Australia Calls (1923 film)

Last updated

Australia Calls
Directed by Raymond Longford
Written by Lottie Lyell
StarringErnest Idiens
Cinematography Arthur Higgins
Production
companies
Commonwealth Immigration Office
British Empire Exhibition Commission
Release dates
24 November 1923 (Sydney) [1]
1924 (England)
Running time
45 minutes
CountryAustralia
Languages Silent film
English intertitles
Budget£1,500 [2]

Australia Calls is a 1923 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford commissioned by the Australian government to be shown at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley Park, London, in 1924. [2] [3]

Contents

It was a semi-documentary about the adventures of Ernest Idiens, a labourer from Longnor Staffordshire who moved to New South Wales with his brother in 1912 with only £30 between them and by 1923 had assets worth £14,000. [4] In 1923 Idiens toured England talking about his success. [5]

The movie is not to be confused with Longford's 1913 picture Australia Calls and is considered a lost film.

Production

The Australian government originally commissioned Longford to make four films depicting Australian society, each running 4,000 feet and costing £1,500. However bad weather caused a delay in shooting and Longford only made two, this and An Australian By Marriage . The other two movies were shot by the official government cinematographer, Bert Ive. [2] [6]

Shooting began in March 1923 in the country town of Harden, New South Wales and the film was completed by June, six weeks behind schedule. An Australian by Marriage was completed immediately afterwards but very little is known about it. [2] [7]

The other two films were completed by November, when they were all shown to leading members of the government. [8]

Reception

The reviewer from The Register praised the film saying "Seldom has the screen given a more striking demonstration of its power to tell a convincing story." [9]

The Farmers Advocate said the film is "rather Utopiin in that the immigrant's 11 years of life in Australia is just one round of success upon success, and it would appear- thatthe . lives of. immigrants in Australia. arc "Roses — roses all the way." No fires or droughts are shown, and it is made to appear that the only thing necessary is hard work and plenty of it." [10]

Everyones said "The photography... is exceptionally good, and the scenes embodied in the story are far ahead of anything previously seen. The picture should have been made four or five years ago, for those exhibited in London to encourage immigration, during the period the writer \Vas in London, were a disgrace to the Commonwealth, besides being very misleading." [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Sentimental Bloke</i> 1918 Australian film

The Sentimental Bloke is a 1918 Australian silent film based on the 1915 verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C. J. Dennis. Produced and directed by Raymond Longford, the film stars Arthur Tauchert, Gilbert Emery, and Lottie Lyell, who also co-wrote the film with Longford.

<i>The Blue Mountains Mystery</i> 1921 film

The Blue Mountains Mystery is a lost 1921 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and co-directed by Lottie Lyell.

His Royal Highness is a 1932 Australian musical film directed by F. W. Thring, also known as His Loyal Highness, starring George Wallace in his feature film debut. It was the first Australian film musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Longford</span> Australian filmmaker and actor (1878–1959)

Raymond Longford was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer, and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian cinema. He formed a production team with Lottie Lyell. His contributions to Australian cinema with his ongoing collaborations with Lyell, including The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and The Blue Mountains Mystery (1921), prompted the Australian Film Institute's AFI Raymond Longford Award, inaugurated in 1968, to be named in his honour.

Splendid Fellows is a 1934 Australian film from director Beaumont Smith about an Englishman who comes to Australia. The cast includes Eric Colman, brother of Ronald Colman, and Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who has a cameo as himself. It was Smith's last film.

<i>The Avenger</i> (1937 film) 1937 Australian film

The Avenger is a 1937 Australian film directed by A. R. Harwood.

Waltzing Matilda is a 1933 Australian film directed by and starring Pat Hanna. It features Coral Browne.

Diggers in Blighty is a 1933 Australian film starring and directed by Pat Hanna. Hanna decided to direct this film himself after being unhappy with how F. W. Thring had handled Diggers (1931).

The Fatal Wedding is a play by Theodore Kremer and a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the melodrama, which he and Lottie Lyell had toured around Australia.

'Neath Austral Skies is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford.

The Silence of Dean Maitland is a 1914 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. It is an adaptation of the 1886 novel of the same name by Maxwell Gray which was later filmed by Ken G. Hall in 1934. It is considered a lost film.

Ginger Mick is a 1920 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on The Moods of Ginger Mick by C. J. Dennis, which had sold over 70,000 copies. It is a sequel to The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and is considered a lost film.

The Dinkum Bloke is a 1923 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. Despite the title and the presence of Arthur Tauchert and Lottie Lyell in the cast, the film is not a direct sequel to The Sentimental Bloke (1919) or Ginger Mick (1920).

<i>Fishers Ghost</i> (film) 1924 film

Fisher's Ghost is a 1924 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the legend of Fisher's Ghost. It is considered a lost film.

<i>The Bushwhackers</i> (film) 1925 film

The Bushwhackers is a 1925 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford loosely based on Alfred Tennyson's 1864 poem Enoch Arden. It is considered a lost film.

<i>Sunrise</i> (1926 film) 1926 film

Sunrise is a 1927 Australian silent film co-directed by Raymond Longford, who took over during filming.

The Man They Could Not Hang is a 1934 Australian film directed by Raymond Longford about the life of John Babbacombe Lee, whose story had been filmed previously in 1912 and 1921.

Charles Cozens Spencer was a British-born film exhibitor and producer, who was a significant figure in the early years of the Australian film industry. He produced films under the name Spencer's Pictures and was an early backer of the films of Raymond Longford. He was also instrumental in the creation of "The Combine".

The Life of Rufus Dawes is a 1911 Australian silent film based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the 1874 novel For the Term of His Natural Life produced by Charles Cozens Spencer.

An Australian by Marriage is a 1923 Australian dramatized documentary directed by Raymond Longford. It was commissioned by the Australian government for the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley Park, London, in 1924, to serve as propaganda for attracting migrants to Australia.

References

  1. ↑ "Australia Calls". The Sydney Morning Herald . 26 November 1923. p. 13. Retrieved 30 July 2012– via National Library of Australia.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 119.
  3. ↑ "Raymond Longford", Cinema Papers, January 1974 p51
  4. ↑ "Australia Calls". The Morning Bulletin . Rockhampton, Qld. 25 May 1923. p. 3. Retrieved 30 July 2012– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ 'Successful Migrant.', The Argus (Melbourne), 28 November, p. 21.
  6. ↑ "The Exhibition". The Sydney Morning Herald . 8 November 1923. p. 12. Retrieved 30 July 2012– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ Everyones, Everyones Ltd, 1920, retrieved 4 June 2018
  8. ↑ "Empire Exhibition". The Argus . Melbourne. 8 November 1923. p. 8. Retrieved 29 July 2012– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ 'Making Good in Australia' The Register (Adelaide) 24 January 1924: 13
  10. ↑ "IMMIGRATION". Farmers' Advocate . No. 353. Victoria, Australia. 9 November 1923. p. 1. Retrieved 11 March 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ Everyones, Everyones Ltd, 1920, retrieved 4 June 2018
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.