Botany Bay

Botany Bay (1952)

SAVAGE as the Great Continent They Invaded!

Based on the story of the start of Australia's colonisation. An American medical student is falsely convicted of robbery, with his sentence involving the torturous voyage with other prisoners to the new penal colony at Botany Bay. Because of his attempt to escape, evil Captain Gilbert decides to return him to England on charges of mutiny.

Date of release
1952-12-26
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (24)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Adventure, Romance, Action, Drama
Director
John Farrow

Casting

Interesting facts

Botany Bay is a 1953 American adventure film directed by John Farrow and starring Alan Ladd, James Mason and Patricia Medina. It was based on a novel of the same name by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.

Production

There was film interest in the book even before its publication because of the success of Mutiny on the Bounty, also from a novel by Nordhoff and Hall. The film rights were sold in July 1940 for a reported $50,000 and was intended to be a vehicle for Joel McCrea.

In 1941 Joel McCrea expressed interest in playing the lead. The film was originally planned to be made in 1946, starring Ray Milland with location shooting in Australia. However these plans were delayed when Paramount became concerned about the cost.

The project was re-activated in 1951 as a vehicle for Alan Ladd. It was inspired by the box office success of Two Years Before the Mast.

Four koalas and two kangaroos were flown from Australia to appear in the film. The koalas were the first to be exported from Australia in 25 years and were later transferred to San Diego Zoo.

The only Australian-born members of the cast were Murray Matheson and Brandon Toomey. Aboriginal characters were played by African-American actors.

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

Recommended