Watch Summer of the Seventeenth Doll For Free

Thanks for the memories!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I read with some interest the comments by Aussie reviewers on this film before writing my own review. They seem to think the spirit of Ray Lawler's play was cut right of the film version of The Summer Of The 17th Doll. My own view just as it was the producer's choice to hire American and British leads it was also his choice to bow to American censor requirements and omnipresent Code still in force.I sympathize with the the Aussies who complain that one of their own should have been in the lead. Certainly Chips Rafferty who was the biggest name in Aussie cinema at the time could have taken Ernest Borgnine's part. He sure had the size for it.Summer Of The 17th Doll casts Borgnine and John Mills as a pair of sugar cane cutters who are now at liberty as the occupation is seasonal. Borgnine's size and strength make him respected while Mills reputation and identity come from his love 'em and leave 'em attitude with women. Both have their steady girls Anne Baxter and Angela Lansbury as anchors of a sort.But these two women are getting tired of being a pair of Adelaides for their Nathan Detroits. Plain and simple these two won't acknowledge they're not young any more. Plain and simple they won't grow up.And that's a universal situation not necessarily an Australian one. If Summer Of The 17th Doll were remade today I can see Nicole Kidman as one of the women and Guy Pearce as one of the men. And the Code restrictions would be off.Still while it's not all it could be, Summer Of the 17th Doll is a fine bit of film making.

It's odd that in this Australian film set in that beautiful country that none of the stars are, in fact, Australian! You've got two Americans (Ernest Borgnine and Anne Baxter) and two Brits (John Mills and Angela Lansbury) starring in this one! Sadly, the Aussie actors just weren't all that famous at the time and in a bid to get international box office money, they cast foreigners in this very Australian tale! If made today, at least they could have used Paul Hogan or Dame Edna, as they both are known internationally! Sadly, Borgnine sounded about as Australian as Charles Boyer, though the others at least sound reasonably good to this untrained ear.As far as the story goes, it's about a couple guys who work the cane fields and then come back to the big city to have a good time with their mistresses. Not especially bad or good...and a film that never really impressed me one way or the other. This, combined with the casting, make this one I could easily have skipped.

Ernest Borgnine and John Mills star in this butchering of the Ray Lawlor play about cane cutters in the off - season. Borgnine, known at the time as the star in "McHale's Navy", is the middle aged labourer (actually about 33 years old or so in the play) past his prime and Mills is his mate. Angela Lansbury plays herself as a widow replacing Mills' girlfriend. In the play she was more salty than high class. In the play, "Barney" - played by Mills - was still a fairly young man (still in his mid-ish twenties). There is an odd scene where Bubba, the young ingenue is a barmaid filling up schooners with dregs (a Scottish bar ?). Product placements - Peters Icecream (twice), Brylcreem, Toohey Old (twice), TAA (airlines), Tooths (beer) and Bex (twice - aspirin).

The single most obvious problem with this film is that you have to go so far down the credits before actually finding an Aussie. The four leads, the old lady, Bubba, even the boxing promoter are all foreign actors. I can vaguely picture a big dumb Yank as played by Mr Borgnine doing some work as a canecutter, but John Mills just doesn't look the part. I have watched him in so many movies and this is probably the first I have ever thought him miscast.If you are from Sydney there is some great footage of Luna Park in its former glory, the old ferries, Central Station and so on. I believe the play is a mix of humour and drama but there is very little humour in this film. Anne Baxter is probably the best of the four leads, playing a rather desperate sweetheart. Vincent Ball's character is a little too smarmy and one is left wondering why anyone would find him appealing.It would be very interesting to see a remake with Australian actors in it, although it's doubtful whether the era could be captured as well again. Watch the movie for the locations but don't expect too much from the performances.