Harry Southwell (born 1882, date of death unknown) was an Australian actor, writer and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

best known for making films about

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...

. He was born in

Cardiff, Wales Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and spent a couple of years in America, where he adapted some short stories by

O Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the M ...

into two reel films. He worked for Vitagraph in the United States for five years, then moved to Australia in 1919, where he used his experience as a screenwriter to impress investors to back him making features. He set up his own production company in Australia but few of his movies were commercially successful.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 96. He returned to Europe in the 1920s, where he made a British-Belgian film called ''The Bells'' (1925), with himself in the lead role of Mathias the innkeeper. The film took five months to shoot. He later returned to Australia in 1931, where he worked for Australian Players. He made at least three Australian films about the famous outlaw

, and near the end of his career remade ''The Bells'' in 1935 as ''The Burgomeister''.

Feature films

*''

The Kelly Gang ''The Kelly Gang'' is an Australian feature-length film about the Australian bush ranger, Ned Kelly. The film was released in 1920, and is the second film to be based on the life of Ned Kelly, the first being ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'', re ...

'' (1920) *'' The Hordern Mystery'' (1920) *''

When the Kellys Were Out ''When the Kellys Were Out'' is an Australian feature-length film directed by Harry Southwell about Ned Kelly. Only part of the film survives today. Plot Constable Fitzpatrick arrives at the Kelly house, to accuse Dan Kelly of cattle duffing. ...

'' (1923) *''

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

'' (1924) *''The Bells'' (aka ''Le juif polonais'') (1925) *''The Seventh Commandment'' (1925) *''

Down Under The term ''Down Under'' is a colloquialism which is differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or Pacific Island countries collectively.Oxford English Dictionary (Electronic), Version 4.0, entry fordown under. The dictionary ...

'' (1927) *'' When the Kellys Rode'' (1934) *''

The Burgomeister ''The Burgomeister'' is a 1935 Australian film directed by Harry Southwell based on the 1867 play ''Le juif polonais'' (aka '' The Bells'') by Erckmann-Chatrian, adapted into English in 1871 by Leopold Lewis, previously filmed a number of times ...

'' (1935), a remake of ''The Bells'' (1925) *''

A Message to Kelly A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'' (1947) (abandoned)

Unmade projects

*''The Sick Stockrider''

References

External links

*
Harry Southwell
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 ...

Photographs of Harry Southwell
at

Australian film directors 1882 births Year of death missing Australian male actors Welsh emigrants to Australia {{Australia-actor-stub