The first movie to be banned in Australia was "Thunderbolt," a November 1910 bushranger multi-reel film glorifying an 1800's outlaw. The John Gavin directed/acted film was wildly popular before being withdrawn, specifically by the New South Wales Government, who saw the movie as promoting crime.
Thunderbolt was the nickname given to a cattle "duffer," or rustler, Frederick Ward. Sent to jail in 1856 for selling stolen horses, Ward eventually escaped prison, formed a gang in 1865 and committed about 80 robberies throughout northern New South Wales, Australia. He was killed by a constable in 1870 in running away from the police. Ward is considered a Robin Hood type outlaw, ripe for hero worshipping in movies.
This was John Gavin's debut film direction. The tall, bulky Gavin plays Thunderbolt. He left Australia soon after World War One for Hollywood, where he became friends with Lon Chaney, Rudolph Valentino and Stan Laurel. Gavin says he helped popularize tea in Hollywood. He returned to Australia in 1925 to direct films right up to 1928. His debut film looks like a beginning effort of someone learning the ropes of movie-making. Numerous long shots of action unfolding in the distance doesn't do much to draw the viewers in. Lengthy, static sequences fail to advance the story. In one scene, as Gavin (Ward) emerges from the bay after swimming, a distinct shadow showing the cameraman cranking his camera with his assistant by his side is seen at the bottom of the frame.
"Thunderbolt" began a string of bushranger films in Australia, which was the Down Under's version of American Westerns. One reel of the 4-reel movie, about 24 minutes long, was miraculously found in a Melbourne garbage bin in 1992, which before then was considered a lost movie.
