''Shimmering Light'' is a 1978 Australian television film about an American surfer who travels to Australia in search of the perfect wave. It was one of six TV movies made in Australia by Transatlantic Enterprises.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p140 It was directed by

Don Chaffey Donald Chaffey (5 August 1917 – 13 November 1990) was a British film director, writer, producer, and art director. Chaffey's film career began as an art director in 1947, and his directorial debut was in 1953. He remained active in the indu ...

Plot

Kevin Pearse is a 29-year-old drop-out who lives off his family trust and spends most of his time surfing. He is seeing two women, young Emily and older Moira. His father Scan arrives.

Cast

* Beau Bridges as Kevin Pearse *

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

as Sean Pearse * Ingrid Mason as Emily Stuart * Victoria Shaw as Moira *

Mark Hembrow Mark Hembrow (born 1955, in Brisbane) is an Australian actor, writer and musician. He has also has worked as a producer and director. Early life and family Hembrow's parents were Vernon Charles Hembrow, a senior English Literature Lecturer at ...

as Peter *

Wendy Playfair use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , nationality = , other_names = , citizenship = , education = , ...

as Gwen Stuart *

John Meillon John Meillon, ( ; 1 May 1934 – 11 August 1989), was an Australian character actor, known for many straight as well as comedy roles, he became most widely known internationally as Walter Reilly in the films ''Crocodile Dundee'' and ''Crocodil ...

* Patrick Ward

Release

This telefilm was originally aired by ABC on December 12, 1978. It released in theatres at Germany on May 17, 1979 and later aired by

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

and HBO on February 13, 1980. This telefilm was also aired by BBC Two and

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent ...

from June 18, 1981 to July 1, 1981. It reran on

The Movie Channel The Movie Channel (TMC) is an American premium television network owned by Showtime Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global operated through its Media Networks unit. The network's programming mainly features first-run theatrically released ...

from November 9, 1981 to April 23, 1983. In Portugal,

RTP1 RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainst ...

and

RTP2 RTP2 (''RTP dois'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting cultural, ...

aired the telefilm in May 1983. In Spain, TVE1 and

TVE2 La 2 (, ''The Two'') is a Spanish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Televisión Española (TVE), the television division of state-owned public broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE). It is the corporation's second tel ...

aired the telefilm in May 1983. In Netherlands,

NPO 1 NPO 1 (''NPO een'', formerly Nederland 1 until 2014) is the first national television station in the Netherlands. It launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels NPO 2 and NPO 3. Severa ...

aired the telefilm in October 1982. In Italy,

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

aired the telefilm in October 1983. On September 23, 1985, Academy Home Entertainment released the film as Mutual Respect on VHS. On March 15, 1988, Video Treasures also released the film on VHS.

Reception

The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' wrote "The end product is really half-hearted. The idea was good, the acting similar. But, in the end, the Bridges family and their fellow actors were betrayed by a really ordinary script." Another reviewer in the same paper called it "a first rate telemovie."

References

External links

* * *
''Shimmering Light''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

Australian television films Films directed by Don Chaffey {{Australia-tv-film-stub