They Found a Cave | |
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Directed by | Andrew Steane |
Written by | James Pearson William Eldridge |
Based on | novel by Nan Chauncy |
Produced by | Charles E. Wolnizer |
Starring | Beryl Meekin Mervyn Wiss |
Cinematography | Mervyn Gray |
Edited by | Robert Walker Alan Harkness |
Music by | Peter Sculthorpe Larry Adler (harmonica) |
Production company | Visatone Island Pictures |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures (Aust) Children's Film Foundation (UK) |
Release date |
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Running time | 61 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
They Found a Cave is a 1962 Australian children's adventure film directed by Andrew Steane. The film was originally made from a book by the same name by author Nan Chauncy. In 2010, a company called Argosy Films, set up a website to find the production crew and actors/actresses of They Found a Cave and Bungala Boys for the 50th anniversary. [1]
Four English orphans – Cherry, Nigel, Brick and Nippy – migrate to Tasmania, to the care of their Aunt Jandie on her farm outside Hobart. Their arrival is greeted with enthusiasm by young farm boy Tas, and weeks of exploration and good times follow before Aunt Jandie enters hospital, leaving the children in the care of Ma and Pa Pinner, her foreman and housekeeper.
A few days of tyrannical treatment by the Pinners force the children to seek refuge in a secret cave, where they set up home to await the return of Jandie. Despite Pa's repeated efforts to recapture them, it is here the children stay until Nigel's secret trip to town uncovers a plot by the Pinners to abandon the farm and swindle Aunt Jandie.
The Australian Council for Children's Film and Television had been campaigning for locally made children's films on Australian subjects. In 1961, Island Film Services, a Tasmania company formed by Charles E. Wolnizer, co-produced the film with Visatone Television. It was based on a popular children's novel by Nan Chauncy. [2]
The lead actors were selected out of 500 children. [3]
The film was shot in south-east Tasmania in the summer and autumn of 1961 over seven months with interiors done at Elwick Showground in Hobart and some interiors done in Sydney. The railway footage was on the north coast of Tasmania and at New Town Station. Most of the cast and crew were Tasmanian. As the camera equipment was noisy during filming a lot of the dialogue was overdubbed in post-production. Director Andrew Steane was former head of the Tasmanian Department of Film Production. [4] [5]
Larry Adler recorded harmonica for the music score while touring Australia. [3] Tasmanian composer Peter Sculthorpe was commissioned to write the score for the film. The main theme consists of a short catchy melody that provided foundational material for other music in the film. He later reworked this popular theme as a piano piece, Left Bank Waltz by which this music is now more commonly known.
The film held its world premiere at the Odeon Theatre, Hobart on December 20, 1962. [6] [7]
The film was positively reviewed but was not a success at the box office. [4] [8]
Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 kilometres (150 miles) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by the Bass Strait, with the archipelago containing the southernmost point of the country. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 1000 islands. It is Australia's least populous state, with 569,825 residents as of December 2021. The state capital and largest city is Hobart, with around 40 percent of the population living in the Greater Hobart area. This makes it Australia's most decentralised state.
TNT is an Australian TV station based in Hobart, Tasmania, owned by Southern Cross Austereo. Originally broadcasting to northern Tasmania, it has broadcast to the whole of Tasmania since aggregation of the Tasmanian television market in 1994.
Tasmania, for its size and population, has a flourishing literary culture. Its history offers an eventful literary background with visits from early explorers such as the Dutchman Abel Tasman, the Frenchmen Bruni d'Entrecasteaux and Marion du Fresne and then the Englishmen Matthew Flinders and George Bass. Colonisation coincided with deteriorated relations with indigenous Aboriginal people and a harsh convict heritage. These events in Tasmanian history are found in a large number of colonial sandstone buildings and in place names. Environmentally, the landscapes and changeable weather provide a vivid literary backdrop. Tasmania's geographical isolation, creative community, proximity to Antarctica, controversial past, bourgeoning arts reputation, and island status all contribute to its significant literature. Many fiction and non-fiction authors call Tasmania home, and many acclaimed titles are set there or written by Tasmanians. The journal of letters Island magazine appears quarterly. Tasmania's government provides arts funding in the form of prizes, events and grants. Bookshops contribute book launches and other literary events. Tasmania's unique history and environment gave rise to Tasmanian Gothic literature in the 19th century.
Nan Chauncy was a British-born Australian children's writer.
The Babel Island, part of the Babel Group within the Furneaux Group, is a 440-hectare (1,100-acre) granite island, located in Bass Strait, lying off the east coast of Flinders Island, Tasmania, south of Victoria, Australia. The privately owned island was named by Matthew Flinders from the noises made by the seabirds there.
The Colonial Times was a newspaper in what is now the Australian state of Tasmania. It was established as the Colonial Times, and Tasmanian Advertiser in 1825 in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land by the former editor of the Hobart Town Gazette, and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser, Andrew Bent. The name was changed to Colonial Times in 1828. In 1857 the title was absorbed into the Hobart Town Mercury.
The Courier is a newspaper founded in 1827 in Hobart, Tasmania, as The Hobart Town Courier. It changed its name to The Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser in 1839, settling on The Courier in 1840.
The Hope Island, part of the Partridge Island Group, is a small island that lies close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is located in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel between Bruny Island and the Tasmanian mainland. Its neighbouring islets are named Faith and Charity, and also the Arch Rock.
The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) is a research institute in Tasmania dedicated to research and development of sustainable agricultural industries. Founded in 1996, it is a collaborative effort of the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and the Tasmanian Government. TIA is headquartered in Hobart with additional facilities including laboratories and research farms located in Launceston, Burnie, Elliott and Forth.
Wherever She Goes is a 1951 Australian feature film that tells the early part of the life story of pianist Eileen Joyce. Directed by Michael Gordon, it stars Suzanne Parrett, Eileen Joyce, Nigel Lovell and Muriel Steinbeck.
Seven Little Australians is a 1939 Australian film directed by Arthur Greville Collins and starring Charles McCallum. It is an adaptation of Ethel Turner's 1894 novel in a contemporary setting.
The Lady Outlaw is a 1911 Australian silent film set in Van Diemen's Land during convict days.
Jewelled Nights is a 1925 Australian silent film directed by the film star Louise Lovely in collaboration with her husband Wilton Welch. Only part of the film survives today.
Nigel Drury Gresley Abbott was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1964 to 1972, representing the seat of Denison. Tasmania's first Minister for Road Safety, he resigned from the Liberal Party to stand as an independent after failing to get his road safety measures approved by the party.
Hartney J. Arthur was an Australian actor, writer and film director, who worked in stage, radio and film.
Tangara (1960) is a novel for children by Australian author Nan Chauncy, illustrated by Brian Wildsmith. It won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1961. It was published in America in 1962 under the title The Secret Friends.
South West Tasmania Action Committee was a group started after the flooding of the lake in South West Tasmania known as Lake Pedder to create the Gordon Dam catchment.
The Tamar Hematite Iron Company (THIC) was an iron mining and smelting company that operated from April 1874 to December 1877, in the area close to the location of the modern-day township of Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia.
The Odeon Theatre is a historic former cinema and live entertainment venue in the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.