Robbery Under Arms (1920 film)

Two brothers, Dick and Jim Marsden, become involved with the bushranger, Captain Starlight. They romance two girls, work on the goldfields, and are captured by the police after Starlight is shot dead.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151633463 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser |location=Qld. |date=3 February 1921 |accessdate=11 November 2014 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

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• Kenneth Brampton as Captain Starlight
• S. A. Fitzgerald as Ben Marsden
• Roland Conway as Dick Marsden
• Cliff Pyatt as Jim Marsden
• Roy Redgrave as Dan Moran
• William Pearson as Sir Frederick Moranger
• Stuart MacRae as Inspector Goring
• Jackie Anderson as Warrigal
• Vera Archer as Jennie Morrison
• Betty Crook as Miss Falkland
• Hilda Dorrington as Kate Morrison
• Tien Hogue as Aileen Marsden
• Austral Nichol as Mrs. Knightley
• Wilton Power as George Storefield
• Phyllis Ruthven as Grace Storefield
• Sybil Shirley
• Nan Taylor as Mrs. Marsden
• H. D. Wise as Mr. Knightley
• Charles Chauvel

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There had been several attempts to make films based on Rolfe Boldrewood's 1888 novel since the bushranging ban by the New South Wales government in 1912. In particular there were attempts by Stanley Crick in 1916 and Alfred Rolfe in 1918. However Kenneth Brampton managed to secure permission for this 1920 version, mostly likely because it stressed the moral lessons of the story.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 101.

Kenneth Brampton and actress Tien Hogue managed to persuade the mining magnate Pearson Tewksbury to raise the budget and act as producer.Graham Shirley & Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Angus & Robertson, 1989 p 70-71

Brampton was acting in the play Lightnin' which he left to make the film.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article159028753 |title=GOSSIP OF THE THEATRES. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail |date=3 March 1920 |accessdate=11 November 2014 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

The film was shot on location at Braidwood and in the Araluen Valley near Canberra. The bushrangers the Clarke brothers reportedly worked in this region.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53973627 |title=EARL'S COURT. |newspaper=The Morning Bulletin |location=Rockhampton, Qld. |date=15 January 1921 |accessdate=26 July 2012 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article99219121 |title="ROBBERY UNDER ARMS.". |newspaper=Goulburn Evening Penny Post |location=NSW |date=27 March 1920 |accessdate=11 November 2014 |page=1 Edition: EVENING |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Renowned horseman "Top" Hassall doubled for Brampton on the horse riding scenes.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18020092 |title=Sydney's Talking About. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=3 April 1947 |accessdate=26 July 2012 |page=16 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Future director Charles Chauvel was working around the Sydney studios and attending to horses on the film. He has a bit part.

The film was the final acting role for Roy Redgrave who died in 1922.

The movie was reportedly successful at the box office and grossed up to £16,000. However returns were so slow and the distributor and exhibitor took so much that Pearson Tewksbury was dissuaded from further film production.

Variety said the film was "of only fair quality, the picture just gets by."{{Cite web|url=http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/variety61-1921-01_0008|title = Variety - Lantern: Search, Visualize & Explore the Media History Digital Library}}

Filmink called it "boring".{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/wrecking-australian-stores-the-1957-film-version-of-robbery-under-arms/|date=7 March 2025|access-date=7 March 2025|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Wrecking Australian stores: the 1957 film version of Robbery Under Arms|magazine=Filmink}}

A "copy comprising about three-quarters of the film" was found and combined with already known footage to produce a near-complete version.{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/sites/default/files/australias_lost_films.pdf |title=Australia's Lost Films |last1=Edmondson |first1=Ray |last2=Pike |first2=Andrew |publisher=National Library of Australia |year=1982 |accessdate=13 March 2013}} A five-minute sequence is still missing.

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|id=0011635|title=Robbery Under Arms}}
• {{Internet Archive film|id=Robbery_Under_Arms| name=Robbery Under Arms}}
• [http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=1;parentid=;query=Person%3A%22%2FPerson%2Fkey%2F1404-1%22;querytype=;rec=1;resCount=10 Robbery Under Arms (1920)] at National Film and Sound Archive

{{Robbery Under Arms}}

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Category:1920 films

Category:1920 Western (genre) films

Category:1920s rediscovered films

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Australian black-and-white films

Category:Films based on Robbery Under Arms

Category:Rediscovered Australian films

Category:Silent Australian Western (genre) films

Category:Silent Australian drama films

Category:Films directed by Kenneth Brampton

Category:1920s Australian films

Category:1920s English-language films

Category:English-language Western (genre) films