White Death

White Death (1936)

Zane Grey bets he can catch a fish bigger than one he sees at Watsons Bay. He hears about a large shark, nicknamed "white death", terrorising the Queensland coast and goes to catch it. He is thwarted by the comic attempts of Newton Smith, a representative of the Wallanga Branch of Fish Protectors, to persuade Grey not to harm fish. There is also a romance between two young people. Eventually Grey manages to catch the shark.

Date de sortie
1936-10-23
TMDB
4.5 / 10 (2)
Durée
1 h 21 min
Genres
Romance, Aventure, Comédie
Réalisateur
Edwin G. Bowen

Distribution

Anecdotes

White Death is a 1936 Australian film directed by Edwin G. Bowen and starring Zane Grey as himself. He filmed it during a fishing expedition to Australia and it marked the first time he had played a leading role in a film.

Production

In 1935-36 Zane Grey made a fishing expedition to Australia. This trip was extensively covered by the local media and Grey was often accompanied on his sea voyages by three cameramen he had brought out from America, including H.C. Anderson. Grey's activities were criticised at the time by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Barrier Reef Productions, a production company capitalised at £15,000, was formed in 1936 to make the film.

The story was inspired by Grey seeing a great white shark (which he nicknamed "white death") being captured near Bermagui in New South Wales. Frank Harvey was hired to write the screenplay. The story drew on Grey's real-life experiences with the character of Newton Smith sending up his treatment at the hands of the RSPCA.

The majority of the film crew came from Cinesound Productions, who also lent equipment to the production. Grey's manager, Edwin G. Bowen, was appointed director of the movie, although he had limited experience behind the camera.

Alfred Frith, a stage comedian, was hired to play the lead opposite Grey. Nola Warren, a 17-year-old from Watsons Bay, with no prior film experience, was cast as the female lead. She performed most of her scenes opposite John Weston, a former schoolboy athletics champion turned radio broadcaster. Aboriginal extras, some of whom had recently appeared in Uncivilised (1936), were brought in from Palm Island, Queensland.

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