Captain Thunderbolt - historical references 1951+
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Compiled by Michael Organ and Graham Shirley
Production & release 1951+
The following is a chronological listing of references to the 1951 Australian bushranger film Captain Thunderbolt. It is a supplement to the Captain Thunderbolt 1951 article and includes material such as the extensive coverage of the filming at Armidale during early March 1951 as reported within the local Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser newspaper. Also found therein are interviews with the director and actors, and listings of the names of local people who took part or assisted the production. As Captain Thunderbolt was shot and edited during 1951, that date is attached to its production by the present author. Other dates, such as 1953 and 1955, have also been used as a result of its delayed release, both in Australia and overseas.
1951
* Sunday Herald, 28 January 1951:
Men with beards were wanted for the Electricity Supply Authority's float, so John Unicombe, from "Sons of Matthew," who is wearing a beard for a soon to-come production of "King Lear," and Harp McGuire, an American actor who is growing his beard for a part in the proposed "Captain Thunderbolt" film, were roped in.
* Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, 2 February 1951:
Life of Thunderbolt to be televised.
The story of the life of Captain Thunderbolt from childhood to his death in a swamp near Uralla is to be filmed for television by Associated T.V. Programmes, of Sydney. Mr. Cecil Holmes, who will direct the film, has been in Armidale for the past week making preliminary arrangements and searching for local colour. Mr. Holmes told the Express that it is not intended to glamourise the bushranger, but rather to portray his exciting career. Towards the end of the month the production unit, together with leading members of the cast will visit Armidale and Uralla for the "shooting" of local scenes. It is proposed to take most of the shots as close as possible to the locale of the incidents which highlighted his life. Grant Taylor will have the title role, Rosemary Miller will be the heroine, and Jean Blue the bushranger's mother. A talented Aboriginal girl will also take part. Mr. Holmes told the Express that he had been associated with the Crown Film Unit in London for some time, and later joined the New Zealand Department of Information. For the past 18 months he has been making films for television and also documentary films. The life of Thunderbolt, which will be a full length feature, will also be screened in Australian theatres. The television film will be released in London, and in the United States. Mr. Holmes is on the look out for half a dozen or more horses, and will also be seeking juvenile riders for "doubles." Period costumes and ancient forms of transport are also being sought.
* Daily Examiner, Grafton, 9 February 1951:
Captain Thunderbolt Film. Armidale. — The story of the life of Captain Thunderbolt from childhood to his death in a swamp near Uralla is to be filmed for television by Associated T.V. Programmes, of Sydney. Mr. Cecil Holmes, who will direct the film, has been in Armidale making preliminary arrangements and searching for local colour. Towards the end of the month the production unit, together with leading members of the cast, will visit Armidale and Uralla for the "shooting" of local scenes. Grant Taylor will have the title role, Rosemary Miller will be the heroine and Jean Blue the bushranger's mother. A talented Aboriginal girl will also take part.
* Kyogle Examiner, 13 February 1951:
To Be Televised. The story of the life of Captain Thunderbolt, from childhood to his death in a swamp near Uralla, is to be filmed for television y a Sydney firm. Director of the film has been in Armidale to make preliminary arrangements for the film, which, towards the end of the month, will be shot in country between Armidale and Uralla.
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| Ward (Taylor) and Blake (Tingwell) , filmed near the Rockvale Road and pine forest. Source: Belshaw 2010 (New England Story). |
* Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, Monday, 5 March 1951:
Film of Captain Thunderbolt's Life. Filming Starts Today.
Associated T.V. Programmes, of Sydney, began filming the life of Captain Thunderbolt near Armidale this morning. Silent shots for scenes of Captain Thunderbolt's youth were taken at "Bald Knob" and on Mr. R.I. Perrott's property, "Haroldston," Kelly's Plains. Four Armidale children were given parts in horse riding scenes. They are Murray Finlayson, 13, Blake Finlayson, 11, sons of Mr and Mrs. R.W. Finlayson, "Stonebrook," Marie White, 11, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis White, "Palmerston," and Jim Hanlan, 11. Children actors from Sydney are playing the young Captain Thunderbolt (Frederick Ward) and his friends, but the Armidale children are "doubling" for them in bare-back riding scenes. The children were dressed in period costumes for the filming, and had to gallop past the camera up the drive at "Haroldston." Young Marie White, who has been riding since she was 4 1/2, said she was "thrilled" to be in the film. All four children have ridden at shows. Director Mr. Cecil Holmes selected "Haroldston" as the Ward homestead where young Frederick spent his youth. The film unit will be shooting other scenes from Ward's youth at "Haroldston" today and tomorrow. Later in the week, if permission is granted from the Minister for Justice, the unit will take courtroom scenes in Armidale Court House. A group of local "actors" has been organised for the courtroom scenes by Miss M. Whitehead, of Armidale High School staff. "Miss Whitehead has been a wonderful help," said Mr. Holmes this morning. The film unit will be shooting at Armidale and Uralla for about three weeks. After 10 days here it will move to Uralla. Most of the filming at Uralla will be done on Mr. H.W. Fletcher's Kentucky Station.
Authentic - Local authentic background material is being filmed here. Most interior shots for the film will be taken in the Sydney studios. "We are trying to re-enact the scenes of Thunderbolt's life at the very places they occurred," explained Mr Holmes. Leading players Grant Taylor and Rosemary Miller will arrive at Armidale on Wednesday. Grant Taylor, who took part in the recent re-enactment of the Sturt expedition down the Murray, will play Captain Thunderbolt. Rosemary Miller, who played in "Dark of the Moon" in Sydney, is the heroine. "Captain Thunderbolt" is the first large-scale film to be televised outside the United States. The televised film will be released in America and England, and a straight film version will be shown in Australian theatres.
* Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, Monday, 5 March 1951:
Film Unit is British Commonwealth Affair.
The Associated TV Programmes unit which is shooting the life of Captain Thunderbolt at Armidale, is a British Commonwealth affair. On the unit are four New Zealanders, two Englishmen, and the rest are Australians. Director Mr. Cecil Holmes is a New Zealander, his sound engineer, Mr. Bob Allen, his properties manager, Mr. Warwick Felmingham, and continuity assistant, Miss Edith Chilwell, are New Zealanders. Mr. Holmes' right hand man and assistant director, Mr. Peter Cuff, is an Englishman, and so is assistant sound engineer, Mr. John Raffan. Cameraman is Mr. Ross Wood, an Australian, who was cameraman with Ealing Studios when the Australian film "Bitter Springs" was made. Props manager Warwick Felmingham was with the technical unit on "Eureka Stockade" two years ago, and has just finished work with the 20th Century Fox film "Kangaroo," at the Pagewood Studios, Sydney.
Months of Planning. Director Cecil Holmes, who has had experience with the Crotyn Film Unit in London and the New Zealand Department of Information, told the Express that months of preparation and planning had gone into "Captain Thunderbolt." "I have a well balanced crew, many of them with overseas experience," he said. "They know their stuff." Holmes's crew agree he is an efficient director. He wastes as little time and film as possible. "A film unit," he explains, cannot afford to waste time while taking exterior shots because daylight hours are so precious." Assistant director Feter Cuff considers his boss a "one shot man." He doesn't fuss over a scene, taking five or six shots to get it exact. He makes sure the shot is right the first time. There are about 10 technicians in the unit, and later in the week there will be about a dozen players here. Their billet is the Imperial Hotel.
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| Front, left to right: Des Vyner (with gun) and Shirly Barratt (Paul Barratt's mum). Rear left to right: Mrs Blake (wife of the editor, Armidale Express), Frank Holloway (German lecturer with black glasses), Kath (Kay) Vickers (nee Drummond), Grant Taylor (marked with X), unknown, Mr Craigie. Source: Belshaw 2010 (New England Story). |
* Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, 7 March 1951:
Perfect weather for shooting of Thunderbolt film.
Associate TV Programmes are having perfect weather for the shooting of their film "Captain Thunderbolt" at Armidale. Director Mr. Cecil Holmes said today that the weather "could not have been better. "The past two days have been ideal for outdoor shooting," he said. For two days the film unit has been shooting scenes from Thunderbolt's youth on Mr. R.I. Perrot's property "Haroldston" at Kelly's Plains. Mr. Perrot himself was given a part yesterday as a "double" in horse riding scenes. "Today the unit had the day off to organise equipment and prepare for tomorrow's shooting. Horses for the film have been bought locally and two men have been hired to look after them. A replica of Thunderbolt's grave has been constructed for filming at Tilbuster. Tomorrow the unit will probably take shots of Mr. Alf Bourne's house behind Armidale Court House. Mr. Bourne is Sheriff's officer at Armidale. His house was originally the police station here. On Friday morning if official permission is received, the unit will start shooting scenes in Armidale Court House. A band of local "actors", and "actresses" will take part in the court room scenes. Leading players in the film, Grant Taylor and Rosemary Miller arrive at Armidale tonight. They will go on to location tomorrow. Grant Taylor, who has played in a number of Australian films, plays Captain Thunderbolt, and Rosemary Miller the female lead. This Is Rosemary Miller's first film.
* Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 7 March 1951:
Associated Productions, a little independent film production unit with big ideas, is making a full-length movie: "Captain Thunderbolt." It is to be "pushed around" by Cecil Holmes, a first-class megaphone man. Chief serang . . . the "soft" character behind the screen - as 'twere - is John Wilshire, who played the padre in Eureka Stockade. That lusty, virile, hard goin' type, Grant Taylor, who has now come out from behind Captain Sturt's whiskers, will play Cap' Thunderbolt. And here's something curious about this picture. It's the first Australian film to be shot in block continuity, which means that each sequence comes to its logical conclusion, can be lifted for television serial purposes for the reason that it has been sold to the American market. It's my guess that when film tycoons see our Grant he'll be snapped up, for bigger things. Andrea.
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| Mrs Blake and Kath (Kay) Vickers being held up. |
* Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, Friday, 9 March 1951:
Crowd watches shooting of Thunderbolt film.
Crowds of bystanders collected near the Court House in Faulkner Street this morning to watch the Associated T.V. Programmes film unit shoot a scene for "Captain Thunderbolt." Authentic background scenes for a full length film of the bushranger's life are being shot at Armidale. This morning shots were taken of Mr. Alf Bourne's house behind the Court House. The house was the original police station here. Australian actor John Fagan (who plays a police sergeant) and American Art Maguire (a trooper) were in the scene. Bystanders showed great interest in the camera on its mobile platform, the large reflectors and electrical gear. They also were intrigued to note the director, Mr. Cecil Holmes, giving instructions in true Hollywood style with commands of: "You in now, John"; "On, Art"; "Shoot" and "Cut." This afternoon the unit began shooting in the Court House itself. Local Actors. A number of local "actors" will take part in the Court Room scenes tomorrow. They are: - Mr. Robert Craigie, retired grazier, whose father once treated Thunderbolt for a wound. Mr. Frank Holloway, lecturer in modern languages at New England University College. Dr. James Belshaw. Economics lecturer and Vice-Warden of New England University College. Mr. Ted Noonan, teacher at Armidale Demonstration School. Mr. Jordon Story, Art teacher at Armidale High School. Mr. Norman Gould, Languages master at Armidale High School. Mr. Paul Lamb, English lecturer at Armidale Teachers' College. Mr. Allan Barry, physical culture instructor at Armidale High School. Mr. Alan Crane, education lecturer at Armidale Teachers College. Mr, Jack Williams, deputy principal of Armidale High School. Mr. Austin Flynn, teacher West Armidale Public School. Mr. Gilbert Hughson, English and History master at Armidale High School. Mr. Des Vyner, well known stock and station agent. Three Armidale women will be amongst the small crowd in the court. They are: Mrs. R.L. Blake, Mrs. Shirley Barrett, who teaches at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, and Miss Peg Harris, acting adviser of women students at New England University College. Two other well known Armidale women will appear next week in a scene in which Thunderbolt holds up a coach. They are Miss Kath Drummond, daughter of Mr D.H. Drummond, M.H.R., and Miss Esme Crampton, teacher of drama at the New England Girls' School. The director of "Captain Thunderbolt," Mr. Cecil Holmes, said yesterday: "I don't think a film has ever been made before with such a line-up of intellectual heavyweights in one scene. The response of the teachers and lecturers of Armidale is splendid. I particularly thank Miss Marian Whitehead, who organised these 18 people to take part in the film."
* Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, Friday, 9 March 1951:
Local horse in film. A horse owned by Miss. Beryl Wiseman, daughter of Mr. Tom Wiseman, of "Flowerdale," was used in the filming of "Captain Thunderbolt" yesterday. While shooting at Tilbuster, one of the regular film horses reared when frightened by dogs and hurt a leg on a barbed wire fence. Mr. Wiseman was passing at the time, and offered his daughter's horse, "Twinkle," as a "stand-in. Mr. Wiseman said Beryl, who is nursing at the Royal North Shore Hospital, would be thrilled to hear her horse was in the film. The film unit had to abandon shooting yesterday afternoon because of rain.
* Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, Friday 9 March 1951:
Rosemary Miller likes Armidale.
* Daily Telegraph, 11 March 1951:
Armidale 'Trial' of Bushranger, Saturday. — A jury "tried" bushranger "Captain Thunderbolt" in Armidale today for horse stealing. This will be part of "Captain Thunderbolt," the first feature film to be made in Australia for television. Actor Grant Taylor, just returned from the Sturt expedition, plays Thunderbolt. Rosemary Miller, who played Barbara Allen in "Dark of the Moon," is his boyhood sweetheart. The jury Included the vice-warden of New England University College, Dr. James Belshaw, and the deputy principal of Armidale High school, Mr. Jack Williams. The crowd included five other university lecturers, four other schoolteachers, and a retired grazier. The "Captain Thunderbolt" production unit shot crowd scenes outside the court and local police station yesterday. In the 1860s Thunderbolt-— an outlaw who never killed a man, hurt a horse, or insulted a woman — made a sensational escape from Cockatoo Island jail by swimming Sydney Harbor. He eluded the police 10 years and became a hero throughout the New England district.
* The Armidale Express, Monday 12 March 1951:
They Went to the Pictures. Guess what some of the cast of "Captain Thunderbolt" did on Saturday night? They went to the pictures. A number of them, including Rosemary Miller and Harp McGuire, bought a row of seats downstairs at the Capitol, and all seemed to enjoy the show. The film unit was shooting at Mr. R.I. Perrott's property, "Haroldston," again this morning. After three days filming in Armidale Court House,, the unit moved out to location on the Rockvale Road, five miles from Armidale, yesterday afternoon, to take sequences with Grant Taylor and Rosemary Miller. On Wednesday the unit will move to Mr. G.E. Forster's property, "Abington," where Thunderbolt is said to have stolen a horse.
* The Armidale Express, Monday 12 March 1951:
The people who are making "Thunderbolt." Today Today we publish thumb-nail sketches of some of the actors, actresses and technicians who are making "Captain Thunderbolt."
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| Trooper Mannix (Harp McGuire). |
HARP McGUIRE: Harp plays the part of Trooper Mannix. Harp is 28, 6ft., wears a full beard, and is the only American in the unit. The stage name "Harp" conceals a row of Biblical Christian names, and was given him in a U.S. Marine unit because of his Irish extraction. Harp is a graduate of Michigan University. He acted in a dozen American stage shows before he emigrated to Australia last October.
CHARLES (BUD) TINGWELL; Bud is well known to radio listeners as Charles Tingwell. He has also appeared in several films, the first of which was "Smithy" and the most recent "Bitter Springs." Bud came direct from the "Kangaroo" unit in South Australia to play the important part of Blake, Thunderbolt's accomplice. During the war he served as Spitfire pilot in the Middle East and Mosquito pilot in the S.W. Pacific. He was born in Sydney 28 years ago.
JEAN BLUE: Miss Blue plays the mother of Thunderbolt. She was Ma Parsons in "The Overlanders." Mrs. King in "Bitter Springs," and had small parts in "Eureka Stockade." She has appeared in a number of Sydney stage plays and works as trained nurse with the Sydney District Nursing Association between films.
JOHN FEGAN: John is Irish born, 40, 6ft., tough and plays tough roles. He has the part of Sergeant Dalton boyhood friend of Thunderbolt, who had the distasteful job of hunting down the bushranger. He has worked in many stage and radio plays. He was the police sergeant in "The Overlanders" Uncle Jack in "Sons of Matthew," a miners' leader in "Eureka Stockade," and had parts in "Kangaroo Kid," "Smithy" and "Kangaroo." Jack "jumped" ships and trains with other "travellers" throughout Australia during the depression, served four years in the A.I.F.
LORETTA BOUTMY: Loretta plays the part of Maggie, the half-caste Aboriginal girl who knew Thunderbolt and Blake. This is her first film. She was "discovered" by director Cecil Holmes who saw the one and only play in which she has ever appeared. Loretta, however, has done a great deal of ballet and toe dancing, and was blues singer with Les Welch's well known Sydney jazz. band. She is 22.
ROSS WOOD: Ross is cameraman. He was born in Sydney and worked for 15 years with Movietone and Cinesound, making newsreels. He has filmed many documentaries and advertising shorts and was operating cameraman on "Bitter Springs." Ross is keen on all sports. He has never forgotten a film he made on big game fishing for the N.S.W. Government Tourist Bureau and has had a 'yen' for 'the big stuff' ever since. During the war Ross made short subject films for the Army and Navy in the S.W. Pacific.
PETER CUFF: Production manager Peter Cuff speaks five languages, has worked on films in eight countries, loves play ing Chopin on the piano, and is proud of his sister, Dorothy, well-known London beauty, who appeared with Sid Fields in "London Town." Peter was born in London and served for seven years in the British Army, two of which with the 8th Army in Italy.
DOREEN CASTLE: Miss Castle is the make-up artist. She was born in London also. and went straight from school to learn make-up for screen, stage and society. She began make-up work for B.B.C. television in 1938 and since her arrival in Australia three years ago has done makeups for several Australian films and Sydney stage shows. Miss Castle's hobby is fencing.
TEX FOOT: "There's a Texas in Queensland, too," says Tex Foot, "and that's where I got my nickname." Tex is head electrician for the Captain Thunderbolt Unit. In his 25 years he has been buckjump rider, stage mechanic. theatre electrician, radio mechanic, sergeant projection ist in the A.I.F. Tex is a first-rate mouth-organist and has played at many concerts both in Newcastle and Sydney.
EDITH CHILWELL: Edith is continuity girl and it's her responsibility to ensure that clothing and effects in one match those in the scene that went before. For instance, it would look silly if Captain Thunderbolt had a black horse in one scene, and a white horse in the next. Edith is a New Zealander.
The Armidale Express, Monday, 12 March 1951:
[Radio] 2AD Tonight - 8.30. Interview with Captain Thunderbolt cast.
* The Inverell Times, Wednesday, 14 March 1951:
Inverell in Television Screenings? 'I have been to many properties in the north, between Scone and Inverell, looking for suitable locations, and we are trying to make our films authentic,' said Mrs. Pearl Edwards in Armidale this week. Mrs. Edwards is production supervisor of Associated Television Pty. Ltd., which has been filming a story in Armidale and Uralla on the life of Thunderbolt. She added that the new technique of films for both screen and television provided for more close work of the subject, taken in close-up and medium vision shots, as T.V. screens were small and action was necessarily concentrated. Before leaving for the north, Mrs. Edwards was given permission by Mrs Bertrand Wright, formerly Miss Noreen Dangar of Gostwyck to shoot films at that station. It was here that the first Australian film was made. Prior to her marriage. Mrs. Edwards, then Pearl Appleton went to America as an actress, playing in St. John Irvine's play The First Mrs. Fraser, which had a successful run on Broadway for 18 months. Following this she went to Hollywood under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in film work, later leaving for Australia to be married. Her husband, Mr. F.W. Edwards, was a well-known grazier in the Inverell district, being the then owner of Pindarol. They resided there for 14 years before the war. Mr. Edwards then took up property in the Orange district, where he died four years ago. In an interview. Mrs. Edwards said: 'We are making a series of feature films for television. The first is Captain Thunderbolt. The films can be shown anywhere on television and in other areas on ordinary theatre screens. We hope that. Captain Thunderbolt will be released as part of an all-Australian Jubilee programme in theatres throughout Australia. In addition to feature films the company is making puppet films for TV. and will make a series of quarter-hour T.V. shows called Cowboy Down Under. Smoky Dawson will be featured in the series.
* The Armidale Express, 14 March 1951:
The "Captain Thunderbolt" film unit had an early start this morning. Technicians and cast left by bus for location at Abington at 5.30 a.m. Owner of Abington, Mr. G. E. Forster, has a well-preserved old stage-coach, which is to be used in a "hold-up" scene.
* The Armidale Express, Friday, 16 March 1951:
Film Unit Leaves. The "Captain Thunderbolt" film unit left Armidale yesterday for Uralla. It will be on location near Uralla for about a week before returning to Sydney. Cast and technicians are to be billeted at the Baltimore private hotel. Thunderbolt rode the Federal member's horse and robbed the Federal member's daughter in hold-up scenes shot on Abington Creek road, 30 miles from Armidale on Wednesday. Thunderbolt (Grant Taylor) mounted on a grey lent by Mr. Drummond held up a historic four-in-hand coach owned by Mr. Geoff Forster, of Abington. Miss Kath Drummond, playing as an extra in the film, was a passenger in the coach. Thunderbolt plucked off her pearl ear-rings and robbed the male passengers. He did not kiss all the women in the coach, however, because the film script says he must be courteous. Bud Tingwell, as Blake assisted Grant Taylor in the hold-up. Other extras were Mrs R. L. Blake, Mrs. Paul Barratt, Miss E. Crampton, Mr. F. Holloway, Mr. Bob Craigie and Mr. Des Vyner.
HISTORIC COACH - Mr. Forster's historic coach, built in 1873, carries 25 people and weighs 2½ tons. It used to operate on the old coaching routes late last century and was used in Back-to-Armidale celebrations some years ago.
* The Sun, Sydney, Thursday, 29 March 1951:
Assembly as Film Studio. The historic New South Wales Legislative Assembly was used today for a scene in the making of a film on the bushranger, Captain Thunderbolt. An entire film company occupied the Assembly and cameras and sound apparatus were installed. The period was from 1860 to 1870 when Thunderbolt's exploits were mentioned a number of times in the Assembly and the reward for his capture was increased from £50 to £200. Actor Harvey Adams, in a long black frock coat and fawn trousers, represented a member of the Opposition who demanded action against the bushranger by the Colonial Secretary of the day represented by actor Charles Tasman.
* The Newcastle Sun, 31 March 1951 - captioned illustration.
Parliament
House was used for a scene in the new Australian television film,
"Captain Thunderbolt," which is being produced by John Wiltshire for
Associated Television Pty. Ltd. Here is Harvey Adams in the role of the
Opposition member, and members of the unit, including Cecil Holmes, who
is directing.
* Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 5 April 1951:
Miss Margaret Cardin - film editor.
Women . . . tune in for your Chic. By Susan Whynott.
Television
will change the lives of Australia's country women, says Miss Margaret
Cardin, first woman television editor for the British Broadcasting
Corporation. Miss Cardin is in Sydney cutting the new film Captain
Thunderbolt - the first Australian-made television film. "Television
will enable a country woman to see the latest fashions, perhaps her
first Melbourne Cup, and have the thrill of attending the first night of
an opera without having to move out of her own home," Miss Cardin said.
I interviewed this delightful English visitor in her studio cutting
room in a side-street at Rushcutters Bay. Not much more than five feet
high, she has wavy copper-colored hair and tawny eyes. She takes only a
size two shoe. In London she bought her clothes from Molyneux, who
dressed Princess Margaret before he closed his frock salon recently.
She's fussy about her hands and wears gloves when cutting films to
protect her nail polish from the acetate glue she uses. Every day she
cuts 2000 feet of film down to about 900 feet. Her job is to take out
badly posed or unnecessarily long sequences.
"But why does television need a film-cutter?" I asked. "I thought the cameras were directed at a scene and, hey presto, the scene came over the ether into the receiving set."
Miss Cardin laughed and her eyes laughed with her. "Of course a lot of television scenes do come direct from the cameras such as sporting events and symphony concerts. "But as well as these direct television sessions, some talks and musical shows are put on movie-film. "Take a travel talk for instance. Supposing the speaker is describing the Tower of London. Off would go our movie cameramen and take pictures of the features the speaker mentions. That is where I come in as a cutter. I cut and put together the speech and scenes in sequence. When the finished film is televised the viewers see the actual scene the speaker is describing instead of only his face."
"It all sounds awfully complicated," I said.
"Not so complicated but sometimes very tedious," she grinned. "So tedious that I recently had a nervous breakdown." She told me that her doctor in London, an Australian, told her "If you want to get well quickly go to Australia. "I like your country so much I intend to stay two years - in fact, I can't go home for two years, anyway, because I have let my house to three charming Australian nurses from Perth." Miss Cardin told me Australia "has completely got me in... I shall never forget seeing the Harbour Bridge for the first time. As we sailed down the harbor the magnificent lines of your bridge rose out of the mist. I thought then - and always will - that your bridge is the eighth wonder of the world." She thinks that Australian women are beautifully dressed, our climate is divine, our scenery almost unbeatable, our beaches superb.. "If your revised your liquor laws, life in Australia would be nearly perfect" she said.
Margaret Cardin began her film-cutting career when she left school and joined one of London's most experienced film laboratories. Some years later she went to Ealing Studios to do a special cutting job which was to take three weeks. She stayed four years. Early in 1939 she applied for an advertised job at the British Broadcasting Corporation. They wanted a woman to edit all their television film material. More than 250 women applied but Miss Cardin got the job, and be came the first woman television editor of the B.B.C. During the war the Dutch Government asked her to work on an important propaganda film and she edited both English and Dutch versions. In 1945 she helped producer Paul Rotha cut his well-known documentary Land of Promise. Then she opened her own film cutting rooms in London and had as clients the British Government's Crown Film Unit. International Screenplays, and Imperial Chemical Industries. Margaret's favorite actress is Merle Oberon. "I cut many films in which she appeared," she smiled. "She always popped into the cutting room for a chat, and would usually ask me to keep any cut film which contained good close-ups of her. Some she would have developed and enlarged to send out as publicity photographs." In London, Miss Cardin has worked with many well-known film directors, including Carol Reid, Michael Powell, Douglas Myers, Derek Twist, Paul Rotha, and Helen Lewis.
* Sunday Herald, Sydney, 8 April 1951:
Australia makes debut in TV films. Feature page on Captain Thunderbolt + illustrated.
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| Australian makes debut in T.V. films. By Max Brown. |
Australia will get television "this year, next year, some time, never . . ." We know tenders for television equipment have been considered and we know Sydney's first television station will be at Gore Hill, near St. Leonard's - and that is all we do know. Yet Australia, despite her lag compared with Britain and America, is making a good start in a connected field: films for television. Our first feature, "Captain Thunderbolt," will soon be finished in Sydney. It is intended for the overseas markets. This is the story of "Captain Thunderbolt." By Max Brown.
If "Captain Thunderbolt," which presents a real Australian subject, is a success it will give a badly needed boost to Australia's ailing film industry. Success would pave the way for the production of at least four television films a year in Australia. There is a David and Goliath flavour about the story of the making of "Captain Thunderbolt." For this is a time when the experienced film studios of Britain, Europe and Australia are reeling from the competition of the monster companies of Hollywood, and those same Hollywood companies are at a loss for means of dealing with the television threat. Yet now a small Australian company - a newcomer to films - is tackling the new field of pictures for television. The company is Associated T.V. Pty Ltd., and the brain behind it is C.G. Scrimgeour, former Director of Commercial Broadcasting in New Zealand, mention of whose name still precipitates arguments in New Zealand homes, although "Uncle Scrim" himself has been living in Sydney since the war's end. He decided to make a television film on the N.S.W. bushranger Thunderbolt because the subject had a genuine historic interest and because he was handed a script well-suited to the requirements of the American market he had studied so closely in recent trips to the United States. The film "Captain Thunderbolt" is intended for normal screening in theatres; but a "cut" version will go abroad for television.
I spent three weeks with the Captain Thunderbolt Production Unit in real Thunderbolt country 200 miles south of the Queensland border this month and have seen the unit at work in Sydney. The shooting of "Captain Thunderbolt" - the film, not the man - had the quiet, cultured New England town of Armidale in a buzz for a fortnight. A notice offering £500 reward for capture dead or alive of the outlaw was posted on a board outside the town's erstwhile police station. Horsemen flourishing guns thundered up and down the dirt roads outside the town almost every day chasing mail coaches and buckboards. The Armidale Court House was turned inside out over one weekend for the trial of the outlaw for horse-stealing, and half the University College faculty, including the vice-warden, Dr. James Belshaw, filed into the jury box in period dress.
Armidale folk, riding comfortably on the sheep's back in shadow of the high stone factories of learning which dominate the town (Armidale is the only town in the State with more schools than hotels) were debating again whether the police shot Thunderbolt or his accomplice. Several approached bearded, frock-coated members of the cast in pubs and in the street and told them that Thunder-bolt, for all his law-breaking, was a saint compared with a lot of men in Sydney and Canberra nowadays.
[Illustrations]
Right: Thunderbolt (Grant Taylor) and Joan Blake (Rosemary Miller), before Thunderbolt is sent to Cockatoo Island Prison.
Below: A British television newsreel, as it reaches the viewing screen.
Bottom left: Schoolboys watch director Cecil Holmes setting-up a shot near the bowling green at Uralla. Holmes is talking to the actors on the waggon. On the right are cameraman Ross Wood and his assistant Ian Vibart. The waggon was loaned to the company by Mr. Tom Fletcher, owner of Kentucky Station, where Thunderbolt was shot by police in May 1870.
New England is impregnated with Thunderbolt lore. His saddle is in the Armidale Museum. The original entry of his death is in the Court Register. Numerous landmarks, caves and lookouts over a wide area are associated with his exploits. For many years local residents and visitors believed he was alive and left letters addressed to him in a box on his grave at Uralla Cemetery. Many local people are descended from pioneers who were helped or hindered by the bushranger. Almost everyone from Glen Innes in the north to Singleton in the south can tell you some myth that has grown up around the bushranger and most of them are agreed on one thing - that Thunderbolt killed no one and was a good deal more particular in his methods than many respectable citizens of his day and ours.
The screenplay "Captain Thunderbolt" tells how Fred Ward (alias Thunderbolt) was sentenced to Cockatoo Island Prison for horse-theft, escaped by swimming Sydney Harbour, and carried out a series of robberies in New England before he finally disappeared during a gun battle with police at a dance in a woolshed. Unfortunately the requirements of British censorship do not permit the inclusion of the true and highly romantic story of the association between Thunderbolt and the half-caste girl, Mary Ann Bugg. According to a history of Thunderbolt by the editor of "The Manilla Express," Mr. A.R. Macleod, Mary Ann Bugg had been educated at a girls' school in Sydney, but found herself unwanted by both blacks and whites and fell desperately in love with Thunderbolt. When the outlaw was imprisoned at Cockatoo Island she swam between the north shore and the island on four occasions until she eventually contacted Thunderbolt secretly. Several nights later Thunderbolt swam to the north shore and freedom, some say with leg irons. Macleod says the bushranger began his northern exploits in 1864 by holding up the Northern Mail in quick succession at Bendemeer, Muswellbrook and Singleton. He recounts the famous story of how the outlaw bailed-up a German band and had it play for him. He ends his account by telling how Thunderbolt stuck up an inn at Kentucky on May 25, 1870, was shot by police in the ensuing chase, and buried in Uralla Cemetery. Whatever people may say of Thunderbolt now, one thing is certain - he lived in violent times. A glance through the Armidale Court Death Register of the time shows the following causes of death, typical of the times:
- Visitation of God.
- Suffocation, occasioned by falling out of bed onto his face in a state of helpless intoxication.
- Spear wound in left side and skull fractured.
- Found drowned in well.
- Died whilst thigh was being amputated.
- Accidentally shot by constable in discharge of duty.
- Softening of brain.
- Injury from stone thrown by husband.
- Head cut off by someone un- known.
Each bald statement covers a story that would make headlines in any newspaper to-day. Other causes in the book are too terrible to print. "Captain Thunderbolt" has some well-known screen and radio actors in its cast. Grant Taylor made a name for himself as an actor of virile roles in "Forty Thousand Horsemen" before the war. Petite Rosemary Miller, who recently played the lead in "Dark of the Moon" in Sydney, is his boyhood sweetheart. Rosemary is pretty in real life, but rushes show her beautiful on the screen. Loretta Boutmy, former blues singer with Les Welch's band in Sydney, has her first screen part as the half-caste girl. Charles Tingwell came straight from the "Kangaroo" unit in South Australia to play the part of Blake, Thunderbolt's lieutenant. Sydney stage and radio actor John Unicomb, American actor Harp McGuire, and John Fegan, play the police troopers who run the bushrangers to earth. Jean Blue of "The Overlanders" and "Bitter Springs" is the outlaw's mother.
The location team for "Captain Thunderbolt" worked enthusiastically and with the minimum of fuss. The hub of the activity in Armidale was the Imperial Hotel where the unit lived. A typical shooting day began with a call at 7 a.m., and there was the brief scurrying around corridors in dressing gowns, uniforms, bush dress or bustles before bacon and eggs at 7.30. By the time the more usual run of hotel guests had come down for breakfast, trucks with gear and cars with technicians and cast were on their way to one or other location beyond the town for the day's work. Most days, of course, were of the usual sort experienced in film-making - exacting, patient work with many rehearsals and the camera crew trying to outwit the clouds. Two days had special interest including one in which Thunderbolt held up a coach and robbed Miss Kathleen Drummond, daughter of the Federal member for New England. Mr. Drummond, M.P., had loaned Grant Taylor his own horse for the hold-up. The coach, a four-in-hand drag owned by Mr. Geoff Forster of Abbington property, was built in London in 1870 and actually served on the New England coach-routes soon after Thunderbolt had been loose. Mr. Forster, dressed as Thunderbolt, drove it in the "Back to Armidale" celebrations four years ago.
"Captain Thunderbolt" is now about half-way through filming. Many shots have to be made yet in and around Sydney. The woolshed dance will take place in a Pyrmont wool store, a pub scene will be shot in The Hero of Waterloo at Millers Point, Grant Taylor will break stones in a quarry near Oxford Falls and hide from police in a cave in National Park. When the film is finally finished shooting about one month from now it will then pass into the hands of the cutter and editor. The amazing thing is that the film will cost £15,000 - about one sixtieth of the amount the "Kangaroo" unit from Hollywood is spending on a film of a somewhat greater length. There are incalculable factors in any artistic production, and the attitude of members of the Thunderbolt Production Unit is that, if Australia can turn out a Bradman or a Bromwich, there's no reason why it can't make good films.
* Australian Television, The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, 14 April 1951.
Australian Television. A former Wellington girl, Rosemary Miller, who has distinguished herself in repertory Work in Sydney and Melbourne, has been assigned a part in the first television film to be made in Australia, “Captain Thunderbolt.” Rosemary Miller, who is 18, will enact the role of the boyhood sweetheart of Thunderbolt, who was one of Australia’s famous bushrangers. The moving spirit behind the television venture is Mr C.G. Scrimgeour, a former director of the New Zealand Commercial Broadcasting Service.
* Eric Francis, Captain Thunderbolt - production photographs (4), 8 May 1951. Collection: State Library of New South Wales.
* The ABC Weekly, 13(19), 12 May 1951, 5: Photograph [caption] - Loretta Boutmy, Australia's Amateur Hour artist, who has just completed a role in the production of Captain Thunderbolt, one of the first films to be produced in Australia for television.
* The Bulletin, 27 June 1951, 18-19. Brief items on John Wilshire and Rosemary Miller:
This calm-eyed beauty is Rosemary Miller, who will be seen opposite Grant Taylor in the new Australian film “Captain Thunderbolt.” This is Rosemary’s first major role in films, but she is well-known for her stage- and radio-work. She has toured N. S. Wales and Queensland with the Metropolitan Theatre in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and in Sydney with them in “The Rivals,” “Twelfth Night” and “Shipwreck.” As Barbara Allen in “Dark of the Moon” she made a notable impression. She was educated at Marsden College in New Zealand, where she was born, and where her father is chief-of-staff of “The Dominion” and her mother correspondent for the “Auckland Weekly.”
The quietly serious young cove here pictured by Prior could pass for just about anything but what he is—a movie producer. Belonging to Associated T.V. Pty., Ltd., the Sydney firm which produced Australia’s first puppet-film last year, John Wiltshire has just completed his two-months’ production of “Captain Thunderbolt,” now in the cutting stage, featuring Grant Taylor and Rosemary Miller, lately of “Dark of the Moon.” Starting in a bank, Wiltshire left figures for figures, producing newsreel shorts, documentaries for the B.B. C. and N.B.C. (U.S.), acting with the Firm (“Sacred Flame” and “Idiot’s Delight”), the radio, the D. of I. and helping to found Melbourne’s Little Theatre. Made at the comparatively low cost of £15,000 (part of it shot in the Armidale court-house where the bushranger was tried), his latest opus will hit Australian screens about August.
* The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate, 1 August 1951:
Advantages of Film are outlined. Mr. Clarke, a representative of Television Pty. Ltd. visited Dubbo at the request of the Jubilee Week organiser (Mr. A.E.J. Miles) for a two-fold purpose: To exhibit to the Jubilee Committee two films as examples of the quality of television and film production of which his company is capable; To explain to a public meeting the benefits that could be confidently expected to result from the making of the film. In a special interview with a 'Liberal' representative yesterday morning before the showing of the films, Mr. Clarke produced a series of 'stills' of the latest talkie produced, by his Company. It is a dramatisation of the story of Captain Thunderbolt. 'Captain Thunderbolt,' released in America as a television feature, and in Australia and the British Isles as an ordinary feature film, has been described by experts who have seen it as 'the most mature picture ever to come out of Australia.'
* Daily Examiner, Grafton, 16 October 1951:
Captain Thunderbolt. Sir, — I am the author of "Captain Thunderbolt," by Annie Rixon. The story concerns the well-known Australian outlaw, who lived in the Grafton district for some time and was well known to many old-timers there. The selling price is 15/. I will donate 2/ per copy to the carnival fund for every copy of "Captain Thunderbolt" sold during carnival week at Grafton. I will autograph copies if desired. If there are any booksellers in Grafton who would care to sell the book at the usual discount, I would be glad to hear from, them. Wishing the carnival all success. Annie Studdert. 34 Mary st., Leichhardt.
* Lockhart Review, 30 0ctober 1951: .... "Captain Thunderbolt," a television film .....
* Daily Telegraph, 4 November 1951: Advertisement for AM magazine.
* The Australian Women's Weekly, 28 November 1951:
Local movie on television "Captain Thunderbolt," a film about the last of the N.S.W. bushrangers, will soon be seen on television screens in New York. It will be the first Australian full-length film to be broadcast on television. "Captain Thunderbolt" is scheduled to receive its world premiere at Armidale (N.S.W.) next month. Police ended the bushranger's career of mail stick-ups at Kentucky Station, a few miles from Armidale, in the early 1870's. New England residents later paid for a monument to him in the Uralla Cemetery. How the film was made for the phenomenally low cost of £15,000 is told in an article, illustrated in full color, in A.M. for November, now on sale.
* Armidale Express, 14 December 1951:
The film, "Captain Thunderbolt," has been made and is to be released shortly throughout Australia.
* late 1951 - early 1952: Cast and crew preview screening at the State Theatre, Sydney. Referred to by actor Phillip Hawkes in his 2010 interview (see link below).
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1952
* Friday 25 - Monday 28 January 1952: The Jubilee Film Competition awards are presented at the Olinda Film Festival, Victoria - also known as the Jubilee Film Festival, and Australia's first such international event - by the Minister for the Interior, Kent Hughes. The following report mentions Captain Thunderbolt, which may have been screened or promoted at the festival, though no specific reference has been found:
Some of the contest films were screened during the festival ... Judges specially commended the feature Captain Thunderbolt, produced by TV Programs and entered by director Cecil Holmes. In the judges' opinion the quality of the camera work and the acting of the principal players was exceptionally high. Robert Krasker - who won an Academy Award for his "The Third Man" photography - said: "Technically and dramatically the photography, in both interiors and exteriors, compared favourably with world standards. The continuity, too, was impressive." Director of photography on the production was Ross Wood. (Full results of the Jubilee Film Competition, The Film Monthly, February 1952, 9)
A report in the Adelaide Advertiser of 1 February noted: Through the courtesy of the British Film Institute, the Canadian Film Board, the UK Information Office in Australia, the Department of the Interior and some of the Consulates, visitors saw a remarkable series of English, American, Russian and Continental films, ranging from the early French 'movies' to the latest scientific-films. [The following programme for the Olinda Film Festival had been published in the Melbourne Herald on 17 January:
- Jan. 25: Andre Paulve's "La Belle et la Bete."
- Jan. 26: French Avant-guarde films (9.15 a.m.); early Australian films [Sentimental Bloke, Diggers in Blighty, O What a Night!] (11.15 a.m.); the Chinese "Daughters of China" (2.15 p.m.).
- Jan. 27: Russia's "Forest Story" (9.15 a.m.); "Mediaeval Dutch Sculpture" (11.15 a.m.); scientific films (2.15 p.m.); religious films and "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc" (8 p.m.).
- Jan. 28: Robert Flaherty's documentary masterpiece, "Louisiana Story" (11.15 a.m.): films from the United Nations (2.15 a.m.).
* Sun Herald, 3 February 1952:
The only all-Australian production that has been completed in the same period is "Captain Thunderbolt," an unambitious venture made primarily for television screening. It has not yet been released.
* The Herald, Melbourne, 5 February 1952:
Now She's a voice in film. Eighteen months ago young Sydney actress Rosemary Miller was interviewed in this section as the girl who had done many jobs - waitress, factory hand, milk bar attendant, saleswoman, radio and stage actress and film work. Since then she has added another to the list - "dubbing in" voices in films. Then red-haired (artificially, for her part in "Dark of the Moon"), she has now reverted to her own dark brown locks and is here rehearsing for her role in "To Dorothy a Son," opening at the Tivoli on February 26. "The funniest thing in last year's film work," said Rosemary today, "was that I went back to one of my original university vacation jobs. I was a milk bar attendant in a documentary." She has been "on location" with the feature film "Captain Thunderbolt," near Armidale, NSW. "It has got me really interested in the old bush-ranging days," she said, "and I was interested in a collection of early bush rangers' relics in the locality."
* The ABC Weekly, 16 February 1952:
Production will be by John Wiltshire, who recently returned to radio after directing the all-Australian film, Captain Thunderbolt.
* Cootamundra Herald, 25 February 1952:
Far West Film .... Cinema man, Ross Woods, has already made a name for himself by his work in "Bitter Springs.'' "Eureka," and a film on Captain Thunderbolt, which he took to Great Britain for television.
* Film Production in Australia, Commonwealth Film Censorship Board, Report 1951, 4 March 1952, 52. Text:
The most important Australian productions during 1951 were three (3) feature-length films, viz - KANGAROO", in colour, by the Fox Film Corporation, "WHEREVER SHE GOES" (the story of the Australian pianist Eileen Joyce) by Ealing Studios Ltd. and "CAPTAIN THUNDERBOLT" by Associated Television. Technical quality of these productions has again shown a marked advance and indicates that film production in this Country has an assured future which should be beneficial to Australian artists, producers and the community alike. Consequently, the recently reported dismantling and closing of Pagewood Studios by Ealing Studios Ltd., if proceeded with, must deal a severe blow to this branch of Australian industry.
* Newcastle Morning Herald, 10 April 1952:
.... Juliet [Serovna], who is five, is already following in her mother's [Tanya] footsteps. Since she came to Australia she has danced in the film "Captain Thunderbolt" and starred in a documentary film for a commercial firm.
* Warwick Daily News, 12 April 1952:
Australian films. Mr. Alexander said censors had ordered eliminations in 87 films, compared with 104 in 1950. He said that last year censors had classified 295 films "suitable for general exhibition." Mr. Alexander said the technical quality of last year's Australian films - "Kangaroo" (in colour), "Wherever She Goes" (the Eileen Joyce story), and "Captain Thunderbolt" showed a marked advance. "They indicate that film production in Australia has an assured future which should benefit Australian artists, producers, and the community," he said. "If Ealing Studios, Ltd., proceeds to close the Pagewood Studios, as reported, it must deal a severe blow to this branch of Australian industry."
* Tribune, 28 May 1952:
Crime to attend Olinda Film Festival? Melbourne - Spread of police state methods is shown by recent happenings here. Office-bearers of the Williamstown High School Ex-Students' Association Film Group have been questioned, and damaging inquiries about them have been made in the district by police claiming to be acting on behalf of Commonwealth Security. Grounds for the inquiry are none other than that about 30 members of the group attended the Olinda Film Festival. Apparently some informer has come to the conclusion that the Festival was a "red-inspired" affair, in spite of the fact that it received a message of support from Mr. Menzies, and was attended on behalf of the Commonwealth Government by [Minister for the Interior] Mr. Kent Hughes!
* 12 July - 3 August 1952, 7th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czechoslovakia. Captain Thunderbolt has its world premiere at this festival. Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies does not allow Australian film industry officials to attend the festival during the 1950s, due to his strong anti-Communist stance. Cecil Holmes ignores this restriction as he was Left-wing and supportive of the focus of the festival on international film which dealt with labour, workers and other related issues. It is unclear whether the political leanings of Holmes and Colin Graham Scrimgeour of Associated TV Programs Pty Ltd played any role in limiting, or hindering, the release of Captain Thunderbolt in Australia and overseas.
* Chard Browne, Captain Thunderbolt, Walkabout, 18(10), 1 October 1952. Biographical article only.
* The ABC Weekly, 14(43), 25 October 1952, 14:
FILMS LOCAL TV FILM WILL HAVE AUSTRALIAN RELEASE. It was good news to learn that the Grace Gibson-sponsored TV film production I Found Joe Barton (that is its new release title) is to have a run at Sydney's State Theatre, also in Melbourne and, I understand, almost certainly in other capital cities. This is the 30-minute thriller recently made by an American expert, Francis Lyon, not far from Sydney. I saw the preview and commented favourably on it, particularly liking the work done by Charles Tingwell. It is the smoothest Australian production of its type I have yet come across. I am told that there is also a possibility (it may by now be a fact) that it wall be booked for two important TV channels in America. If that is so, then there will be a minimum of 26 productions made here by Mr. Lyon, and a possibility of that figure being extended to 39. All to the good, and I hope the idea snowballs until we have here a flourishing TV film industry. But to illustrate how long it can take for a locally made picture to get a release overseas, one has only to think of Captain Thunderbolt, which John Wiltshire produced, with a strong cast, and with the backing of Associated T.V Pty. Ltd., of Sydney. It is getting on for a year since that picture was finished, but so far there has been no announcement when it will be shown. Disappointing of course, for backers, producer, and the actors.
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1953
* The Sun, Sydney, 20 January 1953:
A selected audience tomorrow will see the first big screening of Australian films specially made for television. The seven programs to be screened range from short comedy and science features to the hour-long Captain Thunderbolt. The screening has been arranged by Associated TV Pty. Ltd.
The Bulletin, 74(3806), 21 January 1953, 19:
Television. As a sample of things possibly to come a Sydney firm, Associated TV Pty., Ltd., is holding today a private showing of Australian-made TV films — most TV programmes are first recorded on film. The samples include “Pacific City,” a 13-minute item for American and English release, depicting some of the more pleasant aspects of Sydney; “Terrific the Giant,” a six-minute piece for the youngsters told with the aid of puppets; three two-minute commercials; “Mr. Fixit,” eight minutes of Australian comedian Willie Fennell; and “Science and You,” 10 minutes of ‘education and entertainment.” There follow “Cowboy From Down Under,” Smoky Dawson; and “Captain Thunderbolt,” “the first major TV film made in Australia.” It cost £30,000 to make and occupies a “viewing”-time of 54 minutes — in the one-hour TV release the other six minutes are taken up by sponsor-identification, presentation and commercial announcements.
* Tribune, Sydney, 28 January 1953:
TV Power for Good or Ill, by Len Fox. Both the good and bad potentialities of television were shown at the preview last Wednesday at Rose Bay of Australian TV programs. Captain Thunderbolt and some of the educational shorts showed that Australian actors, directors and technicians can compare with the world's best.... However, Associated TV must be heartily congratulated on presenting Captain Thunderbolt, even though it was considerably cut down. This Australian film, produced by John Wiltshire and directed by Cecil Holmes, is one of the best pictures for years. Yet - because it was made in Australia - it has been held off the Australian market for years - and will probably be held off for many more years if the big film monopolies continue to have their way. Captain Thunderbolt was shown and appreciated at the big international Film Festival at Karlovy Vary (Czechoslovakia) last year - but the Australian people aren't allowed to see it. The big film monopolies are preventing it from being seen. The latter part of the Smoky Dawson film, and the scientific film, "Science and You," are also proof of the high quality that Australian films and TV are capable of reaching. Television in Australia can have a big future - but only if it is kept free from private monopoly grip and used to develop the best Australian culture and to serve the people. It would be better to have no television at all rather than have the set-up in America, where TV, under big business control, has become so debased that Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter, of the American Supreme Court, called it "a new barbarism parading as scientific progress." Child psychiatrist Dr. F. Wertham said that TV leads children to confuse "violence with strength, low necklines with feminine ideal, sadism with sex, and criminals with police." Admittedly, TV is not the only influence which would lead to such confusions. The program of the Communist Party of Australian as published in Australia's Path to Socialism, calls for a People's Government which, among other things, will take the press, radio and other forms of education and enlightenment out of the hands of the millionaires and put them "under the control of the democratic organisations of the workers and farmers and their allies." It adds: "Today, our culture is being debased by the widespread importation from the USA of low grade films, fiction which glamorises gangsters, and comic strips which degrade the minds of our children. It is linked with the American imperialist penetration of our country. This degradation of culture must be ended. The People's Government will take steps to develop our own specific Australian culture, while at the same time accepting all that is best in world culture." This policy points the only way forward in TV as in all other forms of education and culture.
* Peter Woodruff, The ABC Weekly, 15(6), 7 February 1953, 14:
Associated TV Pty. Ltd., of Sydney, recently screened some of their locally made products, as well as a full-length picture directed by John Wiltshire, Captain Thunderbolt, which so far has not seen the light—commercially.... Mr. C.G. Scrimgeour, chairman of the company, told me before he left for London and New York, with a peep at Hollywood and some of the principal European centres, that he hopes to sell the company’s products to a number of TV chains. He will make a close study of the type of picture wanted, and is confident they can be turned out here as well as anywhere. It is a fact that Associated TV have concentrated for some considerable time on this type of picture. They were the first in the field, if memory serves me, and as they have set a high standard and adhered to it, they deserve success. Incidentally, it will not only help Australia’s finances, but it should be the means of making Australian actors and actresses know to other than local audiences.
* The ABC Weekly, 15(7), 14 February 1953, 30:
Talent for Television - John Whiltshire, A.B.C.’s Sydney Variety producer, made documentary, newsreel, and semi-commercial films for television on behalf of Associated Productions Ltd. before he joined the A.B.C. One of his films on Sydney, CrossRoads of the Pacific, has been twice shown by the B.B.C. Television Service. His TV film Captain Thunderbolt was recently shown to film critics in Sydney. He is now producing the A.B.C. shows Starlight Variety and Hit Parade. Of all the mediums he has worked in, he prefers the stage, but he is becoming keen about the possibilities of television. Given the latest technical equipment, we could produce television shows equal to the best anywhere with the talent available in Australia, he claims. Among cherished memories of his twenty years in show business is a wartime concert he produced in South Australia starring Noel Coward, whom he describes as “the greatest showman I have ever seen.’’ During the war, attached to a Commando observation unit as an education officer, he travelled widely in the Northern Territory.
* Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 25 June 1953:
While the "TV or not TV" debate drags on, local television promoters are beginning to look overseas for markets. Associated TV director Hans von Adlerstein tells us that his company is planning to offer "Captain Thunderbolt" to television interests in America. If this goes through, we will miss out on the Australian premiere of the picture.
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1954
* The ABC Weekly, 16(7), 13 February 1954, 22:
Patricia Hill, who Geoffrey Thomas in his review of The Innocents (see page 14) says has all the makings of a first-rate actress, does not contemplate making it a full-time career. She prefers, she says, to act for nothing in plays she likes rather than earn a high salary in radio or in commercial theatre. Apart from several earlier plays at the Independent, she had a part in the TV film Captain Thunderbolt and would like to make more films. The granddaughter of Alfred Hill, she inherits a keen appreciation of music, and her early ambition was to become a Wagnerian singer. The reason she didn’t was that her voice is “about the size of a boy soprano’s.” In between plays she has found time to become table tennis singles and mixed doubles champion of N.S.W.
* N.Z. actress [Rosemary Miller] given leading role in B.B.C. variety show, The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, 21 October 1954.
* Tribune, 15 December 1954:
A "Red Plot" film magnates?
The film Captain Thunderbolt, for example, which won honorable mention when shown at a previous Karlovy Vary Festival, was never released in Australia. The Australian trade journal, Film News reveals that it is now being prepared for release throughout Europe, but it has never been screened in its country of origin - because American capital dominates our distribution and exhibiting industry. Could Mr. Menzies have been concerned at all with the "security" of this monopoly when he refused permission for Australian delegates to attend this festival? Or was he perturbed at the "subversive" ideas which might infect any Australians at Karlovy Vary? For they would have seen there Jorls Iven's "Song of the Rivers," telling the story of the World Trade Union Congress. In the background of this film there flow the six world rivers - Mississippi, Amazon, Nile, Ganges, Yangtse and the Volga. It shows that the workers, united, are invincible, and it is the workers who, on the banks of all the rivers of the world, change with their hands the surface of the earth. And they would have seen the Dutch film, Shoot the Nets, a documentary on Dutch fishermen. It is a fine example of international co-existence. An international signal is sent out for the men to begin casting nets in the international zone. Once the signal is given no other fishing boat casts Its nets in the same location. Or perhaps the Australian breweries might have been offended by the German film on beer brewing. Menzies, high priest of the atom bomb, would, of course, be shocked at Australians seeing such a film as that made by the Japanese - Children of Hiroshima, which calls for banning of the atom bomb. Not would he like Australians to see Indonesian films. Following the dictates of Washington, Menzies insults the Indonesian people by opposing their just claim to Irian on the grounds of Australian "security." No doubt he would take such a fine film as Indonesia's Return as a personal affront. The first feature .film ever made in that country, it shows soldiers, workers and peasants co-operating in the building of their homeland. There were many other fine films at Karlovy Vary too. But the "cultured" Menzies has "protected" us from their influence. Since then he has made his cultural presence felt still further by banning Frank Hardy from attending a Soviet writers' congress; ex-Senator Morrow from attending a World Peace Council meeting, and sundry students, youth and others from travelling overseas. Australia is a serious loser as a result of all these bans. Menzies must not be allowed to continue them. And the Australian people who beat him so surely when he was trying to keep people like Egon Kisch out of our country will just as surely beat him now when he is trying to keep the same sort of people in our country. Karlovy Vary is a challenge. Australians will not be denied their freedom of travel.
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1955
* The Argus, Melbourne, Wednesday, 16 February 1955:
Sydney TV inquiry told: Sacked 'Because He Defied Minister'
Sydney, Tuesday. Mr. Colin Graham Scrimgeour, who told the Broadcasting Control Board yesterday he "could not remember" why he lost his job as Controller of N.Z. Broadcasting in 1943, said today it was because he had defied the Minister in charge. The Minister had wanted him to put over political propaganda which he considered contrary to public interest, he said. It was suggested yesterday that he had failed to observe censorship regulations operating at that time. Scrimgeour is proposed chairman of Associated TV Ltd., which, in its application for a Sydney licence, sets out that it would have a capital of £1 million in £1 shares. He said a television licence in Sydney would be worth about £1 million. Ownership of a licence alone would enable finance to be raised for operation of a station. Original capital of Associated T.V. Pty. Ltd., £10,000, had been increased to £30,000, he said. Mr. Ben Fuller, chairman of directors of Fuller's Theatres and a proposed director of the new company, had paid £10,000 for a half interest in Associated T.V. Pty. Ltd., and had given the company £30,000, which was not shown or claimed in the company's operation expenses, to commence production.
Heavy losses - Mr. J. Shand, Q.C. (for Truth and Sportsman Ltd., another applicant): Would you agree that on the last balance-sheet Associated T.V. Pty. Ltd. had lost the total of your capital seven and a half times over?
Scrimgeour: The losses were calculated and taken into account. Well, something like that? - All right.
Scrimgeour said the company had forfeited the lease of land at Pagewood for non-payment of Crown dues. He admitted that if the proposed transaction for the sales of the proprietary company's assets to the new company took place he would get about 70,833 shares. Questioned about the £30,000 Mr. Fuller had put Into Associated T.V. Pty. Ltd., Scrimgeour said it was put in a separate account for the production of a film, "Captain Thunderbolt." The inquiry will be resumed tomorrow.
* Yass Tribune Courier, 21 March 1955:
Patricia Hill ... has also appeared in a television film "Captain Thunderbolt" which has been shown in America.
* Australian premiere of Captain Thunderbolt cinema version, Armidale, 22 June 1955.
* Tribune, Sydney, 29 June 1955:
Big success of Thunderbolt premiere. None of the new films in Sydney last week were important, but there was a big event in the film world up at Armidale - the Australasian premiere of the Australian film, Captain Thunderbolt. Long queues waited in the rain to see the film, and hundreds were turned away. Afterwards the town buzzed with praise. Cecil Holmes, director of the film, was present, and in a press interview said: "What we tried to do in this film was to convey something of the atmosphere and spirit of this rich and exciting period in Australian history. It was a wonderful experience re-discovering the past. The film, a fictional story, based on the known facts of the bushranger's life, has already been released in Europe, and is set for release in the USA or both TV and movies. Sydney filmgoers are anxiously waiting to see Thunderbolt - and other Australian films like it.
* Muswellbrook Chronicle, 12 July 1955: Piazza Theatre, Muswellbrook, Captain Thunderbolt. Since 1 July 1955.
* Tribune, 3 August 1955:
Is Australia a satellite? .... The cinemas are flooded with trashy and degrading Hollywood films, while an Australian film such as Captain Thunderbolt has to go to Czechoslovakia for its world premiere.
* Tribune, 10 August 1955:
Thunderbolt. Biggest news on the Sydney film front this week is that Captain Thunderbolt. Filmgoers have been waiting years for this. Tribune will review it soon.
* The Argus, Melbourne, 13 August 1955:
The Plaza Theatre, Northcote, took on yet anotherguise last night (Friday, August 12) when the Australian-made adventure film, "Captain Thunderbolt," was screened there for its Victorian première..... Grant Taylor, who appears in "The Teahouse of the August Moon" at the Comedy Theatre nextSaturday, has the title role of the Australian bushranger in "Captain Thunderbolt." It was filmed on location in Armidale, northern New South Wales, where Thunderbolt was born as plain Fred Ward.
* F. Keith Manzie, Argus, Melbourne, 15 August 1955. Review:
The Australian movie "Captain Thunderbolt" was made about four years ago, put on a shelf, and forgotten. Now Ray Films have discovered it, dusted it off, and released it at the Plaza Theatre, Northcote, for its Victorian premiere. It reveals itself as an interesting, competent little film, based on the real-life story of the turbulent Fred Ward of Armidale, N.S.W. Grant Taylor plays the part of Thunderbolt (Fred Ward), Charles Tingwell is his bushranging associate, and Harp McGuire the policeman who relentlessly tracks them down.
* F. Keith Manzie, Argus, Melbourne, 20 August 1955. Review:
Those who have seen the Australian film, "Captain Thunderbolt"… wondered why producer John Wiltshire permitted the notorious bushranger to escape at the end of the picture instead of being killed, as actually happened."Television" was the reason why Thunderbolt was allowed to elude his pursuers. Mr. Wiltshire and his film company, I understand, intend using Thunderbolt for a prolonged adventure series when TV operates in Australia!
* Tribune, 7 September 1955. Review:
After four years Thunderbolt is in Sydney
The Australian film Captain Thunderbolt comes to the Sydney screen on Thursday this week. Australians have had to wait more than four years for this. Those who have seen the film agree that the film is worth the wait. The Lyric Theatre should be packed with eager filmgoers for the one week's showing. And there's sure to be a big demand for further showings, in city, suburbs and countryside. Why has such a fine film had to wait four years, while our theatres have been full of so much second and third-rate stuff from overseas? Tribune went round to see Cecil Holmes last week, to ask him the question. Mr. Holmes directed Captain Thunderbolt. (See picture).
To begin with, Mr. Holmes pointed out that this is an all-Australian film - Australian capital, actors, technicians. Some of the names associated with it are those of producer John Wiltshire, and actors Grant Taylor, Charles Tingwall, and Rosemary Miller. Most of the shooting was done in the actual Thunderbolt country, and the film is more than just an adventure story. It conveys something of the spirit of our early days, our pioneers. In the immediate post-war years, Mr. Holmes said, there was an up surge of film production in all countries. These were the days of The Overlanders and Bush Christmas: Hollywood saw the threat from such films. American capital strengthened its grip in a number of countries, including England, France and Australia, and followed a policy of restricting local production. In some countries, England for instance, legislation was passed to protect local films from American competition. Quota Acts insisted that a certain proportion of films shown had to be made at home. But the Australian Government gave no protection. The result can be told in these cold facts: -
1951 - Apart from Kangaroo (which was not really an Australian film) no Australian film was released as a first feature.
1952 - Two Australian films made; none released: (one of them, The Farrer Story, has never been released except in the country).
1953 - One Australian film, The Phantom Stockman, released as a second feature.
1954 - Fortunately, 1954 saw a change, with the making of Jedda, King of the Coral Sea, Back of Beyond.
1955 - Finds Ealing planning to come here to film D'Arcy Niland's The Shiralee, another British company coming to make a film of Smiley, and the Chips Rafferty company busy on a New Guinea film, Walk Into Paradise, with a United Nations theme.
This is largely due to the ever growing demand for Australian films - even Dad and Dave films are being revived at newsreels. But a quota is needed to ensure that a fixed proportion of Australian films is shown. The coming of TV makes a quota even more necessary. Mr. Holmes didn't say much about his own film, Thunderbolt. But it's easy to see where it fits into the general pattern. And those who see it (and every one should see it) will agree that it's a film for Australians to be proud of. It hs already had success at country showings. The Film Weekly, describing the recent premiere at Armidale, used the headlines: "Aussie Film in Smash World Debut ('Thunderbolt' wow)!" It added that "both audience-response and box office pressure were sensational." The further success of Thunderbolt will not only be a boost for all who helped make it; it will also be a boost for Australian films in general.
* Tribune, Sydney, 14 September 1955. Review:
Captain Thunderbolt - First-rate film. Congratulations to all who helped make Captain Thunderbolt! It's a film that makes one feel proud to be an Australian - and angry that our film industry has been crushed almost out of existence. Here is a film that had to be made with limited time and finance, and all the disadvantages that accrue in a country where there is no regular making of feature films. Yet it is head and shoulders above the average Hollywood film. Direction, photography and music are first-rate, and the acting is noticeable for the fine performances of many players who don't get a mention in the advertisements. Jean Blue, for instance, gives a fine performance as the mother, and even the man at the piano who appeared for a few seconds only (it looked like Jerrold Wells), had a polish which indicate that Australia has a wealth of acting talent. More than its technical qualities, Thunderbolt has a sincerity, a feeling for ordinary people and democratic values, that makes it more than just an adventure story. Like the work of our best writers, it is alive with Australian tradition.
* Yass Tribune-Courier, 22 September, 1955: Liberty Theatre, Yass, Captain Thunderbolt. Review:
"Thunderbolt" Is Exciting Film. One of Australia's bushranging legends comes to vivid life on the screen in "Captain Thunderbolt" to appear at the Liberty Theatre next Tuesday and Wednesday, September 27 and 28. It is set in the New England district where wild beautiful country is magnificently photographed by Ross Wood. The cast includes such competent actors as Grant Taylor and Bud Tingwell. The film is produced by John Wilshire and directed by Cecil Holmes. Every Australian has grown up absorbing stories of the daring horsemanship and the high courage turned to evil ends by the man who gave himself the pseudonym "Thunderbolt". Box plans for the film story of his life are now open.
* 18, 19, 30 October 1955, Nepean Theatre, Penrith.
* Argus, Melbourne, 8 December 1955: Empress Theatre, Prahran, Captain Thunderbolt. Grant Taylor, Chas. Tingwell.
* Argus, Melbourne, Thursday, 15 December 1955: Empire Theatre, Brunswick, Captain Thunderbolt. Grant Taylor.
---------------------------------
1956
* New Star Theatre, Queanbeyan, 10 February 1956.
* Canberra Times, 24 February 1956: Civic Theatre, Canberra, Captain Thunderbolt.
* New Kurrajong Theatre, Windsor, 7 March 1956.
* Today's Cinema, supplement, London, 8 March 1956, 10.
* Daily Film Renter, London, 7095, 29 March 1956, 6.
* Granada, Acton, Hammersmith and Shephard's Bush Gazette, UK, 13 April 1956.
* Cinephone, Dea, Manchester Evening News, UK, 25 May 1956. Text: Rogue or Hero? A Great Australian Adventure. Captain Thunderbolt.
* Captain Thunderbolt, Evening Chronicle, Manchester, UK, 28 May 1956.
* Monthly Film Bulletin, London, 23(268), May 1956, 60. Text:
Captain Thunderbolt, Australia, c.1955. Certification: U. Distributor: Archway. Production Company: Commonwealth Films. Producer: John Whiltshire. Director: Cecil Holmes. Script: Creswick Jenkinson. Photography: Ross Wood. Editor: Margaret Cardin. Associate Director: Keith Christie. Music: Sidney John Kay. Lead players: Grant Taylor (Fred Ward), Charles Tingwell (Blake), Harp McGuire (Mannix), and Rosemary Miller. 5,078 ft. 56 mins.
Fred Ward and his friend Alan Blake are convicted of horse stealing and sent to an island penal colony. Escaping, they find a hideout near their home in New South Wales and take up the only trade open to them - bush-ranging. Ward, alias Captain Thunderbolt, wins a reputation as an Australian Robin Hood. At a dance on a lonely sheep station, the two men are confronted by police troopers. After a chase and gunfight, however, Corporal Mannix finds that the man he has hunted and killed is in fact Blake. He identifies Blake as Thunderbolt; but the real Thunderbolt and his legend lives on.
Although handicapped by a slackly developed narrative, and some inexpert playing, this small-scale Australian Western has more life and individuality than many of the American models. The camera work ambitiously essays some arty effects, not always very appropriate in their context; the setting, considering the obviously limited production resources, is quite shrewdly exploited. Suitability: A, B, C.
* Captain Thunderbolt, Elite, Nottingham Evening News, Nottingham, UK, 16 June 1956.
* Regent Theatre, Richmond, 13 & 14 July 1956.
* Captain Thunderbolt, Picture House, Broadstairs, Ramsgate, The East Kent Times and Mail, UK, 25 July, 10 & 15 August 1956.
* Kingsway, Levenshulme, Manchester Evening News, UK, 25 August 1956.
* Esoldo, Stockport, Manchester Evening News, UK, 27 September 1956.
* Captain Thunderbolt, The Glamorgan Gazette, Wales, 19 October 1956.
* Bankstown cinema, November 1956 (Milner 2000).
* Pavillion, Clapham, The Norwood News, Croydon, UK, 2 November 1956.
* Regal, Evening Post, Devizes, Bristol, UK, 6 November 1956.
* Captain Thunderbolt, Evening Post, Bristol, Avon, UK, 20 December 1956.
* Crystal Palace, The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, 27 December 1956.
* Lux Theatre, Wilberforce, 29 December 1956.
* Delphi, Hay Mills, Birmingham Evening Mail, UK, 29 December 1956.
1957
* Chantry, Grimbsy Evening Telegraph, Cartergate, Grimsby, UK, 18 January 1957.
* Captain Thunderbolt, ABC Weekly, 19(7), 15 February 1957, 14. Biographical article only on Frederick Ward.
* Kino, Chronicle, Crewe, Cheshire, UK, 27 July 1957.
* Wonderland Pictures, Bourke, 30 August 1957.
* Wonderland Pictures, Western Herald, Bourke, 6 September 1957. Review:
"Captain Thunderbolt", a Ray Films release, presents an exciting, factual account of the life of the now legendary bush ranger set against the turbulent background of a growing nation in the 'sixties. Filmed with the utmost authenticity in the actual locales of Thunderbolt's wild exploits, mainly in the tradition steeped Armidale district of northern New South Wales, the production features a line-up of Australia's top performers. Starred as the colourful and daring rouge is rugged Grant Taylor, and Rose Mary Miller, talented young Sydney girl, who is currently enjoying a big success on the London stage.
* Bensham, Gateshead Post, 1 November 1957. Review:
Captain Thunderbolt. Grant Taylor plays the rebellious Captain Thunderbolt in this unusual story of a man born in the gold-rush days when thousands of labourers deserted their employers to hoin the rush that engulfed Australia. During a period of imprisonment for stealing a "few" horses, Captain Thunderbolt, eager to get back to his previous life and girl, makes his escape - only to find that his girl has married his childhood pal. Then Thunderbolt begins his life of danger - a bold and courageous villian whose name becomes a legend throughout the country.
* Bensham, Gateshead, Sunday Sun, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, 3 November 1957.
1958
1959
1960
* Crystal Palace, The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, 30 January 1960.
* Torres Theatre, Thursday Island, Queensland, 12 February 1960.
* Captain Thunderbolt, Bridgend, The Glamorgan Gazette, Wales, 29 April 1960.
* Captain Thunderbolt, Shaftesbury, Leicester Evening Mail, Leicester, UK, 6 & 8 August 1960.
-----------------------------
1961
* Bel-Air Theatre, Port Lincoln, South Australia, 20 & 21 December 1961.
1962
1963
* Torres Theatre, Thursday Island, Queensland, 5 August 1963.
1964
* 2 - 2.55 pm, ABC TV, Canberra, 24 August 1964. The first known screening of Captain Thunderbolt on Australian television.
1970
* Monologue by Ross Wood, National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, duration: 6.23 minutes.
1972
* Kino Ponrepo, Prague, 1972, number 4-6, p.40. Programme advertising the screening of Captain Thunderbolt at the National Film Archiv Ponrepo Cinema, Prague, on Friday, 21 April 1972. The version presented had Czech subtitles. It is possible it was the copy taken to Czechoslovakia by Cecil Holmes in July 1952. The following is the text from the program.
Czech: Pátek 21. 4. HAPITÍN BLESt / Captain Thunderbolt / Austrálie 1952 / české tit. / / mlád. příst. / Hežie! Cecil Holmes. kamera! Ross Wood. Hrají! Grant Taylor, Charles Tingwell, Harp McGuire, Bosemary Millerová aj. Austrálie - přes svou ohromnou rozlohu - má celkem nepa-tramu filmovou produkci. Se souvislejší výrobou filmů se tam začalo ač těsně před druhou světovou válkou a po mnoho let celková produkce byla na velmi nízké kvantitativní úrovni, když se do tohoto počtu zahrnovaly i dlouhé dokumenty. Australské filmy se také jen málokdy dostaly do zahraničí - výjimkou jsou snad jen HČMÍCÍ STÍDA, která v roce 1946 režíroval anglický dokumentarista Harry Watt. Hrané filmy také většinou spíše napodobovaly úspěšná cizí - hlavně americká a anglická -díla. KAPITÍN BIZSK je v podstatě western, zasazený do australského prostředí. Odehrává se v druhé polovině minulého století a jeho hrdinou je legendární psanec. Život a příběhy kapitána Bleška jsou vyprávěny policistou, který ho se zatvrzelou posedlosti stihá a nakonec raději falšuje svá hlášeni, než by přiznal neúspěch. Film nedosahuje řemeslné dokonalosti svých amerických vzorů, ale snaží se poutavě zobrazit podmínky života v Austrálii před sto lety.
English: Friday 21. 4. HAPITÍN BLESt / Captain Thunderbolt / Australia 1952 / Czech subtitles / / Mlád. príst. / Director - Cecil Holmes. Camera - Ross Wood. Cast: Grant Taylor, Charles Tingwell, Harp McGuire, Bosemary Miller and others. Australia - despite its huge area - has a fairly poor film production. A more continuous production of films began there even just before the Second World War, and for many years the total production was at a very low quantitative level, including feature-length documentaries. Australian films have also rarely been released abroad - perhaps the only exception is HMÍCÍ STÍDA [The Overlanders], which was directed by English documentarian Harry Watt in 1946. Feature films also mostly imitated successful foreign - mainly American and English - works. Captain Thunderbolt is essentially a western, set in an Australian environment. It takes place in the second half of the last century and its hero is a legendary outlaw. The life and stories of Captain Thunderbolt are told by a policeman who pursues him with a stubborn obsession and ultimately prefers to falsify his reports rather than admit failure. The film falls short of the craftsmanship of its American models, but it strives to provide an engaging depiction of living conditions in Australia a hundred years ago.
* Ross Cooper, Interview with John Fegan, 1972, National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, duration: 45.16 minutes. Fegan was an actor in Captain Thunderbolt.
1974
* Graham Shirley, Interview with Ross Wood, 20 December 1974, 9 January 1975 – NFSA title #375311.
1975
* Captain Thunderbolt is shown at the Sydney Film Festival as part of the Salute to Australian Film section.
1976
* Andrew Pike, Interview with Cecil Holmes, 1976, National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, duration: 160 minutes. Holmes was the director of Captain Thunderbolt.
* Graham Shirley & Ray Edmondson, Interview with Cecil Holmes, 7 November 1976 – NFSA title #376622.
* Graham Shirley, Interview with Creswick Jenkinson, 6 August 1976 – NFSA title #434037.
1978
* Martha Ansara, Interview with Ross Wood, 1978, National Film and Sound Archive.
1980
* Graham Shirley, Interview with Margaret Cardin, 5 January 1980 – NFSA title #216864.
1981
* Colin Scrimgeour: Letter tape to Graham Shirley, 5 October 1981.
1986
* Screening of Captain Thunderbolt, National Library of Australia, 10 July 1986.
* Cecil Holmes, One Man’s Way, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria, 1986.
1989
* Graham Shirley & Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First 80 Years, Currency Press, Sydney, 1989.
1994
* Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film, 1900-1977: A guide to feature film production, Melbourne University Press, 1981, 448p; second revised edition, Oxford University Press, 1998, 362p.
2000
* Lisa Milner, 'We film the facts': the Waterside Workers’ Federation film unit, 1953 - 1958, PhD thesis, Communication and Cultural Studies Program, University of Wollongong, 2000.
2010
* The newly discovered Captain Thunderbolt trailer is shown at the Sydney Film Festival, 14 June 2010.
* Graham Shirley, Another important discovery in the search for lost films [Captain Thunderbolt 35mm trailer], National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, 2010.
* Jim Belshaw, The Making of Captain Thunderbolt, New England Story [blog], 13 August 2010.
* Adrian Danks, Captain Thunderbolt, in Ben Goldsmith & Geoff Lealand (editors), Directory of World Cinema: Australia & New Zealand, Intellect, Bristol and Chicago, 2010, 25-26.
* John Reid, Interview with a cast member - Phillip Hawkes, John Reid Vintage Movie Memorabilia, YouTube, 11 August 2010, duration: 9.51 minutes. Hawkes played an 11 year old young Fred Ward in Captain Thunderbolt.
* Graham Shirley, Why Captain Thunderbolt Matters?, Fact Sheet, National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, 2010. Text:
Introduction
The feature Captain Thunderbolt is made with an originality and intelligence that separates it from most Australian features made to that time. Having a strong political undertone, it takes a stand on such issues as championing the underdog, mocking the colonial aristocracy, satirising xenophobia and racism, and exposing the blinkered brutality of power.
In 1951, at the start of a decade that saw fewer Australian-funded features produced than ever before, New Zealand-born Cecil Holmes started making Captain Thunderbolt, a bushranger film. The choice of subject was appropriate for a man who for most of his film career kicked against authority. The making of a bushranger film only years after the revoking of a forty-year ban on such films in New South Wales was itself a fresh departure for Australian filmmaking. Veteran Australian B movie-maker Rupert Kathner had released his Ned Kelly film, The Glenrowan Affair, in 1951 but that film was a ramshackle affair compared to Captain Thunderbolt. In place of Kathner’s one-dimensional sets, camerawork and lighting, Holmes’ film pulses with life.
Holmes and his director of photography, Ross Wood, kept finding new ways to add dimension to the film – camera moves at subtle moments, rushing along with the action, effective use of high and low angles, and noirish lighting. The only minus is an unevenness in characterisation accentuated by the fact that the film is now only available in condensed form. One can easily imagine how much better the film could have been if Holmes as a first-time feature director had been working with a more experienced producer and writer. That Holmes and Wood achieved what they did with a low budget is itself a revelation.
The Film is Reduced
When originally finished, Captain Thunderbolt ran for 69 minutes. It appears to have been this version that had its world premiere at Armidale, NSW, in June 1955, two years after a January 1953 preview in Sydney. Distributed by Ray Films, the film then appeared for a single week at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre in September 1956. By the time it was released in the UK by Archway Film Distributors in mid-1956, its duration had been shorn by 13 minutes, to 56 minutes. It was a 16 mm print of the Archway version that the then Australian Broadcasting Commission televised to Australian audiences in the 1960s. It was in much the same 16 mm form, now down to 53 minutes, that the film was acquired by the then National Film Archive of the National Library of Australia in the early 1970s. By this time the film’s original 69 minute, 35 mm version had long since disappeared.
The condensed version of Captain Thunderbolt turns its two central characters, Fred Ward (Grant Taylor) and Alan Blake (Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell) into little more than action figures, and the survival of a single 16 mm print to represent an originally 35 mm film has reduced its image quality by more than 50 per cent. Further distancing the audience from the original experience, the 16 mm version of Captain Thunderbolt is from a low-contrast print tailored for television, its lighter images replacing original 35 mm ones that were much more sharp and multi-hued, if the film’s 35 mm trailer is anything to go by.The fact that the film was released internationally in the 1950s means there is still a chance that the complete Captain Thunderbolt might still survive in its original 35 mm in at least one of the countries of its release. As part of its plan to find Captain Thunderbolt, the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) intends to contact overseas film archives to explore the possibility that at least one of them holds this film as it was intended to be seen.
The Trailer Re-appears
In 2010, on examining the contents of a can of assorted pieces of film, the NFSA had acquired several years before, image and sound negatives of a three-minute trailer for Captain Thunderbolt were found. After the NFSA’s motion picture laboratory produced a print of the trailer, staff were able to view images comparable to the clarity and depth of what Cecil Holmes and director of photography Ross Wood had achieved in the original film. Seeing the quality of these images has renewed the NFSA’s determination to launch a search to find the original 35 mm, 69 minute version of Captain Thunderbolt.
Background to the Film
Colin Scrimgeour, the New Zealand-born executive producer of Captain Thunderbolt, was one of the unsung heroes of early postwar Australian radio and film production. As radio’s ‘Uncle Scrim’ in the 1930s, he had been a folk hero for Depression era New Zealanders. In 1936 he became the controller of New Zealand’s National Broadcasting Service, but after clashing with NZ Prime Minister Peter Fraser, he was stood down in 1943. In November 1944 Scrimgeour and his family settled in Sydney, where he formed Associated Programs to produce radio drama, variety and science programs. In 1949, with theatrical entrepreneur Sir Benjamin Fuller, he set up Associated TV to make films for the anticipated start of TV broadcasting in Australia.
With Cecil Holmes as director and Ross Wood as cameraman, Scrimgeour produced two short films for US television, Safari (1951) and Terrific the Giant (1952), both featuring puppetry by Ray and Freda Griffiths. Holmes also made three colour cinema commercials, again using puppets, for the Wrigley company, then the documentary, Careers for Young Australians. After this, with Scrimgeour as executive producer and Holmes as director, they made Captain Thunderbolt.
Scrimgeour’s brief to Holmes was to make an Australian western for the international market. After reading Frank Clune’s bushranging book Wild Colonial Boys, Holmes became keen to make a film about the true story of bushranger Fred Ward, a.k.a. Captain Thunderbolt. Scrimgeour agreed, and the next day his business partner Ben Fuller wrote a cheque for the entire 15,000-pound Captain Thunderbolt budget. Holmes and scriptwriter Creswick Jenkinson (an Associated Programs writer who had also written for Associated TV’s short films) began work on the Captain Thunderbolt script. In 1976 Jenkinson recalled:
‘I wrote the first (draft) from what I dreamed up. Then Cecil and I discussed it and altered things. He didn’t argue with the dialogue very much because he was naturally thinking visually all the time … I did try to keep the dialogue of the bushrangers fairly sparse, because they would be the kind of characters who didn’t stand up and make great speeches. They just did things.’
On the script’s socio-political ingredients, Jenkinson continued:
‘Cecil wanted to get, as far as possible, a kind of socialist thing. Not as hard propaganda. What he really wanted to say was, ‘Here was a downtrodden country boy being hounded by the bloody bastards of the squattocracy and their minions, the law’. He wanted to have a go at the vested interests. But in fairness to Cecil, I think he would have sacrificed any of that if he thought he was buggering his film as a good entertainment movie.’
In the plotline developed by Jenkinson and Holmes, adventurer and horse thief Fred Ward (Grant Taylor) having been sentenced to hard labour, escapes from prison on Cockatoo Island, Sydney, and becomes a bushranger under the name Captain Thunderbolt, a name that soon achieves notoriety. After Thunderbolt ruffles the feathers of the New South Wales establishment by targeting wealthy squatters, Sergeant Mannix is assigned to capture him dead or alive. After a climactic gun battle, Mannix finds he has killed Thunderbolt’s friend Alan Blake (Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell), leaving Thunderbolt to escape. Mannix passes off Blake’s body as Thunderbolt’s but the rumour lingers that Thunderbolt is still alive.
Making the Film
Holmes confessed to pre-production nerves. This was his first feature film after several years of making documentaries in New Zealand and Australia. But he learned much during the course of making Captain Thunderbolt from his editor, Margaret Cardin, recently arrived from London after a substantial career in British features and television. Interviewed in 1976, Holmes recalled that just before the shoot, Cardin said to him:
‘“You know, in England, often editors are invited onto the set” – hinting, you know. And I said, “Alright” So she would be on the set frequently, giving me a few tips about a few angles and alternative, and things that would solve problems in the cutting room. And then when we got it all shot, she showed me a lot of things that I didn’t know about – overlays and so on, the problems of pacing and tempo, and how you build a scene.’
Years later Cardin confirmed being on set often to advise Holmes on his coverage, especially on continuity and ways to start and finish a scene. She found Holmes a talented filmmaker, ‘a good film man’ who spoke intelligently. Cardin also recalled Holmes sitting spellbound when she talked about her work in England with directors Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Anthony Asquith, and that he would ‘grasp any little thing’ in terms of film knowledge.
For director of photography Ross Wood, who since the late 1930s had worked on a mixture of documentaries, newsreels, cinema adverts and the occasional feature, the film presented the opportunity to capture his love of the Australian landscape by filming at the best times of the day and accentuating reality with a yellow-green filter. In 1974, Wood explained that this filter:
‘...brings your colour balance to what would normally be regarded as tonal range to the eye if you saw black and white. You correct the blue by knocking it down with the yellow, and this allows your greens to come up a bit more normal. The resulting polarisation used to be tremendous, because it used to lift your clouds up when you had a lot of cloud. Clouds were a big deal in those days.’
The film went on location to NSW’s New England region (Thunderbolt country) in early 1951. Noticing that Holmes was spending more time with the technicians than the actors, lead actor Grant Taylor drew him aside and said how a film director was just as important for an actor’s feedback as a live audience. Taylor also criticised the amount of dialogue in the script. Holmes recalled:
‘He couldn’t stand all this verbose dialogue, so he said, ‘Christ, I can do that, I don’t have to say it’. This was one of my lessons – the great thing is that the less that people say, the better.’
About the filming of a chase scene near Armidale, Ross Wood remembered:
‘They had about eight or ten policemen dressed in the costumes of those days. We had a great big straight run of two miles, then we had a left-hand turn. Of course when you’re shooting, time and distance go quickly. We had all these horses galloping behind us about six or eight feet back. When we hit this corner to the left, of course we slowed down a bit to go around the corner, and the horses just kept coming. I had horses’ heads right round the camera, right in the ute where we had the camera.’
The shoot was finished within six weeks, including location work and interiors at the Armidale Courthouse and in the tiny Supreme studio in North Sydney. Margaret Cardin was so anxious that the film reach its audience, she slept with its negative under her bed each night of the editing.
When the film was previewed in Sydney, the local film trade showed initial uninterest by not booking it. It was then that Ben Fuller began organising for the film’s overseas release. According to Cecil Holmes in his book One Man’s Way, Captain Thunderbolt earned back twice its budget from screenings in Britain (where it had a West End opening), the USA, Canada, Germany (where it was dubbed into German) and Spain (where it was dubbed into Spanish).
What was Cut?
The surviving version of Captain Thunderbolt shows clear evidence of what was cut between the film’s original 69 minutes and what it is possible to view today. Despite the fact that by 1951 lead actors Grant Taylor and Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell were experienced and capable film actors, their roles as Fred Ward and Alan Blake hardly register as fleshed-out characters at all, even taking into account writer Cres Jenkinson’s and actor Taylor’s determination to keep dialogue to a minimum. There are censorship cuts to two moments of violence, while the condensed film and production stills held by the NFSA provide clues of two deleted sequences that would have allowed these characters to ‘breathe’ a bit more. One is a dialogue scene between Ward and his childhood sweetheart Joan (Rosemary Miller), a character who otherwise doesn’t appear in the condensed version, and the other is a sequence in which the fugitive Blake visits the Indigenous woman, Maggie (Loretta Boutmy), a visit referred to in the film but otherwise surviving only as a still image.
Stills and people’s memories also indicate cut scenes of Ward, Blake, Maggie, Joan and the later policeman Dalton (John Fegan) as children. Cres Jenkinson later commented:
There was a lot more children’s stuff in it. It was terribly difficult to get child actors, and the kids tried hard. It sort-of slowed it down, and a lot of that was chopped out eventually. And they chopped the end off, because we sent the police up a bit at the end. We had a scene at the end in which Thunderbolt is standing at the grave of Thunderbolt, which was supposed to be the other bloke (Blake). And I think we (saw) a shot of the Colonial Secretary saying, “It is well-known that the New South Wales Police are an honourable and efficient body of men,” or something like that. I forget what the counter to that was, but it made them look like bastards. The police didn’t like any of this, and they (ensured that we) cut it out (before the film’s release). Yet the police were very co-operative in the making of the film. They recorded all the horse sound effects down at their (Redfern) barracks, and they supplied the pistols.
Production Team After ‘Thunderbolt’
For Holmes and Wood, who had next planned to make – but were now unable to make - what Holmes later called “a melodrama set in Sydney”, there were to be no more features under Colin Scrimgeour’s leadership. Scrimgeour disbanded Associated TV’s production crew after the lack of local release for Captain Thunderbolt (overseas returns would take longer to come back), and Holmes worked for six months in a tyre factory. In January 1953, Scrimgeour bought the lease of Sydney’s Pagewood studios from the British company Ealing Studios who, after solely funding three made-in-Australia films, had been unable to attract local co-production partners. Scrimgeour then earned enough money from renting Pagewood to Treasure Island Pictures for a feature film and television series Long John Silver to allow Cecil Holmes the use of the studio rent-free for the making of Holmes’ next feature film, Three in One (1957).
While Three in One proved to be a happy experience for Holmes, the story of Colin Scrimgeour in Australia did not have an upbeat ending. Holmes later commented:
‘Scrim, with Thunderbolt and all his other bits and pieces, was building up to present a stronger possible case when the day came, to get a television licence, to show Australian material. And he presented a beautiful case.’
Scrimgeour was a confident and well-supported applicant for one of Australia’s first television transmission licences when hearings into the awarding of the licences commenced in January 1955. But his political support ebbed away when a secret underwriting agreement was made public. This and adverse publicity surrounding dredged-up news of his wartime conflict with the New Zealand government appears to have cost him any hope he might have had in winning a TV broadcasting licence. Further blows were the collapse of further Pagewood activities by Treasure Island Pictures and the death of Scrimgeour’s financial partner, Sir Ben Fuller. Following the liquidation of Associated TV, its Pagewood studio lease was sold to the car manufacturer, General Motors Holden, who used the former studio complex for storage. Colin Scrimgeour died in New Zealand on 16 January 1987.
Cecil Holmes, having made a strong and confident film with Three in One, found it impossible to raise money for further features and concentrated on documentaries for the rest of his career. He died in 1994. Since 1995 the Australian Directors Guild has awarded the Cecil Holmes Award.
Ross Wood’s other accomplished work as a cinematographer included The Back of Beyond (John Heyer, 1954) and King of the Coral Sea (Lee Robinson, 1954). He founded his own studio, Ross Wood Productions, which produced award-winning commercials and provided technical facilities to other filmmakers. He died in 1980. The Australian Cinematographers Society’s Ross Wood Snr Memorial Award is named in his honour.
Sources
Publications
- Cecil Holmes, One Man’s Way, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria, 1986.
- Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900-1977, Oxford University Press, Australian Film Institute, Melbourne, 1980.
- Graham Shirley & Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First 80 Years, Currency Press, Sydney, 1989.
- Dictionary of New Zealand Biography – Entries on Cecil Holmes and Colin Scrimgeour.
Oral Histories
- Margaret Cardin: Interviewed by Graham Shirley, 5 January 1980 – NFSA title #216864
- Cecil Holmes: Interviewed by Graham Shirley & Ray Edmondson, 7 November 1976 – NFSA title #376622
- Creswick Jenkinson: Interviewed by Graham Shirley, 6 August 1976 – NFSA title #434037
- Colin Scrimgeour: Letter tape to Graham Shirley, 5 October 1981.
- Ross Wood: Interviewed by Graham Shirley, 20 December 1974, 9 January 1975 – NFSA title #375311
Websites
- Australian Cinematographers Society – The Ross Wood Snr Memorial Award.
- Australian Directors Guild – The Cecil Holmes Award.
* Anthony Lambert, The search for Captain Thunderbolt: An interview with David Donaldson, Studies in Australian Cinema, 5(1), 2011.
* David Donaldson, Captain Thunderbolt film, Facebook site, 2011.
2014
* David Donaldson, Looking for Captain Thunderbolt (Cecil Holmes 1953), Senses of Cinema, 2014.
2015
* Obituary of Loretta Butcher nee Boutmy, Sydney Morning Herald, July 2015:
BUTCHER, Loretta. 26.03.1929 - 14.07.2015. Singer, Dancer, Actress, Teacher, Wife and Mother. Late of Bondi. Beloved wife of Arnold (deceased). Devoted mother of Jason. Loving grandmother of Judith, Victoria and Marianne. Sister to Vic, Bob and Wayne. Aged 86 years.
According to film historian David Donaldson (pers. comm. 7 January 2024):
....Much more important was Loretta Boutmy as ‘Alan Blake’s’ friend and partner ‘Maggie’. Inter-racial marriage in a film in 1951! Relevant sequences are not in the present print but show in the 8x10 stills held in the NFSA. I believe this to be the first serious characterisation of an Indigenous person in any Australian film.
[NB: The original Frederick Ward's long term partner was the Aboriginal Mary Ann Bugg, with whom he bore children and who also supposedly engaged in bushranging activities with him. She is often cited as Australia's first or second female bushranger. Within the film script this was changed to Alan Blake’s love interest and wife. Much of that appears to have been deleted from circulating prints of the film.]
2016
* Andrew Couzens, Cinematic visions of Australian colonial authority in Captain Thunderbolt (1953), Robbery Under Arms (1957) and Eureka Stockade (1949), Studies In Australasian Cinema, 10(2), June 2016, 1-13.
* Adrian Danks, Hard Labour: Cecil Holme's Captain Thunderbolt, Senses of Cinema, 94, April 2020.
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2022
* Dave Anderson, Gareth Reynold, and Will Anderson, Captain Thunderbolt and Mary Ann Bugg, The Dollop, live in Brisbane, 8 June 2022, duration: 96.28 minutes. [Live audio / podcast]
Acknowledgements
This article was compiled with the assistance of David Donaldson, Graham Shirley, Ray Edmondson, the staff of the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, the Czech Consulate-General Office, Sydney, and the Czech Film Archive, Prague.
| Strike 1912 | For the Term of His Natural Life 1927 | Metropolis 1927 | Captain Thunderbolt 1951 + Copyright & access issues + References | Film Posters |
Last updated: 8 April 2024
Michael Organ, Australia
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