The long shadow of 1927

Abstract

From an archivist's viewpoint, the 1927 Royal Commission has a particular significance which its participants could hardly have imagined at the time. It coincidentally marked the end of the silent film era, from which the overwhelming majority of productions are now lost, and the beginning of the sound era, from which the survival rate is far better. Most of the films mentioned in the Commission's deliberations, therefore, can no longer be viewed. Despite their hopes, the Commission's work would not advance the fortunes of so many of the significant industry figures who gave evidence and placed their hopes in it. Instead they would soon, effectively, disappear from the scene as the ‘talkie’ era took over. Australia's biggest silent epic, For the Term of His Natural Life, was released in 1927. The creation and the fate of this mammoth production, directed by American Norman Dawn, is in many ways a metaphor for the Commission's deliberations and ultimate outcome: the cultural cringe which accompanied the eclipse of Australian talent by overseas practitioners, the slow contraction of Australian production, and the destruction of its silent heritage. The realities of film survival and preservation are discussed, and the fortuitous recovery and reconstruction of Term for a contemporary audience is traced. Ironically its re-emergence serves to highlight what has been lost. This is an archivist's reflection on the long shadow of 1927.