In 1925 Sydney, Caddie leaves her adulterous and brutish husband and takes her two children, Ann and Terry, with her. Forced to work as a barmaid in a pub she struggles to survive. A brief affair with Ted (Jack Thompson) ends badly when his involvement with another woman comes to light, but she falls in love with a Greek immigrant, Peter (Takis Emmanuel). Peter has to return to Greece to face family obligations–he is already married to another woman. Caddie runs out of money and goes to work as a barmaid. Peter sends letters from Greece and Caddie has to evade police as she works for an SP bookie. Peter asks her to come to Athens but she decides to stay.[4]
The original autobiography was published in 1953. The real-life barmaid, Catherine Edmonds, got to know Dymphna Cusack while she was writing Come in Spinner and Cusack helped the book get published.[5][6]
Parts of the movie were filmed in and around Balmain with a number of scenes at the Kent Hotel (which later became Caddies Restaurant) and the Sir William Wallace Hotel. Other scenes were filmed in Cameron Street, Edgecliff. Studio shots were taken at the Cinesound Studios in Rozelle. The writer and producer had both made films about early Australian cinema and were able to draw on this knowledge to help recreate Depression-era Sydney.[7]
The motion picture soundtrack by Patrick Flynn was produced for release on CD by Philip Powers from the original analog tapes by 1M1 Records.
