Cinema Papers no. 27 June-July 1980 (2025)

OCR

“These days, you have to finish

A-= . film commercials on videotape
e because the[...]tions

demand it. But you still have the

To find a solution.

you go to tape. it is really a question

I hen lan its of or
' p If you want s[...]aight to tape and
edit electronically. I can turn a

O
’ commercial around in 24 hours,

that way.[...]ve decisions.

You can examine the problem,

find a solution, then plan its execution.

Thinking it a[...]s
instead of two minutes.

I look at Videotape as a tool.
Its a means to an end. And the
decision when to transfer film to

tape can make a big difference to
that end.”

Mike Reed,[...]

From the box. As a
projectionist. Started at 15,
lasted ten years. Things start to
close in a little after ten years in
the box. Then I came to Sydney.
Met a man named Phil Budden,
and he gave me my job here[...]ostly doccos, 2 reel
featurettes. Then we started a
production office, which we
didn’t have before.[...]o analyse it for
you, sight graded it again, took
a guess, corrected your guess,
then corrected again. Two
weeks later, you had a two
reeler. That was my learning
process. And very good for me.
A long winded business. Then
along came the Hazeltine.

What are the qualities of"
a good grader. I mean, would
you see colour differe[...]how they see it.

Colour can change the
mood. For a horror film, dark
shadows, for a period picture,

a patina of age, or a bright,
sharp, crisp, clean look like ‘My
Brilliant Career’ which I think

was a beautiful job.
From your point of view?

And the[...]the
normal grading time.

VVhy?

It was shot over a period of
nine months in Victoria, during
which t[...]eight frames, ten
frames, for hundreds of feet at a
time. It made the film work the

way it did. But[...]ger
Cowland (opticals) and I work
more or less as a team. Its
something that’s formed over
the years. We all do our piece,
its like a chain.

VVhat’s your ideal working
relationship with someone
bringing in a feature?

Well, the way I worked it
this morning.[...]k about it, pull
up at the end of each reel, take a
few notes, and go through all 13
reels. Then it's[...], and
what I’ve stored in my brain.

Memory and a feeling for the
film.

You’ve just graded a feature
for America, haven’t you?

Yes,.‘The[...]changes. Very gratifying.

How often have you had a
job rejected?

Touch wood, never.
Not one?

Not o[...]cers.

VVhat do you mean?

Well, the night before a big
job, especially a feature, you sit
down and run the whole thing
thr[...]film?

We’re about to put in
another Hazeltine. A double
head machine with electronic
frame countin[...]first time to my knowledge

anyone’s mentioned a grader.

I think he did this because
of the mutua[...]we have and
we’ve developed over the years.
To a film maker, putting a film
in the lab, its very much like
taking your wife to a hospital to
have a baby. They care just’ as
much about the[...]

You’d have to be

mad to like opera

A film for young people taking the grand out of
gra[...]le. Australian composer. talks
about and performs a section of‘ lncredible
Floridas‘. a work inspired by the poetry of
Rimbaud. This awar[...]and performs
the music ofDebussy. 20min. Colour.

A Balinese gong orchestra

The Balinese Gamelan Orchestra comprises 30
musicians playing a rich and unique variety of
exotic instruments. The sounds produce[...]and in groups. l0min. Colour.

The Fifth Facade

AA. 8; Canada. Mr_]im Henry. City National Bank
Buil[...]Angeles. California.

Concerto for orchestra

To a background ofBartol<‘s music. this film
takes a[...]hite

FILMWEST & SINGAPORE

r ‘ FILMWEST has a lot to
. offer the film industry in
K J Singapore[...]ything from ads to
features. We back this up with a
complete post-production service,
and can[...]

.—[...]and 4000. Phone (07) 224 8291

experience to make a production exercise in Queensland flow _ . _

smo[...]The Queensland Film Corporation can now offer you a “who’s
who and where” of people in Q[...]

New Zealand Film Industry
A Special Supplement:

Centre Pages

Donald Rich[...]am Interviewed: 176

164
165

Lincoln and Cass
A History: 170

199
200

201
203

206

20[...]

in any case.[...]east for the
present.

Mr Eilicott also announced a series of
changes to the Australian Film Commissi[...]estion of political interference in the AFC.
Such a move will be widely applauded.

Other charges rel[...]will have five part-timers. Pat
Lovell, presently a part-time commissioner,
has had her term extended[...]e Henry Crawford,
David Block and David Williams. A fifth com-
missioner is still to be appointed.

T[...]s, said Mr Ellicott,
should help the AFC to adopt a more com-
mercial approach to its operations and[...]mifications of the changes (which will
be done in a future Cinema Papers). it is
worth remembering that a film commission,
whether state or federal, is to a large degree
dependent on the projects presented[...]nounced on May 1 that the Library had ac-
quired a print of the 1927 production, For the
Term of His Natural Life. Edmondson
described the acquisition as “a most impor-
tant and exciting event in the preser[...]roposal. by the Seven
Network. to screen Death of a Princess. This
British documentary about the love affaire
between a Saudi Arabian princess and her
commoner lover, an[...]nstitute, Mr Barry Jones. called the
“pressure" aa print found in America.

in Sydney, Allan Tyson,[...]fied by the Australian Film Cen-
sorship Board."

A reading of the Film Censorship Act does
suggest t[...]s states that permission for the importa-
tion of a film may be rejected it, in the opinion
of the Censor, the film is “offensive to a
friendly nation".

Obviously, the film is offensive to Saudi
Arabia, a friendly nation, and the film, ac-
cording to sec[...]ow yet. After Richard Donner left

we had to make a decision about how

much of the material that had been shot
we would keep. in fact, we decided to re-
do a lot of it. There's about 30 per cent of

Donner's[...]idn't say that. There is no question he

has made a major contribution as an in-

dividual."

All one[...]ese television in 1978.

The AFC regards Japan as a major outlet
for Australian television pro[...]

‘SPECIA[...]irth, 12 leading film writers combine to provide a lively and entertaining
critique of the films. I[...]lson Australia, with Cinema Papers, this book has a recommended retail price of $14.95.
By filling in the form on the reverse side you can secure a copy post paid.

The first sequence (13 mins) is a semi-
dramatic episode of a centrefold-type girl as
she becomes erotically ar[...]oyfriends.

Electric Blue is the first attempt by a men's
magazine publishers to put a magazine on
video. Playboy, for example, is prepa[...]This is sur-
prising as it is well short of being a “blue
movie". The overseas marketing of Electri[...]Duckmanton suggested the Government
should set up a new system of film classifica-
tion. whereby peop[...]n is able to bring this

change about, it will be a major victory and
one to be applauded.

Further comments showed Lady
Duckmanton is prepared to present a public
image of herself, unlike her predecessor,[...]ted to the point of

obscenity, they have to pass a film. What I

have to consider is would the major[...]uding 10 documentaries
for the Man Alive series.

A wide range of areas is scheduled for dis-
cussion[...]orial Award:

Malcolm McDonald, S.W. Tasmania — A

Wilderness in Question

Milli Award, for Cinemat[...]p their first film or television produc-
tions as a producer.

HITCHCOCK — A PERSONAL
REMEMBRANCE

RICHARD FRANKLIN

The first[...]itch
was that he was not larger than life. He was a
little plump man, and I believe that this fact is[...]uspense of watching my wife

THE QUARTER

cook a souffle.” Or, as he said at the
American Film I[...]‘‘I
could as easily have been here tonight as a
rather corpulent drink waiter."

At the Universit[...]lifornia in
1967, several students decided to run a
retrospective of 25 or so Hitchcock films, and
in[...]to attend.

I was called into the Dean’s office a couple
of days later to take a call and I remember
vividly the vertignous (track[...]ning Mr Franklin" on the other end ofthe
line. As a 19 year-old film student at the time,
I was in te[...]e the shooting of Topaz.

The fact that Topaz was a failure on almost
every level, I believe, had muc[...]ly
the ending. Hitch spent several weeks
shooting a pistol duel sequence which in
rough—cut was the[...]ca-
tion to see him work. The set was as quiet as
a library, and Hitch presided over all with a
hawk-like eye, sitting in his suit, not by the
ca[...]han masters, close-
ups, etc. Then, at the end of a take (there
were seldom more than a couple), he would
turn and point out some minor c[...]who dedicated his life to frightening people
was a small frightened man. On the day of his
death I t[...]the way he depicted death. as if
he were shooting a love scene.

The only smile Hitch gave during the entire
proceedings at the lnstitute's tribute was
after a montage of his own murder scenes.
Although this m[...]al parlance.

To me, it showed that Hitchcock had a
childlike fascination for “sin". of any kind or[...]onsider his art “popular“. and there-
fore of a lower order, one can only say that
sin too[...]

I haven’t been keeping up, but I
think Grease[...]American television,
and our release was at least a year
away, so I thought that by the time
the film[...]the response.

In the U.S. industry, how much of a

166 —— Cinema Papers. June-July

film’s su[...]r and
Robert Stigwood, and was cal-
culated to be a commercial film. It
was not a film thatjust happened to
be liked by people; the[...]-
volta on Boy in the Plastic Bubble.

Grease was a film I was hired to do,
whereas Blue Lagoon is a film I
have wanted to do for eight years.

After “Grease”, were you in a pos-
ition to put together a project your-
self.’

Yes, though it took me a while to
realize this and I spent a lot of time
trying to interest various producers[...]rs it took to get it
launched, I had been offered a lot
of commercial-type films, with big
stars and[...]t
the director of Grease to do next.
I almost did a couple of them, but
I kept on thinking about Blue[...]ommercial film; I
wanted to do something that was a
little more my own.

Did your fascination[...]

The book. I didn’t realize there
was a film version until long after I
had read it. I wa[...]on guide one day and
noticed the film was on at 4 a.m.; so
I watched it. The film departed
quite a bit from the novel, pre-
sumably because they cou[...]e the same, it
skirted many things. It also added a
sub—plot that had nothing to do with
the childr[...]ve taken it one step fur-

ther and made the film aa sex film. I keep trying to
emphasize that it is a love story in
the tradition of those big, romantic,
South Seas movies. Itjust has a few
elements that are not normally seen
in such films.

Did Columbia have any re-
servations about re-making a film?

No, because I gave Frank Price
the novel t[...]each as they did 30 years
ago. I felt it would be a nice kind of
cosmic link to the past.

What happe[...]ring the

"x
‘ ,

-5

possibility of working as a director
in Hollywood. He told me about
the Austr[...]e it described
how the crew built half the set of a
street in a river; it was very clever.
In the U.S., theywould[...]water; it would have
cost millions. Newsfront was a case
of using your mind, instead ofjust a
lot of money.

What is your relationship with
Ric[...]pro-
duction, Richard handled all the
things that a producer normally
does, while I concentrated on being
a director. Once we got into post-

and

a wreath on

Paddy (Leo McKern). Above: the older[...]ry? You
just end up crying yourself.

Is the film a co-production?

No, because Columbia financed
the entire film. It was just a matter
of getting a handpicked crew of
Australians and young Americans
from the USC Film School. I have
also used a French cameraman,
Nestor Almendros, who is a great
'artist. He loves to work in a loose
fashion, and with people who don’t
mind t[...]ctricity,
roads, water or sewerage. The film
was a big adventure, and I don’t
think there a[...]

How would you describe the crew
on “Grease”?

That was a Hollywood crew. I
really didn’t get to know them, be-
cause it was such a monumental
task just pulling the thing together.
It was my first feature and, though
they helped me a lot, there was no

Vince Monton (“additional ph[...]f camaraderie as we had on
Blue Lagoon.

We spent a lot of time inter-
viewing crew members for Blue[...]the girl. So, I had absolute con-
trol, which was a wonderful ex-
perience. It is also something I
ho[...]e, I will be working for
Ray Stark and it will be a giant

Scene from Grease, Kleiser’s first featu[...]people see the film it will
become an interesting tourist at-
traction, like the Disneyland of the
South Pa[...]heir culture.

How long was the shooting period?

A couple of days more than 12
weeks. We had a four—day break in
the middle, which is unusual,[...]I
am going to take the boat instead.”
That was a six-hour trip and I
thought I could sink back into
society a little more easily that way.
So, I flew back, but[...]m the
ship and helped pull me up on
board. It was a very dramatic and
fun way to end the whole shoot.[...]because they would come
in on the sea-plane about a week
later. But we got used to it.

During produc[...]unit, which was quite extensive.
Vince also shot a lot of sequences at

sea, because Nestor gets sea[...]er stuff.

The system we used was to story-
board a sequence. In the morning I
would hand out little[...]hard would sometimes go off
with Vince and direct a sequence,
while I would work with Nestor or
Ron. We would then juggle things
around. It was a very loose and un-
usual set-up, and you could ne[...]f making the schedule. We
wanted the film to have a certain
look, and that look was more im-
portant[...]s agreed,
so it worked out well.

Everyone was on a weekly rate,
and that meant we didn’t have to
s[...]example,
worked the crew more than eight
hours in a day.

Nestor Almendros is famous for

Did[...]i-camera set-ups?

Yes. If you want to cut during a
sequence like that, you need at least
two cameras[...]on beaches that mightn’t be
there if there was a high tide.

Did you have editing facilities on the
island?

We put together certain se-
quences in a little editing hut we
built. The rest was done at Bur-
bank Studios.

We have spent a lot of time in the[...]ression of the
nature around them, and that takes
a lot of thought and experi-
mentation to get right.

Nicolas Roeg tried a similar thing in
“Walkabout”. Have you seen that
film?

Yes. I enjoyed Walkabout a lot
and there are certain similarities. I
was par[...]ng to happen next, such as when
the bird lands in aa romantic and loves
the sea; that’s all I[...]

century — from 1910 to 1934 — and his
theatrical career a lifetime, up until his death,
aged 84, in 1951.[...]the Powder Magazine? His mother was Polly
Moore, a resident of Beechworth, whom John
Buckley had mar[...]and back through the bush on
horseback. Polly had a sister Dotty and the Moore fami-
ly lived permane[...]nd said,
“Son, I hope you grow up to be as fine a man as
your father.” The next day Cass’ fathe[...]Frasers’ Heidelberg

home. Bessy carefully kept a diary of thesedays‘

7. Castieau‘s dia[...]

12. Jack Castieau was also a close friend of Norman
Lindsay. As early as 1886 John Buckley Castieau had
written to A. G. Stephens (of the “Red Page" in The
Bulletin[...]Lionel Lindsay and Hugh McCrae
worked together on a magazine called The Free Lance
(see The Letters o[...]ave, Beatrice Holloway and Arthur
Bryant, to name a few. In 1912, Theatre inter-
viewed Cass who “h[...], Cass mentions how he
was very nearly shot “by a drunken bluejacket”
and on another occasion had had “the half of a
cooked turkey thrown at me”. He continued,

“[...]nly

has no wish to ‘feel’ it in the shape of a well-

thrown fowl or a well-aimed bullet.”
Theatre commented,

“Mr Cass considers that off the stage the

villain is usually a very harmless fellow. As a

rule it is the hero who is the troublesome

elem[...]atre. September. 1912. p. 9. This passage is also a
good indication of the liveliness of theat[...]

Cass was a foundation member ofthe Actors’
Association and[...]e spectacular of that year,
Sealed Orders. It was a drama ofthe armed ser-
vices, and the production featured a scene in
which “a real airship hovered over the stage”.“
Theatr[...]bfd. May. 1914. p. 3.

26. Army records. Cass was aA Lincoln Cass Film.

172 — Cinema Papers, June-J[...]uld appear he was never per-
manently employed as a stock actor with any of
the theatrical companies[...]theatre in
Australia, as indeed the world, was in a steady
decline. The touring theatrical companies[...]d down.

In the 1920s and ’30s. Cass moved into a new
stage of his life, that of theatrical produce[...]were all amateur productions, but in the
cast was a group ofyoung people who were later
to form part[...]sport”, where he had lived since
the war. Then, a few years before his death, they
moved to Surrey[...]by the acting
fraternity to which he had devoted a lifetime of
service.

when he was 57 years old. I[...]rs in these productions was considerable. She was a
member of the cast for a number of these productions.
Greeba Jamieson reme[...]oln was born in
Melbourne in 1870. His father was a middle-
class merchant whose firm, Lincoln, Stuar[...]Flinders St, opposite
the railway station. It was a very large complex,

stretching from 246 to 254 F[...]erests in their late teens and early 205

were of a similar theatrical nature.’

1. Theatre refe[...]Stuart, “of Lin-
coln Stuart and Co.", as being a shrewd businessman
and one of the first “into t[...]wn. The point, however, is that Lincoln
came from a successful business background and,
through his f[...]vestments. The present chairman of direc-
tors is a Stuart and a descendant of the original Stuart.
He has[...]

give a cordial support to all dramatists of a

deserving character.”

Lincoln was a prolific and good writer. During
this period he s[...]ible he was an only child. There is no mention
of a Lincoln family being friendly with the Castieaus[...]robable
that he was already known by the 18905 as a writer.
There is, unfortunately, no evidence of t[...]p. 12, reports

his Melbourne season “opened to a packed audience. . .

and finished with a most brilliant fireworks display”.

7. The Bul[...]he could never itemize an
expense account. After a tour to Western Aus-
tralia (probably with J. C. Williamson’s Bio-
Tableau)
“he put in a docket for one hundred and four
pounds. The auditor wanted details, but Billie,
with a lofty contempt for nosey auditors,
simply took hi[...]red pounds.”“
Lincoln, like Godfrey Cass, had a good sense
of humour. He was probably at his best[...]ICTURE DRAMA

W. J. LINCOLN

His photograph shows a rather fragile-looking
man. His large handle—ba[...]to
swamp his face and he looks more ofa poet than
a picture showman.”

Lincoln would have been 35 w[...]in Melbourne and it was capable of
accommodating a considerable audience: its
seating capacity was 2[...]5, p. 16.

13. Australasian. October 2, 1909, and A.K.J., March 19,
1914. Mr A. Forecast remembers the theatre. It was a
house that was converted to enable the film to be pro-
jected from a front room through the front windows to a
screen situated in the garden. The house was set[...]and watch
the moving pictures.

quit,
mlttu «A-

7'/T“/flL
For?

M U906" e?

Cinema Pa[...]

17. A.K.J..‘ August 20, 1914.

18. Interview with Mr[...]all of course supplied by Amalgamated Pic-
tures, a member of the Associated Film Ex-
change in 1912) and Linco1n’s outstanding
management. A typical excerpt reads:

“The huge grounds of Pa[...]n fact it is doubtful if

there would be room for a single person more

. . . Mr Lincoln had been luc[...]as
employed by Amalgamated Pictures.

C. Spencer, a director of Amalgamated Pic-
tures, had resigned[...]ncoln’s film experience
and undoubted talent as a writer and producer,
and his knowledge, that ther[...]within his present position.
He therefore took up a position as director and
writer with J. C. Willia[...]drinking appears to have been
uncontrollable for aA.K.J., May 14, 1914 and May 21, 1914.
20. Theatre,[...]his best." It was also his last film. Lincoln was a
talented director and this film shows the
maturit[...]. The
Life’s Romance of Adam Lindsay Gordon has a
haunting beauty. The long camera shots, interior
lighting and sophisticated direction mark him as
a particularly sensitive and advanced director
for[...]n set. She remembers he
was generally known to be a very sick man, but
she did not know for what reas[...]At the time of his death, Lincoln was working
on a script entitled the Worst Woman in
Sydney“, a re-write of the extremely successful
stage play e[...]difficult to know if he was
going to make it into a film or intended it as a
stage play.

Although this is a very brief look at Lincoln,
owing to a lack of source material, his outer life
do[...]

Godfrey Cass
1911 A Tale of the Australian Bush (Ben Hall,
the Notori[...]rvale
Scriptwriter
Photography
Cast Godfrey Cass, A. J. Patrick, (. . . )
1911 One Hundred Years Ago[...]rvale
Scriptwriter
Photography
Cast Godfrey Cass, A. J. Patrick, Harris

1911

1919

1920

1923

1923[...]rry Beaumont.
First released Sydney, May 8, l9ll

A Ticket in Tatts

Producer Australian Life Biograp[...]le

Scriptwriter P. W, Marony

Cast Godfrey Cass, A. J. Patrick, Alfred
Scarlette, James Martin, Loui[...]y‘s Jungle Woman (1926), which

1928

L. Woods, A. Orbell, I. Millett
First released Melbourne, Oct[...]M.

Rhys, F. Barrett, N. French, V.

Fitzherben, A. Whynn, H. B.

Meade, V. Gourriet, Joe Valli
Firs[...]t, Tom Cannam,
Beryl Bryant, Marion Willis “and a
specially selected supporting cast”

First rele[...]Beryl Bryant,

George Bryant, Godfrey Cass “and
a powerful cast”, (...)
First released Mel[...]

When I started in radio, it was a
thriving industry; that was before
television. But I got a bit restless
and decided to try it overseas.

Wha[...]was
going to do. Frank Packer refused
to promise a quota, but he said,
“l’ve always treated Aust[...]illigan.” Spike had just started
an agency over a fruit shop in
Shepherds Bush with a woman
called Beryl Virtue, who was his
agent. She[...]kes and Johnny
Speight. Anyway, she took me on
as a sort of challenge.

Beryl turned out to be a
marvellous agent. She soon moved
to a building in Bayswater, and
then into the West End[...]y for television, which I
could never do.

It was a lucky meeting, and
Spike and the others were very[...]same things are still being done.

You also wrote aa favorite film from that
period?

Funnily enough,[...]y Man with
Kenneth More. Although it was
based on a book by Douglas Hayes,
about an out-of-work actor[...]medy Man was the first
time I had wanted to write a com-
edy. There is a magical moment in
a crowded cinema or theatre when
you hear people st[...]not laugh, while you are writing
it. I have done a couple of stage
plays in collaboration, and on on[...]hough,
the next day we found we had had

too good a lunch and that it wasn’t
really that funny.

It[...]edy.
Of all the comedy writers I know,
and I knew a lot in Britain, none of
them were funny people. M[...]oing from town to
town and you do tend to rewrite a
lot. I had one play open in Liver-
pool, called B[...]the play to
Coventry, where nobody laughed.
It is a different humour there and
the actors were far removed from
the audience. It was like a different

play.

When things started taking off[...]te some-
thing every three months they were
doing a lot of work. I find that
unless I am busy, I am b[...]nema was getting
off the ground . . .

I returned a couple of times for
visits, but I came back for good in
1976. There was sort of a deja vu
feeling about Britain in the 1970s;
wejus[...]tayed so long in Britain was
because I was having a good run
with my stage plays.

Do you still have[...]ause it’s easier
to raise money for films?

For a start, you have to sit down
and write a play — nobody is going
to ask you to wri[...]

There was only one o[...]rrow
from the library one day. I intended
to read a couple of chapters, but
ended sitting up all nigh[...]they were, so I
went to see her. I then took out a

sort of option and went to the ABC
with a three-page outline. I also

suggested they read t[...]he work?

No, she stood back from it. We
just had a lunch and she said,
“Look, its a book, and I know you
are going to make a television
series, so do exactly what you
want.” We made a lot of changes,
but I think we kept the spirit of[...]was all pretty well
documented in the book. Also, a lot
of those things Kylie was writing
about the 1[...]ritten “The
Timeless Land” for the ABC. 15 it a
series?

Yes. There are eight one-hour
episodes.[...]22 years.
It starts with Phillip, then jumps
time a bit and becomes mainly
concerned with the fiction[...]d”?

Not at all. Theirs was mainly the
story of a girl and her life, whereas
ours is a fairly different canvas.

Eleanor Darl<’s books[...]carefully to
history, although it is by no means
a history lesson.

Have you found a difference
working with Australian directors as
o[...]h or American
ones? Is it easier to get access to a
director overseas, once your script
has been accepted?

Yes. When I first came back,
there was a tendency to say,
“Thanks for the script, now go[...]rking with Carl
Schultz twice, I have experienced a
very good working relationship.
And this is now h[...]job.”

I wrote the scripts of The
Timeless Land a year ago, for
example. but last week I was called
in to re-write a scene that wasn’t
quite right, and which was be[...]eless Land
and Ride on Stranger, and made me
feel a part of the whole thing. It
wasn’t a case of knocking out a
script, taking the money and going
away.

Another[...]ws,
“Golden Soak”, starred Ray
Barrett who is a personal friend. Did
you have him in mind, or was that
just coincidence?

Good luck really. It was a co-
production, so the producers
wanted somebody[...]ere. I
was very pleased, of course.

I am writing a new series for the
ABC at the moment which Ray wi[...]It is called Sporting Chance,
and Ray is playing a sports
journalist.

When doing an adaptation, do[...]feedback I have
had was from Kylie, who wrote me
a lovely letter saying she thought I
had given her story a new
dimension. She was very pleased.

Wendy Hughe[...]bara Stephens and Carmen Duncan in

Touch and Go. a feature scripted and co-
produced by Yeldham.

Do you think a writer should have
some say in the casting?

It i[...]. and they have not been
available.

You have had a great deal to do with
writers’ guilds in[...]

One of the reasons I[...]reas are our
image and contracts. We recently
had a long battle with the ABC over
contracts and, thou[...]sense we arejust gearing up
for the next round in a few years’
time.

We also have to put a stop to
such things as the Australian Film
Commis[...]ot the

writer. It was quite incredible, and
even a writer-producer like Joan
Long was listed just as a producer.
These are the kinds of things we
have t[...]el there is still an
ignorance of the function of a writer
in Australia?

Yes, but it is certainly mu[...]aid, “Let’s talk
about it over lunch.” Take a writer
to lunch? Christ, that never
happened to m[...]ia.

David Puttnam, during his recent
visit, said a country could only
expect to have three really great
directors and four great writers. Do
you think that is a fair comment?

No. It may be true of small
countr[...]t it is certainly not true of
the U.S.

Actually, a lot ofthe other things
Puttnam said make sense --[...]the
insecurity at present, one only
needs to get a frown from an AFC
commissioner before somebody
sa[...]f these
changes didn’t help the film.

There is a lot of discussion about
ensuring our films are m[...]ternational is to be
truly national. Ifyou go for aa
very Australian show, and yet it is
starting to s[...]ies me most of all,
because it may mean we become a
service industry like the British.

Do we have a screen-writing
industry in Australia?

If you inc[...]but there must be about 25
half-hours of serials a week, and
that means quite a few writers are
employed. How long they work on
t[...]untry in that
respect?

I hope we are going to be a lucky
country, and it is a battle that will
keep going on. We are always in[...]gh at the
moment we are doing all right.

I think a good sign is the shorter
series which the commerc[...]we can sell abroad.

Do you see shorter series as a
reaction against the endlessness of
the se[...]

If a producer wants to make a
film in the U.S., for example, he
finds a script he believes in, a
director who wants to do it and a
star. He then goes to the Bank of
America and says, “I have Sidney
Lumet, a script and Al Pacino, so
give me the dough to mak[...]location with no studio work, it can
be made for a majority audience
with very little money.

In Jap[...]money (which it had
never intended to do) and put a stop
to it. Fortunately, it opened up
again under a different aegis. Toho
didn’t put up any money this time,
but acted solely as a distribution
house.

One of the ways an independe[...]companies
finds it is missing the bottom half of
a double-bill. A director then gives
them the film, which he has
f[...]e reason Oshima and Shinoda
put out only one film a year is that
it is all they can do. The alterna-[...]lchik-.iwii‘s Kagi (The Key)

to hire out to a big company —— a
nasty experience. Although it used
to be a director’s cinema in Japan,
and Yasujiro Ozu, M[...]ir own say, let alone Kurosawa,
it has now become a producer’s

cinema. .
The producer, who IS a company

man, develops a script which is like
a child’s coloring book: it says how
long a scene is going to be, what
angles have to be used, and so on.
Even Ichikawa is handed a script
and told to make it as written —
and he does.

There are also a number of hypes
going on for selling films. Ther[...]h puts up
enormous money — say 20 million
yen ($A74,000) — of which five
million would be for the[...]le go to
films, so when they put money into,
say, a mountain melodrama with
Toho, every Soka Gakkai b[...]There
are millions of members, so the film
makes a lot of money.

There are other ways, too.
Shinoda recently made Melody in
Grey, which is not much of a film,
but has pretty pictures. Shinoda
then made a documentary on
Ysuhima Steel, which is the larges[...]that big business can survive . . .

It is always a gamble. For
example, the publisher I mentioned
ea[...]ed heavily in Gothic
thrillers. The first one was a great
success, in that everyone went.
They tried the same hype a second

Cinema Papers, June-July — 181

Is there a chance of a healthy tele-

vision-film relationship in the
fu[...]lways been antedilu-
vian and will continue to be a living

I82 — Cinema Papers, June-July

anachro[...]g to continue. They
have diversified so that only a small
percentage of their income comes
from film:[...]I have
seen in Japan has been animation. Is
that a growing area?

Japan has always been strong on
animation, and Toho has recently
spent millions of dollars on a lavish
new computer system for cartoon
making. An[...]dependent
producers and directors?

That’s only a rumour. If one
looks at copies of Playboy in this[...]he so—called “porno”, it
wouldn’t satisfy a kindergarten.
And in an attempt to hype it, they
have turned to sado-masochistic

Shogun, a case ofoutsiders filming in Japan.

spectacle whe[...]ou go into the
“porno parlours”, which may be a
theatre holding 500 people, you
wouldn’t find m[...]l release
prints for Japan, with more red
paint.

A self-regulatory system is
applied to film, and a panel views
all films up for release. They are
vi[...]politically
aberrant as long as it doesn’t have a
particular focus.

Is film criticism contributin[...], who
print in their magazines that such
and such a film, by such and such a
director, will open someplace; it’s
like an adv[...]hey publish only in maga-
zines. But they are for a minority
audience.

There are no standards, becau[...]on,
are fraught with problems. If one
gets to be a lzirorzka, it is only
because one’s teacher hel[...]anything to anger him,
and if he happens to like a director,
or be his friend, one cannot say
anythi[...]y are glad
to receive them. Of course, if you
cop a present from someone, you
don’t go out and say[...]s and
advertising. If good word gets
around, then a large number of
people will see a film, no matter
what a critic might say about it. For
example, there is a small company
that specializes in art films, and
they have a publisher behind them.
They have a 250-seat cinema and

here to produce a product as good as
that”?

That’s a bootless question. Why
didn’t they all band together and
say, “This is a lousy war, let’s stop
it”? How can anybody in[...]it for film?

What does happen is that there is
a growing audience for whatever
good films are available. There is
within Tokyo, for example, a
definite minority audience for film.
You can se[...]Hasenawa‘s The Boy Who Stole the Sun,
which has a script by Len Shrader.

Kurosawa‘s Shadow Warri[...]I have taught film classes in
Japan. If I put on a film by MlZ0-
guchi to a class of 30, at the end of
the period only two st[...]t doesn’t mean any-
thing to them. lt’s about a country
they haven’t heard of; they are into
so[...]50s and ’60s have all gone some way to creating a canon of Japanese filmmakers with which
the West[...]auteur theory
(not always reliable in Japan where a system of apprenticeships and tendencies held sway for
many years), has led to a centring of film criticism around such major nam[...]chi, Ichikawa, etc. In this, Richie’s books are a product of their time and almost
verge on the publicity puff in their efforts to promote a limited number of directors, rather
than the industry as a whole. His major history, The Japanese Film, writ[...]Junichiro. His many books
acknowledge Kurosawa as a god, and concentrate on the content and style ele[...]example.

Refreshingly, To the Distant Observer, a recent book by the Anglo-French critic Noel Burch,
takes a new approach to the films, employing the newest semiotic analysis and making a
careful study of all Japanese films available fr[...]film had the potential and opportunity to create a formalistic approach to film vitally
and essenti[...]formed new codes of film
expression and created a corpus of work which was ideologically and formally different to
Western film language. Using a system of analysis which is now becoming widely a[...], Burch shows how
these differences helped create a body of film work that was ideologically, and th[...]m’.

This recent study (very much indicative of a changing world aesthetic of film) is unique, in
that it applies a formalistic dialectic to an area which most effec[...].

Unlike Richie, whose recent reviews have shown a marked hostility to Burch’s materialistic
analysis, I feel that To the Distant Observer is a major landmark in the history of film criticism.[...]entific application of the codes of semiology to a major subject, the work stands alone as a
piece of scholarly study, one from which we should all take a cue. Ian A. Stocks[...]

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CABLE: TELECENTRE‘ SYDNEY
TELEPH[...]

A[...]hone 778-543

Film music
a specialty

* Artists’ lounge — TV
and[...]

involved in the majority of N.Z.
features plus a large number of
documentaries and commerci[...]

These days it seems most can match. A choice of five Pacific
airlines are concer[...]

Filmmaking in New Zealand: A Brief

Historical Survey

The Film Culture[...]

Pioneers

Films were fir[...]s later that any
were actually produced. In 1898, A. H. White-
house, an itinerant showman from Auckland,
imported a camera and shot a number of short
topical films: The Opening of the[...]st of
West’s Pictures and James McDonald of the
Tourist Department.

Perry was commissioned by the New Zealand
Government to make a film record of the Royal

T. J. West of West’s[...]shot films for
various government departments as a part-time
activity.

In 1914, George Tarr produced a 2500 ft film
based on the Maori legend Hinemoa. T[...]awdon Blandford produced and
starred in The Test, a 5000 ft drama based on
The Ballad of Stuttering J[...]0s. During this time he produced six features
and a large number of one and two reel
comedies. indust[...]feature, My Lady of the Cave (1922),
was based on a popular serial published in a
weekly newspaper. This was followed by Rewi’s
Last Stand (1925), a drama-romance set at the
time of a famous incident in the Maori Wars.

In the late 1[...]e late 1920s, he travelled from town to town
with a stock script making two-reel “community
comedie[...]in 1974 while
promoting his last feature To Love a Maori,
which he made in 1972.

Cinema Pape[...]

8 —- Cinema Papers. New Zealan[...]ater, Australian producer Ray-
mond Longford shot A Maori Maid’s Love and
The Mutiny of the Bounty.[...]uli came to New Zealand
to shoot two features for a British company,
Sphere Films. These films. Under[...]in 1930 to
produce Hei Tiki which was financed by a local
syndicate. Post-production problems delayed[...]n Dunedin, Jack Welsh and James Gault per-
fected a variable-density sound-on-film system
and produced a few talkie shorts. By 1933,
Welsh was producing a weekly talkie newsreel,
New Zealand Sound-[...]

HISTORICAL SURVEY

50-minute featurette to mark[...]e of film for wartime
information and propaganda, a Film Pro-
duction Sub-Committee was established u[...]r of Publicity to co-ordinate the pro-
duction of a series of anti-waste films.

In 1941, the National Film Unit was set up
and production of a weekly war information reel
began. This reel was[...]ly Review
and its “marching men” title became a familiar
sight in New Zealand cinemas during the[...]Review changed and the reel often concentrated
on a single item in documentary style: The
Railway Wor[...]he most ambitious of these was Journey for
Three, a dramatized documentary commis-
sioned by the Immigration Department. Pro-
duction of tourist films also started about this
time. Many were mad[...]t to an

Auckland company, Neuline Studios.

With a change of government in 1949, pro-
duction of the[...]tion films continued to be
produced and, in 1952, a monthly magazine film
Pictorial Parade, appeared[...]ere produced. All were
made by Pacific Films Ltd, a Wellington
company formed in 1948 by Roger Mirams[...]s joined by John O’Shea.
Together they produced a feature with a race
relations theme, Broken Barrier, which was
r[...], and in 1964 produced Runaway,
which he followed a year later with Don’t Let It
Get You. Neither film returned its costs and

hopes of a feature film industry developing
faded.

Featu[...]m (Lee Hill and Stuart Pitt)
Phar Lap’s Son (Dr A. L. Lewis)

The Waggon and the Star (J. J. W. Pol[...]‘t Let It Get You (John O‘Shea)

1971 To Love a Maori (Rudall Hayward)

1975 Test Pictures (Geoff[...]s Made Partly on
Location in New Zealand

1916 A Maori Maid's Love (Raymond Longford)
1917[...]

Why did you think the book would
work well as a film?

Because it is a love story. It also
has a certain novelty value by being
partly set in Samo[...]ione (Uelese Petaia) and his
father paddle across a lagoon. Opposite bot-
tom: Lovers Sione and Sarah[...]nd’s better-known film-
makers and playwrights. A graduate of Victoria University,
Wellington, he also obtained a diploma from the National
Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and a diploma of film from

the London Film School.

For five years, Maunder was a staff director at the National
Film Unit, Welling[...]d-
winning television dramas “Gone Up North For a While” and
“One of These People Who Lived in[...]and present, as well as geographic-
ally. Is this a feature of the novel?

Yes; it is even more so in[...]u turn the page and you
are somewhere else and at a differ-
ent time.

The difficulty in adapting the
book was that it had two strands: a

sociological one which follows the
family and its experiences, and the
love story. It is a bit schizophrenic
in structure. though it works in a
sort of way. The biggest problem
was to unify the[...]de-
spread?

I think so. New Zealand is very
much a nation of migrants. We are
now having a second generation of
Polynesian immigration, and the
Maoris are once again rising up.
This is going to have a big effect.

There is a certain drop—out
tendency among the Europeans i[...]quite the same
in New Zealand because everyone
is a bit transitory. Europeans have
never quite been s[...]ng up and
down the country. The man on the
run is a very Kiwi theme, and it is
interesting that the first few films
made here were about men on the
run. A lot of novels have also
tackled this theme.

So h[...]. .

Yes, but it has always seemed to
be more of a myth in Australia. I
remember teaching outback li[...]relive the pioneer
experience.

“Sons” gives a fairly pessimistic
view about New Zealanders, par-

Yes. I think it is a valid view and
the more we accept it the better.[...]the film
that there is, in some New Zealand-
ers, a sort of deadness; as if doubts
about colonization have been sup-
pressed for a long time . . .

Yes. I think this is probably tr[...]It was very difficult to judge.
Wendt caricatures a lot of the
Europeans in New Zealand. and I
felt w[...]e sympathetically, it is
perhaps because there is a certain
warmth there.

I was aware of not pushing[...]ype space, which would be totally
unacceptable to a Kiwi. At the
same time I wanted to touch it

Sione does a drum dance at a party. Sons
For the Return Home.

l2 — Cinema P[...]‘.,.».. -I.

4

occasionally, because it seems a
very truthful and human space.

I had as an image[...]American realist tradition and I
tried to fashion a New Zealand ver-
sion of it, whereby I could deal[...]film has split European audi-
ences. I have made a couple of films
that are quite intellectual. and[...]is very diffi-
cult to please. but they are quite a
small proportion of the popula-
tion. Given ‘this. it seemed to me
that all one could do was give it a
go and be true to my impulses and
intuition.

The male lead in “Sons” had not
acted before in a feature. Did that
present difficulties for you?[...]ey were mostly in
terms of the part. It is always a
problem for an actor to play a
writer because of the consciousness
thing that wr[...]felt that what
separates an excellent actor from a
good actor is this expression of con-
sciousness.[...].

One of the fascinating experi-
ences for me as a director on Sons
was the sheer range of people I[...]ers to professional New‘
Zealand actors — and a whole lot
in between.

There are very few scenes[...]n be vulnerable
with her, whereas he can’t with a
Samoan girl. That. for me, was the
nature of the attraction.

If you like, the story is about two
people who[...]y are attracted to each other
and initially it is a private thing.
But then they have to’ fa[...]

What other responses have you had
from Samoans?

For them, the film is meaningful
in a way we are unaware of; it split
the Samoan community right down
the centre. There is a generation
gap between the young people and
the o[...]g receptionist,
because, even though it is really a
private event, for them it is public.

Are you co[...]filmmaking conven-
tions, like when you hold on a person
crying, in preference to keeping the
pace[...]oint
in making feature films in New
Zealand it is a cultural one. I don’t
believe we should be adop[...]American -—— whatever —
culture and this is a big problem,
because it is a continuation of
colonization.

Obviously, the rea[...]thing to say to our people. All one
can do is be a New Zealander, and
hope that maybe something will[...]nough force for
everyone to accept them.

I am in a similar position of
trying to make films that wil[...]ow. I felt that it
would be terrible if Sons were a
disaster, but the relevant people
were vaguely pl[...]think anyone in their right
mind would invest in a New
Zealand film and expect to make
money. They m[...]ry, as is the government.

At the same time, I am a bit
against mythologizing the process.
There is a great desire here to speak
in Hollywood terms abo[...]at is obviously non-
sense. Everything here is on a very
small scale, and if one wants to
look elsewh[...]countries. Our one pity is that we
don’t speak a foreign language. If
we did, the need for our own[...]ingly backing those films it thinks
likely to get a good commercial
return. Do you think the NZFC
sho[...]ortant part of British culture.

What constitutes a commercial
proposition in New Zealand is still
very much a trial and error affair.
Curiously enough, ours is not as
homogeneous a culture as one
might think. We would be happier
i[...]centres, all of which
are very different. This is a big
problem in New Zealand.

Perhaps we should do[...]king the films you want to
make. Australians play a schizo-
phrenic game and do it well, al-
though the industry hasn’t been a
wildly commercial success. In fact,
if you look at it in economic terms
it is a bloody disaster.

Some Australians, in fact, feel[...]which
belongs to the 18th Century. Film
speaks to a great many more
people, and one should acknow-
ledge the financial responsibilities.
If I want to make a film that is only
going to appeal to an art film audi-
ence, then it shouldn’t be made for
a lot of money. There is a slight
danger in this, however, in that
small budgets dictate content.

I think a great deal of propa-
ganda has to be done in term[...]Yes. One should look at films
and television as a unity if people
hope to be able to earn a living; one
can’t expect to make feature films[...]I will be happy.
In the meantime, I have to earn a
living and I would be quite happy to
do some tele[...]lly
as television. I would like it to be
shown as a cinema film, but all I
could expect would be a couple of
weeks in Auckland and Welling-
ton, and maybe a week in Christ-
church and Dunedin. Then,[...]

The National Film Unit is a division of the
Tourist and Publicity Ministry, and was set up
to make fi[...]d at
home and abroad. It took over the studios of a
private company during the Depression. Today
it is housed in a $15 million complex in Lower
Hutt.

its facilities include sound stages, a lab-
oratory, post-production. sound and editing
departments, a full range of production equip-
ment, and a production staff whose main output
is still films for government organizations or
tourist promotion. It is a successful producer of
cinema shorts.

Television[...]consumer of production funds. It
has always been a government-owned facility,
initially as an arm of[...]last
month recombined as Television New Zealand,
a service of the BCNZ.

l4 — Cinema Papers. New Z[...]5 million
Listener
Advertising and sales
(300,000 a week circulation) $10 million
Total $107 million[...]wages and salaries, — i.e.: nearly $20
million a year.

The Television Corporation operates two
channels throughout the country, broadcasting
I50 hours a week. Of this 25-30 per cent is local
content, wh[...]tly, film
drama production is only about 20 hours a year.

Year Population

1959 2.00[...]dependent material and
commissions about 20 hours a year, mostly in
documentaries.

Independent Film Houses

Until recently, there were less than a dozen in-
dependent film companies in New Zealand[...]mber of production houses and
personnel, and also a change in the style of
operation. There ar[...]

This incr[...]er tends
to be male, 15-24, lives in the city, is a light tele-
vision viewer. light radio listener a[...]imes as well
as the average film. About 400 films a year are
released in New Zealand and the top 10 a[...]operating in New Zealand could
bring any skill to a local release that the pro-
ducer does not alread[...].

Dramas, documentaries and
SQOfl$Of9d;f’§{?}a
Stews, sportise . "
and tight entefzgiaiifzeef.[...]otally offshore-oontroiled productions using
as a location only.

Cinema Papers, New Zealand[...]

Wild Man was an opportunity
seized. We[...]e things neces-
sary for making films. But we had a
chance, so we yvent for it and got it.
I think th[...]ave you found the low film rentals
in New Zealand a drawback in try-
ing to attract investors?

When[...]arted
quoting statistics to him on what I
thought a film can reasonably
expect to take in New Zealand[...]Goodbye Pork Pie: Kelly Johnson
and Tony Barry.

A mine explosion in Sleeping Dogs: Murphy did the s[...]feature
film “Goodbye Pork Pie”.

Originally a school teacher, Murphy has had wide experi-
ence in the New Zealand industry as a director and technician.

He started at the New Z[...]ing
Dogs” (1977).

Murphy’s first feature was a low-budget comedy, “Wild
Man” (1977), which h[...]o years later.

In the meantime, Murphy worked as a first assistant director
on Vincent Ward’s “S[...]ecial effects company.

“Goodbye Pork Pie” is a fast-moving comedy about two
adventurers — John (Tony Barry), and Gerry (Kelly Johnson)
— who drive a rented car from one end of New Zealand to the
oth[...]d stop, and nothing would
happen at all.

Yet, as a result of Sleeping Dogs,
there was a terrific increase in film-
making in New Zealand. It did a lot
of good at that level. Roger was
right not to[...]government shelter, there is just no ,
chance of a revival of the industry ..
in New Zealand: the ma[...]se I couldn’t
see how it could be done and make
a product worthy of a broad
release. I knew it would cost more[...]

, money! It really only became a

possibility with the establishment of
the Film C[...]a for the film come
from?

Chris Thompson, who is a free-
lance film producer, told me a story
about when he was hitchhiking and
was picke[...]ld bits of
the car. Eventually he realized it
was a rental car!

After he told me this the old
mind s[...]ver, and three
or four months later I knocked out
a screenplay based on the idea. Ian
Mune and I then collaborated on
the script and refined it over a
period of about 18 months.

How conscious were yo[...]as audiences?

Pork Pie is definitely designed as
a film with a lot of commercial
potential. But I agree with Ber[...]e that
you have to get into thejungle and
produce a film that says what you
want to say, but at the same time
get a mass reaction to it: that's the
ultimate.

So. when writing a script I don’t
think I have ever designed what[...]film, although
they all define their audiences to a
certain extent.

Pork Pie isn’t really an explo[...]em, and their
ability to think laterally, creates a
potential that neither could achieve
as individua[...]n on it though, because they do
things like smoke a lot of dope and
fuck for fun, and other terrible[...]nd them.

The big take-off point is when
they rob a service station and get
away with $1070 worth of[...]me
ground as Butch Cassidy. We are
not presenting a comedy to the
audience, and we are not really
presenting a serious film. either. its
more like a French farce.

Is the action slapstick at all?

N[...]he film?

No, the first thing we did was to
form a consortium of private com-
panies — an equipment hire
company, my service company, and
a sound production company —
which put up $70,000[...]two-thirds financed before
we started looking for a private
investor. But it took a while.

The script had a tremendously
polarizing effect on people, because[...]he pyramid
they are sitting on top of.

There was a very sharp cut-off
point in the reactions to the film.
Among people under 30, there was
almost a universal reaction — they
loved it. People betw[...]money.

The point is, if people are
investing in a film on an outside
chance to make aa character, and I
thought he was brilliant for the[...]rs
being ‘bankable’, but that wasn’t
really a consideration. Once Tony
was proposed. the[...]

Stunts
T

“Pork Pie” involves a lot of compli-
cated stunts. Did these slow down[...]elopmental work.

The hairiest stunt scripted was a
scene where they drive the car on to
a train as it goes past a rail
embankment. When we did it, it
was so simple[...]looks
about as complicated as parking
your car in a garage.

We were trying to design stunts
that the[...]atches and
thinks: “I could do that myself.”

A lot of them were relatively
simple, but visually[...]example, in one of the chase
scenes they get into a one-way
street going the wrong way at high
speed[...]eeling off in all
directions.

Why did you choose a small car?

The choice of a Mini was very
conscious. Have you ever tried to
catch a chook? Well, you’re the
police car and the chook’s the Mini.
The chook can somehow manage to
do a right angle turn at fast speed,
and you run into a wall. That’s the
way the stunts are set up, with that
sort of feel.

There was also another reason to
use aa lot of people: in particular,
the Mini distributors are interested
in helping to promote it, as well as aa promo-

tional deal. So in New Zealand we
are in a good position to distribute
it ourselves in leagu[...]n who worked in
distribution in Britain for quite a
few years — will collaborate with
Lindsay Shelt[...]itial approaches to Ker-

Murphy (centre) sets up a stunt in Goodbye
Pork Pie.

ridge, but I don’t[...]deal.

Were they approached for finance?

No. For a start, other people
have tried without a lot of success.
and the money that they would
hav[...]negative and obstructive in the past.
It’s such a bureaucratic dialogue
you have to go through. and[...]er
people, but on the other hand, you
are getting a lot of experience.

I believe that the success or
failure of a feature film largely has
to do with how the audie[...]‘Y,’

GEOFF MURPHY

screen. So, a very large part of film-
making has to do with ob[...]vision: they have become clois-
tered in an ivory tower.

New Projects
T

Are there other films you are
working on at the moment?

I am trying to develop a script
which I will put to the Commission
when I[...]Normally, what I try to do is get
the script to a certain stage. and
then go and talk with an exper-
ienced writer. I have found its a
good way to work, because they
bring to the scrip[...]which is
set in the l870s during the Maori
wars.

A war epic?
No, nothing likethat. lt’s muc[...]

ert Le Tet, spent a ‘arch,

spoke to members of the Commi[...]ture.

I. See ‘Filmmaking in New Zcaland — A Brief History’, by Clive Sowry on page 6[...]

It then took a little while to get
anywhere, because there were a
large number of recommendations
coming from the w[...]al features.

So, by 1972 I had managed to set
up a working party under the
auspices ofthe Arts Counc[...]Unfortunately, things then got
bogged down with a change of
government, and I was replaced as
chair[...]in the right direction. By
the beginning of 1975 a first report
was completed, which recom-
mended t[...]independent producers and
directors who initiated a number of
projects including Sleeping Dogs
(Roger[...]ongoing production of

BILL SH EAT

Bill Sheat is a leading Wellington solicitor who has been
activel[...]Council in 1970 when
the first moves to establish a film commission were made. As a '
member of the council and chairman of the Film[...]ed in film production as an
executive producer on a number of feature films, including John
O’Shea[...]on and
became chairman of the Film Commission — a part-time
position — on its establishment in 19[...]nting the Commission in its attempts to
establish a feature film industry in New Zealand.

films. The argument that was
developed was that here we had a
group of films that had been pro-
duced by people as a result of sheer
guts and determination, and to
su[...]like the Film
Commission.

Lots of people played a part in
the long process of establishing the
NZFC. I think we were very
fortunate in having a sympathetic
Minister for the Arts in Allan
Highet[...]receptive and
was able to get the idea through on
a Cabinet level. He was also instru-

22 — Cinema[...]people who were
lobbying for the establishment of a
film commission to create a feature
film industry?

Yes, but I think the aim was to
establish a feature film industry in

Miles Hargest

the sens[...]to make
films.

And was part ofthe argument that a
feature film industry was desirable
for cultural[...]h yes.

Was the film industry also pre-
sented as a potentially important
manufacturing industry whic[...]alanders to be able to identify
with something of a New Zealand
nature.

We also advanced economic
ar[...]n, claim-
ing that every seat that’s bought for
a New Zealand film represents
money that isn’t go[...]One other thing we were able to
Capitalize on was a consequence of
the restructuring of television.
Whereas up until 1975 television
had commissioned a substantial
amount of work from the private
secto[...]e were able to develop the
argument that here was a whole
segment of the film community
who we[...]

I was just looking at our draft
annual report a few days ago, and it
appeared as though quite a number
of the projects we had given
assistance to[...]the emphasis was on directors.

But having given a number of
assistance grants to writers to
develop[...]ave rather gone
off the idea. I now think that if a
writer comes up with an idea, and
you think it’[...]you have to do at an
early stage is to get either a pro-

ducer or a director involved with its.

further development. I don’t think
a writer can carry the thing through
to any kind of[...]roper
final assessments can be made
unless he has a director working

with him.

Does the NZFC suppor[...]b-
lishment of the Commission — they
still have a film committee which
allocates limited funds towa[...]s an important film-
maker. If he decides to make a film
that nobody wants to see, it’s a
difficult decision. But we back him
because, soon[...]ns — and
they have moved towards estab-
lishing a set allocation of funds
each year to commission p[...]SION

tions from the private sector. But it
falls a great deal short of the kind
of thing I think sho[...]nted.
There isn’t any philosophy of pro-
viding a continuity of employment
for the people in the in[...]the support of
television to the establishment of a
viable film industry?

Very important, that’s why I am
so disappointed with our efforts to
establish a realistic, integrated
approach with television, b[...]o way any filmmaker is
going to survive on making a
feature film every three years.
What’s he going[...]for the rest of
the crew.

The problem is to keep aa film.

Unfortunately, once the Com-
missio[...]

No, not in that form. I have
observed this as a development else-
where and it’s certainly something
we should look at. If a producer
came’ forward we would be pre-
pared to examine a proposal. We
realize that of the projects a
producer is developing, he is not
going to get al[...]ay.
And that if he is only developing
them one at a time, he has to start
from. scratch if it falls t[...]ake just one aspect: the
laboratory. The Unit has a major
laboratory on its premises. yet it
has been[...]year! In particular.
the television stations send a lot of
laboratory work to Australia. The
problem.[...]Film Commission as
Studio

Do you think there is a role for the
Commission to play in the initiation
of projects, and in some ways acting
as a studio?

Up to now we have resisted
adopting the[...]aven‘t initiated any project by the
purchase of-a property or anything
ofthat kind. But I wouldn’[...]cer.

As far as I am concerned — I
suppose I am a very strong private
enterprise person — I belie[...]y stopped.

stage, we want to plant the seed
with a producer or a director.

Does the Commission involve itself
in[...]t with what I have just
said. but it certainly is a standard
condition that we would want to
approve[...]t. everything like that.

Have you ever exercised a veto?

We have never exercised a veto,
but on one film I spent an entire
afternoon[...]r actress; but we
like to see tests of the actors a pro-
ducer is proposing, just to keep an
eye on i[...]rsuaded private
investors that the thing is worth a
go.

But as time passes and we
acquire more exper[...]confidence. I think we will be able
to exercise a more positive role in
these areas.

Distribution[...]u think the distribution-
exhibition industry has a responsi-
bility to invest in local production?[...]years. What do we
have to show for it, except for a few
wedding cake-like structures? There
is an arg[...]1 —
that to provide the necessary fund-
ing for a Commission, a tax called
the Film Hire Tax could be diverted
into a fund. The Film Hire Tax is
levied on the net film[...]cinemas in all the main
centres. We don’t have a number of
small ones, and we don’t have com-
plexes with a variety of seating

capacities like the Hoyts, Vi[...]feature film. Has this been under-
taken because a local distributor
couldn’t be found, or does th[...]wn marketing branch,
wouldn’t the Commission be a more
effective distributor than a pro-
ducer?

Once again, it’s not wantin[...]

Is that a statutory limitation?

its a self-imposed limitation.
Quite often we are a long way
below that.

Do you favor film producer[...]ed to go in first to
encourage other investment?

A combination of both. If we
lead a project, we are quite happy
to commit some amount[...]provide development
monies?

Yes. It’s normally a step finance,
which could start off with a few

hundred dollars, and go through to
quite a few thousand.

What form does it take?

Our assistance to films has been

non BLAK

With a background in finance and accounting, Don Blakeney
joined the film industry in 1976, and undertook a number of
management and administrative roles on[...]invest-
ment and loan. Each project is
treated in a different-way.
Normally we don’t grant, but of
course an investment will turn into
a grant if a project falls through.

On average, the Commissio[...]either
through his own services and facili-
ties, a facility company, or com-
munity involvement, such as a city
which has thrown its streets open to
him.

A[...]ant New Zealand
content, and viability. We act as a
development bank in most respects,
although it’s a rather more diffi-
cult field than most to evaluate. We
have a number of readers from the
production and distrib[...]ENEY

Miles VHarges'.

in. Then it’s a

question of the
capabilities of the people lined[...]ive staff to make investment
decision, apart from aa small, fairly new
industry, one has to make intui[...]and make the
most of the performances. But it’s a
risky business.

Private Investment

What is moti[...]being associated with
feature film production?

_ A combination. Wehave always
given private i[...]

We do sacrifice a certain amount
ofequity. But eventually we will get
to the stage where, for a number of
films, we will go in pan‘ passu,
Cer[...]ve in, because no
one likes putting their neck on a big
block. I also think its important
that the pe[...]s the
finance.

However, raising finance
involves a lot more thanjust a belief
in the product: it’s a very technical
side of filmmaking. The Com-
missi[...]hat's where we
have contributed most, rather than
a hard sell to investors that, “this is
going to be a winner”.

Is there any legislation that you’d[...]e to the
industry?

First of all, I think we need a
greater level of funding ourselves.

To enable yo[...]incen-
tives. which apply to film as they do
for a lot of other products. and they
are very good. In[...]int venture, and normally the
producer isn‘t in a high tax—paying
situation — not nearly as muc[...]ilms that will
establish the industry. If you get a
finance push, you get a distortion.
lfyou get no finance, obviously you[...]0. but their
buying price at the moment is
NZ$l00 a minute, which is roughly
$10,000 for a feature film —- which
we regard as inadequate.

Television New Zealand has,
however, spent a great deal of
money on local production, but
unfortunately, not a lot ofthat is on
film. In fact, the amount spent[...]tunate trend.

The independent industry can
offer a lot to New Zealand tele-
vision and, therefore, a lot to the
public at large. There is a lot of
scope for the financing of feature
films a[...]le-
vision system.

The benefit to them would be a
greater diversity of product, a
better—quality product, and
certainly a better—managed
product. So somewhere along the
line we should come together.

Does the Commission have a policy
of investing in television programs,
such as tele-features, series or
feature documentaries?

To a limited extent. We have
financed some purely tel[...]n New
Zealand?

The National Film Unit is part
of a government department called
Tourist and Publicity, and they will
invest in a feature film if they
believe it goes towards achieving
their aims and objectives.

So if a film is seen to promote New
Zealand, they[...]

with them. We are a statutory
corporation free to act within the
term[...]h either cash or
services and facilities?

Not as a matter of course,
although the producers of Goodb[...]the
party. But really, they acted as if
they were a private company,
giving their support in return f[...]and
to New Zealand: therefore it makes
sense that a valuable resource, such
as the NFU, should be mad[...]unfortunately it’s something to
which there is a lot of resistance.

Do you think the fact that la[...]th in the level of
production and expertise, that a few
people in the private sector have
managed to[...]stributor Finance

Distributors are traditionally a
source of finance for feature films,
but in New Z[...]this country,
with our small population, is such a
marginally profitable business that
local distributors will need a lot of
confidence in a film before they
decide to come in.

Why do you s[...]ilm by film it’s marginal. We
are talking about a market where
the top film hire is around
$500,000, and between $50,000 and
$100,000 for a good film. But they
might be spending between $60,000
and $70,000 on a national publicity
campaign.

But with a guaranteed supply of
product from overseas distri[...]it, wrong. But I think the day will
come. It’s a question of building up
credibility, and building[...]is obviously what we
want. However, again, it’s a matter
of development: we don’t have
nearly as close a working relation-
ship with the distributors as I[...]that
some off-shore input couldn’t come
through a distributor’s initiative.

The Australian Film Commission
often makes it a condition that pro-
ducers get an expression of interest,
or even a firm commitment, from a
distributor before they finance a
film. Obviously that’s unrealistic
here.

No, t[...]listic.
We have had certain exhibitor
interest in a number of films before
we have gone into t[...]

audience to help you evolve a
campaign?

No. This information is generally
lacking. We are now gathering our
own. lt’s been a problem which has
faced every recent New Zealand[...]tic
distribution of New Zealand films?

That’s a vexed question. Some
people within the Commission[...]I don’t
agree.

There are four alternatives for a
New Zealand producer: to use one
of the major Ame[...]dents, who. are very few in
number; to distribute a film them-
selves, without necessarily having
any[...]ent of
distributing at least one New
Zealand film a year, and I think we
could do that with our exist[...]-
son has specific and well—developed
plans for a television campaign,
which involves working alongside a
sponsor who is related to a parti-
cular segment of the film.

In that area, we are limited by
the fact that we are working with a
minimal number of people. There
are many things w[...]them done: that is an
unfortunate fact of life in a small
industry.

Do you advance monies to pro-
du[...]their films?

We expect that the budget of
such a feature film includes the
necessary allocation to carry it into
first release — including a

Sons for the Return Home: dis[...]ew Zealand, which is to make
films for people of a country who,
since films began have always seen[...]is not possible to
recoup the production costs of a

Skin Deep: distribution hampered by a lack
of information about the domestic market.[...]I think we are
doing so remarkably quickly.

But a complete answer involves
the whole framework of f[...]elevant
and important for New Zeal-
anders. It is a decision we haven’t
reached yet, but it is a possibility we
are aware of.

In my role as Marke[...]tor, however, I
have been attempting to establish a
flow of information about what is
happening in New Zealand. We
publish a newsletter six times a
year, which is as full as we can
make it, about e[...]throughout the world as
quickly as we can develop a
relevant mailing list.

Already that flow of info[...]the effect which we
seek, in that we are seen as a
separate production entity and we
can talk to people in a small
number of major markets we are
aiming at, a[...]we want to show
them.

Another effort is to take a
package of New Zealand films to
MIP—TV, notjust[...]referred to have taken my first
year at Cannes in a learning situa-
tion, without having titles with[...]mouth, “Beyond
Reasonable Doubt” seems to be a
very powerful film with a lot of
international potential. How do you
plan t[...]f the film speak
for itself. I would like to find a
distributor, at a very early stage,
who we can work with on the kin[...]s of that film in foreign terri-
tories.

That is a plan of campaign which
appeals to me very strongly. And
the fact that we have built a number
ofcontacts, particularly in the U.S.
and B[...]t this is
something we can do if and when
we have a title which we think will
succeed internationally.

That’s not to say we will discount
festivals as a means of first release
and promotion, but I think[...]those the Commission
will look after. It will be a day-by-
day thing, developing on a one-to-
one basis between the two of us.

What im[...]titive film festivals?

I recognize the fact that a
considerable amount of Aus-
tralia’s success in[...]en definite.

For the past eight years I have
run a film festival in Wellington,
and I know from my own exper-
ience that a film which is success-
ful in the festival contex[...]mmercial market, when,
without the festival, such a film
would never have got a showing.

So, we are starting to send films
from[...]that are
accepted as having the potential to
give a film a life past the actual

event, and we are limited o[...]-
mission about the fact that we are
working with a very small staff. We
recognize that we could do t[...]s many people, but we accept that
there should be a relationship
between the Commission and th[...]

A revival of the movement began in 1970,
when the Federation began importing new titles.
The films attracted a new generation of film-
goers who were interested[...]eration now has 45
member societies. representing a national
membership of more than 7000. It has an[...]an for affiliated
societies.

These societies pay a levy based on
membership. so that large and small[...]tional total.

The film society movement receives a small
annual subsidy from the Ministry of Recreat[...]ear, the Festival screened
seven new features for aAa small
number of titles from the Festival and offe[...]. Last
years titles. which earned distribution as a result
of their Wellington success, includ[...]

There is also a post—graduate one-year
honours course.

At Auck[...]ctures on film appreciation, history and
culture. A number of his students have com-
pleted valuable[...]ty of Wellington and at the
Auckland University.

A practical course on filmmaking is available
at th[...]chnic.

Archives

New Zealand does not have a national film
archive, but the New Zealand Film Commission
has formed a trust which will take on the respon-
sibility of[...]from independent sources -
the earliest in l90l. A survey last summer
revealed a small amount of rare material from
other countrie[...]constituted. The archive will also
be able to use a vault, which has temperature
and humidity control[...]tion.

Film Library

The National Film Library is a section of the
New Zealand Department of Educatio[...]s of any kind. Until
recently the Library offered a free service. But
following changes of government[...]llington branch of the Library has the
nucleus of a basic archival collection, some of
which is avail[...]ndent operator Jan Graf-
staad runs four sessions a day in his tiny Classic
Cinema. which spec[...]

SOLO (Director. co—producer, co—writer) a N.Z.—
Australian feature film co-production)

A SPECIAL KENNY ROGERS (Director) SO-minute[...]

It hasn’t been cut yet, so it[...]ary feel is still
there.

Why was it conceived as a drama-
tized documentary, rather than a
drama?

Because it was about a real issue.
The Arthur Thomas case was prob-
ably[...]tual
transcripts, though we have
shortened things a great deal.

But there aren’t transcripts of wh[...]scenes on
tape.

Yallop wrote the book and later
a screenplay based on those
recollections. He has s[...]s
dealing with people who are still
alive. But if a scene or a bit of dia-
logue is based on somebody’s
recoll[...]nitially. We brought legal
counsel in once we had a final
screenplay. The New Zealand Film
Commission[...]ing documentaries, and then
spent time working as a freelance. This was followed by a stint
in Canada at the National Film Board in Montreal.

In 1978, Laing returned to New Zealand for a holiday, and
was approached by producer John Barn[...]e, we would have
Arthur Thomas‘ recollection of a
scene and Bruce Hutton’s — two
sides of an adversary situation. You
have a policeman who is trying very
hard to find the evidence to convict
this man, and a man who doesn‘t
realize the policeman is trying to do
this. Putting the two together gave
us a number of scenes that work
very well dramatically[...]gh down the body of Harvey
Crewe; we used that as a prop.

So, we had co-operation in small
areas like that. But, generally, I
wouldn’t say we had a lot of co-
operation.

How does Hutton feel about[...]By this time, the film was also
becoming more of a drama and less
a dramatized documentary. What
we have ended up with is a film
about the personalities who made
the issue.[...]There was tremendous pressure
on Hutton. It was a very expensive
police inquiry — something around
$5 million —— and a couple of cases
had gone wrong on him before,
whe[...]ely ambitious
man.

Hemmings has played Hutton as
a very sympathetic character. You
can understand why he was doing
what he did; he is a policeman with
tunnel vision. He approaches the
case by saying, “I have a murder, a
house with bloodstains, a live baby,
two people who are obviously
missing,[...]hat do I
have? Nothing.” So he went
looking for a candidate who best
fitted the picture and then tr[...]k to his files and came
up with Thomas. And, with a bit of
pushing and squeezing here and
ther[...]

A person can be interesting,
witty, funny even, and still a total
bastard. As it is, people will ask,
“That guy doesn’t seem like aa statement on New Zea-
land justice or justice in general?

The story happened in New Zea-
land, so it is a statement on the way
things are there. But I am s[...]one of the things that
made us make the film more a
character study. No longer did it
have to be a film designed to get
Thomas out of prison.

We we[...]nd we suddenly felt as if the
authorities had put a seal of
approval on what we were doing.
(In fact, they hadn’t.) This made us
feel a lot less nervous about some of
the_issues we were[...]in the end . . .

Yes, but l0 years of prison is a
hell of a lot to go through; there is
no excuse for that. Also, the pardon
was a political gesture, rather than
a case ofjustice finally being done.
It was just po[...]Prime
Minister, and the people he con-
sulted as a result of the Adam
Smith inquiry, could have come[...]Arthur and Vivien Thomas (Diana Rowan)
outside a country church. Beyond Reason-
able Doubt.[...]

If he didn’t have a wife, the issue
would never have become as big
an[...]but because
we felt he was the best choice; with
a bit of make-up and wardrobe he
looks very much like him.

As for Hutton, we knew we
would have to compromise a lot in
terms of performance if we went
solely for a look-alike. We felt it
was more important to go for an
actor, like David I-lemmings, who
could bring a lot to the role. So we
dressed him like Hutton, c[...]hysically like him.

We have been very lucky with a
lot of the smaller parts. Bill
Johnson who plays[...]t Jim Sprotts, looks remark-
ably like him. He is a very good
actor as well, so there was no com-
promise. As a rule, where we were
faced with a choice between getting
somebody that wasn’t rig[...]to sell the film overseas.

Were you able to have a rehearsal
period before shooting?

No, it wasn’t practicable. The
film is a mass of small parts, and

the rehearsals would ha[...]ive you much time for
rehearsal on the set?

Yes. A lot of rehearsal was
needed initially, but characters
have a tendency to go to the same
place and do similar things in situa-
tions. So, after a while, it became
much easier to know where those[...]the owners just
weren’t interested. So we built a set
for that, and used other houses in
the area f[...]the search for the Crewe bodies. Beyond

Filming a riot in the foyer of the Auckland

Supreme Court.[...]ugh they did let us
use the foyer and exteriors.

A lot of the exteriors were real,
which added an interesting dimen-
sion to the film. It made a great
deal of difference to the actors to
know they were recreating a real
situation in the place where some-
thing act[...]toms House in Auck-
land. It has been disused for a
number of years, and is about to be
demolished, though a conservation

Reasonable Doubt.

36 — Cin[...]nd about
I m in width to squeeze it in.

Is there a lack of studio facilities in
New Zealand?

Yes. T[...]chnicians and light-
ing cameramen, and there are a lot
of very good actors and finishing
facilities,[...]other projects that
you are working on?

I wrote a script in Montreal last
year, and I might go back[...]it will be coming on
winter there.

There is also a thriller I wrote a
few years ago, and I might rewrite
it and try to do it in'Wellington.

Do you think it possible to maintain
a full-time career as a director of
features, or will you continue to do[...]ance would be one of the main
problems. It is not a tremendously
wealthy country and, to keep an
indu[...]e other is
that the market isn’t big enough for
a feature to break even.

How much does that affect[...]tever you
want, but you have to structure
them in a way that is going to be
entertaining. ~k

Then. in 1972. a Labor Govern-
ment came into power and there
was a new spirit in the country.
People got together an[...]e work. I
became involved with that group.
We did a presentation for a six-part
children’s series. The Games Affair.
T[...]done by
an independent.

After having established a situa-
tion whereby independent produc-
tions were legitimate, the NZBC
set up a fund for independent film-
makers to make documentaries, at
a rate of $15,000 an hour.
Endeavour Television, as we were,
got a lot of work from them, and
made series of mostly[...]oman writers,
sporting heroes, etc.

Then, all of a sudden, television
was split into two channels (T[...]c basis, went back into the
NZBC and left me with a shell of
the company and no real work. So I
switc[...]gg and other
local artistes, and managed to graft
a couple of programs out of them.

I also got a little seed money out
of the NZBC for a series on
“Woman and Power”. I took a
crew to India and did a pilot
documentary on Indira Gandhi at
the height[...]n the basis of this.
But it didn’t work and was a good
lesson in trying to originate a world
series from New Zealand. People
kept saying[...]industry is not restricted to
filmmaking. He is a vocal critic of aspects of New Zealand’s
televi[...]tty talented
bunch of people. They had been
given a $24,000 commission from
Television 1 to make a six—part light

Blurta, which is a

entertainment series. They were
also given some[...]ameras away with them at night.
Anyway, they made a very funny,
slightly risque local community
series.

One episode of the series was a

50-minute film called Wild Man. It
was set in a village Blurta built out
ofdemolition materials o[...]t to 72
minutes, which was most probably
not such a good idea. We then put a
half—hour film on Fred Dagg in
front of it, and[...]nd
Solo were also being shot. This ac-
tivity was a direct result of frustra-
tion over not being abl[...]o Amalgamated
Theatres, who said they’d give it a
go. We also showed it to Kerridge-
Odeon, but the[...]views had obviously got
around. Wild Man wasn’t a bad
film, itjust lacked discipline in the
script.[...]of money
into some productions and still
claiming a few of the overseas
rights.

What does the NZBC pay for a
feature?

Anything between Sl0.000 and
$20,000. It is a terrible price, and
right now there are people wh[...]sell Beyond Reasonable
Doubt, because it is worth a hell of
a lot more than Sl0,000. I think we
will have to force the NZBC into a
situation where they pay proper
money for a product.

On average, the NZBC pays
$100 a minute for New Zealand
product. They do put in facilities,
though, and these are valued at a
rate far below average. So they may
put in $20,00[...],
but only call it $10,000.

What do you think is a fair price for
a New Zealand feature on
television?

Probably $25,000. I think $100 a
minute is right off the wall. After
all, it costs them something like
$5000 an hour to make a drama.

At the same time, you have to
remember that New Zealand has a
small population and television
only pays $1000 a[...]We have
something like 8000 hours of
programming a year, on the two
channels, and 5000 of that is
bo[...]0 to
the imported price, then I think it
would be a good starting price. It
would be better, too, if one had the
money at the beginning, as with a
pre-sale.

How can television stations be
forced[...]osing
the finances of the NZBC. I was
recently in a lot of trouble for
taking them on again, because they
have more than $55 million a year
to spend on programs and most of
it is fritt[...]. The New Zealand Film Com-
mission gets $500,000 a year. and it
made the same amount ofdrama in
the past year as the television
stations.

Has there ever been a government
inquiry into television broad-
casting?

Yes. There was a program on
Television I called The Governor,
which was a piece of navel gazing
about Sir George Grey, who was a
governor of New Zealand, a
premier. and a governor of South
Australia and Cape Colony. The[...]. the cast was
flown down to Christchurch to film
a ballroom sequence, but the set
wasn’t ready so[...]really only
confirmed what we had been saying
for a long time — that the stations

Colin (Grant Til[...]three years later they were changed
again. It is a political football, and
I wouldn't like to work i[...]ave confused the
role of television and see it as a
production organization. I am not
opposed to publ[...]said. in effect, that private
filmmakers now had a fund to
which they could go and that the
NZBC was[...]e-
vision.

Two weeks ago. for example,
there was a report in the Auckland
Star in which somebody sug[...]hat happened to you after “Wild
Man”?

It was a period of high activity in
management and at the[...]do another
film. I had tried to buy the rights to
a Roger Hall play, Glide Time, but
television offered Hall a six-part
series — which they didn’t ever give[...]he sold out to them.

I then just hung around for a

property to come. I had looked at
the finances o[...]NZFC then came into being,
and this made the job a lot easier.
They were very keen to see that
project go, and when a merchant
bank put up 50 per cent of the
finance, the NZFC put in the rest.
It was a modest little film and did
very well at the local[...]s.

So far it has played the four main
towns, and a number of provincial
ones. It has grossed more th[...]tlets,
there is no real need to get involved
with a distributor. Amalgamated,
for example, fulfil some ofthe func-
tions of a distributor — and they
don’t charge fo[...]

I feel you have a very definite
responsibility to be honest with an[...]ing up 50 to 60 per cent of the
budget, and it is a hard road to earn
that back. When you look at the
Australian figures, you will notice a
much smaller proportion is coming
from private in[...]ally
be?

Well, one merchant bank got
involved in a film, so all the others
felt they ought to. In the first case it
was a loan, but since then it has
been actual investment.

With Beyond Reasonable Doubt,
we have a small syndicate of private
investors who put in $4000 or $5000
each. There is also a very large
industrial conglomerate, Brierley
Investments, who put up a signifi-
cant proportion of the money, and
a merchant bank, Fay Richwhite,
who put up a large amount. There
is also a private individual, Bob
Jones, who invested because he
thought it would be a bit of a hoot.

What motivates them to invest? Is it
the glamour, the tax benefits, or do
they think they will make a profit on
their investment? ‘

Investors are fairly hard-headed,
and it is probably a combination of
taxation and PR. For instance, on
Middle Age Spread, South Pacific
Merchant Finance, which is a rela-
tively small merchant bank, took
the punt b[...]all publicity
until the film was made. They made
aa small
country like New Zealand, to bull-
shit them. This is where the NZFC
plays a vital role. If an investor
goes along to the NZFC with a
proposal, the NZFC will give them
an indication o[...]asonable Doubt, for instance, we
are dealing with a contentious
political and judicial issue. The
NZF[...]hout NZFC involvement,
though it would have taken a lot
longer to put together.

As it happened, the[...]omas had been
pardoned and the thing had
acquired a veneer of respectability.

Now, if you are sugges[...]ilms are
made and what aren't, then I agree
it is a dangerous situation. For
example, there is a film being made

(iutllillu Hun watlttnl and ML'l.0OnL'y (Michael Wilson) in a scene from Nutcase

here called Nightmoves, about a guy

who is bi-sexual and whose
relationships become exposed to
each partner. Again, it is a conten-
tious issue. The NZFC hasn’t
funded the[...]y of
the film, I suspect the NZFC could
have been a little bolder.The NZFC
should always remember tha[...]after “Middle Age
Spread”?

Nutcase, which is a 50-minute
children’s film directed by Roger
Don[...]holidays.

So, I felt the time was right to
make a children’s film, and to
exhibit it myself at Christmas.
Now, you can’t open a cinema in
New Zealand without going before
the Fi[...]e, an exhibitor can
appeal ifa school is planning a one-
off showing of a film to raise funds.

The licensing situation has, in
fact, turned into a closed shop.
Although the independents are
active[...]of the action against
anybody planning to exhibit a film.
And the film may be 30 or 40 km
away from the nearest cinema.

I thought I would apply for a
licence for three locations, all live
theatres wh[...]ble Doubt.

during the 1930s and ’40s. Each had
a projection box, but no equipment
in it — they d[...]planned to turn the
program around every hour-and-a-
half, and pack the audiences in.

So, I was conducting two
campaigns at once: producing a
film which was written very
quickly, and produced[...]ubmission we made was very
thorough and attracted a lot of
media attention. That, naturally,
incurred[...]ed, and
in the intervening period we were
offered a May school holiday
release.

I believe we could h[...]-
vision advertising time, which
meant we were in a very weak situa-
tion. They could have creamed us.
But they turned it into a fight and
the media made huge mileage out
of it.[...]ezing out the local producer.
Emotionally, it was a hard argu-
ment for them to fight.

Did you attempt to get a release
through a chain?

Yes. The chains would have a
slightly different interpretation of
this, but I[...]o give them their dues,
however, had we asked for a May
release, instead of Christmas, there
m[...]

40 — Cinema Papers, New Zealand Suppl[...]is book on
the Thomas case when I met him
through a mutual acquaintance. I
then read some of the manuscript,
in particular a chapter describing
some action in the courtroom.[...]uldn’t understand it. I
read it again, and then a third time,
and still I couldn’t understand it.[...]hen I felt
there was something going on, and
that a film ought to be made about
it. And the more I read ofthe book,
the more I realized you could make
a great film.

My initial feeling was to go for a
documentary style and shoot it on
16mm. So I offered David some
money and he started to work on a
screenplay. A year after this, in
February 1979, I approached J[...]nd on
holiday.

At this point, we were working
on a film that was obviously very
contentious; we were talking about
a man who was still in gaol and who
was protesting[...]able from his point of
view, but we had developed a film
which was intended to leave people
in an ext[...]as I heard of the pardon,
I contacted Yallop, and a week
later he was out here re—writing the
film.[...]but having to change
the whole structure. It was a very
hasty re-write, and we started
shooting only[...]ind
choosing three foreign leads?

Firstly, it is a big budget film for
New Zealand, which meant it h[...]nd put
Thomas away, the central charac-
ter. Now, a lot of New Zealanders
have an innate belief in the law
and the police force, and I don’t
think having a New Zealander
playing that part would have helped[...]lity of the film in New
Zealand.

Also, if we had a New Zealander
in the role, and his portrayal left[...]continuing to live here. So it
became easier for a lot of reasons to
go for an imported lead,[...]

Hav[...]ht. Beyond
Reasonable Doubt.

No, we are still a couple of
months away from that.

Will you hire aa back-up one. I think
they should provide some of[...]ady favorable. I don’t think the
NZFC should be a sales agent, but
through constant contact make
people more aware of its films.

There are a lot of very enthus-
iastic people at the NZFC, and that
helps a hell of a lot.

Future Plans

What plans do you have for[...]out
what I can do. Obviously I would
like to make a lot more films here.
But I think it’s really important to
make films that entertain people,
and a lot of the ideas that are
floating around New Zealand at the
moment are a bit self-indulgent.

So, there are a lot of things I
want to sort out before I jump in[...]ing Commission of New Zealand

The BCNZ allocates a proportion of its income to TV1
and TV2 by way of[...]ove and an imputed
cost of the capital employed.

Tourist and Publicity Department

Annual expenditure by t[...]of $6.0
million to the private sector is based on a survey by
the Federation of Independent Film, Vid[...]reases, alone, at
about 50 per cent would support a current level of
$21.1 million.

. Film Commissio[...]grams: 1 975-78

Of the amount spent by the BCNZ, a proportion goes into the private sector, b[...]

There appears to be a feeling among
producers, however, that local dis-[...]ay Shelton, who is head of
marketing, can develop a cam-
paign in consultation with the dis-
tributor[...]cussion or
communication between film-
makers, on a producer—to—producer,
or producer-to-director[...]to
emerge as more films are being
made.

I think a co—production or joint
venture with someone off[...]thing against co-
productions, but I think it’s a
matter of time, of relationships
between producer[...]attract the right off-shore
partners, it’s also a matter oftrack

them. One is being set up by
Michael Firth with Robert
Radnitz, and will be financed by a
pre-sale to television, and the other
one is Andr[...]ers. Both have
had Commission support, but not
of a financial nature — although we
have given Mich[...]financial support towards script
development.

Is a co-production agreement with
Australia being nego[...]that may arise
with unions like Equity?

There is a fairly free interchange
of actors now. I can’t-[...]ill
be any difficulties.

Do you see Australia as a natural
co-production partner with New
Zealand?[...]n
Barnett’s film, Beyond Reasonable
Doubt, used a certain amount of
off-shore talent, including David
Hemmings. I-lemmings is not just
an actor, he is also a producer and
director,’ and he was most
impressed with what he saw. Some-
thing could come from a relation-
ship like that. He can see what New
Zealand has to offer: not only a
variety of locations, facilities, and
technicians, but also a real commit-
ment, and a passion. So I am
hopeful.

We have been approached by a
number of overseas producers, but
so far none hav[...]starts to develop, it will
tend to be regarded as a soft touch.
But I don’t think we are quite as
s[...].

I must point out that to regard
New Zealand as a great source of
money is really stupid. We are a
small country with a limited
market. And to regard us as a super
cheap labor force is silly, too.
Bec[...]

GOODBYE PORK PIE

Prod. company[...](wrecker yard man). John
Bach (Snout).

Synopsis: A comedy chase film in which
Gerry, John and Shirl[...]drive from
one end of New Zealand to the other in a
fraudulently rented Mini, pursued at every
turn b[...]e mo-
ment of decision. His story is told against a
background of mid-city Auckland nightlife.

IN[...]r Redford. Myra
de Groot, Mike Wilson.

Synopsis: A young Auckland suburban
couple attempting to model their lives on
media advertising. become enmeshed in a
surrealistic world when their inner fantasies
bre[...]iki Oman
(Diana), John Linaker (Roddy).
Synopsis: A comedy of bad manners in
which a middle~aged schoolteacher
struggles to come to gr[...]outrageous neighbours. and
his awakening love for a temporarily
separated fellow teacher.

SKIN[...], Wendy
Macfarlane (motel manageress).

Synopsis: A masseuse from the city moves
to a small town to make a new life for
herself. The local businessmen think[...], . . . . . .,Paul Maunder
Based on novel by . . .A|bert Wendt
Photography . , . . . . , . . . . . .,[...]ser (headmaster).
Synopsis‘ The tribulations of a defiant love
affair between a young Samoan Sione.
brought up in New Zealand. and a white girl
from a well-fo—do family; Sione and his
family[...]

Prod. company . . . . .. School o[...]White. Dorothy
McKegg.

Synopsin: Maltred Signal. a retired drawing
teacher. journeys north after her mother's
death and settles into a small cottage by the
sea. Alone. in her new home, she ex-
periences terror at the onslaught of a storm
and the intrusion of a prowler. and beginsto
lose her grip on reality.[...]Synopsis: Two Maoris are accused of as-
saulting a white taxi driver in the middle of
the night. Seen through the eyes of these
three men and a pakeha schoolmistress,
who observed part of the a[...]breaks up
the happy home. But all ends happily.

A NICE soar OF DAY

Prod. company . . . . . . . . .[...]eve Firth, John
Hood. Michael Hacking.

Synopsis: A teacher and a gardener escape
from the city -— their challeng[...]Devine. Bob
Gillespie. Bernard Kearns.

Synopsis: A comic environmental film
about the importance of[...]ror of his ways. and is

helped by Cyril to plant a new garden.

NUTCASE

Prod. company ...Endeavour[...]psis: New Zealand's biggest city is
threatened by a gang of international
villains. who hold the inhabitants to ransom
trom a hideout on a submarine. and from a
secret laboratory. The villains manage to

44 —[...]. . Production
Synopsis: An adventure story about a

young New Zealand boy who spends a sum-
mer vacation on the tiny atoll of Ribono in[...]waiting release

Cast: Rosanna Tanana.

Synopsis: A short film about a nine-year-old
girl. and her mystic attraction for the sea.
filmed in a remote coastal community in the
far north of New[...]Joy Ng, Ian Forsythe. Neil
Sutherland.

Synopsis: A Greek boy begins his first day
at school. Unable[...]lish or com-
municate with his classmates, he has a dis-
turbing time until the barriers of language[...]ilmmakers Cinema
Synopsis: An animated film about a
nameless old alcoholic alone in a bedsitter.
with his bottle of booze. and his cat.[...]e episodes
and one Samoan fairytale film: part of a 24-
programme series.

DOCUMENTARIES

FE[...]unning
industrial dispute in New Zealand history. A
study in the effect of a crisis situation on
workers‘ lives.

THE HAMMER[...]. . . . . . . . .. Awaiting release

Synopsis: A history of the trade union
movement in New Zealan[...]ta
. Nevan Rowe

Prod. co-ordinator
Prod. manager A . . . . . . . ..

Laboratory . . . . . . .[...]Cast: Keskidee Theatre, local groups.
Synopsis: A visiting London-based black
theatre troupe. Keskidee. performs plays
with a theme of black consciousness and
pride at rural M[...], Swami Satchidananda,
Acorns Puppets.

Synopsis: A film record of the Nambassa
Festival.

SHORTS

AL[...]Wintergarden, Auckland

Synoptic: Bruce Burgess, a 24-year-old
cerebral palsy victim, realises an
impossible dream —- to climb a mountain —
with the help of Graeme Dingle. one[...]. . . . .. NZ Television,

October 1979
Synopsis: A documentary study of
contemporary Burma through the lives of
four families — a peasant rice-farmer. a
travelling circus, a dance teacher and the
monks. Locations include a lake where
farmers plant rice on floating[...]

DAY 507

A Mlta Narbey Pohimann production
Length . . . . ..[...]. . . . . . . . . . .. Awaiting release
Synopsis: A documentary account of the
action by police and t[...]ying Bastion Point. in
Auckland, which had become a symbol of
Maori resistance to loss of their land. A
compilation incorporating independent
film, telev[...]modern prohibition
movement in New Zealand staged a
temperance revival during 1979. The film
document[...]. . . . . . . . . .. Awaiting release

Synopsis: A documentary about the
restoration of two historic[...]. . . ..16mm
Progress Awaiting release

S nopnlo: A documentary account oi the life
0 Rewi Alley, the[...]Progress . . . . . .. Awaiting release

Synopsis: A documentary panorama of
China in 1979 with backgr[...]ng for
the revolution. Sequences include Tai Chi, a
Shanghai film studio. the Yangtze River, the
Old[...]th old peasant revolutionaries,
an oil worker and a silk worker.

HUNCH|N' DOWN THE TRACK

Pro[...].. 21 March, 1980.

Auckland, Berkeley
Synopsis: A documentary portrayal, filmed
over 18 months, of[...]n and her handicapped 40-
year-old son, living in a remote rural district.

JANE: THE PLACE AND
PAINT[...]stmancolor
Progress . Awaiting release

Synopsis: A documentary portrait of the
real and imaginary worlds of Jane Evans, a
boldly expressive artist who since the age of
19[...]rst released NZ Television
March, 1980

Synopsis: A South Pacific underwater
filmmaker sets out to discover whether
Orca, the Killer Whale. will attack a diver in
the wild.

ON THE RUN

Prod. company Eve[...]. . , . . . .. Consolidated Film

industries, U,S.A.
Length . . , . .. 29 mins.
Gauge,... ....16mm
Pr[...]ther
Thomson, Max Teiford. Jack Foster.
Synopsis: A documentary study of New
Zealand runners. discuss[...]Production

Introduced by: Ken Melior.

Synopsis: A documentary on the subject of
parenting and re-pa[...]released BBC Television,

February 1980
Synopsis: A documentary study of the red
deer. brought to New[...]land and
Scotland. and subsequently recognised as
a threat to native ecology. intense
commercial inte[...]. . . . . . . . . .. Awaiting release

Synopsis: A documentary account of an
expedition to the remot[...]uth of New Zealand, to
investigate the success of a rescue
operation aimed at saving one of the world[...]Eastmancolor
Progress . Post-production
Synopsis: A documentary depicting the
work of seamen and the history of the New
Zealand Seamen's Union.

TEINE SAMOA: A GIRL OF SAMOA[...]ion New

Zealand, March 18, 1980
Synopsis: Situe, a 19-year-old girl. lives in
the small coastal vill[...]. . . . . . . . . . .. Awaiting release
synopsis: A documentary study of

contemporary Thailand throu[...]low-nester who has to give up his
dangerous work; a young woman who
renounces her role as a nun and tries to find
a new life in village society; a young man
preparing for a village boxing match; and a
temple restorer whose job is his life.

TWO RIVER[...]hare, -Rowiey Habib,
Katarina Maitaira.
Synopsis: A documentary celebration of
Maori poetry as an exp[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. in release

Synopsis: A documentary on temple
restoration in the Katmandu Valley of Nepal
— a country that has more shrines than
temples. ‘-

’ 3;’. A /5
Fiona Lmdsav and I elese Petaia

l<f1OWI] £01” a lOI1g tlfI1€. m Paul .\/Iaunders‘Sons iorthe Return Home:
\7\/hen you want a film finished by the

technicians who ar[...]

A John McCallum Productions Central Motion Picture[...]t manager . . . . Rosanne Andrews-
Baxter

Story

A film illustrating a typical World War 2 Z—force operation wh[...]

I Ftohia Thbli Kaloperasi (16mm) A. Pergantis Greece 975.00 Castellorizian Club

The[...]ors P/L V ii—l-ii

Dominique (reduced version) (a) Subotsky/Donally UK 2235.00 Roadshow Distributor[...]Axelbank UK/USSR 702.08 Labour Press V (i-l-j)

(a) Reduced by lmporter's cuts from 2621 metres (Jul[...]Warner Bros (AusU P/L L (f-mi
The Lovers (16rnm) (a) I. Leriche France 96500 Australian Film Institut[...]2486.35 Kochavim Attractions L (i’-m-j)
‘I941 A-Team Prod USA 3262.00 Fox Columbia Film Dist. P/L[...]The Son) Daiei Japan 2880.00 Ni-TA
En To Lu Onna (A Woman Called En) Horupu Eiga Japan 3374.00 NFTA
H[...]) Nikkatsu Japan 3895.00 NFTA
Kael (The Shadow of a Flower) Tokyo Eiga/Toho Japan 2716.00 NFTA
Kanojo[...]bu Japan 2962.00 NFTA
Karayuki-San (The Making
oi a Prostitute) Not known Japan 1920.00 NFTA
Karumen[...]Flame ol Devotion) Nikkatsu Japan 3319.00 NI-‘l'A
Waga Seishun Ni Kui Nashi
(No Regrets (or My Yout[...]hemums) Shochiku Japan 3923.00 NFTA
Angel Mine 1.2A. Prods New Zealand 1812.72 Valhalla Films 5 (i-h)[...]awn oi the Dead (2nd
reconstructed soft version) (a) R. Rubenstein/Laurel Group USA 3323.60 United Artists (A'asia) P/L V (i-h)

Deletions: 10.7 metres[...]

A Cherrywood Film Production
Produced by
Brian Kava[...]r . . . . . . Anna Senior

Story

The focus is on a modern woman turning 30. Overall the film[...]

KEM n[...]le import agents
in Australia and Asia can supply a
full range of KEM tables, and
provide interchange[...]pic
editing table is available to pro-
ducers for a free demonstration and
trial.

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SYDNEY (02)[...]

Synopsis: A modern drama set in Kings
Cross and downtown Sydn[...]he city, and the circumstances which
lead them to a situation in which they have
no control.

CYCLONE[...]. . . . . . . . . . . .. Pre-production
Synopsis: A big—budget rock musical film
about a young girl's search for success in
the Sydney roc[...]..35 mm
Progress . . Pre—production

synopsis: A film about aworking-class Aus-
tralian teenager g[...](Geoff Hayward), Maggie Doyle
(Susy).

Synopsis: A probe into the confrontations
ant.‘ power struggles oi Australian Rules

backroom boys. A taut film about
organizational power politics, la[...]). Marion Edward
(Frita).

Synopsis: Pat Quid, on a line-haul trom
Melbourne to Perth, finds out that one of his
fellow travellers is a mass murderer.

POST-PRODUCTION

FATTY F[...]..Norma Moriceau
Make-up . . . . . . . . . . . . A . ..Cheryl Williams
Hairdresser. .Cheryl Williams[...]s . . . . . . .. Marvin Paige
and Associates (U.S.A.).

Michael Lynch (Australia)

Camera operator .[...]. Chris Murray

Synopsis: A pilot, the only survivor of a
plane crash, tortured with guilt and unable
to explain the reason for the disaster. sets
upon a course of discovery, desperately
seeking to overc[...]ow (Sgt-Maj Watanabe).
0 Di (Shaw Hu).

Synopsis: A film illustrating a typical World
War 2 Z~force operation which. thou[...]nie

Maybe This Time

Cinema Papers, June-July A l91

Synopsis: A young girl. with a background
of urban poverty and juvenile crime,
attempts to become a fashion model. The
hypocrisy and double standards[...]tion she feels as she struggles to
become part of a community that has no
place for her.[...]), Robert (Tex) Morton (The
Governor).

Synopsis: A prison drama where the build-
up of tension between ‘crims' and ‘screws’
leads to a large-scale confrontation.

I92 — Cinema Papers[...]ntinuity .. ....Margaret-Rose Stringer
Producer's a stant , , . . . . . ..Vivien Hobbs

Lighting came[...]e
Amor (Sue). Barbara Stephens (Julia).
synopsis: A comedy-thriller about a group
of attractive young women who take to
crime to financially support a school for
underprivileged children. A series of mix-
ups causes the women to lose the l[...]willing air hostesses. one bosomy tour
director. a host of madcap passengers, plus
an idyllic French[...]. . . . . . . . , . . . . ..John Lamond Synopsis: A short film which counteracts
Scriptwriter . . .[...]geing arid
Based on the original idea women. oo s a socie y‘s response 0
by . . . . . . . . . . , .[...]. ..Michael Hirsch scripmrners _ ’ _ _ _ ’ _ A ‘ _ _ _ . _ “John Emery‘
fst asst director[...]. .. , Tony Holtham Make_up > V ’ > ‘ _ >_ m_5a5h Lamey

3°07" °Pe'3I°' - ~ ~ - » ~ G90” W"[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘ hno| ' I a e b ‘nn‘n ‘O
°°‘°ldl"'3I°’ - - - R[...]czrrine uhknosvgrtl. extgrnal
U V » » - - - - < A - - ~ ~ « « - v » - - ~- » 9? ~ cause. A man struggles with his fears and
5- Mallm» anxie[...]ip Lasky
Catering . Ann Dechaineux DOMINO
tA;),;:?a?(§ry" ‘ ' SAFC gitfigczi Prod. company . . .[...]nt Scheme
°‘'’'‘ ‘'°””‘’ Ne”""a”” (H?'e"' Ca"-‘y)' Te“ Producer/director[...]ts (Angela),
Maureen Edwards (Mother).

Synopsis: A thriller. set in a theatrical
location.

For complete details of the[...]s). Tim Knight (Crab),

Synopsis: Four members of a school bush-
walking expedition become separated from
the main party. As night falls, they become a
prey for nature and the bush which
surrounds them[...]Cant: Robin Ramsay, Mercia Deane Johns.
Synopsis: A symbolic depiction of a simple
evolutionary process — from Darwinian
theory (Primordial mud) to a high|y—civilized
tea party.

THE GIRL WHO MET S[...]k . . . . . . . , . . . ..Eastmancolor

Synopsis: A short film about a couple living
in the outback. who are doing somet[...]Michelle), Bill Lyle (taxi driver).

Synopsis: In a world of alienation, against a
background of computers, surveillance and
paranoia, Peter has found a way to survive:
he keeps moving.

LONG AGO[...]

Synopsis: A short film tracing the No. of shots 200 SHORTS Ed[...]Peter ArrriSir°"9 assisial“ ~ 53"” '3'“ ""a“°”"”‘a° Tam’
to the development of human personality.[...]. . . . . . . . . ijTll'T1 Smart Zryifirsasiii .A. s.h.o.r.i. .di5.CiJ.rfii.ehi;yrotgiLiictioig tg[...]- - - - - -» -- ---- i5mm D3"'e5- 5Y"°P‘i’3 A d°°“'T‘5"“”Y W‘ the
Prod. accountant .. Susan Campbell the company. 3h00tir‘i9 Si0Ci< A. - A - - » --Eastmaricflior deV9i°Pme”i 0' ")9 ("[...]ecioi V _Geo,oo Kaypaiiiakis 1-HE wAiFs Synopsis: A short documentary on the Prod. company ..Cellar F[...]_W_pi - _ otograpy.... , . . . . . ..im mart

o'a'§fe?aA--Neil rcrcce 50”“ ENERGY F0“ "*5 808
Camera[...]istant ... ....Bruce Barnes gi':ri_<?i§i0r_ie- - A - - - - - - - - - - - » » -- 33”)’ Mario”[...]drobe . ...Anna Dalforno Jack 500300“. I-ab°’a‘°"Y V - ~ - - - - - - - - ~ - ~ - V ~ - - - -[...]- ' ' ' ‘ '- ~10 "'"”5» Gauge_ r - - r v « -A « - v « - --15 mm

Wardrobe .. .. Jo Hobson Lab[...]. . , . . . . . . . . . .. Production Synopsis‘ A documentary update of the

N59‘ matching _ Eii[...]dists . . . . . . . . . ..Darryl Davis, Synopsis: A sales training film on the successful 1976 produc[...]ngs of the Mazda distribution centre Heating,with a broader look at the future of

Ediiing assgtants[...]. , , . _ , , _ , , __$56o0 Synoptic: An old man, a little boy and a little _ Robert Grant THE MOVIE VERSION SELF-PORT[...]n rod. designer . . .. ...lvan Durrant

Synopsis: A short film about a girl's dream 3;.'°Ni;i',i' am Synopmi A Short documentary on) the Prodisecreiary .. .. Te[...]ng Bank and World Bowls 1980. Liizngth .i._. . ,A. . .1 . .L._.f30(mins. Erops . . . . . .. .Judit[...]L is COAL Meyers). Science Fantasy(Nicky Meyers). A Standby props. ...lvan Durrant
proouooi./oiiooio,[...]_ _ __eiiiian Leahyi O Brien. Simon Wolkenstein). A Nursery Sound editor .. .Robert Gibson

by _ _ _[...]ino Editor _ _ _ _ _ __ ,_ Jim Stevens Synopsis: Aa"°°.'°'
K E32231“ r - r °§l2'ls'ra l r c[...]Prod company .. Cellar Film Productions Synopsis: A short documentary illustrating
(Nani, Ciaodio Ver[...]ii\’e ii'i0UQi'ii
iMaa'i‘,ao9nair1pe(,ef"Tr‘a':,i2, ibfsrgiivéiii Mieonlanefi M I Schedule[...]d (orderly). Matthew Lewis (orderly 2). Synopsis: A documentary about the Sound recordist . . . . . .[...]SeOc>rifFEaaCstijcih
‘rig: higcirwtg iii;bi3i'c5a33$J$inT)2§ipgi§3 THE CONSERVATION OF TOM Shogiinéiéticcr . M Ioeaisniancoior *°“°‘°9'a°"V V ~ 95°” 5.3””
in time ior Saws ROBE[...]Elizabeth Cranefield (cleaning
lady).

Synopsis: A film which transacts, on two
levels, a penetrating account of the need for
communication[...]g
between its two lead characters. To avoid
being a spectator requires constant
awareness of the alle[...]. . ..Film Eight.

Peter Ryan

MY SURVIVAL AS A

“DEVIANT”?!

Producer . . . . .[...]yed and gay. He is one of many
people labelled as a lunatic or a ratbag. but
who is just plain human.

TAKE THE PR[...]release . . . . . . . . .. June, 1980

Synopsis: A documentary which charts the
conservation and res[...]roduction

Cast: George Schmeisser.

Synopsis: A short documentary illustrating
the artistic process and the stages in
creating an etching.

Synopsis: A short promotional film on the
manulacture and pas[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. In release

synopsis; A short documentary about the
adoption in Baghdad of a unique, Australian
process of lining buildings and tracts
exposed to highly corrosive atmospheres
with a PVC compound. Produced for
Humes Ltd.

RIV[...]

Synopsis: A pilot te|e—feature about five
families living i[...]harks), John Haywood (Captain Collins).
synopsis: A young Australian surfie,

194 — Cinema Papers,[...]d, Pele Dobraski. are
warned off as they approach a strange
trawler pulling into the bay near the Bel[...]turn back, but Johnnie
goes on and is run down by a remote-

controlled speedboat . . .

LAND OF THE[...]rogress . . . . . . . . . . Production

Synopsis: A tel feature exploring the
legends of Aboriginal t[...]er (Alan).

Synopsis: The final eight episodes of a 13-
part television drama serial for children.
Th[...]. . . . . . . . . .. Pre—production

Synoptic: A situation comedy television
series, about the life of a rising rock star.

HOME SWEET HOME

Prod. comp[...]li),
Christopher Bell (Bobby Pacelli).

Synoptic: A television series about an
Italian migrant family[...]Kuring (Noeiine),
Fiona Spence (Vera).

synopsis: A drama on life in a
contemporary Australian women's prison.

A TOWN LIKE ALICE

Prod. company . . . . . . ..Alic[...]representation . . . . ..Producers
Film Services (Kuala Lumpur)

Best boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Pau[...]iata). Cecily Poison
(Eileen Holland),

Synopsis: A World war 2 romance, based
on the novel by Nevil[...]r script development of Two
Lovely Young Girls in a Jam — $1100
Clytie Jessop, for script de[...]

Guruli Pty Ltd, script development for a
revised first draft of The Oueenalander —
$6000

JNP Films Pty Ltd, script development for a
second draft of Sweat Juliet and the Macho
— $3[...]t
Investment

CCP Pty Ltd, script development for a
second draft of The Number of the Beast —
$35,160

Pattie Crocker, script development for a
second draft of shoemaker’: children -

$7000 _
Edgecliff Films Pty Ltd, script development

for aa
first draft of 0 Babylon — $12,500 I
McE|roy and McElroy Pty Ltd, script
development for a treatment of Cat Burglar
-— $4950

Mingara Film[...]lease . . . . . . . . . . . ..Mld 1980

Synopsis: A short film on the national
capital which looks at[...]lease . . . . . . . . . . .. Late 1980

Synopsis: A short film about some of the
weapons in use by th[...]ion

Scheduled release September, 1980
Synopsis: A short film to promote and
publicize the sport of[...]Scheduled release .. September. 1980
Synopsis: A short film to promote and
publicize the game of h[...]lease . . . . . . . . . . .. Late 1980

Synopsis: A recruiting film for the Aus-
tralian Army, to encourage young men to
consider a career in the Armed Forces.

THE NEVER NEVER LAND[...]lease . . . . . . . . . . ..July, 1980

Synopsis: A montage of Australia and its
lifestyle using the words of Henry Lawson to
describe this unique continent.

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
Prod. company[...]ion

Scheduled release September. 1980
Synopsis: A short film to promote the

Northern Territo[...]d release . . . . . . .. October, 1980

Synopsis: A short film on Rugby Union in
Australia.[...]lease . . . . . . . . . . . ..Mid 1980

Synopsis: A short film to explain why Aus-
tralia needs a navy, and the Royal Aus-
tralian Navy in action.[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm
Synopsis: A short film, aimed at convincing
the public of the[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 mm

Synopsis: A trade/export promotion film on
the Australian mea[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 mm

Synopsis: A series of short films on
behavioural situations.[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 mm

Synopsis: A teaching film for hospital staff.
Sponsored by th[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm
Synopsis: A short film to create greater
public awareness of[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm

Synopsis: A series of short films aimed at
providing parents with a greater
understanding of the process of their
chi[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm

Synopsis: A series of short films on children
in Asia. Sponso[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm
Synopsis: A short film for trainee coaches.
Sponsored by the[...]reation
Division of the Department of Transport.

A CRY FOR HELP

Prod. company . . .[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm
Synopsis: A short film aimed at correcting
the misconceptions[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..35 mm

Synopsis: A theatrical short showing the
reconstruction of th[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 mm

Synopsis: A short film aimed at creating an
understanding of[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm

Synopsis: A short film designed to convince
fishermen to use[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 mm

Synopsis: A short film to persuade people
that there is a satisfactory life to be lived,
without the free-s[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 mm
Synopsis: A training film to instruct coaches
and potential c[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm

Synopsis: A short film on the development
of a new estate. Sponsored by the North
Haven Trust.[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm
Synopsis: A short film for use with trainee
coaches. Sponsore[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm

synopsis: A training film to be used as a
discussion starter in the development of
new and[...], . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16 mm
Synopsis: A short documentary for schools
and community group[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 mm
Synopsis: A short film to persuade rural
communities, farmers[...]. . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . ..16 mm

Synopsis: A short film for use with trainee
coaches. Sponsore[...]. . . . . . . . . . ..Post-production
Synopsis: A short film which follows the

travels of Tony Moscal, a botanist/collector,
on his journey down th[...]

track, automated g p
console studio to hold

-[...]g

I Available for the first time in Australia.
A Fisher location/studio boom is
' unloaded and set[...]sound production

L b I impossible to match with a Fishpole.
- a Feature/series rate negotiable.

' ’ Experien[...]!-u. Klan fghn
I | 8

If you are going to produce a 35mm I --
— ll. 1-
E3? r; _

_ feature, a 16mm or 35mm documentary or
a

Synopsis: A dramatized documentary for
television, following the case history of Tom.
a schizophrenic patient in a psychiatric
institution. Produced for the Mental[...]. . . . . . . . . . . .Post-production
Synopsis: A documentary highlighting the

effects of retireme[...]ills. Sponsored by the
Department of Recreation.

A SAFE PLACE

Dist. company . . . . . . . . . ..[...]. . . . . . , . . . ..Post—production
Synopsis: A short television documentary
on the circumstances[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. Production

Synopsis: A long-term project which will
cover the building of a second bridge over
the River Derwent, which will[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Production
Synopsis: A dramatized documentary,
designed for high school[...]a Street, Nnt_jthp:Mel'I:ou1fo.e,¢V‘

"303 ;_,.a.‘

VICTORIAN FILM

CORPORATION

FRESHWATER FI[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Production

Synopsis: A short documentary about the
fishing resources of[...]d release . . . . . . . . . ..May, 1980
Synopsis: A documentary on the

construction of a minor housing estate.
progressively tilmed over t[...]uced for the Housing Commission

PM A FILM
Prod. company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. Production

Synopsis: A practical instructional film on
the aspects of drainage. Produced for the
Department of Education (T.A F.E.
Division).

THE SHRINE OF REMEMBRANCE
Prod.[...]. . . . . . . . . . .. Awaiting release
Synopail: A documentary about the history

and contemporary s[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. Production

Synopsis" A film on the immediate short-
term effects of smoking as a deterrent to
early addiction. Produced for the
De[...]uled release . . . . .. November. 1980

Synopsis: A series of three documentaries
on the effects of industrialization on a new
community. Co-produced by the Victorian
Film[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Production
Synopsis: A profile of a young. mentally-
retarded couple — their history and

inspirations. It is set against a background
of new care available tor the t[...]

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'15 DENNY WAY, ALFRED COVE W.A. 6154 Ph 09 330 5070.

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WESTERN AUSTRAL|A'S GRIP SPECIALISTS

- Elemack Dolly with Trac[...]42 2674
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Inge Pruks

Ermanno Olmi fir[...]direc-
tors, and his work is hard to assess from a
vantage point as isolated as Australia.
However.[...]nt in Olmi’s for-
tunes: the film not only won a number of
major prizes at Cannes in 1978, but it is also
a popular success with audiences, an unusual

achievement for a film of its length (three
hours) and its very und[...]in Lombardy at the turn of the cen-
tury. Set in a large farmhouse in the
Countryside around Bergamo. the film gives
us a privileged look at the lives of five pea-
sant fa[...]ut
most of the actors were not even Italian.

7,? A .
1.513

Shoeing the horse that ‘steals’ the[...]high points. Thus, for example,
when the birth of a baby is imminent, one
meets mother and baby only[...]co
Pilenga), the young couple who marry, pur-
sue a strangely mute courtship ritual, and
the first on[...]ear oftime,
the coming of night, the beginning of a new

Cinema Papers. June-July — 199

By making this incident a crucial one.
Olmi is perhaps suggesting that one day a
change will come -— through education. and
through a slo\v realization that injustices
have been suffered. It is certainly not a call
to revolution. but Olmi has sown a seed and
it will slowly germinate.

Communal life. for all its hardships, is for
Olmi a sweetly remembered paradise. He
dwells on warm sc[...]cal idiot is always of-
fered food and treated in a kindly way — it
seems that in this community no[...]to join forces against an outsider
when the once-a—year hawker comes to the
farm to display his wares. All the women
bargain with his prices and turn a deafear to
his superlatives and his talk of forei[...]community. and again the children learn this
from a very early age.

Olmi's camera keeps a respectful distance
from these people. and they are given a
dignity which perhaps a closer look could
have destroyed. The Bach organ[...]men:
the story ofthe gold coin which is put into a
horses hoof: the awkward advances of
Stefano as h[...]respectful as the people are
towards each other. A touching example of
this is when the neighbours. who have been
acting as midwives at a birth, withdraw
quietly when the husband arrives.[...]to be alone
now."

Throughout the film. there is a sense of
harmony between man and woman. man and
n[...]Perhaps it is an
idealized vision. but it is also a beautifully
photographed homage to Olmi‘s own past.

The peasant community is a harmonious
whole. and the setting effectively sug[...]s return because this is where each is
assured of a place and a purpose. Thus it is
with the young married couple[...]also has an ad-
ded quality. Olmi often gives us a frontal
shot of the whole structure. and with its[...]ting win-
dows and stairways it is very much like a
theatrical set. This is not to detract from its
authenticity as a farmhouse; rather. it gives
the structure a symbolic unity which would
not have been evident[...]st been
playing “themselves“. The film is not a
documentary. and Olmi has sensitively
recognized[...]s in the last scene.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs is a nostalgic
journey into the past. and it should no[...]directed.
photographed and edited the film. lt is a pro-
ject which has obviously meant a lot to him.
“I have not invited the peasants to[...]e simply come back to my
own people by describing a peasant
culture which is. finally. my own.“[...]nd the Mardi Gras in
Sydney in 1978 that ended in a police riot
and mass arrests (of the demonstrator[...]—
Dykes and Poofters originally conceived it
as a documentary of International Gay
Solidarity Week.[...].

over and the filmmakers were presented with
a series of events that could have been the
basis for a full-length film. Unfortunately,
they then sought[...]the whole story of gay oppression,
and ended with a film that attempts too
much and lacks sufficient[...]meeting
after the Mardi Gras which developed into a
fight bet\veen anarchists and gay movement
vetera[...]ay oppression. and at least once. in
the story of a women ‘persuaded' to undergo
a leucotomv. one is moved to anger and/or
tears. Bu[...]gay lilmmaking that should
not be glossed over in a commendable desire
to develop more films from wit[...]hat it is an engaged
movie. made essentially from a lesbian
feminist viewpoint, is. of course. not in itself
a weakness: if anything. the style is too
reminiscent of a Four Corners documentary
to fit the message. But[...]te.

lt is interesting to compare this film with a
recent French film. La race d’ep, made b[...]

In a Freudian sense, Edwards‘ heroes —
in the come[...]ns’ (the prostitute in Gunn who
turns out to be aa white suit. “one of the great Anglo-Saxon
heter[...]rews’
songs in the film. “He‘s no more than a
man."

After the low point of The Pink Panther
St[...]ve economy ofthe film is superb. The
first scene. a surprise birthday party for
George Webber (Dudley[...]e his menopausal problem; and his oc-
cupation as a pianist and songwriter, hence
his cultural positi[...]nd surprisingly greeted by all his friends
— is a vivid, quintessential image of the
precariousness[...]y. from which the likes of Mel Brooks
could learn a great deal. In the great comic
tradition. Edwards[...]ely from such jokes as George
getting attacked by a bee in church, or fall-
ing into his swimming poo[...]navi-
sion screen: for example, the shot in which a
very old tea lady trundles slowly across the
full[...]asted: George running to get
off the hot sands is a source of pure slapstick
as well as a sign of his bumbling anxieties.

Finally, Edwards[...]e stops his car at traffic lights: he
turns. sees a woman in the adjoining car
dressed in bridalwear. and in a moment the
car moves on and she is gone. The film thus
implies that what George desires is an
image. a fantasy projection that by its very
nature cannot[...]ake contact. Indeed. George's
fantasy position as a voyeur necessarily ex-
cludes any awareness of the other as a per-
son: when Jennifer looks back at him on the[...]g the engaged signal;
George‘s car travels down a road which, two
seconds later. Sam‘s enters fro[...]irection: after going to the dentist, George
gets a call from Sam, but she cannot

George Webber (Dud[...]lose to Jennifer, he
finds something even better: a super-broad.
eager to be promiscuous. inquiring,[...]us-
band rings and George. suddenly stricken
with a distaste for her loveless promiscuity,
leaves Jen[...]h George plays the piano
in the bar is not merely a chance to show off
Dudley Moore's talents.[...]

For a free programme brochure contact: Melbourne
(03) 3[...]95, Adelaide (O7) 332 2271
Brisbane (08) 36 6958 (A.H.), Canberra (062) 31 6010,
Fremantle (O9) 335 7[...]///

A NEW CONCEPT IN ENTERTAINMENT

FROM FEATURED P[...]~ “A

The final[...]e
through the neighbour’s telescope. For once,

a happy ending which is well-earned.

But one must[...]hout the film, several characters have
incarnated a free love philosophy, extolling
the primacy of pl[...]noted. Just before
the final sequence. one hears aA third

reading of the final scene is possible,

T[...]ty‘ who has
paid money (as George might pay for a
broad) to gaze at the relations ofothers from
the[...]an
Scott Murray

Sonny Steele (Robert Redford) is a live-
time rodeo-champion who has sold his
image[...].
Sonny‘s promoting of their Ranch Break-
fast, a packet cereal, is earning enormous
profits for A[...]tion, Rising Star is drugged and then stabled
in a small pen in the car park. Sonny, by
electing to[...]he film. Wired into Sonny's
costume and saddle is a myriad of little
lights which glow in the Vegas e[...]with the flashing neon
lights of the town and. in a sense. typify
Ampco‘s philosophy — namely. it[...]herefore does not matter to Ampco who
Sonny is as a person, only that his name is
exploitable.

This[...]ng the scene where Sonny. after arriving
late for a performance, sees another man in

his costume bei[...]ith some
clever lines, the actors deliver them in a
bland. perfunctory manner.

One suspects that Pol[...]with Sonny’s exit to the hills.
What follows is a delightful encounter
between two people who meet[...]ng gain something.

Hallie Martin (Jane Fonda) is a television
reporter who is sent to Las Vegas to c[...]se that Rising Star’s
journey from Las Vegas to a remote canyon
is as important to Sonny as to the[...]through. Thus, when her
video-pak is tossed into a river by Sonny, she
resorts to taking notes. Seeing this
rationalizing as a barrier to her absorbing
the experience. Sonny as[...]ove scene is one of many where one
person becomes a teacher to the other. This
shared learning. particularly between people
only briefly placed together. is a theme in
several of Pollackis previous films. par[...]p.” As with
Kathy and Deerfield, it has been at a price.

However. the shared journey does result in
a gained understanding. Thus, when Sonny
says goodb[...]ection in his life, so Hallie comes
to appreciate aa
gentle vision and typical of a director who
maintains a unique presence and sensitivity
in American cinema. That[...]tween Fonda and Redford, The
Electric Horseman is a film worthy of note.

The Electric Hors[...]

a division of FIANK ELECTHDNICS PTY LIIVIITE[...]

92.074 612.836
9,904,72[...]reign ToiaI°

Grand Total

2*: Figures exclude N/A figures.

0 Box—oiiice grosses of indivi[...]

Certainly. this book will be a valuable
reference and teaching aid that ranks am[...]en publications of this nature
are accompanied by a video cassette or video
disc to complement the te[...]alence that lie at the heart of
his experience as a man and a filmmaker.

Though Andrew Sinclair lists more than a
hundred people who “have helped [him] the
most[...]rhaps the book’s epigraph indicates
why Ford is a difficult subject for bio-
graphy. “The truth a[...]points to an in-
sistence on privacy that forces a biographer
in the end to “print the legend". Pe[...]aped

by his Irish immigrant heritage, he needed

aa character
called Feeney. the Fords’ real surnam[...]is its
reference to Ford’s “double life” as a film-
maker and navy spy. a realizing of his
“boyish dream of being both D.[...]Grapes of Wrath, reflects, as
Sinclair notes, “a new austerity of style
[which] had come with his knowledge ofthe
actual hardships of fighting”. As well, a new
complexity and maturity of viewpoint
emerge:[...]n common is
his remarkable capacity for inspiring a con-
tinuing allegiance in those who worked with[...](Ward Bond, Anna Lee. Alan
Mowbray, Mae Marsh and a dozen or so

Sinc1air’s book offers a convincing
reading of this aspect of Ford’s wor[...]naval career in the way
in which he would make “a sudden switch to
the braid and brass of a full navy captain”.

The two careers converge u[...]at odds with conventional society.
Sinclair makes aa partial truth, while the body

of a man's work might suggest his beliefs
and his visi[...]. Having
listened for four hours to the debate in aa loyalty oath and
monitoring the political beliefs[...]minded that this giant
among filmmakers could, on a crucial occa-
sion, be found unequivocally on the[...]appointing about
the films themselves. Ofcourse, a biography
is not necessarily where one would expe[...]f an ar-
tist’s work, but it is hard to respect a bio-
graphy of Ford that can discuss The
Searchers in a bare page. Sinclair records
the public and critic[...]n appraisal of Ford‘s work and I
deeply suspect a biographer who glances at
its centrality and then[...]ed.

The strongly pervasive sense of the 1960s
as a period of wrapping up, of farewell, is
aptly char[...]uddled Western, as “more an
act of penance than a film production“,
acknowledging that it is “[...]ckabout comedy and
sentimentality are subsumed in a tranquil vi-
sion that comprehends the lures and[...]h of these
late glories.

Perhaps we will not get a much clearer
picture of how these films were ach[...]“You could never really
analyse what he did as a director to get the
results he got", may be the c[...]hat vacuum has not been filled
by anything except a final instalment by
Reade and we are still waiting for a book
with some extended thematic and narrative
an[...]s prepared,
however idiosyncratically, to set out a view

of whom. and what films, have most
contribu[...]the chief virtue of
the previous books, albeit in a limited form,
a detailed filmography which ought to
contain infor[...]n Review area which
Andrew Sarris described (with a nod to
Wilde) as those who know the credits of
ev[...]talgia buffs will
love this one.

Mork and Mindy: A Videonovel
Richard Anobile
Arkon/Angus and Robert[...]asters Wilson

Star/Kennard International, $9.95

A look at what it is like at the top for a lady who is
there and comes crashing down.

The S[...]tchinson/Hutchinson Group Australia, $19.95
(HC)

A fascinating account of his life, and also a well-
documented record of the past 50 years of t[...]l by Myself

Coronet/Hodder and Stoughton, $4.95

A frank and moving memoir: her career, friends
and life with Bogart. Now in paperback.

A Dreadful Man

Brian Aherne

Simon and Schuster/Ruth Walls, $11.95 (HC)
A biography of George Sanders.

Growing Up In Holly[...]Maurice Yacowar

Ungar/Ruth Walls, $15.40 (HC)

A biographical and critical volume on the work of
this very successful actor and filmmaker.

Mommie Dearest: A Memoir

Christina Crawford

Panther/Gordon and Gotch, $4.25

The story of the relationship between a child trying
to stay alive and a ruthless, cunning and lonely
woman who knew every[...]graphy of British actor, Kenneth
More.

Not Quite a Gentleman

Roland Culver

William Kimber/Novalit, $23.95 (HC)

A rich and moving book by an actor whose variety
of[...]e serious
student and the more average filmgoer. A dis-
cussion of select films offered as a background for
further discussion.

Hollywood Ren[...]aking and festivals
throughout the world.

Making a Monster

Al Taylor and Sue Ray

Crown/Imp., $17.95 (HC)

A book devoted entirely to I-1o11ywood’s make-up[...]independent filmmakers handbook.
Scripiwritin o A ' ti

Stan Haywagrdr mma 0”

Focal Press/Pitrnans, $11.50

A‘Focal Press media manual covering up-to-[...]

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where you’ll find
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Back issues — add $260 per copy.

There seems to be a trend
whereby the Japanese are relaxing
and allowing foreign involvement.
There is a political film by a young
Japanese director, Hasenawa,
called The Boy[...]ogun,
and they buy what they want.
Shogun was not a happy experi-
ence for both sides.

Coppola is coming to Japan to
live for a year, and during this time
he is planning to make a film,
which, according to him, will run
five days and five nights. It will be a
very personal, very Proustian film
about how he s[...]ct of one
culture on another. You wouldn’t
find a more perfect paradigm in
Japan. He is going to re[...].
Maybe someone intelligent will
come in'and make a film about the
country.

So you think the Japane[...]in conflicts or drama . . .

This country is in a state of
aesthetic shock. Imagine a country
that for centuries had been poor
and had developed a culture or
ethos based on poverty. The ideas
of s[...]e aesthetic terms

im lied poverty. Then, _all of a
su den, we have inflation, and
everyone has too[...].5 metres (32 secs)

Reason: Excessive violence

(a) Previously shown on December 1979 List.

FILMS R[...]Films S (f-m— . V (1-m-g)
Zombie Flesh Eaters (a) Variety films Italy/USA 2442.40 Pacific Telecasters (Aust) P/L V (f-h-g)

(a) See also under ‘Films Board of Review".

FILMS BOARD OF REVIEW
A. Cole UK

Electric Blue (videotape) (a)

Decision reviewed: Refusal to register
by the F[...]hold the
decision oi the Film Censorship Board.

(a) Previously shown on January 1980 List.

59 minutes Electric Blue (A'asia)

Variety Films Italy/USA 2442.40 Pacific Te[...]he Black Stallion F. Coppola USA 3179.23 Filmways A'sian Dist. P/L
Coping (16mm) Film Australia Austr[...]ere Dovzhenko Studio USSR 21 1 1.00 USSR Embassy

A Dog on the Piano Central Gorky Studios USSR 1885.[...]-Mayer USA 1 129.00 Twentieth Century—Fox Films
A Timetable for the Day after Tomorrow Belarusfilm[...]y

Young Wife Lenfilm USSR 2694.00 USSR Embassy

(a) Previously registered in 1956.
(b) Previously re[...]Heels United Artists USA 2649.36 United Artists (A'asia) P/L 0 (adult theme)
Himself as Hersell (16m[...]i—l—j). S (i-I-j)
Love Me or Leave Me (16mm) (a) Metro-Goldwyn—Mayer USA 1337.00 Twentieth Cent[...]rance 1151.85 French Embassy V (i—l—j)
Two in a New Home Lentilm USSR 2207.00 USSR Embassy 0 (adu[...]lezio Films V (i—l—j)

' ‘ “ " ' cut i 1
(a) Previously registered G with 5 n 955 FOR MATURE[...]orimar USA 3569.66 Roadshow Dist. P/L S (i-m—j)
A Boy and His Dog (videotape) Aa) Gilmore Jnr/Brockheimer USA 2780.44 Roads[...]

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

Q[...]

(a) Previously shown on January,1980 List.

(b) See[...]Not Shown

UK

2359.00

NFTA

body. It will take a lot of

culturalization before they come to FILMS[...]INATIONS

terms with it. Either they will be F "W A 6' M

- - ‘ ' or is u ences“ ”
§iab111Z°d,°’ they W111 tum "Ito 3 Les PetitesFuges (a) R.Boner France 3708.00 LeClezioFilms Sli-h-j)
ta[...]e Gold S(f—m—g),V(i—rn—g)
before; this is a mannerist period. f"§L§‘§:‘f;1§é5c;';1°[...]atl0T1_3l Chafaclfirr if The Devil Made MeDolt V A. Mal-nar USA 1711.04 Esquire Films s(i-h-g)

ther[...]Dist.P/L Slf-m—g)
again. I have often said that a nice g§;';';:ffr;;‘§C;"§gfS“ ""“l4‘S9°5’

fat war or a rnce earthquake wollld (a) Deletions made atimporter's requestto obtain low[...]ng e1Se_ FILMS REFUSED REGISTRATION

Wh en th c J a pa n 656 were Caligula Penllhouse |nt'|Corp.f/_ l[...]absolutely sure of themselves in F°"‘°'"°'“a‘°9'“ '°‘

their misery — from 1945 to 1960

- - FILMS BOARD OF REVIEW
— it had a Golden Age ofC1ncma, ML

to name but one thing. *[...]st Married Couple".

E

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offer a fast and thoroughly professional neg cutting service to the film and
TV industries. We have a fully equipped cutting room that can handle
both[...]and is air—conditioned throughout.
We also have a prompt pick—up and delivery service. We promise total
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scor[...]ations in which the
children find themselves, and a bit
more contemporary.

Why was the music recorde[...]ing in Australia?

Poledouris: Absolutely not. As a
matter of fact, there are many
advantages that we don’t have in
the U.S.

Kleiser: We have used a compu-
terized sync system with video
cassettes, rather than a projection
facility. This keeps everything in
sync and you can hear a bar or
section over again by quickly
rewinding an[...]is no-

fast forward. If for some reason
you have a false start, it takes at
least a minute to re-rack it. It is
very time-consuming and it drains
away a lot of one’s energy.
Kleiser: They are not quic[...]It
is very comforting to know when
you walk onto a stage with 70
people that they have all come
highly recommended.

Kleiser: Basil was a little appre-
hensive about coming down here as
h[...]t control, but they do consult
me. I can’t take a strong stand,
though, because I don’t kn[...]

cinematic services s

that Cinematics offer a greater range of film services and
facilities tha[...]gh Cinematics‘ Consultancy Service. If you have a problem in

any phase of production from inceptio[...]. P/1‘oi~fE(037 we was

JOHN in/mPH€£Y& /mac/A76

1911 The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

Producer Amalgamated Pictures
Directo[...], and you can
only get better by working. We
have a good depth of acting talent;
what we need is a lot more directors
and writers. But that situatio[...]about your new
film, “Touch and G0”?

It is aa deal with Channel 10
and Ansett Airlines. But Ans[...]five or so
pages often takes me days. I once
did a stage play and the first act
took me three months[...]itten much more quickly than the
first.

There is a great emphasis these days
on having a script editor. How
important are they?

I find an[...]ears. When I first left
Australia, people thought a script-
writer was a man who sat in the
back of a chemist shop, copper-
platlng the bottles of old medicine.
At least now, when you say you are
a writer, they don’t ask, “But what
do you do for a living?” That is the
big improvement since I left.

You are part of a generation of
Australians who left this country o[...]said about Frank Packer, I really
went abroad for a year or two to get
some experience, which a lot of
other people did. But it went so well
for me that I stayed.

Actually, a lot of people still
can’t quite forgive me for being
away all that time. “Expatriate”
has become a sort of dirty word.
When I grew up, expatriates w[...]a it became,'

“You abandoned us.”,

You have a number of future plans,
but do you have an overal[...]C, which is going to take me all
year, and I have a couple of ideas
for films which I would like to do.
I’d also like to work again as a
writer and co-producer, as I did on
Touch and Go,[...]perienced producers beside us,
but giving writers a creative say will
help our films, and help us as[...]ay Match

Television Plays

Thunder on the Snowy

A Visit from Anna

East of Christmas

The Cabbage Tree Hat Boys
A Sort of Stranger

The Gambler

A Dragon to Kill

Reunion Day

The Juggler

A Really Good Jazz Piano
Ant and the Grasshopper

O[...]fficer
Zodiac

The Nurses (U.S.)
The Third Man ‘A’

3AI|tlI£t30lIr;.i:
~ .’-.I.’Aa‘.el_ mosig) W3

I
-- . ‘fizimv

FQI E

Edited by Peter Beilby

For the first time, a comprehensive national guide to every major aspec[...]w theatres, freight, ‘ "cc, and ieatering. I
A Who’s Who of; Producers and ireeto s
A National Directory of Film and Television Production Companies
A National Directory of Film Organizations
A National Listing of Distributors and Exhibitors
A Comprehensive Media Guide
A Guide to Every Major Australian and International[...]m PnTéit:st:r:e‘S:tatis§t*:iicfs;

\V- plus '
A 50-page round-up of recent developments in all ma[...]rated throughout zsomm x 176mm
Solidly bound with a laminated cover full color.

Published Cinema Papers Pty Ltd

A in association with
TI?'heNew Southwales FilmCo[...]4
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Surface: AusL33.3o Eurface: Aust.33.3o[...]ostage rates. Amayaysgaa sgngapme, pig; 1n¢ones',a,¢m
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How did you get into the a patina of age, or a bright, way it did. But it was very Memory and a feeling for the
business Arthur?[...]iant Career' which I think
From the box. As a was a beautiful job. W ho do you Work most You've just graded a feature
projectionist. Started at 15,[...]rt to From your point of view?
close in a little after ten years in[...]then Margaret accepted our first print. No
Met a man named Phil Budden, oath. He captured[...]more or less as a team. It's How often have you had a
ended up as chief operator on Is th[...]with from the grading point it's like a chain. Touch wood, never.[...]onship with someone
featurettes. Then we started a M ad Max' It took double the bringing in a feature? Not one. I guess it's[...]then. See what I It was shot over a period of next week with his workprint of[...]talk about it, pull Well, the night before a big
ple, c[...]green to up at the end of each reel, take a job, especially a feature, you sit
Sight grading?[...]em in order, frames, for hundreds of feet at a what I've stored in my brain. never have t[...]inning to end.
you, sight graded it again, took
a guess, corrected your guess,[...]Colorfilm?
weeks later, you had a two
reeler. That was my learning[...]another Hazeltine. A double
A long winded business. Then[...]Arthur, why Colorfilm?
a good grader. I mean, would
you see colour differ[...]anyone's mentioned a grader.
into what the film makers want
from the[...]we've developed over the years.
mood. For a horror film, dark To a film maker, putting a film
shadows, for a period picture,[...]taking your wife to a hospital to[...]have a baby. They care just- as[...]

A film for young people taking the grand out of Im[...]our. members of a string quartet in Australia. The[...]Richard Meale, Australian composer, talks A Balinese gong orchestra
about and performs a section of'Incredible
Floridas'. a work inspired by the poetry of T he Balinese[...]rd winning film was musicians playing a rich and unique variety of[...]Colour.
A stunning film from the producer and director[...]rgit Nilsson. Charles Mackerras. Edward To a background of Bartok's music, this film[...]ltravers St.. Strand. L ondon W C 2 R 3 E H . U.S.A. & Canada. M r j i m Henry . City N ational Bank[...]FILMWEST & SINGAPORE

FiLMWEST has a lot to
offer the film industry in[...]thing from ads to
features. We back this up with a
complete post-production service,
and ca[...]

A ddress......... ..........................[...]

We have spent a lot of time in the[...]

career before 1900. They were not estab[...]

had blossomed at a quite phenomenal rate. The to full Company Quarte[...]rmy in

dication of their Australian character: A Tale of Melbourne on August 25, 1917.27

the Au[...]en 1919 and

Bushranger, One Hundred Years, and A Ticket 1935. His last film was Charles Chauvel's[...]age. It would appear he was never per

Cass was a foundation member of the Actors' manently employed as a stock actor with any of

Association and one of[...]he offices Australia, as indeed the world, was in a steady

of the association were situated at 554[...]ere contem In the 1920s and '30s, Cass moved into a new

poraries and shared similar interests. In[...]cast was a group of young people who were later

In 1914,[...]al theatre in Melbourne.

Sealed Orders. It was a drama of the armed ser Cass' impact on these young people should

vices, and the production featured a scene in not be underestimated. His enthusiasm, profes

which " a real airship hovered over the stage" .24 sionalis[...]ary 27, 1915, Cass enlisted in the the war. Then, a few years before his death, they

Australian Ar[...]fraternity to which he had devoted a lifetime of

Cass was promoted Lance Corporal o[...]Melbourne in 1870. His father was a middle-[...]ce on the young the railway station. It was a very large complex,
column of their magazin[...]rs in these productions was considerable. She was a stretching from 246 to 254 Flinders St, and was[...]member of the cast for a number of these productions. successful financ[...]nd was very strict in
26. Army records. Cass was a particularly youthful looking rehearsal[...]ed to St Kilda in 1883 the
(right). A Lincoln Cass Film. 29. Godfr[...]were of a similar theatrical nature.2[...]George Meudell in his The Pleasant Career o f a Spend[...]coln Stuart and Co." , as being a shrewd businessman[...]came from a successful business background and,[...]tors is a Stuart and a descendant of the original Stuart.[...]

Bain[...]in the future Australian audiences will
give a cordial support to all dramatists of a

deserving character."9
Lincoln was a prolific and good writer. During
this period he[...]e was an only child. There is no mention
of a Lincoln family being friendly with the Castieaus[...]e
that he was already known by the 1890s as a writer.
There is, unfortunately, no evidenc[...]Referee, February 8, 1911; The Australasian Stage A n

nual, 1901, p. 59; 1902, p. 32.[...]2, reports
his Melbourne season " opened to a packed audience . . .
and finished with a most brilliant fireworks display" .
7. T[...]

Cast Godfrey Cass, A. J. Patrick, Harris Producer[...]twriters W. J. Lincoln and (Godfrey Cass)

1911 A T icket in Tatts C[...]elbourne,September 29, 1913

Cast Godfrey Cass, A. J. Patrick, Alfred First released[...]Beryl Bryant, Marion Willis " and a

Director Harry Southwell[...]an F.wart. Dora Mostvn a powerful cast" , ( . . . )

1923 T he Dingo Br[...]Fitzherbert, A. Whynn, H. B.[...]

When I started in radio, it was a Yes, and just after the start of too good a lunch and that it wasn't helped. When I first[...]lt that if they wrote some
television. But I got a bit restless good things were being done for[...]It is very hard to define comedy. doing a lot of work. I find that[...]he same things are still being done. and I knew a lot in Britain, none of
the Royal Commission int[...]vision stations. I went along and You also wrote a number of them are very sad characte[...]r. Do was the supreme example.
to promise a quota, but he said, you have a favorite film from that
" I've always treated Au[...]t good to work with an actor I returned a couple of times for
well; just trust me." So I w[...]1976. There was sort of a deja vu
expected, it was tough on my wife I[...]until I actually got going. based on a book by Douglas Hayes, extensively with act[...]t was like to be town and you do tend to rewrite a came back. In fact, the only reason
I w[...]d Birds on the Wing, because I was having a good run
said, " Come and meet Spike[...]ve done. Everyone laughed all the
an agency over a fruit shop in The Comedy Man was the f[...]still have an urge to write
Shepherds Bush with a woman time I had wanted to write a com those terrible words, "It's going to[...]led Beryl Virtue, who was his edy. There is a magical moment in run forever in the West End" ,
agent. She also handled Simpson a crowded cinema or theatre when which usual[...]the hardest of all things to write in
as a sort of challenge. until I came ba[...]where nobody laughed.
Beryl turned out to be a clusively, in plays and films. It is a different humour there and Why is that? Is i[...]removed from to raise money for films?
to a building in Bayswater, and Everybody says comedy is the the audience. It was like a different
then into the West End. Today she[...]cutive producer for Robert when you don't have a live audience
Stigwood.[...]When things started taking off for For a start, you have to sit down[...]you in Britain, did producers and write a play -- nobody is going
I wrote drama plays f[...]medy, though never to the it. I have done a couple of stage[...]t, and I want to write out here.
It was a lucky meeting, and were lying on t[...]

Yes, probably because they are a writer. It was quite incredible, and[...]alia?
very small industrial base. even a writer-producer like Joan the U.S.[...]Long was listed just as a producer.[...]the kinds of things we Actually, a lot of the other things make more Films. That[...]d had no clout at ignorance of the function of a writer the scripts. We get some excelle[...]ler-type pro because it may mean we become a
Where should the main effort of the amazing th[...]Some of them are terrible Do we have a screen-writing
The two main areas are our about it over lunch." Take a writer bastards to deal with, and the[...]screw you if they can. But if they
had a long battle with the ABC over happened to me in[...]but there must be about 25
for the next round in a few years' visit, said a country could only insecurity at present, one only half-hours of serials a week, and
time.[...]ave three really great needs to get a frown from an AFC that means quite a few writers are[...]ed. How long they work on
We also have to put a stop to you think that is a fair comment? says, " Let's change[...]There is a lot of discussion about two years ago that[...]wer. But the best I hope we are going to be a lucky[...]international is to be country, and it is a battle that will[...]truly national. If you go for a mid- keep going on. We are always in[...]I think a good sign is the shorter[...]situation with The Sullivans: it is a Do you see shorter series as a[...]

182 -- Cinema Papers, June-July

Thesesheets a(Q varWy fee/ 7 (outof T reefs)-
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These days it seem s most can match. A choice of five Pacific
airlines are conce[...]

Opposite: Edmund Finn[...]and a large number of one and two reel[...]various government departments as a part-time His first feature,[...]was based on a popular serial published in a[...]In 1914, George Tarr produced a 2500 ft film Last Stand (1925), a drama-romance set at the[...]gend Hinemoa. The film time of a famous incident in the Maori Wars.[...]starred in The Test, a 5000 ft drama based on ical dram[...]newsreel cameramen with a stock script making two-reel "community[...]has any promoting his last feature To Love a Maori,[...]

information and propaganda, a Film Pro The Waggon and the Sta[...]duction of a series of anti-waste films. 1964 Runaway[...]National Film Unit was set up I97l To Love a Maori (Rudall Hayward)[...]and production of a weekly war information reel 1977 Wild Man (Geof[...]he Publicity and its " marching men" title became a familiar 1979 Skin Deep (Geoff Steven)[...]Middle Age Spread (John Reid)
Office employed a film cameraman to make sight in New Zealand cinem[...]eoff Murphy)
scenic films for local and overseas tourist pro The Review usually consisted of a series of items Beyond Reasonable Doubt[...]Documentary Features

ducing one reel a week for release by MGM. Pacific where NFU camera[...]cational Film
While most of these films followed a standard sent.
formula, a few, such as In Days of Gold and City At the end[...]ge
imaginative treatment of previously filmed on a single item in documentary style: The[...]rnment filmmakers. In 1936, Filmcraft sold Three, a dramatized documentary commis
its studios to the[...]verseas Features Made Partly on
sent. duction of tourist films also started about this[...]were made in I6mm Kodachrome, 1916 A Maori Maid's Love (Raymond Longford)[...]ongford)
ment Film Studios was the production of a but this work was often contracted out to[...]

Yes. I think it is a valid view and
the more we accept it the better.[...]he film
that there is, in some New Zealand
ers, a sort of deadness; as if doubts
about colonization have been sup

pressed for a long time . . .

Yes. I think this is probab[...]think she is occasionally, because it seems a Sione and his father. Sons For the Return[...]ry colonialist perhaps because there is a certain tried to fashion a New Zealand ver
eventually gets colonized by tho[...]f it, whereby I could deal ences for me as a director on Sons
he has colonized. Time will tel[...]es in the film deal Zealand actors -- and a whole lot
still making it aware of the issues?[...]are very few scenes in "Sons"
Wendt caricatures a lot of the type space, which would be to[...]ans in New Zealand, and I unacceptable to a Kiwi. At the The film has split Eur[...]wanted to touch it ences. I have made a couple of films
be able to look at that viewpoin[...]t the same time, I was very much Sione does a drum dance at a party. Sons aware that I had to say no to this[...]cult to please, but they are quite a their relationship was sexual . . .[...]that all one could do was give it a relationship between two cultures,[...]acted before in a feature. Did that her because he can be vulne[...]or you? with her, whereas he can't with a[...]am reasonably strong on the nature of the attraction.[...]terms of the part. It is always a people who try and come together.[...]problem for an actor to play a They are attracted to each other[...]ause of the consciousness and initially it is a private thing.[...]separates an excellent actor from a these issues and they are faced with[...]

This paper presents a general view of various The BCNZ's income is gene[...]ck and white; commissions about 20 hours a year, mostly in[...]Until recently, there were less than a dozen in[...]personnel, and also a change in the style of
The National Film Unit[...]lopment. Production is
The National Film Unit is a division of the (300,000 a week circulation) $10 million still ma[...]an increase in the number of sponsored Films be
Tourist and Publicity Ministry, and was set up[...]to
home and abroad. It took over the studios of a television operation and production. Less tha[...]est in the production of feature
it is housed in a $15 million complex in Lower 25 per cent -- $[...]ed in ad
Its facilities include sound stages, a lab ministration, and below-the-line costs,[...]post-production, sound and editing million a year.
departments, a full range of production equip
ment, and a production staff whose main output The Tel[...]channels throughout the country, broadcasting
tourist promotion. It is a successful producer of 150 hours a week. Of this 25-30 per cent is local[...]drama production is only about 20 hours a year.

Sir.ce its introduction to New Zealan[...]Cinemas Average Admission
has always been a government-owned facility,[...]t
month recombined as Television New Zealand,

a service of the BCNZ.

14 -- Cinema Paper[...]

A mine explosion in Sleeping Dogs: Murphy di[...]

"Pork Pie" involves a lot of compli

cated stunts. Did these slow dow[...]ental work.

The hairiest stunt scripted was a

scene where they drive the car on to
a train as it goes past a rail
embankment. When we did it, it
was so simp[...]oks
about as complicated as parking
your car in a garage.

We were trying to design stunts
th[...]hes and
thinks: " I could do that myself."