''The Sentimental Bloke'' is a 1932 Australian film directed by F. W. Thring and starring Cecil Scott and Ray Fisher. It is an adaptation of the 1915 novel ''

Songs of a Sentimental Bloke ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis. Portions of the work appeared in '' The Bulletin'' between 1909 and 1915, the year the verse novel was completed and published by Angus & Robert ...

'' by

C. J. Dennis Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...

, which had previously been filmed in 1919.

Premise

A larrikin is reformed due to the love of a good woman.

Cast

* Cecil Scott as the Bloke * Ray Fisher as Doreen * Tal Ordell as Ginger Mick *Athol Tier as Artie *Edna Morecombe as Effie *Keith Desmond as Uncle *Dora Mostyn as Ma *William Carroll as the Stror at Coot *Leslie Gordon as Erb *Katie Towers *William Ralston *Barney Egan

Production

Dennis was hired to adapt his own story. Dialogue was rewritten by Dennis in prose and updated to the modern era. It placed greater emphasis on supporting characters than the 1919 film, adding a detective plot about Uncle Jim being conned over his discovery of gold in his orchard. The female lead, Ray Fisher, was signed by Thring to a five-year contract. She later married champion jockey Billy Cook.

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian ...

later claimed he worked on the film as an associate."Raymond Longford", ''Cinema Papers'', January 1974 p51 According to Jack Murray, assistant to cinematographer Arthur Higgins, Thing was a director in name only and the real director was Higgins. It was Efftee's most expensive film.

Reception

The film ran for five weeks at a cinema in Melbourne. Thring later estimated the film earned £2,000 at one theatre alone and it was the third most popular Australian movie of the year after ''On Our Selection'' and ''The Squatter's Daughter''. Thring claimed in the long run he lost £5,000 on the movie due in part because of studio overhead. The film was released in England but received poor reviews.

References

*Fitzpatrick, Peter, ''The Two Frank Thrings'', Monash University, 2012

External links