Efftee Studios was established by F.W. Thring (the name 'Efftee' deriving from his initials, 'FT') in 1930.

In 1931 the first commercially viable Australian made sound feature film, Diggers, was produced by Efftee Films in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 using optical sound equipment imported from the USA.

Efftee was also the first licensee of Melbourne radio station 3XY which began broadcasting on 9 September 1935

Features

• A Co-respondent's Course (1931)
• Diggers
  Diggers (1931 film)
  Diggers is a 1931 Australian film directed by F.W. Thring starring popular stage comedian Pat Hanna. Based on Hanna's stage show, it concerns the adventures of Australian soldiers during World War I. The film consists of three separate episodes....
  
   (1931)
• The Haunted Barn (1931)
• The Sentimental Bloke
  The Sentimental Bloke (1932 film)
  The Sentimental Bloke is a 1932 Australian film directed by F.W. Thring, an adaptation of Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by CJ Dennis....
  
   (1932)
• His Royal Highness (1932)
  His Royal Highness (1932 film)
  His Royal Highness is a 1932 Australian film directed by F.W. Thring, also known as His Loyal Highness...
  
  
• Harmony Row
  Harmony Row
  Harmony Row is Jack Bruce's third album, originally released in July 1971.The album takes its title from a tenement street in Glasgow, near where Bruce grew up. The street, since demolished, was famous as the largest unbroken houserow in Europe, stretching for over a mile...
  
   (1933)
• A Ticket in Tatts
  A Ticket in Tatts (1934 film)
  A Ticket in Tatts is a 1934 musical comedy starring popular stage comedian George Wallace as an accident-prone stablehand. It was the last of three films Wallace made for F. W. Thring.-Cast:*George Wallace*Frank Harvey-External links:...
  
   (1934)
• Sheepmates
  Sheepmates
  Sheepmates was a proposed Australian film from director F.W. Thring based on a 1931 novel by William Hatfield. Filming began in 1933. After shooting some studio scenes, the crew departed to the Queensland and South Australian border for six weeks of filming around various cattle stations...
  
   (1934) - abandoned during filming
• The Streets of London
  The Streets of London (1934 film)
  The Streets of London is a 1934 Australian film directed by F.W. Thring. It was a filmed version of a play by Dion Boucicault which Thring had produced on stage the previous year.-Cast:*Frank Harvey as Badger*Ethel Newman as Mrs Fairweather...
  
   (1934)
• Clara Gibbings
  Clara Gibbings
  Clara Gibbings is a 1934 Australian film directed by F.W. Thring about the owner of a London pub who discovers she is the daughter of an earl. It was a vehicle for stage star Dorothy Brunton.-Synopsis:...
  
   (1934)

Non-Efftee Features Shot in the Efftee Studio

• Diggers in Blighty
  Diggers in Blighty
  Diggers in Blighty is a 1933 Australian film starring and directed by Pat Hanna. Hanna decided to direct this film himself after being unhappy with how F.W...
  
   (1933)
• Waltzing Matilda
  Waltzing Matilda (1933 film)
  - Cast :*Pat Hanna*Coral Browne *Norman French *Joan Lang *Nellie Mortyne *Dorothy Parnham *Joe Valli*George Moon...
  
   (1933)
• Heritage
  Heritage (film)
  Heritage is a 1935 Australian historical film directed by Charles Chauvel.-Production:Heritage was originally conceived in 1933, while Charles Chauvel was organising publicity for his previous film, In the Wake of the Bounty. The Australian government, in a bid to encourage the local film industry,...
  
   (1935)

The 'Efftee Entertainers' Variety Shorts

• Will Cade and his Regent Theatre Orchestra in Selections from 'The Desert Song
  The Desert Song
  The Desert Song is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. It was inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riffs, a group of Moroccan fighters, against French colonial rule. It was also inspired by stories of Lawrence of...
  
   (1931)
• Jack O'Hagan - Vocalist Composer (1931) - with Jack O'Hagan
  Jack O'Hagan
  John Francis O'Hagan was an Australian musician.O'Hagan was born in Fitzroy, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne. He was the son of Pat O'Hagan, a hotelkeeper and Alice née Quinlan. He went to school at St Patrick's College and then later at Xavier College in Melbourne...
  
  
• Cecil Parkes' Strad Trio In Selections from Their Repertoire (1931)
• Athol Tier as Napoleon (1931)
• Keith Desmond in Recitations (No. 1) (1931)
• Keith Desmond in Recitations (No. 2) (1931)
• George Wallace, Australia's Premier Comedian (1931) - with George Wallace
  George Wallace (Australian comedian)
  George Wallace , was an Australian comedian, vaudevillian and film star. He was one of the most famous and successful Australian comedians on stage and screen in the twentieth century.-History:...
  
  
• Melody and Terpsichor (1931)
• Stan Ray and George Moon Jnr, Speciality Dancers (No. 1) (1931)
• Stan Ray and George Moon Jnr, Speciality Dancers (No. 2) (1931)
• Melbourne's Chinese Orchestra in Selections (1931)
• Minnie Love In Impressions of Famous Artists (No. 1) (1931)
• Minnie Love In Impressions of Famous Artists (No. 2) (1931)
• Minnie Love In Impressions of Famous Artists (No. 3) (1931)
• The Sundowners - Harmony Quartette (No. 1) (1932)
• The Sundowners - Harmony Quartette (No. 2) (1932)
• Lou Vernon - Character Songs (No. 1) (1932)
• Kathleen Goodall - Songs at the Piano (No. 1) (1932)
• Kathleen Goodall - Songs at the Piano (No. 2) (1932)
• Kathleen Goodall - Songs at the Piano (No. 3) (1932)
• Peter Bornstein, Celebrated Violinist (1932)
• George White (1932)
• Miss Ada Reeve - Comedienne (No. 1) (1932) - with Ada Reeve
  Ada Reeve
  Ada Reeve was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s....
  
  
• Miss Ada Reeve - Comedienne (No. 2) (1932)
• Miss Byrl Walkley, Soprano (1932)
• Somewhere South of Shanghai, Rendered by Marshall Crosby (1932)
• Neil McKay, Scottish Comedian (1932) - with Neil McKay
• Williamson Imperial Grand Opera Co. Orchestra - Overture from Carmen, by Bizet (1932)
• Williamson Imperial Grand Opera Co. Orchestra - Overture from Gounod's Faust (1932)
• Williamson Imperial Grand Opera Co. Orchestra - Selections from the Barber of Seville by Rossini (1932)
• Signor Apollo Granforte and the Williamson Imperial Grand opera Company Orchestra (1932)
• Lou Vernon - Character Songs (No. 2) (1932)

Two-Reel Efftee Shorts

• Oh, What a Night! (1932) - 14 minute short starring George Wallace
  George Wallace (Australian comedian)
  George Wallace , was an Australian comedian, vaudevillian and film star. He was one of the most famous and successful Australian comedians on stage and screen in the twentieth century.-History:...
  
  
• In the Future (1933) - 12 minute short

Theatre Shows

• Collits' Inn
  Collits' Inn
  Collits' Inn is a Australian musical play. The 1933 Melbourne production at the Princess Theatre was presented by F.W. Thring and starred Gladys Moncrieff, George Wallace, Claude Flemming and Campbell Copelin. Thring intended to make a movie out of the play but died in 1936 before he had the chance...
  
   (1933)
• The Beloved Vagabond (1934) - done in Melbourne
• Mother of Pearl (1934) - done in Melbourne
• Her Past (1934)
• Jolly Roger (1934)
• Children in Uniform (1934)
• S.S. Sunshine (1935)
• The Cedar Tree
  The Cedar Tree
  The Cedar Tree was an extremely popular television serial that ran from 1976-1979 on ITV in the United Kingdom.It involved the saga of the Bourne family, hailing from an aristocratic background, before the turn of the Second World War....
  
   (1934)
• Crazy Nights Revue (1935)
• The Oojah Bird (1935)
• Rope (1934)
• Streets of London (1933) - later filmed
• Clara Gibbings (1933) - later filmed

Unmade Films

It was announced Efftee would make a film of Ginger Murdoch, a book by William Hatfield

William Hatfield

William Hatfield was the pen name of Ernest Chapman, an English-born writer best known for his work in Australia. He emigrated to Australia in 1912 and did a variety of jobs before turning to writing with Sheepmates in 1931...

, but it never eventuated.

Sources

• Efftee Film Productions at National Film and Sound Archive
  National Film and Sound Archive
  The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
  
  
• Chris Long, 'The Efftee Legacy', Cinema Papers, December 1982 p 521
• Efftee theatre productions at Ausstage
  Ausstage
  AusStage is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia. It provides records of productions from the beginnings of theatre in Australia up to today...