Like America when Australia decided to make its first talking motion picture it decided it should sing as well. With the exception of one player in the cast, the film was mostly made up of folks who must have primarily been stage performers.
The theater in the outback must have been one cutthroat profession. Susan Denis and Sadie Bedford are in a traveling theatrical troupe that seems to be barely getting by. Anyway when an offer comes for Denis to star in a new talking motion picture to be made in Sydney, Bedford steals it and pretends to be Denis.
The troupe travels in a cattle car with a koala bear for company and Denis, desperate for work, signs on as a Swedish maid at a hotel. Why they specified Swedes in the job application, God only knows, but she fakes it. And wouldn't you know, the film company doing some location shooting also arrives and things start to pop.
All the cast members who this Yank hasn't heard of have real limited screen credits. But Arthur Tauchert had several silent films for his resume and he was one of Australia's leading actors at the time. My knowledge of Aussie cinema begins with Chips Rafferty, but Tauchert in fact made his farewell appearance in this film. Sorry I don't know more about him or the films of Australia.
I will say this though, having seen the recent big budget production of Australia, I am impressed with it now more than ever seeing how well it captured the outback after having seen this.
