DAD AND DAVE COME TO TOWN

Australia, 1938, 97 minutes, Black and white.
Bert Bailey, Shirley Ann Richard, Fred Mac Donald, Alec Kellaway, Peter Finch, Marshall Crosby.
Directed by Ken G.Hall.

Dad And Dave Come To Town is one of four stories derived from Steele Rudd, directed by Ken G. Hall, at Cinesound during the '30s. The series opened with On Our Selection, Grandad Rudd, and there was a final feature, Dad Rudd M.P.

This film takes up the themes of On Our Selection and gives us yet another view of the Rudd family and its pioneering work. However, with the styles of '30s film-making, Dad and Dave come to town and there is some comedy in the contrast between city and country, the hayseeds coming to the city and becoming involved in the world of fashion. There are quite a number of comic routines, the verbal humour is sometimes obvious, sometimes risque.

There is an 'Are You Being Served' performance by Alec Kellaway as a shop assistant. Peter Finch has a small role in this film and was to work in Hall's next film, Mr Chedworth Steps Out. While the film is very much of the '30s, the Australian ethos and pride, the comic routines and some of the styles of film-making are better appreciated in the light of the Australian renaissance of the 70s.

1. The Australian film industry in the '30s? Cinesound and its many features meeting popular interest and responses? Comic and dramatic style? Australian country and city themes? Characters? Humour?

2. The quality of the black and white photography, studio work, location work? The atmosphere of the country and the farms? The atmosphere of the '30s city? Locations, shops, hotels etc? The editing and pace, collage work? The acting styles? Musical score?

3. The picture of farm life and the Australian pioneers? Hard work, the Australian bush character? The adaptation of the pioneering spirit to the world of the '30s? The building up of properties, machinery? The humour with machinery getting the better of the human beings? Arguments amongst neighbours? The contrast with the city and the hayseeds at loose in the city? The world of big business and its cut-throat methods? The hay seeds one-upping the city slickers? The success of the men from the bush - and the reinforcement of the old mythology of the supremacy of the bush man?

4. The atmosphere of the Depression? Work and opportunities for work, the hard struggle ethos of the times, the blend of the humorous and the serious? Lifestyle in country and city?

5. The popularity of Dad and Dave from Steele Rudd's books? From Raymond Longford's film version? From the stage play? From the series of films and the impact of Bert Bailey as Dad? The comic strip style of characterisation and action? Down on the farm - fox traps, the dogs, the horse and cart and the car, buying and selling, arguing, family life, marriages, the patriarchal rule of Dad and his strictness? Jill and her coming back from the city and supporting Dad in his business ventures? Sally and her romance with Bill? Dave as the yokel - and the romance with Myrtle?

6. Dad and Dave going to the city? The humour about the return fare and other jokes at the expense of the hayseeds? Their awe of the city? Traffic, hotels and luxury, girls, shopping, the housekeeper, the bath and the shower, the radio and their arguing and ad-libbing on the radio programme, their encounter with double dealing, encountering the world of high fashion, their tricking Pierre, everything coming good at the end? The help of Ryan?

7. Jill and her skills at work, running the shop, an eye to business? Jill and the encounters with Bradley - inevitably leading to romance? The clash with Rawlins? The '30s heroine: success and romance, supporting the family?

8. The imitation of Hollywood fashion films of the ' 30s (e. g. Roberta)? The cut-throat methods of the two shops, Pierre and his pirating the fashions? The industrial spying? The fashion show and its elaborate presentation - at such short notice!

9. Sally and Bill and the country romance? The humour of Bill's interview with Dad about Sally with Dad thinking he was talking about the dog? The party at home as they listened to Dad and Dave on the radio?

10. The clash between Dad and Ryan, property arguments, the clash with Bill? Ryan's support of Dad at the end?

11. The mocking of the city types - Rawlins and his crookedness, Pierre and his double dealing, Sonia and the parody of the seductive spy?

12. The camp comedy of Entwhistle? The styles of the Hollywood comedies of the '30s with this kind of effeminate character - a perennial element of this kind of comedy?

13. The visual humour? Verbal humour and the risque tones? Capturing the comic style of Australia in the '30s?