Bitter Springs

Chips Rafferty stars in this semi-realistic fable slash western film based in the mid-north of South Australia. A family move to a selection in South Australia together with some English immigrants, a con man and his son and a Scottish carpenter. Lucky for them, the land has already been cleared (it would have been densely covered in mallee forest at the time, but was completely cleared by 1950). They build a log cabin in an area with not many trees but plenty of loose stones, although the plot reason for this is later revealed. They drink from metal cups but have a wooden bucket and a thatched roof (rather than roofing iron) on their house. When trouble arises with aborigines, they decide to shoot them, this being completely illegal of course.

Ealing Studios had a flirtation with Australia just after the war.This clearly was their attempt to do a western.The sheep drive with hostile aborigines is virtually identical to many cattle drives with warring Apaches.As usual there are the usual disparate characters.The old reliable Chips Rafferty and the soon to be Doctor in EW10,Charles Tingwall.However when it comes to Tommy Trinder one starts to scratch ones head.One can only assume that Ealing tried to build him in to their substitute for George Formby.The one consistent note of all his Ealing performances is that he was no actor.The outback is well photographed and the scenes with the aborigines are quite interesting as we do learn a little about their culture.

The previous reviews document well about how this has been influenced by American westerns. However, don't let this put you off in any way. This movie is not a western movie with an Australian wrapping. It is not an English attempt at "Cowboys & Indians". This movie documents well how the conflict between white settlers & Aboriginals started. White man wants land & water. White man cannot comprehend the Aboriginal culture of land & water ownership, and how it works. (Communally owned) Two opposing worlds collide. Two misunderstandings. Two cultures meet at a "fault line". Remember that this is 1950. Australia has a "white Australia Policy". Aboriginals can't even vote !. This is a very brave film that tackled white Austalia's prejudices at the time. The acting from Chips Rafferty is at its best. The Aboriginal actors did a great job too. This movie should be shown to anyone interested in Australian history, and how "we got here" today.