"All the Rivers Run" (1983) TV mini-series

Directors:

Pino Amenta
George Miller

Writers:

Nancy Cato (book)
Colin Free (part 2)

Release Date:

15 January 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A sweeping saga of one woman's struggle for survival.

Plot:

Orphaned after a shipwreck off the Victorian coast of Australia, the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia...

Plot Keywords:

Australia | Frontier | Settler | Riverboat | Colonialism

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Sigrid Thornton	...	Philadelphia 'Delie' Gordon Edwards
John Waters	...	Brenton Edwards
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Alansu	...	Ah Lee
Kirk Alexander	...	Jim
Harold Baigent	...	Examining Skipper
Roy Baldwin	...	Mr. Hamilton
Don Barker	...	George Blakeney
Ernie Bourke	...	Boat Builder
Don Bridges	...	Useless
Nicholas Brown	...	Gordon Edwards (Aged 2)
Carol Burns	...	Mrs. Slope
Michael Carman	...	Alby
Chantal Contouri	...	Julia
Diane Craig	...	Miss Barrett
Steven Cummins	...	Minister
Lloyd Cunnington	...	Jack Wallace
Celia De Burgh	...	Imogen
Graham Dow	...	Captain Jacobsen
Maureen Edwards	...	Aunt Agnes
Cliff Ellen	...	Elijah
Mary-Anne Fahey	...	Hilda
Peter Finlay	...	Vince
Frank Gallacher	...	Mac
Caroline Gillmer	...	Mabel Blakeney
Vic Gordon	...	Examining Skipper
Reg Gorman	...	Examining Skipper
Vivean Gray	...	Alicia Raeburn
Sam Hammington	...	Gordon Edwards (Aged 4)
Alan Hardy	...	Reverend Polson
Jeffrey Hodgson	...	Solicitor
Sydney Jackson	...	David Young
Constance Lansberg	...	Bessie Griggs
Betty Lucas	...	Janet Raeburn
Judith Massey	...	Annie
Margo McLennan	...	Aunt Miriam
Gus Mercurio	...	Tom Critchley
Lloyd Morris	...	Jeremy
Di O'Connor	...	Mrs. Griggs
Daryl Pellizzer	...	Joe
Darius Perkins	...	Ben
Dinah Shearing	...	Aunt Hester
Roger Stephen	...	Steve Farrell
Steven Tandy	...	Robert
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell	...	Uncle Charles
Tom Travers	...	Bank Manager
William Upjohn	...	Adam
Nick Waters	...	Mr. Slope
Adrian Wright	...	Alastair Raeburn

Runtime:

100 min (4 episodes)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Australia:M (video rating) | Australia:M (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

7 Network

Movie Connections:

Followed by All the Rivers Run 2 (1990) (TV)

A trip up the river with Sigrid proves well worthwhile

For once a production team has taken a novel of broad scope and length, and not hacked it to bits during the transformation to screen. The result is very long (over six hours) but necessarily so, given that it follows the course of Philadelphia 'Dellie' Gordon from her adolescence - where she survives a shipwreck but is orphaned - through to motherhood. And quite a lot happens in between, far too much to mention here, though some of it involves breaking free from her restrictive aunt, struggling to survive as a single woman in the 1890s, romance, financial destitution, marital problems and other tumult.

Sigrid Thornton, a skilled and versatile actress, seems born to play this role; indeed it conveniently rolled along as if an extention of her major role in The Man From Snowy River, some two years earlier. Her combination of demure reservation and buoyant enthusiasm brought a realism to the role that, if absent, could have torpedoed the whole lengthy affair. With Thornton at the rudder - literally and figuratively - it needed no rescueing. The rest of the (large) cast played well around her, particularly the cheeky John Waters, the bustling and avuncular Charles Tingwell, and Dinah Shearing as the prissy and spiteful Aunt Hester.

The true star is perhaps the scenery and the setting. Filmed largely in Echuca, the series made excellent use of the town's tourist precinct, with its ready-made sets of buildings, wharf and paddlesteamers, as well as the Murray River and sprawing bushland. It's unlikely an Australian historical series has been able to achieve such visual realism as in this drama. This, combined with the quality acting and well-crafted screenplay that adhered to the novel, made for a polished package that will only disappoint those without the patience to stick with it.