AustLit
1294532961919308671.jpg
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
In adapting Robbery Under Arms into a feature film, Kenneth Brampton incorporates the major threads of the original story into approximately 60 minutes of storytelling time. The narrative follows the two Marsden brothers through their adventures with the gentlemanly bushranger Captain Starlight, their romance with local girls, their life on the goldfields, and their eventual capture by the police after Starlight is shot. The story differs in the end, however, by having both brothers emerge from years in prison to start new lives with their patiently waiting sweethearts, whereas Boldrewood's novel sees Jim killed by the police.
Exhibitions
Notes
-
Faced with the New South Wales censors' reluctance to pass film versions of Rolf Boldrewood's classic bushranging tale, Brampton approached the making of the film with much caution. The primary issue for the censorship authority, which had prevented at least two previous film versions from being made, revolved around the belief that the story would be neither edifying nor educational for the large number of youth who might see the film. The censors at this time saw theatrical adaptations of Robbery Under Arms as less of a concern because the audiences were primarily made up of adults. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper (1980) note that Brampton's success in having his film passed was the result of having laboriously stressed the moral lesson of the story in titles at both the beginning and end of the film (pp.135-6).
