# Wherever She Goes
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wherever_She_Goes
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wherever_She_Goes.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wherever_She_Goes
> Source revision: 1339352696
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Wherever She Goes
| image =
| caption =
| director = [Michael Gordon](/source/Michael_Gordon_(film_editor))
| producer = Michael Gordon
| writer = Michael Gordon
Barbara Woodward (add dialogue)
| based_on = ''Prelude: The Early Life of Eileen Joyce'' by Lady [Clare Hoskyns-Abrahall](/source/Clare_H_Abrahall)
| narrator =
| starring = [Suzanne Parrett](/source/Suzanne_Parrett)
[Muriel Steinbeck](/source/Muriel_Steinbeck)
| music =
| cinematography = [George Heath](/source/George_Heath_(cinematographer))
| editing = Brereton Porter
| studio = Faun Film Productions
| distributor = [British Empire Films](/source/British_Empire_Films)
| released = {{Film date|1951|07|06|UK|1951|09|7|Aust|df=y}}
| runtime = 80 mins
| country = Australia
| language = English
}}
'''''Wherever She Goes''''' is a 1951 Australian feature film that tells the early part of the life story of pianist [Eileen Joyce](/source/Eileen_Joyce). Directed by [Michael Gordon](/source/Michael_Gordon_(film_editor)), it stars Suzanne Parrett, [Eileen Joyce](/source/Eileen_Joyce), [Nigel Lovell](/source/Nigel_Lovell) and [Muriel Steinbeck](/source/Muriel_Steinbeck).[{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Variety|date=29 October 2025|access-date=29 October 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-films-wherever-she-goes/|title=Forgotten Australian Films: Wherever She Goes}}]
==Synopsis==
Eileen Joyce is born on the Tasmanian coast and becomes fascinated with music after hearing a man named Daniel play a mouth organ. When her parents decide to move the family to the [Kalgoorlie](/source/Kalgoorlie) goldfields Eileen sees a piano and resolves to play it. Her father's mine fails and the family has to live in a tent.
Eileen is given an old piano as a Christmas gift and soon becomes a child prodigy. She enters a local music carnival and wins. The story ends when she leaves Kalgoorlie to go to Perth, then flashes forward to a grown up Eileen playing in a concert.
==Cast==
*Suzanne Parrett as young Eileen Joyce
*[Pamela Page](/source/Pamela_Page) was the pianist for the close-up scenes of the pianist's hands.[{{cite journal |title=News and Gossip: Young pianist for London... A T. S. Eliot rumour scotched...L-P records... Barry Tuckwell |journal=The ABC Weekly |date=4 August 1951 |page=26 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1445152449/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1549718670&partId=nla.obj-1445214991#page/n25/mode/1up |access-date=22 August 2020}}]
*[Muriel Steinbeck](/source/Muriel_Steinbeck) as Mrs Joyce
*[Nigel Lovell](/source/Nigel_Lovell) as Will Joyce
*[George Wallace](/source/George_Wallace_(Australian_comedian)) as the stage manager
*[Eileen Joyce](/source/Eileen_Joyce) as herself (non-speaking role)
*[Sefton Daly](/source/Sefton_Daly) as farmer/pianist
*Tim Drysdale as John Joyce
*Rex Dawe as Mr James
*Syd Chambers
*[John Wiltshire](/source/John_Wiltshire_(Australian_actor)) as Daniel
* Harold Bourne as Bob
==Production==
The film was one of several planned by independent companies in association with [Ealing Studios](/source/Ealing_Studios) to use [Pagewood Studios](/source/Pagewood_Studios) in between official Ealing productions.[[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0330458/?ref_=tt_ov_dr IMDB "Michael Gordon (III)"]. Retrieved 4 April 2015] He had given a copy of the book on which the film was based to his children, and his wife suggested that it would make a good film.[[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23155854 "SCREEN: Suzanne Parrett is an up and coming star." ''The Argus (Melbourne)'' 5 Jan 1952: 12]] Both the book and the film were highly fictionalised accounts of Joyce's life.[[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18067152 'Eileen And The Wild Wolves.' ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' 9 Apr 1948: 2]] The opening credits of the film state that only the two children were real people and everyone else was fictionalised.
Gordon arrived in Australia in August 1949 to start work on the film.[{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47677236 |title=FILM WORLD PRODUCER VISITS W.A. FOR MATERIAL. |newspaper=[The West Australian](/source/The_West_Australian) |location=Perth |date=17 October 1949 |accessdate=23 August 2012 |page=13 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}] Eileen Joyce herself is shown at the start and end of the film, performing the [Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor](/source/Piano_Concerto_(Grieg)), but she was primarily played by Suzanne Parrett, who never made another film. Parrett's hand double was [Pamela Page](/source/Pamela_Page).[Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 211.][{{cite news |title=Himalaya's Last Visit Before Cruises |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48190211 |access-date=2022-08-31 |work=The West Australian |date=1951-03-31 |page=4}}] ''Filmink'' later argued "Steinbeck should have played the title role but is wasted in the part of her mother."[{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-aussie-actors-muriel-steinbeck/|first=Stephen|magazine=Filmink|last=Vagg|title=Unsung Aussie Actors – Muriel Steinbeck|date=25 August 2019}}]
==Reception==
The film had its Australian premiere at [The Strand Theatre](/source/Odeon_Theatre%2C_Hobart) in [Hobart](/source/Hobart), and was introduced by Tasmanian Premier [Robert Cosgrove](/source/Robert_Cosgrove).[{{cite web|title=Odeon Theatre,167 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS 7000 (Photos) |url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/51895/photos/354902|website=Cinema Treasures|access-date=14 May 2022}}][{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27064095 |title=Film on Pianist Meets Praise |newspaper=[The Mercury](/source/The_Mercury_(Hobart)) |location=Hobart |date=8 September 1951 |access-date=14 May 2022 |page=3 |via=[Trove](/source/Trove)}}] It was one of the few Australian films of the time to receive a cinema release in the United States as well as the UK, but box office receipts were poor and critical reception mixed[[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27527311 'Mixed Reception For Eileen Joyce Film.' ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' 29 Jan 1953: 3]][[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18495698 "NOTES ON FILMS." ''The Sunday Herald (Sydney)'' 28 Jan 1951: 4 Supplement: Features]] although Suzanne Parrett's performance was praised.[[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48647153 'Charms Critics' ''Barrier Miner (Broken Hill)'' 11 Jul 1951: 9]]
''Kine Weekly'' wrote "Suzanne Parrett creates a most favourable impression as the youthful Eileen, but the rest of the cast, to say nothing of the script, is well below standard."[{{cite magazine|magazine=Kinematograph Weekly|title=Wherever she goes|url=https://archive.org/details/kinematograph-weekly/1951/Kinematograph%20Weekly%20%232272%20%281951-01-11%29%20%28BNA%29/page/17/mode/1up?|page=19|date=11 January 1951}}] ''Variety'' wrote "Although the film won't send indie film importers scurrying through the Australian bush for additional product, “Wherever She Goes” shapes up as a fair art house attraction."[{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=Wherever She Goes|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1953-02-04_189_9/page/n5/mode/1up?|date=4 April 1953|page=6}}]
''Filmink'' wrote the film "is not a masterpiece, but it’s the sort of bread-and-butter biopic Australia should (and could) have made more of: it’s got engaging child actors, location filming in Tasmania and Western Australia, plenty of music and a good heart. The movie was not a huge hit, though it had a long life… it popped up on television a bit when we were growing up and had a quite wide release in the US."