The Great Barrier | |
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Directed by | |
Written by |
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Produced by | Günther Stapenhorst |
Starring | |
Cinematography | |
Edited by |
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Music by | |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Gaumont British Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £250,000 [1] |
The Great Barrier is a 1937 British historical drama film directed by Milton Rosmer and Geoffrey Barkas and starring Richard Arlen, Lilli Palmer and Antoinette Cellier. The film depicts the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. [2] It was based on the 1935 novel The Great Divide by Alan Sullivan. It was made at the Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush. [3] The film's sets were designed by Walter Murton.
It was one of a series of British Empire-related movies made by Gaumont around this time, others including Rhodes of Africa, The Flying Doctor and Soldiers Three. [4] [5]
The film involved 16 weeks location shooting in Canada. [6]
Barbara Greene was borrowed from Fox. Location filming finished in June 1936. [7]
Writing for The Spectator in 1937, Graham Greene gives the film a generally good review, describing it as "a thoroughly worthy picture", "well acted, well produced [and] a little less than well written". Greene praised the saloon shindy and horseback race scenes, and commended Palmer's acting, however his primary criticism was that "it shrinks into significance, with its conventional love-story and the impression it leaves that the building of a railway depends on the heroic efforts of one or three men and a girl". [8]
Three Smart Girls is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Barbara Read, Nan Grey, Deanna Durbin, and Ray Milland. The film's screenplay was written by Adele Comandini and Austin Parker, and is about three sisters who travel to New York City to prevent their father from remarrying. The three plot to bring their divorced parents back together again.
Secret Agent is a 1936 British espionage thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from the play by Campbell Dixon, which in turn is loosely based on two stories in the 1927 collection Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film stars Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, and Robert Young. It also features uncredited appearances by Michael Redgrave, future star of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), Michel Saint-Denis as the Coachman, and Michael Rennie in his film debut.
Turn of the Tide is a 1935 British drama film directed by Norman Walker and starring John Garrick, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Wilfrid Lawson. It was the first feature film made by J. Arthur Rank. Lacking a distributor for his film, Rank set up his own distribution and production company which subsequently grew into his later empire.
An agent-general is the representative in cities abroad of the government of a Canadian province or an Australian state and, historically, also of a British colony in Jamaica, Nigeria, Canada, Malta, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand and subsequently, of a Nigerian region. Australia's and Canada's federal governments are represented by high commissions, as are all Commonwealth national governments today.
Nundah is an inner suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It contains the neighbourhood of Toombul. In the 2021 census, Nundah had a population of 13,098 people.
Tudor Rose is a 1936 British film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Cedric Hardwicke and Nova Pilbeam.
Arthur Crabtree was a British cinematographer and film director. He directed films with comedians such as Will Hay, the Crazy Gang and Arthur Askey and several of the Gainsborough Melodramas.
Saraband for Dead Lovers is a 1948 British adventure historical drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Stewart Granger and Joan Greenwood. It is based on the 1935 novel by Helen Simpson. Set in 17th-century Hanover, it depicts the doomed romance between Philip Christoph von Königsmarck and Sophia Dorothea of Celle, the wife of the electoral prince of Hanover. The saraband mentioned in the title is a type of Spanish dance.
Hayman Island is the most northerly of the Whitsunday Islands, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The island is 294 hectares and lies to the north-west of Hook Island. It is a private island open to the public, most famous for its luxury resort which was built in the 1950s by Ansett Transport Industries. The island is a significant for tourism in Queensland. The resort is managed by the InterContinental Hotels Group.
Ourselves Alone is a 1936 British drama film depicting a love story set against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence. The title is a translation of the Irish slogan Sinn Féin Amháin. It is directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and stars John Lodge, John Loder and Antoinette Cellier.
The Tenth Man is a 1936 British drama film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring John Davis Lodge, Antoinette Cellier and Athole Stewart. It is based on the play The Tenth Man by W. Somerset Maugham.
The First Offence is a 1936 British low-budget "quota quickie" drama film directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Michael Balcon for Gainsborough Pictures and distributed by Gaumont-British Distributors. The cast includes John Mills, Lilli Palmer and Bernard Nedell. The story was written by Stafford Dickens and Austin Melford. It is a remake of the 1934 French film Mauvaise Graine, directed by Billy Wilder.
Antoinette Cellier, Lady Seton was an English film and theatre actress.
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Donald Alaster Macdonald was an Australian journalist and nature writer, writing under the pen names including 'Observer' and 'Gnuyang' (gossip). He was considered one of Australia's widely known journalists, and is in the Melbourne Press Club's Australian Media Hall of Fame. He was credited with making 'Australian natural history and botany popular interests'.
Typhoon Treasure is a 1938 Australian adventure film directed by Noel Monkman and starring Campbell Copelin, Gwen Munro, and Joe Valli. It is set in New Guinea although shot on the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland coast. It was Monkman's first dramatic feature film after several years making documentaries.
Thomas Sidney McKay was an Australian golfer, barrister and politician.
Kay Glasson Taylor was an Australian novelist.
Broadmount is an abandoned riverside town in the Livingstone Shire, Queensland, Australia. It is within the locality of Thompson Point. From 1899 to 1929 it operated as a port serving Central Queensland.
Percival Albert Trompf (1902–1964), was an Australian commercial artist, best known for his travel posters, books, advertising hoardings and pamphlets promoting the nation's tourist industry and Australian and international corporations and companies. His colour lithography was recognised as distinctive during his career and since, Art Deco in style, and innovative in its use of flat colour. Some of his designs depicted historical events, including the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Captain Cook's landing at Botany Bay, and advanced the iconic value of Australian destinations including the Outback, The Great Barrier Reef, and national identity and activities of sun-worship, surfing and bushwalking, using a visual language of modernity, promotion and consumerism. In turn his imagery has since become valued for its nostalgic evocation of the early mid-century and his posters have become collectible 'national treasures' that are frequently exhibited.