Alfred Rolfe: forgotten pioneer Australian film director

ABSTRACT

Alfred Rolfe was arguably the most prolific silent era Australian director. He was responsible for more than 25 feature films, encompassing the bushranger genres, early Australian war cinema and various melodramas. Many of his films were both critical and commercial successes. The only surviving footage is scenes from two of his 1915 war films. This important director has been overshadowed by his contemporaries, particularly Raymond Longford. This paper argues that Rolfe’s contribution to early Australian cinema was significant, not just in volume, but also in artistic terms, in subject matter, and in popular appeal. The centenary of Anzac is also the centenary of Australia’s first Gallipoli movie, Rolfe’s The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915), which was one of the most successful films at the box office for its time.

KEYWORDS:

• Rolfe
• Alfred
• Australian cinema
• silent film
• theatre
• Anzac cinema
• Bushranger films

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank scholars Andrew Pike, Richard Fotheringham and Graham Shirley, and NFSA staff member Amanda McCormack, for their invaluable assistance in the research for this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Stephen Vagg has an MA Honours in Screen Studies from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and has written a full-length biography on Rod Taylor. He is also an AWGIE winning and AFI nominated screenwriter who is currently story producer on Neighbours.

Daniel Reynaud is an Associate Professor of History and Faculty Assistant Dean, Learning and Teaching. He has published widely on Australian war cinema and was instrumental in the partial reconstruction of Rolfe’s film The Hero of the Dardanelles, and the rediscovery of parts of How We Beat the Emden.