Review of All the Rivers Run [VHS]

Young Philadelphia was orphaned when the ship went down that had carried her and her parents to a new life in Australia. She had relatives near Echuca where she lived until she came of age. She worked at a photographer's studio--hand tinting the old b/w photos. She met Brenton Edwards , a river boat captain, who was crazy for her,but ''delie'' as he called her was in no hurry for love. She had things to do before she would be tied down. She had developed her artistic painting talent and went to Sydney with Alistair Raeburn who helped her meet others of the artistic community. Time passed and Alistair was also mad about Philidelphia. She had to go back to Echuca because her aunt was sick unto death, and again she saw Brenton. After a time, they married and went on the little freight- carrying- river boat down to the Darling river in dry season. The river dropped so low that they were dry docked-or simply stuck on the river for several months. Delie was pregnant at this time. She met a woman who had lived long in this harsh land and lost every child she had birthed. As they finally got enough rain from the north to fill up the river, the woman came to them and gave delie all her tiny saved baby things. While they were still on the river but closer to home, the boat caught fire. It was lost and Brenton was badly injured. He lost hope in the long period when he became dependent on Philadelphia for their financial situation. Delie secretly was having their boat ''the Philadelphia'' rebuilt with her painting money. She also had been studying for her license to captain the boat so they could go back on the river. She had named their young son, Gordon, and he was about three by this time. Brenton was really hard to live with while he couldn't walk. He started excercising his legs without telling anyone, and one day he surprised everyone when he stepped out of his wheel chair and took his first tenative steps. Many other details are left out of this summary. I was tremendously fond of this mini-series and it remains my all-time favorite. I give it 5 stars All of the supporting cast were wonderful.John Russell Waters and Sigrid Thornton played Brenton and Philadelphia. They were both memorable in ALL THE RIVERS RUN.