Typhoon Treasure

Typhoon Treasure is a 1938 Australian adventure film directed by Noel Monkman and starring Campbell Copelin, Gwen Munro, and Joe Valli. It is set in New Guinea although shot on the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland coast. It was Monkman's first dramatic feature film after several years making documentaries.

Typhoon Treasure
Directed byNoel Monkman
Written byJohn P. McLeod
Based onstory by Noel Monkman
Produced byNoel Monkman
StarringCampbell Copelin
Gwen Munro
Joe Valli
CinematographyGeorge Malcolm
Harry Malcolm
Bruce A. Cummings (underwater)
Production
company
Commonwealth Film Laboratories
Distributed byUnited Artists (Aust)
Release dates
  • September 1938 (1938-09) (Australia)
  • 1943 (1943) (UK)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Premise

Alan Richards is the sole survivor of a pearling lugger which has been shipwrecked on Pakema Reef during a typhoon. He sets out to recover some pearls which went missing in the wreck, crossing through the jungle and fighting headhunters.

Cast

Production

Development

In the mid-1930s, Noel Monkman was working with F. W. Thring making documentaries. Thring offered to back Monkman in making a dramatic feature, and provided him with a writer, John P. McLeod.

In June 1935 Monkman announced he and Alan Mill had bought the film rights to a novel, A Recipe in Rubber by Robert Stock.[1] It would be filmed as The Gloved Hand.[2]

By August 1935 Monkma announced he would make Typhoon Treasure rather than A Recipe in Rubber. Joe Valli signed on to play a lead role that month.[3]

Thring planned to make the movie after visiting Hollywood in 1936[4] but died that year.

Cinesound Productions offered to buy the script but Monkman elected to make it himself. He formed a syndicate with Bruce Cummings and Commonwealth Laboratories, who provided the crew.[5][6]

Shooting

Filming commenced June 1937. The film was shot mostly on location in North Queensland, on the Great Barrier Reef, the Yorke Peninsula and Torres Strait. Joe Valli started filming in June but Gwen Munro did not arrive until October.[7][8]

Torres Strait Islander Utan had a key role. [9]

After the location work was completed, some studio scenes were filmed at Commonwealth Film Laboratories' studio at the Sydney Showground.[10]

Music was collated from popular classics including Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Death of crew member

While filming underwater scenes on Green Island in October, one of the divers, James Bell, died of myocarditis. Bruce Cummings, who was in charge of underwater photography, went down in a diving cylinder, followed a few minutes later by Bell, who was his assistant. A few minutes later Cummings noticed something was wrong with Bell. When they brought him to the surface he was dead.[11][12] An inquest was later held which found no negligence.[13][14]

Release

Reviews generally found the story formulaic but enjoyed the direction and settings.[15]

It was sold to America[16] and a shortened version of the film screened in England in 1943. In the 1950s rights to the film were bought by George Malcolm who cut it down to 40 minutes and reissued it as The Perils of Pakema Reef.[10]

References
  1. "PICTURES AND PERSONALITIES". The Mercury. Tasmania, Australia. 29 June 1935. p. 17. Retrieved 13 May 2020 – via Trove.
  2. "Monkman, Mill Buy "Recipe For Rubber."". Everyones. Vol. 15. 12 June 1935. p. 9.
  3. "Joe Valli Signed for Monkman Film". Everyones. 31 August 1935. p. 4.
  4. "Entertainments GOOD VAUDEVILLE". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 28 May 1936. p. 14. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  5. "AUSTRALIAN FILM". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 28 May 1937. p. 3. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  6. ""TYPHOON TREASURE."". The Cairns Post. Qld.: National Library of Australia. 25 June 1937. p. 8. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  7. "TALKIE STAR ARRIVES". The Cairns Post. Qld.: National Library of Australia. 6 October 1937. p. 6. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  8. "JOE VALLI IS BACK". The Cairns Post. Qld.: National Library of Australia. 26 June 1937. p. 6. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  9. Vagg, Stephen (25 May 2020). "The A to Z of Non-White Aussie Movies and TV in White Australia". Filmink.
  10. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 182.
  11. "DIVER DEAD WHEN BROUGHT UP". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 29 October 1937. p. 30. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  12. "DEATH OF DIVER". The Cairns Post. Qld.: National Library of Australia. 28 October 1937. p. 6. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  13. "DIVER'S COLLAPSE". The Cairns Post. Qld.: National Library of Australia. 24 December 1937. p. 8. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  14. "Death of Film Diver". The Cairns Post. Qld.: National Library of Australia. 5 January 1938. p. 6. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  15. "FILM REVIEWS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 31 October 1938. p. 6. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  16. "AUSTRALIAN FILM FOR AMERICAN RELEASE". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 15 June 1939. p. 9. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
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