King of the Coral Sea

I give King of the Coral Sea a ten score because the love and passion by all concerned in the making of this little gem shows through on the screen. 25,000 pounds was a minuscule budget for a film even by 1953 standards, certainly Hollywood would spend that on the trailer alone. Chips Rafferty produced this film, and put nearly all of his own money into it, in fact most of what he earned he invested back into the Australian film industry in the days when no one else was much interested in it, he never became a rich man, but he did become an Australian icon of the screen, Hedda Hopper once called him, Australia's Gary Cooper, the laconic 6'5" Chips was always a commanding presence on screen. King of The Coral Sea may not have the flashy Hollywood production values of a huge budget, but it does have an endearing charm that has only increased as time goes by. Noted also as the screen debut of 23 year old Rod Taylor, ironically playing a phony yank, that he would later parlay into a big Hollywood career, Charles Tingwell was also offered a Hollywood contract that he turned down in favour of going to England where he forged a successful career, returning to Australia for good in the 1970's, he once proudly showed me a ledger listing the profits that King of the Coral Sea made, a film everybody involved with was justly proud, beautifully filmed on Queensland's Thursday Island, and underwater scenes at Green Island off the coast of Cairns. A nice crisp print of this film on DVD is available from Australia's National Film and Sound Archive shop online at http://shop.nfsa.gov.au/

This Movie was made on Thursday Island with a few scenes being shot in my Family's Pearling Business Store. I was 6 at the time, and interrupted a scene where Rod Taylor was being hit on the head as I thought he was being hurt. Some of it was filmed on Friday Island, my Father played a Policeman in it this was the only acting he did in his life being a local he was used as an extra.. Our boats and a lot of other stuff was used in the Movie. We have managed to get a copy from the Museum and is lovely to look back on. I don't really have a good memory of it only what I have been told by my Mother, we lived on top of the Pearling Store where they shot the Movie.

Chips Rafferty and Lee Robinson were partners for many years and this is one of the earlier feature collaborations they worked on.

Making films in Australia back in the 1950's was not easy, it was considered a " Non Essential Industry" due to the financial constraints put upon the country after WWII. This film had a budget of 25 thousand pounds, this is all the Government would give to assist film makers during this dry period. Its impressive to see a film of this caliber being made on such a small budget considering the locations involved.

Robinson had a theory in those days, he couldn't make an Aussie film as the fear was that an international audience would not be interested in this island of once convicts. The idea Robinson and Rafferty had was to make a film with fantastic locations which would in its own right be eye candy and write a script which would encapsulate these beautiful locations. The visual aspect of this film in some scenes is stunning, this was Robinson's idea from the start, he knew he needed to incorporate stunning visuals all tied up in a story which actually makes sense, the fact is, human smuggling is still being done to this day.

The underwater scenes were real, I was told that Robinson sat on the bottom of the ocean wearing a bell helmet and sitting in his Directors chair, what a class act for 1954!!

This film is an Aussie gem, really deserves a place in the history of Australian Cinema. Robinson and Rafferty changed the rules with this emerging industry, having audience with the Prime Minister on numerous occasions to discuss changes which were necessary to help the Australian film Industry evolve into what it is today.

The Australian Film Industry has a lot the thank Lee Robinson for, he was true pioneer.

I salute you Lee Robinson an unforgotten Hero!

Straightforward but solid "B" programmer about coastal smugglers who use a pearl diving operation to sneak aliens into Australia.

This was the second feature produced by Southern International - a company formed by Chips Rafferty and director Lee Robinson. Shot on location around northern Queensland.

Crude but fast paced and made effective use of its exotic locales.

Returned a healthy profit both locally and overseas.

Now primarily of historical interest as it showcased the talents of future Hollywood star Rod Taylor in his first big screen appearance.

Nothing fancy but entertaining.