Heritage

Make sure you really stock up with the munchies when you sit down to this ambitious and ultimately unsatisfying saga of Australia's growing pains. Presumably an intended historical epic chronicling the rise of the country from an island outpost to a world power, Chauvel certainly poured his heart and patriotism into the undertaking.

Centered around the Morrison and Perry families, this cumbersome tale of dysfunctional relationships (James Morrison especially is portrayed as a dastardly cad) more than drags in places. The greater part of the film harks back to the early colonial days and Chauvel's account at the outset, would not make you yearn to have been around then - least not within a decent AVO of these two families.

Just as the average viewer is about to slip into a coma, Chauvel has tacked on a six minutes montage sequence which propels viewers from the 1860's to the (then) present time - the mid 1930's! It is the film's single redeeming feature. Trivia buffs may also spot Charles Chauvel's wife Elsa (credited as Ann Wynn), appearing as Mrs MacQuarie. The cinematography by Tasman and Arthur Higgins was spot on while Charles Chauvel and his wife scripted.

For all its sprawling lack of appeal, HERITAGE picked up the Commonwealth Government's prize for the "Best Australian Film" of 1935.

With the blurb of the National Film and Sound Archive copy proclaiming it as an exploration of "one hundred and fifty years of Australian history through the national myths of the visionary, the pioneer and the national builder...", I was expecting a "How The West was Won" type expose on the opening of Australia but was thoroughly disappointed. Most importantly it failed dramatically to captivate any narrative interest.

As pointed out in the earlier review, the stock-footage from World War One, the 1920s and 1930s beginning the third act of the movie came as an interesting historical aside. It was lovely to see a pan of Princes Bridge and St. Pauls Cathedral in Melbourne circa 1930 anyway. The brief historical re-enactment at the start of the film of the Port Jackson settlement of First Fleet times was quite captivating.

The main players - especially Frank Harvey - perform dismally and are overshadowed by slightly more polished co-stars.