David Hannay Movies

Di Drew directed the family-friendly film Hildegarde. Life has been difficult for Kim Powell (Tara Morice) and her three children ever since the family patriarch passed away. After a pair of local bird smugglers "ducknap" their pet Hildegarde, Kim's children -- Chris (Sam Geer), Jeremy (Dayne Hudson), and Isabel (Gezelle Byrnes) -- team up to stop the illegal poachers and save all their feathered friends. Hildegarde was screened at the Brisbane Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

In the Australian vernacular, the word "dag" refers to the filth-covered hindquarters of a sheep; it is also used, with affection, to describe vulgar, unsophisticated people, usually of the working class. This low-brow comedy targets just such people and their colorful, scruffy lives. Cheryl, who thinks K-Mart is the most wonderful place on earth, is engaged to stoner Daryl until she decides that she deserves someone better. Kevin dreams of making the Guinness Book of World Records by convincing his buddy Trevor to rob his video store every night. One evening, Trevor ends up taking Cheryl hostage, leading Kevin to save her. Convinced she has at last found her perfect man, Cheryl falls instantly in love. Meanwhile Tina illicitly trysts with Enzo, her best friend's handsome boyfriend. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A teacher's life is nearly destroyed when his deranged student cries rape in this Australian drama. The new philosophy professor at an all-girls' academy, Professor Justin Thorne (Jimmy Smits) has it all: a great job, a solid wife (Sarah Chadwick) and family, and the adulation of his impressionable students. But when one particularly imaginative and alluring student takes a shine to him, Thorne finds himself in court fighting for his future. Jennifer Carter (Naomi Watts), the daughter of the school's widowed headmaster, throws off her loutish boyfriend and throws herself at Thorne. Meanwhile, she keeps a diary of imaginary encounters with a phantom lover. Cornered in his office one night, Thorne gets his blood up desperately rejecting Jennifer's advances. The passion is so strong that he finds himself making love to her almost involuntarily. Soon, Jennifer shows up battered and bruised, claiming Thorne raped her, and the police seize on her diary as proof of a twisted affair. Soon, the discredited professor must suffer through character assassination in court while attempting to unravel Jennifer's tortured psyche and stay out of jail. Adrian Wright co-stars as Kenneth Carter, the accusor's stern, secretive father. The film's director, George Miller, is not to be confused with the other Australian George Miller, who directed Mad Max. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Alan (Phillip Gordon) has a family law practice and a family of his own. One day the whole setup seems impossibly claustrophobic to him, so he abandons everything and wanders around away from town until a ruined old mansion house in the country catches his eye, and he rents it. While there, he has incredibly erotic dreams of being in the arms of a lovely woman who died in the mansion a hundred years earlier. Intrigued at this encounter with the past, he enlists the help of two local men to help him research what happened to the girl. One of the men is a very non-traditional priest (Max Cullen), the other is simply someone from the area (Jim Moriarty). As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Alan's life and the dead girl's final story are beginning to resemble one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Mapantsula was financed and filmed in South Africa, where it gained its widest distribution. Thomas Mogotlane stars as a black small-time thief. He spends the greater part of his life in jail, where he refuses to knuckle under to the race-motivated sadism of his white captors. The film doesn't solve much, but is good audience material, practically guaranteed to arouse anyone who's been beaten down by "the system." Mapantsula was lensed in a saturated European process known as Agfacolor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Damon Kennedy (Tamblyn Lord) is a rich kid who falls in with a trio of teen thugs in this violent exploitation film. When the trio brutally attacks Damon's girlfriend and her family, he seek vengeance against the thugs. The boys rob and kill a wealthy businessman and his family, putting Damon on the wrong side of the law. Damon later justifies his violence as good training that will help him in the ruthless world of business. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Set in the 1830s, this historical drama stars Robin Soans as George Loveless, a Methodist minister whose flock is a group of working families in Tolpuddle, a small town in the British Southwest. Most of the workers in the community are under the thumb of Frampton (Robert Stephens), a ruthless land owner, and his overseer Clerk (Murray Melvin); Frampton and Clerk demand long hours from their workers and pay meager wages. Convinced that the workers deserve a better shake, Loveless, encouraged by organizer Mr. Pitt (Michael Hordern), forms the Society of Friends, an early labor union, and organizes the men to negotiate with Frampton for better pay. When their salaries are instead cut, Loveless and his men go on strike, which could cripple Frampton financially. However, Frampton is well-connected, and soon both the government and private militias are sent in to break the strike and punish the rebellious laborers. The supporting cast includes James Fox, Freddie Jones, and Vanessa Redgrave. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on a true story about the execution of a psychopathic American G.I. by the U.S. Army in 1942, this wartime drama opens in Melbourne, Australia. U.S. forces and the Australians are at loggerheads, and this antagonism reaches a flash point when Edward J. Leonski (Reb Brown) is spotted running away from the scene of a brutal murder. That action sparks a gun battle between American and Aussie soldiers at a train station that makes it seem as if the two nations are at war with each other. U.S. Major Patrick Dannenberg (James Coburn) covers up the shooting incident and puts top priority on hunting down the killer. It is suggested that orders from the highest echelons of the U.S. military demanded the execution of the killer in order to preserve a working relationship with the Australians. Meanwhile, Aussie Detective Sgts. Adams (Bill Hunter) and Martin (Maurie Fields) are also looking for the murderer, hoping to bring him to justice in an Australian court of law. When Leonski's roommate belatedly turns him in, his attorney gets seriously ill and Major Dannenberg has to take over his defense. There is no doubt the man is mentally unbalanced, as witnessed by his behavior in Melbourne's bars and brothels in the first half of the movie. At the trial, Dannenberg unsuccessfully argues for his client's internment in an asylum for the criminally insane. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A simple divorce investigation leads to the uncovering of a dead body in this whodunit. ~ Rovi

In this alternately funny and moving drama set in New Zealand, the quiet, lonely lives of a fire patrol pilot and his son are forever changed when they pick-up a young woman hitchhiking through their remote area. The cinematography is especially noteworthy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

An undercover cop named Stone (Ken Shorter) infiltrates an outlaw biker gang called the Grave Diggers, only to discover that he has more in common with the two-wheeled warriors than he previously though after a professional assassin attempts to set them up for a big fall. A prominent environmental activist has just been assassinated, and the police suspect that the Grave Diggers are withholding crucial information relating to the killing. Realizing that the Grave Diggers will never speak to regular policemen, the cops recruit Stone to ride with the gang and find out what they know. Accepted into the fold after saving the life of a grateful Grave Digger, Stone begins to respect the Undertaker (Sandy Harbutt) and his crew due to the fact that they operate by their own unique code of ethics. Later, as the Grave Diggers prepare to strike back against a rival motorcycle club, Stone suspects a set-up and attempts to convince them not to fall for it. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Stone was correct. When the violence finally erupts, no one is safe from the bloodshed that threatens to destroy the Grave Diggers, and consume Stone in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi