AustLit
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Adaptations
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form
y
The Fatal Wedding
( dir. Raymond Longford
)
Australia
:
Spencer's Pictures
,
1911
6184419
1911
single work
film/TV
crime
thriller
Longford adapted this film from an American stage melodrama that he and Lottie Lyell had starred in the previous year. The narrative of the play on which the film is based is described as follows:
'The story of the "Fatal Wedding" is clear cut, full of pathos and sensationalism, bearing remarkable testimony to the many incidents of an everyday life, and the plot turns on the machinations of a scheming woman, who with her male accomplice, endeavours to destroy the happiness of an affectionate wedded pair. The two schemers manage to convince the husband, that his wife has dishonored his name, whereupon trouble ensues, and a divorce is obtained, and the wife has to support herself in poverty for years. During this time of trial she is greatly assisted by her girl child, who is appropriately designated "The Little Mother," and it is mainly owing to this child's endeavours, that the husband is eventually convinced that he has been the victim of a vile plot, and the husband and wife are once more happily united.'
Contemporary sources indicate that the film followed the play's plot closely.
[Source: 'Fatal Wedding', Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 29 October 1910, p.2.]
Notes
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The Fatal Wedding is included in AustLit because of an Australian-written adaptation.
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A theatrical production of The Fatal Wedding was toured around major Australian centres by Meynell and Gunn during the years 1906 and 1907. This production included a juvenile interlude (comprising some 50 children), with music and songs specially written by music director F. Wynne Jones.
Raymond
Production Details
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Originally performed on Broadway, October-November 1901.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Child Stars of the Stage
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Unbound : The National Library of Australia Magazine , September 2017;'Australian child actors fascinated and amazed audiences at home and abroad at the turn of the twentieth century. Before robust education and labour laws insisted children should be at school or at home, many children, predominantly girls, found their way into Australia’s vibrant commercial entertainment industry, appearing in variety/vaudeville entertainments, pantomime, comic opera, musical comedy, drama and circus. Doris Joyce, Rosie Fitzgerald and Queenie Williams were three young actors employed by the production team of Clyde Meynell and John Gunn. Examining their careers during the years 1906–1908 reveals the genuinely surprising tenacity, agency and sophisticated talents of child actors of the period.' (Introduction)
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Child Stars of the Stage
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Unbound : The National Library of Australia Magazine , September 2017;'Australian child actors fascinated and amazed audiences at home and abroad at the turn of the twentieth century. Before robust education and labour laws insisted children should be at school or at home, many children, predominantly girls, found their way into Australia’s vibrant commercial entertainment industry, appearing in variety/vaudeville entertainments, pantomime, comic opera, musical comedy, drama and circus. Doris Joyce, Rosie Fitzgerald and Queenie Williams were three young actors employed by the production team of Clyde Meynell and John Gunn. Examining their careers during the years 1906–1908 reveals the genuinely surprising tenacity, agency and sophisticated talents of child actors of the period.' (Introduction)
