NEW AUSTRALIAN FILM

Southland Times, Issue 23181, 23 April 1937, Page 5

NEW AUSTRALIAN FILM

"IT ISN’T DONE” DISTINCTIVE COMEDY PRODUCTION Australian films have come of age. They have put behind them the uneasy attempts to copy English and American production methods which marked their early years and have succeeded in making a picture distinctively Australian in type and yet universal in appeal. This picture is “It Isn’t Done, a Cinesound production, which was previewed yesterday. It will have its New Zealand premiere at the Majestic Theatre this afternoon. Typically Australian in its humour, “It Isn’t Done” is a comedy of social errors. Hubert Blaydon, a happy-go-lucky Australian squatter, inherits an estate and a title in England and, with his wife and daughter, Patricia, leaves Australia to take up residence in the home of his ancestors. England does not receive him kindly. Butlers frown at his easy familiarity, his fellow peers are shocked by his Australian manners and nobody wishes to hear his story of the commercial traveller. It does not ease matters when Patricia gains entry to homes where Blaydon and his wife are repelled by raised eyebrows and frosty stares. But Blaydon is not discomfited. He plays merry havoc with the conventions of English society and always has a ready, if blunt, retort when told that certain things “aren’t done.” His only serious moments come

when his daughter falls in love with a waiter. The waiter turns out to be a claimant to Blaydon’s title and complications follow. The nimble wit of the erstwhile squatter circumvents the difficulties —and it is the methods he adopte which provide what drama there is in the story.

Splendid Acting

The role of Blaydon fits Cecil Kellaway, the South African who has won fame on the Australian stage. He makes much of Australian eccentricities, broadly parodies its language and his easy assurance dominates every scene in which he appears. His humour is often broad, but it is always clever and ensures the audience’s sympathy with Blaydon’s attempts to storm the wall of bored indifference with which English society confronts him. Some of his best comedy scenes are those in which he has the support of a very capable character actor who plays the part of a pompous English butler. The manner in which the jovial squat-r ter pierces the veneer which hides the servant from the man and, incidentally, discloses that even a butler can have human frailties is a sheer delight. Kellaway also provides some rich comedy in the scene in which he underestimates the potency of 60-year-old whisky and runs riot in the house while his daughter is ; entertaining a neighbouring peer. That he is equally at home in more dramatic parts .is shown in a latter sequence of the picture when he renounces his claim to the title.

Beautiful and accomplished as an actress, Shirley Ann Richards gives a splendid performance as the squatter’s daughter who captivates all the noble young men of London —and then falls in love with a waiter. Her drama is real drama, not histrionics, and she shows equal facility in her handling of the romantic passages of the story. John Longdon combines effective restraint with genuine acting ability in his portrayal of the waiter who woos and wins a peer’s daughter, and Campbell Copelin makes capital out of his role of a wealthy young Australian who is “more English than the English.” A Skilled Director Although the cast gives uniformly excellent performances, much of the credit for the success of the film must go to the director, Ken G. Hall. His direction is polished. He has extracted the utmost from his cast and the full flavour from every situation. The story, which could easily become slapstick in less experienced hands, has been given proportion and balance and moves with that swing which shows skilled direction. The photography is excellent. There is plenty of depth in detail, the lack of which marred earlier Australian pictures, and there are some very effective shots of English and Australian countryside beauty. The sound-record-ing, too, is without blemish. Given all these ingredients for success—good acting, polished direction, and splendid photography—there can be no reason for doubting that “It Isn’t Done” will mark a new era in Australian picture production.