Regent Theatre

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Uploaded on: May 18, 2021

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As “The Robe” opened around Australia, Queen Elizabeth II was making a much heralded visit Down Under (the first by a reigning monarch). Fox subsidiary British Movietone decided that footage of the tour would look impressive in the new CinemaScope format – so, with encouragement from local topper Ernest Turnbull, they sent a crew and a camera to the South Seas to produce a ‘newsreel/featurette’. When the first takes from Fiji were screened back in the UK, a decision was made to upgrade the project for a full length feature. This was eventually released as “Flight of the White Heron” (96 minutes). Before the Queen had returned to The Palace, an early cut was rush released in Australia as “The Royal Tour of Our Queen” (68 minutes). It was the Regent’s third Cinemascope attraction, opening 13th May 1954 simultaneously with four suburban locations newly equipped for CinemaScope. The following week a featurette “The Queen Returns to London” - incorporating more tour material - was added to the program.