by Stephen Vagg
There’s a long tradition of fading show business names from Britain and America emigrating to Australia and giving us the benefit of their experience and skill while in decline. This covers actors (Roy Redgrave), writer-producers (Casey Robinson), and directors (Jack Lee). One of the latter group was Clarence Badger [left], who was on the Hollywood A-list in the 1920s via a series of hits, notably It (1927) with Clara Blow, but fell off it rather rapidly once pictures started to talk. In the mid-‘30s, Badger came out to Australia to make a Western, Rangle River, and liked it so much he decided to stay on. We’re not sure if he had some personal reason to move permanently to Australia, like a new romance, or concern about the worsening international situation, but Badger was keen to keep his career going here. He was going to make a sequel to Rangle River, but that could not get finance. He did, however, scrounge up some money for another feature – That Certain Something (at one stage known as Daughter of Australia).
This was one of four movies made in 1940 due to the assistance of the New South Wales government, which guaranteed an overdraft – the others were Dad Rudd MP, Forty Thousand Horsemen and The Power and the Glory. That Certain Something was made for the same studio as The Power and the Glory – Argosy, a new company formed to take advantage of the NSW Quota.
Badger later declared that he wanted to make a film that was light and bright (i.e. no war stories or heavy dramas), although he was keen to avoid “hayseed” comedy that had been so popular (i.e. of the Dad and Dave/George Wallace type). Badger claimed that he was unable to find a suitable story – we’re not sure how hard he looked – so wrote his own. The director broke into Hollywood as a writer in the 1910s, though his writing credits faded as his directorial career took off. Still, he (and Argosy) probably figured Badger was better than any Australian screenwriter available.
Peggy Graham, who did continuity on That Certain Something told Graham Shirley that the movie was basically a remake of It, Badger’s biggest hit (from a novel by Elinor Glyn which helped popularise the term “it girl”). This may have been how Badger pitched the project to Argosy, but it isn’t quite accurate. It was a melodrama about a struggling shop girl who battles against the odds. You can see a copy of it here:
That Certain Something is a showbiz story about an American director (played in the film by Lou Vernon) making a movie in Australia – a historical epic called Daughters of Australia. He’s seeking a girl with “that certain something” to play the lead, causing him to be inundated with starlets. He casts a socialite (Thelma Grigg, pictured main image) who proves to be temperamental and ends up replacing her with a factory worker/model (Megan Edwards). Subplots include Grigg being hot for Edwards’ artist/publicity boyfriend (Howard Craven) to the annoyance of Grigg’s male friend (Charles Kilburn), and Edwards’ family friend (Georgie Sterling) who has a comic relief boyfriend (Joe Lawman) also wanting to be cast; the family friend works for the producer as a stenographer while her boyfriend becomes the producer’s bodyguard.
The main connection That Certain Something has with It – aside from Badger – is that Vernon’s director is looking for a girl with “that certain something”, described in the film as “a perfect blending of heart, mind and loveliness – mystical and refreshing as a day in spring.” This is similar to It which defined “it” as “quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force.”
That Certain Something looks very slick and is briskly directed by Badger. However, he lets himself down badly with his script, which lacks focus and dramatic stakes (Peggy Graham told Graham Shirley that she felt the director had “run out of puff” by then). The film clearly should be a Cinderella story but it’s beyond Badger’s capabilities to construct it.
We start the movie with Megan Edwards’ character as a factory worker but also part time model, so it’s hardly rags to riches, and she doesn’t even really want to be an actor, she’s only doing it to make her boyfriend happy, so you watch it and think “what’s the point of this whole film?” Thelma Grigg is meant to be playing the antagonist, but Badger (presumably accidentally) winds up giving her character all the sympathy: it’s Grigg’s character who actually wants to be an actor, she’s clearly better at it than Edwards, she likes a guy who doesn’t like her (Craven), she’s forced to wind up with a guy she doesn’t really like (Kilburn) who always carries a dog with him (a very, very weird touch – perhaps a bit of actor business Badger unwisely let happen) and is controlling, and her “diva” antics consist of asking for a break on set when she has crushing migraines.
Why does Megan Edwards’ character deserve to be cast? We never see her do any great acting. She doesn’t have any “pat the dog” moment to earn our sympathy. She jumps to silly conclusions about her boyfriend being with Grigg, she doesn’t seem particularly nice.
The script is full of quips and banter, but none of it is particularly funny (there’s also some racist slurs in there). In fairness, Hollywood made worse comedies around this time – as did Britain, France, everyone. The script’s flaws could have been greatly minimised if the film was a musical: there are logical spots for songs, it’s easier to convey that Megan Edwards deserves stardom over Grigg if she can sing better, and song and dance numbers would anchor the piece. But there’s no music, just acting.
After a bright beginning the film drags and feels longer than its 85-minute running time.
This isn’t to say That Certain Something is without interest. Badger drew heavily on the ranks of Sydney radio actors, so the cast is full of unfamiliar faces but performers who had long careers behind the mic, like Howard Craven and George Sterling. There’s a cameo from Arundel Nixon [left, in the mic], a notorious bad boy of Australian radio who had a hugely turbulent private life. Joe Lawman (a vaudevillian who is grandad to Tony Sheldon) is fun despite having to carry a dog all the time, Thelma Grigg is very engaging, and it’s always entertaining to see old stalwarts like Marshall Crosby and Connie Martyn pop up in small parts; former director Raymond Longford is in there too, presumably sighing wistfully and wishing he was the one behind the camera yelling “action”. Megan Edwards, the female lead, is alright, but certainly no Clara Bow, or even Shirley Ann Richards (who would’ve been much better); Edwards later married an American restauranteur, had a stab at Hollywood, didn’t make it, and had world pioneering heart surgery in 1952, got divorced in 1958… we’ve got no idea what happened to her after that. Charles Kilburn later became a chemist, married actress Fifi Banvard, who then left him, so he got a court order to bring her back.
Most of all, it’s fascinating to see Badger create such an obviously personal film in That Certain Something, with its plot about an American director making a movie in Australia, having all these aspiring starlets throw themself at him (was this why he was so keen to move here?), having to deal with a complaining socialite star (was this a dig at Margaret Dare, a former model who’d been the female lead in Rangle River?) and members of the board of the studio he was working for (was this a dig at National Productions from Rangle River or an in-joke about Argosy?), making a historical epic (was this a dig at the 1935 film Heritage from Charles Chauvel?).
The movie is interesting and easy to watch. It’s just a shame that Badger didn’t have (a) a co-writer on the project to knock it into shape and/or (b) songs. He directed no more features but stayed in Australia until his death in1964. We’re guessing – and this is a guess – that he didn’t want to travel home when the war was on, and by the time the war was over, figured that he may as well stay in his new homeland. We could be wrong.
There are, needless to say, lots of attractive female extras in That Certain Something. This was surprisingly common in 1930s Australian movies – Ken G. Hall films often had a scene of women by the pool, and they pop up in efforts like The Hayseeds. However, nowhere is the phenomenon as pronounced as this film – we wonder if that was a key factor in how Argosy got the film finance i.e. promising investors they could hang out on set with all the pretty girls.
That Certain Something was distributed by RKO, which was a coup for an Australian film, and secured a release in England. It flopped at the box office, striking another blow for the cause of government assistance to Australian cinema. Argosy made a few propaganda war shorts including Keeping the Fleet at Sea but eventually went into liquidation.
That Certain Something isn’t a very good movie but it’s impossible not to have some affection for it, with its faded Hollywood director making a bright musical comedy without music, that is stuffed full of personal allusions and full of radio stars. There’s nothing quite like it.
A copy of the film is at the National Film and Sound Archive. Here’s a trailer.
The author would like to thank Simon Drake of the National Film and Sound Archive and Graham Shirley for their assistance with this article. Unless otherwise specified all opinions are those of the author.
