Wherever it belongs, I'm quite glad you brought it to our attention.the damndest silent short, of which I’d never heard, and which almost certainly belongs on another thread.
Now, for those of you who hate this sort of thing, there are SPOILERS below!!!!
For all the rest of you, I provide some colour commentary to accompany the silent movie captions, which may help you to interpret the action. After all, I have spent some time living in Africa, and feel qualified therefore to provide some insight:
- We are told this movie is about Russell, an artist. Forget about that. He's unimportant.
- 1:23 - Russell is held captive by the "great love" of an african native princess, who appears to be from Manchester - not sure how that happened. Russell does not seem to be particularly distressed at his captivity, but he's not exactly overwhelmed by passion either, it seems.
- 1:40 - Nevertheless, Alva feels the need to rescue him. Perhaps she feels confident that she can turn him on. And why not, she's the sort of person who has lain around the house naked, waiting for Russell to come home (even though she knows he's lost in Africa, which is a long way from Manchester...or Croydon, for that matter).
- 2:11 - Things getting good now. At the "last trading post", all the wives of the Indian merchant are also white, while the slave girls are darker. They are all mostly naked - air conditioning was not invented yet.
- 6:11 - Not a crucifixion, but a murder in the harem!! The favourite wife dies beautifully.
- 6:20 - Alva, contrary to any good sense, rushes in to see if she can help. Naturally, she is accused of murder and imprisoned, presumably to await a terrible fate. She must be a relation to Barb.
- 6:30 - In the dungeon, everyone is completely naked, except Alva. They are also all female. Men do not commit crimes at the last trading post, it seems. Alva gets to keep her safari clothes. There is no explanation for this, but it is helpful for her escape.
- 6:52 - The Rajah visits the dungeon and falls madly in love with Alva (who is accused of murdering his favourite wife). There is no explanation for this either. Pay no attention. This plot point serves no actual purpose. If this were a football match, we'd all be passing the ball pointlessly in mid field right now.
- 8:29 - the Call of the Tom Toms: how many naked girls can you fit into a grass hut? I really could not care less, but I will watch this segment on a loop pretty much forever.
- 9:26 - The Feast of Lom-a-Loma consists of all the naked girls eating bananas back at the grass hut. No idea why, but do we need a reason?
- 11:03 - Russell might be starting to come around to the idea that he's in Africa with a pretty much naked "native" princess (still inexplicably white).
- 11:06 - Alva not pleased when she spots him in the village from her perch on the clifftop. The princess is wearing only a small loincloth and knows a few dance moves.
- 11:15 - Nothing for it but to fight fire with fire, or nudity with nudity, I suppose. Alva loses the safari kit and prepares to dance or fight for her fella.
- 12:06 - Alva has a distinct advantage here - she upstages the princess by not even wearing a loincloth. She is a lovely woman, our Alva, one must say.
- 12:08 - Whoops. A foul, I think. Alva's husband kisses the princess. Where was the referee?
- 12:09 - "Oh, shit! Hello, is that you, darling?" Clearly trying to avoid a red card here. Wow, the princess has a really fine bottom!
- 12:16 - Choosing the winner, with some very nice close-up camera work.
I will not spoil the (rather quick) ending for you, but I would note that, at no time does Alva's husband ever lose so much as his shirt, naked women all around him notwithstanding. Silly man.
We should really have an "erotic silent movies" thread, if there are more of these lying around.