''The Long Sunset'' is a 1963 Australian TV movie based on a play by R.C. Sheriff. It starred John Bell and was directed by

Colin Dean Colin Dean (1919-2007) was an Australian producer and director who worked in Australian TV in the 1950s and 1960s. He worked in the UK in the late 1940s, and returned to Australia in the 1950s. Select credits *''The Queen in Australia'' (1954) * ...

It was recorded live. The play had been filmed by the BBC in 1958.

Plot

A Roman family during the last days of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

. Julian Severus lives near Canterbury when he hears the Romans are abandoning Britain.

Cast

* Henry Gilbert as Julian Severus *Lynne Murphy as Serena Severus *

James Condon James Thomas Condon (27 September 1923 – 14 February 2014) was an Australian actor of radio and stage, a scriptwriter and voice over, however best known for his numerous television roles in serials and television movies in Australia, particu ...

as Arthur, leader of a band of Britons * John Bell as Julian's son Otho *Sandra Gleeson as Paula *Tim Cohen as Gawaine *Guy le Claire as Lugar *Ronald Morse as Portius *Richard Parry as Lucian *John Faassen as Marcus

Production

It was filmed in Sydney. The designer was Douglas Smith. "It's not hard to see parallels with modern situations," said director Colin Dean. "Alaric's encroachment on Rome in the fifth century AD is not without its modern counterparts." Lynne Murphy and Henry Gilbert previously played husband and wife in ''The Outcasts'', John Bell had been in '' Ballad of One Gun''. It was the TV debut for Sandra Gleeson. The play also broadcast on Australian radio in 1963.

Reception

The critic from the '' Sydney Morning Herald'' wrote that "the gingerly stiffness of dialogue and manner that seems to overcome most dramatists and actors when they are playing at history was seldom absent from the" production. He felt that the characters in the original play "are in any case incorrigible cardboard, but Colin Dean's production, despite a few visual ingenuities, seemed to emphasise rather than minimise their creaking unreality. The Romans either intoned phrases of hollow nobility and stoicism or were querulous and fearful; their British allies in the fight against the encroaching Saxons merely slouched and growled. None of them was more than spasmodically interesting." The critic felt Gilbert "seemed to be taking part in a very slow and stately pageant" while Condon was "conscientiously surly and thicktongued" while Bell and Faassen "were largely wasted in dull parts." The critics felt "the play would have seemed better if the performance had shown more evidence of the sort of rehearsal that allows actors to develop characterisations as well as merely learn lines and moves, but even with devoted attention it is not likely to have much more in its favour than the romance of its historical idea." ''The Age'' said Gilbert was "most convincing" and that the play "opened impressively" then "floundered with the Roman settlers left to their own devices" but "concluded with a compelling marshalling of dramatics." ''Filmink'' said "It’s extremely watchable entertainment, John Bell fans will get a major kick out of it, and Australian dramatisations of Ancient Rome have definite novelty value."

References

External links

*
Full text of play
at

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