The tremendous success of The Overlanders saw Chips Rafferty and John Fernside re-teamed in another British-financed movie shot in Australia, and it was also popular… helping inspire a series of British films made here, some of which were commercial disappointments (Eureka Stockade, Bitter Springs, Robbery Under Arms), others which did well (Smiley, The Shiralee). This one of the best of them, a charming fable about some kids who help foil horse thieves. The leaders of the group are a girl and an aboriginal boy (the son of a stockman, described by the narrator as “the dark fellow”); there’s also two brothers to the girl and a visiting English boy. (One scene it’s striking – the girl and the boy lead the gang back home, then the girl goes and puts her dress on and the aboriginal boy has to stay in his part of the camp.)
Its easy to see why this appealed to children, then and now: five smart heroes, each having their own horse, getting to spend days out camping without adults and to beat horse stealers. They also have a black friend who helps them out in the bush, spears bags and teaches them to eat wichety-grubs. The villains are a strong foe – they shoot guns at the kids – even if the story tends to amble along rather than have true narrative drive and the other adults (eg parents) are ciphers.
Sydney John Kay, who helped set up the Mercury Theatre with Peter Finch, did the music, George Heath the photography. You wish it had been shot in colour, but you can’t have everything –that would have been near-impossible to do in Australia at the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment