COLLECTION NAME:
Leroy H. Miller Collection
Record
Collection Name:
Leroy H. Miller collection
Title:
Rubber
Resource Type:
Moving image
Genre:
silent films
Genre:
travelog (performed works genre)
Genre:
Amateur films
Date Created:
circa 1936
Language Term:
English
Extent:
1 film reel (12 min., 23 sec.)
Form:
16mm (photographic film size)
Form:
black-and-white film (film, material)
Abstract:
Title from film container. Producer unidentified. Film depicting a rubber "estate" in Selangor, Malaysia with title cards offering information and commentary from a Western perspective. Includes footage of local Tamil men and women working, supervised by British men. Includes sequences on tapping rubber trees, carrying buckets, straining and processing rubber in large vats, using machine rolls, hanging long strips of rubber to dry, and folding rubber sheets to pack and ship. Includes sequence on child workers folding rubber. Film ends with Tamil men and a child playing drums and dancing outdoors, some in body paint, while women and children watch nearby.
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 The people of Selangor-one of the Federated Malay States-are of so languorous a nature that they let Tamil coolies do nearly all their rubbering---. 00:00:27 Vast and very profitable Rubber Estates have been developed by Indian labor backed by British enterprise---. 00:01:03 The rubber trees are tapped in the cool of the morning-very skillfully and carefully---. A white life-blood-the Rubber Latex-flows from each scientifically made wound---. 00:01:48 Delicate work-cutting just so much-Not more than an inch and a half a month---. 00:02:36 Two hours later the Latex is collected---. 00:03:01 Workers are paid according to the weight they bring----. 00:03:30 The creamy liquid rubber is strained into big jars---. 00:04:39 Acetic acid is added-and half an hour later the Latex is taken out in lumps---. 00:05:23 It is like handling half-head eels in chunks---. 00:06:04 Special machinery rolls it out in a long strips of rubber "crepe"---. 00:06:33 It takes a fortnight for this crepey drapery to dry---. 00:07:21 Then it is folded, packed and shipped---. 00:08:21 One baby worker is as pretty as a picture and bejeweled like a Hindu idol---. 00:09:17 All work and no play is not the rule---. 00:09:48 Every estate has its energetic orchestra---. 00:10:52 The men do all the dancing-The women merely "rubber"---. 00:11:17 Impish-irrepressible-and-dotty---. 00:11:56 So, when you buy a tire or an inner tube-think of these Tamil toilers who tap the rubber trees of far-away Selangor---. 00:12:23 End of recording
Subject Topic:
Rubber tappers
Subject Topic:
Rubber plantation workers
Subject Topic:
Tamil (Indic people)--Social life and customs
Subject Topic:
Rubber industry and trade
Subject Geographic:
Malaysia--Selangor
Identifier:
U183051010773_narv_millerLeroy_5-23_rubberSelangorMalaysia_a.mp4
Internet Media Type:
video/mp4
Digital Origin:
reformatted digital
Access Condition:
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).