Cinema Papers no. 14 October 1977 (2025)

OCR

“Having achieved the distinction of
winning an Oscar this year and having
accumulated[...]ar more than the official
film/ production house of the Federal
Government: it’s the industry’s “Vital
Alternative’? 99

“In these days of intense competition
for government funds, Film Au[...]ustralia must
be a pace—setter, at the frontier of
society, the very point where the
Australian char[...]enterprise; it’s the use, in a responsible
way, of public resources to do things
that private enterp[...].

Among the challenges we face are
the potential of videotape and the
changing patterns of distribution, we
realise that to get our message across,
we must go where the audiences are;
when we talk of audiences, we mean the
general adult public, children, the
university population, special interest
groups and instituti[...]jects
include a 90-minute study (in 11 parts)

of a country tow, a third series of

ia
K '‘-‘-\\i

\‘\:"'.\_"*«", V ‘~°*[...]ntary series to be filmed in

China.

Just a few of the good things

coming from Film Australi[...]

Sehepisfs

" “The G of Blacksmith”

as a Gift, a year s subscription of Cinema Papers

from . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

The Secretary,

Faculty of Art,

Swinburne College of Technology

Box 218, Hawthorn, 3122. Tel: (03) 819 8124

V 7 A ivision of Swinburne College of Technology Ltd.

THE VICTORIAN FILM CORPORATION
RECENTLYPURCHASHDTHE
WARDROBE FROM THE FILM

THE GETTING OF WISDOM.

THESE PERIOD COSTUMES ARE NOW BEI[...]

the best in every job. Of course not everything’s an

award winner[...]

Word is being spread no[...]JECT BLUE FIN should make it a
special favourite. Of course, not everybody has to study the book to
be[...]PROJECT. A study kit relating the interest areas of
the story across the curriculum is among the educ[...]ntaries on the pre-production and
post-production of BLUE FIN for educational broadcast.

Radio Programmes Discussions are under way towards the
production of a radio dramatisation, a reading of the book, and
interviews with the author, scriptw[...]ional Technology Centre and the Film
Study Centre of the South Australian Education Department are
pla[...]int and catalyst for investigations in the fields
of geography, biology, history, social sciences, dra[...]t the year.

INTERESTED? Contact the Co-ordlnator of
PROJECT BLUE FIN at the address below.

South Aus[...]ABT THE BIIBPIIBATIIIN
Fflll Fll.MlNli IN 08 OUT OF
TASMANIA

ifasmanian Film Corporation

64[...]

The Australian Film
Awards[...]kers. Now in its twentieth year, the
presentation of the Awards is televised nationally
to draw public attention to the latest achievements
of the nation's film industry.

The Australan A it[...]substantial book library, an
extensive collection of magazines, and some vital
indices. These include[...]ubject index 1935-74. As well as the complete
run of a number of significant magazines
(including Film Quarterlyan[...]will soon make available on
microfilm every copy of Variety ever published.

The information centre has recently made
available a Master Index Of Current Film
Periodical Holdings In Australian Sp[...]under its curatorship a newly acquired
collection of cinematographic memorabilia
covering the history of cinema up to the coming of
sound. Many of the exhibits are exceptionally rare.
It is envisa[...]comfortable alternative outlets serving the needs of
filmmakers, independent distributors and a large
section of the community.

"The Longford is, in my opin[...]e AFI, in conjunction with the Australian Council
of Film Societies, organises film viewing weekends
t[...]es a festivals bureau and has
arranged screenings of Australian films in a
number of overseas film festivals.

Australian Film Institu[...]e Member? It's the easiest way to keep .
informed of the activities and services of the AFI.
Benefits include: Concessions to AFI cin[...]er, and voting rights for the Award
for Best Film of the Year in the Australian Film
Awards.

To join,[...]ic. 3053

I hereby apply for Associate Membership of the Australian Film
Institute and enclose[...]

You will be doing a lot of filming in a tropical jungle gorge
(during the mo[...].

Your lead suffers from ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) and
has a trick knee as well . . ..

Q655[...]as little as 24 hours. Contact David Solomon — Sydney, or Wayne Lewis ——
Melbourne; the expert dire[...]in insurances for the entertainment industry

i l Sydney Melbourne Brisbane
Box 3884 GPO 163 Collins St. GPO Box 1022
Sydney 2001 Melbourne 3000 North Quay, Qld. 4000[...]

The Last Wave: 147

Film Festivals: 134

Mana[...]nmark — Gail Heathwood. Advertising: Sue Adler,
Sydney (02) 26 1625; Chris Davis, Melbourne (03) 329 598[...]Consolidated Press
Pty. Ltd, 168 Castlereagh St., Sydney 2000, Telephone (02) 2 0686, ACT. Tas. — Book P[...]views oi their authors and not necessarily those of the Editors. While every care is taken on manuscr[...]rry St.,
Melbourne 3000. Telephone (03) 329 5983. Sydney Office: 365A Pitt St., Sydney. Telephone (02) 261625.

c Copyright Cinem[...]

CORPORATION CONTROVERSY

The funding policies of the Victorian Film
Corporation have been strongly attacked in
the press, a possible conflict of interest being
suggested between corporation members and
those awarded investments. Two of the most
vocal critics have been Colin Bennett and
Barry Jones MLA‘. Mr Bennett was one of
those responsible for advising on the setting
up of the corporation and Mr Jones is the
Labor shadow minister who introduced the
concept of the VFC into state parliament.

in response to th[...]the daily press. Cinema Papers believes it to
be of considerable interest, and it is
reproduced below in full. The members of the
corporation are Peter Rankin (chairman),
Grah[...]The Age headline on August 25 accused
VFC members of being given "most film
grants". The VFC rarely, i[...]production are offered as investment.
The figure of $526,500 has been quoted, It
is broken down as follows:

Summerfield $ 76,500
In Search of Anna $ 50,000
Mary and Joe $100,000
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

$300,000

Summerfield was scri[...]laced before the VFC. Mr Green
owns five per cent of the equity in
Summertield.

In Search of Anna: Natalie Miller is the
associate producer of this film. Ms Miller
has five per cent equity in[...]The VFC has not contri-
buted financially to any of the scripts
development costs of Mary and Joe. if the
film goes into production Mr Green will
have five per cent of the film.

The VFC believes that the percentages[...]on on the statement in
the press that 55 per cent of the
corporation funds have gone to its own
member[...]imply that they are a major
beneficiary.

In each of these projects, the applicant
for investment from[...]They were:
Summerfield — Pat Lovell; In Search of
Anna— Esben Storm; Mary and Joe-
Oscar Whitbread and Frank Brown.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith: in
reaching the decision to invest $300,000 in
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith the
corporation members were conscious of
the public and political criticism that this
deci[...]ers believed then, as
they do now, that The Chant of Jimmie
Blacksmith will perhaps be the most
import[...]before it.

Mr Fred Schepisi is recognized as one of
Australia's leading directors, and the VFC
was de[...].
Additionally, the investment offer in The
Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith was made
over two financial yea[...]ema Papers, October

Phillip Adams‘ The Getting of Wisdom,
Patricia Lovell’s Break of Day (scripted by
Cliff Green), and the Homestead[...]11 (page 278), Peter Rankin said:
“In the field of script assessing the Corp-
oration has decided no[...]or the time being make all
asssessment by members of the Board."

Given the present controversy. it is[...]g" and whether the Board
sees this present method of script assessment
as being a stop-gap or permanen[...]The 1977 Australian Film Awards were
announced in Sydney on September 20, during
a national telecast on the ABC. The awards
were:

Best Film of the Year
Storm Boy

Best Performance by an Actor[...]ievement in Cinematography
Russell Boyd for Break of Day

Best Achievement in Editing
William Anderson[...]Award
Storm Boy

S.K.
MIFED REPRESENTED

A group of Australian films are featuring
this year in MlFED[...]ut It Works, Leisure, Final Animated Step.
A Tale Of One City and the India series
(ABC/Film Australia[...]r
the few with one or more successful films.

One of the most frequently proposed
explanations of this state of affairs is the
totally unattractive way (for private investors)
that the Commissioner of Taxation treats their
investment. Film is generally considered a unit
of industrial property‘ which means an
investment[...]tors
Convention at Surfers Paradise. the chairman
of the Australian Film Commission, Mr Ken
Watts, spo[...]rongly lobbying
Treasury for a 12-month write-off of 100 per
cent of investment in film production. It
appears AFC off[...]tuation where investors get a
leveraged write-off of their investment (ie. they
can write off two or t[...]the recent Budget decision to
increase the amount of withholding tax paid by
film distributors on royalties paid overseas for
licences of film copyright. This amount, which
has been aroun[...]lm
Corporation came into being. Created by an
Act of Parliament, it replaced the Department
of Film Production which had been in
operation for 3[...]ddress at 64 Brisbane St.,
Hobart.

The functions of the corporation, as defined
in its Act, are to pr[...]s out personnel and film
equipment.

The director of the corporation is Malcolm

(See lan Bail|ieu'[...]ralian Council for the Arts.

Part-time chairman of the corporation is Gil
Brealey, former chairman/director of the
SAFC. and presently a freelance film
consultant and lecturer at Flinders University.
Adelaide.

Other members of the corporation are
W. H. Perkins, a former senior lecturer in
education at the University of Tasmania:
Barbara Manning, director of the Theatre and
Education. Tasmania: Colin Hogden. general
manager of Tasmanian Drive-In Theatre
Holdings; and H. Grier[...]e Premier's Department. M.
Smith is also a member of the corporation and
D. Donnelly is its secretary.[...]he
Australian Film Commission in the Lynch
budget of August ‘77. several organizations
have had thei[...]977/78 and has
subsequently ceased operation. The Sydney
Filmmakers Co—op, however, was granted a
simila[...]pen a Melbourne office, The
National Film Theatre of Australia received
$73000 instead of the requested $98000 and
has been told that they[...]e and the State in
Adelaide. and the distribution of films through
the Vincent Library. The AFl is als[...]ing
taken over by the Creative Development
Branch of the AFC and will be run from the
new AFC office in Melbourne,

In a statement, the chairman of the AFI.
Barry Jones MLA, said:

“The Commission has offered no
explanation of the rationale behind its
decision. Given that the[...]ing.

“We also want to resolve the implications
of these cutbacks and to determine what
future. if a[...]e. When the Prime Minister announced
the transfer of functions of the former Film.
Radio and Television Board of the Australia
Council to the Film Commission. he[...]to result in a diminution in the
creative aspects of film in Australia.

"The recent demise of the Melbourne Film-
makers Co-op and the cutbacks[...]r organizations such as the National
Film Theatre of Australia would seem to run
counter to that policy.

"No one, least of all the Commission itself.
would want the Commission to become a
monolithic body monopolising all aspects of
the Australian film scene. We are therefore
conce[...]PERSONNEL

Peter Rose, who as marketing manager of
the South Australian Film Corporation was
respons[...]Storm Boy, has left the
SAFC. He is now based in Sydney and is the
personal assistant to Terry Jackman, the
managing director of Hoyts Theatres.

MCA vice-president for Australia[...]acific and Japan, Ron V. Brown,
formerly based in Sydney, has returned to
Hollywood to take over as a Universal vice-
president in charge of special projects.

Australian Film Commiss[...]

Fred Schepisi s The Chant of Jimmie
Blacksmith is the first totally Australian film to
employ a foreign publicist. Geoff Freeman of
Denis Davidson and Associates. a London and
Los A[...]A.|.G.
MAKING PRIMETIME

The September 14 issue of Variety had a
listing of series on U.S. television and the
estimated production costs of each episode.
While Australian producers struggle to make
television features on budgets of around
3140.000. or series episodes for less, U.S.
producers generally spend in the vicinity of
$360,000 per hour-length episode and
$170.000 per[...].

The most expensive live show is ABC's
coverage of football each Monday night. At
$700,000 a game it makes quite a contrast with
the “exorbltant" fee of $100,000 for the tele-
vision rights to Melbourne[...]ver television features— is
The Wonderful World of Disney at $800,000
an episode. That budget would[...]o make any Australian feature with
the exceptions of The Chant of Jimmie
Blacksmith and Eliza Fraser.

The listing[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . ..190.000
New Adventures of Wonder
Woman, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . 660.000
Life and Times of Grizzly

Adams, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]. . . . . . . . . . . .. 180,000

Wonderful World of Disney, The . . . . . . . . . . . 800.000
S.M.

W[...]int. he recut the film on
June 18. This consisted of deleting the original
ending where Father Lamont (Richard Burton)
and Reagan (Linda Blair) walk “out of the
Georgetown house and intothe sunset. while
th[...]these cuts, Boorman re-
plied: “We are victims of audience expecta-
tion based on the first picture[...]ted was not giving them what they wanted
in terms of horror. There's a wild beast out
there, which is[...]unde-
cided whether they should go to the expense
of a new print order on a film that had already
cost[...]roversy-free
screenings at the 1977 Melbourne and Sydney
film festivals, Nagisa Oshimas L’Empire des
Sen[...]ducation films, there has been
the recent example of Pasqual Festa
Campinale‘s The Sex Machine. This[...]xually mating
couple — has more than one minute of hard-
core sexual activity. Several commentators[...]uncut only after appeal. The sexual
explicitness of The Sex Machine is, therefore,
no accident.

Why then is L’Empire des Sens deprived of
a certificate? This refusal. combined with the
fu[...]ival, suggest
Prowse is trying to make an example of it. But
there is nothing in L’Empire des Sensth[...]White
Emmanuelle.

The Oshima film is the victim of censorship
politics and is yet another sad example of how
little the Appeal Board is prepared to ensure
freedom of speech.

S.M.

FILM FESTIVALS

The following is a list of world film festivals
during this quarter. (Not al[...]velling Film Festival began
screening a selection of six films from the
recent Sydney Festival at Newcastle on
September 9, and after v[...]shorts for
each program chosen represent a precis of
the larger Sydney Festival. European in flavor.
the films chosen we[...]and Edvard
Munch. These are screened in sessions of two
films a night from Friday to Sunday.

The Sydney Film Festival, working in
association with the Arts Council of Australia,
are presenting rural people with the
opportunity of viewing first-class international
films, most of which would not gain
commercial release in[...]

To a degree, writing about the Chinese cinema
of Hong Kong from a Western perspective tends
to come down to a matter of backing personal
enthusiasm with a series of calculated stabs in the
dark. There is a dearth of published information
in translation and even if one has access to
translations of key articles, one ends up
conscious ofof course, but no real
substitute for access to the output of, for

music track or post-dubbing, or in which he[...]I've
done in that time I see nothing but a series of
compromises with the capitalists, whom we
nowaday[...]take pleasure.”

In Hong Kong a small catalogue of films is
widely admired as exemplars of a ‘true direction’
for Chinese cinema. These include a group of
films made for Li Han-hsiang’s short-lived
inde[...]ma adopt the strategies, recast in its
own terms, of a Wenders or a Syberberg, it is

example, the Shanghai studios of the 19305 and— difficult for a Western critic t[...]situation is further complicated by the
existence of two Hong Kong cinemas: the
Cantonese language cin[...]s. It was, however, not at all outside the
sphere of influence of the dominant fifties
modes: watching some of those films now one is
struck by the fidelity with which the ubiquitous
Italian/Hollywood fetishes of the period were
blueprinted.

Mandarin cinema was[...]rical dramas and epic
romances with some pretence of authenticity,
(the prime example in this area is the work of Li
Han-hsiang), as well as increasingly spectacul[...]wever, to see it
as a purely artificial off-shoot of a commercial
and political situation; or as purely an emigrant
cinema of nostalgia for a lost China.

In its mobilization of traditional subject matter
— its sources range[...]ike The Water Margin, The Golden
Lotus, The Dream of the Red Chamber, Strange
Stories from a Chinese S[...]nese culture by co-opting the past
in the service of the present.

To an extent, Hong Kong Chinese cinema is
one of thwarted perfectionists. A cinema, too,
indulging in a certain crisis of conscience. It is
rare to talk to a director who[...]or who will whole-
heartedly embrace the ambience of commercial
cinema.

To some extent this is a product of an
admittedly horrific production situation in wh[...]have no final control over such
intimate aspects of a film’s post-production as the

Verina Glaessner is the former editor of the film page in
Time Out and is a frequent cont[...]is verdict. One tends to espouse the
achievements of a vital popular art in the hands
of artists who turn limitations into generic
strengths.

CHAHG CHEH
,Ana:HE
ACEIOD eEn=iE

It is the films of Chang Cheh, alongside those
of Bruce Lee and King Hu, that have probably
contributed most to the Western concept of
Chinese cinema. Golden Swallow, Vengeance,
The New One-Armed Swordsman, Duel of
Fists, Blood Brothers, Heroes Two and others
have[...]rnational distribution. And
for once the vagaries of commercial distribution
have proved apt and revea[...]d degree the
central and vital generic components of the
Chinese martial arts film, a genre that seems as
important in its definition of certain parameters
of the Chinese experience as the Western does
in rel[...]Vast hiatuses prevent any definitive discussion
of the genre’s development, although in its recent[...]uggests a genesis in the films
made in the shadow of Chiang Kai-shek’s 1927
coup. He sees the stringent censorship of the
period as definitive: “Even cinema . . . fo[...]aced
for the next four years by a Chinese version of
the Western”. That is, by action films framed
around “a synthesis of medieval knight-errant,
Japanese samurai, the Fre[...]s . . . continuous violence, usually

*The cinema of Hong Kong is, however, not unique in this[...]

The simultaneous development of chivalric
literature at this time in the direction of an
emphasis on physical strength, expertise in
sw[...]suggests a
common root and that an understanding of the
place of the ‘knight errant’ in Chinese history
and li[...]ght be pertinent.

James YJ. Liu in his over-view of the subject,
The Chinese Knight—Errant, traces[...]de that involved
individual freedom, the righting of wrongs,
revenge and loyalty. In place of the feminine
objects of courtly love of Western tradition,
women appear as carnal figures[...]ry tradition that
impresses with its sheer weight of continuity,
extending through popular oral tradition to
novels, the ‘high’ art of chivalric verse, theatre,
pulp literature and com[...]the knight
errant as disruptive force and righter of wrongs
that the cinematic genre has found to a de[...]has directed around 60 films. In a
sense, it is, of course, too many. But whether one
regards Chang in something of a producer role
vis a vis those of his films on which he works with
co-directors, or as more of a conventional
auteur, there is no doubting the a[...]an be categorized according to
the changing group of repertory players around
which he frames his narr[...]to knight-errant literature and a
prolific author of novels and serials, the subject,
and provides the films with a density and
sensitivity of surface and a psychological
resonance rarely essa[...]e cinema.

For parallels one reaches to the films of
Peckinpah (for whom Chang has expressed his
admiration), the Ray of Johnny Guitar, the
ritualized circles of pain in Leone.

All of Chang’s really substantial work that I
have see[...]the past — either the
more or less recent past of the Republican era, of
the twenties, thirties and forties China, or in the
distant past (the Northern Sung Dynasty in the
case of The Water Margin trilogy.) Usually
Chang draws from the past a generalized
situation (of corruption, moral dissolution,
disorder) rather than pointing up a particular
political moment.

The films of his Taiwan period (between 1973
and 1975 he produced films under the semi-
independent aegis of his own company in[...]table exception, framed
specifically at the point of Manchu conquest in
China and the collapse of the Ming dynasty, a
point with very specific poli[...]nd messy fight
sequences shot without the benefit of anything
like the thought-out choreography of the later
films. What illuminates the film, however, is the
character of the wandering avenger, described in
the pre—credit sequence as a virtual force of
nature, and crystallized in the performance of
Wang Yu.

It is through his scarred and malevolen[...]s. Action is
less relevant than the establishment of icono-
graphic images, emblems, motifs and there[...]atic intensity that has
latterly become something of a trademark. King
I-Iu’s second film for Shaw B[...]to handle fight sequences and give them a degree
of sophistication, if not quite the ‘abstractness’, of
his later work, but it seems probable that Chinese
cinema, inspired by the popularity of Japanese
samurai films, emulated spectacular com[...]n.

Chang’s main preoccupation is with the pull of
romantic fatality located in the hero‘s (Wang F[...]lly
exploiting a genre in order to yield a vision of
coherently gothic dimensions. In Golden
Swallow,[...], knight
errant” -— and amplified the element of fatal
romanticism, seamlessly deploying his actio[...]eveloped
further his ability to italicize aspects of his
performers‘ personae. The real diegesis of the
film therefore became less the narrative and
more an almost sculptural interplay of character
through a series of pregnant relationships which
themselves translate[...]ingly epic dimensions and detailed choreo-
graphy of action. Golden Swallow is a con-
summate example[...](played by Wang Ye as a wayward
killer with some of the ‘wounded’ resonance of
Brando of The Wild One) and Lo Lieh as
Swallow’s faithful companion in her tussle
against the forces of constriction, corruption and
death. Where Hu locates heroism in the action —
and carrying out of an intellectually conceived
strategy — Chang locates it viscerally in the
figures of his archetypally disruptive seekers of
justice.

Many of his films admittedly accomplish little

In Blood Brothers, Chang turns in an
impressive investigation of the knight errant
personality under the aspect of romance in a
tradition which treats love and hero[...]n Taiwan films,
which all focus on the adventures of disciples of
the Shaolin temple displaced through treachery,
the depiction of the martial arts becomes, under
the direction of Liu Chia-liang, more literal (a
legacy of Bruce bee’s realistic precision) and also
more[...]c heroic
gesture attached to a developed sequence of
movements. Films like Heroes Two, Men from
The Monastery and the wonderfully Hawksian
Disciples of Shaolin, all explore the arts in
relation to theo[...]re’s peplum influences are left behind in
favor of a specifically Chinese interpretation.

The series confronts its subject and the genre
at its point of (historical) origin —— the temple —
and con[...]ok up
the theme and Liu himself directed a series of
films which mined areas similar to those
explored[...]opportunities this offered, including a new mine
of classical, historical subjects, were largely at
the hands of the studio’s golden boy, Li Han-
hsaing. And it was very much his blend ofof the Peking Art Institute and actor
whose attempts to enter the somewhat charmed
circle of the Shanghai studios had foundered,
Li’s eye wa[...]reer spans some 30 years,
beginning with a series of intriguing black and
white, more or less socially[...]e
informal ‘repertory company’, both in front of
and behind the camera, for substantial periods of
time). His work ranges from the epic, to the
cour[...], the period drama, satire and
erotic compendiums of dramatic and comic tales.

Golden Swallow[...]

In a way his oeuvre r[...]ope for a more appropriate director for a
subject of epic scope than this genuine hedonist
whose penchant towards the extravagant
prevents his treatment of the genre from
becoming mere exercises in the gra[...]r working within the essentially
collective arena of commercial cinema needs a
certain determination a[...]ts planing down effect and this is
certainly true of the arrantly commercial and
often low—budgeted[...]dustry. Many
interesting directors like Chu Yuan, of Intimate
Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan and the
recent, brilliant The[...]in recognizing
a powerful grasp in his mobilizing of mise-en-
scene and detail towards deliberately ex[...]and sensual
moments stick in the mind: the group of women
ranged about the weeping Ti Ying (in the film of
the same name) luxuriating in their abandonment
to distress; an elegant and unexpected flurry of
fabric and exposed flesh framed with a sequence
of biting irony and wit in Scandal; the sense of
physicality that makes Li’s ghost in Bliss, one[...]refreshingly benevolent environment
in which some of the Hong Kong cinema’s most
interesting directo[...]impossible within the tightly
budgeted confines of the studio. One gropes for
parallels and finds them perhaps in Ray’s King
of Kings, perhaps in some of Huston, in the
massive confidence of some of the more
impressive Hollywood or peplum epics.

l 10 — Cinema Papers, October

Hsi Shih: Beauty of Beauties mobilizes land-
scape with the expressiv[...]d on the artificially palatial sets and
costumes of the studio films and manages to
embue the weighty deployments of the battle
sequences and the moments of surprising
intimacy with an enthusiasm that is co[...]despite being somewhat flawed by the attentions
of the Taiwan censor,'wraps a tale of court
corruption in a romantic dressing. The plotting
and counter-plotting by the rival bands of
medical specialists, for motives obscure, around
the obese, drugged and increasingly senseless
figure of the son of the royal household, manages
to suggest the foreignness of a past age and the
essence of a baleful corruption that is not finally
exorcized by the romantic vision of filial piety
and paternal benevolence on which the film

ends.
The history of what has tended to be labelled,

with a hint of superiority, “Shaw spectaculars“,
and are in[...]lavish guise, is slightly less shrouded than
that of the martial arts genre, primarily because
of the genres obvious upfrontness about its
cultural[...]carnation as lightly on the whole as he does
that of the sword—stroke—action film, finds its
roots in the Shanghai studios of the period of
Japanese occupation when, again, to paraphrase,
refuge in the past provided a ‘safe’ way of dealing
with Japanese pressure. (True on a certai[...]hat there is to be said?)

As Leyda remarks, much of the Shaw
Brothers’, and Li Han-hsiang’s, initial output
consisted’ ‘of films which reworked subjects
handled previously[...]most interesting remake case is
undoubtedly that of Li’s brilliant 1976 film, The
Last Tempest, a f[...]al films in his pre-Shaw days. The Secret
History of the Ch’ing Court, of course, gained a
certain notoriety in 1967 by bec[...]tural
Revolution test case.

Reviewed today, many of the costume
romances can yield unexpected riches, The
Kingdom and the Beauty, the story of the love
between a country girl and an emperor, sidesteps
mere wishfulfilment to conjure, with some sense
of grandeur, notions of a crushing social
hierarchy. Yang Kwei Fei: The M[...]chi)
may somewhat come to grief around the figure of

‘the Emperor, too much a rabiula rasa for the[...]ood, but nonetheless lays out the
weighty rituals of court life and its concomitant
in the abandonment[...]ement to Li. They co-operated on
the film version of Eternal Love, a Huang Mei
opera (with Hu as assis[...]ale role involving the heroine assuming the
guise of a youth in order to partake of an educa-

tion denied to women. _ .
Eternal Love achieves an amazing richness of

effect, its persuasive feminist undercurrents, its
innumerable surface charms, its knowing
recasting of a theatrical form in cinematic terms,
and its flowing lead performance all make it
something of a landmark.

In Hong Kong, Li is chiefly prized for his
patently sensitive and informed handling of
Chinese culture and history. But certain critics
find in the remarkably pared down and
deliberate simplicity of The Winter, which he
made for his own company, something of a
pinnacle in Chinese cinema.

The Winter is an o[...]activity and
narrative passivity adheres to much of Li’s work.
It seems that it was not until the collapse of his
company — something of a locus classicus for
the industry’s crisis of conscience — and Li’s
reluctant retrenchment[...]veal an icily satirical perspective on
the nature of power. Both, centring on magnetic
performances from Michael Hue, are set during
the aftermath of the Republican revolution, and
they reveal a society arrested in a state of odious
and malignant corruption: a blackly moral vision
that has hardly been bettered.

The concomitant of the admiration for Li’s
historical approach has[...]th: his sophisticated sensuality.
Hence, choruses of disdain as he tackles ‘yet
another sex film’. While not decrying the
tokenness of many of his post Empress Dowager
and Last Tempest erotic[...]Lotus
recalls Pasolini in its careful marshalling of
surfaces, narrative, textures and characte[...]

Yes, but I finally got sick of it
because I couldn’t escape the
potentially exploitative nature of
what I was doing, though there was
another reason[...]ize
that there weren’t any sharpies any
more in Sydney. So I went out
hanging around tattoo shops instea[...]me, and in

Phil Noyce is probably the best-known of Australia’s
non-mainstream directors, with two of his films, “Castor
and Pollux” and “Backroa[...]so reached wide audiences
despite the limitations of their very low budgets.

Noyce joined the Interim Training Scheme of the Film
and Television School in 1973 (and there[...]lancer on “The
Golden Cage” and “A Calendar of Dreaming” before being
invited to direct “God[...]eg was actually made to illustrate
to school kids of about 12 and 13
the structure of a middle—class
Australian family and way in
whi[...]d and, at the
same time, hindered the
development of the kid.

Whereas “Mick” is totally
different...

Yes, the idea of Mick was to
illustrate the way in which peer
grou[...]by a distributor
and shown in the cinemas because
of his bizarre behavior: covering
himself with tatto[...]inema Papers, October — 1 l l

5 Leon Saunders (Sydney)

BACKROADS

W[...]me a short story he had
written called First Day of Spring.
We took one incident and the spirit
from[...]e wrote was a young

Shooting Backroads. Director of photo-
graphy, Russell Boyd, with camera (bottom)[...]op).

The last shot was to be three or four
miles of traffic stacked up behind
this car.

We were act[...]t
politically it was a cop—out. The

Aboriginal of 26 to 30 who had journey these men undertake was[...]to a white woman. He

always seen as an allegory of the

had been trying to make it in the journey white men and the

white society under the influence of
his wife because that was the ideal
presented to him.

What was the involvement of the
Aboriginal actors in the making
of the film?

I didn’t know many Aboriginal
actors[...]y, I’d seen Gary Foley
around town for a couple of years,
so I asked him to play the part of
Noel. I also wanted him to have
some creative control, as well as the
ideological control of the black
statement the film generated.

Was it a[...]ge.
They abandon the car, leaving it
among a mass of vehicles, and
disappear into the concrete jungle.[...]g?

Not really. We didn‘t have
enough resources of money and
manpower to do the sort of ending
that we finally compromised on.
Also I had[...]for the

characters.
The realism and forcefulness of

the characters have also tended to
provoke perso[...]lly blame critics — you just have
to find a way of pointing out to them
how your film might appeal.

Pierre Rissient, the director of
One Night Stand, who was once a
publicist, used to make successes of
films that looked like sleepers. And
he did this[...]level.

You seem to be very involved in
this side of filmmaking as well. . .

It is absolutely importa[...]m, they are never going to put in
the same amount of energy, or
present the same outlook, as you
can.[...]things go
wrong.

In filmmaking there is a degree of
departmentalizing, inasmuch as the
art dir[...]

How has “Backroads” gone?

It went okay in Sydney, but great
in Melbourne, though in
Melbourne it w[...]ou see yourself making more
films with the budget of “Back-
roads”?

Yes. I’d like to do some fe[...]el you can get more
social comment into this type of
film?

You can do things that you can’t
do in a[...]ect matter, would be offensive
to a large section of the community.
But I could afford to take a risk be-
cause it was only $25,000 worth ofof Philippe Mora’s Brother
Can You Spare a Dime an[...]aft screenplay
which already has a certain number
of characters and a plot line, some
of which I agreed with and some I
didn’t. It's bee[...]wsfront” basically
about?

Its a dramatic story of the
newsreel cameramen who lived and
worked in Australia during the
golden era of the newsreel from
’1948 to 1956. It uses actual docu-
mentary footage of the public
events that shaped and influenced
the[...]hese are set against
the fictional private lives of the men
who recorded that history, and the
women[...]ey had
relationships.

It’s the story basically of one
cameraman, Len McGuire, who
works for a compa[...]co is,
as Movietone was, an Australian
sub-branch of an international
company.

Newsfront is also an examination
of what happened to Australia
during that time of great change.
Between the end of the war and
1956, a million new settlers came to
Australia, and this greatly altered
the make—up of our society. One
result was a more international[...]general. Coupled with this is the
Americanization of this country.

One of the early events of the
film, and this typifies much of the
film’s attitude, involves the
launching of the first Holden. The
Holden has always been seen as a
symbol of nationalism, a reminder
of a more naive time of peculiarly
Australian symbols, like the kanga-
ro[...]300 million to the U.S. in
profits from the sale of Australia’s
national car.

The launching of the Holden was,
therefore, really a nail in the coffin
of Australian economic and, as it
turns out, cultura[...]ve the Germans as
the Opel.

There has been a lot of criticism
lately about the number of period
films that we are making in
Australia and[...]ilms
because it‘s attempting, by an
examination of the social fabric and
the public events of the near past, to
make statements about the evolu-
tion of present day attitudes and
constitutions within Au[...]ng was an event which
embellished a fear in a lot of
Australians — that of communism.
The same goes for the Petrov affair,
w[...]to the split in the
Labor Party and the formation of
the Democratic Labor Party.

I must add that thes[...]and the film is really a
narrative — the story of a family
and of two men.

Is it going to be a problem cutting
the news footage into the
narrative?

Only inasmuch as some of the
newsreel stories were edited with a
different aesthetic then. So the
rhythm of the cutting is often quite
dissimilar to the way[...]e reason the film ends then.
And television was, of course, a
further nail in the coffin of so-
called Australian independence,
because it in[...]hat people like, say, Hilary
Linstead, spend most of their time
keeping abreast of the latest
productions on the stage and in the
cinema. Hilary is constantly aware
of any emerging talent and of the
wide cross-section of actors and

types.
Concluded on P. 19]

Ci[...]

The festival's only weakness was the
standard of the main competition. The
festivals director, Dr Wolf Donner, plans
to upgrade it by advancing the dates of
next year's festival from July to -early
March — two months ahead of the
Cannes festival. Dr Donner believes that
the[...]l there were 34
films in the main section, and 25 of these
were eligible to compete for the Bears —
a sign of the overall lack of quality that
the same four or five were shortlist[...](London).

l 14 — Cinema Papers, October

Most of the arguments were focussed
on Robert Bresson’s[...]ousness and sincerity a
world in which the choice of life and
death should be treated with equal
respect."

Jan Dawson, in a dazzling thematic
analysis of the film, says in the festival
program note that it “...requires a
spiritual progression on the part of the
audience, from antipathy to compassion
to awestruck admiration". Though the
audience forms part of an over-
populated, polluted and degraded world
c[...]ruption,
Charles continues his frightened pursuit
of his own death." However, like the
similarly suicidal heroines of Bresson's
previous films, the people in Le Diable[...]ssionals
who show little except advanced
symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Naturally
the psychiatrist_Char[...]hat
people within the film are seeing. In
moments of emotional stress, we look
away from faces: we stare at the texture
of a trouser-leg, the shape of a shoe, the
glint of metal on a railing or a lift'door. The
camera fol[...]nt, a station
in Charles’s calvary. The tension of the
film — and probably its greatness — lies
in this combination of alienation and sub-
jectivity, sharpening our self-disgust, or
even our shame that in view of his meta-
physical pretensions, man should be suc[...]film as . . not about war,
but the relationship of the inner self to the
outside world. There are tw[...]he question that interests me is the

possibility of a mans resistance to his
inner destruction."

Alt[...]first prize.
The increased honesty and wide frame of
reference of Ascent postulated a moral
refinement new to the S[...], it was a necessary
political gesture. In Berlin of all places, in
this precarious island city trying to be the
open market between the nihilism of
sophisticates and the unthinking assump-
tions of loud ideologies, it is important to
remember that[...]on aesthetic grounds alone.

Another illustration of the way fascism
eats the soul, not in the over-
m[...]write
Borau's Poachers and Camino's Long
Holidays of ‘.36; in turn, Borau
collaborated on the script of Black Litter,
so the similarities of approach and treat-
ment are not surprising.

In both films there is a threat of
violence from the beginning: the harsh
lighting,[...]all
right-wing terrorist group under the
guidance of their mother. They attack
libraries and shops, an[...]ves to show her that he can fulfil the
conditions of membership — secrecy,
revenge, and the willing sacrifice of his
dearest and nearest for the cause. Tatin
fail[...]yet
Black Litter was probably the best acted
film of the competition, rivalled only by
the Hungarian e[...]g
aesthetic qualities", especially the
camerawork of Elemer Ragalyi. But the
acting was equally good.[...]lties for Endre Holman who
played a communist boy of about 18
trying to escape, after the failure of the
1919 revolution, by dressing as a girl. He
re[...]ise-en-scene is
masterly: even the lyrical beauty of the
changing seasons becomes an inexor-
able dramatic force.

Many of the competition films were
bedevilled by miscasti[...]ed plays, a
genre which most critics consider out of
place at film festivals anyway. For this
reason,[...]iar choice — surely, with all its
faults, Break of Day would have been
more appropriate?

The[...]

The Berlin festiva|’s real strength lies in
the Forum of Young Films, established in
filmpolitical opposit[...]her amicably,
owing to the forums eclectic policy of
showing anything and everything liked by
the orga[...]estivals, resulting in a miscellaneous
collection of sleeping giants and under-
developed subjects.

T[...]szaros‘s Nine Months,
Cassavetes’ The Killing of a Chinese
Bookie, and Dennis Hopper's The Last
Mo[...]ames Benning’s 11x14,
the Mulvey-Wollen Riddles of the Sphinx
and Celestino Coronado’s Hamlet. I
m[...]styles which have
been around since the invention of the
film. At best they are the poetry of the
cinema, and as poems do not have to be
long t[...]re's
epic play is reduced to 65 minutes, and
much of that is mime. A small but skilled
cast double up[...]amlet, whose indecisions are split
between a pair of identical twins. A
rococo extravaganza of a film, inspired by
the same impulse which makes models of
cathedrals in strawberry ice-cream, I
would still[...]urkish director Yilmaz
Guney who was, at the time of the
festival, under arrest in Turkey. It may be
t[...]bles, even

Pal Sandor's A Strange Rois the story of a communist boy who escapes the failure of the 1919
revolution by dressing as a girl.

Andras Fricsay and Antonia Reininghaus in The
Conquest of the Citadel, an adaptation of the
novel by Gunter Herburger.

without arrest an[...]etitions for Guney’s release to the Turks.

One of the forums pleasurable
surprises was The Perfumed[...]Best
First Film. it is in the faux-naiftradition of
Jacques Tati or even Buster Keaton,
telling the cautionary tale of a Filipino
boy who spent his early life dreaming
about the U.S., and the marvels of
technological progress. His dream comes
true when[...]ork taxi and flies him to Paris,
with the promise of an eventual trip to the
U.S. After getting used to Paris, and a
quick trip to Germany (“the birthplace of
Wernher von Braun“], Kidlat begins to
question[...]er subject and style, before the
seven-day wonder of The Perfumed
Nightmare exhausts its international[...]circus-ring, introduced this
year, was the series of about 40 recent
German films — enough for a sep[...]aphy by Evelyn
Kunneke, a very German combination of
Vera Lynn and Billie Holiday; and Stunde
Null (Ze[...]s an
autobiographical subject; and it is a
matter of personal importance to
confront what Reitz calls a national
neurosis, taking the form of total
amnesia about the events of 1945.

Reitz’s anti-hero, a boy of 14, has no
concept of life before or without the war.
Treated well by the first Americans he
meets, he forms an idea of the U.S. as
Eldorado. His Nazi upbringing makes
h[...]uture as
promised by the Russians: like
thousands of other, mostly older Nazis,
he opts for the Americ[...]satire, there is also the indomitable
tenderness of the disenchanted
humanist.

An impressive amount of care and
subsidy went into this New German
Cinema[...]h aimed_at
showing a representative cross-section
of the 1976-77 production. The National
Film Production Board provided sub-
titled versions of 22 films; another 18
had earphone translations an[...]may be
salutary to note the flamboyant
withdrawal of Hans Jurgen Syberberg
from it all.

in an open letter to the editors of four
influential newspapers, Syberberg
explained[...]an
reception (or its absence; he complains
mainly of a lack of receptivity) to his
one-hour sample from a six-ho[...]r sample at
Berlin. He also forbade any screening of
Hitler in West Germany.

While it is not impossib[...]two critics, he accuses the German
press en masse of conniving to strangle
artistic freedom and deaden[...]nd these teacup storms,
especially as in the case of Fassbinder
the situation is complicated by the
uneven quality of his work. His latest
film, though advertised, did[...]s Caudillo, a
newsreel compilation about the life of
General Franco. The title, being
Franco’s middl[...]its
own retrospectives, too: there were the
works of the East German director
Konrad Wolf, and films a[...]anyone noticed, but, in the
political atmosphere of the Berlin
Festival, it made me feel a lot[...]

Sunday was actually a[...]in central
NSW, where shearers had been a
fantasy of mine, I thought the idea
sounded bloody brilliant[...]as an
important film because it was the
beginning of being able to tell a
small but very important part of the
beginnings of a nation. It has
something to do with our nationality
and is, at the same time, bound up
with the ethos of the sheep shearer.
The other important film to be
made, I think, is the story ofof Aust1'alia’s great success stories. It
has already accrued a gross in excess of $1,000,000, the
book has sold more than 300,000 c[...]s undergone further
changes after the appointment of John Morris as
corporation director and the departures of Jill Robb and
marketing manager, Peter Rose. Carroll is now executive
producer in charge of feature and television production.

In the follow[...]usses “Storm
Boy”, “Sunday”, and the role of the SAFC.

I was co-producer with Gil
Brealey tho[...]and very,
very emotional.

Gil hadn’t been part of that,
having had to run the corporation at
the sa[...]t was
unfortunate. I think this was the
beginning of all the problems you
hear about — the cu[...]

What about Foley’s relationship
wit[...]le, confusion creeps in . . .

The whole sub-plot of the girl was
quite complicated and it was very

Picnic at Hanging Rock, one of the independently produced films the SAFC has in[...]ork dramatically.

Does the SAFC retain the right of
cut on all the films it produces?

The standard[...]n’t always
have to end up that way. In the case
of Storm Boy, the director’s cut was
basically the[...]to the distributors — and this
was at the time of Alvin Purple —
they said “Yes, it is very int[...]delaide.

The thing went through the roof
and all of a sudden there was a great

‘deal of interest. Roadshow, in fact,
did agree after some[...]gh they still
believed Adelaide was no
indication ofof the box—off1ce for a lot
of advertising time. Jill then went
overseas leaving[...]mestic release.

Phillip Adams was another critic
of the release of “Sunday”,
particularly over the choice of the
Rivoli Cinema in Melbourne . . .

I certainly[...]r, I might have
put Sunday into a city cinema in

Sydney instead of the Double Bay. I
don’t think the triple suburb[...]e SAFC to
produce “Storm Boy”?

Under the Act of the Film
Corporation we are required to
make film[...]ssible to make children’s
material, but outside of Disney
there seemed to be very little,
though a lot of people were
campaigning about how few good
films[...]to 100, rather than
for the usual cinema audience of 18

The Fourth Wish, the feature spin-off of the four-part television drama.

Cinema Pa[...]

The resources that had been
pro[...]spent
on a film?

It was actually lower because of
our efficiency in marketing films.
Our main campaign was the school
mailings, and a couple of those
don’t cost as much as three or four
prime time spots in Sydney.

We also knew exactly the sort of
material that had to be produced, so
when materia[...]istributors, it was material they
could use.

One of the other things we learnt
on Storm Boy was the importance
of test marketing. That was why we
opened the film[...]big potential box-
office, but no one has thought of
tapping it — except us.

How good a test market[...]For
example, we didn’t let on from our
release of The Fourth Wish in
Adelaide that it wasn’t working with
audiences; but we knew what sort of
audience it was attracting and had a
good idea of what its fate would be.

Storm Boy which Carro[...]ed for the SAFC. It has already grossed in
excess of $1,000,000.

1 18 — Cinema Papers, October

With the advantages of hindsight,
what would you say were the
reasons fo[...]idn’t want to go through John
Meillon’s agony of seeing his son
die.

\
Do you think it ‘should[...]al. We got no advance for
it, but they paid a lot of the costs
and we got a direct split of the box-
office.

Do you feel it should have been
released i[...]emiered in the Directors’
Fortnight is the kiss of death?

No. It did an enormous amount of
help, because the announcement of
being in the Directors’ Fortnight hit
Australia just at the time of the
films release and it did a lot to
boost the f[...]ay, which
has limited ability to perform in a
lot of European markets, and
certainly in the American m[...]hink the Directors’ Fortnight
would be the kiss of death for a very
blatantly commercial film like
E[...]r
Sunday.

How does the film stand at this
point of time, financially?

It is in profit — we broke[...]RATIONS

The SAFC appears to have the
flexibility of a small Hollywood
studio in that it can initiate[...]hing. We are
very keen to encourage the
expertise of the people who have
moved to South Australia so t[...]n getting
things off the ground.

There are signs of this happening.
One company to whom we have
given assistance has started to do a
television series, and one of our
telly films has been written by a
local write[...]similar to the public
service. All those outside of the
clerical staff, like myself, are on
short—t[...].

What are your feelings about the
proliferation of film corpora-
tions?

I am very worried by it, th[...]nd the
corporation is virtually a
rationalization of something that
hadn’t been very efficient in th[...]acing a crucial stage and I think
there is danger of the federal
government seeing the state
corporati[...]l Party policy.

But doesn’t this proliferation of
film corporations lessen the need
of an AFC? In other words, isn’t it
a question of centralization versus
decentralization?

I think the strength of the SAFC
is our entrepreneurial ability; o[...]

Ignoring t[...], Star Wars is
undoubtedly spectacular in its use of special
effects. And the man largely responsible[...]ly become
established.

During the pre-production of Star Wars it
became obvious that a large number of
miniatures and other related effects shots needed[...]ctor George Lucas, the Wookie and crew on the set of
Star Wars.

the newly-formed company, Industrial[...]some operating 24
hours a day to keep up the flow of production
necessary to have everything completed[...]ounted on a crane, along a straight 42 ft. length
of track, simultaneously raising or lowering,
pannin[...]final space clashes for the
film became somewhat of a nightmare due to its
very fast pace. The dogfig[...]certain to become the science fiction
equivalent of the Bullitt chase sequence. It was
painstakingly[...]r 2
air-to-air combat footage as it was this type of
action that Dykstra wanted to portray on screen.

For one seemingly rapid three or four second
scene of an X—Wing fighter being pursued by an
enemy T.[...]e X—Wing miniature, having
been placed in front of a translucent blue
screen, is attached in such a[...]with the cameras yaw
and pitch gives the illusion of the camera
tracking along behind the X—Wing as[...]emy ship replaces the
X—Wing miniature in front of the blue screen
set-up. Its movement, combined wi[...]rol. There are now two
black and white shots, one of the X—Wing and
the other of the T.I.E. ship. The pieces are laid
together and[...]or this one
quick chase scene six separate pieces of film
have been exposed.

In many of the scenes, laser beams are being
fired by either one or all of the space ships in
rapid succession. These too required many
matting processes. The length of laser fire, its
point of origin and impact area had to be syn-
chronized to match the movements of the
miniatures in each frame.

Concluded o[...]

Luke’s Kingdom was shot in the foothills of
the Blue Mountains of New South Wales during
1974 and 1975. The concept[...]table exceptions being
Oliver Tobias, in the role of Luke Firbeck, and
British television directors Pe[...]ilms, Hannam directing Sunday Too
Far Away, Break of Day, and Summerfield,
and Weir The Cars That Ate[...]c At
Hanging Rock and The Last Wave.

The writers of the series, as far as I have been
able to gather,[...]tain Women, and Elizabeth Kata, who wrote
A Patch of Blue.

Luke’s Kingdom ought to be first seen in the
context of what can be loosely described as
Australian histo[...]concerned in their own way
with a particular era of Australian history, using
the background of the developing country to
locate their characters in problem situations.

The best of these, Rush, initially an Australian
production a[...]ion in its second series,
followed the adventures of a police constable
(John Waters) attempting to ma[...]ian gold-mining settlement during the
latter part of the 19th century.

Despite occasional concessions to the presence
of political corruption in the colony, and to the
te[...]2() — Cinema Papers, October

central thrust of the series is towards romance —
a conventional[...]rcising
his power and wisdom to provide the means of
resolution for the dramatic conflict. Only in one[...]ld not be so resolved. Needless to say, the
issue of resolution need not be the defining one if
one is concerned with critical estimations of
value, and qualities of visual and dramatic style
can provide their own standard of excellence.

Unfortunately, none of the Australian series I
have mentioned (at least after a single viewing of
occasional episodes)has such quality, beyond the
often intelligent working through of particular
motifs at the script—level. The standards of
production, even making allowances for the
limite[...], and are
severely restricted by the uneasy blend of
videotape and film, of studio and location work.

Luke’s Kingdom, however, is shot completely
on film and sustains an evenness of surface
texture which seems to me to be essential to con-
ventional television drama. Set in the early part
of the 19th century in New South Wales, it is
characterized by a harshness of tone (the human
drama) in constant tension with the romantic
conception of settling the new land (evocatively
conveyed by th[...]allenging wilderness). And
while there is a sense of the closure of a
particular story at the end of each episode, this is
rendered irrelevant in terms of the broader
context of the drama as a whole.

Beyond the collision betwe[...]e’s father, a retired British
naval lieutenant, of genteel disposition, sees his
and his family‘s future in terms of the past, as an

extension of their life in Britain which they have
left after the death of his wife. Luke, on the other
hand, is better equipped to tackle the savagery of
the colony, denying the relevance of the past and
seeking to achieve his vision of the future — his
“kingdom" —— by whatever[...]amorality — provide a background in
which each of the dramas is placed, either
directly or by impli[...]referred to Luke’s
Kingdom within the framework of television
series, binding it together with anyth[...]le
there are, for all their differences, a number of
valid reasons for viewing these as relations, if not
as members of the same amorphous family, it
ought to be noted t[...]m,
arguably, has more in common with that species
of “continuous dramas”* which seems to have
been[...]s, Downstairs,
The Search for the Nile, A Bouquet of Barbed
Wire, The Forsyte Saga, The Pallisers, and[...]for obvious
reasons centred on a particular group of people,

* The current tendency is to note these dramas as “mini-
series“, but the thrust of my argument demands an
alternative descrip[...]

Episodes of a series can be, and oftenware,
shown in any order; those of a continuous drama
require a particular chronological order. The
writing of each part demands an overall concep-
tion and that the material ofof destiny for every character and what the
resoluti[...]devise stories
which will advance that in a sort ofof years (Luke’s Kingdom
spans seven years;Rich Man, Poor Man Book 1
more than 20), a number of sub—plots which serve
to evoke the mood of the period as well as
provide a collage of reflections of the central
characters and the central conflicts[...]format ending but
undercuts any traditional sense of resolution by
pointing forward to an ambiguous fu[...]doms”, have
been ruthless in their exploitation of those
around them, whether friend or foe, and bot[...]finally forced at least to a partial
recognition of their own limitations as human
beings.

Luke’s Kingdom closes with the destruction of

Far left: The Firbeck Family glimpse Austra[...]n Morse) stand together and look beyond
the ashes of the Firbeck property to the future;
and as Rudy a[...]m’s ashes, but implicitly
forward to their hope of being able to start again.

It is worth looking closely at the beginning of
Luke’s Kingdom, the episode entitled A Sort of
Gentleman (written by Keith Raine, directed by
Ke[...]d with old
photographs and furniture — remnants of an era
now past. A girl comes across and begins t[...]ual role
suggesting that the girl is a descendant of Kate’s
(and, perhaps, of Luke’s) and binds together the
present and the[...]he diary is Jason’s — . . I believe the hand
of God to be with us . . ." — a fact which adds a[...]ile to that which forces him towards an
awareness of the inadequacy of his principles in
this God-forsaken place— . .[...]m to his liking . . .” — Jason
recalls a face of history which is moulded in his
own image, its features elsewhere providing the
substance of most text-books about Australia’s
past.

A ploy of the dramas as they progress is to
visually rewrite, and contradict, Jason’s words
and the sort of history which conceals the
moments of brutality and anguish by submerging
them within a broader historical movement. Of
course, Luke’s Kingdom is fiction, but the issue
here is one of placing that fiction within a period
of history.

Amid the echoes of voices from the past, voices
that we are to recog[...]LUKE'S KINGDOM

the dramas, the girl reads of the Firbecks’ voyage
from Britain to the colony. A cut transfers us to
the past, and an overhead shot of the family
(Jason, his son, Samuel, and daughter[...]ng companion, later to be depicted as
the subject of the episode’s title, playing cards
around a tab[...]y drunk and his abrasive manner disturbs
the tone of the gathering. Here, and throughout
the subsequent episodes, Luke is ill at ease in the
pursuit of civilized rituals, and often deliberately
upsets the unity they embody.

The sighting of the Australian coast-line finds
the family together on deck, eagerly straining for
a sight of their future. Jason’s observation — “A
new[...]ing!” — catches the
communal, pioneering mood of the moment, and
lays the foundation for an irony[...]ly anchored in the
past. Bound by the moral codes of the Mother
Country, the ethic of the ‘gentleman’, the course
he endeavors to pursue is out of tune with the
reality of the colony.

The Eden that he is envisaging across the
waters of the bay has much more in common with
Hell (Luke,[...]episode, describes it as
“Pandemonium: an abode of devils”) which has
no room for moral niceties. Jason, of course, is
not alone in holding this view, and hi[...]clashes with
the convicts laboring in the streets of Sydney, as
Jassy finds herself the object of crude suggestive-
ness, and of mockery for her lameness. The
brutal response of a guard to the convicts is as
disturbing to the f[...]en their departure from the oppressive
atmosphere of the town offers little respite from
the sense of a country divided into nobs and
scum, an environm[...]an official document,
guaranteeing him possession of government land,
rich for grazing — Jason’s way is shown to be
inappropriate to the needs of the settlers. First
Luke, then Charlton (John Clayton), a
prospective ticket—of—leave employee being
interviewed by Jason, warn him of his error in
not anticipating that their journey overland
would ruin the fleece on the sheep bought in
Sydney.

A fair man,’ Jason realizes his mistake, and
recognizes what is to be gained from the advice
of those who know better than he what is
required to[...]on, but not before Luke has voiced
his resentment of his fathers authority: “Does he
play whist, father?” In fact, as he witnesses
Jason’s generous offer of wages, he usurps that
authority, interrupting the[...]ason, according to convention, stands
at the head of the family, directing the route it
must take. His[...]than
etiquette, kindness and diplomacy (the mode of

5

Cinema Papers, October — l2l

Luke‘s enemies.
behavior most likely to appeal to an audience of
popular television).

Luke, on the other hand, while aware of his
place in the family, is little concerned with it or
with any other of the conventions on which a
civilized community is[...]).

Given this dramatic conflict, and the absence
of any resolution to it, the placing of sympathies
in A Sort Ofof
the landscape is nicely evoked by the recurrent
references to the broad vistas of mountains and
forests, a reading of these images being directed
by the orchestral surge of the soundtrack music
(a score which, by the way,[...]hatic and intrusive). But against this
suggestion of a romantic adventure into the
unknown, one has to set a more localized, and
immediately hostile, sense of place.

This feeling is illustrated by a single camera
movement, from left to right, across the trunk of
a decayed tree, the Firbecks and their newly-
acq[...]the road towards
their new home. The implication of this image is
a dwarfing of the individual, his boundless hopes
for the futur[...]Luke as well) being
situated within the confines of his immediate
location within the landscape.

As[...]ted Luke casts a suspicious eye on the
activities of the shepherds around the wagon
which contains their supplies. He recognizes the
nature of these activities too late —— Charlton has
robbed them.

The moment of rest, of distraction from the
task demanding full and constant attention, is
sufficient to sabotage their chance of success.
Luke alone seems capable of realizing the need
for total commitment, and his pursuit and arrest
of the thief demonstrate this. He beats infor-
mation out of the shepherd who has remained
behind with the Fir[...]ough! I
want to stay with you.”), bribes it out of the
occupants of the inn/brothel (its sign carries the
temptation of “Bed and Bawd”) in the scanty
township to whi[...]ary
authorities.

Charlton has made an occupation of robbing
prospective settlers, disposing of his goods so that
his guilt cannot be proven. The[...]r Weir
and Luke.

Victoria Anoux as Rosie, one of the “girls“ at the Border
lnn.

Luke, uninhib[...]in
propriety, characterized by a ruthless pursuit of
his own end, has been able to succeed by
adapting[...]gs.

Side by side with the Firbeck saga in A Sort of
Gentleman is the introduction of the first of a
series of periphery characters whose stories
direct attention, in terms of narrative, away from
the central conflict of Jason and Luke, but serve
to sharpen our focus on it in terms of the
aesthetic structure of the particular episode.
Aloysius Fogg (Barry Hill[...]time he expressed his love
for Jassy, arrives in Sydney to set himself up in a
law firm, and finds that t[...]arded his money is now penniless and
on the brink of suicide.

In desperatestraits, he meets up again[...]ance upon her, which is rejected,
and the removal of a sextant from the Firbecks’
equipment, which Luke discovers by chance in
his pursuit of Charlton.

Fogg has begun the episode with dignit[...]n impulses and the uncompromising circum-
stances of life in the colony, to a situation in

which his[...]accurately, his amoral one) by
invalidating that of the gentleman, forces Fogg to
watch the whipping[...]ss, Luke responds by offering him
the alternative of confessing and thus alleviating
his stricken cons[...]e
Firbeck . . . You'll do well. This is a bastard of a
place; it’ll take a bastard to lick it.”

L[...]distance, the nowhere beyond the legal
boundaries of the colony. As he asks, “Whose
land is that?”, director Hannam places a group of
convicts working in a chain gang in the middle-
foreground, while in the background the
unconquered beauty of the Blue Mountain
foothills invites the entry of those who dare. “A
new world, an open pa[...]

m. . ‘ u.

Luke explains[...]A Man Worse Than Cormac episode.

the scriptures of Australian history by those
convicts, by the unse[...]s
been granted to another. In a scene with echoes
of the opening one, Luke re-enters the family
circle, drunk with his dream of the way that lies
ahead, intruding on their depre[...]requires that they become
squatters, their tenure of the land an illegal but
condoned one, their statute that of stinking
commoners, their kingdom of Luke’s design,
rather than Jason’s. But it is[...]y Luke’s enthusiasm.

I have suggested that one of the most
interesting aspects of Luke’s Kingdom is the way
in which each segment serves to illuminate the
characters and relationship of Luke and his
father. The pattern seems to be the introduction
of a character linked by behavior or context with
Lu[...]t drama providing
clarification or qualification of our perspective
on the two men, and intensifying[...]intention to settle outside the legal boundaries of
the colony, in what is now known as “No Man’s[...]lier Luke as he declares to the officer in
charge of the local soldiery, “Liberty is riches
with the[...]at he now needs “more land”, that their stock
of sheep will have to be tripled in a year.

The connection of the two sequences in the
prologue, the placing of the two men at the centre
of the drama in each, and the sentiments offered
by[...]title to the episode suggests its own
comparison of them.

That Luke is ostensibly the hero and that
Doyle is the villain (the later intrusion of his men
into the Firbeck land can be likened to t[...]Donald Bull, directed by Peter Hammond), a
ticket-of-leave convict, Jack Skelton, has gained
employmen[...]becks. Expressing his
resentment at the treatment of convicts by the
authorities (“like beasts for t[...]thus presenting a metaphor for what the
savagery of Australia has done to its inhabitants,
he finds a sympathetic Jassy willing to listen to
his tale of woe and to understand his yearning to
return home to his wife.

As a result of an incident at the inn (an attempt
to defend an Aboriginal boy against the mistreat-
ment of one of the local ruffians), Skelton finds
himself answer[...]d then, more seriously, for breaking the
contract of his ticket-of-leave by working outside
the legal boundaries of the colony. The corrupt
local magistrate sentence[...]her retrea-

LUKE‘S KINGDOM

ting to the safety of a belief in “God’s will”.

For Jason, the situation becomes a crisis of
conscience. He remains poised between his
humanit[...]inst the cruel magistrate exercising the
dictates of the law, but is persuaded to protect
the escapee[...]is, and . . This confrontation
with Jassy is one of several between the two in
the episode. The others find Jassy reacting
against his nostalgic recall of Britain and of her
mother, accusing him of having failed to give her
sufficient support to live.

Jason is thus linked with Skelton in terms of
their response to the hardship of their present
circumstances, both acting with dignity against
the injustices of the colony, both aware of the
humiliation that the destruction of their
principles entails, and both seeking respit[...]s the wounded Skelton rides off to die at the
end of the episode, his departure witnessed by
Jason and[...]at least been able to
face death with the comfort of having been
questing for freedom, rather than with the morti-
fication of being forever imprisoned “on the
island”.

The method of construction of Luke’s
Kingdom around the interruption of outsiders
into the life of the Firbecks is an intelligent one,
in the way it, in line with the pattern of the
continuous drama, shifts the centre of interest in
each of the separate narratives, while at the same
time,[...]are implicit
in all the episodes.

The appearance of relative innocents, like
Fogg, Skelton, Cope (in[...]n
Enemy Too Many) brings to the fore the
presence of Britain and her values and the motif
of (in the words of Jason’s diary) “pygmy mortals
who violate a w[...]or “corrupted by the
savagery".

The intrusion of the lawless, like Cormac
Doyle, Corporal Bailey ([...]ott (An Enemy
Too Many), underlines the impotence of those
who attempt to survive in the wilderness on the
basis of an alien morality. In Luke’s words, “We
are e[...]men who fill their empty
lives quoting the books of law. There are no laws
here.”

Any discussion of Luke’s Kingdom must
finally focus on Luke, whose character lies at the
heart of this continuous drama. With his
obsessional behavior he belongs somewhere in
that line of anguish-ridden figures found in the
John Wayne characters of Ford films; in the
James Stewart characters of Anthony Mann’s
westerns; in the gangsters who inhabited the
1920s and 1930s environments of Raoul Walsh’s
films; or in the tormented heroes of much of
Nicholas Ray’s cinema.

As such, he is unique t[...]thless
in satisfying his own desires, his methods of

Eric Rohmer is one of the most uncompromising
directors in France today: uncompromising in his choice of
subjects, in the actors he works with, and in the[...]s a
director, Rohmer also lectured in film at the University of
Paris 1, and has made a number of programs for French

educational television.

Roh[...]y began in the 1950s but never

really was a part of the explosion which was the New Wave.

Despite th[...]omolli, Barbet Schroeder, Jacques Rivette — all of
whom have now taken radically different direction[...]many critical articles
for the “first period” of ‘Cahiers du Cinema’, and it is

obvious that[...]er than specifically cinema.

Was “The Marquise of O” a long-
range project?

No, it was quite a r[...]easier, but the Italians
have such a personal way of making
their films that it is very difficult for[...].

What really appealed to you in
“The Marquise of 0”?

Everything. To begin with, the
way it was[...]do now in Percival.
That is to say, a certain way of
integrating narration with the
action; of allowing the dialogue to
take over the narration, and vice
versa.

In The Marquise, although there
are a lot of things narrated by
Kleist, I did not want to use[...]t was in indirect speech * — and
there is a lot of it — into direct
speech. I also did this becaus[...]he has remained faithful to his original project of

the six “Contes Moraux” (“Moral Tales”),[...]rman) “Die Marquise
vonO...” (“The Marquise of O”) which is a rigorous,
suggestive and beautiful staging of the Kleist text. No small

amount of credit for the pictorial accuracy and harmony of

“The Marquise” must be given to Rohmer’s c[...]researching a project
based on the medieval text of ‘Percival’ by Chretien de

Troyes.

The follo[...]e in Kleist, and the only
thing I kept in the way of narration
were the inter-titles, which were
very[...]will
narrate what they are doing; they
will speak of themselves in the third
person. For example, the[...]ere must be
similarities . . .

Are you conscious of these?

No; that is to say, there are
subjects wh[...]an
ambiguity between good and evil
and an absence of clear-cut judge-
ment, I like very much. I would[...]st
that. I like characters who are on

the limits of the diabolical and the
angelic.

Like Pasc[...]

In your introduction to the
written version of the “Moral
Tales”, you say there are no
origi[...]turning to
literary adaptations?

It is somewhat of a paradox. Even
if you want to write for the cine[...]f it is
very beautiful and original, such as
that of Bergman. I find that it is
sometimes a little opp[...]I wanted
to say.

In another interview you spoke of
“The Marquise” as a performance
of the Kleist text, rather than a
transposition into[...]as perhaps more
ambitious — it was the ambition of
my generation to make something
lasting. Now I re[...]g
which is ephemeral, which only
lasts the length of the performance.

Also, I find that theatre the w[...]myself —-— if
only from an experimental point of
view. In any case, I dont think I
would become a[...]ly in the theatre, but from an
experimental point of View I would
certainly like to do something.

You[...]is very
theatrical?

It is theatrical in the type of acting
it called for, in its construction, but
no[...]The Marquise there is no
stage. There is no point of view
which would be that of a theatre
spectator; we are actually in the
apart[...]fireplace to the mirror. There is an
end-on view of a corridor — which
is something that wouldn’t[...]rical set
can have only three walls (the position of the
fourth wall being taken by the audience),
whe[...]e Marquise, in particular,
there is only one type of music used
— the drum — and I played t[...]

Well, what I studied in Murnau
was a certain organization of space,
and in particular the presence of
certain motifs, such as the expan-
sion and contr[...]ay, but that is something a director
is not aware of.

Murnau, however, has been
important for me in t[...]d me,
though I am not always absolutely
conscious of this.

And Hitchcock . . .?

Yes, of course. Unlike some of
my colleagues, I do not have a good
memory. For e[...]o encounters. Why do you
disallow all possibility of this
woman ever remaining with the
hero?

But that is the theme, or the
subject. There is no way of replying
to that, since it is the starting point.[...]sionate
affair with a Milena. Doesn’t this
type of situation interest you?

I don’t know. She is alluded to in
order to show a certain richness of
life in all these characters, to show
that this i[...]to show that these
characters have a life outside of the
story.

Do you think women are less
morally s[...]The woman is
presented from a more interior
point of view. But it is evident that
in all my films the[...], does Aurora (the
novelist) represent your point of
view? In your other tales there is
no equivalent[...]fternoon.

divide the narrator into two. My
point of view is not necessarily that
of the narrator’s — I film someone
who is tellin[...]are two people who tell the
story: the character of Jerome, who
tells his story, and the novelist, wh[...]a subject
which was narrated, but without the
use of the voice—over of a narrator.

But Aurora brings an ironic
element to the film, a point of
view which the spectator himself
provided before[...]es the character in the film
who is the spectator of the other,
who tells his story . . .

Are you able to teach what
interests you at the university?

Personally, it is not cinema that I
would most[...]but I am not qualified. And the
cinema is a part of other art forms. I
find that it is interesting to[...]your time reading?

I am not one to devour a lot of

films. Sometimes I find it sufficient
to see the films shown at the
university during the week. I read
much more, but this is co[...]h Percival, I am
studying not only the literature of
the Middle Ages, but also their art
and so on. I am more often in front
of a book than in a cinema.

When do you thin[...]

In this seventh part of a 19—part series, Cinema
Papers contributing ed[...]citors Leon Gorr and Ian
Baillieu discuss another of the service
agreements a producer must grapple wi[...]operty to
the screen.

1 . Introduction

A number of differing forms of service
contracts for talent are discussed below as well
as the Equity standard form of agreement which
feature film producers within Australia have to
enter into because of the union situation. The
Equity Agreement sets ou[...]hich compensation clauses, default clauses,
grant of rights clauses and general covenants
clauses are[...]s differ from
British and U.S. models in a number of ways.
Except for a few stars, local agents give l[...]e unlikely to
argue greatly about the whole grant of rights
clauses that their clients frequently sign[...]r any promotional tours or the
like.

The concept of free time is a negotiating ploy
used by overseas[...]Australia,
which local producers should be aware of. An
agent, after having agreed to a fee for say f[...]is paid on a
weekly rate calculated at the amount of the total
fee divided by thenumber of working weeks.

Local artists are less likely to[...], limousine to set/location; 16mm

* The grant ofof finished film for private use; first class
air tr[...]aranteeing the
performance by the service company of its
obligations to cause the artist to perform.[...]foreign artists, in
addition to the requirements of Equity, discussed
below, the producer will need a[...]with the artist allowing him to deduct
any amount of withholding tax from the artist’s
salary and/or share of profits as determined by
the Commissioner of Taxation. The producer
will also note that he wil[...]. The producer may also
wish to consider the form of currency the com-
pensation should be paid in, e.[...]are more likely to want a
salary package instead of a mere cash fee. This
salary package may include an additional fee
deferred out of first producer’s profits paid pari
passu with (or sometimes ahead of) other defer-
ments as well as a piece of the producer’s net or
gross. The salary package may need stepped
payments over a number of financial years or
payments to a third party. Oth[...]Department) and Aboriginals
(refer the Department of Aboriginal Affairs).

2. The Equity Agreement

In[...]ent with Actors and
Announcers Equity Association of Australia, the
union to which all working actors[...]an extent through the Creative
Development branch of the AFC, have generally
been exempted.

It is an[...]fully be remedied, that there is no standard
form of equity agreement which each producer
automaticall[...]een agreed to after
discussion by representatives of Equity and

1111-

feature film producers.

As it[...]ir thrall, and have been able to
develop a number of clauses and attitudes which
are oppressive to the[...]ly
repressed industry situation.

Equity’s form of agreement (an example of
which is set out in Precedent 10A) begins by
considering the ambit of its agreement and
unreasonably attempts to prevent Australian
producers from the reality of exploiting their
rights to video cassette, cable television and
similar forms of distribution. The union’s ground
is that they are too difficult for them to control.
The form of the agreement contains many clauses
that are adop[...]ndard contract.

In the U.S., however, the number of actresses
and actors available have made it possi[...]southern states, particularly in low budget areas
of filmmaking.

Basic rates of pay are set out for various sets ofof pay set out in the agreement
apply only to Austra[...]U.S. network) and U.S. network. The
total amount of these loadings have varied from
film to film, bu[...]d 125 per cent, depending on the
bargaining power ofof ancillary rights
within Australia claiming they are too difficult
for the union to control.

Clause 36 of Precedent 10A sets out a form of
stepped loading for ancillary rights, similar in[...]agreement. The
producer is faced with the problem of either
paying all (or most of) the loadings at once
without knowing whether he will need to exploit
some of these rights, or waiting until there is need
to l[...]g basic rate, not the rate
prevailing at the time of entering the general
agreement, and he may[...]

It is worth checking t[...]egotiable.

Producers may want to widen the grant of
rights clause (clause 25 in Precedent 10A) to
bring it into line with clause 4 of Precedent 10B:
the long term “star" agreement,[...]otiable point.

The clauses concerning alteration of calls;
holds; overtime and Sunday rates should be[...]ld
not do the part.

There is a strong atmosphere of chauvinism
prevalent in Equity which stands at lo[...]greement does not
concern itself with intricacies of billing, but in
the event of a foreign performer being
considered, Equity may[...]bject to a foreign performer getting 100 per
cent of the above the title billing. Again the
producer will find ways of negotiating here.

3. Long form ‘Star’ Agreement

A form of such agreement is set out in
Precedent l0B, which is contained in the sub-
scription service. This style of agreement will be
used for the leading role or ro[...]nt if the performer, either
local or imported, is of some box—office value.

The agreement sets out the period of employ-
ment of the artist, which may or may not include
a stop date by which, regardless of over schedul-
ing, the artist must be allowed to[...]contracts modelled on American agreements. It
is of dubious merit. American law precludes
specific performance of a contract for personal
services, but there is a specific exception in
Section 526 (5) California Code of Civil
Procedure and Labour Code Section 2855 whic[...]to that found in clause 3(d).
Australian courts, of course, are loath to enforce
by specific performance contracts for personal
service.

The grant of rights clause is extensive and
includes a basic p[...]doubling rights, full cutting rights (a reflexion of
the ‘pay or play’ clause, which may be partia[...]ts approval clauses); publicity
rights; ownership of any literary material
provided by the artist for[...]ights.

The general covenants clause has a number of

provisions which have been previously discussed
in Part 6 of the series: the Directors Agreement
to which read[...]ip clause.

Detailed provisions, as to the effect of inter-
ruption or default, are set out. These cla[...]ly
negotiated. The need is to minimize the amount
of time an artist may be disabled, disfigured, in
de[...]oducer can terminate the agreement.

At the speed of schedules Australian
producers work on, a period of more than two or
three days may be enough to jeopardize the
completion of the film. The question of the
compensation payable to the artist, before
te[...]ttled.

Billings clauses are only beginning to be of
concern to Australian agents although they will
b[...]or by agents for foreign
artists. Different sorts of billing requirements
reflect the supposed stature of the star. The form
and size of the billing is generally related in size
and positioning of the films title card, and there
will be exclusion[...]use 7(ii) has been discussed
in the previous part of this series. In an acting
context this clause can give the producer an
untrammelled right to reduce the size ofof contract clauses. There is also a
savings clause which provides that in the event of
any conflict between this agreement and the
Equit[...]to
which this agreement protects him in the event of
breach, is when all is said and done an actor can[...]erform. No drafting can protect against this sort
of behavior.

4. Short form ‘Featured Players’ A[...]cription service is basically an abridged
version of the long form agreement 10B. Unlike
the long form agreement the compensation clause
provides for a breakdown of the salary total into
various component parts, in[...]agreement. A loadings clause sets
out a breakdown of various loadings the
production has agreed to with Equity.

The grant of rights clause is a standard release
coupled with[...]tor on set and
a sufficiently comprehensive grant of rights and
exclusion of liability for certain hazardous acts,
damages and[...]Equity Agreement

AGREEMENT entered into this day of
One thousand nine hundred and seventy
BETWEEN ACTORS‘ AND ANNOUNCERS' EQUITY ASSOCIATION OF
AUSTRALIA of 72 Stanley Street. Darlinghurst. New South Wales

(hereinafter called “the Union") of the One part AND
of

(hereinafter called “the Producer“) of the Other part relating to the minimum
fees, sala[...]er remuneration to be
paid to, and the conditions of engagement of artists engaged by the
Producer to work (rehearsa[...]r work) in or for or
incidental to the production of a feature film as hereinafter defined and as
here[...]"the film") tentatively known as

1. APPLICATION OF AGREEMENT

A. The Producer agrees that notwithstanding anything else herein
contained no performance of an artist in connection with the said
film may be[...]es or the like is effected solely for the purpose of normal
transmission by a television station and w[...]other purpose or in any other manner or disposed of such as for but
not in limitation thereof retail sale.

B. The Producer agrees that any agreement of engagement between
the Producer and any member of the Union or other person
engaged by the Producer[...]set out in this
agreement and that the conditions of engagement of each artist
shall never be more onerous than the[...]t in
this agreement. The Producer agrees that all of the terms of this
agreement shall apply to all persons engaged[...]visual or oral or both) in the film irrespective of the weekly or
daily salary. wage or fee paid to s[...]n. PROVIDED
THAT it is distinctly agreed that all of the monetary terms set out
herein are minimum terms and all of the hours set out herein are
maximum ordinary hours and that the number of days work per
week set out herein is the maximum number of ordinary working
days per week.

C. The Union agr[...]ith the Producer for the film during
the currency of this agreement and that the Union will not call or
order any stoppage of work by artists engaged by the Producer for
work in accordance with the terms of this agreement. PROVIDED
THAT the Union may order a stoppage of work by artists if it be
reasonably established that the Producer is committing a breach or
breaches of this agreement.

2. DURATION OF AGREEMENT

This agreement shall commence on 1st August 1977 and continue for a
period of one year or until the completion of the said film whichever is
the sooner.

3. BASIS OF MINIMUM RATES OF PAY. ETC.

The minimum rates of pay set out in this agreement are based on the
mi[...]rates set out in this agreement as from the date
of operation of such Award increase.

4. FEES/WAGES — SCALE OF MINIMUMS PAYABLE
The minimum fee, wage or salary[...]performance and work incidental to the production of the film shall be:

Basic Rates Total Minimum Rat[...]6 per day
(iii) Engaged bythe hour for a

minimum of 4 hours and not

required to speak more than

two lines of dialogue $8.25

Plus Minimum Loading

(120%) $9.9[...]photographed in a manner which avoids recognition of the
Double and who does not speak dialogue[...]

E. CROWD EXTRAS
(An Extra is a person whether in costume or not who is part ofof the public in
modern civilian dress to join in a scene and such members of the
public shall not be regarded as employees and shall not otherwise
be covered by the terms of this agreement.)
(i) Engaged by the hour for a minimum of four hours

$5.97 per hour
(ii) Engaged by the da[...]is an artist who is less than sixteen (16) years of age.)
Juveniles shall be paid at rtorless than 50% of the
applicable rates of pay set out in this agreement.

G. MINIMUM LOADING
Excepting as to Crowd Extras‘ rates the minimum rates of pay set
out in this Clause4 contain loadings tota[...]red and
twenty per centum (120%) in consideration of which the Producer is
granted sole theatrical (ci[...]as excepted).

H. POST SYNCHRONISATION. RECORDING OF WILD LINES OR

ADDITIONAL DIALOGUE

(i) An artist[...]rtist and the Producer with a minimum call
period of 215 hours; other than during his normal call time[...]'s voice in one
episode shall be paid at the rate of $12.37 per hour with a
minimum call period of 21/; hours for any one programme.

(iii) The voice of an artist appearing in a programme may not be
dub[...]v) Payments as set out in paragraphs (i) and (ii) of this sub-clause
shall be the full and only paymen[...]dio premises
or location hotel room on completion of a day's shooting; but
not recorded to picture; ar[...]hooting time or
extension thereof.

I. ALTERATION OF CALLS

If for any reason the Producer alters the date of any call or calls
before or.during an engagement,[...]ist provided that not less than seven days
notice of such alteration has been given to the artist prior to the
time of the original call. Should less than seven days but more than
iorty-eight hours notice of such alteration be given, the artist shall
be entitled to a fee of not less than sixteen and two-thirds per
centum (162[3°/n) of his negotiated fee for such altered call or calls[...]thirty-three and one—third per centum (33|}3%) of his
negotiated fee for the altered or postponed c[...]artist—or with an artists
agent for the placing of a "hold" upon the artist for a period
exceeding thirty-six (36) hours from the time of the commencement
of such hold and an artist or his agent may not agree to such "hold"
exceeding such period of thirty-six (36) hours.

K. CLIMA'I1C ALLOWANCE WO[...]ia, Northern Territory, Eastern
or Northern Zones of Western Australia, Western or Northern
Zones ot S[...]he artist
shall be paid at a daily or weekly rate of pay for his ordinary
hours of work a sum which is not less than a sum which is 10%

in excess of the daily or weekly rates set out in this clause[...]e in the world outside the territorial boundaries of the
Commonwealth of Australia or its dependencies (excluding
Antarcti[...]he artist
shall be paid at a daily or weekly rate of pay for his ordinary
hours of work a sum which is not less than a sum which is 10%
in excess of the daily or weekly rates set out in this clause for
all such work.

5. ANNUAL LEAVE

The provisions of the New South wales Annual Holidays Act shall app[...]ged for work intbe film as though each engagement of
an artist were made in the State of New South Wales and as though the
entire engagement was carried out in that State. Payments in lieu of
annual leave shall be calculated on the total min[...]ein, whichever is the greater.

6. ORDINARY HOURS OF WORK
The Maximum ordinary hours of work shall —

(i) For weekly engagements not ex[...]break excluded) on any one day.

(ii) In the case of a per day engagement not exceed eight
consecutive[...]make-up shall be in the artist's time.

7. NOTICE OF CALL TIMES
The Producer shall notify an artist employed on a weekly basis at the
end of each day's work in the studio or on location as the case may be of
the artist's commencing time for the next day's w[...]give the artist not less than
twelve hours notice of starting time.

130 —— Cinema Papers, October[...](i) For weekly engagements time worked in excess of nine hours on
any one day shall be paid for at ti[...]vided that all overtime in
any one week in excess of fifteen hours shall be paid for at
double time.[...]sixth day in a week he shall be paid at the rate of time-and—a-
half for all ordinary time worked o[...](iii) For daily engagement time worked in excess of eight hours shall
be paid for at time-and-a-half[...]uired to work between midnight and 6.00am as part
of his ordinary hours of work shall be paid an additional 15% of
the hourly rate to be calculated on the artists B[...](vi) where an artist has not been given a break of ten clear hours
between the cessation of work on one day and the
commencement of work on the next succeeding day he shall be
paid at the rate of double time for all time worked during the said
break of ten hours with a minimum payment as for one hour[...]c Holiday which occurs during the artist's
period of engagement the artist shall be credited with eigh[...]tist to negotiate for and receive rates in excess of the
rates herein set out. A negotiated rate may include payment for a
specified number of hours of overtime (whether worked or not) provided
that-[...]of are set out in writing (signed by or on behalf of
the Producer and artist) prior to the commencement of the
engagement; and

(b) the amount of such negotiated rate shall not be less than the
aggregate of all applicable rates herein set out.

11. MEAL AN[...](i) An artist shall be provided with a meal break of a duration of not
less than forty-five minutes nor more than sixty minutes and the
length of such duration shall be the prerogative of the Producer.
The time of such meal break shall commence between noon and
1.30pm in the case of lunch or between 5.00 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. in
the case of dinner. PFIOVIDED however that in any event such[...]ur hours nor later than five
hours from the start of the actual work session involved.

(ii) Should an[...]ce
not later than ten hours from the commencement of the artist's
work on that day and at the Producer[...]a satisfactory three-course meal or paid the sum of
$3.00 in lieu thereof.

(iii) The artist shall be allowed a tea or smoko break of ten minutes‘
duration in the Producer's time during each session of work and
not later than 2.5 hours from the beginning of the work session.

(iv) All meal breaks other tha[...]time.

(v) An artist shall be entitled to a break of not less than ten clear
hours between the time of cessation of work on one day and
the commencement of work on the next succeeding day.

12. TRAVELLING[...]he Producer to travel
away from the artists place of residence (temporary or
permanent as the case may be) to the place of the Producer's
registered office for the performance of the artist's work. when
such travel involves any[...]be provided with a sleeping berth at the expense of
the Producer if such berth is procurable and if n[...]department for such sleeping berth. in
the event of the Producer requiring an artist to travel by air[...]asis and the Producer agrees that no off

loading of an artist will take place as a consequence of that

artist holding an F.O.C. ticket. The Produc[...]Producer shall pay to the artist a meal allowance of $1.50 for
breakfast, $2.00 for lunch and $3.00 fo[...]uired to stay away overnight from his usual place
of residence. the artist shall be provided with firs[...]ion or the Producer shall pay to the artist a sum of
$15.00 per night for overnight accommodation whil[...]l cities, first class accommodation shall
consist of an unshared room with bath or shower room and toilet
facilities therein except in cases of emergency. The artist shall
during such an emergency, be paid $15.00 per day by the
Producer in lieu of such accommodation.

(iv) In any event if an arti[...]vailable to the artist or the artist is
by reason of wearing costume and/or make-up unable to proceed[...]satisfactory meals
or pay to the artist an amount of $2.00 for lunch and $3.00 for
dinner.

(v) if an[...]suit the artist's convenience and be paid the sum of
$15.00 for each such day or part thereof. If the[...]artist shall be paid for each day
or part thereof of such travel at half his negotiated wage for
each day of such travel including the days of departure and
return.

(vi) Travelling time other[...]lause shall be counted as working time in respect of all
travel both ways between the pick-up point (referred to in
subclause (vii) of this clause) and location, with a maximum
travelling time of eight hours on any one day.

(vii) An artist is r[...]taxi, private car or chartered bus), at the place of
temporary residence of the Interstate artists engaged for that
day's wor[...]d for a time later than the time for
commencement of work for the day may be required to
use such public transport as is available and the use of
which is reasonable in the circumstances. The Producer
shall reimburse the artist the cost of fares paid for such
public transport.

(3) Travel[...](b) For rehearsals, at such place within a radius of five miles of
the General Post Office as is nominated by the Pr[...]ed by the Producer to and from the artist's place of
residence (temporary or permanent as the case may[...]be available during working
hours for the taking of still photographs to be used by the Producer only[...]AGEMENT TO BE SET DOWN IN WRITING

The engagement of an artist shall be properly set out in writing and shall
clearly set out full details of the engagement including the artist's rate of
pay and period of engagement. The Producer shall provide each artist
with such written agreement of engagement at a time which is:
(i) Not later than 72 hours after the verbal or other confirmation of an
artist‘s engagement.
(ii) Not later than 8 clear days prior to the commencement of an
artist's engagement.
(iii) In the case of the verbal or other confirmation having been made[...]o provide an artist
with the said written details of engagement as provided in (i) or (ii)
of this clause an artist shall be given such written details of his
engagement prior to the actual commencement of the
engagement. PROVIDED that in the case of an artist being
required by the Producer to trave[...]he said written details prior to his
commencement of such travel.

SIIBSIIBIPIIIIII SEBIIIEE

Orders are now being taken for the loose leaf
subscription series of the "Guide for the Australian
Film Producer“ by[...]as the local production industry grows.
Teachers of film will also find the service a useful aid.

First mailing of the series will be in January 1978.
There will be an installation fee of $A75 and an
annual subscription of $A75.

In most instances, subscriptions to the gu[...]it with a cheque for $150. The initial print run
of the service will be limited and only paid orders[...]December 21 will be guaranteed a

January mailing of the binder and first material.

To Cinema[...]

One of Hoyts’ major expansive
activities in the exhibi[...]st 18 months or so is
the Entertainment Centre in
Sydney. How is that working.’

It’s a great success[...]nsive centre,
costing $14 million. That’s a lot of
money on which to get an adequate
return. However, the Centre is one
of the few theatres in the world that
really works f[...]other
theatre will work that way for a
film.

One of the aims of the Entertain-
ment Centre, by virtue of the scale
and size of the theatres, was that it
would enable a film to[...]t might. . .

Terry Jackman, managing director of Hoyts Theatres
Ltd., is one of the new style executives now running some of
the major exhibition and distribution companies i[...]theatres there before it finishes. The
whole idea of the Centre is
flexibility. However, it’s not quite
as simple as it sounds, because it
depends on the type of film you
have coming in as openers. For
instance,[...]has
to play in a small house. In addition,
in one of the two small houses,
Cousin Cousine was such a s[...]it
ran 26 weeks.

There have been rumors that one
of the theatres is going to be
broken down into two[...]Cinema Papers, October — 131

r. Leon Saunders (Sydney)

One of the ideas that was mooted
by your predecessor —[...]ban drive-
ins were concerned — was the
putting of selective hard-tops into
drive-in fields in Melb[...]about.
They are fairly old and in the wrong
kind of areas.

What are your views on Hoyts-
Fox’s inv[...]involved
during the past two years in the
opening of the Entertainment
Centre. It was a gigantic proje[...]laced behind it.

As to production, we have a lot of
confidence in the standard of Aus-
tralian productions and are
confident that w[...]r us to
enter into it. In addition, we have a
lot of theatres and there is not
enough box—office films from tradi-
tional suppliers, so we ne[...]ction
industry in this country, and the
directors of the company share this
view.

What attracted you to “The Chant
of Jimmie Blacksmith”, the first
film Hoyts has in[...]c confidence in Fred Schepisi,
who I think is one of three or four
top directors in the country.

“The Chant of Jimmie Black-
smith” has, by Australian
standar[...]o

The new 7-cinema Hoyts Entertainment Centre in Sydney.

become involved in projects with
budgetary scal[...]stralian
production?

Though there has been a lot of
talk, there really isn’t a budget.
There is, however, an amount of
money we think about,»but there is
no actual bud[...]ceived. I guess you could call it
the first right of refusal.

And if Fox decides to buy the film
for[...]even been discussed.
As there is no deal outside of the
Australia-New Zealand area, it
would be discu[...]for other territories.

There have been a number of
figures mentioned in the press
about the exact amount of Hoyts’
investment in “Jimmie Black-

smith”[...]producer. He reads the scripts

THE PAST
MEMBERS
OF THE
PANTHER
, FAMILY
HAVE BEEN ;_:~
I[...]

Sandy has spent a lot of time with
Fred talking over Jimmie Black-
smith,[...]ome
out about twice a year.

Peter Rose, formerly of the South
Australian Film Corporation, has
now joined Hoyts. Is this evidence
of a desire to build up expertise in
the production[...]derstand, however,

I’

5-an

that selected box-offlce receipts
are about to be made available
thro[...]in the past?

I don't know why. Through the
years of watching the production
industry grow, it always[...]and exhibition-distribu-
tion were magnified out of all
proportion by a general refusal to
talk.

I d[...]ably give people in the
production area some idea of our
problems. When you work out what
it costs us[...]ion and distribu-
tion rights. There are a couple of
other interesting looking projects,
but we really want to make certain

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of where we are going and with
whom. We are not just investing for
the sake of it — we’d like to get our
money back.

If a p[...]ivileged arrangement with
Hoyts, and the question of
restrictive and exclusive
franchises with Columbia and
United Artists was tossed around.
What percentage of Hoyts box-
office receipts, say over the past
12[...]jor problem
because prices are now completely
out of context with what the market
will stand. The prices asked are
based on the boom period of two or
three years ago when everybody
was racing[...]nsorship?

I believe we should have only one
form of censorship. The Queens-
land Board, of course, I grew to
know very well, living four to[...]d
I guess it’s only natural.

When the “Story of 0” was
banned in Queensland I under-
stand you sought legal opinion on
the possibility of contesting the
ruling of the Queensland Board of
Review . . .

If I remember correctly, the
genera[...]em worth the fight, bearing in
mind the feelings of the Govern-
ment.

And yet, paradoxically, when a[...]ople are prepared to pay
and see and the attitude of their
elected government?

I cant explain the attitude of the
elected government. I used to talk at
great length to all of them in the
government and they felt that what
th[...]k this is brought
about in some way by the number of
films that are banned,just as much
as I think that the soft-core porno
films screened around Sydney in
commercial theatres are being
affected by thes[...]Another recent censorship
problem has been that of ‘R’ films
in drive-ins, particularly those
dr[...]way round
this problem?

There is no easy way out of it. We
are going to need some form of self-
regulation within the industry. If
not, I a[...]bt this problem is
becoming a big one, with a lot of
pressure being put on governments
to do something[...]miss out
and there is going to be the usual
cries of “Why me, why not you?”
However, if we[...]

Sohrab Shahid Saless’ Reifezeit
(Coming of Age) is a deceptively simple
story of a boy and his single mother in a
decaying suburb of Berlin. Yet, while
Saless‘ long, static takes a[...]not
impart a significance. Saless‘ style is one
of accumulation, a relentless obsession
with the ord[...]nally yields the
extraordinary.

The simple event of the boy returning

home each day and climbing the[...]n a
greater meaning. Obviously it imposes a
sense of, if not imprisonment, then an
absence of space. But this is only the
superficial meaning.[...]m above. it is
extremely moving.

Another example of emotion being
generated by repetition is the opening of
the film where Saless delineates the
different time planes of mother and son.
The boy rises while she is asleep[...]s to bed down before her return.

In this absence of sharing, their lives
become like rituals, every action a
mechanical gesture. And while Coming
of Age does not pander to ones
sympathy, the bleakness of the situation,
the visible damage it is doing, and the
unlikelihood of anything being done to
change things, certainly i[...]attitude.
And this may account for the difficulty of
resolving one's emotional response with
the contradictory nature of the film's
concerns.

Gerard (Gerard Depardieu),[...]ionship soon breaks down —
Valerie accusing him of being the
patriarchal head of a family that no longer
exists — and in despera[...]Saless‘ deceptively simple, yet moving, Coming of Age.

bother by their insistence. But then,
subtlety is not a Ferreri virtue.

Part of the film's trouble is the muddle-
headedness with[...]itically inactive. And to discourage any
thoughts of abandoning the niceties of
coupling, there is that dreaded fear of
solitude.

Gerard‘s move from Gabrielle to
Valerie, therefore, is more the result of
external forces on him than a decision of
free will. As well, his efforts to
maternalize hi[...]ch
Pasolini would agree with given the
sentiments of his ‘last recorded
interview‘) but is it convincing? Certainly
not so in the context of the film.

Earlier in the film Gerard offers to
p[...]y" and
attempts to seduce a friend. It is the act of
a man enslaved by society's notions of
virility. Therefore to remove his own penis
is to[...]l as
liberating himself from stereotypic
patterns of behavior. But he cannot and
hence the contradicti[...]ble for its
energy and the excellent performances of
Depardieu and Ornella Muti.

Claude Sautet's Mado is a return to the
territory of his earlier Vincent, Francois,
Paul et les Autres

Simon (Michel Piccoli), a middle-aged
owner of a small construction firm, is
fighting to avoid a[...]h his
principl_es already eroded by the
pressures of survival, Simon finally
resorts to the tactics of his enemy —
though with an increasing awareness[...]unter-attacking Pierre’s abuse at the
stupidity of prostitution, Mado replies,
“We all sell oursel[...]sits his ex-wife Helene
(Romy Schneider), an echo of the scene
between Audran and Montand in Vincent[...]ly, Winter 1975-6, pp. 44.

\

A grouping typical of a Claude Sautet film. Ottavia Piccolo as the pros[...]even when he discovers
himself increasingly fond of Mado, he
finds her drifting off with Pierre. This
culmination of his descent comes when
on returning from a celebration in the
country, Simon’s group is caught in the
mud of a construction site. It is, of course,
highly symbolic, but then most things
Sau[...]ace. And it
conveys a sufficiently powerful sense of
needless decay.

Mada is generally entertaining a[...]y Ottavia Piccolo
whose work, with the exceptions ofof
|bsen‘s bitter attack on the puritan ethic.

Th[...]he
shatters the father, Hjalmar, by accusing
him of building a fantasy world where the
‘real‘ is[...]sinuates
that the 14-year-old Hedwig is the child of
an affair between his father and Hjalmar’s
wife[...]ve — the wild duck in the attic —— as
proof of her love for Hjalmar. Hedwig then
leaves to shoot[...]carefully composed and
lengthy takes, sparse use of camera
movement and claustrophobic, though
never[...]nages to
satisfy cinematically the restrictedness of
|bsen’s play. And in this sense it follows
the tradition of the recent German films of
Syberberg and Schmid.

However, Geissendorfer’s[...]rate his story on
Hedwig. For despite the tragedy of the
ending, her pure spirit is a positive force
against the bleak poverty and calvanistic
repression of Gregers. it makes a
potentially stagnant play ver[...]1975, seven years after May ‘68 and
by a series of accidents several former
activists form a group.[...]us) the farm laborer turned
self-employed teacher of the young, and

her lover-to-be, Pierre (Jacques[...]at
“t e coup e".

so on. It is a group typical of an Alain
Tanner film; a number of people all with
different reasons as to why the energy of
'88 dissipated.

Despite the inherent promise of the
situation, however, Jonas Gui Aura 25
Ans en[...]characters are convincingly real, but their
lack of purpose is often too much the
result of narrative looseness than intent.

Balancing this[...]ackled. And this humor is apparent in
the moments of seriousness, as when
during a meaningful political discussion,

a flood of tears is brought on by the,

peeling of onions.

This deliberate inversion of the
expected with the unpredictable is
elsewhere[...]farm, etc.

it is a mosaic approach with moments
of significance — Max joking that the
world is bec[...]argues the film's sentiment, that
the possibility of radical change must, at
all costs, be kept alive.[...]a

‘ Cineaste, Vol. Vll, No.4, page 51.

group of workers are victorious in a life-
and-death strug[...]t
(Harvest: 3000 years).

Cantata is a recreation of a strike in
1907 at a British-owned nitrate mine;[...]d by
Humberto Solas, Cantata is a classic
example of political over-kill and
excessive caricature. In[...]monologue on how all strikes are for the
benefit of mankind, never for the
individual strikers.

Anot[...]as concentrates his camera
solely on the officers of the suppressing
army. We never see the ordinary s[...]roletariat w use their rifles.
Repressive regimes of all persuasions
need the support (either silent or active)
of the majority of the proletariat to
succeed. The fascist dictators[...]est: 3000 years, a
depressingly realistic account of peasant
life in Ethiopia, was significantly bette[...]ve landlord and his tenant
farmers. And the agent of potential for
change is the village fool,[...]

Harvest: 3000 years is of particular
interest in its observation/recreation of
Ethiopian peasant life. And the
significance of the title — that life has
continued there uncha[...]and one greatly aided by the
monotone photography of Elliott Davis.

Fons Rademaker's Max Havelaar, an
adaptation of Dekker's book on the Dutch
East Indies in 1855, w[...]only too
ready to course justice to the advantage
of the East India Company. And into this
situation c[...]ustice for
all. His efforts, naturally, fall foul of the
Regent and he is removed.

The Indonesian nationals, likewise, are
shown to foster the injustices of Dutch
rule to suit their own, corrupt ends. In th[...]er position.

Also interesting is the examination of
the motivations of the Dutch, both in East
India and at home. The Du[...]he
more given the church’s deliberate
promotion of colonial rule as a Christian
act.

Beautifully ph[...]epic cinema with
political insight.

The success of Pierre Rissient’s One
Night Stand lies in the realistic way it
captures, and delineates, that sense of
displacement one feels when stranded
alone in a foreign city; that double feeling
of refuge and loneliness one experiences
in anonymou[...]— but even this is doom-
ed by the impermanence of one's stay.

Rissient nicely counterpoints this

barrenness with brief flashes of genuine.

communication: the encounters between
P[...]in responding fully to
these alternating moments of illumination
is an occasional stiltedness of dialogue.
The film abounds with cinematic and
literary references and these provide a
level of conversation once removed from
the everyday. But[...]st between this abstraction and ones
expectations of the story.

This tension is most apparent in the[...]Carle’s La Tete de Normande
St. Onge (The Head of Normande St.
Onge) is an intriguing, though basic[...]it has not been justified by the
build-up.

Part of the problem is that Carole
Laure’s Normande is[...]in a canoe
filled with blood) are too reminiscent of
similar scenes in other films; they are all
insufficiently different to denote insanity.

Most of this miscalculation can be
attributed to Carle’[...]and actress (or actor) are
very close, an absence of critical
distance can blur the ‘real’ charact[...]the one
playing it.

However, this possible lack of
objectivity can have positive effects, as in
the film's moments of sexual imagery. The
scene of intercourse between Normande
and Boulaine, for in[...]Tate
are also satisfying, adding a nice
dimension of craziness which helps in
part to offset the sketchiness of
Normande’s descent. J. Leo Gagnon is
particularly good as the sculptor
moulding a caste of the naked Normande;
as is Renee Girard as Normand[...]s Don
Owen's Partners Interesting mainly as
proof of the inadvisability of marginal film
industries making pseudo-American
films, Partners is an uninvolving piece of
light-weight escapism. And where Owen
tries to invest some strains of sig-
nificance (the diary extracts which
parallel[...]eotypes is a
delightful glance at the inhabitants of Rue
Daguerre, a backwater street in the
oldest part of Paris. It is full of rundown,
overstocked shops, each with its peculia[...]is ability to find anything in the
engorging mass of cardboard boxes and
bric-a-brac.

Varda is clearly fond of her subjects,
and this helps her inject the film[...]m, as in the sequence
where each shopkeeper tells of meeting
his wife. Rather than being dismissive of
their evident simplicity, Varda records
them with[...]od), though at times
somewhat slight, is a comedy of manners
about a city family who takes on the
realities of country life during a vacation.
Some of Menzel‘s obsen/ation is sharp —-
particularly[...]armer, Komarek, blissful in his
easy manipulation of his city tenants.

At times the film is also broa[...]Here,
Sanders economically delineates the
forces of oppression: class con-
sciousness; a different, i[...]laar (on horse).

language; a widespread distrust of
foreigners; a fear that migrants are
depriving Germans of work; etc. It is then,
after a period of intense loneliness
relieved only by shared sympat[...]brupt and unsatisfactory melodrama.

This loading of the dice is most evident
in Sanders‘ manipulation of Shirin’s
descent into prostitution. Hearing of

Carole Laure as Normande during her descent into[...]act with
the pimp. However, as Shirin has a photo
of Mahmud, why did she not show it to her
fri[...]

mercy of any depraved and base men
who confront her, but b[...]Bernice Bobs her
Hair — unquestionably the best of the
shorts — is stunning. Based on a slight
but charming short story of F. Scott
Fitzgerald, Bernice shows remarkable
fla[...]ed in the correct
manner, can make great cinema.

Of the others, Fassbinder’s Chine-
sisches Roulett[...]l
Pacific) has a certain charm in its depic-
tion of the downstairs world in a large
hotel. Gori, Gori, Moja Zvezda (Burn
Ever Bright, My Star), a labored piece of
regressive Soviet propoganda, was en-
livened only occasionally by the catching
performances of Oleg Tabokov and
Yelena Proklova. And Ulli Lommel’s Adolf
und Marlene, a silly parody of Adolf
Hitler, was a late entry that proved not
late enough.

Scott Murray

It is in the realm of the private that one
can confront the forces of repression,
that a socially circumscribed reality can
be subverted. The boundaries of such
rebellion are inevitably limited, and so it[...]onsciousness is insufficient to change
the course of history, though the
particular dimension of its quest can
provide a perspective on it. L’Empire des
Sens ( In the Realm of the Senses/ Empire
of the Senses) sets in sharp tension this
private en[...]lready attempted to place the film
in the context of director Nagisa
Oshima’s other available work.‘
Accepting the validity of her
commentary (I have only seen Gishiki
(The Ceremony) and In The Realm of The
Senses), it is clear that Oshima is con-
stantly preoccupied with the question of
Japan and her identity in history, though
“it is the spirit of the Japanese, rather
than any text-book chronology, that is
the real subject of Oshima’s
explorations".

The period of In The Realm Of The

Senses (1936) is barely decipherable,

‘Ci[...]master, Kichizo. L‘Empire des Sens.

MELBOURN E/SYDNEY FESTIVALS

Shelley Duval as Bernice (second left)[...]Scott Fitzgerald story.

and the physical details ofof flag-
waving women, march past Kichizo as!
he mov[...]ork
that defines women as waiting on the
pleasure of their men, and by the
austere nature of the dwellings, built on
squares with their stringent formality
and their suggestion of enclosure
(characteristics which have been
exploi[...]ts which oppose them
- Kichizo chooses the manner of his
death, in search of a final pleasure,
which is clearly ,not in accord with the
conventional nobility of the hara—kiri or
the kamikaze; Sada finally acq[...]ite their self-
imposed isolation from it, a part of the
world in which they exist— their motiva-
ti[...]e for
pleasure, for its own sake and the
equality of their sexual relationship,
contravenes the sexual[...]censors‘
wrath denotes the continuing relevance
of Oshima’s observations), but must
adopt its identity from the very existence
of those taboos. The past constantly
lays its shadow on the present.

Sada’s constant insecurity, one
aspect of her drive to possess Kichizo
and his sex, is born of her place in a
socially inferior class — a plac[...]ubordinated. It is
significant that she makes use of a knife
to threaten the geisha who challenges

her social position, and then again to
assert her possession of Kichizo, on
both occasions defending what she sees
as her contested security. The motif of
the knife, and Sada’s use of it, thus
enable Oshima to imply that her deepest[...]opriate) also carries with it
the social identity of adulterer, an
identity which is condoned only as long
as it remains a secret. The question of
personal honor is dependent upon a
public face, a[...]elderly principal, who Sada visits,
when he says of their relationship, ‘‘If
this were known, I'd[...]the point con-
cerning Kichizo’s consciousness of his
position is clear. The maid who brings
word of the telephone call from his wife
interrupts his shaving — he cutshimself,
then, in his only outburst of violence,
shatters the window through which the
maid delivers the message.

This, combined with the threat of the
knife wielded by a jealous Sada against
him, again carrying weight of estab-
lished social meaning because of her
use of it, serves to remind Kichizo of his
obligationsjf he is to sustain his honor
—[...]sub-
mission to death, an intended consum-
mation of his pleasure it is nonetheless
in line with what he knows would be
expected of him, is lent an extra
dimension.

Oshima’s imag[...]ose
stability is dependent upon the elimina-
tion of such individuality. Against a
recurrent eye-level, symmetrical framing
of the images (especially of those which
present, portrait-like the scenes of
copulation), he places images whose
divergent angles and off-centre framing
(again, often of copulation scenes, and
also of the buildings through diagonal
compositions which[...]n ‘argument’ in
the form itself.

The absence of a resolution to that
‘argument’ is expressed as much by the
almost symmetrical overhead shot of
the prone figures of Sada and Kichizo,
which ends the film, as[...]

Yes, within limits. I think of
myself as a director.

Does the director Huston w[...]ou shot “Asphalt
Jungle” and “The Red Badge of
Courage” in these soundstages at

MGM. How much[...]l the same;
techniques have improved, but that
is of little importance. The studio
system ended with t[...]director?

Directing had always been in the
back of my mind. It was a natural
thing to go from writin[...]better way?

Yes, I was not very happy with
many of the films. Most .of the
directors at that time came out of
the editorial department. There
were a few camera[...]art in
the interview. It was Huston’s last week of shooting, and
a few days after the interview the[...]heatre than at
Warners. I would attend rehearsals
of plays he was doing and I’d see
what he would do with a scene. It
was mostly his creation of a role, to
see how he went at it, that was a
lead[...]that I ever
directed him in was in The

Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

THE BIBLE AND
EXISTENTIALIS[...]I’m not trying
to propagate an idea or anything of
that sort.

So when you did Jean-Paul
Sartre’s[...]ialism now?

I think I am existential in my
views of things. I know Sartre and I
worked with him. I think he made
an enormous contribution. He’s out
of vogue now though, isn’t he?

How does existenti[...]le”?

Well, I look at the Bible as a
collection of myths and legends, not
from a religious standpoin[...]film. I don’t think it was meant to be
the word of God.

European critics, especially the
French, have said that you are
more interested in the pursuit of
your heroes towards a goal rather
than in the goa[...]in themes. I don’t even read
with the intention of finding
material, I just read out of interest.
One day something might become a
film.[...]is a challenge
in it, unless there is an element ofof you work together?

Hill: If we are adapting a no[...]t but
you cant see what you’re doing.

Then one of you will set it in
perspective . . .

Hill: Husto[...]often nothing gets
changed. After all these years of
working together we think quite
similarly.

How s[...]to the writer to
visualize the underlying thought of

Cinema Papers, October — 139

I know a Bergman[...]out the
thoughts that are going through the
minds of people. But I’ve never had
an occasion to do th[...]t is at variance with the
action.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE
CAMERA

In terms of style, you don’t pan
your camera a lot, you jus[...]that word should
be stricken from the vocabulary of
films. I never do it, unless that‘s the
way the[...]er, now look back to
me! (I look over to the door of the
wardrobe trailer we are sitting in,
then back[...]nd you. So that I am
cutting constantly. The size of a
character on the screen is
determined not by th[...]ver by the door.
(He points to a door on the wall of
the set, about 40 metres away). I see
Gladys, she[...]l that I was in love with her
from the other side of the stage (He
points out to the far end of the
sound stage), unless I was calling to
say goodbye or something of that
kind.

There are certain kinds of

important to keep the right
atmosphere. When you[...]pace
between important, and that implies
suspense of some kind, or that
something is happening out the[...]as the
acting is concerned, is the casting

100

Of course it is. If you have to
direct actors a lot,[...]ing, or was it in the
book?

There was an element of humor in
the book though I don’t think it was
as funny as the film. Of course they
worked beautifully together; they
com[...]chael
Caine, as Carneham, in Huston‘s reworking
of Kipling,The Man Who Would Be King.

what H[...]

On the set of The Misfits. Clockwise from Marilyn Monroe are C[...]nd from Marilyn by Norman Mailer.)

On the set of The Mackintosh Man — Huston with Paul
Newman.[...]“For
God’s sake, John, don’t let me get
out of it!” I was sure this was
actually one part of Bogart, and it
took him a little time getting int[...]ith Bogart was “Beat the Devil”

It was a bit of a travesty — we
were making fun of ourselves.
Another actor in Beat the Devil
was Pe[...]or themselves or too
great an emotion, but a kind of
overall sense of the fitness of what’s
happening to them. They rise to the
occa[...]lms have an
influence?

In a superficial sense, of course.
Look at the enormous success of
Roots, which I thought was very
bad artistically.[...]ce.

But i*sn’t it perhaps just a
manifestation of a change that has
already happened?

Undoubtedly[...]effects any psychological change in
the attitudes of the very people that
watch it, well but I[...]

Basil Gilbert

This is the first of a series of four articles
surveying the history of film periodicals in the
U.S., Britain, Europe and[...]ealing with the history, sociology
and aesthetics ofof specialized libraries
offer a wide range of film periodical literature
for study. A comprehensive list of film
periodicals held in the National Library,
Ca[...]is list, Film
Periodicals in the National Library ofof Current Inter-
national Film Periodical Holdings[...]ibraries, has been issued by the AFI
as a reprint of the appendix to its Dawson
Report; this list gives an indication of the
distribution of film periodical literature in
libraries such as t[...]established Film and Television School
Library in Sydney.

Access to this material has been greatly
facili[...]both subscribing to
the International Federation of Film Archives
(FIAF) Periodical Index Project. Th[...]bert is a lecturer in cinema studies at Melbourne
University and has done post-graduate work in film history
a[...]TED STATES

American Cinematographer, the journal of the
American Society of Cinematographers, was
established in 1920 and it[...]value lies in revealing
the ingenuity and skills of the cameramen, set
designers and special-effects men in the creation
of technically-complex films such as The
Towering In[...]o an
individual film.

In interviews with members of the society, a
regular feature of the magazine, the creative role
of the cameraman is emphasized. This is a
healthy co[...]which places creativity exclusively in the hands
of the director.

Early issues of American Cinematographer are
most useful in tracing the evolution of film
cameras and allied equipment, particularly
during the exciting years of the transition from
silent to sound production.

Experimental Cinema, one of the early
polemical film journals, appeared in 1930 but
ceased publication in 1934. These were the years
of the Great Depression in the U.S., and the
journal[...]the
“ideological and organizational foundations of an
American working—class cinema”. The journal is

valuable for its concentration on the work of
early Russian directors: Eisenstein’s articles[...]nciple and Japanese
Culture”, “The Principles of Film Form” and
Que Viva Mexico! ; Pudovkin’s[...]enario writing; and the dis-
cussions on the work of Dziga Vertov. This rare
journal has recently been[...]d immediately
after World War 2, became Quarterly of Film,
Radio and Television in 1951, and continues[...]is important journal
was jointly sponsored by the University of
California and The Hollywood Writers’
Mobilization, a community service agency of
“writers, educators, producers, actors, directo[...]-operative
research and production in the fields of radio,
motion pictures and television".

Accordin[...]s: workers in the
industry; scholars and students of the arts and
social sciences; and “members of the general
public whose interest goes beyond the passive
receptivity of the darkened theater or the half-
heard program t[...]high ideals were matched by the quality and
range of the contributions: Hans Richter looking
at the av[...]ue Francaise; Eric Goldschmidt on
the development of Australian films.

The journal did not carry ill[...]ion.

Films in Review began as the National Board
of Review Magazine, which in turn was an
amalgam of three earlier journals, Exceptional
Photoplays (1[...]to Better Pictures
(1924-26). The National Board of Review was a
watchdog organization set up in 1909 to
“represent the interests of the motion picture

A remarkable feature of Films in Review is its
long biographical career studies of Hollywood
stars, especially women (ratio to male[...]lse-
where. The journal also prints short reviews of
current films and film literature, and is
illustr[...]ding for those connected
with the production side of the American film
industry. In a recent interview[...]trenchant and unbiased, and
are useful indicators of the tastes of the time. The
AFI in Melbourne is to acquire a full run of
Variety on 16mm microfilm for study purposes.

F[...]mid—1950s, is essential reading for the student of
independent cinema. Mekas was responsible for
the formation of the New York-based
Filmmakers Co-operative in 196[...]filmmaker (Grand Street
1953; The Secret Passions of Salvador Dali
1961, etc.). The early issues of Film Culture are
erudite and conventional, featur[...]eriodicals Consulted:

ACTION

Directors‘ Guild of America,
7950 Sunset Boulevard,
Hollywood, CA 900[...]s,
c/o Gerald Noxon. Dept. Radio-
TV-Film, Temple University,
Philadelphia, PA 19122.

2/yr, $4 p.a. Circulati[...],
Retrospective Ind.

FILM COMMEN T

Film Society of Lincoln Center,
1865 Broadway, New York,

Bi-mont[...]lnd., Hum. Ind.

FILM CRITIC

American Federation of Film Societies,
333 Avenue of the Americas,

New York, NY 10014.

Bi-monthly,
i[...]undtrack for a Film Poem ending
with a Close—up of a Human Navel” gave an
avant-garde note and her[...]films under review, followed by a
brief synopsis of the plot and a critical
evaluation.

However, Film Facts takes its ‘critiques’ not
from its own team of writers but from 17 daily
and weekly reviews that[...]racts have been preceded by an additional
summary of nationwide opinion, followed by a
“critical con[...]but in 1972 was taken over by the Cinema
Division of the University of Southern
California. The current issues are sever[...]upsurge in
new film periodicals in the U.S. One of the first
of the new breed of scholarly publications was
Cinema Journal which w[...]/62.

Cinema Journal is perhaps the most academic
of current American film journals. Its con-
tributo[...]nor professional
critics; they are selected from university
professors, candidates for doctorates and out-
st[...]d teachers from American

FILM FACTS
The Division of Cinema,

University of Southern California,

Box 69610, West Station,
Lo[...]p.a.
indexed: Int. Ind. Film Per.

FILM HERITAGE
University of Dayton,
Dayton, OH 45431.

Quarterly, $3 p.a.
Ind[...]d. Film Per.,
Retrospective lnd., Art index.

101 University
OH 43403.
Quarterly, $5 p.a.
Circulation: 1,800.[...]tions used:

Retrospective lnd., Film Lit. lnd.,

University of California Press,
Quarterly, $6 p.a. Circulation 8,500.

National Board of Review of Motion
Pictures lnc., 210 East 68th Street,

Mont[...]nthly
(JunelJuiy; Aug/Sept), $10.50 p.a.

JOURNAL OF POPULAR FILM

Center for the Study of Popular Culture,
Bowling Green State University,
Hall, Bowling Green,

FILM PERIODICALS

and Canadian universities. Chapters of forth-
coming books are sometimes floated as tri[...]ble Six European
Directors: Essays in the Meaning of Film Style
(Penguin, 1974), for example, had drafts of
several of its chapters in Cinema Journal and
Film Quarterly[...]the book reviews are
notable for a high standard of critical appraisal.

Film Comment, which began as[...]several financial crises and
has emerged as one of the leading American film
magazines. Published by The Film Society of
Lincoln Center, New York, it has a high standard
of graphic design in the arrangement and
presentation of visual material. Its contributors
include some of the worlds leading film critics:
notably, Raymond[...]rd Roud,
Andrew Sarris and Robin Wood.

The scope of the reviews and articles is inter-
national and the tone conservative in comparison
with some of the younger, more radical
magazines. Last year, the journal issued a useful
cumulative contents list of back issues (Jan/Feb
1976).

When the Beverly Hills firm of Spectator
International introduced Cinema in 1963[...]gn than a
forum for argument and discussion. Many of the
covers and the photographs were overtly sexist in
their exploitation of the female face and figure,
but gradually the staff of Cinema — “photo-
graphers, art directors, wri[...]ood example is
Gerald Peary’s captivating study of Dorothy
Arzner (The Bride Wore Red) in iss[...]

in post-production are Daniel Petrie’s
film of the Harold Robbins novel The
Betsy (United Artist[...]New projects include Federico Fe||ini’s
Voyage of G. Mastorno for Penthouse, in
which Marcello Mast[...]ificatrice
di Correggio), about a woman convicted
of multiple murder who died in a lunatic
asylum, is[...]rgio
Sollima, who will be remembered for a
number of key ltalian westerns and who
had a major success[...], is making a spin-off,
Sandokan —— the Tiger of Malatta, which
is being shot in the East.

Sergio[...]he Italian western, is making Scoop in
Milan, one of a string of films he has
directed recently.

Giuseppe Squitti[...]is about a
police commissioner in the last years of
Mussolini's dictatorship who attempts to
wipe out[...]i completed L’AIbergo degli Zoccoli
with a cast of non-professionals. It is
about the life of peasants at the end ofof a group of young nuns, and has
Borowczyk's regular actress,[...]Adjani as Emily. Joseph Losey’s
new film, Roads of the South (from a
screenplay by Jorge Semprun), i[...]and Simon Ward
and the Peter Sellers’ Prisoner of Zenda
is in the offing. Michael Winner is re-
making Howard Hawks’ 1946 version of
Chand|er’s The Big Sleep. Winner has
cast Rober[...]ther remake is Paul Morrissey’s

comedy version of Hound of the

Baskervilles, which is co—scripted by and[...]r Lear
novel about the psychological
manipulation of a young girl competing in
the 1980 Olympics.

Mar[...]Raining in the Mountains,
both deal with aspects of Buddhism: The
first is a ghost story, the second about the
relation of power and Buddhism.

it appears studio reluctance about
finance has been overcome and that Li
Han-hsiang (of The Last Tempest) will be
able to make his version of the classic
novel Dream of the Red Chamber for
Shaw Brothers. Anne Hui, a Lo[...]ng a ghost story, his first
film since The Empire of the Senses.
Claude Chabrol is directing Bl[...]

Please send me E copies of Volume 3 (numbers
9-12) at $2] per volume.

Enclo[...]see below)

EASY BINDER

Please send me E copies of Cinema Papers’ easy
binder at $10 per copy.
Enc[...]80: air « $A36.20

(C) Back issues. To the price of each copy add the following:

Surlace (all[...]

D Copy(ies)of Number 13 at 8250*
D Copy(ies)of Number 14 at $2.50 *[...]

on‘Eliza

Frazer,’

talks ab[...]ad to look totally
genuine, so we were using lots of
lamps, fires, moonlight and lanterns.
Overall, we[...]isted at that time. This is where the
combination of very modern lenses
and the new 5247 really paid o[...]I don’t think I would have

believed what sort of sensitivity the
film stock had.”

“We carried[...]arted shooting,
and We found that the sensitivity of
the emulsion to this kind of lighting
was quite remarkable, so we used[...]

(6)'
27,421

1 (5)"
Break of Day 3,(2%1 “'4” 27.346

U!
G 1.
V ~t
O’!
U:[...]COL 7 857

e ancer
th D 7,857

(2)
4,532

Summer of
Secrets

4,753 7,855 1 1 61799

(1)
5,375

(13[...]137 9,954,715

Total

- Box—office grosses of individual films have been supplied to Cinema Pap[...]This figure represents the total box-office gross of all foreign films shown during the period in the[...]‘ =Conlinuing into next period.
=Figure for one of 3 weeks in period only.

(1) Australian theatrica[...]ralian Film Corporation; MCA— Music Corporation of America; S— Sharmill Films. (2) Figures[...]

On lo[...]STEADICAM
greatly enhances the creative latitude of the director and
cinematographer while effectively reducing production
costs.

105 Reserve Road, Artarmon
Sydney, N.S.W. 2064

Telephone: 439-6955
Telex: 24482

A[...]ccessories but will also market a very wide range of
motion picture equipment.

"-63[...]

The cast includes Richard Chamberlai[...]ichard Chamberlain) watches in horror as the roof of his house collapses Cinema Papers,October[...]

Peter then did another rewrite
with[...]ittle too
literally. The script had lost a little
of its mystery — it had become too
accessible, too[...]Jim: We had come to the
conclusion that a project of this size
needed a package. The four
elements we[...]ur agent in
Europe, introduced us to Klaus
Helwig of Janus Films who had
bought Picnic At Hanging Rock[...]ve” is an important film in this
regard because of the McElroys’ breakthrough in pre-
selling the[...]eal, producing
features in Australia and the role of the independent

producer. They begin by discussi[...]mmond.

the script in October and on the
basis of that committed $50,000 on
paper. He in turn had a friendly
relationship with Ernst Goldsmidt
of United Artists and mentioned the
project to Ernst[...]Africa.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and
parts of Scandinavia had also been
sold to Janus. So we we[...]more territories
without jeopardising the number of
territories from which we had to
recoup our inves[...]off amount
to approximately $400,000, the
balance of $300,000-odd being put
up by the SAFC and AFC. We[...]greed sum and that would be
cashed in on delivery of the film. In
effect, we pre—sold the film, but
instead of receiving money we got a
credit note. Then, for t[...]rnational
film financing, we borrowed 85 per
cent of the money using the credit

The second thing we asked[...]h UA had a three-step
payment: one on a signature of
contract; the other on completion of
photography; and the third on
delivery. Obviously[...]aranteed an overdraft at the
bank on the strength of our contract
with United Artists.

Jim: The break[...]ia?” But what
we have done is cut down the risk of
the money involved by 50 per cent
— we are only[...]s in Australia. And
the UA deal wasn‘t a matter of
selling our soul, giving up to the
Americans or a[...]relationship with
UA has allowed for an exchange of
dialogue in all areas, including the
film itself.[...]the

British have all literally made
fortunes out of Picnic, and they are
eager to see more Australian films
because one of them might be the
next Picnic.

An obvious question is why use
Richard Chamberlain for the role
of David Burton and not an Aust-
ralian actor?

Hal: Firstly, we believe that the
choice of Chamberlain was valid.
Burton is a happily married solicitor
living in Sydney who has, by
necessity, South American parents.
An[...]ally looked
at a dozen name actors and only
three of them were American, the
other nine were British.[...]Cinema Papers. October —- I49

9 Leon Saunders (Sydney)

important.

Both of you are actively involved
in the newly-formed association
of independent producers. How
did the group form?

H[...]gamated with the Film and
Television Producers’ of Australia
Association and has become a
division of it. Therefore, in future
we will be known as “The
Independent Feature Film
Producers, a division of the
F and T P A".

We have been meeting on a fair[...]ave

agreed to contribute fairly
substantial sums of money to
become members. We hope the
organization[...]ere. The second is
communication, and that is one of
the things most lacking in our
industry to date.[...]with fellow
producers. Frankly, I don't like
some of their films and I am equally
sure some don‘t like ours, but now
we can all sit down over a cup of

Director Peter Weir rehearsing a scene with
Rich[...]s
you are.

The other important thing is that
all of a sudden the AFC has an
entity it can deal with o[...]ies scale be significantly
increased, and instead of some
producers rushing off to make
another[...]

The Last Wave, by the nature of its theme,
relies heavily on the use of special effects. For
as the film progresses, Dav[...]where it hasn’t rained for many
years, visions of a city underwater, black rain,
falling stones and[...]and Bob Hilditch. The
following is their version of how they did it.*

In most scenes there is rain,[...]bviously it was paramount that an
adequate method of producing it was found.

We went first to check out the gear used by
fire departments and to a lot of pump
companies. Out of these discussions came the
decision to take all o[...]so metres in the
air, we could control the angle of fall to almost
vertical (photos 2 and 3).

‘ Ad[...]n interview recorded with Fieguth and
Hilditch in Sydney by Scott Murray.

1. Monty Fieguth attends to a m[...]3. Shooting

street scenes in Adelaide (top) and
Sydney.

THE LAST WAVE

We would then work out the cruci[...]e also would shake the monitor to give the
effect of gusts. Then, if needed, we would put
another moni[...]have a
situation where if you produce six metres of
solid rain you can’t tell it is raining beyond that.
So in some situations we devised a system of
filling in foreground areas and letting the back-
ground take care of itself.

The only difficulty we faced was wind
because you could have the whole thing
perfected and a burst of wind would appear and
blow the rain 30 metres off[...]lso lucky, in that it didn’t rain once. So
none of the rain you see in The Last Wave is
natural.

From cameraman Russell Boyd’s point of
view it was essential the rain was back-lit. So
Russell’s lights had to coincide with the
position of our monitors. It wasn’t really a
problem becaus[...]led us to pour in the rain to within a few
inches of the lens. Coupled with a drip runner
acros[...]

The biggest single problem we had was to[...]torm at Hammond. (See also
photo 9 for the making of the hailstorm.)

sitting in his car while the rai[...]ter with pe0- ,:
ple floating about.

We thought of back projection, but felt itl
wouldn’t be convi[...]n
lowered into the pool. There was also a section
of a bus (photo 7).

As the interior of the car is supposed to be
dry, we felt we would h[...]t to create the illusion. However, the I
distance of less than a metre to the perspex :-
windsc[...]

A which we were shooting. One scene, for Sydney where there was

j11 bounces, leaving an oily de[...]k black in volume, once it was
had to find a way of economically producing it, falling as drops it lo[...]and
examp1e,called for ahail storm in the middle of sandstone, so we couldn’t keep increasing the
the desert. amount of dye.
One method was to toss ice into the air with[...]aces without
We found no reference to hail in any of the leaving a trace.
Another special effect we had was of a roof
here and abroad. There was no one who coul[...]we covered the mid- or rain_
ground with 1 1 tons of ice, the foreground with Finally we used three no[...]wn like a waterfall. A

We also used several tons of rock salt which windmachine was also mounted to the scaffold
was cheap (photo 8). The only disadvantage, of 12 ft. off the ground and this helped blast the
c[...]in in around the camera crew. It must have
amount of water being sprayed over it. We been terribly unc[...]for them, but then
really won by the sheer weight of numbers, with I guess the whole film probably was. iv

'_ every spare crew member tossing in hunks of

= problem was to make sure the stones fell
vertically over an area of 2,500 sq. ft. This was
V solved by building a grid of chicken-wire over
the entire area, the idea bein[...]g coated in oil, once a piece lands it

8. A load of coarse rock salt which was used to simulate
hail.[...]eter Weir, Tony Morphett,

Petru Popescu
Director of Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

Applications to[...]e information is provided for a proper evaluation of their project.
To arrange an appointment contact[...]Thoms (Experimental Film and Television Fund) at Sydney (02) 922 6855. Melbourne applicants for all funds[...]Chairman
Australian Film Commission
GPO Box 3984
Sydney, NSW 2001

FILM PRODUCTION FUND provides[...]film or television script
over a specific period of time at an approved

rate of payment.

EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND TELEVISION FUND
provides assistance up to $7,000 to filmmakers
with lots of promise but limited experience. The
fund f[...]

THE BATTLE OF BROKEN HILL

Prod Company. . . .. The independent[...]. . . .. Pre-Production

Synopsis: The adventures of a 15-year-old
boy in the tuna fishing town of Port Lincoln.

CROCODILE
Prod Company . . . . . .[...]Dunphy
Casting . . . . . . . . . . Mitch Matthews(Sydney),
Brian Muir (Brisbane). Reg

Stocker (Cairns). H[...]ployee poses as a doctor
and both play their game of pretend until
they are unmasked. (This production[...]. . . .. Pre-Production

Synopsis: The epic story of the Anzac
landing at Gallipoli.

THE LAST RUN OF THE KAMERUKA
(Working title)

Prod Company . . .[...]e length drama that takes
place between the hours of 4.30pm and
midnight one Friday night. Most of the action
is on board a Sydney Harbour ferry and
involves eight people who. because of their
conditioning and background, turn a
relativ[...]e-Production

Synopsis: Adventure story about the Sydney
underworld in 1953.

PATRICK

Prod Company . . .[...]possessed’? A
hospital. a relationship, a sense of the usual
are turned upside down in a thrilling e[...]nopsis: Based on the highly successful
stage play of the same title by Sumner
Locke—Elliot. Set in an army supply camp in
1942. it concerns a group of men in an
isolated and hostile environment. Their[...]. . . . . . . . . .. Pre-Production

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

TIM

Prod Company. . . .. Pisc[...]John Bowman. Michael Carmen.

Synopsis: The story of a young half-blood
aborigine. who is made conscious of his
white component by a missionary. He leaves
hi[...]ves by white standards. He falls through
no fault of his own and explodes in a fateful
“declaration of war“ — the white man's way,
as he has learnt. of acquiring a licence for
revenge and violence.

DA[...]Synopsis: Drama based on the personal life
story of Australian swimming champion
Dawn Fraser.[...]e,
Mark Holden.

Synopsis: Newsfront is the story of two
brothers who are cameramen during the
golden era of the Australian newsreel
between 1948-1956. It is[...]onal story—|ine
played out against the backdrop of the real
events that shaped a nation _ the Redex
Trial. the Maitland Floods, the birth of rock-
and-roli and the Melbourne Olympics.
Passin[...]ldermen. and MacDougall the
Singing Dog.

WEEKEND OF SHADOWS

Prod Company . . . . . . . Samson[...]

synopsis: The deflowering of a myth — a
history of Australian sport inten/voven in a
fictional way w[...]ralians to opt toward spectatorship. The
build up of the myth —— and a look at the

reality.

THE[...]. But their options are limited: it is
a question of survival more than choice.

IN SEARCH OF ANNA

Prod Compan[...]Martin Sharp, Virginia Mort.

Synopsis: In Search of Anna is a story
about coming to terms with one‘[...]. . . . . . . Tony Williams
Executive in charge

of Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]. . . . . Jan Tyrell.
Therese O‘Leary

Director of
Aerial Photography. . Steve Locker Lampson
Constr[...]lke Neidharl

Synopsis: In many marriages a slate of truce
and vacuum develops. Such is the case with
the marriage of Elizabeth and Robert.
Elizabeths realization of uniullilment in her
relationship with Robert brin[...]akes an attempt at
penetrating the contradictions of personal
motivation.

THE IRISHMAN[...]ant.

Synopsis: The Irishman is basically a story
of people during a time of change and the
effect of that change on the lives of one
family in particular. It is also the story of one
man who would not accept the change an[...]

35mm IN RELEASE
Ixm

For details of the following 35mm films in
release see the previous issue.

Cosy Cool
The Getting of Wisdom
High Rolling
Journey Among Women
Summerfield

The Green Machine
Hot To Trot

For details of the following 35mm films
consult the previous iss[...]trophobic chronicle, a few
days during the summer of 1975. Against the
backdrop of premature elections, two people
meet and systemat[...]into
a separation. Helplessly bound by verbosity
of the educated, unable to match each
other‘s pass[...]e outside world eats, dreams and murders
in spite of them. One day they must decide.[...]e Society
Synopsis: The history and general story of
Murray Grey Beef Cattle Elreed that
flourishes th[...]cn-Ostermang Giselle and
Micheline Arnauld, stars of Edgley inter-
national Circus. patients of Gladesville
Mental Hospital.

Synopsis: Balance i[...]g to make sure they stay firmly on the
right side of it. This film looks at ordinary and
extraordinary people seeking balance in

The Importance of Keeping Perfectly Still

highly individual ways.[...]. . . . . . . . . .September, 1977

Cast: insects of many kinds.

Synopsis: Follows on from Every Care[...]ow and develop. The straight-
forward development of some young insects
(nymphs) is contrasted with th[...]le to look and
behave as their parents did. (Part of a series
of short films on the behavior and life
histories of invertebrate animals.)

DREAMS

Prod Compa[...]. . . . . . . . . .. Editing

Synopsis: The magic of Hollywood. Shot
during Filmex '77 with the stars of today
against a backdrop of the stars of yesterday.

DREAM DOORS
Prod Company . . . . . .[...]and it changes
him ... but into what’?

A DROP OF ROUGH TED

Prod Company . . . . .[...]n
documentary style. The film follows the
journey of Ted Egan and his 18 year old son
Mark in their tr[...]ides the links in the journey and
introduces many of the unique people they
meet.

EARTH PATROL[...]animal
smuggler Caldeoni to acquire a bulk order of
the rare Queensland Hairy Nosed Wombat.
In this endeavor they are thwarted by
members of the Earth Patrol, with comic
results. (Pilot for[...]. . . . . . . . . .September, 1977

Cast: insects of many kinds.

Synopsis:A film about the astonishing egg-
laying habits of female insects, and of their
relationship with their offspring. it starts with
the simple dropping of eggs on the forest
floor, as by phasmids, and runs through
behavior of increasing complexity, as the
mother prepares food and shelter for the
offspring she will never see. (Part of a series
of short films on the behavior and life
histories of invertebrate animals.)

FIRST THINGS FIRST[...]uncan.
Synopols: A study in infatuation.

HARVEST OF HATE

Prod Company . . . . . . . . .. South Austr[...]ty boy, goes to live in
the country. He feels out of place, doesn't
like the work or the people. His o[...]Sitmar Cruise

Lines Australia
Synopsis: A story of a 16-day cruise to the
Pacific islands on Sitmar‘s Fairstar.

IMAGE OF DEATH
Prod Company. . Gemini Productions Pty Ltd[...]ry
Creyton.

Synopsis: Yvonne Arthur is a mixture of
charm and humour, spontaneity and spunk
but shes[...]y builds to
where Yvonne grabs at the opportunity of a
life of leisure.

THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING

PERFECTLY STILL
formerly[...]ed to a high society photographer
around the turn of the last century. When
his boss receives a vice r[...]r's family.
Charles can't quite handle the strain of this
and a love affair at the same time. Having
d[...]y Grey
Beef Cattle Society

Synopsis: Explanation of the cuts of beef
with Master Butcher. Ron Day.

THE LAST TASM[...]Pty Ltd in association with Tasmanian
Department of Film Production and Societe
Francaise de P[...]

A DIVISION OF FOI’ TOD quality at the right price

. RANK IND[...]BURWOOD VICTORIA 8125

SALES 29 3724
HIRE 29 2213
SYDNEY SALES 439 7508 35mm & 16mm Negative Cuttin[...]

Snopsis: The extermination of the Tas-
manian Aborigines is the only case in
recent times of a genocide so swift and
total. A search to rediscover these unique
people.

THE LEGEND OF YOWIE
Prod Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dead[...]Bird. Robin
McKenzie.

Synopsis: A "serio-comedy" of a motivation
for murder induced through the oppre[...]aul Gilbert.
Frank Curtain.

Synop|Is:An allegory of death in the form of
a mystery thriller. Mortimer is the man to
whom J[...]rray Grey

Beef Cattle Society

Synopsis: A story of the evolution and
breeding of the Murray Grey Beef Cattle.
This film is more su[...]cessful opera
star. she becomes involved in games of
make believe which have horrifying
dimensions.

O[...]. . . .. B.P. Australia

Limited

Synopsis: Story of today's people enjoying
the history and things of yesterday.

PLUNGE INTO DARKNESS

Prod Company. .[...]n the country which slowly
turns into a nightmare of terror.

QUARTET

Prod Company .[...]usty. Rod Burton. Jenny Ingram.

Synopsis:A study of refracted and reflected
light above and below the surface of the sea
environment. Light takes on a three-
dlmensional character like a natural form of
moving colored holography.

RED DOG

Dir[...]sh. Donna Lee.
Graham Thorburn.

Synopsis:A group of young people have just
left school and are about[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . .. Pre-Production

SOUND OF LOVE

Prod Company . . . . . . . . . . . South Au[...]husband and
wife. which dramatizes the situation of a wife
and mother who realizes she is a lesbian a[...]WAYS OF SEEING
Prod Company . . . . . . . . . .. Illumina[...]on Mrs P. Gration
who is the only blind director of "seeing eye
dogs" in the world.

For details of the following 16mm films see
the previous[...]

Director, Writer, Producer
of

Commercial, Documentary, Feature,

(3) 96

V[...]fessional productions in the making for a

period of up to four weeks and will provide

an allowance f[...]ll take into

account the needs and circumstances of
each candidate.

If you are interested in partici[...]phone or write to the V.F.C. setting out

details of your background and writing
experience.

Contact:[...]oms
double system theatre

13 Myrtle Street
NORTH SYDNEY
Phone: (02) 922 5650

JEFF N€|LD

Sidecar[...]a Wild Pony
Caddie o Harness Fever 0 Barney
Land of the Morning Calm (Korea)

Complete range of equipment, any format.
Can offer processing facil[...]ble in B/W and color.

168 PACIFIC HIGHWAY, NORTH SYDNEY

2060. PO BOX 885. PHONE: (02) 929 4848

A[...]

Producers of television series and films are
requested to forward complete details of
productions to: Production Survey, Cinema
Papers.[...]Synopsis: Air—sea rescue action adventure
along Sydney's northern beaches.

GLENVIEW HIGH
Prod Company.[...]n Burke,
Camillia Rowntree.
Synopsis: Daily lives of the staff and
students in a suburban high school.[...]. . . . . Rod Coats

Synopsis: An untitled series of four 30
minute programs looking at individuals
in[...]g
Technical Facilities . . . . . . . . .. T.P. F. Sydney
Length . . . . . . . . ..i . . . . . . . . .. 30[...]ally Gibbins,
Lynn Patterson.

Synopsis: A series of ten adventure
documentaries filmed on a circumnavigation
of Australia in Cropp's boat “Beva“, showing
the remote corners of Australia, the wild life
and adventures underwate[...]n Ewart.
Synopsis: An ABC television drama series of
twelve 50-minute episodes.

YOUNG RAMSAY

Pr[...]John. Andrew Sharp.
Synopsis: The lives and loves of the young
staff in a big city hospital.

I A[...]ion

Synopsis: This film explores the
development of community libraries, where
municipal councils and[...]ing

Synopsis: A documentary which links the
work of two Australian women, poet Judith
Wright, and dan[...]ncorporates
dances performed to the spoken poetry of
Judith Wright.

FILM AUSTRALIA,
mm-:—-:

ARMY[...]ondary school students the meaning and
background of the Australian War Memorial
in Canberra.[...]Synopsis: A film on the operations and the
extent of the work of the Commonwealth
Serum Laboratories in Melbourne.[...]. . . . . . August 1977

Synopsis: The setting up of a family day
care program.

FROM BIRTH T0 WALKING[...]. . . .. September 1977

Synopsis: A compilation of five films to re-
introduce Australia to overseas[...]s: A documentary which takes a
close look at some of Australia's sporting
life.

A GOOD THING GOING[...]an

Synopsis: A suburban wife finds the
pressures of a playboy husband and
unallevialed motherhood too[...]the
two children and many problems. not the
least of which is himself.

MARCH THE FOURTH[...]Synopsis:A dramatised documentary on the
outbreak of a fire and the subsequent
evacuation of a high rise hospital.

Continued on P. 179[...]

It is no secret that we are making
wh[...]rm as much as
I can with the classical parameters
of children’s films. I have fairly
clearly painted[...]tty strongly right through to the
grandmother end ofof failed children’s
films influenced you?

You[...]y. They seemed to
lack an intrinsic honesty. Part of
this is because I think they played
down to their[...]y the salne token, “Blue Fire
Lady” has a lot of ingredients the
horse that no one but the girl ca[...]y I hope I’ve stopped it is
by making the story of Jenny the
core of the film and by making the

164 — Cinema Papers[...]the first assistant/ production
manager on most of the Hexagon features, and is a freelance
director of commercials. His documentary, “lt’s Time . .[...]recorded while Dimsey was supervising the editing of
the film with editor Tony Patterson.

Lead actre[...]Dimsey.

Gordon Glenn

other things merely parts of her life.
I like to think Blue Fire Lady is the
story of a 16-year-old undeveloped
pre-adolescent who beco[...]s will just be
the icing on the cake. In the case of
Barney and Ride a Wild Pony, the
ingredients were[...]orning
Tea, because we were shooting four
minutes of cut film a day and that is
moving along on 35mm with the sort
of production value we were trying
to obtain. We had[...]production rehearsals,
therefore, become a matter of
necessity. I spent a full week with
the entire ca[...]Australia. How much do you feel
this is a result of tough schedules?

I think it has a considerable effect
and it operates in a couple of ways.
Firstly, it prevents new and untried
actors[...]apidly and who is absolutely
trustworthy in terms of technicals
like hitting marks etc.?" So you find[...]ge. You
tend to play scenes in toto without a
lot of insert cutting, which means
you have to use actor[...]ith a dolly movement. Perhaps it is
the influence of television series.

How did you find work[...]

quick. I often found her a jump
ahead of me. You must remember
that the part she was playi[...]type for her.

The big problem with the
character of Jenny was to make it
non—soppy, because she cou[...]oilt brat. It was
important to give her some sort of
roundness, or charm.

I don’t think children ar[...]r
figures to which they aspire,
showing a glimpse of themselves.
And I think part of the success of
ABBA is that they are ordinary,
right down to the[...]and basically simple music.

Kids can see a part of themselves,
though they know they are watching
30[...]not so
glossy that they are unreachable.
So, one of the things I had to try and
do with the Jenny character was to
scrub a bit of the gloss off her and
make her a bit more ordinar[...]blade around town,
equally nervous, put in charge of
the situation —— that sounds a bit
like ingre[...]at
their “real—age” personality is not
part of their ammunition. I believe
that it is still part of Cathryn’s
ammunition and she uses it
brilliantl[...]o a
highly professional actress and
quite capable of convincing age
changes. In fact, during a lot of the
sequences where she was 16 I had
to pull her up out of it a bit because
she had become a little knock-
k[...]e
perceived the reason for this during
the making of the film. I feel they
are designed to be perform[...].
I believe they lack a certain vitality
in terms of coloration and style.

n Harrison and Mark Holden[...]p
on record.

How much has Mark’s
consciousness of his image
influenced his performance in the
fil[...]inessman. This was a limitation
in the early days of rehearsal but
after that it certainly wasn’t. H[...]sorbed into the
advertising world, you spend most
of your time selling yourself,
convincing people that your work is
good and very little of your time
actually making films. What I try
and d[...]ercials to a
feature film. I have had to do a lot of
hard thinking and homework on this
film to stop m[...]al style. It has some
advantages, though. Because of the
influence of television, kids have
developed fairly short atte[...]pace. So it was intriguing
to retain this aspect of my
commercial training, while at the
same time ridding myself of an
obsession for going in too tight.
Vince’s fe[...]helped
with this, particularly early on.
Instead of going for a cut-around
style, I have been saying:[...]it in a
dolly”. I have been focusing on a
piece of action by theatrically
directing attention to it,[...]ls, and it has
been great fun to design sequences
of two to two-and-a-half minutes
which have b[...]

Tony Ginnane, the producer, was
in London[...]ause it didn’t show
that I could play this kind of girl.

And what kind of girl is Jenny?

She is quite realistic and the
th[...]untry, I don’t get the chance to
see many films of interest. Most of
those shown are sensationalist films
like Toweri[...]ork again until the autumn,
which was rather lazy of me. I
changed my mind.

How different is it worki[...]Black
Moon the director was working.
with a group of people that was his
team; you acted as part of that team.
On British television productions,

I6[...]ison’s fourth
feature since starting at the age of 11 in Jacques Demy’s

magical “The Pied Piper[...]“The Intruders” (Anglia-ITV), “The Witches ofof Jenny, was
interviewed on location by Gordon Glen[...]d equine friend.

however, there was less a sense of
team—work and people stuck much
more to their o[...]didn’t carry equipment on location
or that sort of thing, and that is
something which is really nice here.
There is a sense of helping each
other.

The three features you have[...]de by top
directors. How much was this the
result of choice?

Very much so. Till now I have
been at sc[...]ached by
Demy for “The Pied Piper” at the
age of 11, had you considered an
acting career?

Certain[...]me other qualifications, and
this meant going to university.

There are a lot of things that interest
me besides acting, though wh[...]our career
so young?

Not really, and that is one of the
advantages of having worked with
good directors yet not having[...]istic, and I love period films that
really smell of the time. I think this

film lost its strength by[...]I find it very hard to be objective,
especially of a film like that. I know
what Altman wanted to s[...]olved in.

How was your relationship with
Altman? Of late he has come
under much attack for being an
a[...]important for a
director to have a certain amount of
power — though it can be very
subtle. But if th[...]e. He
also made you feel like you were
doing most of it yourself, which was
nice.

Did you have rehearsals?

We had a couple of read-
throughs. And then on the set we
had time t[...]rds
working with actors the most
interesting part of filmmaking . . .

Malle chooses to work with
act[...]what you are
doing and who has an under-
standing of you in a personal way.

The changing face of Cathryn Harrison. Top
to bottom: The Pied Piper,[...]that went wrong. He takes,
I think, an awful lot of strain up on
himself and that/ makes it easy
sail[...]find its own
pace. It was a very orchestral sort of
thing where you had to slow down
at times, then p[...]many ideas
and different angles put into it.

One of the basic. concepts of
Black Moon was that there would
be no story line[...]t
visuals and mucking about with

gmotions. A lot of it is very funny,
though I have sat with people w[...]y ought to
be laughing or not. So there is a sort
of giggle, then an apology.

Do you think this could[...]range — I
would hate to be stuck with one
type of character all my life.

I must say, however, that[...]s . . .

Yes, I think that is true. It is so
full of symbols that don’t tie
together, that if you tr[...]ack and watch
the pretty pictures.

The symbolism of the film is
essentially emotional. It
therefore s[...]nk there is an intellectual
justification for all of it. But then I
can’t really say as I wasn’t w[...]exactly.

This also seems to necessitate a
period of time before doing a take
when you can work things out.
Now this must be difficult on the
tight schedule of an Australian
film?

Yes, but all the things that[...]ing which was much more
difficult was the Witches of Pendle,
a television play I did for the BBC.
It was very well written, but it was a
situation of which I had no under-
standing — that of being an
adolescent epileptic in the early
17th c[...]ffair with her brother.
There were very few parts of me
that I could draw on. Basically I’m a
middle-class English girl of the
20th century.

Are you using much the same
te[...]ey as with
Malle, whereby you go through a
number of interpretations of how
you think you should play a
scene?

I always like to have at least two
different ways of looking at a given
situation -— when we have ti[...]tly what
he wants and he realizes there is a
side of my personality which is
totally wrong for the par[...]is not a
defensive person, but if you spend a
lot of your time travelling around
and trying to make friends at nine
different schools, you build up a
certain way of dealing with people.
It is not exactly being on g[...]ay . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bob Maumill
Director of Photography. Vince Monton
Production Manag[...]

Was this largely due to poor blo[...]e l6mm tests we shot. It was
basically a question of sharpness on
a very large screen. Now sometimes
w[...]ical one
—-— who could supply us with
30,000m of film stock of the one
batch number in three days?
Samuelsons wa[...]getting the British stock because I
like the look ofof Photography

“Blue Fire Lady” is the third fe[...]Lady”.

« ~..v _ .,, ‘-7,.’

Director of Photography, Vince Monton, with Cathryn Harrison.[...]very subtle
differences and it isn’t a question of
one stock being better than another.
It really depends on what sort of
film you are making.

We are shooting a film at the end
of winter, so there are a lot of
cloudy, slate-grey skies. We are also
making a film about horses on
farms, so there are a lot of greens.
Now the British stock seems to
handle thi[...]ere flesh tones swing towards
magenta. But a lot of it would have
to do with the fact that we are usi[...]ing I gave the British
stock a quarter to a third of a stop
more exposure. Part of this could be
due to the processing here being
based on American chemicals. It’s
not a problem of course; it’s just
something to be aware of.

Have you been using clear lenses
on this film?[...]dly ever use a naked
lens’. I suppose it is one of those
habits we have swung into since the

introduction of Kodak stock which
gives such a crisp, clear image[...]zoom, which I didn't think
was up to the standard of the fixed
lenses. I felt that if I introduced
dif[...]drop
too much.

How would you compare the
effect of using a light fog on 35 mm
with a 16mm Eastmancol[...]ay that since it has to be
blown up, sharpness is of great im-
portance. But I find that colors tend
t[...]is, therefore, im-
portant to introduce some form of
diffusion to keep the colors
realistic. And gener[...]et the same
look on 16mm. But it is just a matter
of preference and I don’t really bust
my guts to g[...]o on has
been very, very gentle.

There are a lot of exteriors in the
film, so the lighting for a loca[...]or increase the fill-light.
You are at the mercy of the
elements to a degree.

We are also trying to[...]ons we
choose than the angles used. The
movements of the camera are also
being made as inconspi[...]

John 0’Hai'a

Television coverage of the uranium issue has
been intermittent, haphazar[...]ferent from the news and current affairs
coverage of any issue. But television has also
been used to m[...]tained
advertising program, disguised as a series of
“public service announcements”, to present one
side of the case about uranium.

The advertisements, for the Uranium
Producers’ Forum, in a series of questions and
answers with Bob Sanders, have attempted to
persuade the public that the subject of uranium is
simple, clean, and basically none of their
business. The audience has had to rest content
with the assurances of a procession of experts,
from scientists to a doctor with 50 year[...]y have repeated to their viewers that
the process of mining uranium is routine and
safe, that Australia needs the money from the
sale of uranium, and that atomic fission is simple
and ea[...]the media, costed
for television alone in excess of $500,000, and
sustained from the release of the second Fox
report to the present. Curiously, the news
reporting techniques of press and television have
often mirrored the effects of the advertising
campaign itself.

The information[...]process consists, for the most part, in
a series of half-truths; statements that may be
true in themselves, but which tell only part of the
story, and by ignoring implications, falsify the
overall picture. This has been the style of
commentary on the uranium issue by the miners,
th[...]done with high-level waste

from the reprocessing of nuclear fuel?

Fuse it in a special form of glass, encase it in
steel and concrete and bury d[...]ientists believe that safe and
permanent disposal of nuclear waste is
achievable.

The form of this sharing—out of information is
rather like a cookery recipe; the[...]ntists share the belief stated about the
disposal of atomic waste. And what they believe
is also ambiguous, that disposal of nuclear waste
“is achievable".

There is no time suggested for the achievement
of this disposal of waste, although it is implied
that once the demon[...]see for themselves.

Against this misleading kind of assurance

John O‘l-Iara is a lecturer in media at the Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology and was a media commentator tor
the AB[...]"

What concerns us here is not the pros and cons
of the uranium issue, but the ways in which
informat[...]he
complex issues involving uranium to a question
of political and economic priorities; and corre-
spo[...]politicians
and businessmen have been the sources of many
stories about uranium, and the style of the stories
has been determined by the style of the sources.

Information has also been restricte[...]al Review,
which has had by far the best coverage of the
uranium issue, has a circulation of only about
45,000. The mass circulation papers, s[...]the
protesters.

Or, more importantly, the kinds of
uncertainties people might feel about the
uranium[...]y (and no doubt
unconsciously) parodied in a kind of rapid-fire
journalism. So a journalist wrote in[...]n May 12: “For most people, it conjures visions
of mushroom clouds, of genetic accidents
producing monsters among humans, animals and
even plants or ofof 127 press stories, from the
beginning of January to the time of the release of
the second Fox report. This total covers the five[...]eriod, when the public was debating
the issue, 57 of these stories appeared in The
Age, 28 in The Fina[...]out
uranium clustered into five groups: the visit of a
Japanese trade delegation to Australia; oversea[...]; divisions
in ALP policy on uranium; the release of a book
called Uranium on Trial (described in The Age
as “a book of timeliness and significance"); and
U.S. policy on uranium.

Granted these focal points, the process of
gathering and selecting news appears seriously
de[...]sources; and pre-
occupied with the novelty value of today's story,
irrespective of whatever has gone before.

Perhaps the most obvious example of ignoring
the past was the brief mention given to[...]nt that in 1968 he had
directed the disappearance of 200 tonnes of
uranium bound by ship from Antwerp to Genoa.
There has been no further mention of that
startling incident, and the press has contin[...]sion put out by the
Government about the adequacy of control
measures. The single exception to this
ge[...]issues in a particular light. And
the constraints of the news gathering process
have favored the indus[...]The media has done very little on the other
side of the fence. For instance, accidents at
nuclear ins[...]verseas have gone almost
entirely unreported. One of them occurred in
March last year, when an electri[...]iscussion at
all, except in The Financial Review, of overseas
inquiries into uranium processing, repor[...]heir case. Take the
media reaction to the release of the first Fox
report. This was received as an endorsement of
mining uranium. Posters for The Sydneyof the
Fox commission wrote to the Government
protes[...]tful," said the report, “whether, as the
number of facilities increases, it will be possible
to prov[...]llation safe against attack by even small
numbers of well—armed, trained men.” Or on
nuclear black[...]and will tend to increase with the further
spread of nuclear technology.”

Concluded on P. 185

Ofof
a good time is a night on the tiles with Telly
Sa[...]hman). Phyllis.

The boys from Happy Days.

us of the depths of her scepticism. The humor, I
am claiming, comes f[...]nevit-
ably give her the chance to say it. A type of comic
logic, understood mutually by writers and
a[...]e also involves what might
be labelled the comedy of confirmation. One fact
about Phyllis’ lack of realism that an audience
quickly picks up is its[...]t is intended to deny. Having
invited the parents of Bess’ new boy friend over
for dinner and a form[...]are
midgets. She tries to reduce the awkwardness of
the occasion by playing The Perfect Hostess with
all stops out, passes a tray of savories over to the
four-foot tall father, and s[...]their legs.

Again the humor is marked by a kind of
inevitability: we, and the writers who created
he[...]tinually being made to what can
be called a sense of community binding the
creators, audiences and fictional characters

together . . . a mood of companionability. It exists
in its most obvious f[...]some high verbal or visual
note. There is little of that feeling of distance
which necessarily affects our responses[...]vers, The
Bob Newhart Show and the later episodes of
Happy Days), the audience seems to emerge as
an i[...]just those generated by the constant
reappearance of characters and situations. The
companionability I[...]n note, for instance,
the quite warm re-creations of the details and
ambience of the 1950s in Happy Days and
Laverne and Shirley. One episode of Laverne
and Shirley wound up its plot and then fi[...]the gang dancing
The Stroll to a juke-box replay of Darling, You
Send Me. The people, their dress and[...]easurable to
the live and indirect audiences. All of the
participants — writers and audiences alike[...]times and experiences: they were
familiar, a part of our communality.

The reference arrows run out from the series in
a variety of other directions too, including on
occasions links with our mutual experiences of
the media world. A police inspector visiting the
precinct in Barney Miller rues the declining
image of the police force, and remarks: “Years
ago we us[...]ite) in The Mary

*Rather like older radio series of the [.T.M.A., Burns and
Allen Show and Goo[...]

Tyler Moore Show is the quintessence of every
media home-economist we have ever heard, re[...]hen The
Women’s Weekly picks up Sue-Anne's idea of an
annual salute to fruit.

In The New Dick Van D[...]elspar’s Disease (The
Big ‘F’).

An episode of The Tony Randall Show
centred on a court case involving pornographic
films, one of which rejoiced in the title Crazed
Housewives on the Make. Even the episode
titles of a number of The Odd Couple series
called this media awareness into play— The
Flight of the Felix; They Serve Horse Radish,
Don’t They?[...]e live—audience series, bring us into
a complex of familiarities, some intrinsic to the
formulae of the series, some extrinsic to them
and part of a wider circle of common experience,
When they work well (and one c[...]lity from episode to
episode), they do so because of a sharpness of
observation or insight into these familiar,
communal elements, and the success tightens the
bonds of companionship which appear to me to
be the most singular characteristic of the
comedies.

The insights may be very small — the death-
rattle of a failed dinner party in Friends and
Lovers being signalled when the men present
start to swap accounts of the petrol mileages they
are getting from their c[...]lling Harris that his brother was

Publicity shot of the cast of Welcome Back Kotter.

trying to invent a frozen c[...]a dish,
he remarked, that would combine the worst of
three cultures; or Gabc’s comment in Welcome
Ba[...]ent ways, these
series impinge on our experiences of the world at
large in a manner which is (to put i[...]ragi-comic than comic.

One thinks, for instance, of Sergeant Fish (Abe
Vigoda) in Barney Miller. The morose Fish is a
fictional creation, of course, and provides the
voice of cynicism which so many of the series
contain. Yet, he is uncomfortably like a lot of
people in the society we inhabit beyond the
telev[...]but convinced beyond recall that he is
at the end of the line. Plagued with piles and
aching joints, he has been sunk by the ultimate
futility of his job and the dreariness of his
marriage. When he accuses Wojo (Max Gail) of
being vicious for reminding him that he has a
ste[...]ct with the stories also include the
twin blights of failure and loneliness.

These recognitions may b[...]t they are not infrequent. And
though the moments of individual bleakness are
healed by the communalit[...]d to join in an increasingly up—tempo
rendition of “The Darktown Strutters’ Ball"), we
have had moments of dark reminder.[...]

V?

E[...]on
hell-holeand dareto
create a savage world
free of man.

mm says

"Performances are gener
smashing .[...]Macquarie Street I T BOX 1744 G-P-0 SYd“eY 2001
Sydney, N.S.W. 0 . g _ Telegraphic Address: Filmcorp
Telephone 27 5575 . . . 5 //2 0/fly/Ia/20/a Sydney,Austra11a

W[...]7 and

became effective from July 1, 1977.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Paul H. Riomfalvy ([...]

Susan Dermody

I suspect that every piece of critical
writing constructs an imaginary object t[...]inal film. Piaget has
pointed out the common root of the words
“discover“ and “invent“; certai[...]My rationalization for this process in the
case of Journey Among Women is that I
consider the film an “essay", in the literal
sense of the word. It is an attempt (and,
therefore, incomplete, not exhaustive of the
possibilities)to do something worth doing. It[...]and even ambiguously utopian, in
its exploration of a society of women in
touch with nature. It hints at archetypes that
go back to the heroic militancy of the
Amazons, the dionysiac ‘madness‘ of the
Bacchae.

It is also firmly in the tradition of seeing
women as “close to nature“, closer to[...]up more intimately with the
primal natural forces of birth and death,
which gives them a mysterious po[...]the
rational, creative and administrative realms
of men, on the other.

The identification of women (and blacks)
with natural forces gives them power, in the
world of imagination, but severely handicaps
them in the real world. I think it also
handicaps the potential of the film — quite
profoundly.

The film is also[...]an logical, in its essay into the
strange terrain of a world determined
wholly by female values and interests.

The handling of narrative structure is a
critical problem in myth[...]. Move
too far away from the story, from a thread of
events, and you lose the capacity to generate
rich ambivalences of meaning. Move too
close to classic film narrative[...]omen makes some
interesting attempts to break out of the
constraints of plot, of cause and effect, of a
chronologically ordered and explainable
world.

The first two shots of the film initiate the
viewer into an exposition through images,
rather than through the logic of events in
time and space. Shot one is a red—coa[...]green world. Shot two closely
traces the descent of a feather through the
air as it lightly touches the bare shoulder of
a woman standing in a room.

Neither shot has tem[...]reted as fitting into one or more
possible parts ofof the film, and the way shots of
women will be differently handled to shots
of men. The men (all soldiers in a glaring
red that is utterly foreign to the green bush)
belong to the world of the story, in long shot;
the women belong to the world of the poem,
in many kinds of descriptive camera
movements and every kind of shot, including
very close, unclothed shots.

Whe[...]n to survive in the
bush, to form their community of women,
there is a long passage of shots that are
edited, not for the illusion of action in
continuous time and locatable space, but for
the exposition of ideas through juxtaposed
images.

Their bodies be[...]they
are at home in the wilderness. But the habit
of thinking in (quite beautiful) images, and
gradually developing an aesthetic of women
as strongly alive, beautifully adapted
creatures of nature, who have more
humanity between them than[...]ately broken by
reversion to the story, the world of men.

Elizabeth (the judges daughter) who
initiat[...]objects that are her dresses, hanging
on the back of a door.

The other women successfully fight off a
variable number of red-coated soldiers; but
then again, the women are helped by

apparently “miraculous" powers of
regeneration. For example, Lisa Peers is
blasted[...]k, resurrected either
by that peculiar life force of women, or by
the bizarre continuity I mentioned as a
danger of mixing myth with ‘plot’, open-
ended structures of meaning with closed
narrative. In fact, there are quite a few
points in the film where it falls short of what
I read as its mythopoeic ambition, and
collapses into untidiness. This seems
particularly true of the first and last sections
of the film, before the escape, and after the
attemp[...]re them, when the mythic
and the realistic planes of the story seem out
of control and in mutual contradiction.

The period setting of the film seems to
work well, as a distancing device. Instead of
evoking a past world and enticing the viewer
to l[...]nce can
simultaneously hold in his mind a picture of
declasse women as contemptible objects for
his (contemptible) lusts, and of women like
Elizabeth as another class of objects
altogether.

Meanwhile Elizabeth is able to break out
of her world when she sees, for a moment,
the intolerable nature of that contradiction,
but out in the bush she imper[...]to the way she
oppresses other women. She is part of the
very knot of the contradiction that she
repudiates: she relega[...]to her by a
patriarchal society to another class of her
own kind, her own minority group, and thus
strengthens the power of her own
oppression.

As she achieves integration with the group
of convict women, and as it becomes a

community outside the terms of the society it
has escaped, Elizabeth is “re-hu[...]" I have described, the
women move completely out of historical
time, just as by journeying to the
uncharted wilderness, they moved out of
historical place. The exposition of images,
that is the centre-piece of the film and of its
meaning, detaches itself from the period
setting of the plot as the women lose the last
shreds of their period clothes.

However, it must be admitted that all of
them, whether they represented female
bourgeoisie[...]reasonably
liberated women who, from the vantage of a
liberal, middle-class education, have opted
for the look of a declasse state. Even if
unconsciously they already had the marks,
the cliches, of women's liberation in the way
they move, speak, l[...]distancing the period setting,
and the trappings of plot, or as faking the
evidence, planting the pro[...].

Similarly, perhaps, the noticeable
stiltedness of the dialogue, which was
restricted mainly to the world of the plot,
may also be seen as a deliberate attempt by
filmmakers to frustrate the realism of the
past, or it may be seen as an inability to
ha[...]y it suits the
film, fits in with its suppression of plot
motivation, period evocation, and
psychologi[...]ly, it
remains impossible to be sure how far each
of these effects was intentional.

Which brin[...]

By making the women journey into[...]ss, the film opts for
being a lyrical celebration of women's
apprehension of nature, instead of an
analysis of the sources of their oppression in
a post-industrial society.

I[...]gued that the film is,
therefore, celebrating one of the most
fundamental of those sources, since the idea
of the closeness of women to nature has been
one ofthe mainstays of patriarchal ideology,
excluding women from the world of
rationality and decision-making. So that the
fil[...]the women heroically break from, at the
beginning of the story.

This central idea of the film also widens
the gap between the mythopoeic and
narrative directions it takes. The world of
the plot and the world of the women making
myths in the wilderness remain d[...]ough
images cannot answer. The central ‘poem’ of
the women learning to survive in the
exquisitely[...]When
women repudiate the oppressive world—view
of patriarchy, they must journey to a
radically new epistemology, and not just to a
deeper layer of sentience underlying the old
one.

The totally female utopia of the women in
the bush lacks a critique of what it is
replacing, in its complete isolation f[...]ld oppression.

Is the successful military defeat of the
male an answer for the questions raised by
th[...]most naive
terms, confusing the cause and effect of a
closed narrative with the cause and effect
that[...]reely and beautifully the film
handles its images of women casting off the
rags of their oppression, the total is a retreat
into lyr[...]issues raised by
the story.

5 J

I like the idea of a mythopoeic treatment
of women coming out from under an
ideology that expl[...]attempt to meet it. I find that
the actual story of Journey Among Women
frustrates what I see as its[...]than the fairly intellectual demands I have
made of the film, might find that its larger
ambitions fr[...]ewett, John Weiley, Torn Cowan and
cast. Director of Photography Tom Cowan. Editor
John Scott. Music R[...]6, 1942
we had been awakened by the unusual noise of
buses being driven round the Paris avenues at
day[...]Winter Velodrome. I saw that
there were children of our own age among them,
squashed tight and still,[...]he cold windows, at a time made for the sweetness
of slumber. I thought their round, black eyes were
millions of stars in the night . .

Valery Giscard d‘Estai[...]surface concealing
a political and moral parable of considerable
richness. The recent excesses of the Losey
baroque are absent, replaced with precise,
though never self-parading, imagery, and his
use of space (notably in Klein‘s stair-well) is
invent[...](Jeanne
Moreau) explains to Klein the uniqueness of
man; for while there are various species of,
say, insects, there is only one species of man.

For many of the French in 1942 there
were two classes — the[...]wle as Laura (right) in Bruce Beresford‘s film of Henry Handel Richardson‘s The Getting of
Wisdom.

to notice persecution only when it is of
ourselves, we are all always responsible.
The inhumanity of man to man shown by the
French who collaborated with the Germans
in rounding up the Jews. is the guilt of every
man, of every Mr Klein.

Paris 1942: an art-dealer, Mr Klein, is
cold-heartedly purchasing works of art from
fleeing Jews. One day a Jewish newspaper[...]r. When Klein complains
(“I think I am a victim of a practical joke"),
he is told the police have al[...]finds there is
another Mr Klein, but is not told ofof clues,
from a photo of a girl on a motorcycle to
some boots worn in a ca[...]lieving a report that his double,
a Jewish member of the Resistance, is dead,
Klein flees for Marseill[...]Velodrome
d‘I-liver where he ignores his chance of
freedom (his lawyer is there with proof of
his parentage) and allows himself to be
swept dow[...]n is likened by Florence to a
vulture, the symbol of greed. But in a
tapestry Klein has earlier thought of buying,
there is an image of a vulture punctured
through the heart by the arrow ofof compassion or pity. It is also an
indifference increasingly typical of man
today — Mr Klein is certainly not only
abou[...]see Klein's resignation to
death as a realization of his own involvement
in the nightmare, and not, as[...]ein shows no
interest in those with him, not even of the
Jew standing behind.)

The first clue of Klein‘s guilt by
association comes when he show[...]iet Berto).
At first, he is amused by the crudity of its
anti-semitism, but then he understands what
P[...]clue is the connection between
the hidden branch of the Klein family —the
Dutch Jews — and the vo[...]ncreasingly fascinated in.

Mr Klein is a parable of involvement and
Mr Klein, like the audience, find[...]g that can be disowned. Klein's
journey in search of his double can therefore
be seen, like that of Nicholas Urfe‘s in John
Fowles‘ The Magus, as[...]rn in the labyrinth aiding
in a growing awareness of everyman‘s
responsibilities. And it is on this[...]e—up? The Jews or the jealous Nicole?
The trail of clues laid by Franco Solinas and
Losey begins wit[...]e it"). The frame-up has, therefore,
been thought of before the film begins.

Slowly one pieces togeth[...]: a
Resistance group is ferrying wealthy Jews
out of Paris. using as a half-way house the
chateau at lvry—la»Bataille. The other Mr
Klein is a member of this group and it is
likely the Jew with the painting is also, the
less faded areas of wallpaper therefore
suggesting that paintings are[...]ous. And it is this ability to
sustain two levels of interpretation simul-
taneously that makes one‘[...]r Ralph Baum. Screenplay Franco Solinas.
Director of Photography Gerry Fisher. Editor
Henri Lan[...]

CRIA CUERVOS

THE GETTING OF
WISDOM

Brian McFarIane

Henry Handel Richardson’s name heads
the credits on Bruce Besford‘s film of The
Getting of Wisdom, so one anticipates a
respect for the informing spirit of the book.
The film is often perceptive and amusi[...]where it does
most violence to Richardson's view of life; in
relinquishing the essentially grim view of her
square-peg heroine and the kind of success
she grants her, the film loses coherence.[...]is no help)and to
settle for the showier business of turning her
into a budding concert pianist bound[...]novel is based. However, despite Laura‘s
moment of defiance in not playing the an-
nounced piece on[...]d), this finale does not help to pull the
threads of the film together. The book is
episodic, too, but[...]in the book is
seen as contributing to the growth of a mind
which will ultimately seek to express itself
in the writing of a certain kind of fiction,
though Laura is still far from clear at the end
just where this will lead her. . . not a word
of her narration was true, but every word of
it might have been true.“ This has been the
bas[...]against her virtue, her
attitude to the expulsion of Annie Johns for
theft (which the film mishandles[...]they are drawn together by a persuasive
over-view of what they mean in Laura‘s
growth as an artist.[...]al point in the film
by making the girl a friend of Laura‘s and
the motive for the theft her feeling for Laura.
The value of the episode in the novel — as a
stimulus to Lau[...]e
whole scene gets played as if it were some
kind of climax, whereas it seems themat-
ically quite adr[...]velopment. As things
are, it tends to make chunks of the film, as

well as many minor moments that se[...]raneous at
worst. And this is a pity because many of
these moments and scenes are, in them-
selves, sh[...]hose ego gets rather
badly bruised in the process of getting
wisdom. There is not enough detail about[...]e the
liveliness and spontaneity being ironed out
of her; and, equally, there's not enough
evidence of her ultimate resilence for us to
trust in her rising above the conformity,
hypocrisy and cynicism of the school and its
teachers.

Possibly the role of Laura is like that of
Shakespeare's Juliet: by the time the actress
is[...]d
musician — that the script offers her instead
of a character. However, she is sensitive
enough to the demands of some individual
sequences, especially those invol[...]me amusing touches, especially
in the performance of Kim Devine as the
greedy, raucous Lilith; and Hil[...]and grace.

Otherwise, the real acting pleasures of the
film are provided by the gallery of intelli-
gent minor performances as school-
mistr[...]nt, is an imposing presence, but the
role, a sort of cut-price Mrs Danvers, finally

invites monotonous overstatement.

Like most of the Australian films of the
past few years, The Getting of Wisdom
looks handsome: Don McAlpine offers some
lovingly photographed interiors of muted
clutter, with sudden sharply contrasted
bursts of harsh landscape, rolling coast-line,
and formal gardens which point up the
claustrophobic aspects of the school's life. I
wish he had avoided the modi[...]useful narrative or thematic point.

THE GETTING OF WISDOM: Directed by
Bruce Beresford. Producer Phillip Adams.
Screenplay Eleanor Witcombe, Director of
Photography Don McAlpine. Editor Bill Anderson.
A[...]nish
middle-class family as seen through the eyes
of a little girl. Ana Torrent, who made her
film debut in Victor Erice‘s Spirit of the
Beehive, plays the central character Ana,
and[...]is both innocent and
knowing, profound and matter of fact,
impassive yet deeply disturbed — as only[...]er
and Ana 20 years later, remembering the
events of her childhood. However, the adult
Ana sections pr[...]remely fluid — and
there is such a strong unity of place that the
intuitive viewer who allows himself the
pleasure of just watching can accept the
shifts in time without too much difficulty.

The ‘doubling’ of Ana with her mother is
not only done visually thr[...]her‘s “I want to
die" in that terrible moment of crisis when
she hears the Almendrita story told b[...]t he believes death does
not have the same weight of significance for
adult and child. “For a child[...]dwell on this
fact. For Ana the child, the death of her
mother signifies her disappearance, which
me[...]needs her. I believe
that the child is incapable of establishing
differences between the real and the[...]nary is accomplished without any
shock. A process of rationalization is not
necessary to justify it, a[...]hide and seek game
involving symbolic death; and, of course,
Ana herself believes she has power over life
and death, and gives what she thinks is a
fatal dose of “poison“ (sodium bicarbonate)
to her father a[...]er, repression, guilt
and sexuality — although, of course, all
these are interrelated and cannot be[...].

All the adult characters are defined in
terms of sexuality: Rosa is healthy and
motherly, listens[...]'s father, captured in his photographs in
moments of power (on a horse, or in the
military splendor of his uniform), is
obviously more suited to the sen[...]fferent contexts, but in her case it is a
closing of the shutters, until 20 years later,

Cinem[...]

Saura has also spoken of his wish for a
“subterranean communication" bet[...]is such a film, and there are
many such instances of wordless com-
munication. One can recall the fascination of
the yellow hen‘s feet in the fridge; Ana‘s
vision of herself at the top of the building —
does her smile suggest complicit[...]dening ambiguity is in her smile
at the beginning of the film, when she
watches Amelia rush in disarray from her
father's room: is her gaze one of accusation?
of satisfaction at a deed accomplished? or
merely cu[...]cord, so does
her grandmother. whose closed world of
memories is still very real for her.

There is ob[...]complex and haunting film, and a
close analysis of Saura‘s editing would be
most rewarding. In his other films he is
interested in the idea of the double, and in
the self and its relationship[...]distribution in
Australia: we have been ignorant of them for
too long.

CRIA CUERVOS: Directed by[...]lias Querejeta. Screenplay Carlos
Saura. Director of Photography Teodoro
Escamilia. Editor Pablo G. de[...]ield is a domaine, a mystery
island off the coast of Victoria, where Jenny
Abbott (Elizabeth Alexander[...]dge and padlocked gates. The
island, once a topic of speculation, is now of
little interest, the locals tolerating, though
not understanding, the privacy of its rich
owners.

Into this balanced world comes[...]inated by the reclusive Abbotts, and by
processes of luck and persistence, he
stumbles upon Summerfie[...]here) is horrific.
But it only surprises because of its improb-
ability. Surely the revelation of David and
Jenny's secret is not sufficiently alar[...]r, Green‘s dialogue does
suggest a deeper level of narrative. When
the intruding Simon breaks a cup,[...]world“). Having opted for the impossible
choice of living together, they are seeing
their dream thro[...]attempt to invest a simple thriller with
a degree of character analysis and by doing
so, tries to satisfy the rigors of genre and
naturalism. This it does rather well.[...]el,
David's suggestion is a deliberate misleading
of an obtrusive ‘foreigner’. But at the same
tim[...]cting naturally by wishing to
avoid any suspicion of closeness between
himself and Jenny. it is, after[...]ce given this successful but unwarranted
invasion of their domain.

Where the scripting does falter is[...]illingness to decide
finally on the exact nature of the film and at
whom the film is aimed. If Summer[...]us references to blood, the possible
combinations of high and low carriers of
thalassemia, or, most explicitly, the
reference t[...]or
lot; they are all inbred" — and this hedging
of one‘s bets minimizes the possible tension.