''£500 Reward'' is a 1918 Australian silent film starring, written, produced, financed and directed by Claude Flemming who later described it as "a very lurid melodrama".

Synopsis

A "five-act" drama about a couple who travel from the Rocky Mountains to Seattle then wind up shipwrecked en route to Queensland. The heroine Irene is kidnapped by a ship captain and winds up wrecked on the Queensland coast. She is rescued by the hero.

Cast

* Claude Flemming as Jack * John Faulkner as Captain Wolff Forrest * Renée Adorée as Irene * Barry Lupino *Lorna Ambler *David Edelsten

Production

The film was written, produced, directed and financed by Claude Flemming. It was reported to be the first feature film to include footage of Mount Kosciuszko, which stood in for Canada. Scenes were also shot at Bermagui, on board an American sailing ship visiting Sydney, and at Rushcutters Bay studio. The cast included Renée Adorée, who was then a dancer touring Australia on the

Tivoli circuit The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian vaudeville entertainment circuit featuring revue, opera, ballet, dance, singing, musical comedy, old time black and white minstrel and even Shakespeare which flourished from 1893 to th ...

with an act called "The Magneys", and subsequently went on to star in '' The Big Parade'' (1925). John Faulkner and Claude Flemming reputedly clashed during the film over interpretation.

Reception

The film ran for two weeks in a cinema in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Flemming then had to go overseas to London and by the time he came back he was unable to locate a copy of the negative and the movie was thought to be lost until a copy was found in a basement in 1938. During the 1920s Flemming tried to re-register the film under a different, more saleable title, but was refused six times by the New South Wales censorship board. The other titles he attempted to use were, ''The Lure of a Woman'', ''Primal Passion'', ''When Men Desire'', ''The Auction of Virtue'', ''The Reckless Lover'', and ''A Romance of Two Worlds''.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 84.

References

External links

*
''£500 Reward''
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:500 pound Redward 1918 films Silent Australian drama films Australian black-and-white films Australian silent feature films 1910s rediscovered films 1918 drama films Melodrama films Rediscovered Australian films Films directed by Claude Flemming