F.M. Chamberlin

For almost 50 years, Father F.M. Chamberlin reviewed films for Australian Catholic publications, including The Advocate and the Archdiocesan magazine, Kalros. He had a quiet passion for cinema and was a pioneer in establishing the Australian Catholic Film Office. Frederick Maurice Chamberlin was born May 18 1922 and educated in Geelong. Victoria. He among the first students at St Joseph's Christian Brothers' College (later its dux), entered the Melbourne diocesan seminary at Werribee in 1939 and was ordained a priest in 1946. From January 1970 to August 1991, he was the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. During this time he was the episcopal vicar for communications and mass media and on the editorial board of national Catholic newspaper The Advocate. Author and film critic Father Peter Malone commented in his influence - "The pioneering work that Fred Chamberlin did in cinema reviewing and media education was his singular service to the Catholic church of Australia and Australia's film culture. From his time as a national chaplain to the Young Christian Students Movement in the late 1940s, he was aware of how "going to the pictures" played a significant role in Australian people's day to day lives. His pamphlets, 'Films and You' and 'You and the Movies', encouraged young audiences to enjoy films, to explore their meanings and discover the values they dramatised." For many years Father Chamberlin worked with the International Catholic Organisation for Cinema and Audio-Visuals (OCIC), attending international meetings and serving on Catholic juries at film festivals, including Venice, Cannes and Manila, as well as the OCIC ecumenical jury at the Melbourne International Film Festival. He was also strongly influenced by the American Legion of Decency, later the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures, and devised classification systems for advising on the moral values of films - these were used as a regular feature accompanying film reviews in The Advocate beginning in 1961. From 1970 Channel 7 music arranger and personality Ivan Hutchinson added a new career as the paper's main film reviewer - his success with this would lead to hosting Australian's first film review show Two on the Aisle (1971) with Listener-In TV writer Jim Murphy (whose father Frank Murphy had been a journalist and live theatre/music reviewer on The Advocate since 1937) and eventually Seven's afternoon movie host beginning in January 1975. Ivan's added exposure increased both the readership and profile The Advocate's film reviews were receiving as well as Father Chamberlin's film advisory system. Once Ivan was lured in late 1978 to film review for TV Week and later The Sun News-Pictorial, Father Chamberlin became The Advocate's reviewer until the paper ceased publication after 122 years in 1990. In 1971, the Australian Catholic bishops appointed Father Chamberlin the national Catholic film officer and, in 1976, established the national office and appointed him director. In 1980 he was elected president of OCIC for the Pacific region and a member of the international board of directors. He retired from the international positions in 1989 and the Australian Film Office in 1995. Father Chamberlin retired from full time duties in July 1996 after celebrating his golden jubilee of priesthood. He died of a heart attack in St Vincent's Private Hospital, Melbourne on December 22 1996. Reflecting on his legacy, Father Peter Malone noted - "Fred Chamberlin believed that the Church's relationship with film should not be merely a moralistic and censorious attitude. His conviction was that many of its artistic and entertainment values can be deeply human and, therefore, deeply spiritual and religious."