Sylvia (1985)
- Starring:
- Eleanor David, Nigel Terry, (more)
- Director(s):
- Michael Firth
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- PG
My RatingRent DVD by Mail
Theatrical Release Information | See Details About All Versions
New Zealand educator Sylvia Ashton-Warner (played by Eleanor David) is the subject of this informative and slightly uneven biography, based on the events in Ashton-Warner's adult life. During the 1930s Ashton-Warner moves to a remote village with her husband who has been appointed to be the headmaster in the school there. She tries to teach the Maori children but is having absolutely no luck at all -- that is especially discouraging considering that she is also fighting off culture shock and the effects of a recent emotional breakdown. Driven to find some solace in music, painting, and sculpting, she one day realizes she can use these types of creative activities as teaching tools -- and begins to develop an innovative way to reach her students. She is surprisingly successful, a fact which does not interest the all-male administrators at the school who insist she teach using traditional methods. The stand-off is severe enough that the men burn the manuscript for a new primer Ashton-Warner wrote, insisting later that this was an accident. No one seems to have come out a winner in Sylvia Ashton-Warner's battle with the provincial educators, least of all the students. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Complete Cast:
- Eleanor David - Sylvia Henderson
- Mary Regan - Opal Saunders
- Terence Cooper - Inspector Bletcher
- Joseph George - Seven
- Graham Glover - Ashton
- Jonathan Porteous - Elliott
- Robert Nepia - Ihaka
- Paul King - Tiny
- Awhina Soloman - Moana
- Aaron Pako - Manu
- Arthur Wright
- Ingrid Wahlberg
- Peter Thorpe
- Norma Taylor - Tweenie
- Roy Pearce
- Margaret Murray
- Ngaire Horton
- Ian Harrop
- Andrew Glover - Jacob
- Naomi Ruta - Rewi
- Sarah Pierse - Vivian Wallop
- Millie Bradfield
- Norman Fletcher
- Nigel Terry - Aden Morris
- Martyn Sanderson - Inspector Gulland
- David Letch - Inspector Scragg
- Eileen Glover - Lilac
- Tessa Wells - Jasmine
- Cherie Nepia - Pearly
- Erica Edwards-Brown - Olga
- Frank Nathan - Wai
- Kristofer Hauraki - Hauwiti
- Jimmy Cross
- Ron Wilkinson - Keith Henderson
- Mavis Tuoro
- Waione Te Paa - Caroline
- Sheila Summers
- Joanna Paul
- Ron McKitterick
- Carol Henry - Kata
- Nigel Harbrow
- Te Whatanui Skimworth
- Debbie Dorday
- Norman Forsey
- Deborah Cuzens
- Brian Flegg
- Director(s):
- Michael Firth
- Writer(s):
- Michael Firth, Ferdinand Fairfax, Michael Quill
- Producer(s):
- Don Reynolds, Michael Firth
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- PG(Adult Situations, Adult Language, Questionable for Children)
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
- Subtitles:
- Check All Versions






