The Seekers
A Review by Peter Ryan - Ausfilms.comThis was NZ's first fictional feature to be shot in colour. Australia's first (Lewis Milestone's KANGAROO) had come just two years earlier. Both were financed from overseas (KANGAROO from the USA and this one from the UK) and, sadly, both were ludicrous melodramas.
This one dealt with settlers in NZ in the 1820s and their run ins with the local Maoris. One of the chiefs wanted an end to constant tribal warfare and the best part of the film was the dignified performance of the actor who played him, Inia Te Wiati, and the way he was influenced by the best of the ideals of the Christianity the settlers brought with them.
Unfortunately he had to battle through a lot of hackneyed plot and truly terrible dialogue to make his impression, making his performance even more of an achievement. Of the other actors only Glynis Johns, as the one woman among the settlers, was good enough to come close to making the antics convincing. Jack Hawkins, in the main role as the leader of the settlers, was appallingly wooden.
As usual when I see films this poor I fall back on the curiosity value for my entertainment, and there was a fair bit in that regard. Even the most casual student of Kiwi cinema would know that its enduring theme has been 'forbidden love' between white and Maori (in like manner, Australian cinema was obsessed with bushrangers), and so it was here. The Hawkins character had it off, rather unconvincingly plot wise, with the good chief's sexy young wife (Laya Raki), thus bringing about one of the film's moral dilemmas. Another point of interest was the startling amount of nudity for the straitlaced 1950s, including a see it all topless scene with Raki. I'll bet that didn't survive the Australian censors of the time.
Further, someone should have told the writers that repeating rifles did not exist until the invention of breech loading in the 1860s - yet the film's main plot driver was an accidental death when a rifle discharged for a second time.
Finally there was the appearance in the film of Kenneth Williams, looking absurdly young. I suppose you could argue that Williams never looked really old, but it struck me as I watched him that in all the films I've seen him in, this was the first where he played a non-comic role.
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