Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company

Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company was an Australian film company formed in 1912 by two brothers, Archie and Colin Fraser. It operated as a film exchange, importing movies from overseas, and production house, making shorts, features and documentaries.[1][2][3]

Early financial support came from Giuseppe Borsalino, an Italian businessman who invested in Italian films and used Fraser Films as an Australia outlet for his company.[4] Among the filmmakers who worked for them were Franklyn Barrett, Raymond Longford and Alfred Rolfe.[5]

Despite some early successes, the company suffered from pressure exerted by the "combine" of Australasian Films and decline of production from Europe due to World War I where Fraser brought many of their films. The company had a bankruptcy hearing in 1918.[6][7][8]

It was wound up in 1922.[9] The company was formally liquidated in 1938.[10]

  1. ^ "Advertising". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 16 May 1914. p. 2. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  2. ^ "Fraser Film Exchange". The Referee. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 23 December 1914. p. 15. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. ^ "WHO'S WHO IN THE MOVIES". Table Talk. No. 3179. Victoria, Australia. 11 April 1929. p. 28. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press 1989 p 34-35
  5. ^ "The Lure of the Movies—A Mammoth Enterprise". The Sunday Times. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 1 March 1914. p. 2 Supplement: SUNDAY TIMES GLOBE PICTORIAL. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  6. ^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 39
  7. ^ "IN BANKRUPTCY". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 25, 261. New South Wales, Australia. 21 December 1918. p. 9. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "TUESDAY, JANUARY 7". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 25, 273. New South Wales, Australia. 6 January 1919. p. 5. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "EXTRAORDINARY RESOLUTION". Government Gazette Of The State Of New South Wales. No. 151. New South Wales, Australia. 27 October 1922. p. 5801. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "COMPANIES ACT, 1936 (SECTION 323 (4))". Government Gazette Of The State Of New South Wales. No. 171. New South Wales, Australia. 25 November 1938. p. 4510. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.