The Story of the Kelly Gang

The Story of the Kelly Gang
A still from the film showing one of the actors in a Kelly suit of armour.
Directed by	Charles Tait
Produced by	W.A. Gibson Millard Johnson John Tait Nevin Tait
Written by	Charles Tait
Based on	the play The Kelly Gang
Starring	Nicholas Brierley Elizabeth Tait John Tait
Release date(s)	26 December 1906
Running time	60 min (approx.)
Country	Australia
Budget	£ 1,125[1]
Box office	£25,000[2]

The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian 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).^[3] It was first shown at the Athenaeum Hall in Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia on 26 December 1906 and in the UK in January 1908.^[4][5]

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.^[6] It is recognized in the film industry as being the first feature film ever made.

Only about 10 minutes^[7] 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 intertitles, 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.^[8]

Plot

The Story of the Kelly Gang's 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.^[9] 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…” ^[9]

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.^[10] 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.^[5]

Cast

Still image of film.

• Nicholas Brierley as Joe Byrne
• Elizabeth Tait as Kate Kelly
• John Tait as School Master
• Bella Cola
• Vera Linden
• Frank Mills as Ned Kelly
• E.J. Tait as Extra
• Frank Tait as Extra

Screenings

Still image of film

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.^[6]

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.

Other Ned Kelly films

• The Kelly Gang (1920)
• When the Kellys Were Out (1923)
• When the Kellys Rode (1934)
• A Message to Kelly (1947)
• The Glenrowan Affair (1951)
• Stringybark Massacre (1967)
• Ned Kelly (1970)
• Reckless Kelly (1993) (Satire)
• Ned Kelly (2003)
• Ned (2003) (Satire)

See also

• Cinema of Australia

References

1. ^ 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.
2. ^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 7.
3. ^ Ray Edmondson and Andrew Pike (1982) Australia's Lost Films. P.13. National Library of Australia, Canberra. ISBN 0 642 99251 7
4. ^ The Argus, 27 December 1906
5. ^ ^{a b} Ina Bertrand and Ken Robb (1982) "The continuing saga of...The Story of the Kelly Gang." Cinema Papers, No. 36, February 1982, p.18-22
6. ^ ^{a b} Eric Reade (1975) The Australian Screen. P. 28-30, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne. ISBN 07018 0319 3. Reade claims the film only cost £400 to make
7. ^ Hogan, David (2006-02-07). "World's first 'feature' film to be digitally restored by National Film and Sound Archive" (Press release). National Film and Sound Archive. http://www.nfsa.gov.au/the_collection/collection_spotlights/kelly_gang_essay.html. Retrieved 2010-05-13. 
8. ^ Chichester, Jo. "Return of the Kelly Gang". The UNESCO Courier (UNESCO) (2007 #5). ISSN 1993-8616. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=37899&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. 
9. ^ ^{a b} http://www.nfsa.gov.au/services/kellygang_digital_stills.html This site also shows the original poster for the film
10. ^ http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/provcasts/images/NedKellyPosterBefore2.jpg

External links

• The Story of the Kelly Gang at the Internet Movie Database
• The Story of the Kelly Gang at AllRovi
• 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 Online
• Shirley Jackson and Graham Shirley describe the restoration of The Story of the Kelly Gang