose Vasconcelos (played

by Ignacio Lopez Tarso). When Vasconcelos dumps her, after the failure of his 1929 bid to win the presidency — it was never on as the newly “ established” revolution had no intention of letting its hard-earned power slip — she has little to live for.

The sequences in which Antonieta campaigns with Vasconcelos in his hopeless election bid are the most effective in the film, matched by the earlier assassination of strong-man president Alvaro Obregon and the suppression of the peasant followers of the Cristero, or pro-church, rebellion of 1927.

Saura doesn’t seem terribly inter­ ested, however, in either establishing or disassociating the links between these catalytic events and Antonieta’s personal crises. He goes some of the way in explaining the paternalism of the society in which she grew, married and parted from her domineering husband (who burns her library in response to his wife’s growing independence of thought and action).

But there are other elements, what might be called a ghost story (in the manner of Cria cuervos) as well as an interesting investigative study, and a mysterious and chilling erotic relation­ ship with an artist, that are parts of an unresolved jigsaw.

As usual, Saura’s technical com­ mand and sense of place are superb (typified in Anna’s wanderings among the on-going excavations of the Indian capital, Tenochtitlan, upon which Mexico City is built). As always, Teo Escamilla’s cinematography is lucid and incisive, and many of the Mexican locations are equally exciting and evocative.

Saura is less well-served by the prin­ cipal cast. Isabelle Adjani pouts illnaturedly like Adèle H. with a stomach-ache and Hanna Schygulla at times seems so disoriented (or it is dis­ interested?) that one expects to hear her mutter, “ Rainer Werner, come back!”

Top: Antonieta (Isabelle Adjani) on her way to console the man who is her obsession but will never be her lover. Carlos Saura’s Antonieta. Above: “. . . a teasing, wispy portrait o f a gifted woman in a macho society Hanna Schygulla as Anna in Antonieta.

Alain Jessua seems to have a fondness for creating monsters. Before this year’s Frankenstein 90, he had already told the story of a man transformed into a monster in his 1982 film Paradis pour tous (Paradise For All). A horrific being far more threatening than the gentle Frank (Eddy Mitchell) of the more recent film, the character of Alain (Patrick Dewaere) is a sad, neurotic, ordinary man turned into an irrepressible smiler who terrorizes his family and friends with patience and emotional control: a man who is happy all the time. Paradise For All is a black comedy about a treatment that cures anxiety, and is itself a prescription for making its viewers fond of their anxieties. The consequences of being happy m the film are a snowballing

Concluded On p . 91

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 33

Peter Schreck hitch-hiked to Sydney at the age o f 17 “to become a writer”. H e started writing advertising copy “as a way o f putting words through a typewriter ”. In his m id­ twenties he changed to television drama, writing fo r Spyforce, Homicide, Solo One, Bluey and the A B C 's Dynasty. H e then m oved to Melbourne and worked fo r Crawfords, writing and script editing Ryan, writing early episodes o f The Sullivans and becoming an associate director o f the company.

Schreck returned to Sydney in 1979 and wrote Patrol Boat, and the tele-feature Because H e's M y Friend. Along the way he has won three Australian Writers Guild “A w gie” awards and two Television Society o f Australia “Penguin” awards.

Schreck then wrote the screenplay fo r We o f the Never Never (1982) directed by Igor Auzins. Jim Schembri interviewed him shortly after the release o f his second feature in collaboration with Auzins, The Coolangatta Gold (1984).

How has the relationship between you and director Igor Auzins de­ veloped?

Does your relationship help you understand how Auzins is going to film the screenplay?

Both Igor and I have a commit­ ment to the belief that the writerdirector relationship is important in the life of a film, and, indeed, in the life of the Australian film industry.

He approached me to do We of the Never Never and we discovered that our relationship worked.

Having put a lot of effort into it, we decided it would be crazy to throw it away, so we decided to do another film.

Absolutely. There are not too many unpleasant surprises. By the time we start shooting the film, we are both talking the same film and seeing the same images, and have been through the screenplay hund­ reds of times in casual discussion.

Igor and I work very closely to­ gether; however, I do like to get to first draft stage on my own. Col­ laborating too early on a project can muddy my motivations, drives and thinking. I try to get the first

draft down as quickly as I can so it is an object, something separate from myself, and something about which we can talk and develop together.

After the first draft, we define what the picture is about, how we can move more economically from A to B, and where it is working and where it isn’t. Then Igor dis­ appears again and leaves me to it. I don’t think writing is a process you can do with someone else in the room. At least I can’t.

The prevailing wisdom is that the director interprets the screen­ writer’s work and then projects his own vision on to it. Is that accurate?

Writers can be far too precious, as can directors and producers. A successful film should be the sum of many creative inputs; the moment one person attempts to impose his view on the total he is depriving the project of other crea­ tive efforts. The director is a major contributor and the writer should not resent that.

So you don’t have a problem of trying to direct the film from the pen or the typewriter?

I don’t have a problem about it because I just go ahead and do it.

If the screenplay writer can’t direct his view of the film on the page, then he ought to be a novelist or a radio writer. Every screenplay writer directs a film on the page

and any director who is threatened by that ought to be directing radio, too.

The Coolangatta Gold How did the idea for “The Coolangatta Gold’’ come about?

During the making of We of the Never Never, Igor and I decided that our next picture ought to be a contemporary love story in the sporting genre.

The film was first proposed as a low-budget one shot in Bondi for $1.5 million. Within days of think­ ing about the story and working on it, it became obvious that it was becoming a very big movie. When it became more involved and a lot bigger, Auzins and I formed a pro­ duction company, Angoloro Pro­ ductions, with John Weiley [pro­ ducer] as a third partner; that pro­ duction company bought my script back in December 1982. We knew from the outset that we were look­ ing at a budget of about $5 million and to raise that we would need a joint venturer. So I then took the screenplay to Hoyts-Edgley. The next day Hoyts-Edgley got back to us: it wanted to form the joint ven­ ture and do the picture that year [1983], and committed itself to raising the budget. So it was liter­ ally within 24 hours.

It is a project that works on two levels. On the one level, it is immensely marketable and promotable: a very commercial

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 35

Peter Schreck

In establishing the film’s dramatic structure around Steve (Joss Mc­ William), you are saying that a parallel development of the rela­ tionship between Robyn (Robyn Nevin) and Joe (Nick Tate) would be a digression. But surely, if you could develop that and make it dramatic and involving, it would com plem ent the commercial potential of the film rather than detract from it . . .

I wanted to follow the story o f the boy. It was an identification lead film and I wanted the audience to be with him.

McWilliam) in Igor Auzins’ The Coolangatta Gold.

screenplay clearly targeted to the large youth audience. At the same time, it has layers of family con­ flict and the like operating.

Did it impose any conditions on or make any changes to the script?

No. The only changes I made to the screenplay as a result of the Hoyts-Edgley input were to remove the word “ blue” , as in fight, because the Americans would not understand it, and some other Australian expression; I can’t remember what it was.

That is remarkable; one would expect that if Hoyts-Edgley were going to market a big film here and overseas it would have very strong ideas on what it wanted . . .

Hoyts-Edgley did have, and the screenplay was it. One of the reasons we were able to go through the joint venture process over two years without a single major dis­ agreement was that we had the pic­ ture that we wanted to do and it had the picture it wanted to do.

That pre-empted any likelihood of conflict. That is not to say it didn’t have more input during production and post-production — it just didn’t ask for any script changes.

“The Coolangatta Gold” is an obviously commercial film. How do you define the commercial elements in the film that are going to draw the large audiences?

The obvious answer is that the commercial elements are the dancing, the motorbikes, the

music, the glossy sets, the Ironmen, the beach and surf, and the spectacle.

But all of that is secondary. The primary commercial aspect of the film is the character story, the uni­ versal story of adolescent turmoil and conflict between brothers and with parents, the loneliness of adolescence, and the desire for approval, for friendship and for a girl. The rest is icing that makes it more commercial.

Did you pick those commercial ele­ ments — the girl, the macho Aussie beach culture — and build the characters and situations around them or was it the reverse?

The reverse. There have been a lot of films which have failed because the writer attempted to do the icing first and the cake second.

If you can get the characters right and touch some universal chord in the audience, then, and only then, can you dress it up. If you try to do it the other way around, you will come up with Summer Lovers; that for me would be a classic example of how not to go about it — icing and no cake.

Igor and I wanted to do a story about sport and love, but when you look at the ones that have worked, sporting love stories are also straight dramas, conflict stories. Having decided the film was to be directed at a youth audi­ ence rather than a middle-class adult one, the need for parental approval and sibling rivalry, best summed up by the story of Cain and Abel, became the heart of the film. The decisions to make them

36 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Ironmen, to make the girl a ballet dancer rather than a librarian, and to have them live on a banana plantation rather than work in a factory are very important ones, but they are not make or break decisions.

What constraints did you have to place on yourself in terms of character development to make a commercial film?

One makes judgments as to what is “ commercial” . In this case, I wanted to follow the story of the boy. It was an identification lead film and I wanted the audi­ ence to be with him. I wanted his emotional graph to be pretty much its emotional graph. I sensed that to spend too much time away from him would let the audience off the hook and it would be hard to get them back on again for the style of film I was doing.

I would have loved to have spent a lot of time exploring why that family is the way it is. A lot of the problems in that family stem from the relationship between the mother and the father. The father’s sense of failure, which is the dramatic impetus of the film, derives largely from how he believes his wife perceives him. Yet the mother, who is therefore one of the main forces of the film, has almost no dialogue and only one big scene and one small scene.

That is all I have given her to work with; that is all I have given myself to work with because I would have been off the tracks had I spent more screen time conveying that information to the audience.

It could have been a way to go.

However, I had more than I could handle in following, understanding and exploring Steve and his emotions. The important thing was how the family impinges on him rather than an exploration of the family conflict itself. I needed to know enough about it to know how it was affecting Steve and then I had to make the audience sense the rest. I decided I would go for the momentum and the sense of the conflict rather than stop the momentum and explore the family conflict for its own sake. Which is not to say that the conflict is un­ important, but that it would have been wrong to stop and explore it in detail. However, I am sure most of the audience sense that this is a pretty screwed-up family.

But isn’t it possible to come up with a film that is just as commer­ cially orientated yet which explores those themes?

Certainly, one could have chosen to do Ordinary People but I had just done We of the Never Never, which was a very talky piece, all about unstated conflicts and misunderstandings. I had had enough of that and I wanted to do something more punchy.

The film opens with close profile shots of Steve in the karate studio, and cuts to Kerri (Josephine Smulders) in the ballet room. The cutting between them seems to establish the stereotypes of macho male and beautiful young sex object, a dramatic code the film seems to play on . . .

Perhaps that is the way it comes across, or the way it comes across to you. I saw that particular sequence you are talking about as the reverse. What I was trying to say was that karate can be every bit as poetic and sensual as is ballet, and that ballet can be every bit as physical as karate.

But those characters, for the most part, stay within stereotypes.

Steve’s character is explored and perhaps goes a little outside the male macho stereotype, but Kerri does very little in the film other than show her body off . . .

Kerri is a very unexplored character, I would not deny that.

Whether or not we like it, and I am sure there will be a great many

Peter Schreck

Cinema Papers readers who won’t like it, that is the way it is with a lot of these films. The girl is there for the love and romance interest. It is not very satisfying for me, but you just don’t have the screen time to develop them.

I had a very complicated family and a very complicated young man to develop, and that was more than I could handle in 112 minutes and 96 pages of script. I didn’t have the time or the pages to spend develop­ ing and understanding a complex ballet dancer.

Gold” is a contemporary film and very much in the foreground of its dramatic structure are the images of assertive male and passive female stereotypes. Now, might not that vitiate the claim that the film is contemporary because people will see those values as being male-chauvinist and sexist, and belonging to a different period?

That is a view of the film that I never expected. Surely the point of the story is that Steve rejects those stereotypes.

As far as the young characters So Kerri’s character was a com­ mercial element you had to include are concerned, the film was not in­ tended to be a study of contem­ in the film? porary Australian males and From the point of view of females, and the relationships be­ pacing, yes. The word “ commer­ tween them. However, one of the cial” sometimes has undertones things that interested me was the that are unpleasant, and it is im­ problems that Australian males portant to realize that just as com­ impose on themselves and their mercial may translate into making families, problems such as their f a lot of money, it can also translate obsession with winning and with into reaching a lot of people. In masculinity, and the juvenile reaching a lot of people, I believe notion that physical prowess is a that the pace of this film is very im­ replacement for masculinity. In the portant and that just as it dictates case of Joe, they are very real against stopping to explore the problems. Any individual reaching family so, too, it dictates against his forties, who measures his self­ stopping to explore the character worth, prowess and virility only in of Kerri Dean. It is part of the physical terms, is destined inevit­ writer’s, the director’s and the ably for some sort of majorcrisis. actor’s craft to convey as much as These questions provide the pri­ mary dramatic impetus through one can on the run.

Joe, for the conflict between Joe In a film such as “ The Man From and Steve, and the conflict within Snowy River” , which focused very Steve. much on sex stereotypes, the drama works and is acceptable to There are developments in Steve’s the general public because it was character that show he does not dealing with something that want to run on the beach for the happened 100 years ago, and per­ rest of his life. But the macho, haps accurately reflected the values bronzed male image seems an of those times. “ The Coolangatta essential visual key to the film . . .

That is exactly the point; Joe’s race is a macho one, and Steve finds he doesn’t want to run Joe’s race and be untrue to himself. This ‘macho’ phrase is a vast over­ simplification: the Australian male ethos dominates Joe’s life, and Steve finds himself sucked into it; his triumph is that he is able to step aside from it and walk away.

The impression one gets from the film is that Joe’s failure stems from his failing to win the Ironman contest in 1960, and that Robyn is not that interested in the rivalry or in seeing him as a victori­ ous Ironman . . .

Top: “Kerri [Josephine Smulders] is a very unexplored character, I would not deny that. “ Above: . . one o f the things that interested me was the problems that Australian males impose on themselves and their families . . . ”: Joe Lucas (Nick Tate). The Coolangatta Gold.

Joe is quite wrong about the expectations of Robyn. Because he never won the damn thing, he began seeing himself as a failure, and assumes that she sees him as a failure, too. Maybe she does — but it is not because he came second in some race 20 years ago.

However, Robyn is not a saint.

She expects certain things of him, so his sense of being a failure in her eyes is not totally unfounded. But the tragedy for him is that he sees Concluded on p. 84

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 37

Geoff Mayer

“ January 1942 — we were under siege. Thanks for the deceit England! Thanks for nothing America!”

The promotion of, and reaction towards, The Last Bastion has inevitably concentrated on the “ truth” , or historical accuracy, of the series.

Interviews with David Williamson, one of the co-producers and co-writers, in newspapers and on television included a warning that The Last Bastion was “ not a history lesson, it is a drama about extremely interesting people under great stress” . These interviews, perhaps through no fault of Williamson, concentrated on the “ new” information unearthed by the writers and the ability of the series to, at last, provide the “ truth” about the early war years.

The production team for the series has gone to some lengths to ensure that this process takes place. Newsreel and archival footage is care­ fully inserted at significant points in the narra­ tive and a voice-over is used in an attempt, not very successful, to capture the intense polariza­ tion reflected by, and the stridency of, wartime newsreels. There has also been an attempt to satisfy the “ popular memory” of the leading figures in the drama by careful casting and costuming.

Perhaps even more important, however, is the significant changes in the narrative voice.

For example, to identify characters as “ non-fic­ tional” , a printed title appears below the intro­ duction of the major characters denoting their name and position. This device, as well as the printed titles accompanying the archival 38 — Fehruary-March CINEMA PAPERS

footage, constantly reminds the audience that the characters were “ real” and that the events actually took place.

What I would like to follow through in this article is the concept of the “ historical truth” of the series, not necessarily to question its his­ torical accuracy, if there is such a thing, but to attempt to foreground the dominant discourse and, consequently, underline Williamson’s point that the series is, above all else, a drama based on a traditional dramatic construction devised to persuade its audience of a particular point of view.

The point of view expressed by Williamson is that international politics can be very ruthless, particularly for a country such as Australia.

This theme forms the basis of the series but one should remember that The Last Bastion is con­ structed according to the narrative conventions of popular drama, and the specific require­ ments of the television mini-series. This is evident in the use of repetition, .the develop­ ment of parallel characters (e.g., Eddie Ward (Max Cullen) on the Left, Billy Hughes (Jon Ewing) on the Right) and the significance of the final confrontation between General Thomas Blarney (Ray Barrett) and General Douglas MacArthur (Robert Vaughn).

The difficulty with a series such as The Last Bastion is that it compounds the traditional pattern of popular film and television drama to deny all marks of enunciation. All popular film and television programs attempt to deny the source of their story. The drama is presented as a series of events which unfolds before the

viewer’s eyes. This problem is accentuated in The Last Bastion because of the reference to historical characters and events. As a conse­ quence, it is presented as a series of “ historical facts” , which must be accepted for the sake of coherence and understanding. This aspect derives from the original motivation for the program, which, according to Williamson, was the stories he heard as a child in Bairnsdale, when his father explained the plans to head for the hills with the children if the Japanese came any closer.

The unfolding of “ historical facts” is accentuated by the reference to contemporary documents by Williamson and co-producer and co-writer Denis Whitburn, together with the claim by Williamson that, “ I see the series as providing a realistic view of international politics at the time.” The newspaper promotion included headlines such as “Bastion Set To Shock Viewers” {Truth, 3 November 1984).

Peter McGregor in the Australian Teachers’ Curriculum Package cites the producers’ claim that “ they have unearthed new information about the war leaders which is ‘dynamite’ ” , which complements Williamson’s belief that, “ One of the exciting things about the series is that we will be substantially rewriting Aus­ tralian history.”

The emphasis on the “ historical facts” is something which the audience understands, and which provides it with a seemingly easy entry into what appears to be the true nature or dis­ course of the series. The emphasis on the his­ torical veracity operates on the viewer in much

the same way as a controversial topical dram a or even an election speech does: it destroys what the English aesthetician E dw ard Bullough called the “ psychical distance” 1 between the object, in this case the series and its audience.

In other words, the constant rem inder of the actuality o f the events, and the “ authenticity” o f the characters and their actions, prohibits the m aintaining of the norm al sense of “ distance” which is premised ultim ately on the knowledge th at the characters are “ unreal” or “ im aginary” .

Reaction tow ards the series is alm ost centred on a consideration o f the series’ “ accuracy” .

This appears to possess a num ber of built-in advantages, such as an autom atically acquired position o f aesthetic and artistic superiority to other form s of dram a, particularly rom antic dram a. No longer is it viewed in the same light as fictional m elodram a, but rather as a legitimate dram a directing its attention to serious issues. For example, Michael Shmith in a lengthy review in T h e A g e ’s “ Green G uide” (1 November 1984) applauds the “ skilful, adm irable and dram atic recounting of a pivotal point in our history” . The series represents, according to Shm ith, an example o f how A ustralian television has m atured, in this case into som ething o f true w orth: how it is able to present a behindclosed-doors version o f A ustralia at war w ithout having to lard it out with irrelevant love, interspersed with the occasional battle, showing hefty actors in com bat fatigues shooting at less hefty O riental actors.

This sense of aesthetic purity is also shared by W illiam son who dem onstrates his unwillingness to prostitute his craft by resisting an initial plan to sell the series direct to an Am erican netw ork.

This, W illiamson points out, would have m eant a total rewrite. Shm ith, grateful th at W illiam ­ son rejected the lure o f money and fame, conse­ quently argues th at as “ a piece o f television The Last Bastion offers the sort o f viewing that is all too rare. It is history w ithout frills.”

There is a host of unw arranted assum ptions in the positions put forw ard by Shm ith and W illiamson, but the one relevant to this article is the im plication that a position of “ tru th ” is retained by not pandering to the base interests o f the “ mass audience” and not allowing cheap dram atic contrivances (e.g., strengthening the love interest and turning Elsie C urtin (Nancye Hayes) into a glam orous blonde or “ irrelevant love scenes” or “ hefty actors in com bat fatig u es” ) to contam inate the historical “ facts” . C onsequently, historians of either the arm chair or the. academic variety can concen­ trate on the “ im p o rtan t” issues, such as the part played by British Prim e M inister W inston Churchill in opposing the return o f the A us­ tralian Sixth and Seventh Divisions from the M iddle East early in 1942. John R obertson, in a letter to T h e A g e (16 Novem ber 1984), insists th at W illiamson and W hitburn were incorrect in depicting Churchill as resisting A ustralian Prim e M inister John C u rtin ’s request for the return o f the two divisions. R obertson, author of A u s tr a lia G o e s to W a r, argues that Churchill first suggested the move on the 15 December 1941 whilst en route to the “ A rcadia” con­ ference with Am erican President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This suggestion, according to R obertson, was discussed in London and, on the 3 January 1942, the D om inions Office cabled C anberra asking if the A ustralian Governm ent would despatch the A ustralian 1. Edward Bullough, “ ‘Psychical Distance’ as a function in Art and the Aesthetic Principle” , in Aesthetics: Lectures and Essays, Bowes and Bowes, London, 1957.

“There has also been an attempt to satisfy the ‘popular memory’ o f the leading figures . . . by careful casting and costuming. ” Top: Churchill (Timothy West) gives the renowned “V fo r victory” sign. Above: John Curtin as played by Michael Blakemore. Below: Eleanor Roosevelt (June Salter), Elsie Curtin (Nancye Hayes) and John Curtin on arrival in Washington. Chris Thomson’s The Last Bastion.

The Last Bastion

Top: John Curtin and the leader o f the Opposition, Robert Menzies (John Wood). Above: Another side to General Douglas MacArthur (Robert Vaughn) as he entertains his young son Arthur (Erik Szaks). Below: Churchill and Herbert Evatt (Peter Whitford) in the British War Office. The Last Bastion.

divisions to the Netherlands East Indies. On the 5 January, Curtin agreed to this request.

Consideration of issues such as this, interest­ ing though they might be, only deflect attention away from the dominant narrative voice, the narrative discourse, of the series, in preference for an arbitrary selection of isolated incidents within the series. This is similar to falling into a bottomless barrel. Where does one draw the line in verifying the historical authenticity?

General Douglas M acArthur’s biographer, W illiam M a n c h e s te r2, p o in ts o u t th a t MacArthur expressly rejected the idea of a band greeting him on his arrival at the Spencer Street Station, yet the corresponding sequence in the series begins with a shot of a band.

Obviously, director Chris Thomson, and perhaps even the scriptwriters, wanted to heighten the visual and aural pleasure of this quite crucial sequence as MacArthur delivers his “ I shall return” speech. Is the authenticity of the series threatened if there really wasn’t a band on the station in 1942? Similarly, Mac­ Arthur’s “ I want each of you to kill me a Jap” was part of a motivational address to the newly arrived untried American soldiers in New Guinea. In the series, it is included in an aside to Eichelberger (Brian McDermott) and one of his aides. Does the change really matter?

It may, depending on a consideration of the discourse. A clue in this regard is contained in the television statements promoting the series: January 1942 — we were under siege. Thanks for the deceit England! Thanks for nothing America! Now we can tell you the true story.

The narrative voice is contained particularly in the “ we” and the “ you” in this statement and perpetuates the sense of the directness and the omniscient authority of this address. “ You” in the audience, in other words, are about to receive the “ truth” . In a similar vein, other promotions maintained that “ Now the secret story can be told” and “ This is how Australia learned to stand on her own two feet.’4 The latter statement was complemented by script­ writers Williamson and Whitburn’s producing contemporary documents in their attempt todemonstrate the relevance of Australia’s position in 1941-42 to Australia in the mid-1980s.

W h itb u rn c ite s a J o in t S tra te g ic Communique of February 1942 which refers to American plans to fall back to the defence lines of Alaska, Hawaii and Panama on the assump­ tion that the Japanese would conquer all of Australia. Similarly, Williamson offers an American document from 7 March 1942 which reveals that the British had lost all interest in the Pacific area, including Australia and New Zealand, except in the way it affected the Middle East. According to Admiral Turner, the British believed that although Australia and New Zealand were lost the war could still be won by the Allies.

The point to these documents, and to the series in general according to Williamson, was that Australia suddenly found itself alone and friendless in a big bad world.

We’re still alone and friendless in a big bad world and we have got to come to terms with that fact.3 Don’t expect, argues Williamson, your big and powerful friends to come to your aid in a crisis unless it is in their interest.

Through selection and interpretation of characters and events The Last Bastion expresses this. There are three main “ figures of 2. American Caesar, Hutchinson, London, 1979: 3. In an interview on The Making of “ The Last Bastion” , Channel 10.

40 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

The Last Bastion

Hr ÏÏH-'ir

know ledge” : th at is, characters who articulate the “ tru th ” or “ reality” of a situation within the series. They are Frederick Shedden (Neil Fitzpatrick), Secretary o f the D epartm ent of D e f e n c e , G e n e r a l T h o m a s B la r n e y , C o m m a n d e r-in -C h ie f o f th e A u s tra lia n M ilitary Forces, and, o f course, John C urtin (Michael Blakem ore), although Ben Chifley (Bill H unter) could have been included in this category.

C urtin is the m ost significant figure in this regard and there appears little point to the prologue set in W ashington in 1944 except to establish the im portance o f C urtin as the dom inant authority in the text. The prologue fades from C u rtin ’s com m ent to Roosevelt “ th at it was a bloody close shave” to the newsreel footage o f the G erm an invasion of Poland in Septem ber 1939. W ithin the conven­ tions and heroic param eters o f popular dram a, C urtin proved to be ideal m aterial, as W illiam ­ son readily adm its: It is one o f those cases where a man who was not thought to have the qualities o f the job, because he was thought to be . . . too vacillating, too weak, anti-conscriptionist, suddenly gets the job and blossoms. T h a t’s good dram a, too. It is a situation of character grow th in a situation of extreme duress.4 Also, it was C urtin who provided the title for the series in his 1942 appeal to ‘President Roosevelt: We are the last bastion between you and the West C oast o f A m erica. If you let us fall, Am erica itself is in danger.

But above all else, it is C urtin who realizes that, the whole scheme o f dam n . . . som ething

world is in flames. In the larger things A ustralia doesn’t m atter a L et’s get o ff our backsides and do ab out it!

He articulates the “ tru th ” , accusing A ustra­ lians o f failing to realize the gravity o f the situation, attending football m atches, race meetings and night clubs. He represents the “ m iddle” position, attacking both the Right for profiteering and the wharfies on the Left for not pulling their weight.

4. ibid.

C urtin is the only character privileged in the series with a family or private life, and audience identification is strengthened through access to his inner pain, particularly his regret in being a wartime leader: W artime is a lousy time to be a Labor Prim e M inister . . . Everything becomes sub­ ordinate to the running of a war. All your hopes of a better society go by the wayside.

With C urtin established as the central figure of knowledge, other wartim e leaders, notably R obert Menzies (John W ood), the leader of the O pposition, Churchill (Tim othy West), M acA rthur and, to a lesser extent, Roosevelt (W arren Mitchell) are carefully interpreted to polarize the series of confrontations involving Curtin, thereby clarifying the main theme of the series.

The effect o f this careful interpretation and selection is to constantly utilize a proven m elo­ dram atic device which could be simply stated as, “ We are innocent, everybody is against u s.”

Not that there is anything really wrong in employing such a device; it has been used effec­ tively in dram as ranging from D .W . G riffith ’s Broken Blossoms through Mrs Miniver to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Thus, attem pts to isolate and analyze specific historical events within the series should first consider this dom inant discourse.

The correctness of C u rtin ’s position is constantly reinforced by a series of declam atory speeches. He tells F rank F orde (Colin McEwan): “ In the last war neither side was right. In this war one side is.” He then concludes the series with one o f those predictive speeches which tends to destroy the carefully worked out contem porary ambience and to foreground the discursive basis o f the whole series. W alking along the colonnades o f the A ustralian W ar M em orial he reminds Blarney that: “ No one ever wins a war. W hen are we ever going to learn, T o m ?”

A less conspicuous figure of knowledge is the S ecretary o f th e D efence D e p a rtm e n t, Frederick Shedden, who, according to the series, anticipated G reat B ritain’s inability to assist A ustralia and, hence, the need to turn to the United States as far back as 1929. His criticisms o f C hurchill' em anate from this position of authority and assist the audience’s reading of the conflict between Churchill and

Top, left: from left to right, Vice Marshall Portal (Rhys McConnochie), Churchill and General Haining (Peter Collingwood). Top, right: Curtin broadcasts to Australians. Above: Curtin and Franklin D. Roosevelt (Warren Mitchell). The Last Bastion.

successive A u stralian leaders. C hu rch ill’s position regarding the use of the A ustralian troops, and the struggle for authority with a recalcitrant colony, is never established as legitimate within the dom inant discourse.

C onsequently, the series only selects certain activities and attitudes involving the British leader. C hurchill’s reference to Gallipoli could only be included to provide the audience with a position to read his com m ents and behaviour in the confrontation over the deploym ent o f the A ustralian troops: .

If they [Australians! got on with the jo b at Gallipoli in the last war we would have swept the D ardanelles. You can ’t breed a decent race out o f convicts and Irishm en.

At a time when B ritain was battling for her very survival, the only im pression one gets of Churchill is o f a m an totally preoccupied with making disparaging rem arks about the back­ ground o f Menzies (“ grocer’s son with a flea in his ear” ) and C urtin, or plotting to underm ine

Concluded on p. 87 CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 41

Leading film critics and industry personnel were asked to list their Top 10 film s fo r 1984.

Any film seen last year qualified fo r inclusion.

Compiled by Patricia Amad W ÊÊ iigilBP? ¡g g |

5. Meantime

Rod Bishop Phillip Institute of Technology, Melbourne

1. Camminacammina Neglected, under-rated and missing more than two hours, Ermanno Olmi’s bitter sweet critique of the Nativity fable is still good enough to recall the greatness of Carl Dreyer.

2. Paris, Texas A seamless collaboration of talent, with most of Wim Wenders’ previous film s re so n a tin g th ro u g h this atmospheric saga of American family life.

3. In This Life’s Body Although screenings are rare, this powerfully honest two-and-a-halfhour autobiography made by veteran experimentalist Corinne Cantrill was the Australian film of the year; at least a hundred times better than Razor-

back.

4. Yol Torm ented view of power and authority in modern Turkey from Yilmaz Giiney who directed the film from gaol before dying in exile in France.

Mike Leigh’s bleak portrayal of a chronically unemployed working-class family was made for television, but ranks with the finest of British realist cinema.

6. Once Upon a Time in America Two American gangster sagas released during 1984 were encased in a view of a d r u g - s o a k e d A m e ric a slo w ly anaesthetizing itself against ‘civilized’ behaviour. Sergio Leone aimed a little high, but his intelligent, seductive direction more than made up for his 10-year absence from the screen.

7. Scarface

view of the father of the ‘beat genera­ tion’ by Howard Brookner; the can­ tankerous, fusty septuagenarian writer is still making cracks about his metha­ done treatment.

9. Burroughs

42 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Schlesinger)

Meantime

10. Out of the Blue American film saved in production by the ubiquitous Dennis Hopper who also turns in a harrowing performance as a suicidally neurotic, working-class father struggling with his street-wise daughter to make sense of a low-life, ‘white trash’ society.

Paul Harris

Sandra Hall

These are the 10 films that I enjoyed seeing this year. It was quite an effort to compile this list: filmmaking is either at a low ebb or I am ageing faster than I thought.

Undermined by some indulgent crane shots and the ‘star’ quality surround­ The Bulletin ing A1 Pacino, Brian de Palma is sur­ prisingly restrained with this allegoric In no particular order: vision of the U.S.’s cocaine mafia.

Silkwood (Mike Nichols) 8 . Videodrome The Ploughman’s Lunch (Richard David Cronenberg’s gently ironic Eyre) satire of the horror genre used an Fanny och Alexander (Fanny and intelligent, if fanciful, script based on Alexander, Ingmar Bergman) a conspiracy of Right Wing terrorists Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, manipulating video technology to Lord of the Apes (Hugh Hudson) create brain tumors in America’s II gattopardo (The Leopard, Luchino scum population.

- Visconti, full-length version) Affectionate, humorous, and sober

Strikebound (Richard Lowenstein) Paris, Texas An Englishman Abroad (Jo h n

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Steven Spielberg) -

“ Film Buffs’ Forecast’’, 3RRR, Melbourne

Narayama bushi-ko (The Ballad of Narayama, Shohei Imamura) Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen) Entre nous (Diane Kurys) Fast Talking (Ken Cameron) Gremlins (Joe Dante) Heller wahn (Labour of Love, Mar­ garetha Von Trotta)

Meantime Pauline a la plage (Pauline at the Beach, Eric Rohmer) Splash (Ron Howard) Swing Shift (Jonathan Demme)

Top 10 fo r ’84

Ivan Hutchinson The Seven Network and The Video Age, Melbourne

In no particular order: Once Upon a Time in America El norte (Gregory Nava) Trading Places (John Landis) Underfire (Roger Spottiswood) The Right Stuff (Phillip Kaufman) Le retour de Martin Guerre (The Return of Martin Guerre, Daniel Vigne) Un dimanche a la campagne (A Sunday in the Country, Bertrand Tavernier) Racing with the Moon (Richard Benjamin) The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan) The Ploughman’s Lunch

Neil Jillett The Age, Melbourne

I find it impossible to list a 10-best in any sane order this year, so this list is a bit eccentric.

Best Film (by several kms): La nuit de Varennes (The Night at Varennes, Ettore Scola) Best Australian film: My First Wife (Paul Cox), with Razorback (Russell Mulcahy) close behind.

Best American Film: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Other admired films in no particular order: Sally och friheten (Sally and Freedom, Gunnell Lindblom) El norte Trading Places Eating Raoul (Paul Bartel) La dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias, Mauro Bolognini) Demonios en el jardin (Demons in the Garden, Manuel Gutierrez Aragon) Strangers Kiss (Matthew Chapman) Scarface Die flambierte frau (Woman in Flames, Robert van Ackeren) Gremlins

Michael Roller Secretary, Melbourne Cinematheque

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Carmen (Carlos Saura) Splash The Terminator (James Cameron) Underfire Den enfaldage moedaran (The Simple-Minded Murderer, Hans Alfredson) Fast Talking The Right Stuff Entre nous La balance (Bob Swaim) Pauline at the Beach

Richard Lowenstein Director

A list of the five best and five worst films of 1984. I would be hard-pressed to find more than five to put in my top ten for this year.

Best F ive o f 1984

Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jar­ musch) The Brother From Another Planet (John Sayles) Le bal (Ettore Scola) Paris, Texas Metropolis (Fritz Lang, original ver­ sion) W orst Five o f 1984

Conan, The Destroyer (Richard Fleischer) Silver City (Sophia Turkiewicz) My First Wife Where the Green Ants Dream (Werner Herzog) Dune (David Lynch) I have left out Strikebound because, after sitting through 40 viewings of it around the world, I don’t know whether it should be in the best five or the worst five.

Dougall MacDonald The Canberra Times, Canberra

The criterion for this list is that of being happy to see the film again rather than a consideration of its intrinsic worthiness. In no particular order: Lianna (John Sayles) The Ballad of Narayama Fanny and Alexander Never Cry Wolf (Carroll Ballard) The Ploughman’s Lunch Koksi kulissen (Ladies on the Rocks, Christian Braad Thomsen) Paris, Texas Carmen Betrayal (David Jones) Broadway Danny Rose

Natalie Miller Director, Sharmill Films and the Longford Cinema

Children shouldering the burden o f aging parents: Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto) and Tatsuhei (Ken Ogata). Shohei Imamura’s Narayama bushi-ko (The Ballad o f Narayama).

Ascendancy (Edward Bennett) Le bal Stranger than Paradise Betrayal Meantime Paris, Texas Kemira — Diary of a Strike (Tom Zubrycki)

The boyhood friends, “Fat M oe” (Mike Monetti), “Patsy” (James Hayden), Max (Rusty Jacobs) and “Cockeye” (William Forsythe), who become powerful gang-land figures in Sergio Leone’s One Upon a Time in America.

Man of Flowers (Paul Cox) La traviata (Franco Zeffirelli) Doro no kawa (Muddy River, Kohei Oguri)

Scott Murray Cinema Papers, Melbourne

The Leopard Then, in alphabetical order: The Big Chill An Englishman Abroad La femme d’à côté (Woman Next Door, François Truffaut) L’hypothèse d’un tableau volé (The Hypothesis of a Stolen Painting, Raul Ruiz) Identificazione di una donna (Identi­ fication of a Woman, Michelangelo Antonioni) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Kônnyu testi sériés (Light Physical Injuries, Gyôrgy Szomjas) Nicaragua: no pasaran (David Brad­ bury) Reckless (James Foley)

Electric Dreams (Steve Barron) Entre nous The Leopard Once Upon a Time in America Paris, Texas Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, re­ released) Silkwood Vertigo (Alfred H itchcock, re­ released) Best Australian film: Razorback

Peter Thompson Sunday, Sydney

In no particular order: Nineteen Eighty-Four (Michael Rad­ ford) Un amour de Swann (Swann in Love, Volker Schlondorff) Gremlins Splash Danton (Andrjez Wajda) Never Cry Wolf Silkwood Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Once Upon a Time in America My First Wife

Ian Pringle Kim Williams

Director

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Pauline at the Beach Paris, Texas Light Years Away (Alain Tanner) The Big Chill Silkwood King Blank (Michael Oblowitz) I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Brian McKenzie) 8. Tender Mercies (Bruce Beresford) 9. The Muppets Take Manhattan (Jim Henson) 10. The Night at Varennes

...

——

«—a—

Chief executive, Australian Film Commission

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Yol Nicaragua: no pasaran Nineteen Eighty-Four Carmen Strikebound My First Wife Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l’anglo come un brigante di strada (Scherzo, Lina Wertmüller) 8. Annie’s Coming Out (Gil Brealey) 9. Silver City' 10. The Big Chill

Tom Ryan “ The Sunday Show” , 3LO, Melbourne

In alphabetical order: Daniel (Sidney Lumet)

Also approached were Phillip Adams, chairman, Australian Film Commis­ sion; Tina Kaufman, editor, F ilm ­ news.

ir

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 43

A lthough Bill C onti's nam e is m o st im m ediately associated with his m usic f o r the fir s t o f the R o ck y trilogy (John G. A vildsen, 1976), he has written the m usic scores f o r a range o f critically successful film s: P au l M azurs k y ’s B lum e in L o v e (1973), H arry and Tonto (1974) and A n U nm arried W om an (1977) ; John G. A vild sen 's Slow D ancing in the Big C ity (1978) and The K arate K id (1984); and Phillip K aufm an's The R ight S tu ff (1983). C onti spen t tw o weeks in Sydney recording the m usic f o r The C oolangatta G o ld where D orre K oeser interview ed him.

Your music is very sensitive to moods, often very dramatic . . .

I have always liked music which evokes something in you, which is why I admire the dramatic com­ posers, the real ones from the past from whom we all steal.

Whether it is supposed to make you happy or cry or be afraid, music has to communicate some­ thing, but not just intellectually: it has to have an emotional message.

That is the kind of music I like to hear, therefore it is the kind of music I like to write.

Is there any style of music which you prefer?

I prefer changing. I have just finished Mass Appeal, with Jack Lemmon and Charles Durning, which has a baroque score. I am not saying it is better than Bach, but it is totally baroque music. It 44 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

was fun. The Karate Kid is a movie that has pan pipes, a big orchestra and rock ’n’ roll, all when it is needed. The Right Stuff is purely symphonic, but also has some syn­ thesized music.

All my colleagues are trained in classical music, but our ears are open to today’s music; we are just like musical sponges in a sense. If a director says to me he wants Mozart, I’ll give him Mozart; it doesn’t matter to me. I understand and can write in the styles of Mozart, Beethoven and Mahler, but if you want rock ’n ’ roll, I can write it. You have to be prepared to master all styles of music — that is, unless you have your trade­ mark, which means you only write a certain kind of music and people only call you if they have a picture that works in those terms.

What is your approach when you are given a film to look at?

Two composers — Bill Conti

Kerri Dean (Josephine Smulders) and Steve Lucas (Joss McWilliam), young lovers in Igor Auzins’ The Coolangatta Gold.

Once you have seen the movie and found that it excites you in some way, you then meet with the director and perhaps the producer.

You discuss where the music would go and why, the size of the orchestra, how big the music is, if there is a restriction on the number of musicians because of the budget and so on.

As well as the many administra­ tive problems there are creative problems: for instance, when the director says he would like the music to begin at a certain point and you don’t agree. I would then ask for a motivation, just as an actor would. Why does the music start here? What point of view does the music take? Am I supposed to be telling the audience something? Whose point of view is it?

Most of the time there is agree­ ment about where the music starts and ends, and what its nature should be. Those initial, concep­ tual things are critical. On some movies you don’t agree about the

Brothers and rivals: Steve and Adam (Colin Friels). The Coolangatta Gold.

concept, and you may decide not lines make the cuts go away or the cutting in a movie can be high­ to do the movie together.

If, however, I choose to go lighted by hitting those cuts with ahead with it, I am given a video music changes. If I do something cassette of the film, from which I that is long and linear, and the cuts are going by, and I am not point­ take the specific timings. ing them out, you are following the Do you ever feel restricted by the music. It works hand in hand. You timings, by having to compose five can be very precise or very loose, seconds here and 50 seconds there? depending on the quality of the movie — the quality that it has, Not at all. When a composer is not the value quality.

I don’t ever feel restricted writing music for music’s sake, he decides that the music is to go in a because there is a 25-second or particular direction. He takes the four-minute cue. The last two reels turn and the music follows until it of The Coolangatta Gold, for wants to go in another direction. instance, are 20 minutes of music In a film, when the film turns left without stopping. That is a lot of music. So, in a case like that, one you turn left. , The form presents its restric­ has to ask if it is too much. I don’t tions, but it is not a problem. The know. It just has to fit the movie. goal of a film composer is not to have complete, crazy freedom; the Do you rely heavily on a music goal is to follow the film. Some­ editor? times you can do it right to the For the specific timings; I don’t frame — every time something happens on the screen the music go around with a stopwatch. The goes plank — or you can be music editor takes the particu­ generic. Sometimes long sweeping lar scenes, and breaks them down,

MrMiyagi (Noriyuki “P at” Morita) teaches Daniel (Ralph Macchio) precision o f body and spirit. John G. Avildsen’s The Karate Kid.

on typewritten sheets, to the hund­ redths of a second.

The music editor system has always existed in the U.S.; it is not that way in Australia and it wasn’t that way in Europe for quite a while, too. There, they would just use a stopwatch.

Do you system?

prefer the American

Yes. I began in Europe, so it is not as if I don’t know how it works the other way; but the American way is more precise. My end of the business is double-headed: I have to be very good technically, and I also have to make music. The tech­ nical end I don’t even want to think about. It must be perfect and there are people who do that.

On The Coolangatta Gold, we had a music editor. The film was sent to the U.S., and he took off all the timings that we needed for the movie. After that, the music is composed to those timings and recorded, which means contracts

John Glenn (Ed Harris), who becomes the first American to orbit the earth three times, inside the Mercury space capsule. Phillip Kaufmann’s The Right Stuff.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 45

Two composers — Bill Conti

The Coolangatta Gold is a strong picture which needs a lot of music and a big orchestra, which is always good for a composer. In terms of the music and the experi­ ence of coming here, it worked out just fine. In terms of timing, it was tight. Everything in Australia was organized at the same time for the kind of recording that we did, sym­ phonic recording and locations such as the Opera House and Town Hall, which are pretty cum­ bersome things to get together.

The Opera House has not been used for recording film music before . . .

I don’t take any credit for that; the crew should. They did a great job.

Dorre Koeser

How long did you actually spend writing for “The Coolangatta Gold” ?

The recording session fo r The Coolangatta Gold at the Sydney Town Hall on 10 September 1984. Composer Bill Conti is conducting.

with the orchestra, studio, players and copyists. The film will be mixed on three tracks — dialogue, effects and music — so my music track has to run in sync with the film. Normally, the music editor would do that and cut for the dubbing, when everything finally gets mixed and the door slams sound louder than the orchestra.

How often do you look at a film before you start composing?

I look at a scene once or twice on the video. After that, I rely on my timings. I receive an emotional ‘something’ from looking at it, that has meaning to me in some way, and I have certain goals and aims to express in the music in rela­

tion to that scene. Then I sit down to do it. There is no sense in staring at a scene over and over again.

What you are looking for is not going to be in the film, but in the music.

A difficult scene would take a bit more viewing than others, but generally I go on first impressions.

Everyone who goes to the movies, even if they see a film 10 times, is going to have an initial reaction, and that is what really counts. It is the same for me as for the viewer.

How much influence do you have in the way your music is finally presented?

As the musician I have an opinion, but it doesn’t really

count. Someone else is taking responsibility for the film; if the director doesn’t like the music, then he throws it out. It is a purely subjective dictatorship. So the con­ flict they say is there is a conflict that is invented. It is beside the point what I think would be right for the movie. I offer my opinion — and I am very opinionated — but I am not going to get hurt by anything a director does.

You have worked with the same directors on several projects, which implies mutual esteem and good working relationships. Is there a director in particular with whom you have enjoyed working?

I can’t say there is one, but I have done five pictures with John Avildsen, four with Paul Mazursky, and pictures with John Cassa­ vetes and Howard Zieff. There are good guys and bad guys. People who listen and share and who are going for the common good are the most fun; the guy who knows he is “ the boss” and tells you he is the boss is boring, whether he is a film director or anybody else. Most of the people I have worked with have been great.

How did you come to work on “ The Coolangatta Gold” ?

A ballet sequence from The Coolangatta Gold. Conti also composed for a ballet sequence in Slow Dancing in the Big City.

46 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Someone called my agent with an inquiry about my availability, We then saw the video and thought it was exciting. I have always had a fascination with Australia, because of Australian friends of mine, so the whole combination seemed charming.

Three weeks writing in the U.S. and two weeks working here. The writing is part of it, but there is also the looking, the note-taking and the concept talks with the director. It was five weeks of actually writing, conducting and putting it all together.

What were your first impressions of “ The Coolangatta Gold” that inspired the great range of musical styles in the film?

The film has a few things going for it, rather than just one thing.

The spectacular photography and amazing locations, for instance, can be approached a certain way musically, symphonically. It is an intense, well-written story about young people today — that gives another approach. Someone wants to be in a rock ’n’ roll band, and so on. All these aspects set the para­ meters of an eclectic score in which you have different kinds of music and which, hopefully, weave together to make a whole experi­ ence.

Of your earlier scores, the one for “ Slow Dancing in the Big City” is possibly the most dramatic. What was your experience on that film?

Oh, wonderful because I got to write a ballet. In fact, I got to write two ballets because [director] John Avildsen didn’t think the first one was right. John is very forward; he has an idea and goes after it. There is about 10 minutes of music in the film when no one talked: I liked that. The movie didn’t do any business and I don’t know why. I think it is a neat little movie.

Why didn’t Avildsen like the first ballet?

There was a mis-something between choreographer, director and myself. My idea of contemporary dancers and what they are listening Concluded on p. 88

Üü

____________ :

Edited by Peter Beilby and Ross Lansell

AUSTRALIAN

MOTION PICTU RE YEARBOOK .

1 9 8 3

-

m

Words and Images is the first Australian book to examine the relationship between literature and film. Taking nine major examples of recent films adapted from Australian novels — including The Getting of Wisdom, My Brilliant Career and The Year of Living Dangerously — it looks at some of the issues in transposing a narrative from one medium to the other. This lively book provides valuable and entertaining insight for all those interested in Australian films and novels.

Published by Heinemann Publishers Australia in association with Cinema Papers.

210 pp

Australian Movies to the World At the end of the 1960s Australia had virtually no film industry. By 1983 its movies were being shown throughout the cinema-going world, from mainstream theatres in America to art houses in Europe.

In a rapid transformation, a country which had previously been best known for its kangaroos and koalas produced something new and surprising: to quote Time magazine, “ the world’s most vital cinema, extravagantly creative, fiercely indigenous’’.

Australian Movies to the World looks at how this transformation came about and how those movies broke into the international market. And, through interviews with Australian and overseas directors, producers, actors, distribution executives and critics, it tells the story of the people who made it all possible.

Published by Fontana Australia and Cinema Papers,

The International

144 pp 1

BACK ISSUES !

Number 1 January 1974

Number 2 April 1974

Number 3 July 1974

David W illia m s o n Ray Harryhausen. Peter Weir G illian A rm strong. Ken G. Hall Tariff Board Report.

Antony I Gm nane The Cars That Ate Paris

Violence in the Cinem a A lvin Purple. Frank M oorhouse S a ndy H a rb u tt F ilm U n d e r A lle n d e Nicholas Roeg Between W ars

John P a p a d o p o io u s .

W illis O 'Brien. The M cDonagh Sisters Richard B re n n a n . L u is B u ñ u e l The True Story of Eskim o Nell

Number 14 October 1977

Number 15 January 1978

Number 16 April-June 1978

Phil Noyce. Eric Rohmer.

John Huston. Blue Fire Lady S u m m e r f i e ld C hinese Cinem a.

Tom C o w a n , F ra n c o is Truffaut. Delphine Seyrig.

The Irishm an The C hant of J im m ie B la c k s m ith Sri Lankan C inem a. The Last Wave

P atrick. Swedish Cinem a.

J o h n D u ig a n . S te v e n Spielberg. Dawn! M outh to M outh Film P eriod­ icals.

Number 10 September-October 1976 Nagisa Oshim a. Philhppe Mora. Gay Cinem a. John Heyer. Krzysztof Zanussi.

M a rc o F e rre ri. M a rc o Bellocchio.

Number 11 January 1977

Number 12 April 1977

Number 13 July 1977

Emile de Antonio. A u s­ tralian Film Censorship.

Sam A r k o ff. R o m an P o la n s k i T h e P ic tu re Show Man. Don's Party.

S torm Boy

Kenneth Loach. Tom Haydon Bert Deling Piero Tosi John S co tt. John Dankworth. The G etting o f W is d o m J o u rn e y Am ong W omen.

Louise Malle. Paul Cox John Power. Peter Sykes.

B e rna rdo B ertolucci. F.J. H o ld e n In S e a rc h of Anna Index: V o lum e 3

Number 20 M arch-April 1979

Number 17 August-September 1978

Number 18 October-November 1978

Number 19 January-February 1979

Bill Bain Isabelle H up­ pert Polish Cinem a. The Night the P row ler Pierre Rissient. N ewsfront. Film Study Resources.

Index: V o lum e 4

John Lam ond D lm boola.

In d ia n C in e m a S o n ia B o r g . A la in T a n n e r .

C athy’s C h ild The Last Tasm anian

A n t o n y I. G in n a n e Jerem y Thom as Blue Fin A n d re w S a r r is . A s ia n C in e m a S p o n s o re d Docum entaries

Ken C a m e ro n . F re n c h C inem a Jim S h a rm a n My B rillia n t Career Film S tu d y R e s o u rc e s T he N ight the Prow ler

»

Number 22 July-August 1979 Bruce Petty A lbie Thoms N e w s fro n t F ilm S tu d y R e s o u rc e s K o s ta s Money M overs. The A u s­ tra lia n F ilm and T e le ­ vision S ch o o l­ Index: V olum e 5

Number 24 December 1979 January 1980 Brian T rencha rd Sm ith.

P a lm B e a c h . B ra z ilia n Cinem a Jerzy Toeplitz.

C o m m u n ity T e le v is io n .

A rth u r Hiller.

Number 25 February-March 1980

Number 26 April-May 1980

Number 27 June-July 1980

C h a in R e a c tio n David P u ttn a m C e n s o r s h ip .

Stir. Everett de Roche.

Touch and Go Film and Politics

The Films of Peter Weir.

Charles Joffe H arlequin N ationalism in Australian Cinem a The L ittle C o n ­ v ic t Index: V o lum e 6

The New Z ea land Film In d u s try T he Z M en Peter Y e ldha m . M aybe This Tim e. Donald Richie.

G r e n d e l, G r e n d e l, G rendel

Number 28 August-Septem ber 1980

Number 29 O ctober-Novem ber 1980

The Films of Bruce Beresford Stir. M elbourne and S ydney Film Festiva ls B re a k e r M o ra n t S tacy K each Roadgam es

Bob Ellis Actors Equity D e b a te U r i W in d t C r u is in g The L ast O u tla w Philippine C in ­ ema The Club

Number 36 January-February 1982

Number 37 March-April 1982

Number 38 June 1982

Number 39 August 1982

Number 40 October 1982

Number 41 December 1982

Number 42 March 1983

Kevin Dobson, B low Out. W om en in D ra m a .

M ichael Rubbo. Mad Max 2 Puberty Blues

S te p h e n M a c L e a n on S tarstruck. Jack! Weaver.

Peter Ustinov. W om en in Dram a. Reds, Heatwave.

G e o ff B u r r o w e s a n d George M iller on The Man F ro m S n o w y R iv e r , James Ivory, Phil Noyce, Joan Fontaine.

Helen Morse on Far East, Norwegian Cinema, Tw o L a w s , M e lb o u rn e and S y d n e y F ilm F e s tiv a l reports, M onkey G rip

Henri Safran, M oving Out, Michael Ritchie, Pauline Kael, W endy Hughes, Ray B a r r e tt, R u n n in g on Em pty

Ig o r A u z in s , L o n e ly Hearts, Paul Schrader, P e ter Tam m er, L ilia n a Cavani, We of th e N ever Never, Film Awards, E.T..

Mel Gibson, M o vin g Out, John W aters, Financing Films, L iv in g D a n g e ro u s­ ly, The P lains of Heaven

Number 43 May-June 1983

Number 44-45 April 1984

Number 46 July 1984

Number 47 August 1984

Number 48 October-November 1984

Number 49 December 1984

Sydney Pollack, The Dis­ m is s a l, M oving Out, Graeme Clifford, Dusty, Gandhi, 3-D Supplement.

Special Tenth Anniversary Issue, History of Cinema Papers, David Stevens, P h a r Lap, Mini-series,

Paul Cox, S tre e t Hero, Razorback, Jeremy Irons, A n n ie ’ s C o m in g O ut,

Richard Lowensteln, Rob­ b e ry U nder Arm s, Wim

Ken Cameron, My F irs t W ife, ABC tele-features, S trik e b o u n d , Motor-cycle Boys, S ilv e r C ity, B o d y ­ line.

A lain R esnais, 1984, Horror Films, Ic e m a n , Film Student’s Guide to Clichfe, O nce U pon a

Man o f R o w e rs

Alan J. Pakula, the NFA.

Wenders, David Bradbury, T h e B o u n ty , S o p hia Turkiewicz, Hugh Hudson.

Tim e in A m erica.

______________________________________________________________

ORDER FORM 1.

Cinema Pap

Subscriptions

EH 12 issues ($42) EH 18 issues ($60) EH

Please enter a subscription for 6 issues ($23) Please sta rt O

renew

O

my s u b s c rip tio n w ith the next issue. If a renew al, D elivered to your d oor

please state R ecord No. (Details)

Mr/Ms:_

post free

Given N a m e i

S urnam e:.

T itle :_____

Company: A d d re s s :_

Country:.

P ostcode:.

Telephone:,

O verseas ra tes

S ub scrip tion s 6 issu e s

Zone 1. New Z ea land N iu g in i

2. M alaysia S in g a p o re R ii

3. H o ng K o ng India Japan P h ilip p in e s C hina 4. N o rth A m e ric a M iddle East Canada

5. B rita in E u rop e A fric a S o u th A m e ric a

$

Telex:.

18 issu es

12 issu es

B ack Issues

Bound V olum e s

E zib in de rs

(each)

(each)

(to th e p ric e o f each c o p y , add th e fo llo w in g )

$30.00

$56.00

$80.00

$33.30

$19.00

$1.20

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

$43.00

$86.00

$125.00

$36.50

$19.90

$3.35

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

$30.00

$56.00

$80.00

$33.30

$19.00

$1.20

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Srface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

$45.00

$90.00

$135.00

$37.10

$20.95

$3.35

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

$30.00

$56.00

$80.00

$33.30

$19.00

$1.20

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Srface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

$53.00

$105.00

$160.00

$40.00

$22.00

$5.15

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

$31.00

$62.00

$90.00

$33.30

$19.00

$1.40

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Srface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

$60.00

$120.00

$175.00

$43.20

$23.95

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

$31.00

$62.00

$90.00

$33.30

$19.00

$1.50

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Srface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

(Surface)

$65.00

$130.00

$195.00

$45.00

$25.00

$7.20

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

(Air)

NOTE: A “ Surface Air Lift (air speeded) service is available to B rita in , G erm any, G reece, Ita ly and N o rth A m e ric a . S u b s c rip tio n s : 6 issues B o u n d V o lu m e s (each) — $35.20. E z ib in d e rs (each) — $20.75. B a ck Issues — add $4.30 per copy.

$6.20

-

(Air)

$43.80; 12 issues — $83.60; 18 issues — $123.40.

2. Back Issues 1 3 5 7

or or or or

2 copies $4 each 4 copies $3 .50 each (save $0.50 per copy) 6 copies $3 each (save $1 per copy) more copies $ 2 .50 each (save $1.50 per copy)

To o rd e r yo u r co p ie s pla ce a c ro s s in the box next to yo u r m issing issues, and fill out the form below.

If you w o u ld like m u ltip le co p ie s of any one issue, in d ica te the num ber you require in the a p p ro p ria te box. □ 1

□ 2

□ 3

□ 10

□ 11

□ 12

□ 13

□ 14

□ 15

□ 16

□ 17

□ 18

□ 19

□ 22

□ 24

□ 25

□ 26

□ 27

□ 28

□ 29

□ 31

□ 33

□ 36

□ 37

□ 38

□ 39

□ 40

□ 41

□ 42

□ □ □ 43 44-45 46

□ 47

□ 48

□ 49

□ 20

$

3. Bound Volumes Please send me bound vo lu m e s of ■

□

7 (issues 25-30)

□

Q

1 (issues 1-4)

8 (issues 31-35)

□

D

4 (issues 1 3 -1 6 )

9 (issues 36-41) at $40 per volum e.

$

Volum es 2, 3, 5 and 6 out of print.

Sub-total $ Please turn overleaf

3

■ ■ ........... mm

ORDER FORM Ezihinders

4»

O verseas ra te s p. 3

Please send me C

$

co p ie s of C inem a P apers' E zibinder at $1 5 a binder.

5« Australian M otion Picture Yearbook EHcopies of the 1983 Y earbook at $25 a copy (Foreign: $35 surface; $45 airm ail).

1981/82 Please send me EH copies of the 1981/82 Y earbook at $15 a copy (Foreign: $30 su rfa ce ; $40 airm ail).

1980 Please send me EH copies of the 1980 Y earbook at $15 a copy (Foreign: $30 surface; $40 airm ail).

C om plete Set: $45 EH 1983

pgjggfi

Please send me

$

6. Words and Images Please send me

$

EH copies of W o rd s a nd Im a g e s at $12.95 a copy (Foreign: $18 surface; $24 airmail).

7. The N ew Australian Cinema Please send me

EH copies of T h e N ew A u s tra lia n

$

C in e m a at $14.95 a copy (Foreign: $20 surface; $26 airm ail).

8, The D ocum entary Film in A ustralia Please send me

EH copies of T he D o c u m e n ta ry F ilm

in A u s tra lia at $12.95 a copy (Foreign: $18 surface; $24 airm ail).

$

9. Australian M ovies to the World Please send me

EE! copies of A u s tra lia n

$

M o vie s to th e W o rld at $12.95 a copy (Foreign: $18 surface; $24 airm ail).

Carry forw ard sub-total from

p.

3

Total

• .

M W m m r;:

$

i

■: :n \' . \ ■ ÌM 1M 1

$ — ..

■.11•

N a m e ........................................................................................................................................

A d d r e s s .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................. P o s tc o d e .............................

A ll foreign orders should he accompanied by hank drafts in Australian dollars only.

A ll quoted figures are in Australian dollars.

A llow fo u r weeks fo r processing.

-

M A;

|j;g |

■ -

B a n kca rd No.

E xp ire s

/

/

LH L ] LH

LULU

LHLHLH

I II

II

II

II

II

I

S ig n a tu re .....................................................

N B : Please make all cheques to: Ell v ,E ! E 1aH E ccH m ' ted’ N orth M elbourne, 3051 Telephone: (03) 329 5983 Telex: A A 30625 and quote “ Cinema Papers M E 230”

* ,'r.

L-■ : ' i.• '

mtKSBm

¡m M i : \ÉS$È& %méagm

||§

* ** ^ r^t'A^y'V

4

»'■

ggBjg , ' -iti? \ ' 'k:l

iiliÜ iÄ i

■ ■

m

Interviewed by Ivan Hutchinson *

Brian M ay is one o f Australia's best-known composers fo r film s. Since the last interview with him fo r C inem a P a p e rs1, he has had the experience o f working on a major film in Hollywood, as well as recording in Melbourne the sound­ track fo r another film , currently among the top box-office film s in the U.S. To bring the career o f this highly successful Adelaide-born musician up to date, Hutchinson interviewed him at his Melbourne home. He began by asking May how the commission fo r writing the score to Richard Franklin's Cloak and Dagger came about.

I suppose it almost predates the time of Psycho II. I went to the U.S. in the middle of June 1983 because my stocks were rather high with the level of acceptance of The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2). I tended to get a very good spin­ off from the score, particularly within the industry. So I was quite keen at that stage to try and make my break.

I had an interview lined up for Psycho II principally because Richard Franklin was the director and he has always liked my work, but I also had an interview with the producer of the film (Allan Carr).

Both were pretty keen and it seemed as if I had a good chance of getting that score because it was not going to be a big-budget film.

There were all sorts of views as to what the music for Psycho II was to be — whether it should 1. No. 17, pp.32-33.

August-Septem ber

1978, .

regurgitate Bernard Herrmann2 or be a completely different score — but I was considered in the running for it. On my return to Australia, I heard that the shooting had turned out much better than expected and that the studio [Universal] had decided to pour a lot of the budget into the music. The result was that Jerry Goldsmith was chosen as composer and he did a wonderful score.

I was not at all disappointed that they chose Jerry because he has been good for me in America, speaking highly of me to his top people. He gave me a personal credibility, in print and verbally, above that which I had gained from The Road Warrior, Mad Max and a few other things.

The connection has continued in a way because when Richard went on to do Cloak and Dagger it was generally considered that Jerry 2.

Herrmann wrote the score for Psycho.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 47

Two composers — Brian M ay

David Hemmings in Simon Wincer’s Harlequin: fo r it, May won the 1980 Asian Film Festival Best Original Music A ward.

Tyler Coppin and Jo-Anne Moore in David Hemmings’ The Survivor. M ay’s score wort the Best Original Music A ward at the 1981 Paris Film Festival.

it, you have to be a member of the Musicians’ Union. It is quite different to Australia.

and the Temple of Doom was What sort of score did you present running late and Herb couldn’t to him and in what sort of leave it to be ready for me. So condition?

Jerry very kindly spoke with a I thought you might ask that. well-respected musician, Dr Fred Steiner, who has been a famous [Laughs.] This is what I actually composer in his own right and who wrote. [May produces some sec­ has orchestrated occasionally for tions of his short score for Cloak Jerry when Arthur Morton has and Dagger.] It is a nine-stave been unavailable. In fact, Fred sketch with the w oodw ind, orchestrated quite a bit of Polter­ trumpet, trombones, tuba, horn, geist, which was interesting. keyboard, harps, strings and per­ Because of Jerry’s friendship with cussion track.

Fred worked with me for about him, Fred agreed to orchestrate for me, which was unusual because he six weeks and he would come in doesn’t normally do that. It was each day when I had a cue ready. really a joy for me, because it was We would look at the piece of film a chance to work with one of the for which I had written the music, people who has been through the then I would play it in a rough thick of Hollywood, and one of way. It was somewhat embar­ the most well-versed musicians I rassing because he is such a fine pianist. Anyway, somehow we have met. staggered th ro u g h th a t; he u n d e rs to o d my ideas an d , o c c a s io n a lly , he su g g ested something, such as adding a harp at a particular moment. But essen­ tially it is just put down as a short score with all the timings and dialogue. Fred was wonderful b ecau se he d o u b le -c h e c k e d everything in case I had made a mistake in my timing cues. He was inspirational to work with.

would do the music. But when it was near completion Jerry found himself heavily committed with Gremlins and Supergirl. He became unavailable and then, because of the good impact I had made with The Road Warrior, particularly in Los Angeles when I had been there before, my name again came up. Richard, of course, was very keen to use me; but there were other people as well as Richard who were to make the decision.

Who did make that decision? Were there any difficulties with the Musicians’ Union, for example?

The decision was made by the studio [Universal] where they have a head of music. Producer Allan Carr was happy about it; in fact, Jerry himself had put in a kind word for me, and of course Richard, being the director, had certainly a stro n g say but obviously not the say.

Once they were committed to my doing the score, dealing with the Musicians’ Union was actually quite different from what I thought it would be. At that time I had an excellent agent called Robert Light — there are only a handful of agents who handle composers — and he saw the Musicians’ Union. To my joy the union was very much aware of my standing in tern atio n ally and agreed to give me a ticket. It seemed to be so easy. The union seems to take a quite different attitude to anyone who has an internationally proven track record as opposed to a person’s just going over there and trying to get work.

The truth is you can compose music for a film and not be a member of the Musicians’ Union — composers are part of a separate structure — but if you want to orchestrate the music or conduct

With regard to the orchestration, is it still usual for composers to do their own orchestrating?

On most major features, a composer is hired to compose the score and there is a budget allocation for somebody to orches­ trate it. On some occasions, the composer has the time to orches­ trate it himself but it is not usual. I was very lucky because once again Jerry was good to me and suggested that Herb Spencer, who had worked for him and was John Williams’ orchestrator, should be the person to have. But I was unlucky because Indiana Jones

What are the differences in working conditions on a film in this country and the U.S.?

It is much easier over there. At Universal, where I was on the lot for about three months, they gave me a lovely bungalow and duplicated the set-up in my hotel so I could write in either place. I had the same sort of equipment as I have here, but there the emphasis was on what you needed to get the job done. Really, the only thing that was on my mind was composing the score of the film.

May wrote the score fo r George Miller’s Mad Max and won Best Music at the 1979 Australian Film Awards.

48 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

How long did you have to do that?

Two composers — Brian M ay

I had something like 10 weeks before working with the music editor, which is a lot longer than I have ever experienced. A music editor is, once again, rarely used in Australia. Even on television in the U.S. every production has a music editor. Basically, the music editor is the composer’s right arm; he supplies the timing breakdown of each cue and his first job is to sit down at the spotting session (where you work out with the producer, director, etc., where the music will be) and write copious notes on everything that is to happen. He then starts delivering the timings with the notes. He communicates constantly to the editor, the director and the effects people any of your wishes. So he is, say, an extension of the composer.

A fter I had finished the composition, Fred would do the orchestration, come back to me and I would check that everything was O.K. Then it would be photo­ graphed and each day the music editor would get his copy; he would check it out on the film to see that everything was synchron­ ized.

Was he a professional musician?

Oh yes. The guy I had was Jim Wideman and he has a Bachelor of Music, and is a fine pianist, a good singer and a very clever guy who loved his job, who loved being an extension of the composer. He would also mark the film with “ streamers” and “ punches” and all sorts of aids. If I had to “ hit” something, he would put a red streamer into it. This was prepared by him beforehand, checked by him against the score and, when we came to record everything, there wasn’t

anything

which

wasn’t

right. I also used the system that Jerry used called “ The Newman System” , which not a lot of the composers use.

Whose system is it: Alfred’s or Lionel’s?

Lionel Newman’s. You take the bars of music and the music editor punches a hole in the film at the start of each bar or the start of every two bars. As you can imagine, because film music is not in the same metre all the time, only a qualified musician could punch the thing so it would come out right. I would mark them in where I wanted the punches and instead of having an audio click-track, w hich can give so m e w h a t mechanical results, there is a visual click-track. When you conduct, you see a great white light coming towards you through the “ punch” when the film is being projected.

Quite a lot of the cues I did this way are actually conducted to the “ punches” . You might be a fraction of a second out but you could collect it on the next “ punch” . It gives you a little bit more in the way of performance quality and a little more flexibility in the conducting.

With the booking of the musicians, there was a music contractor and she obtained a stunning orchestra for me. I had some of my idols in that orchestra.

Were you as much in awe of them as they were of you?

Well, there are some interesting stories about that because once again everyone was very kind. I was on the studio lot one day when the music editor came in and said, “ Hey, Maurice Jarre is recording in the studio and he wants to meet

Repeating the success: director George Miller and composer Brian May teamed again fo r Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior).

you. Can you come down?” So I dropped what I was doing and went down there. I thought he was probably in his lunch-hour, but when I walked in he was rehearsing a cue. He stopped the cue in the middle of the recording and ran over to me. He hugged me, kissed me on both cheeks, pushed me up on the podium and said, “ Gentle­ men, this is the composer of Mad Max and The Road Warrior” . It was r e a l l y t he r e d - c a r p e t treatment.

Wh a t a b o u t the mu s i c i a ns themselves and their quality? Was it as you hoped?

The biggest difference between here and the U.S. is the attitude of the musicians. Everybody who plays music there really seems to

love music. On my sessions, their ages ranged from 25 to 65 and they had played for ju st about everybody, yet they were excited and interested, and kept running back with their coffees at breaks to look at and listen to the playbacks.

That is here . . .

not

always

the

case

No, and there is a variety of reasons for that. Mainly, the difference is that to be a Hollywood musician is considered over there a top job, whereas here some musicians don’t have the same interest in film music. They would rather be playing jazz or doing symphony work. In the Cloak and Dagger orchestra, I had principal players from the front desks of the Los Angeles Phil­ harmonic playing seconds and thirds.

We had a lot of fun incidentally with my accent; some of them couldn’t understand it, so I put on an American accent and they loved that.

How many days did you have to record the score of “ Cloak and Dagger” ?

Richard Franklin’s Cloak and Dagger: M ay’s first score fo r an American film.

There were 72 minutes of music in a 100 minute or so film so it was a huge score. I had two days with a big orchestra — there were 80 people in the big orchestra — half a day with a smaller orchestra of about 40, and another half a day doing the “ source music” . There was some Mexican music, and even two Russian themes with a bala­ laika orchestra, which I wrote.

I was highly impressed with the musicians’ attitude on the job.

They took 10 minutes on the first day to come to grips with my style of writing and after that, from the first performance of a music cue Concluded on p. 88 CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 49

WÊÊÈ|§ KlBBlI I -¡§§

;

¡H » ¡ I li#

Interviewed by Fred Harden

Bill Gooley’s name has been mentioned in the credits o f more Tell me your story back as far as these wonderful black and white you can remember. Where did you features and newsreels for release Australian film s than any other.1 While in charge o f feature grow up? in Australia, but you never became liaison fo r Colorfilm, he has viewed more rushes on involved. You just worked your In Redfern in Sydney. I was eight or nine hours and then went Australian features and documentaries than probably any born during the Depression in 1932 home. other Australian. This gives him a unique view o f Australian and grew up during World War 2.

At first, I worked on the black film and contact with the best talents in the industry. His Childhood was never the. wonder­ and white processor that put ful thing that it should have been; through positive film at 120 feet a contribution was recognized at the 1983 A F IA w ards when he it was just a difficult time. So I minute. I would cut the ends off it was presented with the R aym ond Longford Award. used to go into the dream factory between reels, put it in a can and During the course o f the following interview, Goo ley every Saturday afternoon and lose send it back. I never saw anything. myself for three hours, which was referred to his report books, which contain daily notes on all just wonderful.

Then you graduated to the wet end As I got older, I tended to go not the film s he has been responsible fo r at Colorfilm. Because o f only to the Saturday afternoon space restrictions, the conversation has been substantially sessions but also to the morning That was the big time. You actu­ edited, including many o f the sections in which he has ones. I lived fairly close to the city ally put film on, topped up the and were responsible for the attributed his knowledge and success in the industry to a and used to walk in. I would meet tanks different people who would want machine while it was running. number o f other people, and his comments on the to see different movies, so I would recognition o f the influence and support o f the management go four and five times on a Satur­ Was the bulk of your work day; it became a way of life. I 35 mm? over the years at Colorfilm. H e would mention Phil Budden loved every second of it.

Yes. The Commonwealth Film I left school at 15 and decided I OBE, Doug D ove and Murray Forrest, as well as many other Unit [now Film Australia] was one had to get a job.

There was a place people who are part o f the team at Colorfilm. just down the road in Chippendale of our biggest clients. There Gooley has a marvellous talent fo r saying nice things about known as Percival Film Labora­ weren’t many independent people people, and had to be prom pted to talk about any o f the tories. I worked there, expecting to around. all the actors and actresses negative aspects o f his work. What was going to be a see coming through but found that I Did you do any of the newsreels? discussion o f the way laboratories have changed with the was stuck in the dark room and For a while. Movietone was industry became a discussion about the people involved, didn’t see anyone. I persevered with that for a few years, then above us in the building, but it something which would hardly surprise anyone who knows went to the Smiling Snap where I folded. did little photos of weddings and I loved newsreels. The Mel­ him.

1. Apart from those discussed in the interview, Gooiey’s credits include Lonely Hearts, Turkey Shoot, Goodbye Paradise, For Love or Money, Teno, Patrick, Cathy’s Child, The Odd Angry Shot, Tim, Harlequin, The Earthling, Maybe This Time, Manganinnie, Fatty Finn, The Survivor, Roadgames, Gallipoli, Smash Palace, The Race for the Yankee Zephyr, Hoodwink, Double Deal, Doctors and Nurses, Winter of our Dreams, Dead Kids, Inn of the Damned, Duet for Four, Best of Friends, The Killing of Angel Street, The Picture Show Man and Mad Dog Morgan. The selection of those covered in the interview was based on how they had influenced Gooley. The author would like to thank Jan Tyrell for her assistance.

Opposite: Bill Gooley accepts his Raymond Longford Award at the 1983 Australian Film A wards.

christenings. I soon got bored with that and worked for a retail store, but the management didn’t like me talking to anybody. I found that terribly strange. So I went back to a laboratory and I haven’t left for 30 years.

The place was Filmcraft, which is where Colorfilm is now. Clients never went into the laboratory, and you didn’t communicate with anybody. You lived in this closed circle of people who made all of

bourne Cup coming and going; caravans out at the airport; pro­ cessing film up in aeroplanes: it was all exciting.

So when did it change from being just a job?

Filmcraft and Automatic Film Laboratories merged at one stage because business was not good and became Colorfilm, which eventu­ ally moved to Camperdown. I

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 51

Bill Gooley

guess that was when it changed for me. There was the excitement about the coming of color. Black and white business was fading and all the prints coming from America were in color. But because process­ ing color meant a lot of money, many questions came up: Is there enough in this country to make it work? W hat‘is going to happen?

Rosemary and I had just got engaged and we had to ask our­ selves if I should stay in the business. Was it something that would keep me for the rest of my life? I decided there was no way I could get out of it and I should stay, whether it worked or not.

We had color machines but there wasn’t much being shot. The 35 mm color neg machine pro­ cessed at nine feet a minute. You sat there and watched all the sprocketholes come up, and some of them would be evil.

Was the machine imported?

No, it was home-made, as was the positive machine. The latter sounded just like the “ African Queen” . You learnt that if it squeaked one way it was going to break down, which it did every couple of hours.

We were never certain how long color might last, so we didn’t employ a lot of staff because we couldn’t have them sitting on their behinds. What staff we had learnt to do everything, working between 12 and 14 hours a day. If someone was filming and they wanted the work print the next day, you had to learn to change your shift in mid-stream and work all night so you could process the negative and get the work print off. All that was exciting and once it gets into your blood:it never leaves you.

What features were being pro­ duced in those early days of color?

There were very few features.

There were a few documentaries, but very little apart from commer­ cials, such as the Peter Stuyvesant ads. Then we did They’re a Weird Mob (Arthur Grant2, 1966), but we never completed it because it went back to England as a long cut.

Adam’s Woman (William C. Butler, 1970) also went back over­ seas to be cut, but we processed the negative and did the work print.

We were lucky to get that because they could have taken it back to the U.S. We had no recognition and had never actually done a feature.

Then business started to grow, but again there was only the odd Australian film; you don’t go and spend $500,000 on one film when you haven’t another to back it up.

On the few that came through — for example, Squeeze a Flower (Brian West, 1970) — we learnt an 2. Throughout this interview, the style is director of photography, not director.

enormous amount. They’re a Weird Mob also taught me a lot because they were wanting to know all the time what was going on, what their rushes were like, what comments were being made by the lab staff.

The other film that was a land­ mark for me was The Hands of Cormack Joyce (tele-feature, 1973), which Johnny McLean shot [with Vincent Monton]. It was, to my knowledge, the first film ever finished here. They were trying to shoot it on Phillip Island and the day’s shooting would come up on a plane at night. I would collect it from the airport and bring it back to the lab. We would process the negative, cut it, then print and pro­ cess the work print. I would then take it to the airport at six o’clock in the morning to catch the first flight back. It was complete involvement. I would go home for a few hours’ sleep before returning to work during the day to catch up on what I hadn’t done. Because it was a once-off, we couldn’t employ another 10 people because there would have been nothing for them to do when it was finished.

It was a valuable experience because I hadn’t cut negative before. It was Maggie Cardin, the old tyrant that she is, who taught me the importance of negative. She would sit there and say, “ This is how you do it. No, you are doing it wrong. Don’t put your hand there.

Where are your gloves? Why are you doing this?” Everybody had to have gloves and white coats on because she wouldn’t work with anybody who didn’t. And a lot of the negative cutters whom she has trained don’t know how to do things badly because she knew no other way but the right way.

It was also valuable because of the wonderful communication be­ tween John McLean and myself. It opened my eyes because all of a sudden I was in a situation in which I had to know what people wanted. My attitudes changed completely. I made stipulations on films: to read the script before the film started; to see call sheets every day; and so on. That way I knew better what the director of photo­ graphy wanted when he went out and shot something. Did he really want it to be blue or was it an acci­ dent? And apart from looking at the rushes, I also went on the set occasionally to talk to people. I have never not considered myself as part of the crew.

The other thing I learnt very early was to be honest. If we ruin something, the hardest thing in the world is to get on a phone and say, “ We ruined it” , but I will do it. If I say we had problems in the laboratory, which ruined the film, people believe me; if I turn around and say instead, “ Your camera is scratching every frame” , I am never questioned. When you know it is your fault you admit it because people are people and machines

52 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

are machines. That is all there is to it.

Weekend of Shadows (Richard Wallace, 1978) is an example. It was being made in Adelaide, and Rosemary and I and the two girls went there to see the last day of shooting. Then, disaster! They were running around back at the laboratory saying, “ We don’t know what the problem is.” Had 1 been at Colorfilm, the first thing I would have done was to screen the negative to see if the problem were there. In fact, it was, and, after a lot of ’phone calls, the crew had to unpack and reshoot a whole day.

That was the worst experience I have been through. But there is no point in playing silly buggers: a mistake was made and that was all there was to it. But unless you experience it you don’t really know the effect of a mistake like that. It is very difficult because somebody in the lab on the end of a machine doesn’t necessarily realize that a director, actors and a crew have labored for hours to get to that point.

Obviously your attitude influences C olorfilm ’s standing in the industry because people expect that kind of liaison. Were you aware of that at the time?

You are always conscious of competition between laboratories.

I was conscious that I was doing something different to the others, and that it was taking an enormous amount of my life and my time.

But I never backed off because Rosemary and I had made that commitment a long time before. I am not a half-way person; I have to be in there all the way.

Rushes can get boring and the only way to make them alive is if

you have read the script and become involved. I know where every foot of film is going to fit into the script, and what the director and cameraman are trying to put on the screen. It all becomes very real to me.

At Colorfilm, we don’t stand on the end of a machine and process film; we sit on the end of a ’phone and talk to people. The company has allowed me to expand and draw people into the lab. You don’t tell a director of photo­ graphy what to do; you ask him what he is going to do and he tells you. The man is talented or he wouldn’t be where he is.

On The Devil’s Playground (Ian Baker, 1976), for instance, it was all dark and blue. But I knew that was the feeling Ian was after. So I didn’t send reports to those on location saying, “ What are you trying to do? The whole thing has gone blue.'” That would upset any director of photography!

P r o d u c e r s and directors shouldn’t be involved with the dayto-day concern of what their picture looks like at that stage. So I have to know the production secre­ tary or production manager well enough to be able to tell them what I think of the DOP’s work and clear any queries with them: “ Did he mean to under-expose that half a stop or it is a mistake?” , and they will come back and say,2JYes, he meant to do it” , or “ No, he didn’t.”

Have there been any features on which you have liaised that were particularly interesting?

They have all had their joys and I have grown with them. Caddie (Peter James, 1976) brought back memories to me because it was set

Top: Jack Thompson and Helen Morse in Caddie (1976) "brought back memories to me".

Above: Tim Burns andNoni Hazlehurst in Monkey Grip (1982); "wonderful, a beautifullylit film with a wonderful actress". Below: director o f photography Don McAlpine during the filming o f Breaker Morant (1980).

1

Top: filming The Man from Snowy River (1982). Above: Nick Tate in The Devil's Play­ ground (1976): "a fine film, adventurous and different�. Below: filming Mad Max (1979), with director o f photography David Eggby on the bike behind stunt driver Terry Gibson.

Bill Gooley

in the era in which I grew up. I rem em ber saying to producer Tony Buckley, “ If the rabbito is not right, the film w o n ’t w o rk .’’ W hen they shot th at sequence, I rang T ony and said, “ Y ou’ve m ade the film; it d o esn’t need anything else.

T he m an is ju st as I rem em ber: his cart, his horse . . . ”

You also did Buckley’s next pro­ duction, “ The Irishman” (Peter James, 1979) . . .

T h at was shot on A gfa Gevaert, which was som ething we h a d n ’t processed before. There were problem s because we d id n ’t know w hat the stock would do over time.

T here are no duping stages in G evaert so the final negative had to go on to E astm an and all the opticals had to be m ade on E ast­ m an and cut into Gevaert. Eventu­ ally the film ended up with this yellow, b u rn t-o u t look, which is w hat Peter w anted. It worked fine.

How about some of those other early-1970s films?

Let me look up my report books. These are the reports I did every day on films. They were never seen by other people and record the things th at used to w orry me. Shall we start with Picnic at Hanging Rock (Russell Boyd, 1975)?

The first d ay ’s shooting was 1 A pril 1975. It was an example of the joys o f w orking with a great director o f photography.

Had you worked with Russell Boyd before?

Only on odd things; not on a feature. Break of Day, which

Russell shot in 1976, was also cinem atically beautiful. It was a joy to see th at happening in front o f you.

Then there was The Devil’s Playground, which was joyous to w o rk o n . T h e p e o p le w ere absolutely lovely. It is a fine film, adventurous and different. But I felt a lot of the stu ff was under­ exposed. It was all very low-key and, while it looked w onderful on film, I wonder w hat it would have looked like in a cinem a where the projectionist d id n ’t tu rn the lights up because there w eren’t enough people?

It was a problem but it worked because the grader, A rth u r C am ­ bridge, was able to get m ore out of the film than I ever thought any­ body would be able to. He kept a continuity all the way through. If you rem em ber the sequence when they find the boy drow ned, well, there was nothing in the negative; you could hardly see a dam n thing.

I thought they ought to have reshot it but they said, “ No, this is the way it is going to lo o k ” , and it works very well. So you learn all the time.

M ad Dog Mo r g a n (M ik e M olloy, 1976) is where I met Jerem y T hom as [producer); I knew Jenny W oods [the produc­ tio n c o -o rd in a to rj fro m The Devil’s Playground [on which she was production secretary], A lot of people who have w orked in the industry at the low end o f the spectrum have worked their way up. Young people come out of an institute or a film school and say, “ I am a d irecto r.” They may know their craft but they have to work at it before they get that title. All these small budget films are great because they learn by working. In

Top: director o f photography Mike Molloy, “an enormous talent’’, during location filming on Mad Dog Morgan (1976). A bove: Peter James takes a light reading on Michael Craig fo r The Irishman (1979).

“Those three girls [Margot Nash, left, Megan McMurchy and Jeni Thornley, here with Margot Oliver, right] deserve a gold medal fo r the three years o f work they put into [For Love or Money, 1984]. ” 54 — F ebru ary-M arch C IN E M A PAPERS

this business, you may learn the basics by reading a book, but you have to go out and do the thing yourself.

An example is For Love or M oney (1984). W hen I quoted for that film years ago we d id n ’t know it was going to be as m am m oth as it was. Those three girls [M argot Nash, Jeni Thornley, M egan M c­ Murchy] deserve a gold m edal for the three years o f w ork they put into it, w ithout any m oney, w ith­ out having anywhere to w ork.

They have learnt an enorm ous am ount. Those years o f going through the archival footages taught them th at some stocks had to go from black and white on to a Fuji stock or on to an E astm an stock or a C RI, and so on. A nd w e learnt, m ight I add!

It is exciting when you see people do som ething, then go on to som ething else. I have seen an enorm ous am ount o f people go f r om being p r o d u c t i o n c o ­ ordinators, production people or clapper loaders to being, say, p ro ­ ducers or directors o f p h o to ­ graphy. I am not ju st referring to men: m any o f the producers are wom en who do a dam n fine jo b .

They are am ongst the best and are quite rem arkable. They have never been scared o f saying, “ I d o n ’t know. Let me come in and find o u t.” P at Lovell keeps saying, “ C an I come and see w hat y o u ’re going to d o ? ” So, she will com e in and w atch the optical departm ent m ark out, and understand th a t it takes hours to do.

W e now open our gates to the

Director o f photography Tom Cowan and director John Duigan: Mouth to Mouth (1978).

people outside. We want them to come in, to know everybody in the building, to associate with some­ one so that if there is a problem it can be discussed. We have guided tours through the lab for the ABC, from the Australian Film and Tele­ vision School, from the New South Wales Institute of Technology. We are trying to make people under­ stand why things can’t happen in five minutes.

One of the rewarding things about building relationships is that people stay loyal to the lab . . .

They always stay loyal but I don’t blame anybody who says, “ I only have so much money, I have to go somewhere else.”

I went to Cannes when they screened Breaker Morant (Don McAlpine, 1980). I don’t care who processed it or who made it, it was a fine Australian film. I felt that if I could help in some way to make the rest of the world know about it then I would. So when they asked me to help out, I handed out leaflets.

The only other time I went to Cannes was when My Brilliant Career (Don McAlpine, 1979) was screened. That was an experience because it was Rosemary’s first time overseas. My Brilliant Career went wonderfully well. I can remember an American saying to me, “ How much did it cost?” , and I said, “ I think it was $850,000” , and he said, “ Yes, but how much did it cost to make?” I said, “ Maggie Fink [the producer] is over there. Go and ask her, but I think it cost $850,000.” “ But the whole production?” This man was

standing there open-eyed thinking, “ I don’t believe this. He is telling me lies. You don’t make films at that cost.”

Were the Americans you have known difficult to work with?

No, they were very good. We made Ride a Wild Pony (1975) for Disney. Don Chaffey directed it, Geoff Burton shot it and Pom Oliver was the production secre­ tary.

I enjoyed working with Chaffey, although I found him an emotional man. He screamed and yelled and hollered and did all sorts of strange things. Usually, we never allowed people to come into the grading because they would want to stop on every frame and change its color, and that just doesn’t work.

Chaffey wanted to look at the negative he had shot for the ABC, which was being graded on the Hazeltine. As he was “ the great director” from overseas, the ABC felt they should oblige him. They had been up there for a while when I walked in and there he was with a can of beer, having a cigarette. I just looked at him and said, “ Put that out!” “ What are you talking about?” , he replied. I said, “ Put it out. Go downstairs, get rid of the beer and don’t ever smoke in this area again.” “ It’s all safety film . . .” , he said. “ It doesn’t matter.

Get out!” He couldn’t believe that he was being spoken to like that.

Here is another film on the list that got lost on the way, Summer of Secrets (Russell Boyd, 1976), Jim Sharman’s film. Then we did “ Both Ends Against the Middle” which ended up as Raw Deal (Vin­

Newsfront (1978): “the biggest headache we had ever had’’, matching newsreel footage (inset) with recreated material, here with John Ewart and Chris Haywood.

cent Monton, 1977). That was a good shoot. Then we go through to The FJ Holden (David Gribble, 1977) and High Rolling (Dan Bur­ stall, 1977), Judy Davis’ first film.

We had trouble on The Getting of Wisdom (Don McAlpine, 1977).

The film went splendidly. It was a great piece of work and it was good to be with the people. But when we were cleaning the negative for the second trial print off the original, which I hated doing, we scratched one reel of the final cut negative. We made a wet gate negative but there were some scenes that really didn’t work on it.

Bruce Beresford [director] went to the opening night with the print off the original. What they did was to sit Rosemary and me in the first four rows of the theatre. Rosemary loved the film; I sat there and said, “ That reel is coming up, I can’t look. Why did they sit me so close?” All I could see was this mammoth scratch that was five foot wide. The whole film was ruined for me. But nobody else noticed it.

Summerfield (1977) was beauti­ fully shot by Mike Molloy; he has an enormous talent. Long Week­ end (Vincent Monton, 1977) was the first film to use Steadicam.

They ran through the forest and the trees with it strapped on, which was interesting; I had never seen it before. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Ian Baker, 1978) was a long shoot, but again it was inter­ esting. I think it was a film made long before its time.

Mouth to Mouth (Tom Cowan, 1978) , John Duigan’s second feature, was shot on 16 mm and

blown up. That was an experience because we had never blown up a feature from 16 mm.

Until this stage you had only been blowing up shorter things?

Very little in fact. They either shot on 16 mm or they shot on 35 mm for features. Mouth to Mouth lent itself very well to be blown up; others don’t. The Night the Prowler (David Sanderson, 1978) is a 16 mm blow-up. It had a few problems because there was a lot of night shooting and the 16 mm wasn’t coping very well. If the 16 mm negative is great, then the blow-up will be great. They were happy with it, but there was some material which I thought was under-exposed; they couldn’t have got any lights into Centennial Park so they had to live with it.

Newsfront (Vincent Monton, 1978) was, in its time, a most exciting, intricate and worrying bit of film, and the biggest headache we had ever had. We were pro­ cessing black and white negative and it had to blend with the news­ reel footage. Vince spent ages test­ ing material and then wre buggered some of it up: we scratched it and got spots on it. But, when we com­ pared it with the old footage, it matched.

When the first print came off, someone commented that it was a “Technicolor nightmare” , with every shot a different stock and color . . .

Everything that was black and white had to go on to a color Concluded on p. 86

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 55

FILMWORKS POST PRODUCTION PTY LTD _

Film-Edilok Video Pictures + Film Soundtracks

~ &SUPER 16^ s w'th?uper 16 conversion IÄ H eíd Screenings Incl. super * L u t O T H O U S E PIC syn c reñíais

fesSíSWfii„o„ —

s

^ t ,s í6

28 Pine Street, C h ip p en d ale NSW 2 0 0 8 .

All the Lighting Filters You Need Chris James & Co. The Film-Edilok is designed specifically for interlocking

LEE

Three Arts Services 109 York St. Sth. Melbourne Victoria 3205

(03) 690 1022 (02) 699 7758

577 Elizabeth S t Redfern N.S.W. 2016

FILM SOUND EQUIPMENT with

VIDEO-TAPE using SMPTE time-code. g.t.c. A u s tr a lia P t y L td 54a Beecroft Road Beecroft N S W 2119 ® (02) 84 7199 1» A A 2 6 5 7 7 Q U IN T O

Fred Harden

In the first issue o f C inem a P a p e rs1, Vince M onton inter­ reduction printing to 16 mm, with viewed Peter Watson o f Victorian Film Laboratories. A s the soundtracks made on 16 mm and printed onto the reduction. It with many o f the articles in those early years, it was a grew into quite a big industry technical discussion about film stocks and processes. A t the because there were no videotape and everything went to time o f the interview, the labs were preparing fo r the intro­ cartridges air on 16 mm, so we used to get 50 duction o f color television, something even they did not or 100 print orders.

Then color television started realize would have such an impact. Ten years later, Peter looming so we had to get into col­ Watson and his son, Peter Watson jnr, talked about how or. We started slowly with one they have maintained their independence in the market, the Eastmancolor machine doing internegs and prints off 16 mm problems o f managing in such a variable industry, and the Ektachrome originals. Kodak was processing the reversal, as were a effect that video has had on the laboratory.

You have been involved in film laboratories for a long time. How did you start?

Peter snr: During World War 2, I was doing metallurgy and Stan Adams was the photographer at the government laboratories at Maribyrnong. He made some films for the chemical warfare section and I became interested. So, when at the end of the war he said he wanted to go back to processing amateur movie films, I went with him.

We started in one room in a place in Box Hill processing mostly 9.5 mm black and white reversal film on a hand drum. We also had an ambition to do sound mixing and recording, which we did with home-made equipment. We did that from 1946 to about 1956 when it came to the stage when we had to get rid of the home-made stuff and get some better equipment. By this time, we were doing 16 mm color prints on Kodachrome, which was processed at Kodak.

came in, and we bought an Arri printer and a Maurer galvanometer for the sound. Until then, the film processing had been mostly 16 mm, then television arrived and there was a lot of messing around as various people experimented trying to make commercials. The format finally settled on was shooting 35 mm negative and

few other labs such as one of the Gibson’s and Cinevex, after they were bought out by Colorfilm.

They had put in reversal processing to do television news which was something we didn’t chase because we didn’t want to work all night.

By this time, in the 1970s, we had scraped up enough money to buy two processing machines and two Bell & Howell printers, which in those days cost a fair whack. We did reasonably well but at that time

the commercial print market had disappeared with the coming of videotape. We were also doing a lot of post-production on commer­ cials and documentaries. We had started with Crawfords, which kept us entirely for about 20 years, then it started spreading work around. We did all of Homicide and Division 4.

We did a few features, including 2000 Weeks in 1967. Kevin Williams assembled the entire feature on the Oxberry with all the effects. The first print was off the dupe negative from the master positive; I forget how many prints it went into, maybe three or four at the most, but the film was not a success.

At the time of the introduction of color television everyone was quite sure that fast reversal films for news-gathering were going to be around for a long time. There was no real hint about ENG video tak­ ing over . . .

What other labs were operating in Melbourne at that time?

Peter snr: There was Vern Wag­ staff, who was operating earlier than us for the Department of Agriculture, and George Gamon, who was formerly from the government film labs and had opened up at Parkdale. Of course, there was also Herschells.

When I needed extra money to buy the new equipment Peter Lord 1. No. 1, January 1974, pp. 52-53.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 57

New Products and Processes

more foolproof. This hasn’t made it any cheaper but it is not as hard to keep everything right, which reflects in improved quality in the final print.

What processes are you running now?

and going to Swinburne to do the course in film and television. I left there after a year due to mutual dissatisfaction. After six months of being a vagrant I came here and mixed chemicals, went overseas, then came back and started run­ ning a processing machine. I did my apprenticeship in sound with Wally [Shore] and some Open Pro­ gram courses. Now I am a com­ pany director, on paper, and taking over most of the manual work my father used to do, freeing him to look after the total operation.

Peter snr: He gets to do the interesting things while I sit here sorting out the arguments with the staff and customers. No technical person, if he is born into it, really Being independent now means that wants to disappear into a mist of you don’t have the guaranteed administration. I ought to be work such as a television station’s thinking about retiring of course, series or mini-series that the other but it is heartening when you see the age of the people still working affiliated labs might have . . . productively in Hollywood. It has Peter snr: And you don’t have caused the split into two Holly­ the resources. If we owned a tele­ woods, the old mob and the new vision station, as does Atlab, we young mob.

Our staff has been remarkably wouldn’t be worried about losing money. Colorfilm is now owned by constant over the past 17 or 18 Greater Union and it is probably years and, as we have been around now for a while, the staff has aged expected to make a profit.

You also face the problem of with the firm. To a certain degree having no capital to invest in new we are overstaffed, but that has buildings, and there always has to always been a problem with labs: be room for another piece of you might see people sitting equipment. So you end up in a around doing nothing today but maze of buildings. Nigel Buesst tomorrow they will be flat o u t., sums it up well in his facilities That is another thing that has guide when he says that the Sydney reduced the profit: the increase in labs are a bit classier than the wages with each award.

Melbourne labs.

Peter jnr: Most of the people What other financial pressures are who make the decision where to different today? send the film never go to the lab Peter snr: In the past we were anyway, but the appearance is able to buy new equipment from sometimes important. profits but we had to finance the When did you start being involved tw o mo s t r e c e n t m a c h i n e purchases. in the lab?

Peter snr: There was a big explo­ sion in reversal in the U.S. in the mid-1960s. At that stage, Kodak was making the best sound magnetic tape and film on the market but, in order to concentrate on Ektachrome, it dropped the lot.

It made more profit with Ekta­ chrome anyway. We felt the drop off in the commercials print work from about 1974 but, as we were doing a lot of documentaries, we were doing quite well. In 1978-79 things started to get tough and in 1981-2 they got tougher. Peter Lord left, but since then we have made a bit of a recovery. The situation now is that we have plenty of work most of the time but the prices aren’t very good.

Peter jnr: I had always been interested in film and had been shooting film for as long as I can remember. I did some holiday work at VFL in between school

Peter snr: Eastmancolor nega­ tive and positive, Ektachrome and black and white. The inter­ mediate films go through negative process. The CRIs we still send to Atlab.

CRIs are probably going to disappear. Film Australia, which used to send us CRIs to do prints for them, are now sending inter­ negatives. Kodak tried to simplify the processing of CRIs but didn’t really succeed. It is a very delicate stock and, because it is a reversal stock, you have to be very accurate with the thickness of the emul­ sions. A reversal image is formed from the emulsion that is left on the film after the pictures have developed and bleached out. If there were any slight unevenness, which d o e s n ’t ma t t er with negative, you will get streaks on the image and it is accentuated in gamma by a factor of about two and a half. It looks much worse on the final print.

The processing of interneg is much easier: you can make one master positive and strike off inter­ negatives for distribution for big scale stuff. It is definitely better for the optical people for effects and is now just about as good as CRI in color. The differences are a slight drop in color saturation and in sharpness. It is perfectly ade­ quate for 35 mm but, if you had to go through an interpositive to an internegative and print from that in 16 mm, it does look a bit soft in the long shots.

What about the low contrast stocks for telecine transfer?

Peter snr: They have improved.

But that brings up another grouch for the laboratories because some­ times the negative comes in for processing only and goes straight to tape, without even a workprint being struck. We haven’t added a surcharge for processing only but we are going to have to do it. Our problem is that you can’t do a check on the negative because you don’t screen it, while every bit of workprint done is screened and checked. PBL’s Glass Babies is developing only; Crawfords still gets a workprint; Anzacs is being finished right up to release prints.

If you read the original BBC papers on telecine transfers, the only real problem the BBC found was in handling, such as scratches, etc.

Now, with the transfer from the Have any of the changes in pro­ master positive type 43, you can cessing helped make it cheaper? print a film onto a positive, with Peter snr: Kodak’s philosophy is titles, effects and everything, and to make the processing simpler and transfer that on telecine. The

58 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

, quality apparently is excellent. I \ didn’t go to the last SMPTE 1 [Society of Motion Picture and J Television Engineers] meeting in | New York in October 1984, but I I was talking to someone who said that Kodak did a demonstration with the same subject treated in different ways for telecine. He said that direct transfer of the negative was best, the interpositive was next and then low contrast print stock.

The advantages of a negative, an internegative, interpositive or CRI are that they have a long scale: there is more information con­ tained in the negative because it is multiple-coated and processed to a lower gamma than you get on a positive. Which is why you can print under- or over-exposed parts of the negative and still get a reasonable positive, and, pro­ viding your telecine is capable of it, it can do the same sort of thing.

The telecine doesn’t care if it is positive or negative, so using an interpositive is better and cheaper than using a CRI. We did three features last year, Abra Cadabra, Strikebound and Annie’s Coming Out. So far there is nothing in sight for ’85. We did the blow-up for Strikebound from Super-16 and modified our equip­ ment to handle the Super-16. The only problems with it seem to be in handling but the neg-matchers have no trouble and, providing the cameraman knows what he is doing and shoots it in the right way, it seems to work well.

What seems to be working at the moment are mini-series. Craw­ fords is spreading its work among the laboratories and realizes, as I am sure others do, that it is good to keep two labs running in Mel­ bourne because it keeps the prices down.

Can you talk about any of the developments the lab will be making in the future?

Peter jnr: The thing we have talked about most is building a viewing theatre.

Peter snr: It is very hard to say what the future is going to be. It is more a case of fighting for exist­ ence than looking to the future.

The immediate thought is how we can condense our activities and make them more efficient, but you can’t do that without curtailing your services. The night shift is a burden but I can’t see people put­ ting up with not getting their rushes overnight: with these highcost series shoots it is almost vital to see the footage before you strike sets or leave locations. We are, for the time being, watching and keep­ ing on our toes.

Note: Stocks mentioned in this article are Eastmancolor Intermediate 2 (used as a positive or negative) Type 5243 and 7243.

CRI is Eastmancolor Reversal Intermediate Type 5249. Print stocks mentioned are Eastmancolor Positive Type 5384 and Low Contrast Positive 5380. Ar

io©!) Oi[JtOÂSÔS

wm m ÊÊM Êm m m m m is iillp lllllii^ iliiiliÄ P lÄ ! ^ '.'■ - '; -V 'v ■--•! V •• :: '■-'C

Distributor

P E R IO D 1 2 .8 .8 4 to 1 3 .1 0 .8 4

SYD.2

S ilv e r C ity

FW

(5) 52,936

(3) 18,046

(6) 25,569

(4) 13,436

(3) 20,943

130,930

1

(2*) 41,220

(2*) 19,041

0 *) 6,448

66,709

4

fV/ly F irs t W ife

RS

(2.2/2) 16,878

(8*/8) 75,421

(4) 19,024

(1) 2,915

(2) 9,594

123,832

2

(4*/5*) 67,193

(4*/5*) 95,992

(3*) 10,729

173,914

2

T h e C o o la n g a tta G old

HTS

(2*) 54,659

(2*) 34,170

(2*) 31,345

120,174

3

A n n ie ’s C o m in g G ut

HTS

(4) 41,996

(2) 12,003

(3) 13,961

(3) 9,690

(3) 19,799

97,449

4

(3*) 36,910

(3*) 21,735

58,645

5

Th e S lim D u s ty M o vie

GUO

(2) 10,799

(2) 9,399

0) 3,130

0) 2,909

26,237

5

20,209

8

S trik e b o u n d

OTH

(4) 21,059

21,059

6

31,889

7

S tre e t H e ro

RS

(4-3) 3,983

4,467

7

(7) 58,018

(8*) 96,788

886

8

(1) 6,338

(5) 8,801

T IT L E

Cold C h is e l: The L a s t S ta n d

OTH

P E R IO D 1 4 .1 0 .8 4 to 8 .1 2 .8 4

:

MLB.

PTH

ADL.

BRI.

Total $

(1) 484

(•3) 886

Rank

SYD.

MLB.

PTH

ADL.

0 *) 3,921

BRI.

(3) 16,288

.(3*) 31,889 (5) 40,001

Total $

Rank

(7*) 53,187

(4) 17,841

265,835

1

(1) 3,610

(3) 24,923

43,672

6

* ■

Australian Total

178,154

174,081

61,684

29,434

81,681

525,034

Foreign Total0

t Not (or publication, but ranking correct. .. Figures exclude N/A figures. ®Box-office grosses Of individual films have been supplied to Cinema Papers 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; GUO - Greater Union Organization Film Distributors; HTS — Hoyts Theatres; FOX — 20th Century Fox: UA — United Artists: CIC — Cinema International Corporation; FW — Filmways Australasian Distributors; 7K — 7 Keys Film Distributors; COL — Columbia Pictures; REG — Regent Film Distributors; C-CG — Cinema Centre Group, AFC — Australian Film Commission; SAFC — South Australian Film Corporation; MCA — Music Corporation of America; S — Sharmill Films; OTH — Other, (2)' Figures are drawn from capital city and Inner suburban first release hardtops only, (3) Split figures Indicate a multiple cinema release,

Box-office Grosses

Grand Total

HOW CATCHING A PLANE CAN STRETCH YOUR BUDGET

ST.KILDA FILM FESTIVAL proudly present An outstanding programme of independent Australian films featuring AFI and ATOM Award Winners (1984) along with works from Swinburne and AFTS.

A trifling two hours from Sydney, a solitary one hour from Melbourne: a first class studio facility; film and video editing suites; multi-track recording studio; preview theatres (16 and 35mm); and a staff of experienced professional camera and sound operators, editors, script writers, directors and production crews.

What w e don’t have are Sydney’s prices or waiting lists.

The Festival runs from the 21st March to Sunday the 24th March 1985 at the National Theatre Barkly St., St. Kilda.

Official opening Thursday 21st March

by Phillip Adams.

Programmes and tickets are now available on 5361333.

Series $20 (8 sessions) • Day $10 (3 sessions) Session $5 • (concessions available)

Call us and compare our prices.

TASMANIAN FILM CORPORATION EE 1-3 Bowen Road, Moonah, Hobart. 7009 Phone: (002) 28 6263 Telex: AA57148

SPONSORED BY ST. KILDA CITY COUNCIL AND FILM VICTORIA

RENTING GEAR? At Lemac Film & Video Equipment Rentals we’ve got Melbourne’s most comprehensive range of 16 81 Super 16 mm film equipment.

Aaton (Hire "32 Sales); Arriflex 16SR BL, S T production kits; Video Assist Arri Image Stabilizer a huge range of zoom and standard lenses, including tire new Zeiss 10-100 T2, the Cooke Super 16 Zoom *32 Angenieux 16-44 T1.3, 3.5 Century to dre 300 mm T2.8 Canon — lights, sound *32 editing gear too.

The Sony Betacam 3 tube Broadcast Camera with the BVU 110 Recorder, Wide Angle Fujinon 6.5 —23 mm Zoom for Sony Cameras 3 2 the .7 x wide angle’lens attachment for video zooms widr macro.

SCRATCH REMOVAL and CLEANING of 35m m and 16mm NEGATIVE, PO SITIVE AND REVERSAL FILM by the latest process available from the U .S.A .

★ No messy coating remains on the film after treatment ★ Film can be subsequently wet printed, ultrasonically cleaned, spliced, projected or handled in the usual manner ★ Ideal for negative or positive film that will be transferred to videotape ★ 4P per foot — 35mm prints 3P per foot — 16mm prints Price list available

Lemac Film & Video 279 Highett Street Richmond. Victoria 3121.

Phone (03) 429 2992 Australian agent for the F L E X F ILL reflector system

Victorian & Tasmanian representative for Film west A A T O N

REPAIR SERVICE ALSO AVAILABLE Call L E O N IE D O N O V A N for further inform ation (02) 427 2585 or a.h. 653 2494 UNIT 1, 1 LINCOLN STREET, LANE COVE W EST, N .S.W .

2066

V

Photography........................... David Connell G affer........................................ John Engeler Based on the historical work Sound recordist....................... Gary Wilkins Costumes/standby b y .....................................Richard Magoffin Editor......................................................AdrianCarr wardrobe............................ Frankie Hogan Exec, producer...........................Phil Gerlach Prod, designer............................Leslie Binns Costume design Assoc, producer............................ Jenny Day Composer............................. Bruce Rowland Prod, supervisor.................. Pauline Savage consultant......................... Rosemary Ryan Exec, producer......................................... MaxPhelan Make-up/hairdresser....Amanda Rowbotham Publicity....................... Robin Campbell-Huff Assoc, producer..................Brian D. Burgess Unit publicist................ Robin Campbell-Huff Script consultant...................John B. Murray Prod, manager........................................ JohnChase P R E -P R O D U C TIO N Catering.........................................Band-Aide, Length................................................. 90 mins Prod, co-ordinators.............. Meredyth Judd, Keith Fish Synopsis: The historical facts surrounding Jenny Tosi Laboratory........................................ Colorfilm the writing of “ Waltzing Matilda” by “ Banjo” Casting....................................................... LeeLamer Paterson. Paterson is present during the Length................................................. 95 mins AVENGERS OF THE CHINA SEAS Extras’ casting.............................................JoLarner To ensure the accuracy of your violence and unrest of the shearer’s strike.

Gauge................................................... 35 mm entry, please contact the editor of Art director...................................Leslie Binns Prod, company.....................Nilsen Premiere He writes “ Waltzing Matilda", influenced by Shooting stock.................................. Eastman this column and ask for copies of Make-up..................................................FionaCampbell Producer....................................................Tom Broadbridge Christina MacPherson and a Scottish tune, Synopsis: A love story. our Production Survey blank, on Special effects........................................ ChrisMurray D irector..................... Brian Trenchard-Smith which is taken up by the shearers as their which the details of your produc­ Wardrobe.................................................Jane Hyland Scriptwriter........................................... PatrickEdgewortti song of protest.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE tion can be entered. All details Based on the original idea Scenic artist......................................... RobertMancini Prod, company......Syme International Prods must be typ e d in upp er and low er b y ...................................................... PatrickEdgeworth Musical director..................................... BruceRowland Producer....................................... Jill C. Robb case.

Editor............................................... Alan Lake Sound editor........................................... TerryRodman Director......................................Robyn Nevin E d ito r’s note: All entries are Producer’s assistant........... Virginia Bernard Still photography................................... SterioStills Scriptwriter.................................Moya Wood supplied by producers/producP R O D U C TIO N Laboratory........................................ Colorf ilm (David and Lorelei Simmonds) tion companies, or by their agents.

Photography.............................. Dan Burstail Budget...........................................$4.6 million Publicity..............................Burson-Marsteller Cinema Papers cannot, therefore, Assoc, producer................... Greg Ricketson Length..................................................94 mins Budget..........................................................$5million accept re s p o n s ib ility fo r the G auge............................. 35 mm anamorphic Length........................................................ 120minsShoot scheduled...................April-May 1985 AUSSIFIED correctness of any entry.

Synopsis: Contemporary story about role Synopsis:A contemporary action-adventure G auge.............................35 mm anamorphic reversals and relationships. story set on the South China Sea. Prod, company................Screencrafts Prods Cast: Gus Mercurio (Ugo Mariotti).

Producer.............................. Ralph Lawrence Marsden Synopsis: The story of a man’s rise to THE PERFECTIONIST THE BIG HURT leadership in an emergency, when a Director.................................Ralph LawrenceMarsden Prod, com pany...... Roadshow Coote Carroll Dunkirk-style evacuation is used to rescue Scriptwriter............Ralph Lawrence Marsden Camera assistant Prod, company................................... Big Hurt Producer..................................Patrick Lovell Photography........Ralph Lawrence Marsden, thousands of holiday-makers from a bushfire (2nd unit)....................... David Wolfe-Barry Producer.........................................Chris Kiely Director..................................Chris Thomson on the Mornington Peninsula.

Stewart Neale 2nd unit assistant................ Graeme Shelton D irector.......................................... Barry Peak Scriptwriter........................ David Williamson Sound recordist.......... Peter Mandel (Britain) G affer........................................ T revor T oune Scriptwriters................................. Barry Peak, I OWN THE RACECOURSE Based on the play by..........David Williamson Composer (in part)...........................Sean Ore Boom operator.........................................MikePiper Sylvia Bradshaw Photography........................................ RussellBoyd Casting adviser..................................... MarcelCugola Art d irector.................................................KimHilder Prod, company.......................... Barron Films Based on the original idea Exec, producers......................................

Greg Coote, Casting consultants.......The Actor’s Agency, Producers................................................

John Edwards, Make-up................................................... Jane Surrich b y .............................................. Barry Peak, Matt Carroll Frog Promotions, Timothy Read Hairdresser............................... Bev Freeman Sylvia Bradshaw Prod, supervisor............................Lyn Gailey Sascha Management Director.............................................. Stephen Ramsey Wardrobe supervisor................ Peter Bevan Photography......................Malcolm Richards 1st asst director...................... Colin Fletcher 2nd unit photography................................ WilfWatters Scriptwriter............................ John Edwards Art dept assistants....................Ian McGrath, Exec, producer.......................................... PhilDwyer Gauge................................................... 16 mm (Britain) Based on the book by.......Patricia Wrightson David Adams Prod, supervisor..............................Ray Pond Cast: Jacki Weaver, Noel Ferrier.

Music performed by (in p a rt)......... Sean Ore Props buyer/set dresser........... Jenny Smith Director of photography............ Geoff Burton G auge........................................Super 16 mm Synopsis: The Perfectionist takes an & Nuefrunt Standby p rop s.......................................DallasWilson Synopsis: Action-adventure set in Mel­ Editor......................................Denise Haslem incisive and very humorous look at the Laboratory................................................ VFL Exec, producer..........................Paul Barron Special effects........................................ BrianPearce bourne. pressures inherent in a two-career marriage.

Length................................................ 90 mins Prod, manager.......................Adrienne Read Special effects assistant............Peter Collias Based on David Williamson’s successful Shooting stock......................................

Kodak BLOWING HOT AND COLD Scenic artist.............................................. GuyAllain 1st asst director................ Corrie Soeterbeck play of the same name.

Cast: Chris Waters (David), Amanda Mc­ Carpenter/set construction.....Chris Budryse Laboratory............................................... Atlab Prod, company....................................CelsiusProds Namara (Wendy), Bronwyn Gibbs (Chrissie), Asst editor............................. Denise.Haratzis B u d g e t ....................... .$700,000 Producer.................................................. BasilAppleby PLAYING BEATIE BOW Christine Andrew (Claire), Peter Tabor Sound editor........................................... FrankLipson Length........... .................. ...................73 mins Director...................... Brian Trenchard Smith (George), Susan Mantell (Stephanie), Martin Editing assistant.................... Steve Lambeth Gauge.................................... Super 16 mm Prod, com pany......................................SAFCProds Scriptwriters......................... Rosa Colosimo, Trainor (Barry), Esme Gray (Bea), Con Stunts co-ordinator............................... GlennBoswell Shooting stock.............

Kodak Eastmancolor Dist. company..........................................

CEL , RegMcLean Babanoitis (taxi driver), Margaret Younger Still photography....................................CorrieAncono Synopsis: The story of Andy Hoddeli who Producer..................................................

Jock Blair Script editor.......................Everett De Roche (disco lady).

Wranglers..............................

Bill Willoughby, comes to believe he owns Harold Park Race­ Director............................... Donald Crombie Exec, producers........................................RegMcLean, S yn opsis: Contemporary drama set in Luke Hura course.

Scriptwriters............................................

Irwin Lane, Rosa Colosimo London and Melbourne.

Best boy...............................................WernerGerlach Peter Gawler Scheduled release...................... Easter 1985 JENNY KISSED ME Runner....................................................

DavidField Based on the novel by.............................

Ruth Park Cast: Giancarlo Giannini (Nino), Arkie DOT AND KEETO Publicity.............................. Erica Kwiecinski, Prod, designer........................ George Liddle Prod, company.................... Nilsen Premiere Whiteley (Sally).

Prod, company.....................................

Yoram Gross Judith Ditter Assoc, producer.....................................Bruce Moir Dist. company.........................................Hoyts Synopsis: The story of a friendship between Film Studio C atering..................................................FrankManley Prod, supervisor............Pamela H. Vanneck Producer............................Tom Broadbridge two men who struggle to conquer differences Producer...............................................Yoram Gross Mixed a t...............................................Hendon Studios Prod, co-ordinator................... Barbara Ring D irector..................... Brian Trenchard-Smith of culture, temperament and values in order Director................................................. YoramGross Laboratory........................................ Colorfilm Producer’s secretary.............. Chris Howard Scriptwriter........................Judith Colquhoun to survive the dangers of their adventures Scriptwriter..............................................John Palmer Lab. liaison...................... Richard Piorkowski Prod, accountant.....................................JohnBurke and achieve their goal. The action moves Photography................................. Bob Kohler Photography...................................... GrahamSharpe Budget.....................................................$1.26million 1st asst director.................Philip Hearnshaw Editor.............................................. Alan Lake from the vast expanses of the Australian Assoc, producer..................................SandraGross Length...........................................................90mins Continuity..................................................AnnWalton desert to the peaks of treacherous, snow­ Prod, manager........................ Andrew Morse Length.................................................80 mins Gauge.......................................................... 35mm C asting.................................................AudineLeith Producer’s assistant........... Virginia Bernard capped mountain ranges.

Gauge...................................................35 mm Shooting stock..........Eastmancolor negative Studios................................ Hendon Studios Length................................................. 94 mins S y n opsis: After shrinking to insect size, Dot Cast: Cassandra Delaney (Jessica), Peter Budget........................................ $4.4 million Gauge.................................................. 35 mm DOTAND THE BUNYIP Ford (Sunny), David Sandford (Ringo), Garry Gauge..........................................................35mmfinds herself in a terrifying world of huge Synopsis: The story about the deterioration Prod, company..................................... YoramGross spiders and massive ants.

Desperately, she Who (Sparks).

Synopsis: The game is called Beatie Bow of a modern family, of the terrible impact of a and her friend, Keeto the Mosquito, hunt for Film Studio Synopsis: Jessica, a beautiful young woman and the children play it for the thrill of scaring broken home on a child’s psyche and on a Producer............................................... Yoram Gross alone on an isolated outback farm, becomes themselves. But when Abigail is drawn in, the magic bark that will return her to her “ parent” who finds that he has no rights of Director................................................. Yoram Gross normal size. the unwilling participant in a series of the game is quickly transformed into an access. His struggle becomes a magnificent Scriptwriters............................................ GregFlynn, dangerous games with three shooters. extraordinary, sometimes horrifying, adven­ obsession.

DOT AND THE KOALA Yoram Gross ture, as she finds herself transported to a Length................................................. 80 mins Prod, company...................................... YoramGross' place that is foreign yet strangely familiar.

FOR LOVE ALONE LONG TAN Gauge................................................... 35 mm Film Studio Prod, com pany................................Warantah Prod, company..........The Long Tan Film Co. Synopsis: A circus owner attempts to cap­ Producer..............................................

Yoram Gross THE SHIRALEE Dist. company..........................................GUO (proposed) ture a mysterious Bunyip, but Dot and her Director.................................................YoramGross Producer................................... Margaret Fink Scriptwriters..........................David Horsfield, Prod, com pany.......................... SAFC Prods bushland friends try to foil his plans. Dot Scriptwriters............................................GregFlynn, Director.............................................. StephenWallace Lex McAulay, soon discovers that the circus is merely a Director................................................ DonaldCrombie Yoram Gross Scriptwriter.........................................StephenWallace Bruce Horsfield front for an international wildlife smuggling Scriptwriter.............................................. TonyMorphett Based on the original idea Based on the novel by............Christina Stead Based on the original idea operation.

Story editor....................... Graeme Koetsveld b y ...................................................... YoramGross Photography.............................................AlunBollinger by.......................................Bruce Horsfield, Based on the novel b y ............. D’Arcy Niland Photography........................ Graham Sharpe Sound recordist..................... Sid Butterworth Julianne Horsfield DOT AND THE WHALE Exec, producer............................... Jock Blair Assoc, producer................................. SandraGross Editor.........................................Henry Dangar Exec, producer.....................Bruce Horsfield Studios...............................................

Hendon Studios Animation d irector............................. GairdenCooke Prod, com pany.........................Yoram Gross Prod, designer.........................

John Stoddard Prod, accountant......Manfred and McCallum Gauge................................................... 35 mm Length................................................ 80 mins Film Studio Exec, producer........................ David Thomas Length...............................................110 mins Synopsis: To Macauley, the child was his Gauge................................................... 35 mm Producer...................................Yoram Gross Assoc, producer........................................ SueWild Gauge................................................... 35 mm “ shiralee” : a burden and a handicap, and S y n opsis: Dot and her pal, Bruce the Koala, Director..................................... Yoram Gross Prod, manager.......................................... SueWild Synopsis: A recreation of the Battle of Long also a constant reminder of bitterness and try to stop a group of domestic animals from Scriptwriters..............................John Palmer, Prod, accountant................................... ElaineCrowther Tan, when an Australian patrol of 108 men failure.

It was in his nature to do things the a tiny town from building a dam across a Yoram Gross 1st asst director........................ Mark Turnbull fought off more than 1000 experienced Viet hard way: the way he saw it, there was no local river. The “ townspeople” — a strange Length................................................. 80 mins Continuity..................................

Daphne Paris Cong. Based on survivors’ own gripping other choice. What he hadn’t taken into mixture of haughty cows, ruthless pigs and Gauge...................................................35 mm Script editor.................................Sandra Levy accounts, the story illustrates the thesis that account was the child’s overwhelming need dopey dogs — need the dam and its power to Synopsis: In a desperate bid to rescue a C asting.....................................

M & L Casting the war in Vietnam was won militarily, but for love. catapult their town into the 21st Century. whale stranded on a beach, Dot and lost politically. .

Costume designer................................ Jennie Tate Neptune the dolphin hunt the ocean depths SHORT CHANGED Make-up............................Lesley Vanderwalt searching for a wise, old octopus called the MARIE-CLAIRE Hairdresser............................................CherylWilliams FAIR GAME Prod, company.................................... Magpie Films Oracle who knows how to save whales. (working title) Musical director......................... Nathan Waks Producer............................... Ross Matthews Prod, company.................................SouthernFilms Publicity..................Marita Blood and Assoc.

FAIR GAME Prod, company............. Collins Murray Prods Director.................................. George Ogilvie International Laboratory.........................................Colorfilm Producer.................................John B. Murray Scriptwriter............................. Robert Merritt Dist. company.......................................... CEL Prod, company............... Southern Films Gauge..........................................................

35mm Director....................................... Scott Murray Based on the original idea Producers............................................. HarleyManners, International Limited Cast: Helen Buday (Theresa), Hugo Scriptwriter.................................Scott Murray b y .......................................................RobertMerritt Ron Saunders Weaving (Jonathan Crow).

Dist. company...................................... C.E.L. Photography........................Andrew de Groot Photography............................................DeanSemler Director............................Mario Andreacchio Producers.................................................. RonSaunders, Synopsis: The story of a young girl’s Editor...................................................RichardFrancis-Bruce Sound recordist.................................... LaurieRobinson Scriptwriter............................................... RobGeorge Harley Manners passionate search for love and sexual Editor..........................................................Tim Lewis Prod, designer.....................................Kristian Frederickson Photography....................................... Andrew Lesnie D irector............................ Mario Andreacchio fulfilment, and the men who help her find it.

Assoc, producer.................................Barbara Gibbs Art director......................... :..Paddy Reardon Sound recordist......................................ToivoLember Scriptwriter................................................RobGeorge Line producer........................................... TomBurstail 1st asst director....................Steve Andrews Editor..................................... Andrew Prowse Budget.....................................................$1.26million FORTRESS Wardrobe................................................AnnaFrench Prod, manager........................................ John Hipwell Prod, co-ordinator.................................MargoTamblyn Synopsis: Ayoung woman, alone on an Unit manager......................................StewartBeatty Length.......................................................... 95mins isolated farm, becomes unwillingly involved Prod, manager.......................................... GayDennis Prod, com pany.................................CrawfordProds Prod, secretary....................................... AnneMudie Gauge.....................................*............35 mm in a series of vicious games with a group of Location manager.................................MasonCurtis Producer.................................................... RayMenmuir Prod, accountant.............. Pauline Montagna Scheduled sh oo t..................................... April1985 kangaroo shooters which invades her Prod, accountant.....................................John Lawley Director...................................Arch Nicholson Synopsis: A young aboriginal shearer 1st asst director..-..................................... TomBurstail 1st asst director......................................Chris Williams property.

Scriptwriter ...................Everett De Roche 2nd asst director....................Marcus Skipper struggles to see his son again after a six-year 2nd asst director..........................

Steve Otton Based on the novel b y ............ Gabrielle Lord FIRESTORM forced absence.

3rd asst director....................................... NickReynolds 3rd asst director.................................... Judith Ditter Photography........................... David Connell C ontinuity............................................ Shirley Ballard Prod, company............................................DeRoche2nd unit director........................................ RonSaunders Sound recordist.................................. Andrew Ramage Producer’s assistant............................. NimityJames Phelan Film Prods Continuity..................................................AnnWalton E ditor......................................................RalphStrasser WALTZING MATILDA Camera operator..............David Williamson Producer................................................... TomBurstail Focus puller.............................................ColinDeane Exec, producers................ Hector Crawford, Prod, com pany...........Mermaid Beach Prods Focus puller.........................................Jeremy Robbins D irector...............................Everett De Roche Clapper/loader........................................PeterTerakes Ian Crawford, Clapper/loader......................................MandyWalker Producer......................................................BillBennett Scriptwriter......................... Everett De Roche Key g rip ............................

NoelMcDonald Terry Stapleton Director....................................................... BillBennett Key g rip ..........................

DavidCassar Based on the original idea Asst g rip ............................................... WayneMarshall Assoc, producer........................ Michael Lake Scriptwriter................................................. BillBennett Asst g rip .............................................. MarcusMcLeod b y ......................

Max Phelan 2nd unit photography.............................. PaulDallwitz Prod, co-ordinator............. Elizabeth Symes

FEATURES

PRODUCERS AND PRODUCTION COMPANIES

CINEMA PAPERS Februory-March — 61

Production Survey

Prod, manager....................................... HelenWatts Photography...........................................GeoffBurton Art assistants..........................Ross Pulbrook, Lorraine McDermott Prod, supervisor....................................... RayPond Location unit manager.................... Grant Hill Sound recordist........................................ LeoSullivan 1 st asst director...................... Mark Turnbull Prod, accountant.................................... MarieMayall Stephen Nothllng Prod, accountant................................... Vince Smits Editor.................................................... DeniseHunter 2nd asst directors....................Tony Mahood, C ontinuity....................... Joanne McLennan Wardrobe................................Lesa Hepburn, Continuity......................................Jenni Tosi Composer........Michael Atkinson (Red Gum) Luba Bogomiagkoff Craig Bolles Lighting cameraman......... Malcolm Richards Casting............................ Maizels and Assoc.

Exec, producer............................. Multi Films (Aboriginal sequences) Camera operator............................... Malcolm Richards Set construction................. Leanne Petersen Lighting cameraman................ David Connell Assoc, producer...........................Jenny Day Focus puller.................................John Ogden 3rd asst director......................................CraigSinclair Still photography....................... Jay Younger Camera operator...................... David Connell Prod, supervisor...................Pauline Savage Key g rip...................................................... Orv Mudie Runner/transport..................... David Pollock Asst director Focus puller.................................. Greg Ryan Prod, accountant........................Phil Gerlach G affer....................................................... GaryScholes Catering............................ Loaves and Fishes (Aboriginal sequences).......Annette Boyes Clapper/loader..........................Bruce Phillips 1st asst director.............................Gerry Letts Boom operator...................... John Wilkinson Laboratory...............................................Atlab Continuity....................................Moya Iceton Gaffer.................................... Robert J. Young Lighting cameraman............................. GeoffBurton Make-up.................................... Pietra Robins Lab. liaison......................... Bruce Williamson Director’s assistant.................... Michele Day 3rd electrics............................................BruceTowers Art director...........................Stephen Fearley Length...............................................110 mins Casting..................................... M & L Casting Wardrobe................................................ Anna Jakab Boom operator........... ................. Joe Spinelli Asst art director................... Stephen Harrop Props......................................................Paddy Reardon Gauge................................................... 16 mm Extras’ casting.............................. Sue Parker Art d irector................................... Phil Warner Wardrobe......................... Maggie Woodcock Props buyer...........................................PaddyReardon Shooting sto c k.................. Kodak 7291,7294 Camera operator......................Nixon Binney Asst art director/ Asst editor........................ v ...Robert Werner Cast: John Flaus (Joe Hart), Ian Nimmo Focus puller.......................Peter Menzies Jnr Neg. matching.......................... Meg Koernig props buyer.........................Nick McCailum Music performed by..........................Red Gum (Lucan), Ray Meagher (Lawker), Carmen Clapper/loader....................................... GarryPhillips Sound editor..................... ....... David Hipkins Costume designer.................................. ClareGriffin Sound editor.............................................. LeoSullivan M ixer.................................■»'....David Harrison Duncan (Rita), Shelley Friend (Netha), Max Camera assistant......................................RobAgganis Make-up................................................... Jose Perez Mixer...................................... Brett Robinson Meldrum (Walter Stone), John Gregg (T. C. Key g rip ......................................... Ray Brown Dolby stereo consultant .....v:......Don Conolly Make-up assistant...............................LynetteHarding Publicity....................... Robin Campbell-Huff Brown), lain Gardiner (Mlko), Penny Jones G rip............................................ Stuart Green Still photography.............Oggy Photography Standby wardrobe..........Margot McCartney, Unit publicist................ Robin Campbell-Huff Runner.........:.......................... Bruce Nicholls (Deslene), Tracey Tainsh (Linda), Chris Betts Asst grips. ..................Brendan Shanley, Mixed a t .................................. Sound on Film Phil Eagles (John), Jennifer Blocksidge (Marie), Ros Greg Mossop Catering....................................Emerald Diner Laboratory...............................................Atlab Standby props.................Shane Rushbrook S tudios..........................................Pan Pacific Vidgeon (Christina), Errol O’Neill (Barber).

2nd unit photography................. Louis Irving Special effects........................................ BrianPearce Lab. liaison............................ Bruce Williams Laboratory..........................................Cinevex Synopsis: Joe Hart, a private investigator on 2nd unit camera assistant............ Terry Field Scenic artists........................................... John Hedges, Length......................................

92 mins Gaffers.....................................................BrianBansgrove, assignm ent in Queensland, becomes Lab. liaison........... ...................... Bruce Braun Gauge................................................... 35 mm David Francis, involved with a bootleg music racket, a Peter O’Brien Length...........................................................82mins Shooting stock...................... Eastman Kodak Martin Kelloch prostitute, the anti-nuclear movement and Electrics.........................John Bryden-Brown, Gauge.........................................Super 16 mm Best boy........................................ Laurie Fish Scheduled release...........................May 1985 various nefarious thugs.

Colin Chase Shooting stock...................................... Kodak7291 Cast: Chris Haywood (Col Turner), Jennifer Runner.....................................................PeterNathan Boom operators...........................Phil Tipene, Scheduled release.................................. Early1985 C luff (Lorraine Turner), Peter Hehir Cage construction............................Will Flint BLISS Gerry Nucifora Cast: Jay Hackett (Mike), Tim Scally (solicitor), Susannah Fowle (Julie), John Teachers/chaperone................................ JanHarfield, Art director...............................

Brian Hocking (Kookie), Lyn Semmler (Helen), Clive Hearne Prod, company................... Window III Prods Schumann (Craig), Deborah Cramer (Dr Jo Buchanan Producer..............................Anthony Buckley Asst art director................................Kim Dary (George), PeterThompson (Sir Ninian Hamilton).

Publicity...................... Chris Day Enterprises Art dept co-ordinator.............................Penny Lang Richards).

Director................................... Ray Lawrence Catering............................................ Christina Frolich Synopsis: Col Turner, a returned Vietnam Costume designer................... George Liddle Synopsis: Comedy set in a television Scriptwriters.......................... Ray Lawrence, veteran, and his wife Lorraine buy a warLaboratory............................................... Atlab station.

Peter Carey Design assistant..................................WarrenField service home in one of Sydney’s western Lab. liaison............................................. PeterWillard Make-up................................ Bob McCarron, Based on the novel by.................Peter Carey suburbs. After moving in, they discover their Gauge....................................................35 mm Wendy Sainsbury, EMOH RUO Photography............................................ PaulMurphy Shooting stock.......................................Kodak neighbors are affected by psychological Ivonne Pollock, Sound recordist.......................................GaryWilkins Prod, company............. Palm Beach Pictures and physiological disorders. When Col is Cast: Rachel Ward (Sally Jones), Dennis Sonja Smuk Editor...................................... Wayne Le Clos (Emoh Ruo) diagnosed as having incurable cancer, he Miller (“ Father Christmas” ), David Brad­ Hairdresser.......................... Shayne Radford Design consultant............................... WendyDickson Dist. company......................... Greater Union suspects that there is an underlying cause shaw (“ Pussycat” ), Vernon Wills (“ Dabby Wardrobe.....................................Anna Wade Composer..................................... Peter Best Producer...................................... David Elfick which links him and his neighbors, all Duck” ), Roger Stephen (“ Mac the Mouse” ), Standby wardrobe................Julie Middleton Prod, manager........................................CarolHughes D irector............................... Denny Lawrence Vietnam veterans.

Sean Garlick (Sid O’Brien), Rebecca Rigg Asst standby wardrobe.........Annie Peacock Unit manager.....................Roxane Delbarre Scriptwriters........................................... DavidPoltorak, (Narelle), Anna Crawford (Sarah), Beth Location manager......................Robin Clifton Wardrobe assistants............... Andrea Hood, Paul Leadon A THOUSAND SKIES Buchanan (Leanne).

Jean Turnbull, Prod, secretary.................... Elizabeth Symes Based on the original idea Synopsis: A group of school children and Linda Mapledoram, Prod, accountant...............Debbie Eastwood Prod, company..................A Thousand Skies b y.........................................................DavidPoltorak, their teacher are kidnapped by four men.

Jeanette McCullogh, (Moneypenny Services) Dist. company....................... Network Seven Paul Leadon The story tells of their fight to escape.

Rita Crouch Prod, assistant..................., Kate Jarman Producers................................. Ross Dimsey, Photography....................................... Andrew Lesnie Props...........................................................IanAllan 1st asst director.......................................KeithHeygate Robert Ginn Sound recordist........... ...............

Paul Brincat LEONSKI — THE BROWN OUT Props buyers............................. Peta Lawson, 2nd asst director.................. Marcus Skipper Director...................................................DavidStevens Editor......................................................... TedOtton MURDERS 3rd asst director....................Paul Callaghan Brian Edmonds, Assoc, producer.................................... SteveKnapman Scriptwriter............................................. DavidStevens Sally Campbell, Continuity.......................................... ThereseO’Leary Based on the novel b y .......... Tasman Beattie Prod, company.................. Flying Tiger Films Prod.

C asting...................................................SusieMaizels Peter Forbes Photography............................. David Eggby Dist. com pany......Peregrine Entertainments manager........Catherine Phillips Knapman Lighting cameraman................................Paul Murphy Standby props...........................................

IgorLazareff Sound recordist......................... Gary Wilkins Producer........................................... Bill Nagle Unit manager.......................................... Dixie Betts Camera operator...............David Williamson Asst standby props.............. ........

Aran Major Editors.....................................................Tony Paterson, Director.....................................Philippe Mora Prod, secretary....................................... Julia Ritchie Focus puller............................ Geoff Wharton Special effects.....................................Mirage Pippa Anderson Scriptwriter................................................. BillNagle Prod, accountant..................Elaine Crowther Clapper/loader..........................Conrad Slack (Andrew Mason, Prod, designer........................................... TelStolfo Based on an historical event in 1942 1st asst director................... Michael Falloon Camera assistant.................... Shane Walker Tad Pride) Composer.............................. Bruce Smeaton Photography........................................... LouisIrving 2nd asst director...................................... Judy Rymer Key g rip .............................................. GraemeMardell Set dressers............................................. PetaLawson, Prod, co-ordinator.............Rosemary Probyn Sound recordist......................................GeoffWhite C ontinuity.........................................Elizabeth Barton Asst g rip ...................................... Gary Cardin Brian Edmonds, Prod, manager.......................................PaulaGibbs Editor....................................................... John Scott Producers secretary............................. BasiaPlacheki Gaffer............................................Mick Morris Sally Campbell, Unit manager......................................EdwardWaring Exec, producer...................................RichardTanner Extras’ casting.... Jo Hardie (Menage & trois) Electrics................................................

Shaun Conway Peter Forbes Prod, secretary.........................................Sue Hayes Camera operator................................ Andrew Lesnie Assoc, producers............................... HonnonPage, Genni operator.......................Graham Mulder Scenic artist................................................ IanRichter Prod, accountant...................... Jim Hajicosta Focus puller.............................................ColinDeane Richard Jabara Boom operator........................Mark Wasiutak Asst scenic artists...................................PeterCollias, 1st asst director................... Bob Donaldson Prod, supervisor................. Geoffrey Pollock Clapper/loader....................................... PeterTerakes Art director............................................. OwenPaterson Chris Read Camera dept attachment............. Mandy King 2nd asst director..................Brett Popplewell Prod, co-ordinator...............Vicki Popplewell Asst art director.......................................DaleDuguid Art dept runner........................................PeterForbes 3rd asst director......................................... IanKenny Prod, manager....................................... DavidClarke Key g rip ..................................................Bruce Barber Costume designer.................................HelenHooper Standby carpenter................................ DerekWyness Continuity..................... '......... Jackie Sullivan Unit m anager..................... Leigh Ammitzboll Asst g rip ..................................... Colin Padget Make-up......................................Jenny Boost Carpenters......................... Brendan Shortall, Casting.... .>^........................................ SusieMaizels Prod, secretary..........................................SueEvans G affer............................................ Simon Lee Hairdresser...........................................PennyMorrison Geoff Howe, Lighting cameraman.............................. DavidEggby Prod, accountant....................................GeoffPollock Boom operator......................................... PaulGleeson Wardrobe...............................................HelenHooper Kevin Kilday, Camera operator....................................DavidEggby Asst accountant................................ AnthonyShepherd Art director............................................RobertDein Ward, construction..........Anne-Marie Dalziel Simon Miller, Focus puller............................Warwick Field Prod, associate.................................JeanetteLeigh Costume designer............................. Anthony Jones Ward, assistant.......................Pauline Walker Gordon McIntyre, Clapper/loader........................David Lindsey 1st asst director...................................... BrianGiddens Make-up................................................

LesleyVanderwalt Props buyers.......................................MichaelTolerton, Rory Forrest, Key g rip ...............................Gregory Wallace 2nd asst director..................................HamishMcSporran Hairdresser...................... Lesley Vanderwalt Eugene Intas Peter Longley, Asst grip........................................... GrahameDewsbury 3rd asst director......................................PeterCulpan Standby wardrobe..................................Fiona Nicolls Standby props............................ Jenny Miles, Allan Brown, G affer......................................................... IanDewhurst Continuity........................................... JoanneMcLennan Props buyer........................................ClarissaPatterson Colin Gibson Boris Kosanovic Standby props...................................... LouiseCarrigan Electrician.................................................NickPain Producer’s assistant.................................SueRobinson Art dept runner........................... Phillip Drake Construction managers......... Denis Donelly, Boom operator.......................Mark Wasiutak Casting consultants......................Lee Larner Set decorator/artist................................ DavidMcKay Special effects make-up........ Bob McCarron Danny Rollston Art director..................................................TelStolfo Focus puller.................................. Derry Field Carpenters..........................................Andrew Chauvel, Special effects......................................KerrenHansen Construction runner............ Daniel Morphett Asst art director.................. Syd Guglielmino Clapper/loader...................................... LaurieKirkwood Ian Judd Costume designer..................................RobinHallAsst special effects.......................Ray Fowler Asst editor............................Jeanine Chialvo Key g rip .............................................Ian Park Art dept assistant................................ MichaelFanning Set dresser............................. Alethea Deane 2nd asst editor...........................Liz Goldfinch Make-up................................................. Carla O’Keefe Grips...................................................... Jamie Leckle, Construction manager...........David Stenning Set finisher...................................... Eric Todd Sound edito r.................................. Lee Smith Wardrobe...........................................GrahamPurcell Barry Brown Special effects.......................................Reece Robinson Brush hand.............................................FrankFalconer Still photography..................... David Parker Ward, assistant..................................... LouiseWakefield Gaffer...................................................... TonyHoltham Asst editor.........................................MargaretSlxel Construction....................................

Bill Howe Livestock co-ordinator.....Kayleen Donnellan Props buyer.............................................MaryHarris Asst electrix................................................LesFrazier Musical director......................Cameron Allan Asst editor............................. Josephine Cook Horsemasters.......Heath and Evanna Harris, Standby props........................................ ChrisJames Generator operator............................... AdamWilliams Dialogue editor.............................Les Fiddess Neg. matching.................................... CarmelWellburn Alan Fitzsimmons Set decorator.........................Bernle Wynack Boom operator....................................... Chris Goldsmith Asst dialogue editor........................Stephanie Flack Horsemasters’ assistant......... Ann Stevens Set construction.....................................DerekMillsMusical director.............................Peter Best Art director........................ Geoff Richardson Editing assistant.....................................Cathy Chase Sound editor...........................................

Dean Gawen Coachmaster.......................... Graham Ware Musical director....................Bruce Smeaton Asst art director................................ Jill Eden Sound post-production............Roger Savage Assoc, sound editor............................... HelenBrown Wranglers.................................Hugh Barnet, Still photography........................................Jim Townley Costume designer...............................SandraTynan (Soundfirm) Sound assistant.................Paul Huntlngford Derek Fisher, Best boy..................................................... LexMartin Make-up................................Deryk De Neise, Still photography....................................

AnneZahalka Mixer....................................................... PeterFenton Bruce Emery, Runners.................................................... RayBoseley, Michelle Lowe Best boy.............................................. MichaelAdcock Stunts co-ordinator........................Guy Norris Max Mitchell, Don Keyte Asst make-up........................................... NickSeymour Runner...................................................

Justin Fitzpatrick Still photography........................................Jim Townley Don Fitzsimmons, Publicity........................................Wendy Day Hairdresser.........................................Stephen Mahoney Pre-prod, runner.................................... Annie Peacock Best boy........................................ Chris Sleet Robert Watchirs, Laboratory..............................................Atlab Wardrobe supervisor.............................GerryNixon Tutor...........................................................SueMorrow Runners...................................................MarkKeating, Stephen Moxham, Lab. liaison............................................. PeterWillard Standby wardrobe.............................Amanda Smith, Security....................................................GaryNicholson Paul Manos Daphne Phillips, Budget...................................................... $4.4million Gail Mayes Catering................................................. ActionCatering Nurse.......................................

Meredith Clark Emma Erback, Cast: John Walton (Smithy).

Props................................ Keith Hanscombe ‘ (Fiona and Stephen) Catering.......................... Kaos (Cathy Troutt) Gale Courts, Synopsis: The story of Australia’s most Props buyer...............................................PhilChambers Mixed a t..........................................Soundfirm Mixed a t ................................................UnitedSound Mandy Beaumont famous aviator, Sir Charles Klngsford-Smith.

Laboratory........................................

Colorfilm Standby props......................................... John Stabb Laboratory........................................ Colorfilm Camel dresser....................... John Wittacker Lab. liaison..........................................RichardPiorkowski Special effects...........................Brian Perace Budget...................................................... $3.4million Best boys.................................................ColinChase, WILLS AND BURKE — THE Set decorator...............................................JillEden Budget.........................................-..$1.7 million Length.............................................. 115 mins Paul Gantner UNTOLD STORY Construction manager......Geoff Richardson Length................................................. 90 mins Gauge................................................... 35 mm Runners.................................................

Lionel Curtin, Stunts co-ordinator.................................... BillStacey Gauge................................................... 35 mm Prod, company....................Stony Desert Ltd Shooting stock.......................... Eastmancolor Robin Newell Still photography...........Martin Glassborrow Shooting stock.......................... Eastmancolor Dist. company........................................GUO Cast: Barry Otto (Harry Joy), Lynette Curran Voice coach................................... Gina Pioro Military adviser/ Cast: Joy Smithers (Terri), Martin Sacks Producer.......................... Margot McDonnell (Bettina), Helen Jones (Honey Barbara), Tim Music teacher..................................... ColleenLeonard safety officer.......................... Ken McLeod (Des).

Robertson (Alex Duvall).

D irector..........................................Bob Weis Doctor....................................................GillianDeakin Arm ourer...................... Robert Hempenstall S ynopsis: A contemporary Australian Scriptwriter............................................ Phillip Dalkln Synopsis: Throughout history many great Researcher....................................... Christina Norman Period vehicle co-ordinator.......Rob McLeod comedy.

Budget.................................................... $1.75million artists have depicted the tortures of hell. But V et................................................. Dick Jane Best boy..........,..........................Dick Tummel Synopsis: The other story of Burke and never before has anyone dared to suggest Unit publicist.................... Santina Musumeci Runners............................... Chris Gilmartin, THE EMPTY BEACH Wills. that hell Is a place where an elephant sits on Catering.................................................. JohnFaithfull Melinda Foster your motor car.

Catering assistant....................................GaryFrame Prod, com pany..................................... Jethro Films Publicity..................... Les Jabara and Assoc.

Budget...................................................... $8.9million Producers................................................ John Edwards, Unit publicist...............................................LesJabara Cast: Jack Thompson (Burke), Matthew Timothy Read BURKE AND WILLS C atering............................... Beeb Fleetwood Fargher (King), Ralph Cotterlll (Gray), Chris Director................................................... Chris Thomson Laboratory............................................... Atlab P O S T-P R O D U C TIO N Prod, com pany.............. Hoyts Edgley Prods Haywood (McDonagh), Drew Forsythe Scriptwriter..............................................Keith Dewhurst Lab. liaison.................................Jim Parsons in association with (Brahe), Monroe Reimers (Dost Mahomet), Based on the novel by............................ PeterCorris Budget...........................................$3,000,000 Graeme Clifford Greta Scacchi (Julia), Nigel Havers (Wills), Photography............................................ John Seale Length........................................................ 105mins Producers........................... Graeme Clifford, Barry Hill (Landells), Ron Blanchard Sound recordist........................................ MaxHensser BOOTLEG Gauge....................................................35 mm John Sexton (Patton).

Editor.................................................. LindsayFrazer Shooting stock.......................................Kodak Director................................Graeme Clifford Prod, com pany.......................Bootleg Films Synopsis: The story of the first two explorers Prod, designer......................Larry Eastwood Scheduled release................................... Late1985Producers............................................. TrevorHawkins, Scriptwriter..........................Michael Thomas to cross the continent from south to north Exec, producer.......................................... BobWeis Cast: Bill Hunter (Adams), Maurie Fields Photography.............................. Russell Boyd and back.

John Prescott, -Prod, manager................................. Adrienne Read (Martin), James Coburn (Dannenberg), Reb Sound recordist...................Syd Butterworth Jeanne Taylor Prod, co-ordinator...............................Milanka Comfort Brown (Leonski), Don Gordon (Fricks).

Editor......................................................... TimWellburn Director................................... John Prescott Location unit manager..... Corrie Soeterboek CHANNEL CHAOS Synopsis: The violent crimes of Private Prod, designer......................................... RossMajor Scriptwriter.............................. John Prescott Prod, accountant.......................................LeaCollins Edward J. Leonski of the American Army in Prod, company.......................... Hatful Prods Assoc, producer......................................GregRicketson Photography........................... Stephen Frost Asst prod, accountant......... Candice Du Bois Melbourne during May of 1942, his Producer.......................................Chris Kiely Sound recordist..........................Kieran Knox Prod, co-ordinators..................Lynda House, 1st asst director.......................................Colin Fletcher subsequentapprehension and the political Julie Forster, Director.........................................Barry Peak Editor.................................... Trevor Hawkins 2nd asst director......................................Jake Atkinson and military ramifications of his trial and Jane Griffin Scriptwriters......................., .........Chris Kiely, Prod, co-ordinator...................Jeanne Taylor 3rd asst director..................................Andrew McPhail execution.

Prod, manager........Carolynne Cunningham Prod, assistants.............. Rosemary Hawker, Barry Peak Continuity............................................Pamela Willis Location unit manager.............Ron Stigwood Photography..................... Malcolm Richards Sue Ward Casting...................................Michael Lynch, A STREET TO DIE Sound recordist..........................John Rowley 1st asst d irector................................... TrevorHawkins Asst location unit manager....... Mason Curtis Rae Davidson Prod, com pany.......... Mermaid Beach Prods Sydney location manager...........Elaine Black Editor....................................... David Hipkins Continuity................................ Pat Laughren (Forcast) Producer...................................... Bill Bennett Lighting cameraman..................Jamie Egan Sydney location assistants.... Peter Lawless, Prod, designer.............................. Ian McWha Focus puller................................Ben Seresin D irector....................................... Bill Bennett Camera assistant....................Amanda King Henk Prins Music............................................ John Rees, Key grip................................Paul Thompson Scriptwriter..................................Bill Bennett Transport manager................................RalphClark Bernadette Holloway, Boom operator..................................... JamesKesteren Asst grip............................... George Tsoutas Based on the original idea Prod, accountant................................. SpyrosSideratos Additional photography..........Chris Strewe, Greg Macainsh G affer.........................................Reg Garside by.............................................. Bill Bennett Accounts assistants............ Catherine Ryan, Exec, producer........................... Phil Dwyer Peter Nearhos Electrician.................................. Craig Bryant

62 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Production Survey

Hairdresser...............................................PaulPattison Gaffer..................................................... RogerWood Producers.............................Richard Mason, Boom operator............................... David Lee Still photography....................Maria Stratford Standby wardrobe...............Geanie Cameron Julia Overton Costume designer...............Miranda Skinner Electrician...........................................DouglasWood R unner.........................................Vic Mavridis Props buyers....................... Colin Robertson, Asst electrics......................................

Michael Wood Director..............................................Stephen Wallace C atering............................................... Tartine Make-up....................................................Judy Lovell Steven Jones-Evans Boom operator............................................IanGrant Scriptwriter.........................................StephenWallace Mixed a t ........................................ SoundFirm Hairdresser.............................................. Judy Lovell Standby props.........................Nick Seymour Art director...............................................PhilipWarner Based on the original idea Laboratory......................................... Cinevex Standby w ardrobe.............................. Andrea Burns Special effects........................... Brian Pierce, Costume designers.........................Robi Hall, b y ....................................................StephenWallace Lab. liaison..................................Bruce Braun Ward, assistant.................. Heather McLaren Jamie Thomson Ron Williams Script consultant.........................Sandra Levy Length.................................................60 mins Props buye r..........................................Murray Pope Choreography........................Tony Bartuccio Photography.............................. Geoff Burton Make-up............................ Margaret Lingham Gauge....................................................16 mm Standby p rop s..........................................ClintWhite Set dresser.............................................Martin Perkins Asst make-up.......................................... AnneHeathcote Sound recordist........................................ TimLloyd Shooting sto ck.................. Kodak 7291,7294 Special e ffects........................................ Chris Murray, Asst editors....................Catherine Sheehan, Editor......................................................HenryDangar Ward, assistant........................................Jane Boalch Cast: Kate Reid (Elizabeth), Tony LlewellynDave Hardy Vicki Ambrose, Props buyer............................ Brad Campbell Prod, designer............................. Ross Major Jones (Christopher), Chloe Cunningham Set decorator..........................................Marta Statescu Catherine Fenton Composer............................Ralph Schneider Standby props.................. Shane Rushbrook (Vanessa), Lucy Henry (Georgina), Merle Art dept ru nn e r.................Mark Schulenberg Sound e dito r..............................................

LesFiddess Special effects.....................

Peter Shoesmith Prod, manager..........................................

Rod Allan Dalmaine (Joan).

Neg. matching............................ Chris Rowell Asst sound e dito r.................Stephanie Hack Asst special effects.................Lisa Grahame, Prod, secretary...................................... CathyFlannery S yn o p sis:. C h risto p h e r b elieves the Sound e d ito r.......... ;........................ Greg Bell Mixer...................................Julian Ellingworth Graeme Blackmore Prod, accountants...................................... Jill Coverdale, marriage will work only if Elizabeth retrieves Stunt co-ordinator....................... Peter West Howard Wheatley Still photography..........................Suzy Wood Construction manager.......David Thompson the golf clubs from the pool.

Still photography.................................. Robbie Gribble Mobile bus driver........................ Kevin Bryant 1st asst director.......................................MarkTurnbull Asst editor...............................................PippaAnderson B®s*b?y..................................... Craig Bryant AN INDECENT OBSESSION Best b o y ............................... James Mathews 2nd asst director........................................

Ian Page Still photography..........

Caroline Haggstrom, Publicity...............The Rea Francis Company Runner........................................Stuart Beatty 3rd asst director.......................................Julie Forster Gary Wade, Prod, company......................................... PBL Prods C atering..................................... John Welch Unit publicist..............................Pierre Perrett Continuity..................................Daphne Paris David Simmonds Dist. com pany.......................................... PBLProds Laboratory.........................................Colorfilm International publicity....The Rae Francis Co. Casting consultants.................................

M&L Casting Horse wrangler...................Glen MacTaggert Producer........................................Ian Bradley Budget.......................................... $ 1 .8 million C atering............................... Beeb Fleetwood Lighting cameraman.............................

Geoff Burton Asst horse wrangler................Barry Rainbow D irector........................................Lex Marinos Length...............................................100 mins Post-prod, accountant......... Joan Macintosh Camera operator....................................GeoffBurton Transport manager................................... KenCollins Gauge.................................................... 3 5 mm Scriptwriter..............................Denise Morgan Focus puller...................... ............Derry Field Mixed a t.................................................. Atlab Best b o y.............................Philip Golombich Based on the novel Shooting stock.......................................Kodak Clapper/loaders...........................G ill Leahy, Laboratory...............................................Atlab Runner.................................... Colin Gillespie b y ............................... Colleen McCullough Cast: Bryan Brown (Cliff Hardy), Anna Maria Conrad Slack Lab. liaison.................................Peter Willard Catering....................

The Katering Company Photography.................................

Ernie Clark Monticelli (Ann Winter), Belinda Giblin Key grip..................................... Lester Bishop Budget........................................... $1.9 million Laboratory...............................................Atlab Sound recordist.................... Ken Hammond (Marion Singer), Kerry Mack (Hildegard), Asst g rip.......................................... Geoff Full Length............................................... 115 mins Lab. liaison................................ Peter Willard Editor...................................................... Philip Howe Ray Barrett (McLeary), John Wood (Parker), Gaffer..........................................Ian Plummer Budget....................................... $2.75 million Gauge....................................................35 mm Prod, designer.................................... MichaelRalph Peter Collingwood (Ward), Nick Tate Electrician............................................Patrick O’Farrell Cast: Sigrid Thornton (Fennimore), Paul Length.................................................

90 mins Composer.................................. Dave Skinner (Henneberry), Joss McWilliam (TaJ), Kerry Boom operator...........................................PhilKuros Williams (Niel Lynne), Judy Morris (Patricia), Gauge................................................... 35 mm Exec, producers.......................... Ian Bradley, Dwyer (Mary Mahoud), Steve J. Spears Costume designer..................................

Ross Major Brandon Burke (Eric), David Argue (Reg), Cast: John Stanton (Lance Dillon), Rebecca John Daniell (Manny).

Make-up............................................MargaretLingham Tony Rickards (Tim Marsh), Nicki Pauli Gilling (Mary Dillon), Ivar Kants (Sgt Neil Assoc, producer...........................Maura Fay Synopsis: Cliff Hardy meets organized Wardrobe..............................................

Jenny Miles (Melissa), Alan Cinis (Mather), John Howard Adams), Tommy Lewis (Mundaru).

Prod, supervisor................................. MichaelMidlam crime in Bondi. ' Ward, assistant.........................................MegHunt (Read), Marie Redshaw (Phiilipa).

Synopsis: The story of a woman’s fight for Prod, co-ordinator................Sally Ayre-Smith Props_buyer................................

Peta Lawson Synopsis: The story of two boyhood friends love and independence in Australia's North.

Prod, manager............................. Irene Korol FROG DREAMING Standby props.............. .....Igor Lazareff tracing their fates and loves from the Unit manager...............................Tim Higgins Asst editor............................................PamelaBarnetta Prod, com pany................ Middle Reef Prods turbulent era of the late 1960s to 1980.

RELATIVES Prod, accountant........................ Matt Sawyer Sound editor........................................... DeanGawen Producer......................................Barbi Taylor (Moneypenny Services) Prod, company......................... Archer Films Editing assistant............... Amanda Sheldon Director..................... Brian Trenchard-Smith Prod, liaison (Sydney)..............Chris Godfrey Producers................................. Henri Safran, Mixer..................................Julian Ellingworth Scriptwriter......................... Everett De Roche 1st asst director............................Rob Kewley Basil Appleby Asst m ixer.......................................... MichaelThomas Photography............................. John McLean 2nd asst director................... Deuel Droogan Director..............................

Anthony Bowman See Cinema Papers, No. 49, for details Still photography.................................CarolynJohns Sound recordist....................................... MarkLewis 3rd asst d irector......................... Paul Grinder Scriptwriter.........................Anthony Bowman of The Coca-Cola Kid, Rebel, Dialogue coach......................................ClaireCrowther Editor........................................................Brian Kavanagh Continuity................................................. NickiMoors Based on the original idea Restless, Robbery Under Arms, Sky Trainer.................................

Jack Pros Prod, designer..........................Jon Dowding C asting......................................... Maura Fay b y ................................... Anthony Bowman Runner.....................................................KateIngham Pirates, Wrong World and Young Composer....................................... Brian May Lighting cameraman....................Ernie Clark Photography...............................Tom Cowan Consultant publicist.................................. ReaFrancis Prod, co-ordinator.....................Barbara Rina Einstein.

Camera operator.................. David Foreman Sound recordist......................................... BobClayton Catering.................................................. JohnFaithfull Prod, manager............................... Jan Tyrrell Focus puller............. : ...............Martin Turner Editor.......................................... Colin Greive Mixed a t.................................................. Atlab Location/unit manager ...Michael McGennan Ciapper/loader..............................Dave Barry Prod, designer............................ Darrell Lass Laboratory...............................................Atlab Prod, accountant................................ HowardWheatley Key g rip ........................................Rob Morgan Prod, co-ordinator.............. Francis Durham Lab. liaison.............................................PeterWillard 1st asst d ir e c to r .................................... TerryNeedham Asst g rip.................................... John Goldney Unit manager..............................

Chris Jones Length..........................................................93 mins 2nd asst director..................................... Chris Short G affer.................................................... TrevorToune Prod, accountant..........................Ross Lane Gauge......„ ........................................... 35mm 3rd asst director................................. StephenSaks Electrician............................. Werner Gerlach Prod, assistant...........................

Kylie Burke Shooting stock........................................3247,3294 Continuity....................................... Linda Ray Boom operator................ Graham McKinney 1st asst director...........................Kim Anning Cast: Jason Connery (John Aspinall), Diane Producers secretary...............Lesley Parker Art director...................................................IanGracie 2nd asst director....................................HenryOsborne Cilento IMrs Aspinall).

C asting........... Larner's Casting Consultants Costume designer.............................. GrahamPurcell Continuity................................................. SianHughes Synopsis: The story of a young man at RED MATILDAS (Lee Larner) Make-up......................Lesley Lamont-Fisher Ciapper/loader..................................... JamesRickard university in 1965.

Camera operator.............. Danny Batterham Hairdresser................. Lesley Lamont-Fisher Prod, company.................. Yarra Bank Films Camera assistant...............

Michella Mahrer Focus puller.........................................RoydonJohnson W ardrobe........................................... Graham Purcell Producers.......................... Sharon Connolly, Asst grip........................................ Rose Wise NIEL LYNNE Ciapper/loader.......................Nicholas Mayo Ward, assistant................... Louise Wakefield Trevor Graham G affer.......................................................... V'ttMartinek Prod, com pany................... Niel Lynne Prods Key grip..............................Graham Litchfield Props buyers.......... Carlie Gosson (Sydney), Directors............................ Sharon Connolly, Boom operator........................................MarkKeating Exec, producers..................................... GildaBaracchi, Asst g rip .................... Rourke Crawford-Flett Trevor Graham John Osmond Art director...........................................

Louella Hatfield David Baker Location assistant....................................StanLeman Standby prop s.................................... RichardHobbs Scriptwriters.......................Sharon Connolly, Costume designer.................................... AnnBenjamin Producer......................................Tom Burstall G a ffer.......................................................... IanDewhurst Set dresser...,...........................................JohnOsmond Trevor Graham Make-up......................................................VivMepham D irector....................................... David Baker Electricians................................................ LexMartin, Art dept assistants................ Murray Gosson, Based on the original idea Hairdresser................Jan (Ziggy) Zeigenbein Scriptwriters.......................................... DavidBaker, Nick Payne Colin Morse, by......................................................

SharonConnolly, Ward, assistant...................................... TracyPadula Paul Davies Boom operator....................... Jack Friedman Andrew Paul " Trevor Graham Standby props.................... Stan Wolveridge Art director............................................ Patrick Reardon Based on the original idea Carpenters.............................................. MarkMcNish, Photography..........................Laurie Mclnnes Asst edito r.......................... Michael Connerty by..............................................David Baker Costume designer.............Aphrodite Kondos Steven Lowe, Sound recordist...............................Pat Fiske Still photography...................................... Chic Stringer Photography...................Bruce McNaughton Make-up................•...................Leeane White Richard Head Trainee.................................................. SimonPearce Editor......................................................LeslieMannison Sound recordist............................ Phil Sterling Hairdresser................... Amanda Rowbottom Set construction................................. GrahamGilligan Exec, producer..........................................NedLander Publicity..................... Rea Francis Company Editor.........................................................DonSaunders Standby wardrobe...............................Frankie Hogan Asst editor.......................................Lara Esan Assoc, producer.....................Bryce Menzies Catering..............................................Mai Kai Props buyer............................................ DianeGaborit Prod, designer......................Robbie Perkins Still photography.................................CarolynJohns, Prod, manager.......................................DanielScharf Mixed a t .................................................. Atlab Composer.................................... Chris Neal Standby props.............................. John Stabb David B. Simmonds Script assistant..................................DeborahCass Laboratory............................................... Atlab Assoc, producer......................Brian Burgess Art dept runner.....................................DennisSheehan Best b oy................................Graham Shelton Camera assistants................. Mandy Walker, Length................................................ 90 mins Special effects.........................................BrianPearce Prod, co-ordinator............Rosslyn Abernathy Publicity.....................................................SueCourtney Steve Peddie Cast: Ray Barrett (Geoffrey), Bill Kerr Asst special effects........... Jamie Thompson Location m anager....................................PaulHealey Unit publicist.............................................. LynQuayle Sound editor.........................Leslie Mannison (Grandfather), Carol Raye (Aunty Joan), Carpenters.............................................. HughBateup, Prod, assistant....................................... Maria Pannozzo Catering.................................................. KevinVarnes Still photography..................Trevor Graham, Rowena Wallace (Nancy Peterson), Norman Martin Kellock, Mixed a t............................................ Videolab Sandra Irvine Kaye (Uncle Edward), Jeanie Drynan Prod, accountant............................... GraemeWright Jim Gannon, Laboratory........................................ Colorfilm Laboratory.........................................Colorfilm (Catherine), Michael Aitkins (Peter Peter­ Asst prod, accountant......Pauline Montagna Ken Hazlewood, 1 st asst director...........................Tom Burstall Budget....................................................... $2.1million Lab. liaison.............................................. KerryJenkin son), Robin Bowering (Uncle Alf), Alyson David Franks 2nd asst director.................... Marcus Skipper Length................................................. 96 mins Length................................................. 50 mins Best (Clare), Brett Climo (Ross), Ray Construction manager........ John Pickering 3 rd asst director...................... Stephen Saks Gauge................................................... 35 mm Gauge....................................................16 mm Meagher (Herb), Marian Dworakowski (Alex).

Asst editors............................................. PeterMcBain, C ontinuity............................................ Shirley Ballard Shooting stock.....Kodak Eastmancolor 5293 Shooting stock.................................Fuji 8521 Synopsis: A drama . . . a comedy . . . a Peter Litton Casting............................................. Jo Larner Cast: Wendy Hughes (Honour Langtry), family reunion.

Progress................................ Post-production Sound editors.......................Bruce Lamshed, Casting consultant.................................... LeeLamer Gary Sweet (Michael Wilson), Richard Moir Synopsis: Three women tell their story of Craig Carter Lighting cameraman......Bruce McNaughton (Luce), Jonathan Hyde (Neil Parkinson), Australia in the turbulent 1930s; a story of Asst sound editor...................................... SueLamshed Camera operator....................................DavidWilliamson Tony Sheldon (Nugget), Bruno Lawrance working with the unemployed, of opprosing Still photography.......................................KenGeorge Focus puller........................Peter Van Santen (Matt Sawyer), Mark Little (Ben), Julia Blake war, of joining the International Brigades Mechanic................................................ KevinBryant Ciapper/loader........................Kattina Bowell (Matron), Caroline Gillmer (Sally), Marina AW AITING RELEASE fighting fascism in Spain. Interviews and Best boy........................................ Laurie Fish Key g rip .................................................. DavidCassar Finlay (Sue Peddar). archival film combine to show the courage Runners...................................Peter Nathan, Asst g r ip ...............................Marcus McLeod Synopsis: Set in an isolated tropical military and continuity of women’s part in (political Brenda Symons Gaffer................................... Paul Dickenson hospital at the end of World War 2, Indecent struggle.

Ward, trainee....................................... SandraHirshObsession is about the relationship between Asst electrics...........................................GregWilson THE BOY WHO HAD EVERYTHING Boom operator...........................................RayPhillips Publicity.................. Marita Blood and Assocs Sister Honour Langtry and the battle TU N urse................................................... Joanne Scheffler Prod, company..................Alfred Road Films Costume designer....................... Jennie Tate fatigued and shell shocked residents of Prod, com pany............................... Tu Prods T u to r....................................................Andrew McIntyre Dist. company........................................Hoyts Make-up.................................. KarlaO’Keefe Ward X, as she tries to help them prepare for Producer....................................................Jan Louthean Catering............................................Kristina’sCatering life after the war.

D irector.............................................. KerstineHil-Harrison (Kristina Frohlich) Scriptwriter.........................................KerstineHil-Harrison Catering assistant.................. Robbie Emery MORRIS WEST’S Based on the original idea Mixed a t .......................................... Soundfirm THE NAKED COUNTRY b y ....................................................KerstineHil-Harrison (Roger Savage) Photography............................................... Jan Kenny Laboratory.........................................Colorfilm Prod, company............ Naked Country Prods Sound recordist......................................... JenHortin Lab. liaison...................... Richard Piorkowski Dist. company.................................Filmways E ditor............................ Kerstine Hil-Harrison Length..................................................95 mins Producer..................................................RossDimsey Prod, designer........................................... Jan Louthean Gauge....................................................35 mm Director........................................ Tim Burstall Composer............................................... HelenLawrence Shooting stock..............Kodak Eastmancolor Scriptwriters.............................Ross Dimsey, Exec, producer............. Kerstine Hil-Harrison Cast: Henry Thomas (Cody Walpole), Tony Tim Burstall Prod, manager........................................... JanLouthean Barry (Gaza).

Based on the novel by.................Morris West Prod, accountant.................Noeline Harrison Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Cody Walpole Photography............................. David Eggby 1st asst d irector......... ,........Beverly Poynton overcomes all odds to solve the mystery of Sound recordist........................ Max Bowring Continuity.................... .............. Francine OnDonkegin Hole.

Editor....................................... Tony Paterson Camera assistant...............................Michelle Glaser Prod, designer........................................PhilipWarner GEESE MATE FOR LIFE! Underwater photography.... Denis Robinson Composer.............................. Bruce Smeaton Asst edito r..................................................Jan Louthean Prod, co-ordinator............. Rosemary Probyn Prod, com pany................................... Goosey Sound edito rs............ Kerstine Hil-Harrison, Prod, managers..................................Patricia Blunt, Producer..................... Tony Llewellyn-Jones Jan Louthean Helen Watts Director................................................ Virginia Rouse Anim ation...........................................Michelle French Location/unit manager................... Grant Hill Scriptwriters........................................ Virginia Rouse, Runner............................................ Josephine Wilson Prod, secretary.....................................Briony Chapel Sarah Jaffe Catering....................................................... DyHil-Harrison Office manager.......................................... KikiDimsey Photography......................................... Jaems Grant Mixed a t .....................................................Rim Australia Prod, accountant........................................Jim Hajicosta Sound recordist...................... Sean Meltzer Laboratory.......................................... Cinevex Prod, accountant Editor........................................................MarkAtkin B udget...................................................$8400 attachment......................................

Joanne Mason Com poser................................................ KateReid Length................................................. 10 mins Prod, office attachment...........Mark Valemoti Prod, accountant..................................HellenGalbraith Gauge....................................................16 mm 1st asst director....................................... John Warren Asst director............................................JulietDarling Shooting stock............................. Kodak 7291 2nd asst director......................................Mark Clayton Continuity......................................................DiGiuleri Progress................................Post-production 3rd asst director................................... WayneMoore Lighting cam eraman............................JaemsGrant Cast: Alice Cummins (a woman), Michael Continuity........................... Jennifer Quigley Camera operator.................................. Jaems Grant Templeton (a man), Tristan Hil-Harrison (a Focus puller..................................ChristopherCainCasting................................Maizels & Assoc. child).

Camera operator........................David Eggby Ciapper/loader............................. ChristopherCain Synopsis: Tu is a short experimental film Focus pullers..................................Ian Jones, Grips........................................................ PeterKershaw, revealing the symbiotic relationship between Phil Cross David Cassar mother and child from conception to birth.

Clapper/loaders..................................Joanne Erskine, G affer..................................Antony Shepherd 24 C arlotta St Expressionistic in form, it explores the Brad Shield Boom operator......................................LouiseHubbard symbolic correspondences between colors, (02) 439 3522 A rtarm on N.S.W .

2064 Key g rip .............................................. ....Peter Mardell Music performed b y .................................KateReid musical notes and the four elements. It incor­ Grip...........................................................Colin Tulloch Sound e d ito r............................................Mark Atkin porates an animation segment.

Asst g rip ...................................................TontiConnolly M ixer........................................ Roger Savage

SHORTS

1

1

M

ü UJ’J’LJ D 35tnm & 16mm Negative Cutting

CHRIS ROWELL PRODUCTIONS

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 63

Production Survey

Prod, designer......................................... DeanMortensen G rip .............................. “ Nobby” Szafranek Assoc, producer.......................... Geoff Talbot G affer......................................... Craig Bryant Prod, supervisor.....................Catriona Brown Boom operator.........................................ScottRawlings Prod, co-ordinator....................................KateJarman Art director........................................LisaEIvy Prod, secretary............Roseanne Donaldson Art dept co-ordinator.............Peita Hurcum Prod, accountant.............................Lyn Jones Costume designer.................................Jenny Arnott IBRAHIM 1st asst director........................John Warran Make-up...................................................TerryWorth Prod, company................................ Film Unit, 2nd asst director...................... Mark Clayton Hairdresser.........................................Di Biggs 3rd asst director....................... Kerry Jackson Materials Prod.

Asst make up/hairdresser.... Anna Karpinski Dist. com pany......................Materials Prod., Continuity................................. Jenni Quigley Standby w ardrobe..........................Sue Miles FILM V IC TO R IA Curriculum Branch, Camera operator........................ David Petley Ward, assistants......... Judy-Ann Fitzgerald, Education Department of Victoria Focus p u lle r................................ David Petley James Watson, SWORD OF HONOUR Producer..........................................Ivan Gaal Clapper/loader......................... Anna Howard Eilis O’Beirne Director............................................ Ivan Gaal Key g rip ..................................... Simon Quaife Prod, company.............Simpson Le Mesurier Props buyers........................................ HarveyMawson, BEYOND 2000 Scriptwriter.............................................. TonyLintermans Asst grip..................................... Wayne Stead Viv Wilson Producer........................... Roger Le Mesurier Prod, com pany.........................................VTC Based on the original idea Gaffer........................................Ric McMullen Directors................... >............... Pino Amenta, Standby props......................... Nick Reynolds Producer............................... Janet Coleman b y ..........................................................JaneWatson Electrician................................................ BedeIreland Catherine Millar Art dept assistant................................Victoria Graham Director....................................... Mai Bryning Sound recordist....................................Neville Stanley Boom operator........................................ MarkKeating Scriptwriters..........................................RogerSimpson, Set dresser...............................................John Wood Scriptwriter.................................Alex Dumas Editor............................................... Ivan Gaal Art Kathy Mueller, Scenic artist............................................. Clive Jones dept adm inistrator.............David Bowden Sound recordist.................................Ian Ryan Composer............................................. AdrianPertout Art dept assistant.................................LeanneCornish Peter Kenloch, Art dept runner......................Michael Rumpf E ditor.......................................... John Barber Exec, producer................ Warren O. Thomas Make-up/hairdresser........ Margaret Lingham Tom Hegarty Construction manager..................... Ian Doig Composer.............................. Chris Copping Assoc, producer.....................Rob McCubbin Wardrobe.............................................. Barbra Zussino Based on the original idea Asst editor........................................... MelissaBlanche Exec, producer.................... Vince O’Donnell Prod, manager....................... Rob McCubbin Special effects supervisor......Michael Bolles by........................................................ RogerSimpson Music editor............................................GarryHardman Prod, assistant................................SamanthaToffoletti Prod, assistant.............................. Tony Paice Asst editor............................................ Antony Gray (Australian Screen Music) Prod, designer............................Leslie Binns Art director.............................................. ChrisWorrall Continuity.............................................DianneO’Connor Still photography..................................... HughHamilton Composer................................................GregSneddon Sound editor........................................... HughWaddel Mixed a t .................................................... VTC Script assistant.................................... DianneO’Connor Computer systems engineer .Steven Roberts Assoc, producer......................Brian Burgess Asst sound editor..................................... MikeJones Laboratory.................................................VTC Lighting cameraman............. Kevin Anderson Casting................................... M & L Casting Elicon motion control Stunts co-ordinator................................... GuyNorris Lab. lia ison ......................................... MichaelConkey Focus p u lle r..........................................LouiseJonas operator.............................................RobertSandeman Mixed a t ................................................. Atlab Head wrangler...................................... DannyBaldwin Budget.................................................$80,000 Clapper/loader..................................... LouiseJonas Special fx model supervisor.......Peter Evans Laboratory.............................................. Atlab W ranglers............................. Jim Willoughby, Length................................................. 20 mins Camera assistant.................................. LouiseJonas John Baird, Length......................................... 4 x 2 hours Special fx prosthetics....... Margaret Lingham Gauge.............................................................. 1inchNeg. matching...................................VictorianNegative Laurie Narris, Matte painting supervisor............. Glenn Ford Gauge................................................... 16 mm Shooting stock................................Videotape Paul Murtagh, Cutting Service Synopsis: An epic love story set against the Special fx artist/ Progress............................................ Awaitingrelease Tony Jablonski, Music performed b y ...........Nureldin Husseini turmoil of the Vietnam years and the peace glass paintings........................ Mitch Lovett Synopsis: Victorian promotional film for use Bill Willoughby movement.

Sound editor...........................................DavidHughes Stunts co-ordinator.............. Dee Arlen Jones w ith senior m anagem ent personnel, Mixer....................................................... DavidHarrison Armourer..........................................John Fox Best b oy................................................. Shaun Conway especially corporate investors and in Runner........................................Bevan Childs Narrator...................................

BillCleland Coach builder..........................................BrianRourke European and the northern Pacific ring Still photography....................................... RobMcCubbin Best b o y .....................................................KenMoffat Unit publicist...............................................LynPhillips countries.

C atering...................................................KaosCatering Opticals............................ Victorian Film Labs Runner............................... Stephen Crockett P R O D U CTIO N Dialogue coach..............Rudolph Abou Kater Tutor...........................................................RodZiems Studios................................................ PyramidStudios Mixed a t .................................................... FilmSoundtrack Location nurse......................................... Julie Rourke Laboratory............................................... Atlab EMPLOYER AND APPRENTICESHIP Laboratory.................................................VFL C atering.................................................... RodMurphy Lab. liaison.............................................BruceWilliamson Producer................................Sally Semmens Length................................................. 30 mins Asst caterer............................. Amanda Amos Length...........................................................62mins COLOUR IN THE CREEK Scriptwriter............................ Michelle Morris Gauge................................................... 16 mm Gauge....................................................35 mm Publicity.............. ................... Tony Johnston Liaison.................................................... ClaireMcGowan, Prod, company......................................... PBLProds Shooting stock.......................... Eastmancolor Shooting stock.....................Kodak 5294 ECN Mixed a t...................................................Atlab Julie Borns Producer..................................... Mike Midlam Laboratory............................................... Atlab Progress........................................................ Inrelease Cast: Phillippa Scott (Sam), Vince Martin Exec, producer................................... VincentO’Donnell Director....................................... Rob Stewart Post-production.................................. Custom Video Cast: Sherif Abada (Ibrahim), Said Shabani (Keiron), Marko Mustok (Raab), Tony Barry Gaugs........................................................... 16mm (father), M ichelle Shabani (m other), Scriptwriter.............................................SoniaBorg (Moulen), Terry Miller (Karbath), Rob Length......................................... 13 x 46 mins Progress.................................Pre-production Based on the novels Vjekoslav Brdjaniv (Mason), Peter Millard Gauge................................................... 16 mm Fuwster (Karbath), Steve Richard (Karbath), Synopsis: The apprenticeship scheme from Colour in the Creek and (teacher).

Shooting stock.........................................7247 Steve Grimmer (Karbath). the employer perspective. In the past years Shadow of Wings b y ..........Margaret Paice Synopsis: A dramatized documentary based Cast: Liz Burch (Kate Wallace), Louise Clark Synopsis: A special effects, science fiction numbers have fallen, a skilled workforce is Photography.......................................... FrankHammond on a true story of a 12-year-old Lebanese (Maggie Scott), Rod Mullinar (Jack Taylor), adventure about three, people in a machine dependent on training man and resources.

Sound recordist........................................KenHammond boy's experiences in the first six months Jay Kerr (Con Madigan), Gus Mercurio (Ben m a n ip u la te d e n v iro n m e n t and th e ir Editors.....................................................GabeReynaud, while attending classes in one of Victoria’s Jones), Michael Caton (Paddy Malone), adventures through space.

THE FRENCH COLLECTION Zsolt Kollanyi suburban high schools. The film explores his Martin Lewis (Sam), Peter Carroll (Mr Prod, designer......................... Michael Ralph Withers), Nicole Kidman (Annie), Shannon MOTHER AND SON Prod, com pany............................... MT Prods struggle with memories of war, the pressure Exec, producer........................................... IanBradley, (Series 2) Producer................................ Steven Cozens of learning a new language and the hostile, Presby (Matt Bucklan).

Penny Spence Synopsis: The story of two women, one Aus­ Director.................................. Steven Cozens racist behavior of other children.

Prod, company .ABC-TV Entertainment Dept Assoc, producer........................................ Jim Badge Liaison........................................ Juliet Grimm tralian, one American, who run a stage stop Producer.................................................

GeoffPortmann Prod, co-ordinator................................... Julie Forster (Film Victoria) station at Five Mile Creek for the Australian Director....................................................GeoffPortmann Prod, manager.......................................... RodAllan Exec, producer.................Vincent O’Donnell express.

Scriptwriter........................ Geoffrey Atherden Prod, secretary................... Amanda Bennett Length................................................. 23 mins Based on the original idea Prod, accountant.........................Jim Crowley G auge.............................................Videotape THE HENDERSON KIDS b y ................................... Geoffrey Atherden 1st asst director.......................................

Duel Droogan Progress............................... Post-production Script e dito r............................................. John O’Grady Prod, com pany................................

Crawford Prods 2nd asst director.................................... Craig Sinclair Synopsis: A film about Madame Toussaint’s Lighting director.........................David Arthur Producer...................................................Alan Hardy 3rd asst director.........................................

Liz Lovell visit to Australia to study the Neville Scott Technical producer.......................Peter Ollier Directors............................... Chris Langman, Continuity.................................................NicklMoors Collection.

Sound recordists........................John Segal, Paul Moloney Focus puller............................................ RossEmery PR E-PR O D U C TIO N Noel Cantrill, Scriptwriters...........................Roger Moulton, Grip..........................................................PeterLedgway Wayne Keally Peter Hepworth, G affer.................................................... DerekJones E ditor............................................ John Berry John Reeves, Boom operator...................................GrahamMcKinney Prod, designer.............................. Tony Raes Galia Hardy Art director.................................................. IanGrade CALL ME MR. BROWN Composer............................................William Motzing Script e dito r.......................................... SusanSmith Make-up/hairdresser...........................CassieHanlon NEW S O U TH W ALES Exec, producer........................................ John O'Grady Based on the original idea Prod, company...................... Chrysalis Films Wardrobe................................................DavidRowe FILM CO R PO R ATIO N Prod, co-ordinator........................Dan Power b y .................................................. CrawfordProds Producer................................Terry Jennings Standby wardrobe..................................KerryThompson Prod, manager........................................ CoralCrowhurst Photography.........................................JamesDoolan Director........................................ Scott Hicks Ward, assistant.................................. HeatherLaurie Prod, secretary....................................... JanetLeedow Sound recordist.......................................John Wilkinson Scriptwriters..........................Terry Jennings, Props buyer.)...................................... RichardHobbs 1st asst director..................... Brian Sandwell Editors....................................................... KenSallows, Scott Hicks Standby props......................................... John Osmond 2nd asst d irector.................................... GeoffNewnham PASSPORTS — AN Grant Fenn Photography......................... Ron Johanson Asst props buyer....................Murray Gosson Continuity..............................................LouiseTyrrell Composers.............................................. GaryMcDonald, INTRODUCTION Editor.................................... Andrew Prowse Carpenters....................................John Wait, Producer’s assistant............................. LouiseTyrrell Laurie Stone Length................................................. 90 mins Craig Smart Prod, company ...South Land Films Australia Camera operators...............................RichardBond, Exec, producers...................................HectorCrawford, Cast: Chris Haywood (Peter Macari).

Set construction................................. GraemeGilligan Producer................................................ BruceHogan Murray Tonkin, Ian Crawford, Asst editors.......................... Matthew Tucker, Synopsis: A drama based on the extra­ Director...................................................BruceHogan Michael Osborne, Terry Stapleton ordinary events surrounding the 1971 Simon Smithers Scriptwriter.............................................. BrianHannant Glenn Traynor, Assoc, producer................................. MichaelLake Qantas bomb hoax.

Safety adviser........................................

Frank Kennon Photography........................................... PeterMorley Denis Gatt, Prod, co-ordinator ....Bernadette O’Mahoney T u to r......................................................JudithCruden Editor.................................................. Vladimir Rutchev Robert Bondy Prod, manager........................Ray Hennessy Child minders.......................................Cleone Clairmont, Title designer............................................. Jim Davies DOUBLE SCULLS Boom operators...........................

Ian Wilson, Rosalie MacKay Location m anager..................James Legge Length...........................................................12mins Ross Wilson Prod, accountant........... Robert Threadgold Labourers............................................... CraigJordan, Gauge..............................................................1inchProd, company............................ PBL Prods Make-up............................................... Joseph Pavelka Producer.............................................RichardBrennan Lucas Hobbs, 1st asst director.....................................Jamie Leslie Shooting stock............................... Videotape Hairdresser..........................................Joseph Pavelka Director....................................................... IanGilmour Colin Moyes 2nd asst director................... Jacquie Radok Progress.............. ,...... ....................In release Wardrobe................................................. ElsieRushton Continuity............................................. MargotSnellgrove Scriptwriter..............................................

Chris Peacock Best b o y .......................................

Paul Booth S yn o p sis: A training video to give an over­ Props (staging)....................................... DavidWhite, Casting...................................Bunney Brooke Exec, producer............................. Ian Bradley Runner..........................................Brian Rose view of the role and functions of the passport Justin Sears, Focus puller.............................................LouisPuli Gauge................................................... 16 mm Publicity....................................... Lyn Quayle office to newly-inducted personnel.

Claude Fortunato Clapper/loader.........................................GaryBottomley Synopsis: Sam Larkin allocates a year of his Catering.................................................. JohnFaithfull Props buyer.........................Paddy McDonald Key grip..................................................... JoelWitherden life to rehabilitate an alcoholic friend.

The Length..........................................10 x 30 mins PASSPORTS — THE NEXT STEPS Special effects............................. Laurie Faen Asst grip................................................RobertHansford means he uses is an attempt at the Austra­ Gauge................................................... 16 mm Still photography.....................Martin Webby Prod, company ...South Land Films Australia lian National Rowing Championships in Synopsis: Set in Northern Queensland Gaffer...................................................... DavidParkinson Publicity...................................................NigelLovell Producer................................................ BruceHogan double sculls. What first appears as a human during the depression years of the early Boom operator.........................................John McKerrow Length...........................................7 x 30 mins Director...................................................BruceHogan Art director......................................Philip Ellis and kindly gesture soon blurs in intensity 1930s, Colour in the Creek is the story of Shooting stock................................Videotape Scriptwriter.............................................. BrianHannant and in the entanglements of the lives of the the Fletcher family’s struggle to survive the Asst art director.......................... Murray Kelly Cast: Ruth Cracknell (Maggie Beare), Garry Photography........................................... PeterMorley Costume designer.....................

Claire Griffin two men, and the others who surround them. hard times. Following news of a gold strike, McDonald (Arthur Beare), Henri Szeps Editor.................................................. Vladimir Rutchev Make-up.................................................. FionaSmith the family moves to a remote location called (Robert Beare), Judy Morris (Liz Beare), Title designer............................................. Jim Davies Coorumbong Creek. The central figure is Hairdresser.......................................Christine Miller GONE DANCING Suzanne Royiance (Deidre Beare).

Length...........................................................16mins Ward, assistants.....................Cathy Herren, 12-year-old Alec. (working title) Synopsis: Mother and Son, a seven-part, Gauge..............................................................1inch John Shea ABC situation comedy series about the trials FIVE MILE CREEK Shooting stock............................... Videotape Props buyer..............................Elena Perotta Prod, company........................................ ABC and tribulations of an elderly widow and the Progress..........................................In release Standby props............................Tara Ferrier (Series 3) Dist. com pany......................................... ABC son who lives with her.

S yn o p sis: Designed to familiarize passport Set dressers............................................

Colin Robertson, Producer................................. Jan Chapman Prod, com pany................................... Valstar Richard Clendinnen officers with the various security measures Scriptwriters........................... Michael Cove, Producers............................Henry Crawford, NATURAL CAUSES and checking procedures which need to be Asst editor..............................Aileen Soloway John Misto, Doug Netter established in all passport offices.

Stunts....................... New Generation Stunts Debra Oswald, Prod, company.........................................ABC Directors.................................Kevin Dobson, Dialogue coach.......................................ChrisSheil Mark Stiles Dist. com pany..........................................ABC Garry Conway, RAINFORESTS OF Wrangler.................................................. JohnBaird Based on the original idea Producer................................ Michael Carson Brendan Maher, Best b o y ........................ Richard Rees Jones NEW SOUTH WALES b y .................................................... MichaelCove, D irector.................................. Michael Carson Brian Trenchard-Smith Runner..................................................... MarkFarrScriptwriter.............................................. John Misto Chrissie Koltai Script editor............................Tom Hegarty Prod, company........................Tandem Prods C atering................................................ Bande Aid Based on the original idea M usic...................................... Martin Armiger Photography.................................Kevan Lind Producer................................................. Marta Sengers Laboratory............................................... Atlab Choreography........................ Chrissie Koltai by...........................................................John Misto Sound recordist............................Phil Stirling Director................................................MichaelMangold Lab. liaison...............................Peter Willard Length .,.........................................6 x 50 mins Photography.......................................... Julian Penney Editor.................................. Stuart Armstrong Scriptwriter..........................................MichaelMangold Length.........................................1 2x4 8 mins Synopsis: The Green sisters leave the pig Sound recordist.........................................BenOsmo Composer..............................

Bruce Smeaton Sound recordist................................. MauriceWilmott Gauge................................................... 16 mm farm in Wagga determined to follow in their Editor........................................................... BillRusso Prod, supervisors..........................David Lee, Exec, producer....................................... PeterDimond Shooting stock..........................Eastmancolor mother’s footsteps and go dancing in the Length.................................................

85 mins Jan Bladier Narrator.................................................. GeoffHiscock Cast: Nicholas Eadie (Mike), Paul Smit city. They meet up with Joe Wyatt and form Gauge....................................................16 mm Prod, co-ordinator............... Jennie Crowley Tech, adviser.........................Peter Hitchcock (Steve), Nadine Garner (Tamara), Peter their own troupe.

Cast: Geraldine Turner (Danni), Robyn Location m anager........... Steve Maccagnan Mixed at................................... Dubbs and Co. Whitford (Wheeler).

Gumey (Caz), Gary Day (Warren), Bill Young Prod, secretary................................ ElizabethHagan Laboratory..................................... VideoLab Synopsis: The story of two teenagers from SINN FEIN (Jerry).

Prod, accountant................................. MandyCarter Length................................................. 19 mins the inner city suburbs who go to live with (OURSELVES ALONE) Synopsis: A comic look at the 1960s through (Moneypenny Services) Gauge.....................................................1 inch their uncle, the local policeman, in a small the bleak, world-weary eyes of the 1980s Asst prod, accountant............. Nancy Bekhor Producer..................................................PeterBeilby Shooting stock...............................Videotape country town. when four ex-hippies are forced into a (Moneypenny Services) Scriptwriter............................. Glen Crawford Progress.........................................................Inrelease reunion.

1st asst directors.............. Adrian Pickersgill, S yn o p sis: A videotape prepared for the Script edito r...........................................RogerDunn KEIRON — THE FIRST VOYAGER Stuart Wood Department of Environment and Planning to Based on the original idea OLD ACQUAINTANCES Prod, com pany.... Network Film Corporation 2nd asst director..........................G. J. Carroll supplement scientific and other documenta­ b y .........................................Glen Crawford Producer............................................. MichaelMilne 3rd asst director.......................Stephen Saks Prod, com pany............... McElroy & McElroy tion proving that the rainforests of New Exec, prod u ce r......................... Robert Le Tet Director..........................................

Bert Deling Continuity............................. Salli Engelander Producer..................................... Patric Juillet South Wales are of national and inter­ Assoc, producer.......................................TrishFoley Scriptwriter.....................................Bert Deling Casting......................................................... JoLamer D irector....................................... Lex Marinos national significance. The Department of Synopsis: A 12-year-old boy of Irish descent Photography..................................Guy Furner Focus puller............................. Bruce Phillips Scriptwriter...................... Anne Brooksbank National Parks and Wildlife made available a strives to understand the reason for his com­ Sound recordist........................Bob Clayton Clapper/loader......................Martyn Fleming Based on the original idea munity’s hatred of The Empire during World considerable amount of material for this sub­ Editor........................................Chris Benaud Key grip................................. Brett McDowell by....................................................Bob Ellis War 1. mission to UNESCO.

STOCK SQUAD

GOVERNMENT FILM PRODUCTION

AVRB FILM U N IT

TELEVISION

64 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Prod, com pany................Independent Prods Dist. company........ Independent Distributors Producer...................................... Tom Jeffrey Scriptwriter............................. Hugh Stuckey Exec, producer........................Richard Davis Length................................................. 92 mins Synopsis: Stark visual beauty of Australia is a backdrop to an exciting, compelling and unusual outback police story.

Production Survey

Prod, accountant........................ Peter Layard Photography....................................

YuriSokol the unorthodox or ‘alternative’ approach to Focus puller.......................... Michelle Mahrer D avid W h itn ey (P aul), Paul M ason Prod, a ssistant........................... Vicky Wright Sound recordist.........................................MaxHensser Clapper/loader........................ James Rickard medicine in different cultures, and in ancient (Laurence), Jim Kemp (Ron), Muriel Hopkins Grip............................................. Colin Tulloch and modern medicine in tribal and urban E d ito r......................................................PhilipHowe Asst directors............................... Gerry Letts, (Helen), Carmen Warrington (Kate), Anna Peter Fitzgerald Gaffer...........................................................VrtMartinec societies. Riming takes place in more than Prod, designer.......................Larry Eastwood Phillips (Sally Tate), Margaret Maddock 2 0 countries around the world.

Composer...............................Sharon Calcraft 2nd asst director................................ StephanElliott Boom operator.........................Jerry Nucifora Exec, producer...........................................Jim McElroy Art A woman artist’s affair with a 3rd asst director...................................... HugoLangerdirector............................................... Jane Norris ROOTED Prod, supervisor...................................... IreneKorol younger man jeopardizes her marriage, her Continuity................................... Jan Newland Asst art director...................... Jane Johnston Prod, co-ordinator................Sally Ayre-Smith M ake-up............................ Robern Pickering career and her child’s future. He personifies C asting........................... Maizels and Assoc.

Prod, company........................................ ABC Unit manager............................... ChristopherJones Hairdresser............................................. Ziggy the nihilistic philosophy of Herbert Marcuse Focus puller..........................Brian Breheney Dist. com pany......................................... ABC Prod, secretary................................ Julieanne White Wardrobe supervisor....................Miv Brewer and tries to manipulate her. Her dependence Clapper/loader..................... Felicity Surtees Producer....................................... Alan Burke on him forces her to reassess all the values Ward, assistant........................................... PiaKryger Prod, accountant........................Kevin Wright Key g rip............................................ Geoff Full Director......................................................RonWay of her art and her life.

Ward, attachments..........Dawn Vandervloed, 1st asst director....................... Robert Kewley Asst g rip .................................................. DavidNichols Scriptwriter...............................................AlexBuzo Paula Ryan 2nd asst director.......................... Paul Healey Underwater photography........Kevin Deacon Based on the play by................................ AlexBuzo 3rd asst director..................................... Henry Osborne Standby props.......................................RobertMoxham G affer.....................................................Derek Jones ANZACS Photography............................Peter Hendry Choreography......................................... Anita Ardell Continuity...................................... Jo Weekes Boom operator...............................Eric Briggs Soundrecordist............................Ron Moore Prod, company.........................The Burrowes Asst art director.......................... Stewart Way Camera operator................... Dave Foreman Art dept attachments............. Angela Knight, Editor..........................................................LynSolly Dixon Company Anita Hadley Focus puller...............................Martin Turner Costume designer................................. FionaSpence Camera operator..................... Roger Hendry Producer..............................Geoff Burrowes Clapper/loader........................... Mark Sarfaty Asst editor........................................... Andrew Cunningham M ake-up......................... Bronwyn Fitzgerald Length...........................................................75minsDirectors..................................... John Dixon, Sound editor.........................................

Ashley Grenville Key grip.................................. Lestor Bishop Standby wardrobe..............Kerry Thompson Gauge................................................... 16 mm George Miller, Editing assistant.......... Andrew Cunningham Asst g rip .................................................. Terry Cook Props buyer......................... Jock McLachlan Cast: James Laurie (Bentley), Genevieve Pino Amenta Still photography...................

Candy Le Guay Gaffer.........................................Peter O’Brien Standby props.....................

Robert Moxham Mooy (Sandy).

Scriptwriters............................... John Dixon, Location attachm ent.............................. PeterSimon Boom operator.......................Jack Friedman Special effects.................... Steve Courtney, Synopsis: Set in Sydney in the mid-1960s John Clarke, Costume designer.................Vicki Feitscher Best boy..............................................

Douglas Wood Mai Ward when the Stomp, Little Patti, beach ‘safaris’ James Mitchell Runners.................................. David Wales, Make-up/hairdresser...Lesley Lamont-Fisher Scenic artist........................ Michael Chorney and Mini-minors were riding high. Bentley, a Based on the original idea Michael Lavigne, Construction m anager............Danny Burnett golden-haired, golden-tanned young man, b y...............................................John Dixon Ian Rockford Ward, assistant.......................................Annie Peacock Asst editor.................................................. BrinSinclair seems to have it all — but does he?

Assoc, producer..................... Dennis Wright Catering.........................................David Vale, Props buyer............................................ Marta Statescu Still photography..................................... MarkBurgin Photography.......................... Keith Wagstaff ZOO FAMILY David Marshall Standby p rop s..................Karen Monkhouse Tutor/chaperone..........................................Jo Buchanan Sounasupervisor................... Terry Rodman Mixed a t...................................................... FPI Art dept runner............................ Jack Ritchie Prod, com pany.................... Crawford Prods Boat master/water Sound recordists....................Uoyd Carrick, Laboratory............................................... Atlab Asst editor................................................. LaraEsam safety o ffice r..........................................BobPritchard Producer...............................Gwenda Marsh John Schiefelbein Lab. liaison........................ Bruce Williamson Dubbing editor....................... Tony Vaccher Best b o y ....................................... Paul Booth Directors....................................... Chris Shiel, Editor..............................................Philip Reid Gauge...................................................

35 mm Editing assistant....................Rosemary Lee Howard Neil, Unit publicist............................................ChrisDay Prod, designer......................... Lesley Binns Shooting stock.......................................Kodak Still photography................... Carolyn Johns Catering............................. The Katering Co. Chris Langman Composer...........................

Bruce Rowland Cast: Lee Remick (Anne Grange), Miranda Best b o y .........................Brian Bryden-Brown Scriptwriters............................. Vince Moran, Laboratory...............................................Atlab Prod, supervisor............................ Bill Regan Otto (Emma Grange), Bridey Lee (Laurel Runner............................................ Julieanne White Sandra Carter, Post-production.................................. Custom Video Prod, manager........................Andrew Morse Catering..................................... Kevin Varnes Peter Hepworth, Lab liaison.........................Warren Delbridge Grange), Terence Donovan (Frank Grange), Prod, co-ordinator............................Jan Stott Mark Lee (John Davidson), Donal Gibson Mixed a t...................................................Atlab Length.......................................... 8 x 3 0 mins David Phillips, Location manager..................Phil McCarthy Laboratory............................................... Atlab Terry Stapleton, Gauge........................................................... 16mm(Hank), Pat Evison (Miss Amott), Grigor Unit manager...........................

Ray Pattison Taylor (Dr Friedlander), Rebel PenfoldBudget.............................................. $1 million Cast: Grigor Taylor (Charlie Wilson), Penne Mary Dagmar Davies, Asst unit managers..............Dominic Villella, Length................................................. 93 mins Hackforth-Jones (Mary Travers), David Russell (Miss Gunz), Noeline Brown (Mrs Roger Dunn, Danny Corcoran Gauge................................................... 16 mm Chiem (Vo Diem), Mark Kounnas (Greg Mortimor), Kay Eklund (Miss Clewes). .

Andrew Kennedy, Asst co-ordinator........................... .Jan Irvine Shooting stock.......................................Kodak Wilson), Kerri Sackville (Sally Wilson), Synopsis: A film about a woman and her Leon Saunders Prod, accountant....................Stan Seserko Cast: Wendy Hughes (Jenny), Richard Moir Steven Grives (Carl Madden), Bruno Baldoni daughters coping with war separation and Series developed b y ..............Allison Nisselle Account assistant...............

Natalie Rothman (Howard), Robert Grubb (Jeff), Peter (Sergio Gallio), Vincent Ball (Sgt Pat death during World War 2 in Australia.

Photography...........................Brett Anderson 1st asst directors..................Bob Donaldson, Gwynne (Jenny’s father), Carol Raye Connolly), Duncan Wass (Andrew Wilson), Sound recordist........................ Sean Meltzer Phillip Hearnshaw, (Jenny’s mother), Kris McQuade (Sue), Mouche Phillips (Jackie Wilson).

Editors...................................... Rose Evans, FLIGHT INTO HELL John Powditch Sandy Gore (Adele).

Synopsis: A resort island on the Great Prod, company.... ABC TV-Revcom (France) Ralph Strasser, 2nd asst directors.................... Stuart Wood, Synopsis: A modern thriller.

Barrier Reef, owned and run by the Wilson Producer........................................Ray Alehin Ken Sallows Paul Healey family, finds itself the unwilling home of Viet­ Director................................Gordon Flemying Exec, producers.................Hector Crawford, 3rd asst directors................... Peter Culpan, namese refugee teenager and the desired Scriptwriter..............................................PeterYeldham Ian Crawford, PALACE OF DREAMS Linsay Smith prize of an avaricious businessman who has Photography........................................... PeterHendry Terry Stapleton Continuity.................................... Jenni Tosi, Prod, company.........................................ABC Prod, co-ordinator...............................SimoneNorth oil on his mind.

Sound recordist............................Ron Moore Chris O’Connell Producer.................................... Sandra Levy Prod, manager....................... Stewart Wright Editors.................................Tony Kavanagh, C asting........................... Maizels and Assoc.

Directors............................. Denny Lawrence, THE DUNERA BOYS Prod, secretary...................... Jane Hamilton Lyn Solly Camera operators..................David Connell, Geoffrey Nottage, Prod, accountant................................HeatherWoods Prod, com pany..........................

Jethro Films Prod, designer...................................... LaurieJohnson Mark Hayward (Unit A) Graham Thorburn, 1st asst directors...................................... DonLinke, Producer.......................................... Bob Weis Assoc, producer............................Ray Brown John Haddy, David Goldie, Tony Forster Director......................................... Ben Lewin Prod, manager.......................... Judy Murphy Ron Hagen (Unit B) Riccardo Pellizzeri Continuity............................. Kristin Voumard Scriptwriter.................................... Ben Lewin Unit m anager............................Val Windon Camera assistants...................... Greg Ryan, Scriptwriters..................... Denny Lawrence, Asst to the producer.................... Debbie Cox Based on the original idea Prod, secretary.................................. MaureenCharlton David Stevens (Unit A) John Misto, Focus puller................................. Paul Tilley b y ............................................... Ben Lewin 1st asst director......................................... RayBrown Ian Thorburn, John Upton, Clapper/loader........................................ TerryHowells Synopsis:1939: German Jews in exile in 2nd asst director..................................... ScottFeeney Peter Van Santen (Unit B) Ian David, Grip............................................ Greg Tuohy England, suspected to be Nazi sym­ Continuity.......................................... LarraineQuinnell AFTS trainee........................

Rosemary Cass Debra Oswald, Gaffer........................................ Ken Kelliher pathizers, are sent by Churchill’s govern­ Casting............................................... JenniferBruty Key g rip ......................................................IanBennalfeck Marc Rosenberg Boom operator......................... Greg Nelson ment to an unknown destination on the ship Casting assistant...............................JenniferCouston Grip (Unit B)................................. Jack Lester Research................................Dana Christina Art director............................. Andrew Reese “ Dunera” .

Camera operator....................................RogerLanser Gaffers...................................

Stewart Sorby, Based on the original idea Make-up............................... Carol Matthews Clapper/loader........................................ Sally Eccleston Jack Wight (Unit B) EMERGING b y ...................................................... SandraLevy Wardrobe supervisor........... Donald Lindsay Camera assistant.................................RussellBacon Electrician..............................

Peter Moloney Script editor.......................................... DennyLawrence Standby wardrobe................................ MarianBoyce Prod, company........................................ ABC Key g rip .............................. John Huntingford Boom operators..........................Joe Spinelli, Editors......................................... Bill Russo, Producer.................................................

Keith Wilkes Props buyer.............................. Annie Beach G rip............................................................PaulMcCarthy Steve James Terry Morrisey Director.................................... Kathy Mueller Standby props...........................Roland Pike Asst art directors....................................

Peter Kendall, Gaffer......................................................... TimJones Prod, designer.................. Geoffrey Wedlock Scriptwriter.............................. Max Richards Special effects Electrician.................................Ken Pettigrew David O’Grady, Composer............................................... Chris Neal co-ordinator.................... Vivien Rushbrook Script edito r................................................ BillGarner Genni operator.......................Doug Cameron Robert Leo Assoc, producer....................Martin Williams Based on the original idea Set dressers..............................Bryce Perrin, Designer.............................................. Andrew Blaxland Costume designer.............. ...... Jane Hyland Exec, technical producer............Barry Quick b y ...........................................................MaxRichards Darren Jones Asst designers..................................... GregorMcLean, Make-up................................................. Fiona Campbell Prod, manager..........................Carol Chirlian Sound recordist............................. Bill Doyle Construction manager.............Gordon White Col Rudder Hairdresser................................. Daryl Porter Prod, secretary................ Regina Lauricella Editor..........................................Rui de Sousa Best b o y .....................................................PhilLasky Costume designer........................Jim Murray Wardrobe mistress.............................. MargotLindsay Videotape editors..................... Trevor Miller, Prod designers..................... Gunars Jurjans, Runner........................................................ IanPhillips Make-up............................................Christine Ehlert, Military dresser..................... Phil Chambers Alwyn Harbott John Patrick, Mixed at............................................ CrawfordProds Suzie Clemo Props buyer..................... Keith Handscombe Nola O’Malley Exec, producer....................................... KeithWilkes Laboratory................................................VFL Ward, co-ordinator..............Caroline Suffield Props construction................................. PeterO’Brien Prod, manager........................................GeoffCooke Casting................................................JenniferAllen Lab. liaison................................ John Hartley Ward, assistant....................................Wendy Chuck Standby props.........................................BarryKennedy, Prod, secretary....................................TraceyRobinson Costume designers..............Janet Patterson, Length........................................26 x 30 mins Props......................................................... DonPage, John Whitfield-Moore, 1st asst d irector...................................... John Markham ' Marcus North Gauge................................................... 16 mm Richard Walsh Brian Lange 2nd asst director......................................John Slattery Studios................................... ABC Channel 2 Shooting stock............................. Kodak 7291 Props buyer................................................ BillBooth, Special effects...................

Conrad Rothman 3rd asst director................................. DorothyFaine Length................................................... 10x5 0 minsCast: Peter Curtin (Mitch), Kate Gorman Adrian Cannon Armorer....................................

Mike Warwick Continuity...............................................

Kerry Bevan Shooting stock................................Videotape (Susie), Steven Jacobson (Nick), Robert Special effects........................................Chris Sheehan, Set construction...................... Bruce Michell Producer’s assistant..............................KerryBevan Cast: Henri Szeps (Mick), Deidre Rubenstein Summers (Tim), Jon Finiayson (Spencer), Peter Gronow Asst edito r............................... Peter Burgess Casting.................................................... GregApps (Chana), Linda Cropper (Miriam), Susie John Orcsik (Bennett), Rebecca Gibney Estimator...................................................JeffAustin Editing assistant................... Annette Binger Extras casting.....................................MarianPearce Lindeman (Ruth), Severyn Pejsachowicz (Julie), Maciek Staniewicz (Harry), Gennie Senior set finisher................................

AshleyMoran Mixer.....................................

David Harrison Lighting cameraman...............................Chris Davis (Grandfather), Durand Sinclair (Joseph), Nevinson (Peta).

Senior set m aker............................. Gary Bye Stunts co-ordinator.....................Bill Stacey Camera assistants..................................JohnHawley, Michael O’Neill (Tom).

Synopsis: The zoo from the inside, as seen Set makers..................................Max Healey, Still photography....................................

Greg Noakes Trevor Moore Synopsis: An inner-city hotel, during the by the people who live and work there — Glen Nielsen, Title designer.....................David Lancashire G rips....................................................... TonyHall, early years of the Depression, is run by a people such as Dr David Mitchell, the zoo Alex Edwards, Quartermaster...................Lt Col. Mike Clark Tony Woolveridge, family of Russian Jewish emigres. A young vet, and his children Nick and Susie. There Michael Carroll, Army liaison................. Major Tony Webster Phil Oysten man from a country town comes to live in the is also Tim, the head groundsman’s son, the John MacDiarmid Horse master............................. Gerald Egan Electrician.................................... Mick Sandy hotel and share their life. administrators, the keepers and their Unit nurse............ Patsy Buchan-Hearnshaw Scenic artist....................... Paul Brocklebank Genni operator.......................... D’arcy Evans families. And, of course, the animals. They Publicity...................... Suzie Howie Publicity Set finisher................................. Steve Burns THE PAPER BOY Make-up............................................... DeniseGakor are all members of the wider Zoo Family.

Construction m anager.............. Laurie Dorn Story consultant................Patsy Adam Smith W ardrobe........................ Rhonda Shallcross (The Winners series) C atering.................................. Frank Manley Asst editors...........................Roslyn Pitsonis, Props buyer...................................

Norm Ellis Prod, company........................... ACTF Prods Greg Kolts Laboratory................................................VFL Staging................................. John McCulloch Dist. company................... ITC Entertainment Budget..................................... $8,196 million Negative cutter............................. Pam Toose P O S T-P R O D U C TIO N Special effects..............................Rod Clack, Producer............................... Jane Ballantyne Length........................................5 x 120 mins Asst neg. cutter........................

Larissa Filipic Terry Barrow Director............................................. Paul Cox Gauge................................................... 16 mm Sound editors..................... Peter Townsend, Asst sound recordist...............................GaryLund Scriptwriter................................................BobEllis Shooting stock............ Kodak Eastmancolor Lawrie Silverstrin Publicity........................................... GeorginaHowe AFTER MARCUSE Based on the original idea Scheduled release.......................... Mid-1985 Editing assistant................................... WaynePashley Mixed a t................................................... ABC by...................................................Bob Ellis Cast: Paul Hogan (Pat Cleary), Tony Bonner Prod, company.......................................ABC Length.......................................................... 75minsDubbing mixer.........................................PeterBarber Director of photography.................Yuri Sokol (Harold Armstrong), Andrew Clarke (Martin Sound assistant....................................... MarkWalker Dist. company........................................ ABC Gauge................................................... 16 mm Editor...............................................Tim Lewis Barrington), Patrick Ward (Tom McArthur), Producer.................................................. AlanBurke Shooting stock......................................Kodak7291Still photography..................................... GaryJohnston Prod, designer............................Neil Angwin Shane Briant (Kaiser Schmidt), Megan Publicity.................................................

LesleyJackson Director...................................Ted Robinson Synopsis: A tele-feature set in and around 1 st asst d irector.......... Tony Llewellyn-Jones W illiam s (Sister Mabel Baker), Noel Studios..........................ABC French’s Forest Scriptwriter.............................Alma de Groen the Austin Hospital Spinal Unit, depicting the Continuity.......................Joanne McLennan Trevarthen (Field Marshal Haig), Rhys McLength...........................................

4 x 75 mins Based on the original idea emergence into society of Steve McNair, a Assistant to the producer.....Joanna Stewart Connochie (Lloyd George), Christopher Gauge................................................... 16 mm b y ........................................Alm ade Groen paraplegic. Catalyst is Halley Birchfield, an Focus puller.............................................Chris CainSound recordists ....................David Dundas, Cummins (Roly Collins), Bill Kerr (Lt Gen. Sir actress who captures attention, then involve­ Cast: Helmut Zierl (Hans Bertram), Werner Costume designer................................ Jennie Tate Stocker (Adolph Kausman), Anne Tenney Michael Roberts John Monash), Ilona Rodgers (Lady Barring­ ment when she appears in Cripple Play at the Laboratory........................................Cinevex ton), Jim Holt (Dingo Gordon), Jonathan (Kate Webber), Gerard Kennedy (Sgt Steve Videotape editor.................Ley Braithwaite hospital.

Length...........................................................48minsProd, designer.................................... GraemeGould Sweet (Bill “ the Pom” Harris), Jon Blake Lucas), Dennis Grosvenor (Constable Max­ EMMA’S WAR Synopsis: Set in the Depression of 1932, (Flanagan), Peter Finlay (“ Bluey” ), Alec well), Tim McKenzie (Constable Anderson), Exec, producer........................................ AlanBurke The Paper Boy tells of the struggles of Wilson (“ Pudden” Parsons), Mark Hembrow Philip Quasi (Chris Gordon), Robin Cuming Prod, manager........................John Moroney Prod, company....................................Belinon young Joe Riordan, 11 years old, who, when (Dick Baker), David Lynch (Max Earnshaw).

(Captain Mitchell).

Prod, secretary.............................Padma Iyer Producer................................................. ClytieJessop his father becomes unemployed, is forced to Synopsis: A dramatization of Australia’s 1st asst director.........................David Young Director................................................... ClytieJessop A FORTUNATE LIFE live on the streets of Melbourne selling participation in World War 1.

2nd asst director...................... Lance Meilor Scriptwriters........................................... Clytie Jessop, papers to support his family.

Prod, company......................................... PBLProds Producer’s assistant............Rhonda McAvoy Peter Smalley BUTTERFLY ISLAND Dist. company...........................................PBLProds Casting.................................... Jennifer Allen Photography............................................ TomCowan QUEST FOR HEALING Producer......................................................BillHughes Prod, company...........................IndependentProds Sound recordist.......................................RossMcKay Camera operators.................. Richard Bond, Directors..............................................MarcusCole, Dist. company.............................IndependentDists E ditor..................................................... SoniaHoffman Tony Conolly, Prod, com pany............... Independent Prods Henri Safran Producer............................................

Brendon Lunney Murray Tonkin, Exec, producer...........................Robin Finlay Dist. company.....................Independent Dist.

Scriptwriter................................................KenKelso D irector.................................................. FrankArnold Denis Forkin Co-producer...........................Andrena Finlay Producer................................. Richard Davis Based on the autobiography Scriptwriter.............................................David Phillips Lighting director....................... David Arthur Prod, manager........................ David Hannay D irector................!................... Bill Leimbach b y.....................................

AlbertFacey Technical producer.................................Brian Mahoney Based on the original idea b y ......Rick Searle Unit manager...........................Jake Atkinson Photography........................... Hans Heidrich Photography.................... „ ...........Peter Levy Photography..........................Ross Berryman Make-up..............................Britta Kingsbury, Prod, secretary..................... Angela Zivkovic Sound recordist........................... Noel Quinn Sound recordist....................................... RossLinton Robert Wasson Sound recordist...................................... DavidGlasser Prod, accountants..................................... LeaCollins, Exec, producer:........................... Gene Scott Editors................................................. RichardHindley, Editor..........................................................BobCogger Wardrobe.............................................Patricia Forster Candice Dubois Unit manager.....................Cheryl Buckman Kerry Regan Publicity.................................................LesleyJackson Prod, designer........... .'............Herbert Pinter Prod, assistant....................................... SarahCoventry Researchers...................... Claire Leimbach, Prod, designer....... .................David Copping Exec, producer....................................RichardDavis Length................................................. 75 mins 1st asst director.......................................MickColeman Cheryl Buckman Composer............. ........................Mario Millo Prod, co-ordinator.................................MargoTamblyn G auge.............................................Videotape 2nd asst director...................................... JakeAtkinson Length.......................................... 8 x 60 mins Cast: Diane Craig (Liz), Penne HackforthProd, manager............................... Jenny Day Exec, producer............................................IanBradley Continuity....................................... Linda Ray Gauge....................................................16 mm Jones (Gillian), Grigor Taylor (Warren), Location/unit manager........................... PeterAbbott Producer’s assistant..............................RebelRussell Assoc, producers.................................... MikeMidlam, Synopsis: Series which examines in detail

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 65

Production Survey

Ken Kelso Script editor....................................... Barbara Bishop Wrangler..................................Dennis Clifton Focus puller...........................Martyn Goundry Producer..................................................JaneBallantyne Prod, co-ordinators............................ Antonia Legge, Photography.................................Ellery Ryan Best boy.............................. Patrick O'Farrell Clapper/loader...................... Martyn Goundry Director............................................... MichaelPattinson Sue Pemberton Sound recordist.......................................... IanRyan Runner............................................ Bizzi Bodi Camera assistants................. Russell Dority, Scriptwriter................................................Jan Sardi Prod, manager.......................................Terrie Vincent Editor.........................................................CliffHayes Andrew McLean Based on the original idea b y ......... Jan Sardi Unit publicist............... Suzie Howie Publicity Unit managers............................................ LizKirkham, Composer................................................DaveSkinner Catering............................... Action Catering Electrician.................................. Roger Wood Photography............................................. YuriSokol Hugh Cann Exec, producer.............................Ian Bradley Mixed a t.................................. Palm Studios Wardrobe................................... Ron Williams Sound recordist..................................

Andrew Ramage Prod, accountant.......................... Craig Scott Assoc, producer...................................... MikeMidlam Laboratory....................................... Colorfilm Mixer.............................................. Jon Marsh Editor...........................................................JillBilcock (Moneypenny Services) Prod, supervisor...................................... MikeMidlam Lab. liaison...................... Richard Piorkowski Still photography........................Ron Furner, Prod, designer........................................ BrianThomson Asst accountant.........................Jane Corden Prod co-ordinator................ Vicki Popplewell Length.................................47 mins 50 secs ' Cliff Frith Prod, manager............................

Helen Watts Prod, assistant........................Carmen Galan Prod, manager........................................ JohnJacob Gauge..................................................16 mm Runner...................................... Greg Ohlsson Location manager.....................................AnnDarrouzet 1st asst directors........... Charles Rotherham, Unit manager................................ Philip Corr Shooting stock............. Kodak Eastmancolor Publicity...................................... Rea Francis Prod, secretary...................................Milanka Comfort Michael Bourchier, Prod, secretary.............................. Sue Evans Prod, accountant.........................Vince Smits Synopsis: Mike loves hang gliding. It Studios........................ Kingcroft (Melbourne) Eddie Prylinski Prod, accountant......................... Peter Kadar removes him from his daily cares and Post-production.............. Kingcroft (Sydney) 1st asst director............................. John Wild 2nd asst directors.............. Michael Faranda, 1st asst director.......................................EuanKeddie worries. One day, he is swooping through Mixed a t...........................Jon Marsh Studios 2nd asst director.................................MichaelMcIntyre Tom Blackett 2nd asst director........................................ BillBaxter Laboratory........................................Colorfilm the air like an eagle admiring the sprawling Continuity..........................Joanne McLennan 3rd asst director....................................... NickAlimede 3rd asst director..........................Craig Griffin city beneath him when suddenly everything Length.......................................... 2 x 60 mins Assistant to the producer......Joanna Stewart Continuity...................................... Pam Willis, Continuity................................................. AnnMcLeod Gauge.................................................. 16 mm Casting director........................Jon Stephens disappears. For, in the twinkling of an eye, Judy Whitehead, Casting...................................................... JoySargant Shooting stock.........................Eastmancolor Mike has glided a thousand years into the Casting assistant......................................

Ann Darrouzet Roz Berrystone Additional casting............... Vicki Popplewell Synopsis: A television special based on the 2nd camera operator.............Martin McGrat < future. Now he really does have a problem.

C asting..........................................Maura Fay, Lighting cameraman....................Ellery Ryan premise that, whatever the differences in cul­ Focus puller............................................ ChrisCain Joy Sargant, TARFLOWERS Focus puller........................................... LeighMcKenzie ture, background or language, children will Clapper/loader.................. Callum McFarlane Connie Mercurio Clapper/loader.....................................KattinaBowell (The Winners series) always find a way to communicate with and Key g rip .................................. Peter Kershaw Focus puller.............................Bill Hammond Key grip.................................................. BarryHansen understand each other.

G affer....................................................... RobYoung Prod, company.......................................ACTFProds Clapper/loader.......................................... NeilCervin Asst grip................................................DarrenHansen Boom operator.......................... Steve James Dist. company...................ITC Entertainment Key g rip ................................Karel Akkerman Gaffer..................................... Mark Gilfedder Art director...............................................NickMcCallum Producer.................................................. TomJeffrey Asst g rip .................................................. JohnOtago COWRA BREAKOUT Boom operator........................................CraigBeggs Art dept runner....................................... PeterLong Director.....................................Bill Fitzwater Gaffer....................................Sam Bienstock Art director.................................... Peter Tyers Prod, com pany.......................Kennedy Miller Costume designer................................Jennie TateScriptwriter............................... Terry Larsen Boom operator.......................................... PhilKeros Asst art director..................................KrystinePorter Producer..................................Margaret Kelly Make-up...................................................JosePerez Photography.................... Robert McDonnell Art director................................................ KenJames Make-up.............................................. PatriciaPayne Hairdresser............................................. JosePerez Sound recordist........................John Denison Directors.................................... Philip Noyce, Asst art directors........................... Julie-Anne Mills, Hairdresser.........................................PatriciaPayne Chris Noonan Stunts co-ordinator...................Chris Peters Editor.......................................... Bill Fitzwater Phil Peters Wardrobe................................................AnnaJakab Best boy................................... Bruce Towers Composer..................................Neil Thurgate Scriptwriters...........................Margaret Kelly, Art dept assistants..................Toby Copping, Standby wardrobe.................................... KimDonaldson Chris Noonan, Runner....................................................... JimFotopoulos Exec, producer........................Patricia Edgar Peter Armstrong Props buyer................................ Jodi Borland Phillip Noyce, Laboratory............................................... VFL Prod, manager............................ Tony Winley Costume designer................................. BruceFinlayson Standby props..............................Leore Rose Russell Braddon, Length..........................................................48minsProd, secretary................ Fiona McConaghy Make-up......................................Jane Surrich Special effects........................................BrianPearce Sally Gibson Gauge...................................................16 mm Prod, accountant........................................ JillCoverdale Hairdresser............................................SuzieClements Set dresser......................................... StanleyDalliston Photography.............................. Geoff Burton Shooting stock................... Kodak 7294/7291 1st asst director................................Phil Rich Wardrobe master.......................Steve Riches Scenic artist............................................PeterDickie Sound recordists.............

John Schiefelbein, Cast: Mitch Ambrose (Buzz), Sherie Graham 2nd asst director...................Lisa Hennessey Standby wardrobe...................... Julie Barton Best b o y ............................................... AngusDenton Kevin Kearney (Susan), Shanti Gudgeon (Francine), Julie 3rd asst director..............................Ray Quint Model maker..................................Bill Dennis Electrics assistant................................... DaleMann Additional sound.............................Tim Lloyd Stepancic (Mags), Paul Wheller (Julio), Continuity............................................... LindyEdgley Props construction................................ DavidDuncan Runners....................................................KrisGrintowt, Editors...................... Richard Francis-Bruce, Lucinda Cowden (Jenny).

Producers assistant..........

Christine Gordon Assistant model m aker................ Kim Sexton ■ .BrianGilmore Henry Danger, Synopsis: When Susan meets Buzz at the Casting........................................................ JoHardie Props buyer......................... Derrick Chetwyn Stunt co-ordinator.....................................GuyNorris Neil Thumpston, local roller skating rink, she doesn’t know Camera operator..........................Ian Marden Standby props.........................................JohnDaniel IVF technical adviser.............................JillianWood Marcus D’Arcy what she is letting herself in for. Boyfriends, Gaffer..................................................... GeoffMaine Asst standby prop s.................. Kelvin Sexton Still photography......................... Sterio Stills Prod, designer........................ Bernard Hines girlfriends, going steady and breaking up.

Electrician.............................................ShaunConway Set decorator/finisher................John Gibson Publicity..................................................... LynQuayle Prod, m anager....................... Barbara Gibbs Life can be a real pain when you're thirteen.

Boom operator.................................Sue Kerr Carpenters............. ............David Boardman, Catering..............................................KristinaFrolich, Location manager........................Kim Anning Art director.......................................Igor Nay Alex Dixon, Helen Wright Asst unit manager..................... Ian Freeman Make-up........................................... SylvannaVenery Marcus Erasmus Specialist food and LOSING ’ Prod, secretary..............................Dixie Betts Wardrobe designer....................................JanHurley Construction manager.............................. PhilWorthflower dressing................................ LouiseLechte, Prod, company........................................ABC Prod, accountant................. Alistair Jenkins Ward, assistant................................... RomolaJeffrey Asst editors.......................................... DebbieRegan, Gregory Ladner Producer................................................ ErinaRayner Asst accountant...........................Peter Dons Props buyer...................... Lesley McLennan Amanda Holmes Post-production supervisor......David Jaeger Director........................................... CatherineMillar 1st asst directors....................... Bob Howard, Standby props......................Alison Goodwin Neg. matching..... Negative Cutting Services Scriptwriter........................................StephenSewell Length..........................................2 x 96 mins Stuart Freeman Choreography........................................ Chris Koltai Mixer................................. Julian Ellingworth Photography..........................................JulianPenney Gauge.............. ....................................16 mm 2nd asst directors.......................Chris Webb, Scenic a rtis t...........................................DavidTuckwell Still photography............. Lawrence Marshall Shooting stock........................ Eastmancolor Sound recordist........................................ BenOsmo Ian Kenny Still photography................... Candy Le Guay Animation...............................................FlicksAnimation Cast: Gary Day, Debra-Lee Furness, Belinda Editor.......................................................... BillRusso 3rd asst director.....................Elizabeth Lovell Tutor/coach.......................................... Judith Cruden Wranglers.................................................RayWinslade, Davey, Andrew Sharp, George Mikell, Prod, designer..................Neave Catchpoole Continuity................................................ SianFatouros Runner...................................................AdamSpencer Wayne Murray Rowena Wallace.

Prod, manager........................ John Moroney Film research.........................Graham Shirley Publicity......................Suzie Howie Publicity Asst wrangler............. t......... Jenni Winslade Synopsis: Love, lust and greed weave Unit manager..................... Beverley Powers Research assistant...........Christina Norman Laboratory..........................................CustomVideo Best b o y ........................ Guy Bessell-Browne tangled webs when a dynasty turns for its Prod, secretary............................Padma Iyer Additional continuity............Elizabeth Barton Gauge............................................... BetacamVideo Runner......................................Glen Williams survival to test tube babies.

1 st asst director..................................GrahamMiller Casting....................Michael Lynch (Forcast) Cast: David Woloszko (Kevin), Vanessa Unit publicist............................................. LynQuayle 2nd asst director................................... DavidMcClelland Goddard (Mary), David Jay (Sid), Joan Lord Extras casting........................................... SueParker C atering......................... Take One Catering, I CAN’T GET STARTED Continuity............................................ AntheaDean Japanese extras..................................Bobbie Tanabie (Mrs Pearl), Pat Thomson (Alison).

Anne Harris (Formerly A ct Two) Casting.............................................. JenniferAllen Synopsis: Tarflowers are Kevin’s favorite Lighting cameraman................. Geoff Burton Studios..................PBL Prods/Kewdale W.A. Lighting cameraman............................ JulianPenny Additional camera..................................Steve Mason Prod, company..............................PBL Prods flower even though a lot of people can’t see Mixed a t.................................................. Atlab Focus puller........................................ RussellBacon Dist. company.............. *...............PBL Prods them. Kevin is 16; he is not like other kids. Additional camera assistant.........Pat O’Neil Laboratories.......................................... Atlab, Clapper/loader........................................BrettJoyce Producer............................................ RichardBrennan He stays at home where he lives with his Focus pullers........................Kim Batterham, Omnicon Boom operator..................................

Geoffrey Krix David Foreman Director....................................Rodney Fisher mum. She won’t put him in a special school.

Lab. liaison.............................................PeterWillard, Make-up.................................................Britta Kingsbury, Clapper/loader......................................DarrinKeogh Scriptwriter..................................Ray Harding Jan Holloway Sandy Bushell The magical story of Kevin and the Key grip..................................................LesterBishop Based on the original idea community which loves and supports him, Budget...................................................... $6.3million Wardrobe............................................CarolynMatthews Asst g rip s......................................Geoff Full, b y .............................................Ray Harding Length.......................................... 4 x 95 mins Special effects designer......... Brian McClure flows gently between fantasy and reality. " AlFord, Photography.............................. Geoff Burton Gauge...................................................16 mm Asst special e ffects.................

Peter Leggett, Brian Hurrell Sound recordist........................................KenHammond Shooting stock...................................... Kodak Pauline Grebert, Gaffer..........................................................Ian Plummer Editor..................................

Mark van Buuren Cast: Bill Kerr (Old Albert), Dominic Richard Strezelezki Electricians............................................DavidNicholls, Prod, designer........................Bernard Hides Sweeney (adult Bert), Benedict Sweeney Publicity................................................ LesleyJacksonAW AITING RELEASE Jonathan Hughes Composer..............................

Cameron Allan (adolescent Bert), Valerie Lehman (Bert's Mixed a t.................................................. ABC Boom operators.....................................SteveJames, Exec, producer.............................Ian Bradley mother), Dorothy Alison (Bert's grand­ Laboratory....................................... Colorfilm Eric Briggs Assoc, producer......................... Mike Midlam mother), Martin Vaughan (Frank Phillips), Length................................................

75 mins Art director.......................Virginia Bieneman Prod, manager........................Barbara Gibbs Bill Hunter (Mr Bibby), Leslie Wright (Jack BILL WANNAN’S MYSTERIOUS Gauge.................................................. 16 mm Costume designer..................................

TerryRyan Location manager.............................Caroline Stanton Lander), John Ewart (Bentley), Frank AUSTRALIA Shooting stock............................Kodak 7247 Costume co-ordinator.............Anthony Jones Unit manager.........................................PhilipPatterson Gallagher (Bill Oliver).

Cast: Richard Moir (Bob), Genevieve Picot Prod, company................Fairweather Prods Art dept assistant...................................

Chris Batson Prod, secretary.... Perry Stapleton-Flanagan Synopsis: Based on the best-selling auto­ /Robin), Peter Kowitz (Graham), Joanne Dist. company..... Southern Television Corp.

Make-up...........................Lesley Vanderwalt Prod, accountant..................................Jenny Verdon biography of A.B. Facey. A story of survival Samuel (Julie).

Producer....................................................

Ian Fairweather Asst make-up..............................................Jill Porter, Accounts assistant.............................. RobinaOsborne and triumph in a vast, inhospitable wilder­ Synopsis: The story of two Vietnam Director.......................................................IanFairweather Sonja Smuk, 1st asst director.......................................MarkEgerton ness. A pioneering saga about a man who veterans trying to come to terms with their Scriptwriter....................................... ElizabethMansutti Anna Kapinski 2nd asst director..............Corrie Soeterboek battles incredible odds and near impossible guilt and anger as a result of the war. They Based on the original idea Hairdresser...........................................

CherylWilliams 3rd asst director...............................

Elizabeth Lovell circumstances, and wins. go on a supposedly spontaneous journey by.....................................................RichardBoland Barbers......................................................Jim Atsa, Continuity.................................................... JoWeeks into the back-blocks of New South Wales, Photography..................................... MalcolmForeman Max Atsa Extras’ casting..........................................

Sue Parker FRAN taking with them their families and their Sound recordist..................................... SteveHolden Wardrobe co-ordinator.......... Anthony Jones Lighting cameraman.............................GeoffBurton rifles.

Prod, company..................................... BarronFilms Editor..........................................Robert Clark Ward, buyers..........................................JenniBolton, Camera operator....................................GeoffBurton Producer.................................. David Rapsey Composer...............................Bob Macintosh Kerri Barnett Focus puller.............................................. KimBatterham QUEST BEYOND TIME Director................................ Glenda Hambley Prod, co-ordinator.............. Penni-Ann Smith Standby wardrobe..................................FionaNicolls Clapper/loader..................................... DarrinKeough (The Winners series) Scriptwriter..........................Glenda Hambley Prod, manager....................Rhonda Gardner Ward, assistants.............................. ChristianShearer, Key grip................................ Paul Thompson Photography.............................................. JanKenny, Prod, company....................Astra Film Prods Prod, accountant..............Roger Sanderson Judi Parker, Asst grip................................George Tsoutas Yuri Sokol Dist. company........................................ ACTF Camera assistant......................................GuyJames Lisa Meagher, Gaffer..........................................................IanPlummer Sound recordist.............................. Kim Lord Producers.............................. Julia Overton, Art director............................ Brenda Maxwell Julie Frankham Electrician........................................JonathanHughes Editor..................................... Tai Tang Thien Richard Mason Sound editor............................... Max Stewart Set dresser........................................... DallasWilson Boom operator................Graham McKinney Exec, producer........................................ PaulBarron Director..............................................StephenWallace Mixer........................................ Martin Braine Props buyers....................................Ian Allen, Art department runner............................PeterWarman Prod, co-ordinator.................................. SusieCambell Scriptwriter............................. Tony Morphett Narrator................................... John Stanton Mark Dawson Costume designer......................... Terry Ryan Prod, manager............................. Lee Beston Photography..............................Geoff Burton Studios................................ NWS-9 Adelaide Standby props......................George Zammit Make-up................................................ PeggyCarter Prod, accountant...................................... EricSankey Sound recordist.............................. Phil Judd Mixed a t............................................... PepperStudios Special effects............................ Peter Sloss, Hairdresser............................ Cheryl Williams 1st asst director.....................................SteveJodrell Editor...................................... Henry Dangar Length................................................ 60 mins Costume co-ordinator........Christian Shearer Albert Payne, 2nd asst director................... Lynn McGuigan Prod, designer.................................... LouellaHatfield Gauge................................................ 1 inch Brian Cox Standby wardrobe.................................HelenDykes Continuity.............................................. FionaCochrane Exec, producer...................... Patricia Edgar Shooting stock...............................Videotape Set finishers......................... Frank Falconer, Props buyer/set dresser ...Virginia Bieneman Lighting cameramen.................................JanKenny, Prod, supervisor.....................Damien Parer Cast: Henry Salter (Holy Willie), Robert Billy Kennedy, Props buyer..............................Caroline Polin Yuri Sokol Prod, co-ordinator..................Cathy Flannery Perovan (Jack Mathews), Prue Little Standby props.......................George Zammit Des Keena Focus puller........................................ JeremyRobbins Unit manager......................... Bevan Childs (Barmaid), Elspeth Langman (Lucretia Scenic artist...........................Len Armstrong Asst editor..............................................VickyAmbrose Clapper/loader...................Mark Edgecombe Prod, accountant.................... Jill Coverdale Dunkley), Mladen Mladenoff (Martin Beech), Art dept runner......................Peter Warman Still photography................................AndrewSoutham Key g rip .................................................MauryRogers 1 st asst director...............................Ian Page Mark Watson (Trooper).

Carpenters.............................Frank Phipps, Best boy............................... Patrick O’Farrell Gaffer........................................................RayThomas 2nd asst director.................... Lisa Hennessy Synopsis: This television docu-drama tells a Runner.....................................................John Friedman Chris Norman, Art director.............................................. TheoMathews Continuity............................................... AnneWalton series of mysterious stories from Australia’s John Rann, Unit publicist............................................. LynQuayle Wardrobe........................................... Cordula Albrecht Casting................................................Forcast past and present.

Peter McKinnon Catering............................................Janette's Kitchen Make-up.............................................. MonicaBrown Camera operator................................... GeoffBurton Set construction............................ Bill Howe Laboratory.............................................. Atlab Props.........................................................TishPhillips Focus puller........................... Kim Batterham CHILDREN OF TWO COUNTRIES Asst editors....................... Christine Griffiths, Lab. liaison...................... Warren Delbridge Asst editor...............................................BrianMcLellan Clapper/loader....................... Darren Keogh Budget................................................. $1.275million Pam Barnetta, Prod, company................................. KingcroftProds R unner.............................................. Michelle French Key grip.................................................

Lester Bishop Length................................................. 96 mins Claire O’Brien (Australia) Studios................................................ Taimac Asst grip.................................................. BrianHurrell Sound editor.............................................. TimJordan Gauge...................................................16 mm Producer.................................................

Terry Ohlsson Laboratory...............................................Atlab Gaffer......................................... Ian Plummer Shooting stock..............................Kodak 7291 Editing assistants................................ AntonyGray, Director...................................................

Terry Ohlsson Budget..............................................$700,000 Generator operator.................................John Hughes Cast: John Waters (Robert), Wendy Hughes Lynne Williams, Scriptwriter............................ Terry Ohlsson Length...............................................94 mins Art director......................... Kate Jason Smith (Margaret), Heather Mitchell (Jill), Ben Paula Lourie, Photography..........................Michael Kings, Gauge...................................................16 mm Art dept assistant....................... Cathy Silm Gabriel (Lazarus), Sandy Gore (Jenny), Julia Gelhard John Mounsey Shooting stock...................................... Kodak Costume designer.............................. MelodyCooper Donald M acdonald (Albert), Andrew Stunts co-ordinator................................ PeterArmstrong Sound recordist............

David McConnachie Cast: Noni Hazlehurst (Fran), Danny Adcock Make-up.............................................. MarjoryHamlin McFarlane (Freddy), Deborah Kennedy Research adviser.......................... Jock Weir Editors......................................... Bill Stacey, (Ray), Alan Fletcher (Jeff), Annie Byron Ward, assistant....................................DevinaMaxwell (Rose), Margo Lee (Avril Williams).

Japanese military adviser.... Hide Hirayama Liz Irwin Marge), Narelle Simpson (Lisa), Travis Ward Props maker........................................... SteveTeather Synopsis: Talented, witty and more than a Aust. military adviser.............. Aussie Ostara Composer.......................................Pat Aulton (Tom), Rosie Logie (Cynthia).

Props buyers..........................Steve Teather, little self-centred Robert Marks is the author Prod, manager....................................... TerrySlack Still Photography..................................... Jim Townley, Synopsis: A contemporary drama about a Dennis Clifton of a successful first novel. Success, and the Unit manager......................................... TerrySlack Robert Verkerk welfare mother whose need for a man's Standby props...................... Nick McCallum lifestyle that followed it, have since dried up Armourer................................................. BrianBums Prod, secretary.................................... MarinaSeeto attention conflicts with her need to love and Asst editors........................Pamela Barnetta, Asst armourer.......................... Mark George his talents. The film tells the effects of failure Prod, accountant........ Moneypenny Services care for her young children.

Gai Steele on one man’s marriage and the unexpected Prod, assistant............................Mike Caiger Best boy............................................... PatrickO’Farrell Neg. matching........................................ ChrisRowell results of the introduction of another woman.

1 st asst directors........................ Bill Stacey, Runners.............................................. MichaelFanning, GLASS BABIES Sound editor........................................... DeanGawen Liz Irwin Marquerite Grey Sound assistant..........................Steve Couri Prod, company......................................... PBLProds 3rd asst director........................... Peter Doig Catering..............................CJ & DJ Catering JUST FRIENDS M ixer...............................Alasdair McFarlane Producer....................... .\......... Peter Herbert Continuity............................................ MarinaSeeto Studios.................................... Kennedy Miller (The Winners series) Stunts co-ordinator............. Dee Arlen Jones D irector..............................................BrendanMaher Casting................................................... TerrySlack N urse ...................................................... Jane Stewart Prod, company............................ACTF Prods Still photography...................Candy Le Guay Scriptwriters........................................... GregMillin, Lighting cameramen.............. Michael Kings, Safety officer.......................................... Chris Hession Dist. company...................ITC Entertainment Tech, adviser...............................Ian Jarman Graeme Farmer John Mounsey Laboratory........................................Colorfilm

i

66 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Production Survey

Prod, m anager.......................................CathyFlannery Boom operator.......................................... PhilTipene Casting Producers................................. Bud Tingwell, Unit manager..........................................JenniDawes Graham Moore Art director........................................... Louella Hatfield consultant........M & L Casting Consultants Prod, accountant...................... Jill Coverdale D irector..................................... Pino Amenta Costume designer.............................MirandaSkinner Camera operator.............. Peter Menzies Jnr Scriptwriters............................................Terry Stapleton, 1st asst director.................................Phil Rich Make-up/hairdresser............................ Jenny Brown Focus puller............................................GarryPhillips 2nd asst director...................... Adrienne Parr Vincent Moran Wardrobe standby............. Heather McLaren Clapper/loader................................. Nicolette Freeman Exec, script consultant......... Barbara Bishop 3rd asst director...................... Stephan Elliott Ward, assistant........................................DorisKurteff (AFTS attachment) Photography......................... David Connell Continuity...................................... Linda Ray Props standby........................................... MaxManton G rip .................................................. Roy Mico Soundrecordist..................Andrew Ramage Casting Props buyer...................... Michelle McGahey Asst g rip.................................................... GuyWilliams E ditor..........................................Ken Sallows consultants......M & L Casting Consultants Set decorator............................. Mike Manuel Gaffer.......................................................MilesMoulson Lighting cameraman...........................MichaelEdols Composers.."............................................GaryMcDonald, Asst edito r........................................... LeanneGlasson Electrician................................................MarkFreidman Camera operator................................ MichaelEdols Laurie Stone Sound editor........................................... AnneBreslin Boom operator.......................................... JoeSpinelli Focus puller.......................................... WayneTaylor Asst sound editor................................ LeanneGlasson Exec, producers................. Hector Crawford, Make-up.................................................. LloydJames Clapper/loader...........................................Rod Hinds Still photography........................................Jim Sheldon Ian Crawford, Hairdresser.............................................LloydJames Key grip............................................... GrahamLitchfield Title designer.................Optical and Graphic Terry Stapleton Wardrobe supervisor......Jennifer Carseldine THE FAST LANE Asst g rip....................................................

Guy Williams Assoc, producer...................................... MikeLakeInterpreter............................................PaulineChan Standby w ardrobe.................................. Suzy Carter 2nd unit photography...........................WayneTaylor Prod, co-ordinator...................Janlne Kerley Tech, adviser...........................................GaryKhor Prod, company.........................................ABC Art dept assistants.............................Annette Reid, G affer.....................................................DerekJones Prod, manager.......................................HelenWatts Runner................................................ Andrew McPhail Producer....................................... Noel Price Glen Medley, Boom operator........................................GrantStuart Unit location m anager....................Grant Hill Publicity...................... Suzie Howie Publicity Directors........................................ Noel Price, Chris Thomkins Asst art director..................................Michelle McGahey Asst location manager........................ MurrayBoydCatering.............................................. Mai Kai '■ Lindsay Dresden, Props buyers.................... Jock McLachlan, Costume designer......................... Sian Pugh Prod, accountant...................................

Vince Smits Mixed a t ............................................Colorfilm Richard Sarell, Glen Medley 1st asst director.............................. John Wild Make-up.......................................Lloyd James Laboratory........................................ Colorfilm Colin Budds Standby props...................................... RobertMoxam 2nd asst director ..............

Michael McIntyre Hairdresser.................................Lloyd James Lab. liaison......................

Richard Piorkowski Scriptwriters.......................... Andrew Knight, Asst editors.................................................GaiSteele, 3rd asst director....................... Jack Zalkalns Ward, assistant........................................ Suzy Carter Length.......................................................... 48mins John Clarke Mitzi Goldman Continuity................................................ Julie Bates Props buyer..........................Jenny Campbell Gauge................................................. 16 mm Based on the original idea Neg. matching........................................ ChrisRowell Focus puller............................................ GregRyanShooting stock......................... Eastmancolorneg.

Standby props...................... Robert Moxham b y............................................ John Clarke, Sound edito r.................................. Lee Smith Choreography..................................... MitsukoGeneroso Scheduled release........................... Mid-1985 Sound assistant.......................................JohnPatterson Andrew Knight Clapper/loader.........................Bruce Phillips Sound assistant.................... Scott Rawlings Asst editors.............................................LeslieMannison, Cast: Marillac Johnston (Lindy), John Walton Mixers..................................... Peter Fenton, Photography.....................Peter Simondsen, Bronwyn Wolf, Key g rip ................................... Ian Benallack (Geoff), B e lin d a "Giblin (M'arj), John Peter Lewis, Ron Purvis Asst g rip..................................

Craig Dusting Phillipa Harvey Lehmann (Danny), Uuang uninh uinh (Le), John Tuttle, Still photography........................................Jim Sheldon Neg. matching.................................. Colorfilm Emily Stocker (Julie), Tran Tuy Phuong T u to r....................................................JoanneKennedy Ian Margocsy, Gaffer................................... David Parkinson M ixer.................................

Gethin Creagh (Minh), Quoc Xuyen Lam (Uncle), Pauline Safety officer........................... Bernie Ledger Roger McAlpine 3rd electrician/ genni operator..................Steve Bickerton Still photography................... Candy Le Guay Chan (Aunt).

Sound recordists................... John Beanland, Best boy...................................................MarkFreidman Running coach...................................... Nancy Atterton David Redcliff Art director..................................... Tel Stolfo Synopsis: Lindy believes she is a Viet­ Runner............................................ Bizzi Bodi Asst art director.................... Bernle Wynack Best b o y ....................................................PaulBooth Editors...................................................... GaryWatson, namese orphan who was adopted when she Publicity...................................... Suzie Howie Runner............................................Bizzi Bodi Ken Tyler Make-up................................ Leeanne White was three years old. Her carefree and happy Catering.............................................JeanetteBonner Asst make-up hairdresser............Pam Wright Publicity...................... Suzie Howie Publicity Prod, designers.................... Robert Walters, life in Australia comes to a sudden end when Mixed a t ..................................United Sound Catering................................ Action Catering Frank Earley, Wardrobe supervisor............................. ClareGriffin she receives a letter from her father in Laboratory........................................ Colorfilm Mixed a t ............................................ Colorfilm Dale Mark, Wardrobe standby.................................... PhilEagles Thailand, overjoyed to have found her. Lindy Lab. liaison...................... Richard Piorkowski Laboratory.........................................Colorfilm Rudi Joosten Ward, assistant................Margot McCartney and her adopted family are plunged Into Length ...................................47 mins 50 secs Props buyer...........................

Bernie Wynack Lab. liaison...................... Richard Piorkowski Composer................................................GregSneddon emotional turmoil.

Gauge................................................... 16 mm Standby props............................... Barry Hall Length.................................. 47 mins 50 secs Exec, producer............................ .Noel Price Shooting stock............. Kodak Eastmancolor ONE SUMMER AGAIN Set dressers........................ Harvey Mawson, Gauge................................................... 16 mm Prod, manager................ Lorraine Alexander Cast: Dennis Miller (Ron Guthrie), Anne Murray Kelly Prod, secretary.............................Sarah Hall (THE HEIDELBERG SCHOOL) Shooting stock.... Kodak Eastmancolor 7291 Grigg (Di Guthrie), Ken Talbot (Ben Guthrie), Construction manager............. Peter McNee Cast: Terry Donovan (Peter Trig), Nicole 1st asst directors.................................... PeterMurphy, Prod, company........................................ABC John Clayton (Wal), Candy Raymond (Jean), Asst editor.............................Warwick Crane James Lipscombe, Kidman (Carol Trig), Veronica Lang (Alison Producer.....................................Keith Wilkes David Downer (Barry), Sheila Florance Stunts....................................Chris Anderson Graeme Cornish, Trig), Alyssa Cook (Angie Spry), Emma Lyle Director........................................ Mark Callan (Esme), Toni Allaylis (Claire), Sharon Miller­ Still photography................................... SterioStills Bill Smithett (Andrea Trig), Martin Harris (Bruce Spry), chip (Amanda), Mark Kounnas (Jason), Scriptwriter.................................................BillGarner (David and Lorelei Simmonds) 2nd asst directors...............................DorothyFaine, Helen Pankhurst (Jenny Forenko), Carla Maggie Dence (psychiatrist), Ron Graham Based on the original idea Don Ryan, Best boy.............................. Richard Tummel H oogeveen (M rs M a cC re a d y), Kate (abattoir manager). b y ............................. Humphrey McQueen Ann Bartlett Runner...................................... Peter Nathan Photography............................Ian Warburton Synopsis: There is one thing Ben doesn’t Ferguson (Sandra Wilcox), Mercia DeaneContinuity.................................................. LeeHeming, Unit publicist..................................Chris Day Johns (Janet).

Sound recordists.......................... Bill Doyle, understand. He understands how two-thirds Kay Hannessy, Catering....................... Early Morning Risers Gary Lund, of the world’s people are starving. He under­ Synopsis: Carol is a dedicated track athlete Sue Overton, (Tony Lippold) Peter Mills stands how the globe can be on the brink of who specializes in the 1500 metres event. At Ann Dutton school, she meets a new girl, Angie, whose Studios.................................................. HSV7 nuclear annihilation. He even understands Editor.......................................................... BillMurphy Producer’s assistants............................... LeeHeming, punk looks have made her an object of Length....................................................6 x 6 0 minsProd, designers.................. Gunars Jurjans, how governments can torture and murder Kay Hannessy, ridicule and someone to be avoided. After Gauge................................................... 16mm " Max Nicolson their citizens.

What he doesn’t understand is Sue Overton, Carol wins the 1500 metres at a school Shooting stock...................................... Kodak7291Exec, producer....................................... KeithWilkes how people can carry on living happily with Ann Dutton Cast: Andrew McFarlane (Tom Callaghan), carnival, she hears music coming from the Technical producer............Graham Brumley all this injustice and potential disaster in the C asting...........................................Greg Apps gym, goes to investigate and is surprised to Lorna Patterson (Liz Drever), Keith Eden world.

Prod, manager....................................... GeoffCooke Lighting directors...............Peter Simondsen, (Harry Sinclair), Vikki Hammond (Beth see Angie dancing.

Unit manager..........................................GeoffCooke Peter Lewis Drever), Steve Bisley (Andy McGregor), Bill QUEEN OF THE ROAD Prod, secretary.............................Sarah Hall Technical producers........... Steve Pickering, Hunter (Dusty Miller), Linda Hartley (Diana THE TOP KID 1 st asst director...........................Bill Smithett Prod, company..............................JNP Films John Bennett Daniels).

(The Winners series) 2nd asst director.................................Dorothy Faine Producer................................

James Davem Camera operators................................... JohnTuttle, Synopsis: A story of adventure and romance Continuity...............................................KerryBevan Director.........................................Bruce Best Prod, company..................Great Scott Prods .

Ian Margocsy, based on the contemporary Royal Flying Producers assistant............................. KerryBevan Scriptwriter............................................... LuisBayonnas Dist. company............................. ACTF Prods Roger McAlpine Doctor Service.

Casting......................................... Greg Apps Photography............................ Joe Pickering Producer...................................... Jane Scott Key g rip .....................................................MaxGaffney Extras casting.......................Marian Pearce Sound recordist.....................Ken Hammond D irector..................................................... CarlSchultz Electrician.................................................... Jo Mitzal Lighting director..............................

Clive Sell GOLDEN PENNIES Editor.........................................

Zsolt Kollanyi Scriptwriter.......................................

Bob Ellis Boom operators......................................ErnieEverett, Cameramen....................... Roger McAlpine, Prod, designer....................................MichaelRalph Photography................................ John Seale Harry Harrison Prod, company..........Revcom (France)-ABC Adrian Harvey, Composer...........................

Michael Perjanik Sound recordist............................... Phil Judd Art director................................................. BobWalters Producer............................ Oscar Whitbread SonerTuncay, Assoc, producer...................................... IreneKorol E ditor.................................... Karl Sodersten Asst art directors................................... FrankEarley, Director.............................. Oscar Whitbread Greg Wilden Prod, supervisor......................................IreneKorol Dale Mark Prod, designer...................... Larry Eastwood Scriptwriter........................................ GraemeFarmer Camera operator.....................................John Hawley Prod, co-ordinator...............

Sally Ayre-Smith Composer....................................Chris Neal Costume designer....................... Julie Skate Based on the original idea Focus puller......................................... TrevorMoore Prod, manager........................................ IreneKorol Make-up................................ Jurjen Zielinski, Exec, producer................................... Patricia Edgar b y.................................................... GraemeFarmer Key g rip .............................Tony Woolveridge Unit manager..........................................

Henk Prins .

Ian Loughnan Assoc, producer......................................Brian Rosen Photography...............................................IanWarbuton Prod, secretary..................... Debbie Braham Electricians.............................................. MickSandy, W ardrobe............................................BeverlyJasper, Prod, supervisor................................. DamienParer Sound recordist.......................................JohnBoswell Prod, accountant.....................................

Matt Sawyer Les Frazier, Ann Brown Prod, manager.............................................Uii Wismer Editors........................................................ BillMurphy, Malcolm McLean 1st asst director.............. Charles Rotherham P rops........................................... Neil Oyster, Unit manager..........................Jake Atkinson Barry Munroe 2nd asst director................................

Michael Faranda Boom operators............................Gary Lund, Karl Miller Prod, secretary.................................... MaudeHeath Prod, designer.......................... Carol Harvey Harry Harrison, 3rd asst director........................................TomBlackett Props buyer........................... Helen Williams Financial controller............................. RichardHarper Prod, manager..........................Frank Brown Peter Cave Continuity................................................ NickiMoors Special effects.......................................... RodClark, Prod, accountant...............................CandiceDubois 1st asst director.....................Peter Trofinovs Camera operator.......................Wayne Taylor Costume designer................ Paul Cleveland Terry Burrow Asst director............................... Leah Cocks Continuity.............................. Christine Lipari Clapper/loader.................................... ConradSlack Location designer.................................. RudyJoosten Music performed b y...............Greg Sneddon Continuity.............................................. Jenny Quigley Casting.......................................... Greg Apps Key grip............................... Paul Thompson Graphics designer...................................JudyLeech Mixer.......................................John Beanland Casting................................................Forcast Lighting cameraman............ Ian Warburton Make-up..........................Linda Washbourne, Asst grip...............................George Tsoutas Still photography....................Lindsay Hogan Lighting cameraman................... John Seale Art director..............................................CarolHarvey Focus puller..............................

Anna Howard Denise Gakov Trtle designer............................................ PhilCordingly Focus puller................................. Derry Reid Publicity................................................... ABC Wardrobe........................ Rhonda Shallcross G affer........................................................RegGarside Publicity................................. Maggie Sefton, Clapper/loader.................................... ConradSlack Studios......................................................ABC Boom operator..........................Andy Duncan Props buyers...................Norm Jones-Ellis, ABC Mixed a t................................................... ABC Key grip............................Grahame Litchfield Max Lawler Art director.......„ ................................. MichaelRalph Catering.......................................Bande Aide Length...........................................8 x 30 mins 2nd unit photography.............................SteveDobson Costume designer................... Helen Hooper Propsmen..............................Hugh Johnson, Studios......................................................ABC G affer..........................................Reg Garside Gauge....................................................16mm Ross Allsop, Make-up............................................ MargaretAlexander Length..........................................9 x 50 mins Shooting stock...................................... Kodak Electrician........................................... MichaelAdcock David Norman Gauge.......................................... 1 inch (OB), Cast: Carol Drinkwater (Rebecca), Bryan Boom operator........................Paul Gleeson Props buyer................................................ IanGracie 2 ins (studio) Special effects.......................................... RodClack Art director........................................... Louella Hatfield Marshall (Luke), Gerard Kennedy (Lovejoy), Standby props......................................... JohnOsmond Scenic artists........................................... OttoBoron, Shooting stock............................... Videotape Frank Wilson (Doc Slope), Paul Karo Costume designer............................. MirandaSkinner JohnTrebilco Set dresser.............................................. MarkClayton Cast: Terry Bader (Bryce), Richard Healy (Marcel), Tibbi Karmen (Jack), Michaela Make-up/hairdresser... Lesley Lamont-Rsher Videotape editor..............Marianne Pridmore Asst editor...........................Leanne Glasson (Ken), Debra Lawrance (Pat), Peter Hosking Abay (Lucy), Cindy Unkauf (Cleopatre).

Wardrobe standby.............................. AndreaBurns Sound editor....................... Ashley Grenville Vision m ixer................................

Joe Murray (Blair). .

Synopsis: An English family come to the Ward, assistant...........................Doris Kurteff Stunts co-ordinator................................

Grant Page Asst editors......................................... StevenRobinson, Synopsis: The events surrounding a pair of Australian goldfields in the 1850s to seek Props b uyer............................... Murray Pope Nick Lee Still photography................................ Andrew Jacob down-at-heel private eyes. their fortune. In the family, mother, step­ Set decorator.............................Mike Manuel Best boy................................................... SamBienstock Sound editor...................................... GeorgieMoore Carpenter................................... Simon Miller father and the young son and daughter, Runners................................... Andrew Paul, Dubbing mixer............................................ BillDoyle animosity exists between the step-father and Set construction..................................... Steve Marr THE FIGHTING GUNDITJMARA Kit Quarry Music effects.......................................GeorgeMaddison the son. The children then meet the family of Asst edito r..............................................KarenFoster Publicity................................................... LucyJacob Prod, company.................Gunditjmara Prods Editing assistants................................GeorgeMoore a travelling sideshow and it is against the Sound edito r............................................ZsoltKollanyi Catering................................... Kaos Katering Producer.....................................Robert Brow Title designer..........................................JudyLeech background of the family’s struggles that the Asst sound edito r...................................KarenFoster Studios............................................... Mortbay Director.......................................Robert Brow Publicity............... ABC Publicity Department children’s adventures are set.

M ixer.....................................................GethinCreagh Length........................................'........ 98 mins Scriptwriters................................ Jim Poulter, Catering........................ Bande Aide Caterers Stunts co-ordinator..................... Peter West Gauge....................................................35mm Robert Brow ON LOAN Length......................................... 3 x 5 0 mins Still photography........................ Jim Sheldon Based on the original ideas (The Winners series) Cast: Chris Hallam (Tom Roberts), Michele Cast: Joanne Samuel (Rosie Costello), Title designer................Optical and Graphic Amanda Muggleton (Gail O'Reagan), Chris b y.............................................Jim Poulter, Fawdon (Jane Sutherland), Huw Williams Runner.................................

Will Soederboek Prod, company.................. Great Scott Prods Robert Brow (Arthur Streeton), William Zappa (Billy Haywood (Max), Chris Hession (Len), Allan Publicity...................... Suzie Howie Publicity Dist. company........................................ACTFProds McQueen (Fegs), Kevin Leslie (Bronco), Photography............................................BarryMalseed Maloney), Phil Sumner (Fred McCubbin).

Catering......................................Chris Smith Producer.................................................. JaneScott Sound recordists................Laurie Robinson, Synopsis: A radical look at the first Austra­ Shirley Cameron (Mama Lil), Shane WithingStudios.........................................Samuelsons Director............................... Geoffrey Bennett ton (Fred (Speedy) Norton), Al "Herpie” John Rowley, lian art movement.

Mixed a t ............................................Colorfilm Scriptwriter..............................................AnneBrooksbank Graves (Brian Moll).

Wolf Becker Laboratory........................................ Colorfilm Photography.......................................Andrew Lesnie Synopsis: A drama comedy about two Editor.......................................... Robert Brow THE OTHER FACTS OF LIFE Lab. liaison...................... Richard Piorkowski Sound recordist........................................

Tim Lloyd female truckles who are doing a run from Videotape editor......................................MarkSanders (The Winners series) Length.......................................................... 48mins Editor....................................................... ZsoltKollanyi Sydney, Brisbane and return. They are being Prod, co-ordinator................................... NoiaBrown Gauge...................................................

16 mm Prod, company............................

ACTF Prods Prod, designer......................

Larry Eastwood chased by everyone from the repossessor to Prod, secretary............................ Nola Brown Shooting stock......................... Eastmancolorneg.

Producers..................................Sandra Levy, thugs, not to mention the police.

Composers............................ Graham Tardif, Lighting cameraman..—......... Barry Malseed Scheduled release...........................

Mid-1985 Julia Overton Steve Arnold Camera operator....................................BarryMalseed Cast: Emil Minty (Gary Doyle), Harold Director..................................... Esben Storm Exec, producer....................... Patricia Edgar 2nd unit photography................... Gary Smith ROOM TO MOVE Hopkins (Jack Doyle), Michele Fawdon (Mrs Scriptwriter............................................MorrisGleitzman Assoc, producer................................. RichardHarper Mixed a t.................................................. VideoHouse (The Winners series) Doyle), Garry McDonald (Freddie Brooks), Photography...........................................DavidGribble Prod, supervisor................................. DamienParer Laboratory................................................ VFL Joss McWilliam (Brother Kennedy), Rhys Prod, company...................

Astra Film Prods Sound recordist........................................

Ken Hammond Prod, manager.....................................JaneneKnight Budget................................................ $70,000 McConnochie (H eadm aster), Rebecca Editor............................................. Paul Healy Dist. company........................................ ACTF Unit manager......................................MichaelMcGennon Length................................................. 50 mins Smart (Jennie Nelson), Basil Clark (Brother Producers................................Julia Overton, Prod, designer......................Robert Flaherty Prod, secretary....................................... JaneGriffin Gauge...................................................16 mm Basil), Peter Whitford (Mr Donaldson), Alfred Richard Mason Composer....................... ......Michael Norton.

Prod, accountant...............................CandiceDubois Shooting stock...................................... Kodak Bell (Mr Carmichael).

Director.................................................... JohnDuigan Exec, producer...................................Patricia Edgar 1st asst director....................................... MarkEgerton Cast: Reg Saunders.

Prod, supervisor................................. DamienParer Scriptwriter............................................. JohnDuigan Synopsis: It is 1947. Gary Doyle, 10 years 2nd asst director..................................... Com Soeterboek Synopsis: The Fighting Gunditjmara is Prod, m anager..................... Cathy Flannery Photography.......................................MichaelEdols old, small, freckled and wearing glasses, is Continuity................................................ AnneMcLeod about a young Aboriginal boxer, Graeme Location unit manager......... ...Bevan Childs Sound recordist.............................. Tim Lloyd the third child of a large, poor, Catholic Casting................................................Forcast "P orky" Brooke, and his struggle to achieve Prod, accountant........................................ Jill Coverdale Editor................................ Frans Vandenburg family. Gary, who has a photographic Focus puller.............................................ColinDeane success as a boxer. It also parallels the 1st asst director................................

Phil Rich memory, is held up by the headmaster as a Prod, designer.....................

Louella Hatfield Clapper/loader....................................... PeterTerakes struggle of his tribe, the Gunditjmara, to 3rd asst directors.....................................Paul Manos, "shining example” at school. Every after­ Composer...................................................

Bill Motzing Key g rip .....................................

Bruce Barber survive.

Shephan Elliott Exec, producer...................................PatriciaEdgar noon, Gary is beaten up by the other boys on Asst g rip .................................................. GaryCarden Continuity ..„ ......................... Roz Berrystone his way home. However, Gary’s gifts are Prod, supervisor................................. DamienParer THE FLYING DOCTORS Special fx photography...........................JohnWare Prod, co-ordinator................Roz Berrystone soon to be recognized and change his life.

Extras’ casting.......................Judith Cruden Gaffer...................................................... PeterO’Brien Prod, company..................... Crawford Prods Lab. lia ison ...................................Bill Gooley, Richard Piorkowski Length......................................... 1 0 x6 0 mins Gauge....................................................16 mm Shooting stock.......................................Kodak Cast: Alan David Lee (Stan), Tracy Mann (Sally), Simon Chilvers (Hordern), Andrew Uoyde (MacDonald), Max Cullen (Hook), Norman Kaye (Dad), Carol Skinner (Dot), Junichis Ishida (Junji), Kenji Isomura (Shimoyama), Sokyo Fujita (Minami).

Synopsis: A 10-hour dramatization of the prisoner of war breakout in Cowra in 1944.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 67

The Coolangatta Gold Brian McFarlane Twenty years ago Kenneth Tynan, in reviewing The Sound of Music for The O bserver, made wittily some predic­ table points about the banality of the film’s central plot but confessed to being utterly bowled over by the wide­ screen beauties of Salzburg and its surroundings as captured by Ted McCord’s camera. Igor Auzins’ The Coolangatta Gold offers a similarly overwhelming physical experience that leads one to reflect on the screen’s potential for sheer visual seductive­ ness.

The eye is constantly excited by immense vistas of Queensland’s Gold Coast, of surf and sand, and lush coastal vegetation, but there is a purposive exhilaration about the camera work that removes the film from the scenic mindlessness of The Man from Snowy River (1982). On this occasion, cameraman Keith Wag­ staff makes superlative use of track­ ing shots and helicopter shots in ways that catch the exuberance of the activities portrayed a n d which create an exuberance of their own through control over speed, angle, color and editing. The scenery is often undoubtedly breathtaking but the excitement is in the way the camera presents it.

In the film’s second sequence, there is a wonderful tracking shot of a motor bike’s speeding along a coastal road which cuts to a close-up of the bike’s wheels, thence to a medium shot of surfers, before pulling back to a wide shot of the beach with huge waves, boats lifting and dropping. The juxta­ position of these shots establishes not merely a sense of place but also a sense of the kinetic activity which will pervade the film. The symmetry of the shots and the excellence of the cutting, allied to the beauty of the place, creates its own excitement, of a kind not to be despised or to be dismissed with the faint praise of “ good to look at” . At its best, the film contrives, through its visual panache, to give some vitality to its human relation­ ships and to the competition which gives the film its name.

I do not wish to make any claims for profundity in relation to The Coolan­ gatta Gold; it does, however, find a visual style suited to its diegetic life.

Almost all of the film is concerned with intensely physical activity: swimming, surfing and running; hacking away at a banana plantation; ballet and disco dancing; and karate.

And Auzins, with a much firmer sense of narrative rhythm than he evinced in the leaden-footed We of the Never Never (1983), makes this activity an exciting spectacle. The screen is filled with bodies straining in competition (and once, inevitably, it must be added, in copulation), and the cuts and wipes,

and tilts, zooms and tracks are at the service of rendering this kind of activity. The excitement this offers the spectator is reinforced by Bill Conti’s pounding score.

The theme of competitiveness is not new in Australian films: it underlies Gallipoli (1981) and is an important narrative element in films as diverse as The Last of the Knucklemen (1979) and Newsfront (1978). In The Coolan­ gatta Gold, it is the motif which binds together the personal and public dramas. The eponymous race, a gruelling triathlon of swimming, running and surfboard-riding, is used to bring the family drama of Joe Lucas (Nick Tate) and his sons Adam (Colin Friels) and Steve (Joss McWilliam) to a head.

In 1960, Joe Lucas lost the Gold Coast iron-man contest and is obsessed with retrieving the family honor by pushing Adam to victory in the Cool­ angatta Gold. In a sequence that recalls his Uncle Jack’s (Bill Kerr) training sessions with Archy Hamil­ ton (Mark Lee) at the start of Gallipoli, Joe urges Adam to go out there and beat Grant Kenny (played by himself) and has no patience with the idea of being a good loser. When Adam doesn’t win, Joe enjoins him to, “ Go through the race in your mind and find out where you lost it. Go to sleep knowing you are a winner.” He has to instil in Adam his own over­ developed sense of competitiveness; he also sees himself as still in competition with his sons. “ I can still run you fellows into the ground” , he boasts.

68 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

His obsession with winning, with having Adam achieve what he has missed out on, has led him to under­ value his younger son. The relation­ ship between the two sons, one of slightly wary camaraderie, is con­ stantly tested by their father’s competi­ tiveness. He is utterly unimpressed with Steve’s rock group (itself the site of urgings to excel) or his martial arts prowess (in which Steve competes with the “ grading” above his present standing). Joe’s view of Steve’s usefulness is limited to how far Steve can help Adam to train; his strongest abuse of Adam is that “ Steve can nearly match you now.”

Hovering at the edges of the father’s manic preoccupation with Adam’s w inning and S te v e ’s grow ing resentment is the mother’s (Robyn Nevin) concern with the consequent family tension. When Joe finally gets articulate enough (not easy for a man whose whole life is taken up with physical exertion and testing) to speak to Steve as his mother has wanted him to, it is to ask Steve not to move away from the family’s mountain-top plantation because this will endanger the marriage.

Where the film misses its opportun­ ities is in relation to this network of family relationships. It is never clear or detailed enough about motives or the fine shades of affections and resent­ ments. How, for instance, and why has Joe come to be so single-mindedly fixed on Adam and so dismissive of Steve? The film merely presents this as a don nee with no attempt to fill in the

contours. What is the nature of the feeling between husband and wife?

The wife’s role is so thinly written (Peter Schreck’s screenplay is the film’s weakest element) that the usually excellent Robyn Nevin can make little of it. .

As to the relationship between the two sons, potentially the most inter­ esting in the film, it comes to life sporadically through contrasts in the actors’ physical presences and in the superbly shot Roof Garden disco scene in which Adam makes off with Steve’s girl. The situation of two brothers, bound by genuine affection and subjected to damaging pressure by their father’s obsessive concern with one of them, promises more interest than it delivers. It is not the fault of the actors, especially not of Colin Friels who suggests perceptively a goodnatured character under daunting pressures, but of a screenplay that fails to give them enough revealing things to say.

Despite these (serious) shortcomings and despite banalities such as Steve’s saying to his father, “ Don’t you ever touch me again or I’ll kill you” , there is still something compelling in the training for the race and in the event itself. The latter, brilliantly photo­ graphed and edited, with long tracking shots of competitors running along the beaches and figures silhouetted on a cliff’s edge, invites comparison with the race sequences in Chariots of Fire (1982). In both, slow motion and soaring musical score romanticize and thus, to some extent, vitiate the

The Coolangatta Gold

grinding rigor of the performance.

Both films, nevertheless, provide moments of power and beauty; both generate the kind of excitement that physical contest at a high level of expertise should; and both manage to ally these public performances to the personal drama. The Coolangatta Gold, to its credit, resists the tem p tatio n to g ratify audience expectation at the end of the event, and in doing so makes its points about the limits of competitiveness.

As well as the triathlon itself, and the family conflict it gives rise to and, perhaps, resolves, the film presents glimpses of three other intensely competitive worlds: those of popular music, of ballet and of martial arts. As one with practically no ear for the first, I must admit to finding the musical sequences so well filmed as to overcome my innate resistance. The business of Steve’s group is wellintegrated into the film: he has succeeded in this field which means nothing to his father, but he is under pressure here too. It is not enough to be a Gold Coast hit; the group which is going to be “ huge” (and it se e m e d very good to me) is being pushed towards Sydney and bigger things.

And, even in Steve’s moment of triumph, the manager of the Roof Garden punctures his ego with “ Steve, you didn’t tell me you were Adam Lucas’ brother” , as if that were the most telling accolade.

In an early sequence, the film alter­ nates between Steve’s martial arts program and a ballet class in the same building. One appreciates the parallels drawn between them — the intensity of the discipline, the urge to realize one’s potential — and between them and the training for the Coolangatta Gold. As well, there is a parallel between Steve’s relationship with his instructor (Paul Sterling) and K erri’s (Josephine Smulders) with her dance teacher (Melissa Jaffer) that testifies to some structural thought at work in the film.

Nevertheless, the effect is less that of thematic integration than of tangential reinforcement, and the love affair between Steve and Kerri (complete with fashionable nude scene) remains a side issue. In fact, the ballet world with the fanatical dedication it requires might have been more thoroughly exploited in comparison with the triathlon: both require the kind of ambition that is inimical to the development of personal relationships.

The film has, in the end, more on its plate than it ever properly digests. For much of the time, though, one is carried away by its assault on the senses and the emotions so as not to notice the jejuneness at its core. This reviewer, sitting 10 rows in front of a large screen, has, the reader will notice, let himself be carried away and recommends that others try the experience. Perhaps, in view of the generally derisive comments the film has received in the press, he wants company out on his limb. The film is miles away from the carefully intelligent, faintly genteel school of Australian filmmaking, but its vigor and visual expansiveness are worth valuing.

The Coolangatta Gold: Directed by: Igor Auzins. Producer: John Weiley. Associate producer: Brian Burgess. Screenplay: Peter Schreck. Director o f photography: Keith W a g sta ff. E d itor: Tim W ellb u rn .

Production designer: Bob Hill. Music: Bill

The Cotton Club

Conti. Sound recordist: Phil Judd. Cast: Joss McWilliam (Steve Lucas), Nick Tate (Joe Lucas), Robyn Nevin (Robyn Lucas), Colin Friels (Adam Lucas), Josephine Smulders (Kerri Dean), Grant Kenny (as himself), Melanie Day (Gilda), Melissa Jaffer (ballet teacher), Brian Syron (the entrepreneur), Wilbur Wilde, Paul Clark, Martin Holt, Marlon Holden, Scott T h om p son (the band). P rod u ction company: Angoloro. Distributor: Hoyts.

35 mm. 113 mins. Australia. 1984.

The Cotton Club Philip Brophy and Rolando Caputo Film reviews are critiques in isolation, evaluations of fragments of the cinema. Consequently, many notions of cinematic excellence are to do with a film’s being an holistic example of cinematic values and an homogeneous integration of cinematic elements within the on e work. But the cinema is the interrelationships between every possible element, mode, fragment and tangent of films. Perhaps the ‘truest’ film is one which talks about the totality of the cinema: an ideal firmly opposed to the ‘singularism’ that aligns the focus of traditional critical perspectives.

Writing of Francis Coppola’s The Cotton Club as a ‘single’ film, one would posit it as a banal yet enter­ taining cinematic experience. Writing about it as a work within the auteur oeuvre of the Coppola persona-mythsubject would allow it to be a complex interlude in Coppola’s score for a

contem porary cinema through a Hollywood renaissance. But, writing about The Cotton Club as an exercise (and quite a dialectically subsumed one at that) in looking at the cinema, rather than an exercise in talking about The Cotton Club’s story, is an approach which can retrieve the film from the post-camp aesthetic of ‘filmic artificialism’ and restate it as a discourse on how to make a film ‘now’ while, at the same time, acknow­ ledging how films were made ‘before’.

Although this simplistic distinction between ‘now’ and ‘before’ may be inadequate theoretically, it is a prim ary distinction upon which concepts of Hollywood (and the American film industry in general) rest. The Cotton Club, in part theat­ rically, in part symbolically, works through this distinction in its handling of a textual duality: that of the musical n arrativ e and the non-m usical narrative in the film. Coppola constructs The Cotton Club as a series of oscillations centrally located by its being and not being a musical, and being and not being a gangster movie.

The film is set in the late 1920s and the action takes place in and around the famous Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. The characters in the film are drawn from historical figures (Dutch Schultz, Owney Madden, Charles “ Lucky” Luciano) who exist side by side with composite characters (Vincent Dwyer, alias Vincent “ Mad Dog” Coll) and wholly fictional ones, all of whom are at the service of the fiction and not of history. The film does not pretend to be an accurate historical portrait of the Cotton Club or the era. The diegetic world of The Cotton Club is as imaginary, artificial and ‘closed’ as that of the Las Vegas

created in One from the Heart (1982).

Although not as spatially dislocating as in One from the Heart, the narrative effect of The Cotton Club is not altogether dissimilar in setting in motion several story threads which constantly criss-cross and weave together. At the centre of one story tangent is Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere), a cornet player whose relationships with his brother, his lover and an assortment of gangsters find a parallel in another story tangent, that of Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines), a black dancer who must, in turn, relate to his brother, his lover and the negro underworld.

These two,'major story strands form a progressive alternation throughout the film so that scenes between one set of brothers (the Dwyers) are echoed in scenes with the other set of brothers (the Williams). A forced reunion of the Dwyer brothers is brought about as a consequence of Vincent Dwyer’s (N icolas C age) k id n ap p in g of “ Frenchie” (Fred Gwynne), the con­ fidant of the owner of the Cotton Club, Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins).

It is a tense, desperate scene which pre­ figures Vincent’s death. Dixie ends their conversation by whispering into his brother’s ear some words of caution; for Dixie and Vincent, it is an unpleasant event. This scene is followed by the Williams brothers’ reunion on the dance floor, after personal differences had separated them. This scene also closes with one of the brothers’ whispering in the other’s ear, but in this case they are words of apology and affection. Such mirroring scenes occur throughout the film and, finally, the two story strands are knotted together when Sandman saves Dixie’s life by kicking a gun out

Older and wiser, Dixie D wyer (Richard Gere) and Vera Cicero (Diane Lane) go separate ways once again. Francis C oppola’s The Cotton Club.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 69

The C o tto n C lub

of Dutch Schultz’s (James Remar) hand.

Such alternations and divisions find articulation on all kinds of textual levels: race (white and black), profes­ sion (gangsters and dancers), spatial relations (the stage and the non-stage) and so on. The Cotton Club itself is a space divided into territories along the lines of power, desire, expression and oppression, literally taking the gang­ sters’ idea of territories to be protected and giving it a metaphoric resonance.

The blacks are the performers but not the patrons of the club and, therefore, are accorded a precisely circumscribed space of movement — backstage and on stage. Within that space, differing degrees of oppression and expression find form. On stage, the black perfor­ mers give expression to their art, skill, grace and energy; backstage, they are harassed by a huge, white bodyguard.

Any attempt by the blacks to contra­ vene the designated spatial boundaries results in violence.

Spatial relations are all important in The Cotton Club, for they signify a character’s freedom or lack of freedom, power or lack of power and, finally, a character’s desire and ability to find a space (not only physical, but also moral) within this range of bounded territories. It is best summed up by a black gangster when he asks, “ I dance in the underworld. Where do you dance, Sandman?”

What is also rendered by these words is an idea of “ dance” as an extended series of metaphors, one of which is the association between dance and aggression evident in the dance routine which ends in the gun’s being kicked out of Dutch’s hand and, more important, in the sequence of Dutch’s death which brings together and clearly links the iconography of gang­ sterism and dance. The sequence more or less commences with Dutch’s exit from the Cotton Club and the return to his hangout while, concurrently, Sandman commences his solo tapdance routine. In the same moment, gangster boss “ Lucky” Luciano (Joe Dallesandro) orders his henchmen to kill Dutch. The various actions are alternated through the use of accel­ erated, parallel montage, which finds its editing rhythm in Sandman’s dance steps. As Lucky’s men close in on Dutch, Sandman’s dance steps become more frenzied and, at the moment that Dutch’s gang is being machine-gunned to death, Sandman has almost reached the height of speed and energy in his tapping, so much so that on the soundtrack, the sound of tapping and machine-gun fire are almost indisting­ uishable. As a wounded Dutch stumbles to a table, Sandman slows the rhythm of his dance so that the last, dying breath of Dutch and the last step in Sandman’s dance are perfectly and beautifully synchronized. It is a symbolic use of montage which clearly linked dancing feet and machine guns as icons of energy and aggression.

Coppola has made use of parallelsymbolic montage before, most notably in The Godfather (1972) during the sequence of the alternation of the baptism of a newly-born child

by Michael Corleone (A1 Pacino) and the slaughter of the mob bosses. But, in The Godfather, the two terms forming the pattern of alternation are fully contained within the codes of the gangster film. In The Cotton Club, Coppola is bringing together the iconography of two different narrative forms: the gangster film and the

Vera contemplates her recent acquisition o f a night club. The Cotton Club.

musical. Coppola has allowed for the elements of both genres to co-exist within the one film, finding points of contact, where possible, without integ­ rating one form within the other. For example, the classic dramatic form of the gangster film finds articulation through the ‘rise and fall’ of Vincent — that is, on a microcosmic level — thus allowing for other dramatic forms to also take effect in the film, not only the musical form. The themes of brotherhood and the loss of innocence — Vera Cicero (Diane Lane) and Dixie refer to themselves as “ the little girl and the choir boy” — in The Cotton Club are also to be found in other Coppola films such as The Outsiders (1982), Rumble Fish (1984) and The Godfather.

The Cotton Club plays with the gangster genre in all sorts of ways: the classic comedy routine between gang­ sters Frenchie and Owney Madden about a gold watch; having Dixie go to Hollywood to make a gangster film called “ Mob Boss” , which results in a number of gags about gangsters and good looks, brings out their narcis­ sistic natures, something which has always been present in gangster figures (real and fictional). The 1929 montage of the Wall Street crash and the gang­ land newspaper headlines, along with the rapid montage of gang-land violence, seems a loving homage to the Warners Brothers’ montage sequences in numerous 1930s’ gangster films.

Before going on to discuss The Cotton Club’s relation to the musical genre and the experimental use of the soundtrack, some comments should be made about the final scene of the film in relation to the points made earlier about its narrative tangents and spatial dynamics.

The final scene of the film inverts completely the spatial boundaries that have been existing through the story.

Unlike the other musical sequences,

70 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

the production number at the end is not contained within the “ theatrical” stage: the characters, dancers, sets and music spill into a supposedly other space, that of Grand Central Station.

This creates a blurring between stage and non-stage, not unlike the musical numbers produced by Busby Berkeley which begin from a theatrical premise but subvert that space through a kaleidoscope of cinematic effects.

Then, the subversion of the racial boundaries of the Cotton Club are pre­ figured by having Dixie “ on stage” perform ing w ith the all-black orchestra and allowing blacks “ off stage” as patrons of the club. None of the characters are restricted any longer by territorial boundaries, and the space of the Cotton Club finally has no meaning insofar as it cannot be dis­ tinguished from other spaces (Grand Central Station) which have merged with it. In its final, narrative disloca­ tions, The Cotton Club is no doubt declaring itself a work of fiction, a diegetic world in which the actors are seen to be exiting from screen space.

The scenes leading to this, with their theatricalized acceleration of plot tangents intercutting one another to the dizzy syncopation of Sandman’s tap solo, recapitulate the set of abrupt shifts from credits to dance number at the beginning. The credit sequence is quite remarkable in the way that the ‘external’ data of the film’s production breaks the tempo and fictional space of the opening dance routine, a metaphor, surely, for the film’s fairly self-conscious manipulations. The Cotton Club thus opens with a meta­ overture and closes with a diegetic finale. As a musical, it is in opposition to the mode of realism in Cabaret (1972) which disavows the musical of the past to create a contemporary reality wherein the musical numbers are, in effect, ‘overseen’ by a con­ trasted realism. The Cotton Club is

superficially guilty of this kind of modernism (after all, Berlin during the initial rise of Nazism and black dance clubs in Harlem in the late 1920s are both predictable subjects for a liberal­ progressive cinema) but such ten­ dencies are subordinated by the film’s being a musical structure with dramatic inserts rather than a drama with musical numbers.

The central star of The Cotton Club is the Cotton Club itself. It is the stage within a stage within a stage upon which and across which the multitude of dramatic and musical rhythms are played out. Never in the film does a musical number happen in isolation — there are always developments that intercut, seep into and move below the domain of the number (be they visual, aural or combined). This approach — as prefigured in the credit seqùence — is used not only in the Cotton Club musical scenes, but also in the bursts of frenzied footwork of the Williams brothers in the kitchen, on the street and in the pool-hall, and the endless series of interruptions which never allow one to hear a complete song by Lila Rose Oliver (Lonette McKee).

Even musical careers are interrupted: by egotism and unrequited love in the case of the Williams brothers, and by gangsters and Hollywood for Dixie. As much as the environment of the Cotton Club is one of murder, money and mayhem, the environment of the film’s fiction is music, song and dance.

The music in The Cotton Club is of interest in the various ways that the film outlines historical relationships.

The marvellous scene portraying Cab Calloway (Larry Marshall) doing his renowned “ Minnie the Moocher” is an intricate recreation of Cab Calloway in one of the early ‘soundies’ (the 1930s’ ancestors of today’s video-clips). The ‘hoofers’ scene features some of the cream of Harlem’s original hoofers.

But, apart from the methods of recrea­ tion and cameo featuring used in the film, the reconstitution of the music in the soundtrack deserves mention.

Modern technological re-recordings of music which previously had existed only on scratchy recordings, rich in historical value but lacking in aural clarity, often have an air of sterility in their re-presentation. For example, a wash of lush Max Steiner strings is full as a mono sound but becomes flabby and bloated when recreated with superior production as in John Williams’ scores for Star Wars (1977), Superman (1978) and Jaws (1975). The musical re-recordings (sic) in The Cotton Club never really rupture the film’s surface as they always sit com­ fortably (in the aural sense) within the fictional domain of the film’s physical spaces. Without a doubt, the sounds of The Cotton Club are just as ‘experi­ mental’ as the visuals of One from the Heart, but the experiment in The Cotton Club will pass by largely unnoticed because it succeeds. This is one of The Cotton Club’s strengths: Coppola’s acknowledgment of thé critical and technological juncture of cinematic experimentation, with par­ ticular reference to the soundtrack.

The Cotton Club doesn’t really appear to be a musical. But, along with films such as Cabaret, Pennies From Heaven (1981) and Flashdance (1983), it historically punctuates the contem­ porary development of the musical, if not as a genre, at least as a developing cinematic structure and form. Its essential experimentation (disguised by its not appearing ‘experimental’) lies in

The Cotton Club

the way that it simultaneously looks back at the musical and into the future where it might lead, for if the musical does have anywhere to ‘go’ The Cotton Club points in some interesting directions.

The Cotton Club. Directed by: Francis Coppola. Producer: Robert Evans. Screen­ play: William Kennedy, Francis Coppola.

Director of photography: Stephen Gold­ blatt. Editor: Barry Malkin. Production designer: Richard Sylbert. Music: John Barry. Musical recreations: Bob Wilder.

Sound mixer: Jack Jacobson. Cast: Richard Gere (“ Dixie” Dwyer), Gregory Hines (Sandman Williams), Diane Lane (Vera Cicero), Lonette McKee (Lila Rose Oliver), Bob Hoskins (Owney Madden), James Remar (“ Dutch” Schultz), Nicolas Cage (Vincent Dwyer), Allen Garfield (“ Abbadabba” Berman), Fred Gwynne (“ Frenchie” Demange), Morris Hines (Clay Williams), Joe Dallesandro (“ Lucky” Luciano). Production company: Orion Pictures-Zoetrope Studios. Distributor: Filmways. 35 mm. 120 mins. U.S. 1984.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas M ark Spratt

Without intending to belittle the content of the finished film, it might be said that Brian McKenzie’s major achievement in making I’ll Be Home For Christmas occurred before his camera began rolling, in gaining the trust, confidence and friendship of a large group of Melbourne’s derelict citizens — winos, tramps, deros, call them what you will. These drop-outs on the lowest social rung are known to most people only by brief and casual observation, in the act of turning away and often in their sorriest states. The achievement of the film lies in revealing the humanity and bonds existing amongst this group, which may shame many viewers who regard ‘deros’ with fear and disgust as being hopeless and violent. Their general lack of aggression towards society that shuns them, denies at least part of this stereotype.

The film, shot between July 1981 and September 1983, begins with black-and-white stills of two homeless men, Dave and Steve (who sub­ sequently does not appear), talking to McKenzie in voice-over about their consent to be filmed. It immediately establishes what will later be con­ firmed by the other men in the film: their curiosity about what other people think of them and a desire to tell their stories and needs. They have a mistrust of television, knowing instinctively that it edits for sensationalism, and McKenzie undertakes to assure them that his film will not be televised.

More still sequences punctuate the film but it changes to color for the first live-action sequence, a series of uncomposed shots in Royal Park beside the tram-line as a number of men assemble in the morning to chat and react to the camera’s presence, and philosophize about being out of the rat race and having freedom to enjoy life on its basic level. The Irish­ man, John, complains angrily about the Poms’ making out the Irish to be stupid. Someone cannily asks him why Dave Allen, the Irish comic, seems to

I ’ll Be Home For Christmas

concur with this opinion. Through their statements to the camera, the men define their perception of them­ selves as harmless, their being on the outside of society because of having “ gone wrong” somewhere. They resent being hated.

The film reveals its strategies as it unfolds, showing the men in the parks and- streets, sharing drinks and sleeping rough in the park equipment boxes. Their street philosophy is articulated with a little prodding, the nature of life and death being a repeated concerns: e.g., “ Life is a dream, death is real” ; “ Life is just another thing that happens” ; and “ In life you can be burned at the stake by a quick fire or a slow fire. This is the slow fire.”

Occasionally, the men will address the filmmaker or be asked a question, although the main outside intervention comes in filming Paul Makin doing interviews with several subjects for Melbourne radio station 3UZ. Makin questions John, Trevor and others about what Christmas means to them.

Unsurprisingly, they find his insistent questions on the value of religion irrelevant. The reason for filming these interviews is that the interviewees are later filmed on Christmas Day, listening to themselves on air while at a table in the park enjoying their 100 per cent liquid Christmas dinner.

In the group scenes, the loyalty and camaraderie (“ Friendship is life” ) is strongly confirmed. Apart from the abrasive John, these men have little criticism of each other and, as the film closes in to focus more on individuals, one finds a surprising amount of optimism. David, despite having been hospitalized for a serious heart condition and alcoholism, talks of his desire to work and change his life-style.

Trevor, in a more incapable moment, refers to himself as an “ ex-chef” while being hastily reassured that he still is a chef.

The film’s value in getting the men than one has observed of their counter­ to talk freely about their lives allows parts in other cities. The type of con­ the audience to stop thinking of them frontations that affects these men in as being radically different, especially their daily lives exists only in as many of them give details of their imaginary scenes, as periodically one jobs, families and children, in whom of them describes a visit to a hospital casualty ward, a run-in with hooligans they feel evident pride.

In a recent interview, Brian or arrest. There is an element of black McKenzie1 discusses his non-interven­ humor in some of these misfortunes, tionist, non-exploitative approach to perhaps appreciated by the victims the film. However, while nothing in themselves. Dave was watching his the film can be called exploitative, heartbeat registered on a hospital certain contradictions and confusions cardiograph which failed, leading him do arise. The two years’ shooting span to believe he had died and that apparently takes in several changes in reincarnation was exactly the same circumstances in some of the men’s life as before. Patrick tells of finding lives, which to some extent undermines himself locked in a park box to be understanding what their day-to-day inadvertently rescued a day later by a life is like. The opening sequences give startled jogger. He was also called the impression that most of those across the road, when drunk, by a filmed live rough in the park but a police patrol and knocked down by a change of scene to the Society of St motorbike half-way across, resulting Vincent de Paul’s Ozanam House, in four-and-a-half months in hospital where most of the men dwell during — another tale told without animosity the film, alters this perception; this which could be read (or misread?) as institution appears relatively modern an acceptance by some individuals of and habitable compared to one’s being society’s victims. notion of miserable, Dickensian night For a major documentary, I’ll Be shelters such as exist in other cities. Home For Christmas diverges some­ Later, one sees the bleaker Gordon what from the ‘standard’ established House to where John has shifted but, for cinem a Verit'e during the 1970s without knowing the reasons, con­ and ’80s in presenting unprejudiced ditions and bureaucracy involved in views of institutions and social groups being accepted by these houses, one is by filmmakers such as Frederick Wise­ kept distanced from an important man, Roger Graef, Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill. It is not neces­ facet of life for the homeless.

One also feels that McKenzie may sarily heretical to have made some have respected his subjects’ wishes too methodological divergences, given that much in not filming whenever they much empathy had to be established didn’t approve, which has resulted in a between filmmaker and subjects, and milder film than might have been it probably was essential that more expected, with the violence, helpless interaction took place than one would drunkenness and illness barely present. see in a Wiseman or Graef film.

The film’s emphasis on the rational, I’ll Be Home For Christmas is socially acceptable sides to and feelings closest, certainly in subject matter, to of the ‘deros’ amounts to a manipula­ Kim Longinotto’s and Claire Poliak’s tion, unless the Melbourne ‘deros’ Theatre Girls (1978), about a group of simply do have less unpleasant lives resilient, female hostel dwellers in London. In avoiding or just not finding the harsher edges of ‘dero’ life 1. Cinema Papers, No. 49, December 1984, pp.408-411, 470. (which may well have reconfirmed the

Christmas Day in the park. Brian M cKenzie’s I'll Be Home For Christmas.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 71

PU Be Home For Christmas

middle-class viewer’s repugnance), it achieves little of the emotional impact of Wiseman’s Welfare (1975), for in stan ce, or B ro o m field ’s and Churchill’s Tattooed Tears (1978) or Soldier Girls (1980), all of which m anage to record extremes of emotional and physical stress and violence without exploitation.

Further reasons for this are the decisions to step aside from a rigorous format and not establish clearly some of the locations and circumstances.

For example, after being introduced to 75-year-old Frank, a cut takes the audience to an interior location where he is being outfitted in ‘new’ used clothing; a scene simply dropped into a film like this looks staged. It is not until some time later that one under­ stands that this outfitting took place at Ozanam House where Frank lives and that the man helping him is the house administrator. The Christmas-day sequence is interrupted and returned to twice, the first rupture implying that some occurrence the audience has not seen has taken place to spoil the event.

The Ozanam House administrator is the only outsider one sees having any contact with the men, aside from Paul Makin and a couple of passers-by. The administrator is interviewed in the film, perhaps, to provide some balance to some of the men’s statements.

Several o f the men speak of reuniting with their families but the adminis­ trator says that it is almost always the case that they are not welcome back.

He also feels that rehabilitation to a life-style that smashed them is the last thing they need. This last point does rather confirm one’s reaction to the material: a certain amount of surprise and respect for the levels of the men’s relationships with one another, their adaptation and occasional insights into themselves and society^ but no real shock that “ something needs to be done” or that society is seriously mis­ treating them.

Trevor, Dave and the others, in learning to live with McKenzie’s camera around, also seem to wish to avoid anything unpleasant being shot, evident in the sequence involving several angry and disturbed Vietnam veterans at Ozanam House. One of these, Roger, seems quite distraught and unbalanced, and keeps pushing the camera away; he is repeatedly told by the others that this is impolite. Most of Roger’s admittedly incoherent outbursts of feeling about Vietnam and returning to Australia are dis­ sip ated by being subsequently presented as stills and voice-over.

No film on the subject of the homeless has actually charted the cross-over point from being an integ­ rated citizen to a homeless outcast.

The stories told in I’ll Be Home For Christmas also tend to leap this gap, with only Patrick’s speaking of a conscious decision to go and live at Ozanam House after becoming unem­ ployed in the port.

But there are chilling moments in the film when the camera is forgotten for a moment and despair gleams through.

In the park, John gives a melodious rendition of “ Danny Boy” and is con­ gratulated by Dave who says, “ I wish I had a piano.” John replies, “ I wish I had a sawn-off shotgun.”

The Moon in the Gutter

David Ryan, John Collins, Trevor Wilson (alias John Davis), Patrick Curran, Frank Pardy. Distributor: Ronin Films. 16 mm.

130 mins. Australia. 1985.

The Moon in the Gutter Andrew Preston La lune dans le caniveau (The Moon in the Gutter) has gained a notoriety usually reserved for the maligned works of major American directors.

Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York, Francis Coppola’s One from the Heart, Steven Spielberg’s 1941 and Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate all suffered the kind of critical savagery which has greeted the release of. Jean-Jacques Beineix’s second feature. Unlike his debut, Diva, which elicited rapturous responses — except amongst French critics — The Moon in the Gutter has been almost uni­ versally denounced.

The Moon in the Gutter is a modern-day f ilm n oir, an adaptation of a novel by David Goodis, the darling of the French New Wave directors. Francois Truffaut’s Tirez sur le pianiste (Shoot The Pianist) derives from a Goodis story, and JeanLuc Godard’s Made In U.S.A. includes a character named David Goodis. A descendant of the hardboiled school of crime writers such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chand­ ler and James M. Cain, Goodis wrote novels brutal in their evocation of characters trapped in dead-end worlds, whose doomed, passionate existences have a paradoxically surreal quality, making full use of allusion and metaphor as narrative devices.

The Moon in the Gutter is the story of an impossible love affair, between Gérard Delmas (Gerard Depardieu), a

dock-worker who lives in poverty, and Loretta Channing (Nastassja Kinski), the beautiful rich girl from uptown.

Delmas, who cannot escape the memory of the tragic rape and subsequent suicide of his sister Catherine (Suzanne Delbarre), is still searching for her assailant seven months later. Her blood still lies in the gutter where she died, in the dead-end street overlooking the port. The family lives in “ the crummiest house around” : the father (Gabriel Monnet) is a no-hoper, an ambulance driver whose vehicle sits broken-down in the front yard; Frank (Dominique Pinon), the brother, is a simple-minded drunk who fears that Gérard suspects he is the rapist. The other members of the household are the landlady Lola (Beatrice Reading), an overweight dark woman with a violent temper, and her daughter Bella (Victoria Abril), Gérard’s lover, who is so passionately in love with him (“ I got this guy in my blood” ) that she suffers fits of insane jealousy.

The initial meeting between Gérard and Loretta occurs at the waterfront dive where much of the action of the film is to take place. Gérard walks in on a man attempting to bite through a block of ice, watched anxiously by a crowd of low-lifers who have gambled on his chances. After this man fails, Gérard takes up the challenge and succeeds. Later, curious about the man who instigated the contest and who sits alone at his table drinking late into the night (he suspects everyone), Gérard intrudes on his privacy and learns that he is Newton Channing (Vittorio Mezzagiorno) and that he is from up­ town. When Newton’s sister Loretta arrives to take him home, she and Gérard feel an immediate attraction to one another. He tells her where he lives and the possibility of a subsequent meeting is established.

In comparison with the novel, the film seems overstated and wimpy, even weak-minded. It takes the dream-like

quality of Goodis’ prose and blows it up into a bombastically moody, operatic version of tawdry splendor, a metaphor about life which begins with the image of the moon in a bloodred sky. Any attempt at realism is forsaken in favor of artificiality and theatricality. Passion is buried beneath excessive stylization and painterly images: effect replaces narrative economy as first priority.

A good example is Loretta’s en­ trance: Newton drops his glass on the floor and it smashes. This is followed by the roar of an automobile engine and the flashing of lights. The camera slowly draws back from Newton’s feet and glides across the room, finally focusing on Loretta’s heavenly face framed in the doorway. This exag­ gerated movement, which dominates the film, derives from the classical ethos of f ilm n oir (unusual and stylized lighting, camera movement and framing), but is magnified to the point where its significance begins to disin­ tegrate into absurdity. Beineix has said of The Moon in the Gutter: “ I did indeed make a f ilm n oir, but a derisive one, which confronts the myth of the genre with the rapidity of our time.” 1 The symbolism of the film is obvious, almost completely replacing narrative exigencies as the driving force; indeed, the plot is almost an afterthought. The symbols, composed of verbal, visual and aural imagery, make up a self-enclosed world with no contact with an existing ‘reality’ outside the film. The catalogue includes: shoes, blood, women’s bare breasts, shaving, switchblade knives, heat and cold, cleanliness and dirt, cities, styles of music, thunder, smashing glass, animals of all kinds, violence, food, a suit, a camera, a statuette of the Virgin Mary, a violin, rings, bottles, showroom dummies, 1. Dan Yakir, “ The Diva Man’s Latest S hot” , San Francisco ExaminerChronicle, 4 September 1983.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas: Directed by:

Brian McKenzie. Producer, Director of photography, Editor: Brian McKenzie.

Sound recordist: John Cruthers. Cast:

Gérard (Gérard Depardieu) gazes down the street to the spot where his sister was murdered. Jean-Jacques Beineix’s La lune dans le caniveau (The Moon in the Gutter).

72 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

The M oon in the Gutter

Melvin, Son o f Alvin

Gerard accepts the challenge o f Newton Channing (littorio Mezzogiorno) in the sleazy cafe near the docks. The Moon in the Gutter.

cars, ships, alcohol, the sea, the sky, the moon, the gutter and a heart.

The billboard which stands outside the Delmas residence, and which takes up the last shot of the film, is the ‘universal’ symbol. It is an ocean setting divided in two: the sky above, the sea below. Floating in this blue background is a red bottle of Strom­ boli (perhaps a reference to the Roberto Rossellini film). The bottle itself appears in the top half of the picture against the sky, while its reflection takes up the same space in the sea. Above it appear the words “ Try Another World’’.

This image has numerous reference points in the film but more than this seems to be its perfect summation. The symbolism is complex yet there is no depth to it. Objects, colors, words, sounds and images in the film float in a kind of weightlessness, bumping into each other, and connecting in bizarre ways. The narrative is still there — it is still “ a love story” — yet, in a way, it seems to have disappeared.

This paradoxical quality pervades the film. It is a film in which oppositions don’t hold but, instead, multiply, defying attempts to analyze, to follow, to pin down, to unify. The moon in the gutter, dreams in reality, life in death, wealth in poverty, order in disorder: the billboard says all this.

The bland oppositions of sky and sea, and object and reflection are upset by the slogan “ Try Another World” — a world away from conventional ways of seeing, feeling and thinking. The film is all about being where one is not.

And there are many distancing devices: each image is upset and pushed out of the centre of attention by another. In the bar, flags of the world are strung around the room; Newton tells how he went to Alaska and made love to a 60-year-old woman. Reference to other worlds detracts from the reality of the world of the film; there is always ‘somewhere else’.

The Moon in the Gutter, therefore, fails to become a complete, logical well-made film. The love-story and

other events stretch one’s credulity and tolerance. Events occur and recur with slight twists; clues appear and disappear: the shoes worn by Catherine on the night of her death later appear mysteriously on Loretta’s feet, and at one stage Loretta appears on an operating table with her throat cut.

Beineix has taken many features of Goodis’ fiction and aestheticized them to the point where they have lost their expressive capacity. This is perhaps most exemplified in the evocation of the ‘working-classness’ of the dock area. Fascist art was once defined as the aestheticization of politics, and one certainly has to try hard not to be offended by Beineix’s ‘decadent’ conversion of poverty into style: the blue and red neon lights (reminiscent of One from the Heart), the futurist fetishization of industry, the city as a pure abstraction. Yet all of this is equalled by the absurdity of Loretta’s neo-classical abode and the fairy-tale cathedral where they are married.

This idea of content becoming form or depth becoming surface, in the conversion of the existential despair of Goodis’ vision into the all-embracing mood or ambience of the film, has been identified by Fredric Jameson as a fundamental feature of post­ modernism. According to Jameson, in post-modernism: . . . the silence of effect is doubled with a new gratification in surfaces and accompanied by a whole new ground tone in which the pathos of high modernism has been inverted into a strange new exhilaration.2

identifies as quintessential^ post­ modern are Diva and Brian De Palma’s Blow Out. One could also include The Moon in the Gutter, One from the Heart (an obvious influence on the former) and Coppola’s Rumblefish, and, as an inferior example, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Querelle, films which have all appeared since ■Jameson wrote his article.

Finally, as in Diva, the space of The Moon in the Gutter is constructed • around the difference between flat, still photographic images and moving images which contain depth. As with most other oppositions in the films, however, the distinctions don’t hold.

Still images want to move; action wants to stand still. The symbolic billboard, for example, is a surface which contains images that are three­ dimensional elsewhere in the film, yet this difference is itself in turn destroyed when the camera actually enters the still image, converting it into a ‘real’ space.

The Moon in the Gutter seeks to recreate a world which has disappeared from contemporary experience. Its images are overblown as if to accen­ tuate that its subject-matter can no longer be represented except as ‘pure’ image. This nostalgia for lost forms is mixed with an almost surrealistic investigation of the world beyond cognition, involving a radical disrespect for the conventions of illusionism. Everything is equally real and illusory for this film, though love is the ultimate reality and the ultimate illusion. When Loretta says, in a half­ dream state, to Gerard, “ I love you for life and into death” , she may indeed be speaking of the cinema.

Many will say that this film does nothing to keep the cinema alive, having more in common with the video of commercials and rock clips.

However, the mere fact that it contains these kinds of conflicts and exists in this strange, contradictory position makes The Moon in the Gutter

deserving of more critical engagement than it has received.

The Moon in the Gutter. Directed by: Jean­ Jacques Beineix. Producer: Lise Fayolle.

Screenplay: Jean-Jacques Beineix, Olivier Mergault. Director of photography: Philippe Rousselot. Editors: Monique Prim , Yves Deschamps. Production designers: Sandro Dell’Orco, Angelo Santucci, Bernard Vézat. Music: Gabriel Yared. Sound recordists: Pierre Garnet, Bernard Chaumeil. Cast: Gérard Depardieu (Gérard Delmas), Nastassja Kinski (Loretta Channing), Victoria Abril (Bella), Vit­ torio Mezzogiorno (Newton Channing), Dominique Pinon (Frank), Bernice Reading (Lola), Gabriel Monnet (Tom), Milena Vukotic (Frieda), Bernard Farcy (Jésus), Anne-Marie Coffinet (Dora). Production company: Gaumont-TFL Prods-SFPC (Paris)-Opera Film Produzione (Rome).

Distributor: AZ Assoc. Films. 35 mm. 126 mins. France. 1983.

Melvin, Son of Alvin Dave Sargent Melvin, Son of Alvin is the type of film that makes this reviewer want to dismiss it quickly in one word and expend no further time and energy thinking or writing about it. However, part of the reason for reviewing films is trying to make sense of what is being produced in a culture at a certain time; to look at the many meanings which are generated by films and surround them; and to make an attempt to think and write about them in ways which open up, rather than close down, one’s understanding of them.

After all it was a natural pro­ gression. The story could be written with much more humor than the original series. The sex angle would

For Jameson, the fundamental feature of post-modernism is the effacement of the boundary between high culture and mass culture.3 The films he 2. Fredric Jameson, “ On Diva” , Social Text, No. 6, Fall 1982, p. 118.

3. Fredric Jameson, “ Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” New Left Review, No. 146, July-August 1984, pp. 54-60. "

Dee (Tina Bursill) and her cameraman (David Argue) begin the crusade o f getting Alvin Purple (Graeme Blundell) and his son Melvin (Gerry Sont) together on film. John Eastway’s Melvin, Son o f Alvin.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 73

Strangers Kiss

Melvin, Son o f Alvin

be used as an integral part of the sight tricks and infantile sex play. story and not for shock value, as What results in this film, which was in the case of the original. It was appears to draw from all the worst critical that the film be funny, a little aspects of the British double-entendre sexy but above all it had to be a Carry On-style of humor and the ‘class act’.1 A m ericap sm ack-em -in-the-face “ Class act” is the vernacular of show­ Animal House-style, are some of the business promoters and falls extremely cheapest jokes imaginable. This film short in describing this “ contemporary lacks any subtlety or focused styliza­ sex comedy” which, curiously, seems tion. There is no sense of irony, to have as much to do with 1984 as it parody or satire because there is has to do with 1954. The film attempts obviously no intent behind the humor to derive its “ humor” by appealing to other than the sheer effrontery of the “ sex is smutty” school of thought, shock value.

It is interesting to note that in the and it has clearly been made for the gaze of the ideal male spectator who, production notes accompanying the in this case, appears to be 15-year-old film it states “ the story or the script boys who know as much about sex as didn’t make fun of anyone, but let they know how to spell it. It has been everyone laugh with everyone.” Well, quite some time since this reviewer has something went grossly wrong from seen a film so narrowly focused by script stages to final fruition because this film manages to be quite offensive restrictive, male point-of-view shots.

The simple and tightly conservative to many people. Women bear the narrative of Melvin, Son Of Alvin is brunt of some very bad taste (by many built on the common and misguided people’s standards) humor, and there male social belief that “ every woman is a particularly disgusting gay “ sendwants it” . In the case of this film, up” , complete with AIDS joke, for “ it” , of course, is Melvin (Gerry which there is no excuse.

-Tn trying to make sense of why a Sont), son of Alvin (Graeme Blundell).

From the time of his birth, Melvin film such as this is made at this time, has women throwing themselves — one can certainly suggest possible box­ especially their breasts — at him, office returns. After all, films about causing him to grow up deathly afraid adolescents and their sex problems, of women. Just when life becomes too especially when trying to be funny, miserable (“ Women find me irresist­ appear to be very popular. However, I ible; can’t keep their hands off me” ) believe that as well as for commercial along to his rescue comes Gloria reasons, the makers of this film (Lenita Psillakis). She is “ different wanted to make a genuine attempt to from all the rest” because of Greek produce a sex comedy that people cultural beliefs, though she is just as would find funny and worthwhile.

Sex can certainly be the basis for keen to get Melvin, and is prepared to help him overcome his problem by humor: after all, people take it far too being more understanding, more seriously. It should be a source of consoling and more seductive. It is not pleasure and delight, in practice or on the screen. Unfor­ just into any bed that she wants to get imagined tunately, the makers of Melvin, Son of him but the matrimonial bed. sense of pleasure and delight Added to all this is an investigative Alvin’s appears to be cheap shots and a television journalist, Dee Tanner (Tina snickering approach to sex. This sort Bursill), and her bumblebrain camera­ of ‘comedy’ one can do without. man (David Argue) who set out to reveal that Alvin, now 40 years old, frumpy and into purple jump suits, is being exploited by his seedy manager Son of Alvin. Directed by: John Burnbaum (Jon Finlayson), and that Melvin, Eastw ay. P roducer: Jim McEIroy.

Alvin is the long-lost father of Melvin, Associate producers: Tim Sanders, Wilma the progenitor of his sexual prowess.

Schinella. Screenplay: Morris Gleitzman.

As one might expect, this storyline Director of photography: Ross Berryman. does not make for compelling viewing, Editor: Gregory Ropert. Production nor do the exasperating series of one- designer: John Dowding. Music: Colin liners, gags and sight tricks which Stead. Sound recordists: Kevin Kearney, hurtle along fast and furiously. The John Rowley. Cast: Graeme Blundell film is fraught with crude, scatalogical (Alvin Purple), Gerry Sont (Melvin), Jon humor, technically unaccomplished Finlayson (Burnbaum), Lenita Psillakis 1. Melvin, Son of Alvin, production notes, p. 2.

(Gloria), Tina Bursill (Dee Tanner), Greg Stroud (Ferret), David Beresh (Streaky), Abigail (Mrs Simpson), Colin McEwan

Melvin in the hands o f the Purple People and Burnbaum (Jon Finlayson). Melvin, Son o f Alvin.

74 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

(Col Simpson), Arianthe Galani (Mrs Giannis), David Argue (cameraman), Steve Bastoni (Bullo), Paul Galliard (Dougie), Katy Manning (Dulcie). Production company: McEIroy & McEIroy. Dis­ tributor: Roadshow. 35 mm. 86 mins.

Australia. 1984.

Kiss (1955). It features a boxer, Billy

(Blaine Novak), who attempts to release night-club dancer Betty (V ic to ria T e n n a n t) fro m th e oppressive grip of her villainous employer Scandelli (Vincent Palmieri). “ Strange and Dangerous” is being financed by a shady realtor Frank Silva (played superbly by Richard Romanus, who was Michael, the vindictive, macho loan shark in Mean Streets) and is being made in the same Strangers Kiss year that Killer’s Kiss was released by United Artists. Stanley and producer John Conomos Farris obtain Silva’s money on a weekly basis; his motive for funding During the past decade or so, there the film is to ensure that his mistress have been various attempts to rework Carol (Victoria Tennant) has the the archetypal concerns of film noir starring female role to alleviate her along the difficult lines of comic enter­ current state of depression.

The p ro d u ctio n o f S tan ley ’s tainment. Regrettably, these films become banal and reductive catalogues poverty-row, B-grade movie com­ of m annered allusions to the mences after a hilarious audition of movement’s central thematic and bare-chested actors for the role of the visual characteristics, as defined in its boxer. The successful performer is classical period (that is to say, from Steve Blake (Blaine Novak), a denim1940 with Stranger on the Third Floor clad romantic, whose turned-up collars to the latter half of the following and rolled-up jean cuffs signify a wish decade, with tour de force examples to join the exclusive hip set of James such as Kiss Me Deadly, 1955, and Dean, Sal Mineo and Nick Adams. As the film progresses, Stanley, a fatuous Touch of Evil, 1958).

Matthew Chapman’s Strangers Kiss caricature of an auteur located in is a very entertaining _ and pleasant Cahiers du cinema's hall of fame, exception, c h a ra c te riz e d ' by ~an_ encourages Steve to become roman­ inventive wit and a multi-layered tically attached to Carol so there can textuality which, thankfully, do not be the right “ chemistry” between the suggest a lifeless pastiche imbued with two characters of Billy and Betty! a romantic nostalgia for film noir. Gradually, the fictional lovers become Instead, this skilfully crafted film is a real lovers, much to Silva’s distress, refreshing comedy about the melo­ and it is this narrative device which dramatic conventions of the film noir fuels the absurd and tense humor of se n sib ility (w hich focuses on Strangers Kiss, underscoring the alienation, obsession and violence in violent and vulnerable terrain which its B-grade form) and, at the same the “ real” characters occupy.

Despite Steve’s feigned, cool time, is a clever and stylish look at the intricacies of the absurd relationship demeanor, his increasing fascination between Life and Art: in this case, Life for Carol leads him to dream a imitating Art, which can be read as a nightmare (represented by negative valuable commentary on one of film black and white images, a direct noir’s thematic hallmarks: appear­ allusion to similar scenes in Killer’s Kiss) and experience loss, which are ances deceive.

Strangers Kiss is a parodic ex­ typical features of film noir films: ploration of visual ingenuity about woman as enigma and a phallocentric the myths and thrills of low-budget, construct of male desire. Silva decides Hollywood narrative filmmaking and to stall the production of “ Strange the manic obsessions of its directors and Dangerous” by withholding his who made their films in the shadow of money; his jealousy becomes unbear­ the more prestigious “ star” film­ able and he unsuccessfully searches one makers and amongst the debris of the of Carol’s bags in the hope of finding studio system of the 1950s. The film’s incriminating evidence to support his opening image of Farris (Dan Shor), image of her as an unfaithful lover. the producer, addressing his crew and This scene of pathos attests to the cast on the need for deferred payment tormented world in which he is is a telling reference to the production enmeshed. The distorted soundtrack, which features in the sequence showing history of Strangers Kiss.

Not only is Strangers Kiss a film noir his drinking in a state of rage, homage but it relates, with its-film- corresponds brilliantly to the chiaro­ within-a-film format, the crucial, scuro style of film noir. The dramatic monomaniacal passion required by a shift from Silva’s initial arrogance to filmmaker. However, Strangers Kiss is vulnerable neuroses — he proposes to not a sermon on the hidden costs — Carol as his “ solution” to their fiscal and emotional — involved in the deteriorating relationship — is one of making of film noir melodramas at the film’s remarkable qualities. As that stage in Hollywood mainstream Steve Jenkins has pointed out, the cinema. It is a witty and incon­ “ real demons being exorcised” in sequential meta-film, with the occa­ Strangers Kiss belong to Silva and not sional longueur. In marked contrast to Steve, whose fantasy world is similar films, it does not share then- predicated on the repression of Silva’s stylistic obsession with dialogue happiness with Carol.1 featuring tiresome one-liners, meant to When Silva is called to the studio by represent the laconic, hard-boiled his “ cousin” Jimmy (Jay Rasumny) to argot to be found in the influential watch Carol and Steve make love, he crime novels of Dashiell Hammett, loses his nerve to shoot them and his Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain voyeuristic impotence is economically and paradoxically registered by the use and others.

The film is about an obsessive, self­ of a characteristic film noir technique, centred director named Stanley (Peter which usually signifies power: the Coyote), who is making a cheap film noir romance called “ Strange and 1. Steve Jenkins, “Strangers Kiss” , Dangerous” , which is quite similar to Monthly Film Bulletin, Vol. 51, No. 605, June 1984, p. 168.

Kubrick’s second feature film, Killer’s

Strangers Kiss

long, overhead shot. (The film’s visual style is notable also for its discerning use of other representative stylistics, such as fore-grounded objects, acute angles, tight close-ups, low-key light­ ing and framing devices such as the rehearsal scene in which the two “ fictional” lovers kiss behind window bars.) However, it is Silva who is a winner and not Steve because Silva “ writes” his part: he takes Carol to New York, leaving Steve to ask Stanley and Farris about her sudden absence.

Stanley replies, referring to the film cans that Farris is holding, “ She’s in the can.”

From Carol’s first appearance — she emerges from a shadow-filled sound-stage to be introduced to Steve

by Stanley and his timid, bespectacled factotum, Farris — her iconic image as a femme fatale is immediately estab­ lished. Steve, true to the narrative mechanics of film noir, is bewitched by her seductive looks and imagines she has a mysterious past — which is reinforced by the representative motif of her red MG sports car.

The several domestic scenes showing Silva’s and Carol’s eating pink ice­ cream , lounging next to their pool, wear­ ing sun-glasses and looking at each other suspiciously are counterpointed by the threat of violence of which Silva is capable (as indicated later, when he brutally evicts and assaults an un­ identified victim). The undercurrent of violent instability which marks the film is best illustrated in the scene in which Carol is swimming in the pool — threatening shadows, dancing on the water and on her face, evoke the ominous stylistics of the pool sequence in the original Cat People (1942) — and Silva bends down to kiss her but, instead, warns her about Steve by sadistically pulling her ear.

Silva’s role in the film is pivotal: as the financier of the film, he expresses a fundamental equation of power, desire and m oney. S ilv a’s p aran o iac jealousy, emphasized by his unsus­ pecting intrusion into the screening room where Stanley, Farris and a prospective studio producer are

The Slim D usty Movie

watching the humorous love scene with Carol and Steve, indicates the disturbed fragility of his emotional world. Silva’s importance as banker to “ Strange and Dangerous” can be interpreted as a critical reading of Hollywood’s classic narrative cinema in terms of the connection between capitalism and crime, which has shaped the essential development of mass culture-show business since the beginning of the 20th Century.

Soviet émigré director of photo­ graphy Mikhail Suslov has created a visual style which evocatively suggests the definitive formal attributes of the 1950s film noir. The fluid visual style of Strangers Kiss is constructed with a critical intelligence about the form’s basic visual configurations and is used for comic effect, as in the hand-held camera-work of the boxing scenes, which parodies the expressive hand­ held photography of the fight sequences of classic examples such as Body and Soul (1947) and The Set-Up (1949), and for remarkable dramatic impact, as in the outstanding sequence depicting Silva’s point-of-view shots of Carol, whose fractured mirror images articulate Silva’s acute sense of betrayal.

Strangers Kiss is an achievement considering that as entertainment its enjoyment is not dependent on a cinephile’s knowledge of the film’s frequent references to film noir and its filmic and literary antecedents.

Perhaps, more significant, it was made by a British filmmaker in today’s Hollywood where the mega-cinema of F rancis F ord C oppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas is a stark contrast to the film’s production details: it was made for only $150,000 and in less than three weeks. In this context, Chapman has provided a new, contemporary definition of independ­ ent narrative filmmaking. And, it should be noted, Strangers Kiss is not a typical, pretentious effort to resurrect film noir’s major theoretical and visual interests (including its distinctive stimmung) as an academic exercise; rather, it displays an

im pressive aw areness o f these preoccupations combined with the aim of giving the viewer a satisfactory and e n te rta in in g film . E sse n tia lly , Chapman’s film provides a reasonable appreciation of the significant elements that were at play in the production of the 1950s’ B-grade crime melodrama, and which formed a part of Hollywood’s extensive generic spectrum of narrative cinema.

Strangers Kiss. Directed by: Matthew Chapman. Producer: Douglas Dilge.

A sso ciate . p ro d u c e r: Sean F e rre r.

Screenplay: Blaine Novak, Matthew Chapman. Director of photography: Mikhail Suslov. Editor: William Carruth.

Production designer: J. Michael Riva.

Music: Gato Barbieri. Sound recordist: David Kirschner. Cast: Peter Coyote (Stanley), V ictoria T ennant (Carol Redding, Betty), Blaine Novak (Steve Blake, Billy), Dan Shor (Farris), Richard Romanus (Frank Silva), Linda Kerridge (Shirley), Carlos Palomino (Estoban), Vincent Palmieri (Scandelli), Jay Rasumny (Jimmy), Jon Sloan (Mickey), Arthur Adams (Hanratty). Production company: Beauregard Enterprises. Distributor: Seven Keys. 35 mm. 92 mins. U.S. 1984.

The Slim Dusty Movie Jim Schembri One could easily run up a list — a long list — of what is wrong with Rob Stewart’s The Slim Dusty Movie. But the one fault, above and beyond anything else, that accounts for the film’s extremely rapid transition from the commercial film circuit to oblivion is that The Slim Dusty Movie is not, in any meaningful, entertaining or informative sense, about Slim Dusty.

Making a feature film about an Aus­ tralian country music legend is a valid and workable concept, but what this

incomprehensibly aimless and over­ produced $2.3 million misfire offers is not an insight into the music, life or times of Slim Dusty, but a patchy series of filmed segments of the Slim Dusty Show on tour throughout Aus­ tralia, with a few flashbacks of Slim as a youth thrown in.

This ‘approach’ vitiates the money spent on the film, the high standard of technical production and the attempt to release it to the general public as entertainment. It also demonstrates the startling and disheartening extent to which a film can be produced with­ out any apparent cinematic intention or market in mind.

The “ tour” sequences are not in­ formative enough for the film to be a documentary; the music segments are too loose and bland to make it an entertaining musical profile; the flash­ backs are too brief and do not have the dramatic interest for the film to be a biography. The modern day segments have the uncomfortable feel of an anamorphic home movie, and the blatant phoniness of some of the scenes does not help. There are numerous scenes, for example, in which Slim pulls out his guitar for a little “ spur of the moment” strum­ ming. Slim, who, to his credit, never once looks into the camera, often looks as if he wished he were some­ where else.

One of the film’s greatest liabilities is the way most of the songs are treated. They are mainly churned out in the concert sequences, and are not injected with much texture as to their content or how they were conceived.

There are, however, some notable exceptions to this. The opening sequences, for example, in which a soulful song about change is matched by some evocative shots of a man in a lonely pub, promise some interesting visual interpretations of Slim’s music but never deliver.

Another sequence that shows how the death of Slim’s father inspired a song (which is first sung by a young Slim, played by Jon Blake, before cutting to the real Slim continuing it in concert) promises a look at how some of these songs were conceived but also fails to follow it through. This is, how­ ever, the limit to which the film is pre­ pared to be inspired by the music.

The flashback segments say practic­ ally nothing about Slim’s life, how he started in country music, or how he became so popular. One sees him strumming a guitar as a boy in a rural radio station, getting married, riding a roller coaster and touring, but these segments are disconnected, follow no particular narrative pattern and con­ tain almost no dramatic interest. Jon Blake also has trouble miming songs and has practically no dialogue.

The film has a few technically inter­ esting pieces1, including some excellent production tracking shots through the rock ’n ’ roll café and the side-show carnival, and sharp, crisp horizon shots complete with sunsets and clouds. Particular mention should also be made of the remarkably steady heli­ copter shots, the train sequence and the superb aerial work in the opening part of the film around the Sydney Harbor Bridge. David Eggby and Dan Burstall, the photographers, have done a commendable job, but for what?

An oft-used cliché by reviewers 1. Unfortunately, the film was viewed in a cinema not equipped for stereo, so I am unable to comment on the sound.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 75

The Slim Dusty Movie

Le bal

Slim Dusty and the legendary stockwoman o f the west, Edna Jessup. Rob Stewart’s The Slim Dusty Movie.

when writing about bad films is, “ There is a good film in here some­ where.” That is certainly the case with The Slim Dusty Movie: some extensive re-editing could salvage a moderately interesting 20-minute short suitable for screening before We of the Never Never or The Man From Snowy River.

But Slim deserves a lot better than this.

The Slim Dusty Movie: Directed by: Robert Stewart. Producer: Kent Chadwick.

Associate producer: Brian Douglas. Screen­ play: Kent Chadwick. Director of photo­ graphy: David Eggby (additional photo­ graphy by Dan Burstall). Editor: Ken Sallows. Art director: Les Binns. Music: Rod Coe. Sound recordist: Paul Clarke.

Cast: Slim Dusty, Joy McKean, Anne Kirk­ patrick, Stan Coster, Buddy Weston, Gordon Parsons, Buck Taylor, David Kirkpatrick, Jon Blake (Slim Dusty as a young man), Dean Stitworthy (Slim Dusty as a boy), Sandy Paul (Joy McKean as a young woman). Production company: The Slim Dusty Movie. Distributor: GUO. 35 mm. 108 mins. Australia. 1984.

Le bal Rolando Caputo and Gerard Hayes With the burn-out of the avant-garde narrative fringe of the European art cinema in the late 1970s (Jean-Luc Godard’s move to autobiography, Alain Resnais’ historical romanticism, the continued failure of internarional distribution of the films of Jacques Rivette, Alexander Kluge, Jean-Marie Straub and Danielle Huillet and others), one has for the moment returned to a consolidation of the “ tradition of quality” . It is a Less formalist, less politically engaged cinema, with a stress on “ art” and visual aesthetic. Perhaps, it is not accurate to call this movement a tradition, but rather a series of currents which have found a renewed pre-em inence: the historical — Dan ton, La nuit de Varennes (The

Night at Varennes); the operatic — La traviata, Carmen; the melodrama — La dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias); the literary — Passione d’amore, Un amour de Swann (Swann in Love); and the pastoral — Une dimanche à la campagne (A Sunday in the Country). The period or costume film has returned in all its forms. No doubt the “ tradition of quality” has returned as an effect of the new pictorialism1 which invaded the cinema in the late 1970s and continues into the ’80s. It is marked by a return to tradi­ tional art values, along with an atmos­ pherically poetic, richly textured image.

From a ‘local’ perspective, Passione d’amore (1981), La nuit de Varennes (1982) and Le bal (1983) seem evidence enough for Ettore Scola’s being fegarded as the European art film director par excellence. Certainly, the Australian ‘art house’ circuit has served Scola’s films well and, in turn, it has fared better with his works than with the recent films of more pres­ tigious names such as Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman or Andrzej Wadja.

Scola’s is only a recent entrance into the canons of the European art cinema. In a recent and rather poor study of the Italian art cinema, The New Italian Cinema, by R. T. Witcombe2, of the 14 directors discussed who comprise this so-called art tradi­ tion fraternity, Scola is not amongst them. This is not surprising given that his career reveals a trajectory which is anything but that of the art film direc­ tor, his current identity.

In the late-1940s and early-’50s, Scola wrote numerous scripts for the famous Italian comedian Toto. As a scriptwriter in the ’50s, Scola was at the centre of the genre which was known as La Commedia aUTtaliana, contributing to films such as Accadde al commissariato (It Happened at the Police Station, 1954), Lo scapolo (The Bachelor, 1955), Il conte Max (Count Max, 1956). Comedy Italian-style grew directly out of neo-realism, but over­ turning neo-realism’s bleak pessimism in favor of a satiric look at the man­ ners and morals of a culture’s regain1. Raymond Durgnat, “ Art For Film’s Sake” , American Film, May 1983, pp. 41-45.

2. Seeker & Warburg, London, 1982.

76 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

ing its social mobility. It was a genre that achieved what neo-realism had always aspired to: a truly populist national cinema. In the 1960s, Scola turned to direction, and as well as his commercial films, mainly comedies (Do Our Heroes Find Their Friend?

1968, Dramma della gelosia (The Pizza Triangle, 1970)), he made a number of militant shorts, often sponsored by the Italian Communist Party (Trevico Torino: Viaggo nel Fiat Nam, 1972, Le borgate di Pasolini 1976).

There are two works which stand as the culmination of Scola’s work before the move to the French co-productions and the art cinema: C’eravamo tanto amati (We All Loved Each Other Very Much, 1974) and Le terrazza (The Ter­ race, 1979). The latter film is an at­ tempt to dramatize, as well as analyze, the artistic impasse the Commedia aUTtaliana found itself in towards the end of the politically turbulent 1970s, and the former film has been described as: An extremely ambitious film, it combines a consideration of the many social and political changes Italy has undergone since the Resis­ tance and the end of the Fascist regime with an equally comprehen­ sive survey of the major develop­ ments in the history of the Italian cinema, which so often reflected these changes.3 If one substitutes French history for Italian history in the above descrip­ tion, it is evident to see what attracted Scola to a project such as Le bal, created by Jean-Claude Penchenat for Le theatre du Campagnol. Le bal presents a potted history of France from 1936 as personified by the habitues of a certain Parisian dance hall. All the action takes place on or at the borders of the dance floor: apart from three quick trips to the men’s room, Scola has not ‘opened up’ the original stage presentation.

The film plays completely without dialogue and employs an ensemble of actors who rotate their parts from episode to episode. The passage of time is marked by changing styles of music, dance and wardrobe; the crises of French history are played out through little dramatic events enacted on the microcosm of the dance floor.

The film structures its social history through an episodic narrative which focuses upon six or seven evenings over a 50-year span. Each evening has as a backdrop a specific and significant historical event: 1936 and the electoral success of the Popular Front coalition parties; 1942 and the Nazi Occupation; 1945 and the Liberation; 1956 and the Algerian war; 1968 and the student riots; and, finally, as with the opening sequence, the a-historical ‘disco-fied’ 1980s.

This theme of history, which finds continued elaboration in Scola’s films, is always more or less an ‘official history’, constantly decentred and displaced. For Scola, ‘official history’ no doubt means the history recorded in text books, a history which has at its centre the figures of power. Therefore, these figures of power, of history (Hitler, De Gaulle), will be absent and in their place one is given a historical discourse constructed around the ‘anonymous individual’ (the ballroom dancers).

3. Peter Bondanella, Italian Cinema: From neorealism to the present, Ungar Pub­ lishing Co., New York, 1983.

But this is only to substitute one historical cliche for another. For ex­ ample, in the episode dealing with the Popular Front government of 1936 — at the time an apparent victory for the Left — one has a scene of happy, vital, passionate workers dancing around with red handkerchiefs versus the loveless decadent bourgeoisie in their top hats. During the Nazi Occupation, one has heroic French women refusing to dance with a German officer; for the war in Algeria there is a young Algerian being snubbed by his wouldbe dancing partners and finally beaten up in the men’s room. The fact that the one actor, Marc Berman, plays the villain in each episode, whether he be bourgeois, collaborator, profiteer or police informer, makes it easy for the French audience of this film to retro­ spectively put themselves on the side of the angels. But, in fact, any film which devotes itself to such trite devices runs the risk of completely emptying itself of any meaning, whether cultural or political. When Le bal uses a Coke bottle to symbolize American cultural imperialism, one might think one is watching a Bruno Bozzetto cartoon.

What Le bal trades for ‘official history’ is a history of ‘popular memory’, which is evident from Scola’s comments on the unusual photography of the 1936 episode: The emotion of this historic moment is bound up with our memory of cer­ tain realist and populist French cinema from the ’thirties. This photo by Claude Matras of Georges Perinal from Louis Page, made from contrasting grey and black tones and when filtered in a hazy grain, already makes these images a memory. We would like to remind the public of these memories.4 Here ‘popular memory’ is filtered through the cinema and still-photo­ graphy. Appropriately, therefore, each episode will conclude with a photo­ graphic snapshot of the dancers in suspended time. Each snapshot will be framed on the wall of the ballroom to reside there from decade to decade as the guarantor of a memory. Le bal’s whole aesthetic is that of history as snapshot, which allows it that nar­ rative freedom to move about episod­ ically from decade to decade, pausing on a particular evening without having to analyze the specific cultural and political forces which have ushered in a historical event. No doubt this, too, is a consequence of Le bal’s theatrical origin, for the theatre is very fond of such devices: the combination of the general and the specific to create the illusion of profound insight.

For all its use of music, what Le bal immediately brings to mind is the silent cinema, which it does not consciously evoke but to which it has an affinity almost by default. Le bal is a film without ‘speech’, a point insisted upon

by Scola: All my characters avoid words . . .

They try to communicate differ­ ently; by looks, gestures, physical contact and brief meetings which replace these words which for them are only noises. Le bal is the solitude of people who do not need words.5 Without the use of dialogue or internal narration, Le bal makes use of the highly iconic language of the silent Continued on p . 91 • 4. From the press kit.

5. Ibid.

My Last Breath: The Autobiography of Luis Buñuel ~ Translated by Abigail Israel Jonathan Cape, London, 1984 Hardback, 256 pp., $A16.95 ISBN 0 224 02073 O Dennis Bowers Perhaps the outstanding feature of Luis Bunuel’s autobiography is the contradictory picture one gets of the man who has revelled in the oftrepeated paradox, “ Thank God I’m an atheist.” Buñuel consistently main­ tained that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds, and regarded many of his films as calls to rebellion. The attack on bourgeois morality and on those pillars of bourgeois society, family, religion and fatherland has been consistently pursued in his films, as also in this book, in which he avers that “ God and Country are an unbeat­ able team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed.” (p. 170) Yet, near the end of his life, Buñuel confesses to fond memories of the Jesuits and of military service, and to regret at the passing of the old feudal life he experienced as a boy in Calanda: I’m lucky to have spent my child­ hood in the Middle Ages, or, as Huysmans described it, that ‘painful and exquisite’ epoch — painful in terms of its m aterial aspects perhaps, but exquisite in its spiritual life. What a contrast to the world of today, (p. 18) This ambivalence towards “ progress” is present in his films, of course, notably Viridiana (1961).

The paradoxes multiply when the man who worked as a roving agent-

cum-ambassador in Paris for the Republican cause during the Civil War delivers this judgment on Franco: I’ve never been one of Franco’s fanatical adversaries. As far as I’m concerned, he wasn’t the Devil personified. I ’m even ready to believe that he kept our exhausted country from being invaded by the Nazis. Yes, even in Franco’s case there’s room for some ambiguity.

(P- 170) ' This most political of directors also states his dislike of politics, whose efficacy he doubts after the events of the past 40 years. (He always refuses to sign petitions.) He repeats his detesta­ tion of publicity and the media (“ the source of all our anxieties” ), but con­ fesses that, after his death, he would: love to rise from the grave every ten years or so and buy a few news­ papers. Ghostly pale, sliding silently along the walls, my papers under my arm, I’d return to the cemetery and read about all the disasters in the world before falling back to sleep, safe and sound in my tomb. (p. 256) From Un chien Andalou (1928) and L’age d’or (1930) onwards, Buñuel set out to scandalize the respectable bour­ geoisie, particularly with regard to sex, which his strict Catholic upbringing led him to associate with a “ sweet secret sense of sin” . Yet he appears to have led what could be called an exemplary and respectable private life with a stable marriage and family, which he studiously protects from the reader’s scrutiny in this autobio­ graphy. He confesses to a hereditary timidity concerning sex and women, and recounts with gusto the way the orgies and seductions he planned were always aborted or bungled! Needless to say, a planned screening of the only pornographic movie he ever saw (Sister Vaseline), for a children’s matinee, never eventuated. He labels one of the films he produced in Spain in 1934 (Don Quintin el Amargao) “ senti­ mental bullshit” , but affirms his belief in love: Today . . . love is like faith. It’s acquired a certain tendency to dis­ appear, at least in some circles.

Many people seem to consider it a historical phenomenon, a kind of cultural illusion. It’s studied and analyzed and, whenever possible, cured.

I protest. We were not victims of an illusion. As strange as it may sound these days, we truly did love.

(P- 149) Along with his record of opposition to totalitarian regimes, Buñuel confesses to a recurrent fantasy of achieving omnipotence and solving the popula­ tion explosion with a hideous virus which exterminates two billion people.

Another fantasy revolves around a feudal lord ruling his little kingdom in isolation, where nothing changes, though perhaps there is “ a small orgy once in a while” .

Tristana (Catherine Deneuve), the young innocent who falls madly in love with a young artist, Horacio (Franco Nero) in Luis Bunuel’s Tristana.

.One is left to decide whether Buñuel becam e an u n re p e n te d senile reactionary in his later years, or whether the views he expresses in this book represent a refreshing honesty.

Buñuel certainly recognizes the contra­ dictions: I’ve managed to live my life among multiple contradictions without ever trying to rationalize or resolve them; they’re part of me, and part of the fundamental ambiguity of all things, which I cherish (p. 231) Bunuel’s autobiography provides a fascinating progress through this century, from the feudal world of rural Spain and the iron discipline of the Saragossa Jesuits, through the bohemian escapades of the Surrealists in Paris and the dangers which attended his involvement in the Civil War, to work in the film industries in Hollywood, Mexico and Europe.

Along the way, one gets a vivid portrait of Salvador Dali, whom Buñuel regarded as a liar, opportunist and egomaniac with fascist tendencies.

(Dali’s description of him as an atheist effectively lost Buñuel his job at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.)

The genesis of many of Bunuel’s films is filled in; some of the details are familiar, especially on the films which created the desired scandal, but some puzzles are also solved. For example, the two actresses playing the one role in Cet obscur objet du desir (That Obscure Object of Desire, 1977) was Bunuel’s response to a huge row which he had with the actress originally cast for the part. Strangely enough, how­ ever, Buñuel does not link a hallucina­ tion he experienced, in which he saw his dead father awaken, with the sequence in Robinson Crusoe (Adven­ tures of Robinson Crusoe, 1952) in which Crusoe’s father appears to him in the cave.

There are relatively few reflections on the business of filmmaking. Buñuel says, “ I’m not a philosopher, and I don’t do very well with abstractions” (p. 176), yet his interest in ideas and

the way his particular cases always suggest general rules are apparent in his films. He detests psychoanalysis and the compulsion to understand, preferring to leave intact a certain mystery or ambiguity in life and in his films. His mischievous desire to scandalize surfaces even in his com­ ments on actors (“ The best actors I’ve worked with have been children and dwarves” ), and in his highly un­ fashionable view that “ nothing about movie making is more important than the scenario” .

Buñuel is quietly ironic about Holly­ wood. MGM invited him there in 1930 to “ learn some good American tech­ nical skills” , but he apparently drew a regular pay cheque for doing next to nothing. It is clear that he could have made a place for himself there had he wanted to, but was put off by the straitjacket of formulas and big budgets. Indeed, he says that “ the size of my budgets was a measure of my freedom” (though perhaps there is a deliberate ambiguity here too).

Three aborted projects he mentions are “ Lord of the Flies” , “ Johnny Got His Gun” and “ Under the Volcano” .

One imagines that he might have done interesting things with an adaptation of William Golding’s novel.

Bunuelian anecdotes abound, such as the promulgation of free love in Calanda during the Civil War, which produced almost no effect because “ no one seemed to know what free love meant” ! Buñuel and a friend once produced a synoptic table of the American cinema, charting the likely narrative progression of every Holly­ wood film, and confounding a Holly­ wood producer by predicting every narrative move in his latest film. On another occasion, Buñuel had to threaten to smash the typewriter of producer Pierre Braunberger’s secre­ tary to get money that Braunberger owed him.

Although some gaps in Buñuel’s his­ tory remain (he doesn’t say much about his period as film producer in pre-Civil War Spain), other aspects are

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 77

Book Reviews

filled out, notably Bunuel’s activity for the Republican cause, his period of filmmaking in Mexico which began with the lucky accident of his meeting Oscar Dancigers, and his association with the Surrealist group, short but of profound significance. Buñuel was one of a small handful of the Surrealists for whom the movement provided the key to a personal morality: More than the artistic innovations or the refinement of my tastes and ideas, the aspect of surrealism that has remained a part of me all these years is a clear and inviolate moral exigency, (p. 124) Buñuel admits the failure of the Sur­ realists to change the world. They were “ just a small group of insolent intellec­ tuals who argued interminably” . But if this judgment is a sobering one, he nevertheless acknowledges the ultimate value the movement had for him: I treasure that access to the depths of the self which I so yearned for, that call to the irrational, to the impulses that spring from the dark side of the soul. It was the surrealists who first launched this appeal with a sustained force and courage, with insolence and playfulness and an obstinate dedication to fight every­ thing repressive in the conventional wisdom, (p. 123) Bunuel’s autobiography is both good fun to read and useful as a more or less consecutive account of his whole career. In addition, whether he is defending obsessions “ because they make it easier to deal with life” , or nominating the four new horsemen of the apocalypse as overpopulation, science, technology and the media, such a man’s views are worth attending to.

An Encyclopaedia of Australian Film John Stewart Reed Books, Sydney, 1984 304 pp., $14.95 ISBN 0 7301 0059 6 Paul Harris John Stewart, a Sydney-based film enthusiast, describes himself on the dust jacket as a former champion pole vaulter (in 1965 he set the world record for a 13-year-old). Perhaps he feels that with the publication of this pioneering reference work he will leap into the major leagues of Halliwell and Co. in a single bound.

Flippancy aside, Stewart has man­ aged to achieve the fairly rare distinc­ tion of producing a reference work that will please students, scholars and the coffee table set. He has managed to compile more than one thousand entries comprising thumbnail bio­ graphical sketches of mainstream Aus­ tralian filmmakers, supplemented by detailed credit lists, spanning most of this century.

Comprehensive listings are provided of actors, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, sound recordists and art directors, plus entries on the various state film corporations, cultural bodies and established production houses and financiers. To his credit, Stewart does not neglect shorts, documentaries, 78 — February-March CINEMA PAPE

tele-features or television series, managing to dig up all manner of unusual and arcane information. This comes in particularly handy for “ Trivial Pursuit” addicts who can learn, for example, that Nigel Buesst was director of photography on Antony I. Ginnane’s only feature as a director, Sympathy in Summer (1971) (working title: We Are None of Us Perfect). Or how about this puzzler: which Melbourne actor appeared in Charlie Chaplin’s A King in New York? (Answer: Frank Wilson).

There are occasional lapses in the choice of inclusions, and some obvious omissions and inconsistencies. Grahame Bond is not listed, Elizabeth Alexander, the actress, is erroneously credited as being “ a Commissioner in the Australian Film Commission” .

(The AFC’s Elizabeth Alexander is a chartered accountant.) Terry Hayes, of Kennedy Miller fame and respons­ ible for co-writing Mad Max 2, The Dismissal and Bodyline, is not listed.

And why is it that Melbourne-based Russian emigré Yuri Sokol, director of photography on Man of Flowers and My First Wife misses out? And, while on the subject of the Paul Cox Reper­ tory Company, it is puzzling to note the absence of producer Jane Ballantyne, but not sister Elspeth.

Films are often listed with the wrong year of production and there seems to be a similar lack of consistency with titling; e.g.; A Salute to the Great MacArthy is referred to as The Great MacArthy, The Chain Reaction is, yet again, Chain Reaction and Mel Gibson is mistakenly listed as the star of Mutiny on the Bounty (actually The Bounty). And although produced by JNP Productions, traditionally a supplier of television programs, Warming Up was shot on 35 mm specifically for cinema release and does not qualify as a tele-feature.

Director Ian Pringle’s 1979 project, Jack and the Soldier, is a script that never received funding so it is hardly surprising to see it listed here as “ unreleased” . Supplementary in­ formation includes separate tables (no pun intended) listing American and British talent who have worked in Aus­ tralia. These charts are arranged in chronological blocks decade by decade from 1910 onwards.

Further checklists include features made locally since the industry’s early days, including cast lists and names of characters played; a list of major novels translated into film, arranged alphabetically by author; and a “ fairly

comprehensive” list of films subjected to title changes, either during produc­ tion or in release.

The author does seem unnecessarily reticent about making any critical judgments, going so far as to insert the following disclaimer in his intro­ duction: “ There are very few opinions expressed, and they are the generally expressed ones, rather than those of the authors.”

This ‘encyclopaedia’, despite the aforementioned shortcomings, is cer­ tainly to be commended as a worthy adjunct to the other currently available standard references (which can be counted on the proverbial hand) and will, hopefully, expand its information activities in future editions. More’s the pity that it seems to have been pushed into the market without any fanfare or media attention.

Omni’s Screen Flights/ Screen Fantasies: The Future According to Science Fiction Cinema Edited by Danny Peary Dolphin Books, New York, 1984 310 pp., $19.99 ISBN 0 385 19202 9 Michael Broderick The quality of Screen F lig h ts/S creen F antasies lies not so much in the layout and arrangement of its numerous illustrations, articles, interviews and essays, but rather the density of ideas and the disparate nature of its themes and content.

Editor Danny Peary has assembled an impressive array of science fiction literary illuminati (Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Robert Sheckley, Frederick Pohl, Harry S. Harrison and Harlan Ellison) who, in turn, bitch amusingly about the bowdlerization of their own and their fellows’ prose texts, relating the familiar anecdotal traumas of Hollywood bastardization facing most novelists and screen­ writers.

Ellison’s two contributions — a lengthy and unashamedly jaundiced introduction, and a vitriolic critique of Peter Hyams’ Outland (1981) — provide a good read but must be questioned for their myopic ferocity: Wedded to the bone-stupid idee f ix e of transposing High Noon one for one, without expanding or recon­ structing the plot to account for alien conditions and a different societal mesh, Hyams made this film an exercise in repeated inconsisten­ cies, illogicalities and contrivances sufficient to give a coprolite a tic. (p. 173) ' Although it appears in the preceding article, John Sayles makes quite a case for such generic transplants, having turned Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai (1954)-cum-The Magnificent Seven (1960) into Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures.

Sayles, like Michael Crichton, appears to be one of the few contri­ butors comfortable and cognisant with the notion of formulaic convention manipulation and the limitations of the literary and cinematic media.

Not all of the science fiction authors, however, follow the ‘hard science’ line of Asimov and Ellison.

Silverberg is quite happy to waive the scientific implausibilities of both THX 1138 (1971) and Blade Runner (1982) since, for him, these two films provide what true visionary cinema literally must do: project' a totally believable futuristic milieu onto the screen, which, unlike the written scenario, transfers the imaginary realm from mind’s eye to celluloid. This is a view Philip Strick complements in his excel­ lent analysis of the future metropolis in science fiction film and its recurrent iconography of architecture.

The mainstream cinema commen­ tators appear more structured and sophisticated in their approach. In her fine overview of the genre, concen­ trating principally on the past two decades, Joan Mellen reworks and expands upon Susan Sontag’s seminal 1965 essay, “ The Imagination of Dis­ aster” (which underlies much of the critical writing of this book). The renaissance of science fiction cinema post-Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), she argues, has helped to accli­ matize us to the accelerated new techno­ logy via its benevolent and utilitarian employment as movie special effects.

David Thompson’s perceptive essay about sex in science fiction films illustrates well the operation of a sub­ text vital to the genre: So much of science fiction crystal­ lizes our fears that life could end, and sexuality is so ambivalently bound up with death and life. It is one of the peaks in existence, it lets the human race perpetuate itself; but it is also the function of the urge for violence and power, and the pre­ occupied dread of death, (p. 62) Similarly, Martin Sutton explores sexual themes in his “ Superego Con­ frontation on Forbidden Planet” , pro­ ducing an interesting Freudian per­ spective, especially in his observation of Robbie the robot.

There are, however, a number of weaker articles such as the shallow reading of Robert Heinlein’s Destina­ tion Moon (1950) which, whilst praising the movie’s “ libertarian” sensibility, conveniently ignores the overt function of a technocratic authoritarianism that smacks of McCarthyism. Also, Robert Bloch pro­ vides a couple of saccharine homages to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1926) and the career of George Pal. The final third of the work is primarily devoted to the “ creators” within the industry, which includes a history of the genre’s technological

Book Reviews

advances from the primitive but effec­ tive matte shots of George Melies’ Voyage a la lune (A Trip to the Moon, 1902), to the computer-controlled miniatures and computer-generated animation for Star Trek III (1984).

But the more revealing material stems from the creators themselves in generally frank interviews (the majority conducted by Peary) with Crichton (“ If you have a future that’s wonderful, you don’t have a story.

There has to be some kind of con­ flict.” ); Roger Corman (“ I think science fiction, as literature, is a lot more accepted today because the kids who read it are now adults and they still read it.” ); Leonard Nimoy (“ Isaac Asimov described Spock as a ‘security blanket with sexual overtones’. That’s a pretty concise and accurate descrip­ tion.” ); George Miller (“ There is a fine line between exploring [violence and death] and exploiting them. And I’m not sure where the Mad Max films fall.” ); Andrei Tarkovsky (“ I have not chosen the past or the future as a means for invading the problems of the present.” ); and Ridley Scott (“ [Alien] has strong women simply because I like strong women. It’s a per­ sonal choice.” ).

Other major contributions include Stanley Kramer’s reminiscing about On the Beach (1959) and the resurgence of contemporary interest in it (not so far evident in this hemisphere); an in­ formative interview with Buster Crabbe (Flash Gordon was the most expensive serial ever made, he maintains, “ and it show s” !); Richard Schickel’s examining Kubrick’s futurist trilogy of Dr. Strangelove (1963), 2001 (1968) and Clockwork Orange (1971); and directors John Badham’s (War Games, 1983), Paul Bartel’s (Death Race 2000, 1975) and Nicholas Meyer’s (The Day After, 1983) reflecting on their respec­ tive films’ (in)effectiveness.

Ultimately, Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies is an important work simply because of its structural jumble of dis­ parate, provocative material, for it inherently captures in microcosm the diverse and polemical nature of this seemingly indefinable genre. The book is like an open dialogue on science fiction cinema and literature, a debate of pros and cons not only by the ‘in­ formed’ critics but, more significantly, artists from pre- to post-production.

Recent Releases Mervyn Binns This column lists a selection of books on sale in Australia up to December 1984, which deals with the cinema and related topics.

The publishers and the local distributors are listed below the author in each entry. If no distributor is indicated, the book is imported (Imp.). The recommended prices listed are for paperbacks, unless otherwise indicated, and are subject to variations between bookshops and states.

The list was compiled by Mervyn R. Binns of the Space Age Bookstore, Melbourne.

Popular and General Interest

The Bible According to Hollywood Robin Cross , Ward Lock/Australasian Publishing Co., $7.95 (PB) .

A send-up of Hollywood Biblical Epics as a collection of humorously captioned stills.

Donald Duck — 50 Years o f Happy Frustration Flora O’Brien and others Three Duck Editions/Dent Australia, $14.95 (HC)

A celebration of Donald Duck’s 50th Birthday, tracing the history and development of this popular cartoon character.

The Great Book o f Movie Villains Jan Stacy and Ryder Syvertson, $19.95 (PB) An illustrated survey of more than 250 dastardly characters and their films. .

History o f Movie Musicals Thomas G. Aylesworth Bison Books/Gordon & Gotch, $18.95 (PB) A profusely illustrated survey of cinema musicals.

The Hollywood History o f World War 2 Robin Cross Ward Lock/Australasian Publishing Co., $7.95 (PB) A not-to-be-taken seriously history, using suitably captioned stills from films.

Movies o f the Fifties Edited by Ann Lloyd Orbis/Trident Books, $12.95 (PB) A new edition, new in paperback, of this survey of the films released in the 1950s.

Movies o f the Forties Edited by Ann Lloyd Orbis/Trident Books, $12.95 (PB) New in paperback.

Movies o f the Seventies Edited by Ann Lloyd Orbis/Trident Books, $19.95 (HC) A new addition to this series, featuring articles originally published in “ Movie” magazine.

Movies o f the Silent Years Edited by Ann Lloyd Orbis/Trident Books, $19.95 (HC) A collection of articles on the silent movies and stars with directors and producers profiles.

Movies o f the Thirties Edited by Ann Lloyd Orbis/Trident Books, $12.95 (PB) New in paperback edition.

Fantasy and Science Fiction Cinema

Bizarro: The Art and Technique o f Special Make Up Tom Savini Crown-Harmony/Imp., $16.45 (PB) Details of the work on such films as Dawn of the Damned and Creep Show.

Omni’s Screen Flights — Screen Fantasies Introduced by Harlan Ellison Columbus Books/Kingfisher, $19.95 (PB) A collection of articles from Omni magazine on fantasy and science fiction films.

Science Fiction — The Complete Film Source Book Phil Hardy Aurum/Dent Aust., $45.00 (HC) The Aurum Film Encyclopedia, Volume 2. A very comprehensive survey of science fiction films.

Splatter Movies John McCarty .

Columbus/Kingfisher, $14.95 (PB) An illustrated survey of modern horror films.

Biographies, Memoirs, Filmographies

Alec Guinness: A Celebration John Russell Taylor Pavillion/Neison, $29.95 The personal and professional life of the great British actor. Illustrated. $29.95 (HC) Ava Gardner John Daniell Comet/Gordon & Gotch, $13.95 (PB) New edition of this biography of the last screen goddess.

Burt Lancaster Robert Windier W.H. Allen/Hutchinson, $22.95 (HC) A perceptive biography of one of Hollywood’s top actors.

Burt Lancaster — The Man and His Movies Alan Hunter Paul Harris/Imp., $14.95 (PB) $24.95 (HC) A look at the career of Lancaster, including a complete filmography.

Burt Reynolds S.S. Resnick Comet/Gordon & Gotch, $14.95 (PB) New edition in paperback.

Darling o f the Gods Garry O’Connor Hodder & Stoughton/Hodder & Stoughton Aust. $19.95 (HC) One year in the lives of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

The Films o f Gloria Swanson Lawrence Quirk Citadel/Dymocks, $39.95 (HC) A new addition to The Films o f . . . series which gives a complete list of the films made by the actor or actress concerned.

The Films o f Gregory Peck John Griggs Citadel/Dymocks, $39.95 (HC) Another new addition to The Films o f . . . series.

The Harrison Ford Story Alan McKenzie Zomba/Allen & Unwin, $12.95 (PB) An illustrated biography of the actor who has rocketed to fame in Star Wars and in the Indiana Jones films.

Hollywood on Ronald Reagan Doug McLelland Faber/Penguin, $14.95 (PB) Friends and enemies discuss the President and the actor. New edition in paperback.

The James Bond Man Andrew Rissik Elm Tree/Nelson, $29.95 (HC) An assessment of the career and films of Sean Connery.

A Jobbing A ctor John Le Mesurier Elm Tree/Nelson, $19.95 (HC) An autobiography of the British actor who appeared in so many comedy films and television series.

John Gielgud : A Celebration Gyles Brandreth Pavillion/Neison, $29.95 (HC) An illustrated survey of the career of this great British actor.

The Legend o f Brigitte Bardot Peter Haining Comet/Gordon & Gotch, $14.95 (PB) New edition in paperback. Bardot’s complete illustrated career.

The Look o f Buster Keaton Robert Benayoun Pavillion/Neison, $35.00 (HC) A wonderfully illustrated survey of the life and career of the influential star of silent and sound films.

Margaret Rutherford — A Blithe Spirit Dawn Langley Simmons Arthur Barker/Hodder & Stoughton, $27.95 (HC) A revealing biography by the adopted daughter of the actress who became something of a British institution.

Princess Merle Charles Higham and Roy Moseley New English Library/Hodder & Stoughton, $6.95 (PB) A biography of the Austraiian-born actress. New in paperback.

No Bells on Sunday: The Journals o f Rachel Roberts Edited by Alexander Walker Pavillion/Neison, $19.95 (HC) The extraordinary life of the actress who starred in films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Picnic at Hanging Rock, with a documentary biography.

Peter O ’Toole Michael Freedland Comet/Gordon & Gotch, $14.95 (PB) A new edition of this biography in paperback.

Richard Pryor — Black and Blue Jeff Rovin Orbis/Trident, $9.95 (PB) A biography of the American actor-comedian, exploring the highs and the tragic lows in his life.

Warren Beatty Suzanne Munshower Comet/Gordon & Gotch, $12.95 (TPB) A new edition, now in this excellent trade paperback series.

Directors

D. W. Griffith: An American Life Richard Schickel Pavillion/Neison, $39.95 (HC) A new, very good biography, of the father of the American film industry.

Portrait o f an Invisible Man British Film Institute/All Books, $14.95 (PB) A reconstruction of the story of Stewart McAllister’s career as a film editor.

Zanuck: The Rise and Fall o f Hollywood’s Last Tycoon Leonard Mosley William Collins/William Collins Aust., $25.00 (HC) The life of one of Hollywood’s most colorful personalities.

A survey of the cinema of Brazil, the premiere centre of filmmaking in Latin America.

Re- Vision — Essays in Feminist Film Criticism

By M.A. Doans, P. Mellencamp and L. William Universal Publishers of America/All Books, $19.95 (PB) Volume three in the American Film Institute Monograph series.

Seeing is Believing Peter Biskind Pluto Press/Australasian Publishing Co., $17.95 (PB) A critical survey of the films of the 1950s.

Cinema History

A New Deal in Entertainment : Warner Brothers in the 1930s Nick Roddick British Film Institute/All Books, $17.95 (PB) An examination of Warner studios and the films it produced in the period from the Great Crash in 1929 to the start of the wrar for the U.S. in 1941.

Reference

An Encyclopedia o f Australian Film John Stewart Reed/Gordon & Gotch, $14.95 (HC) An alphabetical listing of actors, actresses, directors, films and subjects. Perhaps the most useful of the many recent books on the Australian film industry.

The Guinness Book o f TV Facts and Feats Guinness Superlatives/William Collins Aust., $26.95 (HC) A complete history of television from its earliest beginnings.

HalliweU’s Film Guide — 3rd Edition Leslie Halliw'ell Granada Publishing, $19.95 (HC) The Illustrated Encyclopedia o f Australian Show Biz Edited by Margot Anderson Sunshine Books/Gordon & Gotch, S27.50 (HC) An alphabetical listing of actors, actresses, television and radio personalities, w'ith numerous illustrations.

Filmmaking

Graphics in Motion John Halas Van Nostrand/Thomas Nelson, $25.00 (PB) A discussion of the animated film, including the use of computer graphics and laser technology.

Screenplay * Syd Field Delta/Gordon & Gotch, $10.95 (PB) New print of an excellent book on the subject.

The Screenwriters Workbook Syd Field Delta/Gordon & Gotch, $10.95 (PB) More information to help screenwriters produce good scripts.

Televison

The Last Days o f M*A *S*H — Photographs and Notes Arlene Alda with commentary by Alan Alda Unicorn/Imp., $16.45 (PB) The story of the last days of the M*A*S*H unit before it was destroyed by fire.

Split Screen Ian Trethowan Hamish Hamilton/Nelson, $37.00 (HC) The memoirs of a former director general of the BBC: an insight into the workings of the most powerful broadcasting organizations in the world.

Understanding Television Production Frank Lezzi Prentice Hall/Prentice Hall Aust., $15.95 (PB) The equipment and procedures of the TV studio and control room.

Beyond Broadcasting : Into the Cable Age Timothy Hollins British Film Institute/All Books, $14.95 (PB) An assessment of the history, present experience and future policy regarding the use of cable television.

Novels and Other Film and Television Tieins

Criticism

Cinema and Language Edited by S. Heath and P. Mellencamp University Publishers of America/All Books, $19.95 (PB) Volume one of the American Film Institute Monograph series.

Cinema Histories, Cinema Practices Edited by S. Heath and P. Mellencamp University Publishers of America/All Books, $19.95 (TPB) Cinema Novo x 5 Randal Johnson University of Texas/Imp., $14.95 (PB), $24.00 (HC)

Women o f the Sun Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg Penguin/Penguin Aust., $5.95 (PB) The novel based on the award-winning television series.

The Neverending Story Michael Ende (translated by Ralph Manheim) Penguin/Penguin Aust., $5.95 (PB) A Penguin edition of Ende’s best-selling fantasy, soon to be released as a major film.

Street Hero Budget Books/Gordon & Gotch, $3.95 (magazine format) A souvenir booklet, with numerous illustrations, of the recently released Australian film.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 79

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

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

S eptem ber 1984

Frequence

Films Registered W ithout Deletions

Infrequent

Explicitness/lntensity

Frequent

Low

Medium

Purpose High

Justified

G ratuitous

h h h h

j j j j

g g g g

G (For General Exhibition) Blazing Boards (shorter version) (16 mm): (a): C. Bystron, Australia, 1009.24 m, Alan Rich Films Challenge on Chasing Cars: Chen Mah-Wah, Hong Kong, 2468.7 m, Golden Reel Films Electric Dreams (shorter version) (b): R. Lemorande, U.S., 2578.42 m, Roadshow Dist.

Gikor: Armenfilm, Armenia. 2340 m, Ararad Enterprises Katy Caterpillar: F. Arnaud, U.S., 2139.54 m, CBS-Fox Video Metropolis: G. Moroder, West Germany, 2249.26 m, , Roadshow Dist.

Start NR.9 (16 mm): Z.D.F., West Germany, 570.44 m, Australian Film Institute Tail of the Tiger: Producer’s Circle, Australia, 2249 m, Roadshow Dist. (a) Previously shown on August 1984 list. (b) Previously shown on July 1984 list.

NRC (Not Recommended for Children) Acceptable Levels (16 mm): Frontroom-Belfast Film Workshop, Britain, 1129.91 m, Ronim Films, L(i-m-j), V(i-m-j) Buddy System, The (16 mm): A. Chammas, U.S., 1184 m, Fox-Columbia Film Dist., L(i-l-j), 0<sexual allusions) Comfort and Joy: King Road Productions, Britain, 2852.72 m, Greater Union Film Dist., V(i-l-j), Lfi-t-j) Dark River (16 mm): Film Polski, Poland, 1097 m, Consulate-General of the Polish People’s Republic.

Vfi-l-j) Das autogram (16 mm): ZDF, West Germany, 998.27 m, Australian Film Institute, S(i-l-j), V(f-l-j) Happy Ghost, The: Cinema City-Films Co., Hong Kong, 2578.42 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co., S(i-l-j) Home Sweet Home: Pierre Films, Belgium-France, 2469 m, Australian Film Institute, 0(adult concepts) Irreconcilable Differences: Lantana Pictures. U.S..

2962 m, Hoyts Dist., 0(adult concepts) Kemira — Diary of a Strike (16 mm): T. Zubryckl, Aus­ tralia, 658 m, T. Zubrycki, L(i-m-j) Les soeurs Bronte: Gaumont, France, 3209.31 m, Sharmill Films, 0(adult concepts) Love: Toho Co., Japan, 3401.32 m, Quality Films, Ofadult concepts) Love in a Fallen City: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong, 2633 m, Joe Siu Int’l Co., V(i-l-g), Ofadult concepts) Matagi — Old Bear Hunter: Daeie Int’l, Japan.

2825.29 m. Quality Films, Vfi-l-j) Mr Virgin: Shaw Bros. Hong Kong, 2468 m, Joe Siu Int'l Film Co., Ofadult concepts) The Natural (reduced version) (a): Tri-Star. U.S., 3348 m, Fox-Columbia Film Dist., Ofadult concepts) Nicaragua: no pasaran (16 mm): D. Bradbury, Aus­ tralia, 778.87 m, Ronln Films, V(i-m-j) The Other Side of Gentleman: Always Good Film Co., Hong Kong, 2523.56 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co., V(i-l-g), Ofadult concepts) The Razor’s Edge: Columbia, Britain-U.S., 3675 m, Fox-Columbia Film Dist., Ofadult concepts) The Return of Pom Pom: D. and B. Films Co.. Hong Kong, 2468.7 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co., Vfi-l-g), Ofadult concepts) Silver City: Limelight Prods, Australia, 2743 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Ofadult concepts) Stranger’s Kiss: D. Dilge, U.S., 2525.56 m, Seven Keys Films, Sfi-m-j), Vfi-l-j), Lfi-t-j) Time Bomb: Not shown, U.S., 2221 m, United Int’l Pictures, Vfi-m-j), Lfi-m-g) (a) Previously shown on June 1984 list.

M (For Mature Audiences) Appassionata: Toel Co., Japan, 3785 m, Quality Films, Sfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts) The Atlantis Interceptors: Regency Prods, U.S., 2439 m, Filmways A'asian Dist., Vff-m-g) Bitter Sweet: Nihkatsu Corp., Japan, 2660.71 m, Quality Films, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) Burroughs (16 mm): A. Yentob, U.S., 943.42 m, (Vic.) State Film Centre, Ofadult concepts) Cloak and Dagger: Universal, U.S., 2715 m, United Int’l Pictures, Vff-m-g) Conan The Destroyer: D. De Laurentiis, U.S., 2715.57 m, United Int'l Pictures, Vfi-m-g) Covergirl: New World Pictures, Canada, 2496.13 m, Seven Keys Films, Sfi-m-g), Lfi-m-g) Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac: B. Finnagen-P. Finnagen, U.S., 2573.42 m, R oadshow D ist., Ofemotional stress) A Flower in the Rainy Night: Montage Film Co., Taiwan, 2660.71 m, Golden Reel Films, Ofadult concepts), Sfi-m-j) The Hit: J. Thomas, Britain, 2633.28 m, Communica­ tions and Entertainment, Vff-m-g), Lfi-m-j) The Human Factor (videotape) (a): F. Avianca, U.S., 92 mins, Seven Keys Rims, Vfl-m-g) Ladies on the Rocks: P. Armanns-S. Amt, Denmark, 2715 m, Ronin Films, Ofadult concepts), Sfi-m-j) The Lift: Not shown, The Netherlands, 2660.71 m, Roadshow Dist., Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) The Lion of Flanders: J. Van Raemdonck, Belgium, 2907.58 m, Australian Rim Institute, Vff-m-g) Make Up (Kesho): Shochiku Film, Japan, 3730.48 m, Quality Films, Ofadult concepts)

SfSex).......................................

V (Violence)...............................

L (Language)............................

O (Other)....................................

Title

/ i i /

Producer

f f f f Country

Maria’s Lovers: B. Djordjevic-L. Taylor-Mortorff, U.S., 2962 m, Hoyts Dist., Sfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts) Not for Publication: A. Kimmei, U.S., 2386.41 m, Greater Union Film Dist., Ofadult concepts) Red Dawn: MGM-UA, U.S., 3072.16 m, United Int’l Pictures. Vff-m-g) Second Time Lucky: A. Ginnane. Britain-New Zealand, 2715.57 m, United Int’l Pictures, Sfi-m-g), Ofnudity) Sheena Queen of the Jungle: Columbia, U.S., 3154.45 m, Fox-Columbia Film Dist., Vfi-m-g), Ofnudity) The Taste of Water: Maya Film Prod., The Nether­ lands, 2825.29 m, Australian Film Institute, Ofadult concepts), Vfi-m-g) This is Spinal Tap: K. Murphy, U.S., 2221 m, Com­ munications and Entertainment, Lff-m-j) The Throne of Fire: E. Spagnuolo, Italy, 2386 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Vg-m-g) Under the Volcano: Ithaca Prods, U.S., 3017.3 m, Fox­ Columbia Film Dist., Vfi-m-j), Sfi-l-j) U ntil Septem ber: M. Gruskoff, Britaln-France, 2578.42 m, United Int’l Pictures, Sfi-m-g) The Woman in Red: V. Dral, U.S., 2331 m, Roadshow Dist., Ofadult concepts) (a) Previously shown on April 1977 list.

R (For Restricted Exhibition) The Ambassador: Cannon, U.S., 2468.7 m, Hoyts Dist., Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) An Amorous Woman of the Tang Dynasty: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong, 2797 m, Joe Siu int’l Film Co., Vfi-l-g), Sfi-m-g) Best Defence: G. Katz, U.S., 2550.99 m, United Int’l Pictures, Sfi-m-g), Lff-m-g) Blood Simple: Ethen Coen, U.S., 2688.14 m, Newvision Film Dist., Vff-m-gj Bolero: Cannon, U.S., 2797 m, Hoyts Dist., Sfi-m-g) Caged Fury: Not shown, The Philippines, 2276.69 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Vfi-m-g), Sfi-m-g) Joy of Sex: F. Königsberg, U.S., 2523.56 m, United Int’l Pictures, Sfi-m-g) Long Arm of the Law: Bo Ho Films Co., Hong Kong, 2770.43 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co., Vff-m-g) Ninja III: The Domination: Cannon, U.S., 2496 m, Hoyts Dist., Vff-m-g) The Princess and The Call Girl: Highbridge Film Prods, U.S., 2441.27 m, Blake Films, Sff-m-g) Profile in Anger: Golden Harvest, Hong Kong, 2304.12 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co., Vff-m-g) Richard Pryor — Here and Now: B. Parkinson-A. Friendly, U.S., 2578.42 m, Fox-Columbia Film Dist., Lff-m-g) Tornado: Gico Cinematographies, Italy, 2630 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Lff-m-g), Vff-m-g) Up ’n ’ Coming (modified version): Key International, U.S., 2084.68 m, Blake Films, Sff-m-g) Vortex (16 mm): B. Scott-B. Beth, U.S., 910.51m, Sydney Filmmakers Co-op., Vfi-m-g)

Films Registered With Deletions Nil.

Films Refused Registration Savage Streets: MPM, U.S., 2468.7 m, Roadshow Dist., Ofsexual violence), Vfi-h-g)

I I I I

m m m m

Submitted length (m)

NRC (Not Recommended fo r Children) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8 th Dimension: N. Canton-W. Richter, U.S., 2797 m, Road­ show Dist., Vfi-m-g), Lfi-m-g) Country: Touchstone, U.S., 2989.87 m, Greater Union Film Dist., Ofadult concepts) The Enigma Secret Part I (16 mm): Profil Prods, Poland, 1261.55 m, Consulate-General of the Polish People's Republic, Vfi-l-j) Mass Appeal: Operation Cork Prod., U.S., 2688 m, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult concepts) Places in the Heart: Tri-Star, U.S., 3017.3 m, Fox­ Columbia Film Dist., Vfi-m-j), Ofsexual allusions) (a) Previously shown on July 1984 list.

M (For Mature Audiences) All of Me: Kings Road Prods, U.S., 2496.13 m, Com­ munications and Entertainment, Ofsexual allusions) At Last! Buliamakanka the Motion Picture: D. Joseph, Australia, 2523.56 m, Buliamakanka Film Prods, Lfi-m-g), Ofsexual innuendo) I'll be Home for Christmas (16 mm): J. Cruthers-B. Mc­ Kenzie, Australia, 1437 m, Ronin Films, Lff-l-g), Ofadult concepts) Law w ith Two Phases: G. Lai-F. Chan, Hong Kong, 2605.85 m, Joe Siu Int'l Film Co., Vff-m-g) Shaolin Temple Against Lama (16 mm): W. Lan, Taiwan, 965.36 m, Chinese Cultural Centre. Vfi-m-g) V illage Dream s: Koch-KIrkwood Prods, U.S., 3236.74 m. United Int'l Pictures, Lff-m-g)

Applicant

Reason fo r Decision

Aurora (videotape): Peregrine Prods, U.S.-Italy, 97 mins, Seven Keys Film, Ofadult concepts) Cloak and Dagger (a): Universal, U.S., 2715 m, United Int'l Pictures Dolly Lee (16 mm): H. Kung-H. Chien, Taiwan, 954 m, Chinese Cultural Centre, Ofadult concepts)' Double Trouble: Wins Film Co., Hong Kong, 2633.28 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co., Vfi-l-g), Ofsexual allusions) Dune: R. De Laurentiis, U.S., 3730 m, Hoyts Dist., V(f+g) E la nave va (And The Ship Sails On): RAI, ItalyFrance, 3428.75 m, Newvision Film Dist., Ofsexual allusions) A Family Affair: Cinema City Co., Hong Kong, 2633.28 m, Joe Siu Int’ l Film Co., Ofemotional stress, sexual allusions) Fury’s Love (16 mm): Not shown, Taiwan, 1042 m, Chinese Cultural Centre, Vfi-l-j) Give My Regards to Broad Street: A. Epaminondas, Britain, 2962.44 m, Fox-Columbia Film Dist., Vfi-l-g) Jade Goddess (16 mm): H. Kung, Taiwan, 1036 m, Chinese Cultural Centre, Vfi-l-j) Le Bal: G. Silvagni, France-Algeria-ltaly, 3017 m, Sharmill Films, Ofadult concepts)

R (For Restricted Exhibition) Nil.

.

.

Films Registered With Deletions R (For Restricted Exhibition) Lipps and McCain (pre-Censor cut version): D. Chris­ tian, U.S., 1673.23 m, 14th Mandolin, Sff-m-g)

Films Refused Registration Deep Throat (soft overseas modified version) (video­ tape) (a): Vanguard Films, U.S., 57 mins, Visual Com­ munications of Australia, Sff-h-g) (a) Previously shown on June 1983 list.

Films Board of Review Best Defense (a): G. Katz, U.S., 2550.99 m, United Int'l Pictures Decision reviewed: Classify “ R” by Film Censorship Board.

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

Savage Streets (b): MPM, U.S., 2468.7 m, Roadshow Dist.

Decision reviewed: Refused registration by the Film Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Confirm the decision of the Film Censorship Board. (a) Previously shown on September 1984 list. (b) Previously shown on September 1984 list.

Films Board of Review Nil.

-

Novem ber 1984 October 1984 Films Registered W ithout Deletions Films Registered W ithout Deletions

G (For General Exhibition)

G (For General Exhibition)

Sabine K le is t, 7 Jahre: DEFA, E. Germany, 1947.53 m,

The C am el B o y (longer version) (16 mm) (a): Y. Gross,

Sea S a fari (reduced version) (videotape) (a): J. Harding, Australia, 75 mins, Fathom Video " (a) Previously shown on December 1983 list.

Australia, 790 m, Yoram Gross A F rie n d fro m In n e r S pace: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong, 2460 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co. The S p rin g Lake (16 mm): Chiang Gin-Shen, Hong Kong, 1097 m, Chinese Cultural Centre W arm th o f th e O ld H ouse: Not shown, Taiwan, 1173 m, Chinese Cultural Centre

80 — F ebruary-M arch C IN E M A P APERS

Embassy of the German Democratic Republic

NRC (Not Recommended for Children) A m ade us: Orion, U.S.-Czechoslovakia, 4389 m, Hoyts

Dist., Lfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts)

Hal Osborne (Dabney Coleman) lowers his son Davey (Henry Thomas) from the cock­ pit in their escape from the spies aboard the plane. Richard Franklin’s Cloak and Dagger.

Film Censorship Listings

M r. B S a ys No (16 mm): A. Heffernan, Australia; 636 m,

C in d e re lla : F. Genschow, West Germany, 6 8 mins,

Film Victoria, L(i-l-g)

Video Classics C u rly T o p : 20th Century-Fox, U.S., 74 mins, CBS-Fox Video D aleks In v a s io n o f E arth 2150 AD: AARU Prods, Britain, 81 mins, Valley View Video Library The D ark C ry s ta l: J. Henson-G. Kurtz, U.S., 8 8 mins, Valley View Video Library D ark Star: J. Carpenter, U.S., 81 mins, VCL Communi­ cations T he E arth B e neath Me: D. Smith, Australia, 110 mins, Video Classics E lto n J o h n in C e n tra l P a rk N ew Y o rk: O’DonovanMansfield, U.S., 60 mins, Video Classics The F o u r F eathers: N. Rosemont, Britain, 103 mins, Valley View Video Library H a rdly W o rk in g : I. Kantor-J. McNamara, U.S., 89 mins, CBS-Fox Video H a w k in s ’ R ivers: R. Heazlewood, Australia, 48 mins, CBS-Fox Video H eidi: 20th Century-Fox, U.S., 84 mins, CBS-Fox Video Jason and th e A rg o n a u ts : C. Schneer, U.S., 104 mins, Valley View Video Library K a ngaroo — T he A u s tra lia n S to ry : R. Bassler, U.S., 81 mins, CBS-Fox Video A K id fo r T w o F a rth in g s : C. Reed, Britain, 97 mins, Valley View Video Library T he Kid w ith th e B ro ke n Halo: Trans World Entertain­ ment, U.S., 96 mins, Video Classics Last o f th e M ohica ns: Hanna Barbera, U.S., 48 mins, Rigby-Cic Video M o u n ta in Man: C. Seller, U.S., 96 mins, Valley View Video Library The M ushroom E v o lu tio n C o n c e rt: P. Drane, Aus­ tralia, 96 mins, Video Classics R ailw ay C h ild re n : R. Lynn, Britain, 111 mins, Valley View Video Library T he R iddle o f th e S ands: Rank Organization, Britain, 102 mins, Valley View Video Library Shalom : S. Price, U.S., 71 mins, CBS-Fox Video The S ile n t Enem y: B. Osirer, Britain, 112 mins, Video Classics S inbad and th e Eye o f the T ig e r: C. Schneer-R. Harry­ hausen, U.S.-Spain, 112 mins, Valley View Video Library S tar F lig h t One: Nelson-Orgalnic, U.S., 114 mins, Valley View Video Library The T hree M usketeers: A. Salkind, Spain-Britain, 105 mins, Valley View Video Library W hite W ater R ebels: D. Keating, U.S., 90 mins, CBSFox Video

M y H e a rt B e lo n g s to D a ddy: RVQ Prods, The Philip­

pines, 3181.88 m, Raffy Rios, V(i-l-g) P h ila d e lp h ia : New World Pictures, U.S., 2770.43 m,

Roadshow Dist., V(i-m-j), Lfi-l-j) Ready fo r L ove : Gaumont Films, France, 3017.30 m, Filmways A ’asian Dist., 0(sexual innuendo), Lfi-l-j) W ar o f th e P la n e ts (16 mm): Picturemedia, Italy, 943.42 m, Amalgamated 16 mm Film Dist., V(i-l-g) W in d s o f J a rra h (reduced version) (b): Film Corp. of W.A., Australia, 2194.4 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Ofadult concepts), L(i-l-j) T he Y ears T w e n tie s , T he Y e ars T h irtie s (16 mm). Not shown, Poland, 1239.61 m, Consulate-General of the Polish People’s Republic, S(i-l-g) T he Y o u n g H e ro o f S h a o lin : Not shown, Hong Kong, 2743 m, Eupo Film, V(i-l-g) (a) Issued at the direction of the Films Board of Review.

See also under “ Films Board of Review” . (b) Previously shown on July 1983 list.

M (For Mature Audiences) C h ris tie ’ s O rde al By In n o c e n c e : Cannon Group, Britain, 2386.41 m, Hoyts Dist., V(f-l-j), Ofadult concepts) A n d N ow W h a t’ s Y o u r Nam e?: W. Cheung, Hong Kong, 2523 m, Joe Siu Int'l Film Co., S(i-m-j), Ofadult concepts) T he D e v o n s v ille T e rro r: U. Lommel, U.S., 2302 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Ofhorror) J o y o f Sex (a): F. Königsberg, U.S., 2523.56 m, United In ti Pictures Le cadeau: S. Goldwyn, France, 2935 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Ofadult concepts) R a iders o f th e S h a o lin T e m p le (16 mm): J. Wen-Lung, Hong Kong, 987 m, Chinese Cultural Centre, Vff-m-g) A R e scue From H ades (16 mm): R. Young, Hong Kong, 932 m, Chinese Cultural Centre, Ofadult concepts), V(i-l-i) T he R ive r Rat: Paramount, U.S., 2358.98 m, United Int’l Pictures, Vff-m-g), Ofadult concepts) A S o ld ie r’ s S to ry : Columbia, U.S., 2743 m, Fox Columbia Film Dist., Lff-m-j), Vfi-m-j) S u ccess Is T he B e st R evenge: Emerald Films, Britain, 2441.27 m, Communications and Entertainment, Vfi-m-g) T u rn in g P o in t: DEFA, E. Germany, 2770.43 m, Embassy of the German Democratic Republic, Vfi-m-j) Un a m o u r de S w ann (S w ann in Love): Orion, France-W. Germany, 3044 m, A.2. Associated Film Dist., Sfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts) W heels on M eals: Golden Harvest, Hong Kong, 2743 m, Joe Siu Int’l Film Co., Vfi-m-g), Ofadult concepts) T he W ild Life : Art Lindson Prods, U.S., 2605.85 m, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult concepts, sexual allusions) (a) Issued at the direction of the Films Board of Review.

See also under “ Films Board of Review” .

A g a th a

R (For Restricted Exhibition) Rose: Young Sun Prods, Taiwan, 3264 m, Golden Reel Films, Vff-m-g) B lin d Date: Omega Pictures, U.S.-Greece, 2715.57 m, Seven Keys Films, Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) T h e N inja M issio n : VTC Prods, Britain, 2660.71 m, Filmways A’asian Dist., Vff-m-g) T he S h a n g h a i T h irte e n (16 mm): Not shown, Taiwan, 954.39 m, Chinese Cultural Centre, Vff-m-g) ■ B la ck

Films Registered With Deletions Nil.

Films Refused Registration D rille r K ille r (a): Mavaron Films, U.S., 2589 m, 14th Mandolin, Vfi-h-g) E x te rm in a to r 2: Cannon, U.S., 2441 m, Hoyts Dist.,

Vff-h-g) (a) Previously shown on July 1983 list.

Films Board of Review C loak and D a gger (a): Universal, U.S., 2715 m, United

Int’l pictures Decision reviewed: Classify “ M” by Film Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Film Censorship Board to classify "NRC” .

J o y o f Sex (b): R. Königsberg, U.S., 2523.56 m, United Int’l Pictures Decision reviewed: Classify “ R” by Film Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Film Censorship-Board to classify “ M” . (a) Previously shown on September 1984 list. See also under “ Films Registered Without Deletions” (Not Recommended for Children). (b) Previously shown on September 1984 list. See also under “ Films Registered Without Deletions” (For Mature Audiences).

Video W eek Ending 11 May, 1984 G The

A m a zin g

Marvel

S p id e rm a n :

Comics,

U.S.,

60 mins, Cic-Taft Video A n n ie : R. Stark, U.S., 127 mins, Valley View Video

Library T he A ra b ia n A d v e n tu re : J. Dark, Britain, 96 mins,

Valley View Video Library T he A rc h e r a n d th e

^

S o rce re ss :

•

N. Corea, U.S.,

97 mins, Cic-Taft Video Banana S p lits a n d F rie n d s: Hanna Barbera, U.S., 88

mins, Cic-Taft Video

.

PG A irp o rt 80: J. Lang, U.S., 110 mins, Cic-Taft Video,

Vfi-l-g) A nd N ow fo r S o m e th in g C o m p le te ly D iffe re n t: V.

Lownes, Britain, 90 mins, Valley View Video Library 1 A t th e E a rth ’ s Core: J. Black, Britain, 88 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) B a ttle o f M idw ay: W. Mirisch, U.S., 128 mins, Cic-Taft Video, Vfi-m-g) B a ttle S q uadron: D. Lebovic, Britain, 125 mins, VCL Communications, Vfi-m-j) B a ttle s ta r G alactica : J. Dykstra-L. Stevens, U.S., 125 mins, Rigby-Cic Video, Vfi-l-g) Bear Island: P. Snell, Britain-Canada, 120 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) The B e st o f B e nny H ill: J. Robbins-R. Skeggs, Britain, 86 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) The B lue Lag oon: R. Kleiser, U.S., 102 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-l-j) The B rin k s Job: R. Serpe, U.S., 101 mins, Valley View Video Library, L(i-m-g), Vfi-l-g) B road w ay D anny Rose (35 mm): R. Greenhut, U.S., 2304.12 m, Roadshow Home Video, Ofadult concepts) The C aine M u tin y: S. Kramer, U.S., 125 mins, Valley View Video Library C a rrin g to n VC: E. Baird, Britain, 106 mins, Valley View Video Library Catch Me a Spy: Ludgate Films, Britain, 90 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) C h apter Tw o: R. Stark, U.S., 124 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofemotional pitch) C lose E n c o u n te rs o f th e T h ird K ind: J. Phillips-M. Phillips, U.S., 133 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-l-j) Crash o f.F lig h t 401: E. Montagne, U.S., 92 mins, VCL Communications, Ofemotional pitch) E ddie and th e C ruisers: J. Brookes-R. Lipton, U.S., 93 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lfi-l-g) Evil U n der th e Sun: J. Bradbourne-R. Goodwin, Britain, 114 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-l-j) For th e Love of It: Trans World Entertainment, U.S., 98 mins, Video Classics, Ofsexual allusions) Future W ar 198X: Y. Watanabe, Japan, 90 mins, Video Classics, V(f-l-g) G one W ith The Wind: D. Selznick, U.S., 220 mins, Valley View Video Library G re g o ry ’ s G irl: D. Belling-C. Parsons, Britain, 91 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lfi-l-j), Ofnudity) H anky Panky: M. Ransohoff: U.S., 106 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-l-j) H ow to Beat th e H igh C o st of L iv in g : J. Zeitman-R. Kaufman, U.S., 105 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lfi-l-j), Ofsexual allusions) The H u nte d: A. Norman-Leigh, U.S., 77 mins, Syme Home Video, Ofhorror theme) K ram er v s Kram er: S. Jaffe, U.S., 102 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) The Land T h a t T im e F o rg o t: J. Dark, Britain, 91 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-l-g) T he Legend o f th e L on e R anger: W. Coblenz, U.S., 94 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-l-j) M u rd e r by Death: R. Stark, U.S., 91 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofsexual innuendo) N ic h o la s and A le xa n d ra : S. Spiegel, U.S., 187 mins, Valley View Video Library No Sex Please W e’ re B ritis h : J. Sloan, Britain, 92 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofsexual allusions) Ready fo r Love: Gaumont Films, France, 110 mins, Filmways A’asian Dist., Ofsexual innuendo), Lfi-l-j) Rio C o nchos: D. Weisbart, U.S., 103 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-l-g) S e crets o f th e P h anto m C a vern s (35 mm): S. Howard-R. Bailey, U.S., 2468.7 m, Roadshow Home Video, Vfi-m-g) S p irit o f th e Dead: J. Brittany, Britain, 83 mins, VCL Communications, Vfi-m-g) S . P . Y . S : I. Winkler-R. Chartoff, U.S., 102 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-l-g), Ofadult concepts) S u m m er o f M y G erm an S o ld ie r: L. Gottlieb, U.S., 98 mins, Video Classics, Ofadult concepts)

B e a u ty and th e B east: H. Moonjean, U.S., 91 mins,

Valley View Video Library B la ck B e auty: Hanna Barbera, U.S., 48 mins, Cic-Taft Video

1. Code reasons unavailable for films originally classi­ fied before 1972.

S u n b u rn : J. Daly-G. Green, U.S., 98 mins, Valley View

Video Library, Vfi-m-g) Tim : M. Pate, Australia, 107 mins, Valley View Video

Library, Ofadult concepts) Tim e B a ndits: T. Gilliam, Britain, 113 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-l-j) W a te rs h ip D ow n: M. Rosen, Britain, 90 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) The W ay We W ere: R. Stark, U.S., 118 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-l-g) Y e llo w b e a rd : C. De Haven, U.S.-Britain, 101 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-l-j)

M A m erican G igolo: J. Bruckheimer, U.S., 114 mins, Cic-

Taft Video, Lff-m-j), Ofadult concepts) Barbarella: D. De Laurentiis, Italy-France, 97 mins, Rigby-Cic Video The B e astm aster: P. Pepperman, U.S., 118 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Belle de jo u r: R. Hakim-R. Hakim, France, 96 mins, Cic-Taft Video The Best L ittle W h o re h o u s e in Texas: Universal, U.S., 114 mins, Cic-Taft Video, Ofadult concepts) The Boys in th e Band: M. Crowley, U.S., 114 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Lfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts) ' A C hange o f Seasons: M. Ransohoff, U.S., 100 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) C ocaine: One M an’ s P o ison: Trans World Entertain­ ment, U.S., 96 mins, Video Classics, Ofdrug references) C o nvoy: R. Sherman, U.S., 111 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g), Lfi-m-g), Ofdrug references) Creep Show : R. Rubinstein, U.S., 120 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofhorror), Vff-m-g) C ujo: Sunn Classic Pictures, U.S., 91 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofemotional stress) Dem ented: Sandy Cooke Prods, U.S., 91 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) D o n ’t L o o k Now: P. Katz, Britain-ltaly, 110 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g) The D river: L. Gordon, U.S., 90 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) The E lepha nt Man: J. Sange, Britain, 121 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofgrotesque elements) E n dless N ight: L. Gilliat, Britain, 96 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g), Sfi-m-g) F o o lin ’ A ro u n d : A. Kopelson, U.S., 101 mins, VCL Communications, Lff-l-g), Sfi-l-j) Full M oon High: L. Cohen, U.S., 92 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofsexual innuendo) H annie C aulder: P. Curtis, U.S., 85 mins, VCL Com­ munications, Vfi-m-g) H a nover S treet: P. Lazarus, Britain-U.S., 108 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g), Ofadult concepts) H e artbreak Kid: E. Scherick, U.S., 106 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) H e lter S ke lter: Lorimar Prods, U.S., 120 mins, CBSFox Video, Vfi-m-g) H otel New H a m psh ire (35 mm): N. Hartley, U.S., 2907.58 m, Roadshow Home Video, Ofsexual allusions), Vfi-m-j), Lff-m-j) The H o w lin g : Avco Embassy, U.S., 88 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofhorror) Joshua: L. Spangler, U.S., 90 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) Last Rites: K. Van Horn, U.S., 86 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-m-j) L ittle Big Man: S. Millar, U.S., 147 mins, CBS-Fox Video .

A L ittle N ig h t M usic (35 mm): E. Kastner, Austria, 3044.73 m, Roadshow Home Video, Ofadult concepts) Lone W o lf M cQ uade: Orion Pictures, U.S., 104 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) L o o k in g G lass War: J. Box, Britain, 107 mins, Valley View Video Library L o s t and Found: M. Frank, U.S.-Canada, 103 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) .

The L o s t T ribe : G. Hannan-J. Lang, New Zealand, 91 mins, Syme Home Video, Sfi-m-g) Love at F irs t Bite: J. Freeman, U.S., 93 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) M agic: J. Levine-R. Levine, U.S., 106 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-m-g) The Man w ith th e Deadly Lens: R. Brooks, U.S., 117 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) M ark o f th e W itch: Presidio, U.S., 78 mins, Video Classics, Ofhorror) The M issionary: N. Thompson-M. Palin, Britain, 84 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) M onkey G rip: P. Lovell, Australia, 100 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g), Lff-m-j) M onty P y th o n ’ s L ife o f Brian: J. Goldstone, Britain, 95 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) M onty P ython Liv e at th e H o lly w o o d B ow l: Hand Made Films, Britain, 78 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lfi-m-g), Ofsexual allusions) The M o untain Men: M. Schafer-A. Scheinman, U.S., 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-j) M oving O ut: J. Ballantyne-M. Pattinson, Australia.

90 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lfi-m-g), Ofsexual allusions) N a tional L a m p o o n ’s A n im a l House: M. Simmons-I. Reitman, U.S., 109 mins, Cic-Taft Video, Ofadult concepts) N a tional L a m p o o n ’ s V a cation: Warner Bros, U.S., 96 mins, Warner Home Video, Lff-m-g), Ofadult concepts) N e ighb ours: R. Zanuck-D. Brown, U.S., 94 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) O nly W hen I Laugh: R. Rothstein-P. Simon, U.S., 118 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult theme) P a cific Inferno: Euro London Films, Britain-The Philip­ pines, 90 mins, VCL Communications, Vff-m-j) P e ndulum : G. Schaefer, U.S., 117 mins, Valley View Video Library P ink M otel: M. Kour-E. Elbert, U.S., 87 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts), Sff-l-j) Players: R. Evans, U.S., 115 mins, Pioneer Electronics, Sfi-m-g) The P o lte rg e is t: S. Spielberg-F. Marshall, U.S., 114 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofhorror) P riva tes on Parade: S. Relph, Britain, 112 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-g), Ofsexual allusions) Q — The W inged S e rpe nt: L. Cohen, U.S., 91 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-g), Vfi-m-g), Ofhorror) Rio Lob o: H. Hawks, U.S., 112 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vfi-m-g) The R o m a n tic E n g lis h w o m a n : D. Angel, Britain, 112 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) R u nnin g on E m pty: P. Oliver, Australia, 83 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) S ilv e r Dream Racer: R. Dupont, Britain, 109 mins, Pioneer Electronics, Vfi-m-j), Lfi-m-j) S leuth: M. Gottlieb, Britain, 139 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts)

S tanley — E ve ry H om e S h o u ld Have O ne: A. Gaty, Australia, 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofadult concepts) The S tre e t F ig h te r: L. Gordon, U.S., 95 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) S tripes: J. Reitman-D. Goldberg, U.S., 104 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-j), Ofnudity) The St. V a le n tin e 's Day M assacre: R. Corman, U.S., 95 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-m-j) S u m m er Love rs: M. Moder, U.S., 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofnudity), Ofadult concepts) The Sw eeney: T. Childs, Britain, 95 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) S w eene y II: T. Childs, Britain, 104 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) T im es Square: R. Stigwood-J. Brackman, U.S., 108 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lfi-m-j) To K ill a C low n : T. Sills, U.S., 82 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-l-g) A Town Called B a stard: S. Fisz, U.S., 94 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) T riu m p h s of a Man Called Horse: D. Gibson, U.S., 88 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) T w enty-O ne Days in M u n ich : R. Greenwald-F. Von Zerneck, West Germany, 102 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Vfi-m-g) Up th e C reek: M. Meltzer, U.S., 2605.85 m, Roadshow Home Video, Ofsexual allusions) Used Cars: B. Gale, U.S., 110 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-j), Vfi-m-g) V alley G irl: W. Crawford-A. Lane, U.S., 97 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) W atched: J. Parsons, U.S., 97 mins, Vestron Video, Vfi-m-g), Sfi-m-g) W hen a S tra n g e r Calls: D. Chapin-S. Feke, U.S., 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Y oung D o c to rs in Love: ABC Motion Pics, U.S., 95 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-g), Ofsexual concepts)

R B lack Venus: Playboy Enterprises, Britain, 95 mins,

Hoyts Int’l, Sff-m-g) C o nfe ssio n fro m a H o lid ay Cam p: G. Smith, Britain,

90 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sff-m-g) Dead of N ight: R. Clark, U.S., 90 mins, VCL Communi­ cations, Vff-m-g) Death W ish: H. Lauders-R. Roberts, U.S., 91 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g), Lff-m-g) Death W ish II: M Golan-Y. Globus, U.S., 87 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Dem on: L. Cohen, U.S., 90 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-

m -g) D evils

P la yg ro u n d : R. Tegee, U.S., 28 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sff-m-g) D illin g e r: American International, U.S., 105 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Vff-m-g) D racula E xo tica: K. Schwartz, U.S., 77 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sff-m-g) E nter th e Ninja: J. Golan-Y. Globus, U.S., 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) The Evil: E. Charlin, U.S., 85 mins, Syme Home Video, Vff-m-g) Flesh G ord on: H. Ziehn-W. Osco, U.S., 70 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) The Fun house: S. Bernardt-D. Power, U.S., 92 mins, Cic-Taft Video, Vff-m-g), Ofhorror) The G reat Texas D yn a m ite Chase: D. Irving, U.S., 90 mins, Warner Home Video, Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) H a p p y B irth d a y to Me: J. Dunning-A. Link, U.S.-Canada, 108 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vffm-g) Hell N ight: I. Yablans-B. Curtis, U.S., 101 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Hom e S w eet Home: D. Edmonds, U.S . 85 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) H ostage: F. Shields, Australia, 92 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j), Sfi-m-j) The Island: R. Zanuck-D. Brown, U.S., 114 mins, Pakenham Video Library, Vff-m-g) The Island: R. Zanuck-D. Brown, U.S., 114 mins, Pioneer Electronics, Vff-m-g) The Last Detail: G. Ayres, U.S., 103 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g), Lff-m-g) The Last H o rro r Film : D. Winters-J. Hamilton, Britain, 82 mins, VCL Communications, Vff-m-g) M assacre at C e ntral High: H. Sobel, U.S., 84 mins, VCL Communications, Vff-m-g) M id n ig h t Express: A. Marshall-D. Puttnam, Britain, 116 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g), Ofdrug abuse) M id n ig h t Spares: T. Burstall, Australia, 87 mins. Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) The M istress Speaks: Sunshine Video Prods, U.S., 54 mins, Auspania, Ofbondage) New Loo k: International Video Press Prods, France, 57 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-j) The Passage: J. Quested, Britain-U.S., 97 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Prim e Cut: J. Wizan, U.S., 91 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-

m -g) R ichard P ryo r Live in C o n ce rt: D. Jack-J. Travis, U.S.,

76 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-g) Scum : D. Belling-C. Parsons, Britain. 96 mins, Video Classics, 'V(f-m-g) Slavers: J. Goslar, W. Germany, 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) S u nday in th e C o u n try: D. Perimutter, U.S., VCL Com­ munications, Vff-m-g)

X From B e hind : R.H.F. Film Prods, U.S., 84 mins, Showtime Video, Sff-h-g) C e n tre fo ld C e le b ritie s: R. Hollander, U.S., 75 mins, Luhaze, Sff-h-g) Deep Inside A n n ie S p rin k le : H. Howard, U.S., 87 mins, Video Classics, Sff-h-g) The D evil in M iss J o n e s P a rt II (35 mm): J. Bochis, U.S., 2194.4 m, Hoyts Int’l, Sff-h-g) Dream L ove rs: Not shown, U.S., 80 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) E ro tic A e ro b ics: A. Robbins, U.S., 75 mins, Videoforce, Sff-h-g) Inside D esiree C o uste au: Leon Gucci Films, U.S., 90 mins, Venus Video, S(f-h-g)_ . . . I n The Pink: W. Eagle, U.S., 84 mins, Video Classics, Sff-h-g) Kip N oll S u p e rs ta r No. 1: Laguna Pacific, U.S., 114 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Like M o th e r Like D a ughter: Danna Prods, U.S., 76 mins, Showtime Video, Sff-h-g) L ittle G irls B lue P a rt II — A T o u c h o f Blue: W. Dancer, U.S., 83 mins, Videoforce, Sff-h-g) C aught

C IN EM A PAP E R S F ebru ary-M arch — 81

Film Censorship Listings

L o v in g

Lesb os:

Not shown, U.S., 55 mins, Venus

Video, S(f-h-g) L u s ty L ad ies V o l. 5: Film Collectors Assoc., U.S.,

60 mins, Venus Video, S(f-h-g) L u s ty L a d ie s V o l. 6 : Film Collectors Assoc., U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, S(f-h-g) N asty G irls: J. George, U.S., 72 mins, Videoforce, S(f-h-g) N a ughty G irls N eed L o ve T oo : S. Winters, U.S., 96 mins, Video Classics, Sff-h-g) On W h ite S a tin: Ultaus, U.S., 73 mins, Videoforce, S(f-h-g) People: G. Damiano, U.S., 86 mins, Video Classics, S(f-h-g) P riva te Tea cher: Not shown, U.S., 80 mins, Caballero Home Video, S(f-h-g) Real E state: Gourmet Video. U.S., 60 mins, Auspania, S(f-h-g) R o cking w ith Seka: Z. Zigowitz, U.S., 77 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) R olls R oyce V o lu m e I: P.R. Prods, U.S., 48 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, S(f-h-g) R o lls R oyce V o lum e II: P.R. Prods, U.S., 48 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, S(f-h-g) R o lls R oyce V o lu m e V: P.R. Prods, U.S., 60 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) The S even S e d u ctio n s: A. Lin, U.S., 8 6 mins, Video­ force, Sff-h-g) S u m m er o f Sin (35 mm): Elite Film, W. GermanySwitzerland, 2468.7 m, Filmways A'asian Dist., S(i-h-g) S w e d ish E ro tica V o l. 48: Not shown, 60 mins, Caballero Home Video, S(f-h-g) S w eet A lice : A. Robbins, U.S., 72 mins, Videoforce, S(f-h-g) T ig re sse s and o th e r M an-E aters: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Video Classics, S(f-h-g) T w ic e A V irg in : L. Burton, U.S., 83 mins, Venus Video, S(f-h-g) U lta us — S a m ple P review : V.C.X., U.S., 33 mins, Videoforce, Sff-h-g) W in n in g S troke: Pink Video, U.S., 67 mins, 14th Mandolin, Sff-h-g)

Refused Classification Nil.

W eek Ending 18 May 1984 G D avid B o w ie — S e rio u s M o o n lig h t: A. Eaton, U.S.,

90 mins, Video Classics F lyin g L e a th e rn e cks: Republic, U.S., 102 mins, Video Classics The G rea test H eroes o f th e B ib le — Jo s e p h and His B ro th e rs: Cormford-Symonds, U.S., 50 mins, Video

Classics A N ig h t in C asablanca: D. Loew, U.S., 85 mins, Video

Classics R e turn E n gagem ent: M. Wise-F. Levy, U.S., 72 mins,

Video Classics The R u tles: L. Michaels, Britain, 71 mins, Roadshow

Home Video S u p e rb u g on Extra T o u r: R. Zehetgruber, West Ger­

For Y o u r Eyes O nly: United Artists, Britain, 126 mins, Warner Home Video, V(f-m-g) H igh B a llin ’ : J. Sian, U.S., 100 mins, Roadshow Home Video, V(i-m-g), Ofadult concepts) Last C a nnib al W orld: Erre Cinematographies, Italy, 88 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-m-g) M afia W arfare: R. Danon, France-ltaly, 101 mins, Video Classics, V(f-m-g) M oon s h in e C o u n ty E xpress: E. Carlin, U.S., 95 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vfi-m-g) M r M ik e ’s M ondo V ideo: M. O’Donoghue, U.S., 75 mins, Video Classics, Ofadult concepts) S e rpico: M. Bregman, U.S., 127 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g), Lff-m-g), Ofadult concepts) The S tar C ham ber: F: Yablans, U.S., 106 mins, CBSFox Video, Vff-m-g), Lff-m-g).

S vengali: R. Halmi, U.S., 95 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Ofadult concepts)

R B lack C h ristm as: R. Clark, Canada, 98 mins, Paken-

ham Video Library, Vff-m-g), Lff-m-g) D orm th a t D ripped B lood: J. Obrow, U.S., 84 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) F an tasm C o m es A g a in : A. Ginnane, Australia, 90 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) Lo o se S hoes: J. Chernoff, U.S., 73 mins, Video Classics, Lff-m-g), Ofsexual allusions) N ig h t o f th e J u g g le r: J. Weston, U.S., 96 mins, VCL Communications, Vff-m-g), Lff-m-g) S alon K itty : G. Sparigia-E. Donati, Italy, 120 mins, VCL Communications, Sff-m-g) Savage C o n n e c tio n : A. Weber, U.S., 75 mins, Blake Films, Sff-m-g) Scream fo r V engeance: Manson International, U.S., 88 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) S lave fo r C a nnib al G od: L. Martino, Italy, 97 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) S u dden Im pa ct: Warner Bros, U.S., 115 mins, Warner Home Video, Vff-m-g) The Texa s C h ainsa w M assacre: T. Hooper, U.S., 83 mins, Filmways A ’asian Dist., Vff-m-g), Ofhorror) U n hing ed: D. Gronquist, U.S., 76 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vfi-m-g) V irg in s on th e Run: E. Dietrich, Switzerland, 85 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) The

X A ll A b o u t G lo ria Leo nard: M. Howard, U.S., 72 mins,

Video Classics, Sff-h-g) B a llin g fo r D o lla rs: Not shown, Caballero Home Video, Sff-h-g)

Home Video, Sff-h-g) Home Video, S(i-h-g), Vfi-h-g) The E x h ib itio n is ts : L. Cole, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) E xplode: L. Cole, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) H o lly w o o d C o n fid e n tia l, V o l. 3, S e c re ts o f S tage Five: Producers Concepts, U.S., 6 8 mins, VIP Video

Cinema, Sff-h-g) H ot C h ocola te: JV Prods, U.S., 84 mins, Venus Video,

Sff-h-g) H uge II: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Int’I Le Salon,

Sff-h-g)

PG

Sff-h-g)

The B ird s: Universal Pictures, U.S., 120 mins, Rigby-

CIC Video, V(i-m-j) B itte r H arvest: Trans World Entertainment, U.S., 94 mins, Video Classics, 0(adult theme) C loud D ancer: Melvin Simon Prods, U.S., 102 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Vfi-l-j) E lepha nt Parts: K. Nesmith, U.S., 60 mins, Video Classics, 0(adult concepts) G rea test H eroes o f th e B ib le — Jo s h u a at J e ric h o :

Cormford-Symonds, U.S., 58 mins, Video Classics, V(i-m-g) K e nny R ogers as th e G am bler: Trans World Entertain­ ment, U.S., 95 mins, Video Classics, 0(adult theme) K in g o f C o m ed y: Embassy International, U.S., 108 mins, Thorn EMI Video, 0(adult theme) The Lady V a nishes: T. Sachs, Britain, 99 mins, Pioneer Electronics, V(i-m-g) The Man W ho W ou ld Be K ing: J. Foreman, Britain, 127 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofsexual innuendo), V(i-m-g) Moses: V. Labella, Italy-Britain, 137 mins, CBS-Fox Video, V(i-m-g) O cto p u ssy: A. Broccoli, U.S., 127 mins, Warner Home Video, V(f-l-j) O liv e r T w ist: T. Childs-N. Ramsey, Britain, 103 mins, Filmways A ’asian Dist., Vfi-m-j) Red M onarch: G. Benson, Britain, 103 mins, Filmways A’asian Dist., L(i-m-j), 0(aduit concepts) Sahara: M. Golan-Y. Globus, U.S., 100 mins, Fox­ Columbia Film Dist., Vff-l-j), S(i-m-j) S h e ’s D ressed to K ill: Trans World Entertainment, U.S., 98 mins, Video Classics, V(i-m-g) The S h o o tis t: W. Self-M. Frankovich, U.S., 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, V(i-m-g) The S ign o f Four: Mapleton Films, Britain, 100 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Vfi-l-j) S ta c y 's K n ig h ts: Locktov-Sweet, U.S., 90 mins, Video Classics, S(i-l-g), V(i-l-g), O(gambling) The S tin g II: J. Lang, U.S., 99 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Vfi-l-g), Ofsexual allusions) M A sh a n ti: G. Vuille, Switzerland, 118 mins, Valley View

Video Library, V(i-m-g), S(i-m-g) B lo o d su cke rs: G. Harris, Britain, 87 mins, VCL Communications, V(i-m-g) B reako ut: I. Winkler-R. Chartoff, U.S., 94 mins, Valley View Video Library, V(i-m-g) C a lifo rn ia S u ite: R. Stark, U.S., 101 mins, Valley View Video Library, 0(adult concepts) Che: S. Bartlett, U.S., 91 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-m-j) C o untrym an: C. Blackwell, U.S., 101 mins, Video Classics, V(f-m-g), L(i-m-g) The C razies: A. Croft, U.S., 100 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) The D e v o n s v ille T e rro r: U. Lommel, U.S., 84 mins, Filmways A’asian Dist., O(horror) Fast T a lk in g : R. Matthews, Australia, 94 mins, Filmways A’asian Dist., Ofadult concepts), L(f-m-j)

60 mins,

C aligula: Penthouse Films Int., U.S., 143 mins, Palace

many, 96 mins, Filmways A’asian Dist.

R ides A g a in : R. Zehetgruber, West Germany-Portugal, 91 mins, Filmways A’asian Dist.

UFO S yn dro m e: Martin-Strock, U.S., 92 mins, Video Classics S u p e rb u g

U.S.,

C a lifo rn ia G irls: Caballero, U.S., 60 mins, Caballero

Kam a S utra: T. Malik, U.S., 58 mins, Video Classics,

Sff-h-g) Love L e tte rs : L. Cole, U.S., 90 mins, Variety Video,

Sff-h-g) N e tw o rk Sex: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, The P o w er o f N icole: L. Cole, U.S., 90 mins, Variety

Video, Sff-h-g) Sham eless: L. Cole, U.S., 90 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) S u p e rs ta rs — Seka: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Caballero Home Video, Sff-h-g) S w edish E rotica Vol. 49 (H ot on Her T rail): Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Caballero Home Video, Sff-h-g) Untam ed: H. Lime, U.S., 87 mins, Videoforce, Sff-h-g) W ham Bam T h a n k You S pacem an: W. Levey, U.S., 90 mins, Showtime Video, Sff-h-g) The Y o u n g O lym pian s: Laguna Pacific Ltd, U.S., 90 mins, Venus Video, S(f-h-g)

Refused Classification Nii.

W eek Ending 25 May 1984 G A m erican C h ristm a s C arol: J. Slan-S. Chase, U.S.,

96 mins, Syme Home Video Fatty Finn: B. Rosen, Australia, 91 mins, Syme Home Video Jedda: C. Chauvel, Australia, 85 mins, Syme Home Video O a ris tid a s ke ta k o ritis ia to u : S. Pantazis, Greece, 89 mins, DDK Video Entertainment O psarogianos: S. Pantazis, Greece, 96 mins, DDK Video Entertainment Pleasure Palace: Marble Arch Prods, U.S., 91 mins, Syme Home Video Ta p alikaria tis pan drias: S. Pantazis, Greece, 70 mins, DDK Video Entertainment To rom a nzo m ias kam arieras: S. Pantazis, Greece, 73 mins, DDK Video Entertainment The Wild Pony: E. Lishman, U.S., 84 mins, Syme Home Video

PG An A u d ie n c e w ith M el B ro o k s : London Weekend Tele­

vision, Britain, 59 mins, Syme Home Video, Lfi-l-g) Beat S tre e t (35 mm): D. Picker-H. Belafonte, U.S., 2907 m, Roadshow Home Video, Lff-l-j) B udo — A rt o f Killing: H. Masuda, Japan, 85 mins, Syme Home Video, Vff-l-j) Com e Die W ith Me: Dan Curtis Prods, U.S., 6 6 mins, Syme Home Video, Vfi-l-j) The D elta F actor: T. Garnett, U.S., 90 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-m-g) The D e m on s o f L u d lo w : W. Rebane, U.S., 89 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-l-g), Ofhorror) The G rey Fox: P. Borsos-B. Healey, Canada, 89 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-m-g)

82 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

The H o und o f th e B a s k e rv ille s : O. Plaschkas, Britain,

117 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Vfi-l-j) Love S tory: H. Minsky, U.S., 95 mins, Rigby-Cic Video, Lff-l-g), Ofadult theme) N ightm a re at 43 H illc re s t: D. Curtis, U.S., 6 6 mins, Syme Home Video, Ofadult theme) A N ig h t O ut in L o n d o n w ith C annon and B all: P. Abbey-L. Mansfield-S. Littlewood, Britain, 66 mins, Syme Home Video, Lfi-l-g) The Next One: C. Vlachakis, Greece, 100 mins, All Media Enterprises, Lfi-l-g), Ofemotional concepts) O thello : M. Boulois, U.S., 102 mins, Syme Home Video, Vfi-m-j) Reggae S u n sp la sh II: Stephen Paul Prods, U.S., 105 mins, Palace Home Video, Ofdrug use) The R ight S tu ff: The Ladd Company, U.S., 193 mins, Warner Home Video, Ofadult concepts) To xen a d h io to n d ie fta rm e n o n : S. Pantazis, Greece, 80 mins, DDK Video Entertainment, Sfi-m-j) W illie Nelson and F am ily in C o n c e rt: Opera House Prods, U.S., 8 8 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Ofdrug references) Z elig: R. Greenhunt, U.S., 77 mins, Warner Home Video, Ofadult concepts) M A d v e n tu re s o f a P riva te Eye: P. Long-S. Long, Britain,

92 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) The P lains of Heaven: J. Cruthers, Australia, 80 mins, Syme Home Video, Lfi-m-g) The P riso ner: W. McAdam, Canada, 70 mins, Video Classics, Vff-l-j), Ofemotional stress) R euben, R euben: Taft Entertainment Co., U.S., 98 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Ofadult concepts) The W itc h in g : S. Caplan-G. March, U.S., 85 mins, Video Classics, Ofhorror)

R C aligula: Penthouse Films Int’I, U.S., 143 mins, Paken-

ham Video Library, Sff-m-g), Vff-m-g) Eaten A live : Dania Film, Italy, 85 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) E le c tric B lue 14: Scripglow, Britain, 59 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) A G uide to M aking Love : Guide Protections, U.S., 60 mins, Palace Home Video, Ofsexual education) Heavy T ra ffic : S. Krantz, U.S., 74 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Sff-m-g), Ofadult concepts) H ell B e hind B ars (35 mm): SMPC Rome, Italy, 2468.7 m, Hoyts Dist., Vfi-m-g), Sff-m-g) H ot Legs (35 mm): Caribbean Films, N.V., U.S., 1920.1 m, AZ Assoc. Film Dist., Sff-m-g) Island of P e rversio n: N. Mastorakis, Greece, 103 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g), Ofhorror) The K e n tu c k y F ried M ovie: R. Weiss, U.S., 84 mins, Video Classics, Sfi-m-g), Ofsexual allusions) Love, L u s t and Ecstasy: Andromeda Int’l Film, Greece, 80 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) P roject: K ill: D. Sheldon, The Philippines, 90 mins, Syme Home Video, Vff-m-g) Q uerelle: D. Schidor, W. Germany, 106 mins, Syme Home Video, Lff-m-j), Ofsexual concepts), Sfi-m-j) . S w edish Sex S e rvice: Elito Film Prod., W. Germany, 85 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) Three S w edish G irls in H am burg: O. Retzer, W. Germany, 89 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g)

X A w o l: Ramrod Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video,

Sff-h-g) B i-se xual Fantasies: Maverick Video, U.S., 60 mins,

Venus Video, Sff-h-g) C entrespread G irls: H. Lime, U.S., 93 mins, Caballero

Home Video, Sff-h-g) A D irty W estern: M. Darrin, U.S., 70 mins, Auspania,

Sff-h-g) E. Erastes: S. Pantazis, Greece, 83 mins, DDK Video

Entertainment, Sff-h-g) Everhard: Ramrod Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video,

E xp erience P re fe rre d B u t N o t E sse n tia l: C. Griffin,

Britain, 74 mins, Palace Home Video, Ofadult concepts) M urd er F or Sale: M. Dannon, Italy, 110 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vfi-l-g) M T im e, A n o th e r Place: S. Perry, Britain, 100 mins, Palace Home Video, Ofadult concepts), Sfi-m-j) The C lones: P. Hunt, U.S., 86 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vff-m-g) The D ra u g h ts m a n ’ s C o n tra ct: D. Payne, Britain, 106 mins, Palace Home Video, Ofadult concepts, sexual allusions) E ddie M a co n ’s Run: L. Stroller, U.S., 93 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Vfi-m-g) The Gay D e ceivers: J. Solomon, U.S., 87 mins, Video Classics, Ofadult concepts) H am m er O f God: Enchanted Film Arts, Hong Kong, 87 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vff-m-g) The H aw k A n d T he Dove: Morattii-Spagnvold, Italy, 93 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vfi-m-g), Sfi-m-g) Heat A n d D ust: Merchant Ivory Prods, Britain, 129 mins, Palace Home Video, Ofadult concepts) The House On S o ro rity Row: J. Clark-M. Rosman, U.S., 89 mins, Palace Home Video, Vff-m-g) The L o rd s o f D is c ip lin e : H. Jaffe-G. Katzka, U.S., 101 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Lfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) N ig h tm a re s: C. Crowe, U.S., 98 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Vfi-m-g), Ofhorror) The P lo u g h m a n ’s L u n ch : S. Relph-A. Scott, Britain, 105 mins, Palace Home Video, Sfi-l-g), Lfi-l-g) P riva te S ch ool: B. Ephrain-D. Enright, U.S., 8 8 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Ofnudity, adult concepts) S tre a m e rs (35 mm): R. Altman-N. Mileti, U.S., 3236m, Roadshow Dist., Lff-m-g), Vfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts) S u per Dude: T. Sewell, U.S., 80 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vff-m-g) A n o th e r

R A n g e l O f V e ngeance : Navaron Films, U.S., 80 mins,

Warner Home Video, Vff-m-g) B o ilin g P o int: Cowboy Prods, U.S., 71 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) B o ndage P leasures V o l. I: 4 Play Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Ofbondage) B o ndage P leasures V o l. II: 4 Play Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Ofbondage) B ox Car B e rtha: American International, U.S., 8 8 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Vfi-m-g) C a lig ula: The U n to ld S to ry: Metaxa Corp., U.S., 95 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g), Vff-m-g) The D e vil In M iss Jo n e s P a rt II: J. Bochis, U.S., 80 mins, Hoyts Int’l, Sff-m-g) Frida y 13th Part III: F. Mancuso, U.S., 94 mins, CICTaft Video, Vff-m-g) Lan guage o f Love: I. Ivarson, Sweden, 103 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-j) Legacy o f Satan: L. Parish, U.S., 71 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vfi-m-g) M ara schino C h erry: M. Berman, U.S., 77 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) S a turday N ig h t Fever: R. Stigwood, U.S., 115 mins, Rigby-CIC Video, Lff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) The S ca vengers: R. Creese, U.S., 8 8 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) The S layer: W. Ewing, U.S., 80 mins, Palace Home Video, Vfi-m-g) S u p e rsta rs O f Sex P a rt I: B. Byron, U.S., 60 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) The S w itch : S. Ginsberg-P. Kares, U.S., 97 mins, 14th Mandolin, Sff-m-g) Teenage Sex K itte n : Superbitch Prods, U.S., 58 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) T h e y ’ re P layin g W ith Fire (35 mm): H. Avedis-M. Schmidt, U.S., 2578 m, Roadshow Dist., Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) Three On A M eathook: J. Asman-L. Jones, U.S., 67 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vff-m-g)

S(f-h-g) Insatiable: Miracle Films, U.S., 73 mins, Blake Films,

- Sff-h-g) The J o y of L e ttin g Go: Summer Brown Prods, U.S.,

81 mins, Blake Films, Sff-h-g) L u sty Ladies, Vol. 1: Film Collectors Assoc., U.S., 90 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) M o u th fu ll: Ramrod Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) N asty N urses: Caribbean Films, U.S., 83 mins, Caballero Home Video, Sff-h-g) O bject of D esire: Trans World Prods, U.S., 77 mins, Blake Films, Sff-h-g) S u perstars — B rid g e tte : Caballero, U.S., 80 mins, Caballero Home Video, Sff-h-g) Tongue: J and A Prods, U.S., 85 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) .

T w o Large to H andle: Ramrod Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g)

Refused Classification Nil.

Week Ending 1 June 1984 G C u ltu re C lub: A K iss A c ro s s T he O cean: Keefco

Prods, Britain, 60 mins, Video Classics Heckle and J e c k le (Vol. 1): Terrytoons, U.S., 50 mins,

Video Classics The Hoax: R. Anderson, U.S., 86 mins, 14th Mandolin M ighty M ouse: Terrytoons, U.S., 50 mins, Video

Classics M ighty M ouse: The G reat S pace C hase: D. Christen­ sen, U.S., 88 mins, Palace Home Video Race A t Dawn: N. Holt, U.S., 95 mins, 14th Mandolin T op Cat: Hanna Barbera, U.S., 45 mins, CIC-Taft Video W o rld o f M ystery: Delineator Films, U.S., 93 mins, Video Classics

PG A n d ro id : M. Fisher, U.S., 78 mins, Palace Home Video,

Vfi-m-g), Ofnudity) A n d Y o u r Nam e Is J ona h: S. Ruben-N. Felton, U.S.,

96 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Ofemotional stress) China Rose: R. Halmi, U.S., 96 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Ofadult concepts)

X M. Hunter, W. Germany, 87 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Baby Blue: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 73 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) The B a b ysitte r: G. Carey, U.S., 60 mins, Auspania, Sff-h-g) Bad Dreams: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 87 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) B a throom F ucking: COQ Int’l, Denmark, 26 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) C a llb oy Sperm a: SOQ Int’l, Denmark, 25 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) D inner W ith Sam antha: J. Genera, U.S., 80 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) A ll A m erican G irls, O h B e a u tifu l:

D irty M ovies: M o rn in g 3-S om e and M o rt Take s A D ive: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) G e ttin g O ff: M. Weldon, U.S., 73 mins, Auspania,

Sff-h-g) G e ttin g O ff: M. Weldon, U.S., 73 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) E ro tisch e D im ension en 9: Happystar Verlag, W. Germany, 60 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) E ro tisch e D im e n sio n e n 12: Happystar Verlag, W. Germany, 61 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) G igan t O rga sm us: COQ Int’l, Denmark, 27 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) H ot D allas N ights: J. Orynski-V. O’Dell, U.S., 60 mins, Showtime Video, Sff-h-g) L e s b is c h e E s k a p a d e n : H appystar Verlag, W. Germany, 27 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Lesb isch e V o tzchen : Happystar Verlag, W. Germany, 22 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) L u sty L ad ies Vol II: FCA, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) L u s ty Lad ie s Vol III: FCA, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) L u sty Lad ies V o l IV: FCA, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) M anhattan C a llg irls : M. Hunter, W. Germany, 76 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) M is b e h a v in ’ : R. Sumner, U.S., 90 mins, Video Classics, Sff-h-g) ;f_ . My W ay: L. Cole, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) The P e rils O f P rune lla : Gold Medal, U.S., 58 mins, Auspania, Ofbondage), Sfi-h-g) P in k F la m in g o s (16 mm): J. Waters, U.S., 1042.15 m, Newvision Film Dist, Sfi-h-g) P o w e rg irls: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 84 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) R o lls R oyce V o l. 1: Not shown, U.S., 48 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g)

Film Censorship Listings

Sensations: A. Ferro, W. Germany, 88 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, S(f-h-g) Sex Maniacs: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 83 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, S(f-h-g) Sex Show (Teeny Love and Sexy Hascherl): Imperial Video, W. Germany, 27 mins, Auspania, S(f-h-g) Sin Dreamer: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 86 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, S(f-h-g) Summer Heat: C. McCabe-J. McCabe, U.S., 60 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, S(f-h-g) Teenage Climax (Nos. 411, 1502, 1503, 1504, 1505, 1506): Not shown, Denmark, 60 mins, Auspania, Sff-h-g) 3 Beauties and A Maid: Lipstick Prods, U.S., 60 mins, Balesarn, S(f-h-g) Vipern in leder: Onyx Film, W. Germany, 56 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, S(f-h-g) W omen's Fantasy: Gourmet Video, U.S., 56 mins, Auspania, S(f-h-g)

Refused Classification Nil.

Two W eeks Ending 15 June 1984 G Aladdin: J. Image, France, 70 mins, Tag Video A Dog of Flanders: R. Radnitz, U.S., 96 mins, Filmways A’asian Dist.

The Elves and The Shoemaker: H. Schlonger, U.S., 74 mins, 14th Mandolin Endless Summer: B Brown, U.S., 90 mins, Video Classics Gumby Adventures (Vol. 1): Family Home Entertain­ ment, U.S., 50 mins, Video Classics H.R.H. Prince of Wales: Not shown, Britain, 28 mins, Tag Video Joe and The Sleeping Beauty: J. Image, France, 62 mins, Tag Video Joe at the Kingdom of The Ants: J. Image, France, 62 mins, Tag Video The L ittle Convict: Y. Gross, Australia, 80 mins, Video Classics Misty: R. Radnitz, U.S., 91 mins, Filmways A'asian Dist.

Paul Sim on’s Special: L. Michaels, U.S., 47 mins, Palace Home Video Popeye (Wild West): King Features Entertainment, U.S., 60 mins, Video Classics Sarah (The Seventh Match): Y. Gross, Australia, 70 mins, Video Classics Trail Street: RKO, U.S., 80 mins, Video Classics

PG Bedlam: RKO, U.S., 76 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-l-g) Drummer of Vengeance: R. Paget, Italy, 75 mins, Video Classics, V(f-l-j) The Earthling: Earthling Prod., Australia, 100 mins, Roadshow Home Video, Ofemotional stress) Fury on Wheels: Cannon, U S., 97 mins, Video Classics, V(i-m-g) A Matter of Time: G. Sbarigia-S. Arkoff, Italy, 101 mins, Filmways A'asian Dist., 0(adult concepts) Moonraker: United Artists, U.S., 126 mins, Warner Home Video, V(i-l-g), Sfi-l-g) Seven Commandments of Kung Fu: A. Wong, Hong Kong, 90 mins, CBS-Fox Video, V(f-l-j) The Seven Grandmasters: Hong Hwa Film, Hong Kong, 90 mins, CBS-Fox Video, V(f-l-j) 67 Days: S. Petrovic, Britain, 114 mins, VCL Communi­ cations, V(f-l-j) The Trojan Women: M. Cacoyannis-A. Nohra, Britain, 102 mins, Filmways A'asian Dist., 0(adult concepts) The Two W orlds of Jenny Logan: P. Radin, U.S., 99 mins, Video Classics, 0(adult concepts) Wizards: R. Bakshi, U.S., 80 mins, CBS-Fox Video, V(i-l-g) M Altered States: Warner Bros, U.S., 103 mins, Warner Home Video, Ofadult themes) An O fficer and a Gentleman: Paramount-Lorimar, U.S., 124 mins, CIC-Taft Video; S(i-m-j), V(i-m-j), Lfi-m-j) Boardwalk: G. Herrod, U.S., 95 mins, CIC-Taft Video, V(i-m-i) Caddyshack: Orion Pictures, U.S., 96 mins, Warner Home Video, S(i-m-j) A Cry fo r Love: S. Sacks, U.S., 98 mins, Video Classics, Ofadult themes) Cry For Me Billy: H. Matofsky, U.S., 92 mins, CBS-Fox Video, V(i-m-g) C utter’s Way: Gurian Enterprises, U.S., 105 mins, Warner Home Video, Lff-m-j), Ofsexual innuendo) The End: United Artists. U.S., 100 mins, Warner Home Video, S(i-l-g), L(f-m-g) Every Which Way But Loose: Warner Bros, U.S., 101 mins, Warner Home Video, V(i-m-g), Ofsexual allusion), L(f-m-g) Excalibur: J. Boorman, U.S., 137 mins, Warner Home Video, V(f-m-j), Sfi-m-j) Fantasies: Casselman-McMullan Prod., U S.-Greece, mins, CBS-Fox Video, O(nudity) Hollywood Hot Tubs (35 mm): Manson Int’l, U.S., 2743 m, Hoyts Dist., Ofadult concepts, nudity) Le saut de I’ange: R. Baum, France, 90 mins, Video Classics The Long Riders: United Artists, U.S., 100 mins, Warner Home Video, V(f-m-j) __ 1941: B. Feitshans, U.S., 114 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Vfi-m-g), Ofsexual innuendo) The Night They Robbed Big Bertha’s: P. Kares, U.S., 8 8 mins, 14th Mandolin, Ofadult theme) O rd ina ry People: Wildwood Enterprises, U.S., 121 mins, Rigby-CIC Video, Lfi-m-j) Psycho II: H. Green, U.S., 110 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Vff-m-i) The Rebel o f Shaolin: Li Chi Hsin, Hong Kong, 90 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-m-g) Reuben, Reuben: Taft Entertainment Co., U.S., 98 mins, Fox-Columbia Film Dist., Ofadult concepts) Rollerball: UnitedArtists, U.S., 123 mins, Warner Home Video, Vfi-m-g) ; Smokey and the Bandit III: M. Engelberg, U.S., 87 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Vff-m-g) So Fine: M. Lobell, U.S., 89 mins, Warner Home Video, L(f-m-g), Sfi-l-g) S till of the Night: United Artists, U.S., 91 mins, Warner Home Video, Ofadult concepts), Vfi-m-j)

86

Ten Tigers of Shaolin: Chen Kai Ming, Hong Kong, 90-mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-m-j), Ofnudity)

R

W eek Ending 22 June 1984

Australia Laughs: Image Concepts, Australia, 61 mins, Video Classics, Ofadult concepts), Lff-h-g) Butterflies: Monarex, W. Germany-U.S., 74 mins, Caballero Home Video: S(f-m-g) Dirty Harry: Warner Bros, U.S., 99 mins, Warner Home Video, Vff-m-g) The Enforcer: R. Daley, U.S., 93 mins, Warner Home Video, Vff-m-g) The Exorcist: W. Blatty, U.S., 115 mins, Warner Home Video, O(horror), Vff-m-g) Friday the 13th: S. Cunningham, U.S., 91 mins, Warner Home Video, Vff-m-g) I, the Jury: R. Solo, U.S., 107 mins, Warmer Home Video, Vff-m-g), Sff-m-g) Magnum Force: Warner Bros, U.S., 115 mins, Warner Home Video, Vff-m-g) Mary! Mary!: B. Morris, U.S., 65 mins, Video Classics, S(f-m-g) Night of the Zombies: Beatrice Films, Italy-Spain, 98 mins, Palace Home Video, Vff-m-g) The Postman Always Rings Twice: B. Raffelson, U.S., 121 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) Virgin Campus (Passion Flower Hotel): A. Brauner, Britain, 76 mins, Video Classics, Sfi-m-g)

G

X Aggressive Women: Erotic Dimensions, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Dist., S(f-h-g) Boy Pourri: Light'n Rod Prods, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Boys of Holland: Erotica Film, The Netherlands, 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Burning Wild: TJ, U S., 60 mins, Hallmark Video, Sff-h-g) Carnal’s Cuties: L. Lazy, U.S., 60 mins, Hallmark Video, Sff-h-g) China Sisters: Essex, U.S., 76 mins, Blake Films, Sff-h-g) Computer Girls: Lipstick Prods, U.S., 90 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) Dirty Movies Vol. D: Not shown, U.S:, 60 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) Erotische Dimensionen 11: Happystar Verlag, W. Germany, 62 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Erotische Dimensionen 14: Happystar Verlag, W. Germany, 62 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Fast Cars and Fast Women: Esses, U.S., 71 mins, Blake Films, Sff-h-g) Forbidden Portraits: Hawk Prods, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) French Love: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 90 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Fulfilled: Erotic Dimensions, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Dist., Sff-h-g) Georgia Peach: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Hallmark Video, Sff-h-g) High Riders: Pan Prods, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video.

Sff-h-g) Horse Video Vol. I: TGA, U.S., 88 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) I Never Say No: Atom Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Intimate Moments: S. Kaye-R. Fore, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Joe Rock Superstar: ABS Prods, U.S., 83 mins, Balesarn, S(f-h-g) Las Vegas Maniacs: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 112 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Liebesgefluster: L. Braun, W. Germany, 68 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Love Games: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Hallmark Video, Sff-h-g) Magnum G riffin — Male Erotica Vol. I: Magnum Studio, U.S., 60 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) The Meat Rack: A. Rice-F. Cray, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Men of the Midway: Marathon Films-Rod and Reel Films, U.S., 90 mins, Int’l Le Salon, Sff-h-g) Mr. Footlong Encounters: Hawk Prods, W. Germany, 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Perverse Sex — Spiele: M. Hunter, W. Germany, 91 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Pretty as You Feel: Atom Video, U.S.. 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Rear Action Girls: B. Seven, U.S., 90 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Real Estate: Gourmet Video Collection, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Ripe: Erotic Dimensions, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Dist., Sff-h-g) RX fo r Sex: Atom Video, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Sappho Sextet: D. Martin, U.S., 90 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Sex as You Like It: Charismah Prods, U.S., 60 mins, Hallmark Video, Sff-h-g) Sexboat: D. Frazer-Svetlana, U.S., 73 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Sizzle: P. Sjostedt, W. Germany, 80 mins, W.B. and J. E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Sling Parts I and II, Erotic Hands I: Homo Special, U.S.. 60 mins, City East Newsagency, Sff-h-g) Snow Honeys: Snowflake Films, U.S., 80 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) Street Girls of New York: F. Hinez, U.S., 60 mins, Hall­ mark Video, Sff-h-g) Sunset Strip Girls: TRS Prods, U.S., 60 mins, Hallmark Video, Sff-h-g) Sweet Taste of Honey: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) Teenage Bikers: Frater, U.S., 60 mins, Hallmark Video, Sff-h-g) U.S.D.A. Choice: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Video Vixens: Fore Play, U.S., 85 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) The Water People: Action X Video, U.S., 60 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) Woman Times 4: Lipstick Video, U.S., 86 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) The X Team: JV Prods, U.S., 84 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Young Bloods: R. Wills, U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Young Cum: COQ Int’l, Denmark, 48 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g)

The White Lions: P. Freeman-H. Lipstone, U.S., 97 mins. Syme Home Video

PG And Baby Makes Six: S. List-K. Hoffman, U.S., 97 mins. Syme Home Video, Ofadult concepts) ' Ants: Panic at Lakewood Manor: P. Nelson, U.S., 95 mins. Syme Home Video, Vfi-m-g) Doomwatch: A. Tenser. Britain, 92 mins, Tag Video, Vfi-m-g) A Long Way Home: L. Otto, U.S., 97 mins. Syme Home Video, Ofemotional concepts) Safari Rally: H. Muturi-ltalvision, Italy, 92 mins. 14th Mandolin. Vfi-l-j) Song of the Succubus: L. Savadore. U.S.. 60 mins, Syme Home Video, Vfi-l-g)

M The Atlantis Interceptors: Regency Prods, U.S., 89 mins. Filmways A'asian Dist., Vff-m-g) Beast in the Cellar: J. Kelly. Britain, 90 mins. Tag Video, Vff-m-g) Eye of the Needle: S. Friedman, Britain, 112 mins, Warner Home Video, Vfi-m-j), S(i-m-j) Howlings of a W inter’s Night: R. Wadsack-J. Wilson, U.S., 85 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vfi-m-g) Treasure of the Lost Desert: Shaperio Co.. U.S., 90 mins. VCL Communications. Vff-l-g) The World of the Drunken Master: J. Kuo, Hong Kong.

90 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-m-g)

Conquest of the Earth: J. Freilich-F. Lupo-G. Winter, U.S., 99 mins, Rigby-CIC Video Daniel Boone: Hanna Barbera, U.S., 45 mins, RigbyCIC Video Fluteman: B. Lunney, Australia, 85 mins, CIC-Taft Video Little Orbit, the Astrodog: J. Image, France, 75 mins, Tag Video Mega Force: A. Ruddy, U.S., 96 mins, Valley View Video Library This is Elvis: A. Solt-M. Leo, U.S., 154 mins, Warner Home Video UB40 — Live: Keef Co., Britain, 60 mins, Video Classics XTC: Not shown, Britain, 45 mins, Video Classics

PG Clash of the Titans: MGM, U.S., 1 13 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-l-j) Coach: M. Tenser, U.S., 100 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofsexual allusions) Continental Divide: Universal, U.S., 103 mins, RigbyCIC Video, Lff-l-j), Ofsexual innuendo) Flying High: Howard W. Koch Prod., U.S., 87 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Ofsexual innuendo) Heart of a Champion: Manson Int’l, Canada, 90 mins, Roadshow Home Video. Ofemotional stress) The Last Train: Lira Films Paris, Italy-France, 120 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-l-g), Ofadult concepts) The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins: G. Stark, Britain, mins, Tag Video, Sfi-l-g) Mother Lode: Manson Int’l, U.S., 101 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j) Not Now, Darling: P. Thompson-M. Schute, Britain, 93 mins, Tag Video, Ofsexual innuendo, nudity) The Secret Policem an’s Ball: R. Graef-T. Schwalm, Britain, 95 mins, Tag Video, Lfi-m-j)

102

M

R The ABC of Love and Sex — Australia Style: J Lamond. Australia. 80 mins. Pakenham Video Library.

Sff-m-g) Blood on Satan's Claw: P. Andrews-M. Hayworth, Britain, 93 mins. Tag Video, Vfi-m-g) Bodies in Heat (35 mm): Four River Prods, U.S., 1892.67 m, Hoyts Dist., Sff-m-g) Broadford ’83: Clip Prods, Australia. 89 mins. Tag Video. Sff-m-g) The Coming: B. Gordon, U.S.. 90 mins, Syme Home Video. Vff-m-g) The Creeping Flesh: M. Redbourn. Britain, 92 mins.

Tag Video, Vff-m-g), Ofhorror) The Executioner, Pt II: R. Harmon, U.S.. 82 mins. 14th Mandolin, Vff-m-g) Gums (reconstructed version): P. Cohen, U.S.. 60 mins, Pakenham Video Library, Sff-m-g) Killer’s Moon: Rothernorth. Britain. 92 mins, Tag Video, Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) The Mistress Speaks: Imperial Video. U.S., 57 mins.

South Coast Video. Ofbondage) Permissive: J. Shulton. Britain. 90 mins, Tag Video.

Sff-m-g) Rebecca’s Dream: Imperial Video. U.S.. 90 mins.

South Coast Video. Ofbondage) Revenge of the Ninja M Golan-Y, Globus, U S..

89 mins. Syme Home Video. Vff-m-g) Shame of the Jungle (a): B Szulzinger. FranceBelgium. 68 mins. Pakenham Video Library. Ofadult cartoon) .

Young Warriors: Star Cinema Prods. U.S.. 105 mins.

Syme Home Video. Vff-m-g). Sfi-m-g) (a) Previously gazetted (on 27 April 1984 list) in error with an "M " classification.

An American Werewolf in London: G. Folsey, Britain^ 93 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-j) Atlantic City: D. Heroux, Canada-France, 105 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust., Lff-m-j), Vfi-l-j), Ofsexual innuendo) The Awakening: Solo Film, Britain, 103 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j) Bells: M. Anderson, Canada, 94 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) Blood Beast Terror: A. Tenser, Britain, 91 mins, Tag Video Curse of the Crimson Altar: Tigon Pictures, Britain, 89 mins, Tag Video Far East: Filmco-Alfred Road, Australia, 107 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j) First Monday in October P. Heller, U S., 99 mins, CICTaft Video, Sfi-m-g) The Great McGonagall: D. Grant, Britain, 89 mins, Tag Video, Lfi-m-g), Ofadult concepts) Haunted House of Horror: A Tenser, Britain, 91 mins, Tag Video The Haunting of Julia: P Fetterman, U.S., 95 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) Heatwave: H. Linstead, Australia, 90 mins, Valley View Video Library, Lff-m-j), Vfi-m-j) Master of the Game — Parts T, 2, and 3: Viacom, U.S..

120 mins, Video Classics, Vff-l-g) Puberty Blues: Limelight Prods, Australia. 82 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-l-j), Lfi-m-j), Ofdrugs) Werewolf of Washington: N. Schulman. U S., 90 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-g) Whoops Apocalypse: H. Barclay, Britain, 96 mins, Video Classics, Ofadult theme), Lff-l-g)

R X

.

Boys in the Sand: Not shown, U.S., 75 mins. Tag Video. Sff-h-g) California Cowgirls: R Williams, U.S.. 60 mins. South Coast Video, Sff-h-g) Family Affair: Gourmet Video, U.S.. 60 mins. South Coast Video, Sff-h-g) Femmes de sade: A. De Renzy, U.S.. 82 mins. City East Newsagency. Sff-h-g) Finishing School: TR Associates, U.S.. 6 0 mins.

Auspania, Sff-h-g) The Girls from Wam-Bam: Not shown, U.S.. 60 mins.

South Coast Video. Sff-h-g) Golden Girls Vol. 6: Not shown. U.S.. 60 mins. South Coast Video. Sff-h-g) Inches: T. Benson, U.S.. 60 mins. Tag Video, Sff-h-g) Lisa’s Rubber Seduction: Imperial Video. U S., 57 mins, South Coast Video. S(i-h-g) Mommy’s Panty Boy: Imperial Video. U.S.. 60 mins.

South Coast Video. Sff-h-g) Party Stripper: Gourmet Video. U.S.. 60 mins. South Coast Video. Sff-h-g) Sailor in the Wild: Laguna Pacific. U.S.. 102 mins.

South Coast Video, Sff-h-g) Sex Pleasuring, Vols. 1, 2 and 3 (a): Edcoa Marital Prods. U.S., 120 mins, Caballero Home Video, Sff-h-g) Summer Heat: C. McCabe-J. McCabe. U.S.. 60 mins.

Auspania. Sff-h-g) (a) See also under "Films Board of Review” .

Refused Classification Nil.

Films Board of Review Reviews of decisions of the Film Censorship Board pursuant to the Australian Capital Territory Classifica­ tion of Publications Ordinance 1983.

Sex Pleasuring, Vols 1, 2 and 3 (a): Edcoa Marital Prods, U.S., 120 mins, Caballero Home Video Decision reviewed: Classify ” X " by Film Censorship Board. .

Decision of the Board: Confirm the decision of the Film Censorship Board. (a) See also under films classified “ X” .

Adam: L. Otto, Israel, 97 mins, Syme Home Video.

Vff-m-g) The Fan: R. Stigwood, U.S., 93 mins, CIC-Taft Video.

Vff-m-g) Flesh Gordon: H. Ziehm-W. Osco, U.S., 70 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sff-m-g) Friday the 13th Part 2: Paramount. U.S . 85 mins, CICTaft Video, Vff-m-g), Ofhorror) _ The Golden Lady: K. Cavelle-P. Cowan, Britain, 89 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-j) Personal Best: Griffen Co., U.S., 124 mins, Warner Home Video, Sfi-m-j), Lfi-m-j) Sex Maniacs Guide to USA: R. Vanderbes, U.S., 59 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sff-m-g) Sex Thief: M. Style-E. White, Britain, 92 mins, Tag Video, Sff-m-g) Victims: D. Di Somma, U.S.. 83 mins. Video Classics, Vff-m-g)

X Bold Fantasies: Erotic Dimensions, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) Budding Blondes: Excalibur, U.S.. 60 mins. Balesarn, Sff-h-g) Come Softly: Mr Mustard Prod., U.S.. 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) ' Debbie Truelove Strikes Back: C. Sutters, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) Golden Girls 7: Not shown. U S., 60 mins, Venus Video.

Sff-h-g) Golden Girls 8: Not shown. U.S., 60 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) Guess W ho’s Coming: Butterfly Films, U.S , 83 mins, Balesarn, Sff-h-g) Just For Me: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) Soft Places: W. Dancer, U.S., 90 mins, Showtime Video, Sff-h-g) ■ S trictly For Ladies Only: W. Higgins, U.S., 70 mins, Caulfield Sauna, Sff-h-g) Temptation — The Story of a Lustful Bride. Now Showing Prods, U.S., 90 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) A Woman’s Lust: Erotic Dimensions, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g)

Refused Classification Nil.

Week Ending 29 June 1984

Refused Classification

G

Nil.

Bill: M. Stuart, U.S., 97 mins, Syme Home Video

Note: The title of the film Hot Lunch (shown on 24 February 1984 list) has been altered to Dirty Deeds.

The title of the film American Pie (shown on 10 February 1984 list) has been altered to Dirty Rich Girl.

Concluded on p. 90 C IN EM A P APERS F ebrudry-M arch — 83

Peter Schreck

Peter Schreck Continued from p. 37

the solution as winning Ironman races. Perhaps growing more bananas might have been the solu­ tion, or being a better father or more affectionate husband.

Is Adam (Colin Friels) another example o f a character you would have liked to have developed more? It would have been interest­ ing to see what his wants were and where his conflict with Joe lay. He basically seems to be a physical and psychological extension o f his father . . .

knows that the instant the gun is fired he loses his girl and his morality, etc. You want to create in the audience a sense of unease, the sense that by winning the hero is going to lose. And therein lies the tension as they go into the last sporting climax.

There is one scene in which Joe is telling Steve o ff for injuring Adam that seems to be taken almost exactly from “ East o f Eden” . Did those other fraternal rivalry films have any influence?

Quite a bit I suppose; you can’t help it. East o f Eden did influence me because it also has that theme of rivalry between the brothers. It is funny the number of people who have asked me if Flashdance influ­ enced the film. It had nothing to do with it; East o f Eden had much more bearing.

I had to be very economical, and Colin and Igor had to create and deliver a rounded, complex and satisfying character with not a great deal to work with.

Have you been influenced by any Colin’s contribution to the film Australian films on adolescence? is enormous. The first time I met Colin he told me more about the No. There has been a degree of character of Adam than I knew social realism in Australian films myself. And then, without adding that is not directly relevant to what any more dialogue or any more I was trying to do. I was more con­ scenes, he delivered, I feel, an cerned with the underlying human Adam you can understand. It is a traits, not the realistic reflection of major achievement, and I am " . . . Adam [Colin Friels] is striving to be something he doesn’t really want to b e . . . ” The them in a social setting, which is grateful to Colin for it. what most Australian youth pic­ Despite all the good questions Coolangatta Gold. tures have done. I wanted to deal you have asked, which have pushed me towards spending more follow the main lead and they that he has grown up. The trophy with it on a much simpler, largertime developing the subsidiary char­ spend too much time on the is such a small thing to him and than-life level than that — emo­ acters, after one viewing of the film secondary characters. It was very such a big thing to Joe, that Steve tional rather than directly realistic. you have picked up most of the much a conscious decision not to is able to make a present of it.

There was a craft problem in all G eoff Burrowes and George Miller subtleties: that Adam is striving to go that route. of this as well. One of the difficul­ who made “ The Man from Snowy be something he doesn’t really want to be, that he has taken on his By com ing second, Steve is ties with sporting stories is that the River” said in an interview for father’s goals in life, somewhat responding to his father’s impend­ audience can get ahead of the film, ‘Cinema Papers’1 that they were reluctantly, and that in the end he ing disapproval of his winning. So, because most sporting events have not going to worry about the critics is left with a trophy and responsi­ he is reacting to the way his father only one of two outcomes: the because they had decided right bility for his father. The seemingly is going to feel about the outcome main character either wins or loses. from the beginning that they were The craft solution here was to give going to market the film properly. favored older son ends up carry­ of the race . . . the audience a sense of unease. It is Would it be fair to say the same for ing a burden, not a prize at all. I Certainly, but he is not seeking a cowboy movie, really: the old “ The Coolangatta G old” ? could have stopped the pace of the story to analyze all of that in great his father’s approval — which is gunfighter in a life and death situa­ detail, but you’ve understood it the point. Steve has just run 24 tion, who goes out there and 1. No. 38, June 1982, pp 206-212, 283. km, paddled 24 km and swam for anyway, so why should I? 5 km so he has learned a bit But there are suggestions of about pain in the last 110 minutes. intimacy in the relationships be­ One of the marks of the maturing tween Adam and his father, and process is when we come to realize between Adam and his brother that our parents aren’t perfect and which are not developed. In rela­ shouldn’t be, and we accept them tion to that, there are scenes in as human. Steve sees the pain on which one would expect Adam to his father’s face and not only sym­ stick up for Steve, where one pathizes but empathizes with it. He would expect the suggestions of has sensed failure himself, and felt intimacy to take on a more solid pain, and he can now understand Joe. form . . .

The point of the race, and one of Again, you could easily do a the reasons it is a marathon race, is film about Adam, and one day I that Steve burns all that garbage might, but it is not The Coolan- out of himself, and comes to the gatta Gold and the story is not realization th a t winning his father’s race, or even having his about Adam.

In broad commercial terms, one father know that he could have of the problems with some Austra­ won the race, is irrelevant because lian films in reaching a lot of his father’s approval or dis­ people and making a lot of money approval is irrelevant. He doesn’t has been that they attempt to even need to hurt him. The only explore too many characters. They thing that means anything to him is are likely to have five leads and we his own independence, that he can are meant to get to know some­ come second and walk away from Robyn Lucas (Robyn Nevin), the mother who is one o f the main forces o f the film but who thing about all of them; they don’t the race feeling that he is a winner, “has almost no dialogue”. The Coolangatta Gold.

84 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

Peter Schreck

That is right. If the critics don’t appreciate it, that doesn’t worry me; if the people who pay their $7.50 don’t like it, that worries me.

Critics can have a very important role but they can also be destruc­ tive. So I don’t ignore them but I don’t lose any sleep over them. In this case, as with The M an From Snowy River, it is a film intended for the market, not for the critics.

So you don’t think the critics affect the audience attendance?

They didn’t seem to affect the market for Snowy River very much.

Do you think that perhaps too many Australian films depend on critical reaction for their market­ ing and publicity, that perhaps they are not geared enough to marketing the film despite what the press might say?

cial in your script because more people will see them than will ever see the picture. Basically, what he was saying was that you ought to know how the picture is going to be marketed while you are writing it. It might be a pretty cold­ blooded way to approach it, and I wouldn’t recommend it to every­ one, or for every picture, but cer­ tainly for a big-budget film it is important to know that.

So you were visualizing the adver­ tisements while you were writing the script . . .

Yes, but that is not to say they needed a publicity hook for the turned out how I visualized them. launch of the picture — and it has But I knew how I would want the provided enormous publicity. picture to be marketed and I needed to know that there were Are you glad that the race has m a rk e tin g , p ro m o tio n an d become an event? publicity hooks in the picture. It To have bought the production was nowhere near as cold-blooded as writing a scene thinking it was values that it provides would have going to appear in the commercial. been impossible, so we had to have But, for example, there were three it as a real event during the shoot. reasons why I created the race: And we needed it as a real event first and foremost, I needed a for the launch of the film. As it dramatic climax; but then I needed turned out, they ran the race six $1 million of free production weeks after the launch of the film. values, and, very importantly, I It has provided a higher level of recognition for the film but, after this year, it will have done its job for the film. Whether it continues as an event, I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. It would be a nice ego trip, to have created an on­ going race, but it has already done the job I care about.

What is your current “ Kimberly” , about?

I doubt that writers, producers or directors would be basing their marketing, strategies on the critical response. Once you go over a cer­ tain budget, it is very important to have some sort of marketing strategy in mind, even while you are writing the screenplay, and cer­ tainly while you are making the film.

David Puttnam once said while you are writing you ought to be able to identify the poster, the trailer and the television commer­

project,

It is a contemporary romantic film. One of the things writers should never do, if for no other reason than it diffuses their need to write, is to talk through their stories before they are written.

Writing is such a painful process: if you leave writing as the only way to get the story out, then eventu­ ally you are going to do it, but if you tell the story orally, then you have already had the satisfaction and you may never get around to writing it. So I don’t want to talk too much about it.

What do you mean by writing being a painful process? Are you talking about the research of characters, etc.?

No, that part is great. I would do that forever, just to avoid the writing: it is probably one of the reasons I research so much. I find writing is physically painful; it hurts. To keep it taut and keep it tense I just seem to have to gener­ ate so much tension in myself physically. But there is no other way I would ever want to make a living. I love being a writer, but I hate writing.

Do you eventually want to direct films?

“Igor and I wanted to do a story about sport and love. ” Top: the finale to the triathlon race is fought out between Steve, Grant Kenny (played by himself) and Adam. Above: Steve and Kerri reunited after the race. The Coolangatta Gold.

If you gave me a choice between being locked in a room with a type­ writer, shoving the script through a slot on the door and getting the cheque back through it, or being a writer-director then I would be a writer-director because I enjoy the filmmaking process so much. But happily it is not as clear cut a choice as that.

While I can go on being a writer and still be part of the filmmaking process, then I will stick to writing.

I would have to be driven to direct­ ing — and I don’t know that that would be a very good thing to happen. ★

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 85

Bill Gooley

Bill Gooley Continued from p. 55

magic to it and was quite an adven­ ture. They never had any money and it took forever to shoot.

Shot in 35 mm, the work prints were in 16 mm, which was a dis­ aster! You could never guarantee that the edge numbers were right because, after you make the reduc­ tion work print, you put it through a machine which prints the edge numbers and, if it is one or even 10 frames out, it stays that way because you never go back to that bit of negative again. All the edge numbers for Mad Max were wrong. I didn’t know they were wrong. I had seen all the work prints, done the edge numbers and presumed they were right. We didn’t- go back and check because we didn’t think there was any reason to. We didn’t realize that sometimes the loop which goes through the edge numbering machine, instead of being, say, three inches wide was six inches wide, which made a lot of differ­ ence. So Maggie had to eye-match the whole film and she nearly had a nervous breakdown.

release print, and it took a long while to get it looking like a true black and white. Some stock foot­ age refused to look like black and white and the stuff they shot had to have a little of the color cast put back in so it matched.

When they shot The Blue Lagoon (U.S., 1980) in Fiji, Nestor Almendros wanted to send the material back to Los Angeles, because that is where all of his negatives had gone. But Richard Franklin [co-producerj wanted it processed in Sydney as he could get a report back much quicker. We had even talked about Nestor’s coming to Australia to have a look at the lab. Richard then took Nestor to see Newsfront and he said, “ If there is a lab in the world that can make black and white go on to color and come back as black and white, then I don’t need to know anything else. It can all go there.”

I flew to Fiji and spent three What about the more recent films, days with Nestor and it was for example “ The Man From wonderful to meet this man. Of Snowy River” (Keith Wagstaff, course, he had the money to sit for 1 9 8 2 ). two hours and wait for the magic It had its problems, too: for five minutes. If we were in Aus­ tralia, we would be shooting for example, the interiors with the those two hours before the magic candlelight. I had never worked moment came. He never told you with Keith Wagstaff before and much, but he was a thorough there was an enormous amount within the rooms and the cabins gentleman.

The Blue Lagoon was good for which was under-exposed to my us because suddenly we had the way of thinking. But it was the director of photography who had look he wanted. I would have liked won an Academy Award that year to have seen more exposure on it, processing his negative in our lab. but it became one of Australia’s I enjoyed Mad Max (David most commercial films and made a Eggby, 1979); it had a certain fortune for them.

Filming The Blue Lagoon (1980): director o f photography Nestor Almendros holds the reflector while Vince Monton lines up an angle.

86 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

It was a good shoot, though there were odd things that went wrong with it. If you watch the film carefully you will see a blue cast come down in part of a frame, which they couldn’t get rid of. It was in the lens or in the camera, and is in one of the shots when the camera follows Tom Burlinson up a crevice. In that scene, he gets to the top of the crevice and the camera moves up behind him and opens up and spreads out to the most magnificent Hollywood picture post-card shot. I rang Keith and told him to put his camera away, he didn’t need to do anything more. Of course, the editor got hold of it and cut it.

A similar thing happened in Picnic, which shows the talent of Russell Boyd — and all of our cameramen. It is the shot inside the house where the girls are at school, as they all walk around and come down the stairs. The camera moves and follows them all around, through the entrance of the house, out into bright sunlight and shows them standing there. It was smooth and steady, and the exposures were great all the way through. I don’t know how he did it, but it was just magic to get the interior to match the exterior so perfectly. It must have taken hours. And they cut it.

The scene was too long and Russell’s wonderful lighting was lost. No one else will ever see it, but I saw it, and that makes it exciting, of course.

The Adams-Packer film We of the Never Never (1982) was shot by Gary Hansen. He was a man who had a talent for the outback look and got what he wanted from it.

Mad Max 2 (Dean Semler, 1981) was very exciting. I went to Broken Hill the day they blew up the camp site. You had to be far away because the explosion was expected to create ripples and bomb blasts.

So we stood on a rocky hillside and froze to death. Then, all of a sudden, this magic happened.

They had waited for hours until everything was right and then the whole thing went; it could never be reshot because the whole camp was destroyed. And, although there was a lot of cameras, there wasn’t a lot of footage because the whole thing happened so quickly.

Later, they said, “ Here are the rushes” , and I thought, “ My God­ father I’m taking them back! I hope nothing happens on the plane.” I returned from Broken Hill with them sitting on my knees.

When I got into the lab I thought I should go home but I knew I would never sleep. So I sat on the end of the machine until every frame had come off and waited until they printed it. Then I had a look and thought, “ It’s all right. I can go to sleep now.” It was absolutely nerve-racking.

Monkey Grip (David' Gribble, 1982) was wonderful, a beauti­ fully-lit film with a wonderful actress, Noni Hazlehurst, who

makes it all shine. We then did For the Term of His Natural Life (Ernest Clark, 1983) the series done in South Australia.

What happens with a series? Is it harder for you than a feature?

No, it is the same as a feature, only there is more of it and you have to keep your interest up. It gets very hard when somebody is shooting for 20 weeks and yet every day is important to that director of photography. So, if I have learnt anything in this busi­ ness, it is that the people work their guts out and need to be told something that gives them a boost.

Boredom must set in day after day, setting stuff up, hoping to get so much time up on the sheet. So you try to find that little bit of magic somewhere along the line and say, “ I think that’s stunning.” It gives them that little boost.

Might I add that there are some films about which I have never said that because nothing has been stunning. I get very offended when films go through the lab which are so static because the camera never moves and you could be watching television. I don’t think that is what it is all about.

How many films have you worked on at a time?

Seven. It can be done; I just go to work earlier.

You have to be involved and genuinely interested in every film you do. It is a personal relation­ ship. But you make a rod for your back because you become terribly jealous of what you do. You start on something and it becomes “ Mine, mine, mine” . You go to work with the flu for 12 hours because it is “ mine” .

I go to see one of my films in a theatre and part of me is up there; I haven’t physically done anything to it but it is part of me. It is like the director of photography going in and saying, “ I shot that.” I walk in and say, “ That’s mine.” There is a certain possessiveness in it. I get offended when Australian people don’t go and see Australian movies; they are letting me down.

But you don’t do this by your­ self. I could never have spent the hours unless Rosemary and the girls had been wanting or allowing me to do it. When I got the Long­ ford Award last year I just couldn’t believe that was happen­ ing to me. It was the most unreal thing, standing up there in this wonderful place of honor. That was my greatest achievement: that a technician who had come through the ranks was recognized as a Longford Award winner. And it was an achievement that I never thought I would have. As I have said before, I have never con­ sidered myself anything but part of the crew. And I wouldn’t want to be anything else. ★

The Last Bastion

The Last Bastion

MacArthur’s slight paunch, the infamous corn cob pipe, dark glasses and welter of gold braid.

Continued from p. 41 But his presentation in the series remains at the level of what the Australian troops dubbed him as they were slogging their way over the OwenStanley ranges in New Guinea: “ Choco Doug” , Curtin’s efforts to defend Australia against the which was slang for “ chocolate soldier” . Never legitimate threat of the Japanese. Churchill’s does the series capture the immense pain he felt credibility is shattered by his constant claim at leaving his troops in The Philippines, nor the that Singapore will hold, thereby further obsession behind his “ I shall return” speech. legitimizing Curtin’s opposition to the attempt Instead, the series presents these sentiments as, to divert the Australian troops to Rangoon. at best, forced and superficial, and character­ Blarney, Australia’s military leader, is the istic of yet another foreigner who fails to other major figure of knowledge representing a appreciate the intrinsic nature of the Australian position extending through Shedden and people, in general, and the Australian soldier, Curtin. Blarney’s position is foregrounded in in particular. To MacArthur, in the series, Aus­ the latter part of the series in his conflict with tralians are “ colonial hicks” and Curtin and MacArthur. As with Churchill, MacArthur’s Blarney are merely props to perpetuate his position must be undermined to further enormous self-glorification. reinforce the dominant discourse; certainly his Given the dominant discourse, MacArthur is saviour-like image of the period would damage reduced to a strutting cardboard figure which this position. Consequently, as with Churchill, totally fails to capture what Australian journa­ the series is highly selective in its interpreta­ list George Johnston described as the spell­ tion of the American general. The strutting, binding power of his briefings, or to acknow­ petulant, vainglorious image offered probably ledge MacArthur’s affection for Australians captures correctly one side of the man, but only and his friendship with Curtin: one side. Compare this to William Man­ MacArthur: When I stand at the gates of chester’s description when he writes that Manila, I want the President of the MacArthur Commonwealth [of The Philippines] at my right hand and the Prime Minister of was a thundering paradox of a man, noble and ignoble, inspiring and outrageous, Australia at my left.6 arrogant and shy, the best of men and the worst of men, the most protean, the most Also, it would have only weakened Curtin’s if the series had acknowledged Mac­ ridiculous and the most sublime. No more position A rthur’s vigorous protestation over the baffling, exasperating soldier ever wore a Churchill-Roosevelt plan to divert the Austra­ uniform . Flam boyant, imperious, and battalions to Burma. It would have no apocalyptic, he carried the plumage of a lian longer presented a simple dichotomy of the flamingo, could not acknowledge errors, and confrontation (“ us” versus “ them” ). tried to cover up his mistakes with sly, The Last Bastion, like all melodramas, childish tricks. Yet he was endowed with requires third act in which the great personal charm, a will of iron, and a innocent acanvigorous humiliate and reject the villain. soaring intellect. Unquestionably he was the This occurs when the Curtin-Shedden-Blamey most gifted man-at-arms this nation has pro­ position (i.e., the legitimate Australian position duced.5 compared to the illegitimate position espoused Robert Vaughn’s MacArthur looks the part, if by the royalist Menzies) is able to put those a trifle short: the trousers with the pleats to hide foreigners (Churchill-MacArthur) in their 5. op. cit., p. 15.

6. ibid., p. 262.

rightful place. The build-up to this final sequence takes place from Menzies’ abortive trip to England but it also specifically stems from the derisory remarks about the ability of the Australian soldier. Blarney is able to con­ front MacArthur on two occasions. At the first meeting, he has the satisfaction of throwing back at MacArthur that it was American men who ran at Buna: “ I’d rather put Australians in. At least I know they’ll fight!”

The second meeting begins with Blarney watching MacArthur strutting before the photographers and taking the credit for the suc­ cess at Buna and Gona.

Blarney: There’s . . . four thousand Japs up there . . . This is all that’s left. When we started back up the trail, there were at least fifteen thousand, not the two thousand you kept throwing in our faces. And we lost over three thousand men, and a lot of them died because you kept bombarding them with your hysterical orders ‘Attack! Attack!

Attack!’

M acArthur: When I get back to Brisbane I’m going to stress the magnificent valor of you and your Australians.

Blarney: I’m not interested in the press. I just don’t want to hear you tell any more bare­ faced lies. This has been a bloody and costly campaign and it’s not over yet. Enjoy your trip back to Brisbane. (Blarney gets up and walks away from MacArthur. MacArthur goes after him and apologizes.)

MacArthur: I called your men cowards and I was wrong. I just didn’t realize the conditions were difficult.

Blarney: Why didn’t you go up and have a look for yourself? I did.

MacArthur: Your men didn’t die in vain, Tom. The Japanese aren’t invincible any longer . . . .

(Blarney turns away from MacArthur.)

Tom, turn around and look at me.

Blarney: Is that an order?

(He turns toward MacArthur.)

MacArthur: If you were an American I’d have you court-martialled.

Blarney: If I was an American I’d shoot myself.

MacArthur: (takes off his dark glasses).

Whatever you think of me, I think you’re one hell of a soldier . . .

Finally, the true Australian character is appreciated.

The closure of the series, which has been criticized for its seeming arbitrariness, is totally coherent in light of the above exchange. It com­ pletes the concerns of the drama. Whilst the plethora of “ historical” material appears to unfold before the viewer’s eyes throughout the six-hour mini-series, a careful selection and interpretation process has also taken place.

There is no mention, for example, of the Pensa­ cola convoy which was diverted from The Philippines to Brisbane in late December 1941, nor the part that Churchill played in securing Washington’s approval for MacArthur’s escape from The Philippines and his appointment to Australia. This is not to argue that the series should necessarily have included such material but merely to point out that the game of . presenting the ‘historical truth’ is just that, a game: a game of selection and interpretation.

MacArthur addresses the Australian War Cabinet at The Lodge, the Australian Prime Minister’s residence. The Last The Last Bastion is a coherent historical drama with the key word being “ drama” . ★ Bastion.

C IN EM A P APERS F ebru ary-M arch — 8 7

:

'

Bill Conti Continued from p. 46 to musically was different to theirs, but it wasn’t a major problem because, although I had written the music, we hadn’t recorded it. They said, “ I really wish it could be more like . . . ” I found out what that “ more like” was and wrote it that way.

Your music for the Rocky films is probably the best-known. How did your work develop there?

While I was in Rome. I had worked as a music supervisor on Blume in Love. So when I moved back to L.A. in 1973 I visited Paul Mazursky [the director] and he asked me to do Harry And Tonto.

(I also did Next Stop Greenwich Village for him.) The film cutter on Harry And Tonto was doing another little movie called Rocky.

Two composers had already turned it down, because there was no money in it and then I was approached. I said, “ Sure I’ll do it.” That kind of changed my career.

A nother o f your best-known v scores is the one for “ The Right Stuff” . Apparently there were last minute changes with the music . . .

Brian May Continued from p. 49

which they had never seen before, it was virtually spot on. “ Cloak and Dagger” is not the only film you have worked on recently . . .

I went into a picture called

Two composers — Brian May

The film was shot over three years, then edited for a year. They had hired a composer1, then they changed their minds. When they hired me they were a year late to the theatres already so I had to begin recording about two weeks after I got the job. I was on, my way out the door with my family to go on a vacation. There was no vacation.

I wrote for a week, then scored for a week, then wrote for a week and so on. It seemed like forever, even though it happened fast. It was a big movie with a lot of music and it was an intense period. I wasn’t on the movie more than two months. I finished and it was out in the theatres.

You obviously work well under that kind of pressure . . .

Everyone in my business works under that kind of pressure. I don’t think I am unique. If you can’t do it, then you can’t be a film composer.

The story had a happy ending, with your winning an Oscar . . .

It was quite surprising. I didn’t get on with the director [Phillip Kaufman], only because of the 1. John Williams.

the tracking job, liked it and said, “ That’s it. You’ve got the score.”

When I met the producers, they asked me where the music had been recorded. I said Australia, so eventually we did the music in Mel­ bourne. I must say that everybody who has heard it has been very impressed. It was a big plus for our musicians here.

So, not every American film has to have its music recorded in the U .S ____

Missing in Action (a Chuck Norris

feature for Cannon Films) which had a chequered career as to what was going to happen with the recording of the music. I was hired to compose it and then there was a lot of dithering over where it was going to be recorded. At one stage it was London and then it was Budapest.

*

..

Two composers — Bill Conti

No. If it is shot outside America, and Missing in Action was shot in South America, that reduces the necessity to record the score in America.

What are the current trends in film music in Hollywood?

The song score seems to be, un­ fortunately, coming back into its own. I went to buy a copy of Jerry It wasn’t a high-budget film. Goldsmith’s Under Fire score and, The director of the film liked my under the heading of Film Scores, I work and when the movie was found that about 70 per cent of all finished he “ tracked” the movie the new film score albums were just with all of my music from different collections of songs. It was like a films. It was scary hearing it return to the 1950s. The reason in because they had pieces of The those days was that record sales of Road Warrior, Mad Max, Road- hit tunes helped a film considerably games and others — about five of at the box-office; the reason today my pictures. It was not, of course, is that the 24-hour cable television going to be exhibited like that, it music has a strong viewing pattern was just something to give an idea from younger audiences, which are of the sort of music they wanted. the same audiences that are going The heads of the company heard to the movies. They have found Why the odd venues?

88 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

time problem and because he was in another city. We tried to get as in tune as possible in the short time that we had but it was uncomfort­ able; no one knew each other and it didn’t feel good. It was complete panic. I was playing themes over the phone to him, he would fly in for recording sessions and then fly back the same night. It was just insane. We both felt that we could have done better in terms of col­ laboration if we had had more time.

You have worked in Europe, America and Australia. Is there any place you prefer to work?

Los Angeles is Mecca. With all respect to Rome, and Pinewood, and all the great places where they make films, there is a proficiency level in the U.S. because of the volume. Los Angeles turns them out like it was endless. There just has to be some good ones, even though it is only fun to talk about the bad.

As far as I am concerned, Aus­ tralia is world class. I don’t do anything that is second class; I don’t have to. I would have got this performance, and these condi­ tions, anywhere in the world. In Los Angeles, they might have done it faster, because people are doing these things every day, but a good player in L.A. is a good player in

that if they can get a couple of music clips a day on cable television from a film it is worth gold in advertising. Some producers don’t even think about what the movie is about as long as they can get those television clips going.

What is your reaction to the decision to bring in an American composer, Bill Conti, to do the score for “ The C oolangatta Gold” ?

There was a strong reaction amongst a lot of people in this country about that decision. The reaction I have is that in a free market-place it should be possible for people with international standing to come here to Australia to work just as I, Bruce Smeaton and others have been able to work in the U.S. The strongest point in this case about the use of Bill Conti is that The Coolangatta Gold and other Australian films are not really free market-place, films, but are supported by taxpayers’ money. In fact, there is still very little protection for the Australian musician in Australian films, although practically every other aspect of filmmaking has some protection.

But it is unlikely that highly suc­ cessful film composers overseas are going to be prepared to work for the money available to most filmmakers in this country . . .

Sydney. My concert master in Sydney is as good as any in the world.

And what do you think of Austra­ lian films?

Well, I know The Coolangatta Gold and it is a good film. I have high hopes that the industry con­ tinues to get bigger; when an industry is healthy, it is good for everyone working in it. Australia is a happening thing, in music and in films, and it was fun to come here and be part of it. I would like to see The Coolangatta Gold in the U.S. in our summertime; I think Americans will enjoy it.

Would you do another film in Aus­ tralia?

Sure. The experience has been totally fulfilling. I would prefer to come to Australia, if I had to leave the U.S., than any other country after this experience. England is a joke, Munich forget and Rome is an opera: everything is dramatic and exciting and tragic. I happen to love Rome and recorded there for 10 years, but now I wouldn’t go there to record. London is cold and the people don’t smile. The people here are better, more open, more friendly. It is probably because Australia hasn’t been over-run by tourists. ★

True, although it was obviously available on The Coolangatta Gold.

What are your future?

plans

for the

I hope to be going back to America next year to work with the director of Missing in Action on a Western. The one thing I have decided to do definitely in future is to cut down on the number of films I work on each year. The year that I did eight films was really ridiculous; too big a strain.

I would like to add one point a b o u t my e x p e r i e n c e s in Hollywood. I had the opportunity to meet John Williams, Quincy Jones and others, but I had a very touching evening in which I spent about half an hour with Miklos Rozsa. Just getting back to the song score problem for a minute, this sums it all up in a nutshell.

Miklos played for me a couple of his famous scores — he had been very sick, had been in hospital and didn’t look at all well, and he hadn’t written for some time — and it was just gorgeous stuff.

When he finished, he turned to me and said, “ What’s wrong with my music? They haven’t changed love, hate, passion and all these sorts of things, and isn’t that my music?”

When I agreed, he said, “ So why do they now say my music is old hat?” I thought about this and felt sad for days afterwards.. ★

BRIAN MAY Composer-Extraordinaire !

TH E R O BE RT L IG H T A G E N C Y (USA) is proud to announce the exclusive

i t i # H m fy M é v á

«sui**«

r \\m Bungeim#

Computers for Animation

world-wide representation o f Brian May.

- Stan Hayward Explores basic computer pplications for efficient film production. For both animators and computer users; from high definition computer generated animation to simple moving diagrams.

- Motion Picture Z Camera & -

L ig h tin g

_ Equipment _The Hollywood Guide I —to Film Budgeting and—Script Breakdown — M otion Danford Chamness -----Step-by-step feature

___ P l c I t l f P film----- ( 'iO lítrO

iMoüon Picture CameraZZ^SidfS î E S s — Tochníqur:s —& Lighting Equipment and sample scripts included.----—- David Samuelson ..A guide to equipment in pro-. _fessional use. Helps you pick_ the items which suit the needs. _ o f each production. 'Vital stat­ is t ic s ' are in a compact tabular. _form for quick access.

.......

......

_Motion Picture —Camera Techniques

- David Samuelson 2nd Ed. " __ This new edition offers prac-_ tical advice for those involved. __ in cinematography at all levels.. __ Covers almost any working. situation from script to final, answer print. .

- Motion.

Z Picture - Camera Data .Film Scriptwriting: ■a Practical Manual

David Samuelson

In spite of his growing list of internationalfilm credits and the increasing demandfor his services, BRIAN remains an Australian, living in Australia and committed to composing musicfor Australian movies.

ninety

__ —

Dwight V. Swaine ~ Covering both documentary/___ factual and feature films___ provides a guide to the tools or___ procedures to follow in de-___ veloping ideas and concepts. .

_ Motion Picture -Camera Data Describes

---------------------------------------------

different

makes and models of camera__ l n e P r o f e s s i o n a l and gives the most pertinent__ C a m e r a m a n 's 'operating instructions. This__ Handbook 3rd Ed. book is intended as a tool „ „ . . _ , iwhich should find a place in“ " Verne & Sylv‘a Car‘S° n

.theaccessory case of every___ An operating manual cover-

RECENT CREDITS: “ C loak & D agger” (U SA ) Universal Pictures “ M issing in A c tio n ” (U SA ) M G M -U A Release “ Sky P irates” (Australia) “ Frog D ream ing” (Australia)

Enquiries are invited by T H E ROBERT LIGHT AGENCY

iThe Independent

cameraman.__________________ing film, loading-room pro­ -Filmmaker’s Guide ______________________________cedures, camera reports and Michael Wiese ______________________________working practices.

Plus assembly, threading &trouble-__ Experienced advice on the_ ___ shooting of 33 widely used financing, production and_ 16mm and 35mm production distribution of documentaries_ cameras & their accessories. and shorts.____________

Fog\ lPress

Order from your local bookseller or in case of difficulty from: BUTTERW ORTHS PTY LTD 271-273 Lane Cove Road, North Ryde NSW 2113 (02] 887 3444 Sydney (02) 233 2777 Melbourne (03) 67 6973 Brisbane (07) 221 9627 Hobart (002) 236979 Adelaide (08) 211 8302 Perth (09) 325 8521 Canberra (062) 47 2679 Name

Box 562 * Beverly Hills California * 90213 Telephone: (213)659 3333 . or in M elbourne (03) 5616818

’ -

_______________________________ _______________________________ □ Cash enclosed

□ Please charge my account

A d d ress_______________________________ ______________________________________________________ P ostcod e_____________ Please debit my credit card account: Bankcard □ Diners □ Amex □ Mastercard □ Signature

.Expiry Date

/

/

Card No: (Recommended Domestic Retail Prices include postage and are subject to change without notice. This order subject to acceptance by the Head Office of Butterworths.)

75947 Motion Picture Camera & Lighting Equip.

128365Motion Picture Camera Techniques 76349 Film Scriptwriting - Limp 108047Film Scriptwriting - Hard 76312 Computers for Animation

$21 NYP $25 $45 NYP

117368Ind. Filmmakers' Guide $27 119222Prof. Cameraman's Handbook $45 75956 Motion Picture Camera Data $21 117377Hollywood Guide to Film $36 Budgetting and Script Breakdown *NYP - Not yet published

Film Censorship Listings

Film Censorship Listings Continued from p. 83 W eek Ending 6 July 1984 G Asia in Asia: S. Millaney, U.S., 60 mins, Vestron Video B reakd ance: Y ou Can Do It: S. Katten, U.S., 60 mins,

K-tel International C aledo nian D ream s: Norio Maeda, Japan, 42 mins,

Pioneer Electronics Aust.

C aporale di g io m a te : Agliani-Mordini, Italy, 95 mins,

WFD Home Video C aptain A m erica: Marvel Comics Group, U.S., 50 mins,

CIC-Taft Video C h ristin e M cVie in C o ncert: K. Burbidge-D. Burbidge,

U.S., 60 mins, Vestron Video Deep P u rple — C a lifo rn ia n Jam : A. Finney, Britain, 77 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust.

D o lly in L on don: Speckled Bird Inc., U.S., 80 mins, RCA-Columbia Pictures-Hoyts Video The Drak Pack — V o l. 1: Hanna Barbera, U.S., 48 mins, CIC-Taft Video ELO Live at W em bley: CBS-Fox Video, Britain, 58 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust.

Fame: DeSilva-Marshall, U.S., 133 mins, Valley View Video Library The F an tastic Four: Marvel Comics Group, U.S., mins, CIC-Taft Video G uapparia: C. Mastrocenque, Italy, 87 mins, WFD Home Video G u lliv e r’s T ravels: M. Fleischer, U.S., 74 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust.

H orseback: J. Dobson. Britain, 108 mins. Pioneer Elec­ tronics Aust.

I due assi del g un aton e: M. Perrelli, Italy, 97 mins, WFD Home Video I due m aghi del pallone: S. Borelli, Italy, 95 mins, WFD Home Video II m aestro di v io lin o : Coralta Cinematográfica, Italy, 100 mins, WFD Home Video Jesus C h rist S u perstar: N. Jewison-R. Stigwood, Britain, 103 mins. Pioneer Electronics Aust, Now T h a t’ s W hat I C all M usic: Not shown, U.S., 42 mins, Video Classics O liver: J. Woolf, U.S., 142 mins, Valley View Video Library

66

O rch e stra l M anoeu vres in The Dark — L iv e at The atre Royal: Worldchief and Peter Henton Prods,

Britain, 52 mins, Video Classics Paint!: R. Foster, Britain, 99 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust. at H a nging Rock: Picnic Prods, Australia, 114 mins, Valley View Video Library

P icnic

Pippen: D. Sheehan, Canada, 110 mins, Pioneer Elec­

tronics Aust.

The Plank: Associated London Films, Britain, 46 mins, Valley View Video Library T ha t Was Rock — T am m y S h ow and TNT Show : L. Savin, U.S., 90 mins, Video Classics T h u n d e rb ird s In O u te r Space: R. Hill, Britain, 90 mins, Syme Home Video

PG B eing D iffe re n t: H. Rasky, U.S., 100 mins, Seven Keys '

Video, Ofadult concepts) The Best o f th e B enny H ill S how — Vol. 1: Thames TV, Britain, 114 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust., Ofsexual innuendo) The D o llm aker: B. Finnigan, U.S., 140 mins, Video Classics, V(i-m-g) Fear is the Key: A. Ladd-J. Kastner, Britain, 100 mins, Valley View Video Library, V(i-l-g) The F ifth M usketeer: E. Richmond, Britain-Austria, 122 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-l-j), Ofnudity) F ig lio mió sono in no ce n te : G. Anatelli, Italy, 91 mins, WFD Home Video, Vfi-m-j) H anging on a Star: Trans World Entertainment, U.S., 92 mins, Video Classics, V(i-m-g) The Kid w ith th e 200 I.Q .: J. Begg, U.S., 96 mins, Video Classics, Ofsexual innuendo) L 'a lb e ro dalle fo g lie Rosa: C. Argento, Italy, 96 mins, WFD Home Video, Ofadult concepts) The Lady V anishes: Rank, Britain, 98 mins, Valley View Video Library, V(i-l-g) Piange il te le fo n e : Coralta Cinematográfica, Italy, 94 mins, WFD Home Video, Ofadult concepts) R o lle r B oogie: B. Curtis, U.S., 101 mins, Valley View Video Library, Ofsexual innuendo) St. Helens: Davis-Panzer Prod., U.S., 96 mins, Sun­ downer Film and Video Prods, Lff-l-g), Vfi-l-g) Tara Poky: C. Papa, Italy, 86 mins, WFD Home Video, V(i-m-i) Task Force S o u th — B a ttle fo r th e F alklands: G. Carr, Britain, 110 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust., Vfi-l-j) T e ss: Renn Prods-Burrill Prods, Britain-France, 169 mins, Valley View Video Library , Ofsexual innuendo) The Toy: Rastar, U.S., 102 mins, RCA-Columbia Pictures-Hoyts Video, Lff-l-g) , Voices: J. Wizan, U.S., 103 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts) W alk S o ftly S tranger: RKO, U.S., 81 mins, Video W a rlords o f A tla n tis : EMI, Britain, 96 mins, Valley View

Video Library, Vfi-m-j) M A n d J u s tic e fo r A ll: N. Jewison-P. Palmer, U.S.,

120 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j), L(i-m-j) The B lues B ro th e rs: Universal, U.S., 133 mins, CIC-

Taft Video, Vff-m-g), L(i-m-g) B u s tin ’ Loose: Universal, U.S., 90 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Lff-m-g) C e n tre fo ld : C. Harman-M. Kiuzler, U.S., 60 mins, Video Classics, Ofnudity) C o n d u ct U n becom ing : Lion International, Britain, 105 mins, Valley View Video Library, V(i-m-g) Dance o f Love: Gloria Film, W. Germany, 117 mins, Video Classics, S(f-m-g) Dead Men D o n ’t W ear Plaid: Aspen Film Society, U.S., 91 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Ofsexual innuendo) D e cam e roticu s: D. Pash, Italy, 98 mins, WFD Home Video, S(i-m-g), Ofadult concepts) D iam onds are F orever: A. Broccoli-H. Saltzman, U.S., 120 mins, Warner Home Video, V(f-m-g) 1. Code reasons unavailable for films originally classi­ fied before 1972.

Dracula: Universal, U.S., 109 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust., Vfi-m-g) Escape fro m N ew Y o rk: City Films, U.S., 96 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j) F la s h p o in t A fric a : B. Saint Clair, Britain, 99 mins, Video Classics, Ofsexual allusions) Freedom Road: Zev Braun Prod., U.S., 179 mins, CICTaft Video, Vfi-m-j) Hussy: J. Watt, Britain, 91 mins, Syme Home Video, Sfi-l-j), V(i-m-j), Lfi-m-g), Ofadult concepts) II p e c c a to di A d am o ed Eva: A. Solis, Italy, 85 mins, WFD Home Video, Sfi-l-g), Ofnudity) The Last B a ttle o f Yang Chao: Video Palace, Hong Kong, 90 mins, CBS-Fox Video, Vff-m-g) The New C e n tu rio n s: l. Winkler-R. Chartoff, U.S., 95 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-j) Obsession: G. Titto-H. Blum, U.S., 106 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vfi-m-j) Play Dead: F. Rudine, U.S., 82 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-m-g) R acquet: D. Winters-A. Roberts, U.S., 84 mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g), L(f-m-g) The Seniors: S. Shapiro-P. De Haven, U.S., 87 mins, Video Classics, Ofnudity, sexual allusions) Sm okey and th e B a ndit: M. Engelberg, U.S., 97 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust., Vff-m-g) Swap Meet: S. Krantz, U.S., 83 mins, 14th Mandolin, Ofsexual allusions), Lfi-m-g) .

T rading Places: Paramount, U.S., 114 mins, United Int'l Pictures, Lff-m-g), Ofnudity, drug references) W hen a S tra n g e r Calls: D. Chapin-S. Feke, U.S., 95 mins, Pioneer Electronics Aust., Vff-m-g)

S tre e tca r N am ed Desire: E. Feldman, 123 mins. Sundowner Film and Video Prods

A

Week Ending 13 July 1984 The B lack S ta llio n R e turns: Zoetrope Studios, U.S.,

102 mins, United Int’l Pictures C a rtoon C a rnival V o l. 2 — C asper and His F riends:

NTA Home Entertainment, U.S., 65 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods The Dark C rystal: J. Henson-G. Kurtz, U.S., 96 mins, United Int’l Pictures Father Goose: R. Arthur, U.S., 110 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods The F ig h tin g K e n tu c k ia n : J. Wayne, U.S., 95 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods Flat Top: W. Mirisch, U.S., 85 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods The Last C om m and: Republic, U.S., 110 mins, Sun­ downer Film and Video Prods L e t’s Break: IMA Inc., U.S., 59 mins, Warner Home Video Love Happy: L. Cowan, U.S., 83 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods * S ecret of N im h: D. Bluth-G. Goldman-J. Pomeroy, U.S., 83 mins, Warner Home Video

PG The A m erican o: R. Stillman, U.S., 82 mins, Sundowner

Film and Video Prods1 piacere: Dania Film, Italy, 102 mins, WFD Home Video, Ofadult concepts)

Anna quel p a rtic o la re

The A b d u c tio n : K. Carroll, U.S., 92 mins, Valley View

Caram bola: F. Baldi, Italy, 104 mins, WFD Home Video,

Video Library, Vff-m-g), Sff-m-g) Am anda by N ight: N. Westcott, U.S., 80 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) The A m o ro u s M ilkm an: D. Nesbitt, Britain, 93 mins, Video Classics, Sfi-m-g) Blue C ollar: D. Guest, U.S., 109 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g), Lff-m-g) Cat People: C. Fries, U.S., 117 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Vfi-m-j), Sfi-m-g) Co-ed Fever: H. Lime, U.S., 66 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) C o nfe ssions o f a D riv in g In s tru c to r: G Smith, Britain, mins, Valley View Video Library, Sfi-m-g), Ofsexual innuendo) C ross of Iron: EMI, Britain, 129 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Em m anuelle 3: D. Randall, France-ltaly, 82 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) The G rissom Gang: R. Aldrich, U.S., 138 mins, Pakenham Video Library, Vff-m-g) .

The G roove Tube: K. Shapiro, U.S., 75 mins, Video Classics, Sfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts, nudity) ■ H o locau st 2000: E. Amati, Britain-ltaly, 103 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Im m oral Tales: W. Borowczyk, France, 100 mins, Pakenham Video Library, Sff-m-j), Vfi-m-j) Joe: D. Gil, U.S., 104 mins, Video Classics, Ofdrug abuse), Vfi-m-g), Sfi-m-g) L 'o n o ra ta fa m ig lia : S. Borelli, Italy, 93 mins, WFD Home Video, Vff-m-g) The Last Fight: J. Masucci, U.S., 85 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) The Man W ho Fell to Earth: M. Deeley-B. Spikings, Britain, 134 mins, Pakenham Video Library, Sfi-m-j), Vfi-m-g) • M aniac: A. Garroni-W. Lustig, U.S., 85 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g) O riental Blue: Lin Cho Chiang, U.S., 67 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) S e nsations: L: Brown, The Netherlands, 75 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) The S e n s u a lis t: R. Howver, The Netherlands, 105 mins, Sff-m-j), Vfi-m-j) S w eet Savage: Evolution Enterprises, U.S., 63 mins, Video Classics, Sff-m-g) Taxi Driver: Columbia, U.S., 111 mins, Valley View Video Library, Vff-m-g) Texas Lightning: J. Sotos, U.S., 88 mins, Video Classics, Vfi-m-g), Sfi-m-g) T h o ro u g h ly A m o ro u s Am y: A. Linn-C. Montgomery, U.S., 61 mins, Tag Video, Sff-m-g) To A ll a G ood n ig h t: J. Rasumny, U.S., 85 mins, Video Classics, Vff-m-g)

Vff-l-g) of the Pink Panther: Titan Prods, U.S., 107 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Vfi-m-g), Ofsexual innuendo) F lying High II — The S equel: H. Koch. U.S., 84 mins, United In ti Pictures, Ofnudity, adult concepts) il m io nom e e Shangai Joe: Not shown, Italy, 100 mins, WFD Home Video, Vff-l-g) II M onaco di Monza: G. Adessi, Italy, 118 mins, WFD Home Video, Ofadult concepts) In Hot P ursuit: J. West, U.S.. 87 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Ofdrug references) Mako — The Jaw s o f Death: W. Grefe, U.S.. 93 mins, Syme Home Video, Vfi-m-g) Ned Kelly: N. Hartley, Australia, 103 mins, Warner Home Video O ’ H ara’s W ife: P. Davis-W. Panzer, U.S., 88 mins, Sun­ downer Film and Video Prods, Ofemotional stress) O ctopussy: A. Broccoli, U.S., 127 mins, United Int'l Pictures, Vff-l-j) Raiders of the Lo s t Ark: Paramount, U S , 115 mins, United Int'l Pictures, Vff-l-j) S ta y in ’ A live: R. Stigwood-S. Stallone, U.S., 93 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult concepts) The S tin g II: Jennings Lang, U.S., 102 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Vfi-l-g), Ofsexual allusions) Testam ent: J. Bernstein-L. Liftman. U.S.. 89 mins, United Int'l Pictures, Ofadult concepts, emotional stress) Wake of the Red W itch: E. Grainger, U.S., 100 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods W ar Games: H. Schneider, U.S., 112 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Lfi-l-g) War of th e W ildcats: R. North, U.S.. 102 mins, Sun­ downer Film and Video Prods Yes G iorgio: MGM-United Artists, U.S., 110 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult theme)

X Alexandra: Card Prods, U.S., 97 mins, Palace Home Video, Sff-h-g) The A p a rtm e n t B u ild in g : TGA Video, U.S., 58 mins, Balesarn, S(f-h-g) Baby Face: A. De Renzy, U.S., 103 mins, 14th Mandolin, Sff-h-g) Bella: C. Duncan, U.S., 85 mins, Blake Films, Sff-h-g) The Best L ittle W arehouse in L .A .: Laguna Pacific, U.S., 90 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) B u lle t V ideopac 1(Take 10, W hen S tra n g e rs Meet, On the Beach, H ouseboat): Not shown, U.S., 90 mins, Int’l

Le Salon, Sff-h-g) Captain Lust: B. Buchanan, U.S., 78 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Diary of a Bed: Brass, U.S., 60 mins, Variety Video, Sff-h-g) G olden G irls Vol. 5: Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) G olden G irls Vol. 6 : Not shown, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) G um m i-Piss-Exzess: Scandia Film, W. Germany, 18 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) Hard Tim es: J. Tanner, U.S., 75 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) H igh S ch ool M em ories: A. Spinelli, U.S., 84 mins, Joyfrey Nominees, Sff-h-g) H ot C o untry: J. Tanner, U.S., 75 mins, Venus Video, Sff-h-g) H o tline: N. Westcott, U.S., 80 mins, Caballero Home Video, Sff-h-g) H o tline: N. Westcott, U.S., 80 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Huge 1(Hot C ity S treets, Take It Lik e a Man, For Men

Only): Le Salon Int’l, U.S., 60 mins, Int’l Le Salon, Sff-h-g) J e ff N o ll’s B uddies: W. Stevens, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) The K ille r Nun: Enzo Gallo, Italy, 79 mins, 14th Mandolin, Vfi-h-g) Led er exzesse de Sade: Scandia Film, W. Germany, 18 mins, W.B. and J.E. Wathen, Sff-h-g) L o c k e r J o cks: W. Stevens, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) L o v in g Lesbos: Video Cassette Recordings Inc., U.S., 55 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g)

90 — Februory-March CINEMA PAPERS

downer Film and Video Prods, Vfi-m-g) United Artists, U.S., 107 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Lff-m-j) V ro m ike s K yrie s: A. Koyroyniotis, Greece, 80 mins, Stavros Importers, Sff-l-g) The Y e ar o f L iv in g D a n g e ro u sly: J. McElroy, Australia, 117 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult concepts), Vfi-m-j) T ru e C o n fe ssio n s:

G

R

88

U.S.,

Teheran In c id e n t: I. Panajotovic, U.S., 98 mins, Sun­

Curse

M A im ilia id iestra m en i: A. Koyroyniotis, Greece, 81 mins,

Stavros Importers, Sfi-m-g) Badlands: T.-Malick, U.S., 90 mins, Warner Home Video, Vfi-m-j) Best Friends: N. Jewison-P. Palmer, U.S., 109 mins, Warner Home Video, Ofadult concepts) B orn Innocent: B. Curtis, U.S., 92 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Vfi-m-j), Ofadult concepts) B rainsto rm : D. Trumbull, U.S., 106 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Sfi-m-j), Ofemotional stress) The Day of th e A ssa ssin: I. Panajotovic. U.S., 88 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Vff-m-g) D.C. Cab: Topper Carew, U.S., 103 mins. United Int’l Pictures, Lff-m-g), Vfi-m-g), Ofsexual allusions) D o ctor D e troit: R. Weiss, U.S., 90 mins, United Int'l Pictures, Oflanguage, adult concepts) D ouble N egative: J. Simon-D. Main, Canada, 98 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) Eddie M acon’s Run: L. Stroller, U.S., 96 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Vfi-m-g) Eric: H. Hirschman, U.S., 93 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Ofemotional stress, adult concepts) E xo rcist II — The H eretic: J. Boorman-R. Lederer, U.S., 98 mins, Warner Home Video, Ofhorror, adult concepts) Fast C om pany: M. Lebowitz-C. Smith, U.S.. 90 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) F la s h d a n c e : D. Simpson-J. Bruckheimer, U.S., 95 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Lff-m-g), Ofnudity) The Hot Touch: Astral Bellevue, U.S., 100 mins, Sun­ downer Film and Video Prods, Sfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) The Hunger: R. Shepherd, U.S., 98 mins. United Int’l Pictures, Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) I Never P rom ised You a Rose G arden: New World, U.S., 96 mins, Warner Home Video, Vfi-m-j), Lfi-m-j) Jaw s III: Alan Landsburg Prods, U.S., 97 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Ofhorror) Last Em brace: M. Taylor-D. Wigutow, U.S., 101 mins, Warner Home Video, Vfi-m-j), Sfi-m-j) The Lo rd s o f D is c ip lin e : H. Jaffe-G. Katzka, U.S., 102 mins, United Int'l Pictures, Lfi-m-g), Vfi-m-g) M onty P y th o n ’s th e M eaning o f Life: Universal, U.S., 109 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult concepts) N ightm ares: C. Crowe, U.S., 98 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Vfi-m-g), Ofhorror) Psycho II: H. Green, U.S., 110 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Vff-m-j) R a ttlers: J. McCauley, U.S., 82 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Vfi-m-g), Ofhorror) S m okey and th e B a n d it Part 3: M. Engelberg, U.S., mins, United Int’l Pictures, Vff-m-g) S o p h ie 's Choice: A. Pakula-K. Barish, U.S., 151 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult concepts), Lfi-m-j) S till of th e N ight: A. Donovan, U.S., 91 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Ofadult concepts), Vfi-m-j) S till S m o k in ’ : P. Macgregor-Scott, U.S., 88 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Lff-m-g), Ofsexual allusions, drug references)

88

R C arrie: P. Monash, U.S., 98 mins, Warner Home Video,

Vff-m-g), Ofhorror) D a im ones tis via s kai to y sex: A. Koyroyniotis, Greece, 85 mins, Stavros Importers, Sfi-m-g), Vff-l-g) Dance o f th e D w arfs: M. Viner, The Philippines, 90 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Ofhorror), Vfi-m-g) D ixie D ynam ite: W. Bishop, U.S., 88 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Vff-m-g) 48 H ours: L. Gordon, U.S., 96 mins, CIC-Taft Video, Lff-m-g), Vff-m-g) 48 Hours: L. Gordon, U.S., 96 mins, United Int’l Pictures, Lff-m-g), Vff-m-g) The Lesbian: E. Markidis, Greece. 82 mins, Stavros Importers, Sff-m-g) O p irasm os m ias m ik ris : E. Markidis, Greece, 80 mins, Stavros Importers, Sff-m-g) The One A rm e d E x e cu tio n e r: R. Suarez, The Philip­ pines, 90 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Vff-m-g) The P e rfe ct K ille r: JPT Prod.-Metheus Films, SpainItaly, 84 mins. Sundowner Film and Video Prods, Vff-m-g) Psycho fro m Texas: Showcase Entertainment, U.S., 89 mins, Sundowner Film and Video Prods., Vff-m-g), Sfi-m-g) To sim plegm a: E. Markidis, Greece, 75 mins, Sun­ downer Film and Video Prods, Ofadult concepts)

X The Best L ittle W arehouse in L.A .: Laguna Pacific,

U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) The Brig: Texas Joe, U.S.. 86 mins, J. Nash; Sff-h-g) B u ster G oes to Laguna: Laguna Pacific, U.S., 90 mins,

J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Color Climax 331: Color Climax Corp., W. Germany, 27 mins. J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Dangerous: Studio T.C.S., U.S., 75 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) D oing It: W. Stevens, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) D o rm ito ry Daze: Nova Prods, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Falcon — Pac 21: Falcon, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Falcon — Pac 30: Falcon, U.S., 75 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Flogeres elinides: D. Vitsios, Greece, 84 mins, Stavros Importers, S(f-h-g) Frat House One: Laguna Pacific, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Fringe B e nefits: Sendy Film Corp., U.S., 80 mins.

Impact Films, Sff-h-g) Games: Surge Studio, U.S., 75 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) The Handym en: A. Tucker, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) How I G ot the S tory: Nova Prods, U S , 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Idoni tis d ia s tro fis : A. Koyroyniotis, Greece, 65 mins, Stavros Importers, Sff-h-g) K ayto kano kaipi: D. Vitsios, Greece, 72 mins, Stavros Importers, Sff-h-g) Kept A fte r School: Nova Prods, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Made to O rder: Nova Prods, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) M agnum G riffin — Male E ro tica V o lum e I: Magnum Studios, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) M alibu Days — Big Bear N ights: Laguna Pacific, U.S., 1 10 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) M ykonos: E. Markidis, Greece, 83 mins, Stavros Im­ porters, Sff-h-g) N ig h tlife : J. Lewis, The Netherlands, 75 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Oh, B ro th e r!: Nova Prods, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) O pposites A ttra ct: W. Stevens, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) Peaches and Cream: M. Corby, U.S., 79 mins, Blake Films, Sff-h-g) P leasure Beach: R. Lawrence, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) P rin te r’s Devils: Laguna Pacific, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) .

R olls Royce, V olum e I: PR Prods, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) R olls Royce, V olum e II: PR Prods, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) R olls R oyce, V o lum e III: PR Prods, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) R olls R oyce, V o lum e IV: PR Prods, U.S., 52 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) .

R olls R oyce, V o lum e VI: PR Prods, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) R oom ates: R. East, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) S hore Leave: Nova Prods, U.S., 60 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) S lip Up: Sendy Film Corp., U.S., 74 mins, Impact Film, Sff-h-g) S tric tly For Lad ies O nly: W. Higgins, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) A S u m m er Fantasy: W. Stevens, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, S(f-h-g) The S u m m er o f S co tt N o tt: W. Stevens, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) S w edish E rotica — V o l. 42: Caballero Control Corp., U.S., 58 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) S w edish E ro tica — Vol. 43: Caballero Control Corp., U.S., 58 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) S w edish E ro tica — V o l. 44: Caballero Control Corp., U.S., 58 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) To ko rm i soy sto ko rm i m oy: A. Koyroyniotis, Greece, 94 mins, Stavros Importers, Sfi-h-g) T ro p h y No. 7 — Seam en: Vitruvian Video Prods, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g) The Y o u n g O lym pian s: W. Higgins, U.S., 90 mins, J. Nash, Sff-h-g)

Refused Classification 1. Code reasons unavailable for films originally classi­ fied before 1972.

Nil.

★

Film Nouveau

Film Nouveau Continued from p. 33

nightmare of monotony and tedious superficiality to the point that it makes one cherish one’s neuroses like a valu­ able heirloom not to be let out of sight. “ If you want to cure me you will have to cure my life” , the depressed Alain tells the hospital psychiatrist after his unsuccessful suicide attempt.

He has the ingredients for a happy life — a good job, a good marriage — and yet he despairs. Dr Valois (Jacques Dutronc) convinces Alain and his wife Barbara (Fanny Cotencon) to allow him to try his “ flashing” technique on Alain, an operation which previously worked miracles on a neurotic chimp called Charles.

As the first human subject, Alain undergoes a miraculous change. He is tolerant of everything, from the vicious fights between his wife and mother-in-law to his boring job selling insurance. He quickly smiles his way to the top of the corporate ladder, instructing his co-workers to tolerate the abuse of potential customers, to sell by smiling through it all. Edith, the mother-in-law, is played to perfection

by Stephane Audran. An attractive woman who makes herself as unattrac­ tive as possible in the attempt to delay, or disguise, the ageing process, she thinks siren red hair, layers of make­ up and gaudy, too-tight blouses will keep her young. The cured Alain is surrounded by those still trying to be happy, still coping unsuccessfully with

Le bal

their own personal weaknesses and phobias. Alain has found an easy answer. The troubled characters such as Edith bring some color in contrast to his growing lifelessness, which is welcome as he becomes increasingly robot-like and rigidly happy through the two-hour film.

There are a few side-effects that are not so encouraging, however, and one watches through Barbara’s eyes as she begins to distrust the new Alain. His interests are only in the superficial. He becomes obsessed with television com­ mercials, and fashions his appearance after the man in his favorite magazine advertisement. When his wife asks why he loves her, he tells her because she is beautiful and her skin is soft. He has no conscience in causing the death of his mother-in-law because it ends the strife between her and Barbara, and is generally more domestically con­ venient. None of these actions trouble Alain; they only torment those around him. “ We feel good don’t we?” is the mantra of the flash patient, and Alain’s method for rising above the ordinary human problems is to ignore what he doesn’t have and be happy with what he does have. Perhaps we all would like to live without jealousy and pain, and be satisfied with our handi­ caps and weaknesses in life. But to live in the sterile environment of Alain’s ultra-modern, motorized house does not seem so appealing. Allusions to the technical age of the 20th Century are used throughout the film, from the videotaping of Alain’s early sessions with Dr Valois to the motorized wheel­ chair in his luxury dream house.

Whereas Alain’s and Barbara’s first home was warm and filled with charac­ ter and family history, the second house is bland and convenient, without character, containing people without emotions, a reflection on the aspira­ tions of many people in this formulaefor-happiness era.

The apparent success of Alain’s cure leads the good doctor to use the tech­ nique on other depressed people. Soon there is a small community of 20 or so smiling, mannequin-like converts from all walks of life. Their parties resemble the assembling of a hip religious cult: glazed-eyed and smiling they discuss how happy they are and what a shame the rest of the world doesn’t under­ stand. Their favorite films are com­ mercials and there is a hysterical scene of Alain and two of his flash mates watching a series of their best-loved ones on tape, singing the jingles with great excitement like brainwashed children. Alain is at home with his fellow flash victims, but Barbara at home is depressed.

As more and more people get flashed it is easy to identify with the depressed Barbara and the world weary Marc (Philippe Léotard), Alain’s pessimistic colleague at the insurance company. Their dullness, sadness and the circles under their eyes remind one that despair is quite human, and of humanity itself. The happy-go-lucky Alain relates to them not only without tact and understand­ ing, but with absolute sadism. Alain becomes totally dehumanized, and his presence grows steadily more difficult for the normal human being to tolerate.

Although the film is very funny, and at times very light, Jessua’s sense of humor throughout is a sort of modern macabre, sinister thread of sadistic control that exaggerates the spirit behind the popular cure-alls and panaceas of the 20th Century. The truth he underscores is that everyone wants to be happy — and as easily as possible. People crave a formula for happiness that requires no pain, dis­ comfort or even effort. When Valois’ flashing technique is publicized, he is deluged with potential patients of every age and ailment, coming to him with the ordinary problems that make life hell: “ My husband left” , “ I ’m tired all the time” , “ I’m bored with life” , “ I can’t stop thinking about the girl who dumped me” , etc. People begin trekking to the flashing machine the way people in the 1960s trekked to southern California to find them­ selves. A new race is created, whose danger is evident not only in the domestic situation of Alain and Barbara, but also in the delayed reaction of Charles and his simian relatives in the zoo. An outrageous scene of monkey bedlam, domestic animal war and crazed chimpanzees is no subtle symbolism for the future of the quality of life for the human flash victims. It is a painfully blatant com­ parison. And yet the story, as written

by Jessua and André Ruellan, is not as predictable as it might seem to be.

Jessua has such a unique, albeit dis­ torted, view of life that a fairly simple, modern-day myth becomes in his hands a complicated, meandering moral that may make one squirm, but won’t leave one bored. ★

Film Reviews Continued from p. 76

cinema, in which the imagery must signify everything. For example, the one-legged soldier must symbolize all of the pathos and destruction of war; Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire and a Coke bottle must symbolize American culture; the Travolta stance from Saturday Night Fever signifies the nar­ cissism of disco. These are only a few examples from a film which is locked into an iconic representation at ex­ tremes. Le bal is a little like Giorgio Moroder’s revamped Metropolis. One does not need the music to make sense of its themes, and the image itself pro­ vides enough for one to imagine a musical score: what else would a Ger­ man officer in Paris listen to if not “ Lili Marlene” ? Of the music itself, one may be justifiably annoyed at Le bal’s dismissal of rock ’n’ roll as the music of violent hooligans and disco as the music of dehumanized clowns.

Ultimately, the political triteness of Le bal is understandable. It takes on all these issues for the precise purpose of casting them away to reveal its cen­ tral message: while manners, morals, music and modes may change, there is one thing, symbolized by Dance itself, which goes on — and that is Life. The idea of Dance as a metaphor for Life has been evident for centuries in art and literature. Certainly, in Italian cinema it has been a recurring device, best served perhaps by Bernardo Bertolucci in 10 minutes of D con­ formists (The Conformist) and Luchino Visconti in 40 minutes of D

It is 1945, the Americans have arrived with big band music and money to spend. Ettore Scola’s Le bal.

CINEMA PAPERS February-March — 91

Sugar Cane Alley

Le bal

gattopardo (The Leopard). Scola has extended the metaphor and created a film.

Le bal. Directed by: Ettore Scola. Pro­ ducer: Giorgio Silvagni. Associate pro­ ducer: Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina.

Screenplay: Ruggero Maccari, Jean-Claude Penchenat, Furio Scarpelli, Ettore Scola.

D irector of photography: Ricardo Aronovich. Editor: Raimondo Crociani.

Production designer: Luciano Ricceri.

Music: Larghetto. Sound recordists: Bruno Le Jean, Corrado Volpicelli. Cast: Genevieve R ey-P enchenat, M artine Chauvin, Anita Picchiarmi, Liliane Deivai, Raymonde Heudeline, Monica Scattini, Chantal Capron, Danielle Rochard, Nani Noel, Rossana Di Lorenzo, Christophe Allwright, Francesco De Rosa, Etienne Guichard, Jean-François Perrier, Regis Bouquet, Azziz Arbia, Olivier Loiseau, Michel Toty, Francois Pick, Jean-Claude Penchenat, Michel Van Speybroeck, Ar­ nault Lecarpentier, Marc Berman. Produc­ tion company: Cineproductions (Paris) — Films A2 (Paris) - Massfilm (Rome) — On­ de (Algeria). Distributor: Sharmill Films.

35 mm. 112 mins. France. 1983.

Sugar Cane Alley Dorre Koeser Dedicated to the world’s “ black shack alleys” , Rue cases negres (Sugar Cane Alley) tells the stories of Martinique cane-cutters and their families in 1930.

And with a budget far less than the basics required by most modern film­ makers, Euzhan Palcy has created in her first feature a masterpiece.

Palcy discovered the book L a rue cases negres, by Joseph Zobel, when she was 14 years-old. “ The truth, the beauty, the violence and the grandeur of this work astounded me” , she says.

Palcy does it justice with her film which describes, with pain and humor, the harsh realities of the cutters’ lives.

It deals with their oppression, “ this deep-rooted misery in our guts” , without becoming an oppressive moral lesson, and is an educational account of another culture without being a documentary, a depiction of ordinary living without lacking drama.

As well as weariness, there is a peaceful rhythm to the days in the black shack alley. The film provides a feeling for those days with its changing quality of light, local noises and music, and depiction of the ritual habits and movements of the people. The young hero, José (Garry Cadenat), connects many of the stories with narration and is charming, clever and thoughtful. He is exceptionally bright in school but maintains a healthy instinct for mis­ chief. He and the other children enjoy their freedom in the alley while the adults are working in the fields, and create their own, often hysterical, trouble. The children are the life­ blood, the core of village life.

One first meets José’s grandmother Ma Tine (Darling Legitimus) as José, in fear and trembling, anticipates some harsh discipline. Even the magic that the children have invented to protect José, in the forms of chanting and charms (“ Three knots in a blade of grass, she’ll curse and scream but she won’t beat you” ), do not work against Ma Tine’s fury. But she grows softer as she grows older and the boy notices her changing: “ I ’ll take care of you one day” , he says when she falls sick, but he is already taking care of her.

José (Garry Cadenat) escapes the poverty o f the sugar cane fields. Euzhan Palcy’s Rue Cases Negres (Sugar Cane Alley).

Their dependence on one another is touching in its routine.

Ma Tine wants José to have a be ter life, and forbids José to work in the fields like the other children. Ma Tine denounces the “ blacks without pride” who throw their children into “ the same misery” and lives bravely and proudly, placing José’s education above all else, so that one day he can escape the canefields. Darling Legitimus gives a rich performance as the old woman clinging to her dignity and hopes for her grandson. Although Ma Tine lives to see José succeed, despite the odds of poverty against him, other bright students are, unfor­ tunately, denied their education in favor of supporting their families.

The old man Medouze (Douta Seek) is José’s spiritual mentor, moving gracefully across the screen like an age­ ing dancer. Although he lives the life of all the cutters, he has a wisdom and insight that go beyond it. He and the boy communicate in chants while he tells stories of Africa, of his ancestors. “ We’ll all go back to Africa one day, don’t you worry” , Medouze tells this boy who knows only this small village on the small island. José is the one who notices the old man missing one day, and the villagers gather together to search for him in a beautiful scene of lighted torches moving through the hilly landscape. Medouze has gone to die in the cane that killed him, and the village stages a spontaneous funeral, singing, clapping and telling stories in a mocking, celebratory wake. “ Now Mr Medouze is on his way to Africa” , José tells Ma Tine, and Africa becomes the place of beginnings and endings, and of a spiritual peace.

Although José does not forget Medouze, his death, like many other occurrences, is not dwelled upon.

Poverty, death, sickness and neigh­ borhood intrigues are all turning points in life in the alley, but the emphasis is on the pursuit of life. The film remains true to this notion of living: it neither Ungers too long on any one subject or scene, nor does it beat a story into the ground, but tells it simply and lets it go. For instance, José lives with his grandmother because his mother is dead. One knows nothing more; it is a fact and there is no longing for the past. José’s wealthy friend Leopold (Laurent Saint-Cyr), a mulatto boy whose parents disapprove of his association with the alley blacks, runs away after being rejected by his white father. The word is out that Leopold disappears, but Ufe goes on, and another storyhne is taken up. In

92 — February-March CINEMA PAPERS

this matter, many stories are woven but “ naturals” , or “ faces” as the together into a satisfying whole. director called them. Palcy interviewed Although the relationship between more than 2000 boys for the part of Ma Tine and José is the central one, José, but Cadenet stood apart from the film does not dwell on one aspect the others with his insistent pro­ of a boy’s life, or of a village’s life, but nouncement: “ José, that’s me! My life reveals many relationships in a coUage resembles his. I want to do it!” Like of daily meetings, both ordinary and Jo sé, C a d e n e t’s d e te rm in a tio n consequential. The nature of each is becomes a fine success, a delightful captured in a few scenes without a lot performance. His face has the joy of a of fanfare, and without becoming child and the wisdom of the ages in it. lukewarm in generalities.

The book L a rue cases negres was José befriends Carmen (Joel Palcy), banned in its country of origin for a young, fun-loving man from Fort- more than 20 years. The film has been de-France (“ The city the children of more immediately successful in its the village dream about” ), and teaches “ hometown” , a Martinique where him to read on ferry rides to the city. there still exist some 20 black shack Carmen plays big brother and friend to alleys. In its third week in the West José, rising to his dreams through city Indies, Sugar Cane Alley brought in a work and pretty girls, but the viewer record 125,000 admissions; the pre­ sometimes has the impression that vious record was 35,000 for E.T. The José, with a wisdom and maturity that Extra Terrestrial during its entire run. “ Are stories worth telling?” , Med­ go beyond his years, is actually big brother to Carmen. José’s relation­ ouze asks of the boy. “ Yes, they are” ships with his schoolmasters are also is the firm reply. Medouze tells his important. He is filled with pride by stories in the oral tradition of his their praise, and with fury when a mis­ people, José writes them and Palcy understanding leads to accusations of tells hers through film — a film worth plagiarism. José writes a moving seeing and remembering. account of life in the black shack alleys, so real that the city teacher does not believe they are the boy’s own Rue cases negres (Sugar Cane Alley). words. The poignancy of the story is Directed by: Euzhan Palcy. Executive pro­ the hatred for that way of life, yet the ducer: Jean-Luc Ormieres. Screenplay: feeling of attachment to it because it is Euzhan Palcy from the novel La rue cases home. José expects that sentimental negres by Joseph Zobel. Director of photo­ feeling is why Ma Tine still travels graphy: Dominique Chapuis. Editor: M arie-Joseph Y oyotte. P ro d u c tio n back to that shack she hated so. “ Money and justice are what we designer: Hoang Thanh At. Music: Groupe need to end our suffering” , the people Malavoi. Sound recordist: Yves Osmu, of the village sing. José has experi­ Pierre Befve. Cast: Garry Cadenat (José), enced a taste of these through his Darling Legitimus (M’man Tine), Douta scholarship and education, but does Seek (Medouze), Joby Bernabe (Monsieur not forget where he is from. As he says Saint-Louis), Francisco Charles (the boss), Laurent Saint-Cyr (Leopold), Marie-Ange in the film’s conclusion, “ Tomorrow Farot (Madame Saint-Louis), Henri Melon I’ll return to Fort-de-France, and I’ll (Monsieur Roc, the teacher). Production take my black shack alley with me.” company: Sumafa-Oraca-Nef Diffusion.

All the children give excellent per­ Distributor: Pan Americans Prods. 35 mm. formances; they create a neighborhood ■103 mins. Martinique. 1984. ★ feeling so real one forgets they are actors. In fact, most were not actors,

National Tree Program

Television and Film Producers Award Entries are invited for the 1985 Award, which includes a cash prize of $2,000. The Award is offered fo r a program of 5 minutes or more, of broadcast quality, which has received wide public exposure, and which makes the greatest contribution towards increasing awareness and under­ standing of the value of trees in the Australian environment.

A video cassette or 16mm film of the program should be provided, together with a statem ent from a referee attesting to the authenticity and originality of the entry.

A panel of judges representing the National Tree Program Coordination Committee will assess the entries. Both the audio and visual com ponents of the program will be taken into consideration by the judges.

The National Tree Program reserves the right to broadcast or otherwise exhibit all or some of the entries with due credit to the original producers. In the event that the award is shared, the prize will be divided equally among the winners.

Entries should be forwarded by 30 Septem ber 1985 to: T he D ire cto r, N a tio n a l T ree P rogram D e p a rtm e n t o f H om e A ffa irs and E n v iro n m e n t PO B ox 1 2 5 2 C a n b e rra ACT 2601

Natural color reproduction is yours with Fujicolor. T on es co m e alive. Luxuriate in the rich skin to n es and exquisite su b leties of the grays.

In situ ation s which call for very fine grain pictures, Fujicolor A allows you to sh o o t at a lower exposure index (e.g . E l. 5 0 ) and then fine-grain p ro cess to obtain outstanding results.

Fujicolor AX has an exposure index rating of 3 2 0 in tu n gsten light and 2 0 0 in daylight When sh ootin g under adverse lighting conditions the E l. rating of Fujicolor AX can be doubled by force p rocessin g which virtually results in no change in color balance.

Distributed in Australia by

m HANIMEX •

SYDNEY •

MELBOURNE

•

B R ISB A N E

•

A D E LA ID E

•

PERTH

•

HOBART

Hot on the heels of 5294, Eastmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s versatile Emmy-winning high speed color negative film, comes Eastman Professional Videotape. The only range of broadcast quality videotape good enough to bear the Eastman name.

For more information about the latest in professional film or video contact your Kodak representative.

Motion Picture Markets Division, KODAK (Australasia) PTY., LTD. PO. Box 90, Coburg, Victoria 3058.

Sydney 692 7282 Melbourne 353 2580 Adelaide 2122411 Brisbane 8521911 Perth 4580111 Hobart 34 2099 Canberra 486544 Townsville 723366.

KODAK and EASTMAN are registered trademarks.

342 P4 <xwcr