Down Under | |
---|---|
Directed by | Harry Southwell |
Starring | Harry Southwell Nancy Mills |
Cinematography | Lacey Percival Cliff Thomas |
Production company | Anglo-Australian Films |
Release dates | 22 March 1927 (premiere)[1] 4 September 1929[2] |
Country | Australia |
Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
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.
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]
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]
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]