‘Venus’ returnsafter 80 years

Press, 4 May 1984, Page 14

‘Venus’ returnsafter 80 years

A 1924 New Zealand feature film, “Venus of the South Seas,” has been returned to the Film Archive by Britain’s National Film Archive in exchange for copies of some early British films found here which had not survived elsewhere. The star of the film was Annette Kellerman, an Australian champion swimmer and diver of the day. Her chief claim to fame may have been her arrest in Boston in 1907 for wearing a one-piece bathing suit. She starred in a number of Hollywood films and toured the world for J. C. Williamson in a vaudeville show — “The Diving Venus.” For her performance she entered a huge glass tank which enabled her aquatic feats to be seen at their best. During a New Zealand tour in 1921-22 she was approached by a Christchurch syndicate offering her the starring role in a film. The syndicate, New Zealand Dominion Productions, Ltd, was reported at the time to have invested 1000 pounds in the venture. Kellerman accepted and her husband and manager, James R. Sullivan, made arrangements for shooting the film. But he considered the Christchurch climate suitable only for the interior scenes, and chose Nelson as the location for exterior and underwater scenes. Shooting began in 1922 with the arrival of a crew and equipment (including arc-lamps and a diving bell) from Hollywood. The film was later taken back to Hollywood for editing and titling, and the completed film returned to New Zealand in 1924. It was 7000 ft long and was distributed by New Zealand Picture Supplies, a major film distributor of the time. The Wellington newspaper, “Evening Post,” of June 7, 1924, summarised the plot as:— “The story concerns a lonely pearl diver and his beautiful daughter, Shona. She is a Child of Nature, a Goddess of the Seas, and one moonlight night romance comes to her when she swims out to a strange boat and meets the hero. A rival pearl pirate, on the death of the old man, attempts villainy, but the young man pits himself against him and, naturally, all ends well. Playing opposite Miss Kellerman is Mr Norman French, who does excellent acting, and makes a manly hero all through.” Research by Clive Sowry for the National Archive suggests that this was not the only occasion that Nelson played host to a film crew in the 1920 s — not always with the happiest of results. In 1928, when the infant New Zealand film industry was battling to survive, it was reported: “The people of Nelson were led by certain American citizens to believe that their town would be given great publicity in America, as a result of the Americans’ making a film there. “Not only did they lose their money, but when the film was released in America, Nelson was

never mentioned, nor even New Zealand. It was described as having been ‘made in the South Seas Islands.’ “Despite this experience the Government continues to welcome

and assist American film producers to come and take away as much ‘canned’ New Zealand scenery as they like, in the hope that it will be labelled ‘New Zealand’ when it reaches America.”

By

OLIVER RIDDELL