S AFRICAN NATIVE LABOUR CONTINGENT : somewhere in France [Main Title]

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  • Title: S AFRICAN NATIVE LABOUR CONTINGENT : somewhere in France [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 413
  • Other titles: SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE LABOUR CONTINGENT : somewhere in France [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Work of the South African Labour Contingent in France, 1917.
  • Description: The film opens with Number 1 Camp of the contingent by a wood, and a posed group of the black NCOs with their white officers. The NCOs are all "native chiefs". Members of the contingent unload boxes of supplies at a dump from railway wagons, while others use picks and shovels to dig road mending material. The main part of the film concerns the contingent at work in a forest cutting down trees and transporting the logs by means of light rail sledges drawn by horses. The logs are cut to a manageable size by a belt-driven rotary saw. At lunchtime the men relax around a fire, one performs a dance for the camera, and there is a free-for-all, before they return to work. At the main timber yard members of the contingent unload logs from a goods train. The men march back to their camp. One of the sergeants (seen only briefly) is a "Prince in his own country", probably Muti, son of Ntshingwayo, of the Zunga tribe of Zululand.
  • Alternative Title: SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE LABOUR CONTINGENT : somewhere in France [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: IWM 413
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1917-11
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: War Office Cinema Committee (Production sponsor) Topical Film Company (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Muti, Prince of Zululand (person) British Army, South African Labour Contingent (regiment/service) South African Army, South African Labour Contingent (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: supplies, British, storage [RA] - misc (object name) agriculture, South African - arable (object name) recreation, South African military - casual (object name) society, South African military - ethnic (object name) society, South African military - sustenance (object name) 01/3(4-15).7 (event) France (geography) race & [+] (concept)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: English Subtitle language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 907 ft; Running time: 17 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 413

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