Walkabout (1971)

"Excellent Presentation of Director Nicolas Roeg's First Solo Feature"

After co-directing PERFORMANCE with Donald Cammell in 1970, and before going on to 1973's DON'T LOOK NOW, Nicolas Roeg made WALKABOUT, a movie that's now getting a whistles and bells Blu-ray release from Second Sight.

A man (John Meillon, probably best known for appearing in Peter Faiman's CROCODILE DUNDEE) takes his daughter (Jenny Agutter) and son (Roeg's son Luc here billed as Lucien John) into the outback, where he attempts to kill them. Failing that he shoots himself and sets his car on fire, leaving the two children stranded. Wandering the wilderness, and becoming increasingly hungry and thirsty, they are saved by an accidental meeting with an Aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil) who is on 'walkabout' - the traditional ritual in which he must learn to survive off the land. But the clash of cultures leads to tragedy.

One of the extras on Second Sight's Blu-ray is an 'Archive Introduction' by the director which looks like it's actually a snippet from a longer interview. In it he reveals that the original screenplay for WALKABOUT was 14 pages long. It's certainly a story told mainly visually, with Roeg's camera (he was also the cinematographer) beautifully capturing the landscape and the vibrant wildlife within it. 

Second Sight's 4K restoration transfer is excellent and a major improvement on Criterion's Blu-ray which was itself a major improvement over its previous non-anamorphic DVD. You may want to hang onto your Criterion disc, though because the Roeg and Agutter commentary track on there that was originally recorded for the laserdisc release hasn't been ported over. 

There is, however, a brand new commentary track with Luc Roeg and David Thomson, plus a host of other extras unique to this edition. These include new interviews with Agutter and Luc Roeg, another with producer Si Litvinoff (whose enthusiasm for the picture all these years on is quite charming) and a new interview with director Danny Boyle about Roeg's career. You also get the 2011 BFI Q&A with Jenny Agutter and Nicolas and Luc Roeg and the above mentioned archival introduction.

The disc comes in a rigid slipcase with new artwork. Also included is the novel the film was based on (which makes for an interesting read as some of it is from the Aboriginal boy's point of view), as well as the first draft of the screenplay after Roeg had plumped it up to make the studio interested, plus another book with new writing on the film.

       The bottom line: A must-have package for WALKABOUT fans. You'll want to hang onto your Criterion Blu-ray but there's enough new material and that great 4K transfer to make picking this up more than worthwhile.

Nicolas Roeg's WALKABOUT came out on Blu-ray (Region B) in a limited edition of 3000 from Second Sight on Monday 31st August 2020. It looks like you can now order it from Second Sight's site.