Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 30 January 1936, page 12


AUSTRALIAN FILMS.

Scenes During Production.

ENERGY IN "THOROUGHBRED."

Nine out of ten people have a secret yearn-ing to play a part in a film. Most of them fall to realise how strenuous and exacting the life of a. leading film player really Is.

In "Thoroughbred," which is now in pro-duction at the Clnesound studios. Bondi, Mr. Frank Leighton had to play a scene which showed him being knocked over the balvstrade on top of the grandstand at Flemington Racecourse. There were 14 re-takes, with the camera at various distances. This meant that on 14 occasions Mr. Leighton had to take a solid blow on the Jaw, crash backward through the railings, and fall quite a distance to a concrete floor thinly carpeted with

sacking.

Yesteiday, representatives of the Press were Invited to the Clnesound studios to see an equally strenuous episode being filmed. The subject was an attempt to drug a racehorse. Two men stood In the stable-one on guard and one holding a hypodermic syringe. Miss Helen Twelvetrees rushed In just in time to give the alarm. Mr. Leighton and Mr. John Longden followed. There ensued a roughand-tumble, during which it seemed certain that someone would have a jaw broken, or, at least, suffer a black eye. But the actors came out of it with no more damage than a few bruises. Three or four minutes passed, and the whole scene was photographed again, with just as realistic a show of violence as

before.

The last scenes in "Thoroughbred" will be filmed to-morrow. The picture then goes to the cutting-room. According to. schedule, this stage should have been reached last week-end, but continued bad weather held up the outdoor work recently for several days. Even to finish so close to schedule time Is an achievement in Australia, where most films have dragged out far beyond the period antici-pated at first. When cutting begins, "Thoroughbred" will be i educed to 7000 or 8000 feet, which means about an hour and a half screening time.

Mr. Leighton will leave for Melbourne to-morrow night, to take up rehearsals for "Jill, Darling," the new J. C. Williamson musical

play.

"UNCIVILISED" STUDIO WORK

FINISHED.

The studio work has been completed tor the new film, "Uncivilised," which Mr. Charles Chauvel is directing for Expeditionary Films, Ltd. Mr. Chauvel is now moving out of the National studios at Pagewood, which he has occupied for the last ten weeks. He will transport his actors and actresses, his tech-nical staff, and the Palm Island aborigines to the Burragorang Valley and to one or two places on the coast, to provide the production with some more outdoor scenes. He expects that "Uncivilised" will be ready for the screen in about three weeks. This, he says, will be well within the original schedule.