MY LIFE AS A FILM-LOVER

By Peter Goodbehere

The first movie I remember seeing was Holiday Inn (USA 1942, Mark Sandrich) which I saw with my mother in Hamilton before I started school.  All I remember of the film was Crosby singing “White Christmas”.

My last five years at primary school was at a two-teacher school in Kimbolton, a village in the Manawatu the heart of sheep-farming where farmers were busy exporting wool to post-war Britain earning “One pound per pound”.  The school committee (mostly farmers) came up with the money to buy a 16mm projector (a GB L516, later up-graded to a Victor) making us one of the first country schools to use films.  The National Film Library provided a regular supply of films, instructional films from Encyclopaedia Britannica Films as well as various documentaries.  One I remember was The Great Canadian Shield (NFBC 1945) about Canada's mineral wealth.  I probably remember it because it was in colour (Kodachrome) which was fairly rare at the time.  At some stage I learnt to project films!  As well as screenings during school hours, Saturday evening shows were held for families where longer documentaries were shown.  The NFL collection comprised mainly of “educational” films but one feature which they had was a drama about building the railroad across the US which I remember.  This was probably Union Pacific (USA 1939, Cecil B. DeMille)

My High School years were spent at Feilding Agricultural High School, taking the Academic course and travelling by bus each day. (The “Agricultural” has been dropped from the name now)  I was delighted to find that the school had a 16mm projector (a Bell & Howell 601) and as time went on I was using that too!  In our senior year my class decided that we should have an end of term function including a night at “the pictures”.  The girls (the Academic course was co-ed) went to the Regent for a “rom-com” whilst the boys went to the Tivoli to see Clochmerle (France, 1948), a comedy about the construction of a public urinal.  We found that our French lessons hadn't been a complete waste of time and we thoroughly enjoyed the film.  This was my first sub-titled film.  (In the Seventies BBC television made a short series based on the film and it was shown by the NZBC.)  My grand-parents had retired to Fielding so I was able to stay with them and see movies at the two theatres during my time at high school.

Leaving home to work for the NZBS at 2YA in Wellington in 1956 increased the availability of movies dramatically.  There were thirteen theatres in the central city and another six a tram ride away.  Talking with other workers at 38 The Terrace I found there were many film enthusiasts and joining the Film Society was suggested.  That I did and the first programme I saw included Lousiana Story (USA 1948, Robert Flaherty).  The Wellington Film Society screened monthly from March to November in those days at the Dominion Museum hall and the Central Library hall.  I attended regularly when shift work permitted, usually at the Dominion Museum.  A Film Appreciation Group met monthly at the University Women's Club Rooms and I frequently attended there also.

Sadly, attendance at Wellington Film Society events came to a halt when I was transferred to Napier on October 1st, 1957 to boost staff to operate the first commercial radio station in Hawke's Bay, 2ZC.  A non-commercial station, 2YZ, had been operating in Napier since 1938. There were three “picture theatres” in Napier,  the Gaiety, State and Mayfair but no Film Society.  Several of the NZBS staff were regular film-goers, including a fellow technician, David Lindsay (some time later transferred to Wellington).  In due course a Film Society was formed and started a full year in 1959.  After a couple of years I was elected president and held that position until we were forced to close at the end of our 44th season in 2002.  In the intervening years the Napier Film Society grew steadily.  In the '70s and '80s in particular, for several years, we were one of the five largest reaching our zenith in 1981 with 383 full members – this was before the days of three film samplers!

I became involved with the NZFFS (or the NZ Film Institute as it was until its name change at the 1962 AGM), when I first attended the Conference/15th AGM as an observer in 1961 and as a delegate for the Napier Film Society in 1962.  In 1964 the Society hosted the Conference/18th AGM where I was elected as a Vice-President.  In subsequent years I have held various positions on the Working Committee including President in 1968-69 and 1980-83.  Napier again hosted a Conference in 1979 with the 33rd AGM.  This was a significant year as Bill Gosden was employed as the NZFFS secretary, replacing Rosemary Hope, our first paid secretary who resigned after four years to travel overseas.

Although the NZFFS films had been stored, serviced and dispatched by the Education Department's National Film library for many years this came to an end in 1994 when the NFL was absorbed into the National Library and the NZFFS had to take on these tasks. I had been inspecting and previewing our 16mm prints as they arrived since the 1970's and reported on their condition before they went on circuit. That was the pleasant part of the job.  Less so was noting the damage some of them had suffered after Societies had used them.  I continued this task until the use of the digital medium and the huge reduction in film use.  In 2015, I undertook the task purging the collection of firstly damaged or worn prints, then retaining only those that appeared to have had no Blu-ray or DVD release. 

One Working Committee position I never held was that of Chairman.  This was an elected position which we no longer have, the President chairing meetings.  A number of prominent people held this position including David Gascoigne who was Chairman when film censorship was very intrusive (in 1976 the censor made 1093 cuts in films, as well as several out-right bans). David used his skills as a lawyer to organise appeals on the censor's decisions for three Film Society films.  As well as this he provided material for MP Jonathan Hunt's private member's bill to liberalise the censorship laws.  Much of this was incorporated into the subsequent Act which passed into law in 1977.  Another was Lindsay Shelton, founder of the Wellington Film Festival in 1972 - which later morphed into the NZIFF.  He later became Marketing Director of the NZ Film Commission, a post he held for 22 years.

May 2017

Peter Goodbehere