Below the Surface (1938 film)

Below the Surface
Below the Surface
Directed by	Rupert Kathner
Screenplay by	Rupert Kathner
Story by	Stan Tolhurst
Produced by	Rupert Kathner
Starring	Stan Tolhurst
Cinematography	Tasman Higgins
Edited by	Stan Tolhurst
Production; company	Australian Cinema Entertainments
Release date	1938;
Running time	55 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English

Below the Surface is a 1938 adventure film set in the coal region of Newcastle, Australia. Only part of the movie survives.

Plot

Two miners compete for an important coal contract. One of them attempts to sabotage the other but fails.

Cast

Stan Tolhurst
Phyllis Reilly
Neil Carlton
Jimmy McMahon
Lawrence Taylor
Reg King
Billy Baker
Leonard Clarke
Frank Baker
Billy Crooks

Production

The main investor in the movie was a prominent music house in Sydney. The film was shot on location in Cronulla, Sydney and Newcastle, with studio work done at Pagewood Studios.^[1]^[2] Kather and Tolhurt built a mine set themselves. Shooting took place from November 1937 to February 1938.^[3]

Release

Like Kathner's first movie, Phantom Gold (1937), it was refused to be considered eligible for registration under the New South Wales Film Quota Act on the grounds of poor quality.^[3]

The film was never released to cinemas, the only one of Kather's movies to suffer this fate.^[4]

In February 1938 Australian Cinema Entertainments announced plans to make four more features that year for £40,000, the first which was to be Diamonds in the Rough.^[5] This did not eventuate. Tolhurst did revive the name with his company, ACE Films, in the late 1940s.^[6]

References

^ "MINERS' SONS". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 January 1938. p. 11. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "AUSTRALIAN FILM". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 December 1937. p. 9. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 184
^ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989, p151
^ "AUSTRALIAN FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 February 1938. p. 8. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Ambitious film project by Australians". The Australian Women's Weekly. 27 September 1947. p. 40. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.

External links

Below the Surface at IMDb
Below the Surface^{[permanent dead link‍]} at National Film and Sound Archive
Below the Surface at Oz Movies

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[1] "MINERS' SONS". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 January 1938. p. 11. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.

[2] "AUSTRALIAN FILM". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 December 1937. p. 9. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.

[pike-3] Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 184

[4] Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989, p151

[5] "AUSTRALIAN FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 February 1938. p. 8. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.

[6] "Ambitious film project by Australians". The Australian Women's Weekly. 27 September 1947. p. 40. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via National Library of Australia.

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