32-603: Forty Thousand Horsemen (aka 40,000 Horsemen ) is a 1940 Australian war film directed by Charles Chauvel . The film tells the story of the Australian Light Horse (mounted rifleman as distinct from cavalry) which operated in the desert at the Sinai and Palestine campaign during World War I. It follows the adventures of three rowdy heroes in fighting and romance. The film culminates at the Battle of Beersheba which
64-637: A boy and starts spying on the Germans. Three members of the Australian Lighthorse, Red, Larry and Jim, are enjoying themselves (including a game of two-up ) on leave in Cairo, when called to fight the Turks. They take part in several battles including the march to Ogratina and the Battle of Romani . Red is separated from the others after one battle and has his life saved by Juliet, who he thinks
96-688: A film based on the exploits of the Light Horse. It was originally to be titled Thunder Over the Desert . To raise funds for a movie, Chauvel shot a £5,000 "teaser" sequence, consisting of a cavalry charge based around the Battle of Beersheba. The cost for this was paid for by Herc McIntyre , managing director of Universal Pictures in Australia who was a long-time friend and associate of Chauvel's. Filming of this sequence took place on 1 February 1938 on
128-414: A hut. Jim manages to rejoin his unit in time to participate in the charge of the Light Horse at the Battle of Beersheba , and stops Von Schiller before he detonates the explosives. The Germans and Turks are defeated and a wounded Red is reunited with Juliet. Chauvel was the nephew of Sir Harry Chauvel , commander of the Australian Light Horse during the Sinai and Palestine campaign and had long planned
160-513: 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
192-459: A screen test. Chauvel described him as "a cross between Slim Summerville and Jame Stewart, and has a variety of droll yet natural humour." Joe Valli reprised his Scottish soldier from Pat Hanna 's Digger Shows. Taylor was paid £15 a week, Rafferty £10 a week. Betty Bryant was a discovery of Elsa Chauvel's. She beat out Pat Firman for the role. Shooting began in May 1940. Interiors were shot in
224-682: 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
256-546: 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
288-575: 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 ,
320-418: Is an Arab boy. Red is reunited with his friends and they arrive at an Arab village. He meets Juliet and realises she was the boy who saved his life. They begin a romance. The Battle of Gaza takes place; Jim and Larry are mortally wounded and Red is captured. He is sent to Beersheba to work as slave labour and discovers the town is wired with explosives. Juliet rescues him and they spend the night together in
352-521: 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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#1732779886543384-482: Is reputedly "the last successful cavalry charge in history". The film was clearly a propaganda weapon, to aid in recruitment and lift the pride of Australians at home during World War II. It was one of the most successful Australian movies of its day. It was later remade in 1987 as The Lighthorsemen . In 1916 Jerusalem, German troops led by Hauptmann Von Schiller arrest French wine seller Paul Rouget for spying and hang him. His daughter Juliet goes into hiding dressed as
416-532: 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
448-614: 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
480-821: 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
512-482: The Cronulla sand dunes using a cavalry regiment of the Australian Light Horse , which had been performing in the New South Wales sesquicentenary celebrations. The charge was filmed by a four-camera unit, composed of Frank Hurley , Tasman Higgins , Bert Nicholas and John Heyer . A cavalryman was injured during the shoot. In 1939 Chauvel and McIntyre formed Famous Films Ltd to make the movie. Chauvel used
544-523: 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
576-588: The Cinesound studios at Bondi which Chauvel leased from Cinesound Productions for a three-month period. A second unit was used to build a desert village at Cronulla. The battle scenes were shot there in July and August, using the 1st Light Horse (Machine Gun) Regiment and the 30th Battalion . After the film's preview, the Commonwealth film censor , Creswell O'Reilly , requested three major cuts – display of
608-757: 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
640-717: The dancing girls in a cabaret, the love scene between Red and Juliette in a hut, and alleged cruelty to horses during the final charge. This threatened Chauvel's ability to export the film and screen it in Victoria. Eventually the Minister for Customs , Eric Harrison , overruled the decision and allowed the movie to be screened uncut. The movie was also passed uncut in Victoria. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive. The critic from The Sydney Morning Herald claimed that "there have been some good Australian films before this one, but Forty Thousand Horsemen has every right to be regarded as
672-561: 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
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#1732779886543704-522: 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
736-489: The first really great Australian picture." Filmink magazine later wrote "the film was Taylor's. There had been other notable leading men in Australian films – Snowy Baker, Errol Flynn – but it was really Taylor who was the first tough Aussie star type, that would be so exemplified by Rod Taylor, Jack Thompson, Mel Gibson and Bryan Brown." It was a massive success at the box office, grossing £10,000 within its first three weeks of release, enabling Famous Features Ltd to buy out
768-503: The footage to raise the budget, which was originally announced at £25,000. £5,000 was provided by McIntyre and £10,000 from Hoyts . The New South Wales government agreed to guarantee a bank overdraft of £15,000 although they did not invest directly in the movie. The movie marked the first lead role for Grant Taylor, who rose to prominence in Dad Rudd, MP (1940). It was the first sizeable role for Chips Rafferty , who had been cast after
800-538: The interest of the New South Wales government for £15,000. The film was seen by 287,000 in Sydney alone during a ten-week run on first release. Female lead Betty Bryant was sent to Singapore for the film's premiere in June 1941. While there she met MGM executive Maurice Silverstein, who she would later marry, leading to her retirement from acting. The movie was released in the US by Sherman S. Krellberg for Monogram Pictures and
832-475: The men themselves" said The Washington Post . It earned over £40,000 in the UK. In 1954 the film was cut down to 50 minutes for screening on US television. 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 is noted for writing and directing
864-409: 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
896-670: 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
928-504: 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
960-496: 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,
992-550: 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
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1024-418: Was very well received. "Yippee for brawling, boisterous entertainment", wrote the critic for The New York Times , praising Betty Bryant ("whatever it is that leaps across the celluloid barrier, she has") although claiming the story was "foolish". The Los Angeles Times said the film was "conventional in formula but enlivened by stirring battle scenes – and new faces." "Contains all the color and lusty vigor of
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