The Man From Kangaroo (Wilfred Lucas, 1920) wr. Bess Meredyth, prod. E.J. Carroll, Snowy Baker, dp Robert V. Doerrer; Reg L 'Snowy' Baker (John Harland), Brownie Vernon, Charles Villiers, Walter Vincent, Wilfred Lucas, Malcolm MacKellar, David Edelsten; 6 reels
Snowy Baker and Brownie Vernon. One of them is holding a gun. Or both.
John Harland is a pugilist turned parson who is posted to the town of Kalmaroo, where a gang of thugs has driven the church out of the area. Harland defies the gang by holding a service in the town hall but it is disrupted by threats of violence. In defeat, Harland seeks a job as a station hand and discovers that his sweetheart, Muriel, owns a neighbouring property and that her overseer is none other than Red Jack Braggan, the leader of the gang. Red Jack kidnaps Muriel but after many fights and chases she is rescued by Harland and the town is rid of its rowdy element. Pike & Cooper: 94.
The first Carroll-Baker production, The Man from Kangaroo, was written and directed by Wilfred Lucas and Bess Meredyth. Starring opposite Baker was another American import, Brownie Vernon. Snowy played the Rev. Meeks, a fighting parson - and must have literally looked the part after breaking his nose while riding a buckjumper which crashed into a tree. Location scenes were filmed in Kangaroo Valley and Gunnedah. The villains of the piece were Charles Villiers and director Wilfred Lucas. Brownie Vernon was introduced as 'the girl with the sunny smile'. Reade: 93.
Pike, Andrew & Ross Cooper 1998, Australian Film 1900-1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, OUP, Melbourne: 94-95.
Reade, Eric 1975, The Australian Screen: A Pictorial History of Australian Film-making, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne: 93, 100, 103.
Garry Gillard | New: 19 April, 2017 | Now: 26 November, 2019