Little Boy Lost is a 1978 Australian drama film starring Nathan Dawes as Stephen Walls, John Hargreaves as Jacko Walls, Lorna Lesley as Dorrie Walls, Tony Barry as Constable O'Dea and Steve Dodd as William Stanley, the Aboriginal tracker. The spelling of Steven Walls’s name was changed to “Stephen” in the movie. Johnny Ashcroft and Gay Kayler performed the vocals on the movie sound track, also a specially recorded version of the Little Boy Lost hit song, which is played at the end of the film. Scenes were shot on location in Guyra, Tubbamurra and Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia. The World Premiere was held in Armidale, New South Wales. Johnny Ashcroft and Gay Kayler sang the Little Boy Lost song from the movie live on stage to Nathan Dawes and his stand-in, Toshi Bourke, son of Terry Bourke (movie director). Synopsis The film is based on the true story of a missing Australian child, Steven Walls (played by Dawes). After his disappearance, a massive search is organized across the Guyra area as its citizens spring into action. The problem in finding Steven is that he was taught not to speak to strangers, and is afraid of those who attempt to speak to him. He does not know that the crowds of people attempting to make contact are not enemies, but have volunteered to find him. Four days elapse and hope of his rescue diminishes. A group of searchers finally spot the boy and are able to convince him that they are there to help him get back home to his family. Production The original director was John Powell and the budget was $150,000. Two weeks into the film in April 1978 the film was running into difficulties; $75,000 had been spent already and cheques to the crew were bouncing. Producer Allan Spiers called in Phil Avalon, who had just made a successful low budget film with Summer City. Avalon looked at the budget, felt that $200,000 was required to finish the film, and succeeded in raising the additional funds from the investors, who he says were state government senators from Brisbane. Avalon negotiated with the actors to reduce their fees, which he felt were too excessive for a low budget film. Avalon says ninety percent of the cast agreed to do this. He then tried to do this with the crew, and several of them left, including the cinematographer.