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News [Adelaide], 5 March 1931, p.4
A. R. Harwood A. R. Harwood i(A121920 works by)
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 1 form y separately published work icon Night Club A. R. Harwood , 1952 Melbourne : Cambridge Films , 1952 Z1574316 1952 single work film/TV

Founded on one of the twin plots of A. R. Harwood's earlier film Show Business (1938), Night Club concerns a theatre writer, Bill Winters, who decides to spend some time in a country town while seeking space to work on a new musical show. While in the town, he sees a number of local variety acts that he believes have the potential to make it in the city, and subsequently persuades his wealthy father to back his idea for a production in a night club. Despite attempts by a jealous performer to close the show down, it is eventually a success.

1 form y separately published work icon Show Business Frank Morton Chapple , Alex Rosenblum , Frank Morton Chapple (composer), ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) 1938 Melbourne : New Era Film Productions , 1938 Z1571051 1938 single work film/TV Essentially a musical comedy, the story concerns Bill and Wally Winter, two brothers who attempt to persuade their wealthy father, Sir James Winter, to finance both a stage production and a movie that they wish to make. These projects are very much the result of their infatuation with Nina Bellamy, a scheming femme fatale, who has convinced the pair that she should star in both projects. When Sir James becomes aware of Nina's hold on his sons, he makes them a proposition. He will back their projects only if they leave town and work on the shows in secret somewhere else, without telling Nina. Furthermore, they are to use only newly discovered talent. Bill visits a country town where he discovers a talented local group of performers whom he quickly signs up and takes to the city to star in his show. Meanwhile, Wally discovers a girl in a local film exchange, and together they plan to re-release an old Australian silent film with a comic commentary. Complications occur when Nina finds out about the brothers' plans and attempts to wreck their chances of success. When this fails, she tries to blackmail their father. This too fails, and she is finally exposed for who she really is.
1 form y separately published work icon The Avenger Bert Hollis , ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) Australia : New Era Film Productions , 1937 6183290 1937 single work film/TV crime thriller

'A reformed thief marries a wealthy socialite but is bedevilled by a former accomplice who tries to frame him for murder.'

Source: National Film and Sound Archive. (Sighted: 29/7/2013)

1 form y separately published work icon Pearl Lust ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) Australia : Apex Films , 1936 7839833 1936 single work film/TV

Little is known of the plot of this film, except that it was a South Seas romance, and presumably dealt, at least in part, with the pearl trade.

1 form y separately published work icon Secret of the Skies Larry Brewer , ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) Melbourne : A.R. Harwood Talkie Productions , 1934 6114871 1934 single work film/TV crime adventure

An absconding bank clerk takes passage for himself and £10,000 of the bank's money on a plane called the Golden Eagle. After a struggle in the passenger compartment, the pilot is forced to land in the distant mountains. The bank clerk steals the remaining food from the other passengers and leaves them to their fates. Wandering in the mountains, he becomes half mad with isolation and guilt before he is found by a prospector. Back in civilisation, he continues to be tortured by guilt before he finally confesses to police some years after the crash.

The film was based loosely on the idea of the disappearance, in 1931, of the aircraft South Cloud, in transit between Sydney and Melbourne.

Contemporary reviews were mixed. One notes:

'If one is to spend an hour on a mountain top with seven, stranded travellers it is desirable that they should be amusing or interesting in some way or other. Except for the pilot (played extremely well by John Darcy) they are ill at ease, and their conversation is starchy. This conversational stiffness is emphasised by the lack of action, particularly on the part of the camera, which is set down in front of the unhappy party, and stays there without a movement for minutes on end. But the film has its moments of vitality. The actual crash is first-rate; and quite equal to similar instances in American pictures. The preceding scene, in the cockpit of the 'plane, is forcefully handled. In some of the scenes in the bush one is made to feel the remoteness of the travellers and the hopelessness of their position; but elsewhere stagey treatment and acting often rob the film of the spontaneity and the dramatic intensity it should have possessed.'

Source:

'Film Reviews', Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April 1934, p.2.

1 form y separately published work icon Out of the Shadows J. Summers , ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) Melbourne : Independent Films , 1931 7839261 1931 single work film/TV

Intended as Australia's first 'all-talkie' feature, Out of the Shadows was never released, apparently as a result of the accidental destruction of the only set of wax discs.

Little is now known of the film, barring that it was set in Melbourne.

1 1 form y separately published work icon Isle of Intrigue A. R. Harwood , ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) Melbourne : A.R. Harwood Talkie Productions , 1931 6114707 1931 single work film/TV crime thriller

'"Isle of Intrigue," which was produced in and around Melbourne, is a story of a South Sea island. The pearling schooners of a trading firm are being robbed by a mysterious pirate. The son of the owner of the firm is sent to the island to discover the identity of the robber, and he does so after various complications which include a little romance and some excitement.'

Source: 'Australian Programme. Two "Talkies" at Palace', The Argus, 28 September 1931, p.10.

2 1 form y separately published work icon Spur of the Moment Betty Roland , ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) Melbourne : A.R. Harwood Talkie Productions , 1931 6114577 1931 single work film/TV crime thriller

'[A] Scotland Yard detective, who is visiting Melbourne, unravels the mystery of a murder in a Collins Street building and clears the name of a young lawyer who is suspected of the crime.'

Source: 'Cinema Notes', Mercury, 6 November 1931, p.5

1 form y separately published work icon The Man Who Forgot ( dir. A. R. Harwood ) Australia : 1927 7840144 1927 single work film/TV

A.R. Harwood's first Australian feature film is now sufficiently obscure that nothing is currently known of it outside the information in Pike and Cooper's Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production.

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