form y separately published work icon On Our Selection single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of On Our Selection Albert Edmunds , Beaumont Smith , 1912 single work drama
Issue Details: First known date: 1932... 1932 On Our Selection
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

This cinematic adaptation is based on the stage play On Our Selection by Albert Edmunds (aka Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan), which was itself based on the stories of Steele Rudd. Set in south-west Queensland, it tells of the Rudd family, which has been all but ruined by the drought and is in debt to their villainous neighbour Old Carey. While Carey seizes the Rudds' cattle in an attempt to leverage a hold on their land, his son Jim attempts to get his hands on the eldest daughter Kate. Her long-suffering suitor Sandy Graham warns her. However, Jim is no better than his father. In order to relieve financial pressure on the family, Kate moves to the city, but when the rains eventually come she returns to help the family rebuild their stock. When Sandy finds out that Jim has tried to force his sweetheart into marriage (by threatening to sully her reputation), he knocks him down. Unfortunately, Jim dies, and Sandy is charged with murder. While Kate frets over Sandy's future, eldest son Dave marries his sweetheart Lily White. Dad Rudd's woes continue to escalate when he is forced to repeatedly rebuff Billy Bearup's attempts to woo his other daughter Sarah, while youngest son Joe continues to upset one and all by his mischief. Sandy is eventually cleared of the murder charge when another character, Cranky Jack, admits his part in the death, leaving Sandy and Kate free to finally marry (much to the delight/relief of the Rudd family).

[Source: Australian Screen]

Exhibitions

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Notes

  • Entries connected with this record have been sourced from on-going historical research into Australian-written music theatre and film being conducted by Dr Clay Djubal.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Unfounded Attack on 'Dad and Dave' Comedies : Dad Rudd, M.P. Julieanne Lamond , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Inside Story , October 2013; Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 57-63)

'By the time Ken G. Hall filmed Dad Rudd M.P., his film-making had come to reflect international popular culture as well as Australian traditions, writes Julieanne Lamond'

Larrikin Ockers and Decent Blokes : The National Type in Australian Film Comedy Felicity Collins , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Creative Nation : Australian Cinema and Cultural Studies Reader 2009; (p. 154-165)
Representing Australian Space in The Overlanders Elizabeth Webby , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 115-123)
This paper will examine the influence of Watt's representation of Australian space in The Overlanders on other films made in Australia during the 1950s, including Charles Chauvel's Jedda (1955) and Jack Lee's Robbery Under Arms (1957)...(From author's abstract p. 115)
The Ghost of Dad Rudd, on the Stump Julieanne Lamond , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 6 no. 1 2007; (p. 19-32)
'This paper examines the cultural and political legacies of Dad Rudd, a fictional character who first appeared in short stories by 'Steele Rudd' (A. H. Davis) in the Bulletin in 1895 and has since appeared in popular fiction, theatre, film, television and radio adaptations throughout the twentieth century. It traces a set of national tropes - particularly that of the battler - through stump speeches made by Dad Rudd in On Our Selection! (1899), Dad in Politics (1908), the stage melodrama On Our Selection (1912), and Ken G. Hall's film Dad Rudd, M.P. (1940), and considers how they have continued to be used to create both political and cultural constituencies in Australia.'
y separately published work icon Mavis Road Medley Goldie Alexander , Hunters Hill : Margaret Hamilton Books , 1991 Z161654 1991 single work novel young adult fantasy

'Didi (actually named Eurydice) is miserable and unsettled because her father's work has forced her to leave her friends and school in Sydney. Jamie, older sister Kate's boyfriend, is also unsettled because of his parents' divorce and his recent move to Melbourne. Kate resents Jamie's absorption in music and his need to earn money.

'While Didi and Jamie happen to be watching an old film, On our Selection, they are inexplicably transported back to 1933. Though initially terrified, Jamie and Didi are quickly befriended by the lively argumentative Sam and his fiancee Selma and taken into the Finkelsteins' welcoming boarding house.

'Once the shock of finding themselves in a totally strange environment wears off, Didi and Jamie decide to make the most of their unusual circumstances. They don't even like each other, and now they must learn to live together. Against a backdrop of Depression Melbourne, early European migration and the excitement of Wirth's Circus on the site of the present Victorian Arts Centre, they must find a way home or stay in 1933 forever.

'Why does all this happen? Important clues are the trunkful of old clothes Didi finds in the cellar and Jamie's harmonica'. Source: author's website.

'Steele Rudd' : How He Got That Name 1932 single work column
— Appears in: The Brisbane Courier , 16 July 1932; (p. 12)
'Dad' Arrives : Bert Bailey in Brisbane 1932 single work column
— Appears in: The Brisbane Courier , 21 July 1932; (p. 12)
The Ghost of Dad Rudd, on the Stump Julieanne Lamond , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 6 no. 1 2007; (p. 19-32)
'This paper examines the cultural and political legacies of Dad Rudd, a fictional character who first appeared in short stories by 'Steele Rudd' (A. H. Davis) in the Bulletin in 1895 and has since appeared in popular fiction, theatre, film, television and radio adaptations throughout the twentieth century. It traces a set of national tropes - particularly that of the battler - through stump speeches made by Dad Rudd in On Our Selection! (1899), Dad in Politics (1908), the stage melodrama On Our Selection (1912), and Ken G. Hall's film Dad Rudd, M.P. (1940), and considers how they have continued to be used to create both political and cultural constituencies in Australia.'
Two Remakes : Ideologies of Film Production 1919-1932 Susan Dermody , 1982 single work criticism
— Appears in: Nellie Melba, Ginger Meggs and Friends : Essays in Australian Cultural History 1982; (p. 33-59)
Larrikin Ockers and Decent Blokes : The National Type in Australian Film Comedy Felicity Collins , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Creative Nation : Australian Cinema and Cultural Studies Reader 2009; (p. 154-165)
Last amended 21 Nov 2014 14:45:20
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