Smiley (1956) User Reviews

Agreed!

[tewson_fuji · 8/10 · 3 February 2005]

Sure it looks old and the actors speak in an unusually strong Aussie accent that can be off-putting even for this Down Under fellow but its simplicity, scenery shots and innocent story really is wonderful.

I remember seeing this as a kid one summer holiday (the type of movie they put on at midday to entertain us kids along with old Tarzan flicks and bad, bad oh! so bad Sci Fi relics).

Instantly it hit chords within me. As an Australian country lad watching this, I could smell the sun on the gum leaves and the as above-mentioned accents where, yes, goddamn awful BUT so familiar.

For an Aussie, anywhere (and all others everywhere else), watch this film...enjoy it for what it is...

Exotic Australia in the Fifties

[millennium-4 · 6/10 · 30 May 2007]

You could not grow up in the UK in the fifties without seeing a Smiley flick. They were almost exotic in that all the actors were speaking English, but it was that spicy Aussie version. These flicks colored or informed my view of Australia and Aussies in many ways. Aussies I met later in London did not always like the impression that Smiley had made on the Brits. The felt that it gave the wrong view that all Aussie were hicks, and did not know Shakespeare from milk shake. Australia was so far away and yet connected to the UK by a really thick umbilical. The flick was released as the emigration of thousands of UK citizens to Australia was beginning to ebb, and I wonder what effect it might have had on those who were thinking of leaving the 'old country' and going to the 'lucky country'.

Too bad Netflicks does not have it....what was I thinking?

Delightful Kid's film from Down Under

[artzau · 8/10 · 15 March 2003]

I remember seeing this film and being delighted with both Chips Rafferty, who played the constable and Sir Ralph Richardson, who was the Reverend. The tale focuses on a boy in the outback whose mother is keeping the homefires burning while his father is working as a stockman. The boy, Bruce Archer, appeared in this film and the sequel, as did Rafferty, is trying to save his money for a horse and gets unwittingly involved transporting drugs being sold by one of the local merchants. When his ne'er-do-well father returns home and drinks up his savings, he runs off into the bush and is saved by an Englishman, a "Tommy," passing through. The bad guys are taken care of and the tale ends on a happy note. The most memorable thing about the film is its simple depiction of rural Australian life and, of course, the craggy face of Rafferty, who always reminded me of Walter Matthau.

Check it out if you have a chance. I believe you'll be glad you did.

Nice Little Film: lovely afternoon spent

[bamptonj · 7/10 · 16 January 2006]

I was greatly entranced by this little film.

It chronicles the misadventures of a likable outback boy, Smiley, who has his heart set upon a bike. He undertakes to do chores for various townspeople - the publican, the reverend, and the obliging policeman - to raise money, but is constantly set back (he has to pay for a damaged bike, and broken windows). I must disagree with the other reviewer, however, and say that apart, from Smiley, his mates, and the laconic Chips Raffetry, I did not find the Australian accent pronounced at all. Indeed, the film featured many adults attempting to bring across that pseudo-English accent that characterized the cultural cringe before the New Wave of Australian cinema in the 1970s.

I was surprised that this was a 20th Century Fox co-production, but maybe that accounts for why SMILEY looks like it was made for a generic international children's market - why there is a map of America in the classroom of an outback school, why a laconic Smiley calls 'yabbys' crayfish, and why opium is the choice of smuggled goods in the outback etc It is indeed a simple story, but offers lovely scenery and a generally capturing performance of the title role in particular. It is politically incorrect if not downright patronizing to Aboriginals and seems to push religious devotion somewhat quite constantly (quoting scripture, praying etc), but it is generally a product of its time.

Tom and Huck on the outback

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 1 June 2013]

For me watching Smiley is another chance to see that quintessential Aussie Chips Rafferty playing a police sergeant on bicycle patrol. But for the rest especially those under 12 Smiley is a very nice and heartwarming children's feature about a kid growing up in the outback with hardworking mother and a father who's a drover and not exactly the best role model around.

Colin Petersen plays young Smiley and that's his baptismal name all right and together with friend Bruce Archer have a real Tom and Huck kind of childhood on the outback. Both despise footwear of any kind and they're getting into all kinds of mischief including the fact that young Smiley gets himself quite innocently involved in the opium trade as a ruthless villain uses the kid as a drug mule. How low can you get?

Rafferty is always good and he's more the role model than real father Reg Lye ever could be. As for Petersen this is all to earn money to get himself a bicycle.

As others have said the film is dated, but Smiley has not lost a tad of genuine appeal.

Enchanting Aussie Movie

[tophoca · 9/10 · 11 November 2006]

I saw this film as a youngster in the 1960s and along with the sequel 'Smiley Gets a Gun' it has always stuck in my memory as two films I must get round to watching again. I managed to obtain two new commercial releases from Australia and sat down with a bag of chips and a tinny to relive happy childhood memories, I wasn't disappointed.

Yes the Australian accents are a bit over the top and yes the films are now showing their age a bit, but for sheer charm and gentile entertainment 'Smiley' and its sequel take some beating. The acting is top notch and the camera work is exceptional. Both films are pure magic! Fine examples of Australian cinema are worth of a place in anyones DVD collection.

Dennis the Menace: Back of Beyond Edition

[JohnSeal · 6/10 · 9 November 2010]

The life of a happy-go-lucky 10-year-old boy is the focus of this quirky children's film written and directed by Anthony Kimmins. Set in the Australian outback, the film features Colin Petersen (later the Bee Gees' drummer during their late '60s purple patch) as the title character, a cheeky lad trying to save up for a new bike. With an assist from his neighbors, Smiley begins to fill his piggy bank - but drug-running and gambling threaten to undo his efforts. Filmed in widescreen Technicolor (though aired recently in pan and scan on Fox Movie Channel) and co-starring Ralph Richardson, Chips Rafferty, and Charles Tingwell, Smiley was shot on location in New South Wales, and was popular enough to spawn a sequel, Smiley Gets a Gun. Oh, those wacky Australians.

Exciting children's movie from a bygone era

[teddles-3 · 9/10 · 1 January 2001]

Smiley is the story of a mischievous young country boy from outback Australia and his relationship with the local policeman (played by the immortal Chips Rafferty. This film is an ideal children's film. An interesting sideline to this film is the obvious change in human values between when this film was made in 1956 and of now. A not to be missed film

A great Aussie kids film

[PeterM27 · 7/10 · 18 December 2021]

This classic 50s family film holds up nicely, with a well-paced and often surprising story, involving a cast of Australia's best actors at the time, including Chips Rafferty as the 'tough nut fair' local cop who keeps the town safe under his firm but fair hand; Bud Tingwell as the cheery local headmaster, Reg Lye as Smiley's often absent boozy-drover father, Guy Doleman as the swaggy who saves Smiley when he is bitten by a snake, John McCallum as the slippery pub-owner, and Margaret Christensen as Smiley's long-suffering mother. English actor Ralph Richardson also appears as the jovial pastor who is not above punching out the occasional villain.

The film was an English production, but captures many aspects of Australian society at the time, as well as how we wished ourselves to appear. It was a box-office success and prompted a successful sequel in 1958. It's still an entertaining film.

Every town has at least one Smiley.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 28 October 2022]

That prankster who, according to an old Christmas song, put a tack on teacher's chair or filled the sugar bowl up with salt, we all remember one. The character of Smiley, if he were to be around 10 in 1956, could easily be a grandfather or great-grandfather by now, telling is descendants of his antics as a kid even though he disciplined his children for the same things. An absolute little rascal who more than two decades after the height of the series of movie shorts known as "Our Gang", is the Australian variation of those archetypes, loveable even if he's often a nuisance (even to other kids), and ultimately quite the charmer, easy to forgive. Colin Petersen went onto an aspiring musical career, but because of personal choices will most likely be remembered more for this role than for the early days of the Bee Gees.

This kid started with problems as early as his christening, those caused by conflicts between his parents, total opposites who managed to stay together through thick or thin even if they were the Australian version of the Bickersons. The basic structure of the film deals with the hard times of the family and how Smiley makes his way through those moments with a variety of adventures and a large number of mentors whom he encounters on a regular basis. Of course, he's got his own desires, in this case for a bike, and this shows each of his little schemes to come up with the money. A subplot involving Smiley finding opium is a bit bizarre to say the least.

As others have noted, the accent is often a bit crude, but you can't deny it's real. Fantastic color photography of the Australian outback makes this worth looking at. British acting legend Ralph Richardson and Australian acting legend Chips Rafferty were the only two actors whose names I knew prior to seeing this, and they have small roles. The musical numbers (which includes the cliched "Waltzing Matilda") are a bit corny, but there's plenty of charm as well. Dated and often sentimental, but for the most part, watchable, not leaving me bored or desperate for it to be over.

Has some good moments, but on the whole, disappointing!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 22 July 2017]

NOTES: Number 15 at the Australian box-office for 1956 (this of course includes the takings for 1957), making it Fox's 5th most successful release of the year. This was the last London Film. Alexander Korda died on 23 January 1956.

COMMENT: A curate's egg of a movie. Easy to list all the amateurish acting (led by Sir Ralph Richardson, of all people), to bewail the pedestrian direction and pick holes in the transplanted Richmal Crompton plot. To compensate, however, we have all that Australian scenery in vivid (if somewhat grainy) CinemaScope, plus a likable youngster, Colin Petersen, who rates as a genuine "find".

OTHER VIEWS: "Smiley" is, perhaps, the most refreshing film with an Australian background since "Bush Christmas", with which it can be compared in many ways. It succeeds in authentically portraying some aspects of life in a small bush town, and this fact gives the film a unity which many Australian productions have lacked... CinemaScope and Technicolor show off the Australian landscapes to advantage. — Monthly Film Bulletin.

There are some important exceptions, but generally speaking, I am not a great fan of Anthony Kimmins. I remember reviewing his detective novel "Lugs O'Leary" when it was first published in 1960. I rated it zero. A poorly written dime-store thriller. Although set in Sydney, the background-drawing reveals not even the slightest degree of superficial knowledge of the city where Kimmins himself actually worked on the "Smiley" films. The characters from the eponymous Tasmanian detective who wins the State Lottery and retires to Palm Beach, through to the Badger, "Sydney's king of vice", are totally unconvincing, even allowing that they are probably meant to be caricatures. The dialogue is aptly flat-footed, though this triteness doesn't exactly make for sparkling reading. The synthetic action is over-the-top only in its numbing artificiality... Other Kimmins novels are "It Is Upon the Navy" and "Half-time". Stage plays include "While Parents Sleep", "Night Club Queen", "Chase the Ace" and the huge West End success, "The Amorous Prawn". — JHR writing as Tom Howard.

Let's Be Very Cute

[boblipton · 5/10 · 12 April 2022]

In an Australia where sheep are green -- I suppose the chemical process prints have faded -- Smiley wants to buy a bicycle. There's lots of beautiful photography of outback Australia and the way Smiley goes blithely about his business with the adults going about theirs is interesting, but the boy in the title is so cute and his voice annoys me, Ralph Richardson does a perfect imitation of Wilfred Hyde-White as a CoE vicar.