I remember not looking this movie much when I first saw it - it's so hokey and stage bound and melodramatic. It's certainly not as slick as the latter Dad Rudd films made by Ken G Hall. But as the years have gone on I quite enjoy it - it's certainly a useful capturing of a classic play which is one of the most popular this country ever saw.
The plot is really a series of various subplots centered around a "selection" in South West Queensland owned by Dad Rudd (Bert Bailey): he owes some money to his rich neighbour, old Carey (Len Budrick), who is determined to break Dad financially; his educated daughter Kate is pursued by two men, the poor but devoted Sandy (Dick Fair) and Carey's villainous son, Jim (John Warwick); one of his workers, Cranky Jack (Fred Kerry), has a mysterious background; comic visits from a parson (Arthur Dodds) and country dentist who removes Dad's tooth; his dim son Dave (Fred MacDonald) proposes to his girlfriend, Lily (Lilias Adeson); his other son, Joe (Ossie Wenban), causes slapstick havoc; Dave gets married and moves out with his wife and tries to borrow money from his father; Dad's daughter Sarah (Bobbie Beaumont) is pursued by the high-voiced Billy (Fred Browne), who Dad doesn't like; Dad Rudd runs for parliament opposite Carey; and his horse wins a race.
The main story concerns a murder mystery. Jim Carey attempts to blackmail Kate into being with him by lying about what she did in the city, and Sandy knocks him out. Carey later turns up dead and Sandy is suspected of the murder. The Rudds hold a dance and a police officer turns up to arrest Sandy when Cranky Jack confesses he killed Carey because the dead man stole his wife. The film ends with Dad and Mum happily watching the sun come up.
The melodrama murder was added to the Steele Rudd stories and I think it was a good idea as it gives the piece some heavy meat. Structure-wise it's still iffy - they resolve the drought by act one, the subplots sort of come and go, it feels weird that Sandy heads off, nothing much is made of Dad running for Parliament really. It's a shame Hall never got to remake this in say the 40s or 50s - but then I guess Bailey was too old and no one else could have played the role.
You can tell the actors are stage experienced - they're pretty good if broad. It's not amateur hour just amateur filmmaking hour.
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