Struck Oil (film)

Struck Oil is a 1919 Australian silent film directed by Franklyn Barrett. It is based on a play set during the American Civil War whose popularity with the Australian public as a stage vehicle for Maggie Moore was the basis for J.C. Williamsons success as a theatre entrepreneur.

John Stofel is a Dutch shoemaker who has settled in America, and has a daughter, Lizzie. During the US Civil War, John goes off to fight in the place of a cowardly deacon who gives him the title deed of a farm. John returns from the war wounded and insane. Oil is discovered on the farm and the deacon tries to take the land back. However, John regains his memory, finds the hidden title deed and the deacon is forced to give up his claim to the Stofels.American actor J.C. Williamson was a leading actor who had toured Australia and just married Maggie Moore when he read a oneact play called The Dead, or Five Years Away from Irish miner and amateur playwright Sam Smith. It was originally a oneman piece about John Stofel which was similar to Rip Van Winkle. Williamson bought the play outright for 100 had it rewritten by his friend Clay M. Greene, and retitled it Struck Oil. He then took the play to Salt Lake City where Williamson claims he rewrote the last act himself. ........

Source: Wikipedia