The Stowaway (1958 film)
| The Stowaway | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by |
Lee Robinson Ralph Habib |
| Produced by |
Robert Dorfmann Lee Robinson Paul-Edmond Decharme |
| Written by |
Lee Robinson Joy Cavill |
| Based on |
novel Le Passager Clandestin by Georges Simenon |
| Starring |
Martine Carol Roger Livesey Arletty |
| Cinematography | Desmond Dickinson |
| Edited by |
Stanley Moore Monique Kirsanoff |
Production company |
Southern International Productions(Australia) Discifilm/Silverfilm (France) |
Release dates |
22 March 1958 (France) December 1958 (Australia) |
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language |
English French |
| Budget | ₤250,000[1] |
| Box office | 1,776,374 admissions (France)[2] |
The Stowaway is a 1958 French-Australian film directed by Australian director Lee Robinson and French Lebanese director Ralph Habib. It was shot on location in Tahiti.
There are French and English versions of this French Australian film. The French version is known as Le Passager clandestin.
Synopsis
A group of adventurers compete with one another to find the missing heir Rene Marechal, thought to be near Tahiti. Major Owens, a middle aged Englishman with a shady past, discovers the island on which Marechal lives but is murdered by the criminal Mougins.
Mougins sets out for the island with Colette, a night club singer who is Marechal's former mistress. She is rescued by Jean, who had earlier helped Colette stow away on the boat to Tahiti. Jean and Mougins fight and Mougins falls overboard and is eaten by a shark. Jean and Collette decide to give up the search for Marechal and live on the islands.
Cast
- Martine Carol as Colette
- Roger Livesey as Major Owens
- Arletty as Gabrielle
- Serge Reggiani as Mougins
- Carl-Heinz Boehm as Jean
- Reg Lye as Buddington
- James Condon as the purser
- Charley Mauu as Taro
- Yvon Chabana as Max
- Vahinerii Tauhiro as Vahinerii
- Doris Fitton
Production
The film was shot towards the end of 1957 in Tahiti and the Society Islands.[3]
Lee Rafferty and Chips Robinson contributed money towards the production via sales from Walk into Paradise and funds loaned from Herb McIntyre from the superannuation fund of Universal Picture's Australian branch.[4]
Dialogue scenes were filmed twice, in English (by Robinson) and French (by Habib). Robinson claimed he didn't like Habib's style of direction.
He was a mad home movies crank and would stand by the camera or even ten feet away from it and be shooting the scene that was his first take. I used to wonder how the hell does he know what is going on there. Often he was on an entirely different angle to the camera. He often seemed more concerned about getting a good scene on his little 16 mm camera. Right from the beginning I found I was in a marvellous position as the second follow-up director because I could see everything that was being done and then rack my brains for some little thing that might spice the scene up a bit.[5]
Noted Sydney theatre actor Doris Fitton had a supporting role.
Release
The film was released in France but only received a limited release in Australia. It was not as successful as Walk into Paradise.
References
- ↑ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p225
- ↑ French films at the 1958 box office at Box Office Story
- ↑ "OODLES OF OO-LA-LA!.". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 25 September 1957. p. 5. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ↑ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989, p203
- ↑ 'King of the Coral Sea: Lee Robinson in interview with Albert Moran' Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture vol. 1 no 1 (1987)
External links
- The Stowaway at the Internet Movie Database
- The Stowaway at National Film and Sound Archive
- The Stowaway at Oz Movies