OVERLOOKED DOCUMENTARY: AFRICA SPEAKS! (1930)

Not that long ago, Africa was really the Dark Continent -- a land of mystery with strange tribe, exotic animals, and unusual customs.  Shot over a period of 14 months (with some staged portions films afterward), Africa Speaks! covers an expedition led by Paul F. Hoefler into what was then the Belgian Congo.  Narrated by Lowell Thomas in a casual -- and to modern ears, condescending and sometimes offensive -- style with some witty remarks that fall flat.  A lot of information and good deal of misinformation here.  These's also a lot of stunning nature photography here.  Africa Speaks! brought a relatively unknown part of the world to movie audiences of the day and fed a demand that also brought a vast number of jungle movies to theaters.  Footage from this movie was used in many of the Bomba the Jungle Boy films.

 The copy linked to below has been edited to 50 minutes from the original 75 minutes.  Still, it's worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD3vHETLlEM&index=21&list=PL4lXXl0ee_S-z-fXNSdnuRHPyFrsbSvvk

...And this 25 minute version of the expedition includes footage of the Ubangi tribe that was not included in the above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cSowdq4Hos