The Ten Commandments: live prologue, Far North Queensland

In 1925, Paramount Pictures employed Australian film director Franklyn Barrett (The Breaking of the Drought, A Girl of the Bush) to manage the North Queensland tour of the silent film blockbuster The Ten Commandments (Cecil B DeMille, USA, 1923).

Barrett conducted the music and directed the live prologue that was performed on stage by local actors before the film commenced – pictured here.

He toured the film and stage show to towns and cities in Queensland including Brisbane, Cairns, Gladstone, Malanda, Rockhampton, Warwick and Barcaldine.

Notes by Stephen Groenewegen