Daughter of the East
{{short description|1924 film}}
{{about|1924 Australian silent film|Autobiography of Benazir Bhutto|Daughter of the East: An Autobiography}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Daughter of the East
| image =
| caption =
| director = Roy Darling
| producer = Adam Tavlaridi
| writer = Adam Tavlaridi
| based_on =
| narrator =
| starring = Dorothy Hawtree
| music =
| cinematography = Tasman Higgins
| editing =
| studio = Blue Bird Films
| distributor = Paramount Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1924|10|04|df=yes|ref1={{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16169677 |title=GLOBE THEATRE. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=4 October 1924 |accessdate=30 July 2012 |page=20 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}}}
| runtime =
| country = Australia
| language = Silent film
English intertitles
| budget =
}}
Daughter of the East, also known as The Boy of the Dardanelles, is a 1924 Australian silent film directed by Roy Darling. It is considered a lost film.
Plot
Harry Wharton is born of English parents in Turkey. Despite being engaged to a woman back in England, he falls in love with an orphaned Armenian girl, Marian. A Turkish pasha also loves Marian and kidnaps her. Wharton tries to rescue her but is captured just as England and Turkey declare war on each other. He escapes disguised as a Greek and joins the Australians at the Gallipoli Campaign.
After the war Wharton finds Marian who has been traumatised by the war. He helps her recover and his fiancée gives him his freedom, enabling Wharton and Marian to be married.
Production
The film was financed by Adam Tavlradi, a Greek cafe owner keen to show a film demonstrating the contribution of Greeks to the British war effort. It was shot in and around Sydney in mid 1923, with battles scenes shot on Maroubra Beach.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 122. It was previewed under the title The Boy of the Dardanelles.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16127378 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=18 December 1923 |accessdate=30 July 2012 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
Release
As he had with his first film, The Lust for Gold (1922), Darling had great trouble getting the film released, but eventually managed to make a deal with Paramount. However box office response was not strong and Darling only received £50 in returns.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16385685 |title=FILM INDUSTRY. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=20 June 1927 |accessdate=8 January 2012 |page=14 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
Only 25 seconds of the movie survive today.[http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=no;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=daughter%20of%20the%20east;querytype=;rec=6;resCount=10 Daughter of the East] at National Film and Sound Archive
Cast
- Dorothy Hawtree
- Paul Eden
- Catherine Tearle
- Charles Villiers
- Adam Tavalridi
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0346840}}
- [http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=no;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=daughter%20of%20the%20east;querytype=;rec=6;resCount=10 Daughter of the East] at National Film and Sound Archive
- [http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/docs/greekhistory.pdf "Beyond the Rolling Wave: A History of Greek Settlement in New South Wales"] – an article for the NSW Heritage Office mentioning Adam Tavlaridi
Category:Silent Australian drama films
Category:Australian black-and-white films
Category:Lost Australian films
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