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Clip description
Jack Anderson (Tony Ward) and Gillian O’Keefe (Judy Leech) live on opposite sides of the Maribyrnong Creek. Jack lives in squalor with his mother (Jean Higgs) and long-term lodger Stanley (Stanley Randall), a war pensioner. Gillian lives with her middle-class parents (Phyllis Freeman and Alan Higgs).
Curator’s notes
The vastly different worlds of Jack and Gillian are vividly established. Although living just metres from each other they have almost nothing in common. Jack is seen the morning after a night out drinking with his mates. His walls are covered in pictures from men’s magazines, and he smokes cigarettes as soon as he wakes up. The interior shots of Jack’s house are dark and moody – a stark contrast with Gillian’s brightly-lit home. While Jack torments his lodger, Stanley, Gillian eats breakfast in a clean kitchen with shiny appliances. Dry voice-over narration gives the film a documentary-like feel, and ‘Little Jack Horner’ is used with heavy irony. Jack’s grungy existence is anything but a nursery rhyme.
