View source for £500 Reward

{{short description|1918 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = £500 Reward
| image          =File:500_reward.png
| caption        = The Sun 17 November 1918
| director       = [[Claude Flemming]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15808703 |title=AMUSEMENTS. LOCAL PHOTO-PLAY—"£500 REWARD." |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |issue=25,215 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 October 1918 |accessdate=20 April 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref>
| writer         = Claude Flemming
| producer       = Claude Flemming<br>[[Barry Lupino]]
| starring       = Claude Flemming<br>[[Renée Adorée]]
| narrator       =
| cinematography = [[Lacey Percival]]
| editing        =
| music          =
| distributor    =
| released       = {{Film date|1918|11|18|df=y}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15810843 |title=Advertising |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |issue=25,229 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 November 1918 |accessdate=20 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref>
| runtime        = five reels<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67487754 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=[[Traralgon Record]] |location=Traralgon, Vic. |date=18 November 1919 |access-date=23 July 2012 |page=3 Edition: Morning |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
| country        = Australia
| language       = [[Silent film]] <br>English intertitles
| budget         =
}}
'''''£500 Reward''''' is a 1918 Australian [[silent film]] starring, written, produced, financed and directed by [[Claude Flemming]] who later described it as "a very lurid melodrama".<ref name="old">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27977513 |title=Old Film Found. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=25 June 1938 |access-date=5 January 2012 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Synopsis==
A "five-act" drama about a couple who travel from the [[Rocky Mountains]] to [[Seattle]] then wind up shipwrecked en route to [[Queensland]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15812041 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=22 November 1918 |access-date=5 January 2012 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The heroine Irene is kidnapped by a ship captain and winds up wrecked on the Queensland coast. She is rescued by the hero.
==Cast==
*[[Claude Flemming]] as Jack
*[[John Faulkner (actor)|John Faulkner]] as Captain Wolff Forrest
*[[Renée Adorée]] as Irene
*[[Barry Lupino]]
*Lorna Ambler
*David Edelsten
==Production==
The film was written, produced, directed and financed by [[Claude Flemming]]. It was reported to be the first feature film to include footage of [[Mount Kosciuszko]], which stood in for Canada.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15808703 |title=Amusements. Local Photo-Play—"£500 Reward.". |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=29 October 1918 |access-date=5 January 2012 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Scenes were also shot at [[Bermagui, New South Wales|Bermagui]], on board an American sailing ship visiting Sydney, and at Rushcutters Bay studio.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263631215 |title=Production of Moving Pictures – In America and Australia. |newspaper=[[Australian Town and Country Journal]] |volume=XCVIII |issue=2555 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 December 1918 |access-date=21 November 2023 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123139592 |title=Elsie Ferguson at Hoyts |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times (Sydney)|Sunday Times]] |issue=1713 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 November 1918 |accessdate=20 April 2024 |page=22 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref>
The cast included [[Renée Adorée]], who was then a dancer touring Australia on the [[Tivoli circuit]] with an act called "The Magneys", and subsequently went on to star in ''[[The Big Parade]]'' (1925).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128376848 |title=It All Began With a Feature Movie on the Kelly Gang. |newspaper=[[The News (Adelaide)|The News]] |location=Adelaide |date=16 November 1946 |access-date=20 February 2014 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
John Faulkner and Claude Flemming reputedly clashed during the film over interpretation.<ref>Trader Faulkner, "John Faulkner", ''Cinema Papers'', January 1978 p 213</ref>
==Reception==
The film ran for two weeks in a cinema in [[Sydney]]. Flemming then had to go overseas to London and by the time he came back he was unable to locate a copy of the negative and the movie was thought to be lost until a copy was found in a basement in 1938.<ref name="old"/>
During the 1920s Flemming tried to re-register the film under a different, more saleable title, but was refused six times by the New South Wales censorship board. The other titles he attempted to use were, ''The Lure of a Woman'', ''Primal Passion'', ''When Men Desire'', ''The Auction of Virtue'', ''The Reckless Lover'', and ''A Romance of Two Worlds''.<ref>Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 84.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0134272}}
*[http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=500%20reward;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 ''£500 Reward''] at [[National Film and Sound Archive]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:500 pound Redward}}
[[Category:1918 films]]
[[Category:Silent Australian drama films]]
[[Category:Australian black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Australian silent feature films]]
[[Category:1910s rediscovered films]]
[[Category:1918 drama films]]
[[Category:1910s melodrama films]]
[[Category:Rediscovered Australian films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Claude Flemming]]
[[Category:1910s English-language films]]