1900s - 1930s
Explore notable films from the early decades of New Zealand's film history.
1900s
The World’s First Lady Mayor
Enos Silvanus Pegler, 1900
The World’s First Lady Mayor is New Zealand’s oldest, complete film.
Shot in 1900, the film is of Elizabeth Yates, a trailblazing woman elected Mayor of Onehunga in 1893 – just a few weeks after New Zealand women became the first in the world to win suffrage and the right to vote in a general election.
Created by Enos Pegler for the Zealandia Living Picture Company, the film is a re-enactment – most likely of a speech Yates gave to the local council. Lacking sufficient lighting technology, many early films were filmed outdoors on a set made to look like it’s inside. This film is no exception – look closely and you will see the ‘walls’ are blowing in the breeze.
Find out more about The World’s First Lady Mayor and how it was discovered and preserved.
The Departure of the Second Contingent for Boer War
AH Whitehouse, 1900
Some people believed film was a passing fad, but this attitude changed during the Boer War. Film became a way of keeping up with world events and loved ones fighting in Africa.
This footage of the Second New Zealand Contingent, by AH Whitehouse, was filmed by cameraman WH Bartlett on 13 or 14 January 1900 at Newtown Park in Wellington. It shows the Contingent members undergoing riding tests or training. It is the second oldest surviving moving image taken in New Zealand.
Early cameras were very heavy and difficult to move, making the camera angles and camera movement limited. You can see in this footage that the camera stays in one place and there are no close-ups. Because the camera was hand cranked, the cameraman sometimes loses momentum, resulting in a variable picture speed.
1910s
Across the Mountain Passes of New Zealand
W. Franklyn Barrett, 1910
Filmed in 1910, this is New Zealand’s earliest known surviving colour film.
This travelogue was made by the French company Pathé Frères. An article in The Dominion newspaper in February 1910 reported that “through the medium of the kinematograph the public now know many people, cities, and scenic spots ‘by sight’ that they would not otherwise have known”.”
Across the Mountain Passes of New Zealand was coloured using Pathécolor – the best of early colour processes. The process utilised a multitude of female colourists, who cut stencils for each colour in each frame of film and then laboriously hand-coloured each frame.
Hinge Family
Leslie Hinge, 1910
New Zealand’s first home movie shows the Hinge family at 10 Berry Street, St Albans, Christchurch.
Leslie Hinge was a well-known stills photographer in Wellington and had worked for the Government Publicity Studios. The camera is still and frames its subjects as if they are having a formal portrait taken. Photographs taken during this period were typically stiff. In contrast, this footage captures the intimacy between the family members.
Notice how the subjects are self-conscious and aware of the camera. This is because being filmed was a great privilege and novelty at this time.
Scenes at the East End Annual Picnic, New Plymouth
Garnet H. Saunders, 1912
There were few filmmakers working in New Zealand before 1920 and most were making films of local events and people.
Fascinated by film, and with a fast eye for audience potential, local Taranaki businessman Garnet Saunders employed cameraman Brandon Haughton and produced a series of local films.
Screened within days of being taken, they always guaranteed a full house at the movie theatre. Scenes at the East End Annual Picnic, was screened at Saunders’ theatre on 31 January 1912 – just days after the picnic was held on 25 January 1912 – and it was a roaring success.
New Zealanders for the Front: Official Farewell
James McDonald, 1914
This film is significant as it is one of only a few that survive showing the departure of New Zealand troops during World War One.
This is the official farewell to the Wellington Section of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) on 24 September 1914. Films were taken of troop departures throughout the war and were screened in local picture theatres. Without television, the pictures became an important source of news for people at home. The emphasis was always on 'seeing our boys' and, during the war, every parade, procession or troopship sailing had photographers in attendance.
On this occasion, there were 2,500 soldiers on parade and an estimated crowd of 20,000 looked on.
1920s
My Lady of the Cave
Bay of Plenty Films, 1922
My Lady of the Cave is the first feature film by pioneer filmmaker Rudall Hayward.
This early New Zealand-made feature film screened domestically to positive reviews. The Herald said, “it sets a standard in photography, technique, lighting and production generally which places it on equal terms with the imported films [...] the story is refreshingly wholesome, the scenic games are a delight to view, and the New Zealand atmosphere is faithfully retained".
While special effects were still limited, in one of the early scenes Hayward uses a circular frame to suggest that the subject is looking through binoculars and rocks the camera as if it is on the waves.
Despite the challenges of filmmaking, before the decade’s end, Hayward would produce four feature films and numerous two-reel comedies.
The Birth of New Zealand
Bay of Plenty Films, 1922
The Birth of New Zealand was the most ambitious film of its time and is a representation of the establishment of colonial New Zealand.
The difficulties faced by local filmmakers – skeleton crews, amateur actors, limited resources and limited theatrical releases (often there was only one print) – meant it was a very challenging career. The Birth of New Zealand was applauded for its historical accuracy and, according to Ted Coubray (photographer and second cameraman) it was extremely popular with school groups at the matinee sessions but didn’t do nearly so well with a general audience in the evenings.
Advertising announced: “First wonder film: the great and glorious story of ‘The Birth of New Zealand’. Wonderful graphic revelations depicting with remarkable fidelity the Enterprise, Fortitude and Heroism of the early settlers of New Zealand".
The Birth of New Zealand premiered in Palmerston North on 4 February 1922. The film portrayed Pākehā settlement and re-enacted historical episodes from the first 25 years of colonisation.
The Adventures of Algy
Beaumont Smith Films, 1925
Due to a lack of local funding, the first New Zealand feature films were made by foreign production houses.
New Zealand was seen by these production houses as 'exotic’ and Māori were an especially popular subject matter. The Adventures of Algy was written and produced by Australian Beaumont Smith, with support from local cameramen. It is a romantic comedy that utilises New Zealandʼs scenic appeal.
Frances of Fielding
JS Vinsen and Lee Hill, 1928
The arrival of talkies was a serious threat to local filmmakers, because initially New Zealand did not have the technology to make films with sound.
Rudall Hayward, at first in collaboration with Lee Hill and later in competition, copied a United States and Australian tradition of making ’community comedies’ to survive these difficult years.
Using a basic script and some stock footage, he would cast locals in melodramas, using as many extras as possible and shoot a film within five days. Excited about the rare opportunity to see themselves on film, people would line up to attend the screenings in their town cinemas. Frances of Fielding is a later example of a film that Lee made in competition with Hayward.
Westland: by Lake and Glacier in New Zealand
Government Publicity Office, 1929
In 1921 the Government Publicity Office was set up to promote New Zealand.
The films it produced were screened overseas in embassies and onboard luxury liners to encourage investment and tourism. Subtitles were often used before sound was introduced. In this footage, Westland: by Lake and Glacier in New Zealand, we see more sophisticated film language being employed than we have previously, such as the use of different camera angles to emphasise the precariousness of the slope, or the proportions of the people on the mountain and fade-out transitioning scenes.
1930s
Welsh Sound System Test
Jack Welsh, 1930
In Hollywood, the invention of sound-on-film was a closely guarded secret. Not to be outdone, tenacious New Zealanders such as Jack Welsh and Ted Coubray invented their own systems.
Filmmaker Ted Coubray was first – by 1930 his equipment was good enough to be used for a news film. Coubray-Tone News screened in Auckland. Sadly, Coubray went bust during the Great Depression and his equipment was sold to Jack Welsh of Dunedin.
Working with James Gault, Welsh had also been developing a sound-on-film system and he was able to perfect it with the addition of Coubray’s equipment. This early sound system test is unusual, in that it includes Jack Welsh’s curious children peering at the camera – most sound tests had more sober subjects, such as a piano being played.
New Zealand Audible Items of Interest
Jack Welsh (camera) James Gault (sound), 1930
Sound films came to New Zealand in 1929, by the end of 1930 the ’talkie revolution’ was complete and cinemas were converted with new sound projectors.
James Gault and Jack Welsh released their first sound film on 2 May 1930. Newsreels became stock-in-trade for Welsh and in 1933 he released New Zealand Soundscenes – a national weekly newsreel.
Welsh and Gault recorded New Zealand’s first talkie feature film, Down on the Farm, in 1935.
Terrible Earthquake Disaster at Napier-Hastings and Surroundings
Ted Coubray, 1931
At 10.47am on a summer’s day in 1931, a devastating earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit the Hawke’s Bay.
The precise time of the quake on 3 February 1931 is known because the Napier Post Office clock stopped as it struck. Despite the heroic efforts of locals and sailors from a visiting Royal Navy ship, HMS Veronica, the death toll quickly reached 256, and thousands more were injured. The quake remains one of New Zealand’s deadliest natural disasters.
This film, shot by Ted Coubray, shows the aftermath of the earthquake with collapsed buildings, rubble and fire damage, as well as rescue and recovery efforts, and footage of relief camps, including hundreds of tents for those who’d lost their homes.
The Manufacture of Breakfast Foods
New Zealand Industrial News, 1932
The Great Depression of the 1930s caused mass unemployment in New Zealand. One way to counter this was to encourage New Zealanders to buy local goods.
The campaign to ‘buy local’ was also beneficial to local filmmakers who were able to find work making films for local businesses. The Manufacture of Breakfast Foods is a good example. Made for Fleming and Company Limited in Gore, the film shows all the stages of cereal production, from harvesting to packaging.
New Zealand Soundscenes. Liquid Lucre, Balclutha Goes Gay…
Jack Welsh, 1933
In 1933, Jack Welsh released the first New Zealand Soundscenes – a weekly, national newsreel.
The newsreel relied on cameramen from around the country to send in news items that were then processed and edited together into a newsreel for national distribution.
This newsreel with items about the oil field at Moturoa in New Plymouth and a Mayor’s Relief Fund benefit dance in Balclutha is typical of the kind of items that were included.
Maori Days: Sidelights on Native Life in New Zealand
Filmcraft, 1934
The Government Publicity Department, now merged with the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, relied on using its contractor Filmcraft Ltd to compile or shoot films on its behalf.
Maori Days showcases the popular tourist attraction of Rotorua. It highlights the use of hot pools by local Māori to bathe and clean their washing.
Down on the Farm
Stewart Pitt, 1935
This is New Zealandʼs first feature-length talkie. The sound quality is far from what we are used to today.
The size of the Welsh sound system (invented by Ted Coubray) meant that movement was limited. Actors would unrealistically crowd together towards the microphone. Because lighting was unsophisticated, no indoor scenes could be shot, which caused the wind to also interfere with the sound.
Because the sound was recorded directly onto the picture negative, there were many difficulties editing the film. To make sure the picture and sound matched, every scene had to have a long fade in, making the transitions appear clumsy.
In 1937 the film was taken to England, where it was unsuccessful in securing a release and was panned by critics.