Lincoln Cass Films was a short-lived Australian film production company.
The company was formed in July 1913 with authorised capital £4,000 in shares if £1 each. First directors were Henry Dean Stewart, William Foster Dawson, and William Y. M'Kenzie. [1]
Its principal filmmakers were W. J. Lincoln and Godfrey Cass and the managing director of the company was H. Dean Stewart. Charles Wheeler was stage manager and Maurice Bertel was the cinematographer. The company hired actors from Melbourne theatre along with "Australian bush riders". [2] [3] It also occasionally gave live performances. [4] Charles Wheeler wrote some scripts. [5]
Movies were made at a glass-roofed studio in Cole Street in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick. [6] [7] Locations were shot in bushland near the town of Healesville. [8] Between July and October 1913 they made eight features, of which only The Sick Stockrider survives today. [9]
Regular cast members were Rod Redgrave, Godfrey Cass, Tom Cannon, George Bryant, Ward Lyons, Charlie Wheeler, Belle Bryant. ""The Yanks said we were crazy," said Cass, "but 1 think we passed them a ' point. How about their serials which run for- months and their so-called million dollar specials It is not often success kills an enterprise, but that is what happened our venture, crude and all as the products were compared with modern films." [10]
According to one report from August 1913:
The idea of the management is to produce the best pictures possible and though the market at this end of the globe is limited, and they are, in consequence, more severely handicapped than American and European producers, they anticipate that the world's markets will accept their work if it is up to the accepted standard of design and treatment. They are convinced that Australia possesses natural beauties equal to those of any part of the globe, some of them very little known even to Australians themselves, and their intention is to procure a class of pictures of sensational interest, coupled with artistic feature, but not to over burden the public with too much of bushranging incidents, for the bush ranger is, after all, only a type, and a limited type, of the figures which moved across the Australian stage of history in its early development. [11]
The Sick Stockrider was the first movie released. [12] [13] It was followed by Moondyne. [14]
In October 1913 The Bulletin recorded "The Lincoln-Cass Films factory is turning out a series of Australian pictures illustrating popular bits of Australian verse (or prose), and is doing it well... There’s a wide field , of Australian verse and short-story illustration , open to the Lincoln-Cass exploiters, and they are working steadily at it. Pretty soon they will have a big repertoire of .popular recitation pictures, and the fat-headed section *of the public that can’t be bothered to read anything in a book will have a light literary education forced upon it." [15]
The company had trouble getting its films seen throughout Australia. Dean Stewart attributed this directly to the influence of Australasian Films and their practice of enforcing block booking. For example, Lincoln Cass did not get a film seen in Sydney until The Road to Ruin (1913), and even then that was only after they set up an exchange in Sydney. [3] Their Melbourne offices were gutted by fire in 1914. [16] The company folded, and their studio was sold to J. C. Williamson Ltd in 1915. [17]
Maroondah Highway is a major east–west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and a highway connecting the north-eastern fringes of Melbourne to Mansfield, at the lower alpine region of Victoria, Australia.
William Joseph Lincoln was an Australian playwright, theatre manager, film director and screenwriter in the silent era. He produced, directed and/or wrote 23 films between 1911 and 1916.
Godfrey Cass was an Australian actor in the silent era. Between 1906 and 1935 he acted in nineteen film roles. He played Ned Kelly three times, and also had roles in a number of other bushranger movies including A Tale of the Australian Bush (1911) and Moondyne (1913).
George Edwin Bryant was an Australian actor in the silent era. Between 1913 and 1936 he acted in eleven film roles, including starring roles in The Sick Stockrider and Moondyne.
It Is Never Too Late to Mend is a 1911 Australian feature-length silent film written and directed by W. J. Lincoln.
The Mystery of the Hansom Cab is an Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on the popular novel, which had also been adapted into a play. It was one of several films Lincoln made with the Tait family, who had produced The Story of the Kelly Gang.
Rip Van Winkle is a 1912 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln about Rip Van Winkle. It was arguably Australia's first fantasy film.
The Crisis is an Australian melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It was inspired by a painting, The Crisis by Frank Dicksee, and is considered a lost film.
The Remittance Man is an Australian melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln about a thief's reformation.
Transported is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln.
The Road to Ruin is an Australian melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It was one of the first movies from Lincoln-Cass Films and is considered a lost film.
The Reprieve is a 1913 Australian melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln about a man on trial for killing his unfaithful wife. It is considered a lost film. Contemporary reviews were positive.
The Sick Stockrider is a 1913 film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on the 1870 poem of the same title by Adam Lindsay Gordon. It was the first production from Lincoln-Cass Films and is one of the few Australian silent films to survive in its entirety.
The Lost Chord is a 1911 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on the famous song The Lost Chord by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
The Double Event is a 1911 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on the first novel by Nat Gould, which had been adapted several times for the stage, notably by Bland Holt.
Called Back is a 1911 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on a popular play which was adapted from an 1883 novel by Hugh Conway. Although the movie was a popular success it is now considered a lost film.
Amalgamated Pictures Ltd was a film exchange company in Australia.
After Sundown is a 1911 Australian film directed by W. J. Lincoln set in the Australian bush.
Maurice Bertel was a French-born cinematographer who worked mostly in Australia. He moved to Australia in 1890 and learned his trade with local film companies. From 1907 he supervised the weekly newsreel made by Pathe Freres in Melbourne, staying with them for a number of months when they merged with Australasian Films in 1913. He then went to work for Lincoln-Cass Films and J. C. Williamson Ltd on their feature films, before joining Herschell's in Melbourne as a technical adviser.
Moondyne is a 1913 Australian film from the Lincoln-Cass Film Company based on the novel Moondyne. It was the second film from Lincoln Cass.
