Rex Rienits

Rex Rienits (17 April 1909 – 1971) was an Australian writer of radio, films, plays and TV. He was a journalist before becoming one of the leading radio writers in Australia. He moved to England in 1949 and worked for a number of years there. He later returned to Australia and worked on early local TV drama.

Rienits worked as a journalist and boxing promoter in Wagga Wagga. He moved to Sydney where he continued to work as a journalist but also wrote for radio.

In 1939 he helped form the Playwright's Advisory Board. In the mid-1940s he was hired by Henry Watt of Ealing Studios to prepare a research document on the Eureka Rebellion which formed the basis of the 1948 film Eureka Stockade. He moved to England in 1949 and wrote scripts for radio, film and TV. His big breakthrough was a popular radio adaptation of Robbery Under Arms.

He later returned to London, where he died of a heart attack in 1971.

Personal life

His first marriage ended in divorce in 1932. His second wife Josephine died in 1954.

Radio

• Anti-Climax (1931) – a one-act play
• For Auction (1931) – a one-act play
• Art, for Art's Sake (1931) – a one-act play
• Midnight Interlufe (1931) – a one-act play
• Reunion (1938)
• Margaret Catchpole (1945)
• He Found What He Wanted (1947)
• Stormy Petrel (1948) – serial – rebroadcast in 1953
• Robbery Under Arms (1949) – BBC radio adaptation of novel
• Fulfilment (1951)
• Wide Boy (1952)
• A Shilling for Candles (1953) adaptation of novel by Josephine Tey for BBC radio
• The Woman on the Beach (1953)
• Front Page Lead (1954)
• The Journey of Simon McEever (1954)
• Joseph Proctor's Money (1954) adapted from story by W. H. Lane Crawford
• Bligh Has a Daughter (1954)
• Close to the Roof (1960)
• John Lancaster (1961)
• Flying Doctor (1961) – serial
• Holiday Task (1961)

Films

• Eureka Stockade (1949) – original research for screenplay
• Assassin for Hire (1951) – screenplay, based on his 1950 TV play – also a novel
• Wide Boy (1952)
• Noose for a Lady (1953)
• River Beat (1954)
• Fabian of the Yard (1954)
• No Smoking (1955)
• Out of the Clouds (1955)
• Cross Channel (1955)
• Count of Twelve (1955)
• Walk Into Paradise (1956)
• Three in One (1957)
• Smiley Gets a Gun (1958)

TV Plays

• Assassin for Hire (September 1950) – aired on BBC
• The Million Pound Note (1950) – based on the novel by Mark Twain
• Joseph Proctor's Money (1951) – TV play
• The Bodgie (1959) – TV movie
• Close to the Roof (1960) – TV movie
• Who Killed Kovali? (1960) – TV movie

TV Series

• The Passing Show (1951) (TV series) – writer of various episodes
• BBC Sunday Night Theatre – episode "No Smoking!" (1952)
• Patrol Car (1954) (TV series) – episode "Bombs in Piccadilly"
• The Vise (1955) (TV series) – "Count of Twelve"
• The Third Man (1959) – episode "Death in Small Installments"
• Jazz Boat (1960) – screenplay (original story)
• Jezebel (1963) – original story for episodes
• Riptide (1969) – story for episode "One Way to Nowhere"

Mini-Series

• Stormy Petrel (1960) – TV series
• The Outcasts (1961) – TV script
• The Hungry Ones (1963) – TV script

Books

• Eureka Stockade (1949) – non fiction
• Wide Boy (1952) – fiction
• Assassin for Hire (1952) – fiction
• The Voyages of James Cook (1969) – non fiction

Plays

• Slaves to Tradition (1931)
• Hide Out (1937) – co written with S Howard, produced at the Independent Theatre
• Lightning Strikes Twice (1944)

(He also directed various plays including productions of Golden Boy)