The Shiralee (1957 film)

Plot

An itinerant rural worker named Macauley —sometimes described as a "swagman" or "swaggie"—suddenly finds himself taking responsibility for his child. Having returned from "walkabout", he finds his wife entwined in the arms of another, and so he takes the daughter, Buster, with him. The child is the "shiralee", an Irish or Aboriginal word meaning "swag", or metaphorically, a "burden."

In their time together, father and daughter explore new depths of understanding and bonding. The barren landscapes of the outback provided both a backdrop to the richness of the relationship, as well as explaining the swagman's love for the country.

Jim and Buster stay with the Parkers, whose daughter Liz was an old lover of Jim's and fell pregnant to him. Jim tries to abandon Buster but she refuses to leave. Buster is injured in a car accident, and father and daughter are reunited.

Production

Leslie Norman said he read the book, "loved it" and sent it to Michael Balcon at Ealing. According to Norman, "Mick roasted me, said it was full of foul language and how dare I? I said that it wouldn't be in the film, so he said all right and to get him a script."

Ealing had paid a reported £10,000 for the film rights to the book.

Norman says he wrote a script, showed it to Balcon who "claimed it was a different story, so we called in Neil Patterson to rewrite. He only rewrote one scene but it was enough to appease Mick. I suffered a lot from Mick."

Ealing signed an agreement with MGM for the latter studio to distribute their films worldwide; The Shiralee was to be the first film they made together.

Leslie Norman arrived in Sydney in April 1956 to begin preproduction. Finch arrived in July and an extensive talent search was conducted to find the actress to play Buster. Eight-year-old Dana Wilson of Croydon, Sydney, was cast.

The film was shot in the last months of 1956, first on location in north east New South Wales near Scone, then at MGM's studios in London. Child stars were not encouraged in British cinema so Dana Wilson's presence was downplayed by the studio during the English leg of production.

The cast included several Australian actors working in London.

Reception

The film only made $60,000 at the US and Canadian box office. However it was the tenth most popular film at the British box office in 1957 and earned $860,000 outside North America. After costs of production and distribution, the film made a profit of $149,000.

Peter Finch later said the film and his role in it were among his favourites in his career. Norman says Finch "was marvellous... it was great working with him. Of course he was not a Balcon sort of character at all - too wild a lifestyle."

Music

The song "Shiralee" used as soundtrack was sung by Tommy Steele and reached #11 on the United Kingdom Singles Chart in 1957.