SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Blistering performances.

Sanders is a British officer who has picked up the white man's burden and made Nigeria a better place for the Africans who populate it. We know they are happy, because they are always singing. The British do not sing, however, because running an empire is serious business. There seems to be a cult of personality, however, since the place falls apart as soon as Sanders goes on vacation. As word spreads that he is dead, we see animals running about, so apparently even they are upset. War breaks out, and Sanders has to return. While he was gone, a couple of smugglers had been selling gin and rifles to the natives, which is against the law. But the rifles don't seem to do the natives any good, because they continue to use spears. As the boat Sanders is on races to save Bosambo, a good African chieftain who loves being ruled by Sanders and the British Empire, an officer commands an African worker who is operating the boiler to put more wood on the fire for more speed. The African replies that the boiler will blow. But the stiff upper lip of the British officer is not cowed by mere physics, and he contemptuously dismisses the warning. The boiler backs down and humbly submits to British authority, just like everything else.

"Sanders of the River" is trapped in the time of its creation like an insect in amber, but it's worth seeing if only to understand the expectations of that time.The British characters are supposed to be the heroes of the tale, but they are wooden and unsympathetic, even interchangeable. It is impossible to care about them. They even chase animals from a plane Just For Fun.Africans are portrayed as simple minded, but they are also clearly loyal, brave, loving individuals with some (limited) depth to them, which is more than can be said of the cardboard cut-out white characters. In fact, the real rotters of the tale are trouble-making whites.

Leslie Banks stars as the title character, a British officer who manages to keep the peace between the African tribes loyal to His Majesty and those loyal to the African king. His right-hand man, one of the tribal leaders, played by Paul Robeson, does all he can to help Banks maintain the peace, but when Banks takes a trip away from the region, all heck breaks loose. Robeson tries his best to stem the tide of revolution against the British in Sanders' absence.Zoltan Korda directed this surprisingly lesser-quality film, but actually wanted to make a more positive film in regards to its portrayal of Africa, but sadly he was dissuaded. Also, it is sad to see Robeson, such a political force for equality in real life, play a stereotypically subservient role to Banks. The film was based on Edgar Wallace's novel at the urging of the film's producer and director's brother, Alexander.

Although the title refers to the British commissioner of the N'Gombi district of Nigeria during the Colonial days of the British Empire, Paul Robeson's magnificent rich baritone voice is easily the highlight of this well-made but dated film. Looking at it from the 90's perspective, I was appalled to see the native blacks treated as savages and children at the same time. Paul Robeson expected a different kind of film and unsuccessfully fought its release after it was completed. Leslie Banks plays Commissioner Sanders, called "Lord Sandy" by the natives, and oversees the various competing and sometimes hostile tribes. In the last five years, there has been peace among the tribes due mostly to the respect and fear of him. Robeson is a prison escapee who has been chief of the Ochuri tribe for the last five months, an illegal act without permission from Banks. He goes to Banks to claim that chiefdom, and Banks, knowing who he really is, and sensing he is a good man, proclaims him chief on the basis of those last five months. It pays off when word comes that Chief Mofolaba (Tony Wane) has been raiding other tribes to gather slaves, and Banks has Robeson and his warriors capture him and free those captives. It's a humiliation that Mofolaba swears he will revenge. Among the captives is lovely Nina Mae McKinney, who Robeson takes for his wife, and who bears him two children during the next five peaceful years. When Banks decides to take a year's leave of absence to return to London to get married, two villains spread the word that Banks is dead and there is now no law. They expect to profit by selling guns and gin to the natives. Mofolaba kills Banks' replacement and has his men kidnap McKinney to use as bait to lure Robeson to his land so he can have his revenge. Meanwhile, word gets to Banks, who hasn't yet left for London, about his replacement's death and the general lawlessness that now prevails, and he starts to return to Mofolaba's land. And Robeson takes Mofolaba's bait, but is captured and tied to a post next to the post that McKinney is tied to. Mofolaba promises him a slow death after he witnesses McKinney's death.