Robbery Under Arms (1920 film)

Last updated

Robbery Under Arms
Directed by Kenneth Brampton
Written by Kenneth Brampton
Based onnovel by Rolf Boldrewood
Produced byPearson Tewksbury
StarringKenneth Brampton
S.A. Fitzgerald
Cinematography Lacey Percival
Production
company
Pacific Photo Plays [1] [2]
Distributed byUnion Theatres
Release date
  • 2 October 1920 (1920-10-02)
Running time
53 minutes
CountryAustralia
Languages Silent
English intertitles
Budget£3,000
Box office£16,000 [3]

Robbery Under Arms is a 1920 Australian film directed by Kenneth Brampton and financed by mining magnate Pearson Tewksbury. [4] It is an early example of the "Meat pie Western". [5]

Contents

Plot

Two brothers, Dick and Jim Marsden, become involved with the bushranger, Captain Starlight. They romance two girls, work on the goldfields, and are captured by the police after Starlight is shot dead. [6]

Cast

Production

There had been several attempts to make films based on Rolfe Boldrewood's 1888 novel since the bushranging ban by the New South Wales government in 1912. In particular there were attempts by Stanley Crick in 1916 and Alfred Rolfe in 1918. However Kenneth Brampton managed to secure permission for this 1920 version, mostly likely because it stressed the moral lessons of the story. [7]

Kenneth Brampton and actress Tien Hogue managed to persuade the mining magnate Pearson Tewksbury to raise the budget and act as producer. [3]

Brampton was acting in the play Lightnin' which he left to make the film. [8]

The film was shot on location at Braidwood and in the Araluen Valley near Canberra. The bushrangers the Clarke brothers reportedly worked in this region. [9] [10]

Renowned horseman "Top" Hassall doubled for Brampton on the horse riding scenes. [11]

Future director Charles Chauvel was working around the Sydney studios and attending to horses on the film. He has a bit part.

The film was the final acting role for Roy Redgrave who died in 1922.

Reception

The movie was reportedly successful at the box office [7] and grossed up to £16,000. However returns were so slow and the distributor and exhibitor took so much that Pearson Tewksbury was dissuaded from further film production. [3]

Variety said the film was "of only fair quality, the picture just gets by." [12]

Preservation status

A "copy comprising about three-quarters of the film" was found and combined with already known footage to produce a near-complete version. [13] A five-minute sequence is still missing. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bushranger</span> Originally runaway convicts during the British settlement of Australia

Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under arms" as a way of life, using the bush as their base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Chauvel (filmmaker)</span> Australian filmmaker (1897–1959)

Charles Edward Chauvel OBE was an Australian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter and nephew of Australian army General Sir Harry Chauvel. He is noted for writing and directing the films Forty Thousand Horsemen in 1940 and Jedda in 1955. His wife, Elsa Chauvel, was a frequent collaborator on his filmmaking projects.

<i>Robbery Under Arms</i> Australian novel by Rolf Boldrewood

Robbery Under Arms is a bushranger novel by Thomas Alexander Browne, published under his pen name Rolf Boldrewood. It was first published in serialised form by The Sydney Mail between July 1882 and August 1883, then in three volumes in London in 1888. It was abridged into a single volume in 1889 as part of Macmillan's one-volume Colonial Library series and has not been out of print since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Readford</span> Australian bushranger

Henry Arthur "Harry" Readford, was an Australian stockman, drover and cattle thief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Dampier</span> Australian actor (circa 1843-1908)

Alfred Dampier was an English-born actor-manager and playwright, active in Australia.

<i>Robbery Under Arms</i> (1985 film) 1985 Australian film

Robbery Under Arms is a 1985 Australian action adventure film starring Sam Neill as bushranger Captain Starlight. Joined by bush larrikin, Ben Marston, and Ben's two adventure-hungry sons, Starlight leads his gang of wild colonial boys in search of riches, romance – and other men's cattle.

<i>Robbery Under Arms</i> (1957 film) 1957 British film

Robbery Under Arms is a 1957 British Western film directed by Jack Lee and starring Peter Finch and Ronald Lewis. It is based on the 1888 Australian novel Robbery Under Arms by Thomas Alexander Browne who wrote under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood.

The Moth of Moonbi is a 1926 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. It was adapted from The Wild Moth, a 1924 novel by Australian author Mabel Forrest.

Frank Pearson was an Australian bushranger, operating under the pseudonym Captain Starlight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Rolfe (director)</span>

Alfred Rolfe, real name Alfred Roker, was an Australian stage and film director and actor, best known for being the son-in-law of the celebrated actor-manager Alfred Dampier, with whom he appeared frequently on stage, and for his prolific output as a director during Australia's silent era, including Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911), Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911) and The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915). Only one of his films as director survives today.

Robbery Under Arms is a 1907 Australian silent western/drama film based on the 1888 novel by Rolf Boldrewood about two brothers and their relationship with the bushranger Captain Starlight. It was the first film version of the novel and the third Australian feature ever made.

<i>Captain Midnight, the Bush King</i> 1911 film

Captain Midnight, the Bush King is a 1911 Australian silent Western film about the fictitious bushranger Captain Midnight. It was the directorial debut of actor Alfred Rolfe. The film is based on the play of same name by W. J. Lincoln and Alfred Dampier. Captain Midnight, the Bush King is now considered lost.

Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road is a 1911 Australian silent film about the bushranger Captain Starlight. It was based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the 1888 novel Robbery Under Arms. It is considered a lost film.

Dan Morgan is a 1911 Australian film from Charles Cozens Spencer about the bushranger Daniel Morgan. It was said to be starring "Alfred Rolfe and company". Rolfe directed three movies for Spencer, all starring himself and his wife Lily Dampier so there is a chance he may have directed this one and that it starred his wife. A prospectus for the Australian Photo Play Company said he directed it. It is considered a lost film.

Kenneth Brampton was an Australian actor, writer and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Dampier</span> Australian actress

Katherine Annabel Lily Dampier, known as Lily Dampier, was an Australian actor of stage and screen. She was the daughter of Alfred Dampier and married to Alfred Rolfe.

The bushranger ban was a ban on films about bushrangers that came in effect in Australia in 1911–12. Films about bushrangers had been the most popular genre of local films ever since The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). Governments were worried about the influence this would have on the population and bans against films depicting bushrangers were introduced in South Australia (1911), New South Wales and Victoria (1912).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tien Hogue</span> Australian actress

Tien Hogue was the stage name of Anne Christina Hogue, an Australian actress of stage and screen in the silent era.

Robbery Under Arms is a 1950 BBC radio adaptation of Rolf Boldrewood's popular 1888 novel Robbery Under Arms.

Robbery Under Arms is a 1907 Australian film based on the popular 1888 novel. It was from the team of J and N Tait and Millard Johnson and W Gibson, who had just made The Story of the Kelly Gang. It is considered a lost film.

References

  1. ↑ "DID YOU KNOW?". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 10 January 1947. p. 2. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Robbery Under Arms". The Sunday Times . Sydney: National Library of Australia. 31 October 1920. p. 22. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Graham Shirley & Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Angus & Robertson, 1989 p 70-71
  4. ↑ Pearson Tewksbury at Australian Dictionary of Biography
  5. ↑ Lennon, Troy (21 January 2018). "Australian 'meat pie' westerns have been around for more than a century". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. ↑ "Advertising". Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser . Qld.: National Library of Australia. 3 February 1921. p. 5. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  7. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 101.
  8. ↑ "GOSSIP OF THE THEATRES". The Sydney Mail . National Library of Australia. 3 March 1920. p. 10. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "EARL'S COURT". The Morning Bulletin . Rockhampton, Qld.: National Library of Australia. 15 January 1921. p. 10. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  10. ↑ ""ROBBERY UNDER ARMS."". Goulburn Evening Penny Post . NSW: National Library of Australia. 27 March 1920. p. 1 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Sydney's Talking About". The Sydney Morning Herald . National Library of Australia. 3 April 1947. p. 16. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  12. ↑ "Variety - Lantern: Search, Visualize & Explore the Media History Digital Library".
  13. 1 2 Edmondson, Ray; Pike, Andrew (1982). "Australia's Lost Films" (PDF). National Library of Australia. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.