Parents' Guide to

Bush Christmas

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

'40s Australian adventure has casual racism, outdated feel.

Movie NR 1947 80 minutes
Bush Christmas Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 8+

Based on 1 parent review

B-127
B-127 Adult
December 23, 2019
age 8+

Black and white 1947 family film

We enjoyed it but were surprised that it was black and white (the cover is deceptively in full color). The kids make the mistake of making chit-chat with strangers who turn out to be horse thieves, and because of this mistake, the family's prize horse is stolen. The kids begin tracking the horse thieves themselves, and before too long the hunters become the prey. It is clear the horse thieves are bad guys and might do some kind of harm to the kids, but nothing more serious than trying to lock them up while they get away. There's a Maori boy who is the butt of certain jokes but for the age in which this movie was made, this wouldn't have been offensive at the time. No issues with violence, sex, swearing, drinking, etc. There's some intense moments when the kids try to sneak into the thieves' camp without being discovered. All ends well.
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

After getting out of school for the Christmas holiday, five children -- ranch kids Helen (Helen Grieve), John, and Snow Thompson, a bookish English boy named Michael who is staying with the Thompsons, and an Aborigine boy named Neza whose father works on the ranch -- living in a small Australian outback town venture off where they shouldn't and come across a pair of horse thieves who are covering over the white spots on a horse with paint. The children don't put two and two together until the next morning when two of the horses on the ranch have been stolen. When Mr. Thompson finds out and then learns that the children ventured where they shouldn't have, he threatens to cancel Christmas altogether, and it's up to the children to sneak away from the ranch, pursue the horse thieves -- even as they realize they're lost in the bush -- and outwit them until the authorities can manage to track them down.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

BUSH CHRISTMAS has not aged well, and it's not only because of the casual racism on display toward the Aborigines. Although the pace of the adventure was surely exciting for its time (1947), by today's standards the movie drags in quite a few places. Also, this is less of a "Christmas movie" and more of an adventure of sorts -- a walkabout, if you will -- that really only shows and talks about Christmas at the beginning and at the end.

Still, it's not totally unredeemable decades later. There are some engagingly suspenseful moments of adventure and peril and some moments of slapstick that call to mind Home Alone. Also, remarkable for its time, the girl of the group -- Helen -- is portrayed as a strong leader, as skilled with horseback riding and as brave as the boys once they realize they're lost in the bush while pursuing the horse thieves.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how this is a movie from 1947. In what ways does this movie seem dated? How does it reflect the times in which it was created?

  • How is Helen, the only girl in the movie, portrayed? How might this portrayal be unusual for a film from the '40s?

  • What are some of the good and not-so-good ways that Neza, the young Aborigine boy, is portrayed in the movie?

Movie Details

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