Around the Boree Log

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Around the Boree Log
Directed by Phil K. Walsh
Written byPhil K. Walsh
Based onpoems of Patrick Joseph Hartigan
StarringMolly O'Donohue [1]
Cinematography Lacey Percival
Production
company
Phil K. Walsh Productions
Release date
  • 25 September 1925 (1925-09-25)
[2]
Running time
7,100 feet
CountryAustralia
Languages Silent film
English intertitles

Around the Boree Log is a 1925 Australian silent film by Phil K. Walsh adapted from the poems of "John O'Brien" (Patrick Joseph Hartigan). It tells stories of a priest's life around the 1870s in the Goulburn area. [3] [4]

Contents

Unlike many Australian silent films, a copy of it survives today.

Plot

A priest reads from the book of poems by John O'Brien and recalls his earlier life in the country. He remembers travelling hawkers, his first school, a bishop inspection, childhood romance, and the marriage of a girl to another man.

Cast

Production

The movie was shot on location in the New South Wales bush, mostly at the Wollondilly River area near Goulburn, in early 1925. [6] The director had previously worked as an assistant on While the Billy Boils (1921) and would direct The Birth of White Australia (1928). [3] He also tried to make a film of the novel Love Blind but was unable to raise finance. [7]

Most of the cast were anonymous people who lived in the area. [8] Unlike The Birth of White Australia, which was funded by the residents of Young, this film received no financial assistance from Goulburn. [9]

Release

The film met with resistance from distributors who felt it was Roman Catholic propaganda. [10] It was also criticised for having little plot and consisting mostly of a travelogue of scenery and incidents in the country. [8]

Other reviewers however gave it unqualified praise; [11] it screened throughout Australia and New Zealand, made money for its backers, and created renewed interest for Hartigan's book. [12]

Box office success appears to have been strong. [13]

References

  1. ↑ "Majestic". The Brisbane Courier . National Library of Australia. 9 February 1926. p. 11. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald . National Library of Australia. 28 September 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  3. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 128.
  4. ↑ "The Majestic". The Brisbane Courier . National Library of Australia. 8 February 1926. p. 9. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  5. ↑ "Advertising". The Daily Standard (Brisbane) . Queensland, Australia. 8 February 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 12 March 2020– via Trove.
  6. ↑ "The Majestic". The Brisbane Courier . National Library of Australia. 8 February 1926. p. 9. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Distinguished Film Producer". Windsor and Richmond Gazette . NSW: National Library of Australia. 23 April 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  8. 1 2 "New Films". The Sydney Morning Herald . National Library of Australia. 28 September 1925. p. 5. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Slow Goulburn". Goulburn Evening Penny Post . New South Wales, Australia. 10 February 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 10 March 2020– via Trove.
  10. ↑ "Film Inquiry". The Brisbane Courier . National Library of Australia. 9 June 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  11. ↑ "Entertainments". Warwick Daily News . Queensland, Australia. 21 June 1926. p. 7. Retrieved 12 March 2020– via Trove.
  12. ↑ "Australian Success". The Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate . New South Wales, Australia. 29 July 1926. p. 4. Retrieved 10 March 2020– via Trove.
  13. ↑ ""Boree Log" at Singleton.", Everyones., 4 (300 (2 December 1925)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-574055638, retrieved 2 March 2024– via Trove


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