Still image from The Enchanted Isles in Movie Makers, Dec. 1953, 319.
English
00:30:36
750 ft
16mm
Kodachrome
Silent
With sound on tape.
"Stretching for more than a thousand miles along Australia's northeastern coast stands the Great Barrier Reef, a vast agglomeration of tide-swept coral islands and islets. For mariners who have threaded their way through these perilous formations, they hold little of enchantment. But to Alfred T. Bartlett (who confines his camera to the Whitsunday group) they are such stuff as dreams are made on — and he has portrayed them thus in The Enchanted Isles. Mr. Bartlett's canvas is a rich one, comprising all of the classic elements of romance: the sun-drenched strand, the nodding palms, the lovely girls and, always and ever-present, the clean blue of the sky and the yet-deeper blue of the circumambient waters. He has painted these elements both in large, lush compositions and with observing attention to the minutiae of vibrant life around him. Even his colors (via the magic of the pola screen) are richly sensuous in their depth of saturation. An unabashedly romantic narrative ("Have you ever dreamed a secret dream?" is the opening line) rounds out this affectionate and interpretive travel study." Movie Makers, Dec. 1953, 333-334.
The film won third prize in a Queensland Amateur Cine Society film contest in 1953 (Home Movies, Feb. 1954, 84).
This film is held by the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia. NFSA's record of the film includes the subtitle: Queensland's Beautiful Whitsunday Group.
National Film & Sound Archive of Australia
Amateur Cinema