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Great Victorian Fall, Zambesi River, The (1907)
 

BFI

Main image of Great Victorian Fall, Zambesi River, The (1907)
 
35mm, black and white, silent, 445 feet
 
Production CompanyCharles Urban Trading Company
PhotographyEmile Lauste

Scenes of the Upper Zambesi.

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This was one of ten films collectively called the Urban-African Expedition, taken by the legendary cameraman Emile Lauste between 1906 and 1909 on the trip from Southampton to South Africa and back across the continent.

These expedition films were clearly worth the investment, feeding the audiences seemingly endless appetite for this kind off film. The film shows views of the Upper Zambesi river, with natives in canoes negotiating the rapids above the falls and the famous falls themselves from all angles and at different times of day. On the shores of the falls an African woman stands beside a sign which reads: "David Livingstone cut his initials on this tree in 1855."

Bryony Dixon

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Video Clips
Surviving footage (3:10)
GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO
SEE ALSO
A Year in Film: 1907