The Sound Of Love

John Power’s low-budget made-for-television film, based on an original story by Lew Hunter, about the relationship between a deaf-mute with social problems (Celia De Burgh) and a good-natured young mechanic (John Jarratt) who loses his hearing through work-related causes is brave in tackling difficult subject matter. It is a;so  unremarkable and often sentimental in realizing it, dutifully following a narrative arc based on the familiar theme of the healing power of love, the simple conception echoed by Peter Best’s tinkling score.

The screenplay, also penned by Power, does not introduce anything of dramatic interest to the inherent limitations of its topic, padding out the thin story with therapy sessions that would be more suitable for a training video whilst the attempts to simulate the experience of being deaf are limited to occasionally switching off the soundtrack.

Made in South Australia at a time when the Australian film industry was finding its feet, the lack of polish is understandable but it is a pity that tackling such commercially unappealing material the makers did not try harder to engage the audience's intelligence as well as its sympathies. Both Celia De Burgh and Power have since had reasonable careers in television whilst Jarratt has become a staple of the Australian film and television industry.

 

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