The Overlanders

The Overlanders

A dramatic epic that echoes the heart beats of Australia's Greatness!

1946 · 91 min · ★ 6.0 · Western, Adventure

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.

Directed by Harry Watt · Written by Harry Watt

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Cast

Chips Rafferty Dan McAlpine
John Nugent Hayward Bill Parsons
Daphne Campbell Mary Parsons
Jean Blue Mrs. Parsons
Helen Grieve Helen Parsons
John Fernside Corky
Peter Pagan Sailor
Frank Ransome Charlie
Stan Tolhurst Manager
Marshall Crosby Minister
Clyde Combo Aborigine Jacky
Henry Murdoch Aborigine Nipper

Make it a double feature

2h 59m together

The Overlanders

Fiddlers Three

Both from Harry Watt.

More from Harry WattSee all →

Vidunderhunden Bara

Vidunderhunden Bara · 1961

Vidunderhunden Bara

The dog Bara train from it is a small puppy to become a useful working dog. It is owned by a Norwegian farmer who, together with his wife, settles in a rugged and isolated mountain terrain. Only used as a post dog, but also to look for casualties in the mountains.

Fiddlers Three

Fiddlers Three · 1944

Two British soldiers and a WREN take refuge at Stonehenge during a thunderstorm, they are struck by lightning and transported back to ancient Rome.

The Boy Who Loved Horses

The Boy Who Loved Horses · 1961

The Boy Who Loved Horses

MovieDramaFamily

The film tells the story of a boy and his great love for horses, especially a beautiful white stallion, to which he becomes very attached. When he hears that the horse is to be slaughtered, he flees with it, and it becomes an escape that is not without drama.

Britain at Bay

Britain at Bay · 1940

MovieDocumentary

Wartime morale-boosting propaganda short, looking at the greatness of Britain and the efforts of all to preserve her power and integrity.

Twenty-One Miles

Twenty-One Miles · 1942

Twenty-One Miles

MovieDocumentary

A short documentary illustrating the lives of the residents of Dover in Kent as the Nazi war machine - a mere 21 miles away - did it’s worst and at just how ready they were to fight back.

The First Days

The First Days · 1939

MovieDocumentary

Londoners prepare for war.

London Can Take It!

London Can Take It! · 1940

London Can Take It!

MovieDocumentaryWar

A tribute to the courage and resiliency of Britons during the darkest days of the London Blitz.

Christmas Under Fire

Christmas Under Fire · 1940

Christmas Under Fire

MovieDocumentaryWar

How Britain coped with a Christmas during the war.

Nine Men

Nine Men · 1943

The Nine men of the title are a British WWII Army patrol stuck in a desert fort during the African campaign. The Men must defend the fort against the Italian and German troops until they can be relieved.

Where No Vultures Fly

Where No Vultures Fly · 1951

Where No Vultures Fly

A true story about an Englishman working as a game warden in Kenya who is disgusted by the ongoing destruction of African wildlife, and decides to create a national park to protect them.

The Siege of Pinchgut

The Siege of Pinchgut · 1959

The Siege of Pinchgut

MovieActionCrime

An escaped prisoner is trying to clear his name.

Coal Face

Coal Face · 1935

MovieDocumentary

1935 documentary about the hard working life of Welsh coal miners.

Night Mail

Night Mail · 1936

MovieDocumentary

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.

Jamaica Inn

Jamaica Inn · 1939

MovieCrimeAdventure

In early 19th-century Cornwall, young Mary Yellan travels to live with her aunt and uncle at the remote Jamaica Inn, where she discovers the inn is a front for a violent gang of wreckers who lure ships to their doom along the coast. As she becomes entangled in their crimes, Mary must fight to survive and uncover the truth behind the terror that haunts the moors.

For Those in Peril

For Those in Peril · 1944

For Those in Peril

A WWII flyer fails to join the RAF so he joins the Air - Sea Rescue instead. His boat is out in all conditions picking up downed pilots and taking them to safety.

Eureka Stockade

Eureka Stockade · 1949

Eureka Stockade

MovieDramaHistory

In 1854, Australian gold rush miners struggle for their rights against an oppressive government.

More Like This

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome · 1985

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

MovieActionAdventure

Mad Max becomes a pawn in a decadent oasis of a technological society, and when exiled, becomes the deliverer of a colony of children.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Rabbit-Proof Fence · 2002

Rabbit-Proof Fence

MovieAdventureDrama

In 1931, three Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a trek across the Outback.

Quigley Down Under

Quigley Down Under · 1990

Quigley Down Under

American Matt Quigley answers Australian land baron Elliott Marston's ad for a sharpshooter to kill the dingoes on his property. But when Quigley finds out that Marston's real target is the aborigines, Quigley hits the road. Now, even American expatriate Crazy Cora can't keep Quigley safe in his cat-and-mouse game with the homicidal Marston.

Crocodile Dundee II

Crocodile Dundee II · 1988

Crocodile Dundee II

MovieAdventureComedy

Australian outback expert protects his New York love from gangsters who've followed her down under.

Police Story 4: First Strike

Police Story 4: First Strike · 1996

Police Story 4: First Strike

MovieActionAdventure

Hong Kong cop Chan Ka-Kui returns, working with Interpol to track down and arrest an illegal weapons dealer. Chan later realizes that things are not as simple as they appear and soon finds himself to be a pawn of an organization posing as Russian intelligence.

Australia

Australia · 2008

MovieAdventureRomance

Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.

The Man From Snowy River II

The Man From Snowy River II · 1988

The Man From Snowy River II

MovieAdventureWestern

After a few years trying to earn money to marry Jessica Harrison, Jim Craig returns to Snowy River. But he finds that a lot of things have changed.

Black Water

Black Water · 2008

MovieAdventureDrama

Based on true events, Grace, her boyfriend Adam, and her younger sister, Lee, are on holiday in Northern Australia when they decide to take a tour down a river. As they drift into a swamp, their boat suddenly capsizes. Stranded in the flooded swamp, the three tourists must figure out what to do to survive as they realize they are being watched through the black water.

Ten Canoes

Ten Canoes · 2006

MovieAdventureComedy

A story within a story within a story. In Australia's Northern Territory, an Aboriginal narrator tells a story about his ancestors on a goose hunt. A youngster on the hunt is being tempted to adultery with his elder brother's wife, so an elder tells him a story from the mythical past about how evil can slip in and cause havoc unless prevented by virtue according to customary tribal law.

Frog Dreaming

Frog Dreaming · 1986

MovieDramaAdventure

American boy Cody lives in Australia with his guardian, Gaza. Cody is very imaginative, inventive and inquisitive. He comes across some strange events happening in Devil's Knob national park associated with an aboriginal myth about "frog dreamings". Cody tries to investigate...

Kangaroo Jack

Kangaroo Jack · 2003

MovieAdventureComedy

Two childhood friends — a New York hairstylist and a wanna-be musician — get mixed-up with the mob and are forced to deliver $50,000 to Australia, but things go all wrong when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo.

Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly · 2003

MovieActionAdventure

After getting threatened by Kelly's friends and family, Constable Fitzpatrick places the blame on Ned Kelly and exaggerates what happened. With the biggest ever award available, Kelly and his gang set into the wild, to remain hidden from everyone who seeks them. Even if it means having his family arrested, the members of the Kelly Gang stay hidden and plan a way to get their names cleared.

The Man from Snowy River

The Man from Snowy River · 1982

The Man from Snowy River

MovieDramaRomance

Jim Craig has lived his first 18 years in the mountains of Australia on his father's farm. The death of his father forces him to go to the lowlands to earn enough money to get the farm back on its feet.

Walkabout

Walkabout · 1971

MovieAdventureDrama

Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.

The Proposition

The Proposition · 2005

The Proposition

MovieWesternDrama

In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback's most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.

BMX Bandits

BMX Bandits · 1983

MovieAdventureCrime

Teens P.J. and Goose get their thrills on BMX bikes, performing hair-raising tricks all across Sydney, Australia. Along with their new friend Judy, they discover a box of walkie-talkies -- and find out that a gang of criminals intends to use them to monitor police signals during a bank robbery. When the young trio snatches the devices, it propels them on a hair-raising adventure in which their pedaling skills might just save their necks.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter