The Breaking of the Drought
About The Breaking of the Drought
Drought drives Jo Galloway off Wallaby Station and into the city, where his son Gilbert has been forging the family's cheques for the conman Varsy Lyddleton and for Olive Lorette. Lyddleton murders Olive and kills himself. Gilbert becomes a tramp. His sister Marjorie's suitor, Tom Wattleby, pulls him out of a bushfire as the drought breaks, the stock recover, and Marjorie and Tom can marry.
Cast & crew
More about The Breaking of the Drought
Franklyn Barrett directed, produced, and photographed the film from the 1902 play by Bland Holt and Arthur Shirley. Shooting began in December 1919 at Narrabri and Moree. Interiors were made in a temporary studio at the Theatre Royal in Sydney. A water-ballet sequence shot in the National Park is missing from most surviving copies. Barrett wrote that a bedroom scene was judged suggestive.
Themes
Background
Australian features of this period were still being made from proven stage melodramas. Holt and Shirley's play had used real horses, trees, and a swimming pool on stage.
Making
Barrett shot the drought country on location rather than building a station in Sydney, then moved the city scenes into the Theatre Royal.
Reviews
The Newcastle Sun said the camerawork was excellent. Smith's Weekly thought the film would probably make money.
Look
Franklyn Barrett photographed the Narrabri and Moree drought country himself, then the National Park water ballet.
Preservation
Graham Phillips has called it one of the most damaged films in the Australian archive, though few sequences are severely damaged. The National Park water ballet is missing from most versions. Copies turned up under a house in Hornsby in 1976.
Notes
- The play opened on 26 December 1902 at the Lyceum Theatre, Sydney. Annette Kellerman appeared in a 1903 stage production.
- Trilby Clark plays Marjorie Galloway, Rawdon Blandford plays Gilbert, Charles Beetham plays Jo, Nan Taylor plays Mrs. Galloway, Dunstan Webb plays Tom Wattleby, Marie La Varre plays Olive Lorette, and John Faulkner plays Varsy Lyddleton.
- New South Wales MP Mr. Wearne asked in parliament whether the drought scenes would hurt Australia overseas. The Chief Secretary's office told him the Minister of Customs could ban export if the film was judged harmful to the Commonwealth.
- The film was thought lost until 1976, when rusty cans were found under a house in Hornsby.
- After the film, Trilby Clark went to the United States and worked on the stage and in pictures.
Scenes
- Jo Galloway finds that Gilbert has been signing the family's money away in Sydney.
- Tom Wattleby drags Gilbert clear of the bushfire as the drought breaks.
Influenced by
- The Breaking of the Drought (play, 1902)
Also available
- Internet Archive (the-breaking-of-the-drought-1920-australia-franklyn-barrett)
