Southern Cross Feature Film Company was a short lived film production company that made some of Australia's most famous silent films, mostly directed by Raymond Longford. One of the key figures behind it was Sir David Gordon.[1]
The company was incorporated in Adelaide in 1917 and announced they would make five dramas and three comedies over the next 12 months.[2] Another report said they hoped to make "six or eight five reelers" over twelve months.[3] One hundred shares were offered at £1 a share.[4] Their first picture was to be The Black Opal but this does not seem to have been made.[5]
They offered cash for Australian stories.[6]
According to Raymond Longford, they initially secured the serves of American director, Mr Walter May Plank, but he left Australia and Longford was called in instead.[7] Their first feature was the successful The Woman Suffers (1918).[8] which was followed by The Sentimental Bloke. In 1920 the company paid out a dividend of a shilling per share.[9]
The company was a subscriber to Carroll-Baker Australian Productions,[10] which made movies starring Snowy Baker, and had a five-twelfths interest in Southern Cross Picture Productions.[11] Southern Cross Picture Productions Ltd was incorporated in 1920 with a value of £37,600 and directors including E. J. Carroll, Snowy Baker and D. Gordon.[12]
The company was at its peak in 1921 with the successful release of The Sentimental Bloke and Ginger Mick.[13]
In 1923 there was a trial involving a man who falsely pretended to be from the company to abduct a young woman.[14]
In 1925, E. J. Carroll suggested the company make a film adaptation of C. J. Dennis's The Rose of Spadgers at £1,000-£2,000 but after consideration the company directors elected not to do this.[15] By that stage the company was reporting consistent losses, due in part to its inability to recoup costs incurred in Great Britain and the US.[16] It appears to have wound up shortly afterwards.