The Story of the Kelly Gang
Encyclopedia
The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906
Australia
n film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger
Ned 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). It was first shown at the Athenaeum Hall in Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia on 26 December 1906 and in the UK in January 1908.
It was directed by Charles Tait and much of the film was shot on his wife's family's property at Heidelberg. His wife Elizabeth played the role of Kate Kelly, and their children and brothers all took part. The film, which cost £
1,000, was extremely successful, and was said to have returned at least £25,000 to its producers.
The film was filmed in Melbourne
, including the suburbs of St Kilda
(indoor scenes), Eltham
, Greensborough
, Heidelberg
, Mitcham
, and Rosanna
. It is recognized in the film industry as being the first feature film
ever made.
Only about 10 minutes were known to have survived. In November 2006, the National Film and Sound Archive
released a new digital restoration which incorporated 11 minutes of material recently 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 intertitle
s, and can help historians imagine what the film may have been like.
In 2007 The Story of the Kelly Gang was inscribed on the UNESCO
Memory of the World Register for being the world's first full-length feature film.
Among the surviving images are two scenes that suggest considerable sophistication for that time. The scene of the police shooting parrots in the bush skillfully positions the shooter in the middle ground to the left of the image, firing upwards toward the far right, with the gang watching him from close foreground. The capture of Ned is shot from the viewpoint of the police, as Ned advances, an impressive figure weaving towards them under the weight of his armour and the shock of the bullets.
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.
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.
The first showing was in Melbourne at the Athenaeum Hall
on 26 December 1906 to much controversy. 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 also showed in New Zealand and Britain. The backers and exhibitors made "a fortune" from the film, perhaps in excess of £25,000.
1906 in film
The year 1906 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*26 December - The world's first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, is released.-Films released in 1906:*The Automobile Thieves*The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend...
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
(1855–1880). It was written and directed by Charles Tait
Charles Tait (film director)
Charles Tait , together with two of his brothers, was an Australian concert, film and theatrical entrepreneur, but his most notable achievement was as the director and writer of The Story of the Kelly Gang, an Australian film, regarded as the world's first feature length film...
. 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). It was first shown at the Athenaeum Hall in Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia on 26 December 1906 and in the UK in January 1908.
It was directed by Charles Tait and much of the film was shot on his wife's family's property at Heidelberg. His wife Elizabeth played the role of Kate Kelly, and their children and brothers all took part. The film, which cost £
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
1,000, was extremely successful, and was said to have returned at least £25,000 to its producers.
The film was filmed in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, including the suburbs of St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
(indoor scenes), Eltham
Eltham, Victoria
Eltham is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Nillumbik. At the 2006 Census, Eltham had a population of 17,581....
, Greensborough
Greensborough, Victoria
Greensborough is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 17 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Banyule. At the 2006 Census, Greensborough had a population of 20,214....
, Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Victoria
Heidelberg is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Banyule....
, Mitcham
Mitcham, Victoria
Mitcham is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Whitehorse. At the 2006 Census, Mitcham had a population of 14,211.-History:...
, and Rosanna
Rosanna, Victoria
Rosanna is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Banyule...
. It is recognized in the film industry as being the first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
ever made.
Only about 10 minutes were known to have survived. In November 2006, the National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
released a new digital restoration which incorporated 11 minutes of material recently 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 intertitle
Intertitle
In motion pictures, an intertitle is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action, at various points, generally to convey character dialogue, or descriptive narrative material related to, but not necessarily covered by, the material photographed.Intertitles...
s, and can help historians imagine what the film may have been like.
In 2007 The Story of the Kelly Gang was inscribed on the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Memory of the World Register for being the world's first full-length feature film.
Plot
The Story of the Kelly Gangs tone is of sorrow, depicting Ned Kelly as "the Last of the Bushrangers, and his friends Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne," presenting the police hiding under the bed when Aaron Sherritt is shot ('This is the Only Blot on the Police,') and portraying school master Curnow's action of warning the train as heroic ('Thank God, he Saved the Train.')Among the surviving images are two scenes that suggest considerable sophistication for that time. The scene of the police shooting parrots in the bush skillfully positions the shooter in the middle ground to the left of the image, firing upwards toward the far right, with the gang watching him from close foreground. The capture of Ned is shot from the viewpoint of the police, as Ned advances, an impressive figure weaving towards them under the weight of his armour and the shock of the bullets.
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…”
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.
Cast
- Nicholas Brierley as Joe ByrneJoe ByrneJoe Byrne was an Australian bushranger born in Victoria to an Irish immigrant. A friend of Ned Kelly, he was a member of the Kelly Gang, who were declared outlaws after the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek...
- Elizabeth Tait as Kate Kelly
- John Tait as School Master
- Bella Cola
- Vera Linden
- Frank Mills as Ned KellyNed KellyEdward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
- E.J. Tait as Extra
- Frank Tait as Extra
Screenings
Athenaeum, Melbourne
The Athenaeum or Melbourne Athenaeum is one of the oldest public institutions in Victoria, Australia, founded in 1839. The first President was Captain William Lonsdale, the first Patron was the Superintendent of Port Philip, Charles La Trobe and the first books were donated by Vice-President Henry...
on 26 December 1906 to much controversy. 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 also showed in New Zealand and Britain. The backers and exhibitors made "a fortune" from the film, perhaps in excess of £25,000.
Other Ned Kelly films
- The Kelly GangThe Kelly GangThe Kelly Gang is an Australian feature length film about the Australian bush ranger, Ned Kelly. The film was released in 1920, and is the second film to be based on the life of Ned Kelly, the first being The Story of the Kelly Gang, released in 1906....
(1920) - When the Kellys Were OutWhen the Kellys Were OutWhen the Kellys Were Out is an Australian feature length film directed by Harry Southwell about Ned Kelly.-External links:* at National Film and Sound Archive...
(1923) - When the Kellys RodeWhen the Kellys RodeWhen the Kellys Rode is a 1934 Australian film directed by Harry Southwell about Ned Kelly. It was forbidden from being exhibited in New South Wales for more than ten years under the ban on bushranging films.-Cast:*Hay Simpson as Ned Kelly...
(1934) - A Message to Kelly (1947)
- The Glenrowan AffairThe Glenrowan AffairThe Glenrowan Affair is a 1951 movie about Ned Kelly from director Rupert Kathner. It was Kathner's final film and stars VFL star Bob Chitty as Kelly.-Cast:* Bob Chitty as Ned Kelly* Alan Henderson* Ben Crowe* Charles Tingwell as narrator...
(1951) - Stringybark Massacre (1967)
- Ned Kelly (1970)
- Reckless KellyReckless KellyReckless Kelly is a 1993 Australian comedy film written, directed and starring Yahoo Serious. The story is a satirical take on a modern day Ned Kelly who is forced to Hollywood in order to make enough money to save his family's land. As it goes against his belief, he cannot simply rob banks for...
(1993) (SatireSatireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
) - Ned Kelly (2003)
- Ned (2003) (SatireSatireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
)
External links
- The Story of the Kelly Gang at the National Film and Sound Archive
- The Story of the Kelly Gang preserved and released on DVD in Australia
- The Story of the Kelly Gang at Australian Screen OnlineAustralian Screen OnlineAustralian Screen Online is an on-line database operated by the Australian National Film and Sound Archive. It provides information about and excerpts from a wide selection of Australian feature films, documentaries, television programs, newsreels, short films, animations, and home-movies. It also...
- Shirley Jackson and Graham Shirley describe the restoration of The Story of the Kelly Gang