Ken G. Hall

An Australian biopic about the life of pioneering aviator Charles "Smithy" Kingsford-Smith. The film is unusually frank about the controversies that occasionally dogged him. PG Taylor and Billy Hughes both make appearances playing themselves.

In a small coastal town, young clergyman Cyril Maitland is involved in a tragedy that could ruin his rising career. After secretly impregnating his lover, Alma Lee, a violent struggle ensues with her enraged father, leaving the older man dead. Maitland denies responsibility and allows his close friend, Dr. Henry Everard, to be found guilty on false evidence and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Two decades later, as Maitland rises to prominence in the church, a bitter Everard is finally released, forcing the church leader to confront his decades of silence and guilt as his old friend seeks ultimate revenge.

A down-and-out clerk happens upon a bag of money. Unknown to him, the money is all counterfeit, forcing the innocent man to become involved with gangsters, as well as federal agents.

Filmed at Liverpool Military Camp (Sydney) in 1941 and using national servicemen to lend authenticity, this film was one of many sponsored by the federal government during World War II to boost armed forces recruitment. The film also features recognisable actors of the day including Grant Taylor, Shirley Ann Richards and John Fleeting, who had appeared for director Ken G Hall in feataure films made by the Sydney-based Cinesound Productions.

A young forestry graduate, Jim Thornton, is involved in a race between timber companies to fill a major contract. Jim has joined the crew of a genial timber baron, Burbridge, and foils attempts by a rival, Blake, to sabotage their work. J. Alan Kenyon's special effects are the highlights of the film with comic relief provided by Joe Valli as a Scottish timber-train driver amorously pursued by a shrill-voiced maid of the Burbridge's country house.

This iconic and Academy Award-winning newsreel shot by Damien Parer contains some of the most recognised images of Australian troops in the Second World War.

The movie opens with the title card "bushland symphony", followed by sounds and vision of the Australian bush. The subsequent action involves a series of various subplots centered on a "selection" in South West Queensland owned by Dad Rudd.

This Damien Parer/Ken Hall newsreel was shot at a time remembered as the dark days to Australia's north, with the Japanese still strong and threatening Port Moresby with air raids. The air battle for Port Moresby was a critical time for Australia. From this larger battle the newsreel selects a number of incidents for the visual record, as it looks at the damage to buildings in Port Moresby, the crash landing of an American bomber which had lost its undercarriage, and the sinking of the merchant vessel, the Macdhui, in Port Moresby harbour.