Australia Calls is a 1923 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford commissioned by the Australian government to be shown at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley Park, London, in 1924.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 119."Raymond Longford", Cinema Papers, January 1974 p51
It was a semi-documentary about the adventures of Ernest Idiens, a labourer from Longnor Staffordshire who moved to New South Wales with his brother in 1912 with only £30 between them and by 1923 had assets worth £14,000. In 1923 Idiens toured England talking about his success.'Successful Migrant.', The Argus (Melbourne), 28 November 1923, p. 21.
The movie is not to be confused with Longford's 1913 picture Australia Calls and is considered a lost film.
Production The Australian government originally commissioned Longford to make four films depicting Australian society, each running 4,000 feet and costing £1,500. However bad weather caused a delay in shooting and Longford only made two, this and An Australian By Marriage. The other two movies were shot by the official government cinematographer, Bert Ive.
Shooting began in March 1923 in the country town of Harden, New South Wales and the film was completed by June, six weeks behind schedule. An Australian by Marriage was completed immediately afterwards but very little is known about it.
The other two films were completed by November, when they were all shown to leading members of the government.
Reception The reviewer from The Register praised the film saying "Seldom has the screen given a more striking demonstration of its power to tell a convincing story."'Making Good in Australia' The Register (Adelaide) 24 January 1924: 13
The Farmers Advocate said the film is "rather Utopian in that the immigrant's 11 years of life in Australia is just one round of success upon success, and it would appear that the lives of immigrants in Australia are "Roses — roses all the way." No fires or droughts are shown, and it is made to appear that the only thing necessary is hard work and plenty of it."
Everyones said "The photography... is exceptionally good, and the scenes embodied in the story are far ahead of anything previously seen. The picture should have been made four or five years ago, for those exhibited in London to encourage immigration, during the period the writer was in London, were a disgrace to the Commonwealth, besides being very misleading."
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