The F.J. Holden

When Australian films are good, they're very very good, but when they're bad they're rotten. F.J Holden is, I think, one of the worst Aussie films I've seen. It's unfortunate because it has all the ingredients of a good film, and frankly, most Australian films fall flat on their faces due to either trying to be too intellectual or too quirky. F.J Holden has the romantic entanglements of a love story, of racial friction (not to mention friction with the law), but most of all, a story of young people caught between their own wishes, and the wants of their elders. It's sad to see such factors handled so slipshod, but as Hitchcock said, "Drama is life with the dull bits left out", and with this movie, the producers left in what should have been left out! On a more positive note, this is one of Sigrid Thornton's first movies, it's a pity we didn't see a little more of her in the film, than a lot of obviously fine actors trying to make something of this very pulpy story.

P.S I grew up in the area this film was made (Panania), and I recognized many of the locations, locations that could have (with a decent story) been utilized better. F.J Holden is one of those films you see, that takes forever to get going, and once it gets going, it goes nowhere.