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.
- Seeking The Sentimental Bloke: A Location Search - Widely acclaimed as Australia's best silent film, The Sentimental Bloke (1919) was filmed in an urban Sydney of which traces can still be found if you look hard enough.
- Sydney's Forgotten Film Studio - An unregarded back street at Bondi Junction hosts the most historic site in Australian film production history - the former Union Master Pictures/ Cinesound film studio at which Errol Flynn, Peter Finch, Bud Tingwell and other first found fame.
- Cherie Rich, The Australian Bathing Beauty - How did Sydney-born teenager Bessie MacIntosh end up in Hollywood in the middle of a World War and (probably) one of Mack Sennett's famous Bathing Beauties? Find out here!
Australians At The Movies
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.
- The Globe Theatre, Sydney: A Case of Accidental Preservation: Chronicles the rise and fall of one of Sydney's most amazing cinematic survivors, George Street's former Globe Theatre.
Regarding Rudolph Valentino
Essays about silent film idol Rudolph Valentino.
Valentino, whose international fame was cut short by his tragic early death in 1926, aged 31, has always had a special significance to Australian fans. It was Australia who rewarded the handsome Italian-American with the world's longest seasons of The Sheik (1921) and Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), as well as more fan mail than he received from any non-American nation. Read more about Australia's love affair with Valentino, along with some little-known details of his life.
Valentino, whose international fame was cut short by his tragic early death in 1926, aged 31, has always had a special significance to Australian fans. It was Australia who rewarded the handsome Italian-American with the world's longest seasons of The Sheik (1921) and Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), as well as more fan mail than he received from any non-American nation. Read more about Australia's love affair with Valentino, along with some little-known details of his life.
- Rudolph Valentino: An Unlikely Australian Idol: In 1921, Sydney hosted a world record what might be the world's first cult film, The Sheik (1921)
- Who Taught Valentino to Tango?: This major essay encompasses film and dance history to argue that Rudolph Valentino may have learned his signature dance from one of Argentina's greatest tangueros, the legendary Casimiro 'El Vasco' Aín.
- When Valentino Came To Portland: A centenary celebration of Rudolph Valentino's visit to Portland, Oregon in June 1923.
Miscellaneous Musings
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.
- The Many Lives of the 'Lottie Carson' - The surprising history of an unlikely film star: an aging lumber ship known as the Lottie Carson.
