Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Bill (Arthur Tauchert), the 'sentimental bloke’ of the film’s title, and his friend Ginger Mick (Gilbert Emery) at an illegal two-up game at the back of premises in inner-city Sydney. A police raid disperses the game after a plain-clothes police officer tricks the 'cockatoo’ (lookout) keeping watch in the laneway outside. Pursued by police, men flee, some over fences and rooftops. After a long chase Ginger Mick hides in a horse feed barrel, but Bill is apprehended after a 'stoush’ with a police officer. The clip is silent and black and white, and includes four intertitles.

Educational value points

• A classic of Australian cinema, The Sentimental Bloke broke all box-office records in Australia when it was released in 1919, with people queuing along city blocks to see it. The film tells the love story of Bill, a larrikin, and 'his girl’, Doreen (Lottie Lyell). Following his arrest at the two-up game, Bill decides to reform his ways. He meets Doreen and after some trials, including a rift caused by the appearance of a sophisticated rival, Bill forsakes his drinking mate, Ginger Mick, marries Doreen and becomes a good husband and provider.

• The Sentimental Bloke is based on the verse narrative The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by CJ Dennis. First published in 1915, the book sold more than 60,000 copies in the following 18 months. It was printed in pocket editions for sale to Australian soldiers and there is plenty of evidence that it was widely read by soldiers who liked to think they were larrikins at heart. Arguably, the popularity of the film, coming so soon after the First World War, was due to the success of the book.

• The Sentimental Bloke was shot on location, mainly in the working-class Sydney suburbs of Woolloomooloo and Darlinghurst. Raymond Longford, who directed the film, moved the location of Dennis’s story from inner-city Melbourne to inner-city Sydney, an environment he knew well, having been raised in Darlinghurst. The authenticity and specificity of the locations, which were also an important feature of the book, and the film’s candid depiction of slum neighbourhoods, reflected a world that was recognisable to contemporary audiences.

• Dialect was a distinguishing feature of Dennis’s verse and The Sentimental Bloke featured dialect in the intertitles. Dennis’s story was simply and humorously told in verse that used colourful language. This language owed as much to the London stage as it did to the Melbourne larrikin and could as easily be spoken as read silently. In this clip the intertitle 'Jist ’eadin ’em, an’ doin’ in me gilt’ refers to Bill losing money (gilt) when he bets on heads (just heading them) in the two-up game.

• In this clip Bill plays two-up, an Australian gambling game that was illegal at the time. In two-up, two coins are placed tails up on a flat board called a 'kip’ or 'paddle’, the ringer (who is in charge of the two-up ring) calls 'come in spinner’, and the spinner (player with the coins) tosses the coins. Bets are made on whether the coins will land on heads or tails. During this period a 'cockatoo’ was stationed to look out for the police when the game was being played. Two-up, which may have originated on the gold fields in the 1850s, was played by members of the Australian armed forces in both World Wars and can be played legally today on Anzac Day and in casinos.

• Raymond Longford directed The Sentimental Bloke in collaboration with his partner, Lottie Lyell. Pioneer filmmakers, Longford and Lyell had the most creative partnership of the early years of Australian cinema, and The Sentimental Bloke is recognised as their masterpiece. Lyell, who was a leading silent screen actor, played the part of Bill’s love, Doreen, but also cowrote the screenplay, selected the intertitles and assisted with locations, editing and art direction. Longford and Lyell made about 25 films together, but only five survive.

• Longford cast actors, such as Arthur Tauchert, who looked 'ordinary’ rather than like 'movie stars’. Tauchert, a vaudeville performer and former labourer, and Lyell embodied the types they represented, and this may have contributed to the film’s appeal. This casting decision may have been part of the reason the film did not secure US distribution. Longford directed his actors to be natural and to tone down the exaggerated acting style used in silent film in the absence of speech. The actors prepared by immersing themselves in working-class culture and speaking slang all day.

• The Sentimental Bloke was produced during the pioneering years of Australian cinema. After film was successfully projected to an audience in Paris in 1895, Australians were quick to adopt the new medium. Between 1906 and 1912 Australia produced more feature-length films than Britain or the USA. However, in the 1920s US and British distributors signed exclusive deals with Australian cinemas. This limited screening possibilities for Australian films, and sent the Australian film industry into a decline that lasted until the 1970s.

This is a silent clip with intertitles.

Intertitle: The ‘Two Up’ School
Two men, Bill and Ginger, enter an illicit two-up school. A lookout stands watch outside, on the footpath.

Intertitle: Jist ‘eadin ‘em, an’ doin’ in me gilt.
Inside, a large group of men are standing around playing two-up. Outside on the footpath, two men talk and then fight. Inside, the games continue.

Intertitle: The Raid.
Police arrive to break up the tussle on the footpath between the lookout and a plain-clothes police officer. The men inside the two-up school hurriedly disperse in all directions. The fighting continues. A chase ensues, including over rooftops and fences. Mick hides in a horsefeed barrel.

Intertitle: Pinched.
A struggling Bill is captured by two police officers, who begin dragging him away.