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Cast & Crew
The Ingenious Ted Coubray, 1990-1997
“Many tried to make a go of filmmaking in the Land of the Long White Cloud. The films of the past were certainly made under great difficulties, lack of money, experience and equipment. We certainly gained the experience, but sorry to say we lacked the other two.”
With only one print of his film Carbine's Heritage (1927) available for three Auckland theatres, Ted Coubray improvised again. By staggering the opening times, film reels were biked from place to place to keep the three screenings running.
Inventor, filmmaker, producer, entrepreneur, cameraman, director, projectionist, Ted Coubray sums up the energy and excitement of early film making. He knew how to make things work whether it was a small town movie theatre, a camera, a sound system or his own company, NZ Radio Films.
He stopped making films in the 1930s and finally retired to Australia, he died there aged 97 in December 1997.
- The Birth of New Zealand (excerpt) (1,400kb)
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