PAID IN FULL

US, 1950, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Lizabeth Scott, Diana Lynn, Robert Cummings, Eve Arden, Ray Collins, Frank Mc Hugh, Stanley Ridges, Louis Jean Heydt.
Directed by William Dieterle.

Paid in Full is a lavish melodramatic, soap operatic romancer of 1950, Hal Wallis style production for Paramount. It has Paramount stars of the period, a Dean Martin song with a Victor Young score. Direction is by William Dieterle, who made many biographies at Warner Bros. in the '20s and '40s and moved to melodramas in the '50s.

The plot focuses on material popular in later decades for social minded telemovies. Two sisters love the same man with dire results, complicated by the fact that they have difficulty in having children. The film opens tantalisingly with Lizabeth Scott about to give birth to a daughter and there follow flashbacks ... The film is high minded melodramatic entertainment of its period.

1. Popular entertainment? In its time? For later decades? Perennial themes?

2. Paramount production values: black and white photography, affluent atmosphere, romantic atmosphere, the world of fashion and business? The romantic score? Dean Martin's singing?

3. The focus on Jane ? her arrival at the hospital, her giving birth, the danger of her own life, her secretiveness, her desire to give her life for the baby? The flashbacks and the audience being tantalised? Jane and her work, Bill's proposal and the irony that it was for Nancy? Her love for Bill? Her bringing up Nancy and caring for her? Spoiling her? The advice given by Tommy and Tommy's capacity for listening, giving advice? The build up to the wedding? Jane's behaviour at the wedding? Her giving herself to her work? Her devotion to Bill, helping his career, steadily working with him despite the gossip? Her concern for Nancy? Pregnancy and the discussions with the doctor? Her own mother having died in childbirth, her caution? Nancy's erratic behaviour after the birth of the child? The decoration of the nursery? Nancy's hostility? Suspicion? Not inviting her, to the party? Jane's outings with Bill, at Ben's Restaurant, the romantic dance? The break up? Jane not marrying Bill? The outing, staying the night, Nancy's attack, the accidental death of Deborah and its repercussions? Jane's marrying Bill in Mexico, the pregnancy, her going away, her bequeathing her child to reconcile Bill and Nancy? A romantic portrait of a noble hearted heroine?

4. The contrast with Nancy, spoilt and selfish, dresses and fashion, boyfriends, accepting Bill, her lack of awareness of marriage,' selfishness, the ceremony, the honeymoon and the encounter with the little girl, returning to the city, her ambitions, boredom? Her examining the models as a customer in the shop? Hearing gossip about Jane and Bill? Her pregnancy? Wanting the baby for herself? The home movies and her jealous reaction against bill? Pampering the baby? The divorce proceedings? Separation, catching Jane and Bill, the death of Deborah, her undergoing psychoanalysis, breaking through her difficulties, the final reconciliation? Credible?

5. Bill and his work, Jane's love for him and his lack of awareness of it, love for Nancy, the proposal, the wedding, the honeymoon, his ambitions and work with Jane, the social life, leaving Nancy alone, the pregnancy, the birth of the child and Nancy keeping the baby to herself, the home movies and his being hurt, hearing from a friend about the divorce proceedings, the outing with Jane, defending her honour in the restaurant, the marriage, the news of her dying, the final reconciliation?

6. Eve Arden's sardonic comic style as Tommy, her work, comments about men, helpful for Jane, telling the truth? Enjoyable comic relief?

7. The picture of the department store, fashions, the models, the workers, gossip, advertising campaigns?

8. The doctor friend and his knowledge of the family, his interrogating Nancy about the reasons for having a child, his dissatisfaction with her? Support of Jane? Support at the funeral?

9. The focus on marriage, understanding the commitment, ceremony and superficiality, honeymoons and romance, genuine friendship and affection, loyal support? Family, babies, possessive mothers ousting fathers from affection for the children? The speeches about marriage and the quality of commitment and love?

10. The credibility of the basic plot, Jane's devotion to Bill, having the child and bequeathing it to her sister and brother in law despite the cost of her life?

11. Popular material of the time? 'A woman's picture'? Noble ideals presented in the lush soap opera style?

 

 

 

 

PAGAN LOVE SONG

US, 1950, 76 minutes, Colour.
Esther Williams, Howard Keel, Rita Moreno, Minna Gombell.
Directed by Robert Alton.

Pagan Love Song is one of several concocted froth musical comedies for Esther Williams in the late '40s and early '50s - enjoyable as any other. However, she has a chance to swim in spectacular style only twice. Howard Keel, at the beginning of his career, is quite an engaging hero. A very young Rita Moreno is in the supporting cast. The film has overtones of South Pacific paradises with the presentation of Tahiti and its fulfilment of the American dream. However, there are some bright songs by Arthur Freed, the producer, and Herb Nacio Brown. The film seems very contrived by the standards of later decades ? and throws light on the expectations of popular entertainment of the '40s and '50s, somewhat similar to the TV specials of later times.

1. The standard of M.G.M. musicals in the '40s and '50s - glossy production, frothy styles, technical expertise? The appeal to the widest popular audience of the times? Impact in later times?

2. The tradition of American musical comedy? The blend of fantasy and reality? The ingredients of the love story, the struggle and clash, the subplots, the comic touches - American sentiment?

3. The popular of the Esther Williams swimming musical comedy? The incorporation of water ballet sequences into this film?

4. The contribution of the songs? Arthur Freed as producer, composer? Howard Keel at the beginning of his career? The incorporation of the songs into the plot? The Pagan Love Song, The House of Singing Bamboo, the songs with the children, Hap and his riding the bicycle etc.?

5. The presentation of Tahiti as the Pacific paradise, the easy way of life, slow moving society? Multiracial? Mind with the American background and Tahitian? The brother and sister and their attitudes towards life? The children, the customs? Swimming, dancing, feast, coconut-gathering, copra work? The comic touches of Tahitian life - especially the breaking of the bath so often?

6. Hap as the 'typical American'? His arrival, patronising the Tahitians, the discovery of his inheritance, his wanting to laze in the South Seas, his accepting the children, attracted’ towards Mind, the embarrassment of the party and his wearing the wrong clothes, his work, anger with the seeming failure of the crop? His devotion to the children? His being tricked towards reconciliation with Mimi? Mimi and her role on the island, the dream of leaving, her relationship with Tahitian society and the old western world style in garden parties etc.? Her swimming, the lyrical outdoor sequences with Hap? With the children?

7. The building up of the romance, Mimi's initial deception, the clash over the copra crop? The brother and sister reconciling Mind and Hap?

8. The contrived style of these musical comedies, their catering to popular tastes of the time the perennial enjoyment value and values presented? The American tradition?

 

PADRE PADRONE

Italy, 1977, 101 Minutes, Colour.
Omero Antonutti, Saverio Marconi, Marcella Michelangeli, Fabrizio Forte.
Directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

Padre Padrone is a film sponsored by Italian radio and television. It was a great success at the Cannes film festival in 1978, winning major prizes and the Jury prize. It is an overwhelming portrait of a peasant boy growing up in the isolation of Sardinia and illiteracy and the cultural and emotional conflicts of emerging from his family and environment into the modern world. It traces the story of Gavino Ledda from a shepherd boy in the hills to military service to study and his becoming a linguist. It is a fine story of human achievement as well as a well documented story of culture and the patterns of life in remote Italy.

1. The overall impact of this film as social comment, plot and biography, entertainment? A combination of these? The prizes that the film won, why merited?

2. The making of the film by Italian television companies? National backing? The impact for an Italian audience, non-Italians? For a television audience? The honesty of Italians in presenting themselves and aspects of society, characters, strengths and difficulties? A portrait of Sardegna?

3. A portrait of post-war Italy? Would Sardegna be special or not? The long traditions and isolation of Sardegna? Its landscapes, isolated towns, separation from the mainland, Italian origins, bonds? A hard way of life? Primitive? Backgrounds of religion, superstition? The hard and violent background? Loneliness? A landscape and a society to be escaped from by the younger generation? Traces of a 19th century world? Sardegna where another world wets the 20th century? How convincingly were these themes presented?

4. The visual impact of Sardegna itself, the town, houses, school, the mountains, the herds, the loneliness? The importance of the sights and especially the sounds of the countryside? How did the Italian Army and training contrast with this world? A visual contrast of old and new worlds?

5. The contribution of the musical score, the traditional melodies and the way these were presented as background, within the plot? The loyalty to the traditional songs? Their satirical use by the young men? The Strauss waltzes and their contribution? The classics and their influence on a young man in Italy, returning to Sardegna and the contrast with local music?

6. Comment on the use of sound in the film. the cries and the whispers, the children and the voicing of their thoughts, the songs and their interweaving, the animals speaking eg. the sheep, the scenes of sexuality and the murmurs, sounds and cries, the chatter and the cries and whispers during the death sequence, on the return to the island? The creative use of sound as giving a deeper sense of what was happening, what people were feeling, the harmony of men and nature etc.?

7. The significance of the title of the film: indication of traditions, the complications of family relationships, the role of father, the role of son? Indication of hard life and hardship?

8. The framework of the real Gavino? His impact as a person, the meaning of his life as he understood it, his autobiography? The introduction of his father and his going into the school? The reprisal of this at the end? The effect of this framework of the father-master? The character of the father as revealed in his seeking his son, his speech to his son, the fear of Gavino and his wetting himself, the teacher and her refusal to let him go, the boys and their reaction to Gavino's leaving, their fears, the significance of their monologues? His return home to his mother and his mother laughing? Her laugh throughout the film? The situating of Gavino in his place, hardship, relationship with father and mother?

9. The first quarter of the film showing his training to be a shepherd? The transition from school and the possibility of learning and using his brains to the isolation of the mountains, the being by himself, conquering his fears, learning nature and experiencing it?

10. The importance of Gavino's leaving his home ? his mother washing him and dressing him, her love and her not wanting him to go yet the traditions of the family? The long road to the mountains? The nature of the advice that he received, learning to hear the various sounds and identifying them ? the way the screenplay did this by making the audience hear and see? His running away and being beaten? The experience with the snake, his father chasing him, hiding from his father, the talking and the thrashing?

11. What was the relationship between father and son as this stage? His sullenness and attitude towards his father, his father's emphasis on using his brain? Why the making of children work so hard? Poverty, survival, tradition? The autobiographical music illustrating this? The other boys being shepherds? The effect of this on a small boy and his growing up, his personality?

12. The emphasis on sexuality ? the boys alone, masturbation, bestiality? The comic showing of sexuality all over the mountainside ? in nature. Gavino's parents, couples and families? The earthy reality of this, the humour,, the use of sounds?

13. The transition of Gavino to the age of twenty? So many years working in the mountains, the focus on the accordion and the young men playing it,, his wanting it and the being awakened to musical sounds ? the music of Strauss in the hills of Sardegna? His following them, trading? His being deceived? Cutting his lip for this father's sake? The joy of experiencing music? The indication of the possibilities for Gavino's life?

14. Illustration of the way of life in the mountains with Sebastiano and his smoking the cigar inside his mouth. his fear of vendetta. the nature of the feud, the false reconciliation and the shearing, the suddenness of his death and its brutality? The irony of his smoking his cigar properly? The significance of death in Sardegna, his being laid out? His will and his wealth? Gavino's father getting the grove for him? The ambitions of each of the family? The irony of the revenge death for helping Gavino? The working of the groves, the seasons, the harsh weather, the failure of the crop, the cold and the drinking of the frozen milk? The significance of the death scene and the sounds and people's reaction?

15. The portrayal of the boys leaving ? the processes the attitudes, the singing.. urinating, defiance? Gavino and his decision? His father's tricking him and the family laughing?

16. The importance of selling the property. the disposition of the money? The effect on the family? How well were the personalities of the family drawn ?mother and father in their middle-age,, the other children and their dependence on the family, Gavino within this context?

17. The change of tone in the film with his going into the Army, the 20th century world, the comments on his dialect? Fear, the cutting of the lip? The amount of learning to be done? Relating with people? Pisa and the tour? The radio and his skill in making it work? His capacity for communication.. study, the scene at the beach his letter? The awakening that the Army education gave him?

18. How had he changed on his return? His quality of study. culture? His slavery for his father. his illness, cold? His decision to study and confront his father? The violence of the two and the ability to kill? The symbolism of the sequence with the radio and his father's destruction of it? His father's incomprehension? His decision not to leave because that would be defeat? The patriarchal system and his decision to confront it? The picture of him within the town?

19. What was the quality of his achievement? His study, degree, study of language? His return and not letting his father win? The finale and the repetition of the beginning and the visualizing of what he had achieved?

20. How particularly Italian was the film in its content and themes? How universal in terms of family, tradition, study, the generations? Patriarchal systems? The status of family, relationships and dependence? The role of fear and control? Destiny, freedom? Achievement and potential? The nature of self-assertion and rebellion? The significance of Gavino's victory and its symbolism of 20th century struggles?

THE PAD (AND HOW TO USE IT)

US, 1967, 89 minutes, Colour.
Brian Bedford, Julie Somers, James Farentino.
Directed by Brian G. Hutton.

The Pad is a small comedy, developed from one half of Peter Shaffer's comedy, The Private Ear and The Public Eye. This is The Private Ear. The Public Eye was filmed in 1971. with Mia Farrow, Topol and Michael Jayston as Follow Me, and directed by Carol Reed.

The Pad is a slight comedy about shyness and brashness in the approach to women and would be of interest to adolescents with something of the same problems. Brian Bedford is convincing as the shy bachelor who would like to be game enough to meet women. James Farentino is adequately pushy.

Brian G. Hutton later moved into such loud films as Where Eagles Dare, Kelly's Heroes and X,Y and Zee. A gentle comedy on a theme worth considering.

1. Peter Shaffer's comedy was called The Private Ear (and was half of a double bill along with The Public Eye). Did The Pad make a successful alternative title?

2. The original was a one act play and a simple unpretentious piece of comedy pathos. Did the film retain these qualities?

3. What kind of man was Bob Hammond? Was he typical of many shy bachelors? How much did the film reveal about him as a person? E.g., his dream, music, home, work, friendships, shyness?

4. Why was he so shy?

5. How did he contrast with Ted? Did you like Ted? How typical was he?

6. What was the effect of the crosscutting between Bob at the concert and Ted at Whisky A-Go-Go? and with Lavinia?

7. Why did Bob rely on Ted?

8. Did you like Doreen? How ordinary and typical a girl was she ? did you think at first she was just like Bob? Why? What did you think of her as you learned more about her at the dinner?

9. Why did Ted help with the dinner? Did he really want to win Doreen over from Bob?

10. How much truth was spoken in the conversation between Ted and Doreen? What did the audience learn about them? In the fight between Bob and Ted? Was Bob right about Ted despising him and not knowing what friendship was?

11. Why did Bob make a fool of himself trying to kiss Doreen? Why did the two spend so much time apologising? Why couldn't they communicate?

12. Was there any hope that their friendship could grow, insofar as Bob gave Doreen the firm's phone number (or could Ted win Doreen)?

13. How sorry for Bob did you feel?

14. What was the point of making this film? The comedy was slight and the ending was sombre. Did it give insight into the insecurities and longing for relationships of ordinary people?

PLAYING FOR TIME

US, 1980, 149 minutes, Colour.
Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Alexander, Maud Adams, Christine Baranski, Verna Bloom, Marisa Berenson.
Directed by Daniel Mann.

Playing For Time is a moving telemovie with a superb Emmy winning performance by Vanessa Redgrave. There was much criticism at the time about her playing a Jewish entertainer in Auschwitz. Miss Redgrave's sympathy for the P.L.O. antagonised many Jewish people. However, she portrays Fania Fenelon with great dignity and sympathy as well as wisdom. The screenplay is by Arthur Miller and evokes memories of so many concentration camp films and the television series, Holocaust. However, with its focus on women, with its more special focus on a group of musicians playing for the administrators of the camp and considered as no better than prostitutes by so many other prisoners, the film is a different viewpoint on the concentration camps. Human dilemmas are quite well presented and there is a basic message that faith in humanity is necessary to sustain hope in situations of despair.

Jane Alexander in the supporting role of the orchestra conductor also won an Emmy for her performance, as did the production and the screenplay. There is excellent support from a gallery of American character actresses with Melanie Mayron standing out. Direction is by Daniel Mann, a director who has drawn Oscar winning performances from Shirley Booth, Anna Magnani, Elizabeth Taylor, and has a wide range of entertainments to his credit. The film is moving and provocative.

1. The impact of the film? The awards it received? The background of interest in The Holocaust during the '70s? Arthur Miller's dramatic work and his contribution to the screenplay? Vanessa Redgrave and her political stances and choice for the central role? The strong supporting cast?

2. Fania Fenelon as a French celebrity, her experience of arrest and imprisonment, surviving and compromise, love and hate, support for fellow prisoners, trust in humanity and survival? The film as based on her memoirs?

3. The viewpoint of the screenplay on World War Two, the Nazi rise to power, cruelty, the concentration camps, the humiliation of prisoners, women prisoners, Jewish prisoners? The compromises in the concentration camps and moral issues? The film's judgment on Nazi Germany?

4. The impact of the film as a telemovie? Its delineation of character, portrayal of situations? Length? Commercial interruptions (and appropriateness)? The importance of music for the plot and for atmosphere? The use of concentration camp sounds for background to the more intimate dramatic action? The interpolation of documentary footage?

5. The prologue and the establishing of Fania Fenelon as entertainer? Her role in Paris? The suddenness of her arrest? The long train trip and its taking the passengers further and further away from how? The mystery of their destination? The cramped conditions in the train, the bucket, the deaths? The arrival at camp? The immediate humiliations? The interaction between the women prisoners? The importance of the prologue in establishing Fania as musician, the invitation to play in the orchestra?

6. The tour de force performance by Vanessa Redgrave? The introduction and her presence in the cabaret, singing style, Jewish and Catholic background, wealth and position, her sympathy in the train, her being humiliated, her capacity for survival, her loss of emotion and feeling, her playing and singing, her growing sense of sorrow. her coping with the crises in the imprisonment, the support she gave as well as the criticism offered of the behaviour of fellow prisoners, the contacts with the administration of the camp? Vanessa Redgrave's presence, ability to convey emotion, the use of long close ups to portray her feelings, thoughts, dilemmas? The impact of her final singing of The Marseillaise?

7. The portrait of Fania Fenelon - as singer, fashionable entertainer, sympathetic human being, her arrival and the question of her coat, the humiliation of the stripping and the shearing of the hair, barracks life and the clashes, the continual hunger? The hard manual work with the intercutting of the prisoners going to be executed, the ovens and the burning, the flaws? The approach to join the orchestra? The personality of the conductor? The audition and her condition that her friend be part of the orchestra? The singing from Madame Butterfly, and the use of Madame Butterfly throughout the film and its lyrics corresponding to the situations of the prisoners? The clashes with the conductor? Her promise to orchestrate and her inability to do it? The performances before the camp administration? The reaction of Mengele? The woman Commandant and her support of Fania, getting her things e.g. putting on the boots? Fania's capacity to hear the stories of the fellow prisoners e.g. the young girl in love, the communist who spoke frankly, the girl and her prostitution for food, the countess, the woman who knew the hospital patients would be gassed?

8. Fania as a symbol of humiliation and suffering, dilemmas and compromise, hope and survival? The old man who singled her out for survival to tell the story? His continued reappearances as a kind of chorus?

9. The contrast with the personality of the conductor? Her relationship with Mahler, her role in Vienna, the musical family background? Her imperious manner, cold personality, dedication to art and her reflections on music? Her not looking out the windows at the suffering and the humiliation? The music that she favoured? Her reaction to the group singing 'Stormy Weather'? Her role of authority among the prisoners, with the line-ups? and information given? Her acquiescing to the authorities? Concerts, her using the music as a way of surviving? The personalities in the group and her harshness with them? Her taking Fania away for talks and the clashes that ensued? Her being humiliated by the authorities? Jealousy of Fania and feelings of resentment? Her growing emotional response to the camp situation? The offer for her to go on concert tour? Her needing approval from Fania? Her emotional response to this and the irony of Frau Schmidt's invitation and the pathos of her death? The grief of the other prisoners passing by her coffin?

10. The girl who prostituted herself: in the train, the bond with Fania, the story about her boyfriend in the Resistance, her huddling close to Fania, her need to be eating? Her singing and being part of the orchestra? Her gradual move into prostitution? The food and her need for it, her unwillingness to share it? The clashes with Fania about approval and disapproval? Tempting Fania with the food and her long pause before eating it? The resentment of the other prisoners? The liberation and her beating Fania, going in the truck with the soldiers? The pathos of the experience in the camp?

11. The other members of the group: the communist girl and her forthright talk about death, the young girl in love with her, the sick woman in the hospital, the new conductor and her madness, the countess and her story about her past life, the angry young woman wanting to go to Israel after the war? A cross section of women in the concentration camp?

12. The Mala incident? Interpreter, escape, hanging?

13. The authorities in the camp? How harshly presented? Mengele and his reputation? His love of music? Admiration for Fania? Visits to the barracks?

14. The woman Commandant and her harsh manner yet trying to be pleasant? The splits in her personality? Favours for the group? Brutality towards incoming prisoners? Getting the boots for Fania? Taking the baby and fondling it? Eventually giving it back? Her inability to cope with the liberation?

15. Frau Schmidt and her harshness, manipulation and accumulation of wealth, wanting to get out, poisoning the conductor?

16. The Nazis and their administration of the camp, harshness and cruelty, starving the prisoners, the burnings, the selection of prisoners for execution? The truckloads of incoming prisoners? The human suffering, especially with mothers separated from children? The bombings and the move towards liberation? The arrival of the Russians and their horror at finding the group of prisoners? The rounding up of the Nazis?

17. Survival, for what? The importance to tell the story and witness to such suffering? The sensitivity presented in the film? Fania's faith in human nature, even of the Nazis? The symbolism of the title, the place of music, performing it, as a means for survival as well as for culture and the hope of the spirit?

PUZZLE

Australia, 1978, 90 minutes, Colour.
James Franciscus, Wendy Hughes, Robert Helpmann, Gerard Kennedy.
Directed by Gordon Hessler.

Puzzle is one of six telemovies, co-productions between the Australian Broadcasting Commission and American Productions. It is one of the less successful of the group. The best was the Ralph Nelson film about a retarded child, Because He's My Friend. She'll Be Sweet was an entertaining variation on the madcap heiress theme - in the Australian bush. A comedy, Barnaby And Me, was a misfire. This film has the overtones of the violent American thriller. The action and the violence seem somewhat incongruous in the Australian setting.

The lead is an American, James Franciscus. The Australian cast do well but seem to be presented with inconsistently-written roles. Their credibility as characters is puzzling. Robert Helpmann, particularly, has a very eccentric as an English art collector and criminal. Gerard Kennedy looks very severe as a mercenary. The film is at times tongue-in-cheek, sometimes serious. The comic and the action elements do not quite jell. Direction is by Gordon Hessler who has made a number of effective thrillers, especially his Vincent Price -Poe stories: Cry Of The Banshee, The Oblong Box. He has made a number of thriller telemovies which have been quite effective e.g. Betrayal. An oddity with a touch of the ludicrous.

1. An entertaining telemovie? American influence and style? Australian influence? How well did the two influences blend? For Australian audiences, American? The emphasis on American style gangsters, crime, violence? Heroes and heroines? Affluent society?

2. Colour photography, the Burmese opening, Macao? The use of Sydney? The harbour, the ocean? The emphasis on Sydney? Musical score?

3. The conventions of the puzzle thriller? The prologue and the robbery and violence, Mr. Shepherd and his dealings, the suicide of Mr. Cunningham? The emphasis on Harry, on Claudine? Their interaction? The police investigation conventions? Diana and her playing both sides? The build-up of double crosses, counterplans and kidnapping? Chase and explosions?

4. The plausibility of this kind of plot? Big money deals? International crime? In an Australian setting? The treatment?

5. Harry and his American background, tennis, his coaching? The marriage with Claudine and its breaking up? Her trying to seduce him into action? His surveillance and being beaten up? His decision to help? His statements about self-esteem? His pursuit of clues? Breaking into the house, the encounter with Diana? The meal together? The mine and the discovery of the gold? The ship and the confrontation with Shepherd? His shooting the old war gun? Making up with Claudine? How consistently-written a hero?

6. Claudine and her glamour, marriage for money, grief at the funeral, greed, the encounter with Shepherd, the inconsistencies of her behaviour with Harry: weak and weeping, strong minded, rebellious? Her pushing him into action? The greed? The kidnapping by Shepherd? The final confrontation and happy ending? A credible heroine?

7. Robert Helpmann's style as Shepherd? In Macao, in Sydney, his manner of speaking, art collecting? Pressure and violence? Fastidious? The double deal and the final explosion? An eccentric villain?

8. His henchmen, especially in the prologue with the raid on the Buddhist temple, the massacre of the monks? The brutality towards Harry? Their being destroyed with Shepherd?

9. Diana and her manner, the beach house. Edwin's mistress, after the gold, plausibility with Harry, antagonism towards Claudine, the connection with Shepherd? Her drawing the gun? Being thrown into the harbour?

10. The suicide situation, the police investigator and his contact with the victim, the surveillance of the house, the murder of his assistant? The arrest and the violent questioning of the intruder? The pursuit of the boat? The solving of the crime?

11. The artificiality and concoction of the screenplay - characters, dialogue, situations? The quality of entertainment?

PEEPING TOM

UK, 1959, 109 minutes, Colour.
Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley, Esmond Knight, Michael Goodliffe, Shirley Ann Field, Jack Watson.
Directed by Michael Powell.

Peeping Tom is a strange thriller. It was severely criticised on its first release as being a lurid objectionable melodrama. Since then, it has achieved something of a horror classic. It was written and directed by the writing,. producing and directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who had been responsible for a wide range of films from the '40s including The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, I Know Where I'm Going, Black Narcissus. With an interesting cast, they explore madness, horror, voyeurism, and link it with film-making.

Colour was important to many of the Archers films and they use it to strong effect here. The film may be seen in the changing patterns of the British film industry from the '50s to the '60s including the establishment of the Hammer Studios and their tradition of horror films, especially the Dracula and Frankenstein series.

1. The impact of the film? In its time? Later cult and classic status? An effective psychological horror story?

2. The work of the Archers? Their exploration of British themes? British horror? Styles of colour, sets and decor? Studios and cameras? Flats? London and the suburbs?

3. The musical score, the piano accompaniment (especially for the silent film)? The range of film clips and their use?

4. The title of the film: voyeurism? Fact, psychological background, compulsion? The film as a portrait of a voyeur and his madness and its consequences? A study of voyeurism? Fear? The audience made to be voyeurs of the victim? The psychology of voyeurism: curiosity, prurience? The association with film-making and watching?

5. The psychological background: Mark's father, his skills, the tests? Filming everything? The boy wired for sound? His writing his books and using his son? The tapes and films? The voice-over and the ending? The morbid aspects of this for the father, for the son? The laird and his son? The mother and her death? The new marriage? The present of the camera? The influence of this environment on Makk?

6. The horror techniques: colours and lighting, the Jack the Ripper style of the deaths? The prologue and its ghastliness? The prostitute and her death, the replay? The killing of the stand-in and the discovery of her body? The photographer's model? Mark filming the police and their investigations? The finale and the revelation of the distorted mirror in front of the camera, the morbid filming of the women and their actual dying? The set-up for Mark's own death?

7. Mark: in himself, sympathetic or not? The murders? Alone? In the block of flats? The family downstairs? Helen's birthday? His watching the photos, the films, processing his film? Showing Helen the biographical -,-films? Seeing him at work, filming the investigations? The relationship with the dancer (and the delight of Moira Shearer who had worked with the Archers for The Red Shoes)? The

outing with Helen? Helen's mother sensing trouble? The talk to the psychologist friend? The set-up? His sparing Helen? Killing and leaving the film?

8. Helen, her birthday, watching, liking Mark, sharing with him, her interest in his work, the outing, the discovery of the truth, the threat?

9. Helen's mother and her apprehensions, her blindness (and the irony of the contrast with the voyeur)? Her visit to Mark's room and being able to detect and feel uneasy? Her powerlessness? Feeling faces to see?

10. The police, their psychological investigations? The victims - the prostitutes, the actress, the morbid comedy with the soap opera, the ineffectual actress and the continued filming? The funny turn?

11. The background of films, studios, film-making, cameras, techniques, processes?

12. The value of this kind of psychological horror film? The visualising of ugly aspects of human nature? Exploration of themes via empathy and shock?

PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE

Australia, 1980, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by David Bradbury.

Public Enemy Number One is a second documentary by David Bradbury. He achieved critical and popular acclaim with his story of Neil Davis, the Tasmanian war correspondent in Vietnam during the war and afterwards: Frontline. It received an Academy Award nomination in 1980.

Wilfrid Burchett has been a sign of contradiction for many decades in Australia. Brought up during the Depression, he became an international correspondent with scoops during World War Two, reporting first for western papers of the aftermath of Hiroshima. Allegedly keeping neutral, he had access to communist governments throughout China and South East Asia during the '50s, '60s and '70s. He received acclaim both in Iron Curtain countries as well as in western countries. However, his reputation in Australia was as traitor. His return in the early 170s was treated with great hostility by reporters (presented here) and it was not until the coming of the Labour government that he was able to get a visa to return to his country. He instituted a libel suit in Australia which he lost - up to 1981 he had not paid the damages and so is not able to return. During 1981 his autobiography was published - and all this material gives an opportunity for Australians to re-appraise his career as journalist, his political allegiances, his relationship to Australia and his integrity as a man and journalist. This film received a citation from the Melbourne Film Festival 1981 for its quality in drawing attention to this controversy and illuminating Australian history.

1. How interesting the background history of Wilfrid Burchett's life - upbringing during the Depression, the establishment of his career, his work in World War Two, his journey to Hiroshima (and his later visit reminiscing), his attitudes towards sides in wars, his presence in Vietnam, Kampuchea? Questions of his refusal of entry into Australia, passport questions in the early '70s, the libel case?

2. The background footage of Australian social history and that of the world during the '30s and '40s - situating Burchett?

3. How interesting the story of Burchett's changing views: his political insight, his politically neutral stances, yet his sympathy towards socialist governments? His emotional responses to the situations reported? His access to personalities in communist governments?

4. Burchett's stances on communism, communist propaganda, socialist values?

5. The presentation of Hiroshima, the devastation, the parallel with Kampuchea and the Pol Pot regime? Burchett's pondering on the mystery of destruction and devastation and murder?

6. Burchett's involvement in Korea, his interest in Vietnam? The nature of his reports, friendships, access to Ho Chi Min, presenting his viewpoint to the western world? The hostility during the war?

7. His independence, his personal point of view and its purpose? His having to change his mind e.g. on Kampuchea?

8. The refusal of entry into Australia, the change under the Whitlam administration, the details of the hostile press interview on his return?

9. Burchett after 1975 - the involvement in Kampuchea, the bomb attempt on his life - and the film ending with this?

10. The value of this type of documentary - visual material, the point of view of director and editor, letting the audiences judge from interview and background material for themselves? The importance of government policy towards individuals, the role of the media in influencing public opinion? Hysteria against communism during the 20th. century? The role of the journalist and the possibilities of his neutral reporting of news? How valuable is the film as a contribution to Australia's social and political history?

PSYCHO II

US, 1983, 107 minutes, Colour.
Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Meg Tilly, Robert Loggia, Dennis Franz.
Directed by Richard Franklin.

Psycho II seems at first glance a pretentious project. Hitchcock made his classic in the late '50s with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles. its skill in horrifying audiences has been noted (and imitated extensively). Film critics, with a moralising bent, have written extensively on Hitchcock's moral preoccupations in the film.

Writer Tom Holland was commissioned to do a sequel to Psycho, focusing on the character of Norman Bates. Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles agreed that there were possibilities in the screenplay. Australian director Richard Franklin, a one-time pupil of Hitchcock's and the director of such thrillers as Patrick and Road Games, was brought to Hollywood to direct the film.

Critics tended to be divided about the success of Psycho II. On the whole, they seemed to be satisfied that it was a satisfactory sequel -opening with a reprise of the famous shower scene, modelling a lot of the sequences on Hitchcock's original and using the house, the motel and its atmosphere and design to satisfactory effect. While the influence of the multiple murder films of the late '70s and early 180s is evident, it is less gruesome in its visual presentation than many other films of its kind. The strength of the sequel is in the performance by Anthony Perkins who makes Norman Bates' emergence from an institution credible. Vera Miles is rather shrill as Leila. However, Meg Tilley is attractive as Mary. Various characters are made to parallel the original characters - but the end is somewhat confusing and there seemed to be certainly too many Mrs. Bates'.

1. The popularity and impact of Psycho in its time? Its becoming a Hitchcock classic? The decision to make a sequel after 22 years? The sense of continuity? Changing times and tastes? The choice of Richard Franklin for director?

2. The work of Anthony Perkins in the original, in the sequel? Vera Miles? A sense of continuity? Sets, decor? Credibility?

3. The '70s and '80s and the emphases on horror, shock tactics, gruesome murders? The comparisons in horror with the original? The presentation of atmosphere, menace, suspense, deaths? The motel, the house? The parallels of the musical score with the original by Bernard Herrmann?

4. The sequel's homage to the original: the importance of using the opening shower sequence, the house and the way that it was photographed and framed, the silhouettes, especially of Norman, the birds in the motel, shower sequences, the stairs where previous deaths had occurred, the costume for Mrs. Bates, the draining of the swamps etc.? Character parallels?

5. The film as an exercise (rather than a study) in horror techniques?

6. Audience response to Norman - knowledge of the original film? Anthony Perkins' persona and the creation of the character of Norman Bates? Cured, returning home, his hopes? Leila Loomis and her appeals? work in the motel, cooking? His seeming to adjust to ordinary life? The menacing notes, the glistening knives? The attack on the manager and sacking him? The friendship with Mary, talking to her, her moving into the house? Norman's way of talking, talking about his cure? The beginning of the phone calls - and audience puzzle about Leila’s calls and the uncertainty of Norman's real mother ringing? Norman's pleasantness, under siege by Leila and Mary, his slips into insanity? His meeting with the doctor, the discussions, the faces at the window? The exhuming of Mrs. Bates? Could Norman have been saved from lapsing into madness again? Friendship with Mary, sharing chores with her? The effect of the phone calls, his being locked in the attic, the night protecting of Mary? Responding to Leila, responding to Mary as his mother? Trying to cope, the deaths? His being vindicated by the police? The irony of his real mother arriving? Her madness, his killing her? 'It's starting again'. The references to the Norman of the original film?

7. Leila and her revenge, the appeals, her frantic behaviour, moving to the town, her madness and normality, hysterical behaviour with Mary? The law, the petitions? The campaign? The plan with Mary: the wig, redecorating the room and taking away all the furniture again? The clash with Mary at the hotel? Her making a scene? Her going to the house - echoing her previous visit 22 years earlier, her death? Mary discovering her in the coal-heap?

8. Mary as friendly, at work, infiltrating into the house, her pleasant attitude towards Norman, her responsibility for the notes, the elaborate setting up of Norman's mother's room? The shower sequence and the eyes? The sexual overtones and voyeurism in the hole in the wall and the memories of the initial film? Unlocking the door and letting Norman from the attic? Her knowing that Norman was not responsible for the deaths in the fruit cellar? Phone calls to her mother, the confrontation? The police asking her to leave after discovering the truth? Her changed attitude towards Norman? Trying to keep him sane, disguising herself as his mother. the accidental killing of the doctor, her being shot - and the ambiguity of the appearances and the police interpreting the events wrongly?

9. Mary as the parallel with her aunt (Janet Leigh), in the original? Her arrival at the house, the shower, nudity. the sexual overtones? Her death?

10. The theme of mothers and sons? The original and Norman's responsibility for his mother, the psychotic taking her part? Leila using the same device as the original to make Norman mad? Her malevolence? Her using Mary and Mary's becoming Norman's mother? The parallel between Mrs. Bates and Norman, Leila and Mary? The interchanges? Being causes of death? The phone calls - and the irony of Norman's real mother? His killing her, his setting her up again and the process starting over? Themes of American mothers and sons and daughters, possessiveness?

11. The sketch of the doctor, his belief in Norman, helping him to cope -his investigations and the accident of his death? The parallel with Arbogast in the original?

12. The sketch of the police. memories of 1959, being exasperated with Leila? Her dissatisfaction with them? Discovery of the truth, the clash with Mary and telling her to go away? Dragging the swamp? The final investigation and vindicating Norman?

13. The deaths and their visual appearance, shock, gore? The death of the manager and his drinking, the kids in the fruit cellar, Leila's death, the doctor, Mary?

14. Suggestions of madness: the eyehole, the room, the cellar, the motel itself?

15. Atmosphere of terror, horror? Fears, shocks? The use of light and darkness?

16. Violence and madness? The humorous touches - and Norman's memory of toasted cheese sandwiches?

17. The comparisons with the original - its match, a satisfying enough homage to the original? A film of the '80s?

POLLY ME LOVE

Australia, 1977, 90 minutes, Colour.
Jackie Weaver.
Directed by Peter Maxwell.

Polly Me Love is an Australian historical telemovie, made at the time when television studios were making series like Against the Wind and The Timeless Land. It is set in Australia, 1810, and shows two days in a small settlement outside Parramatta. It focuses on an inn, the barracks, and a wealthy house with a wild robber in the vicinity. The presentation is episodic and melodramatic for home viewing. This is heightened by a wide-ranging score, adapting themes to particular characters and incidents. The film is a vehicle for Jackie Weaver and the film is alive when she is on the screen. Direction is by Peter Maxwell who directed the comedy-crime drama Touch and Go.

1. The appeal of an Australian story, a glimpse of Australian history, romance, violence?

2. The telemovie style, brevity, episodes, melodramatic incidents, brief and melodramatic treatment?

3. Colour photography, the 1810 period - the inn, the barn, the settlement, the barracks, the house. the landscapes? An authentic period flavour?

4. The use of songs, traditional melodies?

5. The structure of the film - the activity over two days, the focus on Polly, the drama centring on her and Kane? The interaction of the various characters, classes? Law and order in a convict settlement? The credibility of the plot within the pioneering and convict days? A brief glimpse of the way of life in the convict period?

6. Life in the inn and the Dwyers running it? The weak father, the harsh and dominant mother? Their convict background? Amy and Polly as their daughters? Amy and the prostitution in the barn. the mother pressurising Polly? The singing for entertainment? The farm labourers at the inn? Drinking, fighting? The barn as a brothel? The military threat to close it, the persuasion with Polly to stay open? St. Patrick's feast day and the workers celebrating? The colony and the drinking? A microcosm of the colony centred on Dwyers' barn?

7. The barracks, the soldiers, loneliness? Cargill and his pursuit of Kane? The chase? Cargill at the Bates household and his courtesy, the appointment with Miss Bates, the prospect of a marriage? Cargill and the threat of closure of the inn? His loneliness, the arrangement with Polly's mother about her coffin Polly's visit and his awkwardness, writing letters, his explanations to Polly, her response? Miss Bates' arrival? His future in the colony, a soldier doing his job? His assistants?

8. The ugly portrait of Kane? His attraction towards Polly at the opening, people calling him an animal and his resentment, his escape from the inn, hiding in the barn, the rejection of Polly? The chase and his violence? His hiding near the Bates house, the attack on Bates, the. savage pursuit of Miss Bates? His being shot? His vindictiveness in burning the house? His return, Dillon's shooting him, his being taken to prison? A credible type from the early days of the colony?

9. The contrast with Dillon as convict? His escape, his story of his life as a forger? The attraction of Polly, her helping with the meal, getting his chains loose? His talking with her and her attraction towards him ? His advice about going to Cargill and her following it? His regrets? His being shot, arrested and taken to prison with Kane?

10. Polly as the centre of the film - as a young girl, her place in the inn, her singing? Her virginity? Her mother's force and persuasion, her father's helping her? The friendship with Dillon and bringing him food, helping his burnt hand? Her wondering about what she should do, the discussion with Amy and Amy's explanation about wedding nights - and seeing her with her customers? Her love for her father, the hostility towards her father? Her dilemma about going to Cargill, asking Dillon, awkwardness with him? Her going away back to the inn and singing songs again? Her future in the colony? How sympathetic was Jackie Weaver's performance ?

11. The Bates household, Bates and the workers getting St. Patrick's Day off, his imprudent decision to stay at the house, his being attacked by Kane, his sister and the vicious pursuit, her escape to the town and enlisting help?

12. A cross-section of the types of people in the early New South Wales colony? Classes in society? Law and order and its administration? Basic issues of survival? Drinking, sexuality? How well were these themes blended? Effectively presented, the point of entertainment, the point of a picture of life in the early colony?