AustLit
Screen cap from opening credits
Adaptation of
Dot and the Kangaroo
1899
single work
children's fiction
Issue Details:
First known date:
1977...
1977
Dot and the Kangaroo
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Film Details - Yoram Gross Film Studios , 1977
Producers:
Yoram Gross (Producer)
Sandra Gross (Associate Producer)
Production Companies:
Yoram Gross Films
Editors:
Rod Hay
Klaus Jaritz
Composer:
Bob Young
Music:
Bob Young (Music Arranger)
Cast:
Voices incl. Barbara Frawley (Dot), Joan Bruce (The Kangaroo), Spike Milligan (Mr Platypus), June Salter (Mrs Platypus), Ross Higgins (Willie Wagtail), Lola Brooks, Peter Gwynne, Ron Haddrick, Richard Meikle, George Assang, Kerrie Biddell, John Derum, Kevin Golsby, Nola Lester, Sue Walker, Noel Brophy, Anne Haddy, Robina Beard.
Release Dates:
1. 15 May 1977 (Australia). Screened at the 2007 ERA New Horizons Film Festival (Poland).
2. Distributed to all media in the USA by Satori (1979). Released in the USA on videocassette format in 1981 by Magnetic Video and in 2001 by Hen's Tooth Video. Released as part of a 3 DVD box set by Magna (Australia) in 2005.
Location:
- Locations for the live-action cinematography were in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney (including the Jenolan Caves area).
Notes:
1. Director of Voices: Mary Madgwick
2. Dot and The Kangaroo was the first of several animated feature films produced by Yoram Gross. The concept for the film was unusual for the time, requiring animated characters superimposed over live-action backgrounds. This involved a highly detailed storyboard being put together so that the live photography could be shot prior to being merged with the animation photography. The entire film, which took some twelve months to complete, only cost in the vicinity of $250,000, with two-thirds of this being funded by the Australian Film Commission.
3. Also known as Dot und das Känguruh (Germany)
4. Further reference: Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper. Australian Film 1900-1977, A Guide to Feature Film Production (1980, q.v.), p.404.
