40-533: Jedda , released in the UK as Jedda the Uncivilised , is a 1955 Australian film written, produced and directed by Charles Chauvel . His last film, it is notable for being the first to star two Aboriginal actors, Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth (later known as Rosalie Kunoth-Monks) in the leading roles. It was also the first Australian feature film to be shot in colour. Jedda is often seen as an influential film in
80-504: A long postscript to the story of the mutiny, the Chauvels went to Pitcairn Island and shot interesting footage of the Bounty descendants, spending three months on the island. He also included footage of bare-breasted Tahitian dancers which caused a temporary problem with the censors. The documentary parts were later edited out and used as promotional material for the 1935 Hollywood film about
120-728: A member of the Warhiti tribe "to sing songs and burn sticks to prevent any unwanted rainfalls during the screening. He decorated the theatre for the opening with pandanus , grass mats and Aboriginal artefacts. Large crowds gathered along Smith Street to catch a glimpse of the film's stars Ngarla Kunoth and Robert Tudawali were permitted to sit in the balcony with the Northern Territory Administrator Frank Wise and his wife. The film then opened in Sydney in May. Its commercial reception
160-662: A number of films in Australia in the 1920s. Chauvel decided to make the project in the Northern Territory. With his wife Elsa he made an extensive survey of the Territory later that year with the assistance of the Commonwealth government. He undertook colour tests, intending to make Australia's first colour movie. The Chauvels then wrote a screenplay, originally entitled The Northern Territory Story . The lead Aboriginal character
200-423: A river until Marbuck reaches his tribe. The tribal council declares that Marbuck has committed a serious crime by bringing Jedda to them, because she is not of the right skin group . They sing his death song as punishment. Marbuck defies the elders and takes Jedda into an area of steep cliffs and canyons, taboo lands. Driven insane by the death song, he pulls Jedda with him over a tall cliff, and both perish. Joe,
240-655: A script by Charles and Elsa Chauvel. The outbreak of war meant that Chauvel turned to war-themed films, making Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940), a tribute to the Australian Light Horse Brigade in Palestine in World War I, in the Cronulla sand dunes . It was both a popular and critical success and was credited with boosting morale. It also launched the career of actor Chips Rafferty . Chauvel then focused on making
280-534: A series of propaganda shorts for the Australian war effort including Soldiers Without Uniform (1942). Chauvel attempt to repeat his Horseman success with The Rats of Tobruk in 1944. It was not as successful. After the war he made a film about a pioneer family in Queensland, Sons of Matthew (1949), drawing on his own family history In 1955, Chauvel released Jedda , perhaps his best known film. Jedda
320-569: Is a story of an Aboriginal baby girl raised by a white station owner and kept in ignorance of traditional ways and the Aboriginal man who carries her off, even though this is a forbidden "wrong way" marriage, and brings tragedy to both of them. Jedda was filmed on location in difficult conditions and is considered among Chauvel's best works. It was the first Australian feature film shot in colour, and had to be developed overseas as there were no colour processing facilities in Australia. For Jedda ,
360-459: Is forbidden by Sarah. When Jedda grows into a young woman, she becomes curious about an Aboriginal man from the bush named Marbuck. This tall stranger arouses strong feelings in her. She is lured to his camp one night by a song. Marbuck abducts her and sets off back to his tribal land, through crocodile -infested swamps. Joe, a half-caste stockman in love with Jedda, tracks the two for several days. They travel across high, rocky country, and down
400-546: Is noted for writing and directing the films Forty Thousand Horsemen in 1940 and Jedda in 1955. His wife, Elsa Chauvel , was a frequent collaborator on his filmmaking projects. Charles Edward Chauvel was born on 7 October 1897 in Warwick, Queensland , the son of James Allan Chauvel and his wife Susan Isabella (née Barnes), pioneer farmers in the Mutdapilly area. He was the nephew of General Sir Harry Chauvel , Commander of
440-517: Is now used as a private residence). Chauvel followed Baker to Hollywood in 1922, at his own expense, and spent some time as a jack of all trades, including working as an extra , a lighting technician , a publicist , and a stunt double . The films he worked on included Strangers of the Night (1923). Back in Australia after about a year, Chauvel obtained finance from Queensland businessmen and friends to make his first film The Moth of Moonbi . It
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#1733092662686480-518: Is struggling to run an outback cattle station, the modern heroine is an expert aviator. In 1936 he made Uncivilised , a "jungle story" filmed in Cape York , in Far North Queensland , Australia. Aimed at the U.S. market, it is the story of an upper class "girl-reporter" investigating the white leader of an Aboriginal tribe. That year also saw the release of Rangle River (1936), based on
520-569: Is the representative and administrative body for the Arrernte Lands and is part of the Central Land Council . Tourism is important to the economy of Alice Springs and surrounding communities. "Aranda" is a simplified, Australian English approximation of the traditional pronunciation of the name of Arrernte [ˈarəɳ͡ɖa] . The ancestors of the Arrernte all spoke one or more of
560-659: The Australian Light Horse and later the Desert Mounted Corps in Palestine during World War I. His father, a grazier , at 53 also enlisted to serve in Palestine and Sinai in World War I. The Chauvels were descended from a French Huguenot family who fled France for England in 1685, and soon established a tradition of serving in the British army. The Australian Chauvels descended from a Charles Chauvel who retired from
600-626: The Central Australia region of the Northern Territory . Many still speak one of the various Arrernte dialects . Some Arrernte live in other areas far from their homeland, including the major Australian cities and overseas. Arrernte spirituality focuses on the landscape and The Dreaming . Altjira is the creator being of the Inapertwa that became all living creatures. Tjurunga are objects of religious significance. The Arrernte Council
640-728: The Chauvel Award was created in 1992 to celebrate those who have made an impact on the Australian film industry . It is awarded annually at the Gold Coast Film Festival . Chauvel Cinema , an art-house cinema in the Sydney suburb of Paddington , is named after him. Chauvel was posthumously inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, Charles Chauvel
680-455: The Northern Territory of Australia. After her mother dies giving birth to her, the child is brought to Sarah McMann, the wife of the station boss. Sarah has recently lost her own newborn to illness. She at first intends to give the baby to one of the Aboriginal women who work on the station, but then raises Jedda as her own, teaching her European ways and separating her from other Aboriginal people. Jedda wants to learn about her own culture, but
720-594: The Arrernte people. The eastern MacDonnell Ranges was formed by the Ayepe-arenye , while the western portion of the ranges was formed by Ntyarlke . The Arrernte's lands, according to Norman Tindale 's estimate, encompass some 47,000 square miles (120,000 km ). Of their overall territory he wrote that they were: At Mount Gosse, Mount Zeil, and Mount Heughlin; on the Finke River to Idracowra, Blood Creek, Macumba, Mount Dare, and Andado, and some distance east into
760-520: The Chauvels sought out Aboriginal people for the lead roles; in lead actor Robert Tudawali they found someone with great natural ability. Both these films were made in a period when the Australian film industry had virtually collapsed, unable to compete with imported films. After this, Chauvel turned to television, making the ABC series Australian Walkabout (1958) which, like the radio series that preceded it, covered interesting locations in Australia, and
800-722: The Indian Army to New South Wales in 1839 and was a pioneer in the New England region. Chauvel was educated at the Normanby State School (now the Mutdapilly State School ), The Southport School and Ipswich Grammar School in Queensland. After leaving school, he worked on Queensland properties, and on his family property when his father was at war, before studying commercial art and taking drama classes in Sydney . He
840-476: The development of Australian cinema and setting a new standard for future Australian films. It won more international attention than previous Australian films during a time when Hollywood films were dominating Australian cinema. Chauvel was nominated for the Golden Palm Award at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival but lost to Delbert Mann for Marty . Jedda is an Aboriginal girl born on a cattle station in
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#1733092662686880-555: The film was made in Harrisville near Brisbane, enlisting the locals as extras and using locations around his family property "Summerlands", near the edge of town. While making Greenhide he met Elsa May Wilcox (professional name Elsa Sylvaney), an actress, whom he married in 1927. After their marriage she traveled with him and assisted him on all his films. Both these silent films were released in 1926 and were reasonably successful in Australia. Unfortunately Chauvel could not arrange for
920-709: The film was stored in cool caves to protect it from deteriorating. By mid 1952 the film had incurred expenses of £24,673. The last roll of negative was destroyed in a plane crash on its way for developing in England. Chauvel re-shot these lost scenes at Kanangra Walls in the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves west of Sydney . Cave scenes were filmed in the River Cave, Diamond Cave, Imperial Cave, and Mud Tunnels at Jenolan. Editing and sound recording were completed in London. The music
960-462: The lead. Chauvel's regular backers Universal Pictures did not want to invest in the movie but Chauvel managed to secure finance from various businessmen, including Mainguard Australia Ltd. It took the Chauvels 18 months to find a suitable filming location. Filming started in May 1952, when the unit left Sydney for Darwin. By this stage the lead role of Jedda had still yet to be cast, but filming acting sequences did not begin until July. Robert Tudawali
1000-455: The many Arrernte dialects in the Arrernte group of languages . Today several are completely or nearly extinct, but some (especially Eastern or Central Arrernte) are widely spoken and taught in schools. The Arrernte also had a highly developed sign language . Arrernte religion and cultural life were documented thoroughly from the late nineteenth century by the Lutheran missionary Carl Strehlow,
1040-409: The mutiny . In 1935, Chauvel won a Commonwealth Government competition for Heritage which gave a panoramic view of Australian history. It begins with a character from the earliest days of white settlement (1788), following his struggles, his loves and his marriage, then skips to the modern generation, where a romance between descendants of the original characters completes a circle. The modern hero
1080-462: The narrator, says her spirit has joined "the great mother of the world, in the dreaming time of tomorrow". Charles Chauvel said the original inspiration for the film came from a meeting he had in Hollywood in early 1950 with Merian C. Cooper . Cooper encouraged the director to make a film exploiting Australian locations. Chauvel was further encouraged along these lines by Bess Meredyth , who had made
1120-599: The release of his silent movies in Hollywood because of the transition to sound. Chauvel returned to Australia and worked as a cinema manager during the Depression . In 1933 he made his first talkie : In the Wake of the Bounty starring Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian before Flynn went on to Hollywood. The film mixed re-enactments with documentary, and focused not so much on the mutiny itself as on its consequences. To provide
1160-469: The scenes were shot on the Coolibah Station in the Northern Territory , as well as at Standley Chasm , Ormiston Gorge and Mary River in the north. The production process was laborious, as the colour technique used, Gevacolor , could only be processed in England. The film stock was fragile and heat-sensitive, which was a problem in the tropical climate of the Northern Territory. During production,
1200-559: The seminal Australian anthropologists Walter Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen and later by T. G. H. Strehlow. The Arrernte men worked with Strehlow to document their songs and ceremonies between 1932 and 1974. Arrernte oral history discusses the region of Alice Springs ( Mparntwe ) and its environs being shaped by primordial caterpillar -beings known as Ayepe-arenye ( Hyles livornicoides ), Ntyarlke ( Hippotion celerio ), and Utnerrengatye ( Coenotes eremophilae ) which were ancestral to
1240-504: Was a romantic melodramas exploring a theme of the decadent city vs the authentic country. The Moth of Moonbi is a country girl who flutters to the city lights, loses her fortune, but eventually returns home and finds love with her father's trusty stockman . The film was profitable enough for Chauvel to raise funds for a second film. In Greenhide a city girl struggles to cope on a cattle station and gradually finds love with her polar opposite, an extremely taciturn bushman . Like Moonbi
Jedda - Misplaced Pages Continue
1280-490: Was also played on the BBC . He died unexpectedly of coronary vascular disease on 11 November 1959, less than a month after Errol Flynn , whom he cast in In the Wake of the Bounty . According to Ken G. Hall , Chauvel had left a message asking to speak to Hall on the day he died, and left an estate worth £32,000. In honour of the contribution made to filmmaking by Elsa and Charles Chauvel,
1320-460: Was an Aboriginal man from Melville Island , the largest island in the Tiwi Islands group. Ngarla Kunoth (Rosalie Kunoth-Monks) was an Arrernte and Anmatyerre woman, born at Utopia cattle station , north east of Alice Springs ; she was selected over seven other actors screen tested, and was cast by July. The shoot took five months to complete, plus post-production work done in Sydney. Most of
1360-622: Was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as an "Influential Artist". Chauvel announced a number of projects over the years that were not made, including: Arrernte people The Arrernte ( / ˈ ʌ r ə n d ə / ) people , sometimes referred to as the Aranda , Arunta or Arrarnta , are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the Arrernte lands , at Mparntwe ( Alice Springs ) and surrounding areas of
1400-539: Was fascinated by films and pestered a friend, showman Reginald "Snowy" Baker , to give him work as a production assistant; usually, he was the man in charge of the horses. Chauvel worked on The Shadow of Lightning Ridge (1920) and The Jackeroo of Coolabong (1920) with Baker; he also assisted on Robbery Under Arms (1920) He designed the St Aidan's Church of England in Mutdapilly in 1921 (the church closed in 1974 and
1440-522: Was hired by the BBC to make the TV series Walkabout . Before he could resume work on his feature projects he died on 11 November 1959. The making of the film inspired the play Burst of Summer . Charles Chauvel (filmmaker) Charles Edward Chauvel OBE (7 October 1897 – 11 November 1959) was an Australian filmmaker, producer, actor and screenwriter and nephew of Australian army General Sir Harry Chauvel . He
1480-516: Was released in the UK as Jedda the Uncivilised . Some time after the film was completed and released in locations around the world, the film in Gevacolor was found to have faded from ageing. In 1972 the film was reproduced from original tri-separations found in London. This was Charles Chauvel's last feature film. He had intended to adapt Kay Glasson Taylor 's novel The Wars of the Outer March , but
1520-494: Was reportedly inspired by the warrior Nemarluk , who killed three Japanese pearlers in the 1930s and died in prison. In 1951 Chauvel formed Chauvel Productions Ltd to make the film, with a notional capital of £500,000. It went public in August 1951, offering 240,000 shares. Chauvel later stated that he turned down an American offer of $ 100,000 (£44,000) to finance the film because it was conditional upon Linda Darnell being cast in
1560-428: Was solid rather than sensational: Charles Chauvel Productions Ltd received £17,915 from the film in May and June 1955. The company's name was changed to Jedda Ltd to help exploit the film. In December 1956 Jedda Ltd reported a profit of £50,454 for the year to 30 June, reducing the debit balance in the production account to £69,697. The film had been successful in Australia but performed disappointingly overseas. The film
1600-548: Was written by Isador Goodman . Elsa Chauvel, the director's wife, replaced large parts of Goodman's score with old-fashioned commercial "mood" music. The Chauvels celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary during filming. Wason Byers, who had a small role, was arrested for stealing over £1,000 worth of cattle. The film had its world premiere on 3 January 1955 at the Star Theatre in Darwin. The theatre's manager Tom Harris arranged for
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