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Abstract
The 1927–1928 Commonwealth Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia followed a series of public inquiries into the Australian cinema. One agenda of the Commission was to examine the dominance of American movies in Australian film exhibition. By concentrating on how the Commission explored this issue, as it related to the exhibition and distribution of Hollywood movies in Australia, here I will consider the extent to which Australian exhibition has been guided by and dependent on American movies. With the Commission established, in part, to explore the accusation of an American combine ruling the exhibition industry, and stunting the local production sector, the real question was whether the Commissioners would be persuaded to make recommendations to wrest the powers from America, and consequently redirect the local exhibition industry's dependence on Hollywood movies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Stephen Gaunson teaches cinema studies in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. His research explores film history through the subjects of adaptation, genre and exhibition. His current project surveys the promotion and exhibition of contemporary history films in the global distribution market. He is the author of The Ned Kelly Films (Intellect, 2013) and numerous articles and book chapters.
Notes on contributor
Stephen Gaunson teaches cinema studies in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. His research explores film history through the subjects of adaptation, genre and exhibition. His current project surveys the promotion and exhibition of contemporary history films in the global distribution market. He is the author of The Ned Kelly Films (Intellect, 2013) and numerous articles and book chapters.