| The Squatter's Son | |
|---|---|
 The Age 24 April 1911 | |
| Directed by | E. I. Cole |
| Based on | play by E. I. Cole or Clarence Burnett |
| Starring | E. I. Cole's Bohemian Dramatic Company |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 3,800 feet [4] |
| Country | Australia |
| Languages | Silent English intertitles |
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.
It is considered a lost film.
John Lenton is a squatter who lives at Wilunga. The villainous Dudley Ward also works there. Ward is masquerading at Lenton's nephew, who was murdered overseas by Ward.
Lenton's father refuses to give his son permission to marry Violet Gartson, the woodchipper's daughter. Joe Garston is given £200 by old Lenton to take Violet away from the station. Jack is disinherited by his father for refusing to give up Violet.
Dudley Ward murders Jack's father with Jack's knife. Jack arrested for his father's murder but charge "not proven." Joe Garston, who knows Dudley Ward is the murderer, scorns his offer to marry Violet.
Joe drugged and dragged away to the scrub. Violet finds a letter proving Dudley Ward to be the murderer. Ward's bushranging gang carry Violet off to the Gap. Little Cecil Lenton's birthday. Dudley Ward, who in case of Cecil's death becomes the heir, tries to murder the little chap. Exciting rescue. Jack Lenton falls into the hands of the bushrangers. The denouement; virtue rewarded and vice punished. [5] [6]
| The Squatter's Son | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Edward Irham Cole or Clarence Burnett |
| Directed by | Edward Irham Cole |
| Date premiered | 21 January 1910 |
| Place premiered | Coliseum, Ballarat [8] |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | bushrangers |
| Genre | melodrama |
Authorship of the play is sometimes attributed to Clarence Burnett. [9] Other accounts say it was Cole. [10]
The play debuted in Ballarat in early 1910. Reviewing this performance, the Ballarat Star said "there is a high- standard of excellence, in the'plot, which Is of a very sensational nature, cleverly worked out. It is full of incident, and the scenery is typical! of Australia." [11]
In October 1910 the play was described as "the most famous" of Cole's "repertoire of pieces". [12] It was often revived throughout Cole's career. [13]
The play was beig performed as late as 1920. [14]
The Squatter's Son was filmed at locations "in the vicinity of Melbourne". [15]
The film was told in 25 scenes with the main characters being two cousins. [16]
The Geelong Advertiser said of the film "the drama is most sensation and exciting and well portrayed. It had a decidedly Australian flavor, embracing as it does every phase of bush life, from the squatter to the sundowner and the blackfellow. In addition to the sensationalism the fun was fast and furious and kept the large and appreciative audience in a continued state of laughter." [3]
The Argus said "the settings are artistic and natural and the acting good." [15]
The Ballarat Star said it "elicited much applause" from the audience. [17]
The Prahran Telegraph said it was "admirably arranged, acted and reproduced... it is not one of those stories in which the bush criminals become heroes." [18]
According to the Perth Sunday Times the film's (unnamed) star "is a magnificent type of the Australian bushman. During the action of the photographic drama, the chief artist rides, shoots, fights and swims and hews trees, he being a handsome, muscular athlete who was specially selected for his splendid qualities. He is, or was, a tip-top amateur actor, but is now being rushed with engagements by Eastern managers." [19] The same paper in a different review praised the film as "a gem of cinematography". [20]
The Launceston Daily Telegraph praised the "story being comprehensively portrayed in a concise manner, lacking us it docs the unnecessary padding so frequent in Australian motion dramas." [21]
The Kalgoorlie Miner claimed "As a sample of an Australian dramatic film The Squatter's Son stands in the front rank, and it gives a reflex. of the ups and downs of life as it occurred in the adventurous days." [22]
Eureka Stockade is a 1949 British film of the story surrounding Irish-Australian rebel and politician Peter Lalor and the gold miners' rebellion of 1854 at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria, in the Australian Western genre.
Hugh Chilman Buckler was a British actor. He was married to stage actress Violet Paget, about whom little has been found, save that she was somehow related to the Marquess of Anglesey. The film actor John Buckler was their son.
The Squatter's Daughter or, The Land of the Wattle is a 1907 Australian play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan, writing under the combined pseudonym Albert Edmunds.
The Squatter's Daughter is a 1910 Australian silent film based on the popular play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan.
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.
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.
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.
The Sundowner is an Australian film shot in Victoria. Set in the Australian bush, it was billed as "a romance with many startling adventures".
Gambler's Gold is a 1911 Australian film based on the 1911 novel by Arthur Wright. It is considered a lost film.
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.
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.
Thomas Smith Bellair was an English actor who moved to Australia, where he had his own dramatic company before managing various hotels, finally settling in Wagga Wagga, where his family became prominent citizens.
Jack Beresford Fowler, generally referred to as Beresford Fowler or J. Beresford Fowler, was an Australian actor and stage director, remembered for his little theatre productions in Melbourne.
The Tragedy of Donohoe is a play by Charles Harpur.
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.
Hands Up, or Ned Kelly and His Gang is a 1900 Australian play by Edward Irham Cole about Ned Kelly.
Whirlwind, the Bushranger, or the Roaring Forties is a 1907 Australian play by Edward Irham Cole about the ficitious bushranger.
Coo-ee; Or, Wild Days in the Bush is a 1906 Australian play by Edward William O'Sullivan. It was originally performed by Edward Irham Cole's Bohemian Dramatic Company.
Captain Moonlite, the Wantabadgery Bushranger is a 1906 Australian play about the bushranger Captain Moonlite that was first produced by Edward Irham Cole's Bohemian Dramatic Company.
For King and Empire is a 1906 Australian play by Edward Irham Cole although several scenes and incidents were suggested by Edward William O'Sullivan.
