RETROSPECT: THE GETTING OF WISDOM (1977)
May 11th 2009 08:23
It would be hard to envy the lot of someone charged with creating a literary adaptation under the conventions of 1970s filmmaking. ‘Shorter means better’ was the attitude of studios and filmmaking bodies at the time, meaning that any producer who took a liking to a novel would often need to cram over 250 pages into under 100 minutes. Despite the difficulties, the decade proved an illustrious time for quality adaptations of Australian works, with both Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith creating waves at home and also overseas where many viewers had barely heard of the source material. Perhaps not so well known is The Getting of Wisdom, a film that is nevertheless a great example of how to effectively translate a written work to the silver screen.
A coming of age story set against the backdrop of Victorian era Australia, The Getting of Wisdom follows the trials and tribulations of 15-year-old Laura Tweedle Rambotham (Susannah Fowle), an incorrigible and precocious free spirit from the Australian outback who is sent by her lower middleclass mother to a Melbourne finishing school. The indoctrination process is a rough one: targeted by both catty fellow students and condescending teachers, Laura has to work hard to retain her individuality and sense of self-worth. But as the terms roll by and Laura matures through her adversity, she slowly learns how to cope in the culture of manipulation that exists at the school, deflecting both the conceit of her fellow students and the shallow criticism of the stiff teaching staff.
Adapted for the screen from the supposedly semiautobiographical novel of Henry Handel Richardson (the nom de plume of Ethel Richardson), Eleanor Witcombe did an excellent job in penning the script for The Getting of Wisdom. Witcombe managed to take the 264-page novel and condense it very effectively into a one and a half hour film, retaining both the major beats of the story and the essence of Richardson’s vividly drawn characters. On screen, it’s a story that packs an efficient but sweeping character arc for the deceptively complex Laura and a plot that gallops along at such a natural pace it barely breaks a sweat.
Contributing to the pace is the clarity and a gliding crispness of Don McAlpine’s fantastic cinematography. A judicious choice of lenses and the cleverly unselfconscious use of both dolly and steady cam shots renders Laura’s story with a never ending alacrity, greedily sucking up some spot-on production design put together by John Stoddart. The film is edited to within an inch of its life also, with William M. Anderson leaving virtually no fat on the reels, choosing to help drive the film along at a busy pace.
Throughout, director Bruce Beresford weaves a firm thread of humour, prodding the players to deliver their lines with a timing that often sides on the comic rather than the dramatic and in this respect The Getting of Wisdom benefits from an exceptionally talented cast. The virtually unknown Susannah Fowle inhabits the skin of Laura very well, but the excellent adult cast often overshadows her, including Sheila Helpmann as the fantastically crotchety Mrs Gurley and a hilarious contribution from Barry Humphries as the supercilious Reverend Strachey.
This is skilful filmmaking and The Getting of Wisdom stands as a great example of how to create a compelling literary adaptation. It’s a production that runs with all of the essential elements of the book, and doesn’t take the easy way out with Laura’s coming of age; she is a young character with many shades and one not beyond her classmates’ pettiness, sometimes cheating and lying her way to popularity and success. There’s an effortlessness to The Getting of Wisdom that’s completely contrary to many modern films, and aspiring filmmakers would do well to check out the talent on display in this clever little production.
The Getting of Wisdom is part of the Literary Adaptations: Australia box set. For reviews of Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Naked Country taken from the same set, check out Cibbuano's excellent film review site, 20/20 Filmsight. The box set is available from Umbrella Entertainment.
Check out a clip from The Getting of Wisdom below:
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Mountain Fog
Comment by MVD
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Whew, I think I'd give this one a miss...but your advocacy of the film makes me want to give it a shot!
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight