Double Dealer (film)

*Double Dealer*
Double Dealer
Written by	Phillip Avalon
Directed by	Alan Dickes
Starring	Phillip Avalon; Guy Peniston-Bird; David Callcot
Music by	Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Phillip Avalon
Cinematography	Richard Bradley
Running time	72 minutes
Budget	A$45,000 or $36,000
Original release
Release	1975

Double Dealer is a 1975 Australian TV film about an undercover drug ring. It was the first film produced by Phillip Avalon.^[3]

Cast

Phillip Avalon
Guy Peniston-Bird
David Callcot
Lorna Lesley

Production

Avalon got the idea to make the film after reading a newspaper article about women being lured into white slavery in Arab countries. He wrote the script and set about trying to raise finance. He ended up financing most of the film himself with earnings from acting and modelling, $36,000 in all. He know the director, Alan Dickie, from working in commercials.^[2]

Filming began in May 1975.^[4]

Avalon produced the film using volunteers and borrowed equipment, and was shot on weekends. It was a twenty-day shoot over eight weekends and four public holidays. Some scenes were shot in a Kings Cross nightclub, The Cauldron. Rudolph Nureyev, who was touring Australia had the time, had been impressed by Avalon's nude centrefold in Cleo and agreed to do a cameo.^[2]

Reception

The film was never commercially released. Avalon ran out of funds at the end of editing and did not have money to do a sound mix and movie score. However the film launched his producing career.^[2]

References

^ Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970–1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p. 46
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Avalon, Phil (2015). From Steel City to Hollywood. New Holland. pp. 117–121.
^ Double Dealer at National Film and Sound Archive
^ "Walsh gets contract as recording star". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 May 1975. p. 84.