form y separately published work icon The Night of the Ding Dong single work   film/TV   historical fiction  
Adaptation of Night of the Ding-Dong Ralph Peterson , 1954 single work drama
Note: Peterson is credited with the teleplay, and British script-writers Peter John Dyer and John Nelson-Burton with 'adaptation'.
Issue Details: First known date: 1958... 1958 The Night of the Ding Dong
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A review of this production in the Times notes:

The setting is Adelaide in the eighteen seventies. The placid community there are becoming slightly inflamed by the whiff of jingoism from the home country. The hero–a schoolmaster–is firmly turned down as a suitor for the hand of a colonel's daughter. No: education must give way to defence. The colonel's big chance comes when a Russian gunboat is rumoured to be lurking round the coast; supported by a politician, a newspaper editor, and a building contractor he sets about whipping up public enthusiasm for a standing army.

'The solitary gunboat is magnified into a whole flotilla, and slogans such as "Arm for peace and prosperity" begin to engage the community in industrious preparation which sweeps the financial speculators towards wealth and the colonel towards an eminence far above his position at the head of a Saturday afternoon cadet force.

'There is no savagery in this satire; and what follows is pure farce. The alarm sounds one night and the army march off to do battle, only to find that they have been mistakenly alerted and that during their absence they have been legislated out of existence.'

Source:

'Night of the Ding-Dong', The Times, 3 February 1958, p.12.

Notes

  • Television play.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      ITV ,
      1958 .
      Extent: 60min.p.
      Series: form y separately published work icon Armchair Theatre United Kingdom (UK) : ITV Associated British Corporation Thames Television , 1956-1974 7125841 1956 series - publisher film/TV

      British anthology television series.

      Number in series: 2.21
Last amended 30 Mar 2021 09:55:28
Settings:
  • Adelaide, South Australia,
  • 1870s
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