Part drama, part video history, Newsfront(1978) is a quality Australian film which captures a lost era in our film industry’s history.

Using a combination of black and white, colour and genuine newsreel footage, the film tells the story of Australia’s newsreel cameramen in the late 1940s and 1950s. It portrays their battle with various dangers and rivals to provide news coverage for cinema goers in the days before television, and their struggle for survival after its arrival in 1956.

At the same time the film follows the lives of two of the cameramen, focussing on two brothers, Len and Frank Maguire (Bill Hunter and Gerard Kennedy), their wives, partners and colleagues. The differences between the two brothers highlight the dilemmas faced by the cameramen (and indeed the whole Australian film industry) of the time. One brother remains loyal to the newsreel company which gave him his first break, whilst the other takes his chances on more exciting, higher-risk projects.

The film provides an insightful glimpse of this period of Australian history. For those who might remember 1950s Australia there are many flashes of nostalgia – the Redex rally, the Melbourne Olympics and so on – and for younger viewers a light history lesson.

The directorial debut of Phil Noyce and with a host of now-familiar Australian faces including Bryan Brown, Newsfront is an enduring Classic.

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He Died With a Felafel in His Hand
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