The Landing of Savage South Africa at Southampton
About The Landing of Savage South Africa at Southampton
On the quay at Southampton, men from Frank Fillis's Savage South Africa company stand in a line in shields and war dress. They chant and stamp for the camera. A white man glances toward the lens and leads a smaller group forward. The shot is the arrival, not the Earl's Court show they had come to give.
Cast & crew
More about The Landing of Savage South Africa at Southampton
W. K. L. Dickson filmed the arrival on April 19, 1899, with a large-format Biograph camera. The Union liner Goth had brought Fillis's company for the Greater Britain Exhibition at Earl's Court. The Western Mail of April 20, 1899, counted more than 200 Africans, Boer families, mounted police, and animals including elephants, lions, and tigers. The American Mutoscope and Biograph catalogue called the picture an exhibition by Fillis's company of Zulu and Swazi warriors in native costumes.
Themes
Background
The Greater Britain Exhibition opened at Earl's Court in the summer of 1899, a few months before the Second Boer War. Savage South Africa was billed in the line of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
Making
Dickson, who had left Edison and was working for British Biograph, set the camera on the dock for the Goth's arrival rather than inside the exhibition grounds.
Look
A single daylight view from the Biograph camera covers the dock. The men perform toward the lens instead of simply walking past it.
Technique
British Biograph's large-format camera was the same heavy equipment Dickson used for other actualities that year.
Preservation
The BFI National Archive holds the film (ID 403239). It is also on BFI Player.
Notes
- The negative is about 110 feet.
- It was shown at the Palace Theatre of Varieties in London on May 1, 1899.
- The BFI National Archive holds it as ID 403239.
- Fillis was a London-born circus owner who had been working in South Africa.
- The Earl's Court show mixed stunt riding, dances, and battle sketches from the recent war in Matabeleland.
- BFI Player's note says Fillis can be seen moving among the men on the dock.
Scenes
- The company chants and stamps in a line on the quay.
- A white handler looks at the camera and brings a few men closer.
Also available
- BFI Player
