AustLit

When Rodney and Jessica witness two aliens crash landing on Earth, they undertake to protect them by roping them into joining the world's most unsuccessful children's television program, Kid's Breakfast (nicknamed Pig's Breakfast). Disguised as characters on the program, Grob and Meeba (and their pilot Queegle) are forbidden to reveal their real identities: the media believe them to be eccentric actors who prefer to stay in character (and costume). But the situation is complicated by the fact that the crashed spaceship was a school bus, and Grob and Meeba, although genuine aliens, are also genuine teenagers.

During World War II, an American Marine, Rebel, is recuperating in Australia from wounds suffered in battle. He is weary of war and intent on going absent without leave. After meeting local singer Kathy, he becomes infatuated and pursues her. But Kathy is married and initially uninterested in Rebel. This begins to changes, however, when he hides out at her place, and intensifies when she receives a letter advising her that her husband has been killed in battle. Meanwhile, the local police and the U.S. military are searching for Rebel. He arranges to escape Australia by cargo ship, but eventually allows himself to be arrested in order to save Kathy from being arrested for harbouring him.

'Couched in terms more suited to a sensationalist TV movie, this Australian production unashamedly employs melodramatic symbolism to emphasise the unbelievable truth of its true-life subject. Director Frank Shields secures a full-throttle performance from Ralph Schicha, as the brutal husband who not only subjects wife Kerry Mack to endless domestic violence, but also forces her to participate in the bank raids that sustain his neo-Nazi activities. Although there are references to the Baader-Meinhof group, ultimately the film is clearly less interested in politics than in the tempestuous marriage.'

Source: Radio Times (http://www.radiotimes.com/film/kbbdx/URL). (Sighted: 17/6/2013)