''Sunstruck'', also known by the

alternative title An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the ...

of ''Education of Stanley Evans'', is a 1972 British–Australian

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by James Gilbert and starring

Harry Secombe Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, m ...

Maggie Fitzgibbon Margaret Helen Fitzgibbon (30 January 1929 – 8 June 2020) was an Australian actress and singer. Coming from a show-business family, she was the older sister of musician Smacka Fitzgibbon. Biography Fitzgibbon was born in Melbourne. She began ...

and

John Meillon John Meillon, ( ; 1 May 1934 – 11 August 1989), was an Australian character actor, known for many straight as well as comedy roles, he became most widely known internationally as Walter Reilly in the films ''Crocodile Dundee'' and ''Crocodil ...

Plot

Stanley Evans, a Welsh schoolteacher, is very proud of the choir that he's formed with his pupils. But when the girl of his dreams – a new gym teacher – marries a fellow teacher, he decides to leave and migrate to Australia for a better life 'in the sun'. From Sydney, he is assigned to a small school in the dead-end town of Kookaburra Springs, living in a small room over the local hotel run by Sal and Mick. All the kids live in farms throughout the district. Homesick, and constantly playing recordings of his original school choir, he decides to form a choir of his new pupils, who haven't been taking him seriously and play pranks on him. Mick secretly decides that the kids should enter a schools choir competition in Sydney, and when the application is accepted, Stan has only a few weeks left to train the group. They travel by bus to Sydney accompanied by Shirley, a feisty young lady who has taken a shine to Stan. But Shirley's brother doesn't want his sister involved with 'a fat little Welsh Pom', and makes clear his feelings to Stan before they leave. The choir win a special commendation. On his return, Stan marries Shirley.

Cast

– Stanley Evans (final film role) *

– Shirley Marshall *

– Mick Cassidy * Peter Whittle – Pete Marshall * Dennis Jordan – Steve Cassidy *

Dawn Lake Dawn Alice Lake (20 January 1927 – 1 January 2006) was an Australian television comedian, singer, entertainer, and actor whose career spanned more than 50 years. She was particularly associated in show business with her husband Bobby Limb. ...

– Sal Cassidy *

Bobby Limb Robert "Bobby" Limb AO, OBE (10 November 1924 – 11 September 1999) was an Australian-born entertainment pioneer, comedian, band leader and musician and legend of radio, television and theatre of the 1960s and 1970s, he also founded the film a ...

– Bill * Norm Erskine – Norm * Jack Allen – Banjo * Roger Cox- Ben * Tommy Mack – Gunboat *

Derek Nimmo Derek Robert Nimmo (19 September 193024 February 1999) was an English character actor, producer and author. He is best remembered for his comedic upper class "silly ass" and clerical roles including Revd Mervyn Noote in the BBC1 sitcom ''Al ...

* Stuart Wagstaff – announcer

Production

The film was inspired by a poster used by the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

government to attract teachers from Britain, where a teacher wearing swimmers and an academic board stands on Bondi Beach. It was designed as a vehicle for

and was shot near

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

in New South Wales from January 1972. The budget mostly came from United States and British sources, with $100,000 from the

Australian Film Development Corporation The Australian Film Development Corporation was an organisation created and funded by the Australian Government in the 1970s, intended to allow filmmakers in the Australian film industry to create movies for everyone to see. In 1975 it was repl ...

. The pupils seen acting at choir practice in the early part of the film were from

Afon Taf High School This is a list of rivers of Wales, organised geographically. It is taken anti-clockwise from the Dee Estuary to the Severn Bridge, M48 Bridge that separates the estuary of the River Wye from the River Severn. Tributary, Tributaries are listed do ...

in Troedyrhiw. The choir recorded the entire choral soundtrack at the school and it was used in both the Welsh and Australian sequences. The beginning of the film used locations in two Welsh mining villages;

Treharris Treharris is a small town and community (Wales), community (and electoral ward) in the Taff Bargoed Valley in the south of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, South Wales. It is located about west of Trelewis, from which it is separated by the Taff Ba ...

and

Trelewis Trelewis is a small village in the Taff Bargoed Valley of south-east Wales, currently located in the southern part of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough. It is a former mining village and together with nearby Bedlinog was until 1974 part of the Gell ...

near Merthyr Tydfil. The name of the school is Webster Street School, Treharris which has since been demolished for housing.

Release

The film did not perform particularly well commercially or critically.

Bibliography

* Readle, Eric. ''History and heartburn: the saga of Australian film, 1896–1978''. Associated University Presses, 1981.

References

External links

* *{{Rotten Tomatoes, sunstruck_1972
''Sunstruck''
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 c ...

''Sunstrucl''
at Oz Movies 1972 films Australian comedy films 1972 comedy films Films about educators British comedy films Films set in New South Wales 1970s English-language films 1970s British films