The Night The Prowler

THE NIGHT THE PROWLER (1978)

Tony Tuckson, Family at Table (1950)

Novels | Plays | Short Stories | Memoir | Screenplay | Essays | Music | Poems | Letters | Speeches | Interviews | Other works| Unpublished works

“We dunno till we find out whether we don’t see eye to eye…”

Plot: A straightforward adaptation of PW’s short story of the same name. Felicity Bannister alleges she has been raped by a prowler, and determines to take control of her own life.

History: PW wrote the screenplay over the summer of 1975-76, spurred on by his growing friendship with director Jim Sharman. The NSW Film Corporation invested $350,000 into the movie, reportedly the most an Australian Film Board had yet put up for a film. The film was budgeted at $600,000, with Sharman having to arrange the rest of the money. Subsequent reports claim it only ended up costing $420,000.

Production took seven weeks in November and December 1977, with filming taking place in Sydney. Luciana Arrighi designed the sets and costumes, returning to Australia for the first time in 13 years, where she was profiled in the media. The film opened at the Sydney Film Festival – having been selected sight unseen – on 2 June 1978. The mood was muted and the response to the film wasn’t great. The clash of styles which PW had used to great effect in his novels and plays challenged a film audience. The social parodies worked for some audiences, while the dark satire and nihilism worked for others, but not the combination of the two.

The film opened for general distribution on 15 June 1979 in Australia and subsequently in New York. Box office takings were poor in both areas. The film has been subsequently released on VHS and DVD, and can be rented on Youtube. PW was not successful in finding funding for another screenplay during his lifetime, although he attempted to write several. The film received a special mention award at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in 1979.

This was White’s only produced screenplay. See the Unpublished works page for other efforts.

Home Media: The film was released on VHS by Chariot Films in 1978 and Australian Video in 1980. It was broadcast on SBS on 2/4/1994 and probably other occasions.

The screenplay was published in an edition that included the short story also: The Night The Prowler (Penguin, Jonathan Cape, 1978)

Notes: PW originally wanted to play the naked old man in the film’s final scene but ultimately chose not to. The actor cast, Harry Neilson, reportedly had a heart attack during production yet still returned to complete his scenes!

Late in the film, Felicity walks past the word “ETERNITY” scrawled on rocks. This is a reference to Arthur Stace, an illiterate man who famously scrawled the word in a distinctive font hundreds of times over 35 years around Sydney. Very sadly, only two of the original inscriptions exist. The graffito in this film was fake.

Credits

Chariot Films in association with the New South Wales Film Corporation

Director: Jim Sharman / producer: Anthony Buckley / camerawork: Russell Boyd / director of photography: David Sanderson / editor: Sara Bennett / music: Cameron Allen / production design: Luciana Arrighi

With Kerry Walker (Felicity Bannister) Ruth Cracknell (Doris Bannister), John Frawley (Humphrey Bannister), John Derum (John), Terry Camilleri (The Prowler), Maggie Kirkpatrick (Madge Hopkirk), Peter Collingwood (Dr Herborn), and Harry Neilson (Old Man)

Film reviews:

  • Australian 5/6/1978
  • Martha DuBose, SMH 5/6/1978

“White cooks up a furious piece of bourgeois bashing. But his recipe calls for an excess of ingredients, and the end product is overdone…. “Everything about the film seems intended to show that the film-makers are in no way related to the people or the society they are delineating. It is an aloof and unforgiving stance, throwing a cold shadow over the film.”

  • Bob Ellis, Nation Review 22-28 June 1978:

“For almost the first time in our history we have an Australian film with levels of meaning and wit, irony, plot, complexity of characterisation and something to say.”

  • Elizabeth Riddell, Theatre Australia, 2.12 (Dec 1978)
  • Brian McFarlane, Cinema Papers 20 (1979)
  • T. Jennings, Advertiser 7/6/1979
  • P. Fischer, Campaign 42 (1979)
  • P.P. McQuiness, National Times 23/6/1979
  • John Slavin, Nation Review 5/7/1979
  • Derek Malcolm,. Guardian Weekly 22/7/1979:
    • “original and daring”
  • Tom Milne, Observer, 18/11/1979:
    • “amateur talent night all round.”

Confused? Keen to use some of my content? Check out my Terms and Conditions.