The Glenrowan Affair
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''The Glenrowan Affair'' is a 1951 movie about
Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
from director Rupert Kathner. It was Kathner's final film and stars VFL star
Bob Chitty Robert Main-Warring Chitty (4 July 1916 – 4 April 1985) was an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL). Family The son of Alan Peter Chitty (1884-1981), and Hannah Evelyne Chitty (1887-1 ...
as Kelly. It is considered one of the worst films ever made in Australia.


Plot

Artist Rupert Kathner is sketching in near Benalla. He flashes back to the story of
Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
and his gang.


Cast

*
Bob Chitty Robert Main-Warring Chitty (4 July 1916 – 4 April 1985) was an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL). Family The son of Alan Peter Chitty (1884-1981), and Hannah Evelyne Chitty (1887-1 ...
as
Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
* Albie Henderson as
Joe Byrne Joseph Byrne (21 November 1856 – 28 June 1880) was an Australian bushranger of Irish descent. A friend of Ned Kelly, he was a member of the "Kelly Gang" who were declared outlaws after the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek. De ...
* Ben Crowe as Dan Kelly * Bill Wright as Steve Hart *
John Fernside John Fernside (died 27 October 1957, aged 65) was an Australian actor who worked extensively on stage and screen from the 1910s through to 1950s. He co-starred with Chips Rafferty in two Australian films of the 1940s; ''The Overlanders'' (1946) an ...
as Father Gibney * Charles Tasman as Commissioner Nicholson **(However, in reality Nicholson was never Commissioner. He was only a Superintendent, whilst Standish (portrayed as Superintendent in this film) was the Commissioner during the hunt for Kelly and his gang.) * Charles Webb as Superintendent Hare * Edward Smith as Superintendent Standish * Frank Ransome as Sergeant Steele *
Stan Tolhurst Stan Tolhurst was an Australian actor, technician and filmmaker. He worked as a dancer on stage before joining Cinesound Productions for whom he would add humour to newsreels. He also worked as a producer and ran a film studio.Andrew Pike and Ross ...
as the blacksmith * Beatrice Kay as Kate Kelly * Wendy Roberts as Mrs Skillion * Rupert Kathner (as "Hunt Angels") as
Aaron Sherritt Aaron Sherritt (August 1854 – 26 June 1880) was an associate of the gang of outlaws led by Ned Kelly in Victoria, Australia. Personal life Aaron Sherritt was born in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran in August 1854, to Irish migrants John and ...
* Dore Norris as Mrs Jones * Joe Brennan as the bank manager * Arthur Helmsley as the old man


''A Message to Kelly''

In August 1947
Harry Southwell Harry Southwell (born 1882, date of death unknown) was an Australian actor, writer and film director best known for making films about Ned Kelly. He was born in Cardiff, Wales and spent a couple of years in America, where he adapted some short st ...
arrived in
Benalla Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 10,822. It is the administrative centr ...
, Victoria, to make a movie about the
Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
story, ''A Message to Kelly''. It was base on a script by Melbourne journalist Keith Manzie, with Rupert Kathner as assistant director. Kathner was in the area trying to raise funds for a film about
Adam Lindsay Gordon Adam Lindsay Gordon (19 October 1833 – 24 June 1870) was a British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He was the first Australian poet to gain considerable recognition overseas, and according to his contemporary, writer ...
. Southwell and Kathner formed a company, Benalla Film Productions, and raised finance for the movie. Football star
Bob Chitty Robert Main-Warring Chitty (4 July 1916 – 4 April 1985) was an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL). Family The son of Alan Peter Chitty (1884-1981), and Hannah Evelyne Chitty (1887-1 ...
, who was coaching in the region, was cast as Ned Kelly. Mervyn Murphy assisted with sound recording equipment. Despite vocal opposition from descendants of the Kellys, filming began in September 1947. In October, Southwell left the project and Kathner took over. In November Benalla announced they wanted a director to replace Kathner.


''The Glenrowan Affair''

Kathner returned in December 1947 with finance from a new company, Australian Action Pictures, intending to make his own Ned Kelly film, based on his own script. Australian Action Pictures was formed with capital of £25,000. For a time it seemed two rival Kelly films would be made in the area. Advertisements were printed clarifying they would be made by different people. Eventually Benalla Film Productions ceased production on their Ned Kelly movie and Kathner made his. He used Bob Chitty to play the lead but recast all the other roles, including Carlton footballer Ben Crone. Filming began January 1948. Exteriors were shot in and around Benalla. Studio scenes were filmed in the new studio of
Commonwealth Film Laboratories Commonwealth Film Laboratories was an Australian production company that operated from 1925 to the 1950s. They were formerly located in Surry Hills, New South Wales. In addition to making films for the Government of Australia, they invested in an ...
in Sydney in January 1950.


Reception

Reviews were poor and distribution limited. The critic for the ''Sun Herald'' stated that:
This near-unendurable stretch of laboured, amateurish film-making is something that the developing Australian film industry will wish to forget-swiftly and finally... A film made on a shoe-string (as this obviously was) could still achieve a little crude vitality. This one isn't even robust enough for the unconscious humour (and there is plenty of that) to be really enjoyable. The script is dreary, the photography more often out of-focus than in, the editing is unimaginative and the acting petrified. It would be misplaced kindness, in fact, to try and ferret out a redeeming feature.
The film was given its first screening in Victoria at Benalla. Townspeople were worried relatives of the Kellys would cause trouble. However, the screening was accompanied by audience laughter. Nonetheless the screening raised £400 for charity. Australian film critic Michael Adams later included ''The Glenrowan Affair'' on his list of the worst ever Australian films, along with '' Phantom Gold'', ''
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'' and '' Pandemonium''.Michael Adams, ''Showgirls, Teen Wolves, and Astro Zombies : a film critic's year-long quest to find the worst movie ever made''.New York : Itbooks, 2010. (p.144)


References


External links


''The Glenrowan Affair''
in the
Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''B for Bad B for Bogus and B for Bold: Rupert Kathner, 'The Glenrowan Affair' and Ned Kelly''

''The Glenrowan Affair''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Glenrowan Affair, The 1951 films 1951 Western (genre) films Australian black-and-white films Bushranger films Cultural depictions of Ned Kelly Films set in colonial Australia Films set in the 19th century Films shot in Australia 1950s English-language films