The Fourth Wish

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The Fourth Wish
TheFourthWish.jpg
Directed by Don Chaffey
Written by Michael Craig
Based onTV series The Fourth Wish by Michael Craig
Produced byJohn Mirros
Jill Robb (associate)
Matt Carroll (associate)
Starring John Meillon
Robert Bettles
Cinematography Geoff Burton
Music by Tristram Cary
Production
companies
Release date
  • 16 July 1976 (1976-07-16)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetAU$240,000 [1] or $270,261 [2]

The Fourth Wish is a 1976 Australian family film directed by Don Chaffey based on a three-part 1974 TV drama from the ABC. [3]

Contents

Plot

Casey is a simple man living alone with his 12-year-old son Sean in a rented run-down apartment in suburban Adelaide. He works as a machinist in a small factory, making a modest living but is happy to have a job with congenial workmates. His wife, Connie, had left him for another man when Sean was a baby, but Casey pretends to his son that she has a glamorous career in America.

Casey learns that Sean has leukaemia and will die in a few months. Casey stubbornly refuses to accept the inevitable, and mentions it to nobody. He quits his job, giving no reason, not wishing to elicit sympathy, and devotes himself to making his son happy. They attend John Martin's Christmas Pageant and ride paddle boats on Torrens Lake. He offers to fulfill three wishes; Sean requests: to own a dog, be reunited with his mother, and meet the Queen, who was visiting Australia en route to the Commonwealth Games.

Acquiring the dog, a playful "bitser" from the pound, is easy. But keeping a dog in the apartment is prohibited, and when the landlord threatens eviction Casey gets help with delaying tactics from a lawyer.

Finding Sean's mother is problematical: she is a serial monogamist, and also a compulsive drinker. Casey tracks her down and persuades her to act the part for one day. At first it seems she has failed and Casey fabricates a cover story, but then she appears and plays the part magnificently; at the end of the day they farewell her at the airport. She slips away to a waiting taxi while the plane takes off.

Casey blusters his way into Government House in an attempt to arrange an audience with the Queen, and is rebuffed, but Jenny, a newspaper journalist, becomes interested in the story and arranges for Sean to be among the patients of St Margaret's Rehabilitation Hospital which the Queen was scheduled to visit. When Sean recounts the events, he grants his father a fourth wish, which is not revealed, but is presumably peace and resignation.

Cast

Lionel Williams, an Adelaide television personality, had a cameo part, as Mr Peterson; Audrey Stern was Mrs Peterson. Also mentioned in the credits were Marilyn Allen as Matron, Mark Lawrence as Boy on Dodgem, Ann Peters as Rent-a-Car Girl and Moishe Smith as "Roger".

Awards

Meillon won the 1977 AFI Award for Best Actor for his part in this film.

Home media

The 1976 (Moran has 1983) film The Fourth Wish was released on DVD by Rainbow Products Cat. RDVD9719

Television miniseries

The Fourth Wish
Written by Michael Craig
Directed byEric Taylor
Starring John Meillon
Mark Shields-Brown
Noeline Brown
Barbara Frawley
Judi Farr
Barry Hill
Joe James
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes3 x 75 mins
Original release
Network ABC
Release11 July 1974 (1974-07-11)

The original miniseries aired in 1974. [6] John Meillon won a Best Actor Logie for his performance. [7]

Production

John Meillon had appeared in the TV show. He formed Galaxy Productions, a company with Michael Craig and Don Chaffey to make the movie. [8]

Shooting began in Adelaide in November 1975 with Robert Bettles replacing Mark Shields as Sean. [1] [8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Noeline Brown played Connie in the 1974 mini-series on which this film was based. Meillon here reprises his role as Casey in the original, with Mark Shields-Brown as Sean; other parts are not so easy to pin down. Harrison [4] mentions Barbara Frawley and Judi Farr, while Moran [5] also mentions Barry Hill and Joe James but not the parts they played.

References

  1. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 301
  2. ↑ Australian Film Commission. (1977), "Marketing Branch", Annual report, Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament) (1976/1977, PP no. 63 of 1979), [Canberra: Australian Govt. Pub. Service, ISSN   0816-9624, nla.obj-2754195620, retrieved 27 March 2025– via Trove
  3. ↑ The New York Times
  4. ↑ Tony Harrison (1994). The Australian Film an Television Companion. Simon & Schuster. ISBN   0731804554.
  5. ↑ Albert Moran (1993). Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series. Allen & Unwin. ISBN   0642184623.
  6. ↑ Ed. Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p. 197
  7. ↑ "Logies for Ernie and Ding Dong". The Canberra Times . 8 March 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 3 August 2013– via National Library of Australia.
  8. 1 2 "'The Fourth Wish'". The Australian Women's Weekly . 24 March 1976. p. 31. Retrieved 3 August 2013– via National Library of Australia.


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