| White Death | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Edwin G. Bowen |
| Produced by | Edwin G. Bowen |
| Written by | Frank Harvey |
| Starring | Zane Grey Alfred Frith |
| Cinematography | Arthur Higgins |
| Studio | Barrier Reef Productions |
| Release date(s) | November 1936 |
| Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
White Death is a 1936 Australian film starring Zane Grey as himself.
Contents |
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 (Alfred Frith), 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.
The film was made during Grey's 1935 fishing trip to Australia and was directed by Edwin G Bowen, Grey's general manager. This trip was extensively covered by the local media and Grey was often accompanied on his sea voyages by a cameraman.
Barrier Reef Productions, a production company capitalised at £15,000, was formed to make the movie.[1]
The story was inspired by Grey seeing a great white shark (which he nicknamed "white death") being captured near Bermagui in New South Wales.[2] Frank Harvey was hired to write the screenplay.
The majority of the film crew came from Cinesound Productions, who also lent equipment.[3] Alfred Frith, the 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.[4] She performed most of her scenes opposite John Weston, a former school boy athletic champion turned radio broadcaster.[5]Aboriginal extras, some of whom had recently appeared in Uncivilised (1936), where brought in from Palm Island, Queensland. Harold Colonna, who played the villain, was best known as an opera singer.
Filming took place in the Great Barrier Reef, principally at Hayman Island. A shark enclosure was built at Hayman to shoot shark footage.[6] Bad weather made the shoot difficult. A member of the camera crew sprinkled oil in the surf thinking it would make it sound less loud.[7] A petrol lamp blew up in John Weston's face.[8]
Both Bowen and Frith were accompanied by their wives who assisted in making the movie.[9]
Location shooting ended in July 1936 and the rest of the film was made at Cinesound's studios in Sydney.
Grey left Australia on August 19 claiming it was the greatest country he had visited.[10] He reportedly offered Nola Warren a film contract and announced he would return in 1938 to make another film.[11][12] Neither eventuated.
The critic for the Sydney Morning Herald described the movie as "a rambling and rather ramshackle film... the script... is almost bare of dramatic action."[13]
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