Literary Adaptations: Australia - 5-DVD Set ( Picnic at Hanging Rock / The Getting of Wisdom / Careful, He Might Hear You / An Indecent Obsession / The Naked Country ) ( Literary Adaptations - From Page To Screen: Australia )

Literary Adaptations: Australia - 5-DVD Set (DVD) (*)

Out of Stock

Original Title: Picnic at Hanging Rock / The Getting of Wisdom / Careful, He Might Hear You / An Indecent Obsession / The Naked Country
Alternate Title: Literary Adaptations - From Page To Screen: Australia
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Australian Film Institute
BAFTA Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
499 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Multi-DVD Set
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1975 - 1985 and produced in:
Australia ( Australia, New Zealand )

Directed By:
Peter Weir
Bruce Beresford
Carl Schultz
Lex Marinos
Tim Burstall

Written By:
Joan Lindsay
Cliff Green
Henry Handel Richardson
Eleanor Witcombe
Sumner Locke Elliott
Michael Jenkins
Colleen McCullough
Denise Morgan
Morris L. West
Tim Burstall

Actors:
Rachel Roberts ..... Mrs. Appleyard
Vivean Gray ..... Miss McCraw
Helen Morse ..... Mlle. de Poitiers
Kirsty Child ..... Miss Lumley
Tony Llewellyn-Jones ..... Tom
Jacki Weaver ..... Minnie
Frank Gunnell ..... Mr. Whitehead
Anne-Louise Lambert ..... Miranda
Karen Robson ..... Irma
Jane Vallis ..... Marion
Christine Schuler ..... Edith
Margaret Nelson ..... Sara
Ingrid Mason ..... Rosamund
Jenny Lovell ..... Blanche
Janet Murray ..... Juliana
Julia Blake ..... Isabella Shepherd
Dorothy Bradley ..... Miss Hicks
Kay Eklund ..... Mrs. Rambotham
Max Fairchild ..... Mr. O'Donnell
Jan Friedl ..... Miss Snodgrass
Diana Greentree ..... Maisie Shepherd
Maggie Kirkpatrick ..... Sarah
Monica Maughan ..... Miss Day
Candy Raymond ..... Miss Zielinski
Terence Donovan ..... Tom McNamara
Kerry Armstrong ..... Kate
Celia De Burgh ..... M.P.
Kim Deacon ..... Lilith
Alix Longman ..... Chinky
Jo-Anne Moore ..... Tilly
Amanda Ring ..... Cupid
Hilary Ryan ..... Evelyn
Janet Shaw ..... Bertha
Karen Sutton ..... Pin
Sigrid Thornton ..... Maria
Sheila Helpmann ..... Mrs. Gurley
Patricia Kennedy ..... Miss Chapman
John Waters ..... Rev. Shepherd
Barry Humphries ..... Rev. Strachey
Susannah Fowle ..... Laura Tweedle Rambotham
Wendy Hughes ..... Vanessa
Robyn Nevin ..... Lila
Nicholas Gledhill ..... PS
John Hargreaves ..... Logan
Geraldine Turner ..... Vere
Isabelle Anderson ..... Agnes
Peter Whitford ..... George
Colleen Clifford ..... Ettie
Edward Howell ..... Judge
Jacqueline Kott ..... Miss Pile
Julie Nihill ..... Diana
Michael Long ..... Mr. Hood
Len London ..... Mr. Gentle
Beth Child ..... Mrs. Grindel
Colin Croft ..... The Magician
Wendy Hughes ..... Honour Langtry
Gary Sweet ..... Michael Wilson
Richard Moir ..... Luce Daggett
Jonathan Hyde ..... Neil Parkinson
Bruno Lawrence ..... Matt Sawyer
Mark Little ..... Benedict Maynard
Tony Sheldon ..... Nugget Jones
Bill Hunter ..... Colonel Chinstrap
Julia Blake ..... Matron
Caroline Gillmer ..... Sally
Marina Finlay ..... Sue Pedder
Masayuki Fujioka ..... Japanese Soldier
John Sheerin ..... RSM
John Stanton ..... Lance Dillon
Rebecca Gilling ..... Mary Dillon
Ivar Kants ..... Sergeant Neil Adams
Tommy Lewis ..... Mundaru
Simon Chilvers ..... Inspector Poole
John Jarratt ..... Mick Conrad
Neela Dey ..... Menyan
Hector Thomas ..... Willinja
Donald Blitner ..... Billy Jo
Kevin McKellar ..... Jacky-Boy
Marlene Bell ..... Big Sally
Malcolm Cork ..... Constable Des O'Day
Michael Cockatoo ..... Tanglefoot
Roger Cox ..... Publican
Peter Noble ..... Gilligan

Synopsis:

Five film adaptations of classic novels from Australia's finest authors is one unprecedented collection! With names like Morris West, Henry Handel Richardson and Coleen McCulloch (The Thorn Birds), these are classic novels transformed into classic cinema by some of Australia's greatest filmmakers including Peter Weir and Bruce Berseford.
Titles include:
Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay
The Getting of Wisdom - Henry Handel Richardson
Careful He Might Hear You - Sumner Locke Elliot
An Indecent Obsession - Colleen McCulloch
Naked Country - Morris West

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Peter Weir's haunting and evocative mystery is set in the Australia of 1900, a mystical place where the British have attempted to impose their Christian culture with such tweedy refinements as a girls' boarding school. After gauzily-photographed, nicely underplayed scenes of the girls' budding sexuality being restrained in Victorian corsets, the uptight headmistress (Rachel Roberts) takes them on a Valentine's Day picnic into the countryside, and several of the girls, led by the lovely Miranda (Anne Lambert) decide to explore a nearby volcanic rock formation. It's a desolate, primitive, vaguely menacing place, where one can almost feel the presence of ancient pagan spirits. Something -- and there is an unspoken but palpable emphasis on the inherent carnality of the place -- draws four of the girls to explore the rock. Three never return. No one ever finds out why. The repercussions for the school are tragic, and of course Roberts reacts with near-crazed anger, but what really happened? Weir gives enough clues to suggest any number of explanations, both physical and supernatural.

The Getting of Wisdom (1978)
The suffocating repressiveness of the Victorian era is superbly realized by director Bruce Beresford in The Getting of Wisdom. Thirteen-year-old Laura (Susannah Fowle), an incorrigible free spirit from the Australian outback, is enrolled in a prestigious girl's boarding school. The indoctrination process is a rough one, and Laura very nearly loses her individuality and sense of self-worth. When she does mature, however, it is on her terms, and not the school's. Intriguingly, The Getting of Wisdom is based on the reminiscences of a 19th-century female writer who used the pen name of Henry Handel Richardson. Despite its somber dramatic overtones, the film contains moments of uninhibited humor, a trademark of director Beresford.

Careful, He Might Hear You (1983)
Set in Australia in the 1930s, this drama stars Nicholas Gledhill as P.S., a six-year-old boy who lives with his Aunt Lila (Robyn Nevin) and Uncle George (Peter Whitford). P.S.'s mother died in childbirth, so her sister Lila took him in, and while George and Lila don't have a lot of money, they've always done the best they can to give the boy a good home. One day, Lila's other sister Vanessa (Wendy Hughes) arrives after spending several years touring the world; Vanessa is quite wealthy, and upon her return to Australia, she expresses an interest in taking custody of the child. Lila is willing to let Vanessa visit with P.S., and his rich aunt is able to turn his head with limousine rides and lavish gifts. But when Vanessa decides she wants the boy full time, Lila decides to fight her in court. The case is complicated by the arrival of P.S.'s long-absent father, Logan (John Hargreaves), an alcoholic who loves his son but is incapable of caring for him. Careful He Might Hear You won eight Australian Film Institute Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Hughes), and Best Supporting Actor (Hargreaves).

An Indecent Obsession (1985)
Wendy Hughes plays a gorgeous nurse tending to emotionally disturbed Australian soldiers during WWII. Private Gary Sweet seems to be the most well-adjusted of the patients, which Hughes finds attractive. The fly in the ointment is jealous, maladjusted-patient Richard Moir. His campaign of cruelty, calculated to humiliate and unhinge Sweet, serves only to draw Sweet closer to Hughes. His own love for Hughes unrequited, Moir kills himself. Hughes is then abruptly deserted by Sweet, who feels responsible for Moir's death. Despite all her good intentions and her heartfelt compassion, Hughes is left alone upon war's end. Indecent Obsession is based on a work by popular Australian novelist Colleen McCullough (Tim, The Thorn Birds).

The Naked Country (1985)
Based on a novel by Morris West, this is a classic American cowboy tale set in Australia's exotic outback, with the Aborigines pitted against a rancher, Lance Dillon (John Stanton) because he is on their land. After a renegade Aborigine, Mundaru (Tommy Lewis), kills one of Lance's Brahma bull's and a ranch hand who gets involved, Mundaru spears the fleeing Lance in the shoulder but does not catch up with him to finish the job. The story of Lance's survival is the focus of the film, along with a parallel story of his wife, Mary (Rebecca Gilling), temporarily falling for Lance's opposite, Sgt. Neil Adams (Ivar Kants). The characters of the two men, and Mundaru, are contrasted against a setting of conflict that escalates out of control.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 20 July, 2011.

Customers who bought this product also purchased

Blessed (2009) (Blu-Ray)	Look Both Ways (DVD)	The Wedding Party (Blu-Ray)
Literary Adaptations Australia (Vol. 2) - 5-DVD Set (DVD)