Crosstalk (film)

Last updated

Crosstalk
Crosstalk1982poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed byMark Egerton
Written byMark Egerton
Linda Lane
Produced byErrol Sullivan
Starring Gary Day
Penny Downie
John Ewart
CinematographyVincent Morton
Edited byColin Waddy
Music by Chris Neal
Production
companies
Wall to Wall Ltd
NSW Film Corporation
Release date
  • 1982 (1982)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$1.2 million [1]
Box officeA$26,000 (Australia)

Crosstalk is a 1982 science fiction thriller film made in Australia and produced by the New South Wales Film Corporation. Directed by Mark Egerton and starring Gary Day, the film's story bears a resemblance to Rear Window .

Contents

Plot

Ed Ballinger is an engineer who uses a wheelchair and is developing a computer system with artificial intelligence called the I-500. After moving into an apartment complex, Ed thinks he witnessed a murder in a neighbouring building.

Cast

Production

In 1979 Keith Salvat, who had made the film Private Collection (1972), wrote a script inspired by Rear Window (1954) called High Rise, about a man trapped in a high rise building because of an injury. He received from development money from the New South Wales Film Corporation and wrote early drafts with the assistance of Byron Kennedy. Then Ross Matthews became involved as producer, and the NSWFC agreed to finance the entire movie themselves under the title Wall to Wall... [2]

Just before filming commenced Ross Matthews got another film funded, Hoodwink (1981) and so brought in Errol Sullivan as co-producer. Filming began in 1981 and was marked by difficulties and tensions, particularly between Sullivan and Salvat. Salvat shot for 19 days, then on 31 May 1981 Sullivan and Matthews fired Salvat and replaced him with first assistant director Mark Egerton. Production was shut down for a week while Egerton and Denis Whitburn rewrote the script. Among the changes made were a new opening sequence and removing most of the exteriors so more scenes could be shot in the one set. [1]

Salvat requested that his name be taken off the film and that the title be changed. Errol Sullivan claims that only one or two scenes remain in the final film. [1]

Reception

Filmink magazine said "It’s a film best remembered for the fact that the director was sacked during production." [3]

The Bulletin said the parallels to Rear Window were "both brave and foolish which, for a while, shows signs of coming off. Vincent Monton’s glossy photography and the assurance with which director Mark Egerton frames each shot make Crosstalk a film of great visual flair. Its looks are consistently interesting; its story and performances, sadly, are not." [4]

Box office

Crosstalk grossed $26,000 at the box office in Australia. [5]

Home media

TitleFormatEp #DiscsRelease DateSpecial FeaturesDistributors
CrosstalkDVDFilm018 July 2020TBA Umbrella Entertainment

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p255-261
  2. ↑ Harrison, Tony (1994). The Australian Film and Television Companion. Simon and Schuster Australia. ISBN   0-7318-0455-4.
  3. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (29 February 2020). "Top Ten 10BA Knock Offs". Filmink.
  4. ↑ "FILMS This tribute does not quite compute", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., 102 (5336), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald (published 1880), 19 October 1982, ISSN   0007-4039, nla.obj-1656978923, retrieved 20 December 2023– via Trove
  5. ↑ Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office Archived 18 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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