The McCreadie Brothers made three features in Australia after the war, at a time when that was rare. This is possibly the best known, the story of a man who joins the Navy and then dies in battle.
He's played by Charles Tingwell who was relatively green at the time but is an ideal leading man - handsome, good voice and posture, all that stuff. He really should have gone to London straight after this I think he would've done well - he did well when he went a decade later, mind, but they made less films by then.
This had a creaky simplistic script - there's not much in the way of characterisation or story. Tingwell is a nice young man with a nice mother who goes off to war, has a long training montage, makes a friend in Guy Doleman.
Everyone is bland - Tingwell doesn't seem like a real person, he's more Christ like. Doleman plays someone who is a bit bitter then learns not to be bitter because sacrifcing yourself is good. Betty McDowall is a perfect girlfriend. Queenie Ashton's mother character is just a smiling mother. Everyone just sort of nods and accepts people will die.
It's got a weird sort of tone. Fatalistic. Dreamy. There's no fire in the belly. No anger, conflict or sex. There is flowery voice over. It's like everyone has taken a pill and is drifting off to fate.
The film only really comes alive when Tingwell romances McDowall because that feels more real and as if there's stakes. I also liked the final battle, because there's some build up and it looks authentic.
It is noticeable for the co operation of the navy which results in some decent second unit footage. There's training sequences, a boxing match, scenes of sailors marching. Actually there's so much of this it feels at times they're padding out the running time. (To accentuate this three's also a piano recital... this was the 75 minute version apparently there's a longer one out there!)
There's some humour in one of the sailors is so obviously camp. The film could have done with more of it.
Tingwell is an excellent leading man. The film's a fascinating time capsule.
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