{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=February 2012}} {{Infobox film | name = The Cup Winner | image = | caption = | director = Alfred Rolfe | producer = | writer = | based_on = play by Philip Lytton and William Lee | starring = Charles Villiers | music = | cinematography = | editing = | studio = Australian Photo-Play Company | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1911|11|7|Melbourne|ref1=<ref name="cup">{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11629746 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=6 November 1911 |accessdate=17 May 2015 |page=16 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>|1911|11|8|Sydney|ref2=<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115286189 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Evening News|location=Sydney |date=7 November 1911 |accessdate=17 May 2015 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>|df=y}} | runtime = 3,000 feet<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50635927 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Examiner |location=Launceston, Tas. |date=1 February 1912 |accessdate=26 March 2012 |page=1 |edition=DAILY |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> or 2,400 feet<ref>{{Citation | title=Everyones | publication-date=1920 | publisher=Everyones Ltd | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-575141187 | accessdate=29 March 2019 }}</ref> | language = Silent film<br>English intertitles | country = Australia | budget = }}

'''''The Cup Winner''''' is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Alfred Rolfe.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45173093 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Barrier Miner |location=Broken Hill, NSW |date=20 November 1911 |accessdate=20 February 2015 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Vagg|first1=Stephen|last2=Reynaud|first2=Daniel|date=2016|title=Alfred Rolfe: Forgotten pioneer Australian film director|journal=Studies in Australasian Cinema|volume=10|issue=2|pages=184–198|doi=10.1080/17503175.2016.1170950|s2cid=192878094 }}</ref> It is set against a backdrop of horseracing and the finale involves real footage from the 1911 Melbourne Cup.<ref name="cup"/><ref name="Pike">Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 27</ref>

It was also known as ''Doping the Favourite''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137874042 |title=Chrono. Pictures. |newspaper=Wellington Times |location=NSW |date=24 June 1912 |accessdate=17 May 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Synopsis== Richard Avendal is married with a young son. His wife is being blackmailed by a scoundrel who knows the wife's brother is in prison on a serious charge and demands money for his silence. Avendal sees his wife together with the blackmailer and believes he has been unfaithful.

Avendal divorces his wife and gives away their young baby son to an Italian organ grinder. The Italian places the baby in a training stable where he is found by the stable's owner and adopted into his family.

The boy, named Crossie, grows up and becomes a jockey, riding a horse in the Melbourne Cup owned by Richard Avendal. The villain and a comic Jewish bookmaker try to force Crossie to dope the horse but he refuses and rides to victory. The son is reunited with his father via the organ grinder, and Avendal discovers his wife is innocent.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105200408 |title=Empire Theatre. |newspaper=Daily Herald |location=Adelaide |date=13 November 1911 |accessdate=10 November 2014 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135761503 |title=Herbert's Pictures. |newspaper=Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate |date=24 September 1912 |accessdate=17 May 2015 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The chapter headings were: *'Black mail' *'A misunderstanding' *'Jealousy' *'Divorced' *'Abandoned' *'Crossie, the Stable Boy' *''Trials for the Melbourne Cup'' *'The Spy' *'The Cup' *'The Burning Stables' *'Doping the Favorite' *'Tattersall's Club' *'Paying against the Favorite' *'The race for the Melbourne Cup, 1911' *'Crossie rides his father's horse to victory' *'The Welsher' *'Crossie restored to his parents' *'A happy ending'<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103486070 |title=The Melbourne Cup. |newspaper=The Cobar Herald |location=NSW |date=1 December 1911 |accessdate=17 May 2015 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Cast== *Charles Villiers

==Original play== {{Infobox play | name = The Cup Winner | image = | image_size = | caption = | writer = Philip Lytton<br>J. C. Lee | characters = | setting = | premiere = 1907 | place = | orig_lang = English | subject = | genre = Melodrama }} The film was based on a play which Philip Lytton toured around Australia from 1907 to 1909.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22269326 |title=The Stage. |newspaper=The Queenslander |date=25 May 1907 |accessdate=26 March 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14926122 |title=Playgoers' Dramatic Club. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=30 May 1908 |accessdate=26 March 2012 |page=14 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14847213 |title=The Cup Winner |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=13 July 1907 |accessdate=8 December 2012 |page=14 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

A Brisbane production centred on the Ascot Gold Cup and involved fourteen real horses racing on stage.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19380794 |title=Entertainments. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |date=31 May 1907 |accessdate=26 March 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The plot involved Richard Avenal's happy home being wrecked by a blackmailer, Stephen Warland. Avenal's horse Kitchener participates in a horse race against Old Stocking, the blackmailer's horse.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19560293 |title=His Majesty's Touring Theatre. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |date=25 January 1909 |accessdate=8 December 2012 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Production and release== The film was shot in Sydney in 1911, with additional footage shot at the real 1911 Melbourne Cup by six cameramen. (The Cup was won that year by The Parisian.)<ref>[https://melbournecupcarnival.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/1911-1920.html Melbourne Cup winners 1911-1920] Retrieved 14 September 2013</ref>

The footage was processed immediately and shown that night, 7 November 1911, at five Melbourne theatres. It was copied and screened in Sydney theatres the next day. Screenings were usually accompanied by a lecturer.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15287240 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=8 November 1911 |accessdate=26 March 2012 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Reception== The gimmick proved successful and the movie became a major hit around the country, screening as late as February 1912.<ref name="Pike"/><ref>on {{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53254231 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Morning Bulletin |location=Rockhampton, Qld. |date=6 February 1912 |accessdate=26 March 2012 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The critic from the Launceston ''Examiner'' said the film "justified all that was written of it. It is unquestionably one of the most thorough and most interesting of the Australian Photo-Play Company's productions, and a stirring dramatic story."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50636028 |title=E.A. Company at the Albert Hall. |newspaper=The Examiner |location=Launceston, Tas. |date=1 February 1912 |accessdate=26 March 2012 |page=6 Edition: DAILY |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' said the film "does not depend on that scene [the Melbourne cup] for its interest, the human side of the drama, where all the varying emotions are admirably portrayed, being absorbing."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15287852 |title=The Cup Winner |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=10 November 1911 |accessdate=14 September 2013 |page=13 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The ''Evening News'' called it a "splendid picture".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115285338 |title=Picture Shows. |newspaper=The Evening News|location=Sydney |date=8 November 1911 |accessdate=17 May 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The film was a financial success.<ref>{{Citation | title=The Future of Australian Pictures AN INTERVIEW WITH ALEX. HELLMRICH. | journal=Everyones. | year=1920 | volume=4| issue=261 (4 March 1925) | location=Sydney | publisher=Everyones Ltd | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-559978517 | id=nla.obj-559978517 | access-date=30 November 2023 | via=Trove }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0343559}} *[https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/7632445 ''The Cup Winner'' film] at AustLit *[https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/7632511 ''The Cup Winner'' play] at AustLit {{Alfred Rolfe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cup Winner, The}} Category:1911 films Category:1911 Australian films Category:1911 English-language films Category:1911 lost films Category:1900s Australian plays Category:Australian black-and-white films Category:Australian films based on plays Category:Australian horse racing films Category:Australian silent feature films Category:Films directed by Alfred Rolfe Category:Lost Australian silent films Category:1907 plays