Eliza Fraser (1976)

Worth watching just to see Noel Ferrier in a lap-lap! I liked the costumes and locations but the film didn't really hang together for me - it was episodic and didn't have much flow. Trevor Howard was brilliant and I liked that it didn't shy away from Australia's 'rum, sodomy and the lash' history. Susannah York seems like she wonders what she got herself into and doesn't fully occupy the role, but the rest of the cast of a whos-who of Australian acting are all terrific.

Just makes the grade - farcial romp really!

Not sure if this tries to be a serious period drama or a comedy. It's a well made movie but the story degenerates into farce at times. It's entertaining.

Another bonza aussie flick.Full of the golden 70's-80's colonial actors/actresses. And when the director run short,he imported a few good ones from Pomland.A good comedy to watch with nibblies and a dram of sherry.

Those expecting a third "Alvin Purple" film would have been surprised at this more ambitious offering (it was the first million-dollar Australian film) from Village Roadshow's Hexagon team that had sparked the local film industry?s revival with that 1973 sex comedy. While it could have been tighter, "Eliza Fraser" is a quality historical piece; though it retains some of the bawdy "Alvin" humour and so is set apart from the previous year's "Picnic at Hanging Rock". It's not difficult to detect a Monty Python influence here and other credited influences include "Tom Jones" and Stanley Kubric's "Barry Lyndon". The exceptional and popular cast, including York, Howard and Castle from England, works well to Williamson's script, which, as that writer always does, re-works stereotypes and prejudices with wit and humour. This was Williamson's fifth film, after "Stork", "Libido", "Petersen" and "The Removalists". Ferrier is in particularly fine form, and Howard, after a distinguished career as a heroic figure in British war films, lets his hair down in the colony. Based on a 'true' story (though just how true we will never know, given the real Eliza Fraser's penchant for tall tales), the film was given a new lease on life with its DVD release in 2004, so we can watch the memorable bedroom scene over and over again! Filmed in Sovereign Hill, on Fraser Island, and at Emu Bottom.