The Last Stand video

 Ramai Te Miha as Ariana

Rewi's Last Stand - aka: The Last Stand - 1940



Frontier Films Ltd. - 61 min. Black & White

Cast: Ramai Te Miha, Stanley Knight, Leo Pilcher, Selwyn Wood, Phoebe Clarke, Tom Moisley, Henare Toka, Rauriti Te Huia; Writer: Rudall C. Hayward; Photography: Rudall C. Hayward, Edwin Coubray, Jay McCarthy; Music: Alfred Hill; Producer & Director: Rudall C. Hayward.
Star-crossed lovers, Robert and Ariana, are caught up in the New Zealand wars of the 1860s. Ariana is claimed by the Maniapoto people as one of their own and, despite Robert's chivalrous defence, is taken by them and must help them prepare for war. Robert is likewise must do his patriotic duty and enlists to fight on the other side. Robert volunteers to ride despatch, thinking it may give him an opportunity to see Ariana again, which it does, but their joy is short-lived. Maniapoto women fight beside their men, and furthermore she is a Rangitira (noble) and will not let her people down. The climax is the siege of Oraku Pa where 300 Maori hold off 2000 troops for three days. The Maniapoto are defeated, but Ariana, although wounded, survives to be reunited with Robert. The film was shot in the area around Te Awamutu. Ramai Te Miha married Rudall Hayward, 3 years after this film was completed and became his active partner in many film projects until his death in 1974.

Censor Rating: G-- Review Rating: C-

AVAILABILITY OF VHS OR DVD COPIES

New NTSC copies will cost about $15us. No source found for PAL copies. No known dvd.
The only consistant source known for this title is Nostalgia Family Video. Enter "The Last Stand" when searching their catalog and be sure you order the Rudall C. Hayward one (There are two films offered with this title). No known source for used copies, although ebay would be the best possibility.


SOUNDTRACK ON AUDIO CD

There are no known soundtrack CDs of this title.


REVIEWS & MISC

Video clip from NZ Archive

New Zealand Film Archive Info and Reviews

"Every Patriot worth the name should see this thrilling Historical Epic of Rewi Maniapoto and the Dogged Brown Heroes who fought and died at Orakau for the land they loved so well. If this picture does not banish forever the prejudice against locally made pictures, then there is not justice among New Zealanders." - CHRISTCHURCH SUN - 1940 -

The sound version of Rewi's Last Stand in which Hayward was determined to correct the mistakes he had made in the 1925, silent film (see reference number F2290) of the same name. Like the earlier version, the film is heavily indebted to the historian James Cowan and his account of the invasion of the Waikato by the British during the war of the 1860s. The film takes its name from the famous battle of Orakau when Rewi Maniapoto and his 300 supporters resisted the advance of over 2000 Imperial troops during a siege which lasted for three days. Around this Hayward wove a fictional love story between a settler, Robert Beaumont, and Ariana, a young Maori woman. Released in Britain as The Last Stand the original negatives were cut to meet the British Quota system. Only the shortened version of the film is known to survive. The Last Stand was also the first New Zealand film to be shown on local television.


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