The Wagon and the Star


The Wagon 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. 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. The film included two original songs, for which Pollard wrote the words and a local composer, Howard Moody, the music.

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

  • John Peake as John Hawthron
  • Faye Hinchey as Mary Tyson
  • William Buchan as Andy Henderson
  • TR Vanity 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. 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."