'Filmed in sun-kissed settings, Australia's first romantic comedy drama is different–delightfully different screen entertainment. "White Death" is a giant, man-eating white shark which has struck terror into the hearts of the natives and has been responsible for many deaths, including those of the wife and son of a missionary stationed at Hayman Island. Zane Grey, who appears as "himself" in the film, is commissioned to catch this scavenger of the deep, and after catching several other sharks and a swordfish, the great author-fisherman finally hooks the "White Death."'
Source:
'Zane Grey Becomes an Actor in "White Death",' Northern Star, 22 May 1937, p.4.
In the 1950s, newspapers reported that unco-operative wildlife had prompted the need for an artificial shark:
The yacht, with the film unit aboard, cruised up and down the Barrier Reef. But the undersea monster, if it ever existed, refused to co-operate.
For weeks, at a cost of £600 daily, Mr. Grey cruised and threw out the most en- ticing baits he could devise. But the problematical White Death was no publicity monger: it remained below.
In desperation one of the film producers decided on a "stand-in" shark. A giant rubber shark was made in Sydney and, in a deflated state, flown to Zane Grey. On delivery it was blown up, trailed out on the line, and the star of the film, for the first time, became a real actor. Long shots and close-ups were taken, and then the rubber monster was beached.
Source:
'Zane Grey's Australian Novel May Yet Be Published', Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 1952, p.11.
'Edwin G. Bowen’s White Death (1936) is an Australian–American film about shark fishing that stars the American novelist and fisherman Zane Grey as himself. Set mainly at the Great Barrier Reef, it has a semi-fictional plot about Grey’s quest to kill a shark in the face of opposition from an anti-fishing activist, Newton Smith (Alfred Frith). Although White Death was financially unsuccessful and has received little attention in histories of Australian film or Grey’s life, it is significant in several ways. The film is unusual among early Australian productions for combining elements of the genres of travelogue documentary, fictional adventure film and exotic exploitation film. It reflects an American perspective of Australia as an exotic location. White Death is also linked to the interwar development of tourism at the Great Barrier Reef and foreshadows the growth of the environmental conservation movement.' (Publication abstract)
'Edwin G. Bowen’s White Death (1936) is an Australian–American film about shark fishing that stars the American novelist and fisherman Zane Grey as himself. Set mainly at the Great Barrier Reef, it has a semi-fictional plot about Grey’s quest to kill a shark in the face of opposition from an anti-fishing activist, Newton Smith (Alfred Frith). Although White Death was financially unsuccessful and has received little attention in histories of Australian film or Grey’s life, it is significant in several ways. The film is unusual among early Australian productions for combining elements of the genres of travelogue documentary, fictional adventure film and exotic exploitation film. It reflects an American perspective of Australia as an exotic location. White Death is also linked to the interwar development of tourism at the Great Barrier Reef and foreshadows the growth of the environmental conservation movement.' (Publication abstract)
