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Australia Calls (1913 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Australia Calls' is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the fictitious invasion of Australia by an unnamed Asian country.
The movie is not to be confused with Longford's 1923 picture 'Australia Calls' and is considered a lost film.
Longford later claimed the film was the first Australian movie to have mass extras (from Sydney's Chinatown) and feature model photography, as well as being the first film in the world to show wireless communication. Film historians have said "the scale and blatant propaganda of [the film]... made it the least typical of Longford's thirty narrative films".Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, 'Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years', Currency Press 1989 p 32
Plot
The film begins with a prologue, 'The Warning', showing a Sydney horse race, then a football match in front of thousands of spectators. Living on an outback station, Beatrice Evans (Lottie Lyell) rejects the advances of a suitor. An unnamed Asian country lands 20,000 troops (called "Mongolians") on the New South Wales coast, and Australia issues a call to arms, mobilising its forces. The invading army attacks Sydney, setting buildings on fire and taking over the Mint, Treasury Building and wireless telegraph station. The rejected suitor turns traitor and Beatrice is captured by the enemy. However she is rescued by plane with the help of aviator William E. Hart and the Australians are victorious.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10363264 "Amusements" 'The Mercury (Hobart)' 26 Feb 1914: 3]
A contemporary review said "the synopsis contains scenes of Australians at play, at the races, at football, the call to arms, the burning of Sydney, the enemy in possession, Australian mobilising, the capture of the wireless station, treachery, in the hands of the enemy, Australian bushmen rallying, tapping the overhead telegraph wires, the charge of the lancers, and ride for life, William E. Hart (Australia's aviator) to the rescue."[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50745527 "Princess Theatre" 'Examiner (Launceston)' 17 Feb 1914: 6]
Cast
*Lottie Lyell as Beatrice Evans
*Frank Phillips as Evans
*Alfred O'Shea
*George Wilkins
*William Ewart Hart as aviator
*Andrew Warr as Asian commander
Production
The movie was written by John Barr and C. A. Jeffries, two journalists from the magazine 'The Bulletin', and sought to exploit Australia's fear of the Yellow Peril. Filming was done with the assistance of the Australian Defence Department and took over a year to complete, including model work to depict the burning of Sydney.Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, 'Australian Cinema: the First Eighty Years', Currency Press, 1989 p 32
The cast includes early Australian aviator William Ewart Hart, who made the first cross-country flight in New South Wales, and later tenor Alfred O'Shea. Ernest Higgins shot some aerial photography for the film on a flight with Hart. Scenes involving Hart were shot at Richmond.[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hart-william-ewart-6592 William Ewart Hart] at 'Australian Dictionary of Biography'
An article in 'Everyone's' later wrote that in the film, Longford's "attacking forces for obvious reasons were Celestials, and he commandeered the staff of a Chinese cabinet maker whilst engaged on the war scenes." Hostilities were taking longer than anticipated, and the cabinet maker, in despair, at length said: "Waffor this war no finish. No good for business, me wantum carpenters." One warrior fell sick, and had to be replaced. The interpreter calmly walked over to a nearby market garden and pressganged one of the gardeners at work there. "All same Chinese," he said, "no matter he like it or not, make him finish."
See also
*Yellow Peril
*Invasion literature
* 'The Invasion' (1877) W. H. Walker
*'The Battle of Mordialloo' (1888) by Samuel Mullen
*'White or Yellow? A Story of the Race War of AD 1908'(1888) by William Lane
*'The Yellow Wave' (1895) by Kenneth Mackay
*'The Celestial Hand: A Sensational Story' (1903) by Joyce Vincent
*'The Australian Crisis' (1907) by C. H. Kirmess
*'White Australia or, The empty North' (1909) by Randolph Bedford
*'The Air Scout: A Tale of National Defense' (1912) Strang, H.
*'The Air Patrol: A Tale of the North-West Frontier' (1913) by Strang, H.
References
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