Political Gems Repatriated

The Film Archive has announced the return to New Zealand of two significant pieces of our film heritage.

The short clips are from Fox Movietone newsreels shot in New Zealand and distributed through cinemas in New Zealand and Australia. They were discovered by Film Archive staff researching the collections of the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra and brought back to New Zealand for preservation.

In the first piece, from 1936, the recently elected Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage, outlines the political philosophy of the first Labour government:

“Through Fox Movietone News we extend our greetings. We are the first Labour Government to receive from the people of New Zealand an overwhelming mandate to give effect to an advanced policy of social and economic reform. This country was once looked upon as the social laboratory of the world and we are looking forward to again taking our place in the vanguard of human progress.”

In the second, made a little later, he focuses more on economic development:

"We are living in a rapidly changing age. Wealth is being produced in greater abundance than ever before and still poverty stalks in many lands... we cannot leave our economic and social standards to the fluctuations of overseas trade conditions. New Zealand must establish her own standards and with these thoughts in our mind we go forward to establish a nation in these southern seas.”

Film Archive Chief Executive Frank Stark put the films into context. "Along with previously discovered films like 'New Zealand History in the Making', these early examples of the use of cinema to directly address the electorate are a wonderful illustration of New Zealand innovation during the 1930s. They bring to life a crucial era in New Zealand's political and social development."

The two newsreel items have been preserved along with newly discovered footage of Prime Minister Savage relaxing on board an ocean liner with the New Zealand cricket team, as they sailed to Britain in 1937 - they for test matches against Hammond and Hutton, he for the coronation of George VI. That film is part of the personal record of the tour shot by team member Giff Vivian and deposited into the Archive by his son Graham, himself a test cricketer in the 1960s.

In special February screening the Honourable Dr Micheal Cullen will present a response to the footage.

VOICES FROM THE PAST
5.30 PM TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27 FILM ARCHIVE MEDIAPLEX
CNR GHUZNEE AND TARANAKI ST
WELLINGTON

ENDS

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