Maxwell Dunn wrote later in his book How they Made Sons of Matthew that, during filming, it was the wettest season in 80 years in Queensland.
For UK and US release Universal-International cut the film by 30 minutes, added some American narration and renamed it The Rugged O'Riordans.
Most tend to be driven by female leads but this is about a set of brothers, although there is a smurfette, Wendy Gibb, loved by Michael Pate and Ken Wayne.
"[5] Irishman Matthew O'Riordan and his English wife Jane raise a family of five sons and two daughters on their farm in the valley of Cullenbenbong in northern New South Wales.
Eldest brother Shane is inspired by his uncle Jack, who tells them about virgin rainforest on Lamington Plateau in southern Queensland.
Chauvel had long wished to make a movie about the O'Reilly family, who had settled in the mountains in South East Queensland.
[7] In the mid-1940s he bought the rights to two books Bernard O'Reilly had written about his family, Green Mountains (1940) and Cullenbenbong (1944) and announced plans to film them.
[2] The movie was cut for overseas release, with narration added and thirty minutes removed, including a scene where Wendy Gibb bathes nude.
[20] However, after a slow start the film took off commercially in the UK, helped by a competition with a prize of a trip to Australia, which over half a million people entered.
Several of the cast attempted to forge careers overseas, including Michael Pate (successfully), John Unicomb, Tommy Burns,[23] and Wendy Gibb.
[24] Supporting actors John Ewart and Jack Fegan enjoyed long careers in early Australian television and film.