Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), Monday 16 November 1925, page 2


AUSTRALIAN FILM.

EMPIRE ORGANISATION

£3.000,000 CAPITAL.

"The success of Australian films is becoming an obsession with me," said Mr. Stuart F. Doyle, managing direc-tor of the Union Theatres, Ltd., and thc Australasian Films Limited, in an in-terview with a Press representative.

He explained that the company with which he was associated had now start-ed on a definite plan of campaign, with thc object Of producing 12 Australian film .pictures each year. This had not been undertaken in any haphazard fashion. Every effort had been made to organise the business oh a proper com-mercial basis. For many years, thc com-pany had had a studio at Rushcutters Báy, Sydney, where many Australian pictures had been produced. Recently, however, the company had acquired- the old Centennial skating rink, at Bondi Junction, where there was .15,000 square feet of floor space. Thc4 most up-to-date studio equipment hatl been imported for the1 purpose, and its installation had been completed.

After going thoroughly into all. thc details ofatlic scheme,, the company last week decided to purchase thc freehold of the property. This decision had been carried into effect. Altogether, more thaii ¿50,000 liad been invested iii the freehold and equipment of the Bondi Junction studio, known as the No. 2, in addition . to ¿20,000 put into thc free-hold and equipment, of the Rushcutters Bay studio and laboratory, lt would thus be seen that the, company's venture already' represented a capital expendi-ture of ¿70,1.:)0,

RECIPROCAL.

The company was working on a sys-tem of co-operation and reciprocity with England and thc Continent : the idea being that a big English firm, the iden-tity of which could not at present be

t

disclosed, would user the- studio of tho Australian Films, Ltd., alternately with thc latter. The local coinpanuy would take the Australian rights of such pic-tures as were, produced, and the English ¡ firm, thc English and Continental rights. ' The English organisation was complete-

ly British-owned, and controlled a lar'ie circuit of theatres. As the Australian company controlled a number cf theatres in the capital cities of thc Com-monwealth, the linking together of the two would represent a very formidable Empire chain of theatre producing units.

The Union Theatres, Ltd., and thc Australian Films, Ltd., with_ their sub-sidiary companies, had a capital of just on ¿3,000,000, and they were proud of the fact that' they were entirely Aus-

tralian-owned.

AUSTRALIAN ONLY.

They had not derived one penny of

fheir capital from lAmerican , or any, other foreign service. The pictures pro-duced were exclusively Australian,, and thc personnel of the staffs was also en-tirely Australian, lt was intended,. hy-the Empire organisation the companies

were trying to foster, to keep them s.». ,

Mr. Raymond Longford, a wellknown Australian producer, and who had been engaged as ¡chief producer for, the company, had just finished the pic-ture "Sunrise," .which was thc second, of the company's productions. Thc next picture to bc, turned out would be "Pioneers," taken from,the novel of thc same name. Thc company was deter-mined to make a success of the venture, and if, with - it capital and resources, it was unable to do this, there was little hope of anybody else doing it. Sb far, the Australian company was not looking to the United States for any assistance, but it might have to do so at some ^fu-ture time.

DIFFERENT ENDINGS.

It was interesting to note, Mr. Doylcr said, that in preparing pictures for the continental market, it was necessary to ntake the stories end differently from

those intended for English-speaking communities. A Frenchman or a Ger-mait was not at all interested in a pic-ture that ended happily. It was essential, from his point of view, that the hero or heroine should commit suicide, or meet with some such tragic end, to make the story acceptable,. Australian and Eng-lish patrons of the picture theatre, how-ever, liked something brighter aud hap-pier. Thc films which pleased them would have to he remade for thc purroses of the continental market.