https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3110-1173
ABSTRACT
While Australian film studies has located various genres, including horror, comedy, action/adventure, science fiction, and crime within the broader ‘Ozploitation’ discourse and the increase in Australian genre production in the 2010s, there has been little discussion of how a variety of song- and music-based Australian cinema operates in dialogue with the classical Hollywood musical and the global musical genre. Existing scholarship on the Austrlian musical has largely focused on singular well-known examples, including Strictly Ballroom (1992), The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert (1994), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Bran Nue Dae (2009) and The Sapphires (2012). Specific film studies on successful musicals, particularly on Moulin Rouge! and The Sapphires, are often framed in popular and academic circles as ‘reviving’ the genre for Australian audiences, due in large part to their box office success. This does not account for the long history of Australian musical films, and their popularity. This article posits a theoretical re-evaluation of the Australian film musical genre through its unusual variations and lesser-known examples, including dance films, animations, and musical biopics. It traces the Australian film musical genre in detail, considering its rich history, numerous subgenres, and its interconnections with Australian national cinema and the global musical genre.
Introduction: the forgotten history of the Australian film musical
While Australian film studies has located various Australia cinema genres, including horror, comedy, action/adventure, science fiction, and crime within the broader ‘Ozploitation’ discourse of the 1980s (Goldsmith and Lealand Citation2010; Goldsmith, Ryan, and Lealand Citation2015) and the ‘contemporary genre turn’ during the 2010s (Ryan Citation2012, 146), there has been little discussion of how a variety of song- and music-based Australian cinema operates in dialogue with the classical Hollywood musical and with the broader film musical genre. To date, only two pieces of scholarship have directly addressed the film musical genre in Australia (Giuffrie Citation2021; Moran and Veith Citation2006). While this scholarship has provided valuable analyses, it has largely focused on detailed examinations of singular well-known examples in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, including Strictly Ballroom (Baz Luhrmann 1992), The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott 1994), Muriel’s Wedding (P.J. Hogan 1994), Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann 2001), Bran Nue Dae (Rachel Perkins 2009) and The Sapphires (Wayne Blair 2012). Specific film studies on successful musicals, particularly on Moulin Rouge! and The Sapphires, are often framed in both popular and academic circles as reviving the genre for Australian audiences, due in large part to their successful domestic and international box office (Giuffrie Citation2021; van der Merwe Citation2010). This perspective does not account for the long history of musical films in Australia, and their popularity with audiences since the 1930s.
This article traces the rich history of the film musical genre in Australia, considering its place in Australian national cinema and the global musical genre. Outside of the classical Hollywood format, and the obvious box office successes of Moulin Rouge!, The Sapphires, and, more recently, Elvis (Baz Luhrmann 2022) this article aims to provide a more holistic examination of the Australian musical genre throughout its long history and across its numerous subgenres and variations. It sets out to re-examine and rethink the parameters of the Australian film musical and thus reconceive the relations between Australian musical cinema and the film musical genre over its long international history.
The aims of this article are threefold: firstly to consider a history of the Australian film musical genre in relation to both the classical Hollywood musical but also to Australian film genre studies and the global film musical genre; secondly, to posit a theoretical re-evaluation of the Australian film musical genre through its unusual variations and lesser-known examples, including dance films, children’s animations and musical biopics; and thirdly, to trace the development of the Australian musical from the 1930s to the present, noting key watershed films but focusing on under-researched or under-valued films within the genre. This article therefore begins by canvassing the existing literature on the Australian musical, Australian film genre studies, and the global musical genre, arguing for a theoretical re-evaluation of the boundaries of the Australian film musical. I then trace the development of the Australian film musical from the 1930s through to the present, considering its various subgenres and unusual or lesser-known films. A key tension in Australia’s film musical history is that between what makes a film a musical and what makes it Australian; many films sit at the juncture between these tensions, especially when they are emulating the Hollywood musical tradition.
Rethinking the boundaries of the Australian film musical: a neglected genre
To date, there has not been an extensive historical or thematic study of the Australian film musical genre in academic scholarship. Most studies of Australian musical cinema tend to be singular film analyses through the lens of their particular national, industrial, or cultural conditions of production and reception. For example, Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla, and Muriel’s Wedding have all been examined through the lens of the ‘glitter’ cycle for ‘their luminescent and colourful visual style’ (Rustin Citation2001, 133) and for favouring elements of glamour, kitsch, and camp (Rayner Citation2000, 21). Moulin Rouge! has been much discussed for its postmodern qualities, its relationship to opera and Hollywood, and its directorial signature (Kinder Citation2002; van der Merwe Citation2010), while Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires have been examined for their relationship to Aboriginality and musical theatre, and popular music and nostalgia, respectively (Giuffrie Citation2021). Liz Giuffrie (Citation2021) has recently provided a fresh perspective on the Australian musical as providing space for marginalised Australian identities, namely LGBTQI identities and Indigenous women, yet focuses on three well-known millennial examples: Moulin Rouge, Bran Nue Dae, and The Sapphires yet again. While these studies have provided much needed critical reference points for key films in Australian national cinema, there is still a need to situate these films within a longer history of the Australian and the global film musical genre.
The Australian film musical genre is a neglected area of scholarship because genre film studies has until recently been a marginalised area of Australian film studies. As Mark David Ryan and Kelly McWilliam point out:
Due to complex industrial, economic, and cultural factors, genre films made principally as popular cinema or commercial entertainment have occupied a tenuous position in industry practices, film culture, policy frameworks, and public funding initiatives since the mid-1970s. Furthermore, the study of film genre has rarely been a central focus or a major critical approach in Australian film studies. (Citation2021, 2)
Within Australian genre film studies, there has been much focus on the peculiarity of specifically Australian genres, including the ‘AFC genre’, to describe films supported by the Australian Film Commission, ‘Australian Gothic’ and ‘The Social Realist Film’ (Dermody and Jacka Citation1988, 28–74; Rayner Citation2000), as well as taxonomies that apply Hollywood genres to Australian cinema output (Moran and Veith Citation2006; Ryan and McWilliam Citation2021). Writing in 2009, however, Brian McFarlane noted that ‘lately, so many locally made films either call up existing genres (‘existing’ usually means that Hollywood got there first), or give a distinctively Australian spin to such older genres, or even perhaps create new ones’ (Citation2009, 80). Ryan and McWilliam’s recent edited collection has reinvigorated the study of Australian genre film, particularly in response to what Ryan has argued is ‘the third phase’ of genre filmmaking in Australia in the 2010s, after the 1970s revival from 1970 to 1975 and the 10BA tax incentive between 1981 and 1988 (Citation2012, 144–145). Ryan and McWilliam’s taxonomy of Australian film genres, while valuable, still privileges Hollywood formats (Citation2021).
Australian musical cinema and the classical Hollywood musical
Australian cinema’s problematic relationship with Hollywood mirrors the dominance of the American form in scholarly understandings of the film musical genre. Adrian Martin (Citation2001, 69–70) argues that in discussions of the genre all over the world, the ‘musical’ essentially means the ‘American musical’. As Bill Marshall and Robyn Stilwell write, ‘the definition of the musical has been narrowed down to certain narrative patterns and production histories’ that tend to ignore other approaches or musicals made outside the US (Citation2000, 1). The result of this is that much film musical scholarship tends to prioritise ‘integrated’ musicals or those that seamlessly integrate their musical numbers into their narrative (McDonnell Citation2013, 251), as these emulate the classical Hollywood format, rather than films where the numbers are spectacular divergences from the narrative line or where there are few numbers altogether. The dominance of the classical Hollywood format also plays a role in the intense focus on Australian integrated musicals – Moulin Rouge!, Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires – as a ‘rebirth’ (Giuffrie Citation2021). This perspective does not consider all the non-integrated musical films produced in Australia both before and after the 2000s, and their popularity with audiences.
Recent film musical scholarship has expanded and updated the perspectives on, and histories of, the film musical (Barrios Citation2014; Dyer Citation2012; Mordden Citation2016; Rodosthenous Citation2017). This includes work on new national and local contexts such as the Irish musical (Fee Citation2010) and the Bollywood musical (Sarkar Citation2010); production histories such as ‘the international art musical’ (Feuer Citation2010); alternative music genres such as the punk or rock ‘n’ roll musical (Donnelly Citation2000; James Citation2016); or thematic concerns such as the dystopian musical and the teen musical (see also Conrich and Tincknell Citation2006; Creekmur and Mokdad Citation2012; Donnelly and Carroll Citation2017). Hindi cinema, where most films contain song-and-dance numbers (Sarrazin Citation2008), as well as a long history of musicals made in France, the UK, Russia, and Germany, are examples of alternatives to the Hollywood model (Martin Citation2001, 67–71). Additionally, throughout its global history, the musical has also always been a ‘mongrel genre’ that often incorporates elements of comedy, drama, the teen pic, and the biopic (Neale Citation2000, 105). Gerald Mast (Citation1987), James Collins (Citation1988), Steve Neale (Citation2000), Sean Griffin (Citation2002), and Raymond Knapp (Citation2005) all discuss subgenres of the musical based on their stylistic and structural influences from historical predecessors such as opera, operetta, vaudeville, revue, and the variety show. As I have argued elsewhere, in the post-classical era, Hollywood continued making non-classical forms of the musical including rock ‘n’ roll films like Viva Las Vegas (George Sidney 1964); musicals biopics like Lady Sings the Blues (Sidney J. Furie 1972); dance films like Flashdance (Adrian Lyne 1983); teen pics with curated soundtracks, like The Breakfast Club (John Hughes 1985) and Disney’s animated films for children, like Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise 1991; 2021, 219).
Non-classical Hollywood forms of the film musical inevitably raise questions about how the genre is defined and its boundaries change over time (Macrossan Citation2021, 222–223). Andrew Tudor argues that genre analysis cannot focus solely on definitions based on essential attributes or characteristics and must instead examine how genres are used by industry, audiences, and other institutions within the culture in which they are produced (Citation2003, 5). Moreover, ‘some genres are “looser” … more permeable in their boundaries … than others’ (Chandler Citation1997, 2). I follow Martin’s argument that the film musical is actually a subgroup of a larger aesthetic category he terms the ‘music-film’ or ‘any film which feels as if it is driven by its music’ (Citation2001, 74, emphasis in original). To discuss music-films is thus to consider any film where the music ‘seems to “direct,” dictate or suggest the rhythms of montage or mise en scene’ (ibid). Martin’s argument substantially opens discussions of the musical genre to classify all films driven by music as musicals. This perspective loosens generic boundaries and allows for a richer analysis of the importance of music in Australian cinema and cinematic storytelling. I also wish to problematise Ryan’s argument that Australian genre movies are ‘intended as popular entertainment’ and can be ‘contrasted with movies which sought to trade upon and emphasise authentic Australian stories – often challenging typical generic formulas – in an attempt to distance themselves from Hollywood titles’ (Citation2012, 143). As the following sections will outline, the Australian musical genre contains a range of films that emulate Hollywood structures and emphasise their own entertainment value, and films that prioritise Australian national identity and an arthouse or critical audience.
Many films can be considered an Australian musical when studying the genre from the perspective of the ‘music-film’ (Martin Citation2001, 74), including films that follow the Hollywood format, films that have a significant relationship with music, or films where the music dominates the soundtrack and storytelling. A full list of all the musical films made in Australia can be found in . This list has been collated with reference to the Australian National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), and the reference text Australian Film, 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production (Pike and Cooper Citation1998). While certainly not exhaustive, I have tried to include all films where music seems to direct or drive the storytelling, as well as any film that has been classified as a ‘musical’ or containing musical elements by the NFSA or by Pike and Cooper (Citation1998). This list can be loosely classified into various overlapping subgenres, including 18 musical comedies, 16 children’s and animated films, 16 musical dramas, 8 revues or backstage musicals, 7 biopics, 5 dance films, 4 rock musicals or soundtrack films, 3 television musicals and 3 live concert films (See ). I have classified films as ‘Australian’ where they are filmed in Australia, where above-the-line creators (writers, directors, producers) are Australian, and/or a significant amount of funding has come from Australian sources. The following sections outline the history of some of the different subgenres of the Australian film musical, and where they intersect with both the global film musical genre as well as Australian national cinema.
Table 1. Musical films made in Australia 1931–2022.
Early beginnings of the genre
Australia’s first feature film musical and first ‘talkie’ with synchronised sound, the musical comedy Showgirl’s Luck, was released in 1931 – the same year sound technology came to Australia (Shirley and Adams Citation1983, 111).Footnote1 Showgirl’s Luck follows a woman trying to break into the ‘talkies’ at the coming of sound cinema, capitalising on the wonder of the new technology to bring in movie audiences. Director Norman Swan wrote that the film ‘followed the accepted formula of the typical American musical of the period … It had the usual simple straight-line plot upon which was hung as many musical numbers as could be worked in’ (as quoted in Pike and Cooper Citation1998, 150). Showgirl’s Luck began a period of musical varieties, musical comedies and musical dramas in Australian cinema, films that largely take their structure and stars from stage vaudeville (see ). Like their international counterparts, Australian musicals brought by the advent of sound were an escape from the trials of the Depression and were largely produced by two studios: Cinesound Productions which emulated a Hollywood style under the direction of Ken G. Hall; and Efftee Productions, set up by F.W. Thring with the intention of capturing stage performances (Pike and Cooper Citation1998, 150).
This period also produced a cycle of musical comedies with vaudeville comedian George Wallace: His Royal Highness (F.W. Thring 1932), A Ticket in Tatts (F.W. Thring 1934), Let George Do It (Ken G. Hall 1938), and Gone to the Dogs (Ken. G. Hall 1939). These films were generally comedies with a few musical numbers, rather than integrated musicals with closely woven numbers and narrative. These early Australian musicals were generally well received by local critics but did not translate well overseas. For example, The Brisbane Courier wrote that ‘brilliant comedy and sparkling wit are found in every scene’ of His Royal Highness (24 October 1932, 17), while the Newcastle Sun was impressed by the large scale of the palace scenes, remarking that they ‘give an added charm to this picture that lifts it far above anything ever attempted either in Australia or abroad’ (13 Jan 1933, 3). However, US magazine Variety described His Royal Highness as ‘an average program picture … [that] cannot hope for very much success outside Australia’ (18 October 1932, 19). While Wallace was an extremely popular vaudeville comedian in Australia, director F.W. Thring ‘did little to modify his stage routines for the camera: even Wallace’s make-up remained heavily theatrical’ (Pike and Cooper Citation1998, 159). Variety was similarly scathing of Gone to the Dogs as containing ‘little story; just a series of gags put on celluloid to hit the fancy of payees familiar with vaude-revue’ (8 November 1939, 18). While Variety was complimentary of Wallace, stating that he is ‘probably the cleverest burlesque comedian in Australia today’, it suggests that Australian films were slow to compete with foreign features in the ‘musical talker’ genre because they resembled stage burlesque too much (18 October 1932, 19).
Vaudeville comedian Roy Rene fared much the same way with the musical comedy Strike Me Lucky (Ken G. Hall 1934), which did not make a clear profit at the box office (Pike and Cooper Citation1998, 168). British publication the Monthly Film Bulletin’s review stated it was ‘poor in content’ and ‘badly edited’, and that ‘[a]ttempts are made at humour, but it is for the most part crude and often merely vulgar’ (1 January 1936, 9). Australian paper The Sun wrote it was unfortunate Rene was ‘given such wretched material,’ and was not impressed by the film’s gangster plotline or actress Yvonne Banvard’s poor imitation of American superstar Mae West, writing ‘[f]or the sake of the Australian film industry, it is unfortunate that the American note has been struck, particularly when it is so weak a note’ (19 November 1934, 4). Rene attributed the film’s failure to the lack of a live audience: ‘I found it too hard trying to be funny to no one. You need the stimulus of the audience, when you’ve been used to one’ (Rene Citation1945, 137).
Like much Australian cinema, the Australian film musical experienced a decline in production during the 1940s through to the late 1960s. Technicians and other staff were recruited to the armed services, film stock became less available and previously productive studios like Cinesound completely stopped operations during World War II (Pike and Cooper Citation1998, 188). Talent drains from the market to overseas, the rise of television and the lack of government funding is also attributed to the dip in production mid-century (Pike and Cooper Citation1998, 234). During the period 1940 to 1969, Australia made just four musicals – Night Club (A.R. Harwood 1952), Pardon Miss Westcott (David Cahill 1959), Funny Things Happen Down Under (Joe McCormick 1965) and Don’t Let it Get to You (John O’Shea 1966). Of these, two were not released in Australian cinemas: the television musical Pardon Miss Westcott filmed live for broadcast on the Seven Network; and Oliva Newtown-John’s debut feature Funny Things, an adaptation of the Terrible Ten children’s television show (GTV-9 1959–1960).
Experimentation and expansion in a global context
Australian musicals increased in production from the 1970s onwards as the national cinema experienced a revival. Five diverse musicals were made in the 1970s: 1930s gangster cabaret story Trouble in Molopolis (Philippe Mora 1970); a musical rendition of the 1854 Eureka Stockade rebellion Stockade (Hans Pomeranz and Ross McGregor 1971); the experimental and hallucinogenic Shirley Thompson versus the Aliens (Jim Sharman 1972), about a woman in a mental institution; drag revue Betty Blokk-buster Follies (Peter Batey 1976); and Oz, a version of The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming 1939) as a rock ‘n’ roll road movie. These can all be linked to global film genres and movements, including arthouse low-budget filmmaking (Shirley Thompson and Molopolis), as well as the longstanding tradition of screen musicals adapting musical plays (Stockade) and vaudeville-revue (Betty Blokk-buster Follies). Oz is reminiscent of motorcycle road movie Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper 1970), which had become a symbol of New Hollywood through its direct appeal to young audiences and the counterculture via a compilation soundtrack of contemporary popular music (Brackett Citation2001, 250; Smith Citation1998, 161). Oz’s musical score was written and produced by Ross Wilson, the frontman of Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock, and the singles ‘Livin’ in the Land of Oz’ by Wilson and ‘Beating Around the Bush’ by Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons were both released as singles from the soundtrack in 1976. Oz therefore aligns with broader shifts in the global musical genre away from the classical Hollywood format during this period, and more towards films with rock soundtracks aimed at young audiences (Cateforis Citation2009; Dickinson Citation2004; Shumway Citation1999).
In 1981, animator Alex Stitt released the critically regarded animated feature Grendel Grendel Grendel, a re-telling of the mediaeval epic poem Beowulf from the monster’s point of view. The film features several musical sequences and was ‘only the second full-length animated feature to be made in Australia and the first to address adult audiences’ (Quigley Citationn.d.) after Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon (Eric Porter 1972). Additionally, Grendel ‘was produced at a time when the public tended to regard animation as cartoons made for children’ and was subsequently nominated for two Australian Film Institute Awards in 1981 (Quigley Citationn.d.). Although Grendel was written, directed, and designed by one Australian animator (Stitt) the film does not look or sound Australian, something that cartoonists and animators have struggled with in representing Australian culture in their work. The Australian voice actors in Grendel used British-sounding accents and there are no Australian native animals in the production, two ‘easy’ ways to signal its origins (Torre and Torre Citation2023, 1–2).
This is in direct contrast to the animated features of Yoram Gross who produced a series of musicals based on characters from the 1899 book Dot and the Kangaroo by Ethel Pedley. The success of Dot and the Kangaroo (1977), which combined live action and animation, led to seven more films with Dot in the 1980s (see ). Gross also wrote and directed The Magic Riddle (1991), a mix of various fairy tales, and an adaptation of Dorothy Wall’s Blinky Bill stories, called Blinky Bill: The Mischievous Koala (1992). Blinky Bill lead to three seasons of a children’s television series (ABC 1993–1995; Seven Network 2004) and a Christmas television musical written and directed by Gross’s screen composer son, Guy Gross, Blinky Bill’s White Christmas (2005). The native animals, bush settings and Australian accents clearly signify the ‘Australian-ness’ of Dot and the Kangaroo and Blinky Bill, which is markedly different from the critically regarded, but less commercially successful, Grendel, but also from the transnational animated features Happy Feet (George Miller 2006) and Happy Feet Two (George Miller 2011) which elide their Australian-ness.
The Happy Feet films can be described as transnational Australian musicals in that they were produced by Australian and American production companies (Village Roadshow Pictures, Animal Logic and Warner Bros.), featured the Australian accents of international stars like Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, but also the voice work of Americans Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy and Elijah Wood, and were globally successful at the box office.Footnote2 Transnational cinema has been variously defined and much debated, but in this context I use transnational to indicate the forces of globalisation on the film industry, and ‘the movement of films and film-makers in relation to production, distribution and exhibition’ (Higbee and Lim Citation2010, 11). The Happy Feet movies are part of a 2000s film cycle Ryan (Citation2018) calls ‘Australian blockbusters’. This group, which also includes Moulin Rouge! (and I would argue Elvis):
draw on a combination of A-list Australian and international actors with varying degrees of fame and bankability in the Hollywood system or non-Hollywood cinemas … [and] boast mixed Australian and international creative talent of high regard from both Australian and international film industries, and draw upon elite – though largely Australian – heads of department (cinematography, editing, production design, and so on) and film crews. (Ryan Citation2018, 63)
Beyond the traditional format: biopics, dance films, musical dramas and comedies
As I have argued above, many films can be considered an Australian musical when studying the genre from the perspective of the ‘music-film’ (Martin Citation2001, 74), including films that follow the Hollywood format, but also films that have a significant relationship with music, or films where the music dominates the soundtrack and storytelling. We can therefore see how in addition to operating at the juncture of transnational flows of production, distribution and exhibition, the Australian film musical intersects with several global musical subgenres. There are many musical biopics, including Shine (Scott Hicks 1996) about pianist David Helfgott, Passion (Neil Foley 1999) about musician Percy Grainger, The Slim Dusty Movie (Rob Stewart 1984) about the titular country music star, The Sapphires about a 1960s Aboriginal female vocal group and Elvis about rock star Elvis Presley. There are also several dramas based on singers or musicians such as Dogs in Space (Richard Lowenstein 1986), Heaven Tonight (Pino Amenta 1990), Dingo (Rolf De Heer 1991), The Piano (Jane Campion 1993), Billy’s Holiday (Richard Wherrett 1995), Garage Days (Alex Proyas 2002), One Perfect Day (Paul Currie 2004), Butterfly Crush (Alan Clay 2010) and A Heartbeat Away (Gale Edwards 2011). Australian soundtrack films (where a recognisable collection of pop songs play a significant role in the storytelling) include Secrets (Michael Pattinson 1992), where a group a teenagers get locked in the basement of The Beatles hotel, and Thunderstruck (Darren Ashton 2004) where a group of AC/DC fans make a pact to bury their friend next to Bon Scott’s grave. These sit within a tradition of film musicals based around a song catalogue that depend ‘upon audience familiarity (through both filmic and nonfilmic intertexts) for their effectiveness’ (Feuer Citation1977, 323).
The Australian film musical genre also has a notably interaction with the ‘quirkier’ aspects of national cinema, particularly quirky comedies, a tradition which Deb Verhoeven (Citation2000, 30) argues has pervaded Australian cinema since its beginnings (See also Hoorn [Citation2005]). Quirky musical comedies such as Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla, Muriel’s Wedding, Starstruck (Gillian Armstrong, 1982), The Return of Captain Invincible (Phillipe Mora 1983), Young Einstein (Yahoo Serious 1988), and Goddess (Mark Lamprell, 2013) trade on a uniquely Australian characters, vernacular and humour to form the basis of their offbeat comedy, as well as references to daily Australian life. For example, Starstruck imports a backstage musical format into the idiosyncrasies of 1980s Sydney: barmaid Jackie lives above her family pub The Harbour View Hotel in The Rocks, with her mum, Nanna, and cousin Angus, and they have a native cockatoo as a pet. Young Einstein blends the musical comedy with the biopic format to imagine Albert Einstein grew up on a Tasmanian apple farm, moved to Sydney and invented the surfboard and the electric guitar, while Goddess follows a Tasmanian stay-at-home mother of twins who performs songs to her webcam at her kitchen sink. Young Einstein in particular is consistent with persistent themes of Australian comedy including encounters between rural people and the city, the working-class, male underdog protagonist, and the larrikin myth (Bellanta Citation2012, 182; Speed Citation2021, 59).
Australian dance films rose to the forefront of the genre in the new millennium. Bootmen (Dein Perry 2000), Mao’s Last Dancer (Bruce Beresford 2009) and Dance Academy: The Movie (Jeffrey Walker, 2017) sit within a long tradition of dance-driven musicals in the genre (see Boland Citation2022; Brannigan Citation2011; Delamater Citation1981). Bootmen’s storyline features a rebellious male star, steel worker Sean (Adam Garcia), whose improvised spontaneous dance moves lead him to put on a show, save the steelworks and win the girl at the same time. The rebellious male dancer with improvised steps is a trope that traces its way from Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly films in the classical Hollywood period, through to Saturday Night Fever (John Badham 1977) and Footloose (Herbert Ross 1984), and to global variants like Strictly Ballroom and Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry 2000). The appeal of this format is that the spontaneous dance moves highlight the musicality of everyday life, while the amateur status of the dancer engenders connection with the audience (Feuer Citation1977, 318). This contrasts with the technically brilliant dancers within Dance Academy and Mao’s Last Dancer, which align more with ballet films like The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 1948) and the ballet interlude within classical Hollywood musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly 1952) and Oklahoma (Fred Zinnemann 1955). As a spinoff of teen series Dance Academy (ABC 2010–2013), Dance Academy: The Movie also sits within the subgenre of the teen musical, much like EMO: The Musical (Neil Triffett 2016), which is set in a Melbourne high school. Dance Academy: The Movie’s focus on one ballerina’s personal struggles with romance, friendships and career within an ensemble cast also closely resembles popular dance films of the 2000s and 2010s, such as Center Stage (Nicholas Hytner 2000) and Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010).
To exclude these musical biopics, soundtrack films, musical dramas, musical comedies and dance films from discussions of the Australian film musical genre eliminates the rich history of musical cinema in Australia and the diversity of our musical output. These films not only demonstrate how Australian national cinema is responding to international trends in musical cinema production, but also how it may also be influencing and leading it in some cases. For example, the impact of Baz Luhrmann’s directorial style and hyper-stylised musical aesthetic on global blockbusters and new audiovisual aesthetics has been widely recognised (Cook Citation2010a; Citation2010b; van der Merwe Citation2010; Vernallis Citation2013, 76). We might also consider how the inclusion of musical numbers in Muriel’s Wedding may have influenced the same tactic in the director P.J. Hogan’s subsequent Hollywood success with My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997).
The most recent Australian musical, and one of the highest grossing with $286 million USD at the global box office,Footnote3 Luhrmann’s Elvis is a firm example of a commercially focused film, in that it trades ‘upon generic conventions [in this case of the musical biopic] more so than an Australian look and feel’ which means it can ‘generate substantial commercial earnings, particularly in international markets’ (Ryan Citation2012, 152). While there was much hype from Screen Queensland about the film’s production on the Gold Coast during the COVID-19 pandemic, its significant employment and commercial outcomes, and its subsequent glittering Australian premiere in 2022, it has little ability to contribute to Australian national identity with no discernible Australian content. Elvis therefore illuminates how the Australian film musical continues to operate at the nexus of debate around genre film production and national cinema within Australian film studies.
Conclusion: a diverse Australian film musical history
This article has argued for a theoretical re-examination of the boundaries of the film musical genre to allow for a considerable expansion of the critical understandings of the musical in Australian national cinema and film genre studies. It has provided a brief outline of the history and development of the Australian film musical genre from the 1930s to now. While there is certainly more to be done, I have tried to make inroads for more critical analysis and examination of under-researched musical films from Australian cinema history. This work forms the basis of a larger project investigating the history and development of the film musical in Australia, focusing on the forms, functions, and variations of the film musical throughout the last 90 years. As the first scholarly study to explore the Australian film musical genre in depth, this research project will also be a significant new addition to the study of global musical cinema and the film musical genre.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the Australian Film Institute Research Collection and the National Film and Sound Archive for their assistance with this project.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Phoebe Macrossan
Dr. Phoebe Macrossan is the Screen Media Study Area Coordinator at the University of the Sunshine Coast and a researcher of musical film, television and video. Her research has been published in leading journals on a range of topics including contemporary American screensong, jukebox musical Across the Universe, musical television series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Nashville and Glee, as well as Beyonce’s visual albums.
Notes
1 Many sources, including papers at the time, bill Showgirl’s Luck as the first ‘talkie’ with synchronised sound, although Pike and Cooper cite Diggers (F.W. Thring 1931) as the first sound feature in Australia (1998, 150). See Australian Centre for the Moving Image https://www.acmi.net.au/works/99921--arrival-of-sound-supercut/ and Northern Star (Lismore, NSW) 23 March 1932, 3. The Kyogle Examiner (Kyogle, NSW) 19 February 1932, 4.
2 Happy Feet made $384 million USD at the global box office, while Happy Feet Two made $159 million USD. Box offices figures from https://www.boxofficemojo.com/.
3 Box office figures from https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt3704428/.
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