disinterested_spectator Sanders is a British officer who has picked up the white man's burden and made Nigeria a better place for the Africans who populate it. We know they are happy, because they are always singing. The British do not sing, however, because running an empire is serious business. There seems to be a cult of personality, however, since the place falls apart as soon as Sanders goes on vacation. As word spreads that he is dead, we see animals running about, so apparently even they are upset. War breaks out, and Sanders has to return. While he was gone, a couple of smugglers had been selling gin and rifles to the natives, which is against the law. But the rifles don't seem to do the natives any good, because they continue to use spears. As the boat Sanders is on races to save Bosambo, a good African chieftain who loves being ruled by Sanders and the British Empire, an officer commands an African worker who is operating the boiler to put more wood on the fire for more speed. The African replies that the boiler will blow. But the stiff upper lip of the British officer is not cowed by mere physics, and he contemptuously dismisses the warning. The boiler backs down and humbly submits to British authority, just like everything else.

swojtak I have mixed feelings about this film. First off, like one reviewer, I was surprised at the topless natives. I would have thought the censors would have cut that out. Paul Robeson played a man who made himself a chief so he could run a tribe. In the movie, only the British could authorize a man to become a Chief. I guess the natives were not authorized to make their own Chief--I thought that was strange! Even stranger, a British authorized Chief had to be given a medal on a chain to wear around his neck--kind of what a rapper would wear today. This medal indicated an authorized Chief. Sandy did try to rule in a fair manner, learned native customs, and learned some native languages. I did dislike how the natives had to call the British Lord and to act like children. The British treated the natives like children. The part that Robeson played was of an extremely smart man. Everything the British told him to do after making him Chief he had already thought of and done on his own. The look on Robeson's face was of a man purposely acting like a child while all the time he was ten jumps ahead of the white man. The look on the British was he knew Robeson was smart and Robeson knew the British knew but each had to play their own part. I thought the movie was worth watching.

Theo Robertson I recently saw THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME recently and was slightly disappointed by it , a fact not helped by Leslie Banks performance . Banks was supposedly a well regarded actor but it should be remembered that GAME was a very early screen performance from him . SANDERS OF THE RIVERS is a film produced and directed by the Korda brothers , two Hungarians who moved to Britain and became major players of British cinema in the 1930s . Looking through the cast list now it's probably not the names of Banks or Korda that'll grab your attention but Paul Robeson . If you've got a film called SANDERS OF THE RIVER and it stars a black singer you don't need a Masters degree in geography to see where the film might be heading SANDERS OF THE RIVER is painfully dated in its social mores . Putting it in to context the British Empire was alive and well and if Britain hadn't conquered most of Africa then it would have been conquered by the French and who wants to be ruled by the French ? Or indeed the Spanish or the Americans ? There is a strong element of casual racism to this scenario but it's certainly no worse than those dreadful Tarzan movies and the dated elements do have an entertainment value to them that are unintentional . One thing that is genuinely shocking watching it now is the female African natives who are topless As expected the production budget couldn't involve taking the crew to deepest Africa so to hide this fact the designers have stuck some African looking huts in a field in England and editor Charles Chrichton - who went on to become a highly regarded director - splices in some stock footage of African landscapes and wildlife trying to but not quite convincing the audience the locations are real . The story itself is very basic and involves Sanders mentoring Robeson's jolly good egg Chief Bosambo that rival tribes are causing trouble and need to be taught a lesson . Cue The Killing Song which involves " When the enemy comes be ready to fight . On in to battle make a lot of rattle mow them down like cattle ... " Robeson himself supposedly disowned this film due to the racist stereotyping but looking this up on the internet there's some dispute about this and he perhaps had another reason for disliking it . Certainly it's difficult to believe before filming started that Robeson wouldn't be playing an African stereotype . That said Robeson is the best thing about the film and you'll remember The Killing Song for days afterwards . All together now " on in to battle , make a lot of rattle , mow them down like cattle ...

qatmom "Sanders of the River" is trapped in the time of its creation like an insect in amber, but it's worth seeing if only to understand the expectations of that time.The British characters are supposed to be the heroes of the tale, but they are wooden and unsympathetic, even interchangeable. It is impossible to care about them. They even chase animals from a plane Just For Fun.Africans are portrayed as simple minded, but they are also clearly loyal, brave, loving individuals with some (limited) depth to them, which is more than can be said of the cardboard cut-out white characters. In fact, the real rotters of the tale are trouble-making whites.