Heart Attack (1960 film)

Heart Attack is a 1960 Australian television play written by George F. Kerr. It was recorded in Melbourne, broadcast "live" there, recorded and shown later on Sydney television.[2] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[3]

Heart Attack
Written byGeorge F. Kerr
Country of originAustralia
Original language(s)English
Production
Running time60 mins
Production company(s)ABC
Release
Original networkABC
Original release13 January 1960 (Melbourne, live)[1]
9 March 1960 (Sydney)

The play was also adapted for radio with a 75-minute running time.[4]

Plot

Dr Brian Wynter's career is threatened by a blackmailer called Pearce. Pearce learns of Wynter's affair with another woman before his marriage and threatens to tell the doctor's wife, Judith, unless he is paid. Dr Wynter pays him off but Pearce keeps asking for money. Dr Wynter decides the solution is murder.

Cast
  • John Morgan as Dr. Wynter
  • Beverley Phillips as Judith
  • Edward Brayshaw as Pearce
  • Wynn Roberts as Dr. Rutherford
  • Marcella Burgoyne as Clare Mackay
  • Bruce Archer
  • Carol Armstrong
  • June Brunelle
  • Campbell Copelin
  • Edward Howell
  • Kendrick Hudson
  • Carole Potter

Production

It was Edward Howell's twentieth appearance in live television drama.[5]

Reception

The critic for the Sydney Morning Herald called it a "routine medical-domestic drama... given a routine performance... the play bad a kind of tired professional finish but no real originality in its plot or its techniques"in which the leads "all acted competency but without much real conviction."[6]

The Age said it "had one of the feeblest plots ever peddled on Melbourne TV... 65 minutes of incoherent mush" and suggested the ABC "stick to imported scripts" for a while.[7] That paper later said it "set Australian TV playwriting back several years"[8] and then at the end of the year called it the worst Australian drama of the year.[9]

See also
  • List of television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1960s)

References
  1. "TV Guide". The Age. 7 January 1960. p. 31.
  2. "New Play by Kerr". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 March 1960. p. 15.
  3. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. "Advertising". The Canberra Times. 34 (9, 589). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 30 April 1960. p. 15. Retrieved 18 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "20th 'Live' Appearance". The Age. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 14 January 1960. Radio/TV Supplement January 15–21, 1960 p. 2, column 3.
  6. "'Live' Play on TV". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 March 1960. p. 17.
  7. "Feeble Play Unfair To Actors, Viewers". The Age. 21 January 1960. p. 14.
  8. Janus (29 April 1960). "Screaming Need for First Rate TV Drama Plan=". The Age. p. 33.
  9. "Year ABC Gave Us a Heart Attack—and Remedy". The Age. 29 December 1960. p. 9.


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