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The Secret of the Skies

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Wikipedia article




'The Secret of the Skies' is a 1934 Australian film directed by A. R. Harwood about a bank robber who crashes an aircraft in remote bush. The story was inspired by the 1931 disappearance of the 'Southern Cloud' flown by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53243988 "Southern Cloud mystery for screen."] 'The Australian Women's Weekly', 16 December 1933, p. 4 via 'National Library of Australia'. Retrieved: 4 April 2012.

Plot



Hal Wayne (Norman Shepherd), a bank clerk, has absconded with 10,000 of his bank's money. He hijacks an aircraft, the 'Golden Eagle', which crashes in the mountains.

Wayne steals the remaining food and abandons the others to their death. He is driven half-mad in the wilderness and throws away his money before being found by a prospector and returned to civilisation. But he is haunted by guilt and three years later confesses to police.

Cast



* Paul Allsop as Larry Hamilton

* Norman Banks as first announcer

* Ella Bromley as Anne Walters[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147259732 "Who are our potential starts."] 'Table Talk' (Melbourne), 31 August 1933, p. 17 via 'National Library of Australia'. Retrieved: 16 March 2015.

* John D'Arcy as Captain Sinclair

* Jimmy Dee as Monty Wright

* Guy Hastings as Detective Palmer

* Fred Patey as Frederick Holtz

* Norman Shepherd as Hal Wayne

* Ada Koradgi as Miss Mckenzie

* Eddie Balmer as second announcer

Production



'The Secret of the Skies' was partly shot in Cinesound Production's new studio facility in St Kilda, Melbourne in July 1933.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34623790 "New film studio."]'Western Argus' (Kalgoorlie, Western Australia), 24 October 1933, p. 31 via 'National Library of Australia'. Retrieved: 5 April 2012.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149548519 "No. 1. Our chances for world markets."] 'Table Talk' (Melbourne), 17 August 1933, p. 7 via 'National Library of Australia'. Retrieved: 16 March 2015.

Release



Harwood managed to arrange distribution through Universal although he later claimed that the release was delayed too long.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11727189 "Australian films."] 'The Argus' (Melbourne), 6 January 1934, p. 20 via 'National Library of Australia'. Retrieved: 5 April 2012. Critical reception was generally poor. One reviewer said:

"If one is to spend an hour on a mountain top with seven, stranded travellers it is desirable that they should be amusing or interesting in some way or other. Except for the pilot (played extremely well by John Darcy) they are ill at ease, and their conversation is starchy. This conversational stiffness is emphasised by the lack of action, particularly on the part of the camera, which is set down in front of the unhappy party, and stays there without a movement for minutes on end. But the film has its moments of vitality. The actual crash is first-rate; and quite equal to similar instances in American pictures... In some of the scenes in the bush one is made to feel the remoteness of the travellers and the hopelessness of their position; but elsewhere stagey treatment and acting often rob the film of the spontaneity and the dramatic intensity it should have possessed."[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17062199 "Film reviews."] 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 2 April 1934, p. 2 via 'National Library of Australia'. Retrieved: 4 April 2012.


Despite a production cost of several thousand pounds the film only returned 325 to the producers.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40862730 "Some screen reflections."] 'The Courier-Mail' (Brisbane), 29 February 1940, p. 9 via 'National Library of Australia', retrieved: 5 April 2012.

References



Notes



Bibliography



* Pike, Andrew and Ross Cooper. 'Australian Film 19001977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998. .


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