Machine-Made Thrills

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 397, 31 January 1947, Page 10

Machine-Made Thrills

ITHERTO Captain Charles Sturt has been to me merely a_ stern though unwhiskered face remembered from a school atlas, but since the first broadcast of the’ new Sunday morning series from 2YA Into the UnknownSturt a voice equally stern but somewhat suggestive of whiskers has been added. No glimpse has yet been afforded of the man himself, though perhaps this would be too much to expect of a programme that concentrates on the going rather than on the man who goes. But so far Into the Unknown has proved an unworthy successor to Travellers’ Tales and: even to The Adventures of Marco Polo. The treatment is stereotyped, a mere progression from one new landmark to the next, and lest the discovery of a mighty river or a vast inland lake should exalt the discoverers unduly, each new occasion for rejoicing is smartly followed by its corresponding misfortune. Thus immediately after Burt’s proud naming of the Murray River, Doctor Brown (who performs the function of chorus) announces that stores are dangerously low, and immediately after the episode of Lake Alexandrina, he again rushes on to announce that hostile natives have made off with the few remaining. History may bear out the scriptwriter’s thesis that Sturt was "the unluckiest explorer who ever pushed back the frontiers of Australia," but the repeated, almost rhythmical, blows of fate coupled with the reiteration of phrases such as "only a miracle can save us" smack so strongly of the usual radio serial that the real-life drama passes us by. We, in fact, feel no compunction and little interest when our session closes with Sturt and his sturdy band in the middle of drought-bound country, surrounded by cannibals, without food, and weakened by scurvy.