Oct 24
On 15th December 1960, the film Operation Crowflight was broadcast on ABV2 (Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Melbourne).
Terry Gallacher, who directed the film, gave an interview in September 2009, from his home in France, about the background, the filming and editing of the production and it’s reception at the time.
On the 15th December 1960, 55 years ago today, the Australian Broadcasting Commission in Melbourne (ABV2) premiered the film “Operation Crowflight” as part of it’s People programme.
My father Terence Gallacher was the director of the film, in 2010 he wrote three articles on the making, production and reaction to the film, in the interview below he ends by saying, “I was very proud of working on that film and very proud to have been working with the people who worked with me on it, terrific team.” Read more
In 1978, I went with a crew to Bahrain to make a documentary film about the island state.
The cameraman was John Barnard. John was an Australian resident in London. He was one of the best.
John hired his equipment from Samuelson’s, the main item being an Arriflex camera. Read more
Terry would always live in our hearts. As a person one can’t find a better friend. I lived in London for a while and Terry helped in many ways, bought me friends car, advised me in buying a house overnight. Read more
After I had finished shooting my two films for the UAE government, we had a farewell dinner at the Sheraton Hotel and I flew back home after eighteen days in the blistering heat. Read more
In April 1984, we were due to go to MIP in Cannes once again. For some years, the company had gone to MIP, taken a display stand, but offered no additional product. All their customers already received the news service. I had persuaded UPITN’S President, Kenneth Coyte, that we should go with something to sell. I had pondered the problem for some time after the previous MIP. I came to the conclusion that the missing programme should be concerned with fashions. At that time, there was no regular programme concerning fashions among the major broadcasters in the world. There were also few specialist women’s programmes that might include fashions. Read more
This article follows on from the previous article: The Emirates in 1976 – The Bedouin family.
Back in Abu Dhabi, we were given the chance to get a flight in a helicopter. We took the chance. Early in the morning, we attended the helicopter base where we were introduced to our Pakistani pilot. We had him for three hours and we made the most of it. Read more
When I started to write about Movietone at War I intended to write several separate articles. These were to be around fifteen hundred words each. I started to write and research at the same time. I gathered more and more information. The discovery of events associated with the subject were most interesting. I continued to write realising that what I was writing was more than an article. I soon had a word count over 6,000.
Before long I had reached 25,000. As I write today, the score is 125,000. Read more
This article follows on from the previous article: The Emirates in 1976 – A “time bomb” and a Bedouin village
The day after we had filmed the distribution of food rations at Al Kaznah, we followed the rice ration into the desert. We drove about ten miles into the wilderness to a small camp . We got stuck in the sand several times, but now, we knew how to get out of it. (Which is more than our driver did). Read more
This article follows on from the previous article: The Emirates in 1976 – Sheik Khalifa Rest House and Al Ain
We were given the opportunity to film inside an oil refinery in Abu Dhabi. This sequence would be used in the U.A.E. film and I went to film it for director David Rea who had not yet arrived from England. Read more
Terence Gallacher's recollections of a career in film 