King of the Coral Sea

Last updated

King of the Coral Sea
Directed by Lee Robinson
Written byLee Robinson
Chips Rafferty
Produced byChips Rafferty
Lee Robinson (uncredited)
StarringChips Rafferty
Charles Tingwell
Rod Taylor
CinematographyRoss Wood
Noel Monkman (underwater photography)
Edited byAlex Ezard
Music by Wilbur Sampson
Production
company
Distributed by British Empire Films
Release date
  • 17 July 1954 (1954-07-17)(Australia)
Running time
85 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget£23,862 [1]
Box office£34,000 (England)
£26,000 (Australia) [2]

King of the Coral Sea is a 1954 film starring Chips Rafferty and Charles Tingwell, directed by Lee Robinson and shot on location in Thursday Island. It was one of the most commercially successful Australian films of the 1950s and was Rod Taylor's film debut. [3]

Contents

Synopsis

A body is found floating in the Torres Strait and pearler Ted King is asked to investigate. He discovers the murder is connected to a people smuggling ring and involves one of his men, Yusep. He is helped by Peter Merriman, the playboy owner of King's company who romances King's daughter Rusty. Yusep kidnaps Rusty but Merriman and King rescue her.

Cast

Production

Lee Robinson had previously made a documentary on the pearling industry, The Pearlers (1949). All Australian slang was removed from the script to ensure it would not be confusing for international audiences. [4] The shoot took place from June to October 1953. [5]

Casting

The supporting cast included Rod Taylor in his film debut. He played an American who elected to stay on in Australia after World War II, a character Robinson created with the aim of making the film appealing to the international market. Taylor, Robinson, Rafferty, Charles Tingwell and Lloyd Berrell all knew each other from working in Sydney radio. [6] Also featured in the cast were Ilma Adey, a model and cabaret entertainer without any previous acting experience, [7] and Frances Chin Soon, a local nurse from Thursday Island. [8]

Underwater photography

The film was shot almost entirely on location on Thursday Island, except for the underwater footage, which was filmed off Green Island. Noel Monkman was primarily responsible for this. [9] [10] The filming was unique as the cameraman and the actors dived with a rare scuba known as the Lawson Lung. It was a patent violation of the Cousteau-Gagnan patented Aqua Lung. It had a unique appearance, which came from the tank being worn on the diver's back, with the regulator worn on the chest. The Lawson Lung was made in Sydney in small numbers, because getting scuba gear in Australia was very difficult at the time. Rafferty dived in an open British made Heinke helmet as well as using the Lawson Lung towards the end of the film. Thursday Island was known for its pearl shells, which were collected for jewelry and buttons. The film was noted for the documentation of pearl shell divers and the luggers they sailed in. [11]

Release

The film was originally entitled King of the Arafura [12] but was retitled King of the Coral Sea as it was felt the Coral Sea was a better known sea than the Arafura. [13] The world premiere was held on Thursday Island on 17 July 1954, with a simultaneous screening in Melbourne. [14] [15] The film enjoyed a successful release and Robinson estimated it tripled its costs within three months. [2] A "Queen of the Coral Sea" competition was held to promote the movie. [16] [17] [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Taylor</span> Australian actor (1930–2015)

Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including Young Cassidy (1965), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Train Robbers (1973) and A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975).

<i>His Majesty OKeefe</i> 1954 film by Byron Haskin

His Majesty O'Keefe is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin and starring Burt Lancaster. The cast also included Joan Rice, André Morell, Abraham Sofaer, Archie Savage, and Benson Fong. The screenplay by Borden Chase and James Hill was based on the novel of the same name by Laurence Klingman and Gerald Green (1952).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bud Tingwell</span> Australian actor

Charles William Tingwell AM, known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian film, television, theatre and radio actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and went on to appear in more than 100 films and numerous TV programs in both the United Kingdom and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chips Rafferty</span> Australian actor (1909–1971)

John William Pilbean Goffage MBE, known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until he died in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American productions, including The Overlanders and The Sundowners. He appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia.

Ronald Grant Taylor was an English-Australian actor best known as the abrasive General Henderson in the Gerry Anderson science fiction series UFO and for his lead role in Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Doleman</span> New Zealand actor

Guy Doleman was a New Zealand born actor, active in Australia, Britain and the United States. He is possibly best remembered for being the first actor to play Number Two in the classic cult series The Prisoner.

<i>The Desert Rats</i> (film) 1953 film by Robert Wise

The Desert Rats is a 1953 American black-and-white war film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Robert L. Jacks, directed by Robert Wise, that stars Richard Burton, James Mason, and Robert Newton. The film's storyline concerns the Siege of Tobruk in 1941 North Africa during World War II.

<i>Long John Silver</i> (film) 1954 pirate adventure film

Long John Silver, also known as Long John Silver's Return to Treasure Island, is a 1954 American-Australian adventure film about the eponymous pirate Long John Silver, with Robert Newton repeating his starring role from Walt Disney's 1950 feature Treasure Island. Newton's billing in the opening credits states, "Robert Newton as Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal", followed by the title Long John Silver, presenting Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal Long John Silver as another of the film's alternate titles.

<i>Nobody Runs Forever</i> 1968 film

Nobody Runs Forever, also called The High Commissioner, is a 1968 British political neo noir spy thriller action film directed by Ralph Thomas and based on Jon Cleary's 1966 novel The High Commissioner. It stars Rod Taylor as Australian policeman Scobie Malone and Christopher Plummer as the Australian High Commissioner in Britain caught up in corrupt dealings, during delicate negotiations. Taylor's production company was involved in making the film, as was the American company Selmur Productions.

The Phantom Stockman is a 1953 Australian western film written and directed by Lee Robinson and starring Chips Rafferty, Victoria Shaw, Max Osbiston and Guy Doleman.

Lee Robinson was an Australian producer, director and screenwriter who was Australia's most prolific filmmaker of the 1950s and part of the creative team that produced the late 1960s international hit television series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

<i>Dust in the Sun</i> 1958 Australian film

Dust in the Sun is a 1958 Eastmancolor Australian mystery film adapted from the 1955 novel Justin Bayard by Jon Cleary and produced by the team of Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty. The film stars British actress Jill Adams, Ken Wayne and an Indigenous Australian actor Robert Tudawali as Emu Foot.

Lloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Reuben "Roo" Webber in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, appearing in a large portion of the films being shot locally at that time. He also starred in the original stage production of Sumner Locke Elliott's Rusty Bugles as well as numerous productions for the Mercury Theatre.

The Hound of the Deep is a 1926 British–Australian silent drama film directed by Frank Hurley and starring Eric Bransby Williams, Lilian Douglas and Jameson Thomas. Unlike many Australian silent films, a copy of it survives today.

The Mercury Theatre was an Australian theatre company that was co-founded by Peter Finch and existed from 1946 to 1954. It was named after the American Orson Welles' theatre company of the same name.

Joy Cavill was an Australian screenwriter and producer.

Southern International Productions was an Australian film production company established in the 1950s by Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty. For a few years it was the most prolific film production company in Australia, pioneering international co-productions with France, but a series of box office failures starting with Dust in the Sun caused it to be liquidated. Rafferty left producing but Lee Robinson later formed another company, Fauna, with actor John McCallum.

Reginald Thomas Lye, was an Australian actor who worked extensively in Australia and England. He was one of the busiest Australian actors of the 1950s, appearing in the majority of locally shot features at the time, as well as on stage and radio. Lee Robinson called him "one of the best character actors in Australia." He moved to England in the early 1960s,, but returned to Australia when the film industry revived in the 1970s.

Herc McIntyre was head of Universal Pictures in Australia from 1920 until the 1950s. He was important in the career of Charles Chauvel, helping finance several of his films. He was also friends with Lee Robinson and helped him distribute The Phantom Stockman (1953).

Chips is a 1952 Australian radio drama series starring Chips Rafferty. It is not to be confused with his earlier series The Sundowner although it too was an outback adventure series.

References

  1. Lee Robinson papers at the National Film and Sound Archive
  2. 1 2 "Lee Robinson interview with Albert Moran, Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture vol. 1 no 1 (1987)". Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  3. Vagg, Stephen (6 April 2020). "Audio Commentary for King of the Coral Sea" (Podcast). Anchor FM.
  4. "Slang Taboo in Aussie Films". Townsville Daily Bulletin . Qld.: National Library of Australia. 18 July 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  5. "RAFFERTY FILM COMPLETED". The Cairns Post . Qld.: National Library of Australia. 26 October 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  6. Stephen Vagg, Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood (Bear Manor Media, 2010) p36
  7. "FOR FILM ON THURSDAY 1s". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 15 July 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  8. "FEATURES Monsters Looked On When Australians Took Their Camera Underwater... Film Cast's Peril On Sea Bed." The Sun-Herald (Sydney) 11 Apr 1954: 26. Retrieved 16 December 2011
  9. "FAR NORTHERN SCENES." Cairns Post 21 Aug 1954: 5. Retrieved 16 December 2011
  10. "FEATURES Monsters Looked on When Australians Took Their Camera Underwater... Film Cast's Peril on Sea Bed". The Sun-Herald . Sydney: National Library of Australia. 11 April 1954. p. 26. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  11. Stephen Vagg, King of the Coral Sea: A Royal Achievement, Metro Magazine 158 Sept 2008 p88
  12. "FILM UNIT MOVING NORTH". The Cairns Post . Qld.: National Library of Australia. 11 July 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  13. "THE LOCAL SCREEN SCENE: Feature on Atomic Bomb Spies Planned -- Of Guided Missiles -- Other Matters" by A. H. WEILER. New York Times 24 January 1954: X5.
  14. "ISLAND FILM." Cairns Post 16 Jul 1954: 7. Retrieved 16 December 2011
  15. "Natives enjoy local character, places." The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld) 20 Jul 1954: 12. Retrieved 16 December 2011
  16. "QUEEN OF THE CORAL SEA" Cairns Post 30 Oct 1954: 7. Retrieved 16 December 2011
  17. "CHIPS RAFFERTY MAY MAKE FILM HERE". The Mercury . Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 3 August 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  18. "ON HER WAY TO FINAL". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 31 August 1954. p. 7. Retrieved 8 March 2012.