We have always thought The Bendigo Story would make it to the big screen. Well now it has. Well sort of.
Bendigo gets ‘name checked’ and even appears in one scene of a new film alongside another boxing great named Jem Mace:
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.
The film depicts the true story of eccentric British artist Louis Wain (Benedict Cumberbatch). Wain became famous with creating playful, sometimes even psychedelic pictures of cats. Moving from the late 1800s through to the 1930s, it follow the incredible adventures of this inspiring, unsung hero, as he seeks to unlock the “electrical” mysteries of the world and, in so doing, to better understand his own life.
Directed by BAFTA award-winning Will Sharpe. Story by Simon Stephenson, screenplay by Simon Stephenson and Will Sharpe.
The story starts in 1881.
This immediately rules out Bendigo from being personally involved, but who cares.
This is the cinema and if a film about a true 19th century character wants to acknowledge that Bendigo was the biggest name in boxing, then so be it.
Bendigo Supporters
In Scene 9, Louis Wain is is seen sparring with James “Jem” Mace (1831 – 1910). Mace’s fighting career actually started in the 1850s, after Bendigo had retired.
They could though have sparred together though. At the height of his career, Mace won the English Welterweight, Heavyweight, and Middleweight titles. Like Bendigo, he was considered one of the most scientific boxers of the era. Most impressively, he held the World Heavyweight Championship from 1870 to 1871 while fighting in the United States.
The scene in the film describes them sparring at Mace’s boxing gym in London. It is known that Mace trained in London at Nat Langham’s Rum Pum Pas boxing club.
Here is the script from two scenes in the film. Taken from Amazon Studio Guilds
Scene 9 – JEM MACE’S BOXING GYM, LONDON – DAY
SMACK! WALLOP! LOUIS is suddenly boxing. A SKETCH of the famous boxer BENDIGO – hangs on the wall. LOUIS keeps throwing himself at a much bigger SPARRING OPPONENT.
THWACK! LOUIS falls onto his back and starts laughing.
JEM MACE
Alright, Wain, that’s enough. You’ll be late for your meetings…
LOUIS
Let me have one last crack at him!
LOUIS dizzily wobbles back to his feet, jiggling about in a febrile dance. OTHER BOXERS, both men and women, enjoy this.
LOUIS (CONT’D)
The Bendigo Shuffle! Come on, you big brute. Give me your best shot!
THE BIG BOXER thinks about it for a second. Then – THWACK!
‘The Bendigo Shuffle’? We like the sound of that.
The next scene actually features Bendigo
Scene 100 – EXT. BOXING TENT, LONDON – DAY (1886)
TWO FIGHTERS do battle – the huge JOURNEYMAN and the sprightly BENDIGO, who has a weird, cheeky charisma, bouncing about and making up insulting rhymes to put off his opponent.
LOUIS
Go on, Bendigo!
RAILTON
Curious little fellow, isn’t he.
BENDIGO is doing a dance – like LOUIS’ own eccentric boxing dance – pulling silly faces at the JOURNEYMAN. FLASH PHOTOGRAPHERS huddle to take shots. LOUIS and RAILTON sit ringside. LOUIS is trying to draw BENDIGO.
LOUIS
But he’s electric, Herb. Look how his fancy all adore him – Half his opponent’s size but he knows how to harness the electricity of the crowd… look, see! There it is.
FLASH! POW! WAPOW! FLASH! FLASH!
RAILTON
Are you talking about the photographers?
LOUIS
No, Herb. Look properly. The electricity. Finally, I feel like I’m starting to understand it. In fact I have a hypothesis that electricity is what pushes us through time. And if I can find a way to conduct and divert electricity with more accuracy, I could, in theory, experience the past as if it were no different to the future…
Have you seen the film?
Let us know what you think.
