Movie review - "Nickelodeon" (1976) **1/2

This must have seemed like a sure-fire hit: Peter Bogdanovich, making a commercial genre (a comedy) about a fascinating subject matter (the patent wars in early Hollywood) dear to his heart (he'd written books on the subject). He also cast two hot stars, Ryan O'Neal and Burt Reynolds, added in another star, Tatum O'Neal, whom Bogdanovich had made a star in Paper Moon. He was forbidden to cast his girlfriend Cybil Shepherd, who starred in his last two flops. Few people would have seen the old silent films so he could pinch the gags. But the film was a big flop. What went wrong?

A few things: the film's story covers a significant number of years, which is OK for an epic but not really for a comedy - shooting one film would have kept the story tighter. Also the film strains and seems to try too hard - too consciously zany (NB this was also a problem in the hit What's Up Doc? but that took place over a short period of time) Also old Hollywood had been done a lot around this time, with Hearts of the West and Won Ton Ton the Dog Who Saved Hollywood and Bogdanovich was very much on the nose in Hollywood after At Long Last Love and the critics slaughtered the film. Occasionally the film clicks and it is wonderful - Tatum O'Neal is in fine form and I loved the bit where Reynolds accidentally finds himself playing a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Movie review - "Sweet Sweetback" (2004) ***1/2

A movie about movie making with a difference: Mario van Peebles tells the story of his father's efforts to make Sweey Sweetback's Badass Song, a monster hit (proportionally speaking). He went through hell to make it - losing sight in an eye, constantly battling for money, up against total apathy, a difficult shoot. On one hand its inspirational - he keeps on going, never says die - on another hand its depressing - there is so much opposition... what if they film hadn't have hit? Van Peebles is strong in the lead and the direction is lively, energetic and imaginative.

Movie review - "Badasss Cinema" (2002) ***

During the 1990s it was not very PC to think much of blaxploitation, but what goes around comes around and now blacploitation is popular again. It's a tricky thing - the films did involve black empowerment, gave many jobs to black directors and writers and especially actors... but were full of misogny and negative stereotypes of blacks. Part of the problem were there weren't that many other black films being made. I've read through Variety during these years and Hollywood loved blaxploitation - it was like, at last! a genre guaranteed to make money! And it was, regardless of quality, until the bottom dropped out of the market. Problem was - no more black movies, until things picked up in the late 80s again.

This doco is a worthy look at the genre with some classic interview subjects incuding Pam Grier, Fred "The Hammer" Williamson (whose career dived when he refused to play characters who died and didn't get the girl), Samuel L Jackson, Gloria Hendry, Quentin Tarantino, Elvis Mitchell (a NT Times movie critic - who is black) and Tupac's mother. They place a little too much emphasis on the importance of Jackie Brown in the filmmaking lexicon - does anyone remember that film nowadays? Ditto Original Gangstas. I mean, I know they feature old blaxploitation actors but I think Ice Cube, Ice T, Spike Lee, Tupac, etc are more of the modern day descendants (complete with similiar controvery).

Movie review - "The Long Goodbye" (1973) ***1/2

Robert Altman's films aren't to everyone's taste (mine included) but he always tries to do things freshly and originally. Sometimes he goes off the rails especially when he's written the script but here he works from Leigh' Brackett's adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel - terrific source material. Everything is fresh: Elliot Gould (in good form) as Marlowe, chain smoking in his suit, looking for cat food, sticking up for an old friend. Mike Rydell is electric as a thug looking for Marlowe's mate; Sterling Hayden impresses as a boozy writer. I even liked Nina van Pallandt as the femme fetale.

Some of Altman's tactics tend to distance the viewer emotionally from the film - me at any rate - so maybe it doesn't have the power it could have. But then it would be less interesting to watch. The story is easy to follow - with all the sexy adaptations of classics we have today it's hard to see what all the fuss was about when this came out, but I guess it was too new back then. Many memorable moments: Gould and his perenially nude neighbours, Rydell and the coke bottle, Hayden and Gould getting drunk together, the climax.

Book review - "When Hollywood Had a King: the Reign of Lew Wasserman" by Connie Bruck

Superb biography of Wasserman, the agent turned movie tycoon - actually its not just on Wasserman, but also on MCA, the agency created by Jules Stein. Wasserman went to work for MCA and became number two in the organisation, making it the leading agency. MCA moved into production in the 1950s and eventually bought out Universal Studios. Wasserman was a player second to none in his day - smart, clever, ruthless, not without honour... he was fortunate to be the smartest young exec in Hollywood at a time (the late 40s and 50s) when the old moguls were still around but struggling to adapt to the post-1948 environment; it was a time of a gap and Wasserman filled it. He and MCA were so skilled, so good at what they did that at times they seemed omniscient. In the 50s and 60s that certainly seemed to be the case. Universal did suffer in the movie recession of the late 60s and Wasserman almost was kicked out in a coup, but recovered and loved the 70s.

However, everyone's reign comes to an end in Hollywood - it happened to Mayer, Selznick, Zanuck, etc. Wasserman's position slipped in the late 70s - perhaps not coincidentally around the time the emergence of the first super agency since MCA, CAA - but then he went and sold Universal to the Japanese. There are heaps of tycoons who sell their businesses towards the end of their career - they almost always regret it (Zanuck, Sam Arkoff, Frank Packer). You'd think such smart people would realise that about themselves, but I guess if you devote your life to chasing the good deal, its hard to give it up... even when it means destroying yourself.

This book has the advantages of interviews with Wasserman plus access to Stein's unublished memoirs. Occasionally Wasserman gets lost in the stuff about politics and organised crime (there is a lot on organised crime) - I suppose that's inevitable. Also inevitable is that it doesn't focus on films and filmmakers as much as I would have liked (a few get discussed, such as producer Ross Hunter, Isadora, Steven Spielberg). Wasserman doesn't seem to have been as colourful as Mayer or Cohn... but he was married a long time to a wife who would cheat on him even though he knew about it, so he had some kinks. He seems to have been a bit like Kerry Packer in business - ruthless and a bully, sharp and using loyalty when it suited him, but he never did anything the government didn't let him. Which to be honest wasn't a lot!

Bruck has done much research and is written in that easy to read style of New Yorker articles. I enjoyed it immensely.

Book review - "Floor of Heaven" by Richard Wherrett

Bright, entertaining memoir from Wherrett, who worked at the Old Tote, was one of the founders of the Nimrod in the 70s and the first artistic director of the STC. If you're interested in theatre you will love this - Wherrett sketches most of the figures in theatre (Sydney theatre, at least) from the time: Tyrone Guthrie, John Bell, Ken Horler, Mel Gibson, Ruth Cracknell. Not surprisingly, he chats longest about successes such as Away and Nicholas Nickleby but also about some of the productions that didn't so well. Apart from history, it also espouses a lot of useful things about directing and acting and forging a career in the arts - the bits on being pro active and making work should be required reading for emerging actors. On one hand its enjoyable to read because Wherrett's career was strong up until his death - even after leaving the STC he kept busy working for Disney, the Olympics, Harry M Miller, etc, - so we don't have to read a "my career went into major decline" chapter. On the other hand, he died very soon after the book came out - he was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 so it haunts us reading it, especially when he talks about death.

Book review - "How to be Good" by Nick Hornby

Controversial on release because Hornby writes from the POV of a female. Several guys I know who love Hornby's earlier stuff hate this book, while several women really like it - make of that what you will. Although it is told from the POV of a woman the main character is really her husband. Packed with insight and Hornby's sad, gentle humour. Dragged towards the end.

TV review - "Buck Rogers episode 2: Planet of the Slave Girls" (1979) **

An outlying planet is poisoning Earth's pilots so it can attack Earth. Buck must save the day with Wilma (Erin Grey) and a flight instructor with whom he aruges until they team up. There is plenty of action, an awful scene where Buck tries to explain military tactics to Earth pilots using gridiron terminology and the pilots laugh at him (its not believable Buck would do something so stupid and not believable that the pilots would laugh so rudely). Most of the story is the usual oppressed people on a planet leading an uprising story, though the politics and what not are nicely complex. The chief attraction here is of the cast, including Jack Palance (villainous messiah type), Roddy McDowall (an unwitting pawn), MacDonald Carey (looking dishevelled as a scientist) and former Buck Rogers Buster Crabbe as a pilot. The series already slightly changed from the pilot - reasons for which are described here. Background to his particular episode read here.

Movie review - "In Good Company" (2006) **

Paul Weitz proved his chops with About a Boy and this had a terrific topic for satire: a middle aged man (Dennis Quaid, perfectly cast) finds himself with a new boss (Topher Grace, also perfect) who is half his age... then finds the new boss pursuing his daughter (Scarlett Johannson, perfectly fine performance wise but too Scarlett Johannson to be ideally cast). 

The result is disappointingly flat - the fangs are dulled, the laughs few and far, the drama tepid. It is well acted, but feels like opportunity missed: Quaid has to take out a second mortgage so that Johannson can move out of home... because she feels like it???... So she can study at NYU??? Study creative writing at NYU??? 

The character of Quaid's wife is under-used, ditto Grace's (Selma Blair, again playing the other woman). The film earns points for not getting Grace and Johannson and the end and for not making Grace's character a stock villain or hero. Its all intelligent, just flat.

TV review - "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979) **

I was a big Battlestar Galactica fan but never enjoyed Buck Rogers as much - despite the fact that both were productions of Glen A Larson and Universal (and Rogers used much Battlestar footage and props). This two hour pilot is quite enjoyable and has a decent story, with Buck (Gil Gerard) finding himself in an Earth 500 years on. There has been a holocaust - in the pilot this seems to have happened in the late 20th century but it didn't stop earth from later going and colonising some nearby planets. And now the Earth's former subjects are all attacking earth - which is where Buck's devil-may-care impro ways come in. In this two part pilot, which was shown theatically, has Buck suspected of being a spy for a foreign power led by a sexy princess (Pamela Hensley - one in a disnguished group of sexy man-eating aliens who also included Ornella Muti in Flash Gordon and Sybil Danning in Battle Beyond the Stars) and her chief officer (Henry Silva). Silva, Hensley and the imposing Tigerman make an impressive array of villains. Gerard is a handsome and charming enough hero - though not as quite as handsome and charming as the script would have. The opening credits are among the worst in history - Gerard lying around on a big fluro "Buck Rogers" sign being embraced by Universal starlets, including Erin Gray who plays Wilma Deering. Some moments of sadness with poor old Buck being stranded in the future; these weren't used enough unfortunately in later episodes.

Movie review - "Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool" (2005) ****

Terrific documentary on the iconic movie star, which benefits from some marvellous footage and co operation from his family. (His first and third wives are interviewed and son, but not Ali MacGraw). It is pro McQueen, full of praise of the man's undoubted talent and ability, but also doesn't hide that he could be a prick at times - Nelie Adams says he hit her, he wasn't the best father in the world (Chad McQueen says one day he hurt himself and Steve said "life isn't fair" - nice parenting! - then Chad says "and I tell my kids the same thing"). McQueen was clearly a bit screwed up, greatly affected by his erratic up bringing - it didn't also help that when he became a star in the 60s, Hollywood studios were in a decline so they all kissed his arse, which further encouraged bad behaviour. He had an understanding of his image and screen acting that few movie stars equalled. All the iconic roles are here - the film also shows some of his early television work, and later dud films such as Enemy of the People (which looks awful, as does The Hunter - its a shame he never got to make Tai Pan which George MacDonald Fraser writes about in his memoirs which would have been a worthier way to end a career). When McQueen died his image went strangely into eclipse, but now it is coming back and in a big way. He may have been a prick but he was cool.

Book review - "Robert Bolt" by Adrian Turner

Brilliant biography of the playwright and screenwriter Bolt which I finished in only a few days, it was so enjoyable. I thought it made a slight mistake starting the book with the story of Bolt going to Tahiti in 1977 to work with David Lean on a new Bounty film, then having a stroke: this section felt as though it went on a bit too long, and involved too many story strands and relationships tht you probably would have been better knowing more about. But that's it's only real flaw. Turner is a skilled writer, has done some superb research (including rare access to MGM legal files), and has enthusiasm and sympathy for his subject.

I was aware of the big hits of Bolt's career - A Man for All Seasons, the Lean films - but not aware his first hit was in fact something called A Flowering Cherry (a mid life crisis drama similar to Death of a Salesman), and before Seasons he wrote another play, Tiger and the Horse, which was an even bigger hit. Before then he had a substantial reputation as a BBC dramatist.

Despite that he was often held up as a sell out - how can it be a sell out to write for David Lean, but that was the mood of the times. Also it was his agent, Peg Ramsey, (whose reputation Bolt made) who most frequently called him a sell out (John Mortimer wrote a brilliant sketch of Ramsey in his memoirs). To be fair he did kind of sell out when he was arrested for a CND protest in the 1960s - Bolt agreed to promise not to do any more protests so he could get out of gaol and work on Lawrence of Arabia - a compromise (one he needn't have done) he always regretted.

Bolt's life was fascinating: early life in Manchester, war service, joining the Communist Party, discovering his gift for learning and becoming a teacher, shot gun marriage, being an inspirational teacher, the early writing (he knew he wanted to write then stumbled upon play writing).

His life was marked by some tragedies and scandals: in the early 60s his wife left him for a handyman (he was obsessed with his work so it wasn't such a surprise - he came home and his new house was full of cupboards because the wife kept getting the handyman around), he married Sara Miles but they got divorced after the scandal where her personal assistant (and occasional lover) became obsessed with her killed himself - with Miles whispered as his possible murderer; his eldest daughter died in a possible suicide; he had a crippling stroke which permanently debilitated him (people blamed it on David Lean but a 60 cigs a day habit may also have had something to do with it). He married a third time, unsuccessfully - but then blow us all down if he and Miles didn't get remarried, surprising many people who thought it was only a glam match.

What of Bolt the writer? In the 60s he was the leading one in the world, though his final credit list isn't too long - he worked too long on projects. His main credits post stroke, The Bounty and The Mission, were based on scripts written in the 70s before his stroke. Up until the end he remained busy and in demand - you might wonder why as his credits grew increasingly sparse, but the Lean films and Seasons were classics, so why not?

Its a great shame his Bounty scripts were never filmed in the way they were intended, though one can understands studios being wary of them; ditto some of his other scripts such as one on Gandhi. Its a shame some of his unproduced scripts can't be published in some form or another; it's also a shame Bolt didn't write a little more for the stage, though he always tackled decent projects on screen - it's just that the stage stuff would have had more chance of being produced.

It's a marvellous read and highly recommended.

Movie review - "Match Point" (2006) ***

I didn't find this the masterpiece some have claimed, but I enjoyed it - I certainly didn't experience the feeling of disappointment I've had with every new Woody film since the mid 90s. It's wonderful to see Woody outside of New York (if only he'd dump the credits and the music) although he treats London the same cinematically as Manhattan - plenty of restaurants, theatres, art galleries, houses in the country.

The story is basically a remake of the Martin Landau section of Crimes and Misdemeanors, dragged out for two hours (there is even an equivalent of Sam Waterston's rabbi - a tennis pro that Rhys Myers confesses to) - it feels as though it could use a subplot, and that there are too many scenes. It also has occasionally clunky moments of dialogue which feel like "Woody doesn't really know how people talk".
But there are advantages: Scarlett Johanssen and Jonathan Rhys Myers are really good (it's the first time I've liked Rhys Myers in anything); they give the film a genuine sexual charge and some scenes - particularly making love in a rain storm - are the most erotic in any Woody Allen film; there is accomplished acting throughout the cast and a lovely twist at the end.

Movie review "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006) **

I wasn't a big fan of the first two, they were OK, but was persuaded to see this by a Variety review. Should have remembered that Variety gave a positive review to the remake of the Italian Job!
Basically the film gets off to a poor start where two guys are discussing what to race over and a girl says you can race "over me" - it would have been OK if they pushed this level of ridiculousness but they never do.
OK, the film's problems: the hero is Lucas Black who is OK but isn't as good as Paul Walker - I never thought I would see the day where I would write the words "isn't as good as Paul Walker". The film lacks someone with a charisma of Vin Diesel - although the Japanese male actors are quite impressive and Sonny Chiba plays a yakuza.
Another thing is the hero lacks a decent motivation - he should have been going undercover, or out for revenge. As it is he's a screw up, who goes to work for a crime guy against another crime guy, and spends his time doing dangerous racing just for the fun of it - one day he will kill someone (Paul Walker's death risking driving in the first two was at least motivated to put criminals behind bars).
The film lacks a strong narrative spine - who cares if Black stays in Japan or not? That's the stakes? Also the female lead (Aussie Nathalie Kelly) - isn't she like a willing girlfriend of the baddy? What makes her change her mind?
Most of the film seems to be one of two scenes: a car chase (with lots of jagged camerawork and extreme close ups) or a scene in slow motion with the hero walking through a gathering wear lots of hot chicks dance around to the soundtrack and hang off the arms of guys. This is repeated throughout the films.
OK the positives: the notion of "drift" racing and the Tokyo setting gives the film freshness, some of the car chases are well done, I enjoyed some of the philosophical chats about racing, and the cameo at the end.

Book review - "Backstory 4" Ed Patrick McGilligan

Another brilliant instalment of this excellent series, covering writers who excelled in the 70s and 80s. Unlike the previous editions, all of the writers are still working. It includes several of my favourites: John Milius, Walter Hill, Larry Cohen. Full of surprises - Alvin Sargeant's insecurity, Donald Westlake's extensive career. Endlessly fascinating.

Play review - "The Mayne Inheritance" by Errol O'Neill

Errol O'Neil adapts a sweeping saga about the Mayne family - a cashed up family for whom money did not buy happiness. Being a Brisbanite and a former U of Qld student I found it very interesting. It felt as though it had one too many suplots but is moving and powerful piece of work.

Book review - "Dudley Moore: an Intimate Portrait" by Rena Fruchter

by Incredibly moving look at the life of the movie star, specifically his friendship with Fruchter, who interviewed him over music and became his friend, performed with him on concert tours, then looked after him for the last few years of his life. Moore had been a star ever since his Cambridge days, mostly on stage and television; he moved to Hollywood in the 70s and became an unexpected film star for around a decade. I always liked Moore and remember hoping that a hit movie would come along in the late 80s to revive his career. His only two copper plated hits were 10 and Arthur although I think Mikki and Maude did OK. But thing is he would flop in comedies, a genre in which he was supposed to be a star in. TV didn't help out and he never managed to segue back into supporting roles, in which he would have been wonderful (his illness saw hi removed from The Woman with Two Faces)(One of Moore's favourite roles was the 1982 flop Six Weeks.) In the 1990s he turned increasingly to music as the films dried up and enjoyed success. I remember people seeing his Australian tour and being stunned how good he was (reading this it seems he had a wonderful time here).

Fruchter was a devoted friend to Moore (despite his reptuation as a ladies' man it wasn't romantic, she was married with kids) but not blind to his faults. It seems Moore never got over the insecurity of his club foot and could be a bit hopeless. He never did much with his two children, was not very good at marriage. He strikes me as the sort of person of whom everyone would go "oh, Dudley" but always accompany it with an affectionate laugh, so great was his charm and talent (and his name suited his look so well). His final illness was a horrible tragedy. No one deserves that, but it seems Moore took it on with tremendous bravery. I got a bit teary at the end.

Book review - "Moby - replay"

Biography of the performer which was published after the success of "Play", so it doesn't cover his recent albums. It is really excellent, though, with plenty of interviews with its subject matter and analysis of the music scene and how Moby fitted in and his tracks. Moby was turning out stuff a decade before Play - in fact, something I didn't realise, his first single was his biggest hit until Play, "Go", a sample from Twin Peaks which I must have danced to at Fridays back in the day. I first became really aware of his music when Michael Mann used some tracks in Heat and Moby has proved incredibly popular with soundtracks - not just movies, but TV and ads. His flogging of his music for commercial use has earned him a lot of flak in the music community but from reading this it seems that Moby is often getting flak form the community and he has learned to live with it - maybe he even thrives on it (many artists do). The book isn't totally pro-Moby: it points out he often changes his mind when it comes to those silly statements about the world, universe and everything he makes, he can be a hypocrite and a bit of a lecherous wanker (hey, what famous person isn't?). But immensely talented. My favourite story: clean living Moby went on tour with party boys the Prodigy and they had to share the bus and Moby came along and asked them to keep the noise down.

Book review - "Christopher Lee: the Authorised Screen History" by Jonathan Rigby

Blurbs are always going that such and such a book is a "must have for every serious fan" but this is definitely a "must have" for Christopher Lee fans. This is an excellently researched, brightly written account of Lee's career, focusing on his film and television work. Of course it pays a lot of attention to the Hammer films but also covers his other work as well.

No one can deny Rigby has done an excellent job, but the book has an unsurmountable problem: Lee made an incredible amount of crap. I like Christopher Lee, everyone likes Christopher Lee, and its wonderful how he's enjoying an Indian summer to his career, but gosh he was in a lot of schlock. Every now and then you hear people go "oh Lee's been typecast" and "he's never had his dues as an actor" but like another horror star, Boris Karloff, he's had plenty of chances in other sorts of films. He has a presence and can clearly rise to the occasion at the time, but he's not Marlon Brando. He should still be cherished, let's just not get silly about it.

The book is interesting. I didn't realise how easily Lee got his start - coming out of the army he decided to be an actor, and almost straight away got into the Rank charm school - but he put in a decade of hard yards before finding fame with Hammer. He's been a star ever since, though interestingly even after his break through he often appeared well down the cast list.

Lee tried to break away from horror in the 1970s, but has occasionally drifted back. He definitely seems to have been under-utilised by Hollywood, wasted in awful films and television - though to be fair Lee seems to have lousy taste in scripts (or at least a poor choice in young directors): he turned down Halloween, Swamp Thing and The Fog, which I couldn't believe.

I was also surprised how small the percentage of quality films he made: the decent Hammers, of course (Rigby is a fan of the 60s pirate films), The Wicker Man, the first Fu Manchu, an excellent Bond villain in the worst Bond film (The Man with the Golden Gun), The Private Lives of Sherlock Holmes, his recent blockbusters. There's a lot of other chaff.

Still, an icon is an icon and the book is a loving tribute.

DVD review - "The Warriors" (1979) ****

Walter Hill's classic looks better than ever, and this re release was done to coincide with a new video game based on the movie. It's nice to see an impressive transfer and I loved the doco of the making of, with interviews with Hill and the cast (who look quite old but fit - they probably no spring chickens when they made the film). They have made a few new additions to the film for the DVD - adding a prologue drawing comparisons with the Anastabis, which was kind of pointless, and doing transitions between scenes in comic book style, which was also kind of pointless. You don't need to show all the inspiration. The film is wonderfully creepy, beautifully shot, with crisp action sequences, taunt action, etc. Great beginning, gets off to a flying start, the baseball furies are terrific. Seems to slump a little around the two thirds mark. David Patrick Kelly is awesome; Michael Beck a stoic lead; James Remar should have become a star. I didn't know that he wasn't meant to handle the romantic leading man duties - but the guy who was (Tom Waites) didn't get along with Hill so Hill killed off his character!

Movie review - "Just Friends" (2006) **1/2

The central story of this struck a chord - a why not, the myth is so strong: a man comes back to his home town ten years after leaving; no longer fat and a loser he's now handsome and successful and the girl of his dreams is still single. So far so good and they add a hilarious character in an Ashlee Simpson type.

The script feels as though it needed another story spine apart from the central relationship and the character of the girl (Amy Smart) I just couldn't warm to: she didn't go out with Ryan Reynolds because he was fat and now he's rich and handsome she's interested in him, and I couldn't see any more depth to the character than that. I kept waiting for the writers to give her a "pat the dog" moment but they never did apart form the fact she is good with children. (In contrast in There's Something About Mary, Cameron Diaz genuinely likes Ben Stiller at the beginning - it's Stiller's fault their date ends so disastrously; so he is an object worthy of affection.) 

Ryan Reynolds would have been better off with the Ashlee Simpson character, who seems to genuinely like him, has talent (of a kind) and pays for a trip to Paris. So what if she's a bit mad?

So the film didn't work for me, though the cast give their all, including a funny Chris Klein.

Movie review - "Stander" (2003) ***1/2

Terrific true life story of the South African detective Stander (Thomas Jane) who would rob banks in his spare time then investigate them. In this version Stander is motivated by having killed some blacks in a town uprising in 1976 - gee, it isn't all his fault. Plenty of shots of Jane's arse and of Stander and his gagng buying clothes - is this because it had a female director? The robberies might have been more exciting. Nonethless a gripping tale with a surprise finish. Those South Africans are nutcases.

Book review - "Bud" by Charles Tingwell

Immensely readable autobiography from one of Australia's most beloved actors - "beloved" is a word used to describe many old actors but in Tingwell's case the affection is genuine. Not only has he been around for a long time he seems like a really nice person, and over the last decade or so, since his wife died, he is known as one of those actors who will do almost ANY part. He does a bundle of short films for nothing, just to keep his hand in and to keep up with the young folks, and always is interested in what is new and happening. This is what presumably keeps him young. Tingwell's career falls into four rough stages: (1) An early Australian career from around 1945 to the 1950s, where he soon established himself as one of the leading male actors in the country; a very handsome man with an excellent voice he played the lead in only his second film and was probably the top leading man in Australian films at the time (even though they didn't make that many). A TV job got him a rare Australian role in a Hollywood film in The Desert Rats, after which he turned down a seven year contract. How would Tingwell have gone? Very well, I think - but the contract system was dying out at the time. He may have had a Michael Rennie-like career. (2) England from the 1950s to early 1970s. Tingwell was a TV hearthrob - but kind of lost his looks a little in the mid 1960s. I wondered what happened and this tells us - he put on weight to play an inspector in a Miss Marple film and could never get it off again! In the late 1960s and early 70s he became something of a stage name. (3) Back in Australia from the early 1970s where he worked on Homicide, then became a director of Tv and stage. I knew he did this but had no idea of how extensive his credits were. (4) After his wife's death, when he directed less but acted more and experienced something of an Indian summer, particuarly with roles in The Castle and Innocence. The nature of much of Tingwell's work - TV, guest shots, small roles - means his acting never received the kudos it probably should have. His warm skilled performance in The Castle was as responsible for that film's success as anyone's. The book is very engaging, with useful tips for actors. Tingwell seemed to get along with everyone very well as a young actor, but had his clashes as a director and since as an older actor.