They're a Weird Mob
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| They're a Weird Mob | |
|---|---|
 Poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Powell |
| Produced by | Michael Powell |
| Written by | Emeric Pressburger (as Richard Imrie) |
| Starring | Walter Chiari Clare Dunne Chips Rafferty |
| Music by | Alan Boustead Lawrence Leonard |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Editing by | Gerald Turney-Smith |
| Distributed by | BEF Film Distributors Pty. Ltd. |
| Release date(s) | August 18, 1966 Australia |
| Running time | 112 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | AUD 600,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
They're a Weird Mob is a classic and very popular Australian novel published in 1957, and a 1966 film based on the book. The novel was written by John O'Grady, although it was published under the pen name "Nino Culotta", the name of the main character. The subsequent film was one of the last collaborations by the British filmmakers Powell & Pressburger.
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[edit] Story
Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant, newly arrived in Australia. He is expecting to work for his cousin as a sports writer on the Italian magazine his cousin has been producing. But when he gets there he discovers that his cousin has left leaving a substantial debt to Kay Kelly. Nino declares that he will get a job and pay back the debt.
The film tells how he does this, making new mates, and the growing attraction between Nino & Kay. All this despite some difficulties with Australian slang and Kay's father and his dislike of Italians. Much of the story is taken up with Nino's attempts to understand the Australian Dream, that is, the often baffling aspirational values and social rituals of everyday urban Australians. The film is a comedy, but it deals with customs and manners that markedly characterise 1950s & 60s Australian society, and as such can be read as a serious critique of post-war affluence.
[edit] Film cast
- Walter Chiari (Nino Culotta)
- Clare Dunne (Kay Kelly)
- Chips Rafferty (Kay's father)
[edit] Film production
The book was optioned many times by filmmakers before a workable treatment was arrived at. Michael Powell managed to make it into a film that showed Australia from the point of view of an outsider while still avoiding many of the worse stereotypes.
There were a few attempts at writing the script but none of them worked until Powell brought in his old friend and frequent collaborator Emeric Pressburger who wrote it under the pseudonym Richard Imrie.
The film is said to have been one of the factors that led to an Australian Film Industry.
[edit] External links
- They're a Weird Mob at the Internet Movie Database
- Reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages
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Powell and Pressburger The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger |
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| 1930s | The Spy in Black | The Lion Has Wings |
| 1940s | Contraband | An Airman's Letter to His Mother | Forty-Ninth Parallel | One of Our Aircraft is Missing | The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | The Volunteer | A Canterbury Tale | I Know Where I'm Going! | A Matter of Life and Death | Black Narcissus | The Red Shoes | The Small Back Room |
| 1950s | The Elusive Pimpernel | Gone to Earth | The Tales of Hoffmann | Oh... Rosalinda!! | The Battle of the River Plate | Ill Met by Moonlight |
| 1960s | Peeping Tom (not Pressburger) | They're a Weird Mob | Age of Consent |
| 1970s | The Boy Who Turned Yellow |
 Cinema of Australia |
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Film chronology: 1890s-1930s • 1940s-1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s |
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