Ken G. Hall on AllMovie

One of the foremost figures in the Australian cinema, ex-journalist Ken G. Hall entered the "Down Under" film industry as a publicist. Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, Hall was in charge of Cinesound Productions, prolific purveyor of films for Australia's domestic audience. As both producer and director, he was particularly successful with a series of blue-collar seriocomedies built around the fictional Rudd family, but also scored points at the box office with melodramas like The Silence of Dan Maitland (1935). During the war years, Hall oversaw several documentaries, including the Oscar-winning Kokoda Front Line (1942). His biggest worldwide success was 1946's Smith, which he produced, co-wrote and directed; this biography of Australia's most famous peacetime aviator was picked up for American distribution by Columbia Pictures, a studio that normally steered clear of foreign product. After J. Arthur Rank took over Cinesound in the postwar era, Hall slowed down his activities on the creative end of filmmaking to concentrate on exhibition and distribution. He moved into a whole new entertainment arena when, in 1956, he established Australia's first television station. Ken G. Hall was the author of two autobiographical books: Directed by Ken G. Hall (1977) and Australian Film: The Inside Story (1980).