Woman Suffers, The

1918 (NFSA Film Reconstruction: 1992), 77 Minutes. B&W with Original Colour Tinting

This 1918 feature by the director of The Sentimental Bloke is one of the most significant, surviving treasures of Australia’s silent film heritage. The first feature film to be shot in South Australia, The Woman Suffers used locations in and around Adelaide including Waterfall Gully and the Morphetville racetrack.

Three interconnecting story lines weave a dramatic saga of love, honour, betrayal, seduction and revenge. Ralph Manton discovers that his sister Marjorie has been seduced and demands that she tell him the name of her lover. Faithful to him who wronged her, she refuses, but later Ralph discovers his identity and confronts him. The tables are turned...

Screenplay by Lottie Lyell and Raymond Longford, The Woman Suffers was a critical and commercial success. The film gave audiences an alternative to the sensational melodrama typical of the day, by exposing the moral double standards that applied when society ostracised unmarried, pregnant women.

(201570900)

Director: Raymond Longford

Screenplay: Raymond Longford, Lottie Lyell

Principal Cast: Lottie Lyell, Boyd Irwin, Roland Conway, Connie Martyn, Paul Baxter, CR Stanford, Ida Gresham, Evelyn Black, Charles H Francis.

Original Release: 1918

NFSA Film Reconstruction 1992. Producer: Marilyn Dooley.

Musical accompaniment composed and conducted by Donald Hollier. Performed by members of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and recorded live, Canberra 1992.

Running Time: 77 Minutes

Classification: G

Curriculum Links: Creative Arts; Film, Cinema and Screen Studies; Australian History; Gender Studies; SOSE: Women - Changing Rights and Freedoms; Women's Studies.