Titles curated by Paul Byrnes
260 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 next
S (continued)
September feature film – 2007
September is an engrossing film about the economic co-dependency between blacks and whites, made intensely dramatic and personal through the story of a friendship.
Service in the Sun sponsored film – 1957
In 1956, members of the American and Hawaiian surf lifesaving teams demonstrate the latest surfing techniques on Bondi Beach.
Shine feature film – 1996
This film catapulted both director Scott Hicks and actor Geoffrey Rush onto the international stage.
The Shiralee feature film – 1957
Arguably there are two major themes in Australian cinema – the problem of the landscape, and the related problem of masculinity – and both are the subject of The Shiralee.
Short Changed feature film – 1985
The script is beautifully weighted so that the political context of the film does not inhibit the personal journey of the characters.
The Silence of Dean Maitland feature film – 1934
Renowned filmmaker Ken G Hall was concerned that this film would incite religious anger, but it was a smash hit instead.
The Singer and the Dancer short feature – 1977
Ambitious and confidently made, The Singer and the Dancer was Gillian Armstrong’s first attempt at a longer form drama after making a couple of shorts.
Smiley feature film – 1956
A mischievous boy in a small town tries to reform himself, in order to earn a bicycle.
Smiley Gets a Gun feature film – 1958
A nine-year-old country boy tries to give up mischief in order to win a much-desired rifle.
Smithy feature film – 1946
Smithy was Charles 'Bud’ Tingwell’s first film. With characteristic modesty, he later said he won the part as a control tower officer because he supplied his own uniform.
Smoky Dawson and the Singing Bullet radio – 1955
Smoky Dawson rescues his young friend Billy from two villains in this classic episode of the Smoky Dawson radio show.
Soft Fruit feature film – 1999
This comedy, drenched in grief and family conflict, would be a tragedy if it were not so funny and affectionate.
Somersault feature film – 2004
Abbie Cornish was 21 years old when this film was made and the integrity and vulnerability of her performance is astonishing.
Sons of Matthew feature film – 1949
Sons of Matthew is an extremely vivid depiction of the heroic conquest of the land by Australia’s white settlers.
The Spirit of Gallipoli short feature – 1928
A high-spirited young man discovers the benefits of army discipline in this amateur film from 1928.
Splendid Fellows feature film – 1934
Famous Australian aviator, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, and his famous plane, have cameo roles in this comedy adventure.
Spotswood feature film – 1992
The film is charming, funny, eccentric and affectionate towards its characters, most of whom work in a run-down moccasin factory.
The Squatter’s Daughter feature film – 1933
Flammable nitrate film fed the fires in the spectacular bushfire finale to Ken G Hall’s The Squatter’s Daughter. The fires rapidly got out of control during filming but no one was hurt.
Starstruck feature film – 1982
Gillian Armstrong’s Starstruck is an energetic rock musical comedy, with a kitsch aesthetic very much influenced by the style of early ’80s video clips.
Stir feature film – 1980
This revealing film about prison life has a violent tone and very bad language, but this helps give it credibility.
Stork feature film – 1971
Stork was important in a business sense: its success lead to the formation of Hexagon Productions, which became a major force in film.
Storm Boy feature film – 1976
Seamlessly woven into this story about one boy’s love of a pelican, are such themes as race relations, ecology, and family breakdown.
The Story of the Kelly Gang feature film – 1906
Audiences of the time loved this film’s boldness and, with its live sound effects and narration, to them it didn’t seem silent.
A Street to Die feature film – 1985
A Vietnam veteran and his wife fight for legal recognition of the damage done to him by the defoliant Agent Orange.
Strike Me Lucky feature film – 1934
The Holocaust made vaudeville star Roy Rene’s Jewish caricatures unacceptable in later years, but this wasn’t the case in 1934.
Suburban Mayhem feature film – 2006
Katrina, played astonishingly well by Emily Barclay, controls every man in her small kingdom with an overpowering sexuality.
The Sum of Us feature film – 1994
The Sum of Us presents three generations of characters, all of whom seek the same thing – a meaningful and long-lasting partnership in love.
Sunday Too Far Away feature film – 1975
The defining elements of a great 1970s Australian film are all here – empty, confronting landscapes, hard-drinking Aussie blokes, and a sense of 'the great Australian loneliness’.
The Sundowners feature film – 1960
The Sundowners is remarkable for the number of Australian actors it showcases. Chips Rafferty plays Quinlan, the contractor at an outback shearing station.
Sweetie feature film – 1989
Ambiguity is filmmaker Jane Campion’s preferred method in Sweetie, and it works superbly as a destabilised narrative because of it.
T
The Tale of Ruby Rose feature film – 1987
In 1933 Ruby Rose leaves her isolated home in the Tasmanian highlands to rediscover her past.
Tall Timbers feature film – 1937
The finale, in which a whole hillside of trees are felled, was shot as a miniature in the studio after repeated attempts on location.
Ten Canoes feature film – 2006
The jumping-off point for Ten Canoes was a 1930s photo of Indigenous people taken by anthropologist Donald Thomson.
They’re a Weird Mob feature film – 1966
An Italian sports journalist arrives in Australia to find his cousin’s new magazine for migrant Italians has folded. He soon gets a job as a builder’s labourer, learns to talk and drink like an Australian, and falls in love with an Australian girl.
Thoroughbred feature film – 1936
The ending of this film led to allegations of plagiarism, because it was almost identical to the 1934 film, Broadway Bill.
Three Dollars feature film – 2005
Australians have decided to live in an economy and not a society’, were the words on a banner that partly inspired this film.
A Ticket in Tatts feature film – 1934
George Wallace helps a champion horse to avoid crooks and win a big race.
Tom White feature film – 2004
Colin Friels’s performance in the title role is one of the best of his career, and it is a key factor behind the film’s artistic success.
The Tracker feature film – 2002
A series of paintings by South Australian artist Peter Coad are used throughout The Tracker in place of visual depictions of violence.
Travelling North feature film – 1987
Casting Leo McKern was a coup because he almost never accepted roles in his place of birth once he’d become successful in England.
The Trespassers feature film – 1976
Many films reflected the sexual revolution of the 1970s but few male directors explored what women wanted from it. This one does.
Two Hands feature film – 1999
Desperate for a swim, Jimmy (Heath Ledger) buries an envelope containing $10,000 in the sand at Bondi beach…
U
Uncivilised feature film – 1936
Uncivilised is basically an Australian Tarzan, but with an English singer, Dennis Hoey, playing the king of the jungle.
V
Vacant Possession feature film – 1994
Margot Nash’s ambitious feature debut has a strong political basis, but it’s ultimately a very personal story.
W
Wake in Fright feature film – 1971
A young schoolteacher loses all his money in an outback two-up game, while en route to Sydney. In the next two days he loses a lot more – self-respect, inhibitions, almost his life.
Walkabout feature film – 1970
A 16-year-old English girl and her 8-year-old brother are stranded in the desert, after their father shoots himself. They are rescued by a young tribal Aborigine.
Walk Into Paradise feature film – 1956
For the third time with director Lee Robinson, Chips Rafferty played his version of an Australian hero – rugged, self-reliant, resourceful, an unpolished rough diamond.
We of the Never Never feature film – 1982
Race relations is the theme that is constantly lurking in this story about one woman’s life on an outback station.
West feature film – 2007
Pete and Jerry are like the ‘dole-bludgers’ and ‘welfare cheats’ found in current affairs programs; West makes them human.
Winter of Our Dreams feature film – 1981
It was surprising that this uncompromising film about a junkie prostitute’s failure to find love, would work so well with audiences.
