The Mango Tree

The Mango Tree (1977)

A town of amazing people. A story that crowds a lifetime into a few, short years. And a young man who experienced it all.

Jamie Carr is a young man growing up in Bundaberg, Northern Queensland during the closing years of World War I. Jamie, who is in his final year of high school, was brought up by his grandmother. Grandma Carr is known and loved by all in the town, and does her best to help Jamie through the emotional turmoil of adolescence and a society struggling under old traditions and beliefs in a new country.

Date of release
1977-12-13
TMDB
9.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Drama
Director
Kevin James Dobson

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Box office: A$1M
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 7

The Mango Tree is a 1977 Australian drama film directed by Kevin James Dobson and starring Geraldine Fitzgerald and Sir Robert Helpmann. Lead actor Christopher Pate is the son of actor Michael Pate who also produced and wrote the film. It is based on the book of the same name, by Ronald McKie.

Production

Michael Pate was a neighbour of Robert McKie, who wrote the novel. Pate optioned it and tried to find a writer to adapt it into a screenplay but ended up doing it himself. The budget was raised from the Australian Film Commission, GUO Film Distributors and the Bundaberg Sugar Company; the latter invested a third of the total sum.

Michael Pate originally wanted to direct the film himself but the AFC did not want him to write, produce and direct, so insisted he find a director. Pate proposed Michael Lindsay-Hogg, son of Geraldine Fitzgerald, who was unable to do it. Bruce Beresford almost directed until the South Australian Film Corporation, who had the director under contract, intervened and prohibited him from making it.

Filming took place in the town of Gayndah, Mount Perry and Cordalba as well as Bundaberg. The shoot went for seven weeks starting April and ending in June.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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