Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South
'Marvellous Melbourne' is a compilation of a series of films that Higgins and Spencer made about aspects of everyday life in the city and premiered at Wirth’s Olympia in Melbourne on 22 November 1910. The footage, with its camera angles, static shots, dollies and steady pans across the city, illustrates the beauty and many attractions of the city of Melbourne and is an important visual record of Melbourne’s history. According to the National Film and Sound Archive database, this is the "oldest surviving complete documentary film on Melbourne". Cozens Spencer, a Londoner, moved to Australia in 1905 and successfully exhibited films throughout the country. In 1908, Spencer formed a production unit (Spencers Pictures) with the cameraman Ernest Higgins, and made a number of short actuality films, this being one example. Spencer later went on to produce feature films, some with director Raymond Longford. Source: Australian Screen Online.
From the archive
Full Title: Marvellous Melbourne - Queen City of the South An early documentary film about the City of Melbourne, then the interim capital city of Australia. Made in 1910. The director Charles Cozens Spencer was famous for his bushranger films: "Captain Starlight" (Robbery Under Arms), "Captain Midgnight - The Bush King", "The Life and Adventures of John Vane, The Notorious Australian Bushranger", "Dan Morgan, The Terror of the Australian Bush" (Mad Dog Morgan). He also made the 1915 Film "The Shepherd of the Southern Cross." He introduced Australia's greatest silent film-maker, Raymond Longford, to the business. He died in September 1930 (he shot himself after going on a killing spree in Canada). Special contents of this edition copyright 2010 Shane I Sullivan. Permission to use these items is granted under creative commons licence.
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- Director
- Charles Cozens Spencer
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