The Picture Show Man

Clip 2: Freddie gets the job

2 min 46 sec

Taken from the feature The Picture Show Man (1977)

Original title classification G – this clip chosen to be G

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Curator’s clip description

Pym (John Meillon) and his son Larry (Harold Hopkins) are unable to find a replacement pianist after Lou has deserted – until the bustling arrival of Freddie Graves (John Ewart), piano tuner, ‘picture pianist’ and man-about-town.

Curator’s notes

A lovely comic scene featuring two of the greatest stagers of Australian cinema in the 1970s, Meillon and Ewart. Meillon in particular makes a feast of his lines, stringing them out until we are hanging on each word. Freddie and Magnus, as two veterans, size each other up instantly – each is down on his luck, but not out, and neither will ever admit to hard times. They have their pride, even in a church hall in the backblocks.

Paul Byrnes, curator

australian screen