The film was another claimant for the title of Australia's first feature film talkie, on the basis that it was 100% talkie and 100% Australian, in contrast to earlier claimants The Cheaters and Fellers which were 100% Australian, but not 100% talkies, featuring synch music and only some talkie scenes. "Dick" Harwood, left, with 3AW radio personality Fred Tupper at Pagewood Studios when Harwood was filming Show Business in 1938). Harwood next obtained the support of a Melbourne businessman, sufficient to convert an old factory at 61 Stanley Street West Melbourne into a studio, and devise a crude sound-on-film system, with the system used to produce two films back-to-back, Spur of the Moment and Isle of Intrigue, in mid-1931, using the same crew, and substantially the same cast. The only set of wax discs buckled in a heat wave before the film could be shown, and the film was scrapped. He managed to shoot a five reel "society romance" with the title Out of the Shadows, filming in Melbourne and using a makeshift sound-on-disc recording system. "Dick" Harwood joined in the race to claim the title of first Australian talkie feature maker early in 1931. The Touch of Silk is referenced at AustLit here, (subscription service), and Davies can be found as Roland at AustLit here.Ī. Starting as a social writer, she would become a prolific writer for radio, and she also wrote a number of plays and novels.
Davies, a writer who had attracted praise and attention with the prize-winning stage play The Touch of Silk under the name Betty Roland, written when she was 26. He would not return to feature film production for his own company until 1934 with Secret of the Skies. Harwood then joined Frank Thring and Efftee Films as publicist and sales manager. However a measure of its final success can be judged by the way producer/director A. Rights for the film were picked up by a British distributor, who could still treat it as part of the Empire quota production arrangement. ( Oxford Australian Film) The double bill of Spur of the Moment and Isle of Intrigue travelled widely in Australia in capital cities, regional and rural cinemas, including bookings in cinemas in Cairns and Brisbane. 50 mins ( Oxford Australian Film)īox office: "modest commercial season".
Filming on Spur of the Moment began the week of 19th June 1931, with four weeks scheduled for shooting.Īustralian release: 26th September 1931 Palace Theatre Melbourne, in a double bill with its back-to-back produced sibling Isle of Intrigue. Locations: Melbourne, mainly an interior drama, filmed in a West Melbourne factory converted into a rough sound studio.įilmed: mid-1931.
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