Bush Christmas

1947
Approved
1h 20m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

In Australia, five children pursue horse thieves through the mountains.In Australia, five children pursue horse thieves through the mountains.In Australia, five children pursue horse thieves through the mountains.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

535

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
In June 1947, the film was shown in the British Parliament to members of the House of Lords and House of Commons. This was an attempt to persuade them to allow employment of child actors under the age of 12.

Goofs
When the children roll the first 'boulder' down the hill towards the horse thieves, after it passes the last thief part of the 'boulder' breaks off revealing it to be a wire cage with a covering.

Quotes
[first lines]
Narrator: I don't expect you've ever heard of our valley. Mara Mara is its name, the name the Australian blacks gave it hundreds of years before we came to their land. Mara Mara. It has a nice, sleepy sound, hasn't it? And we're a sleepy little town, too. Plenty of hard work, but never much excitement. That is to say, not until last Christmas. I must tell you about last Christmas, because then we had too much excitement for a little place like ours. It all started on the afternoon school broke up for Christmas holidays. Of course on our side of the world, Christmas comes in the middle of the summer.

Connections
Featured in Maltin on Movies: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

User reviews20

Review

Featured review

7/10

A Different Kind of Christmas Story

Very fun and very different Australian Christmas tale. Some thieves steal horses from a local farmer. The farmer's kids and their friends, a visiting English boy and an Aborigine boy named Neza, take off after the horse thieves themselves. Their pursuit takes them into the Australian bush. Eventually the kids catch up to the thieves and must use their brains to defeat them and get their father's horses back. This is a fun, likable film that's probably unlike anything most kids today have seen. Particularly American kids. I didn't see it until I was an adult but it I enjoyed it a lot. If you want to try a unique Christmas movie, then please try this one out. It's a keeper.