''Australia Calls'' is a 1913 Australian

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

directed by

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian ...

about the fictitious invasion of Australia by an unnamed Asian country. The movie is not to be confused with Longford's 1923 picture '' Australia Calls'' and is considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

. Longford later claimed the film was the first Australian movie to have mass extras (from Sydney's Chinatown) and feature model photography, as well as being the first film in the world to show wireless communication. Film historians have said "the scale and blatant propaganda of

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

.. made it the least typical of Longford's thirty narrative films".

Plot

The film begins with a prologue, 'The Warning', showing a Sydney horse race, then a football match in front of thousands of spectators. Living on an outback station, Beatrice Evans (

Lottie Lyell Lottie Lyell (born Charlotte Edith Cox, 23 February 1890 – 21 December 1925) was an Australian actress, screenwriter, editor and filmmaker. She is regarded as Australia's first film star, and also contributed to the local industry during the ...

) rejects the advances of a suitor. An unnamed Asian country lands 20,000 troops (called "Mongolians") on the New South Wales coast, and Australia issues a call to arms, mobilising its forces. The invading army attacks Sydney, setting buildings on fire and taking over the Mint, Treasury Building and wireless telegraph station. The rejected suitor turns traitor and Beatrice is captured by the enemy. However she is rescued by plane with the help of aviator William E. Hart and the Australians are victorious. A contemporary review said "the synopsis contains scenes of Australians at play, at the races, at football, the call to arms, the burning of Sydney, the enemy in possession, Australian mobilising, the capture of the wireless station, treachery, in the hands of the enemy, Australian bushmen rallying, tapping the overhead telegraph wires, the charge of the lancers, and ride for life, William E. Hart (Australia's aviator) to the rescue."

Cast

as Beatrice Evans *Frank Phillips as Evans *Alfred O'Shea *George Wilkins *

William Ewart Hart William Ewart Hart (20 April 1885 – 29 July 1943) was an Australian aviator and dentist. He was the first qualified pilot in Australia. His aviator's licence, No. 1, was issued on 5 December 1911 by the Aerial League of Australia. Hart w ...

as aviator *Andrew Warr as Asian commander

Production

The movie was written by John Barr and C. A. Jeffries, two journalists from the magazine '' The Bulletin'', and sought to exploit Australia's fear of the

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racial color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a psychocultural menace from the Eastern world ...

. Filming was done with the assistance of the Australian Defence Department and took over a year to complete, including model work to depict the burning of Sydney. The cast includes early Australian aviator William Ewart Hart, who made the first cross-country flight in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and later tenor Alfred O'Shea. Ernest Higgins shot some aerial photography for the film on a flight with Hart. Scenes involving Hart were shot at Richmond. An article in ''Everyone's'' later wrote that in the film, Longford's "attacking forces for obvious reasons were Celestials, and he commandeered the staff of a Chinese cabinet maker whilst engaged on the war scenes." Hostilities were taking longer than anticipated, and the cabinet maker, in despair, at length said: "Waffor this war no finish. No good for business, me wantum carpenters." One warrior fell sick, and had to be replaced. The interpreter calmly walked over to a nearby market garden and pressganged one of the gardeners at work there. "All same Chinese," he said, "no matter he like it or not, make him finish."

References

External links

*
''Australia Calls''
at National Film and Sound Archive {{Raymond Longford 1913 films Australian drama films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films Films directed by Raymond Longford Lost Australian films Lost drama films 1913 lost films Films about invasions Silent drama films

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links