Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company explained

Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company was an Australian film company formed in 1912 by two brothers, Archie and Colin Fraser. It operated as a film exchange, importing movies from overseas, and production house, making shorts, features and documentaries.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Early financial support came from Giuseppe Borsalino, an Italian businessman who invested in Italian films and used Fraser Films as an Australia outlet for his company.^[4] Among the filmmakers who worked for them were Franklyn Barrett, Raymond Longford and Alfred Rolfe.^[5]

Despite some early successes, the company suffered from pressure exerted by the "combine" of Australasian Films and decline of production from Europe due to World War I where Fraser brought many of their films. The company had a bankruptcy hearing in 1918.^{[6] [7] [8]}

It was wound up in 1922.^[9] The company was formally liquidated in 1938.^[10]

Select credits

• Whale Hunting in Jarvis Bay (1913) – documentary
• A Blue Gum Romance (1913) – feature
• The Life of a Jackeroo (1913) – feature
• The Silence of Dean Maitland (1914) – feature
• We'll Take her Children in amongst our own (1915) – short
• The Day (1914) – feature
• Ma Hogan's New Boarder (1915) – short
• The Unknown (1915)
• The Sunny South or The Whirlwind of Fate (1915) – feature
• Murphy of Anzac (1916) – feature
• film of Eugene Aram^[11]

External links

• Archive and Colin Fraser at National Film and Sound Archive

Notes and References

1. News: Advertising. . . Perth . 16 May 1914 . 10 April 2012 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
2. News: Fraser Film Exchange. . The Referee. Sydney . 23 December 1914 . 9 November 2014 . 15 . National Library of Australia.
3. News: WHO'S WHO IN THE MOVIES . Table Talk . 3179 . Victoria, Australia . 11 April 1929 . 1 May 2024 . 28 . National Library of Australia.
4. Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press 1989 p 34-35
5. News: The Lure of the Movies—A Mammoth Enterprise. . . Sydney . 1 March 1914 . 10 December 2014 . 2 Supplement: SUNDAY TIMES GLOBE PICTORIAL . National Library of Australia.
6. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 39
7. News: IN BANKRUPTCY. . . 25,261 . New South Wales, Australia . 21 December 1918 . 1 May 2024 . 9 . National Library of Australia.
8. News: TUESDAY, JANUARY 7. . . 25,273 . New South Wales, Australia . 6 January 1919 . 1 May 2024 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
9. News: EXTRAORDINARY RESOLUTION. . . 151 . New South Wales, Australia . 27 October 1922 . 1 May 2024 . 5801 . National Library of Australia.
10. News: COMPANIES ACT, 1936 (SECTION 323 (4)). . . 171 . New South Wales, Australia . 25 November 1938 . 1 May 2024 . 4510 . National Library of Australia.
11. News: Production Of Moving Pictures--In America And Australia. . . XCVIII . 2555 . New South Wales, Australia . 18 December 1918 . 21 November 2023 . 20 . National Library of Australia.