''Rastus Among the Zulus'' is an extant short comedy film produced by the
Lubin Manufacturing Company
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.
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History
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was forme ...
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It depicts an African American falling asleep and being "shanghaied" before being shipwrecked and captured by Zulus.
As he is prepared to be cooked in a pot he is asked if he will choose to marry the chief's daughter in order to save his life. He chooses the pot, then wakes up back on the wharf to find himself being clubbed by a policeman. An advertisement for a split reel of
Sigmund Lubin's ''
A Widow's Wiles'' and this film survives. In 2009 the film was released with three other early American short films on a DVD titled ''Visions of Africa''. The film was one of several film, vaudeville, and circus acts that depicted Zulus to the American public. Lubin also made the 1914 film ''Rastus Knew it Wasn't''.
[
As a comedy, it was a parody of ]D. W. Griffith
David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...
's '' A Zulu's Heart'' and other contemporary films that depicted Zulus in adventure settings where the white man usually came out on top, but was likewise intended to emphasize the superiority of Western European culture.
References
1913 films
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