An early play made in Sydney. Based on a one-act play.
Plot
The play tells the story of James Dyke, a confessed murderer who has been sentenced to die and now awaits his fate on death row at a prison in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The only problem is that no one knows who he really is or where he comes from, and he is determined to take his secret to the grave. The prison’s warden and chaplain have nearly given up hope of discovering his true identity until the night of Dyke’s execution when a strange young woman arrives requesting to see him. Now, she may be the only key to unlocking Dyke’s mysterious past. Questions are asked, and vague answers are given. Truth, fiction, or both. One question focuses on Shakespeare which is denied outright.
However, the woman leaves thinking that James is not her brother, but after she walks out, he recites lines from both Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. We are left with the impression that he is indeed her brother and he did not want to reveal his true identity so that his mother would think that her son died nobly in the war.
Cast
* Tom Farley
* Owen Weingott
*Beryl Marshall (Beverly Gledhill appeared to play the girl in a workshop)
Original play
Based on a play by Holsworth Hall and Robert Middlemass. This was copyrighted in 1920 and first performed in 1924. A link to the full text it is here. Another link is here.
Other adaptations
It was filmed with Paul Muni in 1929 and later in 1940.
It was filmed for British TV (BBC) in 1947 and in 1956 with Eartha Kitt. The Age ran a big photo of that here.
It was filmed for American TV in 1948, and 1950.
The ABC adapted it for radio in June 1956 in Melbourne.
It was performed in Australian Little Theatre. Some shows are here.
Production
They rehearsed it for a TV workshop around July 1956 - see ABC Weekly. Beverly Geldhill was in it but a different Beverly seems to have played it in the production.
It aired live in December 1956. It was shot in Sydney.
Reception
A viewer wrote in calling it "magnificent". (see below)
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| ABC Weekly 29 Dec 1956 |
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| ABC Weekly 16 June 1956 p 20 |
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| ABC Weekly 1 Dec 1956 p 19 |
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| ABC Weekly 21 July 1956 p 9 |
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| SMH 4 Dec 1956 p 13 |
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| ABC Weekly 1 Dec 1956 |
The grim, gray walls of our prisons hold many a strange and dark secret, Once behind those forbidding walls, after the routine of interviews, the fingerprinting, and the donning of the hated prison stripes, the prisoner en¬ters his cell and the door clangs shut behind a once free man. Prisoner No. 1 14228. Only a number now. What did he leave behind him? a good mother? a wife and children? a comfortable home? a prosperous business? In what ] dark moment did he surrender all that made life worth living and exchange his freedom for a prison cell, or even perhaps for the electric chair? What circumstances, or what weaknesses of character, caused him to commit a
crime against society, thereby proving himself unworthy to live in freedom? 1 The prison wardens wonder. The chaplains wonder. Teachers and social leaders are concerned with these questions too, because to help create preventive measures they must know why people take the wrong path.
“ The Valiant ” turns the spotlight upon just such a prisoner. It helps us to ] see how the crime of one man affects the lives of others. It also shows the bitter loneliness of the prisoner about to die in “ Murderers’ Row.” When a man begins to walk his “ last mile,” he still has two choices. He may die a coward’s death or he may accept his punishment with courage. Dyke, the ! condemned man in “ The Valiant ” has that choice to make.
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