This article examines whether, and in what way, anti-communism was a factor in the slow development of an Australian film industry in the 1950s and early 1960s and in the kind of film culture developed in Australia, particularly through film festivals. In particular it examines the activities of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) towards left and liberal filmmakers and film lovers. It briefly examines the effect of anti-communism on the struggle for Australian content by Actors' Equity in the early years of television.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CunninghamRoutt (eds) 1989, ‘Fillums Became Films’, in BertrandIna (ed.) Cinema in Australia: A Documentary History, UNSW Press, Sydney.
2.
CurthoysAnn1986, ‘The Getting of Television: Dilemmas in Ownership, Control and Culture, 1941–1956’, in Ann Curthoys and John Merritt, Better Dead Than Red: Australia's First Cold War, 1945–1959, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
3.
DockerJohn1984, ‘Culture, Society and the Communist Party’, in CurthoysAnnMerrittJohn (eds), Australia's First Cold War: 1945–1953, Vol One, George Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
4.
DonaldsonDavid2003, Personal communication to author, 22 May.
5.
EldridgeDavid N.2000, ‘Dear Owen: The CIA, Luigi Luraschi and Hollywood, 1953’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, vol. 20, no. 2.
6.
HolmesCecil1986, One Man's Way, Penguin, Ringwood.
7.
LashmarPaulOliverJames1998, Britain's Secret Propaganda War, Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill.
8.
McKnightDavid1994, Australia's Spies and Their Secrets, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
9.
McKnightDavid1998, ‘Broadcasting and the Enemy Within: Political Surveillance and the ABC, 1951–64’, Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, no. 8, pp. 35–48.
10.
MerewetherCharles1985 (1981), ‘Australian Left Film History’, in MoranAlbertO'ReganTom (eds), An Australian Film Reader, Currency Press, Sydney.
11.
MoranAlbert1991, Projecting Australia: Government Film Since 1945, Currency Press, Sydney.
12.
SaundersFrances Stonor1999, Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War, Granta Books, London.
13.
ShirleyGrahamAdamsBrian1983Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, Sydney.
14.
TuranKenneth2002, Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made, University of California Press, Berkeley.
15.
UrbanGeorge1997, Radio Free Europe and the Pursuit of Democracy, Yale University Press, New York.
