This slice of Australian film history has just started on @BBCFOUR. Might livetweet via #StrattOnBBC
@BBCFOUR As someone who did their PhD on Ealing's Australian films, I obviously love the story about David Stratton falling in love with Australia (and Australian cinema) via THE OVERLANDERS. #StrattOnBBC
@BBCFOUR STRICTLY BALLROOM was the 90s film I showed to my Australian cinema students at Winchester last term. I think they loved it. #StrattOnBBC
@BBCFOUR I don't always like Baz Luhrmann's films (in fact, I often actively dislike them), but STRICTLY BALLROOM is a dead-set classic. And those stories about the Cannes screening are great. #StrattOnBBC
@BBCFOUR Slightly skimmed over the Ocker films there, but it's worth noting that although many did find them vulgar (as Adams says), they were also the first genuinely successful Australian films of this period. #StrattOnBBC
@BBCFOUR That said, there's no denying that PICNIC was the first film of the period that saw Australian cinema taken seriously (at home and abroad). Although it wasn't (and isn't) universally liked. #StrattOnBBC
@BBCFOUR Of course, Peter Weir and Russell Boyd were not the first to use Australian art as visual inspiration. Here's Ealing Studios director Harry Watt looking at the work of goldfields artist ST Gill in preparation for EUREKA STOCKADE (1949). 
Although Stratton incorrectly refers to the @SA_Film Corp as a 'studio', the importance of the SAFC in this period should not be underestimated, and many of these films being mentioned PICNIC, SUNDAY TOO FAR AWAY, BREAKER MORANT, were all made with SAFC support. #StrattOnBBC
CROCODILE DUNDEE has descended into a bit of a joke (and many saw it that way at the time), but there is no denying its genius (in all sorts of ways). Meaghan Morris nailed it when she referred to its 'positive unoriginality'. jstor.org/stable/827811 #StrattOnBBC
This bit on CROCODILE DUNDEE is the first time that David Stratton refers directly to his job as film critic, and it's interesting that it comes via his complaint about a bad review. As a crit, Stratton is notorious for being excessively gentle on Australian films. #StrattOnBBC
Although this is not always the case, of course. As we'll see later in this series, he and Margaret Pomeranz (his on-screen film crit partner) notoriously refused to review ROMPER STOMPER at all. #StrattOnBBC
This section of JEDDA is quite interesting. It's worth noting that Chauvel was not a lone voice in calling for govt support for the industry at this time. But they do a good job here of contrasting the film's groundbreaking nature with its inherent problems. #StrattOnBBC
Warwick Thornton's SAMSON AND DELILAH is an absolutely stunning film, and Warwick Thornton is perhaps Australia's greatest contemporary filmmaker. His last feature, SWEET COUNTRY, is an absolute masterpiece (and one of the greatest Australian films of all time). #StrattOnBBC
Those interested in the prudish nature of the Australian censors in this period should definitely seek out Sari Braithwaite's [CENSORED] (2018), a 63 minute doc crafted entirely from footage removed by the censors between 1951 and 1978. #StrattOnBBC
I think it's regrettable that Stratton introduces Ozploitation by hating on TURKEY SHOOT, which is unfairly slated here. It's complete trash, of course, but in the best possible way, and it was never intended to be anything else. #StrattOnBBC
Richard Dyer once asked me why there are no Australian films in the international canon, and what were the most likely candidates. Certainly PICNIC is up there, but MAD MAX is easily the most influential Australian film of all time. #StrattOnBBC
I absolutely love MY BRILLIANT CAREER, and I was very happy that we screened it at @LondonAustFilm AND I managed to show it to my Australian cinema students at Winchester last year. Everything about this film is great. #StrattOnBBC
We saw some footage from MY BRILLIANT CAREER's Cannes outing there, here's the utterly wince-inducing interview that accompanies it. youtube.com/watch?v=aSdWwl… #StrattOnBBC
That line about none of the McDonagh Sisters films surviving 'intact' is only about 25% true, and if this lockdown ever ends, I'll be organising a London screening their film THE CHEATERS, which was recently restored by @NFSAonline. #StrattOnBBC
I'm not gonna lie, I think this documentary spends far too much time gushing over SHINE. #StrattOnBBC
And that's it for the first part of David Stratton's Stories of Australian Cinema. If I remember (and can be bothered), I might do this livetweet thing again next week. #StrattOnBBC
I am now - not a word of a lie - going to skim over a couple of Aus films from the 1950s to help compile a watchlist of postwar Australian cinema (which will hopefully be up on my website tomorrow to coincide with the @networktweets release of THE OVERLANDERS). #StrattOnBBC
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