Above: Claudia Cardinale in Girl in Australia (1971) She won a David di Donatello Award for Best Actress for this role.
A directory of films & TV programs made about (but not by) Australians 1960–1984
On the Beach (1959), The Sundowners (1960) and They’re a Weird Mob (1966) – these well known and widely available films were made in Australia by visiting foreign crews, at a time when there was very little home-town production. What follows is a list of less well known films and TV programs which also portray Australia or Australians. They are all curious in some respect – reminding us that their primary audiences were not Australians at all.
The tradition continues today – as seen in the 2020 Netflix miniseries The Crown. Although set in Australia, Episode 6 of Season 4 was famously and very obviously filmed in Spain, much to the amusement of Australian audiences.
1. Shadow of the Boomerang (1960) [Feature]
- Gospel Films Library [Watch here]
Christian cowboys in the Outback
Comment: Funded by evangelist Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures, this “Christian Western” starred US actors Dick Jones (1927-2014) and Georgia Lee (1925-2006) but also included some local actors, notably Aboriginal singer Jimmy Little (1937-2012). It was filmed near Camden in New South Wales. The plot concerns siblings Bob and Kathy Prince (Jones and Lee) who are sent from the US to Australia to run a cattle property for their father. Billy Graham’s preaching is interwoven into the plot – which also sees Dick Jones’s character embrace Christianity and shed his racism.[1]Pike & Cooper (1980) p300 Dated and predictable though it is, it is superior to many B-Westerns of the era.
[Screengrabs show top; Georgia Lee and Jimmy Little, and below; the final cheerful song of the film ]
2. The Saint (c1964) [TV Series]
Series 3, Episode 7 The Loving Brothers
- Balta Yoshi Channel on Youtube [Watch here]
- Lewis Martin Channel on OK.RU [Watch here]
The Outback in an English quarry
Comment: This writer has a friend who, although a classic Roger Moore/Saint fan, has attempted to render his DVD copy of this episode unreadable, such is his annoyance with the stereotypical presentation of Australians and the leaden script. Apparently filmed in an English quarry (passing for Australia), it is of interest for the large number of London-based Australian actors who briefly feature. These included Reg Lye (1912-1988),(hamming his accent up so ridiculously he is unintelligible), Ed Devereaux(1925-2003), Ray Barrett(1927-2009), Betty McDowell(1924-1993), Dick Bentley(1907-1995), John Tate(1915-1979) and Grant Taylor(1917-1971). Annette Andre(b1939), who had only recently arrived in London, played the love interest. In an interview with Stephen Vagg, Andre recalled that Director Leslie Norman repeatedly complained that her accent wasn’t distinctively Australian enough.
[Screengrabs shows top; Annette Andre, Reg Lye and Roger Moore, and below; Andre with Ed Devereaux and Betty McDowell]
3. Thunderbirds (c1965) [TV Series]
Series 1, Episode 6 The Mighty Atom
- ITV on Youtube [watch here]
- Pappou MM on Youtube [Watch here]
- hoegaarden 27 on Youtube [Watch here]
- ITV Retro on Youtube [Watch here]
Melbourne’s atomic reactor blows up
Comment: Thunderbirds was a British children’s TV puppet show, so it should not be taken very seriously. All the same, the futuristic series always had aspirations of providing vaguely plausible scenarios. At the start of this episode, an atomic desalination plant – somewhere near Melbourne, Australia, is almost wrecked by “the Hood,” a foreign baddie and series regular, who has evil intent and mystical powers. Fortunately, the wind changes and the atomic cloud “blows away” somewhere. Australian Ray Barrett(1927-2009) voiced many of the parts, including the Hood and Thunderbird #5 hero John Tracy. In the emerging habit of British TV, the surrounds of Melbourne are presented as a desert wasteland even before the atomic cloud is released! However, curiously, the Melbourne Herald newspaper (which really existed at the time) features several times.
4. Thunderbirds (c1965) [TV Series]
Series 1, Episode 18, Cry Wolf
- ITV Retro on Youtube [Watch here]
More desert stories from Australia
Comment: In this episode of Thunderbirds, two little Australian boys accidentally contact International rescue – while playing near their desert home. (Where else would they live!) After being rescued by Scott Tracey flying Thunderbird #1, their widowed father lets them go on an educational trip to International Rescue’s secret tropical island base.(They put on blindfolds at the last minute so they don’t realise where they are) Back at home they run into trouble again, with “the Hood” and his evil plans. British actresses Sylvia Anderson(1927-2016) and Christine Finn(1929-2007) voiced the two children, while Ray Barrett was busy again with multiple parts. Barrett recalled in his 1995 biography that while work on Thunderbirds was enjoyable, none of the actors benefitted by its long term success – the residuals were meagre.[2]Barrett (1995) p150-1 [Screengrabs show top; a very ropey “computer” map of Australia, and below; one of the boys in their TB 2 go-cart]
5. The Drifting Avenger [Koya No Toseinin] (1968) [Feature Film]
- Otukenim tv on OK.RU [Watch here – in Japanese with no English subtitles]
- NFSA website has two short clips in English [watch here]
A Japanese cowboy of the Old West
Comment: This Toei Company[3]a major Japanese studio feature was largely filmed near Tamworth in New South Wales – with interiors shot in Japan. Popular Japanese cinema star Ken Takakura(1931-2014) and Kevin Cooney (a Japanese speaking US boy) were brought in for leading roles, while the supporting cast were mostly Australians. The National Film & Sound Archive describe this as a Japanese–Australian co-production, but it is hard to see how this was really so. The Director was Junya Satô(1932-2019), who was working from a script by the prolific Yoshihiro Ishimatsu (b 1932). Filmed in English but then dubbed into Japanese in post production, it was never released in Australia. It is a “revenge” story, set in the 19th century American West, yet many viewers will find its exotic Australian setting distinctive.[4]See Pike & Cooper (1980) p313
6. Girl in Australia (1971)[Feature film]
(Italian title: Bello Onesto Emigrato Australia Sposerebbe Compaesana illibata)
- Films&Clips on Youtube [Watch here – in Italian with English subtitles]
Claudia Cardinale’s award winner
Comment: Girl in Australia was a comedy made for Italian-speaking audiences, and as Pike & Cooper note, it manages to say much about the life of migrants in Australia – particularly the loneliness endured and the sacrifices made. Michael Powell’s less effective but better known account of an Italian migrant – They’re a Weird Mob had been made only five years before.[5]Pike & Cooper (1980) p337-8
Two very popular Italian actors, Alberto Sordi (1920-2003) and Claudia Cardinale(1938-2025), took the leading roles in this film while some of the supporting actors were Australians. The very capable and prolific Luigi Zampa(1905-1991) was director. The film was only given limited release in Australia – perhaps distributors were concerned by the plot’s geographical howlers -“Sydney to Broken Hill takes… [the leads] through dense tropical jungle and past Ayer’s Rock.”[6]Pike & Cooper (1980) p338
In 1972, Cardinale won a David di Donatello Award for Best Actress in this film.[7]See the official website for the award, here
[Screengrabs show top; Sordi in the dance hall scene, and below; Cardinale with Australian actor Noel Ferrier]
7. The Pajama Girl Case (1977) [Feature film]
(Italian title: La Ragazza dal Pigiama Giallo)
- Daily Motion [Watch here & turn on subtitles]
- Federico on Youtube [Watch here]
- Alugha Classics [Watch here – English version – with Ray Milland’s own voice]
Half a film made in Australia
Comment: This Italian “giallo” (shock thriller) film takes its name from the “Pajama Girl Murder” case of 1934. Set in contemporary Sydney and directed by Flavio Mogherini (1922-1994), it starred veteran Hollywood actors Ray Milland (1907-1986) and Mel Ferrer (1917-2008), and up and coming Italian actors Michele Placido (b1948) and Dalila Di Lazzaro (b1953). One young Australian – Rod Mullinar (b1943), had a supporting role.[8]The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 July 1977, p84
The device of two parallel narratives is unusual, and it results in an unnecessarily convoluted plot. An added complication is that the movie was obviously filmed in Australia AND in Europe. Sterling efforts were made to disguise locations, but Milland’s and Ferrer’s scenes were all filmed in Italy or Spain. Note the restaurant scene 24 minutes in – where despite some English language street signs, in the background Italian cars wizz by on the opposite side of the road to Australia. Note also the red Australian telephone box that appears, repeatedly, to give “local flavour,” and the shots from behind of Milland’s character pacing around Sydney streets, clearly a stand-in. In the end, entertaining though it is, the film has little to do with the real Pajama Girl case and might just as well have been filmed anywhere. [Screengrabs show top: Ray Milland (as Inspector Timson or is it Thompson?) staring at the pajama girl’s corpse, below; Michele Placido and Dalila Di Lazzaro really on location at the Sydney Opera House]
8. The Black Boomerang (1982) [4 part TV Miniseries]
[German title: Der Schwarze Bumerang]
- FilmParade on Youtube [Watch as follows – German language only]
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4 - also on Apple TV [subscription required]
“I get bored, go for a walk in the outback, get lost and live with a tribe of Aborigines”(Paul Spurrier’s description of the plot)[9]The Age(Melb), 18 March 1982, p36
Comment: This German miniseries was based on an original work by writer/actor Rüdiger Bahr(1939-2023), and had already been made as a radio play. The plot concerns a Munich scientist, Peter Lester, his wife Helen and son Michael, who move to Australia to work for a chemical company – at a research centre – in the desert naturally. It transpires that Lester’s invention is sought by others, and the research centre suddenly appears to be a prison. Son Michael wanders off into the desert, gets lost and is saved by a (traditional) tribe of Aborigines. The Lester family are all played by an unusual mix of actors – German Klaus Barner(1933-2022), French actor Danielle Volle(1937-2000) and English child actor Paul Spurrier (b1967). However the series had a largely Australian crew, including producers – Jan Bladier and David Lee, and director George T. Miller(1943-2023).[10]for Episode 1, filmed in Germany, Wolf Dietrich directed There were also a number of Australians in supporting roles, including Chantal Contouri (b1950) and very briefly, Allan Cuthbertson (1920-1988) – doing something he once said he would never do – playing an Australian.
The series was not released in Australia. [Screengrabs show top; Actor credited as Robert Dyer near Uluru, middle; Paul Spurrier and another actor at Kilkunda bridge, bottom; Chantal Contouri welcomes the Lester family to the secret lab]
9. Minder (1984) TV Series
Series 4, Episode 6, If Money Be the Food of Love, Play On
- The Comedy Series Inc on Youtube [Watch here]
- Stylist Music on Youtube [Watch here]
“I made a serious misjudgement of character about you”[11]Arthur Daly to Dee
Comment: By 1984 there had already been a number of films presenting the adventures of naive, Lager-swilling Australians arriving in London – including Up Jumped a Swagman (1965) and The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972). Paul Hogan(b1939) had also had explored this in TV specials. However this episode of the British TV comedy series Minder reversed the usual narrative. In this case, the Australians in London were clever petty criminals, still running the innocent Colonial act.
Series regulars Arthur Daly(George Cole 1925-2015) and Terry McCann (Dennis Waterman 1948-2022) were also stereotypes of small time London criminals, but the joke of this episode is that they are no match for the Australians. Brisbane-born Penny Downie,(b1954) took the leading guest role as Dee. Julianne White(b1960), playing Sandra, one of the shoplifters, effected a fairly broad Aussie accent – one that she does not have in real life.[12]The author knows, he worked with her in Melbourne amateur theatre in the late 1970s Like Downie, she moved to London in the early 1980s and has worked there ever since.[Screengrabs show top; Penny Downie (Dee),Larry Lamb (Greg), Dennis Waterman (Terry), and George Cole (Arthur), below; Julianne White as Sandra]
References
- Shaun Anderson (2011) The Celluloid Highway-The Pyjama Girl Case (1977)
- Ray Barrett/Peter Corris (1995) Ray Barrett. An Autobiography. Random House
- Andrew F Peirce (2019) The Pyjama Girl Case Review – Australia’s Sole Giallo Film is a Depressing Affair. The Curb.
- Alberto Pezzotta (2025) A Civil Laugh: The Films of Luigi Zampa. Il Cinema Ritrovato, 2025.
- Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. AFI/Oxford
- Michael Powell (1986) A Life in Movies. Alfred A Knopf
- Stephen Vagg (2025) The time Claudia Cardinale made a film in Australia. Filmink, Sept 2025
- Stephen Vagg (2020) Annette Andre: My Brilliant Early Australian Career. Filmink, Aug 2020.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Pike & Cooper (1980) p300 |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Barrett (1995) p150-1 |
| ↑3 | a major Japanese studio |
| ↑4 | See Pike & Cooper (1980) p313 |
| ↑5 | Pike & Cooper (1980) p337-8 |
| ↑6 | Pike & Cooper (1980) p338 |
| ↑7 | See the official website for the award, here |
| ↑8 | The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 July 1977, p84 |
| ↑9 | The Age(Melb), 18 March 1982, p36 |
| ↑10 | for Episode 1, filmed in Germany, Wolf Dietrich directed |
| ↑11 | Arthur Daly to Dee |
| ↑12 | The author knows, he worked with her in Melbourne amateur theatre in the late 1970s |