The Rats of Tobruk is a 1944 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. An abridged version was released in the United States in 1951 as The Fighting Rats of Tobruk. The film follows three drover friends who enlist in the Australian Army together during World War II. Their story is based on the siege of the Libyan city of Tobruk in North Africa by Rommel's Afrika Korps. The largely Australian defenders held the city for 250 days before being relieved by British forces.
Three friends are droving cattle in Australia in 1939: the restless Bluey Donkin, easy-going Milo Trent and English Peter Linton, who is in the country on a working holiday. Squatter's daughter Kate Carmody is in love with Bluey but he refuses to be tied down to any one woman. War breaks out and the three men enlist in the Australian army and are assigned to the 9th Division. They ship out to Africa.
After early successes against the Italian army, the army is besieged in Tobruk. In between attacks, the men have comic encounters with a barber and Peter falls for a nurse, Sister Mary, after being wounded. There are several subsequent attacks in which all three soldiers are wounded. Peter Linton is killed but the others manage to repel the Germans.
Bluey and Milo are then transferred to New Guinea, where Bluey is injured and Milo killed by a sniper. Bluey manages to kill the sniper and returns to Australia, where he is reunited with Kate.
Edward Esau as British officer who falls asleep in barber's chair
Production
Development
Chauvel made the film as a follow up to his enormously popular Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940). Like that movie, it follows three friends overseas to war, and starred Grant Taylor and Chips Rafferty.
In September 1941 Chauvel announced his follow up movie would have the background of the wool industry.[1] That seemed to change and in November 1942 Chauvel announced plans to make a film about the Rats of Tobruk.[2] He spent a year researching and writing, and securing government cooperation.[3]
In July 1943 Variety reported Charles Munro would help finance two films of Chauvel, Rats of Tobruk and Fuzzy-wuzzies.[4]
Mary Gay was working as a clerk in a department store when discovered in a talent quest and cast in the role of the nurse who romances Peter Finch.[8]
Shooting
Shooting took place in late 1943. Taylor, Rafferty and Finch were all serving in the Australian army and played their parts on leave. A set representing the town of Tobruk was constructed in a field near Camden. Underground firing posts and dugouts were reconstructed in the studio of Commonwealth Film Laboratories. The Cronulla sandhills stood in for the African desert, and battle scenes were shot there at nighttime.[9] Watson's Bay was used to shoot scenes of Australian soldiers embarking by boat.[10]
The New Guinea sequences were shot at Lamington Plateau, near the crash site of the 1937 Stinson plane. (That wreck had been discovered by Bernard O'Reilly who inspired Chauvel's later film, Sons of Matthew.) Army photographers also shot real-life footage in Papua for use in the movie.[11] Filipino boxer Tony Villa plays the Japanese soldier who fights Grant Taylor at the end.[12]
Captured German and Italian weaponry was used throughout filming.[13] In 1943, the 3rd Army Tank Battalion was equipped with a squadron of Australian built Sentinel AC1 tanks which had been modified to resemble German tanks. The army provided advisers who had served in Tobruk.[14]
The film received mixed reviews. The critic from the Argus thought it was better than Forty Thousand Horsemen[15] but the one from the Sydney Morning Herald claimed that:
The fictional background is dull and uninventive, the characterisation often stilted and self-consciously patterned to arbitrary types, and the editing loose and jumpy as the story which, in its amateurish nature, is a dead-weight on the entire production. The chief merits of the film, which was made in the face of great difficulties that may explain, but do not excuse, its weaknesses for a commercial market, are its reconstruction of Tobruk and the fidelity of its action scenes to historic fact. Yet, while these action scenes are truthful, their interpretation by the aim leaves their outlines and purposes vague so that an audience has to guess too much about who's fighting who and what the strategy is.[16]
Filmink magazine later wrote "I’m not quite sure what Taylor did during his war service, but it was having its impact already by the time of this film – Taylor looks puffier, more balder, less enthusiastic. He’s still pretty good, just not as good as in Horseman – like the film itself really, which was a commercial disappointment."[17]
It was not released in the US until 1951.[19] The critic from The New York Times called the movie "one of the most harrowing bores in years from anywhere... most of the eighty five minutes is crawling agony... it's a toss up as to which is more primeval, Mr Chauvel's direction or the acting of the entire cast."[20]
^"Chauvel Talks on New Project". Sunday Times (Perth). Western Australia. 14 September 1941. p. 8 (Supplement to ""The Sunday Times""). Retrieved 17 May 2020 – via Trove.
^"FILM PLANNED ON TOBRUK "RATS"". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 7 November 1942. p. 10. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^ ab""RATS OF TOBRUK" FTLM SOON". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 7 June 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"HOW AN AUSTRALIAN FILM IS MADE". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 16 September 1944. p. 6 Supplement: The Argus Week-end Magazine. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
^"FILMING "THE RATS OF TOBRUK"". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 7 December 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"A BIT OF THIS AND THAT ABOUT THE FILM SCENE" by THOMAS M. PRYOR. New York Times 29 August 1943: X3.
^"Film Role For Sydney Girl". Sunday Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 19 March 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
^"BY WAYS OF THE ARMY". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 17 June 1944. p. 7. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^""RATS OF TOBRUK" AT WATSON'S BAY". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 17 June 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"CHAUVEL FILM MEN IN JUNGLE". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 29 December 1943. p. 8. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"JAPANESE TROPHIES FOR FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 12 June 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"FILM TO DEPICT EPIC DEFENCE OF TOBRUK". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 5 August 1943. p. 6. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"Films You'll be Seeing Soon". The Mail. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 4 September 1943. p. 10. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"GREAT AUSTRALIAN WAR FILM". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 8 December 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"NEW FILMS IN SYDNEY THEATRES". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 11 December 1944. p. 5. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^Vagg, Stephen (29 July 2019). "Unsung Aussie Filmmakers – Grant Taylor: A Top Ten". Filmink.
^"PUBLIC APPRECIATES "RATS OF TOBRUK"". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 14 December 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"New York calls 'The Rats' 'a most harrowing bore'". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 25 May 1951. p. 7. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^"THE SCREEN: FOUR FILMS HAVE PREMIERES HERE: Danny Kaye 'On the Riviera,' With Gene Tierney, Arrives at the Roxy Theatre 'Smuggler's Island' at Rivoli-- Paramount Showing 'Sealed Cargo'--'Tobruk' at City at the Paramount at the Rivoli at the City Theatre" by BOSLEY CROWTHER. New York Times 24 May 1951: 57.
Documentary footage of shooting in New Guinea the concluding scenes for Mr Charles Chauvel's film Rats of Tobruk at Australian War Memorial
"Copyright application for Rats of Tobruk". National Archives of Australia.
January 13, 2023
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For the Australian soldiers see The Rats of Tobruk The Rats of Tobruk is a 1944 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel An abridged version was released in the United States in 1951 as The Fighting Rats of Tobruk The film follows three drover friends who enlist in the Australian Army together during World War II Their story is based on the siege of the Libyan city of Tobruk in North Africa by Rommel s Afrika Korps The largely Australian defenders held the city for 250 days before being relieved by British forces The Rats of TobrukDirected byCharles ChauvelWritten byCharles ChauvelElsa ChauvelMaxwell Dunn commentary Produced byCharles ChauvelCharles MunroStarringGrant TaylorPeter FinchChips RaffertyGeorge WallaceCinematographyGeorge HeathEdited byGus LowryMusic byLindley Evans Musical Direction Charles Mackerras Associate Willie Redstone Associate ProductioncompanyChamun ProductionsDistributed byRKO Australia Umbrella EntertainmentRelease dates7 December 1944 1944 12 07 Australia 1949 1949 UK 1951 1951 US Running time95 mins Aust 68 minutesCountryAustraliaLanguageEnglish Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Development 3 2 Shooting 4 Reception 4 1 Critical 4 2 Box office 4 3 US Release 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksPlot EditThree friends are droving cattle in Australia in 1939 the restless Bluey Donkin easy going Milo Trent and English Peter Linton who is in the country on a working holiday Squatter s daughter Kate Carmody is in love with Bluey but he refuses to be tied down to any one woman War breaks out and the three men enlist in the Australian army and are assigned to the 9th Division They ship out to Africa After early successes against the Italian army the army is besieged in Tobruk In between attacks the men have comic encounters with a barber and Peter falls for a nurse Sister Mary after being wounded There are several subsequent attacks in which all three soldiers are wounded Peter Linton is killed but the others manage to repel the Germans Bluey and Milo are then transferred to New Guinea where Bluey is injured and Milo killed by a sniper Bluey manages to kill the sniper and returns to Australia where he is reunited with Kate Cast EditGrant Taylor as Bluey Donkin Peter Finch as Peter Linton Chips Rafferty as Milo Trent George Wallace as the barber of Tobruk Pauline Garrick as Kate Carmody Mary Gay as Sister Mary Ellis Joe Valli as the Northumberland Fusilier John Sherwood Walter Pym Norman Blackler Gilbert Ellis Robert Carlyle Joe Anderson Toni Villa as Japanese soldier Edward Esau as British officer who falls asleep in barber s chairProduction EditDevelopment Edit Chauvel made the film as a follow up to his enormously popular Forty Thousand Horsemen 1940 Like that movie it follows three friends overseas to war and starred Grant Taylor and Chips Rafferty In September 1941 Chauvel announced his follow up movie would have the background of the wool industry 1 That seemed to change and in November 1942 Chauvel announced plans to make a film about the Rats of Tobruk 2 He spent a year researching and writing and securing government cooperation 3 In July 1943 Variety reported Charles Munro would help finance two films of Chauvel Rats of Tobruk and Fuzzy wuzzies 4 Financing was obtained from Hoyts RKO Radio and Commonwealth Film Laboratories 5 6 Production of the movie was even announced in The New York Times 7 Mary Gay was working as a clerk in a department store when discovered in a talent quest and cast in the role of the nurse who romances Peter Finch 8 Shooting Edit Shooting took place in late 1943 Taylor Rafferty and Finch were all serving in the Australian army and played their parts on leave A set representing the town of Tobruk was constructed in a field near Camden Underground firing posts and dugouts were reconstructed in the studio of Commonwealth Film Laboratories The Cronulla sandhills stood in for the African desert and battle scenes were shot there at nighttime 9 Watson s Bay was used to shoot scenes of Australian soldiers embarking by boat 10 The New Guinea sequences were shot at Lamington Plateau near the crash site of the 1937 Stinson plane That wreck had been discovered by Bernard O Reilly who inspired Chauvel s later film Sons of Matthew Army photographers also shot real life footage in Papua for use in the movie 11 Filipino boxer Tony Villa plays the Japanese soldier who fights Grant Taylor at the end 12 Captured German and Italian weaponry was used throughout filming 13 In 1943 the 3rd Army Tank Battalion was equipped with a squadron of Australian built Sentinel AC1 tanks which had been modified to resemble German tanks The army provided advisers who had served in Tobruk 14 Filming ended in June 1944 3 Reception EditCritical Edit The film received mixed reviews The critic from the Argus thought it was better than Forty Thousand Horsemen 15 but the one from the Sydney Morning Herald claimed that The fictional background is dull and uninventive the characterisation often stilted and self consciously patterned to arbitrary types and the editing loose and jumpy as the story which in its amateurish nature is a dead weight on the entire production The chief merits of the film which was made in the face of great difficulties that may explain but do not excuse its weaknesses for a commercial market are its reconstruction of Tobruk and the fidelity of its action scenes to historic fact Yet while these action scenes are truthful their interpretation by the aim leaves their outlines and purposes vague so that an audience has to guess too much about who s fighting who and what the strategy is 16 Filmink magazine later wrote I m not quite sure what Taylor did during his war service but it was having its impact already by the time of this film Taylor looks puffier more balder less enthusiastic He s still pretty good just not as good as in Horseman like the film itself really which was a commercial disappointment 17 Box office Edit Early box office response was encouraging 18 but the movie was not as popular as Forty Thousand Horsemen US Release Edit It was not released in the US until 1951 19 The critic from The New York Times called the movie one of the most harrowing bores in years from anywhere most of the eighty five minutes is crawling agony it s a toss up as to which is more primeval Mr Chauvel s direction or the acting of the entire cast 20 See also EditThe Desert Rats Cinema of AustraliaReferences Edit Chauvel Talks on New Project Sunday Times Perth Western Australia 14 September 1941 p 8 Supplement to The Sunday Times Retrieved 17 May 2020 via Trove FILM PLANNED ON TOBRUK RATS The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 7 November 1942 p 10 Retrieved 19 August 2012 a b RATS OF TOBRUK FTLM SOON The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 7 June 1944 p 6 Retrieved 19 August 2012 Australia Variety 14 July 1943 p 95 HOW AN AUSTRALIAN FILM IS MADE The Argus Melbourne National Library of Australia 16 September 1944 p 6 Supplement The Argus Week end Magazine Retrieved 11 February 2012 FILMING THE RATS OF TOBRUK The Argus Melbourne National Library of Australia 7 December 1944 p 2 Retrieved 19 August 2012 A BIT OF THIS AND THAT ABOUT THE FILM SCENE by THOMAS M PRYOR New York Times 29 August 1943 X3 Film Role For Sydney Girl Sunday Mail Brisbane National Library of Australia 19 March 1944 p 6 Retrieved 9 March 2014 BY WAYS OF THE ARMY The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 17 June 1944 p 7 Retrieved 19 August 2012 RATS OF TOBRUK AT WATSON S BAY The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 17 June 1944 p 3 Retrieved 19 August 2012 CHAUVEL FILM MEN IN JUNGLE The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 29 December 1943 p 8 Retrieved 19 August 2012 JAPANESE TROPHIES FOR FILMS The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 12 June 1944 p 4 Retrieved 19 August 2012 FILM TO DEPICT EPIC DEFENCE OF TOBRUK The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 5 August 1943 p 6 Retrieved 19 August 2012 Films You ll be Seeing Soon The Mail Adelaide National Library of Australia 4 September 1943 p 10 Retrieved 19 August 2012 GREAT AUSTRALIAN WAR FILM The Argus Melbourne National Library of Australia 8 December 1944 p 2 Retrieved 19 August 2012 NEW FILMS IN SYDNEY THEATRES The Sydney Morning Herald National Library of Australia 11 December 1944 p 5 Retrieved 19 August 2012 Vagg Stephen 29 July 2019 Unsung Aussie Filmmakers Grant Taylor A Top Ten Filmink PUBLIC APPRECIATES RATS OF TOBRUK The Argus Melbourne National Library of Australia 14 December 1944 p 4 Retrieved 19 August 2012 New York calls The Rats a most harrowing bore The Argus Melbourne National Library of Australia 25 May 1951 p 7 Retrieved 19 August 2012 THE SCREEN FOUR FILMS HAVE PREMIERES HERE Danny Kaye On the Riviera With Gene Tierney Arrives at the Roxy Theatre Smuggler s Island at Rivoli Paramount Showing Sealed Cargo Tobruk at City at the Paramount at the Rivoli at the City Theatre by BOSLEY CROWTHER New York Times 24 May 1951 57 External links EditThe Rats of Tobruk Archived 11 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine at the National Film and Sound Archive The Rats of Tobruk at IMDb The Rats of Tobruk at Australian Screen Online US Trailer at Internet Archive Original treatment at National Archives of Australia The Rats of Tobruk at Oz Movies Review of film at Variety Documentary footage of shooting in New Guinea the concluding scenes for Mr Charles Chauvel s film Rats of Tobruk at Australian War Memorial Copyright application for Rats of Tobruk National Archives of Australia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Rats of Tobruk film amp oldid 1125207360, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
