David Stratton

❧

Wikipedia

David Stratton
AM
Stratton in 2012
Born(1939-09-10)10 September 1939
Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England
Died14 August 2025(2025-08-14) (aged 85)
Blue Mountains,
New South Wales, Australia
Citizenship
Occupations
  • Film critic
  • film historian
  • journalist
  • author
  • interviewer
  • educator
  • lecturer
  • producer
  • television presenter
Years active1963–2023
Known for
SpouseSusie Craig
Children2

David James Stratton AM (10 September 1939 – 14 August 2025) was an English and Australian film critic and historian. He also worked as a journalist and author, interviewer, educator and lecturer, television personality and producer. His career as a film critic, writer, and educator in Australia spanned 57 years, until his retirement in December 2023. Stratton's media career included presenting film review shows on television with Margaret Pomeranz for 28 years, writing film reviews for The Weekend Australian for over 30 years, and lecturing in film history for 35 years. He was widely regarded as an extremely influential film critic in Australia.

Early life and education

David James Stratton[1][2] was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, on 10 September 1939,[3][4] a week after Britain declared war on Germany.[5] His father, Wilfred, enlisted in the army and fought in Burma and his mother, Kathleen, volunteered with the Red Cross.[3][6] Stratton was sent to Hampshire to see out the war years with his grandmother. An avid filmgoer, his grandmother regularly took Stratton to the local cinemas. When he was around six years old, his father returned from the war and the family moved back to Wiltshire.[7] His younger brother, Roger,[3] was born in 1947.[6] Roger later said that David's relationship with his father was difficult because he did not know him until he was six.[3]

Stratton attended Chafyn Grove School from 1948 to 1953 as a boarder,[6] but never finished secondary school.[8] After leaving school, he spent his time with local film societies and working in the family grocery business. Stratton was expected to take over the business which had been established in 1824 and run by five generations of Strattons.[3][6][9][10] Stratton later described his relationship with his father as "fractious", as his father wanted him to take over the family business, and did not understand his son's interest in films.[3]

Stratton saw his first foreign film in Bath in 1955, the Italian romantic comedy Bread, Love and Dreams. That was soon followed by Akira Kurosawa's Japanese adventure drama classic Seven Samurai showing in Birmingham.[11] At the age of 19, he founded the Melksham and District Film Society.[8][12][13]

Career

Sydney Film Festival

Stratton arrived in Australia in 1963 under the "Ten Pound Poms" migration scheme.[14][15] He had only intended to stay in Australia for two years before returning to England.[9] However, he soon became involved with the local film society movement and started volunteering as an usher at the Sydney Film Festival.[3] By the end of 1964, he was elected to the festival's board. Stratton opposed film censorship and pushed through a motion that the festival would campaign for the introduction of an R rating. The festival director at the time objected to the motion and quit in protest, leading Stratton to be appointed director in 1966.[16]

Several years later, his father became too ill to run his business. With both brothers unable to take over, the business was sold. Stratton said he "carried that guilt around ever since".[17] Around the same time, he was the subject of surveillance by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) due to the festival showing Soviet films and his late-1960s visit to Russia. This information was not made public until January 2014.[4][2][18] Stratton remained director of the Sydney Film Festival until 1983.[19]

Television

Stratton worked for SBS from 1980, acting as their film consultant and introducing the SBS Cinema Classics on Sunday evenings and Movie of the Week for 24 weeks a year.[20] It was at SBS that Stratton met Margaret Pomeranz, then a producer.[4] From 30 October 1986[15][21] onwards Stratton co-hosted the long-running SBS TV program The Movie Show with Pomeranz, who was also the show's original producer, after having to persuade her to join him on-air.[4] The Guardian said "The good-humoured repartee between the no-nonsense Stratton and his cheerful (and stylish) co-host Margaret Pomeranz as they sparred over their star ratings and favourite films won them a devoted audience."[3] Stratton and Pomeranz left SBS in 2004 due to dissatisfaction with the direction of the network.[22]

The pair moved to the ABC where they hosted the similarly formatted show, At the Movies, from 1 July 2004.[19][21] In 2014, Stratton and Pomeranz decided to end the show. The final episode, broadcast on 9 December 2014, was watched by more than 700,000 viewers, making it one of the most-watched season finales in the network's history.[23][24] Stratton later said that he regretted his decision to end the show, and lamented the lack of a champion on television to promote small independent films, such as Partho Sen-Gupta's thriller Slam.[14] In 2017, Stratton began an online film review series, David Stratton Recommends, in partnership with three Australian arthouse cinemas (Cinema Nova, Hayden Orpheum and Luna Palace).[25]

Writing and teaching

Stratton wrote reviews for US film industry magazine Variety from 1984 to 2003,[26] The Weekend Australian for over 30 years[15] and for TV Week from 1995.[27] He also contributed articles to The Age, The Bulletin, The Sydney Morning Herald, Cinema Papers and International Film Guide.[28] He lectured in film history at the University of Sydney's Centre for Continuing Education[15][29] from around 1988 until December 2023, during which he covered around 840 films and showed 7,506 film clips. Many of his students re-enrolled year after year.[8] Stratton retired from writing criticism and teaching in 2023.[4]

Stratton authored six books, five of which were about films and the film industry.[8][14] His autobiography, I Peed on Fellini, was published in 2008.[6] His final book, Australia at the Movies, was published in 2024 and contained around 650 reviews of every locally produced feature film released from 1990 to 2020.[4] In the book, he gives scathing reviews of some films, but praises several small independent films that did not get much press or attract large audiences when they were released.[14]

Juries and other roles

Stratton and Pomeranz played an important role in challenging the often heavy-handed decisions of the Australian Classification Board throughout their career.[30][31] One of his legacies is the part he played in bringing about the R18+ film classification.[32]

Stratton was invited to sit on many international juries at film festivals,[8] including Venice in 1994,[4] and both the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival[12] and the Montreal International Film Festival in 1982.[4] Regarded as an expert on international cinema, particularly French cinema, he was president of FIPRESCI (International Film Critics) juries in Cannes (twice) and Venice.[4][12][33]

Stratton speaking at the Perth Festival Writers Week in 2019

Stratton acted as programming consultant to the London and Los Angeles festivals and contributed regularly to the International Film Guide, compiled and published in London.[11] He and Pomeranz were patrons of the Adelaide Film Festival.[34] On 14 March 2015, Stratton appeared in front of a sold-out crowd at a meeting with David Lynch on the opening weekend of the exhibition David Lynch: Between Two Worlds at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane, Queensland.[35] The one-hour conversation was Lynch's first and only public appearance in Australia.[36]

In film and other television

The documentary film David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, written and directed by Sally Aitken, was released in 2017 and re-edited for television. It features interviews with Stratton about his life and with actors, directors and producers representing Australian cinema since the 1960s.[4][37] A preliminary version of the film was first released at the 2016 Adelaide Film Festival as David Stratton's Stories of Australian Cinema, a "work in progress screening ... a celebration of 110 years of Australian Cinema history and its creators".[38] The title was later screened as a three-part series on ABC Television.[39] The series was produced by Jo-anne McGowan of production company Stranger Than Fiction.[40]

In 1993, Stratton made an uncredited cameo appearance in Paul Cox's "Touch Me", one of the short films featured in the series Erotic Tales.[41] He appeared in several ABC programs, including The Chaser's War on Everything, Review with Myles Barlow, Good Game, Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight, Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure, Dance Academy and The Bazura Project, often parodying himself.[42]

Recognition and honours

Personal life

Stratton was twice married. His first marriage was at a young age.[7] His second marriage was to Susie Craig, whom he met in 1979.[46] He had a son and a daughter.[16] He became an Australian citizen in the 1980s.[4] In 1991, Stratton and his wife moved to the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.[46] He had a collection of about 20,000 DVDs in his home.[14]

In 2008, he released his autobiography called I Peed on Fellini, a reference to a drunken attempt to shake director Federico Fellini's hand while using a urinal.[6] In 2017 he said that every single day he watched at least one film he had not seen before and that he had seen more than 25,000 films at that point.[4]

In his final years, giant cell arteritis caused Stratton to lose sight in one eye and have limited vision in the other. Steroids used to treat the disease made his bones weak and he fractured his back twice.[14]

Taste and style

Stratton said that his favourite film was the 1952 American musical Singin' in the Rain: "I grew up on musicals and this is the best musical ever made."[8] Stratton participated in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll, where he listed his 10 favourite films as follows: Charulata, Citizen Kane, The Conversation, Uzak (also known in America as Distant), Distant Voices, Still Lives, Kings of the Road, Lola, The Searchers, Singin' in the Rain and The Travelling Players.[53] His favourite Australian film was Newsfront, directed by Phillip Noyce.[54] He was also a great fan of French New Wave films, including the directors François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Jacques Demy.[4] He particularly disliked shaky handheld cinematography and American action blockbusters.[55]

Two articles which analysed their reviews at SBS and ABC showed that Stratton was generally a slightly harsher critic than Pomeranz.[20][56] According to Ozflicks website, run by Peter Morrow, both critics gave five stars to: Evil Angels (1988), Return Home (1990), The Piano (1993), Lantana (2001), and Samson and Delilah (2009).[56] Shortly before their show ended at the ABC, a collation of their reviews there showed that they both gave five stars to six films on that show: Brokeback Mountain (2005), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), No Country for Old Men (2007), Samson and Delilah (2009), A Separation (2011) and Amour (2012).[20] Both critics gave five-star reviews to Errol Morris's documentary The Thin Blue Line (1988/9), with both listing it in their top ten films.[57]

They disagreed particularly on Romper Stomper (Stratton refusing to rate it because of the racist violence in the film), The Castle (1997), Last Train to Freo (2006), Human Touch (2004), and Kenny (2006), with Stratton awarding fewer stars than Pomeranz on all but Human Touch.[56] The director of Romper Stomper, Geoffrey Wright, later threw a glass of wine at Stratton at the Venice Film Festival.[19]

Death and legacy

Stratton died on 14 August 2025 at Katoomba Hospital near where he had been living. He was 85.[15][58] His family invited everyone "to celebrate David's remarkable life and legacy by watching their favourite movie, or David's favourite movie of all time—Singin' In the Rain". A public memorial service was being planned after a private funeral.[19]

The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, posted a personal tribute to Stratton on Twitter, saying "All of us who tuned in to At the Movies respected him for his deep knowledge and for the gentle and generous way he passed it on."[15] SBS managing director James Taylor credited Stratton with "introducing generations of viewers to cinema from Australia and around the world. His legacy endures in every thoughtful review and every inspired viewer".[4] Australian writer Stephen Vagg described Stratton as having "a good claim to be the most influential Australian film critic in history".[59]

Publications

  • — (1980). The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival. Angus & Robertson. ISBN 9780207141461.
  • — (1990). The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9780732902506.
  • — (2008). I Peed on Fellini: Recollections of a Life in Film. Australia: William Heinemann / Random House. ISBN 978-1-74166-619-9.
  • — (2018). 101 Marvellous Movies You May Have Missed. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781760870096.
  • — (2021). My Favourite Movies. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781761063268.
  • — (2024). Australia at the Movies. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781761472091.

References

  1. 1 2 David James Stratton – Member of the Order of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 26 January 2015
  2. 1 2 Burgmann, M. (2014). Dirty Secrets: Our ASIO files. NewSouth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-74224-175-3. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 King, Jennifer (14 August 2025). "David Stratton, legendary film critic who championed Australian and international cinema – obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Cain, Sian (14 August 2025). "David Stratton, esteemed Australian film critic, dies aged 85". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Jake (27 August 2007). "A Critic Unbuttons: I Peed On Fellini: Recollections of a Life in Film by David Stratton". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stratton, D. (2008). I Peed on Fellini: Recollections of a Life in Film. William Heinemann. ISBN 978-1-74166-619-9. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  7. 1 2 Purcell, Charles (1 June 2019). "David Stratton on changing up the Sydney Film Festival's retrospective". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hennessy, Kate (22 December 2023). "David Stratton's closing credits: 'I've done the best I could'". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  9. 1 2 FitzSimons, Peter (7 December 2024). "David Stratton's top 10 lost movie gems, and the Aussie classics you haven't seen". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  10. ↑ David Stratton: A Cinematic Life (Motion picture). 2017.
  11. 1 2 Cowan, Jane (7 April 2004). "David Stratton". ABC Gold and Tweed Coasts. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 4 March 2008.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "David Stratton". Random House Australia. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  13. ↑ "David Stratton". The Australian. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stratton, David (11 October 2024). "'I thought I'd go completely blind': Cruellest blow for a movie critic hits David Stratton". The Sydney Morning Herald (Interview). Interviewed by Maddox, Garry. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gallagher, Alex (14 August 2025). "Australian film critic and former SBS presenter David Stratton dies aged 85". SBS News. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  16. 1 2 Schmidt, Lucinda (5 March 2008). "Profile: David Stratton". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  17. ↑ Quinn, Karl (7 March 2017). "David Stratton reveals his greatest regret in lively doco A Cinematic Life". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  18. ↑ Fenely, Rick (4 January 2014). "David Stratton oblivious he's been cast as a spy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thorpe, Andrew (14 August 2025). "David Stratton, film critic and host of At the Movies alongside Margaret Pomeranz, dies aged 85". ABC News. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  20. 1 2 3 Evershed, Nick (16 September 2014). "At the Movies: Margaret and David's most divisive films revealed". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  21. 1 2 Thurling, Jan (2011). "Celebrating 25 years in 2011". National Film and Sound Archive. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  22. ↑ "'Movie Show' presenters switch to ABC". ABC News. 6 April 2004. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  23. ↑ "Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton roll end credits on 28-year film review partnership; At The Movies will not return to ABC in 2015". ABC News (Australia). 16 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  24. ↑ Sharma, Yashee (14 August 2025). "Beloved film critic David Stratton dies aged 85". 9 News. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  25. ↑ Kornits, Dov (31 May 2017). "David Stratton Returns to Reviewing Films on the Screen". FilmInk. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  26. ↑ Maras, Steven (14 August 2025). "David Stratton was always 'doing it for the audience'. In this, he had a huge impact on Australian film". The Conversation. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  27. ↑ "1995: October 14–20". televisionau.com. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  28. ↑ Slatter, Sean (14 August 2025). "Vale David Stratton, beloved Australian film critic and writer". IF Magazine. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  29. ↑ "A History of World Cinema Course with David Stratton". Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  30. ↑ "Lies and Damned Censorship" Archived 23 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine by Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile (3 July 2003)
  31. ↑ "Film board chief on the defensive over banned movie" by Suzanne Carbone, The Age (5 July 2003)
  32. ↑ "David Stratton". At the Movies with Margaret and David. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2014. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017.
  33. ↑ "Berlinale 1982: Juries". Berlinale. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  34. 1 2 "Patrons and Board". Adelaide Film Festival. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  35. ↑ Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees Annual Report 2014–15 (PDF) (Report). Queensland Art Gallery. 18 September 2015.
  36. ↑ Caldwell, Thomas (26 April 2015). "Living Inside a Dream: The Art and Films of David Lynch". CINEMA AUTOPSY. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  37. ↑ Cerabona, Ron (18 February 2017). "Film critic David Stratton gets his own movie at last". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  38. ↑ "David Stratton's Stories of Australian Cinema". Adelaide Film Festival. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  39. ↑ "David Stratton's Stories Of Australian Cinema". ABC iview. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  40. ↑ "David Stratton: A Cinematic Life". Stranger Than Fiction. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  41. ↑ Foundas, Scott (10 December 2014). "Australia's Siskel & Ebert Sign Off After 28 Years of Savvy Sparring". Yahoo News. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  42. ↑ Knox, David (14 August 2025). "Vale: David Stratton". TV Tonight. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  43. ↑ "David James Stratton – Centenary Medal". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  44. ↑ "French Embassy media release 04/2001". Embassy of France in Australia. 22 March 2001. Archived from the original on 29 October 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  45. ↑ "David Stratton to receive honorary doctorate". The University of Sydney. 7 June 2006. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  46. 1 2 3 4 Curtin, Jennie (26 January 2015). "David Stratton's 50-year service to film honoured". Blue Mountains Gazette. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  47. ↑ "The great honorary doctorates list". The Mayne Report. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  48. ↑ Cuthbertson, Debbie (16 August 2011). "Exhibit marks 25 years of Margaret and David". ABC News. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  49. ↑ Deare, Steven (13 April 2016). "Five stars! Highest honour for movie critics". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  50. ↑ "Autumn graduation season commences: Honorary Doctorates for alumna Margaret Pomeranz AM and more". The Lighthouse. Macquarie University. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  51. ↑ Swift, Brendan (4 September 2024). "David Stratton AM named 2024 National Cinema Pioneer of the Year". IF Magazine. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  52. ↑ Winter, Velvet; Smyrk, Katherine; Morwood, Maddy (6 June 2025). "ICYMI: David and Margaret honoured with Walk of Fame star, Talking Heads release first music video for Psycho Killer". ABC News. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  53. ↑ "David Stratton". BFI. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016.
  54. ↑ Douglas, Tim (14 August 2025). "Tributes flow for legendary film critic David Stratton who died aged 85". The Australian. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  55. ↑ Bailey, Michael (14 August 2025). "Champion of Australian film David Stratton dies aged 85". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  56. 1 2 3 "What Margaret and David say about 500 Oz Movies". Ozflicks. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  57. ↑ "Remembering David Stratton: His 10 favourite films". SBS What's On. 14 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  58. ↑ Irvine, Sam (13 August 2025). "Australia news headlines from Thursday 14th August 2025: Film critic David Stratton dies aged 85". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  59. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (15 August 2025). "David Stratton: A Personal Tribute". Filmink. Retrieved 15 August 2025.