Peter Sumner Movies

When a family's boat is capsized by a school of whales, they are left adrift in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific Ocean in this true survival story. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

An entertaining and exciting adventure story for any age, Bush Christmas, set in the Australian outback, has three tense situations developing along parallel lines: Ben (Peter Sumner) and Kate Thompson (Vineta O'Malley) have to pay off the mortgage on their homestead by January 1st or they lose everything; manager Bill (John Ewart) and lead singer Sly (John Howard) of a struggling outback band find themselves desperately broke and decide to "borrow" the Thompson's prize racehorse to run a few races and recoup their loses; and finally, the two Thompson children, Helen (Nicole Kidman at 15) and John (Mark Spain) along with a British cousin (James Wingrove) and a ranch hand Manalpuy (Manalpuy) decide to chase after the horse rustlers and retrieve the family's beloved stallion. Most of the film shows the two inept horse thieves trying to make their comic way across an inhospitable terrain, and the children braving unexpected dangers, as when they fall into an abandoned mine shaft that starts to fill up with water. When these various adventures are resolved, the Thompson family is faced with a final, fateful chance to pay off their mortgage by entering their recaptured racehorse in a New Year's Day cross-country race. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Run, Rebecca, Run stars Australian child actress Simone Buchanan, best known for her leading role in that country's Rainbow Island TV and movie series. Buchanan plays a young camera fanatic who is marooned on a desert island. Here she is threatened by a refugee from South America (Henri Szeps) who isn't keen on having his whereabouts known. Hostility melts into friendship before the rescue boats arrive. Run Rebecca Run had its American premiere on cable television in 1983; it was rebroadcast on PBS' Wonderworks in January of 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Grant Tilly stars as Colin, a fortyish New Zealand schoolteacher. Colin is promoted to principal, which normally would be cause for celebration. Unfortunately, the teacher is undergoing several midlife crises, not least of which is his obsession with gorgeous fellow teacher Judy (Donna Akersten). At a dinner party hosted by Colin and his blase wife Elizabeth (Dorothy McKegg), the truth is painfully--and hilariously--brought to the forefront. Middle Age Spread is based on a popular play by New Zealand author Roger Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Thomas Keneally, which was in turn inspired by actual events, this drama is a shocking indictment of the racism inflicted on the indigenous people of Australia. Jimmie (Tommy Lewis) is a half-white, half-aborigine young man raised by a Methodist minister. Feeling outcast among the aborigines, Jimmie moves to the city and gets a job working for a white family. When a white serving girl at the estate becomes pregnant, everyone is convinced that Jimmie is the father; to spare the girl's honor, Jimmie marries her and is allowed to live with her on the estate. But after the child is born, everyone realizes that the father was a white man, not Jimmie; he is still willing to accept the child and stand beside his wife, but his employers now feel that he married a white girl under false pretenses, and they bar him from the estate. Forbidden to see his wife and fired without receiving his pay, Jimmie finally explodes in a fury of violent revenge. Director Fred Schepisi's original cut of this film runs 122 minutes, though it was more widely distributed in a shortened version running 108 minutes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Somewhat reminiscent of the 1965 film The Satan Bug, And Millions Will Die is a thriller based upon the premise of germ warfare. A lunatic plans to extort millions of dollars by threatening to unleash a deadly nerve gas upon the citizens of Hong Kong. He prepares to make good his threat--but then dies before he can reveal the underground location whence the gas will be released. Richard Basehart, the villain in Satan Bug, switches sides to play frenzied scientist who races against time to unearth the lethal gas in And Millions Will Die. Given its foolproof premise, the film is disappointedly bereft of suspense, though the Hong Kong scenery is lovely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Bigelow (Tom Tryon) is an accountant who mistakenly discovers some wrongdoing by an unscrupulous uranium development company. His drink is spiked with a slow-acting poison, which he discovers after stomach pains bring him in to the hospital. While Frank searches for the antidote, he uncovers other victims who have already died. The trail leads back to the uranium company and the shady board of directors. Frank races against borrowed time to save his own life in this routine crime drama. Carolyn Jones appears as Paula, the sympathetic girlfriend and loyal secretary. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide