Will Hay takes a stab at oppressing the masses!
Will Hay plays a professor in yet another one of his films. However, this is NOT like his other films in that it's set in colonial Africa and Professor Tibbetts (Hay) is there to educate the natives, though soon it becomes obvious he knows very little.
The timing of Tibbetts' arrival is bad, as the man in charge of the colony is Captain Hamilton and Hamilton soon succumbs to malaria...and the idiot Tibbetts appoints himself the interim leader! And, as leader, he decides to go up river with two other British morons, played by his frequent sidekicks, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt, to collect taxes. But the natives don't have money and soon their little steamboat is filled with goats and other 'taxes'.
When the trio arrive at one tribe, however, their timing is pretty bad as they've just had a revolt and their new leader is intent on overthrowing the white overlords. Can these three somehow prevent bloodshed or will they be the first on the chopping block?
Like so many 1930s and 40s films, this one has a resounding pro- colonialism slant. And, if you think about it, the audience SHOULD be rooting for the natives. After all, they are exercising self- determination! And, no doubt a few eyebrows will be raised today in this sort of colonial nonsense. Politically correct it isn't, though it could have been a lot worse and much more racist...not that this is a glowing endorsement!
Overall, this film is pretty much what you'd expect--and is very, very similar to the other Hay, Marriott and Moffatt films apart from the setting and rather heroic actions they take near the end. So, if you like this fast-talking comic, you'll enjoy...and if you don't...well...I have no idea.
The timing of Tibbetts' arrival is bad, as the man in charge of the colony is Captain Hamilton and Hamilton soon succumbs to malaria...and the idiot Tibbetts appoints himself the interim leader! And, as leader, he decides to go up river with two other British morons, played by his frequent sidekicks, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt, to collect taxes. But the natives don't have money and soon their little steamboat is filled with goats and other 'taxes'.
When the trio arrive at one tribe, however, their timing is pretty bad as they've just had a revolt and their new leader is intent on overthrowing the white overlords. Can these three somehow prevent bloodshed or will they be the first on the chopping block?
Like so many 1930s and 40s films, this one has a resounding pro- colonialism slant. And, if you think about it, the audience SHOULD be rooting for the natives. After all, they are exercising self- determination! And, no doubt a few eyebrows will be raised today in this sort of colonial nonsense. Politically correct it isn't, though it could have been a lot worse and much more racist...not that this is a glowing endorsement!
Overall, this film is pretty much what you'd expect--and is very, very similar to the other Hay, Marriott and Moffatt films apart from the setting and rather heroic actions they take near the end. So, if you like this fast-talking comic, you'll enjoy...and if you don't...well...I have no idea.
- planktonrules
- Sep 6, 2016