Australian
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The Cheaters (sound version) (1931)

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clip ‘Twenty years of progress’

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

A montage establishing CBD Sydney leads to the arrival of Paula Marsh (Isabel McDonagh billed as 'Marie Lorraine’) and ‘Lady Worth’ (Leal Douglas) at a jewellery store, where they beguile store manager Keith Manion (Frank Hawthorne) into allowing them to ‘borrow’ a valuable necklace.

Note: This clip has been pillarboxed to show the maximum amount of the full frame.

Curator’s notes

by Graham Shirley

The title ‘Twenty years of progress’ establishes Sydney (not named as such) in 1929-30. The montage’s accompanying music – a waltz-time piece whose massed violins and oom-pah rhythm suggests the grace and bustle of a European city – adds a cosmopolitan atmosphere of a kind the McDonaghs were keen to inject into all their films.

The sequence at the jewellery store combines shots from the silent version with those newly filmed at Standardtone’s Sydney Showground studio. Where most of the shots including those of Paula Marsh are drawn from the silent version, there are several, including those of Paula and the store manager Keith Manion, that were newly filmed with synchronised sound. Where new and old images of Manion have a visual continuity, the contrast between the new and old shots of Paula is jarring.

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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.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

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