The Picture Show Man

The film is set in Australia in the twenties. At the centre of the account is a travelling showman. The man is called Maurice Pym. His son and a piano player are with him. The three of them go from town to town. What they bring is silent films. The films they show are among the first silent pictures. A piano accompanies the screening. The road is hard and the takings uncertain. What they really want is to settle somewhere. They dream of opening a hall of their own. Meanwhile his son pushes back against his father. A rival turns up as well. The rival is an American showman. John Meillon and Rod Taylor take the leads, with John Ewart and Harold Hopkins also in the cast, in John Power’s Australian film of 1977.