| Journey Out of Darkness | |
| Director: | James Trainor |
| Producer: | Frank Brittain |
| Starring: | Konrad Matthaei Ed Devereaux Kamahl |
| Music: | Bob Young |
| Cinematography: | Andrew Fraser |
| Editing: | Bronwyn Fackerell James Trainor |
| Studio: | Australian-American Pictures |
| Distributor: | British Empire Films |
| Runtime: | 92 minutes |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
Journey Out of Darkness is a 1967 Australian film.
In 1901, trooper Peterson is sent to the Australian Outback to arrest an aboriginal man responsible for a ritual killing. He is accompanied by blacktracker Jubbal.
On the way back Jubbal is killed, and Peterson and the prisoner form a relationship.
Director James Trainor had worked at the Commonwealth Film Unit and worked in the United States as a documentary director. He wrote the script with his father-in-law, noted Hollywood screenwriter Howard E. Koch.[1] Konrad Matthaei agreed to help finance the film if he was allowed to play the lead role.[2]
Kamahl a popular singer from Sri Lanka who had emigrated to Australia was cast in a lead role.[3]
White actor Ed Devereaux was cast as an Aboriginal. "If the producers had had the time they undoubtedly would have cast about for an Aboriginal actor," said Devereaux. "But they had to have a man with experience, for there could be no delay - we shot this film fast and furious."[4] Filming began in January 1967 and took place in outback Australia and at the studios of Supreme Sound. Location filming took six weeks.[5]
The film had its world premiere in Canberra at a screening that was attended by the Governor General Lord Casey and the Prime Minister Harold Holt (it was one of the last functions attended by Holt prior to his drowning).[6] However its commercial response was disappointing.[1]
Filmink magazine later wrote "It has its heart in the right place, albeit in a ‘50s Hollywood liberal way...but is fatally compromised by the casting of Sri Lankan Kamahl and white Ed Devereaux in blackface as aboriginals, not to mention Konrad Matthaei being simply dull in the lead. The film’s main problem is structural – there is no urgency in the trip and nothing interesting happens on the way. Once you stop laughing at Devereaux, it’s just boring."[7]