Sunrise (1926 film)

Not to be confused with the 1927 American film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.

Sunrise
Everyone's 20 October 1926
Directed byRaymond Longford
F. Stuart-Whyte
Written byMartyn Keith
Mollie Mead
StarringPhyllis du Barry
Robert Travers
CinematographyCharles Ellis[1]
Len Roos[2]
Production
companies
Australasian Films
A Master Picture
Distributed byUnion Theatres
Release date
  • 16 October 1926 (1926-10-16)[3]
Running time
6,000 feet[4]
CountryAustralia
LanguagesSilent film
English intertitles

Sunrise is a 1926 Australian silent film co-directed by Raymond Longford, who took over during filming.

It was the second film from Australasian Films following their recommencement of production, after Painted Daughters.[5][6] (The company planned to make twelve.[7] It did not make this many ultimately.)

It is considered a lost film.

Plot

During the Gold Rush, miner George Willis loses his unfaithful wife in a rock fall on Mount Sunraise and takes to the bush.

He rescues a girl, Hope Stuart, from a flood and nurses her back to health in his hut. When he brings her back to her father he discovers that an old enemy, Arthur Greerson, has accused him of murder.

Greerson is injured in a mining accident and after George rescues him, Greerson admits he has lied. George returns to his life as a recluse in the mountains, followed by Hope.

Cast

  • Phyllis du Barry as Hope Stuart
  • Robert Travers as George Willis[8]
  • Zara Clinton as Elsa Willis
  • Harry Hodson as Old Ben
  • Charles Villiers[9]
  • Dunstan Webb as Arthur Greerson
  • Dick Thonton

Production

The film was shot on location in June 1925 at the Avon Dam near Bargo with interiors at the studios of Australasian Films in Bondi.[10][11][12] There was also location work at Burraragong Valley.[13]

F. Stuart Whyte, who had been imported by Australasian Films to direct Painted Daughters, began directing the movie.[14] However he left Australia during shooting for unknown reasons. He was replaced by Longford, who had recently contracted to Australasian Films.[15][16] (Longford would direct the third Australasian Films movie, The Pioneers.[17][18])

Robert Travers, the male lead, almost drowned during filming.[19]

Filming was completed by October 1925.[20][21]

Reception

According to the Sunday Mail "The cast has been well chosen, and as in the case of Peter Vernon's Silence, the utmost care and skill are shown in the sequences, the cinematography, and the action."[22]

The Bulletin called it "a very fair Australian picture."[23]

References

  1. ^ "New Australian Cameraman", Everyones., 4 (288 (9 September 1925)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-570502627, retrieved 3 March 2024 – via Trove
  2. ^ "AMUSEMENTS". Recorder. No. 8, 651. South Australia. 1 December 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "LYRIC THEATRE". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 16 October 1926. p. 14. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Advertising", Everyones., 5 (347 (20 October 1926)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-579118988, retrieved 3 March 2024 – via Trove
  5. ^ "AUSTRALIAN FILM". Cairns Post. No. 5350. Queensland, Australia. 16 November 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 27 February 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Commonwealth tariff Board Hears Evidence on Proposed Increased Duty on Imported Films Representative Sydney gathering gives evidence against the proposal. Releasing houses, showmen's representatives and Australian producers all testify that increase would confer no benefit upon them.", Everyones., 4 (283 (5 August 1925)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-560097640, retrieved 27 February 2024 – via Trove
  7. ^ "AUSTRALIAN FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 27, 375. New South Wales, Australia. 30 September 1925. p. 15. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "DORGAN KINEMA". Daily Examiner. Vol. 19, no. 2750. New South Wales, Australia. 12 February 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "PERSONALITIES OF TORONTO MURDER TRIAL". The Evening News. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 30 June 1925. p. 16. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  10. ^ "THE MAJESTIC". The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 26 March 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  11. ^ "the MOVING ROW of MAGIC SHADOW SHAPES". The Sun. No. 1159. New South Wales, Australia. 14 June 1925. p. 28. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Queensland", Everyones., 4 (276 (17 June 1925)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-560057352, retrieved 3 March 2024 – via Trove
  13. ^ "THAT WORD "MOTHER"". The Sun. No. 4611. New South Wales, Australia. 14 August 1925. p. 12 (FINAL EXTRA). Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "Here Mclntyre in the Thick of Things.", Everyones., 4 (281 (22 July 1925)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-560085287, retrieved 3 March 2024 – via Trove
  15. ^ "Raymond Longford", Cinema Papers, January 1974 p51
  16. ^ Shirley, Graham; Adams, Brian (1983). Australian cinema, the first eighty years. p. 89.
  17. ^ "AUSTRALIAN FILM". Cairns Post. No. 5350. Queensland, Australia. 16 November 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "FILM INDUSTRY DENIES AMERICAN DOMINATION". The Herald. No. 15580. Victoria, Australia. 26 April 1927. p. 4. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "Flood Sensation". The Manning River Times and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales. Vol. 55, no. 6857. New South Wales, Australia. 27 June 1925. p. 8. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ "AUSTRALIAN PICTURES". Tweed Daily. Vol. XII, no. 232. New South Wales, Australia. 9 October 1925. p. 5. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ^ "THE PICTURES". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 24, 719. Victoria, Australia. 29 October 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 3 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ^ "ALL AUSTRALIAN". Sunday Mail. No. 200. Queensland, Australia. 27 March 1927. p. 14. Retrieved 27 February 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ^ "SUNDRY SHOWS.", The Bulletin, 47 (2436), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 21 October 1926, nla.obj-633558942, retrieved 3 March 2024 – via Trove