All four of Ronald Hugh Morrieson's novels have been turned into movies, the underground goings-on of small town New Zealand being perfect fodder for the big screen. The scarecrow was the first – it was released on film in 1981. The opening line of the book, 'The same night our fowls were taken, Daphne Moran had her throat cut', provided the tagline for the film poster.
In the sound clip, a friend of Morrieson's recalls his storytelling abilities as a child. It seems that even at a tender age, he knew what people got up to behind closed doors.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Reference: Eph-E-CINEMA-1982-03
by Peter Siddell
Poster courtesy of New Zealand Film Commission; Sound courtesy of The Audio History Charitable Trust of New Zealand Sound courtesy of The Audio History Charitable Trust of New ZealandPermission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.