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Screen cap from opening credits
form y separately published work icon The Sundowners single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of The Sundowners Jon Cleary , 1952 single work novel
Issue Details: First known date: 1960... 1960 The Sundowners
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Film Details - Warner Brothers , 1960

Producers:

Gerry Blattner

Production Companies:

Warner Brothers

Director of Photography:

Jack Hildyard

Editors:

Jack Harris

Production Designers:

Michael Stringer

Composer:

Dimitri Tiomkin

Music:

The film incorporates several musical performances into the narrative. In the first pub scene, Robert Mitchum (as Paddy) bellows out "Wild Colonial Boy" in a drunken Aussie accent. He later sings "Botany Bay," a traditional folk song about the infamous penal colony.

Cast:

Incl. Deborah Kerr (Ida Carmody), Robert Mitchum (Paddy Carmody), Peter Ustinov (Rupert Venneker), Glynis Johns (Mrs Firth), Dina Merrill (Jean Halstead), Chips Rafferty (Quinlan), Michael Anderson Jr. (Sean Carmody), Lola Brooks (Liz Brown), Wylie Watson (Herb Johnson), John Meillon (Bluey Brown), Ronald Fraser (Ocker), Gerry Duggan (Shearer), Leonard Teale (Shearer), Peter Carver (Shearer), Dick Bentley (Shearer), Mervyn Johns (Jack Patchogue, mayor of Cawndilla), Molly Urquhart (Mrs Bateman), Ewen Solon (Halstead), Max Osbiston, Mercia Barden, Ray Barrett, Jack Cunningham, John Fegan, Lloyd Lamble, Bryan Pringle, Colin Tapley, Alister Williamson.

Release Dates:

1. Premiered in New York City on 8 December 1960. Other release dates include West Germany (11 August 1961), Finland (25 August 1961), Austria (December 1961), Australia (December 1961), Denmark (6 April 1962).
2. Released on videocassette format by Warner Home Video in 1987 and on DVD format in 2007.

Location:

  • Filmed on location in Australia, including Carriewerloo Station, Corrabera Station, Corunna Station, Flinders Ranges, Hawker, Iron Knob, Port Augusta, Quorn, Saltia Creek, and Whyalla (South Australia); and Cooma, Nimmitabel, and the Snowy Mountains (New South Wales). Additional interior scenes filmed at Associated British Elstree Studios, Borehamwood (Hertfordshire, England).

Awards:

  • Academy Awards, USA (1961) Best Actress in a Leading Role - Deborah Kerr (nomination)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards (1961) Best British Actress - Deborah Kerr (nomination)
  • Academy Awards, USA (1961), Best Film (nomination)
  • Academy Awards, USA (1961) Best Director - Fred Zinnemann (nomination)
  • Academy Awards, USA (1961) Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Glynis Johns(nomination)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards (1961) Best British Film (nomination)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards (1961) Best Film from any Source (nomination)
  • Directors' Guild of America (1961) Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures - Fred Zinnemann (nomination)
  • Golden Globes, USA (1961) Special Merit Award (winner)
  • Golden Globes, USA (1961) Best Motion Picture Director - Fred Zinnemann (nomination)
  • New York Film Critics Circle Awards, USA (1960) Best Actress - Deborah Kerr (winner)
  • National Board of Review, USA (1961) Best Actor - Robert Mitchum, also for Home from the Hill (winner).
  • Laurel Awards, USA (1961) Best Female Dramatic Performance - Deborah Kerr (nomination)

Notes:

1. Also known as Les Horizons Sans Frontières (France); Der Endlose Horizont (West Germany); Fjerne Horisonter (Denmark); Fred Zinnemann's The Sundowners (UK); Grensloze Horizonten (Belgium); I Nomadi Italy Maankiertäjät (Finland); Três Vidas Errantes (Portugal); Tres Vidas Errantes (Spain).
2. Further reference: Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper. Australian Film 1900-1977, A Guide to Feature Film Production (1980, q.v.), pp. 300-301.

Subjects:
Settings:
  • South Australia,
  • Snowy Mountains, Cooma - Snowy - Bombala area, Southeastern NSW, New South Wales,
  • 1920s
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