"The Sweet Sad Story of Elmo and Me" is a 1965 Australian television film which aired on ABC as part of Wednesday Theatre.
[6] According to one paper, "Throughout the play the author pokes his tongue at suburbia, materialism, education and television, among other things.
"[7] "Digger" Smith returns from World War II to his wife Shirl a baby girl, Betty, and a modest house in the suburbs.
A happy, uncomplicated man, "Digger" Smith stays so until prosperity catches up with him and he makes strenuous efforts to "keep up with the Joneses."
It was based on a stage play by Ric Throssell that was first performed at the Canberra Festival in 1963 under the title Dr Homer Spakes.
The situations are strained, the plot is weak, the dialogue empty and what message it may have is soon lost in boredom induced by strident over-emphasis.
"[17] The TV critic for The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "the price of experimentation either by producer or audience is high and half way through The Sweet Sad Story... many viewers must have switched off and gone to their beds shaking their heads and muttering 'I thought it was modern but it's beyond me'... a gallant effort to drag television out of its depressing orthodoxy...[but] a few hunks of raw and undissolved irony in a pale gruel of unreality.
"[18] The Bulletin said his "only possible reaction is to sit like a stunned mullet wondering was it all a ridiculous dream, and finally peering around to discover whether he is alone in all this.