The Lure of the Bush
Directed byClaude Flemming
Written byPercy Reay as "Jack North"[1]
StarringSnowy Baker
CinematographyFranklyn Barrett
Production
company
Snowy Baker Films
Distributed byE. J. Carroll
Release dates
  • 30 September 1918 (1918-09-30) (Australia)
  • 1919 (1919) (US)
Running time
six reels
CountryAustralia
Languages
Budget£1,500[2][3]
Box office£20,000[2]

The Lure of the Bush is a 1918 Australian silent film starring renowned Australian sportsman Snowy Baker. It is considered a lost film.

Synopsis

Hugh Mostyn (Snowy Baker) is sent from his family station to England for an education and returns to Australia years later as a "gentleman", complete with a white suit and monocle. He seeks work as a jackeroo and is teased by station hands who pretend to hold him up as bushrangers, but he beats them all up. He also breaks into a wild brumby, takes part in a kangaroo hunt, defeats the station bully (Colin Bell) in a boxing match, wins the heart of the manager's daughter, and later rescues her from a rejected suitor.[4]

Colin Bell was a real-life boxer and his on-screen fight with Baker went for five minutes.[5]

Cast

Production

The script was the prize winner in a competition held by the Bulletin.[2]

The film was shot in a property near Gunnedah.[6] The female lead, Rita Tress, was a real life squatter's daughter.[7]

Baker visited Hollywood in 1919 and re-shot some sequences there at Jesse Lasky's studios for its American release.[8]

References

The film was enormously popular and earned an estimated £20,000 in profit.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "PRODUCTION OF MOVING PICTURES-- IN AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XCVIII, no. 2555. New South Wales, Australia. 18 December 1918. p. 20. Retrieved 21 November 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. 1 2 3 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 83.
  3. 1 2 "OUR FILMS GETTING FACE LIFT". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 5 June 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "THE LURE OF THE BUSH." The Mercury (Hobart) 25 January 1919: 11, retrieved 18 December 2011
  5. ↑ Colin Bell boxing record
  6. ↑ "THEATRE ROYAL." The Register (Adelaide) 9 Dec 1919: 9. Retrieved 18 December 2011
  7. ↑ "'THE LUKE OF THE BUSH."". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 2 December 1919. p. 9. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  8. ↑ "AUSTRALIAN FILMS." The Register (Adelaide) 6 Jan 1919: 9. Retrieved 18 December 2011
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