Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Thursday 27 December 1906, page 5


ATHENÆUM HALL.

"THE KELLY GANG."

The Story of the Kelly gang told by Bio-graph, was given for the first time in the

Athenæum Hall yesterday afternoon. A second performance taking place in the

Town Hall in the evening. Necessarily, the events have had to be recreated,

and for dramatic purpose many liberties were rightly taken which the public

will pardon, as they serve to make the exploits all the more convinc-

ing and animated. For instance, the police are always seen in uniform, which they never wore. The reasons being the obvious; in fact they were dressed to resemble ordinary bushmen as much as possible. The inci-dents are given for the most part realistic-

ally, and they present a very fair record of the exciting career of the four noted out-

laws. An enormous amount of labour has been expended in obtaining some scenes. The

bush pictures are for the most part very faithful, always excepting the locality of the

police murder in the Wombat Ranges, which was thick with spear-grass. From be-

hind this Ned Kelly shot the troopers. The clothing all save one person's, and that the

leader of the gang, is correct. Ned Kelly, when taken, was got up in quite the dandy bushman style—yellow cord pants, with slate cross-barred pattern cloth, very thin-soled and high-heeled kangaroo skin riding-

boots, with spurs, white Crimean shirt, with large black spots, vest of the same ma-terial as the pants, and a long white mac-intosh, closely buttoned, worn over all. These items could easily have been followed. The best scene is the attempt to wreck the special train beyond Glenrowan by tearing up the metals and sleepers. The next good picture is the capture of Kelly. For those who have only read highly-coloured accounts of the career of the gang and their doings the biography will give a very good idea of

the last of the Victorian bushrangers. The curtain-raiser deals with some well told love stories, the films coming to London and Paris, the one tracing of the "Detective and Dog" ??? vour. The performance ??? ing one, and the ???

enthusiastically.