White Death (film)

Last updated

White Death
Directed byEdwin G. Bowen
Written by Frank Harvey
Produced byEdwin G. Bowen
Starring Zane Grey
Alfred Frith
Cinematography Arthur Higgins
H.C. Anderson
Edited byEdwin G. Bowen
William Carty
Music by Isador Goodman
Production
company
Barrier Reef Films
Distributed by British Empire Films (Australia)
MGM (UK)
Release dates
  • October 1936 (1936-10)(Australia)
  • 1937 (1937)(UK)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

White Death is a 1936 Australian film directed by Edwin G. Bowen and starring Zane Grey as himself. He filmed it during a fishing expedition to Australia and it marked the first time he had played a leading role in a film. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

Zane Grey bets he can catch a fish bigger than one he sees at Watsons Bay. He hears about a large shark, nicknamed "white death", terrorising the Queensland coast and goes to catch it. He is thwarted by the comic attempts of Newton Smith, a representative of the Wallanga Branch of Fish Protectors, to persuade Grey not to harm fish. There is also a romance between two young people. Eventually Grey manages to catch the shark.

Cast

Nola Warren c. 1936 Nola Warren SLNSW FL19410078.jpg
Nola Warren c. 1936

Production

In 1935-36 Zane Grey made a fishing expedition to Australia. This trip was extensively covered by the local media and Grey was often accompanied on his sea voyages by three cameramen he had brought out from America, including H.C. Anderson. Grey's activities were criticised at the time by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. [2]

Barrier Reef Productions, a production company capitalised at £15,000, was formed in 1936 to make the film. [3]

The story was inspired by Grey seeing a great white shark (which he nicknamed "white death") being captured near Bermagui in New South Wales. [4] Frank Harvey was hired to write the screenplay. The story drew on Grey's real-life experiences with the character of Newton Smith sending up his treatment at the hands of the RSPCA.

The majority of the film crew came from Cinesound Productions, who also lent equipment to the production. Grey's manager, Edwin G. Bowen, was appointed director of the movie, although he had limited experience behind the camera. [5]

Casting

Alfred Frith, a stage comedian, was hired to play the lead opposite Grey. Nola Warren, a 17-year-old from Watsons Bay, with no prior film experience, was cast as the female lead. [6] She performed most of her scenes opposite John Weston, a former schoolboy athletics champion turned radio broadcaster. [7] Aboriginal extras, some of whom had recently appeared in Uncivilised (1936), were brought in from Palm Island, Queensland. Harold Colonna, who played the villain, was best known as an opera singer.

Shooting

Filming started in May 1936 and took place in the Great Barrier Reef, principally at Hayman Island. [8]

A shark enclosure was built at Hayman to shoot footage using captured sharks. [9]

Bad weather made the shoot difficult. A member of the camera crew sprinkled oil in the surf, hoping it would make it sound less loud. [10] A petrol lamp blew up in John Weston's face. [11] In addition, finding white sharks proved difficult, forcing the props master to construct an artificial one from wood and canvas. [2] [12]

Both Bowen and Frith were accompanied by their wives, who assisted in making the movie, and Bowen's young children, Buddy and Barbara. [13]

Location shooting ended in July 1936 and the rest of the film was made at the Cinesound studios in Sydney.

Reception

Grey left Australia on 19 August claiming it was the greatest country he had visited. [14] He reportedly offered Nola Warren a film contract and announced he would return in 1938 to make another film. [15] [16] Grey did return to Australia in 1939 to fish, shortly before his death, but no further films resulted. [17] In 1937, he published An American Angler in Australia.

The film premiered in October at Moruya and Bateman's Bay, and reached Sydney cinemas in November. The critic for The Sydney Morning Herald described it as "a rambling and rather ramshackle film... the script... is almost bare of dramatic action." [18]

The film was released in the UK but does not appear to have been screened commercially in the US.

Barrier Reef Films announced plans to make further feature films, including one revolving around Alfred Firth, but that did not eventuate. [19]

Nola Warren later became a model and was involved in a scandalous divorce case in 1943. [20] [21]

References

  1. "An Author's Film Debut". The Sydney Morning Herald . 15 September 1936. p. 9 Women's Supplement. Retrieved 12 August 2012 via Trove.
  2. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 174.
  3. "Zane Grey's New Film Company". The Argus. Melbourne, Vic. }via=Trove. 6 May 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  4. Grey, Zane (8 April 1936). "Zane Grey's Best Fishing Camp". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane, Qld. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  5. "Zane Grey To Act In Film". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 May 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  6. "Miss N. Warren". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 May 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  7. "Schoolboy Athletic Champion Becomes Film Star". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane, Qld. 15 May 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  8. "Grey's Barrier Reef Unit Leaves", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 20 May 1936, nla.obj-561173244, retrieved 29 March 2024 via Trove
  9. "Sharks To Be Used In Film". The Advertiser. Adelaide, S.A. 2 June 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  10. "Tried To Calm Surf With Oil". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane, Qld. 5 June 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  11. "Petrol Lamp Bursts In Face". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane, Qld. 29 June 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  12. "Zane Grey's Australian Novel May Yet Be Published". The Sunday Herald . Sydney. 9 November 1952. p. 11. Retrieved 12 August 2012 via Trove.
  13. "Zane Grey's Writing Is Infectious". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane, Qld. 22 May 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  14. "Mr. Zane Grey". The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 July 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  15. "Offered Film Contract". The Advocate. Burnie, Tas. 17 August 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  16. "Zane Grey". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 August 1936. Retrieved 17 August 2025 via Trove.
  17. "Zane Grey In South Australia". The Advocate . Burnie, Tas. 10 May 1939. p. 1. Retrieved 12 August 2012 via Trove.
  18. 'White Death' Sydney Morning Herald 9 Nov 1936 p 5 accessed 27 December 2011
  19. "Barrier Reef Films". The Sydney Morning Herald . 28 August 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 12 August 2012 via Trove.
  20. ""White Death" Girl In Divorce Case". The Mirror . Perth. 27 February 1943. p. 14. Retrieved 12 August 2012 via Trove.
  21. "Presenting Real Life". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney, N.S.W. 14 February 1943. Retrieved 16 August 2025 via Trove.

Bibliography