Africa Speaks! (1930)
*** (out of 4)
Famous explorer Paul Hoefler heads into the African Congo to trek across the land in order to see the wildlife as well as various tribes that are there.
AFRICA SPEAKS! was originally released as a documentary but over the past few decades it has been sold to fans of exploitation movies. The film offers up some nudity via the locals as well as some animal deaths so these taboo stuff was enough to make it an "exploitation" movie and it is sold as such. Obviously some people will want to avoid it since there are real animal deaths but as a documentary I thought the film worked.
The version I watched was 69-minutes, which is about six -minutes shy of the running time listed on various sites. I'm not sure if those running times are incorrect or if the print going around is actually missing some footage. It's certainly choppy at times so keep that in mind. As far as the footage, I personally thought it was great and it certainly made the picture worth viewing.
The footage of the various wildlife animals is the reason to watch this. There are some great shots of lions, giraffes, locusts, elephants and other animals and there's no question that this footage is quite raw and rather remarkable for the time. The film really lets you see what this wild lands were like back in the day and that alone makes this worth watching. We also get to see some tribes like the Ubangi and Wassara, which is another great bit of insight that we get.
As I said, there are many elements that would today be considered exploitation including the nudity as well as the animal violence. The most infamous moment in the film is when the camera crew comes under attack by some lions and apparently a man was actually killed. Some of this footage was left in the movie, which again explains why the film is sold as exploitation.