When I saw "Walk into Paradise" (the Australian title) in a theatre in Sydney in the 1950s, I think New Guinea was more in our minds than it is today. I was only nine, but nearly all the parents of my generation had served in the war, a lot of them in New Guinea.
The story has a touch of John Huston's "The African Queen". Like Humphrey Bogart's Charlie Allnutt, Chips Rafferty's Steve McAllister reluctantly takes a woman with him on an expedition through dangerous, uncharted country.
Like Humphrey in the earlier movie, Chips finds that the woman, a French doctor in this case, is an asset rather than a liability. That was pretty much the basic ingredient of movie expeditions whether it was a trip to the middle of Africa or a journey to the centre of the earth.
The stars in "Walk into Paradise" hardly had the glamour of their famous Hollywood counterparts, but the participation of the hundreds of extras, the real natives of New Guinea, is absolutely fascinating. They are the real stars of the film.
There are impressive scenes: the sudden appearance of scores of natives out of seemingly empty grassland; the female paddlers ferrying McAllister's expedition in canoes though a labyrinth of channels, and finally, the massing of the natives in full regalia to create an airstrip.
At the time, Chips Rafferty still seemed to represent the quintessential Aussie male. Peter Finch gave the icon another shading in "A Town Like Alice", but you always felt that Chips wasn't acting all that much.
The score for "Walk into Paradise" was by Georges Auric, hired through the film's French connection. He had composed one of the most beautiful melodies ever for the screen, "It's April Again", the song from "Moulin Rouge" - another John Huston film. His score here is a quality one for an Australian film of the time.
On many levels "Walk into Paradise" is a time capsule. It may not be a masterpiece, but it certainly is unique.
The story has a touch of John Huston's "The African Queen". Like Humphrey Bogart's Charlie Allnutt, Chips Rafferty's Steve McAllister reluctantly takes a woman with him on an expedition through dangerous, uncharted country.
Like Humphrey in the earlier movie, Chips finds that the woman, a French doctor in this case, is an asset rather than a liability. That was pretty much the basic ingredient of movie expeditions whether it was a trip to the middle of Africa or a journey to the centre of the earth.
The stars in "Walk into Paradise" hardly had the glamour of their famous Hollywood counterparts, but the participation of the hundreds of extras, the real natives of New Guinea, is absolutely fascinating. They are the real stars of the film.
There are impressive scenes: the sudden appearance of scores of natives out of seemingly empty grassland; the female paddlers ferrying McAllister's expedition in canoes though a labyrinth of channels, and finally, the massing of the natives in full regalia to create an airstrip.
At the time, Chips Rafferty still seemed to represent the quintessential Aussie male. Peter Finch gave the icon another shading in "A Town Like Alice", but you always felt that Chips wasn't acting all that much.
The score for "Walk into Paradise" was by Georges Auric, hired through the film's French connection. He had composed one of the most beautiful melodies ever for the screen, "It's April Again", the song from "Moulin Rouge" - another John Huston film. His score here is a quality one for an Australian film of the time.
On many levels "Walk into Paradise" is a time capsule. It may not be a masterpiece, but it certainly is unique.