The Double Event is a 1911 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on the first novel by Nat Gould, which had been adapted several times for the stage, notably by Bland Holt.[4]
The Double Event | |
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Directed by | W. J. Lincoln |
Written by | W. J. Lincoln[1] |
Based on | novel by Nat Gould |
Produced by | William Gibson Millard Johnson John Tait Nevin Tait |
Starring | The Bland Holt Company |
Cinematography | Orrie Perry |
Production company | Amalgamated Pictures |
Release date | 21 October 1911 (Melbourne)[2] |
Running time | 3,000 feet[3] |
Country | Australia |
Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
It was one of several films Lincoln made with the Tait family, who had produced The Story of the Kelly Gang.[5]
It is considered a lost film.
Jack Drayton discovers his brother is an attempted murderer but won't expose him out of fear of ruining the family name. He leaves England in secrecy and starts a new life in Australia under the name of Jack Marston. He falls in love with Edith the daughter of a Sydney bookmaker, John Kingdon. He enters his horse, Caloola, in the Melbourne Cup and it wins, despite the attempts of evil Fletcher.
Fletcher later shoots a lady he is trying to blackmail and is chased across town but is eventually cornered in Chinatown and falls to his death. Jack marries Edith and returns to England.[6]
The story was based on an 1891 novel by Nat Gould, The Double Event, or A Tale of the Melbourne Cup. This had been successfully adapted for the stage in Australia in 1893 by George Darrell[8] and Bland Holt. Holt's company had disbanded in 1909 and his actors performed in the movie. Several scenes were shot at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.[9]
Other scenes were shot at a studio in St Kilda. Assisting Lincoln was Sam Crew.[10]
The film was released in Melbourne on Caulfield Cup Day 1911. In November 1911 The Bulletin wrote that "At the Glaciarium (Melb.). last week, the Taits unreeled a long photodrama of "The Double Event", adapted by W.J. Lincoln. This up-to-date local production seems intended to educate the guileless in the ways of horses and the wiles of villains."[11]
The works of W. J. Lincoln | |
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Films as director |
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Films as writer only |
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Plays as writer |
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