FILM OF TIMBUCTOO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21130, 12 March 1932, Page 10 (Supplement)

FILM OF TIMBUCTOO.

BRITISH EXPEDITION STARTS. ACROSS SAHARA DESERT. Walter Summers has left England as the advance guard for the production of the new 8.1.P. film " Timbuctoo," which is to be made at that well-known spot of the same name. On arriving at Oran he will put the finishing touches to the transport arrangements for his unit and then proceed to Colomb Bechar, the terminus of the railroad, and thence across the Sahara by car to Naimey, which is situated on the eastern stretch of the Niger River and is the most southerly point of the desert. Here he will meet a guide and with a supply of ammunition tour round for 20 days in search of locations and to arrange camps in order to be ready for an immediate start when the company arrives. Equipment including portable sound recording gear, four cameras and film stock, lighting reflectors, guns, ammunition, wardrobe and property baskets, a metal track for negotiating filming on bad country, and personal effects have already been dispatched by sea to North Africa, and on their arrival will be met after a rapid cross-country journey by Summers' assistant, J. L. Hunt, at Algiers. He will have a few days' grace in which to superintend the last moment gathering of supplies best procured on the sport, such as cigarettes and the loading of the equipment and baggage on throe sixwheel motor-coaches, so that as soon as the unit lands an immediate start can be made following Summers' route. The unit will consist of eight technicians and a cast of two; including three sound engineers, two cameramen, property man, assistant director and Henry Kendall, the star of the film and Victor Stanley, who comprise the cast for Africa. On meeting Summers at Niamey, the whole company will proceed by means of the cars to the scenes of action. The main object of the unit is to " travel light" and for this reason only the barest necessities are being taken. Guns and ammunition are a necessity for protection against marauding tribes and also because from the moment it leaves Niamey for the bush, the unit will live on the country—hence the clay pigeon shooting which has been indulged in not only by Summers but also by other members of the company. If their " eye" is out, they will have to depend on the ever-present African chicken and kind-hearted natives for local supplies. Game is plentiful, such as sand snipe and grouse, but if all else fails they will join up with the cannibal tribes in whose territory much of the picture will be filmed.

Hairdressing implements, a rubber bath and a medicine chest are other luxuries included in the equipment for Summers Safari and it is anticipated that he and his unit will remain in Africa at a modest estimate, for eight weeks.