The film, which took two years to make, is the story of the Deans Marsh-born opera singer who became the most famous Australian woman in the world at the peak of her international singing career during the 1930s and 1940s.<\/p>\n
The feature-length documentary, narrated by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, had its world premiere at Winchelsea\u2019s Globe Theatre in early December and was released in cinemas across Australia through Sharmill Films.<\/p>\n
It was favourably reviewed by critic David Stratton, who gave it four out of five stars and included the documentary in his list of best films of 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur film was definitely a labour of love, made on a tiny budget in difficult COVID-19 circumstances, but it turned out to be a fascinating journey of discovery of the wonderful life of a gifted Australian Wagnerian soprano, her rise to fame and the tragedy that almost destroyed her in Mexico,\u201d editor Dr Bilsborow said.<\/p>\n The filmmakers wrote to Queen Elizabeth II in February, soon after a successful Adelaide screening at the Palace East End Cinemas.<\/p>\n Never expecting to receive a reply, they were very surprised to get a letter from Windsor Castle earlier this month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wrote to the Queen more as a courtesy, to inform her that our film features images of her as a young princess at a meeting with Marjorie in 1945, just before Marjorie\u2019s performance in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace, and to remind the Queen of the amusing incident that occurred during the recital,\u201d Mr Groom, who directed the documentary, said.<\/p>\n The filmmakers discovered while researching Lawrence\u2019s biography, that the concert she gave at Buckingham Palace was going well but was noisily interrupted when one of the corgis owned by the Queen (later the Queen Mother) began to bark and howl.<\/p>\n Lawrence stopped singing and politely said: \u201cYour Majesty, I don\u2019t think your corgi likes my singing?\u201d Queen Elizabeth allegedly replied: \u201cOn the contrary, Miss Lawrence; my corgis are Welsh and as everyone knows, all Welsh love singing, he was just trying to show his appreciation!\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Bilsborow hoped the DVD would be a welcome relief.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Queen has been through a tough period in recent times and hopefully this film and its sweet memories will cheer her up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Untitled-design-11-2.png\")