Wherever She Goes

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Wherever She Goes
Directed by Michael Gordon
Written byMichael Gordon
Barbara Woodward (add dialogue)
Based onPrelude: The Early Life of Eileen Joyce by Lady Clare Hoskyns-Abrahall
Produced byMichael Gordon
Starring Suzanne Parrett
Muriel Steinbeck
Cinematography George Heath
Edited byBrereton Porter
Production
company
Faun Film Productions
Distributed by British Empire Films
Release dates
  • 6 July 1951 (1951-07-06)(UK)
  • 7 September 1951 (1951-09-07)(Aust)
Running time
80 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

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.

Contents

Synopsis

Eileen Joyce is born on the Tasmanian coast and becomes fascinated with music after hearing a man named Daniel play a mouth organ. When her parents decide to move the family to the Kalgoorlie goldfields Eileen sees a piano and resolves to play it. Her father's mine fails and the family has to live in a tent.

Eileen is given an old piano as a Christmas gift and soon becomes a child prodigy. She enters a local music carnival and wins. The story ends when she leaves Kalgoorlie to go to Perth, then flashes forward to a grown up Eileen playing in a concert.

Cast

Production

The film was one of several planned by independent companies in association with Ealing Studios to use Pagewood Studios in between official Ealing productions.

The director was Michael Gordon (1909 – 2008), an English film editor, and it was the only full-length feature film he directed. [1] He had given a copy of the book on which the film was based to his children, and his wife suggested that it would make a good film. [2] Both the book and the film were highly fictionalised accounts of Joyce's life. [3] The opening credits of the film state that only the two children were real people and everyone else was fictionalised.

Gordon arrived in Australia in August 1949 to start work on the film. [4] Eileen Joyce herself is shown at the start and end of the film, performing the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, but she was primarily played by Suzanne Parrett, who never made another film. Parrett's hand double was Pamela Page. [5]

The bulk of the movie was shot at Pagewood Studios in Sydney, with some location filming in Kalgoorlie and the Huon Valley. It features the last screen performance of comedian George Wallace, who plays a stage manager. The cast also includes Tim Drysdale, son of Australian artist Russell Drysdale. [6]

Reception

The film had its Australian premiere at The Strand Theatre in Hobart, and was introduced by Tasmanian Premier Robert Cosgrove. [7] [8] It was one of the few Australian films of the time to receive a cinema release in the United States as well as the UK, but box office receipts were poor and critical reception mixed [9] [10] although Suzanne Parrett's performance was praised. [11]

Filmink later argued "Steinbeck should have played the title role but is wasted in the part of her mother." [12]

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References

  1. ↑ IMDB "Michael Gordon (III)". Retrieved 4 April 2015
  2. ↑ "SCREEN: Suzanne Parrett is an up and coming star." The Argus (Melbourne) 5 Jan 1952: 12
  3. ↑ 'Eileen And The Wild Wolves.' The Sydney Morning Herald 9 Apr 1948: 2
  4. ↑ "FILM WORLD PRODUCER VISITS W.A. FOR MATERIAL". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 17 October 1949. p. 13. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  5. ↑ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 211.
  6. ↑ "Himalaya's Last Visit Before Cruises". The West Australian. 31 March 1951. p. 4. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  7. ↑ "Odeon Theatre,167 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS 7000 (Photos)". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  8. ↑ "Film on Pianist Meets Praise". The Mercury . Hobart. 8 September 1951. p. 3. Retrieved 14 May 2022– via Trove.
  9. ↑ 'Mixed Reception For Eileen Joyce Film.' The Sydney Morning Herald 29 Jan 1953: 3
  10. ↑ "NOTES ON FILMS." The Sunday Herald (Sydney) 28 Jan 1951: 4 Supplement: Features
  11. ↑ 'Charms Critics' Barrier Miner (Broken Hill) 11 Jul 1951: 9
  12. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (25 August 2019). "Unsung Aussie Actors – Muriel Steinbeck". Filmink.
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