When the Kellys Rode explained
| When the Kellys Rode |
| Starring: | Hay Simpson |
| Studio: | Imperial Feature Films |
| Country: | Australia |
| Budget: | £10,000[1] or £8,000 |
| Gross: | £750[2] |
When the Kellys Rode is a 1934 Australian film directed by Harry Southwell about Ned Kelly.
Plot
The story of Ned Kelly and his gang. A policeman comes to arrest Dan Kelly, which results in him being shot and Ned Kelly going on the run with his gang. They rob several banks but are captured and killed at the Glenrowan Hotel.
Cast
Production
The film was produced by Imperial Films which was incorporated in 1933 with a capital of £20,000.[4]
Southwell had planned to call the film The Kelly Gang, but the Commonwealth censor objected to the use of the word gang in the title.[5]
It was filmed on location in the Megalong Valley in the Blue Mountains and in Cinesound's Studio at Rushcutter's Bay. Southwell hired a crew from Cinesound Productions.[6]
The film is considered to be first adaptation of the Kelly story with sound.[7]
Release
The film was forbidden from being exhibited in New South Wales for more than ten years under the ban on bushranging films.[8] The government thought that the film glorified bushrangers, and showed the police in a bad light.[9] The filmmakers protested but were unsuccessful.[10] However the movie was passed, with cuts, for screening in Victoria and other states.[11] [12]
Critical response was unenthusiastic.[13] The film performed poorly at the box office and only returned £750 of which £500 went to the producers.[2]
The ban was lifted in 1942[14] and the film was re-released in 1948.[15] [16]
Leslie Hay-Simpson, a Sydney solicitor, who played Ned Kelly, was later lost at sea between Lord Howe Island and Sydney. He had been on Lord Howe Island during October 1936, acting in Mystery Island, a Paramount Pictures film directed by J. A. Lipman.[17]
External links
Notes and References
- News: Belated HUSH-HUSH About OUR Bushrangers. . . 19 May 1934 . 10 August 2012 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
- "Counting the Cash in Australian Films"', Everyones 12 December 1934 p 19-20
- Web site: Kelly Gang theme of new talkie . The Courier-Mail. 15 January 1934 . 18 . 19 June 2012.
- News: EMPIRE FILMS. . . 8 November 1933 . 25 July 2012 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
- Web site: The Kelly Film. . The Sydney Morning Herald . 5. 11 December 1933 . 19 June 2012.
- News: HISTORY. . . 5 January 1934 . 10 August 2012 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
- essay "Films on Ned Kelly" by Justin Corfeild, first published in 2003 in "The Ned Kelly Encyclopaedia"
- Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 166.
- News: POLICE PROHIBIT FILM "GLORIFYING CRIMINALS". . . Melbourne . 16 May 1934 . 10 August 2012 . 9 . National Library of Australia.
- News: BANNING OF FILM. . . 16 May 1934 . 10 August 2012 . 13 . National Library of Australia.
- News: "WHEN THE KELLYS RODE". . . 9 July 1934 . 10 August 2012 . 9 . National Library of Australia.
- News: HOLLYWOOD Bushranger Film is "OUT". . . 27 October 1934 . 10 August 2012 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
- News: BANNED FILM. . . 18 May 1934 . 10 August 2012 . 11 . National Library of Australia.
- News: FILM OF KELLY GANG. . . Perth . 7 January 1942 . 10 August 2012 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
- News: KELLY GANG FILM FOR PERTH. . . Perth . 9 April 1949 . 10 August 2012 . 18 Edition: FIRST . National Library of Australia.
- News: NEW FILMS IN SYDNEY. . . 21 June 1948 . 10 August 2012 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
- Web site: Mystery Island Distribution by Paramount. . The Sydney Morning Herald . 11 February 1937 . 4. 20 June 2012.
