Product: The Overlanders (1946)
Rating: 4.0
Australian Cattle-Drive Sleeper
Without looking it up, most shoppers will have no notion what this obscure movie is and how good it is. It's an unusual adventure drama about the Australian home front in World War II and is based on fact. The Japanese are on the rampage in the south Pacific. Northern Australia, home to vast cattle ranges, seems doomed to fall. The government decides to destroy all the cattle rather than let the enemy get them, but one rancher (Chips Rafferty) thinks he can drive thousands of head a thousand miles across the desert outback to safety. As the ship evacuating the other settlers pulls out, they call back to him, "You'll be sorry!" But no challenge is too daunting, and the rest of the movie entails the suspense and agonizing hardships of the epic journey. Keeping a band of humans alive in the wilderness would be no small feat, but add a thousand steers and the obstacles are spectacular--poison weeds, bad water, wild horses, stampedes, steep mountain passes, the lure of cold beer at the only saloon for a thousand miles. Add in a pretty daughter and a handsome sailor, a crew of raffish cowhands, a medevac DC-3, John Ireland's dramatic score, and a brisk pace and tight direction, and those who enjoy a non-military wartime epic in black and white will have plenty of fun with this one.