Pommy Arrives in Australia

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Pommy Arrives in Australia
Directed by Raymond Longford [1]
Written by Raymond Longford
Starring
Cinematography Franklyn Barrett
Production
company
Release date
  • 11 August 1913 (1913-08-11) [2]
CountryAustralia
Languages Silent film
English intertitles

Pommy Arrives in Australia is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. The director's first comedy, and the first purely comic feature made in Australia, [3] [4] [5] Longford called it "the first comedy produced in Australia." [6]

Contents

It is considered a lost film.

Synopsis

An English immigrant is caught up in a series of comic incidents in Australia due to the actions of a trio of local tomboys. [7]

Two of the film's incidents were described this way: "One day last week a new arrival, dressed in a conventional Norfolk jacket and a cap with the regulation check pattern, stepped out of a tramcar, and, quite ignorant of the fact that Sydney possessed a careful Lord Mayor, absent-mindedly dropped his ticket upon the road. He was pounced upon by one of the City Council's uniformed officials, and there ensued a strenuous and mirth-provoking passage-at-arms between the two. Later on the same 'Pommy' was seen out at La Perouse, surrounded by an excited horde of fearful cannibals, all bent upon testing imported stock." [2]

Cast

Production

There had been comic shorts made in Australia prior to this movie, such as Percy Gets a Job (1912) but this was the first feature-length comedy. [3] Longford later went on to make the comedy short Ma Hogan's New Boarder .

Reception

The film only had a short run in cinemas and is among Longford's least known works. [9]

The film appeared on a bill with two supporting Australian films Christmas in Australia and Whaling in Jervis Bay. [10]

References

  1. ↑ "Raymond Longford", Cinema Papers, January 1974 p51
  2. 1 2 "MOVING PICTURES". Referee. No. 1396. New South Wales, Australia. 6 August 1913. p. 16. Retrieved 7 January 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  3. 1 2 Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press 1989 p 48
  4. ↑ "Advertising". Evening News. No. 14, 414. New South Wales, Australia. 19 August 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 7 January 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "Longford Quits Australia; Indicts Govt. Interference.", Everyones., 10 (475 (27 March 1929)), nla.obj-578049585, retrieved 7 January 2024– via Trove
  6. ↑ "Bound printed copy of Minutes of Evidence of the Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia (one of two copies)". National Archives of Australia. NAA: A11636, 4/1. p. 145.
  7. ↑ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 40
  8. ↑ "An Australian Film Pioneer.", Everyones., 4 (294 (21 October 1925)), nla.obj-570545333, retrieved 7 January 2024– via Trove
  9. ↑ "Advertising". Warwick Examiner and Times (St. Lucia, Qld. : 1867 – 1919) . St. Lucia, Qld. 6 June 1914. p. 1. Retrieved 21 April 2012– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "ALONG FILM ROW Folk. Fact and Fancy....The Laughs and Laments of the Trade", Everyones., 13 (682 (22 March 1933)), nla.obj-560209152, retrieved 7 January 2024– via Trove


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