Australasian Films, full name Union Theatres and Australasian Films, was an Australian film distribution and production company formed in 1913 that was wound up in the 1930s to merge into

Greater Union Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 Multiplex (movie theater), cinema c ...

. The Union Theatres and Australasian Films dominated cinema in Australia in the 1910s and 1920s.

Origins

In 1912, West's Pictures merged into

Amalgamated Pictures Amalgamated Pictures Ltd was a film exchange company in Australia. For a time it was also a short-lived Australian film production company. Although none of its output has survived, it has been written that "judging by subjects chosen, the aver ...

, and then Amalgamated Pictures merged with Spencer's Pictures Ltd to create the General Film Company of Australasia. The following year this company combined with the Greater J. D. Williams Amusement Co, a large exhibition and film supply outfit, to create Union Theatres and Australasian Films. The company had a capital of £300,000; its first directors included

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

and

Cosens Spencer Spencer Cosens (12 February 1874 – 10 September 1930) best known as Cosens Spencer and posthumously as Charles Cozens Spencer, was a British-born Canadian film exhibitor and producer, a significant figure in the early years of the Australian f ...

Feature Production

Spencer encouraged Australasian to enter feature production with the 1914 silent film ''

The Shepherd of the Southern Cross ''The Shepherd of the Southern Cross'' is a 1914 Australian silent film about an Englishwoman torn between two men.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Pres ...

'' but the film was not a success at the box office and Spencer was forced out of the company. Thereafter Australasian only produced movies sporadically until the mid-1920s when the company came under the stewardship of Stuart F. Doyle. In 1925 they purchased the Centennial Roller Skating Rink site at 65 Ebley St,

Bondi Junction Bondi Junction is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Local government in Australia, local governm ...

and converted it into a £60,000 film studio. They used it as a skating rink during the night and a studio during the day. Starting with '' Painted Daughters'' in 1925, Australasian produced a number of features, including works from director

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford; 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer, and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australia ...

. They made five in 12 months, none of which made much impact internationally, so they decided to embark on two major productions, ''

For the Term of His Natural Life ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' is a story written by Marcus Clarke and published in ''The Australian Journal'' between 1870 and 1872 (as ''His Natural Life''). It was published as a novel in 1874 and is the best known novelisation of life ...

'' (1927) and '' The Adorable Outcast'' (1928), both of which featured American stars and director,

Norman Dawn Norman O. Dawn (25 May 1884 – 2 February 1975) was an early American film director. He made several improvements on the matte shot to apply it to motion picture, and was the first director to use rear projection in film production. Dawn's i ...

Together these movies lost an estimated £30,000. The company soon withdrew from production but in June 1932 it re-emerged as

Cinesound Productions Cinesound Productions Pty Ltd was an Australian feature film production company. Established in June 1931, Cinesound developed out of a group of companies centred on Greater Union, Greater Union Theatres that covered all facets of the film proc ...

. In 1928, Greater Union is selling off certain assets of Australasian Films to a

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

executive John C. Jones, who formed the new company to Greater Australasian Films. The company entered a contract with major American firm

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

later on, and absorbed British Dominions Films. In 1935, Greater Australasian Films was sold off to

, effectively folding the company.

Filmography

*''

'' (1914) *'' The Loyal Rebel'' (1915) *'' How We Fought the Emden'' (1915) *'' Australia Prepared'' (1916) *'' Cupid Camouflaged'' (1918) *'' Painted Daughters'' (1925) *''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

'' (1926) *'' The Pioneers'' (1926) *'' Tall Timber'' (1926) *'' Hills of Hate'' (1926) *'' The Grey Glove'' (1927) *''

'' (1927) *'' The Adorable Outcast'' (1928) *'' That's Cricket'' (1931)

References

External links

Australasian Films
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

Australasian Films
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

*{{cite web, website=Australian National University, url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/109798/2/b10157529-pike_A_F.pdf , title=The History of an Australian Film Production Company: Cinesound, 1932-70, first=Andrew Franklin, last=Pike Film production companies of Australia

Origins

Feature Production

Filmography

See also

References

External links