Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

The Hungry Miles (1955)

A video which normally appears on this page did not load because the Flash plug-in was not found on your computer. You can download and install the free Flash plug-in then view the video. Or you can view the same video as a downloadable MP4 file without installing the Flash plug-in.

Email a link to this page
To:
CC:
Subject:
Body:
clip 1930s and out of work

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

This clip re-creates scenes of 1930s Depression-era life and the hardships experienced by the city’s poor and unemployed. In a dramatised scene, a father and son busk for money in the streets. A sign at the boy’s feet reads 'Father out of work. Spare a coin. Thank you’. Their music fades out and is replaced by an orchestral score. Children play in the dust surrounding tin-roofed houses where families live in poverty. A man sits at a table with an empty plate and spoon. Men queue for unemployment benefits and walk along the waterfront.

Curator’s notes

by Poppy De Souza

The barefooted young boy busking in the street and the children running through backyards in this clip are used by the filmmakers to place the unemployment of the 1930s within a broader context of family relationships and social welfare. The men in the dole queue at the end of the clip were waterside workers and the nature of their hard lives is clearly inscribed in the lines on their faces. The filmmakers’ strong visual language and aesthetic sensibility contribute to the emotional impact of these scenes and the commanding voice of Leonard Teale makes us believe their struggles are real.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer 1930s and out of work from the documentary The Hungry Miles 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
hungrymi2_pr.mp4 Large: 21.4MB High Optimised for full-screen display on a fast computer.
hungrymi2_bb.mp4 Medium: 10.1MB 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: