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The Dark Room
The Dark Room
Directed by	Paul Harmon
Written by	Michael Brindley; Paul Harmon
Based on	Original idea by; Paul Harmon
Produced by	Tom Haydon
Starring	Svet Kovich; Anna Jemison; Alan Cassell
Cinematography	Paul Onorato
Edited by	Rod Adamson
Music by	Cameron Allan
Release date	1982;
Running time	94 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	AU $1.2 million or $1,097,000
Box office	-$1,000 (as at March 1985)

The Dark Room is a 1982 Australian thriller film directed by Paul Harmon, son of Bill Harmon.^[3]^[4]

Plot

Ray Sangster, a bored middle-class man, has an affair with a younger woman, Nicky. Ray's son Mike discovers the affair and becomes obsessed with Nicky.

Cast

Alan Cassell as Ray Sangster
Anna Maria Monticelli (Anna Jemison) as Nicky
Svet Kovich as Mike Sangster
Diana Davidson as Martha Sangster
Ric Hutton as Sam Bitel
Rowena Wallace as Liz Llewellyn
Sean Myers as Peter
Sally Cooper as Patricia
Joy Hruby as Ida Henning

Production

Michael Brindley wrote a script based on a story by himself and Paul Harmon. Basil Appleby was originally meant to be producer but financiers Filmco did not want him to do the job and Malcolm Smith did it. Then Smith left and documentary producer Tom Haydon produced instead.^[1]

There was a two-week rehearsal period in which actors rewrote dialogue and treated Harmon badly. Three weeks into the seven-week shoot the completion guarantors saw the footage and suggested Harmon be fired but the producer refused. Film editor Ron Adamson died and had to be replaced by Don Saunders.^[1]

Release

The film failed to obtain a cinema release.^[1] The Dark Room was delegated to home video and was not seen on TV until 1989 as a Monday night movie at 8.30pm. It was again replayed during the early 1990s though has not been seen commercially since that time. This film is still awaiting a DVD or blu-ray release.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 pp. 157–159
^ ^a ^b "How film investors found themselves in a foxhole". The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend. 30 March 1985. p. 7.
^ "Production Survey", Cinema Papers, October 1982 p. 456
^ Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p. 35