Caddie (film)

Last updated

Caddie
Caddie DVD cover.jpg
DVD cover.
Directed by Donald Crombie
Written by Joan Long
Based on Caddie, A Sydney Barmaid
by Catherine Edmonds
Produced by Anthony Buckley
Starring Helen Morse
Takis Emmanuel
Jack Thompson
Jacki Weaver
CinematographyPeter James
Edited byTim Wellburn
Music by Patrick Flynn
Production
company
Anthony Buckley Productions
Distributed by Roadshow Entertainment
Umbrella Entertainment
Release date
  • 1 April 1976 (1976-04-01)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$400,000 [1]
Box officeA$2,847,000 (Australia) [2]

Caddie is an Australian film biopic directed by Donald Crombie and produced by Anthony Buckley. Released on 1 April 1976, it is representative of the Australian film renaissance which occurred during that decade. Set mainly in Sydney during the 1920s and 1930s, including the Great Depression, it portrays the life of a young middle class woman struggling to raise two children after her marriage breaks up. Based on Caddie, the Story of a Barmaid , a partly fictitious autobiography of Catherine Beatrice "Caddie" Edmonds, it made Helen Morse a local star [3] and earned Jacki Weaver and Melissa Jaffer each an Australian Film Institute Award.

Contents

Plot

In 1925 Sydney, Caddie leaves her adulterous and brutish husband and takes her two children, Ann and Terry, with her. Forced to work as a barmaid in a pub she struggles to survive. A brief affair with Ted (Jack Thompson) ends badly when his involvement with another woman comes to light, but she falls in love with a Greek immigrant, Peter (Takis Emmanuel). Peter has to return to Greece to face family obligationshe is already married to another woman. Caddie runs out of money and goes to work as a barmaid. Peter sends letters from Greece and Caddie has to evade police as she works for an SP bookie. Peter asks her to come to Athens but she decides to stay. [4]

Cast

Production

The original autobiography was published in 1953. The real-life barmaid, Catherine Edmonds, got to know Dymphna Cusack while she was writing Come in Spinner and Cusack helped the book get published. [5] [6]

The budget was raised from the Australian Film Development Corporation, the Australian Women's Weekly , the Nine Network, the Secretariat for International Woman's Year, and Roadshow. Shooting began in late 1975. [1]

Parts of the movie were filmed in and around Balmain with a number of scenes at the Kent Hotel (which later became Caddies Restaurant) and the Sir William Wallace Hotel. Other scenes were filmed in Cameron Street, Edgecliff. Studio shots were taken at the Cinesound Studios in Rozelle. The writer and producer had both made films about early Australian cinema and were able to draw on this knowledge to help recreate Depression-era Sydney. [7]

The motion picture soundtrack by Patrick Flynn was produced for release on CD by Philip Powers from the original analog tapes by 1M1 Records.

Awards

Helen Morse's performance was awarded with the Australian Film Institute's Best Actress award in 1976. Other AFI wins went for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Drew Forsythe) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Melissa Jaffer and Jacki Weaver). Australian Cinematographers Society awarded Peter James the Cinematographer of the Year award in 1977. San Sebastián International Film Festival gave the Best Actress award to Helen Morse and the Special Prize of the Jury to Donald Crombie. [8]

Related Research Articles

The Nimrod Theatre Company, commonly known as The Nimrod, was an Australian theatre company based in Sydney. It was founded in 1970 by Australian actors John Bell, Richard Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation for producing more "good new Australian drama" from 1970 to 1985 than any other Australian theatre company.

Melissa Jaffer is an Australian actress. She is best known for her stage and television roles, but has also appeared in many films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dymphna Cusack</span> Australian author and playwright (1902–1981)

Ellen Dymphna Cusack AM was an Australian writer and playwright.

<i>Come In Spinner</i>

Come In Spinner is an Australian novel by Dymphna Cusack and Florence James, originally published in 1951 and set in Sydney at the end of the Second World War.

Helen Morse is an English-born Australian actress who has appeared in films, on television and on stage. She won the AFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the 1976 film Caddie, and starred in the 1981 miniseries A Town Like Alice. Her other film appearances include Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Agatha (1979), Far East (1982) and The Eye of the Storm (2011).

Katherine Thomson is an Australian playwright and screenwriter.

<i>The Killing of Angel Street</i> 1981 Australian film

The Killing of Angel Street is a 1981 Australian thriller film loosely based on the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) green bans against development in inner Sydney city waterside suburbs. It briefly touches on the real-life disappearance of Juanita Nielsen, an activist against mass development in Sydney in the late 1970s.

<i>Caddie, A Sydney Barmaid</i>

Caddie, A Sydney Barmaid is the fictionally embellished autobiography of Catherine Beatrice (Caddie) Edmonds, who worked as a barmaid in Sydney during the Great Depression. Published anonymously in 1953 under Edmonds' nickname, which was coined by a lover who likened her to "the sleek body and class of his Cadillac motorcar", Caddie attracted wide critical acclaim upon its original publication in London, and became a bestseller when it was adapted into a feature film in 1976, one year after International Women's Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynette Curran</span> Australian actress

Lynette Curran is an Australian actress known for many roles in Australian television series and films, including the soap opera Bellbird, and the films Country Town (1971) and Bliss (1985).

Stork is a 1971 Australian comedy film directed by Tim Burstall. Stork is based on the play The Coming of Stork by David Williamson. Bruce Spence and Jacki Weaver make their feature film debuts in Stork, being honoured at the 1972 Australian Film Institute Awards, where they shared the acting prize. Stork won the prize for best narrative feature and Tim Burstall won for best direction. Stork was one of the first ocker comedies. Stork was the first commercial success of the Australian cinema revival called the Australian New Wave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacki Weaver</span> Australian actress

Jacqueline Ruth Weaver is an Australian theatre, film, and television actress. Weaver emerged in the 1970s Australian New Wave through her work in Ozploitation films such as Stork (1971), Alvin Purple (1973), and Petersen (1974). She later starred in Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Caddie (1976), Squizzy Taylor (1982), and a number of television films, miniseries, and Australian productions of plays such as Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire.

Red Sky at Morning is a 1944 Australian melodrama set during the 19th century based on a play by Dymphna Cusack. It features an early screen performance by Peter Finch, who plays a convict who falls in love with the wife of a sea captain.

Joan Long was an Australian producer, writer and director best known for Caddie (1976). She was awarded as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1980 for her services to the film industry.

Do I Have to Kill My Child? is a 1976 Australian film

Essington is a 1974 TV film about a convict named Squires who arrives with a detachment of Royal Marines at Port Essington.

Silent Number is an Australian TV series about a police doctor played by Grigor Taylor. It was created by Ron McLean. It aired from 1974 to 1975.

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1953.

The Republic of Myopia is an Australian musical with book and lyrics by Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott and music by Phillip Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marilla North</span> Australian poet, educator, administrator and biographer

Marilla North is a biographer and cultural historian, working in Australian women’s literary history. Her teaching career has spanned over 50 years in public education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, where she has specialised in Life Writing.

The Playwrights' Advisory Board was an Australian organisation established in 1938 to assist the cause of Australian playwriting. It was established by Leslie Rees, Rex Rienits and Doris Fitton. Its functions included negotiating productions with theatres, acting as an intermediary in the nomination and collection of royalties, advising theatres and playwrights on scripts, and holding script competitions. Members of the board included names such as Dymphna Cusack and Sumner Locke Elliott.

References

  1. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 298
  2. Australian Films at the Box Office - Report to Film Victoria Archived 28 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine accessed 5 October 2012
  3. Musgrove, Nan (27 August 1975). "Film Role of the Year for Helen Morse". Australian Women's Weekly . Trove. p. 4. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  4. "Caddie". Australian Women's Weekly . Trove. 14 April 1976. p. 44. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  5. "Dymphna Cusack's Popularity Abroad". The Advertiser (Adelaide) . Trove. 15 November 1952. p. 6. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  6. "Puritanical Barmaid". Sydney Morning Herald . at Trove. 1 August 1953. p. 12. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  7. David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p. 143-145
  8. IMDb awards