Breaker Morant

HONDO

Breaker Morant ( 1980 ).

My observations, thoughts and facts on the three Breaker Morant daybills.

Breaker Morant was passed for public exhibition on 35mm and classified NRC by the Australian film censors on the 1st of February, 1980. The film was screened at the 33rd Cannes Film Festival held between the 9th and the 23rd of May, 1980 where Jack Thompson was awarded Best Supporting actor. The Australian film premiere was held in Adelaide , South Australia on the 15th of May, 1980. The general release followed on the 3rd of July, 1980. In an article published in The Australian Women's Weekly from September, 1980 it stated Breaker Morant had a record breaking run at the Australian box office.The film was released on a CEL sell through videocassette  with this being part of an Australia day January 1985 promotion.

From the facts presented above I need to comment and also ask questions. For the Adelaide film premiere what daybill, if at all, was used to promote the film? It was too early for Jack Thompson's name  to have been used. Was it perhaps the red version possibly printed for the film's run in Australia pre cannes or had no daybills been printed at this time? For the general release on the 3rd of July, 1980 the award notation poster had been printed so this has to be the original daybill used for the general release of the film. As it had a  videocassette release in January, 1985 along without any newspaper advertisements found to say a re-release happened I very much doubt one ever took place in Australia. It is possible the red daybill, followed later by the white version were 2nd and 3rd printings produced during the film's record breaking Australian run as supplies of the original ran low. I don't believe the two posters produced by M.A.P.S. were printed at the same time as the exact wording layout on the posters is different.

Summing up the possibilities which are-

Red daybill first followed by Cannes reference second then white daybill third.

Cannes reference  first followed by red then later the white daybill. 

There are a few other possibilities also but  I feel that they would be extremely unlikely to have occurred.

John

I have always thought Cannes first, red second, white third but cant be absolutely sure.

HONDO

HONDO said:

Breaker Morant ( 1980 ).

My observations, thoughts and facts on the three Breaker Morant daybills.

Breaker Morant was passed for public exhibition on 35mm and classified NRC by the Australian film censors on the 1st of February, 1980. The film was screened at the 33rd Cannes Film Festival held between the 9th and the 23rd of May, 1980 where Jack Thompson was awarded Best Supporting actor. The Australian film premiere was held in Adelaide , South Australia on the 15th of May, 1980. The general release followed on the 3rd of July, 1980. In an article published in The Australian Women's Weekly from September, 1980 it stated Breaker Morant had a record breaking run at the Australian box office.The film was released on a CEL sell through videocassette  with this being part of an Australia day January 1985 promotion.

From the facts presented above I need to comment and also ask questions. For the Adelaide film premiere what daybill, if at all, was used to promote the film? It was too early for Jack Thompson's name  to have been used. Was it perhaps the red version possibly printed for the film's run in Australia pre cannes or had no daybills been printed at this time? For the general release on the 3rd of July, 1980 the award notation poster had been printed so this has to be the original daybill used for the general release of the film. As it had a  videocassette release in January, 1985 along without any newspaper advertisements found to say a re-release happened I very much doubt one ever took place in Australia. It is possible the red daybill, followed later by the white version were 2nd and 3rd printings produced during the film's record breaking Australian run as supplies of the original ran low. I don't believe the two posters produced by M.A.P.S. were printed at the same time as the exact wording layout on the posters is different.

Summing up the possibilities which are-

Red daybill first followed by Cannes reference second then white daybill third.

Cannes reference  first followed by red then later the white daybill. 

There are a few other possibilities also but  I feel that they would be extremely unlikely to have occurred.

In light of some new information being referred to me with images of the original Australian press sheet and a glass side promoting the film along with a person's memory it has been suggested that the red/blue poster is from the original release with the colour Cannes reference version a 2nd printing and the white background poster a 3rd printing. I tended to accept this until I compared closely the press sheet to the images I have of Breaker Morant daybills and noticed the following.

On the press sheet the image of the daybill poster is exactly the same as the white background daybill. On the red/blue image suggested as the first printed daybill the wording of the credits is applied differently than on the press sheet plus on the red/blue version an extended drawing appears on that poster of a horse's leg none of which appear on the press sheet daybill illustration. Of interest the horses leg appears on the glass slide. 

My amended thoughts are as follows as to the correct order of when the posters were printed -

1st printing - White background poster ( exactly the same as original press sheet ).

2nd printing - Cannes full colour version used less than a couple of months later for the general release. Upgraded to have more colour due to the award announcement and thus making Breaker Morant a more prestigious film to promote.

3rd printing- red/blue version. Printed at some unknown time later due to the record breaking run the film was having and to the original printed stock of the first two daybills running low. Probably by this time the Cannes award  was considered old news so they went with reworking the original poster and other material at hand that was used for the original glass slide.

Bruce

Thanks Lawrence! This is the danger of guesswork in place of hard evidence.

We love when people give us corrections or additional info about items we have sold, but we are reluctant to change what we had without corroborating evidence.

HONDO

For the record I stated - ''my observations, thoughts and facts''. ''Summing up the possibilities''.'' My amended thoughts''. I agree what I have presented above is not hard evidence and I fully understand Bruce's reluctance to change details on his website which is his call. The information I have presented here is for the VMPF members to digest and for them to make up their own minds, based on the information I have provided, to what they think happened with the order in which the daybills were printed. 

John

HONDO said:

 

1st printing - White background poster ( exactly the same as original press sheet ).

2nd printing - Cannes full colour version used less than a couple of months later for the general release. Upgraded to have more colour due to the award announcement and thus making Breaker Morant a more prestigious film to promote.

3rd printing- red/blue version. Printed at some unknown time later due to the record breaking run the film was having and to the original printed stock of the first two daybills running low. Probably by this time the Cannes award  was considered old news so they went with reworking the original poster and other material at hand that was used for the original glass slide.

I have that undated press sheet. It does show something similar to the poster with the white background but press sheets often don't have images of posters, they often show ad blocks that were used in newspapers, etc. There is a possibility that more than one daybill could have been used for the original release.

HONDO

I don't personally have the press sheet but as the film appears not to have had a re-release I am thinking only one, the original press sheet, would have been printed for the film. I was also led to believe it was an original press sheet from another source.

John

Breaker Morant Press sheet

The image does look like the white daybill.

John

It does look like the white daybill for Breaker Morant might have come first but I just had a quick look though about 30 Australian press sheets for Australian made films from this era and they nearly always display the newspaper ad blocks rather than an image of the posters. Sometimes the ad blocks are similar to the posters, but on other occasions they are completely different. Have a look at the daybill and press sheet for Heatwave as an example.

HONDO

John said:

It does look like the white daybill for Breaker Morant might have come first but I just had a quick look though about 30 Australian press sheets for Australian made films from this era and they nearly always display the newspaper ad blocks rather than an image of the posters. Sometimes the ad blocks are similar to the posters, but on other occasions they are completely different. Have a look at the daybill and press sheet for Heatwave as an example.

All that you point out is correct. Some ad blocks like My Brilliant Career are similar to the daybill but not exactly the same but in the case of Breaker Morant the white Australian daybill is exactly the same as the image on the pressbook even if it is an add block. I am not able to post the Breaker Morant press sheet so maybe John you might like to do this so people can compare the press sheet to the daybill posted earlier on this thread to see for themselves? 

John

HONDO

Thanks John for the press sheet image. We most likely will never have 100% proof regarding in which order the three daybill were printed but it is fun trying to figure it out.

John

Very true Lawrence.