Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1923
Australia Calls (1923 film)
Buy Australia Calls (1923 film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Australia Calls' is a 1923 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford commissioned by the Australian government to be shown at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley Park, London, in 1924.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, 'Australian Film 19001977: A Guide to Feature Film Production', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 119."Raymond Longford", 'Cinema Papers', January 1974 p51
It was a semi-documentary about the adventures of Ernest Idiens, a labourer from Longnor Staffordshire who moved to New South Wales with his brother in 1912 with only 30 between them and by 1923 had assets worth 14,000. In 1923 Idiens toured England talking about his success.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1996864 'Successful Migrant.'], 'The Argus' (Melbourne), 28 November, p. 21.
The movie is not to be confused with Longford's 1913 picture 'Australia Calls' and is considered a lost film.
Production
The Australian government originally commissioned Longford to make four films depicting Australian society, each running 4,000 feet and costing 1,500. However bad weather caused a delay in shooting and Longford only made two, this and 'An Australian By Marriage'. The other two movies were shot by the official government cinematographer, Bert Ive.
Shooting began in March 1923 in the country town of Harden, New South Wales and the film was completed by June, six weeks behind schedule. 'An Australian by Marriage' was completed immediately afterwards but very little is known about it.
The other two films were completed by November, when they were all shown to leading members of the government.
Reception
The reviewer from 'The Register' praised the film saying "Seldom has the screen given a more striking demonstration of its power to tell a convincing story."[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57464843 'Making Good in Australia'] 'The Register (Adelaide)' 24 January 1924: 13
'Everyones' said "The photography... is exceptionally good, and the scenes embodied in the story are far ahead of anything previously seen. The picture should have been made four or five years ago, for those exhibited in London to encourage immigration, during the period the writer \Vas in London, were a disgrace to the Commonwealth, besides being very misleading."
References
Buy Australia Calls (1923 film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1923