The first wave of Australian feature film production: from early promise to fading hopes

Executive Summary From 1906 to 1911, Australia was the most prolific producer of feature films in the world. During this period, Australian producers had easy access to cinema screens as supplies of overseas films were irregular. This success began to decline in 1913 when a series of takeovers and mergers in distribution and exhibition led to the creation of the monopolistic ‘Combine’, trading as Australasian Films. However, Australasian Films’ market position was gradually eroded as Hollywood studios – the world leaders in film production following European decline during the war – began to establish distribution branches in Australia during and after World War I. The US studios also began to exercise de facto control of the exhibition sector through what was known as ‘the contract system’ which required exhibitors to take all or most of a studio’s output over a given period, generally three, six or 12 months. Overseas domination of the exhibition sector was formalised in 1931 when the Fox Film Company acquired a controlling share of the largest cinema chain, Hoyts, ensuring priority for US product. Australian feature filmmaking faced further challenges in the following years with the Depression and the debilitating increase in production costs associated with the introduction of sound. And while some producers – most notably Cinesound – had partial success in the 1930s, World War II almost fatally disrupted production allowing the industry to sink over the following 30 years, reaching its lowest point by the end of the Sixties. Two inquiries held in 1927 and 1934 attempted to act on the problems facing the industry, the latter NSW inquiry introducing screen quotas. However, the quotas were ultimately unsuccessful because of foreign distributor resistance and the lack of government support for finance and low cost studio facilities. Film production in Australia has long been the poor cousin of exhibition and distribution. Film production is high cost and high risk. The campaigns against the film quota showed that once foreign interests had established dominance in Australia they were not prepared to tolerate measures to promote the industry. Despite promising beginnings, for 50 years Australian feature films did not achieve investment and distribution in proportion to their undeniable potential and merit. It was only in the 1970s when the feature film industry received comprehensive support in the form of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and the Australian Film Development Corporation (AFDC) (later the Australian Film Commission (AFC)), that the film industry began to expand