KANGAROO STAR.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 326, 6 January 1937, Page 2

KANGAROO STAR.

Review Of “Orphan of the Wilderness.” Heralded as Australia's latest bid for equality of status as a film producing country, “Orphan of the Wilderness” was shown at the Plaza Theatre lasi night to an audience which was surprisingly large lu view of the violent weather conditions. The majority of patrons, no doubt, expected, from this .Australian production something that would provide a change from the regular diet meted out bj' Hollywood and Elstree and whatever critlcisim may be levelled at the picture there can bS no denying that it fulfilled all requirements in this respect. The featured star, who monopolised most of the "shots, ’ was tiia Kangaroo Chut, a kind of tailed Buster Keaton enduring the surprising reversals of fortune and agonising experiences, which as usual preceded the happy finale, with all the helpless impassivity which has made the wooden faced. American a familiar figure to. all who frequent, picture theatres. Chut, adopted in his youth by a tender-hearted run-holder and reared tn a pair of trousers, hung on a wall to represent his lost mother, becomes a victim of a misunderstanding in his early “Kangaroohood.” As a result, he is handed over as a “Boxing ’Roo” to a rough-neck circus owner (Brian Abbot), who treats him with a maximum of inhumanity. Finally, maddened by thirst and cruelty, he makes a ferocious and successful four-legged attack on his master during a boxing turn and succeeds, in making his escape. With a price on his head and a posse of mounted circus men after him his life would have been worth little but for the intervention of his former master, Nell (Sylvia Kellaway) and a humorous J.P.

Whatever the deficiencies of the plot, however, the picture is redeemed by the photography. The animal and bush scenes in the opening chapter and the open country scenes towards the end make the picture an exceptional one and one that must have a strong appeal, even to those who would find fault with the action and plot.