Richard Mason Movies
A former actor-turned-feature and documentary producer, Richard Mason rose up the ranks to become one of the most prestigious figures in the Australian film industry. Born in Hale, England in 1919, Mason began his acting career on-stage opposite Peter Finch in a Sydney Mercury Theater production of Molière's The Imaginary Invalid. Finch convinced Mason that his talents had yet to be discovered, and he was encouraged to branch out into new realms of the entertainment industry. Mason landed a wardrobe job on the 1949 feature Eureka Stockade; years of hard work eventually landed Mason a job as head of production for Commonwealth Film (later Film Australia), and it was there that Mason would nurture the talents of such up-and-coming directors as Peter Weir. Though he would serve with Commonwealth through its transformation into Film Australia, Mason later resigned in frustration, following the government-forced shutdown of the Film Australia feature The Unknown Industrial Prisoner. Later coming into his own by founding Alfred Road Films, the then-established producer found success collaborating with director John Duigan and actor Bryan Brown. Though the trio's first two efforts, Winter of Our Dreams (1981) and Far East (1982), earned them much notice in the film industry, Duigan and Mason's collaboration on One Night Stand found the cinematic partnership on the wane. Mason and his wife Elaine's son, Steve, followed his father into the film industry as a cinematographer of such features as Strictly Ballroom (1992), BASEketball (1998), and Rollerball (2002). In November of 2002, Richard Mason died of cancer and other complications in Sydney, Australia. He was 76. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide- 1992
Lucy is apparently very confident, and quite "forward," as the saying used to be; she has made all the moves to pick up a staid lawyer-type for sex. Once back at her apartment, she sets a video camera going to record their coupling. However, someone breaks into the place while they are having at it, and she is barely able to leave the bed and hide before her sex-partner is killed. She never sees the intruder's face herself. In the aftermath, the terrified lass finds herself with a sympathetic female state-appointed attorney (since she's the obvious suspect) and together, they try to track down the murderer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Karvan, Catherine McClements, (more)
- 1987
An Australian family is galvanized into political activism by their daughter in this anti-nuclear political drama. Ann (Laura Black) and her husband John (Peter Hardy) are the parents of Mandy (Anna Gare), a 15 year old who sings in a rock band and opposes American nuclear submarines being harbored in Australian waters. Ann investigates to find out what her daughter is doing and becomes a die-hard anti-nuclear activist. When she is fired from her newspaper job, Ann takes Laura and her grandfather Stan (Jack Coleman) to a protest at Fremantle. Noted Australian politicos Mayor John Catalini and Senator Jo Vallentine appear as themselves. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
In this drama two teens become quite close when their parents refuse to listen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1984
This is one of the more unusual films about a nuclear holocaust, nearly introspective in its focus on a handful of people in Sydney's world-famous opera house, finding ways to pass the time until the morning brings more news. The setting is New Year's Eve (in the middle of summer here), and some intimation of the immediate future surfaces in the form of reports on a major crisis in Europe and the aftermath of demonstrations against U.S. nuclear ships at harbor in Sydney. Sharon (Cassandra Delaney) and Eva (Saskia Post) are young teen roommates who are more interested in their own personal relationships than what is happening in distant Europe, and after meeting at the opera house where Sharon works, they are ready to go off to a New Year's party together. But before they can leave, a radio broadcast announces that nuclear bombs have been dropped in Europe and North America and also on U.S. targets in Australia. The announcer requests that people remain where they are, and the two shocked teenagers are at a loss as to how to cope. They are soon joined by an American soldier gone AWOL and a custodian who was busy working after the end of the evening's concert. The four isolated people explore the empty building, engage in conversation just to fill the time, and even distract themselves with a game of strip poker -- anything to avoid facing the possibility that this may be the last night of their lives. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyler Coppin, Cassandra Delaney, (more)
Director Alan Parker tackles this adapation of William Wharton's novel, which retains much of the source material's texture and complexity. Matthew Modine is Birdy, who comes back from Vietnam mentally shattered and deludes himself into thinking that he is a bird, an animal that has obsessed him since childhood. Birdy is confined to a military hospital, where he spends his time sitting naked in his room, not acknowleding anyone, moving and acting like a parakeet. His best friend Al (Nicolas Cage), also a wounded Vietnam vet, visits Birdy every day, determined to bring him back to reality. Birdy is occasionally disjointed but enriched by strong performances from Modine and Cage and a number of hard-to-forget moments. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, (more)
- 1982
In this Australian film, the married, financially secure Rob (Bryan Brown) meets up with drug-addicted prostitute Lou (Judy Davis) and tries to help her crawl out of the dead-end life she's created for herself. However, when Rob's wife discovers who he's been spending his time with, his marriage and his stable life are threatened. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1982
When a political reporter disappears in Southeast Asia, it is up to his wife to find him. She enlists the help of a former boyfriend, who is still coping with his unresolved feelings for her. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryan Brown, Helen Morse, (more)
- 1976
Based on a children's novel by Ivan Southall, this sentimental story is an account of a boy stricken with polio during World War I. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Bettles, Jan Kingsbury, (more)
- 1970
- R
Cult filmmaker Andy Milligan is best known for extreme, unconvincing gore and the odd habit of making British-set costume dramas on location in Staten Island. This one is a gruesome re-working of Tower of London with Jeremy Brooks as the mad Duke of Norwich, who murders and tortures his competitors to the English throne. The acting is typical of Milligan's films, which is to say horrid, and the bloody highlights include a pitchfork impalement and rattlesnake torture. Advertisements promised that the film was shot in "dripping blood color," but the tacky school-play costumes and sets do not benefit from this alleged process. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
William Holden stars as an American artist who becomes involved with the sordid underworld of prostitution in Hong Kong in The World of Suzie Wong, based on Paul Osborn's Broadway adaptation of the novel by Richard Mason. Holden is American architect Robert Lomax, who travels to Hong Kong to paint. He meets Suzie Wong (Nancy Kwan), an attractive woman who passes herself off as a high-society heiress. It is with great surprise that Robert spots her in a Hong Kong dive entertaining a bunch of sailors. It turns out that Suzie is a prostitute and Robert has observed her plying her trade. Suzie proposes that Robert put her up as a kept woman, but Robert will hear nothing of it, preferring to use her as a model for his paintings instead. Suzie then becomes involved with playboy Ben Marlowe (Michael Wilding), while Robert meets Kay O'Neill (Sylvia Syms), a British banker's daughter, who helps Robert to sell his paintings. But Ben breaks off his relationship with Suzie and Kay, uncomfortable with Suzie the prostitute posing for Ben, leaves him. Abandoned by their lovers and thrown together, the two become involved, with tragic consequences. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Nancy Kwan, (more)
- 1958
The Wind Cannot Read is a tearful British star crossed romance effort set against the backdrop of World War II. RAF officer Dirk Bogarde is assigned to learn Japanese in order to interrogate prisoners. His language instructor is the lovely Yoko Tani, daughter of an anti-Tojo businessman. Bogarde and Tani fall in love and secretly marry. Not long afterward, Borgarde is captured and tortured by the Japanese. While listening to the POW camp radio loudspeaker, he hears the voice of Tani, broadcasting anti-British propaganda. At first heartbroken, Bogarde vows to be reunited with Tani when he discovers that she is dying from brain disease. Escaping from the camp, Bogarde finally makes his way to the hospitalized Tani, where they share a tender moment before death enshrouds her. Richard Mason based his script for The Wind Cannot Read on his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Yoko Tani, (more)
- 1958
In this drama, set in a progressive Jamaican school, a hard working teacher endeavors to inspire a troubled young female student while simultaneously coping with his romantic troubles involving two women, a flight attendant, and the headmaster's wife who is always trying to break he and the other woman up. Not only does her jealousy affect his other relationship, it also destroys the trust between the teacher and his student, especially after the student catches him kissing the headmaster's wife. The ensuing scene causes the frightened young woman to flee into the face of a hurricane. Her death awakens the teacher who reconsiders his actions and returns to the flight attendant. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, (more)
- 1956
A harrowing WWII drama that was a huge critical and commercial success in England, this British production was based on a novel by Nevil Shute. During the war, a group of prisoners, mostly women and children, are led by Japanese soldiers on a brutal march through Malaysia. Some die by the roadside and others are sadistically tortured. One of the women, Jean Paget (Virginia McKenna), is befriended by an Australian man who is also a prisoner of war, Joe Harman (Peter Finch). Joe tells Jean about his hometown of Alice Springs, an oasis in the Australian outback. When he steals a chicken to feed Jean and the others, Joe is caught and treated ruthlessly. The Japanese force Jean and the others to march on while Joe is put on a crucifix and left to die. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, (more)
- 1956
This biopic chronicles the true experiences of a British government representative who is sent with his wife to wild, exotic Samoa. Their primary task is to somehow please the persnickety resident bureaucrat. Unfortunately, he is not easily pleased and the harder the representative tries, the worse he botches things up. As a result he is sent to an even tinier island. Depressed and feeling a failure, cracks begin appearing in his stiff-upper lip. Fortunately, his loyal wife is not so easily discouraged and helps him find courage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denholm Elliott, Susan Stephen, (more)
