The Pioneers (1895-1928)

This episode discusses Australia's early film history. Barnett filming the Melbourne Cup. The Salvation Army's record of Australian Federation - the first Australian feature-length documentary; the birth of a nation captured on film for the first time. The first permanent film studio and processing laboratory in Australia (the oldest surviving anywhere in the world). West and Spencer built some of the biggest cinemas in the world, containing 4000 seats. Pathe produced the first newsreels. The era of the highly popular 'bushranger' films… and the subsequent government ban of these films. The union of four separate film production and distribution companies into what was nicknamed The Combine. The cameramen of World War I. The comedies of Beaumont Smith. American studios' block-booking strategy pushing local productions out of the cinema. The Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell films, including the controversial melodrama 'The Woman Suffers' and the classics 'The Sentimental Bloke' and 'On Our Selection'. The rise of the Hoyts theatre chain. 'For the Term of His Natural Life' causes the young country to face its cultural heritage. As the old guard fades from the scene, new talent springs up in the form of Charles Chauvel and the McDonough sisters. The silent era comes to a close with the comedy 'The Kid Stakes'.