In 1969 I was Supervising Editor on Roger Miram's TV series, WOOBINDA - Animal Doctor. 

WOOBINDA YOU TUBE

I met John Alaimo who was script editing some of the episodes. 

We became friends.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0015891/

Some while later John directed a TV film, SILO 15 and he asked me to edit the film.

SILO 15 was filmed in Sydney and starred

Jack Thompson

and Owen Weingott

Based on the Award winning play by Gregory Marton

AWGIE AWARD WINNERS - 1968

Major Award Winner (Joint Winners) Colin Free Contrabandits: ‘Cage a Tame Tiger’

Major Award Winner (Joint Winners) Richard Lane You Can’t See ‘Round Corners (Television Serial)

Children’s Michael Wright Skippy: ‘The Poachers’

Radio Jocelyn Smith I-Day

Television James Workman Contrabandits: ‘Target Smokehouse’

TELEVISION – PLAY GREGORY MARTON SILO 15

Silo15 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2241561/

One hour Australian TV drama of a crisis in a ICBM bunker. Two United States Air Force officers lose contact with the outside world and must decide whether or not they should launch a missile.

Tragedy at Missile Silo 15. When Air Force senior officer Captain Thompson,(Owen Weingott) and Lt. O'Donnell, (Jack Thompson) enter missile Silo 15, they are unaware of the drama they will experience when they lose contact with the outside world and must make the decision as to whether or not they must fire the missile. a decision that will end in tragedy....

Purchased by the BBC July 23, 1969. Transmitted on BBC 2 September 2, 1969 at 9:10pm.

Purchased by NET (PBS), CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Texas A&M University, New York Public library.

Won the Award for Exceptional Merit ..1971 Philadelphia International Festival of Short Films

 📽

John continued on making many films, among them, in Spain, he Produced and Directed

THE UNFINISHED VISION 

a docudrama on ANTONI GAUDI.

Gaudi was a Barcelona-based Spanish architect. His free-flowing works were greatly influenced by nature. He is famous for being the face of Catalan architecture. Many of the signature remarks in Barcelona, for example, are his work.

His greatest masterpiece is sadly, unfinished. And that is La Sagrada Familia. The cathedral in Barcelona is still unfinished, and talks are it will be sometimes in the 2020s.

Gaudi was fond of nature, and his work is inspired by his love of natural design and modernism. His works have highly individualized and one-of-a-kind style.

This documentary focuses mostly on his unfinished work, the Sagrada Familia.

The story of the lost film.

http://unfinishedvision.wix.com/gaudi#!__portfolio-copy1

Antoni Gaudi was a Barcelona-based Spanish architect. His free-flowing works were greatly influenced by nature. He is famous for being the face of Catalan architecture. Many of the signature remarks in Barcelona, for example, are his work.

This documentary focuses mostly on his unfinished work, the Sagrada Familia.

Antonio Gaudi….The Unfinished Vision

Barcelona, Spain 1973

Director/Script writer John Alaimo

Filmed on location in Barcelona Spain.

Selected to be shown out of competition at the Cannes Film festival 1974.

Chosen to be shown at the Spanish Institute’s Salute to Spain week in New York city, celebrating Spanish culture.  

Film was screened on November 15,1974.  Event was under the patronage of Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sophia of Spain and United States president and Mrs. Gerald Ford.

Purchased and shown on Catalan TV3, 1974.

In 2009 the film received the prestigious designation of " Cultural Patrimony of Catalunya" making it an official part of Catalan culture.

WATCH THE FILM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lt7PF3Z5Og

 🎬

LAST WALTZ ON A TIGHTROPE

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454863/

LOUISE FLETCHER, TONY MUSANTE TO WALTZ ON TIGHTROPE IN PITTSTON

The Morning Call

Oscar-winner Louise Fletcher ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") joins Tony ("Toma") Musante in Pittston next week as shooting begins on a new public television drama written by Scranton University professor Dr. William Zahler Jr.

Interiors will be filmed at the studios of WVIA-TV (Channel 44), the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area's public television station. The Commerce Department's Pennsylvania Film Bureau is working with WVIA to locate mansions in the area suitable for exterior shooting. The story, however, is not set there, but at an unnamed location not germane to the story.

In the one-hour telecast, Musante will play a down-and-out writer who re-enters the life of an eccentric former actress (Fletcher) after many years to investigate a mystery from her past. Producer/director John Alaimo says that any supposed resemblance to the film "Sunset Boulevard" would be strictly a surface one, and that "Last Waltz on a Tightrope" goes in different directions entirely. "It's a very good play, not abstract at all," he added."

One hour TV drama starring academy award winning actor Louise Fletcher best actress for the film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

and TV actor Tony Musante.

Program was purchased and aired nationally on PBS on April 14 at 10pm, 1986 and shown on all Pa state PBS stations over 100 station across the country.

 📽

John is currently in Pre-Production on a documentary on George Catlin,

the American painter, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.

John Alaimo, a good filmmaker and a good friend.

MAYBE THIS TIME

I'm happy to say that a long lost film I produced is now available for streaming. The reasons why the film was lost for so long are many and I will elaborate on them in the future. For now, MAYBE THIS TIME (1981) received seven AFI Nominations, including Best Film, Best Actress, and won Best Supporting actress for Jill Perryman.
The AWGIE Winning script was written by Anne Brooksbank & Bob Ellis. Directed by Chris McGill, DOP Russell Boyd, Music Bruce Smeaton. Editor Wayne Le Clos.
Enjoy the trailer.🎞
And watch the film.
PRIME VIDEO https://tinyurl.com/rzvp3jj
VIMEO https://vimeo.com/ondemand/maybethistime1981
UMBRELLA https://www.umbrellaent.com.au/on-demand/4379-maybe-this-time-1981-vod-only.html
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080311/##

HALLOWEEN fun and thrills

SHORT STORY/FILM A CITY'S CHILD.

A short story I wrote I was able to turn into a feature film in 1971.
A CITY'S CHILD is now available for Streaming. ON DEMAND

PRIME VIDEO https://tinyurl.com/yy7qlnl2
UMBRELLA ENTERTAINMENT https://www.umbrellaent.com.au/on-demand/4377-citys-child-a-1971-vod-only.html
VIMEO https://vimeo.com/ondemand/acityschild1971


Some notes on the story and film.
There is much to tell about the production of this film and I will do so over several Blogs. 
Meanwhile,
"Because of limited distribution, the film received few notices from reviewers, but these were inclined to be favourable, as in the Sydney Morning Herald 9th June 1972 after the film's screening at the Sydney Film Festival:
The best and most mature of the Australian features is "A City's Child" produced and directed by Brian Kavanagh.
Set in a middle class suburb of Melbourne, the film, written by Don Battye, treats the loneliness of a thirtyish spinster who, following the death of her carping, invalid mother, builds a world of fantasy out of solitude and frustration.
Too often the director appears uncertain of what to do next with a resultant loss of dramatic tension and is prone to that all-Australian failing, the hammer-heavy delineation of obvious symbolism. But on the whole Kavanagh achieves an admirable blend of narrative elements and layman's sociology.
The subtle, knowing performance of Monica Maughan as the central character is a further asset. Miss Maughan constructs a cautious portrait of internal pain, of a woman alive but incapable of living.
Kavanagh's website also quotes this mention arising from the London Film Festival:
And Brian Kavanagh's intense view of a lonely spinster in Sydney, finding kinky consolation in the collection of dolls, " A City's Child," creates an errie atmosphere which remained with me long after most of the festival's other films had been and gone. Eric Shorter, London Daily Telegraph, December 1st 1971.
And this notice by Ken Quinnell in Nation magazine on 22nd January 1972:
There can be no mistaking Brian Kavanagh's exceptional talent as a director. Throughout, the precision of his camera placements, the flow of movement within the frame, and the exacting performances serve perfectly the underlying ambiguity of events and produce a masterpiece in miniature.
Awards
Adelaide Festival gold award, 1972 (Goldern Southern Cross Award, Best Australian Film of the Year)
Australian Film Institute Awards 1971:
- Bronze Award (Brian Kavanagh)
- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Monica Maughan) (Hoyts Prize)
Selected for the London Film Festival, 1971
Also screened Edinburgh, Montreal and Chicago Film Festivals 1971, Sydney Film Festival 1972.
Also screened at Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Auckland Film Festivals"
https://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/citys-child
Enjoy the trailer.

A CITY'S CHILD FILM TEASER 2

GOOD NEWS.
back in 1971,  I produced the first Australian Feature Film from the then Experimental Film Fund created by the Liberal Gorton Government
 A CITY'S CHILD.
The film went on to screen at the London, Chicago, Edinburgh and other International Film Festivals including Adelaide where it won Best Australian Film. It also won for the star, Monica Maughan the first Acting Award from the Australian Film Institute.  
A CITY'S CHILD  will be Streaming in October.
In the meantime, a trailer for the film. Enjoy.
(The hair in the gate is not in the film. It has been put there to annoy you purists!) 😊

Keep watching here for Streaming release date.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_City%27s_Child

I'd like you to read an interview with my amateur sleuth, Aussie Belinda Lawrence.

https://grandmaberthainterviews.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-chat-with-belinda-larence-aussie.html

ILLUSION OF DEATH clip

TERRIFIC TIMES

Back in 1960 before I sailed away to England, I worked with producer Roger Mirams on a children's series, 

THE TERRIFIC ADVENTURES OF THE TERRIBLE TEN.

The series centered around a group of children who built their own town out of packing cases, somewhere in the Australian countryside.

Over three years I had the good fortune to learn my film craft editing and eventually directing many of these episodes. 

The series sold internationally and was a great success. The first series was a pretty rough and ready,  but as time went on and budgets increased the quality of story and production values improved. 

Stanley Kramer had been in Melbourne filming ON THE BEACH and one of his sets was the interior of a submarine. 

After  completion of this film, the set was left behind - at the  Melbourne Show Grounds, if I recall correctly. Roger was never one to miss an opportunity and wrote a script utilizing that set. THE GREAT SUBMARINE mystery. (What else?)

Before I left for the UK I directed a script by David Sale (creator of NUMBER 96 television series) TWO DAYS TO ZERO. It starred Frank Thring, who had just returned to Melbourne after making such films as Ben Hur and King of Kings.

When I offered him the part his reply was "Can you afford to pay me?" delivered in that theatrical style that he favoured. Frank was great and good to work with; he did it for Equity Minimum. When the film was offered to the BBC they declined it, stating " farce is often a family joke" Well, d'ah"

                    Roger on right.

I'm eternally grateful to Roger Mirams who allowed me to expand my experience on this series and others, as he did with so many other people.

Roger Eastgate Holden Mirams was a New Zealand-born film producer and director, whose career extended over 60 years. Mirams co-directed Broken Barrier, the only local dramatic feature film made in New Zealand in the 1950s, and later won a reputation for the children's television series he produced in Australia. Wikipedia

Born: 16 April 1918, Christchurch, New Zealand

Died: 26 February 2004, Sydney

Awards: Australian Film Institute Open Craft Award in Non-Feature Film,

I later worked with Roger on a few episodes of his other childrens series , and returned to work full time with him as Supervising Editor on THE ADVENTURES OF THE SEASPRAY.

Adventures Of The Seaspray

A Pacific Film Production in association with Screen Gems

Producer: Roger Mirams

Directors: Joe McCormick, Eddie Davis, David Baker, Rex Lipton

Writers: David Seidler, Bill Strutton, William Manville, John Pinkney, Robert Mansfield, John Sherman, Colin Free, John Warwick

Music Eric Gross

Aired: 1967 (ABC, 32 x 30 min)

These are the adventures of a charter schooner, of its Captain — journalist Dan Wells — and of his children as they roam the South Pacific

Later, I edited the Pilot Episode of SPYFORCE and a few other episodes. The series was produced by Roger and starred Jack Thompson.

https://www.classicaustraliantv.com/spyforce.htm

But back to TWO DAYS TO ZERO

https://vimeo.com/206015594

Enjoy the episode and have as much fun as I did making it.

Dissolve to...

BLOODY HAM video

SCENE TWO: London 1963/64.

I like films that play around with time eg: an all-time favourite,

PROVIDENCE by Alain Resnais.

Clive (John Gielgud), a frequently drunk author in declining health, is busy working on a new book at his Rhode Island home. The characters in his new story are based on his actual family, which includes his wife, Sonia (Ellen Burstyn); his illegitimate son, Kevin (David Warner) ; and his son, Claude (Dirk Bogarde). Clive embellishes their personalities, adding heavy symbolism to create a dark, surreal tale. When they all show up for a family meal, we learn about their true natures.

and DUNKIRK by Christopher Nolan,

so this Blog follows that style with a lot of a film rattling through the Moviola

as we jump cut from Preston in 1944 to London of the Swinging Sixties.

I arrived at Victoria Station surrounded by hordes of Indians all intent on opening corner shops and selling Pink Paraffin. A Horde is described as 'a small loosely knit social group typically consisting of about five families' so I think my use of the plural term is applicable. A friend who greeted me at Victoria claimed, “My dear, it's just like Bhowani Junction!"

I arrived also at the peak of the Profumo scandal,

The Beatles, Rolling Stones,

Carnaby Street.

By now I was a fully-fledged Film Editor (more anon) and was fortunate enough to find employment with a documentary producer, Stanley Schofield. The cutting rooms were at 6-8 Old Bond Street around the corner from Burlington Arcade

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Burlington-Arcade-the-Burlington-Beadles/

and across the road from Asprey,

https://www.asprey.com/by-royal-appointment

so, as I was sharing a flat in Kensington, I wasn't exactly slumming it.

Number 6 Old Bond Street

As you can see it now reeks of Dolce & Gabbana but originally had in the basement, The Embassy.

One of the first London night clubs 1924.

1954: ‘One of the oldest-established clubs of its type in London…food and service excellent and usually a very high standard of cabaret. Cheque-book. Subscription: 1 guinea. Band: Billy Sproud.’

While there I was introduced by Mr Schofield to Jane, a young woman who had come from Africa with some film footage of chimpanzee.

Little did I know the woman was Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE, formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, an English primatologist and anthropologist.

https://www.grunge.com/93256/untold-truth-dr-jane-goodall/

I recently discovered that Jane Goodall had previously worked at Stanley Schofield productions as an assistant and as an editor, so it seems logical that she would have returned to Mr Scofield to produce her documentaries on the chimpz.  Sadly, I never got to work on those doco’s as I was about to return to Australia.

But before I did, I left my mark on English cinema.

1964. the year of THE PILL

https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/history/article/pill/

Coming (?), as it did by colliding with Swinging London, it gave way to the sexual freedom that we now see on display in the Daily Mail and are left to ponder the wonders or follies of past experimentation with human reproductivity.

Stanley Schofield’s had been commissioned to make a documentary by the makers of the pill, to explain it merits and usage. I was assigned to edit the film. All went well until the final stages. A closing shot was required of a large group of women, presumably to show that the pill was acceptable for all women. 

The film was complete except for that last shot. A call went out for some stock footage showing the required action. Eventually one was received. 

The film had been shot on reversal Extachrome which was a positive film treated as a master from which negatives could be made. I had no way to view the stock footage without damaging it, save with a quick examination by hand. 

Yes, it was a large group of women. 

Looked ideal for our requirements. 

The shot was spliced in, and went off to the laboratory for an Answer Print to be made (that is the first print struck to ensure everything is OK). On viewing the film, everything was indeed OK – until the last shot - the stock footage.

The women were shown standing around in groups – so far so good -  but the camera tracked back to reveal the women were all standing in St Peter’s Square, Rome.

What today, would be known as FAIL

The film, PEACE OF MIND 1964 Stanley Schofield. Supervising editor. Robert Eaves. (He took all the credits for Editing). Tee Hee. I doubt Robert had any peace of mind.

But too late, for now I was hot-footing it across the Atlantic to New York to see if Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s claims were true...I knew the Bronx  was up...but? 

CUT TO the next scene...

 MY BOOKS

 

SCENE ONE: FADE IN ON BRIAN KAVANAGH
After a lifetime making films, I have a new life writing mystery novels.
My old cinematic life was in the days when most of you were a mixture of multiplying cells, when the world hadn't heard of Australian films (apart from the dear departed, Chips Rafferty) and therefore was a neater and cleaner place. So I, along with a company of ne'er-do-wells, am partly responsible for dirtying up the joint.
I intend here, with your approval, to dig into the dirt and recall moments when I struck gold (mostly fools-gold) and carry you through my film-land adventures.
This Blog will occur at irregular intervals, much like my memory, so make a note of the address and check back from time to time.

But first things first. I discovered film early on in life on Saturday afternoons at the Circle Cinema, High street, Preston a suburb of Melbourne, Australia (more of that later). 

Two cinematic gems I recall that made a lasting impression on my pubescent mind are.
Charles Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH (a revival I hasten to add, lest you think me doubling as Methuselah (there some who claim I am).

And a weekly serial which I think irrevocably coloured my approach to cinema .
THE IRON CLAW.

So you can see that the die was cast and I was determined to emulate these cinema gods. (to be continued. Please return)😈
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