Cirrus@Austlit

1. Produced on a budget of £20,000, Thoroughbred was the first film made by Ken G. Hall following his six-month visit to Hollywood. The trip was undertaken both to study new filmmaking techniques and to purchase new equipment. In this respect, Thoroughbred was the first Australian film to utilise a rear projection unit, which enabled Hall to stage action in the studio in front of moving backgrounds (thus saving the expense of moving the whole production out to remote locations).

2. The film was well received by critics and audiences in Australia but ran into difficulties in Great Britain, where the censor objected to what it perceived as animal cruelty (notably the stable fire). A number of scenes were ordered to be cut from the film despite Hall's protests that the fire had been filmed with the rear projection unit and that no horses had been exposed to the fire. The scene cutting subsequently caused narrative continuity problems and the film failed to arouse much interest among UK audiences and critics.

3. Former Hollywood silent-film star Helen Twelvetrees was engaged by Ken G. Hall to appear in the film despite her flagging popularity. Cinesound put together a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign to counter Twelvetrees's perceived B-grade status and the actress was enthusiastically received by the Australian public. The campaign also created much interest in the film both before production began and after the film's release.

4. Further reference: Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper. Australian Film 1900-1977, A Guide to Feature Film Production (1980), pp. 226-227.