The Shiralee **** (1957, Peter Finch, Dana Wilson, Elizabeth Sellars) – Classic Movie Review 9656

Director Leslie Norman’s 1957 British Australian Western film The Shiralee is produced by Michael Balcon, made by Ealing Studios, and stars Peter Finch, Dana Wilson and Elizabeth Sellars. It is based on the debut full-length novel by D’Arcy Niland published in 1955.

As an Ealing Studios film, it is a British film made in Australia, rather than an Australian film. even though all exterior scenes are filmed in Sydney, Scone, and Binnaway, New South Wales, and Australian actors Charles Tingwell, Bill Kerr and Ed Devereaux play supporting roles, with filming completed at at MGM’s studios in London. Ealing and MGM had signed an agreement for MGM to distribute their films worldwide, and The Shiralee was their first film together

English-Australian actor Peter Finch is ideal as itinerant rural worker Jim Macauley, a swagman, who returns to Sydney from a walkabout, finds his wife (Elizabeth Sellars) with another man, and takes his young daughter Buster (Dana Wilson) on the road with him. Father and daughter bond in the barren landscapes of the Outback. The girl is of course the shiralee, an Aboriginal word meaning swag or a burden.

Finch is the cement that holds a grand movie together. Leslie Norman said Finch was marvellous. ‘It was great working with him. Of course he was not a [Michael] Balcon sort of character at all – too wild a lifestyle.’ Finch later said the film and his role were among his favourites in his career.

Leslie Norman said he read the book, loved it and sent it to producer Michael [Mick] Balcon at Ealing. He said: ‘Mick roasted me, said it was full of foul language and how dare I? I said that it wouldn’t be in the film. So he said “all right” and to get him a script.’ So Norman wrote a script and showed it to Balcon who ‘claimed it was a different story, so we called in Neil Patterson to rewrite. He only rewrote one scene but it was enough to appease Mick. I suffered a lot from Mick.’

Norman arrived from the UK in Sydney in April 1956 to begin the pre-production. Finch arrived in July 1956. A wide talent search was conducted to find a girl to play Buster, and 8-year-old Dana Wilson of Croydon, Sydney, was cast.

The film was shot in the last months of 1956, first on location in north east New South Wales near Scone, then at MGM’s studios in London.

It cost $597,000, earned $920,000 worldwide and made a profit of $149,000. However, it did only moderately in America, taking just $60,000 at the US and Canadian box office, so it was a bad start to the Ealing-MGM deal, which did not last, spelling the end of Ealing Studios.

Film rights were sold to Ealing in 1955 for £10,000.

A second adaptation was made in 1987. It was an Australian TV film mini series directed by George Ogilvie, and starring Bryan Brown and Noni Hazelhurst.

The song ‘Shiralee’, sung on the soundtrack by Tommy Steele, reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart in 1957.

Also in the cast are Elizabeth Sellars as Marge Macauley, George Rose as Donny, Rosemary Harris as Lily Parker, Russell Napier as Mr W G Parker, Niall MacGinnis as Beauty Kelly, Tessie O’Shea as Bella Sweeney, Sid James as Luke Sweeney, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell as Jim Muldoon, Reg Lye as Desmond, Barbara Archer as Shopgirl, Alec Mango as Papadoulos, John Phillips as Doctor, Bruce Beeby as solicitor, Frank Leighton as barman, Nigel Lovell as O’Hara, John Cazabon as Charlie the Butcher, Mark Daly as Sam, Ed Devereaux as Christy, Guy Doleman as Son O’Neill, Lloyd Berrell, Bettina Dickson, Gordon Glenwright, Fred Goddard, Clifford Hunter, Stuart McWhirter as person placing bet on swagmen, Betty McDowall as Girl at Parkers, Henry Murdoch, Frank Raynor, Lou Vernon, David Williams, Chin Yu, Bill Kerr as a shopkeeper and Ron Whelan.

Dana Wilson was born in 1949 in Australia. She had a three-film career, and is known for The Shiralee (1957), A Cry from the Streets (1958) and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll [Season of Passion] (1959). She died on 24 March 2015 in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia, aged 66.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9656

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