Those Terrible Twins is a 1925 Australian silent film directed J.E. Ward, a Papuan adventurer, who had previously made Australia's Own (1919). It is a slapstick comedy about the character Ginger Meggs.[3]
| Those Terrible Twins | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | J.E. Ward |
| Starring | Ray Griffen |
Production company | J.E. Ward Productions |
| Distributed by | First National |
Release date |
|
Running time | six acts[2] |
| Country | Australia |
| Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
About 35 minutes of the film survives.[4][5]
The plot revolves around Ginger Meggs and his twin sister.[6]
Cast
edit- Ray Griffen as Ginger Meggs
- Bill Canstell as Bluey
- Kitty Willoby as Susan Meggs
Reception
editThe movie first screened privately in Sydney in May 1925 before being released as a support feature later. The critic from the Sydney Morning Herald said the film was clearly modelled on American movies:
"The little sketches beneath the text of the captions exactly resemble those that adorn the Christie comedies. There are pie-slinging episodes, bathing beauties, crooks, who raid Jewellers shops, and scenes in which undergarments play a prominent part. The dissolving view, where a man knocked unconscious, sees a vision of dancing fairies - in this case one dancing fairy – has had quite a vogue in America since Charlie Chaplin used it as one of the features of "Sunnyside." It may be an accident that one of Mr. Ward's crooks bears the same name ("Spike" Malone), as a shady character in Richard Dix"s picture "Manhattan", released here a few weeks ago. These efforts to achieve variety by patching together the most diversely coloured materials, from gaudy farce to sombre melodrama, have succeeded only in leaving the story rambling and incoherent. It is, in fact, but a series of incidents. There has been no attempt in the settings, to take advantage of the city's natural beauties. One realizes that Australian producers cannot afford to spend large sums on elaborate interiors, and so forth; but surely we are entitled to look for something more attractive than back lanes."[7]
The Bulletin said the film "sticks closely to Yankee traditions and alternates pie-slinging the like with maudlin melodrama."[8]
References
edit- ^ "HAYMARKET THEATRE". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 25 July 1925. p. 12. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ "Advertising". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 9 August 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ "Bright Prospects Ahead of the Australian Film Industry", Everyones., 4 (273 (27 May 1925)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-560037645, retrieved 29 February 2024 – via Trove
- ^ National Film and Sound Archive
- ^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 128.
- ^ Lindsay Foyle, 'Australia's Favourite Boy' at Gingermeggs.com accessed 1 August 2012
- ^ ""THE TERRIBLE TWINS."". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 13 May 1925. p. 10. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ "STAGE AND SCREEN". The Daily News. Perth: National Library of Australia. 4 September 1925. p. 10. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
External links
edit
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