Bearded bushranger the Monday evening star

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32801, 29 December 1971, Page 4

Bearded bushranger the Monday evening star

The Australian documentary, “Thunderbolt,” was the best offering at the start of a week expected to yield rich dividends in holiday entertainment. But Monday evening’s programme as a whole was a disappointment.

No further comment is necessary on “Mission Impossible.” Some viewers must like it. Many will regard it as fatuous rubbish. It came first after the news, and it was followed by a belowaverage “Grandstand.” There has been enough top sport on recently to fill several programmes, but this edition was devoted principally to a history of motor racing, and a deserved but prolonged plug for pistol shooting. The last two items were of much better quality. Australia has a colourful History, and “Thunderbolt” brought to life one aspect of it. The documentary was vividly real, even if, just occasionally, the dialogue was a little lame. It told the tale of “Captain Thunderbolt,” the most notorious bushranger of his day, and it left unresolved the problem it posed: was Thunderbolt Frederick Ward or his friend Frederick Alfred Britton? With the support of some very fine photography, the harsh life of the settlement just more than 100 years ago was skilfully drawn. The fear-

ful cruelty of the law provided the background to Britton’s apparently wrong conviction, and for his life of crime.

More films of this quality would be welcome. Australia has ample material to provide them. * * *

“Night of Nights,” which ran for an hour and a half, was a charity performance at the Royal -Festival Hall ip London. Could there be a more charming or elegant hostess than Princess Grace of Monaco? Evidently she was called to duty at only a few hours notice, when Noel Coward fell ill, but there was no hint of the improvised in the presentation of the show. There were only two performers —Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. There .is still a legion of Sinatra fans, and for them it must have been, indeed, a night of nights. Hope also gave a tremendous performance. The quality of his comedy was consistently high, although now and then his audience seemed a little unresponsive—which at least was a change, when so many

shows have organised laughter packed into them. Hope has not lost his magic, and he covered a very wide range of topics deftIy.—PANDORA.

CHTVS 2.00 p.m.: Headline news. 2.03: Thyme for Cookery. 2.19: The Ed Sullivan Snow. Variety. 3.06: The World About Us—“A Dream of Tyo Cities.” Documentary. 3.56: France Panorama. 4.08: Family Affair. Comedy. 4,32; Watch. 4.47: Bamyard Egg Excitement. 4.52: The. Queen Street Gang. Adventure. 5.17: Groovie Goolies. 539: Headline news, weather. 5.42: Bobbie Gentry. Music. 6.11: U.N. Report—“lnternational Court of Justice.” Documentary. 6.39: Design in Living. 7.00: Network news. 7.15: Weather. The South Tonight. 7.30: The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Comedy. . 736: The Trouble-shooters—“ Over The Hill." Drama (Final) 8.47: Newsbrief. i 8.49: Whicker’s Walkabout—Seven Scenes Down Under. Documentary. 9.15: Contrabandits. Detective. 10.03: The Odd Couple. Comedy. 1039: Music, Music. 10.44: Late news, weather.

NATIONAL LINK [lncluding 3YA Christchurch (690 kilohertz); 2YA Wellington (570 kilohertz); 4YA Dunedin (750 kilohertz); and 3YZ Greymouth (920 kilohertz)] 7 p.m.: N.Z.B.C. Sports News. 730: The Maori Programme. 8.0: The Wilfrid Thomas Show. 8.30: Weather and News. 8.40: Sing It Again. 9.0: Continental Cabaret. 9.30: Stop Messing About (8.8. C. 10.0: Spotlight Bands. The Brian Marston Octet with Gary Wakefield (vocal). 10.30: N.Z.B.C. News, Weather. 10.45: Bowls: New Zealand Championships at Dunedin. 11.0: 8.8. C. News and Commentary. 11.15: Chess: New Zealand Championships at Hamilton. 11.17: (continuous) Including 11.30 The Hisory of Operetta (final). 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7 p.m.: Heather MacDonald (soprano), Elizabeth Barnett (piano). Berlioz: Absence: Faure: Here below; Debussy: Hobby-horses; Bizet: April; Debussy: Lia’s Song (The Prodigal Son). (N.Z.8.C.). 7.22: Belgian Radio Concert. Belgian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Sternefeld. W. Kersters: Symphony No. 3, Op. 39, 7.53: Samuel

Barber. Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24—Leontyne Price (soprano), New Pnilharmonia Orchestra under Thomas Schippers. 8.10: Bliss: Piano Concerto (I®39)—Solomon (piano). Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult (Recorded 1943). 8.48: Vaughan Williams: Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus (1939)—The Jacques Orchestra under David Willcocks. 9.0: John A. Lee: A Love Affair with New Zealand. 9.20: Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C (K. 551) (Jupiter) —Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai. 10.0: Man and His Environment. (2): Our Polluted World. The second of four programmes by science writer Nigel Hawkes. 10.14: Some choral classics, by Bach, Mozart, Handel, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Gounod, Verdi, Faure, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Poulenc. 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 8.2 p.m.: The Country and Western Show. 11.2: Your Own Thing. With Jim Smith. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Things are Swinging. 9.0: With Warwick Burke. 10.0: From the Top Pops. 11.0: Sound Conspiracy (final).