THE HARD WORD

Australia, 2002, 102 minutes, Colour.
Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Robert Taylor, Joel Edgerton, Damien Richardson, Rhondda Findleton, Kate Atkinson, Vince Colosimo, Paul Sonkkila, Kym Gyngell, Dorian Nkono.
Directed by Scott Roberts.

The Hard Word is a tough Australian crime thriller. While it shows two robberies in detail, it focuses very much on the old mateship ethos. The central characters are three brothers played by Pearce, Edgerton and Richardson. They play very well together and are believable brothers. They are released out of jail by the governor and by crooked police in order to do robberies, controlled by a crooked lawyer played by Robert Taylor. Rachel Griffiths plays Pearce's two-timing wife. Paul Sonkkila and Vince Colosimo are the corrupt police.

The film also nods in the direction of Ned Kelly and the lovable larrikin outlaws. Everybody in this film is amoral/immoral. The brothers are just the least amoral of all the characters.

Bondi Beach and Sydney locations are very well used to give an impression of the city. So also are the scenes of Melbourne. The Australian love for the Big Banana, Big Pineapple and so on receives a homage with a fictitious town and the Big Cow, a statue in which the robbers hide the money.

The action is fast-paced, violent only towards the end - which leaves one in the strange experience of disapproving of all the characters while barracking for the brothers.

Direction is by Scott Roberts, a writer who spent some time in the United States writing The American Way, K2 and Shadow of the Cobra amongst other films. This is his feature film debut.

1. The impact of the film? Entertainment value? Action, robberies, police corruption? Characters and interactions? The tough stances? The amoral stances of the three brothers? Everybody in the film being amoral? The mateship ethos? The lovable larrikins and outlaws in the Australian tradition?

2. The title, the phrase used as the pressure put on people to do jobs they are unwilling to do? Frank Malone putting the hard word on the brothers? The consequences?

3. The use of the Sydney locations, Bondi Beach, the robberies? The cityscapes and the bridges? The comparisons with Melbourne, the vistas of the city, the Melbourne Cup? The country town, the Big Cow? Musical score and songs?

4. The opening and the establishing of the atmosphere of the prison, the brutal basketball game? The setting of the three brothers in the prison? Mal and his enjoying being a butcher? Shane and his eruptions in violence? Dale and his working in the library? Their each being released by the governor? Going to Bondi Beach, the drama of the breakfast orders, especially Shane's violent reactions? The transition to being ready for the robbery, change of uniforms, the swiftness of the takeover of the van and the getaway?

5. Frank and his control, the lawyer, masterminding, getting the contacts? Paying off the governor of the prison? The two corrupt police and their taking a share? Detaining the three brothers, the interrogations, watching them? Framing them with fingerprints and eyewitnesses? Their being returned to jail? Frank and his plan, keeping them there for three weeks, manipulating the plan?

6. Frank and his background, ruthlessness? His relationship with Carol? Carol and her going to meet Dale, sex in the van, her double-dealing with him? After the money? Her visit to Dale in prison and his accusations and her walking out?

7. The Melbourne plan, it going wrong, Shane's birthday and the special sausages and the fly? Salmonella? Shane in hospital, the visit by Jane (with the background of his psychological sessions with Jane, her asking him questions, his exerting charm, seductive, her telling him her story)? In the hospital? The three brothers leaving, going to Melbourne?

8. The Melbourne set-up, their waiting, meeting Tarzan and his henchman? Dale realising that Frank was setting them up to be killed? The plan for the robbery, the explanation of the bookmakers, the security? Going to the hotel, their uniforms, Tarzan and his dyslexia, his anger, impatience with the door code and blasting with his gun, killing people? The contrast with Dale and his MC style in relieving the bookmakers of their money? Tarzan and his shooting the inside man and his death? The three brothers and their escape, the killer pursuing them in the street, Frank in the car? Frank hitting the henchman?

9. The brothers and their commandeering the girl's car, her being tipsy, not wanting to sell her car, the drive to Sydney, Mal being smitten, the joke about meteorology and butchers? Spending the night in the town? Dale's idea for hiding the money? The girl and her reading the papers, beginning to call the police, their driving off?

10. The confrontation with the police, Frank and his bus journey, his feet being shot, his attacking the two policemen and killing them? Carol tied up, deciding to go with him? Dale's return and leaving them be?

11. Six months later, the chalet owned by the three brothers and their managing it? Shane and his massage, Mal and his cooking, Dale and the management? Frank and Carol arriving? The deal about the airport robbery? The brothers deciding that Frank had to go, Carol loading her gun, pointing it at Dale, shooting Frank? Their going off to the airport to do the robbery?

12. The impact of the film, the robbery genre? The touches of the film noir? The Australian atmosphere of bank robbery stories?

HONDO

US, 1954, 85 minutes, Colour.
John Wayne, Geraldine Page, Ward Bond, Michael Pate.
Directed by John Farrow.

Hondo is a short western, made at the same time as other John Wayne films like The High and the Mighty. Like The High and the Mighty, it was withdrawn from distribution for a great number of years.

The film shows a more humane John Wayne. He is given stronger dramatic sequences, even poetic dialogue, which he speaks in his own fashion but persuasively. Geraldine Page was introduced in this film and also got an Oscar nomination. She was to win the Oscar over 30 years later for A Trip to Bountiful. Ward Bond is in support in his usual kind of role as a scout. Michael Pate portrays the Apache chief, Vittorio (also seen in the telemovie of 1997, Buffalo Soldiers).

The film was made in 3D. It was directed by John Farrow, who was successful with many action dramas in the '40s and '50s. The film is sympathetic to the Indian cause - a move that began in the late '40s, early '50s with such films as Devil's Doorway and Broken Arrow. It paved the way for more insight into white treatment of the Indian nations in the films of the '60s like Little Big Man and Soldier Blue.

1. Interesting and entertaining western? Familiar material, well done?

2. The visuals of the American west, the homesteads, the forts, the desert, the mountains? The musical score?
3. The military, the fights against the Indians? The Indians, the reservations, the betrayals by the whites, the breaking of treaties? The Indians and their respect for bravery, their defensiveness, their being massacred by the whites? The role of the Apaches, of the chief, Vittorio?

4. John Wayne as Hondo Lane, the lone stranger, his reputation as a gunfighter, scout, survivor in the desert? His arrival at the homestead, the encounter with the woman, her lies about her husband, her hospitality, Sam? His feeling at home, warning her to get out? His dog and warning the boy not to pet it? His wisdom and experience? His philosophy of letting people make their own choices, whatever the consequences? His leaving the homestead, going to the fort, explaining the situation to the authorities? His meeting up with Buffalo Baker? Their riding out, the young military man from West Point, the decision to confront the Indians, the disaster and the deaths?

5. The wife, her growing up in the area, her marrying Ed, her lies about him, his being away, her promising his return? Her attraction towards Hondo, yet resistance? Giving him hospitality, allowing him to work with her son, train him? Her decision to stay? Her friendship with the Indians, the confrontation with Vittorio and his men, the bravery of Sam in the confrontation? Vittorio and his acceptance of this bravery, his visits, support? Hondo's return, the death of her husband? His wanting him to have died bravely? Her overhearing the conversation about the truth, her knowing that it was the truth? Her love for Hondo, wanting to go with him? Wanting him to tell the truth to her son, so that he would grow up knowing the truth? Her change of mind, the decision to go to California to start a new way of life? A pioneer woman, a woman of the West? Her character, qualities, her attraction towards Hondo?

6. Hondo, leaving the town, accompanied by Ed, Ed pulling his gun and Hondo shooting him? His lying to the woman about her husband's death? The discussions with Buffalo Baker, the truth? His principle of telling the truth? His going to tell the boy, the woman interrupting him? Going West and beginning again with the family?

7. The boy, in the homestead, his chores, love for his mother, absent father? Bonding with Hondo, discussions, experiences, the fishing, the dog and its biting? Hondo not telling him the truth? Their going to California?

8. The people in the town, Ed, no good, violent, wanting to shoot Hondo, his death?

9. The military, the scout, Buffalo Baker and his role, friendship with Hondo, accompanying the military? The young man from West Point, his single-mindedness about orders, the massacre, his return?

10. The Apaches, their treatment, Vittorio, his leadership, confrontation with the woman and Sam, his admiration for them, giving Sam a new name, visiting them? The inevitability of his death and the wiping out of the Apaches?

HILDEGARDE

Australia, 2001, 85 minutes, Colour, G.
Richard E. Grant, Tom Long, Tara Morice.
Directed by Di Drew.

Hildegarde is the name of a pet duck. The film focuses on a family in Conungra, moved from the city, adapting to country life after the death of their father (from lung cancer - with a heavily anti-smoking message in the film). Richard E. Grant and Tom Long portray two dumb crooks, bird-smugglers who encounter Hildegarde and abduct her. The film focuses on the three children, their life at home, their going after the duck (with the 16-year-old driving a utility with consequent comedy and danger) and the confrontation between the children and the smugglers.

There is an amount of slapstick comedy from the crooks. There is a great deal of focus on the children, ordinary Australian types, strong, yet with the sadness of the memories of their father. They are also concerned about the environment.

One of the scenes is in Queensland town with a mill fair, focusing on the woodchips and the confrontation between environmentalists and those wanting the mill to be reopened.

The film works well for smaller children with the adventures with the duck - and there is enough social consciousness message in the film to offer lessons as well.

1. Entertaining children's comedy adventure? Age group? For parents?

2. The Queensland country town, the ranges, the valleys, the focus on the environment?

3. The title, the focus on the duck, her place in the household, her six eggs, the emphasis on their not owning her and her freedom to move away whenever she wished? In the water, abducted by the smugglers? On show? Hiding the money for Wolf? The final rescue?

4. The portrait of the family: the mother, widow, hard work, going to the city, managing the household, the meals? Getting the children to clean the house, for Chris to take responsibility? Her exasperation at the meal with the baked beans? The children and their ages, memories of their father, interactions with each other?

5. Chris, his age, responsibility, looking after the two younger children? Driving the truck, the adventure with rescuing the birds? The police and his final commendation? Jeremy, his age, grief and memories of his father, his participation in the adventure? Isabel, age, pluck, having to clean the bath, her exasperating her mother with the beans? Food, adventure, finding the eggs? Concern about Hildegarde? Her participation in the adventure, keeping a lookout, freeing the birds? Credible children?

6. Wolf and his associate, the slapstick comedy, finding the birds, capturing Hildegarde and the splashing in the water? The show in the tent, the people attending, paying the $10 for the family (and the three children going in with the family)? Their pushing each other round? The associate as dumb? The phone call and the big deal? Eugene and his running out of petrol, encountering the kids, losing his phone? Taking Isabel? The arrest by the police who knew him? Wolf, the deal, getting the birds? Preparing to send them away, the sales with the locals, the confrontation with the kids, all the birds escaping?

7. The focus on the birds and wildlife? Australian fauna? The importance of the environment - the woodchip fair, the competitions, the speech by the mayor, the environmentalists?

8. Entertaining comedy, audiences identifying with the children, the family life, Hildegarde, the birds, the environment and the adventure?

A HOUSE BUILT ON WATER

Iran, 2002, 107 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Bahman Farmanara.

A House Built on Water was the winner of the first Inter-Faith? Award given by SIGNIS, the International Catholic Association for Communication, Teheran 2002. The film offers an invitation for dialogue between Islam and Catholicism. It features a young boy who has learnt the Koran by heart and gone into coma who, in fact, will be the instrument by which the wealthy middle-aged doctor who is in personal crisis will find some redemption. The film also opens with a magic realism touch, the doctor, drunk, hitting an angel in a car accident.

The film portrays a wealthy, cynical and secularised Teheran doctor, a womaniser, a drinker, not interested in the Muslim law. In his practice he is often harsh with his patients. He has had several relationships with women on the staff of his hospital and with his assistant. His father, a businessman and philanderer like himself, is in an old people's home wanting to be elsewhere. The doctor's son, absent from Iran for 15 years in the United States, returns and is found to be a heroin addict.

The doctor tells one of the characters that he feels he is drowning. The character replies that he has drowned long ago but has not realised it. When his son says that he is the last resort for help, the doctor remarks that it is a terrible world when he is the last resort.

The film works very well as a drama about the doctor's crisis, about the generations of men in Iran. It is also a comment on secular values at the turn of the millennium, the doctor criticising a woman with HIV who wants to deceive her intend her husband so that she can get out of Iran, saying that this generation tops the previous generation. The film also offers a cinematic link with angels, not only the injured angel at the opening of the film as well as the little boy who knows the Koran, but also through the movies. Scenes are played of It's a Wonderful Life with George Bailey discussing Clarence's status as an angel.

The film also draws on archetypal images, especially of fate, where an elderly woman called Mrs Alltime weaves a scarf with various skeins of wool. These are finally scattered over the floor of the doctor's house as mysterious phantom killers come to assault him and the little boy.

The film works well on all kinds of levels.

1. The impact of the film, as drama, personal study of the doctor, portrait of values and lack of values in Iranian society, the role of Muslim law and the Koran, the mythical, mystical and archetypal elements of angels, an old woman knitting fate, phantoms and redemption.

2. The Teheran setting, the world of affluence, the doctor and his wealthy home, the nursing home, his office, the hospital, the poorer sections of the city, the streets with the drug addicts? A comprehensive picture of the city? The musical score?

3. The title and its reference to the individuals, Iranian society, the HIV-infected woman talking about a house built on water?

4. The opening, the doctor and his drunkenness, reckless driving, the callgirl companion, the accident, his discovering the angel, unable to lift her, her making the wound on his hand, the bandages, the surgeon and his commentary? The little boy and his healing the hand?

5. The role of angels in the tradition of the Koran, in biblical traditions, in the movies? Child angels? Guardians, protectors? Vulnerable angels? The excerpt from It's a Wonderful Life and George Bailey discussing with Clarence? The little boy, his role as an angel, the human boy exhausted by his parents exploiting him with knowing the Koran, raising money from him, his body going into coma, his response to the doctor? The doctor rescuing him, taking him home? The boy's healing? The intruders, the boy in the closet hiding, his coming out, his dying with the doctor? Symbols of redemption?

6. The portrait of the doctor, the aftermath of the accident, at home, his servant, his absent wife, absent children? His relationship with his father? The long sequence of the reminiscences, his father's memories, callousness, abusing his eleven-year-old son on the phone, attitude towards his mother? The doctor's resentments towards his father? The father wanting to get out of the nursing home, being pitiable? Mirror images? The contrast with Mani, his being in America, his stepfather and the verbal abuse and the beatings? Love for his mother? His father phoning him only for his birthday? Lamenting that he never had a father when he needed one? The story of his fear of heights at four, being urged to trust and jump, his father ducking and his hitting the floor? Accusing his father of ducking issues? His being taken at the airport, the revelation of the drugs, his father's reaction, getting him home, the heroin addiction, his explanations, the hiding of the drugs in the toilet, his father finding them? The promise of going to rehabilitation? The bond between father and son, the boy escaping, going into the city seeking drugs with his father's money, the father and his decision to search for his son, driving the streets, talking with the drug addicts?

7. The doctor and his relationship with women, the hospital attendant and her cancer, his not visiting her or contacting her during her illness? The receptionist, her age, her expectations of the relationship, her pregnancy, the termination, her being unable to have children? Her work with the doctor, her phoning the people following him? Shadowy characters? Who were they, her contact with him? Her vengeance or not? Drug dealers and the pursuit of the son?

8. The attitude of the doctor towards his patients, the woman in her eleventh pregnancy, his attack on the father, the woman at the door wanting compassion? His eventually changing his mind, too late, seeing the funeral, being hit by the father? His meeting the father of his receptionist in the street, not knowing anything that had happened to the daughter, giving the man money? The woman wanting her virginity restored for her future husband, the blood test, the irony of her being HIV-infected, her wanting to deceive her husband, desperate to get out of Iran?

9. The doctor and his loneliness, age, experience, deprivations, yet having everything that money could buy? His relationship with his servant? Going home, weeping? The effect of the angels on him? The visit to the bedside of the coma boy, the avarice of the father? His decision to take the boy and its consequences?

10. His being followed, the reassurance of his receptionist? The link with the woman knitting the scarf, the balls of wool, the different colours, the symbol of fate and destiny, his seeing balls of wool at the hospital, at his surgery, in his house? The final skeins for the cobweb of colour? The phantom killers coming (their identities or just his fate and punishment)? The violence of his death and the death of the boy? Why had the two to be killed?

11. The impact of the drama on a realistic level, on a symbolic and magic realism level, on a level of allegory?

HELP, THE DOCTOR IS DROWNING

Holland, 1974, minutes, Colour.
Jules Croisset, Martine Bijl, Willeke Van Ammerlrooy.
Directed by Nikolai van der Heyde.

Help, The Doctor is Drowning is a Dutch comedy. The Dutch film industry is not particularly large and therefore this comedy is an interesting example of the techniques and the attitudes of Dutch film-making. The film is based on a well-known Dutch novel. It has a certain old world and almost rustic charm as well as knockabout and situation humour. It translates fairly well for an outside audience, but audiences should not expect too much subtlety. It is straight-forward comedy.

1. How entertaining a comedy? For a Dutch audience? For international audiences? The light touch?

2. The conventions of village comedy in terms of character, dialogue, situations? Gentle humour, satire and parody, farce? Which predominated?

3. The contribution of colour photography, Dutch locations, the atmosphere of the period? The light touch of the music? Special comic effects?

4. The presentation of village life, the attention to detail of place, people, types, mannerisms. Sufficiently credible with the strengths and the weaknesses of human nature? Could audiences identify with the village and its people and the way of life?

5. How well did the film delineate the principal characters, their strengths and their weaknesses, their interactions? The doctor and his place in the village, the teacher and the doctor's love for her? Their meetings? The parish priest and his role in the village? His help for the doctor, his not providing a solution? The counterpointing of this plot with the plot of the village builder, the beautiful gypsy? The contribution of the other personages within the village?

6. Which were the most memorable sequences? The humanity and the interrelationships? The comic and farcical situations? The doctor's work? The sequences illustrating the title?

7. How much insight was there into the ordinariness of human nature, the ordinariness of basic day to day situations and the way that people cope? An optimistic view of human nature and of man and his possibilities? The good effect that this kind of optimistic comedy can have on an audience? The value of laughter?

THE HELL WITH HEROES

US, 1968, 102 minutes, Colour.
Rod Taylor, Claudia Cardinale, Harry Guardino, Kevin Mc Carthy, Pete Deuel, William Marshall.
Directed by Joseph Sargent.

The Hell With Heroes is slickly done adventure entertainment. It almost provides a handbook for the conventions of the Hollywood action melodrama.

There is a tough embittered hero who turns to smuggling after his war experiences and disillusionment but who would really like to be a teacher. There is his young idealistic companion, interested in writing a book and experiencing life, who is eventually killed but has, a profound effect on changing the hero. There are American gangster type smugglers operating in Europe and North Africa, who are ruthless. There is the mistress of the American gangster who is the exotic war-ravaged refugee who collaborated with the Nazis, in the form of Claudia Cardinale. She falls in love with the hero, has some doubts about escaping with him but eventually is transformed for lyric happiness in Middle America. There is the relentless but ultimately tolerant army police chief.

The action adventure is enjoyable but predictable... and has an immediately recognisable gallery of supporting characters including henchmen and the African American owner of a Casablanca-like bar complete with effective and talented black singer.

The film is in colour and Techniscope and is directed by Joseph Sargent, a director of competent action adventures who moved into a variety of genres in the '70s, ranging from Sunshine to The Taking of Pelham 123 and Macarthur, the Rebel General. While of no real consequence in itself, it is competently and slickly done and illustrates Hollywood's idea of the tough and eventually noble hero, the idealistic young man, the heroine who has sparks of humanity and is easily redeemed (even from fabulous wealth), the portrait of ugly gangsters and serious-minded police is all as expected. Basic values of good and evil are presumed even if the film does dabble in the shadier side of good and evil. The film completely illustrates basic Hollywood action adventure - and the staple of so many television series.

HEAVY METAL

US, 1981, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Gerald Potterton.

Heavy Metal is an adult animated film from the 80s. It was based on a range of American comic books - with the touch of the X-rated stories and sexual treatment. It was popular at the time. However, it might be now seen as a pioneer in this kind of film, taken to some violent and sexual extremes in Japanese animation as well as some American.

The film is bold and striking and boasts a number of comic voices including Richard Romanus, John Candy and director Harold Ramis.

1. The popularity of the comic strip? The books? Comic strips and their effect? Style? Their boldness: drawing, delineation of characters, situations. action? Fantasy? Cult comics? Their pop-symbolism? Reality and unreality?

2. The comic strip style of the film? Varieties of animation? The moving image comic strip style: shapes, changing shapes, characters, human and inhuman/ extra-terrestrial, animals? Colours, lines? Boldness and violence? Reality and unreality?

3. The importance of the music: the range of styles, the range of performers and groups? Their popularity? Combining them with the images? Mutual interaction? Rock music, the sound of the music, lyrics and their vigour, social comment, protest? Violence and rebellion?

4. The purpose of the film - entertainment, social comment? The title and its reference to the comic books?

5. The focus on Grimaldi: the astronaut and the background of space exploration films of the '70s and '80s, his daughter, the mansion? The symbol of the Lochnar and its effects? The focus on the Lochnar and the little girl? The framing device for the whole film - her initial innocence, her being transformed into the saviour-figure?

6. Harry Canyon, Manhattan, its evil, the atmosphere of New York, the woman, the seduction, Rudnick?

7. Dan the ordinary young man and his transformation into Den? travels, struggles? The emphasis on the macho image of the male? Sexism? Heroes and heroines, struggles?

8. Captain Sternn and his violence, killings? Hanover Bist and the transformation into the beast, violence and havoc? The ordinary man and his bestial transformation? The comment about human condition? Captain Sternn's manipulating of this and escape?

9. The B 17 and its war, its being struck, disaster, the corpse's revivifying, the hero parachuting, the graveyard and destruction? Comment on war and killing?

10. The satire on the Pentagon and American policy? Gloria as the attractive secretary? Doctor Anrak and his behaviour? The Pentagon? The mysterious spacecraft? Sexual encounters? The robot - and the comment on sexual behaviour and attitudes?

11. Taana, the barbarians, the siege? Taana riding on the bird? The ball and the destruction of the mountain?

12. The effect of the Lochnar telling the story, the little girl listening? Her transformation into the new champion?

13. The effect of such immersion in a range of stories, fantasies, comics, visual impact, sounds and music?

HELL IS FOR HEROES

US, 86 minutes, Black and White.
Steve Mc Queen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, Harry Guardino, James Coburn. Bob Newhart, Nick Adams.
Directed by Donald Siegel.

Hell is for Heroes is quite a good war film, very little different from the average, except that it is more compact and makes stock characters come fairly alive. The main section of the plot holds the interest as six soldiers deceive the Germans for a day into thinking they are present in greater strength. This gives a more intimate view of a small section of a campaign.

Steve Mc Queen was in process of creating his image; Bobby Darin shows a flair for acting. Direction is by Donald Siegel (The Killers, Madigan, Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Beguiled, Dirty Harry).

1. Was this just another war film or was it different? Why?

2. What aspects of fellowship did the film stress in its opening sequences? Did it establish the characters well and make them interesting persons?

3. Why was Reese's entry made more dramatic? Why was Reese special? Was he likeable? What kind of man was he - in his answers to others' questions. in the bar, to Pike? How much of this was a 'Steve Mc Queen image'?


4. Was Corby a stock figure? How much did this characterisation capitalise on Bobby Darin's personality and popularity? What kind of man was Cosby? Did you like him?

5. What kind of soldier was Larkin? Was he a good soldier? Why? Was he a likeable personality?

6. What was the significance of Homer?

7. The main point of the film was that the small group deceived the Germans and held them off for a time. How well was this done? How cleverly? Which tricks did you like best - the jeep sounding like a tank, the empty cans with gravel in them, the talking over the telephone, etc.? Why?

8. Was O'Driscoll just a comic figure? Why?

9. Was Reese correct in suggesting the bombing of the pillbox? why was Larkin in a dilemma? Did Henshaw act properly in assenting to the raid?

10. Why was Reese reprimanded by the officers for attempting to blow up the pillbox?

11. Did Reese redeem himself well? Was there too much action heroics in Reese's final gesture?

12. How did the crawl through the minefields and the final attack epitomise war? Glamorously? Heroically? Ugly? What was the point of the title of the film?

HELL NIGHT

US, 1981, 101 minutes, Colour.
Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten.
Directed by Tom de Simone.

Hell Night is yet another variation on Friday the 13th. and Halloween formulas - from the producer of Halloween. It is comparatively low-key compared with some of the other films focusing generally on four people in the modern equivalent of a haunted house. Linda Blair, dressed in Victorian costume for the Hell Night, is a heroine who eventually is able to survive and show herself a strong heroine. The rest of the college students are the predictable stereotypes. A reviewer commented that the plot sacrificed sense to shock values. This is true - with very little explanation apart from the opening gory horror story told to the gathered students, for what goes on. Nevertheless, the film is above average of its type with better characterisation, some shocks and scares and the valiant heroine.

1. The appeal of this kind of horror story? Nightmare? Confronting fears? The bestial mutant and the horror story of the Garth family? The haunted house? Murders? The boy who cried wolf? The value of the horror film in confronting audiences with their nightmares?

2. The conventions of Halloween and Friday the 13th. and their popularity in the late 170s, early 180s? The college group, the monstrous killer, the murders and chases, the surviving heroine? Stereotype characters?

3. The conventions of this kind of horror film? How well used? Better than average or not?

4. The structure of the film: the explanation of the Hell Night, the establishing of the characters, their being put in a haunted house, the various frights, the deaths, the emergence of Andrew Garth, the crisis situations, survival?

5. How credible the situation: college and the Hell Night? The haunted house with the bodies in the cellar, the rampaging monster - and the police not knowing about it! The electronic tricks and the real killings? The police and their disbelief of the students? The attempts at destroying the monster and the deaths of the young men?

6. The convention of the night for the students, the irony of the title? Fears of haunted houses?

7. The establishing of the situation: university, the party, the party mood, the haunted house and the various tricks?

8. The deaths of the tricksters and their horror?

9. The establishing of the four main characters: Denise and Seth and the mistake of name, talk about surfing, sexuality? Denise's death? Seth to the rescue, people not believing him, his seeming to kill Andrew, the suddenness of his death? The contrast with Marti and Seth? Quieter, more respect, tentative romance? The surprise of Seth's death?

10. Moving outside the house with Jeff seeking help, the police station, the car?

11. Marti as heroine - strong, frightened, Denise as her friend, coping in the house, the chases round the house and gardens, the deaths, her knowledge of cars, the gate and the key, the monster on the car, the final impaling?

12. The appeal of this kind of film? To what audience? Exploitation of violence? The quality of the horror film?

HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS

US, 1960,100 minutes, Colour.
Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Steve Forrest, Eileen Heckart, Margaret O'Brien.
Directed by George Cukor.

Heller in Pink Tights is a rather unusual title for a Western. This is quite an unusual Western about a theatre troupe moving around the West. The various adventure conventions and ingredients are present but the focus is on the troupe and on the personalities involved. George Cukor, a veteran director from the 30s to the 70s of a great number of excellent films and Oscar-winning performances, directs his one and only Western. The colour processes and set design are also meant to be striking - with echoes of theatricality. Sophia Loren was at the beginning of her popularity on the international screen. She was teamed with Anthony Quinn in The Black Orchid in 1959 and works well with him again here. The supporting cast includes such veterans as Eileen Heckart and has one of the rare adult performances by the excellent child-star Margaret O'Brien.

Heller in Pink Tights is a very interesting, off-beat Western.

1. How enjoyable and popular a film is this?

2. The characteristics of the film as a Western: the introduction and comparison with the outlaws, the focus on a heroine, the picture of life in the towns, the state borders and chases, the shootouts, the deals and the gambling, the gunfighters, the town-owners, the Indians? What Western conventions were used and how well?

3. The film as a film about theatre: actors, their making a living, their art, acting, costumes, stage, publicity, rehearsals, performances, the theatres of the West?

4. How well did the film blend the theatre themes with western themes? How did it create a unique atmosphere?

5. The use of colour and contrasts in style, the musical accompaniment?

6. The atmosphere of legend about Angela? Sophia Loren and her style, her blonde wig, as a heroine? Her teasing and flirting? Her dependence on Tom? Her capacity for acting? For making money and deals, gambling, exerting her charm? The escape, relationship with Mabry? The dangers of the Indians? Her getting the money and buying the theatre? A happy ending for her? Was she worth looking into as a Western character?

7. Tom Healey: Anthony Quinn's subdued performance? His managing of the theatre? His beliefs in acting, having to run away, relationship with Angela and the rest of the troop? The clash with Mabry, Angela? His being wounded? His happiness at the ending? How interesting a Western character?

8. How humorous were the characters of Lorna and Della? Their role in the troop, in the acting, the poses, the flirting, the exploiting of the workers etc? The human touches, the humorous touches? Were these too developed as characters?

9. Mabry as a gunfighter? Shooting, employed by the boss. being doublecrossed, gambling for Angela, protecting the party, being helped to escape and receiving his money back?

10. De Leon and his owning the town? Typical Western town owner? Doublecrossing?

11. Comment on the types of the West that inhabited this film: in the bars and theatres, sheriffs, creditors, gunmen, Indians?

12. How enjoyable were the theatre scenes, their staging, the impact of the West? The use of the horse in the play and its use at the end? The Indians rifling the theatre stock?

13. What made this film entertaining? As more than a Western?