Turning Point (1960 film)
| Company type | Television drama |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television production |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Headquarters | Sydney , Australia |
| Parent | Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) |
Turning Point is a live Australian television drama that aired on ABC Sydney on 24 February 1960. At the same time, ABC Melbourne broadcast the live production Eye of the Night. These broadcasts were part of a pioneering collection of ten plays created by ABC in 1960, showcasing works by Australian writers. This series included titles such as The Astronauts and The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day. Additional productions likely featured were Close to the Roof, Dark Under the Sun, The Square Ring, Who Killed Kovali?, and Swamp Creatures.
Plot
On the run from the law, Chicka, a fugitive murderer, arrives in the isolated South Australian settlement of Edenberry. To avoid capture by the local constable, he abducts Joan, a woman living there, and escapes with her. After sabotaging his vehicle’s fuel tank, he returns to murder her children following Joan’s escape while he was asleep. The local policeman intervenes just in time to bring the situation under control.
Cast
- Rod Milgate as Chicka
- Benita Harvey portraying Joan
- Deryck Barnes as the policeman
- Jane Coghlan
- Tom Farley
- Ben Gabriel in the role of Steve Pringle
- Reg Lye as Lucy
Production
In its early years, Australian television drama often depended on scripts from overseas. However, in 1960, ABC initiated an "Australiana drive" aimed at developing indigenous stories for the screen. This play was the inaugural production among ten Australian television dramas produced by ABC in Sydney and Melbourne during that year. The writer Denys Burrows, who was also an actor, drew inspiration for the setting and characters from a journey through central Australia. This marked his first television script. Burrows depicted the town as consisting of "six shacks, a pub, a lot of bare earth and a railway line," influenced by a location where temperatures soared to 114 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade.
Rod Milgate had only been professionally acting for one year at the time. Benita Harvey commented that her role was unusual compared to her typical parts, which usually capitalized on her cosmopolitan appearance rather than her darker features. Although outdoor scenes were initially planned for a site south of Sydney, these sequences were ultimately shot against a studio backdrop due to cloudy weather conditions.
Reception
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the play represented "an unsuccessful attempt to graft an unconvincing crime melodrama onto a documentary treatment of outback life." While criticism was directed at the storyline, reviewers recognized the authentic depiction of remote living and praised the capable performances delivered by the cast. However, some noted that the production suffered from slow pacing.