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461:, became concerned about the film when Withington refused to reply to queries while Porteus gave confusing answers. When the film was released, its representation of Aboriginal life had been grossly distorted and manipulated. This had far-reaching consequences for future legitimate research in Western Australia. Only ever screened in North America, the movie was banned in Australia.
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Promoted as an educational film and advertised as "An
Absolutely Authentic Amazing Adventure", the media reviews treated the movie as a documentary. The scientific community denounced the additions to the film as fake, leading to significant academic controversy with accusations that the movie was
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Hearing rumors of a white woman living with an
Aboriginal tribe, the expedition eventually makes its way to a very remote area where they find a white woman who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. The woman is married to a tribal Aborigine and is mother to his blond-haired child. After inquiring
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Tracey, M. A. 1994. 'When the Timber Cut Out' – Archaeological
Aspects of Timber Extraction Procedures and Shipbuilding in the Murramarang District, New South Wales', Honours Dissertation (unpub.), Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
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peoples with the "grotesque" cannibalistic
Aboriginals who are obviously descended from Neanderthal ancestors, behave like monkeys and who practice "repulsively barbaric" customs. "...here is human life at its lowest form" says Lowell Thomas in his narration.
327:
instincts." Examining the faces of
Aborigines, with flashbacks to an anthropology book, the documentary declares that it has found the people on earth most resembling mankind's ancestor, the Neanderthals.
444:. Dr. Withington made a public statement that footage of the white woman living with Aboriginals was authentic and the participation of Lowell Thomas, a famous explorer who had recently narrated
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Tracey, M. M., 2007. Wooden Ships, Iron Men and
Stalwart Ladies: The TSS Douglas Mawson Saga, (unpub,) the School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
382:. The study was filmed and the resulting documentary was expected to show the results of an officially sanctioned scientific expedition exploring the Indigenous cultures in Northern Australia.
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Stanley
Porteus had gained permission for his expedition on the premise that he was making a film about Aboriginal life for educational purposes. After the expedition returned to America,
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After its 1947 re-screening the film went missing. A full print of the film was later discovered and made commercially available on DVD in 2010. It is also viewable online on YouTube.
264:. The film opens with the men discussing the exhibition in "the explorers club". The exhibition hopes to travel and then find the people on earth most related to the ancient
268:. Sailing from the west coast of North America, the expedition filmed indigenous peoples and customs of the islands along the way. The documentary stops in Hawaii and shows
409:. Fifteen minutes of footage depicting the subplot of a shipwrecked white American woman married to an Aboriginal were added. Renaming the resulting
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The movie was controversial in
Australia for its racist and paternalistic approach to indigenous peoples. It compares the attractiveness of various
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233:. The film took previously released anthropological footage of native peoples in the Pacific and Australia, and added a sensationalized storyline.
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is cut up, and a sea turtle is dissected alive. The expedition returns to the mainland, where they again meet
Aborigines "who have not lost their
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After its 1947 screening the film went missing. In 2001, a reconstructed version of the film was restored from a partial nitrate
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A full print of the film was later discovered and made commercially available on DVD in 2010. The full film is also viewable on
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Contrary to the movie's title, the woman was neither captive nor blonde and she only appears in the movie's final five minutes.
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Grey, Geoffrey (2006). "Looking for
Neanderthal Man, Finding a Captive White Woman: The Story of a Documentary Film".
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Produced by Porteus' North Western Australian Expedition Syndicate with a grant from the
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Tracey, M. M. and Lambert Tracey, J., 1999. 'The intrigue of the SS Douglas Mawson',
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Columbia released it in 1932. Imperial Pictures re-issued the movie in 1935 and
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Tracey, M, M., 1997, 'The SS Douglas Mawson – A launching and a shipwreck',
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and visit the Aboriginal settlement of Boolah Boolah. They then sail to the
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conducted psychological and psychophysical studies of Aboriginal groups in
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Columbia Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1928–1982
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film directed by Clinton Childs, Ralph P. King, Linus J. Wilson, and
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promoted as an educational film to bypass censorship laws regarding
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about her welfare, she refuses to return to civilization with them.
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women are shown as they go about their daily life. Also visited are
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The Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology
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style documentary by William Pizor's Imperial Pictures in 1931.
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http://www.heritagearchaeology.com.au/douglas-mawson.html
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Accompanied by Paul Withington, Clinton Childs and two
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http://www.heritagearchaeology.com.au/intrique-dm.html
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Anthropological footage re-edited by Columbia Pictures
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http://www.heritagearchaeology.com.au/mt-honours.html
632:is available for free viewing and download at the
520:Health and History: Health, Medicine and the Media
578:http://www.heritagearchaeology.com.au/mt-phd.html
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48:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
450:, gave the movie credibility with the public.
596:, Sydney Maritime Museum, Number 57, Sydney.
256:and archaeologist Clinton Childs conduct an
586:, Volume 21, No 1 & 2, pp. 9–18.
311:living in the desert. They then travel to
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79:Learn how and when to remove this message
720:English-language action adventure films
573:, Northern Territory Press, Darwin, NT.
389:, the film was released as a 59-minute
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319:and film indigenous people fishing. A
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401:Following the documentary's debut in
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387:Australian National Research Council
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63:more precise citations.
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309:Aboriginal Australians
344:as himself (narrator)
715:1930s American films
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155:Nathan B. Braunstein
147:Thornton P. Dewhurst
414:The Blonde Captive,
391:National Geographic
272:. It then stops in
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618:The Blonde Captive
555:. pp. 22–23.
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307:where they filmed
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222:The Blonde Captive
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36:list of references
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134:Narrated by
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61:introducing
660:1931 films
654:Categories
488:Soundtrack
433:Polynesian
367:, in 1928
359:Production
351:as himself
225:is a 1931
196:73 minutes
180:1931-12-30
124:Written by
477:in 2002.
465:Film lost
411:docudrama
317:Timor Sea
262:Australia
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645:AllMovie
640:Synopsis
540:40111543
500:See also
325:cannibal
278:Balinese
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211:Language
482:YouTube
475:Bologna
282:Fijians
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313:Broome
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301:Sydney
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