Freshness and appeal in week-end shows

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33066, 6 November 1972, Page 4

Freshness and appeal in week-end shows

Freshness and originality are rare in the rather weary, over-worked world of television, but these qualities were put before CHTV3 viewers twice at the week-end in the programme by Esther Ofarim and in the Saturday, night crime story, “The Delphix Bureau.”

Miss Ofarim has an enchanting personality, and an easy, appealing voice. She is a strange young woman, and it was hard to know at times whether she was 13 or 30. She sometimes seemed to be an Oriental mystic, at others the rather naughty little girl next door, She sang in several languages, she had

some brief but attractive sitins with a group of little tots. She displayed a versatility and a sense of humour which made her programme something to remember. The show was elaborately staged, and for the camera crews, and the effects department, it was a day out Much emphasis was put on the impact a camera can give and there were some strange but effective departures from traditional camera practice. “The Delphi Bureau’ was a breezy little adventure, with

an outrageously improbable story but a light touch to the narrative, rather in the style with which Richard Powell used to amuse his readers a few years ago. Laurence Luckinbill and Joanna Pettet romped through this divert-

ing exercise happily. Dean Jagger was there, so was Cameron Mitchell, and Bob Crane of “Hogan’s Heroes” was present as one of the silky villains. There was some lively dialogue, some eyecatching scenery and camera work, and the Perils of Pauline were never as extreme as those of the hero, in the dramatic climax when he was pursued through a corn-field by Cameron in a cultivator.

The Friday night film "99 River Street” could have been added to the list of week-end comedies had it not been for the amount of violence and sadism it contained. It was a very ugly film at times. But the dialogue could have come from a comic strip and the improbability of it could not be hidden or ignored, when the acting was of such abysmal quality.

“Z Cars” had a look at the less exciting and glamorous side of police work, and it was one which P. C. Quilley, a probable choice for transfer to the detective side of the business, did not appreciate. It was a harrowing story, of a woman who stole for her young son, who thought she was his aunt. And the police

did not come out of this glimpse of petty crime very well, with their questioning of the boy, and Sergeant Stone telling him the woman was his mother, so that the youngster, shocked and dismayed at what he thought was duplicity, admitted what she had done. It was a startling study of a woman with a record of petty crime, vituperative, anti-social, but redeemed by her love for her son. It was a far more disturbing play than most of the cops-and-robbers pieces seen on television.

"Saturday" devoted itself, in part, to the phenomenal growth in the quantity of private health insurance being taken out by New Zealanders. It was a topical subject, and there was a good, well-balanced round-up of relevant opinion. Saturday evening ended with “New Zealand Big Time Wrestling” which immediately struck a circus atmosphere, in the blatant claims of the wrestling ringmaster about the undying fame of his performers. It was a good substitute for a late-night comedy. Nothing could have looked much more contrived and staged than this nonsense, and the last faint air of authenticity was destroyed by the sound effects. When a man punches another on the back, it does not sound like someone banging a large and heavy plank against the side of a house.PANDORA.

2JM) pjm: News. 2.03: The Ballad of Andy Crocker. Drama. 3.15: The Pianomakers. Documentary (repeat). 337: Petticoat Junction. Comedy, 4.02: Sesame Street. 5.03: The Bugs Bunny Show, 5.27: Hot Dog. 5.48: News, weather. 5.51: The Harlem Globetrotters. Cartoon. 6.10: Arnie. Comedy. 6.35: The Night Sky. 6.50: To be announced. 7.00: Network news. 7.20: Weather. The South Tonight 7,40: Fraud Squad. Detective. 8.30: Grandstand. Sports. 8.56: Newsbrief. 8.58: Frost Over America—George Bums, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett 9.50: To be announced. 11.20: Late news, weather.

NATIONAL LINK (Including 3YA Christchurch (690 kilohertz); 2YA Wellington (570 kilohertz); 4YA Dunedin (750 kilohertz); and 3YZ Greymouth (950 kilohertz).] 7 pm: N.Z.B.C. Sports News. 7.30: Maori for Beginners. 8.0: General election. 9.15: W’eather and news. 9.45: The Silence. 10.30: N.Z.B.C. News, comment, weather. 10.45: No Highway. 11.0: 8.8. C. news and commentary. 11.15: Continuous. 1.30 am.: Those were the days. 3.3: Cabaret. 3.30: Country and western show. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7 p.m.: Rossini: Overture: The Siege of Corinth. 7,12: Richard Beauchamp (piano). John Field: Nocturnes—No. 4 in A; No. 10 in E; No. 14 in G; No. 9 in E minor. 7.30: Heinrich Schuetz (300th anniversary of his death): The Passion According to St John—Loma Harris (con-

traito), Peter Williams (tenor), John Harker (baritone), Peter Hind (bass), Christchurch Harmonic Society Chorale conducted by William Hawkey. 8.0: Topic. 8.30: Austrian Radio Concert 3.34: Poems by William Blake, read by Richard Marquand and Alan Bates. 9.40: Electro-Acoustic Music by composers attached to the Groupe de Recherches. 10.11: Loewe: Dietrich FischerDieskau (baritone), Joerg Demus (piano). 10.20: Brahms: The Piano Music played by Julius Katchen. 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 8.35 p.m.: Selwyn’s Christmas Hamper. 9.30: Melbourne Cup Preview. 9.35: Double One Double O Requests. 11.5: Till the Midnight Hour. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH 7.30 p.m.: World Records on the Air. 9.0: Frontline for Students.