Done Away with It

"Done Away With It" is an episode of Australian Playhouse. It was directed by Henri Safran, who had collaborated a number of times with writer Pat Flower. It was the last thing he made before heading over to work in Europe for a number of years.[1]

"Done Away with It"
Australian Playhouse episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 15
Directed byHenri Safran
Teleplay byPat Flower
Original air date1 August 1966
Running time30 mins

Flower wrote it in a weekend.[2] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[3]

Plot

A man (Alexander Hay) plans to murder his rich wife Rosa (Irene Sims). He winds up killing three others instead before his wife turns the tables.

Cast
  • Alexander Hay as Harvey Monroe[4]
  • Irene Sims as Rosa Monroe
  • Willie Fenell (Rosa's father)
  • Reg Cannon (Joe, the gardener)
  • Janie Stewart (Lucy, the maid)
  • Tom Oliver as Mr Carruthers
  • Rob Inglis (Mr Henderson)
  • John Gregg

Production

Pat Flower wrote Easy Terms and The Lace Counter for theatre. They were recommended to the ABC's Australian Playhouse. Flower wrote them this play in a weekend.The bulletin, John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 1880, retrieved 23 March 2019

It was shot on location in Sydney and at the ABC Gore Hill Studios.[5] During filming armed guards were needed to watch a scene involvined $70,000 work of jewles.[6]

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald said there was "originality in the presentation of the play... and for that reason it can be counted among the more interesting" of the series, saying "the conception of combining a technique reminiscent of the old silent films with that of contemporary television production was cleverly contrived.... This story, banal and completely improbable in itself, was acceptable owing to the slick production in the hands of Henri Safran. some effective photography and not least Miss Flower's constructive ability."[7]

Another critic from the same paper praised Flower for "her clever bit of something-out-of-nothing" but most of all Safran "for easily the year's most inventive production work. With a tongue-in-cheek combination of stills and action, he made this lightweight piece into a halfhour comedy gem."[1]

The Canberra Times praised the " taut writing... and fast and furious directing... Using The Avengers technique of whirling cameras, flash backs, stills and exotic means of destruction such as perfume containers loaded with a poison dart and exploding chrysanthemums, the play certainly made the grade in technique. The ABC obviously let its head go with this one 011 sets, scenery and props."[8]

Another critic called it "a shocker".[9]

The Age said "the theme is amusingly clever" and praised the direction.[10]

The same paper at the end of the year called it "a witty bit of nonsense" adding it was one of the best TV plays of the year.[11]

References
  1. "Another Bob Hope Special". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 August 1966. p. 84.
  2. The bulletin, John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 1880, retrieved 22 March 2019
  3. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. "TV Not all the way". The Canberra Times. 40 (11, 533). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 29 July 1966. p. 11. Retrieved 28 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Play by Australian author". The Canberra Times. 40 (11, 535). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 1 August 1966. p. 15. Retrieved 28 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Murder? Whose?". The Age. 28 July 1966. p. 12.
  7. Darlington, Dorothy (2 August 1966). "Murder with skill". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 11.
  8. "TELEVISION Air-cooled Summer". The Canberra Times. 40 (11, 452). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 9 August 1966. p. 11. Retrieved 28 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Special an the making of a movie". The Australian Women's Weekly. 34 (12). Australia, Australia. 17 August 1966. p. 15. Retrieved 28 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. Monitor (5 August 1966). "Graphic arts and the TV Screen". The Age. p. 23.
  11. Televiewer (29 December 1966). "Staying true to one's viewing". The Age. p. 9.


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