Sentenced for Life is an Australian film directed byE. I. Cole. It was an adaptation of a play performed by Cole and his Bohemian Dramatic Company as early as 1904.[6][7][8]
It has been called,Sentenced for Life, or the ship owner's daughter.[9]
A man is wrongly convicted and sentenced as a convict.[11] According to a contemporary report, "Vivid convict scenes are enacted, ending with a revolt by the prisoners. There is a happy ending of wedding bells."[2] It turns out the young man's rival was responsible and he is punished.[12]
It was set in Van Diemen's Land[13] although one report claims it was New South Wales[14]
The story starts in England, A shipowner's daughter is loved by two men, an artistocrat, Captain Hood, and a poorer man, Hayward. The aristocrtat frames Hayward for a crime he did not commit and is transported to Australia. The daughter proves the aristocrat a criminal and he is transposrted too. In Australia, prisoners revolt. Hayward is accused of leading the rebellion by the aristocrat and is whipped. However Hood on his deathbed confesses to his crimes. Hayward is restored to his girl and they get married.[15][16][17]
The AdelaideRegister called it "a particularly fine film".[25]
Perth'sSunday Times said "This paper's recent remarks on the general awfulness of bushranging films has had a desired effect. More than one Westralian bio. firm has wired over to the East excerpts from our notice on some of the celluloid atrocities.Sentenced, for Life andBen Hall are therefore gone to join the English Clarendon comic films that shocked this State a while back."[26]
^"AMUSEMENTS".The Advertiser. Vol. LIII, no. 16, 428. South Australia. 12 June 1911. p. 12. Retrieved9 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Advertising".The Daily Telegraph. No. 7681. New South Wales, Australia. 18 January 1904. p. 2. Retrieved5 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Advertising".The Age. No. 16, 377. Victoria, Australia. 7 September 1907. p. 18. Retrieved5 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Advertising".The Age. No. 16596. Victoria, Australia. 22 May 1908. p. 10. Retrieved5 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^""A Convict's Sweetheart"".Daily Standard. No. 1761. Queensland, Australia. 8 August 1918. p. 7 (second edition). Retrieved5 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
