The Concert (1961 film)
The Concert is a 1961 Australian TV GTV-9's Melbourne studios. It was directed by Rod Kinnear.[2] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[3]
"The Concert" | |
---|---|
The General Motors Hour episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Rod Kinnear |
Teleplay by | George F. Kerr |
Based on | play by Joseph Schull |
Original air date | 3 June 1961 (Melbourne)[1] |
Running time | 60 mins |
Plot
Anne is a nurse who is blinded in an air raid. She moves to a house and falls for one of the tenants, Jennings, not knowing he is black.
Cast
- Ruth Gower as Anne
- Chester Harriott as Jennings
- Yvonne Heaslip as Jenny
- Barbara Brandon as mother
- Cyril Gardner as father
- Moira Carleton as Matron
- Arthur Duncan as Steve
- Donna Duncan as Ella
- George Fairfax as Standish
- Lewis Taggart as landlord
Production
The play had originally been written as a radio play.[4] The play had been filmed several times in England, including once with Moira Lister in 1954 and once with Diane Cilento. It was filmed in Melbourne in 1960 but not seen for months later.[1]
Reception
The TV critic for the Sydney Morning Herald said "a number of sets and some individuality in acting could not altogether bind this drama together as firmly as one would wish." Although the script had "its moments of pathos" and "some powerful (if repetitive) things to say about black-white relationships", Ruth Gower "hardly varied her two expressions — of hesitant humour and of proud stubbornness—and she was not able lo show fully the qualities the Negro writer finds so compelling" and "the feeling of precise locality varied from scene to scene" ad "one missed all abundance of One, full closeups—something that cannot be compensated for by any number of sets."[4]
References
- "Drama in black and white". The Age. 1 June 1961. p. 12.
- "TV guide". The Age. 1 June 1961. p. 14.
- Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
- "Drama Of Blind Girl0nATN7". Sydney Morning Herald. 12 June 1961. p. 5.