Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company
Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company was an Australian film company formed in 1912 by two brothers, Archie and Colin Fraser. It operated as a film exchange, importing movies from overseas, and production house, making shorts, features and documentaries.[1][2]
Early financial support came from Giuseppe Borsalino, an Italian businessman who invested in Italian films and used Fraser Films as an Australia outlet for his company.[3] Among the filmmakers who worked for them were Franklyn Barrett, Raymond Longford and Alfred Rolfe.[4]
Despite some early successes, the company suffered from pressure exerted by the "combine" of Australasian Films and decline of production from Europe due to World War I where Fraser brought many of their films. The company wound up in 1918.[5]
Select credits
- Whale Hunting in Jarvis Bay (1913) – documentary
- A Blue Gum Romance (1913) – feature
- The Life of a Jackeroo (1913) – feature
- The Silence of Dean Maitland (1914) – feature
- We'll Take her Children in amongst our own (1915) – short
- The Day (1914) – feature
- Ma Hogan's New Boarder (1915) – short
- The Sunny South or The Whirlwind of Fate (1915) – feature
- Murphy of Anzac (1916) – feature
References
- ^ "Advertising". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 16 May 1914. p. 2. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
- ^ "FRASER FILM EXCHANGE". The Referee. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 23 December 1914. p. 15. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press 1989 p 34-35
- ^ "The Lure of the Movies—A Mammoth Enterprise". The Sunday Times. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 1 March 1914. p. 2 Supplement: SUNDAY TIMES GLOBE PICTORIAL. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 39