Wake
In Fright
(1971/aka Outback/Madman
Entertainment Region Free/All/Zero Blu-ray + Region Four/4 PAL DVD
Imports)
Picture:
B-/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Film: B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Blu-ray edition will play on all players worldwide, while the DVD
set can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs
that can handle Region Four/4 PAL format software, but is now out of
print. You can get the new upgraded 4K edition from Arrow Home Video
as reviewed at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16819/Point+Blank+4K+(1967/MGM/Warner/Criterion+4K+Ult
Box/Cover
Image for this review (C) 2009 Wake in Fright Trust.
The
usual split in Australian Cinema is prestige films vs. Oz-ploitation,
but one rare exception was almost lost forever. Canadian Journeyman
Director Ted Kotcheff (the original Fun
With Dick & Jane,
North
Dallas Forty,
Rambo:
First Blood)
was starting to move from TV projects to feature films and Wake
In Fright
(1971, aka Outback)
was a groundbreaking film for Australia (arriving on movie screens as
Roeg's Walkabout
(see our Criterion Blu-ray review elsewhere on this site) co-produced
by Group W (Westinghouse Electric's broadcasting/entertainment
production division) in the U.S. and distributed by United Artists
there.
John
Grant (Gary Bond of Zulu
(1964)
and character actor work on TV shows like The
Avengers,
The
Main Chance,
Hart
To Hart
and Roald
Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected)
is an Australian school teacher unhappy with his life or the fact
that he had to give the school system AU$1,000 to get the job to
begin with, so he decides to head to Sydney, stopping by the mining
town of Bundanyabba for a day before catching that plane. However,
he starts to get involved with gambling, drinking and some of the
colorful local characters, especially the rough and tumble drunken
men who like to get nuts and starts a decent into his own private
hell.
Based
on the Kenneth Cook novel, this is a remarkable film and a vital,
priceless piece of Australian filmmaking that was lost for too many
decades. Even with its strong cast, including internationally known
Donald Plesence (You
Only Live Twice,
Carpenter's Halloween,
The
Great Escape,
Fantastic
Voyage,
THX-1138,
Raw
Meat,
Oh,
God,
Escape
From New York)
and other strong actors like Chips Rafferty, Jack Thompson (Mad
Dog Morgan,
Chant
Of Jimmie Blacksmith)
and Sylvia Kay, this was not on the map.
This
is a brutal look at the hard living of the sparser side of Australia
and the kind of working-class life that challenges the basic
character of any one, especially men and in male bonding situations,
which includes males challenging other males. Evan Jones (These
Are The Damned,
Eva,
Funeral
In Berlin,
Victory
(1981)) adapted the book into a solid screenplay that holds back
nothing about the gluttony of alcoholism and self-destructive excess
the residents indulge in not knowing any other way of life and how a
few of the characters might enjoy bringing a school teacher (read
city man, intellectual, etc.) down to a baser level. The issues of
sexuality are also handled with exceptional maturity and you can see
why this was issued in a few edited versions, making restoration and
preservation that much harder.
Bond
could have been a big screen movie star and it turns out (to his
later regret) Michael York turned this film down, but it was not a
huge hit in its time, but at least it got a theatrical release that
films this smart and savvy rarely get today. Besides violence,
humor, surreal moments and some great acting throughout, there is
also a very graphic scene of Grant and three of the people he has met
hunting kangaroos that many will find shocking and has footage of an
actual hunt cut into the acting as the actors were on location with a
real hunting club for day and night scenes.
Though
a few moments are predictable, the majority of the film is often bold
and takes us somewhere we have never been before. Wake
In Fright
singularly captures an Australia rarely seen, not unlike working
class towns in other parts of the world before their infrastructure
was disassembled in the 1980s and serves as a record of that kind of
labor space far beyond Down Under. Serious film fans will want to go
out of their way for this one.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is from a digital
restoration of the original camera negative that was fading, often
badly. In playback, colors are still a little inconsistent and
fleshtones can look too yellow (the film, too yellow and sepia at
times) to the point they (especially faces) can have too little red.
Still, there are some fine shots here and Director of Photography
Brian West (The
Ceremony,
Squeeze
A Flower)
does some of the best work in his very long career here and Editor
Anthony Buckley delivers a very original approach to his assembly.
The film was originally issued in three-strip, dye-transfer
Technicolor prints, but unless any survive in a private collection,
this is the best the film will ever look. A good such print would be
a huge find and extremely valuable. The anamorphically enhanced DVD
is not as good as the Blu-ray, but it's not bad and not much worse.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on both versions are the same and were
painstakingly restored from various audio elements, including
shortened TV prints. I was surprised how articulate the dialogue was
and I just wish a lossless option was included on the Blu-ray. Also
impressive is the music score by John Scott (aka Patrick John Scott)
whose approach is minimalist and standard narrative going back and
fourth, without ever being intrusive. An underrated composer, his
other work includes A
Study In Terror
(1965), Berserk,
Trog,
S*P*Y*S,
Hennessy,
Kotcheff's North
Dallas Forty,
Greystoke,
The
Final Countdown
and the theme song and much of the music for the TV series Return Of
The Saint. He deserves more all around credit than he gets.
Extras
in both versions include 32-page booklet inside the case in each
respective format version with great texts, information and
illustrations, while the discs offer feature length audio commentary
track by Kotcheff and Buckley, on camera Kotcheff interview,
International Trailer, Restoration Comparison shows how they cleaned
up the negative and restored the film with what they had, Not
Quite Hollywood
(2008) segment on the film, (Australian Broadcasting Company) ABC's
7:30
Report
segment on the recovery of the film and a Ken G. Hall interview with
Chips Rafferty.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
