The Life of Rufus Dawes

The Life of Rufus Dawes is a 1911 Australian silent film based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the novel For the Term of His Natural Life.^[1]

Synopsis

The film was divided into sections:

• ENGLAND - the murder of Sir Richard Devine by Rex for which Devine's son Dick is falsely accused. Parson North denounces Rex.
• VAN DIEMEN'S LAND - the convict settlement at Hell's Gate; life on the chain gang; Gabbet's escape and capture; Chaplain North gives the convicts tobacco; Major Vickers announces the move to Port Arthur; the attack and the departure.
• THE MUTINY - the Osprey overtaken by convicts, the mutineers maroon the survivors
• MAROONED - two weeks later Rufus Dawes saved by Sylvia Vickers. Three months later Major Vickers' search for the castaways and Mrs Vickers dies. Lt Frere accuses Rufus Dawes of the crime.
• PORT ARTHUR - Dawes escapes, Sylvia Vickers failrs to recognise him at first but then it comes back. Lady Devine arrives to see her son.
• THE END - convicts confess and Rufus Dawes gets a pardon.^[2]

Production

The film was the last of three movies Alfred Rolfe directed for Charles Cozens Spencer, all of them based on popular stage shows and starring Rolfe, his wife Lily Dampier and Raymond Longford. The others were Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911) and Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911). Rolfe then left Spencer to work for the Australian Photo-Play Company under Stanley Crick.

Cast

• Alfred Rolfe as Rufus Dawes
• Lily Dampier
• Raymond Longford as Gabbett
• Lottie Lyell

References

External links

• The Life of Rufus Dawes at the Internet Movie Database