THE on-screen growing up of Daniel (Harry Potter) Radcliffe continues.

After that first kiss in the most recent Potter movie, he goes the whole hog in this Aussie drama. Losing his cherry to Lucy (Teresa Palmer) is just part of his rites of passage as Maps, the orphan he plays in the screen adaptation of Michael Noonan's novel set in 1960s Australia.

He's one of four adolescent orphans being raised at a Catholic convent in the Outback who are sent to stay with a retired naval officer (Jack Thompson).

All the boys dream of being adopted and a young couple (Sullivan Stapleton and Victoria Hill) they meet seem ideal candidates for parents.

Competing to be adopted creates a strain between the December boys - so called as they share the same birth month. Radcliffe, with plausible Aussie accent, acquits himself well enough as the quiet, pensive Maps. Not a lot of wand-waving required in this role.

The movie has an endearingly oldfashioned feel as though only set in the 1960s, but was made back then too.

Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers, James Fraser, Jack Thompson, Teresa Palmer
Running time: 105 mins
Rating: Three stars