The Devil Makes Sunday

The Devil Makes Sunday is a television play about a convict break out on Norfolk Island by Bruce Stewart, who had just written Shadow of a Pale Horse. It was based on the real life Norfolk Island convict mutinies.

It was filmed for British, US and Australian television.

It was also adapted for radio.[1]

Plot

In 1840, the convict settlement on Norfolk Island is run by Major Childs, who likes to punish convicts before church service on Sunday. A convict called Clay breaks out of prison and holds up the prison governor and his household in their dining room. Clay demands a boat for his escape.

1960 British television version
The Devil Makes Sunday
Written byBruce Stewart
Music byBobby Midgely
Production
company
ABC Weekend Television
Associated Television (ATV)
Associated-Rediffusion Television
Distributed byITV
Release date
31 July 1960
Running time
60 mins[2]
CountryUK
LanguageEnglish

The play was filmed in Britain as part of ITV Sunday Night Drama.

Cast
  • Alfred Burke as Clay
  • Clifford Earl as Corporal
  • André Morell as Major Childs
  • Toke Townley as Stukely
  • Sally Home

1961 US television version
The Devil Makes Sunday
Directed byTom Donovan
Written byJoe Palmer Jr.
Based onplay by Bruce Stewart
StarringDane Clark
Production
company
Theatre Guild
Release date
25 January 1961
Running time
60 mins
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish

The episode was filmed in the US as part of the US Steel Hour.[3][4]

Plot

On the penal colony of Norfolk Island one Sunday afternoon, a convict, Prendergast, rests during working hours. He is flogged to unconsciousness.

Convict Clay along with Silverwood and Stuckeley leads an uprising. Dora Childs, daughter of the commandant, Major Childs, becomes involved.

Cast
  • Dane Clark as Clay
  • Martyn Green as Childs
  • Brooke Hayward as Dora Childs
  • Fritz Weaver as Silverwood
  • Chris Wiggins as Stukely
  • Frank Conroy as Dr McCombie
  • William Hansen as Graves
  • James Valentine as Barnaby
  • Jack Dengel as Prendergast
  • Tom Clancy as Quill

1962 Australian television version
The Devil Makes Sunday
Screenplay byBruce Stewart
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Country of originAustralia
Original language(s)English
Production
Running time70 mins
Production company(s)ABC
Release
Original networkABC
Original release21 February 1962 (Melbourne, live)[5]
14 March 1962 (Sydney, taped)

The play was filmed for Australian television in 1962. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time. Filmink magazine wrote "this, along with Light Me a Lucifer, is the old Australian TV play more than any other we wish we could see because it sounds very exciting."[6]

Cast
  • Syd Conabere as Clay
  • Mark Kelly as Jack
  • Robert Peach as Major Childs, the prison governor
  • Carole Potter as Dora Childs

Production

Syd Conabere, who plays Clay, had previous performed in that role in an adaptation of the play for ABC Radio. Producer William Sterling said Stewart wrote a "marvelous emotional study in his play."[7]

The production was shot in Melbourne.[8]

Reception

The TV critic from the Sydney Morning Herald thought the production was "chiefly remarkable for the briskness of its violence" listing the "five deaths by shooting, one by strangulation and one by public flogging. Even a hardworking Elizabethan playwright of the most bloodthirsty kind would have thought this a respectable tally." He added "Stewart's principal characters were merely mouthpieces for a set of ethical attitudes. Because they were so obviously pieces on a moralistic chessboard and because their dialogue dealt in words like good and evil without once making these seem more than black and white abstractions, their predicament was almost totally unmoving." He also felt producer (director) William Sterling "was busy enough with his properties and cameras...but he seemed actually to have encouraged the actors playing the prison commandant and the chaplain to emphasise the intrinsic hollowness of their dialogue." However the performance of Sydney Conabere was praised.[9]

References
  1. "Advertising". The Canberra Times. 35 (9, 984). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 5 August 1961. p. 17. Retrieved 30 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. Radio and TV Programmes The Irish Times (1921-Current File); Dublin, Ireland [Dublin, Ireland]30 July 1960: 4.
  3. "Episode Guide for US Steel Hour". Classic TV Archive.
  4. News of TV and Radio by Val Adams, New York Times (1923-Current file); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]01 Jan 1961: X9.
  5. "Untitled". The Age. 5 February 1962. p. 12.
  6. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  7. "Convict will Kill "One by One"". The Age. 15 February 1962. p. 13.
  8. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 12 March 1962. p. 16.
  9. "Convict Play on ABN". Sydney Morning Herald. 15 March 1962. p. 7.

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