William Kelly's War

Although the film seemed to have a slight issue with the flow, I though the historically based story was interesting. I liked the family aspect of the story. The acting had ups and downs, but didn't significantly take away from the film.

The story had promise but the weak acting and dumb over-exaggeration killed it for me.

I guess it would make good comedy if satire is your thing?

Considering the low budget and a cast of unknowns, this film was very good. Several basic goofs have already been noted: the 1914 tank, the unmilitary haircuts and beards, for example. Perhaps the most jarring event was the soldier-deserter being handcuffed to a hospital bed on the eve of his execution, which was carried out immediately outside the hospital.

A frequent gripe (usually relating to Westerns) that I have with depictions of solitary horsemen on long treks through remote country is that apart from a modest saddle roll they seldom have saddle-bags carrying food and other necessities. (Heck, even I on a six-hour walk take a rucksack of bits & pieces with me.)Thus it was with Billy's extended quest for his sister.

Here and there the acting was somewhat uninspired.

IMDB gives the film's length as 94 minutes, but the version that I saw on YouTube ran for 108.

One hour into this movie and my patients has finally ended. Some war scenes but not many. More like a melodrama with mediocre acting. Give it a miss.

1 I like to see independent films give things ago and this is one area where WKW really does succeed. You virtually get 2 movies in one, like an old drive-in double bill. Producer/script editor Phil Avalon has been involved with independent Australian productions, just about what seems like forever. Nice to see he's still up to hanging out his shingle.

2 I don't think I've ever seen a longer cast list in an independent production. The IMDB full cast list is still much abbreviated. The post credits cast list in the film is huge.

3 BTW. Speaking of the cast, was the deserter, shot by the firing squad a female dressed as a male? Didn't really sound like, or even look like a male soldier. Even though it was a speaking part I couldn't see any reference on the IMDB cast list. Also good to see veteran actor Tony Bonner again, playing Mr Kelly. He's been around forever too and will always be remembered for his role as the helicopter pilot in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

4 I think the advertised running time of 95 minutes is incorrect. I had it much closer up towards the 2 hour mark.

5 It's no real secret that the movie was primarily shot on a farm in Victoria, so it's a little bizarre that the primary Australian setting was Proserpine in tropical North Queensland, a good 2000 km due north. As a former resident of Proserpine which is a centre for sugar-cane production, I can vouch that at no time in its history did it have cattle stations running over 1000 head of cattle just out of town, complete with gangs of roving, murderous cattle rustlers. Kind of funny to see a lack of tropical vegetation, but heaps of eucalyptus gum trees instead, as well as lots of blokes wandering around in heavy overcoats. Broken Hill looked extremely sodden and green too with plenty of trees in the background. LOL! For the interested unfamiliar viewer with Broken Hill's environs, check out Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. The geography is tellingly different. But again, why choose Proserpine when they could have chosen some place geographically closer to their filming location and it wouldn't have made any difference to the story, except make it seem more realistic?

6 Loved the Aussie guy's accent; the one playing the German torturer. Classic Sgt Schultz stuff! "Vee have vays and means ov making you talk!"

7 It was great to try to film an overview of Billy's participation and experiences of 4 years of fighting during World War 1, on a farm's property. But after about 45 minutes of close-ups, I was getting giddy and have to say, that not all of the action (and there was plenty) made a lot of sense. At least "back in Australia", we got some pulled back shots.

8 Good to see there were some cops finally brought into the story, after all this cattle rustling and murders around dear old Proserpine.

9 Quite honestly I thought the story was pretty silly, but there is plenty of action, one way or the other in William Kelly's War. Phil Avalon comes through again.