Australian TV Movie On the Beach

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219224/

This made for TV production of an earlier screen film has interesting rail footage. This TV version, set and filmed in Australia and further the work of an Australian production company, shows good footage of a steam locomotive that is part of the storyline. Obviously, Australia has some tourist lines with working locomotives.

Considering the movie's timeline is present day, I'm at a loss to know why use a steam locomotive? Was it the only locomotive the production company could obtain or (not addressed unless I fell asleep) since the storyline depicts the end of the world after a nuclear China vs. USA holocaust and 'everything is running out', was the steam locomotive pressed into service account no oil and apparently still a supply of coal?

FWIW, present day Australia has plenty of coal but not much oil.

Enquiring mind wants to know.

I havent seen the film , but i would say there are a few factors . Its probably easier to hire a steam train than a diesel train , for this kind of work . i guess it fits into the idea of a lack of oil . though it brings into question the other thing Aussie is running short of , Water . Certainly there wouldnt be a shortage of coal , but getting it to where you need it would be a problem given the large distances in Australia . The Queensland coal lines are electrifed form coal fired plants so they would be operational , as would the queensland mainline from Brisbane to Rockhampton .

Gilbert B Norman wrote:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219224/

This made for TV production of an earlier screen film has interesting rail footage. This TV version, set and filmed in Australia and further the work of an Australian production company, shows good footage of a steam locomotive that is part of the storyline. Obviously, Australia has some tourist lines with working locomotives.

Considering the movie's timeline is present day, I'm at a loss to know why use a steam locomotive? Was it the only locomotive the production company could obtain or (not addressed unless I fell asleep) since the storyline depicts the end of the world after a nuclear China vs. USA holocaust and 'everything is running out', was the steam locomotive pressed into service account no oil and apparently still a supply of coal?

FWIW, present day Australia has plenty of coal but not much oil.

Enquiring mind wants to know.

I see the film is based on the 1950s novel by Nevil Shute. He was a very popular British writer of the 1950s who wrote one apocalyptic post-nuclear novel -On the Beach.
He postulates a nuclear cloud caused by the nuclear war in the northern hemisphere gradually covering all the world and snuffing out life. Eventually it reaches Australia.

I suppose that in the 1950s steamtrains would still have been in use. However, my memories of the book are that the characters in the Sydney suburbs used electric trains of the local suburban network.

Probably his best book was "A Town Like Alice" but "Trustee from the Toolroom" is also quite good. He writes about working class people going up in the world by hard work and ingenuity, thus appealed to a certain class of people in Britain. He greatly admired Australia. I am not sure whether he was Australian.

As for coal and oil, Australia is the only industrial country that could run its entire economy on solar power. I hope it will do so as soon as possible. But the arid centre is going to extend to the southern fringe, so that the present fringe agriculture and urban life will become very difficult in the foreseeable future. Tasmania is the only southern part likely to retain rain. Of course the northern Monsoon may extend further south.

I haven't seen this film for a long time although it was on Foxtel quite recently.

My memory is that a lot of it was set in Melbourne and there was a scene where the hero (Gregory Peck?) and heroine (Ava Gardner?) travelled from Melbourne to the beachside suburb of Frankston on one of the then-new "Harris" suburban EMUs.

Ava Gardner was reported to have said that Melbourne was an apporpriate place to make a film about the end of the world (probably not far from true in the '50s)

PClark wrote:I haven't seen this film for a long time although it was on Foxtel quite recently.

My memory is that a lot of it was set in Melbourne and there was a scene where the hero (Gregory Peck?) and heroine (Ava Gardner?) travelled from Melbourne to the beachside suburb of Frankston on one of the then-new "Harris" suburban EMUs.

Ava Gardner was reported to have said that Melbourne was an apporpriate place to make a film about the end of the world (probably not far from true in the '50s)

It's a very lively place now.

the new zealand version of sorts is the quiet earth . they go joyriding in a diesel locomotive .

PClark wrote:My memory is that a lot of it was set in Melbourne and there was a scene where the hero (Gregory Peck?) and heroine (Ava Gardner?) travelled from Melbourne to the beachside suburb of Frankston on one of the then-new "Harris" suburban EMUs.

Mr Clark, it appears that you are referring to an earlier theatre verion of this movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/

The production I noted above is a Y2K Australian "made for TV" some four hours long (with ads) starring Armand Assante and Rachel Ward. More on both those actors is also available at IMDB.

For ready reference, here is IMDB's link to the 2K version.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219224/

Dear Mr Norman

My apologies. I failed to read your initial posting completely.

Ironically, the 2000 TV-movie version, which I have never seen, is on Australian Foxtel at 8:30 EST tonight (Sunday)

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be watching it as it clashes with Robert Wise's 1975 movie "The Hindenberg" starring George C Scott and Anne Bancroft on another channel.