Bozambo

Paul Robeson does a very nice job as Bosambo. Racists from the time period called him Little Black Sambo (even though he was 6"4") or Mr. Bojangles. (because he did so much dancing in the film), but now one would have to find fault with British Colonial Rule of Nigeria to be politically correct.

However, the realities are that Nigeria is much worse off under black rule than it ever was under British rule. The average income of a Nigerian in 1935 was about three to four times what the income of the average Nigerian makes today with adjustments for inflation. Aside from the political considerations, the film is interesting and better than your average film about Africa.

The Noble Black Savage has great comparisons to the American Indian as the Noble Red Savage. There might be a case for tying the demise of the Nigerian populations to British Colonialism, just like the American Indian succumbed to the White expansion of Europeans. However, it is more likely that tribal infighting and selling each other's captives into slavery were the more likely culprits of the demise of the Nigerians after British colonial rule. An interesting conumdrum; is it better to be under white rule and be relatively safe and prosperous, or better to be under black rule and be in charge, but be less safe and less prosperous?

Paul Robeson is the star in this Ripping Yarn, with the British keeping the 'picaninnies' under control in Nigeria.

A number of pastoral African scenes of the National Geographic variety (if you know what I mean) are included in this story of the conflict between two tribes in the African heartland.

Don't believe the undergraduate comments here - this is nowhere near as racist as the B grade American films made in the same era ("The Jazz Singer" for instance, and it's ilk), or TV series of the fifties - the Africans are dead glamorous and brave, and the British characters wooden and two-dimensional.

Viewed today, 74 years after the film came out Sanders Of The River is a paradoxical film with the good and bad of British colonial attitudes of the 19th century. It's based on the first novel by Edgar Wallace, prolific British author who spent much time in Africa during the latter 19th and early 20th century.

Sanders played by Leslie Banks is the local administrator of an area of what is now Nigeria and a man who is confidently shouldering the white man's burden as he saw it. Nevertheless he's probably the best representative of his type in the area, someone the British see as the best in themselves.

He's taken the trouble to study the languages and cultures of the various tribes in his area and mixes in the local politics judiciously and fairly. When one of the tribal kings, Tony Wane, starts resorting to the slave trade which the British fought vigorously to suppress, Banks comes up with his own instrument of enforcement.

His instrument is rival king, Paul Robeson of a different tribe and on that the plot of Sanders Of The River turns.

Robeson was over in the United Kingdom at the time because he could not get the kind of film roles he wanted in the USA with America hung up on stereotypical blacks. Though the film is a salute to the judiciousness and fairness of British colonial role, Robeson took the part because I believe it gave him a chance to show the real Africa. There is no way America was ever going to make this kind of film. After MGM's near disaster with Trader Horn, American companies shied from location shooting until there until The African Queen and King Solomon's Mines.

Though taking place in the Nigeria area, the film was shot on location in the Kenya colony and we learned that the first Kenyan president, Jomo Kenyatta actually was an extra in this film. Robeson gets a chance to sing a couple of songs written by Mischa Spoliansky and Arthur Winder, but are as good in the black idiom as Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. No way Paul Robeson would have sung them if they weren't.

Robeson is joined in the vocal department by Nina Mae McKinney who scored big in King Vidor's Hallelujah, but was then unable to find decent roles for a beautiful black singer. That would wait until Lena Horne came on the scene and not altogether satisfactorily done there. She plays Robeson's wife and mother of his child and her capture by the rival king sets off a potentially nasty blood bath.

Sanders Of The River though incredibly dated should be seen quite frankly because of that. Robeson's singing voice is at its best here and this is a picture of Africa you won't get in Tarzan films.

Although the title refers to the British commissioner of the N'Gombi district of Nigeria during the Colonial days of the British Empire, Paul Robeson's magnificent rich baritone voice is easily the highlight of this well-made but dated film. Looking at it from the 90's perspective, I was appalled to see the native blacks treated as savages and children at the same time. Paul Robeson expected a different kind of film and unsuccessfully fought its release after it was completed. Leslie Banks plays Commissioner Sanders, called "Lord Sandy" by the natives, and oversees the various competing and sometimes hostile tribes. In the last five years, there has been peace among the tribes due mostly to the respect and fear of him. Robeson is a prison escapee who has been chief of the Ochuri tribe for the last five months, an illegal act without permission from Banks. He goes to Banks to claim that chiefdom, and Banks, knowing who he really is, and sensing he is a good man, proclaims him chief on the basis of those last five months. It pays off when word comes that Chief Mofolaba (Tony Wane) has been raiding other tribes to gather slaves, and Banks has Robeson and his warriors capture him and free those captives. It's a humiliation that Mofolaba swears he will revenge. Among the captives is lovely Nina Mae McKinney, who Robeson takes for his wife, and who bears him two children during the next five peaceful years. When Banks decides to take a year's leave of absence to return to London to get married, two villains spread the word that Banks is dead and there is now no law. They expect to profit by selling guns and gin to the natives. Mofolaba kills Banks' replacement and has his men kidnap McKinney to use as bait to lure Robeson to his land so he can have his revenge. Meanwhile, word gets to Banks, who hasn't yet left for London, about his replacement's death and the general lawlessness that now prevails, and he starts to return to Mofolaba's land. And Robeson takes Mofolaba's bait, but is captured and tied to a post next to the post that McKinney is tied to. Mofolaba promises him a slow death after he witnesses McKinney's death.

In reviewing films involving African-Americans in chronological order for Black History Month, it's now 1935 when singer/actor Paul Robeson has gone to England for this movie produced by Alexander Korda's London Films with direction by Korda's brother Zoltan. It takes place and is partially filmed in Africa and concerns a British colonialist (Leslie Banks) who places Robeson in charge of keeping peace among various tribes especially when the tribal king (Tony Wane) seems intent on abusing his power. Later on, Robeson meets Nina Mae McKinney and makes her his wife and they have a couple of kids. I'll stop there and just say despite some questionable politics that permeate the film, this was quite a rousing adventure to watch what with many of the wonderful scenery along the countryside with various beautiful animal shots not to mention the wonderful singing voices of Robeson and, in one instance, Ms. McKinney. And the sequences of the tribes, whether chanting or going into battle, bring plenty of excitement to bear. So on that note, Sanders of the River is at the very least, well worth a look.