All at Sea (1977 film)

All at Sea is a 1977 Australian television film about a group of misfits on holiday on an island resort. It used the cast from The Celebrity Game.[2]

All at Sea
Directed byIgor Auzins
Produced byHoward Leeds
Written byHugh Stuckey
Based onstory by Howard Leeds
StarringJohnny Pace
Harriet Pace
Mike Preston
Joe Martin
Noel Ferrier
Barry Creyton
Abigail
Stuart Wagstaff
Joy Chambers
Ugly Dave Gray
CinematographyPaul Onorato
Production
company
Distributed byNetwork Ten
Release date
8 July 1977[1]
Running time
75 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Premise

The adventures of various guests and staff at Sea Island Resort in Queensland. It is run by Mr Blimer with the help of John Bright. Blimer tries to seduce his assistant; a waitress, Joy, is constantly harassed by the guests but is working her own agenda; employee Mike likes Maryanne but winds up sleeping with the seemingly proper Miss Farrow; Arthur Pickering, is a government minister; a reverend, Parslow, is actually a thief.

Cast

Production

The film was a rare comedy from the Grundy Organisation. Reg Grundy claimed he was the one who had the idea of making an Australian TV movie in the vein of the Carry On films featuring the most popular comics in the country. He pitched the idea to Ian Holmes at Channel Ten who agreed to finance it. Grundy's wife Joy Chambers was then a panelist on The Celebrity Game on Channel Ten, and she also appeared in the cast.[3]

Grundy assigned producing duties to Howard Leeds who had recently joined Grundys from Hollywood. "So here I had an American producing a show that was based entirely on English comedy with mostly Australian actors", Grundy later wrote. "It was a mishmash."[4]

The Johnny Lockwood part was originally offered to John Meillon who turned it down.[5]

The film was shot in Sydney over 12 days in February 1977 at locations including the Shore Motel at Artarmon, the Pasadena Hotel, Church Point, Sacha's Restaurant, the Newport Hotel and Newport.[6]

Noel Ferrier called it "a nightmarish experience" because the film featured so many stand up comics. "Being in a company of, or working with, one stand up comedian can be a taxing experienced; when surrounded by about eight of this remarkable breed the consequences can be singularly unfunny. There were more tantrums and bitchy scenes among this bunch of lovelies than you'd be likely to find in half a dozen ballet companies."[7]

Reception

Grundy wrote in his 2010 memoirs that the movie "got a twenty-one rating which these days would be a hit but back then was just okay. Howard [Leeds] had struck out."[4] No TV station wanted to pick it up and turn it into a series.[8]

References
  1. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 July 1977. p. 60.
  2. Ed. Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p5
  3. "Joy's happy as a doctor in distress". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 30 September 1981. p. 133. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  4. Reg Grundy, Reg Grundy, Pier 9, 2010 p 183
  5. "WHAT WILL THEY SAY WHEN I WALK AWAY ?". Tharunka. New South Wales, Australia. 24 October 1977. p. 22. Retrieved 13 June 2020 – via Trove.
  6. "All at Sea". Oz Movies.
  7. Ferrier, Noel (1985). The Memoirs of Noel Ferrier: There Goes Whatsisname. The MacMillan Company of Australia. p. 67.
  8. "Grundy boss: IT'S DRAMA '80". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 14 May 1980. p. 205 Supplement: TV Weekly. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
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