The Burgomeister | |
---|---|
Directed by | Harry Southwell |
Written by | Denzil Batchelor |
Based on | the play The Bells adapted by Leopold Lewis from the play Le Juif Polonais by Erckmann-Chatrian |
Produced by | Harry Southwell |
Starring | Janet Ramsey Johnson |
Cinematography | George Heath |
Edited by | William Shepherd |
Music by | Isador Goodman |
Production company | Film Players Corporation |
Distributed by | Scott Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 56 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | £10,000 [1] |
The Burgomeister is a 1935 Australian film directed by Harry Southwell based on the 1867 play Le juif polonais (aka The Bells ) by Erckmann-Chatrian, adapted into English in 1871 by Leopold Lewis, previously filmed a number of times. The Burgomeister (1935) is considered a 'substantially lost' film, with only one sequence surviving. [2] [3]
Southwell had performed the play in Europe, and had previously filmed it in Belgium (1925) as Le juif polonais (The Bells). [4] This silent film version was shown in Australia in 1928. [5] [6]
Southwell wanted to make the 1935 remake for less than £4,000. [8] He formed a production company in April 1935 called Film Players Corporation. Among its directors were Sir John Butters, a director of Associated Newspapers, and W.J. Bradley, K.C. and society figure George Rayner. [1] [9]
Production began in June 1935 at Cinesound's Bondi studios. [10] [11] It ended in July with a cost of £10,000. [12]
The original music score was by Isador Goodman, and costumes by Barbara Robison. [13] Rupert Kathner worked as art director.
The final scenes of the film were shot in the snow on Mount Kosciuszko. Cameraman George Heath worked under difficult conditions including freezing cold and a blizzard. [14]
During pre-production, RKO signed to distribute the movie in Australia and Britain. [15] The film was refused registration under the quality clause of the New South Wales Film Quota Act. [16]
It was previewed on 29 September 1935 [17] but was not screened commercially. This caused the investors to lose their money, an event which was blamed on scaring Australian investors away from putting their money into local films. [18]
A re-edited version of the film called Hypnotized screened in some country areas. In 1937 the move was released in the UK as Flames of Conscience. [1]
Cinesound Productions Pty Ltd was an Australian feature film production company, established in June 1931, Cinesound developed out of a group of companies centred on Greater Union Theatres, that covered all facets of the film process, from production, to distribution and exhibition.
The Bells is a 1926 American silent crime film directed by James Young, starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff. It was based on an 1867 French stage play called Le Juif Polonais by Erckmann-Chatrian. The play was translated to English in 1871 by Leopold Lewis at which time it was retitled The Bells. The English version of the play was performed in the U.S. in the 19th century by Sir Henry Irving. Le Juif Polonais was also adapted into an opera of the same name in three acts by Camille Erlanger, composed to a libretto by Henri Cain.
The Broken Melody is a 1938 Australian drama film directed by Ken G. Hall and starring Lloyd Hughes, based on a best-selling novel by F. J. Thwaites.
Raymond Longford was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian cinema. He formed a production team with Lottie Lyell. His contributions to Australian cinema with his ongoing collaborations with Lyell, including The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and The Blue Mountains Mystery (1921), prompted the Australian Film Institute's AFI Raymond Longford Award, inaugurated in 1968, to be named in his honour.
Heritage is a 1935 Australian historical film directed by Charles Chauvel.
The Bells is a play in three acts by Leopold David Lewis which was one of the greatest successes of the British actor Henry Irving. The play opened on 25 November 1871 at the Lyceum Theatre in London and initially ran for 151 performances. Irving was to stage the play repeatedly throughout his career, playing the role of Mathias for the last time the night before his death in 1905.
William Francis Thring, better known as Francis William Thring or F. W. Thring, was an Australian film director, producer, and exhibitor. In 1921 he married Olive, née Kretmayer. Although sometimes known as Frank Thring Sr, on account of well-known son Frank Thring Jr., the Frank Thring who is the subject of this entry is actually Francis William III. His forbears were Francis William Thring - 1812-1887, Francis William Thring - 1858-1920..
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The Hayseeds is a 1933 Australian musical comedy from Beaumont Smith. It centres on the rural family, the Hayseeds, about whom Smith had previously made six silent films, starting with Our Friends, the Hayseeds (1917). He retired from directing in 1925 but decided to revive the series in the wake of the box office success of On Our Selection (1932). It was the first starring role in a movie for stage actor Cecil Kellaway.
The Glenrowan Affair is a 1951 movie about Ned Kelly from director Rupert Kathner. It was Kathner's final film and stars VFL star Bob Chitty as Kelly. It is considered one of the worst films ever made in Australia.
Harry Southwell was an Australian actor, writer and film director best known for making films about Ned Kelly. He was born in Cardiff, Wales and spent a couple of years in America, where he adapted some short stories by O Henry into two reel films. He worked for Vitagraph in the United States for five years, then moved to Australia in 1919, where he used his experience as a screenwriter to impress investors to back him making features. He set up his own production company in Australia but few of his movies were commercially successful.
Clara Gibbings is a 1934 Australian film directed by F.W. Thring about the owner of a London pub who discovers she is the daughter of an earl. It was a vehicle for stage star Dorothy Brunton.
Sheepmates was a proposed Australian film from director F. W. Thring based on a 1931 novel by William Hatfield.
When the Kellys Rode is a 1934 Australian film directed by Harry Southwell about Ned Kelly.
When the Kellys Were Out is an Australian feature-length film directed by Harry Southwell about Ned Kelly. Only part of the film survives today.
The Bells is a 1911 Australian feature-length silent film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is based on the famous stage melodrama by Erckmann-Chatrian, adapted by Leopold Lewis, which in turn had been adapted for the Australian stage by W. J. Lincoln before he made it into a film.
The Bells is a 1931 British drama film directed by Harcourt Templeman and Oscar Werndorff and starring Donald Calthrop, Jane Welsh, and Edward Sinclair.
Pagewood Studios was a film studio in Sydney, Australia, that was used to make Australian, British and Hollywood films for twenty years.
The Bells is a lost 1918 American silent drama film released by Pathé Exchange. It was adapted from the 1867 French play Le Juif Polonais by Erckmann-Chatrian and an 1871 English-language version, The Bells, by Leopold Lewis. The latter was a favorite vehicle for actor Henry Irving. This silent film stars Frank Keenan and Lois Wilson. The story was remade in 1926 as The Bells with Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff.