British Empire Films Australia

Set in London’s East End, The 14 (aka The Wild Little Bunch aka Existence) is based on the true story of fourteen children who struggle against overwhelming pressures to stay together after the death of their single mother.

In the early 1900s, Miranda attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress treats the girls to a picnic field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, Miranda and several other girls venture off. It's not until the end of the day that the faculty realizes the girls and one of the teachers have disappeared mysteriously.

The Hon. Montmoroncy Ralston (Frank Leighton) is a monocled Englishman of the old school, with valet and plus fours, who sails for Australia after an argument with his father. In a Sydney two-up school, he makes friends with Jim McBride (Frank Bradley), a dinkum grazier, who invites Monty out to his station, where he meets the Reverend Stanhope (Eric Colman), a "flying padre" who uses a plane to tour his parish. Monty persuades his father to buy a new plane and enters it in the Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne. But as he gets into the racing, Monty hears that Stanhope's old plane has crashed in remote country, and he gives up the race to fly to his rescue.