The Bushwhackers (film)
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Lottie Lyell
Lottie Lyell
Charles Perry
| The Bushwhackers | |
|---|---|
 Everyones 19 July 1925 | |
| Directed by | Raymond Longford |
| Written by | Raymond Longford[1] Lottie Lyell |
| Based on | Enoch Arden by Alfred Tennyson |
| Produced by | Raymond Longford Lottie Lyell Charles Perry |
| Starring | Stella Southern Eddie O'Reilly |
| Cinematography | Arthur Higgins |
Production company | Longford-Lyell Productions[2] |
| Distributed by | Australasian Films (Union-Master Films)[3] |
Release date |
|
| Country | Australia |
| Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
The Bushwhackers is a 1925 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford loosely based on Alfred Tennyson's 1864 poem Enoch Arden. It is considered a lost film.
Bill Lawson (Eddie O'Reilly), a wharf labourer, loses his job and decides to go out bush to find work to support his wife Elsa (Stella Southern) and daughter Betty. He befriends a well-born Englishman, Kenneth Hillyard (Rawdon Blandford) after rescuing him from two thugs and the two decide to go prospecting together. They have a variety of adventures, including comic ones with Farmer Skinner, who got bitten by a snake, and working as a cook. They stumble upon a gold deposit.
Then while walking along the cliffs one day Bill slips and falls into the river below. Kenneth looks for him but can't find the body and Bill is believed to be dead. Kenneth returns to the city to share the gold with Elsa and Betty. When Kenneth inherits money from an English relative, he proposes to Elsa.
Years later a bush character appears, 'Mad Joe', who is Bill – it turns out Bill survived the fall but lost his memory. He later regains his memory after a hospital operation and tracks down his wife. But once he sees how happy she is with Kenneth, he returns to the bush.[5]
Cast
- Eddie O'Reilly as Bill Lawson
- Stella Southern as Elsa Lawson
- Beryl Gow as Bill's daughter
- Rawdon Blandford as Kenneth Hillyard
- Margaret Reid
- Billy Ryan
- Lottie Lyall
- Percy Walsh
- James Martin
- Ken Smith
Production
Actor Rawdon Blandford wrote a song especially for the film.[6] He later described this and other Australian films he made as "not great efforts" and criticised the quality of Australian directors.[7]
Co-star Eddie O'Reilly (real name Edgar Girard) was a sometime boxer.[8] He later worked as a helper at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In 1926 he was arrested for having sex with a seventeen year old girl despite being married with a child.[9] However it was decided not to go to trial.[10]
Australasian Films bought the film outright from Longford and Lyell for its production cost.[11][12][13]
Release
The film premiered on 7 May 1925 before a crowd at Prince Edward Theatre including the Governor Sir Dudley le Chair.[14][15]