Director: Philip Noyce
Noyce's film explores the era of cinema news, the 1950s in Australia, before television took over broadcasting such things. Different production companies would compete to film the best footage; in the film this is represented by the rivalry between Cinetone and Movietone. The movie incorporates actual archival footage of the historical events in the story (most of which are fact). There are also sections of the film photographed in black-and-white, and others in colour.
The film captures the era of Australia rather beautifully. We see not just the machinations of the news making companies, but the social and historical issues of the time are presented as well. Bill Hunter, one of Australia's greatest actors (familiar to non-Australians from his performances in Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) is unsurprisingly good as the main character Len Maguire, a cameraman who watches the world change around him, leaving him behind. The rest of the cast are made up of other wonderful Australian actors who all wear the 1950s well.
A very good Australian film about a topic beloved by film: the media.
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