Three in One (1957)

This film contains three short stories about life in Australia in the 1950's.

Director:

Cecil Holmes

Writers:

Frank Hardy (story), Henry Lawson (story),

Stars:

John McCallum, Edmund Allison, Reg Lye

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John McCallum	...	Introductions
Edmund Allison	...	Tom Stevens (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Reg Lye	...	The Swaggie (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Alexander Archdale	...	Firbank (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Charles Tasman	...	The Undertaker (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Don McNiven	...	Patrick Rooney (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Jerold Wells	...	Wally (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Chris Kempster	...	Longun (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Brian Anderson	...	Joe (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Kenneth J. Warren	...	Andy (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates") (as Kenneth Warren)
Evelyn Docker	...	Maggie (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
Ben Gabriel	...	The Priest (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
The Bushwhacker's Band	...	segment - 'Joe Wilson's Mates'
Jerome 'Jock' Levy	...	Darkie (segment "The Load of Wood")
Leonard Teale	...	Ernie (segment "The Load of Wood") (as Leonard Thiele)

Storyline

This film contains three short stories about life in Australia in the 1950's.

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Taglines:

What's the odds?

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

1957 (France)

Box Office

Budget:

AUD 10,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Australian Tradition Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Forgotten Cinema: The Golden Age of Australian Motion Pictures (1967)

User Reviews

An important early independent Australian film

Socialist author Frank Hardy offered his equally convinced left-wing friend Cecil Holmes part of his royalties from the controversial novel "Power Without Glory" to film his story "A Load of Wood", after which Holmes was able to finance two more segments, "The City" and "Joe Wilson's Mates". "A Load of Wood" remains, however, the best in the film,a bleak, almost Soviet tale of men suffering out the Depression in a country town. One of them, irritated by the meagre pay for their road-mending job and by the threat of a cold night, suggests a raid on a neighbouring landowner for firewood. Ross Wood's photography sets the mood of cold, misery and shame, while Jerome Levy as the burly revolutionary gives a performance of ferocious skill. By comparison, "The City" is trivial, and, as Holmes admitted, excessively influenced by Italian NeoRealism, while "Joe Wilson's Mates", though likable, is light-weight. When a tramp is found dead outside a country town with a union card in his pocket, other union members, even though they have never met him, club together for a proper funeral. Sweating in the heat, and making frequent stops to rest, drink beer and bicker, they put Joe Wilson to rest, and celebrate afterwards at a spirited wool-shed dance. With Australian distribution controlled by British and US companies, an independent production like THREE IN ONE was denied general release,supposedly because of its socialist tone. However, "Joe Wilson's Mates" was shown as a short in support of an Alfred Hitchcock film.