Cinema Papers No.64 July 1987

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CINEMA Pp/pü^id No 64 Editor Philippa Hawker

Publisher Patricia Amad

Assistant Editor Kathy Bail

Art Director Mick Earls

Editorial Assistant/Subscriptions Sue Illingworth Proofreader Arthur Salton

Office Cat Sylvester

Consulting Editors Fred Harden Brian McFarlane

Founding Publishers c

Peter Beilby Scott Murray

Typesetting by B-P Typesetting Pty Ltd Printed by York Press Ltd Distribution by Network Distribution Company. 54 Park Street. Sydney. NSW 2000 Signed articles represent the views of their author, and not necessarily those of the editor While every care is taken with manuscripts and materials supplied to the magazine, neither the editor nor the pub lishers can accept liability for any loss or damage which may arise This magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright owner Cinema Papers is published every two months by MTV Publishing Ltd. 43 Charles St. Abbotsford.

Victoria. Australia 3067 Telephone (03) 429 5511. Telex: AA 30625 Reference

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No 64, July 1987 'Recommended price only.

COVER: Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon

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THE A FC LO A N FU N D : Can w e still bank on it?

BRIEFLY C A N N E S : Forty years on H O N G K O N G : M u rd e r and m ayhem O SHEROV: The DOP from the USSR VIDEO: The o ther Insatiable KELLY: Hit a nd m yth MEL: The G ibson g u y SHORTS C IR CU IT: Four A ustralian film s CH AR TBU STER S: C h e ck the all-tim e rental ch am ps REVIEWS: A n g e l H e a rt, B lack W ido w , The D ecline O f The A m e rica n Em pire, 84 C haring Cross R oad, 5 2 P ick-U p, G in ge r E Fred, G othic

REVIEWS: Hooslers, Les P atterson Saves The World, M y Life A s A D og, P ersona/ Services, R adio Days, Twelfth N ight, Uforia, W hen The W ind Blow s 5 6 NEW Z E A L A N D : M aori point of view 5 8 BO OKS: F ocus on A ustralian C inem a 6 0 TE C H N IC A LITIE S : A n eye on the A p p le 6 4 C EN S O R S H IP: M arch and A pril d ecisions 66 THE P A N TH E R STRIKES: A ustralian ch o p so cky action 68 P R O D U C TIO N SURVEY: W h o ’s m aking w hat in A ustralia 7 2 F U N D IN G DECISIO NS: W ho g ot what 8 0 B A C K PAGE: Sic transit G ilda

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE BANK

W hat’s the latest in the long-running film bank saga? KATHRYN BICE reports.

AFTER MONTHS of heated debate about the Australian Film Commis­ sion’s (AFC) proposal for a film bank, it might seem that things have gone strangely silent on that front recently. But the campaign is far from over; it has just been going on behind closed doors in the Canberra labyrinth.

As David Court, the AFC policy adviser who has nurtured the pro­ posal from its infancy, said: “There have been rumours flying around that the film bank concept is dead, but in fact we’re exactly on target.”

The future shape of the film industry depends largely on how opinion divides on the day the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Environment, Barry Cohen, pre­ sents to Cabinet his formal submis­ sion on the options for government assistance.

Since the AFC presented its report to Mr Cohen in April, it has been lobbying for its preferred option in both the bureaucratic and the political wings of government.

Usually, when a major policy decision is on the agenda, the relevant department prepares a draft cabinet submission for its minister’s consideration. If the minister approves the draft, it is then cir­ culated among other government departments which may be affected by the change.

When the departments have made their “co-ordinating comments” — often just a few paragraphs outlining their reservations about the proposal — the minister can go to cabinet knowing where his potential supporters and opponents are coming from.

The departments most likely to have some influence over the future of the industry are the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury, Finance, Communications and Industry, Technology and Com­ merce. Their respective ministers are Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Peter Walsh, Michael Duffy and John Button.

Though it is impossible to know which way each of these will jump, it is safe to guess that Treasury, which

holds the purse strings, would support the film finance corpora­ tion, in principle at least.

Its liking for on-balance sheet assistance through direct grants rather than off-balance sheet assis­ tance through forgone tax revenue, such as 10BA provides, was one of the factors that shaped the AFC’s preference for the film bank in the first place.

Under the proposal, the film bank would cost the government $25 million to establish. It could then raise additional funds on the money market to enable it to make ‘soft’ loans worth up to $120 million a year.

These could be converted to equity in projects which turned a good profit or written off if a project bombed at the box office, giving the film bank enough flex­ ibility to subsidise risky projects with the profits from commercial successes. The expected losses would cost the government an additional $56 million a year.

The fund would be complemented by a $10 million special fund to make grants to low budget drama and documentaries, plus changes in the tax laws to encourage active investment by companies involved in film and TV production.

Though Barry Cohen has not declared his hand openly, there is some evidence that he favours the concept of a film bank. There is also growing bipartisan support for the idea.

The Cultural Ministers’ Council, which is made up of the arts minis­ ters from all states and territories, met in Melbourne in May. Their communique “affirmed the impor­ tance to Australian cultural life of a stable, independent film and tele­ vision production industry” .

The ministers “endorsed the proposal for a film finance corpora­ tion” and went on to recommend that, “if this cannot be achieved because of budgetary constraints, the Commonwealth should maintain the multi-faceted approach to government assistance to the industry with tax concessions, direct

■ C om edy and adventure are the dom inant film genres in the recent announcem ent by D e L aurentiis E ntertainm ent L td (DEL) o f its 1987/88 film prod u ctio n package. T hree comedies and three adventu re films are in developm ent to add to the D E L slate w hich includes Bruce B eresford’s directing o f a futuristic thriller, T otal Recall, and the m iniseries ad a p ta tio n o f The F atal Shore, R obert H ughes’ boo k ab o u t convict A ustralia.

Vice president o f prod u ctio n for D E L, Jo h n T a rn o ff was in A u stralia in June, acting as liaison and having a look aro u n d , when the announcem ent o f the six projects was m ade. A nother three are close to signing.

The com edies in developm ent are The M an W ho S u ed G od, w ritten by P atrick M cCarville and Jo h n C larke; B right B o y, w ritten

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funding, Australian content regula­ tion and other measures” .

Even if the proposal is adopted in Cabinet, a question mark hangs over the timing of the bank’s establish­ ment. If it is dealt with in the current budget process, there is a chance the bank might be up and running by 1 January 1988. If left until the budget sittings of Parliament after August, quick implementation becomes less and less likely.

In recent months, the AFC has been working the Canberra beat pretty thoroughly. It has lobbied the bureaucracy through meetings with representatives from the relevant departments and has also moved in on the political wing of government, briefing the Labor Party caucus committee on Education and the Arts and the Communications sub­ committee. “The general response was cautious,” said David Court, “but we feel it’s been quite a constructive process” .

Other industry bodies have also been trying to influence the decision­ making process. A delegation from the Screen Production Association of Australia (SPAA) met Mr Cohen in April to put its case for a revital­ ised Division 10BA. “The minister confirmed that it was not the government’s intention to dismantle 10BA,” said Ross Dimsey, the president of SPAA, “but he also said it was unlikely to be rejigged upwards to take into account the lower marginal tax rates.

“We made it clear that, if a film bank was inevitable, our support for it was absolutely conditional on it being completely independent rather than a part of the AFC, and it being funded too, at the very least, to the level anticipated in the discussion paper.”

Because of their fundamental agreement on issues such as Aus­ tralian content, Actors Equity and the Australian Writers Guild are co­ ordinating their activity. As a start, Equity asked a number of “inter­ nationally known Australian actors” to write to Bob Hawke and

Paul Keating and urge them to support the film bank proposal, said Ann Britton, Equity’s federal media organiser.

The Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees Association has been preoccupied with tele­ vision, according to Charles Living­ stone, the association’s federal research officer. “But we’ve been using the various forums to argue that the issues of media ownership and the future of the film industry are closely related,” he said.

“What’s the point of having a film bank if media ownership is so centralised that it would be domi­ nated by vertically integrated com­ panies?”

The g o vern m en t num ber crunchers’ liking for decisions based on hard facts raises at least one problem for supporters of the film bank. In a political climate favouring austerity, the upfront demand for nearly $100 million might be unsettling, even if it is made by an industry which seems to have wide community support.

There is a trend in some government circles to wait for the dust to settle after 30 June and see how much money is raised under 10BA this year. If the amount is within “accep­ table limits” , that is, if the reduction to 120/20 per cent does seem to have “put a cap” on the revenue drain, then there may be some support for the retention of 10BA. To pre-empt this tactic, the AFC is arguing that 1986-87 might turn out to be an exceptional year because of the high number of trans­ itional 133/33 per cent projects on offer, the delay in introducing the reduced marginal tax rates and the big money made on the sharemarket which investors wanted to shelter until the 49 per cent marginal rate came in on 1 July.

To lend weight to its arguments, in May the AFC conducted a survey of merchant banks and brokers on their predictions of the market for 10BA films in 1987-88. The results, said Penny Chapman, the AFC’s director of special projects, were “very pessimistic” .

h y D avid Sale; S p ittin g Im age, w ritten by M arcus Cole an d C hristine Schofield, to be directed by Cole. T he adventures are M u sta rd Island, w ritten by D ennis W h itb u rn ; The Thin L in e, being developed

by F rancine F innane an d Ian Bradley; B la ck A n d B lue, w ritten by Bruce H ancock, M ike M idlam an d R obb S tew art, to be directed by Stew art.

D E L is aim ing to tu rn o u t 70 to 80 m illion dollars o f p ro d u ctio n a year, a task n o t m ade easier by w hat h ead o f p ro d u ctio n Ian Bradley describes as “ a problem in finding m ass appeal, com m ercial film s ” , The projects confirm ed will have budgets aro u n d th e $10 m illion m ark. C om bined w ith th e $18 m illion budget fo r The F atal Shore and $15 m illion plus for T o ta l R ecall, D E L should com fo rtab ly fill its target.

CONTRIBUTORS S.J. Ayre is a filmmaker and freelance writer.

John Baxter is a film reviewer for The Australian and author of numerous books on the cinema.

Kathryn Bice is a journalist at the Australian Financial Review.

Mum, How Do You Spell Gorbatrof?

Chile, Hasta Cuando?

The Huge Adventures Of Trevor A Cat

The Australian Teachers Of Media (ATOM) awards for short educational films and video for 1987 were presented in May. W inners were:

Animation G eneral: Joshua C o o ks (director P enny Robenstone) C hildren’s: The H uge A d ve n tu re s O f Trevor A C at (John Taylor) H ighly Com m ended: E lephant Theatre (Sabrina Schmid)

Social Issues General: S h a rk y ’s P arty (Greg W oodland) C hildren’s: M u m , H o w D o Y ou Spell G orbatrof? (Pam ela W illiams) H ighly C om m ended: P o p M ovie, The M y th O f Stardom (Ray A rgali)

Science And Nature General: H earts A n d M in d s (Stephen Bur stow) H ighly C om m ended: E sty D eez (Tom M cPartland)

documentary G eneral: Chile, H asta Cuando? (David Bradbury) H ighly Com m ended: Brigadistas (Chris Nash)

Narrative G eneral: F ifty /F ifty (C arole Sklan) C hildren’s: The F og b ro o k Thing (M ark Osborne) H ighly C om m ended: The M o n g rel’s Funeral (Peter M cGuire)

Tertiary General: The H uge A d ven tu res O f Trevor A Cat (John Taylor) Highly Com m ended: M o o n c a lf (Kieran W eir)

Overseas G eneral C hildren’s: W h y ’d The B eetle Cross The R oad? (Jan Skrentny) H ighly C om m ended: The B ig S n it (R ichard Condie)

Australian G eneral: Ten Years A fte r . . . Ten Years Older (A nna K avanna) C hildren’s: B a n d u k (Di Drew)

Innovative G eneral: M y L ife W ithout Steve (Gillian Leahy)

Jury Prize Cam era N atura (Ross G ibson)

Curriculum Resource Award G eneral: C ontract W ith D eb t (Tony W right)

■ The National Film and Sound Archive has acquired the single surviving nitrate print of Australia’s first all-talking feature film, ShowgirVs Luck. The 55-minute film was directed by Norman Dawn, the American director of For The Term Of His Natural Life. ShowgirVs Luck was Australia’s first musical, and it was also known for its experiments with optical effects, including a scene where the heroine’s eyes appear to grow larger and roll around as a result of queasiness from smoking a cigar. It premiered in Sydney in 1931.

■ Penny Robins is the new manager of the Australian Film Commission’s Women’s Film Fund (WFF). The WFF has been relocated to Melbourne.

■ Hilary Furlong has been ap­ pointed director, special projects at the Australian Film Commis­ sion, with responsibility for administration of the Special Production Fund and the Special Projects Fund. She has worked as a producer, writer, script editor and researcher. Her most recent projects were the feature The Place A t The Coast, which she wrote and produced, and the documentary Don ’t Call Me Girlie, which she produced.

■ The Australian Film Commis­ sion has awarded its 1987 documen­ tary fellowships to David and Judith MacDougall, and Dennis O’Rourke.

Since their arrival in Australia from the United States, David and Judith MacDougall have made some 10 documentaries about Aborigines.

David MacDougall is director of the film unit at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. Dennis O’Rourke has made many prize­ winning documentaries, several in the South Pacific region, since the late 1970s. His most recent film, Half Life, was a feature-length documentary on the effects of US atomic testing on the inhabitants of the Marshall Islands. (See Cinema Papers 56, March 1986).

The fellowships, each valued at a minimum of $140,000, enable fellows to make a film of their own choosing. The Australian Broadcast­ ing Corporation pre-purchases each film.

Dear M s Hawker, I was most interested to read M ary C olbert’s article on the recent screenw riters’ conference (‘W hile T roy dreams, screenwriters talk’) in the M ay issue of Cinema Papers.

However I ’d like to correct an inaccuracy in reporting. M ary Colbert, in discussing the W riters’ G uild’s position on the A FC ’s proposed Film Bank, quotes the Guild as asking whether writers would be able to approach the bank without producers. T he G uild itself did not ask this question; a question which dem onstrates a fundam ental lack of understanding of the A F C ’s proposal, which is not for another funding body b ut a production “ loan” corporation.

The question came from the floor at the session being reported and was never p u t by me or any other Guild official.

A part from that — thanks for a stim ulating and interesting magazine.

Yours sincerely, Angela Wales, Executive Officer, A W G

Marcus Breen is a Melbourne-based journalist, freelance writer and documentary filmmaker.

Mick Broderick works as a publications officer with the Australian Conservation Foundation and is a freelance writer on film.

Ron Burnett is a cinema studies lecturer at La Trobe University.

Susan Charlton is a freelance writer and apprentice window dresser.

Barry Dickins is a Melbourne playwright.

John Foam is an Italian videomaker based in Sydney.

Helen Greenwood is a freelance writer based in Sydney.

Ross Harley is a freelance writer and film and videomaker living in Sydney.

Fred Harden runs a production company in Sydney called Picture Start which specialises in special effects.

Linda Jaivin was formerly Hong Kong and China correspondent for Asia Week, and is now a freelance writer based in Canberra.

Stephen Knight is chairman of the English Department at Melbourne University and author of Form And Ideology In Crime Fiction.

G.R. Lansell co-edited the Australian Motion Picture Yearbook 1983 and The Documentary Film In Australia.

Peter Lawrence is a freelance writer.

Sonia Leber works freelance in the film industry.

David Lyle hosts The Golden Years Of Television on Channel Nine.

Brian McFariane is a lecturer in English at the Chisholm Institute and author of Australian Cinema 1970-1985.

Scott McQuire teaches at RMIT and the University of Melbourne.

Adrian Martin is a freelance film critic based in Sydney.

Joanna Murrey-Smith is a Melbourne writer and playwright.

Mike Nicolaidi is a freelance writer and contributor to Variety.

Vikki Riley is a freelance writer.

Robert Rooney is an artist and art critic.

Bill and Diane Routt are a couple of Melbourne academics.

Jim Schembri is a journalist at The Age. Graham Shirley is a filmmaker who recently completed Prisoners Of Propaganda for Film Australia.

David Stratton is host of Movie Of The Week on SBS-TV and reviews films for The Movie Show and Variety.

R.J. Thompson teaches cinema studies at La Trobe University.

Ralph Traviato is a popular songwriter.

James Waites is a freelance writer on the performing arts.

Andree W right is an author, historian and filmmaker, currently serving a three-year term with the Film Censorship Board.

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY — 5

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CANNES

A thousand and one deals, 950 miles of film — what else does the Cannes Film Festi­ val add up to? PHILIPPA HAWKER reports.

THE MOST tangible thing about Cannes is its intangibility; you can go looking for “ Cannes" and not find it anywhere, precisely because it is everywhere, all the time.

Pinning it down is impossible.

First of all, there are the films. In 1987, 30 feature films were invited into the main program, not all in competition. There are scores more screening at sidebar events like 'Un Certain Regard', the 'Section Informative', 'Critics' Week', and the concurrently-run Directors' Fortnight, which is a bit more like a conventional film festival.

There are also the hundreds of films on show or on sale in the market place, everything from Thighs And Whispers to Warm Nights On A Slow Moving Train to The House Of Bernarda Alba. The market stands are in the basement of the large rose-pink bunker that is the new Palais des Festivals building, while the films screen in the various cinemas around the streets of Cannes, or in small theatrettes in the Palais building.

Then there are the various sales offices at hotels along the Croisette, the 1100-metre strip that runs along the shore from the new Palais to the Hotel Martinez. But for the marketgoer, business is conducted elsewhere: at parties, launches, lunches, in bars, at spontaneous "Let's make a deal" sessions; all the formal and informal encounters that could happen anywhere from the

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Weintraub yacht to the Blue Bar to the lift of the Hotel Majestic.

Negotiating these buying and selling sessions can seem relatively easy compared to the difficulties of getting into a 7.30 pm competition screening if you are not wearing evening dress, or getting into the festival building itself without a pass. Ushers have long been famous for their severity, and increasing concern about terrorism has made security tighter in recent years. As the official festival guide puts it: "The sacred perimeter has been defined around the Palais des Festivals and is subjected to very stringent surveillance." But the closest thing to an explosion in the last decade was the custard pie splattered in Jean-Luc Godard's face in 1985.

Dealing with the intangible market place is gruelling even for the veteran producer. The Australians at Cannes could take advantage of two bases: the Producers Sales Office, on the first floor of the Hotel Majestic, and the Australian Film Commission penthouse, next to the old Palais building, which has a more social function. Tom Broadbridge, the Screen Production Association representative at the festival, emphasises that contacts are vital, but that it is easy to get lost in the crowd. "It's the most difficult market in the world, because it's all over the place. You need to zero in very quickly on the half

dozen distributors you need to talk to."

Greg Smith, director of Film Victoria, also emphasises that "You would be lost without forward planning. You can go to all the parties and try to see thousands of people, and be frustrated at every level." He believes that organisations like Film Victoria and the Australian Film Commission can assist local producers with small-scale "strategic events planned well in advance and targeted to the distribution companies and networks interested in Australian product".

Cannes produces information as copiously as it produces hangovers.

Publications like Le Film Francais and Screen International churn out daily editions; magazines publish festival specials; a closed circuit television system relays press conferences live-to-air, runs interviews and reports, and four hours of English language festival stories a day, put together by Hollywood Reporter. And the 3000 or so photographers, press, radio and television journalists who cover the event maintain an eternal, increasingly frazzled vigilance over everything that moves.

There is always plenty to monitor. There is a constant stream of stars, ex-stars and aspiring stars ready to lend or borrow publicity from the festival, although since the 1970s, as critic Maurice Bessy points out, the directors have often overhauled the actors in the celebrity stakes.

There are a few notable absentees. Woody Allen still didn't come (it would have been out of character). Ronald Biggs didn't (it would have been extremely unwise). Everyone else did. They come, but not much gets said.

Press conferences tend to produce candidates for best acting awards, or exercises in mutual incomprehension.

Lilian Gish came to talk about her film with Lindsay Anderson, The Whales O f August, and to describe herself as "about as funny as an open grave. I could make them cry, but I couldn't make them laugh." Diane Keaton came to speak about her idiosyncratic documentary, Heaven, and to ask the press conference, in best Annie Hall style, whether everyone in Europe was Catholic. Mickey Rourke, questioned about the relationship between suffering and art, sighed deeply and mumbled Methodically, "I'm suffering right now." Paul Newman, who had come to proclaim the fact that The Class Menagerie was the first "faithful" film version of a Tennessee Williams play, was

asked by a woman from a French radio station whether he was free for lunch. Menahem Golan turned up and held forth at every event with which Cannon had the least connection.

Godard brought his laboriously capricious work-in-progress version of King Lear, a Cannon-financed epic whose real interest seemed to be in the process, rather than the product: would Norman Mailer and Woody Allen play Lear and the Fool? If they didn't, who would? The answer turned out to be Burgess Meredith and Godard himself — Mailer and Allen made fleeting appearances — with Molly Ringwald as an extremely glum Cordelia.

After the screening, Godard got up on stage and, encircled by television cameras, gave an impressively cryptic performance.

He told a disconcerted and disenchanted collection of journalists and critics that of course he hadn't read the play, and probably never would. It was a Cannon press conference from which Menahem Golan was conspicuously absent.

Francesco Rosi gave an impassioned account of the need to "save European cinema" through co-production, but his own film exemplified some of the problems that it brings. His ponderous adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' Chronicle O f A Death Foretold, filmed principally in Spanish with a cast that combined Greek, English, French, Italian and Spanish actors, proved that a United Nations approach to filmmaking doesn't work, no matter how striking the images on > I’V E H E A R D T H E M E R M A ID S S IN G IN G : D irecto rs’ Fortnight hit

FILMS DIRECTED BY FRANK SHIELDS FOR FRONTIER FILMS THE CROSSING

N ot only a biography o f on e o f A ustralia’s m ost colorful ch aracters, it is a national docum ent o f Australia's heritage The saga o f HarryM orant

FrontierFilmspresents

THE BREAKER Winner Best Documentary Greater Union Awards 1975

Finalist Short Fiction Greater Union Awards 1976

In top twenty Australian Box Office successes for Australian Films. Variety, “All-time Aussie Rental Champs”, 29 April 1987

Selected for Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 1987

IN DEVELOPMENT:

STOKER’S BOY (original screenplay)

TOKEN SOLDIERS (from the novel by John Carroll)

E ^ U IB IE S : FRONTIER F IL M sI P.O. Box 1564; North Sydney NSW 2060 Phone (02) 938-5762 Telex AA23976 Worn _i i_____ s ill HI 1,1 WSm IISISSk— \—i------\—I— ---------- wmm I 1 -------------------

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the screen might be. Diane Kurys' A Man In Love — a French/ Italian/American cast in a film about an American actor playing Cesare Pavese who falls in love with an Italian-American girl who lives in Paris — suffered similar identity crises. So did the Taviani brothers' Good Morning Babylon, which tried to make us believe that a pair of Italian artisans who sculpted the elephant statues for the temple sequence in Intolerance were the unsung heroes of early Hollywood cinema. There were, of course, exceptions — Mikhalkov's Dark Eyes and Wenders' The Wings O f Desire, for example. But it was interesting to contrast the 'international' films with 'smaller',

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less grandiose works that had the courage of their parochial convictions. One of the successes of Directors' Fortnight, for example, was Canadian Patricia Rozema's I've Heard The Mermaids Singing, the whimsically wry story of an "organisationally impaired" woman whose confidence is undermined by the sophisticated art gallery owner for whom she works. It won the International Critics' Federation award, and was sold in most major territories in the market place.

Another critical, popular and market success was Wish You Were Here, the directorial debut from David Leland, who wrote, among other things, Mona Lisa and Personal Services. Set in an English seaside town in the fifties, it's a brash, rueful, comically depressing story of a rebellious adolescent girl.

The British films, helped by the publicity surrounding the British Pavilion, and the presence of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, registered the greatest impact at a national level.

Many Australian features came to the market presold, or had been screened at the American Film Market, which took the wind out of the Cannes sales.

Travelling North, despite having only a single screening at Cannes was very well received, and Leo McKern's presence there helped to

publicise it. It was sold to Cineplex Odeon in the US, and a British sale is still under negotiation. "It's a film that has to be carefully handled," according to producer Ben Gannon, who believes that a Cannes screening gets it the right sort of attention.

Bill Bennett's A Street To Die and Backlash will receive theatrical and Channel Four screenings in Britain; the USA's Alive Films acquired Stephen McLean's Around The World In 80 Ways, and Colin Eggleston's thriller Cassandra was bought by Virgin.

Laurie Mclnnes' Palisade, a 15-minute short about the dreams of a Sydney garbage collector, shot entirely at night, and mostly around the Rocks area of Sydney, took out the Golden Palm for the best short film in the festival. It was the only Australian work in competition.

Frank Shields' The Surfer was screened in Directors' Fortnight, but did not live up to the "in the style of Sam Fuller" tag with which is was misleadingly endowed. The Australian showing was a considerable contrast to last year, when The Fringe Dwellers was in competition, Backlash, Burke And Wills, A Girl's Own Story, Passionless Moments and 2 Friends in Un Certain Regard, Devil In The Flesh in Critics' Week and Fast Talking in Cannes Junior. Peel, in

the short film competition, was the sole Australian film to carry off an award.

Invited films can sink into oblivion quickly enough, even those singled out for prizes. But a higher public and market profile inevitably results when Australian films are officially selected. Budget constraints meant that the Australian Film Commission's traditional party on the beach was cancelled; all in all, it was a subdued Australian presence.

There was a widely expressed hope that an Australian film would make it into competition next y e a r. . . or else.

PRIZEWINNERS Best film: Under The Sun O f Satan (director Maurice Pialat) Director's prize: Wim Wenders, The Wings O f Desire Special jury prize: Repentance (Tengiz Abuladze) Jury prize: Brightness (Souleyman C\sse)IShinran — Path To Purity (Rentaro Mikuni) Best short film: Palisade (Laurie Mclnnes) Best first film: My English Grandad (Nana Dzhordzhadze) Lifetime achievement award: Federico Fellini Best actor: Marcello Mastroianni {Dark Eyes) Best actress: Barbara Hershey (Shy People)

f E $ t.ïV £ % * m t I l 1 W I N N E R S Winners in the Melbourne Film Festival Shorts Competition were:

Winners of the 1987 Greater Union Awards for Australian Short Films (Sydney Film Festival) were:

• Palisade (Laurie Mclnnes) and The Nights Belong To The Novelist (Christina Wilcox) — Erwin Rado Prize for best Australian film.

• Attack On A Bakery (Naoto Yamakawa) — City of Melbourne Award for best film.

• Attack On A Bakery — Tattersalls Award for best fiction film.

• The Rat Catcher (Andrzej Czarnecki) — Herald and Weekly Times Award for best documentary.

• The Dream Machine (Derek Jarman) — Schwartz Publishing Award for best experimental film.

• Spaventapasseri (Luigi Acquisto) — Cinevex Award for best student film.

• Shopping Town (David Caesar) — Greater Union Award for best film in the general category.

• Kick Start (Charles Sandford) — Greater Union Award for best film in the fiction category.

• Making Biscuit (Sharon Laura) — Greater Union Award for best film in the documentary category.

• In Love Cancer (Jenny Robertson) — Yoram Gross Animation Award.

• Kick Start (Charles Sandford) — Rouben Mamoulian Award.

• Palisade (Laurie Mclnnes) — Greater Union Film Distributors prize.

The prizewinners at the 1987 St Kilda Film Festival were: 1st TOOWOOMBA FESTIVAL OF AUSTRALIAN FILMS

SHORT FILM COMPETITION Sept. 1-8, 1987.

DOCUMENTARY ANIMATION

FICTION/DRAMA EXPERIMENTAL

Films must be in 16 mm sound on film or Super 8 and should not exceed 30 minutes. * $750 cash prizes in each category * Winners screened at Cinema Toowoomba (Birch, Carroll & Coyle) and broadcast on Television Station DDQ Channel 10. * Special Birch, Carroll & Coyle award for Best Short Film (16mm).

Information and Entry Forms obtainable from Carnival of Flowers Office, Town Hall P.O. Box 3179, Toowoomba, Qld. 4350 (mark envelopes "Short Film Competition"), Telephone (076) 32 4877.

8 — JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

• Certificates of Merit: Out O f The Frying Pan (Leo Berkeley); Kenny's Love (Rowan Woods); Sharky's Party (Greg Woodland); Slim Chance (Julie Harris); Tennis Court Opera (Lesley Oliver); Portrait O f Wendy's Father (NSB Parsons); Ten Years A fte r. . . Ten Years Older (Anna Kannava).

• Special prizes from The Mayor of St Kilda: Rainbow Diary (Ivor Cantrill); Samba To Slow Fox (Maria Stratford).

• Kodak Australia Super 8 prize: Miracles O f Hilda (Chris Windmill).

• Kodak Australia Cinematography Award: Erika Addis for My Life Without Steve.

• Illumination Films Prize: One Wild Weekend With The Lonesome Rustler (Julie Money).

• The Longford Cinema Award: Ettore Siracusa (and his collaborators) for Natura Morta and The Occupant.

• Cinevex Film Laboratory Prize: Spaventapasseri (Luigi Acquisto).

• City of St Kilda Prize: Smacks And Kicks (Catherine Stone and James Manche).

Love Unto Waste

HONGKONG Gangsters, murders and melodrama

CINEMA MAY be one of Hong Kong's most popular entertainments, yet the commercial theatres there have little time for 'art', fringe — or even nonAmerican foreign films. For that kind of film fare, local movie buffs must rely on the annual Hong Kong International Film Festival, now in its eleventh year. This year's HKIFF, which took place from 10-25 April, featured some 130 full-length films plus a selection of shorts and videos. The proof of the festival's popularity is in the box office: this year the festival sold about 93,000 tickets.

The Australian entries consisted of The Fringe Dwellers, Two Friends and shorts by Jane Campion. Special sections of the festival included a tribute to Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, who died last year, and a retrospective of the films of Mikio Naruse. A retrospective of Hong Kong Cantonese opera films, including the classic Headless Queen series, confirmed Hong Kong's traditional reputation of providing world cinema with some of its most kitsch images.

Hong Kong's own entries at the festival were, on the whole, a bloody lot: gangsters, murder and melodrama dominated the screen.

Michael Hui's Inspector Chocolate provided welcome comic relief.

Fans of Allen Fong, the territory's top 'art' director (Father And Son and Ah Ying), meanwhile, flocked to see his third feature Just Like The Weather. Though the film

received mixed reviews, at the sixth annual Hong Kong Film Awards, timed to coincide with the (noncompetitive) festival, Fong was named Best Director for his effort.

Visitors to the festival from abroad numbered dose to 70 this year. They included critics, filmmakers, distributors, organisers from other festivals and journalists from Europe, North America and parts of Asia; attending from Australia were film critic David Stratton and Andrew Pike of Ronin Films.

Many of the visitors are attracted by the HKIFF's reputation as a premiere showcase for Asian cinema. This year, however, the Asian section was unusually anaemic. Although there was a strong representation from Japan, there was nothing at all from South Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka or Thailand. From the Philippines came only a collection of independent shorts by Raymond

The Stand In

Red; from Malaysia, one feature film.

China had a number of entries.

The One And The Eight, a World War II story about a Communist Party member and eight hard-core criminals, was actually made in 1983. As the subject of intense controversy in China, however, it had been revised in more than 70 places to meet the demands of China's cultural commissars and previously had been banned from export. The HKIFF screening represented its foreign debut, albeit in its castrated version. Also showing was China's first on-screen black comedy, The Black Cannon Incident, and its somewhat patchy sequel, The Stand In (China's first futuristic sci-fi film). The Big Parade, the second film by the director of Yellow Earth, Chen Kaige, sought to examine the relationship of the individual and the collective within the context of preparations for a major military parade; partly due to

changes forced on the director by officials, it ends up looking uncomfortably like a paean to fascism.

Festival co-ordinator Albert Lee frankly comments that generally, ''last year seems to have been a bad one for Asian filmmakers".

The festival programmers, he explained, chose not to select works they didn't believe to be of high standard even if it meant having fewer Asian films overall.

One noteworthy aspect of the Asian section this year, however, was the inclusion of two Taiwan films, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Dust In The Wind and Edward Yang's The Terroriser. Considering the widely recognised achievement of Taiwan cinema over the last five years, it may seem surprising that this was the first year the HKIFF has featured films from Taiwan.

Peking's representatives have long tried, in ways more or less subtle, to block showings of Taiwan films in film festivals around the world; in Hong Kong they have had the advantage of what would appear to be an almost grovelling level of government cooperation. (The British, who have agreed to hand back sovereignty over the territory to China in 1997, place a high value on smooth relations with the communists.)

This year, however, festival organisers and supporters joined the editors of the locally published Film Biweekly in a hard-fought battle for the right of the HKIFF to screen Taiwan films. Ironically, their success came just as a report in the Asian Wall Street Journal created a huge scandal by revealing that the Hong Kong government has for years been banning (mostly Taiwan) films from commercial screenings on political grounds which, in fact, is strictly

'^ega'-

Linda Jaivin

Dust In The Wind

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 9

FROM MOSCOW TO

MELBOURNE

Vladimir Osherov shot six feature films in the Soviet Union before he came to Australia. PETER LAWRANCE and SONIA LEBER

10 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

w orked o n A s y a ’s H a p p in e ss I (1966) as seco n d u n it cam era-® -m an. It w as a b o u t a v illage, c o l­ lective farm ing, and w as directed b y K on ch alovsk y (later to m ak e M a r ia ’s L o v e r s and R u n a w a y Train in the W est). Initially it w as h ailed as an achievem ent, to be sent to V en ice as a Soviet entry. T h e lo ca l P arty b oss (first secretary o f th e G ork y R egion al C om m unist P arty C o m m ittee), saw the film and w as fu rio u s. T h at id iot from G orky (regional b o sses b eing very p ow erfu l p eo p le), w as in fu riated by a scene w here so m e p eo p le w ere sitting talking in a pub and drinking beer. ‘N ever. W h at sort o f exam ple are y o u sh ow in g p e o p le ? ’ he said.

T hat w as en o u g h for th e film to be banned. It w as still o n th e sh e lf 15 years later w h en I left R u ssia .”

V ladim ir O sh erov m igrated to A u s­ tralia from R ussia in 1981, at a p o in t w here his career seem ed to be flourishing. H e had b een director o f p h otograp h y on six featu res, and had had m an y su ccesses in television .

W hat som e m igh t th en see as an u n ­ w ise career m o v e has b een a b o o n to the M elb ou rn e in d ep en d en t film scene, w here O sherov has w ork ed on and o f f since his arrival.

O sherov su ffers from th e d ilem m a experienced b y E u rop ean m igrants in the fifties and sixties — n o n -reco g n i­ tio n o f p ro fessio n a l skills. W h en he arrived in 1981, n o n e o f his w ork w as available to sh ow reel. D esp ite th is, he began w ork in g as a stills p h o to ­ grapher o n a num ber o f features and m iniseries, in clu d in g W o m en O f The Sun, W a te rfro n t, K a n g a ro o , S trik e ­ b o u n d and T o M a rk e t, T o M a r k e t.

F or O sh erov, th e tran sition to w orking in A u stralia has presented few p roblem s yet th e m o st n o ta b le variation is th e d ecid ed ly d ifferen t pace o f film p ro d u ctio n . In R u ssia, a D O P ’s in v olvem en t can m ean sp en d ­ ing up to tw o years w ork in g o n on e project; in A ustralia , th e p ace is very rapid. B ut he greets th e chan ge w ith enthusiasm : “ W h en th ey start a p ro ­ d u ction in R u ssia, th e D O P b egin s in ­ volvem en t at th e seco n d stage o f the secon d draft o f th e script. L o ca tio n surveys are all d o n e b y th e D O P , director and art director. S om etim es

this ju st tak es a m o n th . F ou r or five p eop le w ork o n th e script, in clu d in g the D O P . S h o o tin g tak es o n average fou r to fiv e m o n th s, som etim es longer, th en afterw ards the D O P w ill w ork on th e p roject up to release print. In A u stra lia th e m ajor d iffe r ­ ence is th e speed o f w ork , th e tem p o .

F or m e it ’s insp irin g, and I th in k the results are b e tte r .”

O sh ero v ’s in v o lv em en t in film cam e in an u n u su al w ay and at an early age. H is m oth er tau gh t E nglish and French at M o sc o w F ilm S c h o o l, a jo b w hich in clu d ed translating film s for th e stu d en ts. T his w as d o n e in sync, sitting in th e cin em a and p ro ­ vid in g instan t tran slation s as th e film s ran. Subtitlin g in R u ssian w o u ld have b een to o exp en sive.

O sh ero v ’s first experiences o f the cin em a to o k p lace at th ese screenings.

T o o y o u n g to b e left at h o m e, he w ou ld a cco m p a n y his m oth er to w ork. W h en ask ed if th ese experi­ ences provid ed th e catalyst for his in ­ volvem en t in the industry, he says: “ Y o u have to im agin e, in th o se days ju st after S ta lin ’s d eath w h en every­ thing w as restricted, aspects o f W est­ ern culture like ja z z , like abstract p ainting, w ere ju st seep in g th rou gh .

T he students at th e film sch o o l seem ed m ore ad van ced than the public; th ey w ore m ore fash ion ab le cloth es, their lifestyles w ere m ore relaxed. I lik ed th e p eo p le, the a tm o ­ sphere. I w as draw n to that first o f a ll.”

Film sch o o l m ean t specialising from th e o u tset — entry co u ld o n ly b e gained b y p r o o f o f k n ow led ge o f o n e ’s areas. F or O sh erov, this m eant sharpening his p h oto g ra p h ic skills in preparation for the exactin g entrance exam s, w here he w o u ld b e called u p o n to light a few scenes: “ Y o u have to k n ow w h at y o u w an t to be and m ake a ch oice b efo re y o u ap p ly. For the cam eram an, already y o u have to b e a p r o fe s s io n a l p h o to g r a p h e r b efore th ey let y o u sit th e exam s and subm it your fo lio . I f y o u ’re n o g o o d , th ey w o n ’t let y o u start. “ T he course takes fou r years.

W hen I w as at film sc h o o l, p ro d u c­ tio n w as gradually increasing, bu t the situ ation w a sn ’t g o o d . H ow ev er, there is n o u n em p loym en t in R ussia and after grad u ation y o u start w ork as a cam era assistant, th en cam era operator. Y o u g o th rou gh all these stages to end up as a D O P , but there are n o g u a ra n tees.”

F rom our p o sitio n in th e W est, it is easy to conjure up n o tio n s o f a strict course w here serious study covered o n ly th ose film s d isp layin g correct id eo lo g y , and the w orks o f th e great early R ussian film m ak ers. B ut it seem s that R u ssia ’s p olitica l and eco n o m ic iso la tio n did n o t, in certain circles, necessarily en tail cultural iso la tio n .

A s far as th e general p u b lic w as

con cern ed, screenings were lim ited and m an y overseas film s w ere n ot sh ow n . H ow ever, the students at M o sco w Film S ch o o l had access to film s fro m all over the w orld. “ T h e biggest cinem atheque in the w orld is near M o sco w , w here they store p robably a m illion film s ,” says O sh erov. “ T hey d o n ’t buy film s or distribution rights. R ussian film s are exchanged for others from E uropean or A m erican film libraries. S o m e­ tim es a film is brought to a festival and th ey m ake a black and w hite co p y . I think I first saw C a b a re t in black and w hite. B ut yo u d o n ’t m ind.

It’s still g o o d to see w h a t’s being d on e

V L A D IM IR O S H E R O V : In M o sco w (left) in M elb o u rn e (right)

around the w orld because these film s are n o t show n to the public. “ W hen it com es to m aking our o w n p rojects, id eological con sid era­ tion s w ere o f considerable im p ort­ ance, but in term s o f studying film history w e could lo o k at any available film from around the w orld. O ne o f the highlights o f the pre-production period w as w atching film s from the W est. A sm all group — director, cam eram an and art director — m ight give the cinem atheque a list o f 10 or 12 film s they w anted to see. W e were draw ing on all the m odern trends in w orld cinem a in order to determ ine the visual style. “ T he R ussians m ade m any Soviet W esterns, using the aesthetic side o f A m erican W esterns and spaghetti W esterns — the film s o f John F ord , Sergio L eon e and others. I call them W esterns, but they deal w ith d ifferen t subjects, like the fight betw een the R ed A rm y and terrorists. O ther direc­ tors prefer to em ulate other m asters.

In the w orks o f N ik ita M ik h alk ov y o u can clearly trace in flu en ces o f B ertolucci and K u ro sa w a .”

R ussia is renow ned for som e

pioneering w orks in film , and w hile they are often heavily p o litica l, their inventiveness and theoretical insight m ean that they are keenly studied in countries o f very d ifferen t political persuasions. T he film industry has m anaged to survive R u ssia ’s tur­ bulent history, eco n o m ic iso la tio n , and m ore sp ecifically, stylistic inter­ ference, particularly under the reign o f Stalin.

F or the film industry, a p o licy o f self-su fficien cy m eant that the m an u ­ facture o f cam era and lighting eq u ip ­ m ent had to be o f a standard com par­ able to the W est, and readily avail­ able. B ut there were still problem s, m ost n otab ly w ith film stock .

In R ussia, stock is produced locally or im ported from E ast G erm any, but it does n o t m atch the quality o f w hat is available in the W est. There are problem s w ith co lou r, and because film speeds are so slow sh ootin g cannot take p lace in low light. W hen O sherov shot his first colou r feature in 1968, the stock w as rated at 20 A S A . T he sm all am ounts o f K odak stock im ported from th e W est are treated lik e g o ld , accord in g to O sherov. “ T he film industry, central­ ised in M o sco w , w ou ld have a standard stock a llocation for each film o f ab ou t 8 to 1. T his w as in ­ creased for film s w ith children and anim als. I f you tried hard and used your co n n ection s, they cou ld give y o u 5000 m etres o f K odak and 20,0 0 0 m etres o f R ussian stock . “ S om e directors such as B on d ar­ chuk had certain co n n ection s. H e was one person w h o cou ld g o to the P o lit­ buro, tell them his needs for a p ro­ ject, and generally get w hat he w anted. O nce I w as sh o o tin g a film w hich starred a fam ou s R ussian ballerina. She w as in her m id -fifties and had to play a 30-year-old. W e told her, ‘If y o u get us the K odak, w e ’ll m ake yo u lo o k a m illion d o lla rs.’ S o she w ent o f f som ew here and got us en ou gh K odak stock for the w h ole m ovie. It w as easy for her, it happened ju st like that. “ A n oth er privileged director w as T arkovsky, because R ussia could hold him up to the w orld. H e could alw ays get the right cam era, lenses, film stock . W hen S ta lk e r started and they had sh ot ab ou t tw o-thirds o f the film , T arkovsky realised that it w as w rong and fo u n d scap egoats. P r o ­ du ction stop p ed and th ey sacked the cam eram an and art director. B ut this had n oth in g to d o w ith the cin em ato­ graphy. A few m on th s earlier, at the opening night o f his previous film , The M irro r, T arkovsky had to ld a packed audience that he considered his cinem atographer G eorge R oerberg to be num ber on e in R ussia. D is­ regarding the h o u r’s screentim e o f S ta lk e r already sh ot, T ark ovsk y hired another cam eram an and becam e art director h im self. N ew lo ca tio n s were

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY — 11

B A C K IN T H E U S S R : V la d im ir O s h e ro v on location (a b o v e and below)

fo u n d , he rew rote th e script and using th e sam e actors, th ey started sh o o tin g it again fro m sc r a tc h .”

T he case o f S ta lk e r c o u ld b e seen as a self-in d u lgen t use o f fu n d s. B ut film m ak in g is h ea v ily su b sid ised because it is seen as an im p ortan t cu l­ tural activity. A cco rd in g to O sh erov, “ T he trou b le w ith th e feature film industry is that th ey lau n ch a p roject, th ey app rove a script, and b y th e tim e the film is fin ish ed th e p o litica l situ a­ tio n m igh t h ave ch an ged . A n d th o se p eop le w h o se signatures are every­ w here m igh t end up giving y o u a third category fo r th e fin ish ed p rod u ct — w hich w as m ad e in accord an ce w ith the script.

12 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

“ T his system o f ratings and cate­ gories h old s for each fin ish ed m ovie.

(R atings are decided b y a special B oard w ithin th e State F ilm C o m m is­ sio n .) Im agine, if a film is m ade w hich isn ’t considered to be 100 per cent id eo lo g ica lly pure, y o u w ou ld expect that i f a n yon e had to be p en al­ ised it w ou ld be the director and the scriptwriter. B ut in fact the w h o le crew is pen alised , in cluding th e elec­ tricians, g a ffers, m ake-up p eo p le — every o n e. T h e cam era op erator, sou n d recordist and art director are entitled to lum p sum b on u ses d ep en d ­ ing o n w hat category th e film rates, so th ey get sm aller b o n u ses.

“ T h e first co lo u r film I m a d e g o t a third category and a very sm all d istri­ b u tio n . I th in k it w as o n e o f m y best film s in all respects, b u t n o t m a n y p eo p le saw it. W e w ere all really prou d o f it, b u t in fin an cial term s it w as a disaster. T his typ e o f th in g h ap p en ed to m e several tim es.

A cco rd in g to O sh erov, there are very few D O P s w h o can rig h tfu lly claim a p erson al style, rather h e sees the q u estion o f style as th e d irectors’ d o m ain . “ A s a D O P I d id n ’t h ave any p erson al style. P ro b a b ly th e w ay I g o is to be d ifferen t alw ays, it depends o n th e script. I fin d w h en I start to sh o o t a film th e first prefer­ ence is to im itate th e available ligh t, w hat y o u get n orm ally. S o m etim es this is restrictive. Y o u h ave to ch an ge according to th e story. T h is d o e s n ’t m ean it has to b eco m e very o b v io u sly artificial. L ighting can be d ictated b y m o o d or y o u m ight b e carried aw ay by natural ligh t, b u t th en fin d it d o e sn ’t w ork fo r all th e angles required. Y o u h ave to co n tro l y o u r­ se lf . . . “ W ith every film y o u m ak e d is­ coveries. Y o u learn o n a case to case basis. S o m e scenes are self-ev id en t, others aren’t. S om etim es y o u u se th e available light, or o n a h u ge set or sou n d stage y o u m ight u se 500K o f lighting: 50 brute arcs and 100 tu n gsten lights all operating at o n ce. “ O n the b ig jo b s th e ap p roach is the sam e. Y o u ju st g o ah ead and d o it, m ake ad ju stm en ts, sw itch ligh ts o n and o ff. B ut there w ill alw ays be a bit o f h e sita tio n .”

O sh ero v ’s m o v e to A u stralia w as m otivated b y an increasing frustra­ tio n w ith th e staid nature o f th e R ussian film industry. A fter w ork in g for a w hile as a stills p h otograp h er o n a num ber o f features, he w as D O P o n several in d ep en d en t film s. T hree A u s ­ tralian F ilm T heatre p ro d u ctio n s (A S in g le L i f e , H a n g in g T o g e th e r , E m m e tt S to n e ), m arked th e b eg in ­ ning o f his ch ance to sh o w ca se his w ork in A u stralia. In th e m ea n tim e, he has b een con ten t to len d his exp er­ tise to low -b u d get in d ep en d en t film s, com m ercials and Sw inburne p ro d u c­ tion s.

H is m o st recent w ork has b een as D O P o n In sa tia b le. T h is A F C -fu n d ed p r o d u c t io n w a s , a c c o r d in g t o O sh erov, u n iq u e and im p ortan t. Its heavy stylisation a llo w ed h im the op p ortu n ity to w ork w ith lo w k ey, direct ligh t, and m o v e aw ay fro m th e constraints o f naturalism'.

A s y et, O sherov has n o t b een o ffered a feature film in this cou n try. “ H o w ever, I prefer livin g w ith u n cer­ tain ties. I had g o t to a stage in R u ssia w here I cou ld see th at m y w h o le life ahead w as ab solu tely fix ed . I already knew w hat w ork I w o u ld h ave d o n e fo r th e next 40 years, even th e w a y th ey w o u ld bury m e .”

AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT CLOSING DATE FOR PRODUCTION FUNDING APPLICATIONS JULY 1987 CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND The aim of the CDF is to encourage development and experimentation in film and video by supporting the production of highly creative works and the development of talented film and video makers.

Funds are now available for outstanding projects, including documentary, drama, animation and experimental work, in any gauge or medium.

ELIGIBILITY Candidates need to be Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia.

Equality of opportunity is Australian Film Commission policy, and applications are invited from persons regardless of sex, race, ethnic background or physical impairment.

GUIDELINES To obtain copies contact a Project Officer of the Creative Development Fund: in Sydney on (02) 925 7333 or toll free (008) 22 6615; or write to ' GPO Box 3984 SYDNEY, NSW 2001;

and in Melbourne call (03) 690 5144; or write to 185 Bank Street SOUTH MELBOURNE, VIC. 3205

TO APPLY

Forward the following to the Creative Development Fund, AFC by 5 p.m. on Friday, 17 July, 1987: 1) 2) 3) 4)

Final draft dialogue script (not shooting script); OR Fully developed treatment for documentaries and other projects where a script is inappropriate; AND/OR Segment of storyboard for animation or where applicable; AND Curriculum vitae of application or in the case of an applicant who is not the director, the curriculum vitae of the director.

Applicants whose projects fit the guidelines and are considered ready for production will be invited to complete application and budget forms.

CLOSING DATE -

FRIDAY, 17 JULY 1987

Ills man’s Insatiable David Chesworth is a composer and musician who works in the fields of performance, video and film. KATHY BAIL spoke to him about his recent video Insatiable and the problems of bringing opera to the screen.

John Concannon

14 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

F or com p oser and film m aker D avid C h esw orth, m u sic is a w ay o f order­ ing n o ise, o f selectively appropriating on e elem ent over an oth er. It is a p o li­ t i c a l p r o c e s s , o p e r a t in g m o s t blatantly in th e m usic v id eo feasts that n o w d om in ate our screens. O ld m usical form s and stylistic ideas are regurgitated in th ree-m inute grabs; w hat M T V plugs as ‘n e w ’ is o n ly new in the con text o f th e other vid eos being sh ow n . “ It is total n o sta lg ia ,” says C h esw orth, “ m u seu m m u sic .”

T hese ideas are rigorou sly explored in his 29-m in u te v id eo , In sa tia b le.

S ub-titled an “ operatic dram a for fou r v o ic e s” , it draws o n m u sical, rather than literary, trad ition s, beats the v id eo clip artists at their ow n gam e, and ties itse lf in to that p rob ­ lem atic strand o f cin em a history, film ed opera.

E xten ded m usic v id eo or m usic theatre pieces have en orm ou s scop e, suggests C hesw orth, and yet the form is rarely used: “ M usic has to exist w ithin a co n tex t. I t’s n o t o n ly w hat y ou hear but w hat y o u see . . . I can think o f so m an y w ays o f com b in in g visual and m usical th in gs, m ore than I can think o f things in a purely m usical w a y .” In sa tia b le d em o n ­ strates his strong sense o f h ow to e x p lo it a n d c o m b in e d if f e r e n t m ed iu m s and avoid being trapped by them .

T he m ain setting o f In sa tia b le is an old theatre stage: a m u seu m o f w orn instrum ents, costu m es and theatrical m em o ra b ilia . F ou r p e o p le , each sign ifyin g a d ifferen t perform an ce style, arrive for an a u d ition . There is o c c a sio n a l sp o k en d ia lo g u e, but m o stly singing: op era, p op u lar son g, choral and religious m u sic. T h e songs sh o w that each character has been design ated a particular role; histories and p o ssib le futures u n fo ld .

T he m u sic, rather than th e acto rs’ stories, is the organ isin g factor; “ it ’s

the on ly c o m p le te part o f th e f ilm ,” says C h esw orth . “ It has a b eg in n in g, a m iddle and an en d . T h e last so n g over the credits m ixes the m u sical them es that h ave run th rou gh th e w ork. S o th at co m p letes it, w hereas the fou r characters’ stories are in c o m ­ plete. T h ey ju st g o o f f but y o u ’re n o t sure w here th ey are g o in g to go! “ I w rote th e m u sic and th e w ords at the sam e tim e. I w an ted to use them es that w ere h istorical and so I used so m e G regorian chant and an operatic typ e th em e and th en d is­ torted them sligh tly. F or exam p le, I to o k the first few phrases o f th e chant and repeated it or lo o p e d it; th e m usic w as ju st like this p ro cess, co n sta n tly giving rise to new form s. “ T h ere’s a d isp lacem en t, and that happens in ju st ab o u t every so n g .

T hat is, th e phrase len gth o f th e text is ou t o f p lace w ith th e len gth o f the m usic; th e m usic is alw ays sh iftin g as a result o f th e overlap p in g o f th e d if­ ferent len gth s — a p h asin g e ffe c t. So w hat w e h ave is th ese sm all th em es w hich I lifted o u t o f older m usical them es, and th ese are m ad e to ju st churn around and k eep repeating th em selves. In a w a y , th e p iece is ab ou t a kind o f red u n d an cy. B ecau se w e ’re p layin g w ith a w h o le lo t o f old form s, I w an ted to illustrate th e fact that these fo u r p eo p le are also lo ck ed in to these redundant p o s itio n s .”

G iven his track record as a c o m ­ poser and m u sician (a m em ber o f the experim ental g rou p s, T ch -T ch -T ch and E ssen d o n A irp o rt, as w ell as so lo p erform an ces and record s), C h es­ w orth initially ap p lied to th e M u sic B oard o f th e A u stra lia C o u n cil for fu n d in g. W h en th ey rejected th e p ro ­ p o sa l, he ap p roach ed th e C reative D ev elo p m en t B ranch o f th e A u stra ­ lia n F ilm C o m m is s io n . “ T hey resp on d ed b ecau se it w as so m eth in g d ifferen t for th e m ,” h e exp lain s.

I n s a tia b le convinces because it understands the ritual o f operatic form and it delights in the artifice and form ality. These stylistic qualities bring us right into video territory, an area Chesw orth has covered well (D o T h e M e ta p h y s ic a l, F a c t o r y , I n ­ d e fin ite O b je c ts , G la rin g I n S e c re t).

David Chesworth

“ T he m usic scene is m ore in stitu tion ­ alised. T he m usic board see p erform ­ ing m usic in term s o f the institutions that perform it. F ilm w orks o n the idea that there is a director w h o exer­ cises con trol (o f course the producer breathes d ow n your n eck !). In m usic, if I w anted to write som eth in g for a group o f singers, I w ou ld have to approach an existing b o d y , like the V ictoria State O pera, but th e y ’re n ot open to ideas like I n s a tia b le V ’ I n s a tia b le w as originally p erform ed live; this w a sn ’t intended to be the final version but rather part o f the process o f m aking the v id eo. W hile C hesw orth en joys live perform ance, he feels the audience is lim ited: “ It’s a huge investm ent and the record isn ’t there. T hat d o e sn ’t appeal to m e. I m ake records, and I like having so m e­ thing w hich reiterates the p iece. It’s n ot ju st ‘here’s som e snaps from the stage perform an ce’; y o u can reshow it the w ay y o u w ant t o . ” A n integral part o f I n s a tia b le is the m ultiplicity o f cam era angles; C hes­ w orth n eeded m ore than th e fixed view live theatre a llow s. H e used the cam era to m o v e in closely o n the characters’ m ovem en ts. A lth o u g h the

setting is cluttered, the perform ances are precise, pared dow n to the sm allest o f gestures; sounds and ex­ changes are reduced to the essential.

C hesw orth w orked w ith the sam e four actors through b oth stages o f the project. T hey had to learn n o t to act, he says. “ I d idn’t w ant them to show em otion w hen they were singing.

There were a few difficulties at first because I w anted them to negate so m uch o f th em selves.” N o t interested in ‘film acting’, he w anted to use the characters as representations rather than present them as ‘real p eo p le’.

T his gives the video its grace and sym ­ m etry, and the sense o f artifice w hich allow s it to w ork as an operatic film .

In an article in S ig h t & S o u n d (vol 56, no 2, Spring 1987), A lan Stanbrook exam ines the difficulties o f transferring opera to the screen. H e argues that “ opera film s fail m ost con sp icu ou sly w hen the director attem pts to adapt the theatrical w ork to w hat is considered the necessary realism o f the cinem a . . . T he m ore realistic an opera film is in detail, the m ore preposterous it seem s that the characters should be singing to each o th er.”

“ V ideo has a different e ffe c t,” he says. “ I like the texture. It d oesn ’t allow you to be quite as seduced into it. In a w ay, it just m akes the viewers m ore aware that th ey ’re w atching som ething that is being constructed in front o f them . A n d that appeals to m e, because, in I n s a tia b le , there is a w hole lot o f seduction going on in the m usic, the w ay they are singing, and the look s and gestures. The w hole piece is larger than life; it is totally different from realism . I w anted to retain th a t.”

I n s a tia b le begins w ith a w ide land­ scape, a forest at dusk, so ft hues o f green and golden brow n. It sim ul­ taneously seduces (the beauty and solem nity o f the scene) and distances (the anxiety expressed in the words; has the scene been ‘fa k ed ’?).

It is double-edged from beginning to end. Chesw orth jokes: “ It plays o ff the w hole kind o f seduction thing — the title is taken from one o f M arilyn C ham bers’ Electric Blue videos — because o f the w ay the m usic affects you em otionally. But then the audience tries to lo o k for rational reasons in each o f the charac­ ters’ stories.” So w hile the characters are condem ned to repetition, the audience is left to com plete the story, or left w aiting for “ an arrival, a return, a prom ised sign” . was shot by Vladim ir O sherov, interviewed in this issue o f

I n s a tia b le

C in e m a P a p e r s , p lO .

Di Emry

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY - 15

TAPPING THE VEIN

Ross Cooper acknowledges the initial work done by Andrew Pike in 1978 at Australian Archives on its silent film script and photographic holdings. But Cooper fails to mention that it was Andrew Pike — and not Richard Fotheringham — who first found Raymond Longford’s script for The Woman Suffers (1918), together with at least one other major discovery, the script and still photographs for Longford’s The Church And The Woman (1917).

Similarly, previous accounts of Fotheringham’s discoveries of early 1986 do not mention that the ground covered by Fotheringham had, in fact, been broken three years earlier by Andree Wright while researching the documentary Don’t Call Me Girlie {1985). After re-tracing Pike’s footsteps, Wright moved beyond them to locate a further 80-or-so files, 44 of which contained scripts of the silent and early sound period.

For Wright, the keys to these holdings were the copyright indexes from 1907 to 1969, readily available through Deidre Carmody of the Patents Office, Woden, ACT. These indexes are presumably the same ones later found by Fotheringham and described by Time as “ the key’’ to a “ treasure house of memorabilia’’1via 85,000 artistic copyright applications.

Among the valuable scripts and scenarios found by Andree Wright were: the play script of The Midnight Wedding, of which a film version was directed by Raymond Longford in 1912 with Lottie Lyell in the female lead2; the script for Longford’s The Mutiny Of The Bounty (1916)3; and two early scenarios by Paulette McDonagh — The Greater Love, written in 1925 but never filmed, and Those Who Love, filmed in 1926 with fragments still surviving. These scripts, and their relation to the silent films made by the three McDonagh sisters, have been analysed at length by Wright in her book Brilliant Careers, published in April 1986.4 Cooper’s attitude to Lottie Lyell’s role in Longford’s work is puzzling given the evidence that now exists to support the view that history has underestimated Lyell. Cooper refers, for example, to two “ Longford associated scripts” 5 and the “ full scripts of at least two Longford-Lyell films, one of which no longer exists: The Dinkum Bloker6and The Woman Suffers — before concluding in a somewhat sweeping fashion: “ Now we can also have the luxury of examining scripts written by Longford and Lyell in the mid-twenties that were never made into films, like Sons Of Australia. From these signed scripts we can start to put to rest the myth that seems to have been built up recently that Lottie Lyell did all the work on Longford’s films.”

Since Andree Wright has put up a case for the re-evaluation of Lyell in both Don’t CallMe Girlie and Brilliant Careers it can only be assumed that Cooper lays the myth­ making at her feet. But in so doing Cooper exaggerates Wright’s view of Lyell, and evidently that of Richard Fotheringham, as reported by Time: ‘‘The files enhance 16 - JULY CINEM A P A P ER S

KELLY' HIT IN THE MARCH 1987 ISSUE OF CINEMA PAPERS, RICHARD FOTHERINGHAM PUT FORWARD AN

THE NAN

INTRIGUING SUGGESTION ABOUT THE ROLE OF RAYMOND

LONGFORD

IN THE MAKING

OF

AUSTRALIA'S FIRST FEATURE, THE STORY OF THE

KELLY CAN C, AN D ROSS COOPER DESCRIBED the reputation of partner Lottie Lyell, who is shown to have co-written and directed many of the Longford films.” Could it be that Cooper has too hastily come to his conclusion without paying sufficient attention to the material held by Australian Archives?

As we have seen, the scenario for The Woman Suffers1was found in 1978 by Andrew Pike, and Sons OfAustralia* was located by Andree Wright in 1983. But the latter is not the unrealised script to which Cooper refers, but an early draft of Peter Vernon’s Silence, which was filmed by Longford-Lyell Productions in 1925 and released the following year8. Both scenarios are historically important, but as no one to date has denied Longford the authorship of The Woman Suffers, and Cooper acknowledges the co-authorship of Longford and Lyell on Sons OfAustralia, it 'This film was incorrectly titled Song Of Australia in Cooper’s article due to a typographical error.

C A P T A IN M ID N IG H T : F re n c h ’s Forest location

is difficult to ascertain how he can use this material “ to put to rest the myth . . . that Lottie Lyell did all the work on Longford’s films” .

TH ETA1T FAMILY & SAM CREW

Richard Fotheringham states that little exists to support the Tait family’s claim that ‘J . & N. Tait’ (particularly Charles and John Tait) were involved in The Story Of The Kelly Gang other than they “ marketed the film during its first Melbourne screenings” and “ some subsequent seasons” were under their direction. But information exists to show that the Taits were much more fully involved in the production and exhibition of the film than Fotheringham would have us believe.

If publicity for the initial Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand screenings are any indication, the Taits were intensively

OR HE IRON MASK

SOME OF THE ARCHIVAL DISCOVERIES THAT HAVE ILLUMINATED THE EARLY HISTORY OF

GRAHAM SHIRLEY AND ANDREE WRIGHT TAKE UP SOME OF THEIR POINTS ABOUT DISCOVERY, IDENTITY, AND THE CAREER OF LOTTIE LYELL.

AUSTRALIAN

FILM.

involved in the film’s first release. Some of this publicity confirms their identity as producers of The Story Of The Kelly Gang.

On 10 February, 1907 Sydney’s Sunday Mail stated: ‘‘The Palace Theatre was crowded in all parts last night when Messrs J. & N. Tait presented their biograph story [our emphasis] of the Kelly Gang.”

On 4 May, 1907 the New Zealand Times reported that Messrs J . and N. Tait would introduce The Story Of The Kelly Gang at the Wellington Opera House on Saturday 11th. The Times continued: “ In order to give a faithful replica of the attempt to wreck a train, a special train had to be engaged from the Victorian Government.

Janet Lady Clarke, of Melbourne, in whose possession is the armour worn by Ned Kelly . . . lent this relic to theMessrs Tait for thepurpose ofa picture depicting his capture.’’

One of the shakiest areas of Fotheringham’s article is to assert that the Taits were not involved in production by

T H E FATAL W E D D IN G : Lo ngford’s 1911 film

stating: “ . . . what control did [the actormanager] Dan Barry have over the making of The Story Of The Kelly Gang? His name is not mentioned by any subsequent commentator, unless he is ‘Sam Crew’, mentioned by Lady Viola Tait in her history of the Taits, A Family OfBrothers, as the assistant director and a former actor in one of the stage productions.

Unfortunately her book is based on distant memories rather than a study of the contemporary evidence, and is riddled with errors.”

It is conceivable that Viola Tait’s book, like any history, contains its share of errors.

But to state that it is “ riddled’’ with them without being more specific is to tiptoe through a minefield. Indeed the Tait family gave consistent evidence over the years of their involvement in the production, and this is supported in detail

by Ross Cooper’s MA thesis, ‘And The Villain Still Pursued H er’, which remains

the most authoritative account of how the film was made.9 Instead of looking closely at the Tait family evidence, Fotheringham attacks Viola Tait’s book on the grounds that the writer either confused the Kelly Gang assistant director Sam Crew with Dan Barry — or that Crew never existed.

Nevertheless, Sam Crew did exist. In October 1932 he was the subject of a small controversy in the magazine Everyones, when one reader claimed that Crew had not appeared in a stage production of When London Sleeps. The argument was won by evidence from Jack MacFarlane, director of the St George’s Theatre, Yarraville: ‘‘I was with that old-time manager, Sam Crew, when he played When London Sleeps in 1896-97 around the suburbs of Melbourne.10 MacFarlane also revealed that Crew had turned his hand to writing, since he had re-written the Maggie Moore stage success Struck Oil in the early years of the century. Then, in a reference to Crew’s involvement in Kelly Gang that is as clear as it is confusing, MacFarlane added: “ From drama, Sam Crew went into producing for the screen, and it is ancient history that his Kelly Gang, started in 1905, and completed in 1906, was the first picture produced in Australia.”

Could Kelly Gang have been Sam Crew’s film above everyone else’s? Very doubtful — but it appears beyond doubt that Crew’s most important contribution had been to suggest to the Taits that the film be made in the first place — a fact given credence elsewhere by Ross Cooper, Ina Bertrand and Ken R obb.11 Writing for Everyones on 12 October 1932, Crew made no mention of having been involved in the production of Kelly Gang. But he did refer to his work in screening the film on behalf of the Taits — first at the Palace Theatre, Sydney, between 9 and 16 February 1907, then on tours of New South Wales (17 February-22 March) and New Zealand (23 March-6 July). Crew was still touring films for Johnson and Gibson in 1909, and the following year was assistant director on three features directed by W.J. Lincoln for Johnson and Gibson’s Amalgamated Pictures— The Double Event, The Bells and Rip Van Winkle.

Perhaps, as Ina Bertrand and Ken Robb have suggested, the Taits were not involved in the ‘‘Second edition’’ of The Story Of The Kelly Gang which was made by Johnson and Gibson from their St Kilda studio prior to the W.J. Lincoln films in 1910. In a 1960s memoir, Reg Perry remembered that after he and his brother Orrie had resigned from the Salvation Army’s Limelight Department, they were employed by Johnson and Gibson as cameramen on this second edition. Their brief was to shoot new sequences for the original film, and Perry’s memoir continued that the extra sequences ‘‘were filmed at Blackburn and Mitcham, outside Melbourne, and other scenes in the studio at St Kilda, located at the back ofJohnson & Gibson ’s Oxygen and Boracic factory ” .

CINEMA P A P E R S JULY - 17

T H E S T O R Y O F T H E K E L L Y G A N G : P oster crediting th e Taits w ith direction

S COULD ROBERT HOLLYFORD BE ^

RAYMOND LONGFORD?____________

Richard Fotheringham raises the tantalising question of whether Robert Hollyford, the apparent co-owner of copyright for The Story Of The Kelly Gang, was really the soon-to-be prominent Raymond Longford.

The theory is a fairly attractive one, and since we know so little about Raymond Longford’s early years, it appears almost plausible. But exactly why would Longford want to conceal his involvement in The Story Of The Kelly Gang, even given the NSW Government’s ban on bushranging films between 1912 and the early 1950s?

Longford was never shy about his status and achievements. Before the Royal Commission into the Moving Picture Industry in 1927, he described himself as “ the outstanding figure in the industry’’.

He was also to claim credit for a series of somewhat questionable ‘firsts’ — Australia’s first comedy (Pommy Arrives in Australia [1913]), the world’s first historical picture {The Mutiny Of The Bounty [1916]), the world’s first close-up (which he said he invented for his 1914 version of The Silence OfDean Maitland), and “ the first m an in the film industry to use interior scenery’’ (for The Fatal Wedding [1911]).12 18 — JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

Considering the above and his longrunning antipathy for William Gibson, how could it be in Raymond Longford’s nature not to claim credit for The Story Of The Kelly Gang if it was his right to do so?

And we can in no way read Longford’s Royal Commission reference to Gibson as producer of Kelly Gang as the calculated insult that Fotheringham interprets.

Instead, we can see an insult of a different kind when Longford said: “ M r Gibson was never a producer in the sense in which we use the term. We regard the man who directs the film as producer. He never directed a film in his life, not even the Kelly Gang, which he is so fond of quoting as the film which made him the father of the industry. [But] He might have put up the money for it.”

Longford was also never loath to link himself with bushranging films. At the 1927 Royal Commission, he spoke of his recent attempts to raise the money for a new version of Robbery Under Arms, and he recalled that in 1911 he had played leads in both Captain Midnight and Robbery Under Arms for Spencer’s Pictures.

Fotheringham does litde justice to Longford’s memory when he says: “ In old age, Longford did vaguely remember starting his career making bushranging films, but in Sydney, not M elbourne.”

In fact Longford was quite specific when in 1955 he told the Sunday Telegraph that these bushranging films had been made at Brookvale in Sydney. His negative view of them was on the grounds of quality — or as Longford put it — ‘ ‘The [bushranging] films we produced were just rubbish.” 13 Two of these films may well have been Captain Midnight and Captain Moonlite, both produced by Cozens Spencer in 1910-11 and directed by Alan J . Williamson.

According to an unpublished autobiography by Williamson, Captain Midnight was produced at French’s Forest, to which the production unit travelled daily via Narrabeen — near Brookvale. Besides appearing in both films, Longford worked as Williamson’s assistant and was regarded by him as “ a tower of strength’’.

If these were actually the bushranging films Longford recalled, his memory of them may have been unfair. Williamson extracted peak production value from Captain Midnight, stretching its original budget from £300 to £800 and defying Cozens Spencer’s order to make the film as cheaply as possible. By Williamson’s account, Captain Moonlite was “ not as good as the first, but [likeMidnight), it still made a lot of money” .14 Three years later, Longford himself made two bushranging films — Taking His Chance and Trooper Campbell (1914).

Granted that as adaptations of the Henry Lawson poems, they took an anti­ bushranging stance; but again like the Lawson originals, they portrayed the appeal of bushranging to the young. If the success of Kenneth Bram pton’s 1920 version of Robbery UnderArms was any indication, this appeal was not lost on audiences still prepared to support the well-made bushranging film when it came along.

So what should the reader now believe?

A new hypothesis that the Taits were not as fully involved in Kelly Gang as other information proves they were? T hat Raym ond Longford, fearing the taint of bushranging films, kept secret his involvement in Kelly Gang? T hat the Taits and Longford would deliberately mislead with stories easily double-checked? For all these new angles to be proven, Richard Fotheringham needs to supply more evidence.

Despite the valuable gems of information which Fotheringham has provided, his account of The Story O f The Kelly Gang blurs rather than resolves some of the biggest questions behind the most mysterious of all early Australian films.

One only hopes that answers will still emerge from other documents — or even from the complete film, if by some miracle it could one day reappear.

FOOTNOTES 1. Time, 18 August 1986.

2. The performance rights for both The Fatal Wedding and The Midnight Wedding were registered by the Clarke & Meynell theatrical company only months before being filmed by Spencer’s Pictures in 1911 and 1912 respectively.

3. The file documents Longford’s assignment of copyright to John Jones in March 1916 and also contains a letter written during the mid ’30s by Longford asking whether copyright had been taken out in his name. The Australian Archives also holds a file on The Bushwackers, submitted

by Raymond Longford in 1925.

4. Andree Wright, Brilliant Careers: Women in Australian Cinema, Pan Books, Sydney, 1986, chapter 3.

5. The first is Fisher’s Ghost, of which both a silent scenario and a sound script were submitted for registration.

According to Time, it is the sound version which has been discovered, however a sound script for Fisher’s Ghost has been previously available in the Longford Papers. These Papers also include two sound scripts by Margery Browne, Macquarie and The Veiled Woman, which Longford had hoped to film. The second script mentioned by Cooper is The Man They Could Not Hang, a film made in 1934 which was directed, but not written, by Longford. A copy of the film is held in the National Film & Sound Archive.

6. Prior to the filming of The Dinkum Bloke, the scenario was submitted for registration in September 1922 under the name of The Bloke For Wooloomooloo. George Haynes, the secretary for Longford Lyell Australian Picture Productions, submitted it as having been written by both Longford and Lyell.

7. Having completed the production of The Woman Suffers for Adelaide based Southern Cross Feature Film Company, Raymond Longford submitted a resume to the Copyright Office in March 1918, pointing out his anxiety over “ the fact — and a very unjust one — that the story has to be acted and filmed before it can be copyrighted to comply with the present Commonwealth regulations” .

8. Sons Of Australia was submitted by George Haynes in January 1923 in the names of both Longford and Lyell. It is interesting to note that Longford’s second wife, Emilie, planned to rewrite Peter Vernon’s Silence during 1938 as a sound film, incorporating in it material about station life and the search for a gold reef from a book called The Golden Buckle.

9. Ross Cooper, ‘And the Villain Still Pursued Her: Origins of Film in Australia 1896-1913’ (MA thesis, Department of History, Australian National University, Canberra, 1971).

A specific account of the Taits’ involvement in The Story Of The Kelly Gang is given on pp190-195.

10. Everyones, 5 October 1932.

11. Cooper op. cit. See also Cinema Papers 36, Jan-Feb 1982, ‘The Continuing Saga Of The Story Of The Kelly Gang’, by Ina Bertrand and Ken Robb.

12. Australian film comedy dates back to at least The Bashful Mr Brown (c.1907), a print of which is held by the National Film & Sound Archive; "historical pictures” would have to include Australia's The Story Of The Kelly Gang, and before it the religious films of the Salvation Army Limelight Department; close-ups date back to the earliest years of cinema, while Australian film studio interiors were being shot from 1909, and perhaps even earlier.

13. Sunday Telegraph, Sydney, 26 June 1955. In 1958 Longford told interviewer Bob Sanders that these early bushranging films had provided the opportunity “ of improving matters, and getting onto a higher plane” .

14. Unpublished autobiography of Alan J. Williamson, held by his family.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Priscilla Rowe, Clive Sowry and National Rim & Sound Archive (Meg Labrum).

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EQUALS...

• Mel Gibson may be the finest actor to assume a short-spoken action role since the salad days of Sean Connery.

— David Chute.

• The sexiest man alive.

— People magazine.

• You can’t become someone else. You only have aspects of yourself.

— Mel Gibson. aking Mel Gibson add up.

Everyone who tries it has a different formula for the equation. According to Mark Rydell, who directed him in The River: “This guy is a cross between Steve McQueen and Montgomery Clift.” For critic Danny Peary, you add Brad Davis to Fabian with a haircut, and stir. He’s also been called “better and newer than Newman and Redford” and “more exciting and explosive than Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda and Steve McQueen” .

Often it’s a sum of contradictions. He “looks very old and acts very young” . He’s “clean shaven, tanned, snappily dressed and talkative. A far cry

M

from the violent blood-smeared desperado he portrays in Mad Max 2” . “Success has arrived early but there’s no cocky selfassurance about him” . Or “women adore him, but he seems to genuinely adore his role as husband and father”.

His accent is “a curious mixture of Australian and American . . . His looks make women swoon but somehow are acceptable to men as nonthreatening; he calls Australia ‘home’ but continually refers to its people as ‘them’ and it as ‘over there’ ” .

It’s a sum that Gibson is not unaware of; as yet another contradiction-bound interviewer noted: He’s “cleverly honest and

totally determined not to give anything of himself away” .

As Gibson himself has said: “The less people expect of you as a personality, the more convincing you can be at what you’re trying to put across.”

There seems to be a need in writing about Gibson to supply something that is perceived to be missing, to fill a vacancy. But in fact restraint is what he is about, despite all the small-scale off­ screen experiments with excess that have been faithfully recorded in the press, and the recent pressure of four films in a row — The Bounty> The River Mrs Soffel and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome — that left him exhausted and burnt out.

It’s small physical detail that he registers best. In Mad Max 2 he spoke only the famous 14 lines — fewer words than the Lord’s Prayer. And in The Year O f Living Dangerously, his most telling scene was in the last moments of the film, where he walks towards the plane that will take him out of the Philippines; he looks round, tilts his head back for an instant, and weariness, relief, defeat wash over his face, in a far more complicated drawing together of emotion than the cliche of the ending deserves.

Withholding of information, on and off screen, seems to be his strength. The less he supplies, the more we endow him with.

This is no reflection on his ability as an actor; excess is so much easier than restraint, commission so much more tempting than omission. In The Bounty, one of his least convincing performances, he succumbs; just before he puts Bligh onto the lifeboat, he erupts into a raving frenzy, an outpouring of hysteria that breaks his voice and gives us precisely — nothing.

,

,

T H E M E L G A Z E : M ad M ax (top left); The Bounty (left); Lethal Weapon {right); M ad M ax 2; The Year Of Living Dangerously, Mrs Soffel (below left to right)

Philippa Hawker CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 21

SI 0 RTS

CIRCUIT

Short film s often get short shrift in comparison to the attention lavished on features, miniseries, pop clips and commercials. Cinema Papers begins a regular column on shorts; in this issue VTKKI R IL E Y looks at three works by women film m akers and M A R C U S B R E E N writes about a documentary on artist Yosl Bergner.

he Invisible Girl, a 45-minute film directed

by Jayne Stevenson and Danae Gunn, involves putting a life story on the line and dealing with it in a simple, full-frontal style that is very much concerned with revealing the personal. Financed by a $44,000 grant from the Creative Development Branch of the Australian Film Commission, it concerns the repressed desires of a 17-year-old girl living on a draconian housing estate in the north west of Melbourne.

The subject is the result of intelligent and compassionate research into the incidence of teenage suicides, particularly among girls, in the context of an increasingly hostile, sexist, drugcorrupted, 'no future' social environment. Anita, the main character, was picked from a group of girls at the Greensborough shopping centre. In real life she shares many of the interests of her fictional character: horror stories, keeping a diary (much of the film will include a voiceover of the entries), a devotee of fashion and her man. The filmmakers are conscious of the tendency for these sorts of issues to shoot off hysterically into psychodramas, so that the delivery is low-key, and avoids the potential sensationalism of the subject matter. No sets were used, and locations were carefully chosen to reveal a domestic environment totally geared towards the non­ private: houses built for playing billiards and television watching, as well as those pubs that are designed to separate sexes and intellects. It would be a pity if local television didn't snap The Invisible Girl up immediately, because it's the sort of film that targets a young audience, in the way that In Between did in its attempt to bridge cultural differences.

Morena is a four-minute Super 8 film, funded by the filmmaker, Ann-Maree Crawford. Her output is as intensely involved with film criticism as it is with making films. It's an approach to criticism which points the way to a cinema absorbed in the subjective and the lyrical, becomes expressed in the silent, fleeting gestures of the self and the corresponding inverted outside world. Morena is very much about the face of the self. It is made up of a collection of moments: a seemingly predetermined montage of places, faces, an angel in the cemetery glimpsed briefly from a car window, the treetops in the Botanic Gardens. She says she shot "anything that attracted my attention", but every image is loaded with a personal investment in whatever becomes clear and true, in a sense of redemption.

In many ways Morena echoes a sensibility of place and circumstance along the line of Godard's Two Or Three Things . . . Morena, the city, the girl, the feminine, a song, an ode to personal ideology which suffers at every intrusion of the private, even memory. It does a great job at making Melbourne look like a foreign city, yet all the recognisable landmarks are there: trams are transporters of commuting daydreams, the foreign phrases painted on the Unemployed Workers' Union building in Fitzroy

22 — JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

The Invisible Girl

stand in for a mythology of a past or a struggle that consistently goes unnoticed. Amidst this is some old Movietone newsreel footage of a body sprawled on a pavement during the Paris Resistance in 1945. It could well be, in the film's terms, a Melbourne street, because of the cyclical patterns evoked in the sense of renewal and futility of interpretation; cold, resigned eyes of movie heroines playing at romance, anonymous souls aimlessly searching horizons, ways out. Loss is an important theme in this film, evident in the choice of soundtrack, a medieval Armenian chant-cum-swansong by Esther Lamandier.

Where this film sits in relation to a feature or another Super 8 film is a problem; as Crawford declares, she makes films for no ends and no effect. But Morena is obviously hooked on something more than a compensatory idea of a "passion" for filmmaking. nformo is an 18-minute video directed and produced by Marie Hoy, and funded by a CEP grant to the Women's Film Unit. It's one of the countless videos made in Australia that end up as white elephants because of the cargo cult mentality about the medium which exists in this country.

This is true despite the fact that half the population own or hire VCRs, and that music videos are a television staple. Informo would probably not be included in any program of video art concerned with 'radical practice', which generally means obsession with technology, production standards only matched

by TV, and the incorporation of the worst aspects of performance art.

Informo has no production values except its own; bad editing, blaring and sometimes incomprehensible sound, cellophane for coloured filters and a cast of ridiculous masked 'comperes', like their counterparts in World Championship Wrestling. It offers more than an

Painting The Town

academic critique of television, as it cranks itself up to the max. Speeded-up, high-pitched voices blurt out phrases like "Fear is the real weapon", "If you build a jail you should live in one", "A ll prisoners have to stay at home. Sorry, that's the way it is". This is intercut with sampling of ads, the space shuttle disaster and excerpts from American news transmission, but not in any random fashion; content and information are the crucial concerns of Informo.

It uses sampling to create real impact, something that has been important in the music scene, but is yet to cross over to video in a big way. Informo does a good deal to sort out the dilettantes of the industry, and comes complete with "the message"; monitors and tape decks on screen with the host, who sends up just about every notion of multi-media performance art, as well as giving the production a quality of home­ made humour.

V.K. ocial history is not always considered to be an essential aspect of artistic or filmic practice, but Painting The Town, a documentary about art in Australia, is very much a social history.

It is a film about Yosl Bergner and "the angry decade of Australian art". Between 1937 and 1948 Yosl Bergner sought refuge in Melbourne from the horrors of fascist extermination of Jews.

Together with other painters, such as Noel Counihan, Albert Tucker, Jim Wigley and George Luke, as well as writers like Judah Waten, Yosl Bergner brought the well advanced painting skills and social graces of Warsaw to an Australia overwhelmed by the narrow-minded respectability of the seemingly all-powerful Robert Gordon Menzies.

Painting The Town explains how Jews like Bergner brought a new depth to Australian social and cultural life. As social history, the film does its task very well, referring to the groundswells created by jazz, communists, Hitler, the depression, the treatment of Aborigines and Melbourne itself.

It also takes a refreshing approach to film, not expecting an audience to be earnest in their appreciation of art and history. Bergner is humorous and self-deprecating, describing himself as a mediocre painter.

Indeed, his work is not technically brilliant, his ideas have never set the world on fire, but his life is a testimony to the generation of artists who have been committed to describing the human condition in a world where change happens too slowly.

Director Trevor Graham has made a major contribution to both Australian film and Australian social history, by telling the story of a man who was one of a number of "ratbags", who put paint on board.

By referring to and including interviews with painters like Jim Wigley and Albert Tucker, the film paints a canvas of an important era in Australian history.

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24 — JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

lon ging fo r w h at w as, w hat m ight have been, w hat never actually w as. Cinema Papers looks back at the Career of Dennis Hopper, an elusive icon w ho has reflected and defined a succession of eras; at the nostalgia industry; at the w ay television has im agined the artist. A n d there’s a trivia quiz to bedevil the most backw ard-looking reader, w ith the chance to w in hundreds of dollars w orth of nostalgia.

M y fiction h a s its root in n o sta lg ia . A n d m a y b e I still q u a lify fo r th e tin iest h in t o f s u ffe r in g b e c a u s e o f th at b o u tiq u e fo r m o f m is e ry — m elan ch o ly . I ’v e a lw a y s h a d this so rt o f ‘co n tem p lative m e la n c h o ly ’. T h e re is m e la n c h o ly in e v e ry m om en t, even each go o d m om en t. A s a ch ild I u s e d to g e t a p le a s u ra b le k in d o f s a d n e s s s ittin g in a boat w ith m y fa th e r, re a d in g in b e d w ith m y m other, b e c a u s e I k n e w , even a s th ey w e re h a p p e n in g , th at th ese m o m e n ts w o u ld n ’t last.

I u s e d to th in k : th is w ill b e one o f m y h a p p y m em o ries, t h is ’ll b e over in a m om ent. I g u e s s th a t’s n o s ta lg ia in anticipation. I w a s so h a p p y I w a s m ise ra b le .

In a w a y , I th in k th at n o s ta lg ia is a lm o st a place on its ow n . L ik e g re e d o r b itte rn e ss, it p a in ts e v e ry la n d sc a p e in its o w n colour, so th at no m a tte r w h e r e I ’m s e ttin g m y w o rk , e v e ry th in g h a p p e n s in the re g io n of n o stalgia.

A p lace m e a n s m o re to y o u w h e n y o u leave it an d h a v e it filte re d a n d in te n sifie d fo r y o u b y m em o ry . T h o u g h , if y o u ’re lik e m e an d y o u ’re a n tic ip a tin g w h a t it w ill fe e l lik e to be p a st the p re se n t m o m en t a lm o st as soon a s y o u en te r it, th e re ’s p le n ty o f filte rin g a n d in te n s ify in g g o in g on a n y w a y .

Tim W in ton, The A ustralian L itera ry Q uarterly, 6-7 June 1987.

W h a t a re the re q u ire m e n ts fo r t r a n s fo r m in g a b o o k o r a m ovie into a cult object? T h e w o r k m u s t b e loved, o bv io u sly , b u t th is is not e n o u gh . It m u s t p ro v id e a com p letely fu rn is h e d w o r ld so th at its fa n s can qu ote ch a ra c te rs a n d ep iso d es a s if th ey w e r e p a rt of the f a n ’s p riv a te se c ta ria n w o rld , a w o r ld ab o u t w h ic h one can m a k e u p q u iz z e s a n d p la y triv ia g a m e s so th at the a d e p ts o f the sect re c o g n is e th ro u g h each o th e r a s h a re d expertise.

M 0 - -

I th in k th at in o rd e r to t ra n s fo rm a w o r k into a cult o b je c t one m u s t be a b le to b re a k , dislocate, u n h in g e it so th at one can re m e m b e r on ly p a rts o f it, irre sp e c tiv e o f th eir o rig in a l re la tio n sh ip w ith the w h o le . In the case o f a b o o k one can u n h in g e it, so to sp eak , p h y sically , re d u c in g it to a se rie s o f excerpts. A m ovie, on the co n trary, m u s t be a lre a d y ra m s h a c k le , rick ety, u n h in g e d in itself. A p e rfe c t m ovie, sin ce it can n ot be re re a d e v e ry tim e w e w a n t, fr o m the point w e choose, a s h a p p e n s w ith a book , re m a in s in o u r m e m o ry a s a w h o le, in the fo rm o f a cen tral id e a o r em otion; o n ly a n u n h in g e d m ovie s u rv iv e s a s a d isco n n ected s e rie s of im a g e s, o f p e a k s, o f v is u a l ic e b e rg s . It sh o u ld d is p la y not one c e n tra l id e a b u t m an y. It sh o u ld not re v e a l a coh eren t p h ilo so p h y o f com position. It m u s t live on, a n d b e c a u se of, its g lo rio u s ric k e tin e ss.

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h e p ast, w h ich w a s alw a y s elu siv e and could never b elo n g to u s, is now gon e. B u t th is is not to sa y it disappears.

It is replaced by a m o d e m p a st im aged and fixed w ith a sca le, d etail and coherence never before contem plated.

T h is n ew p a st is th e popular techno-m em ory of cinem a and telev isio n . S corn in g old d istin ction s b etw een fa ct and fa n ta sy , it claim s to be m ore inform ative, m ore com plete, m ore convenient, m ore poign an t, lo n g er la stin g and m ore real th an th e old p a st . . .

T he p a st today is produced and preserved w ith a ten acity and d eterm in ation th at borders on th e h ysterical. It h a s g iv en birth to a n ew tem poral k itsch w e call n o sta lg ia .

N o sta lg ia is n ot w a tch in g an old m ovie. It is not even w a tc h in g so m eth in g for th e fourth (or tenth) tim e. It is th e search for p leasu re in a m ore perfect p ast. It is w h en th e ‘do you rem em ber?’ loom s larger th an th e current pull of th e narrative.

It is on th is h a z y borderline, w h en m em ory grow s h eavier th a n th e p resen t, and im a g es of th e p ast outn u m b er th o se w h ich prom ise th e future, th a t a th resh o ld is crossed.

At th is m om en t, a program c e a se s to be a boring old re-run and b ecom es in stea d one of th ose ‘gold en y e a r s’ of telev isio n . N o sta lg ia is the foregrou n d in g of th e p leasu re of fo rg ettin g — th e re-anim ation of tra ces of a p ast w e now rem em ber fo rg ettin g .

N o sta lg ia sp e a k s to a p a st of innocence, n aivety and purity. It is a m o d em voice, both tone and sty le, w ith far w ider horizon s than television , video and cinem a. It seep s everyw here, in to all c o m e r s of culture — m u sic, fashion , arch itectu re, rom ance. N o sta lg ia is the new fe tis h of an old o b sessio n .

B ut n o sta lg ia is n ot sim p ly an ideal and selectiv e m em ory. It also fo rg es a different relation sh ip of th e p resen t to th e past.

M em ory is creative. In its p resen t, th e p ast liv es and activ ely d eterm in es current experience w ith an u n foreseea b le productivity.

N o sta lg ia h a s th e fragran ce of death. It is th e product of tech n ica l d islocation. P rom a p resen t in w hich no-one fe e ls at hom e to a fu tu re w hich ha« already b een sp en t and consum ed, n o sta lg ia is th e fu n era l e le g y of th e tim e th a t is lost. The n ostalg ic p a st can en tertain or am u se, but it cannot teach u s.

T elevision is th e p erfect m edium for n ostalgia.

It e x ists at th e in tersectio n of view er and society, com bining grea t p erson al in tim acy w ith h ig h cultural v isib ility , co n d en sin g and binding diverse fr a g m e n ts of disparate p a sts into its en d lessly updated presen t.

T elevision ta k e s all k in d s of h isto ries and w orks th em in to te le v isio n h isto ry — a n osta lg ic world of telev isio n program m e — w h ich th en becom es th e referen t for oth er co n stru ction s of th e past.

T elevision h a s q u ick ly developed its ow n m em ory forms' w h ich fu n ctio n a s a m etronom e in a so ciety w h ich h a s replaced th e ’se a so n s w ith ra tin g s periods. N o sta lg ia is th e nam e of th is m em ory; a secu la r tem p orality tran sm itted by a narrative clock of see in g . B u t in c e a se le ssly d isloca tin g p a st and p resen t w e stan d condem ned to repeat and rep eat and r e p e a t . . .

Scott McQuire

U m berto E co, ‘C asablan ca: C u lt M ovies and In tertextu al C o lla g e ’ in T ravels In H yp errea lity E ssa ys — Translated from the Italian b y W illiam W eaver (P icad or, 1987).

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CINEM A P A P E R S JULY - 25

H o w h as popular cu ltu re portrayed art and artists? R O B E R T R O O N E Y takes a fon d look back at L eave It T o B eaver, B atm an , M r E d and B ik in i Beach.

Portrait of the as a TV cha f B eaver h a d n ’t b een p layin g P ira tes in th e attic and fou n d h is fa th e r ’s old sketchb ook , w e w ould not h ave kn ow n th a t Ward Cleaver w a s “q u ite an a rtist w h en h e w a s at sch o o l”.

A s June told B eaver w h en h e show ed h er W ard’s s k e tc h e s of th e ocean, m o u n ta in s and a n old aeroplane w ith fou r w in g s lik e th ey u sed to h ave in th e olden d ays, “h e did all th o se cu te cartoon s for th e school yearbook. H e could h ave b een a com m ercial a rtist. H e w a s actu ally very good ”.

B eaver w a s su rp rised . “A g u y d oesn ’t th in k h is fa th er can do a n yth in g ex cep t go to w ork, com e back and s tu ff lik e th a t,” h e said.

Later, in th is v in ta g e ep isod e of L e a v e I t To B ea ver, h e fin d s a w a y of “u sin g dad b ein g a n a r tist”, w h en h e volu n teers to do a p o ster of P au l R evere in a classroom project.

H is brother W ally is n o t im p ressed .

H e k n ow s it ’s g o in g to be a m e ss.

“T h ey’ve g o t m o n k ey s in th e zoo w ho can paint b etter th a n y o u .” B u t B eaver p ersev eres and w in s th e fir st prize b eca u se h e w a s n ot h elp ed by h is father. Incid en tally, h is p a in tin g is rem arkably m o d e m and lo o k s ju s t lik e a piece o f e ig h tie s neoexp ressio n ism .

I w a s n ot su rp rised a t Ward C leaver’s hid d en a r tistic talen t, b ecau se d u rin g th e 2 3 4 ep iso d es of th is great se r ie s I took particular n otice of th e la rg e n u m b er of p a in tin g s on th e w a lls of th e C leavers’ M ayfield resid en ce. M ost of th e p ictu res c o n sist of little m ore th an th e sort of blurred, p a tch y TV im a g e s th e A m erican a rtist A lan M cCollum lik es to rephotograph, bu t a fe w are recogn isab le a s p rin ts of C onstable, M onet and th e m o st o ften se e n reproductions of ‘P in k ie ’ and ‘The B lue B oy ’, w h ich are by th e fron t door.

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26 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

I seem to recall th a t w ith th e arrival of colour TV, su ch m id d le-class ta ste gave w ay to p rin ts of P ica sso (the B lue and P in k periods and cubism ) and P aul K lee in fa n ta stic h o u seh o ld s of M axw ell Sm art and 9 9 , and Sam antha and D arin S teven s, w h ile Jean n ie and M ajor A n th on y N elso n preferred to decorate th eir liv in g room w ith A rabian N ig h ts-sty le k itsch .

P au l R evere is also th e su b ject of one of M r E d ’s several art-oriented ep isod es. P u t sim ply, th e plot revolves on th e co m m issio n in g and ex ecu tio n of a sta tu e of P au l R evere w h ich is to be u n veiled in a public park, and the choice of W ilbur P o st or h is stin g y n eighbour R oger A ddison a s th e m odel. Mr Ed, n atu rally en ou gh , is to be R evere’s horse.

W ith th e en try of th e sculptor Igor K orzak (played in typical fa sh io n by H an s Conreid) w e are introduced to a character w ho conform s to TV

com edy’s idea of th e a rtist. W hen at w ork, K orzak, lik e all TV a rtists, w ears a big, floppy R em brandt-like beret and a sm ock . N obody, a s far as I know , w ea rs th is o u tfit tod ay e x c e p t a g e in g M eld ru m ites and so c ie ty -A p ortraitists.

W hen th e sta tu e is at la st unveiled before th e M ayor, its d istin g u ish e d * creator announces: “N ow th e m om ent y o u ’ve all b een w a itin g for, m y w ork of g e n iu s ”. T he sta tu e, a s y o u ’ve g u essed , is a w ork of “m o d e m a rt”.

O ffended by th e la u g h ter, K orzak shouts: “Silence! T h is is a m asterp iece. It r e p r e se n ts th e pure e sse n c e o f P au l R ev ere.”

In an oth er ep isod e o f M r E d, Roger ^Jj w a n ts to evict a group o f y o u n g a r tists from h is vacan t b each sid e ggl property. Later, tw o of th e se “b ea ch n ik s”, B u zz and Zelda, decide ’ to v isit th e A d d ison s and p u t th eir ca se to R oger in person.

“W e’d lik e to p u t up so m e lean-tbs h k e on your property so w e can m ake it lik e an art colon y.” W hen R oger *j| rep lies w ith a d efin ite “L ik e no!”, Zelda recites a p oem sh e h a s ju s t w ritten about th e p lig h t o f th e you n g 'i5% a rtist — ‘R ejected , N e g le c te d ’. K ay ^ ^ A ddison, w ho had earlier b een given “an origin al a b stra ct” w h ich look s su sp icio u sly lik e a K an d in sk y, is m ore sym p ath etic, b u t th in k s th ey are a bit y o u n g to be so n eg a tiv e.

“B u t w e d ig b ein g n eg a tiv e . . .

R ejection, rejection . T h ere’s no place in th e w orld for u s k id s to d a y .”

Inspired into a ction b y Z elda’s words^ Mr Ed dons th e ob ligatory stra w hat and dark g la s s e s and r u n s a w ay to jo in th e k id s a s a m odel. # A nother o f m y fa v o u rite L e a v e I t To? t B e a v e r ep iso d es is o n e th a t h a s u n in ten tio n a l a sso c ia tio n s w ith Pop art, m a in ly b eca u se it rem in d s m e of. | th o se p h otograp h s of J a m es R o sen q u ist w o rk in g o n blow n-up d eta ils of g ig a n tic a d v ertisin g

BATMAN: Baby Jane Towser exhibits an interest in painting from life

hoardings. On th e w a y to W hitey W hitney’s place, B eaver and h is friend stop to look at a n e w billboard for ‘T estro S ou p ’, in w h ich a ‘‘d iscern in g h o s t e s s ” h o ld s up a g ia n t bowl of ste a m in g soup.

W hitey reck o n s it ’s filled w ith real soup and d ares B eaver to clim b to th e top and fin d out. B eaver a ccep ts th e challen g e and fa lls in to th e bow l w h ile try in g to g e t a b etter look inside. H e c a n ’t g e t out.

L eavin g h im to be re sc u e d by th e fire departm ent, w e n ow tu rn to th e 1967 episod e of B a tm a n en titled ‘Pop G oes th e J o k er’. In it, th e fa m o u s Gotham C ity a r tist O liver M u zzy, w h ose “ex h ib it” at th e P ark G allery h a s j u s t opened, did n o t con sid er h im self a Pop a rtist. B u t w h e n th e Joker sp rayed p ain t over all h is w orks, h e w a s d elig h ted by th e Pop art e ffe c ts ach ieved by th is dastard ly deed.

Soon after, th e Jok er w in s a n art co n test sp on sored b y B ab y Jane Tow ser, a rich h e ir e ss, an d d ecid es to open an art sch o o l for m illion aires.

A m ong th e w e a lth y stu d e n ts is playboy B ru ce W ayne. T h e Jok er kidnaps th e en tire c la s s and hold th em for ran som . H ow ever, h is plan is foiled b y Robin, th e boy w onder, but even h e is so o n overpow ered in a

The Beaver

fig h t and is tied to a gian t m obile w ith ro tatin g p alette k n iv es. T he plot th ic k e n s in part tw o, ‘Flop G oes th e Jok er’, but even tu ally go o d n ess triu m p h s over evil.

T he art in ‘Pop G oes th e Jok er’ is le s s Pop th an “action p a in tin g ”.

A lth ou gh L ife m a gazin e had im m ortalised J ack son P ollock as “Jack th e Dripper” som e y ea rs before, th row in g p ain t around w as still good for a la u g h in th e 6 0 s. For in sta n ce, in th e m ovie B ik in i B ea ch , B ig D rag (Don R ickies), th e d ragster club ow ner and “au th ority on yo u th tod ay” , also dabbles in a bit of H ollyw ood-style A bstract E x p ression ism . W hen h e ’s not ex p la in in g th e principles of “m otoricity” to F ran k ie A valon, h e th row s p ain t at b lan k ca n v a ses. E very n ow and th en h e is v isited by a tall, m y sterio u s fig u re in a b ig h at. “H e ’s a fa m o u s art dealer,” D rag exp lain s.

“H e ’s b een after m y s tu ff for a lo n g tim e .” T he p a in tin g s are n ot for sale.

“T h ere’s a part of m e on th o se ca n v a ses. It h in t s m e to se e anybody look at th em lik e th ey m ig h t buy th e m .”

A fter a few m ore appearances, th e m y steriou s art dealer’s id en tity is revealed d u rin g a braw l in w h ich fis ts and paint are really fly in g . H e is none other th an B oris K arloff, w ho proclaim s an action p a in tin g execu ted

by Clyde th e m on k ey a s a m asterpiece, ju s t in tim e for th e end and th e prom ised nu m b er by L ittle Stevie W onder.

In D a n g er — M a rm a la d e A t W ork, th e on ly ch ild ren ’s TV se r ie s I k n ow in w h ich crim e co n sta n tly pays, M arm alade A tk in s u p se ts h er fath er by p ain tin g a m o u sta ch e on a copy of th e ‘M ona L isa ’ h e is h op in g to se ll to a w ea lth y sh eik h . H ow ever, W endy W oolley, M arm alade’s tir e le ss social w orker, th in k s it is “ace and jolly orig in a l”. “B y th is little act of g irlish

vandalism , M arm alade is tellin g u s about h er fru strated artistic ta le n t.”

In stead of th row in g h er out of th e w indow , W endy s u g g e s ts th at M arm alade should w ork w ith “the g rea test g e n iu s of a ll” — Salvador B a lm y, at th e B alm y School of Art. B alm y, w ho is th e sp ittin g im age of a certain S p an ish su rrealist, loath es the young. “T h ere’ll be no m u ck in g about in m y school, m y little ‘objet trou ve’,” h e in form s M arm alade.

“H ere art is all about discipline, obedience and toil. You’ll be ta u g h t to paint m a sterp ieces by n u m b er.” She a sk s him: “W hat about m o d em art?

G eezers w ith tw o n o se s and bare ladies w ith h o les you can se e righ t th rou gh .” H e, of course, also d e te sts m o d em art. “T here is n ’t an y m on ey in it for m e .”

B alm y’s sch ool is run lik e a slave camp. T he stu d e n ts are chained to one another and forced to paint to the beat of a m etronom e. T hey are all w earin g big, floppy h a ts and paintspattered sm ock s.

An in q u isitiv e M arm alade d iscovers th a t th e stu d e n ts are producing cop ies of old m a ste r s w h ich B alm y flo g s to greed y v isito rs to h is M asterpiece M arket ou t th e back. In the end h e is ex p osed after g o in g m od em . H e flip s, and is carried aw ay w h ile attem p tin g an action p ain tin g.

‘M arm alade’s M asterp iece’ is an a m u sin g sa tire on th e art world. In m o st of th e sh o w s I h ave m entioned (and th ere are lo ts of oth ers) w e are presen ted w ith a stereotyp ed v iew of art and th e a rtist w h ich m an y people still believe. I u sed to th in k that nobody la u g h s at m o d em art anym ore, ex cep t in m ovies and TV com edies. T hat is, u n til I atten d ed a Joel’s A rt A uction in M elbourne a few years ago. I can a ssu r e you th a t th e roars of la u g h ter at th e s ig h t of an original lith ograp h by Joan Miro w ere n ot canned.

Remember Rebel Without A Cause, Cool Hand Luke, Easy Rider, The American Friend, Apocalypse Now, Hoosiers and Blue Velvet? A D R IA N M A R T IN examines the significance of Dennis Hopper, whose life and films have played out contemporary obsessions for four decades.

DENNIS HOPPER OUT OF THE BLUE AND INTO THE BLACK

J O A N A G A J A N IA N Q U IN N : You r e c e n tly said th a t in th e 1960s, fre e love a n d ta k in g d ru g s created a so rt o f com m on bond; i t w as lik e a dream w h ere w e all h e ld h a n d s, to o k acid and looked fo r God. D id y o u ev er fin d h im ?

D E N N IS H O PPER: D id I ever fin d God? God fo u n d m e.

JQ: I s th a t w h y y o u ’re h e r e now ?

DH: You g o t it. I w a s p la n n in g to leave m y s e lf o u t in th e d e se rt so m ew h ere dead, a n d God said, “Com e on in. W h y d o n ’t y o u com e b ack and se e so m e o f y o u r frien d s. T h e y ’r e dead too. ”

n th e s e o p en in g lin e s of th e I n te r v ie w p rofile (D ecem ber 1985), th ree k e y a sp e c ts o f th e M yth o lo g y th a t is D e n n is H opper tu m b le ou t w illy n illy, in w h a t m ig h t at fir st se e m a n u n e a sy co -ex isten ce.

T h e s ix tie s dream : fr e e love, d ru g s, hippie sp iritu a lism ; th e eu p h oria celeb rated in E a s y R id er. T h e e ig h tie s salvation: career com eb ack , p erso n a l rebirth; th e ‘fe e l g o o d ’ e th o s of H o o siers. A nd in b etw een , th e dark n ig h t of th e se v e n tie s, w ith it s ste n c h of burn-out an d n ear-d eath — th e m orbid v isio n o f A p o c a ly p s e N o w .

Once p u t in order, it ’s b oth a lo g ica l seq u en ce — th e dream , th e dream tu rn ed sour, th e r e k in d lin g o f h op e — and a cu ltu ra l h isto ry . T h e fa scin a tio n (and good fortu n e) of D en n is H opper lie s in h is em b od im en t of th is h isto r y a c r o ss h is career, and h is p erp etu al re-en a ctm en t o f it in m a n y of h is ro les.

I

28 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

A proper u n d ersta n d in g o f a n y ‘sta r ’ req u ires th a t w e ta k e in m u ch m ore th a n sim p ly h is or h er film s. A s R ichard D yer’s b rillian t w o rk (in S ta r s and m ore r ecen tly H e a v e n ly B o d ies) a m p ly d em o n stra tes, a sta r ’s im a g e is a co n g lom erate of all th e ‘d isc o u r se s’ w h ich p u b licly circu late around th e actor: in terv iew s, p o sters, ru m ou rs, jo k e s, leg e n d s. Indeed, th e g rea t era of H ollyw ood stard om is ch a ra cterised b y th e (often p erso n a lly d am agin g) ten d en cy to co lla p se all fa c e ts o f th e a ctor’s life in to th e on e ‘m y th ’: th e rea l p erson , th e portrayed ch ara cters, and th e larger-th an -life ‘p erso n a ’ all m ade to rein force each oth er (as in th e c a se of Ju d y Garland).

Today, p erhaps, so m e a cto rs are sm a rt e n o u g h to avoid th is fate: R obert D e N iro, for in sta n c e , on ly e x is t s p u b licly from on e sc r e e n p erform an ce to th e n e x t — an d th e y are all d elib erately v ery d ifferen t ch a ra cters. C lint E a stw o o d is m ore of a ‘ty p e ’ (a co m p lex an d sin u o u s one, it m u s t b e said) b u t w h a tev er ech o th ere m a y be o f th is ty p e in h is p erso n a l life h a s a lw a y s b een off-lim its. D en n is H opper, how ever, co n fro n ts u s w ith a m u r k y m o d e m v e r sio n o f H ollyw ood ’s G olden D ays. H e ap p ears to h a v e c h o se n to liv e an d a ct o u t h is ‘m y th ’ o n ev ery le v e l o f h is life.

I s D e n n is H opper a ‘s ta r ’?

C ertainly, h e h a s g ra v ita ted tow ard s

p ro jects in w h ic h h e is e ith e r a p iece in a n epic m o sa ic (from G ia n t [1956] to A p o c a ly p se N o w [1979]), a k e y su p p o rtin g actor (R u m b le F ish [1983], H o o s ie r s ), or a cen tra l fig u r e in f ilm s w h ich sp lit a u d ien ce id en tifica tio n and in v o lv em en t a c r o ss sev era l p rincipal ch a ra cters (R e b o rn [1985], B lu e V elvet). H e h a s n e v e r b een th e m a g n e t arou n d w h ic h th e r e s t of a film o r g a n ise s its e lf, an d in th is s e n s e h e is n o sta r (rath er th a n ta k in g th is to reflect th e op in ion th a t H opper h a s ‘n ev er m ad e it ’ to th e top, I p refer to se e h is ch o ice o f film s a s ex cep tio n a lly sh rew d an d lucid). B u t H opper is certa in ly a M yth, an d h is ow n M yth to boot; n o lo n g e r th e co n tracted A ctor c o n str u c te d an d h ou n d ed b y th e S tu d io (as in th e bad old days), b u t th e m o d e m A rtistActor, w a n d erin g a n d tortu red . H is c lo se st con tem p orary n e ig h b o u r w ou ld be, I g u e s s , H arry D ea n S ta n to n — an d th e W en d ers co n n ectio n fro m H opper in T h e A m e ric a n F rie n d (1 9 7 7 ) to S ta n to n in 1P a ris, T e x a s is , I su sp e c t, no a ccid en t.

R ig h t now , w ith B lu e V e lv e t an d H o o s ie r s on sh o w su c c e ssfu lly , an d w ith a s h e lf fu ll of w o rk to com e (Jam es T ob ack ’s T h e P ic k U p A r tis t, T h e T e x a s C h a in sa w M a s s a c r e H, B lo o d R ed), th e H opper m y th o lo g y

EASY RIDER: He went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere

h a s b een d u sted up and r e c a st som ew h at. T he tim e h a s com e, it seem s, to tell h is story. In order to provide an a n g le on th e su b ject of n o stalgia, I w a n t to interp ret H opper’s sto ry a s on e of ‘d eca d es’ (or rather, slic e s of cu ltu ral h istory) w h ich are rem em bered, talk ed through, n eg o tia ted , m y th o lo g ised . It w ould ta k e an oth er article to d isc u ss th e in trica cies of H opper’s actu al a ctin g — th e com p lex overlay of vocal, g estu ra l and behavioural sty le s gath ered and com bined over m ore th an 3 0 years. A lth o u g h an appreciation of H opper at th is lev el w ill for th e m o st part be m is s in g from th e r e st of th is article, I ’d lik e it k n ow n from th e o u tse t th a t I con sid er h im a g reat actor.

H opper’s sig n ific a n c e a s an im age or m yth is very sp ecial. H is cap acity to be virtu ally an icon is due to tw o factors. T he first, a s noted, is th e ten d en cy to incorporate k n o w n a sp ects of H opper’s life in to h is roles — a so m etim es cru el incorporation, but one th a t H opper ob viou sly r e lish es in true ‘p sych od ram a’ style.

T he oft-reported sto ry of H opper dem anding th e role in B lu e V elvet b ecau se h e i s P ran k B ooth (and David L yn ch ’s a n x ie tie s over w h eth er h e w ould th u s be able to h ave lu n ch w ith him ) is only th e cu lm in ation of th is tendency, developed over m an y y ears.

A s th e archetypal ‘d ru g g er’ and ‘drinker’ (H opper’s w ords) in real life, h e h a s o ften b een c a st a s th e ston ed w ild m an, eith er glo rio u sly reb elliou s (M ad D o g M organ , 1976) or lo st and con fu sed (T he A m e ric a n F rien d, A p o c a ly p se N ow ). A t th e dizzy, d angerous h e ig h ts of self-ref lexivity, R eborn portrays H opper a s a d em ented preacher-perform er w ho (w hen h e is not raving) h a s to be fed h is lin e s from o ff-screen or propped up w ith cu e cards.

A ccordingly now th a t h e h a s k ick ed h is d eb ilitatin g h ab its, H opper ch o o ses eith er to an n ih ilate

THE MANY HATS OF HOPPER: In Mad Dog I

h is alter e g o , e x o r c ise h is d ark sid e (B lue V elvet), or to em b od y th e dram a o f a b u m w h o p u lls h im s e lf to g eth er an d g o e s s tr a ig h t (H o o s ie r s ).

E v en m ore cen tra l to H op p er’s sig n ific a n c e is th e fa c t th a t h e h a s evolved, m ore a n d m ore, in to an overtly s y m b o lic fig u r e . H a v in g b een at th e h e lm of o n e of th o s e cu ltu ra l ev en ts w h ic h c o m e s to su m u p th e cu ltu ral sty le of a d ecad e — E a s y R id e r in 1 9 6 9 — H opper d ra w s th is a sso cia tio n in to h im s e lf an d b e c o m e s th e s ix tie s . T h is is a p h en o m en o n of w h ich H opper is co n sp ic u o u sly aw are h e titled h is sp ecta cu la r p h otograp h ic collection O u t O f T h e S ix tie s . B u t at only th e sim p le st le v e l is H opper a purely n o sta lg ic icon , ‘th e s ix tie s rev isite d ’ (th e b a s is for th e tim e-w arp jo k e in w h ic h H opper c h a n g e s th e cou rse o f h u m a n h isto r y in M y S cien ce P r o je c t, 1985). H is ro les p lay out a rath er d ifferen t dram a; w h a t h e tru ly em b o d ies is th e six ties-in -th ee ig h ties, an d h e b ea rs all th e m a rk s of th a t tra u m a tic p a ssa g e . It is a s if, th rou gh th e v e s s e l o f H op p er’s body and h is p erson a, th e e ig h tie s ca n ta lk to th e s ix tie s , s iz in g up b oth its appeal an d it s fa ilu re s.

A s a ‘retro ’ p h en om en on , H opper is com plex; retro sp ectio n rath er th a n th e u su a l r e tr o g r essio n th a t m a rk s m u ch cu rren t s ix tie s n o sta lg ia . H is g en eral im a g e, and h is p articu lar roles, c o n stitu te a su m o f m o v e m e n ts or rela tio n s b e tw e e n d ifferen t tim e s, sta te s, s ty le s . H is a ck n o w led g ed k in sh ip w ith N e il Y oung (another close cu ltu ra l co rresp on d en t a c r o ss th e sa m e slic e o f h isto ry ) is c a u g h t in th e fa m o u s p h ra se “O ut of th e b lu e . . . and in to th e b la c k ” . H opper is a lw ays m o v in g o u t of so m e th in g an d into so m e th in g else; h is ro les regu larly ch a rt a fin a l d e sc e n t (B lu e V elvet) or a str iv in g red em p tion (H oosiers). A nd h e is fu lly aw are th a t if h e is ‘o f’ th e s ix tie s , h e is n o lo n g er in them .

T h is a ctio n of d isp la cem en t, th is se n se of a v io len t e jectio n fro m th e

tim e and place and origin, b e g in s w ith F ro m T h e H ea rt, w h ich len d s an E a s y R id e r itself, in w h ich th e hip p ie ex tra reso n a n ce to th e a ffin ity d ream en d s in death. T he H opper b etw een H opper and Coppola.) m y th o lo g y really co m es in to its ow n In order to fu lly u n d erstan d in th e e ig h tie s w h en h e b eg in s H opper’s iconic sig n ifica n ce, on e h a s p la y in g fa th er figu res; a sym b olic to ex ten d th e g am e of decad es to s ix tie s fa th er w ho h elp ed to g iv e birth in clu d e th e fiftie s. H opper w a s of to th e e ig h tie s (w hich is ex a c tly w h at cou rse co-actor w ith and frien d to h is ow n O ut O f T h e B lue, directly, Ja m es D ean on both R e b e l W ith o u t A and R u m b le F ish , m ore allu sively, is C au se and G iant. T h is a sso cia tiv e link about). to D ean and th e m elod ram atic cin em a A s ix tie s icon, D en n is H opper is of th e fiftie s is th e k e y to m a n y of a lso a m ovie icon, and in fa sc in a tin g H opper’s darker, tougher, m ore w a y s. F ilm s so m etim es cleverly se iz e r esilien t e lem en ts — a s w e ll as u p on th eir ch o sen actors for th eir clin ch in g h is m orbid tie w ith death em b lem atic qu ality — above and (w hen I n te r v ie w a s k s h im about beyond th e p articu larities of th e D ean, h e cu rtly rep lies, “H e died ind ivid ual character b ein g portrayed, S eptem ber 3 0 ”). In term s both of a th e actor sta n d s for an era of cinem a, cu ltu ral sty le and an a c tin g sty le (the a certa in a ctin g sty le, or a loaded M ethod Studio, E lia K azan), th e cu ltu ra l m om ent. A s h a s b een fiftie s sta n d for an an g ry and o ften freq u en tly pointed out, S c o r se se ’s h y sterica l en ergy. It is th e T h e C olor O f M o n e y is ‘ab ou t’, on one contem porary ‘retro’ attraction to th is level, Old H ollyw ood (incarnated by sty le th at h elp s fu e l th e p opularity of P a u l N ew m an) v e r su s N ew H ollyw ood M ickey R ourke or S ean P en n , w ho (Tom C ruise). H opper h a s b een u sed em body th e m a scu lin e v irtu es of in th is em b lem atic w a y m ore th an “audacity and con trol” (as a recen t an yon e else; a ten d en cy probably celebration of P en n p u t it), alw a y s m o st p ow erfu lly in a u gu rated by liv in g at th e edge of d eath or b u rn ­ W en d ers’ T he A m erica n F rien d, out. M arlon Brando is a lso at th e w h ere H opper’s d isorien ted (and h eart of th is m y th o lo g isa tio n of th e doom ed) trajectory th ro u g h th e film fiftie s, th u s fa sh io n in g an oth er k e y s e e m s to p o se th e q u estio n of w h ere em b lem atic m om en t out of th e th e A m erican cin em a today is goin g, m e e tin g of H opper and B rando in and of its am bivalent relation s w ith A p o c a ly p se N ow .

E uropean cinem a. B u t H opper h a s It b ecom es p o ssib le to se e H opper’s b een a n ‘em b lem atic’ actor sin ce at sta tu s as a s ix tie s hippie hero a s a le a st K id B lu e (1973). In h is ow n k in d of su b lim ation or rep ressio n of creative projects, h e h a s b een fond of all th a t dark, tortured en erg y of th e a certain grandiloquent selffiftie s. W hen th e se v e n tie s h its hard, ref le x iv ity of th is sort; h is legen d ary th is a n g u ish and to u g h n e ss retu rn to (but sa d ly little seen ) T h e L a s t M ovie Hopper, preparing for h im a p lace a s p lays ou t em b lem atic rela tio n sh ip s an e ig h tie s cu ltu ral hero (in m ark ed b etw een cinem a, so ciety and h istory. con trad istin ction to h is E a s y R id e r coO u t O f T he B lu e w a s received a s (to sta r P eter Fonda, w ho sim p ly clean ed quote L eonard M altin) th e “child of h im se lf up and prom ptly fad ed away).

E a s y R id e r”. (T he L a s t M o vie is also T h is is, on an em blem atic level, w h at im p ortant in th e H opper M yth B lu e V elvet is very k n ow led geab ly b eca u se it c a s ts h im a s th e p rom isin g about; a film in w h ich both H opper y o u n g a rtist w ho B lew It A ll on a and D ean S tock w ell do d u ty a s grand, im p ossib le project; in th is h e children of th e fiftie s w h o g o t h ig h in pre-d ates both Cim ino w ith H e a v e n ’s th e six tie s, b lew out in th e se v e n tie s, G ate and esp ecia lly Coppola w ith O ne and em erge a s glo rio u sly perverted ^

Morgan (top left); O u t O f T h e Blue; M ad Dog M o rg a n ; Kid Blue; T h e A m e ric an Friend (left to right)

d ev ia n ts in th e e ig h tie s (th u s all th e tw iste d n o sta lg ia of th e ‘In D r e a m s’ R oy O rbison referen ce, a m o n g others).

S in ce th e H opper m y th o lo g y p la ces particular s tr e s s o n th e w a y h e m ed ia tes th e s ix tie s an d th e e ig h tie s, a certa in popular jo u r n a listic d isco u rse fin d s it e a s y to er a se th e se v e n tie s fro m th e sto ry (I n te r v ie w in s is ts on r e ferrin g to th a t tim e a s H opper’s “dropout p eriod ” d esp ite h is affirm atio n th a t “I w o rk ed a lm o st co n sta n tly ”). E v en H opper h im se lf p lays a lo n g w ith th is era su re by d a tin g h is co m eb ack at 1 985, and d iso w n in g th e fir s t film m ad e in th is ‘clea n ’ period, M y S c ie n c e P ro je c t.

T h is e lisio n of v irtu a lly 15 y ea rs in sta n ta n e o u sly w ip e s ou t so m e of H opper’s m o st im p ortan t and u n su n g work: R eb o rn , a v ariation (like Godard’s H a il M a ry) on th e v irg in birth sto ry w h ich is o n e of th e k e y film s of th e e ig h tie s (see m y d isc u ssio n of it in th e J u ly is s u e of F ilm n ew s), and on w h ic h H opper also w ork ed a s ‘p rod u ction c o n su lta n t’; M y S cien ce P r o je c t, a w on d rou s m u ta n t teen -sci-fi m ovie; and H opper’s o w n O u t O f T h e B lu e, a n ot en tirely s u c c e s s fu l bu t e n d le ssly fa sc in a tin g film w h ic h a n ticip a tes

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m a n y e ig h tie s tren d s in th e A m erican cin em a (Jarm u sch , Cox, W enders).

A lso u n ap p reciated in th is acco u n t is h o w cen tra l a fig u r e H opper rea lly is (in te r m s of sig n ific a n c e , if n o t screen tim e) in th e tw o Coppola film s.

A nd m ore crucially, th e se v e n tie s, lin k ed w ith th e fiftie s , provide th e real, se c ret k e y to H op p er’s im age.

T he p erson al su ffe r in g , m a d n e ss and e x ile sa id to h a v e ch a ra cterised th o se y e a r s of h is career are e s s e n tia l in m a k in g s e n s e of w h a t cam e both before and after. T here is so m e th in g w h ich r e g iste r s m ore d eep ly th a n th e h u m a n ist celeb ration of su rv iv a l and red em p tion th a t H o o sie rs and its p u b licity ca m p aign p rom otes — th e tru th is so m ew h a t m ore cruel. F or a jaded, cy n ical e ig h tie s, H opper is a k in d of sca p egoat. W hat h e su ffered c o n stitu te s th e e ig h tie s ’ rev en g e a g a in st th e dream y, stu p id six tie s.

H is su rv ival is th u s h eroic, b u t h e is a b rok en hero; h e w ill h en cefo rth a lw a y s be w a lk in g th e lin e (in h is life a s in h is film s) b etw een ‘g o in g s tr a ig h t’ and fa llin g back in to th e a b y ss.

D en n is H opper a s th e b rok en hero can be p articu larly rela ted to th ree a reas th a t I th in k p in p oin t h is cu rren t m y th o lo gical appeal:

OUT OF THE BLUE: Dennis Hopper, Sharon Farrell, Linda Manz

32 — JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

1.

H o p p e r a n d P u n k . H opper em b od ies th e ‘d ream g o n e b ad ’ — h e is th e ‘dark s id e ’ o f th e s ix tie s . H e c o n stitu te s a ‘r etu rn of th e re p r e sse d ’, in cu ltu ra l term s, a fo u l tru th r ise n to th e su rfa ce. A s su ch , h e f its very w ell in d eed in to a certa in p u n k -n ew w a v e n ih ilis tic v isio n of th e W est and its h isto ry . Of co u rse, h is in v o lv em en t w ith d ru g s, an d h is a sso cia tio n w ith a n e v e n g rea ter m y th o lo g ica l fig u r e W illiam B u rro u g h s (H opper w a s s e t in th e la te s e v e n tie s to d irect a n a d ap tation of B u r r o u g h s’ J u n k ie , b u t h e overresea rch ed th e su b ject) se c u r e s h is p lace at th e h e lm of a dark n o sta lg ia .

D avid L yn ch u n d e r sta n d s th is p u n k se n sib ility v ery w e ll — E r a s e r h e a d is on e of its fla g s h ip s — an d B lu e V elvet is in m a n y r e sp e c ts a film of dark n o sta lg ia , of th e d esecra tio n of cu ltu ral ico n s. It a g a in s e e m s fa ted , or at le a st fittin g , th a t H opper and L yn ch sh o u ld m e e t on screen .

To h is credit, H opper se e m s q u ite aw are of p u n k ’s fa sc in a tio n an d h is p o ssib le p lace in it. O u t O f T h e B lu e is on e of th e fir s t sem i-m a in strea m film s to try sy m p a th e tic a lly to d ocu m en t an d u n d ersta n d th e p u n k p h en om en on . W ith u n flin c h in g p sych od ram atic ‘h o n e s ty ’, H opper

p ortrays th e y o u n g p u n k g ir l (played u n fo rg etta b ly b y L in d a M anz) a s ‘b o m ’ of th e v a r io u s b u rn -o u ts and a lien a tio n s in to w h ic h h is g en era tio n w andered. H op p er’s in tu itiv e in s ig h ts h ere are v ery c lo se to th o s e o f N e il Y oung in h is R u s t N e v e r S le e p s phase; appropriately, H opper u s e s g rea t sla b s o f th a t a lb u m a s n arration al c o m m en ta ry in th e film .

b a rk s in to a p hone “I’m fiv e fu c k in g y e a r s old!”

In H opper w e fin d an oth er fig u r e w h o b alan ces, precariously, th e a ttrib u tes of “au d acity and co n trol” .

T h e co n sta n t, h y ste r ic a l te n sio n n eed ed to k eep th e se op p o sites in play d e fin e s H opper’s m a scu lin ity , a lw a y s o n th e ed ge of self-an n ih ilation .

P u ttin g to g eth er th e se q u a lities of o b s e s s iv e n e ss, m a d n e ss and 2.

H o p p e r a n d M a sc u lin ity . D en n is a lo n e n e ss u nder th e rubric of a H opper h a s n ev er b een , sh a ll w e say, sp ecta cu lar m a scu lin e s ic k n e ss, w e a rom an tic hero. Indeed, in m a n y of reach an oth er fa ted en cou n ter — th a t h is roles, th e q u e stio n o f a w o m a n to of H opper and J a m es Toback, director se t b esid e h im a s so m e so rt of of F in g e rs, E x p o sed , and n ow T h e dram atic p artn er is n ev er e v e n raised .

P ic k U p A r tis t. D avid T h om son once W hen it is, H opper is in flic te d w ith sa id of T oback th a t a s you w a tch h is violen t fr u str a tio n s an d im p o ten ce film s “you fe e l y o u rself ca u g h t up in (B lu e V elvet), or is th e b en eficia ry of th e im a gin ation of a very in te llig e n t irrecon cilab le rela tio n sh ip d ifferen ces p sy c h o tic” . T h at w ou ld do p retty w ell (O u t O f T h e B lue). H opper p r e se n ts a s a d escrip tion of D en n is H opper th e sp ecta c le o f a dark, s ic k a lso — a very in te llig e n t p sych otic. m a sc u lin ity draw n in to its e lf — and 3.

H o p p e r a n d M o d ern ism . E v en th e it ’s str a n g e th a t n o t u n til B lu e V e lv e t m o d e m sta r s w ho tend, in th eir h a s rep r e sse d h o m o se x u a lity b ecom e an elem e n t o f h is sc r e e n p sy c h o sis. p erform an ces and roles, tow ard s F or th e m o st part, h ow ever, H opper m elodram a and h y steria — P acino, D e N iro, P en n — ta k e th e rou te of th e illu str a te s th e fa ilu r e s of sa fe ly cla ssica l. In th e film s of De h e te r o se x u a l m a sc u lin ity . H e is m ore P alm a, F o ley or L eone, th ere is fin a lly and m ore ‘th e fa th e r ’ — b u t a m ore control th a n au d acity at th e displaced , d ise a se d fath er, w ith o u t w ife, fa m ily or glory. d eep est lev el of sty listic r is k s tak en .

H opper, how ever, h a s w andered O b se ssiv e n e ss is o n e o f th e k e y s to fu rth er over th e lin e sep a ra tin g th is failu re. T h e H opper m y th is one cin em a tic c la ssic ism from of a M an O b sessed ; o b se s s iv e m od ern ism , and h is a c tin g m eth od w o m a n isin g in h is teen -id ol d a y s (“I could be ta k en a s on e of th e ico n s of don’t th in k th ere w a s a sta r le t around con tem p orary avan t gard ism . (In th is, th a t could h a v e b een h ad in th o se H opper’s ‘so n ’ — b oth em b lem atically d ays th a t I d id n ’t h a v e ”), o b se s s iv e in R u m b le F ish and in term s of h is d rin k in g an d d ru g -ta k in g th ro u g h o u t w ork in C im ino’s Year o f th e D ragon th e se v e n tie s, an d n o w o b se ssiv e and th e forth co m in g B u k ow sk iw ork sc h e d u le s. N o n e o f th e s e Schroeder collaboration B a r fly — o b se ssio n s le a v e s a n y room for a real w ould be M ick ey R ourke.) relation w ith a n ‘o th e r ’, be it w om an, D en n is H opper is th e arch etyp al m an or child. T h e n eu ro tic u n d erton e ‘body too m u c h ’, th e bearer of a to ev en h is m o st r ecen t ‘born a g a in ’ p erform ance w h ich is in e x c e s s of any period h a s to do w ith th e n o te of g iv e n sc en e or film . H opper’s fren zied , so lita ry u n fu lfilm e n t w h ich g e s tu r e s (and w h at is done w ith them ) r in g s lou d an d clear; “I d on ’t h ave are h yp n otic and rivetin g, a sp ecta cle a n y th in g se r io u s in m y life at th e u n to th em selv es. It is th e se q u a lities m om en t e x c e p t w ork . B u t probably if of e x c e s s and sp ecta cle w h ich film s I a n a ly sed it, th a t’s all I’v e ever rea lly lik e T h e A m erica n F rie n d and R eb o rn had . . . I ’m h a v in g a g r e a t rom an ce ex p lo it so w ell. A m odel d em en ted w ith m y so b r ie ty .” p a ssa g e from R eb o rn str u c tu r e s an M ad n ess is th e o th er k ey . H opper p itc h e s m a n y o f h is p erfo rm a n ces a t en tire scen e around H opper’s foregrounded m anic, w a v in g hand; th e le v e l o f com p lete d era n g em en t, o ften out-of-focus b u t still d o m in atin g and th e u n certa in ty th is and b lo ttin g ou t th e fa c e s of all th e ‘p sych od ra m a ’ c r e a te s (is h e a ctin g ? oth er p layers. A lso, th a t p reviou sly is th is real?) is a t th e v ery c en tre of m en tio n ed u n certa in ty over w h eth er h is art. In te r m s o f h is m a sc u lin e H opper is so m etim es a c tin g or n o t — im age, H op p er’s s ty le c r e a te s a n o th er w h eth er or not h e is q u ite ‘in am b ivalen ce, a n o th er sa v a g e p lay-off ch ara cter’ at an y g iv en m om en t — of tw o con trad ictory ‘e d g e s ’. H e is , on c h im e s in very n icely w ith m an y th e on e h an d , a lw a y s a t a certa in e x p erim en ts in m o d e m perform ance. m a scu lin e p erform ative peak; on H opper’s fin e ly tu n ed ‘e x c e s s ’ sta g e , a rich c a p ita list, a g a n g leader. sp rea d s lik e a co n tagion th ro u g h th e H e is th e im a g e o f bloated, te e te r in g film s th a t u n d erstan d h is sty listic power, a to ta l m egalom an iac; w h e n h e sig n ifica n ce. A m ovie lik e B lu e V e lvet y e lls “I a m all!” in R eb o rn , i t ’s n o t is m o d ern ist b eca u se e v ery th in g in it clear w h e th e r h e ’s r e fe r rin g to th e corresp on d s to a m od el of d istracted good Lord, or h im se lf. On the, oth er o b sessio n ; every d etail is m ad e to h and, b e in g iso la te d a t th e top, w ith loom la rger th a n it n atu rally m ig h t, so m u ch e n e r g y an d p ow er to sp are, ev ery su rfa ce tex tu re is ex a g g era ted , h e te n d s ir r e sistib ly to w a rd s in fa n tile ev ery in tim a ted ‘d ep th ’ is rendered r eg ressio n , a q u a lity w h ic h is c a u g h t b oth dark and com ical. R eb o rn is le s s m o st en d ea rin g ly in h is B la n k W id o w calcu la ted in th is w a y b u t ev en m ore cam eo, w h ere h e h o v e r s over a n m in d -b oggling; th e film is o b se sse d in co m p reh en sib le sp a ce-a g e to y and

w ith b oth v isu a l and aural ‘in terferen ce’, and every fra m e of it is stam p ed w ith s tr a n g e n e ss and u n certain ty. It ta k e s D en n is H opper to u n ite th e lu sh art-school m od ern ism of L ynch w ith th e m ore sin cere and sp o n ta n eo u s B -m ovie d em en tia of R eborn . One a w a its w ith som e in te r e st both H opper’s n e x t directed film , C olors w ith S ea n P en n and Robert D uvall, and h is projected w ork in rock video (“P h il Spector . . . w a n ts m e to h ead up h is video d ep artm en t”).

H a s D en n is H opper really ‘com e b a ck ’ to cleaner, stra ig h ter H ollyw ood film s? If so, h e w ill alw a y s carry in to th e s e film s, h ow ever feel-good and an tisep tic th ey m ay be, th e w h iff of so m eth in g darker and u n resolved .

H o o sie rs is th e te s t of th is. I t’s a com p letely norm al, con serv a tiv e film .

H opper is accom m odated in to th e film a s th e tow n drunk and sin g le fa th er w ho p e r siste n tly le ts h is so n dow n.

T h ere’s n o th in g trou b lin g about h is place in th e film ’s m oral trajectory, n o th in g particularly ironic or d istu rb in g. H e ev en m a k e s it up w ith h is offsp rin g, for a ch an ge.

B u t s t i l l . . . in a film w h ich is about ordinary people so e ffo r tle s s ly g e ttin g th eir act to g eth er and in te g r a tin g th e m se lv e s in to a com m unity, H opper’s perform ance b esp ea k s (as it alw ays does) a rath er h ea v y stra in .

H e rem ain s ju s t a little stra n g er — and a lot fu n n ier — th a n anybody or a n y th in g e lse su rrou n d in g h im in H o o siers. H e ’s fu n n ier b eca u se h e r e g iste r s a s a sort of ‘d isse n tin g v o ice’ a m id st all th e com m unitym inded gung-ho. H e ’s th e on e p erson w ho ca n ’t q u ite m a k e it, eith er in to th e p roceed in gs or in to th e film .

T h ere’s a w on d erfu l m om en t on th e b a sk etb all court w h en all e y e s tu rn to H opper — sober and w ell-d ressed , ready for th e gam e. B u t yo u can se e h e ’s in su ch pain , tr y in g to rem ain stra ig h t. A nd h e slid e s back, too — en d in g up in a h o sp ita l bed b esid e a radio for th e b ig gam e. R aving, a s alw ays. H is h y steria h a s to be s e t at som e d istan ce from th e scen e of ‘n o rm ality’. If on ly H o o sie rs k n ew th a t H opper’s situ a tio n — m ad, stra it ja ck eted , alone — se e m s m ore real to som e of u s th a n w h a tev er is g o in g on at th e court. B u t D en n is probably k n o w s — and th a t’s all th a t really m atters.

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 33

I’ve got nothing against nostalgia for television show s of the fifties and sixties — obviously.

However, uncritical nostalgia, or love of the past, is only part of the reason for the appeal of som e of TV’s classics.

For the nostalgic fan the programs are som etim es secondary. The period — its fashions and perceived ideals — is the attraction. Too often, fine scripting, acting and direction play second fiddle to beehive hair-dos and large cars with fins. This hankering after the fifties and sixties by Baby Boomers show s a desire to return, if not to the womb, then at least to the playpen, where life seem ed le ss frenzied, less complex.

The show s bring back memories of penny lollies, homework done in front of Superman, and staying up “late” to w atch 7 7 Su n set S trip or sinful N u m b er 96.

The fantasy that paints these decades as full of “good clean fu n ” ignores other elem ents such as the bigotry and the repression of

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS: 34 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

the time. But lum ping all the television product from the fifties and sixties together as exam ples of the “good old days” prevents the better show s from being seen in a clear light.

As w ell as the nostalgia fiends, there are those obsessive fans who single out their show or their actor and offer devotion to it. Star Trek's Trekkies are well known. L ess publicised but ju st as keen are the followers of L o st In Space, The Untouchables, The M unsters, and The Rifleman.

R equests from view ers of The Golden Years Of Television dem onstrate that no show is totally unloved.

There are som e fans who know, love and beg to see such video dogs as M y M other The Car, The H athaw ays, and Flipper. show s that are derivative, gim m icky, badly scripted, and acted by people who should have been elsewhere.

O bsessive fans often know all there is to know about a show except its true worth.

They have already marked their score card ‘10 out of 10’.

Once a demand is identified the television industry has always been w illin g to fill it. Hence, the fans and nostalgia devotees have enjoyed revival series and specials (often a face­ saving name for unsuccessful pilots).

The reunions were the m ost popular. There has been The R eturn Of The M od Squad (1979), F ath er K n ow s B e st R evisited (1977), B ack To G illigan’s Island (1978, 1979), The Wild Wild W est R evisited (1979), R eturn To Peyton Place (1974), Halloween With The A ddam s F am ily (1978) and the R eturn Of Dobie Gilhs, with another Dobie outing planned next year.

The format for the many happy return shows is to bring back as m any of the original cast as are alive and willing, to see how the years have affected their characters.

In Beaver’s return, Dad w as dead and there w as a broken marriage to contend with. Dobie Gillis returned w ith a trouble-making son of his own while Maynard had become a jazz entrepreneur.

Som etim es the cast members go through their paces as though the show had never been cancelled; more sex in Peyton Place, one last case for the Mod Squad to tackle, and the Gilligan lot (minus Ginger who didn’t want a bar of it) all setting out on another damn three-hour cruise.

Less for the fans are the “new ” versions of old winners. The Saint and The A ven gers returned. Maverick

Th e M a n F ro m U N C L E , H o m ic id e , Th e M a v is B ra m s to n S h o w , D r a g n e t

discovered he had a nephew, Ben, in Young M averick.

And before Raymond Burr lumbered out to protect Della Street last year, Monte Markham had a go at portraying Perry Mason.

This year the big TV event w ill be the planned new A d ven tu res Of S ta r T rek that hopes to boldly go where a whole lot of people have gone before.

None of the “N ew A dventures” of th ese young turks h as come near the su ccess of their forebears, perhaps because the show s w eren’t as w ell made, or the social conditions had changed since the originals had clicked w ith the TV audience. Probably they failed because they didn’t gain a new set of viewers and they didn’t please the fans of the originals, or the nostalgic buffs, who no doubt m issed the hair-dos.

But cutting through the nostalgia here are som e of the show s of the fifties and sixties that deserve a salute: Dragnet: The m other and father of all cop show s w ith a distinctive visual and verbal style.

The Honeymooners: One set, few props, lots of laughs from superb ensem ble playing.

Sgt Bilko: M aster sergeant and m aster character.

You Bet Your Life: Groucho as the quiz m aster who

R...

undne d f dollar o n th o n o sta lg i S M vid e o s in id Lyl

wry-taxing n o sta lg ia trivia q u iz.

Peter Gunn: The zenith of private eye sh ow s w ith good w ritin g and direction, cool m u sic and a hot affair w ith Edie.

Maverick: The only w estern w orth lau gh in g at.

I Spy: The only sp y series worth lau gh in g at.

The Avengers: F antasy, humour and com pelling characters w hose background w as never explained.

The Prisoner: Patrick McGoohan’s version of never explaining. More a cross betw een Lew is Carroll and K afka than Dangerm an II. Till Death Us Do Part: The world’s m ost im portant sitcom changed w hat w as considered suitable subject m atter for comedy.

Homicide: It show ed A ustralians preferred rough local show s to slick imported ones.

Mavis Bramston: Commercial television ’s only su ccessfu l satire. It shocked station executives more than audiences w hen it becam e a hit.

Number 96: A titillating night-tim e soapie so overthe-top it sen t itself up — a harder balancing act of camp than B atm an.

These show s of the fifties and sixties fought the good fight. They deserve an accolade greater than nostalgia.

F T

[ E S

B

AN

1. How m any Maverick offspring can you name?

X T I E S

19. Lieutenant Johnny R usso was promoted to Captain Adam Greer w hen he changed shows. What were the two shows?

2. Which great AngloAustralian actor made h is m ark on local TV satire by slapping him self in the face w ith m eat pies?

20. He called h is daughters Princess and K itten and h is son, Bud. Who w as he and what did he do for a living?

3. Who w as K ing of the Cowboys and w ho w as Queen of the W est?

21. Why w as Tim O’Hara embarrassed by his uncle?

4. Who is Barbie Doll’s boyfriend?

22. What were the radio call sign s of the two cars in Z Cars?

5. Peter Gunn, though a jazz lover, didn’t play. Another private eye, Johnny Staccato, did. What instrum ent did he play?

23. Cybermen, Daleks and the Black Guardian troubled whom?

6. What colour is Mr Spock’s blood and why?

24. What w as Robin Hood’s full title?

7. What would fall from the Sky if you said the secret word in You B e t Your L ife w ith Groucho Marx?

8. In P eanuts, how m uch does Lucy’s psychiatric help cost?

9. What w as the address of George B u m s and Gracie Allen in their TV show?

10. What is the number plate of Lady Penelope’s Rolls?

11. Who said, “One of these days, Alice. Pow! R ight in the kisser!”

12. Sleep wonderfully warm w ith . . . whom?

13. Why w ere the nam es changed in D ragn et?

Number 96

14. If you looked in Tara K ing’s handbag what w eighty weapon would you find?

15. What physical habit links B ew itch ed s Sam antha to Dobie GiUis' Zelda?

16. What la sts the whole drink through? (Hint: it’s an ad) 17. In the television series, where did Clark Kent go to change h is clothes . . . m ost of the time?

18. “In point of actual fact” w as a popular phrase for w hich character in N u m ber 96.

25. Who som etim es have their little spats, even fight like dogs and cats?

26. M iss France of 1954 played receptionist to-which TV private eyes?

27. Which sm all K ansas town w as situated near Bilko’s Fort Baxter?

28. Who w as TV’s gh ostess with the m ostess and who w as her dog?

29. “Tang and flavour and sparkle too . . . ” w hat is the drink for you?

30. How did Dean Martin get down to the piano area of h is set towards the end of each of h is shows?

Send your entry to Cinema Papers, 43 Charles Street, Abbotsford 3067. Closing date is 15 August. The first correct entry w ill win $250 worth of Classic Collection videos, compliments of CEL. The titles w ill include Gone With The Wind, Little Women, Singin’ In The Rain and San Francisco. These movies are available from major department and variety stores around Australia at $19.95. Gone With The Wind retails at $39.95. Five runners-up w ill receive copies of The African Queen and South Pacific, courtesy of CBS Fox. These movies are available at all video outlets. Please state Beta or VH S on your entry. Answ ers and results w ill be published in the September issue of Cinema Papers.

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY - 35

CHABTBVSTEI W h at are the b o ffo B .O . p erform ers in A u stra lia and N o rth A m erica? ROSS L A N S E L L h as put together seven lists o f 1986 an d all-tim e ren tal champs.

THE TOP TEN FILMS IN AUSTRALIA 1986 DIRECTOR Crocodile Dundee* Out Of Africa

Sydney Pollack

The Jewel Of The Nile Top Gun

Lewis Teague Tony Scott

The Karate Kid, Part 2 The Color Purple Aliens

John G. Avildsen Steven Spielberg

Police Academy 3: Back In Training A Room With A View 10. Ruthless People

GROSS FILM RENTAL IN $A

Peter Faiman

16,328,000 4.227.000

2.886.000 2.498.000 1.740.000 1.228.000 1,128,000

James Cameron Jerry Paris

1,006,000

James Ivory

864.000

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

817.000

"Australian production

Crocodile Dundee is obviously the phenomenon not only of 1986 but probably also of our time ($350m box office world-wide so far on an $8m production budget). The Jewel Of The Nile (no. 26 in the US), Police Academy 3 (no. 19), and A Room With A View (no. 50) all did better here than in the US. The other seven entries also figure on the US top ten list for 1986. The other made-in-Australia success for 1986, Malcolm, comes in at no. 12, sandwiched between Spies Like Us and Hannah And Her Sisters.

Data derived from Variety (New York), vol. 327, no. 1, 29 April 1987, pp42 and 104.

t it l e

DIRECTOR 1-

2- The Karate Kid, Part 2 3- Crocodile Dundee* 5.' ! Z

T s r e k ' V :T h e V O y a 9 ° H ° ™

Tony Scott John G. Avildsen Peter Faiman Leonard Nimoy James Cameron Steven Spielberg

The Color Purple (continuing 1986 run) 7- Back To School 8- The Golden Child

Allan Metter

9- Ruthless People

Michael Ritchie

10. Out Of Africa

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry j Zucker '-wv/f\CI

..... Continuing 1986 run)

Sydney Pollack

82,000,000 56,936,752 51.000.

000 45.000.

42.500.000 41.900.000 41,748,000 33,000,000 31,000,000 30,051,817

>1. fe rri. Bue.,ers Day 0 «

1

— GROSS FILM RENTAL IN s u s

Top Gun

John Hughes Paul Mazursky

28,600,000 28,100,000

000

*N AUSTRALIA (t? d TEN F,LMs —

TITLE

adjusted ,o, in,!C6m b e r « 8 6 ) GROSS FILM Re n t a l i n $ a

date

C ro c o d ile Dundee* | - T- The Extra Terrestrial

1986 1983

Peter Faiman

■ The Man From Snowy River* Star Wars

1982

George Miller

7.815,000

Ghostbusters Grease

George Lucas Ivan Reitman

6.409.000 5.763.000 5.340.000 4.853.000 4.773.000 4.544.000 4.510.000

Randa/ Kle/ser

8. J ^ « rSO,TheLOS' Ark

Steven Spielberg

?' Tfle Sound Of Music

Steven Spielberg Robert Wise

,0’ eack T° The Future Australian produrtinn

J°n' back to!f^

16.328.000 11.307.000

Steven Spielberg

Robert Zemeckis

!

nffa-P42. To

,s impracticable.

THE ALL TIME TOP TEN FILMS IN USA/CANADA (To December 1986) • Not adjusted for inflation TITLE

Crocodile Dundee The Man From Snowv River 1

1986 1982

3. Alvin Purple 4. Gallipoli 5. Mad Max 2 6. Picnic At Hanging Rock 7. Phar Lap | 8. They’re a Weird Mob 9. Mad Max 10. Number 96 11. Breaker Morant 12. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 13. Storm Boy 14. Caddie 15. Puberty Blues 16. Alvin Rides Again

1983

Peter Faiman George Miller

16,328,000 10,277,903

1982

Steven Spielberg

228,379,346

Star Wars

1977 1983 1980

George Lucas Richard Marquand Irvin Kershner

193,500,000 168,002,414 141,600,000

1975 1984 1981

Steven Spielberg Ivan Reitman Steven Spielberg

129,961,081 128,264,005 115,598,000

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom

1984

Steven Spielberg

109,000,000

Beverly Hills Cop

1984 1985

Martin Brest Robert Zemeckis

108,000,000 101,955,795

The Empire Strikes Back Jaws

Tim Burstall Peter Weir George Miller Peter Weir Simon Wincer Michael Powell George Miller Peter Bernardos

5.908.949.6 5,847,536 5,447,462.3 4,639,199 4.584.565.6 4,301,151.2 3.111.139.6 3,018,477.1

Bruce Beresford George Miller

2,617,857.5 2,397,210

Henri Safran Donald Crombie Bruce Beresford David Bilcock Jnr., Robin Copping Gillian Armstrong Sandy Harbutt Igor Auzins Tim Burstall Phillip Noyce Peter Weir

2.115.389.8 2.105.128.9 1.988.499.9 1,979,935.1

Ghostbusters Raiders Of The Lost Ark

10. Back To The Future

ror explanation, see variety, mrra. In recent times on this particular chart, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Beverly Hills Cop and Back To The Future have displaced Grease (1978), Tootsie (1982), The Exorcist (1973) and The Godfather (1972) in that order.

Source: Variety (New York), vol. 325, no. 12, 14 Jan. 1987, p30

in Hu s a /c a n a d a T?o Pdt e n

^Adjusted for ,nfia, ^

1.902.006.1 1.660.163.5 1,434,924.8 1.340.161.5 1.064.729.1 1.006.293.5

t it l e

f il m s (lnterms of the USDecember 1986

WM‘T r , . u u lH tL , URrirP

911,983.86

a*the vwy bolt°m 01 ,his *■ Numb" ™

' ' g r o s s f il m

Gone With T h e W in d Star Wars

Victor Fleming

if-T. The Extra

George Lucas

r e n t a l in

T e rre s tria l

Carl Schultz

GROSS FILM RENTAL IN SUS

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Return Of The Jedi

John Duigan 897,940.41 Frank Shields 842,929.38 Gillian Armstrong 718,629.94 Nadia Tass 628,000 ^throw back to the days of Capra and Sturges, aided immeasurably' namely Crocodile Dundee, is the ne p/us ujtm, though, in adjusted terms, The Man From Snowy River dives t l reasonable run for its money. Otherwise, the top ^ t h i f c S has remained much the same for the past several years, though Phar Lao trSan0* y successfully for a slightly better position. The other Aus ^alian success story of 1986, that latter-day Ealing comedy Malcolm

p i S n T S K 681

US RELEASE DIRECTOR DATE

376,978,030 313,418,750 256,285,882

Steven Spielberg

4. The Sound Of Music

sus

Robeii Wise The Godfather The Exorcist

8.

Steven Spielberg

Francis Ford Coppola William Friedkin Irvin Kershner

BacicEmpire Strikes

253,180,290 243,798,630 203,581,420 197,391,910 185,015,690

9- Return Of The Jedi 10. T h e S tin g

Richard Marquand

184,602,450 175,822,650

^eorçeRoyHi,,

SPssSSSoassSS»si (P- W- S X o M o n ° Ì 9 M Rï hard S e i "

way up the charted

'■ W84]- p280)- E T has

Nation

Incalculable"

Data: Variety (New York), 1979-1987.

D x t x ^ Z T Z T — -------- -----------^ J ^ ^ e n t r i e s since then «a base, see Joel W. Finler anri'n

i-

*■

an ^ ^ t i v e

rather

R-E*V*I-E'W*S • A n g e l H e a rt • B la c k W id o w • T h e D e c lin e O f T h e A m e ric a n E m p ire • 8 4 C h a rin g C ro ss R oa d • 52 P ic k -U p • G o th ic • Les P atte rson S a ve s T h e W orld • Lethal W e a p o n • P erso nal S e rvice s • Tw elfth N ig h t • U fo ria • W h e n T h e W in d B lo w s

• MY LIFE AS A DOG Too scared to look forward, pessimistic about the future, egged on by baby boomers continually rediscovering the importance of their youth, we are drowning in nostalgia. Everyone is look­ ing back, even those whose youth was as recent as seven or eight years ago. So films keep going back to the chilly future.

Nostalgia reached its most cloying and distasteful form in the film Stand By Me, Rob R einer’s over-extended direc­ tion of a long idea based on a Stephen King short story. This is nostalgia at its most retrograde, focused on one moment — and so particular as to lose any universality. Nostalgia as self-pity; nostalgia as hatred of the present; nostalgia as practised by R onald

Reagan. It made me sad to be forced to look back through another’s eyes, rather than happy to share a past experience.

Fortunately, not all nostalgia is per­ meated by the American sense of loss.

Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom has no regrets and no desire to turn back the clock in My Life As A Dog; he just wants to recount the troubled, wonderful time when a 12-year-old leaves behind his childhood and enters the world of adults.

The film is not a sentimental journey back; it is a m emory brought forward so that people in the present can recall their own memories and relive those, together with little Ingem ar Johansson.

Ingemar, who is brilliantly played by Anton Glanzelius, is all pug nose, spiky hair and ready grin, not unlike a playful puppy. Indeed, he identifies closely with his dog Sickan and with Laika, the dog

Nostalgia Specials • • • •

G in g e r E Fred H o o sie rs M y Life A s A D o g R a d io D ays

M IL K IN G T H E L A U G H S : Anton G la n zeliu s in M y Life As A Dog

38 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

sent up in the Sputnik by the Russians in 1959. Like his animal compatriots, he is at the mercy of the adult world: he is thrown around from situation to situa­ tion, forced to depend on the kindness of others.

Ingem ar’s m other is dying of TB, and he and his brother are sent off to rela­ tives; Ingem ar lands in the north, where the summer days are long and golden, and soccer and boxing dominate leisure time. (It’s no coincidence that his name is the same as the great Swedish boxer.)

His uncle G unnar is an overgrown boy himself and soon has the naturally friendly and happy Ingem ar fitting per­ fectly into the local community.

Ingem ar often feels the pain of separa­ tion from his m other and from his beloved dog Sickan. But in-between there is the delight of a girl who can box

and play soccer like a boy, the discovery of sex, a home-made space capsule, the local tightrope walker and the local beauty. Ingem ar ruminates often on his predicament, musing that “ I t’s im ­ portant to compare . . . to m aintain a certain distance.” This means keeping in mind a vision of his mother healthy and glowing with laughter at his jokes, the dog Laika and the m an who jum ped 31 buses and failed.

W ith his mother dead, and Sickan too, Ingem ar’s pain surfaces. Barking like a dog, he retreats into a world of his own. But not for long, as the flow of life and daily events reach out to claim him again. N ature, beautifully photo­ graphed and often dominating the film, is still the restorer, and it’s not long before Ingem ar returns to life. His journey is to go forward, not to regress.

My Life As A Dog gently depicts the little absurdities of life. It has a sure and natural perspective, reminding us that all things pass. We get a sense of our­ selves as the future; Ingem ar looks into space and ponders the new technologies, looking forward to the future, to us.

There is something whimsical and prodding about the hum our of this film, reminding us not to take life too seri­ ously, not to take ourselves too seri­ ously. W ith a little ignorance comes wonder, with wonder comes optimism.

Being constantly retrospective changes our perspective; it creates yearning and dissatisfaction. One of the definitions of nostalgia is “ Home-sickness as a disease’ ’. My Life As A Dog highlights the destructive side of yearning fruitlessly for what has been, and the strength to be gained in celebrating what was, is and will be.

H e len G reenw ood MY LIFE AS A DOG: Directed by Lasse Hallstrom.

Executive producer: Waldemar Bergendahl. Screen­ play: Lasse Hallstrom, Brasse Brannstrom, Pelle Berglund, Reidar Jonsson. Cinematography: Jorgen Persson, Rolf Undstrom. Sound: Eddie Axberg. Editor: Susanne Linnman. Music: Bjorn Isfalt. Cast: Anton Glanzelius (Ingemar Johansson), Anki Liden (Mother), Tomas von Bromssen (Uncle), Manfred Serner (Brother), Melinda Kinnaman (Saga), Ing-Marie Carlsson (Berit), Kicki Rundgren (Ulla). Production company: AB Svensk Filmindustri. Distributor: Dendy. 35mm. 99 minutes. Sweden. 1985.

• UFORIA A film that’s set largely in an American supermarket can’t be all bad. Especially when its cast of consumers is the regular whacky population of Small Town USA, that current cinematic flavour of the month.

Arlene is the gum-chewing check-out chick — as sweet and nutty as pecan pie.

She believes Jesus came to earth on a

TRUST ME: Harry Dean Stanton as Brother Bud in U fo ria

UFO and that he’s sending it back for her; she’s a spiritual hitch-hiker on the road to salvation.

When the soft-hearted, hard-drinking Sheldon drifts into town, their hearts and souls collide as Arlene rings up his six-pack of Budweiser on the cash register. It’s a case of two lonely people starting over in the Coles New World of Love.

But just as naive cravings for some­ thing bigger in life led David Lynch’s Blue Velvet into the underbelly of Am eri­ can perversion, so too does innocent eccentricity give way to down-and-out insanity in Uforia. The difference is that, in the latter, no one gets bludgeoned or raped amidst stylish cinematography and there are a lot more laughs.

Arlene and Sheldon team up with Brother Bud (H arry Dean Stanton), a shonky preacher, to spread the word of Arlene’s psychic message: that God is coming in his extra-terrestrial vehicle to a piece of local real estate and everybody better start queueing for a ride.

In a series of hick gospel variety shows, Brother Bud’s choir members don silver gowns and antennae and Sheldon performs as his fantasy persona Waylon Jennings, complete with cow­ boy shirt and twanging sincerity.

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 39

They perform to an audience of local oddballs: a sugar-free, ever-smiling hippy couple and their new-born baby Krishna-Jesus; a real old-timer who has found that his dreams are really just memories; and a couple of hip, black cynics. They make up an unpredictably edged small-town cocktail — Hicksville with a twist.

But it’s worth bearing in m ind that this film was made in 1981. H arry Dean is p re-Paris Texas, the strange things in paradise are pre-Repo Man, and tongue in cheek snapshots of M ain Streets and middle-American foibles are pre-True Stones. It comes a long time after that classic of small town prejudice To Kill A Mockingbird, but a long time before Litde America became the obvious topic of film studies theses.

W ith its soundtrack by Emmylou Harris, Brenda Lee, Waylon and others, and its gentle portraits of dream ­ ers and drifters, Uforia incorporates the well-plundered m aterial of the genre.

However, the film does establish its own identity, in part through the sophisticated capturing of a salt-of-theearth, am ateurish quality in its charac­ ters. The spirit they achieve is of the off­ beat B-grade variety, especially in Fred W ard ’s Sheldon and his brilliantly played, God-fearing, soft-spoken sidekick Emile (Robert Gray).

H arry Dean is once again meticulous in his Sam Shepardesque, dislocated loner role. And Cindy Williams (of Laverne And Shirley), is charmingly ingenuous as she gives Sheldon, the alltime atheist, both her love and her intergalactic faith to believe in.

The messy goodwill of this film is both its flaw and its salvation; and not incon­ sistent with the epic docum entary Woodstock, which Uforia director and writer John Binder produced. The pace is lousy and the plot bumpy. The opening sequence of Sheldon driving his convert­ ible down the desert highway, one foot on the floor, one on the dashboard, is full of wide-open-space-type euphoria.

But the rest of the film is photographed with tensionless claustrophobia.

The clumsiness becomes its endearing quality. Small town America is a lumpy sort of landscape and its inhabitants don’t always add up to easily grasped characters. Anything can happen out there: supermarket specials, Jesus m eet­ ings, UFOs. This is a loosely knotted tie around an innocuously weird red neck.

It may not be the small town to end all small towns, but it’s a welcome detour from the more recent ones, where the hillbilly is m anipulated with urbane slickness.

Joanna M urray-Sm ith UFORIA: Directed and written by John Binder. Pro­ ducer: Gordon Wolf. Co-producer: Susan Spinks.

Executive producers: Melvin Simon, Barry Krost. Direc­ tor of photography: David Myers. Production designer: William Malley. Music: Richard Baskin. Editor: Dennis M. Hill. Cast: Cindy Williams (Arlene), Harry Dean Stanton (Brother Bud), Fred Ward (Sheldon), Beverly Hope Atkinson (Naomi), Harry Carey Jnr (George Martin), Diane Diefendorf (Delores), Robert Gray (Emile), Ted Harris (Gregory), Darrell Larson (Toby).

Production company: Universal. Distributor: UIP. 35mm. 92 minutes. USA. 1981.

4 0 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

There are no prizes for guessing who the lethal weapon is in Richard Donner’s latest film. Mel Gibson appears at that point where a number of directorial styles collide with the refinement of another stage in the metamorphosis of the action adventure crime drama. L eth al Weapon is, if nothing else, a shining example of how to combine force, speed and fury with a psychotic brand of machismo, which the audience is invited to be thankful is on their side.

L ethal Weapon is a formula film in every sense of the term. This need not be a pejorative comment, but in this case it tends to be. The formula goes something like this: young renegade cop with suicidal tendencies (Mel Gibson) is teamed up with middle-aged responsible cop (Danny Glover) who in all his years with the force has managed to keep his nose clean. He plays by the Book, while Gibson has a disdain for the letter of the law, preferring to act intuitively on his sense of Right. Both are Viet Vets, their only point in common at this stage (though later this history becomes crucial). After a number of introductory incidents which further confirm the division between them, the two seem permanently irreconcilable. First Mel Gibson dives off a five-storey building handcuffed to a more than reluctant jumper. Then he kills a man in a shootout with the next bunch of criminals he encounters, all of which drives Glover to despairing hand gestures and exclamations like “ I’m too old for this kinda shit!” To seal this first movement of the film, Glover finds that he’s not the only one who thinks that his partner is a psycho, as the Police Department’s psychologist warns him to stay clear of this Kamikaze human time-bomb. .

The second movement ascribes some kind of truth to Gibson’s self-destructive and homicidal tendencies. He may contemplate suicide every night, but every morning the force provides him with a new reason for staying alive. Mel meets Glover’s family — Darlene Love as the wife and Traci Wolfe as the blossoming

daughter — at about the same time that the new partners are introduced to a series of suspicious, though at this stage unrelated, criminal events. A “ suicide” , an exploding house, an attempted and a successful murder lead Glover and Gibson to discover the tip of an extremely powerful, secretive, well-organised and well-connected criminal organisation, This inaugurates the third movement whereby the military precision of this group’s activities is directly related to Vietnam. A team of mercenary soldiers employed by coke and heroin barons, the criminals represent the return of all that is abominable about war, the army, and more specifically, Vietnam. They use all the explosives, tactics, choppers, machinery, force, organisation, skill, weaponry, and ruthlessness that the military can provide. The difference between them and the cops is not so much in their techniques and technologies as much as it is in the way that these are used. Hence, the fourth and final movement has not only to demonstrate the differences between crime and justice, but must also pit the two forces against each other in the theatre of war. Here is where the most difficulties arise for the film in terms of its own ethics, though conceptually it is the point where Right and Wrong can be pitted against each other in the most Manichean of fashions, Indeed, once war is declared, there is not much to distinguish between the good and the bad guys (all guys except for the female hostage, Traci Wolfe). As far as the rules of battle go, anything is permissible.

It is largely because evil can be personified, in the loathsome character played by Gary Busey, that the audience can make the distinction between good and evil. Admittedly, the personification is linked directly to actions which threaten the rights of citizens, and most importantly, of innocence — here in the figure of Glover’s hostaged daughter. But when it comes down to it, these actions only ever remain intrinsically evil until the point when a fight-fire-with-fire logic is admitted. The film concludes with a

LETHAL WEËPING: Mel Gibson visits his wife’s grave

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This b o o k is a selection o f essays exploring them es as diverse as Social Realism , Fantasy, H orror and Suspense, and H istorical Film s, to nam e but a few. This volum e will m ake an excellent addition to any film library.

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BACK ISSUES: A GUIDE TO WHAT’S AVAILABLE (AUSTRALIAN) WOMEN AND FILM — INTERVIEWS

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ANSARA, Martha Changing the Needle: Martha Ansara and Mavis Robertson

By Barbara Alysen CP Mar 1983 No. 42

JESSOP, Clytie See HARTMAN, Rivka

TIM BURNS

KEARNEY, Briann See HOFFMAN, Sonia

EMILE DE ANTONIO

ARMSTRONG, Gillian Gillian Armstrong Interview

By Scott Murray CP Jan 1974 No. 1

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By Victoria Treole CP Mar-April 1984 No. 44-45

BERT DELING

CP April 1977 No. 12

IAN PRINGLE

CP MarchT983No.42

ALBIE THOMS

CP July-Aug 1979 No. 22

CAMPION, Jane Jane Campion Interview

By Mark Stiles

CP0ct-Nov1978No. 18

FILM AND TELEVISION

By Adrian Martin

MORSE, Helen Helen Morse Interview (with Richard Mason)

By George Tosi CP Aug 1982 No. 39 MUELLER, Kathy Kathy Mueller Interview

By Helen Greenwood

CP Feb-Mar1980No.25

THE FILMS OF IAN PRINGLE

By John O’Hara CPFeb-Mar1985No.50

CP Dec 1984 No. 49

OTHER CINEMA

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CPOct-Nov1978 No. 18

OTHER CINEMA

By Sam Rohdie

CP April-June 1978 No. 16

POOR CINEMA

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CP April-June 1978 No. 16

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By Susan Dermody CP Sept-Oct 1976 No. 10

CP Jan 1986 No. 55

NEVIN, Robyn See MORRIS, Judy

CP Dec 1984 No. 49

PUNCH-McGREGOR, Angela Angela Punch-McGregor Interview

By Jim Schembri CP Dec 1984 No. 49

AMERICAN DIRECTORS INTERVIEWED PLUS

ROBB, Jill Jill Robb Interview

By Terry Plane

WOODY ALLEN

CP July 1986 No. 58

ROBERT ALTMAN

CP Sept 1986 No. 59

GIBSON, Sarah The Body in Question: Susan Lambert and Sarah Gibson Interview

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By Mary Colbert CP Jan 1987 No. 61 HUGHES, Wendy Wendy Hughes Interview

By Richard Brennan CP Oct 1982 No. 40

CP Jan 1977 No. 11

SUBJECTS

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By Debi Enker CP Mar 1986 No. 56

ARRIGHI, Luciana Luciana Arrighi Interview

By Sue Adler CPJuly-Aug1979No.22

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By Debi Enker

CPAug-Sept1980 No. 28

and see GIBSON, Sarah

Career Woman: Gillian Armstrong

By Debi Enker CP July 1985 No. 52 Gillian Armstrong Returns to Eden

By Anna Grieve CP May 1987 No. 63

BORG, Sonia Sonia Borg Interview

By Paul Davies

INTERVIEWS

v 1 1

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BRIAN DE PALMA

CP Feb 1982 No. 36

and see MORRIS, Judy

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN

CP July 1974 No. 3

ROBERTSON, Mavis See ANSARA, Martha

COLIN HIGGINS

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CP Dec 1982 No. 41

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Selling Out: Jeanine Seawell

By Nick Roddick CP May 1985 No. 51

JOHN HUSTON

CP Oct 1977 No. 14

DAVID LYNCH

CP March 1987 No. 62

ALAN J. PAKULA

CP July 1984 No. 46

j

STEWART, Meg See HARTMAN, Rivka

ROMAN POLANSKI

CP Jan 1977 No. 11 CP Jan 1987 No. 61

j 1

STRICKLAND, Janet Janet Strickland Interview

By Scott Murray CPFeb-Mar1980No.25

SYDNEY POLLACK

CP May-June 1983 No. 43

MICHAEL RITCHIE

CP Oct 1982 No. 40

PAUL SCHRADER

CP Dec 1982 No. 41

TASS, Nadia Cinema In The Round: Nadia Tass

By Kathy Bail CP Nov 1986 No. 60

STEVEN SPIELBERG

WEAVER, Jacki Jacki Weaver Interview

By Tom Ryan

OLIVER STONE

CP Nov 1986 No. 60

JOHN WATERS

CP March 1983 No. 42

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ORSON WELLES

CP April-June 1978 No. 16

CP July 1986 No. 58

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• THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

L E T H A L W E A P O N S : M e l G ib son an d partn er

drawn-out, hand-to-hand combat sequence between Mel Gibson and his monstrous double, Gary Busey. Staged on the front lawn of Glover’s home and in full view of the hordes of police and onlookers, Gibson is allowed to bash the fuck out of Busey in a fight to the finish.

To understand the place of a film like Lethal Weapon in contemporary cinema we need to understand the genesis of this particular action sub-genre. This film is part war movie, part urban crime movie, part television. Everything is crammed and excessive, from the realist approach to characterisation to its fuck-you bravado, though it never quite manages to present the nuances that its borrowed sources often ^provide: eg the war films of Fuller, Siegel’s crime films and Penn’s debt to television. For L ethal Weapon is Vietnam in America, war in the streets, savage assaults and suburban maelstrom.

Gibson’s suicidal psychosis is heavily tied to traumas of war and death, though his treatment comes nowhere near the more penetrating moments that Barrett Hodsdon has recently characterised in his Filmnews article on Platoon and the GI film. Gibson is only the shadow of other war psychopaths who “ are not only supremely skilled and self-reliant, but they are also tragic and innately suicidal.

They thrive in a physical and spiritual danger zone, where the battleground is the frontier of death . . . These character portrayals inhabit films which do not stand up and moralise . . . but rather they

strip heroism bare (whilst seeming to exalt it) through the basic action dynamics of the genre without relinquishing thè mode of essential understatement.” (Film news, May 1987.) It’s as if L ethal Weapon has got all the elements together— war, trauma, suicide, death, heroism, action and danger — and accomplished the exact opposite of what the more interesting war films have managed. That is, L ethal W eapon is all overstatement, heroworship, non-tragedy; it exalts action for its own sake (spectacle), and stands up and moralises. L ethal Weapon isn’t alone on these counts, as many of the Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Hauer and Norris films are often similar in mechanics. And neither is the sub-genre itself inherently doomed to cliched failure. Arthur Penn’s Target is a recent example of how a similar scenario and combination of elements can give rise to completely different results. The problem is that films like L ethal Weapon don’t know where they came from, they only know where they’re going.

Ross Harley LETHAL WEAPON: Directed by Richard Donner. Pro­ ducers: Richard Donner and Joel Silver. Associate pro­ ducer: Jennie Lew. Screenplay: Shane Black. Director of photography: Stephen Goldblatt. Production designer: J. Michael Riva. Music: Michael Kameri, Eric Clapton. Editor: Stuart Baird. Cast: Mel Gibson (Martin Riggs), Danny Glover. (Roger Murtaugh); Gary Busey (Joshua), Mitchell Ryan (The General), Tom Atkins (Michael Hunsaker), Darlene Love (Tristi Murtaugh), Traci Wolfe (Rianne Murtaugh). Production company: Silver Pictures. Distributor: Village Roadshow; 35mm.

110 minutes. USA. 1987.

The Decline Of The American Empire is one of the first Quebec films to be accepted with equal enthusiasm by both English and French Canada. This particular point must be kept in mind because the centre of what might be called indi­ genous filmmaking in C anada is Quebec (population: six million), though the rest of Canada has rarely acknowledged this fact. Since the early sixties literally hundreds of features have been made in the province. M ost were inwardlooking, culturally specific films, and thus not accessible to outside audiences.

This was due in part to one of the over­ riding themes of the cinema in Quebec during the last 25 years — whether or not the province should remain in the Canadian federal system or .move towards becoming an independent country. The tensions provoked by this debate suffused most forms of cultural expression and one of the people most actively involved in this process was Denys Arcand.

From the mid-sixties through to the early eighties Arcand worked for the most part at The National Film Board of Canada in M ontreal. One of his films, On Est Au Coton ( We Are Fed Up) was not released by the NFB because of its rather strong left-wing analysis of corporate capitalism in Quebec. From 1969-74 Arcand was a cause celebre and On Est Au Coton went on to have a far greater impact than it perhaps deserved. Most of Arcand’s feature films combine his background in the documentary cinema (the dominant genre in Quebec) with realistically based stories about the burning issues of the day. His films have covered everything from corruption in government to the 1980 referendum on Quebec’s future in Canada, which the separatists lost.

The Decline takes place at a country house in Quebec, and has virtually no plot. Eight people, mostly academics, spend a great deal of time talking about their marriages, their affairs, their sexual conquests. As Arcand has said: “ This is a picture whose dialogue is xrated, but not its images. To me it’s not terribly exciting to shoot yet another film showing men and women in bed together. But taking well-dressed, cultured people and having them talk in the m anner they do — now th at’s some­ thing. The eye may have seen it all, but the ear is really a virgin. This is a film that is an aural experience.”

Orality, discourse. The Decline is as much about what the characters say as it is an exploration of their sexual obses­ sions. We rarely see them engaging in the sensuality upon which they seem to be so dependent. Instead, we are given a map of their fantasies, all of which are centred on the excitement of deception, lies, narcissism. T he film, however, doesn’t collapse into that narcissism itself. The decline it is talking about is the decline and loss of innocence at all ^ CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 41

BODY LANGUAGE: Dorothee Berryman and Remy Girard in The Decline Of The American Empire

levels of social behaviour and social interaction in North American society.

It is not a simple m atter here of the ‘megeneration’ losing its way and squan­ dering its values in the process. This is a film which tries to reveal the underlying characteristics of a cynicism which says, “ everything goes” as long as no-one has to take responsibility for the con­ sequences. If the film is taken too liter­ ally however, its efforts to dig into the reasons for decline can be m isinter­ preted as a duplication of the corruption which it is trying to foreground and critique.

In a particularly crucial scene, four women talk about their spouses and boyfriends and affairs in what initially appears to be a rather liberated way.

Their conversation boils down to the equivalent of male locker room talk, except the content is different: com­ parisons of penis size, male sensuality, male figures. As m uch as their conversa­ tion appears to be different, it is also regressive and superficial m ainly because of the model which they are 42 — JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

reproducing. But this is duplicated as well by their spouses who, while pre­ paring a collective dinner, engage in the most childish of descriptions of their affairs and of women in general.

So there is an interesting convergence here. O n the surface everyone appears to be rather intellectual, articulate, intel­ ligent. U nderneath they are repressed, and almost completely infantile in their views of each other. This is brought out by one female character who quite naively believes that her husband has never had an affair with anyone and that he loves her. She is shattered to discover that he sleeps with his students and has absolutely no respect for her. All of these slippages are signs of a disease which simultaneously allows people to exist at a num ber of different levels without any clear morality to connect those levels to each other. There is a potentially reli­ gious implication to this, a kind of Catholicism (with a small c) about the sullied soul continuously in search of redemption. Since the film was m ade in a social context heavily dom inated by

Catholicism, Arcand is clearly critiqu­ ing the hypocrisy of a society which can m aintain all of these levels at once and yet at the same time appear to be modern and look as if it has out-grown its past.

The charade which the characters play out in relation to each other is centred on their fantasies about power and control. This is best exemplified in a scene in which an older male academic goes to a massage parlour and meets a young, attractive part-tim e student who works there. She proceeds to m asturbate him quite mechanically as if he is just one more cog on an assembly line of m en looking for the quick sexual fix. She talks in a rather bland and nondescript way about her life while he grimaces as orgasm approaches. At the crucial point he has to ask her to complete the job properly, which she does. T he lack of emotion, the distance, the vacuousness of his links to her, all of this reduces the power of sexuality to a game w ithout m eaning. W hat stands out is the m etaphor of loss, the orgasm not leading

to closeness, affection or even some measured verbal exchange, but rather to the economics of her needs and the power of men to supply the money which she has to have to complete her university education. Ironically, they develop a relationship outside of the massage parlour, but once again there is an air of deception around all of his activities.

Both characters use each other and neither grows as a consequence of their mutually shared experiences. In all cases in the film, circular connections develop between characters only to be broken by further levels of superficiality. A young boy discovers his sexuality through an older woman who had earlier joked about his naivety. A sexually repressed female academic engages in a sado­ masochistic relationship with a workingclass heavy who dominates her and she learns to love it. The calmest male of the group turns out to be a repressed homo­ sexual fearful of having contracted AIDS. The film’s success has puzzled me. Its evocation of the split between men and women is far less self-reflexive than it should be given the extensive work of feminist filmmakers over the last 15 years. A rcand’s effort to open a window into the unconscious needs of men and women can at best be described as superficial. But if the film is taken less as a tale about the decline of values in North American society and more as a narrative about Quebec, a new and more substantial depth emerges.

Arcand is part of a generation of people who spent their formative years fighting for Q uebec’s independence.

Most of the men and women in the film are historians. Yet they seem incapable of using the precepts of historical know­ ledge to evaluate their own private lives.

This gap between the personal and the public, between the professed aims of a generation to radically redefine the identity of Quebec and their daily practice as individuals, becomes a m eta­ phor then for the decline of Quebec, and for the m anner in which a whole generation has lost a sense of direction.

The independence movement was more than a hiccup in the development of a nation’s sense of identity and history. It was also an attempt to come to grips with the radical imbalances of Canadian society which have seen the needs of the minority French population m arginal­ ised ever since confederation.

Taken in this way, The Decline becomes a parable about the new con­ sciousness in Quebec. It is a conscious­ ness which has forsaken the battle for cultural identity in favour of individual need, which has diluted the exigencies of history in favour of immediate gratifica­ tion.

The film’s success can be traced to the fact that it both celebrates and bemoans this loss, that it is simultaneously searching for a strategy with which to examine the decline while also con­ tributing to it. O n both sides of this

rather dangerous coin, The Decline produces an image of an illusion which it is also intent on promoting. It is thus to be expected that both Arcand and the producers of the film would agree to a contract with Paramount Pictures to remake the film in Hollywood. The Decline is not threatening. Its focus on sexual innuendo and sexual game­ playing revels in contradiction and from it we learn more about the grammar of cynicism than we do about the context within which the characters live and which they are reacting against. Yet this is precisely why the film has been shown in more than 20 countries and has pro­ duced one of the largest returns in the history of the industry in Quebec.

Ron Burnett THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE: Directed and written by Denys Arcand. Producer: Rene Malo.

Executive producer: Pierre Gendron. Director of photo­ graphy: Guy Dufaux. Production designer: Gaudellne Sauriol. Music: Francois Dompierre. Editor: Monique Fortier. Cast: Dominique Michel (Dominique), Dorothee Berryman (Louise), Louise Portal (Diane), Genevieve Rioux (Danielle), Pierre Curzi (Pierre), Remy Girard (Remy), Yves Jacques (Claude), Daniel Briere (Alain), Gabriel Arcand (Mario). Production company: Corpora­ tion Image Mand M Ltee. Distributor: Newvision. 35mm.

95 minutes. Canada 1986.

• 52 PICK-UP Fifty-two pickup is one of the first card games American kids learn. It’s always taught by an older kid to a younger kid.

The older one deals to the innocent by tossing the deck in the air; the younger kid then has to pick them all up. The game’s lesson is that it’s better to be the dealer. I t’s the point of Golan/Globus’ film 52 Pick-Up, too, along with picking up a $52,000 payoff.

Industrialist Roy Scheider is married to Ann-M argret, who’s about to run for City Council. They are rich post­

yuppies. Three guys try to blackmail Scheider, threatening to send videotapes of dirty weekends spent with his mistress to his wife. The trio consists of a satanic, psychotic Keith Carradine type (John Glover), who runs a porno cinema; a fat, cowardly, sleazoid peek palace manager (Robert Trebor); and Mod Squad’s Clarence Williams III, register­ ing catatonia behind shades.

Scheider does not push easily, so the trio ups the ante. They kidnap the mistress and m urder her — on video­ tape. Then they kidnap Scheider, take him to the m urder room, and show him the tape. This is an industrial strength sex-and-violence sequence: sensitive viewers should avoid it. The trio fakes evidence framing Scheider for the m urder and use this new threat to extort even more money. But Scheider pre­ emptively informs his wife and together they engineer a falling-out among the blackmailers, two of whom kill each other; Scheider and A nn-M argret sacri­ fice his cherished Jag u ar X K-E convert­ ible to blow up the third.

Elmore Leonard, crime novelist of the decade, co-wrote the screenplay from his own novel. Leonard has not had much luck with films made from his novels, nor with original screenplays (see Richard Guilliatt’s article in Cinema Papers 63, M ay 1987). Surprising, as his novels bristle with film references, cameras, images, videos, and characters stolen from the screen (the villain of Gold Coast is Joe Don Baker to a tee; the hero of City Primeval was written while watch­ ing Jam es Edward Olmos on Miami Vice).

For 52 Pick-Up, he seems to have pre­ sided over the trim ming out of subplots and characters — the union/management power struggle at the plant, for instance — and the glitzing up of what’s left. Bleak, industrial Detroit becomes ^

EYE CONTACT: Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret in 52

P ick-U p

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 43

^ sunny, flashy Los Angeles, the charac­ ters become movie stars, and so on. And he got stuck with Jo h n Frankenheimer as a director. Frankenheim er’s notion of form for this thriller movie is very much like a good hand of the kids’ card game: randomised. Shots have no particular rationale or logic: they do little interest­ ing work. Nothing is happening around the edges of this cast-iron plot. For example, a sequence begins in tight close-up on a telephone in use; the camera pans left and up along the cord to the receiver and a close-up of Scheider’s face, talking.

Leonard knows the incredible differ­ ence between novels and films. His books have one easily transferred specialty, dialogue, and the film retains great chunks of that. They also have two other outstanding devices that do not transfer well: a precise understanding of when to shift the narrative point-of-view from one character to another; and an elaborate dialogue counterpart, the interior monologues of the characters th in k in g , p e r c e iv in g , p u z z lin g , scheming. The film has no equivalent of these latter operations, and so it is much flatter than the novel.

Leonard knows that films of his novels must depend on actors to fill in these areas (the hero of The Big Bounce, Leonard’s first crime novel, spends a few pages describing — but not nam ing — Richard Boone’s scenes from The Tall T, because Leonard thinks Boone did his dialogue just right. Stick has promise because Burt Reynolds had, in the past, given excellent performances of halfbright, W hat The Hey charmers out of their depth (Stick failed because Rey­ nolds wanted to glamorise rather than surprise, and because, like 52 Pick-Up, it was miscast).

Elmore Leonard should be writing for Miami Vice. Conversely, during the summer break, the Miami Vice produc­ tion team should hire out as a unit to take projects like 52 Pick-Up out of the hands of the clueless.

Does that sound harsh? Try this — it’ll settle a lot of arguments. In the press kit for 52 Pick-Up, John Frankenheimer says this: “ 52 Pick-Up is very much a film noir story in its setting, its charac­ ters, and its psychology. It’s photo­ graphed that way, it’s a lot of move­ ment, a lot of closeups and a lot of characters.” The point is not that Frankenheimer thinks five is a lot of characters; it’s what he thinks film noir style is. Leonard knows what noir is and what style is. His stories need directors and actors who know, too.

Rick Thompson 52 PICK-UP: Directed by John Frankenheimer. Pro­ ducers: Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Executive producer: Henry T. Weinstein. Screenplay: Elmore Leonard, John Steppling. Director of photography: Jost Vacano. Production designer: Philip Harrison. Music: Gary Chang. Editor: Robert F. Shugrue. Cast: Roy Scheider (Harry Mitchell), Ann-Margret (Barbara Mitchell), Vanity (Doreen), John Glover (Alan Raimy), Robert Trebor (Leo Franks), Lonny Chapman (Jim O’Boyle), Kelly Preston (Cini), Doug McClure (Mark Averson), Clarence Williams III (Bobby Shy). Production company: The Cannon Group, Inc. Distributor: Hoyts.

35mm. 114 minutes. USA. 1986.

44 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

T R IP P IN G T H E L IG H T F A N T A S T IC : G iu lietta M a sin a and M arcello M astroianni, an id ealised ‘G in g er and F re d ’

Despite its ubiquity (or perhaps because of it) television has rarely been the subject of major cinematic treatments. N etwork, Poltergeist and The K in g O f Comedy stand as the most obvious markers in cinema’s uneasy circling of television land. They convey coherent if idiosyncratic worlds always touched with a tinge of hysteria.

For, although television is perceived as representing the pastiche of NOW, it is also slightly out-of-this-world, bewilder­ ing and ominous. Each of these films therefore seems to come from the hand of a science fiction writer.

At the core of any discussion of tele­ vision one always finds the enigma of the audience. Perhaps this is the most belligerently puzzling and significant thing for cinema and its theories (let alone sociology and legal discourse): how to characterise television’s audience? For Fellini it definitely lies within the realm of science fiction.

In an interview in Film Comment (June, 1985) he said, “ . . . it is almost imposs­ ible to account for the wishes of a public born of a television style . . . (it) has

created . . . a highly impatient kind of spectator, neurotic and hypnotised, of whom we, who create cinema, cannot claim to understand the desires he may harbour. Actually I think he doesn’t harbour any desires.”

For Fellini, television is a problem and it has to be dealt with — by and within the terms of the cinema — for his future depends upon it. He is not alone in this bewilderment and distaste. Scores of European magazines and reviews have rallied to his support, ringing out the call of Ginger E Fred’s victory on behalf of cinema and its European allies.

For European critics, it seems, Ginger E Fred is an allegory of cinema’s survival in the face of television and a formularised American cinema. Declared Fellini’s “poetic summit” , it represents a return to personalised filmmaking, opening the way for a revival of an auteurist cinema and milieu.

For Fellini, this struggle between tele­ vision and cinema over the body of the audience is more than an argument around form; at stake is humanity itself.

“ I cannot tell who will come out of it vic­ torious: the destroying ray or the human being.” In his role as defender ôf thé people, one finds irregular and uneven representation. Fellini has his familiar favourites, but how should he explain, let alone defend the others? They are a mystery to him and, at base, his fear of television is an incomprehension in the face of the great post-modern present.

Cinema versus television begins to take on the baggage of a generational conflict.

“Punctually every generation seems to have this apocalypse happen to it.”

It comes as no surprise, then, that Fellini invokes the names of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, choosing Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroi­ anni to do so. For Fellini, Rogers and Astaire evoke the great American cinema; the mystery and urbanity it conjured up for an "impoverished and provincial Europe. They are “portrayed” by Masina and Mastroianni, through the characters they play, Amelia and Pippo. These two actors represent the rise of a creditable European/Italian cinema that once took its place in the European arena, as well as suggesting the figure of Fellini himself.

Masina and Mastroianni are reunited professionally for the first time in 40

towards? Where is the, glamour and romance, the sophistication evoked and; promised by publicity stills? No such event takes place. No evidence of urbane dancers gliding against dazzling city­ scapes, just a bumbling and a stumbling of two warm-hearted friends. From our close-up view within the television, they are just Amelia and Pippo, never Ginger and Fred at all.

Is this the corn that lies at the base of Fellini’s film? I suspect that it is. The corn of music hall dance and patter, of provincial innocence, of his wife and best friend, the corn of humanity. So what saves Amelia and Pippo? What is so special about them that they might launch Fellini’s ultimate salvo on behalf of cinema? It is because they are truly inno­ cents, that is, they are untouched by tele­ vision. Like Fellini, who has said: “ I don’t watch (it), it doesn’t occur to me.

I’m not at all curious about it” , they are not television’s audience. Face to face I with it, Amelia is bemused and Pippo is belligerent. Unlike their co-stars, who have no narrative origins beyond that which generates a television segment, Amelia and Pippo have a history, a memory and a storytelling capacity.

Pippo’s treatise on tap dancing and its

years, just as the music hall characters comic, romantic and pastoral origins is they portray are also brought together The underlying argument of the film’s again after a long absence. Along with a defence against television’s simulacra of hotch-potch of characters (that can now be o the instantaneous. _ , Susan Charlton described as Felliniesque without the With thanks to Adrian Martin necessity of quotation marks), Amelia and GINGER E FRED: Directed by Federico Fellini. Pro­ Pippo have been invited to perform in a ducer: Alberto Grimaldi. Screenplay: Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra, Tullio Pinelli. Directors of photo­ television spettacolo called “ Here’s To graphy: Tonino Belli Colli, Ennio Guarnieri. Art direc­ You” . Fellini’s usual parade of dwarfs tor: Dante Ferretti. Music: Nicola Piovani. Editors: and suffocatingly breasted women are Nino Baragli, Ugo De Rossi, Ruggero Mastroianni.

Cast: Giulietta Masina (Amelia/Ginger), Marcello supplemented by Woody Allen, Clark Mastroianni (Pippo/Fred), Franco Fabrizi (Host of the Gable and Marcel Proust impersonators TV programme), Frederick Von Ledenburg (Admiral), who are all chaperoned by the impersonal Martin Blau (Asst director), Toto Mignone (Toto), Augusto Poderosi (Transvestite), Francesco Casale representative of eighties TV production.

(Mafioso). Production company: P.E.A. Produzioni Television affects, it is never affected, (Rome), Revcom Films (Paris), Stella Films (Munich), and its influence is to be found every­ in co-operation with RAM. Distributor: Greater Union.

35mm. 126 minutes. Italy/France/West Germany. where. The film’s expansive visual and 1986. spatial beginnings, set in decaying Roman streets exploding with television screens, TRIPPING: Amelia and Pippo’s comeback billboards and milling audiences, gradu­ almost fails ally contract as we move through the wall of the screen along with the characters.

Edging closer and closer through the city, into the cavernous TV metropolis, along narrowing corridors, we at last emerge, step by step into the grand chamber of the ! spettacolo itself.

Fellini imagines that he shows us the truth of television, dragging us through the screen from our “ frontal exposure” so that we may see from the sidelines-what is actually happening.

And what of Amelia and Pippo’s climactic performance as Ginger and Fred — this scene which the entire film drives

•PERSONAL SERVICES Most people will be familiar with the bemusing press accounts of Cynthia Payne’s recent trial and acquittal con­ cerning sex parties held at her infamous London brothel, which specialised in catering for the perverse sexual demands of elderly men. Dubbed “ M adam C yn” by the British dailies, her escapades and the plodding con­ stabulary’s trial allegations sold the most ‘tit-n-bum ’ tabloids since the Falklands W ar. It was a classic example of engin­ eered Wapping/Fleet Street exploitation, affording celebrity status to someone they felt legitimised their papers’ edi­ torial line of “ acting in the public interest” .

The combined talents of Personal Ser­ vices screenwriter David Leland (Mona Lisa) and director T erry Jones (all of the Monty Python Films) pay scant regard to the ‘event’ notoriety of their fiction­ alised character, Christine Painter (m ar­ vellously realised by Julie Walters). In ­ stead they focus upon the contradictions of personality (she refers to her prosti­ tutes as “ tarts” ) and circumstance that combine to produce a warm, vulgar, yet sensitive woman who accommodates the desires of “ gentlem en” to be abjectly dominated and then pay for it.

So, instead of the puerile, sniggering treatment I expected the subject m atter to receive, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of dramatic depth that both W alters’ fine performance and Jo n es’ relaxed narrative perspective encour­ ages. Still, Personal Services has its funnier elements such as the sophisticated middle-aged fellow who frequents the apartm ent dressed in oversized public schoolboy attire waiting for “ smack smacks on the bot-bot” , or the trans­ lations of jargon and euphemism spoken by those “ on the gam e” . One selfindulgence, however, does persist irrita­ tingly throughout the show; that of con­ stant visual genital references.

But for all of its comic asides, the movie also draws attention to the genuinely pathetic situations of its largely ensemble characters. Christine, despite her shrewd acumen, is still her­ self trapped into fantasies of pursuing a “ respectable” petit bourgeois lifestyle with her “ dream m an” , ironically the very type of person who might in later years become a client. Similarly, the old men who get a chance to express their repressed whims and fetishes appear more as tragic victims of puritanical British moral deceit, rather than per­ verted sexual oddballs who m ust appease their own closet social con­ sciences by being punished as “ naughty boys” .

In this sense, the film’s real strength is the submerged social critique, in which the filmmakers locate Christine and her brothel in a position strangely analogous to T hatcher’s Britain. W hen viewed as complementary to Mona Lisa’s mis­ anthropic portrayal of the seedier side of ^ CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 45

^ prostitution and English corruption, Per­ sonal Services appears relatively compas­ sionate and upbeat; nevertheless, they are two sides of the same coin.

In retrospect, somehow I wish that the collaboration of Leland and Jones had evolved earlier. Perhaps it may even have resulted in Bob Hoskins meeting Julie Walters. Now that would’ve been something . . .

M ic k B roderick PERSONAL SERVICES: Directed by Terry Jones. Pro­ ducer: Tim Bevan. Screenplay: David Leland. Director of photography: Roger Deakins. Production designer: Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski. Editor: George Akers. Cast: Julie Walters (Christine Painter), Alec McCowen (Wing Commander Morton), Shirley Stelfox (Shirley), Danny Schiller (Dolly), Victoria Hardcastle (Rose), Tim Wood­ ward (Timms), Dave Atkins (Sydney), Leon Lissek (Mr Popozogolou). Distributor: Greater Union. 35mm. 106 minutes. Great Britain. 1987.

• LES PATTERSON SAVES THE WORLD I had the joy to see/wonder at Barry Humphries live a year ago at the Palais in St Kilda; the last time I ’d seen him was nose to nose on The CliveJames Show, where he was very kind, funny and full of beans, as it were.

I shall never forget his inspired, dusty, dead/living, beautiful Sandy

Stone routine in my entire lifetime.

Alone as a pale star floating, orbiting in its own dear genius, the scene/ m om ent/truth was so high and fine and dainty and clever it was unreal utterly.

During one particularly light-as-air, anguished as Glen Iris poetic moment, I saw the tarry tram rooftops aglint with rain; I heard the conductors speaking each to each; it was 1957 with false teeth in a glass of Steradent; it was Humphries rattling away his deep and profound love of the old home town.

Humphries loves Melbourne.

Watching (behind my hand with shame, with affection) his Les Patterson Saves The World, I felt it was perhaps time to pull a pin on stiffies, farts, tarts, darlings, chuck, booze, flourbombs and other brainless obsessions, and have a go at something slick.

Barry Humphries is the best writer in Australia. He should do a new movie that lifts his language, drives his brain into the trees and refineries and butter­ flies and old secret languages that only he understands. He is a secret language all right.

Les Patterson Saves The World is crap. Is Barry Humphries ever ashamed of him ­ self; does he cry, still drink, still think his fans have deserted him? If he came up with a few new characters and wrote

DOWN THE TUBES: Dame Edna in a vulnerable moment in

46 — JULY CINEM A P A P ER S

L e s P a tte rs o n S a v e s The W o rld

in 1987, he’d still be the best comedian since George Wallace, which is what he is.

This is a very hard movie to see. I tried the Coburg Drive-In (cancelled due to fog) and it is now playing nowhere but in the guilt and shame of its backers and the dickheads of The Film Commission who sunk a hasty bob into it.

B a rry D ic k in s LES PATTERSON SAVES THE WORLD: Directed by George Miller. Produced by Sue Milliken. Executive pro­ ducer: Diane Millstead. Screenplay: Barry Humphries, Diane Millstead. Director of photography: David Connell.

Production designer: Graham (Grace) Walker. Editor: Tim Wellburn. Music: Tim Finn. Cast: Barry Humphries (Sir Les Patterson, Dame Edna Everage), Pamela Stephenson (Véronique Crudité), Thaao Penghalis (Colonel Godowni), Andrew Clarke (Neville Thonge), Henri Szeps (Dr Herpes, Desiree), Hugh Keays-Byrne (Inspector Farouk). Production com­ pany: Humpstead Productions. Distributor: Hoyts.

35mm. 95 minutes. Australia. 1987.

• WHEN THE WIND BLOWS Raymond Briggs’ hugely successful illustrated book, When The Wind Blows, has undergone three transformations since its publication in 1982: first into an award-winning radio play, secondly into a stage adaptation, and now into a fulllength animated film. Those who were entertained and moved by other ver­ sions will not be disappointed by the film. It remains faithful to the original story and its central characters, Hilda and Jim Bloggs, have been brought to life by more than 100 animators and the rich and experienced voices of Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Sir Jo h n Mills.

Those who are new to the work could not fail to be influenced by this poignant and shocking story of the innocent victims of a nuclear attack; their pre­ dicament, treated as it is with com­ passion and tenderness, raises the most serious questions of our time.

Hilda and Jim have retired to a quiet life in a cottage in rural England. Jim , the more worldly of the two, has an interest in keeping “ abreast of the inter­ national situation” and has become aware of tension which points towards a possible outbreak of war. During trips to the library he has picked up official government leaflets on how to survive a nuclear attack; with the announcement that one is imminent, Jim sets about constructing “ an inner core or refuge” from doors and cushions propped against an interior wall. Together the couple puzzle over conflicting instruc­ tions and attempt to stock their shelter with supplies for 14 days. “ I ’d better put a note out for 28 pints of milk, then,” says Hilda. They have an u n ­ wavering trust in the authorities and an optimistic and stoical spirit left over from the last war: “ Well, if the worst comes to the w orst,” says Hilda, “ we’ll just have to roll up our sleeves, tighten our belts and put on our tin hats till it’s VE day again.” Jim suggests that “ it won’t be like that this tim e” but con­

cedes that they m ust always look on the bright side.

T he couple combine a childlike ignor­ ance of the possible effects of a nuclear explosion with an uneasy feeling that things are very different this time. They idealise the last w ar and its leaders, look­ ing back with affection at the shelters, the blackout, the all-clear, the cups of tea . . . “ You somehow knew where you were th e n ,” says Jim . Everything seems m uch m ore im personal this time.

They are unable to com prehend fully the m onstrous nature of the w ar which now threatens them .

Despite courage, hum our, and efforts to do “ the correct th in g” according to the leaflets, the couple’s final isolation and suffering as they attem pt to hold on to a trust in “ the powers that be” makes When The Wind Blows a powerful anti­ nuclear statem ent. It is of enduring rele­ vance as long as the question of nuclear weapons and safety occupies our im aginations, and as long as political deadlocks and disagreem ents persist over the issue of nuclear disarm am ent.

T he issue of civilian risk through acci­ dent is a concern even for those who believe in nuclear arm am ent.

T he story’s durability is a m easure of its im pact and its power to tap universal emotions. W hile some audiences may watch the film with m ore knowledge than the Bloggs have about such things as fall-out, the inadequacies of civil defence and the symptoms of radiation poisoning, in the end a fear, or at least suspicion, of ultim ate ignorance m ust rem ain in everyone, even the most wellinformed. T here can be no guarantee that other attem pts at survival would be m uch m ore effective or less misguided than the Bloggs’, so that the effect of When The Wind Blows is not to evoke patronising sympathy but identification and em pathy for the sort of impotence the individual m ust suffer in the face of nuclear attack.

R aym ond Briggs has, with perception and a distinctive sense of hum our, created ch aracters who carry no exaggerated sentiment. T he story works in a cum ulative way, progressing.lightly towards its weighty and inevitable con­ clusion when it becomes obvious that no am ount of hum our or strength of character can provide a happy ending.

Outside the cottage, the landscape is wasted and burnt. Inside, a deteriora­ ting H ilda and Jim wait for help which does not come. In an attem pt to un d er­ stand and to cheer them both up, Jim slips further and further into his use of cliches and slogans gleaned, without any real understanding, from newspapers and leaflets. “ O h yes, the Em ergency Services will have sprung into action at the first alarm signal,” he proclaims, despite the continued absence of any sign of assistance. Finally, the couple retreat to their shelter and try to pray.

T he lightness with which the story should begin is lacking in the film, spoil­ ing its cum ulative effect. D avid Bowie’s title song does not help, being m uch too

heavy-handed and m oralistic to open with. Perhaps another reason is that the initial exchanges between the couple do not transfer easily into the film version.

Comic lines are missed, either lost in the abundance of m oving images, or passed over too quickly with little time allowed for their assimilation, and J im ’s persist­ ent m alapropisms are m ore easily detected on the page than in the film.

There is a danger at times of the two characters becoming silly, laden with empty chatter, rather than comic, but with the increasing gravity of their situa­ tion they become less discursive and more sympathetic.

The film was directed by Jim m y M urakam i who was also responsible for the adaptation and direction of an earlier work by Briggs, the aw ard­ winning film, The Snowman. O n direct­ ing anim ation, M urakam i has said, “ The actors in anim ation are guys sit­ ting at a desk and you have to get them to feel the same things, get consistency through all these fragm ents.” A rtistic­ ally this challenge of consistency and coherence has been achieved at T V C artoons (TV C ) London, by the anim ators and artists who hand-drew 190,000 frames, 600 scenes. To bring the drawings to life, scale models of H ilda and J im ’s house were constructed with moveable walls, providing threedim ensional rather than flat artworked backgrounds to bring perspective to the sets. These model sets were shot with a specially rigged 35mm stop frame camera, that enabled tracking, panning and tilting within the little interiors.

The 35mm frames were then enlarged and anim ated cells of the figures were dropped in over the m oving images of the background.

The use of anim ation serves the story well, probably better than a realistic live-action feature, where identifiable actors would detract from the notion of H ilda and Jim Bloggs as M r and M rs Everym an, and where the cost of certain scenes would be prohibitive. T he near­ destruction of the cottage and visualisa­ tions of a nuclear blast laying waste the land, its towns and services, are effective and powerful in the anim ated film. N ot­ w ithstanding H iroshim a, large-scale nuclear war remains outside the realm of our tangible experience. W e can still only speculate and imagine the devasta­ tion of such a disaster, so that illustra­ tion or caricature, with its special ability to capture the archetypical nature of things, has been able to express the formidable essence of this grim, m odern tale.

• 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD Is there any truth in the rum our that 84 Charing Cross Road will next appear on ice? To date, what began as an exchange of letters between a lively Jewish biblio­ phile in New York, Helene Hanff, and an antiquarian bookseller in London, Frank Doel, has m etam orphosed first into book form, from which an engaging sense of character emerged, then as a 1975 television production, next as a stage-play (London 1981, Broadway 1982), and now as a film whose produc­ tion was divided between the two relevant countries.

T hat this unlikely best-seller has proved so media-flexible is probably due to the development of its central relationship, which is fuelled by a love of books, is several times on the verge of the consum m ation of meeting, and is thwarted twice by H a n ff s financial problems and finally by D oel’s death shortly before H anff at last realised her dream of getting to London. The relationship is essentially a conversation in letters and the film very properly uses a good deal of voice-over and direct address to camera to convey this. As director David Jones cuts between the

S J . Ayre WHEN THE WIND BLOWS: Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami. Producer: John Coates. Executive pro­ ducer: lain Harvey. Screenplay: Raymond Briggs.

Animation and design: Richard Fawdry. Background and colour design: Errol Bryant. Storyboard: Jimmy T. Murakami, Richard Fawdry, Joan Ashworth. Music: David Bowie (title song), Roger Waters (score). Voices: Peggy Ashcroft (Hilda), John Mills (Jim). Production company: Meltdown, in association with British Screen, Film Four International, TVC London, Penguin Books.

Distributor: Seven Keys. 35mm. 85 minutes. Great Britain. 1986.

IN A B O O K B IN D : A n n e B an cro ft in th e film of th e play of th e book of th e letters, 84 Charing

Cross Road

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 47

^ two, he renders both the common bibliophiliac zest and the complementary nature of the two personalities, her ebul­ lience playing off against his humorous reserve.

Though the film’s two protagonists necessarily dominate, there is a lively sense of other lives going on around them. In London, there are Frank’s quiet colleagues at 84 Charing Cross Road and his Irish wife Nora (Judi Dench), who is both slightly jealous of his epistolary rapport with H anff and, along with the shop people, grateful for the food parcels she sends them in Britain’s post-war austerity; in New York there are H a n ff s acting and writing friends who create around her a relaxed sense of community. As well, there is an unobtrusively realised appre­ hension of time passing, from meatqueues to mini-skirts in London, from brownstone front to glassy apartm ent blocks in a New York troubled by student demonstrations.

Film’s mobility in representing shifts in time and place permits a clear dis­ crimination between New York (sunny, lively, cheerful) and London (muted and pokey, m oving from austerity to affluence). The contrasts in the film’s diegetic world are created in cuts from H anff s carelessly poured gin and tonic to the tea-making rituals of Charing Cross Road, from the Brooklyn Dodgers to the Tottenham Hotspurs, from H anff s disorderly apartm ent to the Doels’ neatly suburban flat. In an absurdly touching moment, H an ff s love of England links the two worlds as she listens rapt to the Q ueen’s corona­ tion on the radio while the Doels watch the event on television, serving their friends with ham sandwiches derived from H an ff s largesse.

The contrasts are reinforced by the film’s attention to the look of the two places (the result of loving care in production and costume design in each, and of Brian W est’s luminous and versatile camera work) and by the acting styles of the two protagonists. Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, each playing with detailed, sympathetic understanding, complement each other perfectly and establish their growing regard in a way that is a treat for audiences who love film acting.

In its small-scale way, 84 Charing Cross Road is a charming, civilised piece, often witty, full of the pleasurable warmth of relationships securely realised, and at certain key points, most notably H a n ff s reception of Frank Doel’s death, very moving indeed.

Brian McFarlane 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD: Directed by David Jones.

Producer: Geoffrey Helman. Associate producers: Randy Auerbach and Jo Lustig. Executjve producer: Mel Brooks. Screenplay: Hugh Whitemore. Based on the book by Helene Hanff. Director of photography: Brian West. Production designers: Eileen Diss (London), Edward Pisoni (New York). Music: George Fenton.

Editor: Chris Wimble. Cast: Anne Bancroft (Helene Hanff), Anthony Hopkins (Frank Doel), Judi Dench (Nora Doel), Jean De Baer (Maxine Bellamy), Maurice Denham (George Martin), Eleanor David (Cecily Farr), Mercedes Ruehl (Kay), Daniel Gerroll (Brian). Produc­ tion company: Brooksfilms. Distributor: Fox Columbia.

35mm. 99 minutes. Great Britain. 1987.

48 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

C L O S E S H A V E : S tuart M c C re e ry (Antonio) and G illian Jo nes (S eb astian)

For example, the disadvantage of having only male actors, by law, is turned to advantage in a play like Twelfth N ight where the central storyline revolves around (originally) a boy playing a woman in disguise as a boy. A twin By the standards of critic André Bazin, brother later turns up to confuse still Neil Arinfield’s film of Shakespeare’s further the man and the woman (meant to Twelfth N ight might be judged to be a bold be in love themselves) who have both step in the right direction, especially for a already fallen for the cute young thing. director making his screen debut, rather Shakespeare handled the vast empty than an unqualified success. Putting any space of the Globe theatre stage, which stage play on the screen is hard enough, jutted out into the crowd like one of but Shakespeare, in Australia, in 1987, today’s rock concert platforms, by 400 years and 10,000 miles from home successfully floating several levels of base, poses even more problems. Here is a reality at once, combining at a stroke of production that does not come out the pen otherwise contradictory stage unscathed in the struggle, but in some languages. The ‘illusion’ of sophisticated, very real ways is a victor. real people living in a dream world of Twelfth N ight could be seen as a climax privilege, stands boldly against the low to that period of Romantic comedy life portrayed by actors who would parade writing Shakespeare created before along the edge of the stage, flaunting to moving on to the central tragedies. The the crowd the theatrical ‘reality’ that the surface, perfectly sculptured, is carved out boards they tread are merely a stage. of fun and games, confusions of identity, In the circumstances, it’s hard for me with conceits, sport, play, duels, songs to forget the stage production which and jokes in abundance. Illusions and inspired this film; a production which delusions unravel madly in this acknowledged the above, and much more. celebratory drama of love.

A young director confirmed his talent, It deals with love in a more profound and the idiosyncratic team of actors, sense than we would expect of most of working together under the banner of Jim today ’s popular entertainment writers.

Sharman’s Lighthouse Company in For here there’is also stuff about vanity , Adelaide, confirmed the virtue of selfishness, obsession, manipulation, ensemble. It was one of those rare cruelty, deceit; and also, faith, constancy, combinations of excellent application of truth, courage, mercy, reconciliation and creative intelligence, with a wave of that joy. rare wand called magic over the top. As a Shakespeare’s brilliance, perhaps not record of that success, the film is valuable. understood by those outside the theatre But, of course, film is film is film also. these days (and a fair few within) tests Here Armfield makes some bold choices, not only in his capacity to carry, though not all work as well as he might seemingly without effort, such a tapestry have hoped. of themes. It lies equally in his ability to The terrific setting, somewhere between manipulate the limited resources of the the Gold Coast and Pinacoladaland, more stage in their lucid expression. or less survives. At least acknowledgement

The problem o f film e d theatre, at least where the classics are concerned, does not consist so much . in transposing an action from the stage to the screen as in transposing a text written fo r one dramaturgical system to another while at the same time retaining its effectiveness.

One can see Armfield has attempted to embrace the possibilities of the lens. But what is gained is unclear; and all the conceits, so delicious on stage, are lost. As Bazin was implying, there are several volumes to be written on the challenges that arise in turning Shakespeare into Perhaps the biggest hurdle lies in the fact that Shakespeare’s art is fundamentally to do with words in a three-dimensional space (a theatre).

Shakespeare’s audience looked with their ears. So what can a camera do; lavish its interrogating eye on these invisible sound waves flowing voluptuously out of actors’ mouths? And the intense ‘live’ aspect of performance, so brilliantly realised by this team of actors on stage, is also extremely hard to translate.

But still, here is a film made out of fun and games, in a field possibly never touched on by the Australian film industry before. And for those who imagine Shakespeare to be a chore, here he is fresh, informal, intelligent, and still with a lot of energy. The delivery of the verse is superb. They say Australian is closer to Elizabethan than ‘proper’ modern theatre English anyway; and here, with such a comprehensive appreciation of its levels of meaning, wonderful effects roll effortlessly off the is made of the fact that what we see is not tongue. meant to be mistaken for the real world.

Then there’s thé performances. The Artifice ftself is one of the fundamental camera does not capture everything that building blocks of this play’s themes; was on stage; and, surprisingly, the closesweeping scenes of a castle by the sea ups are deployed in perhaps too would not have helped. conventional a fashion. But there’s still a But the price Armfield pays is, almost unavoidably, a cramped feeling. This may lot of pleasure in Ivar Kants and Jacqy Phillips playing the young Royals as cool be the result of not pushing the modern yuppies; John Wood, Peter transformation far enough. More thought, Cummins, Geoffrey Rush and Tracy more experience, or simply more money Harvey in some of the raciest low-life might have helped. But in the face of the comedy you’ll see in a while; and Kerry aesthetic challenges Armfield faced, Walker on a marvellous razor’s edge in there’s still some terrific material here. the tragi-comic role of the wise clown, A more particular problem has arisen Feste. In lesser roles, well played, are Igor out of a decision to have the twin brother Sas, Stuart McCreery, and Russell Kiefel and sister played by one actor, Gillian (sadly, giving over his excellent rendition Jones. Since the sister is, for the most of the twin brother Sebastian to Gillian part, in disguise as a boy, a godlike Jones). performance of three in one is required.

This to me is the only significant flaw W H A T Y O U W IL L : K erry W a lk e r (F este) in this movie; a whole homosexual subplot is lost, and something even of the significance of Jacqy Phillips’ rendition of Olivia is undermined. But thankfully, the audience is repaid with some glorious acting from Gillian Jones in the triple role of Viola/Cesario and Sebastian. The beauty and tenderness of her stage performance is here for all to see, lovingly taken up by the camera. We rarely see screen acting of this class in Australia.

Jones’ work in fact is a good enough reason to attend this very different Australian film. ' Jam es W aites TWELFTH NIGHT: Directed by Neil Armfield.

Produced by Don Catchlove. Director of photography: Louis Irving. Editor: Nicholas Beauman. Production designer: Stephen Curtis. Music: Alan John. Cast: Gillian Jones (Viola/Cesario and Sebastian). Ivar Kants (Orsino), Jacqy Phillips (Olivia), John Wood (Sir Toby Belch), Peter Cummins (Malvolio), Geoffrey Rush (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Kerry Walker (Feste), Tracy Harvey (Maria), Igor Sas (Fabian), Stuart McCreery (Antonio). Production company: Twelfth Night Pty Ltd. Distributor: Greater Union. 35mm. 120 minutest Australia. 1986.

• HOOSIERS Hoosiers is a mediocre film. Weigh that word carefully, mediocre, not good and worse than bad. This is a judgem ent I make in full awareness of the film’s pitch­ ing as a mainstream sports movie. It is in this context that I call it mediocre.

W hat’s worse is that you get the feeling it’s happy to be such. There were a few exceptional moments when it did manage to get bad but not enough to make it interesting. As the film itself raises no questions — filmic or other­ wise — what I would rather discuss is that num bing process (which I usually associate with telemovies or miniseries) by which it holds your interest without actually engaging it. Hoosiers is exemplary in this regard.

The tone of the film is serious and heavy, and even at its light moments that weightiness is never very far away; consequently, these moments are always mawkish and unfunny. We are made aware from the outset that there is nothing trivial, glitzy or cheap about what we are going to see. We are given a series of beautiful, bucolic views of Indiana. They are melancholy. It is autumn, 1951. A pale blue car makes its way through each luscious frame. It comes to the end of its journey in the very small town of Hickory, and out steps Gene Hackman, one of the film’s three big name, big presence stars. I have nothing against Hackm an, quite the contrary. A film like this is the ulti­ mate test of an actor’s charismatic holding power, if you like. I t’s Hack­ m an’s role, or rather the job of his credi­ bility-soaked physiognomy, to give the film more weight and to hold it together from one insubstantial scene to the next.

As I watch there is an awareness that there is a real heavyweight ‘up there’ so something heavy must be going down or soon will be. There is promise.

We soon learn that he is an ex-big league basketball coach who has come to Hickory to coach their high school team.

It is many years since he has coached and it is intimated that his career had ended in disgrace. Okay. There is also an instant and inexplicable antagonism from a female m em ber of staff (Barbara Hershey). Why? There is no reason given, reasons are not im portant, what matters is that the antagonism be staged in an unmistakable an d legible way. It is not a dramatic mom ent because it draws no m eaning from anything that has gone before, or comes later for that m atter, although this early in the picture it is acceptable. We may find out later.

Again there is promise. However, half an hour into the film the style has not changed. The promise is beginning to look like a con.

These hyper-legible scenes are at their worst and most gaggingly artificial when the dialogue is made to tell us exacdy what is going on, when the hackneyed rhetoric of gesture and framing are not felt to be enough. At one point Hackm an is in the school gym putting the ^

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 49

hall and says he will play if H ackm an is kept on as coach. All that is required is our m om entary recognition that there has been a ‘close shave’ for Hackm an and that he has come through at the last minute. Every good story has one of these hairy bits where everything looks like it’s going to fall apart but then — miracle! — it doesn’t. Trouble is Hoosiers has been in pieces from the start.

Enter Dennis H opper as the m an who doesn’t belong anymore and this not only within the fiction of the film. He is so good, but in a film like Hoosiers the disparity becomes absurd. He is like the real beef content in the McHollywood burger. H e’s really there but it doesn’t make much difference.

The last half of this long film could only be described as tedious. W e are treated to acres and acres of slow-motion basketball action inter-cut with scoreboards showing uncomfortably close scores (the simulation of tension). If this were not bad enough it is set to the most horrendous, inappropriate, bland and overpowering soundtrack since Rocky.

R alph Traviato DENNIS, ANYONE?: Hopper in Hoosiers

team through their training with a small group of locals looking on. His methods axe different, too different from what they consider to be effective or familiar.

Small town equals small minds, get the picture? If this were not a recognisable enough cause for conflict and its exist­ ence not clearly enough indicated, one of the small towners later tells Hackm an that he is in a small town and that small town folk don’t like change.

Convincing characterisation is not one of the things the makers are con­ cerned with. T heir energies are directed into different areas, into the mechanics of effective narrative rather than the telling of a good story, an effective narrative being one that m aintains attention levels with as little cost to the viewer as possible. T here is no accumulation, no building up of a story, but a sequence of recognisable scenes whose interconnection rests in the fact that the same stars — not characters — fill them and whose place within the narrative sequence is signalled by the pertinent ‘beginning bit’, ‘middle b it’ or ‘end bit’ rhetoric. The antagonistic ‘beginning b it’ between Hackm an and Hershey is m irrored by a declaration of love ‘end bit’. The confrontation/reconciliation ‘middle bit’ comes where Hack­ m an ’s team, several games into the season, is doing poorly and his perm an­ ence as coach is to be put to a vote. H ere again there is an em barrassing hollow­ ness and predictability to the action.

The whole scene takes place between the four biggest ‘quotation m arks’ you ever saw. At the beginning of the film we are told that the school’s star player is refusing to play (no real reason given, no dramatic foundation), then in the middle of H ackm an’s dismissal, the star player appears at the back of the school 50 — JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

HOOSIERS: Directed by David Anspaugh. Producers: Carter de Haven, Angelo Pizzo. Associate producer: Graham Henderson. Executive producers: John Daly, Derek Gibson. Screenplay: Angelo Pizzo. Director of photography: Fred Murphy. Production designer: David Nichols. Music: Jerry Goldsmith. Editor: C. Timothy O'Meara. Cast: Gene Hackman (Coach Norman Dale), Barbara Hershey (Myra Fleener), Dennis Hopper (Shooter), Sheb Wooley (Cletus), Fern Parsons (Opal Fleener), Chelcie Ross (George), Robert Swan (Rollin), Michael O’Guinne (Rooster). Production com­ pany: Hemdale Film Corporation/Carter de Haven Pro­ duction. Distributor: Village Roadshow. 35mm. 115 minutes. USA. 1986.

• ANGEL HEART The opening of Angel Heart is a lowangle, low-lit shot of a New York street.

It’s night, steam is billowing out of the manholes, and right there, for a second or two (rem em bering that De Niro makes a special appearance in the film) you might expect a checkered yellow cab to ease itself out of the steam and across the screen, but then, a second or two later, you realise it’s not quite there: the shot’s too tight — in composition it’s reminiscent of the alley that Brando and Saint hotfoot it down in On The Water­ front — but it’s not sharp enough, there’s a sense of shape but no sense of outline. T here’s also a feeling of anticipation, yet everything remains quite static; nothing moves to slice through the hues of blue and darkness like, say, the checkered yellow cab.

Angel Heart's visual composition makes for something paradoxical, as though it’s emotionally expressive (a threatening, intim idating atmosphere) and yet simultaneously empty of emo­ tional expression. I t’s as though there is something there and not there at the same time, as though the scene’s in limbo. A few seconds more and the fore­ boding and intim idation has slipped into a sense of it only ‘appearing’ to be that way. I t’s looking facile, and I no longer

hold any doubts; Angel Heart is an im ­ pressionist rather than an expressionist movie. It is impressionist in two ways.

The first is in the ‘painterly’ sense; that of late 19th century impressionism.

The opening is heavy with shadow, lack­ ing the predominance of high key light­ ing and colour typically associated with impressionism. But the film makes up for it in the way the surroundings, objects, and characters form a com­ pletely anim ated surface, and appear frozen to one another, for Angel Heart is heavy with descriptive detail: the open­ ing shot is cluttered with trash, spilling over kerbs, up against buildings, col­ lected along the sidewalk, and among the trash is to be found a m utilated body (just more trash) — it’s like icing on a cake, m aking scarcely any sharp out­ lines, and sm othering any sense of movement or projection within the frame.

The second way, intim ately tied to the first, is the sense of ‘m aking an im pres­ sion’, of wanting to be impressive. O n the combined level of its cinem ato­ graphy and editing, Angel Heart is a film that self-consciously wants to impress you. Take, for instance, the way the majority of sequences or scenes run by you: first a wide, panoram ic shot (for interiors as well as exteriors) cram m ed with decorative and illustrative details, symbolic paraphernalia, and lush archi­ tectural designs (they’re arranged but their arrangem ent is meaningless); characters either enter or are already implanted within the scene, and a whole dramatic situation is played out through an evenly paced m ontage of close-ups from several angles; it’s a consciously contrived visual style that falls some­ where between narrative description and pure visual indulgence.

The characters, as already suggested, fall prey to the same fate: it’s curious the way the m ajority of characters are not set off, or set against, but set into the com positions. M anny F arb er and Patricia Patterson once wrote of De Niro that “ he’s very good at wild manic scenes and better at poignant intro­ version” (for example, the “ she’s your fuck!” scene in Mean Streets and most of Taxi Driver). In Angel Heart, however, De Niro (as Louis Cyphre) has the chance to do neither; rather, he is sculpted out of snippets that the cam era insists on: pointed fingernails, a silver walking stick with a heart-shaped stone set into it, a heavy beard and a bob in his hair {Mission-like), and a jewellery store assortment of rings. F urther examples: the Chandleresque specs of detective H arry Angel (Mickey Rourke), the twoday stubble shadowing his face, the cigarette th at’s stuck between his lips every so often; the gold tooth of blues m an Toots Sweet, a nose guard con­ spicuously resting on the nose of a Coney Island extra seated by the beach.

(Check the inconsistency of this last guy: it’s winter and the reason h e’s got a nose guard on is because he has ju st found a whole box of them under the board-

walk, and “ anyway, it helps keep the rain o f f ’. Fine, but I still don’t under­ stand why this guy’s in singlet and sunglasses, while his wife is knee deep in sea water with her skirt and coat hiked up.) In this respect, the relationships of characters are reduced to the mere elaborateness of an already elaborate world — it’s just more icing on the cake.

No doubt, at the thematic level, Angel Heart is also hell-bent on being impres­ sive. The film has been described as the simultaneous reawakening of two genres — a meeting of the classic detective story with the occult/horror genre. Yet this is not anything particularly new from either side. From the literary scene, there is H am m ett’s The Dain Curse, and pulpier stuff like Jonathan L atim er’s Solomon’s Vineyard; most notable is Ross M acDonald and The Blue Hammer with its weirdo religious sect that calls out the image of the detective figure as a figure whose search for others is immersed in the search for oneself.

(Angel Heart has detective H arry Angel on a quest for a missing person — a one­ time band singer, Johnny Favourite, who went bad on a contract made with Louis Cyphre 12 years ago — that takes him through religious fanaticism in New

York to voodooism down New Orleans way, and reveals a Faustian and Oedipal plot by the end of the process.)

Coming in from the other door, one would only have to think of Dario Argento’s horror films, whose central characters are always embroiled in an investigative plot {Cat 0 ’ Nine Tails, Deep Red, Inferno, et al). Indeed, I ’m sure Parker has borrowed an Argento motif — a full-frontal shot of a facade with one primary colour glowing in a window — for a recurring flashback sequence.

Also, while reading R .J. Thom pson’s review of Crossroads in Freeze Frame, I cannot help thinking that Parker has borrowed from W alter Hill. Why else move the story from New York (where it all takes place in the book) to Louisiana?

Then there’s sex, played for sensa­ tionalism rather than sensuality. The climactic sex scene with H arry and the voodoo priestess Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet) — the one that earned the film an X rating until a few seconds were cut — looks as if it were staged by a mixer gone haywire. T here’s plenty of frenetic editing in this scene, with high angle shots of Mickey R ourke’s overthe-speed-limit thrusting, close-ups of Bonet sweating and screaming, writhing

sheets, enigmatic flashbacks, water mixed with blood seeping through the ceiling and dripping on their bodies, and it’s staged against a storm that is batter­ ing the fleabag room.

Compare this with an earlier sex scene. H arry meets his secretary who has the lowdown on the missing persons case. Next scene they’re on a bed un ­ doing each other’s clothes, and again, there’s a montage of close-ups from different angles — her lips, H arry ’s hand between her legs, suspenders un ­ done, the skirt slipping off her waist and so on — as she mechanically spills the information. H er spiel ends. Then, as though the passion’s spent, H arry rolls over and sits on the bed facing the camera; he sticks a cigarette between his lips while she’s up behind him stroking his shoulders. She asks, “ Did I do good?” , he replies, “ You did great.”

End of scene. Get my drift about some­ thing there and not there all at the same time? It’s the intimacy of the situation that makes this scene sensual (in con­ trast with the mechanicality of the edit­ ing and dialogue). It’s a pity Angel Heart has only a few moments such as this where there’s a case for poetic licence.

Finally, what is interesting about ^

DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS: Mickey Rourke must go

CINEM A P A P ER S JULY — 51

R-E-ViE-W-S

You’d have to be a boor not to like Radio and we are not a boor. It really is a sweet little film — gentle and funny and nostalgic. And here we have the ‘old Woody Allen’ (or at least a recreation) delivering a monologue: a disembodied voice stringing together yarns, anecdotes, gags, with canny casualness and diffident wit; just the way most of us were first introduced to him via what used to be called ‘the magic of the long-playing record’ before other, bigger magic lured us away from audio technology.

The most admirable thing about Purple Rose O f Cairo was its narrative elegance, and the most apparent thing about Radio Days is the way it is and is not a story in the expected, and accepted, sense of that word. Allen’s voice informs us near the beginning that he is just going to be recounting some of his favourite anecdotes about the golden age of radio in the forties. But as the film continues both chronologic and narrative logic begin to make themselves felt, and by its end, fragile hopes of a new year in the midst of war and the dreams and ambitions of a group of characters have become inter­ twined into a satisfying, lingering impres­ sion of what was lost and never was — an almost musical coda to an understated, but virtuoso, story-telling performance.

It is no accident that the words we have just written might also be applied to the work of Garrison Keillor, raconteur, host of a radio show, ‘The Prairie Home Com­ panion’, and author of Lake Wobegon Days. For it seems to us that Radio D ays , whose title alone constitutes something of a challenge, would not exist were it not for Keillor’s success. Keillor is the only American humorist of the past twenty years to threaten Allen’s pre-eminence as the comedic spokesperson of the US liberal intelligentsia. R adio D ays responds to that threat by evoking both Keillor’s chosen medium, radio, and his subject matter, adolescent nostalgia, from the invidious position of a film securely anchored in the present.

Keillor’s radio show features the hokeyfolky kind of music which rarely finds its way onto the national networks in the United States: polka bands, singers with acoustic guitars, gospel groups and the like. Allen’s film, as befits the product of one born and raised in an urban environ­ ment, boasts a soundtrack made up mainly of forties kitsch music: ‘Tico Tico’, ‘The Donkey Serenade’, ‘Paper Doll’ et al. Neither is music one really wants to listen to, but both serve admir­ ably to summon up The Past in all its syrupy sepia splendour. And, just as Keillor has the acumen to throw in an occasional Chet Atkins or Art Hodes for listeners who aspire to some taste, so Allen D ays ,

K E E P O N T A K IN G T H E T A B L O ID S : M ickey R ourke reads all about it

Angel Heart is that all of this appears to have no direct relation with advancing the plot, or doesn’t figure in any schematic way to the majority of sym­ bolic details. These usually appear at the beginning of a scene, just before the camera homes in on a particular situa­ tion: a couple of rats rum m aging through trash under the Coney Island boardwalk; a New York street setting where a car pulls up to the kerb and H arry fleetingly asks the girl stepping out if it’s a new car and if that’s her boy­ friend behind the wheel, and then con­ tinues on his way. O r, these details appear at the edge of the frame, while some other event is played out in the foreground. For instance, a litde girl with a rag doll to whom H arry sends a couple of affectionate glances as he’s negotiating with the attendant of the fleabag; or, the New Orleans street scene with a line of black kids tap dancing along the footpath, which at one point takes in, from H arry ’s point of view, a close-up of a set of metal rimmed shoes rapping the concrete. (It should be mentioned that the tapping sound is carried over into the next scene, high­ lighting the cutting and adding to the unnerving sense of w hat’s to be seen there — like Coppola’s The Cotton Club.)

These are like snippets of film that have been leftover in the editing process, and w hat’s striking about them is the way they look so unnecessary yet appear more effective than the rest of the film.

Joh n Foam ANGEL HEART: Directed by Alan Parker. Producers: Alan Marshall, Elliot Kastner. Executive producers: Mario F. Kassar, Andrew Vajna. Screenplay: Alan Parker. Based on the novel Fallen Angel by William Hjortsberg. Director of photography: Michael Seresin.

Production designer: Brian Morris. Music: Trevor Jones.

Editor: Gerry Hambling. Cast: Mickey Rourke (Harry), Robert De Niro (Louis Cyphre), Lisa Bonet (Epiphany), Charlotte Rampling (Margaret Krusemark), Stocker Fontelieu (Ethan Krusemark), Elizabeth Whitcraft (Connie), Michael Higgins (Fowler), Brownie McGhee (Toots Sweet). Production company: Carolco Films.

Distributor: Village Roadshow. 35mm. 113 minutes.

USA. 1986.

52 — JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

laces his ear-candy with the likes of Good­ man’s ‘Goodbye’ and Strayhorn’s ‘Take the A Train’.

Keillor’s music tries hard to avoid suggesting the here-and-now, but Allen manages to have it both ways. Both Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton sing in this film, and both sing (extremely well) in a post-sixties cabaret style rather than the more direct and unadorned ‘chantoose’ style of the forties. The Past is there, but distanced in the baroque technique of the present. This is something Keillor’s faith would not permit — for somewhere in his self-conscious fictions of Lake Wobegon there persists a dream of the people — whereas in Allen’s work, as we have said in these pages before, there is only a dream of the self.

That dream is most neatly realised here in one of the clever things Allen as a film­ maker does to overcome the problems raised in making an audiovisual produc­ tion about an audio medium. The most obvious (and tiresome) way of represent­ ing radio visually is to give visual sub­ stance to the ‘fantasies’ radio supposedly sets in train. We can all be grateful that he is too smart to go for that idea. Instead, we are shown people listening to radio sets and people making noises into micro­ phones. ‘Fantasies’ are sometimes des­ cribed for us by Allen’s voice, but they are never illustrated. This has the effect of filtering everything on the screen through the sensibility of the narrating voice (a voice which is heard far more often than is usual in narrated films). But there is something else. The fictional radio folk in the film, while scarcely demythologised, are shown to us; we get to see them ‘as they are’. Their voices only control the worlds of other fictional folk — the listen­ ers — in the film. But Allen we never see.

H is is the only truly ‘radio’ presence in the film: wholly constituted by sound, and reconstituting our ‘vision’ with the sounds it makes.

LIV E T O A IR : M ichael M u rray, W illiam Flan a g an and W a lla c e S haw n

• GOTHIC

FO R T H E L O V E O F M IK E : T o n y R ob erts an d D ian n e W ie s t

T here is a b it o f a con flict h ere b etw e en the overt ‘m essage’ o f th e film , w h ich is about the goodness o f an im a g in a ry com ­ m un ity forged b y radio in the p a st, and the singular p ow er asserted b y A llen in the im aginary com m u n ity forged b y h is film in the p resen t. A lthou gh the m ood o f the film is elegiac, and certain ly it w a n ts us to b elieve in co llective closen ess, fin a lly the com m un ity sh ow n in Radio Days is a co l­ lection o f in d iv id u a l id e n titie s, each b lin d ly p u rsu in g its particu lar ob sessio n , each fed in its ow n p ecu lia r w a y b y the sounds o f rad io. R ather than d ra w in g the characters together, rad io p u lls them inw ard and apart from on e another. W h en the you n g W ood y A llen (for h e is a charac­ ter in h is ow n film again ) sees a G erm an subm arine, ju st as the rad io has told h im he m igh t, he tells no on e. H e ca n n o t. It m ight b e o n ly a dream .

T h e m ost b ea u tifu l m om en ts in th e film

H O S T S W IT H T H E M O S T : Ju lie K urnitz and David W arrilo w c o m p e re an ea rly m orning radio show

— and this is a film w ith b eau tifu l m om ents — are p layed out in darkness, tin ged w ith a n x iety and loss. As ‘G ood­ b y e ’ p lays on the soundtrack, searchlight beam s sw iv el across a b lack screen and the b eau ty o f the n ig h t is rem arked upon; black ness too opens out the clim ax o f an ep iso d e, b ased on an actual ev e n t, in w h ich a fran tic search for a little girl trapped in a m in e shaft ends w ith the d is­ covery o f her corpse. I f these are m om ents o f com m un al closen ess, th ey are also m om ents o f the m ost profoun d sense o f separateness — in d e ed , th eir b eau ty results from the in terp la y o f those two sen sation s.

B oorish ly, perh ap s, w e are su spiciou s o f th e b ea u ty o f these m om ents and the care­ fu lly crafted m ood o f Radio Days. T h e W ood y A llen w h o speaks on the sou n d ­ track has adapted the vocal p attern o f a com edian to the sty listics o f an ‘a rtist’.

N o t con ten t to en terta in , h e w ants to see h im se lf as the Great C onsoler, H e W ho D ream s For U s. It is th is p reten ce, and the adulatory response it e licits, w h ich w e fin d ob jection ab le in h is w ork (and in d e ed , in K e illo r ’s as w ell) and w h ich u ltim a tely d en ies it the v ery stature he so ard en tly d esires, m ak in g each ‘W ood y A llen film ’ m erely a d iv er tin g catalogu e o f affectation s.

B ill an d D iane R o u tt RADIO DAYS: Directed by Woody Allen. Produced by Robert Greenhut. Executive producers: Jack Rollins and Charles H. Joffe. Screenplay: Woody Allen. Direc­ tor of photography: Carlo Di Palma. Production designer: Santo Loquasto. Music: Dick Hyman. Editor: Susan E. Morse. Cast: Mia Farrow (Sally White), Seth Green (Joe), Dianne Wiest (Bea), Julie Kavner (Mother), Michael Tucker (Father), Josh Mostel (Abe), Diane Keaton (New Year's Singer). Production company: Orion. Distributors: Village Roadshow. 35mm. 88 minutes. USA. 1987

Nobody much reads Rafael Sabatini these days, and except for film adapta­ tions of The Sea Hawk and Scaramouche, he’s been shunted into the secondhand shelves. At least one memorable first line, however, sticks in the memory of almost every writer. It’s the capsule description o f Scaram ouche, half­ swordsman, half-clown. “ H e was born with the gift of laughter,” says Sabatini, “ and a sense that the world was m ad.”

Contem porary filmmakers aren’t given much to laughter and madness, but Ken Russell has cornered the market in what there is, and Gothic is filled with both. Not laughter in the comic sense, but a cackling hilarity that echoes in the empty halls of his 19th century setting. And a sense that the world is mad? W ell, the director of Tommy, The Music Lovers and Altered States has always had that to spare.

Stephen V olk’s script for Gothic sheds a blast of white light on a corner of British literary history that’s well on the way to becoming better known than Hemingway in Paris or Fanny Hill in bed. In 1816, Lord Byron rented the Villa Deodati on the shores of Lake Geneva to hide out from his crazed female admirers and get some work done. He was shortly joined by Percy Shelley, S h elley ’s m istress M ary Godwin, and her half-sister Claire Clairmont. Floating around the place was Byron’s epicene physician and bio­ grapher John Polidori — not to mention a couple of baboons and a goat. (Well, it wouldn’t be a party without the goat.)

To enliven a dull weekend made duller by the reading aloud of a book of German horror stories called Phantasmagorica, Byron suggested that they all try writing a spine-chiller. Shelley passed, too febrile to trouble him self with fiction. Byron’s fragment The Vampyre was revised and printed some years later

by Polidori, whose own story was a very odd piece about a skull-headed lady who goes around peering through keyholes.

(Not surprising, given the picture Timothy Spall paints of the eccentric doctor.)

As for Claire, her talent lay in other directions: Russell shows her as the classic life of the party — gripped by fits and sexual fantasies, capering naked around the castle’s dungeon wearing nothing but a thin film of mud, or devouring Gabriel Byrne’s Byron like fried chicken. Even if she could write, one wonders where she would have found the time.

This leaves Mary Godwin, later Mary Wollstonecraft, and later still Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Daughter of a distinguished philosopher and a radical feminist, she was a teenage tearaway with some of the best genes in the British Empire. W hile the rest of the group raved, drank, fornicated and got stoned, she sat down and wrote Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. She was 19 years old. >

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 53

All this is so improbable that Volk, a prize-winner for his TV commercials but a debutant at feature scripts, needed to add little to turn it into a Russell film. The favourite tipple of this group was laudanum , a tincture of opium usually drunk drop by drop in water: Shelley downed it by the glass, with results that can be imagined.

Russell shows him prancing nude on the roof of the villa in the middle of a crack­ ling thunderstorm, exulting in lightning as the motive force of the universe. It may even be true, as the film suggests, that the group indulged in sexual mixed doubles, with Polidori a goggle-eyed scorekeeper. As Russell said once, “ my films may be bizarre, but they pale beside reality” .

Harder to take are the fantasies that blossom under the influence of Chinese mud and Swiss chocolate. Volk and Russell suggest that, instead of merely agreeing to write down its tales, the group actually held a seance around the skull of a monk who had sold his soul, in best Gothic tradition, to the devil. The horrors about which they write are therefore, in Russell’s version, real, and they haunt the villa through that one wild night.

Well, real to them. Because Russell is again rummaging around the subcon­ scious of the artist, looking for the bits and pieces that make up art. H e’s never quite escaped his early background in 8mm amateur movies, for which he clothed his characters in costumes unearthed from London junk shops by his then-wife Shirley. Even as a m aga­ zine photographer, he dressed Shirley in clothes that belonged to the Bronte sisters and shot her prowling morosely around the grim graveyard at Haworth.

Ken got the pictures: she got the ’flu.

Every Russell film has some element of the charade — people dressing up and dancing around with lampshades on their heads. Usually it’s a detail, like the phoney Isadora Duncan-style dance in Women In Love, but in Gothic it becomes the backbone of the film — and, I think, a frail one.

Like everything Russell does, Gothic is visually striking. His skill with images

has not deserted him, and tempted by the whole costume trunk of 19th century gothic romanticism, he empties it to the last pair of knickers. Things in the cellar m utter and drip slime; doors creak, chains rattle. Never mind that the spirit embraced by Byron, Shelley and their companions was not this superstitious claptrap at all, but a bracing and forward-thinking rationalism. Shelley itched for a new world based on science.

Byron died fighting to bring down the corrupt old order in Greece. And liter­ ary historians like Brian Aldiss (whose Yorkshire twang I thought I detected in the voice of the guide who conducts modern visitors over the Villa Deodati in the film’s epilogue: an uncredited guest appearance?) see Frankenstein not as a late-flowering gothic novel but the earliest shoot of science fiction.

People like this would no more huddle superstitiously over a dead m an’s skull than the Hampstead chapter of Mensa would play Spin the Bottle. But Russell has always preferred the mystical to the rational, and every resource of film, including a thundering rock/classic score by Thomas Dolby in the style of Rick W akeman’s Dvorak transm og­ rification for Crimes Of Passion, is bent to demanding our submission to his vision of Byron, Godwin, Shelley and Co. as something between Don Juan In Hell and the Rolling Stones on acid.

Russell’s cyclic personality has led to an erratic body of work. His TV docu­ mentary on Vaughan Williams, shown recently on the ABC, suggests the more subdued Russell of his early days at the BBC. But the old devil lurks just below the surface, ready at any time to erupt into our well-ordered world, rub our noses in its more bizarre emissions, trot out into bright day the horrors of our subconscious as he’s no doubt about to do in his recently announced Australianbased biopic on Percy Grainger. Well, maybe in every generation the cinema needs a Ken Russell to add yeast to what can easily become a doughy loaf. As the advertising said of M ad Max, thank God he’s out there somewhere.

L’ANNEE DERNIERE A GENEVE: A symmetrical moment from

54 - JULY CINEM A P A P ER S

J o h n B a x te r

G o th ic

GOTHIC: Directed by Ken Russell. Producer: Penny Corke. Executive producers: Al Clark, Robert Devereux.

Screenplay: Stephen Volk. Director of photography: Mike Southon. Production designer: Christopher Hobbs. Music: Thomas Dolby. Editor: Michael Bradsell.

Cast: Gabriel Byrne (Lord Byron), Julian Sands (Percy Bysshe Shelley), Natasha Richardson (Mary Godwin), Myriam Cyr (Claire), Timothy Spall (Dr John Polidori), Alec Mango (Murray), Andreas Wisniewski (Fletcher), Dexter Fletcher (Rushton). Production company: Virgin Vision, developed in association with Robert Fox. Dis­ tributor: Village Roadshow. 35mm. 87 minutes. Great Britain. 1986.

• BLACK WIDOW One of the deepest strands in the thriller involves intimacy between criminal and detective. In Poe’s seminal story, The Purloined Letter, the magisterial thief is D, the authoritative detective is Dupin.

C o m p re h e n sio n , sy m p ath y , even identity can be exchanged between the two poles of value in the structure of crime fiction.

Bob Rafelson’s Black Widow employs that pattern as its underlying, potential but eventually disavowed structure.

And condensed with that is a newer thematic mode, primarily social rather than psychic, the feminist detective story. Fem ale police have been appearing, in various forms, from ladies like Angie Dickinson to the hard femme tough guy of M ary W ings’ novel, She Came Too Late (when will that be filmed?).

In Black Widow, Debra W inger plays a federal investigator who becomes intri­ gued, perhaps obsessed, with a par­ ticular case. But why must female sleuths be em otionally involved?

Cagney and Lacey (a finely tough-soft pair of names) can’t just do a job, they have to emote too. Is that a valid femin­ ising of the detective, or a recuperation of the female stereotype? Some of the English detectives, genteel as they may be, aren’t so sloppily unliberated — take P.D. Jam es’s Cordelia Gray or Antonia Fraser’s Jem im a Shore.

Winger lumbers through the early stages of the film: she places profession before relationships, takes work home, and caricatures the working woman by walking with a deliberate hobble that is closer to the ugly duckling than any police procedure.

H er target is the polymorphous Theresa Russell, bearing many names, wigs and accents. W ith speedy panache she identifies, seduces, marries and murders rich men. H er multiplicity is sketched with spare impact through an opening sequence that is both skilfully elusive and dramatically rapid.

It goes deep too. W inger’s potential imbroglio with this woman of faces and crimes is finely implied; she studies slides of Russell on her apartm ent wall, walks in front to look more closely, profiles and bodies coalesce. Alex Barnes, the neatly desexed name for W inger’s part, stares at her own face to think about its relation to Russell’s many-purposed mask.

Rafelson has previously created telling sequences like this, in The Postman Always Rings Twice and Five Easy Pieces,

H A R D T O H O L D : T h e re s a R ussell and D eb ra W in g er p res en t th e ir latest coiffures

for example. But his extra-Hollywood insights tend to blur towards the com­ mercial. In a recent interview, he spoke of his am bitions to probe but also to go for the big audience. His lack of any real grasp of contem porary structures of deconstruction was clear when he gave his credo: to present the ‘unique char­ acter’ because we are all ‘unique’. Skills and techniques from the modernist repertoire are collapsed into individual­ ist consumerism.

So it is in Black Widow. The device that permits closure to begin is the detective’s inner obsession with her case; the imperialism of character throttles a set of explorations that are both infra and supra personal. Then they are buried in a simplistic and travelogue-like narrative as hunter chases quarry, now no longer interpene­ trating possibilities but simplistically separate people. T he settings become reductive, from post-m odern urban East, to ruggedly individualistic North West right down to television land, Hawaii, dom ain of the moustachioed M agnum , bottle, gun and m an at once.

H aw aii perm its beaches, hotels, pounding surf, bare flesh — tackily tactile emblems of the now enmeshing narrative. T he original tensions slide into a set ofwill-she will-she puzzles; will.

Russell kill again, will W inger get off with Russell’s latest and so m uff her chances?

T he existence of the new m an is an im portant element in the dissolution of

the feminist doppelganger structure. He is fine old Sami Frey, as nobly savage as ever, and not dismissable like the wealthy whities of the first reel. He has romance, he makes W inger’s locked knees tremble; he takes her (and her dis­ solving double) up to see the fiery volcano and they are both, like the bushland, scorched by the exuded heat of m an and m ountain. Finally, we have a tricky resolution right out of nightly tele­ vision.

Rafelson retains his quirky possibili­ ties, traces of a disturbing dynamism survive; but those thrusts can’t displace a now firmly established and uninterrogatively solid narrative pattern. This failure to develop the dark potential of condensing feminist detection with the double-based thriller seems in part caused by a loss of nerve but also appears to stem from a constant lack of a sufficiently nerveuse style. From the start, Rafelson crunches feeling with harsh cuts from loud noise/high lighting to silent passage ways and obscure half­ views. In the same way music is oppres­ sively emotive and script settles into a consecutive cement. For all the flicker­ ing power of Russell’s playing, the characters are basically rounded and actorish, Nicol W illiamson going down like a great white whale of a husband, W inger and Frey exchanging glimpses of notional inner depth. No real breaches of the naturalistic illusion are tolerated for long.

As it stands, and as it’s titled, Black Widow is a consistently missed shot at a visual version of the probing and proto­ feminist experimental thriller, like the ones M argaret M illar used to write in the days before she picked up, like a communicable disease, the sensitive hero from her husband, ‘Ross M ac­ D onald’.

But maybe it’s more than a missed shot; perhaps the aim is really else­ where. Millar, like Highsm ith, gets her contraries in one figure, and th at’s the impact of the doppelganger story. By sensing that possibility and going in the opposite direction, Black Widow moves into a long and less than noble tradition.

To realise and then foreclose the power of the feminine through diabolising one of her aspects and sanctifying the other goes back a long way in W estern culture — and in Australian culture too, as Anne Summers has informed us.

Theresa Russell makes a powerful M organ la Fay and D ebra W inger does pretty well with the unprom ising part of the Lady of the Lake. But M alory knew enough to make them avatars and leave it at that. Rafelson both overstresses and dissolves the dialectics of the relation­ ship. The Black Widow might, in firm er hands, have been The Grey Wife.

Stephen K night BLACK WIDOW: Directed by Bob Rafelson. Producer: Harold Schneider. Executive producer: Laurence Mark.

Screenplay: Ronald Bass. Director of photography: Conrad L. Hall. Production designer: Gene Callahan.

Music: Michael Small. Editor: John Bloom. Cast: Debra Winger (Alexandra), Theresa Russell (Catharine), Sami Frey (Paul), Dennis Hopper (Ben), Nicol Williamson (William Macauley), Terry O'Quinn (Bruce), Lois Smith (Sara), D.W. Moffett (Michael). Production company: Laurence Mark Productions in association with Amercent Films and American Entertainment Partners. Dis­ tributor: Fox Columbia. 35mm. 103 minutes. USA. 1987.

• RECENT RELEASES

A Supplementary Guide May:

Frenchm an’s Farm (CEL) Lady Ja n e (UIP) Beyond The Edge Burglar (Village Roadshow) Buddha’s Lock (Yu Enterprises) The Supergrass (Hoyts) W anted Dead O r Alive (Village Roadshow) The Bedroom W indow (Hoyts) The M en ’s Club (Filmpac) H yper Sapien (Village Roadshow) Allen Q uarterm ain A nd The Lost City O f Gold (Hoyts) R at Boy (Village Roadshow) Creepshow II (Village Roadshow) The Second Victory (G reater Union) The W hite M onkey The Bullets O f T he Poets

June: Brighton Beach M emoirs (UIP) Beyond T herapy (Village Roadshow) M annequin (Hoyts) Dim Sum (CEL) Project X (Fox Columbia) The Fourth Protocol (Hoyts) Wild T hing (Filmpac) Beverly Hills Cop II (UIP) M organ Stew art’s Com ing H om e (Seven Keys) Amazing Stories (UIP) Secret O f M y Success (U IP) Flight O f The N avigator (Village Roadshow) Blind D ate (Fox Columbia) Sleeping Beauty (G reater Union) Rosa Luxem burg (Filmpac) Les Fugitifs (Filmpac) The Funeral (Ronin)

SOUNDSTAGE AUSTRALIA HAS OPENED “ Perths Largest Sound Stage “ —■Quality Low Cost Production“

SOUNDSTAGE AUSTRALIA 9 Foundry Street, M aylands W .A. 6051 (09) 370 2522

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY - 55

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Victoria Ginn

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MAURI: “ a Maori perception of the world’

NEW ZEALAND

BY M I K E

NICOLAIDI

Merata Mita’s movies Late autumn overspreads the tran­ quillity of the eastern Bay of Plenty coastline at Te Kaha. Mists curl around the hills; a silver-grey sea, foreshore framed in the foliage of immutable evergreen pohutukawa, blends with the horizon. The depth of field is infinite.

The only sometime obstruction to the eye is the soft outline of volcanic White Island. It moves within the shapes of the steam-cloud encircling it, fading in and out of view depend­ ing on the atmospherics.

Earlier this year, on the fault line that passes through the Island and central New Zealand, an earthquake struck causing massive damage in a rural community an hour by road from Te Kaha. At that time, Awatea Films was in advanced pre-produc­ tion on Mauri. There were constant hassl es o v er r ai s i ng the $NZ1,700,000 budget. The possi­ bility of abandoning the project was acute.

But now, this first dramatic feature film of Maori woman director Merata Mita, working from her own screen­ play and co-producing with close companion Geoff Murphy, is nearing the end of its shoot. The result should confirm the potency of the surging Maori contribution to New Zealand film culture and enter­ tainment.

Although the Maori has been a constant source of inspiration for filmmakers over the years, from Rudall Hayward in the 1920s and 1930s, through John O'Shea in the 1950s and 1960s, to Geoff Murphy, himself, with Utu in 1982, it has been a European perspective.

The filming of Ngati early last year changed all that. Produced by O’Shea, but written by Tama Poata and directed by Barry Barclay — both Maori — it was a Maori produc­ tion in essence, person power and themes. Like Mauri it was shot in a predominantly Maori community on

56 — JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

the North Island’s East Coast.

Barclay, like Mita, has a disting­ uished record of documentary filmmaking behind him, including a highly praised television series about Maori life, Tangata Whenua, made in the 1970s, and an epic documentary reflecting global concerns, The Neg­ lected Miracle.

Both directors also have been involved in encouraging, through training courses, more Maori and Pacific Island participation in film and television. This activity has led to the formation of Te Manu Aute, a kamaka (sheltering canopy) for Maori film, television and stage artists dedicated to improving Maori content in the entertainment indus­ tries. A Maori caucus within the Wellington branch of Actors’ Equity was recently established.

Mita is one of the few filmmakers of high standing in the country who is not a member of the Independent Producers’ and Directors’ Guild.

Although she is an alternate member of the New Zealand Film Commis­ sion her instinct is to act herself rather than sit in judgement on the projects of others. Her contribution to the Te Manu Aute movement will be her practical example in building the number of Maori in film crews rather than acting as any lofty theor­ etician.

One of nine children, Merata Mita was born in 1942 at Maketu in the Bay of Plenty. She received a trad­ itional Maori upbringing. An out­ standing student, she trained as a teacher. Over the last six years she has proved herself as one of the country’s most accomplished docu­ mentary filmmakers. Patul, her feature-length documentary about the 1981 tour of New Zealand by the South African Springbok rugby team and the protest against it by the anti­ apartheid movement, stirred contro­ versy at home and won festival prizes in East Germany and France.

She was actor and cultural adviser on Murphy’s Utu, and co-writer and crew member on his more recent The Quiet Earth. (Roles are reversed in Mauri with Murphy playing a leading role, under Mita’s direction, as a European land-owner.)

The screenplay of Mauri (in

English, “ life force” ) considers the relevance of traditional human values to the experience of the new generation. Set in 1958, the story blends themes of land ownership, inter-marriage, death and regenera­ tion in a way that makes the par­ ticular universal and the drama time­ less.

Mita says the film started in her mind as the simple story she heard when she was very little about an old kuia and her mokopuna (grand­ child).

"The old woman explained to the child the essence of life through life and death; the most complex things were explained simply, giving the child its place in the totality of life. “ The story has always been at the back of my head with the kuia and mokopuna relationship as the central theme. As the years went on my own experiences became involved with this basic component.

Some of these experiences had damaging consequences if not for me for those around me. I saw these as other threads. Then the story came clear and I sat down and wrote it.”

Mita says raising the money for the project was a struggle. It was at a time when there was a loss of confidence in the film industry, and Mauri did not fit the accepted norm.

She believes the New Zealand feature film industry to date, with films like Utu, Sylvia, Heart Of The Stag, Constance and Bridge To Nowhere, reflects a white middleclass neurosis — an unresolved colonial mentality.

"The European settlement of this country and its consequences have not been faced. They have been pushed aside leaving unresolved conflicts within the conscious and unconscious mind.” . Mita says Mauri will be a Maori perception of the world. As is the case with Ngati, black is good and white is not necessarily so.

"Things Maori are valued and the material world is challenged. This is not understood by conventional film assessors.”

When the investor her company had finally gained dropped out at the last minute, Mita says her gut reaction was to pull back. However,

personnel had been engaged and the pressure to continue was irresis­ tible.

It also was at a time of nation-wide furore over attempts by some in Maoridom to raise a huge overseas loan for Maori development. The ability of the Maori to handle money was seriously questioned in the media and the matter of saving face became important for some people.

Mita quips: “ Not for me. I didn’t have to.” Following a special meeting, the film commission step­ ped into the breach by underwriting the full budget against a pre-sale from Auckland producer Larry Parr’s Mirage Films and his overseas sales company, Challenge Films.

Mita is frank about the loss of valu­ able pre-production time due to the financial worries. “ It was a set-back we have never really overcome. The shoot has been difficult. I’ve often had to look at my own failings and flaws. I would have liked our plan­ ning to have been so effective that every contingency on the shoot could have been dealt with rather than have had money thrown at it.”

With a crew of 50, of whom more than 30 are Maori, Mita says there also have been problems arising from the “ alienation” and “ culture shock” experienced by some of the European New Zealanders not used to a Maori working environ­ ment.

The line between illusion and reality became so blurred at times that it unnerved some. She laughs: “ I like it” .

An eight-week edit follows shooting with a double-head fine cut due at the end of September. The film is to be delivered by 31 December.

Barclay’s Ngati, which also deals with themes so powerfully drawn in Mita’s screenplay, was selected for International Critics’ Week at Cannes in May. Mauri could take a similar path.

Finding more affinity with Euro­ pean rather than American filmmaking, Mita believes it is possible to make films embedded both in art and entertainment. “ In the final analysis anything approaching the essence of a culture is art.”

NGATI: Judy McIntosh and Ross Girven

AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION T he A u stra lia n F ilm C om m ission is p red o m in an tly a fu n d in g an d service o rg an isatio n .

It offers a ran g e o f funding su p p o rt including: ★ Script an d p ro jec t developm ent th ro u g h th e Script O ffice an d th e D o cu m en tary D evelopm ent P ro g ram . ★ P ro d u c tio n investm ent th ro u g h th e Special P ro d u c tio n F u n d , th e C reative D evelopm ent F u n d , the W o m en ’s Film F u n d an d th e N o Frills F u n d . ★ D o cu m en tary fellow ships. ★ M ark etin g loans. ★ A ssistance to film an d video organisations an d festivals. ★ Special research an d publication funding.

T he A F C also u n d ertak es research an d prepares discussion papers o n a rang e o f issues affecting th e industry, represents the A u stralian film in d u stry internationally, an d provides legal, business a n d m ark etin g advice.

N ew developm ents at th e A F C include th e establishm ent o f Film A u stralia, th e p ro d u ctio n division o f the A F C , as a co m p an y w holly ow ned by th e F ederal G overnm ent; th e relo catio n o f th e W o m en ’s F ilm F u n d to M elbourne; a Jo in t V enture P ro g ra m fo r script an d p ro jec t developm ent; an d th e launching o f th e film in d u stry d atab ase.

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B O O IC

R E V I E W S

THE SCREENING OF AUSTRALIA Vol. 1, Anatomy of a Film Industry

By Susan Dermody and Elizabeth Jacka (Australian Screen series, Currency Press, 1987, ISBN 0 86819 1523, $24.95rrp).

The title refers to the recent burgeoning of the long-dormant Australian film industry, if not to an equivalent-sized, under­ pinning film culture (a particular gripe of Dermody and Jacka). It also refers to the emblazoning of that subculture or, rather, pro­ vincial culture — “ post-colonial, without being post-revolution­ ary” in their delineation — not only across its native continent but right across the world, as well as to a third sense, insuffi­ ciently explored by them, that of revealing concealed meanings.

What started out as “ a brief survey, a compilation of chrono­ logies and views on the revival of the Australian Film Industry . . . a p le a s a n t 8 0 -p a g e ‘quickie’ ” (p9) rapidly grew Into two volumes. The present one is concerned with that necessary evil, Mammon, or more specific­ ally, “ a chronology of events, in­ stitutional analyses, discussions of economic structures, industry policies, milieux and dis­ courses” (p13) no less. A forth­ coming companion volume with the subtitle, ‘Anatomy of a Cul­ tural Project’, is concerned with the aesthetic patterns of some 200 Australian films. It sets out to articulate “ Australianness . . . either by adoption or rejection” (p191), to sort “ through the categories of film within the whole body of possibilities the industry has constructed for itself, and then analyse the sometimes buried, sometimes flag-waving project of Australian identity, a project that unfolds unevenly in the films” (p13 again).

The first chapter, 'Australian Cinema — Between Industry and Culture’, sets off rather in the manner of The Hunting Of The Snark, in search of that elu­ sive chimera, Australianness.

(It’s both informative and incon­ clusive, rightly brushing aside the problem as a bit of a red her­ ring, in favour of what Bob Ellis (our would-be Malcolm Muggeridge) has called “ cultural exactitude” (p36, unsourced ironically enough) or, rather, exactitudes: “ the more subtle, historically-precise, politicallychallenging set of differences that intricately complicate the construction of Australian iden­ tity — class, region, locale, sub­ culture, ethnic and racial separations, and sex and age • • •” (p47).

The second, ‘Industry Re­ vival’, an industrial history of Australian filmmaking over the

58 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

last couple of decades, has been done before, if not quite to the same degree, by writers such as Graham Shirley and Brian Adams (to 1975) and Brian McFarlane.

The same could be said for the third chapter, the longest chapter of them all, principally concerned with the Australian Film Commission, the Goliath to th e w o u ld -b e D a v id of independent filmmaking, the West St Ziggurat, the Godfather (in both the good and the bad senses) to Australian film; but that would be a mistake, for this is the crunch of the problem for Dermody and Jacka, resulting in a plethora of films that they dub the “ AFC genre” .

This genre exhibits “ . . . a picturesque and rather literary Australianness, fundamentally unproblematic and inoffensive, neither too ocker nor too high­ brow. Australianness inheres in the lyrical qualities of the bush (of the softened urban past), set off by tasteful period costume and art design” (p202).

In that same chapter, the authors’ leitmotiv, their ‘them vs. us’ antithesis, with no sign of a synthesis, makes its first appear­ ance (p103).

C U LTURE vs IN D U S TR Y

■ Independent Film ■ Art ■ Minority ■ Non-commercial

■ Mainstream Film ■ Business ■ Popular ■ Commercial

“ The whole course of govern­ ment and thus of AFC policy has been dogged by the opposition implicit between culture and industry in debates around Aus­ tralian film” (ibid).

The fourth chapter, ‘The Distributlon/Exhibition Sector’ , which they maintain is “ the most important element in the film scene” (p108), is a curious cata­ logue of the successes and the failures of both Village/Roadshow (their Flexagon experi­ ment in particular) and Greater Union (with obeisance to David Williams) and to a lesser extent Floyts (up until The Man From Snowy River) have all had with Australian films, it reinforces the previous chapter, but doesn’t prove quite as much as the authors seem to think it does.

The fifth, ‘The Struggle Over Australian Content and Actors’ Equity Policy’, using that mish­ mash, The Return Of Captain In­ vincible as a test case, has now been overtaken by events, or is

it by the realities of the market­ place? It represents a major shortcoming of this book, in that the bulk of research work seems to have been done about 1982, with forays towards 1984, but with nothing much up to 1987 (the preface is dated March 1986).

The final chapter, ‘Money — Financing, Budgets, Markets and Returns’, should be the climax. The authors devise two fictitious examples of Australian Film Financing, Koala (made in 1978) and Son Of Koala (made in 1982, that alleged annus m irabilis again). They go through the financial record of the Australian film industry in three stages, 1970-74, 1975-80 and 1981 “ to the present” (not really).

Dermody and Jacka also come up with the full-blown ver­ sion of their archetypal model, their polarisation of possibilities, the “ two major framing dis­ courses of Australian Film . . . the discourse of commercial­ ism” (pp197-198):

Australia); of the private industry (production entities and financial institutions); of state corporation films (the latest cited being 1983)] a potted history of taxa­ tion benefits for film production before 10BA and a summary of 10BA provisions (though not up to the 120/20 per cent cutback); an assessment history from 1973-1979 of Albie Thoms’ Palm Beach (1979), an interest­ ing film but hardly of majority interest and hardly a cause celebre; various Box-Office Grosses (again, hardly up to date); and finally production budgets of dozens of Australian feature films in both original and 1982 terms.

Thirteen pages of notes, no bibliography which could have at least pointed to more recent developments — there really should have been at least a sub­ stantial postscript about beyond 1984, they themselves refer to “ the slippery changeling per­ sonality of the industry” (p10) — and a less than complete index.

IN D U S TR Y #1 vs IN D U S TR Y #2

■ Socially concerned

Social concern is not the business of film; entertainment is

Search for an Australian identity

Australia is part of the world; “ national identity” is regressive

Lettish Labor

No pointed affiliation, but more like non-Labor

Modestly budgeted films for local audience

I Anti-message films as being audience “ downers”

Interested in other arts, literate I Anti-snobbery, anti-art, parading middle-class, university-educated working class origins Film-buffery

I Anti-art film

Anti-film industry monopolies locally and overseas

I Pro-Flollywood — “ they do it bigger and better; we can learn from them”

In favour of government regulation of industry

For the “ free market”

Anti-cultural imperialism

“ Cultural imperialism? Never heard of it”

■ Cultural and political benefits for film not (necessarily) quantifiable

Bums-on-seats; box-office dollars

The authors say that, with im­ portant provisos, their attitudes were formed by seventies Marxist traditions of cultural and economic theory — what specifically we are not told.

In fact their attitudes are a trifle unclear. Doubtless all will be re­ vealed in volume two. They maintain that, at present, the middle ground is a “ bland circumscribed area” (p204).

There are also seven appen­ dices: itemisations of the main non-government groups in the Australian film industry (distribu­ tion and exhibition, unions and guilds, and the Film and Tele­ vision Producers Association of

About The Screening of Aus­ tralia, one can be hypercritical, question many statements, pick many nits, correct many errors, but if not quite “ a definitive study” so far, it still is a quite useful survey as well as a wel­ come ideological contribution to what has been a fairly meagre contem pora ry debate, as Dermody and Jacka note.

On the other hand, it’s hardly the great book about Mammon vs the Muses that still remains to be written. At the end, one’s left up in the air, awaiting the second volume (the two really should have been published simultaneously).

AUSTRALIAN CINEMA 1970-1985

By Brian McFarlane (Seeker & Warburg/Heinemann, 1987, ISBN 0 436 27022 6, hbk $32.95 rrp).

To the proliferating library of books currently available about the Australian film industry, it’s a pleasure to welcome Brian McFarlane’s Australian Cinema 1970-1985, an invaluable and entertaining exploration of the themes to be found in local productions over the last decade and a half.

As McFarlane explains in his introduction, his aim is to examine ‘the kinds of films’ pro­ duced by the new Australian cinema, and in Chapter 3 he explains why he rejected other approaches to the material (the chronological, careers of direc­ tors etc). It's all too easy for book reviewers (or film reviewers for that matter) to discuss not the book that’s been written, and the stated aims of the author, but the book (or film) the reviewer thinks ought to have been written.

M cFarlane’s reasons for o p tin g fo r th e th e m a tic approach are eminently sen­ sible, though the format does bring with it the problem of over­ lapping, when a particular film is discussed within more than one thematic group.

The themes McFarlane has chosen are: Projecting Australia and Australians; Mateship; Rural L a n d s c a p e s ; The C itie s; Personal Relationships between Men and Women; Growing Up and History Lessons, and he discusses a number of films within each thematic group in an entertaining, perceptive, lucid manner that’s most invigorating.

Above all, this book is a very good read, and, with its exem­ plary index, will make an impor­ tant reference guide.

McFarlane’s knowledge of, and affection for, Australian liter­ ature, art and poetry add a great deal to his comments about the films, and he is especially good when talking about the use of landscape and cityscape, and in his coverage of the historical films.

There are, as noted above, quite a few overlaps. To take one exam ple at random , Michael Pattinson’s Moving Out is discussed on p101 (the chapter on The City) as being the best of the steady stream, from 1982 onwards, of city-andyouth films; it is discussed again on p137 (the piece on Growing Up), and on both occasions, the basic outline of the film is described. This pattern is re­ peated on numerous occasions throughout the book, and unwary readers may sometimes

think they are re-reading some­ thing read the day before.

Like all of us, McFarlane has his favourite films and his favourite directors, as well as films and directors (and at least one producer) he obviously loathes. Most of these likes and dislikes are fairly obvious, but it was good to see McFarlane championing the career of Richard Franklin, a director too often ignored (at least in Sydney). McFarlane’s reference to Franklin’s American-made Cloak And Dagger, surely the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made, is welcome, and I look forward to reading, some time in the future, McFarlane’s comments about Link, to my mind a masterly thriller; when, I wonder, will it appear in our cinemas?

McFarlane very neatly pricks the balloon of The Man From Snowy River, but he unaccount­ ably seems to like Norman Loves Rose, a derivative and flatly directed comedy — but then there’s no accounting for taste.

There are some rather curious omissions in the book. In the excellent chapter on City films, I was looking forward to com­ ments on Ken Quinnell’s The City's Edge (an underrated picture) and Bert Deling’s waywardly good Dead Easy, but neither one is even mentioned.

Perhaps McFarlane hasn’t seen them: certainly their distribution was very, very limited. And I wondered why, in the Growing Up (or maybe City) chapter, John Duigan’s One Night Stand was ignored: it was released in 1984, well within the period the book covers, but doesn’t rate a mention.

And finally, inevitably, there are a few minor errors in the book. David Hemmings didn’t direct Harlequin (p186), at least as far as the film’s credits are concerned: Simon Wincer was responsible for that turkey. And we’re twice told that Sumner Locke Elliott wrote the book on which Robyn Nevin's film The More Things Change . . . was based; as far as I know, that was an original screenplay (by Moya Wood).

These points aside, and a niggling complaint that McFar­ lane is so fond of the expression mise en scene that he uses it three times in four consecutive paragraphs, Australian Cinema 1970-1985 is warmly recom­ mended.

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CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY — 59

T E C H N IC A L IT IE S é

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JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE: Left to right: Previewing the image while using the image library; notes for dialogue, narration or camera

A BYTE OF THE APPLE IN PAST ‘Computers by Microchip’ articles i have assumed readers have a passing familiarity with the computer hardware and terminology, and I have tried to cut through the jargon.

Some understanding of computers is now almost essential. If you are not actually using computers, then you are certainly taking the hardest path to efficiency in an industry where that will cost you money. But remember, in the end it is always the application rather than the machine that is important.

The past computer applications I have mentioned over the years have all been programs that run on the hard and software standard set by IBM. So far I have not written about the Apple Macintosh, which is equally popular with the film industry.

WIMPS AND WYSISWYG The reason may be that I don’t have a Macintosh, and so haven’t been touched by the almost religious fervour of Mac users. However, I do have a number of them around the office and every time I use one I find the standard interface, what the computer industry are calling WIMPS — Windows, Icons, Mice, and Pulldown menus — so much easier to use that it is hard to recommend anything else to beginners, despite the high price of the equipment.

The Macintosh screen and operating system is also the best example of WYSISWYG 60 — JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

(that’s What You See Is What You Get, pronounced wizzywig, I’m told). This has made it a natural for word processing programs that include page layout features, and the current rush of desktop publishing systems.

I suspect that “ desktop publishing” is just another bit of jargon for one of the stages we are going through in realising the full value of the computer. It seems that anything that used to print out what was on the screen is now called a desktop publishing program, but for Storyboarder it is probably a better description of the use of the program. There are better programs available for on-screen presentation of computer-generated “ Slide Shows” than this.

Scriptwriter on the other hand, especially in its dual column mode, can truly lay claim to the title.

The manual supplied with the demonstration discs mentions that Storyboarder and Scriptwriter can be used in conjunction, but it doesn’t say how this might happen. It may be as simple as a cut and paste of specific sections of your script into the text boxes of Storyboarder but the suggestion is of something more.

ARTWORK PREPARATION If you don’t wish to draw your own images there is a large range of prepared clip art library discs available with complete files of people, cars, landscapes etc. that can be cut out and altered to produce

professional results.

Digitisers available for the Macintosh include Thunderscan, which replaces the print head on the Apple printer and scans flat artwork and photos line by line through a simple optical system. The software helps break the image down into grey levels that can be made up of varying textures. The resolution on line work is good but the halftone images are like very coarse newspaper pictures.

There are also devices that allow you to feed video images from a camera or a videotape recorder frame by frame. These are stored in the MacPaint format. And as the desktop publishing push continues there will be better quality scanners and digitisers available.

SCRIPTWRITING AND STORYBOARDING The success of the Apple Macintosh in the film, TV and related industries is not really surprising. This is a visually oriented machine. I’m sure that most people bought the Mac as a business machine for its graphics and paint systems — based on creative play — and suffered from the lack of heavyweight business programs for years. The promise of creating storyboard images and using database programs for their filing was thought to be just around the corner.

After playing with MacPaint, and realising that skill is still required to draw things, especially with a “ mouse” , we

have had to wait for affordable graphics tablets and devices which digitise photos and illustrations that can then be manipulated by the computer.

The market advantage of the. IBM PC and its clones has been narrowed by a number of truly innovative programs for the Macintosh that use the small, high resolution screen and the faster microprocessor to advantage.

In the US there is a lot of software available for the industry. One notable range, produced by American Intelliware, is called MACFATS (Film Advertising Television System). This is a suite of eight programs: Scriptwriter, Storyboarder, Production Planner, Budget Planner, Directory/Calendar, Contracts, Talent, and Travel.

In all, they would cover most aspects of film and TV production. Other programs, such as the New Zealanddeveloped Film Management System (FMS), attack script breakdown, scheduling, budgeting and accounting.

The distributors of FMS showed me Storyboarder about a year ago. After a brief test by some experienced Mac users the general opinion was that the program would be very useful if it weren’t so full of ‘bugs’.

There is now a new distributor and a new version (Version 1.7) which has apparently fixed all the earlier problems and added some essential features such as output to the Apple laser printer. Along with the new version, the new manual boasts that this is now a

movement can be entered for each frame; selecting the destination framing of the image; zooming in.

C o m p u te r s c o n tin u e to m a k e th e ir w a y in to a im o s t e v e r y a s p e c t o f th e film in du stry,: F R E D H A R D E N tries o n a n A p p le M a c in to s h fo r s ize , a n d lo o k s a t t w o o f its p ro g ra m s , S to ry b o a rd e r a n d S criptw rite r, desktop publishing program.

So, what does it do?

As you can see from the accompanying images, Storyboarder makes up, storyboard panels of pictures and text boxes from images that can be created in a number of ways. It can also replay the images in sequence at a rate selected for each frame, but this is dependent on the speed that the Mac can play back from disc, and the size of its memory. It is not really capable of long sequences of true animation (called by the manual “ inter-frame animation” ) but there is a “ Burst” mode that holds a few frames in memory and flickers them at up to 24 times a second to give a short, but true, motion effect.

On replay there is a selection of transitions available such as fades, wipes, flips and slide on and «

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off. After the frame is completed there is a limited range of animation effects (“ intra-frame animation” ) that can take the static drawn image and add a jerky zoom in or out, make a cutout area slide around to match the path made by the cursor, or flip the image vertically or laterally. It would take a lot of ingenuity to make even a simple animated board look good with these techniques but that is not Storyboarder’s forte.

Most users will forget the animation and use the program to lay out storyboards for printing out on the Apple ImageWriter dot matrix printer or, even better, the LaserWriter. For this, Storyboarder is fast and simple to use. As a formatting tool for MacPaint images alone it is fairly expensive, but it would pay for itself, taking into account the time needed P la y b a c k

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SCREAM TIME: Shuffle allows you to rearrange the order of on-screen images

to produce the same result by cutting and pasting by any other means.

MAKING IT MOVE To help create the initial images, there is a range of screen ratio masks that can be used to create the pictures or to cut them off later. These change the MacPaint aspect ratio (1.73:1) to TV safe area, Academy or widescreen formats.

MacPaint drawn pictures (or any images stored in the Mac’s .PICT format) are imported into the program and stored as images in a Master List Image Library. This process is a simple extension of the Macintosh Move command. When selecting the images, a low resolution image of the picture appears at the bottom left of the screen when the title is selected, and the image and its title are moved into the Storyboarder library.

To edit these frames, the Macintosh Clipboard is used with Storyboarder’s Cut, Copy, Paste and Undo commands. This allows you to change and rearrange the order in which the frames appear. Moving the highlighted image name also moves any intraframe animation or effects and timings. If you prefer a more graphic way of shuffling the images you can use the Start Shuffle command when two or more frames are on the screen. A pair of small numbered boxes appear in the corners of the frame and by clicking the mouse on one and transferring it to the

desired position, the image is redrawn in the new position.

The notes relating to this frame are also carried.

Depending on the aspect ratio you have chosen, you can display one to nine images with a notes box beneath and print out up to 12 images a page. The notes can be printed at the side of the frame if desired. To enter the notes, you select the box with the mouse and enter text, as you do with a word processor.

For printing you can choose alternative fonts and print a header and footer centred on each page. You can select vertical or horizontal page orientation. From the Page Setup menu you can also select an adjusted full-frame format from the smaller MacPaint cropped screen.

Page numbers and frame numbers can also be shown.

If you wish to use the simple animation functions, the manual takes you through the steps in a clear and understandable manner.

SCRIPTWRITER AT WORK That people actually wrote . scripts without word processors now seems quaint.

On a feature or TV series where re-writes and revisions mean that a script typist is employed almost full-time making changes, not using a computer results in needless tedium.

The only dedicated scriptwriting program I have seen required you to memorise a complicated sequence of control characters, and you never ^

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY - 61

< knew what the page was going to look like until you typed it. The other alternative is to use a wordprocessing program you are familiar with and a keyboard macro program such as the Australian-developed Smartkey. This program lets you set up a number of twokey sequences on the keyboard that, for example, print out the character’s name in capitals, centres it on the page, moves down two lines and indents the paragraph to the selected position. It is still necessary to re-number pages and scenes and the “ continueds” on the bottom of pages.

There are programs such as Scriptor (mentioned in M ovies B y M icro chip Pt 1, CP 51, May 1985), that are used to change the page ends and scene numbers which have been marked with special characters “ imbedded” in the file.

There are a number of formats that cry out for a dedicated scriptwriting word processor. The ability of the Macintosh to show what the finished format will be like makes it a natural choice for the computer. Scriptwriter from American Intelliware looks like a perfect partner.

From my short time working with the demonstration version, this is a simple-tolearn word processing program with a number of options that make it attractive to the film, television or advertising writer. For a computer beginner it may be the only one necessary.

Scriptwriter allows you to have multiple file editing windows open concurrently. If you change a detail, such as the location or occupation of your hero, then you can move through the document to the reference concerned and rewrite each one. This feature can be used to check up on what you called the minor character in scene 120, in addition to standard global search, find and replace functions.

On startup, a selection from one of the three formats is made: straight letter or document writing, screenplay or dual-column A N .

In the screenplay modes a Writing Palette can be selected which shows a range of icons along the bottom of the screen and the Apple cloverleaf-and-number key combination that can be used instead of the mouse.

These are the keys that set

62 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

DISSOLVE «ye up fro m black

Image sh a tte rs s p littin g screen to uncover..

V/O" Don't look now but your cinema screen..

V/O" _.is becoming more v io le n t. In th is

L e tte rin g Spins In fro m past camera, stops 1n p o sitio n vio le n tly.

V/O* months issue o f Cinema Papers we t e l l ..

Caver logo spins in and p o sitio n s on cover.

SF% AAAAA6H....choke..gurgle....

V/O* you why. Out Now!

WORDS AND IMAGES: An imaginary ad campaign for the March issue of The Screen’ edition

up: automatic scene-setting position on the screen, placement of NIGHT and DAY (can be changed to EVENING) and INT and EXT (which can be spelled out in full). You can also select the position and capitalisation of character names (but you will still need some kind of Macro program to reduce the character names to a two-key sequence).

Scriptwriter automatically adds a CONTINUED or MORE if a scene or dialogue goes to the next page and it tries not to break dialogue or move single lines. The page numbering is also handled so that revisions become relatively painless to enter.

All the other formatting requirements such as stage directions, dialogue placement, and automatic scene numbering are called from this menu. It can be turned off, and once the key combinations become natural, the program is potentially fast.

You do not enter or hit a

return key at the end of an entry. Just press the next key combination and the cursor jumps to the pre-selected position, eg, down two lines and tab in three stops, format the left and right margins.

Scriptwriter shines when the standard audiovisual two column script is required (that’s where one side is audio and the other video or picture). Here the onscreen dual column format exactly matches the printout, and editing can take place independently in each of the columns or synchronised across them. For example, if you need to insert a new scene with its own audio then the script reformats to allow the insert. Again there is the ability to open multiple file windows (and cut and paste from them via the clipboard), automatic page numbering and, if you need it, automatic scene numbering.

Scriptwriter works on any 512k Macintosh, with an external drive recommended,

C in e m a P a p e rs ,

the ‘Violence On

but in the words of the overenthusiastic advertising, it is “ optimised” for the Mac Plus and the Apple LaserWriter Plus. A hard disc is obviously an advantage for long scripts and it cuts down the access time for reading from disc.

Don’t worry about the Americanness of Scriptwriter; the formats are very adaptable and can be changed to match the look of your existing scripts. If you have already written your script using MacWrite or Microsoft Word, Scriptwriter can read these files and reformat them.

For further information and for demonstration discs of Scriptwriter and Storyboarder contact Bruce Perry at Rushcutters Post Production, 95 Chandos Street, Crows Nest, Sydney. Ph: (02) 439 1855. The current price for Storyboard is $950 and Scriptwriter is $950.

The Thunderscan digitiser is available through most Macintosh sales outlets.

The proof is in the proof.

Optical & Graphic — Sydney’s motion picture title specialists — have made titling easier.

W e ensure you end up with precisely the titles you w ant by running them in a number of typefaces fro m our range of over 1 2 0 .

Once your selection is proofed, we will make revisions [prior to final approval] free of charge.

Optical & Graphic are titling specialists.

The final proofs of your title s — quick, precise and easy — will be all the proof you'll need.

[However, you could also ask the producers of Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome” or “ Crocodile Dundee” . .]

110 West St.Crows Nest, NSW 2065, Australia

VIDEO PRODUCTION O p e n C h a n n e l o ffe rs a fu ll p r o d u c tio n s e rv ic e fro m th e p re p a ra tio n o f s c rip ts to fin a l e d itin g fo r b ro a d c a s t, th e a tric a l a n d e d u c a tio n m a rk e ts . W e s p e c ia lis e in p r o ­ d u c in g p ro g ra m s fo r h e a lth a n d w e lfa re o rg a n is a tio n s , tra d e u n io n s , g o v e rn m e n t d e p a rtm e n ts , lo c a l c o u n c ils , c o m m u n ity g ro u p s a n d c o m m e rc ia l o rg a n is a tio n s . W e can a rra n g e th e re c o rd in g o f c o n fe re n c e s , s e m in a rs , th e a tric a l p e rfo rm a n c e s a n d sp e c ia l e ve n ts.

VIDEO FACILITIES FOR HIRE O p e n C h a n n e l has fo r h ire a b ro a d c a s t s ta n d a rd te le v is io n s tu d io w ith N e w s m a tte fa c ility , h i-b a n d a n d lo -b a n d re c o rd e rs , p r o d u c tio n a n d n e w p o st p r o d u c tio n fa c ilitie s as w e ll as V H S re c o rd in g a n d e d itin g system s. Q u a lifie d te c h n ic a l sta ff are a v a ila b le to assist w h e re necessary.

Phone: [02] 922-3144 Modem: [02] 922 7642 Fax: [02] 957 5001 Electronic Mail: Minerva 07 SNE 064

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O p e n C h a n n e l ru n s c o u rs e s in a ll asp ects o f v id e o p r o d u c ­ tio n . In tr o d u c to r y w e e k e n d w o rk s h o p s a re h e ld fo r ba sic p o rta -p a k o p e ra tio n . O u r c o m p re h e n s iv e 12 w e e k co u rse s also c o v e r s c rip t w r itin g , p r o d u c tio n m a n a g e m e n t, d ire c tin g a n d e d itin g . W o rk s h o p s are h e ld re g u la rly fo r c h ild re n a n d sp e c ia l w o rk s h o p s can be o rg a n is e d fo r g ro u p s a n d o rg a n is a tio n s o n re q u e st.

VICTORIAN FILM LABORATORIES : SPECIALISTS IN: 3 5 m m - SUPER 3 5 m m TECHNISCOPE BLOW -UP SUPER 1 6 m m - 3 5 m m 1 6 m m & 3 5 m m AERIAL IM A G E O P TIC A L EFFECTS FOR QUOTES ON YOUR NEXT FEATURE, MINI-SERIES, DOCUMENTARY. ETC. CONTACT BRUCE BRAUN, (03) 818 0461, 4 GUEST ST, HAWTHORN, 3122 VIC.

FILM CENSORSHIP LISTINGS A P R I L

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

Hlms Registered Without Deletions

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

Low

Medium

High

/ J / /

/ /

1 1 1 1

m m m m

h h h h

S (Sex) .......................................

V (V io le n ce ) ...............................

L (L a n g u a g e ) ............................

O (O ther) ...................................

Title

Purpose

Explicitness/lntensity

Infrequent

Producer

f f

Country

Submitted length (m)

Justified

Gratuitous

/ / /' /

9 9 9 9

Reason for Decision

Applicant

1 9 8 7

• G (For General Exhibition) Last Dynasty, The (said to be main title not shown in English): Southern Rim Corp.

C.T.P.C./New Kwun Lun Rim Co., Hong Kong/China, 2605.85m, Golden Reel Rims United We Stand: R. Wong, Hong Kong, 2496.13m, Chinatown Cinema

• PG (Parental Guidance)

M A R C H

1 9 8 7

Rims Registered Without Deletions • G (For General Exhibition) Clockwise: M. Codron, UK, 2633.00m, Greater Union Rim Distributors HI Amor Brujo (Love, The Magician): E. Piedra, Spain, 2660.71m, Village Roadshow Corporation Neglected Miracle, The: J. O'Shea/C. Walters, New Zealand, 1173.79m, Australian Rim Institute Rumpelstiltskin: M. Golan/Y. Globus, USA, 2304.12m, Hoyts Distribution Theme, The (said to be main title not shown in English): Mosfilm, USSR, 2688.15m, Trade Representatives USSR White Monkey, The (16mm): C. Levy, Aus­ tralia, 625.29m, Curtis Levy Productions

• PG (Parental Guidance)

Fourth Protocol, The: T. Burrill, UK, 3319.03m, Hoyts Distribution, L fi-m -j) Vfi-m -j)

Men’s Club, The (e): H. Gottfried, USA, 2743.00m, Rlmpac Holdings, O fa d u lt th e m e )

S fi-m -j)

S fl-m -g) L fi-m -g )

Funeral, The: Yasushi Tamaoki, Japan, 3373.89m, Ronin Rims, S(i-m-D Ghost Snatchers, The: Not shown in English, Hong Kong, 2523.56m, Chinatown Cinema,

On Heat: 1618.37m, Personal 2825.29m,

0 (h o rro r) V(i-m -g)

Sfi-m -j)

Gothic: P. Corke, UK, 2358.00m, Village Roadshow, O fh o rro r) S (i-m -j) V(i-m -j) Kangaroo (edited version): R. Dimsey, Aus­ tralia, 2962.44m, Filmways Australia Distri­ butors, S (i-m -j) V(i-m -j) Kingpin: C. Hannam/M. Walker, New Zealand, 2441.27m, Australian Film Institute, Vfi-m -g)

Platoon (d): A. Kopelson, USA/The Philip­ pines, 3236.00m, Village Roadshow, V ff-m -j)

Lff-H )

Landslides (16mm): S. Gibson/S. Lambert, Australia, 811.78m, Australian Rim Institute, 0 ( a d u lt co n c e p ts , e x p lic it s u rg ic a l te c h n iq u e s )

Le Dernier Combat: L. Besson/P. Jolivet, France, 2550.99m, Valhalla Holdings, 0 ( a d u lt c o n c e p ts )

Lethal Weapon: R. Donner/J. Silver, USA, 2907.58m, Village Roadshow, V(f-m -g) L (f-m -g) O fd ru g use)

Little Shop Of Horrors: D. Geffen, UK/USA, 2578.42m, Village Roadshow, 0 ( a d u lt c o n ­ ce p ts, d ru g use)

Allan Quartermain And The Lost City Of Gold: M. Golan/Y. Globus, USA, 2715.57m, Hoyts, V(f-l-g) Chocolate Inspector (said to be main title not shown in English): Golden Harvest, Hong Kong, 2715.57m, Chinatown Cinema, V(i-l-j) LO -Hj)

Every Time We Say Goodbye: J. Kotzky/S. Harel, USA/lsrael, 2688.14m, Fox Columbia Rim Distributors, 0 ( a d u lt c o n c e p ts ) Green Shoots Of Youth, The: Uzbekfilm, USSR, 2441.27m, Trade Representatives USSR, Vfhi-j) Hero’s Tears, A (16mm): Not shown, Taiwan, 1086.00m, Chinese Cultural Centre, V(f-l-g) Home Front: S. Friedman, USA, 2523.56m, Seven Keys Rims, L (i-l-g) O fs e x u a l a llu sio n s) Hoosiers: C. De Haven/A. Pizzo, USA, 3134.45m, Village Roadshow, L(i-l-j) V(i-l-j) Hypersapien — People From Another Star: J. Schwartzman, Canada, 2633.28m, Village Roadshow, Vfi-l-j) It’s A Mad Mad Mad World: L. Kuk, Hong Kong, 2578.42m, Chinatown Cinema, L (i-l-g) V(i-l-j) O fsexuaJ in n u e n d o )

Kung Fu Kids II, The (16mm): Not shown, Taiwan, 1031.00m, Chinese Cultural Centre, V(f-l-g)

Leave All Fair: J. O’Shea, New Zealand, 2413.84m, Australian Film Institute, 0 (a d u tt c o n c e p ts )

Police Academy 4 — Citizens On Patrol: P. Maslansky, USA, 2358.98m, Village Road­ show, L(i-l-g) O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts ) Shoah: C. Lanzmann, France, 15305.94m, Australian Institute of Jewish Affairs, O fa d u lt them e, e m o tio n a l stre s s )

Solarwarriors (a): I. Walzer/J. Sanders, USA, 2570.00m, United International Pictures, V(i-m-j)

(a)

Previously known as S o la rb a b ie s .

• M (For Mature A udience) "Armour Of God (said to be main title not shown in English): R. Chow, Hong Kong, 2660.71m, Chinatown Cinema, Vfi-m -g) Assassination: P. Kohner, USA, 2413.84m, Hoyts Distribution, Vfi-m -j) O fs e x u a l a llu s io n s ) Bedroom Window, The: M. Schumacher, USA, 2797.00m, Hoyts Distribution, O fa d u lt

Manhunter: R. Roth, USA, 3181.88m, Hoyts Distribution, V (i-m i) S(i-m -j) L(i-m -j) My Cousin The Ghost: Not shown in English, Hong Kong, 2550.99m, Chinatown Cinema, V(i-m -g)

Parting Glances: Y. Mandel/A. Silverman, USA, 2468.70m, AZ Rim Distributors, L ff-m -j) O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts )

Personal Services (b): T. Bevan, UK, 2825.29m, Greater Union Rim Distributors, Platoon (b): A. Kopelson, USA/The Philip­ pines, 3236.00m, Village Roadshow, * * * Rage Of Honour: D. Van Atta, USA, 2496.13m, AZ Rim Distributors, V(f-m -g) Raising Arizona: E. Coen, USA, 2496.13m, Fox Columbia Film Distributors, Vfi-m -j) Some Kind Of Wonderful: J. Hughes, USA, 2578.42m, United International Pictures, L(i-m -g)

Tin Men: J. Johnson, USA, 3072.16m, Greater Union Rim Distributors, L(f-m -j) Trick Or Treat: M. Murphy/J. Soisson, USA, 2633.28m, Hoyts Distribution, L f f- m - g ) 0 (h o rro r)

True Colours: R. Wong, Hong Kong, 2413.84m, Chinatown Cinema, V (f-m -g) Twist And Shout: P. Holst, Denmark, 2935.01m, Idonz, 0 ( a d u lt c o n c e p ts ) Umbrella Woman, The: J. Sharp, Australia, 2605.85m, Village Roadshow, S fi-m -j) L fi-m -g ) 0 ( a d u lt c o n c e p ts )

(b)

See also under Films Board of Review and Rims Registered Without Deletions — R for Restricted Exhibition.

• R (For Restricted Exhibition) Abuse (16mm): S. McMillin, USA, 976.33m, Australian Rim Institute, O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts ) V(i-m-g)

City On Rre: R. Lam, Honk Kong, 2880.15m, Chinatown Cinema, V (f-m -g) Class Of Nuke ’Em High (c): L. Kaufman/M. Herz, USA, 2251.00m, Newvision Rim Distri­ butors, *** Critical Condition (d): R. Cort/T. Reid, USA, 2688.14m, United International Pictures, L(f-m -g)

c o n c e p ts ) V fi-m -j)

Death Before Dishonor: L. Kubik, USA, 2468.70m, Village Roadshow Corporation,

Big Easy, The: S. Friedman, USA, 2797.00m, Seven Keys, V(i-m -j) S(i-m -j) Caper: J. Sham/J. Chan, Hong Kong, 2249.26m, Chinatown Cinema, V (i-m -g) Critical Condition (b): R. Cort/T. Reid, USA, 2668.14m, United International Pictures, * * * Dead Of W inter J. Bloomgarden/M. Shmuger, USA, 2770.43m, United International Pictures,

Evil Cat: D. Yu, Hong Kong, 2441.00m, Chinatown Cinema, O fh o rro r) V (f-m -g) Eye Of The Tiger T. Scotti, USA, 2441,00m, Village Roadshow Corporation, V(f-m -g) Man From Hong Kong, The: R. Chow/J. Fraser, Australia/Hong Kong, 2962.00m, Greater Union Rim Distributors, V(f-m -g)

V(i-m -i)

S fi-m -g )

64 - JULY CIN EM A P A P E R S

V(i-m-g)

Not shown in English, Japan, Yu Enterprises, S ff-m -g ) Services (d): T. Bevan, UK, Greater Union Rim Distributors,

L ff- m i)

Professor, The: Not shown, Italy, 4142.00m, AZ Rim Distributors, V(f-m -g) Sadistic Whore (edited version) (said to be main title not shown in English): Not shown in English, Japan, 1316.64m, Yu Enterprises, S ff-m -g )

Seventh Curse, The: Not shown in English, Hong Kong, 2221.83m, Chinatown Cinema, O fh o rro r) V(f-m -g)

(c) See also under Rims Board of Review and Rims Refused Registration. (d) See also under Rims Board of Review and Rims Registered Without Deletions — M — for Mature Audiences. (e) See also under Films Board of Review.

Films Registered With Deletions Nil.

De Aanslag/The Assault: F. Radmakers, The Netherlands, 4032.21m, Hoyts Distribution, O fe m o tio n a i s tre s s ) L fi-m -j) V fi-m -j)

Foreign Body: C. Brewer, UK, 2962.44m, Village Roadshow, O fs e x u a l a llu s io n s ) Plumbum Or A Dangerous Game: Mosfilm/Sovexportfilm, USSR, 2605.85m, Trade Representative of the USSR, O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts ) Offret Sacrfficatio (The Sacrifice): K. Farago, Sweden, 3949.92m, Sharmill Rims, O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts )

Seven Years Itch: R. Wong, Hong Kong, 2276.69m, Chinatown Cinema, O fa d u lt c o n ­ c e p ts )

• M (For Mature A udience) Big Bang, The: B. Szulzinger, France, 2057.25m, Communications and Entertain­ ment, L(f-m -g ) O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts , s e x u a l a llu ­ s io n s )

Buddha’s Lock: Shenzhen Rim, Hong Kong, 2660.71m, Yu Enterprises, V fi-m -j) L fi-m -j) Burglar: McCormick/Hirsh, USA, 2979.86m, Village Roadshow, L ff-m -j) O fs e x u a l a llu s io n s ) Drifters (16mm): Jou Ling Gang, Taiwan, 1086.03m, Chinese Cultural Centre, O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts ) Vfi-m -j)

Rodder: L. Geels/D. Maas, The Netherlands, 3127.02m, United International Pictures, S fi-m -g ) O fd ru g use, a d u lt c o n c e p ts )

Him Refused Registration Class Of Nuke ’Em High (f): L. Kaufman/M. Herz, USA, 2251.00m, Newvision Film Distri­ butors, V fi-h-g) (f) See also under Films Board of Review and Rims Registered Without Deletions — R — for Restricted Exhibition.

Hlms Board of Review Class Of Nuke ’Em High (g): L. Kaufman/M. Herz, USA, 2688.14m, United International Pictures, * ** Decision reviewed: Refused Registration by Rim Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Film Censorship Board to classify R. Critical Condition (h): R. Cort/T. Field, USA, 2688.14m, United International Pictures, * ** Decision reviewed: Classified R by Rim Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Film Censorship Board to classify M. Men’s Club, The (i): H. Gottfried, USA, 2743.00m, Rlmpac Holdings, * ** Decision reviewed: Classified R by Film Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Confirm the decision of the Rim Censorship Board.

Personal Services (h): T. Bevan, UK, 2825.29m, Greater Union Film Distributors, Decision reviewed: Classified R by the Film Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Rim Censorship Board to classify M. Platoon (h): A. Kopel, USA/The Philippines, 3236.00m, Village Roadshow, * * * Decision reviewed: Classified R by the Film Censorship Board.

Decision of the Board: Direct Rim Censorship Board to classify M. (g) See also under Rims Registered Without Deletions — R — for Restricted Exhibition and Rims Refused Registration. (h) See also under Rims Registered Without Deletions — M — for Mature Audiences and Rims Registered Without Deletions — R — for Restricted Exhibition. (i) See also under Rims Registered Without Deletions — R — for Restricted Exhibition.

Note: The length of the film N ig h t O f The C re e p s, shown on November 1986 list as 2523.00 metres should read 2414.00 metres.

Frenchman's Farm: J. Rshbum/M. White, Australia, 2770.43m, Communications and Entertainment, Vfi-m -j) Kinmen Bombs, The (16mm): Hsu Kuo Liang, Taiwan, 1140.00m, Chinese Cultural Centre, Vfi-m -j)

Les Patterson Saves The World: S. Milliken, Australia, 2687.00m, Hoyts Distribution, O fsexuaJ a llu s io n s ) L (i-m -g )

Light Of Day: R. Cohen/K. Barish, USA, 2935.01 m, Village Roadshow, L fi-m -g ) Meatballs III — Summer Job: D. Carmody/J. Dunning, USA, 2550.99m, Village Roadshow, O fs e x u a l a llu s io n s )

Private Practices, The Story Of A Sex Surro­ gate (16mm): K. Dick, USA, 789.84m, State Rim Centre of Victoria, O fa d u lt s e x u a l th e m e ) Slate, Wyn & Me: T. Burstall, Australia, 2386.41m, Rlmpac Holdings, L (f-m -g ) S fi-m -g ) V fi-m j)

Soft Targets (videotape): Australian Rim, Television and Radio School, Australia, 60 minutes, Australian Rim Institute, L fi-m -j) O fa d u lt them e)

Wtthnail & I: P. Heller, UK, 2825.00m, Com­ munications and Entertainment, L (f-m -g ) O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts )

Woman & The Sea, The (16mm): Tsai Sung Lin, Taiwan, 1217.67m, Chinese Cultural Centre, O fa d u lt c o n c e p ts )

• R (For R estricted Exhibition) Angel Heart: A. Marshall/E. Kastner, USA, 3099.59m, Village Roadshow, S fi-m -j) V fi-m -j) Twisted Passion: Shaw Bros, Hong Kong, 2633.28m, Chinatown Cinema, S ff-m -g )

Hlms Registered With Deletions Nil

Hlms Refused Registration Nil

Hlms Board of Review Decision reviewed: Nil Decision of the Board: Nil :-

^

Y

F ilm Victoria

INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS’ FUND Film Victoria’s Independent Filmmakers’ Fund provides funds for short films of high innovative and creative potential which will develop the talent and skills of Victorian filmmakers.

Applicants to the fund are expected to demonstrate that they could make a substantial contribution to the future of the Victorian film industry.

It is hoped that the films and tapes financed by the fund will have sales potential and appeal to a market which includes conventional forms of exhibition (television, film festivals, etc.).

It is specifically seeking those Victorian filmmakers working in narrative drama or documentary film or video who have already displayed potential and whose filmmaking career will be assisted by having the opportunity to further express their talents.

The financial limits of the fund dictate that the films financed would normally be of the duration of a television hour or half-hour. The fund is not a low budget feature fund, nor will it provide assistance to highly experimental or avante-garde works.

The fund is, in the first instance, aimed at developing directorial and producing talent.

However people with proven skills in other areas such as cinematography or writing may apply.

Applicants to the fund will be required to submit a script, budget and marketing proposal.

Applications close 5 pm, Friday 31 July, 1987.

For detailed guidelines and application forms contact: Kerrie McGovan, Project Officer (Creative & Cultural Development) Film Victoria, 409 King St. MELBOURNE, VIC. 3000 Phone (03) 329 7033

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THE PANTHER TAKES THE PLUNGE At last Australia has a martial arts superhero. Action specialist Brian TrenchardSmith has brought Jason Blade, aka the Panther, to the screen. JIM SCHEMBRI reports.

AUSTRALIA'S premier fix-it director, Brian Trenchard-Smith, has just finished work on two chop socky martial arts action films in Perth, The Day O f The Panther and The Strike O f The Panther. The films, shot simultaneously for less than one million dollars apiece, are intended for the international video market and will introduce Australia (and the world) to Australia's answer to Chuck Norris, Ed Staszak. Trenchard-Smith is not claiming the film as a cultural triumph.

Trenchard-Smith was brought into the project early in March at two days' notice. Four days of shooting under the direction of the

PANTHER ACTION: ‘Skeleton Mask’ takes a fall; director Brian Trenchard-Smith refurbishes ‘Piggy’; Ed Staszak in pin-up mode.

66 — JULY CINEM A P A P ER S

film's stunt co-ordinator Peter West showed that someone with a slightly more experienced hand was needed.

The circumstances were uncomfortably similar to Turkey Shoot where Trenchard-Smith was brought in two weeks before shooting and had the original budget cut in half.

"It was worse," he says. "This is the toughest rescue job I've ever done. The whole shoot was turned upside down."

Trenchard-Smith had no preproduction time to prepare or rework the script. He went straight into shooting a major fight sequence on the first day, and found then that major script changes were needed. These included extensive dialogue rewrites and structural alterations.

A new pre-credit sequence established the relationships between characters to make sense of a long fight scene that was originally intended to start the film.

"If you have to spend extra money replacing a director, then you should look at other elements that ought to be changed, otherwise you're just pouring good money after bad." He also recast some of the supporting cast along more "commercial" lines, including John Stanton as the hero's best friend.

"To a certain extent directing the film was a little like directorial theatresports. I would get to a location to work with supporting actors I hadn't yet met to do a scene that had certain problems. I had to do a great deal of thinking on my feet and thinking fast, and still get four minutes of screen time in a day. I was shooting two pictures at once."

But he is boisterously confident that the finished product will be what was intended, two low budget films with huge production values. He doesn't intend it to be the aesthetic and commercial woof woof that Turkey Shoot was.

"Despite production problems on the Panther films, I am totally confident that these films will cover their cost on the international marketplace. There are no tax benefits, it's not a 10BA film, there is no safety net whatsoever."

Trenchard-Smith unashamedly describes the films as a "martial arts adolescent macho adventure, with as much credibly linked non­ stop action as possible" and his new star as someone who is "attractive, has cat-like grace, and, as tends to happen a lot in my movies, gets his shirt off a lot, and has a good set of pectorals".

There's also lots of action for the chop socky crowd, including eight fight scenes in the first film and nine in the other. But, action of the right kind, of course, according to Trenchard-Smith: "While I've made it tough, I haven't made it lingeringly unpleasant. There's no dwelling on gore. People do bleed occasionally but they bleed politely."

Part of Trenchard-Smith's confidence in the product stems from his view of the martial arts audience that made his movie The Man From Hong Kong one of Australia's most successful action films.

"The martial arts audience goes from about 13 years old and peaks at around 20; it's that area that has the big adolescent macho audience. Then there are martial arts aficionados and they constitute a strong group. But the dedicated martial arts people are basically the adolescents who want to watch an invincible superhero who's incredibly fast with feet and hands.

The audience is primarily male, but there is also a significant number of females. If the hero is attractive they won't mind watching him either, provided that the violent action is not too brutal."

The films were shot on 16mm and blown up to 35mm for possible theatrical release before they are unleashed in every video store "from Vladivostok to Antarctica".

A third Panther film, Escape, is planned to begin shooting early next year. Trenchard-Smith has not yet been approached to direct.

The N .S.W . Film Corporation’s Government Documentary D ivision is updating its Trade Register The Corporation has, in New South Wales, the sole responsibility to make, promote, distribute and exhibit short and docum entary films for or on behalf of any departm ent of the Governm ent or any statutory body representing the Crown.

The NSW FC’s Governm ent Documentary Division is not a pro­ duction house - all work is placed with the private sector of the film industry.

Interested film, video and audio-visual writers, producers and production organisations are invited to contact the Corporation’s Governm ent Documentary Division with background details in writing.

Further enquiries please telephone Edna Wilson or Peter Dimond on 27 5 5 7 5.

N ew South Wales Film C o rp o ra tio n G o v e rn m e n t D o c u m e n ta ry Division

W hat do Indiana Jones, James Bond and Alfred Hitchcock have in common?

Their advertising campaigns. Created in London by Peter Schmideg, who has now returned to Melbourne.

We can create every aspect of your film’s advertising and marketing campaign. From a prospectus through to brochures, posters, trailers, press, radio and television campaigns.

One company. One point of contact.

Call us to discuss your next project.

Film projects include: An Officer and a Gentleman, Birdsville, The Bostonians, Brainstorm, The Dark Crystal, The Essential Hitchcock Series, Flying High II, The Hunger, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Octopussy, Rumblefish, Scarface, Terms of Endearment, Top Secret, Trading Places, War Games, Warm Nights, The Year of Living Dangerously.

T he P eter Sc h m id e g Com pany '7ilm & Advertising 45 Eskdale Road, Caulfield North, Melbourne 3161 Telephone (03) 523 9595. Fax: (03) 523 5184 CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 67

P R O D

S FEA TURES PRE-PRODUCTION BLIND FAITH

Co-producer.....................................Peter West Scriptwriter......................................Peter West Exec, producer...............................Judith West Assistant to exec, producer.......... Andrew Martin-Weber Stunts co-ordinator..........................Peter West Fight choreography......................Jim Richards Publicity........................ Andrew Martin-Weber Budget.............................................$2.2 million Length............................................. 95 minutes Gauge.......................................................35mm Cast: Eddy Staszak (Jason Blade).

Synopsis: Jason Blade enters Java to rescue his half-Chinese sister and becomes involved in planning the escape of Indonesian hostages held by terrorist groups.

Assoc, producer.........................Timothy White Prod, supervisor.........................Lynda House 1st asst director...........................Tony Mahood Cast: Colin Friels (Pete).

Synopsis: Bored by their easy existence in Melbourne, Rikki and her brother Pete set off for Mt Isa and a questionable foray Into the hardened world of mining.

JJ

U

Animation director........................ Ray Nowland Length............................................. 25 minutes Gauge....................................................... 35mm Synopsis: Santa and Mrs Claus receive a gift for Christmas . . . a walking talking little doll called Candy Claus.

CONTAGION

Prod, company...........................Brian Douglas Prod, company........................... Reef Films Ltd ROADWARS Dist. company............................. Premiere Film Film and Television Prod, company......................Roadwars Pty Ltd Marketing Ltd Producer.....................................Brian Douglas Dist. company............................. Premiere Film Producers....................................Ken Methold, Director.......................................Brian Douglas Leo Bannette Scriptwriter................................ Robert Taylor Marketing Ltd Script editor...........................Brian Douglas Producer......................................................TomBroadbridge Director............................................ Karl Zwicky Based on the original idea Director......................... Brian Trenchard-Smith Scriptwriter.................................... Ken Methold Scriptwriter............................................. PatrickEdgeworth by..............................................Robert Taylor Photography..................................John Stokes Based on the original idea Editor.............................................. Ken Sallows Sound recordist..................................Ian Grant FACTORY GIRLS Assoc, producer...........................Phillip Collins by......................................................... PatrickEdgeworth Editor...............................................Roy Mason Composer..................................Frank Strangio Length............................................................90minutes Prod, company.................. Factory Made Films Prod, designer.........................Richard Rooker Gauge...................................................... 35mm Exec, producers........................................PeterBeilby, Producers................................Raymond Quint, Composer................................ Bruce Smeaton Cast: Bill Hunter.

John Lonie Robert Le Tet Exec, producer...................... Tom Broadbridge Synopsis: Rivalrybetween two parish Director............................................... RaymondQuintLength.............................................. 98 minutes Assoc, producer.......................Richard Rooker churches escalates into a media event of Scriptwriter................................................ JohnLonie Gauge...................................................... 35mm Prod, secretary................... Rhonda Fortescue astronomic proportion —leaving Father Assoc, producer....................................TimothyWhite Synopsis: A story about modern gladiators set 1st asst director.........................................DavidMunro in the near future.

Brannigan attempting to undo what the miracle Budget............................................ $1.2 million 2nd asst director..........................................KurtOlsen he needed has given him!

Length............................................ 90 minutes 3rd asst director......................................... TonyCastens Continuity.......................... Carolina Haggstrom Gauge.......................................................35mm SEBASTIAN AND THE SPARROW Synopsis: A group of women is sacked from a Focus puller................................ Peter Pescell BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS Prod, company............... The Kino Film Co. Ltd Clapper/loader..................... Constantine Rigas small factory. The film is about the lives of each Dist. company................. J.C. Williamson Film Prod, company.................................. BoulevardFilmsof the women as they participate in, for them, Key grip......................................................DavidWhan Distributors (Overseas territories) Producer..................................... Frank Howson quite extraordinary events.

Asst grip................................... Damian Ritchie Producer.................................................... ScottHicksGaffer........................................................... KenMoffat Director........................................................PinoAmenta Director...................................................... ScottHicksBoom operator.......................................... BruceWallace Scriptwriter................................. Frank Howson GENESIS Scriptwriter.................................................ScottHicksMake-up..........................................April Harvey Exec, producer.......................................... PeterBoyle Prod, company.................................... NeptuneFilmsSound recordist......................................... ToivoLember Publicity.................................................... LionelMidford Hairdresser.................................... April Harvey Scriptwriter..............................Michael Radiant Editor............................................................. PipKarmel Synopsis: A modern day love story set In Mel­ Wardrobe............................. Margarita T assone Based on the original Idea Prod, designer............................................ AnniBrowning bourne and Los Angeles.

Wardrobe asst............................ Tanya Baker by......................................... Michael Radiant Exec, producer................ Terry Ohlsson (JCW) Standby props............................ David Franks Exec, producer........................ Michael Radiant Assoc, producer....................................... DarrylSheen Specialeffects....................................Rick Hart BREAKING LOOSE Synopsis: Adam and Eve meet in a futuristic Unit manager........................................... MasonCurtis Best boy........................................................ RodMoffat 1 st asst director.............................Gus Howard Prod, company....................................... AvalonFilmssociety where women are gaining control of Runner......................................................Tanya Baker everything. They fight the forces of evil women Producer......................................................PhilAvalon Continuity..............................................HeatherOxenham Catering.............................. Katering Kompany with the help of good ones and eventually Casting........................................... S.A. Casting Director...............................................Rod Hay Laboratory...............................................

Atlab marry. All their adversaries are converted to Casting consultants...................... Anne Peters, Scriptwriter......................................... Rod Hay Length.............................................................90minutes righteousness and attend the wedding and Assoc, producer........................................... KipPorteous Jan Killen Gauge.......................................................35mm devote themselves to the Virgin Mary who Lighting cameraperson.............David Foreman Publicity....................................................LionelMidford Cast: John Doyler (Mark), Nicola Bartlett officiates.

Focus puller.................................................... JoMurphy Laboratory.............................................. Atlab (Cheryl), Ray Barrett (Bael), Jacqule Brennan Clapper/loader..........................Liddy van Gyen Budget........................................................ $1-2million (Trish), David Clendinning (Frank), Nathy Gaff­ GHOSTS Key grip........................................Robin Morgan Length..........................................................100minutes ney (Helen), Pamela Hawksford (Cleo), Allen Gaffer....................................................GraemeShelton Gauge..................................................... 35mm Prod, company..........Correctional Services Inc Harvey (Doctor), Reginald Cameron (Henry).

Boom operator...........................................ScottRawlings Synopsis: A young man set off on a journey to (Film Productions) Ltd Synopsis: A suspense thriller about catatonic find his origins and discovers not only his past Sound editor..........................Yvonne van Gyen Dist. company..........Hemdale Corporation and schizophrenia.

Runner....................................................... ScottHeysen but the murderers of his father and grand­ Outlaw Values (Marketing) Length............................................................ 90minutes father.

Producer....................................... Evan English INCIDENT AT RAVEN’S GATE Synopsis: The story of two teenagers, a rich Director......................................... John Hillcoat kid and a street kid, living in adjoining suburbs THE CHESS GAME Prod, company...................Aquabay Pty Ltd for Scriptwriters..................................... Nick Cave, but worlds apart — until their lives cross over.

International Film Management Limited Gene Conkle, 3 rod. company.................................Infilms Ltd Dist. company..... Hemdale-IFM Entertainment Evan English, 3roducer.................................................DerrickCotterell Pty Limited (Australasia) John Hillcoat, Director...................................................DerrickCotterell SOMETHING GREAT Hemdale Film Corporation Hugo Race Scriptwriter.............................................DerrickCotterell Prod, company.........................Boulevard Films (excluding Australasia) Prod, designer..........................Chris Kennedy Photography............................................. DavidPellow Producers................................................... MarcRosenberg, Composer................................................... NickCaveProducer......................................Frank Howson Sound recordist......................................... NigelBrookes Scriptwriter................................. Frank Howson Rolf de Heer Exec, producer..........................................Evan English Continuity........................... Diane O'Donnovan Exec, producer............................... Peter Boyle Director..........................................Rolf de Heer 1st asst director................................Phil Jones Casting........................................................ EliteTalents Publicity.................................................... LionelMidford Scriptwriters...............................................

MarcRosenberg, Casting.....................................Lucy Maclaren, Make-up.............................. Annette McKenzie Budget........................................... $5,980,000 Rolf de Heer Polly Borland, Laboratory...........................................Colorfilm Length.......................................................... 120minutes Steve Hardman Adapted from an original Length............................................................80minutes Synopsis: The true story of the trials and screenplay by................... James M. Vernon Casting consultants...................................... IanWatson Gauge.......................................................35mm Photography.........................Richard Michalak Art director........................................ MacgregorKnoxtriumphs of Australia’s golden boy of boxing Synopsis: Two rivals duel over the love of a Editor.......................................................SureshAyyar Set construction................................MacgregorKnoxwho fell from grace as a result of World War I’s woman. The chessboard is their battlefield as Prod, designer.......................................... JudithRussell Musical director.......................................... NickCaveconscription hysteria and was resurrected as a they match wit and logic. hero, when he died in Memphis, lonely, Composers................................Graham Tardif, Music performed by.........................Nick Cave, bewildered and reviled at the age of 2 1 .

Roman de Cronenberg Mick Harvie, DOT IN SPACE Blixa Bargeld Exec, producer.................... Antony I. Ginnane Prod, company........................................ YoramGross SONS OF STEEL Sound editor..............................................DeanGawen Prod, co-ordinator........................ Barbara Ring Film Studio Pty Ltd Prod, manager.............................Ron Stlgwood Still photography........................................ PollyBorland, Prod, company...................Big Island Pictures Producer................................................. YoramGross Peter Milne Unit manager........................................... MasonCurtis Producer.......................James Michael Vernon Director................................................... YoramGross Publicity................................................MirandaBrownDirector...........................................Gary Keady Prod, accountant..............................Catch 123, Scriptwriter................................................. JohnPalmer (Capa Productions) Elizabeth Anderson Scriptwriter.................................... Gary Keady Associate producer............................... SandraGross Catering.....................Kamillas Krazy Katermg 1 st asst director..........Carolynne Cunningham Photography................................................

Joe Pickering Animation director.......................... Athol Henry Budget...................................... $1,680,000 Key grip......................................................

BrianBisisto Synopsis: A futuristic adventure set to power­ Music............................................... Guy Gross Length.......................................................... 100minutes Catering..............................The Shooting Party ful heavy metal rock ’n’ roll music. Fantasy and Length............................................. 80 minutes Gauge.......................................................35mm Studios...................................................

Hendon Studios science fiction are bound together by a band of Gauge.......................................................35mm Shooting stock............................................ ECN Mixed a t................................................. HendonStudios likeable, old fashioned heroes.

Synopsis: Dot finds her way into an American Cast: David Mason (Lilly), Nick Cave (Punk), Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm spaceship which lands her on a war torn planet Chris De Rose (Jack).

Budget............................................ $2,500,000 TOTAL RECALL of Rounds and Squares.

Synopsis: The story of a fictitious maximum Length............................................................ 90minutes Prod, company.................. Total Recall Pty Ltd security prison set in the middle of a deep red Gauge................................................. Super 35 THE DREAMING Dist. company................................................ DeLaurentiis desert in a mythical time and a mythical place.

Shooting stock................. Kodak Eastmancolor Entertainment Ltd Synopsis: A sci-fi action thriller set in the Aus­ Prod, company.........Genesis Films Pty Limited Producer........................................SueMilliken tralian wheat fields. for International Film Management Limited LAY OFF Director....................................Bruce Beresford Dist. company....Goldfarb Film Distributors Inc. Scriptwriters............................Ronald Shusett, Prod, company............................Chancom Ltd (excluding Australasia and The Philippines) Dan O’Bannon Dist. company................... Octopus Worldwide Hemdale-IFM Entertainment Ptv Ltd THE MAN WHO LOST HIS HEAD Photography.................................. Peter James Media Enterprises (Australasia) Prod, company..........................................ChairFilms Prod, designer............................................JohnStoddart Producers.................................Rosa Colosimo, Eastern Film Management Corporation Dist. company........................................... RoninFilms Prod, manager..............................

Helen Watts Reg McLean (The Philippines) Producer..................................................JamesClayden 1 st asst director.........................................SteveAndrews Director.....................................Rosa Colosimo Producer........................................ Craig Lahiff Director....................................................James Clayden Synopsis: A science fiction story set on Mars Scriptwriters.................................Josie Arnold, Director.......................................... Craig Lahiff Scriptwriter...............................................JamesClayden in the 2 1 st century.

Angelo Salamanca, Scriptwriter.................................... Rob George Based on the original idea Rosa Colosimo Based on the original idea b y ....... Craig Lahiff, by......................................................... JamesClayden Exec, producer............................. Kevin Moore Terry Jennings Photography.............................................. ChrisDavis Cast: Penny Cooke (Kerry), Joe Spano (Tony).

Exec, producer.....................Antony I. Ginnane Editor............................................ Barrie Munro Synopsis: A contemporary comedy about a Length..............................................92 minutes Composers................................Chris Knowles, young Italo-Australian doctor who falls in love Gauge.......................................................35mm Martin Friedel with a grazier’s daughter who is studying archi­ Shooting stock................. Kodak Eastmancolor Publicity........................................................KimLewis tecture. He leaves "home to live with her and Synopsis: Thriller about a young woman and Laboratory............................................. Cinevex discovers that mama had never prepared him her dreams — dreams which plunge her into Lab. liaison.................................................... IanAnderson for life in a zany, shared household. the past to a time when whalers and Budget...................................................$51,507 aboriginals met, and there were massacres, a Length..............................................75 minutes betrayal of innocence, a taint on the dreaming RIKKI AND PETE Gauge.......................................................

16mm . . . a taint that will live on Into the present and CANDY CLAUS Prod, company....................................

Cascade Films Shooting stock................................. 7291,7292 create for her a new kind of nightmare . . .

Producers....................................... Nadia Tass, Prod, company.........................................YoramGross Cast: Neil Gladwin (Walter Hey).

David Parker Film Studio Pty Ltd Synopsis: A comedy about the author’s obses­ ESCAPE (PANTHER III) Director........................................... Nadia Tass Dist. company...INI (International Network Inc.) sions. The author, Walter Hey by name, is Prod, company....................Virgo Productions/ Scriptwriter............................................... DavidParker Producer................................................. YoramGross obsessed with the process of image making.

Rapl Films/TVM Photography............................................. DavidParker Director....................................................YoramGross Every time Walter’s photographic excursions Editor........................................................... KenSallows Dist. company.......................International Film Scriptwriter................................................. JohnPalmer into the outside world merge with his imagin­ Marketing (L.A.) Prod, designer....................................... Jo Ford Assoc, producer..................................... SandraGross ings of the photographic past, his head falls off.

Producer...................................... Gope Santani Exec, producer.......................... Bryce Menzies Music performed b y ......................... Guy Gross And fish swim through it.

F E A T U R E S

P R O D U C T I O N

68 — JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

A full listing of the features, telemovies, documentaries and shorts now in pre-production, production or post-production in Australia. drought, bring feuding neighbours together, and reform a scoundrel.

Based on the short story Prod. designer........................... Bernard Hides by...................................... Frank Moorhouse Exec, producer.....................Antony I. Ginnane Photography.............................. Julian Penney Assoc, producers............................. David Lee, THE DAY OF THE PANTHER Sound recordist...................John Schiefelbein Jan Bladier Editor........................................................... PamBametta Prod, company....................Virgo Productions/ Mixed a t.................................. Hendon Studios Composer.................................................. TonyBremner TVM Studios Laboratory................................................. Atlab Producer...............................

DamienParer Exec, producer....................Antony I. Ginnane Lab. liaison..................................Graham Keir, AS TIME GOES BY Prod, consultant............................. Lynn Gailey Director......................... Brian Trenchard-Smith Peter Willard Prod, coordinator......................Perry Stapleton Scriptwriter......................................

Peter West Prod, company....................................... MonroeStahr Budget........................................... $10,500,000 Prod, manager.................................... ElizabethSymes Executive in charge of Length........................................... 120 minutes Productions Ltd Unit manager..................................Paul Fenton Gauge...................................................... 35mm Producer.................................................... ChrisKiely production.................................Juliet Grimm Location manager......................... Paul Manos Shooting stock.........................................Kodak Director....................................................... BarryPeakBased on the original idea by......... Peter West, Prod, accountant......... Moneypenny Services, Cast: Peter Phelps (Dave), Jon Blake (Scotty), David Groom Scriptwriter.................................................BarryPeak Rosemary Stephenson Photography......................... Simon Akkerman John Walton (Tas), Tim McKenzie (Chiller), Sound recordist......................................... SteveHaggerty Prod, assistant.................... Juliette Van Heyst Sound recordist.......................... David Glasser Sigrid Thornton (Anne), Tony Bonner Editor......................................................... RalphStrasser 1st asst director......................................... KeithHeygate (Bouchier), Bill Kerr (Chauvel), Ralph Cotterill Editor.........................................................KerryRegan Exec, producer..........................................PhillipDwyer 2nd asst director.............................John Titley (Von Kress), Gary Sweet (Frank), Anthony Prod, manager............................................. RayPondExec, producers.......................................JudithWest, 3rd asst director............................. Linda Pavill Andrews (Meinertzhagen).

Grahame Jennings Unit manager............................................. PeterCulpan Continuity................................Judy Whitehead Co-exec, producer.................................BeverlyWood Synopsis: The story of a group of young men Prod, accountant..................................... MareeMayall Casting..................................................... HilaryLinstead in an Australian Light Horse regiment in the six Prod, co-ordinator.....................................SusieCampbell Prod, assistant........................................ TraceeMcCabe & Associates months leading up to the charge at Beersheba, Prod, manager..............................Deb Copland 1st asst director......................... John Warran Extras casting............................Gabrielle Healy the world’s last great cavalry charge.

Unit manager.......................... Simon Hawkins Lighting cameraperson.............................. JohnOgden Focus puller.................................................. IanThorburn Prod, assistant.............. Andrew Martin-Weber Focus puller.............................Greg Harrington Clapper/loader................................... Susi Stitt Prod, accountant.........................................EricSankey Key grip............................................Noel Mudie Asst accountant.................................. MargaretSills Key grip....................................... Lester Bishop Asst grip..................................... Simon Stewart THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER Asst grip....................................... Gary Lincoln 1st asst director........................................ StuartWood Gaffer............................................ RoryTimony TWO Gaffer........................................... Reg Garside 2nd asst director....................................... ChrisLynch Boom operator...........................John Wilkinson Prod, company............................... Snowy Two Electrician...........................................Gary Hill 3rd asst director......................................ConnieMercurio Art director............................................... PaddyReardon Productions Pty Ltd Boom operator.............................

Grant Stuart Location manager..........................Liz Kirkham Wardrobe.........................................Rachel Nott Producer................................................... GeoffBurrowes Art director................................... Peta Lawson Asst location manager................... Terry Owen Props............................................................. TimBrowning Director.....................................................

GeoffBurrowes Art dept, administrator...................Judy Ditter Continuity.................................................. ChrisO’Connell Asst editor........................................ Jo Friesen Scriptwriter.................................... John Dixon Costume designer................................ GrahamPurcell Casting.......................... Andrew Martin-Weber Best boy.......................................... Peter Scott Photography..............................................

KeithWagstaff Make-up................................................... NorikoSpencer Interstate casting............ Maizels & Associates Runner................................................... AndrewMitchell Sound recordist.............................Gary Wilkins Hairdresser..............................................NorikoSpencer Camera operator.......................................CarloBuralli Laboratory....................................................VFL Editor........................................

Gary Woodyard Wardrobe supervisor............ Heather McLaren Focus puller.......................... Marc Edgecombe Lab. liaison.................................... Bruce Braun Prod, designer............................... Leslie Binns Wardrobe stand-by................................. DevinaMaxwell Clapper/loader........................................... AnneBenzie Budget................................................$690,000 Composer.................................Bruce Rowland Props buyer................................. Eugene Intas 2nd unit camera asst.................................... NicSadler Gauge................................................ Super 16 Exec, producers.......................Dennis Wright, Standby props......................Karan Monkhouse Key grip....................................

Karel Akkerman Synopsis: A surfer visiting an outback town for John Kearney Construction manager.............................. BrianHocking Asst grip.....................................................DavidCross a mysterious rendezvous meets with an alien Publicity.........................................

Suzie Howie Carpenter........................................John Rega Gaffer...........................................

Periy Sandow who has crashed only to then be enlisted to Catering................................... Richard Rogues Art dept, runner.............................David Atkins Boom operators................................Gary Carr, change an event in time.

Laboratory........................................... Cinevex Safety officer......................................... GeorgeMannix Mark Keating Lab. liaison................................... Ian Anderson Still photography..........................Barry Peake Art director................................... Peter Marlow BUSHFIRE MOON Budget.............................................$8.7 million Best boy....................................... Craig Bryant Make-up................................... Liddy Reynolds Prod, company................ Entertainment Media Gauge................................. 35mm anamorphic Runner......................................Stefan Laguna Hairdresser..............................Liddy Reynolds Pty Ltd Shooting stock........................................ Kodak Catering.................................... Kaos Catering, Wardrobe................................. Mandie Groom Dist. company......................................... Disney(US),Ward, consultant......................................... NoelHowell Cast: Brian Dennehy (Harrison), Tom BurlinKathy Trout Revcom (France), son (Jim), Sigrid Thornton (Jessica), Nicholas Laboratory..........................................Colorfilm Wardrobe buyer....................................CordulaAlbrecht Roadshow (Australia) Eadie (Patton Junior), Rhys McConnochie Lab. liaison....................... Richard Piorkowski, Art dept co-ordinator................................ HeinzBoeck Producers..................................... Peter Beilby, (Patton Senior), Peter Cummins (Jake), Mark Denise Wolfsen Standby props...................................... Tim Hall Robert LeTet Hembrow (Seb), Cornelia Francis (Mrs Darcy), Gauge...................................................... 35mm Special effects......................... Charlie Staples Director................................................... GeorgeMillerFight choreography..................... Jim Richards Bryan Marshall (Hawker), Tony Barry (Jacko).

Shooting stock................. Kodak Eastmancolor Scriptwriter................................................... JeffPeckSet decorator............................................ HeinzBoeck Synopsis: The film picks up several years after Cast: Arthur Dignam (Senator), Mark Lee Photography.............................................. DavidConnell The M a n F rom S n o w y R iver. Jim Craig is (Youth), Dennis Miller (Eric), Heather Mitchell Set construction.......................Charlie Staples, Sound recordist..................................... AndrewRamage returning once again to the Harrison home­ (Senator’s Wife), Paul Goddard (Son), John Gerhard Parker Editor............................................................ TimWellburn stead to take Jessica back to his Snowy River Melllon (Judge), Beth Child (Pottery Woman).

Asst editor................................... David Jaeger Prod, designer.....................................Tel Stolfo home. But he finds that Harrison — and Synopsis: A political thriller.

Neg. matching.............. Neg. Cutting Services Composer.................................................. BruceRowland Jessica — have different ideas. So too does Post-production asst.................................. DaleEvans Prod, co-ordinator.....................................HilaryMay Stunts co-ordinator..................................... GuyNorris Patton, the arrogant son of the banker/landFEVER owner who leads a group determined to seize Prod, manager..........................................HelenWattsSafety supervisor...........................................ArtThompson Prod, company.......................... Genesis Films the High Country cattle runs.

Unit manager..............................................JohnSuhrAsst stunt co-ordinator........Douglas McDonald Dist. company.......................... J.C. Williamson Location manager................................... MurrayBoydStill photography......................... Skip Watkins Rim Distributors Prod, accountant...........Moneypenny Services, ONCE UPON A WEEKEND Dialogue coach........................... Barrie Barkla Producer.................................... Terry Jennings Mandy Carter Best boy.......................................Kim Harwood Prod, company..........Yarra Bank Rims Pty Ltd Di rector............................................Craig Lahiff Prod, assistant.......................................SimoneDole Runner.......................................................... NicSadler Producer......................................................

NedLander Scriptwriters.............................................. JohnEmery, 1st asst director..........................................BrianGiddens Unit publicist..................Andrew Martin-Weber Director.....................................Rivka Hartman Craig Lahiff 2nd asst director...................................... JamieLeslie Catering................................... Griffin Caterers Scriptwriter..............................

Rivka Hartman Photography............................. David Foreman 3rd asst director............................................. JoFreisen Nurse........................................................ JohanAkkerman Photography.............................John Whitteron Sound recordist.......................................... RobCutcher Continuity....................................................... LizPerryAttachments............................................. SteveMeszaros, Sound recordist.......................... John Phillips Editor......................................................DeniseHaratzis Casting...........................................................LizMullinar Will Spence, Editor...........................................Tony Stevens Exec, producers..........................................Ron Saunders, (Liz Mullinar Casting), Zoran Gaccik, Prod, designer..........................Ro Bruen-Cook Craig Lahiff Adrienne Dolphin Brian Beaton, Assoc, producer....................... Trevor Graham Prod, co-ordinator..................................

Angela Heesom (The Film House) Andrew McDonald, Prod, co-ordinator..................... Sue Stephens Prod, manager............................ Elspeth Baird Focus puller.......................................... WarwickField Craig Vance Prod, manager............................ Lynda House Unit manager...............................

Mason Curtis Clapper/loader........................................... TerryHowell Laboratory................................................. Atlab Prod, accountant...............................Galbraith, Prod, accountant.................. Christopher Hunn Key grip..................................................... GeoffFull l ah liaison.......................................David Cole Rothman and Whiteway 1 st asst director........................................... GusHoward Asst grip.................................................... DavidNichols Length............................................. 90 minutes 1st asst director.................................Phil Jones 2nd asst director........................ Lindsay Smith Gaffer......................................................RobbieYoung Gauge....................................................... 16mm 2nd asst director......................... Chris Odgers Continuity.............................Heather Oxenham Electrician.....................................................RoyPritchett Shooting stock.................................7291,7292 Casting.........................................................JanKillenContinuity..................................................FionaCochrane Boom operator...........................................ScottRawlings Cast: Eddy Staszak (Jason Blade), Jim Casting assistant.........................Noellie Taylor Focus puller....................................................JoMurphy Art director........................................BernadetteWvnack Richards (Jim Baxter), John Stanton (William Focus puller.............................. Mandy Walker Key grip....................................................... RobMorgan Costume designer......................................RoseChong Anderson), Michael Carman (Damien Zukor), Clapper/loader.......................Kathy Chambers Gaffer...................................................

Graeme Shelton Make-up............................Amanda Rowbottom Paris Jefferson (Gemma Anderson), Linda Key grip......................................................... IanPark Boom operator.............................Des Keneally Hairdresser.......................................... RochelleFord Megier (Linda Anderson), Matthew QuarterArt director................................................DerekMills Asst grip.....................................Alistair Reilley Wardrobe..................................................... GailMayes maine (Lambert), Zale Daniel (Martin Flinders), Gaffer........................................ Mark Gilfedder Art dept runner...........................John Santucci Wardrobe asst....................................... RuebenThomas Suzanne Dudley (Brothel Madam).

Art dept runner........................................ DarrenHart Make-up.....................................Leanne White Props.......................................................... DarylMills Synopsis: After the brutal murder of his part­ Costume designer.....................Sue Armstrong Wardrobe............................... Ruth de la Lande Art dept runner............................................TrishKeating ner, Jason Blade comes to Perth from Hong Make-up.................................... Paddy Opwald Props buyer................................................ KateSaunders Standby props............................................BrianLangKong to bust up an international drug ring.

Wardrobe asst......................................MichelleLeonard Standby props...........................................PeterDavies Special effects Peter Stubbs (Visual Effects) Standby props........................................MurrayKelly Special effects..............................................VicWilson Scenic artist........................................... GraemeGalloway Musical director................................... BurkhardDallwitz Construction manager...........Peter Templeton Carpenter...................................................HughBateup Editing assistant.........................................

KateMuir DOT IN GOOD OLD HOLLYWOOD Editing assistant.....................Treesje Klaasen Set construction.......................................... BobHern Mixer.........................................................BruceEmery Mixer.............................................James Currie Prod, company........................................ YoramGross Asst editor..............................................JeanineChialvo Catering................................................Timbale Catering Stunts co-ordinator.......................Glen Boswell Film Studio Pty Ltd Still photography.................. Tom Psomotragis Laboratory............................................. Cinevex Action vehicle Producer................................................. YoramGross Wrangler.................................

John Baird Lab. liaison..................................Ian Anderson Best boy......................................................BrettHull Director....................................................YoramGross co-ordinator......................... Jonathon Blaikie Budget................................................ $699,000 Still photography....................................... GregLamey Scriptwriter................................................. JohnPalmer Runner..................................Cameron Barnett Length............................................................90minutes Studios...................................................HendonStudios Editor................................................... Rod Hay Publicity....................................................SusanWood Gauge.......................................................Super16mm Laboratory.................................................Atlab Assoc, producer..................................... SandraGross Unit publicist............................................ SusanWood Lab. liaison................................................DavidCole Cast: Lyn Pierse (Dot), Bruce Spence (Alistair), Catering..................................................... KeithFish,Music performed b y ......................... Guy Gross Doug Tremlett (Charlie), Tim Robertson Cast: Bill Hunter (Sgt Jack Welles), Mary Food for Film Animation director..................................... AtholHenry (Grant), Christine Mahoney (Jenny), Sue Jones Regan (Leanne Welles), Gary Sweet (Jeff Length............................................................ 75minutes Studios......................................................... FilmVictoria (Audrey), Kim Gyngell (Karl), Jan Freidl Maslim), Jim Holt (Morris).

Gauge.......................................................35mm Mixed at...........................Crawford Productions (Helen), Ruth Yaffe (Esther), Dennis Moore Synopsis: A contemporary suspense thriller.

Synopsis: Dot goes to Hollywood to take part Laboratory....................................................VFL (Bert), Mark Minchinton (Gazza). in a talent contest and raise money for her sick l ah liaison.................................... Bruce Braun Synopsis: Soap opera writer, Dorothy Bloom, koala friend, Gumley. There she meets some Budget................................................ $ 2 million plans a quiet long weekend in Melbourne.

THE LIGHTHORSEMEN of the Hollywood greats and performs with Length...........................................................109minutes However, work, family, friends and romance all Prod, company..........Picture Show Pty Limited them.

Gauge.......................................................35mm conspire to foil her good intentions. for International Film Shooting stock.................. Kodak Eastmancolor Management Limited Cast: Andrew Ferguson (Ned O’Day), Dee THE STRIKE OF THE PANTHER THE EVERLASTING SECRET FAMILY Dist. company......................RKO Pictures Inc./ Wallace (Elizabeth O’Day), John Waters Prod, company....................Virgo Productions/ Cinecom International Films/ (Patrick O’Day), Nadine Garner (Sarah O’Day), Prod, company...................Indian Pacific Films .

TVM Studios Hoyts Distribution Pty Ltd Bill Kerr (Mr Watson), Grant Piro (Angus Pty Ltd for International Film Producer..................................... Damien Parer Producers..................................................... IanJones, Management Limited Watson), Bud Tingwell (Max Bell), Rosie Simon Wincer Director......................... Brian Trenchard-Smith Sturgess (Miss Daly), David Ravenswood (Mr Dist. company.........Hemdale Rim Corporation Scriptwriter...................................... Peter West Director....................................................SimonWincer (excluding UK) Gullett), Maggie Millar (Mrs Gullett).

Executive in charge of Scriptwriter................................................... IanJones Producers.............................Michael Thornhill, Synopsis: When he mistakes a ne’er-do-well Photography..............................................DeanSemlerproduction.................................Juliet Grimm Sue Carleton ex-gold miner for Father Christmas eight-yearBased on the original idea by.........Peter West, Sound recordist.........................................UoydCarrick Director................................ Michael Thornhill old Ned O’Day sets in motion a series of events David Groom Editor.......................................................AdrianCanScriptwriter.......................... Frank Moorhouse that save his family's sheep from a devastating

F E A T U R E S

POST- PRODUCTI ON

CINEM A P A P E R S JULY — 69

P R O D U C T I O N S U R V E Y Sound recordists........................................JohnFranks, Photography......................... Simon Akkerman BARADINE Sound recordist.............................Peter Steege Leo Sullivan, Sound recordist.........................................DavidGlasser Editor............................................... Chris Spurr Prod, company.................. Arcana Productions George Weiss, Editor............................................. Kerry Regan Composer.................................. Ann Carr-Boyd Producer.................................................MichaelBuckley Sean Meltzer Exec, producers....................................... JudithWest, Exec, producer................................. Peter Reid Director..................................................MichaelBuckley Editor................................................. Tim Lewis Grahame Jennings Prod, manager................................ Anita Atkins Scriptwriter............................................ MichaelBuckley Exec, producer............................ Don Bennetts Co-exec, producer......................Beverly Wood Producer’s assistant........Julie Cottrell-Dormer Sound recordist........................................... SueMcCauley Prod, manager................................................JoStewart Prod, co-ordinator.................. Susie Campbell Camera assistants.................Lorraine Stacey, Editor...................................................... MichaelBuckley Neg. matching............... Meg Koenig (Cinevex) Prod, manager.............................................DebCopland David Maguire Music performed by.................................Arf Arf Still photography........................ Robert Walker Unit manager........................................... SimonHawkins Asst editor........................... James Tsatsaronis Laboratory....................................................VFL Opticals..................................................Cinevex Prod, assistant............... Andrew Martin-Weber Narrator..................................

Russell Braddon Budget...................................................$27,000 Laboratory............................................. Cinevex Prod, accountant........................... Eric Sankey Title designer............................. David Webster Length..............................................30 minutes Lab. liaison.................................. Ian Anderson Asst accountant.................................. MargaretSillsGauge....................................................... 16mm Length....................................... 4 x 50 minutes Length............................................................ 50minutes 1st asst director........................................ StuartWood Gauge....................................................... 16mm Synopsis: The content of this film will be Gauge....................................................... 16mm 2nd asst director........................................ChrisLynch Shooting stock...........................Eastman neg. based on material shot by the filmmaker’s aunt Shooting stock................Fuji 8521,7291,7292 3rd asst director......................Connie Mercurio Synopsis: An impressionistic portrait of Aus­ in the fifties with a standard 8 film camera.

Synopsis: One of a series of films on living Location manager......................... Liz Kirkham tralia, past and present, to commemorate the Further material will be gathered on three Australian artists and their work. Donald Friend Asst loc. manager.......................... Terry Owen 1988 Bicentenary. separate trips to Baradine, a timber village in is a decorative painter, and draws with the Continuity...................................................ChrisO’Connell central NSW. The film will explore the land­ fluency of a master draftsman. He is also a Casting........................... Andrew Martin-Weber scape, history and mythology of the area.

INDEPENDENT COMPANY story-teller with a taste for satire.

Interstate casting............Maizels & Associates Prod, company................. Media World Pty Ltd Camera operator....................................... CarloBuralli THE BRISBANE LINE Producers.....................................Colin South, Focus puller..........................Marc Edgecombe F.16 Prod, company.....................Cast Films Pty Ltd John Tatoulis Clapper/loader........................................... AnneBenzie Prod, company.................................... BermudaShorts Director.........................................Colin South for Channel Seven and 2nd unit camera asst.................................... NicSadler Producer........................................ John Buck Scriptwriter.................................. Phillip Dalkin The Queensland Film Corp.

Key grip...................................................... KarelAkkerman Based on the novel Dist. company.......................................... SarahFrank,Scriptwriter................................... Steve Taylor Asst grip.....................................................DavidCross Photography................................. West Ashton, BBC TV-New York (USA), by............................................ Bernard Callinan Gaffer......................................................... PerrySandow Peter Lettenmaier Synopsis: The story of the Australian forces Charles & Simon Target Ltd (UK) Art director....................................Peter Marlow Sound recordist.........................Jeremy Ashton who fought in Timor from 1941-1943.

Producers.................................Charles Target, Make-up..................................................... LiddyReynolds Editor........................................ Dean Edwards Simon Target Hairdresser............................................... LiddyReynolds Unit manager............................. Janet Morgan Director.....................................................SimonTarget Wardrobe....................................Mandie Groom Location manager..........Martin Googenheimer IN SEARCH OF JOSHUA SLOCUM Scriptwriter................................................ PeterCharlton Wardrobe consultant.................................. NoelHowell Prod, secretary............................... Cathy Buck Prod, company..........................Phillip Emanuel Research........................ Nick Harding (USA), Wardrobe buyer....................................CordulaAlbrecht Continuity................................... Penny Lindsay Productions Alice Campbell (Australia) Art dept co-ordinator................................ HeinzBoeck Producer................................... Phillip Emanuel Photography..........................................AndrewLake,2nd unit photography..................................IngoHelbig Standby props...................................... Tim Hall Art director............................................. AndrewMorris Zsolt Varkonyi Director......................................David Flapman Special effects........................................CharlieStaples Music performed by..................... Errol H. Tout Scriptwriter................................ David Flapman Sound recordists.......................................... PhilLipman, Fight choreography..................... Jim Richards Narrator.......................................... Fred Botica Roger Gladdin Photography...............................

Steve Windon, Set decorator............................................ HeinzBoeck Animation....................................... Stephen E. Editor........................................................... NeilThomson Tony Wilson Set construction......................................CharlieStaples, Mixed a t........................................ TVW-7 Perth Composers.................................................John Keane, Editor............................................Robin Archer Gerhard Parker Laboratory........................................... Movielab John Cowell Budget................................................ $300,000 Asst editor................................... David Jaeger Lab. liaison...............................Kelvin Crumplin Assoc, producer................Rosemary Cameron Length..............................................

60 minutes Neg. matching...............Neg. Cutting Services Length............................................................ 24minutes Director’s assistant........ Sophie de Montaigne Gauge....................................................... 16mm Post-prod, asst........................................... DaleEvans Gauge....................................................... 16mm Graphics..................................Chloe Diamantis Synopsis: Adocumentary about the first Stunts co-ordinator...........................Guy Norris Shooting stock......................................... Kodak Sound editor..............................................MariaJansson American to sailsingle-handed around the Safety supervisor...........................................ArtThompson Synopsis: Lancelin. Once a sleepy fishing Laboratory................................................

Atlab, Jumbuck world (1895-1898).

Asst stunt co-ordinator........Douglas McDonald town on the W.A. coast dotted with retired Length............................................................ 50minutes Still photography......................... Skip Watkins couples and holidaymakers from Perth squint­ Gauge..................................................... 16mm,Betacam Dialogue coach........................... Barrie Barkla ing into the strong sea breezes. Now it is alive JACK PIZZEY IN AUSTRALIA Synopsis: The B risb a n e L ine tells the story of Best boy....................................... Kim Harwood with the fluorescent colours of the sailboard Prod, company..........................Phillip Emanuel what happened to Australia during World War Runner.......................................................... NicSadler set.

The world’s best head south for the new Productions Ltd II. It tells how Brisbane came to be the head­ Unit publicist.................. Andrew Martin-Weber windsurfing mecca.

Producer................................Peter Thompson quarters for the command of all Allied Forces in Catering....................................................GriffinCaterers Exec, producer..........................Phillip Emanuel the South West Pacific, and Australia’s ‘front­ Nurse........................................................ JohanAkkerman Length........................................... 5x50minutes line’ in the event of invasion. It catalogues the Laboratory................................................. Atlab HOPE STREET Gauge....................................................... 16mm riots and romance, the genuine friendships and Lab. liaison...................................... David Cole (Working title) Cast: Jack Pizzey (Presenter). bogus dealing that went on when two million Length............................................. 90 minutes Prod, company............East West Films Pty Ltd Synopsis: A look at the Australian way of life American servicemen came to stay. And it Gauge....................................................... 16mm Producer......................................................

Ivan Hexter as seen by an ‘outsider’. shows how, when they’d gone, Australia was Shooting stock.................................7291,7292 Director........................................................ IvanHexter never to be the same place again.

Cast: Eddy Staszak (Jason Blade), Jim Editor.........................................Tom Palankay Richards (Jim Baxter), John Stanton (William JO Prod, manager............................................. SueHexter Anderson), Rowena Wallace (Sgt Lucy COUTTS COUNTRY Prod, company...... Milburn Stone Productions Laboratory....................................................VFL Andrews), Paris Jefferson (Gemma Anderson), Prod, company...........................................ABC Producer..........................................Julie Stone Length............................................................50minutes Linda Megier (Linda Anderson), Matthew Producer........................................Doug Murray Director........................................... Lynn-MareeMilburn Gauge....................................................... 16mm Quartermaine (Lambert), Zale Daniel (Martin Director..........................................Doug Murray Scriptwriter......................................Lynn-MareeMilburn Shooting stock.................................7291,7294 Flinders), Suzanne Dudley (Brothel Madam).

Scriptwriter................................... Doug Murray Photography..........................

Andrew de Groot Synopsis: H o pe S tre e t is the story of youth Synopsis: More adventures in the West as Photography.................................... Peter Cook Sound recordist......................................... PeterClancy homelessness. It is through a group of resi­ Jason Blade works against the clock to rescue Sound recordist.....................................QuentinBlackdents at a youth refuge that we come to under­ Editor................................

Richard Lowenstein his girl from brutal kidnappers.

Editor..........................................Steve Rhodes Prod, designer......................................... JackieEverett stand homelessness, the reasons for it, the Prod, designer........................... Steve Rhodes Producer’s assistant..............................ShelleyThomas stresses it creates and the consequences for THE TIME GUARDIAN Exec, producer............................................ RonDiynan Casting........................................... Lynn-MareeMilburn, our young characters.

Prod, co-ordinator......................................DollyMartin Prod, company....... Jen-Diki Film Productions Julie Stone Narrator..................................................... DougMurray Pty Limited for International Camera assistant................... Steve McDonald HOW MANY TIMES KIDS ARE Mixed at.......................................................ABC Film Management Limited and Key grip...................................Macgregor Knox DIVIDED BY MATHS Budget.................................................. $12,000 Chateau Productions Art director.................................Chris Kennedy Length............................................................30minutes Investments Limited Prod, company........Production and Publishing Costume designer...................................JackieEverett Synopsis: A profile of Dave and Graham Services Branch, Dist. company.........Hemdale Film Corporation Make-up................................................. GeorgeHuxley Coutts, North Queensland business tycoons (excluding Australasia) Qld Dept of Education Musical director............................... Ollie Olsen who have acquired almost 2% of Queensland, Producers.......................... Norman Wilkinson, Dist. company.......... Department of Education, Mixer........................................... Roger Savage involving 1 2 cattle stations and 1 0 % of the Robert Lagettie Queensland Animation........................................ Lynn-MareeMilburn state's beef cattle herd. These unlikely beef Co-producer............................Harley Manners Producer............................ Peter Daniel Behan Laboratory................................................... VFL barons shot to national prominence with the Director......................................................PeterWear Director...................................... Brian Hannant Length............................................................ 25minutes recent surprise purchase (for $35 million) of the Scriptwriter................................................ PeterWear Scriptwriters............................. Brian Hannant, Gauge......................................................35mm property network Queensland stations.

John Baxter Photography................................................ GertKirchner Synopsis: A multi-layered documentary which Sound recordist........................................... MaxBowring Photography..............................................GeoffBurton challenges and extends the conventional form Editor......................................................... DavidHalliday Sound recordist.........................................ToivoLemberDAVID MALOUF: AN IMAGINARY of animation and cinema to show the personal LIFE Prod, designer........................................... CarolSansoni Editor........................................ Andrew Prowse history of ‘Jo’. The film will trace the life of this Exec, producer............................................. LenHume Prod, company........... Third Millenium Pictures strong charismatic woman, from great happi­ Prod, designer....................................... GeorgeLiddle Dist. company.......................... AFI Distribution Continuity...................................Judy Hamilton ness in peace time Czechoslovakia through to Composer...................................................AllanZavod Producer......................... Richard KellyTipping Producers assistant..................................AliceFungher survival as an actress in war time Prague Exec, producer.....................Antony I. Ginnane Director........................... Richard KellyTipping Casting...........................Elaine Holland Pty Ltd and her eventual fleeing of the Bolsheviks to a Studios...................................................HendonStudios Camera assistant........................................ ConRigas Scriptwriter......................Richard KellyTipping new beginning in Australia.

Mixed a t.................................................HendonStudios Art director.................................................CarolSansoni Photography.........Robert Schaefer (Tuscany), Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm Mike Twemlow (Sydney) Make-up...................................................

Jacqui Deacon Lab. liaison................................................KerryJenkin K.G. TV Special effects.................... Dennis Westbrook Sound recordists...Alessandro Gatti (Tuscany), Budget.............................................$8,000,000 Prod, company................................ Teenpower Neg. matching................Neg. Cutting Services Mike Moore (Sydney) Length..........................................................100minutes Dist. company..................................

Teenpower Mixer............................................................RodHerbert Editor.........................................Keir McFarlane Gauge.......................................................35mm Producer.................................... Mark Bahnisch Still photography....................... Don Rendalls Composer........................................Beethoven Shooting stock.........................................Kodak Director.......................................v.F.J. Metcalf Camera assistant.......Adriano Giuseppe Gangi Budget...................................................$24,000 Cast: Tom Burlinson (Ballard), Nikki Coghill Choreography................................... Ross Allen (Tuscany) Length............................................................ 20minutes (Annie), Carrie Fisher (Petra), Dean Stockwell Gauge....................................................... video Laboratory............................ Colorfilm, Victoria Gauge..................................16mm to ' h " video (Boss), Henry Salter (Prenzler), Jo Flemming Cast: Brian O’Donnell (Interviewer).

Cast: Brett Earle (Ben), Joanne Fish (Emma), Budget.................................................. $60,000 (Tanel).

Synopsis: A documentary covering Kelvin Alison Layton (Louise), Shannon Warham Length............................................. 50 minutes Synopsis: A sci-fi action movie about a woman Grove High School’s participation in the 1987 (Shane), Christen O’Leary (Miss Ellison), Gauge....................................................... 16mm who encounters time travellers from the 24th ‘Rock ’n Roll Eisteddfod’.

Michael Rodger (Len Robinson), Leo Wockner Shooting stock................................ 7292, 7291 Century in Central Australia.

(Shane’s father), Ingrid Mason (Emma's Synopsis: A documentary portrait of poet and mother), Jacquie Brennan (Photographer), novelist David Malouf. The visual contrast is MYSTERIES DOWN UNDER Laurie Foel (Model), Andrew Windsor between thick freak snow in an Italian village Prod, company........Channel Communications (Drummer). where Malouf comes to write, and a steamy (Film Investments) Ltd Sydney summer. David Malouf uses this as a Synopsis: H o w M a n y Tim es . . . is a film on Dist. company............... EVP Television Pty Ltd metaphor for the processes of imaginative teacher attitudes to teaching mathematics.

Producer..................................................Wayne Groom writing. The Tuscany shoot is recounted in his These attitudes are significant because a new Scriptwriter.................................................BarryGroom maths syllabus for Years one to ten is being recent book 12 E d m o n d sto n e S treet.

Exec, producer..........................................Kevin Moore launched. The film is part of an in-service pro­ Length........................................ 6 x 60 minutes gram and it endeavours to get teachers “on DONALD FRIEND — THE REBEL THE BANJO AND THE BARD Gauge.......................................................

Video side” in the teaching of maths.

SPIRIT Synopsis: Australian ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Prod, company.... Mermaid Beach Productions Not’ — little known facts about Australia.

Prod, company.....................Australian Art Film Producer.........................................Bill Bennett IMAGES OF AUSTRALIA Partnerships Pty Ltd Director........................................... Bill Bennett (Working title) Producers...................................Don Bennetts, Scriptwriter......................................Bill Bennett Jeremy Hogarth NATURE OF AUSTRALIA Photography................................... John Brock Prod, company..........................................ABC Directors.................................Jeremy Hogarth, Editor...........................................Denise Hunter (Working title) Dist. company............................................ ABC Don Bennetts Length............................................ 58 minutes Producer.............................. Chris McCullough Prod, company..........ABC Natural History Unit Scriptwriter...................... Christopher Leonard Gauge.......................................................16mm Director................................ Chris McCullough Co-producers............................................. BBC, Photography............................... Ray Henman, Cast: Lewis Fitzgerald, Brendan Higgins.

Scriptwriter.............................Russell Braddon Australian Heritage Commission Tony Wilson, Synopsis: A dramatised documentary about Photography...........................Pieter de Vries, Producers.................................. Dione Gilmour, Terry Carlyon Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson.

Mike Twemlow David Parer

DOCUMENTARI ES

70 — JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

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Nancy Wake Willing and Abel High Tide The Howling III Those Dear Departed Fields of Fire

STATION WAGONS • SEDANS • HI-ACE VANS • 4 X 4 TOYOTA LANDCRUISERS • ACTION VEHICLES • TRAY TOPS • BUSES

Directors..................................... Dione Gilmour, mentary which will deal with the historical Camera operator.............................. Mark Lane Sound recordist.............................Mark La Rosa David Parer development of the Western Australian wheat Art director........................................ Tony Ayres 1st asst director.............................Mark La Rosa Scriptwriter............................ John Vandenbeld belt of Quairading. Utilising home movie Length.............................................. 55 minutes Budget..........................................................$500 Photography................................... David Parer, footage, stills, archive material and seasonally Gauge........................................................ 16mm Length.............................................................. 25minutes Keith Taylor, shot Super 8 footage it will attempt to portray Synopsis: Victor the cat prowls and plays in a Gauge..................................................... Super 8 Neil Rettig, different interpretations of history (e.g. working class dockside suburb. Pampered by a Shooting stock..................................... Kodak 40 Bruce Reitherman, scientific, artistic, business, agriculture, abor­ nurse, press-ganged by a drunken sailor, his Cast: Elwin Bradshaw (John), Loren Daniel George Murahidy, iginal and religious) through the eyes of a child favourite residence (where he lets his fur down) (Mary), Peter Camerone (Paul).

Rory McGuinness, narrator. While dealing with the history of a belongs to Rose and William, who have sung, Synopsis: The faith of a heart, the faith of a Mantis Wildlife Films, particular area it will also question the idea of laughed and argued their way through ten look. Rising up to the heaven of dream. A Glenn Carruthers history. years of unmarried bliss. period in the life of a young Australian workingSound recordists.............................ChristopherWest, class couple.

Elizabeth Parer-Cook SUBURBAN ENCOUNTERS AUSTRALIA: AN IMAGINARY PAST Editors......................................................... DavidLuffman, Producer..................................................... ChrisSammers Director............................................ Peter Callas FLESH WILL EAT Peter Vile, Director............................................................

Jo Bell Scriptwriter.......................................Peter Callas John Dutton Prod, company......................Base Productions Photography..................................

Ray Boseley Effects designer..............................Peter Callas Prod, designer.................................... Dale Mark Producer.....................................................KathyDrayton Sound recordists.........................................ChrisHubbard, Laboratory............................................. Videolab Composer.................................... Kevin Hocking Director....................................................... KathyDrayton Jane Karslake Budget.................................................... $14,833 Exec, producer...................... John Vandenbeld Based on the original idea Editor................................................................JoBell Length............................................... 10 minutes Prod, manager.......................Richard Campbell by.............................................................KathyDrayton Sound editor..................................

Ray Boseley Gauge...............................................................1"videoPhotography................................................TiborGulyas Research.....................................Martin Stone, Still photography.............................Loretta Bell Synopsis: A short experimental video set in a Elizabeth Parer-Cook Sound recordist................................ Peter Read Laboratory..............................................

Cinevex pseudo-historical context.

Narrator..................................................... RobynWilliams Editor.......................................................... KathyDrayton Budget....................................................$30,000 Length.......................................... 6 x 55 minutes Composer.......................................... Peter Read Length..............................................................30minutes Gauge.........................................................16mm CELLULOID SCREAMS Neg. matching............................................ ChrisRowell Gauge.........................................................16mm Shooting stock............................ Eastman neg.

Musical director................................ Peter Read Prod, company............................................ ShotProductions Synopsis: A challenging study of the lives of Synopsis: The evolution of the Australian con­ Music Producer....................................................ShaunFarrington performed b y ......................... Peter Read people who have had UFO experiences. tinent — animals and plants.

Still photography........................................... MelBroe Director........................................ Scott Bradley Mixed a t .......................................................PalmStudios Scriptwriter...................................Scott Bradley Laboratory............................................ Colorfilm A TOWN LIKE TAHMOOR Photography............................ Martin McGrath P A R R O T S O F A U S T R A L IA Lab. liaison............................Warren Keathers Sound recordist........................

Patricia Waites Prod, company............................................

ABC TV Prod, company..................... Yoho Productions Budget.................................................... $15,000 Editors......................................... Scott Bradley, Producer...................................................HarveyBroadbent Dist. company....................... Documentaries of Length.............................................................. 25minutes Shaun Farrington Director.....................................................HarveyBroadbent Australasia Gauge.........................................................16mm Composer...................................................JulianKnowles Scriptwriter.............................................. HarveyBroadbent Producer.......................................Grant Young Shooting stock............................................ 7292 Prod, manager......................................... ShaunFarrington Photography................................................. NickMacBean Director......................................... Grant Young 1st asst director........................................ NicolaLongSynopsis: Experimental documentary on Sound recordist.............................................JimRobertson Scriptwriter................................... Grant Young bodies, architecture, eating habits, sexuality, Lighting cameraman.................................

Martin McGrath Editor................................................Erica Moss Exec, producer........Channel Communications hamburger shops, dancing, elevators, Camera operator......................................CallumMcFarlane Exec, producer............................ John Gleeson Budget..............................$95,000 (per episode) demolishing, heroin, redevelopment, stupidity, Camera assistant.................................... MirianaMarusic Prod, assistant.................................Padma Iyer Length.......................................... 7 x 30 minutes hospitals, the sky, toilets, catastrophes, bikie Art director.................................................. ColinGibson Camera assistant.........................................GinaPhilips Gauge......................................................... 16mm slayings, corridors and brain damage.

Make-up....................................................AngelaConte Length..............................................................20 minutes Synopsis: Episodes 7-13 of a documentary Wardrobe................................................. PhillipaEyers Gauge........................................................ 16mm series about parrots of Australia.

Standby props......................................... CharlieRevai Synopsis: A documentary for young people HOME SCENARIO Special effects....................................... NormanYeend, tracing the 2 0 0 year development from pre­ P A U L ’S B O Y S Grahame Binding Prod, company.............................. Paisan Films white settlement of the small rural township of Prod, company................................................7SProductions Music performed by...................................Julian Knowles Producers...................................................DavidThomas, Tahmoor, south of Sydney, as a representative Producer.................................................. EugeneSchlusser Tech, adviser.................................. Tex Clarke Arthur D’Aprano example of the ways in which man has Director.................................................... EugeneSchlusser Catering..........................................Fiona Power Director...................................................... EttoreSiracusa changed the environment to suit human needs.

Photography..........................................NicholasSherman Budget.................................................... $43,530 Scriptwriter.................................................EttoreSiracusa Length.............................................................. 20 minutes Sound recordist........................Laurie Robinson Budget.................................................. $45,825 WHERE SHE DARES Gaffer............................................David Jenkins Gauge.........................................................16mm Length..............................................................30minutes Shooting stock.......................................... Kodak Still photography.........................Jane Nicholls Gauge........................................................ 16mm Prod, company.........................Gittoes & Dalton Cast: Serge Lazareff (Peter), Ralph Cotterill Laboratory...............................................Cinevex Synopsis: A photographer takes a look at the Productions Limited (Dr Louma).

Length................................................50 minutes homes of Italian immigrants.

Dist. company........................................... ABC, Synopsis: A film editor viewing an old B-grade Gauge......................................................... 16mm Devillier & Donegan Enterprises, USA horror film finds horrors of his own.

Shooting stock.............................................7292 Producers.............................................GabrielleDalton, THE INVISIBLE GIRL Synopsis: Ordinary boys achieve extra­ George Gittoes ordinary results under the guidance of an Director................................................... GeorgeGittoes THE DEATH OF GOD Prod, company......................................... ScarletHeart eccentric choirmaster, a supportive com­ Scriptwriters........................................... GeorgeGittoes, Producers.................................................. DanaeGunn, Prod, company..................Geoff Clifton Films munity, and the inspiration of masterpieces of Gabrielle Dalton Jayne Stevenson Producer.......................................Geoff Clifton liturgical music. One of the few all-male choirs Based on the original idea Directors................................................... DanaeGunn, Director.........................................Geoff Clifton remaining in Australia flourishes in the unlikely b y .........................................................GeorgeGittoes Jayne Stevenson Scriptwriter................................... Geoff Clifton Melbourne suburb of Brunswick amidst the Photography........................................... GeorgeGittoes, Scriptwriters............................................. DanaeGunn, Photography.Sarah Borsellino (Ariflex SR), factories and warehouses.

David Perry Jayne Stevenson Geoff Clifton (Bolex) Sound recordist................... Chris Thompson Photography.......................................... GraemeWood Editor.......................................................... GeoffClifton Editor....................................Dereck Wenderski Sound recordist.......................................... MarkAtkin RESERVED Composers.......................................Andre Leu, Prod, secretary..................................Lynn Teda Editor....................................Clayton Jacobson Paul Bambury Prod, company...................................Ipso-FactoEnterprises Prod, accountant....................................... DavidBarnes, Composer....................................................MarkFerrie Special effects..............................Geoff Clifton Dist. company.................................... Ipso-FactoEnterprises Remarkable Film Computers Prod, managers.................................Mick Bell, Neg. matching................... Clodagh Ashburner Producers....................... Wayne Coles-Janess, Prod, assistant........................................PatriciaWaites Melanie Brelis Musical director..................................Andre Leu B.J. Price Laboratory............................................ Colorfilm Casting.......................................................DanaeGunn, Music performed by.........................

Andre Leu, Directors..........................Wayne Coles-Janess, Budget..................................................$217,000 Jayne Stevenson La La Cafe, B.J. Price Length..............................................................58minutes Camera operator..................Nicolette Freeman Paul Bambury Scriptwriters...................Wayne Coles-Janess, Gauge.........................................................16mm Camera assistant.......................

Robin Plunkett Crane designer and B.J. Price Shooting stock............................................ 7291 Art director............................................PenelopeAshton operator of prototype................ John Rayson Editor............................... Wayne Coles-Janess Synopsis: A three-part series about women Make-up....................................................... TroyDavies Still photography...................................... MichelBrouet, Length.............................................................. 48 minutes and writers on the frontline. Part 1 features five Hairdresser...................................................TroyDavies Sandi Wrightson Gauge.........................................................16mm Nicaraguan women; Part 2 follows five women Wardrobe..................................................... TroyDavies Animation.....................................

Geoff Clifton, Shooting stock..................................7291,7294 in Africa; and Part 3 looks at five women in the Wardrobe asst...........................................LouiseAshton with segments by Izabo Synopsis: A documentary which seeks to Middle East frontlines, including Australian Music performed by.................................... MarkFerrie Mixed at.............................. Palmer Lane Studio dispel mythical conceptions of the Army journalist, Dianne Willman.

Sound editor................................................

MarkAtkin Laboratory............................................ Colorfilm Reserve and its members through neo-realist Mixer......................................................... SoundFirm Lab. liaison...............................................WarrenKeevers cinematography. It provides a depth of insight Opticals..........................................................VFL Budget.................................................... $10,000 into the Australian Army Reserve hitherto con­ Runners..........................................Julia Murray, Length.............................................................. 17minutes cealed in myth.

John Rauch Gauge.........................................................16mm Catering.............................................

Sara Bita, Shooting stock.................................. 7291,7292 S K Y ’S W IT N E S S Camilla Gold Cast: LisaRayson, Ian Shadwell, Adam Laboratory.....................................................

VFL Prod, company............ Neon Emu Productions Cullen, Kaye Roffey.

Budget.................................................... $44,000 Producer................................................TerrenceMaybury Synopsis: An expressionist animation with live ARGUING THE TOSS OF A CAT Gauge.........................................................16mm Director..................................................TerrenceMaybury action montage. God is overthrown by multi­ Producers.................................................... PaulBrown, Shooting stock............................................ 7291 Scriptwriter...........................................TerrenceMaybury tudes of dissatisfied spirits who demand a Christine Sammers Cast: Michelle Dark (Anita), Marie Kingston Photography............................. John Robinson more caring heavenly reign.

Director............................... Christine Sammers (June), Sam Sajavka (Bill), Richard Ferrie (Ian), Sound recordist................................Paul Payne Scriptwriters................................................. PaulBrown, Tammy Trapp (Fiona), Penelope Ashton Editor......................................... David Fosdick FAITH Christine Sammers (Bemie), Helen Doucas (Rosanna), Belinda Composer.................................. James Hewgill Prod, company............ Innersense Productions Photography..................................... Erika Addis Davies (Anne), Lloyd Nobes (Factory man), Runner.......................................Michael Jesser Producer.....................................

Bill Mousoulis Soundrecordist..........................................Lloyd Carrick Glen Holden (Gavin).

Laboratory................................... Custom Video Director........................................Bill Mousoulis Editor..............................................................KenSallows Synopsis: A film that traces the events and Budget....................................................$41,000 Scriptwriters................................Mark La Rosa, Composer................................................ FelicityProvan emotions leading to the suicide of Anita, a Length.............................................................. 40 minutes Bill Mousoulis 1 st asst director.......................Fiona Cochrane 17-year-old girl growing up in a bleak suburban Gauge.........................................................Video Photography...............................

Matthew Rees housing estate.

Continuity.................................Sally Englender Syngpsjs: S k y ’s W itn e s s is a speculative docu­

S HO

R T S

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 71

P R O D U C T I O N S U R V E Y

Budget...................................................$31,284 music. She worked in the bar. She was new.

MY BOYFRIEND MAX LINDY LANE Length.............................................. 12 minutes She monitored his every movement and Producer.....................................................JulieHarris Producer.............................................. BeverleyPhillips Gauge........................................................16mm noticed that he had been watching her. Tall Director....................................................... JulieHarris Director................................................ BeverleyPhillips Shooting stock........................................... 7291 men intrigued her. She remembered how he Scriptwriter................................................. JulieHarris Photography................................................ RexNicholson Voice characterisations: Richard Healy (The liked her face and her thick black curls. The Photography..............................................JustinBrickie Editor........................................... Simon Burton Man), Jane Lewis (The Lady), Danny Nash narrator’s story guides the viewer through what Sound recordist.................................... Ian Mott Choreographer............................... Tania Lacy (The Piiot/A Seagull), David Crosbie (A Seawas once her own relationship. Her story is Editor......................................................JoanneAslanis Music............................................John Phillips gull). about how she would like it to be, how it initially Prod, manager....................................... JoanneAslanis Asst producer......................................CameronBarnett Synopsis: Trevor and his owners parachute was. In her recapitulation, she realises that 1st asst director....... Joshua Sommerset Reed Unit managers.......................................EvgeniaTsakiidis, onto a deserted island where the Man decides they never really did have that much in Producer’s assistant..............................JoanneAslanis Gabrielis Dunn, to run a carpark, the Lady an airport, and common.

Casting........................................................ JulieHarris Leanne Bilsen Trevor, to subjugate the local seagulls. All is Lighting cameraperson............................JustinBrickie Location consultant.......................Eddie Tamir quiet until a plane carrying a load of cars is A SWIMMER DROWNING Clapper/loader......... Joshua Sommerset Reed 1 st asst director..........................................ChrisStevenson forced to land.

Prod, company.................................. Victorian Make-up................................................. JoanneOddie Continuity....................................... Sally Martin International Pictures Laboratory................................................... VFL Camera assistant..................................... CathyChambers Dist. company............................... Film Victoria Length.............................................. 10 minutes Camera equipment...............................MalcolmRichards Producer...................................... Jon Stephens Gauge...................................................... 16mm Key grip..........................................Paul Hunter Director.............................................. JanSardi Cast: Leonie Hurry (Sal), Simon McLean Asst grip........................................ Barry Brown Scriptwriters.................................... John T rigg, (Max).

Gaffer..........................................Colin Williams Norman Kaye, Synopsis: Max is at Men's Group grappling Art director.................................. Sharon Battat Peter Albert Sardi modem relationships, while Sal and Rita are Make-up......................... Vivienne McGillacudy Based on the original Idea by........... John Trigg having their own discussion group at the super­ Hairdresser..........................................BronwynPhillips Photography........................................... JaemsGrant market. Inspired, Sal seeks Max out; one way Wardrobe......................................Aviva Graeve Sound recordist.................................... StephenHaggarty or another she has got to find out where this Extras wardrobe........................................KerrinSheard ABORIGINAL EDUCATION Editor......................................................JiH Holt relationship is going — with or without Max and Set decorator................................. Gillian Watt Prod, designer................................Tony Wright Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia his sensitive man politics.

•Stage set dresser........................ Kevin Pearce Composer................................................

Adrian Scott Dist. company..............................................Film Australia Vocal recordist........................................... JohnRowley Assoc, producer...........................................JanSardiProducer.................................................... AvivaZiegler ¡Sound recorders.............................The Pig Pen NICK THE STRIPPER Prod, manager..........................

Jenny Caruana Director......................................................

Aviva Ziegler Runner....................................... Adam Pietrzak (Working title) Prod, secretary........................................ GillianCampbell Researcher.................................................ChrisPeacock Catering................................Timbale Catering Producer......................................................DaleSadler Prod, accountant.................... Natalie Rothman Photography...............................................JohnHosking • Laboratory............................................ Cinevex Director........................................................ DaleSadler 1st asst director.........................Don McLennan Sound recordist......................... Jack Friedman Length.............................................................15minutes Scriptwriter.................................................

Dale Sadler Continuity.....................................

Beth Whelan Editor..........................................................RossFlaherty Gauge...................................................... 16mm Photography................................................JoelPeterson Lighting cameraperson................ Jaems Grant Exec, producer.............................Tristram Miall Cast: Peta Pilling, Dierdre Smart, Cosima Editor...........................................................

Dale Sadler Camera assistant.......................................

Mark Lane Prod, manager...............................................IanAdkins Dusting, Tamara Saulwick, Natasha Weber, Prod, assistants....................................... CathyFields, Key grip.................................. Michael Madigan Prod, secretary.......................................DesireePfeiffer Fiona Rutelle, Rod Murphy, Andrew Beresford, Cathy Addison Gaffer.........................................................PeterScottProd, accountant...................................... DavidTrestrail -Gumpy Phillips, Tim Kidman, Bradley Morri­ Camera assistant........................ Craig Addison Boom operator...........................John Wilkinson Prod, assistant...........................................MerylJackson son, Piero Gesualdi.

Music performed b y ............The Birthday Party Make-up....................................Fiona Campbell Camera assistant............................ Carl Fisher Synopsis: A group of exuberant teenagers Still photography.................................Bill Watts Standby wardrobe/props...... Andrea Johnston Asst editor..............................Claire Williamson sky-larking around Melbourne kidnap a dowdy Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm Set construction.................Screwed and Glued Publicity............................................. Lesa-BelleFurhagen waitress from an up-market city restaurant.

Lab. liaison............................................ WarrenKeathers Asst editor............................................CourtneyPageMarketing & They transform her into a beauty and include Budget.................................................. $14,200 Neg. matching.......................................Cinevex promotions officer..........Jennifer Henderson her in their nightclub performance.

Length.............................................................. 6 minutes Mixer................................................. Soundfirm Studios.........................................................FilmAustralia Gauge....................................................... 16mm Still photography....................................GeorgeMillerMixed at........................................................FilmAustralia Shooting stock...........................................7291 Opticals................................................. Cinevex Budget................................................... $90,000 LOOKOUT Synopsis: A nightmarish account of how one Title designer........................................... OliverStreeton Length..............................................28 minutes Prod, company.......................B Grade Pictures man is finally forced to face and overcome his Catering................................................TimbaleCatering, Gauge....................................................... 16mm Director..................................................... GrantBrown inadequacies in a brief moment of rebirth.

(Rod Murphy) Shooting stock.............................................ECN Scriptwriter................................................GrantBrown Studios...................................................... OpenChannel Synopsis: A film to encourage Aboriginal and Photography........................... Andrew Birbira, Mixed at............................................. Soundfirm Torres Strait Islanders to stay in education, AN ORDINARY WOMAN Richard Werkhoven Laboratory............................................. Cinevex using examples of people who have stayed and Producers......................................Sue Brooks, Editor........................................................ GrantBrown Lab. liaison.................................................... IanAnderson are achieving. It makes them aware of the Alison Tilson ■Composers...............................................DerbyJervis, Budget...................................................$75,000 support system available through the educa­ Grant Brown Director........................................................ SueBrooks Length............................................................ 25minutes tion system.

Scriptwriter............................................... AlisonTilson Continuity............................ Pattricia Hobsborn Gauge....................................................... 16mm Photography........................................ NicoletteFreeman Camera assistant...............Jacek Lukaszewicz A.D.A.B. Shooting stock........................................... 7292 Length............................................................ 30minutes Key grip....................................... Peter Watson Cast: Norman Kaye (God), Peter Albert Sardi (Working title) Gauge....................................................... 16mm Make-up......................................... Cathy Malik (Smith).

Prod, comoany.............................................FilmAustralia Synopsis: Through the examination of the life Laboratory................................................. Atlab Synopisis: A psychological, mystery/black Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia of an absolutely ordinary woman, this film Length............................................................ 15minutes comedy.

Director.........................................................Bob Kingsbury seeks to raise questions about truth and per­ Gauge................ 16mm transferred to %" tape Scriptwriter................................................... BobKingsbury ception in relation to identity.

Cast: Vicki Lea Baiies, Neil Campbell, Eric TREVOR ISLAND Photography..........................................

Axolotyl White, Tiffany Flovick, Andrew Kelly.

Sound recordist.....................................Axolotyl Producer.....................................................JohnTaylor Synopsis: What evil lurks on Lookout Hill? A THE RAT RACE Editor..................................................... Axolotyl Director.......................................................JohnTaylor voyeuristic nightmare. Lookout!

(Working title) Exec, producer........................ Geoffrey Barnes Scriptwriter................................................ JohnTaylor Prod, company..............................Dollar Signs Prod, manager.........................VirginlaPridham Photography.............................................. JohnTaylor for Eyes Productions Prod, secretary..................... Margaret Crewes Narration recorded by................................ GaryConstable THE MAGIC PORTAL Dist. company............. Australian Film Institute Prod, accountant.......................... John Russell Editor.......................................................... JohnTaylor Special fx photography..........................Axolotyl Producer............................................... LindsayFleayProducers.............................Suzanne Nussey, Prod, designer........................................... JohnTaylor Jenni-bop Zipporah Studios.........................................................

FilmAustralia Director................................................. LindsayFleay Composers................................................DavidCrosbie, Length..............................................15 minutes Scriptwriter............................................ LindsayFleayDirectors.............................................. SuzanneNussey, John Taylor Jenni-bop Zipporah Synopsis: An animation programme commis­ Photography..........................................LindsayFleay Musical director..........................................JohnTaylor Scriptwriter......................... Dirk Doppelgänger sioned by A.D.A.B. to show Australians, in an Prod, supervisor............. George Borzyskowski Music performed by..................................DavidCrosbie, entertaining manner, how, where and why Aus­ Animation.............................................. LindsayFleayPhotography........................................SuzanneNussey, John Taylor, Jenni-bop Zipporah tralia has a development assistance pro­ Budget.....................................................$7,800 Philip Layion, gramme.

Sound recordists.................................

Suzanne Nussey, Length............................................................ 17minutes Alan Fowler Jenni-bop Zipporah Gauge....................................................... 16mm Sound editor.............................................. JohnTaylor ANIMALS OF AUSTRALIA IN Editors................................................. SuzanneNussey, Shooting stock........................................... 7291 Animation...................................................JohnTaylor CLOSE UP Jenni-bop Zipporah Synopsis: Three Lego characters in a Lego Studios..................................................‘Qwiklik’Studios Prod, designers.....................Suzanne Nussey, spaceship discover the Magic Portal, which Mixed at.............................................Soundfirm Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia Jenni-bop Zipporah can transport them to other animated realms.

Laboratory................................................... VFL Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia Neg. matching................................Ursula Jung However, as the film progresses, it transports Tech, adviser............................ David Atkinson them to reality and also into the animation set Mixed a t......................................... Soundstage,Fitzroy they are being filmed in. Film and real world Laboratory....................................................VFL collide with interesting results.

Budget...................................................$27,294 Length.............................................................15minutes MIDDRIFFINI PROJECTS FUNDED BY AFC CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND April 1987 Gauge....................................................... 16mm To L e t James Bogle/Joseph Lee, video drama, Producer............................................... SabrinaSchmid The R a t R a ce : Jennie Bop Zipporah/Suzanne Shooting stock........................................... 7291 30 minutes, post production grant of $6,980.

Director................................................. SabrinaSchmid Nussey, 16mm animation, 15 minutes, produc­ Synopsis: A humorous look at rodent psycho­ E vid e n ce : Sally Bongers, 35mm experimental tion grant of $27,294.

Scriptwriters............................Sabrina Schmid, social experimentation using puppet and cut­ drama, 50 minutes, production investment of Gregory Pryor S om e R o o m s: Elisa Argenzio, 16mm drama, 13 out animation. Dr Umpteen and his assistant, $53,034.

Based on the original idea minutes, production grant of $2,918.

Ron, become rather too zealous in their pursuit C e llu lo id S c re a m s : Scott Bradley/Shaun by.......................................................SabrinaSchmid A n O rd in a ry W om an: Sue Brooks/Alison Tilson, of knowledge.

Farrington, 16mm comedy drama, 20 minutes, SFX, atmos............................. Jon McCormack 16mm drama, 30 minutes, production invest­ production grant of $43,530.

Editor.....................................................SabrinaSchmid ment of $69,400.

SOME ROOMS Composer..............................................Ian Cox Salt, S aliva, S p erm A n d S w e a t Phillip Brophy, A u s tra lia : A n Im a g in a ry P a s t Peter Callas, Producers................................................... ElisaArgenzio, Animation/rostrum 16mm, 60 minutes, production grant of experimental video, 1 0 minutes, production Kerrina Lawrence camera operator................................ SabrinaSchmid $37,680. grant of $14,833.

Director....................................................... ElisaArgenzio Neg matching...................................... WarwickDriscoll B a ra d in e : Michael Buckley, 16mm, 30 minutes, P e te r M a s o n : Sue Comwell/Lynne Broad, Scriptwriters................................................Elisa Argenzio, Music performed by...............................Ian Cox production grant of $27,107.

16mm documentary, 58 minutes, production Kerrina Lawrence Sound editors.........................Sabrina Schmid, A g a in s t The In n o c e n t Daryl Dellora/Jenny investment of $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 .

Sound recordists.......................... Doug Walsh, David Atkinson Hocking, 16mm drama, 60 minutes, production H a n d m a id e n s A n d B a ttle a xe s: Rosalind Gilles­ MimikaTsantis, Character voices........................Gregory Pryor, investment of $79,907. pie, 16mm documentary, 48 minutes, produc­ Graham Bridge Merryn Gates E ig h t B u c k s A d m is s io n : Cam Easton, 16mm tion investment of $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 .

Editors........................................................ ElisaArgenzio, Animation.............................................. SabrinaSchmid drama, 20 minutes, production grant of $4,216.

C o o l W ater. Robert Herbert/Sophie Jackson, Doug Walsh Title designer.........................................SabrinaSchmid M y B o y frie n d M a x: Julie Harris, 16mm 16mm drama, 15 minutes, post production Composer.................................................. MarkJohnson Sound recording drama/comedy, 1 0 minutes, production qrant grant of $6,971.

Location manager..................................KerrinaLawrence studios................. Film Soundtrack Australia of $4,300.

S w a n to n L o d g e : Shane Hoyer, 16mm docu­ Continuity................................................... KateMitchell Mixed a t............................................. Soundfilm M r W rig h t Louise Hubbard, 16mm drama, 30 mentary, 50 minutes, post production grant of Lighting cameraperson......... Kerrina Lawrence Laboratory............................................. Cinevex minutes, production investment of $65,807. $19,923.

Camera operator.................................... KerrinaLawrence Budget.................................................. $30,965 P a in t Up: Peter Luby, 16mm drama, 26 D e clin e A n d Fall: Michael Hutak/Ben Crawford, Camera assistant............................Doug Walsh Length..............................................16 minutes minutes, initial investment of $2,500.

8 mm and video, 45 minutes, production grant Boom operator...........................Graham Bridge Gauge....................................................... 16mm F ra n z Is n ’t G erm an A n y m o re : Tony Wyzenof $9,290.

Art director.................................................. KateMitchell Shooting stock...................................7291 ECN beek, 16mm drama, 17 minutes, production B ra in : Stephen Jones/Tom Ellard, experi­ Music performed by................................... MarkJohnson grant of $3,414.

Synopsis: "Hmmm . . . when you close your mental video, 1 0 minutes, production invest­ Length.............................................................12minutes eyes . . . , "speculates Nobody-Else, thus M a n d d e : Barbara Barker, 16mm, 10 minutes, ment of $23,760.

Gauge.......................................................16mm evoking a dream in Rebecca’s mind, where initial investment of $2 ,0 0 0 .

L o n g Tuan: Les McLaren, 16mm documentary, Cast: Patricia Keenan (Woman), Robert James unfolds the story of Grosmond, supposedly a D e fen ce: James Kerr, 16mm drama, 24 56 minutes, production investment of $69,785.

(Man), Kerrina Lawrence (Narrator), Kate bunyip, and his whacking tail and many teeth. minutes, initial investment of $2,500.

N ic k The S trip p e r.

Dale Sadler, 16mm, 6 Mitchell (Woman at window), Bruno Crlsafi Grosmond laments the loss of Middriffini, the The O ne In d is c re tio n O f N a th a n P o tts: Paul minutes, production grant of $14,220.

(Second man), Norm and Glen (Old men in cause of his greatest toothache. Middriffini’s Payne, 16mm drama, 15 minutes, production bar).

F rie n d s A n d N e ig h b o u rs — E a s t T im o r Gil grant of $36,366. mysterious identity is eventually revealed, and Synopsis: He lived upstairs. He liked blue vein Serine, 16mm documentary, 56 minutes, pro­ her spectacular return delights Grosmond. An F u rio u s: John Lambert, 16mm drama, 18 cheese and salami, and listened to classical duction investment of $29,290. animated tragicomedy. minutes, script development grant of $2 ,0 0 0 .

GOVERNMENT FILM PRODUCTION

FI LM

AUSTRALIA

GOVERNMENT FILM FUNDI NG

72 — JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

Photography.................... Mick von Bornemann Producer.......................................................JohnShawScriptwriter................................................... PaulHumfress GREENER PASTURES Director......................................................... JohnShawPhotography....................................... Ross King Sound recordist............................Howard Spry Prod, company............................ Film Australia Video editor.................................................. PaulHumfress Scriptwriter....................................... ChristopherLee Prod, manager.......................Virginia Pridham Dist. company............................. Film Australia Dubbing editor...................................Ron Taylor Photography................................................JohnShawProd, secretary......................Margaret Crewes Producer......................................Rob McAuley Prod, accountant......................... Stephen Kain Exec, producer............................ Geoff Barnes Editor.......................................Jamie Robertson Director......................................Arch Nicholson Prod, manager............................. Ron Hannam Exec, producer...................................... TristramMiall Synopsis: A package of quality multi-media Scriptwriter....................................... Don Harley training material for small business manage­ Prod, secretary.....................................MargaretCrewes Prod, manager................................................ IanAdkins Exec, producer............................Geoff Barnes ment education and training programmes.

Prod, accountant......................... Stephen Kain Prod, secretary........................................DesireePfeiffer Prod, manager.............................Ron Hannam Make-up....................................................... BritaKingsbury Prod, accountant....................................... DavidTrestrail Prod, secretary...................... Margaret Crewes Asst editor.............................. Claire Williamson Sound mixer....................................... Geoff Stitt CANE TOADS Prod, accountant.............................. Steve Kain Musical director...........................................MarsLasar Narrator...............................Annette Shun Wah (Working title) Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen Music performed by..................................... MarsLasar Research asst......................... Geraldine Crown Marketing & Mixer........................................................ GeorgeHart Prod, company..............................................FilmAustralia Film archivist............................................... JudyAdamson promotions officer................ Francesca Muir Dist. company...............................................FilmAustralia Publicity............................ Lesa-Belle Furhagen Synopsis: A look at Australia’s physical land­ Synopsis: A proposed film for the Department Director........................................................Mark Lewis Studios.......................................................... FilmAustralia scape. The programme examines flora and of Defence dealing with young marriages in the Scriptwriter..................................................

Mark Lewis fauna and uses some excellent early footage.

Mixed at......................................................... FilmAustralia Australian Army.

Based on the original idea by...........Mark Lewis Budget....................................................$54,910 Photography.................................................. JimFrazier Length.............................................................. 55minutes POLITICS Sound recordist...................................... RodneySimmons Gauge.............................................16mm/video Prod, company..............................................FilmAustralia/ HARDER THAN EVEREST Editor.......................................................LindsayFrazier Cast: Dr Michael Archer (Presenter).

Australian Bicentennial Authority (Working title) Exec, producer............................. Tristram Miall Synopsis: An entertaining and informative Prod, manager................................................IanAdkins Dist. company.............................. Film Australia Prod, company..............................................FilmAustralia video on seven Australian animals, presented Producer........................................... Jan Punch Prod, secretary....................................... DesireePfeiffer Dist. company...............................................Film Australia

by Dr Michael Archer, a zoologist at the Uni­ Director............................................. Ian Walker Prod, accountant.......................................DavidTrestrail Producer................................................GeoffreyBarnes versity of NSW. The animals featured are the Educational consultant.....................Ted Myers 1st asst director...........................

Debbie Sidore Director........................Tim McCartney-Snape koala, echidna, kangaroo, platypus, numbat, Camera assistant.................................... WayneTaylor Research.....................................................JudyAdamson Based on the original idea crocodile and the Tasmanian tiger.

Asst editor.................................................... RhylYatesBased on the original idea b y ............................. Tim McCartney-Snape, Publicity............................................. Lesa-BelleFurhagen by......................................................... SunnarIsaacson Phil Balsdon AUSTRADE OVERSEAS Studios..........................................................FilmAustralia Exec, producer............................ Geoff Barnes Photography..................................................PhilBalsdon (Working title) Mixed at.........................................................FilmAustralia Prod, manager............................. Ron Hannam Editor........................................................ DeniseHunter Budget................................................. $199,347 Prod, secretary.................................... MargaretCrewes Prod, company.............................................. FilmAustralia Exec, producer......................................GeoffreyBarnes Length..............................................................50minutes Prod, accountant......................... Stephen Kain Dist. company...............................................FilmAustralia Prod, manager.............................................. RonHannam Gauge........................................................

16mm Narrator............................... Annette Shun Wah Producer........................................................ DonMurray Prod, secretary.....................................MargaretCrewes Shooting stock............................................. ECN Synopsis: An examination of Australian poli­ Director.................................................. Bob Hill Prod, accountant........................................ JohnRussell Synopsis: A stylised, off-beat documentary tical history beginning with Federation. The Length............................................................. 60minutes Scriptwriter............................................ Bob Hill showing a social history of the Cane Toad programme looks at forms of government, the Synopsis: This documentary is about the Sound recordist............................George Craig through the people who have contact with electoral system, democracy at work, govern­ realisation of Tim McCartney-Snape’s boyhood Editor................................................ Roy Mason them. Informative and entertaining with a ment services, and how public attitudes to dream to climb Gasherbrum 1 V, a beautiful yet Exec, producer....................... Geoffrey Barnes unique? blend of absurd fact and serious government have changed. terrifying peak in the Karakoram mountains of Prod, manager........................Virginia Pridham anecdote.

Prod, secretary.....................................MargaretCrewes north-east Pakistan.

VALUES Prod, accountant.........................................JohnRussell Studios.......................................................... FilmAustralia DJUNGGUWAN AT GURKA’WUY Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia HELLFIRE PASS Length...................................... 11 x 30 minutes, Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia (PART I & PART II) 1 1 x 7 minutes Producer........................................... Jan Punch Prod, company............................. Film Australia Prod, company............................. Film Australia Gauge..................................16mm to videotape Director....................................................... GregReading Dist. company............................ABC (Pre-sale) Dist. company.............................. Film Australia Synopsis: A package of films for Austrade on Exec, producer......................................GeoffreyBarnes Producer............................................ Tim Read Producer......................................................... IanDunlop overseas market profiles. Each programme will Prod, manager.............................. Ron Hannam Director.................................................. GrahamChase Director............................................................Ian Dunlop examine a particular market ana advise a Prod, secretary......................

Margaret Crewes Photography..............................................

KerryBrown Photography............................................... DeanSemler potential exporter of the do’s and don’ts Prod, accountant.............................. Steve Kain Sound recordist....................Rodney Simmons Sound recordist.......................................Rodney Simmons associated with that market.

Publicity............................Lesa-Belle Furhagen Editor.....................................................

Graham Chase Editors............................................................ IanDunlop, Marketing & Exec, producer...................................... TristramMiall Sharon Bell promotions officer................

Francesca Muir Assoc, producer........................................CalvinMiller Exec, producer.............................Tristram Miall AUSTRALIAN MADE Synopsis: This is the seventh programme in Prod, manager...................................Ian Adkins Prod, manager................................................IanAdkins Prod, company..............................................FilmAustralia the Film Australia’s Australia series. It Prod, secretary......................... Desiree Pfieffer Prod, secretary....................................... DesireePfeiffer Dist. company...............................................FilmAustralia examines the diversity of Australian culture Prod, accountant.......................................AlbertWong Prod, accountant.........................................JohnRussell Producer....................................................... RobMcAuley and lifestyles in a series of short segments Prod, assistant............................Meryl Jackson Editor/director..................................Sharon Bell Director............................................Peter Smith taken from Film Australia productions over Still photography.................

Robert McFarlane Budget..................................$180,000 (approx.)

Scriptwriter.................................................. PeterMayrhofer past and recent decades.

Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen Length..........................................2 x 50 minutes Photography...............................................PeterViskovich Marketing & Synopsis: A clan leader invites Film Australia Sound recordist.................................Leo Pollini promotions officer........Jennifer Henderson to record the first ceremony to be held at his Editor.................................................Tom Foley Budget................................................ $180,000 new clan homeland settlement in northeast Exec, producer............................. Geoff Barnes Length...............................................50 minutes Arnhem Land. The films show the organisation FITNESS — MAKE IT YOUR Prod, secretary...................... Margaret Crewes Gauge....................................................... 16mm and performance of a ceremony in a contem­ Prod, accountant.............................. Steve Kain BUSINESS 2 Shooting stock................................... ECN 7292 porary setting and explore the significance of Prod, assistant...............................Peter Brown Synopsis: The events that occurred at Hellfire Prod, company.............................Film Australia the clan homeland movement.

Publicity..............................................Lesa-BelleFurhagen Pass on the Thai Burma railroad during WWII Dist. company..............................Film Australia Marketing & are being finally recognised in this docu­ Director.................................................. Ian Host promotions officer.................Francesca Muir mentary.

Featuring Sir Edward (‘Weary’) FAMILY COURT Exec, producer............................ Geoff Barnes Synopsis: A videotape to promote the use of Dunlop, and shot in Thailand and Australia, the Prod, manager............................. Ron Hannam Prod, company..............................................FilmAustralia the ‘Australian Made logo to Australian manu­ film is a tribute to the spirit and ingenuity of the Prod, secretary...................... Margaret Crewes Dist. company...............................................FilmAustralia facturers. men who lived and died there.

Prod, accountant......................... Stephen Kain Director..............................................Ian Munro Synopsis: A follow-up to the successful F itn e ss Script development....................................AnnaGrieve, BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE — M a ke It Y o ur B u s in e s s video produced for Ann Charlton JUST AUSTRALIAN AEROPLANES the Department of Health, Recreation and Prod, company.............................Film Australia Photography.................................................JoelPeterson Tourism.

Dist. company..............................Film Australia Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia Sound recordist............................................RobStadler Producer............................................Janet Bell Dist. company...............................................FilmAustralia Editor....................................................... DeniseHaslem Director.......................................................PhilipRobertson Producer................................. Dick Collingridge Exec, producer...................................... TristramMiall FOR PARENTS Scriptwriter................................................. PhilipRobertson Photography...............................................

JohnHosking Assoc, producer......................................... AnnaGrieve Photography.................................. Kerry Brown Sound recordist..............................Howard Spry Prod, supervisor......................................... AnnaGrieve Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia Sound recordist...................................... RodneySimmons Exec, producer...................................... TristramMiall Prod, co-ordinator................ Kristin Sanderson Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia Editor............................................. Ray Thomas Prod, manager...................................Ian Adkins Producer.....................................................AvivaZiegler Unit manager.....................................Ian Adkins Exec, producer..................................Janet Bell Prod, secretary....................................... DesireePfeiffer Prod, secretary....................................... DesireePfeiffer Director.................................. Stephen Ramsay Prod, manager....................... Nigel Saunders Prod, accountant.......................................DavidTrestrail Prod, accountant.......................................DavidTrestrail Scriptwriters..........................Stephen Ramsay, Unit manager....................Amanda Etherington Publicity............................Lesa-Belle Furhagen 1 st asst director.......................................... AnnaGrieve Judy Menczel Prod, accountant............................Neil Cousins Studios..........................................................FilmAustralia 2nd asst director.................. Kristin Sanderson Photography.............................................. KerryBrown Editing assistant........................................ FrankHaines Mixed at.........................................................FilmAustralia Casting consultants................................Forcast Sound recordist......................Rodney Simmons Publicity............................ Lesa-Belle Furhagen Camera assistant............................. Mike Kelly Exec, producer...................................... TristramMiall Budget...................................................$52,305 Marketing & Length............................................................. gominutes 2nd unit photography................................. AndyFraser Prod, manager.................................. Ian Adkins promotions officer..........................FrancescaMuir Wardrobe buyer......................................... KerryBrown Gauge........................................................Video Prod, secretary....................................... DesireePfeiffer Length..............................................................26minutes Asst editor..................................................... ErinSinclair Synopsis: Successor to J u s t A u s tra lia n Trains; Prod, accountant.......................................DavidTrestrail Gauge.........................................................16mm compiled from 2-3 hours of Film Australia Still photography...........................................RozSharpe Asst director............................... Debbie Sidore Synopsis: A documentary programme made in archival footage shot on Australian aeroplanes, Legal consultant.......................................... AnnCharlton Camera assistant................................ Jim Ward this International Year of Shelter for the Home­ including first release dramatic war footage. It Gaffer..............................................................IanBosman Publicity............................Lesa-Belle Furhagen less for the Department of Housing and Con­ features stories on Flying Boats, F1 11 s, Narrator........................................................MikeWillesee Marketing & struction. gliding, the history of the RAAF, the Flying Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen promotions gfficer........ Jennifer Henderson Doctor Service and other classic aircraft.

Laboratory............................................. Cinefilm Marketing & THE BIG GIG Lab. liaison.................................................KevinAckroydpromotions officer........Jennifer Henderson Budget................................................. $295,000 Studios......................................................... FilmAustralia LAND OF THE LIGHTNING Prod, company..............................................FilmAustralia Length............................................................. 96minutes Mixed at........................................................ FilmAustralia Dist. company............................................... FilmAustralia BROTHERS Gauge...................................................... ..16mm Budget.................................................$181,195 Producer........................................................ DonMurray Prod, company............................. Film Australia Length............................................................. 48minutes Shooting stock.............................................

ECN Director..............................................KarIZwicky Dist. company.............................. Film Australia Cast: Peter Browne (Andrew Byrne), Jude Gauge........................................................ 16mm Scriptwriter................................................. SteveJohnson Producer............................................ Janet Bell Shooting stock............................................. ECN Exec, producer.......................................TristramMiall Stratford (Christine Byrne), Michael Cudlin Director.........................................David Roberts (Justin Byrne), Sheridan Murphy (Kathy Synopsis: This film is designed to alleviate Prod, manager........................ Virginia Pridham Scriptwriter..................................David Roberts Byrne), Susan Leith (Margaret Reeve), Mary parental fears about teenagers and drugs. By Prod, secretary........................................DesireePfeiffer Photography............................... Andrew Fraser Acres (Mary Duncan), Kim Knuckey (Rod looking at three families, Mike Willesee Prod, accountant.......................................DavidTrestrail Sound recordist.............................

Howard Spry examines the myth that we are powerless over Campbell).

Publicity............................Lesa-Belle Furhagen Exec, producer.................................. Janet Bell Synopsis: Using the ‘Real Life’ documentary drugs and alcohol, and a parent awareness Studios.......................................................... FilmAustralia Prod, manager..........................Nigel Saunders course looks at family strategies for fostering style, this drama observes two years in the life Mixed at......................................................... FilmAustralia Prod, secretary................Amanda Etherington responses to life that are independent rather of the Byrne family as they become involved in Budget.................................................. $235,000 Prod, accountant........................... Neil Cousins the complicated legal path that leads to a fully than dependent.

Length.............................................................. 20 minutes Camera assistant....................................RodneyHinds defended custody hearing in the Family Court.

Gauge.........................................................Video Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen Synopsis: A stylistic parody of youthFREE AND ENTERPRISING Marketing & orientated B-grade science fiction movies, Prod, company............................................. FilmAustralia promotions officer..........................FrancescaMuir FILM AUSTRALIA’S AUSTRALIA dealing with driving skills of young drivers. It Dist. company...............................................FilmAustralia Length..............................................................15minutes Film A u s tra lia 's A u s tra lia is a series of 12 video covers a night’s activities of a group of young Producer.................................................. AlistairInnesGauge........................................................35mm programmes with supporting discussion notes. friends on their way to the Big Gig. Visiting Director.........................................................PaulHumfress Synopsis: A short exploring the magnificent aliens observe them, commenting on their pro­ Scriptwriter................................................... PaulHumfress rock paintings associated with the mythology gress and are finally forced to intervene.

THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE Photography................................................ RossKing of the Lightning Brothers, north of Katherine in Prod, company........................... Film Australia/ Prod, manager........................................VirginiaPridham the Northern Territory. Ceremonies related to A BUSINESS PLAN Australian Bicentennial Authority Prod, secretary.................................... MargaretCrewes these paintings, which have not been per­ Dist. company.............................Film Australia Prod, accountant...................................StephenKain formed for 40 years, have been recorded, with Prod, company..............................................FilmAustralia Producer........................................... Jan Punch Synopsis: A package of quality multi-media an original Dolby soundtrack from GonwandaDist. company............................................... FilmAustralia training material for small business manage­ land featuring didgeridoo player, Charlie Producer...................................................AlistairInnesDirector............................. Paul Woolston-Smith ment education and training programmes.

Educational consultant.....................Ted Myers McMahon.

Director....................................... Paul Humfress

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 73

PRODUCTI OTS T S U R V E Y A LONG NIGHT WITH LETHAL GUESTS

THE VISIT

WOMEN ’88

SUBMARINE

Prod, company............................Film Australia Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia Prod, company............................ Film Australia Dist. company............................. Film Australia Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia Dist. company..............................Film Australia Prod, company............................ Film Australia Producer.......................................Jo Horsburgh Researcher/scriptwriter...............June Henman Producer..................................................MacekRubetzki Dist. company............................. Film Australia Directors................................ Christina Wilcox, Director.......................................................Tony Wheeler Exec, producer............................Geoff Barnes Director........................................Oliver Howes Ruth Cullen, Photography.................................. Tony Wilson Prod, manager.............................Ron Hannam Scriptwriter.................................. Oliver Howes Tracey Moffatt, Sound recordist............................................

Leo Sullivan Prod, secretary......................Margaret Crewes Editor.............................................Ray Thomas Anna Grieve, Editor............................................................ SueHorsley Prod, accountant.........................Stephen Kain Exec, producer............................Geoff Barnes Jinks Dulhunty, Exec, producer............................................TomHaydon Synopsis: A film about the multiple attacks, by Prod, manager.............................Ron Hannam Liz Stroud, air and sea, on Australia by the Japanese Assoc, producer........................................ ClareEdwards Prod, secretary...................... Margaret Crewes Mary Callaghan armed forces during World War II, culminating Gauge.......................................................16mm Prod, accountant.........................Stephen Kaln Photography..............................Sally Bongers, in the midget submarine raid on Sydney Synopsis: A moving film about a Vietnamese Length.............................................................48minutes Jane Castle, Harbour. It uses archival footage (much pre­ refugee family and the visit to Australia of a son Gauge......................................... 16mm to video Bronwyn Nicholas, viously unseen by the public) and reminis­ they haven’t seen for four years.

Synopsis: Research Into malaria, especially Sally Eccleston, cences of Australian and Japanese partici­ finding a vaccine, is of great Importance to Lisa Sharkey, pants.

Australia. Apart from considerations of world Andy Fraser, health, It Involves our standing as a nation in Mick Bornemann this region, and It should be the genesis of an RESUSCITATION TOURISM PROFILES Sound recordists....................... Nadia Kaspar, expanding biotechnology industry, with poten­ K. Gunn, (Working title) (Working title) tial for Australia and its exports.

S. Best, Prod, company............................Film Australia Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia Graham Tardif, Dist. company............................. Film Australia Dist. company..............................................FilmAustralia Howard Spry MICROS RULE OK Producer....................................................... DonMurray Director..........................................Karl McPhee Editors.................................................

Di Priest, Scriptwriter........................... Anne Brooksbank Director.......................................................RossDunlop Prod, company............................Film Australia Dominique Fusy, Photography..............................................KerryBrown Scriptwriter..................................................RossDunlop Dist. company.............................Film Australia Melissa Sandford, Exec, producer..................................... TristramMiall Photography................................John Hosking Producer..................................... Tristram Mlall Ray Thomas, Sound recordist.................... Rodney Simmons Prod, manager.................................. Ian Adkins Director.......................................... Daryl Dellora S. Ayyar, Editor..............................................................IanSpruce Prod, secretary.......................................DesireePfeiffer Sound recordists............................ Dale Sadler, Noel Wright Exec, producer..................................... GeoffreyBarnes Prod, accountant...................................... DavidTrestrail Ray Carlson Composers..............................

Joanna Piggott, Prod, manager........................Virginia Pridham Publicity...........................Lesa-Belle Furhagen Editor............................................. Daryl Dellora J. Fielding, Prod, secretary....................................MargaretCrewes Studios........................................................ FilmAustralia Exec, producer........................... Tristram Miall Felicity Foxx Mixed at....................................................... FilmAustralia Prod, accountant.........................John Russell Prod, manager...................................Ian Adkins Exec, producer.................................. Janet Bell Studios........................................ Film Australia Budget...................................................$90,000 Prod, secretary.............Desiree Pfeiffer Prod, manager.........................Nigel Saunders Length......................................... 6 x 5 minutes Length.............................................................15minutes Prod, accountant...........................John Russell Prod, secretary................ Amanda Etherington Gauge....................................................... 16mm Gauge.......................................................16mm Reporter......................................Peter McEvoy Prod, accountant.......................... Neil Cousins Shooting stock............................................ ECN Synopsis: Tourism P ro file s is the working title Camera operator........................ John Hosklng Camera assistants.................. Joanne Erskine, Cast: Judy Morris. for a series of programmes aimed at the Budget.................................................. $22,029 Alison Pickup, Channel 9 B u sin e ss T od ay programme. Each Synopsis: A short drama film to be shown by Length............................................................ 20minutes Sally Eccleston, St Jonn Ambulance Association as part of their programme will cover an aspect of the tourism Synopsis: A video programme aimed at Year Marianna Marusic, courses. It is designed to produce a strong industry and will, through interviews with 10 students. M ic ro s R u le O K is the pilot Robyn Petersen emotional effect, and persuade Australians of leading people In many areas of the industry, episode of a proposed series which deals with Asst editors.................................. Lindy Kruger, the value of learning basic resuscitation tech­ look at the physical make-up, finance and new technologies being introduced and how Stephanie Flack, future directions needed to make an already niques so as to avert a tragedy. they will affect young people In and out of work Helen Martin, expanding industry more efficient. and school.

Penelope Mulligan ROADS TO XANADU Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen PARLIAMENT HOUSE/ UNION PERSPECTIVE Marketing & Prod, company.............................Film Australia THE BUILDERS promotions officer.................Francesca Muir Dist. company..............................Film Australia Prod, company............................. Film Australia Prod, company............................Film Australia Length.......................................... 7 x 5 minutes Producer...................................... John Merson Dist. company.............................. Film Australia Producer.....................................Ron Saunders Synopsis: A series for television celebrating Director........................................ David Roberts Producer...................................................... RobMcAuley Director............................................ Ian Walker Australian women during the last 20 years, Scriptwriters.................................John Merson, Director................................................. Ian Host Scriptwriter.......................................Ian Walker made for release in the bicentennial year.

David Roberts Scriptwriter................................Andrew Denton Photography.....................................Ross King, Photography..................................... Ross Kina Based on the original idea Kerry Brown SouncTrecordist...............................

Bruce Nihill by............................................. John Merson Sound recordists........................ Howard Spry, Editor..........................................................BrianHicks Exec, producer........................... Geoff Barnes Rodney Simmons Exec, producer........................... Ron Saunders Prod, manager.............................Ron Hannam Exec, producer...........................Ron Saunders Prod, manager........................Virginia Pridham Prod, secretary......................Margaret Crewes Prod, manager.................................Gerry Letts Prod, secretary........................................ RobynBriais Prod, accountant........................ Stephen Kain Prod, secretary............................. Robyn Brlais Prod, accountant.......................................GeoffAppleby Synopsis: A four-part series for television that Prod, accountant....................... Geoff Appleby 1st asst director...................................... LorettaFisher takes a new look at the dynamic interchange Synopsis: A study of the design and building Key grip....................................................MaurieRogers between Asia and Europe in the modern world. of the new Parliament House in Canberra Gaffer..............................

Ian Bosman The conventional views about the relationship which Is to be completed for the Bicentenary Boom operator......................................... BruceHatfield between science, technology and society, celebrations.

AIDS Art director................................................. JaneNorris which continue to shape our perceptions of Make-up...................................................JennyBoehm Producer................................... Sally Semmens progress, are scrutinized and re-evaluated.

PRISONERS OF PROPAGANDA Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen Scriptwriter.................................................SallyIngleton Marketing & Exec, producer.................... Vincent O’Donnell Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia RUSSIAN VISIT promotions officer........ Jennifer Henderson Length............................................................. 1 5 minutes Dist. company..............................................FilmAustralia (Working title) Cast: Graham Rouse (Geoff), Helen Scott Gauge.......................................................

16mm Director.................................................. GrahamShirley (Kath), Mark Butler (Malcolm), Sherrie Krenn Synopsis: A film explaining to 14-16 year olds Scriptwriter............................................GrahamShirley Prod, company................ Gosteleradio (USSR) (Lisa). why AIDS Is an important issue, how it is trans­ Photography...................................... Ross King Dist. company..............................................FilmAustralia Synopsis: A documentary/drama for the mitted, and where they can get proper informa­ Sound recordist.................... Rodney Simmons Producer...................................................... BobKingsbury Department of Employment and Industrial tion.

Exec, producer.............................................RonSaunders Exec, producer............................Geoff Barnes Relations on youth traineeships.

Prod, manager............................ Gerald Letts Prod, manager............................................. RonHannam BUYING A HOUSE WITH NO MONEY Prod, secretary............................Robyn Briais Prod, secretary.................... Margaret Crewes Prod, accountant.......................................GeoffAppleby Prod, accountant......................... Stephen Kain Producer..................................................... SallySemmens WHERE THE FOREST MEETS Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen Scriptwriter................................... Lou Hubbard Synopsis: In 1943, the Imperial Japanese Marketing & THE SEA Exec, producer.......................................VincentO’Donnel Army Secret Service forced a group of Austra­ promotions officer.......... Jennifer Henderson Budget.................................................. $15,000 lian servicemen to appear in a film to show the Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia Length............................................................... 8 minutes ‘exemplary conditions’ under which prisoners Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia Synopsis: A short film which explains the key Producer...........................................Don Ezard of war were treated by Nippon, and also to STORYMAKERS elements of the Home Finance Assistance Director...................................... Jeannie Baker soften up the Australian public for the antici­ Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia Scheme to low income earners. pated occupation of their country by Japanese Editor............................................................RayThomas Dist. company..............................................FilmAustralia Composer............................... Michael Atherton forces. For 40 years, the making of this film Producer.......................................... Janet Bell remained a mystery. This documentary tells Exec, producer........................ Geoffrey Barnes CAUSE FOR COMPLAINT Director.........................David Haythornthwaite why the film was made and how it has come to Prod, manager............................................. RonHannam Scriptwriter...............................Michael Harvey Scriptwriter................... David Haythornthwaite be forgotten.

Prod, secretary.................................... MargaretCrewes Exec, producer.......................................VincentO’Donnel Photography..................................Kerry Brown Prod, accountant..............................Steve Kain Synopsis: A community video programme Sound recordist.................................... BronwynMurphy Animation...................................................PhilipPepper, designed to facilitate the operation of the REAL LIFE SERIES 1 Editor............................................. Ruth Cullen Don Ezard Police Complaints Authority by educating the Exec, producer................................. Janet Bell Asst animation......................... Nichole Mudie younger audience (15-17) as to their rights and Prod, manager...........................................NigelSaunders KIDS IN TROUBLE Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen obligations when dealing with the police.

Unit manager............................................CorrieSoeterboek Marketing & promotions Prod, company............................. Film Australia Prod, secretary.....................................Amanda Etherington officer.................................... Francesca Muir Dist. company.............................. Film Australia FIND A WAY Prod, accountant......................................... NeilCousins Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm Producer...................................Macek Rubetzki Prod, company................... Seven Dimensions Length............................................................ 30minutes Length...............................................................7minutes Director......................................... Sue Cornwell Directors........................................Kirstie Grant, Gauge.......................................................16mm Gauge....................................................... 35mm Photography..................................Tony Wilson Eve Ash Cast: Emily Cannon, Patricia Kennedy.

Shooting stock........................................... 5247 Sound recordist............................. Leo Sullivan Scriptwriter................................... Kirstie Grant Synopsis: The first of a series of documen­ Synopsis: This film, based on the Daintree Editor.............................................................LesMcLaren Sound recordist........................ Richard Bence Rainforest in North Queensland, conveys the taries on well-known Australian children’s Exec, producer.............................. Tom Haydon Editor.........................................Richard Bence precious and special nature of the place, its writers.

Assoc, producer................................Ian Adkins Composers...............................The Escalators, vulnerability, and the real position that in only a Asst director................................................ LisaNoonan Ken Leslie few years it could be gone.

It is intended to Length.............................................................65minutes STORYMAKERS: DICK ROUGHSEY Exec, producer.......................................VincentO’Donnel make people feel that they play a part in the Gauge.................................................. 1 " video AND PERCY TRESIZE Prod, secretary......................................HeatherRutherfor rainforest’s future and other special places like Synopsis: The film Is about the criminal justice Camera operator................... Richard Bence it.

Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia system and its treatment of juvenile offenders.

Music performed by..................The Escalators Dist. company..............................................FilmAustralia The film includes, for the first time, footage Budget................................................... $18,000 Producer........................................... Janet Bell shot in the Australian court while cases are Length............................................ 1 2 minutes Director..........................................Karl McPhee being heard.

Gauge..........................................................BVU Scriptwriters............................................ UrsulaKolbe, Synopsis: A short companion film to / W anna Bob Maza Help us make this produc­ SINGLES B e . . . It features interviews with women about Photography.............................. Andrew Fraser tion survey as complete as the creative skills and frustrations associated Prod, company.............................................FilmAustralia Sound recordist.............................Bruce Nihill with film production. possible.

If you have some­ Dist. company.............................................. FilmAustralia Exec, producer................................. Janet Bell thing which is about to go Producers...............................Macek Rubetzki, Prod, manager......................... Nigel Saunders FOOLS AND FEATHERS into pre-production, let us Prod, secretary................ Amanda Etherington Ian Adkins Prod, accountant.......................... Neil Cousins Director.........................................Karl McPhee know and we will make sure Dist. company................................Film Victoria Photography................................ Tony Wilson Camera assistant..........................Peter Brown Producer............................. Vincent O’Donnell it is included. Call Kathy Bail Publicity........................... Lesa-Belle Furhagen Sound recordist............................ Leo Sullivan Director.....................................................PennyRobensto on (03) 429 5511, or write to Marketing & Editor.......................... ;..............Lindsay Fraser Scriptwriter........................................ Mem Fox her at Cinema Papers, 43 promotions officer......................... FrancescaMuir Exec, producer............................. Tom Haydon Based on the short story by............... Mem Fox Length............................................................ 30minutes Charles Street, Abbotsford, Length.............................................. 75 minutes Prod, designer......................................... PennyRobensto Victoria 3067.

Gauge............................................1 inch video Gauge.......................................................16mm Animation................................................. PennyRobensto Synopsis: The second in a series about child­ Synopsis: A foray into the world of the un­ Budget................................................... $16,000 ren’s writers and illustrators. attached.

Length.......................... ...................... 5 minutes

GOVERNMENT FILM PRODUCTION

FILM

74 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

VICTORIA

Gauge....................................................... 35mm Synopsis: A parable on peace, concerning the inability of some swans and peacocks to live in harmony.

Length...............................................16 minutes Synopsis: This programme, produced for the Equal Employment Opportunity Unit of the State Rail Authority, uses an animatic/animated effect on graphics. At a ‘staff meeting’, the 'manager' explains and the ’staff’ discuss, OPENING OF PARLIAMENT the six aspects of the Anti-Discrimination Act Prod, company.................Flinders Productions under which harassment at work is illegal. The Pty Ltd video is part of a training package for the staff Dist. company...............................................FilmVictoria of the State Rail and Urban Transit Authorities.

Producer...............................Vincent O'Donnell Exec, producer.....................Vincent O’Donnell Narrator.........................................................RobMcNeill Laboratory................................. HSV Channel 7 Lab. liaison........................................ Don Smith Budget..................................................... $7,500 Length.......................................1 x 120 minutes Gauge.......................................... 1 " videotape Synopsis: Outside broadcast and rediffusion of the opening of the second session of the 50th Parliament of Victoria.

GOVERNMENT FILM PRODUCTION

OPERATION LIVE FIRE

STEENBECK HIRE MELBOURNE’S NEW 16MM EDITING FACILITY LOCATED AT 633 BRUNSWICK ST, NTH FITZROY. CUTTING ROOMS WITH 6 PLATE STEENBECKS IN A COMFORTABLE, CONVENIENT LOCATION. TRANSFERS TO 16MM MAG. FOR TRACK LAYING. THEATRETTE WITH DOUBLE HEAD STD OR SUPER 16. 24 HR ACCESS, REASONABLE RATES.

TASM ANIAN FILM C O R PO RA T IO N

Prod, company..........................................MediaWorld/ Cellar Films ALL IN A DAY’S WORK Dist. company...............................................FilmVictoria Prod, company................................ TasmanianFilm Producer...............................Vincent O’Donnell Corporation Directors..................................... John Tatoulis, Dist. company...................................TasmanianFilm Tim Smart Corporation Sound recordists........................................... PatSlater, Producer.................................................. WayneCowen Jeff Wilson Director...................................................DamianBrown Exec, producer.....................Vincent O’Donnell Assoc, producer......................................... ColinSmithScriptwriter......................................Philip Blake Photography............................................RussellGalloway Prod, supervisor..................................... YvonneCollins Prod, assistant...........................................PhilipBartonSound recordist..........................................PerryDwyer Editor...........................................................RossThompson Camera operators....................Peter Zakharov, Assoc, producer.................................... DamianBrown Steven Flounders, Prod, secretary..........................Janet Kerslake Tim Smart, Prod, accountant......................................SusanNatoli Mike Boland, Continuity.................................. Karen Weldrick David Staley Camera assistant........................................MarkTomlinson Tech, director............................................ DavidAston Key grip..................................... Gary Clements Camera assistant........................ Warrick Field Gaffer.............................................Ken Kelleher Key grip....................................... Ian Benallack Special fx photography..........................NationalSafetyMake-up.....................................................IsobelFowler Set construction......................................... ScottYoung Council of Australia Sound editor.............................................. GrantPearce Gaffer..........................................Mark Gilfedder Editing assistants....................................JanineBower, Laboratory.....................................................VFL Michael Hampton Budget....................................................$20,000 Mixer.......................................................... PerryDwyer Length......................................2 x 60 minutes Mixed at...............

Tasmanian Rim Corporation and Cine film documentation Length............................................................. 20minutes Gauge..................................Betacam/2", 16mm Gauge.......................................................

Video Shooting stock..................................... Eastman Shooting stock....................................Betacam Microwave links......................... HSV Channel 7 Synopsis: Fast moving public awareness film Synopsis: On 21 and 22 February the old for Tasmania Police showing the variety of Comalco Building at 95 Collins Street was used police work over a 24-hour period. for a series of live fire experiments to study the propagation of fire on high rise buildings.

These experiments were documented on film and videotape and a live outside broadcast was transmitted to an audience of civic and scientific personnel at a remote location.

SMOKO

GOVERNMENT FILM PRODUCTION

FOR BOOKINGS AND INFORMATION RING NIGEL BUESST (03) 347 5525

Your complete Negative Matching Service,

including: • Time Coding onto 8 " Floppy Disc • Super 16mm • Syncing Neg or Pos Rushes • Edge-Coding Service ("Rubber Numbering") • Tight deadlines our speciality • 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if required. Contact Greg Chapman on

fffllim iY” 105/6-8 CLARKE ST„ CROWS NEST. NSW. 2065

Producer...................................................... SallySemmens Scriptwriter....................................... Mark Little Exec, producer....................................... VincentO'Donnell Budget................................................... $20,000 Length...............................................10 minutes Promotion Australia is Australia’s official over­ Gauge........................................................16mm seas information service.

Synopsis: A humourous video which illustrates the benefits of the long service leave scheme AUSTRALIA FILM to construction workers, and explains why it is compulsory.

(Working title) Prod, company...................Promotion Australia Director.......................................... Chris Hindes Length.............................................................20minutes Gauge....................................................... Video Synopsis: A general look at Australian life, industry and culture.

P R O M O T I O N A U S T R A L I A

GOVERNMENT FILM PRODUCTION

NEW SO UTH W ALES FILM CORPORATI ON INSIDE OUTSIDE — DOING TIME IN THE COMMUNITY

MURRAY PRINCESS Prod, company...................Promotion Australia Director............................... Robert Hargreaves Photography...............................................JohnEllson Gauge....................................................... Video Synopsis: A new riverboat now works the Murray River, in a similar style to Deep South riverboats of the United States.

Prod, company.......................................RichardBradley SUPERANIMALS Productions Prod, company...................Promotion Australia Producer.................................................RichardBradley Director................................Robert Hargreaves Director................................................... RichardBradley Gauge...................................................... Video Scriptwriter.................................. Rodney Long Synopsis: Australian scientists are using Sound recordist..........................Steve Murphy genetic engineering and hormone treatment to Editor...........................................Adam Baines breed a new super animal.

Prod, manager................................. Mike Jacob Lighting cameraperson......... Richard Michalak Narrator...............................................Tim Eliott EXPO 88 SITE TAKES SHAPE Length........................................................26.35minutes Prod, company...................Promotion Australia Gauge........................................................1 inch Director.......................................... Chris Hindes Synopsis: This programme gives a clear Gauge...................................................... Video understanding of how the Probation and Parole Synopsis: News feature reporting progress on Service functions when offenders have been construction and landscaping of World Expo sentenced to community-based correctional 8 8 site in Brisbane. service. The parolees are seen carrying out community services in a variety of locations NEW RAIL SYSTEM FOR and activities; for example, restoring the KUALA LUMPUR James Craig; sorting clothes at St Vincent De Prod, company................................... PromotionAustralia Paul; working at the Tramways Museum and at Director.........................................................

EricKenning a hostel for tne intellectually disabled. The proramme was produced for the Department of Gauge...................................................... Video Synopsis: News feature about an Australian orrective Services. consortium winning a multi-million dollar con­ tract to update Kuala Lumpur’s suburban tram­ UNDERSTANDING HARASSMENT IN way system.

THE WORKPLACE

E

FILM SETS 88 Warrigal Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166

Studio 75' x 4 6 ' w ith 14' to lighting grid.

Large three sided paintabie fixed eye.

Good access to studio fo r cars and trucks.

Dressing rooms, wardrobe, and make-up facilities.

Prod, company.................Moving Ideas Pty Ltd BRAILLE COMPUTER PRINTER Producer.................................................RodneyD’Silva Prod, company................................... PromotionAustralia Director..........................................Steve Lumley Director................................

Robert Hargreaves FOR STUDIO BOOKINGS, PHONE: Scriptwriter.................................................DavidO'Brien Gauge...................................................... Video Editor.......................................................RodneyD’Silva Synopsis: A Tasmanian telephone worker Prod, manager............................. Adam Searle develops an economic computer printer which Lighting cameraperson................Adam Searle can print embossed braille for the blind.

Artist............................................. Roger Janes

A lex Simpson,

(03) 568 0058, (03) 568 2948

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 75

P R O D U C T I O N S U R V E Y BIONIC EAR FOR CHILDREN Prod, company.................. Promotion Australia Director................................Robert Hargreaves Gauge......................................................Video Synopsis: The revolutionary Australian inven­ tion which allowed profoundly deaf people to hear, has been miniaturised for children.

Synopsis: In the near future, an out-of-work theatre troupe inadvertently prevent the piracy of Australia’s underground power source by a most devious and deadly organisation.

THE G’DAY SHOW WITH DOT AND THE KANGAROO

STRINGER Prod, company......ABC/McCann International Dist. company.......ABC/McCann International Producer..................................... John Edwards Scriptwriters.............. Billy Marshall-Stoneking, Steve Wright, Christopher Lee

Synopsis: The autobiography of a horse, fol­ lowing the life of Black Beauty through a series of different owners, grooms and companions, and the changing circumstances of his life.

THE FLYING DOCTORS

Prod, company............... Crawford Productions (Series) Pty Ltd Producer................................................... OscarWhitbrea SUGAR AND SPICE Prod, company........................................ YoramGross ROCK MUSIC EXPORTS BOOSTED Director..................................................

Various Filmstudio Pty Ltd Prod, company............. LJ Productions Limited Scriptwriter............................................Various Prod, company.................. Promotion Australia Producer................................................. YoramGross Dist. company.........Revcom Television (Paris)/ Photography...............................................

BrettAnderson Director.......................................... Alan Walsh Director................................................... YoramGross LJ Merchandising P/L Jamie Doolan Gauge......................................................Video Scriptwriter...............................Marcia Hatfield Producers....................................Frank Brown, Sound recordists........................................

John McKerrow Synopsis: The Australian government plans to Assoc, producer..................................... SandraGross John Gauci, Malcolm Rose boost the export of rock music.

Length......................................13 x 30 minutes Louise Hall Editors......................................

Aileen Solowiej, Gauge.............................................................1"videoDirector............................................John Gauci Lindsay Parker, NEW SOFTWARE FOR ASIAN Synopsis: Pilot for a 13-part television series Scriptwriters................................ Mary Wright, Grant Fenn featuring a combination of animation and liveSCRIPTS Allan Hopgood, Exec, producers.......................................Hector Crawford, action.

John Wood, Prod, company..................Promotion Australia Ian Crawford, Brian Wright Director.......................................... Alan Walsh Terry Stapleton Budget.............................................$2,900,000 MICHAEL WILLESEE’S Gauge......................................................Video Prod, supervisor........................................ VinceSmits Length...................................... 20 x 30 minutes Synopsis: New software developments allow AUSTRALIANS Prod, co-ordinator....................................... GinaBlack Gauge.................................................. Betacam Australian teachers to print universally recog­ Prod, manager........................................... ChrisPage Prod, company................................Roadshow, Synopsis: The series tells the story of two nised Asian scripts.

Location manager...........Bernadette O’Mahony Coote & Carroll Pty Ltd, young girls coming to a large country town to Prod, secretary........................................... CarolMatthews Trans Media Productions Pty Ltd, continue their education.

Set in the 1920s, EFFECTS OF ARTIFICIAL Prod, accountant.......................... Jeff Shenker Film Australia each episode will pertain to their adventures 1st asst directors.............. Richard Clendlnnen, INTELLIGENCE Dist. company..................................Roadshow, and misadventures told in a humorous and Don Linke, Coote & Carroll Pty Ltd, Prod, company.................. Promotion Australia active manner. The concept of the venture Michael McIntyre Trans Media Productions Pty Ltd Director....................................................... AlanWalsh gives us the opportunity for fun and entertain­ 2nd asst directors.................................

MauriceBurns, Series producer............................................RonSaunders Gauge......................................................Video ment built around a cast of delightful Mark Farr Supervising producer.............Pamela Vanneck Synopsis: Australian researchers are examin­ characters.

Continuity.................................................Lesley Forsyth, Scriptwriters.............................................. TonyMorphett, ing the impact of developments in artificial Carmel Torcaslo Anne Whitehead, intelligence and expert computer systems.

TAKEOVER Casting..................................................

Graham Moore, Roger McDonald, Jan Pontifex Prod, company.... Phillip Emanuel Productions John Upton, SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY — Focus pullers.................................... Louis Puli, Producer................................. Phillip Emanuel Anne Brooksbank, ASIAN TOUR Craig Barden Scriptwriter.....................................Peter Moon Robert Caswell, Clapper/loaders.......................................WalterRepich, Length............................................ 90 minutes Prod, company...................................PromotionAustralia Bob Ellis, Gary Bottomley Gauge.......................................................16mm Director....................................................... AlanWalsh Stephen Ramsay, Key grips.................................John Cummings, Synopsis: A high-technology comedy about Gauge.......................................................Video John Misto, Craig Dusting conflict between a man and his computer.

Synopsis: Promotional clip for the Sydney Peter Schreck, Asst grips....................................................... IanPhillips, Dance Company’s 1987 Asian tour.

Geoffrey Atherden, Leigh Tate Denise Morgan TOUCH THE SUN — TOP-ENDERS Gaffers............................................................BillJones, Editors....................................................... KerryReagan, BICENTENNIAL ROAD PROGRAM Series prod, company..........ACTF Productions Laurie Fish David Yaeger Prod, company................ Syme Entertainment Prod, company...................................PromotionAustralia Electricians................................. Con Mancuso, Producer.......................................... Jill Robb Director.......................................................AlanWalshProd, designer.................................Ross Major Peter Ryan Exec, producers........................................ GregCoote, Director..................................Jackie McKimmie Gauge.......................................................Video Boom operators......................................... ColinSwann, Matt Carroll, Scriptwriters........................... Michael Altkens, Synopsis: Road program due for completion in Greg Nelson Robyn Hughes, Jackie McKimmie 1988.

Art director................................. Andrew Reese Michael Willesee Script editor......................................Sue Smith Asst art director............................................. LenBarrett Prod, supervisor....................... Adrienne Read Exec, producer.......................................PatriciaEdgarCostume designer..........................Clare Griffin TECHNICAL AID FOR DISABLED Prod, accountant........................................PaulHopkins, Prod, co-ordinator...................................... JudyHughes Make-up......................................................BradSmith, Prod, company...................................PromotionAustralia Catch 1-2-3 Length.......................................................... 120minutes Bill Jackson-Martin Director........................................................ EricKenning Producer’s assistant............................ CarolineBonham Gauge.......................................................16mm Hairdressers................................................ LisaJones, Gauge.......................................................Video Casting........................................ Suzie Maizels Synopsis: Alice, who lives with her mother, Sue Kelly Synopsis: A committee of professional people Art director....................................................KimDarby Sue, in Darwin, is growing up tough and Wardrobe...........................................Keely Ellis lend their expertise to designing and building Wardrobe supervisor...................Jean. Turnbull independent. She is not too nappy wnen ner Props buyer............................................RollandPike technical aids which will allow disabled people Wardrobe asst/buyer...................Andrea Hood father, after one of his many absences, turns Standby props............................................ PaulKiely, to lead normal lives.

Wardrobe standby.....................Julie Middleton up to rejoin the family yet again. When her Melissa Carrington Seamstress............................Sheryl Pilkington father disappoints her again she resolves to Set decorators.............................................CarlHabal, Property master...............................Bill Booth run away and her friend Frank, a full-blood Jenny Hpogstra, Construction manager.................Wayne Allen Aborigine decides to join her. The pair set off Soull Lividitis, Studio manager........................... Chris Budrys through the Kakadu National Parklands in Leigh Eichler, Narrator................................................. MichaelWillesee search of Frank’s tribe. Frank’s knowledge of Simon Carter Budget.................................................... $9,215million the desert is not as good as he thought and Set construction.......................... Gordon White Length...................................... 13 x 48 minutes they soon become lost.

Sound editor...............................................Peter Clancy Gauge.......................................................16mm Mixer........................................ Richard Brobyn Synopsis: M ic h a e l W ille se e ’s A u s tra lia n s is a THE TRUE BELIEVERS Runner......................................Aureila Ginevra drama series of monumental events, unsung (Working title) Catering................................Sweet Seductions heroes and buried surprises of history from Studios..........................Channel 9, Melbourne Prod, company......Roadshow, Coote & Carroll/ Australia’s penal beginnings to the present Mixed at......................... Crawford Productions ABC day.

THE COLORIST Laboratory............................................. Cinevex Dist. company........Roadshow, Coote & Carroll Prod, company................... Gittoes and Dalton Length...................................... 24 x 60 minutes Producers...................................................

Matt Carroll, Productions Gauge.......................................................

16mm NIGHTMARE Sandra Levy Dist. company..............................Premiere Film Shooting stock................................. 7291,7292 Director.............................................Peter Fisk Prod, company............. Sci-Fi Films Newcastle Marketing Ltd Cast: Robert Grubb (Dr Geoffrey Standish), Liz Scriptwriters..................................... Bob Ellis, Producers......................................... Alan Gow, Producers................................George Gittoes, Birch (Dr Chris Randall), Lenore Smith (Kate Stephen Ramsey Gregory Warburton Gabrielle Dalton Wellings), Bruce Barry (George Baxter), Editor......................................... Graham Tickle Director...............................................Alan Gow Director.....................................George Gittoes Rebecca Glbney (Emma Plimpton), Maurie Prod, designer........................... Geoff Wedlock Scriptwriter............................................AndrewFerguson Scriptwriters........................... George Gittoes, Fields (Vic Buckley), Val Jellay (Nancy BuckAssoc, producer..................Stephen O’Rourke Photography............................... David Russell Justin Fleming ley), Max Cullen (Hurtle), Pat Evison (Violet Prod, executive..........................

Bernard Terry Sound recordist...................... James Crawford Based on the original idea Carnegie), Terry Gill (Sgt Jack Carruthers).

Prod, manager........................................... JudyMurphy Exec, producer.......................Grant L. Grothen b y .......................................... George Gittoes Synopsis: A Fioyal Flying Doctor Service is Prod, secretary......................Joanne Holliman Prod, manager................. Wayne McNaughton Exec, producer......................Tom Broadbridge located in the outback town of Coopers Cross­ Prod, assistant......................Elizabeth Steptoe Location manager.................................AndrewFerguson Budget.............................................$1,000,000 ing.

The two doctors, Geoff Standish and Chris 1st asst director................

Scott Hartford-Davis 1st asst director...................... Grant L. Grothen Length.............................. 93 minutes (approx.)

2nd asst directors................................... WendyGray,Randall, not only contend with the medical Continuity............................. Graham R. Busch Gauge...................................................... 35mm challenges, but also with the small community Tony Tisk Art director................................ David E. Webb Shooting stock.................. Eastman Color Neg in which they live.

2nd unit director.......................................... KateWoods Musical director............................David Russell Cast: Doc Neeson (Space Visitor) Casting..... ...................................Jennifer Allen Budget............................................... $736,000 Synopsis: A visitor from outer space has HEY DAD — Series III Casting asst................................................IreneGaskell Length..............................................82 minutes seven days to sway the eccentric artist, Bill Publicity................................................. GeorgieBrown Gauge...................................................... Video Prod, company........... Jacaranda Productions Bradshaw, to leave Earth as there are no living Length........................................ 8 x 55 minutes Cast: Stephen Hamer (Kurt), Alan James Dist. company............

Pre-sale Seven Network artists remaining in outer space. The odd Gauge.......................................................Video (Darren), Jamie Gow (Steven), Ronald Gillette Producer........................................... Gary Reilly visitor is sidetracked by Billy’s son, Jack, and a Synopsis: A miniseries covering Canberra (Anderson).

Director.......................................................

SallyBrady rock ’n’ roll band. The diversion helps him to politics from 1945 to 1955; major characters Synopsis: A group of school army cadets take Scriptwriters................................................GaryReilly, understand human creativity, although he fails are Chifley, Evatt and Menzies. a suspense-filled trip and encounter a crazed John Flanagan to get Bill into space. escapee from a remote institution. None of the Based on the original idea b y .......... Gary Reilly teenagers are sure which of them will survive Photography.............................................. SteveBrack to see the following morning.

Sound recordist............................................ JimAstley THE FOOL’S SHOE HOTEL Editor......................................................... GarryBurns Prod, company.......................................... ABC Composer....................................................MikePerjanik Dist. company.............................................ABC REMNANTS OF TIME Exec, in charge of Producer........................................................BillGarner production.............................. Alan Bateman Prod, company............. Sci-Fi Films Newcastle Director..................................................... HelenGaynor Producer.................................Grant L. Grothen Director’s asst............................................. JulieHannah Scriptwriter................................................ BarryDickins Producer’s asst................................Kathy Lang Director................................... Grant L. Grothen BLACK BEAUTY Script editor............................ Sharon Connolly Lighting.................................................. RussellPhegan Scriptwriter............................................ AndrewFerguson Prod, designer.................................. Des White Prod, company......................................BurbankFilmsFloor manager.......................................... JamieStevens Photography......................................Alan Gow Length..............................................30 minutes Producer.......................................................Roz Phillips Sound recordist............................David Russell Vision switcher............................Tanya Djamin Synopsis: Ageing thespians filled with envy, Scriptwriter..........................................J.L. Kane Prod, supervisor................ Gregory Warburton Technical director......................................... PatBarter sorrow, and the desire to be centre stage meet Based on the novel b y ...............................AnnaSewell Prod, manager................. Wayne McNaughton Make-up........................................................SueLeonard for Sunday tea at the Fool’s Shoe Hotel.

Editors...................................... Peter Jennings, Location manager................................. AndrewFerguson Wardrobe.................................Therese Rendie Caroline Neave 1st asst director..................... Graham R. Busch Set decorator..............................Gordon Brown Exec, producer........................................... TomStacey 2nd asst director................................ Alan Gow Set designer...............................Ken Goodman FUTURETROUPERS Prod, co-ordinator........................... Joy Craste Continuity............................... James Crawford Publicity.................................................RhondaDawson Prod, company.......................... Brian Douglas Prod, manager................................. Roddy Lee Casting................................ Graham R. Busch, Studios.....................................ATN Channel 7 Film and Television Prod, accountant......................Andrew Young Grant L. Grothen Length..................................... 19 x 30 minutes Producer....................................Brian Douglas Casting.............................................Joy Craste Art director................................................ DavidWebb Cast: Robert Hughes (Martin Kelly), Julie Mc­ Scriptwriter.................................Brian Douglas Camera operators........................... Gary Page, Budget............................................... $822,000 Gregor (Betty Wilson), Paul Smith (Simon Based on the original idea Tanya Viskich Length............................................................80minutes Kelly), Simone Buchanan (Debbie Kelly), Sarah by........................................... Brian Douglas Storyboard.................................... Bob Fosbery Synopsis: On a family camping trip, a group of Monahan (Jenny Kelly), Christopher Truswell Assoc, producer.......................................PhillipCollins Timing............................................. Jean Tycn (Nudge). six children go on an early morning hike. They Script editor......................... Patrick Edgeworth witness the crash of an alien spacecraft. The Length............................................. 50 minutes Synopsis: Situation comedy based on a Length........................................6 x 60 minutes Gauge...................................................... 16mm story revolves around the newly-found friend widowed father trying to raise his three children Gauge.................................................. 1 " video Shooting stock...........................................7291 and the adventures they have together. with the help of the family’s crazy cousin.

TELEVI SI ON

PRE-PRODUCTION

TELEVI SI ON

P R O D U C T I O N

76 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

HOME AND AWAY

Scriptwriter..................................................JohnMisto

Script editor.................................................. SueSmith Prod, company.......................... ATN Channel 7 Exec, producer........................................PatriciaEdgar Dist. company.............................ATN Channel 7 Length............................................. 120 minutes Producer....................................................... JohnHolmes Gauge........................................................ 16mm Director.................................Riccardo Pellizzeri Synopsis: Three children from a small town on Scriptwriter.......................................Philip Ryall the North Queensland coast become intrigued Composer.....................................................MikePerjanik when they find Latin inscriptions on a cave Exec, producer.............................Alan Bateman wall. A study of the language and further Prod, manager...................................... MargaretSlarke investigation lead them to find an authentic Prod, secretary............................................. LisaFitzpatrick Roman ooat. I he children also discover that 1st asst director..........................................SorenJensen the boat is cursed and must come up with a Script editor...................................Louise Home way to destroy it without the knowledge of the Casting..............................................Maura Fay, townspeople, who are making plenty of money Helen Salter from their new tourist attraction.

Art director..................................................... KenMcCann Studios........................................ATN Channel 7 Length........................................... 120 minutes Gauge........................................................ 1-inch Synopsis: Pilot episode of a continuing drama serial for the Seven Network.

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POST-PRODUCTION

35mw& 16mm Negative Cutting

Prod, company......... Grundy Television Pty Ltd Producer..................................................... PhilipEast ALWAYS AFTERNOON Directors..................................... Paul Maloney, Prod, company........Afternoon Pictures Pty Ltd Peter Andrikidis, Dist. company...........................SBS Television Kendal Flanagan, Producer....................................Henry Crawford Andrew Friedman Director.......................................David Stevens Screenwriters..........................................Various Scriptwriter................................. David Stevens Script supervisor...........................................RayKolle Based on the novel by......................Gwen Kelly Script editors........................................ YsabelleDean,Photography............................................... ElleryRyan Wayne Doyle Sound recordist......................................... GeoffWhite Based on the original idea b y ....... Reg Watson Editor......................................................... StuartArmstrong Sound recordists....................... Dave Shellard, Prod, designer............................ George Liddle Grant Vogler, Composer....................................Dobbs Franks Bruce Finlay, Assoc, producers...................................... SarahCrawford, Keith Harper, David Lee, Rob Saunders Jan Bladier Prod, designer............................................ SteveKellerProd, co-ordinator........................................DaleArthur Composer (theme)...................................... TonyHatchProd, secretary........................................... ReitaWilson Exec, producer...............................Reg Watson Prod, accountant.......... Moneypenny Services, Assoc, producer.............................Peter Askew Di Gibbons Prod, co-ordinator..................................... JayneRussell Prod, assistant................................................ JoLarner Prod, manager.........................Vicki Popplewell 1st asst director........................Bob Donaldson Casting........................................................... JanRuss 2nd asst director.............................................IanKenny Casting assistant........................... Jane Daniels 3rd asst director................. Brendan Campbell Off-line editing.................. The Editing Machine Continuity....................................................JudyWhitehead Floor managers............................................ BobVillinger, Casting............................... Liz Mullinar Casting Alan Williamson, Focus puller..................................Tracy Kubler Peter Hinde Clapper/loader............................. Kim Jonsson Director’s assts.........................Marianne Gray, Key grip.......................................Barry Hanson Linda Wilson, Gaffer............................................ Ian Dewhurst Rhonda Bark-Shannon Boom operator..............................Chris Roland Art director...................................... Steve Keller Art director................................ Brian Edmonds Hairdressers..........................David Henderson, Asst art director................... Jenny Carseldine David Vawser Costume designer.................................. GeorgeLiddle Wardrobe.................................................. RobynAdams, Make-up/hairdressers................................... VivRushbrook, Jessie Fountain, Deborah Tyson Julianne Jonas Wardrobe.....................................Jean Turnbull Props buyer..................................... Mark Grivas Wardrobe asst................... Linda Maple-Doran Standby props................... Richard Williamson, Props buyers/dressers............... Brian Dusting, Sue Birjac Jamie Legge Lighting supervisors...........Lynden Matheson, Standby props.............................................JohnStabb Rod Harbour Special effects................................Chris Murray Music editor............................ Warren Pearson Scenic artist.......................................Ian Richter Vision switcher........................... Jenny Williams Set construction............................. John Moore, Technical directors.........................Barry Shaw, Wayne Allen Peter Merino, Stunts co-ordinator...................................... GuyNorris Howard Simons Still photography.........................................BlissSwift, Catering........................................Helen Louers Earl Mant Post-production..................ATV-10, Melbourne Wranglers..............................................GrahamWare, Cast: Anne Charleston (Madge Mitchell), Kylie John Baird Minogue (Charlene Mitchell), Jason Donovan Runner............................................................. JoLarner (Scott Robinson), Alan Dale (Jim Robinson), Publicity........................................................ SBS Anne Haddy (Helen Daniels), Stefan Dennis Catering................................................. TimbaleCatering (Paul Robinson), Elaine Smith (Daphne Studios..................................HSV-7, Melbourne Clarke), Paul Keane (Des Clarke), Guy Pearce Budget..........................................................$4.3million (Mike Young), Annie Jones (Jane Harris).

Length..........................................4 x 60 minutes Synopsis: Love ’em or hate ’em, but every­ Gauge........................................................ 16mm one’s got ’em: neighbours. Ramsay Street. . .

Shooting stock............................................ 7291 the stage for an exciting drama serial. . . draw­ Cast: Tushka Bergen (Freda), Jochen Horst ing back the curtain to reveal the intrigue and (Franz), Lisa Harrow (Nancy Kennon), Marshall passions of Australian families . . . and their Napier (Bill Kennon), Dieter Kirchlechner neighbours.

(Kurt), Herbert Trattnig (Wolfgang), Ben Becker (Ernst), Matthew Burton (Peter Stein), Simon Burke (Tom), John Poison (John TOUCH THE SUN — Kennon), Taya Straton (Ailsa Kennon).

CAPTAIN JOHNNO Synopsis: A love story between the daughter Series prod, company ....ACTF Productions Ltd of a country baker and a young German Prod. company....J’elly Ballantyne Productions violinist, who has been interned at Trial Bay Producer...................................Jane Ballantyne Jail during WWI. Director.................................Mario Andreacchio Scriptwriter......................................Rob George AUSTRALIA . . . TAKE A BOW Script editor....................................... Sue Smith Exec, producer............................ Patricia Edgar Prod, company.....................Soundsense Film Length............................................ 120 minutes Productions Pty Ltd Gauge........................................................ 16mm Producer.........................................Brian Morris sis: Johnno is a good natured 10-yearDirector...........................................Brian Morris o lives with his parents and sister Julie, Based on the original idea in the small South Australian fishing village of by.................................................Brian Morris Streeton. Because Johnno is deaf the other Photography...................................Paul Warren kids don’t understand him or accept him, but Sound recordist......................................MichaelGissing he gets by with Julie’s help. When Julie leaves Editor.................................................. Tim Street for boarding school, Johnno is devastated, Prod, manager...............................Fiona Aaron misbehaves at school and is expelled. Tony, an Prod, secretary........................... Linda Hopkins Italian fisherman arrives in the town. Because Asst editor...................................................LindaGoddard he cannot speak English he is also something Sound editor........................................... MichaelGissing of an outcast and Johnno and he are drawn Mixer....................................................... MichaelGissing together. Johnno’s mother tries to teach Still photography..........Wildlight Photo Agency Johnno at home but eventually her patience is Publicity............................. The Write On Group tested. When Johnno hears that he is going to Unit publicist............................... Sherry Stumm be sent away to a special school he runs away Laboratory...................................................Atlab and takes a boat to a nearby island where he Lab. liaison............................ Bruce Williamson plans to live a romantic Robinson Crusoe life — Budget..................................................$922,500 but things go terribly wrong.

Length......................................... 7 x 28 minutes Gauge.........................................................16mm Shooting stock....................Agfa XT 125, XT320 TOUCH THE SUN Synopsis: A contemporary look at life in each PETER AND POMPEY Australian state and territory. Pictures, music and sound effects will tell the story — there will Series prod, company.......... ACTF Productions be no dialogue or narration. The series is Prod, company.................................... Lea Films endorsed as a Bicentennial project and is Producer............................... Margot McDonald sponsored by IBM Australia.

Director..................................... Michael Carson

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Melbourne (03) 233 5522 Brisbane (07) 3 0 0 2366 Adelaide (08) 37 31855 Auckland (09) 39 6282 CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 77

P R O D U C T I O N S U R V E Y THE BARTONS

Gaffer...........................................Lindsay Foote HOLD THE CIRCUS THE COLONIAL CAVALRY Electrician................................................ SimonStewart (Working title) Prod, company........................... Somerset Film Prod, company....................................SomersetRim Boom operator................................... Gary C a rt Productions Pty Ltd Prod, company............................ ABC/Revcom Productions Pty Ltd Art director................................... Stewart Way Dist. company.................Tambarle AB Limited Producer..................................................JeniferHooks Dist. company................. Tambarle AB Limited Costume designer..................................... AnnaSenior Producer.......................................................JanTyrrell Directors................................................ RichardSarell, Producer........................................... Jan Tyrrell Make-up........................................... Judy Lovell Director................................................... MarcusCole Peter Dodds, Director......................................................... RobStewart Hairdresser........................................ Lita Bosco Scriptwriter..................... Michael McGennan Mandy Smith Scriptwriter..................... Michael McGennan Wardrobe standby..................................... PaulaEkerick Photography.............................Martin McGrath Scriptwriters....................Jocelyn Moorehouse, Photography............................................ MartinMcGrath Wardrobe asst..................................Katie Harris Sound recordist..............................Bob Clayton Paul Hogan, Sound recordist............................................BobClayton Props buyer/set dresser..........Helen Macaskill Prod, designer........................... Michael Ralph Greg Miliin, Editor......................................................... SoniaHoffman Standby props........................................... PeterMoyes Supervising producer......... James M. Vernon Noel Robinson Prod, designer.......................................MichaelRalph Special effects......................................... NevilleMaxwell Prod, supervisor..............................

Penny Wall Script editor............................ Sharon Connolly Supervising producer ...James Michael Vernon Scenic artist...........................................MichaelO’Kane Prod, manager.......................................... PaulaBennett Based on the original idea Prod, supervisor..............................Penny Wall Carpenters..................................................DaleWallace, Unit manager.................................................Phil Urquhart by..................................Jocelyn Moorehouse Prod, manager............................ Paula Bennett Steve Warrington Location manager......................................ChrisWilliams Photography.......................... Dick Willoughby Unit manager................................ Phil Urquhart Set construction......................................... PeterMusgrove Asst loc. manager.......................................Amie Custo Sound recordist......................................... IvaneKayne Location manager..................................... ChrisWilliams Asst editor.................................................. PeterMcBain Prod, secretary........................................... FfionMurphy Editors.............................................. Ken Tyler, Asst loo. manager........................... Amie Custo Stunts co-ordinator...........................Guy Norris Prod, accountant...........................................LeaCollins Gary Watson Prod, secretary...........................................FfionMurphy Stunts...........................................................BobHicks, Accounts asst..........................Torquil Macneal Snr prod, designer................... Paul Cleveland Prod, accountant.......................................... LeaCollins Bob Duncan, 1st asst director.......................Tony Wellington Exec, producer..................................Noel Price Accounts asst..........................Torquil Macneal Fred Welsh 2nd asst director.........................................

JohnTitley Prod, manager.......................... Marion Pearce 1st asst director...................... Tony Wellington Still photography........................................ BrianMcKenzie 3rd asst director...................... Dennis Williams Prod, secretaries...................... Jacquie Lamb, 2nd asst director............................. John Titley Wranglers.....................................................RayWinslade, Continuity....................................................Nikki Moors Frances Fitzgerald 3rd asst director.......................................DennisWilliams Evanna Brand Focus puller..........................Calum McFarlane 1 st asst directors Continuity..............................................MelanieBrown Best boy..........................................Jimmy Hunt Clapper/loader........................................

Miriana Marusic Block 1 .........................................Ann Bartlett Focus puller..........................Calum McFarlane Runner................................................ Ross Bell Key grip....................................................... GaryCarden Block 2................................................ MaggieGoller Clapper/loader........................................MirianaMarusic Publicity.......................................... Channel 10 Asst grip................................................

Gregory Bloyer Block 3 .................................................... JohnSlattery Key grip....................................................... GaryCarden Catering...................................................... KaosCatering Gaffer......................................................... PeterO’Brien 2 nd asst directors Asst grip................................................GregoryBloye Mixed at................................................Colorfilm Boom operator...........................................Philip Tipene Block 1 ........................................................AlfMarshall Gaffer.........................................................PeterO’Brien Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm Art director......................................................IanGrade Block 2 ......................................... RossAllsop Boom operator...........................................PhilipTipene Lab. liaison...............................Denise Wolfson Costume designer..................................... HelenHooper Block 3......................................... Libby Lavan Art director............................................. RichardHobbs Budget.....................................................$3,368million Make-up...................................................... TrishGlover Continuity............................................... DebbieChallis, Costume designer..................................... HelenHooper Length.............................................. 90 minutes Hairdresser................................................. TrishGlover Annette Rogan, Make-up...................................................... TrishGlover Gauge........................................................16mm Wardrobe......................................................

LynAskew Susie Struth, Hairdresser.................................................TrishGlover Shooting stock........................................... 7291 Standby wardrobe........................................RitaCrouch Kerry Bevan Wardrobe...................................................... LynAskew Cast: Dennis Waterman (Goldthorpe), Chris Props......................................................

Richard Hobbs Casting............................................ Dina Mann, Standby wardrobe........................................RitaCrouch Haywood (James Giltinan), Dominic Sweeney Props buyer............................ David Tretheway Caroline Elliott Props......................................................RichardHobbs (Dally Messenger), Philip Quast (Bluey Standby props........................

Marcus Erasmus Lighting director.................................... GrahamBrumley Props buyer............................ David Tretheway Burdon), Tony Martin (Daniel Frawley), Wayne Supervising editor..................................... DavidHuggett Camera operator....................Dick Willoughby Standby props........................Marcus Erasmus Pygram (R osenfeldt), Kelly Dingwall Editing assistant................... Glen Auchinachie Unit manager............................. Peter Murphy Supervising editor.....................................DavidHuggett (Devereux), Clarissa Kaye Mason (Annie), Jim Stunts co-ordinator.................. Claude Lambert Tutor...........................................Rachel Evans Editing assistant................... Glen Auchinachie Carter (Arthur Hughes).

Still photography......................................RobertVerkerk Boom operator.................................. Gary Lund Stunts co-ordinator.................................ClaudeLambert Synopsis: A story of the first rugby league tour Best boy..................................................MichaelWood Costume designer......................Carole Harvey Still photography..................................... RobertVerkerk of Great Britain in 1908 by the Australian rugby Runner...................................................

MichaelLivigne Make-up..................................... Ian Loughnan Best boys............................................... MichaelWood, team. A comedy, it deals particularly with the Art dept runners................... Adam Hammond, Wardrobe.........................................Ann Brown, Steve Carter relationships and comic adventures of the James McTaigue Joyce Imlach Runner...................................................MichaelLavigne team and their British adversaries.

Props buyer....................................... Norm Allis Catering.................................... Jan Drummond Art dept runners....................Adam Hammond, Length............................................................. 90minutes Studio design.................................. Frank Early James McTaigue Gauge....................................................... 16mm Location design.......................... Chris Forbes, Catering.................................... Jan Drummond THE HENDERSON KIDS II Shooting stock................................. 7291,7292 Rob Walters Length............................................................ 90minutes Cast: Nicholas Ryan (Harlan), Emily Symonds Length.....................................12 x 30 minutes Gauge....................................................... 16mm Prod, company............... Crawford Productions (Anya), Peter Whitford (Uncle Oscar), Robbie Synopsis: The B a rto n s is an affectionate Shooting stock.................................7291,7292 Video Ply Ltd McGregor (David), Christine Jeston (Audrey), exploration of modernsuburban family life Cast: Nicholas Ryan (Harlan), Imogen AnnesProducer...........................................Alan Hardy Scott Burgess (‘Ras’ Cal), George Spartels through the eyes of11-year-old Elly, the only ley (Simone).

Directors.................................. Chris Langman, girl in a family of four kids. rP I’ Wratich), Betina Collings (Eva).

Synopsis: Harlan’s computer experiments Paul Moloney Synopsis: The experiments of a young com­ have some surprising results.

Scriptwriters............................ Peter Hepworth, puter whiz go wrong.

Roger Moulton, THE BUTCHER’S SON Galia Hardy, EAST IS EAST Prod, company........................................... ABCTelevision THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS John Reeves, Prod, company..................................... CriticallyAcclaimed Dist. company............................................. ABC David Phillips, Prod, company........................... Burbank Films Dist. company.................................. Teenpower Producer..................................... Julian Pringle Andrew Kennedy Dist. company.........Consolidated Productions/ Producers...................................................MarkBahnisch, Director.................................................. NormanNeeson Photography............................................... BrettAnderson Vistar International Productions Peter Backen Scriptwriter............................................NormanNeeson Sound recordist.......................................... JohnMcKerrow Producers...................................... Roz Phillips, Director.......................................V.F.J. Metcalf Photography.................................................JeffMalouf Editor.........................................

Lindsay Parker Tim Brooke-Hunt Screenwriters...........................................V.F.J.Metcalf, Sound recordist..............................Guntis Sics Composers............................. Garry McDonald, Exec, producer.............................. Tom Stacey Mark Bahnisch, Editor..............................................Mike Honey Laurie Stone Scriptwriter............................................

LeonardLee Tina Gwinner Prod, designer............................ Marcus North Exec, producers...................................... HectorCrawford, Based on the novel Based on the short story by........V.F.J. Metcalf, Exec, producer........................... Julian Pringle Ian Crawford, by........................... James Fenimore Cooper Mark Bahnisch Prod, managers......................... Carol Chirlian, Terry Stapleton Storyboard.....................................Bob Fosbery Photography................................ Perry Bulner, Jean Winbolt Assoc producer.......................C. Ewan Burnett Timing....................................................GairdenCooke Melissa Toomey, Unit manager............................................KarenKreicers Production executive............................ MichaelLakeBudget.................................................$730,000 Annette Low Prod, secretary...................................... AnnabelJeffery Prod, co-ordinator....................................... GinaBlackLength............................................ 50 minutes Sound recordist..............................Peter Fertch 1 st asst director.......................................... GaryStephens Prod, manager........................ C. Ewan Burnett Gauge....................................................... 16mm Exec, producer...........................V.F.J. Metcalf 2nd asst director....................................... LanceMellor Location manager..........................Ralph Price Shooting stock........................................... 7291 Prod, co-ordinator......................................MarkBahnisch Continuity............................... Rhonda McAvoy Prod, accountant................................Ron Sinni Voices: John Waters, Andrew Clarke, Bill Prod, secretary.........................................

Darryl O’Donnell Casting........................................Jennifer Allen 1st asst director............................................ PhilJones Conn, Judy Morris, Juliete Jordan, Scott Prod, assistant........................................... BrianO’Donnell Casting asst................................................IreneGaskell 2nd asst director.................................... MichaelWhite Higgins, Wallas Eaton, Ross Higgins, Phillip Casting............................................ Teenpower Camera operator.................................... RussellBacon 3rd asst director.................................... MauriceBurns Hinton.

Casting consultant................Christine Hoepper Focus puller................................................GaryRussell Continuity.................................................LesleyForsyth Synopsis: The American adventure story of Camera assistant.........................

Sam Legend Clapper/loader..................Andrew McClymont Script editor................................................ JuttaGoetz conflict among the British, French and Indians.

Make-up......................................................

Tina Gwinner, Key grip........................................................AlanTrevena Casting......................................Kimlarn Frecker Samantha Leitch Asst grip....................................................... PaulLawrence Focus puller............................................... CraigBarden Hairdressers................................................TinaGwinner, Gaffer....................................................... MartinPerrott Clapper/loader..........................................

GarryBottomley A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE Samantha Leitch Electrician...................................... Pierre Drion Key grip...................................... Rob Hansford Musical directors......................... Peter Adsett, Prod, company............................. ABC/Revcom Boom operator................................Scott Taylor Asst grip.........................................................

Ian Phillips David Lucas Producer......................................................NoelPrice Make-up...........................................Garry Siutz Gaffer........................................................ DavidParkinson Music performed by........................... Frontline, Director........................................................ BenLewin Wardrobe.................................... Rolando Cano Boom operator............................. Greg Nelson Bantam, Scriptwriter...................................................BenLewin Props buyer......................... Paddy MacDonald Art director.............................................AndrewReese The Doobage Brothers Script editor.............................Sharon Connolly Tech, adviser.................................................BillJames Asst art director................................. Greg Ellis Cast: Janelle Rayner (Sarah), Cherie Bromley Based on the original idea by............Ben Lewin Publicity................................................. GeorgieBrown Costume designer.....................................ClareGriffin (Mickey), Laura Bahnisch (Chrissie), Rachel Photography...................................

Chris Davis Catering......................Take One Film Catering Make-up......................................................BradSmithSound recordist............................................ .BillDoyle Terry (Alyce), Tracey Allen (Zoe), Peter Backen Studios........................................................ ABC Hairdresser....................................Carolyn Nott (Bon), John Evans (Steve), Jeff Hopkins Editor.............................................

Barrie Munro Laboratory......................................Colorfilm Wardrobe...........................................Keely Ellis (Justin), John Francis (Kelly), Chris Metcalf Snr prod, designer................................. GunarsJurjans Length.............................................. 30 minutes Standby wardrobe................................... MarionBoyce (Philip).

Prod, manager................................

John Winter Gauge................................................16mm Wardrobe asst...................................Ann Went Synopsis: A group of girls from an exclusive Prod, secretary................... Frances Fitzgerald Cast: Glenn Keenan (Tom), Melissa Jaffer Props buyer.................................................. LenBarratt private school and a group of rowdy public 1 st asst director.................. Jamie Lipscombe (Vera), Peter Whitford (Bill).

Standby props....................................... RollandPike 2nd asst director........................................Ali Ali school boys meet while celebrating their high Synopsis: A short film, for television release.

Set decorators........................... Souli Livaditis, school graduation on the Gold Coast.

Continuity.......................................Kerry Bevan Leigh Eichler Casting............................................ Dina Mann, Scenic artist...................................................IanRichter Caroline Elliott THE FIRST KANGAROOS Carpenters.............................................MichaelShadbolt, Grips.................................... Tony Woolveridge, Janis Ermanis Prod, company.... Roadshow, Coote & Carroll Martin Lampitt Set construction..................................... GordonWhiteBoom operator...............................................IanCregan Producer.............. .........................Moya Iceton Asst editor................................................... AvrilNicholl Director................ .............. Frank Cvitanovich Designer........................................ Colin Gersch Construction foreman................................PeterMcNee Scriptwriter.......... ..................... Nigel Williams Make-up................................................. ThelmaHenson Still photography..........................Bill Bachman Photography......... ...................Ross Berryman Wardrobe................................. Beverley Jasper Dialogue coach............................ Peter Tulloch Sound recordist... ......................... Noel Quinn Length.............................................................gominutes Best boy..................................... Daryl Pearson Help us make this produc­ Editor................... ..................Richard Hindley Synopsis: Valma is in her thirties and sick of Runner............................................... Rod Short Prod, designer..... .....................Herbert Pinter selling salamis. Boyfriend Joe is no potential tion survey a s com plete as Catering.......................................... Bande-Aide, Exec, producer.... ..........................Matt Carroll saviour. When Alphonse Toronto, a profes­ p ossible. If you have so m e ­ Richard Rogues Prod, co-ordinator ...................... Barbara Ring sional Cupid, proposes marriage for profit and thing which is about to go Studios..................................................... HSV7 Prod, manager.... .................... Stephen Jones convenience, Valma persuades Joe to wed.

Mixed at..........................Crawford Productions Unit manager...... ......................Antony Adare But marrying Joe to the beautiful Fadya proves into pre-production, let us Laboratory.................................................... VFL Location manager. ...................... Patricia Blunt less convenient than Valma might have know ana w e will make sure Length...................................... 12 x 60 minutes wished.

Prod, accountant.. ......................Jill Coverdale it is included. Call Kathy Bail Gauge....................................................... 16mm 1 st asst director.... ....................... Bob Howard Shooting stock................................. 7291,7292 2 nd asst director... ....................... Ian Freeman OLIVE on (03) 429 5511, or write to 3rd asst director... .....................Guy Campbell Cast: Nadine Garner, Paul Smith, Michael Prod, company........ABC/Smiley Films Pty Ltd/ her at Cinema Papers, 43 Continuity............. .....................Sian Fatouros Aitkens, Bradley Kilpatrick, Alex Papps, Anita AFC (co-production) Charles Street, Abbotsford, Casting................ ....................Porcast Pty Ltd Cerdic, Marieke Hardy, Nathan Croft, Paul Dist. company.........ABC/Smiley Films Pty Ltd/ Extras casting...... .................... Extras Agency Hall, Elizabeth Rule, Louise Howitt.

Victoria 3067. n AFC Focus puller......... .................... Brian Breheny Synopsis: The further adventures of Steve and Producers............................. Richard Brennan, Clapper/loader..... .........................Glen Cogan Tamara Henderson and their friends coming to Julie Monton Key grip............... ....................... Pip Shapiera grips with life in a tough suburban environ­ Director..................................Stephen Wallace Asst grip.............. .................... Danny Lockett ment.

Scriptwriter............................Anthony Wheeler

PRODUCERS

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78 - JULY CINEM A P A P E R S

Accounts asst............................... Tracey Hyde Director................................................. MoniqueSchwarz Based on the life experiences Fairfax, Anna Hruby, Shane Connor, Emily Prod, assistant................................... Fiona Hile Scriptwriter............................................MoniqueSchwarz of..........................................Anthony Wheeler Nicol.

1st asst director......................................... PeterFitzgerald Synopsis: Based on the best selling novel Photography..................................................JeffMalouf Based on an original idea 2nd asst director........................................ SteveStannard by.......................................................MoniqueSchwarz Sound recordist........................................GuntisSics P o o r M a n ’s O ra n g e by Ruth Park and sequel to Continuity.................................................. KristinVoumard Editor (film)......................................................BillRusso Photography.........................................ZbigniewFriedrich The H a rp In The S o u th .

Casting....................................................... SuzieMaizels Sound recordist............................Lloyd Carrick Prod, designer............................................. JulieBelle Focus puller..............................................LaurieKirkwood Editor....................................................ZbigniewFriedrich Design asst.............................Helen Baumann RAFFERTY’S RULES — Series III Clapper/loader..........................................AlisonPickup Prod, manager...................................... Liz Allen Composer......................................

Paul Schütz Prod, company.......................... ATN Channel 7 Key grip........................................................BrettMcDowell Prod, manager.....................................ChristineGallagher Unit manager............................... Clinton White Dist. company............................ ATN Channel 7 Asst grip.............................................John Tate Location manager...................................... LeighAmmitzboll Prod, secretary.......................................AnnabelJeffery Producer..................................... Posie Jacobs Gaffer............................................ Derek Jones Prod, secretary............... Frances O’Donoghue 1st asst director.......................... Graham Millar Directors................................................GrahamThorburn, Prod, accountant................................ SanthanaNaiduBoom operator........................... Mark Van Kool 2nd asst director.........................Deborah Klika Russell Webb Art director...................................................... IanGracie & Associates Continuity....................................Emma Peach Scriptwriters................................ Tim Gooding, Art dept runner.......................................... AdamHammond Accounts assistant.................................. AntonyShepherd Casting........................................Jennifer Allen Nick Langton, Costume designer..................................... HelenHooper 1 st asst director.......................................... EuanKeddie Casting asst.................................................IreneGaskell Chris Roache, Casting officer...........................................ShunaBurdett 2nd asst director.........................................CraigGriffinMake-up....................................................... BritaKingsbury Chris Lee, Hairdresser..................................................BritaKingsbury Continuity.............................Joanne McLennan Camera operator........................................... JeffMalouf David Allen, Wardrobe supervisor...........Lucinda McGuigan Camera operator..................................ZbigniewFriedrich Focus puller.................................. Gary Russell John Upton Standby wardrobe....................................BarbraZussino 2nd operator...............................................ChrisCain Clapper/loader................... Andrew McClymont Based on the original idea by........... Ben Lewin Focus puller................................................ ChrisCain Props buyer..........................Lisa Boyd-Graham Key grip.........................................Alan Trevena Sound recordists......................... Matthew Dorn, Standby props........................... Rob Moxham Clapper/loader........................................ AndrewScott Asst grip...................................... Paul Lawrence Nick Buchner Asst props buyer..................................... MurrayGosson Key grip.......................................................PeterKershaw Electricians.................................Martin Perrott, Editor.............................................. Linda Leman Editing asst................................................Stella Savvas Gaffer............................................. Nicolas Lee Pierre Drion, Prod, designer......................„....Bernard Hides Boom operator........................................... CraigBeggsBest boy........................................................PaulBooth Mark Tanner Composer................................... Mike Perjanik Prod, runner................................................

Gary Jones Art director................................................PaddyReardon Boom operator............................................ ScottTaylor Exec, producer........................... Alan Bateman Catering.......................................................JohnFaithfull Costume designer....................... Rose Chong Make-up.................................. Christine Balfour Prod, manager............................Anne Bruning Laboratory.................................................. Atlab Make-up........................................Cyndy Ferrier Hairdresser.............................Christine Balfour Prod, secretary............................ Mandy Chang Length............................................................. 90minutes Wardrobe................................................. JessieFountain Wardrobe................................ Wendy Faulkner Prod, accountant..............................Paul Parker Gauge........................................................ 16mm Standby props...............Debra-Lee Nordbruch Wardrobe asst.............................. Suzana Ciko 1st asst directors....................................... SorenJensen, Shooting stock..................................7291,7292 Special effects............................................ BrianHolmes Props assts.................................. John Downie, Jamie Crooks Synopsis: Mickey wanted to be rich and Editing assistant.............................Nicolas Lee Glen Daly, 2nd asst director..............................Matt Rixson famous.

If he’s not careful,he just may get his Mixer.......................................................... DavidHarrison Greg Bush Continuity................................................... LesiaHrubyj, wish!

Still photography...................................StephenGower Props buyer................................Susan Glavich Caitlin Kirkpatrick Best boy..................................................... DarrylPearson Asst editor...................................Dorothy Welch Casting....................................................... HelenSalter Runner........................................................ ChrisHunter WAS THERE A DREAM Sound editor..................................................DesHorneCameramen............................Barry Armstrong, Catering.....................................................SweetSeduction Publicity...................................... Georgie Brown Prod, company........................... Somerset Film John Catt, Mixed at..............................................Soundfirm Catering........... The Katering Company Pty Ltd Productions Pty-Limited John De Ruvo Laboratory.............................................. Cinevex Mixed a t........................ABC Television Studios Dist. company................. Tambarle AB Limited Technical director........................ Douglas Lam Lab. liaison..................................................... IanAnderson Laboratory........................................... Colorfilm Producers....................James Michael Vernon, Lighting director...........................Dave Morgan Length............................................................. 80minutes Length............................................... 94 minutes Jan Tyrrell Lighting assts...............................Dave Mutton, Gauge........................................................ 16mm Gauge........................................................ 16mm Director...........................................Lex Marinos Jeff Greenwood Shooting stock............................................7292 Cast: Kerry McGuire (Olive), Nick Tate (Tony).

Scriptwriter..........................................

Gary Day Boom operators.............................. Phil Jones, Cast: Maggie Millar (Mary Burton), Sally Synopsis: The stoiy of actress Olive Bodill Photography............................................. JulianPenney Peter Hunter Cooper (Jan Preston), Tony Rickards (Mr who died of cancer in 1985.

Sound recordist.............................................TimLloyd Art director....................................Diaan Wajon Norris), David Blackman (Jim Birrell), Maude Editor..........................................................PhilipHowe Make-up................................... Joanne Stevens Clarke (Sally Wilkens).

Prod, designer....................................... MichaelRalph Hairdresser...................................Paul Williams POOR MAN’S ORANGE Synopsis: A contemporary drama which ex­ Composer................................................... DaveSkinner Wardrobe supervisor..................................AllanBums plores the motivation for a woman to commit Prod, company...................................... AnthonyBuckley Prod, supervisor.......................................PennyWall Wardrobe asst......................................MadelineCullen murder, based on her Catholic upbringing and Productions Pty Ltd Prod, co-ordinator...................Sam Thompson Props buyer....................................Kerrie Reay her recent involvement with a young surrogate Producer................................................ AnthonyBuckley Prod, manager........................................MichaelDavis Standby props........................................ LeanneCornish mother.

Director.................................................... GeorgeWhaley Unit manager.................Richard Montgomery Runner..........................................Cathy Roden Scriptwriter............................................. GeorgeWhaley Location manager..................... Chris Williams Art dept runner.................................... CatherineFinlay SONG FOR AUSTRALIA Based on the novel Prod, assistant........................................... FionaHile Publicity.....................................Lindy Anderson P o o r M a n ’s O ra n g e by............................. RuthPark Catering...................................... Taste Buddies Prod, accountant...........................................LeaCollins Prod, company.....................................ABC TV Photography................................................. PaulMurphy Prod, assistant......................................... TraceyHyde Studios...................................... ATN Channel 7 Dist. company....................................... ABC TV Sound recordist........................Syd Butterworth 1st asst director.......................... Robert Kewley Producer.............................. Harvey Broadbent Length......................................... 6 x 60 minutes Editor...........................................Wayne Le Clos 2nd asst director......................................... TrishCarney Director.................................Harvey Broadbent Gauge....................................................... 1-inch Prod, designer....................................... BernardHidesShooting stock......................................... Video Continuity.................................Kristin Voumard Scriptwriter.......................... Harvey Broadbent Composer................................................... PeterBest Cast: John Wood (Michael Rafferty), Catherine Casting.............................Maizels & Associates Photography..................................Terry Byrne Exec, producer........................Robert Mercieca Focus puller.................................................SallyEccleston Wilkin (Paulyne), Simon Chilvers (Flicker), Arky Sound recordist.........................Noel Lumsdon Clapper/loader........................... Duncan Taylor Prod, manager........................................... CarolHughes Editor................................................ Erika Moss Michael (Fulvio).

Key grip....................................................... BrettMcDowell Unit manager....................... Roxanne Delbarre Exec, producer..........................John Gleeson Synopsis: The trials and tribulations of stipen­ Location manager.....................................RobinClifton Asst grip...................................................... JohnTate Prod, manager..........................Anne Skillicorn diary court magistrate Michael Aloysius 2nd unit photography.......Michael Karaglanidis Prod, secretary....................................... EdwinaNicolls 1st asst director.........................Vid McClelland Rafferty.

2nd unit camera asst.....................Tim Thomas Prod, accountants................... Nicky Rowntree, Producer’s assistant....................... Padma Iyer Robina Osborne, Gaffer.............................................

Derek Jones Lighting cameraperson................... Terry Byrne Moneypenny Services Boom operator............................Mark van Kool ROB ROY Camera assistant.............................Paul Doney Art director......................................................Ian Gracie Accts assistant................Jennifer Deschamps Prod, company...................................... BurbankFilmsProps...........................................Gerald Collins Costume designer.......................Helen Hooper 1 st asst director.......................................... ChrisWebb Musical director.......................... Evan Murray Producer........................................................RozPhillips Make-up.......................................................

Brita Kingsbury 2nd asst director....................................... HenryOsborne Music performed by.............Aussie Schoolkids Scriptwriter.................................. Rob Mowbray Hairdresser................................................. BritaKingsbury 3rd asst director........................................... KateIngham Editing assistant............................Stuart Miller Based on the novel by.............. Sir Walter Scott Wardrobe supervision........Lucinda McGuigan Continuity..................................................NicolaMoors Length............................................. 20 minutes Editors.......................................Peter Jennings, Casting....................................................... SusieMaizels, Standby wardrobe....................................BarbraZussino Gauge....................................................... 16mm Caroline Neave Maizels & Associates Props buyer............................................... DianeHenry Cast: Various Australian schoolchildren, Exec, producer............................................TomStacey Props asst....................................Dallas Wilson Extras casting........................ Caroline Bonham Michael Atherton, Warren Fahey.

Prod, co-ordinator........................... Joy Craste Camera operator................... David Williamson Standby props.........................Robert Moxham Synopsis: Nine school age rock musicians Prod, manager.................................Roddy Lee Asst editor................................................AdrianWard Focus puller................................................. JohnPlatt take off to research influences on Australian Prod, accountant.......................Andrew Young Stunts co-ordinator.................Claude Lambert Clapper/loader....................................... ConradMill Casting.............................................. Joy Craste music and bring them together in a perform­ Key grip.........................................................RayBrown Still photography......................................Robert Verkerk ance of their S o n g F o r A u s tra lia .

Camera operators...........................Gary Page, Grip................................................................. IanBird Best boy........................................................PaulBooth Tanya Viskich Asst grip...................................................WarrenGrieff Asst to electrics........................... Stephen Gray Stoiyboard.....................................Bob Fosbery Gaffer...........................................................MickMorris Prod, runner................................................GaryJones TREASURE ISLAND Timing........................................................GeoffCollins Electrician............................................ JonathanSwain Art dept runner......................................... JamesMcTeigue Prod, company............................Burbank Films Boom operator...............................................SueKerr Length............................................................. 50minutes Catering.......................................John Faithfull Gauge....................................................... 16mm Producer........................................................RozPhillips Laboratory.................................................. Atlab Art director........................... Virginia Bieneman Scriptwriter..........................Stephen MacLean Lab. liaison..........................Andrea Henderson Asst art director.................................... CarolinePolin Shooting stock........................................ 7291 Voices: Phillip Hinton (MacDonald, King Based on the novel Length............................... 90 minutes (approx.)

Costume designer......................................DavidRowe, George), Simon Hinton (Young Colin), Jane by.............................Robert Louis Stevenson Utopia Road Gauge........................................................ 16mm Harders (Oina, Mrs Stewart), Bruce Spence Editors.......................................Peter Jennings, Shooting stock................................. 7291,7292 Make-up..................................................MarjoryHamblin (Duncan), Nick Tate (Rob Roy), Andrew Lewis Caroline Neave Cast: Steve Bisley (Harry), Gary Day (Topdog), Hairdresser.................................................. TerriMeissner (Hamish), Ron Haddrick (Killearn), Andrew Exec, producer............................................TomStacey David Jay (Eddy), Esben Storm (Vince), Paul Wardrobe...................................... Phillipa Eyers Prod, co-ordinator......................................... JoyCraste Chubb (Max), Susan Leith (Chris), Richard Standby wardrobe....................................... JohnSheaInglis (James Stewart), Bill Kerr (Duke of Montrose), Tim Elliott (Duke of Argyle).

Prod, manager..................................Roddy Lee Moir (Alistair), John Sheerin (Pedals), Graham Asst standby wardrobe................................. LynLondon Prod, accountant................................... AndrewYoung Synopsis: Rob Roy MacGregor is the Scottish Matters (Kevin), Bob Baines (Corbett).

Props maker................Walter Van Veenendahl Casting...........................................................JoyCraste version of Robin Hood, who cleverly tricks the Synopsis: A love story about a young boy who Props buyers..............................Sue Mayberry, Camera operators............................ Gary Page, evil Duke of Montrose out of the taxes collected Michael Mercurio tnes to get a pool player back on the tracks.

Tanya Viskich from the villagers. He is declared an outlaw Standby props............................................. JohnDaniell Storyboard.................................................SteveLyons, and has many exciting escapades before he Asst standby props........................... James Cox Alex Nicholas THE WIND AND THE STARS Art dept co-ordinator................................ DebraColecan clear his name.

Timing.............................................. Jean Tych Scenic artist.................................................. RayPedler Prod, companies...................................... ABC, Length.............................................. 50 minutes Construction manager............................... JohnParker Revcom Television, SEEN BUT NOT HEARD Gauge....................................................... 16mm Foreman..................................................... FrankPhipps Resolution Films Prod, company............. ACTF Productions Ltd/ Shooting stock........................................ 7291 Asst editor................................................WayneHayes Producer....................................................... RayAlehin TVW-7 (Perth) Supervising sound editor..............Dean Gawen Synopsis: The classic adventure story of Director.......................

Lawrence Gordon-Clark Sound editors..............................................GregBell, Producers........................................... Jeff Peck, pirates and buried treasure.

Scriptwriter.................................................PeterYeldham Susan Campbell Kathryn Fenton Photography..................................Peter Hendry Director................................. Graeme Thorburn Editing assistants........................................ PaulHuntington, Sound recordist..........................................PeterBarber Scriptwriter................................. Steve Spears Danielle Wiseman Editors.....................................Tony Kavanagh, UNCLE SAM’S AT THE DOOR Exec, producer...........................Patricia Edgar Mixer...........................................................PeterFenton Lyn Solly Prod, company.................................... SomersetFilm Stunts co-ordinator...................................... GuyNorrisPublicity.......................... Suzie Howie Publicity Prod, designer.......................................... LaurieJohnson Studios........................................

TVW-7 (Perth) Productions Pty Ltd Still photography........................................... JimTownley Exec, producer.....................................

Geoffrey Daniels Dist. company..................Tambarle AB Limited Researcher................................................... KrisWyldLength........................................ 6 x 30 minutes Assoc, producer.........................................PeterYeldham Gauge................................................... 1 " video Producers....................James Michael Vernon, Nurse...................................................... JacquieRobertson Publicity................................... Georgie Brown Cast: Huw Evans (Compere).

Jan Tyrrell Catholic adviser.......................................... JohnMitchell Catering...................................A & B Catering, Director......................................................... RobStewart Best boy...................................................... ChrisFleetSynopsis: A drama/discussion series, focus­ Arthur & Barbara Bottcher ing on the often hidden attitudes, feelings and Scriptwriter................................................ DavidYoung Runners.................Naomi Enfield (Production), Budget............................................................. $8million beliefs of kids in the formative years of adoles­ Photography................................ Joe Pickering Ian Jobson (Art dept) Length..................................................... 8 hours cence. Issues discussed by a group of 13-yearSound recordist.................................. Tim Lloyd Catering....................................................MarikeJanavicius Gauge....................................................... 35mm olds will be introduced by short, witty and Editor.......................................Amanda Robson Mixed at................................................ Colorfilm sometimes controversial dramas.

Prod, designer....................................... MichaelRalphCast: Keith Michell (Cook), John Gregg Laboratory............................................ Colorfilm (Banks), Erich Hallhuber (Lt Gore), Jacques Prod, supervisor..............................Penny Wall i ah liaison.............................................. DeniseWolfsen Penot (Clerke), Stephen Grives (Gibson), Peter Prod, co-ordinator................Sandra Thompson Budget..........................................................$3.8million SHADOW PLAY Prod, manager........................................MichaelDavisCarroll (Solander), Fernando Rey (Hawke), Length.........................................4 x 60 minutes (Working title) Carol Drinkwater (Elizabeth), Barry Quin (Lt Unit manager...................Richard Montgomery Gauge........................................................ 16mm Hicks), Emil Minty (Young Nick).

Location manager............Christopher Williams Prod, company............................... Ebony Films Shooting stock............................................. Agfa Synopsis: The life of James Cook.

Prod, accountant............................. Lea Collins Cast: Anne Phelan, Martyn Sanderson, Kaarin Producer..................................... Ann Darrouzet

CIN EM A P A P E R S JULY - 79

SIC TRANSIT GILDA. Rita Hayworth, w h o se Gilda w a s screen ed at th e first C annes Film Festival, died on 15 May, a s th e 40th festival w as underway.

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