AUSTRALIAN FILM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 936, 5 December 1933, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN FILM.

Plaza to Show “ Squatter’s Daughter.” Ronald Colman has never been seen to better advantage than in “ The Masquerader,” which is now in its fourth and final week at the Plaza Theatre. The supporting films are excellent. Australia’s most ambitious and most successful screen achievement. “The Squatter’s Daughter,” will begin on Saturday at the Plaza Theatre. It is a film to appeal to an audience on this side of Hie Tasman as much as on the other. Sheep runs, the social life of well-to-do squatters, the immense distances. the mighty harbour bridge, symbol of Sydney's greatness, and the awe-inspiring spectacle of fire in the Australian bush—all are features of this imposing panorama. It is a proof, more than a boast, of Australia’s nationhood. The towering bluegums, the contrasts of sunlight and shadow, the mustering of sheep in thousands, the teams of horses and the waggons loaded with wool for the market make a large background for a story of adventure, and the story itself is worthy of it. It tells of a girl who inherited a station (Enderby) from her father after his life-long struggle to develop it. and of her fight against the despicable methods of those on a neighbouring station. There is stealing and poisoning of sheep and there is. too, the mystery which surrounds the life of Wayne Ridgeway, a handsome young man who is befriended by the girl and later wishes to help her. but finds it necessary to go into the opposing camp to see what they are doing. Action and excitement follow, and Ridgeway, under an assumed name, saves the girl from financial disaster by the purchase of her sheep if she will drove them 100 miles. She, accompanied by the horsemen from her station, sets out on a journey packed with adventure. Trials of strength against villains, the almost human work of a dog (Bidgee) in the saving of lives, the fighting of raging bush fires to save the sliaep, and the strenuous efforts of the heroine and another girl are incidents full of realism. If the principal honours for the picture must go to Jocelyn Howarth. an Australian girl who is new on the screen, for her performance as tne heiress to Enderby station, the others also are entitled to a large measure of the credit. Grant Lyndsay, as Wayne Ridgeway, is a good type for his part, and there is a wide variety of contrasts in Owen Ainley, Los Warton. John Warwick, W. Lane-Bayliff and Fred MacDonald.