The Colleen Bawn | |
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Directed by | Gaston Mervale |
Based on | play by Dion Boucicault |
Starring | Louise Carbasse |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 4,000 feet [1] |
Country | Australia |
Languages |
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The Colleen Bawn is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Gaston Mervale starring Louise Lovely. It is adapted from a popular melodrama by Dion Boucicault.
It is considered a lost film.
Hardess Cregan is an impoverished Irish aristocrat whose mother wants him to marry Anne Chute, an heiress, in order to restore the family fortunes. However he falls in love and marries a peasant girl, Eily O'Connor (Louise Lovely). Hardess' servant Danny (James Martin) tries to murder the girl but she is rescued by a villager and hidden away. Thinking she is dead, Hardess is about to marry Anne and is about to be arrested for Eily's murder when she reappears. Hardress is released, Eily is accepted by Mrs Cregan, Anne and Kyrle are reconciled and Anne offers to pay off the Cregans' debt.
A cliff and a cave on Sydney harbour were used for the scene of the attempted murder and the rescue of the colleen. The rest of the movie was shot in the studio of Australian Life Biograph Company in Manly. [2]
A British version of the same play, shot in Ireland, appeared in cinemas the same year. [3]
Thunderbolt is a 1910 Australian feature film based on the life of the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt. It was the directorial debut of John Gavin who later claimed it was the first "four-reel movie" made in Australia. It has also been called the first film made in New South Wales.
Louise Lovely was an Australian film actress of Swiss-Italian descent. She is credited by film historians as being the first Australian actress to have a successful career in Hollywood, signing a contract with Universal Pictures in the United States in 1914. Lovely appeared in 50 American films and ten Australian films before retiring from acting in 1925.
The Colleen Bawn, or The Brides of Garryowen is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Laura Keene's Theatre, New York, on 27 March 1860 with Laura Keene playing Anne Chute and Boucicault playing Myles na Coppaleen. It was most recently performed in Dublin at the Project Arts Centre in July and August 2010 and in Belfast by Bruiser Theatre Company at the Lyric Theatre in April 2018. Several film versions have also been made.
The Lily of Killarney is an opera in three acts by Julius Benedict. The libretto, by John Oxenford and Dion Boucicault, is based on Boucicault's own play The Colleen Bawn. The opera received its premiere at Covent Garden Theatre, London on Monday 10 February 1862.
Eily Malyon was an English character actress from about 1900 to the 1940s. She had a stage career in Britain, Australia and America before moving to Hollywood to perform in motion pictures.
Lily of Killarney is a 1929 British silent drama film directed by George Ridgwell and starring Cecil Landau, Barbara Gott and Dennis Wyndham. The film is based on the play by Dion Boucicault, The Colleen Bawn, and is set in the Irish town of Killarney in the nineteenth century.
The Mark of the Lash is a 1911 Australian silent film. It is a convict-era melodrama made by the husband-and-wife team of John and Agnes Gavin.
Keane of Kalgoorlie, or a Story of the Sydney Cup is a 1911 Australian silent film set in the racing and gambling circles of Sydney, based on a popular play by Edward William O'Sullivan and Arthur Wright, adapted from the novel by Wright.
The Luck of Roaring Camp is a 1911 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln now considered a lost film. It was highly regarded in its day, in part because it was based on a play that was popular with audiences.
The Life of Rufus Dawes is a 1911 Australian silent film based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the 1874 novel For the Term of His Natural Life produced by Charles Cozens Spencer.
Cooee and the Echo is a 1912 Australian silent film directed by Alfred Rolfe. It is considered a lost film.
Gaston Mervale (1866–1959) was an English-born director and actor who worked on the English, Australian and US stage and directed Australian films. Born Gaston Mistowski in Torquay, Devon, England in 1866, after performing on stage in the UK he came to Australia in late 1897 to work for J.C. Williamson's. After returning to England he then appeared on stage for several years in New York. He returned to Australia in 1904 with the Tittell Brune Company. Early in 1911 he was employed to direct several films for the Australian Life Biograph Company, which featured actors Louise Lovely and Godfrey Cass. He worked in the US for the five years 1912-1917, on stage, acted in several films and was director of The Stubbornness of Geraldine in 1915. He returned to Australia in 1917 to produce plays. He died in Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia in 1959.
One Hundred Years Ago is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Gaston Mervale. It features an early screen performance from Louise Lovely and is considered a lost 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.
Driving a Girl to Destruction is an Australian film directed by George Marlow. It is considered a lost film.
The Colleen Bawn is a 1924 British silent drama film directed by W. P. Kellino and starring Henry Victor, Colette Brettel and Stewart Rome. It is an adaptation of the 1860 Irish play The Colleen Bawn by Dion Boucicault.
The Australian Life Biograph Company was a short lived Australian film production company in the silent era. It funded many of the early films of Gaston Mervale and Louise Lovely.
The Colleen Bawn is a silent 1911 American romantic drama film based on the 1860 play of the same name. A secret marriage leads to murder. It and the play are based on the actual 1819 murder of 15-year-old Ellen Scanlan.
Ellen Scanlon, born Ellen Hanley, was an Irish murder victim. Born to a Limerick farming family in 1803, her murder at age 15 became the subject of books, plays, films, songs, and an opera, using the nickname given to her locally, "the Colleen Bawn,", which translates literally to "white girl," with "white" symbolically meaning purity, innocence, gentleness, or beauty. Thus the name can be interpreted as "the innocent maiden."
Wilton Welch was an Australian comic actor and dramatist, husband and collaborator of Louise Carbasse, best known as Louise Lovely.