Based on the 1958 John O’Grady novel of the same name, They’re A Weird Mob told the story of newly-arrived Italian immigrant Nino Culotta (Walter Chiari) and his struggles to settle in Australia.
Nino is an Italian sports journalist who arrives in Australia to find his cousin’s new magazine for migrant Italians has folded. He soon gets a job as a builder’s labourer learns to talk and drink like an Australian, and falls in love with an Australian girl (Clare Dunne).
He is bemused by this strange new country, where people abuse him on the street and strangers want to buy him a drink, but he sees a future.
Scriptwriter Emeric Pressburger expanded the original book considerably, giving it the coherent storyline it so badly lacked before. Chiari’s Nino is a considerably more sophisticated Italian than the original character, and he ends up marrying Kay Kelly, the daughter of a successful builder.
Of Nino’s four builder mates, only Ed Devereaux, as Harry Kelly, and Judith Arthy, as Dixie, turn in convincing performances.
The film was an enormous hit at the Australian box office, grossing $2 million, on a budget of $600,000.
It was one of the first feature films to deal openly with questions of prejudice against ‘New Australians’, albeit in a way that also flattered an Anglo audience.
Nino encounters more kindness than prejudice, and quickly adopts ‘Australian ways’, becoming a model migrant.
The film was in tune with the ‘assimilationist’ view then dominating Australian immigration policy.
Nino Culotta
Walter Chiari
Kay Kelly
Clare Dunne
Harry Kelly
Chips Rafferty
Giuliana
Alida Chelli
Joe
Ed Devereaux
Pat
Slim de Grey
Dennis
John Meillon
Jimmy
Charlie Little
Charlie
Alan Lander
Mrs Kelly
Muriel Steinbeck
Mrs Chapman
Gloria Dawn
Betty
Jeanne Drynan
Maria
Gita Rivera
Dixie
Judith Arthy
Edie
Doreen Warburton
Barmaid
Anne Haddy
Newsboy
Ray Hartley
Lifesaver
Tony Bonner
Fat Man in Bar
Jack Allen
Drunk Man on Ferry
Keith Petersen
Texture Man
Red Moore
Director
Michael Powell
