''Greenhide'' is a 1926 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. Only part of the film survives.

Plot

High society girl Margery Paton (

Elsa Chauvel Elsa Chauvel, (''née'' Elsie May Wilcox; 10 February 1898 – 22 August 1983) was an Australian filmmaker and actress, and the wife and collaborator of film director Charles Chauvel. Elsa Chauvel was a pioneer in Australian film making, best ...

) leaves the city to live on her father's cattle property, run by "Greenhide Gavin" (Bruce Gordon). She carries romantic notions of the bush, of "being swung to the saddle by big brown arms", but Greenhide Gavin is initially only annoyed by her presence. ''Greenhide'' contains a blossoming romance, and the thwarting of a plot to steal cattle.

Cast

*Elsie Sylvaney as Margery Paton *Bruce Gordon as Greenhide Gavin *Jules Murray-Prior as Slab Rawlins *Irma Dearden as Polly Andrews *Gerald Barlow as Sam Paton *Frank Thorn as Tom Mullins *Joe Mackaway as Phil Mackin *Alfred Greenup as Bill Mullins *Nell Kerwin *George Barrett

Production

''Greenhide'' was Charles Chauvel's second film, following '' The Moth of Moonbi'' (1926), and his final

silent film 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, w ...

. Chauvel scouted his

leading lady A leading actor, leading actress, or leading man or lady or simply lead (), plays a main role in a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person w ...

, then Elsie May Wilcox, after seeing her in a stage musical called ''Crackers'' at the

Cremorne Theatre The Cremorne Theatre was a theatre in South Brisbane, Queensland, South Brisbane (now part of South Bank, Queensland, South Bank), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia that operated, with interruptions, from 1911 to 1954. Although nothing remains of ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Though she was reluctant at first to audition, Chauvel convinced her to perform a

screentest A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. It is typically a secondary or later stage in the audition process. The performer is generally given a scene, or sel ...

, and ultimately offered her the role.Chauvel Carlsson, Susanne (1989) ''Charles & Elsa Chauvel: Movie Pioneers'', University of Queensland Press They began a romantic relationship over the course of filming, and were married on 5 June 1927, at

St James Church, Sydney St James' Church, commonly known as St James', King Street, is an Australian heritage-listed Anglican parish church located at 173 King Street, in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales. Consecrated in February 1824 and named ...

, the ceremony officiated by Charles' brother, the Reverend John Chauvel. Location filming took place at Walloon Station in Dawson Valley,

. The production encampment, a collection of tents accommodating 20 people, was informally named "Camp Greenhide" by locals. The producers were at Walloon Station filming the production in June 1926. Interior filming took place in a studio in Brisbane. Chauvel played a phonograph recording of " In a Monastery Garden" to induce realistic tears from Elsa Chauvel without the need to use

glycerine Glycerol () is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, viscous liquid. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in ...

drops.

Release

''Greenhide'' was screened throughout most of Queensland without the use of a distribution agency. Charles and Elsa Chauvel personally transported prints of the film from town to town, and tried to convince theatre owners to replace booked American films with a local alternative. Prior to each screening, Elsa would provide a dramatic monologue and introduction. In Brisbane and Sydney, ''Greenhide'' was screened through the distributor

Hoyts The HOYTS Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes HOYTS Cinemas, a cinema chain, and Val Morgan, which sells advertising on cinema screens and digital billboards. The company was established by dentist Arthur Russell in Melbo ...

and broke records in Brisbane. However, the movie struggled to find distribution in country areas and the southern cities. In 1927, it was reported the film still had to earn £6,030 to recoup all of its costs, due in part to the large portion of box office earnings taken by distributors and exhibitors. This caused Australian Film Productions to go into voluntary liquidation in 1929. Later, the liquidator left Brisbane and copies of the film were abandoned in a building and caught fire. ''Greenhide'', in its original form, was 8,000 feet long, but only 2,475 feet of

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: Film * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on ...

survive (37 minutes at 18

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...

References

External links

* {{Charles Chauvel 1926 films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films 1920s English-language films 1920s Australian films Films directed by Charles Chauvel