Debra Lawrence Movies
A barely recognizable Meryl Streep plays the real-life Lindy Chamberlain, who for a long period in the early 1980s was the most hated woman in Australia. While visiting the Ayers rock monument in the Outback with her husband Michael (Sam Neill), Lindy notices a dingo creeping into the tent where her baby lies sleeping. Seconds later, the horrified woman discovers that her child is gone. Despite Lindy's anguished insistence that the dingo killed her baby, the Australian public is of the opinion that Lindy herself is the murderer. This lynch-mob atmosphere is fueled by the press, which insists upon crucifying the Chamberlains in print on a daily basis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Meryl Streep, (more)
- 1988
Running neck and neck with Neighbors as Australia's most popular TV soap opera, Home and Away debuted January 17, 1988. Set in the resort town of Summer Bay, New South Wales, the series originally concentrated on the lives of the Fletcher family, who had set up a tourist trailer park in the community. Like most other continuing dramas, however, the longer Home and Away remained on the air, the more it focused on younger, more attractive characters than the comparatively middle-aged Fletchers. Created by Alan Bateman, Home and Away was telecast weeknights at 7:00 p.m., attaining the 3,000-episode mark in March 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Downing, Debra Lawrence, (more)
- 1984
- PG
Writer-director Sophia Turkiewicz based Silver City on her experiences as a young child, when her parents moved from post-World War II Poland to settle in a migrant hostel in western Australia's Polish community. Nina (Gosia Dobrowolska) is a young refugee who wants to be a teacher. She meets Julian (Ivor Kants), a young law student, and the two fall in love. The problem is Julian is already married, but he leaves his wife (Anna Jemison) for Nina. However, when Julian's wife announces she is pregnant, Julian abandons Nina and returns to her. Nina is then forced to go it alone in a new and strange country. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gosia Dobrowolska, Anna Jemison, (more)
- 1982
A rainmaker leads the village children in a Pied Piper fashion after the villagers refuse to pay him for his services. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Jarratt, Patrick Dickson, (more)
- 1982
Elderly residents of an Australian retirement home fight for their lives after a crazed slasher comes to call in this horror movie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Kerin, John Jarratt, (more)
- 1981
The nine-part Australian series I Can Jump Puddles was based on a trilogy of autobiographical books by Alan Marshall: I Can Jump Puddles, This Is the Grass, and In Mine Own Heart. Crippled by polio as a youngster, Marshall managed nonetheless to pursuit a number of professions: writer, farmer, boot factory employee. During his years in Melbourne, the protagonist was even briefly mixed up with the criminal underworld, barely escaping to tell the tale. Adam Garnett and Lewis Fitz-Gerald were respectively cast as the younger and older Alan Marshall. I Can Jump Puddles originally aired in 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Garnett, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, (more)
