The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary infamous outlaw and bushrangerNed Kelly (1855–1880). It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and was the longest narrative film yet seen in Australia, and the world. Its approximate reel length was 4,000 feet (1,200 m).[5] It was first shown at the Athenaeum Hall in Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia on 26 December 1906 and in the UK in January 1908.[6][7]
In 2007 The Story of the Kelly Gang was inscribed on the UNESCOMemory of the World Register for being the world's first full-length feature film.[8]
Origins and locations of the film
Australian bushranger Ned Kelly had been executed only twenty-six years before The Story of the Kelly Gang was made and Ned's mother Ellen and younger brother Jim were still alive at the time it was released. Historian Ian Jones suggests the story still had an "indefinable appeal" for Australians in the early twentieth century.[9] The film was made by Charles Tait and Nevin Tait, Millard Johnson and William Gibson, pioneering exhibitors. Johnson and Gibson also had experience developing film stock. Much of the film was shot on the Chartersville estate at Heidelberg, now a suburb of Melbourne.[10] In later years, William Gibson claimed that while touring through New Zealand showing the bio-pic "Living London", he noticed the large audiences attracted to Charles McMahon's stage play The Kelly Gang. Film historian Eric Reade claims the Taits themselves owned the stage rights to a Kelly play,[11] while actors Sam Crewe and John Forde later also claimed to have thought of the idea of a making a film of the Kelly Gang's exploits, inspired by the success of stage plays. A second variation of the story claims that the rights to a popular Kelly play were purchased from E.J.Cole's Bohemian Company, and members of the troup performed in the film. Tait's wife Elizabeth and their children and brothers are thought to have also taken part.[7] The film, which cost £1,000, was extremely successful, and was said to have returned at least £25,000 to its producers.
Other scenes in the film were shot in the suburbs of St Kilda (indoor scenes), and possibly Eltham, Greensborough, Mitcham, and Rosanna.[12] At the end of the twentieth century, only about 10 minutes were known to have survived.[13] In November 2006, the National Film and Sound Archive released a new digital restoration which incorporated 11 minutes of material newly discovered in the United Kingdom. The restoration now is 17 minutes long and includes the key scene of Kelly's last stand. However, a copy of the programme booklet has also survived, containing both extracts from contemporary newspaper reports of the capture of the gang, and a synopsis of the film, in six 'scenes'. The latter provided audiences with the sort of information later provided by intertitles, and can help historians imagine what the film may have been like.
Plot
Film Historian Ina Bertrand suggests that the tone of The Story of the Kelly Gang' is "one of sorrow, depicting Ned Kelly and his gang as the Last of the Bushrangers." Bertrand identifies several scenes that suggest "considerable sophistication" as filmmakers on the part of the Taits. One is the composition of a scene of police shooting parrots in the bush. The second is the capture of Ned, shot from the viewpoint of the police, as he advances.[14]
According to the synopsis given in the surviving program, the film originally comprised six sequences.These provided a loose narrative based on the Kelly gang story.
Scene 1: Police discuss a warrant for Dan Kelly’s arrest. Later, Kate Kelly rebuffs the attentions of a Trooper.
Scene 2: The killings of Kennedy, Scanlon and Lonigan at Stringybark Creek by the gang.
Scene 3: The hold-up at Younghusband’s station and a bank hold–up.
Scene 4: Various gang members and supporters evade the police and the gang killing of Aaron Sherritt.
Scene 5: The attempt to derail a train and scenes at the Glenrowan Inn. The police surround the hotel, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart “die by each other’s hands” after Joe Byrne is shot dead.
Scene 6: The closing scenes. "Ned Kelly fights hard” but is shot in the legs.“He begs the Troopers to spare his life, thus falls the last of the Kelly Gang…” [15]
Some confusion regarding the plot has emerged as a result of a variant poster from the film dating from 1910. Its similar (but different) photos suggest that either the film was being added to, or altered, or an entirely new version was made by Johnson and Gibson, as the poster proclaims. Fragments of another version of the story, “the Perth fragment,” shows Aaron Sherritt being shot outside, in front of an obviously painted canvas flat. This now appears to be from a different film altogether, perhaps a cheap imitation by a theatrical company, keen to cash in on the success of the original.[7]
Cast
Still image of film.
There is considerable uncertainty over who appeared in the film. According to the Australian film and Sound Archive, the only actors positively identified are;
John and Frank Tait, Harriet Tait, members of Charles Tait's family.[10]
In her memoirs, Viola Tait claimed the part of Ned was played by a Canadian stunt actor, who deserted the project part way through.[10]
Screenings
Still image of film
The film was given a week of trial screenings in country towns in late 1906. This proved enormously successful and the movie already recouped its budget for these screenings alone.[17]
It's Melbourne debut was made at the Athenaeum Hall on 26 December 1906. Although the country screenings had been silent, when the movie was screened in Melbourne it was accompanied by live sound effects, including blank cartridges as gunshots, pebbles shaken for rain, metal sheets wobbled for storms and coconut shells beaten together to simulate hoofbeats. At later screenings a lecturer would also appear explaining the action.[18]
Many groups at the time, including some politicians and the police interpreted the film as glorifying criminals and in Benalla and Wangaratta the film was banned in 1907, and then again in Victoria in 1912.
The film toured Australia for over 20 years and was also shown in New Zealand, Ireland and Britain. The backers and exhibitors made "a fortune" from the film, perhaps in excess of £25,000.[12]
Notes
One of the gang's actual suits (probably Joe Byrnes') was supposedly used in the film.
The trains shown in the film were filmed with permission from the Victorian Railways Commission.
In 1906, the producers claimed authenticity, but apologised to the public for dressing the police in uniforms which they would not have worn while out in the bush. This was explained as necessary to enable the audience to distinguish between the outlaws and the police, in a time before colour film and when close-ups (allowing distinctions among characters) were rare.[10]
^Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australia Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989 p 18 gives the figure at £1,000 - with this being recouped during the first week.
^ abcIna Bertrand and Ken Robb (1982) "The continuing saga of...The Story of the Kelly Gang." Cinema Papers, No. 36, February 1982, p.18-22 Cite error: The named reference "cinema" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
