[?]elevising the S. Pacific

[?]Aptain Cook Meets Girl!

Ir. James Fitzpatrick,

world-renowned travelogue pro ducer, is at the moment fully tended upon a full-length colour m and television feature, Assign int South Pacific.

He needs to be, for the film is to ver native life in Fiji, New Zea id, Australia and New Guinea, and due to be comple f ed by May 15; xt project, The Life of Captain mes Cook, is to be finished by ptember 1. :t is fair to add, however, that '. Fitzpatrick does a considerable lount of advance reading on the mtries he is going to film and ects focal points of interest ’orehand. le then “lets the country and the )ple make a spontaneous impact m his camera.” rhe script of the Captain Cook ry is already prepared and much it will be filmed in Hawaii, ome people shudder anew at each sh onslaught of Hollywood upon i South Pacific. They will be last to learn, for example, that . Fitzpatrick had one eye cocked a suitable island girl to play leading lady opposite Captain >k! iut all is not high-pressure and rilige, for Mr. Fatzpatrick had le rather nice things to say in

Suva in February, as reported by a correspondent.

He has made many films in Empire countries and has a great admira tion for what the Empire stands for.

“While it is diminishing in size,” he said, “the remaining links in the chain are becoming stronger and more reliable.” In his opinion, this was particularly true of Fiji.

Assignment South Pacific, in addition to touching on native manners and customs, will focus on some of the contrasts of the impact of Western ways and mechanisation upon native life and agriculture. It is understood that the movie version will be in Cinemascope.

In February, Mr. Fitzpatrick and his wife and team of photographers were shooting avidly on foot, in cars, and in the air, making the most of the sunshine in Suva’s sticky hurricane-season weather.

A highlight of the Fiji section will be the Fiji Military Forces band, marching down Victoria Parade in full regalia.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said that tele vision is forging ahead technically and he was of the opinion that it would reach Fiji much sooner than people imagined. t Harold George Sindel, Australian manager of a timber firm at Honiara, BSIP, was found fatally shot 18 miles from Honiara by his son, Robert, aged 20, on February 13.

Sindel’s wife and two children live at Pymble, in Sydney.