Sunday, May 03, 2020

TV series - "Whiplash" (1960-61) six more episodes ***

"Sarong" - decent drama just geographically weird. Graves gets involved escorting women across country - they are a multi cultural bunch including an Indian and a Malay. Graves gets shot and left for dead... they wind up at a compound run by a despot who uses them for pearl diving. The pearl diving aspect is weird but in terms of action and twists this is good - Gene Rodenberry wrote it. Great to see multi cultural women even if they are "me want help you" types. Ending implies Graves is going to root them all. The villain is Joe McCormick who was the baddy in "Escape from Bathurst". A climax involves sharks.

"Stage for Two" - Graves has a bromance with an outlaw (Leonard Teale) being chased by other outlaws and the police. It allows for a decent relationship to emerge between Teale and Graves - Teale is a strong actor, which that superb voice, and he has a three dimensional part. Large death toll as usual!

"The Bone That Whispered" - there were a number of aboriginal themed episodes of this show. Graves goes looking for a white man who is the father of a little girl whose mother has died. The man is living with the aborigines, covered in boot polish - the third time I've seen that on this show (one was actually playing an aboriginal). Nigel Lovell is the man.

"Day of the Hunter" - real old style Western tale with Chips Rafferty as a poor but plucky squatter being picked on by vicious land owner Max Osbiston. Just thinking about it, this show would be better if Rafferty had played Graves' sidekick. Rachel Lloyd is the girl. No romance with Graves though. Rafferty's role is quite small. The third act involves Graves and his mates going through an ancient aboriginal land which involves Graves showing off his skill with a boomerang. Henry Murdoch is in this.

"The Canoomba Incident" - Graves and his partner set up shop at a town where all the men have gone to a gold rush. That's an excellent idea. Lew Luton is back as a bushranger - a different character. They don't do enough with the woman angle though there is a female bushranger. No romance for Graves but some for his offsider (with Janette Craig). They fall in love in one scene. Really that should have been enough for an episode - a sister who bushranged... the all female town idea was worthy of its own episode and is thrown away.

"The Rushing Sands" - a veteran coach driver wants to kill the person responsible for killing his son. There's talk of "the best gunman" and scenes in jail cells... it feels particularly American. Good acting from people like Gordon Glenwright and Nevil Thurgood. The strenght of this is the acting.

No comments: