Down Under (1927 film)

Down Under is an Australian feature-length film directed by Harry Southwell. It was the first full-length feature film made in Western Australia.[3] It featured the outback, as well as Perth and Kings Park.

Down Under
Directed byHarry Southwell
StarringHarry Southwell
Nancy Mills
CinematographyLacey Percival
Cliff Thomas
Production
company
Anglo-Australian Films
Release date
22 March 1927 (premiere)[1]
4 September 1929[2]
CountryAustralia
LanguageSilent film
English intertitles

Plot

An Australian vagabond, Walter Nobbage, has a series of adventures, including a trotting race meeting, a cattle muster and an aboriginal corroboree. Nobbage's sweetheart dies and he sacrifices his life for the safe her his dead sweetheart's little boy.[4]

Cast
  • Harry Southwell
  • Nancy Mills
  • Ivy Deakin
  • Alec Weird[5]
  • Mrs Compton
  • L Laurence
  • J Austin
  • G Cotter
  • G Temple-Poole
  • J Hennessy
  • D Brown
  • J Southwell
  • A Raven

Production

The film was financed by West Australian businessmen and shot in that state at Erlistoun Station, Laverton and Perth.[6][7]

Southwell claimed at the time he had a contract to make six films for distribution in Britain.[8]

It was the first and only production of Anglo-Australian Films.[9]

Release

It premiered on 4 September 1929 in Perth at the Majestic Theatre.[3] The film appears never to have received a commercial release in Britain[9]

Southwell attempted to set up another company in Australia, Western Southwell Productions, aiming to make a £4,000 movie called Gold. This film was never made.[10]

References
  1. ""Down Under"". The Daily News. Perth: National Library of Australia. 23 March 1927. p. 2. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  2. "Advertising". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 4 September 1929. p. 2. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  3. "'Down Under' at Majestic". The Daily News. 4 September 1929. p. 10. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  4. "A Western Australian Film". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 18 February 1927. p. 12. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  5. "Pertinent Paragraphs". The Mirror. Perth: National Library of Australia. 18 May 1929. p. 11. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  6. "Film Production". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 3 August 1926. p. 8. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  7. "Film Producing in WA". Western Argus. Kalgoorlie, Western Australia: National Library of Australia. 10 August 1926. p. 13. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  8. "West Australian films". Geraldton Guardian. Western Australia: National Library of Australia. 21 August 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  9. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 137.
  10. "The Cinema". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 15 October 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
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