Noel Ferrier Movies

In her feature film directorial debut, Samantha Lang offers a subtle and moving psychological portrait of a female friendship and the effects of an unexpected tragedy upon it. Dowdy, tired, middle-aged and sexually frustrated Hester Harper and free-spirited, young, beautiful dancer Katherine are an unlikely pair of friends, but somehow the relationship works. In the prologue the two are seen at a local community dance. Katherine is having too much fun dancing crazily by herself in front of everyone. Hester, who is lame, watches her silently. Tired, she decides it's time to leave and must wrest Katherine away from the crowd. Katherine ignores Hester's protestations and insists on driving the narrow, winding road home. Unfortunately, Katherine isn't paying attention, disaster strikes and the screen goes black. After the credits, the story shows how Katherine and Hester became friends and then roommates. Eventually the story jumps past the beginning incident to chronicle the aftermath of the accident which left a stranger dead. The women decide to dispose of the body in a deep, dry well near their cottage. They return home and discover that someone has stolen the small fortune they'd been saving. Could the thief be the man in the well? While wrestling with the logistics of whether they can or should get him out, cracks appear in their friendship that are only worsened when the two find themselves plagued by supernatural occurrences. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Budgeted at six million dollars -- a hefty sum for Australian television -- the six-hour miniseries Great Expectations: The Untold Story helpfully endeavored to plug the plot holes thoughtlessly left behind by Charles Dickens in his original novel. The emphasis was on the escaped convict Magwitch (John Stanton), who, after being helped out by the young Pip (Danny Simmons), was captured by the authorities and transported to Australia. There, Magwitch turned over a new leaf and went into business, building up a huge and profitable operation. Still grateful to Pip for past kindnesses, Magwitch bequeathed his entire fortune to the boy, and it was at this point that the miniseries' narrative ended and the original Dickens story line took over (albeit briefly). Representing a rare collaboration between writer/director Tim Burstall and his producer son, Tom Burstall, Great Expectations: The Untold Story was broadcast by Australia's ABC network in February of 1987. The project was subsequently released theatrically as a feature film, pared down to a more manageable length -- and eliminating an important subplot involving Pip's erstwhile lady friend, Estella (Anne Louise Lambert), in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "three" in the Australian Three's Trouble are a harried housewife (Jackie Weaver), her smug husband (John Waters), and her handsome male babysitter (Steven Vidler). To the husband, the fact that the sitter is better looking than he is does not bother him all that much. What does gall him is that the sitter is so gosh-darned knowledgeable and efficient. The husband is forced to reassess his own value in the family unit. Three's Trouble screenwriter David Williamson (The Year of Living Dangerously, Phar Lap) wisely treats his characters warmly as human beings rather than stereotypical cogs in a farcical wheel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This patchy, uneven combination of fantasy and musical comedy is hilarious in parts and embarrassing in others, though the premise has great potential in itself -- a screwball Captain Invincible is out to save the world from his nemesis, Mr. Midnight, the white supremacist. Captain Invincible (Alan Arkin) is wallowing in his cups in the Australian outback when he receives an unusual call from the American President asking for his help. Unusual because the Captain had no choice but to go into exile after Joseph McCarthy's Un-American Activities Committee became suspicious of his red cape, and he has never been sober enough to recover from the shock. This history is given in a mock newsreel at the beginning of the film. But now Mr. Midnight is threatening to dismember New York City by convincing all the ethnic groups to live along the seashore. Once they are situated on beachfront property, he will blast out a crack in the earth behind them, cut their connection to the mainland, and send them drifting off into the Atlantic. It seems the dastardly Midnight has stolen the ultra-secret hypno-ray and can slice off New Jersey whenever he wants. Weakened by depression and alcohol, Captain Invincible is nursed back to full throttle by Patty Patria (Kate Fitzpatrick) and is soon ready to zoom over Sydney to the far side of the globe -- after practicing in harness in front of rear-projected scenes. Meanwhile, Mr. Midnight and his sidekick are all set to defend their turf, and their ability to slice it up -- though the (American) patriotic sentimentality that prevails in the end, after several other songs have come and gone, is summarized in a rendition of "God Bless America" that conflicts with the opening scenes and may leave foreign audiences cold. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This grim, violent Australian production is an artless mishmash incorporating elements of The Road Warrior, 1984 , and The Most Dangerous Game. The story is set in a dystopian future society where all "deviants" (i.e. anyone whose ideas don't jive with those of the government) are interred in nightmarish re-education camps where they are tortured, beaten, raped and put to death -- mostly on the whim of the psychotic commandant (Michael Craig). Periodically, a handful of particularly defiant inmates will be released unarmed to be hunted down (for the entertainment of the elite) in a free-for-all "Turkey Shoot" (the film's original Australian title). Among the latest batch of potential targets are strong-willed Steve Railsback and Olivia Hussey, who are confronted in the wilderness by the commandant and his goofy mutant cronies -- all of whom carry rocket-launchers, exploding arrows, and flamethrowers. This entire exercise is basically a prolonged excuse for a plethora of cheap, splattery makeup effects, made far more unpleasant by the blatant sadism of the proceedings. Unsuspecting viewers exposed to this film may wish to follow with My Brilliant Career to restore their faith in Australian cinema. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Two veterans of Vietnam special-forces (John Hargreaves, Grant Page) have retired to the relatively painless field of stuntwork. They return to active duty, however, when the Australian government hires them to retrieve documents and destroy the fortress of a Filipino overlord. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

The Australian Eliza Fraser tries for the wig-and-bodice bawdiness of Tom Jones. The title character, played by Susannah York, is an 18th century lass who is shipwrecked together with Trevor Howard on a remote Australian island. Her lively exploits among the refugees help to make Eliza famous--or rather, notorious--throughout the British empire. Once rescued, Eliza earns her keep at county fairs by regaling audiences with her own tales of her adventures. Tim Burstall both wrote and directed Eliza Fraser from an original screenplay by David Williamson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alvin Purple (Graeme Blundell), the lothario hero of the Australian low-budgeter Alvin Purple (1974), "rides again" in this slapped-together sequel. This time, Alvin has more to contend with than the requisite beautiful girls who find him irresistable. It seems that there's an American gangster around and about, "Balls" McGee (also played by Graeme Blundell), who's the spitting image of our hero. The predictability of the plotline is enlivened by the film's unending stream of vulgar sight gags and scatological dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this grim, surreal Australian horror movie, the union between two obsessive-compulsive people ends in gruesome tragedy. The control-freak husband collects weird things and protects them with an ingenious alarm system involving strategically-placed guillotines. Soon after marrying his wife, he refused to allow her to continue taking tap-dancing lessons. She loved her dancing and shows her resentment by ceaselessly tapping and hoofing her way around the house. To further spite her spouse, she rekindles an old flame. Trouble really begins when a pair of crooks begin making plans to purloin the husband's collection. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, a wild boy is discovered in the Malayan jungle by a married team of doctors. On the way back to civilization the boy is kidnapped by a wicked reporter. The boy escapes his clutches and takes to the Singapore streets to search for the kindly couple that rescued him. When a sultan asks the jungle boy to guide a medical team to the northern wilderness of his province to save the natives suffering from dysentery there, the boy agrees. When they arrive, the tribe at first does not trust the strangers. Only after the boy demonstrates his control over the animals, will the chief allow the doctors to inoculate them against the scourge. After the tribe is saved, the boy goes back to his beloved jungle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide