{{Short description|1934 Australian film}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox film | name = Splendid Fellows | image = Splendid_Fellows.jpg | caption = Original poster | director = Beaumont Smith<br>Raymond Longford (associate)<ref name="papers">"Raymond Longford", ''Cinema Papers'', January 1974 p51</ref><br>Kenneth Brampton (dialogue) | producer = Beaumont Smith | writer = Beaumont Smith<br>Kenneth Brampton | based_on = | narrator = | starring = Frank Leighton | music = | cinematography = George D. Malcolm | editing = Frank Coffey | studio = J.C. Williamson Picture Productions | distributor = British Empire Films | released = {{Film date|1934|05|02|df=yes|ref1=<ref>Ross Cooper,"Filmography: Beaumont Smith", ''Cinema Papers'', March–April 1976 p333</ref>}} | runtime = 84 mins | country = Australia | language = English | budget = £5,000<ref name="Pike">Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 169.</ref><ref name="everyone">{{Citation | title=Counting the CASH in Australian Films. “Selection Nets Rert Bailey £14,000 What Others Cost and Lost—Stars' Salaries and Story Prices. | journal=Everyones. | date=12 December 1934 | location=Sydney | publisher=Everyones Ltd | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-577835346 | id=nla.obj-577835346 | access-date=24 August 2024 | via=Trove | page= 19-20}}</ref>}} '''''Splendid Fellows''''' is a 1934 Australian film from director Beaumont Smith about an Englishman (Frank Leighton) who comes to Australia. The cast includes Eric Colman, brother of Ronald Colman, and Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who has a cameo as himself.<ref name="smithy">{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|date=12 October 2025|access-date=12 October 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-films-smithy/|title=Forgotten Australian Films: Smithy}}</ref> It was Smith's last film.<ref name="hay">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-films-the-hayseeds/|title=Forgotten Australian Films: The Hayseeds|date=3 September 2025|access-date=3 September 2025}}</ref>

==Plot== "Silly ass" Englishman Hubert Montmorency "Monty" Ralston goes to Australia after an argument with his father, accompanied by his valet, Thomson. In a Sydney two up parlour he befriends Australian farmer Jim McBride and goes with him to McBride's farm where he meets flying parson, Reverend Arthur Stanhope. He also falls for McBride's daughter, Eileen.

Monty persuades his father to buy a plane for the parson and enters it in the Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne. While the race is in progress, Stanhope's old plane crashes and Monty flies to the rescue. A blind prospector, Blind Teddy, flying with the parson regains his sight and recognises a long-lost goldfield.

==Cast== *Frank Leighton as The Hon. Hubert Montmorency Ralston * Leo Franklyn as Thompson * Frank Bradley as Jim McBride<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74112871 |title=Adelaide To Have Outdoor Talkie Theatre. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=27 October 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=14 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> * Eric Colman as Reverend Arthur Stanhope * Isabelle Mahon as Eileen McBride * Peggy Ross as Mrs McBride * Bill Stewart as Teddy Lawson) * Andrew Higginson as Lord Ralston * Madge Aubrey as Mrs Brogan * Charles Zoli as Signor Spigoni * Sir Charles Kingsford Smith as himself

==Production== The film was shot at the studios of Cinesound Productions in Rushcutter's Bay, Sydney in July and August 1934. It was originally entitled '''''The Big Race''''' but was retitled after an American film of that name was announced.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17107531 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILM. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=25 July 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Footage of the real Centenary Air Race was incorporated, as was that of the landing of C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black at Laverton, and the arrival of the Duke of Gloucester to Melbourne. This meant the movie was not actually completed until October.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17082326 |title=AUSTRALIAN FILMS. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=13 September 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Raymond Longford was an assistant director.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58856832 |title=The TALK OF THE TOWN. |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=6 October 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Isabelle Mahon was a 17-year-old actor who had appeared on stage in ''Gay Divorce''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47496053 |title=AUSTRALIA Rich in Film TALENT. |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly | date=4 August 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=20 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Reception== When the film was in post-production, Smith announced plans to make another feature, in New Zealand, "a modern drama with a sporting theme and glimpses of Māori life."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29162031 |title=GENERAL NEWS ITEMS. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tas. |date=9 October 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17110856 |title=TALKING FILM. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=9 October 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> However, ''Splendid Fellows'' was a commercial disappointment on release and led to Smith's permanent retirement from film production.<ref name="Pike"/> Reviews were mixed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10994748 |title=Hoyts de Luxe A CREDITABLE EFFORT. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=19 November 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17113678 |title=FILM REVIEWS. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=19 November 1934 |accessdate=31 May 2012 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

''Everyones'', trade paper for the Australian industry, later wrote, "Letters to the dailies insist upon a departure from such hoary old warriors as ''Selection'', ''The Dean'' and ''The Hayseeds'': and from reliance upon Wallace and Mo as true Australian-type comedians. Yet when Beau Smith responds to the alleged demand for a modern theme and real human beings, by turning out the creditable ''Splendid Fellows'', the public expresses its undying gratitude with a swift kick in the pants."<ref>{{Citation | title=Australian Production OUR MIKEROSCOPE | journal=Everyones. | date=28 November 1934 | location=Sydney | publisher=Everyones Ltd | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-577821237 | id=nla.obj-577821237 | access-date=24 August 2024 | via=Trove }} </ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122265/ ''Splendid Fellows''] in the Internet Movie Database *[http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/splendid-fellows/ ''Splendid Fellows''] at Australian Screen Online *[http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=%22splendid%20fellows%22;querytype=;rec=4;resCount=10 ''Splendid Fellows''] at National Film and Sound Archive *[http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/splendid-fellows ''Splendid Fellows''] at Oz Movies

{{Raymond Longford}} {{Beaumont Smith}}

Category:1934 films Category:Films directed by Beaumont Smith Category:Films directed by Raymond Longford Category:Australian adventure drama films Category:1930s adventure drama films Category:Australian black-and-white films Category:1934 drama films Category:1934 English-language films Category:1934 Australian films Category:English-language adventure drama films