Southern Cross Feature Film Company was a short lived film production company that made some of Australia's most famous silent films, mostly directed by Raymond Longford . One of the key figures behind it was Sir David Gordon.
9-513: The company was incorporated in Adelaide in 1917 and announced they would make five dramas and three comedies over the next 12 months. Another report said they hoped to make "six or eight five reelers" over twelve months. One hundred shares were offered at £1 a share. Their first picture was to be The Black Opal but this does not seem to have been made. They offered cash for Australian stories. According to Raymond Longford, they initially secured
18-499: A child, Boyd Irwin as a man), the adopted child of the owners of Kooringa Station, who already have a daughter Joan. Twelve years later, Ralph Manton (Roland Conway) is sent to Melbourne by his father, but a flooded river forces him to take refuge at the Stockdale's station, where he seduces Joan (Evelyn Black). He goes to Melbourne and lives a playboy lifestyle, and Joan drowns herself in despair. Her brother Philip (Boyd Irwin) finds
27-503: A five-twelfths interest in Southern Cross Picture Productions. Southern Cross Picture Productions Ltd was incorporated in 1920 with a value of £37,600 and directors including E. J. Carroll , Snowy Baker and D. Gordon. The company was at its peak in 1921 with the successful release of The Sentimental Bloke and Ginger Mick . In 1923 there was a trial involving a man who falsely pretended to be from
36-412: Is a 1918 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford . It is a melodrama starring Lottie Lyell . Two-thirds of the movie still survives. The movie consists of eight acts. In Echuca, a woman, Marion Masters (Connie Martyn) is unhappily married to Philip, a former war hero turned abusive drunk. She runs away from her husband with her baby son. Her husband falls on a knife and dies, their home
45-461: Is destroyed in a fire and she collapses in the bush. By the time she is rescued her son has been found by another family who run the station "Kooringa". Marion is taken to a station "Willaroon" owned by widowed Stephen Manton (Charles H Francis), who has two children, Ralph and Marjory. Marion believes her son perished in the bush. She marries Manton and becomes stepmother to his children. Her missing son grows up as Philip Stockdale (Brian Lawrence as
54-414: The body and vows revenge on Ralph. He decides to seduce Ralph's sister, Marjory ( Lottie Lyell ) and abandons her after she becomes pregnant. She becomes mad and tries to abort her baby. Ralph discovers this and vows revenge on Philip – but is shamed when he discovers Philip's identity. Mrs Manton tells Philip the whole story and realises he is her long-lost son. Philip decides to marry Marjory. The movie
63-590: The company to abduct a young woman. In 1925, E. J. Carroll suggested the company make a film adaptation of C. J. Dennis 's The Rose of Spadgers at £1,000-£2,000 but after consideration the company directors elected not to do this. By that stage the company was reporting consistent losses, due in part to its inability to recoup costs incurred in Great Britain and the US. It appears to have wound up shortly afterwards. The Woman Suffers The Woman Suffers
72-416: The serves of American director, Mr Walter May Plank, but he left Australia and Longford was called in instead. Their first feature was the successful The Woman Suffers (1918). which was followed by The Sentimental Bloke . In 1920 the company paid out a dividend of a shilling per share. The company was a subscriber to Carroll-Baker Australian Productions, which made movies starring Snowy Baker , and had
81-821: Was the first film from the Southern Cross Feature Film Company , who hired Raymond Longford to direct. It was shot in South Australia in late 1917 and early 1918. The premiere of The Woman Suffers was held at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide on 23 March 1918, and earned an excellent review in The Advertiser . It was also in other states. However, after running for seven weeks in New South Wales , it
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