This trailer for The Man from Snowy River does what all good trailers do: provide an overview of the story, show the starring actors, identify the genre of the film and give an impression of the plot, all without spoilers.

The brilliant opening shot features a quote from the poem on which the film is based. The following single note on the soundtrack has a wonderful grandeur that is broken by the blacksmith's hammer striking a glowing horseshoe. Horses are central to the story so it's only appropriate that they are front and centre in this trailer.

The action sequences get the heart racing and the landscape is stunningly filmed. In only a few short sequences we are introduced to the two romantic leads and the conflict with the father. If anything, the trailer ends too abruptly.

Nevertheless, it was so successful at capturing the attention of audiences waiting for the main feature to start that they applauded the trailer, something that is almost unheard of.

While her father is away mustering cattle, Jessica Harrison (Sigrid Thornton) goads new stock hand Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson) into breaking her father’s prized colt. Their romance blossoms as he demonstrates his great empathy with the horse.

Summary by Paul Byrnes

Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson) has rescued Jessica Harrison (Sigrid Thornton) from her ordeal in the mountains. Riding to visit Spur, the one-legged gold miner, they discuss the beauty and unpredictability of the mountains.

Summary by Paul Byrnes

Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson) has joined the crack horsemen in pursuit of the wild brumbies, but the men baulk at following the mob down a precipitous decline. As Harrison (Kirk Douglas) declares the mob has beaten them, Craig shows his mountain rider’s credentials, with a wild ride down the hill.

Summary by Paul Byrnes

This behind-the-scenes footage on the set of The Man From Snowy River aired on Willesee at Seven and includes interviews with director George Miller and actors Kirk Douglas, Tom Burlinson and Jack Thompson.

While it was an unusual choice to film the individual interviews with Douglas, Miller, Burlinson and Thompson in extreme close-up, it has the effect of focusing our attention on their words. It also gets around one of the problems of filming on a movie set amidst a lot of activity by eliminating background distractions.

The crew have succeeded in capturing some engaging soundbites about the production and how each person feels it is developing. The cutaways to camera, sound crews and direction provide a fascinating insight into how a film is created as well as providing useful promotional footage for the film itself. It's roughly put together but very engaging.

Daytime TV host Mike Walsh speaks with Jack Thompson, Sigrid Thornton and Tom Burlinson about the casting process for The Man From Snowy River.

The Mike Walsh Show was broadcast from 1973 to 1985 on the Ten and later Nine networks, with selected episodes screened on FOXTEL in 1995. It won 24 Logie Awards, including a Gold Logie for Mike Walsh AM, OBE in 1980.

Jack Thompson, Sigrid Thornton and Tom Burlinson appeared on The Mike Walsh Show in 1982 to talk about their characters in the newly released Australian epic The Man From Snowy River. 

The Mike Walsh Show was broadcast from 1973 to 1985 on the Ten and later Nine networks, with selected episodes screened on FOXTEL in 1995. It won 24 Logie Awards, including a Gold Logie for Mike Walsh AM, OBE in 1980.

Mike Walsh speaks with Jack Thompson, Sigrid Thornton and Tom Burlinson about the film shoot on The Man From Snowy River.

The Mike Walsh Show was broadcast from 1973 to 1985 on the Ten and later Nine networks, with selected episodes screened on FOXTEL in 1995. It won 24 Logie Awards, including a Gold Logie for Mike Walsh AM, OBE in 1980.

The Man from Snowy River soundtrack was composed and conducted by Bruce Rowland (born 1942) and released by Festival Records.

The score utilised a 60-piece orchestra and was recorded at AAV studios in Melbourne. The soundtrack peaked at No. 48 on the Australian Kent Music Chart, and subsequently won best score at the 1982 AFI Awards and 1984 APRA Awards.

The Man from Snowy River was an enormous box-office success, and the highest-grossing Australian film to that date. Rowland composed a version of the ‘Main Title’ theme for the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and both the ‘Main Title’ and ‘Jessica's Theme’ were reprised as part of the cast album soundtrack of the 2002 musical The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular.

Following the success of The Man from Snowy River soundtrack, Rowland composed the scores for numerous movies in the 1980s and 1990s, including the sequel The Man from Snowy River II (1988).

Cover image: The Man from Snowy River album, 1982. NFSA title: 355583.

Sigrid Thornton discusses making The Man from Snowy River (1982) as part her NFSA Longford Lyell Lecture, delivered on 28 November 2011 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne.

In the lecture, she reflected on her career in film and television in the context of changes in the industry over that time.

The title of the lecture series acknowledges the successful partnership between director Raymond Longford and his co-director, producer and actress Lottie Lyell.

The Man from Snowy River soundtrack was composed and conducted by Bruce Rowland (born 1942) and released by Festival Records.

The score utilised a 60-piece orchestra and was recorded at AAV studios in Melbourne. The soundtrack peaked at No. 48 on the Australian Kent Music Chart, and subsequently won best score at the 1982 AFI Awards and 1984 APRA Awards.

The Man from Snowy River was an enormous box-office success, and the highest-grossing Australian film to that date. Rowland composed a version of the ‘Main Title’ theme for the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and both the ‘Main Title’ and ‘Jessica's Theme’ were reprised as part of the cast album soundtrack of the 2002 musical The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular.

Following the success of The Man from Snowy River soundtrack, Rowland composed the scores for numerous movies in the 1980s and 1990s, including the sequel The Man from Snowy River II (1988).

Cover image: The Man from Snowy River album, 1982. NFSA title: 355583.

These three promotional lobby cards depict scenes from The Man from Snowy River (1982): Jim (Tom Burlinson) on a horse in a wide landscape; Jack Thompson, Kirk Douglas, Sigrid Thornton and others at dinner; men on horseback gathered around a lonely grave.

Jana Wendt interviews actors Jack Thompson, Kirk Douglas and Tom Burlinson on the set of The Man From Snowy River for a Good Morning Australia segment on the making of the film.

Press kit containing images from the film, the story of how the film was developed, synopsis, actors and crew biographies, and other information.

Producer Geoff Burrowes and director George Miller discuss where the idea came from to make The Man From Snowy River.

This is an extract from an interview by George Tosi, an edited version of which appeared in Cinema Papers, issue 38, June 1982.

An Australian daybill poster for The Man from Snowy River, from its original cinema release in March 1982.

It features a montage of images that sum up the key moments from the film: the romance between Jim (Tom Burlinson) and Jessica (Sigrid Thornton), Jack Thompson with a stockwhip, Kirk Douglas with a beard and bush hat in one of the two roles he plays, and a group of men on horses riding towards the camera.

Yugoslav poster for the release of The Man From Snowy River. The title literally translates as 'A Man From a Silver River'.

It's always fascinating to see how international distributors present Australian films to their audiences. Whereas in Australia The Man From Snowy River is portrayed as a sweeping romance set in the beautiful highland country, this Yugoslav poster depicts the film as a stark drama, with the conflict between the two men played by Tom Burlinson and Kirk Douglas pushed to the forefront.

It is largely stripped of colour with the two men glaring at each other. After seeing this poster it would be hard for audiences to reconcile it with the film it advertises. There is conflict in the film, to be sure, but it is essentially a piece of unabashed sentimental melodrama in the tradition of Gone With the Wind. So in this sense, the poster fails to effectively interpret the film's primary qualities.

This poster is for the Czechoslovakian release of The Man From Snowy River. 

It's an unusual poster for a number of reasons. Despite the text saying the film is a 'romantic western', the main image shows galloping horses with no obvious reference to the romance between the two leads which is at the centre of the film. In fact, Tom Burlinson and Sigrid Thornton are not credited at all.

And what are we to make of the apple with a bite taken out of it? Is it a reference to the transgressions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? If so, then it is an obtuse reference that tells us little about the movie's genre, time period or themes.

Ultimately this poster is not very successful in selling the story or mood of the film, besides indicating the presence of wild horses in the narrative.

A group shot of cast members from The Man from Snowy River. From left: David Bradshaw (as AB 'Banjo' Paterson), unknown (kneeling), Gus Mercurio (Frew), Kristopher Steele (Moss), Kirk Douglas (Harrison, kneeling), Tony Bonner (Kane), (unknown, standing) and Chris Haywood (Curly).

Australian filmmakers have always excelled at producing period pieces that manage to get the costume and art direction just right. Robin Hall was responsible for costume design for The Man From Snowy River; art directon was by Leslie Binns.

From left: David Bradshaw (A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson), unknown (kneeling), Gus Mercurio (Frew), Kristopher Steele (Moss), Kirk Douglas (Harrison, kneeling), Tony Bonner (Kane), (unknown, standing) and Chris Haywood (Curly)

Jack Thompson, who played Clancy in the 1982 movie adaptation, reads Banjo Paterson's 'The Man from Snowy River' at the Hotel Gearin in Katoomba, NSW. His reading was recorded by Glenys Rowe for Fine Poets.

Thompson has long had a love of the bush and bush poetry. In 1955, before his 15th birthday, his father secured him a job on a cattle station in the Northern Territory where he was captivated by droving. A number of his most celebrated movies, like Wake In Fright (1971) and Sunday Too Far Away (1975), have been located in the outback.

But his love for bush poetry came much earlier when, as a seven-year-old boy, he was introduced by his teacher to Banjo Paterson's 'The Man from Ironbark'. Since then, Thompson has read Banjo Paterson's poems at a number of festivals.

The Man From Snowy River was shot in the High Country of Victoria rather than the Snowy Mountains, for logistical reasons. The beautiful and rugged landscapes became a major part of the film's success.

Keith Wagstaff was nominated for Best Achievement in Cinematography at the 1982 AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards for his work on the film.

The film of The Man from Snowy River stays largely true to Banjo Paterson's poem except for the romance between Jim (Tom Burlinson) and Jessica (Sigrid Thornton), which is an entirely new addition. In fact, there are no women mentioned in the poem at all.

The romantic storyline was hugely popular with Australian and international audiences and The Man From Snowy River was the highest-grossing Australian film at the local box office until Crocodile Dundee (1986).

Tom Burlinson was born in Canada and moved to Australia from the US when he was nine years old. He'd had a few years of TV roles under his belt before he was cast in The Man from Snowy River (1982), his first film.

Sigrid Thornton started as a child actor; she had a long list of TV credits and had appeared in half a dozen movies before playing the romantic lead opposite Burlinson.

Kirk Douglas plays two characters in The Man from Snowy River (1982). Harrison is the tetchy farm owner and father of Jessica (Sigrid Thornton), while Spur (pictured here) is his one-legged brother.

Spur is an outsider, seeking his fortune in a goldmine and turning up at key moments in the film to offer words of wisdom.

Panoramic photo of the cast and crew from the film, including a horse with 'Snowy River 1981' painted on its side.

Perhaps the most iconic image from the movie, as Jim (Tom Burlinson) rides his horse down a sheer cliff in pursuit of the mob of brumbies.

It is also the key moment in Banjo Paterson’s poem. As Harrison (Kirk Douglas) and the other riders baulk at the precipitous cliff, Harrison says, 'You can bid the mob good day’ – a line taken directly from the poem – only to have Jim hurtle past them all and over the edge, showing off his mountain-riding skills.

Burlinson had little riding experience and was taught by Charlie Lovick for the film. Despite occasional rumours to the contrary, Burlinson performed all his own horseriding in the film – including this famous ride down the mountain.

The majestic black stallion that leads the herd of wild brumbies in The Man from Snowy River (1982).

In the film it is revealed that the stallion was the first foal of the prize-winning 'old Regret' and had been set free by Matilda, the mother of Jessica (Sigrid Thornton) and wife of Harrison (Kirk Douglas).

Leonard Teale AO (1922–1994), born Leonard George Thiele, was a Logie-winning Australian TV, film and radio actor. He was popularly known for playing David (Mac) Mackay in the long-running Australian police drama Homicide but with his resonant baritone voice, he recorded narration for the ABC and also became known for his recitations of poetry by Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, Dorothea Mackellar and others.

He released a series of three recordings on the Pacific label, the first of which was his rendition of Paterson’s The Man From Snowy River. He continued the popular spoken-word tradition of Australian poetry though his one-man shows 'While the Billy Boils' and 'The Quiet Achievers'.

Cover image: Leonard Teale. NFSA: 467828

Follow this link to explore our curated collection on the 1982 feature film The Man From Snowy River.

An earlier cinematic interpretation of Banjo Paterson's poem was filmed in 1920, directed by Beaumont Smith. It is considered a 'lost' film though the NFSA does hold several still images from the film.

As with the 1982 film, this version also introduced a romantic plot that doesn't exist in the poem. Country boy Jim Conroy (played by Cyril Mackay) is living a wasted life in the city with Helen Ross (Hedda Barr). Helen dumps him when his father cuts him off.

Jim returns to the bush and falls in love with Kitty Carewe (Stella Southern). After several adventures, including the recapturing of the 'colt from old Regret' (renamed Swagman), Jim marries Kitty.