''She'll Be Right'' is a 1962

Australian television Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Brisb ...

play which aired on the ABC.

Plot

In 1962, a group of tourists meet an Englishman, Gutherie, at a French mountain inn. Guthrie tells them about an Australian soldier, Nugget Wilson, a prisoner of war in Germany during World War Two. Wilson escaped and joined the French Resistance movement along with Guthrie. Wilson is captured and executed by a German firing squad. His last words are "she'll be right".

Cast

Fred Parslow Frederick Henry Parslow (14 August 1932 – 26 January 2017) was an Australian actor who appeared in film, television and theatre. Acting career Parslow was notable in several film and TV roles, with parts in internationally successful TV so ...

as Guthrie * Kevin Hanily as Nugget Wilson *

Alan Hopgood Alan John Hopgood AM (29 September 1934 – 19 March 2022), also known as Alan Hopwood, was an Australian actor, producer, and writer. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film '' Alvin Purple'' and made appearances in television shows such as ...

as Hank *

Syd Conabere Sydney Leicester Conabere (8 July 191815 July 2008) was an Australian actor and puppeter. He was notable for his work in theatre, film and television drama in a career spanning more than fifty years. In 1962 Conabere won the Logie award for Bes ...

as Bluey * Julie Allen * Horst Bergfried *

Agnes Dobson Agnes May Dobson (30 December 1904 – 26 February 1987) was an Australian actress. Career Agnes Dobson was born on 30 December 1904, at Glebe Point, in Sydney, Australia, though her birth was not registered. Dobson's parents were New Zeala ...

as Mrs. Wilson * Mary Duchesne as French resistance member * Mary Reynolds as Lisbeth * John Royle as German civilian * Stuart Finch * Andrew Lodge * Donald Sey

Production

The drama was shot in Melbourne. It was the first straight dramatic role for dancer Mary Muchesne and ABV-2 announcer John Royle. "I am very pleased to be getting the part," said Royle. "It will give me an insight into the inside. In the past I have always been on the outside looking in." The story also served as a radio play which was selected as the A.B.C.'s radio play for the 1961

Italia Prize The Prix Italia is an international television, radio-broadcasting and web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with th ...

and had been broadcast in Australia in 1961. It had been repeated in February 1962.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' felt producer Chris Muir "adopting the immensely impressive pace of a professional, raised a living and passionate memorial to the memory of Australian soldiers" and felt the performance of Kevin Hanily ("completely credible and sympathetic") and the supporting cast "and the mode of presentation generally, bore the austere stark simplicity of a medieval passion play, and with much the same hushed effect." Valda Marshall from the same paper called it "a first rate drama... a beautiful piece of craftmanship, with a casting that was almost faultless...Kerr's theme, that war and heroes are made up in the main from ordinary nondescript people, was one that could easily have become just that . . . ordinary and nondescript. But instead he produced a quiet, tight little drama that ranks as one of the best Australian plays the A.B.C. has given us." Frank Roberts from ''The Bulletin'' said writer Kerr "has taken one of the everyday phrases Australians use, like, and quit unintentionally he has written one of the jolliest spoof around it, guying incoherent Englishmen, casual Australians, international tourists, and the French Maquis. Produced, again unintentionally, as a farce by Christopher Muir, it proved one of the better television comedies of the year."

External links

References