Hello to all my CineTV friends out there; it looks like it's another week, and another chance to consider a topic, which is actually rather significant. Well done to whoever comes up with these things for the reflection they prompt!
This week, I've been thinking over what 'Classic' means, and I nodded somewhat to the suggestion I read in the Discord that it was at least 25 years old. I note then, that's I'm not old, but rather classic - and, perhaps if someone had filmed my biography, I would have chosen that!
But it did make me think, what makes a classic film. And I think this is where my head is at:
- A film which is significant, not so much to an individual viewer, but to a wider social group (call it cultural significance, I suppose).
- A film which contains themes or concerns, or portrays attitudes or values reflecting its context.
- A film which contributed to cinema, pushing boundaries or being novel, rather than simply being 'just another film'.
Can I also add, I think it does need to be able to have the label 'Film' whacked on it. The term 'movie' is fine, but very informal, and I don't think captures the essence of what this prompt demands. Well done to the prompters again for that language choice!
My process then for deciding went like this:
- I wanted to do something Australian - figuring, this is really a space that I can bring to the international flavour of the community.
- I wanted to do something that was meaningful - initially, I went down the pathway of considering it meaningful to myself, but I've since changed my mind - going back to my first criteria, or social / cultural significance.
To that end, I chose: The Story of the Kelly Gang.
I would say Ned Kelly is probably one of the most famous Australians to ever live - in Primary school, you study him - and he's kind of like a cult figure, in that he comes to represent the underdog, or the battler.
Every 10 year old in Australia would know who this is, is he familiar to you? His most iconic images show him in a set of armour he made himself, where he advanced on the police outside his hiding place. He got away from them too - surrounded, and lived to fight another day!
That armour is now located in the State Library of Victoria:
Ned Kelly was born in Victoria in 1854, and he became a bushranger - an outlaw who led 'The Kelly Gang'. He would steal from the rich, hide in the bush, and police had been on the hunt for him for a while. In shootouts with the law, he did kill an officer. Ned Kelly was eventually captured and killed in 1880. He was hung on a tree.
It is believed his final words were, 'Such is life' - and funnily enough, this is one of the most popular tattoos people get. Can you believe it? A 26 year old criminal, best known for breaking the law, still celebrated 142 years later? I guess what I'm saying is, he was and is a significant cultural figure.
Part of this is, I suppose, Australia was a convict nation - our heritage is linked to the British shipping over all their prisoners, turning Australia into their Penal Colony. It was natural then, that a country of criminals would support someone sticking it to authority.
While I'm not a tattoo lover, you can see what I mean:
This is one of our country's best footballers, Ben Cousins, getting into the Ned Kelly spirit:
So that takes us back to 1906 - where the film had a modest budget of around 500 Pounds to be made (We used pounds back in those days, none of these dollars business existed here until 1966). The film launched a new genre too, starting the 'bushranger' genre, which has been wildly popular ever since.
The film itself is very short, and obviously there is no talking. In general, here's the plot summary:
- Warrant issued for the arrest of Dan Kelly, police back and forth, later, the Kelly Gang hold up and rob a bank, before a final shootout!!
I guess you don't need much of a plot, when the idea of a feature film is the novelty!
The film made use of informative stills to help the audience understand what was occurring:
The following images are clipped from the uploaded version of the film on Youtube, with acknowledgement for the restoration to:
Fun Fact: One of Ned Kelly's actual suits of armour was used in the production of the film. It was loaned to the film makers to give the film some 'authenticity'. Can you imagine someone wanting to just pop over and borrow it today?
Fun Fact #2:
Today, the film is part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register - which seeks to safeguard items of cultural and historical significance, so that they are never forgotten.
Here is the restored version of the film, I guess you won't watch the full thirty minutes, and fair enough, but you might want to skip through the scenes to get the gist of it.
See? It is indeed, the absolute, classic film of all time.
The film was an ambitious project in 1906, it is culturally significant, it has contributed to the folklore surrounding Ned Kelly, and was the crystalising force which has led to him becoming a cult hero in 2022. The film has been re-worked many times over, even in 2003 young Heath Ledger took on the role in the film 'Ned Kelly'.
How many films can claim, not just to have influenced cinematic history, but to write and reinforce history - framing an outlaw, forever after, as a hero?
If you'd like to take part in the CineTV Classic film contest, you can do so by clicking on this link: @cinetv/cinetv-contest-your-most-favorite-classic-films
Good luck to all; and finally to finish, to come around a bit of a thought exercise, what did you consider the most defining factor of making a film 'classic'?