This recently re-discovered African travelogue movie made by Alfred Machin doesn't make particularly enjoyable viewing. It shows a hunting expedition straight out of a 50s Hollywood action flick: the white men wear crisp brown jackets and hats and mistreat the natives. In the overlong opening shot the only thing of note you see is one of these guys giving an African native what for because he stumbles and falls as they cross a river.
The next shot, probably staged for the camera, shows another native getting a hunter's attention and excitedly pointing into the distance. Everybody crouches down while the hunter checks things out through his binoculars and then we see a giraffe falling to the ground.
It soon becomes apparent that the purpose of the hunt is to bag the giraffe's hide. Whether this is for commercial reasons or simply reasons of ego and pride isn't clear. Either way, the scenes that follow as we see the natives skinning the giraffe's carcass, leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Although IMDb says the film is black-and-white, the version I saw was in colour - hand-painted probably, although if it is the workmanship is excellent with no bleeding of colours. For some reason they painted the giraffe's meat pink, but then how many people know the colour of giraffe meat?
The film was rediscovered by a French guy, a fanatic about early films who died in 2006. He liked to brand his films with a little drawing painted directly onto the film, so right at the start of this film we're treated to a quick glimpse of a skinny Mickey Mouse waving hello before running into a river...