The Wagon and the Star

The Wagon and the Star
Directed by	J.J.W. Pollard
Written by	J.J.W. Pollard
Produced by	J.J.W. Pollard
Starring	John Peake Faye Hinchey William Buchan
Cinematography	Lee Hill
Music by	Howard Moody
Release date	1936 (1936)
Country	New Zealand
Language	English
Budget	£15,000

The Wagon and the Star (or The Waggon and the Star) is a 1936 New Zealand film by producer and director J.J.W. Pollard, who also wrote the screenplay. Only one reel of the film and some out-takes survived and is considered lost film by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.[1] The handbuilt camera used was built by Ted Coubray and "confiscated" by Alexander Markey on the set of Hei Tiki.

The Wagon and the Star was the first sound feature film to be made in Southland.[2] The film included two original songs, for which Pollard wrote the words and a local composer, Howard Moody, the music.[3]

Premise

Two migrants from "Home", John Hawthron and Andy Henderson from Scotland, meet on a road building gang. John has not yet made his fortune in the new country, but he eventually builds up a large transport and accommodation business and marries Mary, the daughter of a local landowner, despite the presence of a villainous local lawyer.

Cast

Most of the cast were amateurs from the local operatic society in Invercargill.

• John Peake as John Hawthron
• Faye Hinchey as Mary Tyson
• William Buchan as Andy Henderson
• TR Vanity (Tom Pryde) as Hubert Throstle, the lawyer
• Moira O'Neill as Anne
• Richard Grenfell as the landowner
• Mary MacEwan as Mary's aunt

Reception

The film had its premiere in Invercargill in July 1936. The Southland Times reported enthusiastically the next day: "The story is a slight one, but it is well-connected, more logical than those of most screen scenarists, and is admirably suited for conveying, without over-emphasis, the fact that Southland is a place of beauty."[4]

References

1. "Aotearoa New Zealand's first talkies". www.ngataonga.org.nz. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
2. "At the Theatres". Southland Times: 11. 15 July 1936.
3. "Picture Theatres". Evening Star: 21. 29 August 1936.
4. "Entertainments". Southland Times: 4. 17 July 1936.

• New Zealand Film 1912-1996 by Helen Martin & Sam Edwards p48 (1997, Oxford University Press, Auckland) ISBN 019 558336 1

External links

• The Wagon and the Star at Nga Taonga (with video extract)