Botany Bay (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Oct 16, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
John FarrowRelease Date(s)
1953 (September 24, 2024)Studio(s)
Paramount Pictures (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Botany Bay is set in the era when England, under King George III, was transporting convicts to New South Wales, in what’s now Australia. With England’s population having doubled in only a few years, hordes of impoverished people living in hunger and filth, and long prison sentences or execution the punishment for even petty crimes, the country’s prisons were overflowing. The American colonies were now the independent United States of America and would no longer be a dumping ground for England’s undesirables. The solution was to send shiploads of convicts to Botany Bay, so named for its brilliant and varied plant life. There, they will establish New South Wales as the first penal colony in Australia, ensuring a supply of unpaid labor to exploit the continent’s resources.
The film opens with a group of men in a London prison cell. Among them is American medical student Hugh Tallant (Alan Ladd, Shane), unjustly convicted and sentenced to death for theft. A guard posts a notice declaring that the prisoners are being exiled to the new colony.
Paul Gilbert (James Mason, A Star Is Born), captain of the ship that will transport Tallant and 800 fellow convicts, regards himself as a tough but fair naval officer. Gilbert represents English law, which is unfair, cruel, and often brutal.
There are some women prisoners on board, including actress Sally Munroe (Patricia Medina, The Black Knight), who also claims to have been jailed unjustly. Sally catches the eyes of both Tallant and Gilbert. Gilbert offers to make her voyage more pleasant, his intention hardly hidden, but she uses her quick wit to keep him at bay.
Much of the film is devoted to the long voyage, as the tight quarters and confrontational personalities keep the plot moving. Gilbert eventually makes Tallant the target of his power and cruelty by having him whipped, placed in solitary confinement, and later keel hauled, a horrible punishment in which the victim is dragged through the water under the bottom of the ship and across its width. Informed that this punishment hasn’t been used in a British ship in over 50 years, Gilbert nonetheless orders it applied to Tallant and another prisoner. The other man is killed. Tallant barely survives.
Ladd’s character is based on the real William Redfern, an American medical student who was imprisoned in England, transported to New South Wales, and assigned as an assistant at the local hospital. Redfern advocated major reforms to sanitary conditions aboard convict ships that reduced morbidity rates of convicts surviving the long sea journey. Ladd, who achieved stardom more on personality, looks, and athleticism than on acting prowess does a good job as Tallant despite having few opportunities to show off his derring-do. The romantic interludes between him and Medina seem more a Hollywood requirement than a relationship that develops naturally, and often slow what is otherwise a brisk pace.
Mason plays Gilbert with the necessary combination of privilege, arrogance, sadism, and condescension. As captain of a ship, Gilbert has complete authority and he relishes it, sneering and almost gleefully asserting his authority. The film is based on a book by the same authors who wrote Mutiny on the Bounty, and there are elements in Gilbert of Captain Bligh. Both men are authoritarians who run their ship by the book with little empathy—in Bligh’s case for his crew, in Gilbert’s case for the prisoners he’s transporting.
As Sally, Medina takes on a role that would have been better suited to Maureen O’Hara. O’Hara was right at home in pirate films and historical dramas and had a spark that made her characters light up. Medina, far more subdued, is less interesting. An early scene, in which she’s hoisted aboard ship with a winch, is supposed to show off her spirit, but she comes a bit bland instead.
Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Things to Come) plays Phillips, governor of New South Wales, who’s more humane than Gilbert but also subject to the laws of England that extend to this new colony. Character actor Murray Matheson (King of the Khyber Rifles) plays Rev. Mortimer Thyme, imprisoned for his outspoken political views, and Dorothy Pattern (TV’s Man Against Crime) and John Hardy (Julius Caesar) are a mother and son who suffer tragedy at sea. Jonathan Harris (The Big Fisherman), who would go on to star as Dr. Smith on TV’s Lost in Space, plays Tom Oakly, Tallant’s fellow convict and confidant.
Director John Farrow, working with a script by Jonathan Latimer, makes use of Paramount’s scenic department with studio-built sets that include a lush tropical jungle and the deck of the Charlotte. Rear projection of the sea, and water tanks that drench the set in scenes of a storm, convey the impression that the action takes place on an actual ship. Miniatures of the ship at sea are convincing, with the camera slowed to give water sloshing in a tank the appearance of the swells in the sea. The film has little action apart from a brief fight on the deck of the Charlotte and a late, hurried scene on shore that ties things up.
Director of photography John F. Seitz shot Botany Bay on 35 mm film with spherical lenses, processed by Technicolor, and presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The Blu-ray is sourced from a 2021 HD master by Paramount Pictures from a 4K scan. This is a beautiful-looking film. The color palette is rich and deeply saturated as only vintage Technicolor could accomplish. Director Farrow and cinematographer Seitz use fog and mist to create atmosphere, giving the film a sort of noir touch. Complexions are flatteringly rendered, with Medina’s close-ups reflecting special care. In one, shot from a slightly high angle, she looks up at Ladd, her make-up perfect, as a slight breeze blows through her hair. This is glamour photography at its finest. Rear projection is used a great deal to simulate a ship at sea, and long shots of the ship are accomplished with detailed miniatures. In one scene, the ship silhouetted against a setting sun provides a memorable image. The New South Wales exteriors were filmed inside sound stages and are impressive in their detail.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are an available option. Dialogue is clear and distinct. Mason speaks with an upper-class British accent. Sound effects include thunder claps and water pouring onto the deck of the ship during a violent storm, gun shots, creaking noises as the ship is buffeted by waves and, most charmingly, the munching of eucalyptus leaves by a couple of koalas at the fade-out. The score by Franz Waxman applies grandeur to the proceedings and suggests we’re watching an epic production. His score, combined with the picture’s carefully constructed sound design, are embellishments that lift the film.
Bonus materials on the Region A Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics include the following:
- Audio Commentary by Heath Holland
- Whispering Smith Trailer (1:07)
- One Way Street Trailer (2:12)
- Buccaneer’s Girl Trailer (2:20)
- Against All Flags Trailer (2:25)
- The World in His Arms Trailer (1:49)
Audio Commentary – Heath Holland, host of the Cereal at Midnight podcast, notes that Botany Bay is deeply rooted in the real history of Australia. The opening text sets the historical period. England was a tough place when the king ordered prisoners sent to New South Wales to reduce the population of England and establish a colony. Ships left in 1787 for Botany Bay, arriving several months later in 1788. The first group consisted of 700 convicts. Brutal conditions on board resulted in a high mortality rate. England had just fought a war with its American colonies and needed a new place to ship prisoners. The film “brushes up against real history.” In a brief scene in a prison, a number of convicts to be deported are briefly introduced as their names and crimes are read from a notice posted by a guard. The film was shot in 1951 but not released until October, 1953. Also released that month were How to Marry a Millionaire, Calamity Jane, The Big Heat, Here Come the Girls, Appointment in Honduras, and Torch Song. Botany Bay feels like a big, prestigious movie. At the time, James Mason was still “a star on the rise.” Patricia Medina’s character is not a damsel in distress. The film is based on a novel by Charles Nordoff and James Norman Hall, who had written Mutiny on the Bounty. The novel was optioned before the book was published and was intended as a vehicle for Joel McCrea, but the project was shelved. Later, Ray Milland was to star, but that project, too, never materialized. Meanwhile, costs had risen. Eventually Alan Ladd was cast. Botany Bay “has flown under the radar for so long." Writer Jonathan Latimer wrote several Alan Ladd films and turned to television in the 1950s where he became prolific, writing for several series including 32 episodes of Perry Mason. His final TV credit is an episode of Columbo starring Ray Milland. The review of Botany Bay in Variety was favorable but not overly enthusiastic, and the film made $9 million at the box office. It wasn’t a blockbuster but has become “a little bit of a hidden gem.”
Botany Bay combines history, a courageous convict who’s been wronged by the law, a heartless ship captain, and intrigue aboard ship for 94 minutes of fast-paced melodrama. The film could have used more adventure, but the performances are mostly solid and make up for the lack of action that the story calls out for. But Farrow’s direction, Seitz’s gorgeous photography, and crisp editing contribute to an entertaining Cliff’s Notes version of Australia’s birth as a country.
- Dennis Seuling