40 Grad im Schatten (1983)

40 Grad im Schatten: Directed by Henri Safran. With John Ewart, John Howard, Mark Spain, James Wingrove. In the Australian outback a family struggles to keep its farm from foreclosure. Their only hope is that their horse, Prince, will win money in a New Year’s race. But when Prince is stolen the children embark on a dangerous and exciting adventure to get him back.

“I first saw this film back in 1990 (we still have the VHS tape we recorded it on back then) and although Iu0026#39;m now 13 years older the film still makes for an enjoyable viewing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story involves the Thompson family, whose farm has just survived a drought and are in dire straits and risk losing their farm if they canu0026#39;t pay the mortgage off. Their only hope lies in their horse – Prince – who will be competing in the New Years Day Cup and if he can win theyu0026#39;ll have enough to pay off the debt. Unfortunately 2 bumbling lowlifes called Bill and Sly steal Prince and head off into the bush where they hope to escape and use Prince to make a fortune. Upon realising this the 3 children in the house (Helen, John and their English cousin Michael) set off into the bush after the 2 thieves along with Manalpuy, an Aboriginal who lives on their farm.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story is pretty simplistic but considering the target audience is primarily children itu0026#39;s decent fun. This film is special being that it was Nicole Kidmanu0026#39;s first starring role in a movie (at the young age of 17). Australian TV viewers would probably also be interested to know that also starring was an actor named John Howard (not the prime minister) who today is now well-known for his roles in the Australian TV series u0026#39;SeaChangeu0026#39; (which he won a Logie for) and u0026#39;Always Greeneru0026#39; – here he plays one of the horse thieves (Sly) and its interesting to see the way he looked 20 years ago (he looks a lot thinner – and taller – but the face has remained the same).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSince seeing the film in 1990 I have never seen it screened again on television, nor have I seen it anywhere in any video store, so good luck to anyone who might want to catch it as it may be another of those u0026#39;hard-to-findu0026#39; films (like too many older Australian films). Still its worth a watch if you can – if only to see a young, teenage Nicole Kidman with curly brown hair and freckles on her face.”