OBSTINATE FOREST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23108, 6 February 1937, Page 19

OBSTINATE FOREST

REFUSES TO ACT FOR TALKIES AUSTRALIAN PRODUCER'S PROBLEM (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Jan. 30. A forest that refused to act for the talkies has become a problem for the producers of a new Australian film, "Tall Timber." The story of the film called for a tree-felling scene, and plans were made to photograph the spectacle near Gloucester, on the central North Coast of New South Wales. A heavily-wooded slope was chosen, but trees which at first 'threatened to fall prematurely and later refused to fall at all, delayed the filming of the scene. The producers have temporarily given up the problem, and are taking other scenes in a Sydney studio before returning to Gloucester for another at; tempt on the recalcitrant forest. The forest covers 20 acres, containing from 10,000 to 12,000 trees. Most of these were to be felled in a timber drive. Thousands of the trees were partly cut through, and 50 at the top of the slope were loaded with dynamite. It was planned to set off these by an electrical fuse, and these falling would crash on the others and so produce a vast wave of falling trees down the mountainside. Everything was in readiness for the film one afternoon, but the electrical wiring laid to the dynamite failed. All efforts to make the "big show" go off failed, and the fear was then formed thai the weakened trees would fall prematurely. Next day the trees were still standing. Faults ifc the electrical wiring were corrected. At 2 p.m. nine cameras were in position to photograph the spectacle. The blast of a motor horn, followed by a rifle shot, gave the signal for the dynamite to be fired. Two minutes later the first tree fell. Then another—and no more. One fell uphill and the other sideways, failing to knock down any of the trees in front of them. What astonished all the workers was that fully half the charged trees had withstood the explosion. Mr Ken G. Hall, the director, then turned on the current which was to set off the other " key " trees. There was another explosion, twice as loud as the first, and a few more trees crashed.' But nothing followed. "Pure cusscdness," was Mr Hall's explanation of the trees' behaviour. "We have made every possible preparation and taken every precaution, but they simply won't fall down." Logging experts have been called in to co-operate with film experts, in the hope that the present location site can still be utilised. If this proves impracticable, another mountainside of timber will be secured, where trees arc thicker and dynamiting can be carried out more effectively. The film producers are accepting the setback philosophically. Hollywood experiences them almost daily, and it is only to be expected that an Australian organisation should encounter pitfalls on location.