| Name |
R Williams |
| Other Name |
R. Maslyn Williams |
| Birth Year |
1911 |
| Death Year |
1999 |
| Country |
United Kingdom |
| Comments |
Leaving England in the 1920s, R. Maslyn Williams moved to Australia, initially studying music at the Conservatorium in Sydney in the 1930s. He joined National Studios, where his first job was as an assistant to Frank Coffey, who at the time, was editor on the Charles Chauvel film Uncivilised (1936).
After National Studios closed in 1938, Williams joined the Commonwealth Government's Cinema and Photographic Branch, which in turn, became Australiaâs first Commonwealth film-making unit.
In 1940, Williams joined Damien Parer, Alan Anderson, George Silk and Frank Hurley, as part of a film unit sent overseas to document World War II. They supplied film footage to Cinesound and Movietone for newsreel production.
After the War he joined the Film Division, Department of Information as a senior producer. He is most remembered for his realist film Mike and Stefani (1952), which captures 'lives in limbo' as Williams follows a family of Displaced Persons (DP) living in a German refugee camp post-War.
Frustrated by the creative constraints of the Film Unit, Williams left the institution in 1962 to pursue a career in writing. He wrote several documentary and fiction books, winning both the FAW Christina Stead Award in 1988 and the Douglas Stewart prize in the 1989 NSW literary awards.
FILMOGRAPHY
Some of the films made by Williams at Commonwealth Film Unit:
The Music Makers (1945)
Gold Town (1949)
Mike and Stefani (1952)
Melbourne Wedding Belle (1953). Produced by Williams. Direction and lyrics by Colin Dean
Down in the Forest (1954)
This is the ABC (1955)
Music Camp (1958)
New Guinea Patrol (1958)
Way to a New World (1959)
An Agricultural Officer in Papua and New Guinea (1961)
The Cruise of the Magi (1962)
Films made after leaving the Film Unit:
Stone Age Island (1964)
Five Journeys from Jakarta (1965)
East is Red (1967)
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Author ( click to view )
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| web - Mike and Stefani Supporting Documents : Mike and Stefani Production Letters . |
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Stanley Hawes,
Kevin Murphy
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| A detailed insight into the production process of making Mike and Stefani, as shown through the letters exchanged between Maslyn Williams, Stanley Hawes and ...[full record]
R Maslyn Williams
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References ( click to view )
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| newspaper - $1,700 donation for new film Herald. 04-06-1975. p.n.p. |
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Author Unknown
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| Money anonymously donated to make a 35mm print (from the existing 16mm) of 'Mike and Stefani' for screening at the 1975 Sydney Film Festival. This article f...[full record]
R. Maslyn WIlliams
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| web - Continuum 1.1 Contents : Australian Film in the 1950s . 00-00-1987 |
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Stuart Cunningham
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| The article talks about the 1950s being a sign of the discontinuous tradition of Australian cinema. Cunningham discusses the downturn in film production in t...[full record]
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| web - Film Australia's Immigration : faim_grant PDF . |
| These notes are taken from Film Australia website:
After WWII, Harold Grant was an interviewing officer for the Department of Immigration, responsible for...[full record]
R Maslyn Williams
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| newspaper - Film Finds a Theatre The Sydney Morning Herald. 15-10-1953. p.n.p. |
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Author Unknown
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| Praising the film as the most 'grown-up and craftsmanlike feature-length film ever made by Australians'. [full record]
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| web - Mike & Stefani Supporting Documents 2002 : The production and distribution of Mike and Stefani: putting the letters into context. . 00-00-2002 |
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Deane Williams,
Ina Bertrand
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| As 'Mike and Stefani'was shot in post war Germany, Maslyn Williams writes to Hawes and Murphy about his plans for making the film. Bertrand puts the corresp...[full record]
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| newspaper - Mike and Stefani step from the past The Sydney Morning Herald. 31-05-1975. p.n.p. |
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Helen Frizell
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| The article investigates why the 'hauntingly, beautiful' film 'Mike and Stefani' was not given a public release when it was completed in 1952. Frizell interv...[full record]
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| newspaper - Mike and Stefani stepping from the past The Sydney Morning Herald. 31-05-1975 |
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Helen Frizell
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| This article covers the re-release of the film at the 1975 Sydney Film Festival.
[full record]
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| web - Mike and Stefani Supporting Documents : Mike and Stefani Production Letters . |
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Stanley Hawes,
Kevin Murphy
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| A detailed insight into the production process of making Mike and Stefani, as shown through the letters exchanged between Maslyn Williams, Stanley Hawes and ...[full record]
R Maslyn Williams
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| web - Mike and Stefani Supporting Documents 2002 : Mike and Stefani: Further Reading and Viewing . 00-00-2002 |
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Author Unknown
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| A bibliography of reading material related to 'Mike and Stefani', the Commonwealth Film Unit, Stanley Hawes and film production in Australia. Also lists oth...[full record]
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| book - Projecting Australia: Government film since 1945 . 00-00-1991 |
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Albert Moran
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| The book charts how the Australian government's film making Unit (known as Film Australia since 1973) has reflected Australian society through film. It expl...[full record]
R Maslyn Williams
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| web - Screening the Past : Theory into Practice: Stanley Hawes and the Commonwealth Film Unit . 01-07-1999 |
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Ina Bertrand
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| An in-depth look at Stanley Hawes: his concept of the goals of documentary film and his role as a producer and director in the Unit, which later became known...[full record]
R Maslyn Williams
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| journal - The Commonwealth Film Unit: Predecessors and Precursors Metro 104. . pp.52-57 |
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Deane Williams
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| Deane Williams profiles three film-makers - Maslyn Williams, Colin Dean and John Heyer and contextualises their documentary work within the film culture of t...[full record]
R Maslyn Williams
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| newspaper - Top Australian Documentary Daily Telegraph. 18-10-1951. p.n.p. |
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Robin Slessor
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| A glowing review of the film 'Mike and Stefani'. Slessor believes the film is 'the best effort in documentary films made by Australians'.[full record]
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