New Australian Cinema
Sources and Parallels in American and British Film

This book traces the development of Australian cinema through the influence of Hollywood and of British films of the forties and fifties.

Brian McFarlane (Author), Geoff Mayer (Author)

9780521387682, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 June 1992

276 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

The institutions and products of the Australian film industry have been extensively surveyed, yet few analyses consider the sources of the film revival that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. This book represents a body of thinking about Australian cinema that asks where the origins of films lie. The book begins by tracing the indebtedness of Australian cinema to the classical narrative style of Hollywood film-making, with its firm grasp of melodrama. It continues by comparing the problems faced by the 'high' British cinema of the 1940s and 1950s with those faced by Australia in the 1970s and 1980s in the attempts by both countries to establish national film industries. New Australian Cinema will increase the scope of the discussion about the revival of Australian cinema and help us to make cultural sense of the films themselves.

Preface
Part I: 1. Introduction
Part II: 2. American Classical Cinema and the melodramatic tradition
3. The melodrama of isolation and defeat: Australian cinema since Picnic at Hanging Rock
Part III: 4. Two booms: 'High' British cinema and new Australian cinema
5. The films: Britain (1940–1960) and Australia (1970–1990)
Part IV: 6. Observations and conclusions
Selected bibliography on Australian cinema
Index.

Subject Areas: Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]