![]() The Hollywood major had lasted invested in Ken Hall's Smithy in 1946, incidentally screwing Hall over in the process, and ensuring it would be the last feature film Hall and his Cinesound company would make. Drake moved to Hollywood, California and died in 2011 at the age of 94.īarney was the first investment in an Australian production by Columbia for thirty years. It might now be hard to find but it does turn up here and there, in one form or another.Ĭolin Drake was a bit actor who can be spotted in diverse Australian movies in the 1970s, including Little Boy Lost, Inn of the Damned and The Great Macarthy.īarney was his only feature film credit as a writer. The film can also sometimes still be found turning up on free to air television in Australia and elsewhere though usually under its US release/video/TV title Lost in the Wild, but in Australia, when last viewed, it was shorn of its end credits, and therefore of its signature end tune Barney, sung by Julie Anthony, an almost criminal act.īut it's what's to be expected of network philistines who view end credits as dead air time, and this makes the DVD the only solution for the dedicated Oz enthusiast. The presence of Milligan in both is the only connection because the extra is a look at some Australian Fringe Theatre, produced by Film Australia, and directed by Karl McPhee, copyright 1980, which is good fun if you're interested in Australian fringe theatre and comedians starting out at that time or spotting a very young Geoffrey Rush, but has very little to do with Barney. There's only one extra, and a strange one at that, a 48'05" short hosted by Spike Milligan (who turns up in the film as a hawker) called Amazing Scenes. ![]() ![]() There's a sprinkling of film artefacts and the image is inclined to be soft, and the cigarette burns suggest a release print was used (there's some sparkle at the reel changes), but really it's great for the Oz film enthusiast that it's been released at all, let alone in relatively good condition. The film has been released in region four by Umbrella, with a reasonable 16:9 image. So it went into Columbia's library and did a little bit of business internationally.Ĭinema Papers in April 1977, while calling the domestic release a "disaster", noted the film "opened well" in Hong Kong and Japan.Īccording to co-producer John Williams, he was advised in September 1978 that only $13,500 of the AFC's $100,000 advance had been recovered. ![]() The film was released in time for the Christmas holidays on 26th December 1976, but it was made very much to formulaic American genre expectations - right down to the boy waving farewell to the larrikin convict at the end of the show - and it failed to engage Australian audiences. Running time: 84 mins ( Oxford Australian Film)ĭVD time: 1'20"03 (including animated logo)īox office: poor ( "below expectations" - Oxford Australian Film). Co-producer John Williams says it was a four week shoot, which would have been a six day week in those days.Īustralian release: 16th December 1976 Hoyts Midcity Cinema Melbourne, with wide distribution in other states for the Christmas holidays.ģ5mm Colour Panaflex cameras by Panavision Albans, NSW, Canberra A.C.T., shipwreck filmed on NSW coast near Sydney.įilmed: shooting began May 1976 according to the Oxford, or in March 1976 according to the Sydney Morning Herald, November 18th 1976. Locations: Glenworth valley, Calga, Australiana Village, Old Sydney Town, St. The AFC's investment was $100,000 according to co-producer John Williams. Budget: A$230,000, jointly provided by Columbia and federal government investment body the Australian Film Commission.
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