This is an irreverent look at Australian history in the spirit of Tom Jones: Susannah York plays the title role, a real life English woman who was shipwrecked on the Barrier Reef and wound up on what was eventually named Fraser Island. I think "bawdy romp" was entirely the correct approach to take - there is absolutely no reason why this shouldn't worked. And to an extent, it did at the time - the movie was a considerable box office hit. But it's only a half success.
Partly it's because the movie is inconsistent in tone. Most of all it's a funny colonial comedy, with some good lines from David Williamson, and pot shots at the English upper classes - pompous Noel Ferrier (who is terrific, crashing ships and trying to hold on to his dignity as he loses his clothes), rakish John Castle who sleeps with every woman he can (an English actor who actually has the second biggest role, he was a TV name at the time), lecherous gay sadistic commandant Trevor Howard, nasty sailors.
But there is some serious stuff too e.g. the cannibals sequence where some escaped sailors draw lots to eat each other (presumably inspired from the Alexander Pearce story) is played straight.
More troublesome is the character of Eliza Fraser. All the other lead characters are very clear: male slut Fraser, vicious Howard, idiot aristocrat Ferrier, decent convict John Waters. But what about Fraser? She just kind of hangs around and looks pretty. She's kind of up for sleeping with Fraser, then sleeps with Waters accidentally and kind of falls for him and kind of relates to the aborigines... but there is no spirit to her, no drive.
I'm sympathetic to Hexagon's desire to cast international stars - I think it suited the film and the Australian public went to see it more because foreigners were in it. Trevor Howard is spot on, and John Castle is good (even if he was hardly a box office name - they probably should have cast Jack Thompson in this part). But York is bland. You never really get the sense she's having a good time, or is particularly interested in what is going on. Look at her telling the story of her adventures at the end - there is no twinkle in the eye. She's just bland. (I'm not sure Wendy Hughes - Burstall's original choice - would have fixed these problems but she would have been prettier with more spirit. The role really required someone like Glenda Jackson, Maggie Smith or Diana Rigg. Don't laugh but Abigail might have been fun, too. Someone with more life.)
Another problem I think is it cost too much money and the production values aren't that evident. They went all the way to Fraser Island but shot a lot of close ups there - it could easily have been done in Sydney.
On the sunny side it is enjoyable. Also the support cast is terrific: Bill Hunter and Gus Mercurio are perfect surly seamen, Charles Tingwell and George Mallaby as some class, Bruce Spencer is a funny sailor. It's a fun sort of movie you just wish it had been funnier with a better female lead.
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