Australian movies: 1960s

Found that I have capped an overwhelming majority of Australian movies made between 1970 to 2010, so I came up the idea to do a review of each year every week until the present day. Well, I was going to begin at the beginning of 2024 but as you can see it's now February and this is the first of these updates. So this might take a lot longer than I was hoping.

The main goal is to finish off the remaining movies I haven't watched/capped between 1970-2010 so that I only have left everything after that where the number of Australian movies exponentially jumped as it became far easier to make them. Hopefully that can be achieved save for movies that are impossible to find or have completely disappeared.

The Australian film industry began in earnest in 1970/1971 when the Prime Minister at the time, John Gorton, helped institute the Australian Film Development Corporation which was to help fund an Australian film industry. Before that, movies were basically the domain of entrepreneurs and dedicated film societies that ran off the smell of an oily rag. There weren't a lot made and they were usually pushed out being shown by big American studios. But a small number of movies were made before 1970.

I'm going to start with the 1960s as there were only a handful of movies made and most of them are available to look at. For the most part I'll have original content or link to where I've previously capped the movie. Sometimes I'll mention the excellent Ozmovies site (I won't link to it here but it's easy-to-find via search) when I can't find the movie at it has catalogued most Australian movies and has a convenient 'Downunder Club' section that highlights sexy stuff in the movies.

1966

They're a Weird Mob

Quintessential Australian fish-out-of-water comedy made by the great film partnership of Powell/Pressburger after director Michael Powell was basically banished from Britain after making the highly controversial 1960 serial killer drama Peeping Tom. The plot is pretty simple, an Italian man arrives in Sydney with the promise of a sports writing job with his cousin but once here he finds his cousin has gone broke and absconded and he's all alone with no money and can't understand what Australians are saying. A fun movie but very much of the time and even I as an Australian struggled to understand some of it.

There's no nudity in the movie as it's pretty G-rated but plenty of bikini action on the beach.

Claire Dunne in They're a Weird Mob

41759kb 46sec 1920x1078 (one piece bathing suit)

 

Claire Dunne and Judith Arthy in They're a Weird Mob

25982kb 29sec 1920x1078 (Claire in one piece bathing suit, Judith in bikini)

 

Judith Arthy in They're a Weird Mob

21361kb 24sec 1920x1078 (bikini, brief bra)

66930kb 1min 16sec 1920x1078 (bikini)

 

Alida Chelli and Gita Rivera in They're a Weird Mob

12943kb 14sec 1920x1078 (both in bikinis)

 

Doreen Warburton in They're a Weird Mob

1985kb 2sec 1920x1078 (bikini)

 

Unknown in They're a Weird Mob

20011kb 22sec 1920x1078 (bikini)

 

 

1967

Journey Out of Darkness

Long forgotten movie about Indigenous man (Kamahl, who's actually a Sri Lankan immigrant better known for his singing who's still kicking around as seen by his nutty social media presence) who is taken to prison by a trooper through the unforgiving desert. Can't find the movie but there's this scene of Julie Williams nude which going by the Ozmovies site seems to be the only nudity in the movie.

Julie Williams in Journey Out of Darkness

4222kb 33sec 320x240 (breasts, skirt)

 

 

1969

2000 Weeks

Tawdry arthouse drama about a man deciding whether he wants to be with his wife (Eileen Chapman) or his lover (Jeanie Drynan). A bit of sexy stuff with mild nudity in the movie from Eileen Chapman. Some sexy stuff from Jeanie Drynan who's not usually known for such scenes but it's very mild. The director would change tack and went on to make the sex-filled Alvin Purple movies and has apparently said he wishes for this movie to never be seen again. That's probably why the movie seems to be only available as a bootleg workprint. The version I have has no tail credits and a timecode. Better than nothing I guess.

Jeanie Drynan in 2000 Weeks

38976kb 2min 01sec 720x544 (implied nudity, 'nude' under covers, sex scene, lengthy)

 

Eileen Chapman in 2000 Weeks

19486kb 1min 720x544 (brief breasts, bra, in shower)

38956kb 1min 59sec 720x544 (one piece bathing suit, lengthy)

18554kb 55sec 720x544 (breasts, bum)

2100kb 6sec 720x544 (bikini)

 

 

Adam's Woman

Period drama about an American (Beau Bridges) who is sentenced to death in England but is sent to Australia instead where he is set-up with a wife (English actress Jane Merrow) and they try to make a go of it on the land. Starring an American and full of British actors, it's a surprise this is an Australian movie but it was shot entirely here and various known Australian actors turn up throughout the movie. Starts like a bawdy comedy but gets serious real quick. The only nudity is from Jane Merrow as she is bathing in the river but there's also a bit of sexy stuff from others.

Jane Merrow in Adam's Woman

6776kb 23sec 752x320 (bum, side-boob)

 

Tracy Reed in Adam's Woman

10317kb 44sec 752x320 (plenty of cleavage in corsetry)

 

Helen Morse in Adam's Woman

5939kb 29sec 752x320 (plenty of cleavage)

 

Katy Wild in Adam's Woman

4800kb 19sec 752x320 ('nude' under covers)

 

 

Age of Consent

Michael Powell's next movie after They're a Weird Mob, which I capped back in May 2021. You can find the update and more info on the movie there. English actress Helen Mirren has a number of nude scenes and Australian actress Clarissa Kaye-Mason (who would go on to marry the lead actor James Mason) also shows her breasts.

Helen Mirren

   
   
   
   
   

 

Clarissa Kaye-Mason

   

 

 

Color Me Dead

Strangely, this a remake of D.O.A (1950) about a man (American actor Tom Tryon) who has been injected with a poison and before he dies he tries to find out his killer. Also features American actress Carolyn Jones best known as Morticia in The Addams Family plus a bunch of great movies from the 50s. There is some stripper nudity in this movie from unknowns Alisa Teran and Joanne Smith who were probably just strippers in real-life. There's also some sexy stuff from Suzy Kendall (not the one from To Sir, With Love) who seems to be having a ball playing a minx.

Suzy Kendall in Color Me Dead

25726kb 1min 33sec 696x536 (bikini, lengthy)

1510kb 6sec 696x536 (bra and panties)

 

Alisa Teran and Joanne Smith in Color Me Dead

45768kb 2min 57sec 696x536 (both show breasts with pasties over nipples also in bikinis, one woman show bum crack, very lengthy)

1510kb 6sec 696x536 (breasts, bikini bottoms)

 

 

You Can't See 'round Corners

A feature-length movie based on a TV show of the same name (which was not uncommon at the time). It's all pretty mild but there's some brief sexy stuff from Carmen Duncan who worked plentifully in Australia and even turned up in American soaps. I remember seeing her turn up in the Adelaide shot Hotel Mumbai which seems to be her last role before she died.

Carmen Duncan in You Can't See 'round Corners

22414kb 1min 20sec 720x540 (brief bra, 'nude' under covers)

 

That's all for the 60s as far as I can tell. There's a 1968 movie called Time in Summer that may have very brief nudity in it but it's impossible to find so I can't confirm it. There's also a 1969 experimental movie Marinetti from the director of Palm Beach that I can't confirm if there's nudity in it but the poster for the movie has a naked woman on it so there's probably a good chance it does.

Other movies released in the 1960s like The Sundowners, Shadow of the Boomerang (both 1960), Clay (1965), a couple of Japanese co-productions from 1968 Koya No Toseinin and Moeru Tairiku, It Takes All Kinds (1969) and a couple of family movies Little Jungle Boy and a Skippy movie The Intruders (both 1969) all have no nudity in them.

As you can see there was only about 20 Australian feature-length movies for the entire 1960s. Into the 1970s it quickly became about 20 movies a year before an explosion in the 1980s. The goal is to do an overview of each year every week so we'll see how that goes. If I have time I might include New Zealand movies but the first one isn't until 1977 so I have a few updates to decide whether to include them or do a separate update after I finish with Australian movies.

 

Tags: Claire Dunne, Judith Arthy, Alida Chelli, Gita Rivera, Doreen Warburton, Julie Williams, Jeanie Drynan, Eileen Chapman, Jane Merrow, Tracy Reed, Helen Morse, Katy Wild, Suzy Kendall, Alisa Teran, Joanne Smith, Carmen Duncan