The 1930s Golden Era of Australian Movies: A Tribute to Ken G Hall AO OBE
Clip 2: Tall Timbers
1 min 40 sec
Taken from the documentary The 1930s Golden Era of Australian Movies: A Tribute to Ken G Hall AO OBE (1988)
Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be PG
Availability of the complete title
Curator’s clip description
Ken G Hall talks about directing the 1930s feature film Tall Timbers (1937). He discusses the difficulties of creating a ‘spectacle’ in the studio, but says everyone was satisfied by the result.
Curator’s notes
The special effects used in Tall Timbers (1937) were highly effective but also dangerous. To film fire sequences, they wound nitrate film around tree trunks and set them alight. They also made a model of the timber drives and inter-cut close-up shots from the real timber drive. The film broke box-office records established by On Our Selection (1932). Hall compares filmmaking in America with Australia, where resources are much more limited.
Damien Parer, curator
