When Aboriginal people appeared in a 1950 film they were asked to invent dialogue. Now a spotlight is shining on the tale they told

Tommy Trinder surrounded by Aboriginal extras in Bitter Springs. The Anangu cast were asked to speak in their language, unscripted, during filming. Photograph: Studio Canal

The first time Vonda Last watched Bitter Springs, she recognised her grandfather. The black-and-white Australian classic drew headlines at the time for being the first English film made in South Australia, starring the likes of Tommy Trinder, Chips Rafferty and Charles “Bud” Tingwell. But for the people of Ooldea in the central desert, it is notable for a different reason: it also stars 120 Anangu, speaking in language.

Last’s grandfather, Thumu Pluto Hicks, was among those who travelled for two days in a train carriage from his remote community to the railway town of Quorn in the Flinders Rangers to appear in the film.