| Dad Rudd, MP | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ken G. Hall |
| Produced by | Ken G. Hall |
| Written by | Bert Bailey Frank Harvey |
| Based on | characters created by Steele Rudd |
| Starring | Bert Bailey Grant Taylor Fred MacDonald |
| Cinematography | George Heath |
| Editing by | William Shepherd |
| Studio | Cinesound Productions |
| Release date(s) | June 1940 |
| Running time | 83 mins |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £18,000[1] |
| Box office | £28,000[2] |
Dad Rudd, M.P. is a 1940 comedy that was the last of four films made by Ken G. Hall starring Bert Bailey as Dad Rudd. It was the last feature film directed by Hall prior to the war and the last made by Cinesound Productions, Bert Bailey and Frank Harvey.
Contents |
Dad Rudd (Bert Bailey) wants the size of a local dam increased for the benefit of local farmers but faces opposition from a wealthy grazier, Henry Webster (Frank Harvey). When the local Member of Parliament dies, Webster runs for his seat, and Rudd decides to oppose him. Webster and his team use dirty tricks to defeat Rudd, so he calls in his old friend from the city, Entwistle (Alec Kellaway) to help. Matters are complicated by the fact that Rudd's daughter Ann (Yvonne East) falls in love with Webster's son Jim (Grant Taylor). On polling day, a major flood traps workers on the wrong side of the dam and the Rudds and Jim Webster team up to save the day. Dad Rudd is elected to parliament, where he gives a rousing speech.
The last six films made by Cinesound Productions were all comedies as producer Ken G. Hall sought to ensure guaranteed box office successes. He elected to make another Dad and Dave film instead of two other long-planned projects, an adaptation of Robbery Under Arms[3] and a story about the Overland Telegraph.[4]
"Though we were entertaining the idea of other types of stories, the amazing enthusiasm for Dad and Dave Come to Town makes another Bailey picture the wisest commercial choice," said Ken G. Hall in 1939. "We feel that, by placing 'Dad' in politics, we will inject any amount of comedy material which is typical of Bailey at his best."[5]
William Freshman was originally reported as having worked on the script but is not credited in the final film.[6]
The movie was more serious than others in the series. "In one of the old 'Selection' books, Dad did stand for Parliament," said Bert Bailey during shooting. "But that was for comedy purposes. In Dad Rudd, M.P., when Dad does come down and speak in Parliament, there is not one tinge of comedy. He is an earnest old chap, speakong in a plain, ordinary, common-sense way on water conservation. He is saying what he believes is the right thing to be done for the farmer, and for the country. For water is a national asset. In this scene, Dad does allude to the war. He says that the spirit which animated the pioneers who crossed the plains and fought the land is the same spirit behind the adventurous boys who go abroad to fight for Australia."[7]
Ken Hall himself edited out this speech when the film screened on ABC TV in 1970. "In the light of the world as we know it in the seventies, it all sounded so follow, so phony, so naive," he wrote. But the speech remains in most copies of the film available today.[8]
The romantic leads were played by Yvonne East and Grant Taylor, both graduates of the Cinesound Talent School making their first film.[9] Chips Rafferty makes an early screen appearance as a fireman in the Keystone Kops-style opening sequence.
The cast had more continuity than usual for a Cinesound Rudd film, with Alec Kellaway, Connie Martyn, Ossie Wenban, Valerie Scanlan and Marshall Crosby all reprising their roles from Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938).[10]
American actor Barbara Weeks, who was visiting Australia at the time of shooting with her husband, played a small role at the behest of Ken G. Hall.[11]
During pre production, Cinesound was visited by Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount Pictures, then touring Australia. He had seen Dad and Dave Come to Town on the boat trip from the US, and been so impressed with the film's quality he wanted to visit the studio.[12]
Shooting took place in February and March 1940, in the Cinesound Studio and on location at Woronora Dam and Camden.[13] Cinesound hired space on the lot of the closed-down Pagewood studios for building a scale reproduction of the dam for the climax. These were supervised by J Alan Kenyon, who did the special effects for most of Cinesound's movies.
According to Hall "it was the smoothest, best-made of the Bert Bailey films. In the process of the gradual evolution of the people and the storylines we had set down for these productions, the rawness had gone off the characters. There was much less burlesque of the types. The story was more modern and believable."[14]
The movie was partly financed with an guaranteed overdraft of £15,000 from the New South Wales government.[15]
Dad Rudd MP was a hit at the box office, earning £28,000[16] and achieving a release in Britain. Nonetheless, the drain on material caused by World War II saw Cinesound abandon feature production in June 1940 for the duration of the war.[17] They never made another feature film.