NEW ZEALAND FILM.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 April 1937, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND FILM.

SCATHING CRITICISM. “DOWN ON THE FA^RM” LONDON, April 7. The Kinematograph Weekly does not think highly of “Down on the Farm,” the New Zealand film featuring J. S. Deek, Erland Newbold and Daphne Murdoch, to be released in Great Britain on August 30. Its comments are:— “A product of New Zealand, this film, which incidentally counts for quota, is, to put it mildly, far too naive to be of value to the English exhibitor. There is next to no story and what there is is interpolated with childish propaganda—the dialogue is, a joke, the acting amateurish and hhe photography poor. After this our colonial cousins will be well advised to restrict their exports to mutton. Definitely not recommended. “Story.—Sir Henry Hicks, a gentleman daiiy-farmer, has a rival for agricultural honours in Petrie, a yeoman. Both have families, and in the process of time their children form friendships which ripen into love, thereby consolidating New Zealand domestic and industrial life. “Acting.—Sydney Lock is Sir Henry, Erland Newbold is Petrie and J. S. Deek is the comedian of the film, but neither they nor the supporting players appear to have mastered the first rudi-, merits of acting. “Production. —The picture is ambitious inasmuch as it attempts to submit a composite portrait of family and agricultural life in New Zealand, but its august aim is deflected by a feeble story, indifferent treatment, inferior acting and indistinct photography. The film is poor entertainment and worse propaganda. “Points of Appeal.—None.”