Weekly Review No. 374 - The Coaster

Short Film (Full Length) – 1948

The coaster Breeze and her crew are immortalised in this much praised National Film Unit documentary. Poet Denis Glover provides a rhythmic and lyrical commentary (narrated by future It's in the Bag presenter Selwyn Toogood) as the coastal sailing ship heads from Wellington to Lyttelton, then to Whanganui. Three weeks after the film's release in November 1948, its director Cecil Holmes had his satchel snatched. He lost his NFU job after the resulting smear campaign accused him of communist leanings. Although reinstated after a court case, Holmes soon left for a successful screen career in Australia.

Signed on with the wind and the weather, it's not a romantic life, you're a bit of a slave. It's plain hard hazardous work to work with the white collared wave.
– Narrator