Jedda

Pretty boring story and plot. Nothing complicated and fancy, pretty flat plot.

Cinematography is ok, but acting is quite bad. I dislike classical training acting, but this is mediocre even for their standards.

I expected something much better than. I found it in comments about tribal movies ( after seeing "Tabu: A story of the south seas (1931)" and "White shadows in the South Seas (1928) which i liked" .

Idk, this movie didn't age well, but the story is pretty annoying at times, esp the beginning.

Of course, the white, Christian people are the right, all-knowing people who try to force their beliefs on anyone else of the infidels. You see how that white missionary woman is forcing the little girl to get the western, white beliefs because the little native girl MUST wear clothes and shoes, MUST play the piano, speak English and have a western thinking and not be like the rest of the kids in the area. I know, that was the thinking back than, and it was "normal" for the time period, but it still annoying to watch.

Then you have a love story, or love triangle if you like, but that that story is flatter than your grandma's love books lol. The overall drama in the movie is very non-dramatic and boring.

Overall, nothing interesting and worth watching. One of many movies that didn't age well at all. But i have a feeling that it was not great even when it came out. The 30s movies i watched and liked are also not-great as acting, nor do they have very complex plot and story , but they are miles ahead of this movie. Much better cinematography as well.

Found this cinematic delight hard to watch for long because i felt the couples relationships too much of an artificial construct; lacking the sort of hard one unity that would make them adopt the child and the compromised lifestyle their child would inevitably face. The stiff painted portrait and dialogue is one of inevitable failure instead of the inevitable challenge all aboriginals and remote desert cattle growers and their families face. Dad being anything but helpful and far too theoretical and impractical to be credible as a partner friend and confidant . Instead of an ongoing tension that would characterize her growing up there is the overwhelming sense from the start that this fictional and overly unwise woman will lose the child .Doomed by a decision to cast the white woman carer as stupid- i don't find it a convincing story even though the intercultural tensions are and always would be tough .An opportunity lost?

JEDDA was a major cinema release in 1956 in Australia and has long been regarded as a cinema classic in this country. For international audiences now that RABBIT PROOF FENCE has found success in most countries, it is well worth seeing JEDDA as a 1956 counterpart. Filmed in Gevacolour (not Technicolor) it was the first film made in any color here. Heralded at the time for its daring depiction of the real and confronting tribal practices of ancient aboriginal Australia JEDDA still is able today to enthrall a (slightly forgiving) audience and still make you appalled at the very racist White Australia policy in force from the Government of the day. Sadly some of the acting is dated, especially in the beginning, but once Jedda is a woman and the tribal lure starts, it really becomes fascinating. The use of color in the outback expanses and the extraordinary presence of the two genuine black Aboriginal main actors allows JEDDA to become a major statement about the well-meant but misguided practices of Government policies and how they are (still) totally unsuited to such a spiritual people. The sequence where Marbuck 'sings' to Jedda, seducing her in a hypnotic sexual trap is quite startling and un nerving. The climax of the film rivals NORTH BY NORTHWEST for spectacular mountaintop drama. JEDDA would be available from SCREENSOUND Australia the Canberra Archive and interested persons could buy it on-line. It is exceptionally interesting. A near counterpart from the USA is the 1947 Indian/Chinese drama BLACK GOLD, made by Allied Artists and Directed by noir expert Phil Karlson.

The Plot Jedda is an Aboriginal girl born on a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.

After her mother dies giving birth to her, the child is brought to Sarah McMann, the wife of the station boss.

Sarah has recently lost her own newborn to illness.

She at first intends to give the baby to one of the Aboriginal women who work on the station, but then raises Jedda as her own, teaching her European ways and separating her from other Aborigines.

Jedda wants to learn about her own culture, but is forbidden by Sarah. When Jedda grows into a young woman, she becomes curious about an Aboriginal man from the bush named Marbuck. And it goes on from there.

It's a dated movie and maybe if you are Australian you'd love it. For the rest of us it's a bit of a bore. But the color sure is sweet.

Another reviewer said the negative made it to England but most of the film was destroyed in developing in England. This is untrue.

The last roll of negative was destroyed in a plane crash on its way for developing in England. Chauvel re-shot these lost scenes at Kanangra Walls in the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves west of Sydney Cave Scenes were Filmed in the River Cave, Diamond Cave, Imperial Cave, and Mud Tunnels at Jenolan. Editing and sound recorded were completed in London.

To quote from Wikipedia: Originally the movie was filmed on location in the Northern Territory in Australia. The production process itself was a laborious process as the colour technique used, Gevacolor, could only be processed overseas in England. The film produced was fragile and heat-sensitive, which was a problem as the Northern Territory has a typically hot climate; film was stored in cool caves to protect it from deteriorating. The last roll of negative was destroyed in a plane crash on its way for developing in England and the scenes were re-shot at Kanangra Walls in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

The reviewer that said the film wasn't filmed on location is clearly wrong. It was only the last reel that was lost.