Let the Balloon Go

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Infobox film | name = Let the Balloon Go | image = | alt = | caption = | director = Oliver Howes | producer = Richard Mason; Hal and Jim McElroy, associate producers | writer = {{ubl|Cliff Green|Oliver Howes|Richard Mason}} | based_on = novel by Ivan Southall | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|Robert Bettles|Janet Kingsbury|John Ewart}} | music = George Dreyfus | cinematography = Dean Semler | editing = Max Lemon | studio = Film Australia | distributor = 20th Century-Fox | released = {{Film date|1976|12|16|df=yes}} | runtime = 92 mins | country = Australia | language = English | budget = AU$400,000<ref name="pike">Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 309</ref> or $285,000<ref>{{Citation | author1=Australian Film Commission. | title=MARKETING BRANCH | journal=Annual report | year=1977 | issn=0816-9624 | series=Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament) | issue=1976/1977, PP no. 63 of 1979 | location=[Canberra | publisher=Australian Govt. Pub. Service | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2754195620 | id=nla.obj-2754195620 | access-date=27 March 2025 | via=Trove }} </ref> | gross = }} '''''Let the Balloon Go''''' is a 1976 Australian children's film about a young boy with polio in 1917.

==Plot== In 1917 rural New South Wales, a young boy with polio struggles to break free of his overprotective mother.

==Cast== *Robert Bettles as John Sumner *Jan Kingsbury as Mrs Sumner *John Ewart as Constable Baird *Bruce Spence as Acting Fire Chief Gifford *Ray Barrett as Dr McLeod *Nigel Lovell * Ben Gabriel as Mr Sumner

==Production== The film was shot near the town of Carcoar.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55187456 |title=LOVELY OLD TOWN IN FILM STAR MAKE-UP. |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly | date=24 December 1975 |accessdate=28 September 2012 |page=34 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Reception== The film sold widely overseas including to the United States.<ref name="pike"/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074789/fullcredits#cast ''Let the Balloon Go''] at IMDb *[http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/let-the-balloon-go ''Let the Balloon Go''] at Oz Movies

Category:Australian children's films Category:Films directed by Oliver Howes Category:1976 English-language films Category:1976 Australian films Category:1976 films