AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'War films are not an obvious starting point to discuss Australia's diasporic cinema. Nevertheless, portrayals of the enemy draw attention to the nationalizing discourses which serve to maintain an assimilationist model of the nation. While neither German nor Turkish identities figure prominently in Australia's contemporary multicultural cinema, these national 'types' play a more significant role in Australian visual culture produced in the first part of the twentieth century. German, and to a lesser extent Turkish, villains feature in numerous films produced in Australia during both world wars. In this chapter, we argue that in the short term Australian film portrayals of the 'the cruel Hun' and 'noble Turk' encouraged glorification of soldiers in Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), while in the long term these perpetuated a more nationalistic construction of the Anzac legend' (Publication abstract)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
- Forty Thousand Horsemen 1940 single work film/TV
- If the Huns Came to Melbourne 1916 single work film/TV
- Australia's Peril 1917 single work film/TV
- Wings of Destiny 1940 single work film/TV
- The Power and the Glory 1941 single work film/TV
- Daughter of the East 1924 single work film/TV