''Mama's Gone A-Hunting'' is a 1977 Australian

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p103 The title is taken from the English nursery rhyme and lullaby, '' Bye, baby Bunting''. The film featured many well known Australian actors of the period, including

Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...

Carmen Duncan Carmen Joan Duncan (7 July 1942 – 3 February 2019) was an Australian-born stage and screen actress and activist, with a career locally and internationally in the United States that spanned over 50 years. She was nominated for the AFI Award ...

, and starred

Judy Morris Judith Ann Morris (born 17 February 1947) is an Australian character actress, as well as a film director and screenwriter, well known for the variety of roles she played in 58 different television shows and films, starting her career as a child ...

It was one of a series of TV movies Robert Bruning made for Channel 7. He sold it to Paramount to distribute world wide.

Plot

A psychiatric prison escapee, Elliot, and his partner, David decide to kidnap a baby and hold it for a $500,000 ransom. The parents of the child, Joshua and Helena, go to the Sydney Opera House, leaving their child with a babysitter, Tessa. Before Elliot and David can complete the kidnapping, Tessa decides to take the baby for herself. They chase after her to Sydney's Central Railway Station, where David is killed by a train while looking for Tessa. Tessa leaves the baby with an Old Woman in a restaurant at the station. She fights with Elliot, pushing him against a stone pylon, causing him to fall to his death. Tessa returns the baby to its parents.

Cast

as Tessa Goodman *

as Elliot Faulkner * Vince Martin as David *Peter Stratford as Joshua Stevens *

as Helena Stevens *

Queenie Ashton Ethel Muriel Ashton (11 November 190321 October 1999), known professionally as Queenie Ashton, was a singer, dancer, and character actress, born in England, who had a long career in Australia as a theatre performer and radio personality, best ...

as Old Woman in Restaurant *Greg Bepper as Bellhop *Muriel Hopkins as Smoking Maid *

Kerry McGuire Kerry McGuire is an Australian actress. Early life McGuire was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She studied at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), graduating with a Bachelor of Dramatic Acting in 1964. Career Film and TV ...

as Concierge * Enid Lorimer as Old woman in elevator (uncredited) *

as Concierge (uncredited)

Production

The film was shot in Sydney. Bruning called it "a modern-day thriller. A great deal of the action happens around Central Railway Station n Sydneyat night. It's a fairly exciting project." The cast included Queenie Ashton who said "It isn't a big role, but as things are at the moment I need the work."

Reception

''The Age'' wrote that "this handsome telefilm had almost everything on its side – from Russell Boyd's poetic photography and Peter Maxwell's direction to the assured acting of such principals as Gerard Kennedy and Carmen Duncan. Even the unhappy writer, Bruce Wishart, achieved verisimilitude most of the time. But the story, written in an off moment by Bruning himself, got Wishart in the end."

References

External links

''Mama's Gone A-Hunting''
at

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''Mama's Gone a Hunting''
at Oz Movies
Mama's Gone A-Hunting
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 c ...

Mama's Gone A Hunting
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AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature) is a national bio-bibliographical database of Australian literature. It is an internet-based, ...

(subscription required) Australian television films Films directed by Peter Maxwell {{Australia-tv-film-stub