Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

A Mountain Goes to Sea (1943)

play Please note: this clip is silent
Email a link to this page
To:
CC:
Subject:
Body:
clip
  • 1
Shipbuilders

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

Shipbuilders work at the Whyalla shipyards for Australia’s war effort. A woman shakes out a broom over a veranda with the ship visible to the left. Men walk through the streets to or from work. A pastor addresses the gathered workers where the finished ship awaits launch. He is filmed against the backdrop of a cloudy sky.

Curator’s notes

by Poppy De Souza

Although the soundtrack to this film no longer survives, this clip conveys a strong sense of patriotism and pride in hard work through its imagery. The pastor and many of the workers are filmed from a low angle, giving the impression of height and aligning their shipbuilding efforts with the 'gigantic things’ that the opening title of the film says the nation will achieve. Chauvel ennobles the workers, filming them backlit by late afternoon sunlight and in beautifully lit and carefully staged close-ups. In all his wartime documentaries for the DOI, workers on the domestic frontline are never lost in the great machinery of war but presented as vital parts. In what looks more like a sequence from a 1930s MGM feature film than a documentary, the priest delivers his service against a backdrop of picturesque clouds. For other examples of Christianity featuring in Commonwealth propaganda during the Second World War, see Kokoda Front Line! (1942) and Give Us This Day (1943).

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer Shipbuilders from the documentary A Mountain Goes to Sea as a high quality video download.

To play the downloadable video, you need QuickTime 7.0, VLC, or similar.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before downloading the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

This clip is available in the following configurations:

File nameSizeQualitySuitability
mountsea1_pr.mp4 Large: 16.5MB High Optimised for full-screen display on a fast computer.
mountsea1_bb.mp4 Medium: 7.8MB Medium Can be displayed full screen. Also suitable for video iPods.

Right-click on the links above to download video files to your computer.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer this clip in an embeddable format for personal or non-commercial educational use in full form on your own website or your own blog.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before embedding the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

Copy and paste the following code into your own web page to embed this clip: