''The Hayseeds' Melbourne Cup'' is a 1918 Australian rural comedy 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 t ...

. It was the fourth in his series about the rural family, the Hayseeds, and centers on Dad Hayseed entering his horse in the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...

. 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

Dad Hayseed buys a horse for £20 called Cornstalk and it starts winning so many local races he decides to enter it in the

. He is accompanied by his son Jim (the trainer), cousin Harold (jockey) and Mum Hayseed. Jim falls in love with an actress, and Mum has a nightmare about washing steps of Parliament House. On the race day, Mum boils a billy at Flemington and Cornstalk wins the race despite the efforts of a crooked bookmaker.

Cast

* Fred MacDonald as Jim Hayseed *

Tal Ordell Talone Ordell (1880–1948), better known as Tal Ordel, was an Australian actor, writer and director. Ordell was probably born in Calcutta, India, seventh child of Victorian-born parents William Odell Raymond Buntine, drover, and his wife Susanna, ...

as Dad Hayseed *Harry McDonna as Cousin Harold *Gladys Leigh as Mrs Hayseed * Guy Hastings *Ethel Grist *Mattie Ive *Jessie Dale *Driscoll

Production

Each of the first four Hayseeds movies had been filmed in a different state to maximise box-office appeal. This one was shot in Melbourne

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in November 1917. It included footage from the real 1917 Melbourne Cup Carnival, as well as Parliament House, Flinders Street Station, Collins Street, Bourke Street, and the stables belonging to famous horse trainer

James Scobie James Scobie (29 November 1826 – 7 October 1854) was a Scottish gold digger murdered at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. His death was associated with a sequence of events which led to the Eureka Rebellion. At the later Supreme Court trial in ...

."ENTERTAINMENTS." ''The Brisbane Courier'' 26 Apr 1918: 11
/ref> It was followed by ''

Townies and Hayseeds ''Townies and Hayseeds'' is a 1923 Australian film comedy from director Beaumont Smith. It is the fifth in his series about the rural family the Hayseeds. It is considered a lost film. Synopsis City-dweller Pa Townie goes to the country for a ...

''.

References

External links

''The Hayseeds' Melbourne Cup''
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, ...

''The Hayseeds Melbourne Cup''
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 ...

1918 films Films directed by Beaumont Smith Lost Australian films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films Australian comedy films 1918 comedy films 1918 lost films Lost comedy films Silent comedy films {{Australia-silent-film-stub