Satan in Sydney

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Satan in Sydney is a 1918 Australian melodrama directed by Beaumont Smith. It was his first film not about rural families and is now considered lost.

Plot:
Anne Maxwell, a country girl, takes singing lessons from Karl Krona, who secretly supports Germany. Her stepsister Betty Benton suspects trouble, and Mr. Maxwell finds Krona trying to kiss Anne. Krona is fired, and Anne moves to Sydney with her lover Will Waybrn. Will saves her from a house of ill repute. When war breaks out, Anne becomes a nurse to serve overseas. Krona, shaving off his moustache to look Belgian, runs an opium den in Chinatown to lure soldiers, and tricks Anne with a forged message. Will and his AIF friends rescue her. Anne goes to France to tend an injured Will; they marry and are reunited with her father. Betty reforms; Krona is interned; and Anne and Will help recruiting while on their honeymoon.

Production and reception:
The film was made in Sydney, following Smith’s stage work on Anglo-Chinese themes like Mr Wu. It premiered at the Lyric Theatre in Sydney on 15 July 1918 at 11 p.m. Police initially objected to some billing and feared parts would offend the Chinese community or affect recruiting, but the State Censor Board reviewed it and approved it without changes. The State Recruiting Committee and military censor also had no objections. The publicity from the censorship dispute helped the film’s box office. The Chinese community, led by William Yinson Lee, complained about certain advertising as offensive, and some posters were removed. A magazine later noted that the film was briefly censored but deemed harmless, and that the publicity around the incident helped Beaumont Smith’s success.