David Elfick Movies

After directing a number of major motion pictures in the United States, Australian-born filmmaker Phillip Noyce returned home to make this remarkable adventure-drama, based on a true story as well as a lamentable period in his nation's history. When European settlers first arrived in Australia, there was an almost immediate conflict between the recent arrivals and the nation's indigenous people, whose rich cultural heritage which bore little resemblance to that of the Europeans. By the mid-19th century, when white settlers had gained political control of the continent, many aborigines found themselves removed from their lands and their children taken from them, under the belief that the youngsters would be better off in a more "civilized" environment. Through most of the 20th century, it was official government policy that half- or quarter-caste indigenous children were to be taken from their families and raised as "white" children in orphanages, where they would be trained to work as domestic servants or laborers. In 1931, Molly (Everlyn Sampi) and her younger sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury) and cousin Gracie (Laura Monaghan) were three half-caste children from Western Australia who were taken from their parents under government edict and sent to an institution, where they were subject to physical and emotional abuse as they were taught to forget their families, their culture, and their lives up to that point and re-invent themselves as members of "white" Australian society. Gracie and Daisy cling to Molly for support, and Molly decides they need to return to their parents. Molly plans a daring escape, and the three girls begin an epic journey back to Western Australia, travelling 1,500 miles on foot with no food or water, and navigating by following the fence that has been build across the nation to stem an over-population of rabbits. A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh), the government functionary in charge of relocating Western Australia's aborigines, takes a special interest in the case of the three girls, and brings in a veteran tracker, Moodoo (David Gulpilil) to help find them, secure in the belief he's acting in their best interest. Rabbit-Proof Fence was based on the acclaimed book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, whose Aunt Daisy was one of the three children who made the extraordinary journey and helped her with the research for the book. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In Perth in 1957, teen-aged Ken seems like the nearest thing to an expert on sex that even his uncle (who was given the task of delivering a "birds-and-the-bees" speech to him) has seen. It goes without saying that he's never actually engaged in any sexual activity with a woman. His much vaunted exertise is based solely on his being very interested in the subject. He lives with his single mother and a twin sister, and goes to school until he is expelled for selling girlie pictures to his classmates. After that, he is put to work at his uncle's garment factory. He makes a bunch of pals, and while is mother is experiencing a romantic interlude of her own, the guys head off to find a whorehouse in a mining town so that the virgins of the group can surpass that obstacle, and the rest can have a bit of fun. They accomplish their objectives without much ado; in this case getting there is most of the fun. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The two-part Australian miniseries Fields of Fire III was the third and final annual installment in the Australian TV saga inspired by Robert Marchand's novel Cane. Returning to the fold were Todd Boyce as British expatriate Bluey and Melissa Docker as Aussie lass Dusty, whose romance and marriage had dominated the proceedings in Fields of Fire (set in the late '30s-early '40s) and Fields of Fire II (set in the immediate post-WWII era). Now it was 1951, and the emphasis was on Italian refugee Gina (Peta Toppano), newly widowed after the death of her black-marketeer husband. Returning to her roots, Gina set up a cane field with her brother Paolo, experiencing the usual trials and tribulation of small-business entrepreneurs in the uncertain years following the War. Fields of Fire III was broadcast by Australia's Nine Network on July 16 and 17, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fields of Fire was the first of three Australian miniseries inspired by Robert Donaldson's novel Cane. Todd Boyce starred as Bluey, an Englishmen who headed "down under" in the late '30s to work in the Australian cane fields. The story picked up momentum -- and a score of new supporting characters -- at the outbreak of WWII. The two episodes of Fields of Fire were shown by Australia's Nine Network on June 14 and 15, 1987. It was soon followed by a brace of annual sequels, cleverly titled Fields of Fire II and Fields of Fire III. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of the oddest themes for a movie in any decade, Undercover is a slick film about women's underwear, as developed by an Australian designing firm run by Fred Burley (John Walton) in the 1920s. The story which is true in its basic outlines, begins with Libby McKenzie (Genevieve Picot) who leaves her small town for Sydney and hopefully, a better life. Libby ends up working for Burley's clothing design company where she meets all sorts of independent-minded characters, including her supervisor, the head designer Nina (Sandy Gore). Since the development of new underwear is a long stretch for a feature-length film, director (David Stevens) and writer (Miranda Downes) have Burley campaigning for Australians to buy home-made products, like his own, for instance. There is a certain disparity between the high standards in the opulent visual aesthetics of this film, and the fluctuating scenes that meander from melodrama to camp humor without finding a definitive voice. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Chain Reaction is an Australian-made drama about a nuclear accident and its effect on the workers of the plant. Oates (Patrick Ward) knows of the accident and the eventual effects it will have on the workers and the surrounding community, and he tries to tell them but the owners of the reactor try to have him eliminated before he can do so. The cast includes Mel Gibson in an uncredited role as a mechanic. Also released as Nuclear Run, this thriller, with an intelligent script by Ian Barry, is worth a view. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Set between the years 1949 and 1956, Newsfront tracks the destinies of two brothers, their adventures and misadventures placed in the context of sweeping social and political changes in their native Australia. Both of the protagonists are newsreel photographers. Frank (Gerard Maguire) is constitutionally resistant to change, while Len (Bill Kennedy) welcomes any alterations in his own life and in the world around him. The film fluctuates between black and white and color, between actual news footage and reconstructed events. Newsfront is what The Way We Were might have looked like on a tiny budget with a cast of unknowns. The film represented a laudable feature-film directorial debut for one-time documentary filmmaker Philip Noyce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shot on location in California and Australia, Crystal Voyager follows American surfer, filmmaker, and inventor George Greenough on his search for the perfect wave. This documentary focuses specifically on Greenough's attempts to build a camera that would capture the majesty of surfing. The film follows Greenough's several abortive attempts to build a camera light enough to sit on a surfboard. The film also discusses Greenough's other innovations, such as the flexible fin which made surfing "in the tube" possible. The film builds to the final, famous 23-minute "Echoes" sequence comprised of footage shot by Greenough from his board. Stunningly majestic, the footage allows the viewer to experience the ocean as never before and occupies the middle ground between early Lumiere films and today's IMAX, all to the music of Pink Floyd. A major critical, popular, and experimental success, Crystal Voyager was lauded at Cannes and by American critics. Greenough went on to work on a number of later surf films including John Milius' Big Wednesday. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide