The Pearl Fishers (film)

The Pearl Fishers is a 1963 Australian television production based on the opera Les pêcheurs de perles by Georges Bizet.[2] It was filmed in Sydney at the ABC's Gore Hill studios and marked the one hundredth anniversary of the first performance of the opera.[3]

The Pearl Fishers
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Based onLes pêcheurs de perles
by Georges Bizet
Production
company
Release date
3 April 1963 (Sydney)
29 May 1963[1]
Running time
115 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Cast
  • Rosalind Keene (soprano) as Leila
  • Ronal Jackson (baritone) as Zurga
  • Raymond McDonald (tenor) as Nadir

Keene and Jackson appear in the production, but not McDonald; Edward Brayshaw mimes and lip-synchs the role of Nadir.[3]

Reception

The critic from The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that, "it may be that producer William Stirling doubted that the music could hold the viewers' interest should the action flag for a moment, for his sets were distractingly cluttered up at times. He also used such film techniques as flashbacks, and in the love duel the closeup was excessive. The flames in which Ronal Jackson expired at the end of the opera were a further innovation; such an impressively elaborate production obviously cried out for colour television."[4]

The production sold widely overseas.[5]

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References
  1. "Behind the Set View of a TV production". The Age. 23 May 1963. p. 11.
  2. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  3. James, Dawn (10 April 1963). "Spine-Tingling Opera". The Australian Women's Weekly. 30 (45). Australia. p. 19. Retrieved 25 November 2017 – via Trove, National Library of Australia.
  4. "Opera". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 April 1963. p. 16.
  5. "Opera earning us a TV reputation". The Age. 1 December 1966. p. 15.


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