Who Killed Kovali?

Who Killed Kovali? is a 1960 Australian television play. It had previously been filmed for British TV in 1957.[4]

Who Killed Kovali?
Based onradio play Who Killed Rikhjovi by Rex Rienits
Written byRex Rienits
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Country of originAustralia
Original language(s)English
Production
Running time60 mins
Production company(s)ABC
DistributorABC
Release
Original networkABV-2 (Melbourne)
Original release13 July 1960 (Melbourne, live)[1]
14 September 1960 (Sydney, taped)[2][3]

It was made at a time Australian TV drama was rare.[5]

Plot

Hungarian tennis player Ivor Kovali is playing in a semi-final at Wimbeldon against Australian player Tony Hargreaves. Kovali is chewing sweets then dies suddenly of arsenic poisoning during a match at Wimbledon. A Scotland Yard inspector, Carson, looks into the murder with the help of his assistant (Charles Sinclair). Suspects include several tennis players (Alan Hopgood, Mark Kelly), the dead man's widow (Penelope Shelton), and an official (Laurier Lange).[6]

Cast
  • Keith Eden as Inspector Carson[7]
  • Charles Sinclair as Sgt Scott
  • Mark Kelly as Tony Hargreaves
  • Alan Hopgood as Jeff Willis
  • Fay Kelton as Jill Masters
  • Penelope Shelton as Maria Kovali
  • Edward Brayshaw as Dimitri Rikhjovic
  • David Mitchell as Pedro Moreno
  • Carole Potter as Nancy
  • Laurie Lange as official in charge of Wimbeldon
  • Bryan Edwards

Production

It was based on a radio play, Who Killed Rikhjovic by Rex Rienits, an Australian who had worked in London for many years.

The play was performed on British radio in 1954, then on Australian radio in 1955 starring Keith Eden as Inspector Carson; Eden would reprise this role in the 1960 TV production.[8] The play was given a new production on Australian radio a few months later, starring Charles Tingwell.[9]

Rienits adapted the story for British TV where it was named "Who Killed Kovali" and was produced as part of ITV Playhouse in 1957. It starred Annette Carell, Allan Cuthbertson and Maureen Davis.

In January 1960 the ABC announced they would show a series of ten plays by local writers. This included Who Killed Kovali?[10] It was filmed at the ABC's studios in Melbourne, with some location work done at Kooyong Tennis Courts standing in for Wimbledon. John Cooper, brother of Ashley Cooper, played a ballboy.[11]Fay Kelton and Penelope Shelton made their first Melbourne TV appearances.[1]

Reception

The television critic from The Sydney Morning Herald thought that the basic idea "could have been made diverting" but in the production, "attitudinising displaced frank exposure and cardboard cut-outs, delivering dialogue usually heard only in morning serials on radio, stood in for characters." He added that director William Sterling "kept the action moving smoothly and filled in such details as background music with unobtrusive efficiency."[6]

The Age called it "an exciting trifle of the general appeal type and the Australian cast handled its presentation very well... a rather exciting one hour television play."[12]

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References
  1. "New Faces in Tennis Murder Drama on TV". The Age. 7 July 1960. p. 15.
  2. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 12 September 1960. p. 14.
  3. "Wimbeldon Murder". Sydney Morning Herald. 12 September 1960. p. 13.
  4. Who Killed Kovali? 1957 British TV Production at IMDb
  5. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  6. "Mystery Play on television". Sydney Morning Herald. 15 September 1960. p. 11.
  7. "TV Guide". The Age. 7 July 1960. p. 35.
  8. "RADIO PLAYS for NEXT WEEK A. B. C". ABC Weekly. 2 April 1955. p. 20.
  9. "RADIO PLAYS for NEXT WEEK A. B. C". ABC Weekly. 29 October 1955. p. 20.
  10. Marshall, Valda (31 January 1960). "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 80.
  11. "Tennis Murder Mystery". Sydney Morning Herald. 11 September 1960. p. 105.
  12. "Another Warning to Imported Film". The Age. 21 July 1960. p. 27.


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