Jedda

This article is about the Australian movie. For the plant genus, see Jedda (plant). For the Saudi Arabian city, see Jeddah.

Jedda
Directed by	Charles Chauvel
Produced by	Charles Chauvel
Written by	Charles Chauvel Elsa Chauvel
Starring	Robert Tudawali Ngarla Kunoth
Music by	Isador Goodman
Cinematography	Carl Kayser
Edited by	Alex Ezard Jack Gardiner Pam Bosworth
Production company	Charles Chauvel Productions Ltd
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (Aust) British Lion (UK) Distributors Corporation of America (US)
Release dates	3 January 1955 (premiere) 5 May 1955 (Aust) 1956 (UK) 1957 (USA)
Running time	101 mins (Aust) 61 mins (UK)
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	£90,823

Jedda is a 1955 film by the Australian filmmaker Charles Chauvel. His last film, it is most notable for being the first to star two Aboriginal actors (Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth) in the leading roles, and also to be the first Australian feature film shot in colour. Jedda is seen by some as an influential film in early Australian cinema, as it set a standard for future Australian films. It won more international attention than previous Australian films, during a time when Hollywood films were dominating the Australian cinema. The director, Charles Chauvel, was nominated for the Golden Palm Award in the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, but lost to the American Delbert Mann for Marty.

Plot

Jedda is an Aboriginal girl born on a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. After her mother dies giving birth to her, the child is brought to Sarah McMann, the wife of the station boss. Sarah has recently lost her own newborn to illness. She at first intends to give the baby to one of the Aboriginal women who work on the station, but then raises Jedda as her own, teaching her European ways and separating her from other Aborigines.

Jedda wants to learn about her own culture, but is forbidden by Sarah. When Jedda grows into a young woman, she becomes curious about an Aboriginal man from the bush named Marbuck. This tall stranger arouses strong feelings in her. She is lured to his camp one night by a song. Marbuck abducts her and sets off back to his tribal land, through crocodile-infested swamps.

Joe, a half-caste stockman in love with Jedda, tracks the two for several days. They travel across high, rocky country, and down a river until Marbuck reaches his tribe. The tribal council declares that Marbuck has committed a serious crime by bringing Jedda to them, because she is not of the right 'skin' group. They sing his death song as punishment. Marbuck defies the elders and takes Jedda into an area of steep cliffs and canyons, taboo lands. Driven insane by the death song, he pulls Jedda with him over a tall cliff, and both perish. Joe, the narrator, says her spirit has joined "the great mother of the world, in the dreaming time of tomorrow."

Cast

• Ngarla Kunoth as Jedda
• Robert Tudawali as Marbuck
• Betty Suttor as Sarah McMann
• Paul Reynall as Joe
• George Simpson-Lyttle as Douglas McMann
• Tas Fitzer as Peter Wallis
• Wason Byers as Felix Romeo
• Willie Farrar as Little Joe
• Margaret Dingle as Little Jedda

Development

Charles Chauvel says the original inspiration for the film came from a meeting he had in Hollywood in early 1950 with Merian C. Cooper. Cooper encouraged the director to make a film exploiting Australian locations. Chauvel was further encouraged along these lines by Bess Meredyth who had made a number of films in Australia in the 1920s.

Chauvel decided to make the project in the Northern Territory. With his wife Elsa he made an extensive survey of the Territory later that year with the assistance of the Commonwealth government. He undertook colour tests, intending to make Australia's first colour The Chauvels then wrote a screenplay, originally entitled The Northern Territory Story.

In 1951 Chauvel formed Chauvel Productions Ltd to make the film, with a notional capital of £500,000. It went public in August 1951, offering 240,000 shares.

Chauvel later claimed he turned down an American offer of $100,000 (£44,000) to finance the film because it was conditional upon Linda Darnell being cast in the lead. Chauvel's regular backers Universal Pictures did not want to invest in the movie but Chauvel managed to secure finance from various businessmen, including Mainguard Australia Ltd. It took the Chauvels 18 months to find a suitable filming location.

Production

Filming started in May 1952, when the unit left Sydney for Darwin. By this stage the lead role of Jedda had still yet to be cast, but filming acting sequences did not begin until July. Robert Tudawali was a full-blooded aboriginal from Melville Island. Ngarla Kunoth was an Arunta woman from an inland mission station; she was selected over seven other actors screen tested and was cast by July.

The shoot took five months to complete, plus post-production work done in Sydney. Most of the scenes were shot on the Coolibah Station in the Northern Territory, as well as at Stanley Chasm, Ormiston Gorge and Mary River in the north.

The Chauvels celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary during filming. Wason Byers, who had a small role, was arrested for stealing over £1,000 worth of cattle.

The production process was as laborious as the colour technique used, Gevacolor, could only be processed overseas in England. The film was fragile and heat-sensitive, which was a problem as the Northern Territory had a typically hot climate; during production, the film was stored in cool caves to protect it from deteriorating. By mid 1952 the film had incurred expenses of £24,673.

The last roll of negative was destroyed in a plane crash on its way for developing in England. Chauvel re-shot these lost scenes at Kanangra Walls in the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves west of Sydney Cave Scenes were Filmed in the River Cave, Diamond Cave, Imperial Cave, and Mud Tunnels at Jenolan. Editing and sound recorded were completed in London.

The music was written by Isador Goodman. Elsa Chauvel, the director's wife, replaced large parts of Goodman's score with old-fashioned commercial ‘mood’ music.

Reception

The film has its world premiere on 3 January 1955 but did not open in Sydney until May. Its commercial reception was solid rather than sensational: Charles Chauvel Productions Ltd received £17,915 from the film in May and June 1955. The company's name was changed to Jedda Ltd to help exploit the film. In December 1956 Jedda Ltd reported a profit of £50,454 for the year to 30 June, reducing the debit balance in the production account to £69,697. The film had been successful in Australia but performed disappointingly overseas.

The film was released in the UK as Jedda the Uncivilised.

Some time after the film was completed and released in locations around the world, the film in Gevacolor was found to have faded from aging. In 1972 the film was reproduced from original tri-separations found in London.

This was Charles Chauvel's last feature film. He intended to adapt Kay Glasson Taylor's novel The Wars of the Outer March but was hired by the BBC to make the TV series Walkabout. Before he could resume work on his feature projects he died on 11 November 1959.

See also

• Cinema of Australia

External links

• Jedda at IMDb
• National Film and Sound Archive
• Jedda, Murdoch University Media Communication and Culture
• Jedda at National Film and Sound Archive
• Ben Miller 'The Mirror of Whiteness: Blackface in Charles Chauvel's Jedda ' JASAL Special Issue 2007
• Jedda at Australian Screen Online
• Jedda at Oz Movies