| The Silence of Dean Maitland | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ken G. Hall |
| Produced by | Ken G. Hall |
| Written by | Gayne Dexter Edmund Barclay |
| Based on | play adapted from the novel by Maxwell Gray |
| Starring | John Longden Jocelyn Howarth Bill Kerr |
| Cinematography | Frank Hurley |
| Studio | Cinesound Productions |
| Release date(s) | May 1934 (Australia) 1935 (UK) |
| Running time | 97 minus |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £10,000[1] |
| Box office | £33,000 (Aust)[2] £40,000 (UK)[3] |
The Silence of Dean Maitland is a 1934 Australian film directed by Ken G. Hall.
Contents |
The plot concerns a clergyman, Cyril Maitland (John Longden), living in a small seaside town, who impregnates the beautiful Alma Lee (Charlotte Francis) despite being engaged to another woman. When Alma's father Ben (Les Warton) finds out about the pregnancy, he attacks Maitland and is killed in a fall. Mailtand's best friend, Doctor Henry Everard (John Warwick) gets the blame, and spends twenty years in jail while Maitland's career thrives.
The script was based on a play adapted from a popular novel by Maxwell Gray which had previously been filmed in 1914. The rights to the play were owned by a friend of Stuart Doyle's, Joe Lippmann. Hall and Doyle went to see a production of the play at the Rockdale Amateur Society and "ended up in a fit of controllable laughter."[4] However Hall recognised that the basic structure of the piece was solid. The play was adapted by ABC radio writer Edmund Barclay and an old friend of Hall's Gayne Dexter
John Longden and Charlotte Francis were English actors touring the country in a play when cast.
The movie was shot on location in Camden.
Ken G. Hall ran into trouble with the censor over scenes where Charlotte Francis swims on the beach and later seduces the clergyman. However, these scenes ended up staying in the final film.[5]
Released on a double bill with the variety short Cinesound Varieties, the film was highly popular at the local box office and achieved release in England.[6] Hall says box office receipts were higher in England than in Australia.[7]
The intention was for Cinesound to follow this movie with an adaptation of Robbery Under Arms[8] but uncertainty over whether films about bushrangers were still banned led the company to make Strike Me Lucky (1934) instead.