by Stephen Vagg
This entry on forgotten Australian films takes a slight detour in that it discusses a movie that was a featurette – the 35-minute-long war drama 100,000 Cobbers. This was made for the Department of Information (who handled World War 2 propaganda) by director Ken G Hall and his team at Cinesound Productions; they’d been ordered to stop making feature films after Dad Rudd MP but kept busy throughout the war turning out propaganda shorts, of which Cobbers was the most elaborate.
It focuses on five men who join the Australian army: laid back Bill (Grant Taylor), who romances a chiropodist (Cinesound regular Shirley Ann Richards); World War I veteran Scotty (Joe Valli), who pretends to be 37 years old; a rich man’s son (John Fleeting), whose devoted secretary (Aileen Britton) also joins up; the rebellious “Bluey” (Barry Ross), who romances Blondie (Lorna Westbrook); and Jim (Gilbert Ellis), who leaves behind his new wife (Pat Firman).
The men squabble, become friends, train, and go to Luna Park; Scotty gets kicked out of the army for being too old; the others go off to war at the end.
We used to think the great “one that got away” of Ken G. Hall’s career was his version of Robbery Under Arms (which he started trying to do in the 1930s and then in the 1940s but could never get financed) … but after watching 100,000 Cobbers, we actually think it’s this one. It’s terrific. Cinesound totally should have turned it into a feature. We know the reason why that wasn’t done – they were only commissioned to make a 30 minute film – but it wouldn’t have taken too much effort to expand. Cobbers has enough characters and conflict to sustain a feature film along the lines of The Way Ahead (1944).
Indeed, in the film as it is, all the characterisation and storytelling are, by necessity, sketchy. We barely get to spend much time with any of the characters, so their chance to make an emotional impact is limited – with the exception of Scotty, whose departure from the army is quite moving. We would have loved to have seen more of the romance between Grant Taylor and Shirley Ann Richards, two actors who have charisma to burn and chemistry off the charts (Richards made the film just prior to her departure to the US, where she had a career as “Ann Richards”).
The romance between John Fleeting and Aileen Britton also had huge potential (he’s a little stiff, but she’s great), as did the character of Barry Ross. Pat Firman is stunningly beautiful as Gilbert Ellis’ wife – she was a potential film star who never got the chance to show what she could do on screen outside a few shorts (Another Threshold, Australia is Like This) although she did become a popular TV host.
Still, there’s no point crying over spilt milk when it comes to 100,000 Cobbers – we may as well enjoy what’s there, which is considerable: a professionally assembled, entertaining short film, with fascinating location work at Liverpool training camp and Luna Park. The story is hokey in places but done with sincerity and decent acting; Taylor and Richards in particular are natural stars. The film demonstrates just how in charge of his craft Ken Hall was by this stage. In addition, 100,000 Cobbers has tremendous emotional resonance as it was made with war raging, and things about to get a lot worse – indeed, not long after filming ended, Grant Taylor’s young brother would be killed in action on the HMAS Sydney when it was sunk off the coast of Australia, and Shirley Ann Richards’ brother would be captured by the Japanese, and later murdered on one of the death marches from Borneo’s Sandakan to Ranau.
You can see the whole film here:
And if you’re a real nerd, you can access the War Department file on the movie here.
The author would like to thank Graham Shirley for his assistance with this article. Unless otherwise specified, all opinions are those of the author’s.
