The Assigned Servant
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Stanley Crick
| The Assigned Servant | |
|---|---|
 Newcastle Herald 1 Nov 1911 | |
| Directed by | John Gavin |
| Written by | Agnes Gavin |
| Produced by | Herbert Finlay[1] Stanley Crick |
| Starring | John Gavin |
| Cinematography | Herbert Finlay |
Production companies | Crick and Finlay |
| Distributed by | Australian Photoplay Company[2] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 3,000 feet[3] |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | Silent film |
| Budget | £300[4] or £500[5] |
The Assigned Servant, or the Life Story of a Deported Convict is a 1911 Australian silent film about a convict who is transported to Van Diemen's Land. It was made by the husband-and-wife team of John and Agnes Gavin and is considered a lost film.[6]
In England, Ralph Frawley is arrested for rabbit poaching and transported to Van Diemen's Land as a convict. He is assigned as a servant to a settler and falls in love with the daughter of the house. He marries her in secret but when this is revealed he is sent back to prison to serve the rest of his term. He escapes by a spectacular leap and swims to freedom. He turns to bushranging and robs the mail coach. He is saved by his aboriginal friend during a fight with police. After learning his wife has died he returns to England.[4][7]
Chapter headings:[8]
- The Great Poaching Scene
- Found Guilty
- 10 Years' Penal Servitude
- Bound for Van Diemen's Land
- The Assigned Servant
- The Secret Marriage
- Found Out
- An Aboriginal's Gratitude
- The Leap for Life
- Sensational Swim
- Down the Rapids
- A Madman's Revenge
- A Blighted Life
- Robbing the Royal Mail
- Senational Climb by the Aboriginal
- England Once More
Cast
- John Gavin
- Alf Scarlett
- Charles Woods as Geebung, Aboriginal character[9][10]
- Dore Kurtz
- Sid Harrison
- Agnes Gavin
- Ethel Bashford[11]
- May Kennard
- Charles Villiers[12]
- Dapne Taylor
- Edie Taylor
- Billie Harcourt
Production
John and Agnes Gavin had made a series of successful films about bushrangers. Producers Stanley Crick and Herb Finlay agreed to finance a film with Gavin of which Assigned Servant was the first. Gavin wrote, it was to be:
A four-reel bush production, the scenario to be written by Mrs. Gavin, with myself as producer. Pathe was to find the film and the camera-man in addition to all the hiring and printing, my part of the agreement being to find actors and make the film, with three weeks as the limit for the complete production... We were only allowed 4,000 feet of negative with nothing for retake, as film was scarce in those days. We went to National Park for location. This was the first time moving pictures had been taken there, and the wonderful surroundings assisted a great deal."[12]
Filming took under a month, which over a week spent on location.[13] During the shoot, two actors injured themselves during a scene where they fought on top of a cliff and fell twenty feet below into the water. The actor Frank Gardiner cut his head falling from a horse during a chase scene, and an actor playing a trooper had four teeth knocked out during a fight.[14]
Filming took place in the National Park, with Georges River heavily featured.[15]
