THE SAD PIANIST... OR THE DRAB MUSICIAN

Year: 1972
Reference: F131174
Media type: Moving image

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Year: 1972
Reference: F131174
Media type: Moving image

Content available to view or listen online may not always be available for supply.
Click for more information on rights and requesting.

Place of production: New Zealand/Aotearoa
Categories: Short
Production company: A Neurotic Production
Credits: Photography: Diana Wong
Director: Diana Wong
Music: William Farnell
Cast: William Farnell
Cast: Judith Heard
Cast: Jack Gunn
Cast: Wendy Fletcher
Cast: Kevin Hall
Cast: Gordon Clarke
Cast: Rex McLenaghan
Cast: Delwyn Penny
With: Pauline Schaap
With: Marie Collins
With: David Galbraith
With: Helene Mcmanus
With: John Kelly
With: Joni Gay
With: Ron Robbins
With: Hedley Richards
With: Susanne Hughes
With: Susan Worm
With: Targie Brown
With: Ian Matheson
With: David Londis
With: Dougie O’donnell
Special Guest: Dick Johnstone
Special Guest: Margaret Blay
Special Guest: Peter Bidois

This amateur short film was originally captured on 8mm colour film.
While William ‘Billie’ Farnell is credited for music on the film, the archive only holds a silent version of the film (the music may have been live accompaniment). The tracks on the 1999 compact disc BILLIE FARNELL “OCCASIONS” (A1171) that was in the same deposit might have a connection to this film.

Written and directed by Diana Wong (who also published an accompanying book “The Sad Pianist: A Grimm Fairy Tale For Grown-ups”) this costume dramedey with elements of farce, pantomime and burlesque was an artist collaboration, the title character was written for Auckland music personality and pianist, Billie Farnell.

The film begins with man wearing a red robe carrying a shovel about the countryside. Upon tiring in a wood, he awakens to meet an old hag who gifts to him a pair of enchanted glasses.
A variety of characters in colourful costumes come and go from the story that centres around the man in the red robe.