'The action takes place at Stroud, a small town right in the heart of Australia's great timber country, where in this usually peaceful stronghold of nature, a bitter fight between two rival companies for a big timber contract rages. Daily men flirt with death in clashes with the towering giants of the forest In the race to deliver first the million feet of timber that will win the coveted contract But it was not a clear, straight fight, and men and women were asking who was responsible for the mysterious explosion that blew up the timber trainbridge. What mysterious hand had cut the hawser that carried the flying fox across the gorge? What of Burbridge's machinery? Who was spreading discontent among his men? The answer came when young Jim Thornton (Frank Leighton) caught an agitator addressing his men, and thrashed him into a confession that he was being paid by the opposition company. Burbridge is not beaten, however. Thornton has an idea–a huge timber drive, never before attempted. Fifty acres of trees on the side of a hill are to be partly cut through, so that when the killers fall on those below, they will in turn fall on those below them.'
Source:
'Parkside Theatre: "Tall Timbers",' Queensland Times, 20 August 1937, p.4.
Included a climactic scene of tree-felling:
The sight of 50 acres of New South Wales forest giants crashing with the roar of thunder into the valley below is one of the finest achievements of Australian cinematography, and called for many weeks of careful planning and preparation.
Source: 'Amusements: "Tall Timbers"', Daily Advertiser, 2 November 1937, p.2.
Another newspaper notes:
An outstanding feature of the filming of the huge 'timber drive' in Cinesound's latest production, 'Tall Timbers,' which will be released at Mack's Theatre to-night and Monday, was the courage, not only of the local axemen, who prepared the trees, but also of the members of the Cinesound production staff. All these men unhesitatingly went into the area of the drive to perform their various duties, whilst all about them were giant trees on the verge of falling, or actually crashing, The country was very rough, so that it was difficult to move with speed, and the risk of being caught by a falling tree was very great, and when a strong wind sprang up things looked blacker still.
Source: 'Tall Timbers', The Scrutineer and Berrima District Press, 23 October 1937, p.2.
Australian Screen notes that despite attempts to film this scene on location, it was eventually shot in the studio using miniatures.
