''Ginger Mick'' is a 1920 Australian

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

directed by

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian ...

based on ''The Moods of Ginger Mick'' by

C. J. Dennis Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...

, which had sold over 70,000 copies. It is a sequel to ''

The Sentimental Bloke ''The Sentimental Bloke'' is a 1918 Australian silent film based on the 1915 verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' by C. J. Dennis. Produced and directed by Raymond Longford, the film stars Arthur Tauchert, Gilbert Emery, and Lottie Ly ...

'' (1919) and is considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

Plot

The adventures of Ginger Mick (

Gilbert Emery Gilbert Emery Bensley Pottle (June 11, 1875 – October 28, 1945), known professionally as Gilbert Emery, was an American actor who appeared in over 80 movies from 1921 to his death in 1945. He was also a playwright, author of seven Broadway pla ...

) take him from slums and backyards to lock-ups and racecourses. He romances Rose, works as a rabbitoh and enlists to fight in World War I. He writes letters back to his old friend, the Bloke ( Arthur Tauchert) now married to Doreen (

Lottie Lyell Lottie Lyell (born Charlotte Edith Cox, 23 February 1890 – 21 December 1925) was an Australian actress, screenwriter, editor and filmmaker. She is regarded as Australia's first film star, and also contributed to the local industry during the ...

) with a young son, Bill. Mick makes friends with a fellow soldier, Keith, and is eventually killed at Gallipoli on the hills of Sari Bair.

Cast

as Ginger Mick * Arthur Tauchert as the Bloke *

as Doreen *Queenie Cross *Jack Tauchert as Bill

Production

E. J. Carroll wanted a sequel to ''The Sentimental Bloke'' so Longford came up with the idea of combining two poems by C. J. Dennis, ''The Moods of Ginger Mick'' and ''Doreen''. According to a later account in ''Everyone's'' there was a humorous incident during filming "the famous "duck and fowl" scene, in which Ginger wrecks the Chinese restaurant where the "straw-hat coot" is eating." The article described:

At nine o’clock about two dozen Chinese arrived, accompanied by half a dozen real policemen off duty—the latter counterfieiting the real thing in the film. Every thing was ready when "props" discovered that he had forgotten the ducks. A halt was called, while messenges scoured the city for ducks—not an easy, job on a Saturday, with the markets closed. The problem was what to do with the "Chows" in the interim. The actors entertained themselves, but the Celestials seemed nervous, and likely to beat a retreat any minute. They were hastily herded into the projection room, and an ancient film run through for their edification. Twice and three times the operator put it through, and still no ducks. Someone suggested running it back wards as most of the "Chinks" announced their intention of going home. However they were persuaded to stay. And the hours dragged on. Finally, about half past one, a perspiring property man arrived with the feathered actors, and all was well. The scene was set, the actors took their places and the director called for his Chinese atmosphere. They filed into the studio one by one. The heat was terrific, the afternoon sun blazing down on the one glass side. They took a look round, and with a unanimous grunt of "Too ho!” they filed out. Double pay was the only inducement by which they could be persuaded to continue their work.

Release

The film was popular at the box office and generally well reviewed. It was released in Britain. The critic to ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' said that:

The selection of types, incidents and environment... has been highly intelligent; so that one gets not only a complete idea of the author's story, but apt material presentments of the sort of people of whom Mr. Dennis writes, besides glimpses of the rough haunts and byways where the "fraternity" flourish. Mr. Gilbert W. Emery, who is cast as "Ginger Mick", has quite obviously made a painstaking study of his part, and has succeeded in embodying as many of the bizarre indigenous elements peculiar to that uncommon Australian city type."

'' Table Talk'' called the film:

A triumph in the art of natural production, and promises to make an even greater appeal to picture-goers than its famous predecessor. Apart from the natural acting of Gilbert Warren-Emery... there are several unrehearsed incidents in the film, one being a "dinkum scrap" between two kiddies who were striving for front places during the taking of a street scene. The "Bloke" and "Doreen" figure largely in the film, and Arthur Tauchert and Lottie Lyell are as big a hit as ever in these parts.

References

External links

*
''Ginger Mick''
at National Film and Sound Archive
''Ginger Mick''
at Silent Era

{{Raymond Longford 1920 films Australian drama films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films Lost Australian films Films directed by Raymond Longford 1920 drama films 1920 lost films Lost drama films Silent drama films