SECOND TIME LUCKY

New Zealand, 1984, 101 minutes, Colour.
Diane Franklin, Roger Wilson, Robert Morley, Robert Helpmann, John Michael Howson.
Directed by Michael Anderson.

Second Time Lucky is an eccentric piece of film-making - with some moderate entertainment, especially for the most undemanding audiences.

The film was produced by Antony I. Ginnane, the Australian producer who incurred the wrath of Australian Actors' Equity by his importing of overseas stars. These stars were considered unnecessary to the success of his films - and, generally, in fact they were. With the production of The Race for the Yankee Zephyr, Ginnane transferred his productions to New Zealand (Dead Kids, Prisoners, Mesmerised). This film was produced in New Zealand.

Ginnane went for popular entertainment of the mid-Pacific or mid-Atlantic kind. His Australian productions included the phantasm films, Blue Fire Lady, Patrick, Snapshot, Thirst, Harlequin, The Survivor. Here, his New Zealand locations are made to simulate Middle America. He also employs Diane Franklin and Roger Wilson, American young stars. The film is designed for the popular American audience.

However, he has also employed a rotund and ruddy-faced Robert Morley for some introductory sequences as God and has employed Sir Robert Helpmann as the Devil - who assumes a number of disguises throughout the ages. Both stars ham up their performances. a prominent New Zealand comedian, performs quite well as the harassed angelic adviser. John Michael Howson, the Australian writer and critic, does camp performances as the Devil's assistant. It was all directed by veteran Michael Anderson (The Dambusters, 1984, The Wreck of the Mary Deare in early days and later spectacles as Operation Crossbow, Logan's Run).

The film trades on the popularity of Heaven and Hell fantasies over the decades - from All That Money Can Buy and Here Comes Mr Jordan in the '40s to the bizarre History of Mankind (which this film sometimes resembles) in the '50s. The '70s brought Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait, 1984, the year of this film's release, brought John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John? being confronted by angels (Charles Durning, Scatman Crothers, Beatrice Straight amongst others) and redeeming themselves in Two of a Kind.

The film opens with the Devil making a phone call to the Heavenly Court, Heaven and Hell being the caricature conventions of popular imagination - unfortunately. Back on Earth, the scene is one of these inevitable teenage parties so popular in films of the early '80s (e.g. Porky's). The awkward hero encounters an attractive heroine - they are the chosen ones. The film then has several episodes which have some glimpses of humour, but otherwise are surprisingly flat with very obvious high school humour.

The first sequence involves Adam and Eve with Helpmann as the serpent. This gives an opportunity for some coy nude sequences. The next sequence is set in the Roman Empire - with a kind of an orgy for parental guidance audiences and John Michael Howson making his first camp appearance. The film then makes a transition to the period of the First World War - and is a bit more successful. There are scenes of the war, the trenches and the aftermath of the injured. There is also a long gangster sequence - Helpmann is at his best in this. It is a parody of gangster films. The final sequence is in a British recording studio -with some satire at the expense of pop stars and moguls such as Sir Lew Grade.

While the film is made competently, it seems a rather bad waste of time and money for most concerned.