CADDIE
Australia 1976, 105 minutes, Colour.
Helen Morse, Takis Emmanuel, Jack Thompson, Jacki Weaver, Melissa Jaffer, Drew Forsythe, Ron Blanchard, Lynette Curran, June Salter, Robyn Nevin.
Directed by Donald Crombie.
Caddie was one of the most popular Australian films during the 1970s. It was released in 1976, at the time when colour television was coming into Australia and forming something of a threat to films. However, it was the period of Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Devil’s Playground.
The film is set in the Depression in Sydney, based on a book by barmaid Caddie Marsh. It was adapted by veteran writer Joan Long.
Helen Morse made a big impact in the role of Caddie – even getting an invitation to go to England to appear with Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman in Agatha. However, she then made a decision to stay working within the Australian industry and on the Australian stage. She is supported by Takis Emmanuel who also appeared in a number of Australian films including Paul Cox’s Kostas. The supporting cast is something of a who’s who, in retrospect, of the Australian industry including Jack Thompson, Jackie Weaver, Melissa Jaffer and Drew Forsyth. The film recreates the period very well, the atmosphere of inner suburban Sydney, homes and pubs – especially with the difficulties that women faced, especially when their husbands abandoned them.
The film was directed by Donald Crombie who had had a career making documentaries. These included Do I Have to Kill My Child with Jackie Weaver. After this he went on to make a number of feature films including The Irishman, Cathy’s Child and Robbery Under Arms.
1. The quality, appeal, enjoyment value of this film?
2, The atmosphere of nostalgia, the re-creation of a real past, the understanding of the period, its atmosphere and people? The episodic nature of the film, the building up of place, time, character, values through the episodes?
3. The contribution of the location photography, colour and sets, the re-creation of the period? What was communicated about this particular period of Sydney's history?
4. The impact of the opening of the film with Caddie and her family, sympathy for her and the children, the ordeal of moving, poverty and abandonment, the flashback memories of the husband, love, clashes and hate? How well did this establish the character and the mood for the rest of the film?
5. How attractive was Caddie as a person? Her qualities as a woman, as a mother? Her pride and self-reliance, her being hurt by life and her best friend, Esther? Her response and understanding of the challenge to her life? Her decisions about herself, her work, her children?
6. The portrayal of the job opportunities, the interviews for the job? The ordeal for Caddie and what she learnt from them? The qualities of her response? Her desperation?
7. The amount of attention given to her first clay at work: the atmosphere of the hotel and the bar, the friendliness, the ugliness, the matinees, the six o'clock rush, the roughness and vulgarity, the booze and the vomit? The style of life in the bar, her needs for adaptation to it? The men in the bar, the women's lounge, the fights and the brawls, the personalities there? (Presented sympathetically, with criticism?) The significance of the phrase, 'only a barmaid?
8. The help that Caddie got from her fellow-barmaid? The camaraderie? Friendship and support? The question of the abortion? The lady boss of the hotel and the girls' reaction to her?
9. How well did Caddie settle into this life and adapt? Her learning the language, style, tricks of the trade, tips etc.? The impact of Ted? What type was he, his flashiness, pleasantry? The significance of his coining her name? His wanting to court her, his style, the car? The impact of the sequence at the dance, the humiliation of Caddie, the attitude of the other girls? The truth and the repercussions on Caddie's having to shift jobs?
10. The contrast of the boarding houses and the dilapidated atmosphere for the children, their being minded by drinking adults, the hard life for families, the impatient and intolerant landlord and landlady, the diphtheria problem and the doctor?
11. How well did the film move over the gaps of years and yet keep the characters and plot credible?
12. The moving to a better hotel, more fashionable, the friends and the way of life of the barmaids there, going dancing, visiting the factory etc?
131 The impact of Peter? His courting of Caddie and the contrast with Ted? The significance of their relationship for them both? The factory background, the Greek background and the detailed portrayal of Greek migrants and their way of life in Sydney? Peter's response to Caddie's children their happiness together? Outings, photos etc? The sexual relationship and its meaning for both of them? The realities of divorce and the legal problems? The attempts of both to start divorce proceedings? The significance of Peter's return to Greece and the impact on Caddie's life? Her loneliness, the letters?
14. The film's portrayal of the Depression? The realism of the atmosphere, the dole, the Herald advertisements for jobs, the queues and the rush for jobs? Caddie and her work in the hotel? The S.P. man and his deals? The arrest of the woman in the street. the interview of the S.P. man with Caddie and her collaboration? Dangerous times and the risks that she took? Waiting for Peter?
15. The kindness of the men who sold the rabbits? Their friendliness, work, helping Caddie when she was sick? Their care for her?
16. How well did the film show the yearnings of a woman growing into middle age? The meaning of her life? The significance of the reappearance of Esther as an alcoholic, deserted by her husband? The lot that Caddie had received was happier than Esther's?
18. The final impression of Caddie as a person, a woman, a battler? A significant ordinary person whose life had meaning?
191 The significance of the ending and the details about Peter's return, his death, Caddie's death? A dramatically appropriate ending?
20. How attractive a film, sad, happy and wise?
