The Prowler (Australian Playhouse)
"The Prowler" is the fourth television play episode of the first season of the Australian anthology television series Australian Playhouse.[1][2][3] "The Prowler" was written by Pat Flower and directed by Alan Burke and originally aired on ABC on 9 May 1966.[4]
"The Prowler" | |
---|---|
Australian Playhouse episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 4 |
Directed by | Alan Burke |
Teleplay by | Pat Flower |
Produced by | David Goddard |
Original air date | 9 May 1966 |
Running time | 30 mins |
Guest appearances | |
| |
Plot
A man, tired of hearing about his wife's dead first husband, decides to resurrect the man when rumours about a prowler begin to circulate.[5]
Cast
- Gwen Plumb as Elsie Hopewell
- Stewart Ginn as her husband Fred
- Judith Champ as Jean Thurston
- Roger Box as Morgan Thurston
- Anthony Thurbon as detective
Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald critic called it "negligible and easily puffed up to pass half an hour at a fairly slow pace; but it was quite entertainingly watchable thanks to Miss Flower's clever way with turns of phrase true to suburban bickering" and some "beautifully relaxed and subtle comedy-acting of Stewart Ginn and Gwen Plumb."[6]
The Sunday The Sydney Morning Herald critic, who thought Flower's "The Tape Recorder" was "brilliant" called "The Prowler" "a miss".[7]
The Age said "the play was well acted and well produced; but it did not add up to anything. It felt as though I had been reading a novel and skipping page after page just to get to the story only to find that it had not been worth the trouble."[8]
References
- "MONDAY". The Canberra Times. 9 May 1966. p. 19. Retrieved 29 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
- "CANBERRA REPERTORY Germany's most disputed play". The Canberra Times. Vol. 40, no. 11, 459. 4 May 1966. p. 23. Retrieved 9 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
- "The Prowler". The Age. 5 May 1966. p. 14.
- "TV Guide". The Age. 5 May 1966. p. 17.
- "Comedy with a Light Touch". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 May 1966. p. 16.
- Marshall, Valda (22 May 1966). "Two hits and a miss". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 82.
- Monitor (14 May 1966). "Disappointing TV Play". The Age. p. 23.