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]
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
