To end a mandate : Sir E.L. Spears and the Anglo-French collision in the Levant, 1941-1945.

The following pages are an attempt to construct a more fully documented and detailed account of the Anglo-French relationship in the Levant from 1941 to 1945. Wherever possible, original documents are quoted and the dramatis personae are allowed to speak in their own words. Even so, in terms of sheer quantity, only the tip of the documentary iceberg appears. If more of the original atmosphere and mentality has been re-captured, and if the wartime voices are more readily heard and considered, this approach will have been justified. A narrative form has been used, partly to emphasise that much can only be explained in the light of the war situation with its pressures, confusions and improvisations. Interpretation and analysis accompany the unfolding narrative, and the significance of various events and attitudes is reiterated and weighed in the conclusion. Within this purpose, and inseparable from it, is an attempt to understand Sir Edward Spears and to establish his role. The Anglo- French collision in the Levant involved some remarkable personalities on both sides. The most striking character of them all was Spears, the man at the centre of the controversy. His papers and diaries throw new light on his own activities and upon the whole Levant dispute, and full use has been made of this source. In particular, I have tried to depict and interpret Spears' dramatic break with de Gaulle, and the ex-Francophile's subsequent view of his role in the Middle East. This innings on the sticky wicket of psychology was clearly necessary. The sudden and fateful change in Spears' attitude was to loom large in the Levant affair. A non-polemical explanation was well overdue, and with the aid of new sources I have attempted to provide it. Finally, much space has been devoted to the year 1941. Within the period of the Anglo-Gaullist occupation of the Levant, no other year was so packed with crucial events and fateful decisions. 1941 produced the terms of reference for all the ensuing Anglo-French disputes and confrontations in the Levant

Ned Kelly and the movies 1906-2003: representation, social banditry and history

This PhD thesis investigates the fascinating subject of the Ned Kelly movies. Since the early days of Australian film production, movies on Kelly were appearing at regular intervals, and certainly, they are a significant addition to cinema studies and cultural history. Yet, beyond the movies, this thesis discusses Kelly’s nineteenth century cultural industry, which played a significant role in commodifying Ned as an important figure of popular entertainment. Indeed, the performance customs and social practices established during Kelly’s historic Outbreak of 1878-1880 were taken into the moving pictures in the twentieth century. Kelly’s representation though has not been a fixed artefact, and by examining his twentieth and twenty-first century cinema representation, this thesis explores how the origins of his popular image have continued in popular culture. With this thesis adding to the growing field of research on celluloid bandits, it demonstrates the importance of understanding how the Kelly films shift beyond the normal parameters of cinema studies and delve into broader areas of cultural history. As it argues, the Kelly movies are significantly influenced by popular history as well as Kelly’s tradition of visual imagery, folk songs and literature

To end a mandate : Sir E.L. Spears and the Anglo-French collision in the Levant, 1941-1945.

The following pages are an attempt to construct a more fully documented and detailed account of the Anglo-French relationship in the Levant from 1941 to 1945. Wherever possible, original documents are quoted and the dramatis personae are allowed to speak in their own words. Even so, in terms of sheer quantity, only the tip of the documentary iceberg appears. If more of the original atmosphere and mentality has been re-captured, and if the wartime voices are more readily heard and considered, this approach will have been justified. A narrative form has been used, partly to emphasise that much can only be explained in the light of the war situation with its pressures, confusions and improvisations. Interpretation and analysis accompany the unfolding narrative, and the significance of various events and attitudes is reiterated and weighed in the conclusion. Within this purpose, and inseparable from it, is an attempt to understand Sir Edward Spears and to establish his role. The Anglo- French collision in the Levant involved some remarkable personalities on both sides. The most striking character of them all was Spears, the man at the centre of the controversy. His papers and diaries throw new light on his own activities and upon the whole Levant dispute, and full use has been made of this source. In particular, I have tried to depict and interpret Spears' dramatic break with de Gaulle, and the ex-Francophile's subsequent view of his role in the Middle East. This innings on the sticky wicket of psychology was clearly necessary. The sudden and fateful change in Spears' attitude was to loom large in the Levant affair. A non-polemical explanation was well overdue, and with the aid of new sources I have attempted to provide it. Finally, much space has been devoted to the year 1941. Within the period of the Anglo-Gaullist occupation of the Levant, no other year was so packed with crucial events and fateful decisions. 1941 produced the terms of reference for all the ensuing Anglo-French disputes and confrontations in the Levant

B for Bad, B for Bogus and B for Bold: Rupert Kathner, The Glenrowan Affair and Ned Kelly

The recent attention given to American B movies tends to overlook Australia's own industry of Badness. For devotees of Bad cinema, The Glenrowan Affair (Rupert Kathner, 1951) is a true gem. Based on the ex-ploits of bushranger Ned Kelly, and promoted as a 'serious drama', Eric Reade laughed, 'if the picture had been billed as a comedy it would have done better business'.<sup>1</sup> To investigate why The Glenrowan Affair is so utterly, terribly and awfully Bad, this paper will discuss its relationship with the industry of Kelly cinema, as well as Kathner's oeuvre, which has recently inspired the docudrama Hunt Angels (Alec Morgan, 2006)

Marvellous Melbourne: Lady filmgoers, Spencer's pictures and Cozens Spencer

This article addresses the dual topic of exhibition and production by exploring showman Cozens Spencer's popular Australian documentary, Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South (Spencer's Pictures 1910). The story of this film is the role that women played - not just in the city, but in relation to the cinema: as filmgoers, workers and on-screen characters. And indeed, by focusing on Marvellous Melbourne, much can be drawn from the ways that Spencer's on-screen moving pictures were speaking to his 'movie mad' filmgoers. Evidenced in a film such as this, I am suggesting that its modern narrative - which concentrates on the modern city, and modern women in motion within the city - is very much engaged with Spencer's endeavour to provide his audience with a modern cinema experience, illuminating the fantasy and romance of a technocentric and cultured city. But before discussing how Marvellous Melbourne represented its target demographic on screen, it is equally important first to ask how it became central to the sort of city cinema programme that Spencer was attempting to create

American Cartel: Block Bookings and the Paramount Plan

This chapter investigates how the Australian film industry was historically shaped during its formative period by the block booking contract system, which flooded Australia cinema screens with popular American films. While the block booking strategy did not last, Australias obsession with American cinema did, to the point where exhibitors today are still dependent on filling their venues with the latest craze from America. By concentrating on the silent period of 19091927, this chapter discusses a number of significant shifts in film exhibition that transformed Australian cinema from an independent and self-sufficient industry into a local Hollywood

Murder ballad: The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford

Abstract not availabl

Protesting colonial Australia: Convict theatre and Kelly ballads

No abstract availabl

International Outlaws: Tony Richardson, Mick jagger and Ned Kelly

This article examines British director Tony Richardson's international version of Ned Kelly (1970) in the context of international Australian films and the national Australian cinema. Ever since Richardson was given government assistance to produce a film about the Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, pressure to help the local industry had been mounting, especially considering that Richardson's film undercut some local productions under consideration. Outraged that a British director would be allowed to make a film about an Australian national hero when its own directors were begging for such opportunities, locals responded to Richardson and star Mick Jagger's arrival in Australia with great resentment. By looking equally at Richardson's calamitous making of the first international Kelly production, and the state of the Australian film industry, this article discusses Ned Kelly as a cautionary tale about foreigners making films about historical Australian subjects. From start to finish, Ned Kelly was a disaster, and never again would an international production be given the same concessions as were granted to Tony Richardson