NEW SERIES STARTS WELL

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33445, 29 January 1974, Page 4

NEW SERIES STARTS WELL

Blackmail is the name of the game in ‘‘The Man from Haven/’ the .new six-part crime! ■ series which began on Sunday evening. The game is played with' secret numbered accounts in a Swiss bank.! the stakes are high., and ■the players not too {scrupulous.

The man who wants to Igather in everything on the' [table is a gentlemanly blackmailer, who regards himself [as a sort of modern Robin■ ■Hood, operating in what he [calls “a world of fiddlers,: large and small". ■ The series was created and written by Wilfred' [Greatorex. who gave us! [“The Power Game”. That series was concerned with big business, what went on in the corridors of power, and behind the doors of the rooms along the corridors. The first episode of “The Man From Haven” showed very quickly how skilfully Greatorex can present an aspect of big business in human terms. Some of his characters may be unpleasant; they are never dull, and the dialogue he gives them is so crisp and economical that there are times when it almost seems to: crackle. Sunday evening's opening episode of “The Man From Haven” gave promise of' good things to come. Wei learned something of the se-| crecy surrounding numbered: bank accounts in Switzer-! land, how the gnomes of Zurich regard these accounts, and the way in which a determined wouldbe blackmailer obtains the names of five customers with numbered accounts, and the amount of money in each of them.

The man from Havep is Jack Byron Lever, who has decided that he does not want to ride on a giant company tortoise because he can reach his objective faster alone. The way he chooses is blackmail, and he rationalises his crime by making the excuse that everybody’s at it, and selecting people whose funds were accumulated in unorthodox ways. Lever’s needs are modest —■ $200,000 from each account, making one million pounds for what he says will be investment. His instrument of

The familiar “South Tonight” front man, Rodney Bryant, will talk to Sir Kenneth Gresson, one of New Zealand’s most distinguished jurists, in a portrait programme which will screen on Thursday, February 7 r just after 9 p.m. Sir Kenneth Gresson was first president of the Court of Appeal, first chairman of the Indecent Publications Tribunal and also sat on the Privy Council in England. Rodney Bryant, will speak to Sir Kenneth Gresson about his childhood, his career and his attitudes and philosphies towards life. The producer is Peter Sharp.

[blackmail is the knowledge {of how the money in the se-i 'cret accounts was accumu-i ■ lated. Blackmail is not a pleas-; !ant business, and usually its' {practitioners are also unpleasant. But the first epi-' isode of “The Man From! [Haven" makes Jack Byron! {Lever a rather likeable vililain. And lan Holm, better! i known in Shakespearean > [roles, plays him well. Holm! ! establishes from the first i that Lever, behind the light-! .hearted facade, is determined: Ito let nothing stand in his! way. The first episode of "The! ■Man From Haven”, in which! :Lever makes contact with: ! the first of his selected vie-! tims. gives promise that the : [series will have more appeal; {than “The Regiment”. It is; {unlikely to match “The; Power Game”; it might be in! the same class as “The Mairv Chance”.

“One Man’s China”, the documentary series on aspects of life in China, was presented for the last time on Sunday evening. Felix Greene, who made the series, is an English journalist who has made five previous visits to China. His films. superbly photographed, and with highly informative commentaries, are the work of a man who loves the Chinese people and is fascinated and impressed by the achievements of the People’s Republic since 1949. But each film has shown us only one side of the coin —- the best side. Mr Greene is a one-handed commentator; he has never said “on the other hand” when describing the achievements of the Chinese. His film last evening was devoted to a remarkable aspect of modern China — the organisation and operation of the people’s communes in which the pea-! sants run their own affairs. Mr Greene commented that no-one in China goes to bed wondering where tomorrow’s meal is coming from. He implied that the credit went to the communes; he could have said something about wheat purchases from Canada and Australia.

Mr Greene’s affection for the Chinese, young and old, has made the series less, propagandist than it appears on the surface. But on occa-[ sions Mr Greene has been too kind. He has tried to show in the series that! China has true social de-! mocracy, the essence of which is to minimise avoidable suffering and to maximise individual freedom. China under Chairman Mao ; has done the first, as Mr Greene’s films have shown. “One Man’s China” has never said what happened to the second. —C. J. C.