Taranaki Stories
Showing stories tagged as Film.
by Virginia Winder on 09 December 2009
Pukekura Park has turned on its beauty for Hollywood actors, royalty and botanical stars.
And when the Tom Cruise-led movie, The Last Samurai, opened in December 2003, the park was able to be appreciated by a worldwide audience.
Members of the British Royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II and the late Queen Mother, have all wandered around the New Plymouth park. In fact, the...
by Sorrel Hoskin on 09 December 2009
A black and white movie flickers silently on a large screen. The audience perch on the edge of their seats in suspense as the hero rushes to save a damsel in distress. Below the screen an enthusiastic trio of musicians add dramatic sound effects - cymbals crash, a piano thumps - will the hero save his heroine?
Silent movies hadn't long been in...
by Rhonda Bartle on 09 December 2009
Forget the Last Samurai - Taranaki's first real ‘on location’ movie was filmed more than 70 years before.
It was a typical 1920s storyline - an innocent school teacher is kidnapped by a dastardly journalist, a cowboy chase ensues, before the hero saves the day.
But this wasn't some flick straight from the sets of Hollywood. This was New Plymouth's first ever movie, using...
by Sorrel Hoskin on 02 December 2009
Holed up in a farm house, fast running out of ammunition, the ‘enemy’ closing in... it's a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie.
But to the volunteer militia stuck in the farmhouse, finding themselves in the middle of the Battle of Waireka must have been a nightmare.
Luckily a ‘hero’ did come along - but whether he saved the day is open to debate....
by Virginia Winder on 04 November 2009
Getting extras for a race-meeting scene in Came A Hot Friday was a gamble in keeping with the theme of the 1984-made movie.
Kiwi actor, writer and moviemaker Ian Mune says between 250 and 500 extras were needed to fill the stands of the Waverley Race Course.
"There's no way we could afford to pay those people extras' rates," he says, explaining how, at $50 a day per person, it would've blown...