AustLit

The fourth in the 'Dad and Dave' (On Our Selection) series, Dad Rudd, M.P. sees Dad clash with his neighbour Henry Webster over the need for a higher wall for a dam being constructed in the district. When the local member of the state parliament dies, Dad and Webster stand against each other for the seat. Webster's camp uses every dirty trick to stop Dad Rudd's campaign, but with the help of an old friend Mr Entwhistle, Dad responds with some tricks of his own. On polling day, a major flood threatens the dam wall, while a party of workman on the other side are trapped and certain to die if it collapses. Henry Webster's son Jim (who is in love with Ann Rudd) helps rescue the stranded workers. The emergency sees Dad Rudd vindicated, and he is elected. In his maiden speech to parliament, Dad gives a rousing speech that foreshadows the coming war.

Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper (1980) note that Dad Rudd, M.P. has almost nothing in common with the original Steele Rudd stories, and 'resembles instead the sort of small-town family comedy emphasised by Hollywood's Andy Hardy series. Dad Rudd [becomes] less a naive comic figure than a bastion of middle-class morality, and the story [turns] from the frivolity of the earlier films to an inherently more sober, if rudimentary, allegory on the war in Europe' (p. 249).

The narrative also sees the Rudds attempting to modernise their farm, with unpredictable (and comic) results. Dad Rudd, for example, sets off to buy a new car and returns with an ancient horse-drawn fire-engine. Dave installs a new gas-powered stove for Mum but almost blows the kitchen apart. Among the other comedy interludes scattered through what is essentially a serious plot is a scene in which a team of country fire fighters operate with all the efficiency of the Keystone Kops (Pike and Cooper, p. 249).

After being fired from the position as clerk that he has held for 24 years, mild-mannered Mr Chedworth takes a position as a night watchman, where he stumbles on a printing press and a bag of money. He takes the opportunity to live large – not realising that the money is counterfeit and that its creators are looking for it.

Based on a story by Hal Carleton, Let George Do It is the fourth George Wallace film, and the first of two to be produced by Ken G. Hall. The film also established the formula that its sequel Gone To The Dogs (1939) would follow fairly closely. In this respect, Hall not only incorporated a romantic sub-plot into the main story line, but also provided several opportunities for song and dance sequences and self-contained comedy routines.

The story line concerns Joe (played by George Wallace), a man who is frustrated by both unrequited love and his chronic unemployment. While drunk, he decides to commit suicide and offers to leave all his possessions to a local gangster, Zilch, if he will arrange a painless death. The next day, Joe comes to his senses, a matter that is helped enormously when he is told that he has just inherited an enormous fortune. Unfortunately, Zilch becomes even more determined to carry out Joe's previous wishes. Joe finally wins out in the end, but not before being chased across Sydney Harbour as he attempts to gain possession of the money.

A water ballet sequence near the end of the wild speed-boat chase across Sydney Harbour was deleted from the final cut in an effort to maintain the pace of the dramatic action.

Loosely based on the novel by Australian author F. J. Thwaites, The Broken Melody concerns John Ainsworth, a talented violinist and university teacher whose life and career begin to spiral out of control in the aftermath of a nightclub brawl. He eventually becomes penniless, and without any prospect of employment is forced to drift about Sydney as a vagabond. After he prevents an equally impoverished girl, Ann, from attempting suicide, she encourages him to begin playing his violin again. He then progresses from busking on street corners to playing in a cabaret club, where he eventually comes to the attention of a French entrepreneur. Ainsworth is sent to England where he finds success and fame as a conductor and composer. He later returns to Australia in order to tour his own opera. One night, the company's fiery soprano refuses to sing and her understudy is rushed on stage. It is Ann, whom John instantly recognises, and thus the pair are happily reunited.

Although the film is essentially a 'high drama,' Ken G. Hall infused the narrative with occasional light comic touches, in addition to moments of deliberate sentimentality (including [for example] a death-bed reunion between John and his dying father). Much of the comedic moments fell to veteran variety artist Alec Kellaway who played Joe, a genial pickpocket.

'An English solicitor, Mr Potter, arrives at the Blaydon farm at Stony Creek, near Sydney. He tells Hubert Blaydon that he's the long-lost heir to an English estate. Now known as Lord Blaydon, Hubert sails for England with his wife and 22-year-old daughter Pat. The two women take easily to life on the estate, but Hubert finds the new rules and social snobbery a trial, especially when his family is snubbed by the neighbour, Lord Denvee. Pat falls in love with her cousin, Peter Ashton, but he promises her father not to propose until his prospects improve.

For the inheritance to become legal, Hubert sends for a photograph of his mother, to prove his identity. Knowing that Peter Ashton is next in the line of inheritance, he doctors the photo's signature, to disqualify his own claim. Peter inherits and marries Pat, which allows Hubert and his wife to sail back to Australia - where they want to be, anyway. The butler Jarms sails with them, rather than staying on in class-ridden England. Besides, he knows that Hubert is the real Lord Blaydon - inheritance or not.' (Source: Australian Screen website)

'Set in the South Pacific. Daubeney Carshott goes to Thursday Island to dive for pearls to present to Stella Raff, with the hope of winning her hand. He meets Craig, another diver and eventually they realise they are both pearl-diving for the same girl.'

Source: British Film Institute (http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/40918). (Sighted: 11/9/2013)

'The action takes place at Stroud, a small town right in the heart of Australia's great timber country, where in this usually peaceful stronghold of nature, a bitter fight between two rival companies for a big timber contract rages. Daily men flirt with death in clashes with the towering giants of the forest In the race to deliver first the million feet of timber that will win the coveted contract But it was not a clear, straight fight, and men and women were asking who was responsible for the mysterious explosion that blew up the timber trainbridge. What mysterious hand had cut the hawser that carried the flying fox across the gorge? What of Burbridge's machinery? Who was spreading discontent among his men? The answer came when young Jim Thornton (Frank Leighton) caught an agitator addressing his men, and thrashed him into a confession that he was being paid by the opposition company. Burbridge is not beaten, however. Thornton has an idea–a huge timber drive, never before attempted. Fifty acres of trees on the side of a hill are to be partly cut through, so that when the killers fall on those below, they will in turn fall on those below them.'

Source:

'Parkside Theatre: "Tall Timbers",' Queensland Times, 20 August 1937, p.4.

'Filmed in sun-kissed settings, Australia's first romantic comedy drama is different–delightfully different screen entertainment. "White Death" is a giant, man-eating white shark which has struck terror into the hearts of the natives and has been responsible for many deaths, including those of the wife and son of a missionary stationed at Hayman Island. Zane Grey, who appears as "himself" in the film, is commissioned to catch this scavenger of the deep, and after catching several other sharks and a swordfish, the great author-fisherman finally hooks the "White Death."'

Source:

'Zane Grey Becomes an Actor in "White Death",' Northern Star, 22 May 1937, p.4.

An east-End barmaid discovers that she is the illegitimate daughter of an earl.

The film is based on a nineteenth-century stage melodrama by Dion Boucicault. Originally presented in the United States as The Poor of New York (1857), the play had been adapted to London as The Streets of London (1864); in the latter guise, it toured Australia in 1887.

While arguing with Gideon Bloodgood, from whose none-too-stable bank he is trying to recover his money, Captain Fairweather collapses and dies. This leaves Bloodgood, who retains Fairweather's money, vulnerable to the blackmailing activities of his clerk, Badger.

'It tells a highly dramatic story of the war, and depicts in a tense and gripping manner the heoric part played by our boys in storming the heights of Gallipoli. Designed, primarily, to waken the nation to a vivid realisation of the German spy peril, the film has succeeded far beyond the most sanguine hopes of the producers.'

Source:

'Within Our Gates', Warrnambool Standard, 2 November 1915, p.2.