mccrohan

There is no evidence that this movie has any artistic value. We have the opinion of the respected pioneer director of the classic "The Sentimental Bloke" who saw the movie at its first screenings. He declared that later Australian silent movies were of much greater quality.The Kelly Gang were terrorists and their acts of violence and murder are to be condemned. Thus the sensational nature of the the subject matter attracted large audiences to this movie and made much money for the the astute businessmen who financed it. It is impossible to prove any claims that it is a "first feature film " which is thankful because it is likely to be the first trash feature movie

By the time of this film,s first release in 1906, the film industry in many countries had many artistic achievements. Witness the great strides by Melies(France), Paul and Hepworth in England and Porter and many others in the USA etc. These film artists knew the value of editing and had sufficient pride in their work as to reject and consign as outtakes any film that did not meet their standards. The makers of the Story of the Kelly Gang were merely astute business and showmen trying to make a fast buck. The only credit due should go to the craftsman photographer. The pioneer Australian director of "The Sentimental Bloke" also saw this film at its initial screenings and he later commented in an interview his opinion that it was a poor quality film and that Australian film makers were soon producing much better films. Let us give credit to the real pioneers..

Yhis is a very entertaining movie which contains all of the polish and slickness that the Hollywood studio system with a big budget can provide. That said I do not consider it to be a great movie. I have only to contrast it with Paul Leni,s earlier film "Waxworks" which I regard as vastly superior. It is likely that Paul Leni was entranced by the vast and expensive resources of the Universal Studio. As for Conrad Veidt,s acting and I consider that his ability was not fully utilised. He does not display the genius that was present in his performance in "The Student of Prague. Perhaps I have been a little harsh in my opinions because I derived more pleasure from viewing this film than any of the recent latest 2006 movies from Hollywood.