Review: The Picture Show Man


Set in Australia in the 20s with John Meillon as the title character, a low-rent travelling showman who tries to bring the magic of motion pictures to small country towns. Harold Hopkins plays Meillon’s son and cohort, with John Ewart (who won an AFI award for this) the piano player they pick up along the way, after Texan rival Rod Taylor pinches Meillon’s previous piano man (a perfect but underused Garry McDonald). Taylor is also a richer and more successful picture show man than Meillon. Jeanie Drynan plays a young woman whom Ewart sweet talks, whilst Tony Barry plays a copper.

 

Not the Aussie classic about 20s-era movie making that I was hoping for, this 1977 film from director John Power (best known for the mini-series “The Dirtwater Dynasty” and “The Tommyknockers”) and screenwriter Joan Long (“Caddie”, producer of “Puberty Blues”) has good performances but a story that isn’t nearly as interesting as it could’ve been. I mean you’ve got a really interesting period in Australian entertainment history, a bonafide home-grown international star coming home in Rod Taylor, and the lead actor is the late John Meillon, as Aussie as a beer ad. This seemed like it was a sure-fire winner in the making. A larrikin version of “The Magic Box” (a brilliant all-star British film about cinematic pioneer William Friese-Greene), perhaps. Hell, it’s even based on a true story (Lyle Penn and his father, apparently). It never quite makes the grade.

 

Some have accused the film of meandering, but I don’t think that’s quite the problem. The problem I think is that it doesn’t just want to be about early Aussie cinema, it has other things on its mind and those things aren’t as interesting. Let’s face it, the John Meillon character is one-part picture show man, one-part vaudeville entertainer, and two-parts con man. That’s fine, except it’s just not as interesting or appealing to me specifically. I also think the film could’ve used a whole lot more Rod Taylor. The rivalry between his character and Meillon’s ends up not being anywhere near as important as you initially assume it will. Sure, Taylor deserves credit for putting his name and marquee value here, helping his local industry, but there’s just not much of a role for him. So I wouldn’t call the film meandering, just uneven and not always as fascinating as it could’ve been had it focussed more on the nostalgia for early Australian cinema.

 

Meillon is absolutely ideal, he was born to play this role, I think. Terrific support from John Ewart and Jeannie Drynan as well. Worth a look for the curious, but prepare to be a bit disappointed. Corny title song sung by star Meillon sounds an awful lot like something Grahame Bond or Brian Cadd would come up with, but definitely suits the film.

 

Rating: C+

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