After 57 years in the business, Australia’s most prolific film critic is finally signing off
It’s late November and the venerable film critic David Stratton is giving his last lesson on world cinema at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Continuing Education. After 35 years of showing up for his students, some of whom have returned this in kind by enrolling for 32 consecutive years, Stratton is not here tonight. At least not in a physical sense.
While he had kept coming to the city from the Blue Mountains through Covid, deteriorating eyesight and more recently a spine fracture, an unexpected month in hospital had really stuck a spoke in his wheels. Four weeks from the course’s scheduled end, Stratton asked the director Claude Gonzalez to step in to take over.
It’s late November and the venerable film critic David Stratton is giving his last lesson on world cinema at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Continuing Education. After 35 years of showing up for his students, some of whom have returned this in kind by enrolling for 32 consecutive years, Stratton is not here tonight. At least not in a physical sense.
While he had kept coming to the city from the Blue Mountains through Covid, deteriorating eyesight and more recently a spine fracture, an unexpected month in hospital had really stuck a spoke in his wheels. Four weeks from the course’s scheduled end, Stratton asked the director Claude Gonzalez to step in to take over.
- 12/22/2023
- by Kate Hennessy
- The Guardian - Film News
Claude Gonzalez and Frans Vandenburg have been following the stranger-than-fiction life of filmmaker John Farrow for over 10 years.
Born in 1904 in Marrickville, Sydney, John Farrow’s curious story ranges from fleeing Australia at age 17 to penning a Tahitian French Dictionary, winning an Oscar for co-writing Around the World in 80 Days, to being highly religious and conservative and married to the glamorous Hollywood star Maureen O’Sullivan. Yet on the flip side he obscured his past from his family and fathered an illegitimate son.
As a director, producer, writer and actor he was prolific, making 50 films and working with people like John Wayne, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, and Lana Turner. He fathered seven children, including Mia Farrow.
Gonzalez and Vandenburg’s documentary – part mystery, biography and film noir – includes interviews with family members in the US and Australia, and with leading filmmakers and critics including Bruce Beresford, Phillip Noyce, Philippe Mora,...
Born in 1904 in Marrickville, Sydney, John Farrow’s curious story ranges from fleeing Australia at age 17 to penning a Tahitian French Dictionary, winning an Oscar for co-writing Around the World in 80 Days, to being highly religious and conservative and married to the glamorous Hollywood star Maureen O’Sullivan. Yet on the flip side he obscured his past from his family and fathered an illegitimate son.
As a director, producer, writer and actor he was prolific, making 50 films and working with people like John Wayne, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, and Lana Turner. He fathered seven children, including Mia Farrow.
Gonzalez and Vandenburg’s documentary – part mystery, biography and film noir – includes interviews with family members in the US and Australia, and with leading filmmakers and critics including Bruce Beresford, Phillip Noyce, Philippe Mora,...
- 7/22/2021
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
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