Marshall Napier Movies

Australian writer/director Kathryn Millard makes her feature-length debut with the drama Travelling Light. Set in the Southern Australian town of Adelaide during the 1970s, the film is concerned with a group of bored teenagers. Leanne Ferris (Pia Miranda) lives in the suburbs with her parents, Betty (Heather Mitchell) and Don (Marshall Napier), while her sister Bronwyn (Sacha Horler) has already gotten married. Leanne spends her time with aspiring actress Debra (Anna Torv) and next-door neighbor Gary (Tim Draxl). The friends are soon introduced to a different lifestyle when stranger Lou Bonetti (Brett Stiller) blows into town claiming to be an American beat poet. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Australian director Bill Bennett sets this exploration of sexual politics and cultural differences against the stunning vistas of the Trobriand Islands. In it, two anthropologists travel to a remote island in the South Pacific to study its culture in the 1930s. Evelyn (Maya Stange) is an adventurous free thinker, while her husband Phillip (Martin Donovan) is a rigid scholar bound to convention and propriety. Tension develops between the couple when Phillip fails to acknowledge what Evelyn sees as obvious: that women run this lusty culture. Tensions are upped another notch when Evelyn falls for Mick (Rufus Sewell), a macho American pearl merchant. As Evelyn's life begins to crash in around her, the Japanese army invades her island paradise and tragedy strikes her priggish husband. In a Savage Land was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

A young pig fights convention to become a sheep dog -- or, rather, sheep pig -- in this charming Australian family film, which became an unexpected international success due to superior special effects and an intelligent script. The title refers to the name bestowed on a piglet soon after his separation from his family, when he finds himself on a strange farm. Confused and sad, Babe is adopted by a friendly dog and slowly adjusts to his new home. Discovering that the fate of most pigs is the dinner table, Babe devotes himself to becoming a useful member of the farm by trying to learn how to herd sheep, despite the skepticism of the other animals and the kindly but conventional Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell). Because technically impeccable animatronics and computer graphics allow the farm animals to converse easily among themselves, first-time director Chris Noonan can treat the film's menagerie as actual characters, playing scene not for cuteness but for real emotions. The result is often surprisingly touching, with Noonan and George Miller's script, based on Dick King-Smith's children's book and, indirectly, a true story, seamlessly combining gentle whimsy and sincere feeling. These same qualities are embodied by in Cromwell's beautifully understated performance as Farmer Hoggett, which anchors the film. Despite its unlikely premise and low profile, Babe's inspirational story was embraced by audiences and critics, and the movie became an international sleeper that won an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. It was followed in 1999 by the less successful Babe: Pig in the City. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This rental contains both Babe and Babe: Pig in the City

The husband and wife team of Nadia Tass and David Parker concocted this charming teen comedy concerning a disappointing birthday present. Ben Mendelsohn plays Danny Clark, a shy 18-year old who only wants two things out of life: to go out with Joanna (Claudia Karvan) and to own a sleek new Jaguar. When Danny's father Desmond (Marshall Napier) comes through with a birthday gift for Danny, it's a car but it's not what Danny had hoped for --it is the family's old 1963 Nissan Cedric. Disappointed, Danny decides to trade the car in for a 1973 Jaguar before he goes out on his first date. Danny makes a deal with sleazy car dealer Gordon Farkes (Steve Bisley) for the 1973 Jaguar -- but Farkes switches engines on poor Danny. While Farkes is having a good time at a sex club, Danny decides to retaliate by gathering together a few of his friends to help him steal the engine from Farkes' Jaguar. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Lynda Day George, who from 1971 to 1973 played IMF agent Lisa Casey on the original Mission:Impossible, here reprises the role in the "new" episode "Reprisal." Casey's life is being threatened by a former colleague, now confined to a mental institution, who has also managed to frame IMF head Jim Phelps for a series of murders. Well- versed in the Team's modus operandi, the villain is using a deadly lookalike to carry out his evil schemes (significantly, the German title of this episode is "Die Doppelganger"). First broadcast on April 15, 1989, "Reprisal" was written by Walter Brough. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first feature-length animated film to come out of New Zealand's movie industry, this drama is based on a popular cartoon strip originating in this country, but also published in Australia, Scandinavia, and Japan. The heroes are Dog (voice of Peter Rowley) who has to guard his owner Wal (voice of John Clarke) and fight off the nasties who inhabit the Murphy's house down the road and across the river. Dog nurses a lingering passion for the nearby Jess, but in order to win her over he also has to save her from the varmints and croco-pigs that infest the Murphy's holdings. Meanwhile, Wal has an aggravating attraction to the winsome Cheeky Hobson (voice of Fiona Samuel) who works at a beauty parlor in the small town of Raupo. Dog has his work cut out for him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Flawed by very uneven acting and technical problems, this black comedy about a near-rape and its consequences takes a cue from Hamlet in its resolution of unwanted villains. The story is set in 1966 in a remote town on the coast of New Zealand, a place where the unusual never happens. Yet when Sam Jamieson (Peter McCauley) catches a truck driver trying to rape Sam's pregnant Maori wife (Jillian O'Brien), he kills the trucker in the ensuing fist-fight and tells the police the death was an accident -- and they believe it. The trucker's brother later comes at Sam in revenge and is also killed. Once again, the police accept the brother's death as an accident. But another couple in the town know what happened and opt for blackmailing Sam, rather than going to the police with their story -- by all accounts, the police are not likely to believe them anyway. Sam and his wife have no choice but to suffer the blackmailers bleeding them dry -- until a jaunty Brit aristocrat (Bruce Spence) arrives on the scene and figures out a way to set things right. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Beyond Reasonable Doubt is a true story of New Zealand justice gone awry. A married couple named Crewe is murdered, and Arthur Allen Thomas (John Hargreaves) is charged with the crime. Given a scrupulously fair trial, the innocent Thomas is found guilty on circumstantial evidence. Later on, it is discovered that zealous police inspector Hutton (David Hemmings), anxious for a conviction, planted false evidence to put the noose around Thomas' neck. Beyond Reasonable Doubt was scripted by David Yallop, whose book on the Crewe case was instrumental in gaining Thomas' release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Australian filmmaker John Duigan followed up his captivating The Year My Voice Broke with Flirting. Noah Taylor repeats his "Danny" characterization from the earlier film, while Thandie Newton plays a Ugandan exchange student who attends an Australian girls boarding school. Billeted at a nearby boy's school, Danny finds himself falling in love with Newton, though he is frequently at a loss as to how to express himself. Flirting is the second in a proposed trilogy of John Duigan-directed films revolving around Danny's "awkward" years. Featured in the cast as one of Newton's schoolmates is Nicole Kidman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This innocuous New Zealand-filmed "road" movie is buoyed by engaging performances and superb cinematography. The protagonists are young friends Gerry (Kelly Johnson) and Shirl (Claire Oberman) and their much-older travelling companion John (Tony Barry). The trio steals a car and hits the road. With the law on their trail, our heroes (and heroine) still manage to experience a steady flow of picaresque adventures. The huge supporting cast seems to be comprised of friends and relatives of the cast and crew, all of whom seem to be enjoying themselves. Luckily, their enthusiasm is contagious. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This modest Australian fantasy stars Hamish McFarlane as a young 14th Century boy with acute psychic powers. During the period of the Black Death, Hamish believes that he can rescue his fellow villagers by leading them into an abandoned mine. The fugitives tunnel their way through the darkness and emerge on the other side--into a bustling New Zealand metropolis in the year 1988. The phenomenon is seen from the point of view of the "aliens," to whom every modern convenience and invention is a miracle comparable to the Resurrection. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey successfully creates and sustains its own logic, framing the story in the linear form of an ancient legend, and never treating the bedazzled time-travellers in a condescending manner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide