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The Enemy Within (1918 film)

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The Enemy Within
Mirror 8 March 1918
Directed byRoland Stavely
Written byFranklyn Barrett
Story byRoland Stavely
Produced byRock Phillips
Franklyn Barrett
StarringSnowy Baker
CinematographyFranklyn Barrett
Production
company
Spencers Ltd[2]
Release date
  • 9 March 1918 (1918-03-09)[1]
Running time
61 minutes
CountryAustralia
Languages

The Enemy Within is a 1918 Australian silent film starring renowned Australian sportsman Snowy Baker in his first screen role.[3]

Unlike many Australian silent movies, it is possible to see the full film today.[4] It was one of the best known early Australian films.[5]

Synopsis

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Jack Airlie is a secret agent who has worked for four years abroad. He returns to Australia after four years away and falls for Myree Brew, beautiful daughter of his oldest friend, Mrs Drew. Rich businessman Henry Brasels is also in love with Myree.

Brasels is running a gang of German saboteurs, including radical leader Bill Warne, who is planning to set off a series of bombs. Brasels lures Jack into a trap but he manages to escape with the help of his sidekick, detective Jimmy Cook. Brasels kidnaps Myee and tries to get on board a German ship. however Jack manages to climb down a steep cliff and rescue her, as the Coastal Patrol capture Warne and Warne.

Cast

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  • Snowy Baker as Jack Airlie
  • John Faulkner as Henry Brasels
  • Lily Molloy as Myree Drew
  • Nellie Calvin as Claire Lerode
  • Billy Ryan as Bill Warne
  • Sandy McVea as Jimmy Cook
  • Lily Rochefort as Mrs Drew
  • Gerald Harcourt as Glassop
  • Marjory Donovan as the child

Production

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The story was by Roland Stavely, a stage director for J. C. Williamson Ltd.[6] Franklyn Barrett turned it into a scenario and produced with Rock Phillips.[7]

The story was partly inspired by the real-life raid of the SMS Wolf in the Pacific during World War I, and the sinking of the Cumberland off Gabo Island.[8][9] The villains were based on the Industrial Workers of the World, and shown to be operating in Sydney high society, although allusion to the IWW was indirect.[10]

The filmmakers had trouble getting hold of a male lead until they approacher Snowy Baker. Stavley raised the finance and directed.[7]

Filming started in December 1917. The film featured plenty of action sequences to demonstrate Baker's physical prowess, including climbing down a 300-foot cliff, leaping from a moving car, diving 80-foot into Sydney harbour at Coogee Bay and hand-to-hand fighting.[11][12][13]

The part of Snowy Baker's assistant was played by Sandy McVea, an aboriginal boxer.[14] It has been called the first significant performance by an Aboriginal actor in an Australian film.[7]

A fight scene was reportedly shot for twenty minutes, causing injury to several participants.[15]

Female lead Lily Molloy had started her career aged fifteen and wsa a stage comedienne. She had worked in America.[16][17]

Franklyn Barrett worked on the film.[18]

Release

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The Sun 10 March 1918

The film was previewed at the Theatre Royal in Sydney on 28 February 1918. The film launched officially on 13 March at the Strand. The film was specifically advertised as "not a war picture but a thrilling drama of a special agent's fight against spies in Australia".[19]

The Daily Telegraph praised the photography but said the film "though far and away ahead of previous Australian productions, the chief detriment of the latter - the lack of sufficient plots and indifferent acting - are present int his production."[20]

The Evening News praised the "degree of exciting inciden, good acting and excellent phtotography."[21]

The Sunday Times called it "another upward step in the local film industry, for the producer has got away from the backblocks or early settlers' tales that, usually represent Australia on the screen. This is a drama of city life, meant to show the working of a spy system. So skil fully are the facts of the Gabo mines and the Cumberland loss minglcu with the mass of fiction that the whole bears the color of truth." The reviewer said there were "plenty" of faults - "It is too long, for instance, and the secret meeting-house is ridiculous. Its hidden entrances, and walls with mysterious trap doors, are as out of place, at least in Australia, as the slinking walk of the conspirators. Yet everything considered, the picture looks like the beginning of better and more ambitious local productions."[22]

The Mirror also thought the film had flaws. "It is too long, and some of the incidents and' players have .no connection with the story. Then, too, there is excessive mystery and ' melodrama- in the ? meeting house of the criminals... However, these weaknesses are easy to overlook when the picture holds so much that is pleasing."[23]

The Sydney Sun felt "Under more experienced and critical directorship" the movie "might have been an excellent one. Much of the plot material is good, and some of it is very well handled, especially In tho outdoor scenes, but generally It lacks that certainty of touch with which the export gives precision and finish to his handiwork. The strength of "The Enemy Within" lies in action rather than characterisation and intrigue."[10]

The Bulletin said "The opening scenes are much too slow; but when “Snowy” Baker' begins his Douglas Fair-banks stunts the tempo quickens."[24]

The film was a hit and led to a number of action movies starring Baker.[25] It enjoyed a successful run in New Zealand.[26]

A novelised version of the script was published in 1919.

References

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  1. ^ "THE STRAND". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 25, 015. New South Wales, Australia. 9 March 1918. p. 14. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "W.F. Corbett's Page of Breezy Boxing Comment". Arrow. No. 1136. New South Wales, Australia. 4 January 1918. p. 6. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "At the Movies". The Mirror of Australia. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 8 March 1918. p. 14. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  4. ^ Australian Geographical Society; Australian National Publicity Association; Australian National Travel Association (1 July 1973), "Vault of Dreams", Walkabout, Melbourne: Australian National Travel Association, nla.obj-755099478, retrieved 20 April 2024 – via Trove
  5. ^ "Our Money-Starved Film Industry Has Host of Other Obstacles". The Farmer and Settler. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 46. New South Wales, Australia. 15 December 1944. p. 14. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "ROLAND STAVELY IN A DAY AT THE STUDIO". Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 30 March 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ a b c "PRODUCTION OF MOVING PICTURES-- IN AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XCVIII, no. 2555. New South Wales, Australia. 18 December 1918. p. 20. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ Cumberland Fact Sheet
  9. ^ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1998 p48
  10. ^ a b "'The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes'". The Sun. No. 780. New South Wales, Australia. 10 March 1918. p. 20. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "THE ENEMY WTTHIN". The Register (Adelaide) 3 Apr 1918: 9. Retrieved 18 December 2011
  12. ^ "It All Began With a Feature Movie on the Kelly Gang". The News. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 16 November 1946. p. 2. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  13. ^ "Snowy Baker, Movie Actor". Referee. No. 1627. New South Wales, Australia. 6 March 1918. p. 14. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ Sandy McVea's boxing record
  15. ^ "BAKES FIGHTS FOUR OF THEM". Sydney Sportsman. Vol. XV, no. 976. New South Wales, Australia. 9 March 1918. p. 2. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "Lily Molloy Dies At 51". The Daily News. Vol. LXIX, no. 23, 657. Western Australia. 7 February 1951. p. 1 (FINAL). Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Lily Molloy Gives Point to Old Adage "Things Not What They Seem"". Sunday Times. No. 2090. New South Wales, Australia. 21 February 1926. p. 5. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "Please, Mr. Policeman, May I Make a Movie? For "Everyones" by Franklyn Barrett.", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 10 December 1930, nla.obj-564399119, retrieved 20 April 2024 – via Trove
  19. ^ "Advertising." The Sydney Morning Herald 9 Mar 1918: 2. Retrieved 18 December 2011
  20. ^ "AMUSEMENTS". The Daily Telegraph. No. 12107. New South Wales, Australia. 1 March 1918. p. 6. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ^ ""THE ENEMY WITHIN."". Evening News. No. 15, 824. New South Wales, Australia. 1 March 1918. p. 2. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ^ "BIG FILMS IN REVIEW". Sunday Times. No. 1677. New South Wales, Australia. 10 March 1918. p. 23. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ^ "THE FILM REVIEW". The Mirror. No. 38. New South Wales, Australia. 15 March 1918. p. 14. Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. ^ "SUNDRY SHOWS.", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 14 March 1918, nla.obj-668724802, retrieved 20 April 2024 – via Trove
  25. ^ "Australian-made Films of Bygone Days". Queensland Times. No. 18, 467. Queensland, Australia. 8 February 1946. p. 2 (DAILY). Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  26. ^ "Theatrical Reminiscences.", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 30 April 1924, nla.obj-564351156, retrieved 20 April 2024 – via Trove
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