book was hailed as an Australian Huckleberry Finn and film rights were bought immediately by Sir Alexander Korda. Korda sent Raymond to Australia in 1946 to find a possible child actors and locations over three months. However Korda said he could not find an appropriate director and shelved the project. Korda eventually assigned the project to Anthony Kimmins, who had served in Australia in World War II. Kimmins arrived in Australia in March 1950 to begin preproduction and announced he would make the film near Augathella for £100,000. However, after actually inspecting the site he doubted it would be useful and he was unable to find a lead actor he was happy with. Plans to make the movie were delayed again. Kimmins returned to Australia September 1955 to begin preproduction. After interviewing over 2,000 boys, he cast Colin Peterson as Smiley and Bruce Archer as Joey. Part of the budget was provided by 20th Century Fox, who had money frozen in Australia due to currency restrictions. Apart from Ralph Richardson, the entire cast was Australian. Filming started in late October, with the township of Murrumbilla being created on an estate at Camden Park, Gundy NSW and finished eight weeks later. Post production work was done at Pagewood Studios. Release The film was very popular and led to a sequel, Smiley Gets a Gun. It also spawned a hit single, 'A Little Boy Called Smiley', composed by Clyde Collins after the film was completed. Colin Petersen moved to Britain and enjoyed a successful career as a child actor and musician, including being the drummer of The Bee Gees from 1967 to 1970. Musical The novel inspired Smiley The Musical with music by Clyde Collins, David Cocker, Mark Jones and Lance Strauss. The 2004 studio cast recording was performed by John Watson, Jason Barry-Smith, James King, Leisa Barry-Smith, Justine Anderson, Renae Bedford, Samantha Hardgrave, Gabriella Leibowitz, David Irvine, David Cocker, Darryl Weale and Simon Burvill-Holmes. References External links Smiley at the National Film and Sound Archive Smiley at Oz Movies Smiley at TCMDB Review of film at Variety An abridged version of the novel was published in The Sydney Morning Herald in 1947: 5 Feb, 12 Feb, 19 Feb, 26 Feb, 5 March, 12 March, 19 March, 26 March, 2 April, 9 April, 16 April, 23 April, 30 April, 7 May, 14 May, 21 May, 28 May, 4 June, 11 June, 18