Werner Baer: Tumanu's People (1960)

Abstract

"This is one of three films made in the Northern Territory in 1960, the others, The Living North and North of the Centre, scored by Hughes and Herweg. Baer's score exemplifies the best of the pastorale style of composition. At its best this piano-based score describes dreamy, distant horizons and people on the move. The first recording, at EMI, was hampered by poor performances; the work was rerecorded in ABC Studio 226 some months later, but performance difficulties persisted. As a point of interest, much of the commentary in the film is spoken in the first person, in the character of an Aboriginal. This is read by a white commentator who sounds as if he has come straight out of drama school. It sounds very odd these days." -- James McCarthy