Smiley (1956 film)

Last updated

Smiley
Smileyfilm.jpg
Directed by Anthony Kimmins
Written byAnthony Kimmins
Moore Raymond
Based onSmiley
1945 novel
by Moore Raymond [1]
Produced byAnthony Kimmins
Starring Ralph Richardson
Chips Rafferty
Colin Petersen
Cinematography Edward Scaife
Music by William Alwyn
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • 28 June 1956 (1956-06-28)(London)
  • 12 June 1957 (1957-06-12)(United States)
Running time
97 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget£250,000 [2] [3]

Smiley is a 1956 British-American comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Colin Petersen. [4] It was based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Moore Raymond who co-wrote the film with Kimmins. It tells the story of a young Australian boy who is determined to buy a bicycle for four pounds, and along the way he gets into many misadventures.

Contents

Plot

Smiley Greevins is a mischievous boy who lives in the small country town of Murrumbilla (based on Augathella [5] [6] ). His father is an alcoholic drover who is a poor provider for the family, and his mother works as a laundress. Smiley is always getting into trouble with his best friend Joey. He decides to try to save up enough money to buy a coveted bicycle.

Smiley takes on various odd jobs, showing enterprise, hard work, and persistence in slowly accumulating the considerable sum (four pounds) needed, despite getting involved in a number of pranks, including getting into trouble with the local law enforcement in the figure of Sergeant Flaxman. Smiley unwittingly helps the local publican, Jim Rankin, sell opium to aborigines who live in a camp near the town.

Smiley's father steals his savings and loses it playing two-up. Smiley accidentally knocks him out and runs away to the bush, where he is bitten by a snake. His life is saved by boundary rider Bill McVitty. Rankin is arrested and the townspeople chip in to buy Smiley a bike.

A romantic subplot involves Rankin and Sergeant Flaxman vying for the affections of Miss Workman the new local schoolmistress.

Cast

Production

The film is based on the 1945 novel Smiley by Moore Raymond, who was born in Queensland but worked as a journalist in Britain. The book was hailed as an Australian Huckleberry Finn [7] and film rights were bought immediately by Sir Alexander Korda. [8] Korda sent Raymond to Australia in 1946 to find possible child actors and locations. [9] [10] However Korda said he could not find an appropriate director and shelved the project. [11]

Korda eventually assigned the project to Anthony Kimmins, who had served in Australia in World War II. Kimmins arrived in Australia in March 1950 to begin preproduction [12] and announced he would make the film near Augathella for £100,000. [5] However, after actually inspecting the site he doubted it would be useful and he was unable to find a lead actor he was happy with. [13] Plans to make the movie were delayed again.

Kimmins returned to Australia September 1955 to begin preproduction. [14] After interviewing over 2,000 boys, he cast Colin Peterson as Smiley and Bruce Archer as Joey. Part of the budget was provided by 20th Century Fox, who had money frozen in Australia due to currency restrictions. Apart from Ralph Richardson, the entire cast was Australian. [2]

Filming started in late October, with the township of Murrumbilla being created on an estate at Camden Park, Gundy NSW and finished eight weeks later. Post production work was done at Pagewood Studios in Sydney. [2] It was filmed in CinemaScope.

Release

The film was followed by a sequel, Smiley Gets a Gun (1958). It also spawned a hit single composed by Clyde Collins, "A Little Boy Called Smiley". [15]

Musical

The novel inspired Smiley The Musical with music by Clyde Collins, David Cocker, Mark Jones and Lance Strauss. [16]

Accolades

The screenplay received a Best British Screenplay nomination at the 1957 BAFTA awards. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Donat</span> English actor (1905–1958)

Friedrich Robert Donat was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for Best Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Korda</span> British film director (1893–1956)

Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian–born British film director, producer, and screenwriter, who founded his own film production studios and film distribution company.

<i>Jedda</i> 1955 Australian film

Jedda, released in the UK as Jedda the Uncivilised, is a 1955 Australian film written, produced and directed by Charles Chauvel. His last film, it is notable for being the first to star two Aboriginal actors, Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth in the leading roles. It was also the first Australian feature film to be shot in colour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augathella</span> Town in Queensland, Australia

Augathella is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Augathella had a population of 328 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chips Rafferty</span> Australian actor (1909–1971)

John William Pilbean Goffage MBE, known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until he died in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American productions, including The Overlanders and The Sundowners. He appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant Taylor (actor)</span> Australian actor (1917–1971)

Ronald Grant Taylor was an English-Australian actor best known as the abrasive General Henderson in the Gerry Anderson science fiction series UFO and for his lead role in Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Doleman</span> New Zealand actor

Guy Doleman was a New Zealand born actor, active in Australia, Britain and the United States. He is possibly best remembered for being the first actor to play Number Two in the classic cult series The Prisoner.

<i>Bonnie Prince Charlie</i> (1948 film) 1948 British biographical film

Bonnie Prince Charlie is a 1948 British historical film directed by Anthony Kimmins for London Films depicting the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and the role of Bonnie Prince Charlie within it. Filmed in Technicolor, it stars David Niven, Jack Hawkins, and Margaret Leighton.

<i>Bitter Springs</i> (film) 1950 film

Bitter Springs is a 1950 Australian–British film directed by Ralph Smart. An Australian pioneer family leases a piece of land from the government in the Australian outback in 1900 and hires two inexperienced British men as drovers. Problems with local Aboriginal people arise over the possession of a waterhole. Much of the film was shot on location in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia

<i>Forty Thousand Horsemen</i> 1940 Australian film

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.

<i>Mine Own Executioner</i> 1947 British psychological thriller drama film

Mine Own Executioner is a 1947 British psychological thriller drama film starring Burgess Meredith and directed by Anthony Kimmins, and based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin. It was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival. The title is derived from a quotation of John Donne's "Devotions", which serves as an epigraph for the original book.

Sons of Matthew is a 1949 Australian film directed and produced and co-written by Charles Chauvel. The film was shot in 1947 on location in Queensland, Australia, and the studio sequences in Sydney. Sons of Matthew took 18 months to complete, but it was a great success with Australian audiences when it finally opened in December 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Harvey (Australian screenwriter)</span> Australian screenwriter

Frank Harvey was a British-born actor, producer, and writer, best known for his work in Australia.

<i>Bush Christmas</i> (1947 film) 1947 Australian film

Bush Christmas is a 1947 Australian–British comedy film directed by Ralph Smart and starring Chips Rafferty. It was one of the first films from Children's Entertainment Films, later the Children's Film Foundation.

<i>The Kangaroo Kid</i> (film) 1950 film by Lesley Selander

The Kangaroo Kid is a 1950 Australian-American Western film directed by Lesley Selander.

<i>Smiley Gets a Gun</i> 1958 Australian film

Smiley Gets a Gun is a 1958 Australian comedy-drama film in CinemaScope directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Sybil Thorndike and Chips Rafferty. It is the sequel to the 1956 film Smiley.

<i>Captain Thunderbolt</i> (film) 1953 film by Cecil Holmes

Captain Thunderbolt is a 1953 Australian action film from director Cecil Holmes about the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt. It was one of the few all-Australian films of the 1950s.

Show Business is a 1938 Australian film musical directed by A. R. Harwood and starring Bert Matthews. It is considered a 'substantially lost' film, with only rushes from a single minor scene left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Rolfe (director)</span> Australian stage and film director and actor

Alfred Rolfe, real name Alfred Roker, was an Australian stage and film director and actor, best known for being the son-in-law of the celebrated actor-manager Alfred Dampier, with whom he appeared frequently on stage, and for his prolific output as a director during Australia's silent era, including Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911), Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911) and The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915). Only one of his films as director survives today.

Rex Rienits was an Australian writer of radio, films, plays and TV. He was a journalist before becoming one of the leading radio writers in Australia. He moved to England in 1949 and worked for a number of years there. He later returned to Australia and worked on early local TV drama.

References

  1. Smiley. Sylvan Press. 1945.
  2. 1 2 3 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 221.
  3. "Smiley To Be Filmed". The Central Queensland Herald. Rockhampton, Qld. 18 August 1955. p. 4. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Smiley". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 "£100,000 film planned". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane. 21 March 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Augathella to paint 'Smiley' tribute mural". Australia: ABC News . Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  7. "Australian Huck Finn". The Argus . Melbourne. 15 June 1946. p. 16. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Cinema: Garden Notes". The Mercury . Hobart, Tasmania. 30 November 1946. p. 3 Supplement: The Mercury Magazine. Retrieved 14 February 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Author Arrives To Select Players For "Smiley" Film". The Sydney Morning Herald . 11 November 1946. p. 1. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Search for boy actor". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane. 16 March 1950. p. 6. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Australian Film Industry: Big Plans Made". The Sydney Morning Herald . 9 April 1947. p. 5. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  12. "Seeks 'scallywag with angel face'". The Argus . Melbourne. 15 March 1950. p. 6. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  13. "Doubt on Western film site". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane. 23 March 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  14. "He wants tough Aussie boy with smiling face". The Argus . Melbourne. 19 August 1955. p. 3. Retrieved 26 August 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  15. "A Little Boy Called Smiley". Discogs. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  16. "Smiley : The Musical | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories".
  17. "Film in 1957 | BAFTA Awards".