Cathy's Child

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Cathy's Child
Directed byDonald Crombie
Written byKen Quinnell
Based onbook A Piece of Paper by Dick Wordley
Produced byPom Oliver
Errol Sullivan
StarringMichele Fawdon
Alan Cassell
Bryan Brown
Arthur Dignam
Willie Fennell
CinematographyGary Hansen
Edited byTim Wellburn
Music byWilliam Motzing
Distributed byVillage Roadshow
Release date
  • 1979 (1979)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$325,000[1]
Box officeA$135,000 (Australia)[2]
$100,000 (overseas sales)

Cathy's Child is a 1979 Australian film, directed by Donald Crombie and starring Michele Fawdon, Alan Cassell and Bryan Brown.

Cast

Plot

Cathy Baikas (Michele Fawdon) is a young Greek migrant who lives in Sydney, Australia with her three-year-old daughter. When her daughter's father abducts the child and returns to Greece, Cathy discovers the authorities can do little to help her, so she turns to the media. A newspaper reporter, Wordley (Alan Cassell) and his young editor (Bryan Brown), who several years prior had been through a similar experience, force the story onto the front page. giving her case press coverage and turning the spotlight on bureaucracy’s mishandling of the situation. The film is based on a true story. [3]

Historical basis

On 14 January 1973, Greek-born John Baikas left Australia for Athens, taking his daughter Maris with him on a forged passport. Her mother Cathy found out and tried to get her back. The government seemed to do little, so she contacted Sun journalist Dick Wordley to run a campaign.

The film used the real names for the characters of Cathy Baikas, Dick Wordley and Wordley's 'Hotline' editor, Paul Nicholson. However, other names were fictionalised.[4]

Production

Ken Quinnell read Dick Wordley's 1973 book on the case, A Piece of Paper. He gave it to producer Errol Sullivan, who thought it might make "a small but highly emotional film, one that could reach the middle audience in Australia – the audience that people like Hoyts say doesn't exist: namely, the North Shore, blue rinse set."[5]

It was thought the budget had to be kept below $400,000, so the action was set in the present day rather than 1973. Finance came from the Australian Film Commission (AFC), the New South Wales Film Corporation, Roadshow Distributors and $55,000 of private investment. Gillian Armstrong was originally meant to be director and money was raised from the AFC on the basis of her name, but there was a potential clash with My Brilliant Career, so Donald Crombie, why had a history of making films about women, was offered the job instead.[5]

Filming began in June 1978, with the majority of the film shot in Sydney over a period of four weeks, with a week's filming in Greece. Money had been allocated in the budget for an overseas actor to play the Australian consul in Greece, but the filmmakers were unable to find anyone for an appropriate price and Willie Fennell subsequently took the role.[5]

The script included a scene where Cathy and Dick Wordley go to bed together. Wordley denied this ever happened but allowed it in the film after much discussion.[4] The scene was shot but ended up being cut after a preview.[1]

Reception

Awards

Michele Fawdon was awarded Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 1979 Australian Film Institute Awards for her role as Cathy Baikis.

The film also received nominations for Best Actor in a Lead Role, Best Direction and Best Film at the same awards.

Box office

Cathy's Child grossed $135,000 at the box office in Australia,[6] which is equivalent to $527,850 in 2009 dollars.

In 1996, Donald Crombie said the film was his favourite of all the features he had made:

Mainly because I think we were extraordinarily successful in creating that character, Cathy Bikos. Michelle Fawdon is obviously not Maltese, but she pulled that off brilliantly, I thought. The accent, I'm told, is perfect. She lived with a family and that's how she achieved it. That was a very good project to work on.[7]

See also

References

  1. David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p152-153
  2. Australian Films at the Box Office - Report to Film Victoria Archived 28 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 5 October 2012
  3. "Cathy's Child". Variety. 31 December 1978. Retrieved 14 August 2026.
  4. Peter Beilby & Scott Murray, "Donald Crombie", Cinema Papers, Oct–Nov 1978, p131-132
  5. Peter Beilby & Scott Murray, "Errol Sullivan", Cinema Papers, Oct–Nov 1978, p128
  6. "Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  7. "Interview with Donald Crombie", Signet, 18 December 1998 Deprecated link archived 9 December 2012 at archive.today Retrieved 16 November 2012