The Riddle of the Stinson

Nicely done Aussie TV movie highlighted by good cinematography, acting and directing. The film is based on a true story.

Sadly, the film is marred by an ill conceived music score. The ever present solo bluesy harmonica is annoying and anachronistic.

This is is an amazing tale of disaster and rescue told in a straight forward but entertaining style.It was a treat to see a youngish Jack Thompson cast as the bushman/rescuer of this tale. I had almost forgotten what a great screen presence he was.The beauty and the terror of the Great Dividing Range is also a character.I can highly recommend this movie.

I saw this film about 17 years ago. It was on TV late at night I was about to go to bed but got hooked. It was and is one of the most inspiring films I have seen. I choke up just thinking about it. Coincidentally not long after seeing the film I found myself at OReillys guest house; I had not realised the connection and was overwhelmed to actually be having dinner with one of the family. I gave my comments on the film and was surprised to hear that the O'Reilly family hated it and actually commissioned their own film (which I have not seen). I would really like to see this film again but its almost as if it never existed.

This is one of those films that because it was made for TV it really never got enough screening to give it the credit it was truly due. The acting and directing is superb and the storyline based on fact makes the whole thing riveting from beginning to the end. We are taken with a small group of passengers into a nightmare situation as their light aircraft crashes in the middle of an immensely forested area in Australia's Great Dividing Range. That's bad enough, but to make matters worse the captain had to change course to avoid a storm ahead of them and wasn't able get through on the radio before they went down. Consequently the search and rescue team are looking in the wrong place for the survivors. The hopelessness of the survivors is graphically shown in all its raw detail even to the fact that the forest canopy is hardly marked where the plane went in adding even more to their terrible plight. A truly excellent piece of work by all concerned. I recorded this movie by chance late one night in the early nineties on VHS and have just copied it on to DVD so as not to lose it on an ever-decaying tape. 10 -10

This is a great movie. Good story, good script lively characters based apparently on a true event. It seem to me hard to find information on this movie anywhere and I have not seen any references to it other than here.