SNOWS OF AORANGI and THE SNOWLINE IS THEIR BOUNDARY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 795, 15 October 1954, Page 20

SNOWS OF AORANGI and THE SNOWLINE IS THEIR BOUNDARY

(N.Z. National Film Unit) HE two best films I saw last week were made in New Zealand. With a little more luck I might have been enthusing about four films instead of two, but Circumstances Beyond My Control (in a word, work) kept me away from the National Film Unit’s preview show until shortly after half-time. I suspect, however, that if I had been there froth curtain-up it might have been difficult to find space this week for the common or garden commercial cinema, But Snows of Aorangi (of which I saw all but the first few flakes) and The Snowline is Their Boundary were, in any case, enough in themselves to make the week memorable. Film Unit newsreels and_ short features have, of course, always been popular. They have edified and instructed us, given life and meaning to the news of the day, recorded our history as it happened, and (to a greater extent perhaps than we realise) shown us where we ate going and why. If there were roughnesses or lapses to begin with, they had our cheerful indulgence. But it is a long time now since the work of the Miramar studios needed any parochial props. The recently-screened -Kotuku was a masterly study in black and white. In the field of colour photography, Snows of Aorangi and The Showline is Their Boundary are like‘wise in world class. The first of these gave me the most exciting glimpse of snow and ice I have had since I. saw The Conquest of Everest, and the finest display of skiing I have so far seén on film: The photography is superb and the editing matches it in quality. This is a film with pace, high spirits and good humour as well as great pictorial beauty. The Snowline is Their Boundaryhigh«country farming in the shadow of the Southern Alps-moves with a more deliberate tempo. Technically, I suppose, the other is the more ‘accomplished of the two, but the mustefers and their dogs-and the sheep pouring down the hillface like porridgé-completely captivated me. And the use . here of an authentic New Zealand voice in place of ‘the suaver accents of the studio added notably. to the authenticity. of the pic}ture. The Snowline covers more than mustering, but does not attempt to give ‘us a complete shepherd’s calendar. There are plenty more films waiting in the high country, and I hope they will be as good as this one. It has been suggested to me that both films (in particular the first) might be criticised on the ground that they violate the unity of place-shots from different localities being cut in together, I can | see that this criticism might well be made by specialists, and would be reasonable if the films were for specialists. But I cannot agree that it has any general validity. The craftsman and artist must have the right to arrange his materials. and tell the truth in his own way. But you will have your own chance to judge before long. Both these films have been shown (and acclaimed) at the Edinburgh Festival, and they will soon be on circuit here. Don’t miss them.