The history of an Australian film production company : Cinesound, 1932-1970
Date
1972
Authors
Pike, Andrew
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Abstract
This thesis originated in a desire to define and assess
the problems which have prevented the development of a stable
film industry in Australia. Although a film industry has
existed in Australia for most of this century, and
dozens of profitable feature films have been produced in the
1920s and 1930s, the industry has failed since the Second
World War to support the production of full-length narrative
films; instead the post-war years have seen a dependence on
sponsored short films (such as travelogues and advertisements),
instructional films and news reports. Such activity is
capable of employing hundreds of technicians and of earning
healthy profits, but while the industry may prosper with
such work it has almost invariably failed financially
whenever it has branched off into feature product
narrative feature film, especially before the
advent of television, was the medium of mass entertainment
which most powerfully formed popular fantasies and catered
to them. Hollywood was often referred to as 'the dream
factory' and its provision of easily accessible and desirable
'escape' from daily routines made it a powerful vehicle for
cultural conditioning. In Australia cinema screens have
for decades been dominated by American and British feature
films and huge profits are made annually from the exploitation
of the Australian market by British and American
companies. That Australian film-makers should be able to
participate with confidence and security in the film trade
in their own country one of the fundamental assumptions
underlying this thesis.
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Thesis (Masters)
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