Newsfront |  | Actors: Bill Hunter, Wendy Hughes, Gerard Kennedy, Chris Haywood, John Ewart
Studio: Blue Underground
List Price: $9.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 87042
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: RKOD581110D
UPC: 827058111096
EAN: 0827058111096
ASIN: B000B64TZU
Theatrical Release Date: 1978
Release Date: November 15, 2005
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Product Description
Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 09/16/2008 Run time: 110 minutes
Amazon.com
The DVD release of Newsfront is cause for celebration, as it finally brings one of Australia's most celebrated films to a worldwide audience. The film earned high praise on the festival circuit, and was hailed by many influential critics as one of the best films of 1978, but it remained largely unseen in the U.S. and Europe, even as the Australian film renaissance began to attract international acclaim. With its clever combination of actual newsreel footage and a quintessentially Australian social drama, Newsfront is a valentine to a passing era, spanning the years 1948-58 when newsreel cameramen were chroniclers of truth Down Under, capturing personal interest stories, natural disasters, political rallies, sports events, and other notable occasions for moviegoers in Australia's pre-television era. Len McGuire (Bill Hunter) and his brother Frank (Gerard Kennedy) are cameramen for competing newsreel companies, CineTone and Newsco, and their professional exploits (both mundane and exciting) are played against a domestic backdrop of complex relationships, such as Len's strained and sexless Catholic marriage, or the erratic affair between Frank's neglected girlfriend Amy (Wendy Hughes) and the politically opinionated editor Geoff (Bryan Brown). As Australia undergoes a series of social and political upheavals and historic events--including a spectacular re-creation of the devastating Maitland flood of 1955--the newsreel creators face the increasingly difficult challenge of defending their own political and ethical boundaries, and Newsfront achieves unexpected depths of incident and character, both sobering and humorous. As directed by Phillip Noyce (who later enjoyed great success with Dead Calm, Patriot Games, and Rabbit Proof Fence), the film brilliantly matches form to content, changing its visual style and soundtrack to reflect the evolution of filmmaking that occurred during the time-frame of the drama (for example, transitioning from black-and-white to color and adapting its cinematography to approximate subtle advancements in filmmaking technique). The efforts of Noyce and his collaborators paid off handsomely: Newsfront won nearly every major Australian film award, and its remarkable production history is fully explored in an exceptional DVD commentary by virtually every member of the film's primary cast and crew. Other DVD extras include "The Last Newsreel" (a featurette about preservation and restoration of Australian newsreels) and extensive DVD-ROM study materials including an in-depth production history, a generous archive of reviews, and a detailed account of Newsfront's DVD restoration. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews:
 The best Australian film? November 12, 2005
Anthony Green (Sydney, Australia)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The late 1970s-early 1980s was a time of frenetic activity in the Australian movie industry, one which saw the production of films such as "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "My Brilliant Career", "Gallipoli" and "Breaker Morant". However even against such excellent company "Newsfront" stands out as the finest film of its time, and possibly the best Australian film yet made.
Most Australian films of that time, even the very best, tended to exhibit a slightly self-conscious "Australianness". It was historically a time when Australians rediscovered their "roots" and were keen to present their culture to the world. Consequently many of these films can look a little quaint or provincial, for all their undoubted quality. "Newsfront", in contrast, had a storyline which, whilst it was thoroughly Australian in context, was completely accessible to a woldwide audience.
It also boasted a cast which included some of the best local actors ever to grace the screen, a very strong script, and high production values. The combination of historic newsreel footage studio shots and location photography was perfectly handled, and the score was inspired.
One of the most interesting facets is the way in which the style of cinematography, music and dialogue production change during the course of the film. Just as the story covers a period of great technical change, the film itself evolves during its 110 minutes from shaky black and white handheld shots with an accompanying post war soundtrack to slick colour with a fine orchestral soundtrack. This is not, however just an obvious gimmick - it is a very gradual and subtle change, which may not even be consciously noticed on the first viewing.
A wonderful and rewarding film which is as fresh now as it was on its release in 1978.
 Historical, long but interesting May 2, 2008
Auskan (KS, USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was not exactly what I was expecting but I did enjoy it. Knowing nothing about the broadcasting industry, I found it very interesting to see it and learn about it from this point of view. The characters were shown in such a way as to be believable. Although they may not always have been behaving perfectly, I found myself identifying with them as "real" and realizing that like all of us, they are only human and make mistakes. It was refreshing not to have a "Hollywood" script or ending.
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