Le Voyageur des plaines

Peter Finch is terrific as a traveling swagman, traversing the Australian outback in search of work and shelter. Finding his Sydney based wife shacked up with another man, he takes his daughter (Dana Wilson) and resumes his wandering ways. The film does a good job of keeping a lid on sentiment and features outstanding cinematography by Paul Beeson, who usually worked on less inspired fare like Tarzan Goes to India, Die Monster Die!, and Starcrash. One of the last efforts of Ealing Studios, and a good one, though certainly not on a par with their Alec Guinness comedies.

A really enjoyable film that shows a mans love for his little daughter and her love for him. He sometimes dismisses her but comes to realise that he is more fond of her than he cares to admit when she nearly dies.

Also the attractive shopgirl reminds us how nice women were in the fifties!! Great film - dated of course - but still wonderful. Just thought it ended rather abruptly and left us wanting more.........

Peter Finch's first film for Ealing was 'Eureka Stockade' and nearly ten years later he returned down under to make one of their last Australian productions; a film of which very few have heard but was actually the star's personal favourite of his own films, considering it most representative of his antipodean roots.

Finch is for once cast as a bona fide Australian and uncharacteristically rough round the edges. The film is a drama with an Australian setting rather than a travelogue with settings rather plainly rendered in black & white. A strong female contingent includes Tessie O'Shea, Elisabeth Sellars and a very young Rosemary Harris.

I've seen this film twice, and on both occasions I found it immensely enjoyable. A simple tale, where a less than responsible husband and father, after finding out his wife is having an affair, decides to leave her, and taking his young daughter, Buster, with him, sets out on the road to find work. Peter Finch is perfectly cast as the dour, itinerant worker, drifting from job to job, with Buster, played by the delightful and irrepressible Dana Wilson. Finch, as Jim Macauley, dominates the screen with his physicality, toughness and sheer doggedness in trying to keep body and soul together while travelling across rugged terrain, with the added, awesome responsibility of looking after his daughter - his 'shiralee' (burden). The coherent and entertaining storyline, together with the 'punchy' dialogue and authentic looking locations, the film maintains interest right to the end. There is an economy of words from the laconic Peter Finch, as he sets out to negotiate every barrier which he comes up against. He immerses himself into the role of Jim Macauley to such an extent that he wins the audience over to his unenviable position. But Dana Wilson as 'Buster' takes huge credit for her 'tomboyish' persona and her extraordinary performance as the girl who loves her father so much, she will go that 'extra mile.' The film captures brilliantly the rough, tough love relationship between father and daughter, which never becomes too sugary. I would highly recommend this film.

Given the plot line, this could easily have been cutesy or mawkish. It isn't, though. Peter Finch is brilliant in his understated playing and the supporting cast is very fine.

Maybe because I've known men estranged from their wives who have taken their children on their quests through life, I was fascinated and very moved. The last half or gets a little busy and the (anti)hero's leaving his daughter with an unknown wanderer is implausible. But Finch holds the hole together brilliantly. And the actress playing his little girl is a natural. She never tries to charm us. Perhaps that is a credit to the director as much as to the performer.

There are simialrities (if memory serves) between this and the later, better known and lauded "Paper Moon." Of the two, I prefer this by a hundred thousand miles.

It is a charmer and a bit of a heart-breaker -- much like the character played by Finch.