Directed by George Young Country Australia Director George Young Production company Australian Film Syndicate | Release date 19 February 1912 Initial release 1912 Story by Dion Boucicault | |
Based on play by Dion Boucicault Production
company Australian Film Syndicate Language Silent film
English intertitles Similar The Streets of London, The Colleen Bawn, Kathleen Mavourneen, Arrah‑na‑Pogue | ||
The Octoroon is an Australian film directed by George Young based on a popular play by Dion Boucicault which had recently enjoyed a popular run in Australia. It is considered a lost film.
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Synopsis
In the deep south of 1850s USA, an octoroon is given her freedom by her white father but is later bought as a slave by the evil Jacob McCloskey.
Production
The film was shot in Sydney with an old paddle steamer, Narrabeen, standing in for a Mississippi river boat.
Significance
The writer Bruce Dennett has commented on the selection of this material to make an Australian film. "The identifiable influence of Southern stories and characters at such an early stage in the history of Australian film is hard to ignore. The Octoroon is especially notable because it deals with questions of race and blood, issues that were important and enduring social and historical preoccupations of the young Australian nation, as they continued to be for the United States."