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3/10
Archivist John
Senior Editor
A definitive 3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Romance of Runnibede remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
You should probably only watch The Romance of Runnibede if you really, really like old silent movies or if you have a weird obsession with Australian history. If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller, you are definitely in the wrong place. People who like seeing how movies were made 100 years ago will find it neat, but everyone else will likely be checking their watch after ten minutes. 🌵
The main thing to know is that they brought over this American actress, Eva Novak, to be the star. She plays Dorothy, a girl from the city who goes to this place called Runnibede in the middle of nowhere. She looks a bit like she’s wondering where the nearest department store is the whole time.
Dorothy wears these really fancy dresses that look totally wrong for the bush. In one scene, she's walking through the tall grass and you can almost hear her thinking about the stains on her hem. It makes her feel like an alien who just landed in Queensland. 🛸
The scenery is actually the best part of the whole thing. It’s all very dusty and huge. You get a real sense of how big Australia is, even if the camera doesn't move much. Sometimes the dust is so thick on the screen you can barely see the actors faces.
I noticed that the men in this movie spend a lot of time holding their hats. Like, a lot. They take them off, they put them on, they clutch them to their chests when Dorothy walks by. It’s like the hats are doing more acting than the people are.
Steele Rudd wrote the story, and usually his stuff is pretty funny. But this feels way more serious and sort of stiff. It’s trying to be this grand romance, but the chemistry between the leads is about as exciting as a piece of damp cardboard.
There is a scene with a cattle muster that goes on for quite a while. It feels like they just filmed a real cattle muster and decided to keep all of it. If you like cows, you’re in luck. If not, it’s a lot of hooves and dirt. 🐄
The plot gets a bit messy toward the end with some drama involving the local indigenous people. It’s handled in that very awkward, old-fashioned way that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable watching it today. It’s definitely a product of 1928, for better or mostly worse.
I kept thinking about Little Women while watching this, mostly because that movie actually makes you care about what happens to the characters. Here, I mostly just cared about whether Dorothy was going to fall off her horse. She looks very shaky in the saddle.
The way the film is edited is kind of jumpy too. One minute they are talking, and the next, someone is suddenly miles away. I guess they didn't have a big budget for transitions. Or maybe they just forgot to film them.
One guy, I think it was Roland Conway, has this very intense way of staring. He looks like he’s trying to burn a hole in the back of Dorothy’s head with his eyes. It’s supposed to be romantic, but it comes off a little bit creepy if I’m being honest. 👁️
Compared to something like Wolf's Clothing, this is way more grounded, but that also makes it a bit more boring. There aren't any big surprises or clever twists. It just sort of happens and then it stops.
I did like the shots of the homestead, though. It looked like a real place where people actually lived and struggled. You can almost smell the woodsmoke and the dry heat through the screen.
Its not a total waste of time if you want to see what Australian cinema looked like before it really found its voice. But dont expect to be blown away by the storytelling. Its mostly just a lot of people in big hats standing in the dirt. 🤠
The music—well, whatever score you find with it now—usually tries to make it seem more exciting than it is. It’ll be playing this dramatic violin music while a guy just walks slowly toward a fence. It’s a bit much.
In the end, The Romance of Runnibede is a dusty little relic. It’s got some charm if you squint, but mostly it’s just a reminder of how much better we’ve gotten at telling stories on film. Still, Eva Novak’s eyebrows deserve an award for all the heavy lifting they do.
IMDb 5.8
1922
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