LOVE IN LIMBO

Australia, 1993, 95 minutes, Colour.
Craig Adams, Rhondda Findleton, Martin Sacks, Aden Young, Russell Crowe, Maya Stange, Bill Young, Jill Perryman.
Directed by David Elfick.

Perth 1957. This is a light comedy, something like Spotswood with sex, about a sixteen-year-old preoccupied with women. The film tries to recreate the atmosphere of the times, fashions, drive-ins, music. It is a mixture of the innocent and the crass, the contrast between what society was like on the surface and what really happened.

Craig Adams is the hero, but there are good performances by Martin Sacks as a gaudy salesman, Aiden Young as the junior version and, by the way of complete contrast, Russell Crowe as a very proper Welsh Baptist. This is a light look at the 1950s.

1.The impact of the film, Australian audiences? Worldwide? The title, the focus on youth? The initial title: The Great Pretender?

2.A rites of passage film, adolescent boys, adolescent boys in the 50s? The Australian version? The perceptions of the past?

3.The Perth settings, the city, the suburbs, homes, schools? The factories? Kalgoorlie, the contrast with Perth? The musical score, the songs?

4.Ken, his age, his place in the family, his sister, relationship with his mother, his behaviour? At school, the sexy drawings, trying to sell them? The other children at school? His sex preoccupations? Barry and the car, travelling around, the hopes, the drive-in? The friendship with Arthur and the contrast with him?

5.Barry, at school, the car, with Ken, their friendship? Arthur? The different personalities? Their behaviour?

6.The decision to go to Kalgoorlie, on the road, the details of the trip?

7.At the drive-in, the drink, the laddish behaviour?

8.Arthur, the Chapel background, his Welsh accent, prim, his mother and father, the church traditions? His coming home, alcohol, his parents’ reaction?

9.Kalgoorlie, the brothels, the boys, nervous, the women?

10.The women in Kalgoorlie, the industrial action, the strike?

11.In Kalgoorlie, the effect on the boys, their expectations, change, delivering Arthur home?

12.The portrait of Gwen, her behaviour and attitudes, her relationships, Max?

13.The supporting characters, Uncle Herbert, Aunt Dorrie? Family relationships – and the 50s style?

14.The comic style, the dialogue, situations, reticent and crass, compared with the American-style adolescent sex comedies? The Australian tone?