Cinema Papers no. 44-no. 45 10th Anniversary Issue (2025)

OCR

But you can’t get st[...]ual effects production requires an enormous
range of skills and techniques.

A properly set up company[...]about Mike Bolles; and

someone with a knowledge of optical effects and production
management, Andrew Mason would do.

Then the Visual effects company should have a range of
credits that lets you know they know how to do the job.
For instance, ‘The Empire Strikes Back[...]lly, you should be able to draw on all the skills of

these people and whatever equipment and t[...]

The Aaton 8-35 is the smallest
hand-held silent—running 35mm
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During its t[...]the best high technology

was awarded an Academy of put in a larger Quad-Eight re-recording facilities in the
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Sciences Technical of Colorfilm quickly snapped But dont take only
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That was to mark the Given some minor If you have an
beginning of this consoles modifications and a re-check Oscar[...]ound It has now been (02) 516 1066. ,_
department of The Burbank installed for our Dolby stereo[...]

control surface! This radical All this is accomplished
advance in film manufacture without altering the quality or
gives film the ability to characteristics ofthe f[...]roduction.

The Datakode magnetic
control surface is a thin,

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the entire back of the film.

Less than 8 microns thick,
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Director of Photography Michael Dillon

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Executive Producer Don Harley

Director of Photography Mick von Bornemann A.C.S.[...]ional

Director Simon Wincer

Executive in Charge of Production Richard Davis

Director of Photography Russell Boyd[...]Fairfax

Production Supervisor Ted Lloyd
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Voyages of Discovery: an interview with
David Stevens

Debi[...]32
On Guard: an interview with Susan Lambert
Man _Of Flowers Victoria Treole 37
Reviewed: 85
Tenth Anniversary

Supplement

A Personal History of ‘Cinema Papers’

Scott Murray 41
Photo Galler[...]Phillip Adams 66
Features
. The Quarter 8
Clnefina Papers Picture Preview: One Night Stand 26
A Hist[...]Cryptic Crossword
Val Ward 99

Film Reviews

Man of Flowers

Helen Greenwood 85
Careful, He Might Hea[...]yan, Ian Baillieu, Brian McFarlane, Cinema Papers is produced with financial assistance from the Austr[...]yout: Film Victoria. Articles represent the views of their authors and not necessarily those of the editor
Ernie Althoff. Office administration: Patricia Amad. Secretary: Heather Powley. While every care is taken with manuscripts and materials supplied for[...]nor the publishers accept any liability for loss or damage which may arise. This magazine may
Advertising: Peggy Nicholls (03) 830 1097 or (03) 329 5983. Printing: Waverley Offset Publishing not be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the copyright owner. Cinema Papers

Group, Geddes[...]one. (03) 560 5111. T pesetting: B-P Typesetting, is published every two months by

MTV Publishing

Limited, Head Office, 644 Victoria Street.

7-17 Geddes St[...]

The January 11, 1984, edition of Variety
printed the following All-time Film Renta[...]$209,567,000
2. Star Wars $193,500,000
3. Return of the Jedi $165,500,000
4. The Empire
Strikes Back $141,600,000
5. Jaws $133,435,000
8. Raiders of the
Lost Ark $115,598,000
7. Grease $96,300,000
B[...]entries.

The highest-positioned Australian film is
Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior in the
U.S.) at 381, with rentals of $11.3 million.
Next comes The Man from Snowy River
at 474 with rentals of $9.25 million.

The only other Australian film to make
the chart (minimum rental entry: $4
million) is The Pirate Movie, at 739 with
$6.2 million, thus[...]s
wrong.

The best-positioned Australian director
is Richard Franklin with Psycho II at 256
(but 27 in 1983). Franklin was also co-
producer of The Blue Lagoon, at 97.

Of the top 10, only two are 1983
releases: Return of the Jedi and Tootsie.
The next best in 1983 are:[...]m $31,500,000
10 48Hrs $30,328,000

in the battle of the Bonds, Octopussy at
$33.6 million easily beat[...]illion versus $30 million.
Other big-budget films of 1983 are Super-
man III at $35 million, Return of the Jedi
at $32.5 million, Scarface at $31 millio[...]alian film made Vari'ety’s Big-Buck
Scorecard.

Of the expensive films, the big flops
(given rentals to December 31, 1983) were
The King of Comedy ($1.2 million rentals
from a $19 million b[...]on). The best returns
on a big budget were Return of the Jedi
($165.5 million from $32.5 million), Sta[...]ear history,
the AFM this year, with the addition of five
new companies, will open its ranks
to qualified sellers of foreign language
films. Thus, it moves closer to[...], representing
four countries, will offer a total of 17 new
films. The companies include Germany's
Atl[...]ll be succeeding Joe
Skrzynski as chief executive of the AFC in
March this year.

Skrzynski was appoin[...]980. He was previously
Corporate Services Manager of the
merchant bank, Pittsburgh National
Seldon and[...]ng,
research, lobbying and monitoring the
effects of the tax legislation. It also
emphasized funding for the development
of projects rather than basic investment
funding in feature films.

Williams, who was general manager of
Musica Viva until taking up the AFC
appointment, has had a long involvement
in the arts in Australia. He is also, at
present, deputy chairman of the NSW
State Grants Advisory Council to the
Premier of NSW, a director of the Con-
federation of Australian Arts Centres, and
a member of the National Arts and Enter-
tainment Committee of the Australian Bi-
centennial Authority.

Kim[...]viously, he held positions as the
general manager of Music Rostrum Aus-
tralia and a lecturer at the NSW State
Conservatorium of Music. He was founda-
tion member of the Music Board of the
Australia Council and the then Dance and
Youth Panels.

A recipient of many awards and prizes,
Williams has had a fellow[...]on the
Frank Hutchens composition prize twice.
He is married to the writer Kathy Lette.

Censorship Ch[...]on concern-
ing the classification and censorship of
videotapes and printed matter came into
force in the Australian Capital Territory.
The new law is the first step in a process
to establish a uniform system for the sale,
hire and publication of Videocassettes and
publications. It permits the restricted sale
or hire of hard-core pornography and
explicit violence under[...]ted rating for publica-
tions.

The main elements of the system incor-
porated in the ACT legislation[...]th
Film Censorship Board;

2. Videotapes for sale or hire are to be
classified at the request of the
importer, distributor or retailer by the
Film Censorship Board;

3. The cl[...]e
applied are to be the same as for
cinemas: that is, “NRC", “M”
and but with a further catego[...]very extreme material”, such as films
depicting or inciting drug misuse,
terrorism or bestiality, would be
refused classification altog[...]ates are to pass laws imposing
appropriate points of sale restrictions
(in particular, no sale to mino[...]and “X" classified material;

5. The existence of a classification to be a
complete defence for ret[...]subject to
review by the Commonwealth Films
Board of Review.

The system of voluntary censorship

places the onus on the impo[...]nt from the other
states.

Eventually, the system of classification
could be extended into theatrically-
released films, based as it is on the prin-
ciple that adults are entitled to re[...]being inadvertently
exposed to it.

The new look of video.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
AFC Appointment

Vicki Molloy has been appointed director
of the Creative Development Branch,
filling the posi[...]Molloy has been working with the AFC
as manager of the Women’s Film Fund
since 1981. Before that s[...]n the
editing department at the BBC.

As director of the Creative Development
Branch, she will report to the general
manager of Film Development, Malcolm
Smith, and is responsible for Branch
administration, policy adv[...]film groups and organizations, and direct
funding of alternative and independent
films.

Film Victoria

The board and staff of Film Victoria spent
several months in 1983 formul[...]was
finally issued in November 1983.

The policy is a statement of the goals
and parameters that Film Victori[...]

Film Victoria believes it is better placed
financially than it has been for ye[...]to expand its staff
by 40 per cent. Film Victoria is about to
appoint several new staff members, one of
whom will be a creative development
officer whose[...]ons and indivi-
duals interested in the promotion of film
culture.

Film Victoria has recently made gr[...]ustralian Film Institute, the
Australian Teachers of Media, Cinema
Papers and the Melbourne Film Festival.
Involvement with these bodies is seen as
a way of discharging the obligation it has
set for itself[...]ponsibility for the develop-
ment and maintenance of film culture in
this state".

National Screen wri[...]The AFC has been investigating the feasi-
bility of holding a National Screenwriters’
Conference as[...]ers”.

The AFC has approved funding for
Stage 1 of the Conference, which is the
holding of two workshops — one in Mel-
bourne and one in S[...]film producer, has
been appointed to the council of the Aus-
tralian Film and Television School by th[...]General, Sir Ninian Stephen.
The appointment, one of five made by the
Governor-General, is for a three-year
term.

Weis is co-producer of The Clinic
(1982) and producer of the critically
acclaimed Women of the Sun (1981). He
joins David Ferguson (chairman[...]m and television productions,
including The Chant of Jimmie Black-
smith, Number 96 and some Reg Grundy
productions, and was manager for two
years of the radio station 4MBS-FM in
Brisbane.

The program consultant for the Festival
is David Stratton who, until 1983, was
director of the Sydney Film Festival for
nearly 10 years. Stratton is now a selector
and presenter of films for Channel 0/28.

The new director of the Sydney Film
Festival is Fiod Webb. Webb was execu-
tive director of the National Film Theatre
from 1977 to 1979, then[...]ed to have contributed
significantly to the cause of world peace.
Tickets will be available from BASS[...]eld on the
first day. The Flouben Mamoulian Award
of $1000 has been donated by Kodak.
Public bookings are now open and can be
made by phoning (02) 660 3909 or
through P.O. Box 25, Glebe, 2037.

Head of Full-time Program

The Australian Film and Television School
has appointed Pablo Albers as Head of
the Full-time Program, succeeding
Richard Thomas[...]ractice when the 1984 graduates
depart at the end of March.

Albers began his professional career in
t[...]nd director, and was later an associate
professor of English at the University of
Mexico. Since studying film at Mexico's
Centro Un[...], p. 125,
Geoff Mayer's article entitled “Best (of)
Friends” quotes David Macdonald as the
scriptwriter. The author's name is Donald
Macdonald. Cinema Papers apologizes for
the error.

Contributors

Phillip Adams is a film producer and
chairman of the Australian Film Com-
mission.

Rod Bishop is a lecturer in film at the
Phillip Institute of Technology.

Ewan Burnett works at Crawford Produc-
tions in the production department.

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

Debi Enker is a freelance journalist and
film reviewer.

Antony I. Ginnane is a film producer and
has been a contributing editor of Cinema
Papers.

Brian McFarlane is a lecturer in English
at Chisholm Institute and is currently com-
pleting a doctorate in Cinema at Midlands
University, England.

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

Jim Schembri is a journalist at The Age in
Melbourne.

Victoria Treole works in the distribution
division of the AFC and is the editor of
Australian Independent Film.

Arnold Zable was a lecturer in social
sciences at the University of Melbourne,
and is now a freelance writer and film

reviewer.

Solut[...]ic Crossword on

Notice to Readers

The directors of Cinema Papers Pty Ltd, the former
publishers of Cinema Papers, express their regret to all
reader[...]Commission (AFC) and Film
Victoria, Cinema Papers is returning to the newsstands
with a renewed vigour[...]st be stressed that the magazine’s independence is
unencumbered by the new arrangement. As with invest-
ments in film production or distribution, there has been
no attempt at creative interference. The magazine is free
to pursue its editorial policies as the edit[...]soon come
another editor, and a fresh examination of the approach
and production of the magazine. Decisions made in the
next few months will affect the form of Cinema Papers.

While regretting the magazine’s[...]ma Papers in
a much stronger position. The future is certainly bright.

Scott Murray

CINEMA PA[...]

episodes of Homicide during the final, “golden years” of the Morant.
series. He reflects on his work there[...]s from car chases to Alice and the second episode of Women of the Sun. If
character studies, engineered by producer Henry Crawford awards can be regarded as an indication of accomplishment,
during the last years of the program, created a diverse and Stevens has an[...]ing framework that has since been largely ignored or Awgie for The Sullivans, an Academy Award[...]

Has the world-wide success of “A
Town Like Alice” affected your
career?

Lo[...]n’t
want to make a film there just for
the sake of it.

But a problem that arose from A
Town Like Al[...]a soft, romantic film-
maker with a strong sense of the
Australian outback. One of
reasons I made The Clinic was that
I didn’t wan[...]ng A
Town Like Alice again and again.
I wanted to do something that
would be perceived as totally
diff[...].

The biggest audience you can
reach, unless you do E.T. or Star
Wars, is through television. So if
you are interested in the commun-
ication of ideas, television is the
place to work. If you do a film it
has to be something that you can’t
do on television, because of its
spectacle, or because it needs a
bigger screen or has a more
restricted audience. The Clinic has
now been bought for television,
but, if I had tried to set it up for
television, I wouldn[...]eel sorry
for anybody who does not have
that kind of experience before he
goes on the boards to direct[...]hink very fast and experiment.
We tried all sorts of things. I
remember doing one program in
which I w[...]set would have distracted
from the simple purity of the script
and the characterizations, which is
what the film is all about.

In relation to that, how would you
de[...]r television . . .

It probably will be, but that is
not why it was made. I had written
Breaker Morant, I had filmed what
is perceived as an Australian epic
novel and I was d[...]. I wanted to
work with a big budget. I wanted
to do something that is, in the best
sense of the word, camp.

,5 .

Apprentice designer Libby[...]1

Fred Barley (John Walton): a man with a vision of A ustralia. David Stevens’ Undercover.

I th[...]ty, sensitive, moving and
irreverent. I wanted to do some-
thing that had a sense of fun and
jollity about it.

When the script of Undercover
turned up, I fell in love: it had all[...]to make a genuinely glam-
orous film; I wanted to do some-
thing about an Australian hero
that was fun. I hate the use of the
word “entertainment” as though it
were pejorative and Undercover is
not intended to be just entertain-
ment; it might[...]ance, an
Australian fairy story.

For a film that is based largely on
fact, it actually looks like a f[...]tasy
world . . .

Let’s face it, you couldn’t do a
number like “From the Outback to
the Ocean”[...]n a serious film. We haven’t done
an exact copy of Radiant Woman,
we have done an interpretation of
it.

Part of my worry about the
direction in which Australian film
is going is that it is obsessed with
documentary fact. It has a rabid
paranoia about going too far,
going over the top and, if I had any
criticism of what I did on Under-
cover, it is that it doesn’t go quite
far enough over the to[...]ked to be
different about it?

Not a lot in terms of the work
that everybody put into it, but, in
terms of my work, I would have
liked to have had another m[...]dous situa-
tion in pre-production. We lost
three or four of our 13 weeks
preparation because the money fell
apart and most of my energy had
to be directed towards helping the[...]ed to have
channelled my energies into the
making of the film, rather than
worrying about whether it would
be made.

How did you cast Michael Paré for
the role of Max?

One of the reasons the money

fell apart was because alt[...]cided to use him,
but the backers wouldn’t hear of
it. Because of the size of the
budget, they believed they had to
have an Ame[...]. The money was, to an
extent, dependent on this, so I was
packed off to the U.S. to find an
American[...]to Actors Equity.
_ My first choice was an actor ofof him, despite his extraordinary
list of credentials. They said that I

A

I love Michael and I think he is
terrific. He has a lovely brash
quality in the film, but it is to take
nothing away from his perfor-
mance to sa[...].

And Genevieve Picot (Libby)?

I had been aware of Genevieve
for a long time because of her
work with the Melbourne Theatre
Company and w[...]ind a heroine with
some balls. I auditioned a lot of
actresses, but I couldn’t go past
Genevieve.

In all of your work the women
are very strong, spirited and
ambitious, and usually working
people, with a lot of vitality. Is
that something that attracts you to
a script?

Do you object to this? [Laughs.]
I think it is part of the Australian
ethos. There is this fantasy that
men run the country, but they
don’t: women do. Australian
women are very ballsy.

“Undercover[...]expect to be
passive and compliant, isn’t. She is
very supportive, intelligent and is
called upon to make decisions at
crucial times which change the
course of events. Nina (Sandy
Gore) is also a particularly strong
character . . .

That is because of the kind of
world in which I have grown up. In
the theatre there is very little
chauvinism. One is brought up
amongst ballsy, striking women
and, if it is possible for them to be
like that in that situati[...]ble for them to be like that
anywhere in the rest of the world.

What Undercover is essentially
about, if you look beyond all the
froth and glamor and tinsel, is the
need to be yourself. It doesn’t
matter a damn who you are, go for
it.

“It doesn’t matter what you do as
long as you do it brilliantly” . . .

That’s right. It is the most
telling line in the film: don’t try
and ape anybody else.

A very clever thing is done with
the make-up in the film with the
progression of the Libby charac-
ter; she is delineated by her hair,
her make-up and her costumes.
There is a sequence when she
makes the big speech in the T[...]ing Fred Burley (John
Walton) and you can see she is
wearing a lot of make-up. But I
felt that was right because Libby is

Libby works at her designs for a new range of undergarments. Undercover.

Nina. When she return[...]ake-up goes back to
natural, and from then on she is
her own woman.

Probably the most beautiful
shot of Libby is during the
rehearsal in the theatre when she is
wearing very little make-up. She
has become herself, and that is
what the whole thing is all about.
You can’t be scared of what the
world thinks of you. You just have
to go out and do it.

The women are strong in “Under-
cover” but they seem to end up
with weak or incompatible men.
The relationship between Libby
and Max is set up early in the film:
at the moment she falls into his
arms, one hears the harp music
and one knows what is going to

happen. But Nina and the Pro-
fessor (B[...]eter Phelps)
seem to be particularly odd
couples. Is it necessary to have a
‘happy ending’ pairing[...]spearian structure.
You are introduced to a group of
people; some are survivors in some
senses and som[...]ime. I have them
in a three shot with Nina, which is
deliberate because Nina, at that
moment, makes the choice of
which of the two is the star. We
know then that Alice is never going
to be the star, but that Libby is.

going too far: she is trying to copy Empress of style, Nina (Sandy Gore), examines Libby’s designs. Undercover.

There is also a scene in which Alice
realizes she is never going to be a
designer. She has already giv[...]lation-
ship with the Professor will last,
but he is probably a good fuck.

“Undercover” has recently been
recut. A couple of the changes are
jarring, particularly in the scene
with Nina and Libby at Libby’s
new flat. Some of the dialogue has
been deleted . . .

“What a bugger [that] men have
to give you babies.”

The absence of that line took away
some of the clarity of the char-
acter. There is a definite lesbian
undertone in the film, particu[...]at scene. The relationship
between Nina and Libby is gentle,
subtle and warm but that line,
which is fairly suggestive, is gone,
and the relationship becomes
almost mother[...]dent . . .

I have no argument. I don’t
approve of the new cut.

Were you involved in the cutting?
No.

Another example is the trimming
down of the love scene and thus
the implication that Libby is dis-
illusioned . . .

CINEMA PAPERS March[...]

The House of Berlei musical extravaganza, which seals the company‘: future and provida the stage for the resolution of several

relationships. Undercover.

There’s nothing I can say. I
agree with you.

So, why was it cut?

It would be totally unfair of me
to comment. I think you would
have to ask the producer that.‘ He
did the cutting.

Is Nina supposed to be lesbian?

No. I don’t belie[...]on’t
believe in putting labels on
anybody. Nina is a character who I
am fairly sure at some point in[...]e with a young
woman and love affaires with
young or even older men. If an
interesting situation arose in a
Bombay brothe[...]y had relationships with
homosexual men, too. She is not
intended to be lesbian. She is
intended to be a complete woman.

Similarly, in the character of Eric
(Chris Haywood) in “The Clinic”
you have presented one of the most
positive, strong, intelligent and
appealing representations of
homosexuality on the screen. Was
it your intention to do that?

Partly, but we only have Eric’s
word that he is homosexual, and
we know that he lies at other poi[...]ow that he
will say anything to shock the boy.
It is only your assumption and that
of Paul (Simon Burke), the
student, that he is homosexual.

With Paul and Libby and, to an
exten[...]t (Helen Morse)
in “A Town Like Alice”, there is a
process of education, whereby the
character has to learn humility and
draw on his or her courage and
face up to mistakes. Is that a
central part of your character
development?

Isn’t that what the process of life
is? It is what the process of what
my life has been. I hadn’t realized
the device was so apparent in all
my work.

I guess it applies to B[...]ed his
development from a bumbling,
outback clerk of the court to a man
with a passionate point of view and
a commitment to a concept.

The actors’ performances in all of
your work appear very relaxed.
There is an ease about them and,
particularly in “The Clinic”, a
feeling of spontaneity. What
approach do you take with your
actors?

There is no simple answer to that
question. When I decided[...]discovered that I wasn’t
going to be the Hamlet of my
generation; I also discovered that
there were[...]o work
with actors who respond to my
specific way of directing, which is
to encourage them not to be afraid
of making a fool of themselves,
because, no matter how big a fool
they make of themselves in front
of the camera, I will be making a
bigger tit of myself behind the
camera.

Actors are extraordinary people.
Nine times out of 10 you have to
feed them lollies and make them
fe[...]have very fertile
imaginations; the only problem is
that sometimes they get side-
tracked into areas[...]themselves. But, as far as
possible, everything I do is sub-
servient to the actors.

Everything?

Well, there is the script, of
course, but everything else is sub-
servient to the actors. [Laughs.]
An actor h[...]me to allow him to change
a line in the script;

So, there isn’t that spontaneity
really when it comes to the script?

No, not at all.

What is the art of acting? I have
seen extraordinary, spontaneous
performances of Shakespeare

which don’t stuff around with
Shak[...]assume — that the script they are
dealing with is not Shakespeare?
Actors are not puppets. You cast[...]ng to
the role, not for what you can tell
them to do. And I apply that to
every aspect of the filmmaking
process.

I think the work of Dean Semler
(director of photography) and
John Morton (gaffer) on Under-
cover is just ravishing. It was their
idea to use soft smo[...]were totally
responsible for working out the
look of the film. All I did was say,
“I want it to look like a fairy—tale.”

Obviously, one is constantly
provoking, questioning and chal-
lenging, working over the structure
of the shot that you choose. What
was lovely for me was that all the
visual elements came together in
terms of the make—up, costumes,
sets, locations, photography and
lighting. It was a voyage of dis-
covery for us all.

I try to create the right working
atmosphere. If it is a happy scene,
we have a bonza time laughing. If
it is a sad scene, I tend to create a
heavy atmosphere[...]sionally, I will
break down with some stupid joke
or drop my trousers, just to remind
the actors that[...]e not separate entities.

With such a large group of people,
all immersed in their tasks, how
can you sustain the atmosphere?

It is very hard work directing
because you have to turn[...]y performance all the
time. But almost. everybody is
trying to do their best, so all you
have to do is lay down the ground
rules. That is what being a director
is: exercising that emotional con-
trol. It is the time when I live.
That doesn’t mean to say I am not
occasionally bored or excited or
worried or challenged, but
happiness should encompass all
em[...]ding occasional
boredom.

Your films have a range of dis-
parate characters — the patients
and the staff in “The Clinic”, the
group ofis
a density of characterization. They
are all very much cross-sections of
society, or groups in society . . .

I long to make a film with only
two or three main characters in it.
In The John Sullivan Story there
are 10 or 11 leading characters. A
Town Like Alice is filled with
people, so is The Clinic, and in
Undercover there are seven or
eight main characters.

Is that a preference?

Not really,_ it just happens.
The subjects demand it. Lots of
people said to me when they read
the script of The Clinic, “Ah yes,
it’s all very well you know, but you
should make it a story just about
one of the doctors.” To which I
said, “Yeh, well that’s fine, maybe
it would make a very good film,
but it is not the film I want to
make.” I wanted to make the film
it became: a day in the life of a VD
célinic, not a day in the life of Dr

I'lC.

But your intimate, warm and
humorous groups of people create
a very strong sense of community
in your work . . .

I suppose that is because I
believe we are all part of a com-
munity. There is a Russian film of
Hamlet of which Kenneth Tynan
said, “It may not be the greatest
Hamlet you’ve ever seen but it is
the most properly peopled Elsi-
nore.” Within the film, Elsinore is
a very busy place. It is a crossroad
for ambassadors and traders and
court[...]lone on a battlement and
makes a great speech. He is usually
stuck in. the middle of 20 pages
with half a dozen servants going
there and five ambassadors being
presented here, and that is what
reality is. Very few of us live alone;
we are all part of the street, the
community, the city, the country
or the world. When I eventually
make Amsterdam it wi[...]n an individual responds to a
given threat.

What is “Amsterdam” about?

It is the true story of some
Dutch homosexuals during World
War 2 who formed their own little
branch of the underground resis-
tance and destroyed the central
Nazi Criminal Register. For their
pains, 12 of them were shot. But it
is not about poofters. If a society
or a community denies any one
element within that society, or
community, then it is denying the
whole community. The Amster-
damers, in effect, believe that life
is a pillared community, and that if
one pillar is taken away the roof
will fall down. I also believ[...]ith “The
Clinic” which also deals with a
part of society that is usually
ignored or repressed . . .

Yes. And Amsterdam will also
be written by Greg Millin who
wrote The Clinic.

It is also true of the women in
“Alice” . . .

That’s right. N[...]Those who
stuck to the old traditional

concepts of life perished; those
who were prepared to change[...]manners and their concepts were
the survivors. It is very difficult to
march half way across Malaysia in
high heels and gloves. It is much
easier to do it in a sarong and bare
feet.

I was brought up i[...]to
South Africa, where I had a tribal
Zulu nanny, so it is very difficult
for me to believe in one concept of
God. In fact, it is very hard for me
to believe in a society in which
every single human being is not an
honored individual, in which
someone is better than anybody
else. I have always been sur-
rounded by a multitude of diverse
sounds and languages.

That suggests an interest in the use
of overlapping dialogue . . .

I tried that experime[...]ing at once, probably three.
Overlapping dialogue is fine, but it
can lead into situations, such as
those you have in the worse ex-
cesses of Robert Altman, where
you actually can’t hear an[...]Carol Reed — are men who under-
stand the myths of society, men
who question God.

Bill Routt’s comments’ compare
“Undercover” with the films of
Preston Sturges and Frank Capra
and it is easy to see the influence of
the classical musical in the
ending . . .

When p[...]Capra and Preston Sturges films.
Nobody has heard of Sturges. It is
not as crazy as a Sturges film but,
in a similar way, its tongue is
planted firmly in its check.

The ending was there in the
manuscript. It is the one thing that
never was changed. It was also[...]chnic
filmmakers beyond measure. I
adore the work of George Miller
(Mad Max) and I think the last two
reels of Mad Max 2 are as perfect
an example of montage as I can
imagine in the cinema. I was on the
edge of my seat. But I can’t do
that. My stories are different from
his in the wa[...]and eventually
succeeding . . .

I guess Mad Max is the same,
isn’t he?

Yes, but he is a lot less naive than
Fred Burley . . .

Well, Fred is a great dreamer. In
fact, my films are really abo[...]yed
by a bureaucracy, and I suppose
my whole life is dedicated to
saying, “Stuff the bureaucracy.

D[...]ive your
dreams and be individual, as long
as you do no harm to anybody.”
That is the essential proviso.

What is
project?

the Kingsford-Smith

It is a six—hour mini—series for
J. C. Williamson a[...]ut
it has become a passion in my
heart because it is about an adven-
turer destroyed by bureaucracy. I[...]on’t see adventurers, be they
painters, writers or flyers, as being
that much apart. Okay, so I don’t
have a lot in common with

Concl[...]

Brian McFarlane is principal lecturer in Literature at the
Chisholm Institute of Technology and is a contributing
editor to Cinema Papers. He is also the author of a book on
Martin Boyd’s “Langton” novels, is the editor of the
annual collection of literary essays, Viewpoints, and is the
co—editor of a forthcoming anthology of Australian verse.

Words and Images is published by Heinemann Publishers
Australia, in a[...]a National Book Council Award and her latest work is Honour and Other
People’: Children. She has wor[...]n, in association with Helen Garner. The director of
photography was David Gribble, the editor David H[...]unning lOl minutes, it was released in 1982.

One of the achievements of Helen Garner’s novel, Monkey Grip, is that
the heroine, Nora, does not lose hold of the reader’s sympathy despite
the fact that the[...]ccupations — the constant pondering
on what she is feeling, the analysis of what is happening in her succes-
sive sexual relationships, the sense of herself as ill-used — ought in the
end to be merely wearisome to the reader. And indeed a good deal of
this prize-winning novel, with its vestigial narrative, is tiresome, but the
reasons for this lie elsewhere.[...]s
with a credible wholeness. One accepts that she is sometimes boring,
sometimes self-indulgent, in the way that, in life itself, one accepts that
a whole person is likely to be so from time to time. A whole person (i.e.,
character) is what shuffles out of the banal and repetitive incidents that
make up t[...]at its loosest.

In Ken Cameron’s film version of the novel, the central firmness of
the realization of Nora (Noni Hazlehurst) is even more striking. It is as
though the scriptwriters (Cameron and Garner)[...]h lie, and have capitalized
on it. They have done so partly by keeping Nora on—screen virtually
throughout, but chiefly through casting Hazlehurst, an actress of real
warmth and emotional range. Her performance is an achievement not

I6 —— March-April CINE[...]In this case, however, Nora, unlike Grandma
Carr, is clearly intended to be the centre of the action in both novel and
film. The strength t[...]rst’s performance and
from its visual rendering of the novel’s ambience tightens the latter’s
fr[...]asp, but nevertheless draws intelligently on what is at
least potentially there in the novel.

It is just as well that the chapters of this book do not seek to give plot
synopses of the novels involved since such an enterprise woul[...]r
whimsically named chapters (e.g., “Respectful of His Fragility”, “Do
You Wanna Dance?”), its narrative structure is, superficially, frag-
mented to the point of disintegration. Its bits and pieces make Ronald
M[...]in the relationship between
Nora, a single mother of thirty-two, and Javo, her off-and—on junkie
lov[...]me bore). However often she tries
to wean herself of the habit of J avo, she appears to remain essentially
hooked by him as he is by smack. Part of the trouble is (as Javo says to
her) “that you like me best wh[...]appier
when I’m into it” (p. 96).

By the end of the novel, when Javo has left again, this time pr[...]omeone called Claire, Nora feels, “A funny kind of pain, dull,
not sharp, spread through my body as if by way of the bloodstream”
(p. 244) and, a few lines later, “instead of that pain came the thought,
‘Well . . . so be it. Let it be what it is.”’ There is just a chance that Nora
has by now reached the stage of accepting her life, without J avo if need
be. Every rational thought has been moving h[...]enough against her need for
Javo. Though the need is powerfully sexual (more so on her part than
his) it is by no means exclusively so. She in fact wants a kind of stability,
a more conventional set of relationships than her world is likely to
offer. At one stage, envisaging[...]

The narrative surface of the novel is more crowded than the brief
account above suggests. While Javo is the continuing strain of
emotional engagement throughout the year of the novel’s time span,
Nora’s life embraces many other relationships as well. Chief of these
others is that with her small daughter, Gracie, who observe[...]ta,
Cobby) from whom she receives varying degrees of support, and
Lillian, whom she distrusts, mainly from Javo—based motives of
jealousy; and the men who are variously friends and lovers, but mostly
lovers even if that’s not how they began. They include Javo’[...]shares a
house, and Francis. In fact, the network of shifting, drifting relation-
ships involves a cast of characters almost bewildering in their numbers
and made more so because Garner has not sought to characterize the[...]re may be a narrative purpose in this: that
sense of a loosely—knit, not—very—differentiated crowd of people,
drifting past each other, sometimes touch[...]o the narrative only as they affect
Nora and none of them compares in her life with the intensity of her
feeling for Javo. They have their brief moment of vividness, coinciding
with their narrative function, then subside into being part of the general
ambience. For instance, Angela swims[...]a to
accompany her to a birth control clinic (she is “going to have a try at an
IUD”, p. 155). Ang[...]ot intrinsically important. What matters chiefly is how Nora responds
to Angela: first, she is very ready to support her friend, and in this
unstable circle of people there is a surprising amount of solidarity;
second, she promotes the following reflection in Nora: “I silently
envied the ease of her tears, the way she lived with her heart bravely on
her sleeve, no levelling out of the violence of everything but full blast
and shameless” (p. 156). The insight that offers into Nora and her view
of her own situation is significant.

So, from the narrative’s point of view, is Nora’s capacity for such
reflection. The more o[...]vel, the more one realizes that its
central drama is to be found by attending to Nora’s narrative voice. The
most potent discourse in Monkey Grip is not the “subjective” utter-
ances of characters but the surrounding (but far from “objective”)
narrative prose which of course belongs to Nora. And it is here, I
believe, that the real drama of this novel is located. It seems to me
scarcely possible to care one way or the other about most of the
characters: one feels a mild revulsion against Javo, mild sympathy
with, say, Angela: but one is in fact very much caught up with what
Nora makes of her experience. She is not merely a recording voice, but
a presence which responds, and grows through response, to a range of
relationships. She is defined partly in terms of how she behaves in these
relationships, partly through that voice which is sometimes reflective,

Living in the 19705, in Me[...]vi-
dual and working towards the reader’s sense of a whole character.

This is the kind of pleasure, in reading a novel, that grows on one,
perhaps making stronger claims in second or later readings. My
impatience with Monkey Grip on first acquaintance grew largely out of
dissatisfaction with its apparent shapelessness. Like many good novels,
it is episodic but most of its episodes are unmemorable, particularly if
measured against the crude narrative yardstick of what-happens—next.
In Monkey Grip, what happens next is apt to be very like what
happened before: that is, there may have been a visit to the local swim-
ming baths, or a sexual encounter (invariably, monotonously and,[...]aps, significantly referred to as “fucking”), or a meal, or
a trip to somewhere. In themselves, scarcely one of them really matters
and few of them stay in the memory. That is not to say they lack all
vividness: there are man[...]ut people and
places: but that they lack the sort of vividness one needs in order to feel
that a narrative is building. Further, one remembers odd scenes but not
with any exactness as to the part of the novel from which they came.
The scenes, like many of the characters, become part of that hazy
milieu in which the more things change the more they stay the same.

This impression of narrative slackness, compared say with a “well-
made” novel like Kenneth Cook’s Wake in Fright, is accentuated by the
novel’s structural procedures. It is as though the latter are dictated by a
mimetic ur[...]sy, sometimes warmly
cheerful, often dreary lives of its characters. Scene after scene — and
each chapter is divided into about half a dozen, some of them no more
than snippets — is introduced by sentences like the following[...]

l .

And so on, endlessly. It is perhaps the most loosely strung together
novel of my acquaintance. The disjointedness, the failure of anything
to build, and the sense of nothing’s being more important than any-
thing[...]reader trying
to discern and hold on to some sort of narrative development. Perhaps
this problem is more acute to one raised in the tradition of carefully
constructed, nineteenth—century, real[...]on re—reading,
the book’s apparent randomness is less daunting. This may be the result
of knowing that the novel offers little in the way of the usual narrative
rewards (and thus not expecting them) but is, I believe, really due to
recognition and acceptance of different moves towards narrative
coherence — and to accepting monotony as part of its meaning.
There is no point in looking for an A——B—~C pattern of causality but
there are other elements in the nar[...]to the book. The major one, as I have suggested, is in the drama
enacted in Nora’s linking voice. In a two-paces-forward—one—pace—back
fashion, she is gradually revealed as a protagonist trying to pull herself
and her life into some sort of manageable shape. One’s chief interest is
concentrated in this rambling but oddly compellin[...]g around in Rita’s house,
she realizes that one of the chief pressures of her life is that she “was
guarding them all from each other[...]oded with the possibilities, the theatre was full of people I liked
and loved and whose work was joyfu[...]and laughter. Coasting! for a while.
(p. 118)

It is a voice which establishes itself as honest so that it is worth listening
to for its own sake and for the light it sheds on others.

There is, too, a thematic concern, enunciated on two occas[...]l beyond her in its
resonance. Her problem has to do with “Willy’s determined constancy
in loving[...]when Willy has started an affair with Rita,
there is talk about “breaking out of monogamy” but Angela is “too
miserable to care about theory” (p. 192). These two remarks (about a
character of no special consequence) point to a crucial and pervasive
source of tension in the novel. Nora and her friends are all living what
in 1975, the time of the novel, would have been called an alternative
1ife_Sty]e_ It is located mainly in Melbournets inner suburbs and A[...]’s love?
involves an approach free to the point ofof monogamous,
orderly households, of women performing traditional sex roles, of
steady, gainful employment, of the careful ordering of one’s life.
However, while much of the freedom, the indulging of instinct as
opposed to behaving conventionally, is undeniably attractive to people
like Nora, it brings with it its own kinds of pressures and hurts. The gap
between the ideology[...]off the smack — “I didn’t want to hold
him, or stop him hitting up, or be with him twenty—four hours a day”
(p. 66) — but this apparent easy tolerance of the junkie habit is no
protection against the pain she feels each tim[...]“score”.

Beneath the surface disjointedness of their lives, she cannot help
looking for a pattern that would help her to make sense of them. There
is certainly no longer any hope or help for her in the suburban ordinari-
ness of her Kew-based family whom she visits on Christmas Day, nor in
the prospect of marriage. In trying to work things out in her own[...]ich the steps had not yet been choreographed, all
of us trying to move gracefully in spite of our ignorance . . . (p. 192).

The image of the dance is in itself a sign that she wants to find, in the
constantly shifting aspects of her life, a pattern, a sense of order, to
which a key does exist but the finding of which the very nature of their
ideological convictions makes improbable. T[...]tion comes
shortly after the Christmas inspection of her relations and it is com-
pleted by her resigned acceptance of the fact that “though the men we
know often lef[...]spite from the grosser indignities.” Nora, that is, cuts her losses
in a way that engages one’s re[...]to be desired” one may
read “reliability”, or “supportiveness”; for “the grosser indignities”,
the sort of superiority her “big boss” uncle exudes in his treatment of
his plump blonde wife. He is, she recognizes, implacably “the enemy”.

“[...]p. 63), Nora asks and,
wryly, replies. Quoted out of context the remark may look portentously[...]

As far as Nora is concerned, she is aware of the possibilities of “entrap-
ment” and is, indeed, firmly entrapped by her role as mother a[...]to Sydney, as
well as on lesser expeditions), she is always aware of Gracie’s needs as a
pressure upon her. And while ostensibly resisting the notions of
“romantic love” and what it implies for the woman involved, she also
longs for some ofofof what it means:

People like Javo need people like[...]tare longingly
outwards at his rootlessness.

She is genuinely attracted to the drifting life but is equally aware of her
“entrapment”. Much later, having arrived[...]eep us together somehow” (p. 98). Whatever love is, it is
not easy for Nora; as Barbara Giles, reviewing the novel, claims, Nora
“is caught, as fast as Javo, her blue-eyed junkie, only her addiction is
love”2. In its grip, despite the feminist ideology which elsewheroe offers
her a good deal of comfort and practical support, she is, as Giles goes
on to say, “caught in the usual feminine bind, of responsibility for
bringing up a child, of love which makes demands on her”. The men
she knows, including the ones she sleeps with, do not make the demean-
ing demands on her that conventional monogamy may, but the monkey
grip of passionate need is no less inescapable for that. Her love for Javo
may be generous and unpossessive but that is no guarantee that she will
not sometimes be “used” by him.

None of the other women, despite the warmth of sisterhood, is any
better placed than she is. The book seems to me honest about the gains
and[...]uare their ideology with the often
chilling facts of “love habit”, is done with enough humour and percep-
tion to make one bear with some of Garner’s sloppier narrative habits.
Certainly there is enough of both to make one feel the unfairness of
Ronald Conway’s characterization ofof having once described it as an “almost ostenta-
tiously tedious novel”“. If I cannot, even on re—reading, find it “a
tremendous book” as Barbara Giles does, or “overpoweringly real”
and “overwhelmingly f[...]sed. And the way the women grapple with the ideas
of love and friendship and sex (the grappling is not limited to Nora) is
one of these elements which help to provide a narrative cohesion not
offered by a firmly made plot.

So, too, is Garner’s meticulous re-creation of the milieu in which the
novel’s lives are lived. The physical scene of the inner suburbs of
Carlton and Fitzroy, with a variety of overcrowded, sometimes lonely
houses, the swimming baths, cafes and bars, is not there in the sense in
which landscape is in a Thomas Hardy novel: that is, a presence having
something like a life of its own. It is a cliche to speak of Egdon Heath in
Return of the Native as being almost a character in the novel. That is
not the way Garner uses the setting. It is there all right, in casual, exact
noting of streets and shops (like Myer or Readings Book Shop), and in
brief but telling references to doing “four loads of washing at the
laundromat”, to walking

dully p[...]car park, and up the
broken stairs to the series of empty rooms over the Italian grocery, where
[Javo] had a mattress in a corner and a heap of things he called his. (p. 44)

The references both specify a real place_and indicate bits _of personal
landscape. Garner has said in an interview: “Another thing I like IS

Words and Images

‘'11 was early summer. And e[...]nineteenth century Russian writers, a certain use of
detail and description”", and she goes on to su[...]ing. ln Monkey
Grip, the firmly established sense of place, and the cultural life that
goes with it, p[...]meone who did not know the life at
first-hand; it is not a matter of research, but of living and understand-
ing what holds these peopl[...]naciously together. The
acutely rendered ambience is of course as much a matter of time as of
place, and time is felt in several ways. The changing seasons, too glib a
metaphor for what is going on in the human lives, are therefore not
us[...]s drift by
haphazardly and their unpredictability is felt the more strongly against
the sharp, sensuous noting of the year’s moving from summer to
summer. But time isn’t just nature: the novel’s period is placed in refer-
ences to singers like Stevie Won[...]lms like Dog
Day Afternoon and The Discreet Charm ofofof her reading include lean Rhys’
After Leaving Mr[...]es with Henry
James’ heroine accepting the loss of her suitor and resigning herself
with dignity, “as it were, for life”. It is a nice touch to allude to this
novel at this stage of Nora’s life; it is even nicer not to make it (or Nina
Bawden’s A Woman ofMy Age) the novel’s l[...]but to whip
Nora into To the Lighthouse instead. If there is, however, a thematic
pattern in this reading it is well-concealed: there is a certain tendency
towards novels about women in situations of entrapment, but Christie
and Tolstoy remove the element of potential schematism. There used to

CI[...]

Ambience is of course one of the areas in which a film ought to have
least trouble in the enterprise of adaptation from a novel. Ken
Cameron, whose first feature Monkey Grip is, has certainly succeeded
to a remarkable extent i[...]e in the novel. Further, by retaining a good deal of the
novel’s “metalanguage” in Nora’s voice-over, he achieves an often
startling replication of the feel and tone of the novel.

The film’s opening few minutes show both strategies in action. In a
series of deft strokes, Cameron sketches in an impression of the real
pre—Javo happiness in Nora’s life, in an audio-visual equivalent of the
novel’s opening paragraph which presents a warm breakfast (“noise,
and clashing of plates, and people chewing with their mouths open[...]dually shimmers into life with an underwater shot of legs swimming
in a chlorinated pool; these — or other — legs are then seen cycling
through suburban streets; there is a cut back to the pool; and then the
camera moves[...]cene with people snatching at bacon
and eggs. But if these images suggest cheerful casualness, the voice-over
is suggesting something else: “Looking back, you s[...]n established between aural and visual means here is an
example of the cinema working very economically. The pool, the
cycling, the breakfast table are part of the shifting communal life of
inner suburban Melbourne; the voice-over anticipates what is going on
in it for Nora and Javo. It is a tighter, subtler start than the novel’s
which[...]were.

Even during my dissatisfied first reading of the novel, it seemed to
me that Monkey Grip had distinct cinematic possibilities: that is, that a
director sensitive to its social—cultur[...]make an
attractive milieu study from it. And that is what Cameron, abetted by
David Gribble’s splend[...]y they have put on film the novel’s small world of inner suburban
streets and shops, recording studi[...]those

20 — March-April CINEMA PAPERS

aspects of Carlton that the National Trust isn’t interested in preserving
or that the developers haven’t developed. No other Australian film has
caught so well this faintly seedy aspect of Melbourne — of city — life,
nor in placing it in the lives liv[...]n-
play offer a wry, sympathetically divided view of the characters’
emotional lives, offering a parallel to the novel’s sometimes painful
apprehension of the gap between the ideology and the reality. The film
balances a clear sense of rootless, itinerant camaraderie (less strongly
feminist than in the novel), stressing the supportive aspect of its
drifting, non-nuclear households against the emotionally draining,
unfulfilling relationships of people who feel able to come and go at will.
Sandra Hall, in a perceptive review of the film, has said:

[Cameron’s] characters are[...]love affairs
and friendships, every relationship is a new challenge, yet the mood is
understated. People move in and out of one another’s lives without cere-
mony and with[...]onging the women feel for something more and does so with a greater
succinctness than the novel can. One suspects that Garner, co—author of
the screenplay, must approve of the tightening up (without needless
spelling out) of this shaping thematic interest.

Nora’s apparently cheerful “I’ll see you when I see you” approach is
touching as it becomes increasingly clear that sh[...]able. Her voice-over may say “All the splinters of my life fitted
together again” when Javo (Colin Friels) comes back from Asia, but,
resilient as she is, she knows that it is likely to shatter apart again when
he next succumbs to his addiction. She and her friends talk so much
about their emotional lives and needs that i[...]find themselves. The endless talk along the lines of “I love you,
but I can’t handle it”, or “It seems I only get to see you when you want
something”, strikes again and again authentic notes of unhappiness and
banality. Despite my phrase “en[...]n creating this impression: it reduces the number of
shadowy characters from the novel and, inevitably, those that are left
are fleshed out by the mere presence of actors. Whereas in the novel the
discussions about love and sex are between Nora and any one of many
(deliberately?) undefined women, and some me[...]identify them. In my view,
the emotional content of the film is sharpened by the selectiveness and
by the use of actresses as distinct from each other as Lisa Pee[...]sly long-playing record in the novel gets a spike of
individuality from the acting in the film.

It motivates, for instance, some of the film's most kindly and good-
natured scenes:[...]raised
several years from the novel, to about ten or eleven). Gracie (Helen
Garner’s daughter, Alice, in a very engaging performance) is clear-eyed
about her mother’s somewhat feckless[...]does know what’s what. When Nora asks
her, out of little‘ more than idle curiosity, “What do you feel about
Javo?”, she s'ays “You should just be nicer to him and leave him
alone.” It is not censorious or wise-childish; just a plain answer, given
because it was asked, to a difficult question. This is a very compressed
version of a fine short scene in the novel (p. 102) and it works with
beautiful directness. Gracie’s clarity of vision contrasts with Nora’s
emotional messiness at this point. The film underlines how unlikely
Nora is to be guided by advice, however sound, by having[...]lm, by this juxtaposition,
sharpens one’s sense of the emotional disorderliness of Nora’s life. And
one of the sweetest moments in the film shows Nora and G[...]een mother and daughter has
been established with so much affectionate detail that Nora’s final com-
ment on it — about the pleasure and pain of seeing one’s child “taking
off” —— resonates affectingly with what has gone before. There is some-
times an amusing sense of Gracie’s being calmer and older than Nora,

Nor[...]that the film’s greater sharpness and tightness do not
always work in its favour. It is one thing for Nora’s voice-over to
reflect, “[...]r long with his restlessness, his violent
changes of mood” as she cycles past suburban fences. A comment like
this cannot, however, dramatize — even if it does encapsulate — the
experience of a long—drawn—out, difficult relationship in which the rest-
lessness and violent changes of mood are enacted in a succession of
incidents. The hundred minutes the film lasts as[...]ater time it takes to read the book removes a lot of the tedium of the
original; but the inevitable pruning necessarily dissipates some of the
monotony that is also part ofthe book’s meaning. An affair like Nora’s
with Javo produces long periods of disappointment, loneliness and
aching need between the spells of well-being and happiness. The film,
by tidying up the novel’s narrative procedures, runs less risk of boring
its audience but, in doing so, cannot help losing some of the specific
kinds of pain that the more discursive form of the novel allows the
reader to register. 1 am not[...]e medium less susceptible
to the reflective mode, is no doubt wise to engage in the subtle
modification of a narrative which even its original form, the nov[...]let alone its readers, more overt
reflection than is wise.

When reviewing Monkey Grip at the time of its release, 1 finished by
saying that “it has[...]thout succumbing to either.” Now I am less sure of
this. It seems to me that comments like the one quoted above, or Nora’s
voice-over saying, “Naturally I rememb[...]Javo], not the drugs and resentment”, have more of a
summarizing than a dramatizing function. In spite of their often
retaining Garner’s original words,[...]ity with which they
are chosen for the screenplay is an admission that film cannot cope as a
novel can with the sustained inner play of thought. The feeling one has
in reading the book of listening to a dramatic monologue, in which, as
in a Browning poem like “The Bishop Orders His Tomb . . ." or “My
Last Duchess”, everything is filtered through the consciousness of the
protagonist-speaker, is missing. What Javo and Gracie, Angela, Martin
and the others are like, or what the city itself feels like, are no longer a
matter of an individual’s subjective impression. They inevitably take on
an objective life of their own". One can no longer be sure of seeing them
just as they appeared to Nora because[...]as much claim on attention as
Nora’s perception of them. What has happened in the transposition of
Garner’s novel to the screen is that, while the original tone is largely
maintained through the use of the voice-over (and aspects of the mise-
en-scene), the process of thought remains elusive. In Chapter 1 [of
Words and Images] it is suggested that rendering this process might well
be one of the adaptor’s chief difficulties. Cameron’s film, careful and
intelligent as it is and based on a screenplay collaboration with the[...]ot really found an answer to this. lf Sandra Hall is
right in saying that “The challenge is to transport the novelist’s tone
intact”, the[...]have gone a good way to
achieving success, but it is in certain important matters a qualitatively
different achievement from that of the novel.

Notes

1. Susan Higgins and Jill Matt[...],

June 1978, p. 18.

6. Anne Chisholm, “A love of language“, The National Times, 4-10 January
198[...]The Bulletin,
6 July 1982, p. 95.

8. This will, of course, be true of any first»person novel transferred to the
screen; true, that is, in varying degrees according to how far the “l”
character is a participant in or observer of the narrative, how far (s)he can be
relied on. No[...]ese respects from,
say, Pip in Great Expectations or Nick Carroway in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The
Great Gatsby. In spite of the first-person narration, the characters of these
two novels have an objective reality not to be felt in the shadowy lives of
Garner’s characters. *

v- “WP

Fro[...]

Chadwick: In a sense, Street
Kids emerged from Do Not Pass
G0, which looked at the plight of
children from broken homes and
bleak backgrounds[...]r again.

The main feedback from the
public about Do Not Pass G0 was
how did the kids get into that situa-
tion in the first place? What were
their backgrounds? Do Not Pass
G0 was never designed to answer
those questions, but it threw up the
question marks. So it was at that
stage I decided that an important[...]akdown in
society that was leading to thou-
sands of kids hitting the streets.
That was where Street Kids was
born.

It should be added that Do Not
Pass G0 was a dramatized docu-
mentary. Stree[...]through a department. He would
be on the streets of St Kilda every
night, and the kids would come to[...]Alex that I was
able, with writer Adrian Tame, to
do our research, to try and under-
stand what life o[...]Leigh and
Rob live on the streets with the
kids. So they rented a room in a
broken-down boarding hous[...]them, to get to know
them as a natural extension of
living in the same environment.
We generally made[...]he kids
were sussing us out; they were
suspicious of people with cameras
because they had been ripped off
in the past.

Scott: We talked to hundreds of
kids with diverse backgrounds
from all over Melbo[...]e extremely mobile, being
shunted, for one reason or
another, from place to place. So
you rarely found yourself talking
to a kid who ca[...]Tilson: It takes much longer to
get their trust or even get to talk to
them in St Kilda, because the[...]e more sensa-
tional aspects.

In Street Kids you do see some
of these more dramatic issues —
heroin addiction,[...]but they are in
the film because they are a part of
the kids’ lifestyle, and part of the
problem. However, these are just
the symptoms of the deeper
problem, which is that these kids
have nowhere to go, no one to turn
to and no one to love. And that
is a pretty horrifying situation,
born of a lot of different social
factors. And the problem is getting
bigger in every western city.

Is one of these factors unemploy-
ment?

Chadwick: It is an exacerbating
factor. But the cause is that there
are so many pressures being
brought to bear onfamilies in the
1980s that there is a breakdown in
communication between the
parents[...]in society. Unemploy-
ment just makes it worse.

If the kids were to name the major
issues, what dois deeper
than that, and it is expressed more
often in manner than in words.
They feel outcast, they don’t feel
at home, or there isn’t a home, or
they can’t face the violence at
home — incest[...]l. They live for
the most part in incredible fear of
something.

Tilson: The kids don’t have[...]

This comes out in the sec[...]-
through that significant other
person you speak of . . .

Tilson: That is why we put that
segment in. It would be very easy[...]ative;
there are positive things —— some
sort of friendship, good times,
whatever.

I really hate[...]they are born no—hopers. I
don’t believe that is true. Circum-

stances and environment can
social[...]ded up in
the film were those for whom the
making of this film was extremely
important. They were aware of the
problems they might encounter if
they spoke out, if the total reality
of their life was shown. They were
not only committe[...]but it became probably the most
important aspect of their lives at
the time. It was the first oppor-
tunity any of them ever had to tell
their story. From that point of
view they became almost working
members of the production team.

Tilson: The Steenbeck [editing
machine] was in the boarding-
house room we stayed in. If we had
shot something one day, or done
an interview, it would be processed
overnigh[...]back to them. Basically it
was either good, bad, or shithouse.
A lot of times they would say,
“Oh, that was important to me, I
want to do it again. I want it to get
through and I blew it the first

time.” Often we would have a lot
of talking heads, and we would
say, “This is becoming too boring.
Is there a way we can illustrate
that?” They would[...]and myself, in
collaboration with the kids. A lot
of them would come and help out
with their segment.[...]their seg-
ment was an accurate representa-
tion of what they felt was
important to say. It meant a l[...]scene. It was a
journey that we did and came out
of. But for them it was cold reality.

Chadwick: Thi[...]ct in which
you are aiming for an hour and a
half of film. We could do it only
because Film Victoria agreed to
finance it, and because a group of
very dedicated people were pre-
pared to spend th[...]ot to
promise the kids things you can’t
fulfil, so as not to let them down as
they have been let down so many
times in the past, you become very
much a part of that reality,
because it was just so much
stronger than our protected,
middle—class environment. This
experience of making the film
dominates your whole thinking.

I[...]familiar
surroundings.

This raises the question of film as
therapy. Did any of the kids
benefit from the process?

Chadwick: At the time that the
film was being made, quite a few
of the featured characters were
benefiting very much[...]beings with something
positive to offer society. If you
watch those interviews, you can
feel the kids[...]in a broader
perspective.

Tilson: At first, many of the
kids saw themselves as being able
to help other kids through the film,
to communicate to their parents,
or even just to do something

interesting. But at some point they
wo[...]:
that there were 15,000 kids
roaming the streets of Victoria,
and that most ofor three relation-
ships in the film, and one can sa[...]each other . . .

Chadwick: But remember that
one of them says, “You can’t trust
anybody. In some things, you
can’t even trust your own girl-
friend.” So even the couples are
vulnerable in that situation[...]son with a reasonable
family life cannot conceive of the
situation that these kids are in.
These kids just don’t know what it
is like to have somebody celebrate
a birthday with them, or to send
them a Christmas present. All the
little things that are ways of
declaring love for one another in a
family situation are just not part of
their world anymore.

Scott: It is interesting to note
that they sometimes celebrate
birthdays with each other, or
spend Christmas together; there is
some sense of community among
some of them. But it is not the
normal, family situation.

Tilson: Another thing that
comes through is the way they live
from day to day, without any ho[...]ck.

along, sometimes not knowing
what we were to do the next day.
Being completely unscripted was
qui[...]o-man crew with
portable equipment. Also, as many
of the kids sleep all day, are up all
night and are all over the place, it
meant that if we were to capture
anything we needed a high-spee[...]e. We used Fuji 250 ASA stock
that proved capable of achieving
usable pictures at 2000 ASA. We
pushed[...]ugh, and we got heavily into lip
reading for most of the synching of
rushes. We didn’t use a shotgun
microphone poin[...]nd used a flat plate microphone
taped to the side of the Nagra,
making sure we were close to what-
eve[...]Chadwick: One thing that im-
pressed the hell out of me was a
series of black and white films
made about 10 years ago in[...]atrols with the police, their
cameras in the back of the car, not
knowing what was to be encoun[...]

One Night Stand is directed by John Duigan, from his screen-

play, for producer Richard Mason. Director of photography
is T om Cowan.

Right: Eva (Saskia Post) and[...]

Having directed three features and almost 150 hours of film
and videotape drama for television, as well as many
commercials, Simon Wincer is one of Australia’s most

experienced directors.

Wince[...]overseas; and Phar Lap,
his most recent feature, is the second most successful Aus-
tralian film in i[...]ard-winning television
series, including episodes of the highly-acclaimed Against Michael Edgley Inter[...]ucer. Phar Lap was Edgley’s second venture, and is being
followed into release by John Duigan’s One Night Stand
(Wincer is executive producer) and Igor Auzins ’ The Coola[...]by Scott Murray,

Wincer talks about the success of Phar Lap, his role at

between Hoyts and Edgley I[...].

Phar Lap

What attracted you to the story of
Phar Lap?

It is a rattling good yarn, a great
story. It is also a part of the
Australian consciousness. When
the horse come[...]ve all listened
to the radio on the first Tuesday of
every November, and, when you
know the animal up on the screen
that wins the Cup, it is very
moving.

To what extent during the scripting[...]vid
Williamson [scriptwriter] and,
after a couple of weeks, churn out
another four drafts of the script.
We had an excellent rapport, but
he couldn’t believe how insistent I
was in spending so much time with
him. He’d had a few bad experi-[...]her people,
but I assured him, “Look, once
this is right, we don’t have to
worry.”

Actually, th[...]e was the
one who started the project and
who was so passionate about it -
with scripting was deciding what to
throw away. One can only show so
many races and in the early draft
we had far too[...]rt-
ing point?

‘._’ tn

4 /'

e‘,

O
.
* X is

Phar Lap, with a hoof injury, leads the r[...]

What about in areas of specula-
tion, such as the death of Phar Lap
in the U.S. Did you find out new
things?

Not really. The day the horse
died was a comedy of errors_. It was
a bit as if you were standing next to
the Queen and she collapsed in

30 — March-April CINEMA PAPERS

front of you: what do you do?
Everybody ran off to get opinions
and so many autopsies were con-
ducted it all got out of hand. No
one will ever really know. You talk
to f[...]ed it, others say the vet gave
it the wrong dose, or it was sick, or
they had been using an arsenic-
based poisonous spray on fruit
trees outside the stables.

The Governor of California
actually called an investigation
becau[...]b in the
film. He adamantly swore that the
lining of the horse’s stomach had
been eaten away by an i[...]You spend considerable screen
time on the rigging of the Caulfield
and Melbourne Cups double. Did
you[...]nt the audience’s
response to Phar Lap?

No. It is not the horse’s fault,
but that of the people behind it.

Why we concentrated so much
on that area — it is almost a film in
itself — is that it demonstrated the
behind—the-scenes power struggles.
It was just sheer greed. During the
two weeks of the Melbourne Cup
period, Phar Lap raced somethin[...]Ron Leibman), was only getting a
small percentage of the winnings. I

can’t remember the amount of
money they won on that Caulfield
and Melbourne Cups double but it
was, in today’s terms, millions of
dollars.

The story of “Snowy River” is
very much linked to the building of
the Australian nation and the sort
of people who were crucial to the
development. How do you see the
story of “Phar Lap” relating to
Australia as a nation?[...]y, amongst
all the problems there was this
symbol of hope. The mob would
trudge out to Flemington and[...]. The
horse became an extraordinary
icon, as many of Australia’s sport-
ing figures have become, but Phar
Lap even more so.

I have a beautiful piece of prose
that a young girl wrote and sent us
some years ago. She tried to
analyze why a photo of this horse
was on the family mantelpiece and
what it meant to her father. It is
the most moving piece. In her
father’s case, sh[...]as a stable entity emerging from
the insecurities of the times; a
horse that kept on winning; it was
something that everyone looked up
to and loved.

So, it is a part of our history but
it stirs you for different reason[...]han what we already know.

In many ways, Phar Lap is the
classic Aussie battler . . .

Yes, he[...]

It is the same with all great
figures in history. It is Greek
tragedy.

The first thing I felt when I read
the script was that Phar Lap was so
great he was destined to die tragic-
ally. I then wrote down a list of all
the people whose lives paralleled
this: Jesus[...]edy . . . It
just goes on and on.

“Phar Lap” is unusual for its
number of emotional climaxes.
There are five or six points where
the audience is invited to shed a
tear . . .

All those elements were inherent
to the story because that is the way
it happened. However, we did
choose to put the death of the
horse at the beginning of the film
because we felt that otherwise an
Austra[...]anuary 28 and seemed to work
just as well, but it is an unknowing
audience. Audiences there really
don[...]The other emotional climaxes in
the film are to do with the actual
story. There is the triumph of the
1930 Melbourne Cup, after they
tried to knock[...]e with the horse
and it seems that everybody else is
against it.

Something ofof people
thought that was invented for the
film, but it is exactly what
happened. The horse broke down
in the middle of the race and some-
how its big heart dragged it across
the line. That is very emotional.

How did you cast the Americans i[...]in
Australia. Ron Leibman we found
in the U.S. He is stunning in
the film and was an absolute
delight[...]scene totally
against the way it was written; he is
an absolute ball of energy.

Australia has rarely produced
name stars[...]with his role in
“Snowy River”?

In the case of Phar Lap, no.
When I became director, Tom Bur-
li[...]me was thrown up. I
initially rejected it because of the
Snowy River connection. I was
anxious to find[...]se. But
everything led back to Tom
because he was so like Woodcock;
he had a good rapport with
animals, particularly horses.

We screen tested a number of
people and none of them was right
so I said to David Williamson, who
hadn’t seen Sno[...]on
would, in people’s eyes, cloud his
portrayal of Woodcock?

Exactly. But I don’t think that is
the case at all.

“Phar Lap” is billed as the most
expensive film made in Austral[...]le us to complete the post-
production by the end of June. I
saw the first print of the film on
June 24 last year; that shows how
tig[...]r Lap”
been?

Locally, it has rentals in excess
of $4.2 million, a gross of around
$10.2 million. It has been seen
by about two-and-a-half million
people and is still running. Hoyts
predicts it will do finally about $5
million in rentals.

2. Prior[...]ow does that compare to
“Snowy River”?

Snowy is going to end up return-
ing about $8 million in rentals.
E.T. is the highest grossing film in
Australia, followed by Snowy
River. Hoyts told me that Return
of the Jedi is probably not even
going to match Snowy, so the
market seems to have changed con-
siderably in the past year with the
influence of video and so forth.

So Phar Lap is going to end up
as the No. 2 Australian film of all
time; it certainly won’t pass Snowy
River. Terry Jackman and Jona-
thon Chissick [of Hoyts] both say
that they don’t think any other
Australian film will be capable of
doing Snowy business.

Phar Lap is a little disappointing
in that it failed to attract the main
audience, which is the 14 to
22 year-olds. We got them for a
while b[...]ce they went along they
really enjoyed it. Snowy, of
course, managed to capture that
audience.

Why do you think “Snowy River”
attracted that section of the market
but “Phar Lap” didn’t?

Terry Ja[...]the other night and we
think the romantic appeal of
Snowy could be one of the things
that helped capture that market.
Phar Lap is very much an urban
story and there is no fantasy. It is
all facts. I happen to find it a much
more emotio[...]idn’t
allow room for it. The focus all the
time is on the horse first, then the
characters surrounding it. It would
have just been gratuitous.

How is “Phar Lap” being handled
outside Australia?

In the U.S., it is being handled
by 20th Century-Fox; it will have a[...]ed
slowly and then widened.

Outside the U.S., it is being
handled by Bobbie Meyers, of
Robert Meyers International.
He is a very good, independent dis-
tributor and is doing territory by
territory sales. He will be us[...]his main
push. The Snowy foreign release,
outside of the U.S., wasn’t as suc-
cessful as hoped, so we have tried

a different approach.
Concl[...]

Essentially, the mini-series is a limited—run
series of two or more episodes (but usually less
than the 13-episode block favored by series pro-
ducers), whose narrative is developed over the
block and resolved in the last episode.‘ Unless it
comprises an anthology of work or is an
episodic documentary, the individual episodes
of the body of the program do not present a
major resolution of narrative development but
have a dénouement simi[...]the
serial episode.

Traditionally, a mini-series is shot on film to
achieve the picture quality suitable for its
“special event” status. It is promoted as such
and programmed over consecutive nights or in

weekly instalments.

1. The Australian govern[...]for tax
purposes each episode should be one hour or more for
adults’ mini-series or half-an-hour or more for

children’s mini-series.

32 — March-April CINEMA PAPERS

Antecedents

The mini-series format is peculiar to television.
Although it is an amalgam of a number of
formats, it has no direct precedent in films or
broadcasting. It draws historical antecedents
fro[...]s in television, but also owes a lot to the
genre of the epic.

The film series and serials that became so
popular in the 1910s were themselves spin—offs
from another medium, that of the popular
newspaper and magazine serializations of the
19th Century. Cinema added an extra dimen-
si[...]urn repeatedly to a continuing
story.

The demise of serial and series production
occurred with the introduction of radio and
television. People found entertainment[...]By the mid—1950s, the large—scale production of
film series and serials had ceased.

The one form[...]s was the epic. From D. W.
Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) through
to Gone with the Wind (1939), Ben Hur (1959),
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and so on, the
epic has successfully proved that productions of
massive scale can draw audiences of similar
proportions. The form established the
pre[...]nett

Television, at least for the first 30 years of its
history, had no need of “special event” tele-
vision epics. The novel[...]de—to—
episode character and plot development of the
serial generally overstretched its material;
devices of tension developed in .film serials
became familia[...]eracting and plastic emotions
tested the patience of maturing audiences.

The series, though allowing[...]narrative construction, wrestled with
the danger of becoming blandly predictable.
The necessity of returning the characters and
plot to an unaltering, neutral base at the end of
each episode resulted in the formulae for plot
de[...]d as they did in
serials. The aim for the success of a series rested
on little more than the protagoni[...]tion with style and flair, and
the unusual nature of the circumstances in
which he did it.

The one-of[...]the format had
evolved into an important element of drama
entertainment and had become an established
part of television. The audience could watch a
one[...]

As with those other “specia[...]bring itself to
transcend the standard 90-minute or two-hour
duration. It appears the passive home audience
was not credited with the concentration span or
patience to sit through three hours of con-
tinuous drama.

Thus it suffered the same limitation as the
cinema release: the constraint of a limited time
slot and the inability to develop more than one
thread of a narrative to any depth. A precedent
had to be set to prove the viability of the long-
form drama.

The Inception of the Format

This came with the BBC’s production and
broadcast, in the northern spring of 1969, of Sir
Kenneth Clark’s documentary mini—series,[...]. This 13-part program dealt with
the development of civilization in Western
Europe and was the first ofof Man (1973) and John Kenneth Galbraith’s
The Age of Uncertainty (1977), which con-
solidated the successful use of the mini-series
format to provide concise documen[...]s
finally allowed for the television novelization of
popular literary material and its success proved
that audiences relished the depth of charac-
terization and plot development that this[...]and the dramatized documen-
taries The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) and
Elizabeth R (1971) were the inception and proof
of the format. In the U.S., these shows were
present[...]it was to screen material
outside the definition of commercial television.
Presented through Alistair Cooke’s Master-
piece Theatre, the enormous popularity of these
shows demonstrated the potential of the format
to the commercial networks.

The popularization of the format in the U.S.
was also attributable to the re—run issue.
Research had shown that re-runs of series were
often almost as popular as the original
screening. Programmers countered criticism of
using re-runs, saying that they could not afford
to produce constantly a high proportion of
first-run material. To do so they would have to
produce more of the cheaper game and variety
shows and increase p[...]es therefore became
attractive as a special event or fill—in. But the
British had a practice of producing only as
many programs as could be produced well. So,
considering the obvious popularity of the
material aired on PBS, the escalation of
American mini—series production became
inevitab[...]arly 1970s that continued the gradual
exploration of the format. The NBC set out to
exploit these successes on a regular basis, but in
doing so robbed the form of its special event
attractiveness. In 1976, the NB[...]at from
becoming bogged down in period pieces and so
looked to novelists such as Harold Robbins,
Irwin[...]nsistently, did not
achieve the excellent ratings of Upton Sinclair’s
The Moneymovers. This mini-ser[...]Best Sellers was
therefore dropped and the status of the mini-
series as a special event drawcard was[...]opular television event ever,
attracting a rating of 45, or 66 per cent of the
possible audience numbers. It received 37
Emm[...]for years.

A ustralia

In Australia, Channel 10 (or 0 as it was then)
made up for a fairly mediocre r[...]n
the U.S. (35 rating), certainly opened the eyes
of local programmers to the potential of the
mini—series.

Australia was indeed in a for[...]en proven
successful in its home ground. The kind of
reaction that kept restaurants around Australia
e[...]isited in 1982
could generally be anticipated and so pro-
grammed for accordingly. Of course, this did
not always hold true, as the only minor
success of the flatulent Winds of War (1983)
demonstrated.

The availability of quality foreign production
placed enormous pressu[...]duct
to match the overseas standard on a fraction of
the budget. In the days before the tax incentive[...]xist for
the indigenous product.

The performance of A Town like Alice in
1979 on the international ma[...].
Produced by Henry Crawford at the then huge
sum of $225,000 an hour, this show was
awarded an[...]

Days of Hope: "social history in the docudrama".

In A[...]3 again demonstrated its
popularity.

The Success of the Mini-series

Internationally, programmers wer[...]satisfy the growing
sophistication and maturation of audience
tastes. For many reasons the mini-series had
greater scope for this quality and, although
ratings do not always directly reflect the quality
of programs, well-produced mini-series were
good for ratings. These little numbers at the
end of a weekly phone call from McNair
Anderson in Australia, or Nielsen in the
U.S., are the yardstick by which a program
is judged. Often maligned as inaccurate,
especially[...]ble.

Few networks are in the privileged position
of the BBC or PBS which, because of the
nature of their funding, are not inextricably
tied into the pursuit of these numbers. They are
able to pursue quality, wherever possible, for
the sake of quality alone.

For those unfortunates pursuing the dollar
return, however, the mini-series is special event
television that is usually good for ratings. It
also encourages major sponsorship and
brightens a dull schedule.

The pursuit of quality is even reflected in the
production set-up from whic[...]mini-series format,
which has attracted the likes of Crawford Pro-
ductions and McElroy and McElroy away from
their usual domain, is, even for these organiza-
tions, produced from a[...]y set-up
specifically for that purpose. This type of
independent structure relies on the use of
experienced freelance crews chosen for their
prov[...]t.

The series and serial are locked into network
or production-house schedules that often
dictate com[...]only when they
are completed to the satisfaction of the
producers.

One of the major elements of quality in the
mini-series is its ability to present, in novel
form, popular literary works and to offer
dramatic or documentary perspectives on
important events in social history. In doing so it
allows for a depth of study not possible in other
forms. It can tell a good story.

The importance of the strength of this
element was demonstrated in 1980 when Water[...]disappointing ratings
(24), despite a high degree of critical acclaim
for its excellent performances and photo-
graphy. The lack of strong characterizations
and a tangible theme resulted in this mini-series
settling down into melodrama of little pace
where no expectation of resolution was fulfilled
and where the characters[...]ractiveness.

The similar ratings disappointments of The
Last Outlaw and The Timeless Land in the
same year created a degree of negative feeling
toward the form in the Australia[...]ama.

Castleman and Podrazik, in their assessment
of the success of Roots, identified the elements
of success as:

excellent writing, first rate acting[...]ending?

The longer format allows for complexity of
character development without historic or
dramatic compromise. It can expand on the
single-thread construction available to the
feature or series but can do so without having
to pad the material ad infinitum, as is often the
case with the serial.

It can also cons[...]ent and
identify individuals within the framework of
their cultural circumstances. The success of bio-
graphical mini-series such as Jennie (I975),

2. Castleman and Podrazik, Watching TV: Four Decadm
of American Television, McGraw Hill, New York, 1982.

Oppenheimer (1980) and The Six Wives of
Henry VIII is attributable to the ability of the
mini-series to provide an in-depth investigation
of the behaviour and motivations of noted
individuals in their particular environment[...]on and, though generally
unexplored in Australia, isof the 19205,
Eureka Stockade and the Japanese POW
e[...]spectives on a social history that
draws a degree of understanding from the huge
proliferation of knowledge, sub-cultures and
opinion that has char[...]hnological
age since the last war. The popularity of
programs such as Roots and The Dismissal
(1983) w[...]audience’s
desire to extricate cohesive threads of under-
standing from the information melee.

So strong is the format’s ability to explore
social history[...]rcial television.
Ken Loach’s mini-series, Days of Hope (1974),
set out to investigate issues such as conscription
and unionism, and did so with such force that
conservative British institu[...]ial to transcend the role relegated to
the series of endorsing the dominant political
and social system. In contemporary series, the
protagonist is usually identified by his social
role as doctor, lawyer or policeman. The ills to
which he addresses himself are generally repre-
sented as maladies of individual psychologies
rather than social ills.[...]ach episode to its biographical base,
he disposes of the symptom but not the social
circumstances that[...]re,
can examine more than the surface functioning
of social systems.

It is interesting to note that the Australian
government’s definition of the drama mini-
series in its tax legislation amounts to an
endorsement of the Hollywood narrative form
wherein:

. . . the[...]elements are introduced,
developed and concluded so as to form a narrative
structure (similar to that of a novel) which features
a major continuous plot enhanced by minor plot
and there is the expectation of an ending which
resolves major plot tension}

Thi[...]form
inciting anything other than a “resolution of
tensions”.

One problem with the format’s use for the
study of social history is the potential for the
over-fictionalization of historic atrocities.
Strongly identifiable demons are good for any
form of entertainment and increasingly the
hang-over from the ‘‘love’’ generation is
dissipating as one is encouraged to polarize
one’s emotions and enjoy with relish the
continents of hate, lust and so on. Historical
aberrations make for popular telev[...]favorite demon in rr1ini-
series. But the danger is that sensationalist tele-
vision could ove[...]

extent that, for instance, Holocaust is remem-
bered as “that moving mini-series of 1978” and
the real atrocity is misplaced. However, when
applied to drama fiction derived from novels,
this danger is somewhat allayed.

Most successful drama mini—s[...]iginating from novels.
These offer the attraction of being able to
provide a point of view, which is usually that of
the novelist, and the quality television which is
often construed as spending heaps on sets,
costumes and so on. But there are problems
associated with the production of contem-
porary mini-series that have resulted in the
dearth of such shows. Except for notable excep-
tions such[...]vaganzas which employ the soap
and serial devices of sex, intrigue and wealth.

The serious mini-series relies heavily on con-
tinuity of dramatization and character develop-
ment to hold the story together over an
extended period. But when it is set in a modern
environment this consistency runs[...]ulties.

In the feature film, dramatic continuity is
equally important and generally achievable.
Where there is only one producer, one director
and one writer, a film may develop a cohesive
framework or singularity of vision attributable
to particular creative source[...].
Due to the sheer volumeof material and work,
it is common practice to employ several writers
and dir[...]eference for the
script development and execution is the period
novel, the creative team has a clearly defined
and stated set of ethics, modes of behaviour
and environments at sufficient historical dis-
tance to act as a solid point of reference. With
contemporary mini-series, however, the inter-
pretation of recent modes of behaviour be-
comes arbitrary and difficult to sustain from a
proliferation of creative contributors. The onus
for dramatic cont[...]ack on the
producer who, especially in Australia, is also
frequently acting as entrepreneur and salesman.

One possible solution to this problem is to
reduce the contemporary story to a peculiar,
c[...]All the River: Run: another suocasful emlomtion of the past.

it

1112 Dismissal.‘ Australian political history retold.

treatment do not have to be epic in proportion.
The circumstances and quality of the drama
lend the mini-series its special event[...]nment.

Hollywood feels safer producing the likes of
Aspen, Scruples and Moviola, which sell them-
sel[...]1983) Australia has difficulty producing
material of this epic, escapist nature because,
basically, there is just not enough money to
mount the scale of these productions and
attempt, for instance, the obligatory wrecking
of a fleet of vehicles in an urban landscape.

A contemporary m[...]ght not be able to
sustain itself on the strength of its script. It
therefore runs up against the expectation of
more spectacular effects and adventure on the
Ame[...]tatus has to be
maintained, as such, on the level of the quality
of the material and the quality of the pro-
duction.

Another possible solution to this difficulty of
the format to handle contemporary material
successfully is for more writing, production and
directing talent[...]inema
industry where the discipline and integrity of
story construction is of paramount importance.
The return of such notable figures as David
Williamson and Thom[...]xecutives that the mini-series will stem
the flow of writing talent from television to
film.

There wo[...]ough potentially expensive, for the delinea-
tion of creative producer/script editor/entre-
preneur/ promoter roles which, in independent
production, is often relegated to or suffered by
one individual. If there is a necessity for
multiple directors and writers, t[...]uch as Crawford Productions
can afford the luxury of an in-house marketing
director and production sup[...]the independent
producer may have to perform all of these tasks
at the same time as suffering the traumas of
having his house and family in hock to make
ends[...]at has traps for the tele-
vision programmer. One of the biggest
problems is that, unlike the series, the episodes
of the mini-series cannot be split for program-
ming as re-runs. The show must occupy a set
number of slots in a progression which, if not
on subsequent nights as possibly originally p[...]be split and
programmed to suit seasons, ratings or fancy
without major alienation of the audience. Even
episodes made 10 years apart a[...]in the same week with success.

. The performance of mini-series re-runs has
not been extensively rese[...]lia
but, in the U.S., it has been shown that they do
not do as well as the series. If the special event

CINEMA PAPERS March-April — 35

Waterfront: Jack Thompson as Maxey.

is successful the first time around it becomes
less[...]s after the
first screening to allow for a degree of turn-over
in the audience.

Perhaps the most dramatic flaw with the
format is that the first episode has to do well on
the night or the network is left holding a
multiple-evening disaster. The format, because
of the depth of its development, does not lend
itself to having audiences join in mid—run even
with recaps at the head of each episode.

Networks generally rely on heavy p[...]h fleeting and,
supposedly enthralling, promises of the
imminent arrival of the big event. These
campaigns then progress with all manner of
media promotion in an effort to have the viewer
anxiously hanging off the end of his seat for the
first episode.

The network has to be sure of its material
because, should the big event turn out to be a
fizzer, there is a limit to how often they could
cry wolf without depriving the mini—series of its
attractiveness.

But there have been few real[...]th the outstand-
ing critical and ratings success of The Dismissal
and All the Rivers Run, and the ratings suc-
cesses of For the Term of His Natural Life and

Return to Eden.

The Future[...]Weis.

36 — March-April CINEMA PAPERS

In terms of production, other than the
distinct possibility that the Burrowes Dixon
production of The Anzacs will eventuate,
several projects from established producers are
in advanced stages of development or pre-
production.

Perhaps the most interesting event of 1984
will be the $7.3 million production by the South
Australian Film Corporation of Rolf Boldre-
wood’s Robbery Under Arms. This wi[...]by two
years. Producer Jock Blair feels that both of
these forms will be viable propositions and will[...]turn on the investment
which, at $750,000 an hour of television, places
it well ahead of the current average of $600,000
an hour.

This will be interesting because the use of the
two formats for the same material has not
pro[...]well on television. However, the enormous
success of The Godfather and The Godfather
Part II in the cinema guaranteed the subsequent
success of the nine—hour mini—series, which was
cut out of the two films and previously unused
material, and[...]rom the mini—series.
Given the proven inability of the mini—series to
rate well in re—runs in th[...]elevision as
soon as two years later. The success of the mini-
series would also appear to be heavily

dependent on the success of the film release.
The ABC has had a couple of interesting, if

low—budget, attempts at the mini—series form[...]Fairfax as Vinny.

Gossips (1983) and The Scales of Justice (1983),
though lacking the scale of production of other
commercial projects, were popular because of
the strength of their scripts and the intimate
nature of their setting.

However, Chris Muir, head of the ABC
drama department, has indicated that the ABC
will in future steer clear of the mini-series bally—
hoo in favor of lower-budget one—offs which he
feels allow more[...]the Rivers Run
(1983) from Crawford Productions, is currently
going through a major staff and policy[...]cable television would appear to be
proving less of a bonanza than expected. The
phenomenal growth of home video in the U.S.
has hit hard at what was the scourge of network
television several years ago.

In the U.S[...]g that the estab-
lishment in the past five years of non—network,
independent production companies,[...]and Metromedia, will
mean a trend toward material of more intro-
spective drama appeal appearing in th[...]frantic scramble to retain audiences in the
light of home video and cable continues.

Conclusion

The[...]a. The British established this in
the early days of the format and it has been
consolidated with a number of quality Aus-
tralian, American and British mini-series. The
major hurdle is to maintain the pace and
consistency of the story development. A show
that waffles on endlessly without the draw-
cards of a brilliant script or, conversely, soap
sensationalism is destined to the pile of mini-
series flops that has grown in the wake of an
otherwise successful history.

Furthermore, the special event status must be
maintained. A number of prominent critics and
producers have expressed concern with the rush
of people, many without much experience,
announcing[...]g on the tax
incentives and intending mini-series of their
own. Established producers such as Henry
Crawford fear that a proliferation of quickly-
produced, badly—scripted, cheap mini-s[...]he format into disrepute and deprive it
in future of its special event attractiveness.

This is, indeed, a danger as the current popu-
larity of the format has every man and his
drover’s dog j[...]feature films. One can only hope that the
process of elimination by ratings trial that has
established the successful parameters of the
mini-series during the past 14 years will cre[...]n pro-
grammers for the continued and growing use of
the format for quality television. iv
Ackn[...]

about trying to do that within the
adventure/thriller genre. But aft[...]at
the women should be concerned
about something, so that the adven-
ture/thriller stuff would have a
firm foundation. We came up with
the issue of reproductive engi-
neering which we had been inter-
ested in for a long time. It is a
fabulously complicated moral
issue, with which[...]ore to the forefront and
couldn’t be kept down, so we had
to research it thoroughly and arrive

Why[...]éingta Susan Lambert ’s On Guard, in the style of a heist adventure,
:l"§i°$:t$'r 0;’3:';‘n:';?ary me or 0 concentrates on four politically active and ass[...]age). Shot on 16 mm and 51 minutes long, the
film is a frank depiction of the women ’s sexuality and
_th ‘d _ f emotional lives, and the complexity of their domestic respon-
0 In as a In I1 ~ - - - -[...]he time it was made, was not really ethical issue of biotechnology and its impact on women.
3VCl)‘ca[...]te
In fact, that film had 501116 initial producer of On Guard). They include Ladies Rooms (also
diffic[...]the following

What Sarah and I are interested
in is getting new ideas across to
people and so, even in our docu-
mentaries, we have experimente[...], this was considered to be
very radical. For us, of course, it
was essential that a film about body
i[...]some bodies in
it, but in 1978 you just didn’t do
that in a documentary.

Another film, Behind Clos[...]As such, it worked
very well.

Age Before Beauty is a much
more conventional documentary
with interviews, talking heads and
so on, and it is very accessible.

With On Guard, the area we
want[...]ther
could exercise almost total control
in terms of what was said and who
said it.

We wanted to show[...]rt, right, and actress Mystery Carnage an the set of On Guard.

. S

at a position. That was the hardest
part.

What is interesting is that it is not
an issue that has been bandied
around or discussed within the
women’s movement, or in larger
political circles; so, whereas
previously our documentaries had
been in[...]fore it
became an issue, and get people
talking.

Do you always work with Sarah
Gibson?

No, I made tw[...]cturing
position at the New South Wales
Institute of Technology, which she
was keen to do, we reorganized the
production.

How did y[...]

Where did you raise the finance for
the film?[...]r got script money from the
Women’s Film Fund.

Do you think that is significant?

Yes, very significant. The first
as[...]feature
film writers and they simply had no
idea of what we, and others, were
on about. A lot of people were dis-
illusioned with this particular[...]had no idea
about the films we had already
made, or the context in which we

worked, and our ideas ju[...]s. That whole assessment
was a disaster for a lot of us.

What did you do after getting the
first-draft money from the
Wome[...]on money, at which point we were
rejected again.

Do you know why?

I think they thought that the
scri[...]on it, I think it
was. They were quite supportive of
us in terms of being able to make
the film, feeling that we were[...]e worried about the move into
drama. It was a bit of a blow. It
threw us right back into changing
the dimensions of the script and
what resulted was On Guard, a
much[...]except that it had four main
characters, instead of the usual one
or two.

So, with this new script, did you
then engage Digby[...]00. But we still had to raise
another great chunk of money
privately, which Digby did. We
went into pr[...]raising at the
time.

You said that the first lot of
assessors didn’t really understand
what you were trying to do, or the
area in which you worked. Was
that because th[...]a traditional narra-
tive?

It was attempting to do that at
the time. In the first script the main
emphasis was a large gang of
women as opposed to one or two,
or even four, well-defined indivi-
duals. It was als[...]content that the final
script had. There was none of the
business about reproductive engin-
eering. It was solely to do with
notions of crime and who are
criminals and who aren’t.

One of the interesting things about
the heist in “On Guard” is that it is
quite domestic in flavor. The
mechanics of the crime are so
simply explained that the film
almost works as a blueprint for a

new kind of terrorism. Were you
aiming for that?

As soon as[...]did it.
In the earlier drafts, they had just
sort of fluffed around with knobs
and flashing lights, su[...]asn’t good
enough. As we were wondering
what to do about it, a friend of
mine, Cristina Perincioli, who is a
German filmmaker, wrote to us
after reading the[...]ship as film-
makers, as well as the relationship
of women to technology, and that
started us off on a whole new
period of research. We had to find
out just how you would g[...]al script,
how did you cast the film? Liddy
Clark is quite well known and
Kerry Dwyer is known for her
theatre work but the others are
more or less unknowns. Was there
a reason for not using all estab-
lished actresses?

We cast it ourselves — that is,
Digby, Sarah and I — and we threw
out a[...]

Mystery Carnage is the lead
singer of a Sydney rock band, The
Stray Dags, and she was t[...]ge that was very unstereo-
typical, which was one of the things
we were trying to present on the
screen. That was quite important.

What do you mean by unstereo-
typical body language?

What continually frustrated us in
a lot of films is that every time
women attempt to do anything
active, they always seem to fluff it
up[...]mble
running down the street; the
simplest action is always too much.
We wanted to work against that
notion, not by making a big thing
of it, but just to show that, if you
train for it, you can perform almost
any phys[...]ere you hoping for in the art
direction and style of the film?

The art direction was intended to
be comic book in style, with lots of
primary color followed right

through into the lighting of the
film. It was quite successful and I
think the[...]c strip feel to it, which sets it
apart from most of the European
heist movies which are all grey and
brown. We wanted to reflect the
Australian light.

Do you think it is a particularly
Australian film?

Not so much in content, but
certainly in light, color an[...]s selected for the London
Film Festival and a lot of people
were very excited about it because
it made them feel optimistic. I think
the humor had something to do
with that. And they loved the fact
that the women got away with it. It
is a standard convention, but
everyone responded to[...]some scenes in the film
where the women are nude or partly
nude and there was a debate about
whether these scenes constituted a
voyeuristic cinema. Some of the
audience thought that the women
were being se[...]gaze
and that men would get off on it,
which was of course the last thing
that we wanted.

\\\$ \\
w[...]the lesbian
sexuality in the film, we spent a lot
of time discussing the best way to
shoot it because,[...]this in an ordinary
way and not make an issue out of
it. What we finally decided was to
shoot the bedr[...]lit and try as much as
possible not to have bits of sheet
covering up bits of body, but in fact
to have the bodies completely
exposed. At the time, they are lying
in bed discussing what is the best

Amelia (Liddy Clark) and Diana discuss[...]guards during their mission. On Guard.

method of wedging a door open, so
it is not as though the scene was
there for erotic stim[...]just a towel around their
waists. Apparently, it is just not
done in England! So, whereas I
think that some of their criticisms
are just, I also think that some of
them just come down to whether or
not you are familiar with people
walking around half-naked at home
—- and that is a function of climate
as much as anything else, I
suppose.

Are[...]s that you write?

At the moment, I would like to
do more directing where I am not
responsible for the whole film and
for everything everyone says, so
that I can actually concentrate on
the craft of directing. Despite that,
I am sure I will continue to make
my own.

At 51 minutes long, “On Guard” is
quite short for a theatrical release.
What are the plans for it?

Ronin Films is the distributor
and it has organized theatrical
r[...]berra.
The film will be billed with a selec-
tion of Australian rock ’n’ roll
clips and Toby Zoates’ new anima-
tion, The Thief of Sydney, which
will make a great program. T[...]

fl l‘k ‘Th M f S R’ " ld'b d.

‘milairarline a'X§'sL”S$.§°So£§b.§ Qlini MACFARLANE

roofed power generators[...]ted on 4 wheel drive vehicles, for the film-

ing of ’The Man from Snowy River’ — that's portable power.

MacFarlane’s emergency service is FAST and their rates

bl . I -
Very gzfwfiolbar oir brochure and price list and think of us when
you next hear "Lights, action.[...]

AAHISTORY or

Scott Murray

The first issue of a magazine called Cinema
Papers was published by a group of under-
graduates at La Trobe University in Octobe[...]ema which, by the mid-1960s, had become
the bible of the French “new wave” cinema.

The 25-page jo[...]e roneo
in the Glenn College office with the help of the
college secretary, Kay Mathews (now at the
Au[...]ne obviously motivated
by frustration at the lack of a meaningful and
significant film industry in Aus[...]75), The Beast

GIN

Within (1982) and The Return of Captain
Invincible (1983).

In 1968, Beilby left[...]Murray arrived at La Trobe and began a Bach-
elor of Science degree in pure maths. He joined
the film[...]ing and thinking in a complete
vacuum . . . There is not one champion of the
cinema in Australia who has any courage or .
intelligence whatsoever — there is not one man '
here in whom we can put our faith.[...]ic. The
Commonwealth Film Unit does not rate. Nor do
pseudo-underground films. Local television
produc[...]he idiotic mind. Let us
hope (a hopeless hope) it is not indicative of the
state of the Australian consciousness . . .

- Local Criti[...]n, Nation and
University Film Group Publications) is mostly
plagiaristic or psychophantic [sic] but always
astonishingly devoid of sensitivity and intelli-
gence . . .

Cinema Is Now

Cinema is now. It is a symptom of the Great
Australian Sterility that cinema does not exist
here/is not created here. Cinema is now, thus
Australia is yesterday. How ridiculous, how
absurd, how pueril[...]s, how absurd, how puerile
to be cast in the role of angry young men. We
would rather be cynical, unid[...]ather hate and destroy. Oh the joy and
simplicity of crushing a few cretinous heads . . .

And so we are brought to this. To scream in
the d[...]

The Second Attempt
1967-70

Towards the end of 1969 there were rumblings
of the re—emergence of a film industry in Aus-
tralia. Beilby and Bishop were keen to get
Cinema Papers restarted so that it could be a
vital part of the development of that industry.
They decided on a tabloid newspape[...]d.

The first issue contained an enthusiastic and if

forward—looking editorial [see Box 2] which
reflected the attitude of the editors. A lot of
space was given to articles condemning the
repressive censorship laws of the time and to
others pressing the government for legislation
to assist the financing of Australian film
production.

In 1969 things had not improved much for
the Australian cinema and most of the editorial
content was, of necessity, on foreign films. But
/issue No. 1 did[...]a
Does Have a Film Heritage”.

The first review of a mainstream Australian
feature was Murray’s critique of Frank Brit-
tain’s The Set (No. 6). The only other feature
coverage was Bishop’s review of Phillip Adams
and Brian Robinson’s Jack and Jill: a Post-

1. The use of pseudonyms reached the level of the bizarre
with a letter published in Cinema Pap[...]ted bones that
Cinema Papers, via Stephen Kennett or some other
member of its stable of undergraduate illiterates, is
about to greet the impending release of I-lenning
Carlson’s Hunger with yet another of the destructive
and abjectly-written reviews which constitute the
prime basis of your journal’s current notoriety. I
find it hard to decide which prospect distresses me
more: that of seeing another good film pitifully mis-
interpreted and subjected to a level of criticism more
suited to reviewing of Japanese monster movies; or
that of wading through one more reckless and undis-
ciplined assault on all the major qualities of the.
English language. Yet there is a feeling of inevita-
bility about it all: Cinema Papers, in many ways ‘an
estimable magazine, seems incapable of doingjustice
to the few really worthwhile films that come our way
in this benighted corner of the world. While a minor
work like Easy Rider can draw a delightfully impres-
sionistic, if excessively scatalogical [sic], review from
Demos[...]he erratic grammar and tortuous non—perceptions
of the Stephen Kennetts or, worse still, to the down-
right vilification of the John Tittensors (surely this
latter is some kind of bizarre pseudonym) . . .
Whence my closing plea:[...]struction.

Sincerely,
Robert Linssen.

The irony is that Linssen (actually John Tittensor) had
read Scott Murray’s review of Hunger at lay-out stage
and quickly penned a lett[...]xamined by Beilby in issue
No. 7, and by a report of the Producers and
Directors Guild of Australia reprinted in issues
No.9 and No. ll.

T[...]orts. A major event was New Cinema
ACT, a weekend of experimental films in
Canberra organized by filmm[...], why don’t you put your money into
filmmaking? If you can’t do that, why don’t you
import a few films that hav[...]to the contemporary film life in Australia}

Most of the reaction was positive, however, and
11 issues of the tabloid Cinema Papers were
printed. Each was[...]ors had
defaulted on payments since issue No. 8). So,
even though sales and advertising were theor-
et[...]he thought and imagery that
inhabit its pages. It is the start of what we hope
will be a continuing excursion into[...]communication Cinema Papers provides a new
Point of Departure.

It no longer surprises us that a poli[...]magnifications looks like
a satellite photograph of the earth, or that a
man, rather than an angel, is floating gracefully
around the earth at orbital[...]s that our grandparents
would have choked on. But if our old ways of
thinking, seeing, communicating have become
obsol[...]come obsolete
even more rapidly. Before the paint is dry on the
protest poster, the issue has shifted —— so much
has our rate of communication changed. One of
the definitions of a work of art has been a
creation in which form and content, medium
and message are so inextricably blended as to
become onething. Each new medium that has
added. its flicker, chatter or hum to our sur-
roundings has arisen purposefully. After the
first generation of electronic media had existed
in atdlegree of isolation, a natural process of
hybridization produced talking pictures, the
news[...]vision console,
the videotape, the videophone and so on.

There IS nothing here intended to be final or
definitive; we are a point of

A submission was prepared, which outlined
the policy of the magazine as one of docu-
menting the growth of the local film industry
and disseminating informa[...]th [see Box 3]. The aim was to cover the
spectrum of cinema, from film history to
reviews, production[...]in—depth interviews with
people from all facets of the filmmaking
process.

In September, the Film and Television Board
approved a grant of $10,000 for the first issue
of what had been intended as a three-times-a-
year p[...]came through, Keith Robert-
son was approached to do the lay-out. He
agreed and went on to design ever[...]ation to the Film and
Television Board

The roots of an Australian Cinema have struck.
Australia may v[...]tive,
original contributions to world cinema.

It is the impressive, parallel development in
the past few years of film production, film criti-
cism, and film education that has laid the
groundwork for this possibility. It is essential
that these three developments do not now
diverge, but rather that they continue to con-
verge. What is needed is a forum to stimulate
the interchange between film[...]cturer in graphic
design at the Phillip Institute of Technology
(where, incidentally, Bishop is now a lecturer in
film). Robertson was assisted f[...]David Williamson (he had just
written an episode of Libido), actor Graeme
Blundell (on Alvin Purple),[...]re reviewed: Dalmas and 27A.

There was a profile of director Peter Weir, by
Richard Brennan. This was[...]uction Report, which
covered the location filming of The Cars That
Ate Paris in Sofala, NSW. Those int[...]ere Weir, producers Hal and
Jim McElroy, director ofof an Australian Film
Authority (AFA) envisaged as the main body
charged with the function of fostering and
developing the industry producing theatrical
films in Australia; and

. The divestiture of 13 theatres from the major
chains in Australia and the divorcement of
exhibition from distribution.

The second recomme[...]but the AFA and the Australian Film Commis-

sion do share similar interests. It was intended
that the[...]ilms without government
finance, as well as films of special
merit, and

(b) the allocation of funds for the Experi-
mental Film Fund, the Film[...]Supervision Branch. This would
act as an overseer of commercial exhibition
and distribution interests, and would super-
vise the divestiture of the theatre chains.

A Personal History of Cinema Papers

CINEl\/IA PAPERS

DAVID WILUAISM l[...]rsmmnct
SCRIPT EX1l|ETS/ MY HlMY|lAU8{II— cnumn OF 3?EClIlVl81JM UHCYS1
EJIRECIED IY KEN 6 Hll‘./[...]article (by Mora) on
Comics and Film, and reviews of Le Samourai,
Solaris and Performance.

It was alw[...]ian cinema.

Cinema Papers also sought a coverage of
other national cinemas, ranging from the
Swedish[...]cularly
those in Canada and New Zealand. By means
of lengthy supplements, which included inter-
views[...]s, the magazine
attempted to provide a wide range of informa-
tion for those within the Australian ind[...]aspects and avoid the
negative.

Another benefit of a world view is that it
counters tendencies toward parochial jour-
nalism; such writing invites a lessening of
standards, not what an industry, still in its
infancy, needs. In an interview at the time of
Cinema Papers’ inception, Murray said, “One
of the best things we can do for the Australian
film industry is to be tough on it.”“ The Aus-
tralian film in[...]and
honest comparison with the best from the rest
of the world.

4. Vogue Australia, Sydney,[...]

Australian Reaction

The reaction[...]ostly enthusiastic. There was
a surprising number of people who felt Aus-
tralia would not be able to[...]s writers to cover, but
most applauded the launch of a new, national
film magazine.

Many newspapers carried minor items or
photographs of the magazine’s launch party,
but it was not until April 27, 1974, after the
publication of a second issue of Cinema
Papers, that a considered opinion was prin[...]m all come and go. Now we
have a magazine version of Cinema Papers
and a really promising publication it is. This
courageous venture . . . devotes most of its big,
bulging pages to Australian cinema — just when
the cinema is reaching its most interesting stage
and needs all[...]ome very
important articles, as well as an amount of super-
fluous fat . . .
There are pitfalls, I think, which Cinema Papers
must be careful to avoid. One is the danger of
overdoing the question-answer interviews format,[...]mote local production, have devoted large
dollops of space in both issues to some film people
who have[...]ht prove to be ‘a
national film magazine worthy of the name to
present an Australian viewpoint on cinema to the
world’. And after 11 issues, Cinema Papers is at
least well on the way . . . C.P. has become a
forum for the interchange of ideas and informa-
tion between those who make, d[...]m. Now-
adays, no film—1over interested in what is going on
in this country can afford to miss an issue . . .
A good deal of C.P.’s superfluous fat has been cut
away by now, although it is still inclined to grab
the nearest available Amer[...]him at length about his past in
“B” quickies or his views on the Australian
industry. The magazin[...]better
balance between local content and writing of the
sort covered by overseas publications . . .

There is so much to commend about Cinema

Papers . . .

In his first article, Bennett raised the most-
voiced criticism of Cinema Papers: the number,
length and format of its interviews. As Cinema
Papers has never printe[...]al, and thus
not commented on magazine policy, it is
perhaps informative to make some remarks
here.

Two of the inspirations for the present
Cinema Papers we[...]ite lounge in his
Paddington sitting room. Copies of Vanity Fair
lay sprawled on his glass coffee tabl[...]his decaffeinated coffee. “Yes, it
was one hell of a shoot”, he confided. I thought
about probing him more, but he looked so wrung
out I decided first to question him about h[...]cision between readability and the need for
depth of coverage. At the same time, there is no
reason to assume every interview is read in one
sitting, or in its entirety: it can be put down
part-way, as with a book, and resumed later;
or, a reader can skip passages he finds of lesser
relevance. It is certainly not presumed that
every word in every interview is of interest to
each reader.

Regarding accuracy, Cinema Papers has
always had the policy of returning edited trans-
cripts to Australian inte[...]checking.
Interviewees may also suggest rewrites of
sections if they feel the passages are unclear,
but there is no obligation on Cinema Papers to
accept the changes. Obviously most are, since it
is in everyone’s interest that the interview be
printed in its best form. However, if the
changes significantly alter the meaning of the
original they are not accepted. A published
interview is a record of that interview, and the
integrity of it should be retained.

A final point is that some people, such as
Bennett, have suggested[...]able to pay for a finished article, and
the costs of editing are also expensive.

In many ways, interviews are the backbone
of Cinema Papers and are not some cheap stop-

'rj_i[...]Ll_|_.

The Cinema Papers interview.

gap. It _is no coincidence that when books on
Australian cinema are published it is these
interviews which are the most often sourced
and quoted.

Another oft-voiced criticism of Cinema
Papers has been that it has concentrated t[...]rs Co-
operative wrote about “the total neglect of the
new alternative Australian cinema by the
Board—funded _quarterly Cinema Papers”.5

Alternative” is a word that people use to
cover all kinds of filmmaking, from the avant—
gardeto low-budget features. In terms of highly
experimental films, the editors of Cinema
Papers chose not to attempt to duplicate the
fine work of the Cantrills in their magazine.
However, it was[...]-budget films. And this has happened.
By the time of Thorns’ article, of the 14
directors interviewed by Cinema Papers, four
were at that time exclusively directors of short
films (Paul Wlnkler, David Greig, John Pap[...]most having made

_
5. Albie Thorns, “History of the Sydney Filmmakers Co-
0P€rative Part Two”, Filmnews, December 1976, Do.

I K ‘V3
A L-'.....

A Personal History of Cinema Papers

experimental shorts (e.g. Peter[...]more
than one feature: Ken G. Hall. (The break-up
of articles and reviews shows a similar pattern.)

The most recent reference to Cinema Papers’
“neglect” of alternative cinema appeared in
Barrett Hodsdon’s review in Filmnews of Nick
Herd’s Independent Filmmaking in Australia[...]notes
there has not been much consistent coverage of the
state of independent filmmaking in Australia over
the last decade . . .

In the biography at the end of his book, Herd
lists articles and interviews of particular impor-
tance. Cinema Papers has easily the most
number of entries, some 50 per cent more than
Filmnews.

Cinema Papers has also pioneered the study
of documentary filmmaking in Australia, so it
is hard to know why this prejudice exists; the
facts[...]pport it.

Overseas Response

Foreign recognition of Cinema Papers came
quickly, with journals such as[...]nting items about its inception and brief
reviews of single issues. Then, in late 1975,
came major rec[...]International
Film Guide. This annual publication is the only
one in the world to list and evaluate the leading
film periodicals. There is a main section and
then “Other Magazines”. In[...]s had its first entry in the latter
section:

One of the world’s most imaginatively designed
movie quarterlies, its large format embracing a
host of pictures, capsule comments, and serious
reviews a[...]was up-graded to
the main section, making it one of the elect 19.
It is the only Australian magazine to have been
so listed. In 1983, the main section was reduced
to[...]photo repro-
duction, this Australian bi-monthly is a cunning
mix of reviews, interviews, news, and hard
industry knowhow that will be of interest far
beyond the boundaries of Australia}
The IFG’s view of Cinema Papers as one of the
world’s leading film periodicals is shared by the
Federation International des Archiv[...]he top international
film journals: Cinema Papers is the only Aus-
tralian film magazine to be fully indexed.
International awareness of Cinema Papers is
as important as recognition in Australia, for the
magazine is the primary source of information
about Australian films for world film[...]This role was envisaged

from the start as being of paramount impor-
tance, and is one reason why the editors decided
the magazine should not be parochial or self-
applauding. A magazine that is obviously too
kind in its reviews, or too laudatory in its
articles, would quickly lose[...].

Naturally, some film producers took a dim
view of what they saw as a too critical approach
to Austr[...]ional Film Guide 1983, p. 467.

AFC that a review of her film had cost her an
American sale.

Another way the publishers of Cinema
Papers decided to help with this dissemination
of information to overseas readers was to
produce a[...]e it clear no marketing loan would be
forthcoming if reviews were included. As it was
felt that the Cannes issue’s principal role was
the promoting of the Australian films and not
the magazine (though an absence ofof
the editorial board (Beilby, Mora and Murray)
would alternate in the position of managing
editor. However, Mora had returned to Europe
in 1974 and his input was restricted to that of a
few articles. Beilby and Murray then decided to[...]result, Murray has
edited 35 (and co-edited one) of the first 44
issues.

While the managing editors,[...]buting editors, largely control the
editorial, it is the writers who should take
credit for its qualit[...]y and informed pieces. But there was
little sense of direction, in part because there
was no feature i[...]ly 1970s wrote for
Lumiere and the early editions of Cinema
Papers, and historians such as Andrew Pike
and Ross Cooper were beginning to publish the
early stages of their excellent research. With
Cinema Papers’ reappearance in 1973, and the
demise of magazines such as Lumiere”, most of
these writers were soon being published in the
on[...]one
which willingly published disparate views. It is
thus extraordinary to find how often one, as
editor, is assumed to have agreed with (or
insisted upon) everything published in the
magazine. One is frequently stopped in one’s
tracks with an indi[...]lm? Your reviewer tore it to
pieces.”

Not only is there independence of thought,
there are individual styles and interests. Tom
Ryan’s rigorous analyses of the films of Brian
De Palma contrast with the witty reviews of

9. The only other attempt was when one executive of the
AFC suggested that Cinema Papers’ applications for
funds would be more favourably received if the
magazine stopped running advertisements from[...]ard diverted funds from it to
Cinema Papers. This is incorrect; Lumiere was invited
at the time of Cinema Papers’ inception to apply for
another grant but declined to do so.

‘star’ biographies by Brian McFarlane, just[...]Paul Winkler and Andrew J. Psolo-
koskowitz.

It is not the place here to evaluate the skills of
the many contributors to Cinema Papers; their
wor[...]43 issues indicates the growing depth
and quality of film writing in Australia [see
Box 5]. Cinema Pap[...]s has a
monopoly on fine writing, in its magazine or
associated publications, but it has played, and
w[...]m for
the best film writers, whatever their areas of
interest.

In tandem with the increased editorial[...](which sells 9000 copies).
In fact, Cinema Papers is now one of the
world’s five or six top-selling critical film
journals, on a par[...]1974)

(Cannes, No. 3,
1974)

(frame enlargements
of Viridiana and
U11 chien andalou,
No. 3, 1974)

(N[...]ion Round-
up

(No. 10, 1976)
(No. 11, 1977)

Box-office Grosses
Filmmakers Service
and Facili[...]

Tenth Anniversary Supplement

C[...]ance consultant before becoming
managing director of The Film House Pty Ltd,
and, among other positions, a consultant to
and then director and deputy chairman of the
Melbourne radio station, EON-FM. Le Tet’s
c[...]was particularly
significant in two areas: change of frequency
and diversification.

In 1979, the maga[...]to amortize overheads against six
issues instead of four, and thus improve the
company’s balance sh[...]a success and was
appreciated by readers. Instead of sales falling,
as feared, they increased. And alt[...]ue per issue dropped, the annual
total increased. So in two ways the change of
frequency strengthened the magazine.

The rationa[...]he industry,
which had not had access to the mass of
information listed in its pages, and the book
sol[...]ventures included Film Produc-
tion in the State of Victoria (1979, in associa-
tion with the then Vi[...]the Film and Television Produc-
tion Association of Australia and the NSWFC)
and The Australian Film[...]run and was reprinted in
1980.

11. The directors of Cinema Papers Pty Ltd have been:
Peter Beilby (19[...]confusion with the magazine, the company’s
name is not italicized in the text.

46 — March-April C[...]ed up draining the
magazine’s resources instead of supplementing
them. This in itself threatened the continuance
of the publishing program. Even with an
enviable track record, the effects of even one
‘failed’ project was becoming a risk[...]ly afford to take.

This concern, plus an absence of risk capital,
led to a scaling down of the diversification
program. Beilby left Cinema Papers at the end
of 1981-82 to head a new publishing venture,
Roscope[...]y, 1983)
and Drive to Win (Trevor Ling, 1984). He is also
producer of Anna (Gordon Glenn) and Oh You
Beautiful Doll (Su[...]es 10 Austra-

lligilionovels and the films made of them since

In all, the diversification program was a
success, with most of the projects listing a
profit. More important, th[...]in the
AFC resenting having to take on the likes of the
Experimental Film Fund; it was seen as
loweri[...]s interested in
film culture (despite the wording of the AFC’s
govermng Act), and some questi[...]

These cut-backs were crippling[...]erhaps the cut-backs represented an AFC
suspicion of the size of the projected deficit,
fuelled by having to deal[...]producers
notorious for inflating their claims.

Of course, there were many other fa_ctors'that
contr[...]in full it still would have been in the
red. And if the AFC is guilty of unnecessary
cut-backs, Cinema Papers is guilty of having
requested too little. Knowing the AFC would

make annual grants of only $40,000 to $50,000
Cinema Papers tried to pr[...]were required.

As well, there were the vagaries of the diver-
sification program. This was worsened when a
total absence of capital meant only one special
project could be i[...]uting factor to the unhealthy
position at the end of 1982-83 was the poor
state of the film industry. Unsettled by changes
in the ta[...]ntal effect on advertising sales.

The net result of all the above factors, and
several others, was that Cinema Papers was
faced at the end of 1982-83 with a large deficit.
Given changes in th[...]d the subsidy for the next financial
year granted or Cinema Papers would have to
cease its operations.[...]While the application proposed a general
course of action, it did not request specific

amounts of money from specific corporations.
It was, hopeful[...]for discussion. But
the AFC, alarmed by the size of the deficit and
disappointed it had not been informed of the

situation earlier, rejected the application[...]on July 22 all staff were laid
off. On the basis of legal advice, Cinema
Papers then sought a 120-day[...]oration to the July 15 application
(things really do move slowly up North!). The
only options were to raise funds privately (three
offers were forthcoming) or change the AFC’s
mind.

Finally, after months of negotiation, and
involving the advice and help of a Cinema
Papers Action Committee”, an agreement[...]n Cinema Papers and the AFC
and Film Victoria. It is worth mentioning here
because it will have[...]

The Future
1934 . . .

Cinema P[...]aken on the subscription liability. The
directors of MTV Publishing Limited are: Peter
Beilby, Jill Ro[...]ler
(distributor and producer), Alan Finney (head
of marketing at Roadshow) and Tom Ryan
(lecturer); others are still to be appointed.

‘As part of the deal, the AFC and Film
Victoria have written[...]d Film Victoria $27,277. This covers
the purchase of assets and the financing of the
publication of three issues of Cinema Papers by
June 30 (of which this issue is the first). During
that time a publishing and marketing
consultant will examine all areas of production
and management, and report back to the MTV
directors on what he feels is the most feasible
publishing and management structure. This
could involve a change of frequency or format.
The final decision lies with the directors.

A new managing editor is also to be
appointed, to replace this author, who, after
10 years with the publication, believes it is in
the journaI’s best interest to have a fresh[...]se from
Cinema Papers’ readers.

The net result of all these changes is that
Cinema Papers can look forward to the future[...]national film magazine with confidence.
It will, of course, be a different magazine.
How, one will ha[...]-
ance and support during Cinema Papers’
period of adjustment:

All those readers who wrote to the AFC
giving their opinions of the magazine and
arguing for continued funding; t[...]—time for four
months, without arty expectation of financial
reward; the Cinema Papers Action Commit[...]he Film House for their co-
operation and the use of facilities, especially
Trish Foley; and, most imp[...]ibutors since
September 1973.

The early sections of this article are based, in
part, on a study of Cinema Papers written by

Ewan Burnett.

4[...]

C »

A selection of photographs commissioned for Cinema Papers[...]

The AFC spends much of its time saying nyet
to people, hearing the same word echo in the
gloomy corridors of Canberra and, occasion-
ally, when everything comes together and there
is a film on the screen, standing in the back row
an[...]l be few
thanks and no Oscars for Kim. At the end of his
term he will join Joe Skrzynski in exile in
T[...]ancholy
memoirs.

Government support for the arts is really a
euphemism for fiddling and funding. It is
something people in suits do to people in
T—shirts. What’s more, it is something you do
largely by the seat of your pants: there are lots
of rules but no formulae. You have to use your
wits and read between the lines on the pieces of
paper and faces in front of you. You can’t
consult a computer or a crystal ball.

This being the case, how do you judge the
value of government support, the finesse of the
fiddlers and funders? Certainly not by their
rhetoric or dress sense. Perhaps the answer is to
apply the Hollywood rule: that you are only as
good as your last picture, or, in this case,
funding decision.

But that is a pretty tough yardstick. Most
filmmakers want to[...]t got

54 — March-April CINEMA PAPERS

away. It is a human foible and funding bodies
are not exempt.

The truth is that patrons, whether private
benefactors or bodies corporate, are dwarfed
when the dust has settled by the triumphs and
follies of those they support. They are like the
scaffolding[...]y as
good as the last thing you did, the evidence is in
your hands: the most recent decision of the
AFC was to lend its support to this 10th Anni[...]New South Wales Film Corporation

The Holy Grail

If there has been a single strand running
through mo[...]attitudes to film-
making in the past decade, it is this: the search
for a magic formula for The Grea[...]eant several things by Great:
implicit in the use of the word have been artistic
achievement, cultural[...]e, effort and
knowledge. Indeed, every six months or so, one
or more opinion—leaders in the film industry
have[...]mainstream market. Our models
should be the best of European cinema. No, we
have more to learn from A[...]international sales. Overseas
actors are a waste of money (besides being
culturally impure). The subject—matter of our
films should be more international. The most-[...]s in
American cinema distribution. No, the cinema
is dying; our best commercial hope lies in the
new a[...]making mini—series for
television instead. And so on.

Often, a formula has an immediate attraction
because of very recent experience. Thus, the
success of films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock
and Caddie led to a rush to buy the rights to a
lot of old Australian novels. The Man from
Snowy River was taken as a validation of big
budgets and high promotional expenditure. In[...]handedly been responsible for the recent
advocacy of low—budget films.

A formula can owe its deriva[...]. I well remember the fears expressed by
a number of people when the New South Wales
Film Corporation[...]he wail. “You’re making a
mistake. The public is sick of nostalgia.” In
their anguish, they ignored the[...]l
“nostalgia” and that a film set at the turn of
the century could have contemporary rele-
vance.[...]o the bank.

This points to the problem with most of the
formulas which have been advanced for the
salvation of the Australian film industry: they
have generally suffered from the logical fallacy
of arguing from the particular to the general.
This is not to say that they never contain
elements of truth. Thus, it is interesting to
observe that the most profitable A[...]t depended for their success,
either in Australia or elsewhere, on the box-
office attraction of overseas stars. (While two
of those films — The Man from Snowy River
a[...]

My belief is that, as it did for knights on
white chargers in[...]ved, and will continue to prove, fruitless.
There is no magic formula. What matters are
talent and goo[...]e and unpredictable — in other
words, incapable of reduction to some kind of
theorem. In saying this, I am mindful of
something which the chairman and chief
executive of Universal Pictures, Lew Wasser-
man, the doyen of Hollywood filmmakers,
once said: if he could be certain of a film’s
earning potential before its release,[...]into insignificance alongside what he
would make if he could be so clairvoyant.

This is not a matter for despair; it is simply
a reality. For, without the aid of formulas,
Australian filmmakers — producers, di[...]some highly
successful films and have won a host of awards.
Perhaps more important, they have achieve[...]hey have helped lift
Australians’ consciousness of their own place
and culture, and they have created a greater
overseas awareness of our country. Even if we
have not made the greatest film ever (or even
The Great Australian Movie), these are large[...]y more
films fail than succeed commercially. This is so
throughout the film world, not just in
Australia. Nevertheless, at this stage of its
development — and in the foreseeable future[...]dustry cannot be
economically viable, independent of govern-
mental assistance. Government film—funding
bodies remain an important source of pro-
duction finance, although the federal tax
in[...]private investment (and
tax incentives are a form of official assistance
anyhow). And they continue to provide most of
the funds for script and project development.
That is why the state and federal film-funding
bodies need the continued support of their
respective governments.

There "is another reason for the continued
existence of a variety of government funding
bodies and this takes me back to my starting
point. Holy grails have a habit of being as
perpetually alluring as they are permanently
elusive. All of us in the film industry are guilty,
at one time or another, of thinking we have hit
upon a good formula for filmmaking. This
means that, if there were only one source of
funds for development and production, the
film in[...]a to
another. As long as there are varied sources of
funding — state, federal and private — there[...]can keep on making
worthwhile films — in spite of ourselves.

What I have said might seem somewhat
irreverent. So be it. A touch more irreverence,
towards ourselves, would not go astray in our
industry. The end result of our labors can, of

course, be very important, both in terms of the
cultural and entertainment objectives and the
financial responsibility we have. But, as
individuals, I do not think we have to take
ourselves nearly as seriously as we so often do.
As I said before: what we need are talent and
go[...]y, Actors and Announcers Equity

The achievements of the Australian film
industry during the past 10 y[...]has won recognition at home and abroad.

In spite of this, the ‘knockers’ continue to
forecast its[...]Australian films have moved from The Adven-
tures of Barry McKenzie to My Brilliant Career
with breathtaking speed. This is no mean feat
when one considers that film is a high—risk
business with each product taking y[...]on, and
won audiences across the world; the ratio of
box-office success for Australian films in Aus-
tralia is slightly better than that of imported
product; Australian actors have received[...]ognized that without the
support and intervention of Australian govern-
ments, both at the state and f[...]ent
regulations for television, the subsidization of
theatre, the establishment of the National
Institute for Dramatic Art and the A[...]ssary for the film

industry to develop. The_role of the various
government film bodies 1S obvious in[...]loans and marketing
assistance. The introduction of the tax
incentives for film was simply a progress[...]nt support for Australian film.

When the package of government support is
looked at in toto, whatever failings each individ-
dual piece in that package may have, it is none-
theless an achievement in the overall develop-
ment of Australian film.

It is to the credit of the creative people
working in the industry that[...]to produce, direct, write, film and act
in films of worth, but that they have also had
the initiative[...]e one
had ceased to exist.

However, the industry is still young. It
requires further fostering and continued
commitment to reach its full potential.

One of the greatest dangers to the continued
vitality of Australian film is the reluctance to
foster new talents. In the current climate of
investors wanting key personnel on films to
have[...]nment bodies
looking in the same direction, there is a danger

that the industry will simply churn out “more
of the same”, and lose much of its vitality.
Certainly neither My Brilliant Care[...]n cinema has offered few good parts
for women. It is important that writers and pro-
ducers take stock of the culture they are
creating and its worth if Australian film
continues to portray women in stereotyped
roles or not even represent them at all. From

the end of 1979 to mid-1982, only 12 per cent of
roles which received billing in Australian films
were roles for women. Furthermore, if one
looks at the nature of the roles during that
period, many of them received very little screen
time and the majority were passive.

I also believe it is essential that on-going
performance workshops be[...]ng professional directors, writers and
actors. It is essential, if Australian films are to
improve in quality, that[...]hops with good teachers,
as actors in other parts of the world do. It is
also essential that writers and directors gain
ex[...]at craft in practising their own.
Currently there is no forum where this occurs.

Now that additional time is available to
complete a film under the tax concessions, it is
hoped that more time will be given to pre-
produc[...]lly overlooked in the
Australian industry. Rarely is the actor given
pre-production time for research, character-
development, accent work or rehearsal with the
director. Time invested in these areas would
enhance the quality of the finished product and
assist the shoot.

It is also important that government now
extend its int[...]ry, into
distribution and exhibition. The product is
there and has proven its worth. The market
place into which that product must go is struc-
tured in such a way as to disadvantage one[...]place needs to be opened up; only
government can do that, and there is little point

supporting the production of film if it is dis-
advantaged at the selling point.

Whatever t[...]sting Control Board, con-
demned the low standard of Children’s
programs produced by the television[...]rograms, the CTAC said, failed to meet
the spirit of the Production Guidelines for
Children’s Televi[...]roves.

In 1981, two years after the introduction of
new guidelines for Children’s programs b[...]

The regulation of children’s television is a
new field. Only in Australia has the body
respo[...]ercial
television industry taken on the challenge of
regulation; each step has been experimental.

The CPC soon recognized that the system
needed tuning if regulation were to be
successful. Two years after[...]icant failures resulting from

its work. A number of high-quality, overseas
programs had been shown wh[...]which would not
have been produced. The problems of
children’s television continued to be publicized,
largely because of the CPC’s existence.

However, the high level of repeated
programs, the lack of diversity, the pushing of
programs beyond the young age level to attract
older audiences, and the lack of high-quality
productions remained as problems. Fo[...]e been limited. The
standards require 50 per cent of first-release
Australian material to be played between 4 and
5 p.m.; they require a diversity of program
types and an eight-hour, high-quality chi[...]broadcast each year beginning July 1984. The
ABT is expected to have promulgated the
standards by late February 1984. It has taken
five years of work by the CPC to create this
regulatory framework and this achievement is
significant. However, to make programs which
will[...]major breakthrough in the past
decade in the area of children’s television was
the establishment of the Australian Children’s

56 — March-April CINEMA PAPERS

Television Foundation (ACTF). After a
number of government inquiries, a Senate
Standing Committee report and the hard work
of a number of groups and individuals, the
Australian Education[...]lish a Working Group to look at the feas-
ibility of establishing such a Foundation. That
investigatio[...]ation
in March 1982.

The ACTF’s major function is to act as a
catalyst bringing to children’s tel[...]and television industries’ best resources.
This is done by encouraging the development,
production and transmission of programs
through script development, production-[...]invest-
ment finance and other appropriate forms of
assistance to program makers. The Foundation
also works to raise the profile of children’s
television in the community by runni[...]ears have brought significant
changes in the area of children’s television in
Australia, but the mai[...]rojectsf in the end, the stations must
co-operate if children’s television is to succeed.

The position the ABT takes is of funda-
mental importance in this process. Standar[...]enforced. No station executive enjoys
the process of public accountability that the
licence renewal system could provide. The
machinery is all in place to make stations
accountable. The AB[...]t
there must also be a carrot. Alongside the work
of the ABT and the work that the ACTF is
doing to stimulate the creative development of
programs, there needs to be an improvement in
the atmosphere surrounding children’s
programs so that quality becomes a matter of
broadcaster prestige.

This is difficult to achieve in Australia
because of the cross-ownership of the media.
There is virtually no intelligent criticism of
children’s television, or television in general, in
the daily press or in magazines in Australia.
Most media discussion of television is aimed at
the promotion of programs which does little to
spark a competition to excel. Few journalists
understand the complexities of producing
television for children or the potential of
children’s television. Through letters, article[...]television industry, the next 10 years will tell if
it is going to succeed. Unless the community
gets behin[...]films were shown at all was due to the sense of
obligation felt by the distributors and
exhibitors, and the pressure applied by the film
community. A lot of heat and urgency was
generated by people who were[...]e a film industry.

By the late 1970s, this sense of urgency had
reached the stage where expectations[...]en raised too high. Films began
falling far short of expectations and the public
began to greet each new Australian film with
the attitude, “Here is another Australian film
being foisted on us.” I[...]s the best Australian film
ever — at the urging of the producers.

Today, the energy and urgency hav[...]They realize that distributing
an Australian film is essentially similar to hand-
ling a film from any other country: that is, each
film must be considered on an individual basis

and on its merits. _ _
The public’s expectation of Australian films

has also become more realistic,[...]butor was not
spending enough money on the launch of a
film. Even today one still encounters producers-
whose first question is: “What is your adver-
tising budget?” If it is not $250,000, they
become frantic on the mistaken assumption
that there is a direct causal relationship between
the advertising dollar and the box-office: that
is, the more you spend the more you are going
to make.

Producers are now realizing that it is not wise
to seek distribution with a distributor who does
not share their commercial expectations of the
film and, second, that the distributor’s
ju[...]nancial possibility may
be accurate in that there is no sense spending
money putting a film in the mar[...]ter to aim solely for video-
cassette, television or overseas sales. There are
many films released in[...]rritories that are never seen outside the
borders of their country of origin and, alter-
natively, many that are never seen in their
country of origin.

Obviously, not all the judgments of a dis-
tributor are correct but it is also difficult to
give a professional judgment about a film
which disagrees with that of the filmmaker.
What one is saying, in effect, is: “After all the
trouble you have gone to and money you have
spent, no one is going to see it.” Of course,
there are options in this situation and one of
these is to screen the film in “one city tests”.
Instead of spending money on a national
release, one has a test launch in Melbourne or
Sydney to get some idea of the film’s appeal to
the public and to test the marketing approach.

Not every Australian film has or should have
a market launch like those for Man from
Snowy River or Phar Lap — for example,
Careful, He Might Hear You and Man of
Flowers. Jane Ballantyne [co-producer, Man of
Flowers] and Paul Cox [co-producer and
dir[...]

1983

The third edition of the Australian Motion Picture
Yearbook has been t[...]d look at what has
been happening in all sections of the Australian film scene
over the past year, inc[...]rectory have
been contacted to check the accuracy of entries, and many

new categories have been added.

A new series of profiles has been compiled and will
highlight the careers of director Peter Weir, composer

Brian May and actor Mel Gibson.

A new feature in the 1983 edition is an extensive
editorial section with articles on aspects of Australian and
international cinema, including film financing, special
effects, censorship, and a survey of the impact our films

are having on U.S. audience[...]reference for anyone with an

interest — vested or altruistic — in the

continuing film renaissan[...]tional

“The Australian Motion Picture Yearbook is a
great asset to the film industry in this count[...]earbook. It covers
almost every conceivable facet of the film
industry and the publishers claim that it is ‘the
only comprehensive yellow page guide to the film
industry’ is irrefutable. ”

The Australian

P Reactions to[...]ed in Australian films, whether

in the industry or who just enjoys watching them,

will find plenty[...]Sydney Sun-Herald

"This significant publication is valuable not only
to professionals but everyone i[...]ou on your Australian
Motion Picture Yearbook. It is a splendidly
useful publication to us, and l’m[...]lsh
Hayden Price Productions

"Indispensable tool of the trade.”
Elizabeth Riddell
Theatre Australia[...])'.~.-mm; /‘m‘\‘

“The 1981 version of the Australian Motion
Picture Yearbook is not only bigger, it's better —
as glossy on the[...]he past two years,
and always find it to be full of interesting and
useful information and facts. It is easy to read
and the format is set out in such a way that
information is easy to find. I consider the
Yearbook to[...]

The author, Brian McFarlane, is Principal
Lecturer in Literature at the Chisholm
Institute of Technology and is a Contributing
Editor to Cinema Papers, Australia[...]s
on Australian and other literature and film.
He is also the author of a book on Martin

Boyd’s “Langton” novels, is the editor of
the annual collection of literary essays,
Viewpoints, and is the co-editor of a
forthcoming anthology of Australian verse.

Contents

. From Page to Screen

Wake in Fright

Picnic at Hanging Rock

The Getting of Wisdom

The Mango Tree

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
My Brilliant Career

Monkey Grip

The Year of Living Dangerously
The Night the Prowler

Martin Boyd on Television: Lucinda
Brayford and Outbreak of Love
Appendices: Australian novels on film[...]

invaluable record for all those interested in[...]or, recall forgotten images and preserve
memories of programmes long since wiped from the tapes.

The book covers every facet of television programming — light entertainment, q[...]a shadowy, often soundless, picture in the window of the local electricity store.
The quality ofthe ea[...]bourne Olympics, Chuck Faulkner reading the news, or even the test pattern.’

At first imported series were the order of the day. Only Graham Kennedy and Bob Dyer
could challenge the ratings of the westerns and situation comedies from America[...]came The Mavis Bramston Show. With the popularity of that rude and irreverent
show, Australian televis[...]s like Number 96, The Box,
Against the Wind, Sale of the Century have achieved ratings that are by world standards
remarkable.

AUSTRALIAN TV is an entertainment, a delight, and a commemoration of a lively, $ 1 4 9 5

.~I .\ ' --
nnm fun-,[...]py a special place in the history and development of
Australian filmmaking. From the pioneering efforts of Baldwin Spencer to Damien
Parer’s Academy Award[...]been
acclaimed world-wide.

The documentary film is also the mainstay of the Australian film industry. More
time, more mon[...]try than
any other film form — features, shorts or animation.

In this, the first comprehensive publ[...]filmmakers have combined to examine the evolution of
documentary filmmaking in Australia, and the state of the art today.

W" $12.95

90

...one of the most richly
informed and reliable of film
[)Bl'I0(IICflIS”. PETER cowl];

INTERNATIONAL FILM GUIDE

1 yea[...]k Issues
6 12 18 Volumes Eziblnders (to the price of each
Zone issues issues issues (each) (each) copy[...]NOTE: A “Surface Air Lift (air speeded) service is available to Britain, Germany, Greece. Italy and[...]numbers can
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detached if desired. This
new binder will
accommodate 12 copi[...]ews

Production surveys and reports
from the sets of local and
international production

Box~office re[...]i ,/ 7.’,

4f//7)”?////’/é¥;§I//é/‘If/”?3%%Wfl”:‘74.‘/Zfifl?/XX?/¢7/4%&T¢i

John Duigan on Winter of
Our Dreams Government
and the Film Industry Tax
a[...]nancing
Films, Living Dangerous—
ly, The Plains of Heaven.

CiI\lEMAB9iPEE

‘:3 £‘3'1-REC[...]Volume 4

Number 26
April-May 1980

The Films or Peter Weir.
Charles Jotte. Harlequin.
Nationalism[...]Wendy Hughes, Ray
Barrett, Running on

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#1
Please send me L_._l copies of The Documentary Film in Australia at $12.9[...]

The question of whether marketing methods
have become more sophisticated or more tar-
geted towards a specific audience, or whether
the market has changed, is difficult to answer.
Marketing methods are neither sophisticated
nor do they change very much; we really tend to
do the same things again and again. Some
marketing t[...]for a particular film; probably the
key question is: “Which of the rather stereo-
typical and established set of procedures do we
apply to this film?” Why people go into a
ci[...]e
mass audience phenomena such as E.T. and
Return of the Jedi, is an unknown. No one
knows why before the event. Everyone knows
why after the event.

One of the most pleasant surprises of the past
10 years was Breaker Morant. Long and
de[...]t a film no one could have predicted would
become so successful. It was essentially a court-
room drama, admittedly structured so the
action appeared and reappeared throughout,
ab[...]e film
was not just successful, it was incredibly so.

Most Australian films being made on the
budget[...]to
see any significant returns.

The video market is obviously another area
where Australian producers can look for a
return, particularly if the film was not commer-
cially successful in the[...]aken off in a major way
in 1983, and I believe it is too early to judge
what its effect on cinema atte[...]r and producer

Documentaries are the Cinderellas of the film
business. Those who make them are not fe[...]way feature filmmakers are;
the films themselves do not always fit the
popular conception of cinema. But, in the past
decade, it is the documentary more than the
feature which has revealed the depth of talent
and imagination in the local industry. Aus[...]overseas, critically and
commercially, than most of the much-vaunted
features which have secured fore[...]kers Co-
operative, the Australian Film Institute or
Perth Institute of Film and Television, and the
chances of a sale to local television were, at

best, slim.[...]more
numerous. Film Australia’s The Human Face
of China, produced by Suzanne Baker,
screened on TEN[...]ne, almost certainly a first for a docu-
mentary. Of course, the topic, Australia’s
America’s Cup[...]local documentaries are pro-
duced for industry, or turned out by the
government production houses for depart-
mental, community or educational use. These
films are the staple produ[...]tralia
where a few titles stand out as innovative or
engaging, among them Joan Long’s Passionate
Ind[...]ingsbury and Bruce Moir, 1975) and The
Human Face of China (1979).

Some documentaries, such as those by the
Leyland brothers or Malcolm Douglas, are pro-
duced specifically for[...]mber are made independently, usually with
the aid of government funds.

For several decades, until the beginning of
the 19705, “documentary” was almost
synonymou[...]th which John Heyer made the
magnificent The Back of Beyond (1954).
During that period also the Waters[...]ir own outlets
in halls and clubs along the coast of New South
Wales.

Surfing film producers such as[...]rs turned to the Film,
Radio and Television Board of the Australian
Council for the Arts (subsequently[...]isted films such as
Tidikawa and Friends (Jef and Su Doring,
1971); Protected (Carolyn Strachan and Al[...]ced the AFDC. The next year it
took over the work of the Australia Council’s
Film, Radio and Televis[...]ect Development Branch, has
become a major source of funding for docu-
mentary filmmakers and those fu[...]n
pivotal to an increase in production. The range
of themes being treated and styles being
employed ha[...]n into
the mid—1970s and introduced a new style of
social documentary.

Among the social issues of the early 1970s
was the beginning of the “second wave” of
feminism. A handful ofor Money (Margot Oliver, Megan
McMurchy, Jeni Thornley and Margot Nash,
1983), a two—hour compilation of the history of
Australian women’s working lives.

In the 1970s[...]mented the black
struggle, including the pitching of the tent
embassy in front of federal parliament in
Ningla A-Na (1972). Together with Carolyn
Strachan he made Pr[...]978) and Two Laws (1981). Curtis Levy
filmed Sons of Namatjira (1976) and Mal-
bangka Country (1976); Geoffrey Bardon
recorded traditional artists in A Calendar of
Dreaming (1977) and Mick and the Moon
(1978); and director of photography, Michael
Edols, made the lyrical Lala[...]iver (Mike Cordell, 1980).

_ These are but a few of the issues taken up by
independent filmmak[...]

In 1977, the AF[...]a and David Hay)
which detailed the working lives of women
employed in a chicken—processing plant. T[...]ralian documentaries are
made by institutions, it is those made inde-
pendently, by self-employed prod[...]ginal and
white activists questioned the accuracy of its
title and its impact on land-rights demands b[...]s introduced a world-
wide audience to a new view of the intellectually
handicapped and chalked up a host of awards
along the way.

Many of Australia’s most impressive docu-
mentaries hav[...]ffshore, among
them Tidikawa and Friends (Jef and Su Doring,
1971); Gary Kildea’s Trobriand Cricket[...]a, Mavis
Robertson and Dasha Ross), the 1981 film of a
drug rehabilitation centre in Vietnam; Angels
of War (Andrew Pike, Hank Nelson and Gavan
Daws, 1982), about the treatment of Papua
New Guinean natives during the war in the
P[...]The latter two, along with Frontline
and For Love or Money, signal Australian
filmmakers’ new-found[...]or com-
pilation documentaries, after the success of
Peter Luck’s television series, This Fabulous
C[...]ention. A crudely-
made travelogue, it became one of the top-
grossing Australian films of 1980-81. It was a
success because of its basic appeal and because
Mangels and his partner took charge of the
fi1m’s exhibition. In the style of the surf film-
makers, they turned screenings in[...]ith enviable returns.

Success has brought a form of strength to
local documentary filmmakers: the market is
widening, but still very limited. Moreover,
docum[...]luded in the Fraser Govern-
ment’s 1981 package of tax concessions for
investors in Australian films[...]FC’s Creative Development Branch, usually
short of funds and still a crucial source of
backing for many documentary filmmakers.

58 —[...]Martin

Tutor in Film Studies, Melbourne College of Advanced Education

Ten years of Australian cinema: what is it that
has kept me hanging in there during all that
time as a film critic, promoting or debunking
this film or that, engaging in serious polemical
arguments and[...]st
direction for our national cinema?

The answer is a sad, tired, disillusioned one
word: duty. Not exactly the duty of a patriot
plugged into the “I love Australia”, gung-ho
nationalism which by now is the official policy
of most local film institutions; more like the
duty[...]s been nagged into obedience by the solemn
voices of “Australian film culture”. For any
local pers[...]l courses
everywhere, and the general orientation of
public debate all testify to this on—going, urgent
need.

Yet, there is a trick, a sleight-of—hand in-
volved in all this. The struggle with the
fabulous dream of an Australian cinema is
waged in an eternal present: there is always a
side to take, some tactical skirmish to[...]forth on one proviso:
don’t look back; amnesia is the handy, terminal
condition of Australian phantom “film
culture”, for its history is a veritable skeleton
closet of embarrassments. The drive to save the
Australian cinema at any cost has led to a
consistent overestimation of films as aesthetic
marvels and significant cultural events. It is
enough to make a film buff cry.

When I reflect on what I have written or
thought, I wonder how I always managed to
inflate samples of the local product so they
would fit overseas models of excellence. Are
Peter Weir and Fred Schepisi really the match
in intelligence and complexity ofDo Pure Shit and
Greetings from Wollongong still look like
authentic expressions of street-wise urban
experience? Do Against The Grain and Serious
Undertakings truly herald the flowering of a

radical Australian avant-garde?

This is not to imply that any of these film-
makers or films should now be unceremoni-
ously dumped into the ashcan of history; rather
that without the rhetoric that once accom-
panied them and the glimmer of a forever latent
Australian cinema their accompli[...]elatively slight. And, lest we forget,
relativity is important.

A steadily growing disenchantment with the
whole ‘ball-game’ of bold “Australian film
culture” came to a head[...]films tried directly and lovingly to fulfil some
of the richest traditions of narrative cinema, in
picaresque genres such as th[...]overishment became clear once and for all.

There is no real style in the Australian
cinema, style bei[...]ings are
expressed and kicked around. Sure, there is
style as ornamentation (Phil Noyce) and kitsch

(Gillian Armstrong); there is meaning as bland,
dramatic statements within a dr[...]rated marriage between the two.
This has a lot to do with the fact that Australian
film culture is barely a film culture at all but
instead a desert where the fast-diminishing
species of people, fanatically saturated in the
historical appreciation of the cinema through
film societies and the like, overlaps less and less
with the species of bright, young film-school
technicians who are lik[...]alia’s official filmmakers.

It used to be said of Australian films that
they portrayed “recessive heroes”; today it is
the filmmakers who suffer from this trait, as
demonstrated by a real fear of full-blooded
filmic expressiveness and an arrogant disdain of
the cinema’s languages and traditions.

In my v[...]r Morant which make their mark at
about the level of a decent tele-movie, Aus-
tralian cinema adds up[...]genuine odd-
ball director who deserves his piece of midnight
movie-cult fame (Jim Sharman); a few fil[...]ece, Michael Lee’s The Mystical Rose.
But there is no equivalent of Raging Bull, no
The Devil, Probably, no Passion.[...]ght
sometimes be, I have to confess that my heart is
elsewhere.

Film Studies (NSW)

Susan Dermody and John Tulloch

Lecturer in film, New South Wales institute of Technology; and
Associate professor, English and[...]itutions in Sydney: the New
South Wales Institute of Technology (NSWIT),
University of NSW, Macquarie University, and
Sydney University, as well as segments of
courses at Kuringai CAE and Sydney College of
the Arts, and the promise of future develop-
ments at Nepean CAE. There are even signs of
an off—shoot in screen studies becoming estab-
lished in the Full-Time Program of the Aus-
tralian Film and Television School (AFTS); at
present the Open Program runs a kind of piggy-
back graduate diploma in media study in wh[...]which
have been integrated into degrees as areas of
major study, as at NSWIT and perhaps
Macquarie, r[...]Such courses have
seemed to flourish best when it is possible to do
film and television production work alongside
the[...]heekily dubbed
the “post—British” phase and is now negotia-
ting the “post-structural” one. The first
of these followed (almost word for word at
times) the British translation and discussion of
predominantly French writing in the unstable
nexus of work derived from Freud and Marx,
via models out of Suassurean linguistics. The

This movement i[...].

Another ,way to chart the educational
fortunes of this period is to look at the change
in teaching texts in screen[...]rican and British
traditions, with the appearance of Raymond
Williams’ Television: Technology and Cu[...]and Stan Cohen and Jack Young’s The
Manufacture of News. From then on the whole
pattern of media coursework changed with a
flow of detailed textual studies of television
elections (The Television Election, Tr[...]eryday Tele-
vision Nationwide and The Nationwide Audi-
ence, Charlotte Brunsdon and David Morely)
and s[...]on) were
backed by the appearance every few years of a
new ‘essential’ textbook, such as James Cur[...]en University was mainly responsible
for the flow of media textbooks and study
guides, and the British[...]l
Alvarado and Ed Buscombe’s Hazell: The
Making of a Television Series which acted as a
welcome check to the more exclusively meta-
theoretical preoccupations of its journals.
State-funded institutions such as t[...]n
Fiske) would be inconceivable without the input
of these institutions.

In Australia, the situation[...]by indivi-
duals such as Henry Mayer (in the area of
media, political theory and public policy) and
de[...]ich
might have played a role comparable with that
of the BFI and Open University, looked in
other dire[...]er the inter-

national debate under the guidance of Sylvia
Lawson. And, partly because of Lawson’s
industry background, the series gave an
emphatic “conditions of production” slant to
the “new questions being asked about the rela-
tions of text and context, art and industry;
story, society and culture; screen and audi-
ence”.

Since then, theoretically informed books
negotiating “text and context” have appeared
(or are in preparation) on television current
affairs[...]Phillip Bell et
al); Bellamy (Bellamy: The Making of a Tele-
vision Series, Albert Moran); Doctor Who[...]rado); current Aus-
tralian cinema (The Screening of Australia,
Susan Dermody and Liz Jacka; The New A[...]n the
important language, text and discourse work of
Kress, Hodge and True (Language as Ideology,
Gunt[...]etical journals which have
struggled (with little or no institutional support)
into the 1980s.

Theoretically, then, the development of film
and media publishing in Australia and abroad[...]lected the changes in film education and
studies. If there is no book on media theory to
match Terry Eagleton’s Literary Theory
(though Terry Lovell’s Pictures of Reality
comes close) that is due, in part, at least, to the
institutional and[...]ion at tertiary
level. The conservative opponents of media
theory are differently placed, because media
courses are often seen to have a career
outcome. Students of literature tend to move
harmlessly into the teaching of more students
of literature, whereas media students carry the
threat of infiltrating and changing the nature of
the various industries.

Perhaps this is why a book like Bonney and
Wilson’s Australian[...]ub points to an industry and
education gulf which is the business of bodies
such as the AFI and the AFTS to negotiate[...]nt consideration for
writers in the field). There is a widespread
doubt, however, that either body is equipped or
motivated to accept this responsibility, and
move beyond a cosmetic or parasitic solution to
the problem of relating to industry and media
studies. Groups su[...]t and are trying to interest members in
questions of theory as well as questions of pro-
fessional survival.

The gap is possibly less yawning between_

theory and independent film practice. The
question is how far contemporary theory and

practice excite[...]sibilities for films being made, for the
dynamics of the local “film community”
(independent filmm[...]have been chang-
ing for some time, on both sides of the divide.
Again, it is interesting that feminist filmmakers
were the fir[...]sing between
theory and practice back at the time of the
Minto film theory weekend in late 1978, and the
formation of Feminist Film Workers. But, at
the same time, they were moving into the
strange and contradictory territory of “marxist-
feminism”, and only the most hardy tried to
set up camp there. Since then the history of
Filmnews has largely been the history of this
changing attitude, its successes and failure[...]stirrings. The Creative
Development Branch (CDB) of the Australian
Film Commission and the Women’s[...]ve recently been moved and goaded into
being less of the unconscious of this relation-
ship, and more of its conscience. The CDB has
begun to fund forums[...]Independent
Film and Authorship in late 1983. It is inviting
the occasional theorist to sit on assess[...]iving grants to film publish-
ing projects.

What is needed for a lively and interesting
independent film culture in Australia is free
interplay with an environment of theory and
discussion willing to take on questions of
aesthetics, film form, performances, new tech-
no[...]are only
the faintest, most uncertain glimmerings of a
milieu in which that could possibly begin to
ta[...]ch more will depend on the intellec-
tual courage of people in the Sydney film
community.

%Film Studi[...]yer

Lecturer in Media Studies, Phillip Institute of Technology

Film Studies, Cinema Studies, Media, Visual
Communication and Visual Language are some
of the disguises concocted by people who wish
to get[...]atching, and talking about,
films. Not that there is anything really wrong
with this: gynaecologists a[...]heir adolescence. However, it has been some-
what of a battle for the visual linguists (i.e.,
the practitioners of film studies) to attain the
deserved amount of academic respectability
from the tertiary institu[...]tainment and, therefore, outside the para-
meters of an education system which has always
insisted tha[...]were John C. Murray and Gil
Brealey, two members of the English Depart-
ment of Coburg Teachers’ College who, from
the start of the College in 1960, made Film
Study available in each of the three years of the

CINEMA PAPERS March-April — 59

While there were isolated pockets of activity
in this field in the 1960s in tertiary i[...]n Tasmania, for example —
there was little sign of widespread development.
There were, of course, those regular visits of
English literature students from the secondary
schools to screenings of the literary classics, but
that did little to pro[...]in certain institu-
tions far more easily because of the supposed
vocational opportunities and the fact that the
results of the course could be measured in
tangible terms.[...]ary enrolments and
accompanied by the renaissance of the
Australian film industry, a climate existed
which fostered the widespread development of
Film Studies in the institutions. In Victoria, at
least, the formation of the Tertiary Screen
Educators of Victoria, and its annual con-
ferences, and for secondary and primary
teachers the Association of Teachers of Film
and Video (the genesis of ATOM), with its
publication of Metro magazine, provided much
needed focal points around which this area of
study could develop.

Also significant was the range of film courses
offered by the Media Centre, and Joh[...]ourse. Since that
time film study has become part of a number of
universities in every state; even Melbourne
Unive[...]equent flowering has included the estab-
lishment of the Australian Film and Television
School, particularly the work of its Open
Program and the National Graduate Diploma
Scheme which operates in every Australian
state. There is also the biannual film conference
conducted by th[...]to demonstrate the sophistication and
legitimacy of the discipline, there is another
biannual conference which explores the in[...]s’
College in the 1960s approached the teaching of
film through close analysis and a concern with
th[...]ighting, editing, sound, etc. To
this end a range of short films and extracts was
combined with popula[...]hat time each institution has worked
out its area of film study suitable for the
interests and expertise of its staff and students
against the background of the shifting overseas
currents: the early auteur[...]course have all shared
the limelight at one stage or another.

Whatever the label, however, film studies is
still in its formative stages; the basis of any
course in the study of film must still be an
attempt to illuminate the c[...]ondson

Curator, National Film Archive

“Orphan of the Wilderness” . . . or
“The Breaking of the Drought ”?‘

The National Film Archive is more than an institu-
tion. It is the manifestation of an idea, and one of
the most remarkable, and least remarked, cultural
developments of the last 40 years has been the
fertilization of this idea, spontaneously and simul-
taneously, throughout the world.

(Ernest Lindgren, Curator of the National Film
Archive, London, in 1970)

Those words from the doyen of film archivists,
even more apt now than in 1970,[...]port to the Australian Film and Television
School of a five-month, world-wide study of
film archives which Cinema Papers published
in a[...]e such a project indicated the underdevelop-
ment of local film archive activity compared
with, for example, Europe or North America.
The report, and especially Cinema[...]y read. It subsequently
influenced the setting up of the autonomous
New Zealand Film Archive and is now being re-
read as the future of Australia’s National Film
Archive (NFA) has bec[...]nths.

Cinema Papers and the NFA are, in a sense,
of the same vintage. The NFA was established
as a definable staff unit of the National Library
in 1973 (though its origins go back to the
19305). Although the growth of staff and
resources has in no way kept pace with its
development in other ways, it has clearly come
of age. In 10 years, its collections have
increased[...]a
repository, an indispensable resource, a source
of ideas and material. It has contributed to
many hundreds of productions. Its collection
growth has made possible much of the Aus-
tralian content of film education, research and
analysis.

As a result of “The Last Film Search”, film
restorations and[...]has begun to
give substance to its cultural role of not only
acquiring and preserving the moving imag[...]e and
accessible to the world. The operative word is
begun. So will 1984 be the end of the
beginning?

The past 10 years have been a pioneering
adventure. So, at a different level, will the next
10 years. Al[...]find on walking into the NFA in 1994? At the
risk of indulging some wishful thinking, I
venture some personal ideas of the NFA a
decade from now.

One would, I hope, fi[...]ies and thinking to com-
prehend the whole nature of the moving image
in society (be it as art, technology, entertain-
ment, communication, history, industry or

1. For those who do not recognize them: the titles of two
classic Australian feature films made in 1936[...]whatever) in its own right and not as an aspect
of something else. It would reflect — accur-
ately, I hope —- the rising cultural status of the
medium. The NFA would have a sense of its
own necessity as a concept conceived in
response to the nature and social impact of a
20th Century popular medium. Its commitment
to the highest standards of preservation would
be given meaning by an equal c[...]e moving image heritage accessible in
every sense of the term, then and in the future.
As the trustee of that heritage, it follows that
the NFA would, by definition, be committed to
the future of the medium. So it would be
neither a graveyard for old films nor a mere
passive service of demands and enquiries, but a
positive and stimulating force, and a point of
reference for community and industry.

It would s[...]discussion,
exhibition, a moving image museum and so on
available to the public, the industry and othe[...]enjoyment
(as well as the preserved film itself); or the
chance to view films of all formats projected in
a cinema equipped to exhibit them as they were
meant to be seen; or the opportunity to enjoy a
silent film with live music accompaniment
knowing that the skills of this obsolete art have
been revived and nurtured[...]come to supplement its government grant.
The work of film archives, as a charge on the
public purse, w[...]n its own right. Hopefully, by this
time, nothing of permanent value would be in
danger of loss through insufficient funding.

Similarly, se[...]bi-
tion. The NFA would be acquiring all material
of permanent value — maybe with the aid of an
equitable statutory deposit system — before
there was any likelihood of loss.

The NFA’s relationship to the industry a[...]oser and
more organic; it will be an obvious part of its
infrastructure, with daily acquisition and access
contact, cross-use of facilities and exchange of
staff. Its relationship to other cultural bodies[...]ve established a role as a co—ordinator, centre
of expertise and a support agency.

Internationally,[...]ould be contributing its share to the
development of its field world-wide. It would
be adequately repr[...]ill be far more accessible and be making
full use of computer and video technology. For
the researcher[...]verse, better documented and a
greater percentage of it will be accessible. There
will, hopeful[...]

Although Australia is among the first nations
to discern and realize the narrative and docu-
mentary potential of the cinema back in the
1900s, it has taken it a l[...]evaluate its cultural status in relation to that of
the other arts —— and to recognize that statu[...]long and significant
heritage, and be recognition of the profound
social impact of the moving—image media on the
nation which was born with it. Is it possible,
and appropriate, that by 1994 Australia could
have one of the world’s leading and most
innovative film ar[...]twriter

Ending at the Beginning

After 10 years (or however long it has been
since Stork so farcically fertilized the test tube
baby Australians are now so awkwardly proud
of) it is good that The Thorn Birds has turned
up at long l[...]lit
foreground. How well we have done, in one
way or another, in beating that rap at least.
Imagine St[...]Sunday Too Far
Away, Marie Osmond in The Getting of
Wisdom, Sissy Spacek in My Brilliant Career,
Sylvester Stallone in Newsfront, Richard Pryor
in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith; Richard
Gere, one could say now, is Mad Max 4, and
Jack Lemmon is the Man of Flowers.

That, at least, never happened, though[...]-
losing national shames too numerous to
mention, or bad to release, such as A Danger-
ous Summer, Mid[...]ey
Shoot, which also include the post-Weir oeuvre
of James and Harold McElroy, and the man so
disarmingly described by David Puttnam as
Tony In[...]her, odd things did happen, certain
random habits of mind that became our
proudest traditions.

I have often thought of a monograph in the
Andrew Sarris manner called The Sun Never
Rises, a study of the work of Ken Hannam
(Break of Day, Sunday Too Far Away,
Summerfield, Dawnl), or Henri Safran’s fond-
ness for films that kill l[...]oves
these small, dark, ABC-trained men to themes
of the loss of childhood companionship and
youthful hope while t[...]in multiple shipwrecks?

Yet, they are only part of a larger national
perception, so apparent in our cinema, of the

pointlessness of every effort, since nothing ever
changes and you[...]in the election.
Petersen fails the exam. Breaker is taken away
and shot. Jimmie Blacksmith is taken out and
hanged. Ned Kelly is taken out and hanged.
Mad Dog Morgan is shot, decapitated and his
scrotum given to Frank Thring. Phar Lap is
taken out and stuffed. Richard Moir gives up
look[...]day
ends up broke and lonely as he began. The Man
of Flowers ends up rich. and lonely as he began.
The[...]ow
he has seen the world. Mr Perceval the pelican
is shot; so is the Wild Duck, but more
economically with the sam[...]mistress. The crippled boy in Let The Balloon
Go is dragged down off his tree. The crooks in
Bush Chr[...]limp.

Square one, it seems, prevails. In our end is
our beginning. Winners are only acceptable if,
like Phar Lap and Gough Whitlam, they end
badly, or if, like Mad Max and the couple in A
Town Like Alice[...]d
prosper only modestly at the end. A nation
born of convict, political fugitive and second-
chance bl[...]g
spunks who make easy millions overnight as
they do in Starstruck and Undercover, or in the
forthcoming Olivia! The Movie or whatever.
Fatty Finn’s crystal set is reward enough. We
must learn to be content with the dull sweet
continuum of our ordinary lives. Cathy has her
child back (back in migrant poverty, that is
something), the Lonelyhearted losers have at
leas[...]st agnostic
society ever, I think), whose modesty of
expectation must be served. Ah, so we are to be
shot at dawn are we? That’s not so bad.

Of course it has led to a certain sameness in
our ci[...]e,
The Last Mango, The Devil’s Mango, In Search
of Mangoes, Storm Mango, Blue Mango,
Mango Too Far A[...]ad Mango, Mango Morant, Mouth to
Mango, The Chant of Jimmie Mango, The
Cars that Ate Mangoes, Man of Mangoes,
Cathy’s Mango, We of the Mango Mango, The
Man from Mango River, and so on, so cornily
evidenced); a certain resistance in the A[...]to traditional storyline fiction
(most films that do well here are either about
the sensitive adolescence of some dead writer or
some factual incident that once made headlines,
a[...]s such as The Chain
Reaction and Goodbye Paradise do badly); a
resistance to punchlines and car chases[...]d flying saucers (an agnostic society
low on God is also dark on His by—products);
and a fondness f[...]ms and the
half—remembered past. But that's not so bad. It
compares well with Smokey and the Bandit[...]d Hutch
and Porky’s II; less well with Chariots of Fire,
Star Wars and the Bond movies, and the last[...]nd — leaving
the central shearer’s strike out of Sunday Too
Far Away, the death of Caddie’s lover out of
Caddie, Anna out of In Search of Anna,

Cathy’s husband out of Cathy’s Child, the
flying saucer out of Picnic at Hanging Rock
and the last wave out of The Last Wave, and
replacing them all with farewe[...]in mid—stream, for mainly
budget reasons.

But, of course, a film director’s prime aim in
these past decades has not been so much, as
Stanley Kubrick and Peter Weir proved, the
conquest of art as the conquest ofjournalism. I
decided last[...]up the classic
music and give the interview. And if, as in the
recent oeuvres of Weir, Schultz and Cox, the
film doesn’t quite add up, why all the better. It
is something for people to argue about and
journalists to waste words on. And that’s where
the money is, and the earthly reputation. One
of the most commercially successful directors,
Sandy Harbutt, who made Stone and is bad
with journalists, has disappeared without trace;
one of the most commercially unsuccessful
directors, Fred Schepisi, who is good with
journalists (he gives good interviews), is judged
our finest flower. It is important to know where
the money is and the reputation. It is in the
Sunday papers.

In all, a middling good 10 years I think. The
next 10, so obsessed with money and calcula-
tion and youth,[...]low-
budget filmmaking. Poverty proved the parent
of invention and in 1972-73 approximately half
of the films proved commercially successful.

Then,[...]r’s Fortnight at Cannes
and the overseas legend of our plucky little
industry was born. Perhaps beca[...]more than flesh wounds. But
these days, the forms of financing that have
evolved to support the larger budgets of films
have altered the rules of the game.

The current indications are that produ[...]n 1984. Since June 30, 1983, The
Coolangatta Gold is the only feature film with a
substantial budget t[...].

The decrease in taxation benefits to investors
is partly to blame, and these seem to have been
very imperfectly understood. A film offering
benefits of 150 per cent for deductible items
and 100 per cen[...]5 per cent. By
contrast, a film offering benefits of 133 per cent
for deductible items, in which the n[...]benefits (e.g., the Aus-
tralian Film Commission or a state corpora-
tion), is in a more attractive position.

The rub may be the reduced benefit of net
income from exploitation of the film: formerly
50 per cent, now 33 per[...]

Don's Part} (Bruce Beresford, I976).
Inept in parts, but still the best piece of
ensemble acting I have seen from an
Australian ca[...]rloper
challenges the incumbent for the
ownership of the premises) but
remarkably compelling.

Breaker[...]Beresford.
1980). Kubrick did it better in Paths of
Glory and I am not. for a moment.
endorsing Beres[...]the
first time in his career, in complete
control of his material.

The Getting of Wisdom (Bruce Beres-
ford, I977). Beresford again, and
grossly underrated by Australian
critics. The first of the “new wave”
features about a winner — af[...]ayground (Fred
Schepisi, I976). Probably the best of
the lot. A couple of Arthur Dignam’s
scenes were over the top but the rest of

62 — March-April CINEMA PAPERS

Leading film critics and industry personnel list their favorite
10 (or 11 or, even, 13) Top Ten Australian films released
since 1970. There were no restrictions as to gauge or length.

it was just bloody marvellous. From
the[...]camera drifting up
the river) and the first note of [Bruce]
Smeaton’s music you knew you were
seeing a marvellous piece of work.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
(Fred Schepisi, 1978). Schepisi[...]with Lonely
Hearts. But I still think that Kostas is
superior to both Lonely Hearts and
Man of Flowers. A strong, simple and
honest film. But, o[...]or-
gotten. I am not being perverse when I
say it is another misjudged movie, with
more ideas in its l[...]st
films have in their entire feature
length. Out of control and chaotic, it
finally disintegrated like Dimboola. It
was far less than the sum of its parts.
But, ah, the parts! The helicopter
arr[...]ll town to
Smeaton’s Fellini-ish music. The use
of real-life grotesques such as Lou
Richards and lack Dyer. The undeni-
able Australianness of the comedy. We
all owe David Baker an apology.

C[...]Going Down (Haydn Kennan, 1983).
Ninety minutes of chaos and rat-
baggery that will go down in history as
the film that launched the cinematic
career of the multi—talented and com-
pletely unmanageabl[...]how very, very good Jack Thompson
can be. Devoid of pretension. Not too
heavy with the myth—making.[...]s Playground

Mad Max 2 (George Miller, 1981)
Man of Flowers (Paul Cox, 1983)
Picnic at Hanging Rock ([...]otnote I would also in-
clude: A Personal History of the

Australian Surf (Michael Blakemore,
I981), L[...]el
Edols, 1975) and Tidikawa and
Friends (Jef and Su Doring, 1971).

Rod Bishop

Phillip Institute of Technology,

Melbourne
j
I. Newsfront (Phil Noyc[...])
(Arthur and Corinne Cantrill,
1981)
7. The Year of Living Dangerously
(Peter Weir, 1982)
8. Love Let[...]illiant Career (Gillian Arm-
strong, 1979)

.\)C7\k)-RUIN)

This is such a boring list that I thought
I would include[...]ael Thorn-
hill, 1977)

Wake in Fright

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Palm Beach (Albie Thoms, 1979)
The Last Wave (Peter Weir, 1977)
In Search of Anna (Esben Storm,
1979)

Close, but not close en[...]s Kennedy, 1982)
Careful, He Might Hear You

Sons of Namatjira (Curtis Levy, 1975)
Homesdale (Peter Weir, 1971)

The Plumber (Peter Weir, 1970)

Man of Flowers

Dean chamberlin

The Advocate, Melbourne[...]reer

Newsfront

Picnic at Hanging Rock

The Year of Living Dangerously

Barry Cohen

Minister for Hom[...]te Australian films, I
have included 11 which are of such a
high standard that I felt it unfair to
eli[...]Careful, He Might Hear You
Gallipoli

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
The Year of Living Dangerously

And although Fast Talking (Ken
Cameron) has not been released, I
believe it is of equal standard to the
above.

Keith Connolly

The[...]particular order:

Sunday Too Far Away. In spite of
structural flaws, our finest achieve-
ment to date in social realism. Cer-
tainly the best portrayal of Australians
at work, the shearers coming over wit[...]yesterday
without coating it in nostalgia.
Winter ofof lost ignor-
ance that makes more celebrated rites-
of-passage exercises seem like The
March of Time.