Although the real culprit is his cousin, Dalmore flees to the bush, where he is rescued by cattle-stealing bushrangers and, due in part of his military experience, becomes their leader under the name Captain Dart.

He set the play entirely in Australia, changed the hero from being the son of a Cornish mine owner to the son of a wealthy Australian station owner, added a fifth act, renamed the hero Captain Midnight instead of Captain Dart, and added a role for himself as an old bushman, Ned Harling (In the original Harling was a publican but only in a small part).

[1] According to contemporary reports, the actors researched their roles for seven months – this may be a reference to the amount of time they had played the parts on stage.

Williamson later said that the script only came to half a dozen pages and was carefully written to not have any interior scenes as there were no studio facilities at the time.

Shooting took place in the Sydney suburbs of Narrabeen and Frenchs Forest, as well as in the Blue Mountains, with an average of five or six scenes being filmed a day.

Williamson claimed occasionally reshoots were needed but the actors were unavailable because of theatrical commitments, so they would just write a title to cover it.

[23] The scene of Captain Midnight leaping off a cliff on horseback into a river and swimming away admit a hail of bullets was well received and "soon became obligatory for bushrangers in Australian cinema folklore.

[7][25] One critic wrote that: There is hardly a moment but is associated with some exciting incident, and the audience last night followed the picture with repeated bursts of cheering and applause, which found echo in the unrestrained appreciation manifest at its termination.

It might be wished that Australian reproductions of melodramatic subjects were less frequently identified with the murderous doings of ruffians whitewashed but being in such demand Captain Midnight will be recognized as a cleverly contrived example of its class.

Miss Lily Dampier and Mr Alfred Rolfe figured to much advantage... a long series of beautiful bush spaces... gave realism and distinction to the story.

[12]Cosens Spencer would later make three other films based on Alfred Dampier play adaptations of novels set in colonial Australia, Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911), The Life of Rufus Dawes (1911) and The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole (1912).