Ealing Studios signed Rafferty to a long term contract. He went to England to promote "The Overlanders" and Ealing put him in "The Loves of Joanna Godden". While promoting the film in Hollywood he met Hedda Hopper who said Rafferty "created quite a stir. They call him the Australian Gary Cooper, but if he were cut down a bit he would be more like the late Will Rogers. I don't know how they'll get him on the screen unless they do it horizontally... He is as natural as an old shoe."