Only 24 minutes off this movie survive but that's better than for most Australian silent movies and certainly enough to get a sense of what the whole thing looked like. This was directed by Jack Gavin, who plays the title role, the famous bushranger - though as per many films of the time we rarely get a good look at him because this is mostly shot in long shot, with blocking like a stage play and the camera allowed to film.
This is despite the fact that the action is inherently cinematic - the arrest of Fred Ward for cattle duffing, his fiancee going mad and dying, Ward escaping from the chain gang and swimming to freedom, then becoming a bushranger and robbing some Chinese (played by actors in yellow face mugging it up).
The scenery is passable - some very hilly countryside - but there's a decent amount of it. And the photography is of high standard.
No comments:
Post a Comment