{"id":1144,"date":"2006-05-30T12:29:12","date_gmt":"2006-05-30T19:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2021-01-08T20:21:22","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T03:21:22","slug":"sanders-of-the-river-1935","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1144","title":{"rendered":"Sanders of the River (1935)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do as you want me, Sandi, because I am your friend.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Sanders-of-the-River-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Sanders-of-the-River-Poster-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22967\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Sanders-of-the-River-Poster-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Sanders-of-the-River-Poster-82x128.jpg 82w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Sanders-of-the-River-Poster.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nCommissioner Sanders (Leslie Banks) tries to prevent warfare between rival chieftains (Paul Robeson and Tony Wane) in British-ruled Africa.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kidnapping<\/li>\n<li>Native Peoples<\/li>\n<li>Paul Robeson Films<\/li>\n<li>Zoltan Korda Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this dated, offensive film &#8220;gives the impression that black Africans [were] prosperous, happy, and peaceful under British rule.&#8221;  Commissioner Sanders (&#8220;Sandi&#8221;) is shamelessly portrayed as a heroic, benevolent father-figure who must intervene in order to save the warring African &#8220;children&#8221; from themselves. I was grateful whenever footage of native African tribes appeared on-screen; their (hopefully authentic) dancing and music making were a welcome relief from the colonialist blather of the storyline. Paul Robeson&#8217;s singing is (as always) a highlight, but nonetheless woefully out of place. Worth watching for historical purposes only. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Paul Robeson&#8217;s singing<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Robeson.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Robeson.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1146\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>On-location footage of native African tribes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Natives Dancing.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Natives Dancing.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1147\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Tony Wane&#8217;s unusual star-shaped hairdo<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Wade.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Wade.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1148\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, although it&#8217;s a revealing look at the historical distortion that was prevalent in so many early films.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0026966\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1935\/06\/27\/archives\/sanders-of-the-river-a-british-film-based-on-the-edgar-wallace.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do as you want me, Sandi, because I am your friend.&#8221; Synopsis: Commissioner Sanders (Leslie Banks) tries to prevent warfare between rival chieftains (Paul Robeson and Tony Wane) in British-ruled Africa. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Kidnapping Native Peoples Paul Robeson Films Zoltan Korda Films Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, this dated, offensive film &#8220;gives the impression that black Africans [were] prosperous, happy, and peaceful under British rule.&#8221; Commissioner Sanders (&#8220;Sandi&#8221;) is shamelessly portrayed as a heroic,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1144\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62408,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/62408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}