Don Became an Actor

 

Don Became an Actor

 

“The Flying Doctor footage of Don Bradman is unique in that they are images of this iconic Australian which haven’t been seen for 80 years and show him in a little-known episode of his life – acting in a feature film.” - Jeff Wray, a Film Curator

 

National Productions, a film production company was launched in Australia during 1930s under the management of Frederick Daniell, a promoter involved with radio and newspaper companies in Sydney. The company was associated with Gaumont-British Picture Corporation, which had been interested in making a film in Australia for a long time. In fact, they also had talks with Robert Flaherty, the well known American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film - ‘Nanook of the North’ (1922), to helm the project. 

Nanook of the North - world's first feature-length documentary

 

Ultimately, Miles Mander, a noted English actor-cum-playwright-cum-novelist was signed as the director of this dream project. Described at inception as an ‘experiment’ to promote Australia as an international force in the film world, ‘The Flying Doctor’ was actually inspired from a novel by Robert Waldron. This first Australian-British co-production film featured Charles Farrell, Mary Maguire and James Raglan in lead roles. Though a commercial failure, the movie won the 'Special Recommendation' award and was nominated for ‘The Mussolini Cup’ for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1937. 

The novel by Robert Waldron

 

Despite all these facts, the movie has a very special trivia associated with it.

Poster of the movie

 

Don Bradman was offered a role in this movie. After a little deliberation, he signed the contract with National Productions. The Sydney Morning Herald reported: He will take part in some scenes dealing with a cricket match, and will be photographed in action on the field. In the film, Bradman is seen batting for South Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He then has one line of dialogue, which he delivers (believe it or not) shirtless!  A la Salman Khan! It was the first scene shot for the movie, on 22nd January 1936.

Shirtless Don

Bradman, who had relocated to Adelaide during 1934 to continue his career with South Australia, was in Sydney in late January 1936 for a Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales that was heavily affected by rain. Unfortunately, he was dismissed for a duck in his only innings. However, on the day after the Shield game ended as a damp draw, he was back out in the centre shooting close-up scenes that would later include a fictional opponent – the film’s eponymous central character, John Vaughan (played by English actor James Raglan). Having holed out to the ‘bowling’ of Vaughan in the movie, Bradman notices his rival in the centre of a subsequent crowd scuffle and observes, in his distinctive drawl: “Hello, what’s John been up to?”

Don in the middle of the shooting

 

An account of the filming was written and published in newspapers by well-known cricket commentator AG ‘Johnny’ Moyes, who wrote, ‘We saw Don hit a sixer – not unusual. Then we saw him bowled – this was a bit strange.’ Production stills from a scrapbook held by the NFSA indicated that the script initially had Bradman being bowled and not caught as shown in the final version of the film.

 

The movie-footage of Bradman batting at the SCG was likely edited from three different sources. Along with the 22^nd January filming, much of the cricket action was obtained from a Cinesound newsreel of a Sheffield Shield match played between NSW and Victoria from 26^th–30^th January 1934, with Bradman in full flight against Victorian bowler ‘Chuck’ Fleetwood-Smith. The crowd scenes and shots of James Raglan bowling, would have been taken in February 1936, once the cast had assembled. Cricket historians later noticed that many of the players’ names listed on the SCG scoreboard, were actually away touring South Africa at the time of filming.

A scene from the movie

 

Interestingly, Bradman wasn’t the only well-known sportsman acted in that movie. Professional wrestler Tom Lurich played the role of Blotch Burns. Lurich won the Australian Heavyweight Championship & British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight  Championship during his career.

Lurich with his kids

 

It wasn’t the only time Bradman appeared in front of cameras during his celebrated playing career. He was a familiar figure in newsreels those were showed at cinemas, in advertisements, coaching films and awareness campaigns such as his road safety warning as to the dangers of playing street cricket.