The Bush Cinderella

No New Zealander Should Miss It! A Triumph of Dominion Enterprise, Filled with the Familiar Sentiments, the Typical Humour, and the Glorious Scenery of God’s Own Country.

The Bush Cinderella, New Zealand, 1928

Adapted for the Screen, Directed and Photographed by: Rudall Hayward \
Written by: Henry Hayward
General Assistant: LEE M. HILL
Properties: Thomas McDermott.
Art Titles: “AD-Crafts” Studio.
Miss Austen’s Costumes: C. & M. Baker, Upper Queen Street.

With:
The Prologue: Margaret Cameron (Dale Austen), Andrew Cameron (Walter Gray), Sergeant Bennett (Tony Firth), The Doctor (Allan Cornish)

The Story: Mary Cameron (Dale Austen), Lieut. Neal Harrison, R.N. (Cecil Scott), “Sammy” (The Hired Hand) (Al Mack), Sam Codlin (Thomas Mcdermott), Mrs. Codlin (Mae Bain), Cameron’s Secretary, Michael Myrgatroyd (Ernest Yandall), The Family Lawyer (J. Scott), Jane Codlin (Freda Crosher), Two Crooks (Arthur Lord & Jack De Rose), Dr. Stanway (Frank Willoughby), The Detective (Fred Chatwin), Captain of “The Rio Maid” (Jack Elmsworth), First Mate (Tano Fama), The Pilot (Kennington Johnstone)
The Codlin Kids – Willie Kyle, A Vaughn, K Davies, N & M Pearson, Maurice Quinn, Phillippa Hayward

THE PROLOGUE is in the period of the Boer War.
THE STORY in the period of to-day.

35mm, 85 minutes, exempt

A great modern drama of the New Zealand back blocks. It has everything

Charm – The fresh beauty of New Zealand’s first screen star, backed by her Hollywood experience and her faultless “photographic” face – DALE AUSTEN Brightest star in the Southern Skies.

Comedy – Rich with the true atmosphere and irresistible humour of New Zealand Backblocks. Al Mack’s classic interpretation of a New Zealand “yahoo” will make screen history. Laughter of the bush and “waybacks,” as you know it, and love it.

Intrigue – A mystery that holds you absorbed – until it’s final thread is unravelled. Made even more thrilling by its Auckland settings.

Beauty – The quiet beauty of the early morning in the bush – the picturesquesness of life in the old homesteads – and through it all, the silver thread of true romance.

Action – a ride for life on the African veldt – A battle royal between the tough crew of the S.S. “Tekoa” and a chosen band of bulldog blue-jackets from the New Zealand Navy.

No New Zealander Should Miss It!
A Triumph of Dominion Enterprise, Filled with the Familiar Sentiments, the Typical Humour, and the Glorious Scenery of God’s Own Country.

Billed as New Zealand’s first big modern drama The Bush Cinderella had its world premiere at the Strand Theatre, Auckland on Friday 24 August 1928.

The Bush Cinderella was pioneer filmmaker Rudall Hayward’s fourth feature and his last silent film. The plot involves the trials and tribulations of a poor family in the back blocks of New Zealand at the turn of the century.

Audiences of the 1920s were known to always respond to tried and true story lines. And, according to actor Tom McDermott, this one was no exception. The mixture of melodrama and the antics of comedian Al Mack as the love-lorn Sammy, made it sure fire box-office. Local newspapers agreed with The Sun reporting “The Bush Cinderella is the most outstanding, in originality and theme and merit of any produced in New Zealand” concluding that it could be “sent abroad without a qualm.”

Filmed in and around Auckland during 1928 Hayward freely admitted he was cashing in on the publicity surrounding Dale Austen who had just returned from working with the stock company at M-G-M in Hollywood. Quickly cast as the lead in Hayward’s new project, for Dale the contrast couldn’t have been greater. Whereas in Hollywood there were hundreds of people doing the many jobs involved in film production, Hayward was doing everything, on a much smaller budget and for the same effect!

Rudall Hayward was producer, director and cameraman. Not only that, he processed the film in two rooms at the back of a shop in Hobson Street. Hayward co-wrote the screenplay with his uncle, Henry Hayward. As Tom McDermott said in a 1964 interview “the finished film was a monument to Hayward’s courage and expert technical skill.”

Screening: The Bush Cinderella screened in Pukekura Park, New Plymouth on 16 January 2011 as part of the Lights Festival; in Oamaru on 17 November 2010 as part of Heritage Week celebartions; and on 20 August 2008 to celebrate its 80th anniversary.