Pacific Adventure

1946

Action / Adventure / Biography / Drama

1
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 59 59

Plot summary

An Australian biopic about the life of pioneering aviator Charles "Smithy" Kingsford-Smith. The film is unusually frank about the controversies that occasionally dogged him. PG Taylor and Billy Hughes both make appearances playing themselves.

Director

Ken G. Hall Photo
Ken G. Hall

Top cast

Charles 'Bud' Tingwell Photo
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell as Control Tower Officer
Joe Valli Photo
Joe Valli as Stringer
John Fleeting Photo
John Fleeting as Keith Anderson
C.J. Montgomery Jackson Photo
C.J. Montgomery Jackson as James Warner
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.03 GB
1280*952
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
1 hr 54 min
Seeds ...
1.91 GB
1440*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
1 hr 54 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CinemaSerf 7 / 10

Smithy

He's had his portrait on a dollar coin and an airport named after him, but who exactly was Charles Kingsford-Smith? Well this lengthy but quite engaging biopic casts Ron Randell in that role and we follow his quite remarkable story. He's a budding aviator, injured and decorated by the King during the war, who is determined to make long-haul flights connecting his home of Australia to the rest of the world a reality. Initially it's London to Sydney he wants to attempt, but money is tight and nobody in political office believes he can make the 12,000 mille trip. Maybe there's more success to be had getting to the USA? Well that's where he meets with a little more promise, but there's still a gruelling and perilous task ahead of him. Randell turns in quite a likeable effort here as the young pioneer and there's quite a bit of decent aviation photography, albeit rather rudimentarily stitched together, to help tell the story of a brave and visionary man who wasn't afraid to grasp the nettle. The assembled supporting cast do their jobs well enough and he frustrations of the red tape and indifference he squared up against are presented loud and clear as it portrays a man of determination quite powerfully. Sure, there's a soupçon of romance but not enough to stall the pace and this fits in nicely to the "The First of the Few" (1942) group of films.
Reviewed by mark.waltz 8 / 10

Why we fly.

Perhaps not as well known as some of the other early long distance pilots, Charles Kingsford Smith is credited with the first lengthy Pacific flights, and going between Australia and New Zealand which I guess isn't as easy as it sounds, especially in the 1920's. Ron Randell, an Australian born actor who had some success in American films and on television, plays Smith (nickname Smithy), a hero in World War I who decided to use his flying experience to expand commercial flights. He is dissuaded from his dreams at first, but that doesn't stop him, and this would lead to his early death ironically the same year that Will Rogers and Wiley Post passed away while flying.This Australian film was one of their first major releases, released by Columbia, and quite above average. Randell is excellent, quite distinguished and handsome, and it's the type of part had it been an American film and cast with someone more well known would have garnered them an Oscar nomination. Randell certainly belongs on any runner-up list. Ken G. Hall, an icon of Australian cinema, ended his career on a very high note with this one. There are a lot of tense moments as Smith tries to prove he can achieve his goals, and considering that this was less than 100 years ago, still important details in the history of aviation as we know today. Thus an important film for that reason and for advancing Australian cinema.
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