Australian TV Plays: AP - Shadow on the Wall (10 April 1968)

About the Vietnam War.

It was recorded in 1967 as part of Australian Playhouse but did not air until a year later as part of Wednesday Theatre.

Premise

In the North Vietnamese village of Cam Vao, an unseen prisoner is being kept in a cell by the communists. He is on death row. This is upsetting the local peasants, who are throwing stones through the window and are upset at the local village commandant.

A commissar, Kin, arrives from Hanoi to investigate. He asks the local village commandant what is going on. The commandant admits the locals have been rebellious, but puts it down to their old Buddhism and Catholicism.

Inhabitants of the village include an informer, Sam Ho, a bishop whom the communists have allowed to move around, a farmer called Ni Gun Gi, and a 19 year old barmaid called Lin Tan.

Kin blames the Bishop for the trouble in the area. The commandant asks Kin for 24 hours to put an end to the incident. Kin gives him 12 hours.

The Bishop arrives. The commandant cross examines him about Lin Tan's virginity (he claims she isn't one) and Ni Gun Gi's alcoholism. Both claim they have seen a miracle. Yun demands the Bishop sign a form saying he's interviewed the man and that the man is ordinary. The Bishop refuses.

Sergeant Lee starts firing on the villages. Yun and the Bishop talk to Sam Ho, who talks about the night a year ago when he walked past a blockhouse. He says Lin Tan, Ni Gun Gi and "the prisoner" were robbing the place.

Next person interrogated is Lin Tan, who defends Ni Gun Gi for stealing, saying he was just wanting to provide for his wife and family. Yun accuses Lin Tan of being the farmer's mistress, but she denies it. Yun asks Lin Tan to sign a document denouncing the prisoner as a capitalist spy but she refuses. Yun then rapes Lin Tan.

Yun asks Ni Gun Gi to denounce the prisoner, but the farmer refuses. Ni Gun Gi says he killed the guard, smashing his head, but then the prisoner brought him back to life. Ni Gun Gi says the prisoner had nail marks on his hands.

This upsets Yun who goes into the room and shoots the prisoner dead.

Commissar Kin goes into the prisoner's cell and sees the prisoner has gone and there is a light of the Holy cross on the wall.

Yun walks out to the mob and we hear him cry out; presumably he has been killed.

Cast

Alan Tobin as Captain Yun
Keith Lee as the bishop
Mark Albiston as Commissar Kin
Lyndell Rowe as Lin Tan
Michael Duffield as Sam Ho, an informer
Joseph James as Ni Gun Gi, a farmer
Peter Guilfoyle as Sergeant Lee, the guard to the building
Farida Jauhari
Richard Lee
Suzette Jauhari

Production

It was filmed at ABC's studios in Ripponlea in April 1967 for Australian Playhouse but was not screened until the following year, when it aired as an episode of Wednesday Theatre.

Ru Pullen wrote it. Technical director - Robert Forster. Designer - Gunars Jurjans. Producer and director - Christopher Muir.

Reception

The Age said it "might've been a good idea but it didn't come off" arguing the play was more suited to radio and that the actors and sets were not convincing and adding it "lacked conviction - and the climax was missed photographically."

My thoughts. Fascinating. A mess. Tries to do too much. Confusion. Decent acting but all that yellowface. Genuine Asian extras. Should've gone for an hour or trimmed it down.