by Hal Erickson
synopsis
The German documentary Pori was a filmed record of the 1928 Von Gontard-Kluge expedition. Cameras in hand, the producers ventured intrepidly into the Sudan and South Africa. The animals being hunted in film are destined for European zoos, so we see very little gunplay. There is, however, plenty of blood and gore; for example, a lion shown killing a zebra and eating its fill then leaving the carcass to the vultures. The producers' efforts to create a "continuity" for the film are less compelling than the images themselves. It isn't clear if the release of Pori was confined to Europe, or if it was also distributed to the U.S. (where there existed an eager and ready market for this sort of film fare throughout the 1920s)
