Hunt for Captain Thunderbolt may turn up negative

http://tinyurl.com/22lnosw The bushranger's still wanted, writes Helen Pitt.

"THE New England bushranger Captain Thunderbolt was known for evading troopers in the 1800s; now the original celluloid version of his life, the 1953 classic Captain Thunderbolt, has gone missing and authorities are mounting an international search.

"The hunt for the 35mm original negative is part of a broader search-and-rescue mission to find the original negatives of some of Australia's most significant films. The list includes The Removalists (1975) and Bliss (1985).

"Following on from success last year, when a CBS television executive found the original version of the 1971 classic Wake in Fright in a Pittsburgh rubbish skip, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Sydney Film Festival organisers are hoping for similar luck with Captain Thunderbolt.

"For the first time they have also teamed with the New York-based Film Foundation, the world's leading non-profit organisation dedicated to film preservation - established by Martin Scorsese - and will launch the official search for Australia's lost films on Monday, June 14, at the Art Gallery of NSW. No reward will be given other than fame, but attendees will get to watch an original trailer for Captain Thunderbolt, which has not been seen for more than 50 years ..."

More on Captain Thunderbolt at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days

Highwaymen, outlaws, bushrangers, pirates, gangsters, etc in the Book of Days

Categories: thunderbolt, bushranger, australia, crime, film, history