''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, Film producer, producer, and art director. Chaffey's film career began as an art director in 1947, and his directorial debut was in 1953. He remained acti ...

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 as Sean Pearse * Ingrid Mason as Emily Stuart * Victoria Shaw as Moira * Mark Hembrow as Peter * Wendy Playfair as Gwen Stuart * John Meillon * Patrick Ward * Mark Edwards

Release

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

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

and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on 13 February 1980. This telefilm was also aired by

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

and

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...

from 18 June 1981 to 1 July 1981. It reran on The Movie Channel from 9 November 1981 to 23 April 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 mains ...

and RTP2 aired the telefilm in May 1983. In Spain, TVE1 and TVE2 aired the telefilm in May 1983. In Netherlands, NPO 1 aired the telefilm in October 1982. In Italy, RAI aired the telefilm in October 1983. On 23 September 1985, Academy Home Entertainment released the film as Mutual Respect on VHS. On 15 March 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." The Age's Mark Lawrence wrote "With its occasional tense moments, all round competent acting performances and good photography Shimmerling (sic) Light offers worthwile entertainment." Also in the Age Brian Courtis said "It's a lightweight film with a credible script and several excellent acting performances".

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 filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

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