Kokoda Front Line! (1942)

Directed by

Ken G. Hall

Genre

documentary film, war film

Country

Australia

Runtime

9 min

Rating

5.3 of 10 from 23 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a 1942 Australian newsreel compilation about soldiers fighting on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. It shows real combat footage filmed by a war photographer and was the first Australian film to win an Oscar.

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What happens

Kokoda Front Line! was a full-length edition of the Australian newsreel, Cinesound Review, produced by the Australian News & Information Bureau and Cinesound Productions Limited in 1942, about the Kokoda Track campaign. It was one of four winners of the 15th Academy Awards for best documentary, and the first Australian film to win an Oscar. It was filmed by the Australian war photographer Damien Parer and directed by Ken G. Hall. Damien Parer is often cited as one of Australia's early Academy Award winners, however the award was made to the director, Ken G. Hall. Much of Parer's footage was used in a documentary made by a rival company, Movietone, The Road to Kokoda. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Kokoda (2006)
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• Road to Victory (1941)
• Soldiers Without Uniform (1942)