Dimboola [DVD]

Jack Hibberd’s famous stage comedy is brought to the screen by director John Duigan (“The Year My Voice Broke”). The wedding of Morrie (played by Bruce Spence) to Maureen (Natalie Bate) in the small country town of Dimboola is the setting for this story of “typical Aussie ratbags and oddballs doing typically dim-witted Aussie things usually whilst chucking back a tinnie and trying to crack on to a sheila” (according to critic Bernard Hemingway). A visiting English journalist (played by Max Gillies) observes and comments on the action. Filmed on location at Dimboola in western Victoria, and including many of the cast from the Australian Performing Group’s highly successful theatrical production, “Dimboola” is a colourful and uniquely Australian romp. Cast also includes Bill Garner, Evelyn Krape, Max Cullen, Max Fairchild, and Chad Morgan. This DVD edition also includes a filmed version of the original play as performed at the Pram Factory in 1973 and a 1994 documentary on the Australian Performing Group with some wonderful archival footage.