Title from title frames

Merle Oberon was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1930s and 1940s. Studio publicists said she was born into a wealthy family in Hobart, Tasmania - Australia's island state. Yet rumour was that the exotic almond-eyed actress concealed her true past. It was said she was actually "oriental", perhaps Anglo-Indian, and born in Calcutta. In Tasmania, many remain convinced she was their island's most famous daughter, born not to wealthy parents but to a Chinese hotel worker and her married employer. The Trouble with Merle looks at celebrity, memory, identity, race and class...and at why Merle Oberon's origins mattered to people on a tiny island, in a country at the bottom of the world. A Film Australia National Interest Program in association with SeeView Pictures. Developed with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission and the NSW Film and Television Office. Produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Copyright - 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Executive Producer: Mark Hamlyn Producer: David Noakes Director: Maree Delofski Writer: Maree Delofski DOP/Cinematographer: Himman Dhamija, Philip Bull, Kathryn Millis (add) Narrator/Presenter: Maree Delofski

In Process Record

Originally produced by National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in 2002

Mode of access: World Wide Web

In English