The Getting of Wisdom (1978)

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writers:

Henry Handel Richardson (from the novel by), Eleanor Witcombe (screenplay)

Stars:

Julia Blake, Dorothy Bradley, Kay Eklund

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julia Blake	...	Isabella Shepherd
Dorothy Bradley	...	Miss Hicks
Kay Eklund	...	Mrs. Rambotham
Max Fairchild	...	Mr. O'Donnell
Jan Friedl	...	Miss Snodgrass
Diana Greentree	...	Maisie Shepherd
Maggie Kirkpatrick	...	Sarah
Monica Maughan	...	Miss Day
Candy Raymond	...	Miss Zielinski
Terence Donovan	...	Tom McNamara
Kerry Armstrong	...	Kate
Celia De Burgh	...	M.P.
Kim Deacon	...	Lilith
Alix Longman	...	Chinky
Jo-Anne Moore	...	Tilly

Storyline

---

Plot Keywords:

melbourne australia | australia | piano | playing piano | title same as book | 

---

Taglines:

From Henry Handel Richardson's immortal best seller

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 August 1978 (Australia)

Also Known As:

A bölcsesség elnyerése

Filming Locations:

Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Australian Film Commission, The, Nine Network Australia, Southern Cross Films Pty. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Bruce Beresford first acquired the film rights to 'The Getting of Wisdom' novel by Henry Handel Richardson in 1974, about three to four years prior to this movie being made and released.

---

Quotes

Lilith: [Laura enters her assigned bedroom in the school and meets Lilith Gordon, who spies Laura holding a cake tin, which Lilith grabs and opens and sees glace cherries on the cake. She commences to eat them] Ohh, scrummy!

---

Connections

Featured in Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom' (2006)

---

Soundtracks

"Kinderszenen Op. 15, No. 1 Von Fremden Ländern Und Menschen"
(uncredited)
Music by Robert Schumann

User Reviews

Wisdom is Priceless....

Bruce Beresford's 1978 drama is a likable movie, one that is part of the 12 DVD boxed set 'Australian Cinema Collection vol 1', that I imported from Down Under and am working through. This is the 2nd disc.

Usually, period dramas and ones that feature boarding school girls, hold less interest for me and I wasn't necessarily looking forward to watching it. However, it rolled along nicely, with believable and unpretentious characters, both the girls and the staff. The dialogue was 'teenage-girly' and believable as was the rather stuffy infatuation with and study of the classics, which was the way of etiquette and all that, back in the 1880's. Their recital and devotion to learning it is both touching but also slightly pathetic, if you think that there were so many other things in the world for them to be taught.

Which is what it was all about, really. Class. How you couldn't step up the ladder and how your social circumstances dictate how you live and how others treat you. Aside of that, I found the puppy love crush on a handsome teacher by quite a few of the girls absolutely wonderful and so very normal!

The Getting of Wisdom is not really a film I'd probably watch again, at least not in a hurry. It's certainly not Australia's best film but a very satisfactory one.