''The Adorable Outcast'' is a 1928 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

Norman Dawn Norman O. Dawn (25 May 1884 – 2 February 1975) was an early American film director. He made several improvements on the Matte (filmmaking), matte shot to apply it to motion picture, and was the first director to use rear projection in film pro ...

about an adventurer who romances an island girl. The script was based on

Beatrice Grimshaw Beatrice Ethel Grimshaw (3 February 1870 – 30 June 1953) was an Irish writer and traveller. Beginning in 1903, she worked as a travel writer for the ''Daily Graphic'' and ''The Times'', leading her to move to the Territory of Papua, whe ...

's novel ''Conn of the Coral Seas''. It was one of the most expensive films made in Australia until that time, and was Dawn's follow up to ''

For the Term of His Natural Life ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' is a story written by Marcus Clarke and published in '' The Australian Journal'' between 1870 and 1872 (as ''His Natural Life''). It was published as a novel in 1874 and is the best known novelisation of life ...

'' (1927). It did not perform as well at the box office and helped cause

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 ...

to abandon feature film production. For the American market, the film was retitled ''Black Cargoes of the South Seas''.

Synopsis

A young adventurer, Stephen Conn (Edmund Burns) is in love with an island girl, Luya (

Edith Roberts Edith Roberts may refer to: * Edith Roberts (actress), American silent film actress * Edith A. Roberts, American botanist * Edith Roberts (writer) Edith Roberts may refer to: * Edith Roberts (actress) Edith Roberts ( – August 20, 19 ...

). An evil

blackbirder Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people ...

Fursey ( Walter Long) kidnaps Luya to get hands on some gold, but Stephen rescues her with the help of Luya's tribe. When it is revealed that Luya's parents were white, she and Stephen are married.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 144.

Cast

as Luya *

Edmund Burns Edmund Burns (September 27, 1892 – April 2, 1980 ) was an American actor. He was best known for his films of the silent 1920s, particularly ''The Princess from Hoboken'' (1927), '' Made for Love'' (1926), and ''After the Fog'' (1929), althoug ...

as Stephen Conn * Walter Long as Fursey *

Jessica Harcourt Jessica Harcourt (1905–1988) was an Australian mannequin, authoress and actress, best known for playing a leading role in ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' (1927). Biography Jessica Edna Harcourt was born on 7 April 1905 in Woollahra ...

as Diedre Rose *

John Gavin John A. Gavin (born Juan Vincent Apablasa; April 8, 1931 – February 9, 2018) was an American actor who was the president of the Screen Actors Guild (1971–73), and the United States Ambassador to Mexico (1981–86). Among the films he appeared ...

as Carberry *

Katherine Dawn Katherine Dawn (1896-1984) (born Katherine Virginia Madden, and sometimes credited as Susan Denis) was an American actress, screenwriter, and editor active during the 1920s through the 1940s. She was married to director Norman Dawn, who she met ...

as Elizabeth *Arthur McLaglen as Iron Devil *

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 ...

as Mack *Fred Twitcham as Sir John Blackberry *Compton Coutts as Pooch *William O'Hanlon as pearler *Claude Turton as pearler

Production

The big-budget film was shot mostly on location in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

from April to June 1927, with some studio work done at

Bondi Junction Bondi Junction is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Waverley. Bondi Junction is a largely comme ...

in Sydney. The three leads, Edith Roberts, Edmund Burns and Walter Long, were all established Hollywood actors. The ambitious filming schedule involved "500 war canoes and outriggers, and 2000 native warriors dancing in full war dress with clubs and spears".

Reception

The film initially performed strongly at the box office but soon tailed off, and expected overseas success did not eventuate. It was estimated the combined losses of this and Norman Dawn's earlier film, ''

'' (1927) came to £30,000. It was released in the US as ''Black Cargoes of the South Seas''. Fifteen minutes of the film are in the possession of Australia's

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 ...

.''The Adorable Outcast'' at silentera.com
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References

External links

*
''The Adorable Outcast''
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adorable Outcast, The 1928 films Films from Australasian Films Australian drama films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films 1928 drama films Films shot in Fiji Films based on Irish novels Films set on islands Films set in Oceania Films directed by Norman Dawn Silent drama films 1920s English-language films