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Clip description
After two thieves attack and rob a wealthy farmer, John Harland (Snowy Baker) knocks one of them to the ground before chasing the other through city alleyways and streets, climbing a steep wall and jumping from a high bridge. Crash-tackling the second thief, Harland delivers both thieves to police.
Curator’s notes
Wilfred Lucas said of Snowy Baker: 'I have worked with Fairbanks and [Raoul?] Walsh in the movies in America but I can say without fear of contradiction that Snowy Baker can enact stunts which beats even the best they can put over’. Baker insisted on performing his own stunts, a feat that enabled him to capitalise on his previous career as a multi-skilled sportsman. His wild chase in in this clip was filmed in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Paddington, also a location for other Australian silent films including The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and The Kid Stakes (1927). The bridge that Baker leaps from is Cutler Footway, which today still links Paddington to Darlinghurst.
