Original Storm Boy retains a special place in Australian cinema history
IT was both enchanting and uniquely South Australian. The 1976 version of Storm Boy caught the public imagination and never let go.
- Exclusive: Meet the stars of the new Storm Boy
- Pelican brief: Film puts wind beneath river town’s wings
IT cost just $260,000 to make, but the 1976 Storm Boy caught the public imagination and never let go.
It was both enchanting and uniquely South Australian. Based on the novel by Eudunda-born Colin Thiele, it was partly funded by the South Australian Film Corporation and starred an unknown Adelaide actor, Greg Rowe, 11, who became a household name.
It also single-handedly put the sweeping tidal beaches of the Murray Mouth and the Coorong on the cinematic map. It was filmed mainly in the Coorong National Park, at sites likely to be reprised for the new film, but also at Maslin Beach, Noarlunga, Meningie Lakes, Goolwa Beach and SAFC studios at Norwood.
While Rowe took to the screen and David Gulpilil, as Fingerbone Bill, launched a long career, the pelicans were harder to pin down. They were trained by a dolphin trainer who lost the first group when they flew away. Three pelicans were used, including Gringo, who saw out his days as a tourist attraction at Adelaide Zoo, where he died in 2009. The story was not the usual childhood fare, which may have added to its popularity.
It’s a tale of a grieving father who has lost his wife and daughter and lives in isolation with his son, Mike, a lonely boy who rears pelican chicks after their mother is shot by hunters. He befriends an Aboriginal man, Fingerbone Bill, who gives him the name Storm Boy. Two of the pelicans leave but one, Mr Percival, comes back.
A remastered version of Storm Boy, best film at the 1977 Australian Film Institute Awards, was shown at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival.