The Long Sunset

The Long Sunset is a 1963 Australian TV movie based on a play by R.C. Sheriff. It starred John Bell and was directed by Colin Dean It was recorded live. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[3]

The Long Sunset
Directed byColin Dean
Based onplay by R.C. Sheriff
StarringJohn Bell
Production
company
Release date
27 November 1963 (Sydney)[1]
4 December 1963 (Melbourne)[2]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

The play had been filmed by the BBC in 1958.[4]

Plot

A Roman family during the last days of Roman Britain.

Cast
  • Henry Gilbert as Julian Severus
  • Lynne Murphy as Serena Severus
  • James Condon as Arthur, leader of a band of Britons
  • John Bell as Julian's son Otho
  • Sandra Gleeson as Paula
  • Tim Cohen as Gawaine
  • Guy le Claire as Lugar
  • Ronald Morse as Portius
  • Richard Parry as Lucian
  • John Faassen as Marcus

Production

It was filmed in Sydney.[5]

Reception

The critic from the Sydney Morning Herald wrote that "the gingerly stiffness of dialogue and manner that seems to overcome most dramatists and actors when they are playing at history was seldom absent from the" production. He felt that the characters in the original play "are in any case incorrigible cardboard, but Colin Dean's production, despite a few visual ingenuities, seemed to emphasise rather than minimise their creaking unreality. The Romans either intoned phrases of hollow nobility and stoicism or were querulous and fearful; their British allies in the fight against the encroaching Saxons merely slouched and growled. None of them was more than spasmodically interesting." The critic felt Gilbert "seemed to be taking part in a very slow and stately pageant" while Condon was "conscientiously surly and thicktongued" while Bell and Faassen "were largely wasted in dull parts." The critix felt "the play would have seemed better if the performance had shown more evidence of the sort of rehearsal that allows actors to develop characterisations as well as merely learn lines and moves, but even with devoted attention it is not likely to have much more in its favour than the romance of its historical idea."[6]

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

References
  1. "Rome Theme for Live Play". Sydney Morning Herald. 18 November 1963. p. 18.
  2. "TV Guide". The Age. 28 November 1963. p. 41.
  3. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. The Long Sunset 1958 TV play at IMDb
  5. "Untitled". The Age. 28 November 1963. p. 32.
  6. "DRAMA REVIEW _"Long Sunset" On Television". Sydney Morning Herald. 28 November 1963. p. 15.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.