A Town Called Alice

There was a telemovie on a few years ago that redid “On the beach”..Not to bad,and yes I can remember War of the worlds,the good one.One that scared me was “The forbidden Planet”.Good to see the Dragons and Rapides coming more popular.An awsome looking plane.Nearly as beautiful as a Spit.

Quite fancy seeing ‘On the Beach’ again, haven’t seen it for years, black and white wasn’t it, remember being surprised to see Fred Astaire in such a serious role.
When I was a kid, my older brother used to pass on to me whatever he was reading at the time. First mistake was ‘War of the Worlds’, this gave me nightmares for a week.
Second mistake, reading ‘On the Beach’ during the Cuban missile crisis, when my old man was preparing to turn our bathroom into a fall out shelter, couldn’t cope with that, the 60’s weren’t as cool as they were made out to be.

To reply to post #3
The VH letters for Australia was part of the British Colonies etc
registration system…..

Some others being …VP-B Bermuda
VP-F Falklands
VP-LV B Virgin I
Vp-M Malta
VP-N Nyasaland
VP-R Rhodesia
VQ-C Cyprus
VR-H Hong Kong
VT India

The first 3 are still in use but obviously most others have been replaced.
Does anybody know the old New Zealand letters?? I can’t remember!!
There were lots of others but it would become a long list zzzzzz

The other N Shute film i remember was ‘Landfall’ which was about the Anson pilot accused of sinking a British Sub..Michael Denison played the lead role
Excellent!!!!

There is also an Australian owned Rapide flying in NZ, and won’t be leaving the country like the owner thought as the Govt has said it’s too important a piece of history to NZ to go abroad.

I have not seen the riginal film with Peter Finch but I have seen the remake starring Bryan Brown many years ago. It was superb, from memory. But I was a teen at the time.

Rapide

There is only one Rapide flying in Australia and that is VH-UTV. BGP is being rebuilt in NZ by Colin Smith and will eventually go to Perth with Mr John Ivers. Another Rapide is very close to flying in Melbourne with Mr Maurice Rolfe but that is your lot.

Isn’t OO something to do with WallerOOns, if you watch the current TV adverts, and I try to avoid them, OO has something to do with Typhoo tea.

Nice one Mr Langham, when I first started the thread I originally thought it may be a Dragonfly and described it as such, however I thought that those that know more than me, which is most Forumites, would take the p###, so I opted for the easy option.

On another note, the weather down here is appalling, and unlikely to improve for a few days, it doesn’t look good for the Southend Airshow tomorrow and monday, shame as it’s our village fete on monday and we always get flybys from a/c returning from the show, Jags and BBMF last year, both were pretty awesome, the Jags nearly took off the church tower and I could feel the force from the Lanc as it roared over my back garden.

Pedant points to RLangham!

Good man. The Dragonfly’s more exclusive* than the Rapide, but I’d take either, personally.

*Fewer built, fewer survive, fewer seats.

Haven’t you ever tried Belgian chocolate – OO-it’s lovely!

No, don’t go ‘Ooo’, about Belgian Choclolate. My mouth’s usually full. 😀

It was (briefly) But then how did Belgium get OO- ?

Haven’t you ever tried Belgian chocolate – OO-it’s lovely! 😀

Just had a break and caught the end of this film, the Dak, I couldn’t identify, but the DH Dragon Rapide was VH-UTJ, is it still flying in Oz, perhaps JDK will enlighten us as to it’s fate, when he wakes up of course.

Wow I was right, it WAS a Dragonfly, see this page about her http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Connellan%20DH90%20Dragonfly%20VH-UTJ.htm

Still can’t decide whether the Dragonfly or the Dragon Rapide is the more attractive aircraft :rolleyes:

question, why are Oz civil aircraft coded VH and not A?

It was (briefly) G-AUxx, but guess what, we ran out of letters to put on the aeroplanes! (Was a set with G-Ixxx for India and G-Cxxx for Canada.) Then someone else got ‘A’ (Austria – but we don’t mind because every year thousands of tourists ask them where the Kangaroos are, but no-one asks us to show them where Hitler was born) so we got allocated VH- But then how did Belgium get OO- ?

For the spotter: http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/pref.html

For folks interested in Nevil Shute, see a discussion we had recently here.

There’s an excellent website on Shute here.

The film of ‘A Town Like Alice’ is a corker. Marvellous story handled deftly and with great sensitivity. I’m giving it four stars…

While on the subject, forumites should also check out ‘On the Beach’, also by author Nevil Shute. Recently released on DVD, it features a very young HMAS Melbourne. And Ava Gardner. As Ronny Barker said, “if you’re gonna have a gardner, she’s the one to ‘av”.

Much of the film was shot near my home on the Mornington Peninsula, and Shute retired to a farm only a few miles from here.

Auster fans (and aren’t we all?) should also scour secondhand book shops for Shute’s book ‘The Rainbow and the Rose’, which has much Auster flying in it.

The film only covers the first half of the book – up to where the couple meet up in Australia.

The second half of the book is where the title comes from. How they help develop a tiny outback outpost into ‘A Town Like Alice’ that has enough facilities to keep local girls from moving out (and have the young men follow them!)

Alice Springs being the only town of any size for hundreds of miles.

Isn’t it ‘A Town Like Alice’?
I think there was a song by ‘The Jam’ with the other title.
Andy

It’s a lovely little town in the hills above Idaho Springs, Colorado, where the brook trout fishing is great, St. Mary’s glacier is open all year long to skiiers and snowboarders, the four wheeling is challenging and I have great memories…

Oh…not that town of Alice? My bad…

Mark

Saw it as well, I thought the aircraft that took them to Wellstown or whatever it is was a Dragonfly? Thought it was a Dragon Rapide but on the ground after landing it looked like a Dragonfly to me, with a more pointed nose and fewer windows, there was definitely a Dragon Rapide after the Dakota landed though

Well I’ve seen the film a few times and I think it’s pretty good, a bit slushy, but Peter Finch is cool as usual, and good for the time, the Japanese aren’t entirely dealt with as the b###### we are led to believe.The Radio Times only gave it 3 stars, question, why are Oz civil aircraft coded VH and not A?

Wasn’t it something to do historically with Vagabonds Haven?

That reggo is now on a Eurocopter.

Dunno any more than that. They’d have been common when the film was made, but rare now (There’s a few around).

Never seen the film, liked the book. Any good?

Well I’ve seen the film a few times and I think it’s pretty good, a bit slushy, but Peter Finch is cool as usual, and good for the time, the Japanese aren’t entirely dealt with as the b###### we are led to believe.The Radio Times only gave it 3 stars, question, why are Oz civil aircraft coded VH and not A?

That reggo is now on a Eurocopter.

Dunno any more than that. They’d have been common when the film was made, but rare now (There’s a few around).

Never seen the film, liked the book. Any good?