Diggers in Blighty | |
---|---|
Directed by | Pat Hanna Raymond Longford (associate director) [1] |
Written by | Pat Hanna additional material Wilfred King Edmund Warrington Bert Reid |
Based on | stage material by Pat Hanna |
Produced by | Pat Hanna |
Starring | Pat Hanna Joe Valli |
Cinematography | Arthur Higgins |
Production company | Pat Hanna Productions |
Distributed by | Universal |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 mins |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | £7,000 [2] [3] |
Box office | £18,000 [4] |
Diggers in Blighty is a 1933 Australian film starring and directed by Pat Hanna. Hanna decided to direct this film himself after being unhappy with how F. W. Thring had handled Diggers (1931). [5]
While serving in the Australian Army in France in 1918, soldiers Chic and Joe steal some rum from the quartermaster's store. They later help British intelligence pass on some false battle plans to a German spy and are rewarded with ten days' leave in England. They go to a country house in Essex and have trouble with their uncouth manners but help some upper class friends have a romance.
Pat Hanna was a stage comic whose stage show Diggers was turned into a popular 1931 film by Efftee Productions. Hanna decided to make a sequel. [9]
Hanna formed his own company to make the movie. According to Everyones "In forming his own company, Pat encountered little trouble in obtaining the required capital for its flotation; in fact, remarkable confidence was displayed by well-known Melbourne investors and the capital was over-subscribed in 24 hours." [10] Subscribers included W. R. Kemball, managing director of the Fuller-Kemball-Hayward circuit, the leading- exhibiting combine in New Zealand. In November 1932 Hanna registered Diggers in Blighty Ltd worth £8,000 with £1 shares. Subscribers were George Patrick Hanna, Govan Woolston Cox, and Stanley George Savige. [11]
The script was based on material Hanna had performed on stage for years. Among the writers who contributed material was Edmund Warrington, a British actor who toured in a "digger" company. [12]
Although Hanna did not make the film under the Efftee umbrella, he hired Efftee Studios facilities and technical staff. [13] The film was announced in September 1932 with Raymond Longford to be "associate director". [14]
The film was shot over six weeks commencing in October 1932. Many of the cast had appeared on stage, including Hanna, Valli and Moon. They were joined by comedian Alfred Firth in his film debut. [15] Old Melbourne Gaol stood in for a medieval castle. [16] Filming ended 15 November 1932. [17]
The cast included two Aboriginal Australians and Cass Mahomet, a Hindu soldier in the Australian army. [18]
Hanna announced he would make a series of shorts to be released with the film. In December 1933 he finished his first short, "The Long Lost Son," an original comedy sketch by Joe Valli who starred alongside Charlie Albert. [19]
The movie was released on a double bill with an Effee film, Harmony Row (1932) and was a success at the box office. [20] In December 1934 Everyones estimated it and Harmony Row earned £18,000. [4]
However Hanna struggled to get a decent rate of return. [21] [22] [23] The movie was popular in urban centres and also the country. [24]
In March 1934 Hanna stated Diggers in Blighty had been successful but made a net return of £6,500 for a cost of £7,000. [2] There was the problem of competing with American imports when most picture theatres were owned by one organisation. He told the Victorian Talking Pictures Producers Association that "without some security [of screening venues] his company could not seriously consider continuing." [25]
Hanna made one more film, Waltzing Matilda (1933).
Contemporary reviews were poor, the critic from the Sydney Morning Herald claiming that:
Everyone in the play seems to be talking at the top of his or her voice; and talking so fast that the listener often grows quite desperate trying to keep up with them. Any microscopic respites from speech are zealously filled up with bursts of lively music... The directors must realise that actors need directing when they are before the camera. Merely to turn the players (however clever) loose in a drove across the studio floor is fatal... The acting... is often much too violent for the screen; and, in the case of the women, the energetic "registering" of emotion recalls the early days of the silent screen... Mr. Hanna would be wise to consult well-informed opinion concerning his story and his continuity. Both are exceedingly weak. [26]
The Bulletin wrote "It belongs to the Bruce Bairnsfather school of humor, with a dash of Steele Rudd and a spice of romantic melodrama thrown in for makeweight... On its unsophisticated plane the film is replete with matter for hilarity, and leaves the spectator in the comfortable assurance that the art of the film is in no immediate danger of growing up under the management of its present entrepreneurs. Hanna has a sense of the ridiculous and a good feeling for local color. The photography is fine, and the fact that the film was made in Melbourne, though it deals with France and England, is concealed with remarkable ingenuity." [27]
Variety described it as "useless for anywhere else but Australia," adding that it "commences along splendid dramatic lines, but finally becomes poor slapstick" in which "acting in the early scenes is very good, but with the introduction of the comedy element picture fades." However, the reviewer was able to comment that "the photography is a bright spot in otherwise drab production." [28]
Everyones called it " an entertaining mixture of comedy and romantic drama... Technically, the picture is first-rate, and the comedy of Pat Hanna, George Moon, Alfred Frith and Joe Valli kept the crowded audience in roars of laughter, the dialogue often being completely drowned. There is some good character acting... The film proved a worthy successor to the original "Diggers," and was much to the audience’s liking." [29] Another review in the same paper called it, "rowdy but laughable. The rum-in-the-water-trough gag, which was used in "Diggers," bobs up again, but it scores through sheer familiarity. The big punch comes in the final scene, wherein Pat Hanna and Joe Valli, Digger guests at an English house, are forced to drink milk and barley water, while their pal, George Moon, revels in beer. On the serious side Norman French, as the Chief Intelligence Officer, runs away with the honors. His poise and diction are perfect." [30]
The film was released in New Zealand and England. [31]
Diggers in Blighty proved to have a long life and Hanna re-released it regularly over the next 20 years. It was re-released in Melbourne in 1944 [32] and in 1946 Hanna claimed it and Waltzing Matilda were regularly playing in suburbs. [33] [34]
In 1950 Hanna said he was still making money out of his films [35] and in 1952 Diggers in Blighty and Harmony Row broke box office records in Warrnambool. This prompted Hoyts to pick up the films for a season in Melbourne. [36] [37] [38] The Age film reviewer wrote, "we applaud its simple-minded humor as we would the prize-winning recitation of an only child — self consciously, for this is part of our past, but with a certain pride, for it is a past, we need not be ashamed of." [39] The same critic wrote another review of the film which stated, "you probably need a bond of sympathy to see it through. It was made in seven weeks and shows it in the episodic structure. Pat Hanna, as director, gives evidence of an understanding of film beyond that of many modern directors, but his script is uneven. The appeal of the film with its self-conscious Australianism and its portrait of the Australian soldier as a good-hearted half-wit, is dated." [40]
In 1953 the film was screened at the Victorian Film Festival. [41] It was screening in cinemas as late as 1956. [42]
Efftee Studios was an early Australian film and theatre production studio, established by F.W. Thring in 1930. It existed until Thring's death in 1935. Initially Efftee Films was based in Melbourne and used optical sound equipment imported from the US.
Forty Thousand Horsemen is a 1940 Australian war film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film tells the story of the Australian Light Horse which operated in the desert at the Sinai and Palestine campaign during World War I. It follows the adventures of three rowdy heroes in fighting and romance. The film culminates at the Battle of Beersheba which is reputedly "the last successful cavalry charge in history". The film was clearly a propaganda weapon, to aid in recruitment and lift the pride of Australians at home during World War II. It was one of the most successful Australian movies of its day. It was later remade in 1987 as The Lighthorsemen.
His Royal Highness is a 1932 Australian musical film directed by F. W. Thring, also known as His Loyal Highness, starring George Wallace in his feature film debut. It was the first Australian film musical.
George Patrick "Pat" Hanna was a New Zealand-born film producer, he was a soldier of the First World War who entertained post-war audiences with the stage show Diggers, that was adapted to a film of the same title in 1931.
Arthur Embery Higgins was a pioneering Australian cinematographer known for his use of trick photography during the silent era. His ongoing collaborations with director Raymond Longford include The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and The Blue Mountains Mystery (1921). He briefly turned to directing with Odds On (1928) however returned to cinematography in 1931 for the remainder of his career.
Harmony Row is a 1933 Australian musical comedy directed by F. W. Thring and starring popular stage comedian George Wallace. It marked the film debut of Bill Kerr.
A Ticket in Tatts is a 1934 musical comedy film starring popular stage comedian George Wallace as an accident-prone stablehand. It was the last of three films Wallace made for F. W. Thring.
Francis William Thring III, better known as F. W. Thring, was an Australian film director, producer, and exhibitor. He has been credited with the invention of the clapperboard.
The Hayseeds is a 1933 Australian musical comedy from Beaumont Smith. It centres on the rural family, the Hayseeds, about whom Smith had previously made six silent films, starting with Our Friends, the Hayseeds (1917). He retired from directing in 1925 but decided to revive the series in the wake of the box office success of On Our Selection (1932). It was the first starring role in a movie for stage actor Cecil Kellaway.
Diggers is a 1931 Australian comedy film produced and directed by F. W. Thring starring popular stage comedian Pat Hanna. It was the first feature film from both men.
Waltzing Matilda is a 1933 Australian film directed by and starring Pat Hanna. It features Coral Browne.
Joseph George McParlane, known as Joe Valli, was a Scottish-Australian actor who worked in vaudeville and films. He had a long-running vaudeville partnership with Pat Hanna as "Chic and Joe".
Campbell Copelin was an English actor, who moved to Australia in the 1920s and worked extensively in film, theatre, radio and television. He had a notable association with J.C. Williamson Ltd and frequently collaborated with F. W. Thring and Frank Harvey. He often played villains.
The Streets of London is a 1934 Australian film directed by F. W. Thring. It was a filmed version of a play by Dion Boucicault which Thring had produced on stage the previous year. It was the last film made by Efftee Film Productions – Thring ceased production afterwards with the aim of resuming it later but died in 1936 before he had the chance.
Sheepmates was a proposed Australian film from director F. W. Thring based on a 1931 novel by William Hatfield. It commenced filming in 1933 but was abandoned.
The Man They Could Not Hang is a 1934 Australian film directed by Raymond Longford about the life of John Babbacombe Lee, whose story had been filmed previously in 1912 and 1921. These silent films were called "one of the greatest box-office features that ever came out of this country." The sound film was not as successful.
The Double Event is a 1911 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on the first novel by Nat Gould, which had been adapted several times for the stage, notably by Bland Holt.
The Kingdom of Twilight is a 1929 British-Australian film directed by British author and explorer Alexander MacDonald.
The Haunted Barn is a short 1931 Australian comedy film produced by F.W. Thring directed by Gregan McMahon. It was one of the first productions by Thring's Efftee Studios. The film was produced to support of the feature Diggers (1931) and shown on the same bill.
The Unsleeping Eye is a 1928 British film written and directed by Alexander MacDonald. It was filmed on location in Papua.