‘Rupe’ Kathner – showman, maverick, or just bad filmmaker?

47 year old Rupert Kathner (playing 25 year old outlaw Aaron Sherritt) in his own film The Glenrowan Affair (1951). Football player Bob Chitty (playing Ned Kelly) can be seen at right.^[1]Source of screengrab: Throwback Australia TV channel on Youtube

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The Five second version
Not only did Rupert Kathner (1904-1954) slightly resemble Ed Wood (1924-1978), the well-known US director of cheap features and exploitation quickies, but he also shared at least one characteristic – a seriously inflated belief in his own ability. Trained first as an artist and sign-writer, Kathner had drifted into making films in the mid 1930s. His gift to Australian cinema history were his sensational newsreels, made in the later 1930s, several very mediocre feature films and his 1945 book, an extraordinarily bitter blast against those whose success he envied. In the late 1930s Alma Brooks (1908 -1988) became his professional and personal partner, contributing to much of his work, including several films. Kathner and Brooks are the subject of Alec Morgan’s 2006 docu-drama Hunt Angels.^[2]Hunt Angels was Kathner’s stage name in his final film The Glenrowan Affair. But as Kathner’s book explains – Angels were backers of a film, and hunting for them was his task

Kathner’s son Paul (1935-2023) had a long and successful career as a set designer and artist.

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Interviewed in 2002 by the NFSA ^[3]National Film & Sound Archive, Australia, well known actor Charles “Bud” Tingwell (1923-2009) recalled Rupert Kathner amongst the Australians trying to make films in the difficult 1940s. “Rupert Kathner… was always having to battle… The theory was that he would pinch what he could buy.” he said. But Kathner was “a lovely guy.” Following Alec Morgan‘s 2006 award-winning docu-drama on Kathner, Hunt Angels,^[4]The film won 3 Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards in 2006 there has been a surge of interest in him. Even if his films are – at best, unremarkable, if not just downright bad – Australians love an underdog, and in filmmaker Rupert Kathner they have another.

Born Rupert William Kaethner in South Australia in 1904, his father William was a partner in Eicke & Kaethner, coachbuilders of Parkside, Adelaide. William specialized in finishing and decorating the vehicles.^[5]See The Register (Adelaide) 13 Sep 1901, p7 Rupert (he preferred “Rupe” in later life) was the oldest child born to William and his wife Grace nee Fletcher. In a 1954 obituary it was claimed young Rupert had attended Adelaide’s St Peter’s Grammar school and later trained under artist Hans Heysen (1877-1968). As with so many stories about Rupert’s life – these claims are now difficult to verify.^[6]Surviving records for two of Kathner’s younger brothers Max and Francis show they attended Glenelg Primary School By the mid 1920s, Kathner was a signwriter, but unfortunately, whatever good experiences or mentoring he may have enjoyed, he was regularly coming to the attention of the police. His problems started as traffic misdemeanors, but soon moved to fraud – including several attempts to defraud pawnbrokers – gaining money by false pretences.^[7]The Register (Adelaide) 25 Apr 1925 p13 And in late 1925, he was declared insolvent.

The shocking businessman

The words of the Commissioner in Adelaide’s Insolvency Court in November 1925 may have been prophetic. Although Rupert Kathner was only aged 21, Commissioner Mitchell pulled no punches. He told the young sign writer – “You are… a shocking business man. You cannot go on in life like this. If you are going into business you must conduct your affairs in a proper and business-like way. I can see from your transactions that you know nothing about business. You have acted stupidly and there is no excuse for it.”^[8]The Register (Adelaide) 21 Nov 1925, p12 Unfortunately, Kathner did not learn by this experience and by early 1927 he was in gaol, after a conviction for false pretences. Perhaps, finally, he did learn his lesson. At least for a time.

By 1930, the whole Kathner family had moved to Sydney in New South Wales. Rupert’s parents and siblings all lived together in Curlewis Street, Bondi. Rupert, now recorded on electoral records as a commercial artist, lived on his own about 3 kilometres away on the other side of Bondi Junction, in View Street, Waverley. In June 1930 Rupert Kathner married Clarice Trouton, also a signwriter, and a son, Paul, was born of the union in 1935.

Entering the film industry

In the 1930s Kathner also developed a career as a portrait and landscape artist, although over time, reviews of his art were mixed.^[9]See for example, The Daily Telegraph (Syd) 15 Feb 1946, p11 and The Mail (Adelaide) 1 Feb 1947, p3 By 1935 he had also moved into set design for a local film project – The Burgomeister (1935) – Harry Southwell’s (1882-1960) filmed version of the stage play The Bells.^[10]Pike & Cooper (1980) p226 and 234 Although the film was not good enough to get a commercial release, it brought Kathner into contact with others in the industry, including character actor Stan Tolhurst (1908-1983). Later that year, Tolhurst and Kathner collaborated on a short pilot for a proposed feature film called Falling for Fame, which portrayed “the phonies who came from overseas and wasted the industry’s money.”^[11]Pike & Cooper (1980) p234 It was intended to feature Tolhurst and popular stage comedian Syd Beck (1898-1948). In a practice that was to typify Kathner’s approach to film production, he planted enthusiastic publicity in the press – claiming that it was all about to happen.^[12]See for example Everyones, Vol.15 No.805 (6 November 1935 But the film failed to find backing and was not made. It was also at this time that Kathner wrote to The Sydney Morning Herald, complaining about the practice of importing directors and actors, and at the same time making wild claims about his own expertise – which included “15 years experience in practically every branch of the industry.”^[13]See The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW) 29 Oct 1935, p6. Of course – 15 years before, he had been aged 16 – and was probably an apprentice signwriter.

Making films – Phantom Gold (1937) & Below the Surface (1938)

In 1936 Kathner embarked on a new project with Stan Tolhurst – based on a topic of great public interest. Only six years before, adventurer Harold Lasseter (1880-1931) had died in central Australia attempting to relocate a fabulous gold reef he claimed he had previously found.^[15]The consensus of opinion now is that the gold reef does not exist and Lasseter was a fantasist Hugh Foy (1868 -1943), the very wealthy manager of Foy’s department store in Sydney, mounted an expedition to investigate the story – or perhaps to find the reef, taking his family and several bushmen who had known Lasseter along with him. And Rupert Kathner and Stan Tolhurst also went along – to make a film of it. But the resulting movie – part record of the trip and part re-enactment of Lasseter’s demise – did not get a commercial release. In fact it was not granted registration under New South Wales’ Film Quota act, which included a provision for film quality.^[16]See Weaving (2013) Appendix p31-32 It was also the subject of legal action by publishers Angus and Robertson, who claimed the film was a copyright infringement of Ion Idriess’s popular book, Lasseter’s Last Ride. According to film historians Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Hugh Foy wisely barred any further screenings of the film.^[17]Pike & Cooper (1980) p234 A 5 minute clip from the film can be seen [here] at the NFSA website. The very dry narration that accompanied it was dated filmmaking, even for the time.

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Below the Surface (1938) was another attempt at a feature film by Kathner and Tolhurst. But this film also failed to be registered under the Film Quota Act’s quality provision, and therefore had no commercial release. According to Pike and Cooper, the plot concerned two miners competing for a coal contract.^[18]Pike & Cooper (1980) p241 Not surprisingly, the film no longer exists today.

Kathner’s Australia Today newsreels

In 1938, Kathner turned to producing newsreels – the type of short that was often shown before main film features or in specialist newsreel cinemas. As Alec Morgan notes, the two newsreel monopolies then operating in Australia; Fox-Movietone and Cinesound News – churned out a fairly consistent diet of feel-good public interest stories. Kathner saw an opening for sensational and controversial topics and produced these under the title Australia Today. In 1999, Morgan interviewed an actor named “Stanley Mount” who said he had once worked with Kathner. Mount said he believed the newsreels were a means for Kathner to fund his feature films.^[19]Morgan (Nov 2006) Senses of Cinema. In Morgan’s film Hunt Angels, Stanley Mount appears in a “talking head” interview. However this is actually actor Robert Bruning

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There are at least half a dozen newsreels made by Kathner surviving in the collections of the NFSA, and a variety of clips can be seen (here). They include stories on the Pyjama Girl murder^[20]the murder of Linda Agostini in 1934 remained unresolved for some years, inner city poverty, shark attacks and drug dealing. In these newsreel shorts, Kathner seemed to find his milieu. They were easily filmed, heavily dependent on re-enactments and integration of stock footage, all the time accompanied by a dramatic narration. Film historian Ina Bertrand suggests that in selecting these topics for his newsreels, Kathner was likely “employing his showman’s nose for the sensational.”^[21]Bertrand (2006) p12 Working with Kathner by this time was Alma Brooks (1908 -1988). While usually introduced to modern readers as an “ex-bar maid”, her work with Kathner and events in her later life indicates a person of great ability and resourcefulness. Kathner obviously thought so too – his 1945 book is dedicated to her.

In addition to appearing in most of the newsreels, contemporary newspaper accounts variously list Alma Brooks as a film editor, script writer and sound engineer, reflecting her degree of collaboration with Kathner. Sydney’s Truth took great delight in reporting a physical altercation she had at the company office in January 1940, when an angry creditor arrived and demanded settlement of a £6 debt.^[22]On this occasion, the court sided with Alma. See Truth (Syd) 21 Jan 1940, p24 Also see Note 1 regarding Alma Brooks

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Making films – Wings of Destiny (1940) and Racing Luck (1941)

Although both of Kathner’s films made in the early years of World War 2 were released, neither are easily available for viewing today.^[25]However, see plot summaries, lists of credits and comments by Simon Weaving (2013), who has watched them all The screenplay for Wings of Destiny, a 68 minute tale of German espionage in Australia, was credited to both Kathner and Alma Brooks. But Weaving notes that the film suffers from “a lack of understanding of the basic grammar of filmmaking and poor performances… Production standards are amateurish.”^[26]Weaving; Survey of Australian Cinema 1938-1958 (2013) p61-3 Press reviews of the time made similar comments. The best Smith’s Weekly could find to report was that the film goes along “rather limpingly.”^[27]Smiths Weekly 21 Sept 1940, p23

Not to be deterred by this failure, and despite the shortages and restrictions of wartime, Kathner and Brooks found some funding and embarked on another feature, eventually given the title Racing Luck, and starring two well known performers – Joe Valli (1885-1967) and George Lloyd (1897-1943). While the two comedians were able to carry the film,^[29]playing two World War I veterans who use a potion to cure a ailing racehorse Weaving again notes this film’s “low production standards, continuity errors and poor direction… In one scene the Director’s call for ‘Action’ has been included.”^[30]Weaving; Survey of Australian Cinema 1938-1958 (2013) p83

In mid 1941, journalist Rex Rientis visited the set of Racing Luck and provided readers of the Sydney Daily Mirror with an insight into the approach being taken. “Director Rupert Kathner and his assistant, Alma Brooks, have ‘different’ ideas [to most] about production. The actors aren’t given complete scripts, but simply an outline of the plot. Dialogue isn’t rigidly fixed, but each actor is told the sense of what he has to say, and is allowed to speak in his own idiom. ‘That’s the only way to make conversation sound completely natural’ Kathner explained.”^[31]Daily Mirror (Sydney) 4 June 1941, p23 Were one not suspicious that this loose scripting was really just a means to save money, one might be tempted to describe it as cutting-edge filmmaking. It was certainly unusual for Australian films of the era.^[32]Improvisation in film is usually associated with highly experienced actors and directors, working with generous budgets

A third film, about the recent siege of Tobruk ^[33]involving the Australian 9th Division in North Africa, April – December 1941 was planned in 1942, and Kathner felt confident enough to advertise for players and to register copyright for a script entitled The Kellys of Tobruk in early November.^[34]National Archives of Australia, item 038918 Sydney’s Daily Mirror reported that the film had been cast and production had commenced – with Alma credited as the sound engineer.^[35]Daily Mirror (Sydney) 29 Oct 1942, p9 The film was abandoned however, when Kathner’s company Fan Fare was taken over by Supreme Sound Systems.^[36]Gaunson (2017) p199 A trail of litigation relating to investments in the film followed – fortunately for Kathner these were dismissed.^[37]See for example The Sun (Syd) 19 Oct 1942, p2 and The Sun (Syd) 5 July 1944 p5

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Let’s Make a Movie!

For a short time, in the later part of World War 2, Kathner and Brooks turned to other interests.

One of these was Kathner’s 100 page booklet Let’s Make a Movie! Published in 1945 as “an eye opening review on Australian film productions,” it is more of a rant than an exposé. Unfortunately, there are so few contemporary records from Australian filmmakers of this era that it’s possible the modern reader may seize on Kathner’s book and attribute greater significance to it than it really deserves. The book provided none of the provocative insights promised on the cover or in its modest publicity.^[40]See The Newcastle Sun (NSW), 1 Sep 1945, p4 for example It is particularly ungracious towards successful film makers of the time, like Ken Hall (1901-1994) and Charles Chauvel (1897-1959), although kinder to aging film pioneer Raymond Longford (1878-1959) whom Kathner knew and had used as an extra. Cheaply printed, these brittle little booklets now survive only in specialist library collections.

At the end of the war, Kathner and Brooks also spent some time travelling central Australia in an ex-Army truck, with Rupert painting landscapes. These paintings formed the basis of several exhibitions that attracted press attention and presumably provided some income.^[41]See for example, The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 February 1946, p7 and The Advertiser (Adelaide) 5 February 1947, p11 Characteristically, there was also talk of a series of central Australian travel films, and then, perhaps another feature film!^[42]The Mail (Adelaide) 8 December 1945, p3 And unfortunately, Rupert Kathner returned to his previous patterns of behaviour, writing a number of worthless cheques while travelling around, and again, attracted the attention of the Police.^[43]South Australian Police Gazette, 13 November, 1946, p432 Alma was by now usually referred to in reports as “Mrs Kathner,” although the real Mrs Clarice Kathner was living far away with Kathner’s siblings and his mother Grace, at 132 Bondi Rd, Bondi, Sydney.^[44]NSW Archives, Divorce papers Clarice Edna Kathner – Rupert William Kathner

Never one to be deterred, Rupert Kathner began to develop plans for another feature. In May 1947, a film of the life of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870) was announced,^[45]Border Watch (South Australia) 3 July 1947, p10 but only a few months later Kathner’s attention turned to Benalla, where old acquaintance Harry Southwell was planning yet another film about bushranger Ned Kelly (he had already made three Kelly films – in 1920, 1923 and 1934).

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Enticed to join Southwell, (or perhaps Kathner leapt at the chance) Benalla Film Productions was established with significant local investment and local footballer Bob Chitty (1916-1985) signed to star as Ned Kelly. The film’s penultimate scene – the siege of the Glenrowan Inn, was shot in early October 1947 ^[47]Corryong Courier (Vic) 2 Oct 1947, p5 but shortly after this Southwell and Kathner fell out – and Kathner left the project.^[48]Benalla Ensign (Vic.) 21 Nov 1947, p5 Unable to find another director and having run out of money, Southwell abandoned the project altogether.^[49]Pyke & Cooper (1980) p278

Sometime later, Kathner returned to the Benalla area to make his own version of a Kelly story. He could not use Southwell’s script – so he wrote his own – but he cast local celebrity Bob Chitty as Ned Kelly again.

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Laboured, amateurish film-making

The Glenrowan Affair is the only one of Kathner’s feature films freely available to viewers today. Eric Reade characterises this film as “the same old Ned Kelly saga, with a new twist” – that is, Dan Kelly, one of the gang members had survived and meets the film’s narrator.^[50]Reade (1979), p137^[51]The activities of the Kelly Gang c1878-1880 are well documented elsewhere, and their exploits have been the subject of numerous Australian films – including the world’s first feature film … Continue reading

In the 2002 interview for the NFSA, Charles Tingwell the film’s narrator, recalled that the era was “a battling time” for filmmakers. He added that he had recently watched the film again and “it wasn’t all that bad.”^[52]NFSA, Australian Biography: Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell Of course, it is easy to pick holes in low budget films of the 1940s and 50s. But this writer is of the opinion that viewed dispassionately and outside the frame of sentimental nationalism that so often colours our view of the past, the film shapes up poorly in almost every regard. The script is woeful and wildly inaccurate and the acting wooden, the sound synchronisation and quality is poor. Makeup is also poor – particularly the disconcertingly bad false beards – while the sets – consisting mostly of farm sheds, are unconvincing. The direction and cinematography are clumsy at best.^[53]See also Weaving (2013) p173 The horse-riding is, on the other hand, consistently impressive.

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Stories of the film’s reception in Benalla – or “Kelly country” – vary. Were there really threats from Kelly sympathisers? Or roars of amused laughter during the screening? It no longer seems clear, although the film’s showing in Benalla really did raise £400 for charity. However, contemporary reviews of the film were not positive. In fact as Pike & Cooper note, most were scathing.

The Sydney Sunday Herald reported “This near-unendurable stretch of laboured, amateurish film-making is something that the developing Australian film industry will wish to forget-swiftly and finally. It is about the exploits of the Kelly gang, and seems content to assume that this Australian legend has enough appeal in itself to need less than the minimal requirements of film craft to generate excitement.^[56]The Sunday Herald (Syd), 19 Aug 1951, p12

The film limped on in release, occasionally showing as a supporting picture, well after Kathner’s death in March 1954. The fact that it was not as bad as Australia’s previous Ned Kelly film of 1934 (made by Harry Southwell) is faint praise.

Although this was an era of few Australian films and the challenges were many; Ken Hall’s Smithy (1946) , Charles Chauvel’s Sons of Matthew (1949) and Jedda (1955), the Ealing studio films of 1946-1950 and the Lee Robinson-Chips Rafferty collaborations of 1953-1956 remind us what really could be achieved at the time. They are superior in every respect.

Rupert Kathner’s demise

The story that Rupert Kathner died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage has its origins in an incident in September 1950, when (he said) he had collapsed due to the strain of producing The Glenrowan Affair.^[57]NSW Archives, Divorce papers, Clarice Edna Kathner Following a period in St Vincent’s hospital, he and Alma moved onto a small launch called the Alcyone, moored at Rose Bay, Sydney. He had apparently been diagnosed with hepatitis, but even while in poor health, the couple lived on the boat.^[58]NSW Archives, Divorce papers, Clarice Edna Kathner In December 1952 Alma and Rupert were front page news when the Alcyone lost its rudder and drifted towards rocks in heavy seas near Mona Vale. Alcoyne was saved by Alma’s sterling efforts and those of a young constable – Alma being praised for her “heroic part in the dramatic ocean rescue.” Rupert had been too unwell to help.^[59]The Sun (Syd) 27 December 1952, p1 & 2 and Truth (Syd), 28 Dec 1952, p2

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In February 1953, Kathner’s long suffering wife Clarice sought and gained a judicial separation, although she still lived in Bondi with Kathner’s mother Grace and his youngest brother George. In court she alluded to the trouble she had with her husband after “his association with a woman called Alma”^[61]Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 14 Feb 1954, p46, although the court documents simply stated he had abandoned her. Clarice was granted a judicial separation on 9 March 1954 ^[62]She did not want a divorce as this would conflict with her religious beliefs, but three weeks later Kathner died of chronic nephritis and uraemia (kidney disease) at Cairns Base Hospital.^[63]The film Hunt Angels suggests he was taken by a shark and then claims he died of a brain haemorrhage. Neither claim is true His brother George informed for the death certificate, which contained no mention of Alma.^[64]Queensland Death Certificate, Rupert William Kathner, 1954/2/1433

Kathner’s obituary in the Cairns Post listed his many achievements – both real and imagined. Undoubtedly, he would probably have been very pleased by the claim that “his book on motion picture making … is now accepted as a text book on the craft by younger producers.”^[65]Cairns Post (Qld) 5 April 1954, p3

Note 1: The later life of Alma Brooks

Following Rupert’s death in March 1954, Alma found a role as a court bailiff in Cairns.^[67]This position meant she served court summonses Queensland newspapers gave the appointment generous coverage because she was reported to be Australia’s first ever, female bailiff. Her previous experience as a pioneer in the film industry was also acknowledged – she had, it was claimed, previously been “the British Commonwealth’s only woman sound recording technician… artist and technician in her own motion picture…company.”^[68]Cairns Post (Qld) 8 Oct 1954, p7 Although Alma and Rupert never married, she consistently used his surname after his death in 1954. Apparently known to friends as “Kath” Kathner, she died in Queensland in 1988.

Nick Murphy
February 2025

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References

Feature Films:

• Phantom Gold (1937) NFSA (Clips only)
• The Glenrowan Affair (1951) The Administrator channel at Youtube
  
• When the Kelly’s Rode (1934) The Administrator channel at Youtube (Harry Southwell’s third film about Ned Kelly that may be worth watching for comparison)

Newsreels – Australia Today @ NFSA including

• The ‘Pyjama Girl’ Murder Case @ NFSA Australian Screen (Clips)
• Men of Tomorrow @ NFSA Australian Screen (Clips)
• Customs Officers Fight Against Drugs @ NFSA Australian Screen (Clips)
• Australia’s 5th Column @ NFSA Australian Screen (Clips)

Documentary

• Hunt Angels (2006). Writer- Director Alec Morgan (Winner of the 2006 AFI Award for Best Documentary, Best Cinematography in a Documentary and Best Visual Effects)
  Available on Amazon Prime and Youtube.
  [A note of caution about this docu-drama. Entertaining piece of filmmaking though this is, it is no more historically accurate than some of Kathner’s own films. The viewer will soon realise that actors – playing fictional film industry characters – are “interviewed,” alongside real industry people who knew Kathner. It is a confusing mix]

Collections

• South Australia: Births, Deaths & Marriages. Birth Certificate: Rupert William Kaethner, 1904
• South Australia: Police Gazette – various dates
• New South Wales State Archives. Divorce papers: Clarice Edna Kathner &  Rupert William Kathner, 1953-4
• Queensland: Births, Deaths & Marriages. Death Certificate: Rupert William Kathner, 1954/c/1433

Text

• Ina Bertrand (2006) “The Impossible Dream: Hunt Angels.” Metro Magazine No 151, Jan 2006.
• Stephen Gaunson (2017). “B for Bad, B for Bogus and B for Bold: Rupert Kathner, The Glenrowan Affair and Ned Kelly.” Colloquy Journal Monash University.
• Rupert Kathner (c1945) Let’s Make a Movie! Currawong Publishing Company, Sydney
• Brian McFarlane (2006) “Ned Kelly rides again… and again and again” Screen Education, Issue 41, 2006.
• Alec Morgan (2003) “Lost City of the Senses.” Scan Magazine, Journal of Media Arts Culture. 15 December 2003
• Alec Morgan (Nov 2006) “Re-designing the Past Imperfect: The Making of Hunt Angels” Senses of Cinema. Issue 41. November 2006. Film & History Conference Papers.
• Keith O’Donnell (2023) Paul Kathner Obituary. On Stage Magazine, Theatre Heritage Australia.
• Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. Oxford University Press
• Eric Reade (1979) History & Heartburn. the Saga of Australian Film 1896-1978. Harper & Row, Sydney
• Simon Weaving (2013) Writing an Australian Film Noir. (Includes a detailed Survey of Australian Cinema 1938-1958) PhD thesis, University of Canberra Research Portal.