Tracking Shots
Close Ups on NZ Film History
The Second Last Stand
“Ka whawhai tonu matau Ake!! Ake!!” “We shall fight for ever!! for ever!!”
The cry reverberates around the theatre. It is 1940 and Rudall Hayward's film Rewi's Last Stand has returned, this time on an epic scale and with sound. Hayward had made the silent version in 1925. The film tells the story of the bloody confrontation at Orakau during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s when 300 Maori defied five assaults by 2,000 British troops.
British documentary maker John Grierson attended the premiere. He argued that it was more important New Zealanders should have produced this film than they should see a hundred films from Hollywood.
Hayward took the film to England to screen during WWII where it wasn’t particularly successful, mainly because it showed the British in a bad light. Sadly, the film was cut to meet British Quota requirement. Released as The Last Stand, the shorter version is all that remains today.
- Rewi's Last Stand / The Last Stand (1,700kb)
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