Need for expanded “World Scene”

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33712, 9 December 1974, Page 4

Need for expanded “World Scene”

“World Scene” is looking up slightly. Too often this Friday evening programme has been a hotch-potch of heavily-slanted publicity film supplied by Government information services and magazine film of dubious quality rejected by news editors.

Friday evening’s piece on the desperate food situation on the Indian sub-continent was neither. It presented, in terms that were only too clear, the failure of the so-called “green revolution” and the depressingly overcrowded scenes in Calcutta and Dacca. This was no Indian Government tourist “comeon” film. You could almost smell the hot, dusty stench of the packed and noisy streets, and the hopelessness of refugees from the country was only too clear. The film also underlined the failure of international

church and aid organisations to solve any problems —they are only scratching the surface and for the time being staving off death from hunger and disease. Also highlighted was the plight of the refugees, whose need is the greatest, but who cannot , obtain ration cards for food because they have no address. This is a warning of what can happen when bureaucracy gets the upper hand, if ever there was one. “World Scene” still gives the impression that it is operating with limited staff, budget, and resources. The programme could easily be expected so that it screens three or four times a week. This would require initiatives being taken so that items of particular interest to New Zealand could be asked for and made available for screening quickly. It always seems incredible that so little filmed material on what is happening in Australia, our nearest neighbour, appears on the N.Z.B.C. And for all the talk about New Zealand being part of the Pacific and Asia there is precious little screened by way of up-to-date filmed material from the region of interest to viewers in this country.

It is a good idea, now and then, for parents to take a look at early-evening programmes their children watch. There is an American programme called “You Asked For It” which screens at 6.16 p.m. on Fridays. It is billed as a series featuring unusual events, acts, and places, and Jack Smith is the host.

Mr Smith is a nice enough guy, but he does tend to credit viewers as having practically no common sense. He is also given to the American habit of exaggeration.

However, Friday evening’s item showing the 1957 cyclone or “twister” which ripped through Dallas was well worth looking at. It also reflected the tenacity with which the team of television cameramen stuck to their job in spite .of the obvious danger of being hit by flying roofing iron, bricks, and walls.

Still, here again, it would be so refreshing if some-one in the vast empire that is the N.Z.B.C. came up with a programme which sought requests from New Zealand children about our own country.

And jf that turned out to be to,o parochial, it could surely be mixed with items from “You Asked For It” if necessary. * * ♦

You must hand it to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”—it is a refreshing piece of buffoonery to lighten the week. And that piece about the Aussies is a bit of all right, isn’t it Bruce? The parts of the human body, complete with the naughty bits, running through the piece of lunacy was quite delightful. Long live the circus. * * »

The Christchurch-produced programme “Focus”—well

worth watching out for on Saturday nights—this time took a look at tourist accommodation at Mount Cook National Park. This was a topical piece, thoroughly explored, which may prove to be a timely environmental warning. The play “White Walls and Olive Green Carpets" was billed as a suspense play. The two characters in it did their best, but neither dialogue nor story did a great deal to create suspense. The play was an interesting little study in human relations, but it tended to be I rather far-fetched and : tedious.—K.C.