Foxtel has announced an exclusive new Australian documentary, The Menzies Movies, hosted by former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, will premiere on Wednesday, May 18 at 7.30pm AEST.
The documentary film, produced by Sky News Australia, is a tribute to Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister and the ‘Father of the Liberal Party’, Sir Robert Menzies – and is told through Menzies’ personal collection of restored home movies, which he captured with his own 16mm camera, along with notes from Menzies’ diaries.
For the first time on television, footage from Menzies’ home movie collection of approximately 35 colour films will give viewers the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of Australia’s most enduring Prime Minister, who served two terms over 18 years, from 1939-1941 and 1949-1966.
John Howard said: “I think we are incredibly lucky that one of our former prime ministers, particularly one who was in that office at a very dark and dangerous time for our country at the outbreak of World War II, had the capacity to record in a very effective way what was happening and, importantly, his interaction with leaders such as Winston Churchill.”
Also featured in the documentary are thought-provoking interviews including those with his 93-year-old daughter, Heather Henderson; granddaughter, Edwina Menzies; CEO of the Robert Menzies Institute, Georgina Downer and historian and author, Anne Henderson.
Georgina Downer said: “Robert Menzies’ movies are in colour, so you can really see the details of what was going on during World War II, not just in London, but at the ports around England. And Sir Robert was even getting down and helping people which, again, was amazing for an active serving prime minister. But that was what Robert Menzies was doing in the late ‘30s, early ’40s, and it’s quite extraordinary to actually have footage of that.”
As Menzies toured the world extensively during his tenure, he expertly captured Australian and world events as well as intimate moments, from filming a burning freighter in Tobruk harbour, to a young Queen Elizabeth cleaning up after a windy picnic, to Winston Churchill and his family feeding swans.
The Menzies Movies is a tribute to Sir Robert Menzies and offers an unparalleled insight into the life and times of the Prime Minister and the man.