Under the Southern Cross (1929 film)

Under the Southern Cross
Directed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	1929 (1929)
Running time	5579 ft US silent 5606 then 6279 ft UK 6642 ft US sound
Language	English

Under the Southern Cross also known as The Devil's Pit or Taranga, is a 1929 American

, which has an active volcano.

It is one of four films (with Down on the Farm, Hei Tiki and On the Friendly Road) which claim to be the first "New Zealand talkie", although dubious as the sound was added for the 1930 release in the United States.

Only fragments of out-takes are left. The film probably has no connection with the 1927 British film of the same name, directed by Gustav Pauli.

The original director Alexander Marky was replaced a few weeks into filming.^[1]

Plot

In pre-European New Zealand there are two hostile Māori tribes. The chief of one tribe proposes to marry his daughter Miro into the other tribe, the Waiti. But a contest, The Challenge of the Spear, must be held, with the victor to marry Miro. Rangi, a vicious warrior wins by trickery. Miro is by tapu forbidden from seeing her true love Patiti. But Patiti rows across the lake to see her nightly, until the suspicious Rangi finds them. In a deadly struggle on the edge of the volcano, Patiti forces Rangi into the volcano. War resumes, but love brings a compromise and Miro and Patiti marry.

Cast

• Patiti Warbrick as Patiti
• Witarina Mitchell as Miro

See also

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

References

Notes

• New Zealand Film 1912-1996 by Helen Martin & Sam Edwards, p. 42 (1997, Oxford University Press, Auckland)
  ISBN 019 558336 1

External links

• The Devil's Pit aka Under the Southern Cross at
  IMDb
• Still picture possibly taken during filming (although taken at Whakarewarewa, not White Island)
• Film clips, 5 minutes, at www.ngataonga.org.nz