Old Bones of the River (1938) - film review

Professor Benjamin Tibbetts arrives in colonial Africa with grand ambitions of opening a chain of schools to educate the natives.  When Captain Hamilton, the acting Commissioner, falls ill, Tibbetts has no choice but to take his place.  Foremost of his duties is the gathering of taxes from the locals, to be paid in rubber or goats.   Not long after he has begun his journey up-river to start on this errand, Tibbets runs into an ancient paddlesteamer owned by Harbottle and Albert, a pair of idlers whom the schoolmaster soon press-gangs into working for him.  At one of the native villages, Tibbetts encounters a tribe that is on the verge of rising up against the British.  The tribal chief Mosambo is about to be deposed by his brother M’Bapi, who had just returned from Oxford University, intent on freeing his people from the British imperialists.  Tibbetts soon discovers that a little education can be a dangerous thing, and that a university degree can be positively lethal...

Yet another great institution – the British Empire no less – gets the full Will Hay treatment in this raucous comedy, an unbridled parody of Zoltan Korda’s Sanders of the River (1935).  The natives certainly are restless, and depicted far more convincingly than in many British films of this period, although much of the humour would now be considered racist by today’s politically correct standards.  When Will Hay slaps white talcum powder over a Negro baby, he remarks acidly that cocoa might have achieved a better result – no screenwriter would ever dare write this line today.  

The film’s modest budget is belied by its impressive production values which include an authentic recreation of an African village.   Even the exterior locations, on the River Thames, are convincing stand-ins for a river setting in darkest Africa.  Marcel Varnel, who directed eight of Will Hay’s films, was renowned for turning out quality productions on a fairly modest budget, and here he achieves wonders. 

Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt once again find themselves comedy stooges to Will Hay’s overbearing schoolmaster, reforming the comedy trio that had been so successful in earlier Will Hay films, notably Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937).  Even when the jokes are banal and obvious, this comedy group has no difficulty getting the laughs.  The morse code routine is one of their funniest.  Old Bones of the River may not be a classic and at times it does take itself a little too seriously, but it has more than its quota of gags.  The scene in which Hay and his friends cunningly repel the attacking natives with tintacks is priceless.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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