The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 135

4 MURDER BY DEATH By ROMOLA COSTANTINO Effll The performance itself is brimming with exuberance and the right kind of gay elegance from a time when the word gay simply meant innocently merry. The charm and polish of this production isn't surprising when you discover that it is the work of a Danish company. The Danes have a fine tradition of light opera in Copenhagen and the cast are all pretty, handsome or funny according to type, and sing well (in Danish). There are sub titles, In quaintly fractured English. The credits don't seem to include information as to what orchestra, conductor or company are involved.

But operetta fans not put off by the tattered celluloid should enjoy the lively spirits of these delightful Danes. (G, Mayfair) THIS picture reinforces a trust that top performers don't let you down. An amazing performer in authorship, is playwright Neil Simon, who has brought enough laughter into the world in recent years to deserve some special award. Here he tackles a. tricky subject, because murder story spoofs can turn out tedious; but Simon's magic touch doesn't fail him in this screenplay.

Silly though they may sound, he makes the following angles hilariously funny: eerie old Gothic house, murder on the stroke of 12, screams in the night, a sinister butler, black-gloved hands groping around corners, guests trapped with no way out, gathering of famous detectives modelled on the best fictional master-minds, and a series of red-herring so-lutions to the mind-boggling whodunit mystery. Backing up Simon's brilliance is an unbeatable cast of stylish actors whose names guarantee entertainment. David Niven is a gentleman criminologist, with Maggie Smith as his exquisite wife. Peter Sellers, always at his best with prodigious foreign accents, is an inscrutable oriental detective in satin robes. Elsa Lanchester as a sharp-witted English spinster sleuth, Miss Marbles, and James Coco as Milo Perrier, a Belgian detective with prize moustache, are indebted to the late Agatha Christie.

Peter Falk is Sam Diamond, a tough American private eye, Alec Guinness plays the butler, Truman Capote the author, plays his first film role as the strange host (an Orson Welles type) with others equally decorative, ranging from Eileen Brennan as Diamond's girlfriend to 93-year-old Estelle Winwood as Miss Marble's ancient lady companion. Absurdity is very amusing when it is topped oft with this kind of elegance. (NRC, Century). Dio Fledermaus JOHANN STRAUSS' enchanting operetta, built around ballrooms and champagne, turns up in an old, worn print (colour), much patched by the sound of it (now and then the music has hiccups). WmmmmmSSt a xmvwx.

f. isHctohua 1 On the Birdsville Track EoEflaportabbgeneratoro. Electric poueruksre yromaat it. It's still there, that country Beyond the Black Stump, as Ted Egan reminds us on his LP of the 6ame title (RCA VPL 1-0113-G). The bush is still -the great escape.

It beats city ockerism as a means of exerting your chauvinism. After his LP Once a Jolly Swagman last year it was difficult to know how Ted Egan could top such a wide-ranging selection of Australian songs. This time he has written a number of humorous songs and included a couple- of traditional bush ballads. Andy's Gone with Cattle is the best of the sentimental songs, beautifully performed. I hope HONSAI For further details on Honda Generators and the name of your nearest Honda Power Products dealer, send the coupon to Her lyrics reflect bitterly on being used, and on trying to do a bit of using.

The lyrics range from the taunting Take Me To Your Leader to tho soft With You. The interesting thing about these lyrics Is that, unlike the usual torch songs, they do nothing to add to the male fantasies which usually dominate this area of ballads. Miss Elkner asserts the feminine point of view. In the lyric Sweet Pain, she sings: "Another nice boy, another great night. Just another unreal exciting moment" She has her own point of view and in this particular song, goes on to have a baby and raise it herself.

Chris Neal, who produced the album, shared in the song-writing. The cynicism of Love Suite probably tells it all. Elkner and Neal collaborated on the four songi of the suite, the story of a let down from first love to last. I I I I Lee plays piano, flugel horn, organ and trumpet on this LP which Burrows and guitarist George Golla made at Stebbing Studios, New Zealand. New Zealanders Andy Brown (bass) and Frank Gibson Jun.

(drums) were the other two New Zealand musicians on the LP. 'Julian Lee's compositions are lyrical and wonderfully melodic. Long White Cloud provides a wonderful opportunity for Don Burrows to play a flute appreciation of the land he is visiting. What a postcard. If there is anything to be deduced from the sessions, it is that New Zealand jazz is cool, like the Sydney-side product.

Maureen Elkner's new LP 7 Records MLF 103) shows us a ter. Miss Elkner, whose previous recording was a piece of ockerism called Rack Off Normie shows here that she is not to be categorised. She has written most of her songs on the album. By GIL WAHLQUIST this track isn't overlooked in the scramble to play So You Want to Be a Truckle. Ted's truckie song is just that little bit different.

The musical backing on the LP is something out of the ordinary. The country dance sound to The Birdsville Races is something I can't get -out of my mind. Khala Khala, a camel drivers' love song is an interesting piece of song collection by Mr Egan, a travelling minstrel who can be relied upon to place confidence in the performance of something unusual and a part of Australia. Julian Lee is still playing and composing excellent music in New Zealand and for this news we can thank Don Burrows and the producers of the LP The Tas-man Connection (Cherry Pie CPF 1026). Bennett Honda, 2 Ralph Street, Alexandria, N.S.W.

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You can teach where you are really needed -in a sman primary school in the Northern Territory. Right now we are looking for teachers for one-and two-teacher schools with pupils ranging from Kindergarten to Year 6. Currently; there are vacancies at such small communities as Docker River, Finke, Killarney, Lake Evella, Lake Nash and Roper It's not for everyone, but if you re a teacher who wants to make the most of your professional skills in an environment where you mow you are needed, the Commonwealth Teaching Service can give you that opportunity. It's a young and progressive service, and it gives 1 wtl mi wiwmwniWI gnO'l P1 Commissioner, Suite No. 37, you the chance tp apply innovative ana independent teaching methods.

You are actively encouraged to develop and apply school curricula -and to CTS37.127.123 1H TOE SUN-HJERAIA DEC 12,. 1976, 134.