1914: Just As The Sun Went Down
September 22, 2021
By AHNZ
New Zealand’s first ever movie was released on 5 October, 1914, and titled Just As The Sun Went Down. It is sadly lost but we do know it came in Parts 1 and 2 on two movie reels.
“The Call to Arms, New Zealand’s Response.”
“Produced and Performed in Auckland by a Specially Selected Cast.”
“Supported by the Entire Auckland Contingent of the Expeditionary Force.”
“A Brilliant Patriotic Masterpiece of intense emotional interest to all New Zealand. Special Orchestral Effects.” Ref. Auckland Star, 9 October, 1914; Papers Past
The usual contender for New Zealand’s first feature film (also lost) is Hinemoa of 17 August, 1914. However, this film ran only 45 minutes so Just As The Sun Went Down will have out-lasted it to be our first movie-length feature film.
The publicity is not exactly lying about a “specially selected cast” or the “entire Auckland contingent of the Expeditionary Force.” The producer, and lead actor, Frank Devonport (aka Jeff Jefferson) had been sneaking around Auckland’s Narrow Neck army base with his camera filming soldiers who were quite unaware they were going to be in a movie!
Having deployed the camera, the civilian movie-maker then popped out, pretending to be an officer! Apparently the obedient recruits obeyed and, unknowingly, played their part as ANZACs on the Western Front in France! Devonport says he was caught playing this impersonation trick several times and told to clear out but he managed to get enough action to make his movie. Did Peter Jackson ever work that hard?
“Never lacking in ideas, in 1914 he produced and presented the first movie film in New Zealand called “Just As the Sun Went Down,” it dealt with the war which had just commenced. The battle scenes were faked on the hills of Auckland and the enterprising young producer was read the riot act several times after impersonating an Army officer (he played the leading role in the film) and putting a bunch of soldiers through their paces while a hidden camera recorded the film.” – p9, The Press, 2/1/1957; AHNZ Archives
“In his oral history Rudall Hayward, the innovative New Zealand film entrepreneur, described the production of the patriotic war film, ‘Just as the sun went down’, and explained that the war scenes were filmed in New Zealand at Narrow Neck, Devonport during army manoeuvres rather than on location. This seems to be the one of the few war-period local productions with a specifically French associated wartime setting a..” Ref. Early Cinema In New Zealand – [Interview With] Rudall Hayward, (Archives New Zealand: National Film Unit); Alistair Watts history thesis, Massey University (2019)
We don’t know too much about this early film maker Jeff Xonophon Jefferson/Roy Herbert/Frank Devonport. His 1957 interview says he came to New Zealand in 1889 aged 12 from Australia before running away from home to join the circus as a clown and trapeze artist. He wrote and toured his own play in 1894 and later wrote and sold a play based on a John Lee book. Jefferson became an international traveler, having a successful stint also in America before retiring in 1934, he says.
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Image ref. MAJOR GENERAL HENDERSON INSPECTS MĀORI TROOPS at Narrow Neck in 1916, New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound
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