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Image source: Internet Archive (archive.org)
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Movie Source: Internet Archive (archive.org)
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Robbery Under Arms
1920
Robbery Under Arms is a 1920 Australian film directed by Kenneth Brampton and financed by mining magnate Pearson Tewksbury. It is an early example of an "Australian Western".
Plot
Two brothers, Dick and Jim Marsden, become involved with the bushranger, Captain Starlight. They romance two girls, work on the goldfields, and are captured by the police after Starlight is shot dead.
Cast
Kenneth Brampton as Captain Starlight
S. A. Fitzgerald as Ben Marsden
Roland Conway as Dick Marsden
Cliff Pyatt as Jim Marsden
Roy Redgrave as Dan Moran
William Pearson as Sir Frederick Moranger
Stuart MacRae as Inspector Goring
Jackie Anderson as Warrigal
Vera Archer as Jennie Morrison
Betty Crook as Miss Falkland
Hilda Dorrington as Kate Morrison
Tien Hogue as Aileen Marsden
Austral Nichol as Mrs. Knightley
Wilton Power as George Storefield
Phyllis Ruthven as Grace Storefield
Sybil Shirley
Nan Taylor as Mrs. Marsden
H. D. Wise as Mr. Knightley
Charles Chauvel
Production
There had been several attempts to make films based on Rolfe Boldrewood's 1888 novel since the bushranging ban by the New South Wales government in 1912. In particular there were attempts by Stanley Crick in 1916 and Alfred Rolfe in 1918. However Kenneth Brampton managed to secure permission for this 1920 version, mostly likely because it stressed the moral lessons of the story.
Kenneth Brampton and actress Tien Hogue managed to persuade the mining magnate Pearson Tewksbury to raise the budget and act as producer.
Brampton was acting in the play Lightnin' which he left to make the film.
The film was shot on location at Braidwood and in the Araluen Valley near Canberra. The bushrangers the Clarke brothers reportedly worked in this region.
Renowned horseman "Top" Hassall doubled for Brampton on the horse riding scenes.
Future director Charles Chauvel was working around the Sydney studios and attending to horses on the film. He has a bit part.
The film was the final acting role for Roy Redgrave who died in 1922.
Preservation status
A "copy comprising about three-quarters of the film" was found and combined with already known footage to produce a near-complete version. A five-minute sequence is still missing.
Kenneth Brampton
rights:
This film is Public Domain in Australia because the film and literary copyrights have expired. The literary rights in the novel expired 31 December 1965 (50 years after the year of death of the author Rolf Baldrewood (Thomas Browne) The Copyright in the film expired 31 December 1970 (end of the 50th year after the release of the film.) Kenneth Brampton's date of birth and death are unkown. The video tape the film is sourced from was dedicated to the public domain with the provision that is is "free to copy. But must not be broadcast on television."
