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Down on the Farm (1935 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Down on the Farm' is a 1935 New Zealand film. It was New Zealand's first sound feature.[http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/mediasphere/our-film-history/nz-film-timeline/down-on-the-farm/ 'Down on the Farm' at Film Archive] accessed 12 September 2013
It is one of four films which lay claim to be the first "New Zealand talkie"; however '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.
A comedy of farm life, the film was shot mainly in Otago and Southland, and most of the cast were from Dunedin. It 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".
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."
References
*'New Zealand Film 19121996' by Helen Martin & Sam Edwards p45 (1997, Oxford University Press, Auckland)
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