Newsfront **** (1978, Bill Hunter, Gerard Kennedy, Angela Punch McGregor, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood, John Ewart, Bryan Brown) – Classic Movie Review 7201

Director Phillip Noyce’s 1978 Australian times are changing movie Newsfront is an excellent, likeable, good-humoured drama of rival Aussie cinema newsreel cameramen in the Fifties. They are sweet-natured Len Maguire (Bill Hunter) for ‘Cinetone’ and bad-tempered Charlie (John Ewart) for ‘Newsco’.

These are some of the questions. Should they discuss politics in their films? Should they switch to TV when the movie newsreel era is over?

Newsfront is crisply handled by Noyce in his feature début, with telling use of black and white newsreel footage (especially the Maitland area floods). The film says a lot about the development of Australia at this key period (1948-56), but mostly it is a warmhearted people movie, thanks mainly to Hunter’s generous-spirited central performance and the very entertaining story.

Newsfront is one of the gems of the New Australian Cinema of the Seventies, propelling Noyce to a brilliant career. It is the winner of the 1978 Australian Film Institute award for best film. It won eight Australian Film Institute awards, though awards were thin on the ground elsewhere.

The screenplay is by Phillip Noyce and Bob Ellis, from a concept by David Elfick and Philippe Mora, and an original screenplay and dialogue by Bob Ellis.

Also in the cast are Gerard Kennedy, Angela Punch McGregor, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood, Don Crosby, Bryan Brown, John Dease, John Ewart, John Clayton and Lorna Lesley.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7201

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