Every so often a book crosses your desk that you realise may have a rather small potential audience. And, with Ross Campbell’s comprehensive tome, Melbourne and the Movies, not only is it likely to be of interest to a niche sector, but also that this sector is sadly dwindling rapidly. But if you’re lucky enough to be part of that limited audience, oh my, what a joyful experience is there for the reading.
Campbell’s tagline for the book is ‘Confessions of a Certified Cinephile’ and that title, while accurate, does not begin to do the author justice. The author will be known to many in the Melbourne film world as a projectionist par excellence, but for those of us who came across his work later in the piece, the book reveals a full and fascinating history of a man who fell in love with the medium as a youngster, became deeply involved in the local scene through societies, government filmmaking departments, the London Film School, myriad festivals and more, and wound up as the man who turned the beloved Erwin Rado theatrette into such a magical place to watch films and associate with other cinema tragics. Finally, the brains behind those fairy lights and Thai cushions is documented in print!
His entirely non-mispent youth entailed continual visits to all of Melbourne’s wonderful and now, unfortunately mostly departed, suburban picture houses, with his sister and friends, where his passion for the silver screen was formed and cemented. But, as Blondie’s drummer Clem Burke once noted, the most devoted fans eventually transcend fandom and become the thing itself. Quentin Tarantino is but the most obvious example of this. And Campbell was no exception. Clearly from a well-heeled or, at the very least, kindly and indulgent family, he was able to convince his father to build his own screening room in a garage, kicking off a lifelong passion for projection and the art of, not just filmmaking, but film exhibition.
The book ranges from the perspective of the super-fan – the palpable thrill he felt when Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins and Fred Astaire arrived in Melbourne to make On the Beach or Lillian Gish making an appearance in the city – to detailed and illuminating analysis of filmmakers and filmmaking. The chapters on Jean Cocteau or Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc alone are worth the cover price.
And his long and fascinating career runs the gamut from filmmaking to exhibition to festival organisation, rubbing shoulders and collaborating with some of the most integral names in the Melbourne film sector along the way. Cinema managers, festival directors, visionaries and critics … one of the best things about this book is the light it shines on the wonderful work produced by a huge number of people over the decades.
For those who only knew Paul Coulter as the manager of the late lamented Lumiere Cinema in Lonsdale Street, for instance, will have a far greater appreciation of his multifaceted career after reading Campbell’s book.
They’ll also have a much better understanding of exactly who was behind the pre credit musical interludes selected for so many festival screenings and other cineaste-related events – yes, that was Campbell too.
The book was clearly a genuine labour of love – stuffed with fantastic reminiscences, judiciously selected images and photographs, and enough technical detail and know-how about projectors and other integral pieces of exhibition equipment to make your head spin.
For all those who marvelled at the current reappearance of VistaVision on our screens thanks to Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, Campbell’s book gives some excellent background and explanatory notes about this particular format, along with others he has worked with or experienced during his career.
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Melbourne and the Movies is a weighty piece of literature and every page is a delight. So, if you are one of those fortunate enough to be its target audience, you too will no doubt wind up very glad indeed that Campbell did (unwittingly, he says) follow Mae West’s sage advice: “Keep a diary Honey, because one day it will keep you.”
Melbourne and the Movies, Ross Campbell
Publisher: MM Publishers
ISBN: 9781763644601
Format: Paperback
Pages: 440pp
Publication: 9 September 2024
RRP: $39.95
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