The Love Letters from Teralba Road

Last updated

The Love Letters from Teralba Road
The Love Letters from Teralba Road.jpg
Title card
Directed by Stephen Wallace
Written byStephen Wallace
Produced by Richard Brennan
Starring Kris McQuade
Bryan Brown
Gia Carides
Cinematography Tom Cowan
Edited byHenry Dangar
Music byRalph Schneider
Release date
  • 26 July 1977 (1977-07-26)
Running time
50 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetAU$25,000 [1]

The Love Letters from Teralba Road is a 1977 Australian short film directed by Stephen Wallace. In 1980 David Stratton called it "not only the most moving love story given to us by the Australian cinema, but also probably the best featurette of the decade." [2]

Contents

Plot

Len (Bryan Brown) and his wife Barbara (Kris McQuade) have separated after he beat her in a drunken rage. He tries to get her back with a series of letters.

Cast

Production

Wallace found a number of letters in a Sydney flat in 1972 which had been written by a man living in Newcastle in 1959. He had beaten up his wife, who subsequently moved to Sydney, and was asking for her forgiveness. [3] Wallace drew from these to write and direct the short film. The film is Bryan Brown's screen debut.

The budget was provided in part by the Creative Development Branch of the Australian Film Commission. [1]

The film won three awards at the 1977 AFI Awards (Best Cinematography in a Non-Feature Film, Best Short Fiction Film, Special Award) and in 1978 the Interfilm Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. [4]

The original woman to whom the letters had been written was tracked down by a journalist and was upset by the film and threatened to sue. She eventually agreed to not to after seeing the movie and meeting Wallace. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Beresford</span> Australian filmmaker

Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Stratton</span> English-Australian film critic (b. 1939)

David James Stratton is an English-Australian film critic and historian. He has also worked as a journalist, interviewer, educator, television personality, and producer. His career as a film critic, writer, and educator in Australia spanned 57 years, until his retirement in December 2023.

<i>The Coca-Cola Kid</i> 1985 film by Dušan Makavejev

The Coca-Cola Kid is a 1985 Australian romantic comedy film. It was directed by Dušan Makavejev and stars Eric Roberts and Greta Scacchi. The film is based on the short stories The Americans, Baby, and The Electrical Experience by Frank Moorhouse, who wrote the screenplay. It was entered into the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryan Brown</span> Australian actor (born 1947)

Bryan Neathway Brown AM is an Australian actor and author. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include Breaker Morant (1980), Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), F/X (1986), Tai-Pan (1986), Cocktail (1988), Gorillas in the Mist (1988), F/X2 (1991), Along Came Polly (2004), Australia (2008), Kill Me Three Times (2014) and Gods of Egypt (2016). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his performance in the television miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronee Blakley</span> American singer-songwriter

Ronee Sue Blakley is an American actress, singer-songwriter, composer, producer and director.

<i>Caddie</i> (film) 1976 Australian film

Caddie is an Australian film biopic directed by Donald Crombie and produced by Anthony Buckley. Released on 1 April 1976, it is representative of the Australian film renaissance which occurred during that decade. Set mainly in Sydney during the 1920s and 1930s, including the Great Depression, it portrays the life of a young middle class woman struggling to raise two children after her marriage breaks up. Based on Caddie, the Story of a Barmaid, a partly fictitious autobiography of Catherine Beatrice "Caddie" Edmonds, it made Helen Morse a local star and earned Jacki Weaver and Melissa Jaffer each an Australian Film Institute Award.

Michael Thornhill was a film producer, screenwriter, and director.

Stephen Henry Wallace A.M. is an Australian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, published author and acting coach. He has directed eight feature films, nine telemovies, numerous short films, worked on multiple television series and has a small theatre company.

Kris McQuade is an Australian actress who has had many film, television and theatre roles.

<i>Newsfront</i> 1978 Australian film

Newsfront is a 1978 Australian drama film starring Bill Hunter, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood and Bryan Brown, directed by Phillip Noyce. The screenplay is written by David Elfick, Bob Ellis, Philippe Mora, and Phillip Noyce. The original music score is composed by William Motzing. This film was shot on location in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Incorporating much actual newsreel footage, the film is shot in both black and white and colour.

<i>Blood Oath</i> (film) 1990 Australian film

Blood Oath, known in some countries as Prisoners of the Sun, is a 1990 Australian drama film directed by Stephen Wallace and co-written by Denis Whitburn and Brian A. Williams. The film stars Bryan Brown, George Takei, Terry O'Quinn, John Bach, John Clarke, Deborah Kara Unger, John Polson, Nicholas Eadie, David Argue and Ray Barrett. The film is based on the real-life trial of Japanese soldiers for war crimes committed against Allied prisoners of war on the island of Ambon, in the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), such as the Laha massacre of 1942.

Buddies is a 1983 Australian comedy/drama film directed by Arch Nicholson and written by John Dingwall. Dingwall won the Best Original Screenplay AFI Award for the script. The film was not a great success in 1983, as no Australian distributor wanted to release it, but Dingwall took it around the country's cinemas himself, where it was well received.

<i>The Night the Prowler</i> 1978 Australian film

The Night the Prowler is a 1978 Australian film written by Patrick White, produced by Anthony Buckley and directed by Jim Sharman. Ruth Cracknell was nominated in 1979 for an AFI Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for her part.

Stork is a 1971 Australian comedy film directed by Tim Burstall. Stork is based on the play The Coming of Stork by David Williamson. Bruce Spence and Jacki Weaver make their feature film debuts in Stork, being honoured at the 1972 Australian Film Institute Awards, where they shared the acting prize. Stork won the prize for best narrative feature and Tim Burstall won for best direction. Stork was one of the first ocker comedies. Stork was the first commercial success of the Australian cinema revival called the Australian New Wave.

<i>Two Friends</i> (1986 film) 1986 film

Two Friends is a 1986 Australian television drama film directed by Jane Campion. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. The film is Campion’s first feature as a director.

<i>Stir</i> (1980 film) 1980 Australian film

Stir is a 1980 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace in his feature directorial debut. The prison film was written by Bob Jewson, based upon his own experience, while incarcerated, of the 1974 prison riot at Bathurst Correctional Complex and the subsequent Royal Commission into New South Wales Prisons. The film was shot in Clare Valley, Gladstone and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. It premiered at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.

The 1977 Australian Film Awards ceremony, presented by the Australian Film Institute (AFI), honoured the best Australian films of 1976 on 21 September 1977 at Regent Theatre, in Sydney, New South Wales. It was televised on ABC. Actors Keir Dullea and Karen Black, and former Australian Prime Minister John Gorton hosted the show.

<i>On Giants Shoulders</i> 1979 television film

On Giant's Shoulders is a 1979 BBC television film about the early life of thalidomide victim Terry Wiles, with Wiles playing himself. The drama also starred Bryan Pringle and Judi Dench and won an Emmy Award in 1980.

Tom Cowan is an Australian filmmaker.

Harvest of Hate is a 1978 Australian film made for TV about Arab terrorists operating in South Australia.

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 315
  2. David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p. 286
  3. 1 2 Danny Torsh, "Love Letters and Stephen Wallace", Cinema Papers, January 1978 pp. 221–223
  4. IMDb awards