Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South is a 1910 documentary of Melbourne that takes the audience through the hotspots of its central business district and surrounding features. Published in 1910, the film stands as the oldest surviving documentary of the city. It is currently housed at the National Film & Sound Archive in Pyrmont, Sydney. At the time of filming, Melbourne was the federal capital of Australia, until the development of Canberra in 1927.
Overview
Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South is a black and white silent documentary film about the city of Melbourne in 1910. The film is shot in an observation style, where each scene is divided by a title screen that introduces the next well-known metropolitan Melbourne street and/or building. Such iconography and landmarks that are included in the film are: Swanston Street, Melbourne Town Hall, St Kilda Road, St Paul's Cathedral, Bourke Street, the Central Post Office, Elizabeth Street, the Royal Exhibition Building, Collins Street, scenes on the Yarra River and of people playing football. Developed under Spencer's Pictures, the label was renowned for "natural, artistic and realistic display," of the subjects and scenes they were filming.
The film's locations were shot by Spencer and Higgins over the previous year (1909) to the film's release. The film continues to be the oldest surviving film of the city of Melbourne. Produced under Spencer's Pictures, it was likely shot by Ernest Higgins, the main camera operator for the company at the time. This is contested as in the film's credits it attributed cinematography to "C. Spencer" not Higgins, although unlikely Spencer was the only cinematographer for the entirety of the film. The film debuted at the Spencer Wirth's Olympia theatre on 22 November 1910. The theatre that debuted the film was not affiliated with Spencer's Pictures production.
Title
The title, Marvellous Melbourne although used by Spencer in the 1910 documentary, was not coined by the film maker but in a different context entirely some 30 years earlier. The term Marvellous Melbourne; was a cultural product of 19th century Melburnians' pride in living in the "booming" city of Melbourne. In 1885, George Augustus Sala wrote that he considered the city of Melbourne to "eclipse other colonial cities in terms of prestige" and thus felt it compelling to describe Melbourne as "marvellous".
In 1889, Sala's work would be put into a "melodrama burlesque" co-written by Alfred Dampier, J.H Wrangham and Thomas Somers. The term, Marvellous Melbourne, shifted meaning in the late 19th century, turning satirical and contradicting the "booming" it once was. An economic depression would wear thin on the city and the term would be used as a sarcastic insult to the English class system that left many Melburnians unemployed and impoverished. Spencer's use of the slogan for the film, Marvellous Melbourne, saw a positive cultural shift in the terms of its connotation but would continue through various cultural and academic references in such light.
Cinematography
The cinematography of the film Marvellous Melbourne, Queen City of the South, was considered intriguing and groundbreaking by audiences at the time as such angles were not recorded/broadcast before. These included, birds-eye-view-like angles of the city that were created through vantage points of the city, as such technology had not been created yet. "Point of view" angles were created in "fast" motion as the equipment was situated on the front of the tram going through various Melbourne streets. This scene is also referred to as a "phantom ride," as it seems as though the camera is floating through space and not held by any machinery or camera equipment but almost 'flying' through a space.
These both provided a new perspective in film making and cinematography, without the development of expensive and innovative film equipment, which is all thanks to the city's tram network. An article published in The Age on 22 November 1910, showed the films advertising for an opening screening at Hoyt's Olympia theatre under the "Amusements" section. In terms of the physical preservation of the film, its nitrate base means it ages faster and is more fragile to the elements, it is being stored in a highly controlled environment at the National Film & Sound Archive exhibit. It has also since been digitised and is available on the National Film & Sound Archive site in 'clip' forms.