Film

The Overlanders (1946)

Director: Harry Watt

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Ealing's plans to dramatise the Australian contribution to the war effort didn't mature until after hostilities ceased, but the success of this epic reconstruction of a 1942 cattle-drive (virtually a displaced Western, but given an emphatic political context - the drive is occasioned by a 'scorched earth' policy in face of the advancing Japanese threat - at odds with a counterpart like 'Red River') ensured a continuity of antipodean production that lasted until the home studio itself folded in 1959. Watt brought both a documentarist's research and eye to the project, exposing the outback as a viable location and incidentally elevating Rafferty to the status of a national icon.

---

• 
•