The Australian Life Biograph Company was a short lived Australian film production company in the

silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

. It funded many of the early films of

Gaston Mervale Gaston Mervale (1866–1959) was an English-born director and actor who worked on the English, Australian and US stage and directed Australian films. Born Gaston Mistowski in Torquay, Devon, England in 1866, after performing on stage in the UK he ...

and

Louise Lovely Louise Lovely (born Nellie Louise Carbasse; 28 February 1895 – 18 March 1980) was an Australian film actress of Swiss-Italian descent. She is credited by film historians as being the first Australian actress to have a successful career in ...

. The company was formed in 1911 with capital of £6,000 and was based in Sydney. It produced eight feature films in total, all directed by Mervale, who used a stock company of actors including Lovely (then known as Louise Carbasse), Jerome Partick,

Godfrey Cass Godfrey Cass (1867 – 14 May 1951) was an Australian actor in the silent era. Between 1906 and 1935 he acted in nineteen film roles. He played Ned Kelly three times, and also had roles in a number of other bushranger movies including ''A Tale ...

and

Harry Beaumont Harry Beaumont (10 February 1888 – 22 December 1966) was an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He worked for a variety of production companies including 20th Century Fox, Fox, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, Goldwyn, Metro Pictur ...

. Movies were shot at Biograph's glass-roofed studio in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the Local government in Australia ...

. In the words of film historians Graham Shirley and Brian Adams "the subjects chosen were predominantly colonial, with no less than six featuring prison themes, usually with an innocent man receiving a pardon or making his escape." Most of them also had a strongly Australian flavour. At one stage the company was earning over £300 a week and employing six lecturers to accompany the films. However they had trouble finding a market for their work and the company later wound up and merged into Universal Films Ltd in 1912.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 15

Filmography

*''

One Hundred Years Ago ''One Hundred Years Ago'' is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Gaston Mervale. It features an early screen performance from Louise Lovely (billed as "Louise Carbasse") and is considered a lost film. Plot The movie was billed as "an Anglo ...

'' (1911) *'' A Ticket in Tatts'' (1911) *''

The Colleen Bawn ''The Colleen Bawn, or The Brides of Garryowen'' is a melodramatic Play (theatre), play written by Irish people, Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Laura Keene's Theatre, New York City, New York, on 27 March 1860 with ...

'' (1911) *'' A Tale of the Australian Bush'' (1911) *'' Hands Across the Sea'' (1912) *'' A Daughter of Australia'' (1912) *'' Conn, the Shaughraun'' (1912) *'' The Ticket of Leave Man'' (1912)

References

External links

Australian Life Biograph Company
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

1910s in Australian cinema Companies based in Sydney Mass media companies established in 1911 Australian companies established in 1911 Mass media companies disestablished in 1912 1912 disestablishments in Australia {{film-company-stub