MAMA'S GONE A-HUNTING

Australia, 1975, 100 minutes, Colour.
Judy Morris, Gerard Kennedy, Carmen Duncan.
Directed by Peter Maxwell.

Mama's Gone A- Hunting is an effective if very far-fetched thriller. It is one of several telemovies produced by Robert Bruning in the mid-'70s: Plunge Into Darkness, The Alternative, Gone To Ground, Is Anybody There? Many of these were written by Bruce A. Wishart and directed by Peter Maxwell. They also boast the excellent colour photography of award-winner Russell Boyd. While the screenplay is far-fetched, the cast gives it all they have. Judy Morris is very good as the shy but mad babysitter. Gerard Kennedy is hard evil as the criminal. There is excellent use of Sydney locations especially the Opera House and Central Railway Station. There is a blend of ironic humour, good minor character roles and a split-second finale, again the a touch of the ironic. A good example of modest but entertaining Australian filmmaking.

1. An enjoyable and interesting thriller? Excitement and credibility?

2. Colour photography? The use of Sydney settings? The atmosphere of Sydney? The hotel, the Opera House, Central Railway Station? Day sequences and night sequences? Good use and authentic atmosphere? The photography of the ballet sequences? The importance of pace and editing - especially for excitement, suspense, last-minute climax? Musical score? Ballet music?

3. The establishing of the characters and the basic situation? Elliott and the information from the newspapers? The gun? His waking up David and the atmosphere of suspense? The plan? The transition to the television coverage and Stevens? The hotel, the clothes, their entering the hotel and evading detection? Elliott and his psychotic background, imprisonment? Gerard Kennedy and his sinister style?

4. The character of David - the hold that Elliott had on him? His joining in the plan? Booking in at the hotel? Taking the waiter's clothes and his smooth-talking the other waiter? The card game? Exact timing? The writing of the letters for the Stevens's? Reacting to the situation of the kidnapped baby and exploiting it?

5. The background of the Stevens family? Uranium and its mining, wealth, the place of the family in society? Visit to Sydney. ballet? The hiring of the babysitter? Phone calls from the Opera house? Society behaviour - photo, champagne? The love for the child? The planning of another child? The arrival home and the irony of the ending with their not knowing anything that happened? Quick brief characterisation as background for the action?

6. Tessa and her application for the job? Nervous style? Interview and her satisfactory answers? Her information and the irony of the room full of dolls? The stroller? Her plan? Her letter and the irony of its being torn up? Her taking the child out of the hotel - the suspense with the deaf lady? Arrival at the railway station? The drama with the continued changes of the train's departure time? The old lady and the cups of tea at the station? Her prying - and her later helping Tessa?

7. Elliott and David and their coping with the changed situation? The information about the train time and their going to Central? Their pursuit of Tessa at the station? The guards and Elliott's having to hide? The chase? David and his chatting to Tessa in the train? Her shrewdness and having the knife? Her evading her pursuers? The bear on the rails? The suddenness of David's death? The pursuit of Elliott and the irony of the trolley killing him? Poetic justice?

8. Tessa and her nervousness with the baby, her growing confidence with the kidnapping? Her maternal instincts and erratic behaviour? The talk with the woman at the station? Her decision to return the baby? The editing and the moving from the Stevens' to Tessa? The split-second timing in her return? The irony of the happy ending and her being invited to come- back?

9. How well-drawn were the characters for a melodrama? The blend of excitement, crime., madness?

10. The tone of the title, the nursery rhyme and its being sung, the ironic and sinister relationship of mothers to babies?