The Life's Romance of Adam Lindsay Gordon

Last updated

The Life of Adam Lindsay Gordon
Adam Lindsay Gordon.jpg
Still from film
Directed by W. J. Lincoln
Written byW. J. Lincoln
G.H. Barnes
Produced byW. J. Lincoln
G.H. Barnes
Starring Hugh McCrae
Adele Inman
Audrey Worth
Cinematography Bert Ive
Production
company
Lincoln-Barnes Scenarios
Release dates
17 August 1916 (preview) [1]
4 September 1916 (Melbourne) [2] [3]
Running time
5 reels – 5,000 feet [4]
(3 reels survive)
CountryAustralia
Languages Silent film
English intertitles

The Life's Romance of Adam Lindsay Gordon is a 1916 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln, based on the life of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon.

Contents

Unlike many Australian silent movies, part of the film survives today.

According to Lincoln's obituary in The Bulletin it was one of Lincoln's best films. [5]

Plot

The story starts with Gordon's schooldays at Cheltenham College. Then details his career as a trooper in the Australian bush when he is given the task of escorting a lunatic to an asylum 200 miles away. He later resigns from the police force when he refuses to clean the sergeant's boots. He then becomes a horsebreaker and steeplechase rider.

Later, Gordon falls into debt and decides to shoot himself. The final scene is a shot of Gordon's grave in Brighton, Victoria. [6]

The chapters were as follows: [7]

Cast

Production

The film was made by a partnership that W. J. Lincoln entered into with G.H. Barnes following his stint with J. C. Williamson Ltd.

The star, Hugh McCrae, had a background as a theatre actor. He went on to become a noted essayist. According to The Bulletin the film was expected to take 14 days of filming. "As Mac. is related to the deceased on his mother's side, blood is expected to tell. The work, however, will be necessarily trying." [9]

Pre-production started in June 1916. [10] The shoot seems to have taken place from mid July to mid August, on location and in the JC Williamson's Studios. [11] [12]

Filming was difficult with the production often short of funds – one on occasion an actor and cameraman seized the camera so they could get paid. [13] [14]

Barnes and Lincoln were sued by Amalgamated Pictures. [15]

Lincoln fell ill with alcoholic poisoning and spent some time in hospital, forcing Barnes to take over direction. [16]

Reception

William Trainor, a close friend of Gordon's, saw the film and wrote a letter of congratulations to Lincoln and Barnes saying:

Dear Friends, I cannot permit another day to pass without offering my congratulations and an explanation of my feelings on seeing the life's phases of my dear friend and comrade, Adam Lindsay Gordon, depicted so faithfully and realistically on the screen. With the material at your disposal, I think you have accomplished wonders, and in years to come your picture will prove an historic production. So vivid were some of the scenes that even the forty years since his passing has not dimmed the memory of them, and tears welled in my eyes. I feel that your picture will help Australians to understand Gordon as I knew him, one of Nature's True and Noble Gentlemen. You have my earnest well wishes for success in your praiseworthy work, and in saying this I think I voice the sentiments of all those friends who knew him well. [17]

One writer said that "fairly judged, it [the film] is a not unsuccessful effort to produce in Australia a pictorial presentation of a purely Australian and deeply interesting subject." [1] The Register called it "a realistic representation of the romantic life of their most popular poet, and the authors are deserving of tho highest commendation for their success." [18] The critic from the Advertiser said that:

The writers... have been careful in their adherence to its varying episodes, never straining after a dramatic eltect to the detriment of true story. The film has achieved surprising results since its first introduction to Australian audiences, and the possibilities of its success in England may be gauged from the fact that a leading London film company offered over four figures for the English rights of the production... Throughout the story a charming love romance moves, and gives to the picture that pathetic realism with which life would be divested of its chief fascination. All the characters were chosen from types. Particularly is this so in the case of the hero, whom critics claim to be "Gordon to the life". [19]

The film had a popular run in Adelaide [20] but was not a big success at the box office. Lincoln died shortly afterward. [13]

In 1925 Barnes was reported as saying "the venture was not conspicuously successful, being planned on artistic lines, and too ambitious. He admits too that technically the film was not comparable in a favorable light with a picture made under perfect conditions, but regards the episode as vastly useful experience." [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. J. Lincoln</span> Australian playwright, theatre manager, film director and screenwriter

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Lindsay Gordon</span> British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician

Adam Lindsay Gordon was a British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He was the first Australian poet to gain considerable recognition overseas, and according to his contemporary, writer Marcus Clarke, Gordon's work represented "the beginnings of a national school of Australian poetry".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Gavin</span> Australian film director

John F. Gavin was a pioneer Australian film actor and director, one of the early filmmakers of the 1910s. He is best known for making films about bushrangers such as Captain Thunderbolt, Captain Moonlite, Ben Hall and Frank Gardiner. Known informally as 'Jack', Gavin worked in collaboration with his wife Agnes, who scripted many of his films.

Frank Beaumont "Beau" Smith, was an Australian film director, producer and exhibitor, best known for making low-budget comedies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Rolfe (director)</span> Australian stage and film director and actor

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.

It Is Never Too Late to Mend is an Australian feature-length silent film written and directed by W. J. Lincoln. It was based on a stage adaptation of the popular 1865 novel It Is Never Too Late to Mend: A Matter-of-Fact Romance by Charles Reade about the corrupt penal system in Australia. It was called "certainly one of the best pictures ever taken in Australia."

Nurse Cavell is a 1916 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln about the execution of Edith Cavell during World War I. It was also known as Edith Cavell.

La Revanche, also known as The Vengeance, is a 1916 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln about the revenge sought by Belgian friends of Edith Cavell against the Germans during World War I. It was a sequel to Nurse Cavell (1916), using many of the same cast and crew.

The Wreck is an Australian film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on a poem by Adam Lindsay Gordon about the ride to help by a farmhand who has witnessed a shipwreck. It is considered a lost film.

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.

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.

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.

Within Our Gates, also known as Deeds that Won Gallipoli, is a 1915 Australian silent film about Australia's fight with the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire during World War I, including the landing at Gaba Tepe during the Gallipoli campaign. The story was partly based on a play The Man Who Stayed at Home.

<i>The Joan of Arc of Loos</i> 1916 Australian film

The Joan of Arc of Loos is a 1916 Australian silent film shot by Franklyn Barrett based on the true story of Émilienne Moreau-Evrard in World War I. Only a portion of the movie survives today.

Amalgamated Pictures Ltd was a film exchange company in Australia.

J. C. Williamson Film Company was a short-lived Australian film production company in the 1910s. It was part of the theatrical firm J. C. Williamson's, and produced a number of feature films during 1914-1918.

The Austral Photoplay Company was a short lived Australian production and distribution company. It was established in Melbourne in 1913 by A. C. Tinsdale and later transferred to Sydney in 1917. It initially sought to raise £10,000 to make a film about the goldfields.

Charles Moore and Co. was a company based in Adelaide, South Australia which owned a number of department stores in three Australian states. It was founded by Irish-born businessman, Charles Moore. Its best-known assets were the department store known to two generations of Adelaideans as "Moore's on the Square", Charles Moore's on Hay Street, Perth, Western Australia and Read's in Prahran, Victoria.

Constance Elizabeth Martyn was an Australian actress of stage and screen best known for playing Ma Rudd in Dad and Dave Come to Town.

Ruth Sutherland (1884–1948), was an Australian painter and art critic. She was a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society.

References

  1. 1 2 "VICTORIAN NEWS". The Freeman's Journal . Sydney. 31 August 1916. p. 13. Retrieved 6 September 2013 via National Library of Australia.
  2. Mary Bateman, 'W. J. Lincoln', Cinema Papers, June–July 1980 p 214
  3. "ITEMS OF INTEREST". The Argus . Melbourne. 5 September 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 19 April 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  4. "GORDON AT THE LYRIC". Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record . Renmark, SA. 5 January 1917. p. 3. Retrieved 6 September 2013 via National Library of Australia.
  5. "AT POVERTY POINT". The Bulletin. 6 September 1917.
  6. "Adam Lindsay Gordon". The Mildura Cultivator . Vic. 11 November 1916. p. 7. Retrieved 19 April 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Classified Advertising". The Argus . Melbourne. 26 August 1916. p. 22. Retrieved 6 September 2013 via National Library of Australia.
  8. "ADAM LINDSAY GORDON". Winner . Melbourne. 6 September 1916. p. 10. Retrieved 26 October 2014 via National Library of Australia.
  9. "AT POVERTY POINT.", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., 37 (1898), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald (published 1880), 29 June 1916, ISSN   0007-4039, nla.obj-694071872, retrieved 5 December 2023 via Trove
  10. "THE PICTURE SHOWS". Winner . Melbourne. 7 June 1916. p. 10. Retrieved 26 October 2014 via National Library of Australia.
  11. Marsden, Ralph. 'The Old Tin Shed in Exhibition Street': The J. C. Williamson Studio, Melbourne's Forgotten Film Factory [online]. Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, No. 157, 2008: 144-153. Availability: <http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=519108300276483;res=IELAPA> ISSN   0312-2654. [cited 15 Nov 14].
  12. "POET GORDON'S CAREER". The Age . Melbourne. 18 August 1916. p. 6. Retrieved 24 September 2015 via National Library of Australia.
  13. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p65
  14. "Advertising". The Age . Melbourne. 19 July 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 24 May 2015 via National Library of Australia.
  15. "Advertising". The Age . Melbourne. 19 July 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 24 September 2015 via National Library of Australia.
  16. "MUSIC AND DRAMA". The Mercury . Hobart, Tas. 4 September 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 19 April 2012 via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Classified Advertising". The Argus . Melbourne. 28 August 1916. p. 12. Retrieved 6 September 2013 via National Library of Australia.
  18. "ADAM LINDSAY GORDON PICTURES". The Register . Adelaide. 29 January 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 6 September 2013 via National Library of Australia.
  19. "TWO NEW STAR FILMS". The Advertiser . Adelaide. 18 January 1917. p. 9. Retrieved 6 September 2013 via National Library of Australia.
  20. "TOWN HALL PICTURES". The Advertiser . Adelaide. 29 January 1917. p. 9. Retrieved 6 September 2013 via National Library of Australia.
  21. "EVERYONES", Everyones., 4 (291 (30 September 1925)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 1920, nla.obj-570523709, retrieved 5 December 2023 via Trove