Tivoli Talkies

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 5618, 6 April 1931, Page 3

Tivoli Talkies

•‘AFRICA SPEAKS” Those who saw “Africa Speaks” at the Tivoli theatre on Saturday will never forget the dramatic emotional conflict of the picture, or the breathtaking beauty of the Congo backgrounds. Added to these are the startling effects of the sounds of the jungle. The symphony of the African wastes is transmitted to the screen. In the half blackness of the theatre, one could close one’s eyes for a moment and feel oneself in a little clearing in the deep African wastes. The roar of a hungry lion sends a shudder down the sjiine, the answering whimper of the monkeys —all are there in their primitive terror. When the story takes itself to the French Congo —the magnificent women —with their huge duck-billed lips, arc unforgettable. These women, the result of numerous Arab raids that swept down time after time to depopulate tire villages of females, deliberately disfigure themselves to escape the lust of the desert marauders. The dancing of native women of the French Congo is another dynamic feature of this Columbia picture. Like their white compatriots of the Parisian pleasure palaces, there is little these savage girls do not know about the rhythmic movements of the human body. One almost feels the intolerably oppressive atmosphere of the African night, the tom-toms beating out their age-old throbbing themes —and the black bodies twisting in the frenzied ritual of the ceremony. Another background included the land of the pygmies. These little people, one of the most intensely moral of the jungle, have customs and manners of solving ancient problems that would shock Western susceptibilities, if they weren’t so plainly natural and innocent. Trial marriage, a much discussed topic of civilisation, is an old system among the pygmies. We recommend “Africa Speaks” for a new thrill and a new experience in motion pictures. It is undoubtedly one of the most interesting features ever made. A matinee will be held to-day at 2.30 p.m.