''The Hayseeds Come to Sydney'' (also known as ''The Hayseeds Come to Town'') is a 1917 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 ...

. The second in the Hayseeds series of movies, 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

In Stoney Creek, Dad 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, ...

) wins £5,000 in the lottery and decides to take his family to Sydney. The group includes him, Mum, Sam, Jim ( Fred MacDonald), Poppy, Molly, Bubs, Peter, Peter and Cousin Harold. They visit shops, theatres, the gardens, Town Hall,

Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo is a zoo located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Sydney Harbour. The opening hours are between 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful water view'. It ...

and White City. Someone tells them to walk in the middle of the road so none of the footpads that are supposed to wait around the corners could sandbag them. Dad goes surfing at Manly Beach and needs to be rescued. The family meet Norah, a country girl who has gone to work at a low-class Woolloomooloo pub. Dad rescues Norah from the hands of some bad characters. Later on, Dad is enticed to the pub buy two spielers on the pretense that Norah needs him, and is drugged. Norah discovers the plot and tells Jim Hayseed and the rest of the boys, who arrive just in time to save Dad after a brawl. Dad then gets a letter from Tom announcing that old Spotty the cow has got a calf and that Mum's eggs are hatching. This makes them get homesick and they go home.

Cast

* Fred MacDonald as Jim Hayseed *

as Dad Hayseed *Harry McDonna as Cousin Harold *Gladys Leigh as Mrs Hayseed *H.H. Wallace *Jack Lennon *Connie Metters *Vera Spaull *Cecil Haines *Mattie Ive *

as man on railway station

Production

After '' Our Friends, the Hayseeds'', Smith was able to pre-sell this sequel to forty Sydney theatres by the end of that month. This was the first film made by stage actor Fred MacDonald who played Dave Rudd on stage and in several films, notably for

Ken G. Hall Kenneth George Hall, AO, OBE (22 February 1901 – 8 February 1994), better known as Ken G. Hall, was an Australian film producer and director, considered one of the most important figures in the history of the Australian film industry. ...

. The part of Jim Hayseed was similar to Dave Rudd. The movie was filmed in and around Sydney in May 1917, with plenty of scenes of local landmarks such as

and White City. It was claimed 100,000 people saw the movie being shot. During filming the sequence at Manly Beach,

almost drowned and had to be rescued by the cameraman.

Release

The film was retitled ''The Hayseeds Come to Town'' in markets outside Sydney. It was followed by ''

The Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show ''The Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show'' is a 1917 Australian rural comedy from director Beaumont Smith. It was the third in his series about the rural family, the Hayseeds. It is considered a lost film. Synopsis Dad Hayseed and his friends from Stone ...

''.

References

External links

*
''The Hayseeds Come to 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:Hayseeds Come To Sydney, The 1917 films Films directed by Beaumont Smith Lost Australian films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films Australian comedy films 1917 comedy films 1917 lost films Lost comedy films Silent comedy films