Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Leslie Norman

Writers:

John Dighton (writer)
Ray Lawler (play)

Release Date:

16 December 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Australia | Friendship Between Men | Sugar Cane | Based On Play

Cast

Ernest Borgnine	...	Roo
Anne Baxter	...	Olive
John Mills	...	Barney
Angela Lansbury	...	Pearl
Vincent Ball	...	Dowd
Ethel Gabriel	...	Emma
Janette Craig	...	Bubba
Deryck Barnes	...	Bluey
Tom Lurich	...	The Atom Bomber
Al Thomas	...	Spriuker
Dana Wilson	...	The Bomber's Daughter
Al Garcia	...	Dino
Frank Wilson	...	Vince
Jessica Noad	...	Nancy

Also Known As:

Season of Passion (USA)
Summer of the 17th Doll (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Australia | UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cane Cutter (2008)

A Tragic Raping of an Australian Classic

I must note that my rating of one star is NOT based on what I thought of "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" as a film. This film was not terrible , in the traditional sense. It was moderately entertaining, acting was adequate and due to the work of Ray Lawler, the writing was good. However, all these things are invalidated by the basic and fundamental demolition of what made Lawler's play great.

For one thing, an American production of "The Doll" is in and of itself a terrible idea, not to mention American actors. The play is unanimously considered the most historically significant in Australian theatre history, its status as the first authentically Australian play is celebrated widely by scholars of Literature. Any form of "Americanization" subsequently destroys it. Here it should be made clear that American films are some of the greatest in the world, but only Australia should ever have laid there hands on this project.

The second terrible, fatal flaw of the film is the need it felt to drastically change key plot points (one key plot point in particular) and thereby change the entire message and atmosphere of the story. If one didn't know better, they would think that such a change was a mockery. Sadly this is not the case.

All in all, this was not a bad film, but rather an awful, deeply lamentable butchering of a iconic classic in Australian history, and while a film of "The Doll" is not a bad idea, this was amongst the worst treatment it could have been given.