The Big Deal (1961 film)

The Big Deal is a 1961 Australian TV play.[4] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[5]

The Big Deal
Advertisement from The Age 29 Nov 1961
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Written byCharles Cohen
StarringDon Crosby
Production
company
Release date
29 November 1961 (Melbourne)[1]
9 May 1962 (Sydney)[2]
Running time
60 mins[3]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Herbie, a despatch worker at a plastics factory, dreams of being a millionaire, but he lacks the killer instinct. His friend Julian dreams of creating novelties from plastic.

Cast
  • Donald Crosby as Herbie Schiff
  • Marie Renshaw as Lillian
  • Edward Howell as Solly Parness
  • Ken Goodlet as Julian Ring
  • Morton Smith as Al Konits
  • Diana Bell as Ginger
  • Brenda Beddison as Claire
  • Keith Hudon as Ralph
  • Roland Renshaw
  • Campbell Copelin
  • Carole Potter
  • Nancy Cato
  • James Lynch

Production

The play had been broadcast in London and New York but this was its first production in Australia. Brenda Beddison and Morton Smith made their debuts in "live" drama.[6]

Reception

The critic from the Sydney Morning Herald thought the play was "neither comical, subtle, ironic, nor in fact even,remotely entertaining" having "no plot worthy of the name, and its theme, tenuous to say the least, gained nothing from the hourlong treatment" with "dialogue of unrelieved stodginess, produced without imagination, dramatic sense or photographic skill."[7]

gollark: Hmm. Did you *know* they were going to do that?
gollark: If limited liability was gone, investment in risky things/startups/new businesses/whatever *would* go down a lot, which I think is bad.
gollark: Not so risky that you could lose an *unknowable* amount of money.
gollark: Which probably means high premiums, which means people won't buy it and then complain when something bad happens.
gollark: Pandemic insurance which didn't run on the government strategy of "just borrow tons of money and hope it doesn't break things" would need lots of money saved.

References
  1. "TV Guide". The Age. 23 November 1961. p. 37.
  2. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 May 1962. p. 17.
  3. "Wednesday TV". The Age. 29 November 1961. p. 23.
  4. "Big Deal Next Week". Sydney Morning Herald. 29 April 1962. p. 107.
  5. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  6. "Untitled". The Age. 23 November 1961. p. 28.
  7. "Television Play Production". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 May 1962. p. 10.


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