A Manada

Fearing a Japanese invasion of the Northern Territories, Dan MacAlpine (Chips Rafferty) and a small group of drovers (including a sheila (Helen Grieve)), drive a thousand head of cattle 1600 miles across the outback to Brisbane. Although not a lot happens, the film is engaging, entertaining and very well made. Other than the accents, a number of "good on ya"s, and the occasional references to things such as 'billy bongs', the most noticeable difference between this opus and an epic Hollywood cattle-opera is the near absence of guns (they appear to have a single Lee Enfield rifle in case of crocs). Although preceded by Silver Screen's latest 'may offend' boilerplate, there are only a couple of offhand comments that might raise sensitive eyebrows and the two aborigine drovers are shown as competent, valuable members of the team. The music is a bit overwhelming at times but the great desert scenery and the general good-naturedness of the epic more than makes up for it (plus there is a 'stare-down' scene worthy of Sergio Leone). Not 'action packed' but well worth watching, mate.

Ealing Studios primarily known for those British comedies of which some of the best starred Alec Guinness went really out of character when they produced The Overlanders which is a modern southwestern and an outdoor film at that. It's a fictionalized account of some Aussie cattle drovers from the north who when faced with a possible invasion from Japan in 1940 drove a thousand head of cattle from the north, southeast to Brisbane to keep them out of enemy hands. Chips Rafferty who was the Australian movie star for three decades stars as the man whose vision and hard work made it possible.

A cattle drive is a cattle drive and those of us who've seen American films like Red River, The Texans, and Cowboy are familiar enough with the job requirements for herding cattle. Of course the casts of those classics. But John Wayne didn't have three women in his crew going to Missouri. Chips did, a mother and two daughters of one of his crew and they certainly held up their end.

It was interesting to see that rather than lariats the stockmen used bullwhips to keep the cattle moving. Not that they whipped the cattle because I think that would have produced some angry beasts. But the sound of the whips snapping is what keeps them moving. Of course ropes are there if needed and in one rather harrowing sequence a rope is what saves a really bad situation.

Another interesting sequence is when their train of horses gets into some poisonous weed and they lose several, a herd of wild horses called in Australia 'brumbies' are captured and broken for use. Now that can be found in a lot of American westerns.

The cattle drive of 1940 is but part of the story of Australia's greatest hour of danger and how their people came through. Darwin was bombed by the Japanese and until the Australian army was retrieved from North Africa the continent was in its greatest peril. You can see that in Nicole Kidman's Australia.

This film didn't quite have the budget Australia did, but it's a fine film from down under and a tribute to some brave and resolute people.

With the fear of a Japanese invasion, the government wants to prepare for occupation and war in the thinly populated territories -- fewer than five thousand White men, as the narrator notes, and over a million head of cattle. The result is a cattle drive, led by Chips Rafferty and John Nugent Hayward, and this obvious western movie is set in Australia, produced by Ealing, and looks to have been the source of many of the drive scenes from Howard Hawks' Red River two years later.

That's almost certainly overstating it; it's not like there were ten thousand or so western movies produced in the US for Hawks, his writers, and his cameramen to lift shots from. While you can shoot a sequence of cattle crossing a river ten thousnd different ways, depending on where you place the cameras, there's certainly a family resemblance in the assortment., and Michael Balcon's staff at Ealing had seen their share of westerns too. So they took the obvious route for the movie, adding a score that seems a touch to heroic. Well, it's a wartime movie, and it was a massive undertaking. It's a very well done 'Shaky A' western, even though it isn't. And is.

This is a simple story well told, although some allowance has to be made for the limited acting skills of the principals, and for the obvious budgetary constraints (let's not forget the world was recovering from a major upheaval in 1946 when the film was made).

The characters are believable, as are their motivations and reactions to obstacles. The women are as sure-footed as the men (unusually for the time), and the same can be said for the aboriginals with respect to the white characters.

It doesn't quite qualify to be classified with (the original) "Flight of the Phoenix" but watching it is a far better way to spend a couple of hours on a wet afternoon than watching the remake of THAT excellent film.

In summary - believable (and tight) story line, above average script, acceptable acting but let down by some minimalist cinematography which doesn't make the best use of the available landscape.

"The Overlanders" is a depiction of Australia and Australians that could perhaps be regarded today as more mythical than real but the film is a worthy one as a semi-documentary look at droving as it was prior to the advent of rail and road trains.

Chips Rafferty, the Crocodile Dundee of his day, plays the part of what was seen as the typical Australian. He was frank, laconic, tough, dedicated to the task, resourceful and, above all, a friendly sort of bloke. His understated, matter-of-fact narration is a highlight."When a bore goes dry on you like that, you're in a mess." Helen, the young teen daughter, played by Helen Grieve is another highlight. There is an authenticity to her even though by today's standards her delivery sounds a bit awkward. Her physique and movement give the impression that she could really rough it in the outback. She portrayed a bush girl who could ride a horse or run with a natural ease or take a fall without fear. Grieve was used to good effect in "Bush Christmas" a year later.

Best of all, "The Overlanders" did not demonise nor patronise the Aborigines (blacks). Yes, they are depicted as workers/drovers who are there only to help and are socially separate from the whites but this is how it was. They are never used as the butt of jokes nor is their culture gratuitously questioned or ridiculed. The "wild blacks" who passively observe the cattle drive from a rock formation are given a sense of dignity without being patronised as being "noble savages".

There are far worse ways to spend an afternoon than by watching this film. You learn of some things about droving and there are a few cultural and historical bits and pieces along the way. And the stark, ragged beauty and terror of Australia's north is always worth a look. PS. Chips had been a real life drover as opposed to Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) who was a rigger (painter) on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.