Bush Christmas (1947)

i happened on this movie today on turner classic movies. i love a good 40's era black and white 'family' movie with a plot which this is. i did enjoy it. the movie is also surprising for it's use of an aboriginal actor neza saunders. the flick uses aboriginal 'nature knowledge' a bit more satisfactorily than American treatment of indians like tonto. still i can't get used to the use of the term 'blacks'. the term does not carry the respect that is used now for American blacks. it is insulting and degrading. i also note that the only review of the film repeats the term and that the IMDb quick intro/summary lists the other four children by name but not neza saunders one newspaper story about the film tells the story of the filming and the actors including a story about neza falling from his horse when it wouldn't jump like the others. i am currently doing research about neza saunders who apparently died this summer. i would be happy to make anything i find including urls available to anyone requesting them.

The story could be tighter and the film shorter, but otherwise it's hard to find fault with this superb adventure film for children. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous - it's actually rather difficult to capture sweeping landscapes on black and white, but here it looks easy, it's so well done. The story is interesting, the dialog well written, the acting is superb - the kids never get annoying and remain authentic throughout, well supported by the adults who display a remarkable naturalism. Certainly it's "just for kids," that was its intent, and it succeeds admirably. If only one of the many versions of "Tom Sawyer" could have achieved such natural grace and energy! Has held up quite well after more than sixty years.

This pleasant kiddie flick has the benefit of being located in the relatively unusual Australian outback despite its Christmas period setting; as everyone knows, Australian Christmases are hot summery ones rather than marked by the cold weather which is so intrinsic to the Christmas spirit for the rest of the world. Although I've become familiar with a handful of Australian movies in fairly recent years, this is undoubtedly the oldest one I've watched so far – although, technically, this is a British-Australian co-production. For the record, the film was quite popular on its home turf and was, in fact, remade much later in 1983 with a young Nicole Kidman featured in the cast! Anyway, writer-director Ralph Smart had a hand in concocting several earlier, notable British comedies – ALF'S BUTTON AFLOAT (1938), CONVICT 99 (1938), etc. – and later went into TV where he dealt with such heroic figures as William Tell and Robin Hood; indeed, BUSH Christmas adequately displays his light touch and sense of adventure which makes for a decent, low-key entertainment which passes the time amiably enough. The unassuming plot has to do with a group of young children (including a bungling, bespectacled Briton and a half-Aborigine tracker) falling foul of three horse thieves (one of whom is played by popular Australian actor Chips Rafferty).

It's hard to believe, even by 1940s standards, that kids could either be so independent, or be allowed by their parents to be independent, or for that matter, be represented in a film as being this independent and capable.On the other hand, I know of USA kids in the late 1990s who were 13/14 years that were left to camp in the wild for a week by parents, and given instructions on how to hike out to a meeting point. I find even that unimaginable, so what do I know of childhood independence? Overall, it's a very likable film. No gratuitous sex/violence thrown in, to the point where you don't fear when the kids get naive about thinking they're back in civilization when in fact they're setting themselves up to get caught by the bad guys.Anyway, this is mostly a film for kids, as it is mostly about kids who survive in the wild so well that they give some horse thieves some serious haranguing. But for parents and adults looking for a view into optimistic child-oriented films of the 1940s, look no further.