The Octoroon (1912 film)

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The Octoroon
Directed by George Young
Based on play by Dion Boucicault
Production
company
Release date
  • 14 June 1911 (1911-06-14)(preview) [1]
Running time
over 3,000 feet [2]
CountryAustralia
Languages Silent film
English intertitles

The Octoroon is an Australian film directed by George Young based on a popular play by Dion Boucicault which had recently enjoyed a popular run in Australia. [3] It is considered a lost film.

Contents

Synopsis

In the deep south of 1850s USA, an octoroon is given her freedom by her white father but is later bought as a slave by the evil Jacob McCloskey.

Production

It was an early film from the Australian Film Syndicate. According to articles from the time, other films made from this company included The Shadow of the Rockies, Black Talbot and The Diamond Cross. [5]

The film was shot in Sydney with an old paddle steamer, Narrabeen, standing in for a Mississippi river boat. [6] [7]

Significance

The writer Bruce Dennett has commented on the selection of this material to make an Australian film. "The identifiable influence of Southern stories and characters at such an early stage in the history of Australian film is hard to ignore. The Octoroon is especially notable because it deals with questions of race and blood, issues that were important and enduring social and historical preoccupations of the young Australian nation, as they continued to be for the United States." [8]

References

  1. ↑ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald . No. 22, 907. New South Wales, Australia. 14 June 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 26 February 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "Advertising". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate . No. 11, 614. New South Wales, Australia. 24 January 1912. p. 12. Retrieved 26 February 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "LENARD'S PICTURES." Barrier Miner (Broken Hill) 22 Feb 1912: 3. Retrieved 15 December 2011
  4. ↑ "Advertising". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate . No. 11, 612. New South Wales, Australia. 22 January 1912. p. 8. Retrieved 26 February 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "C. Lacey Percival Resigns from A.F. Ltd.", Everyones., 5 (311), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 17 February 1926, nla.obj-574672185, retrieved 25 February 2024– via Trove
  6. ↑ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 32.
  7. ↑ "Australian Moving Pictures. An Industry Which Has Failed to Grow Up. Some Reminiscences.", Everyones., 6 (357), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 5 January 1927, nla.obj-576826185, retrieved 26 February 2024– via Trove
  8. ↑ Bruce Dennett "How Dixie waltzed with Matilda: the influence on Australia of cinematic images of the South". Mississippi Quarterly, The Summer-Fall 2010. Retrieved 15 December 2011
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