| Down on the Farm | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Stewart Pitt |
| Produced by | Lee Hill |
| Starring | Daphne Murdoch, Ra Hould[1] (Ronald Sinclair)[2] |
| Cinematography | Lee Hill |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6300 ft 105 min |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Language | English |
Down on the Farm is a 1935 New Zealand film. It was New Zealand's first sound feature.[3][4] It is one of four films which lay claim to being the first "New Zealand talkie"; however, of the other three, The Devil's Pit and Hei Tiki had sound added in America, and On the Friendly Road was not released until 1936. Little footage and no script of the film have survived.
The film's director was Stewart Pitt, a cinema manager in Dunedin for many years, who had encouraged New Zealand film-makers and had exhibited many locally-made films at his cinema, including weekly New Zealand newsreels.[5] Casting was completed in September 1934,[6] and filming began at Woodside, near Dunedin, in October.[7] A comedy of farm life, the film was shot mainly in Otago and Southland, and most of the cast were from Dunedin.[8] The story is about two rival farmers, who have to resolve their differences when their children fall in love.[9]
Down on the Farm had its first public screening at midnight on 2 May 1935 in Dunedin. The report in the Otago Daily Times the next day commended the photography, production and acting, but found these achievements were "seriously circumscribed as a result of the dubious quality of the scenario". It described the leading actress, Daphne Murdoch, as "a very engaging star. She has the happy knack of photographing well at all times".[10]
The film was not a financial success in New Zealand. It was unsuccessful in securing a release in the UK, where Cine Weekly said of it: "The dialogue is a joke, the acting amateurish and the photography poor. After this our colonial cousins will be well advised to restrict their exports to mutton."[9]
- ^ "N.Z. Boy's Lucky Trip". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 4 April 1936. p. 25. Retrieved 12 September 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ New Zealand Film 1912–1996 by Helen Martin & Sam Edwards p47 (1997, Oxford University Press, Auckland) ISBN 019-558336-1
- ^ Down on the Farm at Film Archive accessed 12 September 2013
- ^ "PICTURES AND PERSONALITIES". The Mercury. Hobart, Tasmania. 15 February 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 12 September 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "N.Z. Film Production". Evening Star: 4. 29 August 1934.
- ^ "The Local Film". Evening Star: 11. 27 September 1934.
- ^ "First New Zealand 'Talkie'". Otago Daily Times: 11. 15 October 1934.
- ^ "New Zealand Film". Auckland Star: 5 (supplement). 2 March 1935.
- ^ a b "Down on the Farm". Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ "Amusements". Otago Daily Times: 15. 3 May 1935.