Post
by Stephen Whiteside » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:05 pm
Marty and Bob, this is not directly related, but it is in a way. It relates to the rather odd priorities we seem to have sometimes in Australia.
I'm currently reading a biography of the Australian film director Charles Chauvel, written by his wife, Elsa. It's a great read. I decided to try to get some copies of his films (apart from 40,000 Horsemen and Jedda, which I already have.) I started with 'In The Wake Of The Bounty'. So far, however, I have not managed to get hold of a copy. The National Film & Sound Archive does not sell them.
It is available through Amazon (both on VHS and DVD), but for some reason the sellers will not post them to Australia. So we have this extraordinary situation whereby Americans have a better access to our own culture than we do! We can hardly blame the Americans for this. We have relinquished our own responsibility. If anything, we should be grateful to the Americans for doing something we have failed to do. Perhaps it just says something about America's population and general technological strength, that they are able to act as a repository for the culture of the entire western world. Still, I find it fairly depressing.
By the way, Neville, I did not mean any offence, and I hope none was taken.