The Life's Romance of Adam Lindsay Gordon explained

The Life of Adam Lindsay Gordon
Director:W. J. Lincoln
Producer:W. J. Lincoln
G.H. Barnes
Starring:Hugh McCrae
Adele Inman
Audrey Worth
Cinematography:Bert Ive
Studio:Lincoln-Barnes Scenarios
Runtime:5 reels – 5,000 feet[1]
(3 reels survive)
Country:Australia
Language: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.

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.[2]

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.[3]

The chapters were as follows:[4]

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."

Pre-production started in June 1916.[6] The shoot seems to have taken place from mid July to mid August, on location and in the JC Williamson's Studios.[7] [8]

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.[9] [10]

Barnes and Lincoln were sued by Amalgamated Pictures.[11]

Lincoln fell ill with alcoholic poisoning and spent some time in hospital, forcing Barnes to take over direction.[12]

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.[13]
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."[14] 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."[15] 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".[16]
The film had a popular run in Adelaide[17] but was not a big success at the box office. Lincoln died shortly afterward.[9]

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."

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: GORDON AT THE LYRIC. . . Renmark, SA . 5 January 1917 . 6 September 2013 . 3 . National Library of Australia.
  2. The Bulletin. 6 September 1917. AT POVERTY POINT.
  3. News: Adam Lindsay Gordon. . . Vic. . 11 November 1916 . 19 April 2012 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  4. News: Classified Advertising. . . Melbourne . 26 August 1916 . 6 September 2013 . 22 . National Library of Australia.
  5. News: ADAM LINDSAY GORDON. . . Melbourne . 6 September 1916 . 26 October 2014 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
  6. News: THE PICTURE SHOWS. . . Melbourne . 7 June 1916 . 26 October 2014 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
  7. 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: . [cited 15 Nov 14].
  8. News: POET GORDON'S CAREER. . . Melbourne . 18 August 1916 . 24 September 2015 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  9. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p65
  10. News: Advertising. . . Melbourne . 19 July 1917 . 24 May 2015 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  11. News: Advertising. . . Melbourne . 19 July 1917 . 24 September 2015 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  12. News: MUSIC AND DRAMA. . . Hobart, Tas. . 4 September 1917 . 19 April 2012 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  13. News: Classified Advertising. . . Melbourne . 28 August 1916 . 6 September 2013 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
  14. News: VICTORIAN NEWS. . . Sydney . 31 August 1916 . 6 September 2013 . 13 . National Library of Australia.
  15. News: ADAM LINDSAY GORDON PICTURES. . . Adelaide . 29 January 1917 . 6 September 2013 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  16. News: TWO NEW STAR FILMS. . The Advertiser. Adelaide . 18 January 1917 . 6 September 2013 . 9 . National Library of Australia.
  17. News: TOWN HALL PICTURES. . The Advertiser. Adelaide . 29 January 1917 . 6 September 2013 . 9 . National Library of Australia.

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