image of person or book cover 4723327029572794953.jpg
Advertisement, Williamstown Chronicle, 1 May 1926, p.3
form y separately published work icon The Moth of Moonbi single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of The Wild Moth Mabel Forrest , 1908 single work novel
Issue Details: First known date: 1926... 1926 The Moth of Moonbi
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Charles Chauvel's first feature tells the story of a country girl, Dell Ferris (the Moth of Moonbi), drawn to the bright lights of the big city where her inheritance is soon frittered away with high society revelling. A wiser Dell returns to Moonbi Station where she is beset by the cattle rustler Jack Bronson, but finally finds peace and happiness with the faithful head stockman, Tom.

Shot on location in the bush outside Brisbane the film was also made at an improvised studio at the rear of a guest house in the city. Despite cold weather, cast and crew camped out with pack-horses and sheep for fresh meat. This first effort of Chauvel's (he appears in the film in blackface as an Aboriginal stockman) showed signs of the action director's career characteristics. He shot on difficult locations with new acting talent and told an Australian story which gave heroic dimensions to ordinary lives. Scenes of station life are authentic pictures of cattle yards, transportation by train, and the sale yards. The production cost 4400 pounds and was released at the Wintergarden Theatre, Brisbane on 25 January 1926' (National Film and Sound Archive).

Exhibitions

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Works about this Work

What Do Mad Max's Six Oscars Mean for the Australian Film Industry? Vincent O'Donnell , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 1 March 2016; 'The career of Dr George Miller reminds me of that of Charles Chauvel, one of the greatest showmen of the Australian cinema. Both men – though separated by many decades – have employed epic cinematic forms and nationalistic themes. ...'
Aussie Cinema Classics Revisited Troy Lennon , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier Mail , Saturday 5 April 2014; (p. 11) 'The great Australian film director Charles Chauvel only made nine feature films in his career...'
Memories of a Movie Maverick Phil Brown , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27-28 July 2013; (p. 10-11)
Sweet Dreams : Queensland, Sugar and the 1927 Royal Commission into the Moving Picture Industry Jeannette Delamoir , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , 24 August vol. 5 no. 2 2011; (p. 107-119) 'The impetus for the 1927 Royal Commission into the Moving Picture Industry was the US film companies' 'stranglehold' on the Australian film industry, the effects of which were perceived as undermining both Australian film businesses and Australian national identity. The Commissioners took evidence in seven Queensland towns, some quite small and isolated, with almost all exhibitors from these locations represented. This evidence constructs an in-depth picture of film business and consumption in regional Australia, as well as a social, cultural and economic portrait of the country on the cusp of the Great Depression. This article takes as its starting point the Commissioners' repeated comparison of the film industry and Queensland's sugar industry, and their suggestions that the film industry's problems could be solved by replicating the intervention and support given to the sugar industry by both State and Federal Governments. These references, the article argues, reveal the Commissioners' understanding of the film industry, and conjectures that these conceptualizations may still influence the way Australian films are watched today.' (Editor's abstract)
Landscapes of Whiteness: Aboriginality in Chauvel’s Early Cinema Ben Miller , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia , vol. 2 no. 2 2011; (p. 127-133) 'This article focuses on two of Chauvel‟s early films to show how representations of Aboriginality and landscape often subtly, though sometimes violently, prioritise white sovereignty. Ultimately, whiteness (a way of seeing and being in the world) can be read as a lens Chauvel uses to both shape his representations of Aboriginality and landscape and simultaneously justify white sovereignty in Australia. When films such as Chauvel‟s are viewed with this relationship in mind, the fictionalised manipulation of landscape and Aboriginality, which is characteristic of whiteness in Australian cinema, is undermined as a legitimising discourse of white sovereignty.' Source: Ben Miller.
Landscapes of Whiteness: Aboriginality in Chauvel’s Early Cinema Ben Miller , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia , vol. 2 no. 2 2011; (p. 127-133) 'This article focuses on two of Chauvel‟s early films to show how representations of Aboriginality and landscape often subtly, though sometimes violently, prioritise white sovereignty. Ultimately, whiteness (a way of seeing and being in the world) can be read as a lens Chauvel uses to both shape his representations of Aboriginality and landscape and simultaneously justify white sovereignty in Australia. When films such as Chauvel‟s are viewed with this relationship in mind, the fictionalised manipulation of landscape and Aboriginality, which is characteristic of whiteness in Australian cinema, is undermined as a legitimising discourse of white sovereignty.' Source: Ben Miller.
Sweet Dreams : Queensland, Sugar and the 1927 Royal Commission into the Moving Picture Industry Jeannette Delamoir , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , 24 August vol. 5 no. 2 2011; (p. 107-119) 'The impetus for the 1927 Royal Commission into the Moving Picture Industry was the US film companies' 'stranglehold' on the Australian film industry, the effects of which were perceived as undermining both Australian film businesses and Australian national identity. The Commissioners took evidence in seven Queensland towns, some quite small and isolated, with almost all exhibitors from these locations represented. This evidence constructs an in-depth picture of film business and consumption in regional Australia, as well as a social, cultural and economic portrait of the country on the cusp of the Great Depression. This article takes as its starting point the Commissioners' repeated comparison of the film industry and Queensland's sugar industry, and their suggestions that the film industry's problems could be solved by replicating the intervention and support given to the sugar industry by both State and Federal Governments. These references, the article argues, reveal the Commissioners' understanding of the film industry, and conjectures that these conceptualizations may still influence the way Australian films are watched today.' (Editor's abstract)
y separately published work icon Featuring Australia : The Cinema of Charles Chauvel Stuart Cunningham , Sydney : Allen and Unwin , 1991 Z808336 1991 single work biography
Memories of a Movie Maverick Phil Brown , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27-28 July 2013; (p. 10-11)
Aussie Cinema Classics Revisited Troy Lennon , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier Mail , Saturday 5 April 2014; (p. 11) 'The great Australian film director Charles Chauvel only made nine feature films in his career...'
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (6)
Last amended 16 Jul 2014 13:06:14
Charles Chauvel
Subjects:
  • Australian Outback, Central Australia,
Settings:
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
  • Queensland,
  • Bush,
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