The Adventures of Algy

The Adventures of Algy is a 1925 Australian film comedy from director Beaumont Smith about a "silly ass" Englishman (Claude Dampier) who inherits a sheep station in New Zealand. It is an unofficial follow up to Hullo Marmaduke (1924), which also starred Dampier.

The Adventures of Algy
Claude Dampier in still from the film
Directed byBeaumont Smith
Produced byBeaumont Smith
Written byBeaumont Smith
StarringClaude Dampier
CinematographyLacey Percival
Frank Stewart
Syd Taylor
Charles Barton
Production
company
Beaumont Smith's Productions
Release date
20 June 1925[1]
Running time
97 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageSilent

Unlike most of Smith's silent films, most of the movie survives today.

Plot

Algy (Claude Dampier) is an Englishman who travels to New Zealand to claim a sheep station he has inherited. He falls in love with a neighbour, Kiwi McHill (Bathie Stuart), then travels to Australia. He runs into Kiwi again, using dances she has learned from her Maori friends in a Sydney revue. When he returns to New Zealand he strikes oil on his farm and he and Kiwi are married.

Cast
  • Claude Dampier as Algernon Allison
  • Bathie Stuart as Kiwi McGill
  • Eric Harrison as Murray Watson
  • Billie Carlyle as Mollie Moore
  • George Chalmers as John McGill
  • Lester Brown as stage manager
  • Eric Yates
  • Beaumont Smith
  • Hilda Attenboro
  • Verna Blain

Production

The Adventures of Algy was shot on location in New Zealand and Sydney during the early part of 1925. New Zealand locations included Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Taranaki, and Rotarua (notably the hot springs). Exterior locations in Sydney included Martin Place, Circular Quay, Watson's Bay Gap, the Palace Theatre, and Sydney Harbour (aboard the ferry Kubu). The scene at the Gap focused on a sensational aspect of the story whereby a young girl attempts to throw herself over the cliff. Interior filming took place at Australasian Films' Rushcutters Bay studio. As with Smith and Dampier's previous film, Hullo Marmaduke, The Adventures of Algy was given a joint world premiere at Sydney's Lyric Wintergarden and Lyceum theatres.[2]

Dampier later married his co-star, Billie Carlyle.[3]

Reception

Reviews for the film were generally positive.[4][5] Film writers Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper wrote that:

The film... reveals a heavy reliance on titles to propel the insubstantial plot along, and frequently the images are little more than illustrations for the printed text.[6]

Smith was becoming exhausted with film production and concentrated on distribution and exhibition instead over the next eight years. He returned to directing with The Hayseeds (1933).

References
  1. Ross Cooper,"Filmography: Beaumont Smith", Cinema Papers, March–April 1976 p333
  2. Clay Djubal. "The Adventures of Algy" at Australian Variety Theatre Archive. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  3. "People". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 6 May 1981. p. 13. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  4. "NEW FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 22 June 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  5. "A NEW AUSTRALIAN FILM". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 30 December 1925. p. 14. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  6. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 124.
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