It Isn't Done

It Isn't Done is a 1937 Australian comedy film about a grazier (Cecil Kellaway) who inherits a barony in England.

It Isn't Done
Directed byKen G. Hall
Written byFrank Harvey
Carl Dudley
Based onoriginal story by Cecil Kellaway
Produced byKen G. Hall
StarringCecil Kellaway
Shirley Ann Richards
CinematographyGeorge Heath
Edited byWilliam Shepherd
Music byHamilton Webber
Production
company
Distributed byBritish Empire Films (Aust)
MGM (UK)
Release dates
February 1937 (Australia)
1938 (UK)
Running time
90 minutes (Australia)
77 mins (UK)[1]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget£15,000[2]

Synopsis

Hubert Blaydon, an Australian farmer, inherits a baronial estate and moves to England with his wife and daughter Patricia, a university student, to collect it. He finds it difficult to adapt to upper class customs and faces snobbishness from Lord Denvee and difficulties with his butler Jarms. Patricia falls for a writer, Peter Ashton, who is next in line for the title and the estate.

Hubert misses Australia. He eventually contrives evidence that Peter is the legal heir and bonds with Lord Denvee over the fact that both their sons died on the same day in World War I. Hubert and his wife return to Australia with Jarms while Patricia and Peter are married.

Cast

Production

Development

The film was based on an original story by Cecil Kellaway which he had written in between acts while performing in White Horse Inn on stage. Hall liked the basic idea but said Kellaway was unable to put it down to paper.[5]

Hall originally imported American writer Carl Dudley from Los Angeles to adapt it into a feature film script.[6] Dudley intended to stay in Australia for 12 months.[7]

Hall had the script worked on by playwright and actor Frank Harvey, who had recently joined Cinesound as a dialogue director.[8] Harvey went on to write all of Ken G. Hall's films for Cinesound. Hall says he had considerable input to the film as well.[9]

"If anything, the English will get more knocks than the Australians", said Hall at the time. "But there will be hits at both sides-nothing malicious; just a good-humoured conflict of ideas."[10]

Cecil Kellaway later claimed the lead character was based on a real grazier from New South Wales:

I've enjoyed portraying this role, because I know him so thoroughly. I've stayed on his property, I've studied his mannerisms. He is the jovial, lovable person who is symbolic of the democratic carefree spirit of a sunny land.... To me, he is typical of so many of our countrymen. In many of his scenes I have endeavoured to give something that hopes for a laugh and faintly suggests a tear. I sincerely hope I have succeeded.[11]

At one stage the film was called Something in Common.[12][13] The title was changed to It Isn't Done just before filming.[14]

Casting

The film marked the feature debut of Shirley Ann Richards who was a graduate of Cinesound's Talent School, run by Harvey and George Parker. Although she was not very experienced, she proved a natural and was enormously popular. She was signed to a long-term contract with Cinesound and went on to appear in several of their films.[15][16]

Shooting
Australian premiere of the film at the Embassy Theater

Although mostly set in England, the film was entirely shot in Australia, at Cinesound's Bondi studios and Camden. Shooting started October 26, 1936.[17]

Hall used rear projection equipment to show English backgrounds. The backgrounds were filmed for Cinesound by British International Pictures.[18]

Sets were designed by Eric Thompson, who had returned to Australia after several years working in Hollywood.[19]

Reception

Reviews were positive[20]

The Motion Picture Herald wrote:

With every new picture, Cinesound is showing a more assured knowledge of production technique. Bearing in mind the pathetically weak Australian pictures of the earlier days of Australian production, the audience that witnessed the preview of "It Isn't Done" found it hard to imagine that the picture they were looking at had been actually made in the Commonwealth. Here, indeed, is a film for which this country need make no apologies. In that respect it is epoch-making.[21]

Variety wrote:

Pic carries no marquee names for abroad but, despite this, the entertainment value is solid.' And the names are okay for Australia and New Zealand. Film breaks away from the 'horse opera' group and portrays a simple,, yet in parts, highly touching story. It is a comedy — not the slapstock type of earlier efforts, but gentle fun. Ken Hall's direction is very smooth and the picture moves along at a nice tempo. Over here 'Done' should experience no difficulty in clicking up a good b.o. take. For England it is also a natural, and American audiences would find pleasure in it, too, if the market is opened to it. Film is not strong enough to stand alone in America, but on a dual it would be quite able to hold its own.[22]

Box office

The film was a big hit at the box office, being released in the US and UK.[23]

Everyone's called it "easily the finest film an Australian company has made."[24]

Legacy

A representative from RKO in Hollywood saw the film and offered Kellaway a long-term contract, which he accepted.[25] Kellaway did return to Australia for one more film, Mr. Chedworth Steps Out, but spent the rest of his career in America.

After completing the film, John Longden returned to England after spending four years in Australia. He left Sydney in November, accompanied by Carl Dudley.[26] Dudley later helped Shirley Ann Richards when that actress moved to Los Angeles.[27]

In the film, Shirley Ann Richards plays a woman whose brother was killed in World War I. Richards' brother in real life died in a Japanese POW camp during World War II.[28]

References
  1. "It Isn't Done". Monthly Film Bulletin. London. 5 (49): 68. 1 January 1938. ProQuest 1305796722.
  2. "THEATRE and SCREEN". The Age. No. 25529. Victoria, Australia. 10 February 1937. p. 16. Retrieved 14 April 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Stage and Screen Personalities". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 12 January 1937. p. 8 Supplement: Women's Supplement. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  4. "From Day to Day in Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 23 October 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  5. Philip Taylor, 'Ken G. Hall', Cinema Papers January 1974 p 85
  6. "HOOTING at the TARS". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 3 August 1936. p. 18. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  7. "HOLLYWOOD MEN PAY VISIT". The Newcastle Sun. No. 5833. New South Wales, Australia. 24 August 1936. p. 7. Retrieved 29 April 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "CINESOUND FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 9 October 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  9. Clip from The 1930s Golden Era of Australian Movies: A Tribute to Ken G Hall AO OBE at Australian Screen Online
  10. "NEW CINESOUND FILM". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 14 October 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  11. "A CHARACTER FROM REAL LIFE". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 2 March 1937. p. 9 Supplement: Women's Supplement. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  12. "Chatter". Variety. 21 October 1936.
  13. "STAGE REVIVAL". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 3 October 1936. p. 10 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved 17 May 2020 – via Trove.
  14. "Chatter". Variety. 11 November 1936. p. 11.
  15. "Sydney Girl Enters Filmland." The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 29 Oct 1936: 22 accessed 29 November 2011
  16. "AUSTRALIAN FILM". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 13 November 1936. p. 6. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  17. "Cinesound Players' Plans". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. I, no. 216. New South Wales, Australia. 28 November 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 29 April 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "AUSTRALIAN FILM". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 28 October 1936. p. 8. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  19. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 176-177
  20. "FILM REVIEWS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 8 March 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  21. "Is Isn't Done". Motion Picture Herald. 27 March 1937. p. 46.
  22. "It Isn't Done". Variety. 31 March 1937. p. 17.
  23. ""It Isn't Done" Hits Brisbane and Hobart Like a Cyclone: Cinesound Film's Pack Out Business". Everyones. Vol. 15, no. 374. 24 February 1937. p. 4. nla.obj-577360236. Retrieved 2 May 2023 – via Trove.
  24. "Reviews Of Recent Releases Candid Criticism and Bose – Office Comment". Everyones. Vol. 15, no. 376. 10 March 1937. p. 14. nla.obj-577366493. Retrieved 2 May 2023 – via Trove.
  25. "CECIL KELLAWAY". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 5 June 1937. p. 14. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  26. "Cinesound Players' Plans". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. I, no. 216. New South Wales, Australia. 28 November 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 29 April 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. "Sydney girl wins Metro film role". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. III, no. 14. New South Wales, Australia. 15 February 1942. p. 24. Retrieved 29 April 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. "Intimate Jottings". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 29 June 1946. p. 21. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
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