The Octoroon (film)

The Octoroon
Directed by George Young
Based on play by Dion Boucicault
Studio Australian Film Syndicate
Release date(s) 19 February 1912
Country Australia
Language Silent film
English intertitles

The Octoroon is an Australian film directed by George Young based on a popular play by Dion Boucicault which had recently enjoyed a popular run in Australia.[1] It is considered a lost film.

Contents

Synopsis

In the deep south of 1850s USA, an octoroon is given her freedom by her white father but is later bought as a slave by the evil Jacob McCloskey.

Production

The film was shot in Sydney with an old paddle steamer, Narrabeen, standing in for a Mississippi river boat.[2]

Significance

The writer Bruce Dennett has commented on the selection of this material to make an Australian film. "The identifiable influence of Southern stories and characters at such an early stage in the history of Australian film is hard to ignore. The Octoroon is especially notable because it deals with questions of race and blood, issues that were important and enduring social and historical preoccupations of the young Australian nation, as they continued to be for the United States."[3]

References

  1. ^ "LENARD'S PICTURES." Barrier Miner (Broken Hill) 22 Feb 1912: 3 accessed 15 Dec 2011
  2. ^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 32.
  3. ^ Bruce Dennett "How Dixie waltzed with Matilda: the influence on Australia of cinematic images of the South". Mississippi Quarterly, The Summer-Fall 2010 accessed 15 Dec, 2011

External links