It's been 100 years since one of Australia's most iconic films has graced movie screens. And on election night at the Carrington Hotel, Katoomba, The Sentimental Bloke will make its comeback.
The silent classic directed by Raymond Longford was lost for decades until it was found in 1955 in a vault at New York's Eastman Kodak, filed mistakenly as The Sentimental Blonde. It tells the story of Sydney working class larrikin-crook Bill and his romance with pickle factory worker Doreen who wants him to give up his gambling, boozing ways.
It stars Katoomba's Lottie Lyell. She relocated her production company to the Mountains to help her recovery from tuberculosis. The film transformed her into the country's first international film star.
The Times of London called it "the greatest picture ever made". It cost 2000 pounds to make and grossed 50,000 around the world.
Lyell went on to direct Blue Mountains specific movies, which have been lost to time.
Australian film producer Bill Leimbach is bringing the film, adapted from the much-loved 1915 C.J Dennis poem, to audiences all over Australia. CJ Dennis even appears in a cameo in the opening credits. The National Film and Sound Archive released the copy to help celebrate the 100th anniversary.
Mr Leimback said Katoomba is the fourth recent showing of the film, after it screened in outback Queensland to mark the 100th anniversary of the town of Winton,
"The curator of that outback film festival is a Russian-Australian and he knew the half Russian Volantinsky Quartet. He commissioned a new score ... the results are quite exotic - with a mix of Aussie and Eastern Europe."
The event starts at 7pm on Saturday May 18. Go to eventbrite for tickets.