Essays and Research

Australians In The Movies

A selection of my essays on Australian filmmakers, productions and performers.

The Making of The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell (1915) - One of World War I's most notorious incidents becomes an early Australian-made screen hit.
The Mystery of Those Terrible Twins (1925) - Before the classic silent film The Kid Stakes (1927) came this oddity, an 'orphan' film, the surprising circumstances of whose production were lost to time - until now.
Yvonne Banvard: The Mack Sennett Girl Who Wasn't - Obituaries listed veteran Australian actress Yvonne 'Fifi' Banvard as a 'former Mack Sennett bathing beauty'. Was she? No. But her real story is even more interesting.

Essays and research on Australian film attendance, showmanship and exhibition:

The 1916 Film Diary- The filmgoing habits of 24 year old Margaret Higgins, as recorded in her diary, amidst the tumult of World War I. A major research project undertaken for the anniversary of the Great War.
Rudolph Valentino: An Unlikely Australian Idol - How did Australia become the world's most receptive market for Italian-American superstar Rudolph Valentino?
Carpetbaggers, Roadshows, and Another Nation's Problems: 'The Birth of a Nation' Comes To Australia - D.W. Griffith's controversial classic was expected to be a surefire hit in a nation in the grip of the White Australia policy. The truth was more complicated.

A selection of essays, reflections and research on international silent and early sound cinema:

'Titanic' and Silent Film - A short essay for the centenary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Silent Film, Psychology And The Quest For 'Inner Space'- An essay written for the 2015 For The Love of Film Blogathon, on the theme of 'science fiction'.
Seeing Double: Twins in Silent Film - My contribution to the 2012 For The Love of Film Blogathon.