ELIZA FRASER (A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTURE, SURVIVAL, AND MIRACULOUS ESCAPE OF ELIZA FRASER)
Australia, 1976, 128 minutes, Colour.
Susannah York, John Waters, John Castle, Trevor Howard, Noel Ferrier.
Directed by Tim Burstall.
While not the look at Australian history many might want, it is true to its title of the extraordinary adventures of Mrs Fraser. The incidents and Mrs Fraser's reporting of them (and her subsequent tent-show enhancing of the narrative) lend themselves to a rollicking tone which the film happily takes. Thus it is a jokey look at the past, which nevertheless encompasses colonial society, convicts and soldiers and aborigines, in its scope. Susannah York and Noel Ferrier make an excellent, if unexpected, couple and Trevor Howard, John Castle and Martin Harris are all very good. A pity John Waters seems so unrollicking.
1. The full title, its tone, Impact? The overall tone and enjoyment value of the film? Audience expectations from history and comedy? Why were the critics so severe on the film?
2. The importance of the Australian atmosphere, the 19th century, the aura of history, the English stars and the Australian actors? How well did they blend? What kind of film was this, how would It best be described?
3. The opening creating an atmosphere for the film and Its style: the presentation of Rory McBride?, the encounter with the magistrate, the irony of the reappearance of the magistrate? The bedroom farce, set in a rollicking period of history? Did this atmosphere continue throughout the film?
4. The presentation of Eliza Fraser within this setting? Her qualities as a woman, as a mother, as a wife? A 19th century woman? Her role as a captain's wife, her sailing backwards and forwards? The English nature of her way of life? her relationship with her husband, her flirting with Rory? The strengths and weaknesses of her character? A background for her adventures? The qualities of Susannah York's performance?
5. The contrast with the world of the convicts in Moreton Bay, the Commandant and his tyranny, David and John as examples of the convicts, their punishment and lashings? The moral tone of the convict colony? As dictated by the Commandant? The cruelty, the assistant soldier?
6. The comedy and the tension at the dinner party with the Commandant? Rory and his attacks on Fraser? The commander and his criticisms of Fraser? The Army of this leading to the development of the plot? Eliza and her waiting for Rory, David and his confrontation with the commander and his escape, Rory and the mistaken Identity, James and his visit to Eliza's room? The sexual overtones, the farcical overtones, Eliza engineering David's escape with the impressionable sentry? The pace of these Incidents and the preparation for the development of the film and its themes?
7. The presentation of the shipwreck, the irony of breaking Captain Fraser's pomposity?
8. The presentation of the surviving crew, their violent behaviour, their attack on Fraser and his wife, their alliance with one another, their hunger and their despair, their killing of one another, the convict who returned and was Ironically the cause of the Frasers being found?
9. The impact on the Frasers of being abandoned? Their support of one another? The danger of the encounter with the aborigines, the presentation of the aboriginal way of life and custom, the Frasers' participation in this way of life, hunting, eating and drinking their food, marriage ceremonies etc.? How did this effect them both? How sympathetically were the aborigines presented?
10. How credible was it that David should reappear in this setting? The qualities of his character, the weaknesses? His fascination with Eliza and his love for her based on the night at the convict settlement? His decision to help? His leading Eliza away from her husband?
11. The encounter with the convict, his double-dealing with David, with the Frasers, with the commander? The credibility of his treachery and the skill of his cunning? The failure of his plot and his inevitable flogging and return to the settlement? A credible convict character of the 19th century?
12. David as a naive believer in his fellow convict? His escape, his gaining self-respect?
13. The background of Rory and the jealous captain and the duel? the way the commander used the fatuous captain for his own purposes? The preparation for the murder of Rory? The irony of the murder of Fraser? The strange way in which circumstances affect people?
14. The irony of Eliza being rejected by her family, the need for money, her participation in the show? her first performance, the making of money, the gradual build-up, Rory's showmanship?
15. The impact of meeting David again? The clash with Rory? The fact that Eliza could find a happy ending? The new for David? The irony of Rory brought before the magistrate? His escape and joining them?
16. The significance of the epilogue and the tone that it gave for the adventures of Mrs Fraser?
1.How interesting a picture of Australian history, of characters of the 19th century, of the colonial atmosphere, of society, the ordinary people, convicts and the exercise of power? The rollicking tone of this picture of history?
