WHEREVER SHE GOES
Australia, 1950, 81 minutes, Black and White.
Suzanne Parrett, Nigel Lovell. Muriel Steinbeck.
Directed by Michael S. Gordon.
Wherever She Goes was one of the comparatively few feature films made in Australia between 1945 and 1970. It is a biography of the celebrated pianist Eileen Joyce. She provides the playing for the considerable piano excerpts during the film. The film features some of the prominent Australian actors of the time. The film is attractive, traces the life of the pianist from her early days in Tasmania to international celebrity. It has the overtones of the conventional biography of a star - with the background of the Australian bush, but seems rather contrived by later standards. A Hollywood version of an Australian musical celebrity, Marjorie Lawrence, is the 1954 Interrupted Melody with Eleanor Parker, directed by Curtis Bernhardt.
1. The indications of the title and having music wherever she goes?
2. How enjoyable a musical film and how interesting as a biography?
3. Comment on the techniques of Australian filming and their impact in 1950 and now.
4. The presentation of the real Eileen Joyce and her piano-playing and her achievement? How great was the achievement?
5. The Australian background: Tasmania and the way of life in the bush, isolation, family life in this situation, the houses and shacks? The details of travel to the west? Western Australia and the mines? Kalgoorlie as a town? The bigness? How important was this environment on Eileen?
6. The portrayal of family and interrelationships? of mother and father and poverty? Brother and sister, love and fights? The father's severity? The mother's support? The picture of hardships?
7. Eileen and Danny, and Danny as a man of dreams? The mouth organ?
8. The importance of lessons in Kalgoorlie, her begging, gambling, the need for practice? Her love of the piano?
9. The people who had influence of Eileen's life: the nuns at the school and their lessons, the music lessons and the money, the friendly people at the hotel, Bob, her parents, the neighbours? How important was their impact on her life?
10. Eileen Joyce's achievement? As a natural talent, the sequence of events, the illustration of her talent?
11. The importance of the eisteddfod sequence? Her skill in playing and her pride in playing? The nature of the collection of the people to support her trip to Perth?
12. The beauty of the film and the presentation of music and someone who loved music? The importance of the biography, audience response to a biography in term of the facts, the insight into a character? How valuable was the film as a musical biography?
