The Sundowners

An Oscar nominee for Best Picture, THE SUNDOWNERS has unfairly sunk into obscurity. If it suffers somewhat from a lack of real drama (and a fairly weak ending), it has character and flavor in spades, its portrait of 20s Australia being populated by excellent performances from Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov, Michael Anderson Jr., and Glynis Johns. A warm, often humorous script (overflowing with Aussie slang) and some beautiful cinematography round it out very agreeably.

Better than you might think. Robert Mitchum's Australian accent is a lot better than you might think, too

Notable if only because of it's authentic portrayal of early 20th century common life in Australia right down to everyone's favorite vice - Two-up! Peter Ustinov plays a particularly intersting support role and we never quite learn why this cultured Englishman is 'slumming' downunder

Invaluable as a time capsule of how 50s Hollywood viewed us lot Down Under (or perhaps how 50s Australia wished to be viewed by Hollywood), the film has its share of problems: a meandering, unfocused narrative, and a pair of performances from Mitchum and Kerr who inhabit the physicality of their roles effectively, but can't quite muster convincing Australian accents; Ustinov fares best in support as a Brit ex-pat. Zinneman's staging of action scenes is impressive as is beautiful cinematography.

Fred Zinneman channeling John Ford, down under. It's entertaining, as it meanders its way, but is never really engaging. Definitely a good way to kill a couple of hours though.

Shear genius! Seriously though, it's a pretty good feel-good movie, inconsistent accents notwithstanding.