''The Burgomeister'' is a 1935 Australian film directed by

Harry Southwell Harry Southwell (born 1882, date of death unknown) was an Australian actor, writer and film director best known for making films about Ned Kelly. He was born in Cardiff, Wales and spent a couple of years in America, where he adapted some short ...

based on the 1867 play ''Le juif polonais'' (aka '' The Bells'') by

Erckmann-Chatrian Erckmann-Chatrian was the name used by French authors Émile Erckmann (1822–1899) and Alexandre Chatrian (1826–1890), nearly all of whose works were jointly written.Mary Ellen Snodgrass, ''Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature''. New York, Facts ...

, adapted into English in 1871 by Leopold Lewis, previously filmed a number of times. ''The Burgomeister'' (1935) is considered a 'substantially lost' film, with only one sequence surviving. Southwell had performed the play in Europe, and had previously filmed it in Belgium (1925) as ''Le juif polonais'' (''The Bells''). This silent film version was shown in Australia in 1928.

Cast

as Mathias *

Janet Ramsey Johnson Janet Johnson, Lady Birkin (29 November 1914 – 18 December 1983) was an Australian born actress who briefly achieved fame on stage and in films in Australia and Britain before marrying British gothic writer Charles Birkin in 1940. She was born ...

as Annette *Muriel Meredith as Catherine *Lily Molloy as Sozel * Stan Tolhurst as the Polish Jew *Gabriel Toyne as Fritz *Ross Vernon as Christian *Harold Meade as Father Walter *Bertie Wright as Heinrich *Leslie Victor as Hans *Judy Eccles as Baby Annette *Paul Furness as hypnotist *James Toohey as witness *Jane Munro as Marie *Alf Scarlett *Reginald Riddell

Production

Southwell wanted to make the 1935 remake for less than £4,000. He formed a production company in April 1935 called Film Players Corporation. Among its directors were Sir John Butters, a director of Associated Newspapers, and W.J. Bradley, K.C. and society figure George Rayner. Production began in June 1935 at Cinesound's Bondi studios. It ended in July with a cost of £10,000. The original music score was by

Isador Goodman Isador Goodman AM (27 May 19092 December 1982), frequently misspelled Isidor Goodman, was a South African-Australian Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. He became a household name in Australia in the 1930s-1970s, taught at the New South Wal ...

, and costumes by Barbara Robison. Rupert Kathner worked as art director. The final scenes of the film were shot in the snow on

Mount Kosciuszko Mount Kosciuszko ( ; Ngarigo: , ), previously spelled Mount Kosciusko, is mainland Australia's tallest mountain, at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. It is located on the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National ...

. Cameraman George Heath worked under difficult conditions including freezing cold and a blizzard.

Release

During pre-production,

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

signed to distribute the movie in Australia and Britain. The film was refused registration under the quality clause of the New South Wales

Film Quota Act The Film Quota Act, full title the New South Wales Cinematograph Films (Australian Quota) Act was an act of legislation passed in September 1935 that came into force on 1 January 1936. Under the Act it was compulsory that in the first year of opera ...

. It was previewed on 29 September 1935 but was not screened commercially. This caused the investors to lose their money, an event which was blamed for scaring Australian investors away from putting their money into local films. A re-edited version of the film called ''Hypnotized'' screened in some country areas. In 1937 the move was released in the UK as ''Flames of Conscience''.

References

External links

''The Burgomeister''
at

IMDb 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 Burgomeister''
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 ...

''The Burgomeister''
at Oz Movies
''The Burgomeister''
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 ...

Complete copy of original script
at

National Archives of Australia The National Archives of Australia (NAA), formerly known as the Commonwealth Archives Office and Australian Archives, is an Australian Government agency that serves as the national archives of the nation. It collects, preserves and encourages ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgomeister, The Lost Australian films Australian black-and-white films Australian comedy films 1935 comedy films Censorship in Australia 1935 lost films Lost comedy films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Harry Southwell

Cast

Production

Release

See also

References

External links