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This silent colour amateur film is part of the home movie collection of James (”Jim”) H. Robertson (1902-1961). Robertson was a watchmaker and jeweller and avid filmmaker. He married Ivy Grooby in 1926 and they lived in Wellington for a time before settling in Motueka.
This film is notable for its scenes of Nelson airport and footage of Christchurch in the early 1950s.
TITLE:
“Around & About 16”
Ginger cat laying on floor under a chair.
Twilight scenes of a shoreline with the sun setting in the background.
High shots overlooking a lagoon and inlet with the Southern Alps in the background.
High shot overlooking Nelson township with coastline in the distance.
General scenes shot at Nelson Airfield, NAC DC-3 landing and passengers disembarking. People disembarking from a Nelson Suburban Bus Lines bus and entering terminal building.
TITLE:
“Into The Blue”
Exterior of the National Airways Corporation Nelson passenger terminal building.
Scenes of a weather balloon being released from roof of airfield building and ascending into the sky.
Footage of people seated inside passenger terminal building, luggage being loaded onto carts and a NAC DC-3 parked on the tarmac.
TITLE:
“J.H. Robertson 1951”
Scenes of a young couple seated on steps outside a house looking at a brochure.
TITLE:
“Kaiteriteri”
People sitting and talking on sand dunes.
General scenes of blossoming apple trees.
Men examining a camera tripod while standing on rocks beside a wide river.
Women grooming horses, houses on a hillside in the background.
Young couple standing in the garden of a suburban house, smiling for camera and embracing.
Three young children in garden playing with a wheelbarrow and a blanket.
Young girl playfully striking another young girl on the backside with a plank of wood.
TITLE:
“Christchurch Winter 1951”
Scenes of traffic driving past Avon River.
Men standing talking and smoking by the Bridge of Remembrance.
Scenes of Cathedral Square and ChristChurch Cathedral.
Exterior of the Regent Theatre
High shots overlooking trams and traffic passing by Warner’s Hotel building in Cathedral Square.
General scenes of the Bridge of Remembrance and a woman feeding ducks on the banks of the Avon River.
High shot overlooking Christchurch and the Canterbury plains from the Port Hills.
General scenes of the Avon River, Cathedral Square and exteriors of the Chief Post Office building.
Footage of young men walking on rocky shoreline as large waves roll ashore.
Wide shot of a child walking on a road with the snow covered Southern Alps in background.
High shot overlooking a steam train pulling a row of freight wagons.
General shots of hills with the Southern Alps in background.
General shots of paddocks and rolling farmland.
Wide shot of low waves rolling in from a smooth ocean onto a pebble beach.