Cinesound Review: Title

By 1964 the opening title sequences of both major cinema newsreels of the pre-television era – Fox Movietone News and its all-Australian competitor, the Cinesound Review – had iconic status. Movietone News always began with the laughing kookaburras while Cinesound Review had the kangaroo, as seen in this clip.

The title sequence changed significantly over the years from Cinesound’s first newsreel editions in the 1930s. Earlier incarnations of the kangaroo showed the whole kangaroo in a crouching position in the centre of the screen. In some editions, the kangaroo hopped out of the graphic and out of frame. The closer shot focusing on the head of a larger kangaroo came in later editions such as this 1964 Beatles special. This credit title uses one simple graphic, 'Cinesound Review’. By this time, the earlier slogan – 'the voice of Australia’ – had disappeared from the opening sequence altogether.