Down Under (1927 film)

Down Under
Directed by Harry Southwell
Starring Harry Southwell
Nancy Mills
Cinematography Lacey Percival
Cliff Thomas
Production
company
Anglo-Australian Films
Release dates
22 March 1927 (premiere)[1]
4 September 1929[2]
Country Australia
Language Silent film
English intertitles

Down Under is an Australian feature-length film directed by Harry Southwell. It was the first full-length feature film made in Western Australia.[3] It featured the outback, as well as Perth and Kings Park.

Plot

An Australian vagabond, Walter Nobbage, has a series of adventures, including a trotting race meeting, a cattle muster and an aboriginal corroboree. Nobbage's sweetheart dies and he sacrifices his life for the safe her his dead sweetheart's little boy.[4]

Cast

Production

The film was financed by West Australian businessmen and shot in that state at Erlistoun Station, Laverton and Perth.[6][7]

Southwell claimed at the time he had a contract to make six films for distribution in Britain.[8]

It was the first and only production of Anglo-Australian Films.[9]

Release

It premiered on 4 September 1929 in Perth at the Majestic Theatre.[3] The film appears never to have received a commercial release in Britain[9]

Southwell attempted to set up another company in Australia, Western Southwell Productions, aiming to make a ₤4,000 movie called Gold. This film was never made.[10]

References

  1. ""Down Under".". The Daily News (Perth: National Library of Australia). 23 March 1927. p. 2. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  2. "Advertising.". The West Australian (Perth: National Library of Australia). 4 September 1929. p. 2. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  3. 1 2 "'Down Under' at Majestic". The Daily News. 4 September 1929. p. 10. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  4. "A Western Australian Film". The West Australian (Perth: National Library of Australia). 18 February 1927. p. 12. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  5. "Pertinent Paragraphs.". The Mirror (Perth: National Library of Australia). 18 May 1929. p. 11. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  6. "Film Production". The West Australian (Perth: National Library of Australia). 3 August 1926. p. 8. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  7. "Film Producing in WA". Western Argus (Kalgoorlie, Western Australia: National Library of Australia). 10 August 1926. p. 13. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  8. "West Australian films.". Geraldton Guardian (Western Australia: National Library of Australia). 21 August 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  9. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 137.
  10. "The Cinema.". The West Australian (Perth: National Library of Australia). 15 October 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 3 August 2012.

External links


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