The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Vincent Ward directs. Geoffrey Simpson behind the camera. Davood A. Tabrizi scores. John Scott cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Australia, New Zealand. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 138 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2International production across 2 countries: Australia, New Zealand.
• 3Directed by Vincent Ward, shot by Geoffrey Simpson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Davood A. Tabrizi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor John Scott shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Bruce Lyons and Chris Haywood and Hamish McFarlane carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "An Odyssey Across Time.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0095709 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 93 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
• 10Classified under 8 themes, including "new zealand", "time travel", "black death", "plague".
• 11Released under 18 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Geoffrey Simpson

Original score

Davood A. Tabrizi

Editing

John Scott

Production design

Sally Campbell

Costume design

Glenys Jackson

Makeup / hair

Marjory Hamlin

Stunt coordinator

Timothy Lee

Runtime

92 min · 1h 32m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) ↗

Also by

Vincent Ward

• 
  A State of Siege

  1978 · ★ 7.5
• 
  What Dreams May Come

  1998 · ★ 7.3
• 
  Vigil

  1984 · ★ 6.5
• 
  Rain of the Children

  2008 · ★ 6.5
• 
  Map of the Human Heart

  1993 · ★ 6.2
• 
  In Spring One Plants Alone

  1980 · ★ 6.0

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey Original Trailer ( Vincent Ward, 1988)

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2025-08-10
  ★ 6/10

  You know what they say about a library book - you ought not to read the last pages first! Well this is one of those films where you do wish you’d seen the last scenes first because they slot so much of it into a perspective that hitherto is at best nebulously ill-defined. We start in a stark, wintery, northern England where the plague is rife and a village is determined to protect itself from all-comers. One of their number, the young “Griffin” (Hamish Gaugh) is prone to vivid dreams which frequently see him end up in the water and that offer the village a glimmer of hope. They must find a cross (or spike) to top their church and induce God to spare them from death, but that involves travel - and the only way is down, through the bowels of the earth where he, his brother “Connor” (Bruce Lyons) and his brave companions might cast a Celtic cross from their freshly mined copper so it can shine to the Lord. Their travel to the antipodes is instantaneous, so we’ve no “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” type stuff, but when they do arrive (in what looks like Christchurch) they have entered their own version of “Oz” and we are now in glorious Technicolor. Now, “Griffin” et al must try to find a 21st century foundry, get their cross cast, then get it to the top of the city’s cathedral before sunrise. It’s a fantasy adventure with a difference this, and though I thought Gough worked really quite well throughout, the rest of it just had too much of the story missing. The characterisations pointed at aspects that were interesting - father figures, fear, superstitions, but these elements are left dangling. It’s not that I needed everything compartmentalised, and I did quite like the way the timelines leapt about, but serendipity is a little too prevalent as they proceed on the latter stages of their quest. There is some southern hemisphere fun to be had here, which contrasts quite potently with the ghastliness of their frozen and disease-ridden northern hemisphere homes, and the use of the monochrome contrasting with the colour adds well to the fantastic elements of their adventure, but it was just a little to skeletal for me to get my teeth into. It is innovate and creative, though, and certainly worth a watch. I expect it will divide option starkly, and that’s no bad thing.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• AR

  Arenafilm

  AU

• FI

  Film Investment Corporation of New Zealand

• TH

  The Australian Film Commission

  AU

• 

  New Zealand Film Commission

  NZ

Key crew

• IdeaVincent Ward
• ProducerJohn Maynard
• SoundDick Reade
• Visual EffectsChris Swinbanks
• Co-ProducerGary Hannam
• Visual EffectsAndrew Mason
• Visual EffectsJohn Pope
• Executive ProducerGary Hannam
• Sound Effects EditorPeter Townend
• Sound Effects EditorLee Smith
• Special Effects SupervisorPaul Nichola
• Dialogue EditorLiz Goldfinch
• Mechanical DesignerBrian Harris
• Stunt CoordinatorTimothy Lee
• Sound MixerPhil Judd
• Pyrotechnic SupervisorKen Durey
• Production SupervisorMurray Francis
• Production ManagerGodfrey Hall
• First Assistant DirectorGreg Stitt
• Second Assistant DirectorRobin Murphy
• Makeup DesignerMarjory Hamlin
• Second Unit Director of PhotographySigmund Spath
• Third Assistant DirectorChristine Haebler
• Conceptual DesignMichael Worrall

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new zealand
• time travel
• black death
• plague
• tunnel
• medieval england
• 14th century
• prophetic dreams

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1989-03-03

Also known as

International titles

• The Navigator: A Mediaeval OdysseyAU
• The Navigator: An Odyssey Across TimeUS
• 중세에서 온 사람들KR
• Der NavigatorDE
• Der Navigator - Eine Odyssee durch die ZeitDE
• Der Navigator - Eine bizarre Reise durch Zeit und RaumDE
• Le navigateur: Une odyssée médiévaleFR
• Navigator - Un'odissea nel tempoIT
• El navegante: una odisea en el tiempoES
• НавигаторRU
• Navigator: Uma Odisséia No TempoBR
• 中世纪的导航者CN
• NavigaattoriFI
• NavigatörenSE
• Der Navigator - Eine mittelalterliche OdysseeDE