Not only did Luhrmann do the heavy lifting , he gave the movie a happy ending. According to the Pearly Gates Times ,this ending infuriated Xavier as he and Kerry Packer watched the movie premier from the celebrity wing on Cloud Nine, eating popcorn and passing rude comments.
Herbert criticised acclaimed author Tolstoy for his ending of Anna Karenina -she run down and mangled by a train while rushing to meet her lover , a device Herbert used to bump off some of his own Territory characters . Having supposedly written screenplay material for “a dwarf” in faraway Pommie Land when he was an unknown, Herbert regarded himself as an expert in denouement .
One thing is for certain , Xavier would not have had the soppy ending of Australia . Baz admitted he changed the ending from sad to “happy” at the last moment. Xavier would have had the Japanese triumphantly sweeping across the land , way past the Brisbane Line . An heroic figure, remarkably like Xavier himself , would have emerged in Capricornia to lead a ragtag guerilla army against the enemy. Nicole Kidman, in charge of oiling his .303, would be by his side , swinging on a trapeze ( sorry, wrong movie ), singing Waltzing Matilda, while kneading a damper and boiling the billy for a cuppa Kanga – the brew that helps Nigella Lawson get through a tough day and three bars of yummy chocolate.
The very least Luhrmann should have done was contact Xavier on the ouija board and hired him as a consultant during the shooting of the epic. Admittedly such an act would have undoubtedly doubled the production cost of the film .
This rambling dissertation has been brought about by a member of the Little Darwin team who has just seen Australia for the first time on a pirated DVD in Bali. He found the experience excruciating yet –oddly- entertaining . Corny, clichéd , it is, according to him , a hotch potch of Herbert’s writings with flashes of earlier Australian films such as The Overlanders , the dramatic Jedda and Crocodile Dundee .
Jedda was described as the greatest publicity for Australia since the discovery of the platypus . Crocodile Dundee was a runaway success . Despite all the Hollywood and local hype , Australia is a disappointing B grade effort , nowhere as good as the much criticised , So why the bloody hell aren't you over here? tourist campaign
Some of the cinemaphotography in Australia was truly third rate , especially the cattle stampede scene . A hoofs and horns expert pointed out whips have to be cracked by riders attempting to bring spooked cattle under control. No wonder Jack Thompson , addicted to Poor Fella demon rum ( more royalties for the Herbert estate?) , was trampled to death. His battered face had the appearance of a reject Toby character jug and the repulsive leftovers in the bottom of a Bovril rendering vat . The shots of Hugh Jackman, stretched out like a lizard sunning himself on a rock , galloping along on a horse were as amateurish as much of the footage in the days of Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers.
The depiction of Darwin faithfully captured the Mitchell Street boozing and brawling of the l930s as if it were 2009. As it was shot in Bowen , we can blame Queensland yokels for the current Mitchell Street mayhem. If you blinked, you would have missed the tiny part of the film actually shot in Darwin .
Little Darwin can reveal that a well known Darwin resident who got a bit part in Australia played the pilot of a Japanese Zero fighter. For obvious reasons, he insisted his name not be mentioned in the credits next to Kidman and Jackman .
Our reviewer of the movie started to giggle hysterically when he saw the l939 charity ball in Darwin where everybody was dressed up to the nines . He fell down laughing when a nimble footed photographer attired in a tropical dinner jacket , sporting a beaut Speedgraphic camera, was seen taking happy snaps of the snobbish establishment. It is doubtful if any Darwin photographer in the history of the NT media has ever looked so dapper, so svelte . He gave the expression gentlemen of the press a bad name by appearing suspiciously clean, slick and kempt.
And as for Judy Garland getting a run in the film, , all that was needed to increase the box office appeal was for Bruce Lee to tap dance down Cavenagh Street with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers with Lassie rounding up cane toads and Paris Hilton entertaining the troops.
Few people would have appreciated the way the NT Administrator was portrayed in the movie. He was a funny old bird with a telescope who commented that the Carney cattle empire ( sounds like Vestey ) in the Territory seemed about to be challenged by Lady Sarah Ashley and her dainty smalls . The real life administrator , Aubrey Abbott , very early in the piece , pointed out tight - fisted British land owners had tied up large tracts of prime Territory pastoral country. It seems there was a hidden dash or two of verite mixed in with the corn .
Our award for the film : Three Bronx cheers , which translates into a trio of Aussie raspberries.
Some of the cinemaphotography in Australia was truly third rate , especially the cattle stampede scene . A hoofs and horns expert pointed out whips have to be cracked by riders attempting to bring spooked cattle under control. No wonder Jack Thompson , addicted to Poor Fella demon rum ( more royalties for the Herbert estate?) , was trampled to death. His battered face had the appearance of a reject Toby character jug and the repulsive leftovers in the bottom of a Bovril rendering vat . The shots of Hugh Jackman, stretched out like a lizard sunning himself on a rock , galloping along on a horse were as amateurish as much of the footage in the days of Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers.
The depiction of Darwin faithfully captured the Mitchell Street boozing and brawling of the l930s as if it were 2009. As it was shot in Bowen , we can blame Queensland yokels for the current Mitchell Street mayhem. If you blinked, you would have missed the tiny part of the film actually shot in Darwin .
Little Darwin can reveal that a well known Darwin resident who got a bit part in Australia played the pilot of a Japanese Zero fighter. For obvious reasons, he insisted his name not be mentioned in the credits next to Kidman and Jackman .
Our reviewer of the movie started to giggle hysterically when he saw the l939 charity ball in Darwin where everybody was dressed up to the nines . He fell down laughing when a nimble footed photographer attired in a tropical dinner jacket , sporting a beaut Speedgraphic camera, was seen taking happy snaps of the snobbish establishment. It is doubtful if any Darwin photographer in the history of the NT media has ever looked so dapper, so svelte . He gave the expression gentlemen of the press a bad name by appearing suspiciously clean, slick and kempt.
And as for Judy Garland getting a run in the film, , all that was needed to increase the box office appeal was for Bruce Lee to tap dance down Cavenagh Street with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers with Lassie rounding up cane toads and Paris Hilton entertaining the troops.
Few people would have appreciated the way the NT Administrator was portrayed in the movie. He was a funny old bird with a telescope who commented that the Carney cattle empire ( sounds like Vestey ) in the Territory seemed about to be challenged by Lady Sarah Ashley and her dainty smalls . The real life administrator , Aubrey Abbott , very early in the piece , pointed out tight - fisted British land owners had tied up large tracts of prime Territory pastoral country. It seems there was a hidden dash or two of verite mixed in with the corn .
Our award for the film : Three Bronx cheers , which translates into a trio of Aussie raspberries.
