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A Yank in Australia

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A Yank in Australia
Directed byAlfred J. Goulding
Written byAlfred J. Goulding
StarringAl Thomas
Hartney Arthur
CinematographyGeorge Malcolm
Production
company
Release date
  • 11 November 1944 (1944-11-11)[1]
Running time
65 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget£4500[2][3]

A Yank in Australia is a 1942 Australian comedy film directed by Alfred J. Goulding and starring Al Thomas and Hartney Arthur.

Plot

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Two journalists in New York, American Headlines Haggerty (Al Thomas) and Englishman Clarence Worthington (Hartney Arthur) are sent to cover the war in the South Pacific. They get marooned on the Australian coast along with two rival female reporters after a Japanese submarine sinks their boat. They are rescued by a girl who lives on the island with her father, Horace. Together they uncover and stop a plot by the Japanese to invade Australia.

Cast

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Production

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The film was made by Austral-American Productions.[4] The chief backer of this was Sydney stockbroker Gordon Wharton, who formed a syndicate and raised £3,000 to make the film. This amount proved insufficient and Wharton claimed he provided the remaining £1,500 needed himself. (A similar shortfall happened on his next film, Red Sky at Morning).[2]

Australian born Alf Goulding had built a significant career as a director in Hollywood, but had returned to Australia due to US visa regulations.[5] He had directed several documentaries with the title Australia Marches On and was linked with several proposed film projects.[6][7]

Filming started by May 1942.[8] The film was shot at the Commonwealth Film Laboratory studios in Sydney, with exteriors at Taronga Park Zoo. Several of the cast were established radio performers.[9]

Release

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When the film was released, Wharton estimated it would make at least £40,000 in the USA.[10][11] This did not happen. However the company went on to make another feature, Red Sky at Morning.[12]

The film took two years to be released, making its world debut in Brisbane on 11 November 1944.[13]

The Courier Mail called it "an example of just how bad a motion picture can be... In every department – production, dialogue, story – A Yank in Australia falls short. Incoherence, incredibility, and inconsistency are spread like treacle over the whole thing."[14]

The Sunday Mail reported that the film was a "nose dive to a new low level in Australian production futility. It would be a shame to mention anyone or anything connected with the film except in terms of anathema... and this is gracious comment."[15]

Box office receipts were poor but the film was also released in England and the US.[9][16][17]

References

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  1. ^ "Advertising". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 7 November 1944. p. 1. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ a b "PICTURE-PRODUCING SYNDICATES". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XXVII, no. 42. New South Wales, Australia. 15 December 1945. p. 6. Retrieved 13 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "BRUSH-OFF BY STOCK EXCHANGE COMMITTEE". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XXVIII, no. 16. New South Wales, Australia. 15 June 1946. p. 7. Retrieved 13 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "TASMANIAN FILM PRODUCER". The Examiner (Tasmania). Vol. CI, no. 266. Tasmania, Australia. 16 January 1943. p. 5. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "The door opened and in walked a director from Hollywood". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. I, no. 51. New South Wales, Australia. 3 November 1940. p. 22. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "AT CREMORNE". Truth. No. 2161. Queensland, Australia. 24 August 1941. p. 35. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ ""COBB AND CO."". Nepean Times. Vol. 59, no. 4004. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1941. p. 1. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Advertising", The Bulletin, 63 (3247 (6 May 1942)), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, nla.obj-537207837, retrieved 14 March 2024 – via Trove
  9. ^ a b Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 196
  10. ^ ""A Yank in Australia" Share". The Guardian. No. 578. Western Australia. 5 May 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 13 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Business, Rollery, Etc.", The Bulletin, 65 (3348 (12 Apr 1944)), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, nla.obj-539463465, retrieved 14 March 2024 – via Trove
  12. ^ "AUSTRALIAN FILM PREVIEW: "RED SKY AT MORNING"", Pertinent., 2 (7 (March 1943)), Sydney: Pertinent Publishing Co, nla.obj-3088444347, retrieved 14 March 2024 – via Trove
  13. ^ "FILM PREMIERE ON ARMISTICE NIGHT". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 4 November 1944. p. 5. Retrieved 25 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "New Low Level in Local Film". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 13 November 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 25 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "NELSON BURNS TELLS YOU What's on this Week". Sunday Mail. No. 760. Queensland, Australia. 12 November 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "Australian Film Producers, What Next?". The Argus. Melbourne. 20 July 1946. p. 4 Supplement: The Argus Week-End Magazine. Retrieved 25 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "No Easy Money In Films". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XXIX, no. 22. New South Wales, Australia. 26 July 1947. p. 26. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
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