Charles Cozens Spencer

Charles Cozens Spencer

Charles Cozens Spencer (1874 - 1930) was a British-born film exhibitor and producer, who was a significant figure in the early years of the Australian film industry.

Contents

Biography

After working in Canadian film exhibition, he first arrived in Australia in 1905. He made a fortune exhibiting The Great Train Robbery in Australia and soon became the leading exhibitor in the country. He moved into production, establishing a permanent production unit under Ernest Higgins in 1908. Initially focused on documentary shorts and newsreels, he moved into funding dramatic feature films, starting with The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Notorious Australian Bushranger (1910).[1]

He was an early supported of director Raymond Longford who directed The Fatal Wedding (1911) for Spencer. The success of this film enabled him to set up a ₤10,000 studio complex in Rushcutter's Bay, Sydney, where Longford made his next couple of features.

1913 saw the formation of the "combine", a merger of key Australian exhibition, distribution and production companies, including Spencer's. After the box office failure of The Shepherd of the Southern Cross (1914) he was unable to persuade the combine to invest in drama production, and stepped back his involvement in the local industry.[2]

Death

Spencer left Australia and returned to Canada with his wife, where he bought a ranch in British Columbia. In 1930, depressed after some financial reversals, he went on a shooting spree, killing his storeman and wounding another man, before drowning himself in a nearby lake.[3] He left behind an estate worth $300,000.[4]

Filmography

  • Boxing 1908: Johnson vs Burns (1908)[5]
  • Marvellous Melbourne (1910) - director[6]
  • The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Notorious Australian Bushranger (1910) - producer
  • Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911) - producer
  • Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911) - producer
  • The Life of Rufus Dawes (1911) - producer
  • Dan Morgan (1911) - producer
  • The Fatal Wedding (1911) - producer
  • The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole (1911) - producer
  • Sweet Nell of Old Drury (1911) - producer
  • The Midnight Wedding (1912) - producer
  • The Tide of Death (1912) - producer
  • Australia Calls (1913) - producer
  • The Shepherd of the Southern Cross (1914) - producer

References

  1. ^ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989, p28.
  2. ^ Biography at Australian Dictionary of Biography
  3. ^ 'MISSING RANCHER Cozens Spencer's Body. Found VANCOUVER, Thursday', The Canberra Times, Saturday 1 November 1930 p 4
  4. ^ SPENCER COSENS Leaves Estate of £60,000 VANCOUVER, January 13. The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931) Thursday 15 January 1931 p 9 Article
  5. ^ Clip at Australian Screen Online
  6. ^ "Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South c.1910". Australian Screen Online. http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/marvellous-melbourne/notes/. Retrieved 5 September 2011. 

External links


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