''Wherever She Goes'' is a 1951 Australian feature film that tells the early part of the life story of pianist

Eileen Joyce Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG (died 25 March 1991) was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years. Her recordings made her popular in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly during World War I ...

. Directed by Michael Gordon, it stars Suzanne Parrett,

Nigel Lovell Nigel Tasman Lovell (27 January 1916 – 13 December 2001) was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama. History Lovell was born in Sydney, a son of Tasman Lovell, Professor of ...

and

Muriel Steinbeck Muriel Myee Steinbeck (21 July 1913 – 20 July 1982) was an Australian actress who worked extensively in radio, theatre, television and film. She is best known for her performance as the wife of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in '' Smithy'' (1946) ...

Synopsis

Eileen Joyce is born on the Tasmanian coast and becomes fascinated with music after hearing a man named Daniel play a mouth organ. When her parents decide to move the family to the

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

goldfields Eileen sees a piano and resolves to play it. Her father's mine fails and the family has to live in a tent. Eileen is given an old piano as a Christmas gift and soon becomes a child prodigy. She enters a local music carnival and wins. The story ends when she leaves Kalgoorlie to go to Perth, then flashes forward to a grown up Eileen playing in a concert.

Cast

*Suzanne Parrett as young Eileen Joyce *

as Mrs Joyce *

as Will Joyce * George Wallace as the stage manager *

as herself (non-speaking role) *Tim Drysdale as John Joyce *Rex Dawe as Mr James *Syd Chambers * John Wiltshire as Daniel * Harold Bourne as Bob

Production

The film was one of several planned by independent companies in association with

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever s ...

to use

Pagewood Studios Pagewood Studios was a film studio in Sydney, Australia, that was used to make Australian, British and Hollywood films for twenty years. Creation The studio was built in 1935 for National Productions by National Studios Ltd, it was originally know ...

in between official Ealing productions. The director was Michael Gordon (1909 – 2008), an English film editor, and it was the only full-length feature film he directed. He had given a copy of the book on which the film was based to his children, and his wife suggested that it would make a good film. Both the book and the film were highly fictionalised accounts of Joyce's life. The opening credits of the film state that only the two children were real people and everyone else was fictionalised. Gordon arrived in Australia in August 1949 to start work on the film. Eileen Joyce herself is shown at the start and end of the film, performing the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, but she was primarily played by Suzanne Parrett, who never made another film. Parrett's hand double was Pamela Page. The bulk of the movie was shot at Pagewood Studios in Sydney, with some location filming in

and the

Huon Valley The Huon Valley, or simply the Huon, is a valley and geographic area located in southern Tasmania, Australia. The largest town is Huonville, with other smaller towns spread across the area. It includes Australia's most southern permanent settl ...

. It features the last screen performance of comedian George Wallace, who plays a stage manager. The cast also includes Tim Drysdale, son of Australian artist Russell Drysdale.

Reception

The film had its Australian premiere at The Strand Theatre in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, and was introduced by Tasmanian Premier

Robert Cosgrove Sir Robert Cosgrove (28 December 1884 – 25 August 1969) was an Australian politician who was the 30th and longest-serving Premier of Tasmania. He held office for over 18 years, serving from 1939 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1958. His involve ...

. It was one of the few Australian films of the time to receive a cinema release in the United States as well as the UK, but box office receipts were poor and critical reception mixed although Suzanne Parrett's performance was praised. ''Filmink'' later argued "Steinbeck should have played the title role but is wasted in the part of her mother."

References

{{reflist

External links

''Wherever She Goes''
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, ...

''Wherever She Goes
at National Film and Sound Archive
''Wherever She Goes''
at Oz Movies
Review
at ''Variety'' 1951 films Australian drama films Films about classical music and musicians Musical films based on actual events 1951 drama films Australian black-and-white films Biographical films about musicians 1950s English-language films