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19/12/2004: "SAVAGE SHADOWS .......A shark film by the late HENRI BOURCE"

A shark victim turns film maker with a 16mm Bolex camera and makes a feature film released in cinemas.

"The only money I ever made out of Savage Shadows came from stock footage sales of the attack sequence" Henri Bource told me at his Melbourne home, as he hopped about on his one good leg.

Using self-hypnosis Henri was able to convince himself he still had two legs. It also got rid of the phantom pains (i.e. an itchy toe that wasn't there anymore). The big white pointer shark had bitten Henri's leg off, just below the knee. (Above the knee would have presented greater hardship - at least he had a knee-cap left that served as a hard base for the artificial leg he wore.

Henri didn't look for sympathy - he was far more positive than that rubbish being required. He even had us convinced (in a strange way) he still had two legs. I once questioned his right to park in a disabled parking place - and this was a man with half a leg missing!

This was the attitude and influence Henri Bource projected to all who knew him.

I assisted in the film production in a slight way, with friends Mike Perry and John Fairfax.

We appear in the film searching for sharks off Queensland's North Stradbroke Island, (at the time a hot location, far-less-so today).

The resulting film was excellent BUT didn't get adequate exposure. At the time it was difficult negotiating any deal with cinema companies. The film premiered in the sleaziest of city venues in Sydney, the former State Newsreel Theatrette. It was once possible to almost stick to the seats in this tiny theatre which ran continuous short films for anyone with 60 minutes of spare time.

Henri is gone now, missed by a heap of divers who were his good mates. But he lived genuine dual lives, there was also the music he loved and the friends and girls there. (His original band The Thunderbirds recorded the first rock 'n roll album in Australia).

Before his shark accident (aka attack) he toured with the leading international acts working Australia's southern states. This duality tricked all of us. If the whole picture ever emerged the Henri Bource story will amaze and entertain.