COLLECTION NAME:
Leroy H. Miller Collection
Record
Collection Name:
Leroy H. Miller collection
Title:
Singapore
Name:
[Miller, Leroy H.]
Resource Type:
Moving image
Genre:
silent films
Genre:
travelog (performed works genre)
Genre:
Amateur films
Date Created:
circa 1929/1936
Language Term:
English
Extent:
1 film reel (17 min., 42 sec.)
Form:
16mm (photographic film size)
Form:
black-and-white film (film, material)
Abstract:
Title from film container. Reel combines possibly original travel footage by Leroy H. Miller (ca. 1928) with tinted footage (ca. 1936), possibly from another source. Added intertitles (ca. 1936) offer information and commentary from the perspective of a Western traveler, sometimes with derogatory or potentially offensive language. Intertitles describe Singapore as a ?a British city on a Malay island,? with ?a quarter million Chinese business men, Tamil toilers, and reposeful native sons, policed by Indian Sikhs and ruled justly by British gentlemen.? Images include street scenes with cars, carts, and trolleys; many types of boats on water, including ?sampan? shelter boats; exterior images of mosques and temples, with close-ups on statues and architectural detail; a ?Chinese funeral? procession, with people and cars carrying flowers and signs; an ox cart pulling an advertisement for Triangle Keystone films; and a policeman directing traffic with a large board. Includes shots of sap harvested from rubber trees and extended sequence on tapioca plantation, including man pulling roots of tapioca plants, wagons of roots pulled by ox, men and women sorting roots and carrying baskets, tapioca processed in vats and dried on large trays, and close-ups of Tamil women working. Also includes close-up portraits of ?priests,? ?Parsees,? and children, with commentary on their hair and clothing.
Note Type:
Segment sequence
Note:
As original, historical material, some of the language used and opinions shared in these films - especially regarding topics of race, gender, class religion, and ability - do not reflect the current preferred terminology of individuals of marginalized identities, or the values and norms of the CU Boulder Archives.
Note:
00:00:00 Our next Port, Singapore "The Crossroads of the World". 00:00:09 We are taken first to Johore to see the mosque, and then to the large rubber plantations. 00:00:50 Catching the sap. Doesn't look as if this would make a good tire, does it? 00:01:19 In Singapore we see many travelers palms. They are pictures of beauty. 00:02:38 Singapore is one of Britain's brightest places in the sun---. 00:02:51 Here England sits-with cool, calm equanimity-almost astride the sizzling Equatorial Circle---. 00:03:05 Behold a British city on a Malay island with its quarter million Chinese business men, Tamil toilers and reposeful native songs-policed by Indian Sikhs and ruled justly by British gentlemen---. 00:03:33 ---and enriched by the commerce of the seven seas---. 00:03:42 Crowded neighboring China sends her sons to wax rich in the shops and offices of Singapore---. Crowded India sends her sweating coolies to bear the black man's burden-and to worship her gods in Hindu Temples---. 00:04:28 Priests of a cult older than that of Buddha---. 00:04:42 Hair longer than that of the idols of the musical world---. 00:04:53 On breast and brow the mark of Hindu caste---. 00:05:10 Plutocratic Parsees from Bombay rear picturesque progeny---to inherit their treasure---. 00:05:26 Every street is a living moving picture-but the cosmopolitan crowds spend their money at the movies just as we do---. 00:05:52 Every shop is rich in color-especially the Chinese tailor shops---. 00:06:23 A half billion dollars worth of merchandise is moved every season by the "Mosquito Fleet" of junks and lighters---. 00:06:52 Among the important articles of export is the Tapioca from large plantations in the Malay States---. 00:07:19 Tapioca bushes flourish in friendly rivalry with Rubber and Betel on the same plantation---. 00:07:35 The root furnishes the Tapioca---. 00:07:58 Load after load comes to the "Center"---. 00:08:31 Tamil men and women, calmly active, feed the crusher---. 00:09:13 All have Tapioca on the brain---. 00:09:21 Crushed, pulverized and washed, the Tapioca pours into rats---. 00:09:35 Solidifying, it is removed in masses---. 00:09:51 Dried, it separates into millions of pure and perfect spheres---. 00:10:18 Behold the Tamil maiden!-She toils and toils and is arrayed like Solomon in all his glory-with diamonds in her nose and solid silver around her bare black ankles---. 00:11:00 She earns just fifteen cents a day-and saves sixteen of it---. 00:11:19 Back to Singapore the Capital of the Straits Settlements- which include Penang, the Dindings and Malacca---. 00:11:43 We also see our first trackless street car. 00:12:03 A Chinese funeral. 00:12:32 At a Chinese temple guarded by two Dog Fos. 00:13:30 Another Chinese funeral. 00:13:53 A fishing village on the outskirts of the city. 00:14:33 Policemen of Singapore are clever. 00:15:31 Our first view of Sampans and boat life. 00:17:22 A Fuller Brush man? 00:17:42 End of recording.
Subject Topic:
Tamil (Indic people)
Subject Topic:
City and town life
Subject Topic:
Sampan boat
Subject Topic:
Mosques
Subject Topic:
Temples
Subject Topic:
Chinese--Funeral customs and rites
Subject Topic:
Tapioca
Subject Topic:
Rubber plantation workers
Subject Geographic:
Malaysia
Subject Geographic:
Singapore
Identifier:
U183051010757_narv_millerLeroy_5-21_singapore_a.mp4
Internet Media Type:
video/mp4
Digital Origin:
reformatted digital
Access Condition:
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