14 yr. old Tony Ingram – Courtesy Photo.

AN EARLIER PICNIC FILM

In 1969, Tony Ingram – a 14 year old student at Melbourne Grammar School, wrote and began to produce a B&W 16mm film of Picnic at Hanging Rock titled The Day of Saint Valentine, only two years after the book's publication, and some six years prior to the production of Peter Weir's film.

It was his second film, following an earlier adaptation he produced of William Golding's novel – Lord of the Flies – titled Inward Urge that was screened at the Dendy Cinema in Brighton, Melbourne.

Some of the cast in the film were students of Clyde Girls School (the same school Joan Lindsay attended - though resituated in Woodend) and sections of the film were shot at Hanging Rock.

Ultimately only a selection of scenes from the screenplay were filmed and edited together. They were later screened to a handful of schools linked to the students involved with the project at the time.

Images from his film were originally intended to be included in
The Secret of Hanging Rock (Angus & Robertson 1987) as part of a collection of supporting information relating to Picnic at Hanging Rock, however ultimately these and the other additional material were dropped from the book's final design.

DOWNLOAD the surviving remnant of the film here:

INGRAM.MOV (9.9 MB) B&W – SILENT – Approx. 6 mins

© 1969, Tony Ingram. Aside from individual desktop viewing by website visitors, this trailer may not be further copied, used, sold or distributed without the permission of the copyright owner.