Travelling North

Carl Schultz adaptation of the play of Australian David Williamson benefits from the casting of Leo McKern as Frank, described as a "rude despotic arrogant bully", his bluster overcoming a few too many sunsets and pictaresque vistas accompanied by classical music.

Schultz has opened out the play so that we get long stretches without dialogue, and the treatment only feels stagebound when we hear about the childhood resentments of the daughters of Frank's companion Frances (Julia Blake), whom Frank amusingly calls Goneril and Regan (being tow of the daughters of King Lear). The narrative never shows us how Frank and Frances meet, rather beginning with Frank's retirement from being a civil engineer and their decision to travel north ie move from Melbourne to Port Douglas, a tropical rainforest area located on the coast of Queensland. However as the title also alludes to death, Frank suffering from angina telegraphes the end.

Williamson's wit includes lines like "I had a cousin who shot himself in Melbourne. Yes, it can affect one that way", "The fact that a man fought for his country is no excuse for him to behave like a cretin when he gets back", "I may be old. I'm not defunct", "The last fish that came out of the lake was so lonely it gave itself up", and regarding a heart monitor "A circuit blew this morning. I thought I died". Frank gets a repeated line "While I've loved mankind in general, I've been thoughtless to some of those I've been involved with in particular" in reference to his former wife and later, Frances.

If Frances' character is disappointingly thinly drawn, Williamson does give her daughter Sophie (Diane Craig) a funny drunk scene in a restaurant, and as Frances' other daughter, Helen, Michelle Fawdon gets a laugh from her prim disapproval of Frank. Schultz also makes Henri Szeps as Frank's doctor Saul affable, and their scenes together amusing in Frank's beligerence. As their Port Douglas neighbour, Freddie, Graham Kennedy has little to do though still conveys a touching loneliness.

The film is pleasant without being dramatically challenging, and not sentimental in it's embrace of Frank, whose final image is rather odd.

Us Brits tend to know Mc Kern mainly in the long-running (1978-92) Rumpole of the Bailey, but he played all-sorts, starting out in 1951, from Classics (Man For All Seasons) to comedy but it took until this film in 1987 for him to star in his native Australia for the very first time.

In David Williamson's adaptation of his own hit play, he extends retired civil engineer Frank's (Mc Kern) new relationship with the younger Frances (Julia Blake) out into a wider world and into the film's title, where he starts a new life in Queensland and away from his home-town of Melbourne.

Ignore the rather gooey DVD image, this movie has substance; this may well be a comedy (quite a fine one) and have elements of romance, but it isn't a schmaltzy weepy. Frank is a speak-as-he-thinks communist who is prone to rubbing folk up the wrong way. A medical check-up reveals he is suffering from angina and this brings out the best and very worst in dear, crusty Frank.

Frank likes his fishing and there are quite a few beautiful landscapes, often with him fishing! These help set the tone and the reasons why the upheaval of moving home proved irresistible. They also help smooth out the fractious moods that Frank conjures up, allowing for a well-rounded film. There's also a great, lively classical music soundtrack which is always fitting to the scene.

We all know the Frank's in this world, whether in the family or as neighbours. His sardonic put-downs often back-fire and his scrambles back up the slippery slopes of retribution are both enjoyable and clever. Somehow though, we do feel that there is a softer heart beating in there all along and this makes for a great film and Frank very believable. Both his frustrated doctor, Saul (Henri Szeps) and local, Freddy (Graham Kennedy) become firm friends with the couple and feature as sparring partners to his arguments.

I watched Travelling North as part of the 12 DVD boxed set 'Australian Cinema vol 1.'

A middle aged widow and a widowed man twenty years her senior move up north from Melbourne to country Queensland, hoping for an idyllic life away from the hustle and bustle of the city, however, her longing for her family and his deteriorating health get in the way in this strongly acted Australian drama. Julia Blake and the legendary Leo McKern (in his third last big screen role) are both excellent throughout and deliver David Williamson's witty dialogue with perfect intonation and timing. "I may be old... I'm not defunct" insists McKern at one point, too proud to take his doctor's advice to "grow old gracefully", later on memorably threatening the doctor in order to obtain his medical books and research his heart condition for himself. The film is clearly more about McKern than Blake, which is not necessarily a bad thing since McKern has such a fascinatingly flawed character: one who can be quite boorish and yet who loves classical music, wide open skies and country drives. With all the focus on McKern though, it is often hard to see what Blake sees with him and why she chooses to stick by him as his worsening health makes him increasingly temperamental. Including scenes of their budding romance may have helped things out; then again, it is hard to argue with the effectiveness of the choice to focus on the aftermath of their romance: deciding to live together despite never knowing one another quite as well as they first thought. The question is then whether they were drawn together by mutual love or mutual loneliness. It is food for thought for sure.

You see, the thing about a film like "Traveling North" is that it depends wholly and completely on the characters. Your enjoyment of a film like this hinges directly on how much you can identify with these people. Personally, I see a lot of my grandfather in the character of Frank (Leo McKern). There's a depth and painful personality to this role. He draws you in to his personal charm, but not without making it apparent just how hard to live with he can be.

There's a lack of larger conflict to the script which shows just how dedicated the story is to simply reflecting real life. You are privy to actual human interaction in this film, with very little in the way of distraction from that goal. Carl Schultz directs David Williamson's writing with a close, personal focus. It's refreshing in a time when most films seem to have far too much happening in them. Williamson has written dialogue that is both very real and intensely witty. Overall, this is a soft, quiet film. Abrasive for some of its characters, but only so much as needed.

David Williamson's Travelling North directed by Carl Scultz (Careful He Might Hear You)Is a very good Australian film it stars the late Leo Mckern as Frank + Julia Blake as Frances, Frank suffers a heart attack and moves up to Port Douglas they move next door to nosy Neighbour Freddie played by none other than Graham Kennedy who says funny lines like "Don't try the estuary the last fish was so lonely he gave himself up" Henri Szeps plays Saul a doctor who advises Frank on his condition. in the end Frank + his Mistress Marry + then they go to a art exhibition. You'll enjoy it if you watch a lot of Australian Films like myself.