Page 49 - Sirmooree Digital Book

missionary endeavour. The older souls who remembered their old
headhunting and strong drinking days must have been filled with
nostalgia, but the earnest mission-educated young men were aghast.
This film took a bit of laughing off. My explanations between the reels
were confined to reassuring everyone that all this happened a long
time ago. I was thankful that the cold wind and the intermittent sound
distracted attention.
For all this, enthusiasm was not in the least dampened. Three quarters
of the valley stayed overnight in the nearest longhouse so that they
would not miss the next day’s showing.
The next day we decided that it was impossible to task ‘Movieman’
and his films out to Long Semado for another two days, so we re-
arranged the programme again and decided to show the last film
twice; first in the longhouse and the following night in the camp. We
also decided to have ambushes out along the border track on the first
night, since we were apprehensive about unwanted visitors. However,
I called these off when they got mixed up with a gathering of
Indonesian Muruts who came over in the afternoon to see the film.
The soldiers who were to be on duty the following night went over to
the longhouse to see the first showing. And what a showing it was, for
this was a great epic about that well-known Indian hero, Robin Hood.
It was quite the worst film I’ve ever seen, yet at the same time one of
the most memorable and enjoyable. There were fabulous feats of
archery, fantastic fights, horsemanship of a high order and a million
other ‘action-packed thrills’. In the rare moments when the action
flagged a little, the usual incongruous Hindu musical number was
chucked in. There were plenty of villains, some of whom had a nice
line in magic, which helped to dispel the idea that European vampires
had cornered this market. There was obviously a plot, in fact several,
but I never discovered what this was on the first night since the last
reel was somehow shown second. It didn’t make any difference at all
to the enjoyment of the film. The longhouse was in delighted uproar
from beginning to end. Well over a thousand people were crammed
into the veranda, shouting and stamping, and at one point the
headman had to stop the proceedings while the foundations were
examined. We certainly won some Hearts that night, although we
probably bewildered a few more Minds.
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