''Jewelled Nights'' is a 1925 Australian

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized 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) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

directed by the film star

Louise Lovely Louise Lovely (born Nellie Louise Carbasse; 28 February 1895 – 18 March 1980) was an Australian film actress of Swiss-Italian descent. She is credited by film historians for being the first Australian actress to have a successful career i ...

in collaboration with her husband

Wilton Welch Wilton Welch (born c. 1884 as William Harry Welch or William Harrie Welch) was an Australian comic actor and dramatist, husband and collaborator of Louise Carbasse, best known as Louise Lovely. History Welch was born in Cooma, New South Wales ...

. Only part of the film survives today.

Synopsis

After her father's death, socialite Elaine Fleetwood promises to marry a man she does not love. However, she leaves him at the altar during a wedding ceremony, cuts her hair and decides to disguise herself as a boy and go prospecting in northwest Tasmania. She meets a handsome miner who figures out she is a woman, saves her from a villain and marries her.

Cast

as Elaine Fleetwood *

Gordon Collingridge Gordon Collingridge was an Australian actor during the silent film era. He played many matinee idol type roles, most notably for director Beaumont Smith and opposite Louise Lovely in ''Jewelled Nights'' (1925). Lovely called him "the male screen ...

as Larry Salarno *

Godfrey Cass Godfrey Cass (1867 – 14 May 1951) was an Australian actor in the silent era. Between 1906 and 1935 he acted in nineteen film roles. He played Ned Kelly three times, and also had roles in a number of other bushranger movies including '' A Tale ...

as Tiger Sam *Arthur Styan as Crank Ned *Grafton Williams as Red Roof * John Dobbie as Tiny Tim *Charles Brown as Gus *Harry Halley as wowser *Leslie Woods as Robert Milton *Robert Morgan as Sir John Fleetwood *Clifford Miller as Richard Fleetwood * George Bryant as Dr Mason *Reg Leslie as Frank Reid *Frank Dunn as Dr Hughes *Katrina Barry as Lady Fleetwood *Lucille de Rago as Netta *Joy Law as Nora Foster *Jean Foulis as Yvette

Production

The film was made by Lovely after her return from Hollywood in 1924. She and her husband helped set up a company, Louise Lovely Productions, worth £30,000. Among her backers were several businessmen who worked with

Arthur Shirley Arthur Shirley (31 August 1886 – 24 November 1967) was an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director of theatre and film. He experienced some success as a film actor in Hollywood between 1914 and 1920. Biography Early life Born Hen ...

's Pyramid Pictures. They constructed an elaborate £3,000 studio which contained several large sets, and shot on location at

Flemington Racecourse Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, which is the world's richest handicap and the world's richest 3200-metre horse race. The racecou ...

and in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. This caused to budget to spiral. The sets were used to film a storm in the Tasmanian rain forest.

Reception

''Jewelled Nights'' premiered in Tasmania at The Strand, which was attended by

Marie Bjelke Petersen Marie Caroline Bjelke Petersen (23 December 1874 – 11 October 1969) was a Danish-Australian novelist and physical culture teacher. She wrote nine popular romance novels between 1917 and 1937. Her novels were set in Australia, mostly in rural ...

, who wrote the original novel, and future-

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...

(then-

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of Ta ...

), who commended her writing achievements for promoting Tasmania abroad. The film was well attended at first, being seen by an estimated 350,000 people in Melbourne and 9,000 in Hobart. However it was unable to recover its costs. Lovely partly attributed to this to the amount of money taken by distributors and exhibitors – she claimed that in one week in Melbourne the film took £1,565 out of which the producers received £382. Lovely subsequently retired from filming and divorced Welch.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 129.

Reconstruction

Only two minutes of the film were thought to have survived, along with stills taken during shooting. However using photographic reconstruction, newly found footage, animation and a copy of the original novel annotated by Lovely, archivists have manage to reconstruct 20 minutes of the film. This plays daily at the Gaiety Theatre in

Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan, and neighbouring mining towns of Dundas, Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater ...

(part of the

West_Coast_Heritage_Centre West Coast Heritage Centre (formerly known as the West Coast Pioneers Museum) is a complex of buildings and collections in Main Street of Zeehan, Tasmania in West Coast Tasmania in Australia. The complex and centre are currently (2016) managed b ...

), near where the movie was shot.Browyn Purvis, Gaiety theatre grand gala', ABC Northern Tasmania, 19 April 2011
/ref>

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0190491
''Jewelled Nights''
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 ...

1925 drama films 1925 films 1925 lost films Australian drama films Australian black-and-white films Australian silent feature films Films based on Australian novels Films set in Tasmania Lost Australian films Lost drama films Silent drama films 1920s English-language films