Films Shot in Australia That You Probably Have Never Heard Of.
The first film to be covered is the 1968 Japanese film Koya No Toseinin known in English speaking countries as The Drifting Avenger. Although filmed in Australia this film was not theatrically released in Australia. Produced by the Toei Corporation using an entire Japanese crew it was filmed in the Tamworth district as well as in Nundle and at the Goonoo Goonoo station N.S.W.
The film starred legendary Japanese actor Ken Takakura best known in the west for his roles in The Yakusa ( 1974 ) and Black Rain ( 1989 ). Although the film was produced for Japanese audiences the majority of the other actors appearing in the film were Australian.
Advertisement placed for the Toyo Theatre in Honolulu, HawaII screenings
A scene fron the movie featuring from right to left Ken Takakura, Ken Goodlet and Judith Roberts.
Judith Roberts pictured above appeared occasionally in the Australian soap opera Neighbors between 1985 and 2001. She has had many screen credits on television and in film starting in 1964 and with the last one recorded in 2020.
Koya No Toseinin, or The Drifting Avenger, is a 1968 revenge tale starring legendary Japanese actor Ken Takakura. The story is set in America during the cowboy era and follows the son of a former samurai on a mission to avenge his parents after they are killed by stagecoach robbers. ( NFSA ).
Seeing the film is set in America I find it odd that the following two posters. one in Japanese and a similar design in English have an image of Australia appearing on them.
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The second film to be included here is an obscure independently financed film that was shot on 35mm with a reported budget of A$24, 000. Despite the film being screened at the Cannes film festival and also shown in London, Glasgow, Melbourne and Sydney as part of other film festivals, the film failed to be picked up by an Australian film distributor for a commercial release. The film was self distributed by the producer / director Giorglo Mangiamele. It appears original commercial screenings were held at the hired Palais Theare in St. Kilda, an inner suburb of Melbourne, and screened there for a week in 1965. Any follow up screenings after this, if any, haven't been located. No daybills or any other film poster images have been found, so is it possible there weren't any printed in the usual poster formats? Some lists of Australian films do not even include this film .
The film apparently wasn't very good, but if did win the following award.
The following information is from the OZMovies website thst no longer appears to be active, Plot: Amedeo (Alberto Sordi) is a lonely Italian immigrant PMG linesman living and working in the desert near Broken Hill.
When he heads to town to see if he can meet up with a nice woman in the Italian community, he's a dismal failure, and he turns to a priest for help.
He sends a photo of a handsome friend (Riccardo Garrone) back home to Carmela (Claudia Cardinale), not realising she's a prostitute wanting to leave her pimp and retire from the game.
When Carmela arrives in Australia, neither are able to reveal their true identities to each other, and it takes a long meandering trip around Australia (the road from Sydney to Broken Hill involves going past dense jungle and beaches in
Theatrical release: December 1971 Rome; mid-1972 in Australia in Italian with sub-titles, mainly shown in theatres screening to Italian audiences res screening to Italian audiences
Locations: Sydney, Broken Hill, the Olgas, Dunk Island, north Queensland, and various other tourist locations. The film was admired, or mocked, for the many travelogue moments it managed to include. According to Raffaele Caputo, Cinema Papers, October 1994, Tullamarin airport doubled for Brisbane airport, where the journey began, taking in tropical rain forests and Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as Ayers Rock, on the way to Broken Hill.Locations: Sydney, Broken Hill, the Olgas, Dunk Island, north Queensland, and various other tourist locations. The film was admired, or mocked, for the many travelogue moments it managed to include. According to Raffaele Caputo, Cinema Papers, October 1994, Tullamarin airport doubled for Brisbane airport, where the journey began, taking in tropical rain forests and Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as Ayers Rock, on the way to Broken Hill.
n/a, limited in Australia.
The film was only released in 'continental', 'European' or art house cinemas in Australia.
The title, impossibly long in an Australian context was:
Bello onesto emigrato Australia sposerebbe compaesana Illibata
which translates roughly as:
Handsome honest emigrant to Australia would like to marry virgin fellow countrywoman
In its Australian release it was known as:
A Girl in Australia
and in Spain as:
Novia Por Correo (Mail Order Bride)