... Heartbreak House DUBLIN JOE VANEK'S pale, scanty set gives a sepulchral tone to this Gate production of Heartbreak House, and Patrick Mason's direction confirms the theme of mourning. The pace is as slow as a funeral march, and the Shavian humour is frequently overshadowed by a sense of doom. Individual performances are plausi ble. Ingrid Craigie is very fine as Ellie Dunn, and Alan ...

... A Lonely Cowboy in Athens, 23 minutes, no English subtitles A NEW young composer featured in i this programme that consisted of a little film shooting around Athens, happy songs, some cartoons and some animation. The songs were acted out in some simple sketches of the boy and girl kind. The producer changed scene and changed pace in the numbers chosen. The cartoons and animation were used to ...

... Sweden ABBA in concert, 42 minutes ABBA in the United States preparing to work and then in London pre paring for their concert at Wembley provided the introduction to the concert, most of the filming of which took place at Wembley on conse cutive evenings. Six 16mm cameras operated simultaneously were con nected to a monitor in the producer's box. Time coding and catalogue film made it ...

... Denmark Three To One Against, 24 minutes, English subtitles A STUDIO show with some film inserts, this began with a comedy intro on a plane the pay off line being when a man pulls an air vent and the tyres deflate. The star of the show was assisted by three actresses and they attempted a parody on the Eurovision Song Contest and various sketches. Between the musical numbers we cut to an OB of ...

... Ireland Duets for Piano and Voice, 51 minutes, no subtitles TONY HATCH and Jackie Trent wrote the music for this show and after so much disco and rock the introduction was a pleasant change, the song of the title being particu larly catchy. The theme of the show was the contribution of the piano to music and this allowed a mix of many kinds of musical number. It added up to a well organised ...

... United States (ABC) The Third Barry Manilow Special, 49 minutes, no sub titles APART from a guest appearance from John Denver this was a solo performance from the star. The be ginning was rather awkward, with him trying to chat up the studio audience, but after that it settled down to be a very professional song show. The star, who also writes some of the material himself, was the show and his ...

... Czechoslovakia From Prague to Monte Carlo, 50 minutes no subtitles THE Czechs were invited to the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo to stage a television show and this was the result. The Czechs told us they had only the stage lighting, two cameras and one hand held and if the result was a bit gloomy at times, that was a reason. It was a mix of live performance and a well known Czech puppet theatre ...

... Great Britain (ITV Thames) The Plank, 27 minutes THE first ITV entry was placed here and it brought the festival to life for the first time. Everybody laughed a lot. Everybody also mentioned that had the entry been in the humorous category B it surely had to be in the running for the Golden Rose. ...

... Holland (NOS) Jan J. de Bom, Before the Friend of Children, 30 minutes, English subtitles ONE out of a series for children which dealt with problems such as those at school, those with parents, homework, sex, and fear, this programme offended some delegates. The subjects in the series arise from letters sent in by young viewers. The Dutch chose the programme on sex for Montreux since it was ...

... Holland Martine Show, 38 minutes THIS was the first show in Category B. (Humour). The star, Martine Bibi, sings and goes in for sit com by the look of it, for here (and she was a co-writer of the show) we had an ironic look at Christmas rituals. She first sang in English accompanied by four girls dressed as Santa Claus before going into a sketch about a well known television quizmaster who ...

... Belgium Urbanus, Dead or Alive, 35 minutes, English subtitles THE name in the title belongs to the writer and star of the show. He is doubtless a clever chap but we very much doubt his sense of humour would be to British taste. He is bearded, long haired and of medium height. The story began with him going into a bank with a stocking mask on his head and being con- fronted by the staff who ...

... West Germany Nonstop Nonsense, 24 minutes, English subtitles A FAST Buster Keaton type opening to the music of the Donald O'Connor number Be a Clown was the intro for the first sketch with the star in all the main roles as a petrol station attendant for whom everything goes wrong when an attractive blonde turns up in her Mercedes. The air hose jams and one of her tyres blows up; the petrol ...