£500 Reward

£500 Reward is a 1918 Australian silent film starring, written, produced, financed and directed by Claude Flemming who later described it as "a very lurid melodrama".[2]

£500 Reward
Directed byClaude Flemming
Produced byClaude Flemming
Barry Lupino
Written byClaude Flemming
StarringClaude Flemming
Renée Adorée
CinematographyLacey Percival
Release date
18 November 1918
Running time
five reels[1]
CountryAustralia
LanguageSilent film
English intertitles

Synopsis

A "five-act" drama about a couple who travel from the Rocky Mountains to Seattle then wind up shipwrecked en route to Queensland.[3] The heroine Irene is kidnapped by a ship captain and winds up wrecked on the Queensland coast. She is rescued by the hero.

Cast

Production

The film was written, produced, directed and financed by Claude Flemming. It was reported to be the first feature film to include footage of Mount Kosciuszko, which stood in for Canada.[4] Scenes were also shot at Bermagui, on board an American sailing ship visiting Sydney, and at Rushcutters Bay studio.

The cast included Renée Adorée, who was then a dancer touring Australia on the Tivoli circuit with an act called "The Magnys", and subsequently went on to star in The Big Parade (1925).[5]

John Faulkner and Claude Flemming reputedly clashed during the film over interpretation.[6]

Reception

The film ran for two weeks in a cinema in Sydney. Flemming then had to go overseas to London and by the time he came back he was unable to locate a copy of the negative and the movie was thought to be lost until a copy was found in a basement in 1938.[2]

During the 1920s Flemming tried to re-register the film under a different, more saleable title, but was refused six times by the New South Wales censorship board. The other titles he attempted to use were, The Lure of a Woman, Primal Passion, When Men Desire, The Auction of Virtue, The Reckless Lover, and A Romance of Two Worlds.[7]

References
  1. "Advertising". Traralgon Record. Traralgon, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 18 November 1919. p. 3 Edition: MORNING. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  2. "OLD FILM FOUND". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 25 June 1938. p. 18. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  3. "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 22 November 1918. p. 3. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  4. "AMUSEMENTS. LOCAL PHOTO-PLAY—"£500 REWARD."". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 29 October 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  5. "It All Began With a Feature Movie On The Kelly Gang". The News. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 16 November 1946. p. 2. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  6. Trader Faulkner, "John Faulkner", Cinema Papers, January 1978 p 213
  7. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 84.
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