Mamba

source: Mamba

Mostly forgotten today, Mamba was a sort of landmark in its day. It was one of the most bold films that the smaller studios, the so-called Poverty rows, ever made. It was a joint project of Tiffany and Color Art Productions. It had ornate costumes, realistic and spectacle sets, and claimed that it was the "First All Technicolor Drama." Mamba didn't just have a scene or two colored, as did Dixiana, Rio Rita, Broadway Melody or the Great Gabbo. Money poor Mamba was more ambitious than those films. Mamba was filmed in 2-strip Technicolor from beginning to end. It may well have been the first sound feature to have had such a grand treatment. When the film opened at the Gaiety Theatre in New York, it caused a sensation, breaking the two-week box office at the theater. Apparently, the color was outstanding with lush greens and excellent flesh tones. Overwhelmed by its Technicolor effects, the critics of the day gave the movie and its stars excellent reviews, pointing out how the film appealed to both men and women alike because of its Jungle theme and the beauty and the beast aspect of the romance. According to the director, Albert Rogell, while in production Mamba kept running out of money. In order to fool, the creditors, the production kept two sets of identical costumes available so that the cast and crew could keep working on the production. While this cash poor production may have been a grand success in 1930, Father Time has finally collected the bill on this historic landmark film. It exists today only in fragments. Too bad an identical master copy wasn't keep in the vaults.

This film was shown at Capitolfest 2018, Rome, NY, in as complete a condition as it's going to get. The soundtrack has been corrected, missing pieces added (except for a sequence deemed offensive by the Australian Censors in the 30's) and it has been gussied up for public viewing. The restoration of "Mamba" is a story in itself. "Mamba" is a rarity in that it is in color and produced by the now-defunct Tiffany studio, an independent which makes the fact it's in color even more remarkable. It is really not as bad as the website rating would indicate, it's just that the plot is a little far-fetched. 'Mamba' is the nickname of the despised civilian trader in the German East African jungle, hated both by the German and the British troops in the area. He decides he must have a bride to keep him company and bullies a debtor to marry his daughter back in Austria. On the trip back a German officer (Ralph Forbes) is smitten by her (Eleanor Boardman), and the movie takes on a life of its own. The main reason to see 'Mamba' apart from the technical acheivements is Jean Hershholt, who is outstanding in the role of the repugnant Bolte, the trader/husband in the title. There are also some rousing battle scenes which lend excitement to the story. It is worth seeing for the reasons mentioned. Shown at Capitolfest, Rome, NY 8/18. 7/10 - The website no longer prints my star ratings.

In the town in German East Africa, right by the border with British territory, everyone gets along famously. They are all united, Germans and British, Blacks and Whites, in despising Jean Hersholt, who's the richest man around and an utter rotter. He heads back home, finds himself Eleanor Boardman, the daughter of a destitute German aristocrat, pays off daddy's debts, marries her, and brings her back to Africa. Everyone attends his wedding party for her sake, but he's so disagreeable that everyone leaves, and she promptly falls in love with German soldier Ralph Forbes. Then World War One begins, the natives revolt, the volcano erupts, the .... Well, not the last, but there's a general upheaval and a big ending fight scene as the natives attack the German fort that looks like it was pulled from a western. It's not a particularly good movie, even though you can see why it was immensely popular when it was made. Sound and Technicolor! Villainy and love! Big battle scenes! True, the second unit work seems to be rather slapdash, the dialogue is spoken at a slow pace with lots of time between sides, and so forth. But for 1930, it's all rather impressive. It being 1930, there are some technical issues. Because it was two-strip Technicolor, people bleed orange, and use the color far more frequently than we do nowadays. Also, the images are softer than one would wish, but it's one of those movies that would have rated very highly in the year it was made.... and seems ridiculous nowadays.

In my very early days I enjoyed watching all those golden oldies starring Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan. Mamba, shot in color and with sound (it was the first all color all talking movie which was not a musical), reminds me fondly of those long gone days. Mamba is for sure not a movie of interest for many, but if you want to watch one very old adventure movie in a colonial setting, digging deeper into the history of movie making, Mamba will give you a splendid time. Exact rate: 6 + 1 for nostalgic reasons only.

I'll start by saying that I'm very glad to have seen MAMBA, thanks to Kino's new release of a long-in-the-works restoration of what was long thought to be a lost film. A print was discovered in Australia and the Vitaphone discs survived (at UCLA I assume). Apparently only fragments of a silent version had been known to survive. Anyway, the money was found to restore the Australian print and put it all back together ... minus some bits the Australian censors had cut out. Mamba was touted in 1930 as the first All-Technicolor All-Talkie dramatic film. Produced by Tiffany, it was apparently a success in its day. Unfortunately, the story of the film's production and rediscovery is almost more interesting than the film itself. The story is set in 1913 in German East Africa just before the war. Boorish landowner August Bolte (Jean Hersholt) is the local rich man (the notes say he's an ivory trader, but I don't recall any mention of ivory), supposedly called Mamba (a deadly snake) by the locals (although I don't recall this word being uttered). There are German and British soldiers in the area. Bolte forces an impoverished German nobleman to "sell" his daughter (Eleanor Boardman) for a sum of money. Bolte snags his bride and heads back to Africa but on the voyage she meets a dashing German officer (Ralph Forbes). It seems that Bolte rapes his bride on their wedding night (cut by censors) and she lives behind a locked door once they get back to Africa. Bolte tries to win over the local society by throwing a party for his wife but it doesn't work and they soon get word that war has been declared in Europe. Bolte is drafted into the local German army but there is a big native uprising that binds together the Germans and Brits (at least temporarily) against them. Sorry to say the acting is abysmal. Stiff and hammy and much of the time they seem to be parodying silent acting technique. Boardman spends most of her time wringing her hands and when she speaks (which isn't often) she sounds more like she's from Old Virginy than Old Germany. Hersholt comes off best as the slimy pig. Forbes is a piece of wood with a scar across his cheek. Will Stanton plays the Cockney servant for comic relief. The color is quite good (2-strip Technicolor or whatever we call it these days) although it's limited to red and greens. Much credit is due to the UCLA restoration team and the various partners. The film looks great, and the sound is very good. The story reminded me a lot of THE WITNESS FOR THE DEFENSE (1919) with Hersholt on par with Warner Oland's deranged husband in that Elsie Ferguson film.

I have been waiting for it since 2015,hoping it would be eventually put on DVD. Three month earlier that is when I found out that Kino Lorber was offering pre order. Now this two tone technicolor print is more pink tinted than orange. Maybe that was the way it ended up being restored .It's lucky that it existed. I had adjusted my color t.v set's tint towards the green side, at 24-still some scenes had those pink tint. The female star in this film,Eleanore Boardman.,I made some mistakes about her. I thought she was married to Clarence Brown. I got that wrong it was King Vidor. I thought she quit the business in the early 30's .no, her last film was in 1935 that was produced by her second husband. This was her first talkie,not the black n white film she did with john Gilbert. She plays a women who was sold into marriage by her father,which was originally played by. Josef Swickard,. That scene was cut out of the film. Now I discovered that the screen play writers were social liberals and wanted to exposed the German and British controlled Africa back in 1913 and the mistreatment Natives. Humanitarian actor Jean Herscholt.played a cruel German plantation owner who has enslaved Africans. The scene in which a black women who had an affair with him and got pregnant and she chasing after him for food for her baby. He just ignores her.when a British Major,played by Claude. Flemming with another British higher up is observing the ghastly scene,there reaction is directed against the women begging for food,That's how bad things were .You also have a white actor who possibly plays a black African,although he looked more biracial. Handsome character actor,Ralph Forbes plays one of his few leads in film. I had thought that this might of been his first talkie ,but, it was his third.this was his first appearance in Technicolor. His second would be the later Frenchman's creek. Originally the Aussie censors had removed the difficult honeymoon sequence,cause they thought it was insulting marriage and it contained a medium shot of Jean Herscolt grabbing Eleanore's breast. This scene survived in some fragments and was put back on with the original dialog,They also borrowed some other scenes for this. In the party sequence where Jean is introducing Eleanore to the people he invited,most of the British and German soldiers hate him,You hear the same music that was used in the technicolor party sequence in Hell's Angels. I also learned that the same set were used in the later Golden dawn.at least that is what the narrator stated in the audio side although it was claimed that it was digitally restored. Originally it was chemically restored. It looked the same way that the original Dr x looked before that was that was digitally restored. This makes it a better film look than let's say the king of jazz. Originally only 3 reels existed in the U. C. L. A. with the complete disc. The complete film was found in Australia.the menus include a short about the person who found the feature film and encouraged the restoration.then the interview of a couple who owned the print and were film and projectors enthusiast. It also includes gallery that explain Tiffany films.also has poster form the film and advertisement. For serious classic film fans it is worth seeing. 05/11/22.

To update the other reviews on this site, the film exists in its entirety in two-strip Technicolor. The owners also have five sound discs (5 through 8). UCLA possesses two reels (1,9) and all nine sound discs. Attempts are underway to combine these two sources and hopefully with UCLA's track record of superb restorations of early Technicolor films, MAMBA will soon be available for viewing once again for the first time in eighty years. Initial viewing of reel five and almost all of reel six reveals a stellar performance by Jean Hersholt as the villainous bore, August Bolte, and a sensitive take by aristocratic Eleanor Boardman as Helen. Ralph Forbes is rather stiff and affected as the so-called hero, Karl Von Reiden. The colors are lovely - reds and greens predominate, but the flesh tones are quite authentic. This seems to be a treasure, awaiting interest and funding for a proper restoration.

I have just had the opportunity of viewing the complete 1930's Tiffany Production of "Mamba", starring Jean Hersholt, Eleanor Boardman and Ralph Forbes. Unfortunately, this was seen without the accompanying Vitaphone disc soundtrack, but due to having a copy of your Plot Summary this made it easy to follow the storyline. The early two-colour Technicolor was amazingly bright and made this screening a surprisingly pleasant experience. I note in your Trivia notes that, according to the authors of Forgotten Horrors, "only about 12 minutes of silent footage remain." I can refute this information as there exists in Australia a complete 35mm version of this film, in good condition.

The acting is atrocious and the story is trite and predictable as to be expected from a poverty row studio. The portrayal of the Zulu natives is ridiculous and offensive especially in the final sequences which are utterly theatrical and unbelievable. Why this turkey was filmed in color is anyone's guess. I have to wonder if some of the reviewers here actually saw the film or were just excited because the film was photographed in color. If the film had been shot in black and white I'm pretty sure that even these color enthusiasts would agree this film is boring.The surviving color isn't very good as the film seemed to have many sequences which are too red and many scenes are out of focus. There is even one section where the film has been lost and only sound survives. If you want to see gorgeous early Technicolor I would suggest "Dixiana" 1930 or "Under A Texas Moon" 1930.