THE MAN FROM DOWN UNDER
(M-G-M)
FTER the rosy glow of optimism about the future of Australian films engendered by the above, it is distinctly depressing to have to
turn from British theory to American practice. The Man from Down Under is Hollywood's idea of a story about Australia and Australians: only the fact that it is probably meant quite sincerely prevents it from appearing offensive and libellous. It does not prevent it from being dismal entertainment or ‘Charles Laughton’s worst film to date. He is presented as an uncouth, bibulous gambler who, at the end of the last war, adopts a couple of Belgian orphans, brother and sister, and takes them back to Australia where one (Richard Carlson) grows up to be a boxing champion and the other (Donna Reed) grows up to be a little lady-and both grow up, very disconcertingly, to be in love with- one another. By way of diversion amid this distirictly Freudian tangle, the Japs drop a few bombs and a few suicide troops on the Northern Territory, but they are successfully cleaned up, and so is the boygirl problem by the revelation-surprise, kiddies!-that they aren’t really brother and sister at all. There were moments in this film when I found myself wondering how I had ever imagined that Charles Laughton was a great actor.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19440623.2.26.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 261, 23 June 1944, Page 19
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221THE MAN FROM DOWN UNDER New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 261, 23 June 1944, Page 19
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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