A Tongue of Silver

A Tongue of Silver is an episode of the 1959 Australian TV drama anthology Shell Presents. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[2]

"A Tongue of Silver"
Shell Presents episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 8
Directed byDavid Cahill
Teleplay byMichael Dyne
Original air date17 October 1959[1]
Running time60 mins
Guest appearance(s)

John Meillon

It was the first play from Shell Presents to be telecast in Western Australia.[3]

Plot

A stranger arrives in an Irish village during a thunderstorm. They are convinced he is an emissary from Heaven. He sets about selling them plots in Heaven. He says he was sent by St Colomb patron saint of the village who he says is annoyed the villagers have allowed the church to fall into disrepair. He says money from the sale of plots of land will go to repair the church.

Cast

Production

The play had been filmed in the US as Matinee Theatre.[4]

John Meillon was cast in the lead on the basis of his performance in Thunder of Silence. [5]

Stanley Kramer, who directed Meillon in On the Beach, called him "a brilliant young actor, and he could take his place in any moving-picture market of the world."[6]

Reception

The TV critic for the Sydney Morning Herald called it "a piece of folksy whimsy" which was overlong and suffered from cliches and poor accents. He said Meillon "was very effective in a quiet and craftsmanlike way; but the vigour that would have provided the proper foil for his well-judged performance was not vitally forthcoming from the actors around him. David Cahill's direction, within the limits set by the play itself, was fine:' and inventive, and there was some very precise and imaginative marrying of image and sound. But if we are going to have Irish plays, why not something like Juno and the Paycock or Shadow of a Gunman? There is not much merit in producing a poor play just because it is relatively new."[7]

The critic for the Woman's Weekly said the play "nearly sent me round the bend" in which a "wonderful idea... was almost completely lost in a welter of phony Irish accents" and Meillon "was sadly miscast."[8]

See also

References
  1. "All the TV Programmes". ABC Weekly. 14 October 1959. p. 34.
  2. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  3. "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald.
  4. A Tonge of Silver at IMDb
  5. "Women dominate cast". Sydney Morning Herald. 14 September 1959. p. 13.
  6. "Meillon stars again". Sydney Morning Herald. 12 October 1959. p. 15.
  7. "Irish Whimsy In ATN Play". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 October 1959. p. 5.
  8. "Viewers' firm friends make ratings soar". The Australian Women's Weekly. 27 (22). Australia, Australia. 4 November 1959. p. 76. Retrieved 14 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
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