Kangaroo (1952 film): Difference between revisions

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===Script===
===Script===
[[20th Century Fox]] announced in 1948 they wanted to make a film based on a script by [[Norman Reilly Raine]] set in 1900 Australia. In 1949 they said it was going to be called ''The Land Down Under'' and star Tyrone Power with Robert Basler to produce.<ref>FOX NAMES POWER FOR ACTION DRAMA: 'Land Down Under,' Film About Australian Cattle Country, to Start Before Spring
[[20th Century Fox]] announced in 1948 they wanted to make a film based on a script by [[Norman Reilly Raine]] set in 1900 Australia. In 1949 they said it was going to be called ''The Land Down Under'' and star Tyrone Power with Robert Basler to produce.<ref>FOX NAMES POWER FOR ACTION DRAMA: 'Land Down Under,' Film About Australian Cattle Country, to Start Before Spring
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. 5 Nov 1949: 10.</ref> The film would be about a bushranger who pretends to be the long lost son of a rich land owner. It would be shot in Australia using "frozen" funds - a method Fox had used making ''Prince of '' in Italy.<ref>Australia Beckoning Power, Others; Andrews to Portray Evans' Father
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. 5 Nov 1949: 10.</ref>
Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 7 Nov 1949: B7. </ref>


Lewis Milestone later said "I suppose the idea of making it originated in the Fox sales department: they'd accumulated a lot of money in Australia and I suppose the only way they could move the money was to reinvest it there."<ref>Higham p 188</ref>
Lewis Milestone later said "I suppose the idea of making it originated in the Fox sales department: they'd accumulated a lot of money in Australia and I suppose the only way they could move the money was to reinvest it there."<ref>Higham p 188</ref>
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An early draft of the film reportedly featured reference to hordes of kangaroos wiping out a town, but this was deleted after input from the Australian crew.<ref>
An early draft of the film reportedly featured reference to hordes of kangaroos wiping out a town, but this was deleted after input from the Australian crew.<ref>
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23027630 |title='KANGAROO' IN WRONG ROLE. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=25 October 1950 |accessdate=11 January 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23027630 |title='KANGAROO' IN WRONG ROLE. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=25 October 1950 |accessdate=11 January 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

===Director===
===Director===
In July 1950 it was announced that [[Lewis Milestone]] would direct the movie. It was to be financed by money "frozen" in Australia due to currency restrictions, with the recently devalued Australian pound helping save money. Milestone left for Australia on 15 August 1950.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22902327 |title=Hollywood man to direct here. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=26 July 1950 |accessdate=25 March 2012 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18486028 |title=U.S. Films May Be Made Here. |newspaper=[[The Sunday Herald (Sydney)|The Sunday Herald]] |location=Sydney |date=20 August 1950 |accessdate=25 March 2012 |page=7 Supplement: Sunday Herald Features |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In July 1950 it was announced that [[Lewis Milestone]] would direct the movie. It was to be financed by money "frozen" in Australia due to currency restrictions, with the recently devalued Australian pound helping save money. Milestone left for Australia on 15 August 1950.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22902327 |title=Hollywood man to direct here. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=26 July 1950 |accessdate=25 March 2012 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18486028 |title=U.S. Films May Be Made Here. |newspaper=[[The Sunday Herald (Sydney)|The Sunday Herald]] |location=Sydney |date=20 August 1950 |accessdate=25 March 2012 |page=7 Supplement: Sunday Herald Features |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Revision as of 13:43, 24 April 2020

Kangaroo
Directed byLewis Milestone
Written byMartin Berkeley
Screenplay byHarry Kleiner
Produced byRobert Bassler
StarringMaureen O'Hara
Peter Lawford
CinematographyCharles G. Clarke
Edited byNick DeMaggio
Music bySol Kaplan
Production
company
Release date
May 16, 1952 (New York City premiere)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget£800,000[1]
Box office$1.25 million (US rentals)[2][3]

Kangaroo is a 1952 American Technicolor film directed by Lewis Milestone. It is also known as The Australian Story (American subtitle). The first Technicolor film filmed on-location in Australia. Milestone called it "an underrated picture."[4]

Strong winds on location forced Milestone to re-dub much of the exterior dialogue.[5]

Kangaroo was remade in Africa as The Jackals in 1967.[6]

Plot summary

An Australian "Western" set in 1900. Richard Connor (Peter Lawford) is a desperate young man in Sydney, Australia, trying to find the money to return home to America.

While staying at a boarding house, he is mistaken by the drunk Michael McGuire (Finlay Currie) for his long-lost son, Dennis, whom McGuire had abandoned to an orphanage as a child, a deed for which he now deeply blames himself.

Later that night, Connor attempts to rob John Gamble (Richard Boone) outside a gambling house, but after he finds him equally broke, he is talked into assisting him in robbing the establishment, during which the owner is shot.

Connor and Gamble make off with the loot, stopping at the boarding house to get Connor's gear, whereupon McGuire, still drunk, pursues his "son" down the street until he collapses. They find on him information on his extensive station (for which he was trying to secure loans in Sydney) and his boat ticket, and decide to pose as his business partners to get on the boat and away to hide out with him in the Outback.

The next day, the now sober McGuire does not remember anything, and is at first suspicious of them, until he finds he has the £500 they claimed to have paid him for cattle (planted on him from the stolen loot). Along the way (first by boat, then by horse) they subtly drop hints that Connor (now calling himself Dennis Connor) may be his lost son, without letting on that McGuire himself had talked about him, in this way hoping to gain possession of the station.

Arriving at the station, they are both smitten by his daughter Dell (Maureen O'Hara), but held in some suspicion by the local trooper Len (Chips Rafferty), who has been Dell's local beau.

Gamble does his best to scotch a budding attraction between Dell and Connor, because it will spoil the plan to pass him off as her lost brother.

Biding their time both to develop their plan and hide out from the law, they end up helping the station get back on its feet, rescuing stray cattle, heading off a stampede, and culminating in a daring repair of an out-of-control windmill during a windstorm.

McGuire is finally convinced that Connor is his son, and seeing the romantic interest of his daughter in him, tells her his conclusion. Overhearing her despair at this news, Connor feels he must confess, and Gamble sees their plan fail on the brink of success because of the annoying conscience of his partner.

Having confessed not only to not be Dennis, but to be wanted in the murder of the gambling house owner, Connor and Gamble flee the station, with trooper Len in hot pursuit.

When he catches up to them, Gamble is about to shoot him when Connor pulls the gun away with a bullwhip. The two partners in crime now have a vicious bullwhip fight.

Gamble retrieves the gun and shoots at Connor, but Len fatally shoots Gamble. Len then takes Connor back to the McGuire station, where he recovers from his injuries, being promised clemency for saving Len's life, and with the promise of a future with Dell.

Cast

Development

Script

20th Century Fox announced in 1948 they wanted to make a film based on a script by Norman Reilly Raine set in 1900 Australia. In 1949 they said it was going to be called The Land Down Under and star Tyrone Power with Robert Basler to produce.[7] The film would be about a bushranger who pretends to be the long lost son of a rich land owner. It would be shot in Australia using "frozen" funds - a method Fox had used making Prince of in Italy.[8]

Lewis Milestone later said "I suppose the idea of making it originated in the Fox sales department: they'd accumulated a lot of money in Australia and I suppose the only way they could move the money was to reinvest it there."[9]

In January 1950 Fox said the project would be an "actor drama" called The Bushranger produced by Robert Snody and written by Norman Reilly Raine about a family running a cattle station in the northwest circa 1895-1900.[10]

Other titles to the story were The Australian Story, The Land Down Under and Sundowner.[11]

An early draft of the film reportedly featured reference to hordes of kangaroos wiping out a town, but this was deleted after input from the Australian crew.[12]

Director

In July 1950 it was announced that Lewis Milestone would direct the movie. It was to be financed by money "frozen" in Australia due to currency restrictions, with the recently devalued Australian pound helping save money. Milestone left for Australia on 15 August 1950.[13][14]

Casting

In Noveber 1949 Fox announced thatTyrone Power would play the male lead.[15] However by July 1950 he dropped out to appear in a stage version of Mister Roberts in London.[16]

That month Milestone said none of the four leads had been cast; he expressed interest in Richard Widmark or "a British star" as the hero), Jean Simmons]] as the female lead and Errol Flynn as the bushranger; the fourth lead part was the station owner, for which Milestone wanted an actor around 60 years of age. He had been told about Chips Rafferty and wanted to test him, estimating that there were about 25 roles available for Australians. "Station hands, townspeople, tavern keepers, barmaids, stage coach drivers, passengers, atmosphere players," he sid. [17] Milestone added:

The story concerns a group of people living on stations about 300 miles north-west of Sydney. If necessary we will rewrite the play to lit Australian conditions. I want 'Kangaroo' to be a true dramatic portrait of life in Australia in the 1880's. We'll decide the district for filming within a month of arrival. "We'll build sets on location and take interior shots in Ealing Studios. We expect to spend six months altogether in Australia. We'll engage experts and technical directors there.[17]

He estimated the budget would be £900,000.[18]

Eventually the lead roles were given to Peter Lawford, Constance Smith and Richard Boone. (J Arthur Rank reportedly would not loan out Simmons.[19]) Lawford was borrowed from MGM. Boone had recently appeared in The Halls of Montezuma directed by Mielston. Smith had recently been signed to a long term contract by Fox.[20]

Then Smith was assigned by Fox to star in The 13th Letter (1951) and her role was taken by Maureen O'Hara.[21] Finlay Currie was the last of the four principals to be cast.

In December 1950 Letty Craydon was cast as Maureen O'Hara's housekeeper under a monthly contract with a daily option up until six weeks. She was chosen after her performance as Sister Josephine in the play "Bonaventura." "It will be a wonderful break for me and of tremendous educational value," said Craydon. "I looked over my part the other day, and I love it, particularly as it has a touch of Irish about it. I have been studying it hard and getting ready to leave. My frocks have been prepared, and I have tried most of them on. It will be marvellous working with Maureen O'Hara and Peter Lawford; but, I'm not a star, and I doubt whether my name will be in big lights."[22]

Preproduction

Milestone says he was "saddled" with a "weak story" by the studio. When he arrived in Australia he discussed the story with members of the Sydney Journlalists Club , apologising for the story and asking for their help in tracking down locations. He was contacted by journalist and writer Brian Penton who offered the director the use of material from his books Landtakers and Inheritors. Milestone loved the books and felt "they would make marvellous pictures of their type."[23]

When screenwriter Harry Kleiner arrived in Sydney he and Milestone tried to persuade Fox via long distance telephone "to scrap the damned scenario they'd sent me out with, which was a joke, and substitute the Penton books" arguing it was better to make an Australian film written by an Australian.[24]

Fox refused. However Milestone used some material from the novels in the final script. He said "I fell back to my second line trenches and resolved to narrow down the human story to the minimum and concentrate on the animals plight in the drought. That way we came out of the venture with something whereas otherwise we would have had nothing."[25]

Milestone decided to relocate the film from New South Wales to Post Augudta feeling the New South Wales locations looked no different from from places in Soutthern Arizona and California.[26] Fox built a base at Port Augustaref>"Site For Film Homestead "Pin—Pointed"". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 30 August 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 25 March 2012.</ref> [27]

Shooting was to commence on October 15, 1950 but this date had to be pushed back to November due to unexpected rain, lack of material and contractual requirements of Finlay Currie. Housing for cast and crew in Port Augusta was not ready.[28][29] The producers negotiated with unions to try and get them to work six days a week. Milestone wanted to hold off filming to give a greater impression of droug.[26]

In addition, the script was being rewritten and the action was relocated from the 1880s to 1900. Originally the film opened with Connor (Peter Lawford) and his bushranger friend Gamble (Boone) holding up a stage coach on a lonely road where he met Dell (O'Hara) who was a passneger. The opening scene was rewritten to be set in Sydney.[26] . The producer also revealed that he was forced to have all ostumes made in Hollywood. "We simply couldn't find any heatrical tailors in Australia,' he explained.[26]

The studio also had to ship a largee quantity of technical equipment from Hollywood because it felt the equipment in Australia was out of date. "Costs are piling up so fast, what with delays and other problems, that we really lave no idea what the final total will be," said producer Bassler.[26]

Bassler said he wanted to shoot a sequence where water starved kangaroos attached me. "The sequence will compare with any of the great cattle and horse stampedes filmed,"" he said. "It will be the most unique thing ever put on the screen. It could be come the most talked-about scene in the history of movies.I hate the thought of giving it up and only hope the various Australian Governments will come to my rescue and see that we get our kangaroos."[30]

Shooting

There was a studio at Pagewood but Milestone said it "ignored" it and "shot right inside houses, saloons, and natural interiors, utilizing as many historical locations as possible; in the country... we used little pubs and places like that, minaly in and around Port Augusta. We also shot on board a coastal ship."[31]

Shooting started in Sydney in November, with work done at Millers Point near the end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Scenes where Lawford tries to rob Boone were shot by the sandstone walls of Hickson Street, and the two up sequence was shot over several days at Elizabeth Bay House [32] Milestone said the Australian crew took instructions from his "half dozen key personnel, who ran it like a school. They Aussies blended in fine."[33]

Milestone said "one of the reasons I wanted to concentrate on Sydney's historic landmarks was to emphasize the fact we were actually in Australia: out in the wide open spaces you might as well have been in Arizona."[34] O'Hara arrived in Adelaide from Sydney on November 30, and attended a reception at Government House hosted by Premier Playford. O'Hara said "I have been able to get down to reading my part in the film only during the past two days. I feel it is going to be wonderful. I really hope we will wind up with a 'picture 'which Aus tralia will be proud of as well as us.'[35] They went to Port Pirie then travelled by car to reside at the campknown as Hollywood Park, outside Port Augusta.

Boat scenes were shot on the Moonta.[36]

Temperatures were very high in Port Augusta,[37] the script was constantly being rewritten, the isolated unit (dubbed "Zanuckville") had trouble sourcing materials,[38] and rain kept occurring at inopportune moments.[39][40]

Australian heavyweight champion Jack O'Malley played Finlay Currie's stand in.[41]

An aboriginal dance was especially recreated for the film using aboriginals from Ooldea. It was shot at Spear Creek near Port Augusta.[42]

In her 2004 autobiography 'Tis Herself, Maureen O'Hara claimed that Richard Boone and Peter Lawford were arrested in a "brothel full of beautiful boys" in Sydney, but the studio managed to prevent this from being reported by the press.[43]

Post Production

Milestone said by the time he supervised the first cut "I'd fallen in love with the whole drama of the thing." He said he instructed the music department at Fox to accompany the cattle sequence, his favourite, with a soundtrack of Shostakovitch's Sixth Symphony and called it "really a masterpiece".[44] Milestone says Zanuck enjoyed the sequence but would not let Milestone use the music as they had stolen it for a movie before.[45]

Milestone says Zanuck refused to preview the movie in Los Angeles and sent it out. A few months later, it was sent back after having played badly in the eastern states of the USA and Zanuck demanded a new ending. Milestone says he "volunteered my services because I wanted to rescue as much as the film's quality as I could. But we had to do whatever Mr Zanuck wanted. He can be good but boy oh boy he can also be very very bad."[46]

Release

When the movie was released in Australia, initial box office performance was strong, but reviews were bad and business soon tailed off.[47]

Filmink magazine said that "This film isn’t as bad as its reputation (Richard Boone is excellent as Lawford’s friend and there’s some great visuals), it’s just frustrating because it should have been better – it’s flabby and goes all over the place, Lawford is a wet fish of a leading man, and it needs more action... It would have been more entertaining if it had embraced being a Western more." [48]

Milestone later claimed Boone's character was the basis of Paladin, the character he played in Have Gun Will Travel.[49]

See also

References

  1. ^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 214.
  2. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p224
  3. ^ 'Top Box-Office Hits of 1952', Variety, January 7, 1953
  4. ^ Higham p 188
  5. ^ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80085/Kangaroo/trivia.html
  6. ^ http://www.allmovie.com/movie/kangaroo-v97535
  7. ^ FOX NAMES POWER FOR ACTION DRAMA: 'Land Down Under,' Film About Australian Cattle Country, to Start Before Spring Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. 5 Nov 1949: 10.
  8. ^ Australia Beckoning Power, Others; Andrews to Portray Evans' Father Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 7 Nov 1949: B7.
  9. ^ Higham p 188
  10. ^ "February start on "Kangaroo Kid"." The Mail (Adelaide, SA) 14 Jan 1950: 5 Supplement: Sunday Magazine accessed 28 Dec 2011
  11. ^ Drama: Ruth Roman Will Star as Doctor; Power May Miss 'Australian Story' Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 8 May 1950: B11
  12. ^ "'KANGAROO' IN WRONG ROLE". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 25 October 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  13. ^ "Hollywood man to direct here". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 26 July 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  14. ^ "U.S. Films May Be Made Here". The Sunday Herald. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 20 August 1950. p. 7 Supplement: Sunday Herald Features. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  15. ^ Australia Beckoning Power, Others; Andrews to Portray Evans' Father Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 7 Nov 1949: B7.
  16. ^ "Milestone To Direct "Kangaroo"". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 27 July 1950. p. 10. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  17. ^ a b "Plans For Film Here". The Sunday Herald. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 30 July 1950. p. 4 Supplement: Features. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  18. ^ "'Kangaroo' may aid film-making here". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 23 August 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 22 April 2020 – via Trove.
  19. ^ "Glamour Boost For Outdoor Epic". Brisbane Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 23 September 1950. p. 17 (LAST RACE). Retrieved 24 April 2020 – via Trove.
  20. ^ "NOTES ON FILMS". The Sunday Herald. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 20 August 1950. p. 6 Supplement: Sunday Herald Features. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  21. ^ "Maureen O'Hara To Star In Australian Film". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 31 August 1950. p. 2. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  22. ^ "SHE'S CAST TO PLAY IN FILM". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 4 December 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  23. ^ Higham p 189
  24. ^ Higham p 189
  25. ^ Higham p 189-190
  26. ^ a b c d e ""Kangaroo" Story Again Changed". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 21 October 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  27. ^ "INTEREST IN FILM QUICKENS". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 25 August 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  28. ^ "Later Start On Film In S.A. Likely". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 20 September 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  29. ^ "Shooting Of New Film Postponed". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 14 October 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  30. ^ "Hollywood Insists On Kangaroos". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 28 October 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 22 April 2020 – via Trove.
  31. ^ Higham p 190
  32. ^ "Drinking tea as they make film". The Mail (Adelaide). South Australia. 18 November 1950. p. 9. Retrieved 22 April 2020 – via Trove.
  33. ^ Higham p 190
  34. ^ Higham p 190
  35. ^ ""KANGAROO" STARS ARRIVE". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 1 December 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  36. ^ ""Kangaroo" Shooting Postponed". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 20 December 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 22 April 2020 – via Trove.
  37. ^ "HOT RECEPTION TO "KANGAROO" UNIT". The Mail. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 2 December 1950. p. 56. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  38. ^ "Film Work Delayed On "Kangaroo"". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 11 December 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  39. ^ ""Kangaroo" Shooting Postponed". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 20 December 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  40. ^ "Hollywood Sees A Never-Never Land". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 4 June 1952. p. 8. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  41. ^ "First "Kangaroo" Scenes Filmed In Sydney". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 13 November 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  42. ^ "Rain-making ritual shown in "Kangaroo"". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 24 March 1951. p. 61. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  43. ^ O'Hara, Maureen 'Tis Herself: An Autobiography p. 141 (2004)
  44. ^ Higham p 190
  45. ^ Higham p 190
  46. ^ Higham p 191
  47. ^ "Brilliant Scene At Opening Of "Kangaroo"". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 5 June 1952. p. 1. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  48. ^ Vagg, Stephen (July 24, 2019). "50 Meat Pie Westerns". Filmink.
  49. ^ Higham p 190

Notes

External links

  1. ^ Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1971). The celluloid muse; Hollywood directors speak. Regnery. pp. 188–190.
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