- Our Friends, the Hayseeds
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Our Friends, the Hayseeds Directed by Beaumont Smith Produced by Beaumont Smith Written by Beaumont Smith Starring Roy Redgrave Cinematography Harry Krischock Release date(s) 19 March1917 Running time 5,000 feet Country Australia Language English Our Friends, the Hayseeds is a 1917 Australian rural comedy from director Beaumont Smith. It centers around the rural family, the Hayseeds, and their rivalry with a neighbouring family, the Duggans.
Contents
Synopsis
The Hayseeds and Duggaans live on selections next to each other. Joe Hayseed and Pansy Duggan want to get married but their families quarrel when the Hayseeds' cow gets into the Duggan's corn and they are forbidden to see each other. The two families have a brawl on the bush fence, a fight that only ends in exhaustion. However, a bush fire unites them and Jim and Pansy marry. Pansy falls pregnant and Dad Hayseed and Dad Duggan both hope for a boy which will be named after them. She ends up giving birth to twin girls.[1]
The film was divided into four sections: the first two dealing with a day in the life of the Hayseeds; the last two with Joe and Pansy's courtship.[2] A contemporary reviewer said that of the film's 5,000 foot length, 1,000 feet was dedicated to humorous titles.[3]
Production
The movie was inspired by the success of Bert Bailey's stage adaptation of Steele Rudd's Dad and Dave stories, On Our Selection and Phillip Lytton's play The Waybacks. Smith had worked with Bailey and Edmund Duggan on the initial production of Selection.[4]
Shooting took place on location in South Australia in Campbelltown and Norwood. The movie's local appeal was heavily advertised to South Australian audiences in publicity.
Many of the cast had appeared in Beaumont Smith's theatrical productions of While the Billy Boils (which he filmed in 1921) and Seven Little Australians.[5].
Box office response was strong and there were a number of sequels starting with The Hayseeds Come to Sydney. It was the first feature from theatrical entrepreneur Beaumont Smith who went on to become one of Australia's most prolific filmmakers of the silent era.
Cast
- Roy Redgrave as Dad Hayseed
- Walter Cornock as Joe Hayseed
- Pearl Hellmrich as Pansy Duggan
- Margaret Gordon as Mrs. Hayseed
- J. Plumpton Wilson as Parson
- H.H. Wallace as Dan Hayseed
- Vera Spaull as Poppy Hayseed
- Cecil Haines as Lizzy Hayseed
- Jack Radford as Tommy Hayseed
- Peter Ward as Peter Hayseed
- Tom Cannam as hired hand
- Percy Mackay as Mr Duggan
- Nan Taylor as Mrs Duggan
- Crosbie Ward as Mike Duggan
- Fred Carlton as Jack Dugggan
- Olga Agnew as Mollie Duggan
- Gerald Kay Souper as parliamentarian
- Esther Mitchell as his wife
See Also
- The Hayseeds Come to Sydney (1917)
- The Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show (1917)
- The Hayseeds' Melbourne Cup (1918)
- Townies and Hayseeds (1923)
- Prehistoric Hayseeds (1923)
- The Hayseeds (1933)
References
- ^ "WEST'S PICTURES." The Mail (Adelaide) 29 Sep 1917: 3
- ^ "AUSTRALIAN MOTION PICTURES." The Mail (Adelaide) 3 Feb 1917: 6
- ^ "MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES." The West Australian (Perth) 10 Mar 1917: 10
- ^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 68.
- ^ "MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES." The West Australian (Perth) 10 Mar 1917: 10
External links
Categories:- 1917 films
- Australian films
- English-language films
- Films directed by Beaumont Smith
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