script by Frank Harvey, who would write most of his subsequent films. It was also the film debut of Shirley Ann Richards. Richards was the female lead in Hall's next film, Tall Timbers (1937), an adventure tale set in logging country, based on a story by Frank Hurley. Comic series: 1938–1940 Hall made two films the comic, George Wallace: Let George Do It (1938) and Gone to the Dogs. In between these two he made a third Rudd film, Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938), which featured a performance from a young Peter Finch. Hall gave Finch a bigger role in Mr Chedworth Steps Out (1939), a vehicle for Cecil Kellaway. Hall produced and co-wrote but did not direct Come Up Smiling (1939), a vehicle for Will Mahoney. He made a fourth and final Rudd, Dad Rudd, M.P. (1940), which introduced Grant Taylor. World War II Film production at Cinesound ground to a halt with the advent of World War II, although Hall kept busy during this period producing and directing newsreels, documentaries and short subjects, including Road to Victory (1941) and Anzacs in Overalls (1941). Hall also did shorts with dramatised segments, such as Another Threshold (1942), and short features, 100,000 Cobbers (1942) and South West Pacific (1943). Kokoda Front Line (1942) His most notable newsreel was the Oscar-winning Kokoda Front Line (1942) – the first time an Australian film/documentary was awarded an Oscar. Post-war career Smithy (1946) After the war Hall returned to feature film production, enjoying a big success with Smithy, a film biography of Australia's most famous aviator, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, which he produced, co-wrote and directed. This film was financed by Columbia Pictures, who went on to offer its star, Ron Randell, a long-term contract in Hollywood. However, attempts by Hall to make further feature films (particularly an adaptation of the novel Robbery Under Arms, which he later described as "the film I wanted to make more than any other") were not successful, partly because the Greater Union cinema chain, who had backed all of Cinesound's films in the 1930s, were no longer enthusiastic about investing in local production. He was also stymied by the fact that the Australian government refused to allow money over a certain amount to be raised for films. In particular, an attempt to raise £160,000 to make two films in collaboration with Ealing Studios, including a version of