AustLit

An Australian, German, and Scottish co-production filmed on location in Sri Lanka, Elephant Boy was an adaptation of 'Toomai of the Elephants', a story from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894). 'Toomai of the Elephants' had already been made into a successful 1937 film (also called Elephant Boy), starring Sabu, and the earlier film largely overshadows the later re-make.

The program has no discernable Australian content, but did include some Australian actors, notably Kevin Miles (who played Prince Paddam) and Ric Hutton (who played Colonel Shannon). It also employed Australian script-writers, including Tony Morphett. Post-production took place at the Artransa Park studios in Sydney.

The first episode of Elephant Boy, 'The Tyrant', is available on YouTube:

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrxYbVh_z2A&feature=related

Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbecrbNuLPM&feature=related

(Sighted 27/10/2011)

Developed by Guy Thayer as a co-production between Artransa Park Studios and Trans Pacific Enterprises, Riptide starred American actor Ty Hardin (former star of the western series Bronco, which ran from 1958 to 1962) as Moss Andrews, an American businessman who travels to Australia after the sudden death of his Australian wife, and works through his bereavement by assisting his father-in-law in operating a charter-boat business, a purpose that is frequently thwarted as he crosses the paths of various villains.

Apart from Hardin, the cast was Australian, including such short-lived roles as medical student Neil Winton, his girlfriend Judy Plenderleith, and Moss's father-in-law Barney Duncan (whose character disappeared when the actor portraying him died during the series' run). (See notes below for more details on Australian guest stars.)

According to Don Storey in Australian Classic Television, the series cost around $70,000 an episode, and made extensive use of expensive props (largely nautical, but also including cars and helicopters). However, the plots were frequently stigmatised as ridiculous: Storey notes that 'These comments are quite valid - the plots in Riptide are ridiculous', but Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, counters that 'it did not deserve these brickbats. It is a reasonably entertaining adventure series in the tradition of Adventures in Paradise'.

From an original storyline by Ralph Smart, Bitter Springs is a pioneering drama that centres on the conflict between white settlers and Aboriginal people over rights of access to water. In the early 1900s, the King family treks some 600 miles to take up the property they bought from the government. When they arrive, they clash with the local Aboriginal tribe. The waterhole on which the local people depend for survival is now part of the Kings' property. When one of the Kings is speared, the family decide to compromise rather than fight, and a deal is struck whereby both parties agree to establish a profitable sheep station around the waterhole.

The story is notably liberal in balancing the point-of-view of encroaching European settlers with Aboriginal claims for land rights, coincidentally contemporaneous with the emergence of the liberal, pro-Native American Hollywood Western with Broken Arrow (1950).

Based on the real incidents that occurred on the Ballarat goldfields in Victoria during the early to mid 1850s, Eureka Stockade follows Peter Lalor, a boisterous prospector who leads a rebellion against the colonial authorities over excessive licences and restrictions. At first, the prospectors intend to use random mob violence, but Lalor organises the group into a strong, united front. The climax sees them take on the troops under the flag of the Southern Cross.

Lalor is portrayed in this version as a man of doubts and principles rather than as the charismatic rebel leader traditionally associated with the legend.

Set in a small Australian rural town, the narrative begins with the Thompson children--Helen, John, and Snow--riding their horses home from school with Michael, their English friend, and Neza, the son of the family's Aboriginal stockman. Following a path that they have been forbidden to take, the children meet two strangers who give them money and make them promise to keep quiet about their presence. While talking to the men, the Thompson children innocently mention Lucy, their prize mare, and her foal, not knowing that the two men, Long Bill and Jim, are horse thieves.

When the horses go missing the next day, the children realise who stole them and that they were responsible for this happening. Resolving to get Lucy and her foal back, the children tell their parents that they are going camping but instead head off with Michael and Neza to track down the villains (who by now have been joined by another man named Blue). They eventually recover the horses and steal the men's boots and blankets, while Neza spears their water bag. Although the children's escape is thwarted when the villains trap them in an old ghost town, Mr Thompson and the local police turn up just in time and arrest the thieves. The children then return home for a much-anticipated Christmas dinner.

'A series of mysterious deaths in a Welsh lighthouse lead locals to believe it is haunted. But the new keeper is sceptical.'

Source British Film Institute's BFI Screenonline (http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/438757/). (Sighted: 22/9/2014)