The Phantom Stockman (1953) on Netflix
Approved19531h 2mActionWestern
When her father dies, Kim Marsden inherits his cattle station near Alice Springs. She is certain he was murdered and sends for the Sundowner, a legendary bushman and friend of her father.
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- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.1/1021 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Plot summary
The Sundowner is a bushman whose bravery and good deeds have earned him respect among the settlers and the Aboriginal tribes. Kim Marsden, who has just lost her father in a fall from his horse at the family's cattle station near Alice Springs, does not accept that the death was an accident. She asks the Sundowner, a close friend of her father, to come to the homestead. He arrives with Dancer, his Aboriginal offsider, and McLeod, the station manager, gives them work; the Sundowner passes as a stockman named Ted Simpson. Cattle are going missing from the herds around Alice Springs, and the two men begin looking into who is taking them.
Cast
- Henry Murdochas Dancer
- Bob Darkenas Jack Roxy
- Albert Namatjiraas Albert
- Joe Scullyas The Moth
- George Neilas Skeeter
- Hawkeyeas Chungidor(Hawkeye Tim)
- Bill Gregoryas Drovers' Cook
- Tim Rileyas Satchelfoot
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Phantom Stockman (1953)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A government rule barring investment of more than £10,000 in non-essential industry had blocked Chips Rafferty's and Lee Robinson's separate projects, so they teamed up to make a film costing under that, with Robinson directing and Rafferty starring.
- The painter Albert Namatjira played himself in a cameo that may have been the first by an Australian artist in a feature film; Robinson had earlier made a documentary about him called Namatjira the Painter.
- Charles Tingwell was meant to play a role but was unable to fit it into his schedule, so he was replaced by Guy Doleman; Doleman and Max Osbiston were experienced Sydney radio actors.
- Seventeen-year-old Jeanette Elphick, the 1952 model of the year, was cast in the lead, but her voice in the film was entirely dubbed by June Salter.
- Filming began around Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, in July 1952, and several days of shooting were lost because of unexpected rain.
- Lee Robinson said the production decided from the start never to build a single set, working instead in actual locations and with genuine Aboriginal involvement and themes.
