Just as Galeen and Wegener's Der Golem (1915) can be seen as a testament to early German film artistry, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) symbolizes both the birth of the Australian film industry and the emergence of an Australian cinema identity. Even more significantly, it heralds the emergence of the feature film format. However, only fragments of the original production of more than one hour are known to exist, preserved at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra; Efforts at reconstruction have made the film available to modern audiences.
Direction
Charles Tait basically invented feature-length storytelling
Production
70-minute runtime was unprecedented in 1906
Director
Charles Tait
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Only about 17 minutes survive of the original 70+ minute runtime — the rest exists only in stills and written descriptions.
The film was banned in several Australian regions for 'glorifying bushrangers' — ironically making it MORE legendary.
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