Audience Member
It May Have A 'Historical Value' By Portraying The Struggle Of Cultural Acceptance, In A Semi-Documentary Style. It's However, Very, Very Dated. While This May Be Entertaining..Seeing How Things Once Were, There Is Overt Racism, An Ingrained Connection To The Country Being First & Foremost An English Colony, The Beach Being Where Cool People Be Cool..& Males Being Chavenistic, Pompous & Arrogant With Ego, Self-Importance Or Blokey Culture. Some Would Say, Including Myself, Not Much Has Changed..So While It Maybe 'Historical', It Is Also A Mirror That Hasn't Changed Much. From That Perspective, It Is An Interesting Conundrum.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Interesting movie made in Australia by director Michael Powell whose seedy film 'Peeping Tom' had estranged him somewhat from his native British homeland. Based on a novel, They're A Weird Mob deals with a similar predicament- an Italian immigrant who has moved to Sydney to work for his brother's newspaper. Upon arriving, he discovers that things are not quite as they seem and he must work as a bricklayer to pay his accumulating debts. As a stranger in a strange land, he encounters a reasonable level of racism and cultural disorientation but emerges with a generous slice of the Australian dream by marrying a nice girl and building a house with harbour views. This movie is quite a period piece (albeit a well made one) and reflects a more parochial Australia stuck somewhere between post-war immigration and a revision of its own national identity.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
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Audience Member
its good they r a weird mob cos they fit right in this weird movie!
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Good-natured comedy about an Italian immigrant to Australia and the wacky culture into which he is adopted. Michael Powell (of Powell & Pressburger fame) directed this extremely broad but affectionate tale that shares little in common with his previous outings except for an interest in "place", the location (in this case, Sydney), and "people" or culture (in this case, a very blokey set of Aussies). Powell doesn't poke fun at Italians at all, although he doesn't shy away at depicting the prejudice that some Australians showed (and still show?) to the "New Australians" who migrated here in the 1950s and '60s (from Italy and Greece). Nino is meant to work for an Italian newspaper but it no longer exists and instead he finds work as a tradie, putting in foundations for houses. It's back-breaking work but he bonds with the other guys and eventually finds love as well, not with the Italian girl that he initially pursues but with the Anglo-Aussie sheila that owns the building from which his cousin's newspaper company was evicted. But all this plot is simply an opportunity to expose the world to some proper Aussie slang, their fondness for drinking beer, the beautiful vistas of Sydney (harbor, Bondi Beach), and most of all about mateship. Yet, there is not an Aboriginal fella in sight and this is an Australia that is long gone in favour of a much more multicultural land where, in principle, everyone deserves a fair go, regardless of where they were born.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A very dated, very obscure film, I only discovered it through a Powell & Pressburger boxset & am not surprised that I'm the first person reviewing it on here. I was made quite uncomfortable by the stereotypical portrayals of Australians and Italians and the only real redeeming feature of the film was the performance of Walter Chiari in the central role, who came across as very likable.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Bit dated. Did people really used to talk like that?!
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
Full Review
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