Tramp at the Door
Tramp at the Door is a Canadian television film, directed by Allan Kroeker and broadcast in 1985. Adapted from the Gabrielle Roy short story "Tramp at the Door" ("Un vagabond frappe à notre porte"), the film stars Ed McNamara as Gustave, a Russian vagrant who arrives at the farm of Franco-Manitoban couple Albert (August Schellenberg) and Madeleine (Monique Mercure) Fournier pretending to be a long-lost relative from Quebec. The cast also included Joanna Schellenberg, Eric Peterson, Jean-Louis Hébert, Melissa Dixon, Ian Wilson, James Martin, Stan Thomas, Len Klady, Kelly Sisson and Dennis Young. The film was produced by Winnipeg independent television station CKND under its program of funding Manitoba film productions. Distribution Faced with the dilemma that the film would likely need award nominations to secure a sale to the national CBC or CTV networks, but the station would have to accept a 20 per cent reduction in the price the networks were willing to pay if the film had already been broadcast in prime time in a major Canadian television market, station manager Stan Thomas followed the strategy of airing the film on CKND at 4:30 a.m. without promotion, so that it was eligible for ACTRA Award consideration while