Chips Rafferty
Also Known As: John William Pilbean Goffage
Biography: Chips Rafferty MBE (26 March 1909 – 27 May 1971) was an iconic Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the 1940s until his death in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American productions. He appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Birthday: March 26, 1909
Deathday: May 27, 1971
Adult: No
Gender: Male
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Known For:
Mutiny on the Bounty
Overview: The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as possible, using any means to keep up a strict discipline. When they arrive at Tahiti, it is like a paradise for the crew, something completely different than the living hell aboard the ship. On the way back to England, officer Fletcher Christian becomes the leader of a mutiny.
Genres: Adventure Drama History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1962-11-08
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They're a Weird Mob
Overview: Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant, newly arrived in Australia, and attempts to understand the aspirational values and social rituals of everyday urban Australians of the 1950s and '60s.... and assimilate.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1966-08-18
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Wake in Fright
Overview: A schoolteacher, stuck in a teaching post in an arid backwater, stops off in a mining town on his way home for Christmas. Discovering a local gambling craze that may grant him the money to move back to Sydney for good, he embarks on a five-day nightmarish odyssey of drinking, gambling, and hunting.
Genres: Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-07-21
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Operation Malaya
Overview: Docudrama recreating events in the Malayan Emergency
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-09-17
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The Wackiest Ship in the Army
Overview: Lieutenant Rip Crandall is hoodwinked into taking command of the "Wackiest Ship in the Navy" – a real garbage scow with a crew of misfits who don't know a jib from a jigger. What none of them knows, including Crandall, is that this ship has a very important top-secret mission to complete in waters patrolled by the Japanese fleet. Their mission will save hundreds of allied lives – if only they can get there in one piece.
Genres: Comedy War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1960-12-29
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Walk Into Paradise
Overview: Steve McAllister, an Australian official for The New Guinea Administration, gets orders to investigate an oil discovery by Ned 'Shark-Eye' Kelly in the interior. He selects his native policeman, Sergeant-Major Towalaka, to accompany him on his "walk into hell" and then finds that a French lady doctor, Louise Dumurcet, is to go with them part of the journey. They find the malaria-stricken Jeff Clayton in a deserted village and he joins the trek. They are captured by jungle-natives but are released after Dr. Dumurcet cures the fever-stricken children of the chief.
Genres: Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1957-09-08
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Eureka Stockade
Overview: Spectacular account of the infamous Eureka Stockade, and the events leading up to it.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-01-26
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The Overlanders
Overview: It's the start of WWII in Northern Australia. The Japanese are getting close. People are evacuating and burning everything in a "scorched earth" policy. Rather than kill all their cattle, a disparate group decides to drive them overland half way across the continent, from Wyndham in Western Australia through the Northern Territory outback of Australia to pastures north of Brisbane, Queensland.
Genres: Western Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-09-27
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The Rats of Tobruk
Overview: Three friends enlist in the Australian Army and serve in North Africa, holding the city of Tobruk against Rommel's forces.
Genres: War Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-06-30
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40,000 Horsemen
Overview: Charles Chauvel's 1940 cinematic tribute to the mounted troops of the Australian Light Horse regiments is a rousing call to arms, giving life to the heroic tales of mateship during the Great War.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-12-26
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Bush Christmas
Overview: In Australia, five children pursue horse thieves through the mountains.
Genres: Action Adventure Comedy Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-07-28
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Smiley Gets a Gun
Overview: The happy-go-lucky young Smiley gets into more strife as he attempts to prove himself a responsible citizen by helping others - all so he can earn a new gun from Sergeant Flaxman.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1958-05-01
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Smiley
Overview: Smiley Greevins is a cheeky, mischievous, imaginative little boy who lives in the small town of Murrumbilla in the Australian outback. His father Bill is a poor drover who is often away from home. Much to the exasperation of his overworked wife, Ma Greevins, Bill is also very fond of the drink. Smiley is determined to buy himself a push bike and so he takes on odd jobs in an effort to save up enough money. But Smiley always seems to get caught up in some sort of misadventure. Smiley is a classic Australian film that will delight audiences of all ages.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-06-28
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Kona Coast
Overview: Sam Moran is a Honolulu charter-boat captain who leads fishing expeditions in the tropical paradise. When his daughter is found murdered at the party of a wealthy young playboy, he seeks the truth about the murder. Convinced the playboy is guilty, he enlists the help of his friend Kittibelle, who runs an alcohol abuse treatment center. Sam runs into a wall of silence obviously built by hush money and islanders fearful of reprisals from the rich and powerful family. The determined dad fights to uncover the information that will land the murderer in jail as he avenges the death of his daughter.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1968-05-01
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Bitter Springs
Overview: A family buy land set around a water hole in a remote location, that is occupied by native Australians. The two groups clash.
Genres: Drama Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-07-05
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The Sundowners
Overview: In the Australian Outback, the Carmody family--Paddy, Ida, and their teenage son Sean--are sheep drovers, always on the move. Ida and Sean want to settle down and buy a farm. Paddy wants to keep moving. A sheep-shearing contest, the birth of a child, drinking, gambling, and a racehorse will all have a part in the final decision.
Genres: Drama Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1960-12-08
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The Desert Rats
Overview: In North Africa, German Field Marshal Rommel and his troops have successfully fended off British forces, and now intend to take Tobruk, an important port city. A ramshackle group of Australian reinforcements sent to combat the Germans is put under the command of British Captain MacRoberts. The unruly Aussies immediately clash with MacRoberts, a gruff, strict disciplinarian, however this unorthodox team must band together to protect Tobruk from the German forces.
Genres: War Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-05-20
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Skullduggery
Overview: An expedition into the interior of Papua New Guinea comes across a tribe of ape-like people who may or may not be ancestors of early man.
Genres: Adventure Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1970-03-06
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King of the Coral Sea
Overview: A body is found floating in the Torres Strait and pearler Ted King is asked to investigate. He discovers the murder is connected to a people smuggling ring and involves one of his men, Yusep. He is helped by Peter Merriman, the playboy owner of King's company who romances King's daughter Rusty. Yusep kidnaps Rusty but Merriman and King rescue her.
Genres: Crime Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-08-12
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The Loves of Joanna Godden
Overview: Joanna Godden falls heir to a farm when her father dies.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-06-08
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The Phantom Stockman
Overview: Kim Marsden inherits a cattle station near Alice Springs after the death of her father. Kim becomes convinced her father was murdered. She sends for a legendary local bushman called the Sundowner, who was one of her father's best friends.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-06-19
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Double Trouble
Overview: When singer Guy Lambert goes on tour in Europe, he is pursued by two beautiful women, bumbling jewel thieves, and a mysterious killer.
Genres: Comedy Crime Drama Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-04-05
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Kangaroo
Overview: In turn-of-the-century Australia, two criminals ingratiate themselves with a rancher in order to swindle him. However, the two partners become rivals for the affection of the rancher's beautiful daughter.
Genres: Adventure Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-05-16
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Bring Out a Briton
Overview: ‘Bring Out a Briton’ was a short appeal for Australians to help the Immigration Department in its plan to form and assist a ‘Bring Out a Briton’ Committee in each district. It featured popular Australian actor Chips Rafferty as the spokesman for the campaign. Aimed at the Australian public rather than the prospective immigrants it was designed to allay a perceived anxiety amongst the public about non-British European migration.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1957-01-01
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