Beloved film critic David Stratton dies aged 85

Beloved Australian film critic David Stratton has died aged 85.

Stratton, who starred alongside Margaret Pomeranz on The Movie Show on SBS and At the Movies on the ABC, died peacefully in hospital in the Blue Mountains.

His family announced the death on Thursday afternoon, the ABC reported.

“David’s passion for film, commitment to Australian cinema and generous spirit touched countless lives,” his family told the national broadcaster.

“He was adored as a husband, father, grand- and great-grandfather and admired friend. David’s family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude for the overwhelming support from friends, colleagues and the public recently and across his lifetime.”

He had been in ill health for some years.

As well as reviews, Stratton, who lived at Leura with his wife, Susie, chronicled the history of Australian film in the books The Last New Wave, The Avocado Plantation and, just last year, Australia at the Movies. He turned to memoir with I Peed on Fellini: Recollections of a Life in Film.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on X that “with dry humour and sharp insight David Stratton shared his love of film with our country.

“All of us who tuned into At The Movies respected him for his deep knowledge and for the gentle and generous way he passed it on”.

Director George Miller, who visited Stratton at home three months ago, described him as “a kind of high priest or Gandalf of Australian cinema” whose immense contribution included screening films at Sydney Film Festival from “Asia, all over Europe, the Eastern Bloc, India and Japan” that influenced the directors who were breaking through in the 1970s.

Miller said if Stratton had not screened the first short film that he and producer Byron Kennedy made in 1971, Violence in the Cinema, Part 1, it would not have been distributed by Greater Union and “we would not have made Mad Max … That was directly attributable to David standing up for the film”.

Stratton grew up in England before coming to Australia under the “10-pound Pom” scheme in 1963. He kept a handwritten review of the first Australian movie he remembered seeing, The Overlanders with Chips Rafferty, which he wrote, aged seven, in 1947.

As the eldest son, he was destined to take over the family grocery business :“Growing up I was so proud of it, of being part of the family that ran this beautiful business all across the west of England,” he told Karl Quinn from this masthead in 2017.

But Stratton’s love for movies took him in a different direction, which upset his parents.

“[They] really didn’t understand at all what was compelling me to have a career in cinema,” he said. “My father thought it was a complete waste of time and he never ceased saying so. He never understood.”

A casual holiday job as an usher at the Sydney Film Festival eventually led to a surprise offer to run the event in late 1965.

He spent 18 years as director of the festival, championing foreign-language films and railing against the censorship that was rife at the time, before gaining greater fame for reviewing films on SBS and the ABC with Pomeranz.

“Margaret and David” became one of Australian television’s most famous duos.

Late last year, Stratton opened up about a cruel disease that had caused the loss of sight in one eye and limited vision in the other, which threatened his habit of watching a new film every day.

“There was a long time when I thought I’d go completely blind,” he told this masthead. “The doctors thought I might. It was sort of on the edge but, fortunately, we caught it in time.”

Apart from affecting his vision, giant cell arteritis – “a blockage of the arteries in the brain” – caused another health drama. Steroids to treat it weakened Stratton’s bones to the point where he twice had a fractured back.

“Once it was just a crack but very painful,” he said. “And the second time the bone was absolutely crushed and that’s why I’m on crutches. I had to really learn to walk again.”

After a month in hospital, Stratton went on medication to strengthen his bones and his sight did not diminish any further.

Sydney Film Festival paid tribute to Stratton in a statement that said it would not exist as it does without his “remarkable passion and devotion”.

It praised “his successful fight against censorship of films in Australia, the establishment of the Travelling Film Festival (which returns to his home town of the Blue Mountains next weekend), support for emerging filmmakers from Australia and around the world, and fostering of a brave and adventurous cinema culture in Australian audiences”.

Over a lifetime spent watching and reviewing thousands of films, Stratton’s all-time favourite was the Gene Kelly musical Singin’ in the Rain.

“It’s probably the best of the MGM musicals in an era when the musical film was one of the most innovative forms of cinema,” he told Craig Platt from this masthead. “It’s funny, it’s clever. The songs and dances are great, and it also has a fascinating story.”

What are your favourite memories of David Stratton? Let us know in the comments below.

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