Dinner with the Family
Dinner with the Family | |
---|---|
Based on | play by Jean Anouilh |
Written by | Philip Albright[2] |
Directed by | Christopher Muir |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Running time | 75 mins[3] |
Production company | ABC |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | 26 August 1959 (1959-08-26) (Melbourne, live)[1] |
Release | 2 September 1959 (1959-09-02) (Sydney, taped)[4] |
Dinner with the Family is a 1959 Australian TV play. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[5] It featured English star Jessie Matthews in her first Australian TV appearance - she was touring the country at the time - and was shot in Melbourne.[6][7]
Plot
A young man, Georges, married for money and is unhappy because he has fallen in love with Isabelle. To escape from reality one night he hires actors to play his parents and a butler and invites over Isabelle. But George's parents are determined to save their son's marriage and turn up with George's worthless friend Jacques. Barbara is Jacques' wife.
Cast
- Tony Brown as Georges
- Joy Mitchell as Isabelle
- Alan Tobin as Jacques
- Jessie Matthews as Madam de Montrachet
- Paul Bacon as Delmonte
- June Brunell(e) (credited with an ending "e") as Barbara, wife of Georges' friend
- Marcia Hart
- Laurie Lange
Production
The play had recently been performed in Little Theatre in Melbourne starring Sheila Florence. It was announced in July 1959 that the ABC would film it with Jessie Matthews playing Florence's role.[8] Star June Brunell had recently returned from England where she appeared in The Flying Doctors TV series.[9]
Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald called it "a brave, but not really successful attempt to bridge the gap between quintessential theatre on the one hand, and the television screen on the other... Christopher Muir's production was precise, well-planned, and often Imaginative."[10]
The Age TV critic said "it was not the sort of play to set the Yarra on fire" but felt it was strong in the scenes in which Matthews appeared, although her role was relatively small.[11]
See also
- List of live television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1950s)
References
- ^ "TV Guide". 26 August 1959. p. 5.
- ^ Marshall, Valda (30 August 1959). "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 104.
- ^ "TV Guide". The Age. 20 August 1959. p. 35.
- ^ "All the TV Programmes". ABC Weekly. 2 September 1959. p. 31.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
- ^ "JESSIE MATTHEWS ON TV". ABC Weekly. 2 September 1959. p. 12.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (4 October 2021). "Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Point of Departure and Man of Destiny". Filmink. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ "Jottings". The Age. 18 July 1959. p. 7.
- ^ "Untitled". The Age. 20 August 1959. p. 26.
- ^ "Anouilh's Play Televised". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 September 1959. p. 5.
- ^ Janus (3 September 1959). "Miss Matthews Intriguing". The Age. p. 14.
External links
- Dinner with the Family at IMDb
- Dinner with the Family at National Film and Sound Archive
- v
- t
- e
- The Proposal (1957)
- Dark Brown (1957)
- Killer in Close-Up (1957)
- The Duke in Darkness (1957)
- Last Call (1958)
- Outpost (1959)
- Black Chiffon (1959)
- Antony and Cleopatra (1959)
- Till Death Do Us Part (1959)
- Dinner with the Family (1959)
- The Astronauts (1960)
- Uncle Martino (1960)
- Eye of the Night (1960)
- It's the Geography That Counts (1960)
- Waters of the Moon (1961)
- The First Joanna (1961)
- The Rivals (1961)
- Quiet Night (1961)
- Marriage Lines (1962)
- Martine (1961)
- Boy Round the Corner (1962)
- Fury in Petticoats (1962)
- The Teeth of the Wind (1962)
- She'll Be Right (1962)
- Man of Destiny (1963)
- A Piece of Ribbon (1963)
- The White Carnation (1963)
- The Physicists (1964)
- Six Characters in Search of an Author (1964)
- Luther (1964)
- Nude with Violin (1964)
- Everyman (1964)
- The Tower (1965)
- Boy with Banner (1966) (not screened)
- Topaze (1966)
- A Ride on the Big Dipper (1967)
- Shadow on the Wall (1968)
- The Party (1969)
- Amahl and the Night Visitors (1957)
- Fidelo (1958)
- Albert Herring (1959)
- The Bartered Bride (1960)
- The Secret of Susannah (1961)
- Il Tabarro (1961)
- The Ambitious Servant Girl (1962)
- The Prodigal Son (1962)
- The Consul (1962)
- Bastien and Bastienne (1963)
- Simone Boccanegra (1963)
- Peter Grimes (1964)
- The Bloodless Sand (1964)
- Martha (1964)
- Carmen (1965)
- Giselle (1959)
- Ballet Studio (1959)
- The Nutcracker (1960)
- Coppelia (1960)
- The Bloodless Sand (1961)
- Sylvia (1961)
- Caranval (1961)
- The Spider's Banquet (1963)
- One in Five (1963)
- Robert Pomie Ballet (1963)
- Hans Christian Anderson (1963)
- The New Horizon (1964)
- The Fir Tree (1964)
- Seven Deadly Sins (1965)
- She (1967)
- Libido (1973)
- Lucky Colour Blue (1975) (TV series)
- Andra (1976) (TV series)
- Golden Pennies (1985) (TV mini series)
- Great Expectations: The Untold Story (1988)
![]() | This article related to an Australian made-for-TV movie is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e