The Intruders (1969 film)

The Intruders (also known as Skippy and the Intruders) is a 1969 Australian film directed by Lee Robinson. It is a spin-off of the popular Skippy the Bush Kangaroo TV series.

The Intruders
Film poster
Directed byLee Robinson
Produced byLee Robinson
Joy Cavill
Screenplay byLee Robinson
Story byRoss Napier
StarringEd Devereaux
Music byEric Jupp
CinematographyPeter Menzies
Ron & Valerie Taylor (underwater)
Edited byDon Saunders
Production
company
Woomera Productions
Distributed byRegent Films
Release date
12 December 1969
Running time
100 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis

A gang of criminals led by Meredith is looking for sunken treasure off Mallacoota, pretending to be diving for abalone. Sonny, son of Matt Hammond, the Chief Ranger of Waratah National Park, investigates with their family friend, Clancy. Sonny and Clancy are kidnapped. Skippy comes to the rescue. After a speedboat chase and a fight in the sand dunes, Meredith is captured.[1]

Cast

Production

Filming began in October 1968 using the same crew and locations as the TV series. Additional location shooting was done at Mallacoota in Victoria, some 470 km south of the fictional Waratah National Park (Ku-ring-gai Chase) and in Sydney.

Release

The film failed to match the popularity of the TV series and was not a box office success.[2] John McCallum later claimed they:

Got the money back on the film but we thought it would be a bigger success in the cinema. If they could see it for nothing at home, the Mums and Dads weren't too keen to take the kids and pay at the cinema. We sold it to the Children's Film Foundation in England and they did well with it. They cut it down to a 60-minute version and played in Saturday mornings in the cinemas.[3]

References
  1. "SKIPPY STARS IN A FEATURE FILM". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 17 December 1969. p. 17. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  2. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p245
  3. John McCallum interview with Brian McFarlane, The Oxford Companion to Australian Film, Oxford Uni Press, 1999 p 299
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