The Life Story of John Lee, or the Man They Could Not Hang is a 1911 Australian silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 based on a stage play about the true life story of John Babbacombe Lee.

Reception

After the film was completed, producer Phillip Lytton was unenthusiastic about the film's commercial prospects and passed it on to an employee, Arthur W. Sterry, in 1917. Sterry and his partner, Frederick Haldane, distributed the film themselves throughout Australia, New Zealand and England, often giving a lecture to accompany screenings. It was estimated the film earned £50,000 before 1921 when Sterry and Haldane remade the movie

The Life Story of John Lee, or The Man They Could Not Hang (1921 film)

The Life Story of John Lee, or the Man They Could Not Hang is a 1921 Australian silent film based on the true life story of John Babbacombe Lee. It is a remake of a 1912 film with some extra scenes of Lee's childhood. The movie proved very popular at the box office. There was another version of the...

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