Sports fans were well catered for

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33480, 11 March 1974, Page 4

Sports fans were well catered for

There can be few complaints about the attention given sport on television — and if Saturday’s “Grandstand” programme is any guide, it is a wonder there are not more overgrown lawns about Christchurch.

There was only one disappointment. Having been promised the previous evening on "Billboard”—another most adequate programme of its type—that "Grandstand” would feature racing and cricket, plus some English soccer, we took up station at 2 p.m. expecting to be taken promptly to Lancaster Park.

However, it was not until 3.30 p.m. that we got to see some cricket, the first hour and a half being taken up with two races from Trentham and two English soccer matches. There were possibly reasons why the cricket could not come on earlier; but if not, it would seem strange judgment to ignore the major event of the day for so long, particularly as the soccer, good and all as it was, could be shown any time and even at a time (Sunday afternoon) more suited to the people most vitally interested.

Once on the screen, the cricket was very well presented. There were muchappreciated replays of earlier dismissals, and although there were further interruptions they were not for very long. Truth, so it is said, is stranger 1 than fiction. And, it might be added, there is no television more gripping than the live-screening of real-life drama. For sheer tension, there was nothing on Friday or Saturday to compare with Glenn Turner’s anxious moments in the last over of the day. The films on both Friday and Saturday evening held high promise, but neither lived up to expectations. “The Servant,” on Friday, may well have found favour with the serious moviegoer, for from a purely technical viewpoint there was much to commend it. However, for those with less sophisticated tastes, it was so obscurely plotted that the moral of the story — there undoubtedly was one —took finding. That the script was by Harold Pinter was excuse enough for the story to be something out of the ordinary, and it might only have required Mr Pinter to take the audience a little more into his confidence for the film to score highly. As it was, we knew too little about the master (James Fox) and more espe- 1

cially about the servant (Dirk Bogarde) for the abrupt change in their relationship to make any real sense. Nor was there any explanation at the end. In fact, the ending was as annoying as it was unexpected. On Saturday evening the accomplished comedy team of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn was seen in the 1957 production, “Desk Set.” There were occasional good lines, but modern-day audiences could be forgiven if they found the line of comedy rather stale. Yet, Miss Hepburn’s tremendous screen personality is something which time will not easily diminish. With some assistance from the former “blonde bombshell,” Joan Blondell, she injected life into a script which needed all the help it could get. &

Capturing the mood of a town in 10 minutes is no easy task, but “Focus” achieved a fair measure of success with its report on Twizel, a town which is doomed to die once the Upper Waitaki power scheme is completed. For the 5000 people who live in Twizel, their wellbeing is in the hands of “Uncle M.0.W.” (for the Ministry of Works, which built and runs the town) and from what “Focus” unearthed it would seem that he is a benevolent enough uncle. The reporter, John Gatfield, did a wise thing when he spoke to the town’s womenfolk to get a line on how the inhabitants see their future. He had a clear picture after just two or three questions. Hs # &

The veteran actor, Burgess Meredith appeared in dramas on both Friday and Saturday evening. The first was in the rather fruitless “Search”, which did little to improve its image with a far-fetched story about a mad scientist bent on revenge. In “Search”, Meredith plays the controller, who between barking orders to his computer staff does his best to see that his “probes” keep their minds off the beautiful lasses they encounter, long enough to complete their assignments. A far more demanding role was that of a longserving convict in “Finnegan’s Flight”, Saturday’s “Night Gallery” episode. Although its stories are short, “Night Gallery” is often very good and with Barry Sullivan and Cameron Mitchell in the cast, "Finnegan’s Flight” was definitely in this category.

Hypnosis was the theme, and the point of the story was made with considerable

impact. Viewers were no doubt reminded of Kreskin’s claims, made on “The South Tonight” the previous evening, about there being no such thing as hypnosis. Still, it was a good story.—K.J.M.