''Satan in Sydney'' is a 1918 Australian melodrama from director

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 ...

. It was his first movie which was not about the rural family, the Hayseeds. It is considered 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 ...

Synopsis

Country girl Anne Maxwell is receiving lessons from choir master Karl Krona, who is secretly a German sympathiser. Her step-sister, Betty Benton, tells Anne's father that she overheard Anne arranging to meet up with Krona in private. Mr Maxwell visits the church along with a minister and discovers Krona trying to kiss Anne against her will. Krona is fired from his job and Mr Maxwell tells Anne to leave home. She decides to make her living in Sydney and is followed there by her lover, Will Waybrn, who saves her from a house of ill repute. War breaks out and Anne decides to become a nurse and serve overseas. Krona shaves off his moustache to pass as a Belgian and establishes an

opium den An opium den was an establishment in which opium was sold and smoked. Opium dens were prevalent in many parts of the world in the 19th century, most notably China, Southeast Asia, North America, and France. Throughout the West, opium dens were fr ...

in Chinatown to lure soldiers on the way to the front into deserting. He tricks Anne into entering it by forging a message from Betty Benton, but she is rescued by Will and his friends from the AIF. She eventually goes overseas to France, where she tends an injured Will; they are married and she is reunited with her father. The flirtatious Betty reforms; Krona is interned; and Anne and Will help recruiting while on honeymoon.

Cast

*Elsie Prince as Anne Maxwell *George Edwards as Will Wayburn * Charles Villiers as Karl Kroner *Zoe Angas *Ruth Wainwright *Gladys Leigh *

Percy Walshe The English surname Percy is of Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came into use ...

*Eileen Dawn *Edward Jenner *D.L. Dalziel *Gerald Harcourt *Mick Travey

Production

Beaumont Smith had toured a play about Anglo-Chinese in 1914 called ''Mr Wu''. The film was made in Sydney.

Release

The film had its first screening in Sydney at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney, at 11pm on 15 July 1918. One hour later, Inspector Fullerton ordered management to remove all billing and reported to the chief of police that certain parts of the film were likely to be objectionable to the Chinese community, and others would prejudice recruiting. On 17 July the State Censor Board viewed the film and passed it without alteration. The State Recruiting Committee and military censor also watched the film and had no objections with it. The resulting publicity helped make the movie very popular at the box office. The Chinese community, led by merchant William Yinson Lee, later complained that the film's advertising was offensive to Chinese. Some posters were accordingly removed.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 81.

References

External links

''Satan in Sydney''
in the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Satan in Sydney''
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:Satan In Sydney 1918 films Films directed by Beaumont Smith Lost Australian films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films 1918 drama films Australian drama films Melodrama films 1918 lost films Lost drama films Silent drama films