''Desert Gold'' is a 1919 Australian horse racing melodrama from director

Beaumont Smith Frank Beaumont "Beau" Smith (15 August 1885 – 2 January 1950), was an Australian film director, producer and exhibitor, best known for making low-budget comedies. Smith made his first film, ''Our Friends, the Hayseeds,'' in 1917. He went on ...

starring the racehorse

Desert Gold Desert Gold may refer to: * ''Geraea canescens'', a wildflower also known as Desert Sunflower * Desert Gold (horse), a New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse **Desert Gold (1919 Australian film), ''Desert Gold'' (1919 Australian film), an Australian fil ...

. It is considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

Plot

John Forsythe and his trusty horse

wander through the Australian outback, where Forsythe discovers a deposit of gold. A villain, Harrington, tries to steal Forsythe's claim, but is unsuccessful. Years later, Forsythe owns substantial horse racing interests, which are run by trainer, Anderson, who has a daughter, Joan (Marie Ney). Forsythe has a new champion race horse, also known as Desert Gold (played by the real-life

). Harrington knows his horse, Slippery Jane, has no chance against Desert Gold, so he plays Anderson at cards and gets him into debt. Joan discovers a wire across the training track set by Harrington's accomplices and manages to stop them hurting Desert Gold. Harrington threatens to bankrupt Anderson so Joan offers to marry him. Forsythe ends up paying the debt and Joan is aged after a race between a motor car and a train to

Katoomba Katoomba is the main town and council seat of the City of Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, and is the administrative centre of Blue Mountains City Council. Situated on the Great Western Highway and the Great Western Railway, Kato ...

. Harrington then lures Fortyhe to a lonely spot in the Blue Mountains and imprisons him, then sends a telegram in Forysthe's name scratching Desert Gold from the Cup and backs Slippery Jane. Forysthe manages to escape and flies to the city in time for the race. Desert Gold beats Slippery Jane, despite Harrington ordering an electric whip be used on his horse. The film also features fights on horseback in the desert and on the brink of Leura Falls in the Blue Mountains, the blowing up of a ship at sea, and a flight of an aeroplane.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 88.

Cast

Marie Ney Marie Ney (18 July 1895 — 11 April 1981) was a British character actress who had an acting career spanning five decades, from 1919 to 1969, encompassing both stage and screen. Early life Ney was born in London, and as a young child, went with ...

as Joan * John Cosgrove *Bryce Rowe *

Gilbert Emery Gilbert Emery Bensley Pottle (June 11, 1875 – October 28, 1945), known professionally as Gilbert Emery, was an American actor who appeared in over 80 movies from 1921 to his death in 1945. He was also a playwright, author of seven Broadway pla ...

as herself

Production

The film was shot in and around Sydney and at the air force base at Richmond, with desert scenes shot at

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

was a famous racehorse from the time and several leading jockeys have cameos. It was the film debut of actor

who went on to have a significant career in Australian and England.

Release

The film's release was delayed due to the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, H1N1 subtype of the influenz ...

. ''Variety'' said the film "was very crude in plot and acting and would be quite unsuitable for the American market." Copies of the film were destroyed in a fire in 1925.

References

External links

*
''Desert Gold''
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...