Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South is a 1910 documentary of Melbourne that takes the audience through the hotspots of its CBD and surrounding features. Published in 1910, the film stands as the oldest surviving documentary of the city.[2] It is currently housed at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in Pyrmont, Sydney. At the time of filming, Melbourne was the federal capital of Australia, until the development of Canberra in 1927. 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: Swanson street, Melbourne Town Hall, St. Kilda Road, St. Paul's Cathedral, Bourke street, the Central Post office, Elizabeth street, the 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," [3] of the subjects and scenes they were filming. The films locations were shot by Spencer and Higgins over the previous year (1909) to the films release.[4] The film continues to be the oldest surviving film of the city of Melbourne.[5] Produced under Spencer's Pictures, it was likely shot by Ernst Higgins, the main camera operator for the company at the time.[5] This is contested as in the films 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 November 22 in 1910.[3] The theatre that debuted the film was not affiliated with Spencer's Pictures production.
Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South is a 1910 documentary of Melbourne that takes the audience through the hotspots of its CBD and surrounding features. Published in 1910, the film stands as the oldest surviving documentary of the city.[2] It is currently housed at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in Pyrmont, Sydney. At the time of filming, Melbourne was the federal capital of Australia, until the development of Canberra in 1927. 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: Swanson street, Melbourne Town Hall, St. Kilda Road, St. Paul's Cathedral, Bourke street, the Central Post office, Elizabeth street, the 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," [3] of the subjects and scenes they were filming. The films locations were shot by Spencer and Higgins over the previous year (1909) to the films release.[4] The film continues to be the oldest surviving film of the city of Melbourne.[5] Produced under Spencer's Pictures, it was likely shot by Ernst Higgins, the main camera operator for the company at the time.[5] This is contested as in the films 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 November 22 in 1910.[3] The theatre that debuted the film was not affiliated with Spencer's Pictures production.