The sad fact about this worthy collection of interviews is that it has already dated, and it was dated on the day it was published. A bright, interesting, and useful journalistic account of the marketing of Australian movies to the Americans, it is redolent with the euphoria which followed the surprising arthouse success of Breaker Morant in the USA in 1981. Most of the interviews were recorded in 1982-3, and the book’s authorial conclusions are essentially those which seemed appropriate in 1983. What may have been quite a subtle interest in Australian film then has since been swamped by far more obvious and unequivocal successes – the Mad Max trilogy of genre movies and, of course, Crocodile Dundee. So, there is a degree of hesitation in this book – the careful positing of possibilities, the modest isolation of a trend – that would not be there if it were to be assembled now. It is a book of its moment, and that moment was four years ago. The authors, or their publishers, implicitly admit this by adding a 1986 afterword, but it only underlines the fact that this book has taken two years longer than it should have taken to reach our bookshelves.

That said, it is an interesting read for anyone who has followed the fortunes of the Australian film industry, and who cares about its survival. The book collects interviews with film industry people from both sides of the Pacific in order to trace the nature of the interest Americans suddenly found in Australian movies. We meet American critics, publicists, marketing people, and Australian directors, producers, marketers, and ‘talent’ (a curious category, usually used for front-of-camera workers rather than for writers Bob Ellis, David Williamson and unionist Uri Wendt). Many of the comments are illuminating. A fine interview with an opinionated Robert Altman, a revealing discussion with a representative of Home Box Office (the cable television network), a charming expression of commitment from a New York publicist, offer fresh points of view on Australian film production alongside the more predictable (because more familiar) perspectives of Philip Adams, Gill Armstrong, Fred Schepisi, George Miller and others. Some of this latter material is disappointing. Parts are either very similar to, or borrowed from, Sue Mathew’s earlier 35MM Dreams; the repetition of material and approach does not enliven these interviews.