Journey Out of Darkness is a 1967 Australian film which was directed by James Trainor and one of the leads of the film was singer Kamahl.
Plot In 1901, trooper Peterson is sent to the Australian Outback to arrest an Aboriginal man responsible for a ritual killing. He is accompanied by tracker Jubbal. On the way back Jubbal is killed, and Peterson and the prisoner form a relationship.
Cast Konrad Matthaei as Peterson Ed Devereaux as Jubbal Kamahl as prisoner Ron Morse as Sergeant Miller Marie Clark as Mrs Miller Betty Campbell as Jubbal's wife John Campbell as first child Don Campbell as second child Julie Williams as Aboriginal girl Nukitjilpi as chief Roy Dadaynga as tribesman the Arnhem Land Dancers from the Yirrkala Mission
Production Director James Trainor had worked at the Commonwealth Film Unit and worked in the United States as a documentary director. He wrote the script with his father-in-law, noted Hollywood screenwriter Howard E. Koch.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 239-240. Konrad Matthaei agreed to help finance the film if he was allowed to play the lead role.Richard Kuipers, Journey Out of Darkness at Australian Screen Online
Kamahl, a popular singer, was cast in a lead role. White actor Ed Devereaux was cast as an Aboriginal character. "If the producers had had the time they undoubtedly would have cast about for an Aboriginal actor," said Devereaux. "But they had to have a man with experience, for there could be no delay - we shot this film fast and furious."
Filming began in January 1967 and took place in Outback Australia and at the studios of Supreme Sound. Location filming took six weeks.
Release The film had its world premiere in Canberra at a screening that was attended by the Governor General Lord Casey and the Prime Minister Harold Holt (it was one of the last functions attended by Holt prior to his drowning).David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p5 However its commercial response was disappointing.
Filmink magazine later wrote "It has its heart in the right place, albeit in a ‘50s Hollywood liberal way...but is fatally compromised by the casting of Sri Lankan Kamahl and white Ed Devereaux in blackface as aboriginals, not to mention Konrad Matthaei being simply dull in the lead. The film’s main problem is structural – there is no urgency in the trip and nothing interesting happens on the way. Once you stop laughing at Devereaux, it’s just boring."
References
External links Journey Out of Darkness at Australian Screen Online
Journey Out of Darkness at Oz Movies at National Film and Sound Archive