The Day (1914 film)

1914 Australian film

The Day

Sydney Morning Herald 6 November 1914

Directed by| Alfred Rolfe[1]
Written by| Johnson Weir
Based on| poem by Henry Chappell
Produced by| Archie Fraser
Colin Fraser

Production
company

Fraser Film Release and Photographic Company

Release date

* 11 November 1914 (1914-11-11)[1][2]

Country| Australia
Languages| Silent film
English intertitles

The Day is a 1914 Australian silent film directed by Alfred Rolfe.[3] It is a propaganda film about German brutality in Europe during World War I. It is considered a lost film.[4]

Archie Fraser, who produced, called it "Der Tag, a little one-act scene, to be played whilst the celebrated poem by the English railway porter on The Day was being recited."[5]

## Production

[edit]

The Fraser brothers were two distributors and exhibitors who occasionally dabbled in production. They had just made a number of films with Raymond Longford but he had left and Alfred Rolfe became their in-house director instead.

The script was adapted from a popular poem by railway porter Henry Chappell. The screenplay was written by actor Johnson Weir. Weir would recite the poem during screenings.[4]

Actor Jame Martin played a Belgian civilian attacked by two German soldiers. During filming he was struck by a bayonet and had to be treated at St Vincents Hospital.[6]

The Referee wrote that the film " is a theme patriotic from opening to end, and it promises to prove a crowded house magnet."[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 November 1914. p. 2. Retrieved 20 February 2015 - via National Library of Australia.
2. ^ "THE DAY". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 November 1914. p. 11. Retrieved 29 March 2012 - via National Library of Australia.
3. ^ Vagg, S., & Reynaud, D. (2016). Alfred Rolfe: Forgotten pioneer Australian film director. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 10(2),184-198. doi:10.1080/17503175.2016.1170950
4. ^ a b Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 52
5. ^ "PRODUCTION OF MOVING PICTURES-- IN AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XCVIII, no. 2555\. New South Wales, Australia. 18 December 1918. p. 20. Retrieved 21 November 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
6. ^ "WORLD OF RECREATION". The Worker. Brisbane. 26 November 1914. p. 12. Retrieved 29 March 2012 - via National Library of Australia.
7. ^ "MOVING PICTURES". The Referee. Sydney. 11 November 1914. p. 15. Retrieved 21 February 2015 - via National Library of Australia.

## External links

[edit]

* The Day at IMDb
* The Day at National Film and Sound Archive
* Text of the poem by Henry Chappell
* The Day at AustLit

* v
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* e

Films directed by Alfred Rolfe

* Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911)
* Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911)
* The Life of Rufus Dawes (1911)
* Dan Morgan (1911)
* Moora Neeya, or The Message of the Spear (1911)
* The Lady Outlaw (1911)
* Mates from the Murrumbidgee (1911)
* In the Nick of Time (1911)
* Way Outback (1911)
* What Women Suffer (1911)
* The Cup Winner (1911)
* Caloola, or The Adventures of a Jackeroo (1911)
* The Miner's Curse (1911)
* King of the Coiners (1912)
* Do Men Love Women? (1912)
* The Sin of a Woman (1912)
* The Crime and the Criminal (1912)
* Cooee and the Echo (1912)
* The Love Tyrant (1912)
* The Cheat (1912)
* Won on the Post (1912)
* Whose Was the Hand? (1912)
* The Moira, or Mystery of the Bush (1912)
* The Day (1914)
* The Sunny South or The Whirlwind of Fate (1915)
* Will They Never Come? (1915)
* The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915)
* The Loyal Rebel (1915)
* How We Beat the Emden (1915)
* A Man - That's All (1916)
* For the Honour of Australia (1916)
* Cupid Camouflaged (1918)

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