Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1936
White Death (film)
Buy White Death (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
'White Death' is a 1936 Australian film directed by Edwin G. Bowen and starring Zane Grey as himself. He filmed it during a fishing expedition to Australia and it marked the first time he had played a leading role in a film.
Synopsis
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, 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. Eventually Grey manages to catch the shark.
Cast
* Zane Grey as himself
* Alfred Frith as Newton Smith
* Nola Warren as Nola Murchinson
* Harold Calonna as David Murchison
* John Weston as John Lollard
* James Coleman as Professor Lollard
*Peter Williams as boatman
*Frank Big Belt as guard
Production
In 1935-36 Zane Grey made a fishing expedition to Australia. This trip was extensively covered by the local media and Grey was often accompanied on his sea voyages by three cameramen he had brought out from America, including H.C. Anderson. Grey's activities were criticised at the time by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, 'Australian Film 19001977: A Guide to Feature Film Production', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 174.
Barrier Reef Productions, a production company capitalised at 15,000, was formed in 1936 to make the film.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11032679 "ZANE GREY'S NEW FILM COMPANY." 'Argus (Melbourne, Vic)' 6 May 1936: 8] accessed 27 December 2011
The story was inspired by Grey seeing a great white shark (which he nicknamed "white death") being captured near Bermagui in New South Wales.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36799504 "Zane Grey's Best Fishing Camp." 'The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld)' 8 Apr 1936: 14] accessed 27 December 2011 Frank Harvey was hired to write the screenplay. The story drew on Grey's real-life experiences with the character of Newon Smith sending up his treatment at the hands of the RSPCA.
The majority of the film crew came from Cinesound Productions, who also lent equipment to the production. Grey's manager, Edwin G. Bowen, was appointed director of the movie, although he had limited experience behind the camera.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17332094 "ZANE GREY." 'The Sydney Morning Herald' 6 May 1936: 11] accessed 27 December 2011
Casting
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.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17344688 "MISS N. WARREN." 'The Sydney Morning Herald' 15 May 1936: 8] accessed 27 December 2011 She performed most of her scenes opposite John Weston, a former schoolboy athletic champion turned radio broadcaster.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38501684 "SCHOOLBOY ATHLETIC CHAMPION BECOMES FILM STAR." 'The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld)' 15 May 1936: 21] accessed 27 December 2011 Aboriginal extras, some of whom had recently appeared in 'Uncivilised' (1936), were brought in from Palm Island, Queensland. Harold Colonna, who played the villain, was best known as an opera singer.Shooting
Filming started in May 1936 and took place in the Great Barrier Reef, principally at Hayman Island. A shark enclosure was built at Hayman to shoot shark footage.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48150245 "SHARES TO BE USED IN FILM." 'The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA)' 2 Jun 1936: 19] accessed 27 December 2011Bad weather made the shoot difficult. A member of the camera crew sprinkled oil in the surf thinking it would make it sound less loud.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38495296 "TREED TO CALM SURF WITH OIL." 'The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld)' 5 Jun 1936: 19] accessed 27 December 2011 A petrol lamp blew up in John Weston's face.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38467852 "PETROL LAMP BURSTS IN FACE." 'The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld)' 29 Jun 1936: 12] accessed 27 December 2011 In addition, finding white sharks proved difficult, forcing the props master to construct an artificial one from wood and canvas.
Both Bowen and Frith were accompanied by their wives, who assisted in making the movie, and Bowen's young children Buddy and Barbara.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38502176 "Women's World." 'The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld)' 22 May 1936: 23] accessed 27 December 2011
Location shooting ended in July 1936 and the rest of the film was made at Cinesound's studios in Sydney.
Reception
Grey left Australia on 19 August claiming it was the greatest country he had visited.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17256548 "MR. ZANE GREY." 'The Sydney Morning Herald' 31 Jul 1936: 11] accessed 27 December 2011 He reportedly offered Nola Warren a film contract and announced he would return in 1938 to make another film.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68076174 "OFFERED FILM CONTRACT." 'Advocate (Burnie, Tas)' 17 Aug 1936: 4] accessed 27 December 2011[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17262286 "ZANE GREY." 'The Sydney Morning Herald' 19 Aug 1936: 12] accessed 27 December 2011 Grey did return to Australia in 1939 to fish, shortly before his death, but no further films resulted. In 1937 he published 'An American Angler in Australia'.
The film premiered in October at Moruya and Bateman's Bay, and reached Sydney theatres in November. The critic for 'The Sydney Morning Herald' described it as "a rambling and rather ramshackle film... the script... is almost bare of dramatic action."[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19361109&id=g9BaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C5IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7312,1203060 'White Death' 'Sydney Morning Herald' 9 Nov 1936 p 5] accessed 27 December 2011
The film was released in the UK but does not appear to have been screened commercially in the US.
Barrier Reef Films announced plans to make further feature films, including one revolving around Alfred Firth, but this did not eventuate.
Nola Warren later became a model and was involved in a scandalous divorce case.
References
Bibliography
* Reade, Eric. 'History and heartburn: the saga of Australian film, 1896-1978'. Associated University Presses, 1981.
Buy White Death (film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1936