Hedley Cullen Movies
American screenwriter John Wesley Grey was better known to friends and fans as Johnny Grey. He concocted gags and wrote punny titles for several comedy studios in the 1920s, especially the fun factories of Hal Roach and Mack Sennett. From 1924 to 1932, Grey contributed to the screenplays of all of Harold Lloyds starring features. Making the transition to talkies with the greatest of ease, Grey remained at Sennett until the studio folded in 1933; among his many projects was the Oscar-nominated 2-reeler The Loud Mouth (1932), which was remade to even better effect by Charley Chase as The Heckler (1940). Grey spent most of the 1930s with Columbia's comedy unit, even appearing on-camera as a fireman in the Three Stooges' False Alarms (1936). Johnny Grey ended his career contributing material to Republic's musical-comedy output of the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1977
This Australian fox-and-hounds melodrama concerns an intensive manhunt for a suspected murderer. Polish immigrant Mark Gaweda is accused of killing a rancher's wife. Heading the posse is police officer Wyn Roberts, who hopes that by catching Gaweda he'll be able to live down an earlier tragedy caused by his negligence. John Waters, one of Roberts' men, begins to believe in Gawada's innocence, and ends up defending the fugitive against his accusers. Weekend of Shadows was based on a novel by Hugh Atkinson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Waters, Melissa Jaffer, (more)
Peter Weir follows up on his critically acclaimed masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock with this surrealist psychological drama. The film opens with a freak hailstorm in Australia's outback. Cut to David Burton (Richard Chamberlain), a well-to-do Sydney corporate lawyer plagued by visions of impending doom who is assigned to defend five accused of murdering a fellow Aborigine. The case itself proves to be mysterious -- no exact cause of death can be determined by the pathologist, and the accused remain strangely tight-lipped about the whole affair. As his visions grow increasingly weird and intense, Burton sees in his dream one of the five Aborigines, Chris (David Gulpili of Walkabout fame), who is drenched and clutching a sacred rock. Burton's interest in the case slides into complete obsession, and he comes to believe that not only was the murder related to an underground urban tribe of Aborigines but that Australia is about to be decimated by a massive, apocalyptic tidal wave. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, (more)
- 1976
Storm Boy (Greg Rowe) is a rambunctious Australian youth, living along the coastline with his freewheeling father. At the behest of an aging aborigine, Storm Boy takes care of an uncared-for nest of pelicans. As he develops a sense of responsibility, the boy's outlook on the world matures. This serves to strengthen his devotion to his father and to his new-found aborigine friend. Based on a novel by Colin Thiele. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Greg Rowe, Peter Cummins, (more)
