Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

The Far Paradise (1928)

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clip The missing letter

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

At breakfast, James Carson (Gaston Mervale) conceals a letter addressed to his daughter Cherry (Isable McDonagh billed as 'Marie Lorraine’) before claiming that no letters have arrived for her.

Note: The original aspect ratio is 1.33:1 (Academy full frame). The print of The Far Paradise obtained by the NFSA had been incorrectly duplicated at a 1.37:1 (Academy) ratio, which has cut approximately 3mm off the top and left-hand side off the frame.

Curator’s notes

by Graham Shirley

This scene was filmed on a veranda of Drummoyne House in Wrights Road, Drummoyne, Sydney, where the McDonagh family lived between 1920 and 1929. Gaston Mervale, the British-born actor who played James Carson, had directed nine features for the Australian Life Biograph company in 1911, most of them starring a young Louise Carbasse, from the mid-1910s better known as the Hollywood star Louise Lovely. From 1914-1915 Mervale directed at least one film and acted in several more in the USA before returning to Australia, where he worked until the 1940s as a theatre producer, actor and drama teacher. While Gaston Mervale’s role in The Far Paradise was a thankless one of a drunken, abusive father, this sequence shows his ability to match Isabel McDonagh in underplaying to effect.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

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