On Our Selection

Bert Bailey gets to repeat his stage hit of more than a decade earlier -- he had been vetoed for the silent version -- based on Steele Rudd's stories.

It's a very old-fashioned movie, filled with rustic slapstick, village idiots, and melodramatic murders, with Bailey pausing occasionally to make a speech on the beauty and promise of Australia. Although it's a primitive piece as far as Hollywood film making was concerned -- at least among the majors -- you can understand why it was a hit in its native land It was, in fact, the first Australia sound picture to become a major hit, defined as making a lot of money. Bailey appeared in three more movies based loosely on Rudd's work.

One of the subtler pleasure of this movie is to see a kookaburra on a thorn tree sounding its call. Usually you only hear it in movies set in jungles.

This was not the first film version of Steele Rudd's popular book, but it was the most successful. It was particularly based on Bert Bailey's popular stage play version of the book. Bailey co-wrote the script with Hall and starred in the film. The film was the most successful Australian film up to that time, and enabled Hall to make a dozen other films over the next 15 years, including three Dad and Dave sequels.

Unfortunately the print available on Youtube is very fuzzy, which detracts from the experience today - I'd like to see a clearer version. The film also suffers from 1930s 'stageyness', perhaps because of Bailey's stage experience with the play.

However, parts of the film are comical and there are some very witty quips. Bailey is the best as Dad, Fred MacDonald overplays Dave as a retarded yokel, and the other characters are a mixed bag. It's good to see this as an important film and story in Australia's film development, but, like many films of the era, it doesn't really stand up as entertainment now. Ken Hall's movies got much better, but On Our Selection was the film that got him started.