penguin-60

I just love this film, everything about it carries one forward to its inevitable last battle. The casting, acting and filming is very Australian in its personality and universally excellent. The real stars to me however were the large number of wonderful horses and their individual riders, who together with the South Australian scenery, where it was shot, and which does wonderfully to replicate the Middle East bring this epic battle back to life. Sadly it has been very poorly served on video. The best release was a laser disc in the US and later a crappy DVD was released in Australia but this had the aspect ratio cut from 2.35 to 1.78 and is an insult to this great film. I have both and still watch my LD, one of my few remaining LDs that have yet to get a decent legal DVD transfer. If you can get and play the LD release do not hesitate otherwise just wait and hope.

Although this recording has yet to be restored and transferred to DVD the old LD release still looks pretty good. The production and music direction are still one of the best ever and despite many later and technically better DVDs this is still my favorite. The sets and special effects are wonderful and the costumes very original.The whole performance zips along at a good pace with English explanatory frames inserted at appropriate moments. This is a production in the old style with emphasis on more what it might have looked like when Prokofiev wrote it. No minimalist staging, dinner jackets and politically correct revisions here! Strongly recommended if you can find a copy somewhere.

I found this a delightful surprise. A bit slow to begin with but as the dry nature of the humor, much of it deadpan, kicks in it is the acting more than the story that leaves a memory. The casting is excellent throughout, aided and abetted by well thought out costumes and off beat locations. The Australians act like Australians and the rugby mob in the north of England are equally well presented. Great attention has been paid to the detail, deliberately understated and full of Kaurismäki style black humor. The events depicted in this film are portrayed in an improbable way but this adds to the almost dreamlike pace of the story. The lack of any real villains is not a shortcoming. Everyone is in their own way a hero and as everyone knows Rugby League in Australia is now a well patronized sport, particularly in the Eastern states. This little gem is currently being shown on cable TV. Catch it if you can, you will not be disappointed.