Micah Lloyd
Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Rio Hayward
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Lucia Ayala
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
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 ...
dbdumonteil
The lines are often unintentionally funny ("My king -of England - is the greatest king on Earth!" "I'm sending you to Sandi" ) and the movie is Tarzanesque,with its evil chief rubbing his hands before killing a good guy .The natives are big irresponsible children who desperately need the help of the white men and above all Lord -Sandi-Sanders.When he's away (they say he's dead),there's no law anymore;but when he's back,so is the law.It speaks volumes about the paternalistic side of this obsolete work:English colonizers are here to bring justice,peace,love and understanding,their intentions are so pure their black protégés (the good ones that is) cannot make up their minds without Father Sandi's piece of advice.The good chief's songs are closer to Negro spirituals than to African folklore .And the lullaby his wife sings to her little black dove would fit nicely in a Disney cartoon,such as "the Lion King" .
ianlouisiana
Impossible to watch through 21st century eyes,"Sanders of the river" belongs to the "Saturday Morning Pictures" school of movies.I saw dozens like it in my local Odeon (Our Dominion Extends Over Nations) as a small boy.Wise white man benevolently ruling over spear waving savages,chattering monkeys,trumpeting elephants,and other denizens of the Dark Continent.Most of the savages had bones through their noses and danced round the cooking pot chanting gibberish.They were badly-made,with unsteady scenery,crackling soundtracks and startling inadvertent jump-cuts.Nobody you ever heard of was in them and we forgot about them as soon as we got out into the daylight. Unfortunately there were some well-known actors in "Sanders of the river" it was well made and very popular in its day.Now it seems slightly hilarious to give it the broadest possible benefit of the doubt. If you go to see it don't take Spike Lee.
Arthur Hausner
Although the title refers to the British commissioner of the N'Gombi district of Nigeria during the Colonial days of the British Empire, Paul Robeson's magnificent rich baritone voice is easily the highlight of this well-made but dated film. Looking at it from the 90's perspective, I was appalled to see the native blacks treated as savages and children at the same time. Paul Robeson expected a different kind of film and unsuccessfully fought its release after it was completed. Leslie Banks plays Commissioner Sanders, called "Lord Sandy" by the natives, and oversees the various competing and sometimes hostile tribes. In the last five years, there has been peace among the tribes due mostly to the respect and fear of him. Robeson is a prison escapee who has been chief of the Ochuri tribe for the last five months, an illegal act without permission from Banks. He goes to Banks to claim that chiefdom, and Banks, knowing who he really is, and sensing he is a good man, proclaims him chief on the basis of those last five months. It pays off when word comes that Chief Mofolaba (Tony Wane) has been raiding other tribes to gather slaves, and Banks has Robeson and his warriors capture him and free those captives. It's a humiliation that Mofolaba swears he will revenge. Among the captives is lovely Nina Mae McKinney, who Robeson takes for his wife, and who bears him two children during the next five peaceful years. When Banks decides to take a year's leave of absence to return to London to get married, two villains spread the word that Banks is dead and there is now no law. They expect to profit by selling guns and gin to the natives. Mofolaba kills Banks' replacement and has his men kidnap McKinney to use as bait to lure Robeson to his land so he can have his revenge. Meanwhile, word gets to Banks, who hasn't yet left for London, about his replacement's death and the general lawlessness that now prevails, and he starts to return to Mofolaba's land. And Robeson takes Mofolaba's bait, but is captured and tied to a post next to the post that McKinney is tied to. Mofolaba promises him a slow death after he witnesses McKinney's death.
