The Combine was the name given to the association between exhibitor Union Theatres and the production and distribution company Australasian Films on 6 January 1913. The Combine had a powerful influence on the Australian film industry of the 1910s and 1920s and was frequently the subject of criticism for hampering Australian production, including by

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

s such as

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 ...

History

On 4 March 1911 the firm of Johnson and Gibson merged with J and N Tait to form Amalgamated Pictures. This company then merged with the General Film Company of Australia, West's Pictures and Spencer's Pictures then, in January 1913, Greater J.D. Williams Amusement Company. In some states the name "Union Theatres" remained the recognised name, despite the "Combine" name. The Combine dominated the Australian film industry for a number of years and later evolved into the

Greater Union Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 cinema complexes cu ...

organisation.Early history of Australian Film, ''Screen Australia''
accessed 24 August 2014

References

{{reflist, 30em 1910s in Australian cinema Film organisations in Australia 1913 in film 1913 in Australia