British North Borneo (1937)

Synopsis

Osa Johnson presents Martin Johnson’s last picture — “Borneo” — a 1937 film by the husband-and-wife team of documentary filmmakers captured during a trip to British North Borneo from 1935 to 1936. Narrated by Lowell Thomas, this piece opens with a title card (mark 01:00 ) explaining how Martin Johnson “has photographed the last of his beloved jungles (in Borneo) — filmed the pictorial climax of a great career that led him through the dark, mysterious byways of the unknown world.” (Martin Johnson died in 1937). From there, Thomas details Johnson’s life and search for adventure as scenes of the couple in the wild appear on screen. At mark 02:20, Thomas explains how Martin, who once said he always felt safest in the wild, died when the twin-engine Boeing 247D in which he was a passenger crashed shortly after takeoff in California. “But he left behind this, his greatest film,” says Thomas. He explains the route the couple took as we see images of their plane in flight and an aerial view of British North Borneo’s capital (mark 04:00 ) on their way to the “deepest and darkest jungle of all.” Scenes of meetings with natives fascinated by the Johnsons begin at mark 05:30 and we learn of Borneo’s poisonous “flying snakes” (mark 06:22 ) as the couple make their way through the jungle. British Borneo comprised the four northern parts of the island of Borneo, which are now Brunei, Labuan, Sabah, and Sarawak. During the British colonial rule until 1963, Sarawak, Labuan and Sabah known…

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Details

Running time

16 minutes

Language

English

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage