The Big Deal (film) - Misplaced Pages

1962 film by William Sterling This article is about the 1961 Australian teleplay. For the 2011 film, see A Big Deal.

The Big Deal
Advertisement from The Age 29 Nov 1961
Written by	Charles Cohen
Directed by	William Sterling
Starring	Don Crosby
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
Production
Running time	60 mins
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	29 November 1961 (1961-11-29) (Melbourne)
Release	9 May 1962 (1962-05-09) (Sydney)
Release	5 March 1963 (1963-03-05) (Brisbane)

The Big Deal is a 1961 Australian TV play. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.

Plot

Herbie, a despatch worker at a plastics factory, dreams of being a millionaire, but he lacks the killer instinct. His friend Julian dreams of creating novelties from plastic.

Cast

Donald Crosby as Herbie Schiff
Marie Renshaw as Lillian
Edward Howell as Solly Parness
Kenneth Goodlet as Julian Ring
Morton Smith as Al Konits
Diana Bell as Ginger
Brenda Beddison as Claire
Keith Hudon as Ralph
Roland Renshaw
Campbell Copelin
Carole Potter
Nancy Cato
James Lynch

Production

The play had been broadcast in London and New York but this was its first production in Australia. Brenda Beddison and Morton Smith made their debuts in "live" drama. Eight studio sets were constructed by Kevin Bartlett.

Reception

The critic from the Sydney Morning Herald thought the play was "neither comical, subtle, ironic, nor in fact even, remotely entertaining" having "no plot worthy of the name, and its theme, tenuous to say the least, gained nothing from the hourlong treatment" with "dialogue of unrelieved stodginess, produced without imagination, dramatic sense or photographic skill."

References

"Wednesday TV". The Age. 29 November 1961. p. 23.
"TV Guide". The Age. 23 November 1961. p. 37.
"TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 May 1962. p. 17.
^ "Small man big deal". 28 February 1963. p. 15. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
"Big Deal Next Week". Sydney Morning Herald. 29 April 1962. p. 107.
Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
"Untitled". The Age. 23 November 1961. p. 28.
"Television Play Production". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 May 1962. p. 10.

External links

The Big Deal at IMDb

v t e TV productions of William Sterling
TV plays	Elizabeth Refuses (1957) In the Zone (1957) Ending It (1957) Rope (1957) Sound of Thunder (1957) Captain Carvallo (1958) Killer in Close-Up (1958) The Small Victory (1958) Box for One (1958) Gaslight (1958) The Governess (1958 film) (1958) The Lark (1959) One Morning Near Troodos (1959) A Dead Secret (1959) Black Limelight (1959) Ned Kelly (1959) Treason (1959) Heart Attack (1960) The Public Prosecutor (1960) Mine Own Executioner (1960) Macbeth (1960) Dark Under the Sun (1960) Who Killed Kovali? (1960) Two-Headed Eagle (1960) The End Begins (1961) Shadow of Heroes (1961) Call Me a Liar (1961) Hedda Gabler (1961) Night of the Ding-Dong (1961) Burst of Summer (1961) The Lady from the Sea (1961) The Big Deal (1961) The House of Mancello (1962) The Ides of March (1961) Murder in the Cathedral (1962) Light Me a Lucifer (1962) The Devil Makes Sunday (1962) The Hobby Horse (1962) The Music Upstairs (1962) Village Wooing (1962) Barnstable (1963) The Prisoner (1963) Uneasy Paradise (1963) The Fighting Cock (1963) The Chinese Wall (1963) A Man for All Seasons (1964) The First 400 Years (1964) Othello (1965)
Revues	Wild Life and Christmas Belles (1958) Trip-Tease and High C's (1959)
Ballets	The Soldier's Tale (1959) The Forbidden Rite (1962)
Operas	The Pearl Fishers (1963)
TV series	Compact (1965) Quick Before They Catch Us (1966) The Three Musketeers (1966-67) The Further Adventures of the Musketeers (1967) Sherlock Holmes (1968) Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1969) The Expert (1969) Counterstrike (1969)
Feature film	Return Journey (1961) (incomplete) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972)

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