[3][4] It is one of four films which lay claim to being the first "New Zealand talkie"; however, of the other three, The Devil's Pit and Hei Tiki had sound added in America, and On the Friendly Road was not released until 1936.

The film's director was Stewart Pitt, a cinema manager in Dunedin for many years, who had encouraged New Zealand film-makers and had exhibited many locally-made films at his cinema, including weekly New Zealand newsreels.

[7] A comedy of farm life, the film was shot mainly in Otago and Southland, and most of the cast were from Dunedin.

The report in the Otago Daily Times the next day commended the photography, production and acting, but found these achievements were "seriously circumscribed as a result of the dubious quality of the scenario".

It was unsuccessful in securing a release in the UK, where Cine Weekly said of it: "The dialogue is a joke, the acting amateurish and the photography poor.