Titles tagged with ‘1940s’
53 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year
1940s
Dyer, Frederick Simpson: Milkshakes and Bomb Shelter home movie – c1940
This footage offers a beautiful glimpse of suburban Australia during the Second World War through the everyday recreational activities of the Dyer family.
Electric Stove Cinema Advertisement: Banish Drudgery advertisement – c1940
The emphasis on economy is the main selling point of this electric range.
The Golden West documentary – 1940
This film was made by William George Alma, a member of the Victorian Amateur Cine Society who was predominantly a magician and collector of material about magic.
Holmes, Mr WGA: Locals Cool Off at the Weir, Theodore home movie – c1940
Many of the segments in this home movie compilation concern various farming or agricultural activities, including cotton harvesting and beekeeping.
Homes for Crippled Children home movie – c1940
This film is an important document of how children affected by polio and other crippling diseases were treated in the 1940s.
Dyer, Frederick Simpson: Children’s Party and Beach home movie – 1941
Amateur home movie maker Frederick Simpson Dyer made a number of movies covering family events such as outings, holidays and birthdays.
Dyer, Frederick Simpson: Cinema and its Workings home movie – 1941
This footage reveals the excitement of going to the cinema at a time when the moving image was not all pervasive, as it is today.
The Flying Doctor sponsored film – 1941
Through the work of the Australian Aerial Medical Service and their 'mantle of safety’, no-one in Australia is further than four hours from medical assistance.
Ken Howard Calls the Melbourne Cup radio – 1941
A 1941 recording of famous sports broadcaster Ken Howard calling the Melbourne Cup.
Kraft Cheddar Cheese Cinema Advertisement: Food for Thought advertisement – c1941
Kraft cleverly positions its processed cheese as a product which can contribute to a household’s ability to increase its food value.
Poisoned Daggers sponsored film – c1941
The evocative title lends a sense of drama to the message being conveyed: that the mosquito’s bite is a threat not just to the health of the community, but also the war effort.
Couch: Our Women of the VAD home movie – 1943
This amateur production provides an almost behind-the-scenes view of the women as they went through their VAD training.
Dame Enid Lyons: Maiden Speech radio – 1943
Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in Australia’s federal parliament, reads her maiden speech for radio broadcast.
Kolynos Dental Cream Advertisement: Next Please advertisement – c1944
This advertisement employs a clever use of voice-over that moves the narration into direct dialogue with its characters and audience.
Senator Dorothy Tangney: Maiden Speech radio – 1944
A recording of the first woman elected to the Australian Senate reading her maiden speech.
Swanston St Shamble; Two Day Jag music – 1944
The first published recordings of Graeme Bell’s Dixieland Band made in Melbourne in 1944.
Disturber of the Peace sponsored film – c1945
A short government announcement advising citizens to consider each other’s need for sleep and to keep noise levels low when others are sleeping.
Kolynos Dental Cream Advertisement: Kisses advertisement – c1945
This advertisement is an early example of associating a product with sexual or social desirability.
Movietone Special: Peace: Australia Celebrates newsreel – 1945
This Movietone News special edition newsreel marking the nationwide celebrations at the end of the Second World War includes the iconic image of the 'dancing man’.
ALP Cinema Advertisement: In the Wake of the Storm advertisement – 1946
This cinema ad for the 1946 federal election encourages Australians to stay with the Labor Party, which has successfully led the country through the end of the Second World War.
ALP: Frank Forde, Election 1946 newsreel – 1946
Labor Deputy Prime Minister Frank Forde appeals to his Capricornia electorate to vote for him and Prime Minister Chifley in the September 1946 federal election.
City in the Sun documentary – 1946
Post-war austerity is nowhere to be seen in this romanticised look at the streets of Sydney in the summer of 1946.
The Constant Threat sponsored film – 1946
This short film promotes the importance of having a free chest x-ray, provided by the NSW Department of Public Health, to test for tuberculosis.
Liberal Party Cinema Advertisement: The Golden Age advertisement – 1946
This Liberal Party cinema advertisement for the 1946 federal election proposes that life for ordinary people under the incumbent Labor government is by no means as good as it should be.
Persil Washing Powder: Their Day advertisement – 1946
This washing powder’s particular magic is its ‘oxygen dazzle’ which allows the powder to lather easily without the need for rubbing and scrubbing.
Rinso Washing Powder: Easy Does It advertisement – 1946
This Rinso advertisement from 1946 features Bill Kerr with Joy Nichols, Dan Agar – all actors and radio stars of the era.
Beautiful Melbourne sponsored film – 1947
This film, put together by the Brotherhood of St Laurence in 1947, increased public awareness of the dire state of those living in slum housing in Melbourne.
Kraft Cheddar Cheese Cinema Advertisement: Your Daily Diet advertisement – c1947
This Kraft advertisement examines the value of three food groups: protective foods, energy foods and body builders.
Land Short of People documentary – 1947
A narrative of white settlement pioneering against the odds – the tyranny of distance, the harsh conditions, and the massive landscapes.
Aborigines of the Sea Coast documentary – 1948
A valuable ethnographic record of a 1948 expedition to Arnhem Land.
Green Heritage sponsored film – c1948
Green Heritage is a documentary aimed at viewers who care about subterranean clover, methods of pasture irrigation and the preferred grass for livestock.
Searchlight on Japan documentary – c1948
Made by Ken G Hall, Searchlight on Japan focuses on Japan under Allied occupation at the end of the Second World War.
Skyway Express documentary – c1948
One of a series of travelogues produced in the late 1940s when very few Australians had travelled overseas, each is about flying into an 'exotic’ location.
Snowy Hydro - Where Giants Meet sponsored film – 1948
The film spends a lot of time singing the praises of the TD-24 bulldozer, but it’s also interesting as a recruitment tool for genuine high country bushmen.
These Are Our Children sponsored film – 1948
Through the lives of fictional siblings John and Molly, this film is an indictment of the social injustice facing Melbourne’s inner-city poor.
Vegemite Cinema Advertisement: Sister Knows Best advertisement – c1948
As well as being a product that the whole family can enjoy, Vegemite was marketed as having economical benefit.
Antarctica 1948 documentary – 1949
A record of the operations of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, November 1947–April 1948.
Behind the Big Top documentary – 1949
The Wirth Brothers Circus, one of Australia’s largest and most successful, survived another 15 years after this film was made.
Duff, Paul: Papua New Guinea home movie – c1949
This is a unique record of Australia’s interests in the natural resources of our Asia-Pacific neighbours.
A Home of their Own sponsored film – 1949
A Home of their Own contrasts Ted and Mary’s overcrowded, inner-city housing with the 'Smith family’, who are lucky enough to live on a new suburban estate.
Into the Straight feature film – 1949
Australian horse breeder WJ Curzon hires British trainer Hugh Duncan and his playboy son Paul. Father and son are both attracted to JW’s daughter, June.
Liberal Party Cinema Advertisement: The House that You Built advertisement – 1949
This Liberal Party cinema advertisement for the 1949 federal election presents a choice between the 'socialist’ and 'free democratic’ ways of life, as offered by the ALP and Liberal Party respectively.
Theme From ‘Blue Hills’ radio – 1949
This is the theme from the long-running ABC radio serial Blue Hills (1949–76).
Thrill of the Surf documentary – 1949
This short Cinesound documentary from Ken G Hall boasts beautifully filmed visuals, with surfers seen in silhouette and sunlight bouncing off the water.
1950s
Division of Radiophysics documentary – 1950
This public relations documentary outlines research undertaken by the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics during the 1940s.
A Place to Live sponsored film – 1950
This Realist Film Unit documentary illustrates that the builders of homes belonging to the wealthy themselves live across the river in poor conditions.
1980s
A Hard God television program – 1980
A Hard God, based on the play of the same name, is the story of a working-class Irish-Australian Catholic family in Sydney in the 1940s.
Painting the Town: A Film About Yosl Bergner documentary – 1987
Bergner was one of the first contemporary artists to depict the plight of urban Aboriginal people and parallel their dispossession with that of European Jews.
Thanks Girls and Goodbye documentary – 1988
Thanks Girls and Goodbye is not just a 'feel good’ nostalgia film. It explores how the Women’s Land Army was exploited during the Second World War.
Come In Spinner television program – 1989
Lisa Harrow, Kerry Armstrong and Rebecca Gibney feature in the story of three very different women in wartime.The series won a slew of AFI awards.
2000s
National Treasures – Bradman’s Bats documentary – 2004
Donald Bradman’s bats are a reminder of how this cricket legend played himself into the record books, earning the status of Australian icon.
Canberra Files, The documentary – 2006
Sir Robert Menzies filmed his own wartime tour in 1941, including meeting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at his home.
Australia feature film – 2008
Three outsiders – an aristocrat, a stockman and a vulnerable child – are set against the malevolent forces of greedy neighbours, a world war and assimilationist policy.
