''The Hero of the Dardanelles'' is a 1915 Australian film directed by Alfred Rolfe, made as a patriotic war recruiting film.

Plot

Will Brown ( Guy Hastings) enlists in the Australian Army after the outbreak of World War I. He goes through training at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, near

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and encourages other men to join up, putting up a recruiting poster. A pacifist tears the poster down but Will sees him off. Before leaving Australia, he proposes to Lily Branton (Loma Rossmore). Arriving in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, Will is stationed at Mena camp near the Great Pyramid at Giza, and trains with the other troops. They then move to

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

, where Will takes part in the first wave ashore on 25 April 1915. He fights a Turkish sniper hand to hand and drowns him. He returns home wounded and marries Lily. The film ends with a call for Australian men to enlist.

Cast

*Guy Hastings as William Brown *Loma Rossmore as Lily Brunton *C. Throoby as Mr. Brown *Ruth Wainwright as Mrs. Brown *Fred Francis as Gordon Brown

Production

The movie was the first feature from

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 ...

since 1912, although they had made newsreels and short films during that time. It was a sequel to '' Will they Never Come?'' (1915), using many of the same cast and crew. It too was made with the co-operation of the Department of Defence. The film was written by the same team who had done ''Will They Never Come?''. Co-writer Phil Gell allegedly wanted to enlist but was asked not to until he had written this film. Some commentators believe Australasian Films were partly motivated to make the movie to ensure government protection of the film industry during the war. The landing at

was restaged with one thousand real troops from Liverpool Camp at Tamarama Beach in

. Lead actor Guy Hastings was at the time best known for appearing on stage in

Bert Bailey Albert Edward Bailey (11 June 1868 – 30 March 1953), better known as Bert Bailey, was a New Zealand-born Australian playwright, theatrical manager and stage and screen actor best known for playing Dad Rudd, in both mediums, the character from ...

's production of ''

On Our Selection ''On Our Selection'' (1899) is a series of stories written by Australian author Steele Rudd, the pen name of Arthur Hoey Davis, in the late 1890s, featuring the characters Dad and Dave Rudd. The original edition of the book was illustrated by ...

''. The original film ran for approximately 4,000 feet (59 minutes at 18 frames per second), but only 21 minutes survives.

Reception

The film was very popular at the box office and was screened to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

. A copy was placed in the archives of Federal Parliament. It was used as a recruiting tool, taken around the country by members of the armed forces for special screenings. Footage from the film was later used in the movie ''

The Spirit of Gallipoli ''The Spirit of Gallipoli'' is a 1928 silent Australian film. Originally running at 5,000 feet length only 1,554 feet survive.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford Uni ...

'' (1928).

References

External links

* *''The Hero of the Dardanelles'' at th
Australian screen''The Hero of the Dardanelles''
at the

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 Hero of the Dardanelles''
at

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

Original script
at National Archives of Australia {{DEFAULTSORT:Hero of the Dardanelles, The 1915 films 1915 drama films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films Films directed by Alfred Rolfe Australian drama films 1910s English-language films Silent drama films