The McDonagh sisters, Isabel, Paulette and Phyllis, pictured from the waist up, wearing coats and hats and standing on the deck of a ship.
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/collection/hero_image02-2020/mcdonagh-sisters-collection-hero-image.jpg

Deep Dive: Author Mandy Sayer on the McDonagh Sisters

Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters Interview
BY
 Karina Libbey

In December 2022, author Mandy Sayer joined the NFSA for a discussion about her book, Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters: Australia’s First Female Filmmaking Team (2022).

Who Were the McDonagh Sisters?

The trailblazing McDonagh sisters were the first women in Australia to form their own film production company. Between 1926 and 1933, while they were in their mid-20s, these sisters produced four feature films and several documentaries.   

The youngest, Paulette, was at the time one of only five women film directors in the world. Phyllis produced, art directed and conducted publicity. The eldest sister, Isabel, acted superbly in the leading female roles under her stage name Marie Lorraine.   

Together, the sisters transformed Australian cinema’s preoccupations with the outback and the bush – which they mocked as ‘haystack movies’ – into a thrilling, urban modernity. Although the trio didn’t set out deliberately to blaze a trail of feminism, their collective confidence and independence were striking at a time when there were few career options available to women.   

What stands out in Mandy Sayer’s investigation into the history of the sisters is her vivid picture of the lives they led in and around Sydney from the early 1900s through to the 1970s, when Paulette passed away while still living in Kings Cross. Paulette, Phyllis and Isabel were fascinating, complex, talented women and Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters provides insight into who they were as women, their relationships and the broader family context they grew up in, as well as a fascinating look behind the curtain of the early days of the film production and exhibition industries in Australia.  

Take a listen to the discussion about Mandy’s research and book, preceded by an introduction by NFSA curator Nathan Smith. The audio clip below also features video excerpts from NFSA Restores: The Cheaters (1929) and Those Who Love (1926):

Author Mandy Sayer in conversation with Karina Libbey at the NFSA about Sayer's book, Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters, December 2022. This audio clip also features video excerpts from films The Cheaters (1929) and Those Who Love (1926).

GO DEEPER…  

Dive into more incredible content about the McDonagh sisters through our online curated collection, which includes excerpts from the Rebecca Barry documentary The McDonagh Sisters (2003), clips from The Cheaters (1929) and other films, photographs, images of costumes from their films, and more!  

In 2017 the NFSA Restores program completed a digital restoration of the sisters’ third feature, The Cheaters (1929), based on the only 35mm nitrate film print known to exist. The digital clean-up achieved significant improvements in re-stabilising, de-flickering and grading the image, and extra time was needed to address some remaining distracting scratches and spots and return the image to a condition as close as possible to the original without changing it. The transformation is incredible – see for yourself by watching this before and after restoration trailer

Read more about a rare scrapbook created by the sisters to document the release and response to their feature film, The Far Paradise (1928), and view a wonderful digital version of the scrapbook.  

Find out more about the Sydney locations where the McDonagh sisters shot their movies, including photographs of some of the locations today, in this updated article by historian Graham Shirley

Learn more about Mandy Sayer on her official website and find out where to order copies of Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters.  

 

MORE DEEP DIVE Conversations and Q&As

Deep Dive: You Can Go Now, with Richard Bell

Deep Dive: Unit by Regurgitator, a classic Australian album

Deep Dive: Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters with Mandy Sayer

Deep Dive: Strictly Ballroom Q&A with Paul Mercurio and Tara Morice

Deep Dive: Ablaze Q&A

Deep Dive: Wash My Soul in the River's Flow Q&A

Deep Dive: When the Camera Stopped Rolling Q&A with Jane Castle and Pat Fiske

Deep Dive: David Stratton – My Favourite Movies

Deep Dive: Lion and Lioness

Deep Dive: The Witch of Kings Cross Q&A with director Sonia Bible

Deep Dive: The Sentimental Bloke Q&A with composer Paul Mac

Deep Dive: High Ground

Deep Dive: Paul Barron interview

Deep Dive: Brazen Hussies Q&A with Catherine Dwyer and Elizabeth Reid

Deep Dive: Blue-Tongue Films Q&A with Nash Edgerton and David Michôd

Deep Dive: Trevor Graham and Mabo: Life of an Island Man

Deep Dive: Making Waves + Emma Bortignon

Deep Dive: Sunday Too Far Away

Deep Dive: Rolf de Heer discusses The Tracker

Deep Dive: Prisoner

Deep Dive: Chips Rafferty

Deep Dive: Marion Boyce

Deep Dive: Deborah Conway live at the NFSA

Deep Dive: Andrew Mason in conversation on The Matrix

Deep Dive: Ella Havelka and Douglas Watkin

Deep Dive: Ian Darling, Michael O'Loughlin, Tanya Hosch and Fran Kelly on The Final Quarter

Deep Dive: Powderfinger's Bernard Fanning and Producer Nick DiDia 

Deep Dive: Richard Lowenstein in conversation about Mystify

Deep Dive: Jocelyn Moorhouse in Conversation

Deep Dive: David Stratton – 101 Marvellous Movies