Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Director:

Peter Weir

Writers:

Joan Lindsay (novel)
Cliff Green (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 February 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

Australia's First International Hit! [Video Australia]

Plot:

A story about the disappearance of several Appleyard College students, and a teacher, from Hanging Rock.

Plot Keywords:

Rock | Hanging Rock | Teacher | Hanging | Student

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Rachel Roberts	...	Mrs. Appleyard
Vivean Gray	...	Miss McCraw
Helen Morse	...	Mlle. de Poitiers
Kirsty Child	...	Miss Lumley
Tony Llewellyn-Jones	...	Tom (as Anthony Llewellyn-Jones)
Jacki Weaver	...	Minnie
Frank Gunnell	...	Mr. Whitehead
Anne-Louise Lambert	...	Miranda (as Anne Lambert)
Karen Robson	...	Irma
Jane Vallis	...	Marion
Christine Schuler	...	Edith
Margaret Nelson	...	Sara
Ingrid Mason	...	Rosamund
Jenny Lovell	...	Blanche
Janet Murray	...	Juliana
Vivienne Graves	...	Pupil
Angela Bencini	...	Pupil
Melinda Cardwell	...	Pupil
Annabel Powrie	...	Pupil
Amanda White	...	Pupil
Lindy O'Connell	...	Pupil
Verity Smith	...	Pupil
Deborah Mullins	...	Pupil
Sue Jamieson	...	Pupil
Bernadette Bencini	...	Pupil
Barbara Lloyd	...	Pupil
Wyn Roberts	...	Sgt. Bumpher
Kay Taylor	...	Mrs. Bumpher
Garry McDonald	...	Const. Jones
Martin Vaughan	...	Ben Hussey
John Fegan	...	Doc. McKenzie (as Jack Fegan)
Peter Collingwood	...	Col. Fitzhubert
Olga Dickie	...	Mrs. Fitzhubert
Dominic Guard	...	Michael Fitzhubert
John Jarratt	...	Albert Crundall (as John Jarrett)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Faith Kleinig	...	Cook (uncredited)

Directed by
Peter Weir

Writing credits
Joan Lindsay		(novel)
Cliff Green		(screenplay)

Produced by
A. John Graves	....	executive producer: South Australian Film Corporation (as John Graves)
Patricia Lovell	....	executive producer
Hal McElroy	....	producer
Jim McElroy	....	producer

Cinematography by
Russell Boyd		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Max Lemon

Art Direction by
David Copping

Costume Design by
Judith Dorsman		(as Judy Dorsman)

Makeup Department
Elizabeth Mitchie	....	makeup artist
José Luis Pérez	....	makeup supervisor (as Jose Perez)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kim Dalton	....	second assistant director
Mark Egerton	....	first assistant director
Ian Jamieson	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Neil Angwin	....	assistant to art department
Mont Fieguth	....	property master (as Monte Fieguth)
Mont Fieguth	....	stand-by property (as Monte Fieguth)
Bill Howe	....	construction manager
Martin Sharp	....	artistic advisor to director
Graham 'Grace' Walker	....	property buyer (as Graham Walker)
Graham 'Grace' Walker	....	set dresser (as Graham Walker)
Christopher Webster	....	assistant to art director

Sound Department
Sherry Bell	....	assistant dubbing editor
Greg Bell	....	dubbing editor (uncredited)
Don Connolly	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
Joe Spinelli	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
David Kynoch	....	still photographer
Geoffrey Simpson	....	electrician
Tony Tegg	....	gaffer
Trevor Toune	....	best boy
Geordie Dryden	....	key grip (uncredited)
David Foreman	....	clapper loader (uncredited)
David Sanderson	....	photographer: nature (uncredited)
John Seale	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Phil Warner	....	assistant grip (uncredited)
David Williamson	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mandy Smith	....	wardrobe assistant
Wendy Stites	....	associate costume designer

Editorial Department
Margaret Cardin	....	negative matcher
Andre Fleuren	....	assistant film editor
Dee McClelland	....	colorist: digitally restored version

Music Department
Bruce Smeaton	....	composer: additional original music
Gheorghe Zamfir	....	musician: pan flute

Other crew
Gilda Baracchi	....	continuity
Tom Downer	....	wrangler
Steve Knapman	....	production assistant
Joan McIntosh	....	accountant
Pom Oliver	....	production secretary
Gordon Rayner	....	assistant wrangler
Phil Smythe	....	accountant: SAFC
Sidney L. Stebel	....	script consultant (as Sidney Stebel)
Jill Wishart	....	production secretary: SAFC

Production Companies

• Australian Film Commission, The
• McElroy & McElroy
• Picnic Productions Pty. Ltd.
• Z

Distributors

• Greater Union Organisation (GUO) (1975) (Australia) (theatrical)
• G.T.O. Films Ltd. (1976) (UK) (theatrical)
• V.O. Films S.A. (1977) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1977) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Atlantic Releasing Corporation (1979) (USA) (theatrical)
• Tuschinski Film Distribution (1979) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Dianafilmi (1981) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Vestron Video (1982) (USA) (VHS)
• Vestron Video (1982) (USA) (video) (Betamax)
• Roadshow Home Video (1985) (Australia) (video)
• Electric Pictures Ltd. (1993) (UK) (VHS)
• Roadshow Entertainment Video (1995) (Australia) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• PolyGram Video (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• Pathé Distribution (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Aquarius TV (2004) (Greece) (TV)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• LW Editora (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Scanbox Entertainment (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Rosebud (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Look Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (video) (VOD)
• Z

Other Companies

• Australian Film Commission, The  funding
• M & L Casting Consultants  casting
• Optical & Graphics  titles and opticals
• Tony Tegg Lighting  lighting equipment
• United Sound  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Runtime:

115 min | Australia:107 min (1998 director's cut)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Norway:11 | UK:PG (video rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | UK:A | Australia:G (TV rating) | Spain:T | Spain:X | Singapore:PG | Brazil:12 | Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:11 | USA:TV-PG (cable rating)

Filming Locations:

Adelaide Hills, South Australia, Australia

Company:

Australian Film Commission, The

Trivia:

The cast and crew traveled to Adelaide, co-incidentally arrived on February 14th - St. Valentine's Day, the day on which in 1900, the action starts in both the book and film.

Goofs:

Continuity: Miranda cuts the Valentine's Day cake with a clean kitchen knife. However, the next shot shows the cake cut down the middle, and the same knife lying beside it clean and bare, as if it had never been used.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Miranda:What we see and what we seem are but a dream, a dream within a dream.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wolf Creek (2005)

Soundtrack:

String Quartet in No 1 in D Major, 2nd Movement

great film

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a masterpiece of psychological fiction in which we see an awful thing happen from a great distance and are only given enough clues to guess at what happened to the missing girls. Excellent cinematography and a musical score perfectly chosen both of which become Weir trademarks first appear in this film. They are clearly missing in the Cars that Ate Paris his first full length film. Though many people have offered suggestions both realistic and absurd as to what happened to the ladies, everything but Dingo attacks have been suggested, we are kept in the dark on purpose. The novel that the film was based on suggested, almost as an afterthought, that the story might be true. This claim was as much a fiction as the rest of the novel.

The site, Hanging Rock, is identified with a mythic highway man and all the things we observe happening have elements of the supernatural. The people as in many Weir films communicate the most critical ideas with out talking. A significant plot development in this film, we hear thoughts..see people moving on ward as if drawn towards their doom, but Weir never bothers us with needless Dialog..how much weaker would the plot be if we heard Miranda calling to her companions "follow me, we must reach the top." It is also critical to the developing sense of spirituality and intuitive communication we see in Gallipoli and Witness.

Finally, if we knew what happened to the girls, any speculation about the fate of those at the school would be moot. The mystery explains the accusations by the girls, parents and staff and the eventual downfall of most who worked there.

Those who do not like the film fail to see it as an Aussie Gothic film as innovative in its day as Wuthering Heights was in its.