BITTER SPRINGS

UK, 1950, 89 minutes, Black and White.
Chips Rafferty, Tommy Trinder, Gordon Jackson, Jean Blue.
Directed by Ralph Smart

Bitter Springs belongs to a group of films including The Overlanders, Bush Christmas, Eureka Stockade, which were British- Australian co-productions in the period immediately after the war. Chips Rafferty was the leading actor in each of these and had Australian and British support, including Gordon Jackson in this one and Eureka Stockade. Comedian Tommy Trinder was also present - for a poke of humour at the Englishman.

The film captures the atmosphere of the Australian outback, pioneering, the aborigines. It also highlights how attitudes towards pioneering and the aborigines have changed over the decades. The film was directed by Ralph Smart who also made Bush Christmas. This film is strong on local colour, adventure, and reflects the quality of these co-productions immediately after World War 11.

1. The Australian aspects of this film? Interest and feel? The Australian style of the '40s? The impact now?

2. Comment on the techniques of the late '40s: black and white photography, location photography, the quality and authenticity of the acting, the authenticity of the look at history, the '40s attitude towards Australian history, pioneering, aborigines.

3. How credible was the plot of the film characterisations and the incidents? The attitudes reflected?

4. How authentic is the picture of Australian pioneering and hardships? The impact of the environment on the settlers?

5. The portrayals of the aborigines? The portrayal of the land questions and the use of water holes? The aborigines threatened by the settlers and government edicts? The aborigines and their fears, the attack on the whites? How was the aboriginal question seen in the late '40s? How did it reflect attitudes of the 19th century? How have attitudes changed? Why?

6. The portrayal of the clash of the rights of tradition and the heritage of the aboriginals and the decrees from government officers? The superior attitude of the white family, its backing by the government? The clashes in practice? The superior attitudes and the calling of the aborigines 'savages' etc? The fact that a white man could easily shoot an aborigine? The aborigines and retaliation?

7. How satisfactory was the final resolution of this question? The officer and his explanation to the family of their choices of attitudes? How did the ending show the futility of hostility? The death of the aborigine and the funeral? Had the family actually learnt how to live and work with the aborigines?

8. The portrayal of the family and its hopes? Their reliance on sheep, their willingness to go on a long trek, the difficulty of getting men to go? Of getting Englishmen and Scotsmen? Their ability to cope with meals, the animals, the rivers and mud, the elements?

9. The comic portrayal of the Englishman and his son? A way of learning how hard the outback was? The effect on the Englishman and his adapting? Mac as a genial Scotsman? A naive young man, good at carpentry, awkward at human relationships? How did these men develop during the trek?

10. The portrayal of the journey, being bogged in the mud, the sheep, training the dogs, the kind of food eaten etc?

11. The importance of the magistrate and his role? His explanation of the situation? His role in supervision and administering justice? How satisfactory was his administration of justice after the death of the aborigine?

12. Bitter Springs as a place? A haven for the settlers? Aborigines being robbed of their land? A place of clashes, of building, of humour? Guns, death, the kidnapping of the boy? The escape and the final battle?

13. How useful is this kind of film in showing visually the Australian heritage?