Hullo Marmaduke

Hullo Marmaduke (Beaumont Smith, 1924) Beaumont Smith's Productions, wr. Beaumont Smith; Claude Dampier, Mayne Lynton, Constance Graham; 6000 ft

Marmaduke is an English 'silly ass', complete with monocle, top hat and cane, an infectious toothy grin, and an appalling naivety. Claude Dampier had played the character for many years on the vaudeville stage and his first film offered little more than 'the pouring of fresh water over old tea-leaves' (Bulletin, 20 November 1924). ... The main novelty of the film was the footage, at the climax, of the sinking of HMAS Australia. The battleship had been ordered for destruction under the terms of the treaty entered into by the Australian government at the Washington disarmament conference, and was sunk outside Sydney Heads in April 1924. Pike & Cooper: 123, 124.

---

New: 28 November, 2012 | Now: 22 April, 2014 | garrygillard[at]gmail.com