Botany Bay (film)

Botany Bay
Directed byJohn Farrow
Written byJonathan Latimer
Based onnovel by Charles Nordhoff
James Norman Hall
Produced byJoseph Sistrom
StarringAlan Ladd
James Mason
Patricia Medina
Cedric Hardwicke
CinematographyJohn F. Seitz
Edited byAlma Macrorie
Music byFranz Waxman
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Paramount Pictures
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • October 7, 1953 (1953-10-07)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.9 million (US)[1]

Botany Bay is a 1953 American adventure film directed by John Farrow and starring Alan Ladd, James Mason and Patricia Medina. It was based on a novel of the same name by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.[2]

While the story includes characters loosely based on real figures (Gilbert and Phillips) and the ship Charlotte, it is a largely fictional telling of the First Fleet's arrival in Australia in 1788.[3]

Plot

In 1787 a group of prisoners lodged in Newgate Jail receive notice that their death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment in New South Wales. They are boarded onto the Charlotte and joined by a smaller group of female prisoners. Gilbert, the captain, offers one pretty female prisoner, Sally, free run of the ship on certain conditions. He eventually approaches her romantically, but she keeps rebuffing him.

One prisoner, Tallant, admits guilt but is expecting a pardon to arrive within hours. The captain declines to wait for word of the pardon and Tallant jumps overboard. When caught he is sentenced to 50 lashes with a cat-o-nine-tails. Recovering below deck he offers £1000 to any person who agrees to help him. As Tallant has medical training, he is offered a position as ship's surgeon, which also gives him free run of the ship.

Gilbert is cruel to prisoners and crew alike. A young boy in a small cell dies of hypothermia when the cell floods with cold water, and is buried at sea. His mother tries to stab the captain, and he fatally shoots her. Tallant and the first mate, Spencer, escape in a row boat, but are found and sentenced to be keel hauled. The crew carries out the sentence, but both prisoners survive. Upset, the captain orders a second haul; Spencer dies on the second haul, but Tallant survives. Rev. Thynne threatens to inform Governor Philip of the barbarity when they arrive at Botany Bay.

The ship sails via Rio de Janeiro in South America and along the coast of Africa. They arrive in New South Wales after 237 days.

Governor Phillip refuses to hang Tallant and sentences him to hard labour in the penal colony in Botany Bay, New South Wales.[4] However, Gilbert demands that Tallant be charged with mutiny. Despite the fact that the Mutiny Act 1703 only has provisions to punish members of the Royal Navy (which Tallant clearly is not, even were the Charlotte a Royal Navy ship), Governor Phillip raises no objection to this. Tallant escapes with a small group of men and tracks down Gilbert at Stillwater Cove. He demands the Charlotte, but he and his men are surrounded by British troops from the Charlotte and recaptured.

As a further twist, the group is surrounded by aborigines. Gilbert is hit by a spear and killed, but Tallant takes command and British firepower pushes them back. As the prisoners now have muskets, they take charge again, but as Tallant checks them for injuries, he notices plague swellings on some of the soldiers. Rather than escape, Tallant returns to Botany Bay and warns the governor of Charlotte's arrival, which would otherwise expose the colony to the fatal disease raging on board. With his timely warning, the crew and passengers can be treated; Tallant is pardoned and reunites with Sally.

Cast

Production

Development

There was film interest in the book even before its publication because of the success of Mutiny on the Bounty, also from a novel by Nordhoff and Hall. The film rights were sold in July 1940 for a reported $50,000 and was intended to be a vehicle for Joel McCrea.[5][6][3]

In 1941 Joel McCrea expressed interest in playing the lead.[7] The film was originally planned to be made in 1946, starring Ray Milland with location shooting in Australia.[8] However these plans were delayed when Paramount became concerned about the cost.[9]

The project was re-activated in 1951 as a vehicle for Alan Ladd.[10] It was inspired by the box office success of Two Years Before the Mast.[3]

Shooting

Four koalas and two kangaroos were flown from Australia to appear in the film.[11][12] The koalas were the first to be exported from Australia in 25 years and were later transferred to San Diego Zoo.[13]

The only Australian-born members of the cast were Murray Matheson and Brandon Toomey. Aboriginal characters were played by African-American actors.[14]

James Mason described the film in his memoirs as an exampe of "facile assembly work". He wrote he "made the interesting acquaintance of John Farrow, the director, who may well have been the only papal knight I ever ran into. I played the part of a ship’s captain who was given to acts of cruelty and Farrow was able to give me some useful hints."[15]

The movie was the film debut for Jonathan Harris who described Farrow as "not an adorable man. Far from it! 1 don't believe he liked actors, you see, which is a very serious failing for a director.... This dreadful, dreadful man! Almost nobody escaped from that vitriolic and sly tongue."[16] Harris said one day Farrow "verbally attacked James Mason on the set of the bridge of a full-size ship... Nothing happened and about twenty minutes later James said to Farrow, 'Did you say something to me, sir?' Farrow knew when he was licked. So, that was kind of joyous."[16]

Historical basis

A ship called Charlotte, under the command of Captain Thomas Gilbert, sailed with the First Fleet, but none of the events attributed to "Captain Paul Gilbert" in the film occurred in reality.[3]

Critical reception

Variety called it a "good subject for Alan Ladd's chest-baring heroics and Janies Mason's suave, calculating villainy."[17]

Filmink called the film "fascinating for Australians – the simple fact that it was made, seeing Hollywood’s version of colonial Sydney on the backlot" but felt "it doesn’t really work as a drama – the story is “bitsy” and repetitive, with far too many escapes, recaptures, and floggings... In fairness to Paramount, and Nordhoff and Hall, the First Fleet was a little boring dramatically."[3]

The movie was showing in a cinema in Vicksburg, Mississippi in December 1953 when a tornado hit, killing three children and injuring 22 inside the cinema.[18]

References

  1. ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1953', Variety, January 13, 1954
  2. ^ "Botany Bay". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e Vagg, Stephen (November 3, 2025). "Wrecking Australian Stories: Botany Bay". Filmink. Retrieved November 3, 2025.
  4. ^ "FILMS". The Argus. Melbourne. March 27, 1953. p. 16. Retrieved March 3, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "NEWS OF THE SCREEN New York Times". July 26, 1940. p. 12.
  6. ^ THOMAS M. PRYOR (November 16, 1951). "JAMES MASON DEAL SET AT PARAMOUNT: Will Co-Star With Alan Ladd in 'Botany Bay' for Studio-- Farrow Directing Film Guarding Cowboy Actors Of Local Origin". New York Times. p. 22.
  7. ^ "JOEL McCREA IN BOTANY BAY?". The Sydney Morning Herald. June 12, 1941. p. 19. Retrieved August 4, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Ray Milland to Make Film at Botany Bay". The Sydney Morning Herald. March 19, 1946. p. 11 Supplement: The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine. Retrieved March 3, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Hollywood Goes All Australian". The Argus. Melbourne. September 11, 1946. p. 13 Supplement: Woman's Magazine. Retrieved March 3, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "FOX WILL REMAKE 'DADDY LONG-LEGS': Studio Plans Musical Version of Romantic Story Already Twice Filmed on Coast Of Local Origin". New York Times. June 27, 1951. p. 25.
  11. ^ "Koalas To Go To U.S. For Film". The Sydney Morning Herald. January 4, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved March 3, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Kangaroos, Koalas Go To U.S." The Sydney Morning Herald. January 7, 1952. p. 4. Retrieved March 3, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Our Koalas Draw Big Crowds To U.S. Zoo". The Sydney Morning Herald. January 10, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved March 3, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "Early adventure in "Botany Bay"". The Australian Women's Weekly. June 18, 1952. p. 31. Retrieved March 3, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ Mason, James (1989). Before I forget : autobiography and drawings. Sphere. p. 308.
  16. ^ a b Vaz, Mark Cotta (1998). Lost in Lost in space. HarperPrism. p. 27.
  17. ^ "Botany Bay". Variety. September 30, 1953. p. 6.
  18. ^ "Kids down front (Natch) when theatre caves in". Variety. December 16, 1953. p. 11.
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