''Joe'' is a 1924 Australian silent film comedy directed by

Beaumont Smith Frank Beaumont "Beau" Smith (15 August 1885 – 2 January 1950), was an Australian film director, producer and exhibitor, best known for making low-budget comedies. Smith made his first film in 1917, '' Our Friends, the Hayseeds''. He went on t ...

based on the stories of Henry Lawson about the character Joe Wilson. It is believed to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

Plot

Mary Brand (Constance Graham), the young housekeeper at old Black's station, becomes the wife of Joe Wilson (

Arthur Tauchert Arthur Michael Tauchert (pronounced "Torcher") (21 August 1877 – 27 November 1933) was an Australian acrobatic comedian, dancer, singer, film actor, and star of the Australian silent movie, ''The Sentimental Bloke'' (1919). Biography Born in ...

), the painter. The couple take up farming, but Joe leaves on a business visit to Sydney, and becomes entangled in the affairs of his sister-in-law Barbara ( Marie Lorraine), who has been instrumental in the destruction of a dress belonging to her employers. Joe pays for the dress and takes Barbara back to the bush. Barbara reconciles with Harry Black, old Black's son, who has lately ended an unhappy marriage. Barbara and Harry fall in love. Action sequences include a bushfire and a ball in the city.

Cast

as Joe Wilson * Marie Lorraine as Barbara *Constance Graham as Mary Brand *

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 ...

*Fernande Butler *Hal Scott *

Dunstan Webb Dunstan Webb was an Australian actor and director, who was a particular favourite of Australasian Films. Filmography *''In the Last Stride'' (1916) – actor *''The Breaking of the Drought'' (1920) – actor *''The Man from Snowy River (1920 film ...

Production

The movie was the film debut of Marie Lorraine, one of the famous McDonagh sisters. It was shot in June 1924 on location in the Burragorang Valley near Sydney, with interiors at the Rushcutter's Bay studio of

Australasian Films Australasian Films, full name Union Theatres and Australasian Films, was an Australian film distribution and production company formed in 1913 that was wound up in the 1930s to merge into Greater Union. The Union Theatres and Australasian Films d ...

. The ball scene was shot at the Ambassador's Dance Palais over a one-day 14-hour shoot.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 121. The film was known before production as When the World Was Wide and was shot in the under the title Plain Joe.

Reception

The film received better reviews than most of Smith's work and was reportedly a box office success.

References

External links

*
''Joe''
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 ...