''Splendid Fellows'' is a 1934 Australian film from director

Beaumont Smith Frank Beaumont "Beau" Smith (15 August 1885 – 2 January 1950), was an Australian film director, producer and exhibitor, best known for making low-budget comedies. Smith made his first film in 1917, '' Our Friends, the Hayseeds''. He went on t ...

about an Englishman (

Frank Leighton Frank Leighton (1908–1962) was an Australian actor best known for two leading roles in films for Ken G. Hall, ''Thoroughbred'' (1936) and '' Tall Timbers'' (1937). Biography Leighton was born in Sydney and studied at St John's School, Darlinghur ...

) who comes to Australia. The cast includes Eric Colman, brother of

Ronald Colman Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor, starting his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then immigrating to the United States and having a successful Hollywood film career. He wa ...

, and Sir

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was b ...

, who has a cameo as himself. It was Smith's last film.

Plot

"Silly ass" Englishman Hubert Montmorency "Monty" Ralston goes to Australia after an argument with his father, accompanied by his valet, Thomson. In a Sydney two up parlour he befriends Australian farmer Jim McBride and goes with him to McBride's farm where he meets flying parson, Reverend Arthur Stanhope. He also falls for McBride's daughter, Eileen. Monty persuades his father to buy a plane for the parson and enters it in the Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne. While the race is in progress, Stanhope's old plane crashes and Monty flies to the rescue. A blind prospector, Blind Teddy, flying with the parson regains his sight and recognises a long-lost goldfield.

Cast

as The Hon. Hubert Montmorency Ralston *

Leo Franklyn Leo Franklyn (7 April 1897 – 17 September 1975) was an English actor. Much of his early career was in Edwardian musical comedy; in his later career he was chiefly associated with farce. In the years between the First and Second World Wars, ...

as Thompson * Frank Bradley as Jim McBride * Eric Colman as Reverend Arthur Stanhope * Isabelle Mahon as Eileen McBride * Peggy Ross as Mrs McBride * Bill Stewart as Teddy Lawson) * Andrew Higginson as Lord Ralston * Madge Aubrey as Mrs Brogan * Charles Zoli as Signor Spigoni * Sir

as himself

Production

The film was shot at the studios of

Cinesound Productions Cinesound Productions Pty Ltd was an Australian feature film production company, established in June 1931, Cinesound developed out of a group of companies centred on Greater Union Theatres, that covered all facets of the film process, from produ ...

in Rushcutter's Bay,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in July and August 1934. It was originally entitled ''The Big Race'' but was retitled after an American film of that name was announced. Footage of the real Centenary Air Race was incorporated, as was that of the landing of

C. W. A. Scott Flight Lieutenant Charles William Anderson Scott, AFC (13 February 1903 – 15 April 1946Dunnell ''Aeroplane'', November 2019, p. 46.) was an English aviator. He won the MacRobertson Air Race, a race from London to Melbourne, in 1934, in a tim ...

and

Tom Campbell Black Tom Campbell Black (December 1899 – 19 September 1936) was an aviator, English aviator. He was the son of Alice Jean McCullough and Hugh Milner Black. He became a world-famous aviator when he and C. W. A. Scott won the London to Melbourne Ce ...

at Laverton, and the arrival of the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...

to Melbourne. This meant the movie was not actually completed until October.

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian ...

was an assistant director. Isabelle Mahon was a 17-year-old actor who had appeared on stage in ''

The Gay Divorcee ''The Gay Divorcee'' is a 1934 American musical film directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It also features Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, and Erik Rhodes (actor, born 1906), Erik Rhodes. The sc ...

''.

Reception

When the film was in post-production, Smith announced plans to make another feature, in New Zealand, "a modern drama with a sporting theme and glimpses of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

life." However, ''Splendid Fellows'' was a commercial disappointment on release and led to Smith's permanent retirement from film production. Reviews were mixed.

References

External links

''Splendid Fellows''
in the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Splendid Fellows''
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

''Splendid Fellows''
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

''Splendid Fellows''
at Oz Movies {{Beaumont Smith 1934 films Films directed by Beaumont Smith Films directed by Raymond Longford Australian adventure drama films 1930s adventure drama films Australian black-and-white films 1934 drama films 1930s English-language films