''A Message from Mars'' is a 1903 New Zealand short film by

Franklyn Barrett Walter Franklyn Barrett (1873 – 16 July 1964), better known as Franklyn Barrett, was an Australian film director and cinematographer. He worked for a number of years for West's Pictures. It was later written of the filmmaker that "Barrett's visu ...

, based on a play by

Richard Ganthony Richard Ganthony (1856–1924) was an actor and playwright. He is best known as the author of the drama '' A Message from Mars'', which premiered in 1899. Biography Born in Liverpool, England, in 1856, Richard Ganthony spent most of his career in t ...

that had been highly popular in Australia and New Zealand. Another version of this film was made in 1913 in the UK as '' A Message from Mars (1913 film)''. In December 2014, the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

announced this latter film was posted online on their website.

Plot

A Martian comes to Earth to show a human he is selfish.

Cast

*''Peter Savieri'' *''Mrs Savieri'' *''Gus Neville'' *''Miss Foley''

Preservation status

This 1903 film was New Zealand's first fiction film and is now considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

References

External links

''A Message From Mars'' at IMDB
1900s New Zealand films 1903 films 1903 in New Zealand 1900s science fiction films Lost New Zealand films New Zealand films based on plays 1903 short films New Zealand silent short films 1900s lost films Films directed by Franklyn Barrett Lost science fiction films {{NewZealand-film-stub