WEALTH OF WEST AFRICA: A VISIT TO A COCOA PLANTATION

This film is held by the BFI (ID: 669074).

Synopsis

'The Port of Accra- capital of the Gold Coast and Headquarters of one of the Fry Buying Agencies.' Viewed from sea-level two rowing boats approaching large ship. 'Port Officials come aboard' similar shot with single boat approaching ship, man clambers onto rope-netting dangled from side. 'Diving for coins - an unofficial interlude' smaller canoe-type boats with blokes diving in and out of the water. 'Disembarking in the Mammy Chair' groups of three and four people being craned onto (?) ship in special seats from the row boats. 'Ashore from afloat' view of land from ship, boat rowing out. 'On the beach' groups of European families(?) with their belongings on the beach- trunks, bedding, even a bike; local Africans carrying baggage from boats. 'A last glimpse of the sea' slow pan through palm trees. 'Accra Market' pan left to right, of busy local marketplace. 'All but!' goats in a street (?). 'The Railway station at Koforidua - one of the important cocoa-buying centres of the Fry Agency' crowds on a train platform. 'A primitive village in the bush', 'Man in contrast with a fallen tree' 3 African men standing in front of a fallen tree for perspective (v. big). 'A typical native village. and some of its inhabitants' women and children at market(?), 'Chiefs in procession', 'An Open-Air laundry' five of the village women washing clothes in buckets. 'Pounding Yams for supper'. 'A river ferry... the dugout is propelled by means of a rope made from twisted fibre'. 'A village in the cocoa country' more brickbuilt buildings than the other village. 'Going to Market', 'Scenes in the market place'. 'The Cocoa Plantation', 'Cocoa forms by far the largest export from the Gold Coast in point of both value and volume... in fact, the country might almost be called "the Cocoa Coast"!'. 'Palm trees', 'The Cocoa pod... note its growth from the tree trunk'. 'Extracting from the pods the beans in which are contained the pulp' group of African men sitting on pile of pods, shelling them. 'Drying the beans for transport to the coast'. 'Accra... unloading Cocoa for Fry's' sacks off train, 'Coast transport' Fry's lorries down town roads in convoy, 'Redrying the beans on tarpaulins-' '-which, when drawn together , gather the beans inot heaps.' '"Bagging" the beans - in a perfectly innocent sense of course!' shovelling the beans into sacks. 'Each bag contains 140lbs of cocoa-beans' weighing the bags, and then sewing them up. 'A big consignment goes into store to await shipment', 'Thence to the beach' sacks on trucks on trailers, then unloaded onto huge piles that cover the beach. 'By surfboat to the ship' carrying the sacks onto row boats, lots of boats with 8-10 men in each. 'So to the port of Bristol and thence to Fry's factory at Somerdale' unloading sacks by crane from hold of ship, presumably at Bristol.

 

Titles

  • VISIT TO A COCOA PLANTATION (Alternative)
  • WEALTH OF WEST AFRICA (Alternative)
  • WEALTH OF WEST AFRICA: A VISIT TO A COCOA PLANTATION
 

Technical Data

Year:
1933
Running Time:
19.3 minutes
Film Gauge (Format):
35mm Film
Colour:
Black/White
Sound:
Silent
Footage:
1160 ft
 

Production Credits

Production Countries:
Great Britain
Production Company
Publicity Films
 

Countries