Under the Southern Cross (1927 film)

Under the Southern Cross
Directed by	Gustav Pauli
Produced by	Gustav Pauli
Release date	1927 (1927)
Running time	5000 ft 83 minutes
Language	English

Under the Southern Cross is a 1927 British drama film set in New Zealand, directed and produced for Gaumont British by Gustav Pauli. It is now lost.

The film probably has no connection with the 1929 American film of the same name, Under the Southern Cross, directed by Lew Collins, and also set in New Zealand.

Plot

A young man in England is wrongly accused of a crime, so emigrates to New Zealand and works on a farm. He falls in love with Hazel, the joint owner of a nearby sheep station. She is also fancied by the station manager but rejects his advances. It transpires that the manager has committed the original crime in England; he is arrested and the young couple are happily united. The "false accusation" and "pioneer settler" plot is similar to The Te Kooti Trail.

Cast

An undated scenario describes the film as "A glimpse of station life - played by an amateur cast of New Zealanders".

References

• New Zealand Film 1912-1996 by Helen Martin & Sam Edwards p39 (1997, Oxford University Press, Auckland) ISBN 019 558336 1