Robbery Under Arms
About Robbery Under Arms
Dick and Jim Marsden join the bushranger Captain Starlight, played by Kenneth Brampton, who also directed. They court two girls and work the goldfields. The police take them after Starlight is shot dead.
Cast & crew
More about Robbery Under Arms
Brampton directed and adapted Rolf Boldrewood's novel. Mining magnate Pearson Tewksbury financed it. Lacey Percival photographed it. It opened on 2 October 1920. Wikipedia says the reported gross reached £16,000, but returns came in so slowly, and the distributor and exhibitor kept so much, that Tewksbury quit production.
Themes
Background
A 1920 Australian feature from Boldrewood's bushranging novel, paid for by a mining magnate rather than a regular studio.
Making
The company shot on location at Braidwood and in the Araluen Valley.
Reviews
Variety said it was "of only fair quality" and that "the picture just gets by."
Audiences
The film made money on paper, up to £16,000, but the slow returns and the shares taken by distributor and exhibitor ended Tewksbury's interest in producing.
Look
Lacey Percival shot the Braidwood and Araluen Valley locations.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A copy of about three-quarters of the film was matched with footage already known. About five minutes are still missing.
Notes
- S. A. Fitzgerald plays Ben Marsden, Roland Conway plays Dick, and Cliff Pyatt plays Jim.
- Roy Redgrave plays Dan Moran. Tien Hogue plays Aileen Marsden.
- Charles Chauvel is in the cast.
- Jackie Anderson plays Warrigal.
- English Wikipedia calls it an early Australian western.
Scenes
- Starlight is shot and the Marsden brothers are taken.
Influenced by
- Robbery Under Arms (Rolf Boldrewood)
Also available
- Internet Archive (Robbery_Under_Arms)