''The Sound of Thunder'' is a 1957 Australian television play by Australian writer
Iain MacCormick. It starred Moira Carleton. It was described as "the longest and most ambitious play ABN
he ABChas put over so far"
although ''
The Importance of Being Ernest'', which followed on December 18, exceeded it by 12 minutes.
It was made at a time when Australian drama production was rare and was one of the first productions in Melbourne.
Premise
In Italy in 1944, a small advance group of Allied soldiers arrives at an Italian farm to meet up with some partisan troops, with the aim of blowing up a supply dump. There is a love story between Pietro and Lucia.
Cast
*
Edward Brayshaw
Edward John Brayshaw (18 October 1933 – 28 December 1990) was an Australian actor who worked in Australia and England.
Australian career
He was a Melbourne-based actor in the 1950s and 1960s and often appeared on television and stage. He lef ...
as Pietro
* Judith Godden as Lucia
* Robert Peach as the English Major Campe
* Philip Staintin as Papa
* Lewis Tegart as the Old Man
*
Alan Hopgood
Alan John Hopgood AM (29 September 1934 – 19 March 2022), also known as Alan Hopwood, was an Australian actor, producer, and writer. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film '' Alvin Purple'' and made appearances in television shows such as ...
as Cpl Kutsky
*
Syd Conabere
Sydney Leicester Conabere (8 July 191815 July 2008) was an Australian actor. He was notable for his work in theatre, film and television drama in a career spanning more than fifty years. In 1962 Conabere won the Logie award for Best Actor, for ...
as Seppi
* Neville Thurgood as Cpl Little
* John Morgan as Vincente
Production
''The Sound of Thunder'' was the first of a cycle of war plays under the title of ''The Promised Years''. The series was written for BBC television by English writer Iain McCormack. The plays deal with the effect of war on small groups of ordinary people of different nationalities, "small people in the big messup," according to McCormick.
They were based on personal war time experiences.
The ABC had previously broadcast ''
Small Victory'' by MacCormick and would later do ''
Act of Violence
''Act of Violence'' is a 1949 American film noir starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan and featuring Janet Leigh, Mary Astor and Phyllis Thaxter.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann and adapted for the screen by Robert L. Richards from a story by Collier Yo ...
'' (1959) by the same author.
William Sterling went down to Melbourne to produce the play in September and October. (Sterling would later settle in the city.) It involved seven weeks of preparation, three weeks of rehearsals and two days of camera rehearsals before it was telecast, and filmed for Sydney TV. Judith Godden was in holiday in Melbourne when cast. Robert Peach was a compere of C.M.F. entertainment units in Melbourne.
Sterling spent several weeks looking at amateur theatre in Melbourne. He was inspired by Italian neo realism. "It’s right on television,” he says. "You're watching ordinary people, close up, in highly emotional situations.” Among the amateurs he cast were Lewis Tegart, who had been acting in Little Theatre for 20 years but never professionally, and Alan Hopgood, who was a school teacher who had been performing in a university revue.
It was filmed out of the Coppin Hall studios.
See also
*
References
External links
*
1957 Australian television plays
1957 television plays
Television plays directed by William Sterling
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