L'homme du Niger

....the White Man is here to help the natives who are no more than big children.That says it all!Proof positive ,one more time,that finer feelings do not produce great works.

De Baroncelli is not much of a director,and his two stars,Victor Francen and Harry Baur,left to their own devices ,overract in a ludicrous way...The screenplay is terribly dull and far-fetched.Francen contracts leprosy in Africa;he is ashamed (why?)and does not listen to good doctor Baur's good piece of advice:he leaves his fiancée and disappears.But a few years later,much to the girl's surprise,he's this mysterious man who hides on a building site .Unfortunately for him ,she is married now....

The French Colonial films were a different species to RHODES of Africa and GUNGA DIN and the opening makes this one look as if it will be a good example. De Baroncelli's film making is sure (no back projection here) and the male lead trio are effectively planted in an authentic African setting, with Victor Francen (later useful but wasted in Hollywood) and the great Harry Baur (shortly to die after his treatment by the Occupation police) among the best performers of their day.

Unfortunately things veer into dumb, weepy melodrama, when we get to the windowless Paris interiors, and never recover, even though the natives get restless.

Interesting to see how they are attempting to deal with the stigma of Leprosy here, in much the same way that AIDS will be handled in the nineties - the male kiss, gloved hands etc.