Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company

Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company was an Australian film company formed in 1912 by two brothers, Archie and Colin Fraser. It operated as a film exchange, importing movies from overseas, and production house, making shorts, features and documentaries.^[1][2][3]

Early financial support came from Giuseppe Borsalino, an Italian businessman who invested in Italian films and used Fraser Films as an Australia outlet for his company.^[4] Among the filmmakers who worked for them were Franklyn Barrett, Raymond Longford and Alfred Rolfe.^[5]

Despite some early successes, the company suffered from pressure exerted by the "combine" of Australasian Films and decline of production from Europe due to World War I where Fraser brought many of their films. The company had a bankruptcy hearing in 1918.^[6][7][8]

It was wound up in 1922.^[9] The company was formally liquidated in 1938.^[10]

Select credits

• Whale Hunting in Jarvis Bay (1913) – documentary
• A Blue Gum Romance (1913) – feature
• The Life of a Jackeroo (1913) – feature
• The Silence of Dean Maitland (1914) – feature
• We'll Take Her Children in Amongst Our Own (1915) – short
• The Day (1914) – feature
• Ma Hogan's New Boarder (1915) – short
• The Unknown (1915)
• The Sunny South or The Whirlwind of Fate (1915) – feature
• Murphy of Anzac (1916) – feature
• film of Eugene Aram^[11]