Newsfront

As a child growing up in the Sydney of the 1950s, I can readily identify with the content of this fine film. Each week I visited the Wynyard Newsreel cinema on George Street to watch the Cinesound (and usually 3 Stooges) shorts. Never has there been a better blending of B/W and colour in a film. Faultless production values round off a never to be forgotten movie experience.

A really good Australian film .Beautifully recreates the look and feel of Sydney as it was in the 1950s. This movie greatly impressed me when I first saw it during its initial cinema release and it still stands up very well. Fine directing job by Phil Noyce, wonderful camera work , thoughtful lighting and some fine performances across the board. An absolute "must see" for any students of '70's Australian cinema.One out of the box !

When respected film critic David Stratton rates a movie as his all time Australian favourite it's a high bar to reach. And there's no doubt Newsfront conveys a terrific sense of post WW2 life and times, fortified by the injection of a generous dose of archival newsreel footage.

But despite boasting so many of Australia's finest new wave actors, there's a certain emotional pull missing from the fictional narrative, script and characters around the real life events. Even the film's saddest moment, occurring during the 1955 Maitland floods, whilst technically clever on one level, lacked gravitas (not aided by the newsreel inspired music). And the stunning Wendy Hughes, who plays a strong female lead in the early going, becomes oddly passive and morose by the latter stages. Perhaps it was a deliberate pattern that went to Len Maguire's (played by Bill Hunter) effect on women, his ex-wife portraying a similar demeanour throughout.

Also curious was the back and forth between colour and black & white, which I found mildly distracting for lack of any logical pattern.

Interestingly, the project was originally conceived as a documentary, and whilst the surrounding story added some depth and context to the political and historical aspect, as a drama it felt like a skipping stone through time. Writer Bob Ellis' displeasure at the cuts to his screenplay might have been justified. Or maybe the production tried to achieve too much.

All criticism aside, overall Newsfront is an above average movie that will engage, until the final Cinetone credits, anyone with an interest in Australian cinema and history.

The difficulty with a film like "Newsfront" is how it tends to have the same approach to its characters as the characters have to themselves. Which is to say, a lot of emotional distance. The film is especially well directed, but it never really becomes the sum of all its parts. The best bits revolve around the newsroom stuff, so that the relationships seem rather unimportant by comparison. A much more recent film, "Good Night and Good Luck" is more balanced and intense in this respect.

Vincent Monton's cinematography is particularly good (He would work with Noyce 4 years later again on "Heatwave"). This is a film that's always fun to look at. The black & white is crisp and clean and the colour footage is warm and vibrant. But, in the end, it's like a pretty picture postcard. Fun to watch, but just too hard to get into.

i saw this film as part of my australian cinema course and i thought it was very good, if a little too long. casting was very good, with bill hunter doing a good job as len mcguire, the quintessential aussie battler who has old fashioned values and a strong commitment to his work. wendy hughes was absolutely GORGEOUS in this film, she puts many hollywood starlets to shame, she was so hot in this movie. the transitions from B&W to colour were inventive and the use of stock newsreel footage gave the film a sense of reality. overall, a good but not excellent aussie film.