What colonialism looked like from a British perspective
Along a west African river, Sanders, a British officer (Leslie Banks) maintains peace among the warring tribes, putting much of his faith in one of the tribe chiefs, Bosambo (Paul Robeson).Producer Alexander Korda's first of his Empire pictures in which the politics looks dated and may even be offensive or troubling to many. Indeed Alex Korda clashed with his director brother Zoltan who felt the emphasis should be more on the tribes. That it was released unmolested in fascist Italy and Germany gives an indication on why this would become a film that Robeson would come to disown. Robeson is a strong presence in the film and sings several songs, but the British Empire propaganda makes it look like a relic from the past.
Father of the documenatary movement and director of the celebrated documentary NANOOK OF THE NORTH (1922), Robert J. Flaherty filmed a good deal of footage on location in Africa providing all the wonderful ethnographic footage used extensively in the film. Alfred Hitchcock began work on this film before being taken over by Zoltan Korda. The film was criticised at the time for too many shots of natives dancing, but it is this authenticity that makes the film so much more interesting than other made at the time. Adapted by Lajos Biro and Jeffrey Bell from Edgar Wallace's novel, the film would be remade as DEATH DRUMS ALONG THE RIVER (1963).
score 5/10
vampire_hounddog 1 August 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5959050/35357
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