Chronological ordering provides a strong sense of the inexorable shift from films created in the city centre (His Royal Highness, 1932) through the middle suburbs (Squizzy Taylor, 1982) to the fringe (The Castle, 1997). Interspersed essays tease out the particular, yet draw attention to the relative flimsiness of the film snapshots. The guide makes sound use of apocryphal tales about Flinders Street Station being built according to plans intended for Mumbai and Ava Gardner’s walk down Williamstown pier in On the Beach (1959). But facing the challenge of illuminating both the location and the story arc, many entries slip frustratingly between the two.

With almost twenty contributors, the guide struggles to maintain a cogent, seamless, overarching voice. There are also surprising omissions, including The Big Steal, Mallboy, The Wog Boy, and Blessed. Despite Melbourne’s popularity as a stand-in location for shooting films ostensibly set elsewhere, overseas productions are all but ignored. A more nuanced consideration of each film, and a stronger indication as to how location was imperative to narrative and character, might have created of this promising premise an essential guide. Rather than a definitive treatise, this guide is an accessible springboard for further exploration.