The Intimate Stranger (unfinished film)

The Intimate Stranger was a proposed Australian feature film from director Roy Darling. The film was never completed although some scenes were shot and the cast included some of the country's finest actors. It was billed as a "psychological drama".[1]

The Intimate Stranger
Directed byRoy Darling
Written byWilliam Lynch
Based onnovel by William Lynch
Produced byWilliam Lynch
Starring
CinematographyCarl Kyser
Production
company
Endeavour Film Productions Ltd
Release date
1948 (intended)
Running time
incomplete
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Cast

Production

The movie was financed by Endeavour Film Productions Ltd, created by a group of businessmen, with the intention to produce one feature and four shorts a year. It was based on a novel by William Lynch and was advertised as:

Completely unlike anything attempted before... the most interesting film project yet undertaken in this country... the characters are real people, with the authentic ring of the present day. The story unfolds against a background of the more Bohemian, sections of Kings Cross and the idyllic seclusion of the Pacific coast near Palm Beach.[2]

Leading radio actor John Saul was to play the lead, Paul Garner, "a strangely complex personality" who gets involved with an "alluring model", Kitty (Georgie Sterling).[2] The rest of the cast was mostly taken from popular radio actors, including Sydney Wheeler and Lloyd Lamble. Screen tests for young actors were done at Supreme Sound Studios in February 1947.[3] June Dally-Watkins also worked on the movie doing make up.[4]

The movie was made during a time of industrial turmoil in the Australian film industry, with Actors Equity fighting Ealing Studios, Columbia Pictures and Charles Chauvel over minimum weekly wages for actors. The union sought to increase this from £18 a week to £20. Producers of The Intimate Stranger had their pay rates approved by Equity.[5] Members of the cast were allowed to continue with stage and/or radio work provided it did not interfere with the film's production schedule.[6]

Filming began in April 1947 in North Sydney,[7] with William Constable as art designer. However the movie ran out of money and was never completed. Endeavour Films was soon wound up.[8]

References
  1. "Australia in Films". The Daily News. Perth. 7 December 1946. p. 13 Edition: FIRST EDITION. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Cinema: Garden Notes". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas. 30 November 1946. p. 3 Supplement: The Mercury Magazine. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 February 1947. p. 34. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "No title". The Central Queensland Herald. Rockhampton, Qld. 20 February 1947. p. 24. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "TALKS TO BE HELD ON RATES FOR FILM PLAYERS". The Argus. Melbourne. 19 November 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "TO CONFER ON ACTORS' PAY". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 November 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Sydney's Talking About—". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 April 1947. p. 12. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 January 1948. p. 12. Retrieved 19 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
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