| Sheepmates | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | F.W. Thring |
| Produced by | F.W. Thring |
| Based on | novel by William Hatfield |
| Starring | Frank Harvey |
| Studio | Efftee Studios |
| Release date(s) | 1934 (intended) |
| Running time | incomplete |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
Sheepmates was a proposed Australian film from director F.W. Thring based on a 1931 novel by William Hatfield.
Contents |
Rights to the novel were bought in mid 1933.[1] The movie was meant to be the first shot at Efftee's new studio at Wattle Path Palais, St Kilda, Melbourne.[2]
Filming began in September 1933. After shooting some studio scenes, the crew departed to the Queensland and South Australian border for six weeks of filming around various cattle stations, notably at one owned by Sir Sidney Kidman at Coopers Creek[3] and at Naryilco Station near Tibooburra.[4] The crew initially consisted of Thring, Hatfield and some assistants, plus various camera and sound men; actors did not come until they finished appearing in Thring's stage production of Rope on October 7.[5]
Shooting was difficult. Thring suffered from exhaustion, several crew members narrowly escaped death in a tent fire, and cattle mustering scenes were delayed due to communication difficulties.[6]. Hatfield also claimed that the stage commitments of the actors made finishing the film hard.[7] On the unit's return to Melbourne, studio shooting was postponed to January because the St Kilda facilities were not ready. However all the scenes involving actor Henry Wenham had to be filmed because he was returning to London.[8] Thring decided to abandon production.[9]
In 1936 Thring announced Sheepmates would be one of several novels he was taking with him to Hollywood, with a view to having American writers adapt them into screenplay form, suggesting he still intended to use the footage he had shot.[10]However Thring died soon after he returned to Australia in June and Sheepmates was never completed.