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City of Sydney, The

Date produced: 1938

Filmmaker(s):

James A. Sherlock

Description:

"Buildings and activities in Sydney, filmed in colour" (EAFA Database).


Coast Town

Date produced: 1938

Filmmaker(s):

Robert C. Lowe

Description:

"Documentary about Harrington, a small fishing village on the Manning River, New South Wales." (EAFA Database)


Inspiration

Date produced: 1946

Filmmaker(s):

Victor E. Pye

Description:

"Victor E. Pye, using his family as the principal actors in a sincere and competent photoplay, brings us the flavor of family life in far away Australia. With a sure cinematic sense, he opens Inspiration with a moving dolly sequence which carries you into the house directly to the star of the film. With creditable economy of footage and compelling acting and directing, Mr. Pye tells a simple tale of a once crippled child returned to health through the inspiration of a famous figure skater — herself a former "polio" victim. There are also several scenes from which it becomes obvious that the movie maker has profited from viewing theatrical productions with his mind on his own filming. Suave and sensitive, Inspiration becomes moving and believable as the plot unfolds." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 488.


London to Australia

Date produced: 1930

Filmmaker(s):

Ruth Collingridge

Maud Wallis

Description:

"An intertitled travelogue film of a trip to Australia starts with a map showing the journey from London to Australia, followed by views at different stages of the route" (SASE online).


Nation Builders

Date produced: 1937

Filmmaker(s):

James A. Sherlock

Description:

"The subject of 'Nation Builders'—the history of Australia—is without doubt the most ambitious ever undertaken by any amateur filmer. The fact that the project was successful is in itself a tribute to Sherlock's skill. Granted that in connection with the 150th anniversary of his nation's founding there were pageants re-enacting historic events and an opportunity for an alter filmster to photograph them: but how many times have not other amateurs scored dismal failures trying the same thing? Filming such a pageant, it is all too easy to capture only the impression of history actually happening. The twentieth century background which must so often have been just beyond the camera-lines was never permitted to intrude upon his eighteenth and nineteenth century action." American Cinematographer, Feb. 1939, 61.


Nuts to You

Date produced: 1940

Filmmaker(s):

C.W. Francis

Description:

"A documentary about peanut farming in the South Burnett district of Queensland. (EAFA Database)


Ramblings Around Sydney

Date produced: 1934

Filmmaker(s):

James A. Sherlock

Description:

"Ramblings Around Sydney, by James A. Sherlock, ACL, is a carefully planned and photographed motion picture study of a city, a happy example of what care and cinematic sensitivity can do for this type of subject. Although Mr. Sherlock did not commit himself to any strong continuity theme, the picture yet has a delicate cohesiveness that defied the best efforts of the earlier amateur movie makers. Outstanding are the filter shots, the shots made of city streets in the rain and the night scenes. Throughout there is a careful choice of camera viewpoint which succeeds in revealing many aspects of the city in relatively short footage. The whole is welded into an enjoyable subject that would entertain any audience." Movie Makers, Dec. 1934, 547.


South of Zero: An Odyssey to Australia

Date produced: 1958

Filmmaker(s):

Lewis B. Sebring

Alice Sebring

Description:

"Amateur travelogue of an extensive trip to Australia photographed and produced by "The Traveling Sebrings," Lewis B. Sebring, Jr. and Alice P. Sebring. Lewis B. Sebring, Jr. was a journalist and war correspondent for the New York Herald-Tribune, who reported on combat in the Southwest Pacific Area theater during World War II. The trip documented in this film, which they referred to also as "An Odyssey to Australia" covers the entire continent of Australia, from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie, Perth, and Brisbane, and everything in between, usually documented via passenger train. In each city, the film expertly documents landscape, architecture, and people, as well as rural areas and animals." Wisconsin Historical Society.