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A Bid for Fortune

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A Bid for Fortune

Master criminal Dr Nikola seeks a Chinese curio that promises eternal life and world domination

An Australian lawyer is entrusted with a curious Tibetan object known as the Rod of Knowledge, but soon discovers that dangerous occultist and evil mastermind Dr Nikola wants it for his own nefarious ends. A Bid For Fortune was an early British adventure serial which was packed together into this standalone feature that played in British cinemas during April 1917.

Producer Sidney Morgan adapted Guy Boothby's tale from the hugely popular Doctor Nikola series. Boothby, an Australian immigrant to the UK, was mentored by Rudyard Kipling and his evil occultist Dr Nikola was a forerunner of Fu Manchu, appearing in a string of novels between 1895 and 1901.

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From the collection

Forgotten Features

A hand-picked assortment of hard-to-see British feature films, featuring mischievous mermaids, murderous minors and military mayhem.

Thanks to decades of DVD and online publishing, not to mention archive revivals and restorations, more of Britain’s screen heritage is available today than ever before. You might even be forgiven for imagining that the whole of British cinema is now just a click away.

But much of that history - from the silent era to the relatively recent past - remains out of reach. This selection from the vaults, hand-picked by the BFI's curators, goes some way to remedying that. These fresh rediscoveries offer something for all tastes: whether futuristic fantasy, battle-of-the-sexes comedy, subversive provocation or an Indian-British rarity.

45 videos in this collection

Britain's first full-length science fiction feature has been restored by the BFI National Archive and given a new score by composer Matthew Herbert, commissioned by the BFI and the BBC.
1

A Message from Mars

  • London
  • 1913
The stirring story of poet Ellis Evans-Hedd Wyn, the Welsh poet posthumously awarded the Eisteddfod chair at Birkenhead in 1917 after failing to return from 1st World War trenches.
2

Hedd Wyn

  • Trawsfynydd
  • 1992
Child actor Mandy Miller shines in this children's adventure set in the traditional hop picking season in Kent.
3

Adventure in the Hopfields

  • Goudhurst
  • 1954
Find out what happens when a good girl goes bad in this controversial post-war Brit noir thriller starring Jean Kent.
4

Good-Time Girl

  • Islington
  • 1947
The adventures of the spirited Tom Brown at Rugby School in the 1830s.
5

Tom Brown's Schooldays

  • 1916
The first film adaptation of Harold Brighouse's Salford-set play, humorously depicting the travails of a dipsomaniac cobbler.
6

Hobson's Choice

  • 1920
Pete Postlethwaite, Bill Nighy and Julie Walters appear in this film about a four-year struggle to set up a worker's cooperative.
7

Occupy!

  • Kirkby
  • 1976
Ambitious, eccentric and hugely entertaining biopic, with Dennis Price's 'wicked' poet-adventurer defending himself in a celestial court.
8

The Bad Lord Byron

  • 1949-04-18
The path to true love never runs smooth, but poor Margaret Lockwood gets more of a bumpy ride than anyone deserves in this post-war melodrama.
9

Madness of the Heart

  • 1949
A teenage boy breaks all the rules of rock climbing to reach the top of an off-limits Lake District mountain.
10

Eagle Rock

  • Lake District National Park
  • 1965-02-04
Bollywood-on-Thames: East meets West in a tale of two loves in 70s London
11

Pasand Apni Apni

  • London
  • 1969
A young woman is persuaded to help a Chinese businessman to kidnap a naval officer in this fun and outrageous British thriller.
12

The Woman from China

  • 1931-03-05
Laughs and thrills come thick and fast in this Edgar Wallace comedy-thriller with a hair-raising car versus train chase.
13

Kate Plus Ten

  • 1938
Following one family from 1944 till after the war, this film tells the story of the women who worked to keep the home fires burning - not to mention cleaning the grates, darning socks, feeding a houseful on rations and waving off the uniformed heroes with a brave smile. It's an affecting and affectionate tribute to the vital role women played ensuring that husbands, sons and daughters had something to come home to.
14

The Weaker Sex

  • 1948
The diverse tenants of a London boarding house find their lives transformed by a mysterious and kindly stranger.
15

The Passing of the Third Floor Back

  • 1936-01-27
Claustrophobic train-set comedy-thriller with a gang of crooks intent on stealing a gold shipment on a Scotland to London express.
16

The Gold Express

  • 1955
Leads and locations shine in this feature adaptation of Oliver Goldsmith's popular novel, a tale to soften hard hearts.
17

The Vicar of Wakefield

  • 1916
Two public school teachers clash over teaching methods and the love of a good woman in this absorbing Hugh Walpole adaptation.
18

Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill

  • 1948
A man goes fishing and comes home with a most unusual catch in this comedy feature.
19

Miranda

  • 1948
Young Lord Billy sniffs out sneaky German marauders in this flag-waving war drama - thrills for British boys, 1919-style.
20

The Warrior Strain

  • 1920-01
Dramatic reconstruction of the Somme
21

The Somme

  • Hounslow
  • 1927
Dramatisation of the popular conspiracy theory surrounding the mid-WWI death of Lord Kitchener.
22

How Kitchener Was Betrayed

  • 1921
Kidnapping, mobsters and moonshine! Is this a story is set in a country, which exists only in the minds of those who have never been to Ireland?
23

Irish and Proud of It

  • Derry / Londonderry
  • 1936
The bar flies prepare for the big day with betting, boozing and banter. But will best man Billy break more than his ma's heart before the wedding?
24

The Best Man

  • Derry / Londonderry
  • 1986-01-01
Will new open-air microphone technology give Richard Hayward the chance to silence his critics? Watch as Cushendun and Bangor steal the show.
25

Devil's Rock

  • Bangor
  • 1938
Entertaining and evocative Fleet Air Arm drama-doc propaganda piece, written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
26

The Volunteer

  • Denham
  • 1944-01-10
Reserve player overcomes the odds to win the heart of a fair lady... and the FA Cup final in this early footie feature.
27

The Great Game

  • 1931-02-23
This morale-boosting variety extravaganza – filled with radio personality Carroll Levis' discoveries - is like a wartime Britain's Got Talent.
28

Discoveries

  • Highbury
  • 1939-06
Nefarious nightclub hosts blackmail a drunkard into fleecing their customers
29

Trapped by London Sharks

  • 1916
The course of true love certainly doesn't run smooth in this unlikely Scottish drama from the Clarendon Film Company.
30

On the Banks of Allan Water

  • 1916
Charismatic silent star Fred Paul is cast against type as a real rotter preying on innocents in the big city, in an enjoyably lurid London melodrama.
31

Rogues of London

  • 1915
AWOL for more than half a century, but now back on parade, this cheery army comedy is a showcase for variety star Hal Monty and a young Max Bygraves.
32

Bless 'em All

  • 1948-07-11
A holiday romance between a miner and a secretary blossoms in Ramsgate
33

A Man's Affair

  • 1949
A tale of treachery, madness and thwarted love in this vivid rural melodrama set around Heptonstall in Yorkshire.
34

Helen of Four Gates

  • Heptonstall
  • 1920
Lovingly rendered version of a traditional Welsh folk tale of thwarted romance, set in 17th-century Cefn Ydfa.
35

The Love Story of Ann Thomas the Maid of Cefn Ydfa

  • Cefn Ydfa
  • 1914
Johnston Forbes-Roberston gives his famous performance of Hamlet in this ambitious early Shakespeare feature
36

Hamlet

  • 1913
Master criminal Dr Nikola seeks a Chinese curio that promises eternal life and world domination
37

A Bid for Fortune

  • 1917
Charming tale of East End lovers divided by a not so lucky windfall, with beautiful scenes in the Kent hop fields.
38

East Is East

  • 1917-02-12
A strong cast of British stage luminaries enriches this tale of heartache and betrayal in 18th century London society
39

Masks and Faces

  • 1917
Handsomely-presented drama about a man caught between his privileged Western education and traditional African roots.
40

Men of Two Worlds

  • Pinewood Film Studios
  • 1946-09-09
Moving family drama of the life of a working-class Hackney couple over 40 years, inspired by the famous music hall song
41

My Old Dutch

  • 1934-11-12
Drama and romance by the North Sea in this tale of family dispute
42

The Last Adventurers

  • Grimsby
  • 1937
Early attempt at medieval epic with impressive locations
43

Jane Shore

  • 1915
Brandy-smuggling locals resist government interference in this Ealing-esque comedy, filmed on Romney Marsh
44

Green Grow the Rushes

  • New Romney
  • 1951
Romantic melodrama about a woman who loses both her parents and innocently falls in with a bad crowd.
45

The Mysteries of London

  • London
  • 1915
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