The children of Mara-Mara

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Movie
German title The children of Mara-Mara
Original title Bush Christmas
Country of production United Kingdom of
Australia
original language English
Publishing year 1947
length 79-80 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Ralph Smart
script Ralph Smart
(also wrote the original story)
production Ralph Smart
music Sydney John Kay
John Reynders and his orchestra
camera George Heath
occupation
the children

The Children of Mara-Mara (Original title: Bush Christmas ) is a British-Australian family film from 1947 directed by Ralph Smart , who also wrote the script, wrote the original story and was the producer. While Christmas is just around the corner , the children of the Thompson family and two of their friends go on an adventurous hunt for horse thieves who have stolen two of their precious four-legged friends .

action

The Thompsons live in the Mara Mara Valley with their three children Helen, the eldest of the three, John and six-year-old Snow, who is so called because of his unusually light hair color. As the children ride home on their last day of school before the start of the Christmas holidays, they meet two strangers on the way who introduce themselves to them as Bill, a tall man, and Jim, his plump buddy. The innocent children, who of course have no idea that they have two horse thieves in front of them, tell them about Lucy, a particularly valuable mare in their father's stable who has just had a foal.

The next day both horses are missing and the children immediately realize that they have made a mistake that they now want to make up for. Together with their English friend Michael, who spends the Christmas holidays with them, and their friend Neza, an Aboriginal boy and the son of a cattle driver, they go in search of the valuable animals. The ride that leads them through the mountains turns out to be more difficult than expected and then they get lost. When they are plagued by hunger, it is Neza who teaches them how bush walkers deal with such situations and that snakes and maggots can also be fed. It is little Snow who comes across the trail of horse thieves. The children soon find out that a third man named Blue has joined the cattle thieves. When the men sleep, the children hide their horses and steal the crooks' boots and blankets. Neza also works her water bag with a spear so that the water runs out. Unfortunately, their plan does not work out as they had hoped, because when they reach an old ghost town, the children are outwitted by the men who hang them in a row on large meat hooks from their collars.

Help is soon, however, because Henry Thompson, accompanied by the local police, has gone in search of his three children and their friends, all of whom are now being freed from their predicament. The horse thieves are arrested by the police while the Christmas dinner they have longed for awaits the children.

Production and publication

The film presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is a Children's Entertainment Film GB Instructional Production presented by J. Arthur Rank in the Cinema Clubs For Boys and Girls division.

The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 28, 1947, in the United States (New York) on November 26, 1947. In Germany it was shown on December 2, 1947, in Sweden on December 18, 1947, in Australia (in Sydney) on December 19, 1947, in Austria on December 25, 1947, in France on March 3, 1948, in Finland on October 22, 1948, in Denmark on December 10, 1948 and in Italy on April 16, 1949.

In Austria the film was also shown under the title Adventure in Mara-Mara . In Australia it was also called Bush Country Adventure in a new edition ; that was also the title on the American television broadcast. In Denmark it ran under the title Vi fanger Hestetyvene , in Finland under Seikkailu viidakossa , in Hungary under Kalandos vakáció , in Italy under Natale nel bosco and in Sweden under Äventyr i djungeln .

Remake

  • In 1982/1983 there was another film adaptation of the material under the same original title, which in Germany ran under the title Bush Christmas - 40 degrees in the shade, alternatively lightning-fast horses - smart thieves .

criticism

The lexicon of the international film showed sympathy for the film adaptation and judged: "Sympathetic and exciting entertainment for children in which the wild and romantic Australian bush landscape plays a major role."

In Spiegel 49/1947 it was read that the film people would make a virtue out of necessity, that there were only a few film studios in Australia, which led to people going “into the countryside, into nature”. It went on: “ The children of Mara Mara are still unspoiled by the film civilization. The adventurous youth story on the screen looks like a reminiscence of a lost paradise. It's a very simple story. […] The audience was as excited as if they were a detective. They were also pleased with the unadulterated humor with which the children, under the guidance of their director Ralph Smart, experience their experiences like children. Everyone falls in love with six-year-old Snow. But the other four youngsters are also very popular. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The children of Mara-Mara. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ The children of Mara-Mara boys, girls, robbers, horses. Ralph Smart went into the bush . In: Der Spiegel No. 49/1947 of December 6, 1947.