WALTZING MATILDA
Australia, 1933, 77 minutes, Black and white.
Pat Hanna, Joe Valli.
Directed by Pat Hanna.
Waltzing, Matilda was written and directed by Pat Hannah. It was the third in a series about central characters, Jim and Chick, that he developed in Diggers and Diggers in Blighty. The film was a production of Frank Thring Senior's Melbourne studios, Eftee Studios.
The film is not as effective as the Cinesound entertainments being directed by Ken Hall in Sydney. Waltzing Matilda is a bit staid, a bit studio-bound. However, there is a nationalistic prologue featuring Bondi Beach and other Australian scenes. The film takes its title from Banjo Paterson's song even using it for a waltz in a ball sequence.
The film, is a Depression comedy with memories back to the mateship of World War One. Pat Hannah does some good comic turns. However, the characters are somewhat stereotyped and there is, as always at this time, the reverent reference towards England. There is great praise of the bush compared with the city.
Included in the supporting cast is a young Coral Browne.
1. Popular '30s comedy? Australian ethos? The nationalistic prologue with Bondi Beach?
2. Black and white photography, locations, country and city, editing and pace, score? The use of 'Waltzing Matilda"?
3. The title, Australian tone, Banjo Paterson? The diggers and their? The Australian aristocracy? The workers? Police?
4. The style of comedy: verbal, visual? Farce? Incidents? Men and women? Ocker styles?
5. The focus on the city: boarding houses, the police and drinking? The landlady? The escape? Contrast with the country: the roads, cars, paddocks and sheep, country society -drawing room style with English influence?
6. The mateship of Chick and Jim: in Melbourne, night on the town, memories of the war, drifting, the avoidance of the police, the landlady, the routines for the quick escape, on the road, the encounter with Dorothy, fixing the car, avoiding the police, avoiding the agent searching for them? The job, hiding, out in the bush? Jim) in love? Dorothy’s father,
giving him the job? In action? The dance, the quick engagement? The unmasking? Jim as a Plan of property? Reconciliation? Chick going on his way?
7. Chick and his ocker style, gawky? Accent? With MacTavish?, his clothes, words, manner? The elaborate drinking sequence and Chick's shyness? The lanky ocker hero (predecessor of Chips Rafferty)?
8. Dorothy as lively heroine, on the road, her pretence, getting them the job, the encounters with Jill, falling in love, the engagement, her sulking when lie was supposed to have been a criminal, the reconciliation?
9. The parent generation, the father and his drinking, the dowager wife, the daughters and their husbands?
10. Mac Tavish and his place in the series of films, the information about him, giving the police the information, his work, the whisky bottle and the mark, the girl and the proposal, coping with Chick?
11. The presentation of the Light Horse and the exercise, part of the plot?
12. The agent pursuing from Melbourne, his troubles with the car, trying to discover Jim? The final revelations? Everything well - as regards the bush, wealth, high connections? A piece of Australiana?
