75 Preserved Australian Films
The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) together with Deluxe Sydney and Kodak (Australasia) have chosen 75 classic Australian films to be preserved for all time. Australia has a responsibility to preserve the films it produces. Our history needs to be chronicled for us to take pride in our achievements and to understand the opportunities provided to each new generation of film makers. This new initiative by the NFSA is a major step forward in undertaking that responsibility to preserve the 75 specially selected Australian films listed below which can be appreciated by the world’s film-goers in the decades to come. All of these films are available from my collection.
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- DirectorEsben StormStarsBill HunterRobert McDarraDavid CurtissA middle-aged "metho" drinker joins Alcoholics Anonymous and undergoes a psychiatric examination. As a consequence, he is committed to a hospital for the criminally insane, to be detained indefinitely under the notorious Section 27A of the Queensland Mental Health Act.
- CreatorAlan HopgoodStarsGraeme BlundellChris HaywoodDawn LakeA waterbed salesman who is irresistible to women gets a job as a gardener in a convent
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsBill HunterGary FoleyZac MartinA black and white lowlife duo drives around Australia's Outback in a stolen vehicle and finds trouble after trouble.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsEdward WoodwardJack ThompsonJohn WatersThree Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.
- DirectorArch NicholsonStarsColin FrielsHarold HopkinsKris McQuadeYoung miners Mike and Johnny (Colin Friels and Harold Hopkins) work in the gem fields of central Queensland around Emerald. Conflict arises when their pick-and-shovel operation is threatened by a large scale bulldozer operator.
- DirectorGraeme CliffordStarsJack ThompsonNigel HaversGreta ScacchiA story based on true events about two explorers on a doomed journey trying to cross Australia on foot in the 19 century.
- DirectorDonald CrombieStarsHelen MorseTakis EmmanuelJack ThompsonSydney, Australia in the mid-1920's. Proud and classy Caddie Marsh is forced to get a job as a barmaid and raise two children on her own after her rich cad husband walks out on her. Despite numerous hardships such as the Great Depression, Caddie still manages to catch the eye of smooth dandy Ted and strikes up a romantic relationship with dashing Greek gentleman Peter.
- DirectorPeter FaimanStarsPaul HoganLinda KozlowskiJohn MeillonAn American reporter goes to the Australian outback to meet an eccentric crocodile poacher and invites him to New York City.
- DirectorDavid ElfickStarsGeorge GreenoughRitchie WestNat YoungA loose biography of surfer and documentarist George Greenough, one of the most famous and unique members of the surfing subculture.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsColin FrielsMiles DavisHelen BudayTraces the pilgrimage of John Anderson, an average guy with a passion for jazz, from his home in outback Western Australia to the jazz clubs of Paris, to meet his idol, jazz trumpeter Billy Cross.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsJohn HargreavesPat BishopGraham KennedyOn the night of the 1969 Australian election, Don holds a party in his suburban Sydney house, where his raucous, rude, embarrassing, extrovert friends discuss sex, politics, and their lives, and seduce each others wives.
- DirectorJohn PowerStarsMax von SydowCarol DrinkwaterJulia BlakeOn a TV tabloid show, Iya Zetnick exposes Joe Mueller as the Nazi war criminal who killed her family. Mueller is arrested, but prevails in a trial. Zetnick breaks into his house, and kills herself in front of his family. His daughter, who had stood by him, becomes convinced Zetnick was right, and rejects her father after he admits his guilt.
- DirectorGlenda HamblyStarsNoni HazlehurstAnnie ByronAlan FletcherA single mother, Fran (Noni Hazlehurst) is selflessly devoted to her children. But something is lacking in her life, and that something is the love of a man her own age. Her efforts to juggle a love life with her home life are largely unsuccessful.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonMark LeeBill KerrTwo Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
- DirectorCarl SchultzStarsRay BarrettRobyn NevinGuy DolemanOn Queensland's Gold Coast in the early 1980s, when a disgraced former cop, Michael Stacey writes a book exposing police corruption, does an investigation resulting in 2 murders, exposes a religious cult and watches the army begin a military coup.
- DirectorMary CallaghanStarsKevin BudgenShirley FaulknerSyd LongThis short reveals a day in the life of four adolescents in Wollongong who are confronted with unemployment and an uncertain future.
- DirectorCharles ChauvelStarsRosalie Kunoth-MonksRobert TudawaliBetty SuttorSet against the harsh natural surrounds of outback Northern Territory, Jedda captures a rare and honest glimpse into the heart and history of indigenous Australia. Young Jedda is caught between two cultures forbidden from learning about her indigenous heritage and never fully accepted by the other.
- DirectorTom CowanStarsJeune PritchardMartin PhelanNell CampbellIn colonial Australia, daughter of a judge helps a group of female convicts living in inhuman conditions escape. Aboriginal girl teaches them how to survive in the forest. One of them gets raped and killed. The group seeks revenge.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsColin FrielsJudy DavisJohn WaltonA mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm of Australia after World War I, but gets caught in the middle of violent battles between the rising trade unions and fascist groups.
- DirectorPaul CoxStarsWendy HughesNorman KayeJon FinlaysonIn this offbeat comedy, an unlikely romance develops between a flamboyant, middle-aged piano tuner and an extremely timid office worker.
- DirectorColin EgglestonStarsJohn HargreavesBriony BehetsMike McEwenWhen a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn't in an accommodating mood.
- DirectorStephen WallaceStarsKris McQuadeBryan BrownGia CaridesA violent man (Bryan Brown), who ostensibly has a slight mental illness due to fillings in his teeth, continues to write letters to his estranged girlfriend, Kris McQuade. She sees that he expresses himself more dearly in his letters and he is still quick tempered when they try to rekindle their relationship.
- DirectorShirley BarrettStarsMiranda OttoRebecca FrithGeorge ShevtsovIn Sunray, a backwater town on Australia's Murray River, there's little to do but fish or listen to the local radio station. D.J. Ken Sherry arrives from the hustle of Brisbane to run the station; he's mid-40s, detached, thrice divorced, hatchet faced. But both sisters next door find him attractive: awkward Dimity, only 20, who works in a Chinese restaurant with few patrons, and perky Vicki-Ann, a hairdresser with a hope chest who invents a happy future with Sherry based on little but his arrival. First Dimity then Vicki-Ann spend the night with Ken, one concluding he's her boy friend, the other her fiance. Then Dimity begins to smell something fishy.
- DirectorPhilippe MoraStarsDennis HopperJack ThompsonDavid GulpililThe true story of Irish outlaw Daniel Morgan, who is wanted, dead or alive, in Australia during the 1850s.