Botany Bay (film)

Plot

In 1787 prisoners are shipped from Newgate Jail on the Charlotte to found a new penal colony in Botany Bay, New South Wales. Amongst them is Hugh Tallant (Ladd) an American medical student who had been wrongly imprisoned. During the journey he begins to clash with the villainous Captain Gilbert (Mason), and is soon plotting a full-scale mutiny against him.

Cast

Production

There was film interest in the book even before its publication because of the success of Mutiny on the Bounty, also from a novel by Nordhoff and Hall. The film rights were sold in 1940 for a reported $50,000.

In 1941 Joel McCrea expressed interest in playing the lead. The film was originally planned to be made in 1946, starring Ray Milland with location shooting in Australia. However these plans were delayed when Paramount became concerned about the cost.

The project was re-activated in 1951 as a vehicle for Alan Ladd.

Four koalas and two kangaroos were flown from Australia to appear in the film. The koalas were the first to be exported from Australia in 25 years and were later transferred to San Diego Zoo.

The only Australian born members of the cast were Murray Matheson and Brendan Toomey. Aboriginal characters were played by African-American actors. (Peter Pagan was reported as going to feature in the film but this did not seem to eventuate.)

Historical Basis

There was a real ship called the Charlotte which sailed with the First Fleet under a Captain Gilbert.