the coastwatchers ( tv movie )
the coastwatchers was a tv docudrama about coastwatchers made in 1959 by producer roger mirams for pacific films. it starred ken goodlet and kevin colson and was written by john sherman and directed by mirams .
this certainly would have been on williamson’s mind when he gave colin in emerald city the project coastwatchers, which is shown being made with cheesy tv - level action sequences .
1. tv week, aug 7, 1971. 2. melbourne listener in - tv, july 31, 1971. 3. ibid. 4. melbourne listener in - tv, july 31, 1971. 5. melbourne listener in - tv, jan 29, 1972. 6. albert moran, morans guide to australian tv series, (australian film television & radio school 1993), p. 433 (this work contains many errors); tony harrison, the australian film and television companion, (simon & schuster, sydney 1994), p. 321 (this work often perpetuates errors made by moran). 7. tv times, aug 28, 1971 8. melbourne listener in - tv, july 31, 1971. 9. veritas, melbourne truth, sept 4, 1971. 10. melbourne listener in - tv, sept 4, 1971. 11. melbourne listener in - tv, jan 29, 1972. 12. melbourne listener in - tv, sept 25, 1971. 13. tv week, aug 28, 1971. 14. tv week, dec 11, 1971. 15. ibid. 16. tv week, jan 29, 1972. 17. tv week, march 18, 1972. 18. tv week, april 15, 1972. 19. tv week, may 13, 1972. 20. ibid. 21. tv week, sept 11, 1971 .
explore popular sci - fi movies and tv shows available to stream with prime video .
mike: pissant little movie won’t do any good in the states (he too flings a big false smile back at them) .
popular: trivia, history, america, television, tv, usa, world, geography, ... more
likely, the 1943 hollywood movie flight for freedom likely spawned a myth that earhart was spying on the japanese in the pacific at request of the roosevelt administration, as part of the plot of this fictional movie. by 1949, both the united press and u. s. army intelligence had concluded this rumor was groundless .
malcolm: colin, the only people who’d find this concept wildly exciting are the surviving coastwatchers, which’d give us a guaranteed audience of … three .
for a synopsis with cast details and spoilers, and sample dialogue with spoilers, see the bottom of this site' s' about the movie' section .
colin: malcolm, all my scripts have made money for you in the past. i mean you owe it to me at least to read coastwatchers .
colin meets with mike to discuss a croc project, and when elaine passes on his' coastwatchers' project, he passes on one of hers .
it was the pilot for a tv series that did not eventuate. however mirams later used the ideas for the series in spyforce (1971–72). [ 2 ]
alive was a movie based on a true story of the survivors of a plane crash in the andes. the survivors were stranded in the mountains without food and resorted to eating the flesh of those killed in the crash .
colin and mike begin working together on coastwatchers, and then mike helps persuade ian to publish kate’s book, by calling him up and pretending to be a violent aboriginal activist .
colin (outraged): this is on top of the strength of coastwatchers, in which he hardly wrote a line. for the first time in my life i feel i could actually kill .
sailors would bring their own seating, along with their beer issue and hoot, yell and roar as john wayne cleaned up more japs or apaches! this great cultural event ceased with the introduction of videos being piped into tv sets placed throughout the ships individual messes. television went a long way to destroying a great social occasion in the ran -' tonight' s movie on the upperdeck!'
locations: sydney, including the hilton hotel, the cliff faces of north head (for the entrance to the filipino island fortress), and nearby waterfront for crash landing of hang glider into the sea (see about the movie for more details) .
when colin begrudgingly accepts work as a writer on a tv show, he develops a crush on another writer’s girlfriend (nicole kidman), capping his downward spiral in the emerald city .
, which was semi - documentary in nature. it focused on the important role of australians in hiding as coastwatchers in new guinea, radioing information back to australia concerning japanese movements. the concept never ventured beyond the pilot stage .
happened a number of times in the south pacific during wwii, the best - known case being that of john f. kennedy and his pt boat crew who survived several days in the solomons before being rescued by natives and coastwatchers .
( williamson knows whereof he speaks, having done shows such as eliza fraser, duet for four, and phar lap as well as his plays. there' s an in - joke in emerald city about the horse being the' best bit of friggin' casting' in an australian movie - see transcript below. apart from the second world war tv miniseries the last bastion, williamson would go on to sport with the miniseries the four minute mile the same year as emerald city) .
new zealand - born roger mirams was a pioneer of the antipodean film and tv industry. he developed his love of film while he was still at school. aged just 13, he produced his first film
when they eventually get the money, mike and colin argue over realism (haven’t you seen a peckinpah film, were you brought up on truffaut, mike asks) as the long suffering coastwatchers' director (philip dodd) struggles to shoot the show .
and when he bungs on an aboriginal accent to apply the blow torch to the belly of publisher ian, to get the publisher a black rage book, it’s still funny. (and more effective than the wimp given to watching tv soap a country practice with his kids) .
writer michael cove was hired to write a screenplay which fleshed out trenchard smith' s storyline, and was apparently responsible for the idea of starting with the filming of a tv commercial, and then returning to the unveiling of the commercial - for a men' s deodorant - as the punchline .
according to the commentary, rod' s apartment was at dee why, with a view of the beach, though the end credits suggest it was provided courtesy of dalgety and was part of their property development
coastwatchers
, located at curl curl, a nearby northern beach - side suburb .
front loading the action also allowed for a certain amount of later dialogue, necessary to build the film to length, though trenchard smith acknowledges that he would have preferred to keep the film to 85 minutes rather than the 94 minute (two hour commercial television length) required by the tv sale to the nine network .
noose or no noose, the show in question started shooting in late february 1976, and finished on schedule and budget. not only was it extremely popular in new zealand but it played four times on the bbc, and became one of the biggest - selling series thames tv’s distribution arm ever had .
roger mirams had worked for a number of years in new zealand. he moved to australia to cover the 1956 olympic games and decided to stay. he established an australian subsidiary of pacific films in melbourne, in partnership with chris stewart jim davies. pacific' s first australian series was the coastwatchers. [ 4 ]
the production team was coming together — now the casting. in 1976 the words casting director were not in the new zealand tv crew’s lexicon. it was mid - january, and we were due to start shooting in eight weeks. by then roger simpson had delivered six draft scripts, and seven outlines with character breakdowns .
emerald city is an hilarious romp which tells the tale of two couples and their desperate search to keep in tune with modern day pleasures. popular australian actor john hargreaves stars as movie screen writer colin rogers, who, after meeting the enchanting helen, played by the luscious nicole kidman, realises that a career and marriage may be temporarily interrupted by scintillating seduction !
we had found the show’s star, the tent pole for the series, that old character actor, the new zealand landscape. if we were to make this tv series work for an nz and international young person’s audience, then this old thespian would be the central dominating image. the look that would guide and inspire technicians; a vision that actors could work with and react to .
after the collapse of the movie company (a joint venture with greater union), i had to look around for new partners. fortunately, i managed to get the australian film commission, channel 9 and d. l. taffner to put up some money to make a pilot for a television series that could be shown theatrically in australia and sold to television outside; that was deathcheaters .
according to trenchard smith in the dvd commentary, the idea for deathcheaters came from an
eureka in the shower
moment - as also happened for his film stunt rock - when he decided to make an action film that would be suitable for children, and would be opposite to the explicit violence in his earlier martial arts action flick the man from hong kong. it would be a kind of boy' s own movie .
yet another was planned — and scripted in full — in 1980, raider of the south seas, about kids and coastwatchers in the far north during wwll, with a ‘mystery sloop’ that might be an enemy raider. but it was shelved and not made for another ten years, because it was time for john mcrae and tv2 to step up to adult drama .
left - porp tony tooke and poetc jim currie setting up for the movie in the aft po' s mess hmas brisbane 1981. note the 16mm projector on the mess table. movies were a major event at sea. they would be shown in the various messes and in the ship' s company cafe. when' up top' the weather conditions in the tropics would be so good they would be shown on the' upperdeck' by turning a gun turret around etc and hanging a sheet of it .
- roger simpson wrote pioneering local dramas hunter' s gold, gather your dreams and children of fire mountain, and an award - winning teleplay on aviator richard pearse. long based in australia, he has written and produced many tv dramas, and won eight australian writers' guild awards, and four gongs from the australian film institute .
colin teams with a womanising hack writer named mike mccord to work on coastwatchers, who hates the idea, but wants his name on the film as co - writer because it' s an instant status boost in the industry, even though he is primarily just typing dictation. when he hears of kate' s problem, he prank calls ian wall, accuses him of racism, and threatens that a group of militants will mob the publishing house if he doesn' t publish black rage .
mike (v / o as colin paces about speaking out his script): the subject of coastwatchers quite frankly interested me about as much as going to bed with a six foot fourteen stone lesbian, which i have done under odd circumstances i won’t bore you with …but the turd can write. i started reading the words i was typing out of sheer boredom and found that this arrogant prick striding up and down like napoleon with growth hormones was telling a story that was getting me in !
the plays centres on the rogers family, loosely modelled on williamson' s own. they have recently moved from melbourne to sydney. colin is australia' s most successful screenwriter (like williamson), but currently down on his luck. he doesn' t want to make what he perceives as a
movie of the week
about tony sanzari and an amusement park hijacking that is offered to him by his agent, elaine ross, but a story about the coastwatchers of world war ii, because his uncle was one, and it was australia' s great contribution to the war. his wife, kate, is a book editor and wants to publish a novel by aboriginal writer kath mitchell titled black rage, but her publisher, ian wall, says
blacks don' t sell books .
they have three children, penny, who has been frequenting a disco called downmarket, hannah, whose teachers say she is depressed, and sam, whom colin fears kate is encouraging to be gay .
the search for technicians was handled by walden, affectionately known as the sarge. the broadcaster financing the series — newly - born second channel south pacific television (tv2) — was based in auckland and christchurch. unlike the wider crew and equipment options available in wellington, auckland and christchurch offered a limited number of freelancers centred on a small tv commercials business. fortunately grip peter mardell had recently arrived home from australia. snapped up by the sarge, he quickly got to work gathering all the myriad of technical equipment required, from cranes to walkie - talkies .
roger mirams died in sydney on 26 february 2004, aged 85. he was a true pioneer of and a great ambassador for the australian and new zealand film and tv industries. he leaves behind a great body of work, which has been shown throughout the world. he will be fondly remembered by the many grateful actors, directors, writers, musicians, technicians who benefitted from the opportunities he created, and by generations of viewers who grew up watching and loving the programs he made with such flair and enthusiasm .
the key creatives, writer roger simpson, producer john mcrae, editor chris king, and soundie john chalk were all south islanders, and the old performer was part of their childhood: they knew and loved its theatrical demeanour. also key was art director logan brewer, a north island country boy. back when we were both students at st martin’s school of art in london, we’d discussed the intricate part landscape could play in storytelling. we were both cowboy movie aficionados, aware of how john ford had made the landscape resonate in his westerns by allowing it to capture the drama of their story .
the flight of the phoenix by elleston trevor. the plot involves the crash of a transport aircraft in the middle of a desert and the survivors' desperate attempt to save themselves. the book was the basis for the 1965 film the flight of the phoenix starring james stewart and the 2004 remake .
in 1966 mirams formed roger mirams productions, which produced more successful tv series - - the adventures of the seaspray, the adventurers and woodbinda: animal doctor. in 1971 he produced 42 one - hour episodes of the successful wartime espionage series spyforce, which launched the careers of actors peter sumner and jack thompson. this series also featured the screen debut of screen star russell crowe. young russ' s parents were working as caterers on the series (russell' s mother jocelyn is roger' s goddaughter) and when the director of one episode needed some child extras, russell and his brother terry were drafted in .
the backstory of some of the islanders for mike lu and og. the descendents of the original shipwrecked pirates are living on the other side of the island .
mike: night boats! (colin looks sceptical) well nothing’s set in concrete mate…i mean, like the captain could follow her over the side, and he could get taken by the crocodile… look, what i want is for you to co - write it with me (colin reacts) … you’d get first credit of course …and then we produce it ourselves and that way we get some money and we keep control, we don’t have any of this pans over the sunset gulfs or third rate australian actors in it. do you know what i reckon was the best bit of casting in an australian movie? the friggin’ horse in phar lap! (david williamson wrote that film) .
jack thompson summed up the series for tv week :
there hasnt been a lot of money to play with, and sometimes weve had to make do with equipment which was inadequate. but the point is that we all knuckled down and got it done. we got it done because we cared. we got it done because we believed in what we were doing. i think weve proved something with spyforce - weve proved that we can turn out a good product working in a tough situation .
21
credits list mirams as producer of the series, ron mclean as associate producer and bruce gordon (later owner of the win - tv network) as paramount production executive, with the series devised by mirams, mclean and brian wright. mclean wrote most of the scripts (35), others being contributed by peter schreck (3), ralph petersen (2) and terry bourke and ted roberts (1 each). david baker and howard rubie directed most of the episodes (14 and 18 respectively, plus 3 jointly), with ron way (5) and terry bourke (2) handling the remainder .
the film was influenced by the avengers, the 1960s british television series, and its style of slighty campy comedy playing. the inspiration for the noel ferrier character was the philip stone character in the 1960s television series the ratcatchers .
spyforce was scheduled to premiere in melbourne on july 23, 1971, and finally made its debut on august 26. sydney viewers saw the series earlier in august, and in brisbane the series premiered the following month. adelaide viewers, however, had to wait until 1975 - after the introduction of colour television - before the series was finally screened. critics gave spyforce a mixed reception - most liked it, although they had some reservations about the first episode, citing a patchy script and stilted dialogue. other critics brought up issues of authenticity, although they couldnt agree on them. veritas in truth maintained the japanese soldiers didnt look japanese; 9 the listener in - tv critic thought they did. 10 most critics agreed that the series had settled down by the second episode and were predicting its success .
michael’s work as a writer for television includes episodes for a country practice, blue heelers, all saints, the aunty jack show and rafferty’s rules where he won a penguin award and a place in the world where he won a logie for best television script. other awards include gold and silver awgies for radio drama work, a screenwriter’s fellowship from the afc, two fellowships from the australia council. one of michael’s radio works the unborn was short - listed for the nsw premier’s literary awards and many of the projects in documentary and drama he has written for bearcage have been recognised at national and international competitions such as the documentary blessed mary: a saint for all australians, short listed for the 2011 tv week logie awards and was the highest rating program on history channel in 2010. most recently michael received the 2011 artsact creative arts fellowship .
coastwatchers proves a ratings disaster, so mike latches onto colin for another project, a rip - off of miami vice set in australia and loaded with australianisms. malcolm bennett, who usually finances colin' s productions, advises him to get back with elaine because his project is
shit
.
so is miami vice ,
colin responds .
that' s classy shit ;
malcolm tells him ,
this is absolute shit .
the difference is that the writers of miami vice are writing at the best of their abilities, while the fact that colin is writing below his level is painfully obvious. during this time, colin becomes attracted to mike' s girlfriend, helen davey, but ultimately draws the line in the friendship and avoids cheating on his wife .
the wiki for the play and the film - wiki here for the film listing - both contain an explanation for the source of the title, a name which has stuck to sydney ever since .
arna - maria winchester was at the centre of some controversy concerning two nude scenes. in the trader (episode 6), she is seen topless taking a shower, and the scene was almost deleted for fear of offending viewers. there was much deliberation on whether it should be included in the episode, and it was finally decided that it was too good to be deleted, although channel nine requested that it be trimmed of the more daring segments. tv week spoke to arna - maria, who expressed amazement that any of the episode should be censored :
i cant really understand what would have been offensive ,
she said .
there was a shower scene, but i understood it was taken out during editing of the episode. it was quite inoffensive .
13
ep richard brennan accepted the gig without reading the script, on the strength of trenchard smith' s the man from hong kong .
the disused (now demolished) bunnerong power station at matraville provided the location for the climactic confrontation (it has a wiki here); the model for the plant came from the nsw electricity commission .
the first part of the red turtle focuses on the father and his survival on and escape attempts from the island he got stranded on .
during a 1945 patrol, australian army corporal don angwin saw aircraft wreckage on new britain, 40 miles southwest of rabaul. he recalled seeing' pratt & whitney' and finding a metal tag. after reporting the wreck, another member of his unit recorded notations on a map including' ref 600 h / p s3h1 c / n1055'. this map was acquired by angwin in 1993. during 1990, after seeing a tv documentary about amelia earhart, he contacted researchers and told his story in several australian newspapers. angwin, who died in 2001, never refuted his belief that the aircraft wreck he saw in 1945 was earhart' s electra .
at the time of the film' s release, there was much disappointment about, and discussion of, the film’s perceived wordiness and the speed at which the actors delivered their lines to get through the material .
the ‘making of’ follows a typical hartley strategy, discussing the film through the character roles and the actors, and only towards the end does it look at the matter of actors rebelling and demanding the play’s dialogue be put back into the film - but the rebellion' s given relatively soft coverage and david stratton’s account in the avocado plantation is more informative .
the same road as used in the man from hong kong was used for the car chase sequences, with the addition of the suburb of northbridge and its pictureseque sandstone bridge. the warringah mall (also used in bmx bandits) provided the climax to the chase, while the sydney hilton provided the high walls and scenic sydney views for grant page' s rope sliding stunt .
the film opens with a number of gloomy melbourne locations (along clarendon street over the spencer street bridge, before the casino was built), before shifting to the great escape along the hume highway to the gleaming emerald city .
roger mirams :
its a series in which the characters are the most important factor. the scripts have surprises, of course, and action - but the series will stand or fall on the publics interest in the characters .
david williamson provides a number of insights into the characters and ideas in the film in the umbrella dvd ‘making of’ .
the trail (ep. 41) was another episode filmed mostly in new guinea. set on the famous kokoda track during the wet season, the cast had to endure fairly harsh conditions during the ten day shoot. the army co - operated in filming of the episode - most of the time the actors were in wet clothes from the rain, and when it wasnt raining the army would douse actors with fire hoses during filming. the army also helped by constructing a field hospital for use in the filming. the episode was originally titled the angels, a reference to the new guinea locals who brought wounded soldiers out of the jungles, and were dubbed the fuzzy - wuzzy angels because of their heroism .
the
lincoln island
arc from nadia: the secret of blue water .
mike: well we can pluck out the plot later. it’s the concept .
colin: the reader at nbc. she said she found the concept intriguing .
replay coverage of the 80th edition of the fleche - wallonne race in belgium .
the episode
the discount of monte cristo
is based on the count of monte cristo but ends in a robinsonade .
voice off over crowd: the only read that counts, mate, is the one you’re having in the film commission .
facts: new zealander merle farland was a nurse assigned to the methodist mission in the solomon islands during 1938. when civilians were evacuated from the solomons in 1942, she decided to say at her post on vella lavella, and was 36 years old. she aided coastwatchers and helped downed allied airmen. later, she was evacuated to guadalcanal. her appearance started a rumor that amelia earhart had been found alive! references lonely vigil page 138 - 139 :
at tulagi and later guadalcanal, where she stayed overnight awaiting transport to noumea, she caused something of a stir. she was after all the only woman among 30, 000 troops and it was quite understandable when one malaria - wracked boy glanced up from his stretcher and declared' now i know i am delirious'. as other caught a glimpse of her pert look the tousled hair a new rumor swept the island: amelia earhart had been found alive .
new zealand in the pacific war page 31 (oral history of dr. author talbot, who farland worked with )
on the dvd commentary, trenchard smith recalls that the film ran for a month over the children' s holiday season, noting that as word of mouth kicked in at the athenaeum in melbourne, the gross grew each week. he claims the film did better than the hollywood king kong .
he had to take seven days off filming, and as a result, page did the action scenes inside the power station, leaving hargreaves to do the start and finish of the hang glider scenes (page doubled the actual flying). this was the reverse of the intended script order. page also managed to crack a rib in filming the approach to the power station .
around the half hour mark in the commentary, he notes that it' s only then that the rather flimsy linear story line begins to crank into action (executive producer richard brennan chimes in by saying the film is lacking in suspense), and then around the hour mark, he notes that the real story - the raid on the filipino hideaway - still hasn' t started. he' s also amusing about the way the plot almost forgets the mcguffin which sets it in motion, and how the comedy is occasionally over the top .
check out highlights from some of the best recent trailers including mandy, the predator, zoe, and the king of thieves .
the promotion for the film internationally concentrated on the presence of rising hollywood star nicole kidman, an irony in a film intended to assert the value of telling australian stories (with the further irony that the director had adopted the wise - cracking fast - paced style of 1930s hollywood shows such as the philadelphia story and his girl friday) .
productions of the original david williamson play are handily listed at ausstage here, including the sydney premiere at the opera house here .
emerald city features the theatre several times, and then ends with a scene in the theatre (in reality, as well as in the film, the theatre has hosted the sydney film festival for many years). the state has a wiki here .
this was the last film to receive a production investment from the nsw film corporation .
the director shouts
cut
as mike races into the river to demonstrate how to keep the japanese soldier’s head under water .
the ensemble even extends to director trenchard smith and the film' s key grip merv mclaughlan both appearing as crew in the television commercials, doing filming within the film .
the film also didn’t travel well internationally, being limited to the television and tape circuit. despite initial expectations - the new nswfto kept the old nswfc office open in la to assist with the selling of the film - it never sold into the united states theatrically, and was limited to television and tape
at the outbreak of world war ii roger joined the nz army, where he served as a war correspondent / cameraman with the new zealand division in italy and in the middle east. at the end of the war, he filmed a documentary in japan on the war crimes trials. after the war, roger joined the new zealand national film unit as a director / cameraman and later became the movietone news representative for new zealand .
despite initial expectations - the new nswfto kept the old nswfc office open in la to assist with the selling of the film - it never sold into the united states theatrically, and was limited to television and tape .
after the production began, the nswfc was abolished by the nsw government because of assorted scandals and was replaced by the nswfto. the end credits also read “a film by limelight productions pty ltd in association with new south wales film corporation mcmlxxxviii”. also, produced with the assistance of the australian film commission .
filmed: cinema papers’ production surveys list the film as in production in the march 1988 issue and in post - production in the may 1988 issue. the sydney morning herald on february 16th 1988 reported the film as having shot at the state theatre the day before with over 200 cast, crew and extras .
while the ran had been generous with the submarine, the unit was forced to film a submarine returning from sea duty to help fake the stunt duo meeting up with it. a seaside tidal rock pool was used to film the pair swimming to meet the submarine .
the deserted island is the archetypical setting of such stories. the island serves to keep the characters on it trapped, allowing attempts to get off the island to move the story forward. however, the location need not be an island. any sufficiently isolated wild wilderness will do. in science fiction, a deserted planet can be substituted for the island .
colin: mike, we share ninety nine per cent of our dna with the chimpanzee. the bonus of the extra 1% is language. when the world’s most advanced language computer tried to translate ‘the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak’ into russian, it came out ‘the vodka is strong but the veal is pallid. ’ (he laughs )
( the feature - length version of dangerfreaks shouldn' t be confused with the television series danger freaks, which trenchard smith made in the form of a four part series for the nine network in the early 1970s) .
finally according to the dvd commentary, a number of filipino musicians living in sydney at the time, were dressed up as the filipino guards, and given the job of firing off many rounds while always missing the heroes .
it will enhance any encyclopedic page you visit with the magic of the wiki 2 technology .
the creative team also did well with the stage version of the show, which was critically well - regarded and a commercial success, though this might not have helped the film version at the box office, coming so soon after the play' s relatively long run .
( below: the original edition, the re - released digital edition which uses a poster for the play as its cover, and basic details of the opera house premiere) .
as the battle to suppress insurgency continues throughout afghanistan, behind the walls of several shelters in the same areas, children are fighting against adversity in the hope of a brighter future .
the film failed in the domestic market. perhaps the success of the play - it was still being performed in 1988 - dulled the appetite for a feature film version; perhaps word of mouth about the film’s wordiness, also proposed by a number of reviewers, helped kill interest. the film came out at a time when there were frequent stories about the way 10ba had ruined the industry, and ironically a film designed to satirise the excesses of 10ba producers might have got caught up in the storm .
dont starve: the player character is dumped in the midst of a spooky forest, and must survive off the resources he can find .
the film is also known as david williamson’s emerald city, in much the same way that williamson took a possessory credit for the club .
mother of the toddler who was sexually abused in tennant creek speaks out for the first time, exclusively to nitv' s the point .
it looks like we don' t have a synopsis for this title yet. be the first to contribute! just click the
edit page
button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the synopsis submission guide .
episode 20, reilleys army, saw running order thrown out the window when nine substituted it in place of episode four due to the death of chips rafferty, who had the lead guest role in the episode. as the series progressed the screening order became more and more erratic, making the character development almost impossible to follow .
regular lyndall moor, said of the new guinea trip :
i had a fabulous time. it was the monsoon season and we seemed to be drowned in water most of the time. i loved seeing all the different tribes and hearing about the history of the kokoda trail from ron mclean, who wrote the story .
sold well overseas, including britain, america and south - east asia. in yugoslavia it was the second most popular show, and katy wild became the pin - up girl of male viewers. even germany and japan bought the series  germany bought only the episodes showing the japanese as the enemy, and japan bought only those episodes in which the germans were the enemy !
new opening titles were introduced with the second series, changing the theme tune, dropping the narrative and using new red graphics on a black background. stencil - type lettering was introduced, however the closing credits retained the original music and footage. a different commercial integration was also introduced at the same time - on all episodes the commercial integration was optional, various prints included or excluded them so that television stations could choose according to their requirements. the new opening was much shorter and had more impact, and some prints of earlier episodes were modified to include the new opening, which confused the fans no end when trying to sort out the correct running order. (the running order [ the sequence the episodes are intended to be viewed ] differed considerably from the production order [ the sequence the episodes were made ], and bore no resemblance at all to the screening order [ the dogs breakfast sequence in which the episodes were aired ]) .
roger came to australia to work on the coverage of the 1956 olympic games in melbourne and scored a coup when he was able to secure the exclusive film rights for the event, becoming the official olympic cameraman, and he was responsible for much of the footage that was shot there .
castaway on the moon: after failing to kill himself by jumping off a bridge, the man is washed up on a deserted island in the middle of the river, but within view of the city' s high - rises. he attempts to escape, but soon accepts his fate and the challenges in living on the island .
the aa milne poem
the old sailor
is a parody: the sailor makes a list of the many things that are essential for survival, but can' t decide which of them is the most important, so he just sits on the beach waiting to be rescued instead .
amelia earhart' s around the world flight was cover for her to spy on the japanese .
while david williamson looks back fondly on the film in the umbrella dvd’s ‘making of’, at the time it was deemed a box office flop .
mike: i go to all the cocktail parties, that’s the golden rule of sydney life, it’s the only time you’ll ever learn anything. (colin laughs) i saw one of your old movies at the weekend on the video .
mike: people are people wherever they live. this is the era of the global village .
it was premiered in the united states off - broadway by the new york theatre workshop at the perry street theatre in greenwich village in 1988 .
live coverage of the 102nd edition of the liege - bastogne - liege in belgium. it is the oldest race out of the classics and is famous for its steep climbs. (cycling )
from blackface to fat - shamers, the douche of the week candidates were mighty and moronic .
culturally appropriate education campaign on the transmission of the dangerous virus is urgently needed, but the issue of breastfeeding poses a particular challenge ...
the original german title of the book, der schweizerische robinson oder der schiffbrüchige schweizer - prediger und seine familie (
the swiss robinson, or: the shipwrecked swiss preacher and his family
) acknowledges the model. the surname of the family is never given, but almost certainly is not robinson, which is essentially an english name .
as for the film itself, it’s entertaining enough, but only for those who don’t mind a little theatricality and self - indulgence in the staging and the performances. to use chris haywood’s description in the' making of', john hargreaves is a little “big”, and the rest of the cast rise to the occasion and match him .
it looks like we don' t have any plot summaries for this title yet. be the first to contribute! just click the
edit page
button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the plot summary submission guide .
the original stock opening boasted location filming in hong kong, singapore, bangkok, ceylon, australia, new guinea, fiji and new zealand, and acknowledged the assistance of the royal australian air force, the royal australian navy, australian military forces, fiji military forces, the nsw police and qantas. the new opening simplified the filming locations to australia and the south pacific, and acknowledged only the raaf, ran, amf and qantas .
a scene from the pilot episode of the rolls that went to war. kuki kaa and jack thompson ride the vintage rolls royce that was to form the basis of a spin - off series .
then the limo chauffeur (bruce venables) confesses to a deep liking for colin’s the heroes of the dardenelles, and we cut to a final sitar - drenched scene at the sydney film festival .
improvisation was necessary due to the degree to which the production was underfinanced. as with his earlier series
' on the gun line' - the r. a. n' s vietnam war in detail
jenkins: yes. we liked the end result and david' s quite fond of the film .
it' s the sunshine state, but queensland is in the middle of battling an obesity epidemic .
the castle hotel in the main drag of mombasa, kenya. usually the first watering hole on the agenda after stepping ashore. the place was full of lovley african ladies wishing to learn more about australia and there was no shortage of willing sailors only too ready to oblige them. who can forget the' tusker' and' white cap' beer at only a few shillings a bottle. the infamous rainbow and sunshine bars were just down the road and were the places to head for after the sun went down. kenya was no doubt one of the most popular r & r ports during the iran - iraq war era of the persian gulf deployments .
was not a runaway success, but by no means was it a failure. the show improved as it went on - the episodes became tighter and faster, and the directing proved more imaginative. the lead cast gave excellent performances, and the special effects got better - all testimony to the short - cuts and improvisation which the series is legendary for .
the first half of the black stallion by walter farley is a robinsonade featuring teenaged alec ramsey and the titular stallion on a small island following a shipwreck .
the simpsons have an episode where bart, lisa, and the other kids get stranded on an deserted island. a lord of the flies parody ensues .
as the two couples emerge from the state theatre, mike and colin urge each other to take care, and the image freezes and end titles roll .
the following year, we did it all again with gather your dreams (1978) also directed by parkinson, the adventures of a travelling vaudeville troupe in the coromandel during the depression. and the next year as well, the best of them all: children of fire mountain (1979), this time directed by peter sharp (who i' d work with again in australia); a tale of two races set amidst the myth and bubbling mud of the thermal region, at the end of the 19th
the title of the play emerald city has been used as a frequent moniker and nickname for the city of sydney ever since the play was first presented. the title has been attributed to brett sheehy who was sydney theatre company' s literary manager when the play was written and first produced. the play' s director richard wherrett recalls in his autobiography the floor of heaven that sheehy suggested' emerald city' as the title, which williamson accepted, adding the line of dialogue ,
the emerald city of oz. everyone comes here along their yellow brick roads looking for the answers to their problems and all they find are the demons within themselves .
. [ 2 ]
the first episode was also the pilot, evidence of its orphan status being the different lettering style on the title, and the reference in the script to the working title spy catchers. like most openers, it introduces all the characters and explains the circumstances that bring them together. for the next five episodes erskine and haber actively dislike each other, and cato uses many devious methods to persuade them to go on missions. after that they are resigned to working for cato, and grow to tolerate and trust each other .
reboot) puts lara and the crew of endurance in this situation. the man vs. nature part is
facts: the japanese cooperated in earhart' s search. during july 1937, relations between japan and the united states were still favorable. when she was reported lost, the japanese assisted with the search. japanese oceanographic survey ship koshu assisted in the 1937 search in the mariana islands, but failed to find anything .
the umbrella dvd cover featured a shot of the four key players posed against the sydney harbour bridge with the pitch “a tale of two cities, four people and life’s little pleasures” but left off the original newspaper advertising tag, which identified the pleasures as “money, lust, temptation, greed, power, ambition. ”
he nsw greiner government shut down the nswfc and reconstituted the organisation as the nsw film and television office, stripping the organisation of its production investment function and capacity to create ‘go’ projects, and substituting an emphasis on project and industry development. the right to invest small sums, usually in association with the ffc, to help projects into go mode continued in the 1990s .
elaine: “intelligence, professionalism, standards, dedication …it’s got the best and the worst. you chose the worst, you’ve only got yourself to blame. ”
mike: we finally got the money. it’s the only way malcolm could get colin off his back …
mike: zoom in on the helmet snapping on and then pan down across the exhaust pipe belching fumes .
colin: why did i go into partnership with him? he’s mephistopheles doing the rounds of the industry .
originally trenchard smith had proposed to call the film cunning stunts, a name now preserved on the t - shirts worn by hargreaves and page in the film. he claims he got away with the notion for a considerable time, until the distributor ruled it out on the basis that the spoonerism would inevitably lead to attacks, and affect his bid to reach his target audience .
“colin and kate are successful. he’s a screenwriter and she’s in publishing. they’re perfectly charming. until, that is, they move to the big city and say goodbye to the quiet life and hello to the high life. that’s when the xxxx hits the fan !
during production, rumours abounded that the actors had taken over: visitors to the set, who asked members of the crew for the director’s whereabouts, were greeted with remarks like ‘four of them are over there.'
the coastwatchers was a tv docudrama about coastwatchers made in 1959 by producer roger mirams for pacific films . it starred ken goodlet and kevin colson and was written by john sherman and directed by mirams . it was the pilot for a tv series that did not eventuate . however mirams later used the ideas for the series in spyforce ( 1971 – 72 ) . the pilot was entitled " operation plum pudding " . 
the coastwatchers was a tv docudrama about coastwatchers made in 1959 by producer roger mirams for pacific films. it starred ken goodlet and kevin colson and was written by john sherman and directed by mirams. it was the pilot for a tv series that did not eventuate. however mirams later used the ideas for the series in spyforce (1971 – 72). the pilot was entitled " operation plum pudding ".
the coastwatchers was a tv docudrama about coastwatchers made in 1959 by producer roger mirams for pacific films. it starred ken goodlet and kevin colson and was written by john sherman and directed by mirams. it was the pilot for a tv series that did not eventuate. however mirams later used the ideas for the series in spyforce (1971 – 72). the pilot was entitled " operation plum pudding ".