Sentenced for Life (1911 film)

Last updated

Sentenced for Life
Sentenced for Life.png
Hamilton Spectator 10 May 1911
Directed by Edward Irham Cole
Based onplay Sentenced for Life
StarringBohemian Dramatic Company
Production
company
Australian Biograph Company [1]
Distributed byPathes Freres [2]
Release date
  • 29 May 1911 (1911-05-29) [3]
Running time
2,000 feet [4] or 1,250 feet [5]
CountryAustralia
Languages Silent film
English intertitles

Sentenced for Life is an Australian film directed by E. I. Cole. It was an adaptation of a play performed by Cole and his Bohemian Dramatic Company as early as 1904. [6] [7] [8]

Contents

It has been called, Sentenced for Life, or the ship owner's daughter. [9]

It is considered a lost film. [10]

Plot

A man is wrongly convicted and sentenced as a convict. [11] According to a contemporary report, "Vivid convict scenes are enacted, ending with a revolt by the prisoners. There is a happy ending of wedding bells." [1] It turns out the young man's rival was responsible and he is punished. [12]

It was set in Van Diemen's Land [13] although one report claims it was New South Wales [14]

The story starts in England, A shipowner's daughter is loved by two men, an artistocrat, Captain Hood, and a poorer man, Hayward. The aristocrtat frames Hayward for a crime he did not commit and is transported to Australia. The daughter proves the aristocrat a criminal and he is transposrted too. In Australia, prisoners revolt. Hayward is accused of leading the rebellion by the aristocrat and is whipped. However Hood on his deathbed confesses to his crimes. Hayward is restored to his girl and they get married. [15] [16] [17]

Chapter headings were:

Original play

Sentenced for Life
Written by Edward Irham Cole
Directed by Edward Irham Cole
Date premiered1904
Original languageEnglish
Subjectmelodrama

The play debuted in 1904. [18]

One review said "The convict scenes in Australia were well mounted, and the entertainment as a whole most praiseworthy." [19]

The play was popular and was revive in 1906, [20] 1907, [21] 1908 [22] and several other times.

The play was also known as A Convict's Sweetheart. [23]

Cast of theatre production

In 1911 the cast of a theatre production of the play in Geelong was listed as follows:

It is highly likely at least some of these actors repeated their performance in the film.

Reception

The Adelaide Register called it "a particularly fine film". [25]

Perth's Sunday Times said "This paper's recent remarks on the general awfulness of bushranging films has had a desired effect. More than one Westralian bio. firm has wired over to the East excerpts from our notice on some of the celluloid atrocities. Sentenced, for Life and Ben Hall are therefore gone to join the English Clarendon comic films that shocked this State a while back." [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foster Fyans</span> Australian politician

Foster Fyans was an Irish military officer, penal colony administrator and public servant. He was acting commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, the commandant of the Moreton Bay penal settlement at Brisbane, the first police magistrate at Geelong, and commissioner of crown lands for the Portland Bay pastoral district in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales. He is the great-great-grandfather of actor Sam Neill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Power</span> Australian bushranger (1819–1891)

Henry Johnson, better known by his alias Harry Power, was an Scottish-born convict who became a bushranger in Australia. From 1869 to 1870, he was accompanied by a young Ned Kelly, who went on to become Australia's best known bushranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee palace</span> Type of residential hotel

A coffee palace was an often large and elaborate residential hotel that did not serve alcohol, most of which were built in Australia in the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apex Clubs of Australia</span>

The Association of Apex Clubs of Australia is an Australia-wide association of autonomous clubs dedicated to fellowship, self-improvement, and community service, similar to other service clubs such as Lions International but with a younger membership (18–40). Apex organises a range of activities such as public speaking and debating competitions, ute musters, and B&S balls. Members call themselves "Apexians".

<i>The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole</i> 1911 Australian film

The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole, generally referred to as Margaret Catchpole, is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and starring Lottie Lyell. It is based on the true story of Margaret Catchpole, an adventurer and convict.

<i>The Lady Outlaw</i> 1911 film

The Lady Outlaw is a 1911 Australian silent film set in Van Diemen's Land during convict days.

<i>Bushrangers Ransom, or A Ride for Life</i> 1911 film

Bushranger's Ransom, or A Ride for Life was an Australian silent film produced by Pathé Frères' in 1911, their first motion picture production in Australia after establishing a branch office in Sydney in April 1910. It was adapted from a stage play first performed in 1907 by E. I. Cole's Bohemian Dramatic Company.

<i>The Squatters Son</i> 1911 film

The Squatter's Son is an Australian film completed in 1911 and directed by E. I. Cole. It was based on a play which Cole and his company had performed throughout Australia.

<i>The Five of Hearts</i> 1911 Australian film

The Five of Hearts, or Buffalo Bill's Love Story is a 1911 Australian film from Edward Irham Cole based on a stage play about Buffalo Bill which Cole had performed extensively. It is also known as A Maiden's Distress or Buffalo Bill. It was reportedly the longest of Cole's films.

<i>The Sundowner</i> (1911 film) 1911 Australian film

The Sundowner is an Australian film shot in Victoria. Set in the Australian bush, it was billed as "a romance with many startling adventures".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Marquis Hopkins</span> Australian politician

John Marquis Hopkins was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, representing the electoral districts of Boulder and Beverley. He had previously been mayor of Boulder. In 1910 he was jailed for five years for uttering, but was released in October 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Irham Cole</span> Australian theatrical entrepreneur and film director

Edward Irham Cole was an Australian theatrical entrepreneur and film director whose productions represented a synthesis of Wild West show and stage melodrama. He managed a theatre company, called the Bohemian Dramatic Company, that performed in semi-permanent and temporary tent theatres. During 1910 and 1911 Cole directed a number of silent films, adapted from his stage plays and using actors from his theatre company.

<i>Attack on the Gold Escort</i> 1911 film

Attack on the Gold Escort is a 1911 Australian silent Western film which is considered lost. It was sometimes known as Captain Midnight, King of the Bushrangers, or Attack of the Gold Escort, or Captain Starlight's Attack on the Gold Escort.

<i>The Squatter and the Clown</i> 1911 Australian film

The Squatter and the Clown is a 1911 Australian silent film. It was one of a series of films made by Edward Irham Cole's Bohemian Dramatic Company.

Henry Lewis Conran, generally known as H. L. Conran but Harry to his friends, was an Australian pastoralist and stockbroker.

Josiah Eustace Dodd was an Australian pipe organ builder, based in Adelaide.

William Charles Baxter was a carnival rides operator who ran a celebrated merry-go-round at St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. He has also been credited as the first to screen a moving picture film in Australia, and was the first to screen a film of the Melbourne Cup on the evening of the event. He was closely associated with his cousin, Frederick William Baxter who later operated a merry-go-round in Glenelg, South Australia.

Wondergraph, Wondergraph Theatre and variations were names given first to a technology, and then to picture theatres run first by the Continental Wondergraph Company ; and then, in Adelaide, South Australia, by the Wondergraph Company (1910–1911), and then the Greater Wondergraph Company, established around 1911 and in existence until 1939.

The King of the Road is a 1900 Australian play performed by Edward Irham Cole performed by Cole's Bohemian Drama Company about the bushranger Ben Hall.

Foiled, or Australia Twenty Years Ago is a 1871 Australian stage play by Walter Cooper.

References

  1. 1 2 "Amusements". The Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 12 June 1911. p. 9. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Advertising". The Referee . Sydney: National Library of Australia. 26 April 1911. p. 16. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "People's Concert". Geelong Advertiser . National Library of Australia. 29 May 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Advertising". The Brisbane Courier . National Library of Australia. 17 June 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Australasian Christian Endeavor Convention". Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser . Vol. XXXVII, no. 2694. South Australia. 22 June 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 10 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Bohemian Dramatic Comedy." The Sydney Morning Herald 18 Jan 1904: 3. Retrieved 31 December 2011
  7. ↑ "BOHEMIAN PICTURE PLAYS". The Bendigo Independent . No. 13, 133. Victoria, Australia. 15 February 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 4 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "SOUSA AND HIS BAND". The Age . No. 17, 521. Victoria, Australia. 13 May 1911. p. 16. Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "LEITCH PICTURES". Hamilton Spectator . No. 8034. Victoria, Australia. 11 May 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 21.
  11. ↑ "Shaftesbury Picture Gardens". The Daily News . Perth, WA: National Library of Australia. 8 June 1911. p. 2 Edition: 3rd. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "Local and General Topics". Bunyip . Gawler, SA: National Library of Australia. 30 June 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "North's Concerts". The Prahran Telegraph . Vol. XLX, no. 2586. Victoria, Australia. 13 May 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  14. ↑ . "Sentenced for Life". Chronicle And North Coast Advertiser . Vol. VIII, no. 417. Queensland, Australia. 5 August 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  15. ↑ "Picture Entertainments". The Murchison Times And Day Dawn Gazette . Vol. 17, no. 137. Western Australia. 6 July 1911. p. 3. Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  16. ↑ "VITOSCOPE PICTURES". The Express and Telegraph . Vol. XLVIII, no. 14, 334. South Australia. 12 June 1911. p. 1 (5 o'clock.). Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  17. ↑ "AMUSEMENTS". The Advertiser. Vol. LIII, no. 16, 428. South Australia. 12 June 1911. p. 12. Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  18. ↑ "Advertising". The Daily Telegraph. No. 7681. New South Wales, Australia. 18 January 1904. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  19. ↑ "Bill of the Play". The Newsletter: an Australian Paper for Australian People . Vol. 6, no. 70. New South Wales, Australia. 23 January 1904. p. 7. Retrieved 5 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  20. ↑ "Stage, Song and Show". The Australian Star . No. 5610. New South Wales, Australia. 5 February 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  21. ↑ "Advertising". The Age . No. 16, 377. Victoria, Australia. 7 September 1907. p. 18. Retrieved 5 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  22. ↑ "Advertising". The Age . No. 16596. Victoria, Australia. 22 May 1908. p. 10. Retrieved 5 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  23. ↑ ""A Convict's Sweetheart"". Daily Standard. No. 1761. Queensland, Australia. 8 August 1918. p. 7 (second edition). Retrieved 5 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  24. ↑ "Advertising". Geelong Advertiser . National Library of Australia. 1 July 1911. p. 1. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  25. ↑ "PATHE'S PICTURES". The Register (Adelaide) . Vol. LXXVI, no. 20, 176. South Australia. 12 July 1911. p. 3. Retrieved 9 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  26. ↑ "The PRINTED WORD". Sunday Times (Perth) . No. 703. Western Australia. 25 June 1911. p. 17. Retrieved 10 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
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.