Into the Straight

Into the Straight is a 1949 Australian horse racing melodrama directed by T. O. McCreadie.[1]

Into the Straight
Directed byT. O. McCreadie
Produced byT. O. McCreadie
Alec McCreadie (executive)
Written byZelma Roberts
StarringCharles Tingwell
Muriel Steinbeck
Music byWilbur Sampson
CinematographyHarry Malcolm
Edited byAlex Ezard
Jack Gardiner
Production
company
Embassy Pictures
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
15 July 1949
Running time
82 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The Curzons, an Australian horse racing family, are visited by an English horse trainer, Hugh Duncan, and his playboy son, Paul. Both men fall for June Curzon. However, after she is crippled in an accident Paul loses interest, and she realises she loves Hugh.

With Hugh's encouragement, June writes a piano concerto and learns to walk again. Her brother, the weak Sam Curzon, steals money from his father to pay gambling debts and allows Paul to take the blame. However, a horse secretly trained by Paul wins the Melbourne Cup.

Cast

Production

Charles Tingwell also worked as a trainee to Alex Ezard.[2]

Shooting began in June 1948, on location in Scone, New South Wales, and at the studio of Commonwealth Film Laboratories in Sydney.[3] The Victoria Racing Club allowed a re-creation of the Melbourne Cup to be shot at Flemington Racecourse[4] and scenes were also filmed at Randwick Racecourse.[5] Several jockeys made cameos in the film, including Jack Purtell and George Moore.[6]

The film featured a piano concerto which took up several minutes of screen time.

Reception

The film was well received in Perth but only had a short run in Sydney and Melbourne.[7]

Filmink later wrote "Steinbeck was the biggest name in the cast at the time, but it isn’t much of a role… and in hindsight that was a mistake. The filmmakers would have been better off building the movie around Steinbeck – either have her play the role of her daughter... or made her character the center of the action. But then, Australian cinema has traditionally demonstrated a poor understanding how best to exploit potential stars." [8]

References
  1. "Films You Will Soon Be Seeing:: Studio Gossip:: Short Story "Into The Straight"—Australian Racing Film". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 5 January 1950. p. 8. Retrieved 24 April 2020 – via Trove.
  2. "Obituary: Tom McCreadie". Filmnews. New South Wales, Australia. 1 September 1992. p. 2. Retrieved 24 April 2020 – via Trove.
  3. "Films You Will Soon Be Seeing:: Studio Gossip:: Short Story "Into The Straight"—Australian Racing Film". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 5 January 1950. p. 8. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  4. "Jockeys In The Films". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 29 July 1948. p. 18. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  5. "Background To Turf Story". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 1 July 1949. p. 12. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  6. "PURTELL TO RIDE IN RACE FILM". The Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, NSW: National Library of Australia. 16 September 1948. p. 8. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  7. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 208.
  8. Vagg, Stephen (25 August 2019). "Unsung Aussie Actors – Muriel Steinbeck". Filmink.


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