{{Use Australian English|date=October 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = Between Wars | image =File:Between_Wars_DVD_cover_(lo_res).jpg | caption =DVD cover | director = Michael Thornhill | producer = Michael Thornhill | writer = Frank Moorhouse | narrator = | starring = Corin Redgrave | music = Adrian Ford | cinematography = Russell Boyd | editing = Max Lemon | studio = Edgecliff Films<br>McElroy and McElroy<br>T and M Films | distributor =Vincent Library<br>Umbrella Entertainment | released = {{Film date|1974|11|15|df=yes}} | runtime = 101 minutes | country = Australia | language = English | budget = A$320,000<ref name="pike">Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p281-282</ref> | gross = }} '''''Between Wars''''' is an Australian 1974 drama/war film released on 15 November 1974. It was directed by Michael Thornhill and written by Frank Moorhouse.

==Plot== {{Prose|section|date=May 2016}} The film examines four periods in the life of (the fictitious) doctor Edward Trenbow: *In 1918 Trenbow is treating shell-shocked soldiers from the front. *In the 1920s he works as a psychiatrist at the Sydney insane asylum and becomes involved in experiments in Freudian psychiatry, which bring him to the attention of a Royal Commission. *In the 1930s he works as a doctor in a small country town and becomes involved in a fight against the New Guard. *In 1939 he is working in Sydney as a psychiatrist and tries to defend a German psychiatrist who is being interned as a member of the Australia First Movement. He has become a pacifist and is dismayed when his son enlists for what became World War II.<ref name=ozmovies>{{cite web|url=https://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/between-wars |publisher=OzMovies |title=Between Wars |access-date=14 May 2023}}</ref>

==Cast== *Corin Redgrave as Dr Edward Trenbow *Judy Morris as Deborah Trenbow *Gunter Meisner as Dr Karl Schneider *Arthur Dignam as Dr Peter Avante *Patricia Leehy as Marguerite *Jone Winchester as Deborah's mother *Brian James as Deborah's father *Reg Gillam as Trenbow's father *Betty Lucas as Trenbow's mother *Peter Cummins *Neil Fitzpatrick as Lance Backhouse{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} * Reg Gorman as Orderly * John O'May as William Faulkner * Judy Lynne as Woman Officer * Colette Mann as student in revue

==Production== Director Michael Thornhill was good friends with writer Frank Moorhouse and they had worked together on several short films. Moorehouse wrote the script in 1970, originally for television<ref name="stratton">David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p87-88</ref> and it was revived a few years later. Half the budget came from the Australian Film Development Corporation and the other half from a property developer.<ref name="pike"/><ref name="papers">Rod Bishop, "On Time, Under Budget: Richard Brennan", ''Cinema Papers'', July 1974 p203</ref>

Filming took place over six weeks in February and March 1974 with interiors at the former studios of Cinesound Productions at Bondi and locations in Gulgong and Melbourne.<ref name="pike"/> It was the first feature from cinematographer Russell Boyd.<ref>[http://www.cinematographers.nl/PaginasDoPh/boyd.htm Russell Boyd bio]. Retrieved 30 September 2012</ref>

==Release== Thornhill decided to distribute the film himself at first. Initial reviews were good but the box office performance was not strong and distribution was taken over by the Vincent Library.<ref name="pike"/> The movie did not return its cost;<ref name="stratton"/> a bigger "flop" than ''The Cars that Ate Paris''.<ref name=ozmovies/>

==Reception== The ''Canberra Times'' critic considered this an important Australian film, as distinct from the "pot-boilers" of the time — the "Australian New Wave" — ''Petersen'', ''Stork'', ''Stone'' and even ''Wake in Fright''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110788538 |title=Cinema |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=49 |issue=13,916 |date=19 November 1974 |access-date=14 May 2023 |page=13 |via=Trove}}</ref>

==Home media== ''Between Wars'' was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in January 2011. The DVD is compatible with all region codes.<ref name="Umbrella Entertainment">{{cite web|title=Umbrella Entertainment|url=http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/p-1750-between-wars.aspx|accessdate=5 August 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025054202/http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/p-1750-between-wars.aspx|archivedate=25 October 2011}}</ref> By 2023 it was no longer in their catalogue.

==Awards== In 1976, the Australian Cinematographers Society awarded the film's cinematographer Russell Boyd with Cinematographer of the Year award for the film.

==See also== * Cinema of Australia

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0071211}} *[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9803EEDE1239F932A15751C0A963948260 ''Between Wars'' review] at The New York Times *[http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/between-wars ''Between Wars''] at Oz Movies {{Michael Thornhill}}

Category:1974 films Category:1970s war drama films Category:Australian war drama films Category:Works by Frank Moorhouse Category:Australian World War I films Category:Films set on the home front during World War II Category:1974 drama films Category:1974 English-language films Category:Films directed by Michael Thornhill Category:English-language war drama films