The Shiralee (1957)

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The Shiralee is a 1957 British drama film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Peter Finch. It is in the Australian Western genre, based on the 1955 novel by D'Arcy Niland. It was made by Ealing Studios, and although all exterior scenes were filmed in Sydney, Scone and Binnaway, New South Wales and Australian actors Charles Tingwell, Bill Kerr and Ed Devereaux played in supporting roles, the film is really a British film made in Australia, rather than an Australian film.

Production

Britain's Ealing Studios had enjoyed a huge critical and commercial success with the film The Overlanders (1946) which was shot in Australia. Leslie Norman was an associate producer on the movie. Ealing's next two films in Australia, Eureka Stockade and Bitter Spring had not been as successful and the studio pulled back on plans to make movies in Australia.

The novel of The Shiralee was published in 1955. RKO was reportedly interested in buying the screenrights but that fell through. Australian actor Peter Finch was reportedly interested in getting the rights himself. Leslie Norman said he "loved" the novel and sent it to Michael Balcon at Ealing.

Norman says he wrote a script, showed it to Balcon who "claimed it was a different story, so we called in Neil Patterson to rewrite. He only rewrote one scene but it was enough to appease Mick. I suffered a lot from Mick."

Ealing had been associated with the Rank organisation but in 1956 Ealing signed an agreement with MGM for the latter studio to distribute their films worldwide; The Shiralee was to be the first film they made together. (Others would include Man in the Sky and Dunkirk.)

Ealing at first wanted to cast a Hollywood star in the lead, which devastated Finch. However these plans fell through and in April 1956 it was announced the lead role would be played by Finch. He would be returning to Australia for the first time since 1948 to make the movie. "I am pleased to return for an Australian film of a book by an Australian writer," said Finch.

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