Seven Little Australians (1939) User Reviews (2)

Sadly this is very bad.

[David-240 · 2/10 · 17 September 1999]

Ethel Turner's wonderful book about a strict army man, his young second wife, their child, and his six children from a previous marriage is here given a heavy-handed, badly acted and over-moralising film treatment. The later TV mini-series was much better. The biggest problem is Charles McCallum as the Captain - he plays the character with no love for wife or children at all, instead of suppressing love because of his belief in discipline. His miraculous transformation at the end is silly and completely unbelievable.

It is sad that this film is not better as so few films were made in Australia at that time - but when you consider that this amateurish and badly directed film was competing with "Gone With the Wind", "The Wizard of Oz" and "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" it's not hard to see why many Australians lost faith in our film industry.

Far more enjoyable than I'd expected.

[opsbooks · 9/10 · 27 March 2008]

Ethel Turner's classic book, in print without a break for more than a century, is far better known via the brilliant TV mini series made by ATN 7 in 1973. This early movie has always been overshadowed by that series and only became available via Screensound Australia's limited video release in 2000.

Despite my expectations of a less than satisfactory production, the movie is actually quite enjoyable and perhaps most importantly, manages to fit the major events of the book into one hour of screen time.

The performances in general are good with the child actors especially putting in natural and believable portrayals. It's worth comparing the two actors who play the Captain, Charles McCallum in 1939 and Leonard Teale in 1973. Although the former seems stiff in the part to begin with, it's more the nature of the character rather than the actor himself. Leonard Teale played the Captain 'over the top' in the 1973 version. This reflects somewhat negatively on the earlier performance.

There is one extraneous scene in the 1939 version, at the party where the 'cad' attempts to seduce Meg. Otherwise, the events are reasonably true to the book.

The direction is good for the most part though having been filmed on a very limited budget, critical viewers will be drawn to the shortcomings in other aspects of the production.

I can recommend this film for all ages.