Film career

In 1907, Longford worked on a film produced by Charles Cozens Spencer about the fight between Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson, probably the first movie Longford was involved in. He then began appearing in movies for Spencer as an actor under the direction of Alfred Rolfe such as Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911).^[5][6]

Move into directing

Rolfe eventually left Spencer's company to make films elsewhere, so in 1911 Spencer hired Longford to direct his first feature, The Fatal Wedding, adapted from a play in which Longford had appeared on stage and starring Lyell. Made quickly, with a limited budget and small crew, it was a major financial success and launched his career behind the camera.

Longford followed this up with several other play adaptations for Spencer including The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole (1911), Sweet Nell of Old Drury and The Midnight Wedding (1912); Longford also wrote an original for the screen The Tide of Death. Lyell appeared in most of these and also made increasingly important contributions behind the scene as a writer, editor, producer, and co-director.

Freelancing

Charles Cozens Spencer eventually withdrew from Australian film production due to the formation of "the Combine" (which absorbed Spencer's old company). This left Longford without his main backer and he found it increasingly difficult to secure funding for a time.

He went to work for the Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company for who he made a feature and a number of shorts, however, they eventually ended the contract after Longford became involved in a lawsuit following the making of the highly popular The Silence of Dean Maitland (1914).^[7][8]

Longford had an operation in March 1915.^[9]

He made another number of shorts for a variety of companies and taught film acting.^[10][11] He then made two films in New Zealand and also became embroiled in another legal battle over The Church and the Woman (1917).

In September 1916, he worked for Crick and Jones preparing scenarios.^[12]

Career peak: The Sentimental Bloke

Longford's career revived towards the end of World War I when he helped establish the Southern Cross Feature Film Company in South Australia. He enjoyed a large box office success with The Woman Suffers (1918) (despite the film being banned in New South Wales) which enabled him to get finance for an adaptation of the poetry of C. J. Dennis, The Sentimental Bloke (1919). This was an enormous critical and popular success, and is regarded as one of the greatest Australian films of all time. Longford followed it with another hit, On Our Selection (1920), from the stories of Steele Rudd.

The popularity of these two movies saw Longford move away from melodramatic convention to more realistic treatment of subject matter.^[13] He said around this time:

You see, one might say that three parts of your picture audience is composed of women, and women, above everything else, are impressionists. It is the human, and not the spectacular side of a film that captures their attention and win their sympathy and admiration. A man coming out of a picture show will be heard to remark to his mate: “s’wonderful the way they get these things up, ain’t it, nowadays.' He has been looking at oit in a speculative light, but not so the woman. She says nothing, but she wipes the tears from her eyes, tears of real sympathy, indicative of pure appreciation, and for days thereafter, thinks, not of the construction of the plot, nor its cleverness, but of the varied experiences and emotions through which the hero and heroine have passed.^[14]

Both Bloke and Selection led to well-received sequels which were also directed by Longford. He and Lyell had another hit with The Blue Mountains Murder Mystery.

Decline

As the 1920s went on, Longford again found difficulties securing finance and/or distribution for his films. He and Lyell formed a company,^[15] and he made some movies for Australasian Films, but the collaboration was not a successful one. In October 1925, Longford was appointed producer of Master Pictures.^[16]

In 1925, Lottie Lyell died of tuberculosis; Longford's career never recovered.

In 1926, it was announced Longford would serve on the board of the film company Phillips Film Productions Ltd,^[17] but little seems to have come of this. He gave evidence at the 1928 Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia,^[18] where he urged the introduction of a quota for local movies and complained about the influence of the Combine of Australasian Films and Union Theatres on local production.^[19]

Longford appeared in bankruptcy court in 1929 but managed to tour Europe the following year, spending 18 months touring various filmmaking facilities.^[20][21][22] "Naturally the talkies have revolutionised everything", he said. "And to some extent I now feel as if I am returning to my original occupation — the talking stage."^[23]

He returned to Australia in February 1930 and told Gayne Dexter that:

For years and years I fought for the English industry. For years and years I battled and agitated against the Americans. But now, after seeing the English film men at work, I am sorry to say that I backed the wrong side. It was only through the kindness of the American executives in London — the very men against whom I had fought — that I was able to visit studios and get an insight into production conditions. I am convinced that it is impossible for anybody to teach England to make pictures: the producers don't want to learn: the English distributors don't want Australian films: and if we ever get a market there, our productions will have to be through Australian channels. That has already been demonstrated by the fact that English distributors have not accepted a single Australian film, even under the quota laws, whereas the American distributors operating in the British Isles have taken eight or ten — and paid cash for them!^[24]

Longford said UFA were the most advanced studio he saw.^[25]

Sound era

On his return to Australia, Longford sought financing for a film about the Australian Light Horse in World War I, Desert Legion, with a budget of £50,000.^[26][27] He was unable to secure this and started lobbying for a quota for local films.^[28]

In the early 1930s, Longford worked steadily as an actor and assistant director on such films as Diggers in Blighty. He assisted Beaumont Smith with the direction of The Hayseeds (1933) and Splendid Fellows (1934) (according to contemporary reports he directed The Hayseeds^[29]).

He managed to direct another feature, The Man They Could Not Hang (1934), although he missed the premiere due to an illness which required hospitalization.^[30] In the same year, he was elected head of the New South Wales Talking Picture Producers Association with the aim of promoting a quota for Australian films.^[31][32]

Mastercraft

In 1935, he established Mastercraft Film Corporation Ltd to take advantage of the 1935 NSW Quota Act, but the hoped-for boom in production did not eventuate, and Mastercraft never received the subscribers they needed to become viable; therefore, they made no movies.^[33][34] The company was eventually bought out Stuart F. Doyle.^[35]

In 1939, Longford sued some Mastercraft executives for libel and settled out of court.^[36][37]

Later years

Longford managed to stay employed in the film industry during the 1930s but found this impossible with the advent of World War II, which brought local production to an almost complete halt. During the war, he was a clerk for the U.S. military stationed in Australia; then he became a tally man and night watchman on the Sydney wharfs.

In October 1950, Longford was profiled by Ernest Harrison for AM magazine; then, in 1955, a complete 35 mm print of The Sentimental Bloke was discovered and screened at the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals, bringing renewed attention to Longford.^[2] He died on 2 April 1959 at the age of 80.

Director

Actor only

• The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Notorious Australian Bushranger (1910)
• Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911)
• Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911)
• The Life of Rufus Dawes (1911) as Gabbett
• Diggers in Blighty (1933) as Von Schieling
• The Avenger (1937) as Warren
• Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938) as Policeman
• Wings of Destiny (1940) as Peters
• Dad Rudd, MP (1940) as Electoral Officer
• Racing Luck (1941)

Crew member

• Burns and Johnson Fight (1908) – 4,000-foot film
• It's a Long Way to Tipperary (1915)
• The Sentimental Bloke (1932)
• His Royal Highness (1932)