Tuesday, November 02, 2021

Movie review - "The Little Feller" (1982) **

 Ron McLean and Colin Eggleston combined to make this and Air Hawk for the Queensland Film Corporation - both produced, McLean wrote, Eggleston directed. It's better than Air Hawk not that that was hard. This feels very cheap and isn't particular well made but isn't without interest.

This has Steve Bisley in the lead as a man married to Lorna Lesley whose best friend Sally Conaberre becomes obsessed with Bisley. The three leads aren't bad.

It has some novelty being set in Brisbane - I assume it was filmed there, with glimpses of the river (a plot point has Lesley and Bisley living by the water at St Lucia and they think their kid has gone missing in the Brisbane River) - with touches like for instance a radio news broadcast talking about Minister Hinze and referring to Indooroopilly and Upper Mt Gravatt.

The story is a soapy standard - psycho obsessed with man, tries to wreck marriage. It's not terribly well plotted and Lesley is forced to act as a dill. It would've been better had say Bisley had sex with Conabere. But it has emotional power - I mean that's why these stories are soapy standards. The scenes where Lesley and Bisley think their son has drowned are moving.

The little feller, the kid (played by Steven McLean... presumably a relation of Ron), is required by story to hang off a balcony at the end and the kid looks genuinely terrified. It's stressful to watch.

The support cast includes Allen Bickford (as a cop) who was in a lot of TV plays of the 1960s.

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