Scott Murray's informative and attentive review (The Guide,   February 8) for the upcoming Sunday,   February 14 airing of Australia's first colour film, Jedda, really adds worthwhile viewer interest to the recent history of this landmark film. Yes, it is true that Jedda, like many films of its day, seems later to be outdated and questionable, but the reality was that Jedda was a major cinema release in 1956 and screened for weeks in the city at both the 1200-seat Lyceum Theatre and then to the 2700-seat Capitol, to very positive reviews and sell-out ticket sales. Jedda was distributed as an A-grade feature film by Columbia Pictures and given the kudos and publicity (resulting in colossal box-office) according with its status as both a crowning achievement by Charles and Elsa Chauvel and as Australia's first colour film. And a very daring Indigenous drama. It was successful all through 1956, a cinema attraction equal to any other from Columbia Pictures and staying in circulation in Australian cinemas until 1960. 
It had a major international cinema release in the US and UK all through 1957, thanks to Columbia Pictures International. Something that would not have happened if the film had poor reviews and lame ticket sales. Only in the sneering 1970s and '80s did Jedda get an undeserved reputation as "unconvincing and puerile".
Jedda is an astonishing cinema achievement, its reputation now intact thanks to Scott, and Tracy Moffat's, enduring efforts, and the magnificent blu-ray DVD now available.
Paul Brennan Woollahra