The Torrents (film)

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"The Torrents"
Australian Plays episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 5
Directed by Oscar Whitbread
Teleplay byOriel Grey
Based onplay The Torrents by Oriel Gray
Original air date10 December 1969 (Sydney, Melbourne) [1]
Running time70 mins
Episode chronology
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"Tilley Landed On Our Shore"
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"Fiends of the Family"

The Torrents is a 1969 Australian TV play based on the stage play by Oriel Gray. It was filmed as part of the ABC anthology drama series Australian Plays . [2] It was the second Gray play adapted by the ABC, after Burst of Summer . [3]

Contents

Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time. [4]

Cast

Production

It was shot in Melbourne and at Maldon, a small town outside Bendigo. [5] It was designed by Alan Clarke. Railway carriages were hired from the Society of Railway Enthusiasts. The budget could not cover the hiring of an old locomotive so a modern one was used, but this was obscured by a fog machine. [6]

Reception

One critic called it "a beauty". [7]

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References

  1. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 December 1969. p. 19.
  2. 1 2 Kelly, Frances (11 December 1969). "Television. A play at last!". The Canberra Times. Canberra, ACT, Australia. p. 33. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  3. Vagg, Stephen (15 November 2020). "The Flawed Landmark: Burst of Summer". Filmink.
  4. Vagg, Stephen (February 18, 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  5. "Drama Sheds Mothballs". The Age. 23 October 1969. p. 45.
  6. Robinson, Fred (24 September 1969). "This is the place for a village". TV Times. p. 4.
  7. "TELEVISION". The Canberra Times . 44 (12, 490). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 11 December 1969. p. 33. Retrieved 18 February 2019 via National Library of Australia.