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NEWSFRONT

Palm Beach Pictures in association with [the] N.S.W. Film Corporation[,] Australian Film Commission [and] Village Roadshow presents NEWSFRONT. © 1978 Palm Beach Pictures. Budget: $600,000. Locations: Sydney, Narrabeen, country New South Wales. Filmed. October-November 1977. Australian distributor: Roadshow. Opened. 29 July 1978. Video: CEL Australian Video. Rating: NRC (May 1978; 3018.3m). 35mm. Colour and B&W. 110 mins.

Producer: David Elfick.
Associate producer: Richard Brennan.
Script writer: Phillip Noyce (1). Based on an original screenplay by Bob Ellis. From a concept by David Elfick land, uncredited, Philippe Moral.
Director of photography: Vincent Monton.
Camera operator: Louis Irving.
Production designer: Lisa(2) Coote.
Costumes: Norina Moriceau.
Editor:    John Scott.
Composer: William Motzing,
Sound recorder: Tim Lloyd.
Sound editor: Greg Bell.
Mixers: Peter Fenton, Julian Effingworth, Berry Van Bronkhorst.

Cast

Bill Hunter (Len Maguire), Wendy Hughes (Amy McKenzie), Gerard Kennedy (Frank Maguire), Chris Haywood (Chris Hewitt), John Ewart (Charlie Henderson), Angela Punch(3) (Fay Maguire), Don Crosby (A- G. Marwood), Bryan Brown (Geoff the Editor), John Clayton (Cliff the Production Manager), Lorna Lesley (Ellie), John Dease (Ken the Narrator), Drew Forsythe (Bruce the Second Editor), Tony Barry (Greasy the Sound Mixer), Mark Holden (Len's New Assistant), Alexander Archdale (Sir Charles), Bill Lyle (Macka the Projectionist), Paul Jones (Charlie's Assistant); Bruce Spence, Les Foxcroft (Redex Trial Drivers); Robyn Moase (Dinah), John Flaus (Father Coughlan), Chad Morgan (Redex Singer).

After opening with a spectacular montage of newsreel footage, Newsfront establishes a rivalry between two newsreel companies. The leading cameraman for Cinetone is Len Maguire (Bill Hunter). Around him are, among others, his ambitious brother, Frank (Gerard Kennedv), Frank's girlfriend, Any, (Wendy Hughes), and the 'hard but fair' studio boss, A. G. Marwood (Don Crosby.), who represent some of the particular traits of working Australians. The rival company, Newsco, is personified by an irascible cameraman, Charlic Henderson (John Ewart).

The film moves through several time spans, each focusing on a major item of news in Australia: the referendum to ban the Communist Party, the Redex round Australia car trial, the Maitland floods and the Olympic Games. Parallel with this are the events of Len's personal life, including the birth of his children and the deteriorating relationship with his strict Catholic wife, his brother's decision to head for America and his relationship with his Young assistant, Chris (Chris Haywood), an English migrant whose fling with a girl (Lorna Lesley) in the outback leads to a quick marriage before the lad dies accidentally during the floods.

By the mid- 1950s, television has arrived and Newsco has been forced to merge with its rival, though Len, on the brink of resignation and in a now unsatisfying relationship with Amy, is offered a major opportunity to film the Olympic Games in Melbourne. Finally, Len finds himself alone, with his integrity intact, as all about him have 'fallen', and he marches off to an uncertain future holding the most valuable scoop footage he has ever shot.

Newsfront is constructed from newsreel footage and newly-filmed material which is integrated with seamless effect into a continuous narrative. It also incorporates characters closely based on some of the leading figures of the film industry, with the most ,easily recognisable being Ken G. Hall personified as the studio head A. G. Marwood.

The film employs effective shorthand methods of dramatising issues, largely through the dialogue by Bob Ellis (who removed his name from the credits but took out newspaper advertisements reclaiming his work when the film won the AFI Award for Best Film). This allows for a certain glibness and facility with argumentation that is not exactly common among ordinary working Australians. Nevertheless, it is
extraordinarily effective. Equally important is the film's easy and laconic humour, making it one of the few films to capture the Australian ability to use a low-key sarcasm for humour.

Essentially, Newsfront encapsulates the passing of an earlier time. It is a lament for the prickly working man of deep integrity and loyalty, the man doing his job with a sense of honour. It represents a passing era as loud-mouthed American multinationals take over our industry (brilliantly captured in the return of brother Frank, complete with American accent and mispronouncing 'Melbourne'). Newsfront remains luminous in the memory, standing the test of time better than almost any other film from that golden mid-'70s period of youthful exuberance and vitality.

GEOFF GARDNER

(1) Despite the fact all the other major credits are at the front, the scriptwriter credit is at the end.

(2)Usually spelt 'Lissa'.

(3)Punch later changed her surname to the sometimes hyphenated Punch McGregor.

References
'Phil Noyce: Interview', an interview with the co-scriptwriter-director by Mary Moody, Cinema Papers, no. 14, October 1977, pp. 11 1-13,191. Production Report: 'Newsfront', Cinema Papers, no. 17, August-September 1978, comprising an account of the filming by Phillip Noyce, p. 46, and a storyboard of the Maitland flood sequence,pp.47-9.
'Newsfront', a review by Keith Connofly, ibid., pp.57-8.
'Selling Newsfront', a marketing analysis by Michael Harvey, Cinema Papers, no. 22, , )uly-August 1979, pp. 436-9,477.
Bob Ellis', a career interview with the coscriptwriter by Richard Brennan, Cinema Papers, no. 29, October-November 1980, pp. 314-19, 386.
Newsfront: an interview with Phil Noyce', Ken Cameron, Filmnews, August 1978, pp. 10- 1 2.

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