Rupert Kathner
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Rupert Kathner (1904-1954) was an Australian director during the Depression.
He worked with Alma Brooks, an ex-barmaid, who co-produced, operated the camera, edited, co-scripted and acted in their films.[1] Kathner and Brooks were also "shady con artists and fugitives from the law",[2] sometimes described as the "Bonnie and Clyde" of the Australian film industry.
Kathner died of a brain haemorrhage.
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[edit] Newsreels
Kathner and Brooks achieved their first success with their "shocking (for the time) newsreels".[3] The most popular of these was about the unsolved murder case, The Pyjama Girl Murder. The newsreel was about to be distributed internationally when WWII broke out.
[edit] Features
Kathner and Brook's features were essentially B-grade movies, and dealt with typically Australian topics such as Ned Kelly and horse-racing.
[edit] Hunt Angels
Hunt Angels, released in 2006, is a feature-length documentary which re-enacts Kathner and Brooks' "movie-making spree that took on the Hollywood barons, a corrupt police Commissioner and the cultural cringe all in their passionate pursuit to make Australian films. On the run from police across thousands of miles, they would stop at almost nothing to get their films made."[4] Hunt Angels "uses an innovative digital composite technique whereby the characters come alive in the real world of Sydney in the 30's and 40's".[5]
The film was directed by Alec Morgan. It stars Ben Mendelsohn and Victoria Hill, playing the roles of Kathner and Brooks, and includes interviews with "real" people such as actor Bud Tingwell, filmmaker/distributor Andrew Pike, and Kathner's son, Paul F. Kathner.
[edit] Films
- The Glenrowan Affair (1951), aka A Message to Kelly
- Racing Luck (1941)
- Wings of Destiny (1940)
- Below the Surface (1938)
- Phantom Gold (1937)
[edit] External Links
Rupert Kathner at Australian Screen
[edit] Notes
- ^ Morgan
- ^ Kalina (2006)
- ^ Edwards (2006)
- ^ Hunt Angels official site
- ^ Art Doco News
