Movie review - "Another Country" (1984) ****

 Well made British film has a great subject - Guy Burgess at school - and does it well. The other main character is his commie mate played by Colin Firth though he actually doesn't get much screen time - he starts as a commie ends as a commie (Ken Branah played this role on stage). The story is about the politicisation of Burgess. Some critics from the time whined that it didn't show his politicisation - but it shows very clearly his disenchantment with the estabishment, at first he disdains it cheerfully then comes to loathe it when he's booted from making head prefect. 

Cary Elwes is Bennett's love object, Bennett is played excellently by Rupert Everett in a star making portrayal. The make up at the beginning and end is a litte off putting - and would an American journalist be allowed to interview a spy?

But a very good movie. 

Book review - "Rhino Ranch" by Larry McMurtry (2009)

 I think McMurtry did this because he liked Duane Moore so much he felt compelled to see it through to Duane's death - rather quick, of a heart attack while fishing at the end of this book. Painless. But happy enough.

Once again all the gals want Duane - even his wife Anne, who at the start has left him, and at one stage dates Imran Khan which is cool, now is revealed to be on meth head, and she dies in an accident; Honour, his shrink, he occasionally talks to, and is killed off via cancer; there's Dal, a Cambodian at his son's work who moves in platonically but he could love her' a manic pixie horny girl who gives him a blow job and wants to work in porn; some other girl who offers to root him, a sculptor; a millionairess who wants to root him; a journalist who interviews him who might want to root him then roots his grand son.

He has a nice grandson, rabbiting daughters who are barely in it and have no dimension, a loyal friend. Chapters are super short, plots come and go with rapidity (a rhino ranch, meth users, a proposed statue), as do characters (the rhino, a Khalahari bushman, a Texas ranger, a female sherrif). There's sideswipes at Thalia/Archer, a lot of moseying around.

This one is for the diehards but since I'm a diehard I guess I enjoyed it, especially as it's clearly so personal.

Movie review - "The Flying Doctor" (1936) **

 I think the original doctor was about a flying doctor. This isn't. I wonder why they did it that way. Maybe they pitched it to Charles Farrell. He's not bad. He's not the film's problem. Errol Flynn wouldn't have fixed this. it's the story. A real this happened then that happened. Farrell travels through Australia. Befriends Joe Valli. Romances Mary Maguire. Abandons her. Has more adventures - works on Sydney Harbour Bridge, watches Don Bradman bat, becomes a wrestler (!). Befriends James Raglan doctor who has this girl. Then he goes mining makes a fortune and becomes blind. Maguire turns up. 

Gosh it's weird. Like a magazine serial making it up as it went along. At heart it wants to be a women's picture but they don't know how to make it. Farrell needed a girl to accompany him on his adventures.

Fascinating though.

Movie review - "Bachelor of Hearts" (1958) **

 Amiable dim British comedy about a German student who goes to Cambridge - Hardy Kruger was hot stuff at the time due to The One That Got Away. A German in England isn't really high concept, at least not here. He misunderstands some slang - that's about as much fish gets out of water. The original idea was for a cockney kid to go the Cambridge - that might've had more point.

Cambridge is full of prats as depicted here, so I guess that's accurate? They have japes, smoke pipes, wear sweaters, drive old cars, play dress ups, occasionally go to a lecture.

The cast includes Ronald Lewis, John Richardson, Barbara Steele.  They don't give Richardson much dialogue. Or Steele - but there's no mistaking her look.; Lewis is quite amiable.

Kruger is fine, I guess, though his character is very lechy - he practically entraps Sylvia Syms. Maybe the film would've been better had it been about a female German student - Romy Schneider. Or maybe simply that he just needed a character to play. His German student is too affabble and well adjusted. If he came in as a cliche Tuetonic, no sense of humour, and learned how to soften... that's an arc. But he comes in amiable and goes that way.

The writers were Leslie Bricusse and Frederic Raphael, then collaborators.Location work helps and the colour photography is pleasing. It's amiable. I laughed at the moment where Kruger dresses as versions of the guys to go after their women and in one he acts like an angry young man and the girl gets turned on at him being "so angry". That was funny.

It's a curio. Amiable. Dim. Kruger plays cricket in one scene.

Movie review - "Ha'penny Breeze" (1950) ** (warning: spoilers)

 The first film from Don Sharp, who co-wrote and co-produced as well as starred. It's a DIY effort for its time - low budget but a big enough budget to cover studio filming and location work. Apparently he and his mate Frank Worth (who directed) came up with the idea by going to the location and writing a film about it.

So it's a tale about a little village where they used to sail but don't because it's unmanly compared to fishing or something. The plot is a little fuzzy - well, maybe dull more than fuzzy.

It's full of novelty, though. The photography is lovely, as is the location work. It does have a nice small town feel and is affectionate. 

Sharp plays an Aussie and there's lots of comments on the fact he's Australian (he and his friend were POWs together).  He's not really handsome enough for a leading man (mind you, neither is his co star Edwin Richfield) and he's a little awkward, but it's fun seeing Don Sharp in the lead of a film. Gwynneth Vaughan in Sharp's love interest, Richfield's sister.

The ending has Sharp walking off into the sunset whistling 'Road to Gundagai' which is cool. And there's reference to Australia beating England in the cricket which was sweet.

Book review - "Flashman's Lady" (1977) by George MacDonald Fraser

 Terrific stuff from Fraser. Sometimes this gets overlooked in my memory with Flashman's 3-5 but this one is brilliant too. You sense Flashman is in true peril going up Borneo and then in Madagascar. Giving Elspeth a larger role is a fresh take, including diary entries and comments from her sister. There's also a lovely opening section about cricket, meeting Tom Brown and playing at Lords, with a superb double wicket match. The scene visiting the execution did feel a little random (the time spent on it in the book) and the bookie's voice was perhaps given too much page space. Those a minor gripes in a Flashman classic.

This really is the best formula for the books: opening sequence in England, with a sports type sequence, then adventures in one exotic part of the world, then adventures in another exotic part of the world, constantly pair Flashman with famous nutters. A treat.

Movie review - "Alvin Rides Again" (1974) *

 They didn't trust in the concept of Alvin. The first twenty minutes they do... Alvin is irresistible to women including Briony Behets, Candy Raymond (who goes full frontal), Abigail and Penne Hackforth Jones among others.

But then the plot switches and becomes about Alvin having to impersonate gangster Balls McGee. He's depicted as an American gangster with molls dressed appropriately - it's all played in broad dinner theatre revue style. The central concept of Alvin is thrown out the window.

Nothing wrong with Alvin being a lookalike or being involved with gangsters but they forgot the basis of Alvin - that he's a nerd who is catnip to the ladies. Also Balls is so unrealistic it's this extra layer of unreality on top of the character.

Like why not make it that Alvin as Balls is now irresistible and all these molls go after him? Why not put him in a woman's prison? Or a nunnery.

This was annoying. The incompetence of this is annoying.

There are incidental pleasures: the randomness of the cast (Chantal Countouri, Kris McQuade, Frank Thring, Maurie Fields), an extended Brian Cadd performance.

I saw a 75 minute copy of the film - I remember seeing a long version where Alvin and his mate dressed up in drag to play women's cricket. It was a mean spirited sequence and isn't missed.

TV mini series review - "Robbery Under Arms" (1985) **

 I remember when this came out and by that stage no one was reading the book any more but we were aware it was a classic. In the early 20th century it was hugely popular, thanks mostly to theatre adaptations - it was filmed a bunch of times. The novel was less read as the century went on but it popped up again during the 70s-80s history boom.

Part one - Starlight robs a train, we meet the Marston brothers (Steve Vidler, Charles Cousins), they meet Starlight, steal cattle, go to Adelaide, meet the girls. At the end Dick is arrested.. There's a lot of on the nose colonial TV drama dialogue. A lot of punching people.

Part two - Dick escapes. They bust Starlight out of prison. Go the gold fields. Run into the sisters. Get busted again. Young brother gets captured, they rescue him. This was getting repetitive. Meet dodgy bushranger who takes magistrate hostage.

Part three - the horserace sequence where Starlight undercover again (repetitive). The final confrontation. Death.

The cast is fine. Steve Vidler essentially has the lead. Sam Neill has charisma. Deborah Coulls is fun in the best female part, Kate, the trashy sister. Jane Menelaus is the sister of Vidler and Cummins hot for Neill. Liz Newman has the worst dialogue as Gracey - "I hate you Dick Marston". 

Ed Devereaux is solid as the boy's dad but the mini series misses chances to dramatise the dysfunction of this relationship. The mini series fails to make the big moments tell - the boys deciding on to go bushranging, the tension of almost being busted, being busted, the excitement of escape. It feels like they're determined to get things over and odne with.

There's a lot of cricket. A big game in Adelaide, and one on the gold fields.

Production values are divine. Directed by Ken Hannam and Donald Crombie. It doesn't milk the drama. Too much trivia. Going for Butch and Sundance. Doesn't work At the end it's quite effective when the gang are preparing for their final shoot out. That's when it felt moving. I think melodrama was more the way to go than a romp.

Movie review - "Break of Day" (1976) **1/2

 Pat Lovell and Cliff Green, coming off Picnic at Hanging Rock, teamed with Ken Hannam, coming off Sunday Too Far Away resulting in a movie that didn't do as well as either, though it has its pleasures, such as a loving depiction of small town.

It's about the impact on that town of a visiting bohemian, Sarah Kestelman, in particular on a young former Anzac (Andrew McFarlane). Both actors are fine... I think Kestelman needed to be better looking or sexier or something. Like he should have seen her bathing nude to start off with. That is blunt but the film needs an electric charge like that.

Beautifully shot and all that. Very much an "AFC film" like The Irishman and so on. I enjoyed so much time being dedicated to a cricket sequence at the end.

Nice performances in the support cast from people like Tony Barry, Maurie Fields,  John bell, Geraldine Turner. The film might've been more interesting told from the bohemians point of view - with bisexual Kestelman, war veteran Bell, etc. Downer of an ending with the reveal McFarlane shot himself in the foot to avoid more fighting at Gallipoli, and then seeing Kestelman has slept with Turner.

But not a bad film.

Movie review - "The Riddle of the Stinson" (1988) ***1/2

 Very strong TV movie with an excellent script from Tony Morphett that bewilderingly got poor crits at the time. It's hard to dramatise these stories because there's a lot of dolphining along, as William Goldman put it - Jack Thompson trudging through the rainforest. How he keeps things interesting until then is a notable demonstration of skill. Morphett really brings to life the characters with lovely little moments: pilot Mark Lee asking out aviatrix Sue Lyon and being teased by co pilot Dennis Miller, the salesman spruiking books, the American theatre designer Len Kaserman, the shady Norman Kaye, the uptight Huw Williams, the young Richard Roxborough who just catches the flight.

I like little touches such as them asking what the cricket score was, the banter among the bushies. There is a wonderful harmonica score and some lovely acting. Terrific locations. Jackie Mackenzie makes an early appearance. Esben Storm is fun as a journo who accompanies the rescue expedition.

Movie review - "How I Won the War" (1967) **1/2

 Richard Lester was riding high off the success of his Beatles films and The Knack when he made this which features key figures from those films - Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Charles Wood.

It's not an easy film to define - which partly explained its lack of box office success - but is basically a satire of World War Two films with Crawford as a terribly keen lieutenant leading a platoon of odd sods including Roy Kinnear and Lennon.

A lot of this was annoying. Maybe I'm too attached to war movies but it's like - yes, war movies can be over the top, but World War Two was a noble cause, the British didn't start it. 

The visuals are interesting. It looks good - with Spain standing on for Africa. It has a slightly absurdist take (eg soldiers appearing in soccer uniforms, in bright colours) which I think plays better on stage because in film you want to invest yourself in it more. The use of real life footage is effective as are the deaths. There's a cricket game, which is a novelty.

But I didn't like it. Maybe I need to see it again or something.

Movie review - "Out of the Clouds" (1955) **1/2

 Easy going Ealing film, professionally done (Basil Dearden directed). It doesn't go for big excitement - it's reminiscent of Airport but doesn't pile on the action like that film. The subplots include some gossipy old ladies, a romance between two Jewish passengers (he's going to Israel she's going to America to marry a rich man), a pilot (Anthony Steel) may be tempted into smuggling, another pilot (Robert Beatty) is grounded and wants to fly again.

The film pulls its punches - there's no crashing, Steel decides not to smuggle in the end (would've been a better film had he gone bad).

Steel is top billed but is off screen a lot of the time; Beatty has a bigger role. Later Bond girl Eunice Grayson is an air hostess - her part isn't big (there should have been more or at least bigger female roles).  There's a racist "foreign baddy" who tries to get Steel to smuggle. James Robertson Justice is a pilot.

There's a sequence where the Jewish couple go off to some colourful East End club which was kind of fun (I enjoyed the locals talking about cricket) but it pulls the action away from the airport. Didn't the filmmakers have faith in the concept?

TV review - "Robbery Under Arms" (1985) Part 1 **

Maybe it was impossible to successfully film a story as a mini series and a feature film at the same time... or maybe this was just wrongly executed. I'm looking here at ep 1 of the mini serires.

It has some of the pleasures of 1980s 10BA filmmaking - a healthy budget, impressive production values, stunning photography.

It lacks star power apart from Sam Neill, though Steve Vidler is fine in what is really the biggest role. Tommy Lewis is excellent as Warrigal.

Episode one seems to have a lot of padding - horse galloping and jumping, shenanigans, people punching each other out (there's a lot of that), a cricket match.

We don't have any character development - no real exploring of the relationship between the brothers, or the brothers and their father. Neil and Lewis are just outlaw and sidekick. I got the women mixed up. This a shameful waste of time.

Chris Cummins, who had a moment in the mid 80s (Anzacs) is the innocent brother. Deborah Coulls, who I recently saw being murdered in Lady Stay Dead gets the best female part, the one of Kate.

It's interesting this was directed by Don Crombie and Ken Hannam, two directors who started their careers with a bang then who trailed off. Hannam was probably the better director but seems to have been the more temperamental, sooking during filming.

Movie review - "Fatty Finn " (1980) ***

Loved this as a kid. Not as good as in my memory but still much to admire. Bright colours. Period detail. (Glebe was used.) Decent script. I loved the cricket references. Episodic but linked with a narrative - Fatty consistently gets ahead and falls back.

Ben Oxenbould is ideal, as are his mates. The kid who plays Bruiser isn't as strong. Enjoyable turns from Noni Hazelhurst, Bert Newton, Gerard Kennedy, Lorraine Bayley - although the biggest adult part is the cop.

There's a scene where Oxenbould meets Robert Hughes - and I did worry about Hughes running loose on that set.

Fatty's dad is a deadbeat, as is Tiger's - some to think of it so was Smiley in the Smiley movies. Something about Oz kids films.

Movie review - "The Getting of Wisdom" (1977) **1/2

A film that's suffered under the shadow of Picnic at Hanging Rock and My Brilliant Career - especially the latter, even though it was made earlier.

It does feel familiar - a coming of age period piece with its spirited heroine battling against society etc etc. It lacks three things Career had: female gaze (Beresford directs with great pace and energy, and strong casting all that stuff... but doesn't have the nuance that Armstrong brought), the X factor of Judy Davis and Sam Neill (Susannah Fowler is fine, just not Judy Davis), and a more coherent story in the relationship between Davis and Neil. This does have Fowler's relationship with the older girl, which is sensitively handled, but introduced late in the day. Maybe the film would have been better if it made more of the lesbian angle.

Barry Humphries is fun. Candy Raymond is excellent - her three Beresford performances were all different: seductive slightly insecure suburban minx, French school teacher, slightly bogan investigator. John Waters is strong value. Sigrid Thornton (who in hindsight probably should've played the lead) is a bitch like she was in FJ Holden. Kerry Armstrong is in it too. I vaguely recognised the other girls.

I loved the cricket scene. 

It moves with speed, has intelligence and literacy. I think the two main reasons Beresford thrived while other contemporaries faded were his literacy (he was always optioning books) and the pace of his films.

Movie review - "The Jokers" (1967) ***1/2

Bright, fun, irreverent comedy - very swinging sixties but made with energy by young people of talent. Its directed by Michael Winner during his "good movies" phase - he keeps the pace running hot, it's got tremendous life, he was clearly jazzed by filming on locations.

The two leads are marvels - Michael Crawford and Oliver Reed aren't the most obvious actors to play brothers, but it adds tension. I love how Crawford is the trouble maker who got kicked out of Sandhurst while Reed is the "good" brother - I guess really they should have swapped roles but it adds freshness. Also good to see Crawford play a part where he has some balls. And that the heroes were aristocrats doing it for a lark.

There's a typically strong line up of supporting actors - Michael Hordern, Harry Andrews, James Donald, Edward Fox - and some smashing birds - Gabriella Licuidi, Lotte Tarp. It benefits from the fact Winner didn't write it - the script was by the team of Dick Clement and Ian what's-his-name, and has good twists and characters. It's really fun.

Oh there's a scene where Fox watches a cricket game.

Book review - "Flashman's Lady" by George MacDonald Fraser (re-reading)

Which is the best Flashman? Common candidates include Great Game and at the Charge and you could make an argument for Redskins but in terms of sheer fun, craft and adventure I'd put in a vote for this one. It feels written by someone at his peak in command of his ability having a time of his life.

The structure of this is more choppy - it's three parts, really, cricket, Borneo and Madagascar - but has extra resonance/pace because Elspeth, normally a supporting character, is involved so much more. I mean it's not as though Fraser gives her much more of a dimension - she's mostly comic still - but her presence gives the action greater flavour. It also increases the stakes since Flashman is forced to be brave.

He really goes through the wringer with this one - getting into a bookmakers scandal with the cricket section (there's a brilliant single wicket game sequence which shows off Fraser's tremendous skill at writing sporting contests, and I loved it how Flashman is faced with an angry duke, bookmaker and a bet), then has a luxury cruise but pays for it in Singapore with an attempt on his life (though who organised it?) and the raid in Borneo, then is topped by his adventures in Madagascar.

The action and descriptions are first rate - the jungles of Borneo, Lords, cricket pubs, the dullness of Singapore - but what you're most likely to remember are the characters: dashing but annoying James Brooke, Ranavalova the horny despot queen, the cricketers. The fictional ones are good too like Don Solomon (though he is based on a real people).

An excellent entry.

Documentary review - "The Test: A New Era for Australia's Team" (2020) ***

I'm a cricket fan so I was always going to like it, but I didn't love it. Far too often it was too close to The Office with Justin Langer as David Brent walking around spouting philosophies and talking about being a good bloke and giving speech after speech and basically trying to turn coaching cricket into coaching AFL. Good on him for exposing himself I guess - those poor players having to watch all that talking.

There is some decent access which is interesting - I loved every scene of a batsman throwing his bat across the dressing room after being dismissed (Shaun Marsh, Dave Warner, Aaron Finch).

Tim Paine and Finch come across as grown men. Steve Smith comes across as a talented child. Zampa and Stoinis are funny - I wish there had been more of them. Mitch Marsh seems like a lot of fun. Shaun Marsh seems like a nice guy. I came away with more respect for Khwaja. Travis Head seems sensible.

There's notable omissions. No Greg Chappell. No discussion of the favouritism Langer showed his pets. Very little talk about sandpapergate.

There's tantalising glimpses of a bigger story. David Saker tentatively offering some criticism (he would eventually resign). Trevor Hohns hanging around. The really, really, really large support staff - I mean what to do they all do? Langer asking for honest feedback from his staff - whose jobs depend on him don't they? Does performance manager Dene Hills ever run data on how Australia collapse when they have a number six who averages 30 with the bat.

Too much of it was like a stock doco - cutting from talking heads (including people like Gerard Whatley and Gideon Haigh) back to news footage, stock standard narrative.

I mean, I'll take it. I just wish it was better. I get things were off limits but even just letting the camera roll in the change rooms for longer periods would have been better. You get the feeling there were notes "let's not bore them" so they shoved in talking heads when sitting back and letting the action talk would have been better.

Book review - "Grant and I" by Robert Forster

The Go Betweens were a notable presence for me growing up - not huge, but a definite presence, this indie cred band who did pop songs and were from Brisbane of all places. As a Brisbane boy this had a lot of resonance for me - like Foster I went to Brisbane Grammar School, and loved cricket and went to UQ, although Forster was actually good at the game, and he studied arts. At uni he met another private school boy Grant McLennan and while both of them seemed to prefer film, they wound up forming the bands.

The Go Betweens had an interesting trajectory - most well known bands rise, plateau and fall, but they forever seemed to be in second gear. Everyone recognised their talent, especially as songwriters, but they could never break through to the broad public, have a hit or even become that famous. They didn't even have much of a local following in Brisbane. (This could be explained by the fact that once they formed they spent so much time in England and Sydney). I still find it remarkable that "Streets of Your Town" wasn't a hit - it only reached #68 in Australia!! This broke the band for a time, which is understandable - they decided to quit (rather the two boys did, annoying the two girls). They got back together, and started recording again, had some more cult albums - which actually rank among their best.

McLennan died quite young of a heart attack - he was a smoker and heavy drinker. It's interesting to wonder what sort of career they would have had if he had lived - still motoring along, I feel, though maybe selling out more vineyard. Their last performance together was at Andrew Upton's birthday party which feels entirely appropriate.

Forster has written a lot of music reviews and you can kind of tell from this book, which lingers over descriptions of his and McLennan's songs, and songs from other artists that influenced him like Bruce Springsteen and Orange Juice.

He has a flair for description but isn't that great as a story teller (the film idea he and McLennan worked on - described in some detail - doesn't sound very good) or even an anecdote or someone who captures a character. The other members of the band feel sketchy - even McLennan doesn't leap off the page as a personality, but I get the impression that's what he's like. There are glimpses of a perhaps richer, more compelling book - going golfing with Lloyd Cole, for instance, or writing of McLellan's devastation post break up. Surely they knew more colourful characters? Forster's dabbling in heroin (which gave him Hep C) is dealt with in only a few lines.

On a personal level I really love some of their songs, though I'm not sure they were the best singers - I wonder how they might've done employing a female front person like the Black Eyed Peas. They definitely should have toured more in Australia - but I get that it cost them money.

For no real reason, my top five of their songs
1) Streets of Your Town
2) Part Company
3) Finding You
4) No Reason to Cry
5)Bachelor Kisses.

Australian Sports Stars Who Tried Acting Careers

1) Snowy Baker - perhaps the greatest sportsman of his day, the day being the 1900s, when Baker represented his country in rugby union, swimming, diving, and boxing, and being pretty good at a handful of other sports too. This versatility earned him national fame which he parlayed into an acting career, becoming a genuine box office draw in a series of action adventure tales cleverly designed to show off his physical prowess, such as The Man from Kangaroo (1920). (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcV8fICxgpY) Baker went to Hollywood in the 1920s and starred in some B movies like The White Panther (1924) and The Sword of Valor (1924) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFvexyXFYTg) … then segued into managing a polo club in Hollywood, where he befriended many Hollywood stars.

2) Desert Gold - a successful race horse of the 1910s, who won 19 races on the trot... (https://www.pedigreequery.com/desert+gold2) leading to Beaumont Smith creating a fictionalised biopic, Desert Gold (1919), starring the horse as herself. Like many a famous Australian horse, Desert Gold was originally from New Zealand.

3) Dave Smith - a New Zealand boxer who became Australian heavyweight champion in the 1910s and had an unsuccessful shot at the world title.(http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/40065) He starred in two Australian movies, neither particularly successful, From Bondage to Freedom (1911) and In the Last Stride (1916), playing a fictionalised version of himself in the latter.


4) Murray Rose - a swimming legend of the late 1950s and early 1960s (four Olympic gold medals) (https://ishof.org/murray-rose-(aus).html) , very popular due in part to his good looks, he  tried to make a go of it as an actor in the 1960s. He appeared on Australian TV in an adaptation of My Three Angels (1962), then hot footed it to Hollywood where he had small roles on some TV shows like Dr Kildare as well as films like Ice Station Zebra (1968) and Ride the Wild Surf (1964) (where he played an Aussie surfer called "swag").

5) Brett Lee - cricket player who took 310 test wickets (http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/6278.html) and who parlayed his popularity with Indian cricket fans into an Australian-Indian  film, Unindian (2015). (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps2TyFSuCh0) His acting career (as of writing) remains short lived.

6) Ian Roberts - a rugby league international who is probably best known to non-Souths fans as the highest profile gay athlete in that code. (http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/ian-roberts/summary.html) Roberts went to NIDA after his football career ended and has popped up in a fair few films, notably Superman's Return (2009) where he weirdly held a video camera in most scenes. He had a decent role in an American indie Saltwater (2012). I get the impression (I could be wrong) that Roberts is one of those actors who isn't financially reliant on the craft, just does it for sheer fun, so you probably have a good chance of getting him for your short film if you gave him a call. (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1345123/videoplayer/vi2045032985)


7) Annette Kellerman - a top Australian swimmer who parlayed her international success in the pool to aquatic shows and eventually a few movies such as Neptune’s Daughter (1914) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds7v4jdFZ3s) and A Daughter of the Gods (1916) in which he appeared nude (apparently the first nude scene by a major star). Her life was immortalised by another athlete-turned-actor, Esther Williams, in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952). (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kellermann-annette-marie-6911)


8) Grant Taylor - a professional boxer he moved into acting and found stardom in Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940) as a prototype for the swaggering ocker roles later perfected by Jack Thompson. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aokFJ6Me9Hk) World War Two interrupted his career momentum and a fat gut and receding hairline saw him segue into character roles in movies, though he became a notable stage draw.

9) Ron Haddrick - the legendary actor of countless Australian films, TV shows and stage plays (and father of writer Greg Haddrick), he was a good enough cricketer to play three first class games for South Australia in the 1950s. (http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5783.html) 


(10) Ernie Dingo - the popular actor and presenter was a good enough basketball player to play in the West Australian state leagues in the 1970s.

Australian state team in 1973.