Page 11 - Microsoft Word - RDcover11_03.doc

star in this film, which told of a woman fleeing marriage to work as a man in a remote mining
district.
• Every missing silent-era feature film directed by Raymond Longford, including The Blue
Mountains Mystery (Raymond Longford, Lottie Lyell, Australia, 1921), a murder mystery that
made effective use of its Blue Mountains (NSW) setting and was praised for getting ‘off the
beaten bush track’
• The Magic Shoes (Claude Fleming, Australia, 1936). This short film, a pantomime fantasy,
featured the first screen appearance of later international star and Oscar-winner Peter Finch.
• Red Sky at Morning (Hartney Arthur, Australia, 1944). Another Peter Finch film, with the then
radio and stage actor playing an Irish political exile in colonial Australia.
• The Removalists (Tom Jeffrey, Australia, 1975). An incomplete release print, the soundtrack
final mix and video copies of the film are all that survive of this film adaptation of David
Williamson’s classic Australian stage play. A more complete version of the film survives on
video.
• Rock ‘n’ Roll (Lee Robinson, Australia, 1959). Short clips are all that survive of this feature
length documentary which covered a major Sydney Stadium concert featuring Johnny O’Keefe,
the Delltones and visiting US pop star Fabian.
• Show Business (AR Harwood, Australia, 1938). Only rushes (various takes) from one minor
scene survive from this backstage musical whose cast included a key Australian singer of the
day, Barbara James.
• The Story of the Kelly Gang (Charles Tait, Australia 1906). While we recently restored this film
to a quarter of its original length, we remain on the lookout for a complete original print and/ or
negative.
• Symphony in Steel (Frank Hurley, Australia, 1932). Frank Hurley’s widely acclaimed
documentary on the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge has now vanished, despite its
international release.
• Two Minutes Silence (Paulette McDonagh, Australia, 1933). The last of four features directed
by the Sydney-based Paulette McDonagh, Two Minutes Silence was adapted from an anti-war
play by Leslie Haylen. McDonagh considered it the best film she ever made.
• Any film or sound recordings of Australia’s early Prime Ministers, especially John Christian
Watson, for which no recording is known to exist.
• Early film documentary of Australia’s connections with our region, including Papua New
Guinea, Timor-Leste, Antarctica and the Pacific.
Radio
• Buddy Holly on Jack Davey’s AMPOL show, recorded in Melbourne in 1956. Davey hosted
many international star guests on the AMPOL show and we hold many examples. Finding a
surviving recording of this program, made three years before Buddy Holly’s untimely demise,
would be an international sensation.
• Any examples of 1960s Top 40 radio programs by presenters like Ward Austin, Bob Francis,
Sammy K, Stan Rofe, Bob Rogers, Brian Taylor, Graham Webb and Tony Withers. It is amazing
how few recordings seem to exist from this time – when rock ’n’ roll was replacing the old
faithful radio serials as the main form of on-air entertainment.
Sound
• Austral Duplex recordings from the early 1920s. These were the first disc records manufactured
in Australia. They were not very durable, so few have survived – we hold only four examples.
• Early retail recordings from local labels Federal Cylinders and the Australian Record
Company. In the first decade of the 20th century two enterprising businesses set about
supplying locally made cylinder records. Few of these records survive and they are mostly in
private collections.
• Slim Dusty’s unreleased demonstration recordings made before his first commercial release
in 1946. These process recordings were pressed in very limited quantities, but a few are known
to exist in private collections.