The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
„The Story of the Kelly Gang“ is a 1906 kangaroo western film directed by Charles Tait, who also wrote the screenplay.
The film traces the exploits of 19th-century bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang. Originally comprised in six sequences that provide a loose narrative based on the Kelly gang story:
Scene 1: Police discuss a warrant for Dan Kelly’s (John Forde ) arrest. Later, Kate Kelly (Elizabeth Tait was the stunt double) rebuffs the attentions of a Trooper.
Scene 2: The killings of Kennedy, Scanlon and Lonigan at Stringybark Creek by the gang.
Scene 3: The hold-up at Younghusband’s station and a bank hold–up.
Scene 4: Various gang members and supporters evade the police and the gang killing of Aaron Sherritt.
Scene 5: The attempt to derail a train and scenes at the Glenrowan Inn. The police surround the hotel, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart „die by each other’s hands“ after Joe Byrne is shot dead.
Scene 6: The closing scenes. Ned Kelly (Frank Mills) fights hard but is shot in the legs. „He begs the Troopers to spare his life, thus falls the last of the Kelly Gang …“
Australian bushranger Ned Kelly had been executed only twenty-six years before this film was made, and Ned’s mother Ellen and younger brother Jim were still alive at the time of its release. The film was made during an era when plays about bushrangers were extremely popular, and there were, by one estimate, six contemporaneous theatre companies giving performances of the Kelly gang story. Bushranger films are their own, uniquely Australian genre, deriving from local history and literary tradition rather than simply copying American tropes.
Cast:
Elizabeth Tait – Kate Kelly
John Tait – School Master
Sam Crewes – Dan Kelly
John Forde – Dan Kelly
Mr. Marshall – Dan Kelly
Nicholas B
ierley – Joe Byrne
Will Coyne – Joe Byrne
Godfrey Cass – Ned Kelly
Frank Mills – Ned Kelly
Norman Campbell – Steve Hart
Jack Ennis – Steve Hart
Mr. McKenzie – Steve Hart
E.J. Tait – Extra
Frank Tait – Extra
Bella Cola
Vera Linden
Ollie Wilson
„Die Geschichte der Kelly Bande“ (The Story of the Kelly Gang) ist ein australischer Western aus dem Jahr 1906 unter der Regie von Charles Tait, der auch das Drehbuch schrieb.
Der Film zeichnet die Heldentaten des Bushrangers und Gesetzlosen Ned Kelly und seiner Bande im 19. Jahrhundert nach.
Der australische Bushranger Ned Kelly war erst sechsundzwanzig Jahre vor der Entstehung dieses Films hingerichtet worden, und Neds Mutter Ellen und sein jüngerer Bruder Jim waren zum Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung des Films noch am Leben. Der Film wurde in einer Zeit gedreht, in der Theaterstücke über Bushranger äußerst populär waren. Schätzungen zufolge gab es zur gleichen Zeit sechs Theatergruppen, die die Geschichte der Kelly-Bande aufführten. Bushranger-Filme sind ein ganz eigenes australisches Genre, das sich aus der lokalen Geschichte und der literarischen Tradition ableitet und nicht einfach amerikanische Vorbilder kopiert.
