“AFRICA SPEAKS” COMES TO THEATRE SATURDAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19267, 2 January 1931, Page 5

“AFRICA SPEAKS” COMES TO THEATRE SATURDAY.

.. Tll ®, fi . ne programme being given at tiie Theatre Royal by the Humphrey Bishop Company will be repeated for the last time to-night. “Africa Speaks,” which will have its Christchurch premiere at the Theatre Royal to-morrow, is the first sound and talking picture ever made in the darkest regions of the Dark Continent. The i picture was made by the ColoradoAfrican Expedition, under.the leadership of Paul F. Hcefler, a noted African explorer. Mr Hoefler and his partv left Denver bound for Africa on July 18, 1928, and returned at the end of 1929. fever-ridden and weary, but with their work well done. They travelled through the very heart of wildest Africa, and made the entire trip by motor truck. The Smithsonian Institution has decided to keep “Africa Speaks” as an infallible record of life in the Dark Continent. The weird cries and savage howls of the beasts and natives, and the throbbing tom-toms of the tribesmen, are the natural sounds that penetrate the stillness of the strange unknown. A ferocious lion, a few feet away from the camera, leaps upon a native boy and crushes him to death, while Paul Hoefler and his comrade leap for safety and barely escape with their lives. And then the Masai warriors, called to arms to avenge the killing of the native boy and one of their tribe, seek the lion with spear and shield, and make strange guttural sounds, and to the accompaniment of the l'epetitious tom-toms surround him and attack him. Eventually man and beast are found in hand-to-hand combat, again in close range of the camera. All this takes place in the regions of Tanganyika, where unusual “shots” of the.“king of beasts,” at home and abroad in search of prey, have been secured. Another part of the picture shows a great swarm of locusts. The heavens are black with countless millions, and the sun is entirely blotted out. When the sky is again clear the land is pictured barren and the

trees bare. One sees the duck-billed women, whose lips encc-mpass a saucer, and hears the strange legend that brought about this disfiguring custom. There are pygmies with extraordinary customs, and one sees zebras and antelopes in their natural habitat. There are elephants in immense herds, giraffes and lesser known animals at close range, with several remarkable slow-motion shots as the most agile runners escape. The scenic marvels of the journey are in remarkable photography. The party recorded the voices and strange language of every tribe it encountered, and the customs and the habits of peoples and animals were picturised audibly. The Ripon Falls, the sources of the Victoria Nile, are seen in all their grandeur, as they pour from Lake Victoria into- the ancient Egyptian river with a deafening roar. Reaching Butiaba, the expedition proceeded down the Nile by steamer in search of a place to where the journey through the seemingly impenetrable jungle might be commenced. The trip down the river was one c-f abounding interest. On the west bank were visible the villages of the Lugwari and Allulu tribes, while the east side was unpeopled. It was a closed area both to black and white, for its swamps were deadly with sleeping sickness. The land teemed with game, the rare white rhinoceros, numerous elephants, crocodiles, the black rhinoceros, the Uganda cob, waterbuck, and thousands of other wild animals—not to mention the huge pythons which abound in the papyrus swamps, are all there. These are only a few of the things in this remarkable film.