Plot
Shopgirl Mary Turner ( Muriel Starr) is wrongly accused of theft due to her employer, powerful businessman Edward Guilder, and is sent to prison. On her release she joins forces with another woman and executes a series of scams by securing money from wealthy men with breach of promise suits. She targets Dick Guilder, her enemy's son, but finds herself falling in love with him. Dick is framed for an underworld killing but this is solved. Mary is cleared of her original crime and realises she loves Dick.Cast
* Muriel Starr as Mary TurnerDevelopment
The film is based on a popular play which was later filmed in 1917,Production
The film version was shot primary on the stage of the Theatre Royal in Melbourne.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 58 W.J. Lincoln worked on the script and assisted Monte Luke with direction. Filming was completed by September 1915. Muriel Starr would shoot the film in the morning while rehearsing another play, ''Under Cover'', in the afternoon and acting in yet another play, ''The Law of the Land'', that night. While most of the film was shot in the studio, there was some location shooting including at Buckley and Nunn's store in Bourke Street.Marsden, Ralph. 'The Old Tin Shed in Exhibition Street': The J. C. Williamson Studio, Melbourne's Forgotten Film Factory nline Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, No. 157, 2008: 144-153. Availability:Cast of revival
* Muriel Starr as Mary Turner * Florence Heston as Agnes Lynch * Gertrude Boswell as Helen Morris * Sydney Stirling as Joe Garson * Clarence Blakiston as Richard Gilder * Lincoln Plumer as Police Inspector Burke * Boyd Irinw as Detective Sergeant Cassidy * George Bryant as Edward Gilder * Harry Sweeney as The Stool Pigeon * Dorothy Davies as Gilder's Private Secretary * H. W. Varna as The Lawyer * Horace Book as Gilder's ClerkReception
According to a review in ''Motion Picture News'', "the picture suffers in comparison with the speaking version, but nevertheless affords good entertainment. The photographer, W. J. Lincoln, has given the best effects possible. Monte Luke directed the filming of the production." The movie was not received well at the box office although it ran for a fortnight at the Paramount Theatre, Melbourne. Film historian Ralph Marsden later wrote that "of for four stage adaptations filmed by the JCW Studio it seems likely that ''Within the Law'' was the best". It was also released before ''Get Rich Quick Wallingford'' and ''Officer 666'', even though those two films were filmed earlier. Muriel Starr continued to appear in revivals of the play throughout her career. After the film was completed, it was announced Lincoln was writing another movie for Starr directed by Luke, but this does not appear to have been made.References
External links
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